Author: Arif ArifArman

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Eleven members of the US Congress, in a letter to US Secr­e­tary of State Anthony Blinken, have urged the Biden administration to withhold future US assistance to Pakistan, until the country restores constitutional order and holds free and fair elections. The lawmakers requested a legal determination from the Department of State under the Leahy Laws and Section 502(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act to assess if US-origin security assistance had facilitated human rights violations in Pakistan. “We further request that future security assistance be withheld until Pakistan has moved decisively toward the restoration of Constitutional order, including by…

Dr Ishrat Husain: Most people don’t even read as many books in their entire lives as Dr Ishrat Husain has written in his. The latest book by the former central bank governor is Development Pathways that he co-authored with Sarah Nizamani, Shagufta Shabbar and Masood Siddiqui. The 478-page tome presents a comparative analysis of economic and social development in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh from 1947 to 2022. A crude verdict might be that India and Bangladesh have done well for themselves while Pakistan holds the dubious honour of being the slowest-growing economy in the South Asia region. But Dr Husain…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: A Rawal­pi­ndi additional district & sessions judge (ADSJ) was removed from his post on Saturday, a day after he admonished the defence secretary for not complying with a court order. A notification issued by the Lahore High Court registrar said ADSJ Waris Ali has been made an officer on special duty (OSD) and moved to Lahore, meaning that he would no longer be hearing the case. “The honourable chief justice and judges are ple­ased to post Mr Waris Ali, Additional District & Ses­sions Judge, Rawal­pin­­di as OSD at Sessions Court, Lahore in the public interest, with immediate effect,”…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), rejecting the committee on missing persons headed by caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti, staged a demonstration in front of the Press Club on Saturday. The relatives and heirs of missing persons chanted slogans, while carrying placards and banners inscribed with their demands for the recovery of all missing persons. The protest was led by Nasarullah Baloch and Mama Qadeer. Speaking to the gathering, VBMP leaders rejected the committee, stating that every government forms such bodies “to deceive the international community.” They said that Mr Bugti, who always supported atrocities in Balochistan,…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Australia’s government said on Saturday it had expressed serious concerns to China after an “unsafe and unprofessional” interaction between an Australian navy vessel and Chinese warship left Australian military divers injured. Defence Minister Richard Marles said the HMAS Toowoomba – a long-range frigate – was conducting a diving operation in Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone on Nov. 14 to clear fishing nets from its propellers when the incident occurred. “While diving operations were underway a PLA-N destroyer (DDG-139) operating in the vicinity closed towards HMAS Toowoomba,” Marles said in a statement, referring to a ship of the People’s Liberation…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Dolkun Isa, dissident and president of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), has taken on Xi Jinping, China’s ruthless leader and the world’s most powerful man. He’d like Britain – and Britain’s new Foreign Secretary – to show his support. His message for David Cameron is clear. “Britain should lead the way in standing up to China,” he says. “I know that when Cameron was prime minister he was very pro-China. The need to do business is understandable, but not any amount of business at any cost.” Only eight years ago, Prime Minister Cameron was enjoying fish and chips…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Afghans are confronting multiple crises nowadays. The ruling Taliban militant group does not have national or international legitimacy, and Afghans are facing enormous challenges internally due to the authoritarian rule of the Taliban. Half of Afghanistan’s population, women, are deprived of their basic rights of education, work, and freedom. The recent earthquake in western Herat province killed over 3,000 people and displaced over 30,000. Afghanistan is facing acute drought and poverty. At the same time, Pakistan is trying to exploit Afghanistan’s Achilles heel. Against international laws and refugee conventions, it wants to deport 1.2 million Afghans by force.…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Amnesty International has called on Pakistan to stop deportations and detentions of Afghan refugees, TOLO News reported. In a statement, Amnesty International said the action by Pakistan began while Afghanistan was in a humanitarian crisis. Amnesty International stressed that Pakistan must respect the rights of Afghan refugees. It asked Pakistan to stop the process of deporting and detaining Afghan refugees. It stated that the deportation poses a significant threat to the human rights of Afghan women and girls. In a statement, Amnesty International said, “For decades, tens of thousands of Afghan refugees have made Pakistan their home. However,…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Pakistan’s cruel and callous deportation of innocent Afghan women, children and men is attracting global attention with protests highlighting the crackdown. Hundreds and thousands of poor Afghans are being driven out of Pakistan like cattle with armed soldiers and police keeping a close watch on their movements. According to the UNHCR, Pakistan is currently hosting 3.7 million Afghan refugees, out of whom 775,000 are without valid documents. The deportation is ordered by the Pakistan Army and its crony, caretaker government to hide its failure to prevent terrorist attacks from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). With scores of army soldiers, officers…

