SOURCE: Ausaf, Ummat, Daily Pak, Nawa-i-Waqt, Urdu Point, Daily Jinnah, Awami Awaz, Daily Dharti, Jasarat, Kawish, Daily Intekhab, Daily Times, Jang, Ibrat, Khabrain, Roznama Dunya, Hizb Media, Al Qalam Weekly, Baad-e-Shimal, Bang-e-Sahar, Sindh Express, Pk Voices.
UNITED STATES
1. The US has again made the charge that Taliban and Haqqani network leaders are working freely from safe hide outs in Pakistan. This is despite Pakistan’s clarification on Haqqani network not once but many times many times. It is time Pakistan demands evidence from the US on its allegations. Obviously Pakistan leaders did not brief the US about the ground situation. Senator John McCain during his visit to North Waziristan frankly admitted that he was unaware about Pakistan’s trouble and sacrifices in the war against terrorism. Blame for this flipside of US-Pak ties goes to Pakistan’s weak lobby in Washington. Some analysts have termed Tariq Fatemi’s visit to US as failure as he could not hold a meeting with key officials of the incoming Trump administration. (Khabrain Edit)
AFGHANISTAN/IRAN/B’desh
1. Bangladesh Interior Minister, Asaduzzaman Khan in an interview to Indian news agency, PTI, said that Pakistan would be isolated in the world for supporting terrorism. The roots of terrorism in India and Bangladesh are in Pakistan. All steps should be taken to condemn a country which is giving safe haven to terrorism. Due to the non-resolution of water disputes between India and Bangladesh anti-India emotions are erupting in Bangladesh. (Jasarat)
2. Iranian forces fired upon a car in Pakistani territory along with border as if Iran was following India. One person was killed and two others injured. The Iranians fired in all nine mortars. It was an unproved firing. (Ummat)
INDIA
1. India is allocating huge funds for sabotaging the CPEC. The new Indian Army Chief, IB and RAW Chiefs are known for their anti-Pak and anti-Muslims sentiments. (Ausaf Edit)
2. Former Indus Water Commissioner, Jamat Ali Shah has criticized that Pakistan sent its request to appoint a mediator without doing its homework. Now Pakistan has an opportunity to consider appointment of neutral experts and submit peaceful resolution regarding Indian dams’ designs under Indus Water Treaty. (Urdupoint)
3. Following World Bank’s direction, the India-Pak talks are progressing on a positive note to resolve the impasse over the Indus Water Treaty (IWT). An Indian delegation will soon visit Lahore. (Sindh Express)
4. Firing from the Indian forces at the LOC goes on unabated. In one such latest firing, a school bus was targeted resulting in the death of bus driver and injuries to eight girl students. India wants to make Pakistan unstable by taking to off and on firing at the LOC. The attack on school bus is most despicable act and such incidents also keep raising questions as to how long Pakistan will remain quiet. It is time India too realised that if both the atomic powers go for a full-fledged war, it will only mean more deaths and destruction in the region. After getting US patronage, India keeps putting pressure on Pakistan by taking to unprovoked firing on the border. It would be better if the US and the world community use their influence and get Indo-Pak dispute resolved before this region witnesses a big tragedy. (Ibrat Edit)
5. The Federal Government has decided to adopt policy to giving a strong retaliation to Indian actions though in self-defence. If India continues with its unprovoked firing and targets innocent civilians, Pakistan will exercise all its war options for its own defence. (Urdupoint)
6. JuD Chief Hafiz Saeed has castigated Foreign Advisor Sartaj Aziz Hafiz Saeed for giving a clean chit to alleged RAW agent Kulbhushan Yadav. Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh threatened Pakistan of splitting it into ten parts but Pakistan government has remained silent. Pakistan will become an Islamic Pakistan and India will split. (Ummat)
7. Eminent nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan said that India lives in the world of fools and it doesn’t know about the might of Pakistan. Pakistan is more powerful than what India could imagine. (Roznama Dunya)
8. Modi government has ignored a senior Muslim Lt Gen, Hariz in the appointment of the new Army Chief. (Khabrain)
ARMY/SECURITY FORCES
