The Capitals: Islamabad's Baloch fault line matures its teeth; Paris to keep Olympic rings for now; and more

New Delhi

In The Capitals this week, the focus of the most powerful individuals in Pakistan's capital Islamabad returned to insurgency in Balochistan after the separatists staged the biggest single-day attack on several locations on the anniversary of the killing of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti. The 'angels' — as The Capitals has reported in the past —have not prevailed yet this time around. 

Across the Ocean, Paris paid quite a hefty price for the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov. Meanwhile, New Delhi's efforts to lead the critical technologies boom appeared to be paying off.

Read this in The Capitals this weekend.  

Islamabad, Pakistan

Islamabad's corridors of power were taken aback by shock when insurgents in Balochistan carried out large-scale coordinated attacks on the 18th death anniversary of Nawab Akbar Bugti, a Baloch nationalist leader killed by the Pakistani military in 2006. 

The coordinated strikes that left more than 70 dead, were more widespread than any such assault in the past by the separatist Baloch Liberation Army. The attack continues to foreground Baloch armed separatism fuelled by decades of exploitation of impoverished Balochistan's natural resources. 

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to eliminate the "terrorist threat" after he travelled to Quetta to address the unrest. 

Sharif described the attacks as part of a "wicked scheme" orchestrated by  the BLA and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)

"There has been a wave of great concern among the people across Pakistan due to the recent heartrending incident that occurred in Balochistan. Everyone is aggrieved by this incident," he said.

The decades of "kill and dump policy", a reference to the abduction, disappearance, and killings of the Baloch dissidents by the Pakistani state, formulated the mistrust between ethnic Baloch people and Islamabad. 

This week appears to be the beginning of yet another violent chapter in Islamabad's Balochistan problem. 

Paris, France

The diplomatic fallout from the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in Paris pushed the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to cancel its US$20 billion deal with France for 80 Rafale fighter jets. The Russian-born tech tycoon's detention by French authorities strained relations between the UAE and France, despite Durov’s release on bail.

Durov, who holds UAE citizenship alongside several other nationalities, was arrested last week at a Paris airport after arriving from Azerbaijan. The arrest was reportedly linked to accusations from French authorities, including allegations of financial crimes, cyber offenses, drug trafficking, and child exploitation on the Telegram platform. While Durov has consistently denied these allegations, claiming they are politically motivated due to his refusal to grant Western governments’ backdoor access to Telegram, the arrest has nonetheless triggered significant diplomatic repercussions.

French President Emmanuel Macron has attempted to mitigate the situation, stating that Durov’s arrest was not politically motivated and was unrelated to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. However, these assurances have done little to appease the UAE. 

Olympic rings seen on Eiffel Tower | File via AFP

Among other crucial developments from Paris, the Eiffel Tower will keep the Olympic rings that have adorned it since June after the ongoing Paralympic Games, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Saturday (August 31).

"As mayor of Paris, the decision is up to me and I have the agreement of the IOC (International Olympic Committee)," Hidalgo told French daily Ouest-France.

"So yes, they (the rings) will stay on the Eiffel Tower," she said, without specifying for how long.

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

Kinshasa is reeling under the impact of wider mpox viral spread in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But the first delivery of the vaccines is expected to land in the capital Kinshasa in the coming days, the World Health Organization's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said earlier this month.

More than 18,000 suspected cases of mpox have been reported in DR Congo so far this year, with 629 deaths, said Tedros.

The figure included more than 5,000 cases and 31 deaths from the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu, where the new Clade 1b strain has been spreading.

New Delhi, India

In a major sign of New Delhi's boosting rising critical technologies ambitions, India edged past the United Kingdom by delivering more cutting-edge critical technology research during the period between 2019 and 2023, data published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute showed. 

It now ranks among the top five countries for 45 of 64 critical technologies against the UK's 36. For the period between 2018 and 2022, the UK was among the top five countries for 44 of 64 critical technologies, while India was among the top five nations for 37 of 64 critical technologies.

This represents enormous gains from 2003-2007, in which India was placed among the top five countries for only four technologies. 

This, dear reader, is the wrap for The Capitals — for now. Thank you for turning in to consume this one on your smartphone or internet device.