Month: March 2024

After featuring the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in his first parliamentary speech after reelection, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif renewed call for further strengthening bilateral ties between “iron brothers” by working together through “thick and thin”, and moving towards “second phase” of the multibillion-dollar project.

Premier Shehbaz thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping for extending congratulatory message on his reelection on March 3 and said: “I deeply value his sentiments not only for the people of Pakistan, for our friendship, but our mutual cooperation.”

The premier delivered the remarks while being interviewed with the Chinese state news agency — Xinhua — at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in Islamabad. It was PM Shehbaz’s first-ever interview to any foreign media outlet after assuming the office.

On completion of 73 years of diplomatic relations between both countries, Premier Shehbaz said that the leaders of Pakistan and China have continuously cultivated and promoted bilateral friendship. The two countries have developed into all-weather strategic cooperative partners with a unique friendship like “iron brothers” that has stood the test of time.

He stressed that the friendship now must achieve “higher heights.”

Shehbaz, who also served as Punjab chief minister for three terms, said Pakistan should emulate the model citing modernisation steps adopted by China which lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and providing vast rural populations with access to education, healthcare and employment.

“It is a great success model and success story. Despite challenges in recent years, China’s growth has still gone steadily compared to other countries, which is a remarkable achievement,” he added.

He was of the view that Pakistan could learn from the model to alleviate poverty, boost youth employment, and encourage small and medium entrepreneurship in agricultural, industrial, and information technology sectors across urban and rural areas.

The premier said that Pakistan is now ready to move towards the second phase of CPEC, aiming to promote technological development and agriculture through the corridor.

Pakistan has established the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), which will cut red tape and remove delays and inefficiencies for CPEC projects, he added.

PM Shehbaz said he looks forward to revisiting China, calling it a tradition for Pakistan’s new leadership after inauguration. “China is our second home,” he said.

“We made solemn commitments that we would work together, and we would be together through thick and thin,” he vowed.

ISLAMABAD: In a letter addressed to Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Asif Ali Zardari Thursday underscored the Chinese head of state’s “indispensable” support for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Expressing gratitude in response to Xi Jinping’s felicitations for assuming charge of the president’s office, Zardari reiterated Islamabad’s commitment to further strengthen practical cooperation with China.

Recalling that both countries have made significant progress in bilateral cooperation including the economic corridor, Zardari stressed that the bilateral relations between the two countries have strengthened over the years due to common ideals, mutual respect and understanding.

“Strong Pakistan-China relations are key to regional peace, stability and development,” the president wrote while referring to the “unique” bilateral relations between the two countries.

Last week, Xi, while congratulating Zardari on his election as the 14th of state, had said that his country was “ready to work” with him after the latter secured 411 electoral votes against his rival Mahmood Khan Achakzai’s 189 to get elected for the president’s office for the second time.

In his message, President Xi said China and Pakistan are good neighbours, good friends, good partners and good brothers, adding that the two countries’ iron-clad friendship is a choice of history and a precious treasure of the two peoples, reported state-run Xinhua.

Xi noted that the two countries have in recent years maintained close high-level exchanges, supported each other on issues concerning their respective core interests and major concerns, achieved fruitful results in the construction of the CPEC, and maintained a high level of development of bilateral relations.

The Chinese president also called for advancing practical cooperation in various fields, pushing for greater development of China-Pakistan all-weather strategic cooperative partnership, accelerating the building of an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era, so as to better benefit the two peoples.

On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a telephonic conversation with Zardari congratulating him on becoming the country’s head of state.

The President’s Secretariat, in a statement, said both presidents exchanged views on matters of bilateral importance and underscored the need for further improving cooperation in all areas of mutual interest.

Meanwhile, President Zardari thanked the Turkish president for his telephone call and warm wishes.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari Tuesday to congratulate him on assuming the office of the head of the state.

The President’s Secretariat, in a statement, said both presidents exchanged views on matters of bilateral importance and underscored the need for further improving cooperation in all areas of mutual interest.

President Zardari thanked the Turkish president for his telephone call and warm wishes.

“President Asif Ali Zardari wished Happy Ramadan to Turkish nation and desired to see the role of Turkish women in the Islamic world,” read the statement.

He also desired to soon invite President Erdogan to visit Pakistan.

Zardari was elected as the country’s president for the second term last week with an overwhelming majority after securing 411 electoral votes from parliament and all four provincial assemblies.

Besides the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the newly elected president had the backing of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-Pakistan) and other smaller parties.

