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Afshain Afzal
In a renewed move, one of the US destroyers ex US Navy's Fifth Fleet, which was been tasked to screen communication lines in the Arabian Sea, faced the first encounter with the Russian warship. The Russian presence is likely to be followed by the Chinese Naval presence and Type 095 submarines. It would interest many that US is trying to impose self-pronounced sanctions on Iran by preventing Tehran from the oil export. The heavy presence of Navy in the Indian Ocean is detrimental to peace and security of the region and is also causing negative impact on the environment.
Indeed, in the war no one is right or wrong but victorious are always pronounced as heroes and defeated as villains. One wonders the tension in region was already there when Saudi Arabia oil fields were attacked but Riyadh acted with wisdom and grace. Now it is time to follow the precedents of the Arabs and deescalate the tense security situation. There is no doubt that Iran has right to live as sovereign nation so is the case with all other nations. Foreign troops need to be withdraw from foreign lands to allow these countries to flourish and developed in a peaceful environment.
In line with series of new developments, re-positioning of US Naval fleets is rapidly taking place; a show of military force. UK, France and India are planning their presence in the Strait of Hormuz. US Carrier Strike Group and
A man called Trump, wanted the people of America to feel proud of being Americans. He planned honourable pullout from all foreign lands leaving behind mere security apparatus to protect American business interests. This strong charismatic man faced defeat everywhere because of rival Pentagon and US Intelligence apparatus
There was a terrorist attack that killed around 60 people on 28 December followed by mass protests organized by local government in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu.
إسلام آباد: 02 – يناير 2020م (وكالة الأنباء الباكستانية الرسمية – APP).
رفضت باكستان بشدة تصريح قائد الجيش الهندي الجنرال “منوش ماكنداي” حول هجوم مسبق على الخط الفاصل في كشمير، ووصفت وزارة الخارجية الباكستانية في بيان لها اليوم التصريح من قبل قائد الجيش الهندي بأنه إياه غير مسئول، وأكد البيان بأن باكستان مستعدة وقادرة للرد على أي العدوان من جانب الهند، وأشار إلى أنه على الهند أن لا تنسى الرد من قبل باكستان عندما أسقطت القوات الجوية الباكستانية طائرتين مقاتلتين هنديتين أثناء محاولتهما لاختراق المجال الجوي الباكستاني في 27 من فبراير العام الماضي، كما أكد البيان بأنه بالرغم من الاستفزاز من قبل الهند إن باكستان ستواصل لعب دورها لتعزيز الأمن والسلام في المنطقة.
ISLAMABAD, Jan 2 (APP):Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Thursday arrived here on daylong visit to meet the leadership and discuss the bilateral and regional matters.
As the foreign dignitary landed from his special aircraft at Nur Khan Airbase, Prime Minister Imran Khan received him warmly along with his cabinet members.
Traditionally attired two children presented bouquet to the foreign guest who is the first foreign dignitary to visit Pakistan in the new year.
The crown prince was accompanied by a high-level delegation who is here on his second visit as he had last visited the country in January last year.
The crown prince would have a one-on-one meeting with the prime minister who would also host a luncheon for the guest.
During the meeting, the leadership would exchange views covering bilateral matters and regional and international issues of common interest.
According to Foreign Office, the frequent exchange of high-level visits between Pakistan and the UAE was reflective of the importance that the two countries attached to their fraternal ties. The crown prince’s visit would contribute to further enhancement of multi-faceted collaboration between Pakistan and the UAE.
The UAE is Pakistan’s largest trading partner in the Middle East and a major source of investments. The UAE is also among Pakistan’s prime development partners in education, health and energy sectors. It hosts more than 1.6 million expatriate Pakistani community, which contributes remittances of around $4.5 billion annually to the GDP.
TON, 1 January 2020: The Indian Parliament had passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019 on 11th December 2019. The act had triggered widespread protests across India and foreign countries where Indian Diaspora is residing. Most of the Indian are fearful that discrimination will be carried out on the basis of religion. Kerala has become the first state in India to pass a resolution demanding reversal of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The Centre has clarified that the Citizenship Amendment Act will not impact any Indian citizen including Muslims.
The Act focuses on allowing illegal migrants belonging to minority communities including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan to earn Indian citizenship which was not allowed in Citizenship Act of 1955.The period of stay in India has been reduced from 12 years to 6 years for the grant citizenship even if they do not possess any proper document. More so, the registration of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card holders may be cancelled if they violate any law. The worse part of the Act is that is is anti-indigenous communities. There are high chances that India will be forced to give up the idea of bringing proposed amendments in Citizenship Amendment Act.
TON 31 December 2019: General Manoj Mukund Naravane on Tuesday took over as the 28th Chief of Army Staff, at a difficult time when India faces worse security challenges from Pakistan and Chinese military along the border.
Commissioned into the 7th battalion, the Sikh Light Infantry Regiment in June 1980, General Naravane was serving as vice chief of the Army and succeeded General Bipin Rawat, who has been appointed as India’s first Chief of Defence Staff, a post created to bring in joint operational convergence among the three services.
In his 37 years of service General Naravane served in numerous command and staff appointments including Army's Eastern Command that takes guards India's approximately 4,000 kilometers border with China, as Inspector General Assam Rifles in Nagaland, Rashtriya Rifles battalion in occupied Jammu & Kashmir and an infantry brigade Northeast. He also served as served as India's Defence Attache at the Indian Embassy in Myanmar for three years.
TON 31 December 2019: Indian occupying authorities, ruling from New Delhi, announced to ease restrictions in troubled Jammu & Kashmir from midnight 31 December 2019 and 1 January 2020. The announcement was made by principal secretary of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Rohit Kansal. However, the locals have denied that any restoration has taken place. It is pertinent to mention here that ill-fated Indian held Jammu and Kashmir State is without any mobile phone or internet service since 5th August 2019. In the past too such claims were made but on ground there was no service at all.
TON 31 December 2019: The Supreme Court of India set up a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice N V Ramana, comprising of justices S. Kishan Kaul, R. Subhash Reddy, Surya Kant and B. R. Gavai to hear legal challenges to the Centre’s decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir. The five-judge bench will examine the constitutional validity of the scrapping of the article’s provisions and the subsequent presidential orders on it.
Several petitions have been filed challenging the Centre’s decision abrogating Article 370 provisions and bifurcating the state into Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, contesting presidential orders of 5th August “unconstitutional, void and inoperative”. Interestingly, a separate petition has also been filed by Shah Faesal, former bureaucrat who adopted politics as profession and is underground agent of Indian intelligence agencies to suppress Kashmiris movement for independence of Indian held Jammu and Kashmir State.
The Supreme Court on 12 December, after hearing preliminary submission, highlighted that it may consider the question of referring the issue of challenge to the abrogation of provisions of Article 370, to a larger 7-judge bench. The next date of hearing has been fixed for 21 January 2020.
