PEC merits unity

PEC merits unity

PEC merits unity

Terrorists know the value of our blood more than us.

Terrorists know the value of our blood more than us.

Terrorists know the value of our blood more than us.

Terrorists know the value of our blood more than us.

Modi too hasty too fast.

Modi too hasty too fast.

Modi too hasty too fast.

Modi too hasty too fast.

PEC merits unity

PEC merits unity

Terrorists know the value of our blood more than us.

Terrorists know the value of our blood more than us.

Terrorists know the value of our blood more than us.

Modi too hasty too fast.

Modi too hasty too fast.

Modi too hasty too fast.

PEC merits unity

Terrorists know the value of our blood more than us.

Terrorists know the value of our blood more than us.

Modi too hasty too fast.

Modi too hasty too fast.

PEC merits unity

By S M Hali

The economic corridor will usher in more opportunities for cooperation, more projects in energy, trade and transportation infrastructure sections, and will provide more job opportunities

Protesting against the alleged change of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) route, opposition parties staged a walk out last Friday from the Senate session. It is very unfortunate that the issue of the so-called alignment of the CPEC is being blown out of proportion. Critics claim there a design showing the original line of the CPEC as going through Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but that the current CPEC mainly goes through Punjab and Sindh, and bypasses the above two provinces.

This scribe was invited by the Chinese foreign office last September on the eve of the expected visit of President Xi Jinping to Pakistan. Unfortunately, the visit could not be finalised owing to political protests in Islamabad but the in-depth briefings this scribe and other journalists received in Beijing and other locations regarding the CPEC are worth sharing as they indicate that the fears of some Pakistani politicians are based on misperceptions. 

To start with, the project was envisaged during the visit of China’s Prime Minister (PM), Li Keqiang, in May 2013. Although Pakistan had just undergone general elections, Premier Li Keqiang met Pakistan’s caretaker PM, President Zardari, and PM designate Nawaz Sharif to reach important consensus on planning and constructing the CPEC. During PM Nawaz Sharif’s visit to China in July, 2013, the construction of the CPEC was reiterated.

It is important to recognise that the CPEC, which starts from Kashgar, Xinjiang runs throughout the whole of Pakistan and finally reaches Gwadar port in the south, is not merely a highway or a road. This economic corridor will cover populated and major areas of Pakistan, comprising energy projects, transportation infrastructures and economic zones along it. The construction of these projects will promote the flow of goods, information and other resources, including people. The economic corridor will usher in more opportunities for cooperation, more projects in energy, trade and transportation infrastructure sections, and will provide more jobs opportunities to the two people of both nations.
It must also be appreciated that China, despite being a developing nation itself, is willing to take along other Asian nations on the road to prosperity and considers Pakistan its most important neighbour, friend and ally. Whenever Pakistan has faced any challenge, be it earthquake, flood or other calamities, the Chinese are the first to reach the disaster zone and extend wholehearted support in the rescue and rehabilitation of the survivors. The current morass that Pakistan finds itself in, facing acute energy shortage, a fractured economy and terror attacks aggravating the situation, its all-weather friend China is willing to extend a helping hand.
To ensure the fruition of the CPEC project, China and Pakistan have established the Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) for the long-term planning of the CPEC and have set up three working groups of energy, transportation infrastructure and comprehensive planning. So far, the JCC has held three meetings, in which both sides have reached initial consensus on the planning and construction of the economic corridor based on a series of discussions and consultations.
The purpose of building the CPEC is to bring benefits to all the people of Pakistan, including Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Notably, some projects in the two provinces are already well under way. For instance, in Balochistan, the building of the flagship project of Gwadar port, including the construction of an east-bay expressway and international airport, have commenced. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Karakorum Highway phase II is being advanced. Attabad Lake, which resulted from an avalanche, had washed off portions of the original highway and, hence, it is being bypassed for continuity of the Karakorum Highway. Feasibility studies on upgrading Main Line I and the Havelian dry port project are under way. Both sides have successfully built Gomal Zam Dam, Khan Khwar hydropower plant and Duber Khwar hydropower station. Tarbela Dam phase IV is now under construction and projects such as Suki-Kinari hydropower station and Keyal Khwar hydropower station yet to be built. The projects under construction and to be built in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will yield a capacity of more than 9,000 MW, which will greatly ease the electricity shortage and bring tremendous benefits to the local people.
According to the minutes of the first meeting of the CPEC joint working group on transport infrastructure, the alignment of the CPEC was agreed to start from Kashgar of China, through Khunjerab, Thakot and Mansehra, leading to Islamabad and, afterwards, by joining Lahore and Multan to go up to Sukkur. At Sukkur, the corridor is divided into two branches, first via Dera Allah Yar, Khuzdar, Nag and Panjgur up to Gwadar. The second branch goes up to Karachi either via the M-9 or M-7 and connects Gwadar by coastal highway.
It would be imperative for the people of Pakistan to be united and patient, and to concentrate on providing security for the workers on different projects of the CPEC so that maximum benefit can be gained by the nation. 

