Sunni Terrorist Fragments of Unstable Pakistan - March 17, 2017

[Peregrine]

X Posted on the Analtzing CPEC Thread

Beijing plans to turn Pak into its economic colony

NEW DELHI: China's longterm plans for Pakistan would do the East India Company proud. Proposals for the China Pakistan Economic Corridor revealed in Pakistani newspaper Dawn envisage thousands of acres of agricultural land being leased to Chinese enterprises to set up demonstration projects and a fibre-optic system that will facilitate the dissemination of Chinese culture.

The proposals seem to confirm that Pakistan will become an economic colony of China as CPEC will help Beijing tighten its strategic embrace of its ally and provide it connectivity from Xinjiang to the Arabian Sea at Gwadar in Balochistan.

The range and scope of the plan is breathtaking, showing a deep penetration into Pakistan's economic life. This could have several implications for India - Pakistan's sovereignty could be forfeited to Chinese interests and China would be uncomfortably close to India's borders in the east and west.

It would be a virtual ring-fence of India.

Thousands of acres of Pakistani agricultural land will be leased to Chinese enterprises, according to proposals for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The land will be leased for projects ranging from seed varieties to irrigation technology. A full system of monitoring and surveillance will be built from Peshawar to Karachi, with 24-hour video recordings on roads and busy marketplaces for law and order.

A national fibre optic backbone will be used not only for internet traffic but also terrestrial distribution of broadcast TV, which will cooperate with Chinese media in popularising China's culture.

The Pakistani government has argued that CPEC will spur the economy and its linkages with agriculture and power will benefit citizens. Its critics, particularly in Gilgit-Baltistan and Balochistan, feel it is an infringement on their land and culture.

Others have pointed to strings attached to Chinese aid. It was noted that the "CM" of Gilgit Baltistan was not involved in the One Belt, One Road discussions in Beijing attended by PM Nawaz Sharif.

The Dawn report said, "The plan envisages a deep and broad-based penetration of most sectors of Pakistan's economy as well as its society by Chinese enterprises and culture. Its scope has no precedent in Pakistan's history in terms of how far it opens up the domestic economy to participation by foreign enterprises."

The report concluded, "In the areas of interest contained in the plan, it appears access to the full supply chain of the agrarian economy is a top priority for the Chinese.

After that, the capacity of the textile spinning sector to serve the raw material needs of Xinjiang, and the garment and value added sector to absorb Chinese technology is another priority.

Next is the growing domestic market, particularly in cement and household appliances, which receive detailed treatment in the plan.

And lastly, through greater financial integration, the plan seeks to advance the internationalisation of the renminbi, as well as diversify the risks faced by Chinese enterprises entering Pakistan."

Laying out the risks, it said the topmost problem was politics and security. The next big risk was inflation, which the plan said had averaged 11.6% over the past six years.

Cheers

[Falijee]

More Confirmation That China Wants To Turn Pakistan Into An Economic Colony !

Exclusive: CPEC master plan revealed

Details from original documents laying out the CPEC long term plan are publicly disclosed for the first time.

Plan eyes agriculture
Large surveillance system for cities
Visa-free entry for Chinese nationals

The floodgates are about to open. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived in Beijing over the weekend to participate in the One Belt, One Road summit, and the top item on his agenda is to finalise the Long Term Plan (LTP) for the China-Pakistan Economic Corri­dor. [See next tab for details on how the plan was made].

Dawn has acquired exclusive access to the original document, and for the first time its details are being publicly disclosed here. The plan lays out in detail what Chinese intentions and priorities are in Pakistan for the next decade and a half, details that have not been discussed in public thus far.It is unfair to blame Ganja Sharif for this non-disclosure

For instance, thousands of acres of agricultural land will be leased out to Chinese enterprises to set up “demonstration projects” in areas ranging from seed varieties to irrigation technology. A full system of monitoring and surveillance will be built in cities from Peshawar to Karachi, with 24 hour video recordings on roads and busy marketplaces for law and order. A national fibreoptic backbone will be built for the country not only for internet traffic, ( social media will have to say "goodbye" to Facebook, Twitter, Google and other search engines ; Chinese style censorship coming soon ) but also terrestrial distribution of broadcast TV, which will cooperate with Chinese media in the “dissemination of Chinese culture”. For Chinese culture read Chinese propaganda How are the Pakis going to be de-addicted from Indian movies and other Indian TV programmes . Does the "master plan" call for making pork products "halal" in Pakiland

The plan envisages a deep and broad-based penetration of most sectors of Pakistan’s economy as well as its society by Chinese enterprises and culture. Its scope has no precedent in Pakistan’s history in terms of how far it opens up the domestic economy to participation by foreign enterprises. In some areas the plan seeks to build on a market presence already established by Chinese enterprises, eg Haier in household appliances, ChinaMobile and Huawei in telecommunications and China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC) in mining and minerals. Will the RAPE class go in for this third class Chini consumer -maal is another question !

In other cases, such as textiles and garments, cement and building materials, fertiliser and agricultural technologies (among others) it calls for building the infrastructure and a supporting policy environment to facilitate fresh entry. A key element in this is the creation of industrial parks, or special economic zones, which “must meet specified conditions, including availability of water…perfect infrastructure, sufficient supply of energy and the capacity of self service power”, according to the plan.

