ISLAMABAD, 23 March, 2021 (TON): Foreign Minister of Pakistan Shah Mahmood Qureshi will attend the Heart of Asia meeting in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, which will also see the participation of his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar, media reported on Tuesday.

The Heart of Asia process provides a platform for regional cooperation with Afghanistan at its centre and with the recognition by the participants that a secure and stable Afghanistan is vital to the prosperity of the region.

The process involves 15 participating countries, 17 supporting countries and 12 regional and international organizations.

If Qureshi and Jaishankar meet in Dushanbe it would be the first meeting between the two top officials, media reported.

However, according to the report, Pakistani officials have not yet commented on the Qureshi-Jaishankar meeting but did not rule out a possibility.

BEIJING, 23 March, 2021 (TON): Sri Lanka’s ambassador to China, Palitha Kohona has dismissed suggestions about Sri Lanka planning to extend a 99-year lease it granted to Beijing to run Hambantota port.

While referring to China’s ongoing power struggles with the United States and India, Palitha Kohona said, “The country would never be an unsinkable aircraft carrier posing a threat to anyone else.”

“If there is a negotiation, it’s very secretive and nobody would say it to you. They are whispering to each other so that nobody else hears it,” he said.

Funded and built by Chinese companies, the Hambantota project has been a focus for critics who accuse China of using “debt-trap diplomacy” to boost its geopolitical influence around the world.

Beijing also denied the deal was being reviewed, with Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbing saying the port’s operations were expanding.

However, Hambantota’s location at the southern tip of Sri Lanka, overlooking South Asia’s vital sea lanes, makes it a potential key maritime hub in the Indian Ocean. In 2017, Colombo agreed to hand over the running of the port when it was unable to make the repayments on the Chinese loans used to develop it.

MALE, 23 March, 2021 (TON): On Monday, a group of people detained near ADh. Mandhoo, after reports were received regarding a group of people shark fishing.

Police stationed to ADh. Atoll was deployed to the location. The boat shark fishing was located near Maavaru Falhu.

According to the police, four on the boat were detained.

Police are further investigating the matter, meanwhile, shark fins, sharks and salted hark meat were also found on the boat.

However, the Maldives banned shark fishing in 2010 and even the export of shark fins and parts of the animal.

THIMPHU, 23 March, 2021 (TON): PM Bhutan Dr. Lotay Tshering is to arrive in Bangladesh on 23 March to attend the Bangladesh’s double celebrations on March 24.

As a part of PM’s delegation to Dhaka, twenty-two artists from Royal Academy of performing arts (RAPA) and four journalists from Bhutan arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal international airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 19 March in the morning.

The 10-day golden jubilee celebrations started with father of nation, Bangabandhu (friend of Bengal) Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s birthday on March 17 and it will conclude on 27 March with the Independence Day celebration on 26 March.

BEIRUT, 23 March, 2021 (TON): Lebanese President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri remained unsuccessful in reaching a consensus on cabinet formation in their 18^th meeting.

The media reported, following a meeting between Aoun and Hariri on Monday, the Lebanese pound fell to 14,000 against the US dollar from 11,500 earlier in the day.

He added that he had rejected the President's proposal of the cabinet line-up on the grounds that it was unconstitutional for a president to form a government.

Monday’s meeting between Aoun and Hariri on the cabinet formation had stalled since last October over disagreements on the number of ministers, distribution of portfolios and veto power.

Hariri, who was assigned to form a new cabinet in October 2020, has repeatedly said he will only form a cabinet of 18 specialists in line with the French initiative, with no veto power granted to any party.

However, the outcome of the meeting between the two officials has likely to raise concerns about further instability and a total economic and financial collapse in the country.

ANKARA, 23 March, 2021 (TON): In the latest advancement in the Syrian air strikes, Turkey asked Russia to assist in protecting the northwestern Syria.

Several attacks are hitting the civilian targets and wounding several civilians however, the Syrian artillery also killed at least seven civilians and injured medical staff in an attack on a hospital in the rebel-controlled town of Al-Atareb.

 On Sunday, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that strikes carried out by Russian jets hit a fuel depot in Bab al-Hawa, near the Turkish border.

The Turkish Defense Ministry sent a statement to Russia after the Qah airstrike, asking it to stop the attacks.

The Kremlin did not even release any statement after Turkey’s Sunday announcement for helping to stop the attacks in Syria.

However, tensions are increasing and it is a consciously escalated standoff that might undermine the Turkey-Russia partnership in the region.

