ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will visit India next month to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s meeting, his ministry’s official spokesperson confirmed on Thursday, making it the most senior-level visit from Pakistan to the country in seven years.
The development comes as a surprise since Pakistan decided to downgrade diplomatic relations with India after the administration in New Delhi revoked the special constitutional status of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir in August 2019 to integrate it with the rest of the Indian union.
Pakistan also revisited its trade relations with its eastern neighbor and voiced concern that Indian officials were violating international law by trying to change the demography of Muslim-majority Kashmir under its administration.
This is the first time that a senior foreign office representative from Pakistan will visit India since 2016, the last visit being undertaken by Sartaj Aziz, then adviser to the prime minister on foreign affairs, who attended the Heart of Asia conference in Amritsar.
Earlier this year, Pakistan’s foreign office confirmed India’s invitation to its foreign minister to attend the SCO meeting, though it said it was not in a rush to send an acceptance.
“Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will be leading the Pakistan delegation to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Council of Foreign Ministers being held on May 4-5, 2023 in Goa, India,” said the foreign office spokesperson, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch.
“The Foreign Minister is attending the SCO CFM meeting at the invitation of the current Chair of SCO CFM, Dr. S. Jaishankar, minister for external affairs of the Republic of India.”
She added that Pakistan’s participation in the meeting reflected its commitment to the SCO charter and processes and the importance that the country accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities.
“Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had also attended the last meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers held in July last year in Tashkent,” she continued.
Pakistan and India continue to have rocky relations, though the Pakistani foreign minister’s upcoming visit to the neighboring country could prove to be a step toward normalization.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also offered talks to India recently, which prompted Indian officials to say that they wanted normal relations with Pakistan in a “conducive atmosphere.”
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party raised questions on the timing and purpose of FM Bhutto-Zardari’s India visit, saying that it “amounts to surrendering our position” on Indian-administer Kashmir.
“This government has shown that they are capable of surrendering everything to make Prime Minister Narendra Modi happy,” senior PTI leader Chaudhry Fawad Hussain told Arab News.
“The foreign minister will backstab the struggle of the people of Kashmir,” he added.
Andleeb Abbas, former parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, said Pakistan’s foreign policy under Prime Minister Sharif’s government is “directionless,” as the government should have highlighted Indian atrocities in Indian-administered Kashmir.
She also said Sharif should have raised the issue of Muslims getting killed in India, instead of trying to normalize relations with the country.
“The foreign minister should have taken the people of Pakistan into confidence over the purpose and timing of his visit to India before the formal announcement of his trip,” she told Arab News.
International affairs analyst Dr. Huma Baqai referred to the development as a “positive” one and urged political parties to refrain from indulging in politics as it is a national issue.
“We have been hostage to the Kashmir conflict for decades now, and people on both sides (Pakistan and India) remain at the losing end,” Dr. Huma Baqai, an expert on international affairs, told Arab News.
“Both countries should move on to normalize their relations for the benefit of their people,” she said, adding that the SCO meeting was a global event and it would be a mistake if Pakistan’s foreign minister did not participate in it.
“We both should start negotiations to settle our disputes amicably, and our foreign minister’s trip to India could pave the way for it,” she added.
Pakistan’s foreign minister to make most senior-level trip to India in seven years
https://arab.news/pcyt4
Pakistan’s foreign minister to make most senior-level trip to India in seven years
- Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will visit India in May for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting
- The announcement comes as a surprise since Pakistan downgraded its relations with India in 2019 over Kashmir
US-China trade truce leaves military-use rare earth issue unresolved, sources say
Beijing has not committed to grant export clearance for some specialized rare-earth magnets that US military suppliers need for fighter jets and missile systems, the people said. The United States maintains export curbs on China’s purchases of advanced artificial intelligence chips out of concern that they also have military applications.
At talks in London last week, China’s negotiators appeared to link progress in lifting export controls on military-use rare earth magnets with the longstanding US curbs on exports of the most advanced AI chips to China. That marked a new twist in trade talks that began with opioid trafficking, tariff rates and China’s trade surplus, but have since shifted to focus on export controls.
