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Express Tribune
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Court throws out pleaseeking case against US President Trump
The additional district and sessions court for District West on Monday threw out a petition seeking the registration of a criminal case against US President Donald Trump, ruling that the plea was not maintainable under both Pakistani and international law. Judge Ameerud Din Rana held that heads of state enjoy immunity under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), which precludes Pakistani courts from initiating criminal proceedings against an incumbent or former foreign head of state. The petition was filed by a local citizen, Jamshed Ali Khawaja, through his counsel Barrister Jaffar Abbas Jafri, who contended that Trump's actions, particularly the ordering of a military strike in Iran, had adversely affected millions of people, including Pakistani citizens. The petitioner sought the registration of a case under Sections 124, 125, 126, and 228 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), clarifying that he was not demanding Trump's arrest, merely the initiation of legal proceedings. During the hearing, the judge asked the petitioner's counsel to explain the applicability of the Vienna Convention. In response, Barrister Jafri argued that while international law affords immunity from arrest, it does not entirely bar prosecution of heads of state. He also objected to the presence of the government's legal representative, arguing that no formal notice had been issued to the state. The court, however, overruled the objection, stating that the law officer had been summoned to assist the court on legal points. The government's counsel submitted that the petition was devoid of legal merit and argued that under both Pakistani law and international treaties, the US president is entitled to immunity.
The Diplomat
02-07-2025
- Politics
- The Diplomat
China Car Crash Plan Targeting Hsiao Bi-khim Shocks Taiwan
Comments late last month by General Petr Bartovský, the director of Czech military intelligence, stated that Chinese officials had planned to ram the car of Hsiao Bi-khim, then Taiwan's vice president-elect, during her trip to Prague last year. In the words of Jan Pejšek, a spokesperson for the Czech military intelligence, this was 'an attempt by the Chinese civil secret service to create conditions to perform a demonstrative kinetic action against a protected person.' The 'kinetic action' was apparently the planned car crash. Czech military intelligence emphasized that this plot did not 'go beyond the phase of preparation' and that Hsiao was never in danger, seeing as she was protected by Czech security services during her visit. But military intelligence spokespeople also underlined the 'unprecedented' nature of such Chinese actions, saying that this was a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Other details that have been reported on since suggest that the operation was planned by China's military attache in Prague and involved coordination between Chinese diplomatic and intelligence officials. In contrast to Czech military intelligence officials, diplomatic officials from the Czech Foreign Ministry have downplayed the incident, stating that they cannot reveal confidential details of sensitive cases, but that they were in contact with China. Hsiao and President Lai Ching-te were elected to office on the same ticket in January 2024 trip. In March 2024 – after the election, but before Hsiao and Lai were sworn into office – the vice president-elect visited Prague. Hsiao's purpose in traveling was likely to reassure European leaders about Lai's stances, given concern from some quarters that Taiwan's new president would prove to be a pro-independence provocateur. The visit occurred at the invitation of Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil as the latest sign of warming times between Czechia and Taiwan. Nevertheless, Hsiao conducted the trip in her personal capacity so as to prevent the trip from being seen as provocative. Her trip was thus not as high-profile as past visits to Europe by Taiwanese government officials such as Joseph Wu during his time as foreign minister of the Tsai administration. Wu, too, was reportedly surveilled by Chinese government officials during his European travels, who sought to gather information on his meetings. News of the alleged plot against Hsiao proved a shock in Taiwan. As with Wu previously, it was already known that Chinese officials in Prague had sought to gather information on who Hsiao met with. It was also previously known that Hsiao had been surveilled during her trip to Prague last year, and that her motorcade was followed by a vehicle driven by China's military attache. While following Hsiao, this military attache ran a red light. Such surveillance was perceived as a means of intimidation at the time. However, it was a revelation that Chinese efforts to intimidate Hsiao went as far as potentially crashing a vehicle into her car. Although headlines in international media have generally referred to China's potential 'kinetic action' as an effort at intimidation, the incident is being perceived in Taiwan as potentially an assassination attempt. An event in domestic politics added to the sense of alarm in Taiwan. At the same time as Hsiao's European tour, the Kuomintang (KMT) – which had newly taken control of the legislature in Taiwan – had sought to introduce a new bill that would have required a new set of presidential elections if the vice-president-elect died. Consequently, pan-Green political parties such as the Taiwan Statebuilding Party have accused the KMT of potentially colluding with China in the assassination of Hsiao. The accusations come at a sensitive time in Taiwan, given the ongoing wave of political recalls targeting all KMT legislators. The recalls – on a scale unprecedented in the history of Taiwanese politics – are a reaction against political actions by the KMT in the past two years. Those actions include passing the largest set of budget cuts in the history of Taiwanese democratic politics, seeking to expand legislative powers to allow for new powers of investigation, and freezing the Constitutional Court to prevent it from making rulings. Given the recall wave, the political dynamics in Taiwan are at present similar to an election year. The first wave of recall voting will take place on July 26. It is possible that news of the plot against Hsiao will have a large impact on the recalls. Other incidents that happened shortly before past elections were thought to have affected the outcome, such as the Chou Tzu-yu incident ahead of the 2016 election that put Tsai Ing-wen into power. For members of the pan-Green camp in Taiwan, Hsiao is a much-beloved figure. Apart from her diplomatic successes in Washington, Hsiao is