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Archive for category CORRUPTION OF SHAHBAZ SHARIF

Depoliticise this mess soon By Shaheen Sehbai

Posted by admin in Altaf "Bhai Ka Qatil"Hussain, Asif Zardari Crook Par Excellance, BILAWAL ZARDARI BAMBINO KINGS OF CORRUPTION, CORRUPTION OF SHAHBAZ SHARIF, Current Affairs, Economic Terrorists of Pakistan, ENERGY SCAMS OF NAWAZ SHARIF, KILLERS SHARIF BROTHERS & RANA SANAULLA, LEAD PAKISTANI COLUMNISTS &THINKERS, Recent News on February 1st, 2016

 

 

 

 

Let-car

 

 

Depoliticise this mess soon

By
Shaheen Sehbai
February 01, 2016
 
 
 

Viewpoint

DUBAI: The operation in Karachi and Zarb-e-Azb are fast being pushed into the political arena similar to the battles gladiators fight to the last.

Otherwise the Rangers DG Major General Bilal Akbar would not have to say: “They would criticise Rangers, if according to them, the operation is going fast. And if they find the operation getting slow, they would accuse the Rangers of having a ‘setting’.

“Our setting is only with our mission. Our setting is only with the nation. Our setting is only with our motherland,” he had to clarify on Sunday. There can be no doubt about his mission and his goals but why this situation has arrived is the big question the Rangers, and their think tanks, will have to ponder and answer.

After arrest of Uzair Baloch and starting with the arrest of Dr Asim Hussain, the Rangers have issued numerous statements and reports and its leaders have made public appearances. Plainly speaking they had to go public to lobby and explain their mission. Again why was it needed?

The simple answer to all these questions is that Rangers are working in a highly complex situation where conflicts of interests and contradictions are countless and the entire structure is infested with untenable centres of power and influence and twisted realities.

The first is that a government, which should have been the main vehicle of carrying out this operation, aided by the Rangers, has positioned itself against the operation, fearing its own wings may get burned. So the momentum and fury, as well as its effectiveness, has been cut short dragging the pace.

Secondly, while operations were in full swing against collaborators, abettors and helpers of terrorists inside the political parties, these parties were allowed to operate and contest elections and use their political muscle to pressurise the Rangers. Who allows rivals to gain and display support in the middle of the battle.

This situation was not taken into account by the think tanks of the Rangers and the army authorities. A temporary stop, a moratorium, on politics was a must to provide the necessary space and cover to take out the dirty fish, both political and apolitical. That was not done before the operations were launched.

The key issue was that if cleansing inside the political parties had to be done, a neutral, objective, non-political and strong administrative cover must have been provided first. That was not done.

So now there is a visible mess and this situation has to be resolved sooner than later because the operation has to go on. Any reversal or slow-down will encourage terrorists and their supporters to hit back with a vengeance. No one can afford it.

Even now the federal government, the army leadership, the security agencies and the Sindh government must sit down and find a workable solution. The worst-case scenario could be that the army may be left with no option but to steamroll everyone to achieve the logical results of the operation, as stated repeatedly by Army Chief Gen Raheel in the early days of Zarb-e-Azb. That may not be liked by many.

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Pakistan inks LNG deal worth $16b with Qatar: The story of Corruption Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

Posted by admin in Corruption, ENERGY SCAMS OF NAWAZ SHARIF on December 17th, 2015

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi– The story of Corruption

 

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has spent many laborious years on various job positions, cementing his reputation as a

corrupt man. His journey for corruption initiated when he was appointed the Chariman for PIA by our very own Nawaz Sharif. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi wasted no time in putting his devious mind to work and ordering 12 new Boeing Airplanes for PIA. On the surface, such a step seems innocent and beneficial for the national airlines. But upon more investigation, it was found that Mr. Shahid Abbasi dropped some extremely vital, spare parts of the Boeings and replaced with them poor quality Boeing components, sneakily pocketing the money he saved by purchasing cheaper, low-quality components. In another scandal, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was also accused for importing 200 computers allegedly for the airlines operations but were misappropriated, costing the national exchequer an astounding Rs. 11 million loss. However, the court acquitted Mr. Abbasi on the basis of lack of incriminating evidence, even though the prosecution produced seven witnesses before the trail court. However, one cannot say for sure that some political influence was not used in this acquittal.

