ISLAMABAD, 15 July 2021, (TON): Former president of Pakistan and PML-N loyalist Mamnoon Hussain passed away in Karachi after a prolonged illness, according to his family and party leaders. He was 80.

Hussain served as the 12th President of Pakistan between September 2013 and September 2018. He had replaced Asif Ali Zardari and was succeeded by Arif Alvi.

According to his former coordinator and PML-N Sindh additional secretary general Chaudhry Tariq “he was diagnosed with cancer in February last year and was under treatment at a private hospital in the city for some days where he breathed his last.”

Tariq said “Hussain has left behind a widow and three sons. The time and place of his funeral prayers will be announced later.”

Politicians belonging to various parties expressed grief and condolences at the passing of the former president.

President Arif Alvi expressed sorrow over his demise, saying he shared the pain of his bereaved family.

PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif also shared sadness over Hussain's death. "Today, we have lost a valued person who loved Pakistan and had a good character," a tweet by the PML-N president's account quoted him as saying.

ISLAMABAD, 15 July 2021, (TON): At least 12 persons, including nine Chinese engineers and two Frontier Corps personnel, died and several others were injured on Wednesday in a bus "attack" near the Dasu hydropower plant in the Upper Kohistan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Initial reports from officials on what caused the deaths appeared conflicting; however, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan, speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, termed it a cowardly attack and said that it would not divert attention from the special initiatives between Pakistan and its neighbours.

Condemning the attack, Awan said that he will ask Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed to give a briefing on the country's security situation and take this house into confidence regarding the incident.

Hours later, the Foreign Office contradicted reports of an attack, saying that the bus plunged into a ravine after a mechanical failure resulting in leakage of gas that caused a blast. The FO also put the death toll at 12, including 9 Chinese nationals, up from earlier reports of 10 deaths.

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, however, condemned the incident as a bombing.

Special Assistant to the KP Chief Minister on Information Kamran Khan Bangash had earlier said “a high level delegation has left for Upper Kohistan, adding that officials will shortly inform the people and the media of the ground realities.

Bangash said a large number of security officials were deployed to protect Chinese nationals. Those who are in critical condition are being shifted via helicopter, he said. A large number of Rescue 1122 ambulances and officials have reached the spot, he added.

Meanwhile, China asked Pakistan to thoroughly investigate the incident.

BAKU, 15 July 2021, (TON): Russia has been granted observer status with the Non-Aligned Movement, this is reflected in the organization’s political declaration adopted at the interim ministerial conference.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia could soon receive observer status in the Non-Aligned Movement , such a decision is almost ready. The Non-Aligned Movement is now chaired by Azerbaijan .

The release of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry says “according to the adopted political declaration, in accordance with the appeal of the Russian Federation, this country has been granted observer status in the Non-Aligned Movement.”

The Non-Aligned Movement was created during the Cold War at the Belgrade Conference in September 1961. It included states that did not want to join the NATO bloc or the Warsaw Pact, in particular, Yugoslavia (at that time), India and Egypt. Now the Non-Aligned Movement unites 120 countries that have refused to participate in military blocs, 17 states and 10 international organizations have observer status with the organization.

ISLAMABAD, 14 July 2021, (TON): Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and his Uzbek counterpart Abdulaziz Kamilov discussed the regional security including Afghanistan peace process and human rights situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

During a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Council of Foreign Ministers (SCO-CFM) meeting in Dushanbe, the foreign minister briefed his counterpart on the rapidly transforming situation in Afghanistan and highlighted importance of consistent support to Afghan peace process as shared responsibility.

He underlined that the region could not afford a repeat of civil war, leading to instability and fresh influx of refugees.

The foreign minister expressed the hope that Afghan leaders, recognising the importance of international support for the Afghan peace process, would achieve a negotiated political settlement.

FM Qureshi is in Dushanbe, at the invitation of Tajikistan, to lead Pakistan delegation at the SCO-CFMs meeting.

The two foreign ministers also exchanged views on ways and means to enhance bilateral ties as well as discussed the regional situation.

KABUL, 14 July 2021, (TON): A government official said that senior Afghan leaders will fly to Doha for talks with the Taliban this week, as the insurgent group takes a hard stance on negotiations, even warning Turkey against plans to keep some troops in Afghanistan to run and guard Kabul’s main airport.

The eight-member delegation will include senior Afghan peace official Abdullah Abdullah and former president Hamid Karzai, and is expected to discuss the speeding up of peace talks.

The Taliban did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the talks, which are separate from the stalled intra-Afghan negotiations taking place between Taliban and Afghan government negotiators in the Qatari capital of Doha.

The news of the delegation’s visit came hours after the Taliban warned of “consequences” of plans to keep some Turkish troops in Afghanistan to run and guard Kabul airport after foreign forces pull out.

It was not immediately clear if the Kabul airport matter would be discussed between the Taliban and the senior Afghan delegation, expected to fly to Doha on Friday.