seen as the spiritual successor to Tsai, and she is touted as a frontrunner for the Democratic Progressive Party's presidential candidate after Lai. Indeed, if it had been a different politician targeted – say, Tsai's first vice president, Chen Chien-jen – there would not have been such a large public response in Taiwan. In turn, Hsiao appears to be an especially hated figure for Beijing. Hsiao is among the 'Taiwanese independence separatists' sanctioned by China and has often been targeted in condemnations. Beijing's special ire against Hsiao may come from her background: she was born in Japan to a Taiwanese and an American, and was educated in the United States. This background has sometimes led pan-Blue political opponents to frame Hsiao as, in fact, fundamentally an American with little stake in Taiwan. To this extent, news of the plot – as well as the fact that the KMT was seeking to pass legislation for scenarios in which a vice-president-elect died in a similar time frame – adds to the speculation that the KMT was acting in collusion with Beijing. It is hard to think that the KMT would have won a new set of presidential elections shortly after losing the 2024 election, particularly if a fatal car accident had made as beloved a figure as Hsiao into a political martyr not long before. The KMT's bill was not widely discussed at the time, overshadowed as it was by the party's attempt to expand legislative powers around the time of Hsiao's trip. At the same time, the DPP has increasingly accused the KMT of pursuing a Chinese stratagem in the last two years – by engaging in a political strategy that aims to reshape the division of powers among Taiwan's three major branches of government to privilege the only branch of government the KMT controls, the legislature. Many accusations from the pan-Green camp focus on trips to China by KMT caucus leader Fu Kun-chi, who is often seen as the architect of the KMT's actions in the legislature. Fu is accused of acting on Chinese stratagems, as well as receiving kickbacks from China; he is currently under investigation for potentially receiving merchandise from China to use in campaigns. Fu sparked controversy in March for having traveled to Hong Kong to meet with Chinese government officials, while trying to hide his trip through social media posts that showed him in Taiwan. Fu's secret trip was outed by Legislative Yuan President Han Kuo-yu, a fellow member of the KMT, for reasons that are not clear. Fu is also a graduate of Jinan University in Guangzhou, one of the Chinese universities that the Taiwanese Ministry of Education has classified as a United Front-affiliated institution. This in itself has become an object of controversy: some reports state that Fu holds a doctorate from Jinan University, but he has downplayed his time at Jinan University when questioned, claiming to have only spent a few months at the institution. Amid the brewing controversy, which is starting to impact the KMT, it remains to be seen how the car crash incident impacts the recalls. Certainly the release of such information by Czech military intelligence could have not have occurred at a worse time for the KMT.
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First Post
29-06-2025
- Politics
- First Post
China 'plotted staged car crash' targeting Taiwan VP during Prague visit, Czech intelligence says
Taiwan's vice-president, Hsiao Bi-khim, says she won't be intimidated after Czech intelligence revealed an alleged Chinese plot to stage a car crash during her visit to Prague last year, report says. read more Taiwan's Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim speaks during a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) in Taipei on July 30, 2024. Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te said July 30 "a threat from China to any country is a threat to the world", emphasizing to lawmakers of more than 20 countries that global democracies must unite against "authoritarian expansion". (Photo by Sam Yeh / AFP) Taiwan's vice-president, Hsiao Bi-khim, visited the Czech Republic in March 2024, marking the first overseas trip by her and Taiwan's president, Lai Ching-te, after winning the election in January. At the time, reports emerged that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following her police-escorted car from the airport. Now, Prague intelligence officials have told local media that the incident was part of a much larger and escalating plan by Chinese diplomats and intelligence officers working out of the Chinese embassy in Prague. The plan allegedly included staging a car crash involving Hsiao's convoy. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD On Saturday, Hsiao thanked Czech authorities for ensuring her safety during the visit. 'The CCP's unlawful activities will NOT intimidate me from voicing Taiwan's interests in the international community,' she said in a social media post. Hsiao has insisted she will not be intimidated following reports from Czech intelligence that Chinese officials planned to stage a collision during her visit to Prague last year. The new details of the alleged plot were revealed on Thursday by the Czech public radio service, Irozhlas. Petr Bartovský, director of the Czech military intelligence service, told Irozhlas that the driver stopped by police was only following Hsiao. However, he said his service also discovered plans, directed from the Chinese embassy, to 'demonstratively confront Ms Hsiao.' Jan Pejšek, a spokesperson for the intelligence service, said the plan involved an 'attempt by the Chinese civil secret service to create conditions for a demonstrative kinetic action against a protected person, which, however, did not go beyond the phase of preparation.' Czech reporters said this was understood to mean staging a collision with Hsiao's car. Pejšek added that the activities of the Chinese agents 'went so far as to endanger' Hsiao. 'These activities, which flagrantly breach the obligations arising from the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, were conducted, among others, by individuals holding diplomatic posts at the Chinese embassy in Prague,' he said. Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council on Friday condemned the alleged actions by China, saying they 'seriously threatened the personal safety of Vice-President Hsiao and her entourage,' and demanded an explanation and a public apology. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Meanwhile, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, denied any wrongdoing, saying Chinese diplomats 'always observe the laws and regulations of host countries.' Guo accused the Czech government of 'grossly interfering in China's internal affairs' by allowing Hsiao to visit and labelled her a 'diehard Taiwan independence separatist' — a designation for which China has previously threatened the death penalty.
