General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - March 2018

Mar 2018

Oct 02, 2020

Pakistan Army-Imran's Plan for Gilgit-Baltistan Faces Challenge from Maryam Nawaz

Pakistan's principal opposition party, the Pakistani Muslim League of Nawaz Sharif, has launched a tirade against a recent secret dinner meeting between that country's army chief and a few parliamentarians to discuss holding elections in Pak-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and declaring the area as the fifth province of the country.
PML-N leader and Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz has termed the meeting at the army headquarters as an attempt by the men in uniform to tighten their grip over Pakistan politics.
Maryam Nawaz said that she wasn't aware if her father, Sharif, knew of the meeting beforehand.
GB was occupied by Pakistan as part of PoK, but in the 1970s, the country's ruling elite decided to carve it out of PoK, and make it an administrative unit named Northern Areas, directly controlled by Islamabad. Since then, local politics has been side lined in the region. Its proposed provincial status would facilitate a part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that passes through the area. The western flank of the CPEC passes through GB and Beijing is reportedly of the opinion that the region's constitutional status would facilitate China's mega designs in the region. Gilgit-Baltistan is six times the size of the remaining part of PoK.
Islamabad has also been actively changing the demographics of GB by bringing in outsiders, experts on Pakistan affairs told ET. The Pashtuns have been encouraged to settle in GB. Besides, Islamabad has fuelled Shia-Sunni tensions in the region. Recent years have seen a rise in killings of Shias through what are seen as Islamabad-backed groups.

EU Launches Legal Action against UK over Brexit Deal

The European Union (EU) launched a legal case against the United Kingdom (UK) for undercutting their earlier divorce deal and a senior UK minister said that differences remained in talks on a post-Brexit trade agreement.
Controversy over UK's new Internal Market Bill has thrown the tortuous Brexit process into a fresh crisis, while disagreements over corporate subsidies, fisheries and ways to solve disputes overshadow parallel trade negotiations.
"We had invited our British friends to remove the problematic parts of their draft Internal Market Bill by the end of September," head of the EU's executive commission Ursula von der Leyen said. "The deadline lapsed yesterday."
With London not budging, she said the commission started a so-called infringement, an EU legal procedure against countries that violate the bloc's laws, while continuing to work towards implementing the divorce deal, or Withdrawal Agreement.

US Judge Blocks Trump's H-1B Visa Ban

A federal judge has blocked the enforcement of the H-1B visa ban issued by President Donald Trump in June 2020, saying that the President exceeded his constitutional authority.
The order was issued on Thursday by District Judge Jeffrey White of Northern District of California.
The lawsuit against the Department of Commerce and Department of Homeland Security was filed by companies represented by National Association of Manufacturers, US Chamber of Commerce, National Retail Federation and TechNet.
The ruling places an immediate hold on a series of visa restrictions that prevent manufacturers from filling crucial, hard-to-fill jobs to support economic recovery, growth and innovation when most needed.
In June, Trump had issued an executive order that had put temporary bar on issuing of new H-1B and other foreign visas, including H-2B, J and L visas, till the end of the year.
The President had argued that the United States needs to save and protect jobs for its domestic work force at a time when millions of them lost their jobs due to coronavirus pandemic.
A number of IT companies and other US firms, and those representing them had voiced their opposition to the temporary ban.

Turkey and Greece Set Up Military Hotline Amid Energy Tensions

Turkey and Greece have set up a military hotline to try to reduce the risk of clashes in the Mediterranean, where the two are locked in a row over energy resources and maritime borders.
The move was announced by the Nato military bloc, of which both countries are members.
Tensions rose this year when Turkey sent a research ship to a disputed area.
It comes as EU leaders met to discuss the bloc's thorny ties with Turkey.
Turkey has been a long-term candidate for membership of the European Union but efforts have stalled, with EU leaders criticising Turkey's record on human rights and the rule of law, in particular in the wake of the 2016 failed military coup.
But Turkey remains an important partner for the EU. Turkey hosts millions of migrants and struck a deal with the EU that limited the numbers arriving in Greece.

