POLITICAL ISSUES
Bahrain
1. Pakistan welcomes national dialogue in Bahrain
Islamabad, Tuesday, 1 March 2011
Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary highlighted the comprehensive and good relations between Pakistan and Bahrain in his meeting with the Bahraini ambassador. He declared that Pakistan supported the process of a national dialogue with all sections of society in Bahrain in order to ensure stability, peace and prosperity for the country.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

2. Bahrain ensures security to Pakistanis: FO Spokesperson
Islamabad, Tuesday, 15 March 2011
After the death of a Pakistani worker in Bahrain in a violent attack in Manama, the Foreign Office of Pakistan stated that Bahraini authorities had assured the security of Pakistani nationals working in Bahrain who number around 65,000.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

3. CCP expresses concern over new media crisis in Bahrain
Islamabad, Thursday, 17 March 2011
The increased violence against the media in Bahrain was strongly condemned by the Columnist Club of Pakistan (CCP) and the responsibility of the government to protect journalists was pointed out.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

4. Bahrain spill over to spread to Pakistan?
Thursday, 24 March 2011
Around 65,000 Pakistanis live in Bahrain with thousands working in the security sector. Reports reveal that about 1,000 men are recruited for the Bahrain National Guard by the Army-run foundations Fauji and Bahria. A Pakistani official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Pakistan had to be careful with its comments since it should not endanger the lives of the Pakistanis in Bahrain since for every one Pakistani there, there are ten dependent Pakistanis back home.
Source: Dawn, Karachi

5. Bahrain agrees to augment defence ties with Pakistan
Islamabad, Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Bahrain’s Foreign Minister visited Pakistan to convey the Bahraini King’s message that he hoped the Pakistani leadership would stick to its “principled stand” regarding the uprising in Bahrain since the monarchy had received Pakistan’s support. In the light of the unrest in Bahrain, the Foreign Minister agreed to enhance defence cooperation and bilateral economic and trade ties with Pakistan.  
Source: Dawn, Karachi

Iran  
6. Pakistan committed to further strengthen ties with Iran: Naek
Islamabad, Thursday, 3 March 2011
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Mohammad Ali Fathollahi, visited the Chairman of Pakistan’s Senate, Farooq H. Naek. Naek emphasized the strong political, economic, and cultural ties between Pakistan and Iran. While he expressed his satisfaction with the US 1$ dollar trade per annum between the countries, he stated that there was much scope for expansion, especially in the energy sector.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

7. Special envoy of Iranian President calls on President
Islamabad, Friday, 11 March 2011
The Special Envoy of the Iranian President, the Petroleum Minister Masood Kazemi, visited President Asif Ali Zardari to convey the greetings of the Iranian President on the advent of Nauroz and discuss issues of mutual interest.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

Libya
8. Evacuation of Pakistanis from Libya to complete this week: PIA
Islamabad, Tuesday, 8 March 2011
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had evacuated over 1,500 Pakistanis from Libya and was looking to send in more aircrafts to bring back around 3,000 Pakistanis who were still stranded there. The PIA spokesperson said that the operation would be completed within a week.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

9. Over 15,000 Pakistanis stranded in Libya: MD OPF
Islamabad, Saturday, 12 March 2011
It was estimated that around 15,000 to 20,000 Pakistanis were stranded in Libya and the Monitoring Committee of the Overseas Pakistani Foundation (OPF) was monitoring the situation and overseeing the repatriation process.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

10. Sovereignty, territorial integrity of Libya must be respected: Hina Khar
Islamabad, Monday, 21 March 2011
In the light of the military strikes in Libya, Pakistan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs stated that her country was following the developments in Libya closely and reaffirmed Pakistan’s stand that the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Libya should be upheld.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

Qatar
11. Diplomat’s car fired upon
Karachi, Monday, 7 March 2011
In an apparent robbery attempt on Sunday, the Qatari consul and two other Gulf Diplomats were shot at in their car in Karachi but no injuries were reported.
Source: Dawn, Karachi

