Pakistan suspends cotton imports from India

Pakistan has suspended cotton imports from its top supplier, India, saying shipments failed to fulfill phytosanitary certification, threatening the $822 million-a-year trade, government and industry officials told Reuters. Traders say rising hostility between the neighbours might have prompted Pakistan to restrict imports.The decision will help other cotton suppliers such as Brazil and the United States to increase exports to Pakistan. “We had received some complaints regarding insects, pests, in cotton consignments imported from India, so we have sent samples for tests,” Imran Shami, director general of Pakistan's Plant Protection Department (DPP), told Reuters on Wednesday. “If results show non-compliance of phytosanitary requirements, we would have to stop the imports from India.” Pakistan had put on hold cotton consignments from India, he said, adding that if tests confirmed the presence of pests, “these consignments will go back or would have to be destroyed”, he said. In 2015-16, Pakistan surpassed Bangladesh to become India's biggest cotton buyer, accounting for 40 per cent of exports. “Officially there is nothing on the record, but on the ground, there is an unannounced ban on cotton imports from India,” said Ihsanul Haq, chairman of Pakistan Cotton Ginners Forum. Indian exporters have signed contracts to export 350,000 bales to Pakistan since the start of the marketing year on October 1 and out of that nearly 300,000 bales for shipments in December and January could get stuck, three exporters said. “Out of the contracted quantity, a very small amount has been dispatched so far as the season has just started,” Cotton Association of India President Dhiren Sheth told Reuters. Supplies from the new season crop usually start rising from November in India. But this year, supplies are negligible after the Indian government's move to ban high-value currency notes prompted farmers to postpone sales. “Buyers and sellers are not cancelling contracts. They are waiting for some positive response from the government,” said Chirag Patel, chief executive officer of Indian exporter Jaydeep Cotton Fibers. The nuclear-armed rivals have seen tension increase in the past few months over Kashmir. Last year, Pakistan bought 2.7 million bales from India and supported Indian cotton prices at a time when China was cutting imports, traders said.

“It will be big problem for us if Pakistan stops buying. Other countries could not absorb the entire surplus,” said an exporter based in the western state of Gujarat. Along with Pakistan, India mostly exports cotton to Bangladesh, China, Vietnam and Indonesia. Pakistan, the world's third-largest cotton consumer, has not stopped imports from other countries, said Shami of the DPP. But importers say buying the fibre from other suppliers like the United States, Brazil and West Africa will prove costlier and time consuming. “From India, imports come across within 10 days and sometimes within a week consignments used to cross the Wagah border,” said Haq.

India-Japan nuclear deal will have an adverse impact on the non-proliferation regime

The deal will have security implications in the South Asian region. Pakistan has expressed concerns over the controversial nuclear dealJapan is expanding its strategic landscape by improving relations with India. It was reported in the previous couple of years that India often showed reservations in welcoming Japanese participation in the annual Malabar naval exercise between India and US, notwithstanding pressure from the later. The Indian decline seemingly intended to avoid Chinese provocation. At that time, Japan’s inclination towards India was not seen as a union against China but a move to reinforce Japan’s own presence in the Indian Ocean. Japan's naval posture has been focused to protect home islands and its skimpy fleet of vessels capable of resupplying ships with fuel, munitions and other supplies and its recent developments seems to focus on this policy. The country has been relying on the United States for the security of its supply lines; however, with recent military advancements it can be presumed that Japan is developing an ability to independently secure its supply lines. Both Japan and China are greatly dependent on Strait of Malacca and Indian Ocean for trade routes. Undoubtedly, Japan’s presence in these critical waterways is enhancing its capability to secure its supply lines and improving its strategic position but also increasing tension with China in the South China Sea. Besides, improving its military relations with India, Japan was also bolstering its economic relations with countries in the Indian Ocean basin. In 2013, Japan concluded first bilateral naval exercise with Indian in Bay of Bengal and at that time it was affirmed that more such exercises will be held in future. After that India and Japan are getting closer in pursuing their interests.

As compared to past, Japan and India are having more close cooperation on number of issues in recent times. The perfect example for this proximity is the civil nuclear cooperation between the two states. At a bilateral summit last December in New Delhi, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed a memorandum of agreement on civil nuclear cooperation. And on August 14, 2016, it was reported that both prime ministers will finalize a full-fledged nuclear cooperation agreement in November 2016. Lately, on November 11, 2016, Japan and India signed the accord for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. After this treaty, India would be able to import nuclear power plants, nuclear fuel and technology from Japan. India is the world’s third largest importer of crude oil and nuclear energy is the most reasonable way to meet country’s demands without emitting large scale carbon. Although India has civil nuclear cooperation with other countries as well but to import large forged components from Japan it was required to sign nuclear agreement. From an economic point of view, the transfer of nuclear technology is not only significant for India’s growing economy but is also attractive reason for Japan to invest, as Japan seeks to build nuclear power plants to revive its nuclear energy market after Fukushima nuclear disaster. Apart from the economic standpoint, India’s potential to compete with China and its strategic cooperation with US further adds to the reasons for this civil nuclear cooperation. The deal will also have security implications in the South Asian region. Pakistan has expressed concerns over the controversial nuclear deal and it urged Japan “to objectively assess the consequences of discriminatory approaches to our region.”

It is presumed that this deal would further develop India’s credibility as responsible nuclear weapon state; however, many argue that Japanese being the victim of nuclear bomb should not have entered into an agreement with non-NPT state. The deal also has a separate nullification clause that would cancel the pact if India were to conduct a nuclear test, even for peaceful purposes, because there cannot be any assurance that technology provided by Japan had not been used for the military purposes. The intensity of Japan’s concern over this can be understood from the December 2015 Japan-India joint statement when Prime Minister Abe stated that “the importance of early entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) which should lead to nuclear disarmament.” There was also political resistance to the deal in Japan. Therefore the deal can become unstable if India is developing thermonuclear weapon and tests it in future as reported by different sources. However, if India is allowed to receive this nuclear technology without banning its future nuclear tests, it will further bleak the chances of states signing CTBT, because many states have reservation over India’s preferential treatment and they have asked for universal criteria in the last Vienna plenary meeting. In the aforesaid scenario, this will be another deal having adverse impact on non-proliferation regime.

Trump love to visit Pakistan’

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Wednesday felicitated US-President elect Donald Trump on his victory. On being invited to visit Pakistan by the prime minister, Trump said that he would love to come to a “fantastic country, fantastic place of fantastic people”. “Your country is amazing with tremendous opportunities. Pakistanis are one of the most intelligent people,” said Trump. “I am ready and willing to play any role that you want me to play to address and find solutions to the outstanding problems. “It will be an honour and I will personally do it. Feel free to call me any time even before January 20 that is before I assume my office,” said the US-president elect. Trump also praised Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his government. “Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif you have a very good reputation. You are a terrific guy. “You are doing amazing work which is visible in every way. I am looking forward to see you soon,” he said. “As I am talking to you PM I feel I am talking to a person I have known for long,” he remarked. “Please convey to the Pakistani people that they are amazing and all Pakistanis I have known are exceptional people,” he said.

why do you think single women are a joke?

A couple of days ago, my sister laughingly turned her phone around to show me a post on Facebook.
A single friend of ours had been 'tagged' in a post about a matrimonial meet-up event that is taking place at the Islamabad Club on December 10th. “DONT HAVE TIME TO FIND YOUR PARTNER?" it read, in capital letters of course. “Limited seats available at the 'Him & Her Matrimonial Match-making Event' in Islamabad. Your search for soulmate ends here!!! Get matched today! Restricted to educated and business class only," followed by timings and the venue.We laughed it off. “What if one is 'economy class?'" I quipped. "Is this an airplane ticket?” Later that night, I saw the post making the rounds on several Facebook profiles, mostly the profiles of my single male and female friends. Family members, concerned uncles, aunts, third cousins and random colleagues began 'liking' the post, and soon this devolved into something less than humourous. Married friends began tagging single people on the post as if there was no tomorrow, saying 'maybe you'll have better luck finding a partner here!' and I thought, WHY? Were people singling out unmarried friends because the poster was tacky or because they thought it's unfortunate and rather sad to be single in your late 20s and 30s? Things snowballed and my single friends continued to be tagged in this post. The next morning, my phone was filled with messages from single friends asking “What is wrong with people, why can't they mind their own business?! The answer to this question brings me to my point: no matter which social class you belong to, after a certain age being single is one of the more controversial ways you can choose to live your life in Pakistan today. And to add insult to injury, with our twisted notions of privacy and what's 'right' and 'wrong' everyone seems to think commenting on your marital status is their birthright. I mean, living in a society with such grand double standards as ours in Pakistan, dating is almost blasphemous, but being dolled up and parading around for a stranger's mother, sister and grandmother with a tea trolley that looks like a national day float adorned with snacks from the local bakery is the norm. Weird, right? I returned to the post and thought to myself, while this event may potentially be a good opportunity for those who don't have many avenues to meet potential partners, it could also be yet another ego-shattering experience for those living under constant scrutiny and pressure about marriage. After all, the horror stories of the “rishta drills” that some of my friends have been through were fresh in my mind. Not again, I thought to myself, not in front of so many people. Being rejected primarily on the basis of your physical appearance seems to be the norm during the rishta hunt; when it comes to women no one ever really looks at their academic or professional qualifications. Is this really something we can brush off as funny? While the issue of finding the suitable match might be 'hilarious' in the upper-class, it becomes something darker in other socio-economic classes of society. An older woman, a mother of three unmarried daughters, once said to me: “I really want to know what people want in a 'bride'. In today’s day and age there is a solution for absolutely anything. If she is dark, she can get skin lightening injections. If she is short she can wear heels, if the guy wants light eyes and blonde hair, there are contact lenses and hair dye, the list of solutions goes on."Similarly another friend looking for a rishta for her brother in law made it clear her (and his) choice pick would not be anyone "unconventional” and we jokingly said, “Oh yes, he wants the clutch-bag-holding-Instagram Barbie, got it”. I turned to Facebook that night and wrote a status about how tagging a bunch of single people under this post was offensive.

