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Posted by Dr. Salman in OPINION, OPINION LEADER, Sajjad Shaukat on June 25th, 2018
Since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leader of the extremist party-Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) came to power, he has been implementing anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan agenda with the support of fanatic coalition organisations, as he had got a land sliding triumph in the Indian elections 2014 on the basis of anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan slogans.
Besides, various developments like unprecedented rise of Hindu extremism, persecution of Muslims, assaults on Muslims, including their places of worships and property by the fanatic Hindu mobs, inclusion of Hindu religious books in curriculum and ban on beef and cow slaughter clearly show that encouraged by the Hindu fundamentalist parties such as BJP, RSS VHP, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena, including other similar outfits have been promoting religious and ethnic chauvinism in India by propagating the ideology of Hindutva (Hindu nationalism) which is the genesis of Hindu terrorism.
Besides, by Continuing false flag operations, on Setember18, 2016, New Delhi staged the drama of the terror attack in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) at a military base in Uri, close to the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan. After the episode, without any investigation, India’s top civil and military officials, including their media started propaganda against Pakistan by accusing that the militants who targeted the Uri base came from Pakistan’s side of Azad Kashmir. By manipulating that false flag terror attack, the BJP-led Indian Prime Minister Modi has also accelerated war-hysteria against Pakistan and instructed Indian forces to continue shelling across the LoC and Working Boundary, which have killed many innocent civilians inside Pakistani side of Kashmir and other nearby villages.
However, the BJP-led coalition government of Modi, which is in collaboration with the preachers of Hindutva and those of ‘Bhagwa Atankwad’ (saffron terror) is relentlessly promoting their ideologies. In every state election campaign, Bhagwa philosophy based on communalism was used as a driving tool to maximize the Hindutva vote, while affecting the opposition and regional disparities. Even, Indian P.M Modi has also recently claimed that BJP has enhanced influence and made government in twenty states. To further enhance the BJP’s pursued philosophy, a supportive atmosphere is being prepared, where every stakeholder of the Indian society is expressing readiness to shore up wittingly or unwittingly for the promotion of Hindutva.
In this regard, on May-June, this year, revelations of the Indian website Cobrapost.Com exposed the dark colours of Hindutva which is in connivance with Indian media.
Cobrapost.Com disclosed that BJP and RSS are exploiting government funds for media management to win elections all over India and are promoting Hindutva ideology. While indicating other instances of Hindutva, it pointed out the recent exposition of ‘Operation 136’ which exposed the real face of Indian media.
In this respect, regarding the ‘Operation 136’, Cobrapost.Com revealed on March 26, 2018: “Cobrapost investigation exposes many Indian media houses willing to peddle Hindutva, which could lead to communal polarization for electoral gains, and to defame political rivals as part of a malicious media campaign, all for money…covert or overt attempt to misuse Social Media including Facebook to influence India’s electoral process through undesirable means…Well, this is exactly what Operation 136 establishes, for the first time in the history of Independent India.”
Earlier, Cobrapost had come into contact with Indian TV which belongs to Rajat Sharma-an editor known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India’s largest Hindi newspaper Dainik Jagran, local Uttar Pradesh channel Hindi Khabar, the entertainment and news television company SAB Group, the English newspaper Daily News and Analysis DNA- owned by Zee and Dainik Bhaskar etc., including the news agency UNI, the entertainment channel 9X Tashan, the UP news channel Samachar Plus, the Uttarakhand channel HNN 24×7, the Hindi newspapers “Punjab Kesari” and “Swatantra Bharat”, web portals ScoopWhoop and Rediff.com, IndiaWatch, Hindi newspaper Aaj and the influential Lucknow-based news channel, Sadhna Prime News.
It claimed that none of the business representatives of the media houses seemed to consider it problematic that a client wanted to use their platform to influence the upcoming election to polarise voters and tarnish the reputation of opposition leaders mainly on communal grounds.
The portal said that the media groups agreed to play these because “Sangathan” has set aside a budget of Rs. 742 crores for the Karnataka elections alone. It was also revealed that about Rs. 8,000 crores were spent for media management in the last general elections; and that the budget for the 2019 polls will be even more.
In this connection, in order to win the general elections, 2019, Modi and the BJP-led coalition of the extremist parties are, again, propagating the ideology of Hindutva by targeting Muslims and Pakistan as part of the, pre-election strategy of the BJP.
As regards the propaganda campaign of the Indian media in support of Modi, it is notable that under the caption “Narendra Modi favourite for 2019 Lok Sabha elections, say US experts”, Indian leading newspaper Hindustan Times wrote on March 14, 2017: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emerged as a clear favourite for the 2019 general elections after the BJP’s landslide victory in assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, top US experts on India have said. It was a big win for the BJP. Its candidates won with a much larger margin of victory than compared to the two previous winners–BSP and Samajwadi Party.”
Likewise, under the title “Why Narendra Modi Should Be Elected Again the PM of India in 2019”, Mohammed Asif opined in the website Lindinden.Com on October 30, 2016, “In 2014, a history was created when Narendra Modi was elected as the prime minister of India. Since he was elected by the great mass support, he is considered among the most popular leaders ever born in India…Despite so many critics–from Arvind Kejriwal to Rahul Gandhi…There is much roar…Narendra Modi could win the election in 2019.”
