#PAKISTAN - Silencing of academia

Daily Times has received a copy of the written orders restricting University of Peshawar faculty members from talking to the media; seemingly in accordance with the regulations of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Establishment Department. Bluntly put, this is akin to crushing academic freedom. In other words, outright censorship is the order of the day.

Higher education institutes are meant to be the epicentres of critical learning and self-reflection. Without commitment to the aforementioned no nation can hope to sufficiently progress to realise its true potential. And knowledge has no currency unless it is shared beyond the realms of academia. The University’s actions are therefore extremely alarming. For even if academics are governed by civil service rules, such antiquated constraints need to be done way with.

Indeed, when the breathing space shrinks to the point whereby critical thinking itself becomes an act of rebellion — the fallout can be devastating. As the tragedy of university student Mashal Khan chillingly reminds. In fact, earlier this year the then PTI government filed an appeal with the Peshawar High Court (PHC) to challenge the acquittal of 26 people in connection with the murder. The move was just. It was also a bold one given that trumped up blasphemy charges had been used to justify the killing.

The last five years have been tough for Pakistanis. Against the backdrop of the country’s first-ever transfer of civilian power, freedom of expression is under threat. Over past years, journalists and civil society activists have been routinely picked up and/or intimidated. Government departments have encouraged the citizenry to snoop on each and report ‘blasphemous’ rumours with intended consequences. Much of the fourth estate has accepted the path of self-censorship as a means of not falling foul of the ‘blacklist’ ball.

Pakistani Soldiers To Receive Russian Military Training Under New Deal

By Pamir Sahill

Pakistan and Russia have reached a military cooperation deal that includes sending Pakistani soldiers to Russia for training, the countries’ defense ministries have announced.

The agreement was reached during Russian Deputy Defense Minister Aleksandr Fomin’s two-day visit to Pakistan this week, and was discussed during a meeting of Russia’s and Pakistan’s top military brass in Moscow on August 9.

At the meeting between the chief of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff, Army General Valery Gerasimov, and Pakistan’s General Zubair Hayat, the military leaders “confirmed a bid to deepen the dialogue and develop contacts in the defense sector,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The ministry said a key focus of the agreement is for Pakistani servicemen to receive training at military schools and institutions of higher education in Russia.

The agreement comes at a time of tension between Pakistan and its traditional military ally, the United States, which recently suspended security aid to Pakistan, charging that it has not done enough to help defeat militants that have been waging a long war against the government in neighboring Afghanistan.

It also comes after Washington this year imposed sanctions on Russia’s defense and intelligence sectors that are aimed at curbing its military’s exports and influence around the world.

Disinformation Warfare

While the agreement for both Russia and Pakistan may serve to show they are distancing themselves from the United States and its demands, Amil Khan, a South Asia researcher at Chatham House, a London think-tank, said it is “more about the signaling and political messaging than it is about actual military reality.”

“Pakistani equipment, Pakistani doctrine, and Pakistani resupply, all of that stuff is on a Western model,” he said. Because of Islamabad’s past alliances with the United States and Britain, it cannot easily or quickly switch to relying on Russia’s military for its needs, he said.

“The big equipment needs it has [are] all American, with British legacy. So, it’s not actually feasible to take a moment of time and say that right now it will be Russia,” Khan said.

Pakistan, besides acquiring military expertise from Russia through the training program, may also be seeking to learn more about Russia’s disinformation warfare tactics, which Khan said have gained attention and respect in the Middle East and South Asia.

“A lot of countries in the region…are very impressed by the Russian ability to wage international competition on a low budget, essentially using disinformation,” he said.

For Russia, the cooperation deal enables it to show that it is still expanding its military influence and presence around the world despite the U.S. sanctions, he said.

“The Russian government wants to say to who it sees as its competitors — and first among those is the U.S. — that we are on a level playing field with you on the global stage,” he said.

After losing influence in some parts of the world in recent years, “it is very important for the Russian system to want to be able to say to its own people: look, we also take back influence where Western powers are stepping away or are being seen to be less effective.”

#Pakistan: How Long Will Imran Khan’s Honeymoon With Army Continue? – Analysis

By Harsha Kakar

The recently concluded general elections in Pakistan almost went according to the script as determined by the deep state. The two reigning political parties which have shared power over decades were pushed into the sidelines and an almost obscure playboy politician, with no experience in governance, has been brought to power. Denying level playing fields to political parties other than Imran Khan’s PTI, curbing the press, pressurising powerful opposition politicians to either join the PTI or stand as independent candidates dominated the proceedings. International observers from the European Union also stated that there was no level playing field in the weeks preceding the elections.

The return of Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam from London to face the jail terms, just prior to the final election dates, almost put a spoke in the plans of the deep state. They had expected them to remain abroad like the former general and President, Pervez Musharraf. Their return could have led to immense emotional support and severely impacted its well thought through plan. Therefore, it resorted to two simultaneous actions. First, Nawaz was moved straight to jail, preventing him from meeting even his mother and supporters and second, rigging was now essential for ensuring the army got the government it desired at the centre.

