Pakistan's ex-PM Sharif says intelligence chief asked him to resign

Nawaz Sharif. (REUTERS)
Updated 23 May 2018
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Pakistan's ex-PM Sharif says intelligence chief asked him to resign

  • Sharif's confrontational approach has cleaved sharp divisions within PML-N, which has been weakened over the past year.
  • Sharif, the founder of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, was removed by the Supreme Court over a small source of undeclared income.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday accused a former intelligence chief of asking him to resign during opposition protests in 2014, comments likely to further fray tense civil-military relations ahead of general elections.

Sharif's allegations, made in court documents before the three-time premier read them to a news conference, were a rare explicit accusation by the veteran leader of political meddling by the military.

In other thinly-veiled remarks aimed at the military, Sharif, who was ousted by the Supreme Court in July, also suggested he was removed from office over his foreign policy stance and refusal to drop a treason case against former army dictator Pervez Musharraf.

Sharif said the 2014 protests organized by opposition figure Imran Khan, which paralyzed capital Islamabad for several months, were designed to send him a message that no good would come from pursuing the Musharraf case.

"Those days, a message was sent to me from the chief of an intelligence agency that I should resign, and if that is not possible, I should go on a long leave," Sharif said, without identifying either.

"The demand for my resignation or going on long leave was based on this impression that if Nawaz Sharif was removed from the way it wouldn’t be difficult to wrap up the case against Musharraf."

Pakistan has a host of intelligence agencies but in the past the military-run Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency has most often been accused of election meddling.

The military, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has denied it is behind any political interference in the run-up to the general elections expected in July.

In March, the army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, told a group of journalists the military was a neutral institution and was only concerned with protecting other institutions, according to media leaks of Bajwa's comments.

Sharif, the founder of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, was removed by the Supreme Court over a small source of undeclared income, and later deemed ineligible to head any political party, but has de facto control of PML-N.

He also faces a jail term of up to 14 years in a corruption trial that he calls a "witch hunt" and politically motivated.

Sharif's confrontational approach has cleaved sharp divisions within PML-N, which has been weakened over the past year, and where many lawmakers would prefer a more conciliatory approach with the military.

On Wednesday, Sharif also suggested he was removed from office because of his foreign policy stance. His government had clashed with the military over control of key issues, especially ties with arch-foe India, the United States and Afghanistan.

"I was becoming a stumbling block in some matters," he said.

"That’s why, removing me from my office, removing from party, disqualifying for lifetime and kicking from the political process was considered the only solution."


Putin says China is Russia’s ally, backs its stance on Taiwan

Updated 3 sec ago
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Putin says China is Russia’s ally, backs its stance on Taiwan

  • The two countries have not declared a formal military alliance, but have signed a ‘no limits’ partnership deal in 2022
  • Putin suggested that Taiwan was trying to stir up a Ukraine-style crisis in Asia in order to attract outside support
SOCHI, Russia: Russian President Vladimir Putin described China on Thursday as Russia’s ally and threw his weight behind Beijing’s claims over Taiwan, while stating that no countries had anything to fear from deepening Sino-Russian co-operation.
The two countries have not declared a formal military alliance, but Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a “no limits” partnership deal in 2022, less than three weeks before Putin sent his troops into Ukraine.
In May this year they agreed to deepen what they called their “comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation” for a new era.
“We do not believe that China is pursuing an aggressive policy in the region,” Putin said at the Valdai discussion club in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.
He suggested that Taiwan was trying to stir up a Ukraine-style crisis in Asia in order to attract outside support.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, despite strong objections by the government in Taipei, and regularly holds wargames near the island.
“A lot is going on around Taiwan,” Putin said. “Everyone formally acknowledges, yes, Taiwan is part of China. But in reality? In reality, it is acting in a completely different direction. Provoking the situation toward escalation.
“We do support China. And because of this, we believe that (China) is conducting a completely reasonable policy. And also because it is our ally. We have a very large trade turnover, we co-operate in the security sector.”
Taiwan’s foreign ministry said China and Russia were the real problem.
“The regime of Russia’s Putin launched a war of aggression against Ukraine, leading to misery for Ukraine’s people and sanctions and condemnation from the international community,” it said in a statement.
“China and Russia together continue to undermine the rule-based international order and have become a serious threat to world peace and stability.”
Putin compared military drills between Russia and China to those the United States holds with Japan.
“These exercises do not threaten anyone,” Putin said. “They are aimed at ensuring our security.”

Swiss ‘burqa ban,’ condemned by Muslims, to take effect from Jan. 1, 2025

Updated 51 min 38 sec ago
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Swiss ‘burqa ban,’ condemned by Muslims, to take effect from Jan. 1, 2025

  • Anyone who unlawfully flouts the ban faces a fine of up to $1,144
  • Facial coverings remain permitted for reasons relating to health, safety

ZURICH: A contentious Swiss prohibition on facial coverings in public spaces widely known as the “burqa ban” will take effect on Jan. 1, the government said on Wednesday.
Narrowly passed in a 2021 referendum in neutral Switzerland, and condemned by Muslim associations, the measure was launched by the same group that organized a 2009 ban on new minarets.
The governing Federal Council said in a statement it had fixed the start of the ban, and that anyone who unlawfully flouts it faces a fine of up to 1,000 Swiss francs ($1,144).
The ban does not apply to planes or in diplomatic and consular premises, and faces may also be covered in places of worship and other sacred sites, the government said.
Facial coverings will remain permitted for reasons relating to health and safety, for native customs, or due to weather conditions, it said. They would also be allowed on artistic and entertainment grounds and for advertising, it added.
If such coverings are needed for personal protection in exercising freedom of expression and assembly, they should be permitted provided the responsible authority has already approved them and public order is not compromised, it said.
 