Saudi Arabia
12. Pakistan’s ambassador designate to Saudi Arabia calls on President
Islamabad, Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Ishtiaq Hussain Andrabi, Pakistan’s ambassador designate to Saudi Arabia, met Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari to discuss his new duties. The president laid special emphasis on concentrating on Pakistani expatriates and building the economic relations between the two countries.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

13. Saudi commander calls on COAS
Rawalpindi, Wednesday, 9 March 2011
The Commander Saudi Land Forces called on Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff, General Kayani, to discuss matters of professional interest.
Source: Pakistan Times, Islamabad

14. Commander Saudi Forces calls on CJCSC
Rawalpindi, Wednesday, 9 March 2011
The Commander Saudi Land Forces paid a visit to the Chairman Joint Chief of Staff Committee at the Joint Staff Headquarters to confer on matters of mutual interest and cooperation.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

15. Zardari confers HI on Commander Saudi Armed forces
Islamabad, Thursday, 10 March 2011
President Asif Ali Zardari conferred the title of Hilal-i-Imtiaz on the Commander Saudi Royal Land Forces for his invaluable services in bringing the two countries closer together.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

16. `Blood money was paid by S. Arabia`
Washington, Friday, 18 March 2011
According to diplomatic sources, Saudi Arabia paid the blood money to the families of the victims killed by CIA contractor Raymond Davis in order to allow his release after spending two months in a Lahore jail. Apparently Saudi Arabia got involved in resolving the dispute over his release a month before the payment when they realised the dispute would adversely impact the relationship between Pakistan and US.
Source: Dawn, Karachi

17. Good news for Pak pilgrims as Saudia extends remarkable concession
Islamabad, Sunday, 20 March 2011
Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Religious Affairs made a successful visit to Saudi Arabia in which he managed to obtain an additional quota of 20,000 pilgrims for Hajj from Pakistan as well as concessions ranging around Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 40,000 per pilgrim for the year 2011.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

18. No Saudi role in Davis` release: envoy
Islamabad, Tuesday, 22 March 2011
The Saudi Arabian ambassador to Pakistan denied his country’s involvement in the release of Raymond Davis asserting that this was a baseless claim made be the media.
Source: Dawn, Karachi

Turkey
19. CJCSC calls on Turkish President
Islamabad, Thursday, 17 March 2011
The Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) paid a visit to Turkey’s President, Abdullah Gull, during his official visit to the country. He explained Pakistan’s efforts to counter terrorism to the Turkish President. He also expressed Pakistan’s gratitude for the support provided by Turkey to Pakistan’s flood victims. He later visited Turkey’s Minister of Defence as well to discuss bilateral and regional issues.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

Multilateral
20. Pakistan, GCC agree to forge comprehensive partnership for peace, development
Islamabad, Tuesday, 8 March 2011
Pakistan and the Gulf Cooperation Council have agreed to develop a “comprehensive partnership for peace, progress and development” through a Strategic Dialogue in the form of annual ministerial level meetings between their foreign ministers.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

21. Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey hold joint military exercise
Ankara, Saturday, 26 March 2011
Infantry troops from Pakistan, Turkey, and Afghanistan participated in a joint exercise to further develop warfare tactics in residential areas and improve co-ordination between the forces of the three countries.
Source: Dawn, Karachi

22. OIC to convey strong condemnation of desecration of Holy Qur’an
United Nations, Saturday, 26 March 2011
It was decided that Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN along with those from Tajikistan, Iran, Egypt, and Morocco would meet the UN Secretary General to convey OIC’s strong condemnation of the desecration of the Quran in Florida and encourage him to take steps towards promoting inter-faith harmony.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

ECONOMIC ISSUES
Multilateral
23. Hina Rabbani Khar calls for early finalization of Pak-GCC FTA
Islamabad, Tuesday, 8 March 2011
The First Ministerial Meeting of the Pakistan – Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was held in Abu Dhabi wherein Pakistan’s delegation was led by their Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Hina Rabbani Khar. She stressed the importance of the GCC in Pakistan’s foreign policy and called for an early finalization of the free trade agreement between the GCC and Pakistan. The Strategic Dialogue for this was initiated with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that contained the framework for such a dialogue.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

