Dar included, Aurangzeb excluded from CCI

Reportedly, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has excluded Muhammad Aurangzeb, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue as a member of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) and included Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ishaq Dar. This has been done for the first time in the history of Council.

In the past finance minister was not always included in the CCI, yet energy minister and planning minister were included because they deal with matters of concern with provinces.

According to the notification issued by the Secretariat of Council of Common Interests on March 25, 2024, in exercise of powers conferred under Article 153 of the Constitution of Pakistan, the president on the advice of prime minister, has constituted eight Member Council of Common Interests, with effect from March 21, 2024 that include Prime Minister (Chairman); Chief Minister Balochistan (Member); Chief Minster, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Member); Chief Minister, Punjab (Member); Chief Minister, Sindh (Member); Ishaq Dar, Minister for Foreign Affairs; Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Minister for Defence and  Engr Amir Muqam, Minister for States& Frontier Region (SAFRAN).

The new notification supersedes Secretariat of CCI’s notification of January 9, 2024 issued during the term of caretaker government. Caretaker prime minister included the then Finance Minister, Dr Shamsha Akhtar, Minister for Privatisation, Fawad Hasan Fawad and Minister for Law and Justice, Ahmad Irfan Aslam as Members of the CCI.

Analysts argued that presence of finance minister and law minister in Council of Common Interests is critical as these two portfolios are required to respond to different queries raised by the provinces during the meeting.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has also conferred control of Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) to Ishaq Dar against past practice of giving it to the Finance Minister.

The caretaker government of Anwaarul Haq Kakar gave the chairmanship of CCoP to Privatisation Minister Fawad Hasan Fawad aimed at expediting actions on decisions of PC Board.

Earlier, Cabinet Division has issued a notification of Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif himself. However, after massive criticism from the media, the notification was withdrawn and a new one issued giving the chairmanship to the finance minister.

 

US urges fair legal process for Arvind Kejriwal

The United States has reiterated that it encourages a transparent legal process in a corruption case against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller said that the US was closely following actions taken against opposition parties in India.

Miller's remarks came hours after India summoned a US diplomat over a similar comment he made earlier.

Kejriwal, who was arrested last week, has denied any wrongdoing.

Hours before his arrest, India's main opposition Congress party had held a press conference saying that its bank accounts were frozen by the tax department ahead of the general elections.

Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress have accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of political vendetta.

The BJP denies the allegation, saying investigative agencies were doing their work independently.

Miller told reporters that US was also aware of the Congress party's allegations that the freezing of their bank accounts would make it challenging to effectively campaign in the upcoming elections.

"We encourage fair, transparent, timely legal processes [in both cases]. We don't think anyone should object to that," he added.

India's foreign ministry had summoned US acting deputy chief of mission, Gloria Berbena, to protest against similar remarks by Miller.

India had also issued a statement saying that in diplomacy, states are expected to be respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of others.

"India's legal processes are based on an independent judiciary which is committed to objective and timely outcomes. Casting aspersions on that is unwarranted", the statement added.

The US is the second country to comment on Kejriwal's arrest. Last week, the German foreign ministry said it hoped that Kejriwal would get a fair and impartial trial as India is a democratic nation.

India reacted strongly to these remarks as well and summoned a German diplomat to raise its objections.

Indian opposition leaders have accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP of using investigative agencies to cripple their parties and stifle dissent before the elections.

In January, the Enforcement Directorate (ED — India's financial crimes agency) arrested top opposition leader Hemant Soren in a corruption case, hours after he resigned from the position of the chief minister of Jharkhand state.

Soren and his party denied any wrongdoing and accused the BJP of stifling opposition. The BJP has rejected his claim.

Amnesty International has also said that that the crackdown on peaceful dissent and opposition in India has now reached a crisis point.

Kejriwal is the third AAP leader to be arrested over the alleged corruption case related to a now-scrapped liquor policy in Delhi.

The BJP has alleged that the policy — which ended the government's monopoly on alcohol sales — gave undue advantages to private retailers.

The ED has accused AAP leaders of receiving kickbacks to be used in state elections. The party denies the allegation.

Who Supply Israel Murder Weapons?

Over 9,000 Palestinian women have been killed since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip. Mothers have been the largest share of Israeli killings, at an average of 37 mothers per day since October 07, 2023.

The numbers above, from the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza and the Red Crescent Society respectively, only convey part of the suffering experienced by 2.3 million Palestinians in the Strip.

