Islamabad: US special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan James Dobbins arrived in Islamabad to finalise the agenda of a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Barack Obama, officials said yesterday. Dobbins will hold talks with Sharif’s Foreign Affairs and National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz on the agenda of the meeting in Washington on October 23. They will also finalise issues to be raised during the meeting. The two diplomats will also discuss the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 following a meeting in Kabul between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and US Secretary of State John Kerry on October 13. Karzai and Kerry met to discuss a long-delayed security deal on the future of US forces in Afghanistan after withdrawal of foreign forces. Last month, Dobbins had acknowledged that Islamabad had increased support to the Afghan peace process. “Pakistan has also particularly over the last six months or so, become active in supporting an Afghan reconciliation process and urging the Afghan Taliban to participate in it.”
107 lawmakers under scrutiny
ISLAMABAD: About 107 lawmakers of different parties have suspected education credentials, it was learnt yesterday. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has received over 100 allegedly fake degrees for verification belonging to legislators from the National and provincial assemblies. The degrees either have been challenged in tribunals or referred to HEC by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) after the May 11 election. “We have received 107 cases of fake or dubious degrees since the poll. Of these, 25 are being processed, while the verification of some has been completed,” HEC said, adding some older cases registered before May 11 were being investigated.
Wildlife hunting banned in AJK
ISLAMABAD: Waking up to the threat to wildlife and migratory birds by indiscriminate hunting and poaching, the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government has imposed a blanket ban on hunting for three years. The Director of Wildlife and Fisheries Department, Chaudhry Mohammad Razzaq, said yesterday that to effectively implement the ban, officials of the wildlife department, forest department, police, local administration and volunteers would be involved. Agencies
