epubdos : Afghanistan
SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS
Prepared for the U.S. Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
TO:
SCA & Staff
DATE:
Thursday, April 11, 2024 6:30 AM ET

Afghanistan
Taliban leader stands firm on his Islamic governance in Afghanistan (VOA)
VOA [4/10/2024 11:40 AM, Ayaz Gul, 761K, Negative]
The Taliban’s reclusive supreme leader ruled out any compromise Wednesday on his hardline Islamic governance in Afghanistan despite persistent global criticism and calls for him to end sweeping restrictions on women.

Hibatullah Akundzada addressed and led thousands of worshipers in Eid al-Fitr prayers at the central mosque in the southern city of Kandahar to mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

“If anyone has any issues with us, we are open to resolving them, but we will never compromise on our principles or Islam. At the same time, we expect that Islam will not be disrespected,” stated Akhundzada in his defiant Pashto-language speech aired by the state-run Afghan radio station. "I will not take even a step away from the Islamic law."

Akundzada was apparently responding to sustained criticism by the United Nations and Western countries of the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islam being used to govern impoverished Afghanistan, including the public flogging and stoning of women for committing adultery.

“I am administering God’s Hudud. They object to it, saying public stoning and hand-cutting are against their laws and human rights. You expect us to follow your laws while imposing them on us,” Akhundzada said. “Islam is a divine religion that deserves respect, but you insult it instead,” he added.

According to the Islamic religion, Hudud is the set of laws and punishments specified by god in the Quran, the Muslim holy book.

Akhundzada said countries that participated in the United States-led military invasion of Afghanistan were still targeting his country with “propaganda” and "evil tactics” to malign Taliban rule.

“They blame your leaders, claiming they are incapable of governing the country. Don’t let these infidels mislead you,” he said. “Stay vigilant and be mindful of their deceitful tactics. Their ultimate goal is to see us fail.”

The Taliban leader has suspended girls’ education in Afghanistan beyond the sixth grade and prohibited many women from public and private workplaces, including the United Nations and other aid organizations. Women are also forbidden from visiting public places such as parks, gyms, and bathhouses.

Akhundzada has defended his decrees, saying they are aligned with Afghan culture and Islam.

The Taliban returned to power in August 2021, when the then-internationally backed Afghan government collapsed, and U.S.-led Western nations withdrew all their troops after nearly 20 years of involvement in the war with the then-insurgent Taliban.

De facto Afghan authorities have since publicly flogged hundreds of men and women in sports stadiums in the presence of thousands of onlookers. The victims were convicted of offenses such as theft, robbery, adultery and other “moral crimes” by Taliban courts.

There is only one publicly available photograph of Akhundzada that the Taliban have officially used ever since he took command of the then-insurgent group in 2016.

Media representatives are not allowed to attend his public engagements, and even his followers are strictly forbidden from taking photos or filming him on their cell phones.

The Taliban leader rarely leaves Kandahar and rules the country from there.

The international community has not granted formal recognition to the men-only Taliban government, citing human rights concerns, especially the harsh treatment of Afghan women. Many Muslim-majority countries have also opposed the Taliban restrictions on women, saying that they are not based on Islamic principles.
Taliban leader hits back at global critics in rare address (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [4/10/2024 6:51 AM, Abdullah Hasrat and Qubad Wali, 11975K, Neutral]
The Taliban’s hyper-reclusive supreme leader made a rare public appearance Wednesday, an Afghan government spokesman said, berating the international community in a speech for criticising his rule.

Hibatullah Akhundzada has made only a handful of public appearances since inheriting the leadership of the Taliban in 2016 and leading the movement back to power with the withdrawal of US forces in 2021.

Over the past three years the bearded "Emir" of the Taliban has ruled by decree, enforcing an austere vision of Islam largely ostracising Afghanistan on the world stage.

In a 35-minute audio address, released by a Taliban government spokesman, Akhundzada said countries involved in the US-led invasion were still attacking Afghanistan with "propaganda" and "evil tactics".

"Today, they want to divide you," he said, according to the audio address. "They blame the leaders as defective, saying they are not able to govern."

"Don’t let these infidels mislead you," he added. "Stay alert for them, they will trick you, they want to fail you."

"I will not take even a step away from the Islamic law," he pledged.

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Akhundzada’s address marking the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr in the largest mosque of southern Kandahar province "was attended by thousands of compatriots".

An AFP source who attended the service said Akhundzada was not visible to large crowds in the courtyard of the complex, but a voice over a loudspeaker introduced the sermon as his words.

Tight security restricted access to the main worship mall, the source said, though several high-ranking Taliban officials claimed on social media they had met the Taliban chief on Wednesday.

There is only one photograph of Akhundzada. The press have generally been barred from attending his public engagements and Afghan attendees forbidden from taking photos or recording on their phones.

While the Taliban government ostensibly sits in the capital Kabul, Akhundzada operates from hideouts in Kandahar -- considered the heartland of the Islamist movement.

Since the fall of the foreign-backed government in August 2021, his Taliban administration has ushered in curbs on women and girls which the United Nations has condemned as "gender apartheid".

Unease over dealing with the Taliban government has seen foreign aid nosedive, dramatically worsening what was already one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Kabul’s Taliban rulers insist they want friendly relations with other countries, but say they will not cave to pressure over human rights concerns about their domestic policies.

The religious affairs ministry issued instructions that during Wednesday prayer Afghan imams should read out a message published by Akhundzada earlier in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

"We seek diplomatic and economic relations with all nations," it said, while adding, "we expect and demand respect for Afghanistan’s sovereignty, integrity, and dignity".

Akhundzada previously appeared in Kandahar in 2022 to mark Eid al-Fitr with a speech congratulating Afghans "on victory, freedom and success", his back to the crowd to preserve his anonymity.

In the capital Kabul, the third Eid al-Fitr festivities under the Taliban government were accompanied by heightened security.

Extra checkpoints were erected around mosques as morning prayers began, with police and Taliban government security forces deployed and mobile phone signals disrupted.

Security forces prevented AFP journalists from recording services at numerous sites in Kabul.

Nonetheless, worshippers gathered in the thousands, spilling out into the streets as mosques were packed to capacity.
The Taliban Have Restored Barbarism to Afghanistan (Wall Street Journal – opinion)
Wall Street Journal [4/10/2024 1:19 PM, Sadanand Dhume, 810K, Negative]
Nearly three years after the Taliban retook Kabul, they plan to resume the brutal practice of stoning women for adultery. “You say it’s a violation of women’s rights when we stone them to death,” Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada said in a March audio message aired on state television, apparently directed at Western critics. “But we will soon implement the punishment for adultery. . . . We both say we defend human rights—we do it as God’s representative and you as the devil’s.”

The return of barbarism to Afghanistan shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Shariah. Since returning to power, the Taliban have brought back public executions, banned girls from attending school beyond sixth grade, and carried out hundreds of public floggings. Nonetheless, the Taliban 2.0—like the Taliban 1.0, which ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001—offer lessons to the West.

First, their actions expose the naiveté of Western analysts who argued that the Taliban would be more moderate the second time around. Except for reluctantly accepting television and the internet as unavoidable aspects of 21st-century life, they appear as committed as ever to instituting its archaic and bleak vision of Allah’s law on earth.

In a phone interview from London, Tamim Asey, a former Afghan deputy defense minister who now heads the Afghanistan-focused Institute of War and Peace Studies, says the Taliban are “involved in a state-building exercise, the likes of which you have never seen in the Islamic world. They say they are going to establish the purest Islamic system. They view all other Islamic countries as under the influence of infidels.”

Unlike the Islamic State at its peak, the Taliban have failed so far to draw large numbers of Arab and European Muslims to their cause. But as long as a corner of our planet remains home to a radical jihadist experiment, the potential for attracting adherents in other countries remains.

The Taliban’s 2021 victory—compounded by the Biden administration’s ignominious withdrawal from Kabul—has already given them street credibility among Islamist terrorist groups. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has likened his organization’s campaign against Israel to the Taliban’s successful insurgency against the U.S. and its allies.

Taliban rule also highlights the Islamist inability to govern effectively. The nonprofit World Vision estimates that two-thirds of Afghanistan’s 41 million people need humanitarian assistance. According to the United Nations World Food Program, 1 in 3 Afghans don’t know where their next meal will come from. Of the more than 15 million Afghans who will face food insecurity at crisis levels this year, 2.8 million are in the “emergency” category—one step from famine. Tens of thousands of Afghans have fled Taliban rule, and the outflow is likely to continue.

In the long term, European nations—already dealing with the threat of terrorism and militant Muslim protesters in major cities—will bear the brunt of Afghan mass migration. But for now, the destabilizing effect of Taliban rule in Afghanistan poses a more immediate danger to Pakistan, Afghanistan’s southern neighbor and a nuclear-armed Muslim nation of more than 240 million people.

