Captain among 10 soldiers martyred in two terrorist attacks in N. Waziristan, Balochistan
Islamabad ( 27 July 2019) Ten personnel of the Pakistan armed forces, including an officer, were martyred in two separate attacks in North Waziristan tribal district and Balochistan, the military’s media wing said on Saturday 27 July, 219.
In the first incident, six Pakistan Army soldiers were martyred when terrorists from across the Afghan border opened fire on a border patrolling party near Gurbaz area of North Waziristan district.
“Terrorists from across the border fire raided on Pakistan Army border patrolling party […] 6 soldiers embraced shahadat,” a statement released by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
The deceased soldiers include Havaldar Khalid, Sepoy Naveed, Sepoy Bachal, Sepoy Ali Raza, Sepoy Mohammad Babar and Sepoy Ahsan.
In the second incident, four armed forces personnel were martyred when a contingent of Frontier Corps (FC) Balochistan troops was fired upon by militants during a combing/sensitisation operation between Hushab and Turbat, the ISPR said in a second press release.
The troops martyred in Balochistan include Capt Aaqib, Sepoy Nadir, Sepoy Atif Altaf and Sepoy Hafeezullah.
The martyrdom of six soldiers on the Pak-Afghan border and of four in Balochistan “is the sacrifice Pakistan [is] making for peace in the region”, ISPR Director General Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor tweeted.
He said while the security of the tribal areas has been improved with efforts now focused on solidifying the western border, inimical forces are attempting to destabilise Balochistan. “Their efforts shall [InshAllah] fail,” Maj Gen Ghafoor said.
Prime Minister Imran Khan paid tribute to the martyred soldiers through a tweet. “I salute our armed forces personnel who continue to lay down their lives fighting terrorists to keep the nation safe. My condolences & prayers go to the families of the 10 brave soldiers, including an officer, martyred fighting terrorists in North Waziristan & Balochistan today,” he wrote.
Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa termed the attacks “dying efforts of frustrated inimical forces while Pakistan moves from stability to enduring peace”.
“We shall ensure defence and security of [the] motherland at the cost of our sweat and blood,” a tweet shared by the DG ISPR quoted him as saying.
Gen Bajwa also said that it was “time for the world to facilitate regional peace”.
————————————————————-
A new era in tribal areas
Saturday the 20th July 2019, is a life-changing day for 2.8 million people of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas, who, for the first time, will use their right to franchise for 16 seats in elections for the provincial assembly. For decades, they remained voiceless, while their representatives, mostly influential clerics or tribal lords, elected for National Assembly and Senate seats, hardly raised their concerns at the forums concerned. The merger of the tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province opens up a new chapter of constitutional rights and development to former seven FATA agencies. Earlier, the area remained under the horrible Frontier Crimes Regulation a colonial-era law which denied rights and opportunities to the local population. Decades-old traditions and jirgas would often come up with draconian rulings while the political agent’s word could not be challenged anywhere.
The political mainstreaming of the tribal people will take time. The area remained at the forefront of war on terror for over a decade and suffered huge losses in the wake of 9/11. The area has still chunks of no-go areas and lawless elements still have their hideouts and networks of sympathisers.
Unofficial results show independents secure most seats in historic KP Assembly polls
Independent candidates secured the most number of seats followed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in the first-ever provincial elections held in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s merged tribal districts, according to unofficial Form-47 results published by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on their website. Polls were held on Saturday 20 July, for 16 general seats in seven tribal districts and six towns of KP. Voting was held from 8am to 5pm without a break amid tight security, with army troops, Levies and Khasadar forces deployed outside all 1,897 polling stations. Security personnel were also deployed inside polling stations that had been declared highly sensitive.
In all, 285 candidates, including two women, contested the 16 general seats of the KP Assembly to represent three constituencies each of Bajaur (PK-100 to 102) and Khyber (PK-105 to 107) districts; two each of Mohmand (PK-103 and 104), Kurram (PK-108 and 109), North Waziristan (PK-111 and 112) and South Waziristan (PK-113 and 114); and one each of Orakzai (PK-110) district and ex-Frontier regions (PK-115).
