Source: Ausaf, Ummat, Daily Pak, Nawa-i-Waqt, Urdu Point, Daily Jinnah, Awami Awaz, Daily Dharti, Jasarat, Kawish, Daily Intekhab, Daily Times, Jang, Ibrat, Khabrain, Roznama Dunya, Hizb Media, Al Qalam Weekly, Baad-e-Shimal, Bang-e-Sahar.

PAK-NSG BID
1.Military experts, including Brig (retd) Mohammad Yusuf and Brig (retd) Najmus Saqib, donor see any chance of success in Pakistan’s bid for NSG membership ‘in the initial phase”. Taking part in a Dunya program, they said Pakistan delayed contacting the international community to make out its case. “First Pakistan will have to improve its diplomatic relations”, they said. (Roznama Dunya)
2. India’s proposed bid for inclusion in Nuclear Suppliers Group was reportedly opposed by Turkey, New Zealand, Australia South and China. China has in fact put forward the condition to provide the same facility to Pakistan. (Jasarat)
3. Editorials on US support to India’s NSG bid have asked the Nawaz government to revisit its foreign policy and relations with America. And said: Sartaj Aziz claiming that Pakistan had better relations with the US since the PML-N government came to power is a clear misunderstanding because the US has never been sincere to Pakistan. The US’s relations with South Asian countries are getting rough. Pakistan should try to convince the US that ignoring Pakistan would not be in favour of stability in the region. Pakistan has taken the right step by asking for help from Russia, New Zealand and Korea for its inclusion in the NSG. China’s support to Pakistan is also there, and that would create hurdles in the way of India getting into the NSG. A bloc of Pakistan. Russia and China is the only answer to the Indo-American alliance. (Daily K2 Edit, Daily Pak Edit, Nawa-i-Waqt Edit)
INDIA –MODI US VISIT
1. Sardar Asif, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and other senior politicians said that like India, Pakistan will have to strengthen its lobby in America. (Daily Pak)
2. Religious leaders Abulkhair Mohammad Zubair, Mian Maqsood Ahmad, Khurram Nawaz Gandapur, Hafiz Husain Ahmad and Amir Hamza criticized the Indo-US relationship and stated that the US wants to give India supremacy in the region. They said Pakistan must review its internal and foreign policies. (Ausaf)
3. Tahir Khalil from Chicago writes that the Democratic Party’s tilt towards India is a matter of concern for the Pakistani community in America. (Jang)
4. Ausaf and Khabrain say by enabling the US to use India’s military system, Prime Minister Modi made India a slave of the US. Much like the East India Company, the US will change the position of the region once it enters. As China is a big economic power, the US and others consider it a threat and are therefore trying to reduce its influence in the region. China has the most to lose from the US-India pact. India is using a Chanakya strategy by enhancing its relations with all countries that Pakistan doesn’t have good relations with. (Ausaf Edit, Khabrain Edit)
5. Jang said the US support to India may tilt the power balance in the region. Though Pakistan has suffered a threat from Moscow and rebuke from India for making an alliance with the US, today the US is giving more importance to India. Pakistan made sacrifices in cooperating with many countries in the hope that they will support it in resolving the Kashmir issue, but the Kashmir issue still remains a flashpoint between India and Pakistan. (Jang Edit)
6. Jasarat edit said: Today the US is tilting rapidly towards India and there are two main reasons for this. The US wants India’s open market to sell its products and the US is afraid of China’s increasing influence in the region. Pakistan is no more of use for the US. The US has forgotten India’s past loyalty to the USSR. In addition, the US knows that Pakistan will not help its steps against China and hence it has chosen India. India was defeated by China in 1962 and India wants to take revenge against China for this humiliating defeat. (Jasarat Edit)
UNITED STATES
1. As soon the dialogue process for peace in Kabul begins, the USA sabotages it through drone attacks, Foreign Secretary Ejaz Chaudhary told the Standing Committees on Defense and Foreign Affairs. The drone attack in Balochistan that killed Taliban chief Mullah Mansoor has affected the Afghan peace process. He said there are 30 lakh Afghan refugees at present in Pakistan and the Taliban has made these refugee camps a source of recruitment. (Roznama Dunya)
2. JI Chief Siraj-ul-Haq said that to keep eyes on China, the US is making India a mini-power in the region. Saying that America had cheated Pakistan over the years, he asked the US to stop changing the balance of power in the region. Haq further said that the agreement between India and Afghanistan on water issues was conspiracy to make Pakistan barren. (Jasarat)
INDIA
1. India is preparing to sell modern cruise missiles to Vietnam and also trying to reach out to 15 other countries to sell the Brahmos missiles. (Jasarat)
2. The Federal Interior Ministry has rejected a plea for amnesty to the alleged Indian agent Hamid Nihal Ansari, who is undergoing a three-year jail term. He reportedly fallen in love with a girl from Bannu and entered Pakistan illegally from Afghanistan with fake Pak ID cards. Ansari was arrested from a hotel in Kohat and later faced trial on the charge of spying for India. (Jasarat)
ARMY/SECURIY FORCES
