Sherman meets Yusuf
Dr. Jassim Taqui
DG Al-Bab Institute for Strategic Studies
Islamabad, October
8, 2021: Deputy Secretary Sherman’s
Meeting with Pakistani National Security Advisor Yusuf
The below is
attributable to the US Spokesperson Ned Price:
Deputy
Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met yesterday evening in Islamabad with
Pakistani National Security Advisor Moeed Yusuf. They discussed
developments in Afghanistan and ways to advance cooperation across the
bilateral relationship.
China rescues Cambodia
Dr. Jassim Taqui
DG Al-Bab Institute for Strategic Studies
Islamabad, October
8, 2021: Chinese
Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday pledged $270 million in aid and three
million more COVID-19 vaccine doses to Cambodia, one of Beijing's closest
allies in Southeast Asia.
State Councilor Wang flew in from
Vietnam on a week-long tour that will also take in Singapore and South Korea,
two weeks after U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visited the region.
Ostensibly, China is keen to build on
its relations with Cambodia, which will chair the 10-member Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next year.
Cambodia sits on the Gulf of Thailand
which leads into the contested waters of the South China Sea.
China's Wang Yi officially also handed over a new national stadium,
built with a $150 million grant from Beijing.
Hun Sen said that without Beijing, Cambodia would not be able to upgrade
infrastructure or vaccinate millions of people against COVID-19.
"If I don't rely on China, who do
I rely on?" Hun Sen asked,
Harris did not visit Phnom Penh on her
tour. But In June, Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Wendy Sherman - the most
senior U.S. official to visit Cambodia in years.
US and Student literacy in Baluchistan
Dr. Jassim Taqui
DG Al-Bab Institute for Strategic Studies
Islamabad, October
7, 2021: The
United States Government, together with the Government of Pakistan and
provincial partners, has helped increase the reading skills of students in
Grades 1 and 2 through the Pakistan Reading Project. Over the course of
seven years, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) project
trained 27,000 teachers on reading instruction and reached 1.5 million children
in areas with low levels of reading literacy, with girls representing 47
percent of the participants in the project.
Following
the completion of the project, partners shared a reading skills assessment with
provincial and national education officials, emphasizing students’ gains from
Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Being able to read fluently at grade
level is tied directly to a student’s ability to learn across all curriculum
subjects and is indicative of future academic success. Girls represented 45
percent of the participants in Balochistan and 55 percent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“The
Pakistan Reading Project has highlighted the importance of learning to read in
local languages at an early age,” said USAID’s Acting Mission Director Michael
Nehrbass. “The project’s interventions in schools demonstrate that the
right support can help teachers teach better so children can become better
readers, positively impacting families and communities.”
The
Pakistan Reading Project was a seven-year, $144 million project implemented in
close collaboration with federal, provincial, and regional education
departments in Balochistan, Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad Capital
Territory, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Azad Kashmir. The program demonstrated
that classroom-based training and mentoring for teachers, dedicated class time
for reading, and supplemental reading materials that engage and challenge
students are the most effective ways to increase reading fluency.
The
project used these proven techniques to help students in Pakistan increase
their fluency and achieve results. While 44 percent of students who
entered Grade 3 in Balochistan in 2017 could not read in Urdu, that dropped to
just five percent in 2020, and the number of students entering Grade 3 with
some fluency nearly doubled to 72 percent. Similarly, the number of
students able to read more fluently when entering Grade 3 increased in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, with girls slightly outperforming boys at the end of the project.
The number of students who met or exceeded the reading standards
increased from 16 and 17 percent in 2017 in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
respectively, to 24 percent in both provinces in 2020, a significant increase
in the number of high-performing students.
The
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation selected the Pakistan Reading Project as one
of the top 50 reading projects around the world in its Learning @ Scale study.
For
more information on U.S. assistance for education in Pakistan, visit: https://www.usaid.gov/
China tensions with Taiwan
Dr. Jassim Taqui
DG Al-Bab Institute for Strategic Studies
Islamabad, October
7, 2021: Military
tensions with China are at their worst in more than 40 years, Taiwan's defense
minister said on Wednesday, promoting new arms spending package to lawmakers
days after record numbers of Chinese aircraft flew into the island's air
defense zone.
