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A Blessing in Disguise For Pakistan?
Here you have it! As unreal as it sounds, Donald J Trump is the next president of the United States of America. While the world still reels from quite possibly the most shocking election result in US history, the key concern for Pakistan is what Trump’s unexpected victory means for the country. There are no easy answers. The reason is that Trump has dropped no clear hint on his possible foreign policy, let alone on Pakistan, during the bruising election campaign. Second, the element of unpredictability that the president-elect brings with him has cut out the work of Pakistani policymakers to come up with a prudent strategy. Top of Form Do you think Pakistan's relations with US will improve under Trump?Bottom of Form Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wasted no time in sending a felicitation message to Trump for his victory in the hope that the two countries would work together to improve their relations under his presidency. But his felicitation message aside, strategic and foreign policy experts have a word of caution for the government. At the same time, however, they see an opportunity for Pakistan in this changing scenario. “Pakistan will have to wait and see,” said defence analyst Lt-Gen (retd) Talat Masood, who like the rest of the world did not expect Trump to win. Although there will be no ‘fundamental’ change in the US policy towards Pakistan, the Trump administration may be more assertive, he said. “He [Trump] will be more demanding….he may put more pressure on Pakistan when it comes to the war on terror.” Historically, Pakistan-US relations have been security driven. Their current engagement is also primarily linked to the situation in neighbouring Afghanistan. Despite being allies, their cooperation has often been marred by misgivings and trust deficit. The main stumbling block over the years has been the concern in the US administration that Pakistan was not doing enough to deal with certain militant groups. Islamabad, however, has its own complaints...
'Black Money One of the Main Sources To Fund Terrorism': Afghanistan Welcomes India's Decision On Demonetisation
Underlining that black money is one of the main sources of funding terror activities, Afghanistan on welcomed India's decision to demonetise high-denomination currency, saying the move will benefit the region. Afghan Ambassador to India Shaida Abdali said the move will help curb economic terrorism by foiling the usage of counterfeit currency for terror activities. "Black money is one of the main sources of funding for activities related to terrorism. And therefore it will help in fighting against it. Terrorism certainly has no boundary and so India's move will help the region too," he said on the sidelines of the 'Heart of Asia' seminar in New Delhi. The two-day seminar, organised by International Council for World Affairs (ICWA), is being held in the run-up to the 'Heart of Asia' conference in Amritsar in December, which India will co-chair with Afghanistan. Earlier, speaking at the event, Abdali appreciated the role of 'Heart of Asia' in the stabilisation of Afghanistan and the region while pitching for for bold, result-oriented regional leadership. "The National Unity Government of Afghanistan took unprecedented steps to address the question of terrorism and improve our relations with Pakistan. We have exchanged with Pakistan several delegations, to secure Pakistan's cooperation in ending war and violence," he said. "We appreciated the initial gestures of goodwill of the Pakistani government...but we are yet to see tangible steps to be taken towards the peace process," he said. He said zero-sum postures must be discarded and win-win strategies adopted to secure Afghanistan against the same threats that undermine the security of every nation in South Asia and Central Asia, and the countries that neighbour these resourceful regions in Asia. Abdali said a well-defined regional counter-terrorism strategy was a necessity and no longer an option for stabilisation. The seminar is being attended by representative from several member and supporting countries of 'Heart...