Furthermore, he also aided our Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in one of the biggest examples of blatant disregard of public feelings. In the 1997’s Nawaz Sharif government, Nawaz Sharif expended all his efforts in convincing expatriate Pakistanis to send their dollars to Pakistan. In stark contrast, the Prime Minister himself- costing the national exchequer a whooping Rs. 110 crore- went on 28 foreign trips for “governance” purposes. Nawaz Sharif had also promised to return the special Boeing plane to PIA for the airline’s commercial operations. But like most of his other promise, these were just empty words. In a glaring display of breaking his promise to PIA, Nawaz Sharif- with the help of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi- made a 1.8 million USD renovation of his aircraft, transforming it into a palace of luxuries. Hypocritically, Nawaz Sharif would always preach lessons of simple living and austerity to the general public, but would not accept anything less that specially-cooked , seven-course meals that were prepared by a cook hired by Shahid Khaqan Abbasi specifically to meet the dietary demand of the Prime Minister, including the well-known favorite of Nawaz Sharif, “Gajrela”.

Another example of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s loot and plunder is his activities as the owner of a private air line called Air Blue. Recently, Air Blue has resolved to start operations from Birmingham (Britain) to Pakistan from 28th September 2014.  In a manipulating move, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is withdrawing all PIA management staff from PIAs office in Britain in order to create a prolonged management vacuum designed to put his airline in a more favorable light and take over the market share of PIA. Similar policies have been carried out by the current Petroleum Minister numerous times, proving to be disastrous for Pakistan’s national asset, PIA, but Shahid Abbasi seems to be least concerned about the consequences of his greed-ridden decisions. An instance in 2013 in which the Joint Action Committee of PIA Employees (JACPIAE) accused Shahid Khaqan of continuing to interfere in PIA’s internal affairs while he was running his own private airline, resulting in a conflict of interests. Shahid Abbasi influenced various operational decisions of PIA that has resulted in the downfall of the national airlines.

Lastly, in the tragic 2010 Air Blue plane crash on the Margallah Hilss, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi also displayed his true colors and concern for the people of Pakistan, the people he has an obligation to serve. When the horrific air crash happened, this blue-eyed boy of Nawaz Sharif completed disappeared from the scene, only gracing the public with his presence and empty condolences after three days. Such is the extent of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s indifference.  

Such examples of Shahid Khaqan’s callous nature only makes me apprehensive as to what good this man can do for this country as the Petroleum Minister. He has already made the people of Punjab and KPK suffer for more than a week due to critical petrol shortage brought about by Mr. Khaqan’s poor governance and negligence of petroleum management in the favor of the poorly designed LNG deal with Qatar. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi seems to be in a hurry to sign this deal despite the fact that the new gas reserves that have been discovered in Sindh.

Posted by M Butt Lahore at 11:46 

 Read More at http://shahidabbasi.blogspot.com/

 

Pakistan inks LNG deal worth $16b with Qatar

Published: December 13, 2015
Commercial contract to be signed with Qatar Gas 2. PHOTO: REUTERS

Commercial contract to be signed with Qatar Gas 2. PHOTO: REUTERS

ISLAMABAD: 

Pakistan and Qatar have inked a government-to-government (G2G) deal for the award of a $16 billion contract for LNG supply from a Qatar-based firm without going through the mandatory bidding process.

“The petroleum ministry has now provided details regarding G2G deal with Qatar to import LNG which was effective from March 2015,” officials said. The details of the deal were revealed by petroleum ministry officials to a committee constituted by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC).