But the main thrust of the plan actually lies in agriculture, contrary to the image of CPEC as a massive industrial and transport undertaking, involving power plants and highways. The plan acquires its greatest specificity, and lays out the largest number of projects and plans for their facilitation, in agriculture. Are hog/ pig farms going to be established in this Islam pasand country

For agriculture, the plan outlines an engagement that runs from one end of the supply chain all the way to the other. From provision of seeds and other inputs, like fertiliser, credit and pesticides, Chinese enterprises will also operate their own farms, processing facilities for fruits and vegetables and grain. Logistics companies will operate a large storage and transportation system for agrarian produce.It identifies opportunities for entry by Chinese enterprises in the myriad dysfunctions that afflict Pakistan’s agriculture sector. For instance, “due to lack of cold-chain logistics and processing facilities, 50% of agricultural products go bad during harvesting and transport”, it notes ( Long article revealing for the first time, the long term intentions of the Chinese vis- a- vis Pakistan !)

Tourism and recreation

Finance and risk

Conclusion
It is not clear how much of the plan will be earnestly followed up and how much is there simply to evince interest from the Pakistani side. In the areas of interest contained in the plan, it appears access to the full supply chain of the agrarian economy is a top priority for the Chinese. After that the capacity of the textile spinning sector to serve the raw material needs of Xinjiang, and the garment and value added sector to absorb Chinese technology is another priority.Next is the growing domestic market, particularly in cement and household appliances, which receive detailed treatment in the plan. And lastly, through greater financial integration, the plan seeks to advance the internationalization of the RMB, as well as diversify the risks faced by Chinese enterprises entering Pakistan. In some areas the plan seeks to build on a market presence already established by Chinese enterprises, eg Haier in household appliances, ChinaMobile and Huawei in telecommunications and China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC) in mining and minerals.Gwadar receives passing mention as an economic prospect, mainly for its capacity to serve as a port of exit for minerals from Balochistan and Afghanistan, and as an entreport for wider trade in the greater Indian Ocean zone from South Africa to New Zealand. There is no mention of China’s external trade being routed through Gwadar. Judging from their conversations with the government, it appears that the Pakistanis are pushing the Chinese to begin work on the Gwadar International Airport, whereas the Chinese are pushing for early completion of the Eastbay Expressway.
But the entry of Chinese firms will not be limited to the CPEC framework alone, as the recent acquisition of the Pakistan Stock Exchange, and the impending acquisition of K Electric demonstrate. In fact, CPEC is only the opening of the door. What comes through once that door has been opened is difficult to forecast.

Maybe,the plan is a trial balloon floated by the Chinese. If implemented, it will surely be an economic and cultural colonization of the Pakistanis . Pakistan will become a virtual colony of the Chinese. Wonder, what is the re-action going to be of the Mullah brigade , to this erosion of the Islamic culture in the homeland of the Muslims of the sub-continent. Will the Chinese give assurance- to the Paki fauj - that the so-called territorial integrity will be guaranteed by them and the 1971 breakup of Pakistan will not be repeated again

[Falijee]

How The Plan (To Colonize Pakistan) Was Made

How The Plan Was Made

The LTP was begun in November 2013 (see detailed timeline in previous tab), when the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of the Government of China asked the China Development Bank (CDB) to compile a detailed roadmap to guide the engagement with Pakistan that had begun in May of that same year. For the next two years, till December 2015, the CDB worked with teams from the NDRC, as well the ministries of Transport, National Energy Administration and China Tourism Planning Institute to develop a detailed plan to be implemented over the next 15 years, till the year 2030, that will open the doors for Chinese enterprises – private and public – to enter every area of Pakistan’s economy.

Chinese expert teams made multiple visits to Pakistan and Xinjiang during this period, drawing up a detailed picture of the situation in every area, prioritizing those that will come first, and identifying “hidden dangers”, bottlenecks and risks that should be anticipated along the way.The report was first transmitted to the Government of Pakistan in June 2015, where it gathered dust for a few months. Under prodding from the Chinese government, a team from Pakistan met their counterparts in Beijing on November 12th, 2015 and gave their feedback. A “special bilateral meeting” was held on Dec 2nd, and the plan finalized on Dec 29th. It was then agreed by both sides that final signatures of the highest authorities, in Pakistan’s case the Prime Minister, would be obtained by March 31st. That deadline was missed, and the signatures are expected to be placed now that the PM is in Beijing.

In the meantime, a small formality asserted itself. For the plan to be finalized, the assent of the provincial governments was required. For that purpose, a second draft was prepared that could be shared with the provincial authorities. That draft is 31 pages long and significantly watered down with all details removed, containing only broad brushstroke descriptions of the “areas of cooperation” that both countries have identified.

The original plan drawn up by the CDB is 231 pages long, and is an astonishingly detailed roadmap of the pitfalls and opportunities that Chinese enterprises can expect as they venture into every area of the economy and society. It contains specifics of what is going to be built by the Chinese over the next decade and a half, and its detailed description of Pakistan’s economy and its attendant risks shows clearly that the Chinese are fully aware of what they are getting involved in. If, this is implemented in toto, Pakistan will remain independent in name only !

[Kashi]

http://herald.dawn.com/news/1153753/wha ... -pakistani

At the time of Partition, my father’s family moved to the newly-created country of Pakistan..
...
My nana, on the other hand, was a staunch Congress supporter and even ran a pro-Congress newspaper out of Lucknow. He stood his ground and refused to leave India
...
[M]y father had moved out of Pakistan and settled in the US to work as an engineer. My mother traveled from India to join him there after they had their nikah over the phone, and that is where my sister and I were born and raised.
...
When I graduated from university in the US, I applied for internships in both Pakistan and India, allowing fate to decide the direction in which I would go. As it happened, I ended up getting a placement at a human rights organisation in New Delhi. The NGO I was working in recommended I apply for a Person of Indian Origin card on the basis of my mother’s previous Indian citizenship.

