South Asia | The Daily Star

  • Pak will retaliate if India attacks

    Prime Minister Imran Khan yesterday said Pakistan would retaliate if attacked by India in response to a bombing in the disputed Kashmir region, which India blamed on Pakistan, while adding he wanted to cooperate in investigating the blast.

  • Many Indians rally behind PM Modi

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has suffered a series of political reverses in recent months but widespread anger after 40 troopers were killed in an Islamist militant attack last week could lead to a surge in support for his Hindu nationalist party.

  • Rivals clash at UN court

    An Indian man on death row in Pakistan for alleged spying committed "terrorist acts" including targeted killings and kidnappings on New Delhi's orders "to create anarchy", Islamabad's lawyers told the UN's top court yesterday.

  • Saudi crown prince orders 2,100 Pak prisoners’ release

    Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has ordered the release of about 2,100 Pakistani prisoners from the kingdom's jails during a high-profile visit to Islamabad, Pakistan's information minister says.

  • Ex-president of Maldives detained

    Maldives authorities yesterday detained former strongman president Abdulla Yameen after he was accused of trying to bribe witnesses in his money laundering trial, officials said.

  • Dhaka-Delhi ties reach comprehensive platform

    Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Syed Muazzem Ali says Dhaka’s ties with New Delhi have reached a multi-dimensional and comprehensive platform benefitting the peoples of the two closest neighbours.

  • Chhayanaut gets Indian Tagore award

    Bangladesh’s leading cultural outfit Chhayanaut is conferred the Indian government’s prestigious Rabindranath Tagore Cultural Harmony award for 2015 at an impressive function in New Delhi of India.

  • Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

    Saudi Arabia signs $20 bln Pakistan investment pledge

    Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman says Saudi Arabia has signed investment agreements worth $20 billion during his high-profile visit to Pakistan, where tensions were flaring up with nuclear-armed rival India.

  • 'It is a historic victory'

    Celebrations have erupted in northeast India after a contentious nationality law put forward by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government failed to pass.

  • Bangladesh and Bhutan's bilateral trade

    Bangladesh, Bhutan to explore new areas in trade

    Despite good relations between Bangladesh and Bhutan, the bilateral trade volume is relatively small and limited to few goods.

  • Myanmar cops crack down on protesters

    Police fired rubber bullets into a crowd of several thousand demonstrators in eastern Myanmar yesterday, activists said, as protests mount over a new and controversial statue.

  • Pak censors NYT article by activist critical of military

    An opinion piece in the International New York Times criticising Pakistan's powerful army was censored by its local publisher yesterday, replaced by a blank space in a country where it can be dangerous to reprimand the military.

  • Ten trapped by avalanche in J&K

    Rescuers yesterday battled to reach the site of an avalanche that buried 10 people in Indian-administered Kashmir following two days of heavy snowfall across the region, police said. The

  • Lanka to begin hangings within two months

    Sri Lanka's president said Wednesday that a 42-year moratorium on capital punishment will end within two months with the hanging of drug convicts.

  • Half of US troops to leave Afghanistan by April

    A Taliban official said on Wednesday the United States had promised to withdraw half of its troops from Afghanistan by the end of April, but the US military said no timeframe had been set.

  • Nepal extends deadline again

    Nepal yesterday approved a third extension for commissions tasked with probing crimes committed during its decade-long civil war, promising changes to make the hamstrung bodies effective.

  • US promises to halve its troops by April

    A Taliban official said yesterday that the United States had promised to withdraw half of its troops from Afghanistan by the end of April during talks last month, RIA news agency reported, more than past estimates of the planned pull-out.

  • Indian cops rescue 180 Nepalis

    Indian police have rescued more than 180 Nepali men and women in a major operation near the border with Myanmar after activists raised suspicions they were being trafficked into forced labour.

  • Parliament approves panel to discuss amendment

    Myanmar's parliament yesterday voted to set up a committee to discuss amending the country's constitution, despite objections by military-aligned lawmakers against a move that is likely to challenge the army's power.

  • Lok Sabha polls will be Modi vs rest

    BJP president Amit Shah said yesterday the upcoming Lok Sabha elections will be Prime Minister Narendra Modi versus the rest.

  • Stay out of politics, media

    Pakistan's Supreme Court yesterday rebuked the powerful military and intelligence agencies, calling for them to uphold free speech and stay out of politics in a country ruled by the generals for nearly half its existence.

  • Aung San Suu Kyi

    Myanmar parliament approves panel to discuss constitution

    Myanmar's parliament votes to set up a committee to discuss amending the country's constitution, despite objections by military-aligned lawmakers against a move that is likely to challenge the army's power.

  • Rohingya refugees issue

    Bangladesh to seek more Indian support to resolve Rohingya crisis

    Bangladesh will seek more Indian support to resolve the Rohingya crisis as foreign minister AK Abdul Momen is set to reach New Delhi tonight in his maiden overseas tour since the Awami League government was formed for the third consecutive term.

  • We are not a 'political tool'

    Women who lived under the harsh rule of the Taliban urged senior Afghan politicians to ensure their hard-won freedoms are not bargained away when they talk peace with the insurgents yesterday.

  • Sri Lanka ready for landmark hanging

    Sri Lanka is ready to execute five drug convicts and end its 42-year capital punishment moratorium once President Maithripala Sirisena signs the death warrants and a hangman is appointed, officials said yesterday.

  • Two-thirds could melt by 2100

    Two-thirds of Himalayan glaciers, the world's "Third Pole", could melt by 2100 if global emissions are not reduced, scientists warned in a major new study issued yesterday.

  • Nepali woman dies in outlawed 'menstruation hut'

    A Nepali woman has died of suspected smoke inhalation while banished to a hut during her period, police said yesterday, just weeks after the deaths of a mother and two children in similar circumstances sparked outrage.

  • Cattle trader killed by BSF

    The Border Security Force has shot dead a Bangladeshi cattle trader near Nabinagar border in Lalmonirhat's Patgram upazila, in sixth such incident since January, said officials of the Border Guard Bangladesh.

  • 'Trump is serious'

    US President Donald Trump is serious about getting out of Afghanistan, the Taliban told AFP yesterday, outlining the "Islamic system" comprising "all Afghans" that the group says it hopes to establish under any peace deal.

  • KASHMIR DISPUTE: India summons Pak envoy over phone call to separatist

    India's Foreign Secretary Vijay K Gokhale summoned Pakistan High Commissioner to India Sohail Mahmood late on Wednesday night and lodged a strong protest against Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi's phone call to a moderate Kashmir separatist leader saying such action tantamount to a “direct interference” in India's internal affairs.

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