Tag: US Embassy

  • US embassy announces additional 700 scholarships for Pakistani women to curb gender gap

    US embassy announces additional 700 scholarships for Pakistani women to curb gender gap

    The US embassy in Pakistan announced that it will award 700 additional graduate-level scholarships for Pakistani women in partnership with the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

    The program targets young people from remote and rural areas of Pakistan includes Interior Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

    The two-year scholarships will begin this year and last until 2023. The students can earn master’s degrees in agriculture, business, engineering, health sciences, and social sciences.

    “These additional 700 fully-funded graduate-level scholarships will be awarded to some of the most talented Pakistani women to help meet their higher education goals,” said USAID Deputy Mission Director Michael Nehrbass.

    United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has increased the number of scholarships and allocated 50 percent of scholarships to women. Today’s announcement brings the total of Merit- and Needs-Based Scholarship Program (MNBSP) scholarships awarded to Pakistani students to 6,000.

    Since 2003, the US had granted 5,300 merit and need-based scholarships to financially disadvantaged but academically successful students throughout Pakistan.

  • US embassy representatives reportedly meet dual national Zahir Jaffer

    US embassy representatives reportedly meet dual national Zahir Jaffer

    Dawn has reported that the United States (US) embassy staff met Zahir Jaffer on Monday while Zahir was in police custody.

    According to the report, a request was made by the embassy to the police for a meeting with the accused as he was a dual national of the US and Pakistan.

    The officers told Dawn, under the condition of anonymity, that the matter was discussed with the senior officials, and permission was granted to the embassy staff for the meeting.

    The meeting took place in two phases. During the first phase of the meeting, the embassy staff met the accused in the presence of senior police officers. Later, another round of discussions was held in the police officers’ absence.

    “I cannot comment on the case due to privacy concerns,” the US embassy spokesperson, Heather Eaton, said when contacted by Dawn to seek details of the meeting.

    She also refused to reveal any information when asked if the embassy was following the case or was in contact with any authority.

    It was reported last night that Zahir Jaffer has confessed to the murder of Noor Mukadam. Police have also gathered video evidence, reportedly of Noor being tortured by Zahir.

     The accused made the confession during interrogation but has not given a reason for murdering Noor.

  • Twitterati want US embassy to apologise for ‘calling Imran a dictator’

    Twitterati want US embassy to apologise for ‘calling Imran a dictator’

    Pakistani Twitter users are asking the US embassy in Pakistan to extend an apology for retweeting Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ahsan Iqbal’s remarks wherein he called Prime Minister Imran Khan a “dictator”.

    Iqbal had shared an article titled ‘Trump’s defeat is a blow for the world’s demagogues and dictators’, saying like Trump, Imran will be gone soon.

    The tweet was subsequently shared by the US embassy on its official account, attracting flak by social media users who asked the embassy to issue an apology for endorsing Iqbal’s opinion.

    Imran Ghazali, who was recently appointed as digital media head by PM Imran, called out the embassy for “disrespectful” tweet.

    Punjab CM’s spokesperson Azhar Mashwani asked outgoing US President Donald Trump to intervene on the issue. “Is this how US Embassies under you will behave for next 2 and half months?”

    PTI Deputy Information Secretary said that US embassy should “explain and apologize publicly’ over its “unethical act”.

    The backlash prompted the US embassy to issue an apology in the afternoon. It said: “The US Embassy does not endorse the posting or retweeting of political messages. We apologize for any confusion that may have resulted from the unauthorized post.”

  • Five-year-old raped inside US Embassy compound in Delhi

    Five-year-old raped inside US Embassy compound in Delhi

    A man has been arrested for allegedly raping a minor girl in the grounds of the United States (US) Embassy in New Delhi, CNN quoted police sources as saying.

    According to reports, the girl was playing outside the embassy’s staff quarters before she “was lured and raped by a neighbour”. Reports quoted Delhi Police Deputy Commissioner Eish Singhal as saying that the girl, who is the daughter of a housekeeper employed by the embassy, later identified the 25-year-old male suspect, who has been arrested and charged with rape.

    “She was able to identify him point blank and there is no doubt over this,” Singhal said, adding that the suspect remains in custody.

    The incident has appalled embassy staff. In a statement to CNN, a US Embassy spokesperson said they were deeply disturbed by the alleged misconduct. “We promptly took action when we were informed of the allegation, and brought this matter to the attention of the police. Of course, we are cooperating fully with them,” the spokesperson said.

    An investigation has been launched, and a court date is yet to be set. In the wake of the brutal 2012 Delhi gang rape — which brought worldwide condemnation and still haunts the collective memory of women in India’s capital –, lawmakers passed a series of amendments to the existing rape laws.

    The amended law lengthened prison terms and introduced the death penalty in cases in which the victim is younger than 12 years of age.