Morning Brief: Imran Khan Likely To Be Pakistan’s Next PM; Dip In Foreign Funds For NGOs Amid Crackdown; Parliament Passes Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill

Good morning, dear reader! Here’s your morning news and views brief for today.

Imran Khan Likely To Be Pakistan’s Next Prime Minister

In an election marked by large scale rigging by the Pakistan Army, cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan is leading in the early phase of vote counting. With 30 per cent of the total vote counted, Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party is leading in 113 of 272 National Assembly seats. The party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), is ahead in 66 seats. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), led by Bilawal Bhutto, the son of assassinated two-time prime minister Benazir Bhutto, has taken led in 39 constituencies.

Sharif’s PML-N, along with Bhutto’s PPP and other regional outfits, has rejected the result as "blatantly" rigged. The PPP has alleged that the vote-count was being manipulated. There were widespread concerns during the election campaign about manipulation by the army, and it did not disappoint.

Dip In Foreign Funds For NGOs After Government Crackdown

Amid a crackdown on Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) not adhering to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, funding received by NGOs and associations from outside India has declined to Rs 15,329 crore in 2016-17 from Rs 17,799 crore in 2015-16. In 2014-15, foreign funding stood at Rs 15,305 crore.

In the last few years, the number of NGOs and association with valid FCRA licences has come down from more than 40,000 in 2014-15 to 24,000 at present. Registration of over 13,000 NGOs has been cancelled in the last three years for violations of FCRA provisions, Junior Home Minister Kiren Rijiju said.

Parliament Passes Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill 2018

Parliament on Wednesday passed the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill 2018. The bill is aimed at economic offenders like Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi, who have fled the country to evade the legal process. The Lok Sabha had cleared it on 19 July. It seeks to target fugitives for offences exceeding Rs 100 crore.

The bill empowers authorities to attach and confiscate properties and assets of economic offenders like loan defaulters who flee the country. If a person is a declared offender, his property will be confiscated and disposed of. The Enforcement Directorate will be the investigative agency under the Act.

Liquid Water Lake Discovered On Mars

Researchers have found evidence of the presence of a giant lake of liquid water buried beneath the ice near the Mars’ south pole. This is the first time such evidence has been found on the Red Planet. Earlier, exploration by NASA’s Curiosity had shown that water was present on the surface of Mars in the past.

Now, an Italian team, using a ground-penetrating radar on an orbiting spacecraft, has detected signs of a 20-kilometre-wide lake, 1.5 kilometres under the ice cap. They have published their observations in Science. Given its location beneath the polar ice cap, the water is expected to be below the freezing point. However, experts have not been able to confirm these findings.

India-US To Sign Military Pack During The ‘2+2’ Meeting

During the inaugural 2+2 meeting, in which External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold talks with their American counterparts, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defence James Mattis, India and the US will sign the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA), a pact for secure military communications.

COMCASA will give India access to sophisticated communications systems used by the US and its allies. Platforms such as Boeing P-8 Poseidon, procured from the US in the past, are equipped with commercially available communication systems instead of those secured under COMCASA. The pack would facilitate “interoperability” between US and Indian armed forces.

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SWARAJYA SPECIAL

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We hope you enjoyed reading our morning brief. Have a great day ahead!