It confirmed that the Monday clashes between Afghan and Pakistani forces occurred in the Loqman village of Spin Boldak…reports Asian Lite News
Afghans and Pakistan troops opened fire at each other on Monday at Kandahar.
According to Afghanistan times news, “Afghan and Pakistani troops opened fire at each other on Monday at a crossing point in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province in the south.”
Officials in Kandahar confirmed the Monday clashes between Afghan and Pakistani forces, saying it occurred in the Loqman village of Spin Boldak and lasted for several hours, as reported by Afghanistan times.
Later, Gholam Yahya Alavi, spokesman of the 205 Atal army corps based in Kandahar, confirmed the attack and open fire among the countries. He told Afghanistan times that “the clash was over and Pakistani troops were pushed back.”
Alavi said that “one Afghan soldier was injured and a vehicle was damaged, but could not offer an exact number of Pakistan forces’ casualties,” reported Afghanistan Times.
The Afghan and Pakistani forces have confronted each other twice since the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan which started on April 13, at the crossing points as Pakistani forces tried to cross the Durand Line and fence the crossing line, according to Afghan officials.
However, Pakistani officials did not comment on the incident so far, reported Afghanistan times. (ANI)
Pakistan’s economy is in bad shape is no more a revelation, as its project performance dropped to just 58 per cent in the duration of 2018-20,according to the reports…Reports Asian Lite News
Despite its claims over providing ease of doing business, the ruling Imran Khan-led PTI government has failed to lure foreign investors to the country, according to a recent media report.
In an article dated Sunday, the editorial board of The Express Tribune wrote that according to the latest data, foreign direct investment (FDI) has plummeted to USD 1.395 billion during the July-March period of the ongoing fiscal year as compared to USD 2.15 billion in the same period of last fiscal. This shows a 35.1 per cent fall in foreign investment flows.
“So while the impact of the raging pandemic is there, it’s also a fact that Pakistan has never been a go-to destination for foreign investors. There are a variety of reasons for that including lack of political stability and security in the country as well as unfavourable business climate marked by absence of tax incentives, high power and gas tariffs, low growth potential, dilapidated transport infrastructure,” the Sunday editorial read.
“No wonder, the volume of foreign direct investment in Pakistan has been abysmally low,” it added.
Besides, investment flows from China for CPEC-related projects constitute much of the total. During the period under study i.e. the first three quarters of the ongoing fiscal year, inflows from China stand at $859.3 million which is equal to 46 per cent of total foreign investment, the editorial pointed out.
“However, what must be a cause for concern for the government is that these inflows have also decreased – to $650.8 or by 24 per cent – year on year,” the editorial from The Express Tribune read.
According to a report last week, Pakistan’s economy is in bad shape is no more a revelation, as its project performance dropped to just 58 per cent in the duration of 2018-20, from 70 per cent in 2017-19 due to poor performance in the Public Sector Management (PSM) and water sectors.
An editorial published in The News International published on Wednesday read: “Pakistan’s economy is in bad shape is no more a revelation, but the Independent Evaluation Department (IED)’s report of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is revealing in its contents. In its latest report, the ADB has disclosed that Pakistan’s project performance dropped to just 58 per cent in the duration of 2018-20, from 70 per cent in 2017-19.”
Moreover, the 35 per cent year-on-year decline in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the first three-quarters of the outgoing fiscal is a surprise only to those who haven’t been paying attention to investment patterns in the country.
An editorial in Daily Times published on Wednesday pointed out, “The 35 per cent year-on-year decline in FDI in the first three-quarters of the outgoing fiscal is a surprise only to those who haven’t been paying attention to investment patterns in the country.” (ANI)
Bhutan would supply liquid oxygen to India from a new plant being set up at the Motanga Industrial Estate,said Indian Mission in Bhutan…reports Asian Lite News
Bhutan will supply 40 metric tonnes of liquid oxygen to Assam daily for Covid patients, an official release said on Tuesday.
A release from the Indian mission in Bhutan said that Bhutan would supply liquid oxygen to India from a new plant being set up at the Motanga Industrial Estate, Samdrup Jongkhar district by S.D. Cryogenics Gases Pvt. Ltd, a Bhutanese company.
