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#Pakistan - PTI’s moral standing - The foreign funding case spells trouble for the PTI

By Dr Qaisar Rashid

On August 2, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced the decision on the financial integrity of the Pakistan Tehreeke Insaf (PTI). The verdict made public three main findings. First, from abroad, the PTI received funding in millions of dollars, the sources of which were prohibited under the prevalent laws of the country. Second, the party hid certain bank accounts from the ECP. Third, the financial details that the PTI provided to the ECP were grossly inaccurate.

It was a historic verdict announced by a three-member bench led by Chief Election Commissioner, Sikandar Sultan Raja, who had to bear scathing criticism and weather threats in case he issued any adverse verdict. Filed by an insider, Akbar S Babar, a founding member of the PTI, the case had been lingering on since November 2014. The PTI’s lawyers employed all tactics available to forestall the verdict. Nevertheless, the ECP chairman endured all pressures to perform his duty intrepidly and brought the truth to the public.

In one go, the verdict has drowned all claims of honesty and transparency touted by the PTI. With that, the PTI’s moral standing has been bruised gravely. The party which had espoused the cause of integrity stands mired in the sea of lies that it kept on speaking to the ECP for eight years. To the verdict, the PTI’s response is not reason but more bullying of the ECP. This is the strategy that the PTI has evolved over the years to carve out its political path.

With the verdict, the PTI’s hitch-hiker’s journey, which remained reliant on intelligence agencies to perform and the higher judiciary to rescue, has ended, though some in both institutions may fight a losing battle. The verdict is a godsend for the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) which is bearing the brunt of the failed economic policies of the PTI’s stint in power. The PDM is also ready to pay the PTI back in the same coin. The verdict offers a sigh of relief to those who are fed up with agitational politics, those who abhor hearing blatant lies and those who are victims of disparaging campaigns. Such people may think that the era of falsehood is about to be concluded. The age of social media teams swaying the pliable minds of the youth may also be over. Anyway, now the era before the PTI is one of struggle. Real politics starts now: how to shed the impression of deception and how to restore the confidence of the voters in the party. This is a new kind of battle the PTI has to contest not only in the court of law but also in the streets. The verdict is bound to affect politics in Pakistan. The PTI’s demand to hold early elections is going to dissipate for three reasons. First, the PTI is about to get busy in the courts of law. Second, the PTI may not like to go into the polls with the blemish of trickery. Third, the hidden hands supporting the PTI would think twice before supporting the party.

The PTI’s whole case shows a scenario that the rise of a new political party is not possible without stirring religious, ethnic and nationalistic sentiments of the masses. Merely a political manifesto projecting developmental work is insufficient. Further, sheer political gimmicks have the potential for swaying the Pakistanis, who are still politically naïve and malleable. They tend to believe in promises which are unrealistic. They think that a leader can do miracles to deliver what is unachievable on the ground. They believe in hollow promises without thinking whether or not those could be fulfilled.

The PTI’s rise also showed that people believed that Pakistan could develop and prosper merely by conjuring miracles and not by doing hard work. They looked for a politician who could exploit their sense of belief in wonders. Rising to the occasion, the PTI did that aptly. Nevertheless, the PTI failed to perform during its stint in power. The party went back on its almost all electoral promises, which were unrealistic from the word go.The verdict also repays the PTI. The conspiracy theory that the PTI promoted to forward its cause would also boomerang to tarnish the PTI’s reputation. In the hands of the PTI’s staunch political opponents such as Maulana Fazal-ur Rehman, the conspiracy theory that foreigners funded the PTI to achieve certain nefarious objectives would reflect badly on the party. The PTI’s leadership unnecessarily made Rehman a butt of jokes in political gatherings. Now, it is the turn of Maulana Fazal to level the score. Two points are yet to be known: first, whether sit-ins staged by the PTI were also foreign-funded; and second, whether the PTI’s social media activists are also paid by the money collected abroad. It would be interesting to see the behavior of Pindi boy, Sheikh Rasheed, who had joined hands with the PTI in 2014 for getting in return the Ministry of Railways, then Interior. This was a dream job for Rasheed. He did it with all hiccups while the crutches were provided by Mirza Shahzad Akbar. Similarly, it would also be interesting to see how many members stick to the PTI in coming days.

