Courtesy: Geo News/Reuters

• Thousands protested in Canada for independent state.
• Canada asked for safety, security of diplomatic premises to ensure normal relations. 
• India launches probe into London High Commission protest.

MUMBAI: India summoned Canada’s High Commissioner on Sunday to “convey strong concern” over Sikh protesters in Canada and how they were allowed to breach the security of India’s diplomatic mission and consulates.

According to Canadian media reports, hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the Indian consulate in Vancouver on Saturday over demands for an independent Sikh state, a simmering issue for decades recently triggered again.

Canada has the highest population of Sikhs outside their home state of Punjab in India.

“It is expected that the Canadian government will take all steps which are required to ensure the safety of our diplomats and security of our diplomatic premises so that they are able to fulfil their normal diplomatic functions,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

The statement follows Indian police on March 21 launching a hunt for Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh, who has revived talk of an independent Sikh homeland and stoked fears of a return to violence that killed tens of thousands of people in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Police have accused Singh and his supporters of attempted murder, obstruction of law enforcement and creating disharmony and said he had been on the run since last week when officers tried to block his motorcade and arrest him.

Indian police also opened an investigation last week into a protest at its High Commission in London, where protesters with “Khalistan” banners took an Indian flag down from a first-floor balcony of the High Commission to denounce recent police action in India’s Punjab state. India summoned the top British diplomat in New Delhi last Sunday seeking an explanation.

Khalistan is the name of an independent Sikh homeland that some members of that community aspire to, both at home in India and in countries where Sikhs have settled.

1- Header image: Amritpal Singh, a radical Sikh leader, leaves the holy Sikh shrine of the Golden Temple along with his supporters, in Amritsar, India, March 3, 2023. — Reuters

Courtesy: Dawn News/Reuters

Ottawa: Canada and the United States on Friday changed a two-decade-old refugee agreement as part of their attempts to reduce the record influx of asylum seekers entering Canada via unofficial border crossings.

The deal was the news highlight of US President Joe Biden’s first visit to Canada as president and could provide some relief to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is under pressure from political opponents to take action.

The Safe Third Country Agreement, signed in 2002 and which came into effect in 2004, originally meant asylum seekers crossing into either Canada or the United States at formal border crossings were turned back and told to apply for asylum in the first “safe” country they arrived in.

Now it applies to the length of the 6,416-km land border. Under the revised pact, anyone who crosses into either country anywhere along the land border and who applies for asylum within 14 days will be turned back.

It comes into effect at midnight on Saturday. A Canadian government source not authorised to speak on the record said there would be increased police patrols near select unofficial crossings but no major assigning of enforcement resources yet.

“Both of our countries believe in fair and safe, fair and orderly migration, refugee protection and border security. This is why we will now apply the Safe Third Country Agreement … between official points of entry,” Trudeau told reporters.

Courtesy: NDTV/Agence France-Presse

Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where even unproven allegations can stir mobs and violence.

Peshawar, Pakistan: An anti-terrorism court in northwest Pakistan has convicted and sentenced a Muslim man to death after he was accused of posting blasphemous content in a WhatsApp group.

Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where even unproven allegations can stir mobs and violence.

Syed Muhammad Zeeshan was convicted under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act and Anti-Terrorist Act by the court in Peshawar on Friday.

“Accused Syed Muhammad Zeeshan, son of Syed Zakaullah in custody has been convicted and sentenced after being found guilty”, the court order said, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

Zeeshan, who is a resident of the northwest city of Mardan, was also fined 1.2 million rupees ($4,300) and handed a total of 23 years imprisonment.

He has the right to appeal.

The case arose after Muhammad Saeed, a resident of Talagang in Punjab province filed an application with the Federal Investigation Agency two years ago accusing Zeeshan of posting blasphemous content in a WhatsApp group, Saeed’s counsel Ibrar Hussain told AFP.

The “FIA had confiscated Zeeshan’s cell-phone and its forensic examination proved him guilty”, he said.