Since his election as the president, several head of states including Chinese President Xi Jingping, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, and Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon among other have congratulated Zardari on assuming the country’s top office.

In his congratulatory message, President Xi said that his country is “ready to work with” newly elected President Zardari and termed China and Pakistan as good neighbours, and partners.

The Chinese president said that the two countries’ iron-clad friendship is a choice of history and a precious treasure of the two peoples, according to state-run Xinhua.

Xi noted that the two countries have in recent years maintained close high-level exchanges, supported each other on issues concerning their respective core interests and major concerns, achieved fruitful results in the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and maintained a high level of development of bilateral relations.

The Punjab government clarified Tuesday that the restrictions imposed in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail were not aimed at hindering meetings of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) leaders with party founder Imran Khan.

The statement came after Khan, a former prime minister imprisoned in several cases and serving more than three decades, was barred from holding meetings inside Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail for two weeks owing to security concerns.

“This move wasn’t made to take away any facility from him [Khan]. There is a serious threat alert, which is under investigation,” Punjab’s Information Minister Azma Bukhari told Geo News’ Shahzeb Khanzada.

Bukhari, who recently assumed office after her party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, an arch rival of the PTI, came into power, said her party was not seeking revenge from the former prime minister.

She said the fresh restrictions were imposed, as a few days back, the law enforcers had arrested terrorists who possessed a map of the jail in which Khan is currently imprisoned.

Last week, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed to have arrested three terrorists, allegedly belonging to Afghanistan, who had a map of Adiala Jail, a hand grenade, and Improvised Explosive Devices.

“The incident is under investigation. A series of threat alerts have been issued. These measures were taken to ensure the security of all the prisoners. The security of the facility has to be improved,” she said.

Slamming PTI’s allegations that the capture of the terrorists was a false flag operation, Bukhari clarified that the opposition party “sees conspiracies” in everything, assuring the party that their leader was being provided all facilities in prison.

“There’s a threat in general [to the Adiala Jail], not Imran Khan, that something unpleasant might happen. Therefore, it is important not only to ensure Imran Khan’s security, but everyone else’s.”

Expressing severe concerns over the abrupt ban on Khan’s meeting in Adiala jail earlier in the day, PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan feared that the former prime minister’s life was in danger.

Addressing a press conference outside the jail, Gohar said that the party leaders were barred from meeting the incarcerated PTI founder. He said that the authorities did not inform anybody about the two-week ban on Khan’s meeting.

The authorities gave “terrorism” as a reason for the move, he added. Gohar demanded immediate meeting and consultations with the incarcerated PTI founder. He also sought the details about Khan’s health.

Khan, who was moved to the Adiala jail in September 2023 from Attock jail, is serving an accumulative sentence of 31 years in various cases and has been engaging his lawyers, party leaders and family members during his imprisonment as previously the authorities had allocated Monday and Thursdays for meetings.

KP CM meeting and threats to other jails

Separately, in a letter to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, the Punjab Home Department asked them to delay KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur’s meeting with the PTI founder.

The letter mentioned that the Punjab government has imposed temporary restrictions on visits and meetings in different jails of the province, including Adiala.

The move, the letter mentioned, was a part of measures taken for the security of the prisoners against the recent threat alerts.

“Adoption of these measures was imperative to avert the occurrence of any type of untoward incident that is reportedly being planned by the hostile elements of the country.”

“It is, therefore, requested that the visit of Honorable Chief Minister, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa may please be pended to some further date due to the Prevailing security situation.”

 

In another letter to the Inspectorate General of Prisons Punjab, the department said that Internal Security Wing of the Home Department has conveyed that there “exist different types of threats to security of Adiala jail, Attock Jail, Mianwali Jail, and DG Khan as some anti state terrorist groups supported by the enemies of Pakistan have planned to conduct targeted attacks”.

The letter said the purpose of the planned attacks is to create lawlessness and anarchy within the whole country, therefore, “it is imperative that some measures are taken without delay”.

It directed the official to ensure a security audit by SB, IB, and jail staff by March 13, bomb disposal operations in jail premises by BD teams, and bomb sweeping in and around jail premises.

Several other measures were also proposed and the Home Department said they should be treated as “most important”.

The leaders of France, Germany and Poland will hold emergency talks on Ukraine in Berlin on Friday, the Polish prime minister announced following discussions on the war-torn country in Washington.

Poland, one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies, has repeatedly urged its Western partners to up their spending on military aid as Kyiv fends off a Russian invasion.

