Friday, September 13, 2019
Bilawal Bhutto accuses centre of trying to 'occupy Karachi'
PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday lashed out at the federal government for "trying to occupy Karachi" following Law Minister Farogh Naseem's statement that the centre was considering taking over the administrative affairs of the metropolis through a little-known constitutional provision.
Yesterday, Naseem had told Dawn that a strategic committee on Karachi was going to recommend to Prime Minister Imran Khan that he invoke Article 149 for the uplift of Karachi.
“After getting approval of the cabinet, the provision will be exercised. In case of any resistance shown by the provincial government, we will approach the Supreme Court under Article 184(1) of the Constitution to seek a directive in this regard. If the province still shows reluctance, we will file a contempt petition in the SC,” he had said.
The minister had told news channels that it was his personal view that the Centre should take over Karachi’s affairs. Any decision was likely to be taken by the premier during his visit to the metropolis on September 14, he added."You try to build a narrative against [Indian Prime Minister Narendra] Modi, saying that he unconstitutionally captured occupied Kashmir, and at the same time you try to occupy Karachi. This is bizarre," Bilawal said in his press conference. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan, "who has vowed to protect human rights in [occupied] Kashmir, has ripped apart democratic rights of the people of Pakistan.
"You want to run Karachi from Islamabad?" he asked
Addressing the media in Hyderabad, Bilawal said that the PPP, which is the ruling party in Sindh, "will never accept any conspiracy" against the province.
"According to the Constitution, the province that produces a resource is entitled to utilise it before providing it to the rest of the country," the PPP chief said, referring to Sindh government's longstanding complaint that the province, despite producing natural gas, was not receiving its due share.
The federal government is trying to provide gas produced in Sindh to the rest of the country and wants the province's residents to use expensive LNG gas imported from Qatar, Bilawal alleged.
If the federal government "continues to weaken democratic powers in the country, oppresses its people, steals their human rights and on top of that, tries to occupy their land and city, do you think that your country will survive?" Bilawal said.
"This country has already been broken in the past when Islamabad has tried to control the state. It's not like those people were less patriotic than you or me [...] If PPP and other like-minded parties don't stand up, tomorrow, separate Sindhi and Pashtun states might be formed," he warned.
"Come to your senses! The Islamic democratic system is what has kept this country together," he said.
حکومت زرداری کی جان کے درپے: بختاور
بختاور بھٹو نے ایک مقامی انگریزی روزنامے میں اپنے مضمون میں کہا کہ پی ٹی آئی حکومت کا مقصد ان کے والد کو جسمانی اور نفسیاتی طور پر توڑنا ہے۔
سابق وزیراعظم بینظیر بھٹو کی بیٹی بختاور بھٹو زرداری نے الزام عائد کیا ہے کہ پاکستان کی ’فسطائی حکومت‘ ان کے والد آصف علی زرداری کی جان کے درپے ہے۔
جمعے کو پاکستان کے قومی انگریزی اخبار میں چھپنے والے ایک مضمون میں بختاور کا کہنا تھا کہ آصف علی زرداری کی صحت خراب ہونے کی تمام رپورٹس کے باوجود عدالت نے ان کو اگست میں اڈیالہ جیل بھیج دیا، جہاں وہ اب بھی قید ہیں۔