1. Amir Hamza, Central JuD leader, writes: it is a strange co-incidence that PM Nawaz Sharif had lost his premiership at the hands of General Abdul Wahid Kakra and General Pervez Musharraf who were short in height. Army Chiefs who were tall or of a good height had not toppled the government of Nawaz Sharif. Hamza writes that Raheel Sharif was a tall General and in his tenure Nawaz Sharif remained safe. Now General Qamar Bajwa also has a good height. So it may mean Sharif need not worry. General Raheel Sharif had warned India and this made India to scale down its rhetoric. If time demands, Gen Qamar Bajwa will also out dare Indian Army Chief which will turn General Suhag’s nights into nightmarish dreams. (Roznama Dunya)
TERRORISM & EXTREMISM
1. Five terrorists were killed and four others fled in a CTD raid in Dera Gazi Khan. As many as four hand grenades, 4 rifles and 2 nine mm pistol were recovered from them. 2 out of the escaped are identified as Kamran and Tehsin. (Khabrain)
2.Javed Langah writes the Quetta Commission report has taken the lid off the anti-terror operations. The probe body has made 18 recommendations to address administrative, institutional and political weaknesses in the system. Though Balochistan and federal governments parrot the same resolve and concern after every terror strike, both have failed miserably to check the activities of banned organisations in Balochistan. These banned groups are openly and brazenly using all their resources. In fact the talk of the town is that most anti-terror activities are often found taking place against those banned political parties who are clandestinely involved in rebellion against the Balochistan government and branded as anti-national groups. Hopefully, the Quetta Commission report does not meet the fate met by similar probes in the past. (Kawish)
3.Several criminals having connections with political parties or religious groups have gone out of country in large number with the help of fake documents in the aftermath of Karachi operations and National Action Plan, say reliable sources. Some of them are most wanted ones involved with terror activities. Azir Baloch, Liyari gangster and MQM’s Rehman Bhola figure in the list. FIA and other agencies are seized of the issue and efforts to track them and bring them back to the country. (Sindh Express)
4. JuD Chief Hafiz Saeed has asked the Sindh government to withdraw its controversial anti-conversion bill, saying that the new law is against Sharia. Addressing a Difa-e-Islam Caravan, he also said that religious parties will campaign against the move of Sindh government. (Ummat)
5. Religious and political party leaders have rejected the controversial Sindh bill against conversions and protection of minorities. The bill should not just be amended but it should be withdrawn, they said while addressing Difa-e-Islam Caravan in Karachi. The caravan was launched by JuD Chief, Hafiz Saeed at Safari Park. Besides JuD Chief, Hafiz Saeed, other who spoke included JI DY Chief, Asadullah Bhutto, Jamaat-e-Ehle Hadis chief, Ziaullah Shah Bukhari, chairman of Nazriya Pakistan Council, Qari Yaqoob Sk., JuI (F) leader, Maulana Abdul Karim Abid, International Majlise Tahafuze Khatme Nubuwat, Hafiz Ayaz Madni, JuI(S) Secretary General Hafiz Ahmed Ali, and JuD central leader, Saifullah Khalid. Pakistan, as a nuclear nation should work to stop aggression against Muslims, they said. Nazariya Pakistan Council chairman said that Pakistan was formed on the basis of two nation theory and it will remain so. (Urdupoint)
6. Though the new Sindh bill in favour of minorities and against forced conversion has been hailed across nation, it has triggered protests compelling the Sindh government to review it. Not only that, there are also reports that senior .minister, Nisar Khoro and all those who had worked for the bill are receiving threats to their lives. They have sought police protection. Sindh is of late is witnessing an Anti-Sufism wave and people across Sindh will have to rise against it. Sindh has suffered a lot because of fundamentalist mind-set and also because of the influx of outsiders. Earlier it was believed that army operations in FATA and Karachi would have crushed the fundamentalist mind-set but recent events indicate that conditions in Sindh remain almost unchanged. (Awami Awaz Edit)
7. The enquiry commission set up in the aftermath of terrorist attack on Civil Hospital in Quetta, has said public has no means to reach out to the ISI with any tip offs. The ISI has no website or an email ID. (Urdupoint)
8. Awami Muslim League chief SK Rashid, has alleged that PM Sharif is hand in glove with all banned organisations. In a TV interview, he also claimed that the government is avoiding action against banned outfits. Rashid added that the PM wants the interior minister Nisar Ali Khan to be out of his way. (Jang)
