O T I O N A G A I N S T P M M O D I

NEW DELHI s ta f f r e p o r t

OPPOSITION parties in India moved no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi-led Indian government today According to Kashmir Media Service, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla admitted the motion moved by Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi after more than 50 opposition MPs showed support to the motion by standing in their seats

Birla while admitting the motion said that he would discuss it with floor leaders, list it for debate and intimate the day and time of the debate to the House Under the r u l e s t h e S p e a k e r h a s t o l i s t t h e m o t i o n f o r d e b a t e a n d v o t i n g w i t h i n 1 0 d a y s o f admission

The Opposition parties continue to protest in the Parliament, demanding a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Manipur

Indian National Congress also called for a meeting of its Lok Sabha MPs in the party’s parliamentary office and issued a three-line whip for its Lok Sabha MPs to be present in the Parliament today

Today it has been decided that we would not have any other alternative but to resort to a no-confidence motion because the government is not accepting the demand of the opposition to have an elaborate discussion with the Prime Minister on Manipur He should make a statement on the Manipur violence as he is our leader in the parliament Indian media quoted Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary, the Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, as saying before the Parliament session commenced at 11 am Modi is a coward, afraid to face parliament on Manipur: Ramachandra Guha

Noted Indian historian and political commentator Ramachandra Guha has said that the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is a coward who is afraid to face parliament on the issue of violence in Manipur

Ramachandra Guha in an interview with the noted Indian journalist Karan Thapar for The Wire, said as a Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is accountable to parliament and this pointed to the failure of the prime minister at a time of grave national crisis

H e s a i d W h a t s h a p p e n i n g i n M anipur and the government s failure to act, b o t h a t t h e s t a t e a n d c e n t r a l l e v e l , h a s damaged the Indian Republic and Indian democracy and the prospects of our country and its citizens ” Guha said Modi is being shielded by Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah adding that they want to protect him, placate him and flatter him and not expose him to debate He further maintained that in this regard “Om Birla and Jagdeep Dhankhar ’s p a r t i s a n c o n d u c t i s s h o c k i n g ” J a g d e e p D h a n k h a r i s C h a i r m a n o f R a j y a S a b h a ( U p p e r H o u s e o f P a r l i a m e n t ) a n d O m B i r l a i s S p e a k e r o f L o k S a b h a ( L o w e r House of Parliament) He pointed out that Modi lives in a bub- ble of his own, hoping he can ride it out He said Modi would show “moral growth” and “redeem himself” and also provide “some sense of atonement” for his failure to contain the riots of 2002 when he was chief minister of Gujarat if now he would sack Biren Singh as chief minister of Manipur He termed Manipur a mixture of anar-

Nor th Korea gives Russian defence ministr y delegation ‘warm welcome’

SEOUL a f p

North Korea rolled out the red carpet for the Russian defence minister state media said Wednesday with delegations from Moscow and Beijing set to attend Korean War anniversary events the country s first known foreign visitors since its pandemic border closure Pyongyang on Thursday will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the signing of the July 27 1953 Korean War armistice which ended open hostilities and is marked as Victory Day in the North The Russian national anthem blared throughout Pyongyang International Airport, which was “wrapped up in a warm welcome atmosphere” to greet Moscow’s Sergei Shoigu and his delegation Tuesday evening the Korean Central News Agency said Flags of the Democratic People s Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation were fluttering at the flagstaffs and the guards of honor of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) lined up at the station before the terminal ” KCNA said

8th Colour & Chem Expo to be held on August 19-20

LAHORE s h a h a b o m e r

Shoigu was greeted by North Korean Defence Minister Kang Sun Nam and photos carried by the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed hundreds of uniformed KPA soldiers lining the airport holding signs welcoming the Russians

The North Koreans expressed their “full support” for the Russian army and people “who are struggling to defend the sovereign rights and development and interests of their country KCNA added Russia a historic ally of Pyongyang is one of a handful of nations that maintains friendly relations with the North North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been steadfast in his support for

Moscow s invasion of Ukraine including Washington says supplying rockets and missiles Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said the fact that Russia’s defence minister flew to Pyongyang while his country is at war was “very significant”

Even though the emergency quarantine system remains in place Kim Jong Un may have felt the need to show something to his people at the Victory Day celebrations,” Park told AFP For the Chinese and Russians, their presence could send a “strong unified message to the United States he added Change in border policy?

