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Posted by admin in Uncategorized on April 30th, 2025
April 30, 2025
Photograph Source: Frank Schwichtenberg – CC BY-SA 4.0
Once the darling of the left for championing electric vehicles, even with a hefty $44,000-plus sticker price on a range of best-selling “S3XY” models, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was regularly pilloried by the right for his presumed eco-friendly stance and generous government loans. Back then, the Chinese carmaker BYD was barely a twinkle in Warren Buffet’s investment eye, but now tops Tesla at over $100 billion in annual sales thanks to lower prices, faster charging times, and Musk’s far-right political conversion. As consumers scramble to keep pace in a fast-changing and uncertain world, the fight for motor supremacy ramps up – more than the increased market share of 100 million cars sold each year is at stake.
Tesla Motors began in 2003 in California, becoming Tesla Inc. in 2010 with the largest-ever initial public offering in auto-making history and in 2017 the highest-valued American carmaker at $50 billion, despite building only 76,000 cars the previous year (compared to GM’s 7.5 million and Ford’s 6.4 million). The brave new electric world belonged to its brash young CEO Musk, who boasted, “When Henry Ford made cheap, reliable cars, people said, ‘Nah, what’s wrong with the horse?’ That was a huge bet he made, and it worked.” Musk promised a new world for a new millennium, propelled via electricity and magnetic induction rather than burnt gasoline and reciprocating pistons, planning to finance a clean green future for the masses via high-end sales, or so he claimed in his 2006 Master Plan. Today, 20% of new car sales are electric and increasing, not least because of Tesla’s pioneering push.
There is no comparison between an electric vehicle (EV) and a gasmobile. As calculated by Martin Eberhard, Tesla’s first CEO and one of five co-founders, an all-electric car can travel 110 miles using the equivalent energy in one gallon of gas. A no-brainer, without including the reduced fuel costs of electricity, minimal maintenance for a leaner, meaner electric engine, or the environmental benefit of no burnt hydrocarbons (e.g., octane).
Taking on the car industry is another story. Back when Ford took on the horse-drawn carriage, manure was the main bugaboo, piling up everywhere on our overcrowded streets. Smelly to be sure but minimal compared to today’s carbon-induced anthropomorphic global warming. In effect, one must take on the oil industry and all of Western civilization. “Drill, baby drill” means “Vroom, baby vroom” and the United States isn’t planning on braking.
EVs can slow the warming, but as the naysayers are keen to point out, if the electric grid runs on fossil fuels EVs will still warm the world and pollute the air, albeit in someone else’s backyard. The dirty grid argument is losing its lustre, however, as renewable energy sources continue to grow – 40% and counting. Likely crossing the 2 ºC (3.6 ºF) thresholdwithin two decades – in what the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states “would pose large and escalating risks to human life as we know it” – global warming is still increasing, but at least one can buy an EV now for more than the eco-vibes if the price is right.
True, the same naysayers don’t believe in global warming, seemingly a MAGA win-win – clean streets and more domestic coal, oil, and gas – piped, trucked, and shipped to all corners of the globe from the number-one petroleum-producing nation ever. Oil not democracy made America great the moment it gushed from a Titusville, Pennsylvania, well in 1859, the original “liberation day.” Global warming may be an existential threat, but the United States has even more to lose from diminished market share and waning influence. Bottom lines matter more to American transactionalists than any downstream damage.
One would think today’s individualist would welcome the independence of making one’s own energy and keeping nature clean – solar power has doubled every three years over the last 12 years to 7%. No longer beholden to outside control, the everyday consumer can easily go it alone thanks to rooftop solar (e.g., 8 kW or 20 400-W panels), meeting all one’s energy needs with photovoltaic (PV) cells and a storage battery, while charging one’s car for free. But after more than a century of oil – safeguarded by the American military – 100 million barrels/day is under threat as demand suffers from growing electrification. No more easy oil profits or taxable revenue. EVs are leading the way to a cleaner future and the end of the US as we know it – on the road was never so liberating. No wonder the Trump administration rolled back EV support and tariffed solar up to 3,500% in a full-throttled fight against change.
There are always jitters as the old gives way to the new until one winner emerges – the heliocentric solar system, steam-powered looms, transistor switching. We are in the midst of even more radical change as gasmobiles lose out to EVs and oil to renewables, despite Trump’s vain attempts to turn back the clock to a presumed former glory via restrictive tariffs.* Seemingly onside with Trump’s great-making revisionism, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni tried to broaden the MAGA scope to “Make the West Great Again,” but as European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen noted, “The West as we knew it no longer exists.” What will emerge is still being worked out as the United States and China duke it out in a thoroughly modern economic spat for new-world supremacy.