In addition, US officials also signalled they are looking to extend existing tariffs on China for a further 90 days beyond the August 10 deadline agreed in Geneva last month, both sources said, suggesting a more permanent trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is unlikely before then.
The two people who spoke to Reuters about the London talks requested not to be named because both sides have tightly controlled disclosure. The White House, State Department and Department of Commerce did not immediately respond to requests for comment. China’s Foreign and Commerce ministries did not respond to faxed requests for comment.
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the handshake deal reached in London between American and Chinese negotiators was a “great deal,” adding, “we have everything we need, and we’re going to do very well with it. And hopefully they are too.”
And US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said there would be no “quid pro quo” on easing curbs on exports of AI chips to China in exchange for access to rare earths.
CHINA CHOKEHOLD
But China’s chokehold on the rare earth magnets needed for weapons systems remains a potential flashpoint.
China dominates global production of rare earths and holds a virtual monopoly on refining and processing.
A deal reached in Geneva last month to reduce bilateral tariffs from crushing triple-digit levels had faltered over Beijing’s restrictions on critical minerals exports that took shape in April.
That prompted the Trump administration to respond with export controls preventing shipments of semiconductor design software, jet engines for Chinese-made planes and other goods to China.
At the London talks, China promised to fast-track approval of rare-earth export applications from non-military US manufacturers out of the tens of thousands currently pending, one of the sources said. Those licenses will have a six-month term. Beijing also offered to set up a “green channel” for expediting license approvals from trusted US companies.
Initial signals were positive, with Chinese rare-earths magnet producer JL MAG Rare-Earth, saying on Wednesday it had obtained export licenses that included the United States, while China’s Commerce Ministry confirmed it had approved some “compliant applications” for export licenses.
But China has not budged on specialized rare earths, including samarium, which are needed for military applications and are outside the fast-track agreed in London, the two people said. Automakers and other manufacturers largely need other rare earth magnets, including dysprosium and terbium.
BIG ISSUES REMAIN
The rushed trade meeting in London followed a call last week between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Trump said US tariffs would be set at 55 percent for China, while China had agreed to 10 percent from the United States.
Trump initially imposed tariffs on China as punishment for its massive trade surplus to the United States and over what he says is Beijing’s failure to stem the flow of the powerful opioid fentanyl into the US
Chinese analysts are pessimistic about the likelihood of further breakthroughs before the August 10 deadline agreed in Geneva.
“Temporary mutual accommodation of some concerns is possible but the fundamental issue of the trade imbalance cannot be resolved within this timeframe, and possibly during Trump’s remaining term,” said Liu Weidong, a US-China expert at the Institute of American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
An extension of the August deadline could allow the Trump administration more time to establish an alternative legal claim for setting higher tariffs on China under the Section 301 authority of the USTR in case Trump loses the ongoing legal challenge to the tariffs in US court, one of the people with knowledge of the London talks said.
The unresolved issues underscore the difficulty the Trump administration faces in pushing its trade agenda with China because of Beijing’s control of rare earths and its willingness to use that as leverage with Washington, said Ryan Hass, director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution.
“It has taken the Trump team a few punches in the nose to recognize that they will no longer be able to secure another trade agreement with China that disproportionately addresses Trump’s priorities,” Hass said.
Toddler among seven killed in India chopper crash
DEHRADUN: Seven people including a toddler were killed Sunday in India when a helicopter ferrying Hindu pilgrims from a shrine crashed in the Himalayas, officials said.
The fatal accident comes as relatives mourn at least 279 people killed when a passenger plane slammed into a residential area in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on Thursday.
The helicopter crash left the pilot and all six passengers dead when their chopper came down during the flight from Kedarnath temple, in Uttarakhand state, disaster response official Nandan Singh Rajwar told AFP.
The state’s chief minister, Pushkar Singh Dhami, said rescue teams had been dispatched to the scene after the “very sad news.”
The crash was likely caused by bad weather, according to district tourism official Rahul Chaubey.
Pilgrims flock to Kedarnath temple during the summer when it is possible to access the site, which stands at an altitude of 3,584 meters (11,759 feet).
