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Pakistan, China Ink MoU to Eradicate Corruption
National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry and Chinese Minister of Supervision and Inspection Huang Shuxian Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for cooperation on matters carried with efforts to weed out corruption. Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, who is on an official visit to China, said signing of the MoU between Pakistan and China was specially significant in backdrop of increasing bilateral economic and trade cooperation with resolve by both the governments to work in a fair, impartial and corruption free environment and share their experiences to eradicate corruption. He said China was Pakistan’s true friend and long-standing ties between the two countries had mutually supportive. The cooperation between the two friendly countries in anti-corruption work would be further enhanced, he added. This article originally appeared on www.app.com.pk , 08 November, 2016. Original link. Disclaimer: Views expressed in the article are not necessarily supported by CRSS.
The Ultimate AfPak Reading List
Afghanistan: The Soviet Invasion, 1979-1989 & the Rise of the Taliban, 1994-2001 Barfield, Thomas. Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010). AfPak Channel review by Gerard Russell: “a comprehensive but readable short history of Afghanistan, with a heavy focus on the last nine years.” Bradsher, Henry. Afghan Communism and Soviet Intervention. (London: Oxford University Press, 1999). Braithwaite, Rodric. Afghantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan, 1979-1989 (New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 2011) Crile, George. Charlie Wilson’s War, The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History. (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003). Feifer, Gregory. The Great Gamble: the Soviet War in Afghanistan (New York: Harper Collins, 2009). Kalinovsky, Artemy. A Long Goodbye: The Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011) Urban, Mark. War in Afghanistan. (London: Macmillan Press, 1988). Yousaf, Mohammad and Mark Adkin. Afghanistan — The Bear: The Defeat of a Superpower. (London: Leo Cooper, 1992). Afghanistan: Under the Taliban 1994-2001 & the Rise of the Religious Warriors and Their Al Qaeda Allies Books Dorronsoro, Gilles. Revolution Unending: Afghanistan, 1979 to Present. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005). Dense, authoritative study. Gutman, Roy. How We Missed the Story: Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, and the Hijacking of Afghanistan (Washington, DC: USIP Press, 2008). Maley, William, ed. Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban. (New York: New York University Press, 1998). Rashid, Ahmed. Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001. (Paperback Edition) Zaeef, Abdul Salam. My Life with the Taliban. Edited by Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn. (NewYork: Hurst/Columbia University Press, 2010) Articles Cullison, Alan and Andrew Higgins. “Inside al Qaeda’s Afghan Turmoil.” Wall...
Pakistan Warns India Against Breach of Water Treaty
Islamabad has warned New Delhi that Pakistan will respond with full force if India shows open aggression by breaching the World Bank-sponsored Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). “India will be responded [to] if it shows aggression by unilaterally breaking the treaty,” Water and Power Secretary Younis Dagha told the Senate Standing Committee on Water and Power on Monday. The committee had met to reconsider the report regarding an adjournment motion moved in the upper house of parliament by Senator Sherry Rehman on September 27. Rehman had moved the motion in the backdrop of Indian threats to unilaterally revoke the IWT. The PPP senator had sought details about the possible repercussions of the move and Pakistan’s stance and preparedness to combat such a warlike situation. Talking with reference to the Indian threats, Dagha told the panel that there are some more conventions in place in addition to the IWT to safeguard Pakistan’s water rights. “If India shows aggression then there are some other options,” he added. “India cannot stop more water from Neelum River. It can stop water only temporarily for using it.” Dagha said the government had started work on the National Water Policy 2016 and consultations would be completed in the next one to two months. Later, the parliamentary panel formed a subcommittee, comprising members National Assembly, Water and Power Ministry officials and experts on water to review the IWT. Rehman expressed concerns over violation of the IWT and said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had threatened to end the treaty unilaterally. “According to a report of the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), India has no authority to break the IWT unilaterally,” she said, adding that India has taken advantage due to past mistakes of different governments in Pakistan. Rehman lamented that India built several dams on various rivers but Pakistan could do nothing to stop it. “India has built Kishanganga dam and Baglihar dam. Our Mangla dam will be...
Three Indian 'Undercover Agents' Leave Pakistan
India on Tuesday withdrew three staff members of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad who were accused of being involved in subversive activities in Pakistan. “Three of the eight officials have returned to India today,” a diplomatic source told The Express Tribune. “A decision regarding the remaining five officials is yet to be taken,” the source added. Last week, Pakistan busted a network of Indian spies ‘working under diplomatic cover’. Official documents seen by The Express Tribunerevealed that at least eight staffers of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad had been identified as serving officers of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and India’s Intelligence Bureau (IB). The latest spat started after Indian police last week detained a staff member of Pakistan’s High Commission in New Delhi for questioning over espionage charges. Mahmood Akhtar, who was working as a visa officer at the Pakistani High Commission, was later expelled from India. In what appeared to be a tit for tat move, Pakistan on Thursday confirmed that eight officials posted in India’s High Commission in Islamabad were agents of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and Intelligence Bureau (IB). The disclosure left New Delhi with no other options but to withdraw the named officials. An official with knowledge of latest developments squarely blamed India for the escalation in tensions. The official, who requested to speak off the record so that he could talk freely on the subject, told The Express Tribune that India had breached an ‘understanding’ by revealing the identities of certain Pakistani officials posted in New Delhi. The official said both sides knew that certain officials worked under cover and they did so with the full knowledge of host country. Meanwhile, speaking at his weekly news briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria confirmed that eight Indian staff members of the country’s high commission belonged to RAW and IB. They were identified as Rajesh...
