Author: Arif ArifArman

INTERNATIONAL DESK: External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. During the meeting, President Putin invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Russia, saying it will give them an opportunity to discuss all current issues and talk about the outlook for the development of bilateral relations. “We will be glad to see our friend, Mr. Prime Minister Modi in Russia,” Putin told Jaishankar at Kremlin. “We will be able to discuss all current issues, talk about the outlook for the development of Russian-Indian relations. We have a very large amount of work…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday highlighted ongoing development in India and asserted that the Indian government’s efforts are aimed at making India a successful and developed country in the next 25 years. “You can see our effort is to ensure that in the next 25 years, we are successful and become a developed country. A developed country doesn’t just mean a developed economy, it is also a country which is aware, conscious and proud of its traditions, heritage and culture,” he said. While interacting with the Indologists in St Petersburg, EAM Jaishankar added, “Today when you…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: To maintain deterrence in the Indo-Pacific and assist India in bolstering its defence modernisation plans, the United States is deploying cutting-edge military capabilities to its allies. Calling 2023 a ‘decisive year’, the US Department of Defence, in an official release has stated that it is supporting allies and partners as they invest in their capabilities. “Bolstering India’s defence modernization plans, including by advancing the priorities outlined in the Roadmap for US-India Defence Industrial Cooperation,” the release read. Under the US-India Defence Industrial Cooperation, both nations will co-produce fighter jet engines and Stryker armoured vehicles, as well as launch…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Across the glittering screens of smartphones, a noxious weed takes root. Fueled by algorithms and anonymity, a brand of “long-distance nationalism” thrives, one nurtured not by boots on the ground, but by the echo chambers of social media. This is the Long-Distance Nationalism of the Khalistan extremist, a warped ideology that seeks to sever Punjab from India, not through the sweat and sacrifice of on-ground struggle, but through the poisonous seeds of online hate. Their targets? Young, impressionable Sikhs, bombarded with a distorted narrative of historical grievances and present-day persecution. The reality, however, paints a far grimmer picture…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: A motorcycle rally was carried out in Pakistan’s Gwadar led by Chairman Maulana Hidayatur Rehman Baloch on Tuesday calling for an end to extrajudicial killings and the enforced disappearances of political activists, students and human rights activists, Pakistan-based Dawn reported. Protesters carrying placards and banners inscribed with slogans against the government’s crackdown on participants of the Turbat long march, including women and children. The motorcycle rally was held to mark the first anniversary of the government crackdown against workers and leaders of Haq Do Tehreek (HDT). Led by ‘Haq Do Tehreek’ Chairman Maulana Hidayatur Rehman Baloch and other…

INTERNATIONAL DESK:  Despite the Chinese government’s efforts to cut down on public attention on human rights cases in the country, the wives of dissidents who were arrested in April have been advocating for their husbands globally to raise awareness about human rights abuses in China , according to the Voice of America (VOA). “The best way to get the international community’s attention on these human rights cases in China is to speak about them from a family member’s perspective,” the wife of Chinese human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi, Luo Shengchun, emphasised. “I always start with the stories of Ding Jiaxi…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: With the current number of released Baloch protesters standing at 160, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee has said that more than a hundred protesters continue to remain detained by police, The Balochistan Post reported. Moreover, there is growing worry that numerous others, most notably Zaheer Baloch, are still missing following the protests. The committee emphasised that ‘no one knows at all’ about the people who are missing since the protests started. These students were arrested when they gathered to protest the federal government’s and Islamabad Police’s refusal to allow participants in the “Long March Against Baloch Genocide” to enter…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: China’s central bank has used an artificially strong reference exchange rate to defend a weak currency this year. This intervention has inflicted unintended pain on some. For years, Chinese companies have been basing their foreign exchange accounting on the People’s Bank of China’s daily yuan fixing, rather than the prevailing market rate, as recommended by the country’s Ministry of Finance. But as the PBOC has set the fixing consistently stronger than the spot level since June, the gap would make dollar assets appear lower in value in yuan terms on a corporate balance sheet, resulting in a paper…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The number of applicants