Pakistan, Afghanistan to resume Afghan peace talks
Rapprochement Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed Thursday to resume regular talks on the Afghan peace process, following a day of talks in Kabul between Pakistani Prime Monister Paja Pervez Ashraf, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and British Prime Minister David Cameron (Reuters, ET, Dawn, DT, DT). The three leaders stressed the important role Islamabad must play in ...
Rapprochement
Rapprochement
Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed Thursday to resume regular talks on the Afghan peace process, following a day of talks in Kabul between Pakistani Prime Monister Paja Pervez Ashraf, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and British Prime Minister David Cameron (Reuters, ET, Dawn, DT, DT). The three leaders stressed the important role Islamabad must play in finding a political solution to the conflict in neighboring Afghanistan.
A roadside bomb killed five Afghan policemen, including a district police chief, when it destroyed their vehicle on Friday in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan (AFP). Around 200 tribesmen in a rural town in the eastern Afghan province of Laghman marched on Wednesday in what they called an uprising against Taliban insurgents (AFP). A spokesman for the provincial government said the march was just one of a series of similar uprisings across the province.
Deteriorating ties
The U.S. House of Representatives voted Wednesday night to cut U.S. aid to Pakistan by half, to $650 million, as conservative legislators voiced anger over Pakistan’s jailing of Shakil Afridi, the doctor who helped CIA efforts to track down Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last year (The News, ET, Politico).
Police in Karachi successfully defused a 13-kilogram (28-pound) bomb placed near a school building on University Road on Friday (ET, Dawn). Members of Pakistan’s Christian minority staged a protest in Rawalpindi on Thursday against a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) legislator Malik Abrar Ahmed for purportedly occupying land reserved for a church and a community hospital (ET).
And the eldest son of Pakistan’s recently removed prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has been elected to parliament by the central town of Multan, where the family enjoys massive support (AFP). Abdul Qadir Gilani won a by-election there on Thursday by a comfortable margin of about 4,000 votes.
Char Payee
Pakistani garage band Char Payee has just released a video of their cover of the popular song "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye, in which they use a variety of household objects to create the melody (ET). The impressive vocals and creative instruments get another boost when the group switches to Urdu halfway through the song, laying their own lyrics over the song’s catchy tune.
— Jennifer Rowland
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