Current Projects
CPEC Becoming Like East India Co. Is 'Baseless, Unfair' Fear, Says Pakistan Government
The China Pakistan Economic Corridor's (CPEC) western part is expected to be completed by 2018 and fears of some Pakistani lawmakers, that the project could become like another rapacious East India Company, are "baseless and unfair," said a Pakistan planning ministry spokesman, reported The Nation. The spokesman made these remarks Friday and said that the points raised by members in a meeting of a Senate Committee on CPEC are inappropriate based on lack of information. Last month, members of the CPEC committee said they are worried that local financing is being used for CPEC-related projects, instead of monies from the Chinese or from other foreign investments. "It will be very harmful for us if we have to bear the entire burden; will this [project] be a national development or a national calamity? Whatever loans taken from China will have to be paid by the poor people of Pakistan," senator Saeedul Hassan Mandokhail reportedly said, at a committee meeting. Mandokhail compared the project to The East India Co., which was, of course, Britain's trading mission to India and the precursor to British imperial rule over the subcontinent. "Another East India Company is in the offing; national interests are not being protected. We are proud of the friendship between Pakistan and China, but the interests of the state should come first," said senator Tahir Mashhadi, chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Planning and Development. On Friday, the planning ministry spokesman however said that CPEC involves multi-sectoral cooperation between Pakistan and "our all weather friend China" and that all decisions regarding CPEC projects and its execution are made "keeping in view the interests and well-being of the people of Pakistan." The spokesman also said that the 650 km long Gwadar-Quetta section of the western route has already been completed which is as per the given time line. "This shows the work pace is not only smooth rather we are moving on fast track and ahead of...
CPEC Becoming Like East India Co. Is ‘Baseless, Unfair’ Fear, Says Pakistan Government
The China Pakistan Economic Corridor's (CPEC) western part is expected to be completed by 2018 and fears of some Pakistani lawmakers, that the project could become like another rapacious East India Company, are "baseless and unfair," said a Pakistan planning ministry spokesman, reported The Nation. The spokesman made these remarks Friday and said that the points raised by members in a meeting of a Senate Committee on CPEC are inappropriate based on lack of information. Last month, members of the CPEC committee said they are worried that local financing is being used for CPEC-related projects, instead of monies from the Chinese or from other foreign investments. "It will be very harmful for us if we have to bear the entire burden; will this [project] be a national development or a national calamity? Whatever loans taken from China will have to be paid by the poor people of Pakistan," senator Saeedul Hassan Mandokhail reportedly said, at a committee meeting. Mandokhail compared the project to The East India Co., which was, of course, Britain's trading mission to India and the precursor to British imperial rule over the subcontinent. "Another East India Company is in the offing; national interests are not being protected. We are proud of the friendship between Pakistan and China, but the interests of the state should come first," said senator Tahir Mashhadi, chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Planning and Development. On Friday, the planning ministry spokesman however said that CPEC involves multi-sectoral cooperation between Pakistan and "our all weather friend China" and that all decisions regarding CPEC projects and its execution are made "keeping in view the interests and well-being of the people of Pakistan." The spokesman also said that the 650 km long Gwadar-Quetta section of the western route has already been completed which is as per the given time line. "This shows the work pace is not only smooth rather we are moving on fast track and ahead of...
Chinese Group Eyes $3b Deals in Pakistan Roads, Energy Sector
A consortium of Chinese companies is planning to bring a $3 billion investment fund to Pakistan, representatives of these companies told Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during their meeting here on Friday. Highlighting the huge potential for Chinese investment, the prime minister said that Chinese firms could invest in Pakistan’s infrastructure development, energy and communication sectors. Appreciating the prime minister’s vision of economic revival, members of the Chinese delegation said they were planning to invest in infrastructure development and energy sectors. They also expressed their intent to explore the possibility of launching a new airline after securing requisite government permissions. Currently, the Chinese consortium “is actively pursuing investments in infrastructure, power, aviation and tourism sectors in Pakistan”. Pakistan, he said, was now among this year’s global top 10 improvers in Doing Business in 2017. He said that Pakistan’s investment policy was designed to provide a comprehensive framework for creating a conducive business environment for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI). The law of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) was made to meet global challenges of competitiveness and help attract FDI. Expressing satisfaction, the prime minister said that Standard & Poor’s (S&P) had also upgraded Pakistan’s ranking from B- to B. He said that Pakistan’s foreign reserves had now increased to over $24 billion. “We fully appreciate the vision of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif which enunciates that economic prosperity is an offshoot of infrastructure connectivity and self-sufficiency in the energy sector,” members of the delegation stated. The Chinese delegates said that the government had done immense work in infrastructure development and attaining energy self-sufficiency. The government has a liberal investment regime that offers an ideal and investor-friendly environment for which the leadership role of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is highly...