I wonder which NGO was this

This would allow me to work in India and travel without a visa. My application went smoothly, and in no time, I was handed a small gray booklet that would allow me to continue visiting India for the following 17 years. In the following years, my visits to the country grew longer and more frequent. I ended up conducting my Ph.D research in Delhi Wonder why she didn't name the university and eventually published a book about Muslim women’s experiences in the city.

How did someone with a parent and grandparents that held Pakistani citizenship manage to get a PIO card? How many others like this are out there?

But then this happened

I decided on a whim to travel to Dharamsala last week as a birthday present to myself after a long and stressful semester of teaching. On the way back across the border a few days ago, I was questioned by the Indian immigration official about how I had both a PIO and a NICOP – a question that I get every time I cross. As usual, I answered honestly.

My mother was Indian and my father was Pakistani, so I am both. Usually the immigration officials on both sides of the border respond by saying “Wah, aap tho barri lucky hai madam!” (Wow, you are very lucky, madam!) lucky?? Which immigration official said this?, and stamping my passport. This has always provided me with a glimmer of hope that, even though our higher-ups may be cold-hearted, average people on both sides of the border can still see the absurdity of this division. But that was not the case that day.

The immigration official disappeared with my PIO card and returned over an hour later with a letter, which I was forced to sign stating that my card was being seized as I was a person of Pakistani origin and so could not also be Indian origin. The dreaded day had come. After all of these years of proudly claiming both parts of my subcontinential identity, I was finally being forced to choose. When I asked what right they had to do this the usual Paki sense of entitlement, they said “The government of India has the right to do whatever it wants,” and that was that.

Rest of the article is

But sample this bit of hypocricy

Centuries of living side by side, of sharing a common culture and heritage, of sharing bonds of love and affection, cannot be erased so easily. They will keep trying to force amnesia upon us, to make us believe we are fundamentally different, to make us hate each other, but we must resist at every turn. Rather, we must remind ourselves that our origin is not written on pieces of paper, on plastic cards or on flimsy booklets that can so easily be taken away.

Our origins, our common bonds, are written in our bodies, our souls, our languages, our cultures, our histories, and try as they might, no amount of political posturing can erase that.

Madam, if your founding fathers truly believed this, they would never have separated.

[g.sarkar]

Madam wants the best of both worlds. If you read between the lines, her family moved where ever they thought there was an opportunity to make money or gain status, first move to Pakistan where promotions were automatic and when it did not give the results desired then to the West. When beheadings are going on, you can not run with the fox and hunt with the hounds anymore. The situation between India and Pakistan is not like the US and Canada, or the UK and France, and you have to choose the side you want to be identified with. There may be more such Pukes with the PIO status, the Indian government should research and cancel more such bogus cards.
Gautam

[yensoy]

Madam was lucky she didn't get imprisoned for wrongful claims on her PIO application (perjury), since as per rules https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persons_o ... rigin_Card this is totally not allowed.

[Aditya_V]

Kashi missed a very important line

This article was originally published in The Wire, India.

As usual The Hindu and DMK upto mischief.

[Peregrine]

Pakistan International Airlines crew detained, searched in London over 'security threats'

LONDON: Fourteen crew members of a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight were detained at London's Heathrow Airport and later let off after the aircraft was thoroughly searched for over two hours post-landing.

The Dawn and the Express Tribune newspapers quoted PIA spokesperson Mashhood Tajwar, as saying that Flight PK-785 from Islamabad to London arrived at Heathrow Airport at 2.50 p.m. on Monday, and after passengers disembarked, the flight crew and aircraft were searched by authorities.

It is yet not known why the crew was detained. Tajwar said nothing was found on the plane, adding that the PIA plans to take up the case with the British aviation authorities.

Other reports in Pakistani media said the crew was detained over 'alleged security threats via confidential information' and their passports withheld.
Cheers

[VishalJ]

Part 1



Part 2

[Falijee]

Nearly 29,000 Pakistanis seeking passage to Europe deported by Iran in 2016

Nearly 29,000 Pakistani nationals, attempting to enter Europe, were intercepted by Iran and handed over to authorities in Pakistan in 2016.
Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Deputy Director Jawad Khan on Tuesday said in 2016 Iran had intercepted and handed over 29,074 Pakistani nationals to authorities at the Pak-Iran border at Taftan.Thousands of Pakistanis fleeing poverty, unemployment and law and order problems have been attempting to illegally enter Europe. ( Many illegal Pakistanis - who have made it to Europe - should seriously consider returning "home" as the situation is going to be much better when the "fruits of CPEC" begin to lift from poverty , unemployment and law and order problems ) , thousands of Pakistan make abortive attempts to enter Greece via Iran and Turkey for better working opportunities. Most of them are arrested in Iran and Turkey and sent back.

[Falijee]

Jindal visited Pakistan on Sharif’s invitation, says Jha

More ammunition for those gunning for Ganja and labeling him as" being too soft on India" !

[anupmisra]

Chinese know well about corruption in CPEC projects: Zardari
Dus Percenti should know!

Asif Ali Zardari said on Monday that the Chinese knew well about corruption in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.

So, the chini are involved? Is SeePack corrupted? What does it say about the lofty goals that SeePack promised? Who else is involved in this corruption besides the chinis? Since DusPercenti once claimed that he was the original motivator behind SeePack, is he corrupt as well? No, don't answer the last question.

Zardari said Pakistan's future was bright. "We need to have a positive approach. For example, some people consider the increasing population as a liability while others consider it an asset"

That's all the world needs: more pakis to populate this region.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/204726 ... ts-Zardari

[Peregrine]

US urges Pakistan, India for direct talks over Yadav

WASHINGTON: The United States has urged Pakistan and India to engage in direct talks to resolve the issue of RAW agent Kulbhushan Yadav, who has been sentenced to death by Field General Court Martial in Pakistan on charges of espionage and subversive activities, Indian media reported.

