Doha, 30 April 2021 (QT)

QATAR Airways is supporting international efforts to tackle the second COVID-19 surge in India by shipping medical aid and equipment to the country free of charge from global suppliers.

The airline intends to transport 300 tonnes of aid from across its global network to Doha. From Doha, it will be flown in a three-flight cargo air-craft convoy directly to destinations in India where it is most desperately needed.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker said: “The State of Qatar has a long and special relationship with India, and we have watched with great sorrow as COVID-19 has once again caused a significant challenge to the country. “As one of the world air cargo leaders, with an extensive international network, we stand ready to provide humanitarian support by transporting these much-needed supplies, and help the country fight back against this appalling virus.

Qatar Airways Cargo has already transported well over 20 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for UNICEF as part of the five-year MoU to support UNICEF’s Humanitarian Air-freight Initiative.”

THE cargo shipment will include PPE equipment, oxygen canisters and other essential medical items, and consists of donations by individuals and companies around the world in addition to existing cargo orders. Qatar Airways has been a leader in the fight against COVID-19 and in the early stages of the pandemic, provided similar aid flights to China, shipping supplies to Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai in February 2020.

QA has become the first global airline in the world to achieve the prestigious 5-Star COVID-19 Airline Safety Rating by international air transport rating organisation, Skytrax. This follows HIA’s recent success as the first and only airport in the Middle East and Asia to be awarded a Skytrax 5-Star COVID-19 Airport Safety Rating.

Doha, 30 April 2021 (Qatar Tribune)

Lahore, 29 April 2021 (Daily Express Tribune)

Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan did not pay heed to the request of Defence Housing Authority (DHA) to get expunged the remarks he had passed against the armed forces.

The CJ was hearing a matter wherein some petitioners claimed the DHA had occupied their land of over 100-kanal land. They said that the DHA had already occupied over 300-kanal land which it had not transferred through “inteqal” after the judgement of the country’s top court.

The province’s top judge said that his remarks were against the conduct of those armed forces' officers who are not earning a good name for their institution.

"Respect is earned through conduct and the conduct should be very good for the sake of maintaining the respect of the institution from which the people belonged," the CJ remarked.

He said that individual’s acts earned a bad name for the whole institution. "If I will make scuffle with a shopkeeper then no one will say that Qasim Khan is fighting but everyone will say the 'chief justice is fighting'," he added.

Similarly, when a lawyer fights with someone, CJ Qasim said, then the news will be about “wukala garddi” [lawyer’s hooliganism]. “I was talking about those who illegally occupied the land and this conduct could not be linked up with the institution,” CJ Qasim remarked.

He said that the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) land could not be occupied. The LHC chief justice also remarked that the LDA has also become the party in this case quoting LDA’s legal adviser Amir Saeed Rawn’s post on Facebook giving an impression that the LHC had exchanged its 50-kanal land with another land. However, the CJ said he is examining the noting of the letter which was posted.

He later adjourned the proceedings by May 3 with direction to the DHA for not intervening in the leased land which the petitioners had obtained from the ETPB.

CJ Qasim Khan gave aforesaid remarks when the DHA lawyer requested the court to expunge the remarks which the CJ had passed on April 28 against the armed forces.

The lawyer further added that it earned a bad image in the society and the court is humbly requested to expunge the remarks.

Riyadh, 29 April 2021 (Daily Dawn)

Pakistan's ambassador to Saudi Arabia has returned to the country while orders have been issued to six other officers of the embassy in Riyadh to return over complaints by the Pakistani community in the kingdom, the Foreign Office said in a statement on Thursday.

The statement issued from Prime Minister's Office said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had ordered an inquiry and his directions were being implemented.

"A high-powered inquiry committee will look into the matter," it added.

The six officers who were issued recall orders worked in the diplomatic, community welfare, and consular wings of the embassy, according to the FO.

 

Islamabad, 28 April 2021 (Daily Dawn)

The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) announced on Wednesday that it had developed the country's "first indigenous intensive care unit (ICU) ventilator" — i-Live.

The ventilator was developed by PAEC's scientists and engineers while keeping in view all essential quality standards and regulatory requirements, the body said in a statement, adding that doctors at the PAEC hospital in Islamabad also provided input during the development process.

