Thursday, November 26, 2020
Bilawal Bhutto Tests Positive For COVID-19, In Self-isolation With Mild Symptoms
By Aanchal Nigam
The chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on November 26 said that he has tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently in home isolation. Taking to Twitter, Bilawal said that he is currently experiencing “mild symptoms” of the highly-infectious disease and informed that he will continue to work remotely. The PPP chairman also said that he will address the party’s foundation day through video link. Bilawal announced his COVID-19 diagnosis just a day before the engagement of his sister, Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari to a Dubai-based businessman and also before the upcoming rally of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on November 30. PPP Senator Rehman Malik along with KP Health Minister Taimur Jhagra wished the party’s chairman a fast recovery. Taimur also urged the people staging at PDM Jalsa to get tested for the novel coronavirus. Imran Khan refuses to shut factories amid COVID-19 Even though the country continues to record more and more positive cases of COVID-19, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has reiterated that the government will not shut down the factories and businesses amid the resurgence of infections and deaths. As of November 26 according to Johns Hopkins University tally, Pakistan has recorded over 386,190 COVID-19 cases with at least 7,843 deaths. But Khan said a Lahore on November 25 that the government will not “lead people to death due to hunger while saving them from coronavirus” Pakistan PM made an appeal that the nation should unite with the government in controlling the surge in COVID-19 cases and tackle the second wave by adhering to the standard operating procedures (SOPs). Imran Khan also made it evident that his government will not allow the opposition to hold public meetings and “creating potential threat to masses’ lives” while referring to an observation made in an order by Islamabad High Court that said public gatherings pose a greater threat to public health safety.The chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on November 26 said that he has tested positive for COVID-19 and is in home isolation.
https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/pakistan-news/bilawal-bhutto-tests-positive-for-covid-19-in-self-isolation-with-mild-symptoms.html
#Pakistan's deep state support for terror on full display – opinion
By ANIL TRIGUNAYAT
Islamabad and the Pakistani people have become collateral damage due to malicious acts of terrorism perpetrated by their deep state and its surrogates.
Twelve years ago, on November 26, 2008, 12 well-coordinated attacks and shootings were carried out for four days by 10 Pakistani terrorists against innocent civilians in Mumbai. One hundred and seventy-four people, including several foreigners, were killed and more than 300 were injured. Wounds on the national psyche are still alive. It was the 9/11 moment for India. Ajmal Kasab was caught and eventually hanged in 2012 after due legal process, but he left a trail of evidence and information pointing to the complicity of Pakistan-based terrorist groups and his handlers there.
Although the Pakistani political leadership did condemn the attacks and offered full cooperation, no real progress has been made, suggesting their complicity or ill intent. It was neither the first time nor the last time our northwestern neighbors vowed to inflict 1,000 cuts on India. New Delhi provided all the evidence and documents against the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists led by Hafiz Saeed, who roams freely and rather majestically in Pakistan, lives at the courtesy of state institutions, and enjoys the blessings of successive governments in the so-called “failed state of Pakistan.”
It is a known fact that Pakistan has been a state sponsor of terrorism, especially against India and Afghanistan. Its fingerprints have been reported from Chechnya to Nagorno-Karabakh. It has given shelter to the largest number of extremists and terrorists, and has acknowledged their presence in the country, according to various reports. Only in November did the Pakistani Federal Investigative Agency finally admitted to the presence of 11 Lashkar terrorists in Pakistan who were involved and facilitated 2008 attacks.
In fact, the agency published a list of 1,210 high-profile and most-wanted terrorists, however, it strategically deleted the names of Hafiz Saeed, Masood Azhar and Dawood Ibrahim. They are already listed as terrorists by the United States and the United Nations, and have been operating in the haven of terrorism for decades now. Earlier, in 2009, Pakistan had admitted that the Mumbai attacks were indeed planned and carried out from Lashkar-e-Taiba camps in Karachi and Thatta. Despite all the information, Pakistan refused to take decisive action and prevaricated on one account or the other. Even the judiciary was made a pawn in the game by the deep state.
THE PAKISTANI leadership had repeated opportunities to come clean and join the ranks of responsible nations. Alas, the deep-seated malaise and rancor against India have blinded them so much that they have not only antagonized their Arab benefactors but others, including China, which found it difficult to shield them from the wrath of the international community. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has not only continued to place Pakistan on the “Gray List,” but has reprimanded it for not complying with the most important requirements to stop terrorist-financing networks.
India, which despite several terrorist attacks from Pakistan or its surrogates, did try to work on a bilateral relationship. But every time an effort was made to move forward a more lethal terrorist attack followed, whether in Uri or Pathankot. India had no option but to follow a policy of exposing and isolating Pakistan in international forums as the fountain of terrorism and extremism and haven of radicalization.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took upon himself the task of waking the world out of its myopic stupor of “good terrorist” and “bad terrorist” by urging it to have a uniform definition of a terrorist. After constant persuasion, India’s proposal for a comprehensive convention on international terrorism is finding some traction. Terrorism is the single greatest threat to humanity, and its incubators must be dried up by a globally committed fight, without exception.
