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Pakistan issues flood alert and warns of heavy loss of life due to glacial melting

A Pakistani province is warning of heavy loss of life due to glacial melting

Riaz Khan  Independent 20th April 2024

 A Pakistani province has issued a flood alert due to glacial melting and
warned of heavy loss of life, officials said Saturday. The country has
witnessed days of extreme weather, killing scores of people and destroying
property and farmland. Experts say Pakistan is experiencing heavier rains
than normal in April because of climate change. In the mountainous
northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which has been hit particularly
hard by the deluges, authorities issued a flood alert because of the
melting of glaciers in several districts.
more https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/pakistan-flooding-climate-change-latest-b2531924.html

April 23, 2024 Posted by | climate change, Pakistan | Leave a comment

‘Pakistan advanced nuclear weapons programme despite economic challenges’

Pakistan is reported to have 170 nuclear warheads as of January 2023

By: Pramod Thomas, 17 Apr 24,  https://www.easterneye.biz/pakistan-nuclear-programme-india-us/

DESPITE economic challenges, Pakistan continued upgrading its nuclear capabilities, driven by its ongoing tensions with India, top US intelligence official told Congress.

The remarks by Lt Gen Jeffrey Kruse, director of the Defence Intelligence Agency came during a Congressional hearing on China on Monday (15).

Kruse told lawmakers that Pakistan has sought international support, including from the UN security council, to resolve its dispute with India about Kashmir.

Separately, Islamabad and New Delhi have maintained an uneasy ceasefire along the shared Line of Control since February 2021, he said.

“Pakistan has sustained its nuclear modernisation efforts despite its economic turmoil. Terrorist violence against Pakistani security forces and civilians also rose last year,” he said.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Pakistan is reported to have 170 nuclear warheads as of January 2023.

Cash-strapped Pakistan is banking on close allies like China and Saudi Arabia for loans to tide over its economic woes. Moreover, Pakistan’s finance minister Muhammad Aurangzeb is now in Washington to discuss a new loan package with the International Monetary Fund.

Pakistan’s contentious relationship with India continues to drive its defence policy, Kruse told US lawmakers.

However, cross-border violence between the countries has decreased since their February 2021 recommitment to a ceasefire, he said.

“Islamabad is modernising its nuclear arsenal and improving the security of its nuclear materials and nuclear C2 (command and control). In October, Pakistan successfully tested its Ababeel medium-range ballistic missile,” he said.

In 2023, militants killed around 400 security forces, a nine-year high, and Pakistani security forces have conducted almost daily counterterrorism operations during the past year.

Islamabad and New Delhi have a long history of strained relations, primarily due to the Kashmir issue as well as the cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.

In 2019, Pakistan downgraded its diplomatic ties with New Delhi after the Indian government abrogated Article 370 of the constitution, revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcating the state into two union territories.

India has been maintaining that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan while insisting that the onus is on Islamabad to create an environment that is free of terror and hostility for such an engagement.

New Delhi has also asserted that the constitutional measures taken by the Indian government to ensure socio-economic development and good governance in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are matters internal to India.

April 18, 2024 Posted by | Pakistan, weapons and war | Leave a comment

India, Pakistan exchange list of nuclear installations under 1988 bilateral pact

LiveMint,  01 Jan 2024, 

The pact signed by India and Pakistan in 1988 prohibits the two countries from attacking each other’s atomic facilities.

India and Pakistan on Monday exchanged a list of their nuclear installations under a bilateral pact signed in 1988 and came into force in 1991 that prohibits the two countries from attacking each other’s atomic facilities………………..

India and Pakistan on Monday exchanged a list of their nuclear installations under a bilateral pact signed in 1988 and came into force in 1991 that prohibits the two countries from attacking each other’s atomic facilities.

The exchange of the list came amid frosty ties between the two countries over the Kashmir issue as well as cross-border terrorism.

Both countries have not had any formal talks since they ended the composite dialogue in the aftermath of the 2008 Mumbai attacks carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan-based terror group, in which 166 people were killed and several injured.