Handling Nawaz was the easier of the two, as he was given no choice. For formal rigging, the Election Commission had to be manipulated. It was done, and the Pakistan army was granted magisterial powers and was directly involved with the complete election process from the movement of election stores to its presence, both inside and outside polling booths. Videos presently doing rounds on Pakistan’s social media indicate almost open rigging, marking votes cast to other parties being counted on the name of PTI, army personnel in uniform being involved in counting of votes as well as in celebrating the victory of Imran Khan.

Equally important was to ensure a favourable government in Punjab, the largest and richest province, covering almost half the country and providing the largest seats to the senate.

Imran Khan had almost no hold in the state. Punjab was Nawaz’s stronghold. His vote banks had to be dented and split, while other actions continued unabated. The stumbling block could have come in the form of international observers, which could damage the reputation of the state. Their numbers were kept low and their movement was restricted. Juggling was possible in the counting process.

The participation of a multitude of religious and extremist groups, including those considered as global terrorists, into the poll process, supported and created by the deep state was intentional and part of the deep state’s strategy. The groups included Hafiz Saeed, a known global terrorist, led Milli Muslim League, standing on the platform of the Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek, the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, the political wing of the TTLY, which had launched an agitation at the behest of the army in Islamabad in November last year and the Ludhianvi led Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jammat, the ban on whom was lifted only days before the election. Amongst the religious groups was the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), a group of five religious parties.
These groups fielded a total of 1500 candidates for both the national assembly and provincial assembly seats, with the MMA alone fielding 460 candidates. Historically, Imran Khan only had a grip on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with almost no presence in other provinces. Thus, these parties were pushed into the electoral process, mainly in the regions where he lacked a political base, for multiple reasons.

While these parties did manage to eat into the vote bank, they ultimately drew a blank in the elections, except the MMA which did win a handful of seats. For once, despite all their appeal and backing of the army, the nation rejected them en-masse. This was a major setback to the deep state.

Does this action send a message that Pakistan as a nation rejects terrorist groups or the population has a growing resentment against the diktats of the deep state?

The common Pakistani may have faced enough bloodshed to lose interest in the beliefs of terrorist groups, but the desire to regain Kashmir remains deep within him. Further, the belief that terrorist groups may not solve the problems of the nation led to their complete rejection.

More importantly, the mass rejection projects local anger against the dominant power of the army, which has unilaterally taken away most civil rights of the populace and treated them as second-class citizens in their own country. Therefore, it rejected terrorist groups backed by the army. Imran Khan succeeded because he was seen to be clean and a change from other prominent parties which have dominated the political landscape for decades. Further, the manipulated press conveyed Imran Khan to be the right man for the nation, which did influence votes, alongside known rigging. The army dominated press projected corruption angles of other political parties versus the clean image of Imran.

In the coming days, the army would re-evaluate the reasons for the public’s rejection of its sponsored terrorist groups converted to political parties and possibly bring about changes to ensure that it does not happen in future elections.

After all, these are early days and once Imran gets the feel of power, he too may seek to curtail the authority of the army and may need to be elbowed out.

The rejection of ‘terrorist groups turned political parties’ by the local populace has compelled Imran Khan to seek support of other individuals or parties to form the government. He is, however, assured of the backing of the deep state and its supported terrorist and religious groups and hence for the present, he would neither be criticised nor agitations be launched against his government. For the army, while it did push Imran Khan through as the next PM, the rejection of its supported terrorist and religious groups was a major setback and an indicator of the national anger.

Reporting Pakistan election under the military's shadow

DW's Shamil Shams, who was in Pakistan to cover the July 25 general election, explains why reporting freely and independently from the South Asian country was not an easy task despite no direct threat from authorities.

Let's be clear that there were no direct threats, or warnings, to foreign journalists on what not to report during last month's general elections, either from Pakistan's caretaker government or the country's powerful military and its ubiquitous security agencies. But there was an indescribable feeling that journalists must be careful in what they report about the polls.

The informal discussions with security analysts, who mostly toe the military's line, and sources close to Imran Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI, Movement for Justice) party, almost always conveyed the message that Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was jailed for ten years on corruption charges, is a problem for Pakistan, and that the military only wants to clear the mess created by Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N)-ruled former government.

There were some explicit complaints too. I was told that foreign media only presents a mono-dimensional picture of Pakistan, where the military is maligned and "corrupt politicians" praised. "We are here to put across the military's point of view also," I told a retired military officer, who is now a defense analyst. "But please keep in mind that our reference point is democratic supremacy," I added.