Chinese Consortium to Launch New Airline in Pakistan
Praising the country’s economy as capable of absorbing and capitalising the direct foreign investment, the Chinese investors have expressed their interest in launching a new airline in Pakistan for which they would be discussing modalities with the Government of Pakistan. The representatives of a consortium of Chinese investment companies comprising China Huarong International Holdings Limited, China Innovative Finance Group Limited, Hong Kong Tian Group, Chandong Hi-Speed Group and China Road & Bridge Group yesterday met Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif at the PM House. Warmly welcoming the delegation, the Prime Minister appreciated the Chinese delegation’s fruitful interaction with Ministries of Finance, Petroleum & Natural Resources, Water & Power and Capital Development Authority. The Prime Minister expressed hope that members of the Chinese delegation will have a productive visit in the backdrop of briefing by various ministries about immense potential for investment in Pakistan’s infrastructure development, energy and communication sectors. Appreciating the prudent and practical measures taken by the government for the revival of the national economy, the members of the delegation said that Pakistan is fully ready as well as capable of absorbing and capitalising the Foreign Direct Investment. The delegation apprised the Prime Minister that they are bringing $3 billion Investment Fund to Pakistan because of the vision of the Prime Minister that focus on infrastructure development and energy sectors. The Chinese delegation also expressed its intent to explore possibility of starting a new airline in Pakistan after the permission from the Government of Pakistan. The Chinese side said that it is actively pursuing its investments in infrastructure, power, aviation and tourism sectors of Pakistan. “We fully appreciate the vision of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif which enunciates that economic prosperity is an offshoot of infrastructure...
Afghanistan’s First Privately Financed Power Plant Generates Promise
Countries with a recent history of war and violence are used to making headlines, but it’s rarely for reasons that citizens and their leaders would hope for. That might be finally starting to change in Afghanistan, a country that has experienced three decades of continuous conflict. The Mazar Independent Power Plant (IPP), supported by IFC and private sector participants, makes news for all the right reasons. The 50-megawatt plant is expected to supply electricity to around 1 million Afghans and boost the country’s domestic power generation by 20 to 30 percent. The project will also result in the creation of almost 200 direct and many more indirect jobs. In addition, the Mazar IPP will be the first private power project to use domestically produced natural gas—a clean-burning and affordable fuel source with less than half the carbon emissions of coal. The plant is expected to pave the way for greater collaboration between the Afghan government and the private sector to develop key infrastructure. Start of operations in 2019 will mark the first time a power plant in Afghanistan is fully financed, designed, built, and operated by the private sector. POWER COMES TO A FRAGILE COUNTRY Increasing access to basic public services—electricity foremost among them—will be a major achievement for Afghanistan, which imported an estimated 80 percent of its electricity last year. The recently signed agreement, brokered by IFC, sets out the main terms under which the Ghazanfar Group, the leading private Afghan conglomerate developing the plant, will be contracted to build, own, and operate the gas-fired power plant near the city of Mazar-e-Sharif. It will sell electricity over the next 20 years to Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat, the country’s national utility company. Private investment in Afghanistan’s power generation sector will change the situation many Afghans face today. Less than half of the country’s population have access to electricity, and up to 90 percent of Afghan...
