China boosts global Cooperation with joint naval drills in pakistan

ISLAMABAD

stAff correspondent

tHeAMAN-23 multinational maritime exercise, hosted by the Pakistan Navy with the participation of about 50 countries including China, wrapped up with an international fleet review on Tuesday, with the guided missile destroyer Nanning of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy winning praise from Pakistan’s naval chief.

China’s participation in the joint drills marks a boost in its military exchange and cooperation with foreign countries, which have been hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic over the past three years, and more such activities will take place, experts said on Wednesday.

The five-day exercise that started on Friday culminated on Tuesday in the North Arabian Sea with an international fleet review followed by the spectacular AMAN Formation, comprising the Pakistan Navy and foreign naval ships including the Type 052D destroyer Nanning of the PLA Navy, with Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif in attendance.

The drills started with seminars, operational discussions and professional demonstrations among other preparations in harbor, before switching to the sea where scenarios included tactical maneuvers, anti-piracy, counterterrorism, search and rescue, live-fire shooting as well as air defense exercises.

Having closely cooperated with forces from other countries, the PLA Navy ship Nanning displayed a high level of professionalism as well as command and control capability, as the drills enhanced the participants’ capabilities to deal with maritime security threats together and demonstrated their determination to jointly safeguard maritime security, said the PLA Navy in a statement on Wednesday.

The traditional friendship between China and Pakistan was highlighted in the

Uk pM’s silence over raids on bbC offices in india questioned

ISLAMABAD Agencies

Questions are being raised over the silence maintained by the UK prime minister Rishi Sunak on the ongoing raids by tax authorities on the offices of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in Delhi and Mumbai in the wake of a documentary that exposed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role in 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in the Gujarat state. Questioning the British Prime Minister’s silence, Ashok Swain, an Indian origin academic and writer and Professor of Peace and Conflict Research at a Swedish university in his comment made on the Twitter said, “Rishi Sunak still silent on Modi’s raid on BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai. Is he really the PM of the UK?”

It is worth mentioning that Rishi Sunak defended Narendra Modi in the British Parliament by saying that he disagreed with the characterisation of his Indian counterpart in the BBC documentary. Sunak had made the remarks while responding to Labour Member of Parliament Imran Hussain during the Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) session in the House of Commons earlier in January, this year. The raids on BBC offices in India come weeks after fascist Modi’s government banned the documentary –titled ‘India: The Modi Question’ – that examined his role in the anti-Muslim riots in 2002 in Gujarat, where he was chief minister at the time. The documentary also revealed for the first time an unreleased UK government report that said the events had all the hallmarks of an ethnic cleansing. The report said Modi was directly responsible for a climate of impunity that led to the anti-Muslim violence, and that he had ordered senior police officers not to intervene. The Indian government banned the documentary, authorities moved to stop screenings and restricted clips of it on social media in a move that critics branded an assault on press freedom.

residents leave Ukraine’s Chasiv Yar to escape bakhmut fighting

The drills hosted by the Pakistan Navy served as a bridge that allowed countries to display their capabilities and conduct face-to-face meetings, which enabled them to enhance mutual understanding, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

China’s military development serves to safeguard world peace and regional stability, as it will continue to boost military exchanges and cooperation with more countries in the future, Song said.

It can enhance military transparency between countries and help control and manage differences, Song said. “China is confident, and is willing to communicate,” he said.

ChASIv YAr, UkrAINe Agencies

As a Soviet army conscript, Vasil Slabun helped in the clean-up of radioactive material after the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986. He still suffers migraines but largely blames his headaches on the constant sound of artillery firing in the town of Chasiv Yar, eastern Ukraine. “It’s very noisy,” he told AFP. “My nerves are shot.”

Right on cue, the deafening sound erupts of shells launched towards Russian positions in neighbouring Bakhmut, where fierce fighting has been taking place since May last year.

At 7:30 am on Wednesday, Slabun, 62, had already been waiting for half an hour for the evacuation bus out of Chasiv Yar.

Nanning‘s port call in Karachi, with Pakistan’s Chief of Naval Staff Admiral M Amjad Khan Niazi among other high-ranking Pakistan Navy officers boarding the Chinese ship during the exercise. Niazi said at the international fleet review on Tuesday that the Nanning is a wonderful ship. Some 50 countries participated in the AMAN-23, with Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and the US also sending warships. It marks China’s first major military diplomatic event since it entered a postCOVID era this year, observers said.

China’s next foreign military exchange event is expected to come soon, as South Africa will host a joint exercise with Russia and China on its east coast from Friday to February 27, Reuters reported in January.

During AMAN-23, the participating US warship failed to make a port call in Karachi and only showed up during the sea phase, the Global Times learned.

