India, China Militaries to Promote Ties in 2020 with More Exchanges

Beijing, Dec 27 : The Chinese and Indian militaries will conduct various exchanges and celebration activities next year to mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, according to China’s defence ministry.

China is willing to work with the Indian side to promote friendly cooperation and make more positive contributions to the growth of bilateral relations in the new year, Spokesperson Senior Colonel Wu Qian told a news conference on Thursday.

He said the military relationship, which constitute an important component of the overall relations, improved this year with the care and efforts of the leaders of both countries, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “The two sides have maintained strategic dialogues, carried out practical cooperation and strengthened border defence exchanges,” Col Wu said.

Asked about the China-India “Hand-in-Hand 2019” joint exercise, Col Wu said the exercise was the eighth joint counter-terrorism training between the Chinese and Indian armies. “It is a concrete measure to implement the consensus reached by the state and military leaders of the two countries, and a practical one to enhance the friendship between the two militaries, especially the grass-roots units, and to promote regional peace and stability.”

The joint counter-terrorism training successfully concluded in India, bringing a successful end to this year’s exchanges between the two militaries. During the joint training, soldiers from the two sides had mixed team training exercises and exchanged experiences in counter-terrorism operations and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR). They also had exchanges in culture, history, sports and culinary areas. (UNI)
China asks India, Pakistan to exercise restraint after LoC ceasefire violation

Beijing, Dec 27 China on Friday voiced concern over the exchange of fire along the Line of Control by the armed forces of Pakistan and India and asked the two sides to exercise restraint and refrain from taking action to escalate tensions.

“We note relevant reports and are concerned about the current situation,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a media briefing. The spokesperson’s attention was drawn to the acccusation made by the Inter-Services Public Relations that Pakistan armed forces, responding to India’s violation of ceasefire agreement along the LoC in the last 36 hours, damaged an Indian post in Haji Pir sector, killing three Indian soldiers.

Two Pakistani soldiers were also killed. The Indian army had said Pakistan violated the ceasefire agreement and opened fire in Baramulla, killing one Indian soldier and a civilian.

“As a neighbour of both India and Pakistan, China calls on them to exercise restraint, avoid actions that might escalate tensions, peacefully resolve disputes through dialogue and jointly uphold regional peace and stability,” Geng said, commenting on the exchange of fire along the LoC. (UNI)
Review petition filed on Gen Bajwa extension

The Pakistan government on Thursday filed a review petition against the Supreme Court’s decision about legislation on the extension of the service of the Army chief, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa.

A three-member apex court bench, headed by then Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, on November 28, granted a six-month extension to Gen Bajwa after being assured by the government that Parliament will pass legislation on the extension/reappointment of an army chief within six months.

The ruling came in the nick of time as Gen Bajwa, 59, was set to retire at the midnight on November 28. In the review petition, the government has urged the apex court to form a larger bench to hear the case and set aside the earlier judgment. The government also requested the court to keep the proceedings in-camera.

The petition argues that the apex court’s verdict did not take into account ‘important constitutional and legal’ points. It says the court has itself ‘been giving extensions to additional and ad-hoc judges’, making a case for the government to exercise this discretion as well. Furthermore, the petition argues that the court did not base its decision on the judgement in the judges extension case.

In its detailed judgement on December 16, the Chief Justice cautioned the government that ‘unbridled power or position, like unstructured discretion, is dangerous’. The Prime Minister, Mr. Imran Khan, had extended Gen. Bajwa’s tenure through a notification in August, but the Supreme Court suspended it on November 26 due to irregularities in the manner of extension.

After three days of heightened uncertainty, Chief Justice Khosa announced that Gen. Bajwa would remain the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) for another six months during which the Parliament would legislate on the Pakistan Army chief’s extension.

---

Source: Pen News

Image Courtesy: HT

---