WASHINGTON, 13 December 2021, (TON): UN special envoy Geir Pedersen calls for a “step for step” approach in finding a political solution to Syria’s conflict, following his tour of Europe, the US, and Arab states.

Several rounds of United Nations-brokered negotiations in Geneva since 2019 between the government and opposition aimed at forging a new constitution have so far failed.

He says, after talks in Damascus with Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad “I think there is a possibility now to start to explore what I call ‘a step for step’ approach, where you put on the table steps that is defined with precisions, that is verifiable, that hopefully can start to build some trust.”

He tells journalists “my message is that there is another possibility to start to explore possible avenues, to start to move forward on this process.”

Pedersen has toured all the main foreign players with a stake in Syria’s conflict. With major fighting having subsided since 2020, Damascus has made inroads into easing its international isolation, especially with fellow Arab states.

UN envoy said “I think we should now analyze not only the Arabs but also the American position, the Europeans, the Turkish, the Russians, the Iranians.”

LONDON, 13 December 2021, (TON): Russian sabre-rattling against Ukraine and an assertive China were top of the agenda as G7 foreign ministers met in Britain on Saturday, with calls for a united front against authoritarianism.

The two-day gathering of top diplomats from the world’s richest nations in Liverpool, northwest England, is the last in-person gathering of Britain’s year-long G7 presidency, before it hands over the baton to Germany.

Discussions were focused on Russia’s build-up of troops on Ukraine’s border, confronting China, limiting Iran’s nuclear ambitions and addressing the crisis in military-ruled Myanmar.

British Foreign Minister Liz Truss said “we need to come together strongly to stand up to aggressors who are seeking to limit the bounds of freedom and democracy.”

“To do this, we need to have a fully united voice. We need to expand our economic and security posture around the world.”

Truss held talks on the sidelines of the summit on Friday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as well as Germany’s new Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

Blinken flies on to Southeast Asia next week on a visit designed to highlight the region’s importance in Washington’s push for “peace, security and prosperity” in the Indo-Pacific region against an increasingly assertive China.

KABUL, 13 December 2021, (TON): India’s move to send 1.6 tonnes of life-saving medicines to Afghanistan has drawn praise from the Taliban.

A special charter flight that brought 104 people, most of them Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, from Kabul to New Delhi carried back medicines meant for the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health in Kabul.

The main children’s hospital in the Afghan capital is grappling with a growing number of children affected by malnutrition.

The external affairs ministry said “these medicines will be handed over to the representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Kabul and will be administered at the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital, Kabul.”

Taliban deputy spokesperson Ahmadullah Wasiq tweeted that important medical equipment would also be brought in from India and made available to hospitals.

ISLAMABAD, 13 December 2021, (TON): A report presented by the Punjab government to Prime Minister Imran khan during a briefing in Islamabad a couple of days ago warns of an Indian dam project, claiming the Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project is the only way to mitigate the looming droughts and the potential threat to the already depleting groundwater of Lahore and the surrounding areas.

In the the briefing, the Ravi Urban Development Authority (Ruda) Chief Executive Officer Imran Ali informed the premier that the Ravi project would transform of the river into a perennial fresh water body having enough capacity to pass extreme floods and save the provincial metropolitan facing an “existentialist threat”.

The officials while discussing the factors necessitating the Ravi project, said the construction of MR Link Canal served as a “bypass” for Lahore.

It says that in the wake of Indian Basin Treaty, India increased its water diversion capacity on its (then) existing infrastructure, reducing the flows to Pakistan.

The loss of groundwater in Lahore its surrounding was compensated through MR Link Canal to help replenish the aquifer and allowing the fishery to survive. This arrangement worked well till year 2000, but a significant drop in the Ravi River flow has been observed since completion of Thein Dam in India, in 2001.

Since then, the flow in Ravi River near Lahore has been limited to less than 20 percent of what it was before 2000. Currently, every winter season, when MR Link Canal is closed, the river flow gets reduced to less than 300 cusecs, which is even less than the design capacity of Lahore canal’s 400 cusecs.

ISLAMABAD, 13 December 2021, (TON): The Parliament House will remain closed from Dec 13 to Dec 20 in connection with a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) being held on Dec 18 and 19.

The meeting of foreign ministers from the OIC is being held in Pakistan after 41 years and in this regard, all activities at the Parliament House have been suspended.

The session of parliament that was supposed to take up the mini-budget has been postponed as well.

According to the official tweet “President Arif Alvi has convened the session of the National Assembly on December 22 at 4pm instead of December 13,

The session is convened under the Article 54 (1) of the Constitution.

The government was all set to present its mini-budget, involving fiscal adjustments and expenditure cuts worth about Rs600 billion as part of an understanding with the IMF, in the lower house of parliament on Monday (today).

In addition, the employees of the National Assembly Secretariat have been sent on leave for an entire week except for the ones who have been assigned duties for the session.