The political leadership of both countries made several attempts to resume the contact. However, they were derailed by a string of terror attacks on Indian soil by Pakistan-based terror groups. https://www.livemint.com/news/india/india-pakistan-exchange-list-of-nuclear-installations-under-1988-bilateral-pact-11704107726908.html

January 2, 2024 Posted by | India, Pakistan, politics international | Leave a comment

The World’s Only Muslim Nuclear Power Warns Israel’s War in Gaza Must Stop

NewsWeek, Oct 27, 2023 

Pakistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations has outlined to Newsweek his country’s position on the ongoing war between Israel and Palestinian factions led by Hamas, expressing the need for a ceasefire and warning of regional instability if an already devastating conflict deepens further.

“This is an obligation that devolves on all member states to prevent an escalation of the conflict,” Ambassador Munir Akram told Newsweek. “We would have hoped that the conflict had not taken place, but it has, and now we have to stop it, to halt the fighting and to avoid the suffering that is happening and is likely to happen if this conflict goes on.”

While the Islamic Republic he represents, one of the world’s most populous countries and the only Muslim-majority nation to possess nuclear weapons, may be thousands of miles away from the frontlines of the Gaza Strip, Akram identified a direct connection between Pakistan and the Palestinian cause. This link was made all the more tangible by parallels he drew between the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Indian-Pakistani dispute over the divided territory of Kashmir, to which Pakistanis commemorate a “Black Day” on Friday.

With local health officials in Hamas-run Gaza now counting deaths in excess of 7,000 as a result of Israeli airstrikes since an unprecedented Hamas-led October 7 assault on Israel in which authorities said 1,400 people were killed, Akram argued that “this is not something that should be acceptable to any civilized nation or people and we oppose it, therefore we hope it would stop.”

He added: “There is an additional layer of obligation on us as an Islamic country.”

“We feel that we have an obligation, an emotional commitment to Palestine and to the freedom of the Palestinian people,” Akram said. “It is a principle to which we are committed politically because of Kashmir. We are heavily invested in that principle, and we would like to see the triumph of that principle of self-determination.”

Common History

The Israeli-Palestinian and Kashmir conflicts are linked by history as well, both having been born out of the collapse of British colonial rule three-quarters of a century ago in the years immediately following World War II.

When the British Raj was dissolved in 1947, the previously united Indian subcontinent was divided into the new nations of India and Pakistan, with Pakistan also controlling modern-day Bangladesh until 1971. The partition resulted in massive bloodshed, especially between Hindus and Muslims on both sides of the new border. The two new states quickly went to war over the middle ground of Kashmir, which today is divided along what’s known as the Line of Control………………………………………………………………………………….. more https://www.newsweek.com/pakistan-warns-israel-war-gaza-must-stop-munir-akram-1838448 #nuclear #antinuclear #NoNukes #Israel #Palestine

October 28, 2023 Posted by | Pakistan, politics international, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Loud Explosion Heard In Pakistan’s Dera Ghazi Khan City With Nuclear Facility; Officials Say ‘Sonic Boom’

The loud thud in the vicinity of Dera Ghazi Khan town in southern Punjab caused panic and soon it started trending on social media.

BQ Prime 6 Oct 23

Pakistan authorities on Friday said that the sound of a loud explosion in Punjab province could be due to a sonic boom as there was no information of a bombing incident or an act of sabotage. The loud thud in the vicinity of Dera Ghazi Khan town in southern Punjab caused panic and soon it started trending on social media. Videos circulating on X showed people vacating the area even as rescue teams and police personnel were moving around.

Pakistan’s nuclear research site is in the neighbourhood…………………….

Read more at: https://www.bqprime.com/politics/loud-explosion-heard-in-pakistans-dera-ghazi-khan-city-with-nuclear-facility-officials-say-sonic-boom

October 10, 2023 Posted by | incidents, Pakistan | Leave a comment

Pakistan’s new nuclear brinkmanship

Recently, Pakistan’s strategic planners have hinted to a shift in Pakistan’s nuclear doctrine, which seems to be quite radical.