For those who measure greatness in GDP, the US is tops at $28 trillion (26%), ahead of the EU $19 trillion (18%), and China $18 trillion (17%) according to the World Bank. But China is in the ascendancy, growing faster and boasting a trillion-dollar positive trade balance compared to the US at minus $1 trillion, the supposed impetus to realign a world economy and $33 trillion in annual trade. Importantly, China holds 90% of rare earths and critical minerals – essential for electronics, satellites, renewables, and AI militaries – now subject to export controls. The US is losing out to a new empire with almost one-sixth of the global population. With feet in both waters, Musk expects the Chinese market to double by 2050.
The EV revolution is safe despite resistance from the usual suspects as the US goes all-in on fossil fuels, cancelling renewable energy projects and even trying to resurrect a long-dead dirty coal industry, now more expensive than all energy sources other than nuclear power. Tesla sales are in free-fall, however, after Musk’s “special government employee” DOGE stint, a.k.a. slasher-flick cameo complete with chainsaw prop. Formerly the world’s top-valued carmaker – having passed Volkswagen in 2019 despite selling one-tenth the number of cars – Tesla’s shares continue to slide, down 50% from a peak value of $1.5 trillion.
The once-vaunted eco-brand may never recover, even as overall global EV sales rise, especially in Europe where both VW and BMW passed the once-dominant Tesla. Tesla’s Q1 sales dropped 13% and profits 71%, showing the depth of displeasure in Musk’s politicking and weak demand for a tired and expensive line-up. At the same time, Volkswagen’s EV sales doubled, GM’s increased 94% (Cadillac 21%), and Ford’s 12%. The car industry is under pressure from the Trump tariffs – jacking up car prices and costing jobs – but Tesla has fared worst, while a growing “Tesla Takedown” includes protests, vandalism, and “I bought this car before Musk went crazy” bumper stickers. Passionate about consumer choices, Germans were particularly outraged by Musk’s support for the far-right and anti-EU Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the most recent federal elections.
The main beneficiary of Musk’s madness is BYD (“Build Your Dreams”), the Chinese carmaker that started out supplying phone batteries for Motorola, Nokia, and Samsung. Co-founded in 1995 by chemist and engineer Wang Chuanfu, BYD benefited from an early infusion of cash from a subsidiary of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, which bought 10% of BYD in 2008 for $230 million, since reduced to 4.4% and now worth $2.4 billion (Yahoo). BYD was soon selling everywhere, including an envious line of electric buses in Shenzhen, the Special Economic Zone created in 1980 to aid a rapidly modernizing China.
All 16,400 buses in Shenzhen are electric BYDs with a range of 380 km. With 99% of the world’s electric buses, China is adding thousands of zero-emission transporters per week, and at the current rate will be 100% electric by 2035, displacing more than 1 million barrels of diesel per day. As part of its quest for a “zero-emissions world,” the former battery maker is helping to rid China of its ghastly urban pollution.
In 2009, China passed the US as the world’s top car market, while in the first quarter of 2025 BYD (430,000) surpassed Tesla (337,000) in global sales. Expanding on its success, BYD built its first foreign manufacturing plant in Lancaster, California, in 2013, where it specializes in electric school buses (ESBs). As of 2024, there were almost 5,000 ESBs operating and 7,000 ordered in the US. BYD’s first European plant is under construction in Hungary and will make 300,000 EVs per year. In Brazil, the world’s sixth-largest car market, BYD is building an EV plant on the site of an abandoned Ford factory – 70% of EVs in Brazil are now BYD and is the top seller in the capital Brasilia for all cars, electric or gas.
Initially slow to the game, legacy car companies have all rolled out their own e-versions, such as Nissan (Leaf), BMW (iX), and Ford (Mach-E). BYD is head of the pack, announcing a five-minute charging time, half that of Tesla’s with a new and improved chemical storage process – essentially liquid-fuel filling time. No need to fill up any more on coffee and donuts while you wait for a roadside e-fill. BYD also offers a free autonomous-driving add-on “God’s Eye” that outperforms Tesla’s vaunted autonomous driving option. With a proven range of lower-priced EVs such as the $10,000 Dolphin Surf, today’s car wars are no longer internal combustion versus electric induction, but EV versus EV, while the decreasing demand for oil adds pressure to a world run on petroleum and American dominance.
