PAKISTAN NEWS

British High Commission awards Chevening Mentoring certificates to Pakistani JournalistsOn Monday Feb 13, the British High Commission hosted a reception to present certificates to the participants of the Chevening Mentoring Scheme for budding journalists from across Pakistan. The mentorship programme, which was launched in 2022, is designed to provide capacity building opportunities to young female and male journalists by engaging senior journalists from the flagship Chevening South Asia Journalism Programme Fellowship (SAJP) to act as mentors. As part of the programme, four experienced journalists (two male and two female) developed bespoke training modules, selected young journalists and then shared their knowledge and experience with their mentees in one-on-one leadership sessions...

Second Round of Pakistan-US Defence DialogueThe Second round of Pakistan-US Mid-Level Defence Dialogue is scheduled from 13-16 February 2023 in Washington DC. The first round of the Dialogue was held in Pakistan in January 2021. Pakistan’s inter-agency delegation, led by the Chief of General Staff, will comprise of senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Joint Staff Headquarters and three Services Headquarters. The US multi-agency team will be represented by the Office of Undersecretary of Defence.Issues of bilateral defence and security cooperation will be discussed during the Defence Dialogue.Editor: Raja Kamran

Earthquake disaster: UN chief welcomes Syria decision to open aid corridorsOnly a single crossing point - Bab al-Hawa - has been open to humanitarians since the 6 February earthquakes struck across the border region of southern Türkiye and northwest Syria, which has been in the grip of civil war for the past 12 years, and is the last remaining region partly under the control of opposition forces.“I welcome the decision today by President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to open the two crossing points of Bab Al-Salam and Al Ra’ee from Türkiye to northwest Syria for an initial period of three months to allow for the timely delivery of humanitarian aid”, António Guterres said in a statement.As hope fades of bringing more survivors out alive from the ruins, in Syria, more than 4,300 d...

PAF'S IL-78 AIRCRAFT EVACUATES PAKISTANI FAMILIES AND STUDENTS FROM TURKIYEIL-78 aircraft of Pakistan Air Force landed back at PAF Base, Nur Khan after a successful mission of providing humanitarian assistance to the earthquake-stricken people of Turkiye. Owing to efforts of PAF, a number of Pakistani students & families stuck in the area were evacuated through the Ilyushin-78 and were brought back to the homeland safely. The Pakistani students and families expressed their gratitude for the overall efforts of Pakistan Air Force in bringing them back to Pakistan and rescuing their fellow countrymen stranded in the natural calamity abroad. Other such missions by PAF, in coordination with NDMA and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are also in queue to help the earthquake affectees.&n...

Senator Mushahid proposes ‘5-point action plan to promote Blue Economy’, calls for course correction on economic developmentWhile chairing two sessions of Pakistan International Maritime Expo & Conference (PIMEC) 2023, Senator Mushahid Hussain, Chairman of Senate Defence Committee, proposed a 5-point Action Plan to promote Blue Economy. He said apart from Blue Economy, marine and mineral resources plus CPEC and building on a strategic partnership between Pakistan, China and Saudi Arabia would be a catalyst for an alternative development approach that can help ‘bid goodbye to IMF’. The Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Amjad Khan Niazi, Vice Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Faisal Rasul Lodhi and other senior officers of Pakistan Navy plus representatives of 50 countries, participa...