Oct 01, 2020

Pakistan Opens All Educational Institutions

Pakistan opened all the educational institutions which remained shut for nearly six months due to the coronavirus pandemic that has infected over 3 lakh people in the country.
Both private and public schools were opened under strict restriction and were told by the authorities to follow the standard operating procedures to contain the spread of the contagious coronavirus.
Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood said that the maximum number of students was enrolled in the primary schools and they suffered most due to the closure of the institutions.
The decision was taken to open all the educational institutions after analysing the coronavirus situation comprehensively.
"Only 1 per cent infection was detected in educational institutions after the authorities performed 171,436 coronavirus tests in the education sector since the institutions reopened on September 15 under the phase 1 of the reopening of the institutions.

Trump Signs Temporary Government Funding Bill

President Donald Trump has signed a Bill to fund the government through December 11, averting the possibility of a government shutdown when the new fiscal year starts Thursday.
Trump signed the Bill, which was approved by sweeping bipartisan agreement, into law shortly after returning from campaigning in Minnesota.
The temporary extension will set the stage for a lame-duck session of Congress later this year, where the agenda will be largely determined by the outcome of the presidential election.
The measure would keep the government running through December 11 and passed by a 84-10 vote. The House passed the Bill last week.
The stopgap spending Bill is required because the GOP-controlled Senate has not acted on any of the 12 annual spending bills that fund the 30 per cent of the government's budget that is passed by Congress each year.
If Democratic nominee Joe Biden wins the White House in November, it's likely that another stopgap measure would fund the government into next year and that the next administration and Congress would deal with the leftover business.

Seven Parties Agree on Belgian Coalition Government

Almost 500 days after Belgian parliamentary elections, seven parties from both sides of the linguistic aisle agreed on forming a fully functioning majority government that will center on dealing with the pandemic and its devastating economic impact.
A final negotiating session found agreement on a common budget and had only one issue left to decide: who would succeed Sophie Wilmes as Prime Minister.
The seven parties consist of Liberals, Socialists and Greens, divided into separate linguistic entities, and the Dutch-speaking Christian Democrats.
Since the May 26, 2019 elections, Belgium has been led by a caretaker government, and, for the past half year, by a minority coalition with widespread support from the opposition to deal with the pandemic, the last one led by francophone Liberal Wilmes.

Sep 30, 2020

Taliban and Pakistan Interested in Withdrawal of International Forces

The Taliban and Pakistan are interested in the withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan more than a peace settlement, a former Pakistani diplomat has said, warning that the ongoing peace talks in Doha were headed towards failure.
Pakistan's former Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani said that I am not optimistic about the outcome of the talks. The US has made all major concessions up front. The Taliban know that the US is eager to withdraw from Afghanistan. As they see it, they are just negotiating the withdrawal of foreign forces and the restoration of the status quo ante, when they ruled Afghanistan as its Islamic Emirate.
The Afghan government could prove stronger than the US-backed South Vietnam government and might fight on for a pluralist Afghanistan with the support of other countries, including India, he said. The US withdrawal was a function of America's tendency to lose interest in wars that go on too long, he added.

Sep 29, 2020

Pakistan Court Indicts Former President Zardari in Money Laundering Case

An anti-corruption court in Pakistan indicted former President Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur in a money laundering case, a move described by his party as "victimisation" of opposition leaders.
The development comes just ahead of the planned protests next month by Opposition parties to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The case is about the alleged use of fake accounts by the former president and other accused to park and launder the allegedly ill-gotten wealth.
The 63-year-old husband of the country's first woman Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and his 62-year-old sister Talpur were present in the court.
Judge Muhammad Azam Khan of the accountability court in Islamabad indicted them.
The court also indicted Omni Group Chairman Anwar Majeed and his son, Abdul Ghani Majeed.
The development comes just ahead of the planned protests next month by Opposition parties to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The case is about the alleged use of fake accounts by the former president and other accused to park and launder the allegedly ill-gotten wealth.
The 63-year-old husband of the country's first woman prime minister Benazir Bhutto and his 62-year-old sister Talpur were present in the court.
Judge Muhammad Azam Khan of the accountability court in Islamabad indicted them.
The court also indicted Omni Group Chairman Anwar Majeed and his son, Abdul Ghani Majeed.
All the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

