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Pakistan, India were on verge of nuclear war after Balakot incident: Pompeo

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Pakistan, India were on verge of nuclear war after Balakot incident: Pompeo

Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo wrote in a book published Tuesday that India and Pakistan came close to nuclear war in 2019 and that US intervention prevented escalation. 

“I do not think the world properly knows just how close the India-Pakistan rivalry came to spilling over into a nuclear conflagration in February 2019,” the likely future presidential contender wrote in “Never Give an Inch,” his memoir of his time as Donald Trump’s top diplomat and earlier CIA chief.

India in February 2019 broke precedent by launching airstrikes inside Pakistani territory after blaming a militant group in Balakot for a suicide bombing that killed 41 Indian paramilitary soldiers in the Indian Illegally Occupied Kashmir (IIOJK). In response, Pakistan shot down an Indian warplane that intruded into its territory and captured the pilot.

Pompeo, who was in Hanoi for a summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said he was woken up with an urgent call from a senior Indian official.

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“He believed the Pakistanis had begun to prepare their nuclear weapons for a strike. India, he informed me, was contemplating its own escalation,” Pompeo wrote.

“I asked him to do nothing and give us a minute to sort things out,” Pompeo said.

Pompeo said that US diplomats convinced both India and Pakistan that neither was preparing to go nuclear.

“No other nation could have done what we did that night to avoid a horrible outcome,” Pompeo wrote.

Pompeo said he spoke to “the actual leader of Pakistan,” then army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa in an attempt to avert the crisis.

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Pompeo at the time publicly defended India’s right to act. In his book, Pompeo spoke highly of India and, unlike officials in New Delhi, made no secret of his desire to ally with the South Asian democracy “to counteract Chinese aggression.”

‘I’m still trying to kill you’ 

Pompeo writes extensively in the book of his diplomacy with Kim Jong Un, which included preparing three meetings between the young totalitarian leader and Trump.

He recalled a chilling first conversation as he flew into Pyongyang in March 2018 on a clandestine trip as CIA director.

“‘I didn’t think you’d show up. I know you’ve been trying to kill me,’” Pompeo quotes Kim as telling him.

“I decided to lean in with a little humor of my own: ‘Mr. Chairman, I’m still trying kill you.’”

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But Pompeo described a budding understanding with Kim as the Trump administration offered incentives to lower tension.

Pointing to Kim’s smoking habit, Pompeo wrote that he told Kim he would take him to “the nicest beach in Miami and smoke the best Cubanos in the world. He told me, ‘I already have a great relationship with the Castros.’ Of course, he did.”

As for their substantive conversation, Pompeo said Kim spoke candidly on concerns about China, usually viewed as North Korea’s main ally.

Told that China believes North Korea wants US forces out of South Korea, “Kim laughed and pounded on the table in sheer joy, exclaiming that the Chinese were liars.”

Kim “said that he needed the Americans in South Korea to protect him from the CCP, and that the CCP needs the Americans out so they can treat the peninsula like Tibet and Xinjiang,” Pompeo wrote, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.

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Pompeo became known for his hawkish stance on China, controversially accusing Beijing of spreading the “Wuhan virus.”

He said that Trump told him with an epithet that Chinese President Xi Jinping “hates you” and asked Pompeo to “shut the hell up for a while” as the United States needed health care equipment from China.

Pompeo has not ruled out running against Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, although early polls show little support for Pompeo.

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Does constitution allow recording of citizens’ calls, asks IHC

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Does constitution allow recording of citizens' calls, asks IHC

The Islamabad High Court has issued a written order suspending the summons of former chief justice Saqib Nisar’s son on a petition against the formation of a special committee to probe the audio leak. 

Islamabad High Court’s Justice Babar Sattar has issued a seven-page written order. 

In the written order, the court has sought assistance of the Attorney General on the recordings and audio leaks of the telephonic conversations of the public. The court has also directed the Federation, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defence and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to be made parties to the petition. 

All the parties, including the secretary of the National Assembly, have been instructed to give a clause-wise reply. The court has appointed Aitzaz Ahsan, Makhdoom Ali Khan, Raza Rabbani and Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha as amici curiae. 

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In the written order, the court said it should be stated whether the constitution and the law allowed surveillance and secret recording of the calls of the citizens? “If phone recording was allowed, which authority or agency could do this by what mechanism? What safeguards were in place to keep audio recordings confidential and prevent misuse?” 

“If not permitted, which authority was responsible for violation of citizens’ privacy? The court had asked who would be responsible for releasing illegally recorded calls? Tell whether Parliament could inquire into the matter of a private person? Do the rules allow the speaker to set up a special committee on audio leak of a common man?” the court further asked. 

Justice Sattar said the court was not suspending notification of the special committee out of respect for parliament and showing restraint. 

According to the order of the Islamabad High Court, the summons issued by the special committee to petitioner Najamus Saqib was suspended.

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NA passes bill to set up Federal Ruet-e-Hilal Committee to regulate moon sighting

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NA passes bill to set up Federal Ruet-e-Hilal Committee to regulate moon sighting

The National Assembly on Wednesday passed the Pakistan Ruet-e-Hilal Bill 2022 reconstituting the body and suggesting penalties on those who announce the sighting of moon before the official announcement. 

The bill, which had been pending in the assembly since 2021, was moved by Minister of State for Law and Justice Shahadat Awan in the absence of Religious Affairs Minister Talha Mehmood. 

The bill provided for a 15-member federal committee that will function as the “Federal Ruet-e-Hilal Committee.” It will comprise two ulema each from the four provinces and one each from Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir. It will also have representation from ministries of science and technology and religious affairs and the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco). Grade 20 officers will be a part of this body. 

According to the bill, ulema included in the committee will be required to have a master’s degree in Islamiat and 15 years of experience, besides a degree of Shahadatul Almiya approved by the HEC. The term of the federal committee will be three years. 

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The committee chairperson will be appointed on a rotational basis from the provinces and the federation and will be responsible for the decision of moon sighting. 

The bill provides that violators will be fined Rs500,000 while those making false evidence of moon sighting will be imprisoned for three years and fined Rs50,000. 

Any TV channel which makes announcement about the moon sighting before the official announcement by the federal committee will be fined Rs1 million or its licence will be revoked. Under the bill, provincial and district committees will also be constituted besides the federal body. 

The provincial committee will comprise 13 members, Islamabad-based committee seven, while the district committees will consist of six members in which scholars from all schools of thought will have representation. 

According to the bill, a master’s degree in Islamiat with a 10-year experience in Sharia is mandatory for the members of Islamabad and provincial committees whereas the members of district committees will be required to have a master’s degree in Islamiat with one year of experience in Sharia.

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The bill will now be tabled in the Senate for approval.

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Imran should be tried in military courts, says Sardar Tanveer Ilyas

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Imran should be tried in military courts, says Sardar Tanveer Ilyas

Former Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K) Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas on Wednesday said PTI chief Imran Khan should be tried in military courts.

Talking to the media at Jinnah House, he said May 9 events were regrettable, adding that no amount of condemnation was enough. “Mr Khan tried to detrack the youth and made false promises to them,” he added.

He went on to say that the Pakistan Army was standing beside the country in difficult times, adding that it was the guarantor of the country’s security. “Many people like Imran will have to be sacrificed for the sake of the country,” he added.

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