"Democracy" is not a popular word in Pakistan. The common people I met with in the cities of Lahore and Islamabad during the July 25 election coverage associate parliamentary democracy with three decades of incompetence, bad governance, unemployment, inflation, corruption and nepotism. To many, Sharif's PML-N and Former PM Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which is now headed by her son Bilawal, are responsible for Pakistan's "misfortune" at the governance level. An increasing number of working class Pakistanis are looking to Islamist parties for relief.

The educated urban middle-class also blames the PML-N and the PPP for the country's ailing economy, a lack of security, and Pakistan's "negative image" abroad. For these people, Khan, who is on course to become next prime minister after securing most seats in the next parliament, is an "outsider," who can put things in order. And the military is still a "holy cow" that not many — barring some civil society activists and intellectuals — dare to criticize.

'Controlled election'

Sharif's "defiance" to the military generals, that they should perform their constitutional role and do not get involved in politics, was a core issue not only for DW but also for other international media organizations. The other major topic was the pre-poll crackdown on media and rights activists that supported Sharif's narrative, or were at least sympathetic to it. IA Rahman, one of Pakistan's most respected human rights campaigners, told DW that the fairness of an election can't be judged by voting but by the run up to the election. In his opinion, Sharif's party was not given a level-playing field by the military establishment, which obviously affected the PML-N's performance in the election. The European Union's election observers also noted the same in their preliminary findings a day after the polls.

Although the military's deployment on polling stations was massive, and local and foreign media didn't get any proper access to the voting centers, the establishment, through its propaganda machinery, made sure that people only focused on voting mechanisms. We were told repeatedly that the polling went smooth, that Khan's party won the election fair and square.

Now as journalists, we are not supposed to take sides. The voting was largely fair, but it would be a big mistake to take it on its face value. It was a "controlled election." From who can contest the election to last-minute PML-N disqualifications to "discarded votes" on the polling day, the 2018 election was arguably the best "managed" election in Pakistan's history.

We, as journalists working for international media, could only point to it in our reports; it would be violating journalistic rules had we said that the 2018 election was "rigged." So we hoped that if we presented all facts clearly, our readers could see the "big picture."

Military's point of view

There is no escape for journalists from the invisible shadows of the military, as my former media colleagues and journalist friends told me time and again during my brief stay in the country. We tried to reach out to the military to get their point of view, but to no avail. Only the military's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) department talks to media on such issues. The ISPR higher-ups are not easily accessible although DW tried to contact them. We still hope that they would like to share their views with our audience.

But by talking to retired military generals, who have found a new and lucrative profession as "security/defense analysts," one can get an idea about the military's thinking. And the military's mindset is very clear on certain issues. Firstly, Pakistan is facing a number of security challenges and it cannot afford "corrupt politicians" demonizing the army, which is the only institution that can tackle these issues. Secondly, the country needs stability — both political and economic — and the military wants to safeguard these interests.

Good luck, democracy!

Khan's aides and supporters share this view, as they conveyed to me during interviews. They also complain that Western media have a grudge against their leader.

"Western media do not like Imran Khan, but we don't care about them. Our leader will make Pakistan great again," they say.

I told them that I wish PM-elect Khan best of luck and hope that under his leadership the country progresses by leaps and bounds.

"But if he ever fell out with the military, independent media — both local and foreign — will continue to be the strongest voice in his favor and also in favor of democracy and constitutional supremacy in Pakistan," I said.

Pakistan’s Economic Crisis

By Kunwar Khuldune Shahid

Islamabad’s need for an IMF bailout is set to create a “diplomatic predicament.”

With a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led National Assembly set to take the oath next week, following the party’s triumph in the July 25 election, the next government will inherit an economy facing multi-pronged crises.

A minor recovery at the end of July notwithstanding, the Pakistani rupee has sunk by over 20 percent in the past seven months owing to a balance of payment quagmire. The rupee touched 130 against the U.S. dollar before election day, recovering to around 122 in the week after, as Beijing agreed to give Islamabad a $2 billion loan.

During the previous calendar year the Pakistan stock exchange had gone from being Asia’s best performing market to the world’s worst. The stock exchange hit this year’s low point in July, two weeks before the elections.

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The last fiscal year ended with a current account deficit of $18 billion, 5.7 percent of the GDP. The budget deficit has crossed 2 trillion rupees. The government owes another trillion rupees in circular debt.

Given the magnitude of these numbers, Pakistan has few options but to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for another bailout package – the 13th for the country since the 1980s.

Asad Umar, expected to be the next finance minister, has reiterated that the decision over the source of loans worth at least $12 billion will be taken within six weeks after he takes charge.

“IMF is the only institution that gives a monetary program, not Asian Development Bank [ADB], Islamic Development Bank [IDB], China or Saudi Arabia,” economic theorist and political analyst Farrukh Saleem told The Diplomat.

“With Rs4 trillion worth of T-bills set to expire in four months – and in need of a roll over – in addition to $8 billion worth of foreign debt servicing over the next 12 months, Pakistan will have to go for the IMF bailout,” he reiterated.

