ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday accused India of "jeopardizing the peace and stability of the entire region," following a standoff between Indian and Chinese troops in the border region of Ladakh.
The accusation came from Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who also said the showdown was sparked by Indian infrastructure works in the disputed area.
"The recent conflict between China and India was triggered by the latter’s illegal constructions in Ladakh. In the wake of the law and order situation in the region, the international community should take immediate notice of the Indian government's growing extremism and hegemonic agenda,” Qureshi said in a statement.
Earlier this week and in a series of tweets, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan also attacked India by saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is "becoming a threat to India’s neighbors."
Pakistani Foreign Office spokeswoman Aisha Farooqui told Arab News on Friday that regional peace and security are being threatened by India on both the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan and the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, as well as on its border with Nepal.
“Increasingly we see a pattern whereby India has taken unilateral actions in violation of established mechanisms and bilateral understandings and agreements with its neighbors,” Farooqui said.
On May 10, the Indian army reported that several Indian and Chinese soldiers were injured in a cross-border clash at Naku La in North Sikkim, which borders Bhutan, Nepal and China. The focus has since moved to India's Ladakh region across the border from Tibet.
India and China fought a war over India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh in 1962. China still claims some 90,000 square kilometers of territory under New Delhi's control.
While no shot has been fired across their border for more than four decades, there have been numerous face-offs. In 2017, there was a 72-day showdown after Chinese forces moved into the disputed Doklam plateau on the China-India-Bhutan border.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump offered to mediate the dispute.
"We have informed both India and China that the United States is ready, willing and able to mediate or arbitrate their now raging border dispute,” Trump wrote in a Twitter post.
India, however, sidestepped the offer and announced it would resolve the matter diplomatically.
"India is committed to the objective of maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas with China. At the same time, we remain firm in our resolve to ensure India's sovereignty and national security,” India’s foreign ministry spokesman, Anurag Srivastava, told reporters during a media briefing on Thursday.
Pakistan accuses India of threatening regional peace and stability
https://arab.news/rppmx
Pakistan accuses India of threatening regional peace and stability
- India on Thursday said it would peacefully resolve its border conflict with China
- The stand-off began in early May with a scuffle between Indian and Chinese border troops
Pakistan moves to digitize payments for 10 million women under flagship poverty initiative
- BISP Official says accounts will be linked to phones to boost financial inclusion and curb payment deductions
- Over 1.9 million SIMs issued as the nationwide rollout continues across provinces ahead of the March deadline
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s flagship poverty alleviation initiative, the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), plans to equip 10 million women with digital bank accounts linked to their phone numbers within four months in one of the largest such exercises in the world, one of its top officials said on Wednesday.
Launched in 2008, the initiative is named after the late former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and has a budget of Rs716 billion ($2.5 billion) during the current fiscal year. Through its Benazir Kafaalat — or financial assistance — program, BISP provides quarterly stipends of Rs13,500 ($48) to around 10 million women.
In an exclusive interview with Arab News, BISP Secretary Amir Ali Ahmed said the opening of digital bank accounts for the beneficiaries was part of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s initiative related to a cashless economy and digital transformation of the country.
“I’m glad to share that 10 million bank accounts, wallet accounts were created,” he said. “This is a follow-up of the same exercise whereby now 10 million SIMs are being distributed.
“It is significant to share that the entire beneficiary network that we have is female-centric,” he continued. “So these are 10 million female accounts that have been created.”
Ahmed said the process of issuing mobile phone SIM cards to BISP beneficiaries had started on November 17 and would be completed by March next year.
“Let me share that this is one of the largest such exercises to be conducted in the world which is female-centric, linked with financial inclusion and financial empowerment.”
The BISP official added that out of the more than 10 million beneficiaries, only five to 10 percent had bank accounts, but nearly 90 to 95 percent were excluded from the system.
He said they were being linked to the banking system with cellphone SIMs that are being distributed with the help of the IT ministry, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, National Database and Registration Authority and telecom companies across the country.
“We feel that this initiative of the government of Pakistan will not only result in financial empowerment of our beneficiaries, it will also result in financial inclusion of a segment which was not part of the banking sector in Pakistan,” he said, adding that the move will also lead to transparency.
In the past, there have been complaints of women not getting their full payment from bank officials in the absence of their own accounts, but Ahmed said this was going to change.
“They will be free from any exploitation at the agent networks, the queues that one would witness, the complaints of corruption or deductions that would emerge,” he continued.
According to official data, more than 1.9 million SIMs have so far been issued for BISP beneficiaries across the country.
The province of Punjab leads the rollout with 810,597 SIMs, followed by Sindh with 523,629 and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 371,427 SIMs.
In other regions, Azad Jammu and Kashmir has received 59,617, Balochistan 82,826, Gilgit-Baltistan 45,184, and Islamabad 4,508 SIMs.
