"The question the international community should be asking is this: can India project an image of a rising global power, while also subjecting its minority communities to violence fueled by medieval hatreds, and get away with it?," runs an edit in a leading Pakistani newspaper 'Dawn'.
But what's happening in their own country..... Coming Elections seem 'rigged' !
We do not mind Pakistani media taking interest in the affairs of India. Firstly, India-bashing sells. Secondly, we are neighbours and even by middle class syndromes, each side can be interested in the problems in thy neighbour's house. But we are no longer on the same page variety or 'hyphenated' from American or western perspective.
India has emerged in the global scene and Pakistan is sinking probably in more ways than one.
Of course, 'Ayodhya' is a mega event and there were some stray incidents of violence including in the outskirts of Mumbai. They may forget, India is a cast landscape and country of 140 Indians and quite a good number of Muslims. Is it less than the number of Muslims in Pakistan?
Pakistan is a country of 241 million people. Now all eyes are on its 'delayed national elections' on February 8.
"But the vote has been tainted by allegations of rigging made by the main opposition party, headed by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan," says an Aljazeera report.
This is only part of the story. Pakistan is also a country where 'military' is called
'establishment' -- an 'euphemism' India will never entertain for our Fauzis.
"Political instability in Pakistan began in April 2022 when Imran Khan was removed from power through a no confidence vote in parliament. The former cricketing icon accused the “establishment” – a euphemism for the country’s powerful military – for orchestrating his removal.
Since his ouster, Khan has been in the crosshairs of the military, once considered his patron and architect of his rise to power in 2018," says the Aljazeera report.
Nevertheless all eyes are on coming polls and it will be crucial even from an Indian point of view. The Indo-Pak relation is virtually frozen. Not even normal and courtesy interactions and India's External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar when he says terrorism and diplomacy cannot go hand in hand.
'"We made Pakistan's policy (terror friendly approach) irrelevant by not playing their game," said Jaishankar.
Nevertheless, Imran Khan is behind bars. His political outfit, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was stripped of its election symbol, a cricket bat, through a Supreme Court order.
Now PTI candidates are 'contesting' the polls as independents with their own individual symbols.
In a country with a literacy rate of 60 percent, election symbols are necessary to help voters identify the parties they support on the ballots. Another Ting Tong case !! Earlier the Courts allowed return and entry of popular leader Nawaz Sharif.
Speculation is rife whether India's western neighbour is going for polls or there is already ‘Election engineering’. Is Pakistan’s February vote already rigged? -- is a common refrain. It is believed Sharif's return is a near-guarantee.
Imran Khan, by many accounts the country’s most popular politician, has been behind bars since August under various charges. He is also barred from standing in the elections due to his conviction in cases he says are part of a military-backed crackdown on him and his party. Now, that's the situation in that country !!
The edit in 'Dawn', however, talks about India and states: -- "There had been fears that the event in Ayodhya, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the celebrations, would turbocharge zealots and lead to communal trouble, and many Muslims in the Uttar Pradesh town had sent their families to safer locales."
Our question could be -- what kinds of 'safer locales' await PTI leaders and workers and supporters including the former cricket icon Imran ?
Islamabad-based analyst Ahmed Ijaz thinks the subdued political campaigning could be a deliberate ploy by the PMLN and the PPP. “If the campaign would have been in full swing and relatively free, given the situation in the country in the last two years, there could have been sloganeering against the military establishment. Perhaps the idea is to control the nature of the campaigning,” he says.
This tactic, Ijaz says, may see a relatively low voter turnout and may perhaps favour the PMLN, the party that many in Pakistan believe is being backed by the military this time around, says the report in Aljazeera.com.
“Imagine if Imran Khan was not in jail or his party was not facing the crackdown which it is. I am certain we will not be having this conversation right now. The campaigning would be at its peak," says the analyst.
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Bread is in shortage in a country that had promised 'Pak - pious land' for Indian Muslims in 1947 |
However, things have not changed much. Even after Nawaz Sharif returns to power, probably he wil have same old limitations.