"Besides passing through all internal reviews and testing, the 'i-Live' ventilator also successfully passed the independent reviews and testing conducted throughout the development lifecycle by the evaluation team from Pakistan Innovation and Technology Centre and the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC)," PAEC said.

Clinical trials of the ventilator were also conducted at Jinnah Hospital in Lahore under the supervision of senior doctors, biomedical engineers, and medical researchers, the statement said.

"The ventilator successfully passed all stages of engineering evaluation and medical validation."

PAEC spokesperson Shahid Riaz Khan said the ventilator was approved by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) today, following which "i-Live" would now be manufactured and supplied by PAEC to hospitals in the country.

"This is a giant leap towards self-reliance in designing and manufacturing of life-saving equipment," he added.

PAEC Chairman Mohammad Naeem congratulated the scientists, engineers and doctors involved in the ventilator's development, saying that "massive production of i-Live would be commenced immediately to meet the growing demand of hospitals for this crucial equipment in the context of ongoing corona pandemic."

Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry congratulated PAEC for developing the "#MadeInPakistan" ventilator.

"Pakistan's success in developing international-level medical equipment in the last two years is worth appreciating. I want to congratulate engineers, technicians and the entire team. You have raised our heads with pride," he tweeted.

Geneva, 28 April 2021 (Anadolu News)

According to a document leaked to the media on Wednesday, Ersin Tatar, president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), made his six-point proposal to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a sustainable settlement to the decades-long Cyprus dispute.

Tatar made the proposal during this week's three-day informal gathering in Geneva hosted by Guterres, with the participation of the Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders, and the foreign ministers of the islands’ three guarantor countries – Turkey, Greece, and the UK.

"The Turkish Cypriot proposal is aimed at establishing a cooperative relationship between the two States on the island based on their inherent sovereign equality and equal international status," says the proposal.

It underlines that the Turkish Cypriot side did not come to this point overnight, "but after decades of long arduous negotiations that have ended in failure, having definitively exhausted all prospects for a bi-communal and bi-zonal federal settlement."

Tatar’s document calls for “results-oriented, time-framed” negotiations for a lasting solution after the equal status and sovereign equality of the two states on the island is secured.

UN-led negotiations will focus on the future relationship between the two states, as well as property, security, and border adjustment, and relations with the EU, according to the document.

Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades was expected to submit a response to Tatar’s proposition to Guterres during an evening meeting.

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long struggle between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

The island has been divided since 1964, when ethnic attacks forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety. In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aiming at Greece's annexation led to Turkey's military intervention as a guarantor power. The TRNC was founded in 1983.

The Greek Cypriot administration, backed by Greece, became a member of the EU in 2004, although most Greek Cypriots rejected a UN settlement plan in a referendum that year, which had envisaged a reunited Cyprus joining the EU.

Lefkosa, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, 28 April 2021 (Anadolu News)

Turkish Cyprus is standing firm on the need for a two-state solution, the president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus said on Wednesday, day two of informal UN talks in Geneva on the island.

“We expressed our own views clearly. Of course, there is no change in our position and there won’t be,” Ersin Tatar told journalists in Geneva after his 40-minute presentation on the issue. “We explained our position (on a two-state solution) in the given time frame in detail and with justification” at the 5+1 talks – both parties on the island, with guarantor countries Turkey, Greece, and the UK, plus the UN – he said.

“I said many things have changed, the context and conditions have changed,” said Tatar, recounting the island’s violent history in the 1960s, the 2004 Annan plan – which resulted in Greek Cyprus being admitted to the EU after rejecting the UN plan – and the failure of the Crans-Montana talks in 2017.

Tatar said he told of the “injustice inflicted on Turkish Cypriots by the UN, the EU and the international community. When I checked the room, I saw that everyone knew how right we were. I think everyone knows that no results can come from this old understanding.”

Tatar also thanked Turkey for completely supporting the Turkish Cypriots’ position.

Dismissing Greek media reports claiming that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reacted coolly to the need for a two-state solution, Tatar said: “They will say whatever they want. The secretary-general knew what we were going to say when he invited us.”