There is not a single section in Palestinian society that has not paid a heavy price for the war, although women and children are the ones who have suffered most, constituting over 70% of all victims of the ongoing Israeli genocide.

These women and their children are killed at the hands of Israeli soldiers, but they are murdered with US-western supplied weapons.

We are told that the world is finally turning against Israel, and that the west’s nod of approval to Tel Aviv to carry on with its daily massacres may soon turn into a collective snub.

This claim was expressed best in the March 23 cover of the Economist magazine. It showed a tattered Israeli flag, attached to a stick, and planted in an arid, dusty land. It was accompanied by the headline “Israel Alone”.

The image, undoubtedly expressive, was meant to serve as a sign of the times.

Its profundity becomes even more obvious if compared to another cover, from the same publication soon after the Israeli military conquered massive Arab territories in the war of June 1967. “They did it,” the headline, back then, read. In the background, an Israeli military tank was pictured, illustrating the west-funded Israeli triumph.

Between the two headlines much, in the world and in the Middle East, has changed. But to claim that Israel now stands alone is not entirely accurate, at least not yet.

Though many of Israel’s traditional allies in the west openly disown its behavior in Gaza, weapons from various western and non-western countries continue to flow, feeding the war machine as it, in turn, continues to harvest more Palestinian lives.

Does Israel truly stand alone when its airports and seaports are busier than ever receiving massive shipments of weapons coming from all directions?

Almost every time a western country announces that it has suspended arms exports to Israel, a news headline appears shortly afterwards, indicating the opposite. Indeed, this has happened repeatedly.

Last year, Rome had declared that it was blocking all arms sales to Israel, giving false hope that some western countries are finally experiencing some kind of moral awakening.

Alas, on March 14, Reuters quoted the Italian Defense Minister, Guido Crosetto as saying that shipments of weapons to Israel are continuing, based on the flimsy logic that previously signed deals would have to be ‘honored’.

Another country that is also ‘honoring’ its previous commitments is Canada, which announced on May 19, following a parliamentary motion that it had suspended arms exports.

The celebration among those advocating an end to the genocide in Gaza were just getting started when, a day later, Ottawa practically reversed the decision by announcing that it, too, will honor previous commitments.

This illustrates that some western countries, which continue to impart their unsolicited wisdom about human rights, women’s rights and democracy on the rest of the world, have no genuine respect for any of these values.

Canada and Italy are not the largest military supporters of Israel. The US and Germany are. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, in the decade between 2013 and 2022, Israel has received 68% of its weapons from the US and 28% from Germany.

The Germans remain unperturbed, even though 5% of the total population of Gaza has been killed, wounded or are missing due to the Israeli war.

Yet, the American support for Israel is far greater, although the Biden Administration is still sending messages to its constituency – majority of whom want the war to stop – that the president is doing his best to pressure Israel to end the war.

Though only two approved military sales to Israel have been announced publicly since October 07, the two shipments represent only 2% from the total US arms sent to Israel.

The news was revealed by the Washington Post on March 06. It was published at a time when US media was reporting on a widening rift between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“That’s an extraordinary number of sales over the course of a pretty short amount of time,” a former senior Biden Administration official told the Post. Jeremy Konyndyk reached the obvious conclusion that the “Israeli campaign would not be sustainable without this level of US support”.

For decades, the US military support to Israel has been the highest anywhere in the world. Starting 2016, this unconditional support exponentially increased during the Obama Administration to reach US$3.8 billion per year.

Immediately after October 07, the weapons shipments to Israel reached unprecedented levels. They included a 2,000-pound bomb known as 5,000 MK-84 munitions. Israel has used this bomb to kill hundreds of innocent Palestinians.

Though Washington frequently alleges to be looking into Israel’s use of its weapons, it turned out, according to the Washington Post, that Biden knew too well that Israel was regularly bombing buildings without solid intelligence that they were legitimate military targets”.

In some ways, Israel ‘stands alone’, but only because its behavior is rejected by most countries and peoples around the world. However, it is hardly alone when its war crimes are being executed with western support and arms.

For the Israeli genocide in Gaza to end, those who continue to sustain the ongoing bloodbath must also be held accountable.

 

US refuses to support Pak-Iran gas pipeline

The news that United States could impose sanctions on the country if it goes ahead with Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline has been received with utter disappointment. It is likely to increase hatred against the super power, which is alleged of toppling Iman Khan Government in Pakistan.

According to DAWN, the US said on Tuesday it does not support a Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project from going forward and cautioned about the risk of sanctions in doing business with Tehran.

