New Zealand said on Tuesday its national airline will not take new bookings for three weeks as the country looks to limit the number of citizens returning home to reduce the burden on overflowing quarantine facilities.

As the COVID-19 pandemic worsens globally, thousands of New Zealanders are returning to the South Pacific nation, which is among a handful of countries to have contained the coronavirus, re-opened its economy and restored pre-pandemic normalcy.

Bookings on Air New Zealand flights will be managed to ensure the government can safely place citizens into managed isolation facilities, Housing Minister Megan Woods said in a statement.“We are seeing rapid growth in the numbers of New Zealanders coming home as the COVID-19 pandemic worsens,” Woods said.

“The last thing we need are hastily set up facilities to meet demand.”

The government is also talking to other airlines about managing flows, she said.

New Zealand’s borders are still shut to foreigners, and citizens and permanent residents have to undergo 14 days of mandatory quarantine.

The country has nearly 6,000 people in 28 managed isolation facilities and was planning to scale up more spaces to manage demand in coming weeks.

Air New Zealand said it was pausing new bookings for the next three weeks, and would align daily arrivals with the capacity available at isolation facilities.

The airline’s domestic services and flights from New Zealand to international destinations would not be affected by the restrictions, the airline said.

New Zealand has 22 active cases of COVID-19, all from returning New Zealanders, with no known community transmission. It has recorded 22 deaths from 1,186 cases during the pandemic.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared in early June that New Zealand had eliminated coronavirus but soon after, two women were allowed to leave quarantine early on compassionate grounds and later tested positive for the virus.

Ardern quickly called in the military to manage the border facilities. Under pressure for the border blunders, the health minister resigned last week.

Iqbal Khan

On June 28, Prime Minister Modi declared victory over China. His June 19 statement had already hinted at all pervasive preservation of sanctity of Line of Actual Control (LAC); that according to him had not be disturbed. His “Victory Declaration” was pegged around “20 brave soldiers” giving“befitting reply” claiming as if India had won the tactical battle.

Infact Chinese never envisioned or fought a tactical battle. According to Modi’s earlier statement there was Chinese incursion across Indian side of the LAC. So why is he indulging in hate mongering against china? Latest act of banning over 59 Chinese Apps adds to earlier frenzy of breaking Chinese TV sets. Most Indians live in delusion, so such gimmicks are aimed at strengthening such public delusions—a perceptive win.

In an interesting development, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has cited Chinese threat to India and Southeast Asian countries, likeVietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and the South China Sea, as one of the reasons the US is shifting its troops from Europe.He said so while responding to a question when he spoke at the Virtual Brussels Forum on June 25. He added that the US military is “postured appropriately” to meet these “challenges of our time.”According to Pompeo,President Donald Trump’s administration had carried out a fundamental relook at the threats it faced and how it should allocate its military resources, including intelligence and cyber.Speaking about the Chinese threat, he cited the violent border confrontation with India, China’s increasing activities in the South China Sea, and its predatory economic policies as evidence.Of these, the US is actually worried about the economy part.

Will the US really send its armada to fight India’s war? No, Never! Even Trump is not stupid enough to fight a direct military confrontation with China. However, it may employ some expandable proxies for getting the beating. Will India fight America’s war against China? No, Never! Modi is not Nehru! Will China go for an all-out war with any country? No, Never.Cardinal mistake on the global chess board has been America’s selection of a nuclear proxy—India— to take on a stronger and a bigger nuclear power— China.  Indo-US strategic clock got stuck somewhere in the 1960s.

Indian Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat has messed up handling of China-India tiff in Ladakh so much that it’s interesting to observe that most of retired Indian generals want war with China and most of serving ones want to retire before that war!. While the war may already be over; only Rawat is unable to perceive that. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has realized the consequences and is busy in damage reduction through denial, in fact he is in a state of mental paralysis.