For decades, Pakistan’s army, along with its spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, backed the Taliban as part of a “strategic depth” policy whereby Pakistan tried to use Afghanistan as a political pawn and strategic hedge against its rival India. Pakistan also sought to weaken left-wing Pashtun separatism, a movement for independence by the ethnic group that straddles southern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan and has long provided the Taliban with both foot soldiers and leadership. Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed, then chief of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, was among the first international visitors to Taliban-ruled Kabul in 2021. Then-Prime Minister Imran Khan applauded the Taliban for “breaking the shackles of slavery.”

Islamabad’s support for the Taliban has backfired and now threatens Pakistan’s own stability. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which aims to bring the Afghan Taliban’s version of God’s law to Pakistan too, has stepped up attacks on the Pakistani army in the restive Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. The Center for Research and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank, estimates that last year Pakistan lost more than 500 police, army and other security personnel to terrorism, the most in a decade. The Taliban show no interest in reining in the TTP. Mr. Khan’s party controls the provincial government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa even as the still-popular former prime minister remains in jail for a slew of alleged crimes, including corruption, all of which he denies.

Afghanistan’s return to barbarism also reveals the inability or unwillingness of rising Asian powers like China and India to fill the vacuum left behind by a receding U.S. Despite what many leftists believe, a diminished U.S. would be a disaster for many nations of the so-called Global South. Ask the women of Afghanistan.
Lucas: Where was Biden’s compassion for Afghans? (Boston Herald – opinion)
Boston Herald [4/11/2024 12:09 AM, Peter Lucas, 86.9K, Neutral]
It’s fine that President Joe Biden is taking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli military to task over the killing last week of seven humanitarian workers, including one American, in Gaza.

The dead also included three British nationals, an Australian, a citizen of Poland and a Palestinian.

Biden said he was “outraged and heartbroken” over the Israeli Defense Force airstrike that took the lives of the humanitarian World Central Kitchen workers who provided food to an untold number of hungry Palestinians, many of them children.

Biden, succumbing to political pressure from the left as Palestinian civilian casualties have risen, has walked back his initial full-throated support for Israel in its war against Hamas that began following the massacre of some 1,200 Israelis by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7.

The killing of the aid workers with an airstrike appears to have been a tipping point. “Israel is not doing enough to protect civilians,” Biden said.

Biden is now demanding an immediate cease-fire and the implementation of a policy of providing humanitarian aid to the Palestinians or face the consequences.

Those consequences were spelled out in a brief statement by Secretary of State Antony Blinken who said, “If we don’t see changes that we need to see, there will be changes in our policy.”

Israel, to its credit, took immediate responsibility for the deaths and, in a matter of days investigated the deadly incident. It led to the firing of two military commanders and the reprimand of a third.

Israel’s overall response to the killing of innocent people is a far cry from the pathetic response — or non-response — of Biden and the US military to the 2021 drone strike that mistakenly wiped out an entire family of innocent Afghans — one of whom was a humanitarian aid worker — during Biden’s precipitous and botched pullout from Afghanistan.

Biden initially called the strike a success. He said it showed the US could reach far and wide.

But when it was revealed that innocent people had been killed, he could not be found for comment, so nobody knows if he was “outraged and heartbroken” over their deaths as he was over the deaths in Gaza.

And there was no Benjamin Netanyahu to call. Besides, the Taliban who were now running the country Biden handed over to them were too busy celebrating their windfall to take any calls.

Gen. Mark Milley, the former woke Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it was “a righteous strike” based on “very good intelligence.”

Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, said, “This was not a rushed strike “and that US intelligence believed that there was “an imminent threat” involved.

The Hellcat missile strike in Kabul was ordered by the US military in retaliation for the killing of 13 US service members by a suicide ISIS-K terrorist outside the Kabul airport during Biden’s chaotic pullout.

Like in Gaza, innocent people were killed when the US military targeted the wrong white Toyota in which innocent Afghans were riding.

Unlike in Gaza, however, seven of those killed in Kabul were children, one of which was two and another just three years old.

The seven children were riding with Zemari Ahmadi, who was also killed. Ahmadi was a humanitarian aid worker for Nutrition & Education International, a California-based charity that provided food for hungry Afghans. He also had a pending application to move to the U.S. as a refugee.

While McKenzie ordered a formal investigation of the deadly incident, nobody was blamed, nobody was held accountable, nobody lost their job, and nobody was punished, unlike in Israel.

Instead, Gen. McKenzie, now retired, threw himself under the bus and at least admitted that the Kabul airstrike “was a mistake.”

“I offer my profound condolences to the family and friends of those who were killed,” he said.

Similarly, Netanyahu has apologized for the killing of the unintentional seven aid workers in Gaza.

So it is good that Biden showed such concern and compassion over the killing of the innocent civilian aid workers in Gaza.

It is just too bad he could not have done the same for those children in Kabul.
Pakistan
A bus carrying pilgrims crashes in southwest Pakistan, killing 17 people and injuring 16 (AP)
AP [4/11/2024 2:26 AM, Staff, 456K, Negative]
A bus carrying pilgrims crashed into a deep ditch in southwest Pakistan, killing 17 people and injuring 16 others, officials said Thursday.

They were travelling to a revered religious site in Baluchistan late Wednesday, the first day of Eid Al-Fitr celebrations and a public holiday in Pakistan, said a spokesperson for the provincial government, Shahid Rind.

The driver lost control of the bus in Las Bela district, just 25 kilometers from the shrine the pilgrims were heading to.

Those in a serious condition, some 15 people, were shifted to a hospital in neighboring Sindh province. There were 33 people on the bus, including the driver.

Baluchistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti expressed his regret over the crash.
Pakistan truck accident kills 13, injures 30 (Reuters)
Reuters [4/10/2024 3:50 PM, Saleem Shahid, 5239K, Negative]
At least 13 religious pilgrims died and 30 were injured when the truck they were riding in overturned on Wednesday in southwestern Pakistan, police said.

Carrying the pilgrims to a shrine, the truck was speeding and fell into a deep roadside ditch in Hub City in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, police said.

Casualties were expected to rise, police said.
Birmingham sisters raise over £650k to reduce Pakistan poverty (BBC)
BBC [4/10/2024 9:29 AM, Alice Cullinane, 14192K, Positive]
Three sisters who have raised more than £650,000 to help tackle global poverty say they are determined to continue their charity work.

Khadeejah, 8, Haziqah, 13 and Leya, 20, started fundraising four years ago to support the likes of water pump installations and provide thousands of people with hot meals, in countries including Pakistan and Lebanon.

From mosque bucket collections to university sales, the total raised by the trio from Bordesley Green, Birmingham, includes £120,000 during Ramadan this year.

"Once you see poverty, you can’t go back to normal life, you’ve got to stay committed to help them," Leya said, referring to the trio known as Team H&K.

She added Pakistan, her family’s home country, was "super-close" to their hearts.

The money Team H&K raises supports the charity Jigsaw, enabling its mission to create positive change around the world.

The team encourages people to donate through posts on their Instagram page, which is filled with videos of the work they carry out to keep donors up to date about how their money is being spent.

"The donors are so supportive, we provide videos of exactly what we do so people know where the money is going," Leya said.

Those living in Pakistan were suffering from the effects of climate change, inflation, food insecurity and poverty, she explained.

"I’ve seen videos of people crying because they were so happy [to receive aid], because they felt forgotten," she added.

Leya said fundraising keeps her going each day and makes her feel over the moon to provide support.

Their father Yuser not only balances his life at home and his job at Birmingham Airport, but also visits countries like Pakistan and Lebanon to distribute aid.

He also helps set up livelihood projects so people can start small businesses and support their families.

"That one smile on a family’s face is everything, all those sleepless nights is 100% worth it," he said.

Team H&K’s work will not stop there, as Yuser now has plans to visit Africa on his next deployment to help people on the continent.

The family said Eid would be time to celebrate what they had achieved during the appeal.

Team H&K has a Just Giving page that enables people to make donations.
India
Modi Seeks Peaceful Border With China, Wants UPI to Expand to US (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [4/11/2024 12:21 AM, Rajesh Kumar Singh, 5.5M, Neutral]
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a case for the country’s digital payments system to reach the US, saying it would benefit the large Indian diaspora, tourists and students, according to an interview he gave to Newsweek.

Modi also sought peaceful ties with China and said the two countries need to “urgently address the prolonged situation” at their borders. Stable relations between the world’s two most populous nations are important for the entire region and world, Modi said in the interview published Wednesday.

New Delhi has been locked in a military standoff with China over the past few decades and has stationed thousands of armed troops to protect its 3,488 kilometer-long (2167 miles) border with its northern neighbor.
India, China should urgently address ‘prolonged situation’ on borders, Modi says (Reuters)
Reuters [4/10/2024 12:46 PM, Shilpa Jamkhandikar, 5239K, Neutral]
India and China should urgently address the "prolonged situation" on their border, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in remarks published on Wednesday, in an apparent softening of tone on bilateral issues between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

"It is my belief that we need to urgently address the prolonged situation on our borders so that the abnormality in our bilateral interactions can be put behind us," Modi said in an interview with U.S. publication Newsweek.

