Posts

Hormuz shipping prospects remain uncertain

• Tanker reports fresh explosions in strait; US naval blockade remains in place • US imports of Middle East crude set to cross 0.6m barrels per day • Vance, Ghalibaf trade barbs over ‘messy negotiations’ WASHINGTON / TEH­RAN: Despite an understanding between Iran and Oman, fresh security incidents in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday highlighted the continued risks for regional shipping in the critical waterway. While the agreement would be a step towards reopening the key energy route, Iranian media stressed that any easing still hinged on Washington ending its own naval blockade of Iran’s ports. On Thursday, Centcom said it continued to enforce the naval blockade of Iran, redirecting 49 commercial vessels, disabling two, and boarding two. Highlighting the risks to ships, the captain of an oil tanker reported hearing two explosions while transiting the strait, nine nautical miles southeast of Kumzar in Oman, Britain’s maritime securi...
Post a Comment
Read more

'Enough is enough': Jamaat-i-Islami announces 510 nationwide sit-ins against the petroleum levy

LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami Pakistan (JI) Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Thursday announced peaceful sit-ins against the petroleum levy at 510 locations across the country on Friday, warning that the protests would transform into a movement to overthrow the government if authorities attempted to stop them. Addressing a protest rally by the JI Women’s Wing on Wahdat Road in Lahore against rising petroleum prices and inflation, Rehman said major roads linking districts across Pakistan would be blocked from 4pm onwards; however, ambulances would be allowed to pass without interruption. “If obstacles are created or our peaceful protest against the petroleum levy is blocked, this campaign will turn into an anti-government movement,” he said, demanding that the price of petrol be reduced to Rs225 per litre. JI Lahore Emir Advocate Ziauddin Ansari, Women’s Wing President Dr Humaira Tariq, Samiha Raheel Qazi, Samina Saeed and Uzma Imran also addressed the gathering. Rehman urged the government t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Need for dialogue

THE interior minister’s comments at an Islamabad seminar last week have sparked many a conversation about the state of the ‘system’. Political leaders, as well as commentators, are all weighing in on the significance of his remarks, as he is seen to be close to those that matter in Pakistan. At the event, Mohsin Naqvi had spoken, among other things, of the need for political parties to start a dialogue, and for national leaders to put aside their differences and discuss governance issues. Picking up on this thread, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, while addressing an event in Quetta on Tuesday, stressed the need for holding a multiparty moot to discuss national problems, though he was critical of Mr Naqvi’s call for new provinces. Speaking before the interior minister’s comments, the PTI had last month similarly called for a ‘grand national dialogue’ involving political parties, the establishment and civil society. As the maulana said, “force alone ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Islamabad raises Afghan terrorism concerns at UN Security Council

WASHINGTON: Pakistan on Wednesday informed the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) that multiple terrorist groups continued to operate from safe havens inside Afghanistan, posing a growing threat to regional security. Speaking at a UNSC briefing on threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad also highlighted Islamabad’s concerns over Jammu and Kashmir, as the Council met on the seventh anniversary of India’s August 5, 2019, decision to revoke the region’s special constitutional status. Ahmad described the measures imposed on that day as a new phase of repression against the Kashmiri people and accused India of committing what he called “state terrorism” in the disputed territory. He said the international community must show “zero tolerance” for such actions and should not allow counterterrorism efforts to be used as a pretext to suppress what Pakistan describes as legitimate s...
Post a Comment
Read more

State of confusion

FROM the looks of it, America has no exit strategy to extricate itself from the disastrous war with Iran. US President Donald Trump has alternated between issuing bombastic threats to the Iranians, to claiming that peace was at hand, sometimes making a sharp U-turn within hours. This is not how responsible statecraft plays out. In the past, he had threatened to destroy Iranian civilisation, while more recently he said the US was ready to use “Military Terror … not seen since World War II” against the Islamic Republic. In his latest pronouncement, the US leader has given Iran a “last chance” to choose between a “deal [or] total surrender”. The five-month-old war has shown that the Iranians have mostly remained unfazed by Mr Trump’s threats. The chaos at the White House is understandable. Mr Trump jumped headfirst into the war on Feb 28 at Israel’s persuasion, without doing his homework. Perhaps if he had studied the mistakes his predecessors had made i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cotton production jumps 32 per cent

Image
Textile mills have become reliant on imports amid falling cotton output.—PPI/file LAHORE: Phutti (seed-cotton) arrivals at ginning factories rose by more than 32 per cent year-on-year by July 31, driven by a sharp increase in Sindh despite a slight decline in Punjab, according to the figures released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) on Monday. The PCGA fortnightly report revealed that phutti arrivals reached 785,822 bales by July 31, up 32.33pc from 593,821 bales received during the corresponding period last year. It showed that Punjab’s arrivals stood at 298,150 bales, down 1.1 per cent from a year earlier, while Sindh recorded 487,672 bales, marking a record 66.82pc increase despite recent monsoon rains. Balochistan also posted a 52.67pc rise in arrivals to 22,900 bales. Cotton Ginners Forum Chairman Ihsanul Haq pointed out a significant discrepancy between the PCGA figures and the Punjab government’s Crop Reporting Service (CRS). While...
Post a Comment
Read more

At least 3 killed in rain-related incidents across Punjab; parts of Lahore inundated

LAHORE: At least three people were killed and three others injured in rain-related incidents across Punjab on Monday, while torrential monsoon rains inundated roads and low-lying neighbourhoods in several cities, disrupting traffic, restricting public movement and causing urban flooding. The Flood Forecasting Division (FFD) of the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) on Saturday forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall across parts of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan until Aug 4. According to a loss and damage report by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), a man was killed and another injured when a house collapsed in Uch Sharif area of Bahawalpur district, while two children drowned in Khushab. Two more people were injured in separate roof collapse incidents in Mandi Bahauddin and Lodhran. The report also recorded a house damaged in Bahawalpur. Separately, authorities reported nine deaths in incidents not directly linked to rain or flooding. These included the drown...
Post a Comment
Read more