ISLAMABAD, 10 February 2020. TON: Pakistan in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will host an International Conference to mark “40 years of Afghan Refugees Presence in Pakistan: A New Partnership for Solidarity”, on 17-18 February 2020, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The two-day conference to be inaugurated by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan will be held in Islamabad. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ Filippo Grandialong with representatives from 20 countries will attend the event. In Pakistan, Afghans can be categorized as Proof-of-Registration (PoR) Card holders and therefore refugees, visa holders or ‘undocumented’, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). 

Among those who are ‘undocumented’, there are Afghan-Citizenship-Card holders (ACC), those who registered for ACC but haven’t yet been issued with their cards, and those who hold no documentation from the Government of Pakistan at all.

IOM figures show that currently, Pakistan hosts 1.3 million registered Afghan refugees including Proof-of-Registration (PoR) Card holders and 1.1 million undocumented Afghans including totally undocumented or registered for Afghan-Citizenship-Card holders (ACC) due to expire on 23 March 2020.

Among those considered ‘undocumented’, 549,000 Afghans hold an ACC, a further 333,000 have registered for an ACC and are in possession of tokens, and another 300-400,000 Afghans hold no legal documentation from the Government of Pakistan at all as of 04 July 2019, according to IOM.

The Economist published a detailed article by Dexter Filkins who visited India a few months ago. The article highlighted, “Even before independence, the Hindu nationalist (Hindutva) movement posed an alternative vision. This held that India was for people of Indic faiths - meaning principally Hindus, but also Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs. After centuries of rule by invading Muslims and then Christians, it was time for ‘authentic’ Indians to reclaim their heritage.” He concluded that in other words, India was for those of Hindu and related faiths, certainly not for Muslims. Shahid Javed Burki writes in his article titled “Pakistan, the lone survivor,” published in The Express Tribune dated 3 February 2020, Enormous demographic upheaval that accompanied independence brought 8 million Muslim refugees from India into Pakistan. This mass movement of people disrupted Pakistan politically, socially and economically. In 1951, when the country took it first population census, 25 per cent of the population was foreign-born.

If we combine the given thoughts of Dexter Filkins and Shahid Javed Burki, we could come to the conclusion that both the writers are suggesting if Pakistan was for the whole Muslims of India while rest of India was for Hindu and related faiths, "certainly not for Muslims" as claimed by Economist. Even if we agree that Dexter Filkins is inspired by Western populations settled in USA, Australia, South Africa and elsewhere, where ingenious populations were either completely eliminated or forced to migrate elsewhere, the case of India is quite different. Here in India despite Muslims being minority and Hindu majority, Muslims were rulers in this part of the world while Hindus were subject of Muslims since several centuries, except very small some pockets. Interestingly, demographic statistics even does not support mass conversion of faiths and elimination of population to dominate Hindus as we see in the earlier case.

Shahid Javed Burki quoted figures that 25 per cent of the Pakistani population was foreign-born in Pakistan's first census in 1951. In other words after four years of birth of Pakistan, 25 percent of the Pakistani population had come from India and were not indigenous. In fact, Sahhid Javed Burki is wrong as he failed to visualize that Quaid-e-Azam had demanded Pakistan as independent sovereign State comprising of six provinces; four in West Pakistan and two in East Pakistan, with neither division of provinces nor migration of population. Same is the reason that in Sind and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) still there is sizable Hindu population. However, the partition of Punjab and Bengal did take place with adjustment of Punjabi and Bengali populations with the district. Hence, there is no sense in the claim of Mr Shahid that 25 percent of Pakistan population was foreign born.

CAMP PENDLETON, 9 February 2020, TON: 24 US Marines were discharged after an investigation over their alleged involvement in drug crimes and a human trafficking operation along the border. However, the Court prosecution dropped the chargers despite confirmation of their involvement and arrests. The marine’s involvements were repeatedly confirmed in Afghanistan but since they used official operational aircrafts were used for the transportation, they were pardoned. This time too, they were caught many times at US-Mexico border but the maximum punishment awarded to them was either transfer or discharge.

As per the details the Border Patrol arrested several US Marines (more than 24 personnel) including officers from 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton. Border Patrol and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigating the case confirmed that these Marines were not only involved in bringing migrants across the border but were also involved in sex trade and narcotics trafficking. Ironically, courts-martial proceedings did not recommended the penalties awarded to the ordinary US citizens rather freed them with simple discharge from service. 

SRINAGAR, 9 February 2020, TON: Shops and businesses centers remained closed while public transport remained off road in occupied Jammu & Kashmir on Sunday as Kashmiri throughout the State observed a strike to mark the execution anniversary of a Kashmiri fruit vendor, Mohammed Afzal Guru, who was convicted for an attack on the Indian parliament in Delhi. His family received a letter informing them of his imminent hanging two days after he was dead, but the letter, dated Feb 6, 2013, was mailed on Feb 8, a day before Guru's execution.

Guru was convicted in a 2001 attack on India's Parliament in which 14 people lost their lives. Top Kashmiri-Pakistani leader Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik recorded their separate messages on the occasion.

Thousands of security forces were deployed in deserted streets in Srinagar and elsewhere, where they were ordered to shoot on spot whosoever violates.

Kashmiris have also given a call for a strike on 11 February to mark the day in 1984 when Kashmiri leader Mohammed Maqbool Butt was hanged in New Delhi jail after being convicted of killing an Indian Intelligence officer.

GENEVA, 9 February 2020, TON: Switzerland votes in a referendum on 9 February on a new law against homophobia that is opposed by the populist right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP).