INTERNATIONAL DESKL: Taiwan will take part in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in San Francisco this week, a rare opportunity for the self-governing island democracy of 23 million people and its high-tech economy to break the diplomatic embargo on it imposed by authoritarian China. Taiwan’s chief delegate will be a civilian rather than a government figure or head of state, under an unwritten rule that satisfies China’s contention that members of the organization participate as economic entities rather than state players. For the seventh time, Taiwan will be represented by Morris Chang, the 92-year-old founder of the world-leading Taiwan Semiconductor…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: China’s consumption rebound slowed and private business confidence lost momentum in October, according to independent surveys and alternative data that suggested the economic recovery remains bumpy. An indicator of Chinese consumer demand for recreation and transport published by Paris-based QuantCube Technology and an independent survey of consumer sentiment by United States company Morning Consult both fell in October from the previous month. A poll of private business sentiment from the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) also declined in October. Those measures – together with official data showing weak services sector growth and falling consumer prices in…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Citizens reacted positively to the ban on the Chinese video platform TikTok in Nepal which became the latest nation to ban this app after mounting criticism and complaints. Residents of Chitwan in Central Nepal welcomed the decision to ban TikTok. They opined that the ban would have a positive effect on society as a whole. “While opinions may vary depending on individual perspectives and priorities, I believe it would have a positive impact in our country if the government took the step of banning the TikTok. The main issue that needed to be addressed was incorporating legal regulations…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: As a U.S. Navy surveillance plane flew in circles, keeping a close watch, dozens of Chinese coast guard and accompanying ships chased and encircled Philippine vessels in the latest confrontation in one of the most dangerous flashpoints in the South China Sea. At the height of Friday’s four-hour face-off in the high seas, a Chinese coast guard ship blasted a water cannon toward a Philippine motorboat delivering food and other supplies to Filipino forces on a marooned, rusting warship that serves as the country’s fragile territorial outpost at Second Thomas Shoal. China has steadfastly stood by its claim…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: China in the past 20 years lent about $ 21 billion more than previously thought to Pakistan, Nikkei Asia reported, citing a study revealed this week. According to the study, Pakistan has the biggest China-funded energy portfolio in the world. AidData, a research institute at William and Mary University in the US, said that Pakistan’s cumulative public debt exposure to China from 2000 to 2021 was $ 67.2 billion. The number surpassed the $ 46 billion recorded for the same period in the World Bank’s International Debt Statistics on the basis of voluntary disclosures from Pakistan, Nikkei Asia…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Nepal government has banned social media platform TikTok with immediate effect and decided to regulate other platforms to prevent their misuse. “A meeting of the cabinet decided to ban TikTok with immediate effect,” said Rekha Sharma, Minister for Communication and government spokesperson. The ban on TikTok, arguably the most popular social media platform in the country, came five days after a government declaration regarding the regulation of all social media platforms, which also gave them three months to set up Nepal offices to address grievances. However, in a follow up action, it singled out TikTok imposing a total…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: As developing countries weigh the consequences of borrowing heavily from China for major infrastructure projects, anti-corruption officials in Nepal have begun an investigation into a flagship airport financed and built by Chinese state-owned companies. Nepal’s $216 million international airport in Pokhara, the country’s second-biggest city, opened in January. China agreed to provide loans to build the airport more than a decade ago. Nepal tapped China CAMC Engineering, the construction arm of a state-owned conglomerate, Sinomach, as the contractor. The airport has failed to attract any regular international flights, raising concerns about