Tensions bring down trade from $2.5 billion to $1.4 billion: delegates Pakistani and Afghan traders are developing a cross-border stakeholders’ policy advocacy draft for reducing trust deficit and enhancing economic connectivity across the border. Businessmen from both countries, who met in Islamabad on Monday, sought meetings with the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and and the Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa for deliberating on the proposed strategy for incorporating strategic insight and facilitate the issues hampering the historical ties between two brotherly nations. The Pakistan Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce & Industry (PAJCCI) conducted the day-long round-table meeting to nurture the environment of trust and facilitate initiation of table talks between the two countries for peace and economic prosperity across the border. It was also highlighted that these worsening relations have also affected trade of Pakistan with Central Asian countries and has a devastating impact on the local economy. The participants pointed out that despite having potential of $5 billion, lately trade has fallen from $2.5 billion to $1.4 billion because of bilateral tensions that caused other countries to penetrate in Afghanistan easily, as India has recently acquired a very strong hold both socially and economically in the Afghanistan, causing double damage to the Pakistani economy and neighborly relationship. Additionally the recent figures are showing a rise in Afghanistan’s trade with Iran (both transit and bilateral) and a corresponding decline in business with Pakistan due to disturbing political ties accruing since long. Zubair Motiwala, Chairman PAJCCI told the delegates that Karachi is the most economical route for Transit Trade for Afghanistan; however, Iran’s facilitation to Afghan businessmen is pulling the business away. He urged both the governments to consider the effects of recent political turmoil over bilateral...

Deaths and injuries linked to militancy have dropped in Pakistan for the third consecutive year, with 21 per cent fewer incidents in 2017 than in the previous year, a security think-tank says. Some 2,057 people were killed and 2,074 wounded for a total of 4,131 casualties over the year, according to a report by the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies read on Wednesday. That continued the trend from 2016, in which 2,613 people lost their lives due to violence and 1,714 were injured. In 2015, 4,647 people were killed and 1,927 injured, the group's figures show. The dramatic improvement in security came after the army launched an operation in June 2014 to wipe out militant bases in the northwestern tribal areas and end a bloody insurgency that has cost thousands of civilian lives since 2004. It has involved a series of military offensives as well as some attempts to block the militants' sources of funding. Those efforts were in the spotlight again when a global terror financing monitor voted last month to put Pakistan on a watchlist. But the remnants of militant groups are still able to carry out periodic bloody attacks. Washington has also increased pressure on Pakistan in recent weeks, freezing military aid amid accusations that Islamabad has refrained from clamping down on militant groups such as the Haqqani network and the Afghan Taliban. The report warned that even with the security improvement new militant groups have appeared in the country. It also said that the militant Islamic State (IS) group had claimed responsibility for attacks that left at least 143 people dead, while a branch of Sunni group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed 99 fatalities.   This article originally appeared in Dawn News , March 07, 2018. Original link.

Deaths and injuries linked to militancy have dropped in Pakistan for the third consecutive year, with 21 per cent fewer incidents in 2017 than in the previous year, a security think-tank says. Some 2,057 people were killed and 2,074 wounded for a total of 4,131 casualties over the year, according to a report by the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies read on Wednesday. That continued the trend from 2016, in which 2,613 people lost their lives due to violence and 1,714 were injured. In 2015, 4,647 people were killed and 1,927 injured, the group's figures show. The dramatic improvement in security came after the army launched an operation in June 2014 to wipe out militant bases in the northwestern tribal areas and end a bloody insurgency that has cost thousands of civilian lives since 2004. It has involved a series of military offensives as well as some attempts to block the militants' sources of funding. Those efforts were in the spotlight again when a global terror financing monitor voted last month to put Pakistan on a watchlist. But the remnants of militant groups are still able to carry out periodic bloody attacks. Washington has also increased pressure on Pakistan in recent weeks, freezing military aid amid accusations that Islamabad has refrained from clamping down on militant groups such as the Haqqani network and the Afghan Taliban. The report warned that even with the security improvement new militant groups have appeared in the country. It also said that the militant Islamic State (IS) group had claimed responsibility for attacks that left at least 143 people dead, while a branch of Sunni group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed 99 fatalities.   This article originally appeared in Dawn News , March 07, 2018. Original link.