Govt mulls forming ‘Pakistan LNG Limited’

Earlier, the petroleum ministry had sought ECC approval for Pakistan State Oil (PSO) to execute the sales-purchase agreement with Qatar Gas 2 (QG2) as seller following the government-to-government agreement. But the approval was deferred following a question raised by the law secretary about the deal with Doha.

Officials said the law secretary would present a report regarding the LNG deal with Qatar on government-to-government basis in the upcoming meeting, enabling the economic decision-making body to approve the General Sale Purchase Agreement (SPA), a commercial contract to be signed between PSO and QG2. They said that PSO had also imported six cargoes of LNG from Qatar in line with the G2G deal.

Officials said that price of LNG had been linked with a direct percentage of Brent crude oil and under current price of Brent the value of potential LNG supply under SPA amounted to around US$ 16 billion.

The period of contract will last till December 2030. However, a price review provision which allows two parties Islamabad and Doha to seek a price review after ten years has been built in the contract, with the two countries maintaining the right to terminate the Sales Purchase Agreement (SPA) in case they fail to reach consensus on price revision.

Under the agreement, PSO, a public sector company designated by the government, would receive supply of 1.5 million tons of LNG per year from QG2 and the supply would be enhanced to 3 million tons per year from the second year. The core business of PSO is oil but it is now going into a new business line of LNG.

Economic decision making body was expected to allow PSO to sell the LNG to the gas utility companies including Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Line Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC).The PSO may also be authorised to sell LNG to third party consumers.

Multi-million dollar contract: Gunvor wins LNG deal race, will be PSO’s supplier

Qatar had desired in its original plan that Qatargas would supply LNG through their company Qatar Liquefied Gas Company 3 (QG3) under the SPA. However, Qatargas had now proposed for LNG supplies under SPA through QG2.

The new proposed arrangement had deprived US based firm ConocoPhillips to capture Pakistan’s market as shareholder in QG3, which is a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum, ConocoPhillips and Mitsui.

Published in The Express Tribune,

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THE MOST CORRUPT GOVERNMENT IN PAKISTAN EVER: Private company blocked from importing 20pc cheaper LNG

Posted by admin in ENERGY SCAMS OF NAWAZ SHARIF on April 26th, 2015

THE MOST CORRUPT GOVERNMENT IN PAKISTAN EVER

Private company blocked from importing 20pc cheaper LNG

 

 

