ISLAMABAD: Experts have interpreted General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s statement on Saturday as an indirect message to the country’s nuclear rival India. They claim the army chief was indicating that Pakistan knew about New Delhi’s intentions, though it was still willing to resolve outstanding regional disputes through peaceful negotiations.
“A dialogue is the only route to establish peace in the region. Pakistan remains committed to such a dialogue, but only on the basis of sovereign equality, dignity and honor,” the army chief had said, while stressing that the Kashmir dispute was the core matter of concern.
“Failing to coerce politically and militarily, India has been working on hybrid warfare techniques to bleed Pakistan,” foreign relations and defense expert Dr. Zafar Nawaz Jaspal told Arab News.
Jaspal claims that New Delhi is making the best use of hybrid warfare tools. But Pakistan’s best option is a constructive dialogue with India “to combat both internal and external challenges to its security.”
Addressing the graduating cadets at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul, Gen. Bajwa had said: “Our enemies know that they cannot beat us fair and square and have thus subjected us to a cruel, evil and protracted hybrid war. They are trying to weaken our resolve by weakening us from within.”
Analyst Qamar Cheema told Arab News that the army chief had previously opened doors for talks with India and also asked the Afghan government to inform India that Islamabad was willing to hold dialogue on the transit route for trade through Pakistan, but he did not receive any response.
Elements within the state questioning the very armed forces that eliminated terror threats days after peace returned to the region bears the hallmark of some forces determined to destabilize the country, Cheema explained while trying to decode what the army chief had said.
“His reference to hybrid war is in this context,” he said.
Prominent columnist Zahid Hussain told Arab News: “There is an obvious link between the two comments – by hybrid war he meant a mix of overt and covert hostilities and therefore has called for a meaningful negotiation with India to end this situation.”
Earlier this week, the army chief warned that “the armed forces with the support of the people of Pakistan will not let their ulterior motives succeed.”
The Pashtun Tahafuz (or protection) Movement (PTM) led by a human rights activist, Manzoor Ahmed Pashteen, has lobbied to address the plight of Pashtuns in the country. The movement gained momentum after the killing of an aspiring model and shopkeeper, Naqeebullah Mehsud, in an allegedly fake police encounter. From there, its demands grew to address other issues facing Pashtuns.
Earlier this month, the PTM drew international attention over its large protest gathering that mainly demanded: The abolition of the Frontier Crimes Regulation, a draconian law from the British colonial era; removal of landmines from the tribal areas; release of all political prisoners and others incarcerated on trumped-up charges; removal of army checkpoints; and recovery of missing people. The movement has also leveled allegations against the army for triggering these issues.
“You cannot solely blame it (Pashtun troubles) on the army,” Khalid Muhammad, director general of Islamabad-based national security think-tank Command Eleven, told Arab News.
However, a Peshawar-based analyst, Lehaz Ali, told Arab News: “Viewed from the outside, the movement may give vibes of an uprising, but those who live in this region and have experienced these problems describe these demands as genuine.”
Ali said that frustration and anger had been mounting within the Pashtun community, which felt its voice had been ignored. Talks can resolve the matter, Ali explained. He acknowledged that extraordinary steps had to be taken over the past decade to control the worsening security situation in the country’s northwest to defeat the threat of terror.
Yet, he added: “A situation usually isn’t what it seems when viewed from a distance. Therefore, this movement is speculated as a conspiracy with a foreign support.”
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Analysts link Pakistan army chief’s hybrid war statement to India
Analysts link Pakistan army chief’s hybrid war statement to India
- Army will not allow anti-state elements to disrupt peace using Pakistanis
- Pakistan wants dialogue with India, but New Delhi should not construe it as a weakness
Beetles block mining of Europe’s biggest rare earths deposit
ULEFOSS: As Europe seeks to curb its dependence on China for rare earths, plans to mine the continent’s biggest deposit have hit a roadblock over fears that mining operations could harm endangered beetles, mosses and mushrooms.
A two-hour drive southwest of Oslo, in the former mining community of Ulefoss home to 2,000 people, lies the Fensfeltet treasure: an estimated 8.8 million tons of rare earths.
These elements, used to make magnets crucial to the auto, electronics and defense industries, have been defined by the European Union as critical raw materials.
“You have rare earths in your pocket when you carry a smartphone,” said Tor Espen Simonsen, a local official at Rare Earths Norway, the company that owns the extraction rights.
“You’re driving with rare earths when you’re at the wheel of an electric car, and you need rare earths to make defense materiel like F-35 jets,” he added.
“Today, European industry imports almost all of the rare earths it needs — 98 percent — from one single country: China,” he added.
“We are therefore in a situation where Europe must procure more of these raw materials on its own,” he said.
In its Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) aimed at securing Europe’s supply, the EU has set as an objective that at least 10 percent of its needs should be extracted within the bloc by 2030.
No rare earth deposits are currently being mined in Europe.
- ‘Rush slowly’ -
Due to environmental concerns, Rare Earths Norway has already been forced to push back its schedule. Now it aims to begin mining in the first half of the 2030s.