for China’s 2024 National Postgraduate Entrance Exam (NPEE) has dropped for the first time since 2015, China-based Global Times reported citing the Ministry of Education (MOE) on Sunday. According to the experts, the decline could, to some extent, be a sign of more rational thinking among Chinese graduates when choosing their future direction. They also noted that the country still needs to provide more diverse job options for young people. According to the statistics from MOE, the number of applicants for the NPEE was 4.38 million for the 2024 exams, an 8 per cent…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The Indonesian government tells VOA it is investigating a deadly explosion at a Chinese-owned nickel plant early Sunday that killed eight Indonesian and five Chinese workers, and injured at least 46 people. The Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment called for a thorough investigation into the cause of the smelting furnace explosion at the Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel factory, a subsidiary of PT Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (PT IMIP) on the island of Sulawesi. Septian Hario Seto, deputy for Investment and Mining Coordination at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment, told VOA that a team from…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Baloch leader Dr Mahrang Baloch has demanded abolishment of Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), Balochistan, terming it a death squad. Addressing the media here, the Baloch leader said a commission on human rights violations in Balochistan should be formed and the Ministry of Interior must apologise for the ‘crimes’ openly. Members of Baloch Solidarity Council protested outside the National Press Club (NPC) in Islamabad in which political and social leaders and public participated in large numbers. Mahrang Baloch said the protest was for the rights of the people of Balochistan. “We came to Islamabad in a long march with…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: As a protest outside the National Press Club in Islamabad against the enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings continued, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee — organiser of the long march — gave the authorities a three-day ultimatum to quash cases registered against students and activists and release all protesters. A statement issued by the BYC on their social media platform said over 100 Baloch students were “missing” after the crackdown on the march by the police on Wed­nesday night. “Nearly 350 of our students and families were arrested…the females and 33 students were granted bail the next day, while more…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Amid low foreign direct investment (FDI) and nominal export growth, the Pakistan Industrial and Traders Associations Front (PIAF) on Sunday said that foreign remittance flows are crucial to supporting the country’s financial balance, Frontier Post reported. The PIAF Chairman, Faheemur Rehman Saigol, said that overseas Pakistanis living in the Gulf should be further motivated to maintain upward momentum in remittances, as they contributed more than 60 per cent of the total inflows during the last couple of months. He said that remittances can help not only in financing the deficit in import payments but also in foreign debt…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Political activists from Pashtun, Balochistan, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Sindh nations gathered in Brussels Press Club Europe in Belgium to participate in an International conference “Oppressed Nations in Pakistan & Human Rights Violations”. The conference was held on Friday , to hold discussions on the human rights violations in different regions of Pakistan. Pakistan has been dealing with imminent economic, social, political and security collapse and in desperation, is using draconian laws and other harsh instruments to silence dissenting voices of the historical nations. Pakistan violates with impunity the basic fundamental rights of oppressed nations and is involved…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Taiwan’s Ministry of Defence announced on Saturday that it detected seven Chinese military aircraft and two naval vessels around the nation. The Chinese planes and naval ships were tracked between Friday, December 22, at six in the morning and Monday, December 22, at two in the morning, according to the MND. Three of the seven PLA aircraft–two Xi’an H-6s and one Shaanxi Y-8–entered the country’s southwest and southeast air defence identification zones (ADIZ), Taiwan News reported. Taiwan responded by monitoring PLA operations with planes, naval ships, and air defence missile systems. Beijing has circled Taiwan with 126 navy…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The value of China’s top 100 storied brands stretching from liquor to commercial banks dropped 4.5 per cent in 2023, battered by weak consumer sentiment and a gloomy economic outlook, according to the latest research by the Hurun Report. The consultancy known for its China Rich List found that the intangible assets of the mainland’s 100 most successful indigenous brands with at least 60 years of history were valued at a combined 9.43 trillion yuan (US$1.32 trillion) in 2023, compared to 9.87 trillion yuan the previous year. The decline resulted from deflationary pressure on the