THE HAGUE: The Dutch ambassador to Pakistan is to return to Islamabad next month after receiving a death threat last year, reportedly from Islamists angry over anti-Islam tweets by far-right politician Geert Wilders, Dutch media said Saturday.
Ardi Stoios-Braken "will fly back to Islamabad in early February," the daily tabloid Algemeen Dagblad reported.
She was on leave in the Netherlands in late October last year when she received word "that a letter arrived at the embassy from Pakistani authorities."
"The letter spoke of a 'specific threat' and was related to the Mohammed cartoon contest which had already been cancelled months before," the paper said.
Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said in November that Stoios-Braken, a veteran diplomat, faced "threats" in Pakistan, apparently over "blasphemous depictions" by Wilders on Twitter.
Wilders in August called off a planned Prophet Mohammed cartoon competition that stirred anger in Pakistan.
Pakistan's interior ministry in October wrote a secret memo on plans to "target" the Dutch ambassador by the hardline Islamist Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan party (TLP), media from both countries reported at the time.
The TLP, founded in 2015, led protests in August calling for Pakistan to sever diplomatic relations with the Netherlands over the Wilders cartoon contest.
The TLP has denied making any threats.
Meanwhile the Netherlands last year granted a temporary stay to a Pakistani lawyer who saved Asia Bibi, a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy, from death row.
The country accorded Saif-ul-Malook the temporary stay after he fled Islamabad when violence erupted following the Pakistani Supreme Court's acquittal of Bibi on the charges.
The Pakistani government has since launched a crackdown on the TLP, charging its leaders with sedition and terrorism.
But authorities also struck a deal with the protesters to end the violence, forming an agreement which included allowing a final review of the Supreme Court's judgement.
Pakistan's Supreme Court will decide next week whether to allow an appeal against Bibi's acquittal, a lawyer involved in the case said.
Dutch ambassador to return to Pakistan after Wilders row: report
Dutch ambassador to return to Pakistan after Wilders row: report
- Dutch Foreign Minister had said in November that Stoios-Braken faced "threats"
- Netherlands last year granted a temporary stay to a Pakistani lawyer who saved Asia Bibi
Pakistan president in Bahrain to boost trade, defense and security ties
- Asif Ali Zardari will meet Bahrain’s king and crown prince, discuss regional issues of mutual interest
- Trade volume between Pakistan and Bahrain has increased from $500 million to $1 billion in recent years
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari arrived in Bahrain late Tuesday on a four-day visit to enhance bilateral cooperation in trade, defense and security, Pakistani state media reported.
Pakistan and Bahrain have maintained close diplomatic, trade, investment and defense relations and have lately been focusing on strengthening their cooperation in key economic sectors.
The Pakistan president’s visit will be focused on bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest for both nations, according to the foreign office in Islamabad.
He will hold talks with King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa and Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad, and address a reception held at the headquarters of the Economic Development Board in Manama.
“The visit seeks to reinforce Pakistan’s longstanding cooperation with the brotherly Gulf nation while expanding opportunities for collaboration in trade and economic partnership, defense and security and people-to-people ties,” the Radio Pakistan broadcaster said.
Islamabad and Manama established diplomatic ties in 1971. In recent years, the bilateral trade volume between the two countries has ranged between $500 million to around $1 billion, according to Pakistan’s foreign ministry.
Major exports from Pakistan to Bahrain include meat, vegetables, rice, tobacco and textile. Imports from Bahrain, on the other hand, include petroleum products, ferrous wastes and scrape and aluminum.
Both have established a Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) at the level of foreign ministers to discuss trade and economic ties, take decisions mutually and supervise the implementation of these decisions. So far, only two sessions of the JMC have been held and the last one was held in Bahrain in July 2021.
Zardari’s visit takes place amid increasing economic engagement between the two nations following the Pakistan-Bahrain Investment Summit in May 2025. Both sides signed contracts worth $13 million during the summit.