Of late, India’s former foreign secretary Nirupama Rao has been sharply critical of Indian government’s overall communication on the India-China situation;whatIndia has ended up with is “a compounding of confusion.” Rao said she was very concerned about this.During an interview, Rao spent a lot of time talking about the impact of the India-China tussle on India’s image in the South Asian neighbourhood. Calling it “a very dark hour”, she said the outcome was “a great blow to our prestige in the neighbourhood”. She distressingly added: “I grieve for India”. Rao said India needs to rethink its neighbourhood policy which, at the moment, she said was in “shambles”. She said “we need to be more generous, more giving”.Rao put a lot of stress on the need to improve relations with Pakistan. She said there was a need “to reopen the channels for communications”. She added we need to “dissect what went wrong in our Pakistan policy”.

Rhetoric by India’s Home Minister to reclaim parts of Chinese territory,meant forhome consumption, led to pre-emptive action by China.By “inventing” a rhetorical position around the issue of Aksai Chin, a territory India may never have intended to take back by force from China, New Delhi aggravated the existing Chinese sensitivities on it.India ignited the matter by annexing its already occupied portion of Kashmir on August 05 and bifurcating it into two union territories. India also laid claims on Chinese & Pakistani areas of Aski Chin and Azad Jummu & Kashmir and threatened to capture these by force; and hence violated the UN Charter.

Rao said government communication must be “more precise and less ambiguous”. She added “every word is weighed carefully”. As she put it, it’s “masticated, there is no doubt about what is being said, there is no ambiguity”.In a 41-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Rao, said the PMO must clarify what it means by the phrase “across the LAC (Line of Actual Control)”. Rao criticised calls to boycott Chinese goods as well as the public breaking and throwing of Chinese television sets.

On side-lines of Victory Day Parade, India urged Russia to expedite delivery of Fighter planes, S-400 Missile system and other already ordered war munitions, keeping in view ongoing China-India tensions in Ladakh. However, Russia has conveyed to India that it would be difficult for her to out-rightly side with her in its conflict with China.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on June 23 at a virtual meeting of RIC (Russia-India-China) foreign ministers: “I don’t think India and China need any help from outside. I don’t think they need to be helped, especially when it comes to country issues. They can solve them on their own.”

In India, these are rough times for the sane voices. India’s jingoistic media strategy is in disarray, it continues to make rash and irresponsible calls for teaching China a lesson. Government is striving to construct a fake narrative through anchors on retainer ship, and doesn’t want anyone to challenge it.Those attempting to put up factual position are being coerced.

China being more powerful, controls the dynamics of crisis termination, while India has no choice but to keep ceding space. Likely End-State of crisis: There would be no worthwhile war. Territory taken by China will stay with China, and 1993 LAC alongside all agreements signed in 1996, 2005, 2012, and 2013 would not be worth the paper each is written on.And vacation of Siachen by India occupation forces is only a matter of time. Longer the crisis prolongs, more precarious would keep evolving India’s position.

China remains the winner as long as PLA is camped on Indian side of LAC.The PLA has capability to end war decisively in its favour without loss of its soldiers. No credible analyst expected the PLA to start a shooting war with India.Modi Era is a carefully scripted drama to fool its domestic audience, even in the presence of satellite imagery.

Since Modi’s arrival to PM House, every crisis has two sides: perception— India wins; reality —the other side wins. And in the process India is losing respect, within and outside. Now as consolidation measure to Modi style victory we eagerly wait for a Bolly Wood movie themed on a hunter carrying Lady Major of India army single handily beating a hell out of Chinese brigades!

Writer is a freelance contributor; e-mail: [email protected]

Farooq Alay

The horrific incident of July 1, 2020 in Sopore has shocked the world. The brute Indian forces shot a 65-year-old man dead in front of his three-year-old grandson, who was accompanying him in the middle of town where they had come to draw a cheque from the bank.The goons in uniform dragged Bashir Ahmed Khan out, shot him several times and did not stop here. They threw his grandson on his dead body and snapped photographs to send across through social media, making mockery of the misery of that senior citizen lying dead in the pool of blood.

This incident has really shocked the world, the heads may kneel in shame, but the question is whether the world community will condemn India and Modi’s fascist government that, analysts believe, is deliberately committing such incidents which are aimed at diverting world’s attention from New Delhi’s embarrassment at the hands of the Chinese in Ladakh and Galwan. The picture went viral on social media like a jungle fire and has drawn widespread hatred against the brute Indian forces and the barbaric Modi government. The picture staged in a way to mock the misery of the child wailing on the blood stained corpse of his grandfather is not just a heart wrenching sight, but it is a killing pain in the heart.