Over a four-day period beginning last
Friday, Taiwan reported close to 150 Chinese air force aircraft entered its air defense zone.
Asked by a lawmaker on the current
military tensions with China at the parliament, Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng
said the situation was "the most serious" in more than 40 years since
he joined the military, adding there was a risk of a "misfire" across
the sensitive Taiwan Strait.
"For me as a military man, the
urgency is right in front of me," he told a parliamentary committee
reviewing an extra military spending plan of T$240 billion ($8.6 billion) over the
next five years for homemade weapons including missiles and warships.
However, while Taiwan has complained
repeatedly about China's planes harrying them, the situation is far less
dramatic than the crisis ahead of the 1996 presidential election, the last time
the two were on the brink of war.
Then, China carried out missile tests
in waters close to Taiwan hoping to prevent people voting for Lee Teng-hui, who
China suspected of harboring pro-independence views. Lee won convincingly.
China says Taiwan should be taken by
force if necessary. Taiwan says it is an independent country and will defend
its freedoms and democracy, blaming China for the tensions.
Chiu said China already has the ability
to invade Taiwan and it will be capable of mounting a "full scale"
invasion by 2025.
"By 2025, China will bring the
cost and attrition to its lowest. It has the capacity now, but it will not
start a war easily, having to take many other things into consideration."
U.S. President Joe Biden said on
Tuesday he had spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping about the Taiwan
agreement.
Biden appeared to be referring to
Washington's long-standing "one-China policy" under which it
officially recognizes Beijing rather than Taipei, and the Taiwan Relations Act,
which makes clear that the U.S. decision to establish diplomatic ties with
Beijing instead of Taiwan rests upon the expectation that the future of Taiwan
will be determined by peaceful means.
Bitcoin rises 5 percent
Dr. Jassim Taqui
DG Al-Bab Institute for Strategic Studies
Bitcoin rises 5 percent
Dr. Jassim Taqui
DG Al-Bab Institute for Strategic
Studies
Islamabad, October 6, 2021, Bitcoin rose 5.01% to $51,711.21 at 22:01 GMT on Tuesday,
adding $2,469.07 to its previous close.
Bitcoin , the world's best-known cryptocurrency, is up
86.4% from the year's low of $27,734 on Jan. 4.
Bitcoin (₿) is a
decentralized digital currency, without
a central bank or single administrator, that can be sent
from user to user on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network without the need for
intermediaries. Transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distributed ledger called
a blockchain. The cryptocurrency was invented in 2008 by an unknown person
or group of people using the name Satoshi Nakamoto. The currency began to use in 2009[ when its implementation was released as open-source software.
Bitcoins are created as a reward for a
process known as mining. They can be exchanged for other currencies, products,
and services, but the real-world value of the coins is extremely volatile. Research
produced by the University of Cambridge estimated
that in 2017, there were 2.9 to 5.8 million unique users using a cryptocurrency wallet,
most of them using bitcoin.
Bitcoin has been criticized for its use
in illegal transactions, a large amount of electricity (and thus carbon footprint) used by mining, price volatility, and thefts
from exchanges. Some economists and commentators have characterized it as
a speculative bubble at
various times. Bitcoin has also been used as an investment, although several
regulatory agencies have issued investor alerts about bitcoin In September
2021, El Salvador officially adopted Bitcoin as legal tender, becoming the
first and only nation in the world to do so.
The fact that only one nation in the
world adopted bitcoin officially
suggests a lack of confidence in it.
The word bitcoin was
defined in a white paper published on 31 October
2008 It is a compound of the
words bit and coin.
Bitcoin convention for bitcoin capitalization
exists; some sources use Bitcoin, capitalized, to refer to the
technology and network and bitcoin,
lowercase, for the unit of account. The Wall Street Journal, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and the Oxford English Dictionary advocate
the use of lowercase bitcoin in all cases.
World Habitat Day
Dr. Jassim Taqui
DG Al-Bab Institute for Strategic
Studies
Islamabad, October
6, 2021: UN-Habitat Pakistan
organized a seminar to kick start the celebration of Urban October
activities– World Habitat Day on 4th October 2021 in
collaboration with the Ministry of Climate Change, Water and Sanitation Agency,
National Disaster Risk Management Authority, Pakistan Council of Research in
Water Resources, Shehersaaz and TMA Nowshera. The event was organized to
discuss and reflect on the increasing effects of climate-related disasters.
