Bharat Rakshak

Pakistan plans to speak with China to reduce the cost of its mega railways project by 40% since it can’t afford such a huge loan, according to its minister.
The ministry will seek the approval of the federal cabinet and then talk to the Chinese, railways minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said in Lahore on Monday. The two nation agreed to upgrade the 1,163-mile track from Karachi in south to Peshawar in November.
“How will we repay such a big loan,” Rafique said

The Arab spring changed the dynamics of the region; it challenged the status quo. Western countries are now trying to use the Arab spring to pressurise traditional allies of the West in the region.

The aggravating situation, especially after the Arab spring, compelled the ME countries to look for alternatives and out-of-the-box ideas to mitigate the negative implications.

One of the available options was to diversify their economies and international relations. This started a competition among the regional countries. Although, all countries are diversifying, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and UAE are at the forefront.

In this context, Pakistan must be conscious of the changing dynamics of the region, both in term of economic and geo-politics. Any miscalculation can impact Pakistan in several ways. Saudi Arabia and the UAE provide livelihood opportunities to millions of Pakistanis. Expats from these countries send billions of dollars back to Pakistan, which play a prominent role in maintaining foreign reserves. Pakistan also has close security linkages and cooperation with Saudi Arabia. Besides, both countries also assist Pakistan off and on, to avoid undesired economic difficulties.

Thus, it is suggested that Pakistan conduct a detailed analysis of the changing dynamics. This will help the country devise a balanced and wise policy. Howbeit, Pakistan should try to avoid picking sides in the region and should instead act as trusted friend of all countries.

Over three dozen pharmaceutical companies have expre­ssed their inability to continue production citing unavailability of raw material and delay in their cases seeking price increase.

The health ministry, however, has held out an assurance that the government would make sure there was no shortage of medicines in the country.

Pharma Bureau executive director Ayesha Tammy Haq, while talking to Dawn, said the companies were facing severe shortage of dollars. “It is unfortunate that the government has dollars to import vehicles but LCs (letters of credit) are not being opened. A number of containers are not being cleared. We have run out of raw material. Moreover, there is massive devaluation of rupee as it has dropped by Rs 60 against the dollar in just one month,” she said.

Amber G. wrote:Pakistan had denied airspace to Indian NDRF plane with relief material to #Turkey . It had to take a detour.

krithivas: I do not understand why IAF/India puts Pakistan in a position of power by "seeking permission" to begin with. Detour should have been the default option. Two three hours of fuel may be a deal breaker for bankrupt Terroristan, but less than noise for India.

Pakistan had denied airspace to Indian NDRF plane with relief material to #Turkey . It had to take a detour.

"On reports of Indian C17 with relief to Turkiye not using Pakistan airspace, can point out that Indian military planes don't use Pakistan airspace NOR New Delhi seeks Islamabad's permission to use its airspace...

...Even during the evacuation of Indians from Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in August 2021, Indian military planes flew from Kabul to Dushanbe & used Iranian airspace to come back to India...

[Military planes fly over Pakistan only when it is absolutely necessary ... [ and only to settle a score .. like Balakot I guess ]

Bart S wrote:Pakistan has decided to help Turkey in it's hour of need, by temporarily excluding Turkey and Erdogan from being targeted by Pakistan's organized begging racket.

The premier was set to leave for Turkey today. He had also set up a relief fund along with sending a 51-member rescue team. The All Parties Conference (APC) called to discuss the national security situation, which was rescheduled for Feb 9, had also been postponed for a second time for this very reason.

A draft bill criminalising criticism against the armed forces and the judiciary hit a roadblock on Tuesday as several members of the federal cabinet voiced reservations over it in its current form, seeking to widen its scope by including parliament in it.

Sources revealed that several members of the cabinet expressed difference of opinion and sought parliament’s inclusion in the list of ‘sacred institutions’, arguing why criticism against the prime minister or his office and the supreme legislative forum shouldn’t be included in the category.

New Delhi: Exercise Aman, for the Pakistan Navy, is a prestigious moment. It is its biggest exercise and though it's to begin on February 10, of the 110 countries invited, only seven have bothered to send ships or submarines.

The four-day biannual exercise appears to be another sign of Pakistan's increasing isolation and participation appears to be going down. This year only seven countries have sent ships-- the United States of America, China, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Italy, and Japan. The American presence is virtually a token. While the US Navy sends an entire battle group, including a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier for exercises like Malabar, which takes place every year, either in the Indian Ocean or in the Sea of Japan or in the Pacific Ocean, it has sent one warship, a destroyer.

Participation of the other nations in terms of ships is also low-key. The only country that appears to be making a major effort is expectedly China. There is considerable talk that a conventional submarine will be participating in the exercise, but so far, there is no final confirmation. Turkey was also expected to send ships and also, an aircraft, but whether that will happen after the earthquake is not clear. Aman's diminishing returns are only a sign of Pakistan's difficulties in the international arena. While it is facing a huge financial crisis, the armed forces, particularly the Pakistan Army, is not affected.