The inclusion of foreign guests at this year s celebrations is a post-pandemic first and hints at new flexibility towards enforcing border controls China also said it would send a delegation led by Politburo member Li Hongzhong that was due to arrive in Pyongyang later Wednesday suggesting they would not be required to undergo an extensive quarantine ahead of the Thursday anniversary event

Trilateral talks between China, Japan and S outh Korea set to resume

BEIJING s ta f f C o r r e s p o n d e n t

Pakistan’s largest and exclusive two-day exhibition of dyes chemicals & allied industry 8th Colour & Chemical Expo will be held on August 19-20 2023 at Lahore International Expo Centre This year s theme is Transforming Challenges into Opportunities Exhibition is being organized by the Event and Conference International Pvt Ltd and Rainbow Group in collaboration with Asia Dyestuff Industry Federation China Dyestuff Industry Association (CDIA) and BLGE Expo Shanghai Co Ltd are the international partners The event is supported by the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI), Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) and Punjab Dyes & Chemicals Merchants Association (PDCMA) In a statement, Convenor & Exhibition Head Abdul Rahim Chughtai told that the event is also incorporating digital printing textile printing & screen printing equipment and machinery exhibition as well as a concurrent event He told that this year more than 200 local and foreign companies from China, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Germany, Turkey, UAE and UK are also participating in this two-day expo Rashid Ul Haque, Director Exhibition said that expo 2023 will bring together serious buyers and sellers from different sectors including purchase departments of processing industry textile industry leaders who are keen to invest in the textile screen digital and sublimation printing technology, textile garment manufacturing and exporters units, operation, production, industrial managers, manufacturers, importers and trading companies of dyes & chemicals retail & marketing specialists chemical engineers associations government officials export houses purchase departments agencies general public and academia, students

China and Japan have agreed to resume high-level trilateral talks with South Korea at the end of this year the first time in four years

The trilateral talks if successfully convened could at least inject impetus to economic cooperation between Northeast Asia s three biggest economies and pave the way for regional stability, said Chinese observers Yet for the talks to yield concrete result, leaders from both Japan and South Korea are facing the ordeal of excluding extraterritorial pressure experts said

Speaking at a regular press conference on Tuesday

Japanese foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Tuesday said he and Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the agreement on the sidelines of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in Indonesia earlier this month

It s highly meaningful for the leaders of China Japan and South Korea which share a big responsibility toward the region s peace and prosperity, to get together to discuss cooperation and other issues, Hayashi was quoted by Reuters as saying

The next trilateral summit will be chaired by South Korea which is aiming to hold it by the end of this year media reported The last trilateral summit meeting was held in December 2019 in Chengdu Southwest China s Sichuan Province Subsequently strained relations between Japan and South Korea over issue of wartime labor and COVID-19 forced a hiatus in the meetings

The resumption of trilateral talks between Northeast Asia’s three biggest economies will inject much needed impetus to global economic recovery and send a positive signal for regional stability and peace Lü Chao an expert on the Korean Peninsula issue at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times

During the past three years, tensions between Japan and South Korea thawed to please the US and to cooperate with Washington s Asia-Pacific strategy to counter China Meanwhile, bilateral relations between China and Japan and China and South Korea have soured due to Tokyo and Seoul’s willingness to serve as US vassals in region

According to the data released by the General Administration of Customs of China the trade volume between China and South Korea reached $362 2 billion in 2022 an increase of 0 1 percent China-Japan trade was $357 4 billion down 3 7 percent from a year earlier As a result, South Korea moved up one place from China s fifth largest trading partner, replacing Japan to become China’s fourth largest trading partner in 2022

“If you look at it from a geopolitical perspective China’s relationships with Japan and South Korea are now laden with red flags while at the economic level cooperation is everywhere Da Zhigang director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at the Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times He believes economic collaboration will dominate the talks and serve as a cornerstone of trilateral ties Leaders from South Korea and Japan are facing obstacles to realize the talks since the two have succumbed to US pressure on thwarting China s rise and this has fractured the foundation for cooperation between Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo, Lü said Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol are leaning closer to NATO an alliance in which the US plays a central role after having attended the NATO summit two years in a row Moreover the two countries are closely following the US Asia-Pacific strategy to counter China on issues ranging from the Taiwan question, chip industry to other domains The US certainly does not like to see the three Northeast Asian countries join hands and cooperate, and politicians from Japan and South Korea should show sincerity and resolve their discrepancies with China within themselves and stay clear of outside influence according to Lü