I asked my married friends to mind their own business and expressed support for my single friends, encouraging them to live life they way they want to. I went on bragging about my own life, which, even though I'm single, happens to be amazing! I have great parents, a flourishing career, caring friends, an exciting social life, and above all else, the freedom to have an independent schedule. I'm not saying that I don't want to settle down, but am just saying that the transition from singledom to marriage will happen at its own time, so please just let people be.

But this privilege and luxury to speak our minds is probably enjoyed by very small segment of the society, where one is entitled to making my their own choices and being supported by family. Mine is not the freedom the majority of girls in Pakistan have.

Which is why being sensitive about the 'marriage question' is more important than ever.

While the issue of finding the suitable match might be 'hilarious' in the upper-class, it becomes something darker in other socio-economic classes of society. As a journalist I routinely come across stories of forced marriages, of minors as young as five-years-old married off without consent, or cases of acid attacks if a proposal is refused, or of girls committing suicide at a high rate — which highlight the harsh consequences society burdens women with when they try to make their own choices and live their own independent lives.

At a recent event held in Islamabad, women community leaders from 45 districts of Pakistan came together and urged women and girls to stand up for their rights and become a change agent in their families. The deputy head of DFID Judith Herbertson, who was present at the event, said that in 2016’s Pakistan, people are born unequal if they are poor, belong to minority group or are person with a disability, but the biggest disadvantage is to be born a woman.

Sharing some basic statistics, she said 55 percent of girls in Pakistan are not allowed to go to school, 35 percent are married before their 16th birthday, 40 percent experience violence — and so on. The speakers at the event said physical violence has considerably decreased in the society but the mental violence still exists, which is a biggest hurdle in the way of women empowerment.

Harassing women to get married just because society deems they 'ought to' is another form of mental violence and moral policing.

Women make approximately 51 percent of the population in Pakistan, our mental well being is key, and we need encouragement to become agents of change through their economic and social contributions.

Battling social pressure is a constant struggle and a serious concern for the majority of girls living in Pakistan. I see no humour in it.

So if you have a single friend — don't constantly ask them when they'll be ready to 'settle down.' Ask them about work, or what books they've read, or anything else, really. There's more to life than getting hitched.

India Considers More Active Military Role in Afghanistan

India may be willing to play a more active military role in Afpak theatre as New Delhi might seek support from Moscow to restore Afghan Government's Soviet-era idle helicopters and military equipment, Russian media reported on Tuesday.

According to ‘Sputnik’ report, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi could discuss the issue with leaders of Afghanistan and Russia during the sixth ‘Heart of Asia' conference to be held this week-end in the border town of Amritsar.

Afghanistan had presented a wish list of spare parts for refurbishing over four dozen helicopters and some An-32 medium lift aircraft. Afghanistan has also requested brand new T-72 tanks, 105 mm howitzers and AN —32 transport planes. Under a 2014 agreement, India will pay Russia to supply arms and ammunition to Afghanistan.

India has plans to source Russian-made light artillery and mortars, air support helicopters and armored vehicles. But, India has not implemented the agreement for fear it may get passed on to militant groups trying to bring down the Kabul Government.

"Post-2014, as the Afghan National Army leads the offensive against the well-armed Haqqani-Taliban network and various pro-Daesh local and foreign militant Islamist groups, it is important to further build its capabilities in a planned and sustained manner," says Vishal Chandra, specialist in Afghan affairs at New Delhi based Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses and the author of The Unfinished War in Afghanistan: 2001-2014. Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had discussed the military hardware supply issue in September this year but nothing was finalized.

However, India had sent a special team of military officers to Afghanistan to assess the requirement for more equipment. The assessment report may be presented to Russia on the sidelines of an upcoming international meeting next month in Amritsar.

Aquarium on Ice,’

TOKYO — An amusement park on the southwestern Japanese island of Kyushu has closed a skating rink after being inundated with complaints about thousands of dead fish and other sea creatures frozen under the ice.

Space World, a theme park in the city of Kitakyushu, opened the rink two weeks ago with about 5,000 fish frozen beneath the surface, calling it an “unprecedented attraction.”

The park specifically designed the “Aquarium on Ice” to attract more visitors. Instead, it ended up alienating them. A public furor broke out on social media, with many accusing the amusement park of cruelty to animals.

“Why do they do such a thing of bad taste?” one commenter wrote on Facebook. “Playing on the dead fish in the ice is nothing but insanity,” wrote another. “Isn’t it a desecration of lives?”On Sunday, Space World apologized on its website, saying it would close the rink until further notice.

“We seriously take to heart a lot of various opinions, such as ‘you shouldn’t use these creatures in entertainments or events,’ or ‘poor fish,’ ” the announcement on the home page read. “We deeply apologize to all who had unpleasant feelings about the ice aquarium.”

In an interview with NHK, the Japanese public broadcaster, Toshimi Takeda, the general manager of Space World, said, “We thought that we could provide an opportunity for visitors to enjoy ice skating while learning about various kinds of fish.”

“We regret this terribly,” he added.

NHK reported that the park would melt the rink to remove the fish and planned to hold a memorial service for them. It may also use the dead sea creatures as fertilizer.

According to the Japanese news media, the fish, crabs and other shellfish were already dead when the amusement park bought them at a wholesale market. The park also placed photographs of larger fish, like whale sharks, under the ice.

Not all visitors were appalled by the exhibit.

“What’s the difference between skating over the beautifully decorated rink with fish in the ice that are already dead and will only be thrown away, and visiting a museum to look at already dead dinosaurs, also beautifully decorated?” Oshita Ayano posted on Facebook. “I’m looking forward to the next plan.”

Pakistan's 'first cyber harassment hotline' goes live Dec 1

The Digital Rights Foundation has announced that it will launch Pakistan's 'first cyber harassment hotline' on Dec 1.

The service will be available at 0800-39393 .

The announcement made on DRF's Facebook page said the hotline is a "free, safe and confidential service" for victims of online harassment which aims to provide legal advice, digital security support, psychological counselling and a referral system to victims.

"It will begin its operations on Dec 1, 2016," the DRF said.

The launch of the helpline is part of the DRF's 16 Days of Activism on Violence Against Women.

More Than Coffee: New York’s Vanishing Diner Culture

For the past 25 years — since the divorce — I’ve lived a good part of my life in diners. Without them I might be slimmer, but also crazier and more unhappy. Judging by the crowds at the Metro Diner, on 100th Street and Broadway, my current haunt, I suspect that other New Yorkers feel the same way. To say that the Metro has become my second home would be too vague and sentimental. Better to use the sociological term “the third place” (home and work being the first two), or to quote Robert Frost, the place “where, when you have to go there/ They have to take you in.” American coffee shops, like English pubs, Viennese coffee houses and Greek kaffenions, tend to engender klatches, informal clubs. At the old Key West Diner on 94th Street and Broadway, now known as the Manhattan Diner, the laughter of the comedian Anne Meara and her friends used to fill the room. And where would the sitcom classic “Seinfeld,” the idea of which was conceived in a coffee shop, have been without the regular scenes at Monk’s Café? The best days of the New York City diner, however, appear to be over. Among the 2016 casualties were the Lyric Diner in Gramercy and the 40-year-old Del Rio in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, while La Parisienne near Columbus Circle and the 53-year-old Market Diner in Hell’s Kitchen closed in 2015. Then there was Cafe Edison, a 34-year-old coffee shop that shut in 2014 to much sadness in the Broadway community.Manhattan has certainly seen more diner closings than other boroughs. That said, with rising costs in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods, classic diners like the Neptune and Bel Aire, both in Astoria, Queens, could soon be under threat. In Downtown Brooklyn, the building that has housed the original Junior’s Restaurant since 1950 was almost sold. But after considering several offers, the owner Alan Rosen decided that the community still needed cheesecake more than luxury high-rises.Urban renewal, astronomical rents, changing eating habits and the preponderance of no-refill coffee places like Starbucks have all contributed to the demise of the New York diner. There are roughly half as many as there were 20 years ago, according to records from the health department.