The electric revolution is roaring, nowhere more than in China that accounts for 90% of BYD’s sales. The inflection point between the old and new is fast approaching as EVs reach price parity with all gasmobiles. For some, the tipping point has come and gone – a $20,000 EV with a 200-mile range. As BYD breaks into more markets, Western carmaking supremacy will suffer and hasten the change to renewables and from West to East.
Enter the new dragon – the Trump tariffs on imported cars and car parts, supposedly intended to return manufacturing jobs to a high-wage US market. It’s hard to make sense of a coherent American strategy amid the contradictory messaging, regular reality-show taunts, and constant flip-flopping – sold as the oddest of negotiating tools that alienates more than rallies others to the MAGA cause – but despite losing more than 600,000 jobs under NAFTA the tariffs are a ruse designed in part to slow the change from brown to green. Tariffs will not raise revenue, return supply chains to the United States, or “reshore” American manufacturing jobs hollowed out of rusted industrial regions. Billion-dollar factories require planning, investment, and tax breaks over at least a decade, not anarchic policies, market uncertainty, and the loss of investor and consumer confidence.
Targeted tax cuts and subsidies are needed to incentive investment, such as the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act that made $369 billion available in green spending and was already creating American jobs in renewable energy, battery manufacturing, and critical mineral processing. But with most Trump antics, the goal is to divide and conquer, inciting chaos to advance an authoritarian agenda that increases corporate control at the expense of consumer protection.
American infrastructure is for sale to the highest bidder, including an eventual state-run TikTok sell-off to Trump’s tax-slashing billionaire tech pals as well as Space-X contracts for First Buddy Musk, whose Starlink company owns 60% of 10,000 earth-orbiting satellites. No surprise that space-launch support was spared the chainsaw in Musk’s DOGE clear-out. Next up, a “free trade zone” designation for his expanding empire in Bastrop, Texas, and relaxed regulation on autonomous driving for Tesla’s long-promised fleet of robotaxis. Insider trading is part of the quid pro quo, as in a “Good time to buy!!! DJT” social-media post hours before Trump announced a 90-day tariff pause using the NASDAQ ticker symbol for his company.
After four decades of outsourcing manufacturing to cheap-labour foreign markets (especially Mexico), Tesla also benefits from the tariffs on non-American-sourced cars, because 60% of the youngest American carmaker’s content is domestically produced. As Bernstein auto analyst Daniel Roeska noted, “Tesla is the clear structural winner” from the Trump tariffs, while Detroit’s Big Three, Japan, Korea, and Germany will suffer more because of larger foreign supply chains. It helps to have the ear and mouth of a salesman president using the White House as a backdrop for a new kind of showroom as Trump’s million-dollar donor is rewarded at the expense of American carmakers and workers.
Stellantis has already announced 900 lost jobs at five US factories, while Volvo plans to axe 800 jobs at three US facilities. At the same time, BYD is not subject to the vagaries of the Trump tariffs because it does not export EVs to the United States, choosing instead to concentrate on foreign markets. As June Yoon of The Financial Times noted, “Because BYD does not sell passenger EVs in the US, it is now insulated from the chaos unleashed by Trump’s latest tariff push.” As for other goods, restrictive barriers to Chinese imports (e.g., 145% tariffs) mostly hurt low-income consumers who buy at Walmart, Home Depot, Target, and other cut-price outlets.
Is it all just ignorance, based on a 40-year obsession with tariffs? We already knew Trump couldn’t count after claiming that he won the 2020 election because he received more votes than any previous president – not hard to do when the population keeps growing – albeit fewer votes than his opponent. Or is it another MAGA ruse to distract from a failed economic policy that purports to rejig the global supply chain in favor of a rusted rural America via blanket tariffs? – what Peterson Institute economist Mary Lovely called “re-industrialization in the most inefficient way possible.” If Trump was serious about workers, he would offer incentives to build domestically and impose penalties on corporations that don’t relocate.
After decades of neoliberal neglect, Trump claims that taxing nations more for goods will return manufacturing to the US, called “nostalgic fantasy” by CNN’s Fareed Zakaria. In The Post-American World, Zakaria also likened Western decline to professional tennis, once dominated by American players, though now “everyone is playing the game.” Same for the decline in IPOs, scientific papers, and manufacturing. As noted by the IMF, the US will suffer most as growth slows because of the “supply shock” as other countries divert their trade to cover the depressed demand from the US, which imports 25% of its goods.
