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.

CHINA
1. The Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister said that Pakistan and China are surging ahead while maintaining a similar stance on the regional issues. After becoming a permanent member of Shanghai Cooperation organization, Pakistan will be able play an active role in achieving its goals, he said at a press briefing. (Roznama Dunya)
IRAN
1. Iran’s Ambassador to Pakistan, Mehdi Hunar Dost has welcomed the setting up Pakistan-Iran Joint Chamber of Commerce. Speaking at the launch of the new chambers, he said Iranian gas will flow into Pakistan by the end of the next year. (Jang)
AFGHANISTAN
1. Chief of Hezb-e-Islami, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has said there are elements in Afghanistan and Pakistan who want the two countries to be locked in a fight. He said Pakistan should adopt a benign attitude at the border and on its part Afghanistan shouldn’t allow its land to be used against Pakistan. (Ummat)
2. Afghan Mujahideen have killed 82 people including 4 US troops, 12 Nepalese and 2 Indian troops who were deployed as security guards at the Canadian embassy. The Taliban has conquered 20 villages in Kandahar and Faryab and looted 18 tanks and a cache of weapons along with explosives. (Al Qalam Weekly, 22- 30 June)
3. Rafatullah Orkazai writes: As Afghan journalist, Alam Zeb Sherzad says the impact of the border tension is being felt at the people- to- people level. The understanding over Torkham border has not eased matters. In fact, on the very day the Afghan Foreign Minister visited Islamabad to discuss the border and other related issues, Peshawar witnessed demonstrations led by the business community against the Afghan refugees. The protestors were demanding that Afghan refugees be sent back to their country. Lakhs of Afghans have crossed into Pakistan since three decades. Many have since returned but a sizeable number have made their homes here. Official data shows that about 16 lakh Afghans still live in Pakistan. The social media reflects this strain. But fact of the matter is that there are terror elements on both sides that are always waiting for opportune moments to strike. Afghans see Pakistan as their second home and would never imagine anything ill about Pakistan. People in both countries should talk more about peace and on how Pakistan and Afghanistan can come closer because both countries cannot afford any more tensions. (Ibrat)
INDIA
1. JuD chief Hafiz Saeed said the Difa-e-Pakistan Council will unravel the conspiracies of the enemies of Islam and Pakistan. External forces are creating hurdles in the way of the CPEC. India cannot not become a member of the NSG. Saeed further said that the time is not far off when Kashmiris would breathe freely and urged the Pakistan Government to support the Kashmir freedom movement. (Daily Pak, Nawa-i-Waqt)
2. Awami Muslim League Chief Sheikh Rashid said Pakistan should support Russia instead of the US or India. He criticised that India was playing a dirty game in Afghanistan. India has become a whip in the hand of the US due to which Pakistan is under a great threat (Pk Voices)
3. Sindh Minister, Manzoor Wassan, claims that Indian spy agency, RAW, is behind the growing demand for a new province in Sindh. Speaking in Sindh Assembly, he said, RAW is actively pursuing the spilt of Karachi since ten years. (Awami Awaz)
4. Central JuD leader, Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki says alliance between the US and India will prove a mirage and it will not materialize. The enemy is spending a lot of money to support terrorism in Pakistan. (Jasarat)
5. Commenting on the appointment of new chief for United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), Arif Bahar writes: line of ceasefire became the LoC after the Shimla Agreement. Yet Kashmir dispute remains unchanged. UNMOGIP offices and vehicles are on both sides of the LoC. The presence of the UNMOGIP is a thorn in the eyes for India, and it has been trying for long to get rid of them. Though India says there is no need for a third party, the presence of the UN mission indicates that Kashmir is not just a dispute between two countries but an international dispute and that the UN has a role in resolving it. (Jasarat)
6. The reported arrest of an Indian group distributing funds for carrying out terrorism in Pakistan is a clear evidence of the Indian agenda against Pakistan. Pakistan’s major problem is the porous Pakistan-Afghan border. It is India’s plan to ignite terrorism in Pakistan through Afghanistan; India is supported by the US in its plans. (Jang Edit)
7. Indian Envoy to the UN, Syed Akbaruddin, has demanded that the UN should announce restrictions against the new Afghan Taliban Chief, and said the Taliban should not be allowed to have influence over any area in Afghanistan. (Jasarat)
8. Two former India Indian army personnel have been killed in a Kabul suicide blast. According to a report, Govind Singh (48 years) and Ganesh Thapa (51 years) had served for the Dehradun division. (Ummat)
ARMY/SECURITY FORCES
1. Chief of Army Staff Gen. Raheel Sharif currently on a visit to Bonn met the German Foreign Minister and apprised him of Pakistan’s fight against terrorism and attempts to isolate Pakistan in the region. PM’s Foreign Policy Advisor has denied any isolation of Pakistan at the international level. If that claim is indeed true, why is a reduction noticed in the US investment in Pakistan. Fact of the matter is Pakistani Foreign Ministry is not playing an active role since the last few years. This has benefited India to defame Pakistan and damage its image. Analysts say that if India at the behest of the US makes a new bloc with Iran and Afghanistan, then China, Russia and Pakistan should form another bloc for maintaining the balance in the South Asian region. Mullah Fazlullah and other terrorist masterminds are being supported by India and the US in Afghanistan. (Khabrain Edit, Roznama Dunya Edit)