Ties between India and China, who share a long mountainous border, have been strained since troops of both countries clashed on their disputed Himalayan frontier, killing 24 soldiers, in 2020.

In May last year, Modi said peace on the border was essential for normal relations with China, adding that India was committed to protecting its sovereignty and dignity.

Internal security and strong foreign policy are two planks Modi has used as he campaigns for a record third term, in a general election that gets under way next week and will span nearly two months.

"For India, the relationship with China is important and significant," Modi said, adding that peaceful relations between the two neighbours were important for the entire region and world.

India and China share a 3,800 km (2,400 mile) border - much of it poorly demarcated - over which they also fought a bloody war in 1962.
China’s Neighbor Sends Russian-Made Air Defense Missiles to Border (Newsweek)
Newsweek [4/10/2024 8:31 AM, Aadil Brar, 2244K, Neutral]
India is set to deploy Russian-made man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADs, along its disputed border with China, even as Moscow and Beijing reaffirm their shared opposition against common adversaries in the West.

"The Igla-S systems are under procurement for the new authorized air defense formations for high mountainous terrain along the northern border," Indian news outlet The Print reported on Monday.

The Indian army first began using the Soviet-designed MANPADS in 2021. New Delhi is acquiring more of the shoulder-fired missiles amid a four-year military standoff with Beijing, which began after the deadly Galwan Valley skirmish in June 2020.

Since then, the two Asian giants have stationed thousands of soldiers at the Line of Actual Control. The de facto boundary in the Himalayas has separated India and China since a bloody border war in the 1960s.

Leaders in Russia and China have further strengthened their countries’ strategic partnership in recent years amid heavy scrutiny since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war two years ago.

The United States recently told its NATO allies that Beijing’s material support for Moscow was growing to significant levels, although Chinese officials say the country remains a neutral party.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Insitute, a Swedish think tank, said Russia was India’s biggest source of defense imports last year, accounting for 36 percent of all arms purchases, according to a March report.

Despite that, however, the period from 2019-2023 was the first time since 1960-1964 that Russia’s arms sales accounted for less than half of India’s overall imports, SIPRI said.

Weapons manufactured by China and India have been found on the battlefields of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Igla-S MANPADS also have been used by Ukrainian forces to shoot down Russian aircraft.

The Russian and Chinese foreign ministries and the Indian External Affairs Ministry did not immediate respond to separate written requests for comment before publication.

India’s upcoming deployment of Igla-S systems to its border with China, despite Beijing’s friendship with Moscow, suggests the Kremlin leadership is unable to dictate terms on weapons sales, subject matter experts believe.

"The general public is not privy to the actual terms of the contract, but over the years, the general impression is that Russia does not impose any preconditions on the use of its weapons," said Nandan Unnikrishnan, a distinguished fellow at the Observer Research Foundation think tank in New Delhi and the former Moscow bureau chief of the Press Trust of India news agency.

"So far Russia-China relations haven’t visibly impacted the India-Russia defense partnership," Unnikrishnan told Newsweek.

India recently sold the BrahMos missile system, jointly developed with Russia, to the Philippines, a U.S. treaty ally locked in a territorial dispute with China.

The Philippines will deploy land-based and anti-ship variants of the missile system along its coastline to counter Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea.

"As the world’s fastest supersonic cruise missiles, the BrahMos missiles will provide deterrence against any attempt to undermine our sovereignty and sovereign rights, especially in the West Philippine Sea," Delfin Lorenzana, the Phillippines’ former defense minister, said one year ago, referring to the section of the South China Sea that falls within the Philippines exclusive economic zone.

Christopher Clary, an associate professor at the State University of New York, told Newsweek that India may worry about China’s leverage over Russia and its future implications.

"I’ve seen little evidence Russia seeks to censor the arms it makes available to India in order to appease their Chinese partner. Yet India must be concerned that in the event of a serious China-India conflict, Beijing would put enormous pressure on Russia to halt spares and ammunition destined to India," Clary said.

"Even with acquisitions like [the Igla-S], what remains an open question is whether India will invest in sufficient munitions to fight a long war. The war in Ukraine showcases how expensive and exhausting long wars can be," Clary added.
Exclusive Interview: Narendra Modi and the Unstoppable Rise of India (Newsweek)
Newsweek [4/10/2024 9:00 AM, Danish Manzoor Bhat, 2244K, Positive]
A year after India overtook China to become the world’s most populous country, its rapid upward economic trajectory and increasing diplomatic, scientific and military weight make it an emerging superpower of ever-growing importance to the United States and the world.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed Newsweek’s written questions and followed up with a 90-minute conversation at his official residence with Newsweek President and CEO Dev Pragad, Global Editor in Chief Nancy Cooper and Editorial Director, Asia, Danish Manzoor Bhat. Subjects covered ranged from the major economic advances made under Modi’s leadership to the tension between infrastructure expansion and environmental concerns to India’s relationship with China and criticism for allegedly curtailing press freedom and not bringing along the Muslims who represent some one in seven of India’s population of 1.4 billion.

Here are Modi’s answers, edited for space.

On the upcoming election

We have an excellent track record of fulfilling our promises. It was a big thing for the people, as they were used to promises never being fulfilled.

Our government has worked with the motto of "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas," which means—Together, for everyone’s growth, with everyone’s trust and everyone’s efforts.

People have the trust that if someone else has got benefits of our programs, it will also reach them. People have seen that India has raced ahead from 11th largest economy to the fifth largest economy. Now the country’s aspiration is that India soon becomes the third largest economy.

By the end of the second term, even the most popular governments start losing support. Discontent toward governments has also increased in the last few years in the world. India stands out as an exception, where popular support for our government is increasing.

On democracy and a free press

We are a democracy, not only because our Constitution says so, but also because it is in our genes.

India is the mother of democracy. Be it Uttaramerur in Tamil Nadu, where you can find inscriptions about India’s democratic values from 1100 to 1200 years ago, or speak of our scriptures which give examples of political power being exercised by broad-based consultative bodies. As the largest democracy in the world, over 600 million people voted in the General Elections in 2019. In a few months from now, over 970 million eligible voters will exercise their franchise. More than one million polling stations would be set up across India.

Constantly increasing voter participation is a big certificate for the people’s faith in Indian democracy.

A democracy like India is able to move ahead and function only because there is a vibrant feedback mechanism. And our media plays an important role in this regard. We have around 1.5 lakh [150,000] registered media publications and hundreds of news channels.

There are a few people in India and in the West who have lost [connection with] the people of India—their thought processes, feelings and aspirations. These people also tend to live in their own echo chamber of alternate realities. They conflate their own dissonance with the people with dubious claims of diminishing media freedom.

On infrastructure and the environment

The pace of India’s transformation in the last decade has been accelerated by the rapid overhaul of its infrastructure.

In the last 10 years, our National Highways network increased 60 percent, from 91,287 kilometers [56,723 miles] in 2014 to 146,145 kilometers [90,810 miles] in 2023. We have more than doubled our airports, from 74 in 2014 to over 150 in 2024. Supported by our Sagarmala project, we have enhanced [the] capacity of our ports and improved the operational efficiency. We have started the tech-smart "Vande Bharat" trains for the comfort of our citizens and UDAN scheme to allow common people to fly.

Every road laid is a pathway to progress, every new airport opened provides a window to new opportunities, every railway station redeveloped energizes the local economy. We will further harness waterways. We will focus on building more metro lines across our cities to make urban transport more comfortable. We are building dedicated freight corridors for increasing efficiency of goods as well as passenger movement. Our airlines have ordered more than 1,000 planes recently, and this shows how fast our aviation infrastructure will grow.

There is no contradiction between our physical infrastructure building and our commitment to fight climate change. In fact, India offers a credible model of how to enhance physical infrastructure and yet be at the forefront of mitigating climate change: Be it lighting 10 million homes through [the] rooftop solar program or empowering farmers with solar-powered pumps, be it distributing 400 million energy-efficient bulbs and ensuring 13 million efficient streetlights or having one of the fastest adoption of EVs, be it airports or railway stations or bridges, our infrastructure is leveraging renewable energy.

Since 2014, India has massively stepped up investments in renewable energy with solar energy capacity increasing from just 2,820 MW in 2014 to over 72,000 MW now.

India is also well on its way to meet the 500 GW of renewable energy capacity and the climate commitment made in the Paris conference by 2030.

We have launched a $2.5 billion dollar National Green hydrogen mission which will contribute toward decarbonization and avert [a] further 50 MMT per annum of CO2 emissions by 2030.

We are launching 10,000 electric buses in 100 cities of India at a cost of almost $7 billion, giving a major boost to green urban mobility and reducing noise and air pollution.

India’s per capita emission is already less than half of the global average. India will achieve net-zero emission by 2070 as announced.