Moreover, following a well throughout plan; BJP is playing an anti-Muslim/anti-Pakistan card to gain votes of a majority of Hindus. Earlier BJP intended to create fissures in Muslim voters by blowing up “Triple Talaq” (irrevocable divorce), issue aiming to get votes of Muslim women.
Undoubtedly, we can conclude that the revelations of the Indian website Cobrapost.Com have exposed the dark colours of Hindutva which is in connivance with Indian media at the cost of Muslims, other minority groups and opposition parties such as Congress.
Posted by Tonya in OPINION LEADER, Sajjad Shaukat on May 8th, 2018
Since the occupation of Afghanistan by the US-led NATO forces, the country has become center of the intelligence agencies such as American CIA, Indian RAW and Israeli Mossad which are in collusion with Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) to obtain the covert designs of the their countries and some Western countries against Russia, China and Pakistan, including Iran.
Under the cover of fighting terrorism, these secret agencies support the militants of Islamic State group (Also known as ISIS, ISIL and Daesh) and Afghanistan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), including their linked outfits which have been conducting terror-assaults in Afghanistan and Pakistan as part of the double game of the US-led countries. Besides, these terrorist groups are destabilizing Tibetan regions of China and Iranian Sistan-Baluchistan through subversive activities.
Being the lonely nuclear country in the Islamic World, and after signing China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Pakistan has become special target of these foreign agencies which have not only restarted terror attacks in Pakistan, especially in Baluchistan through ISIS and TTP etc., but have also kept alive anti-Pakistan propaganda campaign, including protests-demonstrations so as to create a rift among the ethnic groups of Pakistan in order to achieve their collective clandestine aims against the country.
These external elements which have backed the Baloch protests and Muhajir protests to malign Pakistan Army and its primary intelligence agency ISI are also behind the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM).
CIA, RAW and NDS are secretly assisting the Afghan National Unity Government (NUG) to manipulate the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM).
In this regard, in April 8, 2018, the protesters of the social movement of PTM, led by the young activist Manzoor Pashteen gathered in Pakistan’s capital city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Peshawar for a mass demonstration to demand the protection of the rights of Pashtuns. Similar protest-demonstrations in solidarity with the PTM were held on the same day in Australia, Sweden, Germany, London, Washington and Afghanistan and along the Pak-Afghan border, which proved the foreign connections of the PTM movement.
The PTM first staged a 10-day sit-in protest in Islamabad in February, this year in response to the killing of 27-year old Naqeebullah Mehsud—what the Pakistani police pointed out as a raid on a terrorist hideout in eastern Karachi. The PTM halted its first Islamabad sit-in protest after the government provided written assurances that it would address the PTM complaints.
In fact, PTM had risen to importance, after it held protests for the arrest of Karachi’s SSP Rao Anwar for the extrajudicial killing of Naqueebullah Mehsud. The incident was fully manipulated by the organization.
However, speaking in the tone of external propagandists against Pakistan, the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement is demanding an end to human rights violations by authorities in the country’s tribal regions, removal of military checkpoints in the tribal areas and to form a judicial commission to investigate alleged extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances of the Pashtuns in Pashtun-dominated regions of Pakistan.
On the other side, Pakistan’s government rejected false allegations that security forces or its intelligence agencies are responsible for enforced disappearances. Authorities said that military checkpoints are necessary for the tribal areas so as to combat extremist militants, including Pakistani and Afghan Taliban fighters.
As regards the case of missing persons of the Pashtuns, they were killed in various terror attacks, arranged by the militant outfits like ISIS, TTP and their linked groups, while many Pashtuns, without informing their families, also went to Afghanistan to wage Jihad against the occupying forces of NATO. They are, in fact, disappeared persons.
In reaction to the protest-demonstrations of the PTM, on April 2, this year, People in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) took out rallies against PTM. The rallies were organised by a newly formed Pakistan Zindabad Movement, across the FATA and KPK. Anti-PTM rallies were held in Mohmand, Khyber, Kurram agencies, including the KPK towns of Kohat, Shabqadar and Charsadda.
In their speeches, people from different walks of lives praised the sacrifices rendered by the Pak Army and the other security forces in maintaining peace in FATA and the KPK. Protestors termed PTM anti-state and anti-forces.
They also called PTM an agent of RAW and NDS with a mission to defame the Pakistani security forces. The organizers of the rallies warned that if PTM did not let up their foreign agenda the Pashtun people will come after them.
Nonetheless, protests of the PTM cannot be seen in isolation, as these are part of some other developments against Pakistan. In this respect, in the recent past, the US-led entities have launched a controversial and heated debate in Afghanistan whether the term ‘Afghan’ designate, a ‘nationality or ethnic’ group.
This controversy delayed the issue of national identity card for people of Afghanistan for years. Influential ethnic groups of Afghanistan which are currently heading the government do not look at the word ‘Afghan’, a nationality for people of Afghanistan, but an ethnic group.
In this connection, history provides ample evidence that the word Afghan has been interchangeably used for Pashtuns. The people who initially inhibited in the south-east of the Amu Darya in Afghanistan, to the west of the Indus River in Pakistan are Pushtuns. The Pashtuns or Afghans primarily speak Pashto language and follow Pashtunwali code of conduct. They are primarily found in Afghanistan and Pakistan and form the world’s largest tribal society, today. Throughout the Indian subcontinent, they are often referred to as Pathans.