Afghan Weekly (Oct 29 – Nov 5, 2016)
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), in its 33rd quarterly report to Congress, revealed that "Of Afghanistan's 407 districts, 258 districts were under government control (88 districts) or influence (170), 33 districts were under insurgent control (8) or influence (25), and 116 districts were 'contested.'"[1] Last week on October 23, the Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics and the UNODC released its Afghanistan Opium Survey which reported a rise of 43 per cent in the illicit production of opium in Afghanistan in 2016, compared with the 2015 levels. The area under opium poppy cultivation had also increased to 201,000 hectares (ha) in 2016, a rise of 10 per cent compared with 183,000 ha in 2015.[2] As Taliban have advanced their control across Afghanistan, the Afghan government’s challenges have doubled. This week’s update on Afghanistan’s security, economy, governance, international engagements, socio-economic development and other issues follows below. A Security Overview: Daesh, Taliban and Afghan Security Forces & Security Operations Rising Daesh Activity in Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan The deputy speaker of the Wolesi Jirga, Zahir Qadir, on October 29, stated that "They [Daesh] have taken control of a very sensitive and strategic area. They have decided to enter Tora Bora and if they enter Tora Bora, they will build a Khorasan caliphate." Washington also warned that Daesh after being suppressed in Iraq and Syria is trying to find its footprint in other areas where there is little government control. "As it is chocked off in places like Iraq and Syria, that it is trying to as I said create affiliates or to establish itself in other ungoverned spaces and as much as we see that, (we) will take action to take out senior leadership of these groups," said U.S State Department spokesman Mark Toner. Meanwhile, Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said: "The air and ground operations and commando operations are ongoing...
Afghanistan Itself Is Now Taking In the Most Afghan Migrants
"By the end of the year, officials expect some 1.5 million migrants to return to Afghanistan — many of them forcibly, and including some registered as refugees." There is one country in the world that is now taking in more Afghan migrants than all the countries in Europe and South Asia put together this year. That would be Afghanistan itself. By the end of the year, aid officials here expect some 1.5 million migrants to return to Afghanistan — many of them forcibly, and including some officially registered as refugees. Some will come from Europe, which has recently signed a deal with Afghanistan to return tens of thousands of migrants who were not granted asylum. A far larger number are being forced back by Iran and, particularly, Pakistan, where the United Nations says there are 1.3 million registered Afghan refugees and an additional 700,000 undocumented Afghans. Many Afghans report that concerted harassment and discrimination by the Pakistani authorities have become too much to bear. And Pakistan has flatly given Afghans a Nov. 15 deadline to obtain legal documents like passports and visas — a near impossibility for most — or they will face arrest and deportation, which could lead to even greater numbers leaving Pakistan in the coming weeks. The last straw for Ghulamullah, a father of 10 who had sons in Pakistani schools and one married to a Pakistani woman, was when a soldier entered his house with a dog. “I came to Pakistan to save my honor and my religion,” he said, “but I see there is no more honor in Pakistan. The Pakistani Army gave me 15 days to leave.” He has now settled in a camp near Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan. Official or unofficial, many of the Afghans had lived abroad for decades, and they are returning to a country where the war is at its most traumatic since 2001. And as they come back, they are redrawing the demographic map of a region that has long been defined by its displaced population and where cities are already straining to deal...
Why is the gender gap widening in Pakistan?
The World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report has ranked Pakistan at 143 out of 144 countries surveyed. The disparity represents a systemic and historical disadvantage for women in Pakistani society. According to the report released last week by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Pakistan is ranked even lower than it was 10 years ago. The reasoning behind this is based on Pakistani women being systematically denied access to important social facilities that determine the gender gap ranking. These include education, health, economic opportunities and political empowerment. In the past, Pakistan was put under pressure by the international community to address gender inequality. In 1979, Pakistan established the Ministry for Women's Development in response to recommendations from the UN Commission on the Status of Women. This ministry facilitated women's access to education, health, legal services and ensured their placement in provincial and national legislatures. It also set up services like credit facilities for women, study and computer centers, child care and hostels for working women. Nothing but good intentions These steps indeed helped women, but because of the patriarchal nature of the society and religious backlash, they never became a normal part of Pakistan's social structure and political system. Even when Pakistan had a female chief executive, Pakistan's women never felt that they had a representative in the prime minister's house. And after the dissolution of the Ministry for Women's Development in 2010, these initiatives were left at the mercy of provincial governments. According to former federal secretary Rukhsana Shah, the initiatives were lacking political will. "They did not appear to have the capacity to develop an alternative narrative to the rampant obscurantism proliferating throughout the country," she said. Taking the gender gap seriously Shahida Jameel was the first woman to be appointed as the Federal Minister of Law, Justice, and...