Unofficial results
PK-100 Bajaur-I: PTI’s Anwar Zeb Khan
PK-101 Bajaur-II: PTI’s Ajmal Khan
PK-102 Bajaur-III: JI’s Sirajuddin
PK-103 Mohmand-I: ANP’s Nisar Ahmed
PK-104 Mohmand-II: Independent candidate Abbasur Rehman
PK-105 Khyber-I: Independent candidate Shafiq Afridi
PK-106 Khyber-II: Independent candidate Bilawal Afridi
PK-107 Khyber-III: Independent candidate Mohammad Shafiq
PK-108 Kurram-I: JUI-F’s Mohammad Riaz
PK-109 Kurram-II: PTI’s Syed Iqbal Mian
PK-110 Orakzai: Independent candidate Syed Ghazi Ghazan Jamal
PK-111 North Waziristan-I: PTI’s Muhammad Iqbal Khan
PK-112 North Waziristan-II: Independent candidate Mir Kalam Khan
PK-113 South Waziristan-I: JUI-F’s Hafiz Asamuddin
————————————————————-
ICJ rejects India’s plea for Kulbhushan Jadhav’s acquittal
THE HAGUE (JULY 17, 2019) : The International Court of Justice (ICJ) rejected India’s plea for the acquittal of Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian spy who was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court after his capture and trial, ruling that Jadhav be allowed consular access immediately and asking Pakistan to ensure “effective review and reconsideration of his conviction and sentences”.
Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf announced the verdict in the presence of both Pakistani and Indian delegations.
The ICJ rejected all other remedies sought by India, which included the annulment of the military court decision convicting Jadhav, restricting Pakistani from executing the sentence, securing Jadhav’s release and ordering his return to India.
The ICJ said that even though it had found Pakistan in violation of Article 36 the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR), “it is not the conviction and sentence of Mr. Jadhav which are to be regarded as a violation of Article 36 of the Vienna Convention.”
The most the ICJ said it could do was to order Pakistan to cease violation of Article 36 and review the case in light of how that violation may have affected the case’s outcome.
“The Court notes that Pakistan acknowledges that the appropriate remedy in the present case would be effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence,” it observed.
To this end, Pakistan was directed to immediately inform Jadhav of his rights under Article 36, grant him consular access, and then review the case while considering, under the laws of Pakistan, how not doing so earlier may have impacted the case.
“Islamic Republic of Pakistan is under an obligation to inform Mr Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav without further delay of his rights and to provide Indian consular officers access to him in accordance with Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations,” read the verdict.
“The Court considers that the violation of the rights set forth in Article 36, paragraph 1, of the Vienna Convention, and its implications for the principles of a fair trial, should be fully examined and properly addressed during the review and reconsideration process,” the court directed. “In particular, any potential prejudice and the implications for the evidence and the right of defence of the accused should receive close scrutiny during the review and reconsideration,” it said.
“The Court notes that the obligation to provide effective review and reconsideration can be carried out in various ways. The choice of means is left to Pakistan,” it added.
However, it also added that, “Pakistan shall take all measures to provide for effective review and reconsideration, including, if necessary, by enacting appropriate legislation.”
While that matter is decided, Pakistan was directed to suspend the execution of the death penalty awarded to Jadhav till it fulfills the directives set out by the ICJ.
‘CLEAR CASE OF INDIAN STATE TERRORISM’:
In a statement issued after the verdict, the Foreign Office (FO) said that Pakistan, as a responsible member of the international community, upheld its commitment from the very beginning of the case by appearing before the honourable court for provisional measures hearing despite a very short notice. Having heard the judgement, Pakistan will proceed as per law, FO added.
“It is reiterated that Indian Naval Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav entered Pakistan without a visa on an authentic Indian passport and under the fake alias of Hussain Mubarak Patel. Commander Jadhav is responsible for acts of sabotage, espionage and multiple terrorist incidents in which scores of innocent Pakistani citizens were killed, resulting into umpteen women being widowed and numerous children becoming orphans,” the statement said.
FO further said that Jadhav had confessed all these acts during his trial in the Pakistani court in front of a judicial magistrate. “This is a clear case of Indian state terrorism,” the statement concluded.
Jadhav had been sentenced to death in April 2017 by a Pakistani military court over charges of espionage, following which India moved The Hague-based ICJ. A 10-member bench of the ICJ had in May 2017, restrained Pakistan from executing Jadhav till adjudication of the case.
————————————————————-
Washington greenlights military sales to Pakistan
US approves $125 million for Pakistan military support
The approval was announced days after a White House meeting between Prime Minister Imran Khan and US President Donald Trump, which sought to “reset” troubled US-Pakistan ties. Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa accompanied the prime minister and remained in Washington after his departure as well for a series of meetings with US defence officials.
The US media, while reporting the resumption of military sales to Pakistan, called the prime minister’s July 20-23 visit to Washington as “ice-breaking”. During his three-hour stay at the White House, the prime minister also had a one-on-one meeting with President Trump. Later, in an unprecedented 47-minute joint press talk, President Trump offered to mediate between India and Pakistan to help them resolve the 70-year-old Kashmir dispute.
