South Asia Investor Review

Nearly 4,000 new net metering licenses have been issued in Pakistan in the July-September quarter, up from 2,000 in the same quarter last year. Vast majority of these are for solar photo-voltaic installation. Net metering solar installations are in addition to the rapidly growing  off-grid solar  panels across Pakistan. Higher electric utility (DISCO) bills and lower cost of solar panels appear to be driving the adoption of solar in Pakistan. Net metering allows users with private renewable energy production plants to connect to the electric grid and sell excess power to the local electric utility or DISCOs such as K-Electric, LESCO or IESCO in Pakistan.    Net Metering Installations in Pakistan. Source: Jeremy Higgs This year has seen the fastest growth in net energy metering (NEM) growth since Pakistan launched its first  NEM policy in 2015 , according to data shared by Jeremy Higgs, director of operations for Islamabad-based  EcoEnergy .  Total...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Washington on September 23rd for a bilateral meeting with President Joseph R. Biden followed by a 4-nation summit involving Australia, India, Japan and the United States.  An unhappy meme of his visit went viral on social media as Mr. Modi wrapped up his visit to the United States.  Modi Washington Visit Meme It highlights four key complaints about how the Indian prime minister was treated by the White House: 1. President Biden did not receive Prime Minister Modi at the White House porch. This is in sharp contrast to the reception President Donald J. Trump gave Pakistani  Prime Minister Imran Khan  during the latter's visit in 2019. President Trump greeted Prime Minister Khan in the driveway as the latter emerged from his car.  2. US media did not cover Modi's visit. ( Pakistan 's Imran Khan was on the Newsweek cover while Modi was in Washington). The media coverage Modi did receive in the US media was about lectures f...

Ms. Saima Saleem, Pakistan's young visually-impaired  woman diplomat , is currently serving at the country’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Saima graduated from Lahore's Kinnaird College for Women. She won the Quaid-e-Azam Gold Medal for her outstanding academic performance and stood first in the Punjab Public Service Commission examination.  Saima Saleem She spoke earlier today at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) 2021 to exercise her country's right of reply to false accusations leveled by Indian diplomat Sneha Dubey.  Saima Saleem rejected Dubey's claim that Jammu and Kashmir is "an integral part of India", and proceeded to describe India's  brutal military occupation  of the disputed territory.  She reminded delegates of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions to this effect.  Saleem spoke of Indian government's  massive human rights violations  exposed by the UN Human Rights Commissi...

In 2018, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's right-hand man and home minister Amit Shah told his party's volunteers commonly known as Modi Bhakts: "We can keep making messages go viral, whether they are real or fake, sweet or sour". "Keep making messages go viral. We have already made a WhatsApp group with 32 lakh people in Uttar Pradesh; every morning they are sent a message at 8 am", Shah added, according to a report in  Dainik Bhaskar , an Indian Hindi-language daily newspaper. Indian Fake News Peddlers Rahul Kanwal (L) and Arnab Goswami Amit Shah's advice has been heeded by not only  BJP trolls  but also many in the Indian mainstream media, including India Today and Republic TV.   After the 2019  aerial battle  between Indian Air Force and Pakistan Air Force over Kashmir, India government and media claimed shooting down a Pakistani F-16.  India Today TV anchor Rahul Kanwal invited  Abhijit Aiyar Mitra, an Indian aviation expert, to conf...

Sabir Sami from Pakistan has been appointed the chief executive officer of KFC effective January 1, 2022, according to a YUM Brands announcement today.  Sami, who currently serves as KFC Division Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of KFC Asia, will succeed Tony Lowings, who is stepping down as CEO at the end of 2021 in advance of his retirement in early 2022.  Sabir Sami is a graduate of the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, Pakistan.  Sabir Sami, KFC “Sabir is an exceptional leader with deep expertise and knowledge of our business and has a strong, proven track record of growing KFC’s physical and brand presence in markets around the world,” said David Gibbs, CEO of Yum Brands. “As a highly-respected strategic brand builder, operations expert and heart-led leader, Sabir is a natural choice to continue successfully executing KFC’s long-term global growth strategies in close partnership with our franchisees and further elevate KFC as a relevant, eas...

