China - Pakistan Economic Corridor - CPEC

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Indus Motor Company is launching the Toyota Rush in
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in a few months.


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It is a 1500CC mini-SUV, that the company previously released as the Daihatsu Terios in 2010 but later discontinued it. And now the IMC will initially sell completely built units (CBU) into the country.

Toyota Rush was first introduced to the Japanese domestic market in 1997 after which it gained traction in several developing marketing in Asia, Africa, South America and Eastern Europe.

In other markets, the car is known as the Daihatsu Bego, Grand or the Perodua Nautica. The 2018 model of the 7-seater Toyota Rush offered in other markets features very Fortuner-esqe styling with a more compact footprint. At this point it is not clear what trim options will be available to consumers in Pakistan, but the offering will likely be targeted to a young urban audience much like the other mini-SUVs that have entered the market recently.

The Toyota Rush will position itself in the market as a direct competitor to the Honda Vezel/ HR-V and the Suzuki Vitara. The price tags for vehicles offered by local automakers in this category is between Rs. 3.5 million and Rs. 4.2 million, so we are assuming that the company will offer it around the same price tag.

Over the past few years, the country’s long-stagnant auto sector has seen the much-anticipated activity as car sales exhibited great growth year-on-year, while new automakers race to set up assembly lines to capture a slice of Pakistan’s massive demand for automobiles.

Note: The Toyota Rush/ Daihatsu Terios is not to be confused with the Daihatsu Terios Kid, a 660CC Japanese domestic market Micro-SUV that gained popularity in the country in the late 2000s.

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China - Pak Economic Corridor - CPEC

Huge reserves of hydrocarbons located in Makran, says
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chief


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: Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Zafar Mehmood Abbasi said on Wednesday that huge reserves of hydrocarbon resources were expected to be explored soon and could be a “game changer” for
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’s economy.

The naval chief, speaking to businessmen and industrialists during his visit to the Korangi Association of Trade and Industry, further said that there should be no doubts on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor’s benefits for the country.

He said huge reserves of hydrocarbons had been located in the Makran region and Chinese experts would soon initiate exploration in the sea.

He deplored that a massive campaign was going on against CPEC but the nation had understood that the project would prove to be a game changer for our future economic strength and added that there should be no doubts about CPEC benefits.

The naval chief said that to give a strong push to maritime economy, business and industry had a great role to play. He said that there was a great need to have academic research on maritime economy and hydrocarbons for which Bahria University would be tasked.

Similarly, Admiral Abbasi said that there was a great need to have a technology park, which would be set up in Karachi in the near future. In order to upgrade ship-breaking industry private sector would have to play a role in introducing latest know-how so that new opportunities opened up in that sector.

The naval chief said that propaganda was going on to malign Pakistan’s armed forces but relationship between the forces and the people of Pakistan were strong and it was appreciable that democratic process was strengthening in the country.

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China - Pak Economic Corridor - CPEC

From Badr-1 to PRSS-1: Pakistan’s Journey into Space


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’s premier space agency,
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made 200 million plus Pakistanis proud once it launched a remote-sensing (
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-1) satellite and a technology evaluation satellite (PakTES-1A) on July 9, 2018. These two satellites mark a big achievement in the socio-economic development of the country.

Pakistan’s space odyssey dates back to the peak of the Cold War once it became the third Asian country to launch a sounding rocket in collaboration with the American space agency, NASA. The space cooperation became a victim of the geopolitical developments once the two allies became disenchanted. Stringent technology denial by the West and lack of interest in supporting Pakistan pushed its space development to the back burner.

The first major breakthrough was witnessed once Islamabad launched its communication satellite Badr-1 in 1990. The second baby step was Badr-2 that was launched in 2001. The defining moment in Pakistan’s space program arrived in 2011 when it launched its communication satellite PakSAT-1R in 2011. Today, Pakistan has entered the club of advanced spacefaring nations which have remote sensing satellites. Not one but two remote sensing satellites were launched in tandem. This launch will not only help Pakistan project its soft image in the world but also reap the socio-economic advantages for its national growth by benefitting from space technology.

In 2016, an agreement was signed between SUPARCO and the China Great Wall Industrial Cooperation to build PRSS-1. The PakTES-1A on the other hand, was entirely SUPARCO’s own engineering endeavour. Both were launched from Jiuquan Satellite Center using Long March 2C/SMA rocket. It was the first commercial flight of Long March 2C to take any foreign payload in space.

