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Tag: China

  • ‘Jinnah se jo kare pyaar, wo Pakistan se kaise kare inkaar,’ BJP member accuses Akhilesh Yadav of being pro-Pakistani

    ‘Jinnah se jo kare pyaar, wo Pakistan se kaise kare inkaar,’ BJP member accuses Akhilesh Yadav of being pro-Pakistani

    Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Sambit Patra accused Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav of showing his love to Pakistan and its founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

    “Jinnah se jo kare pyaar, wo Pakistan se kaise kare inkaar (Those who love Jinnah, how can they reject Pakistan),” said Patra on Monday.

    Opposition party chief Akhilesh Yadav recently shared his views on China’s investment in India during an interview with The Economic Times and said that China, not Pakistan was India’s real enemy.

    “Our real enemy is China. Pakistan is our political enemy. But BJP only targets Pakistan because of their vote politics,” said Yadav.

    He further added that China has intruded in the territory of India and its businesses.

    He commented, “The Indian government should think about this and consult opposition parties on how to deal with the situation.”

    Patra accused Yadav of “love” for Pakistan.

    Prior to this incident, BJP leaders also targeted Yadav over his remarks on Independence from the British rule last year at a public gathering.

    He was accused by the ruling government that he gave credit to Jinnah for India’s independence from British rule.

    Yadav apparently said in the video shared by BJP leaders, “Jinnah became a barrister after studying in the same institution. He obtained his education and served as a barrister in the same place. He got freedom for India. He did not back down from any struggle…”

    However, a fact-check by AltNews revealed that the clip was distorted and was actually a two-minute-long video.

    The Indian news agency, ANI, posted the complete video on Twitter on October 31, 2021.

    Yadav said, “Sardar Patel used to make decisions keeping in mind the situation on the ground. He would only make decisions after gaining a proper understanding of what was happening at the grassroots level. That’s why he is known as the Iron Man of India. Sardar Patel, Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and [Muhammad Ali] Jinnah became barristers after attending the same institution. They got freedom for India. They did not back down from any struggles. It was Iron Man of India Sardar Patel who imposed a ban on an ideology (RSS).”

  • Slow internet woes: Man sets fire to internet equipment, gets seven years in prison

    Slow internet woes: Man sets fire to internet equipment, gets seven years in prison

    Authorities in China have sentenced a man to seven years in prison for setting internet equipment on fire after becoming enraged by a slow internet connection.

    According to NDTV, a man by the name of Lan in China said in a statement that the internet was so slow that he retaliated by destroying a public box containing optical fiber network cables.

    In a court statement, details statated that “the man used a lighter to set a napkin he had on him on fire, then burned down a telecommunications box at a traffic intersection”.

    Nearly 4,000 households and offices, including a public hospital, lost internet access for 28 to 50 hours as a result of the fire.

    “After the incident, public security officials seized Lan’s instrument of crime — a lighter,” according to the court in Cenxi.

    Lan was sentenced to seven years in prison for “disrupting public telecommunications facilities.”

  • Pakistan decides to make cryptocurrency illegal

    Pakistan decides to make cryptocurrency illegal

    The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the federal government have come together to make a decision to ban the usage of all types of cryptocurrencies.

    The 38-page report has been submitted by the SBP Deputy Governor Seema Kamil to the Sindh High Court to declare it illegal.

    On October 20, 2021, the provincial high court directed the government to form a committee presided by the federal secretary of finance to determine cryptocurrency’s legal status and submit a detailed report.

    The submitted report has stated that digital currency is based on virtual business that could be used for terrorism financing and money laundering.

    It also listed eleven countries that banned digital currency including Saudi Arabia and China and urged the court to impose high penalties over unauthorised usage as these countries have implemented.

    The court ordered that the report should be submitted to the finance and law ministries for a final decision on its legal status. They will decide if a ban would be within constitutional jurisdiction.

    The hearing was heard by the two-bench judge headed by Justice Karim Khan Agha. The next hearing will be held on April 12 this year.

    Meanwhile, a TV host and crypto entrepreneur, Waqar Zaka pleaded to make digital currency legal. In his view, it would benefit the economy of the country.

    It was reported previously that Pakistanis have lost almost 18 crores in a cryptocurrency-related scam. Almost 55,000 people have become victims of the scam. In total, 11 mobile applications have been identified as part of the fraud.

    As per FIA Cyber Crime Reporting Sindh chief Imran Riaz, the applications that are involved include, MCX, HFC, HTFOX, FXCOPY, OKIMINI, BB001, AVG86C, BX66, UG, TASKTOK, 91fp.

