Trump's new blows on india: H-1B visa fees and sanction on comstructing Iranian port

Suddenly, Trump has dealt two new devastating blows on India (in addition to the 50 percent duty on Indian goods). First, he removed the exemption India enjoyed for constructing Chahbahar Port in Iran. Now, he has increased the H-1B visa fees from about 2000 dollars to 100,000 dollars (which went into effect yesterday, 21 September 2025). About 75 percent of these visas are given to Indians who are mostly employed in the US IT industry. 

Even though the government made it clear that this fee would be imposed only on new applicants, and those who already had the visa need not worry, there was panic in India. Thousands of Indians working in the US were visiting India due to the marriage season and a religious festival (Durga Puja). They desperately tried to get back to the US before the deadline, as a result of which air fares to the US surged to five times the normal cost. Those already seated with boarding cards in San Francisco and other US airports begged to be off-loaded, fearing that they would be deported on returning to the US from India. One Indian IT executive even said that his annual salary is not US $ 100,000, so how could he pay that much to renew his visa.

What Indians can't explain is why they need to work in other countries, since (as they claim) India has the fourth largest economy. Already Indian exports have declined so much that a 100 million Indians have been rendered jobless (due to the 50 percent tariff on Indian goods imposed by Trump).

India has warned the US that imposing this high amount is detrimental to humanity, but Trump will not budge. People are wondering why he has suddenly turned against India. Perhaps it's because the US has now realized that India can no longer be depended upon to fight a war with China, which became evident after Pakistan inflicted a crushing defeat upon it in May this year.

Saudi-Pakistan defense pact: Modi and Hindutva Indians are stunned

On the face of it, the recently-signed defense pact between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan is nothing new. Pakistan has always had close ties with the Saudis, and in case of an attack by Israel on the kingdom, Pakistan would have immediately provided support, even without the pact. Indians were delighted with the massive Saudi investment in the country, but the situation changed radically after the 4-day war in which India was soundly thrashed, leading even Trump to lean towards Pakistan.

But the turning point came with Israel's bombing of Qatar to kill Hamas leaders. Arab states realized that the US is no longer a reliable ally and if Israel attacks another Gulf state, US support is no longer guaranteed. So they have to turn to the other superpower (China) for support, and for that they need Pakistan.

Rabid Hindutva Indians of course are stunned. They want India to be considered the region's policeman to protect US interests, and now find that they have no role to play. With US sanctions on India preventing it from developing Chabahar port in Iran (which was being used by India to supply weapons to Baloch terrorists), India has been dealt a massive blow. Hindutva supporters in the Indian media are wondering how Pakistan was able to go nuclear, and are even hoping that Israel will destroy Pakistan's nuclear assets.  

Asia Cup cricket handshake controversy

I've often wondered why Hindutva BJP Indian leaders are such cry babies. In every election, they've used anti-Pakistan and anti-Muslim slogans to win elections. After their humiliating defeat in the 4-day war in May this year, they've gone paranoid, since no country in the world accepted their stance that Pakistan was to blame for terrorism in their country. Now their hatred for Pakistan has spilled over into cricket, which is a gentleman's game. 

It's mandatory for captains of both the teams to shake hands before starting the game, and members of both teams also shake hands with each other after the match has ended. In last Sunday's match, the Indian team refused to do so. It turned out that instructions to refuse the handshake came from the top leadership. In their media, even some Indians are questioning why this happened. But the Indian fundamentalist government wants to show their benighted followers that they are on morally high ground where Muslims are concerned. I doubt that the voters will be fooled in the next elections, but of course there is the possibility that Modi will arrange rigging of elections again to win.

No law for sugar mill owners!

NO LAW FOR MILL-OWNERS: If there is one thing we have learnt from all the past and present sugar crises, it is that no action will ever be taken against those responsible for the soaring prices. Mill-owners want to increase their wealth, buy properties and go on vacations. After all, most of them have spent a lot in getting elected to parliament. We should let them enjoy their illegally obtained wealth and not waste our time and energy in pointing out the rampant corruption around us. It is purely our fault for living in a country where there is one law for them and another for us.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

Dawn, September 13, 2025

https://www.dawn.com/news/1941625/no-law-for-mill-owners

 

 

After Israel's attack, will Qatar give another plane to Trump?

When Trump began his second term eight months ago, Qatar surprised everyone by gifting him a 400 million dollar plane, while Saudi Arabia pledged to invest 600 billion dollars in the US, thinking that Trump would protect them against Israel and persuade it to agree to the formation of a Palestine state. But now, after Israel has killed thousands of innocent Palestinians (the majority of them women and children), attacking Iran and finally bombing Qatar, they must be wondering if they should remain allies of the US. Of course, with American troops guarding all the royal families in the region, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for them to switch sides.

The day before yesterday, when Hamas leaders in Qatar were discussing the latest US peace proposal, Israeli planes bombed the building where they were meeting. Of course, all Arab states were shocked, and I doubt if any of them believed Trump when he said he didn't even know about the raid until his military told him about it. As usual, Arab and Muslim leaders will make a lot of noise protesting against the raid, and Israel will continue to act with impunity, as it has full US backing. So, the question arises, will Qatar give another 400 million dollar air plane to Trump?

Imran Khan's followers will never change!

