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LONDON : Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has been conferred with a lifetime achievement award at an awards ceremony in the UK to coincide with the 550th birth anniversary celebrations for Guru Nanak Dev.

The awards, hosted at the mayor of London’s headquarters by the UK’s All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for British Sikhs and London assembly member Onkar Sahota alongside British Sikh groups, honoured achievements across different fields.

London mayor Sadiq Khan, deputy mayor for social integration and mobility Debbie Weekes-Bernard and APPG for British Sikhs Chair, Labour Party politician Preet Kaur Gill, were among some of the speakers at the event, co-hosted by the Sikh Network and Sikh Federation UK – British Sikh groups known for pro-Khalistani affiliations.

“I invite Sikhs from all around the world to come to Pakistan,” said Sahibzada Jahangir, Imran Khan’s spokesperson for trade and investment in the UK and Europe, as he accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of the Pakistan prime minister.

He spoke about Pakistan’s “pride” on the completion of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor, which reinforced the idea of Sikhs as a bridge between cultures and countries.

India and Pakistan inaugurated the Kartarpur Corridor on November 9 to provide for Indian pilgrims to visit one of Sikhism’s holiest shrines in Pakistani town of Narowal without a visa.

The corridor links Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur in India to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan, the final resting place of Sikh faith founder Guru Nanak.

The 550th Gurpurb Guru Nanak Ji at City Hall in London on Tuesday also included honours for British Sikh powerlifter Kirenjit Kaur Bains, for her contribution to sports as the first Sikh woman to compete for Britain in the World Classic Powerlifting Championships earlier this year; Paul Bassi for his contribution to business; and Khalsa Aid for contribution to charity and selfless seva.

“We would like to take this opportunity to celebrate inspirational aspects of Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s life and recognise individuals from the British Sikh community who have demonstrated the teachings of Guru Nanak, in this very special 550th anniversary year,” noted the organisers of the event.

File photo

Tribune News Service

Kolkata, November 21

A concert to pay homage to the martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh was held last evening at Kolkata’s iconic Victoria Memorial Hall.

Singer Harpreet Singh mesmerised the audience with his mournful rendering of the ‘Khooni Baishakhi’ song. Written by legendary poet and novelist Nanak Singh, a survivor of the 1919 massacre carried out by the British, the iconic poem has been set to tune by the singer himself, a native of Kurukshetra who lives in Mumbai. The English translation of the poem, done by Nanak Singh’s diplomat grandson Navdeep Singh Suri, was read aloud by Bengali singer Moushumi Bhowmik.

The concert titled ‘Music and Memories from Punjab and Bengal’, organised by the Victoria Memorial Hall authorities, was a curtain-raiser to an exhibition – Ways of Remembering Jallianwala Bagh & and Rabindranath Tagore’s Response to the massacre — to be held at the hall next month.

Sarmisthsa Dutta Gupta, curator of the exhibition, said while Tagore was traumatised by the massacre, the incident scarred the minds also of many others in Bengal and found expression in the works of poets and songwriters. Touching upon the similarities in the history of Punjab and Bengal, Sarmistha said, “We have suffered together, we have sung together.”

The State Department approved the $1 billion sale of advanced MK 45 5 inch/62 calibre (MOD 4) navy guns to India this week

New York, November 22

A senior US official has left open the possibility that Washington may not impose sanctions on India for buying the Russian Triumf S-400 missile defence system but require New Delhi to tighten defence technology security to prevent snooping by Moscow.

The State Department official, who addressed Turkey buying the Russian S-400 missile defence system, did not directly address India acquiring the same system when it was raised during a briefing on Thursday, but brought up security issues in cooperating with India.

The State Department approved the $1 billion sale of advanced MK 45 5 inch/62 calibre (MOD 4) navy guns to India this week even though India had paid the Russian contractor $800 million as an advance in August for five S-400 units valued at about $5.4 billion.

This and the official’s response appeared to leave room for India to get a waiver from the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which could be applied to India for buying equipment from Russian companies. CAATSA bans countries from buying equipment worth more than $15 million from defence Russian companies listed under it and imposes sanctions against them.

The US has not yet introduced CAATSA sanctions against Turkey, a NATO partner, but has refused to provide it with the advanced F-35 stealth combat jets.

India is not seeking such advanced armaments from the US at this time.

President Donald Trump warned Turkish President Recep Erdogan during his recent visit that the Russian deal is going to put it at risk of sanctions.

But the official said: “The timeline on CAATSA sanctions is not prescribed or absolute. There is still plenty of scope that could be applied as to where sanctions and the breadth and depth of sanctions could be imposed upon Turkey.” The official appeared to appreciate the problems India faces in moving away from Russian defence supplies because of its decades-long dependence on the Soviet Union.

The official said that when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and another official visited New Delhi they “had a consistent line and a discourse with our Indian counterparts at our respective levels, which is we recognize how India suffered at the fall of Soviet Union” because of its dependence on it for defence equipment.

The official added, “It was catastrophic if one was serving in the Ministry of Defence in India in the early 1990s. So we get that.” The official said that India should take stringent measures to prevent defence technology leakage.

US industry and the government are interested in co-research, co-development and co-production with India in the defence sector, “but we can’t do it in a fashion that will expose us as well as our industry,” the official said.

“So for India, yes, there’s opportunity, but they have got to address their protocols and their processes on protecting defence technology and procurement processes,” the official.

“What we have pushed with Indians is: tighten up your procurement processes, tighten up your defence technology security processes and protocols, and then you’re putting yourselves in a much more mature space to be a tighter, closer partner,” the official said.

