National Party chief Abdul Maalik Baloch on Wednesday expressed his confidence that PML-N President Nawaz Sharif will play a vibrant role in resolving Balochistan’s issues
“The three-time premier is one of the country’s senior-most politicians and we have requested him to play his due role He (Mian sahib) has agreed to play a role in resolving Balochistan s issues, whether they are political or economic, former Balochistan chief minister Dr Abdul Maalik Baloch stated while talking to the media after a meeting with Nawaz Sharif in Lahore
The NP chief ’s comments come as a protest by the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) entered 13th day against the arrest of Baloch Yakjehti Commit-
tee s (BYC) leaders including Dr Mahrang Baloch Additionally protest movements have erupted across the province, with a large ongoing sit-in at Lakpass led by the BNP-M The ex-CM said that the people of Balochistan had put their hopes in Nawaz and his team to help resolve the ongoing crisis
“Balochistan has been bleeding for two decades ” Baloch said adding that the people of Balochistan are hopeful that Nawaz Sharif will play a positive role in relieving economic and political issues Mentioning the BNP-M s sit-in and the arrest of Baloch rights activists, Baloch said that he and Nawaz had a detailed discussion on the situation in the province
“We requested that he travel to Balochistan
the Ministry of Defense, continued his arguments in support of military courts, contending that the crimes committed on May 9, 2023 after the arrest of former
minister Imran Khan were against the interests of the state Meanwhile Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan pointed out that trying civilians under military law would require a constitutional amendment “A constitutional amendment should have been made for the court martial of civilians he stated questioning the legal foundation of military trials for civilians without changes to the Constitution Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail remarked that any violation of the law is against the
interests of the state as all crimes go against the state s interest Referring to last month s hijacking of Jaffar Express in Balochistan, he asked if the train incident was not against the interest of the state He added that the primary role of the
TJOHANNESBUR G/NAIR OBI R e u t e R s International bonds issued by smaller, riskier, emerging economies suffered another sharp selloff on Wednesday after President Donald Trump’s eye-watering 104% tariffs on China took effect re-igniting turmoil across global markets Pakistan s longer-dated dollar-de-
carried out in collaboration with leading national and international consultancy firms –included geotechnical studies, soil composition and contamination tests, Electrical Resistivity (ER) surveys a comprehensive Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) and other baseline studies It said that all field investigations including the recent hydrological study, were conducted with the necessary approvals from relevant authorities and in full compliance with regulatory standards “We remain committed to maintaining the highest standards of transparency safety health and sustainability in all our projects TPL Properties said, adding that it has undertaken all necessary measures to contain the situation and kept relevant stakeholders informed Ministry of Energy’s technical committee to assess gas pocket discovery at Korangi Creek
environment and the public The company also assured that it would continue to collaborate with all relevant stakeholders to facilitate the resolution process In an earlier notification to the PSX on April 3 TPL Properties stated that its team encountered a pocket of underground gas while drilling a test well for water exploration during a preliminary site investigation at its development near Korangi Creek on
March 28 Based on initial technical evaluations as well as independent views expressed by industry experts it was indicated that the gas may be shallow biogenic methane, a naturally occurring gas resulting from organic material decomposition Since this area is not part of a known natural gas reservoir, and based on similar occurrences elsewhere this gas pocket is expected to dissipate naturally over time provided the flame is allowed to burn
TPL Properties said that the recent test was part of a series of extensive studies conducted over the past two years to reinforce its commitment to responsible and wellplanned development These assessments –
A K I S TA N may not be new to mining, but it is the first time that a Minerals Investment Forum has been held with a national policy also being announced for the first time Clearly the entry of Barrick Gold into Pakistan proved a game changer Its investment in the Reko Diq gold and copper project endured a number of hiccups, but served to put Pakistan firmly on the map as an area with much potential for investment After the Barrick Gold-Riko Diq saga, there was the groundwork laid by the Special Investment Facilitation Council which includes mining as one of its areas of interest The Forum was thus an entirely appropriate forum for Barrick Gold CEO Mark Bristow to say that the project should start production in 2028, with 240,000 tons of copper and 300,000 ounces of gold As Mr Bristow said, there will be much more to