Current Projects
CPEC Snags On Solar
One of the more exciting of the CPEC power projects to be undertaken on priority in Pakistan was the giant solar park to be built in Bahawalpur. It was part of the Quaid-i-Azam Solar Park and was part of what they call the ‘early harvest’ projects, meaning the first to come online. The first MoU for the project was signed in August 2013 between the governments of China and Punjab. The provincial government owned the project, and in the first solar power plant that was inaugurated under it, the provincial government was also a joint venture partner with a Chinese contractor. Later in July 2014, another MoU was signed between the government of Punjab and private Chinese developer that expressed an interest in setting up a 900MW solar plant in the same park. This MoU was signed in the presence of the prime minister in Beijing. And then the problems began. Their first application for a generation licence was rejected by Nepra. Things moved fast initially, due to interest in the project at the top. The Project Commitment Agreement was signed a week later, again witnessed by the prime minister and both sides agreed to a tariff of Rs14 per unit outside of taxes, along with the timeline. In August it was placed on the early harvest list and prequalification documents were submitted, and a letter of interest from the Punjab Power Development Board was issued in September. On Jan 22, 2015, the power regulator and tariff setting body Nepra announced a revised upfront tariff for solar projects at Rs14 per unit for the first 10 years of operation, and this tariff was notified in the official gazette on July 1, 2015, with the stipulation that this offer would be valid for a period of six months, until December 2015. The project sponsors applied for a generation licence under this tariff regime. Meanwhile, land allotment had already been done in April, for the first batch of 300MW worth of solar power, and in May, the second batch of 600MW also received its allotment. In...
Afghan Troops Causing More Civilian Casualties, U.N. Says
Afghan civilians are paying the price for increased fighting in populated areas around the country, the United Nations reported on Wednesday, with government troops responsible for a growing share of civilian casualties. At least 2,562 civilians died and another 5,835 were wounded in the conflict in Afghanistan in the first nine months of this year, U.N. officials said. A similar number of civilian casualties occurred in the same period in 2015, indicating rates may be levelling off at near-record levels after steadily increasing since the U.N. began monitoring them in 2009. Ground fighting between pro-government forces and Islamic militants caused nearly 40 percent of all the casualties. Children have been particularly hard hit by the fighting, with 639 young people killed and 1,822 wounded, for an increase of 15 percent over last year. The Taliban and a handful of smaller groups have been fighting to topple the Western-backed government, 15 years after the Taliban lost power in a U.S.-led military operation. "Increased fighting in densely populated areas makes it imperative for parties to take immediate steps to ensure all feasible precautions are being taken to spare civilians from harm," Tadamichi Yamamoto, the U.N.'s Special Representative for Afghanistan, said in a statement. Casualties caused by pro-government forces rose 42 percent compared to last year, with 623 deaths and 1,274 injured, U.N. investigators reported. That includes a spike of 72 percent in casualties from air strikes by the Afghan air force and its international allies. At least 133 people were killed and 159 were injured in air strikes, with two-thirds of those casualties attributed to the Afghan air force, the U.N. said. The Taliban and other militant groups still accounted for more than 60 percent of the overall casualties, with 1,569 civilian deaths and 3,574 injured, the report showed. The U.N. condemned anti-government attacks that have directly targeted civilians, including a...