Poland’s president and prime minister met with US President Joe Biden in Washington on Tuesday, shortly after the US leader announced an emergency stopgap package to Ukraine.

“On Friday… I will be in Berlin with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to talk about this situation,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told state broadcaster TVP late Tuesday.

He called an “emergency and unplanned” summit of the Weimar Triangle, a format of French, German and Polish cooperation that was initially created in 1991.

Under its new pro-EU government, Poland has sought to strengthen cooperation with Berlin and Paris as the war in Ukraine enters a third year.

“In my opinion, these three capitals have the task and the power to mobilise all of Europe” to provide Ukraine with fresh aid, Tusk said.

Hamas ally Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily cross-border fire since the Gaza war erupted in October, but several Israeli strikes have recently hit Hezbollah positions further north, raising fears of a full-blown conflict.

Hezbollah launched more than 100 Katyusha rockets on Tuesday morning at two military bases in the occupied Golan Heights, the group said in a statement.

This was in response to the Israeli attacks on our people, villages and cities, most recently near the city of Baalbek and the killing of a citizen“, it added.

Qatar says Israel, Hamas not near a deal to halt fighting in Gaza

On Monday, Israeli air strikes near Lebanon’s city of Baalbek killed one person. The Israeli military confirmed its jets had hit two sites belonging to Hezbollah’s forces in retaliation for strikes on the occupied Golan Heights over several days.

Earlier on Tuesday, Hezbollah said its chief Seyed Hassan Nasrallah met Khalil al-Hayya, a leading member of Hamas’s political bureau.

They discussed ceasefire talks for the Gaza war, as well as attacks by Hamas’s regional allies to support its war efforts, the Hezbollah said in a statement.

Hezbollah chief Nasrallah is due to give a televised speech on Wednesday.

Hezbollah has repeatedly said it will only stop its attacks on Israel with a ceasefire in Gaza.

But Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said any truce in Gaza would not change Israel’s goal of pushing Hezbollah out of south Lebanon.

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October, at least 317 people, mainly Hezbollah fighters but also 54 civilians, have been killed in Lebanon.

In Israel, at least 10 soldiers and seven civilians have been killed in the cross-border hostilities.

Qatar says Israel, Hamas not near Gaza deal

Qatar said on Tuesday Israel and Hamas are not close to a deal to halt the fighting in Gaza and free hostages, warning that the situation remained “very complicated”.

Despite weeks of talks involving US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators, holy month of Ramazan began on Monday without the start of a truce and hostage exchange they had aimed for.

“We are not near a deal, meaning that we are not seeing both sides converging on language that can resolve the current disagreement over the implementation of a deal,” said Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari.

All parties were “continuing to work in the negotiations to reach a deal hopefully within the confines of Ramazan”, Ansari told a news conference.

But he added that he could not “offer any timeline” on an agreement while the conflict remained “very complicated on the ground”. Qatar, which hosts the largest US military base in the Middle East, is also the main residence of Hamas self-exiled leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Hamas deputy leader attacked

Israel said on Monday it was checking whether it had killed Hamas’s deputy military leader in an airstrike in Gaza.

If his death is confirmed, Marwan Issa will be the highest-ranking Hamas official killed by Israel in five months of war that has pulverised Gaza and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

Issa, known as the ‘Shadow Man’ for his ability to stay out of sight, was one of three top Hamas leaders who are believed to have been directing Hamas military operations.

IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters Israel had bombed the Al-Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Saturday night following intelligence about the location of Issa, second-in-command of Hamas military wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades.

Two Hamas leaders — Issa and another commander in Gaza — used the underground compound that Israeli jets struck in a joint operation with Israel’s Shin Bet security service, Hagari said.

A Palestinian source said the Israelis had hit a place where they thought Issa was hiding, but could give no details of his fate.

“There still aren’t indications with certainty,” Chili Tropper, an Israeli cabinet minister, told Israel’s Channel 13 television on Monday.

An official of the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) said 25 Indian troops deployed in the southernmost atoll of Addu had left the archipelago ahead of March 10, the official start of the withdrawal agreed by both sides.

“We can confirm that the Indian troop withdrawal is underway,” the MNDF said in a statement.

President Mohamed Muizzu came to power in September on a pledge to kick out Indian security personnel deployed in the Maldives to patrol its vast maritime border.

The two sides had agreed to complete a withdrawal of 89 Indian troops and their support staff in the Maldives by May 10.