بختاور نے لکھا: ’ان کے خاندان اور وکیل کو ان سے ملنے کی اجازت نہیں جو ان کے بنیادی انسانی حقوق کی خلاف ورزی ہے۔‘
ان کا کہنا تھا کہ آصف علی زرداری ایک سابق صدر اور ملک کے قانون کا احترام کرنے والے شہری ہیں۔ مقدمے کی سماعت سے پہلے ان کے ساتھ یہ رویہ نہ صرف ناجائز ہے بلکہ مجرمانہ غفلت بھی ہے، جس کا مقصد ان کو نقصان پہنچانا ہے۔
سابق صدر جعلی بینک اکاؤنٹ کیس کی تحقیقات کے سلسلے میں 16اگست سے اڈیالہ جیل میں جوڈیشل ریمانڈ پر ہیں۔
بختاور کے مطابق: ’پی ٹی آئی حکومت میں وزیر داخلہ وہی ہیں جو پرویز مشرف کے دور میں اہم سکیورٹی عہدوں پر فائز تھے اور جو خود میری والدہ کے قتل کے مقدمے میں نامزد ہیں۔ان کو اب زرداری کے ساتھ کیے جانے والے سلوک کی نگرانی کی ذمہ داری سونپ دی گئی ہے۔‘
جمہوری نظام
بختاور کا کہنا تھا بینظیر بھٹو کی ہلاکت کے بعد ان کے والد نے خود کو ایک ٹوٹے ہوئے ملک میں پایا۔ انہیں افسردہ قوم کو دلاسہ دینا تھا اور ایک زخمی اور دکھی پارٹی کو جوڑنا تھا اور انہوں نے ’پاکستان کھپے‘ کا نعرہ بلند کیا اور بینظیر بھٹو کے ’جئے بھٹو‘ کے نعرے سے سربراہی کا راستہ اپنایا۔
’یہ آصف علی زرداری کا عزم تھا کہ وہ سیاسی مسائل، قدرتی آفات اور دہشت گردی کی خطرات کے باوجود آگے بڑھے اور کسی خون خرابے، مواخذے اور اندرونی بدامنی کے بغیر ملٹری ڈکٹیٹر پرویز مشرف کو ہٹا کر جمہوریت واپس لائے، جوان کی اہلیہ کا ویژن تھا اور جس کے لیے انہوں نے اپنی جان دی۔ ‘
بختاور نے کہا زرداری کے دور میں بڑی کامیابیاں حاصل ہوئیں ، جیسے بینظیر انکم سپورٹ پروگرام جس سےکم آمدنی والے گھرانوں کی خواتین کو فائدہ ہوا، اور اٹھارویں ترمیم جس سے فنڈز اور اختیارات صوبوں کو دیے گئے۔
بختاور نے کہا زرداری کی سربراہی میں پاکستان کی تاریخ میں پہلی بار ایک منتخب حکومت نے اپنی مدت پوری کی، لیکن پھر 2018 کے انتخابات میں پاکستان میں وہی پرانے مسائل آنا شروع ہوئے۔
انہوں نے لکھا عمران خان نے ملک کے رہنماؤں کے خلاف مہم شروع کی اور حزب اختلاف کے لیڈروں پر بیرون ملک پیسے رکھنے کے الزامات لگائے، عمران خان نے ’پالیسی کی نہیں بلکہ ذاتیات کی سیاست کی، عوامی جلسوں میں لیڈروں کے خلاف باتیں کیں، عوام کو اکسایا اور مذہبی تعصب کی آگ کو ہوا دی۔‘
بختاور نے مزید کہا 2018 کے انتخابات سے پہلے زرداری پر کرپشن کے الزامات کا شور میڈیا میں مچ گیا، ان الزامات کا وقت ویسا ہی تھا جیسے امریکی الیکشن میں ہیلری کلنٹن کی ای میلز کا ۔
بختاور نے لکھا: ’سات جون 2018 کو کچھ نجی بینکوں کی ٹرانسیکشن پر ایف آئی اے نے مقدمہ درج کیا، اس میں تفتیشی افسر نجف مرزا وہی تھے جنہوں نے زرداری کی گذشتہ حراست میں ان پر جسمانی تشدد میں کردار ادا کیا اور جن پر ایف آئی آر بھی درج ہے۔ یہ پہلے سے ہی واضع ہوگیا تھا کہ معاملہ ذاتی ہے ‘۔
انہوں نے مزید کہا کچھ ہی ہفتوں میں صدر زرداری کے خلاف کیس کو اچانک بینکنگ کورٹ سے نکال کر ملک کے سب سےاعلیٰ کورٹ میں پہنچا دیا گیا،اس سب کے باوجود زرداری سندھ سے الیکشن جیت کر ایم این اے بنے۔
انہوں نے مزید کہا جس دن قومی اسمبلی وزیراعظم کے لیے ووٹ کرنے کے لیے جمع ہوئی ،اسی دن زرداری کی گرفتاری کے وارنٹ آگئے اور پارلیمان میں ووٹ دینے کے بجائے ان کو ضمانت کے لیے عدالت جانا پڑا۔
انہوں نے کہا پی ٹی آئی کے وزرا اُ س وقت کے چیف جسٹس ثاقب نثار سے کئی بار ملے اور جہاں حکومت نے ڈیم فنڈ میں عطیات کے لیے ان کی مہم کی حمایت کی، وہیں چیف جسٹس نے بینکوں کی ٹرانزیکشن کیس میں جے آئی ٹی بنا دی جس میں حساس اداروں کے اہلکار بھی شامل تھے۔
مضمون میں لکھا ہے: ’صاف ظاہر ہے یہ دہشت گردی کی فنڈنگ یا قومی سلامتی کا معاملہ نہیں تھا۔ یہ بس پروپیگینڈااور بد نظمی تھی۔‘
10 جون 2019 کو اپنی ضمانت کی اپیل پر سماعت کے لیے سابق صدر آصف علی زرداری اسلام آباد ہائیکورٹ آتے ہوئے (اے ایف پی)
انہوں نے مزید کہا کہ جنوری میں سپریم کورٹ نے جے آئی ٹی کی تحقیقات کے نتائج کو نیب راولپنڈی میں بھیج دیا اور اسے تحقیقات سنبھالنے کا حکم دیا۔
