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What is Brand Pakistan?
Magnificent delusions.The SIFC is playing a key role in putting Pakistan on the world investment map.
First they boasted CPEC as game changer and will push Pakis to developed country. That flopped so needed some thing to boost Abduls confidence so coined another alphabetic acronym SIFC and gloating it as game changer.by partha » 02 May 2024 21:53
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/118441 ... d-pakistan
What is Brand Pakistan?
The SIFC is playing a key role in putting Pakistan on the world investment map.
Magnificent delusions.
Pakistan can:
1 - prosecute the masterminds behind the Mumbai attack of 26/11 - not for India's sake , but for the international community that was also affected.
2.- open the trade routes between India and Afghanistan - not for India's sake, but for the sake of Afghanistan.
3. - Pakistan can reserve its position on Kashmir, just like China used to do with Taiwan - i.e., leave it essentially unresolved, and proceed with economic relations with India. However, jihad/terrorism will have to be eliminated first. Considering that jihad/terrorism is harming Pakistani civilians and military personnel too, doing this can be done for Pakistan's sake and not for the sake of India.
This is the one way forward that I see for Pakistan.
Actually, the early 2000s, when the two countries' economies were more on par in capabilities was the time for Pakistan to do all this. Plus there would not be a Taliban government in Afghanistan.
But true to itself, Pakistan will squander every opportunity. Indians distrustful of Pakistan know this; and know they need not exert in the least for Pakistan to go deeper into problems.
Haven't we heard all these before ? Thus, the French proverb Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose (The more it changes, the more it remains the same)A recent visit by US Acting Under Secretary for Political Affairs John Bass to Pakistan could mark a seismic shift in regional dynamics, with implications that could resonate as far as the Middle East, according to analysts.
The visit by the former US ambassador to Afghanistan underscored a critical juncture in US-Pakistan relations, they said, with Islamabad poised to be wooed by Washington on many fronts – from its strategic position amid Iran-Israel tensions to an energy deal and the issue of Afghan refugees.
“This visit of the US undersecretary is very significant in multiple contexts,” Nausheen Wasi, an international relations academic at the state-run Karachi University, said of Bass’ two-day trip from Tuesday.
Pakistan’s foreign office in a statement on Tuesday said “a productive discussion on all aspects of bilateral relation was held” during Bass’ visit, following a trip to Islamabad by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi a week earlier.
Raisi’s visit came after Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel on April 15 involving ballistic missiles and drones in response to an earlier assault by the Jewish-majority state on the Iranian embassy in Syria. Israel reportedly retaliated several days later targeting military sites in Iran although Tehran had downplayed the counterstrike.
With tensions in the region running high, any further escalation by Israel would leave Pakistan, as a neighbour of Iran, the only “trusted ally to the US” in the vicinity, Wasi said.
“Pakistan’s strategic significance [is] tremendously [enhanced] … There are many such developments in the region that the US may ponder on, and it understands Pakistan’s role.”
The gas pipeline dilemma
During Raisi’s visit, Pakistan and Iran discussed completing a cross-border gas pipeline first mooted by both countries in the early 1990s and formally signed in 2013. While Iran has completed its segment, the construction of an 80km stretch to be built by Pakistan has been suspended amid fears of US sanctions.
Energy-deficit Pakistan hopes to tap cheaper sources to avoid paying heavy oil import bills due to its dwindling foreign exchange reserves. Islamabad and Tehran also agreed to increase bilateral trade to US$10 billion in the coming years from US$1.5 billion last year.
“Pakistan is not in a position to further delay the pipeline project as it would also have consequences,” said Nabila Jaffer, research analyst at the Institute of Regional Studies. She highlighted the severe implications of a penalty of US$18 billion demanded by Iran if Pakistan could not complete its part of the project.
Conversely, the prospect of US sanctions targeting Iranian imports including gas could be a nightmare scenario for Pakistan, which relies heavily on Western financial help, according to observers.
“Iran is pressuring Pakistan, and the fear of US sanctions also looms large,” said Jaffer Ahmed, head of the Pakistan Study Centre at Karachi University, who warned that managing a “balancing act” would be difficult for Islamabad.
The Bass visit could also signal that the US wants to find an alternative energy source for Pakistan instead of Iran, observers say.
Wasi said: “Following the visit of the Iranian president, discussion [with the US] now would also include economic cooperation ... this clearly shows the US does not want Pakistan to engage with Iran on trade and energy matters”.
The Pakistani foreign office said in a statement: “The two sides [the US and Pakistan] reaffirmed the commitment to enhance cooperation in the areas of trade, investment and regional security.”
One issue that was likely discussed during Bass’ visit to Islamabad was the longstanding plight of Afghan refugees.
Last November, Pakistan launched the first-round repatriation of the refugees, returning about half a million of the around 1.7 million refugees living in the country.
The move came amid international appeals to halt the expulsions, citing concerns that the volatile situation in Afghanistan poses significant dangers for those who fled following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in 2021.
“The repatriation issue of Afghan refugees in Pakistan may remain one of the issues to be discussed [between Washington and Islamabad],” Wasi said.