Deccan Herald, Abhinav Narayan Jha, 23 September 2023

In July, when India celebrated the 24th Vijay Diwas of the 1999 Kargil War, the nuclear question between the two arch-rivals got refreshed. Both sides are said to have reportedly weighed the nuclear option then. 

Pakistan was reported to have moved ballistic missiles toward the border. American officials and security experts had in 2000 claimed that India, too, had prepared nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles. If true, this was the closest India and Pakistan had ever come to a nuclear exchange. 

Recently, Pakistan’s strategic planners have hinted to a shift in Pakistan’s nuclear doctrine, which seems to be quite radical. On the 25th anniversary of Pakistan’s nuclear tests, Lt General Khalid Kidwai (retd), adviser to Pakistan’s National Command Authority, sent ripples across the strategic and security community in Asia and the West when he revisited Pakistan’s nuclear strategy. Kidwai, who was the first and longest-serving Director-General of Pakistan’s Strategic Plans Division, touched on two important things: First, he referred to “Full Spectrum Deterrence” (FSD); second, he referred to “Zero meters to 2,750 kilometres”. Both phrases suggest a makeover of Pakistan’s nuclear doctrine. 

Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/pakistan-s-new-nuclear-brinkmanship-2697746

September 23, 2023 Posted by | Pakistan, politics international | Leave a comment

U.S. HELPED PAKISTAN GET IMF BAILOUT WITH SECRET ARMS DEAL FOR UKRAINE, LEAKED DOCUMENTS REVEAL

Pakistan’s embattled military regime further dependent on the IMF, the U.S., and the production of munitions for the war in Ukraine to sustain itself through a crisis that shows no sign of resolution.

The U.S.-brokered loan let Pakistan’s military postpone elections, deepen a brutal crackdown, and jail former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The Intercept, Ryan GrimMurtaza Hussain, September 17 2023

SECRET PAKISTANI ARMS sales to the U.S. helped to facilitate a controversial bailout from the International Monetary Fund earlier this year, according to two sources with knowledge of the arrangement, with confirmation from internal Pakistani and American government documents. The arms sales were made for the purpose of supplying the Ukrainian military — marking Pakistani involvement in a conflict it had faced U.S. pressure to take sides on.

The revelation is a window into the kind of behind-the-scenes maneuvering between financial and political elites that rarely is exposed to the public, even as the public pays the price. Harsh structural policy reforms demanded by the IMF as terms for its recent bailout kicked off an ongoing round of protests in the country. Major strikes have taken place throughout Pakistan in recent weeks in response to the measures.

The protests are the latest chapter in a year-and-a-half-long political crisis roiling the country. In April 2022, the Pakistani military, with the encouragement of the U.S., helped organize a no-confidence vote to remove Prime Minister Imran Khan. Ahead of the ouster, State Department diplomats privately expressed anger to their Pakistani counterparts over what they called Pakistan’s “aggressively neutral” stance on the Ukraine war under Khan. They warned of dire consequences if Khan remained in power and promised “all would be forgiven” if he were removed.

Since Khan’s ouster, Pakistan has emerged as a useful supporter of the U.S. and its allies in the war, assistance that has now been repaid with an IMF loan. The emergency loan allowed the new Pakistani government to put off a looming economic catastrophe and indefinitely postpone elections — time it used to launch a nationwide crackdown on civil society and jail Khan.

“Pakistani democracy may ultimately be a casualty of Ukraine’s counteroffensive,” Arif Rafiq, a nonresident scholar at the Middle East Institute and specialist on Pakistan, told The Intercept.

Pakistan is known as a production hub for the types of basic munitions needed for grinding warfare. As Ukraine grappled with chronic shortages of munitions and hardware, the presence of Pakistani-produced shells and other ordinances by the Ukrainian military has surfaced in open-source news reports about the conflict, though neither the U.S. nor Pakistan has acknowledged the arrangement.