بختاور کے بقول: ’یہ بالکل ناجائز ہے کیونکہ نہ صرف یہ عدالتی اختیار صوبوں کے درمیان متنازع ہے بلکہ نیب خود ایک متنازع ادارہ ہے، جسے ایک ڈکٹیٹر نے بنایا اور جسے سیاست دانوں کو دباؤ میں ڈالنے اور منتخب حکومتوں کو ہٹانے کے لیے استعمال کیا جاتا ہے۔‘
جون تک زرداری نیب اور جے آئی ٹی کے بلانے پر جاتے رہے مگر پھر انہیں گرفتار کر لیا گیا اور 10 جون کو نیب کی جیل میں ڈال دیا گیا۔
بختاور نے کہا: ’ان کا طبی معائنہ کروایا گیا جس میں ان کی دل کی بیماری اور خون میں شوگر کی سطح زیادہ ہونے کی تصدیق ہوئی، اس سب کے باوجود انہیں عدالت نے اڈیالہ جیل بھیج دیا اور ان کے اہل خانہ اور وکیل کو ان سے ملنے کی اجازت نہیں دی گئی۔‘
’میں دوبارہ کہوں گی کہ وہ ایک سابق صدر ہیں کوئی دہشت گرد یا ملک دشمن نہیں، اب تک ان پر کوئی الزامات قانونی طور پر عائد نہیں کیے گئے، ریفرنسز کی تفتیش ہونا ابھی باقی ہے اور عدالت میں سماعت بھی۔‘
’صدر زرداری نے کبھی تحقیقات سے منع نہیں کیا۔ درحقیقت وہ پاکستان کے سب سے زیادہ مقدموں، تفتیش اور قانونی کارروائیوں کا سامنا کرنے والے شخص ہیں لیکن انہیں اب تک ایک بار بھی سزا نہیں سنائی گئی۔ 11 سال جھوٹے کیسوں میں جیل میں گزارنے کے بعد وہ اب پھر راولپنڈی کی اڈیالہ جیل میں بھیج دیے گئے ہیں، وہ شہر جہاں میری والدہ کو 2007 میں قتل کر دیا گیا۔ ‘
بختاور کا کہنا تھا: ’ان کا جرم بس یہی ہے کہ انہوں نے پاکستان میں جمہوریت کو کامیاب ہوتے دیکھنے کا میری والدہ اور نانا کا خواب پورا کیا، اب مقصد یہ ہے کہ ان کو توڑ دیا جائے، جسمانی اور نفسیاتی طور پر کیونکہ وہ اس وقت کی طاقتوں کے احکامات کو نہیں مان رہے۔‘
انہوں نے مزید کہا: ’پنجاب میں ان کے گورنر کو قتل کر دیا گیا، ان کے اقلیتوں کے وزیر کو قتل کر دیا گیا۔ ان کو لاحق خطرات کو کم نہیں بتایا جا سکتا۔ ان کی حکومت کو ہمیشہ احتیاط سے چلنا تھا کیونکہ اس سے پہلے کسی منتخب حکومت نے اپنی مدت پوری نہیں کی تھی۔‘
دوسری طرف حکومت کا موقف دیکھا جائے تو وہ ہمیشہ سے یہی رہا ہے کہ نیب ایک آزاد ادارہ ہے اور اس پر کسی قسم کا کوئی دباؤ نہیں۔ حکومتی بیانات کے مطابق نیب اپنے فیصلے کرنے میں مکمل آزاد ہے۔
#Pakistan #PPP - Asif Ali Zardari — always persecuted never prosecuted
Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari
One of his first acts as the president was wilfully surrendering his presidential powers to Parliament thus restoring its supremacy. Previous dictators had usurped this power to dismiss elected governments through presidential ordinances. By doing so he became the first president in history to voluntarily give up his powers. His was a coalition government of consensus and reconciliation with monumental achievements like creating the first social safety net, The Benazir Income Support Programme, that empowered women in low-income households. He promulgated the 18th Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan that devolved powers and funds to provinces allowing for more provincial autonomy and equitable distribution of resources. In the backdrop of the World Recession as well as the height of the war on terror, his appointed governor of Punjab was murdered in cold blood; his minister for minorities was assassinated. The threats could not be understated. His government was always treading on eggshells, as no democratic government before it, had ever been able to realise a full term in power.
Despite very serious reservations on the 2013 election and lack of a level playing field for the Pakistan People’s Party, for the first time in the history of Pakistan, President Asif Ali Zardari oversaw the transition of power from one democratically elected government to another. This process was intrinsic to the evolution of democracy in Pakistan.
