South Asia Investor Review

As the war enters 12th day, both the Israeli and the US militaries are using AI to accelerate decision-making, analyzing vast amounts of intelligence data for generating targets, and optimizing logistics, shifting toward AI-enabled command structures to maintain battlefield superiority. Almost all major US AI data center operators have signed contracts to provide AI tools and services to both the Pentagon and the IDF. This arrangement has not gone unnoticed by the Iranians who are now targeting  AI data centers  in the Middle East.  Data Centers in Gulf States. Source: Bloomberg Last week, three data centers operated by AmazonWeb Services (AWS), two in the United Arab Emirates and one in Bahrain, were struck by Iranian drones or missiles. The attacks forced the facilities offline and led to service outages affecting banking, payments, delivery apps, and enterprise software across the region, according to a  Fortune  magazine report.  The U.S. military uses ...

Millions of Pakistani workers have been participating in the development of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and other Gulf nations over many decades. They have been doing so in spite of the almost complete absence of  basic human rights  and  harsh working conditions . A recent Pakistani government report appears to negate their enormous contribution to the Arab Gulf region. Instead of highlighting their positive role and defending their rights, the report by the secretary of Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource De­­velopment reinforces the bigoted negative stereotypes of overseas Pakistanis.  Emigration of Pakistani Workers. Source: Pakistan Bureau of Emigration This report and other past unfounded negative statements seem to indicate that Pakistani officials are the worst enemies of their own people. An example of such reckless behavior of Pakistani officials came in 2020 when a Pakistani minister claimed without evidence or investigation that most...

Last week, two official spokespersons of India's ruling BJP party insulted Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on an Indian television channel known for promoting  Islamophobia . Mohammad Zubair, an Indian Muslim journalist, tweeted a video clip of the TimesNow primetime show featuring BJP's official spokeswoman Nupur Sharma attacking the Prophet (SAW) revered by more than a billion Muslims around the world. As the video clip went viral, a long a growing list of Muslim countries has officially protested to the Indian government. The UAE, Oman, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iraq, the Maldives, Jordan, Libya, Bahrain and Pakistan have now joined Kuwait, Iran and Qatar, calling Indian ambassadors to register their protest, and Saudi Arabia has issued a strongly worded statement. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its condemnation and denunciation of the statements made by the spokeswoman of the BJP,"  the Saudi statement said. India's Ties to the GCC Nations. Source: Advaid The B...

Pakistanis have invested $10.6 billion in Dubai real estate, ranking them as the third largest investors in the city on the Gulf. Indian investors lead Dubai real estate investments with $29.8 billion, followed by British investors' $14.7 billion investment.  Wealth From Top 20 Countries Invested in Dubai Real Estate. Source: EU Tax Observatory With at least $146 billion in foreign wealth invested, the Dubai property market is now the world's largest offshore investment market for foreign investors. It is now twice as large as the  London real estate  market in terms of wealth invested by foreigners through shell companies. There are nearly 20,000 unique foreign owners of Dubai real estate from Pakistan, the third largest number behind almost 35,000 Indian owners and about 23,000 owners from the United Kingdom, according to the  EU Tax Observatory . Unique Entities From Top 20 Countries Owning Dubai Real Estate. Source: EU Tax Observatory The record flow of foreign w...

Remittances from the European Union (EU) to Pakistan soared 49.7% in FY 21 and 28.3% in FY22, according to the State Bank of Pakistan. With $2.5 billion remittances in the first 9 months (July-March) of the current fiscal year, the EU ($2.5 billion) has now surpassed North America ($2.2 billion) to become the third largest source of inflows to Pakistan after the Middle East and the United Kingdom. Remittances from the US have grown 21%, second fastest after the EU (28.3%) in the first 9  months of the current fiscal year.  Country-wise Remittance Inflows in Pakistan. Source: State Bank of Pakistan Pakistanis in European Union:  The population of Pakistan-born migrants to European Union countries has been growing in recent years. With over 120,000 Pakistani migrants, Italy is the most popular destination for Pakistanis in the EU.  Italy is followed by Germany with 75,495 Pakistani migrants. Then comes Spain with 61,953 migrants, France 21,900 (2017), Sweden 11,674, De...