Records detailing the arms transactions were leaked to The Intercept earlier this year by a source within the Pakistani military. The documents describe munitions sales agreed to between the U.S. and Pakistan from the summer of 2022 to the spring of 2023. Some of the documents were authenticated by matching the signature of an American brigadier general with his signature on publicly available mortgage records in the United States; by matching the Pakistani documents with corresponding American documents; and by reviewing publicly available but previously unreported Pakistani disclosures of arms sales to the U.S. posted by the State Bank of Pakistan.

The weapons deals were brokered, according to the documents, by Global Military Products, a subsidiary of Global Ordnance, a controversial arms dealer whose entanglements with less-than-reputable figures in Ukraine were the subject of a recent New York Times article.

Documents outlining the money trail and talks with U.S. officials include American and Pakistani contracts, licensing, and requisition documents related to U.S.-brokered deals to buy Pakistani military weapons for Ukraine.

The economic capital and political goodwill from the arms sales played a key role in helping secure the bailout from the IMF, with the State Department agreeing to take the IMF into confidence regarding the undisclosed weapons deal, according to sources with knowledge of the arrangement, and confirmed by a related document.

To win the loan, Pakistan had been told by the IMF it had to meet certain financing and refinancing targets related to its debt and foreign investment — targets that the country was struggling to meet. The weapons sales came to the rescue, with the funds garnered from the sale of munitions for Ukraine going a long way to cover the gap.

Securing the loan eased economic pressure, enabling the military government to delay elections — a potential reckoning in the long aftermath of Khan’s removal — and deepen the crackdown against Khan’s supporters and other dissenters. The U.S. remained largely silent about the extraordinary scale of the human rights violations that pushed the future of Pakistan’s embattled democracy into doubt………………………………………..

Bombs for Bailouts

On May 23, 2023, according to The Intercept’s investigation, Pakistani Ambassador to the U.S. Masood Khan sat down with Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu at the State Department in Washington, D.C., for a meeting about how Pakistani arms sales to Ukraine could shore up its financial position in the eyes of the IMF.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… In an interview with The Intercept at the Capitol on Tuesday, Van Hollen said that his knowledge of the U.S. role in facilitating the IMF loan came directly from the Biden administration………………………………………………………..

Eleventh-Hour IMF Deal

…………………………………………………………………….. The secret arms deal for Ukraine would allow Pakistan to add nearly another billion dollars to its balance sheet ………………………………………………………………………………..

As The Intercept previously reported, Lu, the senior State Department official, said in a meeting with then-Pakistani Ambassador Asad Majeed Khan two weeks after the invasion that it was the belief of the U.S. that Pakistan had taken a neutral position solely at Khan’s direction, adding that “all would be forgiven” if Khan was removed in the no-confidence vote. Since his ouster, Pakistan has firmly taken the side of the U.S. and Ukraine in the war.

……………………………………………………………………………..After orchestrating Khan’s removal, the military embarked on a campaign to eradicate his political party through a wave of killings and mass detentions. Khan himself is currently imprisoned on charges of mishandling a classified document and facing some 150 additional charges — allegations widely viewed as a pretext to stop him from contesting future elections.

………………………………………………………..The absence of other foreign support left Pakistan’s embattled military regime further dependent on the IMF, the U.S., and the production of munitions for the war in Ukraine to sustain itself through a crisis that shows no sign of resolution.  https://theintercept.com/2023/09/17/pakistan-ukraine-arms-imf/

September 19, 2023 Posted by | Pakistan, politics international, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Pakistan has 170 nuclear warheads, and may increase it to 200 by 2025, say American atomic scientists

LiveMint.  15 Sep 2023

Top American nuclear scientists have estimated that Pakistan currently possesses roughly 170 nuclear warheads, and this number could potentially increase to approximately 200 by the year 2025, based on the current rate of expansion.

As reported by PTI citing the Nuclear Notebook column published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on September 11, “We estimate that Pakistan now has a nuclear weapons stockpile of approximately 170 warheads. The US Defense Intelligence Agency projected in 1999 that Pakistan would have 60 to 80 warheads by 2020, but several new weapon systems have been fielded and developed since then, which leads us to a higher estimate.”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Even when the document listed fissile materials production and inventory from available sources in the public domain, the scientists put out a disclaimer: “Calculating stockpile size based solely on fissile material inventory is an incomplete methodology that tends to overestimate the likely number of nuclear warheads.”

