Latest news with #SerenaHotel
Eyewitness News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
Kenyan activist detained in Tanzania
DAR ES SALAAM - A leading Kenyan activist was arrested at his hotel in Tanzania, where he had planned to attend an opposition leader's treason trial, his wife told AFP on Tuesday. Boniface Mwangi -- one of the most prominent campaigners against corruption and police violence in Kenya -- was among several regional activists who travelled to Tanzania to show solidarity with opposition leader Tundu Lissu during his court appearance on Monday. Lissu's Chadema party has been banned from taking part in elections due in October after insisting on reforms. Several activists, including Kenyan presidential candidate Martha Karua, were denied entry at the airport ahead of his latest hearing and deported. Mwangi's wife Njeri told AFP she had not been able to contact him since his arrest. READ: Kenyan lawyer for Tanzania opposition leader arrested: spokesperson "I have been told they are waiting for the government of Tanzania to consult and decide whether to charge him or to deport him," she said. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan said Monday that foreign activists would not be allowed to interfere in the country's affairs and urged security organs "not to allow ill-mannered individuals from other countries to cross the line here". According to Njeri, Mwangi was taken from the Serena Hotel alongside Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire. They spent the night at the central police station in Dar es Salaam, his lawyer Jebra Kambole confirmed to AFP. Activists say the events in Tanzania are part of a wider erosion of democracy across east Africa. In neighbouring Uganda, opposition leader Kizza Besigye is also on trial for treason after being kidnapped in Kenya and taken across the border. Karua, the Kenyan presidential candidate, is serving as his lawyer. She travelled to Uganda on Tuesday ahead of Besigye's latest hearing the following day, and posted online that "entry was without a hitch".
Business Recorder
12-05-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
TDAP Mega Week, Ministry of Commerce Government of Pakistan
The Pakistan—Hungary Business Forum 2025 April 17, 2025 The Pakistan-Hungary Business Forum 2025, held on April 17 at Serena Hotel Islamabad, engage 71 Pakistani and 15 Hungarian companies in 108 B2B meetings. A key outcome was the MoU between TDAP and HEPA, fostering joint ventures in agriculture, ICT, healthcare, and more. LOOK AFRICA POLICY APRIL 16, 2025 As part of its 'Look Africa' initiative, TDAP advanced Pakistan-Africa trade ties at the Ethiopia Business Forum 2025, engaging top business leaders across twin sessions in RCCI and ICCI. Infusing Trade With Tradition April 23, 2025 Cultural Evening at Lahore Fort (HEMS) TDAP and WCLA organized a heritage evening for HEMS delegates, mixing culture with commerce at Lahore's historic Sheesh Mahal. Gems And Jewellery Fashion Show April 17-19, 2025 Pakistan's first Gems and Jewellery show shines at Health Engineering and Mineral Show (HEMS) 2025 held in Lahore,showcasing Pakistan's skilled craftsmen and its priceless gemstones. Conceptualized to get eyes from around the world, the show promoted a rich blend of craftsmanship, breaking new horizons for trade, cultural interaction, and international display of Pakistan's gem and jewelry legacy. Overseas Pakistanis Convention 2025 April 13-16,2025 Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and COAS General AsimMunir led a landmark convention uniting over 1,200 overseas Pakistanis to strengthen bonds with the global Pakistani community. Economic Cooperation Organization & Trade Promotion Organizations Forum May 06, 2025 The 4th Economic Cooperation Organization & Trade Promotion Organizations Forum was held in Karachi, chaired by Mr. Faiz Ahmad Chadhar (CEO, TDAP). Delegates from Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Turkiye attended. Mr. ZahidAbbasi (ECO Secretariat) emphasized regional business opportunities. Members shared country statements on trade promotion strategies. Strengthening ECO-TDB for regional integration was discussed. Ec0nex 2025 International Conference On Sti April 17-18,2025 TDAP played a leading role at ECONEX 2025, reaffirming its commitment to regional connectivity and sustainable development through science, technology, and innovation. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
India Today
30-04-2025
- Politics
- India Today
India takes Taliban on its side, pushes Pak into corner after Pahalgam
