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Posts published in “Day: November 22, 2016

China’s Xi Jinping casts net wider in search for top Communist talent By Eva Li in SCMP, Nov 21, 2016

The string of new faces recently appointed to senior Communist Party positions is evidence of party general secretary Xi Jinping’s desire to look beyond his power bases as he expands his talent pool and nurtures new allies, analysts say. The appointees include senior aides of top graft-buster and close Xi ally Wang Qishan, technocrats, and others with no obvious factional allegiance who have worked their way up from local governments. While Xi has continued to…

Chinese defence ministry on high alert as fighting breaks out in Myanmar border towns by Nectar Gan in SCMP, Nov 21, 2016

Fierce fighting broke out in northern Myanmese villages bordering China early on Sunday, resulting in at least two wounded in a Chinese town as shells strayed across the border, state media reported. China’s defence ministry said the military was on high alert and would take necessary measures to maintain security. The fighting in Muse and Kutkai, border towns in Myanmar’s Shan state, also killed two Myanmese civilians and wounded 25 ­others, Agence France-Presse ­reported. Fighting…

Time to take the water issue seriously: op-ed by Falak Sherkhan in Pakistan Today, Nov 21, 2016

According to experts, water accessibility will decrease by 2020. Even when summaries or feasibilities are made to build new reservoir or dams, it doesn’t necessarily mean we are going to add any new natural water sources. It simply means we are utilising what we already have. Pakistan’s population stands at 160 million (approx), which is predicted to double over next two decades, meaning less water per person in the future. With time, there will be…

Pak-India tensions: EDITORIAL in Dawn, November 21st, 2016

IS it brinkmanship or something more? With the decade-old ceasefire along the LoC already in tatters, India appears determined to find new avenues of provocation against Pakistan. Over the weekend, first an Indian submarine attempted to intrude into Pakistani waters, according to official accounts, and then a small Indian surveillance drone was knocked down after it strayed across the LoC, again according to official statements. While each incident may individually seem small and both sides…

Indian drone : edit in Daily Times, Nov 21, 2016

A day after the Pakistan Navy expelled an Indian submarine from Pakistan’s territorial waters in the Arabian Sea, an unmanned Indian drone, which violated Pakistani airspace near the Line of Control (LoC), was shot down by Pakistan army according to a statement by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR). Reportedly, the drone was one that is used for reconnaissance missions and its purpose in this case was to gather intelligence by taking pictures of Pakistani…

Govt to step up diplomatic drive on Kashmir issue: by Sardar Sikander in The Express Tribune, November 21st, 2016.

ISLAMABAD: As India continues to ramp up tensions with Pakistan, the federal government is set to implement key decisions taken last month at top legislative and executive forums to keep the Kashmir issue in the international spotlight. In October, an all parties conference (APC), a joint session of parliament and a National Security Committee (NSC) meeting unanimously put weight behind government’s efforts to highlight India’s unprecedented human rights violations in Occupied Kashmir at relevant international…

Pakistan to counter LoC aGgression at all levels: Report in The Nation, 21-Nov-2016

SIALKOT – Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that Pakistan will instantly and befittingly respond to every Indian war aggression, and added that the enemy in this way wants to divert the world’s attention from the burning issue of Kashmir and its atrocities. “Pakistan is fully capable of responding to any aggression and the enemy (India) must not misconstrue Pakistan’s desire for peace as weakness,” he added while talking to newsmen here. He said that Pakistan…

UN asked to probe killing of kids at LoC: by SHAFQAT ALI in The Nation, 21-Nov-2016

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan on Sunday handed over a dossier regarding the ceasefire violations by India to the United Nations Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) – as tension continued to rise between the nuclear armed neighbours. Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said the detailed dossier on ceasefire violations by India was given to the representative of the UNMOGIP at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi after the death of four children at the hands…

Balochistan playing Fata: by Farman Kakar in The News on Sunday, Nov 20, 2016

The devastating suicide attack on Shah Noorani shrine in Khuzdar has underscored the fact that Islamist threat in Balochistan is both evolving and expanding. Initially inter-sectarian, the militant landscape has, apparently, also acquired intra-sectarian character. Similarly, it is political too. The toxic ideology of militant Deobandism under the unsavoury influence of Wahabism gives rise to Islamist terror in Balochistan. If the year 1999 is taken as starting point of Islamist perpetrated violence in Balochistan, the…

Perpetuating Sectarianism: by Muhammad Amir Rana in Dawn, Nov 20th, 2016

The writer is a security analyst. THE recent surge in sectarian violence has done two things. First, it has highlighted the challenges and vulnerabilities the country’s security and law-enforcement forces face in countering terrorism. Second, it has brought to the fore some critical, long-standing questions about the state’s resolve and efforts to counter religiously inspired extremism, mainly violent sectarianism. Violent sectarian organisations are apparently shifting their territorial focus while law-enforcement agencies struggle to chase and…

The spectre of terrorism: by Farah Zia in The News on Sunday, November 20, 2016

When Trump says he wants to save America from the world, he not only means more jobs; he also means to save the country from the spectre of terrorism. Immigrants, illegal, Muslim, may well be ‘terrorists’. But isn’t that what his predecessors were attempting to do, especially after the mother of terror events, 9/11, happened on the American soil. They responded with a “war on terror” because terrorism too was a war that could only…