Driving through the flooded rice paddies of the eastern Pakistani district of Narowal, the sunlight streaming in through the monsoon clouds, Ahsan Iqbal is in turns confident and concerned.

He steps off his bulletproof pick-up truck and is immediately surrounded by well-wishers showering him with rose petals and placing colourful garlands around his neck.

Armed bodyguards form a ring around him as he walks towards a large tent, where a couple of hundred people have been waiting all day to hear him speak.

Ahead of him, some children lead the way, happily chanting the slogan of Iqbal’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) political party, and dancing to the beat of a dhol.

“Look who’s come, it’s the lion, it’s the lion,” they sing, a reference to the party’s election symbol.

If massive political rallies, attended by tens of thousands and addressed by party chiefs, are the muscles that power electoral campaigning in Pakistan, then “corner meetings” such as this one, under a small tent in a rice field in the middle of nowhere, are its heart and soul.

Pakistan goes to the polls on Wednesday, and if the PML-N is to fight off the challenge from the opposition PTI, the contest will be decided in constituencies such as this one, in the heart of Punjab province, where 141 of the 272 national parliamentary seats that are up for grabs are located.

Iqbal begins his stump speech, one he has repeated dozens of times.

He lists the achievements of his party’s last five years in power, pointing out his opponent’s relative lack of experience, and drawing attention towards his work in the constituency.

“You now sleep in comfort under a fan,” he says, referring to reduced electricity blackouts, “but the leader who gave you this has no comfort in jail.”

Nawaz Sharif, the chief of the PML-N, and his daughter Maryam Nawaz were jailed earlier this month after being convicted by an anti-corruption court.

His party says he received an unfair trial and alleges the country’s powerful military – which has ruled Pakistan for roughly half its 70-year history – pressured the judiciary to convict him. Both institutions deny the charge.

“You have a debt to him, to release him from jail through the power of your vote,” Iqbal continues.

Nearby, a young man on a tractor looks on impassively.

Away from the crowds, Iqbal strikes a different note.

This has been no ordinary campaign, with widespread allegations that the military has been “engineering” the electoral process, and encouraging PML-N supporters and candidates to switch loyalties.

Political news coverage has also been tightly controlled, with the country’s two largest news organizations seeing their distribution networks disrupted when they refused to follow the military’s editorial guidelines.

“Our hope is that we get a high turnout on voting day so that we have a margin of victory that is too large to manipulate,” Iqbal told Al Jazeera.

Countrywide, dozens of PML-N candidates switched parties to the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, weeks ahead of the polls.

In Narowal, two key PML-N candidates defected.

The party’s opponents dismiss allegations of rigging.

“Honestly, I’m still waiting for the aliens,” says Abrar-ul-Haq, the PTI’s candidate against Iqbal in Narowal, using a euphemism for the military popularised by PML-N chief Sharif.

“It has been much better than the last elections,” says ul-Haq, a pop star-turned-politician, about his experience on the campaign trail. “We’ve had huge rallies, boiling with enthusiasm, especially from the youth.”

In 2013, Haq lost the race in this constituency to Iqbal by a margin of more than 27 percent of the 154,637 votes polled.

This time, he is confident that he will win more support, having engaged more heavily with local kinship group leaders, who control thousands of votes in rural constituencies such as Narowal.

“Last time we only concentrated on big political rallies, but this time we have spoken to a lot of the [village and kinship leaders] as well, and many of them have switched their votes to us,” says Naeem Ahmed, an official with Haq’s campaign.

“In local politics, we cannot ignore those blocks of votes, those biraderis [kinship groups], that were with the PML-N last time, they are now with the PTI,” says Haq.

Iqbal, meanwhile, appears to be preaching a post-biraderi brand of politics, campaigning mainly on service delivery rather than engaging with influential locals.

The PML-N has led the government in Punjab for a decade, and socioeconomic indicators have shown improvement during their reign.

“I am going direct to the people,” he says, en route to another corner meeting. “Citizens are now empowered and informed, and they prefer candidates to come to them directly.”

Dangerous games

Narowal may be a sleepy town on the edges of Pakistan’s mainstream, but there is a dangerous edge to the campaign here, one that is being replicated across the country.

