General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - May 2019

May 2019

Jul 18, 2019

ICJ Stays Jadhav's Execution

In a major diplomatic and legal victory for India in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) directed Pakistan to review his conviction and, until then, put his death sentence on hold.
The court also asked Islamabad to allow New Delhi consular access at the earliest.
In a 15-1 order, the ICJ held that Jadhav's execution will remain on hold until Islamabad "effectively reviews and reconsiders" his conviction.
"A continued stay of execution constitutes an indispensable condition for the effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence of Mr Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav."
What this effectively means is that the death sentence awarded to Jadhav by a military court in Pakistan is stayed until probably a civil court, where the accused will have better representation, hears the case afresh.
The court ruled decisively in favour of India's plea to allow it full consular access to Jadhav, which has so far been denied. Judge Gilani from Pakistan was the only one to go against the majority judgement.
The judge from China, vice president Xue, also voted in favour of the judgement.
The court, however, rejected India's plea for annulment of Jadhav's conviction by the military court in Pakistan and his immediate release.
The Hague-based ICJ concluded that Islamabad had violated Article 36 of the Vienna Convention of Consular Relations, 1963, by not informing New Delhi about Jadhav's arrest immediately after Pakistan Army had taken him into custody.
In its appeal, India had challenged the "farcical trial" that Jadhav was put through on the basis of what it called an extracted confession, and asked the court to instruct Pakistan to annul the sentence and allow India consular access.
The verdict was read out at a public sitting of the United Nations court. The session was held under the presidency of Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf.
The court found that Pakistan deprived India of the right to communicate with and have access to Jadhav, to visit him in detention and to arrange for his legal representation, and thereby breached obligations incumbent upon it under the Vienna Convention.

Pak's Sindh OKs bill to end Hindu girls' forced conversions

Pakistan's Sindh assembly has unanimously passed a resolution demanding that the practice of forced conversions and abductions of Hindu girls must be stopped and action be taken against those involved in such activities.
The resolution by Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) lawmaker Nand Kumar Goklani was supported by the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party as well as Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the hardline Jamaat-e-Islami.
The resolution comes months after the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in its annual report in April, 2019 raised concerns about incidents of forced conversions and marriages of Hindu and Christian girls, saying around 1,000 such cases were reported in Sindh alone in 2018

Turkey can no Longer be Part of the American F-35 Fighter Jet Programme

The White House says Turkey can no longer be part of the American F-35 fighter jet programme. In a written statement, the White House said that Turkey's decision to buy the Russian S-400 air defence system "renders its continued involvement with the F-35 impossible."
Turkey makes numerous components for the stealth aircraft. If Turkey is removed, as expected, the US will have to find alternative suppliers.
President Donald Trump announced that the S-400 purchase means Turkey will not be allowed to purchase any F-35 planes. Yet to be announced is whether the US will impose economic sanctions on Turkey for its decision.

Jul 17, 2019

US Proposes Increasing Merit-based Immigration

The Trump administration is proposing a nearly five-fold increase in merit-based legal immigration and half those based on family and humanitarian system, in an effort to overhaul the outdated system.
Senior presidential adviser Jared Kushner, who is also the son-in-law of United States President Donald Trump, said that having an immigration policy that would attract talented and meritorious people from across the world would create over USD 500 billion in tax revenues over 10 years.
At the direction of Trump, Kushner is leading the immigration reform project, which was now into its final stages and expects to make it public soon.

First Imran-Trump Summit

As per Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the first summit-level talks between Prime Minister Imran Khan and US President Donald Trump in July 2019 would give them new opportunities to reset the bilateral ties and usher in an era of peace in the region.
Trump would host Imran on July 22, 2019 at the White House, after a flurry of exchanges between Islamabad and Washington seems to have eased the friction in bilateral ties, especially on securing a peace deal in war-ravaged Afghanistan and paved the way for the meeting.
Addressing a seminar organised by the Islamabad Policy Institute on Pakistan-US relations, Qureshi said that the US policy of coercion towards Pakistan was gradually changing into one of cooperation.

Jul 16, 2019

Pakistan Reopens Airspace for All Civilian Traffic

Pakistan reopened its airspace to all civilian planes following months of restrictions after the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out airstrikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camp in Balakot earlier in 2019.
Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority cancelled the Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) for its airspace, a step taken by India as well. Airlines are likely to resume normal routes through Pakistan airspace after the restrictions were lifted.
Pakistan had earlier said it would not open its airspace for commercial flights until India removed its fighter jets from forward Indian airbases.