1. Former COAS Gen Mirza Aslam Beg analysed the budget for 2016-17. He said the defence got 55.19% of the total budget. This is lesser than India’s military budget. The allocation for the nuclear program was only Rs 27 billion whereas in the year 2014 it was Rs 45 billion. In contrast, India has a budget of Rs 1 trillion for its nuclear program. (Ummat)
2. CJP Anwar Zaheer has formed a 5-member bench to hear appeals made by those convicted by the Army Court and awarded capital punishment. (Daily Pak)
TERRORISM & EXTREMISM
1. Difa-e-Pakistan Council leaders have announced that they would protest against Indo-US agreements, conspiracies to harm Pakistan’s nuclear program and drone attacks on 10th June. JuD chief Hafiz Saeed will lead the major demonstration in Islamabad. (Roznama Dunya, Daily Pak, Nawa-i-Waqt, Ausaf, Khabrain)
POLITICAL SCENE
1.Ibrahim Kumbhar writes: How can the PM alone be blamed if Pakistan is right now cornered globally? The PM has no powers to give any statements on foreign policy. Right from the issue of membership of Security Council to press releases, the PM is given everything readymade. Though PML-N started asserting itself when it came to power in 2013, the establishment with the help of some political parties has cut PML-N down to size. The establishment has been making mistake after mistake by making the country a big experiment. While parties like PTI, MQM, Pak Sarzameen party, PML-Q and Awami Muslim League are small and not much is expected from them, PPP, Awami National Party, and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party are in a position to understand the situation and find a way out. The solution to the problem lies in the civilian authority getting powers. (Kawish)
2. Nazir Naji taunts Defence Minister Khawaja Asif for his use of derogatory language against PTI’s Shirin Mazari. It is Pakistan’s National Assembly’s bad luck that it has got members like Asif and it is the bad luck of Shirin Mazari that she has gone to such a House where even cinema ticket sellers have access. Naji is also critical of the potato crop being neglected which once used to be a significant crop of Punjab. Naji is critical of importing potatoes from India. (Roznama Dunya)
ECONOMY/WATER
1. It is disturbing that Pakistan has no policy to create strategic fuel storage. Pakistan has been fighting terrorism for the last 3-4 decades; for the last 15 years it has been fighting terrorists on its western border and against their supporters internally. These terrorist groups are supported by Pakistan’s enemy, India, financially, technically and with weapons. Under the circumstances it is essential for Pakistan to formulate strategic policy to store fuel to meet any emergency. Few months back the Army Chief had suggested that the government needs to increase oil stock to 45 days, but his suggestion was not taken seriously. (Jang Edit)
2. There is an element of injustice to small provinces in Federal budget. Sindh and Balochistan contribute substantially to the national economy but they are often neglected by the federal government, especially Sindh. Though both provinces are rich in natural resources, these resources cannot change the destiny of the provinces. There is a mindset at work in Pakistan against the small provinces and the federal government continues to neglect them, causing a strain between the provinces and the federal government. (Kawish Edit)
SINDH
1. Mahsan Babbar has taken PPP supremo Bilawal Bhutto to task for criticising the federal budget. Bilawal will do well to first look at his own Sindh government’s budget. The issue is not that the federal government is not releasing funds to Sindh but how these funds are used once given to Sindh and whether they are used honestly and judiciously. Though Sindh’s Finance Minister is an expert in studying and analysing the US Stock Exchange fluctuations, he is hardly aware about how funds are being used in his Ministry for developmental and non-developmental works. It is time that PPP is made accountable for its rule in Sindh for the last 8 years. (Kawish)
BALOCHISTAN
1. Chinese Company Power International Holding Ltd. and Pakistan’s Hub Power will make joint investments for electricity production through a coal project in Balochistan. (Daily Pak, Nawa-i-Waqt)
POK/ G-B NEWS
1. PPP leader Amjad Hussein said that Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly Deputy Speaker Jafarullah was spilling beans against the PML-N Government for not getting his share of corruption money from the chief minister. He added that tension between the CM and the Deputy Speaker was over the latter’s share in contracts and employments. (Daily K2)
2. Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly Speaker Fida Nashad said that Deputy Speaker Jafarullah’s stand against bureaucracy in the Assembly was correct but his approach was wrong. If Jafarullah had a problem, he should have consulted the CM directly because to err was very much human and trolling someone in the highest position in such a manner was not correct. (Baad-e-Shimal)
3. The Skardu Road tender will be opened on 17th June. Five Chinese companies and six Pakistani companies are vying for the tender. (Baad-e-Shimal)
4. G-B Supreme Appellate Court has upheld the conviction of Awami Workers Party chief Comrade Baba Jan and his 11 aides to jail and set aside the verdict of the Chief Court that had nullified the ruling of Anti-Terror Court. This inter alia means Baba Jan has been disqualified from contesting the Hunza by-election. (Daily K2)
5. Load shedding has made life miserable in many areas of Gilgit-Baltistan. The Government should have given at least some relief during the month of Ramzan. (Baad-e-Shimal Edit)