With An Active Cell in Kabul, ISKP Tries To Bring Sectarianism To The Afghan War
With its publically claimed attack on Afghan Shia mourners in Kabul on the eve of Ashura, the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) was clearly attempting to add a toxic sectarianism to the Afghan conflict. The attack, which killed 19 people, followed two other ISKP attacks, on a political demonstration by (largely Shia) Hazaras in July in which 80 people were killed and on a security convoy of the Canadian embassy that killed 14 Nepalese guards, in June. In the wake of these attacks, AAN’s Borhan Osman assesses both ISKP’s strength and operational capacity in Kabul and its desire to ferment sectarianism. On the evening of 11 October 2016, at least two attackers wearing police uniforms and equipped with grenades and machine guns opened fire on Ashura mourners in Kabul’s Kart-e Sakhi shrine, the most popular gathering place in Kabul for mourners marking Muharram, the martyrdom of Imam Hussein. The second attacker, who apparently fled the shrine after joining the first attacker in shooting, fought the security forces in a nearby (Sunni) mosque in Kart-e Chahar. There were no casualties to civilians here as the mosque was not being used, at the time. Witnesses said the attackers in Karta-e Sakhi “indiscriminately shot everyone they faced. They wouldn’t even spare women and children.” The interior ministry said the second attacker was killed in the firefight early in the morning of 12 October 2016. Initial reports had suggested there were several attackers who entered the crowd in Karta-e Sakhi, and that they were holding hostage some of the mourners, but those accounts were never confirmed with any solid detail. The ministry put the number of the dead at 16 and the wounded at 54. They included children and women. UNAMA, condemning the attack, said 19 people had been killed and dozens wounded. Also on 12 October, the actual day of Ashura, an explosion, again targeting Shia mourners in the usually relatively safe province of Balkh, killed 14 people and wounded...
Brics Summit: India Must Bide Time to Deal With China As Relationship With Pakistan Hit A New Low
The Brics Summit this weekend in Goa comes at a time when India-Pakistan relationship has hit a new low. Between Pakistan's renewed intransigence in leveraging anti-India proxies to prosecute its Kashmir agenda, and India's signal that will meet the same using limited military options, the discussions in Goa will invariably be coloured by the recent events in South Asia. Of special interest would be the stance China takes on terrorism during the Summit and whether it will look beyond its all-weather friendship with Pakistan to accommodate India's concerns when it comes to cross-border – and increasingly Islamist – terrorism. China's calculations will be driven by the relative weights its puts on its geopolitical imperatives behind supporting Pakistan, its professed desire to upgrade its relationship with an increasingly assertive India, and its own vulnerabilities when it comes to Islamist terrorism in the restive region of Xinjiang. At the face of it, China and Pakistan make for a strange couple – an avowedly secular one-party government on a relentless march towards domestic prosperity and international influence, and a revanchist power driven by the mosque and the military and in the news almost always for the wrong reasons. But there is a certain logic to this marriage of convenience between China and Pakistan. That China sees Pakistan as a geopolitical instrument to balance India's nearly-hegemonic presence in South Asia is obvious. China sees no reason why it can't also be an ersatz South Asian power by cultivating a client in the region. It also sees Pakistan as a key link to the Islamic world – especially at a time when it expands its footprint to the west of Asia. Finally, it views the proposed port of Gwadar in Balochistan as a key to mitigating its Malacca dilemma. That Pakistan can also emerge as a convenient location to dump its industrial surpluses and as low-cost labour base (especially as China moves towards higher-end manufacturing and the...
BRICS Goa Declaration Reflects Many Political Issues Important for Russia
Moscow is satisfied with the 8th BRICS summit outcome, Deputy Foreign Minister and Russia's BRICS Sherpa Sergey Ryabkov told Sputnik on Monday. GOA (Sputnik) – Moscow is satisfied with the 8th BRICS summit outcome, as the final declaration reflects many political issues important for Russia, Deputy Foreign Minister and Russia's BRICS Sherpa Sergey Ryabkov told Sputnik on Monday. Goa documents [Goa declaration and action plan on its implementation] reflect many political topics important for us, including the peaceful usage of space," Ryabkov said. In Goa declaration, leaders welcomed the recent decision by the UN Committee’s on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space working group to set guidelines for long-term sustainability of outer space by 2018. "Moreover, for the first time the declaration clearly set forth the support for the Russian initiative to work out an international convention to prohibit chemical and biological terrorism. It has never been mentioned before," Ryabkov said. He added that Russia was also satisfied with the mentioning of unacceptability of unilateral sanctions. These wordings are new. We used to have more standardized texts [declarations] before. Now they are much more focused on specifics and what we want to implement," Ryabkov said. The eighth annual BRICS event took place in India’s Goa on October 15 – 16, and was attended by leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, who discussed a plan for cooperation in the near future as well as a wide range of political, economic and security issues. This article originally appeared on www.sputniknews.com, October 17, 2016. Original link. Disclaimer: Views expressed in the article are not necessarily supported by CRSS.