Today, the Pashtun tribes with over 65 million people live in Pakistan, while approximately 28 Million people in Afghanistan and another 1.5 million or more live in Iran. There are 1.8 million registered and unregistered Afghan refugees who are living in Pakistan, a majority of which are Pashtuns.
As regards Pakistani Pashtun, over 26 million live in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), 9 million in FATA, and around 7 million in Karachi alone, 9 million in Punjab, 3 million in Sindh and 6.5 million in Baluchistan. The figure does not include the Niazi tribe of Mianwali who are also Pathans, but fewer speak the Pashto language.
Undoubtedly, Pashtuns are very well knitted in Pakistani society and enjoy power positions in government, civil and military bureaucracy. They also enjoy vast connectivity due to inter-marriages with other ethnic groups. So, it is not difficult to grasp when Pashtun tribes suffer tyranny and ill-treatment in Afghanistan; a large number of Pashtuns and their friends are saddened all over Pakistan.
It regrettable that Pashtuns in FATA are suffering due to drone attacks and Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) which is an outdated and cruel system of collective punishment. Hence, for the first time, they have desired to move away from the concept of “illaqa-e-ghair” (Strange Land) and to completely integrate into Pakistani state, including its legal system.
It is notable that the anti-Pakistan forces which always exploit the relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan on the pretext of Pashtuns are extremely worried over the new development in the FATA and KPK.
It is the misfortune of the country that the current government of Pakistan is also showing apathetic and sluggish approach to the new development and is not meeting the demands of Pashtuns.
It is mentionable that in Afghanistan, primarily Pashtuns are resisting American occupation and are, therefore, facing the wrath of the US-led NATO. Therefore, in frustration, America and India which are in connivance with the NUG are behind this new move to differentiate between a Pashtun or an Afghan in order to malign Islamabad.
Besides, as part of the propaganda campaign, these hostile forces are using few politicians and political activists and social workers to slow down integration of FATA into mainstream Pakistan.
In this respect, the PTM, a noble student initiative which was, in fact, launched in 2013 for the purpose of clearing landmines in Waziristan has been de-tracked. The movement rightfully protested the extra-judicial killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud by the police force in Karachi.
Apart from the Afghan top political leadership, few crooks of Awami National Party (ANP) and ultra-liberals are also misleading Pashtuns. As part of the propaganda, anti-Pakistan speeches of PTM workers are also attracting wide publicity by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), a United States funded organization. Another website Gandhara, and Mashaal Radio is found cultivating suspicion between Pakistan military and Pashtuns. The real aim behind these sinister designs is to create a rift between Pashtuns and Pakistan Army.
In this regard, Saira Bano Orakzai, a proud Pashtun at Research Fellow at Harvard University in her recent article says that the time is ripe for the people of the tribal areas to make a clear choice; to struggle to restore rights and peace or to struggle against this country’s institutions and ideology, only to get entangled in a perpetual conflict.
As a matter of fact, PTM instead of articulating and moving towards a solution for the problems of FATA has stretched its ideology to an unknown “La La land”, and thus, it is derailing an already fragile reforms process for FATA’s future.
These internal and external hostile elements do not want developments in FATA, which can result in the progress of their people in various fields. These elements want to continue the past system of the colonial era at the cost of Pakistan.
It is a good sign that in the budget 2018-2019, the government has proposed Rs.24.5 billion for FATA. To bring FATA in the mainstream, a ten-year FATA development plan with a total outlay of Rs.100 billion has been approved. During 2018-19 Rs.10 billion are proposed to be provided.
It is the right hour that without further loss of time, the government of Pakistan should immediately merge FATA with KPK and implement FATA reforms.
The alleged killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud by Rao Anwar be immediately resolved because inquisitive forces are manipulating the situation.
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) must monitor and check the hostile propaganda against the unity and interests of Pashtun people on national and international media.
The media anchors, analysts and writers, including leaders of all the political parties must counter the anti-Pakistan activities of the external entities which are backing the PTM. They should also give a matching response to some internal elements which are supporting the illegitimate demands of the PTM such as removal of check-posts etc.
And more rallies and demonstrations must be arranged by the patriot-citizens of Pakistan in response to the PTM anti-Pakistan activities. Thus, external conspiracy against the integrity of the country can be thwarted.
Posted by Dr. Salman in OPINION, OPINION LEADER, Sajjad Shaukat on April 30th, 2018
With the support of some state actors and after its defeat by the Russian-led coalition of Iran, Iraq and Lebanon-based Hezbollah in Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State group (Also known as Daesh, ISIS and ISIL) is rapidly spreading its tentacles in South Asia.
It is also due to the dual policy of the US-led some Western powers, Israel and India that ISIS which is most dangerous terrorist group than Al-Qaeda has accelerated terrorism-related attacks in the US, Europe, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Yemen, Iran, Iraq etc. and some African countries where besides Muslims, the outfit also targeted the Christians. Now, its tentacles have reached other regions of Asia, especially South Asia. Hence, the emergence of ISIS threat in South Asia needs attention.
In this context, the Daily Mail Online reported on February 22, 2015, “The terrifying rise of ISIS…tentacles now reach from Algeria to Afghanistan”.
