Islamabad (TIP): Pakistan expects some five lakh fresh Afghan refugees in case of a civil war in neighbouring Afghanistan, according to a media report here on July 7, amidst the Taliban militants gaining rapid strides in the war-torn country.

The Express Tribune reported that this time the Pakistani authorities insist refugees would be kept at special camps in the bordering areas instead of letting them in the settled parts of the country.

Afghan refugees started coming to Pakistan following the invasion by the former Soviet Union.

Pakistan has been pushing to send them back but it may face fresh waves of refugees if Afghanistan plunged into civil war.

At a recent briefing given to a select group of parliamentarians, the military authorities in Pakistan painted grim prospects of any peace in Afghanistan.

The members of parliament were told that Afghanistan was fast descending into civil war, something that did not bode well for Pakistan.

The negative fallout of unrest in Afghanistan includes a rise in terrorism and a fresh influx of Afghan refugees, the report said.

Pakistani officials, quoted by the newspaper, said although Taliban gains were quite rapid in recent weeks, the situation could change if the Afghan security forces show some resistance.

In recent weeks, the insurgents have seized nearly a third of Afghanistan’s rural districts and besieged several provincial capitals.

Hundreds of Afghan security force members have fled into neighbouring Tajikistan in the face of Taliban advances since the US vacated its main Afghan base as part of a plan to withdraw all foreign troops by September 11.

“Therefore, it is too early to predict where things are heading in Afghanistan. The situation at best is volatile and unpredictable,” a Pakistani official said when asked about the chances of Afghanistan slipping into another phase of chaos. (PTI)

After pressuring telecom firms, Myanmar‘s junta bans executives from leaving

Singapore (TIP): Senior foreign executives of major telecommunications firms in Myanmar have been told by the junta that they must not leave the country without permission, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

A confidential order from Myanmar’s Posts and Telecommunications Department (PTD) in mid-June said senior executives, both foreigners and Myanmar nationals, must seek special authorisation to leave the country, the person said.

A week later, telecom companies were sent a second letter telling them they had until Monday July 5 to fully implement intercept technology they had previously been asked to install to let authorities spy on calls, messages and web traffic and to track users by themselves, the source said. Reuters has not seen the orders.

The directives follow pressure on the companies from the junta, which is facing daily protests from its opponents and a growing number of insurgencies to activate the spyware technology.

A spokesman for the military did not answer multiple requests for comment. The junta has never commented on the electronic surveillance effort, but announced soon after seizing power its aim to pass a cybersecurity bill that would require telecoms providers to provide data when requested and remove or block any content deemed to be disrupting “unity, stabilisation, and peace”. It also amended privacy laws to free security forces to intercept communications.

The travel ban comes after intensified pressure from military officials to finish the implementation of the surveillance equipment. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said the ban was meant to pressure telecoms firms to finish activating the spyware technology, although the order itself does not specify a reason.

Three other telecoms sources, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the authorities had stepped up pressure on the companies to implement the intercept, but declined to elaborate further. Two sources said companies had been warned repeatedly by junta officials not to speak publicly or to the media on the intercept.

Telenor declined to comment. There was no immediate response to requests for comment from Ooredoo, state-owned MPT and Mytel, a joint venture between Vietnam’s Viettel and a Myanmar military-owned conglomerate. (Reuters)