In the recently announced AUKUS alliance, the US has joined the United Kingdom to arm Australia with nuclear-powered submarines to check China's rise. This announcement has not only upset the Chinese but it has also enraged France. The French are angry because AUKUS has scuttled Australia's earlier agreement to purchase diesel-powered submarines from France.  President Biden Announcing Australia-UK-US (AUKUS) Alliance India, a member of the anti-China QUAD alliance, has welcomed AUKUS. Although AUKUS appears to be de-emphasizing QUAD that includes India and Japan, the Indians see it as a green-light from the  United States  for them to pursue expansion of their nuclear submarine fleet.  China could respond to this growing threat by arming its  ally Pakistan  with nuclear-powered  submarines .  “This looks like a new geopolitical order without binding alliances,” said Nicole Bacharan, a researcher at Sciences Po in Paris. France's foreign minister,...

Maryland Democrat Chis Van Hollen, a key US senator who was born in Karachi, said it was the Trump administration that asked Pakistan to release the top three Taliban leaders for US-Taliban peace talks in Doha Qatar. He was speaking at a recent US Senate hearing on the fall of Kabul to the Taliban and the chaotic US withdrawal that followed the  Afghan Army collapse .  Senator Chris Van Hollen Senator Chris Van Hollen was born in 1959 in Karachi where his father was serving as a foreign service officer at the US Embassy in Karachi, Pakistan. His father later served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (1969–1972) and US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives (1972–1976). His mother worked for the CIA as chief of the intelligence bureau for South Asia. “Is it not the fact that the Trump administration asked the Pakistani government to release three top Taliban commanders as part of that (peace) process?” Senator Van Hollen asked. Targeting the Trump...

Afghanistan is rich! The world's "poorest country" is known to have trillions of dollars worth of rare earths and other minerals buried underground. Rare earths are essential for the global supply chain of the technology industry. They are considered a "critical resource" for US national security.   Afghan Mineral Resources. Source: Aljazeera A US Defense Department report has described Afghanistan as " Saudi Arabia of Lithium ".  Pakistan , too, is believed to be rich in rare earths. Peace and security are key to unlocking the potential mineral riches in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. That is where both nations need to focus for a brighter future for their peoples. Uses of Rare Earth Elements. Source: Natural Resources of Canada Rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of 15 elements referred to as the lanthanide series in the periodic table of elements. Scandium and yttrium, while not true REEs, are also included in this categorization because they exh...

Muslims in America and the rest of the world have suffered the most since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Washington responded to the attacks by launching its "global war on terror" that has been seen by many Muslims as "global war on Muslims". People in  Afghanistan , Iraq,  Pakistan , Syria, Libya and many other parts of the world have seen their lives upended. American Muslims, too, have been the victims of hate crimes. Countries like India and  Israel  have taken advantage of the "global war on terror" to try to crush genuine independence movements in  Kashmir  and Palestine.   Anti-Muslim Sentiments Survey. Source: Pew Research Pew Survey Results:  Pew Research has recently reported that anti-Muslim sentiments in the United States have doubled since 2001 from 25% to 50% of the respondents associating Muslims and Islam with violence. Islamophobia among Republicans is up from 32% to 72% in last two decades. A...

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace appears to be questioning whether the United States is still a superpower after its recent hasty  retreat from Afghanistan . Wallace served in the British military prior to entering politics.  British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace In an interview with Katy Balls recently published in  The Spectator , Wallace said: "It is obvious that Britain is not a superpower. But a superpower that is also not prepared to stick at something isn’t probably a superpower either. It is certainly not a global force, it’s just a big power". "Britain hasn’t been able to field a mass army for 50 years — if not longer". "It was always part of a massive international effort — so I think our defense paper is in exactly the right space". Britain, he says, still has "a huge range of tools at our disposal: from soft to hard power, economic power, scientific power and cultural power".     Wallace appears to be developing a reputation as a...