Extreme climatic events are disproportionately affecting poor, rural
populations who are usually the least prepared to cope with them.
The event commenced with a message from Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, and Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director UN-Habitat in which it was highlighted that cities and towns contribute to 70% of greenhouse gas emissions, a result of which are the devastating floods, droughts, and violent storms. There was stress on the importance of putting climate action at the top of our agenda and changing how we generate power, mode of transport, dependence on fossil fuels, and the need to work towards energy-efficient infrastructure to encourage walking and cycling. Lastly, the benefits of a green transition were pointed out especially for the most vulnerable communities, and the need to unite and work together to ensure all climate goals are met.
Mr. Jawed Ali Khan, UN-Habitat Programme Manager, Pakistan reiterated the need of the hour: to take urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas production from ever-expanding urban centers and for the natural and built environment to move in parallel to achieve our climate goals. He added that UN-Habitat Pakistan has launched a project on Climate Change adaptation in Pakistan to enhance the capacity of government and communities to deal with the impacts of floods and droughts. This project is important and is a curtain-raiser for adaptation activities and will be instrumental in building climate change-related resilience in Rawalpindi and Nowshera districts.
The discussions in the seminar were centered around how cities can be made more resilient through the implementation of climate targeted actions such as planning for more compact and walkable cities, support in enhancing national building codes, sustainable building and construction practices, promoting clean energy generation in cities, improving waste management and provision of water and sanitation for a carbon-free world.
Partners engaged in productive deliberations on how to mitigate the impacts of floods and droughts through innovation and new technology. There was a great focus on groundwater recharge instead of surface water storage which has been the primary focus previously. This would cater to water scarcity and provide longer-term benefits to the most vulnerable communities. Additionally, the technology that would enable groundwater recharge will be solar-powered, making it energy efficient and helping to reduce the carbon footprint.
UN-Habitat, Pakistan will also organize the following events to celebrate Urban October
· Dedicated Session in
Innovate 4 Cities (I4C) 2021 Conference to demonstrate the
importance of GHG emission reduction in urban areas
· Seminar on Housing
Challenges in Pakistan and Lessons Learnt from Success Stories of Korea and
other Countries is to bring home the rich experiences and the lessons
learned from the successful interventions in the housing construction sector
from Korea and other parts of the world to reinforce the Five Million Housing
Program.
Imran Khan urged to take action
Dr. Jassim Taqui
DG Al-Bab Institute for Strategic
Studies
Islamabad, October 5, 2021: Prime Minister Imran Khan is facing tremendous pressure from
the Opposition to order cabinet ministers and aides named in leaked financial
documents known as the Pandora Papers to resign from office and face
investigation.
Major news organizations published the leaked documents on
Sunday.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
(ICIJ), a Washington, D.C.-based network of reporters and media organizations,
said the documents link about 35 current and former national leaders and more
than 330 politicians and officials in 91 countries and territories to secret
stores of wealth.
Among those named in the papers are more than 700
Pakistanis, including several members of Khan's cabinet, Pakistani partners.
The ICIJ did not say how the files were obtained.
A spokeswoman for the main opposition Pakistan Muslim
League (PML-N) said the PM had to remove all of those identified in the files.
However, ICIJ should declare the sources of its highly sensitive documents collected
to be credible and not only a mouthpiece of hostile intelligence agencies.
A glance at the documents collected suggests that some powerful
intelligence agencies are behind the episode.
"If any wrongdoing is established we will take
appropriate action," he said on Twitter.
However, what is needed is to take action against the culprits in line with the constitution.
The mysterious policy of Joe Biden
Dr. Jassim Taqui
DG Al-Bab Institute for Strategic
Studies
Islamabad, October 4, 2021: Political observers are at a loss to understand the
reason behind Joe Biden’s refusal to talk to Prime Minister Imran Khan even as
he is in power since January.
Joe Biden broke the US tradition of
speaking with the PM of Pakistan when a new President takes office. It clearly
shows that Joe Biden does not consider Pakistan a priority in his policy.
Paradoxically, however, Joe Biden continues to
send high-level political and military heavyweights to Pakistan.