According to NDTV report, US State Department spokesman told Press Trust of India over issue of Yadav, "We encourage Pakistan and India to engage in direct dialogue aimed at reducing tension.”

He said direct dialogues will help reduce tensions between the two neighbours.

Pakistan and India faced-off at the International Court of Justice over the death penalty of Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav.

The spokesman said, "US believes Pakistan and India stand to benefit from practical cooperation."

Last week, on May 08, India moved to International Court of Justice (ICJ) against sentencing Yadav. The court stayed execution and heard arguments presented by both Pakistan and India on Sunday.

The ICJ reserved judgment on the petition filed by India seeking to halt implementation of death sentence to its spy Yadav after hearing arguments from both sides.
Cheers

[CRamS]

^^ Is this statement from US true? If so, it shows once again, TSP's thuggery is in part fueled by its 3.5

[Varoon Shekhar]

^^^

Fullest sympathy, and hoping for the best for Kulbhushan Jadhav. But seriously, why do Indians go to Pakistan at all? No Indians should travel there, for any reason. Sounds naive, I know, but there's no good reason to go there. Avoid them totally.

[Aditya_V]

^^^

Fullest sympathy, and hoping for the best for Kulbhushan Jadhav. But seriously, why do Indians go to Pakistan at all? No Indians should travel there, for any reason. Sounds naive, I know, but there's no good reason to go there. Avoid them totally.

He was Kidnapped from Iran, what kind of spy goes into country with his official passport.

[Peregrine]

Fully Posted on the PESW Thread

Market watch: KSE-100 plunges 574.68 points after MSCI reclassification

KARACHI: The KSE-100 – a benchmark for market performance – plunged 574.68 points on Tuesday, as index-heavy stocks and profit-taking dragged the benchmark below the 52,000 level.

Cheers

[Varoon Shekhar]

^^^

Fullest sympathy, and hoping for the best for Kulbhushan Jadhav. But seriously, why do Indians go to Pakistan at all? No Indians should travel there, for any reason. Sounds naive, I know, but there's no good reason to go there. Avoid them totally.

He was Kidnapped from Iran, what kind of spy goes into country with his official passport.

Thanks! Sorry for that misinformation. I am not following the story as closely as I should be! So then, did the Iranians co-operate with the Pakistanis to abduct him?

[Falijee]

Retired Fauji Afsars Use Social Media To Apply Pressure On Paki Govt !

A hidden WhatsApp constituency

Just as oceanic tsunamis occasionally recede to reveal a newly formed island, the infamous Dawn Leaks have receded to leave behind a most remarkable, politically significant and long-lasting structure. And the irony is our TV anchors, who waste millions of TV viewer hours every day, have missed this powerful development. They have neglected one of the most influential political constituencies of Pakistan. Without understanding it one cannot explain, for example, why the ISPR had sent out the first tweet, rejecting the Government’s first notification of the Dawn Leaks.

No, it is not hyper-paid TV anchors themselves, powerful though they are in shaping public opinion. I refer to some 25 to 30 thousand retired army officers who are daily using social media, especially WhatsApp to forge a formidable group exerting pressure on the highest leadership of our armed forces. Ignoring this lobby group can only be to the peril of those who make vital decisions for the nation. But first let’s revisit the Dawn Leaks.

Probably, there is an organized effort - through social media - to undermine the civilian govt, and counter anti-govt groups using the same medium !

Pakistan’s eminent newspaper, Dawn, in a story filed by the young and caustic writer Cyril Almeida, claimed that then Foreign Secretary Aezaz Chaudhry had informed the army that Pakistan was being isolated. At some point, the Punjab Chief Minister pitched in with his grievance that the army released terrorists nailed by the government. The then-DG ISI allegedly promised to do something about it. This is the genesis of the so-called “Dawn Leaks”. It remains unclear whether or not the story was fake.

I suggest that one very important reason why the Establishment took umbrage at the Dawn Leaks, even tweeting its rejection of the Government’s first notification, is a most crucial information technology-related sociological development. I will not be exact, but let’s say that from the 25th PMA to the 60th PMA, there are some 25 to 30 thousand retired army officers who are in reasonably good health and who are also users of WhatsApp.They are good, honest people, upright officers in their time who bonded very closely at the PMA. Across cohorts, they are linked to one another through the institution of the armed forces and its values of brotherhood, sacrifice and honour, but also through post-retirement structures and trends such as the CMH, booming asset prices but inflation-hit retirement packages, rising tuition costs and simply keeping up with the Joneses. So, the bottom line is that they want to ensure that their "previous boss" - the Paki fauj- ensures their post -retirement benefits

Amazingly, for such a large group, most share an identical mind set on what’s wrong with Pakistan and how to set it right. India is our enemy, all agree. The army must be very strong. Civilians exhibit a severe lack in governance ability and often moral values of uprightness, and thus need strong guidance that may occasionally include more vigorous interventions. These retired officers have sympathy for Imran Khan but this sympathy is conditional on his remaining sensible. Nawaz Sharif, they admit, was hand-picked by an army chief and former President of Pakistan, but now has become independent in thought and errant in conduct. So, the "outrage" against Ganja and his civilian govt, is not spontaneous but is orchestrated ![ As a political constituency this group is just like any other except that it is one of the most closely-knit, WhatsApp savvy and confident in its assessments. However, in one way this group has changed the landscape of Pakistan. Never before, since 1947, has an army chief had to listen so carefully to what retired army officers have to say. For one, there was no WhatsApp. It took days, even weeks for news to travel and by then either the issue had gone away or it had become cumbersome to put together a united effort. Frankly, you would not even think of disagreeing with your Chief. Ultimately, it is about preserving the bread and butter of retired fauji afsars, the nation and it's Aam Abduls be damned

