Digest for international stories for week Feb 16 - Feb 22, 2019 Saturday

Islamabad: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday said nobody can browbeat the country for the brutal Pulwama terror attack even as he offered to fully cooperate in any probe into the incident if India shares any evidence with it. The Hague: India will ask the UN's top court Monday to order Pakistan to take an alleged Indian spy off death row, in a case that could stoke fresh tensions after a deadly attack in Kashmir.

Karachi: Pakistani authorities have suspended the registration of a school here after some students danced to an Indian song and waved India's national flag during a cultural event, hurting the country's "national dignity". Sunday Islamabad: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on Sunday signed a slew of investment agreements worth USD 20 billion which will provide a welcome relief to the teetering economy of the cash-strapped South Asian country. Islamabad: Pakistan on Sunday said that Jaish-e-Mohammad, which claimed responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack, was banned in 2002 and Islamabad was fulfilling its obligations on sanctions as per the law.

The Hague: Amidst fresh Indo-Pak tensions, top legal eagles of the two countries will present their arguments in the high-profile Kulbhushan Jadhav case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) here from Monday during four days of public hearings. Monday Islamabad: Pakistan said on Monday that India did not provide answers to the key questions it raised at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) about Kulbhushan Jadhav, who has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court.

Islamabad: Close allies Saudi Arabia and Pakistan on Monday called for avoiding "politicisation" of the UN listing regime at a time when India was stepping up its efforts to brand the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror group's chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, a move that may not go well in New Delhi. London: Social media giants like Facebook need much stricter regulations to prevent them getting away with behaving like "digital gangsters", a UK parliamentary report on fake news concluded on Monday. Tuesday United Nations: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres Tuesday called on India and Pakistan to take "immediate steps" to de-escalate tensions between the two nations following the Pulwama terror attack, reiterating that his good offices are available if both sides ask.

Tehran: The suicide bomber who carried out last week's attack that killed 27 members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards was a Pakistani national, the elite force said Tuesday. Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday assured India that he would act against the perpetrators of the deadly Pulwama terror attack if it shares "actionable intelligence" with Islamabad, but warned New Delhi against launching any "revenge" retaliatory action. Wednesday The Hague: India on Wednesday questioned the functioning of Pakistan's notorious military courts and urged the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to annul Kulbhushan Jadhav's death sentence, which is based on an "extracted confession".

Islamabad: Pakistan's top anti-graft body on Wednesday arrested Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani from a hotel in Islamabad, triggering a strong protest from the Pakistan People's Party which termed the detention of its senior leader as "unacceptable". London: The UK government is "reflecting" on demands for a formal apology for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in April 1919 during the British Raj, a minister told the House of Lords during a debate to mark the centenary of the attack.

Thursday UN: In a strong show of international solidarity and support for India, the powerful UN Security Council comprising 15 nations, including China, on Thursday condemned in the "strongest terms" the "heinous and cowardly" terror attack perpetrated by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pulwama and stressed on the need to hold organisers and financiers of such "reprehensible acts" accountable and bring them to justice. Islamabad: Pakistan on Thursday banned the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamat-ud-Dawa and its charity wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, amid intense global pressure to rein in the militant groups following the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday authorised the military to "respond decisively and comprehensively to any aggression or misadventure" by India, amidst heightened tensions between the two sides following the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF soldiers. Friday Islamabad: Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has written a letter to the United Nations Security Council accusing India of threatening regional security, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Friday, a day after the powerful UN body named Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in a statement condemning the "heinous" Pulwama attack perpetrated by the terror outfit in Jammu and Kashmir.

Islamabad: The Pakistan Army on Friday said the country does not wish for war, but warned India of "surprise" in case it takes any aggressive military measures, amidst heightened tensions between the two sides following the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF soldiers. Beijing: China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Friday sought to downplay the scathing statement issued by the powerful organ of the world body naming Jaish-e-Muhammad in the Pulwama terror attack, saying the mention of the Pakistan-based outfit was only in "general terms" and "does not represent a judgement".