Linus Strothmann is a PhD German Lecturer. He authored book “Managing Piety, the Shrine of Data Ganj Bakhsh”.
He visited Lahore in 2009 & highlighted that shrine was all about building votes & point scoring by Chairman of religious purpose committee Ishaq Dar and
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Auqaf Minister Ishanuddin Quereshi and CM Punjab Shahbaz Sharif. The author did his PhD on Data Durbar Shrine and he writes that even show keeping contracts were mired in corruption. He further writes that 2/9
It’s about building votes, point scoring. One employee was wife of the cousin of Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Mian Shahbaz Sharif. Even ‘Jahez fund’ they gave only to own political workers.
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Actually when they (PMLN) send their people to have an inquiry whether they (the applicants) are deserving or not, they go there and they ask about their economic condition as well as their political views. So they recommend or reject on basis the political views. 4/9
Secondly, there was a woman, a MPA from Shahdara (a suburb of Lahore). All the other women of the committee decided not to give money to the persons she had recommended, because they were of the opinion that she was obliging her jurisdiction area. 5/9
The central aim of this study is to understand why and how the shrine is used to facilitate the state’s and non-state actors’ various interests.
In 2017, Pakistan's economy was making considerable economic progress. Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50 laid out the factors behind this uptick in economic activity, citing that the China Pakistan Economic Corridor was unleashing vast investment opportunities. 1/9
He pointed out that there was a visible improvement in the GDP growth rate, in the level of foreign exchange reserves and remittances, a healthier investment to GDP ratio, and increased large-scale manufacturing.
The Bank's officials seemed forthcoming and positively engaged throughout the conversation, likely because both the World Bank and the IFC were running large portfolios for Pakistan.
In 2016, Pakistan was facing troika’s (🇺🇸🇮🇳🇦🇫) threat of isolation.
On 4 October, during in-house-discussion,there were three presentations: 1st by DGMO,2nd by NSA &3rd by me as Foreign Secretary
On 6 October, PM Nawaz Sharif through #DawnLeaks took anti-state stance and
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Dawn published a story, supporting international isolation narrative of troika being spread by USA, Indian and Afghanistan.
“Act against militants or face international isolation,civilians tell military”
But before that on 29 September 2016, USA and India NSAs talked+
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On 29 September 2016, US NSA Susan Rice spoke to her Indian counterpart Ajit Doval to offer condolences to families of the Uri attack victims and express support for India on the issue of terrorism, National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a read-out on call. +
On 26 September 2014, US Vice President Joe Biden met PM Sharif on sidelines of the UNGA session.
He asked PM
"What would Pakistan want out of the relationship (with the US)?"
Not expecting such an abrupt start, Nawaz Sharif asked Sartaj Aziz to respond,
Who
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who recounted the efforts made by Pakistan to defeat terrorism in Pakistan, the huge financial and human losses we had suffered, and the critical role that the Zarb-e-Azb Operation was playing in eliminating the forces of terrorism from our region.
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A month later, on 26 September, US Vice President Joe Biden met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the UNGA session.
Biden was in a relaxed and jovial mood and warmly shook hands with the Prime Minister and four of us who were accompanying the Prime Minister.
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The Prime Minister was accompanied by Shahbaz Sharif & Ishag Dar, as well as Prime Minister's sons, while Modi was accompanied by Ajit Doval, Jaishankar & High Commissioner Raghavan, who by then had reached Lahore.
"Jang ko zang lug gaya hei. Ab jang naheen ho gi.”
Said Modi +
The meeting began in a promising fashion, with the two prime ministers exchanging pleasantries and listing out the need for normalcy in our bilateral relationship, and particularly noting the many commonalities our two peoples shared, from language to food to fashion. 2/7
Dressed in his typical beige color kurta with a maroon waistcoat, Modi was visibly relaxed and kept smiling as he spoke. In response to Prime Minister Sharif's opening remarks that India and Pakistan needed to move past the acrimonious relations that were
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My relations with the Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif were frosty and distant. Sartaj Aziz and I mostly communicated with him through Tariq Fatemi, whom the Prime Minister seemed to trust. Things came to a head over an incident that occurred in May 2015.
I was
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speaking at a seminar on strategic issues to a fairly sizable audience. The moment I stepped down from the podium, a horde of journalists dashed towards me and asked for my views on a strong statement that had just been issued by the ISPR on Indian involvement in Pakistan.
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My immediate reaction was that there was enough intelligence to suggest that Indian elements were indeed involved in generating instability in Pakistan.
Instantly, my statement, along with that of the ISPR, were splashed across television screens.