New Delhi is warming up to the UAE at a time when Islamabad has earned the wrath of many Arab states, especially the Emirates

When Narendra Modi visited Abu Dhabi and Dubai last summer, the Pakistani daily Dawn wondered if the Indian prime minister had “stepped into the recent breach between Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates over Islamabad’s refusal to actively join the Yemen war?” The need for the question-mark was removed this week, with the announcement that Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan, will be the guest of honour at India’s next Republic Day celebrations

REUTERSCrown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan waves to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Rashtrapati Bhavan, February 11

There are plenty of reasons for Modi to make Sheikh Mohamed his chief guest, not least the $60 billion in IndoUAE trade, and the 2.3 million Indians who live and work in the Emirates. But the timing of the announcement made it especially piquant for Pakistan, for it came in the middle of New Delhi’s campaign to isolate Islamabad diplomatically in the aftermath of the Uri attacks.

Islamabad should have seen this coming. On his August, 2015 trip to the UAE, Modi made pointed barbs at Islamabad during his public speeches, eliciting no reproach from his hosts. Earlier that year, Pakistan had earned the wrath of several Arab states, including the UAE, when it refused to join a coalition led by Saudi Arabia in an assault on Yemen, where Iran-backed Shia militias known as the Houthis had toppled a Saudi-friendly government. The UAE was especially blunt in its expression of displeasure. Minister of state for foreign affairs Anwar Mohammed Gargash rounded on Islamabad for its “vague and contradictory stand”, and warned Pakistan would pay a “heavy price”.

In the language of diplomatic politesse, such words are the equivalent of schoolyard curses, but Gargash had even harsher invective to deliver. He suggested Islamabad cared more for Iran than for the Arab states: This, in the context of the Sunni-Shia conflagration across West Asia, came within a whisker of accusing Pakistan of apostasy, a heinous and contemptible crime in Islam.

Pakistan was right to stay out of the war on Yemen, which continues to this day, bringing ever more destruction to the Arab world’s poorest nation and still more dishonour to its richest. Although Islamabad does little to discourage the persecution of the Shia (and other minorities) within Pakistan, it cannot, for many reasons, afford to participate in the wider sectarian conflict. Having long been assured that their military was busy protecting them from the designs of India, and the depredations of internal enemies, like Baloch separatists and Pashtun terrorists, ordinary Pakistanis showed no interest in sending their troops to fight for a dubious Arab cause.

Even so, saying “No” can’t have been easy for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, or for army chief Raheel Sharif. The Arab states are Pakistan’s principal economic benefactors, as well as a diplomatic bulwark against India. The UAE is one of Pakistan’s largest donors of aid, both humanitarian and economic, and its largest trade partner. Around 1.8 million Pakistanis live in the Emirates. The Arab states also bankroll Raheel’s troops, and helped underwrite Islamabad’s nuclear programme. In return, they have long regarded the Pakistani military as theirs to summon.

It is hard to know if the Pakistani military would have swung the conflict in Yemen decisively in favour of the Saudi coalition, which has proved singularly incompetent, despite overwhelming superiority in arms. Earlier this summer, Gargash announced the UAE was pulling most of its forces out of Yemen, citing the death of 80 of its soldiers — a large number for such a small country. (The war continues to exact a toll, however: Over the weekend, a UAE vessel was sunk by Yemeni rebels. They claim it was a warship, the UAE says it was delivering aid, and the US says it belonged to a dredging company.) For a nation that takes pride in its ability to buy the world’s best war weaponry to be forced into a withdrawal by a rag-tag band of rebels was an utter humiliation, and many Emiratis must wonder if they may have been spared the ignominy if Pakistan had joined the fight.

Since Gargash’s outburst last year, Islamabad has tried desperately to make nice with the Arab states, and especially with the UAE. But its efforts have mostly been in the shape of words, including a speech from Nawaz Sharif to the effect that Pakistan “does not abandon friends and strategic partners”. This has gone down like a lead balloon in the Emirates. On a trip the Dubai earlier this year, practically everyone I met were still asking why Pakistan was sitting out on the war.