  • PM Khan likely to attend Beijing Olympics 2022 in China next month

    PM Khan likely to attend Beijing Olympics 2022 in China next month

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan could well be one of the leading dignitaries watching the Winter Olympics, which start in Beijing on February 4.

     The government of China and China Sports Authority are looking forward to Pakistan’s PM Khan’s attending the opening or the closing ceremony or attending during the event. The invite was sent to the Pakistan Cricket Board, reports The News.

     “Yes, we are in contact with the Chinese authorities and have received a communication. We have forwarded that to the foreign ministry through the official channel,” said Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official.

    The United States, Britain, Australia, and Canada have announced a diplomatic boycott of the event, while North Korea was the latest country to pull out, citing the pandemic.

    Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Khalid Mansoor, a couple of days back, had revealed the prime minister’s plan to visit Beijing early next month.

  • World powers unanimously declare nuclear war unwinnable

    World powers unanimously declare nuclear war unwinnable

    The countries widely considered world powers (China, Russia, Britain, the United States, and France) have unanimously agreed to refrain from a nuclear arms race, according to a joint statement by the five nuclear powers published by the Kremlin on Monday.

    These five countries being members of the United Nations Security Council shoulder the responsibility to keep away from war.

    “We affirm that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” the English-language version of the statement read.

    “As nuclear use would have far-reaching consequences, we also affirm that nuclear weapons — for as long as they continue to exist — should serve defensive purposes, deter aggression, and prevent war.”

    The statement from the so-called P5 group comes as bilateral relations between the United States and Moscow have fallen to their lowest since the end of the Cold War, while relations between Washington and China are also at a low over a range of disagreements.

    The western countries have shown consternation on massive build-up at Ukraine’s border by Russia.

    As Russian forces build at the Ukraine border, last Thursday US President Joe Biden told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that a possible move on Ukraine will draw sanctions and an increased US presence in Europe.

  • UNSC adopts resolution to facilitate Afghanistan

    The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) members unanimously adopted a resolution to provide vital support to Afghanistan.

    The resolution states that “payment of funds, other financial assets or economic resources, and the provision of goods and services necessary to ensure the timely delivery of such assistance or to support such activities are permitted.”

    Such assistance supports “basic human needs in Afghanistan” and is “not a violation” of sanctions imposed on entities linked to the Taliban, added the resolution.

    The move came as Afghanistan faces an economic meltdown since the Taliban seized control of the country in August. The crisis has left nearly 23 million people facing acute food insecurity, according to the World Food Programme.

    “Humanitarian aid and life-saving assistance must be able to reach the Afghan people without any hindrance,” China’s UN (United Nation) Ambassador, Zhang Jun, said in a tweet on Monday.

    The decision has been made to limit the scope of the resolution to one year, which only suggests that this aims to satisfy Washington’s European allies.

  • Extraordinary embryo of dinosaur discovered in China

    A 66 million year old embryo has been discovered in Ganzhou in southern China, reports the BBC.

    The embryo has been titled “Baby Yingliang”.

    Researcher Dr Fion Waisum Ma said it is “the best dinosaur embryo ever found in history”.

    Surprisingly, it resembles the embryos of modern birds. It is known to be in a coiled state similar to a bird about to be hatched.

    “This indicates that such behaviour in modern birds first evolved and originated among their dinosaur ancestors,” Dr Ma told the AFP news agency.

    Paleontologist Prof Steve Brusatte, who was also part of the research team, tweeted that it was “one of the most stunning dinosaur fossils” he had ever seen, and that the embryo was on the brink of hatching.

    Baby Yingliang length is 10.6in (27cm) in all and it stays inside a 6.7 inch-long egg at the Yingliang Stone Nature History Museum in China.

    The egg was discovered in the year 2000 and was kept in storage for ten years.

    Researchers were surprised to find that the embryo had something inside.

    The baby dinosaur embryo was folded inside a rock and researchers are making an effort to further analyse the fossil of this skeleton.

  • 293 journalists jailed, 24 killed in 2021: CPJ report

    Record number of journalists were jailed around the world in 2021 with China remaining the world’s worst jailer of journalists for the third year in a row with 50 journalists behind the bars, states a report by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

    Apart from China, 26 journalists are behind bars in Burma, 25 in Egypt, 23 in Vietnam and 19 in Belarus.

    Adding those jailed in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Russia, Ethiopia and Eritrea, the CPJ said a total of 293 journalists were in prison worldwide as of December 1.

    Forty of the 293 detained journalists – less than 14 per cent – are women.

    Executive director of the group Joel Simon said, “This is the sixth year in a row that CPJ has documented record numbers of journalists imprisoned around the world. It’s distressing to see many countries on the list year after year, but it is especially horrifying that Myanmar and Ethiopia have so brutally slammed the door on press freedom.”