WhatsApp has changed all this. In three hours, news of errant behaviour of Nawaz Sharif can run through the thirty thousand strong community back and forth, along with their comments. Remember, this group not only influences their spouses, but also their relatives and friends, many of whom are serving officers. It is this group which I think forced the ISPR to tweet its ill-advised rejection and it is this phenomenon that is keeping the pressure on the Chief alive.IMO, Ganja is a shrewd "dehati politico" who has dealt with the Paki Army machinations in the past as well . Look , how he "pacified" Raheel and got him to accept the Saudi assignment . Am sure that he will work out some sort of quid pro quo with Bajwa as well to get relief from the pressure !

The Chief, General Bajwa, a most decent and wise man, has earned national and international acclaim for upholding democracy in Pakistan. How he will fare in the future when faced with this powerful WhatsApp constituency may lead to the history of Pakistan being shaped, one way or the other Sycophancy has no limitations

[Peregrine]

Progress to be a dream if border tensions continue: Nawaz

BEIJING: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that progress will be reduced to a dream if border tensions are not brought down. He said Pakistan strongly favours cooperation and synergetic partnerships across regions for socioeconomic development and human prosperity.

Cheers

[Peregrine]

Clapistani Lighter Moments - Jameel the Talking Dog

Punjab court awards death sentence to dog

BHAKKAR: A local court in Punjab’s Bhakkar district on Tuesday handed down death sentence to a pet dog after the animal bit and injured a child, some 65 kilometers from here.

Jameel said the decision was against the norms of justice since he had already spent a week in a prison after family of the injured child lodged a case against him.

Cheers

[anupmisra]

Can we please take all SeePack related discussions to the SeePack dhaga? I, too, am guilty of this infraction but since there is a dedicated dhaga, let us all play by the rules, shall we?

[anupmisra]

Pakistan International Airlines crew detained, searched in London over 'security threats'

Follow up on this report:

British authorities say heroin found on Islamabad-London PIA flight

Border Force officers had found a "quantity of heroin" on board a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight that landed at Heathrow Airport Monday

"No arrests have been made, enquiries are ongoing”

Fourteen crew members were released after being detained for nearly two hours by British authorities

The national carrier often comes under fire for poor performance, low safety standards and the unprofessional attitude of its staff. Members of PIA crew have also been sacked for smuggling contraband and assisting money laundering operations.

The airline has taken a firm stance against corrupt practices and recently announced “termination from service” will now be the only punishment if any staffer of PIA is involved in smuggling contraband in or out of the country

https://www.dawn.com/news/1333487/briti ... pia-flight

[Peregrine]

X Posted on the IWT Thread

Modi's water war: India fast-tracks hydro projects in IoK

NEW DELHI: India has fast-tracked hydropower projects worth $15 billion in Occupied Kashmir in recent months, three federal and state officials said, ignoring warnings from Islamabad that power stations on rivers flowing into Pakistan will disrupt water supplies.

The swift approval of projects that had languished for years came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested last year that sharing the waterways could be conditional on Pakistan clamping down on anti-India militants that New Delhi says it shelters.

Pakistan has opposed some of these projects before, saying they violate a World Bank-mediated treaty on the sharing of the Indus river and its tributaries upon which 80 percent of its irrigated agriculture depends.

The schemes, the largest of which is the 1,856 MW Sawalkote plant, will take years to complete, but their approval could prove a flashpoint between the nuclear-armed neighbors at a time when relations are at a low ebb.

"I say the way you look at these projects, it is not purely a hydro project. Broaden it to a strategic water management, border management problem, and then you put in money," said Pradeep Kumar Pujari, the top ranking official in the power ministry.

Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman, Nafees Zakaria, said he would confer with the Ministry of Water and Power on the proposed Indian projects, saying it was a technical matter.

He noted, however, that India would be attending a regular meeting of the Indus Commission later this month in Lahore, even though the broader peace dialogue was on hold.

"It seems that finally India has realized the importance of this mechanism under the IWT (Indus Waters Treaty) for resolving water disputes related to the Indus water and its tributaries."

TRIPLE POWER

Six hydro projects in Indian Occupied Kashmir either cleared viability tests or the more advanced environment and forest expert approvals in the last three months, two officials in India's Water Resources Ministry and the Central Electricity Authority said separately.

Together these projects on the Chenab river, a tributary of the Indus, would triple hydropower generation in IoK from the current level of 3,000 MW, the biggest jump in decades, added the officials, declining to be named because the approvals had not yet been made public.

"We have developed barely one-sixth of the hydropower capacity potential in the state in the last 50 years," the senior official at the Water Resources Ministry said.

"Then one fine morning, you see we cleared six to seven projects in three months; it definitely raises concern in Pakistan."

Pakistan's water supply is dwindling because of climate change, outdated farming techniques and an exploding population.

A 2011 report by the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations said New Delhi could use these projects as a way to control Pakistan's supplies from the Indus, seen as its jugular vein.

"The cumulative effect of these projects could give India the ability to store enough water to limit the supply to Pakistan at crucial moments in the growing season," it said.

India says the projects are "run-of-the-river" schemes that use the river's flow and elevation to generate electricity rather than large reservoirs, and do not contravene the treaty.

Environmental groups have questioned whether the government has followed proper procedures in fast-tracking projects located in a highly seismic area.