Terrorists know the value of our blood more than us.

Modi too hasty too fast.

Terrorists know the value of our blood more than us.

By Syeda Mazhar

Grief. Pain. Anger. Fear. Disgust. Words cannot encapsulate the myriad of emotions the nation experiences after the dastardly attacks of terrorism in our country. Be it the dark episode of 6.5 hours in Peshawar, Army Public School that, took more than 140 lives, the recent bombing of a mosque in Shikarpur or the attacks on Jammat khana in Karachi. We witnessed veritable incapacity of the state. Despite the increasing efforts made by the government, the frequency of attacks is increasing. Memorandums and continuous meeting account of nothing when the terrorists are always a step ahead. They are still attacking us with unprecedented temerity. Massacre is common.

Muslims find themselves at the receiving end and the firing end and, in the midst of it all. They are dying because they are 'enemies of Islam', they are being killed in the west because they engage in 'stealth jihad' to subjugate and they are collateral damage. For how long are we expected to stay silent?
Pakistan came to a standstill as the ugliness of the fact became clear after Peshawar attack. The war is no longer limited to the battlefield. Clarity depicts that we no longer have the luxury of fighting conventional warfare. The militant wings target the civilians, worse yet children; and they ruefully justify these killings. The idea is nauseating; the blood of Pakistan's future being spilled and rationalized. Not only the carnage continues, the Taliban have very shrewdly disguised themselves within the masses. Making it even harder to identify and eliminate the enemy. 

The two new events after the announcement of the National Action Plan, highlights the juxtapositions and the disparity between the ideology of Islam and terrorism. While the militants are still attacking us with unprecedented temerity, 20,000 Islamic scholars condemn the acts of terrorism and declare murder as one of the 'GunaheKabira' gravest sin. Islam stands on the ideology that taking of a human life unjustly equated to killing all of humanity and anyone who does it will incur the wrath of Allah. 

Recent bombing of mosques in Shikarpur and Peshawar, absolute in its emphasis, indicate that the terrorists will not abide to the conventions and will not respect the Muslim sanctuary, in other words "the house of God". Terrorizing people and discouraging them from going to mosques makes us question their faith. For even in their most distorted version of Islam, the basic principles of Quran and Sunnah impart covenant of peace. The teachings are explicit in their prohibition of any form of injustice including that of wanton violence which seeks to instill fear, injury or death to civilians. Mercy is at the heart of Islamic call.
Unfortunately the militant wings have too many acolytes and brain washed followers ready to kill and get killed. In contrast, the government has lost credibility due to corruption and maladministration, and courage and commitment of functionaries have suffered erosion. Few of those who promise reforms bring requisite credentials and reputation.

The never ending list accentuating potency of incapacity of our state had a recent addition. A report with the brief of fixing the responsibility of the Army Public School massacre was demanded within three days of the event. However, it took over two months to be delivered to the KPK Chief Minister, Pervez Khattak. Moreover, it failed to hold any of accountable of neglect leading to the carnage. Given the contents one has to wonder at the point of the exercise anyway.
Our blood is treasured more by our killers than by our state. The leadership talks about eradicating terrorism from our soil and then the very next moment talk about joining hands with Indian leadership for an economic prosperity. It is being conveniently ignored that marked escalation of brutality of the 'Jihadist' can be credited to the Indians along with the TTP assets hiding in Afghanistan. Time and time again, the evidence shows that the TTP is guided, funded and protected by its foreign masters. The Indian advantage, it is believed that in order to keep Pakistan busy with skirmishes on the eastern border to distract them from the war on its western frontier and the terrorism within. So if the economic prosperity of Pakistan is linked to Indian economic affluence, then the food we eat is tainted with the blood of our children. The political echelons are leading the country from chaos to apathy and confusion. How are we supposed to interpret the government's actions and their rhetoric of eliminating terrorism?
The new government cannot be expected to ensure a quick fix. But it can promptly task security experts to formulate extrication strategies in addition to the ongoing ZarbeAzb. The Army chief has done well to pull Army out of politics and reassembled them to fight the growing roots of Taliban. The resolve to root out the menace is absolute. Statistics show that the Pakistan Army has successfully been able to eliminate over 1200 militants in Operation ZarbeAzb, along with several hideouts and weapon factories were destroyed in offensive. Another operation in Khyber Agency was carried out to target the militants who managed to escape the region. The PM Nawaz Sharif applauds the efforts of the Army and said that this operation has and will contribute further towards ensuring peace in the region.

However, despite the optimism, the government does fall short in establishing a secure state. The half hearted attempts by the officials and the law enforcers are apparent. Chorus of condemnation are heard without any substantial counternarrative established. The lack of proper understanding of the problem or the religion causes the various distorted beliefs to be born and with them the human reasoning perishes.

The tyranny keeps increasing. The survivors narrate stories of death, bullets and suicide bombers with expressionless faces. There is numbness in this recitation, tears run and dry. For a nation that has learned to move on quickly, this war has proven to be extremely trying. 

