Habib Siddiqui

  Pakistan Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar has said that a recent   trilateral initiative   between Bangladesh, China and Islamabad could be “expanded” to include other regional nations and beyond. “We have opposed … zero-sum approaches and consistently stressed the imperative of cooperation rather than confrontation,” he told the Islamabad Conclave forum on Wednesday. Recommended Stories list of 3 items list 1 of 3 Why India likely won’t return Hasina to face Bangladesh death penalty list 2 of 3 A Pakistan foreign policy renaissance? Not quite list 3 of 3 Who are India and Pakistan blaming for Delhi, Islamabad blasts? end of list In effect, the proposal amounts to the creation of an alternative bloc focused on South Asia, with China added, at a time when the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) — the region’s main grouping — has been made almost defunct by heightened India-Pakistan tensions in recent years. In June, diplomats from China, Pakistan...

  Doha, Qatar –   In the 1930s, a young Maqbool Fida Husain, barely in his 20s, arrived in the Indian financial capital of Mumbai, then known as Bombay, from Indore city 600km (370 miles) away. His dream was to make films. But struggling to survive in the city, he started painting billboards for the emerging Bollywood film industry. Recommended Stories list of 4 items list 1 of 4 Outrage after Indian professor arrested over remarks on military operation list 2 of 4 Zohran Mamdani’s New York primary win sparks the ire of Modi’s supporters list 3 of 4 Are We Muslims or Mujrims? How hate became India’s daily entertainment list 4 of 4 Qatar opens museum dedicated to exiled Indian artist MF Husain end of list A decade later, as newly independent India was finding its footing, Husain became a part of a group of artists who laid the foundations of modern art in the country. In the years to come, he went on to become one of the most celebrated and internationally recognised Indian mod...