According to online sources, “On January 26, 2015, Abu Muhammed al-Adnani chief spokesperson of the ISIS released an audio statement in which he declared the establishment of Wilayat Khorasan, a branch of the group encompassing Afghanistan, Pakistan and other nearby lands. Since then, Wilayat Khorasan has pursued a campaign of expansion and consolidation in the region, with most of its activity centring in eastern and southeastern Afghanistan.”
Some other online sources disclosed, “ISI activities in Afghanistan are known as IS’s Khorasan Province (ISKP) or an Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP).”
These sources revealed, “ISKP’s control of territory in Nangrahar reached its peak in summer 2015 when it became the dominant insurgent group in eight of the province’s 22 districts…Since then, the Taliban have fought to take back territory…ISKP then dug in through 2016 in all its remaining districts, that is, Achin, Kot and Nazyan in the south-eastern districts…as well as Deh Bala in the south-west…ISIL-KP maintained a presence in southern Nangarhar Province despite increased military operations carried out by the United States of America and the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces. SIL-KP continued its attacks against the civilian population and military and foreign military targets, and unverified local sources claimed that ISIL-KP reinforcements and recruitment continued…IS Khorasan gained its new strength through forging alliances with local sectarian pro-al-Qaeda or Taliban militant groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al Alami (LeJ-A), Lashkar-e Islam (LeI), or disgruntled Taliban factions like Jundallah and Jamaat ul Ahrar (JuA), which have been active in the region for many years. It has also reportedly recruited operatives from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). The success of this strategy is manifest in the geographical distribution of the recent attacks, which suggests a logistical penetration and influence that extends from Kabul and Jalalabad in Afghanistan to Quetta and Peshawar in neighbouring Pakistan.”
It is mentionable that the militants attacked the Holey Artisan Bakery (Restaurant) in the diplomatic district of Dhaka-capital of Bangladesh on July 2, 2016, and killed at least 20 hostages and two police officers. It included nine Italians, seven Japanese and one American. The ISIS claimed responsibility for the terror attack on the restaurant. Top officials of Bangladesh Government claimed the existence of ISIS in the country. ISIS has also accepted responsibility for several past attacks in Bangladesh.
Taking cognizance of various terrorism-related assaults in Afghanistan and Pakistan by the ISIL, as its terrorists also entered Pakistan from Afghanistan, Pakistan has, repeatedly, been expressing concerns over the growing unrest and violence in Afghanistan, reiterating support for a dialogue-based settlement of the Afghan issue. Islamabad is supportive of an Afghan dialogue, recognizing Taliban as a legitimate party in the conflict. Similar stance has been adopted by Russia, China, Iran and even the Central Asian Republics.
While Pakistan has expressed concerns over the emergence of ISIS in Afghanistan from where it has rapidly been spreading its terror-network in other South Asian countries. Islamabad’s worry is also shared by all the countries of the region. The dreaded terror outfit is being projected by the US, India, and some Western countries as a counterweight to Taliban. Therefore, the story of ISIS in Afghanistan is viewed carefully by the regional countries. Russia has repeatedly aired concerns about the possibility of tacit US approval or her inability to control the ISIS. Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai and few other Afghan leaders have also aired such apprehensions.
In this connection, a news item was published by all the leading dailies of Pakistan on October 8, 2017 regarding the statement of Afghanistan’s former Afghan President Karzai who, while dismissing criticism of Moscow’s ties with the Taliban and echoing Russian claims of American support to the ISIS terrorists, told Voice of America (VOC) that the United States has links with terrorist ‘Islamic State’, also known as Daesh…Daesh a tool of US…After it [the US] dropped the [mother of all] bomb on Afghanistan, it did not eliminate Daesh…the terrorist group has been supplied weapons by the United States forces…The US Army helicopters and army bases are being used to provide assistance to ISIS terrorists…I do not differentiate at all between Daesh and America…Reports of American assistance to the terrorists are coming from all over the country.” (It also includes Karzai’s revelations to VOC of April 20, 2017, and Newsweek’s report of the same day).
Particularly, based in Afghanistan, secret agencies such as American CIA, Indian RAW and Israeli Mossad are in collusion, and are using the ISIS in destabilizing Pakistan and Afghanistan as part of the double game of their countries. India and Israel want to prolong the stay of the US-led NATO troops in Afghanistan which has become the centre of their covert activities against Pakistan, Russia, China, and Iran. American President Trump is also doing the same in connivance with New Delhi and Tel Aviv. Now, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the special target of these foreign intelligence agencies.
It is notable that Afghanistan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and ISIS which are being backed by RAW, CIA and Mossad have claimed responsibility for several terror assaults inside Pakistan and Afghanistan, including the recent ones.
While, Pakistan has repeatedly pointed out ISIS’s involvement in anti-Pakistan violence and terrorism, and Islamabad has also shared credible information about the presence of ex-TTP militants inside Afghanistan, many of whom have switched sides to join ISIS. Therefore, Islamabad expects Afghanistan and the US-led forces (NATO) in Afghanistan to check the activities and projection of the ISKP activities.