Two separatist militants, two government-run militia members killed in Indian-administered Kashmir

Updated 58 min 29 sec ago
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Two separatist militants, two government-run militia members killed in Indian-administered Kashmir

  • Militants in the Indian-administered portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989
  • Many support rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as independent country

NEW DELHI: Two suspected militants were killed in a gunfight with government forces in Indian-administered Kashmir, officials said Friday, while assailants killed two members of a government-sponsored militia elsewhere in the disputed region.
The region, divided between India and Pakistan but claimed by both in its entirety, has experienced an increase in violence in recent weeks.
The Indian military said a joint team of soldiers and police raided a village near northwestern Sopore town late Thursday following a tip about the presence of a group of militants.
The militants “fired indiscriminately” at the troops, leading to a gunbattle in which two were killed, the military said in a statement.
Troops were continuing to search the area, it said. There was no independent confirmation of the incident.
Meanwhile, assailants killed two members of a government-run militia called the “Village Defense Group” in the remote southern Kishtwar area late Thursday, officials said.
Police blamed rebels fighting against Indian rule in Kashmir for the killings.
The two were abducted from a forested area where they had gone to graze cattle on Thursday. Their bodies were found late Thursday, police said.
The militia was initially formed in the 1990s as a defense against anti-India insurgents in remote Himalayan villages that government forces could not reach quickly. As the insurgency waned in their areas and as some militia members gained notoriety for brutality and rights violations, the militia was largely disbanded.
However last year, after the killing of seven Hindus in two attacks in a remote mountainous village near the highly militarized Line of Control that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, authorities revived the militia and began rearming and training thousands of villagers, including some teenagers.
The Kashmir Tigers, which Indian officials say is an offshoot of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group, claimed responsibility for the killings of the two in a statement on social media. The statement could not be independently verified.
Militants in the Indian-administered portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
India insists the Kashmir militancy is “Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.” Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.
 


Philippine president signs new laws to assert South China Sea rights, sovereignty

Updated 08 November 2024
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Philippine president signs new laws to assert South China Sea rights, sovereignty

  • China summons Philippine ambassador to lodge solemn representations over the new laws
  • Unclear if laws could reduce incidents with China in Manila’s exclusive economic zone

MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed two laws on Friday aimed at strengthening the country’s maritime claims and bolstering its territorial integrity, as tensions with China over disputed areas in the South China Sea persist.
The Maritime Zones Act and the Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act would define the Philippines’ maritime entitlements and set designated sea lanes and air routes to reinforce sovereignty and maritime rights under international law.
China has summoned the Philippine ambassador to lodge solemn representations over two new laws, its foreign ministry said on Friday.
Marcos hailed the laws as a demonstration of the Philippines’ commitment to uphold an international rules-based order, and protect its rights to exploit resources peacefully in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
“Our people, especially our fisher folk, should be able to pursue their livelihood free from uncertainty and harassment,” Marcos said. “We must be able to harness mineral and energy resources in our sea bed.”
While the two laws were envisioned to help US ally the Philippines to monitor and defend against potential encroachment, questions remain about how they will be enforced and if they will impact Chinese activity in the Philippine EEZ.
China asserts its claim of sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea through an armada of coast guard ships, some of which are accused by its neighbors of aggressive conduct and of trying to disrupt energy and fisheries activity in their EEZs.
Senator Francis Tolentino, one of the authors of the maritime zones measure, said he does not expect tensions in Philippine EEZ will be instantly reduced with the implementation of the new laws.
“China will not recognize these, but the imprimatur that we’ll be getting from the international community would strengthen our position,” Tolentino told a press conference.
China’s embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new laws and senator’s remarks.
Tolentino also said the laws would reinforce a 2016 arbitration ruling on the South China Sea, which declared China’s expansive claims had no basis under international law. China has rejected the 2016 decision.


Hungary PM Orban says Europe cannot finance Ukraine war alone

Updated 08 November 2024
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Hungary PM Orban says Europe cannot finance Ukraine war alone

  • Viktor Orban: ‘The Americans will quit this war, first of all they will not encourage the war’

BUDAPEST: The United States under the presidency of Donald Trump will “quit” the war in Ukraine and Europe cannot finance this war alone, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told state radio on Friday before an informal summit of EU leaders in Budapest.
“The Americans will quit this war, first of all they will not encourage the war,” Orban said. “Europe cannot finance this war alone ... some still want to continue sending enormous amounts of money into this lost war but the number of those who remain silent ...and those who cautiously voice that we should adjust to the new situation, is growing.”