India is taking the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan on its side as it moves to act against Pakistan over the Pahalgam massacre. India has held talks with Kabul, even as Pakistan faces a Taliban-linked insurgency in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. This comes even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave "complete operational freedom" to the Indian armed forces on their response to Pakistan. The Taliban have condemned the terror attack in Kashmir, and are reaching out for better ties with New is quite a diplomatic coup for New Delhi, which snapped formal ties with Kabul after the Taliban takeover in August 2021. Pakistan, which hosted and sponsored the rebels, seems to have lost Indian delegation visited Kabul on Monday, where it met the Taliban's top leadership and discussed "recent regional developments", pushing Pakistan further into the corner. The Indian diplomatic trip to Kabul comes just days after Pakistan's foreign minister Ishaq Dar visited Afghanistan following a year of strained ties marked by border disputes, terror allegations, and the mass deportation of Afghan refugees by Islamabad rushing its officials to world capitals, tucking terrorists into bunkers, pleading for neutral probes, shifting air defence to the border, and unleashing relentless cross-border fire, Pakistan has turned panicistan. Kabul's overtures to New Delhi would add to Islamabad's has briefed diplomats from 25 countries, including the G20 and Gulf nations, on the Pahalgam attack and its zero-tolerance policy on terror, according to India's Kabul diplomacy is a smart tactical move. One has to remember, Pakistan cultivated the Taliban for decades in its ambition for "strategic depth".Then ISI chief, Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, rushed to Kabul to celebrate soon after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. The equations have changed greatly. The Image of ISI chief Faiz Hameed in Kabul's Serena Hotel, after he rushed to Afghanistan after Taliban takeover in 2021. (Image: Social Media) MODI GIVES FREEDOM TO ARMED FORCES AFTER PAK CLAIMED INDIAN ATTACK IMMINENTIndia's talks with the Taliban leadership come even as it keeps all options open on its response to the Pahalgam Narendra Modi, who has vowed to "identify, track, and punish" those responsible for the terror attack, on April 29 gave the Indian armed forces "complete operational freedom" to decide the mode, targets, and timing of a Modi's "free-hand" to the armed forces came in as Pakistan Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that it had "credible intelligence" about India's military action on Wednesday claimed that India was planning military action on Pakistan "in the next 24–36 hours" on the basis of "baseless and concocted allegations" of Islamabad's involvement in the terror attack in claim followed another claim by Pakistan's Defence Minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, where he said an Indian attack was imminent."We have reinforced our forces because it is something which is imminent now. So in that situation some strategic decisions have to be taken, so those decisions have been taken," Asif told Reuters on KABUL CONDEMNS PAHALGAM TERROR ATTACKAmid the charged atmosphere, India's diplomatic outreach to Afghanistan can be considered a April 28, India's Joint Secretary for Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran, M Anand Prakash, met Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in the meeting, alongside strengthening bilateral ties, trade, and transit, both sides also exchanged views on 'recent regional developments'.The mention of "exchange of views on recent regional developments" was a message in itself. India's Special Representative from the foreign ministry, M Anand Prakash, met Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Maulvi Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul on Monday. (Image: Hafiz Zia Ahmad on X) advertisementIn fact, the Taliban-led government of Afghanistan had condemned the Pahalgam attack, ahead of the meeting with the Indian delegation."The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan categorically condemns the recent attack on tourists in the Pahalgam region of Jammu and Kashmir, and expresses condolences to the bereaved families," Taliban spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi the meeting, the Afghan side reiterated that it posed no threat to any country, an assurance earlier echoed by the Emirate's foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, in statement, coupled with the diplomatic engagement between India and Afghanistan, suggests a growing alignment between New Delhi and Kabul, particularly as Pakistan-Afghanistan relations ties with the Taliban have soured in recent years, exacerbated by Islamabad's decision to expel Afghan refugees and accusations that Kabul was allowing the Pakistani Taliban to use its soil for attacks on the Pakistani Taliban's warming ties with India, including its acceptance of Indian humanitarian and infrastructure aid, have further strained this and its military establishment, over the years had cultivated and nurtured the Taliban in quest of "strategic depth" against India. Islamabad's hosting of Taliban leaders and anti-India terrorists was aimed at bleeding India with a "thousand cuts" over recent developments put a spanner into the works of the Rawalpindi-Islamabad India prepares to punish the Pahalgam attackers and their backers, its smart tactical move on the Afghan front might provide some strategic leverage, and it could complicate Islamabad's position amid its strained ties with Afghanistan.
