Imran Khan writes to Indian PM; seeks to re-start talks

Agencies
September 21, 2018

Islamabad, Sept 21: Pakistan's new Prime Minister Imran Khan has written a letter to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, the Foreign Office said on Thursday, seeking to re-start the bilateral talks on key issues "challenging the relationship" including on terrorism and Kashmir.

In the letter dated September 14, the cricketer-turned-politician, who became the prime minister last month, proposed a meeting between Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York this month.

"Building on the mutual desire for peace between our two countries, I wish to propose a meeting between Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, before the informal meeting of the SAARC foreign ministers at the sidelines of the upcoming UN General Assembly in New York," Khan wrote.

Pakistan and India have an "undeniably challenging relationship", he said, while responding to Modi's letter to him on August 18.

In the letter to Khan, Modi conveyed India's commitment to pursue "meaningful" and "constructive" engagement with Pakistan and emphasising the need to work for a terror-free South Asia.

Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said on Twitter: "PM (Imran Khan) has responded to PM Modi, in a positive spirit, reciprocating his sentiments. Let's talk and resolve all issues. We await a formal response from India".

In the letter to Modi, Khan wrote: "We, however, owe it to our peoples, especially the future generations, to peacefully resolve all outstanding issues, including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, to bridge differences and achieve a mutually beneficial outcome".

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief thanked Prime Minister Modi for his "warm greetings" and best wishes on his assumption of charge as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

The two ministers (Qureshi and Swaraj) could explore the way forward, Khan said, adding that the SAARC Summit in Islamabad "will offer an opportunity for you to visit Pakistan and for us to re-start the stalled dialogue process".

Ties between India and Pakistan nose-dived following a spate of terror attacks on Indian military bases by Pakistan based terror groups since January 2016. Following the strikes, India announced it will not engage in talks with Pakistan, saying terror and talks cannot go hand-in-hand.

Amid heightened tension with Pakistan over Uri terror attack in which 18 soldiers were killed, India had pulled out of the SAARC Summit to be held in Islamabad in November 2016. The summit was called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also declined to participate in the meet.

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News Network
April 28,2024

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Students in Paris blocked access to a campus building at a French university on Friday, as pro-Palestine demonstrations reach Europe.

The students occupied the central campus building of the Paris Institute of Political Studies, known as Sciences Po, and dozens of others blocked its entrance, echoing protest action at American universities.

Students inspired by Gaza solidarity encampments at campuses in the United States blocked access to a campus building at the prestigious French university on Friday.

They blocked the entrance with trash cans, wooden platforms and other items.

The occupation of the Paris university campus came after police broke up a separate protest at the university’s amphitheater outside one of its Paris campuses.

Scores of student protesters gathered at the building’s windows, chanting slogans and holding placards reading “We are all Palestinians,” in defiance of administrators who students say called the police on their peers two days earlier.

Pro-Palestinian student protesters had occupied the amphitheater outside one of the university’s Paris campuses on Wednesday evening.

The US-style student protests, which began over the months-long Israeli regime’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, kicked off in the United States and have now spread to European capitals as well as Australia.

In the German capital Berlin, several people were arrested as police violently cleared a camp of Gaza war protesters at the German parliament.

Pro-Palestinian activists are demanding a permanent ceasefire, an end to the Israeli atrocities, and an arms embargo of the Tel Aviv regime.

The Israeli regime launched the war on Gaza on October 7 last year. The genocidal war has killed more than 34,356 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

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April 28,2024

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Campuses of several US Universities have been witnessing massive protests with the students seeking a ceasefire in Israel's war with Hamas. Police have arrested over 550 protesters and some universities are witnessing violent crackdown of protests by the ruthless cops. 

Law enforcement officials at the behest of college administrators have deployed tasers and tear gas against students protesters at Atlanta's Emory University, even though the protests have been largely peaceful, say activists and media personnel present at the spot.

Emil' Keme, professor of English and Indigenous studies, at the University said that the scene reminded him of the civil war in Guatemala as a teenager.

"Police immediately began to force people to move. I felt like I was in a war zone, with all the police and their weapons, the rubber bullets. We were pushed away," Mr Keme told the Guardian describing what happened as soon as cops entered the Emory campus.

“Police took the student next to me, pushed an older lady nearby and then pushed me.”

Student protesters say they are expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where the confirmed death toll has topped 34,305, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. They want universities to cut their investments in everything tied to Israel and weapons that fuel the war in Gaza. That means funds run by BlackRock, Google as well as Amazon's cloud service, Lockheed Martin and even Airbnb.

Video circulated widely on social media shows two women who identified themselves as professors being detained, with one of them slammed to the ground by one officer as a second officer then pushes her chest and face onto a concrete sidewalk.

Atlanta police and Georgia troopers are leading a joint operation within the campus to dismantle the tents and camps the activists have set up at the school's quadrangle. Within minutes of the authorities entering the campus, 28 people, 20 of whom were "Emory community members", had been arrested, the institute said in a statement.

The school president said that the videos of police clashing with the students "are shocking" and that he is "horrified horrified that members of our community had to experience and witness such interactions."

The university's response was likely the quickest show of police force in response to a divestment protest among the dozens nationwide that have occurred in recent weeks. It was also probably the only one where pepper balls, stun guns and rubber bullets were used.

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April 30,2024

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US fast-food chain KFC has been forced to close over 100 restaurants in Malaysia over a pro-Palestine boycott of the company.

The Straits Times reported on Monday that the American restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken had to reduce its operations across Malaysia, mostly in north-eastern Kelantan state, following calls for a boycott of the company amid protests over the US government’s backing of the Israeli regime in its genocide of the Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Nearly 80 percent, or 21 KFC outlets, in Kelantan state stopped their operations, followed by 15 outlets in Johor and 11 in Selangor, the most industrialized state in Malaysia.

Citing a local Chinese-language newspaper, the Straits Times added the local franchisor of the Louisville, Kentucky-headquartered company in the Muslim-majority Southeast Asian nation, QSR Brands Holdings Bhd, is temporarily suspending operations in more than 100 KFC outlets after about half a year of boycott movement. “QSR Brands, which owns and operates the KFC fast-food franchise in Malaysia, is suspending 108 outlets nationwide.”

In this regard, chairman of the pro-Palestinian group Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) in Malaysia, Professor Mohd Nazari Ismail, told the Singapore-based newspaper that, “KFC is not on the BDS list of targeted companies. But many Malaysians see any American fast-food operator to be related to Israel, including KFC.” The BDS has been pushing for various forms of boycott movement against Israel until it meets its obligations under international law.

KFC was also forced to shut its first branch in Algeria earlier this month, just two days after its opening, following protests over US support to Israel.

The boycott action has severely affected worldwide operations of American fast-food giants McDonald’s, KFC, Starbucks, etc., with the pro-Palestine campaign having the potential to spread further across the globe.

Boycotted US companies are either perceived by pro-Palestinians to have taken pro-Israeli stances in the genocidal war on Gaza, or have financial ties to the Israel regime and/or have made illegal investments in the occupied Palestinian lands.

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