The years leading up to the 2018 elections saw Pakistan slipping back to old ways. This time the face bearer was going to be Imran Khan. He led a campaign based on guile and gumption, election slogans of complete hyperbole and hysterical claims of repatriating 200 billion dollars of looted money stashed abroad by opposition leaders. This was well-orchestrated chaos, politics not of policy but of person. Spewing hatred in public gatherings for the leaders of the last 10 years, bifurcation of the youth and fanning the flames of religious bigotry. The campaign slogans read that all ailments of Pakistan were due to their “corruption”. He spoke openly of his fanboy vision of a glorified Pakistan era under the military rule in the 60s and early 2000. The biggest irony is Pakistan has never had an uninterrupted period where democracy was allowed to flourish. What he was actually doing was creating a hatred for civilian rule. He was known for his lack of attendance in Parliament, deeming it as a wasteful exercise. Cursing even the very existence of the Prime Minister House like it was a personal property of Zardari or Sharif. This leaflet of propaganda was well backed, funded and sold to the masses. A direct repercussion of this were the corruption allegations brought against Asif Ali Zardari.
In the weeks before the 2018 general elections, a hysterical frenzy broke out on all media channels of corruption allegations against Asif Ali Zardari. The timing of it mirroring the likes of the Hilary Clinton email fiasco. On June 7, 2018, an FIR was registered by the Federal Investigation Agency questioning some private intra-banking transactions. The investigating FIA officer happened to be Najaf Mirza who facilitated Asif Ali Zardari’s torture during his previous incarceration and had an active pending FIR investigation on him. It became obvious very early on that this matter was more personal and against the person. In the following weeks, the matters brought against Asif Ali Zardari were suddenly elevated from the banking courts in Karachi to the highest court of law – the Supreme Court in Islamabad due to “slackness in the progress of pending enquiries” on fake bank accounts. This was an unprecedented legal move where a pending enquiry on private intra-banking transactions was considered slack. The Supreme Court had overstretched its insight deeming it as a matter of fundamental rights thus exercising its suo motu powers under Article 184(3) of the Constitution.
It is unfathomable to understand how slackness was a legal reason when the judicial and wrongful murder of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (1979) and the case of the assassination of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto (2007) are still pending in our honourable courts for decades. I understand there may be benefits of judicial activism in cases of swift justice but for the first time we see our courts entering into a phase of judicial expediency with selected justice. On July 9th 2018, ten days after the suo motu notice, the Supreme Court ordered for both President Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur to be placed on the Exit Control List. This would be the start of curbing his human rights. Despite this, he was elected from his constituency on July 26, 2018, regardless of these blatant attempts to tarnish his campaign. Even the notion of him returning to Islamabad was bound to ruffle feathers. Election day was a complete debacle and deserves an entire chapter on the vast contraventions of the Election Act. Our Rangers went from securing polling booths to counting votes, in the absence of polling agents. They wanted my father out of the political scene but here he was elected by the people right back in the heart of the capital as an elected member of the National Assembly to defend what he had so carefully put together - the institution of democracy and supremacy of Parliament.
The morning the House gathered for the prime ministerial vote - arrest warrants were issued for Asif Ali Zardari. Instead of attending Parliament to vote, he was rushed to court for bail proceedings. Simultaneously, our prime minister began his maiden speech where he hurled direct threats, vowing to persecute and imprison his incumbents of the last 10 years. This would be exactly the course of events that followed. In the following months, several PTI top-ranking ministers met privately with the then Chief Justice of Pakistan, Saqib Nisar, where the government endorsed his call for collecting donations to build a dam. The same Chief Justice ordered to form a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) with extra-constitutional powers including members of the secret service (ISI) with the purpose to investigate the intra-banking transactions case alleging involvement of Asif Ali Zardari. Clearly this was not a matter of funding terrorism nor a matter of national security. It was just a gimmick of national propaganda and well orchestrated chaos.
The people of Pakistan would soon realise how the PTI government was never prepared for the job. It was a government with a vision completely misconstrued. They had set the nation on a course to nowhere. A government of oxymorons, clearly confused and absolutely useless. However, what they have mastered is a fascist form of government of slander and accusations against the opposition to divert attention from the relevant, curbing liberties and rights of the press and the people. During the JIT investigations, the PTI minister of information would repeatedly pre-empt legal developments on national television. There was no subtleness in their collusion. They wanted to undo what Asif Ali Zardari had done in his tenure and destabilise the majority PPP government in Sindh. Therefore, they started openly denouncing the 18th Constitutional Amendment, questioning why funds had to be given to the provinces. This debate took place in tandem with carefully orchestrated corruption allegations against Sindh cabinet members. The speaker of the Sindh Assembly was suddenly arrested, without any probe or investigation, on frivolous charges of “assets beyond means”, and he still remains in custody.