“Every day, 40 metric tonnes of liquid oxygen produced by the oxygen plant would be exported to Assam using cryogenic tankers. The oxygen plant has domestic investment of 51 per cent by S.D. Cryogenics and FDI component of 49 per cent by Meghalaya Oxygen Pvt Ltd, an Assam-based Indian company.
“The provision of oxygen by Bhutan would augment India’s efforts to win the fight against Covid-19 and save precious lives, the release said adding that this is a practical manifestation of the uniquely close and friendly ties between India and Bhutan.
Meanwhile, Assam’s Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Pijush Hazarika accompanied by Rajya Sabha Member Biswajit Daimary on Sunday visited the under construction oxygen plant at Bhutan. “Once it is completed, Assam would get 50 MT oxygen per day which would be highly beneficial to combat Covid,” Hazarika said in a tweet.
Meanwhile, Assam Health and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the state government has installed eight oxygen plants in five medical colleges and hospitals including Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, producing 5.23 metric tonnes of oxygen per day. Sarma told the media on Tuesday that five more oxygen units are in the process of being installed and two more units would become operational in the next three-four days.
UK foreign secretary slammed the decision ,calling it a “totally inhumane and wholly unjustified decision.”…reports Asian Lite News
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his foreign secretary Dominic Raab condemned the new one-year prison sentence that was issued by an Iranian court to UK-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
This comes after the 42-year-old UK-Iranian national was sentenced on charges of “propaganda activities against the regime,” after serving a five-year term previously imposed on her in 2016, Sputnik reported while citing UK media.
“Iran’s decision to sentence Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to another year in prison is cruel, inhumane and wholly unjustified. She must be allowed to return to her family in the UK and we will continue to do all we can to get her home,” Johnson tweeted.
Iran's decision to sentence Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to another year in prison is cruel, inhumane and wholly unjustified. She must be allowed to return to her family in the UK and we will continue to do all we can to get her home.
UK foreign secretary also took the social media platform to condemn the alleged new sentence, calling it a “totally inhumane and wholly unjustified decision.”
“We continue to call on Iran to release Nazanin immediately so she can return to her family in the UK. We continue to do all we can to support her,” Raab added.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a charity worker with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested at Tehran airport in April 2016 a she headed back to Britain with her daughter after a family visit. She was sentenced to five years in jail after being convicted of plotting to overthrow Iran’s clerical establishment.
Her family and the Foundation, however, denied the charges.
In March, after her prison term expired, Iranian authorities released her from house arrest and had her ankle tag removed, but did not allow her to return to the UK. (ANI)
The US crews issued multiple warnings via bridge-to-bridge radio and loud-hailer devices, but the IRGCN vessels continued their close range maneuvers,” said US Navy….reports Asian Lite News
A US Navy patrol ship fired warning shots at Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) vessels in international waters of the northern Persian Gulf, the Navy said.
Three IRGCN armed speed boats Monday rapidly approached US Navy patrol coastal ship USS Firebolt and a US Coast Guard patrol boat to “unnecessarily close range with unknown intent, including a closest point of approach of 68 yards (62 meters) to both US ships,” the Navy said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The US crews issued multiple warnings via bridge-to-bridge radio and loud-hailer devices, but the IRGCN vessels continued their close range maneuvers,” the statement said. “The crew of Firebolt then fired warning shots, and the IRGCN vessels moved away to a safe distance from the US vessels.”
IRGCN repeatedly crossed the bows of the U.S. vessels at an unnecessarily close range(Twitter)
US media reported that it was the first time the US Navy had fired on Iranian vessels in nearly four years, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The incident also came amid indirect talks between the US and Iran in Vienna to revive the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Iran gradually stopped implementing parts of its commitments under the JCPOA in May 2019, one year after former US President Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned the agreement and re-imposed sanctions on Iran.
The approval comes after Bangladesh health authorities stopped administering Covishield vaccine from India…reports Asian Lite News
The Bangladeshi government has approved the import and use of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19.