Unable to do anything substantive to mend relations, the Pakistani leadership will have squirmed at Modi’s announcement of a “strategic partnership” between India and the UAE during his visit. Their discomfiture will have been the more acute for hearing that the India-UAE joint statement called “on all states to reject and abandon the use of terrorism against other countries, dismantle terrorism infrastructures where they exist, and bring perpetrators of terrorism to justice”. Subtle, it was not. With Sheikh Mohamed’s participation in India’s Republic Day now confirmed, there’s additional pressure on Pakistan’s leaders — political and military alike — to get back into the UAE’s good books. There’s little prospect that the Pakistani military will be deployed in Yemen, and even if that were to happen it would earn Islamabad few brownie points with the Emiratis, since they’ve themselves all but abandoned the battlefield. Nor are there any meaningful economic inducements that Pakistan can offer in recompense: The UAE already enjoys unrestricted access to the Pakistani market.

It’s a good thing that Pakistan’s leadership has had much recent practice in squirming uncomfortably. They will be doing a lot of it on January 26.

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that it has extended by six months the term of the one member judicial commission on OROP which has commenced public hearings on grievances of ex-servicemen.

The submission was made by the government before a bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Ashutosh Kumar which was hearing a PIL for public hearing of ex-servicemen’s grievances as well as extension of the term of the commission, headed by Justice (retired) L Narasimha Reddy. Central government standing counsel Anurag Ahluwalia told the court that the first public hearing was held at Chandigarh on Tuesday and would be held at various other places across the country, ending on September 21. He said the hearing in Delhi would be held on August 19, after which the petitioner’s lawyer, Satya Ranjan Swain, said details of the time and venue of the hearing have not been disclosed.

Governor NN Vohra with Lt Gen SK Dua, GOC of the 15 Corps, in Srinagar on Monday.

Srinagar, September 19

Lt Gen SK Dua, General Officer Commanding of the 15 Corps, met Governor NN Vohra at Raj Bhawan here today and briefed him about the Sunday terror attack on an Army base in Uri.An official statement said the Governor and the Corps Commander discussed various important issues relating to the internal security management and the need for stringent enforcement of counter-infiltration and counter-terrorism grids along the Line of Control.—TNS

Chinese vessels are seen around Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea. Reuters file photo

Beijing, August 17

Hailing India for keeping “neutral stand” over the South China Sea issue despite pressure from the US and Japan, state-run Chinese media said on Wednesday that the relationship between India and China had been developing smoothly despite contradictions and frictions.

“When it comes to security, after the final award of the South China Sea arbitration was announced, the Indian Government has kept a neutral stance despite the pressure from Washington and Tokyo,” an article in the state-run Global Times said.

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Calling for “solid step forward” to improve relations, the article said “admittedly, there are some contradictions and frictions between China and India, but the overall bilateral relations have been developing smoothly”.

It also criticised the Indian media for “going too far” to blame China for blocking India’s membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group and linking last week’s Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to India to the South China Sea issue.

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“Indian media has spared no effort in linking Wang’s visit to the South China Sea issue and the country’s failure in joining the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG),” it said.

“Regarding the NSG case, Indian media has gone too far, for it is not at all a problem between Beijing and New Delhi. It was the US, not China, who made the relevant rules for NSG membership, and India failed to meet the criteria of entering the club. A dozen NSG members are now opposing India’s bid, thus, it does not make sense for Indian media to point an accusing finger at China,” it said.

“The two nations may have discussed the issue during Wang’s visit, and it is possible for both sides to clarify their own ideas, stances and policies over the matter. But the conjecture that Wang was trying to win India’s support over the South China Sea by helping New Delhi with the NSG membership doesn’t make sense at all,” it said.

This is the second article in as many days by the daily to criticise Indian media.

On August 15, another article blamed the Indian press for “stirring up negative sentiments” against China by highlighting the divergences in the bilateral ties.

“During the Wang’s visit the two sides may have also discussed how to further promote a closer partnership, which was raised during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit,” the article said.

“For the moment, when we talk about Sino-India ties, we tend to use the phrase ‘relations are generally stable without major conflicts’. Yet this should not be the highest expectation we hold for the relationship,” it said.