KABUL, 13 December 2021, (TON): The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said in a statement “United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said that her country is pledging £75 million in aid to the people of Afghanistan.”

According to the statement, “the aid is aimed to support 1.8 million Afghans with life-saving food, emergency health services, shelter, water, and hygiene services.”

The UK’s pledge follows the G7 discussions on global crisis and conflict situations, including the situation in Afghanistan, which were held in Liverpool on December 11 and 12. During the discussion, Truss called for greater international cooperation to respond to the risk of regional instability and to the humanitarian crisis.

According to the statement, the G7 foreign ministers also discussed a coordinated international response to the situation in Afghanistan and how to engage with the Islamic Emirate.

Russ said “the UK is providing vital humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan this winter. The funds announced today will save lives, protect women and girls and support stability in the region. We are determined to do all we can for the people of Afghanistan.”

The UK has said the aid will go through international organizations such as the UN and other trusted delivery partners and will not go directly to the Islamic Emirate.

According to the UK’s statement, the new aid is part of the £286 million the UK has pledged to give to Afghanistan this year. “It will also be used to provide support for victims of gender-based violence and to fund essential child protection services.”

The new aid is pledged as international organizations including the UN has warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

DHAKA, 13 December 2021, (TON): Information minister Hasan Mahmud said that US sanctions on Rapid Action Battalion and its six former and serving officials were based on misleading information and data provided by some non-government organisations in Bangladesh.

Terming the sanctions by the US authorities unwarranted and regrettable, he said “the diplomatic norms were violated here.”

‘The US sanctions are misled.  Some NGOs are continuously providing misleading information and data and these sanctions are based on that information,’ Hasan Mahmud told reporters after a book launching at the Press Information Department in the ministry.

He said that Bangladesh conveyed a strong protest against issuance of such sanctions allegedly for human rights abuse.

He, however, there was a wonderful relation between Bangladesh and the United States.

The information minister said it was a stray incident and expressed his belief that it would not affect relation between the two countries.

He mentioned “we don’t see the US imposing ban on any official of Israel.”

KABUL, 13 December 2021, (TON): An Islamic Emirate official said “the Ministry of Culture and Information is planning to repair the cultural heritage sites that are on the brink of collapse in the northern province of Balkh.”

The head of the Balkh department of information and culture, Zabiullah Noori, said that they would repair the damaged cultural heritage areas.

He said “the department of information and culture of Balkh in cooperation with some organizations including the Agha Khan Foundation will consider repairing the cultural heritage areas that need it.”

Khwaja Parsa mosque is a historic location in Balkh district of the province. The seminary of Baha’ al-Din Valad, the father of alal ad-Din Mohammad Balkhi, is another revered historic place located in Balkh district.

Mohammd Saleh Khaliq, a former official of the information and culture ministry, said that there are 120 historic places in the province, 60 of which have been recognized and repaired.

He said “when the tourists come here to see the historic places … they will do some shopping here. All of this will ramp up the economy.”

NEW DELHI, 13 December 2021, (TON): At least eight people have been arrested, two booked and one suspended from a government job, across the country, over social media posts on the death of General Bipin Rawat, his wife and other officers in a helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu.

Action over the posts has been reported from Jammu and Kashmir, BJP-run Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka, Congress-run Rajasthan, and from Tamil Nadu that has a DMK government.

The most arrests have taken place in Rajasthan, one in the hours following the crash and two on Saturday.

The Pratapgarh police arrested Manish Kumar Meena, 28, and Jeevanlal Ninama, 25, on Saturday for allegedly posting offensive material on the crash. Pratapgarh SP Amrita Duhan said Meena had put up posts on Facebook. A police statement said the remarks by the two had hurt public sentiments.

Earlier, police in Rajasthan’s Tonk district arrested Jawaad Khan, 21, for alleged “inappropriate” remarks on Instagram about General Rawat.

Police said that they were alerted about the remarks on the night of December 8, hours after the aircraft had crashed.

NEW DELHI, 13 December 2021, (TON): India is looking at the possibility of having the leaders of the five Central Asian states as the chief guests at next year’s Republic Day celebrations against the backdrop of the country’s focus on the strategic region for connectivity, trade and security.

People familiar with the development said on condition of anonymity “he move to send invitations to the heads of state of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan also fits in with the Indian government’s focus on multipolarity and rebalancing.”

However, the matter is yet to be finalised as responses were awaited from all the Central Asian states, said two people, including a diplomat from a Central Asian state.

The chief guest for Republic Day celebrations is chosen in keeping with India’s strategic, diplomatic and economic interests, as well as New Delhi’s relations with the concerned country.

Ties with the Central Asian states have been on the upswing in recent years following the government’s focus on the region.

If the move goes ahead, it will be only the second time that heads of state of a bloc or group of countries have been invited to the Republic Day celebrations. In 2018, the heads of the ten countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) were the chief guests at the annual event. In 2009, the Kazakhstan president was the chief guest at Republic Day.