The ECP has also issued a show-cause notice to the PTI to explain why the commission should not seize the funds declared illegal in the verdict. The federal government may resort to invoking laws banning the party.

Whether the party is banned or not, one thing is clear: the PTI is about to enter the era of long-drawn legal battles. It would also be a grueling challenge for the known like-minded judges of the Supreme Court to rescue the PTI. Similarly, whether banned or not, the party has obliterated its chances of swift, profound electoral success in the future. It would be difficult for the party to defend its character before the voters in the next general elections.

Anyway, now the era before the PTI is one of struggle. Real politics starts now: how to shed the impression of deception and how to restore the confidence of the voters in the party. This is a new kind of battle the PTI has to contest not only in the court of law but also in the streets.

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2022/08/05/ptis-moral-standing/

#Pakistan - FM Bilawal, Thai Counterpart Discuss Bilateral Ties

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari held a meeting with his counterpart from Thailand Don Pramudwinai in Cambodia on Friday.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the 29th ASEAN Regional Forum Ministerial Meeting in Phnom Penh.

The two Foreign Ministers reviewed the state of relations between Pakistan and Thailand and expressed their confidence in the trajectory of bilateral cooperation. They also expressed satisfaction with the growth of trade and economic relations between the two countries.

The two ministers renewed the commitment of both countries to forge a broad-based bilateral relationship anchored in strong economic, political and cultural cooperation.Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari underlined the importance of ASEAN in Asia-Pacific and Pakistan’s interest in reinforcing its engagement with ASEAN.

Noting the importance of regular high-level interactions between the two countries, the two leaders agreed to remain in close contact to maintain the momentum in bilateral relations.

https://nation.com.pk/2022/08/05/fm-bilawal-thai-counterpart-discuss-bilateral-ties/

As Ukraine and Taiwan Tensions Rage, Pakistan Envoy Warns of Another Crisis

BY TOM O'CONNOR

With the international community's eyes on Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine and a burgeoning crisis between China and Taiwan, Pakistan's envoy to the United States told Newsweek that high tensions across his country's disputed border with India risked sparking yet another crisis.Friday marked the third anniversary of India's revocation of Articles 370 and 35A, a move that repealed the special, semi-autonomous status of the India-administered stretch of the disputed Kashmir region. New Delhi has argued the step was necessary to improve the situation of the embattled province beset by decades of insurgency, while Islamabad has rejected the move as an illegal change to a long-running feud with an international dimension.And though the decision continued to stir frictions between two nuclear-armed South Asian rivals, Pakistani Ambassador Masood Khan said there has been a dangerous indifference to the issue on the part of the international community.

"Because of several developments in the international realm, for instance, Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific region," Khan said, "the United States or other permanent members of the U.N. Nation Security Council have not been able to devote much attention to Kashmir. "So there's this continuing spell of inattention, which makes Kashmir a blind spot for the international community. This is perilous because, after all, Kashmir is located in a very sensitive region, and in this neighborhood, there are three nuclear powers, Pakistan, India and China."

And all three of these powers lay claim to part of the broader Kashmir region, a sprawling swath of Himalayan territory at the heart of several major wars since the end of the United Kingdom's colonization of the Indian subcontinent three-quarters of a century ago. The fate of Kashmir and its mostly Muslim population led by a Hindu ruler, sparked the first large-scale conflict between India and Pakistan, who would go on to fight three more wars and continued to clash in recent years, with an uneasy, rare ceasefire reached only in February of last year. China, which has fostered close ties with Pakistan, lays claim to Kashmir's far east, where another disputed boundary exists between what India calls Ladakh and China calls Aksai Chin. The two powers fought a war over this region 50 years ago and clashes have resurfaced in recent years, most notably in a series of skirmishes that turned deadly in 2020, months after India incorporated Ladakh as a separate Union Territory alongside Kashmir, officially called Jammu and Kashmir.

"The Kashmir issue is an issue left over from history between India and Pakistan," Hua said. "This is also the shared view of the international community. We stated back then that parties concerned need to exercise restraint and prudence. In particular, parties should avoid taking actions that unilaterally change the status quo or escalate tensions.

"We call on both India and Pakistan to peacefully resolve the dispute through dialogue and consultation."