On competing with China

India, as a democratic polity and global economic growth engine, is a natural choice for those looking to diversify their supply chains.

We have undertaken transformative economic reforms: Goods and Service Tax, corporate tax reduction, bankruptcy code, reforms in labor laws, relaxation in FDI norms. As a result, we have made significant improvement in ease of doing business. We are striving to make our regulatory framework, our taxation practices as well as our infrastructure at par with global standards.

We believe that when a country with one sixth of the world’s population adopts global standards in these sectors, it will have a big positive impact on the world.

Our policies that encourage businesses and entrepreneurship, coupled with world-class infrastructure and availability of skilled talent have yielded results. We have major global manufacturing entities setting up shops in India.

We have initiated Production Linked Incentive schemes to strengthen manufacturing capabilities in India. These PLI schemes extend to 14 sectors such as electronics, solar modules, medical devices, automobiles, among others.

Given our strengths, India is now globally considered most suited for manufacturing world-class goods at competitive cost. Apart from producing for the world, the vast Indian domestic market is an added attraction. India is a perfect destination for those who want to set up trusted and resilient supply chains.

On digital payments and UPI, a Venmo-like system

I feel there are three important lessons from the success of UPI. First, technology should be open, interoperable, scalable and secure. Second, there should be democratization of technology. Third, people should be trusted to adapt quickly to technology and evolve.

UPI is a fine example of Indian innovation at its best. I see UPI as a simple tool that broke countless barriers, from financial barriers to geographical barriers. It has opened the world of digital transactions to the person at the last mile.

We have expansive economic ties with the U.S. In addition, we have a large Indian diaspora in the country, significant two-way tourist flows and over 300,000 Indian students pursuing higher education in the U.S. Given this robust connection, it would be mutually beneficial if UPI services are made available in the U.S.

On the challenge of sustaining and sharing economic growth

Today, India has a favorable demography. We are a young country with a median age of 28 years. We are committed to channeling this demographic dividend to transform India into a developed country by 2047.

I would not like to draw comparisons with China and Japan as each country faces unique challenges and has unique development models.

India has a unique cultural and social ethos. We have a culture of savings. There is also a unique model of family-oriented lifestyle which puts values at the center. In such a set-up, no family member is unproductive.

We are also focused on developing the full potential of our youth and also making them resilient and adaptive to future disruptions.

We are allocating a huge amount of money to facilitate long-term research in the sunrise sectors. India is venturing in areas like space, AI, green energy, semiconductors and other futuristic technologies.

The phenomenal growth of Indian startups is clearly visible. From hardly a hundred in 2014, we have over 1.25 lakh [125,000] registered startups today emerging from every corner of India. By constant skilling, reskilling and upskilling as well as becoming employment creators, our youth will ensure that they continue to lead even in the coming few decades.

For us, the aim of rapid economic growth is to ensure empowerment of the poor and their social mobility. You will be happy to know that the biggest beneficiaries of India’s rapid growth in the last 10 years have been India’s poor.

India has run the world’s largest poverty-eradication drive in the last 10 years and has pulled 250 million people out of poverty. Only four nations in the world have a population more than that. According to a recent research paper, India has eliminated extreme poverty.

As a result of the robust economic growth, we have been able to run unprecedented welfare schemes. These welfare schemes have ensured that the poor get 40 million houses, over 100 million clean fuel connections, around 110 million clean water connections, over 110 million toilets, 500 million people get free health care and the last remaining 18 thousand villages get electricity.

These welfare measures have not only improved the standard of living for our poor but have also ensured multiple second-order effects like improving productivity, monetary and time savings and health outcomes.

Our efforts at improving social mobility have also extended to different sectors and geographies which were previously ignored. With the aspirational districts program, we have brought about a transformation in more than 100 districts which were previously termed as backward. With the vibrant villages program, we are bringing about a transformation in border villages, which were previously ignored. The eastern and northeastern part of India, which was long ignored, has seen [an] unprecedented push on infrastructure.

On the Indian diaspora

My association with our diaspora goes a long way back, even before I came into politics. I have been involved with our diaspora since the time I was doing social work.

In those days, I traveled extensively across the U.S. I would have traveled to around 29 states even before I became the Chief Minister of Gujarat. There used to be a scheme from Delta Airlines which offered unlimited discounted travel for a month. However, there would be no luggage allowed and no reservation of seats. I planned my travels meticulously, often using a map. I would take red-eye flights to ensure seat availability and opt for longer flights to avoid the need for hotel stays. In the morning, someone from the diaspora would pick me up, and I would spend the whole day with the community. This way, I observed them closely and got to know them well over time. I understood their potential, strengths and desires, but they lacked support and guidance.

Our diaspora has been staying abroad for a long time, often two to three generations. It is natural for the older generation to feel a special connection to their roots. They want their children to also be connected to their roots and it is also our duty to ensure that this bond remains strong. Our diaspora should feel that there is someone back home who cares about them and is there for them in any situation. Hence, we directed our efforts toward ensuring this.

Through hard work and commitment, they have earned name and fame for themselves. The success of the Indian diaspora is a global talking point today. Our talented people are filling skill gaps across the world. Whenever I go abroad, leaders of the country always have high praise for them. They are acting as our ambassadors across the world.

On religious minorities who complain of discrimination

These are usual tropes of some people who don’t bother to meet people outside their bubbles. Even India’s minorities don’t buy this narrative anymore. Minorities from all religions, be it Muslim, Christians, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain or even a micro-minority like Parsis are living happily and thriving in India.

For the first time in our country, our government has come up with a unique saturation coverage approach when it comes to schemes and initiatives. They are not restricted for a group of people belonging to a particular community or a geography. They are meant to reach everyone, which means that they are designed in such a way that there cannot be any discrimination. Be it amenities like house, toilets, water connection or cooking fuel or be it collateral free credit or health insurance, it is reaching every citizen irrespective of his community and religion.

On the status of women

Women are at the forefront of India’s development story today. We have changed the lexicon from women’s development to women-led development. I am happy to see you also using it.

We passed the pathbreaking legislation to provide 33 percent reservation for women in our Parliament and State legislatures. In the forthcoming general elections, we have 15 percent more women enrolled as new voters.

Maternal mortality ratio has dropped from 130 [out of 100,000 live births] in 2014 to 97 in 2020, and the nutritional status of women has significantly improved. We have among the most progressive maternity benefit laws in the world, offering fully paid leave of 26 weeks and have mandated compulsory creche [day care] facilities in any establishment with more than 50 employees.

Today, women are seeing increased participation across all sectors, including the armed forces.

We have opened 285 million bank accounts for poor women and provided collateral free loans to 300 million women entrepreneurs.

Millions of women are being benefited due to innovative schemes like Namo Drone Didi scheme, in which women are enabled to become drone operators in rural areas, and Lakhpati Didi scheme, in which 30 million women from self-help groups are being economically empowered to have annual household income of more than one lakh rupees [100,000 rupees or $1,200].

Around 15 percent of all pilots in India are women, which is the highest percentage in the world.

These progressive measures have ensured that the female labor force participation rate has increased from 23 percent in 2017 to 37 percent in 2023, despite the enormous difficulties caused due to the pandemic.

I am the first Prime Minister of India who spoke about issues like toilets and sanitary pads. I spoke about respecting women and their choices in my Independence Day address from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

Be it India, or any part of the world, we all need to keep doing more to ensure the safety of women.

On China and the Quad

The U.S., Australia, Japan, India, China: All these countries are members of many groups. We are present in different combinations in different groups. Quad is not aimed against any country. Like many other international groupings, like SCO, BRICS and others, Quad is also a group of like-minded countries working on a shared positive agenda.

The Indo-Pacific region is the engine of global trade, innovation and growth and the security of the Indo-Pacific is important not only to the region, but to the world. Through shared efforts and implementation of development projects in the Indo-Pacific in the areas of climate action, disaster management, strategic technologies, reliable supply chain, health security, maritime security and counterterrorism, the Quad countries are demonstrating their vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific.

On the India-China border dispute

For India, the relationship with China is important and significant. It is my belief that we need to urgently address the prolonged situation on our borders so that the abnormality in our bilateral interactions can be put behind us. Stable and peaceful relations between India and China are important for not just our two countries but the entire region and world. I hope and believe that through positive and constructive bilateral engagement at the diplomatic and military levels, we will be able to restore and sustain peace and tranquility in our borders.

On Pakistan

I have congratulated the Prime Minister of Pakistan on taking over office. India has always advocated for advancing peace, security and prosperity in our region in an atmosphere free from terror and violence. [In relation to the imprisonment of Imran Khan], I won’t comment on matters internal to Pakistan.

On criticism of ending Jammu and Kashmir’s special status

I would encourage you to visit Jammu and Kashmir to witness firsthand the sweeping positive changes happening on [the] ground. Do not go by what I or others tell you. I went to Jammu and Kashmir just last month. For the first time, people have a new hope in their lives. The process of development, good governance and empowerment of the people is to be seen to be believed.