‘Black Money One of the Main Sources To Fund Terrorism’: Afghanistan Welcomes India’s Decision On Demonetisation
Underlining that black money is one of the main sources of funding terror activities, Afghanistan on welcomed India's decision to demonetise high-denomination currency, saying the move will benefit the region. Afghan Ambassador to India Shaida Abdali said the move will help curb economic terrorism by foiling the usage of counterfeit currency for terror activities. "Black money is one of the main sources of funding for activities related to terrorism. And therefore it will help in fighting against it. Terrorism certainly has no boundary and so India's move will help the region too," he said on the sidelines of the 'Heart of Asia' seminar in New Delhi. The two-day seminar, organised by International Council for World Affairs (ICWA), is being held in the run-up to the 'Heart of Asia' conference in Amritsar in December, which India will co-chair with Afghanistan. Earlier, speaking at the event, Abdali appreciated the role of 'Heart of Asia' in the stabilisation of Afghanistan and the region while pitching for for bold, result-oriented regional leadership. "The National Unity Government of Afghanistan took unprecedented steps to address the question of terrorism and improve our relations with Pakistan. We have exchanged with Pakistan several delegations, to secure Pakistan's cooperation in ending war and violence," he said. "We appreciated the initial gestures of goodwill of the Pakistani government...but we are yet to see tangible steps to be taken towards the peace process," he said. He said zero-sum postures must be discarded and win-win strategies adopted to secure Afghanistan against the same threats that undermine the security of every nation in South Asia and Central Asia, and the countries that neighbour these resourceful regions in Asia. Abdali said a well-defined regional counter-terrorism strategy was a necessity and no longer an option for stabilisation. The seminar is being attended by representative from several member and supporting countries of 'Heart...
Report on ‘Belt and Road Initiative’
The Chinese government has issued its first book, aptly titled - Belt and Road in Big Data 2016- with data on the One Belt and One Road (OBOR) initiative. This will be an annual report presenting comprehensive implementation assessment of the initiative, and evaluation of the cooperation between China and the 64 countries involved.[1] The report, released by Du Ping, Standing Deputy Director of the State Information Center (SIC), has two volumes. While the first volume makes a comprehensive analysis of the progress on OBOR, the second part includes assessment of, and suggestions about, important issues, e.g. international industrial cooperation, regional cooperation, internationalization of Renminbi (Chinese currency) and cross-border e-commerce. The report is based on more than 300 billion pieces of information collected from domestic and foreign statistics agencies, news websites and social media. It covers more than 60 countries and regions on the Belt and Road routes. The report ranks Pakistan among the five most cooperative countries in advancing China’s OBOR initiative. The other four are Russia, Kazakhstan, Thailand and Indonesia. Russia and Kazakhstan stand first and second on the list. The third, fourth and fifth slots are held by Thailand, Pakistan and Indonesia respectively. This categorization is based on countries’ performance in five key sectors: policy communication, connectivity, trade, finance and public support.[2] At domestic level, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Tianjin and Fujian are the top five provinces and municipalities ranked as “highly participating” in the initiative among 31 nationwide. The report also noted that cooperation between China and the countries along the belt and road routes in five industries sectors- has attracted global attention. The five sectors are- automobiles, construction material, iron and steel, railway and information technology. This report is compiled by Abdur Rehman Shah, Research Associate at...
Intelligence Failure: Securitizing people-to-people contacts is counter intuitive with Afghanistan
Sayed Ishaq Gailani, an extremely important public personality from Afghanistan, recently traveled to Pakistan for a Pakistan-Afghanistan Track 1.5/ II initiative “Beyond Boundaries” organised by the Center of Research and Security Studies (CRSS) in partnership with its Afghan counterpart organization Women Peace and Studies Organization (WPSO). An additional note to his visa said: Not valid for cantonment and restricted areas. Passports of other delegates traveling for the Beyond Boundaries initiative, carried the same restriction. This additional note reflects the narrow vision that gave birth to this new restriction. Even a person like Gailani, who spent 26 years in Pakistan with a circle of friends that includes generals, politicians and judges, could not escape this. His daughter is married in Pakistan. And the Gailani family in general enjoys considerable clout here. As Pakistani delegates of the Track II were advocating joint efforts to ease tensions and expand people-to-people contacts, Mr Gailani stunned them all into silence by pointing to the new visa regulations. He embarrassed us even more by recalling an incident when the only five-star hotel in Peshawar refused him a room on the same pretext: visa not valid for cantonment. The hotel is located on the fringes of the cantonment. The perplexed Gailani, who was a presidential candidate in 2014 too, eventually called up an old friend, a retired general, for help. The general kindly offered him his place for the night—and, lo and behold, the general happens to live in the Peshawar cantonment. The Track II delegates eventually moved to Lahore for the formal dialogue and an Afghan arts exhibition. Here too the hotel for them was located in the cantonment. Here too we suffered equally embarrassing moments when we were all turned back. Sorry sir, Afghans not allowed. One wonders whether such a restriction is necessary at all and if the establishment considers it “unavoidable” (which we don’t think is the...