On December 27th 2018, PTI leaders addressed a press conference announcing their intent to form their own government in Sindh. Hours later, a whole host of elected representatives from the PPP government in Sindh were placed on the Exit Control List including the Chairman of the party, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. There was not an iota of legal ground or justification — this was nothing short of dictatorship and the enforcement of a one-party rule with all other leaders of opposition behind bars.
On January 7, 2019, the Supreme Court decided to move the findings of the JIT reports to the National Accountability Bureau in Rawalpindi and ordered them to take over the investigation. Not only was this absolutely unjustified, given that it was a jurisdictional leap across provinces but that NAB itself is a highly controversial entity. NAB is an investigative body set up by the military dictator Musharraf (who himself is an absconder and wanted man with Swiss bank accounts, international properties but not a single investigation) wildly used as a tool to pressurise and coerce politicians and undermine and dismiss elected governments. They boast unbridled power with unaccounted deaths in their custody but have never been held answerable or accountable. The achievements of NAB is a tale of absolute shambles where instead of recovering money their misadventures have cost Pakistan’s exchequer billions. The public accounts committee and parliamentary procedures are undermined and bypassed with the existence of this extra-constitutional body. In a completely unrelated series of events, NAB has just inaugurated an art gallery in Quetta. The threshold today is if you are with PTI you are given a clean chit by NAB and if you are on the other side of the aisle, you get persecuted.
Up until June 2019, Asif Ali Zardari was present and complicit for all JIT and NAB summons. In an outrageous power trip, he was arrested and sent to detention in a NAB cell on June 10th 2019. A medical examination arranged by NAB authorities at the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology on the 13th of June discovered a depleted state of his health. After all he suffers from ailments brought on from his first 11 years of unjust incarceration and physical torture. The report conducted by Professor Major General Azhar Mahmood Kayani revealed three coronary arteries are severely blocked. His blood sugar levels had been uncontrollable exasperating his daily condition. Despite all of this, the courts went ahead and sent him to Adiala Jail on judicial remand on August 16, 2019, where he still remains. He is being kept in a fenced off Class B 12x12 prison cell in complete isolation. The courts are even scrambling over a decision as to whether he should be allowed an air condition in his cell. Both his family and lawyers are denied access in complete violation of his human rights. Apart from being the former President of Pakistan, and a law-abiding citizen, his pre-trial treatment is not only unwarranted but also criminally negligent with an intent to harm.
On August 29th media broke the news of his midnight shift from jail to a cardiac hospital. The next morning, my sister Aseefa rushed to the hospital to see him. She barely caught a glimpse of our ailing father when she was denied access and manhandled by police at the hospital gates despite brandishing her court orders in hand. The hospital doors were locked and barricaded — even patients were not permitted entry or exit. I must reiterate at this point, that this is a former president, not a terrorist or enemy state pilot and up till now no charges have been formally brought against him; the references are still pending investigation and the trial has yet to even begin. He was brisked back to Adiala Jail the very same day without even completing the required check-ups or obtaining a discharge form. No record of this visit has been shared with us or his lawyers till date. This was not the first time a court order was so unabashedly dismissed. We also had permission for Eid visitation but were denied the most basic of prison rights. I narrate these events to highlight the absurdity of what is taking place in Pakistan. PTI’s interior minister who served the same post under Musharraf is not only personally nominated accused in my mother’s assassination but has now been tasked to personally oversee the treatment being handed down to Asif Ali Zardari. Make no mistake about it, it is very clear that this fascist regime is after his life.
President Asif Ali Zardari never once objected to being investigated. As a matter of fact, he has been the single most scrutinised, investigated, persecuted, but never once convicted person in the history of Pakistan. Not a single conviction to date, despite spending 11 years in prison on falsified charges, he is now again sent to Adiala Jail in — the city where my mother was assassinated in 2007. My grandfather, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s crime was saying, “all power to the people” and he was sent to the gallows on trumped-up charges. My mother, Benazir Bhutto returned from exile to fulfil the dream of restoring democracy in Pakistan but she was assassinated for saying, “Democracy is the best Revenge”. My father, Asif Ali Zardari, resonated the slogan, “Jeay Bhutto”. His crime is that he managed to succeed in realising their vision of democracy in Pakistan. Now the intention is to break him, mentally, physically as he defies the new orders of power. Time will decide how he goes down but that time is not now.
Why have Saudi Arabia, UAE failed to condemn India over Kashmir?
By Bilal Kuchay
The Gulf heavyweights have not sided with Pakistan, and analysts say it's because of India's growing economic clout.
Last week, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) travelled to Islamabad in a symbolic show of solidarity with Pakistan after New Delhi stripped the Indian-administered Kashmir of its autonomy.
UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir held meetings with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, powerful military chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmoud Qureshi but stayed away from issuing strong words against India.
The Gulf countries, with whom Pakistan has enjoyed a long-standing "brotherly" relationship for decades, have stayed away from condemning India's crackdown in Kashmir.