In May, Iqbal was shot while at a campaign event, the bullet shattering his elbow and lodging in his stomach.

The attacker accused Iqbal of having committed blasphemy by supporting a minor change to an electoral oath pushed through parliament by the PML-N last year.

That shooting came after supporters of the far-right Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party had blockaded the Pakistani capital for weeks over the issue, finally dispersing only after securing the resignation of a federal minister and legal immunity for damage caused during the rioting.

Haq, Iqbal’s opponent, has frequently repeated the blasphemy allegations at political rallies.

Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Pakistan. At least 74 people have been murdered in connection with accusations of the crime since 1990, according to an Al Jazeera tally.

In Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi, Jibran Nasir, an independent candidate, has faced a series of attacks by charged TLP members, also accusing him of blasphemy.

“[Haq’s] main argument is inciting hatred against me on religious grounds,” says Iqbal, gesturing towards a dozen armed guards in two police escort vehicles. “It does restrict you […] but at the same time, you also have to take risk. Because politics, or public life, cannot be done from behind a curtain.”

Asked if he believes it is dangerous to accuse Iqbal of having committed blasphemy, Haq is nonchalant.

“As far as it being dangerous is concerned, well in Pakistan it is also dangerous to walk down the street,” says the PTI candidate.

Battle for the crown

The streets of Lahore are a couple of hours from Narowal, but the differences are stark.

Sharif may be in jail, but in Lahore, he is everywhere. Banners across the city repeat his rallying cry: “Give honour to the vote.”

In the narrow, congested lanes of Gulshan-e-Ravi, PTI candidate Yasmin Rashid is conducting her own corner meetings, despite the rain.

Her supporters blast the Sharif family and their alleged corruption, as she smiles and waves from underneath an umbrella.

Rashid is attempting to do what many believed, up until a few months ago, to be impossible: to win Lahore’s historic NA-125 seat, in the heart of the provincial capital, from the PML-N.

The incumbent party has never lost this seat, the jewel in its crown of dominance over Punjab province over the last three decades.

“Imran Khan has worked constantly for 22 years … he says that until there is justice in Pakistan, he will not stop,” she says, as the crowd calls out: “The PTI is coming, the PTI is coming.”

Rashid’s message focuses on the corruption convictions against the Sharifs, while she promises honest, efficient government.

“You can feel the pulse is different, and now the majority of them are convinced that Nawaz Sharif has been convicted correctly,” she tells Al Jazeera.

Rashid’s chances – and those of the PTI across this province – will hinge on how many PML-N voters she is able to convert.

“Ever since we were young, we have always voted for the PML-N,” says Muhammad Rizwan, 32, a participant at the PTI meeting. “But just look at the state of these streets.”

The PML-N “have changed nothing” and he will vote for the PTI, he says.

Others, however, are unmoved by the PTI’s promises to use their electoral symbol, a cricket bat, to strike corruption out of the arena.

“I will vote for the PML-N, as I always have,” says Muhammad Siddiq, a 62-year-old who sells vegetables on a pushcart.

His wife, Nadira, interjects.

“Look, whoever wins, whether it’s the lion or the bat, the truth is that we’re still going to be out on the street, pushing that cart.”

One of US President Donald Trump’s former foreign policy aides has said allegations that he worked with the Russian government during the 2016 US election are “misleading”.

The FBI believed Carter Page was “collaborating and conspiring with the Russian government” at that time, BBC reported on Sunday.

His alleged relationships with Russian intelligence officials are highlighted in court applications which led to him being put under surveillance.

Trump said it appeared that his campaign was illegally spied on. But he provided no evidence to support the claim.

The newly released surveillance applications were granted and renewed by several different judges sitting in a court authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

The court, which has the power to authorize wiretaps and surveillance of suspected foreign spies, has one of the most secretive institutions in the US.

The FBI released the previously secret document cache on Saturday night following Freedom of Information requests by several US organisations.

It contains 412 pages of heavily redacted material which includes the surveillance applications, their later renewals, and warrants surrounding the investigation into Mr Page.

“The FBI believes that Page has been collaborating and conspiring with the Russian government,” the October 2016 application to the court states.