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I've never understood how Imran Khan has so many followers who believe that only he can solve Pakistan's problems. They can't understand why the country hasn't collapsed in the two years that he's spent in jail so far, or how the Stock Exchange is performing so well. By now it should be clear to them that the djinns and other ethereal beings over whom his wife has control have failed and they should stop expecting them to get him released.

One of Imran's followers is the very able and learned lawyer Salman Akram Raja, who seemed a very sensible person until now. The other day he shocked every intelligent person in the country by saying that the heavy rains and floods afflicting the country nowadays is due to lack of what he termed "genuine" democracy. Of course, this was a refreshing change from what our clerics usually say about earthquakes and other natural disasters being cause by girls and women wearing jeans and sleeveless  dresses. But seriously, one wonders how he could have forgotten that in the only province his party has been governing for the past twelve years (KP), which is where "genuine" democracy exists, the floods have taken more lives and caused much more damage. He also forgot that during the disastrous four year rule of Imran Khan in the country, the rains and floods were even worse.

It seems that these people will never change.   

As expected, Trump makes a U-turn on India

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Like all narcissists, US president Donald Trump frequently backs out when he finds out he was wrong. He slapped a fifty percent tariff on almost all goods India exports to the US, not knowing that India had the option of rushing into the arms of China (with whom it has had a very bitter relationship due to its alliance with Pakistan). In fact, all BRIC countries regarded India as a Trojan horse due to its special relationship with the US. So, when Trump saw that his policy had backfired, he started calling the repulsive Modi his friend, and now it seems that India will soon start sleeping with the US.

This doesn't mean that India will get everything it wants from the US, like for instance the stoppage of military assistance to Pakistan. India's recent misadventure against Pakistan proved that it is not the superpower it pretends to be. The only thing favoring India is that it's a huge market, which is why US companies have already invested heavily in India. But unless India agrees to Trump's demands, like access to its agriculture, Trump will never agree to restore the special relationship it had before with the US.

Looting by Mobilink Jazz

Exploitative company

Published in DAWN on September 6, 2025

 

THIS is with reference to the editorial ‘Damning audit report’ (Aug 23), which, among other things, pointed out that a telecommunication company over-charged its customers to the tune of Rs 6.58 billion in a single financial year.

Over the last couple of years, the same company has been regularly increasing the price of its basic post-paid package, with the result that I am now paying more than twice the amount than what was the case earlier. When asked, its representatives told me that I could now use 15GB of data compared to four in the past, along with 3,500 minutes talking time and 3,000 messages. But I do not want all that. I just want 4GB data and a talking time worth no more than 100 minutes.

Why is there no cheaper package for consumers like me? The official reply is that I can always use a pre-paid package or switch to another cellular company. This is what corporate fraud looks like.

 

Shakir Lakhani 

Karachi 

https://www.dawn.com/news/1940095/exploitative-company

Thoughts on reaching 81

Every birthday I share my thoughts on this page. While it's a pleasant surprise to be alive and having lived longer than most of my relatives, I can't help wondering why I've lasted so long, considering that long ago I was told that I wouldn't make it to 40. Later this figure was revised to 70, and as recently as seven years back, a doctor predicted that I wouldn't last more than a year (he said it because I'd questioned his diagnosis and he was offended). The poor chap himself died of Covid a couple of years later.

I've always been interested in why some closely related people die earlier than their more fortunate cousins. Someone asked me why people should yearn and pray to live long, since the last ten years of one's life are filled with health problems. I'm inclined to agree. I lived a relatively painless life until the age of 75, but every year after that it's been an ordeal getting up in the morning. Doctors usually prescribe pain killers, but I've refused to take that route. It was old age that caused me to drive into a barrier and damage my car two years back. After that, I rarely drove, but when I escaped another horrible accident, I gave up driving completely.

Of course, there are people I know who are older than I am, including two relatives (both brothers), but they have a younger brother (three years younger than me) who is not in good health. Then there is the neighbor who is 91, always smiling and still healthy. In the north of the country, some people live up to the age of a hundred, in fact there used to be a Muslim in the former Soviet Union (in an area close to north Pakistan) who reportedly died at the age of 165. Of course, there was no way of verifying his actual age, which is why I still don't believe it.

Just for the record, I don't want to live that long. 

So this is why Pakistan is a failed state

I've always wondered why Pakistan has not been able to progress the way many other countries have, and why most of its citizens are so illiterate. Every now and then, there's a suicide attack (like the one in Quetta yesterday), or a bomb blast, or an honor killing, or brothers killing each other over property disputes. Lack of a good education, of course, is the main reason, but why are our people so illiterate?

It turns out that instead of factories, we have been building mosques and seminaries (madressahs) in the country. There are more than half a million mosques (about 600,000) and about 50,000 madressahs, compared to only 23,000 factories. This is why people want to leave the country and try to reach Europe via boats or other illegal channels. But so many mosques and madressahs in the country results in most of our children growing up without acquiring any marketable skills. Even those who are skilled can't find jobs due to the dearth of factories. So these madressah graduates occupy plots and build mosques there. Later, they build houses for themselves. Naturally, when the owners of the plots return from abroad, they cannot demand that the mosques and houses be demolished. 

So the mosques and madressahs will keep on increasing, and we'll see more and more unemployed men with dozens of children who will grow up to be criminals or suicide bombers.