Pakistan had earlier requested a continuation of technical support services, which includes US government and contractor technical and logistics support services. The request also includes related elements of logistics support to assist in the oversight of operations in support of the Pakistan Peace Drive advanced F-16 programme. The total estimated programme cost is $125m.
“This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by protecting US technology through the continued presence of US personnel that provide 24/7 end-use monitoring,” the notification to Congress said.
“The proposed sale of this support will not alter the basic military balance in the region,” it added, in a bid to assuage possible Indian irritation. Pakistan used the F-16 fighter jets to bring down an Indian aircraft that had intruded into the Pakistani territory a day after India bombed a civilian facility in Balakot in February.
India urged the United States to stop Pakistan from using the F-16s against its air force, but Washington rejected New Delhi’s complaint, saying relevant bilateral agreements allow Islamabad to use the US-built fighter jets in its defense.
The principal contractor for the $125m support programme is Booz Allen Hamilton Engineering Services LLC, Fairborn, Ohio.
Implementation of this proposed sale will require the assignment of 60 contractor representatives to Pakistan to assist in the oversight of operations as part of the Peace Drive F-16 programme.
The DSCA informed Congress that “there will be no adverse impact on US defence readiness as a result of this proposed sale”.
This notice of a potential sale is required by law and does not mean the sale has been concluded.
Almost all such requests, however, are approved after a debate.
Even in case Congress rejects the proposal, the administration can still use a waiver to provide the requested services.
On Monday, 22 July 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters after his meeting with the Pakistani premier at the White House that his country has a better relationship with Pakistan now.
“To be honest, I think we have a better relationship with Pakistan right now than we did when we were paying that money,” said Trump, referring to the roughly $1 billion in security assistance to Pakistan he cut off last year, blaming Islamabad for not doing enough to fight extremism.
“But all of that can come back depending on what we work out,” he said. “We are working on things that are very, very important.”
Later, Khan also thanked President Trump for his warm hospitality during his stay in Washington.
“I want to thank President Trump for his warm & gracious hospitality, his understanding of Pakistan’s point of view & his wonderful way putting our entire delegation at ease. Appreciate the President taking out time to show us the historic White House private quarters,” Khan tweeted.
Khan also assured President Trump that his country will do everything within its power to facilitate the Afghan peace process.
Early last year, the Trump administration halted all military support programmes for Pakistan after accusing Islamabad of not helping Washington in achieving its objectives in Afghanistan.
But during the prime minister’s visit to Washington, both sides announced they were now on the same page on Afghanistan.
————————————————————-
At least 21 dead, over 100 injured in Sadiqabad train accident
By News Desk | July 11, 2019 | At least 21 passengers have died and over 100 injured in a deadly train crash in a southern Punjab district with officials fearing the death toll could go up as some of the injured are in a critical condition. Passenger train Akbar Express travelling to Quetta from Lahore rammed into a freight train at Walhar railway station near Sadiqabad in Rahim Yar Khan district Thursday morning. The impact was so strong that several compartments of Akbar Express went off the rail while the locomotive suffered substantial damage, according to officials. Sadiqabad ASP Dr Hafeezur Rehman Bugti rushed to the spot soon after the crash along with police and rescuers to supervise the rescue operation. More than 50 ambulances both public and private from across the district participated in the rescue operation, according to him. He said a state of emergency has been declared in Sheikh Zayed Hospital and Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, while a control room has also been set up for better coordination.
————————————————————-
Pakistan & India lift all restrictions on civil flights 5 months after Kashmir standoff
Islamabad: (16 Jul, 2019) Pakistan has reopened its skies for civilian flights, which had been forced to make detours after the fighting between New Delhi and Islamabad over Kashmir earlier this year. India has reportedly done the same. The Pakistani Civil Aviation Authority released a statement, saying it had issued a notice to airmen (NOTAM) just after midnight on Tuesday 16 July, that opens the Pakistani airspace for “all types of civilian traffic.” The order is applicable “with immediate effect.”
India has reportedly responded in kind, resuming the flights shortly after Pakistan’s announcement.
“Airlines likely to resume normal routes through Pakistan airspace,” a senior official with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) confirmed, telling the Economic Times that the airlines have already been given a go-ahead.
Aerial transportation between the two neighbors practically came to a standstill after a bitter standoff in February this year that saw fierce aerial combat over the contested area of Kashmir, following Indian airstrikes on alleged positions of the Jaish-e-Mohammed group, which had killed 44 Indian police officers. Pakistan retaliated, shooting down an Indian jet and capturing a pilot, who went on to became a national hero in India upon his release. Sporadic cross-border violence continued as tensions soared, stoking fears of an all-out war between the two nuclear powers.
