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A top business leader of the country has urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to extend an olive branch to his political rival incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan.

The PTI founder remains behind bars after he was booked in range of cases containing criminal charges including Official Secrets Act, terrorism, corruption and others.

Khan, the deposed prime minister, was ousted from power via opposition’s no-confidence motion in April 2022. However, the PTI alleged that Khan removal was orchestrated by the United States by supporting the opposition’s no-trust motion.

The PTI founder was arrested in August last year after he was sentenced in Toshakhana case. Later, he was convicted in cipher and un-Islamic marriage cases as well wherein his appeals are currently pending before the respective courts.

The development came during the PM’s day-long visit to Karachi where he addressed the business community and listened to their suggestions and queries related to trade and economy.

During a Q&A session, business tycoon Arif Habib appreciated PM Shehbaz’s efforts during his previous stint in securing the bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

 

Referring to his meeting with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in June last year, the owner of top brokerage firm suggested the prime minister to “shake two more hands” — one with the neighbouring country including India and another with the PTI founder in a bid to ensure stability in the country.

“[…] secondly, you should also shake hand with an inmate of Adiala jail. I think these two steps will yield positive results,” he remarked.

Pakistan downgraded its ties including suspended trade relations with India after the Modi-led government unilaterally changed the special status of the occupied valley in August 2019 — the decision that Islamabad believed undermined the environment for holding talks between the neighbours.

Pakistan has linked its decision to normalising ties with India with the restoration of the special status of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

PM meets Sindh CM

Earlier today, PM Shehbaz assured Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah of the federal government’s full support in resolving issues raised by the provincial authorities.

“We will work together like brothers, like a team in the interest of the people of Pakistan,” said the premier while chairing a meeting at the CM’s House.

The prime minister added that working together is the only option for the sake of progress and prosperity and that they will make no compromises on this.

PM Shehbaz told CM Murad he is present at his “beck and call”.

The premier’s assurance came after the provincial chief minister lamented the lack of support from the Centre regarding Sindh’s inclusion in new development schemes.

“In the last four years, the federation ignored Sindh in new schemes,” the chief minister said briefing PM Shehbaz in Karachi today.

Various matters were discussed during a meeting chaired by the premier, which was held following his arrival to the port city for a day-long visit after being elected as premier for the second time.

After four decades of war, Afghanistan is ranked as one of the countries least prepared to tackle the effects of climate change that are spurring extreme weather conditions and warping natural environments.

Foreign aid to Afghanistan has dwindled since the Taliban takeover, in 2021. Donors are wary of backing a government that is commonly considered a pariah, leaving poor and climate-vulnerable communities, further exposed to the detrimental effects.

The Norwegian Afghanistan Committee (NAC), co-hosted three days of talks that came to a close on Tuesday, country director Terje Watterdal told reporters at a news conference in Kabul.

He said it was the first occasion where Taliban officials “joined a parallel session, face-to-face and online, with a broad range of their counterparts in the West, since the change of government in August 2021”.

The talks included universities, diplomats, UN agencies, donors and grassroots members of Afghan society. All sides agreed that “both individual and collective action is required both inside and outside of Afghanistan”, Watterdal said.

“All government ministries committed their full support for the national and international organizations working to combat climate change and reduce the impact of climate change in Afghanistan.”Watterdal said it is “necessary to de-politicise key development issues, such as climate change”.

Under Iraqi law, terrorism and murder offences are punishable by death, and execution decrees must be signed by the president.

A security source in southern Dhi Qar province said that 11 “terrorists from the Islamic State group” were executed by hanging at a prison in the city of Nasiriyah, “under the supervision of a justice ministry team”.

A local medical source confirmed that the health department had received the bodies of 11 executed people. They were hanged on Monday “under an anti-terrorism law”, the source added.

All 11 were from Salahaddin province and the bodies of seven had been returned to their families, the medical official said.

Iraqi courts have handed down hundreds of death and life sentences in recent years for people convicted of membership in “a terrorist group”, an offence that carries the death penalty regardless of whether the defendant had been an active fighter.

Iraq has been criticised for trials denounced by rights groups as hasty, with confessions sometimes said to have been obtained under torture.

A day before meeting Beijing’s top brass to tackle thorny issues including Russia, Taiwan and trade, Blinken’s visit to Shanghai has seen him sample local food, watch a basketball game and stroll along the city’s famous Bund promenade.

Visiting the local Communist Party leader in a room with sweeping views of the Shanghai skyline, Blinken said US President Joe Biden was committed to “direct and sustained” dialogue between the world’s two largest economies after years of mounting tension.

“I think it’s important to underscore the value — in fact, the necessity — of direct engagement, of speaking to each other, laying out our differences, which are real, seeking to work through them,” Blinken said.

“We have an obligation for our people — indeed an obligation to the world — to manage the relationship between our two countries responsibly.”

The Chinese Communist Party secretary for Shanghai, Chen Jining, welcomed Blinken partly in English and spoke of the importance of US businesses to the city.

“Whether we choose cooperation or confrontation affects the well-being of both peoples, both countries and the future of humanity,” Chen told him.

The country’s financial capital, Shanghai is often a stepping stone to power in China, with President Xi Jinping previously serving briefly in the city.

China has not announced plans for Blinken to meet Xi, although on Blinken’s last visit in June, they saw each other in a meeting announced at the last minute.

On Thursday, Blinken also met students at the Shanghai campus of New York University, where he voiced hope for more Americans to study in China.

He insisted the United States was committed to welcoming Chinese students.

Beijing has repeatedly alleged that Chinese nationals with valid travel documents, including students, have been subject to aggressive interrogations and deportations at US airports.

