Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met UNHCR Commissioner Filippo Grandi and urged the international community to recognize the “burden of Afghan refugees” being shouldered by Pakistan and demonstrate “collective responsibility” to deal with the issue.
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Pakistan has finally completed the 420-metre-long bridge at the Kartarpur Corridor zero-line after a delay of two-and-a-half years. The construction had stopped temporarily because of some financial constraints and political issues. The four-km-long Kartarpur corridor links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan with the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district in India's Punjab.
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In Nepal, over 200 protestors comprising locals and activists protested in front of China-built Pokhara International Airport, denouncing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a tool to intervene in the Himalayan nation.
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Sri Lanka has decided to lift a ban on the visit of foreign research ships to its ports from 2025. The ban was imposed after strong security concerns were raised by India and the US following frequent docking requests from hi-tech Chinese surveillance vessels, according to media reports.