“Beijing and New Delhi have raised hopes for economic and trade cooperation, but turning them into reality requires wider consensus and more consultations,” it said.

Acknowledging problems in the bilateral collaboration on economic and trade issues which “used to be one of the most positive parts of the bilateral relations, it said “joint works in this regard have not been going smoothly in recent years”.

Last month, an arbitration court in The Hague ruled that China had no historic title over the South China Sea and had breached the Philippines’ sovereign rights there. The decision infuriated Beijing, which dismissed the court’s authority. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have counter claims.  China claims almost all of the South China Sea, through which trade of $5 trillion in global trade passes every year. — Agencies

On my first, and perhaps last, visit to Pakistan in the spring of 2008 to attend Pugwash Conference in Islamabad, I was told by my daughter, a doctor by profession, “Please get me the CDs of ‘Tanhaiyan’ and ‘Dhoop Kinare’” (two most popular TV shows of Pakistan).She had taken a fancy to Marina Khan, who played the lead role in these two shows. But, she knew her as “Dr Zoya Khan”, a character that turned bright the dull life in a hospital in the multi-episode Pakistani serial “Dhoop Kinare”.On the eve of my departure from Pakistan, I decided to buy the CDs. In the lobby of Marriott Hotel, I spotted Mehbooba Mufti, then an MP and now Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. I asked her if she would like to accompany me to the market. She agreed to my great surprise. BJP leader Nirmal Singh, now Deputy Chief Minister, also came along.Omar Abdullah was also there, but he was not to be seen around, except during the conference where he was the star articulator of all problems under the sun, particularly South Asia. And, Mehbooba never forgot to compliment her political rival back home.As we stepped out of the hotel, I could see deep annoyance in the eyes of ISI spies shadowing Mehbooba. “She moves in and out like a bird. We are left clueless. It is becoming difficult for us to tail her,” one of the spies had confided to one of the delegates, who now holds an important position in the Mehbooba Mufti government. That was one such occasion when they felt uncomfortable with her unannounced movement.It was getting dark. Mehbooba suggested, “Let’s walk up to the market.” She is a walk buff. But she was not wearing her usual sports shoes, but sandals. Suddenly the straps of her sandals fell apart, as we were negotiating the under-repair footpath. We hired a cab to complete our small journey to the market.At the shop, a long-bearded customer, wearing a typical Khan dress, was asking the shopkeeper, “Do you have a CD of songs of ‘Jannat’ (Indian movie)”. The shopkeeper nodded and pulled out a CD for him.On my turn, “I asked for the CDs which my daughter had demanded. The shopkeeper, who later identified himself by his first name, Iqbal, looked at me with extreme curiosity and I found myself hearing, “Are you from India?” “Yes” was the answer to his expectations.Why are you asking for such old dramas? I explained my daughter was a Marina fan. She has watched these dramas as serials but not in one go. He was all smiles which reflected a unique hospitality and friendliness. After getting the CDs, he told me that his shop had more Indian movies than Pakistani. It was a genuine admission because I was not shopping the Indian stuff.Where was I? A Hindu from India in Pakistan, an Islamic country. The two countries have often been viewed as enemies and have fought wars. Did this incident reflect hostility or friendship? These thoughts crossed my mind as we headed back to our hotel.“Here is your ‘Dr Zoya Khan’,” I told my daughter on my return. She was so excited that she started playing it at once.Does Marina, “Dr Zoya Khan”, mean a Pakistani to my daughter. No, her love for Marina transcends all boundaries. She still watches the dramas, whenever she needs solace, or wants to laugh with her role model.Marina was playing the role of a doctor, and my daughter is a doctor by profession. Can I draw boundaries between the two? No. I better not. In fact, no one should think of creating such chasms. We have nothing in common as far as our history and culture is concerned with America or China, but we share much more with Pakistan than with any other country in the world. We are just a little distance away, then why are the tanks on the border and why are we all getting hysterical with maniac thoughts of eliminating each other?Terrorism is the biggest enemy. That should be understood. Indians love “Dr Zoya Khan” but it is for Pakistan to eliminate terrorism from its soil and its export is proving costly.The idea of “Dr Zoya Khan” can help us clasp our hands. From this side, we have “Bhai Jaan.” Both India and Pakistan need to clear the clouds of war, decimate terrorism, so that the role models of hope and love grow and prosper on both sides with mutual admiration.