“We estimate that Pakistan currently is producing sufficient fissile material to build 14 to 27 new warheads per year, although we estimate that the actual warhead increase in the stockpile probably averages around 5 to 10 warheads per year,” they further said………………………………………………………………………

Commenting on the 2017’s medium-range ballistic missile called Ababeel that Pakistan said is “capable of carrying multiple warheads, using multiple independent reentry vehicle (MIRV) technology,” the Nuclear Notebook observed, “Development of multiple-warhead capability appears to be intended as a countermeasure against India’s planned ballistic missile defense system. Its status remains unclear as of July 2023.”

Pointing out that the total number and location of Pakistan’s nuclear-capable missile bases and facilities remains unknown, the document said, “Analysis of commercial satellite imagery suggests that Pakistan maintains at least five missile bases that could serve a role in Pakistan’s nuclear forces.”………………………………….

Admitting that little is publicly known about warhead production, the scientists said: “But experts have suspected for many years that the Pakistan Ordnance Factories near Wah, northwest of Islamabad, serve a role. One of the Wah factories is located near a unique facility with six earth-covered bunkers (igloos) inside a multi-layered safety perimeter with armed guards.”  https://www.livemint.com/news/world/pakistan-has-170-nuclear-warheads-and-may-increase-it-to-200-by-2025-says-american-atomic-scientists-11694753125105.html

September 17, 2023 Posted by | Pakistan, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Pakistan nuclear weapons, 2023

Bulletin, By Hans M. KristensenMatt KordaEliana Johns, September 11, 2023

Pakistan continues to gradually expand its nuclear arsenal with more warheads, more delivery systems, and a growing fissile material production industry. Analysis of commercial satellite images of construction at Pakistani army garrisons and air force bases shows what appear to be newer launchers and facilities that might be related to Pakistan’s nuclear forces.

We estimate that Pakistan now has a nuclear weapons stockpile of approximately 170 warheads (See Table 1 on original). The US Defense Intelligence Agency projected in 1999 that Pakistan would have 60 to 80 warheads by 2020 (US Defense Intelligence Agency 1999, 38), but several new weapon systems have been fielded and developed since then, which leads us to a higher estimate. Our estimate comes with considerable uncertainty because neither Pakistan nor other countries publish much information about the Pakistani nuclear arsenal.

With several new delivery systems in development, four plutonium production reactors, and an expanding uranium enrichment infrastructure, Pakistan’s stockpile has the potential to increase further over the next several years. The size of this projected increase will depend on several factors, including how many nuclear-capable launchers Pakistan plans to deploy, how its nuclear strategy evolves, and how much the Indian nuclear arsenal grows. We estimate that the country’s stockpile could potentially grow to around 200 warheads by the late 2020s, at the current growth rate. But unless India significantly expands its arsenal or further builds up its conventional forces, it seems reasonable to expect that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal will not continue to grow indefinitely but might begin to level off as its current weapons programs are completed…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..more https://thebulletin.org/premium/2023-09/pakistan-nuclear-weapons-2023/

September 12, 2023 Posted by | Pakistan, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Secret Pakistan cable documents US pressure to remove Imran Khan

“All will be forgiven,” said a U.S. diplomat, if the no-confidence vote against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan succeeds.

The Intercept, Ryan GrimMurtaza Hussain, August 9 2023,

THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT encouraged the Pakistani government in a March 7, 2022, meeting to remove Imran Khan as prime minister over his neutrality on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to a classified Pakistani government document obtained by The Intercept.

The meeting, between the Pakistani ambassador to the United States and two State Department officials, has been the subject of intense scrutiny, controversy, and speculation in Pakistan over the past year and a half, as supporters of Khan and his military and civilian opponents jockeyed for power. The political struggle escalated on August 5 when Khan was sentenced to three years in prison on corruption charges and taken into custody for the second time since his ouster. Khan’s defenders dismiss the charges as baseless. The sentence also blocks Khan, Pakistan’s most popular politician, from contesting elections expected in Pakistan later this year.