While Saudi Arabia expressed concern over India's unilateral decision to scrap Kashmir's special status and the imposition of crippling security lockdown, the UAE called it New Delhi's internal matter.
Other Gulf countries - Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman - have apparently not issued any statements.
Amid the lockdown in Indian-administered Kashmir, the UAE bestowed on Modi the country's highest civilian award - the Order of Zayed - as a mark of appreciation for his efforts to boost bilateral ties between the two nations.
The Hindu nationalist prime minister under whose watch Muslims have been targeted was also honoured with Saudi Arabia's highest civilian award in 2016.
With $100bn in annual trade, India has emerged as a vital economic partner to the Gulf countries. Moreover, millions of Indian workers help drive the region's economy.
"India has developed a good economic relationship with Saudi Arabia and the UAE," said Manoj Joshi, a distinguished fellow at Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.
"Both these countries are looking to the future when oil will run out, and they see India as a potential country where they can invest and a country with a large market with which they already have good economic ties."
India-Saudi trade growing
India's ties to Saudi Arabia have grown significantly over the past two decades, with bilateral trade hitting $28bn. Home to more than 2.7 million Indian expatriates, the kingdom is India's fourth-largest trading partner.
India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, announced last month that Saudi Arabia's state energy group, Saudi Aramco, is set to acquire a 20 percent stake in Reliance Industries Limited's (RIL) oil-to-chemical business for an enterprise value of $75bn. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are also jointly building a mega refinery in India with an investment of $60bn.
India-UAE annual bilateral trade stands at $55bn, with Indians being the largest foreign investors in Dubai's real estate market. Nearly 30 percent of the UAE's total population comprises of Indians.
New Delhi and Abu Dhabi have also struck close security ties since Narendra Modi was first elected prime minister in 2014.
In India's comparison, the annual bilateral trade between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia stands at $3.7bn and the country's trade volume with the UAE stands at $8bn.
"It's important to remember that India has a long-standing, deep and multifaceted relationship with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, so no realistic Pakistani would ever have expected a wholesale endorsement from the GCC countries," said Mosharraf Zaidi, a Pakistan-based political analyst.
"But there is an expectation of shared concern for the human rights safety and security of the people of Kashmir," he said.
Joshi, the Indian foreign policy analyst, said the Middle East countries are not looking just for Islamic solidarity.
"If it was just Islamic issue then they [Gulf countries] should have taken a strong stand on Xinjiang but they have not," he said.
"… they see India more important for their national interest."
The Middle East remains key to India's energy security as New Delhi imports 80 percent of its petroleum needs from the region.
Talmiz Ahmad, an Indian diplomat who has served as an ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE, believes that New Delhi has "secured strategic interests" in the Middle East at the cost of Pakistan though it is not linked to the Kashmir issue.
He said that from mid-2000, the frequency of high-level state visits from GCC countries went up as part of their new focus on political engagement with India.
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, who has called Modi his friend, was the chief guest at India's Republic Day parade in 2017, while Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud was invited in 2006.
India's goal
Zahid Hussain, a Pakistan-based political analyst, however, said that the measured response from the Saudi-UAE should not be seen as a "support for India's action" in Kashmir.
The Gulf support for Pakistan on Kashmir issue was "always ambiguous and whatever has come has always come from OIC [Organisation of Islamic Cooperation] platforms", he said.
Pakistan's refusal to join Saudi-led forces to fight in Yemen, it seems, has not gone down well with its Gulf allies.
"Pakistan has still armed forces that these [GCC] countries believe would come to their assistance if they were in jeopardy. This perception received a major jolt when Pakistan refused to provide its armed forces," Ahmed, the former Indian diplomat, said.
Islamabad also did not allow itself to be drawn into the proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran as it continued its close relations with Tehran.
Omair Anas, from Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University, said that Pakistan's position on Iran was one of "the most worrying components in Gulf-Pakistan relations".
"Pakistan's neutrality on Yemen and Qatar could be a watershed moment in the two regional heavyweights' security perception," he said referring to the UAE-Saudi-led blockade imposed on Qatar since 2017.
Sami al-Arian, the director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs, said that both the UAE and Saudi Arabia want to strengthen their ties with countries such as the United States, China, India or Israel at the "expense of the populations who have been suffering in these areas such as the Palestinians, the Uyghurs or the Kashmiris".
"I don't expect much as a response from these two regimes," he added.
#Pakistan is no friend of #Kashmir, either - Here's why.
By Taha Siddiqui
In a recent opinion piece penned for the New York Times, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan asked the world to wake up to the conflict in Kashmir because if it does not, there is a risk of a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. Like previous Pakistani premiers, he sought to present Pakistan as a champion of the Kashmiri cause.