People are reaping the peace dividend: Over 21 million tourists visited Jammu and Kashmir in 2023. There has been a significant decline in terror incidents. Organized bandh/hartals [protests], stone pelting, which once disrupted normal life, are now a thing of the past

Not only this, the youth are also excited about sports events being held here. Sports is being seen as a career path for many youth there.

A new dawn has also emerged for Kashmiri women, who now enjoy the same rights as their male counterparts when it comes to inheriting property or transferring property to their children, regardless of their marital status or residency.

Post the revocation of Article 370, [which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir] the region has become a welcoming destination for global events, hosting significant gatherings like the Formula 4 racing event, Miss World and G20 meetings. Digital economy, startups, innovation and smart solutions are taking wings.
On the significance of the temple at Ram Mandir, which Modi dedicated himself

The name of Shri Ram is imprinted on our national consciousness. His life has set the contours of thoughts and values in our civilization. His name echoes across the length and breadth of our sacred land. Therefore, during the 11-day special ritual I observed, I made a pilgrimage to the places that carry the footprints of Shri Ram. My journey that took me to various corners of the country showed the revered place Shri Ram holds within each of us.

The return of Shri Ram to his birthplace marked a historic moment of unity for the nation. It was a culmination of centuries of perseverance and sacrifice. When I was asked to be part of the ceremony, I knew I would be representing the 1.4 billion people of the country, who have waited patiently for centuries to witness Ram Lalla’s return.

During the 11 days leading up to this auspicious event, I carried with me the aspirations of countless devotees, eagerly anticipating this day. The ceremony itself brought the nation together into a celebration, akin to a second Diwali. Every home was illuminated by the light of Ram Jyoti. I see it as a divine blessing that I could experience the consecration ceremony as a representative of 1.4 billion Indians.

On his legacy

I think it is not my job to think about how I will be remembered, neither does this thought motivate me.

My motivation is the impact I could make in the lives of every Indian, whom I consider my family. If they are able to live a life of dignity, achieve their dreams, I would consider my task done. But till then, I am going to work tirelessly and devotedly to fulfill the aspirations of 1.4 billion Indians.

Modi on leadership

Listening is an important quality for leadership. I am god-gifted with this quality, and I have also cultivated it. Another quality that I have is that I am always in the moment. I am not distracted by phone calls, messages or anything else. When I am doing something, I am 100 percent involved and engrossed in that task.

For leaders, I feel it is important that they have a bottom-to-top feedback channel. A leader should have the ability to connect to the grassroots and get unfiltered feedback. There should also be multiple such channels of feedback, so that human biases and preferences get neutralized. I have spent at least a night in around 80 percent of India’s districts. So I have direct connections almost everywhere, which helps me get direct feedback. At the same time, it is important that guidance or instructions efficiently reach from top to bottom.

Let me give you an example. When I was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, I received a call around 3 a.m. from someone in a town called Karjan. Normally, no one alerts a Chief Minister so early in the morning, but my staff knew my working style, so they alerted me. The person called to report a loud explosion in our town. He said I had come to his home for a meal in my earlier days, so he had familiarity with me and the urge to call me directly. I asked him what could be the reason. He told me that the railway line passes close to his house and it could be something related to the railways. So, I called the district administration, railway officials and my staff to inquire about the incident. None of them had heard about it, but immediately the entire administration set out to work. It turned out to be a train accident. However, because we had a head start in terms of getting timely information, we were able to react promptly. Before sunrise, we had managed the entire situation: the injured were in the hospital, and the accident site was cleared.

I am also a firm believer in delegation of work. I spend long hours understanding and discussing important matters and developing consensus. Once there is consensus, I believe in empowering people to execute it.

I didn’t even know that I am good at communication. People observed this when I joined politics. So I said to myself, let’s make good use of this skill.

I get hundreds of thousands of physical letters every month. I manage to check many letters and see for myself the emotions expressed by the people. It is from these letters that the thought of Mann Ki Baat [a monthly radio program] came to my mind. We have had 110 Mann Ki Baat episodes till now.

I feel negativity has a low shelf life. One needs to constantly churn out negativity for it to remain in people’s minds. On the other hand, positivity is perennial. So, Mann Ki Baat is a medium for me to gain positivity from society and amplify it.
Modi’s Moment: How Narendra Modi is Changing India and the World (Newsweek)
Newsweek [4/10/2024 9:00 AM, Danish Manzoor Bhat, 2244K, Neutral]
"Touch my vest," Narendra Modi told a startled Newsweek team interviewing the Indian prime minister in his residence in New Delhi in late March. "Come on, touch it." Modi challenged Nancy Cooper, Newsweek’s global editor in chief, to guess what the blue jacket was made of. Cooper suggested silk. "It’s recycled plastic bottles," Modi said, clearly enjoying the reaction of his surprised guests.

The vest and the moment are vintage Modi: innovation, tradition, masterful messaging and, inevitably, some controversy. The vest was made popular by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, whose great-grandson Rahul Gandhi is leading the opposition campaign to prevent Modi from winning a rare third term in elections next week. It became known as the "Nehru Jacket" and was a symbol of newly independent India’s national pride as well as a fashion statement adopted by The Beatles and Sammy Davis Jr. Unlike Nehru, who preferred beiges and grays, Modi wears his modified version of the garment in brilliant hues. Indian retailers began selling "Modi Jackets" to capitalize on the prime minister’s enormous personal popularity. And in 2018, when former South Korean President Moon Jae-in tweeted out his thanks for the prime minister’s gift of perfectly tailored "Modi Vests"—not "Nehru Jackets"—the controversy nearly broke the Indian internet.

"Whatever you can rightly say about India, the opposite is also true," the Cambridge economist Joan Robinson once said. Modi, like the country he leads, is full of apparent contradictions. A relentless modernizer, Modi embraces the past. He speaks with equal pride of digital payments, green technology and his role in an ancient 11-day ritual to bring a revered Hindu deity to life. Modi merchandises his brand like a celebrity with T-shirts, mugs and caps, and yet appeals to ordinary Indians by picking up trash from the beach or sweeping the streets. Perhaps uniquely among leaders of major powers, he wins praise from Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin and has warm relationships with both men. Modi’s campaign slogan calls for inclusive progress, yet many religious minorities feel excluded by his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

Partly because of these contradictions, Modi has a contentious relationship with the media and gives interviews rarely. India has tumbled on the World Press Freedom Index under Modi. And the prime minister sees himself as a target of hostile coverage by journalists who do not accept that India is both less liberal in ways that are important to the West and much better governed than at any time in its recent history.

Understanding an Indian prime minister has never mattered more. The country Modi leads is increasingly shaping the world we live in. Washington sees India as an important counterweight to China across the developing world. A globe-girdling Indian diaspora, cultivated for decades by Modi, has already reshaped Silicon Valley. Now Indian ideas, innovations and ambitions are poised to do the same in everything from finance and fighting poverty to space exploration. By 2075, the Indian economy is projected to surpass America’s and become the world’s second largest behind China. This also means that India is by far the biggest potential carbon emitter in the world and its choices about the future will likely play an outsized role in defining the destiny of our planet and the species we share it with.

During his 90-minute interview with Newsweek and in written correspondence, Modi tackled these issues and talked of his unbridled optimism about India. "I feel negativity has a low shelf life," he said. "On the other hand, positivity is perennial."

Modi says he channels his positive energy into his monthly radio program Mann Ki Baat (Talks from the Heart) that one survey said had 230 million regular listeners. The state radio show is one of the many ways the prime minister appears accessible to ordinary Indians and puts his personal stamp on myriad changes shaping their lives. To Western observers, Modi’s messaging tactics can come across as political theater, the squandering of public resources on the making of one man’s myth. What they miss is the revolutionary impact these tactics have had on people in a hierarchical society shaped by millennia-old caste structures, centuries of colonial exploitation and decades of rule by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty whose charismatic leaders are dismissed by Modi’s followers as members of a Western-educated elite.

Not every message lands the way Modi intends it. A Maan Ki Baat episode notched up the most dislikes ever on the BJP’s YouTube channel after the prime minister dished out advice on dog breeds but dodged a dispute over delayed exams.

Modi says he treats all communication with the Indian people as a two-way street. "A leader should have the ability to connect to the grassroots and get unfiltered feedback," he said.

A magnetic orator who fills stadiums wherever he goes, Modi is coy about his speaking skills. "I didn’t even know that I am good at communication," he said. Ask him about listening skills and he swells with pride: "I am god-gifted with this quality."

Modi, who grew up relatively poor and traveled the country for years as a Hindu community organizer, says he has spent at least one night in each of about 80 percent of India’s 806 administrative districts, roughly equivalent to counties in the United States. "So I have direct connections almost everywhere, which helps me get direct feedback," he said, driving home the point with a story about a man he met on his travels calling him at 3 a.m. about a rail accident when he was chief minister of the western state of Gujarat so it could be addressed immediately.

