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August 14, 2019: National Current Affairs
1. Pakistan formally calls for urgent UNSC meeting on Kashmir
• Pakistan on August 13, 2019 formally called for an urgent meeting of the UN Security council on the grim situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir following India’s annexation of the disputed Kashmir region.
• The request for the meeting was contained in a letter from Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi that Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi presented to Polish Ambassador Joanna Wronecka, who is the president of the 15-member Council for the month of August.
• The Council president will hold consultations with the Council members and fix a date for the meeting.
• In another development, Poland’s Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, who is also in New York, said he hopes India and Pakistan can work out a “mutually beneficially solution” and favours dialogue between the two nations to sort out their differences after New Delhi revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
2. Kashmir Solidarity Day to be observed today (August 14, 2019)
• Independence Day will be observed on August 14, 2019 (today) as `Kashmir Solidarity Day` to express solidarity with Kashmiris and highlight their plight.
• The government has unveiled a special logo `Kashmir banega Pakistan (Kashmir will become part of Pakistan)` lettered in red to go along with the theme of Kashmir Solidarity Day.
• The provincial and district governments, as well as educational institutions and art councils, have planned a series of events in connection with Independence Day.
• Federal and provincial governments also illuminated important national buildings and monuments.
3. President confers 116 civil awards
• President Dr Arif Alvi has approved the conferment of Pakistan Civil Award on 116 individuals from Pakistan as well as some foreign nationals on Independence Day in recognition of their excellence and courage in their respective fields.
• The investiture ceremony of these awards will take place on Pakistan Day, March, 23, 2020.
• The president approved conferment of Hilal-i-Pakistan award on Song Tao and Zhong Shan of China, Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan of UAE and Sheila Jackson Lee of USA in recognition of their services to Pakistan.
• As a recognition of his gallantry, the president approved conferment of Hilal-i-Shuja’at award on Dr Abdul Qudous Saikh Shaheed from Sindh.
• Five persons have been conferred Hilal-i-Imtiaz including Zhao Baige of China (Services to Pakistan), Khaliq Dad Khan (Electronics), Maj (r) Azam Suleman Khan (Public Service/National Security) and Qari Syed Sadaqat Ali (Public Service).
• Leading Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of the United States would be decorated with Hilal-i-Quaid-i-Azam in recognition of his services to Pakistan.
• The Sitara-i-Pakistan award has been conferred on Baroness Syeeda Hussain Warsi of UK, Geng Ying of China and Bakhtibek Shabarbayev of Kazakhstan for their services to Pakistan.
4. Pak-American’s terror conviction overturned
• Hamid Hayat, an American citizen of Pakistani descent who spent 14 years behind bars in a one of the most controversial terrorism cases of the post-Sept. 11 era, said he’s “still in shock” after his release from federal prison in Arizona, according to reports in US media.
• Hayat, 35, a resident of Lodi in the US state of California, a farming town with a large Muslim population, was arrested in June 2005.
• He was convicted to 24 years in 2007 after being accused of plotting an attack on the United States after attending a so-called training camp in Pakistan. But his conviction was overturned late last month and he was released on Friday.
5. Journalist Iqbal Jafari passes away
• Former journalist Syed Iqbal Hussain Jafari, who died of a cardiac arrest on August 10, 2019, was laid to rest in Rawalpindi. He was 84.
• Mr Jafari started his career from the Civil and Military Gazette. Later, he joined Star in Hyderabad and finally came to work with The Pakistan Times from where he eventually retired as an assistant editor.
• Mr Jafari did his MA in English and passed the Central Superior Services exam.
• However, he was not selected for service because of his progressive ideas.
August 14, 2019: International Current Affairs
6. China tells India it`s opposed to change in held Kashmir status
• Amid rising tension over New Delhi`s move to change Kashmir`s legal status, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a meeting with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has asked India to `play a constructive role in regional peace and stability` Expressing concern over escalating confilct between India and Pakistan and the current situation in Kashmir.
• Mr Wang said China opposed any unilateral action against the Valley`s special status and hoped that India and Pakistan would resolve disputes in a peaceful manner and jointly safeguard the overall situation to maintain regional peace and stability.
• About the Indian attempt to include some Chinese border areas into its territory, Mr Wang said the step challenged China`s sovereign rights and interests contrary to their agreement on safeguarding the border areas, and peace and security, but it would not change the fact that China exercised sovereignty over the relevant territory and the status quo ofeffectivejurisdiction.
• The Chinese FM hoped that the Indian government would take measures to promote mutual trust and avoid unnecessary interference in regional stability.
7. Progress made in talks with US, insist Afghan Taliban
• Afghan Taliban on August 13, 2019 said that they had made substantial progress in their talks with US interlocutors and that the two sides had dispersed only to seek advice and guidance from their respective leaderships.
• `The talks have not failed, Suhail Shaheen, the Afghan Taliban`s chief spokesperson, told Dawn by phone from Doha.
• `This is not correct,` he said when his attention was drawn to reports that the eighth round of negotiations between the Taliban and the United States had failed to reach an agreement.
• `There are certain points that need to be consulted upon,` Mr Shaheen said. `There are some technical issues that both sides need to consult their leaderships on and seek advice and guidance,` the spokesperson added. Media reports had suggested that the Afghan Taliban and their American interlocutors had failed to reach an agreement, contrary to growing optimism, to end the longest war in American history that has cost the US 2,400 lives and $900 billion.
8. India needs to step back in Kashmir: HRW
• Human Rights Watch (HRW) South Asia Director Meenakshi Ganguly, in a statement posted on HRW website, has asked India to immediately release political detainees in its administered Kashmir, lift the communications blackout, allow people of the state proper access to media and independent observers, and order security officials to respect human rights.
• Meenakshi said, “It is now one week since the Indian parliament voted to revoke the special autonomous status provided to {Occupied} Jammu and Kashmir under India’s constitution, and to split the province into two separate federally governed territories. Kashmiris remain mostly under lockdown, their leaders under arrest. Phones, even land lines, are still severed. The internet is shut down. Their main mosques remained closed to Muslim Kashmiris during Eid.”
August 14, 2019: Sports Current Affairs
9. Argentina defender `Tata` Brown is no more
• Argentina`s 1986 World Cup-winning defender Jose Luis Brown has died following a long battle with Alzheimer`s.
• Known to his friends as Tata, Brown made 36 appear-ances for Argentina and scored the Erst goal in their 3-2 World Cup final victory over West Germany in 1986.
• `Without Jose Luis Brown, we would never have won the World Cup in 1986. Tou never complained about a thing, Tata` Argentina legend Diego Maradona said on Instagram.
• After a playing career that included stints in Spain and France, Brown was coach, along with Sergio Batista, of the national U-23 squad which won the 2008 Olympics and fielded Lionel Messi, Juan Roan Riquelme and Sergio Agero
10. Women`s T20 cricket added to 2022 CWG
• Cricket is set to return to the Commonwealth Games after a 24-year absence with organisers confirming on Tuesday that the programme for Birmingham 2022 would include a women`s Twenty20 tournament.
• The T20 event is one of three new events added to the next edition of the Games, alongside beach volleyball and para table tennis.
• Eight teams will take part in the game`s shortest format, which will be held at Edgbaston, boosting the total number of medal events for women at Birmingham 2022 to 135 two more than men in a first for a major multi-sport event.
• The 2022 Games will take place from July 27 to Aug 7 and involve 4,500 athletes competing across 19 sports.