The Chinese-- the PLA Navy-- will be participating in another exercise in the Indian Ocean very shortly. This is Mosi (Smoke)-2023, being organized by South Africa. It is a trilateral exercise with South Africa, Russia, and China as the participants.

THE IMF behaves towards Pakistan like an indulgent aunt. It waits until Pakistan runs out of pocket money and then gives a handout with a homily on the need for prudence and self-control.

...

Twenty years ago, an internal study by the IMF’s Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) diagnosed Pakistan as a “prolonged user”, a habitué. It questioned the IMF’s “relative generosity” in granting waivers to Pakistan despite noncompliance with its conditions.

It noted that “until 1998, the prevailing perception within IMF staff was that the principal IMF shareholders … were not willing to take the risk of major turmoil in Pakistan that an interruption of IMF support might have caused”. Internally, some IMF staff members admitted that design weaknesses “such as unrealistic macroeconomic projections, the pretence of toughness … were symptomatic of attempts to find a face-saving way to justify continued len­ding to Pakistan”. Others hinted at ‘appeasement’, which has allowed Pakistan to wrap Aunty IMF arou­nd its little finger.

RoyG wrote:Many things are being negotiated in the background. Ajit Doval and Asim Munir in UK.

Aditya_V wrote:Any chance Pakis will agree to send cannon fodder instead of Ukranians?

ISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Task Force on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was told on Wednesday 42% of children in Pakistan are stunted while over 9.4% of boys and 9% of girls suffer from obesity.

A meeting of the parliamentary task force, held under the chairmanship of convener Romina Khurshid Alam, discussed the drive towards zero hunger as espoused by SDGs.

Committee member Dr Shazia Sobia Aslam Soomro informed the panel that no survey estimating the scale of recent food insecurity in Thar was carried out, adding there was a severe dearth of official data.

Khalid Magsi lamented that people were not paying enough attention to the problems confronting the country and added in dissatisfaction that “we are only wasting time in the assembly”.

Two Pakistan Army soldiers were martyred after an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded in Balochsitan’s Kohlu area, the military’s media wing said on Friday.

“Based on credible intelligence, a sanitisation operation was initiated on Feb 10 in the Kohlu area of Balochistan to deny terrorists any liberty of action,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.

During the ensuing sanitisation of the area, the ISPR said, an IED exploded close to the leading party.

Aditya_V wrote:Any chance Pakis will agree to send cannon fodder instead of Ukranians?

eklavya wrote:

Aditya_V wrote:Any chance Pakis will agree to send cannon fodder instead of Ukranians?

Russia will put half a dozen missiles through GHQ and ISI HQ if the Pakistanis try and get involved. It would be good to see.

Najunamar wrote:But during the Afghanistan proxy war of the 80s Putin was not there, Pukes will need to bear that in mind. I am all for watching with popcorn Putin instilling the fear of God in Isloo and Pindi.

CalvinH wrote:Looks like IMF even got his mustache!

Ahead of Ramazan the price of black tea (loose) has swelled to Rs 1,600 per kg from Rs 1,100 in the last 15 days as around 250 containers still stuck at the port that arrived from late December 2022 to early January.

He feared that tea price may hit Rs 2,500 per kg in Ramazan in case stuck-up consignments were not released.

The Austerity Committee, set up by the present government to save taxpayers’ money from government spending, recommended 15 percent cut in the non-combat defence budget.

More importantly, the Ministry of Defence has already agreed to contribute their share to the national exercise in view of the serious financial crisis faced by the country.

According to the committee report’s recommendation, “non-combat defence budget be cut down by 15 percent. While agreeing to contribute their share to the national exercise, Secretary Ministry of Defence was of the view that before applying any cut on defence budget, ministries of Finance and Defence may review the same in detail.”

The recommendations of the committee to which the prime minister has already agreed to, if implemented, will massively cut the perks, privileges and other luxuries enjoyed by the ruling elite, parliamentarians, judges, generals, civil and military officers from taxpayers’ money.

Some highlights of these proposals as reported by The News on Friday include major cut in the size of cabinet, no development funds for MPs; no pension beyond Rs500,000 per month to anyone from public kitty; no use of SUVs by government officials; withdrawal of all perks of retired civil servants, judicial officers of superior courts and of uniformed services viz vehicles, security, support staff and utilities; 15 percent cut in the salary and allowances of all MNAs, MPAs and Senators; 15 percent cut in the current budget of all ministries, divisions, departments etc at federal and provincial levels; only one plot be allowed to all government servants, bureaucrats, judges and armed forces’ officers; more than one plot already allotted as well as additional land allotments be cancelled and put to open auction

Guddu wrote:Dobhal in US, UK, Russia. Speculation onlee, but could it be contingency planning, Pak reserves down to 2.9 Billion $. It seems to me Modi's strategy is to cause an implosion of Pak economically, have the POK citizens agitate to join India, and then have the knight in shining armor walk in.