ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday proposed to set up a joint commission between Pakistan and the United Kingdom to further strengthen the bilateral relations during an interaction with King Charles III and his British counterpart Rishi Sunak on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
The international gathering is a biennial summit meeting of governmental leaders representing all members of the British Commonwealth. Last year, Pakistan’s state minister for foreign affairs Hina Rabbani Khar led her country’s delegation to the meeting held in Rwanda in June.
The Pakistani prime minister also addressed the gathering, calling upon the participants to mark the coronation of King Charles III as a moment “to reimagine and reinvigorate the Commonwealth and infuse it with ever greater synergy and even stronger sense of purpose.”
“The Prime Minister ... expressed deep appreciation for the UK’s generous assistance in the wake of the disastrous floods that struck Pakistan last year,” said a statement issued by his office after his interaction the British king and premier. “He suggested that both countries needed to enhance the bilateral relations in various fields.”
“In this regard,” the statement continued, “the Prime Minister proposed the establishment of a joint commission that would be headed by the leaders of the two countries.”
The statement maintained the king and the British prime minister also showed interest in further strengthening the bilateral relations between the two countries and praised the Pakistani community in the UK for playing a vital role in the development of their adopted homeland.
The Pakistani PM has gone to London to attend the coronation of the king on Saturday.
His visit is also being closely monitored in Pakistan amid growing political instability, as he is expected to hold political consultations with his elder brother and the founding leader of the ruling PML-N party, Nawaz Sharif, who lives in exile in London.
Sharif, a three-time PM, was found guilty in a corruption reference by an accountability court in Pakistan and sent to prison for 10 years in 2018. He began his prison term but was later released on temporary bail on medical grounds.
Sharif left Pakistan in November 2019 to seek medical treatment in London. He has not returned home since.
Pakistan PM proposes joint commission with Britain in meeting with King Charles, Rishi Sunak
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Pakistan PM proposes joint commission with Britain in meeting with King Charles, Rishi Sunak
- The prime minister tells Commonwealth leaders to imbue the international body with a new sense of purpose
- Shehbaz Sharif will also attend the coronation of King Charles III at a grand ceremony in London on Saturday
Tens of thousands flee northwest Pakistan over fears of military operation
- More than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled remote Tirah region bordering Afghanistan
- Government says no military operation underway or planned in Tirah, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
BARA, Pakistan: More than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled a remote region in northwestern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan over uncertainty of a military operation against the Pakistani Taliban, residents and officials said Tuesday.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif has denied the claim by residents and provincial authorities. He said no military operation was underway or planned in Tirah, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Speaking at a news conference in Islamabad, he said harsh weather, rather than military action, was driving the migration. His comments came weeks after residents started fleeing Tirah over fears of a possible army operation.
The exodus began a month after mosque loudspeakers urged residents to leave Tirah by Jan. 23 to avoid potential fighting. Last August, Pakistan launched a military operation against Pakistani Taliban in the Bajau r district in the northwest, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.
Shafi Jan, a spokesman for the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, posted on X that he held the federal government responsible for the ordeal of the displaced people, saying authorities in Islamabad were retracting their earlier position about the military operation.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Suhail Afridi, whose party is led by imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, has criticized the military and said his government will not allow troops to launch a full-scale operation in Tirah.
The military says it will continue intelligence-based operations against Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. Though a separate group, it has been emboldened since the Afghan
Taliban returned to power in 2021. Authorities say many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan and that hundreds of them have crossed into Tirah, often using residents as human shields when militant hideouts are raided.
Caught in the middle are the residents of Tirah, who continued arriving in Bara.
So far, local authorities have registered roughly 10,000 families — about 70,000 people — from Tirah, which has a population of around 150,000, said Talha Rafiq Alam, a local government administrator overseeing the relief effort. He said the registration deadline, originally set for Jan. 23, has been extended to Feb. 5.
He said the displaced would be able to return once the law-and-order situation improves.
Among those arriving in Bara and nearby towns was 35-year-old Zar Badshah, who said he left with his wife and four children after the authorities ordered an evacuation. He said mortar shells had exploded in villages in recent weeks, killing a woman and wounding four children in his village. “Community elders told us to leave. They instructed us to evacuate to safer places,” he said.
At a government school in Bara, hundreds of displaced lined up outside registration centers, waiting to be enrolled to receive government assistance. Many complained the process was slow.
Narendra Singh, 27, said members of the minority Sikh community also fled Tirah after food shortages worsened, exacerbated by heavy snowfall and uncertain security.
“There was a severe shortage of food items in Tirah, and that forced us to leave,” he said.
Tirah gained national attention in September, after an explosion at a compound allegedly used to store bomb-making materials killed at least 24 people. Authorities said most of the dead were militants linked to the TTP, though local leaders disputed that account, saying civilians, including women and children, were among the dead.