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ISLAMABAD: Amid legal vacuum surrounding the sale of around 140,000 tonnes of imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) to a few bulk consumers, a private company’s bid to arrange import of 20 per cent cheaper commodity is reported to have been blocked.
Informed sources told Dawn the Pakistan State Oil (PSO) did not have an LNG marketing licence but it had not only imported but was selling the product to various consumers, including fertiliser plants, power plants and gas companies.
“This is illegal,” said a former petroleum secretary.
A senior government official said the CNG industry represented by Universal Gas Company had struck a deal with an LNG supplier at less than $7 per million British thermal units (mmbtu) but it was not given clearance by the government and asked to route through PSO. “The final price differential between LNG imported by PSO and the CNG sector amounted to more than $2.5 per mmbtu,” said the official.
The LNG policy was approved in 2011 which has neither been amended nor suspended so far, but the consumers of regasified LNG (RLNG) were under pressure to import LNG through PSO in violation of section 10 of the policy. This strangely results into 45pc price build-up of RLNG in the shape of charges and profits of domestic entities.
An official of a fertiliser company said that even though the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) was providing domestic natural gas to Pak-Arab Fertiliser, which had enabled first LNG cargo by providing letter of credit, the invoices for RLNG to Pak-Arab were issued directly by the Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC) even though the Multan-based fertiliser plant was not a consumer of SSGC. This is also a legal issue that would need to be covered post-facto by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) or the cabinet.
In fact, the imported RLNG belonged to the Pak-Arab Fertiliser which paid for it but did not get full quantities as it was partially diverted by PSO to other consumers, for some time to Dawood Agritech and some IPPs. This is not allowed under Third Party Access (TPA) rules for LNG.
A petroleum ministry official, who has worked on three major LNG import projects so far, told Dawn that the latest RLNG price at Karachi was comparatively higher than envisaged under the two previous import attempts.
He said that first cargo’s RLNG price at Karachi has worked out at 17.56pc of the Brent crude. The Brent price varied between $57-60 per barrel over the last few days and RLNG price at Karachi has been set at $10.42 per mmbtu and $14.2 per mmbtu at power plant’s gate.
In contrast, the RLNG price of 4Gas, which became a victim to court cases during early days of the PPP government, had averaged 12.5pc of Brent. Another bid that fell victim to competing bidders — Gasport, Global and Engro — and then struck down again by the courts at the fag end of PPP tenure had also priced RLNG at Karachi at 13.9pc of Brent.
The official said the price of light sulphur furnace oil (LSFO) price for Kot Addu Thermal Power Company, according to regulatory approval, has stood at $10.85 per mmbtu against RLNG’s estimated price of $14.3 per mmbtu. This proved that the imported RLNG was costlier than furnace oil.
As if it were not enough, the RLNG price would further go up in view of a surprise decision of the petroleum ministry and PSO to offload Engro’s Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) swiftly and use it as an LNG carrier to go back and bring another LNG cargo. This would result in eight days of capacity payments at the rate of $272,000 per day along with 3-4 times higher transportation cost (compared to LNG ship) to the FSRU even though it would not process LNG to become part of the price.
The sources said that the government was now trying to get out of these legal complexities by allowing a group of private investors to set up a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) to import LNG through spot purchases.
The group comprised a leading industrialist-cum-banker and a broker-turned-industrialist having directorships on the board of directors of gas companies that would have influence over LNG import, its distribution and partly consumption but the higher costs would be shared by all the consumers at the end of the day.
Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2015

 

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SHAMELESS LOOT SALE IS ON, PAKISTAN’S CROWN JEWELS AT STAKE —FIRST TO GO PIA TO NAWAZ CRONIES

Posted by admin in Corruption, Corruption in Islamic Countries, CORRUPTION OF SHAHBAZ SHARIF, Criminals, CRUSHING OF PAK AWAM BY PML(N) & NAWAZ SHARIF, Nawaz Sharif-The Prime Minister from Hell, NAWAZ SHARIF: THE LOOTER, Nawaz US Agent, Serial Killers Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif on February 18th, 2015

SHAMELESS LOOT SALE IS ON, PAKISTAN’S CROWN JEWELS AT STAKE —FIRST TO GO PIA

PM Pakistan Nawaz Sharif and the cabinet Division, finally had decided and gave final approval to Close PIA prior June 2014. This decision was taken In the cabinet meeting held to night at late hours and was chaired by PM and in presence of MD PIAC and some other PIA officials. Three option were under discussions, one Totally close PIA, two, re-structuring of PIA, three Handing Over PIA to Private Sectors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PIA-1 Head Quarter shall be established at Islamabad and PIA Head Office Karachi shall function as PIA-2 Head quarters till June-2014. MD PIA and other PIA officials are ordered and were yet given last opportunity till June 2014 to apart and establish initially Whole PIA in 02 Parts; PIA-1 and PIA-2. After complete privatization PIA-1 will be restored for private sector and initially selected business communities are being given 26% assets of PIA to Command and Control PIA-1 (The Operational area only) with help and support of Air blue, Air Indus, Shaheen and Royal Airport Services.

 

The competent and Aviation experts exists in PIA and from all the departments working only in operational areas and in shifts only will be merged in PIA-1 and the excess and free manpower working in Day Operations, shall be excluded from existing PIA strength and shall be merged in PIA-2.

