NEW DELHI, 12 December 2021, (TON): More than 6,000 Sikhs from Switzerland and bordering France, Italy and Germany gathered in Geneva to cast their votes for the non-binding Khalistan referendum.

A press release said “the voters defied heavy snow and rainstorm in the Swiss capital to kick start the European phase of the referendum on the United Nations Human Rights days.”

On the other hand, Australian Sikhs observed human rights day on Saturday. The participants criticised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and called RSS a terrorist organisation.

They also criticised Indian billionaire businessman Mukesh Ambani and blamed him for harming the environment by using coal.

In November, the ‘Punjab Independence Referendum’ had organised by the Punjab Referendum Commission (PRC) to gauge support for Khalistan.

The referendum which started in London will also take place in other countries, including the US, Canada, Australia, and the region of Punjab, the commission stated.

NEW DELHI, 12 December 2021, (TON): The Press Information Bureau said in a release “India successfully flight-tested the Helicopter launched Stand-off Anti-tank (SANT) Missile from the Pokhran range today.”

The missile has been designed and developed by the Research Centre Imarat (RCI), along with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

It is equipped with a MMW seeker which provides high precision strike capability from a safe distance. The SANT missile can hit targets at a distance of up to 10 kms.

The objectives of the Pokhran test included release mechanism, advanced guidance and tracking algorithms.

The PIB said in its statement "the flight-test was successful in all its mission objectives. All avionics with integrated software, performed satisfactorily and tracking systems monitored all mission events.”

ISLAMABAD, 12 December 2021, (TON): Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that Pakistan was well aware of its responsibilities as an important regional stakeholder.

Addressing Zakariya Conference after opening 708th Urs celebrations of saint, Hazrat Shah Rukn-i- Alam, Noori Hazrat Suhrawardy Multani, he urged upon religious scholars and Ulema of all schools of thought to not only condemn the Sialkot incident, but also disassociate themselves from it.

he noted “some elements keep on trying to defame Pakistan, but they will not succeed in their nefarious designs. Shrines of the saints are always a source of love, forbearance and brotherhood.”

Foreign Minister said that those who were guilty in the gruesome incident would be sentenced accordingly and our judicial system would take them to cleaners.

Qureshi observed “whenever an incident happens in our country, some elements try to bring a bad name to Pakistan by distorting the facts in front of the world. We will have to be vigilant in this regard.”

ISLAMABAD, 12 December 2021, (TON): A delegation of US senators separately met Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, asserting America's commitment to maintaining "stable and broad-based" ties and strengthening diplomatic cooperation with Pakistan.

The four-member delegation was headed by Senator Angus King and comprised Senator Richard Burr, Senator John Cornyn and Senator Ben Sasse.

All these senators are members of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, while Senator King is also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

According to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the premier underlined in the meeting that Pakistan valued its long-standing relationship with the US and was committed to expanding it in all spheres, particularly in the economic dimension.

The PMO said in a statement “the prime minister expressed the hope that visits by delegations from the US Congress to Pakistan would help strengthen mutual understanding between the two countries and forge closer people-to-people contacts.”

"The PM (prime minister) reiterated that a deeper and stronger partnership between the two countries was mutually beneficial and critical for the region’s peace, security and prosperity."

The US senators, along with the US Charged’ Affaires to Pakistan, also met COAS General Bajwa, according to a statement issued by the military's media affairs wing.

The statement by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that matters of mutual interest, the security situation in Afghanistan and bilateral cooperation in various fields were discussed during the meeting.

DHAKA, 12 December 2021, (TON): The World Bank said “international donors agreed to release $280 million in aid to Afghanistan”, after repeated warnings that more than half the population face acute food shortages this winter.

The World Bank said in a statement “the fund from the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) will go “to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan at this critical time.”

The funds will go to UNICEF and the World Food Programme, who “have presence and logistics capacity on the ground in Afghanistan and will use these funds to cover financing gaps in their existing programs to deliver health and nutrition services directly to the Afghan people.”

The bank’s management earlier this month offered the proposal to re-direct the funds intended for rebuilding efforts.

The United Nations has repeatedly warned that Afghanistan is on the brink of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Around 22 million Afghans, or more than half the country, will face an “acute” food shortage in the winter months, forcing millions to choose between migration and starvation.

