Neighborhood

The government’s reply dovetails with concerns expressed by Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), the German domestic intelligence service, which said in a 2018 report on proliferation-related matters that there had been a “massive increase” in Pakistan’s attempts to clandestinely procure nuclear goods in Germany and other Western countries.

In an undated interview clip shared by Pakistan politician Farhatullah Babar on Wednesday on Twitter, Musharraf can be heard saying, “…In 1979, we had introduced religious militancy in Afghanistan to benefit Pakistan and to push Soviet out of the country. We brought Mujahideen from all over the world, we trained them, supplied weapons. They were our heroes. Haqqani was our hero. Osama bin Laden was our hero. Then the environment was different but now it is different. Heroes have turned to villains.”

The surprise attack against the prominent Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group in the Gaza Strip was executed just before the dawn on Tuesday. Following this, a wave of retaliatory rockets was fired into Israel. In just about two hours since Israel’s airstrike, sirens started sounding in central and southern Israel, indicating incoming rockets from Gaza. According to the Israeli military, about 50 rockets were set off at early Tuesday, with dozens of others fired at Israel later in the day.

Groups such as the Tablighi Jamaat and Islami Sangh, Nepal operate in the country. The two outfits have been at conflict in a minor way over issues such as ideology and faith. Muslims make up for almost 5 per cent of Nepal’s population. They are the biggest single group in the five Tarai districts of Banke, Kapilvastu, Parsa, Bara and Rautahat.

On Sunday, Mikhail Kalashnikov’s birth anniversary is to be marked by a number of events, including the museum display and a biopic on the inventor of legendary AK-47 rifle.

“Pakistan’s security services maintain ties to Afghan insurgent groups, most notably the Haqqani Network, a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) that has become an official, semiautonomous component of the Taliban,” CRS, which periodically prepares reports on issues of importance for Congressmen for them to make informed decisions, said.

US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback met the Dalai Lama in Dharmshala on Monday. Mr Brownback hit out at what he called China’s “persecution” of the Tibetan people’s faith and said they have the right to choose their own religious leaders.

The US has asked Pakistan why it is only bothered about the human rights of Muslims in Kashmir and is not highlighting the “horrific conditions” that continue to exist for the members of the community throughout China.