Brics A Damp Squib: Narendra Modi Govt Should Check Its Obsession With Pakistan
The Brics summit and the overlapping Bimstec outreach meet of regional powers in Goa over the weekend were hyped up beyond expectation to deliver unrealistic results. "It was a damp squib," said former Cabinet Secretary Naresh Chandra. While terrorism was part of the Goa Declaration, Pakistan was not named. This had to do with China, and Russia did not try to overrule President Xi Jinping either. In its obsession with Pakistan, India overlooked the obvious: China would play its hand. Beijing had done so on the issue of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and over Masood Azhar in the UN Security Council. Why did India believe that China would change its views? That is a question both Indian diplomats and the government must answer. Goa was to play a pivotal part in India's diplomatic efforts to isolate Pakistan. Terror emanating from Pakistan was to be the main focus at both these meets. Ever since the Uri attack, Indian diplomacy has got stuck on a one point agenda: get the world to side with you and condemn Pakistan. This is all very well, but at a time when Indian ambitions of being a global player under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is soaring, the constant focus on Pakistan is bringing the country down to the India-Pakistan sub continental matrix. This is something successive governments had fought against for decades. Delhi would be piqued, if visiting dignitaries, especially from the US and other western nations, would also visit Pakistan. India wanted to break away from this with its connotations of the South Asian context. After Uri, India's entire foreign policy seems to be entirely focused on Pakistan. "The Goa meet is a textbook lesson on how not to conduct India's diplomacy," said the former bureaucrat who has a good hold on foreign affairs. He was also India's ambassador to the US when India conducted its nuclear tests in 1998. Considering that the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa grouping of the emerging economies is more a trade body, it was...
Indian, Afghan Intelligence Agencies Supporting Terrorism in Pakistan: IB Chief
Intelligence Bureau (IB) Director General Aftab Sultan, while speaking in the Senate standing committee meeting on Tuesday, said a large number of terrorists arrested during the last three years had connections with and were working for the Indian and Afghan intelligence agencies. “Out of the 865 terrorists arrested during the last three years, a significant number had connections with India’s RAW and the Afghan NDS,” said the chief of intelligence agency. The IB chief also said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is endangered by foreign intelligence agencies and anti-state elements. Replying to a question regarding missing persons during the Senate sub-committee’s meeting, Sultan stated that the IB was conducting 478 inquiries for missing persons, out of which 427 inquiries have been completed. Jadhav's arrest Earlier in March, law enforcement agencies announced the arrest of Kulbushan Jadhav, saying he had been picked up during an intelligence-based raid in Balochistan's Chaman area. The Indian Foreign Ministry earlier had confirmed the arrested man was a former Indian Navy officer, but the Pakistani government claimed to have recovered travel documents and multiple fake identities of Jadhav, establishing him as an Indian spy who entered into Balochistan through Iran — holding a valid Iranian visa. Jadhav was shifted to Islamabad for interrogation, during which an unnamed official said the spy revealed that he had purchased boats at the Iranian port in Chabahar in order to target Karachi and Gwadar ports in a terrorist plot. The official had said the 'RAW agent' is believed to be expert at Naval fighting techniques. Jadhav's confessions In a confessional video aired by the Inter-Services Public Relations and Federal Information Minister Pervaiz Rasheed at a joint press conference, Jadhav said: "I am still a serving officer in the Indian Navy and will be due for retirement in 2022." "By 2002, I commenced intelligence operations. In 2003, I established a...