explore and invest Economists have noted that resource exploitation is not necessarily beneficial as it drives capital away from productive sectors However here the beneficiaries are supposed to be the governments For example the RekoDiq project is supposed to bring revenue for the Balochistan government, as well as the Pakistan government The real challenge will be to ensure that all are benefited While there should be no bans, or quotas, the employment benefit should go to the local population It should not be forgotten that Balochistan and KP the provinces which stand to gain most from the exploitation of Pakistan’s mineral wealth are both in the throes of militant violence Militants, but especially separatists (as in Balochistan), are attracted to minerals, because they provide easy anonymous revenue Islamic State militants traded in Iraqi crude during their
no problem accepting such an arrangement The issue for the theist however is that it is impossible to make heads or tails of miracles supplications and revelation with this sort of a world view
AL L arguments that aim to ‘prove’ God are without exception faulty God is not a theorem that can be proved starting from some more fundamental axioms Being outside the time- and space-constrained scheme of things, God is beyond proof The project of proving Him, therefore, is doomed to begin with For one proposes to prove the unprovable, undoing the whole thing before even starting The above is true of all such arguments Upon hearing any of them repeated enthusiastically I can never help remarking that though I love the conclusion, the reasoning leaves a great deal to be desired However, when it comes to the so-called First Cause argument, there is an additional-– and a very serious–drawback of it that must be highlighted No matter which of its various nicknames this argument is referred to as– the unmoved-mover the uncaused-cause or the cosmological argument– it ends up messing up the world view of very many well-meaning theists who happen to have a high opinion of it The problem with the argument is not what many atheists believe to be the death knell for it For a long time it has been in vogue in the atheistic circles to respond to it as follows: Well instead of God why not consider the universe itself as the uncaused cause– that is the first link of the chain? This rebuttal sounds impressive provided one ignores the pesky little fact that the universe is obviously not uncaused or a sufficient reason for its own existence The theist recognizes that the universe both for its creation as well as its sustained operation requires intelligent input from outside So far so good But it is precisely this point that often becomes the origin of a very unfortunate misunderstanding When the Quran exhorts its readers to observe the universe and asks them rhetorically if they think all of it is attributable to pure chance, many Muslims take it as an endorsement of the law of causality It is but there is a nuance to it that many of them fail to appreciate They conjure up a scheme wherein the universe works smoothly on perfect (and hence unchanging) laws created by God Since it reduces a personal, active God by a cold and impersonal law (for the creator of such a universe may as well be considered comfortably retired) most philosophers have
Cause-and-effect, as a correlation between physical entities is a key pattern of thought that helps man make sense of the world It is sloppy thinking however to think of God as one would think of a physical cause God certainly is not the first event in a lengthy cause-effect chain For starters God is always in direct control of everything He is by no means like the first domino that starts a motion by knocking down the next piece and which has no further control of the process once motion has thus been initiated More significantly unlike the first domino which itself is subject to the laws of dynamics just as the rest of the pieces are God is by no means subject to the laws by which the universe operates The universe behaves as God wants it to behave As for God s Will, that is independent of the laws of the universe Being the Lawgiver, He is the Creator of those laws, not subject to them Moreover and this too is vitally important consider again the first domino which has no way to influence say piece number 20 except indirectly That is, by moving the second piece in a particular way so that it moves the third and the third in turn moves the fourth one, and so on till the 20th piece To achieve any outcome, God is not dependent on intermediate entities His Will after all is all it takes for an event to happen Many scientifically minded Muslims who do not appreciate this have a hard time reconciling the mechanical universe of their fancy with revelation, supplications and the miracles mentioned in the Quran Embarrassed, they feel obliged to perform intricate mental acrobatic moves trying to
The Quran presents a deity that is closer to man than his jugular vein, who listens and answers his supplications, who positively guides sincere seekers, who ensures that none of manÊs good deeds remain unaccounted for in the final reckoning, and who is happy when man lives up to his potential– and vice versa. What a far cry from the cold, hear tless, indifferent, impersonal and detached law that the first cause argument reduces God to!