Losing New York diner culture would probably be a watershed in the city’s history. How will New Yorkers get along without these antidotes to urban loneliness? “The coffee shop orients us here, in this city and not another,” Jeremiah Moss, of the blog Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York, said. “If we are regulars, we become known, connected, to a network of people who remain over the span of years, even decades. In the anonymous city, these ties can be lifesavers, especially for the elderly, the poor, the marginal, but also for all of us. Without them, the city becomes evermore fragmented, disorienting and unrecognizable.” The Metro is a treasure trove of local history. It is in one of the few wood-frame buildings left in Manhattan. Built by the grocer Henry Grimm in 1871, it was bought in 1894 by the brewer Peter Doelger. He turned the ground floor into a restaurant and saloon, with families entering through the back while gentlemen drank beer in the front. (Around the same time, Mr. Doelger’s cousin Matilda married a prizefighter, John West, whose daughter Mae — yes, the Mae West — may have picked up some of her unconventional performance style from hanging around the Doelger bar.)Over the course of its existence, the Grimm building also housed a milliner’s shop, a tearoom and, in the 1950s, the rehearsal studio and offices of the avant-garde Living Theater. The sociologist Ray Oldenburg, in “The Great Good Place,” a book about diners and taverns, suggests that the past is an essential element of all third places, which are usually in older sections of cities, and in those areas “exists the fading image of the city itself and the kind of human interaction, the easy and interesting mixing of strangers that made the city what it was.”But not only what it was. One of the charms of the Metro, and of many other diners in the city, is that the employees’ backgrounds are as varied as the languages spoken by the tourists who have found their way here. Costa Rica, Ecuador, Greece, Mexico, Poland, Romania — these are just a few of the countries where staff members come from. Together they constitute a microcosm of the immigrant groups that continue to arrive in New York — who not only made the city what it was, but the best of what it is and could be. My first diner nesting place was Harvey’s Coffee Shop on 78th and Broadway, in Manhattan, where I would order matzo ball soup and a Coke after seeing my therapist across the street. Harvey was known for his Yiddish-speaking Puerto Rican countermen and for serving deliciously seasoned chopped meat on white bread.After Harvey’s closed, I moved to the Utopia on 73rd and Amsterdam, a venerable place with a low ceiling, Greek-themed murals and waiters who seemed to never age. As my thighs outgrew the narrow booths, I moved to the Central Park Cafe/Restaurant, at 97th and Columbus.In the late 1990s, the Cafe replaced Michael’s Pub, where Woody Allen played clarinet once a week. This was the liveliest of my hangouts. Every morning a group of retired men in baseball caps, along with a spirited Jayne Mansfield look-alike, heckled one another and batted sports statistics back and forth for hours. The music of their banter was pure Bach counterpoint. After the Cafe succumbed in 2005, I spent months looking for my next “third place.” Diner regulars can be particular. The ambience has to be friendly but not intrusive, the sound level low but not funereal, the smell a little greasy but not cloying, and the décor more utilitarian than fussy. I eventually settled in at the Metro.

Among diners, the Metro is quietly sophisticated. The décor is self-consciously Art Deco, the booths spacious. There is a generous, though tasteful, use of diner decorator staples like vinyl, Formica and chrome. Politicians, including former Gov. David A. Paterson of New York and the city comptroller, Scott M. Stringer, have been spotted in the booths. The hostess, Jenny Bello, wears outfits that could rival the wardrobe collection from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in the 1950s. Fanis Tsiamtsiouris, known as Frank, and Fotios Hilas own the Metro along with three other diners. They calculated that the Metro poured about 700 cups of coffee, made 150 hamburgers and used over 1,200 eggs every day. The place opened in 1989, when Mr. Tsiamtsiouris consolidated five stores, among them a kosher butcher, a copy store and a Cuban-Chinese restaurant. Though diners are sometimes bought by other enterprising immigrants, many of the surviving ones are still owned by Greek-Americans. Historians differ on how and when Greek immigrants got into the business, but they agree that a growth spurt occurred right after World War II. Their story is a classic American one that combines entrepreneurs putting in long hours, families helping one another and informal associations creating a safety net of connections.“When my family came over in 1967, we had an $8,000 debt to pay, so we all went to work,” Mr. Tsiamtsiouris said. “So first I was a cleanup guy, then busboy, then a waiter, then a manager.” He had one uncle in the business when he started out, he recalled, and he met many other owners through Pan Gregorian, a food industry cooperative. In the back of the Metro’s long room, the area is set up with small tables for regulars like me who linger over breakfast. Rosa and Dumitra, Diana and John, and Enid and Fabiano know what we’re going to order, but pretend to let us decide.

For years the unofficial queen of the Metro was Batyah Hyman, also known as Betty, a beautiful, 80-something Swedish and South African woman who sat at the head of the room. I don’t remember how we drifted into conversation — probably a political issue that we disagreed about. Somehow we sensed that we could be friends, or at least “affiliated,” the way Mr. Oldenburg, the sociologist, described friendship among regulars at a place like the Metro. She lives around the corner, but Ms. Hyman no longer eats breakfast at the Metro. She drops by from time to time, and the waitress Rosa Soto babysits her grandchildren. Nobody has dared to claim her table. A few years ago, one of my oldest friends, the political scientist and philosopher Marshall Berman, died in the Metro. An eloquent writer about New York neighborhoods, I think he would have appreciated his heart’s choice of where to expire.

Story of prisoners sent to Australia in 'Death or Liberty'

A film telling the story of 3,000 political prisoners moved to Australia will be screened in south Wales.

"Death or Liberty" looks at how the British government sent people there in the 18th and 19th centuries so they could no longer be heard. It feared if they were hung, drawn and quartered for treason they would become martyrs. The film was shown at the Atrium in Cardiff and Cwtsh in Newport on Thursday. Directed by Billy Bragg and based on a book by Tony Moore, it was also shown at Monmouth's Shire hall on Friday. Among the exiled rebels, radicals and reformers are the south Wales chartists John Frost and Zephaniah Williams. Their death sentences for treason for their part in the Newport Rising were commuted to life transportation at the start of Queen Victoria's reign."They suffer quite badly. They voyage out and then they're at Port Arthur, which is a kind of maximum security jail," Dr Moore told Sunday Supplement. "Zephaniah Williams has a bad trot there - he's sent down to the coal mines and tries to escape or is accused of escaping and goes into solitary confinement. "Frost fares a little better, his skills as a clerk and knowledge are put to use but he gets to observe the harsh punishments... interestingly Frost becomes a major advocate against transportation.

"So his political significance does not diminish by being sent to Australia."

Indian buyers interested in Pakistani kinnow

Chairman Standing Committee of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) on horticulture exports, Ahmad Jawad has said that that India this year again interested to import Pakistani kinnow due to its exotic taste and rich in quality. In a statement here on Sunday, Ahmad Jawad said that buyers from Delhi and Indian Punjab have started negotiation to import kinnow for Indian consumers. He said there is a huge consumption of oranges in India but yet India didn’t produced ample production for their consumers therefore they have a compulsion to look into their neighbors to meet the demands. He said every year Pakistani kinnow exported to Delhi and Jamu and Kashmir on a good rates, but this year we have to look the factor of aggression of the Indian forces and their continuously violation of Line of Control (LoC). The chairman FPCCI standing committee also said that the demand for Pakistani kinnows has dropped in overseas markets to some extent as Turkey and Egypt have started producing seedless kinnows. “The demand for seedless kinnows remains high, especially in the West, but unfortunately Pakistan does not produce such varieties,” said Jawad. He urged Pakistani farmers start production of seedless kinnow, so that exporters could be able to penetrate European Union markets and we are in a position to introduce new varieties, which will fetch good prices in the existing markets. Ahmad Jawad said the worth of citrus varieties and value-added products in the international market stood at about $15 billion. By introducing other varieties, Pakistan could generate over $1 billion through exports every year, he added. The chairman FPCCI standing committee on horticulture exports said that as the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) has already introduced two new varieties. Therefore, they should be planted in the production hubs on a priority basis, he suggested. In this regard, the government may activate the Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Company (PHDEC) so that necessary collaboration may take place with Parc and the Punjab government, he added. The export season for Pakistani kinnows is about to commence. There is lower production, but due to improved weather conditions, the quality is better than last year. The export season will start on December 01, this allows for more exports, particularly to the Russian market. Usually, the season lasts until April, but it is too early to predict now. There are several factors that influence the length of the season including weather condition and the demand in neighboring countries such as China, Afghanistan and Central Asian states, especially on their local holidays like Chinese New Year and the Persian New Year. Jawad further told production of kinnows in Pakistan this season is estimated to be around 1.4 million tons and export will fetch more than 300,000 tons due to Indonesian authorities allowed to import Pakistani kinnow from the month of December, before they allowed from February onwards.