Whatever one makes of Modi’s messaging strategy, it appears to be working. Hundreds of millions of Indians are listening to Modi, tuning into his positive message and feel heard by him. India’s urban consumers are the most optimistic in the world, according to an IPSOS survey released in March. The national index score of 72, higher than any of the other 28 economies surveyed, "indicates consumers have confidence in the economy, jobs, personal finances and investments, now and for the future," IPSOS said.

It is easy to be optimistic about the Indian economy. Asia’s economic miracles have been built around a demographic sweet spot when the working age population reaches the point that dependents—retirees and children—form the smallest share of the population. Japan hit this tipping point in 1964. China in 1994. For India, already the world’s fifth largest economy, the sweet spot of a historically low dependency ratio won’t arrive until 2030 and it will last at least 25 years. This demographic destiny is one of the reasons Bhaskar Chakravorti, dean of global business at the Fletcher School of Tufts University, co-authored a Harvard Business Review article in which he recommended "Inevitable India" as an advertising slogan for the government in New Delhi, a play on the decades-old tourism campaign "Incredible India."

"The narrative-building apparatus around Narendra Modi has made him appear to be an indispensable figure in the inevitability of India," Chakravorti told Newsweek, echoing a common critique of the Modi government claims about the economy. But demographics don’t tell the whole story of the economic promise of Modi’s India. In the past decade, Modi has transformed India’s infrastructure, building roads, bridges, ports, airports and digital networks at astonishing speed. A country that was once notorious for potholes, bottlenecks, crumbling terminal buildings and traffic snarls caused by cattle, is now competing with the best on many fronts. India’s ports are more efficient than America’s or Singapore’s with ship turnaround times of less than a day. It will soon boast the world’s third-largest metro network after China and Britain. A Venmo-like Unified Payments Interface connects 300 million users to a system that accounts for nearly half the world’s instant payments.

Modi’s tenure has ratcheted up the productive capacity of the world’s most populous country. Goldman Sachs cites these infrastructure investments in its projections of India’s explosive economic growth over the next half-century when it overtakes the United States. Goldman’s projections show the U.S. economy doubling in size by 2075 and China’s just about tripling. The Indian economy will grow 15-fold. The economic value of these investments understates their impact on the way Indians, like the Chinese and Japanese before them, see themselves. "India is undertaking a vast national project of state-building under Modi," Ravi Agrawal, editor in chief of Foreign Policy magazine, wrote this week. "Modi is projecting an image of a more powerful, muscular, prideful nation—and Indians are in thrall to the self-portrait."

Modi resists comparisons with Japan and China and talks instead of "human-centered development" woven around India’s traditional values. "India has run the world’s largest poverty-eradication drive in the last 10 years and has pulled 250 million people out of poverty," he said. While that number is impressive, it is not unprecedented. China lifted about 800 million people out of poverty in the three decades before 2018.

And yet, the world needs India to pursue a different path from China’s. The future of the planet depends upon it. India’s gross domestic product is roughly the size that China’s was in 2007, in the midst of a surge of growth that made it the world’s second-largest economy. At roughly the same time, China emerged as the world’s largest carbon producer. Today China produces about 30 percent of the world’s carbon, nearly three times as much as the United States, which still has a much larger economy and much older infrastructure. America’s carbon footprint is shrinking, while China’s is still growing. India, already the world’s third-largest carbon emitter, is at a much earlier stage of its polluting capacity. Unless it changes trajectory, India will eat up 36 percent of the world’s remaining carbon budget—the total volume of carbon that scientists estimate all of humanity can produce and still keep global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to a 2022 McKinsey report.

Fortunately for the planet, Modi has chosen a different course. "There is no contradiction between our physical infrastructure building and our commitment to fight climate change," he said, rattling off an impressive list of initiatives, investments and goals that will help India get to net-zero emissions by 2070. McKinsey estimates these investments and policies will make for a potentially planet-saving transformation of India’s economic path. India’s carbon emissions per person should peak at around 2.7 metric tons in the 2030s, McKinsey projects. That means that even when the average Indian’s carbon footprint is at its largest a decade from now, they will still be producing only a third of the carbon emitted by a Chinese person today and a fifth of what an American produces.

This greener growth is but one facet of the contrasting roles India and China will play in the global economy. Western companies looking to move their supply chains out of the firing line of U.S.-China tensions are turning to India, with Apple being one of the first to open a plant there.

And yet China’s ambitions have loomed larger, and for far longer, in New Delhi than it has in any Western capital. In the 1950s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru turned down two offers of a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, not wishing to take China’s place on that body, according to the Wilson Center’s Cold War History project. India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar described those decisions and other efforts to placate Beijing’s Communist rulers as "India second, China first" in a speech this month.

Nehru’s deference to his powerful neighbor did nothing to prevent the relationship from deteriorating into a border conflict in 1962, which went very badly for India. Since then, China has been the central geopolitical preoccupation of every Indian prime minister. Nehru’s daughter, Indira Gandhi, broke with her father’s policy of Non-Alignment and signed a friendship treaty with the Soviet Union in August 1971, a month after U.S. National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger made his historic visit to China.

While Modi still has close relations with Moscow, he has taken a considerably more assertive approach to foreign policy—and that has drawn him closer to the United States, which now views China as an adversary. "As President Biden has said, our relationship with India is one of the most consequential in the world," a U.S. State Department spokesperson told Newsweek. "The United States supports India’s emergence as a leading global power."

Modi has personally pressed Chinese President Xi Jinping to resolve their border dispute. And he definitely wants that permanent seat on the Security Council. In his sharpest shift from India’s proudly Non-Aligned past, Modi has joined the Quad, an alliance with Japan, Australia and the United States, whose unstated purpose is to counter China’s influence in the Indian Ocean and Pacific regions. "The Quad has established itself as an important platform for ensuring peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific," Modi said, playing down the Sino-centricity of its mission.

India’s many geopolitical and economic strengths are not the whole story. The government’s relationship with religious minorities appears to have gotten significantly worse under the ruling BJP, which Modi now leads. Modi’s supporters see Hindu nationalist policies as leveling the playing field, taking away privileges granted to Indian Muslims, Christians and others by colonial rulers and past governments after independence. Restoring what Hindus see as the status quo is key to both progress and national unity, they believe. That Modi shares this view becomes apparent in a conversation about the Hindu shrine of Rama at Ayodhya, now built on the site of a mosque that a Hindu mob destroyed in 1992.

The site was disputed for more than a century; a Mughal ruler built the mosque on top of a structure that Hindus believe marked the place where Rama was born. The Supreme Court eventually resolved the dispute in favor of Hindus, and Modi himself led the dedication of the shrine in January after an 11-day fast.

He scoffs at any suggestion that India’s religious minorities, including 200 million Muslims, are mistreated. "These are usual tropes of some people who don’t bother to meet people outside their bubbles. Even India’s minorities don’t buy this narrative anymore," Modi told Newsweek.

Many of India’s Muslims, Christians and other non-Hindu groups don’t see it that way. Asaduddin Owaisi, a member of Parliament, knows the BJP’s majoritarian policies are popular enough to win elections. He also sees them creating an atmosphere that enables attacks on Muslims, from physical violence to discrimination in food, dress and education. "Modi’s electoral victories are basically a mandate...for anti-Muslim policies," Owaisi, president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, one of India’s Muslim political parties, told Newsweek.

Other fault lines run through the economy. Official data show India’s unemployment at just under 4 percent. Many economists see those numbers as something of a mirage. "If you visit a notary in New Delhi, you will probably see four people around him, all supposedly employed. One to hold the pen, one to move the paper, one to place the seal and the fourth to make tea," said Chakravorti, making a point about India’s massive problem with underemployment.

The unemployment rate for people with college degrees is nine times higher than that for those who cannot read or write, the International Labour Organization said in an April report. This dynamic creates a surge of overqualified applicants for government jobs. When a state police department posted job ads for manual office helpers, it was looking for candidates who had completed fifth grade. More than 33,000 people with college degrees applied. These trends have a disproportionate impact on Indian women, who have made remarkable progress in getting access to higher education and now make up more than 40 percent of all STEM graduates but just about a quarter of the STEM workforce. "Indian women are rising with clear aspirations," said Debjani Ghosh, president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies.

Finding productive employment for an exploding workforce will be key to seizing India’s new economic opportunities and addressing the inequality that has plagued it for generations.

Despite these and other challenges, polls show Modi headed for a third consecutive term as prime minister, something no Indian leader has accomplished since 1962. Even in 1962 and with no serious national opposition, Jawaharlal Nehru, architect of modern India, won only a diminished majority. By contrast, Modi’s BJP looks set to increase its majority in the lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha, in a multistage election that ends in June with 960 million people eligible to vote. The main opposition Congress, dominated by Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of Nehru’s grandson, and fronted by her son Rahul Gandhi, appears headed for its worst-ever showing. Congress Party President Mallikarjun Kharge declined to comment for this article; other senior Congress leaders did not respond.