While Pakistan’s laws prohibiting blasphemy can carry a potential death sentence, so far it has never been enforced for the crime.

Although many cases involve Muslims accusing fellow Muslims, rights activists have warned that religious minorities — particularly Christians — are often caught in the crossfire, with blasphemy charges used to settle personal scores.

According to the National Commission of Justice and Peace, a human rights and legal aid group in Pakistan, 774 Muslims and 760 members of various minority religious groups were accused of blasphemy in the last 20 years.

1- Header image: The man was accused of posting blasphemous messages on a Whatsapp group. (Representational)

Courtesy: Geo News

LONDON: British Pakistani diplomat Fouzia Younis has made history once again as she has been appointed as His Majesty’s British Consul General to Toronto.

Fouzia Younis, who is currently in Islamabad working as a senior British diplomat, will be leaving for Canada soon to take up her new role.

She said on Twitter: “Privileged to be appointed as His Majesty’s British Consul General to Toronto. Special moment as we think it’s the 1st time (but don’t have data) that a British Muslim woman has been appointed as Head of a Diplomatic Post. I won’t be the last.

Job News: Privileged to be appointed as His Majesty’s British Consul General to Toronto Special moment as we think it’s the 1st time (but don’t have data) that a British Muslim woman has been appointed as Head of a Diplomatic Post. I won’t be the last.

Fouzia Younis@YounisFouzia

To my aba who used to drop me at Digbeth Coach Station at 4 am so I could get to my work interviews, & my late ama who stood up for 18 year old me to go to uni & waited at bus stops to walk me home through dark streets. You went without for our today. Shukriya.

“To the girls who look like me, who are battling prejudice, racism and sexism from within communities & outside, who are told they can’t do it, or that they don’t sound or look the part. Don’t let anyone dim your power. You can change the world. Shout out to my colleagues & old/new bosses for your every word of advice and challenge to help me find my voice. We serve and represent the UK of today, we represent all of us, we shape all our futures I can’t wait to get cracking in Toronto to do just that!”

Fouzia Younis@YounisFouzia

To the girls who look like me, who are battling prejudice, racism & sexism from within communities & outside, who are told they can’t do it, or that they don’t sound or look the part. Don’t let anyone dim your power. You can change the .

Fouzia Younis@YounisFouzia

Shout out to my colleagues & old/new bosses for your every word of advice & challenge to help me find my voice. We serve & represent the of today, we represent all of us , we shape all our futures I can’t wait to get cracking in Toronto to do just that.

Younis made history first when she was appointed director of communications at the British High Commission in Islamabad over three years ago — becoming the first Pakistani-origin diplomat to have been appointed in this role.

Younis, who was born in Birmingham to Pakistani parents, is a fluent Urdu and Punjabi speaker. She passed graduation and masters from the Universities of Birmingham and Cambridge before joining the UK Foreign Service.

She paid tribute to her father, who used to drop her at the coach station at 4am for her work interviews and her late mother, who supported her decision to go to university and would walk her home through the dark streets of Birmingham.

Younis has said that her mother, Zohra Begum, who recently passed away after suffering from COVID-19, was a strong advocate of girls’ education who raised four successful children.

She was the communication director for the Pakistan Network; and previously the co-chair of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) Race Network leading a global network of over 300 staff.

Her previous diplomatic assignments have included: leading UK strategic efforts across the Gulf Cooperation Council region; supporting UK’s security and humanitarian efforts in Bangladesh; and serving in Sri Lanka during the conflict period.

In Islamabad, Younis worked on the Royal Visit, two English cricket and several other initiatives.

Younis was also seconded to 10 Downing Street and has led major corporate reform programmes for the FCDO. Her work has been nominated for several awards including for innovation and expertise, and she is a passionate advocate for inclusion.

Courtesy: Geo News/AFP

US President Joe Biden arrived Thursday in Canada where he will meet Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and address parliament, with reports that a deal has been struck on managing undocumented migration across the neighbours’ long border.

