Pak PM complains to US vice-prez against Trump’s desire for India’s role in Afghan

Agencies
September 21, 2017

United Nations, Sept 21: Pakistan prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has complained to the United States about the greater role President Donald Trump wants for India in Afghanistan, according to media reports.

Pakistan foreign secretary Tehmina Janjua said that in a meeting at United Nations on Tuesday with Vice President Mike Pence, Abbassi expressed concern over the greater role that Trump advocated for India in his new Afghan policy, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP).

She also also said that Abbasi told him that Pakistan categorically rejected allegations against Islamabad in Trump's Afghan policy speech last month adding that "scapegoating Pakistan will not help bring stability to Afghanistan," the news agency reported.

A statement from Abbasi's office only said that the "Prime Minister shared Pakistan's concerns and views with regard to the US strategy for South Asia" and Januja's remarks expanded on that.

In his address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday Trump had again reiterated his warning of strong action against countries that support or finance organisations like the Taliban, but did not name Pakistan as he had in his speech last month on Afghanistan.

Significantly, Trump did not meet Abbassi, as he had some other prime ministers like Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, and had delegated it to his Vice President.

The Pence meeting was the first high-level direct contact between the US and Pakistan since Trump's ground-breaking address to the nation on his Afghan policy on 21 August which was met with strong criticism in Islamabad.

Abbasi's office statement said the discussions with Pence on the sidelines of the General Assembly meeting took place in a "cordial atmosphere".

In a tweet after their meeting Pence said:

In last month's Afghanistan speech, Trump had asked India "to help us more with Afghanistan" and said a "critical part of the South Asia strategy for America is to further develop its strategic partnership with India -- the world's largest democracy and a key security and economic partner of the US".

He also had said bluntly, "We can no longer be silent about Pakistan's safe havens for terrorist organisations, the Taliban, and other groups that pose a threat to the region and beyond."

Islamabad had "much to lose" by harbouring terrorists, he warned.

APP quoted Pence as telling Abbassi, "We look forward to exploring ways so that we can work even more closely with Pakistan and with your government to advance security throughout the region."

In response, Abbasi told him, "Pakistan has been a long-standing partner and we intend to continue efforts to eliminate terrorism in the area."

Abbasi's office said, "Both sides agreed to work together to carry forward the relationship which has been a historic partnership for the last seven decades."

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 7,2024

prajwa.jpg

The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) on Monday responded to Karnataka’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) regarding a blue corner notice issued against JDS MP Prajwal Revanna.

In its response, Interpol said that all 196 member countries were alerted to identify and report if Prajwal Revanna is spotted at any port in their jurisdiction.

The Karnataka government issued a Blue Corner Notice on Sunday against Prajwal Revanna, who is facing allegations of sexual abuse by his staff members.

A Blue Corner Notice is issued by the international police cooperation body to collect additional information from its member countries about a person’s identity, location or activities about a crime.

The notice was issued after the 33-year-old Hassan MP reportedly flew to Germany soon after the Karnataka State Commission for Women chairperson Nagalakshmi Chowdhary wrote to the CM to order a probe into the sexual allegations against Prajwal.

Last week, the anticipatory bail application of Prajwal Revanna was also denied by Justice Santosh Gajanana Bhat’s bench of People’s Representative Court in Bengaluru.

Earlier, his MLA father and son of former Prime Minster HD Deve Gowda, HD Revanna was remanded to Karnataka SIT custody in a kidnapping-related sex scandal case.

His arrest came after the kidnapped victim was rescued from Revanna’s close assistant Rajasekhar’s farmhouse in Kalenahalli, Hunsur Taluk after the SIT conducted the rescue operation to find her, the police said.

The abduction case was filed by the son of a woman who worked at the Revannas’ house for nearly five years. He alleged that his mother was kidnapped from her home on April 29 by Satish Babanna a relative of Revanna.

The Karnataka Sex Scandal case pertains to explicit video clips allegedly involving the 33-year-old Prajwal, grandson of JD(S) patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, which went viral on social media.

Those videos began to make rounds in Hassan in recent days, following which the state government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the sexual abuse allegations against the MP.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 6,2024

Mangaluru, May 6: A five-year-old girl from Arendur village of Siddapura taluk of Uttara Kannada district died of Kyasanur Forest Disease (monkey fever) recently.

As her health deteriorated, she was admitted to the KMC Hospital in Mangaluru, where she failed to respond to the treatment and died on Friday night.

It is learned that the KFD is slowly spreading to the newer areas of coastal and malnad areas of Karnataka

According to officials, KFD spreads due to bites of ticks that generally survive on monkeys. This tick bites humans which causes the infection. Humans also contract the disease by coming in contact with cattle bitten by ticks.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 8,2024

covid.jpg

AstraZeneca said on Tuesday it had initiated the worldwide withdrawal of its COVID-19 vaccine due to a "surplus of available updated vaccines" since the pandemic.

The company also said it would proceed to withdraw the vaccine Vaxzevria's marketing authorizations within Europe.

"As multiple, variant Covid-19 vaccines have since been developed there is a surplus of available updated vaccines," the company said, adding that this had led to a decline in demand for Vaxzevria, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied.

According to media reports, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker has previously admitted in court documents that the vaccine causes side-effects such as blood clots and low blood platelet counts.

The firm's application to withdraw the vaccine was made on March 5 and came into effect on May 7, according to the Telegraph, which first reported the development.

London-listed AstraZeneca began moving into respiratory syncytial virus vaccines and obesity drugs through several deals last year after a slowdown in growth as COVID-19 medicine sales declined.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.