Is China a genuine friend of Pak or is just claims to be. Its actions at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting prove it is exploiting Pak’s weakness to further its own agenda. During initial discussions of the FATF, China, Saudi Arabia and Turkey withstood US pressure and were standing shoulder to shoulder with Pak, in preventing a US […]
Indo-China relations have been witnessing a see-saw effect in recent times. The Doklam standoff had pushed the relations to the nadir. Even at present there are claims that Chinese presence continues in Doklam while it continues developing facilities in the region. India, on the other hand recently reversed its stand and issued instructions that political leaders and public servants should […]
Lord Palmerston had rightly stated, ‘There are no eternal allies nor perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests, it is our duty to follow’. This is clearly coming to fore within our neighbourhood. For India it is an indicator that we need to monitor our region carefully as changing geo-political alignments would have major negative security […]
Both army chief General Bipin Rawat and vice chief of the army, General Sarath Chand, have through various platforms expressed frustration over money allocated in the union budget to the defence sector. The army generals have complained that the allocation hardly leaves anything for modernization and upkeep of the forces. In fact, it did not even cater for inflationary growth. […]
The army chief, General Bipin Rawat, stated in a seminar recently that the army plays a significant role in nation building. He added that a reasonable part of the defence budget is employed for development and providing facilities in remote areas. In most border regions, it is the army alone, which is closer to the locals living there, hence provides […]
President Ashraf Ghani recently gave a call for talks with the Taliban, while addressing an international conference in Kabul. In his call, he offered to allow the Taliban to establish itself as a political party as also work to removing sanctions against them in addition to other incentives. There have been mixed reports following the President’s call. One report stated […]
The recent decision to give Pak time till May to provide its action plans prior to placing it under the ‘grey or black list’ by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) was not unexpected, despite China and Saudi Arabia’s initial support to Pak. In fact, the seeds for warning Pak were sowed by their own army chief, General Javed Bajwa, […]
It has been two weeks since the army chief named political parties in a seminar on the North East, yet the controversy over those remarks continues to simmer. Even earlier his comments on Kashmir and seeking Bharat Ratna for Field Marshall Cariappa have come in for criticism. He speaks as a true soldier would, direct and to the point, informing […]
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting in Paris last month concluded with a demand for Pakistan to submit its action plan by May on stopping the flow of funds to terror groups as also curbing their activities. If it does not accept Pak’s proposal, which is very likely, it could be placed in the ‘grey or black’ list, the […]
Recent reports indicate that China is moving at a fast pace to annex Pakistan as one of its provinces. In other countries where China has invested, and the nations have been unable to pay, they have had to hand over strategic assets to China for prolonged durations, Sri Lanka and Myanmar being examples. In the case of Pakistan, China already […]