No one expects the United States to start making the world’s jeans, shirts, and running shoes nor believes Trump’s obvious lies that “tariffs are making us rich.” In fact, the US has even more to lose as others shun American goods and realign trading relations because of his “unilateral bullying.” Treating China as a “hostile trading partner” in a US-designed trading world pushes China towards a new economic model that excludes American markets and expands ties with Southeast Asia, India, and Europe. A new Silk Road is being established that already exports more to Europe ($570 billion) than to the US. The rules-based order begun after World War II is no longer being directed from Washington.
Rather than resurrecting American manufacturing, the Trump game is to roil the competition, such as the European Union reacting piecemeal. The EU proposed a “zero for zero” deal on industrial goods prior to his April 2 tariff, rejected by Trump as “not good enough.” Musk also called for no tariffs between North America and Europe, even though Tesla benefits from the protectionist American market. European worries about German cars, Spanish olive oil, French and Italian wines, and Irish pharmaceuticals have held, but EU unity could falter with individual tariffs. Another prize is to stop investigations into Google, Meta, X, and Apple under the EU Digital Services Act – Meta and Apple were both fined as unfair “gatekeepers.”
Instead of halting China’s rise by “decoupling” the American economy from China’s vast export market – 15% of goods to the US – decoupling has begun from America as Trump pretends to be “actively negotiating” with others to calm the markets. Started in Canada, an “Anything but America” movement is expanding worldwide as consumers stop buying American-made goods, symbolically turning products upside down on supermarket shelves. The EU, China, and others will benefit from Trump’s protectionist policy, disengagement, and provocation as countries trade more freely in a post-American world – an American own goal as 40% of the world’s 50 largest companies are American and 36% of the world’s largest 100 (based on sales, profits, assets, and market value, Forbes). Trump’s Medicine Show is killing the patient as trade reorganizes without the US.
Trump’s callous advice to “hang tough” is okay for millionaires, but not average consumers as prices rise and jobs are shed (a 25% tariff on a $100,000 car won’t deter a millionaire). The Trump tariffs are expected to hike annual US consumer spending by $5,000, car prices by $5,000, and new house prices by $11,000. Similarly, farmers lose out as China turns to Brazil for soya beans (half supplied by the US), American hotels suffer as Canadians and other foreign travellers vacation elsewhere (US visits already down 40%), and low-income families pay extra for everything. Even Christmas will cost more as Chinese toys are marked up beyond Santa’s meagre means. Same for Apple’s iPhone, Sony’s PlayStation 5, and Dell computers, while China cancelled the sale of 50 Boeing jets at $55 million each.
The Trump tariffs have at least exposed the inherent flaws in unregulated capitalism and executive fiat. Retaliate or Negotiate? – sounds like a fawning reality show. Trump may win more Fox viewers but is losing everyone else in a shameless rebranding of the US as a low-end chop shop. The me-first preacher is at war with the world to advance his own greedy Amexit agenda, one more interested in work than workers, reduced governance, and a tax-slashing oligarchy. The reality-show banter may continue to dazzle those who think Trump’s sub-literate and low-IQ thinking is a solution to what ails the world, including his Republican supporters, who should all know by now that Trump is an elitist libertarian to the bone, Republican in name only, the dreaded RINO moniker he uses to mock GOP critics.
Rather than reform a broken America, the goal is to break more to create a free management hand with limited governance and reduced regulations. It is not America First, but a limited monied class first that exploits others and offers no protection to workers, the environment, or community standards. Trump is chief RINO, pretending to support worker ideals.
Given his friendship with Elon Musk, one might also ask if the US president is an oil and gas man or an EV man? Can Trump’s “Drill, baby drill” coexist with Musk’s “Gasmobiles are so yesterday?” Will the new right-wing Muskies take up the slack of the damaged Tesla and USA brands? No more 50% annual growth in sales as Musk predicted. No more American dominance or petroleum power. At least, demand is dampening.
In the face of increased pollution and global warming, slowing down and decreasing demand for oil is good for the earth. That wasn’t Trump’s intention – just the opposite – but slower growth is good. At his January inauguration, Trump also promised that Americans would “be able to buy the car of your choice.” The choice is becoming easier by the day. California already has more EV chargers than gas pumps. With 1.4 billion people, China’s domestic car market will benefit most from increased control over new technology that will ultimately help foreign consumers purchase cheaper EVs.