The three-day meeting opened in Geneva on Tuesday with Guterres aiming to seek "common ground" to resume formal negotiations to find a lasting solution to the decades-old dispute.

Guterres made an opening speech at the closed-door meeting, followed by Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades, Tatar, and later by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Greek Foreign Minister Nicos Dendias, and UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.

Guterres also held separate meetings with the leaders of the Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots. The talks are set to end Thursday.

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long struggle between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

The island has been divided since 1964, when ethnic attacks forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety. In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aiming at Greece's annexation led to Turkey's military intervention as a guarantor power. The TRNC was founded in 1983.

The Greek Cypriot administration, backed by Greece, became a member of the EU in 2004, although most Greek Cypriots rejected a UN settlement plan in a referendum that year, which had envisaged a reunited Cyprus joining the EU.

Doha, Qatar, 26 Apr. 2021 (AlJazeera News)

More than 200,000 people in Qatar have tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic last year. The country has also reported 428 deaths as of April 26, including 150 in the last 30 days, following a spike in the daily cases and number of casualties.

Istanbul, 27 April 2021 (Anadolu News)

By Batu Coskun (The writer is a London-based political analyst focusing on Turkey, Israel, and the Gulf. He holds a master’s in comparative politics from the London School of Economics).

Iran’s nuclear facilities in Natanz took a devastating hit in the form of a power cut on the eve of informal talks between the US and Iran on a possible return to some rendition of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). By some estimates, Iran’s plans to enrich weapons-grade uranium have been delayed by several months due to the severity of the attack. Iran’s strategic assets have thus been compromised, and Tehran has been humiliated due to inadequate security and a lack of counterintelligence, all of which has happened in the context of upcoming presidential elections. More significantly, the attack has sabotaged the integrity of further talks with the US and enraged the leadership in Tehran.

Unsurprisingly, Iranian officials have pointed the finger at Israel, which considers Iran’s nuclear program as a non-negotiable threat to its security. While Israel has neither denied nor assumed responsibility for the incident, there is a tacit consensus in the international community that the attack was at the very least executed with a nod from Israel. Israel has in the past targeted Iranian nuclear infrastructure and certainly possesses the means to have ordered this latest intervention. The Natanz incident, on the other hand, should not be viewed as an isolated event, but rather as part of a much larger strategy of isolating Iran and steering American policy vis-á-vis Tehran.

Israel’s position on a return to the JCPOA has indeed been uncompromising. The country’s security cabinet is reported to be gravely concerned about a hurried return to the JCPOA under Joe Biden, which would restrict Israel’s footprint in the region. With Israeli concerns having been largely fallen on deaf ears in Washington, which is seeking a new impetus to recharge negotiations, the likelihood of Israeli involvement in Natanz seems all too high.

Israel’s desire to see the process fail should come as no surprise, given that it has been sidelined by the US and reduced to being a mere spectator in Washington’s negotiations with Tehran. With public denouncements and diplomacy exhausted, Israel would most likely resort to more drastic measures to make a point of not returning to the JCPOA. Israel has entered the phase of contingency planning, raising the stakes in its dealings with Iran. The possibility that Israel maintains a clandestine yet elaborate structure that allows it to target critical Iranian nuclear interests suggests that future unilateral interventions are on the horizon.

The US, on the other hand, appears to be irked by Israel’s alleged meddling, but this would do little to change the Israeli position. The US has few options for preventing its closest ally in the Middle East from undermining negotiations. Fearing isolation as a result of a possible agreement between Iran, the US, and other guarantor countries, Israel’s modus operandi will be to hinder negotiations at every turn. While Israel seems bent on acting as a counter-balance to Iran, its fervor in doing so may result in the very isolation it is hoping to evade.

No deal is the best deal

The current Israeli position on Iran is that any deal runs counter to its interests. Israelis have also sought to make it clear to Washington that the only way to deal with Iran’s nuclear ambitions is to use hard power rather than negotiate. While this rationale strongly resonated with President Trump, his successor President Biden, who sees a comprehensive agreement as the only viable way forward, is determined to pursue the diplomatic route.