To defend itself against nefarious state and non-state actors from across the border, India has decided to strike back decisively. Surgical strikes after Uri and Balakot after Pulwama are the vectors of this counter-terrorism policy. International collaboration though intelligence exchange has increased India’s international partners, who are equally committed to eradicate this scourge against humanity.
At the CICA ministerial meeting in September, India clearly stated, “Pakistan is the global epicenter of terrorism and continues to be the source of terrorist activities in India. We advise Pakistan to cease its sponsorship and overt and covert support for terrorism against India. This will enable the two countries to engage and address issues bilaterally rather than distract this important forum from its agenda.”
The choice now lies with Islamabad and the Pakistani people, who have become collateral damage due to malicious acts of terrorism perpetrated by their deep state and its surrogates.
India unequivocally condemns terrorism and believes there cannot be any reason or justification for violence against innocent civilians. Most recently, India condemned the beheading and terrorist attacks in France and Austria, reiterating that there is no justification for terrorism, for any reason or under any circumstance. When will justice be done for the victims of November
26? If this question gets resolved and justice is done, perhaps the two neighbors can move forward, but “terrorism and talks” can’t go together.https://www.jpost.com/opinion/pakistani-deep-states-terror-support-is-on-full-display-opinion-650269
Paris declines Pakistani request to upgrade French-made jets and submarines after Imran Khan’s support for Erdoğan
After Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan strongly defended Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s claim that French President Emmanuel Macron is Islamophobic and to boycott Made In France products, Pakistan had the courage to request to Paris to upgrade its French-made fighters jets, submarines and air defense systems.
Diplomats in New Delhi and Paris told Hindustan Times that Pakistan had recently requested France for upgrades to keep the fighter jets in the air. “The request has been declined,” one diplomat in Paris said. The Pakistani Air Force has about 150 Dassault Aviation Mirage fighter jets, comprising of Mirage III and Mirage 5, as well as three Agosta 90B submarines built by French firm Naval Group and a French-Italian made air defense system. Although the Pakistani Air Force has about 150 Mirage fighter jets, only half of them are serviceable. The French rejection to upgrade these aircrafts gives India a major military advantage over Pakistan. According to the Hindustan Times, France also told Qatar, one of the countries that bought French-made Rafale fighter jets, to not allow Pakistani technicians to work with the plane over concerns that they could leak technical information about the fighter to Islamabad as the omni-role jet is the front-line fighter of India.Diplomats said a third request from Pakistan to upgrade its Agosta 90B class submarines with air-independent propulsion (AIP) systems that would allow them to stay underwater for longer has also been rejected by France. A similar request for upgrading the French-Italian air defence system has also been denied. Khan defending radical Muslims in France, even at a time when Ali Hassan, an 18-year-old of Pakistani origin, stabbed two persons with a meat cleaver outside the previous office of Charlie Hebdo because it published an image of Muhamad, the founder of Islam, something that is forbidden according to the Muslim religion. His father, who still lives in Pakistan, told a local news channel that his son had “done a great job” and he is “very happy” about the terrorist attack. Khan wrote an open letter to leaders of Muslim-majority countries that asked them to unite against “growing Islamophobia in non-Muslim states” and Pakistan’s National Assembly made an embarrassing demand to recall the Pakistani ambassador to Paris. despite Pakistan not having an ambassador in Paris for months already. https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/11/23/decline-pakistani-request-french/
Diplomats in New Delhi and Paris told Hindustan Times that Pakistan had recently requested France for upgrades to keep the fighter jets in the air. “The request has been declined,” one diplomat in Paris said. The Pakistani Air Force has about 150 Dassault Aviation Mirage fighter jets, comprising of Mirage III and Mirage 5, as well as three Agosta 90B submarines built by French firm Naval Group and a French-Italian made air defense system. Although the Pakistani Air Force has about 150 Mirage fighter jets, only half of them are serviceable. The French rejection to upgrade these aircrafts gives India a major military advantage over Pakistan. According to the Hindustan Times, France also told Qatar, one of the countries that bought French-made Rafale fighter jets, to not allow Pakistani technicians to work with the plane over concerns that they could leak technical information about the fighter to Islamabad as the omni-role jet is the front-line fighter of India.Diplomats said a third request from Pakistan to upgrade its Agosta 90B class submarines with air-independent propulsion (AIP) systems that would allow them to stay underwater for longer has also been rejected by France. A similar request for upgrading the French-Italian air defence system has also been denied. Khan defending radical Muslims in France, even at a time when Ali Hassan, an 18-year-old of Pakistani origin, stabbed two persons with a meat cleaver outside the previous office of Charlie Hebdo because it published an image of Muhamad, the founder of Islam, something that is forbidden according to the Muslim religion. His father, who still lives in Pakistan, told a local news channel that his son had “done a great job” and he is “very happy” about the terrorist attack. Khan wrote an open letter to leaders of Muslim-majority countries that asked them to unite against “growing Islamophobia in non-Muslim states” and Pakistan’s National Assembly made an embarrassing demand to recall the Pakistani ambassador to Paris. despite Pakistan not having an ambassador in Paris for months already. https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/11/23/decline-pakistani-request-french/