whether it will generate enough revenue to…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Vietnam has stepped up its efforts to sell its underutilized rare-earth mines to foreign investors even as the United States expressed its readiness to assist Hanoi in organizing auctions for them. The development is likely to have an impact on geopolitics and global economy, a statement clearly made by Emily Blanchard, the U.S. State Department chief economist, during her recent visit to Hanoi. The overture came as Vietnam plans to launch tenders for several sections of its Dong Pao mine, one of the world’s largest untapped reserves of rare earths, by year’s end, a move that could help…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Japan’s navy on Saturday announced the start of a joint annual military exercise, with the Philippines observing the operations for the first time as the two countries seek closer maritime cooperation. The Japan-led Annualex exercise started on Friday with operations conducted by the naval forces of the United States, Australia and Canada, with the Philippines attending as an observer, Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force Vice Admiral Akira Saito told reporters. “The Philippines is a very important country for us, and we are looking to coordinate with their navy at every possible opportunity,” Saito said aboard the USS Carl Vinson…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: China is setting out to mass produce human-like robots in two years, an ambitious plan that it hopes to put Beijing as the leader of the field. In a blueprint issued to local authorities across China, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the goal to establish an innovation framework for humanoid robots and ensure that the country can make core parts of the robots on its own. The products, under the plan, will reach advanced international standards in quality. They will see applications in harsh environments, manufacturing, as well as service sectors, according to the directive.…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The Philippines on Friday condemned China’s coast guard for “unprovoked acts of coercion and dangerous maneuvers,” including its use of a water cannon against one of its boats, in an attempt to disrupt a resupply mission in the South China Sea. China’s actions, the Philippines said, have not only “put the lives of our people at risk,” but have “put into question and significant doubt the sincerity of its calls for peaceful dialogue.” The regular resupply missions support the Philippines’ troops stationed in an intentionally grounded dilapidated warship on Second Thomas Shoal, a hotly disputed atoll in the…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The Philippines on Friday condemned China’s coast guard for “unprovoked acts of coercion and dangerous manoeuvres,” including its use of a water cannon against one of its boats in an attempt to disrupt a resupply mission in the South China Sea. China’s actions, the Philippines said, have not only “put the lives of our people at risk,” but have “put into question and significant doubt the sincerity of its calls for peaceful dialogue”. The regular resupply missions support the Philippines’ troops stationed in an intentionally grounded dilapidated warship on Second Thomas Shoal, a hotly disputed atoll in the…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: This month, China’s government began a nationwide poll of 500,000 urban and rural households to learn more about population trends. The survey, coming soon after China’s “once-in-a-decade” 2020 census, was, in the words of Reuters, “unexpected.” China’s leaders look like they are now panicking over population decline. Will they force couples to procreate? Or will they industrialize the process of procreation? The population survey came just days after Chinese leadership tried to talk up births. Xi Jinping, in remarks published by the official Xinhua News Agency on Oct. 30, told women to start a “new trend of family.”…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Laos, a Southeast Asian nation nestled between Thailand and Vietnam, is grappling with an escalating debt crisis that threatens its economic stability. The primary contributor to this precarious situation is its significant indebtedness to China, raising concerns about the country’s ability to manage its obligations and maintain financial equilibrium. The financial entanglement began in late 2013 when China emerged as Laos’ largest foreign investor. The subsequent years witnessed a surge in Chinese influence, particularly through infrastructure projects funded under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Laos borrowed substantial sums from the administration of President Xi Jinping to finance…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Taiwan is taking aim at China’s alleged “communist spies” ahead of a crucial presidential election, where the island’s relationship with Beijing will be on the ballot. Taiwan and China have been spying on each other since 1949, when Chinese nationalists set up a separate government in Taipei opposing Mao Zedong’s communist China. In the last 10 months, Taiwanese authorities have handed down a steady stream of charges and convictions – proof, they say, that Beijing’s espionage strategy has intensified and expanded beyond elite military circles. Retired air force colonel Liu Sheng-shu was sentenced to 20 years in prison…