TERRORISM & EXTREMISM
1. On a tip off, the Counter Terrorism Department has arrested Daesh commander Ali Jahangir in Rawalpindi and recovered a large amount of banned literature. (Khabrain)
2. At Jamia Masjid Osman and Ali at Bahawalpur, collective Itikaf is conducted in which fidayeen, the brave fighters and Mujahideen take a part. Those who want to come and join will be welcomed. Itikaf is praying for ten days at a stretch in a mosque with no contact whatsoever with the outside world. (Al Qalam Weekly, 22-30 June)
DARUL ULOOM HAQQANIA
1. Hamid Mir rejects the allegation that Darul Uloom Haqqania is a terrorist nursery. Forefathers of leaders of PPP and ANP have sponsored this university. One can question Sami-ul-Haq’s politics but one cannot ignore Darul Uloom Haqqania’s status as an educational institution. The KP government’s announcement of Rs. 30 crore grant to the Madrasa has just given an excuse to the PPP and the ANP not to support PTI’s street agitation after Eid. (Jang)
2. Senior analyst Najam Sethi writes: the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government appears to have bought an insurance policy by paying Rs.30 crore to Darul Uloom Haqqania since many people in KP can create trouble for them. With the donation, KP government is bringing Darul UIoom Haqqania into national mainstream, as these are the people who call Taliban terrorists as martyrs. Rs.30 crore will not help change their ideology. Even the National Action Plan cannot touch these madaris. Imran Khan’s cannot bring about a revolution in Parliament; that feat can only be done by a third power. Qawwali singer Amjad Sabri’s murder foretells a fresh wave of terrorism in Karachi. Now terrorists are choosing high profile soft targets instead of security personnel. This looks like the handiwork of Taliban and ISIS. Now Karachi operation is moving from terrorism to corruption. (Jang)
POLITICAL SCENE
1. PPP senior Asif Zardari’s close associate, Sardar Akhtar Hassan Gorchani, met the former PM Yusuf Raza Gilani and invited him to re-join the party. Gilani gave him a negative response. (Khabrain)
2. The heads of major madaris, in a joint statement, have demanded the release of Sahibzada Hamid Kazmi, and threatened that lakhs of madaris students will resort to street protest if he is not released. They said the charges of corruption levelled against him were an effort to malign the Jamaat Ahle Sunnat. (Urdupoint)
3. Defence Analyst Abdullah Gul says post-Eid, the national situation will worsen further. He criticised the Foreign Office for not reacting to the Indian media report that Nawaz Sharif would return home from London only after General. Raheel Sharif was sacked and a new Army Chief was named. Pakistan’s relations with all its neighbours including Iran have nosedived. (Khabrain)
PAK ECONOMY
1. It is a matter of grave concern that over half of the Pakistani population is living below the poverty line according to a UN report. (Khabrain Edit)
SINDH
1. MQM delegation led by Dr. Farooq Sattar met with the Pakistan interior minister Nisar Ali Khan and discussed the situation in Karachi. (Khabrain)
2. Salman Mujahid Baloch, a MQM leader, says that Amjad Sabri’s killing is fall-out of the arrest and killing of the MQM activists. (Awami Awaz)
3. Wahid Paras writes: Karachi is yet again on terror hit list. Operations by Police and the Rangers has failed to bring in total improvement in the Karachi scene. This is evident from the spurt in terror related incidents and robberies. The kidnapping of the Chief Justice’s son remains a mystery even after the passage of two days. Now comes killing of singer Amjad Sabri. These two incidents in the month of Ramzan have ripped up all the hopes that Karachi is returning to normalcy. It is time to revisit the Ops strategy to fine tune the campaign against miscreants and to plug loopholes that are exploited by criminal elements. (Ibrat)
4. Ashfaq Azar writes: the step up in violence in Karachi indicates that the city is heading for a big storm. It is not too late for the Sindh government to play an effective role in the Karachi operations. (Kawish)
5. In spite of the government and its bodies making tall claims by presenting the statistics related to the number of militants and terrorists being arrested or killed during the Karachi operations, the bitter fact remains that big monster of terrorism is still active and kicking in the port city. The kidnapping of the Chief Justice’s son followed by the killing of Sufi singer Amjad Sabri are ample evidence that the terrorists are still around. Those who are trying to set Karachi ablaze should be shown no mercy because these elements are the enemies of humanity. The government and the security agencies must never compromise on law and order issues in Karachi. (Kawish Edit, Jang Edit)
BALOCHISTAN
1. The Central President of the Balochistan National Party Akhtar Mengal has criticised that the CPEC project is created for the destruction of Balochistan and for the benefit of Punjab. Out of $4600 million earmarked for CPEC, Punjab has consumed $4500 million and less than $100 million will be spent on Balochistan. The government does not spend a few crore rupees to ensure drinking water to the rural people, medicines in hospitals, and books in schools but hundreds of crores are being spent in the name of Gwadar port. The government has brought in the Afghan refugees to change the demography of Balochistan. Now they say no one can remove Afghans from here. (Daily Intekhab)
POK/ G-B NEWS
1. Gilgit-Baltistan CM Hafizur Rahman said that the government has increased the developmental budget by Rs.3bn. A master plan is also underway to promote tourism. (Daily K2, Baad-e-Shimal)