Notably, ISIS has suffered heavily on accounts of its confrontation with the Afghan Taliban. Taliban have successfully undone ISIS influence from most of its controlled and contested areas. ISIS has lost most of its leadership in these fights and has been virtually squeezed to a few pockets of Nangarhar province. Taliban have been successful in checking ISKP’s (ISIS) ideological outreach by projecting the linkage of the brutal organization with extra-regional elements and thus discrediting them in the eyes of common Afghans. Most Afghans consider ISKP’s display of cruelties and inhuman behaviour against Afghan culture and do not buy group’s ideas of violence.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has successfully purged FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of militants through successful military operations Zarb-e-Azb and Radd-ul-Fasad. Lately, the country is focusing on improving border management and fencing project to address the cross-border movement of the terrorists. Pakistan is making concerted efforts to address extremism in all its forms. Recent steps by the country, including the nationwide agreed upon ‘Paigham-e-Pakistan’ (Message of Pakistan), are efforts to address the menace of terrorism and extremism on the ideological front.
In the same context, in the recent past, Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa in Munich Security Conference was a polite reminder to the US-led international community, especially the Western powers of their past practices in the region.
We can conclude that reality of ISKP is well known to the regional powers. People like the ex-President Hamid Karzai and countries like Russia have been quite vocal in expressing their concerns about who supports ISKP? For ISKP in Afghanistan, the onus rests on the American- led NATO forces as well as on the Afghan National Unity Government (NUG) who need to carry out a reality check. America, India, and Israel should also abandon their double game with Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, China and Russia in order to cope with the emergence of ISIS threat in South Asia.
Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is the author of the book: the US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations
Email: [email protected]
Additional Information
Posted by Billa in OPINION LEADER, Sajjad Shaukat on March 13th, 2018
Like his other political follies, the US President Donald Trump’s announcement of the ‘trade wars’ has started a new debate in the world regarding a prospective global trade war. So far, much has been said and written by various world leaders and analysts. But, we should know that when we analyze some issue of international affairs, we should also take note of the interrelated developments to reach the conclusion. In these terms, there is a co-relationship of the global trade war, New Cold War and terrorism, which needs an appropriate assessment.
In this regard, on March 1, this year, President Trump initiated a major global trade with countries around the world after he announced his plan to impose a 25 percent tariff on all steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on all aluminium imports into the USA. Next day, he said in a Twitter-statement: “When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win.”
In another Twitter post on March 3, Trump warned: “If the E.U. wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on U.S. companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the U.S. They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there. Big trade imbalance!”
Over Trump’s controversial announcement of tariffs on steel and aluminium, Zhang Yesui, a spokesperson for China’s National People’s Congress warned on March 4, 2018, that it does not want a trade war with the US, but will not sit idly by if its economy is hurt. China would take “necessary measures” if its interests were hurt.
Several major trading partners of the US such as EU and Japan have said that they might respond to the US tariffs with direct action. Reportedly, in retaliation, EU trade chiefs have been considering countermeasures—slapping 25% tariffs on around $3.5bn of imports from the US-targeting iconic US exports including Levi’s jeans, Harley-Davidson motorbikes and Bourbon whisky, if the United States followed through on President Trump’s plan to impose penalties on imported steel and aluminum, raising the specter of a trade war. America’s major allies such as Britain and France have also denounced Trump’s move.
Even Trump prodded his NAFTA partners, 11 nations gathered in Chile to sign a landmark Asia-Pacific trade pact, one that Trump withdrew from on his first day in office last year.
Brazil, Mexico and Japan have said that they would consider retaliatory steps if President Trump pressed ahead with his plan in the coming days.
On March 7, this year, European leaders stated that they did not want to trigger a wider trade dispute with the US, emphasizing upon President Trump to reconsider his decision. The President of the European Council stated in a tweet that trade wars were “bad and easy to lose”.
But, by setting aside the domestic criticism, the resignation of his chief economic advisor Gary Cohn who supports free trade and opposition from American close allies, President Donald Trump signed order about an increase in metals tariff plan.
Although President Trump exempted Canada and Mexico from tariff-barriers, but he remained firm on his trade moves regarding other countries, and stated on March 8, 2018: The best outcome would for companies to move their mills and smelters to the United States…domestic metals production was vital to national security. Flanked by steel and aluminium workers, Trump added: “If you don’t want to pay tax, bring your plant to the USA.”
In this respect, Cecilia Malmstrom, European Union commissioner for trade remarked: “In the eyes of the EU, “the motivation of the U.S. is an economic safeguard measure in disguise, not a national security measure…That means the EU is entitled to make use of a WTO safeguard agreement to rebalance benefits that we have given to the U.S. in the past.”
While, differences have already existed between the US and Europe on various trade matters— bilateral and multinational trade agreements like the TPP which Trump abandoned, including the NAFTA and WTO, at this critical juncture, President Trump has triggered an all-out trade war with his close friends and the rival countries.
Meanwhile, the European Union and Japan urged the United States in a meeting at the Brussels on March 10, this year to grant them exemptions from metal import tariffs, with Tokyo calling for “calm-headed behaviour” in a dispute that threatens to spiral into a trade war. US Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer met with his EU and Japanese counterparts, but the meetings offered little new clarity amid fears of a global trade war.
On the same day, in an interview at Brussels, French Trade Secretary Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne warned by saying: The US president risks igniting a trade war…but insisted that his strategy would backfire.”
An ally of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel Norbert Röttgen who is the head of the foreign affairs committee of the lower house of Germany’s Parliament stated at the conference in Brussels that the United States was “the steward, the leader, of establishing, of developing a system of international relations…Now we have a different approach.”