Major General Mahbubur Rahman, Director General of the country’s Drug Administration, made the announcement on Tuesday, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The decision came days after Dhaka suspended the first dosing of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on a supply crunch.
“We’ve given permission for the emergency use of the Russian Covid-19 vaccine,” Rahman told journalists.
Amid uncertainty over timely arrival of the next Covid-19 vaccine shipment from India, the Bangladeshi government halted administering first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine across the country from Monday.
Nearly 6 million people have so far received the first dose of the vaccine in Bangladesh.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on January 28 virtually inaugurated the country’s Covid-19 vaccination drive.
The Bangladeshi government on Monday announced that it decided to extend the ongoing lockdown which began on April 14 for another week.
Bangladesh recorded 112 deaths from Covid-19 on April 19, its highest daily toll from the pandemic, the government said.
On Tuesday, the country’s Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) reported 3,031 new cases of Covid-19 and 78 new deaths, bringing the number of total cases to 751,659 and the total death toll to 11,228.
The decision comes as the situation in Afghanistan has worsened than before due to the rise in violence…reports Asian Lite News
The US State Department has ordered the withdrawal of diplomats from its embassy in Kabul in light of the deteriorating security situation there.
According to updated travel advice on Afghanistan, all embassy employees who are able to carry out their tasks from another location are affected by Tuesday’s order, DPA news agency reported.
The ministry did not provide any information on how many diplomats are to leave and how many are to remain in the Afghan capital.
International troops will officially begin withdrawing from Afghanistan on May 1. US President Joe Biden has set a September 11 deadline for the withdrawal’s completion.
Many people who crossed into India for treatment of their relatives,couldn’t return to Bangladesh…reports Asian Lite News
A day after the decision was taken to ban commuting at India-Bangladesh land port for 14 days, about 250 Bangladeshis were stranded at the Benapole-Petrapole border.
Many people who went to India for treatment of their relatives were unaware of the government’s decision. They entered the neighbouring country but couldn’t return to Bangladesh.
One of the travellers, Habibur Rahman, said, “We came to India to get treatment with medical visa. I came to know that we will not be able to return to the country. We are running out of money. How can I stay here if I can’t come back?”
Tarun Biswas, Petrapole Chief Immigration Officer, said, “We can do anything … due to the instruction of the Bangladesh government we are not allowing them to go. It is the decision of the Bangladesh government,” he emphasised.
However, the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission has informed that those whose visas are coming to an end can contact them and return to Bangladesh with No Objection Certificate and Corona Negative Test Report.
There are many others who are facing the similar situation and are unable to return to their country and moreover, they are running out of money.
According to the information, there are around 250 people who have been stranded at the border and urging the Indian Immigration Department to allow them to go to Bangladesh.
Hasina, in a bid to tackle other extremist groups such as the Jamaat E Islam and others however, has maintained “live and let live” policy with the Hefazat-e-Islam (HeI) until recently when it broke onto violence, reports Mahua Venkatesh
South Asia watchers appeared to have arrived at a consensus: A peaceful Bangladesh is a boon for India and the region. After members of Hefazat-e-Islam (HeI) members resorted to violence in Bangladesh last month, Prime Minister of the south Asian nation Sheikh Hasina has cracked down on the outfit while promising to uphold the principles of inclusivity and cultural unity.
Her government has continued with unabated efforts to choke the radical outfit.
In a major development, HeI’s Brahmanbaria District Unit Joint Secretary Mufti Abdur Rahim Qasemi resigned as he sought justice over “the mayhem carried out by the Islamist group’s leader and activists in the district,” during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the south Asian nation, Dhaka Tribune (DT) reported.
Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina
“The loss of life and property of the people cannot be approved by Islam in any way. So, I personally stayed away from all these activities (mayhem) and forced the teachers and students of all the madrasas under my supervision not to take part in those,” he said in a statement.
In the last few days, a total of 15 leaders of HeI have been arrested by the Bangladesh authorities.
Not only have intelligence reports shown that HeI members have been actively involved in the violence in Bangladesh which coincided with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit, a few arrested members of the outfit have also confessed.