"BLOOD AND WATER"

Modi told a meeting of government officials on the Indus treaty last year that "blood and water cannot flow together", soon after India blamed militants allegedly based in Pakistan for a deadly attack on its troops in Uri.

Modi's message was two-fold, Indian foreign ministry spokesman Gopal Baglay said. Terrorism had to stop and India must fully utilize the economic potential available to it within the Indus treaty.

The projects that have won technical approvals in recent months are Sawalkote, Kwar, Pakal Dul, Bursar and Kirthai I and II.

Most of the projects have been held up for at least a decade awaiting multiple clearances. Sawalkote, which was cleared by a government-constituted environment committee in January, was first given techno-economic approval in 1991.

It is now up for forest clearance from the state authorities, after which the government will finalize financing and begin construction.

Some projects like Pakal Dul were stuck in litigation, but that has been resolved, Jammu and Kashmir's Power Minister Nirmal Singh told Reuters in the summer capital Srinagar. "Things are now in a position of take-off," he said.

In January, senior federal officials made a presentation on energy security to Modi in which they proposed interest subsidies and long-term loans for hydroprojects above 100 MW, according to the document seen by Reuters.

But Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People, said some projects had been cleared without impact assessment studies and public consultation.

"It's on one river, the Chenab, where you are doing so many projects. This is a very vulnerable region. It's landslide-prone, it's flash flood-prone, earthquake-prone."

Cheers

[vasu raya]

Pakistani man faces terrorism charges in Germany

Is there data of when Pakis have sought consular access to its citizens accused of terrorism and charged in other countries? maybe in the above case the moment the name LeT popped up they deny him to be their citizen as they do with India

[Peregrine]

How Pak ran afoul of its neighbours

For Pakistan watchers, the nadir of its policy vis-a-vis its neighbours was reached earlier this week when Iran’s army chief, Gen. Mohammed Baqeri, publicly warned Islamabad that if it failed to hunt down anti-Iran terrorists in their Pakistani safe havens, his army was ready to go after them.

The Iranian warning came on the heels of a deadly foray by Pakistan-based anti-Iran terrorists into Iran last week, in which ten Iranian security personnel were murdered.

This wasn’t the first time that the Pakistan-based murderers—calling themselves Jundallah (Army of God)—had feasted on Iranian blood. Iranians have been in Jundallah’s crosshairs for long. The Baloch outfit, professing blood identity with Iranians of Baloch descent, seeks to ‘exact revenge’ for Iran’s alleged maltreatment of their minorities. It has regularly faulted Iran for discrimination and human rights violations against its non-Shia minorities, of which Balochis are one.

But this time around, the Iranians felt so rattled by the blood-spilling spree of these Pakistan-based terrorists that Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif rushed to Islamabad on May 3 where in addition to calling on PM Nawaz Sharif, he also met with the Pakistan army chief. The Pakistani Balochistan, sharing a long border with Iran, has long been under the eyes of Pakistan’s army, which is trying to put down a separatist insurgency, which Pakistan claims is being fuelled by India.

The saga of Kulbhushan Jadhav—the Indian RAW agent allegedly caught spying for India from his base in Chabahar, the Iranian port city within hailing distance of Pakistan—has also been a factor, lately, in Pakistan’s relations with Iran. Pakistan’s all-powerful military had the gall to point the finger at Iran. It claimed Tehran was allowing its territory to be used by spies of ‘arch-enemy India’ and turning a blind eye to a master-sleuth like Jadhav.

A diplomatic disaster with Iran was averted—with a lot of toil and finesse by the mandarins of the Pakistan Foreign Office—last year when the Jadhav story broke during Iranian President Hasan Rouhani’s visit to Islamabad. The then Pakistani military chief Gen. Raheel Sharif had taken up issue with Rouhani for not keeping an eye on enemies of Pakistan operating from Iranian soil and Rouhani had to trash the general’s nonsense in an angry rebuttal.

The same Raheel has just been anointed chief of an ‘Islamic Army’, a motley and yet-amorphous force of disparate Muslim states professing loyalty to Saudi Arabia. Pakistan is yet to throw its hat formally into this Saudi-inspired ring but has allowed its retired army ace to don the mantle of its leadership—a perplexing thing, no doubt, to most observers.

Foreign policy pundits and gurus not in awe of Nawaz and the Saudis bemoan Pakistan’s myopic policy of going out on a limb for the Saudis against an old and trusted neighbour like Iran. It’s no secret that the Saudis, wagged by their Wahabi sectarian ideology of Islam, are out to corner the Shia Iran and obviously want to use Pakistan to pull their chestnut out of the fire. It’s foolhardy of Pakistan, pundits bewail, to make an adversary of a neighbour like Iran for the sake of a combative Saudi Arabia which is exploiting the pro-Wahabi sentiments of a majority of Pakistan’s population.

The latest twist in the Jadhav spy saga is set to roil Pakistan’s already deeply-strained relations with India a notch further. To Islamabad’s chagrin, the International Court of Justice has just given a ruling in favour of India and stayed the death penalty awarded to Jadhav last month by a Pakistani military court.

The dipping curve in Pakistan’s not-too-happy-and-sanguine relations with Iran comes close on the heels of a rapidly worsening equation with Afghanistan.

For more than a week now, the Pakistan–Afghanistan border has been sealed by Islamabad, thus virtually suffocating a land-locked Afghanistan heavily dependent on its transit trade via Pakistan. This harsh, punitive action has been followed ostensibly to punish Afghanistan for unleashing military fire against the Pakistani census workers operating close to the Afghan border. The tit-for-tat action has led to casualties on both sides of the historic border between the two countries.