When the dust finally settles on the ongoing Trump Follies, we may have Elon Musk to thank for upending the basic tenets of capitalism. Beginning with Tesla and followed by BYD, a new future beckons. Electric bicycles, motorcycles, and scooters are all replacing gasoline vehicles in Asian markets, plagued by pollution and expensive gasoline. As Japan conquered the electronics market in the twentieth century, China is conquering the auto industry in this century. Tesla has lost the race for the low-end vehicle and the US is losing the race to lead the world.
Trump is paving the way to the end of the fossil-fuel industry, long supported by unfair regulations, oversized subsidies, and minimal taxation, while getting a free ride on pollution and global warming. EV to gasmobiles is approaching 50-50 with lower prices and improved charging infrastructure. The batteries are stronger, better, and more efficient. Most charging is still overnight at home, but for those on the go, one doesn’t need to worry any more. When the bi-directional grid is finished and batteries are in every home, we will say goodbye to oil, a win-win for citizens and their pocket books.
Rather than dismantling government with excessive downsizing and shrinking a global economy with counterproductive tariffs, American dominance is being diminished everywhere – more divisive than inclusive, more elitist than egalitarian, more Benedictine than Franciscan. Pretending to protect the world from governmental overreach, Trump’s policies are a libertarian free-for-all, a sell-out and sell-off to enrich the already wealthy. Rather than making anything great, Trump will be remembered as The Man Who Tried to Sell the World (and failed miserably).
Tomorrow’s consumerism will not be shaped by American chaos and uncertainty, but by China’s dominance and the transition to renewables. The next US electoral fair may restore some dignity and consistency to a rogue America, but the United States is already in decline. Happily, tomorrow’s world will be cleaner, greener, and quieter.
* Currently 10% on all imports, 25% on aluminum, cars, and car parts, and 145% on China excluding computers and phones (for now) and oil products. Country-specific “reciprocal” tariffs were paused for 90 days (early July), calculated with a simplistic “trade deficit divided by imported goods divided by 2” formula.
John K. White, a former lecturer in physics and education at University College Dublin and the University of Oviedo. He is the editor of the energy news service E21NS and author of The Truth About Energy: Our Fossil-Fuel Addiction and the Transition to Renewables (Cambridge University Press, 2024) and Do The Math!: On Growth, Greed, and Strategic Thinking (Sage, 2013). He can be reached at: johnkingstonwhite@gmail.com
https://www.counterpunch.org/?givewp-route=donation-form-view&form-id=360936&locale=en_US
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on April 30th, 2025
Why won’t the UK defend Pakistan’s most high-profile political prisoner?
Courtesy: Original Article: https://www.declassifieduk.org/selective-outrage-britains-silence-on-the-jailing-of-imran-khan/
Imran Khan talks to lawyers at Lahore High Court in 2023. (Photo: K.M. Chaudary / Alamy)
The United Kingdom prides itself on being a champion of democracy and human rights, frequently condemning political repression and imprisonment in authoritarian states such as China, Iran, Russia and North Korea.
Yet, its response to the arbitrary imprisonment of Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan – an elected leader with extensive ties to Britain – has been muted at best and complicit at worst over the last two years.
This glaring inconsistency reveals the self-serving nature of the UK’s foreign policy, which prioritises strategic defence and intelligence-sharing interests over democratic principles when dealing with countries like Pakistan.
Imran Khan has more personal and institutional linkages to Britain than almost any other political prisoner in the world. He was educated at an elite British school before completing a degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics (PPE) at Oxford University.
He played county cricket for Sussex, and Oxford University’s own squad, and later became a cricketing icon in the UK, leading Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup – a moment celebrated even in Britain. His first wife, Jemima Goldsmith, is a British citizen, and his two sons are British nationals, living in the UK.
Yet, despite these connections, the UK government has chosen to remain silent on his unjust imprisonment. His real crime, it appears, is not any of the absurd charges levied against him – ranging from treason to a so-called illegal marriage – but rather his refusal to bow to the demands of Pakistan’s military and foreign powers.
Unlike China or Russia, where the UK has little political leverage, Pakistan presents a different dynamic. Britain enjoys deep-rooted defence, intelligence, and diplomatic ties with Pakistan, particularly with the country’s powerful military and intelligence services.
The last three British High Commissioners to Pakistan have been seen more often with Pakistan’s military leadership than with elected officials, reinforcing the notion that democracy in Pakistan is merely a façade and that the UK is comfortable working within this hybrid system. Pakistan’s army chiefs are given red carpet treatment in the UK quite often too.