Primarily, the data provided by these satellites will be used for multiple purposes. Images captured by PRSS-1 will be used for planning, managing, monitoring, and utilization of natural resources to improve the life of a common person in Pakistan. The data will help in improving the economic growth of Pakistan. In addition, remote sensing capability will also help organizations and institutions designated for environment monitoring in Pakistan to sharpen their climate change assessments. Likewise, the imagery provided by PRSS-1 will help in improving knowledge of the supply of freshwater and managing the distribution of water.

In the past two decades, Pakistan has been affected by super floods and droughts. Unfortunately, the water management system in Pakistan is in its worst condition. Major water dams are too few in number. As a result of this poor water management, massive water crisis in Pakistan is looming large. Situational analysis on water scarcity in Pakistan done by the UN and other international organizations suggests that Pakistan is likely to run dry by 2025 if the situation persists.

PRSS-1 could be a real game-changer. Space experts believe that remote sensing satellites could help countries to resolve their internal conflicts. For example, the distribution of water among provinces in Pakistan is a daunting task. The authorities over time have failed to convince the provinces that all of them are getting their due share of water. In view of this lingering problem, PRSS-1 could play a decisive role as it will provide the images of the supply of water, level of water in the reservoirs and will highlight other indicators for better management of water. The satellite will also help in preparing feasibility reports for constructing more dams in Pakistan which is the need of the hour. Hence, PRSS-1 could play a major role in resolving the lingering water crisis in Pakistan. Eventually, the remote sensing satellite will help improve the capabilities of the departments and institutions related to water management in Pakistan to make better assessments of the situation and devise strategies to deal with the impending crisis. PRSS-1 will also be useful in agriculture to estimate future crop yields and monitoring. Furthermore, the remote sensing applications will be used to study the spread of several chronic diseases, mapping them will help ensure better health solutions for Pakistanis.

In general, remote sensing satellites will offer Pakistan the ability to predict and ascertain the level of precipitation and runoff water for a given area since it has greater application in agriculture, monitoring and predicting groundwater supplies, flooding, drought and atmospheric changes in Pakistan. In this regard, SUPARCO has undertaken landmark projects such as the development of geospatial systems for irrigation management, glaciers mapping and monitoring, river and flood vulnerability assessment, crop damage assessment, seawater intrusion mapping and groundwater prospection.

The launch of PRSS-1 and PakTES-1A has proved to be a real morale booster for Pakistan. SUPARCO has achieved another milestone in its long history of space exploration. The time gap between the last launch and the present was almost seven years, but it is still a giant leap forward for Pakistan. The Space program is getting considerable attention in Pakistan as it sees space program vital for its national power.

Major spacefaring nations are getting tremendous socio-economic benefits from their space programs and history of the Cold War space race is rife with success stories. Pakistan’s space policy is predominantly devised on technological determinism as it wants to bolster its space program for peaceful purposes and for socio-economic development and its Space Vision 2047 is the documented manifestation of its peaceful exploration of space.

Ahmad Khan is a PhD Scholar in the National Defence University, Islamabad and a former visiting fellow at the Atlantic Council, US.

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China - Pak Economic Corridor - CPEC

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to add 60,000 troops to deploy at Pak -
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: report


RAWALPINDI: To increase its patrol along Pak-Afghan border, Pakistan will add 60,000 troops to curtail movement of militants, Bloomberg citing military officials reported.

The military officials requested for anonymity informed The Bloomberg that 40 percent of the aforementioned number of troops has already been recruited in the exercise and it will likely take two years.

The military officials also said about 13 percent of the fencing at Pak-Afghan border, which is 1456 miles long area, has also been completed.

The Pak-Afghan border has 235 crossing points and it is porous. Some crossing points are used by the militants and drug traffickers, according to the report.


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China should ignore the noise, step up investment in Pakistan: Global Times

Chinese officials have long stated that constructive criticism is always welcome, but there has got to be a bottom line: China should not let the noise get in the way of doing the right thing for itself and other countries.

One such thing is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or known in Pakistan as the CPEC. Despite tangible benefits CPEC projects have brought to Pakistan, there has been no shortage of noise about the $60-billion program between China and Pakistan, according to an article published in Global Times on Monday.