Ex-Indian army chief praises Pakistan's incoming chief Gen Bajwa

Former Indian Army chief General Bikram Singh has said Pakistan's incoming Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa is a "professional".

"In the UN operations, Gen Bajwa's performance was totally professional and outstanding," Gen Singh was quoted as saying by Times of India as he described the time when Gen Bajwa had served under him on a United Nations assignment in Congo. He added, "A military officer's conduct in the international environment is different from the way he conducts himself back home. There, he is governed by his country's national interests," he was quoted. General Bikram Singh was the 25th Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army and held the post until July 31, 2014. He was also the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee of the Indian armed forces. Another Indian army official, who was not identified in the story, was quoted saying, "Gen Bajwa is well-versed with the complexities, nature of operations and terrain along the LoC. He has also handled Kashmir extensively during his career." A day earlier, Lt Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, a career infantry officer belonging to the Baloch Regiment, was chosen as Pakistan's next Chief of Army Staff. He will be promoted to the rank of a four-star general and will take up his new post from Tuesday, the day the current army chief Raheel Sharif retires.

Pakistan joins Ashgabat Agreement, Lapis Lazuli Corridor

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday announced Pakistan's decision to join the Ashgabat Agreement and the Lapis Lazuli Corridor while addressing a two-day Global Sustainable Transport Conference in the Turkmen capital.The Ashgabat agreement is a transport agreement between Oman, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and seeks to create an international transport and transit corridor.The objective of the agreement is to facilitate the transport of goods between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.The Lapis Lazuli Corridor seeks to foster transit and trade cooperation between Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey by reducing barriers facing transit trade.It intends to develop a Custom Procedure Integration in the region. "I would like to take this historic opportunity to announce our agreement in principle to join the Ashgabat Agreement as well as the Lapis Lazuli Corridor." "I am positive [the Ashgabat Agreement] will be beneficial not only to Pakistan but also to the entire Central Asian and South Asian region and beyond." The premier said "peaceful neighbourhood is a key pillar of [Pakistan's] policy", adding that without regional peace and stability "we will not be able to reap the benefits of regional connectivity and integration". "Through integration of economies, markets and, more importantly cultures, which provide the doorway for peaceful co-existence, I have asked my relevant government ministers to approach the depository countries for an early start of negotiations in this behalf." Referring to China's one-belt one-road initiative as a "game-changer", the PM said: "It aims to create the world's largest platform to integrate development of various regions in the Eurasian land mass." He said the most promising element of this initiative is the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. "A package of multiple infrastructure and development projects that will boost connectivity in the region, help integrate South Asia, China, Central Asia and the Middle East and offer opportunities for hundreds of millions of people in this region."

Assessing India's water threat

Blood and water can’t flow together,” declared a belligerent Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 26, 2016 in the wake of 19 Indian soldiers dying in a militant attack on Uri military base, just inside Indian-administered Kashmir. Holding Pakistan responsible for the violence, Modi promised to unshackle India’s policy of “restraint” — implying that India was now going to hurt Pakistan by choking its water supply. For the people of Pakistan, a nation dependent upon agriculture for its survival, the Indus rivers are their lifeline. As it is, Pakistan is ranked second, after China, in the Water Shortage Index, highlighting the vulnerability of the Pakistani population to frequent water shortages. Modi’s proclamation generated lots of nationalistic hyperbole in the two nuclear-armed twins but also inflicted some damage: many on this side of the border are perturbed about Modi making good on his threat and stopping water supply to Pakistan.

Can Modi turn the taps off immediately?

Can Modi turn off the taps and choke Pakistan’s rivers?

Not quite.The Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, which governs water sharing arrangements between India and Pakistan, outlines a framework for how either country can exploit water potential and how they can’t. While the Indus Waters Treaty is upheld, India cannot turn the taps off — in fact, it does not have the capacity at the moment to do so either — but it can definitely delay the release of water flows. And historically, India hasn’t been averse to using this tactic when relations with Pakistan turn sour. This time has been no different. In a story printed in the October 12 edition of Dawn, irrigation department officials warned of a record reduction of water levels at Head Marala in the Chenab. The fear is that water shortage in the river and two of its canals, Marala-Ravi Link Canal and Upper Chenab Canal, can adversely affect the sowing of crops particularly in Sialkot, Gujrat, Gujranwala and Sheikhupura districts. The situation has worsened at the time of this report going into print.The cultivation cycle in the subcontinent is divided into two seasons: khareef (monsoon) and rabi (winter). Khareef sowing starts in July or even June while the sowing of rabi crops begins in September and October, depending upon glacial melts and the amount of rains. The water flows in the Indus system varies exponentially in different months. Up to 90 per cent of flows can be accounted for during July to September.

For rabi crops such as wheat, pulses, onions, tomatoes and potatoes, timing is crucial. With October at an end, the record reduction of Chenab water flows can translate into delayed rabi sowing, which in turn will adversely impact produce for local consumption in the coming season and lead to price inflation. In practical terms, consider this: tomatoes are being sold in the market at 25 rupees per kilo today; expect this price to rise manifold in the coming year. This is besides the food and income insecurity that thousands of growers in Punjab and Sindh will be pushed into.

A crisis is certainly brewing.

Beyond hyperbole and nationalistic fervour, the two South Asian giants need to be at the negotiating table. Normally a dispute like the one reported by Dawn on October 12 could have been resolved at a meeting of the Indus water commissioners, mandated by the Indus Waters Treaty to be held once a year. But the Indian assertion that these meetings will resume only once “an atmosphere free of terror is established” spells disaster for our farmers. The only safeguard that the Indus Waters Treaty offered Pakistan was through the Permanent Indus Commission whose meetings India has been routinely flouting under one pretext or the other. If the situation persists, Pakistan will have no option but to take the matter through the cumbersome route of World Bank and international arbitration. All through this period, India will enjoy undue exploitation of water resources at the expense of the people of Pakistan.

What can India not do?

Caught in nationalistic fervour, hawks in the Indian media have been blaming their previous governments for failing to exercise a water offensive like the one PM Modi is intent on implementing.Indeed, India can hypothetically terminate the Indus Waters Treaty and restrict even the rivers flowing into Pakistan through the diversion of Indus rivers waters. But when it comes to practice, this position remains untenable. The waters of the Indus rivers flow through deep gorges of the Karakoram and Himalayan mountains. The only way to divert water from here is to tunnel through hundreds of kilometres of the world’s highest and toughest mountains.Granted that all technical problems have technical solutions. However such an undertaking would be financially prohibitive, technically extremely challenging, and with minimal cost-benefit ratios. The longest tunnel dug in the world is the Gotthard Base Tunnel to facilitate rail travel. Although it is being drilled for the last 22 years through the Swiss Alps, it is merely 57 kilometres long and has already incurred an estimated cost of 12 billion US dollars. For India to divert waters of the western Indus basin rivers for meaningful use, it will have to dig up to 300 kilometres of tunnels.

As such, diverting the water going into western rivers which feed Pakistan is not a feasible option.In addition, India has remained part of the Non-Aligned Movement and prides itself in having contributed towards drafting many international conventions including the UN Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses 1997, Helsinki Rules 1966 and their Berlin Revisions of 2004. Politically, an attempt to scrap the Indus Waters Treaty would bring massive international condemnation to India.

India’s planned infrastructure projects: how can they affect Pakistan?

