ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday expressed its disappointment at the adoption of a resolution in the European Parliament calling for a temporary withdrawal of Pakistan’s preferential trade status with the European Union under the GSP+ mechanism in the wake of the recent anti-France protests in the country by a religious party.
In an official statement issued by the foreign office, it said that the discourse in the European legislature reflected “a lack of understanding” regarding blasphemy laws and religious sensitivities in Pakistan and the rest of the Muslim world.
“Pakistan is a parliamentary democracy with a vibrant civil society, free media and independent judiciary, which remains fully committed to the promotion and protection of human rights for all its citizens without discrimination,” said the statement. “We are proud of our minorities who enjoy equal rights and complete protection of fundamental freedoms as enshrined in the Constitution. Judicial and administrative mechanisms and remedies are in place to guard against any human rights violations.”
The European Parliament called on the European External Action Service (EEAS) earlier this week to “immediately review Pakistan’s eligibility for GSP+ status” in light of violence and discrimination against religious minorities, academics and civil society organizations.
It urged the EEAS to see if “there is sufficient reason to initiate a procedure for the temporary withdrawal of this status and the benefits that come with it, and to report to the European Parliament on this matter as soon as possible.”
A preferential trade mechanism, GSP+ allows developing countries to export some of their goods to the European Union without paying any duty.
The facility is offered to developing countries that ratify and implement 27 international conventions on human rights, environmental protection and good governance.
Pakistan has benefited from trade preferences under the GSP+ program since 2014 and has managed to enhance its exports from 4.5 billion euros in 2014 to 7.5 billion euros last year.
The European Parliament, however, expressed concerns over the violent protests in Pakistan by members of the proscribed Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) religious party which it said led to the anti-French sentiment in the country.
It also called on the government to review and repeal the blasphemy laws, saying they were incompatible with international human rights laws and were “increasingly used to target vulnerable minority groups in the country.”
The resolution urged Pakistan to amend the 1997 Anti-Terrorism Act to ensure that blasphemy cases were not tried in anti-terrorism courts and provided opportunity for bail to the accused.
It added that the EU member states must continue to support Pakistan with judicial reforms and capacity-building to ensure that lower courts were equipped to promptly hold trials for those detained and dismiss blasphemy cases that were not supported by sufficient reliable evidence.
Pakistan’s foreign office, however, said in its statement that the country had played an active role in promoting freedom of religion or belief, tolerance and inter-faith harmony.
“At a time of rising Islamophobia and populism, the international community must exhibit a common resolve to fight xenophobia, intolerance and incitement to violence based on religion or belief and work together to strengthen peaceful co-existence,” its official statement continued.
It added that Pakistan and the EU had multiple mechanisms in place to discuss entire spectrum of bilateral relations.
“We would continue to remain positively engaged with the EU on all issues of mutual interest,” said the foreign office.
Zohra Yusuf, former chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, told Arab News that Pakistan had committed to the European Union to improve its human rights situation in return for the GSP+ status, but “unfortunately the progress regarding the minorities, such as attacks on their worship places and forced conversions, has been very slow.”
“Pakistan may face economic consequences if we keep pandering to the religious right and radical groups which are often found involved in attacks against the minorities,” she said.
Pakistan ‘disappointed’ after Europe considers economic punishment for anti-France protests
https://arab.news/b3t4m
Pakistan ‘disappointed’ after Europe considers economic punishment for anti-France protests
- The European Parliament recently called for a review of Pakistan’s GSP+ status that led to an increase in the country’s exports to Europe
- Human rights experts say Pakistan may face economic consequences if it continues to pander to the religious right and radical groups
’Wide potential’: Pakistani PM invites Japanese industrialists to invest in electric vehicle industry
- The delegation, led by Japan’s Ambassador Wada Mitsuhiro, met PM Shehbaz Sharif to discuss various opportunities in Pakistan
- PM Sharif says his government has formed committee to resolve issues faced by Japanese firms expanding businesses in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday met with a delegation of Japanese industrialists in Islamabad and urged them to invest in Pakistan’s electric automotive industry, Sharif’s office said, amid country’s push to attract foreign investment.