The new law would widen existing legislation against discrimination or incitement to hatred on different grounds including sexual orientation.

Campaigner Jean-Pierre Sigrist, founder of an association of gay teachers, is happy with the progress and hopes people will be stopped from beating on the grounds of sex orientation.

The change was passed by the Swiss Parliament in 2018 but critics, who believe it will end up censoring free speech, have forced a referendum on the issue.

Eric Bertinat, an SVP local lawmaker in Geneva, was of the view that he believed the law was part of an LGBT plan to slowly move towards same-sex marriage and medically assisted reproduction for gay couples.

Marc Frueh, head of the Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU), a party which value Christian ethics, has termed the law as a "censorship law".

All of Switzerland's major parties except the SVP, the biggest political force in Parliament, support the law.

HARARE, 8 February 2020, TON: Zimbabwe should use its God-given resources, including the skills of its people, to develop the country and stop mourning the negative impact of sanctions imposed by the West, President Mnangagwa said on Friday.

Speaking after joining Banket residents in a clean-up of Kuwadzana Shopping Centre in the town, he said students will be exposed to modern science so that they develop inventions that develop the economy. Already over 90 patents have been granted to local students since the introduction of innovation hubs at State universities two years ago and he said the inventions would result in an increase in locally produced products. He said, Zimbabweans had the capacity to overcome the effects of the illegal sanctions if they united towards a common goal and vision. 

President Mnangagwa said, “We thank them for that. We have brilliant boys and girls in this country. Going forward, we can see that our country is going to be transformed by inventions by our children and skills from our children. We are a developing country but we should not cry that we have sanctions imposed on us. We should look at what God has given us and develop our country. Those who want to come and assist us, they should do so on our own terms”. 

The President said, “We don’t want them to come and lecture us or rule us. They should rule their countries and we rule ours. This is our country. To you the school children, we will do our best as Government to make sure you are exposed to modern science and technologies because the future of this country lies in science and technology, in yourselves creating employment, jobs and products and services for the nation. The future is upon you. It’s your duty to develop our country for it to be at par with other countries.” 

NEW DELHI, 8 February 2020, TON: Voters in New Delhi began voting on Saturday in a state election, which many analysts believe is test of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity following extensive anti-government protests over a new Citizenship Amendment Act. There are many Indian, especially the Muslims and Scheduled Castes are suspicion that Prime Minister Modi wants to turn secular India into a Hindu nation.

The main contest in the election is between the BJP and incumbent Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s regional Aam Aadmi party (AAP). A poor showing in the capital this weekend is a blow to Prime Minister Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Modi  appealed on Twitter to voters “to vote in record numbers.” Polling is underway for 70 seats and the results will be announced on 11 February 2020.

MALI, 8 February 2020, TON: On the information provided by the US intelligence operators regarding presence of Al Qaeda and Islamic State-linked groups, French Forces along with multinationals carried out three operations on Thursday and two on Saturday against the Malian Muslims, killing more than 32 persons, Armed forces said in a statement. 

The main operations were conducted in the Gourma and Liptako regions where aerial bombing through Fighter aircrafts, helicopters and drone took place while ground forces carried out search operations in additional areas.

France, which controlled the country for sometime as colonial power had about 4,500 soldiers in the region in its counter-terrorism taskforce Operation Barkhane. Recently, additional 600 soldiers have been authorized. The reinforcements would mostly be sent to the area between Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. This is in addition to 13,000-strong-United Nations Peacekeeping force in Mali. 

JAMMU, 8 February 2020, TON: The J&K Police, on Friday, arrested five Kashmiris under Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act from Katha and Sambha districts on charges of drug peddling while seized over Rs 4.7 lakh cash from their possession. As per the details furnished by vehicle checking authorities at Londi Morh on the Jammu-Pathankot highway in Kathua district, Yuka Butt from Shopian and Mohammad Afzal of Anantnag were in possession of 11 kilograms of poppy straw which is used in herbal medicine and cash of Rs 4.75 lakh. However, they were booked for possessing narcotics. In another case to harass even Hindus who were protesting against the Indian occupation, Police claimed to have seized only 6 grams of heroin from Kuldeep Raj and Ranju Choudhary near Chak Jhanda in Ramgarh. Anil Kumar, a resident of Gowal was also arrested for possessing four grams of heroin.

NEW DELHI, 7 February 2020, TON: Indian Military Intelligence (MI) has compelled NIA to hand them over Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Davinder Singh and four accused for interrogation as why they took the name of India Army and Military Intelligence as party to their criminal activities. To justify the take over from Police to Indian intelligence agencies, DSP Davinder Singh submitted an application to shift him from Kotbalwal jail in Jammu to Heeranagar jail in Kathua due to threats from Kashmiri Mujahideen. Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police (DGP), Dilbag Singh confirmed shifting to Heeranagar jail in Kathua.

Meanwhile, DGP Dilbag Singh on Friday reviewed law and order situation after series of protests throughout Indian occupied Jammu & Kashmir State. He directed the Police officers to take stringent action against security apparatus involved in corruption, blackmailing and kidnapping for ransoms.  He stressed on the point that those officials involved in unlawful activities during counter-insurgency operations, would not be spared.

He said, Jammu & Kashmir Police has a big challenge to fight militancy and maintaining of law and order in the Union Territory but stressed on the point due attention is not given to other crimes and prevention of criminal activities. The DG Police was especially concerned about law and order situation due to daily protests and targeting of security apparatus by abuses of unarmed Kashmiris.