While India may not have the capacity to turn off the taps immediately or divert the waters of the rivers flowing into Pakistan, it is undertaking a number of projects that could have an adverse impact on Pakistan’s water availability in the future.The Indus Waters Treaty handed Pakistan the right to unrestricted use of the three western rivers — Indus, Chenab and Jhelum. The eastern rivers — Sutlej, Beas and Ravi — went to India. While the treaty allowed India to divert the waters of the eastern rivers, it could only tap into 3.6 MAF of water from the western rivers for irrigation, transport and power generation.Experts at the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) complain that India has been constructing huge water storages on all six Indus basin rivers, not just on the three under its full control. For example, Baglihar and Salal on Chenab are already generating 450 MW/h and 690 MW/h respectively while the planned Bursar and Pakal hydroelectric projects also on the Chenab will produce 1020MW and 1000 MW/h respectively. The size of the energy outputs is an indication of the size of the projects. Pakistan’s Mangla, for comparison, generates 1000MW/h.In all, India is in different phases of planning or construction of some 60 storages of varying capacity over the six Indus rivers, though analysis of satellite imagery obtained by Dawn suggests the number may be more [see map]. Technical experts in Pakistan worry that such storages will provide India ultimate strategic leverage of increasing or decreasing river flows during tensions between the two countries, even if it cannot legally divert the waters for its own use.Sheraz Memon, additional commissioner of the Indus Water Commission, argues that India does not have sufficient capacity to withhold the water of the western rivers nor it can divert them. “But they may keep the implementation of the treaty at a snail’s pace, for example through delaying the meetings of the Permanent Indus Commission and not providing data or information about their new hydroelectric plants,” he warns.

There is also talk of expediting the construction of the Pakal Dul, Sawalkot, and Bursar dams, also in Jammu and Kashmir. Indian media reports claim that the Indian government might also resume work on the Tulbul Navigational Project — also known as Wullar Barrage — work on which began in 1985 but stopped soon after Pakistan lodged a formal complaint against its construction. Pakistan opposed the project at the time since it would have allowed India to store, control and divert River Jhelum, which was a clear violation of the Indus Waters Treaty. If completed, Tulbul will adversely affect the water storage potential of Mangla Dam. During 1956, Pakistani negotiators were warned by their irrigation officials and technical experts not to accede to Indian delegation chief ND Gulhati’s demand — also supported by the World Bank — to allow India to build small storages over the western rivers. Until the signing of the treaty, the Indian predicament was that while Customary International Law and conventions gave them a legitimate right over 33 MAF or 21 percent of the six Indus rivers water — corresponding to 21 per cent of the Indus basin being in Indian territory — India had little room to utilise this water within the basin. The Indus Waters Treaty gave them an opportunity to divert water towards Rajasthan for irrigating over 700,000 acres of land which was previously bare sand dunes.

Historical follies – Where Pakistan went wrong in negotiating the Indus Waters Treaty Before the Treaty, the waters of the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej were utilised for the cultivation of lands as far south as Bahawalpur State. Suddenly there was no water for thousands of farmers on this side of the border until Tarbela Dam was finally opened in 1976. But Pakistani negotiators at the time acquiesced, on the pretext that this shared water would also benefit their Muslim brethren in Kashmir. Pakistani negotiators did not even bother to specify the size of the so-called small storages but agreed to India officially withdrawing up to 3.6 MAF of water for local use. In comparison, the current storage capacity of Mangla Dam, after expansion, is about 7.4 MAF. Given the pliancy of Pakistani negotiators at the time, the Indus Waters Treaty emerged as a treatise that was skewed in favour of India. Perhaps it is for this reason that PM Modi announced that while India will not review or abrogate the Indus Waters Treaty, it will exploit water under its share to the fullest. It will, for example, build more run-of-the-river hydropower projects on the western rivers and irrigate over 400,000 acres in Jammu and Kashmir.

One thing seems certain: India will continue to build additional storages on the Indus rivers to store more than its allowed quota of up to 3.6 MAF of water. This will also provide hawks the option of delaying khareef crops in Pakistan from time to time. If the winters’ torment is harsh, delay in summers sowing would be a national crisis. There is a real danger that current Indian antics will push Pakistan towards construction of very large dams at Diamer and Kalabagh, displacing more people and adversely impacting our environment which is already in a poor state.a “India is employing pressure tactics on Pakistan by announcing it will speed up dam construction,” argues Dr Pervaiz Amir, director of the Pakistan Water Partnership. “Pakistan must address its own internal water security and create sufficient storage. India has 200 projects in hand. Saving water is a planned response by India, and Pakistan should follow suit.” But increasing storage capacity is not the same as storage capacity from large dams, which in any case is not the panacea that it is made out to be. During the last 69 years, Pakistan has developed three major water storages at Tarbela, Mangla and Chashma with a cumulative storage capacity of 12.1 MAF against average water flows of 133 MAF annually through the three Indus rivers. There have been little or no independent studies to either assess or address the issues of resettlement, the massive loss to the environment and overall economic cost due to construction of large dams. In addition, issues of climate change —which have only recently come to the fore — raise questions about the risks posed to and by large dams. Freak weather conditions, such as unusually intense cloudbursts, are becoming more common and have already resulted in threats to people living downstream of large dams. To add insult to injury, we have been ruthlessly pumping out underground water through tubewells. Such pumping is severely affecting the underground water levels in the country and often being replaced by saline water, adversely affecting agricultural output. The number of tubewells in Pakistan has risen from 2,400 to over 600,000 since 1960. While we could continue to curse the World Bank bureaucracy, American interests in the region and Indian cunning for having deprived the country of its water share, we must also look at our own wasteful attitudes towards utilisation of available water resources as well as the politics around available water. Pakistan loses almost half of its existing available water through seepage in the irrigation system [see table]. This is a prime cause of waterlogging and salinity which are turning large areas of fertile land barren. Surely lining of water canals and water courses should be the first priority in saving the water we have at our disposal, rather than the construction of large dams.According to WAPDA’s published figures, average cereal production in Pakistan against a metre cube of water is mere 0.13 kg. In India, the same amount of water yields 0.39 kg, yield in China is estimated at 0.82 kg, in the US 1.56 kg and in Canada 8.2 kg [see table]. Clearly better management of water resources, efficient crop yields and serious efforts towards population control will be much more advantageous than building additional dams and storages that will ultimately result in catastrophic environmental issues and human resettlement crises as being faced in India and China. The issue of water supply does not simply concern the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Tahir Rasheed, CEO of the South Punjab Forest Company (SPFC) and a senior environmentalist, warns that if the Indo-Pak water crisis spirals out of control, the friction can engulf other countries of the region as well, especially Afghanistan.“Afghanistan is [currently] utilising 1.8 MAF of water [from the Kabul River which feeds into the Indus], which is estimated to rise to 3.6 MAF in the future,” says Rasheed. “Pakistan currently does not have any water sharing accord with its northwestern neighbor. But the projected increase of water use by Afghanistan can affect the lower riparian, Pakistan.”

In conclusion

The Indus Waters Commissioners of Pakistan and India have met every year since the Indus Waters Treaty came into force. The wars of 1965 and 1971, the Siachen and Kargil conflicts and the Mumbai attacks weren’t able to dent it. In standing the test of time, the treaty has shown that it generates the least conflict and more cooperation between the South Asian neighbours.The chances of India scrapping the treaty altogether and diverting the western rivers are negligible to none. But one must not put past India its flouting the spirit of the treaty and manipulating water flows to turn the screws on Pakistan. Pakistan’s response, however, should not be as cavalier as when it negotiated the treaty, ignoring sound technical advice and short-changing itself in the bargain. It needs to put its own house in order on an urgent basis — by better utilising its existing water resources. Pakistan’s protestations against India’s perfidy will then carry far more weight.

Kashmir issue will be resolved through indigenous struggle

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Friday told lawmakers in the National Assembly that the Kashmir issue would only be resolved through indigenous movements within India-held Kashmir led by the younger generation. Aziz said Pakistan would continue extending political, diplomatic and moral support to the Kashmiri cause on international and bilateral forums."We have been taking our diplomatic campaign forward with zeal since Prime Minister Nawaz's speech regarding the Kashmir issue in the United Nations General Assembly."The movement has not lost any of its zeal even after the aggression against it and Pakistan will continue to support it," he reiterated.Pakistan is willing to hold a dialogue with India on all issues, on the condition that the Kashmir dispute is brought to the table and a resolution sought in accordance with United Nations resolutions, Aziz said."Even though we have a policy of neighbourly relations with all neighbouring countries we will stick to this policy on Kashmir issue," he said. "These are the points of our international policy, which has always remained the same, even though there is a shift in its intensity from time to time," he explained.He added that Pakistan "will respond in kind to any Indian violence as we have the capability to defend our borders."The adviser's statements come days after Indian troops targeted a passenger bus and ambulance across the Line of Control, and killed three Pakistan Army soldiers and 10 civilians in various incidents of 'unprovoked' firing.Tension between the two countries is again at a peak following an alleged Indian 'surgical strike', unrest in Kashmir and the Uri army base attack in September.Since then there have been repeated outbreaks of cross-border firing in Kashmir, with both sides reporting deaths and injuries including of civilians.Modi stepped up a drive to isolate Pakistan diplomatically after the Uri army base attack in September in which 19 Indian soldiers were killed. Hours after the attack occurred, Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh termed Pakistan a 'terrorist state' and accused Pakistan of involvement.Shortly after, India decided to suspend Indus Water Commission talks until "Pakistan-sponsored terror" in India ended.The Uri attack occurred days before Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was set to address the United Nations General Assembly regarding Indian human rights violations in held Kashmir.Following the attack, India claimed it had conducted a cross-border 'surgical strike' against 'launch pads of terror' in Azad Jammu and Kashmir — a claim Pakistan has strongly rejected.Pakistan maintains that India is attempting to divert the world's attention away from atrocities committed by government forces in India-held Kashmir.