“President Biden and President Xi are determined to strengthen our people-to-people ties,” Blinken said.

Pressing on Russia

Blinken, the first US secretary of state in 14 years to visit Shanghai, opened his visit on Wednesday evening at a restaurant serving steamed buns.

Sporting a suit without a tie, he ate with his senior staff in a shopping arcade as curious onlookers snapped pictures.

Blinken then went to watch a basketball game between the Shanghai Sharks and Zhejiang Golden Bulls, staying until the end of the nail-biting play-off.

 

 

Such softer diplomacy, once a staple of US-China relations, would have been unimaginable until recently, with hawks in both countries speaking of an emerging new Cold War.

Blinken’s aides hope his smiling persona at public events draws an implicit contrast to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and his gruffer approach when he visited China earlier this month.

Blinken is expected to raise concerns about China’s relationship with Russia when he meets the leadership in Beijing.

Although US officials were initially pleased that Beijing has not shipped weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine, they now say that China’s alarm at Moscow’s setbacks on the battlefield has prompted it to export vast quantities of industrial supplies to Russia.

 

 

US officials believe China is more receptive to Western concerns as it seeks to focus on managing economic headwinds at home and wants to avoid friction with the West.

But China is also furious about a series of moves by Biden — who is facing a tough re-election fight in November against Donald Trump — they say serve to constrain the Chinese economy.

Most recently, the US Congress approved legislation that would force the divestment of blockbuster social media app TikTok from its Chinese owners or face a ban in the world’s largest economy.

Biden supports the legislation, arguing that TikTok, popular among young people, poses security and privacy concerns. China has accused the United States of unfair economic coercion.

 

 

Unusually, Trump has distanced himself from a TikTok ban. He has otherwise championed a tough line on China, with vows to raise tariffs drastically if he returns to office.

US officials also say that Blinken will encourage China to act with restraint as Taiwan inaugurates a new president next month.

China claims the self-governing democracy as its own and has not ruled out using force to seize it.

Privately, US officials were relieved by China’s approach during Taiwan’s election, believing that easing US-China tensions helped.

They assessed that Beijing’s assertive military moves did not go beyond past precedent.

It comes amid speculation about the future of the SNP’s power-sharing deal with the Scottish Green Party.

Ministers usually meet on a Tuesday but have been called to Bute House for the second time this week.

It follows criticism of the Scottish government’s decision to scrap its 2030 climate target and the way it responded to a review of gender services.

 

The agenda for the meeting is not known.

Last week the Scottish Greens confirmed that members would vote on whether they party should remain in power with the SNP.

It came after the SNP’s Energy Secretary Mairi McAllan announced that Scotland’s 2030 net-zero target was out of reach.

Scotland’s NHS also said it was pausing prescribing puberty blockers to under-18s referred by the country’s only specialist gender clinic following a report by Dr Hilary Cass.

Patrick Harvie said he would quit as co-leader if the Greens vote to end the coalition with the SNP

Greens Co-leader Patrick Harvie said issues had “come to a head” with party members calling for a debate on how to move forward.

Mr Harvie has said he would quit as co-leader if the Greens vote to end the coalition with the SNP.

The first minister previously said he valued the power-sharing deal – known as the Bute House agreement – and does not expect it to be scrapped.

But he indicated that his party members would not be getting another vote on the issue, despite calls from senior SNP figures such as Kate Forbes.

The cabinet is the main decision-making body of the Scottish Government. It is made up of the first minister and all cabinet secretaries.

The BBC understands that the SNP would form a minority government if the Bute House agreement ends.

He thanked voters for the landslide victory by his Peoples National Congress, which promised a boom in building apartments, bridges and new airports with Chinese funding.

Muizzu, 45, won September presidential polls after vowing to evict 89 Indian troops deployed in the country.

The Indian contingent, operating three aircraft patrolling the archipelago’s vast maritime boundary, is due to leave by May 10.

Muizzu consolidated his hold on power by winning more than two-thirds of the seats in Sunday’s vote for the 93-member assembly.

“We will bid farewell to the enduring anguish of housing insecurity, a pressing and long-standing concern burdening the Maldivian populace,” his office said, quoting his promise at a victory rally in Male on Monday.

He did not mention China or India by name, but said he will work towards ensuring that the country’s sovereignty is not compromised.

“It is important that Maldivians have sole authority over matters concerning our nation, to be addressed according to our desires,” he said.

Muizzu previously declared that the deployment of Indian troops was an affront to Maldivians, who he said were capable of patrolling their own waters without personnel from the regional powerhouse.

“As long as their presence here in Doha, as we have always said, is useful and positive in this mediation effort, they will remain here,” foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari told a press conference.

Qatar, which has hosted Hamas’ political leadership since 2012 with the blessing of the United States, has been engaged in weeks of behind-the-scenes talks on a possible truce in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

But after mediators, also including the US and Egypt, failed to bring about a pause in fighting during Ramazan, Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said last week that Qatar was reassessing its role. The announcement prompted speculation that Hamas could be asked to quit the gas-rich Gulf state.

Ansari confirmed Qatar was continuing to reassess its mediation role and that a decision on the presence of Hamas members in Doha “will not be taken unless we are finished with that reassessment”.

Qatar, which also hosts the region’s largest US military base, has rebuffed frequent criticism of its mediation efforts from Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Ansari said on Tuesday the decision to re-evaluate those efforts was prompted by frustration with political attacks including from “ministers in Netanyahu’s government, who spoke negatively about the Qatari mediation.” He added: “They all know what the Qatari role is, its nature, and its details during the previous stage and they lied.”

Qatar successfully brokered the only pause in the Gaza war so far, a week-long truce in November during which scores of Israeli and foreign prisoners were released.