VOLUME-1 | ISSUE-14 | JULY 2020 Sino-India Stand-off CHINA EXPLAINS THE LADDAKH CONFLICT HAS INDIA OVERPLAYED ITS HAND? CPEC – A NOSH FROM HEAVEN? IN INDIA CLASH, CHINA SHOWS OFF MUSCLE FIXING PAKISTAN'S AVIATION THE SINO-INDIAN STANDOFF 13-K F-7 Markaz (051) 8437318 Islamabad | FROM INTIMATE HUG TO ESTRANGEMENT SUPERIORITY, THE RACE TO BE ONE UP. @WILDWINGSPAKISTAN @WILDWINGSPK f matrixxmedia matrixxmedia matrix.media matrixmag.com TEAM MATRIX Editor in Chief Content Editor Imtiaz Gul Aliya Naseer Farooq Managing Editor Content Writer Sameena Durrani Jehangir Khattak Associate Editor Content Writer Saad Gul Faizah Gillani Editor at large Content Writer Zeeshan Salahuddin Saddam Hussein Special Contributors Shaan Mehdi - Toronto Rafiq Jan - Doha Sitwat Bokhari Haroon Gul CONTENTS EDITOR’S NOTE The Sino-Indian Stand off 04 A deadly clash on June 15 between the Chinese and Indian soldiers close to Ladakh stand-off: China-Pakistan closer than ever before! 06 Patrol Point 14 in the Galwan Valley of eastern Ladakh, more than 4,300 metres above sea level, resulted in 20 Indian fatalies. China says the China explains the Laddakh Conflict 08 Galwan Valley falls enrely within its territory and blamed New Delhi for the clash and stated the clash occurred on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual India Imports over 80% of Pharma Raw Materials From China 09 Control (LAC) - the de facto border between the two Asian rivals. As both sides traded allegaons with confused messaging on the incident In India clash, China shows off muscle 10 out of New Delhi, the episode also alarmed the enre world, with analysts conjecturing as to whether this could flare up into a full-fledged Indo-China Efforts towards intra-Afghan negotiations pick up momentum 12 war. Galwan Valley Embarrassment for Modi & Co 14 These anxious observers across the globe collecvely sighed in relief on July 5 aer a telephonic conversaon between the Indian Naonal Security Adviser Ajit Doval and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, From intimate hug to estrangement 16 who also is the Chinese Special Representave of the China-India Boundary Queson. Pakistan-India Border Conflict and Civilian Casualty Report (2016 – 2020) 18 Yi reiterated his country's resolve to “connue firmly safeguarding our territorial sovereignty as well as peace and tranquility in the border areas, and underlined that both sides "should adhere to the strategic Uncertainty surrounds Afghan refugees as their legal 20 assessment that instead of posing threats, the two countries provide each other with development stay expires in Pakistan amid COVID-19 opportunies.” “We hope India can work with China to guide public opinion in the right direcon, keep and advance Has India Overplayed Its Hand? 22 bilateral exchanges and cooperaon, and avoid amplifying the differences and complicang maers so as to jointly uphold the big picture of China-India relaons,” said a Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement Will Candidate Trump Deny President Trump a Second 24 released in Beijing aer the talk. Term? May Be! This carried an unambiguous message to New Delhi: let us talk out maers and refrain from misplaced Racism under fire 26 brinkmanship and jingoism, and take the commander-level talks between Chinese and Indian border troops in eastern Ladakh forward for complete disengagement of the front-line troops as soon as possible. This Ban on PIA in European skies is a blessing in disguise. 28 unmistakable communicaon to India is very much inspired by the tradional Chinese wisdom rooted in avoidance of armed conflict as much as possible. What is Balochistan Liberation Army and Majid Brigade? 30 Equally unmistakable was China's asseron on preserving its territorial integrity, underscoring it will 7 Deadly Train Accidents in Pakistan 31 respond with an iron-fist if challenged, manifest in 'The Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding Naonal Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrave Region', passed by China's Naonal People's Congress Chinese parliament in May, and signed into law by President Xi Jinping on June 30th and CPEC A nosh from heaven 32 incorporated into Hong Kong's Basic Law. Superiority, the race to be one up 34 Despite severe cricism by the United States and the UK in parcular, Beijing pressed ahead with the Hong Kong security law stang aer pro-democracy protests had rocked and parally paralyzed the city state for New Normal' In Retailing 35 months. The stand-off in Galwan and its response in Hong Kong indicate that Beijing remains undeterred by external cricism and is determined not to budge when it comes to its naonal security and economic Airline employees