Speaking to The Diplomat, former caretaker Finance Minister of Pakistan Salman Shah argued that not only is seeking an IMF bailout “the only option” for Pakistan, if implemented properly, it can fix a lot of economic problems in the country.

“Even though we are getting [financial] support from China and Saudi Arabia, the IMF program is important for Pakistan, because it will help create the discipline that the country requires and will help govern the economic institutions in the country,” he said.

“It will also improve the flows with other major financial institutions like the World Bank, ADB, and IDB, because they trade with you if you have the IMF’s support.”

In April, the then-advisor to the prime minister on finance and revenue, Miftah Ismail, went to the United States for meetings over countering terror financing. Reports had emerged that Ismail also met with IMF officials at the time to discuss conditions for a potential bailout.

While Ismail has denied having any discussions related to a loan from the IMF while in the United States, speaking exclusively to The Diplomat, outgoing Finance Minister Rana Afzal Khan confirmed that talks had indeed been held.

“The IMF sets certain monitoring conditions. With the IMF, our discussions were limited to what we had agreed with them and about the deviations we had to make because of the changing scenarios [over the previous year],” Khan said.

“When [the then] PM Nawaz [Sharif] was removed, financial indicators in Pakistan changed, the perception of the developing economy changed, [and] the foreign companies went shy because they thought this country is going into another political crisis,” he added.

Rana Afzal Khan also conceded that his predecessor Ishaq Dar’s policy of creating an artificial price of the rupee against the dollar, which hovered around the 100 mark for much of his tenure, was flawed. It is this artificial pricing that eventually saw a sudden nosedive in the rupee’s value.

“The price of the currency depends on market sentiments, which in turn are linked to political sentiments. I had always felt the price between 115 and 120. So that’s where it is, but now it will depend on how the finance ministry manages it,” he said.

While critics argue that the outgoing Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government could have gone to the IMF earlier to prevent the economic crisis in the first half of the ongoing year, Khan conceded it wasn’t politically feasible.

“Yes, for political reasons we could not have gone to the IMF. But also, why should we book the next government for five years against their wishes? We have passed a budget to give a direction. Imagine if the PTI government also had the responsibility of drafting the budget; imagine the chaos it would have created,” the former finance minister said.

With the ministry now eyeing the bailout, it is the conditions that IMF imposes that will be crucial for Pakistan. First of all, it’s expected that there will be a debt sustainability analysis under IMF instructions to determine whether Pakistan can sustain the loan.

“It will be first such analysis carried out by the country,” said Farukh Saleem. “In addition to the debt sustainability analysis, and the usual demand to increase energy prices and taxes, the IMF is also likely to demand transparency for transactions related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC),” Saleem believes.

Pakistan’s balance of payment crisis stems from a rising trade deficit, which in turn results from rising imports, which touched a record $60.898 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year.

“China is playing a huge role in Pakistan’s trade deficit – Pakistan’s imports from China are significantly higher compared to its exports to the country – which is one reason why Pakistan has been trying to revise its free trade agreement with China,” said Salman Shah.

It is Islamabad’s reliance on Beijing, and the CPEC inflow, which prompted U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to issue a warning to the IMF against a bailout package that could aid China.

“There’s no rationale for IMF tax dollars, and associated with that American dollars that are part of the IMF funding, for those to go to bail out Chinese bondholders or China itself,” Pompeo said.

Salman Shah believes that Pompeo has “embarrassed” the IMF.

“He is implying that they work on U.S. dictation, which might push the IMF to show its independence. [Pompeo] feels that the IMF loan would further increase the cooperation between Pakistan and China and will give better results to Pakistan.”

While Shah doesn’t think the IMF would set any conditions that could bar Pakistan from trading with China, he concedes that a “diplomatic predicament” has been created.

“Of course there is a conflict of interest because in the broader scale it is a fight between the U.S. and China, which Pakistan is now stuck in” Farrukh Saleem said. “That’s what happens when you have the begging bowl in your hand.”

Suicide Bomber Attacks Chinese Engineers in Pakistan

A suicide blast in southwestern Pakistan Saturday injured at least five people, including two Chinese engineers, while unknown gunmen killed three policemen in a northern region bordering China.

Authorities in restive Baluchistan province confirmed a team of Chinese workers was returning from a mining project when the bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle near their bus, just outside the town of Dalbandin.

The bus driver and two local paramilitary troops guarding the foreigners were also among those injured. Local officials said none of the victims received life-threatening injuries and they all “are in stable condition.”

Area police said that paramilitary forces were leading a search operation to look for suspected facilitators of the attack. A separatist group, called Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for the violence.

Mineral-rich Baluchistan

Pakistan has leased out the mining project, known as the Saindak Copper-Gold Mine, to Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC). The mines are located in the Chaghi district, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.

Natural resource-rich Baluchistan is the largest of four Pakistani provinces. Islamist militants and Baluch insurgents active in the province routinely carry out attacks against security forces and personnel working on state-owned projects there.