One month after the meeting with U.S. officials documented in the leaked Pakistani government document, a no-confidence vote was held in Parliament, leading to Khan’s removal from power. The vote is believed to have been organized with the backing of Pakistan’s powerful military. Since that time, Khan and his supporters have been engaged in a struggle with the military and its civilian allies, whom Khan claims engineered his removal from power at the request of the U.S.

The text of the Pakistani cable, produced from the meeting by the ambassador and transmitted to Pakistan, has not previously been published. The cable, known internally as a “cypher,” reveals both the carrots and the sticks that the State Department deployed in its push against Khan, promising warmer relations if Khan was removed, and isolation if he was not.

The document, labeled “Secret,” includes an account of the meeting between State Department officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, and Asad Majeed Khan, who at the time was Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S.

The document was provided to The Intercept by an anonymous source in the Pakistani military who said that they had no ties to Imran Khan or Khan’s party. The Intercept is publishing the body of the cable below, correcting minor typos in the text because such details can be used to watermark documents and track their dissemination………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The Intercept has made extensive efforts to authenticate the document. Given the security climate in Pakistan, independent confirmation from sources in the Pakistani government was not possible. The Pakistan Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not respond to a request for comment……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

more https://theintercept.com/2023/08/09/imran-khan-pakistan-cypher-ukraine-russia/

August 13, 2023 Posted by | Pakistan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

India and Pakistan Must Negotiate Nuclear Responsibilities

South Asia Voices, by Ladhu R. Choudhary, April 7, 2023

In 2019, while addressing an election rally, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated a fiery public remark, “every other day they [Pakistan] used to say ‘we have nuclear button, we have nuclear button.’ What do we have then? Have we kept it for Diwali (a mega Indian festival celebrated with extensive use of firecrackers)?” His statement is just one example of India and Pakistan’s exaggerated rhetoric around their nuclear rivalry.

…………………………………………… responsible nuclear states should strategize to stigmatize the bomb. Most importantly, these statements undermine the essential ingredients of nuclear responsibilities. 

Nuclear responsibilities are defined as a set of extraordinary obligations and reasoning of the nuclear weapon states to exercise restraint in nuclear posturing and proliferation activities to avoid nuclear crises and avert a nuclear arms race. A nuclear responsibilities framework demands that states prioritize behaviors that reinforce credible deterrence postures and doctrines, reduce nuclear risks, and create the conditions for disarmament. Given the catastrophic risks of escalation, the political leadership in both India and Pakistan should refrain from acts of nuclear irresponsibility and demonstrate their respect for nuclear safety and security norms.

………………………………………………. Existing South Asian Nuclear Culture Lacks Nuclear Responsibilities

When politicians in India and Pakistan remind one another of the nuclear button and equate nuclear weapons with Diwali firecrackers, they reinforce South Asian atomic culture. This atomic culture has facilitated the acquisition of nuclear technology with chauvinistic pride and a symbol of supreme power for political independence. It has limited space for negotiating potential threats of nuclear exchanges and shared responsibilities of hostile SNW. For instance, New Delhi and Islamabad have not been able to build robust institutional arrangements for Nuclear Confidence Building Measures (NCBMs). 

India and Pakistan need a better cooperation record for joint nuclear doctrine formulations and identifying implementation procedures. Furthermore, their ambiguous doctrines, postures, and accidents may escalate nuclear instability. ……………………………… more https://southasianvoices.org/india-and-pakistan-must-negotiate-nuclear-responsibilities/

April 9, 2023 Posted by | India, Pakistan, politics international | Leave a comment

China marketing nuclear reactors to Pakistan

 Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has inaugurated the third unit of
the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP), which has 1.1GW of power
generating capacity. Built with an investment of $2.7bn, the K-3 nuclear
unit is expected to ease Pakistan’s ongoing energy crisis, according to
Bloomberg.