Break the bias
capita productivity The only way the USA could permanently remain the world s largest economy would require keeping billions of people in relative poverty a morally indefensible position that inevitably breeds conflict There is an alternative path forward that deserves greater attention Rather than viewing global development as a threat we might embrace it as an opportunity The USA can thrive through leadership in innovation, education, and the cultivation of mutually beneficial international relationships, not by dominance This approach would prioritize investments in research and development (currently at 3 1
percent of GDP compared to South Korea s 4 8 percent), educational excellence, and diplomatic engagement It would recognize that a more prosperous global middle class creates larger US products and services markets It would acknowledge that attempting to maintain absolute supremacy through confrontation diverts resources from more productive investments and increases security risks The most pragmatic course for the USA isn’t perpetual conflict to maintain dominance but strategic adaptation to a changing world By enhancing our capabilities while engaging constructively with rising powers we can secure a prosperous future without requiring others to remain disadvantaged
As Albert Einstein reputedly observed, insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly while expecting different results The USA’s current approach to global leadership may soon meet this definition A wiser path awaits if it dares to take it
The writer she currently works with the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations as an Advisor on Security Council matters She is the co-founder of Woh Ehsaas and The Baqar Foundation
dr James J Zogby
DURinG the past week there were reports of Palestinians in Gaza engaged in public protests against hamas These demonstrations took place in at least three main locations involving hundreds and possibly thousands of Palestinians overall The signs carried by protesters and the slogans they ve used make clear their anti-hamas intent: hamas must go and We want to live
While the size of the gatherings were no match for the anti-government mass mobilizations underway in Serbia, Turkey, or even israel what makes them so remarkable and brave are the conditions in which they took place the ongoing genocidal campaign being waged by israel against the Palestinians in Gaza and hamas intolerance of dissent
This fascinating development has sparked Rashomon-like interpretations by different actors in the ongoing conflict
Some israeli reactions were callous and bizarre The dominant israeli view justifying the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza has been to argue that they are all hamas or that they are human animals (with Benjamin netanyahu suggesting that he wouldn t use that description because he didn’t want to insult animals) instead of seeing the demonstrations as evidence that their assessment of Palestinians was wrong israeli government hardliners came to the opposite conclusion israel s top military commander remarked that the protests show the renewed bombings and denial of aid into Gaza are working and should be increased until hamas is defeated and Palestinians agree to permanently leave Gaza
Other israeli commentators who celebrated the protests failed to recognize that while these demonstrations are anti-hamas they are neither pro-israel nor indications that Palestinian are willing to surrender their national rights
Some Palestinians have also failed in their understanding of these protests a few
e h i n d t h e
a
have dismissed them as the work of “a hidden hand ” instigated by Fatah rivals or unnamed arab capitals Others have outright accused the demonstrators of being collaborators by working to weaken the resistance
Some american and israeli voices, attempting to be thoughtful and supportive, found the protests to be a positive sign and called on their respective governments to publicly embrace and support the demonstrators as if their governments had any credibility in this regard and that hamas departure would solve all the problems between israel and the Palestinians
While these varying interpretations of the meaning of the anti-hamas demonstrations can be expected given the divergent lens through which they are being seen they all miss the mark in the first place Palestinians in Gaza have long held negative views toward hamas The israelis fabricated their justification for wholesale bombing of Gaza with the outrageously false claim that “Palestinians overwhelmingly voted for hamas in 2006 in fact hamas didn t win a majority and was elected only because its main opposition, Fatah, was divided and ran competing slates The USa also played a role in hamas 2006 victory with their boneheaded lastminute financial support of Fatah This allowed hamas to adopt the slogan “the
