Tag: Pakistan

Around 40% pilots in Pakistan have ‘fake’ flying licenses, says aviation minister
Asia

Around 40% pilots in Pakistan have ‘fake’ flying licenses, says aviation minister

In a startling revelation, Pakistan’s Aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar has said that around 40 per cent of the pilots in Pakistan have fake flying licenses.This revelation came when Sarwar was presenting a provisional inquiry report in the National Assembly of Pakistan about the recent PIA plane crash in Karachi.“Pakistan has 860 active pilots, which includes PIA, Serene Air and Air Blue pilots as well. The inquiry which was initiated in February 2019 showed that 262 pilots did not give the exam themselves and asked someone else to sit for exam on their behalf,” the minister said.He said they have found out during the investigations that pilots with ‘fake’ licenses did not even have proper flying experience. The 40 per cent 'fake' license holders also include hundreds of pilots who are not
Pakistan Still On FATF Grey List: When Will This ‘Farce’ End?
Opinion

Pakistan Still On FATF Grey List: When Will This ‘Farce’ End?

While the rest of the world was busy dealing with lockdowns and COVID-19 related medical news, Islamabad and its army used this 'suspended' time to ‘clean their house’ and deal with a couple of hot issues. In their own way, of course.And the hottest issue on the table was the FATF meeting. June has come, and again, Pakistan will try and avoid being blacklisted by the FATF. So naturally, Pakistan must keep its house in order.Due to the increasing scrutiny on the activities of the terror groups in Pakistan by the FATF, the the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has, in the last few months, been tirelessly working towards shifting the training camps of groups like the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad to Afghanistan.Further, with Taliban’s influence growing in Afghanistan, especially afte
Analysts discuss oppression of Pakistan’s indigenous minorities during COVID-19
Asia

Analysts discuss oppression of Pakistan’s indigenous minorities during COVID-19

Senior analysts, academics and experts came together for an online panel discussion titled “Oppression of Pakistan’s Indigenous minorities during COVID-19 “, to contemplate on the challenges, discrimination and religious and cultural ignorance that the minorities in Pakistan have had to face during the coronavirus pandemic.Tariq Fateh, a Pakistani-Canadian journalist and author, well-known for his outspoken views on Pakistan, stated that the people, including the minorities in Pakistan would continue to suffer until the country breaks into contiguous independent parts.“Sooner or later, Pakistan has to collapse and break away. And until Pakistan breaks away into four or five of its contiguous parts, it’s not that the minorities will suffer, it’s the people who will suffer. Their destiny wil
Pakistan is safe haven for terror groups: US State Department
Asia

Pakistan is safe haven for terror groups: US State Department

Pakistan continued to serve as a safe haven for certain regionally focused terrorist groups and allowed groups targeting Afghanistan, including the Afghan Taliban and affiliated Haqqani network, as well as groups targeting India, including LeT and its affiliated front organizations, and JeM, to operate from its territory, said a US State Department report.The suspension of US aid to Pakistan, which was announced by President Donald Trump in January 2018, remained in effect throughout 2019, the State Department said.“Pakistan took modest steps in 2019 to counter terror financing and to restrain some India-focused militant groups following the February attack on a security convoy in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir claimed by Pakistan-based JeM,” it said.In its Congressional-mandated an
Creeping silence
Opinion

Creeping silence

It is not new to hear about the curbed academic freedom in Pakistan. What is somewhat new is the frequency with which lecturers, professors, researchers, students, and even writers feel threatened now in both private and public-sector universities. These threats are of multiple nature and presumably emanate from various quarters.For Pakistan, it is essential that people everywhere are encouraged – and especially young people – to think critically and come up with ways to tackle the problems that have darkened the lives of so many in the country. Social inequality, bigotry, ethnic division and other kinds of hate are problems which we simply cannot ignore for long. Yet people who are able to effectively convey the meaning of critical thinking and dissent, in many nations, are being weeded o
Pakistan fails in attempt to charge Indian citizen as ‘global terrorist’ by UNSC sanction committee
Asia

