VIF Information Alerts - 26 April 2019

2nd BRI Summit under way in Beijing: China gets map right on Jammu & Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh
Published: The Indian Express

26 Apr 2019

As the second edition of Belt and Road Initiative Summit got under way in Beijing on Thursday, China has displayed a map with BRI routes that curiously shows entire Jammu & Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as part of India. The map also surprisingly portrays India as part of BRI even when India boycotted the summit for the second time. The map has been displayed by China’s ministry of commerce on the occasion of the three-day BRI Summit.Click here to read... [2]

PM Khan calls for tackling climate change, poverty as Pakistan, China enter next CPEC phase
Published: The Dawn

26 Apr 2019

Prime Minister Imran Khan in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on Friday called for greater attention towards tackling climate change and poverty as Pakistan and China enter the next phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).Click here to read... [3]

Sri Lanka lowers suicide bomb attacks toll to 253 as some ‘double-counted’
Published: The Asian Age

26 Apr 2019

Sri Lankan authorities on Thursday revised the toll from Easter bombings down to 253, from the previous figure of 359, explaining that some of the badly mutilated bodies had been double-counted. The health ministry said medical examiners had completed all autopsies by late Thursday, and had concluded that several victims killed in the series of attacks had been counted more than once.Click here to read... [4]

Sri Lanka can't arrest citizens who joined ISIS: PM Ranil Wickremesinghe
Published: Deccan Chronicle

26 Apr 2019

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that the government had known that Sri Lankan nationals who had joined the Islamic State had returned to the country, but they could not be arrested as joining a foreign terrorist organisation is not against the law.

“We knew they went to Syria...But in our country, to go abroad and return or to take part in a foreign armed uprising is not an offence here,” Wickremesinghe told Sky News. “We have no laws which enable us to take into custody people who join foreign terrorist groups. We can take those who are, who belong to terrorist groups operating in Sri Lanka," he was quoted as saying.Click here to read... [5]