The Bangladesh based Daily Star, in an article published in its Bengali section, noted that HeI has been attempting to bring down the Hasina government. The outfit also wants to make Bangladesh much like Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Hasina has been cracking down on radical forces
“In the years since, and against the odds, Bangladesh has prospered. And while Pakistan has remained fixated with India, Bangladesh hasn’t manifested similar obsession vis-�-vis Pakistan, despite having borne unspeakable atrocities,” the Spectator �a British weekly magazine�in a report last month said.
However, the report also said the “Bengali identity, forming the basis of Bangladesh as a separate nation, rooted in millennia of Indic pluralism and religious co-existence, continues to be attacked by the perpetrators and collaborators of the 1971 genocide.”
Bangladesh police
“Weeding out of extremism in the region is absolutely essential for the development of India and the south Asian nations. There have been various radical elements that are working to destabilise development and peace in the region,” Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, visiting fellow at ORF and a former ambassador told India Narrative.
HeI, as a group also controls most of the madrassas in the country.
“The recent crackdown comes as a boon for India, as extremist elements have the potential to create discord with the country, especially in the eastern and northeastern region. At a time when the geopolitical structure of the region is changing fast, it is key that India keeps a close watch on the developments,” another analyst on condition of anonymity said.
India PM Narendra Modi and Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina
Hasina, in a bid to tackle other extremist groups such as the Jamaat E Islam and others however, has maintained “live and let live” policy with the HeI until recently when it broke onto violence.
According to the European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS), in the early 1990s, the Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B) was established with funds from Al-Qaeda. HuJI-B had strong links with the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and at the peak of its operations in 2004, the group claimed that up to 15,000 members had been recruited from Madrassas (Islamic religious schools) in Bangladesh and Pakistan, the EFSAS said.
In the Global Terrorism Index by the Sydney-based Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), the country ranked 33rd out of a total of 163 countries. Though in 2019, Bangladesh was placed 30th and a year earlier grabbed the 25th position, it appears to have stemmed the tide of Islamic terrorism that was threatening the nation of over 161 million in the first decade of the 21st century.
(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)
Chinese minister is likely to meet Bangladesh President Md Abdul Hamid and the Bangladesh Army chief during his visit…reports Asian Lite News
Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe will arrive in Dhaka on a brief visit on Tuesday amid the ongoing talks between the two countries over COVID-19 vaccine cooperation.
During his brief visit, the Chinese minister is likely to meet Bangladesh President Md Abdul Hamid and the Bangladesh Army chief.
In December last year, the last-minute postponement of the Chinese Defence Minister’s visit to Bangladesh had raised curiosity about the state of the relations between the two countries.
Meanwhile, Fenghe will later on Tuesday leave for Sri Lanka on a three-day visit, the second high-level visit by a senior Chinese official in recent months.
Wei Fenghe(wikipedia)
General Fenghe will be visiting the island from April 27 to 29, Colombo Page reported.
The Minister is slated to hold bilateral talks with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, and other government officials.
This is the second-highest visit by a Chinese official to the island nation following the visit of Yang Jiechi, Vice Chairman, Chinese Communist Party, in October last year.
There have been concerns about Beijing seeking to increase its footprint in the country through contentious infrastructure projects.
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court is currently hearing several petitions against a Bill that will give special powers to govern the China-backed port city in Colombo.
Meanwhile, amid the controversy surrounding the China-backed Port City in Colombo, Sri Lanka Minister of Justice Ali Sabry has said the government owns 100 per cent of the land and the project has been initiated to bring investment in the special financial zone.
Mahinda Rajapaksa
Addressing a media briefing, Minister Sabry said the total area of the investment zone is 269 hectares and 91 hectares for public facilities and cannot be given to the project company, The Colombo Page reported. Out of the remaining land of the financial zone, 116 hectares or 43 per cent will be given to the project company which initiated the project in 2013 and spent USD 1.4 billion to develop the Port City.
“But all 100 per cent of the land is owned by the government. It is completely false to say that land was given to someone else,” Sabry said.
This comes as the opposition has alleged that a bill to set up a Commission to govern a Colombo Port City has given it too much discretion, denied equal opportunity to Sri Lankans who did not have black money stashed abroad.