In the aftermath of the incident, Pakistan shut down its airspace completely in February. The disruption of civil aviation traffic led to flight time increases of up to 90 minutes that caused major losses to Indian and international carriers.
As the tensions between the countries subsided, Pakistan began gradually easing the restrictions. It opened a route for west-bound flights from India in April, and last month, the first New Delhi-bound flight from Abu Dhabi cut through Pakistani airspace. In return, India pledged to open 11 points of entry along its own border.
————————————————————-
Pakistan slapped with $6 billion penalty in Reko Diq case
By Hasnaat Malik | July 13, 2019
ISLAMABAD: The International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) has announced a massive $5.976 billion (Rs944.21 billion) award against Pakistan in the Reko Diq case, which is one of biggest in ICSID history.
The international tribunal on Friday issued a 700-page ruling against Pakistan in the Reko Diq case. Sources revealed to The Express Tribunethat ICSID awarded a $4.08 billion penalty and $1.87 billion in interest. However, Pakistan has decided to challenge the award “very soon” by filing a revision application, sources said. The revision application may take two to three years to decide.
Earlier, Tethyan Copper Company’s (TCC) management, the complainant whose contract was terminated, had claimed $11.43 billion in damages. In 2012, TCC filed claims for international arbitration before the ICSID of the World Bank after the Balochistan government turned down a leasing request from the company. The litigation has continued for seven years. Former chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s verdict in the Reko Diq case was the first in a series of events that led to the massive award.
After the case was filed, Pakistan lost its first jurisdictional challenge, when the international tribunal said that it has the jurisdiction to adjudicate the Reko Diq matter. After that, the tribunal declared that there was no wrongdoing in the agreement the grounds on which the Supreme Court of Pakistan terminated the deal in 2013 and eventually, the tribunal held that Pakistan is liable to pay the damages.
The only remaining issue in the case was the final penalty on Pakistan, which has been now announced.
————————————————————-
World Bank $6bn fine on Pakistan will deter foreign investors
Ruling that Pakistan must pay Tethyan Copper is bad timing for country desperate for capital
Ben Farmer |July 16, 2019 | Source: Business
Pakistani politicians reacted with anger and market watchers voiced concern after the World Bank slapped South Asia’s second largest economy, with $6 billion in damages for refusing to honour a mining lease to an international conglomerate.
The ruling that Pakistan must pay Tethyan Copper (TCC), a joint venture of Chile’s Antofagasta and Canada’s Barrick Gold, risks deterring foreign investors when the country is desperate to attract capital, analysts said.
Imran Khan, the country’s prime minister, ordered an internal review to determine “how Pakistan ended up in this predicament” and “who were responsible for making the country suffer such a loss”.
Tethyan and Pakistan have spent years in arbitration since the firm was denied a lease to mine Reko Diq, despite having found enormous copper and gold deposits there and investing $220 million in the site. In 2013, Pakistan’s supreme court voided a deal between Tethyan and the provincial government of Balochistan, where the deposits are.
Shares in Antofagasta jumped as much as 4.5 per cent on Monday after the decision. The ruling paves the way for TCC to begin legal moves targeting Pakistani assets to pay the damages. However, trying to recover assets would be time-consuming and an out of court settlement is more likely, analysts said. TCC has said it is “willing to discuss the potential for a negotiated settlement with Pakistan”.
The ruling by the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) would place additional pressure on Pakistan’s struggling economy, Talat Masood, a political and security analyst, told The National.
He went on: “I think it will have a negative impact globally because it shows that Pakistan’s dealings worldwide are not correct. I think in that sense it will discourage investment.”
Politicians questioned how Pakistan, which has just gained an IMF bailout to fend off a balance of payments crisis, came to make the costly decision to withhold a lease.
The Reko Diq saga has already been a significant deterrent to foreign investment, diplomats say, with international businesses alarmed by how TCC was treated. The size of the deposit and its sensitive position near the border with Iran and Afghanistan means Pakistan’s military considers the mine a national security matter with the country’s generals reportedly taking a leading role in plans to develop the site.
————————————————————-
Pakistan borrows record $16b in just one year
By Shahbaz Rana | THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE
ISLAMABAD: For the first time in its history, Pakistan borrowed a whopping $16 billion in foreign loans in just one year aimed at avoiding default on international debt obligations and financing its imports. The $16 billion worth of foreign loans have been obtained during fiscal year 2018-19, which included 11 months of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, showed official documents of the federal government.