Pakistan blames Afghan President Ashraf Ghani of toeing the Indian line on policy with its neighbours. It accuses the Afghan leadership of ungratefulness and insensitivity to the past four decades of Pakistani sacrifices for the sake of their Afghan brethren. Pakistan, of course, has a point in being unhappy with the Afghan leadership after having fed and sheltered over 4 million Afghan refugees over the past 40 years. More than a million Afghan refugees are still partaking of Pakistani hospitality. So Pakistan feels it has moral justification on its side for faulting the Afghan leadership for letting New Delhi use them to bait Islamabad and stir trouble at a time when Pakistan would want the world to take notice of India’s ‘punishing policy’ against the Muslim inhabitants of Kashmir.

To Pakistan’s utter annoyance and dismay, the Afghans have rekindled the issue of the Durand Line, the 19th century border drawn by the British colonialist power for its own interest. It’s no coincidence that many of Pakistan’s own Pakhtoon tribes loathe the arbitrary colonial demarcation dividing millennia-old tribal and blood affinities.

But the bewilderment of jaded Pakistani pundits, like this scribe, is anchored on the pivotal issue of Pakistani leaders being inexplicably insensitive to the age-old dictum: You can’t choose your neighbours; so you must learn to live with them in peace and harmony.

Karamatullah K Ghori - Former Pakistani diplomat - Email: [email protected]

Cheers

[Peregrine]

Officials mull extending census by a month

ISLAMABAD: One sign that the population of Islamabad has grown exponentially seems to be the difficulties which census teams have been facing in completing the headcount exercise by the official deadline of May 25.

Officials in the capital’s administration have told The Express Tribune that the authorities may be compelled to extend the deadline for the census in the capital by a month to make sure the exercise is comprehensive.

They, however, have blamed poor planning and underestimations made by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) for this.

Officials from the PBS, the Islamabad Capital Territory Administration and Islamabad Police are thus expected to meet on Tuesday (today), to consider these issues and mull plans to extend the exercise.

An officer familiar with the developments in the ongoing headcount exercise explained that many of the sprawling societies located in the Lohi Bher area had been shown as ‘fields’ in the PBS record when the blocks were drawn ahead of the census. This, the officer – who did not wish to be named – said, led to underestimates when the teams visited these areas and found sprawling housing societies there.

Hence, he suggested, the exercise could be extended by a month in the capital.

Furthermore, the officer said that some of the localities were missing from the PBS record as they had not been included in any block. Some of the blocks will be revised and added, he said.

An officer in the capital administration said that as per the progress made by the enumerators so far, the population of the capital was estimated to be around 2.6 million people – up from previous estimates TABLE 1 - AREA, POPULATION BY SEX, SEX RATIO, POPULATION DENSITY, AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD SIZE AND GROWTH RATE - PAKISTAN 1998 Figure of 805,235 - a 3.23 Times Increase!

PBS Member Census Habibullah Khan acknowledged that there had been some shortcomings while planning for the census. He said additional blocks were being created and additional staff were being employed on an emergency basis to plug the gaps.

The head count exercise in the capital began on April 25 as part of the second phase of the nationwide activity. It was scheduled to be completed by May 25, though, it now seems likely that the deadline will be extended beyond May.

As many as 652 teams, each team consisting of a civilian and a military official, are taking part in the census in the capital. The city has been divided into 135 circles for counting the number of houses and people living there.

Armed security officials are also accompanying each census team.

Note : Thus my comment that Pakistani present Population is in the vicinity of 240 to 250 Million should be a ball park Figure.
Cheers

[Prem]

Officials mull extending census by a month
An officer in the capital administration said that as per the progress made by the enumerators so far, the population of the capital was estimated to be around 2.6 million people – up from previous estimates Note : Thus my comment that Pakistani present Population is in the vicinity of 240 to 250 Million should be a ball park Figure.
Cheers

Doubling of these numbers must be Paki Pokority to become the tightest & brightest example of true Islam in this Jahan & Jahannum .
Jinnah' Jinnat rivaling Allah' Jannat .

[gakakkad]

stfu-p is getting weirder than BENIS

http://postcard.news/physics-question-p ... medium=cpm

Class 12 physics paper leaked...Blame India ofcourse...

[Gagan]

I am happy to report that Pakistani media is in the grips of sheer panic on the International Court of Justice hearing on the Kulbhushan Jadhav case.
Their joker lawyer, wearing that goat eaten head-dress made a phool of himself.

There is great despodency at full display, lots of lahori logic arguments flying about on Paki TV channels. Some people saying in auiet voices that Jadhav will become another Raymond Davis, and will be set free.

Pak Fauj and Raheel Sharif's lahori logic plan has fallen flat on its face. They concocted the story, showed a falsified passport of Jadhav that they themselves made, and are now scrambling to somehow bury the evidence, as the shit has hit the fan for the Pak Fauj.

This shitstorm is Raheel Sharif's parting gift to Pakistan. That fool destroyed Pakistan's relations with Iran, and left them with this problem for the current guys to sort out. And he wanted to be Field Marshall !

Pakistan's fauji generals are all RAW agents - nobody screws pakistan like they do

[Falijee]

The Express Tribune > Pakistan > Punjab
Court orders drug dealers to sweep roads, clean gutters for a year

Paki Govt "usually keeps reserve " such jobs for Christians and Hindus!

[arun]

On the kidnap of Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav.

