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Posts published in October 2016

Taliban incurred AFN 2.1 billion loss to Afghanistan in 2 months: ARG Khaama Press, Oct 29 2016

The Taliban-led insurgency incurred a loss of almost 1 billion Afghanis on monthly basis as the group increased attacks across the country in the past two months, officials in ARG Presidential Palace said Saturday. President Ghani’s Deputy spokesman Shah Hussain Murtazvi told reportes today that the group incurred a total loss of 2,149,000,000 loss by targeting the government and public compounds. He said the Taliban has left a legacy of murders, executions and violence during…

25 Taliban insurgents killed an airstrike in East of Afghanistan KHAAMA PRESS – Sun Oct 30 2016

At least 25 insurgents were killed in an airstrike conducted in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said Sunday. According to MoD, the airstrike was carried out in Sherzad district of Nangarhar, targeting a group of the Taliban insurgents. The Taliban militants group has not commented regarding the report so far. Nangarhar is among the relatively peaceful provinces in eastern Afghanistan but the anti-government armed militant groups including the Taliban insurgents…

WHEN MOSUL FALLS, WILL ISLAMIC STATE HEAD TO ASIA? By BHAVAN JAIPRAGAS in SCMP, Oct 30, 2016

As Iraqi forces tighten the noose around Islamic State’s last bastion in the country, it’s tempting to hope that actions to wipe out its self-declared caliphate – one that has been characterised by rape, torture and summary beheadings – could deal the group a fatal blow. Yet even those involved in the offensive on Mosul – described as the biggest battle in Iraq since the 2003 US invasion – acknowledge that rather than being a…

The Washington consensus: by MUNIR AKRAM in Dawn, October 30th, 2016

The writer is a former Pakistan ambassador to the UN. OVER the past decade, a hostile consensus has emerged in Washington against Pakistan. The main reasons for this adverse evolution are: growing Islamophobia after 9/11; visceral opposition to a Muslim nuclear weapon state; the divergence on Afghanistan; and, most importantly, Pakistan’s strategic relationship with China. This hostile trend was first signalled by the 2006 ‘de-hyphenation’ of US relations with India and Pakistan; exacerbated by the…

Close ally of Xi Jinping tipped to be new mayor of Beijing Laura Zhou in SCMP, Oct 30, 2016

A close ally of President Xi Jinping is tipped to be the new mayor of Beijing, according to several independent sources. Cai Qi, the deputy director of the Central National Security Commission (CNSC), which was created and chaired by Xi, would replace current Mayor Wang Anshun, who is rumoured to be moving to the Development Research Centre of the State Council, sources told the Sunday Morning Post. The appointment of Cai, 61, could be the…

DPC — defence against what?: by Ayesha Siddiqa in the News on Sunday, Oct 30, 2016

The new mantra that seems to be doing the rounds in Islamabad these days is Pakistan’s defence against all kinds of dangers. This is why forces of all hues have threatened to descend on the capital. Imran Khan, Tahirul Qadri, perhaps the Lal Masjid crew and Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC) are all on their heels to secure the country from the throes of ‘corruption’ and ‘injustice’. The DPC threatens India against its occupation of the Kashmir…

Heads Will Roll: edit in The Nation, October 30, 2016

The axe over the Dawn story about civil-military relations has finally fallen, and has resulted in the sacking of the Federal Information Minister Pervaiz Rasheed. The official accounts state that, “Evidence available so far points to a lapse on part of the information minister, who has been directed to step down from the office to enable holding of an independent and detailed inquiry.” The statement is very telling; it indicates that an inquiry is not…

Multiple fronts: Editorial in The News,Oct 30, 2016

As tensions between India and Pakistan continue to climb higher, multiple fronts have been opened up. Since October 27, there have been several cross-border firing incidents, with claims and counter-claims pouring in. India’s assertion that it killed 15 Rangers personnel in firing on Thursday         after its BSF forces came under attack from across the border has been firmly denied by the ISPR. Pakistan says six civilians, including two women have been killed in the Shakargarh…

Pervez Rashid steps down to enable probe into ‘planted story’ By Mian Abrar in Pakistan Today online

Islamabad: In an apparent bid by the federal government to help resolve the issue of a planted story published in a national daily, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday directed Senator Pervez Rashid to step down as minister for information and broadcasting. “The planted story related to the National Security Committee (NSC) and National Action Plan (NAP) meetings published in Dawn on October 6 was a breach of national security. Evidence available so far points…

Heads start rolling over ‘planted story’: By Sehrish Wasif in The Express Tribune, October 30th, 2016.

ISLAMABAD: Buckling under relentless pressure, the government on Saturday sent its information minister packing after preliminary investigations established a ‘lapse’ on his part vis-à-vis a ‘planted news story’ about a top level huddle on national security. Tellingly, Senator Pervaiz Rashid’s sacking came barely 48 hours after an unusual meeting of senior government functionaries with army chief General Raheel Sharif at the Army House. The government refuted the story published in English-language daily Dawn on October…

Inquiry rendered biased by terming story planted: experts By Ahmad Noorani in The News, October 30, 2016

ISLAMABAD: Top experts agree that the Dawn story on National Action Plan (NAP) meeting was neither a ‘national security breach’ nor a violation of official secret act and if any investigations are must, the only rational and just way is to initiate them from the Dawn publisher and editor and not from the participants of the meeting or any government officials. Top legal experts say that in case of any attempt of getting a statement…