Out of the $16 billion, the PTI government took $13.6 billion worth of loans the highest ever by any government in a single year. The remaining $2.4 billion had been received in July 2018 during tenure of the caretaker setup. The $16-billion loans in the just-ended fiscal year included disbursement of $5.5 billion by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
However, the data that the economic affairs ministry will publish this week will not show $5.5 billion as part of federal government loans, according to sources.
The government would officially disclose loan disbursements for fiscal year 2018-19 at $10.5 billion, the sources said. The remaining $5.5 billion has been booked on balance sheet of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Sources said rupee cover had also not been generated against the $5.5 billion worth of borrowing. Initially, $2 billion in Chinese SAFE deposit was also not part of the external public debt. However, Chinese loans have now been made part of the federal public debt due to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) pressure.
“Deposits from the UAE and Saudi Arabia are held with the SBP. These deposits were not available for financing the government’s budgetary operations. However, these are part of the SBP reserves,” said Dr Khaqan Najeeb, spokesman for the finance ministry, while commenting on the development. He said these inflows were contracted by the SBP and were accordingly categorised as “deposits with the SBP”.
In the preceding fiscal year 2017-18, Pakistan had obtained $11.4 billion in foreign loans. Loans of $16 billion in FY19 were the highest ever external borrowing in any fiscal year since Pakistan’s creation. About 42% or $6.7 billion of the total external borrowing came from China alone. It included $2.54 billion in commercial loans, $1.6 billion under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), $2 billion in China SAFE deposit and $628.4 million for Karachi nuclear power plants.
————————————————————-
Dr AQ Khan demands action against ‘perjuring officials’
LAHORE: Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, reputed to be the father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme, has requested the chief justice of the Lahore High Court (LHC) to take strict action against officials allegedly “involved in betraying the court by giving false statements in his case”.
The scientist, whose movement is monitored due to security concerns, has accused officials of exaggerating the threats to his life in order to restrict his movement. He said he wants to live like a common man in an atmosphere where he could talk and move freely rather than being confined to a house. He urged the LHC chief justice to take to task the security detail provided to him as well as those officials who, he said, had perjured themselves in order to keep him confined. He quoted his petition that he had filed in the LHC through advocates Mudasar Chaudhary and Ghulam Mujtaba Chaudhary against the restrictions imposed by the government over his moment in the name of security threats to him. “What sort of security threat could be at universities, colleges and other respective institutions?” he inquired. He added that he had no plans to go abroad or divulge any details of the country’s nuclear programme and that is why he should be granted freedom of movement.
Dr Khan was released in 2009, five years after he was arrested under the Security Act for allegedly transferring nuclear technology and centrifuges to other countries. In 2004, Khan had confessed to sending nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea, although he later retracted his remarks. Dr AQ Khan had also sent a letter to the LHC Chief Justice Sardar Shamim Ahmed Khan a few weeks ago. In it, he contended that that former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf had put pressure on him on America’s behest to read the confessional statement regarding selling nuclear secrets. He later claimed that the letter was also authored by Musharraf.
————————————————————-
Famous Radio, film & TV actress Zaheen Tahira passes away
Karachi ( Tuesday , July 09, 2019) She was 73 and was under treatment at a hospital in Karachi for cardiac disease. Her meritorious works include PTV dramas ‘Amawas’, ‘Aroosa’, ‘Adha Chahra’ and ‘Khuda Ki Basti’.
Tahira fronted Pakistan’s record breaking serial “Khuda Ki Basti” in 1969 by Shaukat Siddiqui. The show went on to get its re-telecasts in 1974 and 1990. She was awarded with Tamgha-e-Imtiaz and life time achievement award. She was known for playing strong characters mainly on Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) Karachi centre from the late 1960s to 1980s.
In her condolence message, she commiserated with the bereaved family and prayed for the departed soul.
The Director General PBC said that the services of Zaheen Tahira for Radio Pakistan in the field of drama will be remembered for a long time.
————————————————————-
Famous Pakistani poet Himayat Ali Shair passes away
(July 16, 2019) Famous Pakistani poet, actor and radio drama artist Himayat Ali Shair passed away due to heart attack in Canada. His first poetry book “Aag Main Phool” was published in 1956 and received the Presidential Award in 1958. Himayat Ali Shair also worked for different films including Jab se Dekha hai Tumhe, Dil ne Tujhe maan liya, Daaman, Ek tera Sahaara, Kaneez, Mairay Mehboob, Tasveer and Khilona. He received Pride of Performance Award for his literary services in Urdu literature from the president of Pakistan in 2002.