Islamabad, April 16: Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Ambassador Sadiq Khan landed in Kabul on Wednesday on a day-long visit to participate in the second round of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) meeting as Islamabad aims to settle border disputes with the neighbouring country.

The JCC meeting is happening after 16 months as Pakistan plans to initiate high-level engagements to de-escalate and normalise bilateral relations.

The Afghan Taliban side will be represented by Deputy Minister of Defence, Mullah Abdul Qayum Zakir – an ex-Guantanamo detainee regarded as the most predacious Taliban commander since the death of Mullah Dadullah – who holds a hardline stance on Pakistan.

The crucial talks are being held at a time when Pakistan has accused the Afghan Taliban for supporting, funding, arming, harbouring and facilitating militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Baloch militant outfits who have been carrying out attacks in Pakistan.

On the other hand, Pakistan’s unilateral decision to repatriate thousands of illegal and Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders has not been received well by the regime in Kabul who have repeatedly called on Islamabad to review its decision – a demand that Islamabad has rejected.

The Afghan Consul General in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s provincial capital Peshawar will be meeting local media later in the day in an attempt to convince Pakistan to review its policy on Afghan repatriation process.

A high-level delegation from Afghanistan’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry will also be landing in Islamabad later today to hold talks with its counterparts in Pakistan and push towards active engagements and coordination going forward.

Noor Uddin Azizi, Afghanistan’s Minister of Industry and Commerce, will be leading the delegation which includes representatives from the office of Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Investment Facilitation Directorate, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Refugee Affairs, Transport and Civil Aviation, Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock and Private Sector of Afghanistan.

Experts say that the latest round of engagements between Pakistan and Afghanistan hold significant value as Pakistan has been accusing the Afghan Taliban of helping anti-Pakistan militant groups to spread unrest and bloodshed in the country. Islamabad also has been building up a case against the Afghan Taliban for arming anti-Pakistan militant groups with arms, which it says are leftover weapons of the United States and NATO forces.

New York, April 15: People with a certain heart valve abnormality may be at an increased risk of developing severe heart rhythm disorders also known as arrhythmias, according to a study on Tuesday.

Researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden showed that the valve abnormality called Mitral annular disjunction (MAD) increases the risk of ventricular arrhythmias — a dangerous type of heart rhythm disorder that, in the worst case, can lead to cardiac arrest.

The team found that the risk of arrhythmias persists even after successful valve surgery.

MAD is often associated with a heart disease called mitral valve prolapse, which affects 2.5 per cent of the population and causes one of the heart’s valves to leak. This can lead to blood being pumped backward in the heart, causing heart failure and arrhythmias. The disease can cause symptoms such as shortness of breath and palpitations.

The study, published in the European Heart Journal, showed that people with MAD were more likely to be female and were on average eight years younger than those without MAD.

They also had more extensive mitral valve disease.

Although the surgery was successful in correcting MAD, these patients had more than three times the risk of ventricular arrhythmias during five years of follow-up compared to patients without preoperative MAD.

“Our results show that it is important to closely monitor patients with this condition, even after a successful operation,” said Bahira Shahim, Associate Professor at the Department of Medicine, Solna, Karolinska Institutet.

In the study, the researchers investigated the risk of cardiac arrhythmias in 599 patients with mitral valve prolapse who underwent heart surgery at Karolinska University Hospital between 2010 and 2022.

The study aims to further explore new hypotheses such as that MAD causes permanent changes in the heart muscle over time, and that MAD is a sign of an underlying heart muscle disease

Islamabad, April 14: Thousands of Pakistani pilgrims will be unable to perform Haj this year, primarily due to delays in agreements and payments, despite Saudi Arabia allotting an additional quota of 10,000 people from the country.

The issue is being attributed to the failure of the private quota even as the Haj organisers point the rejection to late bookings and payments.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken note of the issue and ordered an immediate inquiry into the failure of the private quota by forming a three-member committee which will submit its report within three days. The premier also inquired why the government missed Saudi deadlines.

Saudi Arabia allocated Pakistan 179,210 Haj slots, evenly divided between government and private schemes. However, only 14,000 private applications were successful, leaving thousands unable to complete their spiritual journey this year.

The organisers, meanwhile, stated that they had secured 67,000 pilgrims and had also released 7 million Saudi Riyal (SAR) to Saudi Arabia, adding that delays in finalising the agreements resulted in rejection of applications by the Saudi authorities.

Islamabad took note of the issue and requested Saudi authorities for additional slots, a request which was considered with approval of another 10,000 slots. But, the additional quota was still insufficient in accommodating the high demand, leaving at least 67,000 pilgrims short of spots.

Haj organisers have called on Prime Minister Sharif to intervene into the issue to prevent further disruptions, insisting that there is a need for improved coordination with the Saudi authorities to secure quotas in time.