Honest reporting in Pakistan draws the ire of powerful quarters  and some journalists pay the ultimate price

NEW DELHI, April 15: Top intelligence officers from India and Pakistan held secret talks in Dubai in January in a new effort to calm military tension over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, people with close knowledge of the matter told Reuters in Delhi.

ISLAMABAD, Mar 22: A long white shawl on her head, Rani Khan gives daily Koran lessons at Pakistan’s first transgender-only madrasa, or Islamic religious school, which she set up herself using her life savings.

ISLAMABAD, March 20:  Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has tested positive for COVID-19, the country’s health minister said on Saturday, two days after the premier got his vaccination.

Women journalists in Pakistan work in a hostile environment. Only the fittest can survive.

NEW DELHI, Feb 25: India and Pakistan’s militaries said on Thursday that they had agreed to stop firing along their disputed border in Kashmir, where such gunfire has been frequent in recent months, often killing or maiming people living in the area.

KATHMANDU, Jan 22: The president of Pakistan, Dr Arif Alvi met with the Nepali K-2 expedition team on Thursday.

KATHMANDU, Jan 21: The newly-appointed ambassador of Nepal to Pakistan Tapas Adhikari presented his letters of credence to President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi amidst a special ceremony held in Aiwan-e-Sadr, Islamabad on Tuesday.

ISLAMABAD, Jan 17: Pakistan’s planning minister says the country’s drug regulatory authority has approved the use of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine and the government is trying to make it available by the first quarter of the year.

WELLINGTON, Jan 5: Skipper Kane Williamson smashed his fourth test double-hundred while Henry Nicholls and Daryl Mitchell notched up centuries to fuel New Zealand’s bid for a 2-0 series sweep in the second and final test against Pakistan on Tuesday.

KARACHI, Pakistan, Dec 29: Neha loved the hymns that filled her church with music. But she lost the chance to sing them last year when, at the age of 14, she was forcibly converted from Christianity to Islam and married to a 45-year-old man with children twice her age.

Like Pakistan, Nepal also has a huge portion of youth population who can be employed to raise awareness about the Covid-19 and provide community relief.

KATHMANDU, Oct 29: Pakistan Embassy in Kathmandu on Thursday organized a virtual talk program on “Right to Self Determination & Consequences of Illegal Occupation” to commemorate the Kashmir Black Day.

ISLAMABAD, Oct 10: Pakistan blocked the Chinese social media app TikTok, saying the company failed to fully comply with the instructions to develop an effective mechanism to control unlawful content.

KARACHI, Sept 14: Millions of students in Pakistan returned to classes on Tuesday after a break of six months, as schools and colleges began to reopen for the first time since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

ISLAMABAD, Sept 7: Pakistan is seeking the reversal of a $5.8 billion penalty imposed by an international tribunal for denying a mining lease to an Australian company, saying that paying the fine would hinder its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

KARACHI, Pakistan, Aug 29: Pakistan’s flooded financial capital of Karachi was plunged into chaos on Friday with power cuts, streets under water and cellphone outages caused by heavy rain as authorities said at least 23 people had been killed in downpours the previous day.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 18: Pakistan’s drug regulator greenlit the country’s first Phase 3 clinical trial for a potential COVID-19 vaccine, which is being developed by China’s CanSino Biologics (CanSino) and Beijing Institute of Biotechnology.

KATHMANDU, Aug 4: Pakistan on Tuesday unveiled a new political map that shows Jammu and Kashmir and Junagadh in Gujarat, India as its territories.

KARACHI, Pakistan, June 29: Gunmen attacked the stock exchange in the Pakistani city of Karachi on Monday, killing at least three people — two guards and a policeman, according to police. Special police forces deployed to the scene of the attack and in a swift operation secured the building, killing all four gunmen.

LONDON, June 27: Pakistan’s team will arrive in England on Sunday before entering a two-week quarantine period ahead of their tour, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Friday.

ISLAMABAD, June 25: Pakistan’s state-run airline announced Thursday it would ground 150 pilots on charges they obtained their pilot licenses by having others take exams for them.

ISLAMABAD, June 8: Pakistan has recorded more than 100,000 coronavirus infections, officials statistics showed on Monday and the rise in daily infections has prompted authorities to begin strict enforcement of government safety measures.

ISLAMABAD, June 6: Pakistan reported 97 more coronavirus deaths on Saturday, the highest 24-hour increase to its fatalities, as authorities urged volunteers to motivate people to adhere to social distancing regulations to contain the spread of the virus.

NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD, April 25:  The Indian government allowed a limited reopening of shops in neighbourhoods and residential areas from Saturday, more than a month after the nation went into a lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus, officials said.

NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD, April 15: India will allow industries located in the countryside to reopen next week, as well as resuming farm activities to reduce the pain for millions of people hit by a lengthy shutdown in its coronavirus battle, the government said on Wednesday.

KATHMANDU, April 8: As the entire world is battling against the coronavirus pandemic, South Asian countries are no exception.

DHAKA/COLOMBO, March 21: Bangladesh tightened border controls while Sri Lanka arrested more than two dozen people for violating a nationwide curfew as part of increased efforts on Saturday to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in densely populated South Asia.

ISLAMABAD/COLOMBO, March 18: Pakistan’s prime minister has urged calm after its tally of coronavirus cases rose to 245 while Sri Lanka sealed itself off and shut its stock market on Wednesday, fuelling fears that South Asian countries are struggling to stem the pandemic.

KATHMANDU, March 14: Pakistan has said that it is ready to join Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's idea to hold a video conference among SAARC countries in the ongoing battle against coronavirus.

ISLAMABAD, March 11: A Pakistan Air Force F-16 fighter jet crashed in the capital city of Islamabad on Wednesday morning, a spokesman for the air force said.

KATHMANDU, March 4: Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan today has offered best wishes for Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's health, said PM Oli's press advisor Surya Thapa.

KARACHI, PAKISTAN, March 3: Pakistan on Tuesday reported a new coronavirus case, taking the total in the South Asian nation to five since the first cases were confirmed last week, officials said.

KARACHI, PAKISTAN, Feb 17: A toxic gas leak killed five people and sickened dozens of others in a coastal residential area in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi, police said Monday.

GUJRANWALA, Pakistan, Jan 30: Terror attacks in Pakistan plummeted by more than 85% over the last decade. It’s a welcome statistic for the country, but one that risks being overshadowed by international concern over its efforts to curb terror funding and lingering militant activity that could test any future peace agreement in neighboring Afghanistan.

KATHMANDU, Dec 2: Contenders India and Pakistan will face off in the final of men’s volleyball at the 13th South Asian Games after Pakistan defeated its semifinal competitor Bangladesh on straight sets 3-0.

LAHORE, Pakistan, Nov 4: A Pakistani court granted bail on Monday to Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been held in custody while facing trial on corruption charges, Sharif family lawyers said.

Your daily dose of missed important news of the day.

ISLAMABAD, Oct 31: A fire broke out on a train in Pakistan on Thursday when a gas canister passengers were using to cook breakfast exploded, killing at least 13 people, some as they jumped from the moving train to escape the flames.

KARACHI, Oct 24: India and Pakistan signed an agreement on Thursday allowing Indian pilgrims to cross the border to a Sikh shrine in Pakistan, rare cooperation between the nuclear-armed rivals at a time of tension and clashes elsewhere on their frontier.

LAHORE, Pakistan, Oct 24: Pakistan’s main opposition party said on Thursday the health of its leader, jailed former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, is deteriorating and the government is victimising him by delaying treatment as part of a campaign against him and his family.

SRINAGAR, India, Oct 20: India said on Sunday two soldiers and a civilian were killed in cross-border shelling with Pakistan in the disputed Kashmir region, while Islamabad said six died on its side, making it one of the deadliest days since New Delhi revoked Kashmir’s special status in August.

LAHORE, Oct 18: Pakistan has sacked Sarfaraz Ahmed as their captain across all formats, naming Azhar Ali on Friday as the new test skipper and putting Babar Azam in charge of the Twenty20 squad.

Curfew should be lifted, detainees should be released and the world community must give the right to self-determination to the people of Kashmir

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 28: Insisting he wasn’t making a threat, Pakistan’s leader denounced his Indian counterpart on Friday and warned that any war between the nuclear rivals could “have consequences for the world.” India’s prime minister took the opposite approach, skipping any mention at the United Nations of his government’s crackdown in the disputed region of Kashmir.

NEW YORK, Sep 28: Foreign ministers of India and Pakistan avoided each other at an informal meeting of SAARC foreign ministers in New York on Thursday, dashing hopes that the much-awaited meeting amid heightened Indo-Pak tensions could pave the way for icebreaker dialogue between the two countries.

KATHMANDU, Sept 27: Ambassador of Pakistan to Nepal, Mazhar Javed, has said that situation in Jammu and Kashmir had grown serious after the Indian government decided to revoke Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that granted autonomy to local people in these territories.

ISLAMABAD, Sept 25: The death toll from an earthquake in Pakistan on Tuesday has risen to 37, the Mirpur divisional commissioner, Muhammad Tayyab, said on Wednesday.

Between 480,000 and 507,000 people have been killed in the United States’ post-9/11 wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, according to a Brown University study.

With the new developments in Kashmir, Nepal may have to listen to and deal with the pressures and persuasions from India, China and Pakistan, all at the same time