The reason for this selective diplomacy is clear: Britain relies on Pakistani intelligence, primarily through the notorious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), a relationship which is heavily dependent on Pakistan’s military establishment.
Additionally, the UK has strong defence trade relations with Pakistan, including the reported sale of over $1 billion worth of military equipment via British defence companies, partly linked to ongoing conflicts like Ukraine.
In this arrangement, an independent politician like Imran Khan – who has been critical of the military’s interference in governance and prioritises the welfare of the Pakistani people over foreign interests – becomes an inconvenient figure.
His persecution is met with silence because challenging his imprisonment would mean confronting the very military generals with whom the UK maintains its strategic ties.
Since his imprisonment in August 2023, Imran Khan has faced an avalanche of politically motivated charges, including terrorism, treason, and corruption. Some of these carry the death penalty.
In an attempt to discredit him, the military-backed government even pursued a case questioning the menstrual cycle of his wife. Despite being acquitted in several cases by Pakistan’s High Court, new charges are continuously manufactured to keep him behind bars.
When the Islamabad High Court started to push back against this judicial persecution, the military regime simply stripped the court of its authority and installed more compliant judges. The goal is clear: ensure that Imran Khan never walks free again.
Pakistan’s February 2024 general elections were universally condemned as the most rigged in the country’s history. Independent watchdogs such as the PATTAN documented widespread electoral fraud, vote suppression, and manipulation.
The UK, along with the US, the EU, and the UN, issued mild statements expressing concern over the elections, yet none have dared to directly confront Pakistan’s military or ISI – the real architects of the rigging.
This contrasts sharply with the UK’s outspokenness against electoral manipulation in countries like Iran, Venezuela, or Belarus, where it has no strategic interests at stake.
Adding to the UK’s reluctance to take a firm stance, Pakistan’s weak response to the Gaza crisis aligns conveniently with British and American foreign policy interests. While many Muslim-majority nations strongly condemned Israel’s actions, Pakistan’s government – installed with the blessing of the military – offered only feeble concern.
Reports have also emerged of military-backed Pakistani journalists visiting Israel as a goodwill gesture, despite Pakistan officially not recognising Israel as a state. Such moves indicate a willingness to align with Western geopolitical interests rather than represent the will of the Pakistani people, a move that a truly democratic leader like Imran Khan would have never accepted.
One factor the Foreign Office may not have anticipated is the shift in sentiment within Britain’s Pakistani diaspora, which numbers nearly two million, making up almost three percent of the UK’s population.
Traditionally, British-Pakistanis remained indifferent to the frequent military takeovers and political feuds in their ancestral homeland. However, the crackdown on Imran Khan and the unprecedented human rights violations targeting not only his supporters but also British-Pakistanis in Pakistan have triggered a political awakening.
Today, a large number of British-Pakistanis are writing to their MPs, demanding explanations for the UK government’s silence. They are gathering outside 10 Downing Street, chanting against the tyranny of Pakistan’s generals and questioning why the UK, which preaches democracy abroad, turns a blind eye when its closest allies undermine it.
The imprisonment of British-Pakistanis in Pakistan and threats against dual nationals have made this issue deeply personal, forcing the UK government to at least acknowledge these concerns in private, even if it continues to avoid taking a public stance.
If the UK insists on maintaining its diplomatic silence over Imran Khan’s imprisonment, it should at least drop the pretense of promoting democracy and human rights in Pakistan.
The British taxpayer deserves to know why their government selectively condemns political oppression in countries where it has little influence, while turning a blind eye to blatant authoritarianism in a country where it has significant leverage.
Imran Khan’s imprisonment is not just a Pakistani issue; it is a test of the UK’s credibility on the global stage. If Britain continues to prioritise short-term intelligence and defence interests over democratic values, it risks not only being on the wrong side of history but also alienating its own citizens of Pakistani heritage.
The question remains: Will Britain remain complicit in Pakistan’s descent into military dictatorship, or will it finally stand up for the principles it claims to uphold?