Modi himself, at 73, is more popular than the BJP. In regional elections outside the main Hindi-speaking heartland in northern and central India, national parties usually support their regional leaders, hoping to win over local voters in a country with more than 120 major languages. In the Modi era, the BJP has reversed that strategy and built its regional campaigns around him. In February, Morning Consult gave Modi a domestic approval rating of nearly 78 percent, making him the most popular global leader in its survey, with more than double the support of Joe Biden. Norwegian politician and peace negotiator Erik Solheim posted the survey on X, formerly Twitter, and asked, "Maybe it is time for Western media to give India and Modiji some positive coverage?"

Whatever the nature of the coverage, this election could well represent a turning point for India. For decades after independence in 1947, India was cast in Nehru’s image: secular, democratic, socialist, scientific and unapologetically non-aligned in the great power contests of the Cold War. A crushing victory at these elections would complete the process of casting India in Modi’s image: democratic, populist, technocratic, far more assertive on the world stage than Nehru ever imagined, and unapologetically Hindu and nationalist.

Turning the "Nehru Jacket" into the "Modi Vest" was just the beginning.
India’s BJP members detained amid protest seeking Delhi leader’s resignation (Reuters)
Reuters [4/10/2024 8:55 AM, Sakshi Dayal, 5239K, Negative]
Several members of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were detained on Wednesday at a demonstration demanding the resignation of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, an opposition leader who has been arrested in a corruption case.

The protest in the capital New Delhi prompted police efforts to disperse the crowd using water cannon and came a day after the Delhi High Court dismissed a plea challenging Kejriwal’s arrest, saying his detention was justified.

Kejriwal was arrested by the financial crime-fighting agency last month on allegations of corruption relating to Delhi’s liquor policy, ahead of general elections beginning on April 19 in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a third term.

Kejriwal was sent to prison until April 15 and is currently lodged in Tihar jail, where he joined two other senior leaders of his party who were imprisoned in the same case.

Kejriwal filed an appeal against the decision in the Supreme Court on Wednesday but the top court rejected his plea for an urgent hearing, local media reported.

Protesting near the headquarters of Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the capital, BJP members chanted slogans calling the leader corrupt and a thief. Police hauled them into buses and removed them from the spot.

"A government cannot be run from prison ... if Arvind Kejriwal does not resign, the law will do its work," BJP’s Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, leader of opposition in the Delhi assembly, told ANI news agency.

AAP leaders, who maintain the case against Kejriwal is "fabricated", said he would not resign.

The AAP suffered a fresh setback on Wednesday when Delhi’s Social Welfare Minister Raaj Kumar Anand resigned from his post and from the party, saying he did not want his name to be connected with "corrupt behaviour".

AAP leaders said Anand may have quit due to a fear of enforcement agencies.

"We have said only one thing from the start, that the intention behind Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest is to break the party, to finish it," AAP’s Sanjay Singh, who was granted bail in the same graft case last week, told reporters.

Nearly 30 opposition parties which have formed an alliance called INDIA, of which the AAP is a member, have spoken against Kejriwal’s arrest, saying such action against opposition groups is aimed at denying them a level playing field in the elections.

BJP and Modi’s government have denied the accusations and say enforcement agencies are only doing their job.
India election: Congress’s Gandhis, trailing Modi, battle for political survival (Reuters)
Reuters [4/10/2024 9:38 PM, Rupam Jain, 5239K, Neutral]
The city of Raebareli in northern India has for most of the last 75 years been the political fiefdom of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that dominates the once-powerful Congress party and provided three of the nation’s prime ministers. But, with India’s general election just weeks away, the party’s central offices there tell the story of its decline.

Clothes dried in the courtyard, while a washing machine beeped and a family living out of the office went about its morning chores. No other Congress workers were present.

"Some people here say the end of the Gandhi era is now imminent," said teacher K.C. Shukla, a Congress member who resides in the house where his relatives had set up a party office decades ago.

Raebareli is one of just 17 constituencies being contested by the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is targeting a clean sweep of its 80 seats in the lower house of parliament.

Virtually all opinion polls suggest Modi’s Hindu nationalist party will return to power for a rare third term - and dominate in Uttar Pradesh - when results from the seven-phase election are announced on June 4.

Neither party has yet named its candidate for Raebareli, though both BJP and Congress officials said an announcement would be made this week. The seat was represented by Congress’s long-time president, Sonia Gandhi, from 2004 until she entered the upper house of parliament this year.

Reuters interviewed 21 lawmakers, party officials and analysts, including 13 members of Congress, for this story. Many of them described a party that faces another big loss in Uttar Pradesh, and risks losing its status as India’s main opposition group as rival regional parties make gains elsewhere in the country.

They blamed what they described as lacklustre management by Sonia and her son Rahul, Modi’s leading national critic, and the family’s inability to rally the country’s fractured centre and centre-left opposition.

Over two dozen opposition parties, including Congress, formed the anti-BJP "INDIA" coalition last year but the bloc has been riven by bickering and defections by important members.

Major regional parties such as West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh have declined to contest the election with Congress and are running candidates against both BJP and the Gandhis’ party.

Rahul’s office declined an interview request. When asked by Reuters at a campaign rally about his political future and opinion polls, he said: "My job is to spread political activism; results can never be predicted." He did not comment when asked about divisions among the opposition.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge told Reuters that the "alliance reflects the true spirit of democracy: we are together against Modi," though Congress was willing to fight alone if needed.

Asked about the risk of Congress losing its status as one of India’s big two parties, Kharge said his focus was on defeating the BJP’s Hindu nationalist ideology, and not Congress’s strength relative to other parties.

The BJP’s critics, who say that Modi’s government discriminates against religious minorities such as Muslims and has weaponised law enforcement agencies against political opponents, fear a third term would be corrosive to democracy in the world’s most populous nation.

The government has rejected allegations that it has hounded opposition leaders with federal investigations and Modi denies that there is religious discrimination in India.

Modi’s aides have also downplayed concerns from left-of-centre parties that he will amend the constitution to remove references to secularism, a move that BJP’s critics say would fulfil his Hindu majoritarian agenda.

"BJP’s vision of single-party rule in the country is an approach opposed to India’s diversity and pluralism," said Congress federal lawmaker Shashi Tharoor.

RISE OF REGIONAL PARTIES

Jawaharlal Nehru - Rahul’s great-grandfather - was India’s first prime minister and his Congress party ruled India for 54 of the 76 years since independence. Rahul’s grandfather, born Feroze Gandhy, changed his last name after being inspired by Mahatma Gandhi.

Many Indians had an emotional connection with the Gandhi family, said political analyst Rasheed Kidwai, the author of three books about Congress and the clan.

Such was their influence that for decades, "there were no factional leaders within the Congress," he said, adding that a longstanding combination of fear and respect for the family had recently dwindled.

Rahul continues to lead public rallies and his 52-year-old sister, Priyanka, is a top party strategist. But the family looks set to preside over a third straight loss in national elections and Priyanka most recently led Congress to a crushing defeat in Uttar Pradesh’s 2022 state polls, harming the prestige of the Gandhi name, according to political analysts.

Congress has fallen behind BJP in the fundraising stakes - and lost access to some finances as a result of tax probes. Meanwhile, influential regional parties have raised billions of rupees in funds through opaque campaign finance mechanisms such as electoral trusts and bonds, according to a Reuters review of public records.

Dinesh Singh, a minister in the BJP-run Uttar Pradesh state government, told Reuters that his party’s main challengers in the state - which many experts see as a bellwether for public opinion due to its size - were two regional parties, including BSP, who are contesting more than 40 seats.

The Gandhis "will be phased out completely," he predicted of the upcoming election.

Pankaj Tiwari, a senior Congress leader in Raebareli, said that Priyanka - who has never held elected office - would likely contest the Uttar Pradesh district and "will win with a record high margin."

Congress president Kharge said it would be a mistake to assume his party does not pose a challenge to BJP nationally. Congress is running on a platform that includes expanding affirmative action programs for marginalised castes and guaranteed jobs for young Indians.

There have also been nascent signs of unity among the opposition after the recent arrest of Delhi’s chief minister, a top Modi critic.

DEFECTIONS FROM LOYALISTS

More than 8,000 politicians from Congress and other parties, including key youth leaders and prominent state leaders, have defected to BJP since Modi took power in 2014, according to data from the ruling party.

Reuters was unable to verify the figures independently, but three Congress leaders said BJP’s numbers appeared to be generally accurate.

Some opposition leaders who were the subject of investigations by law enforcement agencies such as the powerful Enforcement Directorate - which has probed more than 100 opposition politicians since 2014 - have defected. Many of the inquiries were subsequently dropped or put on hold.

