THE ECHO OF INDIA KOLKATA
4 India’s Neighbours

Monday June 12 , 2017

Afghan commando kills Pak an important partner
two US soldiers: Official in S Asia, Putin tells Sharif
JALALABAD (AFGHANISTAN), JUNE 11 /--/ An
Afghan commando today killed two American soldiers and
wounded two others during a joint operation in eastern
Nangarhar province, a stronghold of Islamic State
militants, an official said. The Taliban claimed
responsibility for the insider attack in the volatile district
of Achin, saying it was carried out by an infiltrator. "Today
around noon an Afghan commando opened fire on US troops
in Achin district, killing two American soldiers," provincial
spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP. "The (Afghan)
soldier was also killed in the return fire."
NATO forces in Kabul declined to immediately
comment on the killings. "We are aware of an incident in
eastern Afghanistan," the US-led military coalition said in
a brief statement. "We will release more information when
appropriate." So-called "green-on-blue" attacks -- when
Afghan soldiers or police turn their guns on international
troops -- have been a major problem during NATO's long
years fighting alongside Afghan forces. Western officials say
most such attacks stem from personal grudges and cultural
misunderstandings rather than insurgent plots. The killings
have bred fierce mistrust between local and foreign forces
even as the rate of such incidents has dropped in recent
year s. NATO tr oops have adopted special security
measures in recent years to try to counter the threat. Insider
attacks have also plagued Afghan troops, depleting morale
and causing mistrust within security ranks. (AFP)
China
launches
recordbreaking
drone swarm
BEIJING, JUNE 11 /- -/
China has launched a
record breaking swarm
of
119
fixed-wing
unmanned
aerial
vehicles, authorities
said today. T he f ea t
broke the previous
record of a swarm of 67
drones,
the
China
Electronics Technology
Group
Corporation
(CETC) said. The 119
drones
performed
catapult-assisted takeoffs and formations in
the sky.
According to the
CETC,
"swarm
intelligence"
is
regarded as the core of
artificial intelligence of
unmanned systems and
the future of intelligent
unmanned
systems.
Zhao
Yanjie ,
an
engineer with CETC,
said that since drones
wer e i nvented in 1917,
intelligent swarms have
become a disruptive
force to "change rules
of the game".
Reports
in
the
Chinese official media in
the recent past said
Chinese military is also
testing to launch mass
armed drones as a new
technique in battle
conditions. China is
currently the largest
maker of drones. (PTI)
ISLAMABAD, JUNE 11 /-/
Russian
President
Vladimir Putin has termed
Pakistan as an important
partner for his country in
South Asia, a media report
said. He conveyed this to
Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif during their meeting
on the sidelines of the
Shanghai
Cooperation
Organisation (SCO) summit
in Astana on Friday. The two
leaders discussed bilateral
relations, including trade
and economic cooperation,
and
also
current
international issues during
the meeting. Foreign Affairs
Aziz and Minister for
Commerce Khurram Dastgir
were present at the meeting,
Pakistan Today reported.
Putin congratulated Sharif
on Pakistan`s accession to
the SCO. Putin said: "I am
glad that we met for a
bilateral meeting on the
sidelines of the SCO
Summit." He said RussiaPakistan relations have been
constructive and mutually
beneficial. ."our relations
are developing in many
areas, and our trade has
increased, even if only by a
few percentage points. Of
course, we are able to do
much more than we are
doing now," he said. In turn,
Prime Minister Sharif
thanked President Putin,
and the Russian Federation
for supporting Pakistan`s
full membership in the SCO.
Sharif said, "while in Ufa we
did agree on improving
Pakistan-Russian bilateral
trade, there is improvement
but not the level that we
agreed upon. It has been
always my endeavour to
build and strengthen our
relationship and I am
continuing to strive for that."
There has been growing
bonhomie between Russia
and Pakistan, with both
holding their first-ever joint
military
exercise
in
September 2016 in the
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
province of Pakistan, and
the
first-ever
RussiaPakistan consultation on
regional issues in midDecember
2016
at
Islamabad. Both sides also
inked a deal for Mi-35
helicopters.