While the world indeed needs to take action on ongoing crackdown and rights abuses in India, it should not overlook the role Pakistan has played in the Kashmiri tragedy.
Over the past decades, it has shown little commitment to Kashmiri self-determination.
When India and Pakistan gained independence from Great Britain in 1947, Kashmir was a princely state which wanted to remain independent, a choice given by the colonial masters to all such entities and agreed upon by both countries.
Pakistan even signed a standstill agreement with the Kashmiri Hindu ruler of that time, Maharaja Hari Singh, which basically meant it agreed to its status as it was. However, a few months later, Pakistan broke that agreement and helped Pashtun tribesmen invade the region, eventually sending its own security forces to Kashmir in a bid to take over the valley.
In response, the Kashmiri ruler asked India for help to defend his kingdom. New Delhi agreed to intervene but only if Kashmir would agree to accede to it, albeit temporarily. The conflict escalated into what has come to be known as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947-1948, which led to the de facto partitioning of the region by Pakistan and India.
In 1948, the United Nations passed a resolution, according to which Pakistan was supposed to withdraw its forces first (as it acted as an aggressor), while India was to maintain a minimum military presence until an independence referendum was held to let Kashmiris decide their own future. However, neither India nor Pakistan abided by that resolution.
Then in 1965, the Pakistani military launched a secret mission called Operation Gibraltar which involved military officials infiltrating the valley and attempting to engineer a rebellion from within by mixing themselves with the locals.
The calculations by General Ayub Khan, the Pakistani dictator who was in power at that time, were that since India had just been exhausted by the Sino-Indian War of 1962, there was a good opportunity to take New Delhi by surprise. However, Operation Gibraltar failed to rouse the local population, and instead India launched a counter-offensive, forcing Pakistan to retreat.
Paradoxically, every year on September 6, Pakistan marks its "victory" over the Indian army attacking its territory in 1965. The official narrative does not mention Operation Gibraltar which effectively triggered the conflict.
Then in the aftermath of the 1987 election in the valley, which was widely perceived as rigged, massive agitations broke out in Indian-administered Kashmir, which Pakistan supported. In the wake of these protests, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) had taken centre stage and become the leading voice for Kashmir's armed resistance.
A few years later militants based in Pakistan headed towards Kashmir and started to target and kill the leadership of pro-independence groups like the JKLF, leaving behind mostly pro-Pakistani militancy in the region.
Then in 1999, Pakistan once again attempted to infiltrate the valley using its military in what came to be known as the Kargil War.
In the following two decades, Pakistan-based groups have been repeatedly accused of carrying out terrorist activities, not just in Kashmir but also in mainland India. From the 2001 attack on the parliament in New Delhi to the Mumbai attack in 2008, to recent attacks in Pathankot and Pulwama, these aggressive tactics have sealed India's perception of the Kashmiris through the lens of its historic confrontation with Pakistan.
With its past actions and hesitancy to crack down on militant groups in its territory, Pakistan has given India repeatedly the opportunity to present the unrest in Kashmir to the world as nothing more than a Pakistan-backed insurgency. This has effectively undermined the struggle of the local population of Indian-administered Kashmir.
At home, Pakistan has also not been too keen to accommodate Kashmiri people political rights and has targeted pro-independence group like JKLF.
In Pakistani-administered Kashmir, no political parties can contest the general elections if they do not agree to an accession agreement to Pakistan. Because of that, only Pakistan-based political parties end up participating and winning elections in the region.
Also, most of the bureaucracy and civil service is controlled by Islamabad, and a body called the Kashmir Council headed by the Pakistani prime minister oversees all government affairs. Moreover, Pakistan has made efforts to absorb the region into Pakistan by carving out parts of its territory - the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region - and by creating a separate entity for it in the 1970s.
The Pakistani authorities took away GB's special status and until today it is mostly governed by Islamabad directly.
If Pakistan is sincere about the Kashmir cause and cares for the wellbeing of its people, then it must first demonstrate its commitment at home. It can do so only by putting an end to rights abuses and letting Kashmiris decide their own fate. Only then will the world take Pakistan's concerns about Kashmir seriously.
Joe Biden wants US troops based in Pakistan to fight terrorists in Afghanistan
Jeff Schogol
Former Vice President Joe Biden has suggested essentially moving U.S. troops from Afghanistan to Pakistan, whence they could launch counter-terrorism raids over the border, as needed.
Biden, who is attempting to secure the Democratic nomination for president in the 2020 election, mentioned his plan during Thursday night's Democratic debate in Houston.
When asked if President Barack Obama's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq in 2011 was a mistake, Biden said no and quickly changed the topic to Afghanistan.
"We can prevent the United States from being the victim of terror coming out of Afghanistan by providing for bases — insist the Pakistanis provide bases for us to airlift from and to move against what we know," Biden said. "We don't need those troops there. I would bring them home."