A cottage industry of helicopter charter firms has developed to serve wealthy pilgrims who want to visit shrines in the Indian Himalayas, but who prefer to avoid arduous trekking.
Six people were killed last month in another helicopter crash en route to the shrine.
Trump says if Iran attacks, ‘full strength’ of US military will ‘come down’
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump warned Iran on Sunday that it would experience “the full strength” of the US military if it attacks the United States, reiterating that Washington “had nothing to do” with Israel’s strikes on Tehran’s nuclear and intelligence facilities.
“The US had nothing to do with the attack on Iran, tonight. If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the US Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before,” he said
He added that “we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict!!!“
Families hold funerals for Air India crash victims
- Health officials have begun handing over the first passenger bodies identified through DNA testing
- There was just one survivor out of 242 passengers and crew on board the Air India jet when it crashed
AHMEDABAD, India: Grieving families were due to hold funerals in India on Sunday for their relatives who were among at least 279 killed in one of the world’s worst plane crashes in decades.
Health officials have begun handing over the first passenger bodies identified through DNA testing, delivering them in white coffins in the western city of Ahmedabad.
“My heart is very heavy, how do we give the bodies to the families?” said Tushar Leuva, an NGO worker who has been helping with the recovery efforts.
There was just one survivor out of 242 passengers and crew on board the Air India jet when it crashed Thursday into a residential area of Ahmedabad, killing at least 38 people on the ground.
“How will they react when they open the gate? But we’ll have to do it,” Leuva said at the mortuary on Saturday.
One victim’s relative who did not want to be named said they had been instructed not to open the coffin when they receive it.
Witnesses reported seeing badly burnt bodies and scattered remains.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner erupted into a fireball when it went down moments after takeoff, smashing into buildings used by medical staff.
Mourning relatives have been providing DNA samples to be matched with passengers, with 31 identified as of Sunday morning.
“This is a meticulous and slow process, so it has to be done meticulously only,” Rajnish Patel, a doctor at Ahmedabad’s civil hospital, said late Saturday.
The majority of those injured on the ground have been discharged, he added, with one or two remaining in critical care.
Indian authorities are yet to detail the cause of the disaster and have ordered inspections of Air India’s Dreamliners.
Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said Saturday he hoped decoding the recovered black box, or flight data recorder, would “give an in-depth insight” into what went wrong.
Just one person miraculously escaped the wreckage, British citizen Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, whose brother was also on the flight.
Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight, as well as 12 crew members.
Among the passengers was a father of two young girls, Arjun Patoliya, who had traveled to India to scatter his wife’s ashes following her death weeks earlier.
“I really hope that those girls will be looked after by all of us,” said Anjana Patel, the mayor of London’s Harrow borough where some of the victims lived.
“We don’t have any words to describe how the families and friends must be feeling,” she added.
While communities were in mourning, one woman recounted how she survived only by arriving late at the airport.
“The airline staff had already closed the check-in,” said 28-year-old Bhoomi Chauhan.
“At that moment, I kept thinking that if only we had left a little earlier, we wouldn’t have missed our flight,” she told the Press Trust of India news agency.
Spaniards packing water pistols blame impact of mass tourism for housing crunch
- Cities across the world are struggling with how to cope with overtourism and a boom in short-term rental platforms
- Spaniards have staged several large protests in Barcelona, Madrid and other cities in recent years to demand lower rents
BARCELONA: In Barcelona’s residential Gràcia neighborhood known for its quaint squares, Txema Escorsa feels he is being left behind.
The friendly faces of neighbors in his apartment building have been replaced by a non-stop flow of hard-partying foreigners, and his teacher’s salary can’t keep pace with the rising rent.
“It is tough for me to imagine what to do next,” he told The Associated Press in the living room of his two-bedroom apartment. “If I leave, will I be contributing to Barcelona losing its essence that comes from its locals? But there comes a time when I’m fed up.”
Escorsa, 33, is just one of many residents who believe tourism has gone too far in the city famed for Antoni Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia basilica and the Las Ramblas promenade, running roughshod over communities and exacerbating a housing crisis.