Russia`s
ambassador to Pakistan,
Alexey Y. Dedov, is reported
to have said that Moscow
and Islamabad have held
discussions to merge the
China-backed CPEC with
the Russia-backed Eurasian
Economic Union.
China says India's tsunami warning system
in SCS can be part of existing mechanism
BEIJING, JUNE 11 /--/
China on Sunday reacted
guardedly to India's plans
to establish a tsunami
warning system in the
South China Sea, saying
the proposal can be a part
of the existing mechanism
being operated by it since
last year "Strengthening
the tsunami early warning
research conforms to the
interests of all parties,"
the
Chinese
Foreign
Ministry said in response
to a question "China and
the relevant countries in
the region in accordance
with the requirements of
the
United
Nations
agencies, in the South
China
sea,
have
established the related
facilities and systems," it
said
"The
parties
concerned can discuss
relevant
cooperation
issues under the existing
cooperation mechanisms,"
it said China, which
claims almost all of the
South China Sea, said its
tsunami system in the area
had begun issuing alerts
though the system is under
construction.
China feels that India's
proposal should be a part
of its system China in the
past had warned India to
stay away from the hotlycontested waters, over
which Brunei, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Taiwan
and Vietnam have counter
claims India has put in
place its own tsunamialert system after the 2004
deadly
tsunami
M
Rajeevan, secretary in the
Ministry
of
Earth
Sciences, told the media
last month that India
already had a system in
place to provide tsunami
warnings to south-east and
south Asian nations "India
is the chairperson of
RIMES
(Regional
Integrated Multi-hazard
Early War ning System for
Asia and Africa). We are
also a major contributor in
terms of resources. (PTI)
Shia man in Pak gets
death sentence for
posting
blasphemous
content on Facebook
LAHORE, JUNE 11 /--/ A
minority Shia Muslim man
in Pakistan was today
sentenced to death by an
anti-terrorism court for
posting
blasphemous
content on Facebook, the
first death sentence handed
for blasphemy on social
media in the country. The
sentence is the harshest
among cyber-crime related
sentences handed down so
far in the country. Pakistan
has never executed anyone
convicted of blasphemy.
Judge Shabir Ahmed of the
Anti-Terrorism Court in
Punjab
province's
Bahawalpur
district
announced the sentence for
30- year-old Taimoor Raza
after holding him guilty of
posting derogatory content
on Facebook. According to
the Counter Terrorism
Department of Punjab
Police, Raza, who hails from
Okara, some 200 km from
Lahore, was arrested last
year
at
Bahawalpur
following complaints by his
co-workers that he had
shared
blasphemous
content on Facebook.
Blasphemy is an extremely
sensitive issue in Pakistan
where 97 per cent of the
population is Muslim.
Pakistan's tough blasphemy
law has attracted criticism
from rights groups, who say
they are frequently misused
to settle personal scores.
Pakistan last year passed a
controversial cyber crime
bill
(Prevention
of
Electronic Crimes Act 2016)
that
proposed
strict
punishment for cyber crime
offences. (PTI)
THE ECHO OF INDIA
SOLID NEWS DAILY
Pak denies
reports of troops
deployed in Qatar
Three Chinese
warships dock
in Pak
KARACHI, JUNE 11/--/
Three Chinese warships
have ar rived on a f ourday
goodwill
and
training
visit
at
Pakistan's
southern
port city of Karachi.
Chang Chun, Jing Zhou
and Chao Hu warships
of
the
Peoples
Libera tion A r my Nav y
are part of a task group
that will hold a Passage
Exercise with Pakistan
N avy ships to enhance
interoperability
between the two navies,
officials here said. A
welcome ceremony was
organised as the fleet
reached here on a fourday
goodwill
and
training visit yesterday.