No Intent to Exclude India from Afghan Diplomacy

Following quadrilateral talks in Beijing among China, Russia, the U.S. and Pakistan, China sought to reassure India that it does not intend to exclude New Delhi from international diplomacy on Afghanistan.
Fresh from his visit to Qatar where he held talks with the Taliban and Afghan government officials, U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad first joined his counterparts from Russia and China for the third trilateral mechanism on Afghanistan. This was followed by the first quadrilateral meeting on Afghanistan, in which Pakistan was also present.
Earlier in July 2019, the U.S. special envoy Khalilzad attended the third trilateral consultation of Afghan issue between China, Russia and the U.S. in Beijing. He also attended the first China, Russia, the U.S. and Pakistan meeting.

Talks to Save Iran Nuke Deal

European foreign ministers held crisis talks on saving the beleaguered Iran nuclear deal as Britain warned the small window for success was closing and Tehran issued fresh threats of restarting its atomic programme.
The European Union is desperately trying to prevent the deal unravelling completely, seeing it as the best way to stop Tehran acquiring atomic weapons, and the issue was top of the agenda as ministers from the bloc met in Brussels.
But Iran piled fresh pressure on Europe, demanding concrete measures to give it relief from US sanctions and threatening to return its nuclear programme to where it was before the curbs imposed by the 2015 deal.
British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt - who held phone talks with his US and Iranian counterparts at the weekend insisted that the deal isn't dead yet.
Iran is still a good year away from developing a nuclear weapon and there is still some closing but small window to keep the deal alive. Britain, France and Germany -the three European parties to the deal - issued a joint statement calling for dialogue to resolve the crisis.

Law Penalising Catcalling, Sexual Harassment

The Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte signed a bill into law penalising a range of acts of sexual harassment including catcalling, wolf-whistling and persistent telling of sexual jokes, which pro-women's groups have accused him of committing.
A copy of Republic Act 11313, known as the "Safe Spaces Act," was released which Duterte signed in April 2019. The reason for the delay in its public release was not immediately clear.
The law defines a range of offensive acts, including catcalling, wolf-whistling, intrusive gazing, cursing, misogynistic acts, sexist slurs and persistent telling of sexual jokes in public or online. Punishments include fines and imprisonment depending on the gravity of the offense.

Jul 15, 2019

Pakistan Should Pay Foreign Firm $6bn

As per the World Bank, Pakistan would have to pay almost $6 billion in damages to a foreign gold mining firm whose dig was shut down by the government in 2011.
The consortium Tethyan Copper Company is the largest Foreign Direct Investment mining project in the country.
More than a decade ago the group found vast gold and copper deposits at Reko Diq, in the turbulent southwestern Baluchistan province, and had planned a hugely lucrative open-pit mine.
But the project came to a standstill in 2011 after the local government refused to renew the consortium's lease, and in 2013 Pakistan's top court declared it invalid.
In July 2019, the World Bank's international arbitration tribunal committee awarded $5.84 billion in damages to Tethyan.

Next Dalai Lama Must be Chosen within China

As per Chinese authorities, the successor of the Dalai Lama has to be decided within China and any interference by India on the issue will impact bilateral ties.
In first clear assertion on the sensitive issue, senior Chinese officials and experts said that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama must be approved by the Chinese government and the selection should take place within the country based on an over 200-year old historical process.
According to Wang Neng Sheng, Director General at the government of Tibet Autonomous Region, the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama is a historical, religious and political issue.
There are established historical institutions and formalities for the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.
The current Dalai Lama was recognised by Beijing and his successor must be found through the draw of lots in golden urn process within China.
The Dalai Lama's reincarnation is not decided by his personal wish or by some group of people living in other countries.

Jul 14, 2019

Sri Lanka PM to Appear Before Parliamentary Committee

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe would appear before the Parliamentary Select Committee probing the Easter Sunday attacks that claimed 258 lives and would provide all available information.
The Prime Minister made the remarks after his government defeated the no-confidence motion that accused it of failing to prevent the Easter Sunday bombings despite receiving intelligence inputs from India.
The motion, moved by the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, was defeated by a vote of 119-92 after two days of debate.

Turkey Ignores US Warnings

Turkey ignored warnings from the United States as it continued to take delivery of Russia's S-400 missile defence system.
Delivery of S-400 Long Range Air and Missile Defence Systems resumed as the fourth Russian plane carrying S-400 parts landed at Murted Airport.
The US fears that if Ankara integrates the S-400 into its defence, data about the US-built F-35 fighter jet could leak back to the Russians, and Washington threatened to deny Turkey's access to the stealth aircraft.
The western defence alliance NATO, which counts Turkey as one of its members, is also concerned about the potential consequences of the S-400 purchase.
Members of the US Congress have repeatedly voiced opposition to the move and threatened sanctions.

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