Women, Children Being ‘Trafficked From Pakistan, Forced Into Begging’ In Europe
Powerful gangs of organised criminals are trafficking hundreds of women and children from different parts of the country through Iran for labour and beggary in Europe and the Middle East, The Express Tribune has learnt on the authority of senior officials. Investigations by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) reveal that among those smuggled through the Iran route more than 8% are women and children. “Human smugglers from Punjab and Balochistan prefer to recruit children between eight and 12 years of age, and women in their thirties and forties,” said Sultan Khan, an assistant director posted at FIA’s regional head office in Quetta. “In most cases, women and children are smuggled along intending pilgrims who are issued valid visas for pilgrimage of holy sites in Iran,” he added. “However, from there, women and children are smuggled to European states via Turkey.” Similarly, children and women were also being smuggled to Saudi Arabia along with intending pilgrims having valid hajj and umrah visas, disclosed Khan. Every year, Iranian authorities, as a part of a mutual agreement with Islamabad deport thousands of smuggled Pakistanis, including women and children, but Riyadh sends such illegal immigrants to jail where they languish for years without a trial. “Iran deports 20,000 to 26,000 illegal Pakistani immigrants every year through its immigration office near the border with Balochistan,” Khan told The Express Tribune quoting from official figures. “An overwhelming majority of these people pay hefty sums in the hope human smugglers would take them to Europe.” Human smugglers promise unsuspecting parents that their children would get decent and lucrative jobs in Europe – but instead the children are subjected to forced labour in domestic servitude. “Women and children from Punjab, particularly from Gujrat, Gujranwala, Mandi Bahauddin, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan and Sialkot are an easy target for human traffickers.” Initially, it was suspected that women are...
‘Afghan Girl’ Sharbat Gula Deported
Pakistani authorities deported Nat Geo’s famed ‘Afghan Girl’ Sharbat Gula on Tuesday, according to media reports. Quoting unnamed officials, the reports said Sharbat Gula was handed over to Afghan security personnel at the Torkham border after she refused the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s offer to stay in Pakistan. She had pleaded guilty to six charges against her: illegal stay in Pakistan, forgery, cheating, tampering with documents and violation of the Nadra (National Database and Registration Authority) Act. A special anti-corruption and immigration court had ordered deportation of Sharbat Gula, the green-eyed ‘Afghan Girl’ whose 1985 photo in National Geographic magazine became a symbol of her country’s wars, after finding her guilty of illegally obtaining a Computerised National Identity Card. The court also sentenced her to 15-day imprisonment, along with fine. Sharbat Gula and the Afghan government, in an application submitted to the KP government, pleaded for her departure to Afghanistan on completion of her 15-day sentence on Nov 9. The decision of stopping her deportation was taken on Saturday by the provincial government on humanitarian grounds and as a goodwill gesture towards Afghanistan. However, she refused to stay in Pakistan. This article originally appeared in Dawn News, 09 November, 2016. Original link. Disclaimer: Views expressed in the article are not necessarily supported by CRSS.
Politicos Foresee Little Change in US Policy
Panama leaks, newsleak, political wrangling and slanging matches — Pakistan’s mainstream political parties have been too taken up with domestic issues to worry about who will succeed President Barack Obama in the Oval Office. Small political groups are least concerned if American voters will elect Democrat Hillary Clinton as their first woman president, or hand power to the billionaire populist Donald Trump. The apparent indifference of Pakistani politicians could partly be attributed to evolving geopolitical realignments in the region and dwindling largess of the United States the country used to depend on. Pakistan appears to have slid down the priority list of the American administration due to its budding diplomatic romance with India. Nonetheless, second-tier leaders of mainstream parties weighed in on the US presidential vote when approached by The Express Tribune. Hillary is a known name in Pakistan, especially for the political elite, Trump, on the other hand, is a political novice, better known for his rhetoric during what is being dubbed ‘the dirtiest US presidential campaign of all time’. The government and the opposition, which seldom have convergence of views on domestic issues, agree that the situation in Afghanistan and its overriding effects on Pakistan and counterterrorism campaign would play a key role in shaping up the policy of whoever steps into Obama’s shoes. Needless to say, regional realignment would also be factored in. PPP Senator Sherry Rehman, who has served as Pakistan’s Ambassador in Washington, says the manifestos of both Democrats and Republicans spell out somewhat different approaches vis-à-vis Pakistan. The Republicans promise more engagement with Pakistan while the Democrats tend to continue with the current policies. “Unless there are changes made by the personalities of the President, both would have more or less the same policy towards South Asia,” Sherry says. She believes both parties would continue to view America’s...
