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The Things Trump Has Said About Pakistan

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. The president-elect has made numerous statements on Pakistan but most have been in passing and don’t necessarily hint at an unfavourable policy shift towards Pakistan. But who knows with Donald. Here’s what we found so far: Pakistan-India relations: Trump’s election has Pakistanis wary that he may accelerate what they see as a shift in American policy to favour arch-foe India in the long rivalry between nuclear-armed neighbours, analysts said on Wednesday. Top of Form Do you think Pakistan's relations with US will improve under Trump? Yes No Business as usual View Results Polls are non-scientific, reflect only the online audience and can be manipulated. Bottom of Form Donald Trump has hinted at playing the role of a “mediator or arbitrator” in appeasing the current flare-up of tensions between India and Pakistan. “If it was necessary I would do that. If we could get India and Pakistan getting along, I would be honoured to do that. That would be a tremendous achievement… I think if they wanted me to, I would love to be the mediator or arbitrator,” Trump said in response to a question during an exclusive interview with the Hindustan Times. “If I’m elected president, the Indian and Hindu community will have a true friend in the White House, that I can guarantee you,” said Trump at an event sponsored by the Republican Hindu Coalition to raise money for victims of terrorism. “We will defeat radical ‘Islamic terrorism” when I’m president. We will stand shoulder to shoulder with India in sharing intelligence and keeping our people safe mutually,” he added. Pakistan’s nuclear weapons: Donald Trump said in March that Pakistan is a vital country for the United States because it has nuclear weapons. He also told Fox News in May he would favour keeping nearly 10,000 US troops in Afghanistan...

CPEC Route Through Mianwali A Bombshell For Landowners

A compulsory land acquisition award notification has been issued in connection with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) for nine revenue estates in Mianwali tehsil. This ends speculation about the corridor’s route, which had remained a mystery for some time. A similar notification is expected for land in Isakhel tehsil. When the corridor was announced last year, the route it would take had become the centre of a hot debate. Yet the government had remained silent on the subject until the recent notification outlined the inclusion of Mianwali district in the corridor. It appears as if some powerful people, with the right connections, had an idea about the CPEC route as several business tycoons had been purchasing land in the designated estates for a few months. MPA Dr Salahudin Khan (PP-44) told Dawn that Package-3 of the CPEC ran in his constituency yet the National Highways Authority had never shared the details with him. He confirmed that land transactions had occurred at a large-scale over the last few months and that the secrecy around it was to benefit the buyers. Business tycoons lured people into selling their land prior to issuance of acquisition notification Those who had sold land in the area prior to the notification said they had been lured into selling land at market or slightly higher rates. The announcement of the route this week shot up prices overnight. Several residents of the district shared how they had viewed the land deals with suspicion but had no idea that it would be a part of the CPEC route. The buyers include auto-industry owners, a business tycoon who has recently entered the real estate world and a member of the ruling family. “We feel robbed of our valuable land by tricksy businessmen,” one of the land sellers said. Prior to the notification, thousands of kanals of barani land in Massan mauza had been traded. A company named SAS Co had bought 6,000 kanals, Khalid Nadeem of Rawalpindi had bought 1,300 kanals and Haji Sikandar...

Trump's Offer Of Mediation Between Pak, India On Kashmir Dispute Welcome: Foreign Office

Foreign Office (FO) Spokesman Nafees Zakaria on Thursday said that Pakistan 'welcomed' the US president-elect Donald Trump's offer to mediate between Pakistan and India on the Kashmir dispute, Radio Pakistan reported. During a weekly press briefing in Islamabad, while responding to queries about the victory of Republican Donald Trump in the US presidential elections, Zakaria said that the president-elect had earlier offered mediation between Pakistan and India on Kashmir dispute and said that Pakistan had welcomed that offer. Zakaria reiterated Pakistan's concern over continued 'atrocities' committed by Indian forces in held Kashmir and said Pakistan would continue to raise the issue at the international level and extend moral, political and diplomatic support to the cause of the Kashmiris. The FO said Pakistan desires a close relationship with the US, and wishes to further strengthen ties in areas including the economy, defence, science and technology, education, strategic issues and counter-terrorism. Pakistan will continue to promote and strengthen existing ties in areas of common interest, the FO said. Responding to a question regarding the Indus Waters Treaty, the FO said Pakistan has approached the World Bank to establish a Court of Arbitration regarding the matter and is looking forward to its establishment at the earliest. Pakistan lodges protest The Foreign Secretary on Thursday summoned the Indian High Commissioner and condemned the unprovoked ceasefire violations on the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary, said a statement released by the Foreign Office. "The Foreign Secretary summoned the Indian High Commissioner this evening and condemned the continued unprovoked firing and ceasefire violations by the Indian occupation Forces on the LoC and the Working Boundary, in complete violation of the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding and the International Law," said the statement. The Foreign Secretary urged India to investigate the continued incidents of...

Trump’s Offer Of Mediation Between Pak, India On Kashmir Dispute Welcome: Foreign Office

Foreign Office (FO) Spokesman Nafees Zakaria on Thursday said that Pakistan 'welcomed' the US president-elect Donald Trump's offer to mediate between Pakistan and India on the Kashmir dispute, Radio Pakistan reported. During a weekly press briefing in Islamabad, while responding to queries about the victory of Republican Donald Trump in the US presidential elections, Zakaria said that the president-elect had earlier offered mediation between Pakistan and India on Kashmir dispute and said that Pakistan had welcomed that offer. Zakaria reiterated Pakistan's concern over continued 'atrocities' committed by Indian forces in held Kashmir and said Pakistan would continue to raise the issue at the international level and extend moral, political and diplomatic support to the cause of the Kashmiris. The FO said Pakistan desires a close relationship with the US, and wishes to further strengthen ties in areas including the economy, defence, science and technology, education, strategic issues and counter-terrorism. Pakistan will continue to promote and strengthen existing ties in areas of common interest, the FO said. Responding to a question regarding the Indus Waters Treaty, the FO said Pakistan has approached the World Bank to establish a Court of Arbitration regarding the matter and is looking forward to its establishment at the earliest. Pakistan lodges protest The Foreign Secretary on Thursday summoned the Indian High Commissioner and condemned the unprovoked ceasefire violations on the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary, said a statement released by the Foreign Office. "The Foreign Secretary summoned the Indian High Commissioner this evening and condemned the continued unprovoked firing and ceasefire violations by the Indian occupation Forces on the LoC and the Working Boundary, in complete violation of the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding and the International Law," said the statement. The Foreign Secretary urged India to investigate the continued incidents of...

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...