Its so-called “invisible mine” project is intended to limit the mine’s environmental footprint. It plans to use underground extraction and crushing — as opposed to an open-pit mine — and re-inject a large part of the mining residue.
But the location of the mineral processing park, where ore extracted underground would be handled and pre-processed, has posed a problem.
The company had planned to transport the minerals on an underground conveyor belt emerging above ground behind a hill, in an area out of sight from the town and largely covered by ancient natural forests, rich in biodiversity.
But experts who examined that site found 78 fauna and flora species on Norway’s “red list” — species at risk of extinction to varying degrees. They included saproxylic beetles (which depend on deadwood), wych elms, common ash trees, 40 types of mushrooms, and various mosses.
As a result, the county governor formally opposed the location during a recent consultation process.
Adding to concerns was the fact that disposing of waste rock would take place within a protected water system.
“We need to start mining as quickly as possible so we can bypass polluting value chains originating in China,” said Martin Molvaer, an adviser at Bellona, a Norwegian tech-focused environmental NGO.
“But things should not move so quickly that we destroy a large part of nature in the process: we must therefore rush slowly,” he said.
- ‘Lesser of two evils’ -
Faced with such objections, the municipality has been forced to review the plans and take a closer look at alternate locations for the above-ground part of the mine.
While there is another less environmentally sensitive zone, neither the mining developers nor the local population favor it.
“We accept that we will have to sacrifice a significant part of our nature,” local mayor Linda Thorstensen said.
“It comes down to choosing the lesser of two evils.”
Thorstensen supports the mine project, given the small town has seen jobs and young people move elsewhere for decades. It is “a new adventure,” she said.
“A lot of people live outside the job market, many receive social welfare assistance or disability pensions. So we need jobs and opportunities,” she said.
In the almost-empty streets of Ulefoss, locals were cautiously optimistic.
“We want a dynamic that makes it possible for us to become wealthy, so that the community benefits. We need money and more residents,” Inger Norendal, a 70-year-old retired teacher, told AFP.
“But mining obviously has its downsides too.”
A two-hour drive southwest of Oslo, in the former mining community of Ulefoss home to 2,000 people, lies the Fensfeltet treasure: an estimated 8.8 million tons of rare earths.
These elements, used to make magnets crucial to the auto, electronics and defense industries, have been defined by the European Union as critical raw materials.
“You have rare earths in your pocket when you carry a smartphone,” said Tor Espen Simonsen, a local official at Rare Earths Norway, the company that owns the extraction rights.
“You’re driving with rare earths when you’re at the wheel of an electric car, and you need rare earths to make defense materiel like F-35 jets,” he added.
“Today, European industry imports almost all of the rare earths it needs — 98 percent — from one single country: China,” he added.
“We are therefore in a situation where Europe must procure more of these raw materials on its own,” he said.
In its Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) aimed at securing Europe’s supply, the EU has set as an objective that at least 10 percent of its needs should be extracted within the bloc by 2030.
No rare earth deposits are currently being mined in Europe.
- ‘Rush slowly’ -
Due to environmental concerns, Rare Earths Norway has already been forced to push back its schedule. Now it aims to begin mining in the first half of the 2030s.
Its so-called “invisible mine” project is intended to limit the mine’s environmental footprint. It plans to use underground extraction and crushing — as opposed to an open-pit mine — and re-inject a large part of the mining residue.
But the location of the mineral processing park, where ore extracted underground would be handled and pre-processed, has posed a problem.
The company had planned to transport the minerals on an underground conveyor belt emerging above ground behind a hill, in an area out of sight from the town and largely covered by ancient natural forests, rich in biodiversity.
But experts who examined that site found 78 fauna and flora species on Norway’s “red list” — species at risk of extinction to varying degrees. They included saproxylic beetles (which depend on deadwood), wych elms, common ash trees, 40 types of mushrooms, and various mosses.
As a result, the county governor formally opposed the location during a recent consultation process.
Adding to concerns was the fact that disposing of waste rock would take place within a protected water system.
“We need to start mining as quickly as possible so we can bypass polluting value chains originating in China,” said Martin Molvaer, an adviser at Bellona, a Norwegian tech-focused environmental NGO.
“But things should not move so quickly that we destroy a large part of nature in the process: we must therefore rush slowly,” he said.
- ‘Lesser of two evils’ -
Faced with such objections, the municipality has been forced to review the plans and take a closer look at alternate locations for the above-ground part of the mine.
While there is another less environmentally sensitive zone, neither the mining developers nor the local population favor it.
“We accept that we will have to sacrifice a significant part of our nature,” local mayor Linda Thorstensen said.
“It comes down to choosing the lesser of two evils.”
Thorstensen supports the mine project, given the small town has seen jobs and young people move elsewhere for decades. It is “a new adventure,” she said.
“A lot of people live outside the job market, many receive social welfare assistance or disability pensions. So we need jobs and opportunities,” she said.
In the almost-empty streets of Ulefoss, locals were cautiously optimistic.
“We want a dynamic that makes it possible for us to become wealthy, so that the community benefits. We need money and more residents,” Inger Norendal, a 70-year-old retired teacher, told AFP.
“But mining obviously has its downsides too.”
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