The official added that the US didn’t want its technology “exposed because some Russians walking the shop floor decide to go, walk away and put it in their handbag or knapsack and take it back to Moscow. We’re not going to allow that.”

Last year India and the US signed the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) to “facilitate access to advanced defence systems and enable India to optimally utilise its existing US-origin platforms.”

File photo. AFP

Washington, November 22

The US has extended its support to India’s opposition to China’s ambitious One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative, saying it shares New Delhi’s concern over the multibillion-dollar project while questioning the economic rationale behind it.

India is the only major country in the world to have opposed the OBOR project on the grounds of territorial sovereignty, given that its flagship project, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, which India has always maintained is its territory.

The Belt and Road Initiative, a pet project of Chinese President Xi Jinping, focuses on improving connectivity and cooperation among Asian countries, Africa, China and Europe.

India has been “crystal clear from the outset they saw the geopolitical elements of the One Belt One Road,” Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Alice Wells said in response to a question at Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars think tank.

“We share India’s concerns over projects that don’t have any economic basis and that leads to country ceding sovereignty,” Wells said.

Sri Lanka is not the only country that effectively ceded sovereignty over a key asset, she added.

Struggling with debts, Sri Lanka formally handed over the southern sea port of Hambantota to China in 2017 on a 99-year lease.

Interestingly, Hambantota is the home town of the Rajapaksas.

Speaking on the construction of Gwadar port, Wells said, it feeds into Indian anxiety because the commercial basis of the project is not clear.

This has been a project very long in the making and not very evident to outsiders what’s the economic rationale that drives it, she said in response to a question.

The OBOR was designed in part to be able to export excess labour, excess capital and excess production facilities, she said.

So China was trying to solve one of its own domestic problems. It solved its domestic problems sometime at the expense of the receiving country, Wells said.

There are over 95 state-owned enterprises, a part of this belt and road initiative and that have been engaged in infrastructure projects overseas, Wells said.  PTI

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Tribune News Service

Srinagar, November 21

Shops and business establishments remained shut across Kashmir on Thursday, a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah claimed in Parliament that everything was normal in Kashmir.

The shops observed a complete shutdown in all main markets and on outskirts in the Valley. A shopkeeper in Old Srinagar said they would stick to their earlier schedule of opening in the morning only as a mark of protest against Shah’s claims.

“Our opening does not mean things are normal in Kashmir, the government is forcing us to close again,” said the shopkeeper who did not want to be named.

After the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, the restrictions and curfew were slowly eased. However, the markets opened only during early morning hours and observed a day-long shutdown.

“Today, we got a message to close the shops and from tomorrow, we will open only in the morning hours as per our earlier schedule because we are facing an uncertain situation,” said another trader from Soura Srinagar.

From the last one week, the shopkeepers had started extending the opening hours from morning to evening. But again, now the shops observed a shutdown from last two days after the “threats from some unknown groups” who told the shopkeepers to stick to their morning opening schedule only.

A senior police officer said two shops and a few carts were set on fire overnight on Wednesday in the Fateh Kadal locality and Soura in the city, forcing shopkeepers to close today. There was uncertainty on Wednesday as well after rumours spread that shopkeepers were attacked in the city.

Schools witness thin attendance

Tribune News Service
Srinagar, November 21

Schools in the Valley continued to witness thin attendance for the second day after they were thrown open after two weeks of tension in Kashmir on Monday as parents feared the safety of their children.

The Tribune team checked nearly a dozen schools in Srinagar where almost zero attendance was recorded.

The parents said while the communication is completely blocked in Kashmir it would be difficult for them to know the safety of their children. “The school buses are not safe, what if a stone is pelted on them or the bus gets stuck in clashes. At least I won’t send my son to school yet,” said Shaheena, a mother.

The two sides will also be holding joint cultural performances at various border posts.

Beijing, November 22

India and China will commemorate the 70^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations next year with 70 celebratory activities, including cultural, religious and trade promotion events besides military exchanges, it was announced on Friday.

The events were finalised in line with the understanding reached by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping during their Second Informal Summit at Mamallapuram on October 11-12 this year.

“These activities will demonstrate the historic connect between the two civilisations as well as their growing bilateral relationship over the years,” an Indian Embassy press release said here.

“They will further deepen people-to-people exchanges between the two countries at all levels, including between their respective legislatures, businesses, academics, cultural and youth organisations as well as the defence forces,” it said.

Considering the ancient trade links between Tamil Nadu and China’s Fujian province, the two sides will engage in cooperative projects in studying ancient maritime links through establishment of sister-state relations between Tamil Nadu and Fujian province.

Both the countries will explore the possibility of establishing an academy to study links between Tamil Nadu and Fujian province and conduct research on maritime links between the countries.

The other activities include the two sides holding joint cultural performances at various border posts, visits of Indian naval ships as well as mid-level tri-service delegation of the Indian armed forces to China.

Besides hosting parliamentary exchanges, the two countries will conduct various activities to trace civilisational links, including China holding an International Xuanzang Forum, advancing studies related to Chinese scholar Xuanzang, highlighting the monk’s journey to India in the 6^th Century AD.

On the business and trade front, China will hold a China-India Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum in India and organise the second China-India Drug Regulation. The first forum was held in China.

India is pressing China to open its markets for Indian IT and pharmaceauticals to address the USD 57 billion trade deficit.

The total bilateral trade last year was over USD 95 billion, which is set to touch the USD-100 billion mark this year. PTI