Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif yesterday stressed the need for improving ties with neighbours, focusing on settlement of all issues, including Jammu and Kashmir. “Unless the region is peaceful, our efforts for growth and development will not meet with success,” he said in his policy guidelines to the Foreign Office. A Foreign Office spokesman said the policy of an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned process of peace and reconciliation will be persuaded.
German FM to meet Sharif
Islamabad: German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle is set to start a two-day official visit to Islamabad tomorrow, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said yesterday. He will meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and senior officials for talks on means of enhancing ties.
Plea to stop drone strikes
ISLAMABAD: The families of Pakistani victims of drone strikes yesterday wrote to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, urging him to stop the campaign — by shooting the unmanned aircraft down if necessary. The high court in the northwestern city of Peshawar on May 9 declared drone strikes targeting suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda militants a “war crime” and ordered Islamabad to take steps to halt them. The families urged Sharif to heed the ruling, which calls on the government to take up the issue with the UN.
Pakistan crew freed in Nigeria
YENAGOA: Pirates have released five Pakistani crew they had kidnapped from an oil tanker off the Nigerian coast two weeks ago, sources said yesterday. Armed pirates attacked the Nigerian-flagged MT Matrix and abducted the Pakistanis on May 25, about 40 nautical miles off the coast of the Bayelsa state.
Woman killed at celebration
KARACHI: A woman died yesterday after being hit by stray bullets fired by supporters celebrating the appointment of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, police said. Around 100 activists from the Pakistan Muslim League-N took to the streets of Thul, a remote town in the southern province of Sindh, firing weapons in the air to celebrate Sharif taking office for the third term. Some bullets killed Musammat Bibal, 45, and injured her niece Jamila Bibi, 19. Agencies