The delegation, led by Japan’s Ambassador to Pakistan Wada Mitsuhiro, met the prime minister to discuss various opportunities in Pakistan, according to PM Sharif’s office.
The Pakistan premier noted that Japan and Pakistan were longstanding friends and the two countries should further promote trade and investment ties in various sectors.
“There is a wide potential for investment in the electric vehicle industry in Pakistan and Japanese companies with the best technology can take full advantage of it,” Sharif was quoted as saying by his office.
“All problems faced by Japanese industrialists and businessmen will be overcome together.”
He noted that his government had formed a committee to resolve the issues faced by Japanese companies, who were expanding their businesses in Pakistan.
During the meeting, the Japanese ambassador informed the prime minister about the arrival of a delegation of 20 well-known Japanese companies to Pakistan in July, which would prove to be an important milestone for the promotion of investment and trade between the two countries.
“The delegation informed the Prime Minister that Japanese companies have started local production of hybrid vehicles in Pakistan,” Sharif’s office said. “The Prime Minister welcomed this move.”
The development comes amid Pakistan’s efforts to attract foreign investment to keep the frail $350 billion South Asian economy afloat.
The cash-strapped nation last month completed its $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) program which helped avert a default last year, but the government of PM Sharif has stressed the need for a fresh, longer-term program.
Pakistan is expected to seek at least $6 billion and request additional financing from the Fund under the Resilience and Sustainability Trust.
PM Sharif says Saudi business delegation’s visit to benefit Pakistan’s economic future
- The prime minister says the Saudi minister leading the delegation described it as ‘a new era’ for Pakistan
- Pakistan is seeking foreign investment to navigate a path to economic recovery as it seeks another IMF bailout
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed confidence on Tuesday the Saudi business delegation’s visit to Pakistan would prove beneficial for his country while applauding his cabinet ministers for playing a constructive role in their dealings with the visiting investors.
The delegation, which comprised representatives of 30-35 Saudi companies, was led by the kingdom’s Saudi Assistant Minister of Investment Ibrahim Al-Mubarak and arrived in Pakistan on Sunday.
Its members held several business-to-business meetings to explore investment opportunities in various economic sectors of the country.
The prime minister said in the opening remarks of the cabinet meeting the delegation was satisfied with its engagements in Pakistan before returning to the kingdom. He particularly mentioned the head of the delegation, saying he praised the performance of Pakistani ministers.
“He said, ‘We are very satisfied and happily returning.’ And he said, ‘I will report that we have seen a new era in Pakistan.’ In this, the commerce minister has a very big role, as does the ministers of petroleum and finance,” the PM told the cabinet meeting.
“It augurs very well for our future,” he added.
The kingdom’s business delegation’s visit to Islamabad followed Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan’s visit to Islamabad last month, when he was briefed by the authorities on various avenues to invest in the country.
Pakistan is trying to navigate a path to economic recovery by securing an International Monetary Fund bailout.
It also needs foreign investment to help fight a chronic balance of payments crisis.
Pakistan expecting investment in port infrastructure by global shipping giant Maersk — minister
- AP Moller-Maersk has a market share of around 20 percent in Pakistan’s containerized import-export activities
- Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh says there is a lot of interest in Pakistan’s port as a global hub for transshipment
KARACHI: Pakistan is expecting investment from a Denmark-based global shipping giant, AP Moller–Maersk (Maersk), in its port terminal and infrastructure, the Pakistani maritime affairs minister said on Tuesday, amid growing global interest in Pakistani ports.
The statement comes more than a week after Maersk Chief Executive Officer Keith Svendsen’s visit to Pakistan, where he met top officials to explore opportunities in Pakistan’s maritime sector.
Maritime Affairs Minister Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh told Arab News the Danish shipping firm was interested in investing in a terminal and port as well as allied infrastructure, including connecting bridges.
“We had very good discussions with them and they had shown eagerness and told us that they will submit proposal in a few days,” he said. “They want to take a terminal. There is some area where there is depth in the sea, where big ships can be anchored.”