It is the second Chinese-designed Hualong One reactor to be
deployed at KANUPP, having been built with the Chinese Government’s
assistance under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative. At
the inauguration ceremony, Prime Minister Sharif said Pakistan ‘badly
needs’ clean and cheap sources of energy, be they nuclear, hydropower or
other renewables.

 Power Technology 3rd Feb 2023

https://www.power-technology.com/news/pakistan-karachi-nuclear-power-plant/

February 6, 2023 Posted by | China, marketing, Pakistan | Leave a comment

Former US Secretary of State says Pakistan’s 2019 conflict with India almost sparked nuclear war

A former high-ranking US official has revealed he will “never forget the night” when the world witnessed what almost became a nuclear catastrophe.

Alex Blair news.com.au 25 Jan 23

Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has detailed just how close the world came to nuclear war in 2019.

In February 2019, the relationship between rival nuclear powers India and Pakistan came dangerously close to escalating into a full-blown conflict, Pompeo writes in his memoir.

It all kicked off when India launched a military operation against militants within Pakistani territory, in response to an attack on its own troops in the disputed region of Kashmir that left 40 Indian soldiers dead.

Pakistan retaliated by shooting down two Indian aircraft and capturing a fighter pilot.

Both nations lay claim to Kashmir, but currently control only portions of the region. India has long accused Pakistan of supporting separatist militants in the Kashmir Valley, a claim that Pakistan denies.

The two nations, both nuclear powers, have engaged in multiple conflicts throughout their history, with the majority of these conflicts centred around the disputed region.

In his memoir, Never Give An Inch: Fighting for the America I Love, Pompeo emphasises that the world was unaware of the sheer gravity of the situation……………………………………………………….. more https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/military/former-us-secretary-of-state-says-pakistans-2019-conflict-with-india-almost-sparked-nuclear-war/news-story/75da26ebea96f1064d024205c6108bc2

January 27, 2023 Posted by | India, Pakistan, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Pakistan supplies India with a list of its nuclear facilities

Pakistan said it had handed a list of its nuclear installations and
facilities to the Indian mission in Islamabad on Sunday under a decades-old
agreement between the two nuclear-armed rivals. The neighbours have fought
three wars and have had a number of military skirmishes in recent years.
Last year an Indian missile accidentally landed in Pakistan, setting off
alarm bells across the world.

Reuters 1st Jan 2023

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/pakistan-says-it-has-provided-list-nuclear-facilities-india-under-annual-2023-01-01/

January 3, 2023 Posted by | Pakistan, politics international | Leave a comment

US imposes sanctions on six Pakistan companies for unsafeguarded nuclear activities

The US on Thursday designated six companies based in Pakistan on its entity list for unsafeguarded nuclear and missile proliferation activities.

 https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/us-imposes-sanctions-on-six-pak-companies-unsafeguarded-nuclear-activities-122120801484_1.html 8 Dec 22,

The US on Thursday designated six companies based in Pakistan on its entity list for unsafeguarded nuclear and missile proliferation activities.

The Department of Commerce added as many as 24 companies to the entities list including those from Pakistan, Latvia, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland and United Arab Emirates.

Companies based out of Pakistan are Dynamic Engineering Corporation, EnerQuip Private, Ltd., NAR Technologies General Trading LLC, Trojans, Rainbow Solutions, and Universal Drilling Engineers.

According to a federal register notification, Dynamic Engineering Corporation has been added to the ‘Entity List’ because it poses an unacceptable risk of using or diverting export control items to Pakistan’s unsafeguarded nuclear activities, contrary to the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States.

Same is the case with Rainbow Solutions, while EnerQuip Private, Ltd., and Universal Drilling Engineers have been added to the list based on their contributions to unsafeguarded nuclear activities and missile proliferation-related activities.

NAR Technologies General Trading LLC and TROJANS have been added to the Entity List under the destinations of Pakistan and the U.A.E., based on their actions and activities that are contrary to the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States.

Specifically, these companies have supplied and/or attempted to supply items subject to export control to Pakistan’s unsafeguarded nuclear activities and ballistic missile programme.

December 7, 2022 Posted by | Pakistan, safety | Leave a comment