Thousands of enraged people in Occupied Kashmir staged widespread protests on July 1 against the killing of innocent elderly man, whose grandson was later left badly weeping and wailing helplessly sitting on Bashir Ahmed Khan’s dead body, dazed and traumatized.  The forces, according to eyewitnesses, dragged the elderly man out of his car and shot him dead, leaving his body in pool of blood. Later, the troopers in uniform put the child on his chest as the grandfather lay dead on the road; they took photographs to make the mockery of his corpse. The toddler was accompanying his grandfather for drawing cash from a bank situated in the heart ofSorpore town. Later, in the afternoon, hundreds of Kashmiris gathered at the old man’s funeral, chanting slogans of “We want freedom.”

Bashir Ahmed Khan’s daughter said that her father had gone to the bank to cash a cheque and on the way he was dragged out of his car and then shot in cold blood. Without naming anyone, she said her father’s killers did not care about the 3-year-old child who was accompanying him. “Who shoots a person in front of a 3-year-old kid?”, she asked in deep anguish. The victim’s wife said thather 3-year-old grandson was deliberately made to sit on the corpse of her husband. “My brother was not a militant. He did not carry a gun. Why was he killed?”, asked Nazir Ahmad, the brother of victim Bashir Ahmed. “If you want, I can come with you to meet the top police officers to counter their claims.”

“We received a call that my father had met with an accident,” Bashir’s son, Suhail said. “When we reached Sopore, we were told he was killed in a crossfire. If it was a crossfire, his body should’ve been inside the car, but it was found on the road.”Aijaz Ahmad Qudsi, Bashir Ahmed’s nephew, told Anadolu Agency that his deceased uncle’s car was unharmed, with not even a scratch. He claimed that the 65-year-old was dragged out from his car and then shot by the armed forces. The family members also accused the security forces of putting the child on the deceased civilian’s body “for taking pictures”. “They dragged the body out and put the child on top. The child’s clothes were drenched in his grandfather’s blood”. The family said the man was a small-time employee who earned Rs 6,000 per month.

The incident echoed the killing of 12-year-old Palestinian child Muhammad al Durra in September 2000, whose father, Jamal al Durra, tried his best to shield him from Israeli gunfire, taking several injuries. The boy’s killers were never brought to justice but the photograph of young Durra screaming behind his father remained etched in the memory of almost every Palestinian.

Reacting to the July 1 Sopore incident, Amnesty India said that the security forces had violated the law by disclosing the identity of the minor. “It is also a breach of the ‘best interests of the child’ principle as required to be the basis of any action by authorities under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which India is a state party.” Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that the image of the three-year-old sitting on his grandfather’s “lifeless, bullet-ridden body” exposed the real face of Narendra Modi’s “fascist India”. Leader of the oppositionShehbaz Sharif also condemned the killing. In a tweet, he said: Widespread human rights abuses by fascist Modi government constitute an acid test for the international community.” Tweeting the picture of the deceased’s grandson sitting on his chest, Pakistan FO spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said she was “searching for words to describe (…) the grief and helplessness of the Kashmiri people.”Terming killing of a civilian right in front of his 3-year-old grandson by the Indian forcesas a chilling reminder of Nazi oppression, senior vice chairman Jammu Kashmir National Front Altaf Hussain Wani said that the soul-wrenching photo of atoddler crying on the chest of his dead grandfather speaks volumes about India’sfascism and its racial undercurrents.

The world felt the pain and anger of the Kashmiris and cited against this horrific incident. Kashmiris have been suffering at the hands of Indians for a long time. The decades of brutality and human rights violations are unimaginable and inconceivable. As hundreds of children lay blinded by the pallet guns, this incident adds fuel to the already igniting fire of freedom for the Kashmiris. Oppressed and tortured Kashmir is driving India to a point of no return. As Nazi inspired Indian government gets bolder in its brutality against Kashmiris, India is gradually being compelled into isolation for the crimes against humanity. It is about time that India is brought to answer for the innocent blood spilled in Kashmir and the decades of atrocious and bare barbaric are accounted for.

(The writer is freelance columnist based in Islamabad)