However, initiation of the present global trade war cannot be seen in isolation, it has an interrelationship with the New Cold War, irresponsible statements of the US President Donald Trump, his anti-Muslim moves, and various related developments in the world and terrorism-related attacks, which are part of the double game and secret strategy of Israel who is in collaboration with the President Trump, American CIA, FBI and Islamic State group (Also known as Daesh, ISIS, ISIL) to seek revenge against the Muslims and Russia at the cost of loyalist Americans, including Western countries, especially those of Europe.
During the tenure of the President Barack Obama, New Cold War had already started between the United States and Russia, when his top officials accused Moscow of backing insurgency in Ukraine. It accelerated when Russia opposed US intentions to deploy a national missile defence system (NMD) in Europe and the expansion of NATO towards Eastern Europe. Against this backdrop, Russian President Vladimir Putin had openly stated that his country was returning to its Soviet-era practices.
The New Cold War intensified, when in September 2015, Russian-led coalition of Iran, Iraq, the Syrian army-the National Defense Forces (NDF) and Lebanon-based Hezbollah started breaking the backbone of the ISIS terrorists, Al-Qaeda’s Al-Nusra Front and the rebels in Syria and Iraq. Russian-led alliance thwarted the attempts of the US-led some Western countries who wanted to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government to obtain the aims of a greater Israel as part of the double game.
Israeli Mossad which was already having clandestine contact with the ISIS directed this outfit to plan the November 13 (2015) terror attacks in Paris in connivance with the French home-grown militants. Similarly, when Russian-led forces began retaking many cities from the control of these insurgents, on the other side, agents of Mossad who were in collaboration with the CIA sympathizers and the ISIL militants arranged various sorts of terror assaults in Europe and the US.
Through all these false flag terror attacks which occurred since 2015, the US and Israel wanted to obtain their covert aims against Russia and the Muslims. Mossad had also provided the US President Donald Trump with an opportunity to manipulate various terror assaults of Europe and America to win the US presidential election and to reunite America and Europe, as a rift was created between America and its Western allies, especially Europe on a number of issues, including NATO. And, President Trump had left no stone unturned in implementing anti-Muslim policies, while speaking openly against the Muslims and Syrian immigrants. Trump had started exaggerating the so-called threat of Islamophobia, while, some incidents were not linked to ISIS, but were the result of self-radicalization of the individuals.
President Trump first introduced the screening process during the election campaign on a pledge to indefinitely ban the Muslims from entering the United States—his campaign aides later tried to finesse as a broader policy aimed at implementing “extreme vetting” for immigrants from certain countries. As president, he introduced a ban on arrivals to the US from a number of mainly-Muslim countries.
America’s Western partners, especially European countries had strongly condemned Trump’s travel ban on the Muslim countries, as discriminatory and violations of human rights.
It is also of particular attention that since the fundamentalist party BJP led by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in India, it has been implementing anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan agenda. Encouraged by the BJP, assaults on Muslims, Christians and other minorities by the Hindu extremist parties might be cited as an instance. India which has a strategic partnership with Israel has perennially been manipulating the double game of the US-led West regarding world phenomena of terrorism in connection with Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In wake of Modi’s aggressive diplomacy, India has continued shelling in Pakistani side of Kashmir which remains a nuclear flashpoint between both the neighbouring countries.
Emboldened by President Trump, both Tel Aviv and New Delhi have been equating the ‘wars of liberation’ in Palestine and Kashmir with terrorism. Their main purpose is to manipulate the New Cold War between the US and Russia so as to divert the attention of the West from their own state terrorism which continues unabated on the occupying territories of Kashmir and Palestine while employing delaying tactics in the solution of these issues.
Besides, Trump’s strong backing of the NATO-like alliance by the Saudi Arabia—the Sunni-countries against Iran and accusing Tehran of promoting terrorism and motivating religious extremism among the Muslims and Christians, Jews and Hindus show his clear links with Israel and India.
Particularly, President Trump’s Israeli connections were undoubtedly proved on December 6, last year when he officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reversing nearly seven decades of American foreign policy and setting in motion a plan to move the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to the fiercely contested Holy City.
America’s Western allies and even the pro-US Islamic counties have rejected Trump’s move, which reversed decades of US neutrality on the status of Jerusalem.
Undoubtedly, angry elements within the Muslims countries, especially in the pro-Arab states may react against America and its interests in the form of terrorism and other violent actions. Trump has also provided the terrorist outfits like ISIS new ammunition for recruitment of militants and to radicalize the Muslims in the US and other Western countries. Trump’s decision offered the extremist groups a valuable opportunity to capitalise on anti-US sentiment. Particularly, it could also increase the domestic extremism in the US.
To what extent President Trump wants to obtain Israeli illegitimate goals at the cost of Muslims and the patriot Americans could be judged from the terrorism-related assaults which occurred in the Spanish city of Barcelona on August 17, 2017, and in her town of Cambrils on August 18, 2017. After condemning the terror attacks and offering US assistance to Spain, the US President Donald Trump suggested “fighting terrorism by executing Muslims with bullets dipped in pigs blood.”
Trump whose character has emerged as a political terrorist is not only fueling racism between the Muslims and Christians but also between the black people and the white people, as noted inside America.
