Pakistan Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah 'killed in drone attack'

The leader of Pakistan's Taliban armed group has been killed in neighbouring Afghanistan's Kunar province, the Afghan defence ministry said on Friday.

"I confirm that Mullah Fazlullah, leader of the Pakistani Taliban, has been killed in an joint air operation [with the US] in the border area of Marawera district of Kunar province," Mohammad Radmanish, spokesman for Afghan defence ministry, told Reuters news agency, adding the air attack was carried out at about 9am local time on Thursday.

In a separate statement to the Associated Press news agency, Radmanish said that two other armed fighters were killed alongside Fazlullah.

Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (known by the acronym TTP) acknowledged that its leader had been killed, according to Turkey's Anadolu Agency.

TTP accused the Afghan intelligence service NDS, which has long been suspected by Pakistan of harbouring Fazlullah, of providing information for the drone attack.

According to a statement attributed to US Forces-Afghanistan spokesman, Lt Col Martin O'Donnell, the US carried out a "counterterrorism strike" near the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan targeting "a senior leader of a designated terrorist organisation."

The US statement did not say whether the attack had killed anyone and did not identify Fazlullah as the target.

O'Donnell said that the US and NATO "continue to adhere" to Afghanistan's ceasefire declaration with the Afghan Taliban.

But he said the the ceasefire "does not include US counterterrorism efforts" against other armed groups in the region.

In March, Fazlullah's son, Abdullah, was among 20 TTP armed fighters killed in a US drone attack also in Kunar.

PM Modi, Pak President shake hands at SCO Summit

Qingdao (China), Jun 10 () Prime Minister Narendra Modi today shook hands with Pakistan's President Mamnoon Hussain and had a brief chat with him at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit here.

The two leaders, who are here to attend the 18th SCO Summit, shook hands after signing of agreements between the members states of the eight nation bloc.
The relations between India and Pakistan had strained after an attack on an army camp in Uri by Pakistan-based terror organisations in 2016. The ties took a severe hit post-sentencing of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav by a military court in April last year.

India had also boycotted the 19th SAARC Summit after the Uri attack. The summit scheduled to be held in Islamabad in 2016 was postponed.

India has been raising the issue of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in various multilateral forums with an aim to build pressure on Islamabad to dismantle the terror infrastructure operating from that country.

Body of Pak exchange student shot in Texas school shooting arrives in Karachi

Sabika Sheikh was among 10 students and staff slain Friday at Santa Fe High School. The alleged shooter is 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, who is being held on capital murder charges.

The body of a 17-year-old Pakistani exchange student killed in a mass shooting at a high school in Texas has arrived in the port city of Karachi, where her family lives. Sabika Sheikh was among 10 students and staff slain Friday at Santa Fe High School. The alleged shooter is 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, who is being held on capital murder charges.

Sabika had planned to return home in a few weeks for Eid al-Fitr, the three-day holiday marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Her body reached her hometown before dawn Wednesday and she was to be buried later in the day.

Sabika was her family’s oldest child and began classes at Santa Fe High School last August.

Sabika, a Karachi teenager, was studying at Santa Fe High School in Texas on a US State Department scholarship under the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) programme. She had been attending classes at the school since August last, and said that getting accepted into a US programme to study was the best thing that ever happened to her.

Sabika, the eldest of three sisters, was to return home in Pakistan in three weeks, by Eid ul-Fitr. Her host family said their time with her was "such a precious gift."

A memorial service was held for the young woman at a mosque Sunday night in Stafford. A memorial of flowers and messages for Sabika has been grown outside of the high school.

Meanwhile, her father Abdul Aziz Sheikh, has urged US President Donald Trump to take action.

Her family was notified on Friday that Sabika was one of the 10 killed at the hands of a gunman inside of Sante Fe High School. Sheikh now has a strong message for the president.

"I would like to say to the Trump administration, kindly stop this type of incident," Sheikh said.

Sheikh called on Trump to reform gun laws in the name of his daughter.

New Islamabad airport now to be operational from May 3

The operations at the New Islamabad International Airport have been rescheduled to start from 3rd May, 2018. Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will also inaugurate the airport during a ceremony on the same date.

The new date of operationalisation of NIIAP was given after Advisor to Prime Minister on Aviation Sardar Mehtab Abbasi visited the airport and asked the authorities concerned including Civil Aviation Authority to re-test the state of the art systems and equipments. He also asked the authorities concerned to train the ground operational staff in a better way to bring it to the level of international standards.

“Advisor to PM on Aviation Sardar Mehtab Abbasi took this decision while chairing a meeting during which he directed the authorities concerned to carry out more tests and trials to improve reliability and efficiency of systems,” said the spokesman to Advisor Khwaja Jawad Ahmed.

Meanwhile, CAA has also issued a notification informing that the operationalization of NIIAP has been rescheduled for 3 May at 10am.

Earlier, Director Planning and Development CAA Nadir Shafi Dar and Deputy Director General Amir Mehmboob also briefed media at CAA building in NIIAP.

The director said the new airport has been built over 4300 acres of land.

He said that the new Y shaped airport spreads over 19 square km with 15 passenger boarding bridges including facilities to accommodate two double deck A380 largest airplanes.

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