Montreal Gazette
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Montreal Gazette
Opinion: Israeli embassy killings ‘could have been us'
'This is us,' wrote a former colleague upon learning of the targeted killing of Israeli embassy staffers Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky. And indeed — it could have been us. The photos splashed across international media are hauntingly familiar: two bright-eyed 20somethings, dressed in suits and wearing diplomatic pins — symbols of state, now often positioned near yellow hostage ribbons. Their profiles echoed many of ours — young professionals at the very beginning of their careers, who chose service over salary, policy over profit, and long hours over recognition. They chose the path of purpose: the quiet, often invisible labour of diplomacy. I know this path well. Over a decade ago, I served in the same ministry, in the same department. We believed in the soft power of dialogue, in midnight memos and morning briefings, in showing up — day after day — in rooms where conflict and hope shared the same air. We believed diplomacy could hold back the tide — that words, presence and principle might prevent the chaos from reaching our doorstep. But on the evening of May 21, outside of the Capital Jewish Museum, the tide spilled over. And it did not stop at a border. The assassination of unarmed embassy personnel in the heart of Washington, D.C. — the symbolic capital of Western diplomacy — is more than a tragedy. It's a rupture of the global order. Under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, foreign service staff are protected by international law. Milgrim and Lischinsky were not armed combatants. They were emissaries of engagement. Their killing was not only an act of violence; it was an attack on the very principle of diplomacy itself. When diplomats are no longer safe, when embassies become targets, and when international norms are violated without consequence, we all lose something. The scaffolding that holds together fragile peace efforts, conflict resolution and cross-border co-operation begins to collapse. That collapse affects every nation, not just one. It would be easy to chalk this up as another isolated act of violence in a world that has grown disturbingly used to them. But this wasn't random. It didn't happen in a vacuum. It unfolded in a climate of rising extremism, normalized hate speech and tolerated antisemitism — conditions that have been increasingly excused, dismissed or politicized. When rallies call openly for intifada, when hostage posters are torn down as if they're offensive rather than urgent, when Jewish institutions face threats that are dismissed as overreactions, violence becomes not just possible, but predictable. This is what happens when democracies turn a blind eye to growing ideological radicalism within their own borders. The irony, the heartbreak, is that Milgrim and Lischinsky devoted themselves to preventing the very kind of violence that claimed their lives. They were not only symbols of diplomacy — they were practitioners of it, working tirelessly to make dialogue possible in a world that is increasingly rejecting it. They are us. And we will be them — if we fail to defend the ideals they lived for. Because when emissaries of peace are gunned down, it is not only a Jewish tragedy. It is a diplomatic one. A democratic one. A global one. We cannot afford to let this become just another headline, another name, another shrug of indifference. The line has been crossed. The question now is: Who will stand up to redraw it? Margaux Chetrit is a writer, speaker and entrepreneur. She is a former parliamentary intern in Israel's Knesset. She served at the Consulate General of Israel in Montreal from 2008-2015.
ILoveQatar.net
22-05-2025
- Politics
- ILoveQatar.net
Qatar condemns shooting of international diplomatic delegation in Jenin by Israeli Occupation
The State of Qatar on 21 May 2025 condemned the Israeli occupation army's shooting of an international diplomatic delegation during its visit to the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, considering it a violation of international laws, conventions, and diplomatic norms. In a statement on Wednesday, 21 May 2025, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged the international community to assume its moral and legal responsibilities, confront Israel's violations and transgressions of international law, and compel it to respect the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which grants immunities to diplomatic missions.