Pakistan’s decision to repatriate Afghan refugees followed a series of terrorist attacks on government and foreign facilities, with Chinese interests a prime target. These attacks were attributed to the Pakistani Taliban and other terrorist groups believed to be sheltering in Afghanistan, who could easily blend in with Afghan refugees.
Another round of repatriation is on the cards.
“Pakistan [would have shared with the US] its concerns of anti-Pakistan terrorist sanctuaries in Afghanistan,” Nabila Jaffer said.
Given the Middle East crisis and the Ukraine war, the US is emphasising stability in Afghanistan and other countries in the region.
“We can see very active diplomatic efforts from the US to address the situation in Afghanistan … so this is a moment of opportunity for Pakistan [to tap on],” Wasi said.
The current Taliban regime in Afghanistan maintains a hostile stance towards Pakistan. As such, the US and other countries can play a key fence-mending role by encouraging Pakistan to engage Afghanistan through trade, education and other areas, according to analysts.
Pakistan’s increasing importance on the geopolitical front comes amid a series of high-profile visits by its leaders in the past year. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Saudi Arabia twice in April while military chief General Asim Munir made a four-day official trip to China last year.
“There are many regional developments that reinforce the US’s view of the indispensability of engaging with Pakistan,” Wasi said.
Surat | A man was arrested in Surat in Gujarat on Saturday for allegedly planning to murder the leader of a Hindu organisation and threatening the chief editor of Sudarshan television channel as well BJP's Telangana MLA Raja Singh and the party's former spokesperson Nupur Sharma in connivance with his handlers from Pakistan and Nepal, a senior police official said.
Surat police commissioner Anupam Singh Gehlot identified the arrested accused as Maulvi Sohel Abubakr Timol (27), who worked at a thread factory as a manager and offered private tuition on Islam to Muslim children.
He was found to be conspiring with people from Pakistan and Nepal to offer Rs 1 crore 'supari' (contract for killing) and procure weapons from Pakistan to kill the national president of Hindu Sanatan Sangh Upadesh Rana, said Gehlot.
"After his detention, we found several objectionable contents in his mobile phones, including the one regarding offering Rs 1 crore for the murder of Updesh Rana. For this, he was in continuous touch with persons/numbers from Pakistan and Nepal," Gehlot told PTI.
Pak happy to claim it's on Moon "like India"SSridhar wrote: ↑03 May 2024 19:05 TSP sending a moon probe
How I wish Musharraf were alive today and in power. He would have gloated over how SUPARCO engineers are far better than ISRO's. Remember him berating ISRO when SUPARCO bought a non-functional Ford Aerospace satellite and moved it into a geostationary slot assigned to TSP because TSP was in danger of losing it to India over non-use !!
TSP & China are doing this moon probe in order for China's cat's paw TSP to not be left out of lunar claims later on. As another nation which has investigated the moon, it could be drafted into a future Lunar Committee (like P-5) to manage the the Lunar real-estate, where China could use it to browbeat & checkmate us. That's China's intentions.
Edit: l had not read the details when I posted but found this now lolSaudi crown prince likely to visit Pakistan this month
Sources say Mohammed bin Salman has agreed to travel to Islamabad at the invitation of PM Shehbaz
The Saudi foreign minister, after getting a briefing from the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), had said that he was impressed with the new framework.
No, the Chinese didn't have to do any of these things because it was they who built it at Shanghai. It is not even like the Pakis taking credit for the roundel paint job of the JF-17.
ICUBE mini satellites are available on line cost from 5000 $ to 13000$ off the self most sellers are Chinese. I think Pakis have bought that mini ICUBE and gave Chinese to fit couple of camera and sensor and launch. so what Pakis did is just by off self ICUBE (and asked money from Chinese) may put some paint and claim they reach moon like Chandaryan.by SSridhar » 07 May 2024 19:18
Anujan wrote: ↑07 May 2024 02:49
Did they check the CubeSat for a soosai vest before letting it travel in the rocket? What if it exploded?
Did they have drug sniffing dogs check it out? Maybe the "payload" was some of Afghanistan's finest.
No, the Chinese didn't have to do any of these things because it was they who built it at Shanghai. It is not even like the Pakis taking credit for the roundel paint job of the JF-17.
Would the Chinese allow the Pakis anywhere near their most important lunar mission?
Looks like they have split the earth...sanjaykumar wrote: ↑09 May 2024 03:15 And the dood has no idea what the earth looks like from space.
At least it is not depicted flat!sanjaykumar wrote: ↑09 May 2024 03:15 And the dood has no idea what the earth looks like from space.
Here are some pictures (Copy Right - BRF - if you reproduce them - - courtesy of the same AI which is used in Pak (and sold by us- took me about 5 seconds))Amber ji,
It looks like a gas tandoor.
Pakistan. We did it
Padosiyo, that's our class
The images, captured between May 8 and 9, offer a glimpse of the lunar surface, showcasing its rugged terrain and craters in exquisite detail. One particularly striking image depicts the Earth's natural satellite alongside the Sun, a celestial duo that has captivated stargazers for millennia."