Kashmir 'crackdown'

In the worst civilian violence to hit the restive region of Indian-held Kashmir since 2010, over 90 Kashmiri civilians have been killed and thousands more injured in Indian-held Kashmir in clashes with security forces after the killing of a prominent Kashmiri separatist leader Burhan Wani, in a military operation on July 8.Wani, a 22-year-old commander of Kashmir's largest pro-independence militant group Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), was killed along with two other separatists during a gun battle with Indian government forces.Wani joined the HM group at the age of just 15, and was viewed as a hero by many in Kashmir.The state's former chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted after his death that he had become the “new icon of Kashmir's disaffected”.Witnesses said tens of thousands attended his funeral despite a curfew imposed by Indian authorities, chanting independence slogans.Most have died in clashes between protesters and government forces who have fired tear gas and pellet guns at demonstrators.Authorities have imposed a curfew across large parts of the region, with schools, shops and many banks closed.Internet and mobile networks have also been cut off in a bid to prevent protests.

Australian IS recruiter, believed killed in Iraq in April, 'under arrest'

An Australian citizen believed to be a top recruiter for Islamic State is under arrest, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing an unnamed US military official, months after Australia said he had been killed in a US air strike.Australia said in May that Neil Prakash, who was linked to several Australia-based attack plans, was killed in an air strike in Mosul, Iraq, on April 29.The New York Times said Prakash was wounded in the attack and arrested by a Middle East government "in the last few weeks". The Australian Broadcasting Corp, citing Turkish and Australian officials, said he was arrested in Turkey.Australian Attorney-General George Brandis, who announced Prakash's death in May, declined to comment on "matters of intelligence or law enforcement operations". Justice Minister Michael Keenan said in an email response to Reuters that the government's "capacity to confirm reports of deaths in either Syria or Iraq is limited".Melbourne-born Prakash had appeared in Islamic State videos and magazines and had actively recruited Australian men, women and children and encouraged acts of terrorism.Australia last year announced financial sanctions against Prakash, including threatening anyone giving financial assistance with punishment of up to 10 years in jail.

Indian belligerence disastrous for region, Sartaj tells P5

Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz Friday briefed the mission heads of the permanent members of the UN Security Council regarding the continued unprovoked ceasefire violations by Indian forces at along the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary. The adviser strongly condemned the reprehensible attack on the civilian bus in Neelum Valley on November 23. He said the Indian forces also fired upon the ambulances that had come to rescue the injured people from the site of the attack.The deliberate targeting of civilian populated areas is condemnable and deplorable and must be investigated, said Sartaj.The adviser referred to persistent ceasefire violations by India, especially during the last two months, which resulted in the loss of more than 45 innocent civilian lives and injuries to more than 139 others along the LoC and the Working Boundary.Indian belligerence is a threat to the regional peace and security and can lead to a strategic miscalculation that would be disastrous for the region, said Sartaj.The adviser once again called upon the permanent members of UN Security Council to play their crucial role in maintaining global peace and security and urge India to immediately put an end to escalation and bloodshed along the LoC and the Working Boundary.

Water that belongs to India cannot be allowed to go to Pakistan’

After Pakistan warned India over unilateral revocation of the Indus Water Treaty, Indian Prime Minister Narendr Modi Friday said water that ‘belongs’ to India cannot be allowed to flow into Pakistan.“The fields of our farmers must have adequate water. Water that belongs to India cannot be allowed to go to Pakistan… Government will do everything to give enough water to our farmers,” The Indian Express quoted Modi as saying.“We formed a task force on Indus water treaty to ensure farmers of Punjab and other states get each drop of water due to them,” Modi told a farmers' convention in Bathinda, Punjab.The World Bank-mediated Indus Water Treaty, signed in 1960 by President Ayun Khan and Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, is considered a success story of water diplomacy.Under the treaty, water of six rivers - Beas, Ravi, Sutlej, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum - are to be shared between the two countries.Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz had said in September the treaty was an international agreement and a joint document signed by Pakistan and India, which could only be revoked mutually rather than unilaterally.

Erdogan warns Turkey could open gates for migrants if pushed by EU

President Tayyip Erdogan warned on Friday that Turkey could open its gates for migrants to Europe if pushed by the European Union, a day after European lawmakers voted for a temporary halt to EU membership talks with Ankara. "If you go any further, these border gates will be opened. Neither me nor my people will be affected by these dry threats. It wouldn't matter if all of you approved the (European parliament) vote," he told a congress on womens' justice in Istanbul, in comments broadcast live. Erdogan also said a controversial ruling party proposal that could allow men accused of sexual abuse to avoid sentence was not prepared carefully, and believed that the issue would be brought back to parliament with a wider consensus. The proposal would have allowed sentencing to be indefinitely postponed in cases of sexual abuse committed "without force, threat or deception" before Nov. 16, 2016, if the perpetrator married the victim.

India would remember Pakistan's surgical strikes for ages to come

Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif Thursday visited a jirga in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency as part of his farewell tours, Inter-Services Public Relations reported. Addressing the tribal elders, the army chief said that if Pakistan were to conduct a surgical strike, India would remember it for ages to come. He also lauded tribal elders for their to security forces support against terrorism.Earlier, General Sharif laid the foundation stone of Shahid Afridi Cricket Stadium at Bara.

Why the world needs secularism

Secularism simply asks for the separation of religion and the government. It basically says that the same exact same law should exist for everyone, be it a Muslim, Christian, Hindu, etc.The most dreaded and feared word in Pakistan these days is ‘secularism.’ If some poor unsuspecting soul even mentions it by mistake, virtual knives, swords, and a bombardment of insults are catapulted towards him without fail. This comes not only from those who adhere to the extremist way of thinking but also the so-called moderates. “You liberals, libtards” is usually how their argument starts and ends too with not much else in the middle.The majority of the people seem to associate secularism with being atheist, being against Islam, blasphemous, having no morals, being out of control drunkards, and there being no law to keep things in control. They also seem to think that kids will end up marrying their own parents due to secularism. (True story!)

 They could not be further from the truth.

So what exactly is secularism?

This term was first used by a British writer George J. Holyoake in 1851. He wanted a social order, which separated religion from it. This did not mean that everyone could dismiss or criticize religion (Christianity in his references).

He stated:

'Secularism is not an argument against Christianity, it is one independent of it. It does not question Christianity; it advances others.'In politics, secularism simply asks for the separation of religion and the government. It basically says that the same exact same law should exist for everyone, be it a Muslim, Christian, Hindu, etc.This means that the state would remain neutral and no one will be privileged or be at a disadvantage based on their beliefs (or lack of). The state would not throw its weight behind any one particular religion or give preferences. Secularism ensures that all the problems are solved rationally by just scrutinizing the bare facts. There are no personal biases or emotions involved.  This ensures equality for all, regardless of what sect or faith he belongs to. This also breaks down the barriers of caste and class as well.

It does not mean that people will be told not to practice their faith, or mosques will be pulled down, or women told to walk naked on the streets (as this is usually what most are concerned about – women and their clothing). It will not ask everyone to abandon their religion either. In even simpler terms, it means that there will be one civil law for all. Everyone will be equal before it. There will be no discrimination on the basis of religion. This will not only lead to protecting the rights of religious minorities but also add to democracy. Another positive aspect of secularism is that it ensures that religious groups don’t get to interfere in affairs of state. For example, in a secular setting, after Pakistan passed the Women’s Protection Bill, our active and extremely vocal Council of Islamic Ideology would have had no say. The way they have been advocating and demanding the right to beat women, they would have no room to. They would have no choice but to accept and abide by the law that women cannot be beaten up. Again, this does not mean secularism is against religion but rather against those who abuse it. We have many such scholars in our country who twist religion to further their own power over people and to acquire wealth. Secularism would put a stop to that. The exploitation would stop. Take for instance, the people who tried to beat up singer turned cleric Junaid Jamshed at the airport. They would in fact be punished for taking the law in their own hands and not ignored like they were. There would also no longer be false blasphemy cases against anyone; no more making up stories against Muslims and non-Muslims just to settle personal scores. Even if you still remain defiant and adamant that secularism is a curse, then you need to take a step back and look at what is happening in the world of today.

In just one week of Ramadan this year, terrorists killed –

15 in Somalia,

43 in Yemen,

45 in Istanbul,

10 in Syria,

40 in Kabul,

22 in Dhaka,

140 in Baghdad.