americans want Fatah, the people want hamas ” Given the anger most Palestinians felt towards US policy, the appearance of a US embrace of Fatah was the kiss of death
Our polling in Gaza over the last decade has demonstrated that hamas favourables have continued to slide in early 2023 fewer than one in four gave the group a positive rating Late last year it was fewer than one in 10 The number of Gazans who support Fatah has consistently far surpassed those who support hamas Our polling in Gaza also shows a marked rejection of the behaviours attributed to hamas on 7 October 2023 and when asked whom they hold responsible for the war that followed October 7, eight in 10 said hamas, with the same number saying israel and the USa bear responsibility for the war
The bottom line is that anti-hamas and pro-Fatah sentiment is nothing new in Gaza Therefore even if Fatah elements were involved in helping to mobilize the recent protests, it makes them no less credible expressions of dissent it’s also necessary to correct other israeli and american reactions to the protests The month-old blockade of food and medical supplies and renewed bombing of Gaza s people may have prompted the demonstrations But the israeli hardliners view that this is good, and an indication that the genocidal policies should continue is nothing less than sadistic and politically without merit The view of those who claim to be “moderate that these protests are to be encouraged
as they will lead to the removal of hamas is delusional neither americans nor israelis can play any productive role in this regard it’s
As for Hamas, its role is best determined by Palestinians working in concer t with Egypt and other Arab states If the combined pressure from the world community can open the door to ending the conflict in Gaza, begin reconstruction, and force an end to IsraelÊs assault on the West Bank and East Jerusalem, then some hope in peace can be restored Bringing the benefits of peace to the long-beleaguered Palestinian people will weaken Hamas. This, not genocide, is the way forward
H o w C h i n a ’ s r e c o r d t r a d e s u r p l u s
h e l p e d s p a r k T r u m p ’ s t a r i f f w a r
B eijing’s domination of global trade has led to a schism bet ween the world ’s t wo largest economies and lef t many others worried about their industries being crushed by China’s expor t machine
most $1tn last year Beijing s exporting machine is one of the main reasons President Donald Trump has launched the opening shots in his new global trade war But it is not just the US that is alarmed Emerging economies and established rivals are also concerned about their industries being crushed by cheaper Chinese goods a situation that could be exacerbated if products once destined for the US end up in their markets instead China s trade surplus affects the whole world according to Chinese customs data, Beijing sells more to regional neighbours Vietnam Thailand and india than it buys the majority electronics metals and chemical products though much of this is turned into finished products and exported again no country has escaped Trump s tariffs, but China s massive trade surplus has seen it hit with the steepest measures The US and Beijing are locked in an escalatory row that has seen Washington place levies of more than 104 per cent on Chinese goods entering the US
The US president hopes that his tariff regime will erode China s surplus and enable american manufacturers to compete again But Beijing s trade juggernaut is built on deep competitive advantages built up over decades that will not be easily dislodged
“The sheer scale of China’s dominance
The
and
cies until foreign rivals can no longer keep up This is usually achieved by combining comprehensive government support with the entrepreneurialism of Chinese businesspeople like Wang Jiang Wang a former factory worker who now runs a recruitment business moved to the dusty industrial hub of Sanhe in southern Guangdong province two years ago, drawn by its efforts to build a complete supply chain for battery production, or in Chinese factory parlance, “the whole dragon”
This region of southern China is a hotbed for battery production The area s booming lithium-ion battery industry encapsulates the benefits manufacturing industries in China enjoy when building the whole dragon Raw materials critical to battery production are found in only a few locations, with australia, Chile, indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) among the top producers and China has a presence in all of them Even where mine ownership
B eijing has recorded an overall trade surplus for 30 years
Not only will China find it harder to expor t to the US, other countries may put up their own trade barriers to avoid being swamped by Chinese produc ts no longer heading for Americ a
Unless the US also reduced its budget deficit and expansionar y fisc al polic y, Americ an consumers would continue to buy impor ts, if not from China, then from somewhere else, probably with Chinese inputs
