MQM Resigns from National, Sindh Assemblies; India Sues Nestle; Afghan Delegation to Visit Pakistan

Pakistan

MQM resigns from National Assembly, Sindh Assembly

On Wednesday, MQM lawmakers resigned from the National Assembly and Sindh Assembly citing a lack of government attention to their complaints (ET, Dawn). MQM Parliamentary leader Farooq Sattar said the decision was made after long deliberations and cited the Rangers’ operations in Karachi as cause stating: “it has been proved that the implementation of law is different for MQM than that for other parties.” Sattar warned: “If you cannot feel the heat of the fire engulfing our homes, just remember this fire could also engulf your home.” He further added: “If someone uses state aggression and tries to build a new political empire by suppressing the actual mandate of the public, it will create a violent backlash.” MQM held 51 seats in Sindh’s assembly though only 38 lawmakers resigned. The MQM has 24 members in the National Assembly.

Saudi company acquires National Power Construction Corporation

On Wednesday it was reported that a Saudi company acquired 88 percent of the shares in Pakistan’s National Power Construction Corporation (NPCC) following an effort to privatize the corporation (ET). The Saudi company, Mansour Al Mosaid Limited Company, paid Rs 2.5 billion ($24.5 million) for the shares, Rs 530 milllion ($5.2 million) more than the government’s asking price. The state’s sale of NPCC is the start of a series of privatizations after a ten-year gap in such sales. Privatization Commission Chairman Mohammad Zubair commented, “There is nothing better than a Saudi company acquiring a Pakistani firm.” According to Zubair, the government hopes to sell Pakistan International Airlines, Pakistan Steel Mills, Kot Addu Power Company, and the Faisalabad Electricity Supply Company following the success of the NPCC sale.

Polio focus turns to Pakistan

The focus of the global effort to eradicate polio has once again turned back to Pakistan and Afghanistan as the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Tuesday that Africa has not had a single new polio case for one year (Reuters). Nigeria is set to be removed from the list of polio endemic countries leaving only Afghanistan and Pakistan. Of the 34 polio cases reported so far in 2015, 28 were in Pakistan and the remaining six were in Afghanistan. The WHO cited several challenges to the effort in Pakistan including political instability and large slum areas but also noted that Pakistan has made progress running its first eradication program and vaccinating more children in areas where the government has little control.

— David Sterman

India

Indian government sues Nestle for almost $99 million in damages

The Indian government has filed a lawsuit against Swiss food firm Nestle’s Indian subsidiary, seeking 6.4 billion rupees ($99 million) in damages on behalf of consumers in the country (BBC, Reuters, WP, WSJ). Nestle is the first foreign firm in India to face such a damages claim after in May this year, regional food safety regulators reported finding excess lead in its popular Maggi noodles. The company disputes this result. The government’s lawsuit, citing unfair trade practices, the sale of defective goods, and the sale of a product without approval, has been filed on Tuesday evening, in the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, a quasi-judicial body whose rulings are legally binding. Maggi instant noodles are hugely popular in India as a cheap, quick snack, popular with school children and office workers and are available at countless roadside eateries. They were withdrawn by Nestle in June after the food scare broke.

Sources say India’s purchase of Rafale fighter jets in jeopardy

According to sources involved in the negotiations, India’s order of 36 French made Rafale fighter jets has run into trouble with government officials struggling to agree on sales terms, four months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi intervened to remove deadlocks in prior negotiations (Reuters). Two senior Indian defense officials told Reuters that both sides could not agree on the unit price of the aircraft and a condition that planemaker Dassault Aviation has to invest a substantial percentage of the value of the multi-billion dollar contract within India.

Modi and French President Francois Hollande announced the deal which was followed by three years of commercial negotiations with the manufacturer Dassault but were stalled due to disagreements over assembling most of the aircraft in India. On May 16, Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar told local media that negotiations over pricing would be finished in a “month or two,” a prediction which seems unlikely to come true now.

Police arrest 10 people trying to sell a 17th century Quran

Indian police in the southern city of Mysore have arrested 10 people who tried to illegally sell a 17th century edition of the holy Islamic book, the Quran (BBC). The 604-page Quran is written in black italics on golden paper and has gems embedded on the cover. Experts estimate it to be nearly 410 years old, written soon after the death of Mughal emperor Akbar who ruled the Indian subcontinent from 1556 to 1605. Police said the 10-member gang demanded 50 million rupees ($770,000) for the book. Superintendent of Police in Mysore Abhinav Khare said they are investigating how the group came into possession of the Quran in the first place.

— Shuja Malik

Afghanistan

Afghan delegation to visit Pakistan, demand action against Taliban

On Thursday, a high-powered Afghan delegation will visit Pakistan to discuss the aftermath of the wave of deadly attacks that hit Afghanistan over the weekend (Pajhwok, ET). The delegation will include Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabani, Acting Defense Minister Masoum Stanikzai, and chief of National Directorate of Security Rahmatullah Nabil. The delegation is expected to demand Pakistani action against Taliban forces allegedly using Pakistan as a safe haven to direct recent attacks in Afghanistan. According to Pakistan’s Express Tribune the delegation will demand the arrest and expulsion of Taliban leaders from Pakistan as well as the cessation of the treatment of Taliban forces in Pakistani hospitals.

Gunmen kidnap 12 Hazaras

On Tuesday, unknown gunmen kidnapped 12 members of Afghanistan’s minority Hazara community in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province (Reuters, Pajhwok, TOLO News). Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, a deputy governor of Ghazni, stated: “We are currently in contact with local elders. They will speak with the kidnappers to free our Hazara people.” According to one report, two abductees have been released. Hassan Reza Yousufi, a member of the Ghazni provincial council, warned: “if the government does not send troops in to secure the highways of the districts, the highways will become more insecure.” The kidnapping follows the killing of four Hazaras in the same province only days earlier.

— David Sterman

Edited by Peter Bergen

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