President Arif Alvi assents summary; govt weighs in on a proposal to give provisional province status to GB with representation in parliament High Asia Herald Report ISLAMABAD: General elections for the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly (GBLA) will be held on November 15, according to a summary moved by the government and approved by President Arif Alvi on Wednesday. The notification comes …

Western audiences might be surprised to learn that Central Asia has ancient and classical music and dance tradition, like ballet: Shashmaqam (meaning the ‘sixth maqam’ in Persian). This classical tradition was patronized in the multi-ethnic royal courts of Bukhara and Samarkand by the emirs, much like ballet was patronized in the French court of King Louis XIV. As a second-generation dancer and …

by Bruce Pannier Assault charges have been dropped against 23-year-old Uzbek Gulsanam Alijonova, who could have received a five-year prison sentence if she had been convicted of beating up two men who she said sexually harassed her. Many people wonder if Alijonova was criminally charged for punching the men or if it was for being so brazen to stand up …

by Dr Aziz Baig The Coronavirus, perhaps the deadliest in the last century that surfaced in Wuhan city of China in November 2019, has now spread to about 188 countries of the world affecting over 27 million people and claiming over 0.8 million lives. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared it pandemic on March 11, 2020. In Pakistan, the first two cases of COVID-19 …

Some in the Muslim-majority region have been detained without trial for over a year Saifuddin soz is not under house arrest; he is just not allowed to leave his home. Now 82 years old, he once represented the northern Kashmir valley in the national parliament in Delhi. He spent five years as a minister in the government of Manmohan Singh, the …

Partition left many border people in the lurch. Dr Asim Sajjad Akhtar THE announcement by the prime minister earlier this week of a ‘new political map’ of the country in which India-occupied Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh are depicted as part of Pakistan is, on the surface, much ado about nothing. Designed to coincide with the first anniversary of the Modi regime’s decision …

In responding to Indian provocation, Pakistan abandoned its principled stand about who can legitimately decide on the fate of Kashmir, writes Farhatullah Babar by Farhatullah Babar Exactly a year after Prime Minister Modi annulled the special status of Kashmir and annexed the region into the Indian territory, Pakistan responded by unveiling with great fanfare its own new political map. The new …

Two persons were sentenced to two years imprisonment and Rs5 million fine each for poaching of the endangered animal. Two other persons were given one year jail term and fine. GILGIT: Five people have been convicted of poaching in Hopar, Nager and sent to jail, said a press statement issued by the WildLife and Forest Department, Gilgit-Baltistan on Wednesday. High …

UN-appointed independent human rights experts have called for urgent action in India’s Jammu and Kashmir, amid concerns of ongoing abuses against civilians there.

Lazgi is a must-see of Khorezm. Lazgi is the dance with a feel-good factor, making you feel a joie de vivre or zest for life. There is an opinion that the meaning of the ancient word ‘lazgi’ is ‘tremble,’ which describes a very energetic movement of the body along with the vibrant musical rhythms and expressive facial mimics.