The US presidential election: Triumph of rhetoric
The unthinkable has happened in the US Presidential elections. The world plunged in a shock over the results of the US election giving Donald Trump the right to occupy the White House for the next four years as President. Now it maybe unproductive to debate whether he should have been elected or not. It is also immaterial to think whether a person like him represented the values of American society as advocated globally by the past 44 US presidents and their governments across party divide. The crucial issue is how the world would react to this stunning development after initial shock. Candidate Trump spoke against almost all the US allies and condemned the Obama foreign policy initiatives. He shocked Muslims insisting first a complete ban on their visit to the US and later relenting to special interviews before issuing them visas. For him, each Muslim was an Islamist and a potential threat to America. He praised the Russian President and his way of governance. For him, the Russian adventures in Ukraine and Syria were not intimidating. He said that “ I don’t expect to see Putin in Mexico, therefore why should I be in the Ukraine? We need to get along with Russia to beat Islamists”. Europe may find his victory more shocking than Brexit. His views about NATO are no less than a death warrant. He threatened to pull out from NATO. Similarly, South Korea, Japan and Singapore will feel the punch if they are to fend for their security on their own How President Trump will handle the issues of Syria, continued instability in Iraq and Afghanistan? How will he handle China, India, Pakistan and Iran? Trump was confident that he would take care of Syria? On China, he has been very vocal and threatening. India fascinated him but he lampooned it too. The worst is that no one knows for sure what are his views regarding nuclear disarmament and the agreement already entered with the Russia and how would he co-opt China in the future regulatory framework? In his victory speech,...
Callousness or incompetence?
Sharbat Gula, the green-eyed Afghan refugee girl shot to fame in 1985 when her picture appeared on the cover of National Geographic magazine. Like many countless other displaced persons she had to endure endless agony and suffering in her troubled life as a refugee. Sharbat Gula’s father and mother both got killed by Soviet warplanes bombs while she was a child of six or seven years. Having lost her husband due to Hepatitis C, she also had to find means of supporting her three orphan children. Her travails never seemed to end. Having sought shelter in Pakistan in the early 1980s, most Afghan refugees including Sharbat Gula have been travelling back and forth between K-P and their villages in Afghanistan — for meeting relatives, looking after their lands etc. Because it was not possible to either seek employment or engage in any trade or business or open a bank account without possessing a Pakistani Identity card, many Afghans resorted to acquiring such identity cards in order to be able to live in this country with their families . Under the existing law Afghan refugees having lived here for more than three decades can not be forcibly repatriated. Under the Citizenship Act all those who have lived here for so long have become entitled to citizenship of this country. Under section 4 of the Citizenship Act of 1951 those born on Pakistani territory acquire citizenship automatically. In addition, Afghan refugees have also the protection of the Naturalisation Act of 1926 which confers the right of citizenship by naturalisation on those having lived here for such a long time. There are other provisions in law which would entitle any refugee having lived here peacefully for so long, to have the right to obtain Pakistani citizenship. Such Afghan refugees then have the right to obtain Pakistani Identity cards and thousands have availed themselves of this facility because there were huge obstacles that could only be overcome if one possessed some sort of Pakistani identity....
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I am also a member of National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting. Recently, we held a meeting with the Director General of Radio Pakistan and we told them to initiate such local programs (like Constituency Hour) in regional languages to educate and inform people. Even Indian Radio can be heard in FATA which is being used for propaganda purposes and must be closed. Therefore, we should launch some standard and quality programs like CRSS that will change the taste of the listeners.