Three Indian ‘Undercover Agents’ Leave Pakistan
India on Tuesday withdrew three staff members of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad who were accused of being involved in subversive activities in Pakistan. “Three of the eight officials have returned to India today,” a diplomatic source told The Express Tribune. “A decision regarding the remaining five officials is yet to be taken,” the source added. Last week, Pakistan busted a network of Indian spies ‘working under diplomatic cover’. Official documents seen by The Express Tribunerevealed that at least eight staffers of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad had been identified as serving officers of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and India’s Intelligence Bureau (IB). The latest spat started after Indian police last week detained a staff member of Pakistan’s High Commission in New Delhi for questioning over espionage charges. Mahmood Akhtar, who was working as a visa officer at the Pakistani High Commission, was later expelled from India. In what appeared to be a tit for tat move, Pakistan on Thursday confirmed that eight officials posted in India’s High Commission in Islamabad were agents of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and Intelligence Bureau (IB). The disclosure left New Delhi with no other options but to withdraw the named officials. An official with knowledge of latest developments squarely blamed India for the escalation in tensions. The official, who requested to speak off the record so that he could talk freely on the subject, told The Express Tribune that India had breached an ‘understanding’ by revealing the identities of certain Pakistani officials posted in New Delhi. The official said both sides knew that certain officials worked under cover and they did so with the full knowledge of host country. Meanwhile, speaking at his weekly news briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria confirmed that eight Indian staff members of the country’s high commission belonged to RAW and IB. They were identified as Rajesh...
China Adopts Controversial Cybersecurity Law In Face Of Overseas Opposition
China adopted a controversial cybersecurity law on Monday to counter what Beijing says are growing threats such as hacking and terrorism, although the law has triggered concern from foreign business and rights groups. The legislation, passed by China's largely rubber-stamp parliament and set to come into effect in June 2017, is an "objective need" of China as a major internet power, a parliament official said. Overseas critics of the law argue it threatens to shut foreign technology companies out of various sectors deemed "critical", and includes contentious requirements for security reviews and for data to be stored on servers located in China. Rights advocates also say the law will enhance restrictions on China's internet, already subject to the world's most sophisticated online censorship mechanism, known outside the country as the Great Firewall. Yang Heqing, an official on the National People's Congress standing committee, said the internet was already deeply linked to China's national security and development. "China is an internet power, and as one of the countries that faces the greatest internet security risks, urgently needs to establish and perfect network security legal systems," Yang told reporters at the close of a bimonthly legislative meeting. More than 40 global business groups petitioned Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in August, urging Beijing to amend controversial sections of the law. Chinese officials have said it would not interfere with foreign business interests. Contentious provisions remained in the final draft of the law issued by the parliament, including requirements for "critical information infrastructure operators" to store personal information and important business data in China, provide unspecified "technical support" to security agencies, and pass national security reviews. Those demands have raised concern within companies that fear they would have to hand over intellectual property or open back doors within products in...
Natgeo’s ‘Afghan Girl’ Opts For Afghanistan
An iconic green-eyed ‘Afghan refugee girl’ whose 1985 photo in the National Geographic became a symbol of her country’s wars has turned down a provincial government’s request to stay in Pakistan and opted to return to her native country, the home and tribal affairs department said in a statement. Sharbat Gulla was arrested by the FIA on October 26 from her house in the Nauthia area for possessing a fake CNIC. Sharbat Gula will complete her 15-day sentence on Wednesday. The forty-year-old mother of four children has spent most of the time in hospital since her arrest. In a letter, she had requested jail authorities to stay her deportation till the time Afghan refugees were given extension in their stay in Pakistan, according to the statement. The request was sent to the federal government keeping in view of legal lacunae. However, Gula decided to go back to Afghanistan, the statement said. Family members of Gula told The Express Tribune that she wanted to go back to Afghanistan and will be meeting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. “She will probably get her passport and then apply for a Pakistani visa because she wants to sell her property in Pakistan.” Gula and the Afghan government, in an application submitted to the K-P government, pleaded for her departure from Pakistan to Afghanistan on completion of her 15-day sentence on Wednesday [November 9]. Meanwhile, the government on Monday delayed the planned deportation of Sharbat Gula. Waheedullah, a spokesman for the Afghan Consulate in Peshawar, said Afghan diplomats had convinced Pakistani authorities to allow her to stay in hospital until Wednesday. She then would be delivered to the Afghan border authorities at Torkham on Wednesday and from there she would be flown to Kabul where Afghan President Ashraf Ghani would host a function in her honour. “The Afghan president has also announced a house for her in Kabul where she will live with her children,” said Waheedullah, who like many Afghans uses only one...
