ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi emphasized the importance of developing a collaborative and well-coordinated response mechanism to deal with security threats and keep the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) a peaceful and economically thriving place.
He was addressing a gathering in the federal capital on Monday.
Organized by the Institute of Maritime Affairs (IMA) at Bahria University, the International Maritime Symposium focused on the impact of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on the region’s geo-economics and Pakistan’s prospects and role in it.
The prime minister praised the Pakistan Navy for ensuring the country’s maritime security, especially the safety and defense of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and its strategic node of Gwadar Port.
He also applauded IMA and Bahria University for policy advocacy and raising awareness in the maritime domain. “I also urge all other stakeholders, including academia, media, civil society organizations and the private sector, to join hands in such endeavors in order to effectively translate such debates into peace, prosperity and sustainable development,” he added.
Given the importance of IOR, Abbasi said that Pakistan acknowledged and appreciated the vision of Chinese President Xi Jinping for conceptualizing and announcing BRI with the economic objectives of “connectivity, unimpeded trade, and financial integration.”
In his inaugural address, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi said that the idea of “economic networking,” which was the cornerstone of BRI, would not only help revive historical links but also contribute toward greater prosperity of the nations renewing transcontinental trade routes connecting Asia, Africa, Europe and even beyond.
While highlighting the significance of IOR, he said that the region had been the global geopolitical chessboard and one of the core drivers of the world’s prosperity.
However, he also added that IOR had witnessed a seismic shift at the geo-strategic level over the past few decades. While this shift was initially security focused, he pointed out that BRI was an attempt to transform it into geo-economic one.
The symposium attracted a large number of people interested in the Indian Ocean Region and its changing political and economic dynamics. It also brought together some of the leading national and international experts who shared their thoughts on a wide range of issues.
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Reaping dividends of Belt and Road Initiative is imperative for a secure, peaceful Indian Ocean Region, says Prime Minister
Reaping dividends of Belt and Road Initiative is imperative for a secure, peaceful Indian Ocean Region, says Prime Minister
- The International Maritime Symposium focused on the impact of China’s BRI on the region’s geo-economics and Pakistan’s potential role in it
- The prime minister praised the Pakistan Navy for ensuring the country’s maritime security, especially the safety and defense of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and its strategic node of Gwadar Port
Nigeria signals more strikes likely in ‘joint’ US operations
- vNigeria on Friday signalled more strikes against jihadist groups were expected after a Christmas Day bombardment by US forces against militants in the north of the country
LAGOS: Nigeria on Friday signalled more strikes against jihadist groups were expected after a Christmas Day bombardment by US forces against militants in the north of the country.
The west African country faces multiple interlinked security crises in its north, where jihadists have been waging an insurgency in the northeast since 2009 and armed “bandit” gangs raid villages and stage kidnappings in the northwest.
The US strikes come after Abuja and Washington were locked in a diplomatic dispute over what Trump characterised as the mass killing of Christians amid Nigeria’s myriad armed conflicts.
Washington’s framing of the violence as amounting to Christian “persecution” is rejected by the Nigerian government and independent analysts, but has nonetheless resulted in increased security coordination.
“It’s Nigeria that provided the intelligence,” the country’s foreign minister, Yusuf Tuggar, told broadcaster Channels TV, saying he was on the phone with US State Secretary Marco Rubio ahead of the bombardment.
Asked if there would be more strikes, Tuggar said: “It is an ongoing thing, and we are working with the US. We are working with other countries as well.”
- Targets unclear -
The Department of Defense’s US Africa Command, using an acronym for the Daesh group, said “multiple Daesh terrorists” were killed in an attack in the northwestern state of Sokoto.
US defense officials later posted video of what appeared to be the nighttime launch of a missile from the deck of a battleship flying the US flag.
Which of Nigeria’s myriad armed groups were targeted remains unclear.
Nigeria’s jihadist groups are mostly concentrated in the northeast of the country, but have made inroads into the northwest.
Researchers have recently linked some members from an armed group known as Lakurawa — the main jihadist group located in Sokoto State — to Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP), which is mostly active in neighboring Niger and Mali.
Other analysts have disputed those links, though research on Lakurawa is complicated as the term has been used to describe various armed fighters in the northwest.
Those described as Lakurawa also reportedly have links to Al-Qaeda affiliated group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), a rival group to ISSP.
While Abuja has welcomed the strikes, “I think Trump would not have accepted a ‘No’ from Nigeria,” said Malik Samuel, an Abuja-based researcher for Good Governance Africa, an NGO.
Amid the diplomatic pressure, Nigerian authorities are keen to be seen as cooperating with the US, Samuel told AFP, even though “both the perpetrators and the victims in the northwest are overwhelmingly Muslim.”
Tuggar said that Nigerian President Bola Tinubu “gave the go-ahead” for the strikes.
The foreign minister added: “It must be made clear that it is a joint operation, and it is not targeting any religion nor simply in the name of one religion or the other.”
The west African country faces multiple interlinked security crises in its north, where jihadists have been waging an insurgency in the northeast since 2009 and armed “bandit” gangs raid villages and stage kidnappings in the northwest.
The US strikes come after Abuja and Washington were locked in a diplomatic dispute over what Trump characterised as the mass killing of Christians amid Nigeria’s myriad armed conflicts.
Washington’s framing of the violence as amounting to Christian “persecution” is rejected by the Nigerian government and independent analysts, but has nonetheless resulted in increased security coordination.
“It’s Nigeria that provided the intelligence,” the country’s foreign minister, Yusuf Tuggar, told broadcaster Channels TV, saying he was on the phone with US State Secretary Marco Rubio ahead of the bombardment.
Asked if there would be more strikes, Tuggar said: “It is an ongoing thing, and we are working with the US. We are working with other countries as well.”
- Targets unclear -
The Department of Defense’s US Africa Command, using an acronym for the Daesh group, said “multiple Daesh terrorists” were killed in an attack in the northwestern state of Sokoto.
US defense officials later posted video of what appeared to be the nighttime launch of a missile from the deck of a battleship flying the US flag.
Which of Nigeria’s myriad armed groups were targeted remains unclear.
Nigeria’s jihadist groups are mostly concentrated in the northeast of the country, but have made inroads into the northwest.
Researchers have recently linked some members from an armed group known as Lakurawa — the main jihadist group located in Sokoto State — to Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP), which is mostly active in neighboring Niger and Mali.
Other analysts have disputed those links, though research on Lakurawa is complicated as the term has been used to describe various armed fighters in the northwest.
Those described as Lakurawa also reportedly have links to Al-Qaeda affiliated group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), a rival group to ISSP.
While Abuja has welcomed the strikes, “I think Trump would not have accepted a ‘No’ from Nigeria,” said Malik Samuel, an Abuja-based researcher for Good Governance Africa, an NGO.
Amid the diplomatic pressure, Nigerian authorities are keen to be seen as cooperating with the US, Samuel told AFP, even though “both the perpetrators and the victims in the northwest are overwhelmingly Muslim.”
Tuggar said that Nigerian President Bola Tinubu “gave the go-ahead” for the strikes.
The foreign minister added: “It must be made clear that it is a joint operation, and it is not targeting any religion nor simply in the name of one religion or the other.”
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