In just one week. 7 days! And I am not even talking about Boko Haram, Germany, Nice, or the other people dying on daily basis. Yes, we Muslims are the biggest victims of terrorism. They have killed more Muslims than anyone else, which is why we need to take a step back and reflect on what is going wrong. India and Bangladesh remain secular on paper, but they have also suffered because they have acquiesced to extreme elements.  People are killing others over eating beef, while others from educated rich backgrounds are killing those who simply can’t recite verses from the Quran. There are those who kill others because they think them kafirs.  In an ideal secular setting, every person who does this would be punished by law. Another example would be of the US, if President elect Donald Trump follows through on his anti-Muslim rhetoric the US will step away from its secular foundations. There are people on social media who tell students to book their professors/educators for blasphemy without fear. There are those who come on TV and incite violence. There are those who wish to see women locked at home and never come out of their four walls. There are those who think there is dignity in honor killing. There are those who think Mumtaz Qadri was a hero and gave him the funeral of one. They even built a shrine in memory of him. And the worst is that regular people like you and me, with access to the news, Internet and education are the ones who become apologists for them all. They make excuses. They don’t realize that every time they justify the actions of terrorists/extremists they only give them more power to do even more destruction. Today it was a café, tomorrow it will be your own home. If we don’t want extremists to take over our country and turn it into their own personal kingdom, if we don’t want them to sit on thrones shouting “off with their heads” every time someone opens their mouth, if we don’t want to see the literal version of Game of Thrones around us, secularism is the only way to ensure that does not happen. 

It is no longer poor helpless kids who are becoming terrorists because they needed money, were disillusioned about life, were confused or were brainwashed at madrassas. They are rich, they are educated, and they dream of becoming terrorists because they see nothing wrong in taking the life of another. Terrorists killed 120 kids in Pakistan, and there were still those who defended them and made excuses for them. Secularism is the one way to push them back, to break them and take away their power. When there is no religion in the state for them to abuse, there is not much they will be able to do. Again, this does not mean one will be not be able to practice their religion. Secularism in fact is the best guarantee of freedom of religion or belief as it does not curtail religious freedoms in any way.“Those who use religion for their own benefit are detestable. We are against such a situation and will not allow it. Those who use religion in such a manner have fooled our people; it is against just such people that we have fought and will continue to fight.” – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Pakistan exercises maximum restraint despite LoC violations'

Pakistan has exercised maximum restraint despite the continued ceasefire violations from the Indian security forces along the Line of Control (LoC), said the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. “However, we cannot tolerate deliberate targeting of innocent civilians particularly children and women, the ambulances and the civilian transport,” Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday while chairing a meeting on situation after the bus massacre near Neelum valley by the Indian security forces.  The meeting also reviewed situation along the LoC in the wake of continued unprovoked firing by the Indian security forces.  The PM was briefed on the prevailing situation along LoC particularly after the unprovoked ceasefire violations on November 23 by the Indian occupation Forces in Dhudnial sector, by intentionally targeting a civilian bus and subsequently the ambulances going for the rescue of the injured people. The meeting reiterated its condemnation of the bus massacre and re-affirmed its political, diplomatic and moral support to the people of Indian Held Jammu & Kashmir in their just and legitimate struggle for the exercise of their right to self-determination in accordance with the UNSC resolutions. The meeting urged the international community to take note of the intentional targeting of civilians and increasing number of civilian casualties. The meeting called upon the international community to play its active role in diffusing the deteriorating security situation along the LoC which has been deliberately escalated by the Indian side. Rich tributes were paid to the jawans of Armed Forces of Pakistan who laid down their lives while defending their motherland yesterday. The meeting deplored the belligerent targeting of the ambulance which was rescuing the affectees of the attack on the bus, as a blatant violation of International Humanitarian Law. The meeting agreed that India is deliberately trying to divert the attention of the international community from the grave human rights violations, massacres and atrocities being committed by the Indian security forces against the innocent and defenceless Kashmiris in the Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir. The PM reiterated that, “Kashmir issue is an unfinished agenda of the partition; we will never abandon our Kashmiri brethren in their freedom struggle.”The meeting was attended by Advisor to PM on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, SAPM Tariq Fatemi, NSA Lt. Gen. (R) Nasser Khan Janjua, DG ISI Lt. Gen. Rizwan Akhtar, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Ch. and other senior government officials.

India harmed Saarc forum:

Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz Wednesday said India had impaired the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) forum with its unilateral decision of canceling a scheduled conference.On participation in the upcoming Heart of Asia Conference in India, the adviser said Pakistan was deeply related with Afghanistan and did not want to remain disconnected.In an interview, however, he made it clear that Heart of Asia was not a bilateral conference rather it was related to what was happening inside Afghanistan.To another question, Sartaj said the incumbent government had effectively raised the issue of Indian-held Kashmir at every forum, including the United Nations and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).He said all missions and government’s representatives had been very vocal over the issue. Sartaj informed that a separate cabinet meeting would be held soon over the grave situation in held Kashmir.“It is very significant movement. It is a new kind of Intifada, led by the new Kashmiri generation who are carrying Pakistani flags and demanding liberation from illegitimate Indian rule,” he noted.

CPEC investment soars to $55bn after new Chinese loan

The government has secured an additional $8.5 billion of investment from Beijing as part of the countries' joint energy, transport and infrastructure plan, Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Wednesday.That is on top of the $46-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, which focuses on road building and energy infrastructure to end chronic power shortages in Pakistan and to link China's landlocked north-west with the deep-water port Gwadar on the Arabian Sea.Some $4.5 billion of the additional investment will be spent on upgrading tracks and signaling on railway line from Karachi to Peshawar and increase the speed on the line to 160km per hour from the current 60-80kph, Ahsan told Reuters in an interview.Another $4 billion will go toward an LNG terminal and transmission line, he added. "This has now all been approved, so this is an additional $8.5 billion to the $46 billion we had already, so we are now close to $55 billion," Ahsan said.The International Monetary Fund said in June that repayments and profit repatriation from large-scale investments such as CPEC could add to Pakistan's medium- and long-term risks, predicting that the country's gross external financing needs would rise to $15.1 billion in 2018/2019 from $11.4 billion in the current financial year.But Ahsan said those risks would be countered by the economic boost the investment would give to industries such as steel, construction and engineering, pushing future annual growth to above six per cent.In July the IMF upped its forecast for growth in Pakistan to five per cent from 4.7 per cent in the fiscal year to June 2017, citing China's investment plans."As the economy grows, our capacity to undertake the responsibilities of repayments also improves. What really matters is that all of that investment is going into productive sectors," Ahsan said.Under CPEC, a number of new economic zones will be created along the corridor. Pakistan hopes that some industry will relocate from China, due to cheaper wages and production costs, Ahsan said."Our preferred mode is joint ventures, because that will give a stake to both Pakistani and Chinese enterprises so now our government is actively promoting business-to-business links," he added.

Pak resolution on people’s self-determination right adopted

A Committee of the UN General Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a Pakistan-sponsored resolution reaffirming that the universal realisation of the right of peoples to self-determination was a fundamental condition for the effective guarantee and observance of human rights.The resolution, co-sponsored by 72 countries, was adopted without a vote in the 193-member Assembly's Third Committee, which deals with Social, humanitarian and cultural issues.Political observers state that the resolution, which Pakistan has been tabling since 1981, serves to focus the world's attention on the struggle by peoples for their inalienable right to self-determination, including those in Kashmir and Palestine.The resolution is expected to come up for General Assembly's endorsement next month.The text also declared the 193-member body's firm opposition to acts of foreign military intervention, aggression and occupation, since these have resulted in the suppression of the right of peoples to self-determination and other human rights in certain parts of the world.The resolution also called on those States responsible to cease immediately their military intervention in and occupation of foreign countries and territories, as well as all acts of repression, discrimination, exploitation and maltreatment.Presenting the draft, Pakistan's UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi said that the right to self-determination was a fundamental principle of the United Nations Charter and international law."Exercise of this right has enabled millions across the world to emerge from the yolk of colonial and foreign occupation and alien domination," she said, adding, "Many of us, present here today, are proud inheritors of this struggle to achieve a life of dignity and honor, as free citizens of independent States."Pakistan’s commitment to the universal right of peoples to self-determination was "firm and abiding".She recalled that in 1952, the legendary Professor Ahmad Shah Bukhari, Pakistan’s first Permanent Representative to the UN, speaking before the Security Council, on the Tunisian question, said, “whatever the action the Security Council, in its wisdom may wish to take, we will keep this [right] in our hearts alive, and we will do the best we can.”Pakistan, Maleeha Lodhi added,  was "proud and humbled" to have kept this ideal alive, and to have given voice to the yearning for freedom, in Africa, Asia, and across the world.Under its terms, the Assembly deplored the plight of millions of refugees and displaced persons who have been uprooted as a result of these acts and reaffirms their right to return to their homes voluntarily in safety and honour.It urges the Human Rights Council to give special attention to the violation of human rights, especially the right to self-determination, resulting from foreign military intervention, aggression or occupation. It also requests the Secretary-General to report to the next Session of the General Assembly on this question.

