Tag: Envoy

NEW DELHI - A UN envoy on a human-rights mission this month to India on Friday called for reforms including the repeal of laws giving security forces wide powers of arrest in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK). Margaret Sekaggya, the UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders, told a news conference in New Delhi that, during her 11-day tour of five Indian states, including Kashmir, she had been told of many abuses. "I heard numerous testimonies about male and female rights defenders, and

SRINAGAR - United Nations special rapporteur Margaret Sekaggya arrived in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) Wednesday to review the working conditions of human rights defenders in the disputed Himalayan region.
Sekaggya, appointed UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders in 2008, said she would submit a report to the UN Human Rights Council after her two-day fact-finding mission in Kashmir.
She told reporters in Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, that she

KABUL - The leader of an Afghan peace delegation to Pakistan denied on Monday that the two countries had reached an agreement to hold a peace gathering, contradicting an earlier statement from Islamabad.
A group from President Hamid Karzai's High Council for Peace (HCP), led by former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani, held high-level talks in the Pakistani capital last week.
Pakistan's foreign ministry said the two neighbouring countries had reached an agreement to

ISLAMABAD - US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter has said the US wants Pakistan to launch a military operation in North Waziristan soon but it is up to the leadership of the Pakistan Army to decide when to launch it.
Addressing a press conference on Afghanistan and Pakistan Annual Review on Friday, Munter said, "The Pakistan Army certainly wants to restore its writ there." To a question about Pakistan's cooperation in the war on terrorism, Munter said Pakistan had made

NEW DELHI: India said on Monday it had lodged a complaint with the United States over the frisking of a Sikh diplomat at an airport, in the latest of a series of spat over security searches.
India's UN envoy, Hardeep Puri, reportedly objected when he was told that his turban had to be inspected during a security check two weeks ago at the airport in Austin, Texas.
The Indian government lodged its protest to a US diplomat in New Delhi after he was summoned to the foreign

KARACHI: The United States has urged Pakistani leaders to combat corruption and red tape which was discouraging Foreign Direct Investment. It was also hampering economic growth and private sector development in the crises-hit country.
In addition, Washington snubbed local federal and provincial governments for lacking respect for 'budget discipline' that resulted in excessive borrowing from the central and private sector banks. The US was also critical of Islamabad's lukewarm

YANGON: Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi met a senior UN official in Yangon on Saturday but said further talks were needed to help the organisation in its Myanmar operations.
After speaking with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, at her home Suu Kyi told reporters that the discussions had been enlightening.
"It was a pleasure to meet Mr Nambiar but I don't think one meeting is enough," she said. "I hope this is the first of many meetings because

KABUL: Children are probably safer growing up in Afghanistan's major cities, including the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, than in London, New York, or Glasgow, NATO's top civilian envoy to Afghanistan has said.
Mark Sedwill's comments were made during an interview to be aired on Monday on Children's BBC Newsround, a popular British daily current affairs programme aimed at children.
Children living in the Afghan capital Kabul had told the show's presenter they felt unsafe

KARACHI: The newly appointed US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter visited the flood-hit areas of Sindh along with his wife, Marilyn Wyatt, on Saturday.
They were accompanied by US Consul General William Martin in Karachi, and a group of journalists. A plane carrying the ambassador and the rest departed from Karachi and reached Pano Akil Cantonment. Munter also visited a small village near the town, which is still surrounded by floodwater and distributed relief goods among the

KARACHI: Japanese General of Karachi, Masaharu Sato, at a certificate distribution ceremony, expressed that Kaizan is imperative for the world and believed it can help Pakistan achieve numerous goals and objectives.
Sato informed the ceremony that the Kaizan technique is appropriate for any area, and helps individuals improve their careers, while corporations and industries can enhance their services and product output.
He said adoption of principles of Kaizan could