Taliban and Afghanistan Restart Secret Talks In Qatar
The Taliban and representatives of the Afghan government have restarted secret talks in the Gulf state of Qatar, senior sources within the insurgency and the Kabul government have told the Guardian. Among those present at the meetings held in September and October was Mullah Abdul Manan Akhund, brother of Mullah Omar, the former Taliban chief who led the movement from its earliest days until his death in 2013. The two rounds of talks are the first known negotiations to have taken place since a Pakistan-brokered process entirely broke down following the death in a US drone strike of Omar’s successor, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor. Doha has been a centre for Taliban diplomacy since the movement was granted permission to set up an office in the Qatari capital in 2013, although that initiative became one of the many attempts to start a peace process that ultimately came to nothing following complaints from the Afghan government. Mullah Omar’s son, Mohammad Yaqoob, is expected to soon join the Doha group, a Taliban source said, in a move that would further bolster the authority of the office. No Pakistani official took part in either the October or September meetings, according to a member of the Taliban’s leadership council, the Quetta Shura. He said Islamabad has lost much of its traditional influence over a movement it has been associated with since it rose to power in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s. But according to the Taliban official, a senior US diplomat was present in the Qatar meetings. The US embassy in Afghanistan declined to comment on the claim. The Taliban official said the first meeting in early September “went positively and was held in a trouble-free atmosphere” in which Akhund sat face to face with Mohammed Masoom Stanekzai, Afghanistan’s intelligence chief. A second meeting took place in early October, despite continued fighting between government and insurgent forces. Recent weeks have seen the Taliban overrun Kunduz, a provincial capital, for the...
Govt Signals Willingness For Talks With Militant Outfits
With the war escalating in different parts of the country, the Ashraf Ghani administration on Wednesday signaled its willingness to consider different options on peace negotiations with militants. Presidential spokesman Haroon Chakhansuri indicated the government’s readiness for reconciliation talks, when approached for comments on a British newspaper regarding recent meetings between government and Taliban representatives. In response to an emailed query from Pajhwok Afghan News, Chakhansuri said: “Recently, we saw a notable number of Taliban’s Quetta Shura members showing willingness to engage in peace talks and that they understand it's important for them to establish contacts for political process directly with the government.” A day earlier, a British newspaper reported Mullah Abdul Manan Akhund, brother of Mullah Omar, was among participants of secret the meetings held in September and October.The two rounds of talks are the first known negotiations to have taken place since a Pakistan-brokered process broke down following the death in a US drone strike of Mullah Akhtar Mansoor. Chakhansuri believed the peace deal with the Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan, led by Gulbadin Hekmatyar, had probably made an impact on other rebel outfits. There was more confidence among different groups in the government’s willingness to engaging in direct talks. Also on Wednesday, the Taliban denied resuming clandestine peace negotiations with Afghan government representatives in Qatar. “We reject the Guardian report regarding the resumption of talks between the Islamic Emirate and the Afghan government,” Zabihullah Mujahid said. This article originally appeared on www.pajhwok.com, October 19, 2016. Original link. Disclaimer: Views expressed in the article are not necessarily supported by CRSS.
Taliban-Kabul Talks Begin
On the 15th anniversary of the US invasion of Afghanistan, talks between representatives of Taliban and the Afghan Government have taken place in Doha, Qatar. Several rounds of talks had been held in late September and early October. The Afghan side was led by Mr Stanikzai, Afghan chief of Intelligence, while the Taliban team also included brother of the late Mullah Omar. A US representative also participated in the negotiations. Taliban agreeing to meet with Kabul government’s and US officials is a slight modification of their stance on the issue of parleys with the Afghan Government. After the death of Mullah Mansoor, the movement had resolved not to sit for talks with government representatives or with the Americans. It appears that those in favour of entering into negotiations have prevailed. An important dimension of the interaction is the near-absence of Pakistani mediators. The Doha round of talks has been preceded by arrests, in Pakistan,of a number of top ranking leaders of the Taliban movement mainly in Balochistan’s Pakhtun areas. The direct contacts between Taliban and the Kabul regime also show that communication channels have been established between the two entities—bypassing Islamabad. This is seen as a major victory for Kabul in its endeavours to seek direct access to the Taliban leadership without soliciting help from Islamabad. The Doha talks also show the deepening distrust between the Taliban and Pakistani officials. A breakdown of Islamabad-Kabul contacts is another factor that forced Ashraf Ghani’s government to intensify efforts to engage the Taliban in negotiations. Perhaps the most important cause of the Kabul government’s keenness to open talks with the Taliban is the relentless offensive launched by the latter in recent weeks and the impending fears of the fall of many towns both in North Afghanistan as well as the Taliban’s strongholds of Helmand, Kabul is also genuinely worried about any escalation in the number of defections...
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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.