Pakistan Archives - Page 9 of 16

Pakistan indulging in activities to deflect attention from support to terror: India

5Aug

By Nectar GanNo Comments

Pakistan indulging in activities to deflect attention from support to terror: India

With Pakistan planning to hold protests to mark one year of the scrapping of Article 370 on August 5, India has said that the neighboring country indulges in such activities to divert international attention from its support to cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir."They indulge in activities to deflect international attention from support to cross border terrorism," external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said at an online media briefing, replying to a question on Pakistan’s planned activities to protest India’s action of scrapping of Article 370 on its first anniversary.August 5 will mark the first anniversary of Indian government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution from Jammu and Kashmir and to bifurcate the state into two union territories – Ja

Abrogation of Article 370: Dawn of a new era for Jammu and Kashmir

4Aug

By Stuart WhiteNo Comments

Abrogation of Article 370: Dawn of a new era for Jammu and Kashmir

It is almost a year since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. It was this ‘special status’ that barred the Indian mainland as well as any foreigner from investing in the former state. Not only that, a cluster of privileged families freely ran the roost and created hereditary political lineage that was no different than the pre-Partition hereditary monarchy practiced in the state since the signing of the Amritsar Treaty between Maharaja of Jammu Gulab Singh and the East India Company at the end of the First Anglo-Sikh war in March 1846.The Amritsar Treaty signed on March 16, 1846, was the basis on which the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was established and which existed as an independent state for 101 years before Pakistan launched an unprovoked attack on the fa

Decision to abrogate Article 370 was taken under extreme circumstances: LG Murmu

4Aug

By Yusara AskariNo Comments

Decision to abrogate Article 370 was taken under extreme circumstances: LG Murmu

Ahead of the first-year-anniversary of Article 370’s abrogation from Jammu and Kashmir, Lieutenant Governor Girish Chandra Murmu has revealed that decision to abrogate Article 370 was taken under extreme circumstances.Murmu also said that Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has witnessed tremendous development in the last year. "Some people are seeing electricity for the first time in 70 years," he said.Murmu, 60, an IAS officer of the 1985 batch, worked as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's additional principal secretary during his tenure as Gujarat chief minister. He became the administrative head of Kashmir and Jammu provinces after the Central government, on August 5, 2019, abrogated special status of the erstwhile state and also announced its bifurcation into two Union Territories (UT) - Ladakh,

China’s Wuhan lab operating “covert operations” in Pakistan under a secret deal

31Jul

By Grace TsoiNo Comments

China’s Wuhan lab operating “covert operations” in Pakistan under a secret deal

Intelligence sources have revealed that Pakistan and China have entered a secret three-year deal to expand potential bio-warfare capabilities, including running several research projects related to the deadly agent anthrax.China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology has signed the covert deal with Pakistan military’s Defense Science and Technology Organization (DESTO), to collaborate research in “emerging infectious diseases” and advance studies on the biological control of transmitted diseases in the wake of coronavirus, said highly credible intelligence sources.The program, sources have said, is being entirely funded by China and is formally titled the “Collaboration for Emerging Infectious Diseases and Studies on Biological Control of Vector Transmitting Diseases”.Intelligence sources, includin

## Widening chasm between ISI and separatists leaves Kashmiris wounded ##

31Jul

By Yusara AskariNo Comments

## Widening chasm between ISI and separatists leaves Kashmiris wounded ##

The recent developments within Pakistan’s notorious spy agency or Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) with regard to Kashmir policy, especially its approach to the Separatist camp, has instilled fear within the leaders. Separatist leaders from both parts of Kashmir are clueless as to why their mentors are taking a different course to the earlier stated policy and have apparently left them in a lurch. This has made them rethink if it was prudent to heavily depend upon Pakistan for some kind of save as they were answerable to the Kashmiris, whom they claim they represent.The results for the past three decades have been dismal as it has led them nowhere except death and destruction. After using them during three decades long militancy, the Pakistan Generals have made them realize that they were