Pakistan fails in attempt to charge Indian citizen as ‘global terrorist’ by UNSC sanction committee

The United States of America has dealt a huge blow to Pakistan after the Islamic nation attempted to designate an Indian citizen as a ‘global terrorist’ by the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) 1267 sanctions committee.As per sources, after Pakistan failed to produce enough evidence against the Indian citizen, the US blocked and terminated its proposal.It was further noted that the US conveyed to Security Council members about terminating Pakistan's terror charge proposal, which it had placed on 'technical hold' last year.Pakistan has been incessantly pressurizing the United Nations to list the Indian national as a terrorist, attempting to frame the person for carrying out alleged acts of terrorism on its soil.Pakistan has failed to produce any fresh evidence to link with any terror
Enforced disappearance policy is becoming a stimulus to declare Pakistan as terrorist state: Baloch leader
Asia

Enforced disappearance policy is becoming a stimulus to declare Pakistan as terrorist state: Baloch leader

Instead of discouraging the Baloch youth through abductions and torture to end politics, the policy of enforced disappearance is becoming a stimulus to declare Pakistan a terrorist state at the international level, Chairman of Baloch National Movement (BNM) Khalil Baloch said.In just a single Twitter post, Baloch highlighted the case of Zakir Majeed, a student leader, who is in Pakistani torture cell since last 11 years.“Zakir Majeed has completed 11 years in Pakistani torture cells. Instead of discouraging the Baloch youth through abductions and torture to end politics, this policy is becoming a stimulus to declare Pakistan a terrorist state at the international level,” Baloch tweeted.Zakir Majeed was enforcedly disappeared on June 8, 2009 along with two of his friends Waheed and Basit Ba
Beijing’s China Pakistan Economic Corridor will be ‘trillion dollar blunder’, say experts
China

Beijing’s China Pakistan Economic Corridor will be ‘trillion dollar blunder’, say experts

The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship of China's imperialistic and expansionist agenda under its Belt and Road Initiative, is set to become a "trillion-dollar blunder" project, say experts.According to a leading Israeli English daily, the CPEC, a collection of infrastructure projects currently under construction throughout Pakistan, was originally valued at $46 billion but is now estimated to be $87 billion and only a quarter of which have been completed.The CPEC was intended to modernize Pakistani infrastructure and strengthen its economy by the construction of modern transportation networks, numerous energy projects and special economic zones (SEZs). Plans originally called for a seaport, roads, railways, pipelines, dozens of factories and the largest airport in Pakista...
Opinion

Hundred days of arrest for a case with no evidence

It has been hundred days since Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, Editor-in-Chief of Jang Group has been in National Accountability Bureau (NAB) detention, held behind bars.In the most recent development, a bench of the Lahore High Court adjourned the hearing in his bail petition in a 34-year-old land property case on the grounds that the bench had received the case files late. Previously, another bench hearing the case had been dissolved due to the unavailability of one of its members. The court has already sought a reply from NAB on the petition.As per the details of the case, there is no real justification for there to even be a case regarding the purchase of the land. Nevertheless, Mir Shakil still continued to cooperate with NAB. And now we have a situation where even after a hundred days, there i...
Pak-Origin plotter of 26/11 attacks arrested in US, faces extradition
World

Pak-Origin plotter of 26/11 attacks arrested in US, faces extradition

Tahawwur Rana, a Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman has been arrested in Los Angeles on an extradition request by India for his involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.Rana, 59, a known close associate of David Coleman Headley - one of the main conspirators behind the attacks on India’s financial hub that killed 166 people - was serving a 14-year sentence in a Los Angeles federal prison when he was granted an early release last week because of being infected by the coronavirus.He was rearrested in Los Angeles on June 10 following an extradition request by India, where he is a declared fugitive, US prosecutors said.Assistant US Attorney John J Lulejian told the court that the Indian government, as per the bilateral Extradition Treaty signed in 1997, has requested the arrest and det