Moscow to Host Russia-China-Pakistan Strategic Talks on Afghanistan in December

Pakistan-China-Russia will hold meeting in Moscow regarding prevailing situation in Afghanistan. There is fuelled speculation of a growing axis spurred by new ties between Moscow and Islamabad. Pakistan, Russia and China will hold consultations on Afghanistan in December to explore ways to reach reconciliation and restore peace in the war-torn country, an official here said. "We attach high importance to all initiatives aimed at bringing peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region at large," Foreign Ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria said in a statement.

The trilateral talks have assumed importance at a time when there is no let-up in the violence in Afghanistan in spite of the advent of winter.

"Under the said trilateral meeting, a working level meeting has already taken place. The deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan has raised concerns about the spillover effect due to the presence of NSAs (non-state actors) and other elements there," the spokesman said.

He said Pakistan will also attend an upcoming meeting of the Heart of Asia in India and Foreign Affairs Adviser to Prime Minister Sartaj Aziz is likely to represent the country in the meeting.

India will host the sixth iteration of Heart of Asia conference in Amritsar during december.  The meeting, which seeks to bring regional countries together to support peace and stability in Afghanistan, was attended by foreign ministers or other high-level representatives from the 14 Heart of Asia member countries (including Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Pakistan, and Russia) as well as representatives from supporting countries and organizations like the EU, Japan, and the United States.

After helicopter sales, and military exercises with Pakistan, India’s traditional ally, Russia, is working on a regional partnership on Afghanistan that includes Pakistan and China. Zamir Kabulov, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Director, 2nd Asian department, said the meeting would “lay the ground” for a regional project centred around Afghanistan. This has fuelled speculation of a growing axis spurred by new ties between Moscow & Isalmabad.
The development has been a blessing for Islamabad. A solid example of the invaluable Russian backing came at the recent BRICs Conference in India, where despite Pakistan’s absence, President Putin and President Xi Jinping thwarted an India-sponsored resolution to declare Pakistan a ‘terrorist State’. This was a huge favour on their part for Pakistan.

“This is a watershed moment,” said a senior Pakistani official, who believes the development is part of the realignment taking place in this part of the world. He remarked that the three-way talks will discuss how to bring an end to the long running conflict in Afghanistan and prevent groups such as Islamic State/ Daesh, from gaining a foothold in the war-torn country. When contacted, the Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria pointed out: “The deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan has raised concerns about the spillover effect due to the presence of non-state actors and other elements there.”

The ‘other elements’ is in fact a reference to certain regional and international powers which Pakistan, Russia and China fear might eventually use the Afghan situation to achieve their larger objectives in the region.

That is why the broader context of the gathering in Moscow in the first week of December is the transformation in relationship taking place among the major international players. The latest initiative is also significant in the backdrop of possible policy changes the US president-elect Donald Trump may bring to the region, including Afghanistan. Turkish President announced seperation from West European powers, yesterday, after he concluded his visit to Uzbekistan and Pakistan. At APEC, world leaders have met on sidelines. This platform for Pacific representatives from Pacific rim that includes Asia, North America, Latin America and Australasia has gained much attention due to various reasons.

PM Nawaz Sharif did visit Russia and had a meeting with President Putin on the sidelines of Shanghai Economic Cooperation Council meeting outside Moscow. Time had come now for the Pakistani leadership to establish a direct and closer rapport with Russian counterpart for giving new dimension to their bilateral cooperation. Russia has been engaged in a $2 billion Gas Pipeline projects and wishes to come to energy sector and road building.

The Chinese history of cooperation with Pakistan is before us. China stood by its words from 1965 war with India, till date, where it is engaged in building a Herculean project of CPEC. The Russian cooperation could be traced back to eight to ten years. Two of former Presidents, General Pervez Musharraf and Asif Ali Zardari visited Moscow for rapprochement with a country, which had turned hostile to us before the 1971 war, strengthened Indian arsenal with latest equipments, which was one of the factors for Pakistan’s humiliation. But as Putin began to rebuild his country’s image, he announced a visit to Pakistan also which was unluckily cancelled at the last minute.

China and Russia seem to be more reliable towards Pakistan compared to the U.S. While Washington has weakened its diplomatic support to Islamabad, Beijing and Moscow seem to be eager to continue defending Pakistanis on the diplomatic sphere.Pakistan-China-Russia will hold meeting in Moscow regarding prevailing situation in Afghanistan. There is fuelled speculation of a growing axis spurred by new ties between Moscow and Islamabad. Pakistan, Russia and China will hold consultations on Afghanistan in December to explore ways to reach reconciliation and restore peace in the war-torn country, an official here said. "We attach high importance to all initiatives aimed at bringing peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region at large," Foreign Ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria said in a statement.

The trilateral talks have assumed importance at a time when there is no let-up in the violence in Afghanistan in spite of the advent of winter.

"Under the said trilateral meeting, a working level meeting has already taken place. The deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan has raised concerns about the spillover effect due to the presence of NSAs (non-state actors) and other elements there," the spokesman said.

He said Pakistan will also attend an upcoming meeting of the Heart of Asia in India and Foreign Affairs Adviser to Prime Minister Sartaj Aziz is likely to represent the country in the meeting.

India will host the sixth iteration of Heart of Asia conference in Amritsar during december.  The meeting, which seeks to bring regional countries together to support peace and stability in Afghanistan, was attended by foreign ministers or other high-level representatives from the 14 Heart of Asia member countries (including Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Pakistan, and Russia) as well as representatives from supporting countries and organizations like the EU, Japan, and the United States.

After helicopter sales, and military exercises with Pakistan, India’s traditional ally, Russia, is working on a regional partnership on Afghanistan that includes Pakistan and China. Zamir Kabulov, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Director, 2nd Asian department, said the meeting would “lay the ground” for a regional project centred around Afghanistan. This has fuelled speculation of a growing axis spurred by new ties between Moscow & Isalmabad.
The development has been a blessing for Islamabad. A solid example of the invaluable Russian backing came at the recent BRICs Conference in India, where despite Pakistan’s absence, President Putin and President Xi Jinping thwarted an India-sponsored resolution to declare Pakistan a ‘terrorist State’. This was a huge favour on their part for Pakistan.

“This is a watershed moment,” said a senior Pakistani official, who believes the development is part of the realignment taking place in this part of the world. He remarked that the three-way talks will discuss how to bring an end to the long running conflict in Afghanistan and prevent groups such as Islamic State/ Daesh, from gaining a foothold in the war-torn country. When contacted, the Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria pointed out: “The deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan has raised concerns about the spillover effect due to the presence of non-state actors and other elements there.”

The ‘other elements’ is in fact a reference to certain regional and international powers which Pakistan, Russia and China fear might eventually use the Afghan situation to achieve their larger objectives in the region.

That is why the broader context of the gathering in Moscow in the first week of December is the transformation in relationship taking place among the major international players. The latest initiative is also significant in the backdrop of possible policy changes the US president-elect Donald Trump may bring to the region, including Afghanistan. Turkish President announced seperation from West European powers, yesterday, after he concluded his visit to Uzbekistan and Pakistan. At APEC, world leaders have met on sidelines. This platform for Pacific representatives from Pacific rim that includes Asia, North America, Latin America and Australasia has gained much attention due to various reasons.

PM Nawaz Sharif did visit Russia and had a meeting with President Putin on the sidelines of Shanghai Economic Cooperation Council meeting outside Moscow. Time had come now for the Pakistani leadership to establish a direct and closer rapport with Russian counterpart for giving new dimension to their bilateral cooperation. Russia has been engaged in a $2 billion Gas Pipeline projects and wishes to come to energy sector and road building.

The Chinese history of cooperation with Pakistan is before us. China stood by its words from 1965 war with India, till date, where it is engaged in building a Herculean project of CPEC. The Russian cooperation could be traced back to eight to ten years. Two of former Presidents, General Pervez Musharraf and Asif Ali Zardari visited Moscow for rapprochement with a country, which had turned hostile to us before the 1971 war, strengthened Indian arsenal with latest equipments, which was one of the factors for Pakistan’s humiliation. But as Putin began to rebuild his country’s image, he announced a visit to Pakistan also which was unluckily cancelled at the last minute.

China and Russia seem to be more reliable towards Pakistan compared to the U.S. While Washington has weakened its diplomatic support to Islamabad, Beijing and Moscow seem to be eager to continue defending Pakistanis on the diplomatic sphere.