Air Marshal NJS Dhillon

Chandigarh: Air Marshal NJS Dhillon has been appointed as Senior Air Staff Officer of Western Air Command. Prior to this, he was the Air Defence Commander at Southern Air Command. An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, he was commissioned as a fighter pilot in December 1981 and has over 3,700 hours of accident-free flying to his credit.In 1991, he topped the Fighter Strike Leader Course at the IAF’s Tactics and Air Combat Defence Establishment and later served there as the Head of Training. He has commanded a MiG-21 squadron and an operational fighter base. — TNS

“While we work out who is to blame for Uri and what an appropriate response will be, do we not owe our troops flame retardant tents and huts?” Omar Abdullah,former cm

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, September 18

National Conference working president Omar Abdullah on Sunday “strongly condemned” the attack on the Army base in Uri sector.In a statement, the former Chief Minister expressed solidarity with the families of the martyred jawans and extended his heartfelt condolences to them.“This is a highly condemnable and tragic incident. I extend my heartfelt condolences to the families of the martyred jawans who have lost their lives and pray for the speedy recovery of those who have sustained injuries in the attack,” Omar said.In a series of tweets, Omar also criticised the government saying it is a “crying shame that fire retardant tents aren’t the norm”.“While we work out who is to blame for Uri and what an appropriate response will be, do we not owe our troops flame retardant tents and huts?” he said. “If the reports are correct and 13 of the 17 fatalities are because of burns it’s a crying shame that fire retardant tents aren’t the norm,” he said.Omar said, “We owe it to our jawans to give them the best that we can because they are the first to lay down their lives and sacrifice everything for us.”“The mess will be made more fancy, the auditorium more modern, officers quarters more comfortable but the jawans will be taken for granted,” he said.

The US told to ”stop making irresponsible remarks”. Thinkstock

Beijing, August 6

China on Saturday lashed out at the US for describing jail sentences given to four human rights activists as “politically motivated”, saying the American accusations are groundless and constituted interference in its internal affairs.“The US accusations are groundless and China urged the United States to respect the facts, speak and act cautiously, and stop making irresponsible remarks on the case,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.She said China firmly opposed American interference in its internal affairs and judicial sovereignty.Hua was commenting on the remarks made by US State Department deputy spokesperson Mark Toner concerning the conviction of four Chinese human rights activists.Toner had said that the charges against the activists were “vague and apparently politically motivated” and urged Chinese officials to release the detainees and remove restrictions on their freedom of movement and professional activities.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) “China is a country under the rule of law, and Chinese judicial authorities deal with related cases in accordance with law so that the legitimate rights and interests of defendants could be effectively protected,” Hua was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.She claimed that Chinese people widely supported the trial and generally opposed any actions that endangered the national security and undermined the social stability.A court in Tianjin had convicted them of subverting state power after serial trials in the past four days.Of the four, Hu Shigen, described by the state media as an illegal church leader, got the longest prison term of seven and a half years. He is the eldest at 61 and had engaged in state power subversion since the 1990s, Xinhua said.All of them accepted the charges and expressed remorse, it said. PTI

US DELIVERS A BLUNT MESSAGE TO ISLAMABAD — ‘EXERCISE RESTRAINT’ ON NUCLEAR TALK AND MISSILE CAPABILITIES

WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI: Defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday threatened Pakistan with a “befitting reply again” if it continues to sponsor terrorism, the tough talk coming a day after the US bluntly told Islamabad to stop its rhetoric on nuking India.

Parrikar’s warning came two days after New Delhi said Indian forces carried out surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the Line of Control — the de facto border between the two countries in Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian strike was in response to a militant attack on an army camp at Uri that left 18 soldiers dead. Pakistan has no idea what happened because its condition is like that of an “anaesthetised patient” postsurgery, who has no idea what has happened, the minister said at Pauri in Uttarakhand. Islamabad has denied New Delhi’s claims about conducting surgical strikes in Pakistanoccupied Kashmir.