Pakistan’s information war campaign against India needs attention

30Jul

By Stuart WhiteNo Comments

Pakistan’s information war campaign against India needs attention

Pakistan’s vicious information war campaign against India has been triggered by three incidents: The Balakot attack of February 2019, the return of the BJP government in the May 2019 elections and the August 2019 revision of Article 370.Pakistan’s longstanding assumption that the nuclear equivalence guaranteed that India would not retaliate against terrorist attacks was demolished by Balakot. The return of the BJP government to Centre signaled that India would continue to follow a muscular policy for the next five years. The abrogation of Article 370 demolished the centerpiece of Pakistan’s nationalism — “Kashmir banega Pakistan” (Kashmir will be Pakistan) — and raised apprehensions about India’s plans for Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK).These developments have forced Pakistan t

In Imran Khan’s 18-point Kashmir plan for Aug 5, outreach to Turkey, Malaysia and China

29Jul

By Grace TsoiNo Comments

In Imran Khan’s 18-point Kashmir plan for Aug 5, outreach to Turkey, Malaysia and China

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has roped in his country’s notorious spy agency accused of colluding with terrorist organization - Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) - in his elaborate 18-point plan to commemorate the August 5 anniversary of India scrapping Article 370, sources said.Under the 18-point programme, Imran Khan is scheduled to visit Pakistan occupied Kashmir where he is supposed to address the assembly, a speech that is going to be beamed live. Then, before Khan reaches Muzaffarabad, Pakistan government intends a field trip for foreign journalists to the occupied territory, with the exception of terror training camps funded by the ISI – a behaviour observed in the past.On August 5 last year, India had tabled the law in Rajya Sabha to strip the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kas

28Jul

By Stuart WhiteNo Comments

Where is Ehsanullah?

It was in January when the former spokesman of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Ehsanullah Ehsan engineered an ‘escape’ from the security agencies’ custody, but until now, there seems to be no effort to recapture him In fact, the government has barely mentioned him at all except to confirm his flight, which Pakistan’s Interior Minister Ijaz Shah did in the most offhand, cursory manner during a chat with journalists.Meanwhile, Ehsan, does not appear to have opted for a low profile. A Twitter account reportedly used by him has been fairly active. Among the more disturbing recent tweets from this account is a death threat against PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, saying that the latter would meet the same fate as his mother, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.On July 17, the P

Indian intelligence agencies sound alarm over spurt in heroin smuggling from Pakistan via sea

28Jul

By Yusara AskariNo Comments

Indian intelligence agencies sound alarm over spurt in heroin smuggling from Pakistan via sea

Following inputs from international counterparts about a sudden increase in the smuggling of heroin from the Gwadar port of Makran coast in Pakistan, the Indian enforcement agencies have taken proactive steps and increased maritime surveillance.“Inputs from the Tanzanian authorities have been shared by the international organizations, following purported revelations by a Tanzanian national”, said an official.The accused said heroin consignments were being smuggled on board dhows from Pakistan and they were being dropped at various coastal locations on the Tanzania border. About 25 such dhows had entered the Tanzanian coastal region between March and May.The consignments were also being routed via Mozambique, where 12 Pakistani nationals — who initially claimed that they were fishermen — we

27Jul

By Stuart WhiteNo Comments

Hegemony, not territory is China’s goal

China’s incessant aggressive behaviour in recent times have been raising question. It is fighting with India in the highlands of Ladakh. It has introduced a new security law for Hong Kong that eliminates basic civil rights. Chinese military jets are flying into Taiwan’s air defense space. It has raised a border conflict with Bhutan in a specific area. The sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat in the South China Sea. It is caught up in territorial disputes in the same maritime area with not only Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia but also Indonesia. China is also meddling in Australia’s domestic politics, for the first time giving rise to critical voices against China in a country which until now has been extremely reluctant to criticize its most important trading partner.Is China shootin