A day earlier, Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik had said that Islamabad would seek exemption from US sanctions over the gas pipeline project.

The Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline is a long-term project between Tehran and Islamabad, and has faced delays and funding challenges for several years.

“We always advise everyone that doing business with Iran runs the risk of touching upon and coming in contact with our sanctions, and would advise everyone to consider that very carefully,” a US State Department spokesperson told reporters in a press briefing.

“We do not support this pipeline going forward,” the spokesperson added, saying that Donald Lu, the State Department’s top official for South and Central Asia, had said as much to a congressional panel last week.

 

 

Israel warns European countries against Palestinian state recognition

According to Reuters, Israel has told four European countries that their plan to work toward recognition of a Palestinian state constituted a prize for terrorism that would reduce the chances of a negotiated resolution to the conflict between the neighbours.

Spain said that in the name of Middle East peace, it had agreed with Ireland, Malta and Slovenia to take first steps toward recognizing statehood declared by the Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.

Gaza has long been under the rule of the Islamist group Hamas, which rejects peace with Israel and attacked it on October 07, 2023 triggering a devastating war that has stoked violence in the West Bank, where Israel has extensive Jewish settlements.

"Recognition of a Palestinian state following the October massacre sends a message to Hamas and the other Palestinian terrorist organizations that murderous terror attacks on Israelis will be reciprocated with political gestures to the Palestinians," Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on X.

"A resolution of the conflict will only be possible through direct negotiations between the parties. Any engagement in the recognition of a Palestinian state only distances reaching a resolution and increases regional instability."

Israel governing coalition includes pro-settlement far-rightists has long ruled out Palestinian statehood. That has put it at loggerheads with Western powers which support its goal of defeating Hamas but want a post-war diplomatic blueprint.

Pakistan: Smuggled Iranian oil affecting local supply chain

According to a DAWN report, the increasing scale of smuggling of petroleum products has brought the country’s oil supply chain — from import to refineries and from marketing companies to pipeline transport network — to its knees.

With a massive drop in registered sales, the country’s oil industry has sought emergent action from the prime minister and other state agencies to stop the smuggling of petroleum products that they claim is not only threatening their survival but is estimated to be causing over PKR120 billion in direct annual revenue loss to the government at the rate of about US$36 million per month.

Three major petroleum market stakeholders — Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC), 22-member Oil Marketing Companies of Pakistan (OMAP) and Pak-Arab Pipeline Company (Papco) that transports various products through pipelines — have separately approached the federal government with unprecedented foul play in petroleum trading and sales.

In an urgent communication to the government on Monday, chairman of the 39-member OCAC representing all the local refineries and larger marketing companies Adil Khattak said it was a pressing issue that posed a severe threat to the oil industry, and consequently jeopardized the stability of government revenue streams.

The staggering influx of 4,000 tons of smuggled fuel daily into Pakistan, as confirmed by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), was bleeding the nation of approximately US$35.6 million per month. This national crisis demands swift and aggressive action.

The sales trend of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) during 2022-23 starkly resembled the figures recorded during the tumultuous pandemic period in 2019-20, the OCAC chief said.

The GDP growth of 6.11% in FY22 to a contraction of 0.3% in FY23 may partly explain this downturn. However, the year-to-date sales of petrol and HSD have further plummeted by approximately 6.5% in July-February 2023-24 when compared to FY23, casting doubts on the veracity of projected GDP growth rate of 1.7% for FY24.

Similarly, the month-to-date sales figures of petrol and HSD in March exhibit an alarming 12% and 21% decline, respectively.

“Such high negative variances signify product glut, lower refinery throughput, choking of White Oil Pipeline (WOP) and restrained sales volumes.

Based on this, Khattack said the illicit trade had disrupted the entire supply chain of petroleum products, adversely affecting the refinery health, WOP operations, and the profitability of OMCs.

The unchecked proliferation of substandard smuggled petroleum products not only drains the government revenue but also fuels a shadow economy, making it increasingly challenging to monitor and regulate illicit activities, says the OCAC chairman, who also leads Rawalpindi-based Attock Refinery besides other Attock Group companies.

OMAP Chairman Tariq Wazir Ali also said the smuggling of Iranian petroleum products into Pakistan was inflicting severe damage on the country’s economy and unjustly impacted OMCs operating within the legal framework, dutifully paying taxes and duties.

He demanded swift and decisive actions to eradicate this smuggling, reinforcing the rule of law and safeguarding the interests of legitimate businesses that play a vital role in Pakistan’s economic development.