Lately, Islamic State also has claimed plotting attacks in Baluchistan, including some in the provincial capital of Quetta. The terrorist group also took responsibility for last year’s kidnapping and slaying of a Chinese couple visiting the city privately.

Baluchistan is at the center of bilateral massive multi-billion dollar cooperation deal known as China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Pakistan’s military has raised a special force of thousands of personnel to guard the project and Chinese associated with it.

Violence in Gilgit-Baltistan

Separately, Pakistani officials in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region, which borders China, said that a group of heavily armed “terrorists” assaulted police post early morning and killed at least three security personnel. At least two police guards sustained injures.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which came days after suspected militants set fire to more than a dozen schools in GB’s Diamer district.

Gilgit-Balstistn is located on the highway linking Pakistan to China and it is set to serve as the main to transport goods between landlocked western Chinese region and the Chinese-built Arabian Sea port of Gwadar in Baluchistan. The region is set to serve as the main route for transporting goods between landlocked western Chinese region and the Chinese-built Arabian Sea port of Gwadar in Baluchistan being developed under CPEC.

https://www.voanews.com/a/gunmen-pakistan-police-suicide-bomber/4524149.html

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari nominates Murad Ali Shah, Agha Sirajuddin Durrani and Rehana Leghari as Party’s candidates for the slots of Chief Minister, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Sindh Assembly at a meeting of PPP Parliamentary Party

Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has nominated Murad Ali Shah, Agha Sirajuddin Durrani and Rehana Leghari as Party’s candidates for the slots of Chief Minister, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Sindh Assembly at a meeting of PPP Parliamentary Party presided over by him on Saturday.

Former President of Pakistan and PPPP President Asif Ali Zardari also attended the meeting briefly. Former Chief Ministers Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Murad Ali Shah, Faryal Talpur, President PPP Sindh Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, General Secretary Waqar Mehdi and Information Secretary Aajiz Dhamrah were also present on the occasion.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari exhorted the newly-elected MPAs that people have attached high expectations in the Party by electing us third time to govern the province. He asked the Parliamentary party to forget the last 10 years in government and get ready for more transparent and merit-based governance to deliver to the people.

PPP Chairman stressed that issues of water scarcity, improvement in health and education sectors should be the top priorities of the new Sindh government and added that there will be no lifetime Chief Minister or Ministers as he himself will be monitoring the performance of all, including MPAs.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari further said that various puppets were cobbled up together to challenge PPP in Sindh in 2018 elections but they were defeated with the support of people. He said that another group of puppets was being inducted in Federal government but pledged that PPP would expose their hollowness as well and rout them out.
He told the MPAs-elect that you all are my team and I expect best performance from you to revive the glorious past of the Party all over the country.

https://mediacellppp.wordpress.com/2018/08/11/bilawal-bhutto-zardari-nominates-murad-ali-shah-agha-sirajuddin-durrani-and-rehana-leghari-as-partys-candidates-for-the-slots-of-chief-minister-speaker-and-deputy-speaker-of-sindh-assembly/

China should ignore the noise, step up investment in Pakistan

By Wang Cong

In a recent article in the Washington Post, which peddled a series of unsubstantiated accusations and innuendo against China regarding Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the writer asserted that "the Chinese government's obsession with its international reputation is its main vulnerability," which can be used to pressure China.
Such a notion might not be too far-fetched given China's long tradition of maintaining good ties with everyone, including rival competitors, as it rapidly ascends on the global stage. Chinese officials have long stated that constructive criticism is always welcome, but there has got to be a bottom line: China should not let the noise get in the way of doing the right thing for itself and other countries. 

One such thing is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or known in Pakistan as the CPEC. Despite tangible benefits CPEC projects have brought to Pakistan, there has been no shortage of noise about the $60-billion program between China and Pakistan. 

As infrastructure and energy projects under CPEC reach their milestone, some foreign officials, experts and journalists have constantly linked Pakistan's domestic economic woes, such as a foreign exchange reserve crunch, to the projects; some even went too far suggesting that China, through the billions of investments in Pakistan, have controlled the country. 

No one with full knowledge of the project and its financial structure believe that.  But the truth, according to some officials, top experts and business leaders in Pakistan, is that this noise does have an implication if let unchallenged. Coupled with other false information regarding Pakistan's security situation and tense domestic political competition, they say this noise could discourage more Chinese companies and organizations from further engaging in Pakistan and slow the progress of the CPEC. 

During a recent trip to Islamabad and Karachi, top officials, experts, business leaders and ordinary Pakistanis frequently point out that despite tangible benefits from  CPEC and the broader China-Pakistan cooperation, China has rarely taken the initiative to speak out about these results and counter the negative global narrative, and more Chinese businesses are reluctant to come to Pakistan. "Maybe they are shy?" one business leader in Karachi asked.