 

Lists of that employees excess, useless are already maintained by 3rd Party team attached with PIA few months ago. Only 30 Pilots will be taken for PIA-1. The Ratio of Manpower of PIA-1 will be as under: 30% Daily wages and Contract services oriented employees from PG-I to PG-VIII, 30% Permanent and Service oriented employees from existing strength from PG-I to PG-VIII having aviation and field expertise, particularly at ramp side. 35% for Engineering, IT, communication, Flight Safety experts having Engineering and technical qualifications, Aviation Licenses, Approvals. 5% shall be from Corporate, Finance, Human Resources and for Management positions. Shall be normal Graduates of areas of particular fields with vast Experience and reputation related to aviation.

 

The Skilled Operation Officers and staff and Management selection of employees will be as under and shall be taken as per aircraft manufacturer approved specifications and for various 22 type aircraft in PIA, of which 18 are operational and rest 4 are under checks ABCD or routine repairs in Line-1 or Line-2.

 

Statistics provided in PM cabinet meeting conducted in PM House, shown that Including Daily wedges and contract employees today PIA is holding 22,000 Employees for 22 Aircraft.PIA one will be political and trade union free private Sector PIA and only Aviation trained and field experts will be merged who had good reputation and service record. In case of shorten such strength, retired or near retired reputed employees will be called on 3 to 5 years contract or those who are retiring but have recorded expertise shall be taken enhance their services up to age of 65 years.

To overcome the issues it is decided that all those staff and officers working in office strengths at airports or head office since years or even at out stations but politically and against merit were promoted or selected shall be merged in PIA-2 which later will be closed after June 2014. All trade unions and Officers, other associations representatives are those who are out of duty, exampled also shall be merged in PIA-2. It will be later decided if these free and excess employees shall be given Golden Shake hand or not.

 

The strength of manpower of PIA-1 will be as under: One CEO (Aviation Experts From Business community), Only One Director (Aviation and Marketing experts), 03 General Managers (From Operational areas and Marketing Areas (Having Field and trade experience, and had worked from roots to top), 01 corporate Managers for each Operational areas had only Ramp expertise and gone through all field areas in service carrier from root), and Marketing areas, gone through fields and has acquired recorded revenue. and 3rd General Manager shall be IT experts . All IT or communication or reservation related functionaries whether at Airports, in Head Offices, in Marketing offices or any where, he will be responsible, manage and control. Accordingly all IT strength whether in Operation, Marketing, Engineering, other area will be under his supervision and control for fruitful results.

 

PAKISTAN INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES (EXISTING) – PIA-2

 

The excess and free manpower against the 22 Aircraft’s in PIA, The all Officers and staff working in Day Pattern, All new inductions in PIA after year 1998 and inducted after resizing of PIA in 1998 on Suggestions of SABRE Consultants  and the all those Officers and staff, Daily wedges or Contractual or permanent employees,  and all those who were pre-designated or transferred from their parent departments to other with or without backdate seniority and who were rapidly promoted from year 2000 to 2013 without merit and any linguistic, religious creed, political, establishment or bureaucratic influences, any in-house / out house management, trade unions, officers associations support or influences, and those Officers/Staff facing disciplinary and misconduct charges will be filled in PIA-2.

 

The cases of all type of beneficiary of unmerited/out of turn, from 1998 to 2013, had already been investigated along with those all departmental or HR officials who had supported them are also enlisted by third party investigators confidentially and 3 months ago for real accountability, to get Govt. decide, whether after removal or termination of these all type of over-the-rule and merit beneficiaries shall be compensated, for Golden shake hand or other schemes in consideration or not and whether PIA losses shall be recovered from them for these foul activities, actions, decisions PIA reached to bankruptcy.

 

The rest excess employees if on merit parameters, sequence and series shall be offered Golden hand shake schemes, also shall be facilitated and supported to adjust in other Private Airlines like Air Blue, air Indus etc, provided they have 15 years or more aviation and ramp or field experience, aviation trainings, on-job trainings, PTC or CAA certifications, Licenses, Approvals and good reputation as well with service record during PIA Services.

