Posts From Z Khalid
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a cornerstone of Beijing’s regional geo-integration via its famed One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative. The strategic implications of this project are simply too large to ignore, both for its beneficiaries and critics. Presently, no other country provides the ideal sea-to-land routes from Indian Ocean to Central Asia, as does Pakistan. For China, perhaps the only concern in our particular region is the ongoing
On February 22, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman participated in the “earth breaking” ceremony of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Airpower Centre of Excellence (PAF ACE) as Chief Guest. The ceremony was held at PAF Base Mushaf, Sargodha, known as the “City of Shaheens”. Sargodha is also home to PAF’s Central Air Command Headquarters. PAF Base Mushaf is also home to the Combat Commanders School (CCS)
According to statistics published by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), an estimated 150,000 families were displaced by Pakistan Army’s counter terrorism operations in FATA, predominantly in North Waziristan Agency and Khyber Agency. To be more specific, data provided by the FATA Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) on October 5, 2015 showed that there were 638,144 Temporarily Displaced Persons (TDPs). Operations Zarb-e-Azb and Khyber were launched with the full support of
On February 16, 2016, two leading Asian newspapers published opposing stories on bilateral talks. The Hindustan Times quoted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Mr Tariq Fatemi that Pakistan was ‘ready to forge cooperative relations with India’. On the other hand, a report by Dawn quoted India’s new High Commissioner to Pakistan Mr Gautam Bambawale saying that the dialogue between both countries would resume ‘once the atmosphere
Chief of Indian intelligence agency RAW, Arnab Goswami, made international headlines when he announced findings which confirmed the presence of Daesh leader Abu Bakar al-Baghdadi in Karachi, Pakistan. Goswami, who was wearing a special grey-colored formal suit with a red tie (indicating alarm), held an unannounced press conference in New Delhi after paying handsome bribes to his former colleagues in the media for uninterrupted coverage. “I can say with satisfaction
On February 4, Pakistan’s army chief General Raheel Sharif witnessed the first ever trilateral counter terrorism exercise “Eagle Dash-I” involving special forces from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The two week-long exercises were held at Pakistan Army’s renowned National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) in Pabbi. The centre’s geography which includes hills and jungles offered participants the perfect environment to simulate operations against a fictitious terrorist group which could employ
Over the past few years, we’ve heard news about army operations and Intelligence-Based Operations (IBOs) in KP, Balochistan and Sindh but when it comes to Punjab, the news are either too low or almost all of them talk about covert IBOs. To date, Punjab has never faced any military operation. This exception is not legitimize demands for one anew, but rather to question the motive behind not targeting dangerous militant
Pakistan Armed Forces are fighting an “amorphous” enemy, as former army chief General Kayani used to say. This enemy manifests itself in various forms, at various places and through a variety of mediums. Operation Zarb-e-Azb will complete its second year in coming June and the National Action Plan (NAP) promulgated by the political-military leaders will also complete its second year in December. A key question being asked by observers, analysts
Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif had formally appointed General Raheel Sharif as the 15th Chief Of Army Staff (COAS) on November 27, 2013. The armed forces’ PR wing ISPR recently quoted General Sharif saying that he doesn’t believe in extensions and plans on retiring on due date. This will be a historic precedent for Pakistan, as previous army chiefs either pushed their way to maintain their dictatorships or accepted “extensions”
In what appears to be a significant step forward in Pak-Russia security ties, Commander-in-Chief of Russian Land Forces Col Gen Oleg Salyukov announced on January 22 that his troops will be participating in the first ever army exercises in Pakistan. The yet unnamed exercises with Pakistan, according to Salyukov, are “special mountain drills”, a probable reference to high-altitude warfare training involving special forces from both countries. It is yet unclear