Trade, Canada’s anaemic defence spending, and a potential international force to stabilize troubled Haiti are expected to be on the agenda in the events set largely for Friday.

As Biden flew north, there were reports that another hot-button issue in the otherwise smooth relationship had been resolved through a deal to clamp down on undocumented migration by asylum seekers passing through the United States into Canada.

According to The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, Canada will be able to stop illegal migrants at the Roxham Road crossing point on the frontier between New York state and Quebec.

The flow of migrants there has been a source of irritation in domestic Canadian politics, much as it is in Washington concerning illegal entries across the US-Mexico border.

The reports said that Canada has agreed in return to take in some 15,000 asylum seekers from Latin America through legal channels, a move that will ease the pressure on the southern US border.

But as Biden and his wife First Lady Jill Biden arrived at Trudeau’s home Thursday evening for dinner, the president declined to answer a reporter’s question on the deal.

He then accompanied the prime minister and his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau inside.

Earlier, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre would not confirm the news but said “we will hear more about it from the president and the prime minister tomorrow.”

Ahead of the visit, the two sides stressed their close integration.

“I think that’s going to be the theme of this visit, that we are there making each other stronger and better,” Canada’s ambassador to the United States, Kirsten Hillman, told CBC.

But only modest, if any, progress is expected on tensions over Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act – a massive program to subsidize and kick start US-based development of electric vehicles and other clean energy products.

“We are looking for more inclusion in exactly those things,” a senior Canadian government official told reporters.

“We want a North America that is globally competitive, so that our two economies which are already so integrated, where so many businesses and jobs and supply chains rely on each other, can compete with the world and can be successful together.”

Money for mutual defence

Another expected item on the agenda is the financing of the neighbours’ mutual defence pacts, both as members of NATO and their joint air defence system for North America, named NORAD.

The US government has been pressuring Canada to increase its defence spending, which in 2022 was just 1.33% of GDP. This is scheduled to rise to 1.59% from 2026 but that’s still well below the NATO alliance requirement of a minimum two percent of GDP spending.

Jean-Pierre praised Canada’s contributions to the Western alliance helping Ukraine to fend off the Russian invasion but said regarding the budget, “I’m sure that conversation will come up.”

Earlier Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Biden and Trudeau would discuss pleas from Haiti’s leaders for an international force to bring order to the impoverished Caribbean nation, where the authorities are unable to subdue armed gangs.

1- Header image: US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden step off Air Force One upon arrival at Ottawa International Airport in Ottawa, Canada on March 23, 2023. — AFP

Courtesy: Dawn News

• Highest level seen since Sept 2022
• Officials urge citizens not to panic; ask them to avoid crowds, wear masks in public

ISLAMABAD: The nat­ional positivity rate of Covid-19 has exceeded three per cent in the past 24 hours with around 168 new cases, the highest number since Sept 2022, according to the Nat­ional Command and Opera­tion Centre (NCOC) data.

The positivity rate in two major cities, Karachi and Islamabad, has surpassed 5 and 6 per cent, respectively.

While the officials acknowledged the rise in cases, they said the trend was not a cause for concern.

NCOC member Dr Shahzad Ali Khan told Dawn that cases had increased due of recent mutations in the virus. “People should not panic as the mortality rate of the new strain was very low,” he added.

According to NCOC data, the national positivity rate was 3.02pc, while rates in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi were 6.11pc, 5.51pc, 3.99pc and 2.61pc, respectively. One death has also been reported in the past 24 hours.

Dr Khan, who is also Vice Chancellor of the Health Services Academy, said the cases will continue to increase and decrease as transmissibility fluctuates with the arrival of new strains of the virus.

He said people up to middle age, with good health shouldn’t worry about the virus because even if they were infected, they will not face major complications and symptoms.

“However those over 65 years of age and those suffering from blood pressure, diabetes, kidney related issues and cancer, should be careful,” warned Dr Khan.

He said even during last year cases increased before summer but the situation remained under control.