Dr. Gunter Mulack, the former German Ambassador to the Mohammadden Terrorist Fomenting Islamic Republic of Pakistan, who had first said in a seminar that he had heard Commander Kilbhushan Jadhav who was then working in Chabahar in Iran had been abducted by the Taliban from along the Iran-Pakistan border and then sold to the nototious intelligence arm of the Uniformed Jihadi’s of the Punjabi dominated Military of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan the Inter Services Intelligence Directorate aka ISI aka ISID; reiterates that claim.

Dr. Mulack tells India Today "I had said during the course of a seminar in Karachi that it was heard Jadhav was abducted by the Taliban in Iran and then sold to Pakistan's ISI. It is not uncommon for this to happen in the border areas. But this was what locals told me. It was not what German intelligence had picked up":

Pakistan will pour oil in fire if it hangs Kulbhushan Jadhav before ICJ verdict, says ex-German ambassador Mulack

[SSridhar]

I am happy to report that Pakistani media is in the grips of sheer panic on the International Court of Justice hearing on the Kulbhushan Jadhav case.

May be true. But, the danger for Mr. Jadhav is far from over.

Even if the ICJ delivers a verdict against Pakistan, it can still ignore the verdict taking a cue from its Himalayan-friend China which simply spurned the UNCLOS Arbitration Court's ruling. Simply, nobody could do anything.

Or, it could decide to transfer the case to a fast-track civilian court which would hand over the same sentence. But, this could be fraught with some problems because the PA would consider that as an affront. This might also put Mr. Jadhav's life in great danger as an angry PA/ISI would do anything.

In any case, Pakistan would never give consular access to Mr. Jadhav. Pakistan would play out a farcical drama.

[CRamS]

SSJi, GaganJi, my take as I have always said so is that TSP wants India on the negotiating table to discuss Jadhav and then bring in their pet demands. This has been their game plan right from the start. So SSJi you could be very well be right. Irrespective of what happens at ICJ, and unlike GaganJi's optimism, I feel ICJ's verdict will at best be equal equal; TSP will take this to the wire in some way, shape or form and put massive pressure on India to force ModiJi to come to the table. TSP has gamed this pretty well.

[SSridhar]

CRS ji, initially I too thought that the Jadhav ploy by Pakistan was simply to get Modi to the dialogue table. But, I soon changed my idea. The kidnap of Jadhav, his prosecution in a military court and award of death sentence are purely PA actions. The PA is not interested in any dialogue, especially when the Chinese are firmly behind it. PA has every reason to believe that India's military options are getting restricted with every passing day as China takes more and more possession of Pakistan. So, the PA, already reckless, could be even more so, emboldened by their new Masters. The PA is doing this as an act of retribution for the surgical strikes, IMO. The Jadhav case and the decapitation of Indian soldiers along the LoC recently are all acts of 'revenge' by the PA because they are unable to do anything more substantially than this. At the rate at which the PLA & XPCC are fanning into POK, the PA might feel that the window for Indian surgical strikes would narrow with each passing day.

[dsreedhar]

Online petition for Jadav -
https://www.change.org/p/prime-minister ... han-jadhav

[Gagan]

Pakistan wants negotiations with India to be able to Grandstand and do Nautanki for its domestic audience. Period

There are fears being expressed in Pakistan Media, that according to the legal experts in Pakistan, if Pakistan decides to go against the ruling of the ICJ, that India will take up the matter with the Security Council, and put immense pressure on Pakistan via the US and the 3.5 masters. They have even stated that they are nowhere as strong as China to ignore ICJ.

One can see the irritation in the Pakistani news anchors - they realize that their time for enjoyment on the Jadhav case is over, and the BS spewed by their army has come back to bite them. They keep asking how did this happen, why? One can understand their angst that they can't blame their army for this whole thing. It has come as a shock to them, that the BS story their fauj built for them, has come crashing down. The use of the word "Farcical Trial", and the other facts of the case are things that are new to them, and they are shocked !!!

As always, their Army lied to them, did a big media trial, but GoI cut their nonsense short.

Unfortunately Mr Jadhav's only fault is that he is not a terrorist or a spy. If he had been a terrorist, (like Ehsanullah Ehsan), he would have been feted and courted by the Pak Army and the ISI.

[Gagan]

These days, there is a lot of Rona-Dhona on CPEC too.
India's statement on OBOR, saying that this will bankrupt the nations that it passes through and make them economic slaves of China, is being quoted by Pakistani Media. The Pakistani media is building a case where they are now openly saying that they had better be careful, otherwise CPEC will economically destroy them.

They are still not saying - and they dare not say so openly that, CPEC is a very bad deal, and they are being fooled by their Army, Politicians and China.

[Gagan]

One other thing,
A request for all posters on this thread and the other Pakistan related thread.
Please watch what you write on here. The pakistanis read it, many others read it. This is where everybody seems to be getting their ideas from...

[shiv]

PA has every reason to believe that India's military options are getting restricted with every passing day as China takes more and more possession of Pakistan.

I do not understand the logic here. The presumption is that India is scared of China but not Pakistan and would not fight if the Chinese were in Pakistan. I can see no reason to assume that this would be true other than perhaps as a Paki delusion - which would be a good thing - because their "emboldening" would be suicidal for them when based on a false premise. If India has to hit Pakistan - it will hit Pakistan whether Chinese troops are there or not.

The Chinese cannot do much on the India China border at short notice because of several reasons
1. Currently they are sticking to an agreement signed during the Narasimha Rao regime not to push boundaries beyond the established LAC
2. Their presence in many areas is fairly light
3. Any move on the India-Tibet border to support Pakistan would have to be preceded by a huge movement of men and materiel into Tibet over and above what they have there.

Chinese getting into Gilgit and then Pakistan would mean that they have to get ready to be hit. I don't see that happening - but a detailed discussion of why and wherefore would be an interesting topic.