They also pointed out a key theme with regard to CPEC and the broader China-Pakistan ties, which is that China's investment in infrastructure and energy projects is not enough and that China should get more deeply involved in all aspects of Pakistan—from industrial to social development. 

In Islamabad, officials say they want to learn more from China's experience in economic development and need China's help in shoring up Pakistan's industrial sector; in Karachi, academics say they want to cooperate with Chinese universities in both science and technology research; businessmen say they want to work with private Chinese companies.

To put it simply: as others who have nothing to do with China-Pakistani relations paint a picture of China exerting influence in Pakistan and other countries through economic activities, Pakistan wants more reassurance that its economy is not on the verge of going bankrupt as portrayed by some, and will be able to meet its financial obligations once economic activities pick up with the implementation of CPEC.

Pakistan does need China's help, as it faces a slew of economic challenges, including a backward industrial supply chain, weak foreign trade and a huge portion of its population still living in poverty and without proper education. 

A friend in need is a friend indeed. China should ignore the noise and step up its investment in Pakistan.

Pakistan may be the next victim of China’s new ‘imperialism’

By Ishaan Tharoor

It’s been barely more than two weeks since Imran Khan’s electoral victory in Pakistan, but the country’s next prime minister is already facing a geopolitical crisis. Pakistan’s account deficit is perilously high, its foreign-currency reserves perilously low. Its external debt has ballooned after accepting some $62 billion in Chinese financing, part of an ambitious regional infrastructure project that has yet to boost Pakistan’s economy. Khan’s first major act as prime minister may be asking the International Monetary Fund for a new bailout. But that’s where the trouble begins. Critics at home lament Pakistan’s addiction to the fund — it has spent 22 of the past 30 years laboring under the terms of more than a dozen successive IMF bailouts. 

The austerity measures the IMF demands, they argue, have shackled growth and prevented Pakistan from making substantive reforms. Pakistan could instead turn to China for fresh loans, but that could make Islamabad even more beholden to Beijing than it already is. In that regard, Pakistan is becoming the latest testing ground of a key plank in China’s global strategy. Its sweeping Belt and Road Initiative — a vast $1 trillion infrastructure and development plan that has led to Chinese companies investing in bridges, airports, dams, railroads and other ventures in dozens of countries — is Beijing’s signature global project. But it has prompted accusations that it fuels corruption and autocratic behavior in vulnerable countries.

From Malaysia to Colombia, the opacity surrounding Chinese-backed endeavors has led to allegations of graft, mismanagement and, in the case of at least one mega-dam project, possibly triggered a devastating landslide. Moreover, the initiative has pushed some countries into a morass of debt. The starkest example so far has been Sri Lanka, whose government was unable to repay $6 billion in loans used to build an expensive Chinese-led port and airport project in Hambantota, a once-sleepy but strategically located backwater. As a result, Sri Lankan authorities ceded control of the port and some 15,000 acres of land around it to Beijing on a 99-year lease. The move led to accusations that China is engaging in a 21st-century style of “creditor imperialism.” “States caught in debt bondage to China risk losing both their most valuable natural assets and their very sovereignty,” warned Indian commentator Brahma Chellaney, an outspoken critic of Beijing. “The new imperial giant’s velvet glove cloaks an iron fist — one with the strength to squeeze the vitality out of smaller countries.”

At a Tuesday panel in Washington, Christine Fair, a South Asia expert at Georgetown University, quipped that the Chinese-Pakistan Economic Corridor — the formal name for a complex $62 billion infrastructure-development plan — actually should be called “Colonizing Pakistan to Enrich China.”

Both Chinese and Pakistani officials argue that charges of “colonialism” are overblown. The two countries share a historic friendship, largely framed by their mutual antipathy toward India. In recent years, China has stepped up its involvement in various sectors of the Pakistani economy, from its nuclear-energy industry to the establishment of a host of special economic zones to a costly port project in the city of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea.

“Pakistan does need China’s help, as it faces a slew of economic challenges, including a backward industrial supply chain, weak foreign trade and a huge portion of its population still living in poverty and without proper education,” noted an editorial in China’s state-run Global Times, urging Beijing officials to “ignore the noise and step up its investment in Pakistan.”

Khan, meanwhile, is a fiery nationalist and economic populist. He has repeatedly gestured to the “China model” as something Pakistan should emulate. But it’s not yet clear what any of that means in practice, and the enthusiasm for his rhetoric may simply reflect widespread frustration with Pakistan’s systemic corruption and long-standing habit of turning to the IMF and accepting its diktats.

“The pattern is always the same,” wrote Nadeem Ul Haque, a former IMF official and former deputy chairman of the Pakistani government’s Planning Commission. “With the Fund’s blessing, the government goes on a shopping spree, taking out costly loans for expensive projects, thus building up even more debt and adding new inefficiencies. After a few years, another crisis ensues, and it is met by another IMF program.”