ISLAMABAD, 23 March 2021, (TON): This year too, due to inclement weather and rain over the next two days the 23^rd March celebrations were postponed. Last year, to express solidarity with rest of world regarding Coronavirus COVID-19 spread, the 23 March parade and other events were canceled. However, like last year, throughout the country, special prayers and recitation of Al Quran was arranged after Namaz-e-Fajr (morning prayers) on Tuesday 23 March 2021. Despite restrictions, large numbers of people assembled at the mosques throughout the country to offer special prayers for the safety and security of Pakistan as well as blessings from Almighty Allah to overcome the deadly conspiracies against the peaceful nations of the world, especially the Muslims.

To celebrate getting rid of the dominion status and becoming Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 23rd March is being celebrated every year with zeal, enthusiasm and national spirit. Every year as ‘Pakistan Day’ is celebrated to commemorate Lahore Resolution adopted of 23 March 1940 which later paved way for the partition of India and independence of Pakistan on 15 August 1947. On 23 March 1940, All India Muslim League leadership put up its idea for self-governance for Muslims of India through a resolution a sequence of Pakistan movement that was moved by Pakistan’s Bengal’s leader, Maulvi Fazlul Haq. Pakistan was created by sons of the soil residing in present day Bangladesh and Assam (East Pakistan), Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir. A national tradition, the day begins with Fajr prayers and recitation from holy Al Quran, followed by Guns salute in Federal Capital Islamabad and all provincial capitals, followed by an impressive Armed Forces parade to show of military might showcasing war and pace capabilities including missiles, tanks, fighter jets, radars, aerobatics and commandos parachuting from helicopters as well as cultural and traditional floats. However, the events were postponed.

The official statement said, the annual Pakistan Day parade scheduled to be held on 23 March has been postponed to 25 March due to the forecast of inclement weather and rain over the next two days. The Pakistan military’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement issued on 22 March said, "The Joint Services Pakistan Day Parade will now be held on 25th March, 2021 as per programme and timings already specified."

The event, which used to be held at Cantonment's Race Course Ground in twin city Islamabad-Rawalpindi was shifted to Constitutional Avenue Islamabad but then again shifted to a ground near the Shakarparian hills in Islamabad. There is a need to hold such celebrations under shade in  case of inclement weather or other unexpected eventualities. 

COX’S BAZAAR, 23 March, 2021 (TON): On Monday, a huge fire swept through a Rohingya refugee camp in southern Bangladesh that destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least seven people.

Shahdat Hossain, a senior station officer at Cox's Bazar Fire Service said, our personnel and locals are working to recover the bodies of seven Rohingya people. Of them, two were children.

Louise Donovan, spokesperson for U.N. refugee agency in Cox's Bazar said, "Fire services, rescue and response teams and volunteers are at the scene to try to control the fire and prevent it spreading further."

Mohammed Shamsud Douza, the deputy Bangladesh government official in charge of refugees, said authorities were trying to control the blaze.

Rohingya refugees in the camps said many homes were burned down and several people had died, but neither the authorities nor the UNHCR could confirm the number of deaths.

However, the cause of the blaze has not been established, the media reported.

DHAKA, 23 March, 2021 (TON): On Monday, in an effort to foster the bilateral cooperation, Nepal and Bangladesh signed four memoranda of understanding (MoUs) in various fields, including tourism and rail transit.

These were signed as Nepalese President Bhandari arrived in Dhaka on a two-day visit to join the celebrations of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s birth centenary and the golden jubilee of Bangladesh’s independence.

The initial deals were signed in the presence of President Abdul Hamid and his Nepalese counterpart Bidya Devi Bhandari at Bangabhaban.

Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Mokammel Hossain and Nepal's Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Secretary Yadav Prasad Koirala signed the agreement to enhance cooperation in the tourism sector.

The two sides also inked an MoU on 'sanitary and phyto-sanitary affairs' along with a separate agreement to implement a cultural exchange program from 2022 to 2025.

During the meeting, a letter of exchange on Rohanpur-Singhabad railway route (amendment to Nepal-Bangladesh Transit Agreement) was also signed by the countries.

On her visit the President paid respects to the Liberation War martyrs at the National Martyrs' Memorial in Savar before joining the celebrations at the National Parade Ground on Monday afternoon.

THIMPHU, 22 March, 2021 (TON): Two thrompon candidates nominated yesterday in dhamngoi zomdu conducted in the two demkhongs in Gelephu thromde, out of six demkhongs.

In Jampeling demkhong, there were two candidates.

Former Gelephu thrompon Tikaram Kafley was nominated from Jampeling demkhong, where he obtained 83 votes out of the 117 votes cast over a former aspiring politician, Harka Singh Tamang, who secured 34 votes.

Harka Singh Tamang was the former Zhemgang dzongdag and Gelephu thromde’s executive secretary.

Jampeling demkhong has 279 registered voters.

From Tashiling demkhong, Tshering Norbu secured 83 yes votes and five no votes during dhamngoi zomdu held yesterday.

As per the reports, the remaining four demkhongs are scheduled this week.