A Humanitarian Crisis Looms In Afghanistan as the Number Of Displaced Climbs
Abdulhalim fled the northern city of Kunduz this month after militants and security forces had been clashing for days. Now he’s 200 miles away in Kabul, sleeping in a tent and living on aid. He is part of a looming humanitarian crisis aid agencies here are struggling to contain. Before the current crisis, more than a million people had already been uprooted last year. This year, at least another million Afghans are “on the move” inside Afghanistan and across its borders, in what the United Nations warns is an alarming new wave of displaced people. Many, like Abdulhalim, fled violence or conflict; others escaped hardships such as poverty or drought. Still others were forced to return from Pakistan and Iran. Even as the numbers grew, Afghanistan agreed to accept Afghan asylum seekers deported from the European Union. The deal, signed in October, could lead the E.U. to construct a separate terminal for deportees at Kabul’s international airport, and as many as 100,000 Afghans could return. “This sudden increase [in the displaced] has put a lot of pressure on Afghanistan, which has had 30 years of war,” said Nader Farhad, spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency in Kabul. “It’s not easy to put together the infrastructure, to provide the services that are required,” he said, adding that the displaced need everything from food and blankets to jobs and health care. “To the European countries, we say: Instead of investing in the return of Afghans to Afghanistan, tackle the root causes,” Farhad said. If the United Nations and other aid agencies fail to provide emergency assistance, “it will be a humanitarian crisis,” he said. Massive displacement has plagued Afghanistan for years, beginning with the Soviet invasion in 1979. That conflict kindled two decades of war. When the United States invaded in 2001, some 4 million Afghans were living in Pakistan and Iran. Many of those refugees later returned, driven by hopes for stability and peace. But now, Afghanistan is witnessing...
CPEC Concerns: K-P Drops Objection to Route Alignment
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government on Monday withdrew its objections to the alignment of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) western route, facilitating the final approval of the 285km-long route by the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC). In April this year, ECNEC had conditionally approved the western route costing Rs124.2 billion after Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa objected to it and claimed that it was in violation of the agreement struck at the All Parties Conference (APC) held in May last year. The provincial government also withdrew its opposition to a Rs12 billion land acquisition scheme, which was also approved in April for acquiring land for the route. “ECNEC granted final approval to both the projects after it was informed that the condition of verification of the proposed route has been met after consultation between the federal and the K-P committees on the CPEC,” an official handout of the Ministry of Finance said on Monday. ECNEC approved 10 projects, costing Rs234 billion, including projects on the western route. Officials of the Planning Ministry told The Express Tribune that K-P Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak had expressed satisfaction over the proposed route during the meetings held to verify the alignment. The K-P’s endorsement of the western route during the closed-door meetings contradicted its public stance on the matter. The Ministry of Communication undertook the construction of the Burhan-Hakla Motorway on M-1 that extended to Dera Ismail Khan. The project’s cost was also rationalised from Rs124.2 billion to Rs110.2 billion. In April, K-P’s Finance Minister Muzaffar Sayyed had objected to the proposed alignment. The provincial finance minister had claimed that the alignment was not final yet. Sayyed claimed that the route was also in violation of the agreement signed after the APC. Last year, the APC recommended that the government should give priority to the CPEC’s western route, addressing the issue of poverty in...
Progress and Regress: Obama's Mixed Afghanistan Legacy
Recent increase in attacks by the Taliban and ISIL have compromised advances in rights, Afghans say. It's America's Longest War and one that President Barack Obama promised to end in 2014. But two years later, the security situation in Afghanistan is in a downward spiral, with the Taliban and Islamic State fighters (ISIL) making gains in several provinces. Although Obama slowed his original timeline of troop withdrawals, his scaling back of troops, coupled with the rise in drone strikes - up to two a day over the summer, according to watchdog Bureau of Investigative Journalism - have increased the insecurity here, which puts the fragile gains made in Afghanistan in danger. In the past two months alone, according to a deputy spokesman from President Ashraf Ghani's office, the Taliban has destroyed 302 schools, 5,305 homes and 1,818 businesses in 12 provinces. Khalil Rufi, director of CSJWG, the country's civil society joint working group, said that under Obama's direction the US managed to kill Osama Bin Laden as well as aiding in a peaceful transition of power in Afghanistan after the 2014 presidential election, which were "good achievements". But he said that the economic and political progress that the country made before 2008 have eroded. "Our people hoped that under Obama, change would be positive and visible. Unfortunately the change has been negative - like the increase of extremism, the Taliban becoming more powerful day by day, Daesh, which right now is also becoming strong, our government mismanagement and in our provinces collapsing," said Rufi, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as ISIS) . "This is the bad shadow of Barack Obama's government." Civilian casualties The country's deteriorating situation is apparent in the streets of the capital, with increased security forces making sure the streets in central Kabul are closed to traffic after 8pm with a heightened concern for suicide bombers. It's also...
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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.