ECONOMY/POWER/WATER
1. The federal government continues to act as a step-mother vis-à-vis the Sindh. During the past three years, gas and oil has been found at 148 locations and 119 of these locations are in Sindh as against 6 places in Punjab. Out of the 3300 new jobs created in the Petroleum Ministry, only 300 are given to Sindhis. The Petroleum Minister was evasive when asked about the step motherly treatment. (Sindh Express)
SINDH/BALOCHISTAN/KP/PUNJAB
1. A suicide bomber was shot at and killed as he was trying to enter a Muslim religious place in Hyderabad. The Sindh police Chief has been cautioning for a while that fundamentalism is on rise across the province and that northern Sindh is on hit list of fundamentalists who are sneaking in via Afghanistan. So the moot question is in what measures are being taken by authorities to check movement of these elements. The situation calls for a strict watch on unregistered madrasas in Sindh. If strict watch is not kept, entire Sindh can fall prey to sectarian violence. (Sindh Express Edit)
2. The Sindh Assembly members who favoured the Minority Bill are receiving threats. The assembly secretariat has written letters to Sindh Home Ministry and Police Chief. The Assembly’s Special Secretary complained there are threats from religious fundamentalists to the law makers who piloted the new law and demanded more security to them. (Sindh Express)
3. As Senate Chairman, Raza Rabbani has demanded in his address to the Sindh Madrasa Islami in Karachi, provinces should be given royalty over resources. It should be remembered that small provinces have joined Pakistan’s federal structure on certain conditions. Let lessons be taken from why Bengalis separated from Pakistan. The school syllabus is lopsided. Students are learning wrong history. (Kawish Edit)
POLITICAL SCENE
1. Chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Ideological) Maulana Shirani says he visualises Pakistan divided in five parts. CPEC is a political gimmick. Rulers are fooling people. If Balochistan even gets a link road from the project, locals will be more than satisfied. (Daily Intekhab)
2. Mohammad Khan Achakzai, the Chief of Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party has said agencies (read ISI and establishment) have a very dangerous role in Pakistani politics. Militancy related issues will not get resolved by just labelling Pashtuns as terrorists. Pashtuns should be given the right of ownership of resources. Pashtuns should be treated equally. He also demanded Pak citizenship to Afghan refugees born in Pakistan. (Ibrat)
3. Imdad Soomro says we have lost out this battle against terrorism and religious harmony. He cites Punjab government’s lack of action against the attackers of Ahmedis’ place of worship at Chakwal, and Sindh Assembly amending the recent anti-conversion bill under pressure of fundamentalists as justification for his observations. These developments indicate that though things had started to improve following the December 16, 2014 attack on the Army Public school in Peshawar, the situation is deteriorating once again. If conditions have become so intimidating, it is because of timid leadership. Pakistan government is not fighting against every fundamentalist, but it fights on selective basis and that is the reason that their neighbours do not trust Islamabad. The 2014 Peshawar attack did shake the Pakistani leadership but that was only to a certain extent. God forbid, perhaps we need more of such incidents to shake the entire leadership in country. For a positive change Pakistan needs the likes of Putin, Trump and Castro. Amongst several misfortunes that befell Pakistan, is the absence of a Donald Trump. (Sindh Express)
4. Senior analyst Zia Shahid says a Federal Minister of PML-N is active in removing the ban that was imposed on the MQM Chief Altaf Husain. Zardari will not head the any grand alliance of the opposition. He will not speak about Panama Leaks nor will he oppose the Nawaz government. (Khabrain)
5. Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, Chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam said future of the tribals will be decided by a Tribal Jirga and not by the government in Islamabad. Addressing a Tribal Peace Conference, he said Government should not take any decision without hearing Tribal Jury. (Daily Intekhab)
POK/G-B NEWS
1. GB Police chief, Captain Zafar Iqbal has done a commendable job in promoting harmony and maintaining law and order. Police should take action against wrong doers without any distinction. (Daily K2 Edit, Baad-e-Shimal Edit)