Saudi Gazette
23-03-2025
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
US lifts bounties on senior Taliban figures including interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani
KABUL — The United States has lifted bounties on three senior Taliban officials, including Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, who also leads the Haqqani network, a group long blamed for deadly attacks against Afghanistan's former Western-backed government, Afghan officials said Sunday. Haqqani, who previously admitted to orchestrating the 2008 attack on Kabul's Serena Hotel that killed six people, including American citizen Thor David Hesla, no longer appears on the U.S. State Department's Rewards for Justice website. According to Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani, the U.S. government revoked the bounties on Sirajuddin Haqqani, Abdul Aziz Haqqani, and Yahya Haqqani. 'These three individuals are two brothers and one paternal cousin,' he told The Associated Press. The Haqqani network, originally founded by Jalaluddin Haqqani, rose to prominence as one of the most lethal arms of the Taliban following the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. The group has been linked to a series of high-profile attacks on the Indian and U.S. embassies, the Afghan presidency, and other targets, and has also been accused of engaging in extortion, kidnappings, and other criminal activities. Zakir Jalaly, a Foreign Ministry official in Kabul, said the U.S. decision to lift the bounties — coming just days after the release of American prisoner George Glezmann — signaled a thaw in bilateral relations. 'Both sides are moving beyond the effects of the wartime phase and taking constructive steps to pave the way for progress,' Jalaly said. 'The recent developments in Afghanistan-U.S. relations are a good example of pragmatic and realistic engagement.' Shafi Azam, another official, welcomed the move as the beginning of normalization, noting the Taliban's recent assertion of control over Afghanistan's embassy in Norway as further evidence of diplomatic progress. Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban have struggled with global isolation, worsened by their sweeping restrictions on women and girls. Only a few countries, including China and Qatar, have formally or informally engaged with the Taliban diplomatically. The U.S. has also maintained indirect channels of communication. Despite being under United Nations sanctions since 2007, Sirajuddin Haqqani has traveled internationally in the past year. These trips, made with U.N. clearance, were his first abroad since the Taliban's return to power. Haqqani has also voiced rare public criticism of the Taliban's decision-making process, highlighting internal divisions within the group's leadership. — Agencies
South China Morning Post
23-03-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Taliban celebrates as the US lifts bounties on senior officials
The US has lifted bounties on three senior Taliban figures, including the interior minister who also heads a powerful network blamed for bloody attacks against Afghanistan's former Western-backed government, officials in Kabul said Sunday. Advertisement Sirajuddin Haqqani, who acknowledged planning a January 2008 attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul, which killed six people, including US citizen Thor David Hesla, no longer appears on the State Department's Rewards for Justice website. The FBI website on Sunday still featured a wanted poster for him. Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said the US government had revoked the bounties placed on Haqqani, Abdul Aziz Haqqani, and Yahya Haqqani. 'These three individuals are two brothers and one paternal cousin,' Qani said. The Haqqani network grew into one of the deadliest arms of the Taliban after the US-led 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. The group employed roadside bombs, suicide bombings and other attacks, including on the Indian and US embassies, the Afghan presidency, and other major targets. They also have been linked to extortion, kidnapping and other criminal activity. Advertisement A Foreign Ministry official, Zakir Jalaly, said the Taliban's release of US prisoner George Glezmann on Friday and the removal of bounties showed both sides were 'moving beyond the effects of the wartime phase and taking constructive steps to pave the way for progress' in bilateral relations.