Khan doesn’t look set to break that tradition. But the Trump administration may force him to. “Make no mistake. We will be watching what the IMF does,” said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the end of last month, arguing that he didn’t want the U.S. to indirectly refinance Pakistani loans to China. “There’s no rationale for IMF tax dollars — and, associated with that, American dollars that are part of the IMF funding — for those to go to bail out Chinese bondholders or China itself.”

As tensions flare between China and the United States over trade, that hawkish outlook is only gaining support. In Washington, lawmakers are increasingly wary about China’s opportunistic maneuvering across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

“The goal for the [Belt and Road Initiative] is the creation of an economic world order ultimately dominated by China,” read a recent letter from a bipartisan group of senators to Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. “It is imperative that the United States counters China’s attempts to hold other countries financially hostage and force ransoms that further its geostrategic goals.” For Pakistan, caught between China’s ambition and Washington’s concern, there are few good choices.

“These are our two masters,” Turab Hussain, an economics professor at Lahore University of Management Sciences, told the New York Times. “How do you serve both?”

Fears over tick-borne fever as #Pakistan prepares sacrificial livestock for Eid

Ben Farmer

Health officials in Pakistan have urged people to beware of livestock bearing ticks that spread a deadly fever, ahead of the Muslim festival of sacrifice next week.

The government has issued annual safety guidelines as hundreds of thousands of goats, cows and sheep are being transported and readied for slaughter during the Eid ul-Adha festival.

The increase in handling of animals and fresh meat during the festival raises the risk of humans catching the tick-borne viral disease called Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF).

The CCHF viral disease causes no symptoms in livestock, but spreads to people from ticks or through contact with infected animal blood or tissues during and immediately after slaughter.

According to the World Health Organisation, it is endemic in Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and Asian countries where the ticks are found. The disease is fatal in up to 40 per cent of cases.

The disease can also spread between humans from close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids.

Guidelines issued by the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council say livestock farmers, abattoir workers, butchers, veterinary and para-veterinary staff are at particularly high risk of acquiring the disease.

Suggested precautions include keeping away from animals with ticks, disposing of offal properly and ensuring limbs are fully covered when going to markets. Wearing brightly coloured clothes can also mean ticks are easily spotted. Tick repellent should also be used, and slaughter areas thoroughly disinfected.

The guidelines also say meat should not be handled with bare hands, children should be kept away from animals and only professional butchers should be used for slaughter.

Across the border in Afghanistan, health officials have say they have seen a rise in CCHF cases recently as drought has forced farmers to move livestock from rural parts of the north and west to other parts of the country.

The first six months of this year, saw 125 cases and 18 deaths in Afghanistan.

CCHF was first described in Crimea among soldiers and agricultural workers in 1944, and in 1969 it was recognised that the virus causing the disease was identical to a virus isolated from a child in the Congo in 1956.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/08/10/fears-tick-borne-fever-pakistan-prepares-sacrificial-livestock/

Exclusive: As Trump cracks down on Pakistan, U.S. cuts military training programs

Idrees Ali, Phil Stewart

President Donald Trump’s administration has quietly started cutting scores of Pakistani officers from coveted training and educational programs that have been a hallmark of bilateral military relations for more than a decade, U.S. officials say.

The move, which has not been previously reported, is one of the first known impacts from Trump’s decision this year to suspend U.S. security assistance to Pakistan to compel it to crack down on Islamic militants. The Pentagon and the Pakistani military did not comment directly on the decision or the internal deliberations, but officials from both countries privately criticized the move. U.S. officials, speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, said they were worried the decision could undermine a key trust-building measure. Pakistani officials warned it could push their military to further look to China or Russia for leadership training.

The effective suspension of Pakistan from the U.S. government’s International Military Education and Training program (IMET) will close off places that had been set aside for 66 Pakistani officers this year, a State Department spokesperson told Reuters.

The places will either be unfilled or given to officers from other countries.

Dan Feldman, a former U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, called the move “very short-sighted and myopic”.

“This will have lasting negative impacts limiting the bilateral relationship well into the future,” Feldman told Reuters.

The State Department spokesperson, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the IMET cancellations were valued at $2.41 million so far. At least two other programs have also been affected, the spokesperson said.

It is unclear precisely what level of military cooperation still continues outside the IMET program, beyond the top level contacts between U.S. and Pakistani military leaders. The U.S. military has traditionally sought to shield such educational programs from political tensions, arguing that the ties built by bringing foreign military officers to the United States pay long-term dividends. For example, the U.S. Army’s War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, which would normally have two Pakistani military officers per year, boasts graduates including Lieutenant General Naveed Mukhtar, the current director-general of Pakistan’s powerful spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI).

The War College, the U.S. Army’s premier school for foreign officers, says it has hosted 37 participants from Pakistan over the past several decades. It will have no Pakistani students in the upcoming academic year, a spokeswoman said.