If Israel was indeed complicit in the Natanz attack, then this must be a message to the US rather than Iran. Israel has not shied away from targeting Iranian strategic assets in the past, though the timing of this strike was particularly opportune in Israel’s eyes. Israel has shown to the US that it is willing to defy directives from Washington and will maintain an independent policy in the Middle East. By possibly delaying Iran’s nuclear operations by months, Israel has also created a window of opportunity to make its case to the US that the JCPOA should not be revived.

Although the American-Israeli convergence on the Middle East may be broad, the Iranian question remains a potential thorn on their sides. Israel’s decision to act unilaterally stems from a regional calculus that currently serves the Israeli position as well as security interests that are perceived to be non-negotiable.

Israel’s hand has been strengthened as a result of the Abraham Accords, which have provided Tel Aviv with a new set of potential partners in the region. This novel strategic alignment, coupled with the American tendency to appease Israel even when the Israelis appear to pursue policies counter to American interests, would allow for an attack of this nature. While US officials appear to have instructed Israel to cease attempts to stymie negotiations with Iran, they have so far encountered non-compliance.

From Iran's strategic patience to Israel's geopolitical quagmire

Israel’s efforts to sabotage a future nuclear agreement continue to put to the test the Iranian approach of maintaining a policy of “strategic patience”. In the last two years, Iran has suffered a series of setbacks, including the killings of towering figures such as Qasem Soleimani and Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. Yet Iran has refrained from reprisals, partially in the hope of returning to the JCPOA, but more importantly due to dwindling resources and institutional capacity, with Iranian power spread too thin across many conflict-ridden areas.

The Natanz attack is thus the latest addition to the list of public setbacks. Despite these public humiliations, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Iranian regime, has so far permitted the negotiations to proceed in the hope of returning to an agreement. European stakeholders, on the other hand, also share the willingness to reach an agreement. All sides involved in the negotiations concede that an operational framework for Iran will be in everyone’s best interests.

Israel fears the prospect of isolation, which has already begun to creep in. In the hope of isolating Iran from the international community, Israel has become increasingly hostile and uncompromising under Benjamin Netanyahu. Provoking Iran in order to prove that hard power is the only deterrent against its nuclear ambitions has tarnished Israel’s position. Israel has found itself in a geopolitical quagmire of its own making, backed into a corner where no compromise seems possible. If a nuclear agreement does become a reality in the coming weeks despite Israeli attempts to sabotage the process, Israel will then be the odd one out.

*Opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Anadolu Agency.

 

Islamabad, 26 April 2021 (Daily Dawn)

Members of the legal fraternity, analysts, and politicians on Monday saw as monumental and historic the Supreme Court judgement of accepting the review petitions challenging the top court's verdict in the presidential reference filed by the government against Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

Over the course of the last few months, the case garnered widespread media attention as remarks delivered by Justice Isa and his other Supreme Court counterparts made national headlines.

The Supreme Court on Monday accepted all review petitions challenging the court's judgement in the presidential reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa except the one filed by the judge himself.

A 10-member bench, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, was hearing review petitions filed against the court’s June 19, 2020, judgement on the presidential reference in which the court had empowered the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to conduct an inquiry into offshore assets of his spouse.

The court's short order stated that "directions contained in paras 4 to 11 in the impugned short order dated 19.06.2020 ... along with supporting detailed reasons given in the majority judgement of the same date are recalled and set aside.

"All the subsequent proceedings, actions, orders, information and reports in pursuance of the directions contained in the short order dated 19.6.2020 and the detailed reasons thereof, are declared to be illegal and without any legal effect."

The judgement added that "resultantly, any such proceedings, actions, orders or reports cannot be considered or acted upon or pursued any further by any forum or authority including the Supreme Judicial Council."

The top court accepted the review petitions by a majority of 6-4. Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Mazhar Alam accepted the petitions.

However, Justice Isa's review petition was accepted by five judges and dismissed by five judges. Justice Afridi accepted all similar petitions but dismissed Justice Isa's petition most likely on the basis of the point he had maintained throughout the hearings — a judge cannot be a petitioner himself.

The court declared legal actions taken by the FBR and all other forums related to the assets of Justice Isa's wife and children as "illegal".

On April 13, the apex court had dismissed the judge's application seeking live telecast of the proceedings on his review petition against the verdict in presidential reference case.