PM Narendra Modi met President Pranab Mukherjee and is understood to have briefed him about the surgical strikes.

According to TV reports, Parrikar gave an analogy of Lord Rama, the protagonist in the epic Ramayana, who won Lanka and gave it to Vibhishana.

“We did the same in Bangladesh. We do not want to harm anyone, but if someone harms us, a befitting reply will be given…Lord Hanuman did not know of his powers before going to Lanka, I made our armed forces realise their power,” he was quoted as saying.

Parrikar’s tough talk against Pakistan comes when New Delhi’s diplomatic encirclement of Pakistan seems to be paying off. The international community, including Pakistan’s traditional allies, has maintained a studied silence on India’s surgical strikes, while underscoring the need to act against terrorism, indirectly bracketing Pakistan.

In a blunt message delivered publicly on Friday, the United States told the Pakistani government to “exercise restraint” regarding the use of nuclear weapons, or the talk about it. “I would just say nuclear-capable states have a very clear responsibility to exercise restraint regarding nuclear weapons and missile capabilities,” US state department spokesman Mark Toner said at the daily briefing in response to a question, about “some of the rhetoric from the Pakistani government”.

“And that’s my message publicly and that’s certainly our message directly to the Pakistani authorities,” he added.On Monday, Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif had threatened to “destroy India” in the event of a war. “We have not made an atomic device to display in a showcase. If such a situation arises we will use it and eliminate India,” he told a TV channel, raising alarm in capitals around the world already worried about Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal falling into the hands of terrorists.

On Saturday, Indian army chief General Dalbir Singh also reviewed military preparedness at the northern and western borders.

He visited the Udhampur-based Northern Command and interacted with the special forces men who destroyed seven terror launch pads in PoK, killing at least 35 terrorists and their handlers. He later visited the Chandimandir-based Western Command to take stock of the army’s readiness along the Punjab border.

Shyam Sood

Rajouri, August 1

Out of 238 posts of doctors at government hospitals in Rajouri, 150 are lying vacant, making it difficult for the people to get treatment.People here often call the District Hospital, Rajouri, as the “referral hospital”, for patients are mostly referred to other hospitals due to non-availability of specialised doctors at the hospital.Out of 54 regular posts sanctioned for senior and junior consultants, consultants, MBBS doctors, dental surgeon and medical officer, 27 posts are lying vacant in the District Hospital while two to three doctors have managed their postings against the posts which don’t exist. In 2011, a CT SCAN unit was established at the hospital, but no radiologist has been appointed. For the last more than one month the hospital is operating without a head after the transfer of its medical superintendent.Junior doctors have been looking after the OPDs, while senior doctors were ignoring the work, alleged a doctor. “Even the ultra sound is being conducted by a MBBS doctor who was temporarily trained to avoid the ire of people,” said a source.In such times, the Army has come to the rescue of the people at Rajouri. “Had the Army not been providing medical aid to the poor at their door steps through its medical camps, many among them would have died due to poor government health services,” said Yogesh Sharma, a social activist.Besides official engagements, various Army units deployed in Rajouri under Romeo Force, Uniform Force and Ace of Spades Division have been providing every possible modern medical treatment to the people in far-off and border areas here.“The Army has introduced laparoscopic surgery in the Army hospital at Rajouri and many civilians have been benefitted, including those who were denied treatment by civil doctors. The hospital has conducted cataract operations for many poor patients who couldn’t afford expenses at government or private hospitals,” said a senior Army officer.Recently, Romeo Force had conducted a landmark specialist medical camp for the people of border and far-off villages at Surankot and provided the services of super-specialist doctors of great repute.

Many posts vacant

• Out of 54 regular posts sanctioned for senior and junior consultants, consultants, MBBS doctors, dental surgeon and medical officer, 27 posts are lying vacant in the District Hospital
• In 2011, a CT SCAN unit was established at the hospital, but no radiologist has been appointed
• Had the Army not been providing medical aid to the poor at their door step through its medical camps, many would have died due to poor health services, said Yogesh Sharma, a social activist