teries sold globally, according to the international Energy agency (iEa) Battery prices in the country have also been falling at a faster rate than the rest of the world, thanks to a fiercely competitive local market counting almost 100 producers Unrivalled government backing has been crucial in establishing the industry and driving down costs Last year the average Chinese battery pack was more than 30 per cent cheaper than those made in the EU and 20 per cent cheaper than in the US having all the components required to make a battery located within a radius of a few hundred kilometres has not only helped reduce prices and lead times it has also fostered innovation
China has a commanding lead in the global share of patents filed for lithium-ion batteries in recent years accounting for around 80 per cent of the annual total, according to analysis by Simon Lux, a battery researcher at the University of Münster in Germany if any company exemplifies why it will be hard for other countries to rival China’s battery sector dominance it is CaTL Founded in 2011 the battery maker rode the initial wave of China s EV boom recording a compound annual growth rate of 110 per cent from 2014 to 2022 CaTL s autonomy is the envy of rivals By late 2023, half of the company’s required cobalt, nickel, phosphate and lithium refining was handled internally it has been targeting by this year to boost its self-sufficiency in cathode and precursor material to around 35 per cent and 45 per cent respectively Most worryingly for competitors the company is building new factories at about half the cost of its foreign rivals
Batteries are just one high-profile example among hundreds of products, including PCs, smartphones and steel, where China exerts a stranglehold on the global market
Other critical sectors include vitamins pharmaceutical raw ingredients household appliances and personal items such as wigs where China accounts for around 75 per cent of the export market Overall the country supplies at least 50 per cent of global exports for 730 of 5,000 classified trading products, three times higher than the EU and almost eight times as many as the US, according to CEPii and while the EU and the US have held comparable export market shares in the past trade now makes up a significantly larger part of the world economy around 60 per cent of global GDP Even with US tariffs on China s exports exceeding 100 per cent, the country s superiority in so many sectors will make it challenging for importers to switch suppliers at least in the short term This is especially true for emerging markets many of which have strengthened their trade relationships with China in recent years as the share of Beijing s direct exports to the US has
ican market The US trade deficit with China improved
marginally, but this was offset by a significant deterioration with the rest of the world, analysts at financial services group nomura wrote Brad Setser, of the Council on Foreign Relations, said in a recent post: “The US bilateral balance with China Southeast asia and Taiwan is probably a better base for estimates of true US imports of Chinese content these days than direct imports from China although they are calculated using a crude formula, Trump s tariffs on Vietnam, Thailand, indonesia and other south-east asian countries might well be intended to stymie this diversion of Chinese goods Concern about China’s exporting might is not confined to Washington Beijing s sustained push to boost manufacturing output combined with a drawn-out period of tepid domestic demand has flooded global markets with Chinese goods and countries are fighting back China accounts for only 15 per cent of global consumption less than its 18 per cent share of world GDP and far below its 30 per cent share of manufacturing
That means it needs demand in other countries to absorb its enormous excess production China shipping more goods than it brings in is far from a recent development Beijing has recorded an overall trade surplus for 30 years however, the gap between its exports and imports has more than doubled since 2019, climbing to almost a trillion dollars last year
Trading partners beyond the US have levelled criticism at Beijing that these large trade imbalances are not sustainable posing a real threat to their economies as they struggle to develop or maintain their own domestic industries in the face of cheaper Chinese products industrialised nations as well as fast-growing economies have expressed unease at the negative impact this is having on their manufacturing sectors But Chinese officials have mostly denied the existence of any problem with oversupply Mexico s president Claudia Sheinbaum has blamed the decline of the country s textile and footwear industries on cheap Chinese imports and said it will review the tariffs it has on China in indonesia, officials worry that hundreds of thousands of jobs could be lost in the critical textile industry