The
visit
will
promote
the
understanding
and
mutual trust between
the people of China and
Pakistan and boost the
cooperation
and
friendship between the
two
nations,
Commander
of
the
Chinese navy fleet Rear
Admiral Shen Hao said.
Shen said the pragmatic
cooperation
and
communication between
the two navies will be
further strengthened so
as to contribute to
regional stability and
world peace and play an
active role in promoting
common development.
(PTI)

An Afghan boy receives cocking oil as relief assistance, during the holy month of Ramadan in Jalalabad
––REUTERS
ISLAMABAD, JUNE 11 /-/ Pakistan today rejected as
"fabricated and baseless"
reports that it plans to
deploy its troops in Qatar
amid diplomatic tensions in
the Middle East. In a
statement, Foreign Office
spokesman Nafees Zakaria
rejected reports appearing
in some foreign media
regarding deployment of
Pakistani troops in Qatar.
He
said
these
were
"completely fabricated and
baseless".
He stressed that "these
false reports appear to be
part
of
a
malicious
campaign aimed at creating
misunderstanding between
Pakistan and brotherly
Muslim countries in the
Gulf.? Bahrain, Egypt,
Saudi Arabia and the UAE
have cut ties with Qatar,
accusing their former Gulf
Cooperation Council ally of
supporting
extremist
groups. Earlier, there were
reports of Pakistan sending
troops to Qatar after
Turkey's decided to deploy
troops in Qatar. Pakistan
has been in a fix as it enjoys
good ties with both Doha and
Riyadh. It so far has been
staying neutral in the issue.
(PTI)
THE ECHO OF INDIA
SOLID NEWS DAILY
Pak PM Sharif's party smells
conspiracy to remove him
LAHORE, JUNE 11 /--/
Some people hiding behind
"constitutional institutions"
in Pakistan are hatching a
"systematic conspiracy" to
remove Prime Minister
Nawaz
Sharif
from
mainstream politics using the
high-profile Panama Papers
case, the ruling PML-N party
alleg ed today. This is the
second time in less than a
week that Sharif's party has
accused Pakistan's powerful
establishment of conspiring
to
oust
the
civilian
government amid strains in
ties with the the powerful
military and the judiciary.
On June 5, Sharif said that
"some people" were hatching
conspiracies against his
government. His State
Information
Minister
Maryam Aurangz eb then
openly pointed finger at the
establishment, saying it was
behind the ongoing campaign
to "humiliate" the Sharif
family by leaking images of
Sharif's son on social media
showing him facing the JIT at
the
Federal
Judicial
Academy, triggering panic in
the government circles.
Abid Sher Ali, a relative of
Sharif and minister of state
for water and power, said
today that some people were
hatching a plot to remove the
prime minister from the
political system. "We will not
accept any decision to minus
Nawaz Sharif from the
political system," Ali said,
referring to the Panama
Papers scandal in which an
investigation is underway
against Sharif and his
children for their alleged
offshore holdings.
"Some people are hiding
behind
constitutional
institutions (like Supreme
Court) and working on minusNawaz formula. We will not
let this happen as millions of
people will be on roads if this
happens," Ali said. A Joint
Investigation Team formed
by the Supreme Court on
April 20 questioned Sharif's
sons - Hussain and Hasan - last
month over the family's
alleged improper business
dealings. Ali said the Sharif
family has been facing
accountability for the past 40
years.
"A
systematic
conspiracy is being hatched
to have a face off between the
government and judiciary to
send Sharif packing," he said.
Several other members of the
Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz
(PML-N)
have
previously flagged concerns
about such conspiracy
theories. Parliamentarians
Daniyal
Aziz,
Talal
Chaudhry and Miaza Hamid
have said the ruling party
does not accept the JIT probe
into the Panama Papers case
and it will soon hit the streets
against the controversial
investigation.
The SC has directed the
JIT to complete its probe by
early July, based on which
the apex court would decide
the fate of Nawaz Sharif anbd
his children in the case. (PTI)
THE ECHO OF INDIA
SOLID NEWS DAILY