Shahzad Akbar is a Pakistani politician and barrister who served from 2018-22 as an adviser to prime minister Imran Khan on domestic and accountability issues, in the capacity of a minister in Cabinet
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on April 26th, 2025
Pakistan’s Deadliest Force – Pakistan Air Force – Inheritors of M.M. Alam Legacy: World’s Greatest Air Force Kills in a Dog Fight
US general praises PAF pilots’ skills
PAF PAYS TRIBUTE TO 1965 WAR HERO AIR CDRE MOHAMMAD MAHMOOD ALAM, SJ (WITH BAR), SI(M)
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on April 22nd, 2025
Washington, April 21, 2025
Washington-based World Kashmir Awareness forum (WKAF), an advocacy organization rented mobile digital advertising trucks displaying sharp messages around New York City and Washington, DC that exhorted the United Nations to implement its decades-old resolutions, particularly resolution # 47 which was adopted on April 21, 1948, with the full support of the United States, pledging to the people of Kashmir their right to self-determination. WKAF underscores the critical importance of United Nations resolutions on Kashmir as they provide an agreed plan for settling the 78-year-old dispute between India and Pakistan.
“These resolutions bind both India and Pakistan to respect the verdict of the people of Kashmir to be obtained through a free vote under the impartial supervision of the United Nations,” Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Secretary-General of WKAF said in a statement issued on Monday. Dr. Fai added that the “Digital advertising trucks are considered to be the most effective way to spread a message as the brightly lit words on the screens catch attention of the people walking on the streets and those coming in and out of government and commercial buildings and particularly from the United Nations Headquarters. Our objective was to target the audience at the right places, and we were able to control the location where most of the people were able to notice our messages aimed at promoting the cause of Kashmir.
“It is tragic that civilized nations have fallen from their lofty calling: namely, human rights for all mankind. There is a sad commentary on the state of human rights all over the globe, including Indian occupied Kashmir,” Fai emphasized.
The electronic screens on the trucks carried messages such as: Abuses in Kashmir Continue Till Date: UN Needs to Fulfill the Mandate; Voices of Freedom From Kashmir Strong as Ever: UN Wake Up and Deliver; India Commits Atrocities in Kashmir with Impunity: Mass Graves and Rapes are Crimes Against Humanity; Blinding of Children in Kashmir A Shameful Act: United Nations: It is Time to React; Elections in Kashmir Just A Name: Indian Government Has No Shame; Kashmiris Reject Indian Occupation: UN Resolutions the Only Solution; Hold India Accountable for War Crimes in Kashmir; India Stop Land Grabbing in Kashmir; Indian Army Out of Kashmir.
The route of digital truck in Washington included: The National Mall, All federal buildings, including the State Department; the Capitol Hill; Library of Congress; The Washington Monument; The White House; foreign embassies, various Museums; Lincoln Memorial; Washington National Cathedral; the Indian Embassy; the World Bank and IMF. And in New York, The United Nations headquarters, offices of various UN Missions, Freedom Tower, Indian Mission; Battery Park, Central Park, and Times Square.
Dr. Ghulam N. Mir, President, WKAF and Chairman, Kashmir Diaspora Coalition said April 21 marks one of the most important days in the history of Jammu and Kashmir. On that day in 1948, nearly a year after Britain quit India, India brazenly invaded and occupied the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947. United Nations Security Council intervened to stop the war and succeed in securing a Cease Fire Resolution.
The resolution, Dr. Mir added, guaranteed the people of Kashmir an unfettered right to self-determination under UNSC auspices. Unfortunately, 78 years on, India continues to violate that pledge it made to the people of Kashmir. Peace has been elusive to the region and no such prospects is in sight— All because of India ‘s evil designs and wicked government policies. Kashmiris are being mercilessly oppressed; lands and natural resources are being stolen and homes are being bulldozed to destroyed Kashmir.
Dr. Imtiaz Khan, Kashmiri American scholar said that today marks the 77th anniversary of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 47, adopted on 21 April 1948, that concerns the resolving of the Kashmir conflict. The resolution called for holding of a Plebiscite under UN auspices that will decide the future destiny of the region. Notwithstanding the fact that both India and Pakistan welcomed the UN mediation, but the promises made to people of Kashmir were never fulfilled.
Dr. Khan added that on August 5, 2019, Indian parliament abrogated article 35A and 370 and revoked the autonomous status of Kashmir. This opened the floodgates for fanatic Hindus who with connivance of Indian government to receive expedited domicile certificates and were provided with land grabbed from the local population. The transition of demographic character of Kashmir is being pursued at breakneck speed. Peace loving people of Kashmir who are demanding nothing more than what was promised to them by international community have been pushed to wall. There pleas are falling on deaf ears while atrocities are unabated. Time is of the essence, and it is high time UN uses its authority to prevail upon India to put an end to human right abuses and come to negotiation table including Pakistan and genuine leadership of Kashmir. Anything short of this will not be acceptable to people of Kashmir and the region will continue to tread on path of disaster.