Pakistan has also been removed from programs at the U.S. Naval War College, Naval Staff College and courses including cyber security studies.

“LIES AND DECEIT”

In his first tweet of 2018, Trump slammed Pakistan, saying the country has rewarded past U.S. aid with “nothing but lies & deceit.” Washington announced plans in January to suspend up to roughly $2 billion in U.S. security assistance to Pakistan. But weeks later, Pakistan’s foreign secretary was quoted by local media saying that Islamabad had been told the United States would continue funding IMET programs. Officially allies in fighting terrorism, Pakistan and the United States have a complicated relationship, bound by Washington’s dependence on Pakistan to supply its troops in Afghanistan but plagued by accusations Islamabad is playing a double game. Tensions have grown over U.S. complaints that the Afghan Taliban militants and the Haqqani network that target American troops in Afghanistan are allowed to shelter on Pakistani soil.

Current and former U.S. officials said Defense Secretary Jim Mattis argued against excluding Pakistani officers from IMET courses.

“I am shocked... We worked so hard for this to be the one thing that got saved,” said a former U.S. defense official, who was involved in the conversations.

The Pentagon declined to comment on internal government discussions, but Dana White, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said Mattis long believed in the value of the IMET program as a way to build relations between foreign militaries.

Pakistani Senator Mushahid Hussain, chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, told Reuters that a U.S. decision to cut off such exchanges would be counter-productive and push Pakistan’s military towards other countries. “It is one of those silly, punitive measures that they have deployed,” said Hussain, who sat next to a Chinese and Pakistani flag in his office. Russia and Pakistan signed an agreement earlier this week that would allow for Pakistani military officers to train at Russian institutes. Pakistan's military has ruled the country for about half of its history and traditionally seen the country’s foreign policy in its domain. IMET courses have been able to withstand poor relations between the two countries in the past, even after al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S. Navy SEAL raid in the Pakistani town of Abbotabad in 2011.

A NATO helicopter raid killed 28 Pakistani troops later that year in a friendly fire incident on the Afghan-Pakistan border.

Feldman said that after the raid, when relations were at a low point, the United States limited large security assistance items, but made active efforts to continue the IMET program.

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCE

In the 1990’s former U.S. President George H.W. Bush refused to certify that Pakistan did not have nuclear weapons, triggering the so-called “Pressler Amendment” that required cutting off all military assistance. That included IMET courses. “The unintended consequence was we didn’t know a decade of the Pakistani military leadership as well, and therefore couldn’t engage as effectively with them when we needed to,” Feldman said.

Mattis, in private discussions within the government, had warned that excluding Pakistani officers from IMET courses could contribute to a similar situation in years to come, the former U.S. defense official said.

Pakistan had been the largest recipient of IMET between 2003 and 2017, according to the Security Assistance Monitor which tracks U.S. assistance.

“You can advocate for cutting off everything else and this was the one thing we were not supposed to touch,” the former official said.

Bilawal Bhutto message on the 10th “National Minority Day” PPP and Constitution stand as guarantors for equal rights to Non- Muslims of Pakistan

Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that non-Muslims are equal citizens of Pakistan adding that being the true inheritor of the ideology of the country PPP, together with the unanimous Constitution of Pakistan stands as a guarantor of their equal rights.In his message on the 10th “National Minority Day” being observed tomorrow (August 11), the PPP Chairman pointed out that for the first time PPP awarded three tickets for general seats to non-Muslim candidates in 2018 elections. Of them, Dr Mahesh Malani is the first-ever candidate for National Assembly who won on a general seat in Pakistan’s post-1971 history. Hariram Kishorilal and Gianchand Essrani were elected as MPAs, that too on general seats, which is again unprecedented.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari further said that it was PPP which legislated to reserve four seats for non-Muslims in the Senate of Pakistan and itself elected three non-Muslim as Senators, two of them on general seats including Senator Gianchand and Kirshna Kolhi both belonging to marginalized communities. A Christian PPP worker Anwar Laldean was elected Senator on reserved for minority from Sindh. The incoming Sindh Assembly will have only one Christian MPA Anthony Naveed, who belongs to PPP. We are also proud that Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto established a full-fledged Minority Affairs Department in Sindh in 1994, no other province couldn’t do in last 24 years.

Recently notified Sindh Hindu Marriage Bill was also passed by last PPP government unanimously, he added.

In 2009, President Asif Ali Zardari had declared August 11 as National Minority Day, the day in 1947 when Founder of the Nation Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah made famous speech emphasizing equal rights for non-Muslim citizens in the new state of Pakistan.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that PPP would continue to follow the vision of the founding fathers of the nation for equality with no discrimination of caste, creed, religion or ethnicity among the citizens. “PPP is the true torchbearer of the ideology of Quaid-e-Azam and will continue its struggle for an egalitarian, peaceful, prosperous and progressive Pakistan,” he added.

https://mediacellppp.wordpress.com/