Modi too hasty too fast.

By Ali Sukhanver

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is no doubt a man of wonderful talents; always active, always volatile; eager to conquer what he desires and excited to materialize his plans and dreams. 'But sometimes he is too fast and too hasty,' say his critics. In the last week of the last February, Mr. Modi visited Arunachal Pradesh to inaugurate a new railroad line. Arunachal Pradesh is a state in eastern India that borders Tibet to the north.

A large portion of this state is claimed by China, and the two countries had been in a state of severe war over the area in 1962. It is said that India and China could never be friends unless until the issue of Arunachal Pradesh is settled. When the news of Modi's visit to Arunachal Pradesh reached the Chinese authorities, it really raged them a lot. At once India's ambassador in Beijing was summoned to the Chinese Foreign Office and a note of protest was handed over to him.
This protest was regarding Modi's visit to a controversial and disputed border area claimed by both countries. In other words this protest was a sophisticated reminder, not only to India but also to whole of the world that this territorial dispute may prove a serious threat to the regional peace and tranquility anytime. According to China's official News Agency Xinhua, China viewed Mr. Modi's visit as an unnecessary provocation. Chinese deputy foreign minister Liu Zhenmin said in a statement, "Modi's visit harmed China's territorial integrity and rights and went against the consensus both sides had of properly handling the border issue."
But as far as Mr. Modi is concerned, it makes him no difference how China views at his visit to the disputed area of Arunachal Pradesh. He simply damn cares the Chinese protest because he is a man of his own will and of his own resolve.
Modi, as an honest man, never hides his love or his hatred. Everyone is aware of his temperament as an extremist Hindu; he simply hates the Muslims and wants to shun them out of India. And the most dominating aspect of his personality is that he never tries to conceal his temperament against the Muslims. Just look back at the Gujrat Massacre of 2002. Mr. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujrat that time.
Here is an extract from a report prepared by the Human Rights Watch after the Gujrat Massacre of Muslims, 'Between February 28 and March 2, thousands of attackers descended on Muslim neighborhoods, clad in saffron scarves and khaki shorts, the signature uniform of Hindu nationalist groups, and armed with swords, sophisticated explosives, and gas cylinders. They were guided by voter lists and printouts of addresses of Muslimowned propertiesinformation obtained from the local municipality.' Smita Narula, a senior South Asian researcher on various minorities living in India says, 'What happened in Gujarat was not a spontaneous uprising; it was a carefully orchestrated attack against Muslims. The attacks were planned in advance and organized with extensive participation of the police and state government officials.' According to official figures, the riots resulted in the deaths of 790 Muslims whereas more than 223 were reported missing but independent sources do not agree with the officially released figures. They claim that up to 2,000 Muslims lost their lives during the riots. 

There were countless incidents of rape and widespread looting and destruction of Muslim property. So many innocent children were burned alive. And this all was done under the 'kind' command and supervision of Mr. Narendra Modi, the honourable Chief Minister of Gujrat that time. Even the Indian journalists are of the opinion that Modi was the person who initiated the violence against the Muslims and then innocently closed his eyes to this brutality.
The intensity and gravity of the cruelty and brutality the Muslims of Gujrat had to face could be imagined by the statement of Khatun Sheikh, an unfortunate survivor of the Gujrat massacre. For the last 12 years she has been living in a relief camp at the foothills of a dumping ground in Ahmedabad, the largest city in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Before that massacre she was happily living with her husband, sons and daughters in Ahmedabad.

The Hindu extremists set her house on fire. The flames engulfed the whole of her family. Talking to the Voice News, Khatun Sheikh said with unshed tears in her eyes, "People tell me to forget the past, but I tell them that no one has ever tried to forget more than me. I have forgotten the intensity of those flames, the painful cries of my burning neighbours but how could I forget my innocent six yearold daughter whom I had seen burning alive with her doll. "
Now the same Modi is in a more influential position. How harmful and disastrous he could be to the Muslims of India; it is not difficult to asses. But it is something very strange that a few people in Pakistan still hope that Modi could play a very active role in bringing India and Pakistan closer. 

Al-Khorasan launched to replace al-Qaeda?

Al-Khorasan launched to replace al-Qaeda?

Al-Khorasan launched to replace al-Qaeda?

Al-Khorasan launched to replace al-Qaeda?

Al-Khorasan launched to replace al-Qaeda?

Al-Khorasan launched to replace al-Qaeda?

Al-Khorasan launched to replace al-Qaeda?

Al-Khorasan launched to replace al-Qaeda?

Al-Khorasan launched to replace al-Qaeda?

Al-Khorasan launched to replace al-Qaeda?

Al-Khorasan launched to replace al-Qaeda?

Al-Khorasan launched to replace al-Qaeda?

Al-Khorasan launched to replace al-Qaeda?

Al-Khorasan launched to replace al-Qaeda?

Al-Khorasan launched to replace al-Qaeda?

Al-Khorasan launched to replace al-Qaeda?

Al-Khorasan launched to replace al-Qaeda?