Sardar Zarif Khan, Advisor to the President of Azad Kashmir said that Kashmir’s painful situation is a rebuke to the world powers for their passivity. The world powers need to know that unless India accepts the realities known to the entire world outside the dispute will fester; and that any solution must satisfy democratic principles, the rule of law, and security for every inhabitant of Kashmir.
Sardar Zarif Khan emphasized that the brutalities of Indian government cannot and should not go unnoticed. It is the responsibility of the Kashmiri diaspora to be the voice of voiceless people in the corridors of powers all over the world.
Sardar Taj Khan, Vice President, Kashmir Mission, USA said Kashmiris wanted peace but peace with dignity and honor. No country whatsoever has the right to decide the fate of Kashmir, saying that it were the people of Kashmir who were granted the right to determine the political future.
Sardar Taj Khan added that Pakistan has always stood by the side of Kashmir’s demand for a plebiscite. He said the killings of innocent civilians in Indian occupied Kashmir must shake the conscience of all peace-loving people. He condemned the efforts to muzzle the press and called for restoring the right to assemble and freedom of expression in Indian occupied Kashmir
Comrade Shahid, Secretary General, Pakistan-USA Freedom Forum underscored the role the right of self-determination in resolving festering disputes and bringing freedom to the occupied people. He hopes that the stage is set to put the Kashmir conflict on a road to a durable and permanent settlement. “Too often,” Comrade Shahid said, “the international community closes its eyes to the brutal reality of Kashmir because of India’s hegemony in South Asia and its potentially attractive consumer market. It has crowned India with a veto power over outside intervention.
Raja Mukhtar, Leader, JKLF, North America said that we stand in solidarity with the people of the occupied Kashmir. We condemn in the strongest terms the ban on civil society and private NGO’s, including JKLF and restrictions on freedom of opinion and freedom of assembly,” Raja Mukhtar added that it is gravely sinful for a nation to remain silent or passive over the frightful” human rights violations anywhere in the world, including Kashmir. He demanded the release of all political prisoners, including the most recognizable leader, Yasin Malik.
Advocate Sardar Imtiaz Khan Garalvi, Secretary General, Kashmir Mission USA said that the resolution of Kashmir issue could have enabled both Pakistan and India to spend their finite resources more on the development of their people rather than on defense expenditure He expressed his unconditional moral support to the people of Kashmir for a just and peaceful solution to the long-standing dispute. “We stand shoulder to shoulder with our Kashmiri brethren.”
Sardar Sawar Khan, former Advisor to the Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir said that he firmly believes that the only way to achieve a peaceful and lasting solution to the Kashmir crisis in through dialogue and negotiations. There can be no solution to the conflict without the participation of the leadership of the people of Jammu & Kashmir.
Sardar Sawar added that Kashmir dispute is about the right of self-determination of the people of Jammu & Kashmir. The nuclear danger in South Asia will never recede until Kashmiris receive the justice and political liberty promised by a series of United Nations Security Council resolutions providing for a free and fair self‑determination vote.
Speaking at the event, Sardar Zubair Khan, representative of Voice of Justice in Kashmir emphasized that he unresolved conflict over Kashmir threatens the international peace and security of the world. It is far past time for the UN to take forceful action in order to restore the faith of common people that it is an agency that can live up to its bold charter and mission of bringing peace and stability to the world.
Sardar Shakeel Anjum said that India should allow a referendum in Kashmir to prove to the world that it is truly a great democratic country, and not the persistent and militaristic oppressor that it has become. Shakeel Anjum added that the people of Kashmir believe that human rights lose value when the enforcement is selective.
Raja Liaqat Kiyani, President, Kashmir House, Washington said that the United States must understand that Kashmiris crave only what every American covets: human rights, democratic values, peace and justice, and believe that Washington’s successes elsewhere could be duplicated in Kashmir with persistence, moral suasion, and statesmanship. Raja Liaqat Kiyani added that India has defied United Nations Security Council resolutions for more than 78years because she knows Kashmiris will never vote in her favour. It was time for Pakistan and India both to get serious about talks, he said.
For more information please contact,
Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Chairman, World Forum for Peace & Justice.
He can be reached at: WhatsApp: 1-202-607-6435 or. gnfai2003@yahoo.com
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on April 19th, 2025
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