Day: September 19, 2021

Two-week long Multinational Exercise Bright Star 2021, focused on enhancing capability to counter regional hybrid threats, strengthen regional and increase maritime security operations concluded in Egypt.

The exercise was conducted at Mohamed Naguib Military Base of the country with 20 participant countries including Egypt, United States, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Cyprus, Iraq, Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco, Kenya, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Greece, Kuwait, UAE, Tunisia, Nigeria, Tanzania and France.

Pakistan contingent comprising Pak Army, Navy and Air Force troops participated for the first time since 2009.

The exercise was aimed at enhancing the capability to counter regional hybrid threats, strengthen regional stability by fostering combined force interoperability, joint force integration and enhance maritime security operations.

Egyptian Minister of Defence and Commander-in-Chief, General Mohamed Zaki and military officials from 20 countries including USCENTCOM witnessed the final phase of the joint training that included live fire of different weapons including aircrafts, helicopters and tanks.

Exercise Bright Star is being held regularly since 1980.

Source: Radio Pakistan

Naval Chief Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi visited the United States to attend 24th International Sea Power Symposium 2021.

According to spokesperson of Pakistan Navy, the theme of the Symposium, organized biennially at USA Naval War College Newport was ‘Strength in Unity’. The event was attended by delegations of over 80 countries including naval and coast guard leaders.

Important topics of panel discussions were Sea Power in the Information Age, Combating Invisible Foe: COVID-19 and Illegal Unreported and Unregulated Fishing. The forum also provided an opportunity to share individual thoughts and proposals for enhancing regional and global maritime security.

On the sidelines of Symposium activates, the Naval Chief held meetings with US Secretary of Navy Carlos Del Toro, senior officials of US Navy and Naval Chiefs of Argentine, France, Germany, Ghana, Japan, Sri Lanka and Turkey.

Matters of mutual interest, emerging shared security challenges in maritime domain and bilateral naval collaboration were discussed during these meetings.

Amjad Khan Niazi also apprised his counterparts on Pakistan’s commitment to maintain peace and stability in Indian Ocean Region by providing support to Combined Maritime Force Operations and Pakistan Navy’s initiative of Regional Maritime Security Patrols.

Earlier, the Naval Chief also visited US Surface Warfare School and was briefed about role of US Navy in countering emerging threats in global maritime domain.

Source: Radio Pakistan

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain says the government is committed to go ahead with its electoral reforms agenda for free, fair, transparent, and credible elections through the use of modern technology.

Addressing a joint news conference, along with Minister for Science and Technology Syed Shibli Faraz, in Islamabad on Sunday, he urged the opposition to cooperate with the government to hold impartial elections in the country.

Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said the government has presented 49 reforms, but unfortunately, the opposition is neither accepting them nor coming up with its own proposals. He said the government is serious about using Electronic Voting Machine as is being practiced in various countries of the world to ensure transparency in the voting process.

The Information Minister said the Election Commission of Pakistan, in its report, omitted the data that supported the EVMs.

Speaking on the occasion, Syed Shibli Faraz said his ministry had prepared a prototype of the EVM and invited the political parties and the ECP to examine its functioning, but they did not take it seriously. He said if ECP does not trust the machine prepared by the Ministry of Science and Technology then it is free to procure such a machine from anywhere.

He said we have no priorities regarding the use of a particular machine as we only want a technology driven election to give them credence.

Source: Radio Pakistan