Maersk has grown into a leading provider of logistics and supply-chain services across Pakistan. It has around 20 percent market share in Pakistan’s containerized import-export activities, according to Pakistan’s information ministry.
In January, the Danish shipping firm announced new smart logistics and warehouse facilities in China, Norway and Pakistan.
“With a vast network of warehousing and depot facilities across the country, including our flagship logistics hub in Port Qasim, Karachi — a sprawling 27-acre complex encompassing over 650,000 square feet of warehouse space — we ensure unparalleled support to Pakistani exporters and importers,” the shipping company said in a written response to Arab News.
“In total, Maersk now operates over a 1.5 million square feet footprint across 7 cities in Pakistan.”
Sheikh said many companies were interested in investing in the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) despite a limited space available there.
“We have limited space available in KPT and many, including foreign, companies are taking interest in it, particularly in the deep-water areas where water depth is high and we have the location,” he said.
“The point is that there is a lot of interest in Pakistan’s port right now because they are seeing this as a global hub for transshipment and they will also run the feeder vessels in the Gulf from here.”
To a question about a visiting Saudi delegation, the maritime affairs minister said “there are many breakthroughs” during the visit. “They are looking for areas of mutual interest which both sides can benefit from,” he added.
The South Asian nation has already signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi (AD) Ports Group which is investing about $395 million for the development of a container and cargo terminal under a government-to-government (G2G) agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan.
FBI’s fallen Pakistani agent Kamran Faridi says returning to Pakistan will be ‘dangerous’
- Faridi was recently released from a Florida prison on the condition he would deport himself to Pakistan permanently
- Faridi ran off to Sweden and then to the US in the 1990s after falling out with the law over his links with criminal gangs
KARACHI: Kamran Faridi, a fallen undercover FBI agent from Karachi who was recently released from a Florida prison on the condition he would surrender his American nationality and deport himself to Pakistan permanently, said on Tuesday it would be “dangerous” for him to return to his home country from where he had escaped a life of crime nearly 30 years ago.
Faridi, 60, worked as an informant and agent for the FBI for nearly 15 years and was the architect of the plan to entrap Karachi businessman Jabir Motiwala, arrested by Scotland Yard in London in 2018 on the request of the United States. After years working for the FBI, he was sentenced to 84 months in jail on Dec. 9, 2022, after he refused to testify against Motiwala.
“It will compromise my well-being, it’s going to be difficult,” Faridi told Arab News in a phone interview from Florida, speaking about the prospect of returning to Karachi after nearly 30 years. “It’s going to be dangerous but what choices do I have?”
Faridi, who lives in the US with his American wife, said the judge had reduced one year from his prison sentence on account of a recent law where a first offender gets a two-point sentence reduction.
Good conduct in prison and a verbal agreement with American authorities that he would surrender his nationality and return to Pakistan before August this year further reduced his sentence, Faridi said. Another stipulation of the agreement was that he would not appeal the court’s decision.
VETERAN SPY
Faridi worked for the FBI from 1995 till 2020 and helped the American agency nab several targets associated with transnational terrorist organizations. However, a 25-year relationship with the American agency turned sour in 2020 after Faridi said he refused to testify against Motiwala, allegedly a high-ranking member of the Indian organized crime syndicate D-Company.
Motiwala was arrested in London in August 2018 for conspiring to launder money into the United States and using force to extort funds. Faridi, who played a pivotal role in his arrest, said he later refused to testify against Motiwala after he realized the businessperson had been framed on bogus charges.
Faridi said his FBI colleagues had informed him that FBI was involved in a joint operation with India’s spy agency the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) to establish a link between Motiwala, the D-Company and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) military spy agency.
Faridi was arrested in London in 2020 after FBI agents intercepted his conversations with Motiwala’s lawyers, revealing his intent to testify in Motiwala’s favor. He was apprehended at the London Heathrow Airport while attempting to enter the UK, intending to testify against the FBI’s actions regarding Motiwala.