The United Arab Emirates, a grouping of  seven Arab Muslim kingdoms, has now become the number one destination for education and employment of people from Hindu India, according to the government data from the two countries.  Indians' Foreign Travel Destinations. Source: Indian Government India is now ruled by the right-wing  Hindu BJP party  headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose entire politics is based on extreme  hatred of Islam and Muslims . In 2020, Emirati Princess Sheikha Hend bint Faisal al-Qasimi strongly criticized  Islamophobia in India . She also expressed solidarity and sympathies with Indian Muslims and Kashmiris. Indians Students Abroad. Source: Economic Times Over 1.2 million Indian students are now studying overseas, twice more than a decade ago. The UAE has 219,000 Indian students, Canada 215,720, the US 211,930, Australia 92,383, Saudi Arabia 80,800, Britain 55,465, and Oman 43,600, according to the data from India's  Ministry...

Rich Pakistanis ranked third in the world for making inquiries to  migrate abroad  last year, according to a report by  Henley and Partners . High net worth individuals (HNWIs) from India topped the list of those seeking to migrate, followed by Americans and Pakistanis. Pakistan is among nations that experienced "significant wealth outflows" in 2019, according to  Afrasia Bank .  There has been a 25% increase in the number of HNWIs enquiring about citizenship-by-investment as opposed to residence-by-investment programs since the coronavirus was first reported nearly a year ago, indicating that wealthy international investors are considering a more permanent change.     Pakistan Among Countries With Significant Wealth Outflow. Source: Afrasia Bank In 2019, the UAE initiated a new system for investment-based long-term residence visa called Iqama. It enables foreigners to live, work and study in the UAE without the need of a national sponsor and with...

Are Pakistani leaders slaves of Arab Royals? Or simply doing what is in Pakistan's best interest? Prime Minister Imran Khan Driving Prince Mohammad Bin Salman in Islamabad Why did Imran Khan not attend the Kuala Lumpur Islamic Summit that was organized by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad and attended by Turkish President Erdogan and Iranian President Hasan Rouhani? Why did he yield to Saudi pressure to skip it? What are Pakistan's key economic and security interests in Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC)? Is l abor Pakistan's biggest export  earning over $20 billion a year? What is the biggest export market for Pakistan's labor? What would happen if Pakistan joined Malaysia and Turkey in creating a new Muslim bloc competing with the Arab-led Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC)? Will OIC try to live up to Pakistan's expectation of a tougher stance against India's Modi vis a vis  Indian Occupied Kashmir  and Indian Muslims? Who makes Pakistan...

India is the world's largest exporter of labor with 15.8 million Indians working in other countries. Bangladesh ranks 5th with 7.2 million Bangladeshis working overseas while Pakistan ranks 6th with 5.9 million Pakistanis working overseas, according to Pew Research report released ahead of International Migrants Day observance on Sunday, December 18, 2016. International Migration:  Countries of Origin of Migrants to the United States Source: Pew Research Pew Research  reports that nearly 3.5 million Indians lived in the UAE, the world’s second-largest migration corridor in 2015. While most of the migration is from low and middle income countries to high-income countries, the top 20 list of  migrants' origins  also includes rich countries like the United States (ranked 20), United Kingdom (11), Germany (14), Italy (21) and South Korea (25). Top 25 Sources of Migrants: Here is the list of top 20 countries of origin for international migrants: 1. Indi...

A top UAE businessman has proposed building a 500 kilometer long pipeline to bring Pakistan's Dasht River water from the Makran coast to Fujaira for United Arab Emirates' water security. Water-scarce Pakistan  itself needs to store and use the Dasht River water for development of  Balochistan , particularly Gwadar and other related projects as part of the ambitious  China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) . Abdullah Al Shehi, the CEO of GeoWash, has argued that the Dasht River floods annually, which has prompted the Pakistani government to empty the  excess water  through channels leading to the sea. That excess water, said Mr Al Shehi, could be put to use in the UAE, according to a report in the UAE's newspaper  "The National" . Dasht River Dasht River: Dasht River is located in Makran region and Gwadar District, in the southwestern section of Balochistan Province, in southwestern Pakistan. The Kech River, a seasonal intermittent river, is a ...

Pakistan is seriously pushing ahead with a plan to sell or lease over 700,000 acres of agricultural land to foreign investors in the face of growing opposition at home. A Saudi delegation is due in the country this month for further talks on a plan to lease an area of land more than twice the size of Hong Kong, a Pakistani official told Reuters this month. Similar reports have surfaced earlier, indicating UAE investors have been quietly buying Pakistani farm land . In June, news agency Reuters reported that the government of Pakistan had offered 404,700 hectares (ha) of farmland for sale or lease to foreign investors. It is the usual suspects of the Gulf states and South Korea who are the likely targets of the government's drive for investment. Oil rich, food poor states from the Middle East and food deficit prone South Korea have been spurred by the high food prices of 2007 and 2008 to increase their food security by investing in agricultural land abroad. Also in June 2009, Sw...