coping with inevitability 36 interests. First Female Lieutenant General of Pakistan 37 Iconic Sabiha Khanum No More (1935 - 2020) 38 Top 10 anti-aging secrets 40 POLITICS prescripons are less important than the trio's willingness to compromise – what now seems to be inevitable. The Sino-Indian stand off It would not be an easy sell in Pakistan – essenally because Gen (rtd) Asad Durrani all the thinking here has been outsourced to the think tanks, which in the meanme cannot think out of tank. The elected lot, ignorant and long ignored, now openly defy the That they go together is by now amongst those Chinese The Great Game of the 19th Century was essenally played Country's locus standi—a free and fair plebiscite—by words of wisdom, which have so oen been quoted that they by diplomats and spies (both actually cut from the same shoung “Kashmir banega Pakistan” right in the Parliament. have lost their sheen. Even then, since the latest excitement cloth). According to the late Yahya Effendi, probably the best Luckily, we have a history of armed-twisng and U-Turns. in the Himalayas is so quintessenally Chinese; has followed military historian Pakistan has produced, it was the wisdom so soon on the heels of what Trump called the Chinese Virus; of the Afghan emirs that saved Afghanistan from becoming a It will be harder sll in India. It has been painng itself in a and has alerted us to yet another threat to our Chinese balefield between two imperial powers, Britain and Russia, corner by declaring a disputed territory as its atut-ang Corridors – it should sll make us think about the trials and and won the Country the status of a buffer. Afghanistan went (integral part), and bulldozing provisions that provided the tribulaons that come in its wake. beyond that role aer Pakistan inherited the Brish mandate occupied people a symbolic link with the Union. Their hearts in the North-West of the Subconnent. It protected our it – a hosle terrain and a history of resistance against and minds had already been lost as conceded by no one less forceful occupaon. And then the two contending powers, As the contours of this crisis were unravelling, we obviously western borders in our wars against India. We returned the than Yashwant Sinha, once an iconic figure in the BJP Britain and Russia, preferred to keep each-other at bay, than had to reflect over the earlier Himalayan Blunders: Indians in favour by helping the Afghans defend their sovereignty – and hierarchy. It's now clinging to the real-estate of Kashmir, to lock horns in a country which had mastered the art of NEFA and Pakistanis missing their chances in Kashmir. So took great risks in the process. which too looks tenuous. But then what good is a hardliner playing one against the other. Kashmir on the other hand can much must have changed in the last six decades but the like Modi if he cannot take some hard decisions to get India be a friendly place to stay with a long history of lessons from the past can always be put to good use. If Ayub It's me to replicate that strategy in our North-East. There out of a situaon, best described as “between the rock and a accommodaon. The problem is that both the claimants, Khan was dissuaded by the Yanks from taking advantage of may even be an opportunity to do so. hard place”. India and Pakistan, would rather turn this paradise on earth Indian troubles in NEFA, or he was geng cold feet; the into hell than let the archrival enjoy its forbidden fruit. American factor remains relevant in the present context as During the early days of the present commoon in Ladakh, an Nevertheless, there are sll some sane voices in the two Kashmiris might not get their independence but the well. old friend sent me a message that the Kashmir resoluon was countries who believe that since neither side was likely to get consolaon prize of their acceptance as a bridge, though not now on the cards. I didn't take it seriously – we're a wishful lot its most wishful outcome, they might look for something less a buffer, between the three mighty neighbours, with all the Since the Chinese seem to have the Indians in a bind in with stars in our eyes – but when reminded that only last year fulfilling. Sounds so Chinese, but is in fact the age-old chances to play one against the other a-la the Afghans, may Ladakh, it might be good idea to find out how they intended the Chinese President had suggested that this flashpoint at principle of compromise. Dangers inherent in glacial conflicts not be a bad incenve. to play it out. In view of our higher than Himalaya es, it the confluence of three mighty mountain ranges needed that never seem to melt away may have convinced some of should not be too difficult a proposion.