Biden has paralyzed as well his US
Embassy in Islamabad that is otherwise very active and positive in promoting
relations with Pakistan.
By this queer policy, Joe Biden is
sending mixed signals suggesting he is sending threats with the visiting dignitaries.
By all standards, this is an unprecedented
way of conducting foreign policy. Even people like Edie Amin and Col. Qaddafi
didn’t act that way.
PM consistently attempted to talk with
Joe Biden in a bid to clear the trust deficit with the US especially when the
US is hurling all sorts of accusations against Pakistan. The last move of Joe
Biden was ominous and went to threaten Pakistan with a coup, stealing its nuclear weapons and economically
destabilize the hybrid ruling regime.
Most probably, Joe Biden is unmindful
of the damage caused by this policy to the wellbeing of the Pakistani people
and the cause of regional and global security and stability.
In this way, Joe Biden is pushing
Pakistan to fall into the laps of Chine and SCO.
Given the enormous threats and
aggressive discourse with Pakistan, one would commend the matured posture in
dealing with threats coming from a 70-year old ally.
Ill-conceived initiative
Dr. Jassim Taqui
DG Al-Bab Institute for Strategic
Studies
Islamabad, October 3, 2021: It was a totally unjustified and
ill-conceived initiative by Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Arif Alvi
to hold talks with TTP. TTP is listed by the UN and Pakistan as a terrorist
outfit.
It targeted Pakistan Army and law
enforcement agencies. It sided with separatist entities in KPK and Balochistan
and attacked also Chinese interests in Balochistan and Karachi.
Now it demands territories in FATA in a
bid to be a state within a state.
It continues to attach Pak Army in FATA
and has killed recently over 100 soldiers in South Waziristan.
One would like to as the PM what have
achieved from your initiative?
Talking with terrorists by itself is a
sin and a betrayal of hundreds of martyrs by TTP especially the martyrs of APS
students.
TTP deserves only military means to put
an end to its terrorist activities in FATA and the rest of Pakistan.
German Missions in Pakistan
celebrate Unity Day
Dr. Jassim Taqui
DG Al-Bab Institute for Strategic Studies
Islamabad, October
3, 2021: On 3 October 2021,
Germany is celebrating the 31st anniversary of German
reunification. This year is very special for both Pakistan and Germany as we
commemorate the 70th anniversary of cordial diplomatic ties.
Due to the pandemic, the German missions in Pakistan must sadly
once again refrain from the usual German national day festivities.
Instead, the German Embassy Islamabad and the German Consulate
General in Karachi decided to go online on Sunday, 3 October 2021 at 6:30
pm on the Embassy’s Facebook page and YouTube channel for a digital
celebration with very special guests. Everyone is cordially invited to join the
event!
www.facebook.com/
The International Day of
Non-Violence
Dr. Jassim Taqui
DG Al-Bab Institute for Strategic
Studies
Islamabad, October
1, 2021: The following is the speech of the UNSG His Excellency
Antonio Guterres on the occasion of the International Day of Non-Violence: It is
no coincidence that we mark the International Day of Non-Violence on the
birthday of Mahatma Gandhi.
For Gandhi, non-violence, peaceful protest, dignity and equality were more than words. They represented a guiding light for humanity, a map to a better future.
They also provide a template to address today’s troubled times. Conflicts and climate change. Poverty and inequalities. Mistrust and divisions. All under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, which continues to devastate people and economies alike.
The solution to these challenges is in our hands: solidarity. We need to recognize, as Gandhi did, that what unites us is far greater than what divides us. That peace provides the only pathway to a better future for all.
Addressing the challenges of our world means coming together as one human family, and embracing peace like never before.
We call on combatants around the world to lay down their arms and focus on defeating humanity’s common enemy — COVID-19 — not one another. We urgently need to deliver lifesaving vaccines and treatment, and support countries on the long road to recovery ahead.
We need to intensify our work to reduce inequalities and end poverty.
We need a bold global plan of action to heal our planet.
Most of all, we need to renew trust in one another. Hatred, division, conflict, and mistrust have had their day. It is time to usher in a new era of peace, trust, and tolerance.
On this International Day of Non-Violence, let us heed Gandhi’s message of peace, and get down to the business of building a better and more peaceful future for all.