“Although the number of cases has increased, the number of deaths is minimal,” the NCOC member said, adding that the virus belongs to a family of influenza so it remained less active in summer.

He still advised caution saying that the NCOC has already advised people to wear masks in health facilities and other public places. The fresh guidelines were issued by the NCOC for up to April 30, keeping in view the Covid-19 trend in the country.

“People should avoid crowded places because currently, the virus is only spreading from human to human, contrary to the situation in 2020 when it was also spreading through utensils, dresses, currency notes, etc,” he said while talking to Dawn.

Last week, Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Abdul Qadir Patel also said the virus situation “was under control” and asked people to avoid paying heed to rumours.

“The government had strengthened the role of Border and Health Services to deal with any sub-variant of Covid-19,” the minister said.He added that surveillance systems have been set up at all entry points and all arriving passengers are being subjected to rapid tests and screening at all airports.

Courtesy: Geo News/Reuters

India’s parliament on Friday disqualified the leader of the main opposition Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, a day after a court jailed him for two years in a defamation case loosely linked to the prime minister, parliament said in a statement.

Gandhi “stands disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha”, parliament said, referring to the lower house of parliament.

Congress members held protests in some parts of the country on Friday against Gandhi’s conviction and two-year-old jail sentence.

Congress party officials have described the judgment as politically motivated and blamed the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

1- Header image: Indian National Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi addresses a crowd during his Unite India March in Delhi on December 24, 2022. —Reuters

Courtesy: Dawn News

WASHINGTON: The US chapter of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has hired a second lobbying firm in the United States to make Americans aware of the threat to Imran Khan’s life, a senior party leader said.

The move highlights PTI’s efforts to win over sympathies for the former prime minister in Washington where he is not very popular. This also is a major departure from the party’s previous policy of blaming the Biden administration for its ouster from the government in April last year.

Documents filed with the US Justice Department show that the PTI, USA, signed a contract with a Washington-based lobbying firm, Praia Consultants LLC, on Feb 21 this year for six months. The contract can be renewed for another six-month term with mutual consent. The New York-based PTI USA is the principal client of the lobbying firm which will receive $8,333 per month.

Under the contract, the firm “shall provide expert advice regarding the client’s relationship with the US government and institutions”. The firm shall also “organise meetings with several key US decision-makers and will provide guidance in terms of the content of the meetings”.

Sherry says move has exposed party’s ‘double standards and hypocrisy’

Although signed almost a month ago, the PTI kept quiet on this agreement until Wednesday when Pakistan’s former US ambassador Hussain Haqqani posted a copy of the contract on his Twitter handle.

His comments annoyed Atif Khan, adviser to PTI chairman on overseas affairs, who also publicly acknowledged the contract. “What we are paying the firm, does not come from Pakistan. It’s our money that we are spending to protect Imran Khan,” he wrote.

“The firm will help us in making Americans aware of the threat to Mr Khan’s life,” he told Dawn.

‘Double standards’

Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman slammed the PTI for signing the agreement with a US lobbying firm, saying it exposed the party’s “double standards and hypocrisy”, APP reported.

The minister said many countries appoint lobbyists, and so do political parties, but this case was particularly bizarre because it came from a party that attempted to pose itself as a [political] martyr of the “US meddling”.

“If that was the case, why are they now locked in a desperate attempt to buy the influence of the US decision-makers after the failure of the ‘Cipher Conspiracy’ narrative and earlier lobbying efforts? PTI’s double standards and U-turns have been exposed many times,” she said on Twitter.

تحریک انصاف نے امریکہ میں اپنی کھوئی ہوئی ساکھ کو بحال کرنے کیلئے ایک اور لابنگ فرم کے ساتھ معاہدہ کیا ہے۔ پرائے کنسلٹنٹ کے ساتھ معاہدے کا مقصد تحریک انصاف کے امریکہ کے ساتھ تعلقات بہتر کرنا ہے۔ “سازشی سائفر” میں ناکامی کے بعد اب زور و شور سے ڈالرز میں اثر و رسوخ خریدہ جا رہا۔