It’s not just a Spanish problem. Cities across the world are struggling with how to cope with overtourism and a boom in short-term rental platforms, like Airbnb, but perhaps nowhere has surging discontent been so evident as in Barcelona, where protesters plan to take to the streets on Sunday.
Similar demonstrations are slated in several other Spanish cities, including on the Balearic islands of Mallorca and Ibiza, as well as in the Italian postcard city of Venice, Portugal’s capital Lisbon and other cities across southern Europe — marking the first time a protest against tourism has been coordinated across the region.
’Very likely water pistols will be back’
A poll in June 2022 found just 2 percent of Spaniards thought housing was a national problem. Three years later, almost a third of those surveyed said it is now a leading concern. (Both polls were of 4,000 people, with a margin of error of 1.6 percent)
Spaniards have staged several large protests in Barcelona, Madrid and other cities in recent years to demand lower rents. When thousands marched through the streets of Spain’s capital in April, some held homemade signs saying “Get Airbnb out of our neighborhoods.”
Last year, Barcelona seemed to reach a tipping point when a rally in favor of “degrowing tourism” ended with some protesters shooting water pistols at unsuspecting tourists. Images of those incidents went around the world, and more such scenes are expected on Sunday.
“It is very likely the water pistols will be back,” said Daniel Pardo, one of the organizers of the Barcelona protest. “In fact, we encourage people to bring their own.”
Spain, with a population of 48 million, hosted a record 94 million international visitors in 2024, compared with 83 million in 2019, making it one of the most-visited countries in the world. It could receive as many as 100 million tourists this year, according to studies cited by Spain’s economy minister.
Blocking tourist rentals
Spain’s municipal and federal authorities are striving to show they hear the public outcry and are taking appropriate action to put the tourism industry on notice, despite the fact it contributes 12 percent of national GDP.
Almost two-thirds of those who took part in a poll conducted last year in Barcelona said tourist apartments led to bothersome behavior. Two months later, the city stunned Airbnb and other services who help rent properties to tourists by announcing the elimination of all 10,000 short-term rental licenses in the city by 2028.
A survey by Spain’s public opinion office last year showed more than three-quarters of respondents favored tighter regulations on tourist apartments. Spain’s left-wing government approved regulations making it easier for owners of apartments to block others from renting to tourists in their building, as well as approving measures to allow cities like Barcelona to cap rents. And last month, it ordered Airbnb to remove almost 66,000 holiday rentals from the platform which it said had violated local rules.
Spain’s Consumer Rights Minister Pablo Bustinduy told AP that the tourism sector “cannot jeopardize the constitutional rights of the Spanish people,” which enshrines their right to housing and well-being.
Carlos Cuerpo, the economy minister, said in a separate AP interview that the government is aware it must tackle the unwanted side effects of mass tourism.
“These record numbers in terms of tourism also pose challenges, and we need to deal with those challenges also for our own population,” Cuerpo said.
‘Brewing for decades’
The short-term rental industry believes it is being treated unfairly.
“I think a lot of our politicians have found an easy scapegoat to blame for the inefficiencies of their policies in terms of housing and tourism over the last 10, 15, 20 years,” Airbnb’s general director for Spain and Portugal, Jaime Rodríguez de Santiago told the AP. “If you look at the over-tourism problem in Spain, it has been brewing for decades, and probably since the 60s.”
He says hotels are still the leading accommodation for tourists. In Barcelona, hotels accounted for 20 million tourists in 2024, compared with 12 million who used homes, according to local data.
Rodríguez de Santiago notes the contradiction of Barcelona’s Mayor Jaume Collboni backing the expansion of the city’s international airport — announced this week — while still planning to wipe out the tourist apartments.
That argument either hasn’t trickled down to the ordinary residents of Barcelona, or isn’t resonating.
Escorsa, the teacher in Barcelona, doesn’t just oppose Airbnb in his home city; he has ceased to use it even when traveling elsewhere, out of principle.
“In the end, you realize that this is taking away housing from people,” he said.