DHAKA, 12 December 2021, (TON): Afghans speaking to media expressed serious concern over the spike in the price of food other essential goods amid a cataclysmic economic crisis that has recently hit the country.

Business people said “the rapid rise in value of the US dollar against the Afghani is one of the main reasons for the expensive prices of essential commodities.”

Saifullah, an owner of a store said “the reason for the surge in prices is the rise of the dollar. We purchase all the products with dollars and sell them in Afs.”

Business has dropped compared to before.

Those who previously bought five bags of flour, they now buy only two bags,” said Khan Agha, a store ownder. The price of one bag of flour is 2,400Afs, a 16-liter bottle of oil is about 2,800Afs. The price of one bag of rice is 2,700Afs.

Citizens said that they have been struggling to pay for food and basic cooking goods due to their high prices.

BEIRUT, 11 December 2021, (TON): State media reported “a large explosion has rocked a Palestinian camp in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre, causing a number of deaths and injuries.”

A Palestinian source inside the camp told media that at least 12 people had been injured and there were an unknown number of fatalities after the blast late.

The explosion took place at a suspected Hamas weapons depot in the Burj al-Shemali camp and a judge had ordered security forces to launch an investigation, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported.

The NNA said “the army cordoned off the area, preventing people from entering or leaving the camp.”

Videos from the scene shared by local media show a number of small bright red flashes above the southern city, followed by a large explosion and the sound of glass breaking.

KABUL, 11 December 2021, (TON): The Islamic Emirate denied reports alleging that officials pledged to US diplomats they would form a roadmap for an inclusive government by March 2022.

Earlier, media sources saying that the delegation of the Islamic Emirate in the latest meeting with the US envoy for Afghanistan, Thomas West, “conveyed that they need four months to conclude consultations with their top leadership” to form a roadmap for an inclusive government in the country.”

Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate said “the Islamic Emirate denied the reports, calling them speculation. “What has been published in this regard, we don’t confirm it.”

“The Islamic Emirate takes independent decisions regarding its government. This is the right of the people to make the decision about the formation of their government.”

The political analysts believe that the formation of an inclusive government would pave the way for the recognition of the current Afghan government.

“The international community and the US, in order to answer to their people and partners, will recognize a government which is formed by all sides.”

KABUL, 11 December 2021, (TON): The U.N. humanitarian chief warned that Afghanistan’s economic collapse is happening before our eyes and urged the international community to take action to stop the freefall before it leads to more deaths.

Martin Griffiths said in an interview with The Associated Press that donor nations need to agree that in addition to emergency humanitarian aid they need to support basic services for the Afghan people including education, hospitals, electricity and paying civil servants and they must inject liquidity into the economy which has seen the banking system pretty well shut down.

He said “we’re seeing the economic collapse being exponential. it’s getting more and more dire by the week.”

Griffiths said the liquidity issue must be settled by the end of the year and money must be funneled to front-line service workers during the winter, adding that he had to revise his earlier view that Afghanistan could get through the winter on pure humanitarian assistance because of the worsening economic situation.

As one example, he said “4 million children are out of school and 9 million more will be soon and the reason is simple, 70% of teachers haven’t been paid since August. “And if we don’t make that happen, all that discussion about the right of women and girls going to school becomes academic.”

BRUSSELS, 11 December 2021, (TON): NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has rejected Russian demands to rescind a 2008 commitment to Ukraine that the country would one day become a member of the Western military alliance.

The remarks came after Russia’s foreign ministry said that NATO should formally scrap a 2008 declaration to grant membership to Georgia and Ukraine, two former Soviet republics.

Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels “NATO’s relationship with Ukraine is going to be decided by the 30 NATO allies and Ukraine, no one else.”

Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014 while allegedly supporting separatist rebels in the country’s eastern Donbas region. Russian troops also occupy two breakaway regions of Georgia.

In the past few weeks, Russia has moved about 100,000 troops to Ukraine’s border, sounding alarm bells in Washington and at NATO’s Brussels headquarters.

US President Joe Biden spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy days after he spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The US president urged the Russian leader to take the path of diplomacy to de-escalate the situation or face harsh economic sanctions.