It is mentionable that since the occupation of Afghanistan by the US-led NATO forces, the country has become centre of the intelligence agencies such as American CIA, Indian RAW and Israeli Mossad which are in connivance to obtain the covert designs of their countries and some Western countries against Russia, China and Pakistan, including Iran.
Under the cover of fighting terrorism, these foreign agencies which are also in collaboration with Afghan intelligence agency, National Directorate of Security (NDS) support the militants of ISIL and Afghanistan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), including their linked outfits which have been conducting terror-assaults in Afghanistan and Pakistan as part of the double game of the US-led countries. Besides, these terrorist groups are weakening Tibetan regions of China and Iranian Sistan-Baluchistan through subversive activities.
America, India and puppet rulers of Afghanistan shift the blame game of terror assaults in Afghanistan towards Pakistan. The US has also accused Iran and Russia of assisting the Taliban in Afghanistan. The main purpose of Washington is not only to pacify their people and justify the unending war in Afghanistan but also to fulfil the secret strategic designs against Russia, China, Pakistan and Iran.
In this connection, a news item was published by all the leading dailies of Pakistan on October 8, 2017 about the statement of Afghanistan’s Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai who, while dismissing criticism of Moscow’s ties with the Taliban and echoing Russian claims of American support to the ISIS terrorists, told Voice of America (VOC) that the “United States has links with terrorist ‘Islamic State’, also known as Daesh…Daesh a tool of US…After it [the US] dropped the [mother of all] bomb on Afghanistan, it did not eliminate Daesh…the terrorist group has been supplied weapons by the United States forces…The US Army helicopters and army bases are being used to provide assistance to ISIS terrorists…I do not differentiate at all between Daesh and America…Reports of American assistance to the terrorists are coming from all over the country.” (It also includes Karzai’s revelations to VOC of April 20, 2017, and Newsweek’s report of the same day).
Likewise, Russian TV channel, Russia Today (RT) reported on September 24, 2017: “The Russian Ministry of Defense has released aerial images which they say show US Army special forces equipment north of the town of Deir er-Zor, where ISIS militants are deployed. US Army special units provide free passage for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) through the battle formations of Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) terrorists…Despite that the US strongholds being organized around them…This could mean that the US military staff feel absolutely safe in the area which is held by the terrorists…All of the images were taken from September 8 to 12. The photos show several Cougar infantry mobility vehicles and Hummer armoured vehicles of the US Army Special Forces, according to the Russian MoD data…In this case, securing IS assistance for an unopposed advance of US-backed SDF forces could enable the SDF, widely seen as a US proxy, to seize strategically important (and oil-rich) territory in Deir Ez-Zor that otherwise would soon be retaken by rapidly advancing Syrian Army. If so this once again will raise questions as to what the true purpose of US forces-purportedly in Syria to fight IS-actually is. Earlier in September, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov accused the SDF of collusion with ISIS terrorists.SDF militants work to the same objectives as IS terrorists.”
Notably, Pakistan’s Armed Forces have successfully broken the backbone of the foreign-backed terrorists by the military operations Zarb-e-Azb and Radd-ul-Fasaad which have also been extended to other parts of the country, including Balochistan province and Karachi. Army and top intelligence agency ISI have broken the network of these terrorist groups by capturing several militants while thwarting a number of terror attempts. Peace has been restored in various regions of Pakistan, including Karachi and Balochistan.
But, these foreign elements have, again, started terror attacks in Balochistan and other regions of the country which show that the US-led India, Afghanistan and Israel want to weaken Pakistan and to damage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Since Pakistan became the only declared nuclear country in the Islamic World, the United States, India and Israel started acting upon their collective agenda to destabilize it. After the shift of the Great Game from Central Asia to Pakistan, the country has become a special target of CIA, RAW and Mossad which are in collaboration in supporting various terror-related attacks in various cities, including separatist elements in Balochistan province.
As part of the New Cold War, terror-attacks coincide with a poisonous propaganda of the US-led entities against Russia-China-Pakistan axis and Iran and their interests in the region.
It is notable that India was openly opposing the CPEC and China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, the US also joined New Delhi. In this context, on October 3, 2017, US Defence Secretary James Mattis told the Lawmakers, “The United States has reiterated its support for India’s opposition to China’s One Belt, One Road initiative…the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) a part of which traverses Pakistan-Kashmir.”
Islamabad strongly dismissed the statement from the American defence chief that the multibillion-dollar road and rail network CPEC which is part of China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative, passes through a disputed territory of Kashmir, urging the international community to focus on blatant human rights violations and ‘heinous crimes’ committed by Indian occupation forces in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), and reminded the US that Washington had also participated in an OBOR summit.
A statement from the Chinese foreign ministry also dismissed Mattis’ statement, saying that the OBOR plan was backed by the United Nations and that CPEC was an economic cooperation initiative. Russia also supports the OBOR and CPEC.
Earlier, due to the double game of the US-led entities, China, Russia and Pakistan held secretary-level trilateral talks in Moscow on December 27, 2016, and discussed regional stability, including the restoration of peace in Afghanistan. The meeting also discussed anti-terrorism cooperation amid growing influence of the ISIL in the region and a peace process between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
In the recent past, using tough words against the US ally Pakistan, Trump revived the old blame game of his predecessors Bush and Obama regarding the cross-border terrorism in Afghanistan by saying Washington could “no longer be silent about Pakistan’s safe havens for terrorist organizations”, and threatened to target the terrorists’ sanctuaries in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
As regards Pakistan’s regional rival India, Donald Trump said, “We appreciate India’s important contributions to stability in Afghanistan…We want them to help us more with Afghanistan.”