 

Finally in Month of June-2014 all PIA-2 with excess employees will be out of PIA strength and identity and PIA-1 will continue as NATIONAL FLAG CARRIER as PIA (Pvt).

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Paradigm shift in regional scenario by Brig (Retd) Asif Haroon Raja

Posted by admin in Afghanistan Hell, Afghanistan-Hell for Western Troops, Afghanistan-Land of Backstabbers, CHINA -PAKISTAN FRIENDSHIP, China- Global Security, China-Pakistan Friendship & Brotherhood, CIA AGENT NAWAZ SHARIF, CORRUPTION OF SHAHBAZ SHARIF, CORRUPTION-PAKISTAN SUPREME COURT, COWARD OF KARGIL NAWAZ SHARIF on February 17th, 2015

Paradigm shift in regional scenario

Asif Haroon Raja

 

Eurasia-sketch

 

Pakistan and Afghanistan have traditionally had a complicated relationship characterized by mutual suspicion. Northern Alliance heavy Afghan regime under Hamid Karzai had remained heavily tilted towards India and had not only given high preference to India in her internal and external matters but also had adopted a hostile policy towards Pakistan. With the blessing of Washington, Karzai had given full liberty of action to India to emerge as the key country in Afghanistan and to fill up the security vacuum after withdrawal of ISAF. After signing strategic partnership agreement with India, Karzai allowed Indian military to train Afghan Army officers in their military institutions and meet Afghanistan’s defence needs. India took advantage of it and besides consolidating her hold in Afghanistan; she made full use of Afghan soil to foment insurgencies in FATA and Balochistan. India was content that this arrangement would continue under weak unity regime as well because of Dr. Abdullah. In 2014, a stage was being set to induct Indian military into Afghanistan. The US-India-Karzai led Afghan regime remained a close-knit team and remained focused towards destabilization of Pakistan. Equilibrium between the three strategic partners remained steadfast for 13 years, but with Ashraf Ghani taking over power, and the US military quitting Afghanistan after failing to defeat the Taliban, the balance got disturbed and gave birth to new equation in November 2014. Pakistan, which remained the whipping boy all these years, has replaced the most favored India. Suspicion and distrust piled up for over a decade has been replaced with goodwill, cooperation and sharing. Blame-game has almost ceased and the gap in trust bridged in the wake of ominous threats from the Taliban and other armed militant groups. China, Kabul and Washington seem to have put their faith in Gen Raheel Sharif and see him as the sole silver lining in the otherwise dark horizon. The trio is looking towards Pakistan Army to help in defeating terrorism and bringing peace in war torn region. Pakistan has long been blamed for harboring and abetting Haqqani network (HN) in its cross-border terrorism. Pakistan military had its own socio-politico-security compulsions to maintain a difference between good and bad Taliban and to target anti-Pakistan militants only. These compulsions restrained Pakistan from launching a military operation in North Waziristan (NW). The concerns were however pushed aside after the gruesome attack on Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, 2016. A change in the outlook of new National Unity Regime under President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Dr. Abdullah and also in the thinking of Washington towards Pakistan has occurred essentially because of the across-the-board military operation in NW in which all militant groups based in NW were targeted. Uprooting of HN and Gul Bahadur groups from NW and comprehensive briefings given by Gen Raheel Sharif in GHQ to visiting President Ghani and his military team led by ANA chief Gen Sher M. Karimi, to ISAF Commander Gen Campbell, to US military officials in Pentagon and to British top officials made the difference. The other reason of extension of whole-hearted cooperation by Kabul is Pakistan’s declared stance that it has no favorites and that it would fully support Afghan led/owned reconciliation process. One more reason is Pakistan’s relatively better clout over Taliban and its critical support in a patch up. More so, it has been accepted by all and sundry that Pak Army is the only one which can fight and win battles against ideologically motivated militants. In order to reciprocate Pakistan’s laudable efforts in war on terror, while the US declared Mullah Fazlullah as the global terrorist, ANA launched an operation in Kunar against