24. ECO Trade and Development Bank (ETDB) expands its SME Financing towards Orix Leasing
Islamabad, Friday, 18 March 2011
Following the ECO Director’s approval in a meeting held on 23 February 2011 at the headquarters of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Trade and Development Bank in Istanbul, Turkey, its Board of Directors, approved SMEs (Small & Medium Enterprises) credit facility to Orix Leasing Pakistan Limited for a total limit of up to US $10 million with a tenor of 4 years and a grace period of 1 year. To promote socio-economic development and trade amongst ECO member states, this regional multilateral development bank was established under the auspices of ECO (Economic Cooperation Organization).
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

25. Pakistan to get US $ 3 billion loan from IDB
Islamabad, Tuesday, 22 March 2011
In order to aid socio-economic development in Pakistan, the Islamic Development Bank promised a loan of US $3 billion over the next four years to support multi-sector and area focused programmes.  
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

ENERGY
Iran
26. Delay in Iran gas contract may cost Pakistan penalties
Islamabad, Friday, 11 March 2011
Due to Pakistan’s indecision over awarding the contract for conducting Front-End Engineering Design (FEED), which is a pre-requisite for constructing the pipeline, Pakistan may face having to pay penalties to Iran since the gas pipeline agreement between the two countries requires the FEED to be ready by December 2011.
Source: Dawn, Karachi

Turkey
27. Turkish team arrives to discuss rental power project
Karachi, Sunday, 6 March 2011
A high level meeting was scheduled to discuss the linking of the first 232 Megawatt rental power project from a ship to the power distribution system of the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) in order to provide a steady supply of energy to customers. The Pakistani government consolidated the rental ship agreement to help offset the burden on KESC.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

MISCELLANEOUS
28. Pak-Saudia agree to introduce effective checking system to curb drug smuggling
Islamabad, Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador and Pakistan’s Interior Minister met to discuss various issues, particularly the problem of drug smuggling, and agreed that both countries should introduce an effective system to check such illegal activities.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

29. Khursheed Shah visits Pak international School & Ghilaf-e-Kaba’a factory in Holy Mecca
Islamabad, Saturday, 12 March 2011
Pakistan’s Minister for Religious Affairs visited the Ghilaf-e-Kabaa factory in Mecca where the Ghilaf of the Khana-e-Kaba’a is prepared and then went to the Pakistan International School in Jeddah where he praised the institution for providing an all-round quality education to the children of the Pakistani community n Saudi Arabia.
Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

30. Nearly 6,000 animals ‘gifted’ to foreign dignitaries
Karachi, Monday, 14 March 2011
Though the Pakistani government is only allowed to gift “a few animals” under its export policy rules, it was discovered that over the past 2 years the federal government gifted 5,996 animals, including camels, sheep and goats, to members of the royal families of Saudi Arabia and UAE.
Source: Dawn, Karachi

31. KSE, Turkish envoy discuss container train project
Karachi, Friday, 18 March 2011
Under the Public and Private Partnership scheme, a container train line between Istanbul-Tehran-Islamabad was discussed by a visiting Turkish delegation and board members of the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE). The project would expand trade volume between the countries and reduce the cost of doing business.
Source: Dawn, Karachi

32. ECO Science Foundation to be launched in April
Karachi, Friday, 25 March 2011
Ten member states of ECO have taken the initiative to set up a Science Foundation in order to encourage scientific research and joint projects in the region. The headquarters will currently be in Pakistan but will rotate among member states. Initially only Pakistan, Iran and Turkey will contribute equally to the science and technology fund while other states will do so on a voluntary basis.
Source: Dawn, Karachi

Compiled by Shubha Kamala-Prasad

Shubha Kamala Prasad is a Graduate student at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Email

As part of the policy, the MEI@ND standardizes spellings and date format to make the text uniformly accessible and stylistically consistent. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views/positions of the MEI@ND. Editor, MEI@ND P R Kumaraswamy