Papco Chief Amr Ahmed said against a guaranteed 45% throughput, the utilization has struggled at 34%. The government should ensure to achieve 900,000 tons of petrol input into WOP between now and end-June 2024 to yield an annualized 45% mark.

 

Biden, Netanyahu on collision course

Relations between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sank to a wartime low on Monday with the US allowing passage of a Gaza ceasefire resolution at the United Nations and drawing a sharp rebuke from the Israeli leader.

Netanyahu abruptly scrapped a visit to Washington this week by a senior delegation to discuss Israel’s threatened offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah after the US abstained in a Security Council vote that demanded an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the release of all hostages held by the Palestinian militants.

The suspension of that meeting puts a major new obstacle in the way of efforts by the US, concerned about a deepening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, to get Netanyahu to consider alternatives to a ground invasion of Rafah, the last relatively safe haven for Palestinian civilians.

The threat of such an offensive has increased tensions between longtime allies the United States and Israel, and raised questions about whether the US might restrict military aid if Netanyahu defies Biden and presses ahead anyway.

"This shows that trust between the Biden administration and Netanyahu may be breaking down," said Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator for Republican and Democratic administrations. "If the crisis is not managed carefully, it’s only going to continue to worsen."

Biden’s decision to abstain at the UN, coming after months of mostly adhering to longtime US policy of shielding Israel at the world body, appeared to reflect growing US frustration with the Israeli leader.

The president, running for re-election in November, faces pressure not just from America's allies but from a growing number of fellow Democrats to rein in the Israeli military response.

Netanyahu confronts domestic challenges of his own, not least his far-right coalition members’ demands for a hard line against the Palestinians.

He also must convince hostages’ families he is doing everything for their release while facing frequent protests calling for his resignation.

As Netanyahu's office announced the cancellation of the visit, he said the failure of the US to veto the resolution was a clear retreat from its previous position and would hurt Israel's war efforts.

US officials said the Biden administration was perplexed by Israel's decision and considered it an overreaction, insisting there had been no change in policy.

Washington had mostly avoided the word ceasefire earlier in the nearly six-month-old war in the Gaza Strip and had used its veto power at the UN to shield Israel as it retaliated against Hamas.

But as famine looms in Gaza and amid growing global pressure for a truce in the war that Palestinian health authorities say has killed some 32,000 Palestinians, the US abstained on a call for a ceasefire for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends in two weeks.

The challenge now for Biden and Netanyahu is to keep their differences from escalating out of control, analysts say.

Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington, said there was no reason this should be a mortal blow to relations. "So I don’t think the door is closed to anything," he said.

Signalling that the two governments remain in close communication, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, on a visit separate from the one Netanyahu's delegation scrubbed earlier, went ahead with high-level meetings in Washington on Monday.

But the US abstention adds to a deepening rift between Biden and Netanyahu, who have known each other for years but have had a testy relationship even in the best of times.

Earlier this month, Biden said in an MSNBC interview that a Rafah invasion would be a red line, though he added that the defense of Israel is critical and there is no way "I’m going to cut off all weapons so that they don’t have the Iron Dome (missile defense system) to protect them."

Netanyahu dismissed Biden's criticism and vowed to press forward in Rafah, the last part of the Gaza Strip where Israeli forces have not carried out a ground offensive, though US officials say there are no signs of an imminent operation.

That was followed last week with US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the country’s highest-ranking Jewish elected official, describing Netanyahu as an obstacle to peace and calling for new elections in Israel to replace him.

Biden called it a "good speech."

But Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Wednesday he was thinking of inviting Netanyahu, who spoke by videolink to Republican senators last week, to address Congress. That would be seen as a jab at Biden, giving Netanyahu a high-profile forum to air grievances against the US administration.

Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse told Reuters that Netanyahu appeared to be working with Republicans to weaponize the US-Israel relationship in favor of the right wing.

Biden’s 2024 re-election bid limits his options: he needs to avoid giving Republicans an issue to seize on with pro-Israel voters, while also halting the erosion of support from progressive Democrats dismayed by his strong backing for Israel.

Netanyahu, aware that polls show him being soundly defeated in any election held now, knows there is wide support for continuing the war in Gaza among an Israeli population still deeply traumatized. He appears willing to risk testing Washington's tolerance.

All members of Netanyahu's emergency unity government support continuing the war until Hamas is destroyed and the hostages are returned, and there has been little sign of willingness to meet US calls for moderation, despite the growing risk of international isolation.

Hard-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Israel was a partner but the United States was not its patron state.