Withdrawal worries New Delhi which is suspicious of China’s growing presence in Indian Ocean

Local officials said the three Indian aircraft — two helicopters and one fixed-wing plane — will be operated by Indian civilian staff, who have already arrived. Last week, the Maldives signed a “military assistance” deal with China as the Indians prepared to leave.

The Maldivian defence ministry said the deal was to foster “stronger bilateral ties” and that China would train its staff under the pact.

‘Territorial sovereignty’

“We support the Maldives in safeguarding its territorial sovereignty,” China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters in Beijing on Tuesday.

“We also support the Maldives in developing friendly exchanges and cooperation with all parties on the basis of its independence and autonomy.”

India is suspicious of China’s growing presence in the Indian Ocean and its influence in the Maldives as well as in neighbouring Sri Lanka.

The archipelago, better known for its white sand beaches and where tourism accounts for nearly a third of its economy, is also strategically placed halfway along key east-west international shipping routes.

Relations between Male and New Delhi have chilled since Muizzu took office.

New Delhi considers the Indian Ocean archipelago to be within its sphere of influence, but the Maldives has shifted into the orbit of China — its largest external creditor.

Muizzu, who visited Beijing in January where he signed a raft of infrastructure, energy, marine and agricultural deals, has previously denied seeking to redraw the regional balance by bringing in Chinese forces to replace Indian troops.

The Maldives is set to hold parliamentary elections on April 21, the first national poll after Muizzu won the September presidential election on a promise to get rid of the Indians.

India last month said it was bolstering its naval forces on its “strategically important” Lakshad­weep islands, about 130 kilometres (80 miles) north of the Maldives.

The Indian naval unit based on the island of Minicoy will boost “operational surveillance” of the area, the navy said.

UNITED NATIONS: As Ramazan commences, global leaders united in recognising the significance of the holy month and called for silencing guns in Gaza.

US President Joe Biden pledged international efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza in his Ramazan message and committed to working tirelessly for an immediate six-week ceasefire.

Simultaneously, UN Secretary-General António Guterres passionately appealed for peace in Gaza, urging all parties to “honour the spirit of Ramazan by silencing the guns”.

He stressed the urgent need for delivering humanitarian aid, stating, “My strongest appeal today is to remove all obstacles to ensure the delivery of lifesaving aid at the speed and massive scale required.”

In the spirit of compassion, Guterres called for the “immediate release of all hostages” and underlined the global significance of the situation, declaring, “The eyes of the world are watching. The eyes of history are watching. We cannot look away.”

The secretary general highlighted the severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza, pointing out unprecedented civilian casualties and destruction. He lamented the slow and insufficient delivery of relief, noting that “life-saving relief for Palestinians in Gaza is coming in trickles — if it comes at all”.

Drawing attention to the threat of an Israeli assault on Rafah, Guterres warned that it could plunge Gaza into an even deeper crisis. He deplored that no party showed any respect for international humanitarian law during this war and as a result, “international humanitarian law lies in tatters”.

The UN chief recalled heartfelt pleas from families affected by the conflict, quoting a family member who said, “We are not here for condolences. We are not here for apologies. We are here for immediate action.” He emphasised the need to heed these voices and take urgent action to prevent further loss of life.

Acknowledging the start of the holy month of Ramazan, he emphasised its values of peace, reconciliation, and solidarity. However, he expressed deep concern over the ongoing violence in Gaza, stating, “Even though Ramazan has begun — the killing, bombing, and bloodshed continue in Gaza.”

The secretary general also extended his appeal for a Ramazan cessation of hostilities in Sudan, urging an end to the fighting for the sake of the Sudanese people facing hunger and hardships. He called for global unity in promoting peace, stating, “In Gaza, in Sudan, and beyond, it is time for peace.”

The US president, while pledging to get more life-saving aid to Gaza, said the United States “will continue working non-stop to establish an immediate and sustained ceasefire for at least six weeks as part of a deal that releases hostages”.

He also promised to “continue building toward a long-term future of stability, security, and peace. That includes a two-state solution to ensure Palestinians and Israelis share equal measures of freedom, dignity, security, and prosperity. That, he said, “is the only path toward an enduring peace”.

Biden said that as Muslims gather around the world over the coming days and weeks to break their fast, the suffering of the Palestinian people will be front of mind for many, he said.

“It is front of mind for me,” said the US president.

Some of the Palestinians killed in Gaza “are family members of American Muslims, who are deeply grieving their lost loved ones today,” Biden said.

He also said that nearly two million Palestinians are estimated to be displaced and in need of food, water, medicine and shelter.