Pakistan Army chief, Gen Asim Munir, has attacked three of his country's immediate neighbours, India, Afghanistan and Iran.
General Asim Munir said that since New Delhi has not reconciled with the concept of Pakistan, "then how can we reconcile with it".
ends
India and France have announced a “defence industrial roadmap” for cooperation on defence production, for future collaboration on “co-design and co-development” of military hardware.
The roadmap was part of a number of agreements between the two countries that were sealed during talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron in Jaipur on January 25.
These will also bring some parity with the India-U.S. defence production plan finalised last year.
Macron was in Delhi as part of a short 30-hour visit to India, and was accompanied by a delegation of 40 officials, including his new Minister for Foreign Affairs Stéphane Séjourné, and Ministers of Defence and Culture.
The two sides also signed a new agreement for a defence-space partnership that will see them collaborate on “space situational awareness”, and an MoU on coordinating on satellite launches, along with other agreements on partnerships in energy, digital health, agriculture, and education.
Airbus-TATA chopper deal
While the two countries did not announce any progress on negotiations for the big-ticket government-to-government deals on fighter-jets, engines and submarine that were announced during PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Paris last July, officials said that at least one joint venture for the local manufacture of civilian helicopters was agreed between Airbus and TATA during the visit.
Two mega multi-billion dollar defence deals in the pipeline between the two countries — the 26 Rafale-M fighter jets for the Indian Navy’s aircraft carriers, and three additional Scorpene-class conventional submarines — are currently in the cost negotiation phase, sources said.
“The focus and priority of the [industrial defence] roadmap is to actually identify opportunities for partnership in the defence industrial sector that prioritises co-designing, co-development, co-production and also build the defence supply chains between the two countries so that they can fulfil the defence needs of not only India and France but also be a useful contributor in the security partnership with other countries who might be need similar products,” said Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra.
He identified domains of collaboration ranging from aircraft to land and maritime warfare, especially underwater domain awareness, to space, robotic technology, cyber-defence, and artificial intelligence-led vehicles.
Press visa restrictions
Kwatra sad that the French government had also raised the issue of a French journalist who could be deported after she was handed a notice by the government, but insisted that this was a matter of “compliance of the rules”.
On Friday, at least 30 foreign correspondents based in India issued a letter of protest over the case, saying that they were all “grappling with increased visa restrictions in recent years”, and appealing to the government to help “facilitate the vital work of a free press in line with India’s democratic traditions”.
The two sides did not report any breakthrough on the civil nuclear cooperation agreement to build reactors at Jaitapur that was first signed in 2009, and saw a techno-commercial offer made by French company EDF in 2020.
When asked on the reasons for the delay, Mr. Kwatra said that “technical and engineering elements”, putting a financing mechanism into place, and ensuring localisation of supplies were still being discussed between EDF and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL).
It is proposed to construct 6 European Pressurized Reactors designed and developed by Framatome (former Areva) of France, each of 1650 MW, thus totalling 9900 MW. These are the third generation pressurised water reactors (PWR). Estimated cost of this project was around ₹1,000 billion (US$13 billion).
Strategic partnership
The defence industrial roadmap with France that “prioritises co-designing, co-development, co-production” mirrors India’s joint efforts with the U.S. for co-design and co-development of military systems. However, with France, the depth of the strategic partnership is reflected in the co-design efforts and France’s willingness to transfer jet engine technology that only a handful of countries possess.
India-France ties are believed to have been strengthened by Mr. Macron’s acceptance of Mr. Modi’s Republic Day invitation, made only about a month in advance after U.S. President Joe Biden expressed his inability to come to India for Republic Day and the Quad Summit.
This was Mr. Macron’s third visit to India, the seventh time he has met Mr. Modi since January 2023, and the sixth time a French President has been invited to Republic Day, the maximum number for any country.
“[The meetings are] a clear reflection of the importance attached by both the leaders to this partnership, as also the intensity of high-level supervision and direction to the relationship,” Kwatra added.
In honour of the visitor, the heart of the national capital was decorated with hundreds of life-size posters showing Mr. Modi and Mr. Macron posing together.
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