Ankara, which has offered to run and guard the airport in the capital after Nato withdraws, has been in talks with the United States on financial, political and logistical support.

LONDON, 14 July 2021, (TON): Britain will go ahead with a temporary cut to its foreign aid budget after Prime Minister Boris Johnson defeated a rebellion in parliament by lawmakers in his Conservative Party.

The government won a vote by 333 to 298 on its proposal to cut the minimum spend on overseas development to 0.5% of economic output.

The victory comes after the government persuaded a sufficient number of party members to back the plan despite early signs that a high-profile rebellion could inflict an embarrassing defeat.

Several potential rebels were won over by a promise to restore aid to the 0.7% level once Britain no longer needed to borrow to fund day-to-day needs, and once an underlying measure of public debt was falling.

Opponents included Johnson's predecessor Theresa May.

They expressed scepticism that the conditions for restoring the spending would ever be met, and argued that the relatively small budget saving was outweighed by the negative impact it would have on aid recipients and on Britain's global standing.

ISLAMABAD, 14 July 2021, (TON): Pakistan’s government said that it has reached its limit and cannot accept more Afghan refugees as the threat of violence looms in Afghanistan. 

Pakistani officials are demanding that the world make arrangements for the refugees inside Afghanistan, amid fears that millions of Afghans may be forced to flee into neighboring countries if fighting between Taliban and Afghan government forces intensified or deteriorated into a civil war.  

Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf told media “as a matter of fact, we are not in position to accept any more refugees.”

According to the U.N “Almost 3 million Afghan refugees, half of them unregistered, have been living in Pakistan since the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and subsequent waves of violence and later a civil war.”   

Yusuf said “we are willing to help but we are in no position to take in new refugees this time around. The international forces and the U.N. should make arrangements for them inside Afghanistan.”   

Yusuf said there needs to be an effort to prepare for the refugees, highlighting his government's policy.

Pakistani authorities say they have been hosting millions of refugees even though they are not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or the 1967 Optional Protocol for refugees.  

TEL AVIV, 14 July 2021, (TON): A government minister said that Israel wants foreign aid to Gaza disbursed through a voucher system as a safeguard against donations being diverted to bolster the Palestinian enclave’s Hamas rulers and their arsenal.

Humanitarian agencies put the latest reconstruction costs for the impoverished Gaza Strip at $500m following 11 days of cross-border fighting in May.Qatar bankrolled more than $1bn worth of construction and other projects in Gaza, some of it in cash, after a war in 2014. The payments were monitored and approved by Israel, and Doha pledged another $500m in late May.

New Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett wants a shift in policy, Internal Security Minister Omer Bar Lev said.

“The Qatari money for Gaza will not go in as suitcases full of dollars which end up with Hamas, where Hamas, in essence, takes for itself and its officials a significant part of it,” he told Israel’s Army Radio.

MALE, 14 July 2021, (TON): The national airline of Maldives, Maldivian, has scheduled special flights to Dhaka, Bangladesh, specifically for the upcoming Eid al-Adha holidays.

The airline noted that these flights are scheduled for July 21 and July 23.

Speaking to media, the media official of Maldivian confirmed that the special flights have been scheduled subsequent to the increase in demand for travel to Bangladesh.

Waseem said “that is why we have added two more flights. These two flights were not scheduled prior to this, but we decided to add it based on demand.”

He also further explained that Bangladeshi authorities have also lifted the travel ban to the Maldives, therewith both inbound and outbound travel between Bangladesh and Maldives is now possible.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih decided to ease travel restrictions imposed on South Asian travelers, to include neighboring India, on June 29.

Accordingly, work permit holders from the region are now allowed conditional entry to the Maldives. Tourists from the region will be able to holiday in the Maldives starting from July 15.

COLOMBO, 14 July 2021, (TON): JVP says “an agreement Sri Lanka had entered into with a US company to allow the latter to construct a new offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving, storage and regasification terminal poses a serious threat to the local economy and national security.”

JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake addressing the media at the party headquarters in Pelawatte said that the Cabinet approved this agreement. We hear that the New Fortress Energy Company (NFEC) of the US and Finance Ministry Secretary S.R. Attygalle have signed this agreement, according to which the Lankan government has permitted NFEC to build an offshore Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) and the pipeline system for supplying Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) to diesel power plants including Yugadhanavi and Kelanitissa and LNG Power Plants proposed to be built in the future. The terminal is to be located off the coast of Colombo to supply gas to the power plants at the Kerawalapitiya Power Complex.

This is the latest instance of the government selling off the country’s assets to super powers. This has become part of the foreign policy of the incumbent government. It sells off the assets to China, India and the US from time to time. Several weeks ago, the Port City Act was passed amidst protests. We hear that talks have already commenced for handing over a large extent of land covering a section of the Trincomalee harbour and oil tank storage complex there to India.