According to the documents, “the FBI believes that the Russian government’s efforts are being co-ordinated with Page and perhaps other individuals associated with” Mr Trump’s presidential campaign.

It also said Page “has established relationships with Russian government officials, including Russian intelligence officers”.

Page is an energy industry consultant with longstanding ties to Russia. He first contacted the Trump campaign in 2015 before meeting Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, in January 2016.

By March 2016, Trump had identified Page as one of a handful of campaign foreign policy advisers.

Jailed Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who has fallen ill and was suffering from heart and kidney ailments, has been asked to be shifted to a hospital by a medical team, a jail official said.

The medical team, led by retired General Azhar Kiani, visited Adiala jail in Rawalpindi on Sunday after Sharif complained, the jail administration official told Dawn newspaper on Monday.

Following his medical check-up, the medical team said that Sharif “needed to be hospitalised for immediate treatment”, he added.

The heartbeat of the former Prime Minister was irregular due to dehydration and the presence of urea in blood might affect his kidneys, the medical team has said.

The medical team’s recommendation had been sent to the Punjab health secretary and the caretaker government, Dawn reported.

“The government will take a decision on it,” he said, adding that the team had been called after the former prime minister complained that he was not feeling well.

The official said that a separate medical team from the district headquarters hospital conducted a medical check-up of Sharif’s jailed son-in-law, retired Captain Muhammad Safdar, as he was suffering from ear and throat infections.

Kiani, the chief executive officer of Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology and former commandant of the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology, was physician of former President-retired General Pervez Musharraf. He was not available for comments.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter met him for the first time on Thursday after both were arrested last week in a corruption case, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Senator Pervaiz Rasheed said.

Addressing the media outside the Adiala Jail where the three-time Premier, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar Awan are jailed after their conviction in the Avenfield properties case, Rasheed said that he and other party leaders met the Sharif family earlier in the day, Geo News reported.

He said the father-daughter duo met for the first time on Thursday since their arrest, which he said was against jail norms. The senator claimed that the incarcerated Sharif family was in the exact same spirits as they were before being jailed.

Sharing a message from the Sharif family, Rasheed said no jail sentence can stop them from achieving their goal and asked the people to vote for their party in the July 25 general elections.

Sharif was sentenced to 10 years in jail while his daughter received a seven-year term in the London properties case last week. His son-in-law got one-year jail.
[IANS]

Myanmar on Thursday joined the India-initiated International Solar Alliance (ISA), becoming the 68th member of the grouping that is aiming at the optimum utilization of solar energy.

Myanmar Minister for International Cooperation Kyaw Tin handed over the ISA Framework Agreement to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during a bilateral meeting here on the margins of this year’s Delhi Dialogue, the premier annual track 1.5 event to discuss politico-security, economic and socio-cultural engagement between India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc.

“Myanmar became the 68th signatory to the Framework Agreement of the International Solar Alliance,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted following the meeting.

Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then French President Francois Hollande at the Paris climate summit in 2015, the ISA was conceived as a coalition of solar resource-rich countries to address their special energy needs and provide a platform to collaborate on dealing with the identified gaps through a common, agreed approach.

It is open to all 121 prospective member countries falling between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.

Kumar also said that the two sides also exchanged views on cementing bilateral cooperation.

India is a key development aid partner for Myanmar and is implementing a number of infrastructure projects in that country.

These include the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project connecting Mizoram with Sittwe port in Myanmar, the Trilateral Highway Project connecting India with Myanmar and Thailand and the Rhi-Tiddim road.

India is also offering economic and humanitarian aid to its eastern neighbor’s Rakhine State in the wake of the Rohingya refugee crisis.

India and Singapore on Thursday discussed ways to strengthen bilateral ties during a meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Singaporean counterpartVivian Balakrishnan here.

“Strengthening bilateral cooperation was the focus of discussion,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted following the meeting that was held on the sidelines of this year’s Delhi Dialogue, the premier annual track 1.5 event to discuss politico-security, economic and socio-cultural engagement between India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) bloc.