Fazlullah’s men. Five culprits having linkage with Peshawar incident have been arrested on the pointing of ISI. ANA managed to destroy some hideouts and inflicted casualties on TTP men but in the process lost over fifty soldiers. CIA operated drones are at times targeting militant hideouts in inaccessible areas in Shawal Range and along Pak-Afghan border. Both the US and China look positively and receptively towards the fast growing relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan and see it as a healthy development. While China has agreed to take active part in bringing peace in Afghanistan, the US has finally acknowledged the importance of Pakistan and is cooperating. Pak-US relations that were downhill are once again moving uphill. At the recently concluded Beijing Conference Ashraf Ghani defined five circles manifesting Afghanistan’s future foreign policy. He placed Pakistan in Ist circle (immediate six neighbors) and 2nd circle (Islamic World) and India in 4th circle (Asia). This is indeed a huge shift in thinking of Afghan leadership. What it implies is that Afghan top leadership has consented to prefer Pakistan over India. For a change, the US has readily reconciled with changed priorities of new regime without any ifs and buts. Kabul dropped another bombshell on India by declining her military aid and training assistance, and to rub salt on her wounds asked Pakistan to train Afghan officers. For the first time 16 Afghan cadets are receiving training in PMA Kakul. To add to India’s woes, Ghani made it clear that he will not allow Afghan soil for proxy war against any neighbor. He further distressed India by inviting Pakistan to host the next ‘Heart of Asia’ Conference, which earlier on was scheduled to be hosted by India. Pakistan’s reservations on use of its trade route by India from Wagah to Afghanistan have been accepted by Afghanistan, USA and China. On the military front, bilateral visits of senior military leaders and top intelligence personnel have recently increased. Gen Raheel and Corps Commanders 11 Corps and Southern Command undertook trips to Kabul. DG ISI Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar visited Kabul thrice. Militaries and intelligence agencies of both sides are carrying out intimate coordination to manage the porous border, training matters, intelligence sharing and also taking care of each other’s security concerns. Military commanders and security officials are now regularly consulting to mutually share intelligence and coordinate security operations. Joint border control centres at Torkham and Spin Boldak have been revived to coordinate operations against the militants and share intelligence on illegal cross-border movement. The US has reconciled to the emerging changes in Afghanistan not by choice but because it has been forced by circumstances. To compensate its natural ally and strategic partner India, Obama undertook a second trip to India and skipped Pakistan. Besides removing the irritants in Indo-US nuclear agreement signed in 2008, and signing another 10 year defence pact, the visitor made the old promise of helping India to earn a permanent berth in UNSC and also elbowed India to become a leading partner in Asia-Pacific Coalition to counter China. Following conclusions can be drawn from the emerging scenario:- • Afghanistan and its immediate neighbors have come on one page to establish regional peace and usher in prosperity in this war torn region and to keep out chief trouble maker India. • Pakistan’s foreign policy has come out of its traditional apologetic and defensive policy and Gen Raheel Sharif has played a key role in making it slightly pro-active by showing the real face of India to governments of Afghanistan, US and UK. • Although Pakistan has been preferred over India by Ashraf Ghani, India which by now has penetrated in every department of Afghanistan including Army and intelligence agencies will continue with its dirty work of keeping Pak-Afghan relations tense in pursuit of its regional ambitions. • Irrespective of the US apparent affability towards Pakistan, India will continue to remain its strategic partner and Pakistan a tactical partner to serve its short term goals. • Genuine peace in Afghanistan will return once all foreign troops go home, Indian interference is curtailed, and Taliban agree to share power.

The writer is a retired Brig, war veteran/defence analyst/columnist/author of five books, Director Measac Research Centre. [email protected]

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