Kafka in Cuba: New AAN report on The Afghan Experience in Guantánamo
Afghans make up more than a quarter of the inmates ever held at Guantánamo Bay, the largest national grouping among United States ‘war on terror’ detainees taken to Cuba. Most were picked up in the early years of the US-led military intervention when US forces carried out mass, arbitrary detentions of Afghans. In a major new report, AAN’s Kate Clark looks at the Afghan experience in Guantánamo, honing in on the cases of eight of the longest-serving Afghan detainees. Five are still in Cuba, while three were transferred to the United Arab Emirates in August where they are believed still to be in some form of detention. She finds the Afghans’ documents to contain outlandish errors of fact, bad translations, testimony obtained under torture, fantastical allegations and cases based on hearsay and unverified intelligence reports. Reading through the files of the eight Afghans still in Cuba at the start of 2016 is to enter a Kafkaesque world. None of the eight were detained on the battlefield – six were handed over by Pakistan or Afghan forces and two were detained after tip-offs from unknown sources. Instead, intelligence forms the basis for all the detentions and that intelligence is threadbare. The US military gets dates wrong, provinces wrong, mixes up non-belligerent groups and jihadists and reaches back to make ahistorical allegations – assuming bin Laden had set up al Qaeda a decade before he did, or deciding association with Hezb-e Islami in the 1980s (when it was part of the mujahidin fighting the Soviet occupation and, incidentally, America’s favourite faction) is proof of malign intent in the 2000s. Three of the detainees had associations with the mass, quietest, missionary organisation Tablighi Jamaat; the US holds that as proof of terrorist intent, even though the organisation is anti-jihadist, believing that now is not the time for fighting (jihad),but for preaching (dawa) and persuading Muslims to live better lives. Thousands of Afghans (the exact figure...
At least We aren’t Turkey
Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan gleefully greeted Imran Khan’s decision to shelve his Nov 2 ‘lockdown’ plans of Islamabad with a “no winners or losers today” declaration. “Today Pakistan has won… Pakistan’s win is in peace, democracy, rule of law and reliance on our institutions.” For his part, Imran Khan declared a moral victory, fruition of two decades of struggle against the corrupt status quo, as he puts it. Nisar in theory was right. In practice, his statement was quite short, hitting on all four catchwords: peace, democracy, rule of law and reliance on institutions. But, ironically, the federal government’s response to Imran Khan’s threat went against the spirit of these very words. The “container” response to the PTI lockdown, the relentless shelling on the motorway to prevent Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak from entering Islamabad, the mockery of the rule of law by erecting barriers on roads leading to the national capital, and the excessive brutal deployment of the Punjab police to contain PTI zealots. No judge, journalist, general or rival business is in jail, unlike in Turkey, where President Erdogan, an apparent inspiration for Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif, has persisted with mass purges of perceived rivals and sympathisers of Fethullah Gülen. On October 29 alone, his administration fired at least 1,267 academics from universities across Turkey, dismissed 4,719 military officers, 3,640, judges and prosecutors Why has it all happened? Dear friend Mosharraf Zaidi sums it up: “The obduracy of the prime minister in mishandling the Panama Papers issue from day one—and thereby smothering his government with the toxin of opacity. The questions that the leaks from the Mossack Fonseca’s files have raised are not trivial. They go to the heart of the most basic and fundamental principles of fiduciary responsibility in executive offices in a democracy. In short, no country can afford to have its top leaders and their families embroiled in financial...
TOP STORIES
TESTIMONIALS
“
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.