Singapore is currently the chair of Asean, which comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

India-Singapore ties were elevated to that of a Strategic Partnership during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to that Southeast Asian city state in 2015.

There are five areas of cooperation to enhance bilateral relations – referred to as the 5S Plank – which direct the relationship: scaling up trade and investment; speeding up connectivity; smart cities and urban rejuvenation; skill development; and state focus.

Singapore is India’s second largest trading partner in Southeast Asia.

After the two sides signed the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement in 2005, bilateral trade touched $16.7 billion in 2016-17.

Turkey has condemned Israel for passing a new law that proclaims Israel as a “Jewish nation-state”.

The law adopted by Israeli parliament disregards the norms of universal law and the rights of Palestinian Israeli citizens, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The law’s declaration of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital city is null and void in the eyes of the international community, the ministry added.

The ministry also called on the international community to respond to the law that eliminates the vision of a two-state solution.

The controversial law, supported by the right-wing government, passed by 62 votes in favour and 55 votes against after discussions that lasted until early Thursday morning.

The law defines Israel as an “exclusively Jewish state,” stating that only Jews have the right of self-determination in Israel and revokes the status of Arabic as an official language.

Arabs represent about 20 per cent of Israel’s 9 million population.

Police in Malaysia have arrested seven people for alleged links with the Islamic State (IS) terror organisation, including a man who threatened to assassinate the Malaysian King and the Prime Minister, police said on Thursday.

Four Malaysians, including one woman, and three Indonesians were arrested during operations between March 12 and March 17, Efe news quoted the Inspector General of Royal Malaysia Police, Mohamad Fuzi Harun, as saying.

One of the Malaysians used his Facebook account to threaten to assassinate the Sultan of Johor, who is the current head of state, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, and Minister of Religious Affairs, Mujahid Yusof Rawa, saying they do not govern the country in accordance with Sharia law.

The other three Malaysians allegedly contacted or sent money to Malaysian IS militants in Syria and Iraq, or showed their intention to join the extremist groups in the Middle East.

Two of the three Indonesians admitted having links with extremist organizations in Indonesia, while one, declaring himself a follower of the IS, admitted his plan of travelling to Syria to join them.

Around 300 people with links to IS have been arrested in Malaysia in recent years, while about 100 Malaysians are fighting in Iraq and Syria with militant groups.

Malaysia has a population of nearly 30 million, 61 percent of which belong to the Muslim community.

Recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have been “pretty stunning” but what the humanity is going to see soon will be even more profound, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has stressed.

Addressing thousands of partners at the ‘Microsoft Inspire’ event here on Wednesday, Nadella said that the potential is for us to be able to turn every industry into an AI-first industry, be it healthcare or agriculture.

“We want to be able to make sure that they can take their data, in a secure, privacy-preserving way, and can work that into AI capabilities,” he told the gathering.

“As we look forward, the opportunity for us to serve our customers in this new era of the Intelligent Cloud and the Intelligent Edge is far greater,” Nadella said.

According to him, Microsoft is going to infuse everything with AI.

“It’s going to have perception capability, language capability and autonomy that’s going to be built into the applications going forward.

“Autonomy is not just about a few self-driving projects. This is about autonomy everywhere,” the Microsoft CEO added.

On its Azure Cloud offerings, Nadella said the computing needs will go far beyond the data centre.

“We are going to take Azure to Azure Stack, to Azure IoT Edge and to Azure Sphere. This is a ubiquitous, distributed computing fabric,” he noted.

Nadella said that Microsoft 365 will help customers have people-centred experiences rather than device-centred experiences.

The tech giant which has touched $800 billion valuation for the first time, was scheduled to release its quarterly results late on Thursday.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani received eight requests from his US counterpart for a meeting, presidential chief of staff Mahmoud Vaezi announced on Wednesday.

Vaezi said US President Donald Trump’s requests were made during Rouhani’s visit to New York for a United Nations General Assembly meeting in September 2017, according to Xinhua.

He did not elaborate, however, about Rouhani’s response to Trump’s meeting invitation.

In September 2013, Rouhani and former US President Barack Obama talked over the phone during the 68th annual session of the UN General Assembly. It was the highest-level contact between the two countries in more than three decades.