    According to the report, 24 journalists are believed to be killed around the world this year. India has the highest number of journalists – four – confirmed to have been murdered in retaliation for their work. A fifth was killed while covering a protest. While, in the west, Mexico is at the top as three journalists were murdered for their reporting and the motives for six other killings are under investigation.

    The CPJ said the number of journalists behind bars reflects “increasing intolerance for independent reporting around the world”.

    Last month, Freedom Network reported that two dozen journalists in Pakistan had been prosecuted (2019-21) over the past under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca).

  • ‘Govt is going to ensure Pakistani citizens are safe without blood being spilt on either side’: Moeed Yusuf on BBC HARDtalk

    ‘Govt is going to ensure Pakistani citizens are safe without blood being spilt on either side’: Moeed Yusuf on BBC HARDtalk

    National Security Adviser (NSA) to the Prime Minister, Dr Moeed Yusuf, while giving an interview to BBC host Stephen John Sackur on BBC HARDtalk said that the state’s job is not to kill another Pakistani.

    “We are going to try our level best to ensure that Pakistani citizens are safe without any more blood being spilt on either side.” The NSA’s comments come in reference to the Pakistan government’s talks with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

    “How secure is Pakistan after the Taliban are back in power in Afghanistan?”: Sackur

    Sackur questioned Yusuf on how secure Pakistan is after the Taliban are back in power in Afghanistan.

    “Frankly it depends on how responsibly the international community plays the future. Pakistan was not behind anything. There was a policy employed by the United States (US) and others who are in Afghanistan. That was always a failing policy. The only country that kept saying that you will not find a military solution to this problem was Pakistan and our advice was not heeded.”

    “We kept saying negotiate from a position of strength, we weren’t listened to, we were blamed and scape-goated and the result is in front of you,” added Yusuf.

    “We heard the worried voices of the Supreme Court when they were grilling PM Khan,” Sackur

    “Pakistanis are very worried. We heard the worried voices of the Supreme Court when they were grilling PM Khan on what was going on under these negotiations with the Taliban,” responded Sackur and further added that during the grilling of the premier, one of the judges alluded to the 2014 terrible atrocity where the TTP attacked the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar and killed more than 130 children and questioned PM Khan whether the government was about to sign a documented defeat with those who killed these children, and are we going to surrender once again.

    “You should recognise the state of democracy in this country that the judge calls in the prime minister who goes gets grilled and now Stephen Sackur has the opportunity to ask me. That’s the state of democracy and I am proud of that,” responded Yusuf.

    “We have a consistent policy as a state to say that negotiation must happen from a position of strength and this is what we told the Americans and United Kingdom (UK).”

    “No military bases of China in Balochistan”: Yusuf

    Yusuf said there were no military bases of China in Balochistan, rather there were economic bases there where any country could invest.

    “Let me clarify that there are no military bases offered to China in Balochistan, including Gwadar. Yes, there are economic bases and the same was also offered to the United States, Russia, and the Middle East and we are open to all the countries,” the NSA said, adding, “CPEC is what, it is road infrastructure and energy infrastructure and anybody can come and invest there, we are not closed to anybody.”

    “Is Pakistan developing relations with China at the cost of its principles of supporting the rights of Muslims in the world?” Sackur

    Sackur asked whether Pakistan was developing relations with China at the cost of its principles of supporting the rights of Muslims in the world. “You raise your voice for Kashmiri Muslims but refuse to condemn the violation of human rights in a Chinese province,” the interviewer asked.

    Moeed said that Pakistan did not accept the Western version of human rights violations in Xinjiang province and if they have any concerns, they should talk to China. “We have relations of trust with China and our ambassador and other delegations from here also visited the Xinjiang province,” he said.

  • US President Biden invites Pakistan for virtual summit on democracy, leaves China and Turkey out

    United States (US) President Joe Biden has invited 110 countries, including Pakistan, for a virtual summit on democracy. The summit is expected to take place on December 9 and 10.

    According to a list posted on the US State Department website, America’s top rival China and North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) ally Turkey are missing from the list.

    Surprisingly, US traditional Arab allies Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are also not invited. From the Middle East region, only Israel and Iraq are excepted to join other countries for the meeting.

    The conference was a campaign pledge by Biden, who has placed the struggle between democracies and “autocratic governments” at the heart of his foreign policy, reports Dawn. However, the second edition of this meeting will take place in person next year.

    While announcing the summit in August, the White House said the meeting would “galvanise commitments and initiatives across three principal themes: defending against authoritarianism, fighting corruption, and promoting respect for human rights”.