Charged with being a threat to his former FBI colleagues, Faridi was swiftly extradited back to the US and jailed.
“It’s a very complex case, the FBI wants to punish me for not testifying against D-Company,” Faridi said.
FROM KARACHI TO ATLANTA
Faridi was a member of the Karachi-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party and subsequently of its rival, the Peoples Student Federation (PSF), in the 1990s. Both groups were widely known to be involved in criminal activities like kidnappings and armed robberies, which Faridi also became linked to. He later went on the run and escaped to Sweden, where he sought asylum almost three decades ago. He was later arrested by authorities after getting into fights with local gangs there, but broke out of prison and managed to escape to the US, where he ran a gas station in Atlanta.
It was there that he came into contact with the Atlanta Police Department after he complained to them about “corrupt” police officers whom Farid said were harassing him. Thus began his work as an informant with Atlanta police, who later introduced him to the FBI. Impressed with his proficiency in the Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi, and Spanish languages, the FBI decided to recruit him as an informant and agent.
“So that’s how I got introduced to FBI and they introduced me to the Drug Enforcement Authority, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and after 9/11 the Central Intelligence Agency, MI6, French intelligence and many others,” Faridi said.
Faridi said he had paid a “hefty” price for refusing to testify against Motiwala but would now return to Karachi with his wife.
“I was a gangster but I am neither a criminal nor a gangster now,” he said. “I am returning to my city as a normal man.”
Pakistan army says March suicide bombing that killed five Chinese planned in Afghanistan
- Spokesperson says spike in militant attacks in recent months linked to groups operating from Afghanistan
- Taliban government in Kabul denies it allows anti-Pakistan militants to operate from sanctuaries in Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD: Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj-Gen Ahmed Sharif repeated Islamabad’s accusations that militants were launching attacks on Pakistan from Afghanistan and said a recent attack in which five Chinese nationals were killed was also planned in the neighboring country.
A suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into a convoy of Chinese engineers working on a hydropower project at Dasu in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver on Mar. 26.
The assault was the third major attack in little over a week on China’s interests in the South Asian nation, where Beijing has invested more than $65 billion in infrastructure projects as part of its wider Belt and Road initiative. It came amid a recent surge in militant violence in the country that the government — without providing evidence — has said mostly involved Afghans. The Taliban government in Kabul denies it allows anti-Pakistan militants to operate from its soil.
“The attack [against the Chinese engineers] was planned in Afghanistan,” the spokesperson of the Pakistan army said at a press conference.
“The explosives-laden vehicle used in the attack was also prepared in Afghanistan and sent to Pakistan. The attacker was also an Afghan national. When the network [that carried out the attack] was exposed, its central characters like Adil Shahbaz, Zahid Qureshi, Nazir Hussain and another one of their companions were arrested.”
However, the DG ISPR said the government was working to strengthen the security of Chinese workers and make it “fool-proof,” saying the attacks on Chinese workers were aimed at undermining Pakistan’s economic interests and its strategic relations with longtime ally Beijing.
Sharif said Pakistan had taken up the issue of militant violence with Afghan authorities, who were unhelpful.
“There is solid evidence of TTP terrorists using Afghan soil to launch attacks in Pakistan,” he added.
The Taliban say Pakistan’s security issues are an internal challenge.
The Mar. 26 bombing followed a Mar. 20 attack on a strategic port used by China in the southwestern province of Balochistan, where Beijing has poured billions of dollars into infrastructure projects, and a Mar. 25 assault on a naval air base, also in the southwest. Both attacks were claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent of several separatist groups in Balochistan.
Dasu, the site of a major dam, has been attacked in the past, with a bus blast in 2021 killing 13 people, nine Chinese among them, although no group claimed responsibility, like the Mar. 26 bombing.
Pakistan is home to twin insurgencies, one mounted by religiously-motivated militants like the TTP that Islamabad says operate from Afghanistan, and the other by ethnic separatists who seek secession, blaming the government’s inequitable division of natural resources in southwestern Balochistan province.
