Pakistan to welcome u.s. efforts to improve ties with india

WASHINGTON: Pakistani Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said the country would welcome any effort by the Donald Trump administration to encourage New Delhi and Islamabad to resolve their differences. Dar, who is in Washington to attend the annual International Monetary Fund (IMF) conference, assured the international community that “Pakistan’s nuclear assets are as safe as those of the US”. Dar said that over half of the world’s population lived in the region, which is directly affected by relations between India and Pakistan, particularly the Kashmir dispute, reported Dawn online. “So, any effort to help improve this situation is welcome,” said the minister. Dar said a former US President Bill Clinton had also offered to help resolve India-Pakistan dispute and Islamabad had welcomed that offer too. The minister also defended Pakistan’s decision to deny consular access to alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav: “It is a law, and commonly known, where there is a charge of treason or spying, consular access is not allowed.” Pushing carts loaded with bags, babies and the elderly, hundreds of people fled Mosul on Saturday after Iraqi forces retook two more districts in the west of the city from Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

After walking for miles, families were taken by bus from a government checkpoint in the south of the city to camps housing more than 410,000 people displaced since the offensive to retake