Friday's anniversary drew some international attention elsewhere as well. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which includes 56 U.N. members states as well as the U.N. observer State of Palestine, issued a statement condemning India's "illegal and unilateral actions taken in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, which were followed by additional unlawful measures including illegal demographic changes.""Such illegal actions can neither alter the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir," the OIC added, "nor prejudice the legitimate right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people."Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Shri Arindam Bagchi argued that the statement "reeks of bigotry" and accused the OIC of pursuing statements "at the behest of a serial violator of human rights and notorious promoter of cross-border, regional and international terrorism" in a thinly veiled reference to Pakistan.

"The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is and will remain an integral and inalienable part of India," Bagchi said. "As a result of long-awaited changes three years ago, it today reaps the benefits of socio-economic growth and development."

And as a number of those in Pakistan and India-administered Kashmir took to the streets to commemorate "Exploitation Day" in opposition to the Indian government, Indian Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha inaugurated the newly renovated Bakshi stadium and announced Friday that August 5 would be known as "Bhrashtachar Mukti Diwas" or "Corruption-Free Day" after a series of initiatives to bring public services online. But unrest has also continued to brew within Kashmir itself, especially in India-administered Jammu and Kashmir. In addition to demonstrations Friday in which protesters opposed to India's special status repeal and subsequent crackdown clashed with security forces, insurgents have continued to conduct gun and grenade attacks. New Delhi has accused Islamabad of sponsoring militant groups in the region, but Pakistan has denied the charge and accused India of committing human rights abuses against Jammu and Kashmir's 12 million people, most of whom are Muslims.

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry summoned India's charge d'affaires in order to issue a "strong protest" over "the series of illegitimate measures taken by Indian order to unilaterally alter the internationally recognized disputed status of the territory and to accentuate its brutal military occupation."

Khan told Newsweek that, in the absence of international action on Kashmir, "the situation has deteriorated further." The United States, meanwhile, has stayed relatively quiet on the issue, viewing it largely as a bilateral matter. Washington did, however, support greater diplomacy between Islamabad and New Delhi."Our policy on Kashmir has not changed," a State Department spokesperson told Newsweek. "We continue to support direct dialogue between India and Pakistan on Kashmir and other issues of concern."The pace, scope and character of any dialogue is a matter for India and Pakistan to determine."Yet, even with last year's ceasefire holding along the border and a change in Pakistan's government ousting then-Prime Minister Imran Khan for current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in April, engagement between India and Pakistan remained scant.

"It takes two to tango," Khan said, "and Pakistan has always been willing to engage in India. We have pursued that option very proactively, and we haven't succeeded so far. So I think that remains a preference for us."

Beyond the bilateral dynamic, the Kashmir conflict also has multilateral dimensions, especially in the United Nations Security Council resolutions defining the territory as disputed. Khan said he hoped for a U.N. effort to foster discreet conversations on the issue and provide a platform for dialogue among representatives of India, Pakistan are the people of Jammu and Kashmir since "they are the primary stakeholders." As for the strained relationship between Islamabad and Washington, whose partnership was forged throughout the Cold War in conflicts such as the mujahideen resistance against Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in the 1980s and in the 21st century "War on Terror," Khan said he hoped to bring ties back on track. The same "War on Terror" that brought the U.S. and Pakistan together has also driven a wedge between them as Washington has expressed concerns regarding the presence of militant groups on Pakistani territory. The country's relationship with the Taliban has also been scrutinized in Washington, even as the group increasingly established itself as an independent actor in the wake of its takeover of Afghanistan following the U.S. military withdrawal a year ago.

"When we talk about a reset, what we would be looking at is understanding the parameters of our relationship post-August 15, 2021," Khan said, "because we were partners in the war against terror and that defined the relationship between the two countries, but now we need to move to non-security issues as well."And Khan, who formerly served as Pakistan's ambassador to China, said that Pakistan's close ties with the People's Republic should not prove an issue, even as tensions between Beijing and Washington soar over what has already been described as the Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis."We want to maintain these relations with China, but we want to have a very strong robust relationship with the United States," Khan said. "We do not want to make binary choices, nor is the United States saying in its formal statements that it expects other nations to make binary choices.

"We do understand that there is this very, very stiff competition between China and the United States, the Western bloc, and I think that—I hope that—they will be able to work towards a win-win solution to the problems."

https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-taiwan-tensions-rage-pakistan-envoy-warns-another-crisis-1731424