As infrastructure and energy projects under CPEC reach their milestone, some foreign officials, experts and journalists have constantly linked Pakistan’s domestic economic woes, such as a foreign exchange reserve crunch, to the projects; some even went too far suggesting that China, through the billions of investments in Pakistan, have controlled the country.

No one with full knowledge of the project and its financial structure believe that. But the truth, according to some officials, top experts and business leaders in Pakistan, is that this noise does have an implication if let unchallenged. Coupled with other false information regarding Pakistan’s security situation and tense domestic political competition, they say this noise could discourage more Chinese companies and organizations from further engaging in Pakistan and slow the progress of the CPEC.

During a recent trip to Islamabad and Karachi, top officials, experts, business leaders and ordinary Pakistanis frequently point out that despite tangible benefits from CPEC and the broader China-Pakistan cooperation, China has rarely taken the initiative to speak out about these results and counter the negative global narrative, and more Chinese businesses are reluctant to come to Pakistan.

“Maybe they are shy?” one business leader in Karachi asked.

They also pointed out a key theme with regard to CPEC and the broader China-Pakistan ties, which is that China’s investment in infrastructure and energy projects is not enough and that China should get more deeply involved in all aspects of Pakistan—from industrial to social development.

In Islamabad, officials say they want to learn more from China’s experience in economic development and need China’s help in shoring up Pakistan’s industrial sector; in Karachi, academics say they want to cooperate with Chinese universities in both science and technology research; businessmen say they want to work with private Chinese companies.

To put it simply: as others who have nothing to do with China-Pakistani relations paint a picture of China exerting influence in Pakistan and other countries through economic activities, Pakistan wants more reassurance that its economy is not on the verge of going bankrupt as portrayed by some, and will be able to meet its financial obligations once economic activities pick up with the implementation of CPEC.

Pakistan does need China’s help, as it faces a slew of economic challenges, including a backward industrial supply chain, weak foreign trade and a huge portion of its population still living in poverty and without proper education.

A friend in need is a friend indeed. China should ignore the noise and step up its investment in Pakistan.

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now I read
Three Chinese among 6 injured in suicide blast in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan
Xinhua| 2018-08-11 22:15:52
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A suicide attack injured six people, including three Chinese workers, in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province on Saturday, the Chinese Embassy to Pakistan said.

"The Embassy and Consulates General of China in Pakistan strongly condemn the violent attack in Balochistan today, and express our sincere sympathy to the injured from both countries," the Chinese Embassy and the Chinese Consulate General in Karachi said in a statement.

The Chinese side has requested Pakistan to investigate the incident, bring the perpetrators to justice and take further effective measures to ensure the security of the Chinese institutions and citizens in Pakistan, the statement added.

The suicide blast shattered the windows of the bus ferrying the Chinese workers in Dalbandin, about 340 km southwest of the provincial capital of Quetta.

A local administrator of the region Sardarzada Saif Kethran said that the incident took place when a suicide bomber exploded his explosives-laden small truck near the bus carrying Chinese workers from Saindak Copper- Gold Mines project to the airport in Dalbandin, a city in Chagai district of the country's southwest Balochistan province.

According to another local official, three Chinese nationals, two security personnel, and a civilian driver of the bus were among the injured.

Personnel of security forces convoy which was providing the security to the bus shifted the injured to the nearby hospital. All the injured are in stable condition.

Muhammad Ibrahim, the driver of the ill-fated bus, told media that he saw a suspected minitruck on the roadside little ahead of his bus, adding "I pressed the emergency brakes when the truck moved little. As I pressed the brakes the truck exploded with a big bang."

The visuals and pictures of the bus showed that its front side got affected by the blast. The driver said that if he did not press the brakes, there might be a huge loss.

The security forces cordoned off the area and started a search operation in the region.

A miscreant group of Baloch nationals claimed the attack.

Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned the terrorist attack on the Chinese engineers and their accompanying security personnel.

In a statement, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said that all of the injured are stable and being treated.

"Pakistan remains unflinchingly undeterred in the face of such dastardly terrorist acts," the statement said.
 

Equation

Lieutenant General
oh there're so many Tangos in Pakistan that they might now even know who's the target ... somebody wanted to blast her/himself, so s/he did

just another day in Pakistan, I guess
But somebody has to provide for the blast, detonation and intelligence to the terrorist group about the upcoming bus that was targeted.
 
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