But given the Pakistani military and intelligence service's connections to the Taliban and terrorist groups, it is extremely unlikely that Pakistan would agree to host a U.S. counter-terrorism mission, said Bill Roggio, a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank in Washington, D.C.
Pakistan has long supported the Taliban's efforts to defeat the United States in Afghanistan, said Roggio, managing editor of The Long War Journal. Meanwhile, the Taliban continues to shelter Al Qaeda.
"American political leaders seem to have magical theories about what to do in Afghanistan and don't really want to do the heavy lifting in order to take on the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and other jihadist groups there," Roggio told Task & Purpose. "The sooner American political leaders realize that Pakistan is an enemy and not an ally of the United States, the sooner we can move forward and deal with the problem."
Thursday's debate also gave Biden an opportunity to re-litigate the Obama administration's decision in December 2009 to drastically increase the number of troops to Afghanistan. Biden said he was opposed to the troop surge because he favors a more narrowly tailored mission in Afghanistan.
"The whole purpose of going to Afghanistan was not to have a counterinsurgency – meaning that we're going to put that country together. It cannot be put together. Let me say it again: It will not be put together. It's three different countries. Pakistan owns the three counties – the three provinces in the east. The point is that it's a counter-terrorism strategy."
It was not immediately clear if Biden is in favor of partitioning Afghanistan. In 2006, he co-authored an opinion piece in the New York Times calling for Iraq to be decentralized into Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish autonomous regions, but he later denied that he advocated for Iraq to be broken up.
India Is Changing The Game For China And Pakistan In Kashmir
Panos Mourdoukoutas
The US-China trade war has provided Indian Prime Minister Modi with an opportunity he couldn’t refuse: to change the game in Kashmir for China and Pakistan.
Back in August New Delhi terminated Article 370 of the Constitution, asserting its power in the disputed Kashmir region.
This week, India called on China and Pakistan to suspend activities related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
“We reject the reference to Jammu and Kashmir in the joint statement issued by China and Pakistan after the recent visit of Chinese Foreign Minister,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar is quoted as saying in Hindu.“J&K is an integral part of India. India has consistently expressed concerns to both China and Pakistan on the projects in so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is on the territory of India that has been illegally occupied by Pakistan since 1947.”
Pakistan and China desperately need CPEC. For Pakistan, CPEC is the express ticket to building its infrastructure, and sustain economic growth. For China, CPEC is the express link between Western China, the Middle East, and Africa, where China has growing interests.
That can explain why Beijing has committed $46 billion to the project.
The problem is that CPEC passes through Pakistani regions claimed by India. That makes it a bumpy road, to say the least -- Pakistan and India continue to fight for control of these regions.
PROMOTED
That’s why CPEC activities are moving slowly in the region.
“So far CPEC activity in Pakistan occupied Kashmir has been limited to reconstruction and maintenance of the Karakoram Highway, which was built in the 60s,” says Ted Bauman, Senior Research Analyst and Economist at Banyan Hill Publishing. “But India has objected strenuously to new construction projects, including railways and pipelines. The problem for China is that the only other feasible route for road, rail and pipeline connections to Pakistan and its ports would be through Afghanistan's Badakhshan pedicle. Afghanistan's political instability and diplomatic alliance with India and the United States currently make that impossible.”
But India’s recent moves in Kashmir could spoil the plans of both countries, especially for China, which has multiple border disputes with India.
“China is probably testing the waters with its recent reference to Jammu and Kashmir in the context of its CPEC project with Pakistan,” says Bauman.“It's notable that China is taking a gradual approach here. China has been quite aggressive in the South China Sea, but the Himalayas is a different story.”
Why? “Because in addition to the dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, India also disputes Chinese sovereignty in several parcels on their mutual border, including the Aksai Chin region adjacent to Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh on the Tibetan border. Consequently, the Chinese and Indian governments have a respectful relationship, but they are keenly aware of the risk of any escalation.”
Besides, China cannot “bully” India, the way it bullies smaller nations in southeast Asia. “In this case, whereas China has been able to bully the smaller nations of southeast Asia, it is unlikely to succeed in intimidating India,” explainsBauman.“Not only is India a large nuclear power, it is an economic competitor, especially as Western manufacturers shift supply chains out of China as a result of U.S. trade sanctions.”
That’s why China should appease rather than confront India. “The Chinese government knows that proceeding with significant infrastructural developments in the Pakistan controlled part of Kashmir would lead to significant conflict with India, possibly even including a suspension of diplomatic relations,” Bauman concludes. “ An escalation of conflict in the region would also lead to blowback effects on China via its impact on the global economy. That leads me to believe that China is unlikely to press the matter at this point.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2019/09/12/india-is-changing-the-game-for-china-and-pakistan-in-kashmir/#7571e48a54b9
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