Chinese economy as…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: It did not take a crystal ball to predict that artificial intelligence would soon be used to create fake characters with fake voices disseminating fake news. It is already happening, and on a massive scale. Probably, there are other players in this game, but one has been caught red-handed, China. A very detailed report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) has traced YouTube channels whose AI-generated videos have attracted so far 120 million views back to Chinese propaganda sources. Beijing’s routine answer to ASPI reports is that ASPI is a right-wing think-tank with anti-Communist prejudices. Personally, I…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: A Hong Kong court on Friday (Dec 22) rejected a bid by the legal team for pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai to have a sedition charge against him dropped, in a closely watched national security trial. The trial began on Monday for Lai, who is charged with “collusion” with foreign forces under a Beijing-imposed national security law, a charge that carries a potential life sentence. He is also accused of “conspiracy to produce seditious publications” – a colonial-era offence that has been revived after decades of disuse – which is considered a lesser charge as it carries a shorter…

Muhammad Siddique Ali Pirzada: Corruption casts its ominous shadow upon the very core of Pakistani society, inflicting immeasurable harm on the nation’s progress and the livelihoods of its people. The recent revelation from Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) with the support of its partner organizations in Sindh, Punjab, KP, and Balochistan. The survey was conducted from October 13th to October 31st, 2023. The National Corruption Perceptions Survey lays bare the magnitude of this malignant blight, underscoring an urgent and uncompromising need for a sweeping overhaul to combat the insidious grip of corruption. This piece delves deep into the survey’s findings, unearths…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Chinese activist Li Qiaochu has been tried for “inciting subversion of state power” in a case seen as part of China’s sprawling crackdown on dissent. Ms Li’s lawyer Li Guobei said she was denied entry to the closed-door trial held in Linyi, Shandong on Tuesday. The 32-year-old faces a possible jail term of five years or more. She has been in custody since March 2021, after tweeting about the harsh detention conditions of her partner and fellow activist Xu Zhiyong. Her trial concluded at 15:00 local time (07:00 GMT) on Tuesday without a verdict, according to a Facebook…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Member of Opposition of the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly and former provincial finance minister Javed Ali Manwa has said bad governance in Pakistan has reached its peak and the government has failed to solve the public’s problems, which is provoking the people, DailyK2 reported. The former provincial finance minister said the Pakistani government is running on the signals of minor assistants due to which the problems are increasing day by day. At this time, Gilgit-Baltistan is in darkness and the government has no policy on how to bring the people out of the darkness, he said. The minister further said…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The Head of Coordination Committee of Islami Tehreek Pakistan (ITP) Sheikh Mirza Ali and other leaders have said that the facilities that were given to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan are being gradually removed, DailyK2 reported. The remarks were made during a joint press conference in Skardu in Paksitan-occupied Kashmir. Ali said that until the constitutional status is determined, any initiative taken by the federal or provincial government regarding the abolition of any kind of tax or wheat subsidy will not only be rejected but will also receive a strong response. Mirza Ali said that Gilgit Baltistan, being a…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: On December 18, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom released a new report on “Assessing Blasphemy in Pakistan.” The USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission created by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA). Its commissioners are appointed by the President and by Congressional leaders of both political parties. The report starts by commenting an incident familiar to readers of “Bitter Winter.” In August 2023, a mob attacked the Christian community of Jaranwala, Punjab, burning and demolishing dozens of churches and homes following ill-founded accusations of blasphemy. “The attacks in Jaranwala represent the…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The witnesses against Hong Kong media tycoon and activist Jimmy Lai were strongly mistreated by the Chinese authorities to bring out the ‘desired’ confessions, raising questions about whether his testimony will be voluntary and reliable, an investigative report by The Washington Post stated. Hong Kong’s highest-profile trial since the 2020 crackdown will begin on Monday, with Andy Li Yu-hin as the key witness. Li’s testimony will be crucial to the government’s case against Jimmy Lai, the billionaire media mogul and founder of Apple Daily. Lai is charged under the national security law with “colluding with foreign forces.” Hong…