Meanwhile, on January 5, 2018, the US suspended $255 million of military aid to Islamabad as a condition to do more against terrorism.
According to the statement of the ISPR (Army Spokesman), “Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa stated that “Pakistan was not looking for any material or financial assistance from the USA but trust, understanding and acknowledgement of our contributions…peace in Afghanistan is as important for Pakistan as for any other country.”
And various other developments such as Russia-Turkey alliance to fight the ISIS in Syria, and US decision to dispatch more troops to Afghanistan is equally notable.
Nonetheless, taking note of the US double game, Islamabad which has already strengthened its relations with Beijing has also been cultivating its ties with Russia. In the recent past, Pakistan’s top officials have paid a visit to Moscow. In this connection, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif has openly stated that Islamabad will prefer Russia over America.
It is worth mentioning that in an interview to the “The Wall Street Journal” on January 5, 2018, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said, “He sees his country’s alliance with the US as over after the Trump administration announced the suspension of U.S. security-related aid to Pakistan…This is not how allies behave.”
Pakistan is also improving its relations with Iran. In the end of last year, Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa paid a visit to Tehran where he met Iranian civil and military high officials.
While, New Cold War has been accelerated between Washington and Moscow in relation to the Syrian civil war and Afghanistan, in these circumstances, owing to Trump’s pro-Israeli policy and anti-Iran rhetoric—and taking cognizance of the unsuccessful US-Indian partnership which is based on extremism, Tehran will abandon the American-supported Chabahar project and will prefer to align with Russian-led China-Pakistan alliance.
Nevertheless, there is co-relationship of the US internal and external policies. Hence, it is owing to Donald Trump’s flawed external policy that the United States has lost leverage of bargaining over the small countries like Pakistan, North Korea, Iran and Turkey who have refused to follow America’s coercive diplomacy whose major aim is to complete the Zionist agenda of Israel. Particularly, the hollowness of American sanctions and military pressure on Pyongyang could be assessed from the fact that now; President Trump is showing a willingness to have negotiations with North Korea on the issue of latter’s nuclear programme (Conduction of missile tests).
Regarding the New Cold War, it is noteworthy that America’s faulty strategy has weakened her position, as she has not only entangled in a prolonged war in Afghanistan but also enveloped other NATO countries there. Particularly, the US-led endless war in Afghanistan and a fake global war on terror have rapidly increased the cost of these useless conflicts which have brought about multifaceted crises inside the United States, including other NATO countries.
It is worth mentioning that one of the important causes of the disintegration of the former Soviet Union was that its greater defence expenditure exceeded to the maximum, resulting in economic crises inside the country. In this connection, about a prolonged war in Afghanistan, the former President Gorbachev had declared it as the “bleeding wound.” However, Soviet Union failed in controlling the movements of liberation, launched by various ethnic nationalities. At present, America is moving on Soviet Union’s tract of disintegration, while President Trump promised to make America great again. Therefore, he has been boosting defence spending by ignoring the fact that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including various other operations against Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Philippines have further given a blow to the US exchequer.
In case of Syrian civil war, latest reports suggest that Syrian regime forces have cut off the largest town in Eastern Ghouta from the rest of the opposition enclave in a blow to the CIA-Mossad-backed beleaguered rebels who are failing in defending their last bastion near Damascus.
Besides, domestic extremism keeps on going in America, and the fundamentalist President Donald Trump has continued criticizing CIA, FBI, judiciary, media and some other key institutions. For example, in the recent past, President Trump has alleged CIA for interference with his agendas and termed its officers as “Sick People.”
Taking note of his extremist policies, many top officials of the Trump Administration have resigned.
In America, CIA, FBI and Department of Homeland Security which are working as “states within a state” or “shadow Governments” or “Deep state means,” are also clandestinely working against one another. They do not respond to the civilian political leadership-the President and the Congressmen which are also fighting a war of nerves against each other.
Now, we can witness that terrorism-related attacks in the Middle East, South Asia, Africa, Europe, America and elsewhere in the world have, rapidly, been increasing.
Mossad which is exploiting the New Cold War is playing a key role in terror assaults, as Israel will prefer a nuclear war between Russia and the US or between North Korea and America to avoid the two-state settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Atomic war could also erupt between Pakistan and India, as New Delhi also avoids solution of the Kashmir issue. While fanatic leaders are in power in the US, India and Israel, their connivance may also culminate in ‘clash of civilizations’, particularly between the Muslim and the Christians worlds.
Returning to our earlier discussion, we can undoubtedly conclude that global trade war, New Cold War and terrorism are interrelated. It is the right hour that loyalist Americans, non-Zionist Jews and peace-loving citizens of every other religious community should play their positive role for global peace by stopping the division of the international community on religious and cultural lines. They must castigate the conspiracy of Trump-led Israel and India—the manipulators of the New Cold War which could envelop the entire international community.
Report: New York Terror Attack, Israel Wants Nuclear War or Clash of Civilizations
Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants,
Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations
Email: [email protected]
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