It shows that the US Navy was not confident and was not willing to communicate with China and others, Song said.

“The US often accuses China of being not transparent with its military, but in fact, it is the US that is not transparent,” Song said.

NeW YOrk Agencies

The New York-based media watchdog, Committee to Protect Journalists has called upon the Indian authorities to stop harassing journalists after Income Tax officials raided the offices of the British broadcaster BBC in New Delhi and Mumbai.

CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, Beh Lih Yi, in a statement said, raiding the BBC’s India offices in the wake of a documentary criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi smacks of intimidation.

“Indian authorities have used tax investigations as a pretext to target critical news outlets before, and must cease harassing BBC employees immediately, in line with the values of freedom that should be espoused in the world’s largest democracy,” she said.

“Officials from the Income Tax Department sealed the offices as part of an investigation into alleged international taxation irregularities, according to the BBC. Tax officials told news website NDTV that they were checking account books and that the raids “are not searches.”

Multiple reports citing unnamed employees said authorities seized employees’ laptops and mobile phones,” the CPJ said.

Indian tax authorities raided news outlets Newslaundry and Newsclick in 2021 following critical coverage of government policies and Modi’s supporters on the Hindu right wing, the statement said.

It is to mention here that the Indian government ordered YouTube and Twitter to take down links sharing the first episode of the two-part BBC documentary exposing Narendra Modi’s role in 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat when he was chief minister of the state. According to the documentary, Modi ordered police to turn a blind eye to the anti-Muslim pogrom.

Meanwhile, Global human rights body, Amnesty International has said the raids by India’s Income Tax department officials on the BBC’s office in New Delhi and Mumbai are an ‘affront to free speech’.

Aakar Patel, Chair of Amnesty International India’s Board, in a statement said, the tax department’s raids, which are being presented as ‘surveys’, come less than a month after the organization released a documentary that openly criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He said these raids are a blatant affront to freedom of expression. He said, the Indian authorities are clearly trying to harass and intimidate the BBC over its critical coverage of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

“The overbroad powers of the Income Tax department are repeatedly being weaponized to silence dissent.

Last year, tax officials also raided the offices of a number of NGOs, including Oxfam India. These intimidatory acts, which undermine the right to freedom of expression in India, must end now,” he added.

“It’s a habit,” he said with a toothless grin, lighting a cigarette and putting it to his lips through a thick salt and pepper beard.

“It’s better to be early than late.”

Soon, a white minibus arrives and he greets the driver and volunteer with a firm handshake stubs out his smoke and clambers on board. His two small holdalls — all he is leaving with — are loaded in the back.

“I’ll return when the Ukrainian army has won,” he said. “I was born here and all my family are buried here.”

– Shelling –

The minibus, operated by the charity Save Ukraine, picks its way through the snowcovered streets on the way to its next pick-up, taking advantage of a relative lull in the firing. The charity has been evacuating the vulnerable from conflict zones in Ukraine since 2014. As of early February, it said it had moved more than 83,000 children, adults and disabled people to safety.

In recent weeks, more people have been requesting help to get out of Chasiv Yar, as the fighting in and around Bakhmut inches closer. The first stop for passengers is Pokrovsk, a 90minute drive away to the southwest, and an emergency assistance centre run by the charity. From there, they will be helped to find longerterm accommodation to start a new life elsewhere.

Lubov, 65, is heading to the western city of Lviv with her daughter, Olena, 45, with their two small dogs, Liolik and Richard, on their laps.

“It’s a bit scary when the shelling happens and we obviously don’t want to hear it,” said Lubov, who didn’t give her surname.

“I want to see my granddaughter, who lives where we’re going. We hope the Ukrainian army will fight for us and defeat the Russians. Then we’ll come back.”

– No choice –

The minibus slips and slides down a sidestreet, coming to a halt where Mykola Yakimovich, 71, is waiting in his carpet slippers.

He is staying in Chasiv Yar but his wife, Lubov, 68, their son, also called Mykola, two cats and two dogs are leaving for his sister-in-law’s in Dobropillia, north of Pokrovsk.

“I don’t want to go,” he said. “I’ve lived my life, so my son should live his. “Since 2014 there’s been a lot of bad things happening. It’s better to take them away from here.”

As ever, ordinary people are bearing the brunt of conflict, he said, before the family exchanges hugs and the bus drives away.

Lydia Ivanovna, 62, needs help as she leaves her home, walking with a stick and leaning on the supportive arm of Save Ukraine volunteer Andriy.

“I’m afraid to stay here because they’re shooting and they could kill me. We’ve been told to leave,” she said.

“I’m leaving my home and all my belongings because I don’t have a choice. I’m old, I’m sick, so what am I going to do? I cry every day.”