EU, Britain Far Apart as Key Week of Brexit Talks Begins

The European Union and Britain both said that a post-Brexit deal was still some way off as they began a decisive week of talks in Brussels.
Britain left the EU last January and is locked in negotiations on a new trade deal from 2021, as well as on implementing its divorce agreement with the bloc.
EU national leaders are scheduled to assess the state of play at a summit next month, with a no-deal Brexit still possible.
Negotiations have stumbled over fisheries, fair competition and settling disputes, and Brexit talks descended into chaos this month when London proposed draft laws that would undermine its earlier EU divorce bill.
Britain's Brexit supremo Michael Gove held talks with Maros Sefcovic, a deputy head of the bloc's executive Commission.
The UK's positions are far apart from what the EU can accept. I have repeated the EU's request to withdraw the contentious part of the draft Internal Markets Bill by the end of September.
EU leaders meeting in Brussels are expected to authorise more negotiations before their next summit on October 15-16.
They will then assess whether to focus on pushing for a deal or preparing for a hard Brexit at the end of the year.

Amnesty International to Halt India Operations

Amnesty International said that it has been forced to halt its India operations due to "reprisals" from the government.
The watchdog has also accused the government of indulging in a witch-hunt of human rights organisations.
Amnesty said that its bank accounts have been frozen and it's been forced to lay off staff in the country, and suspend all its campaign and research work.
The government is yet to respond to the allegations.
According to Rajat Khosla, the group's senior director of research, advocacy and policy said that we are facing a rather unprecedented situation in India. Amnesty International India has been facing an onslaught of attacks, bullying and harassment by the government in a very systematic manner.
This is all down to the human rights work that we were doing and the government not wanting to answer questions we raised, whether it's in terms of our investigations into the Delhi riots, or the silencing of voices in Jammu and Kashmir.
In a report, the group said police in the Indian capital, Delhi, committed human rights violations during deadly religious riots between Hindus and Muslims in February.

Sep 28, 2020

Afghanistan's Abdullah Abdullah Arrives in Pakistan for Talks on Peace Bid

Senior Afghan peace official Abdullah Abdullah arrived in Pakistan for meetings in a country seen as vital to the success of Afghan talks aimed at ending decades of war.
During his three-day visit to Islamabad, Abdullah, a former Foreign Minister and chairman of Afghanistan`s High Council for National Reconciliation will meet Prime Minister Imran Khan as well as Pakistan`s Foreign Minister.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have long been rocky. Afghanistan and its international allies have for years accused Pakistan of backing Taliban insurgents as a way to limit the influence of old rival India in Afghanistan.

Jacinda Ardern on Course for Election Victory

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is poised to retain power at next month's election, a widely watched poll showed, although it said a recent COVID-19 outbreak has dented her support slightly.
A Newshub-Reid Research Poll released showed support for Ardern's Labour Party to 50.1%, though this is down from the record 60.9% recorded earlier this year when New Zealand was widely lauded as a world leader in battling COVID-19.
Support for the main opposition National Party was at 29.6%, up 4.5 percentage points.
Should the poll findings materialise, Ardern would govern without relying on any coalition partners.
New Zealand was COVID-free for 102 days until a second wave hit Auckland last month.

Fighting Erupts between Armenia and Azerbaijan

Fighting erupted between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces over the disputed separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, while Azerbaijan's president said his military has suffered losses.
Armenia also claimed that two Azerbaijani helicopters were shot down and three Azerbaijani tanks were hit by artillery, but Azerbaijan's defense ministry rejected that claim.
Heavy fighting broke out in the morning in the region that lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since 1994 at the end of a separatist war.
Nagorno-Karabakh authorities reported that shelling hit the region's capital of Stepanakert and the towns of Martakert and Martuni. Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan said that Azerbaijani shelling hit within Armenian territory near the town of Vardenis.

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