But six former Congress leaders who switched allegiances - none of whom have been accused of wrongdoing - told Reuters that they left the party because of mismanagement.

Chunnilal Sahu, a lawmaker from the mineral-rich Chhattisgarh state who defected to BJP in 2023, accused his former party’s leaders of failing to take accountability for past electoral defeats at local level.

"Instead of introspection in case of defeat, they just ignored the reasons," he told Reuters. "They don’t conduct proper surveys ... There is no change. There is a group of people who run the party like a private limited company."

BJP federal minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and his late father were Congress loyalists and key aides to the Gandhi family. But Scindia left Congress in 2020, saying the Gandhis did not clearly indicate how they saw his political future.

"Many of those who made the shift realised that the (dynastic) politics of Congress will eclipse the genuine ambition of all other leaders," he told Reuters.

In 2022, Tharoor, a former top U.N. official popular with Indian liberals and youth, lost a race for Congress’s presidency to Kharge, a Gandhi loyalist now in his 80s. The result was interpreted as extending the family’s clout over Congress.

Asked about Congress’s prospects under Gandhi leadership, Tharoor declined to comment.

Rahul has recently made efforts to appeal to the masses. Last month, he completed a 6,713 kilometers (4,200 miles) march across 15 states in an attempt to spread Congress’ message, after a similar 3,500-km (2,200 miles) effort in 2023 was met with large crowds.

Speaking from an open-top jeep in March to a crowd of hundreds in Halol, an industrial town in Modi’s home state of Gujarat, Rahul attacked the prime minister for his perceived closeness with Indian billionaires such as Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani and port tycoon Gautam Adani.

"I am here to tell you how Modi government is working at the behest of country’s richest people: the Adanis and Ambanis," he said.

While India has increasingly suffered from growing disparity between the rich and poor, polls show that Modi has not been politically scathed by allegations that he improperly favoured some industrialists.

Modi’s aides rejected the accusations, saying that voters would end a culture of nepotism by voting against Congress.

Congress loyalists said the party might be in disarray, but that the Gandhis were still their best hope for a serious challenge.

"I really hope members of the Gandhi family continue to contest from Raebareli," said Shukla, the teacher whose house doubles as a Congress office, as he gestured toward a prayer room where three generations of Gandhis have performed pre-election religious rituals.
In battleground state of Uttar Pradesh, India’s Modi has strong support (VOA)
VOA [4/10/2024 8:16 AM, Anjana Pasricha, 761K, Neutral]
After spending a morning loading his freshly harvested sugar cane crop onto a cart under a blazing sun, Krishan Pal feels a little dejected. He says profits from his one-hectare farm in India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state have dwindled in recent years due to rising costs of essentials like fertilizer and pesticide.

“This government is not looking at the expenses we incur," he told VOA. "It is not helping farmers.”

Despite his frustrations, Pal will back Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, which is seeking a third term in upcoming general elections.

“I think this is a nation of Hindus. Hindus should stay in power,” he said.

Politically pivotal region

For the estimated 200 million residents of Uttar Pradesh — a state more populous than Brazil and lesser developed than other Indian states — issues such as falling incomes, joblessness and rising prices are talking points among urban and rural communities as April 19 elections approach.

In a market in Muradnagar town, a group of shopkeepers discuss their businesses while awaiting customers. Mohammed Ashraf says his business of supplying fresh milk to customers has shrunk due to competition from young unemployed people entering the same line of work.

“There are no jobs in companies,” Ashraf said. “In 10 years, what has the government given? Employment avenues have [been] reduced. People want jobs, businesses, not just roads. What will young people do?”

But for many voters, such concerns remain on the back burner. Across the towns and villages of Uttar Pradesh, the overwhelming sentiment is staunch support for Modi’s ruling BJP — much as it was in the 2014 and 2019 elections that cemented its political dominance.

And because of its sheer numbers — the state determines 80 of 543 elected lawmakers in India’s lower house of parliament — whichever party holds sway over Uttar Pradesh is most like to secure the parliamentary majority needed to govern.

Favorable polls

Most recent surveys project a landslide victory for BJP in the six weeks of voting that begin April 19, with the party taking 70 of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh alone.

Surveys also indicate an opposition alliance called INDIA is expected to fare poorly in the state, with the once regionally dominant Samajwadi Party, which ruled Uttar Pradesh between 2012 and 2017, picking up less than 10 seats.

Regional support for BJP, say analysts, is fueled by the party’s Hindutva ideology, which puts Hindu national identity and improved governance at heart of its movement. Since 2017, Uttar Pradesh has been headed by prominent BJP official Yogi Adityanath, a Hindu priest turned politician.

Despite the lack of jobs and widespread regional poverty, some farmers like Kapil Tyagi say they’re satisfied with local development since Modi’s rise to power.

“The government has done good work,” he said. “A water tank has been installed. The electricity supply is regular, and we will be getting a road soon.”

As Tyagi spoke, a group of people gathered around, nodding silently in agreement.

Some 40 kilometers away in bustling Ghaziabad, the largest city in western Uttar Pradesh, entrepreneur Manan Anand says he found it easy to secure a bank loan for his venture.

In a state that once had a high crime rate, he says, he’s happy to see safety has improved.

“Modi’s government is doing fairly good as compared to earlier governments,” said Anand. “Girls and women can go out easily in the evening, that was not the case earlier.”

Although Anand says more needs to be done to expedite development, he’s optimistic the Modi government is on the right track.

‘Modi guarantees’

Modi’s appeal is built on a variety of factors, according to political analyst and author Neerja Chowdhury.

“He is seen as the king of Hindu hearts,” she told VOA. “He has flagged nationalism and national pride in a big way — BJP has given social welfare schemes that have given money in the hands of many people, what he calls ‘Modi guarantees.’”

In January, Modi inaugurated a grand temple in Ayodhya dedicated to the Hindu deity Lord Ram that stands on the site of a demolished 16th-century mosque, fulfilling a longstanding BJP pledge to rebuild the Uttar Pradesh holy site. Symbolizing the country’s surging Hindu cultural nationalism, it has since drawn pilgrims by the tens of thousands.

“Indians are by nature religious, and Modi and the BJP have brought this to the fore. The opening of the temple has been packaged politically as if Modi played a pivotal role in its construction. He is perceived as the man who delivers,” said political analyst Rasheed Kidwai.

“Even if people face hardship such as lack of jobs, they feel their national roots, their faith, their culture is getting primacy.”

The BJP is also credited with stitching up alliances with small parties to widen its support base throughout the state.

Launching his election campaign from the Uttar Pradesh city of Meerut on March 31, Modi expressed confidence about his party’s reelection.

“Our government has started work for our next term. We are preparing the roadmap for the next five years and talking about the big decisions we will take in the next 100 days,” he told a huge crowd. Modi also spoke about India’s growing stature in the global community and said he aimed to make the country the world’s third largest economy.

On that same day, top leaders of the opposition INDIA alliance gathered in Delhi to accuse Modi and his ruling BJP of undermining democracy by intimidating and arresting political rivals, charges Modi denies.

Officials with the Samajwadi Party, the main opponent to BJP and part of the broader opposition alliance, have also said that protecting democracy and the right to social justice are critical to national development.

Criticism aside, analyst Chowdhury says Modi appeals to a young, aspiring nation.

“He is talking about India 10 years down the line, 25 years down the line, 50 years down the line, selling people dreams which the opposition is not able to match.”

A good showing in Uttar Pradesh will be pivotal to Modi’s ambitions of surpassing his party’s present tally of 303 seats in parliament. India’s elections will be held in seven phases over six weeks with votes being counted on June 4.
‘Separated’: Why is India sealing its Myanmar border, dividing families? (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [4/11/2024 12:00 AM, Chanchinmawia and Yashraj Sharma, 2.1M, Neutral]
For 61-year-old Vanlalchaka, the past few weeks have been filled with anxiety.

In the northeastern Indian border village of Zokhawthar, perched on a mountainside amid green hills, Vanlalchaka’s farm has been a safe haven for refugees fleeing the civil war in neighbouring Myanmar since 2021. Five refugees live there currently and Vanlalchaka has been leading efforts in the village, which sits on the banks of the Tiau River, to help others coming from across the border.

Like his ancestors, he said, he has never acknowledged the political borders that divide his ethnic tribe – known as the Chin in Myanmar, Mizo in India’s Mizoram state and Kuki in the Indian state of Manipur.

Vanlalchaka’s wife, BM Thangi, is from Myanmar’s Chin state. Vanlalchaka goes by a single name as is the custom in his community.

“The people of Zokhawthar and Khawmawi [the adjacent border village in Chin state] operate as a single village,” said Vanlalchaka, sitting with Thangi, 59. “When someone dies, we join the funeral process; when someone falls ill, we cross the border to visit patients and stay overnight if needed.”

That might not be possible any more.

As Mizoram prepares to vote on April 19 in the first of seven phases of India’s national election, its border communities are grappling with a deep rupture in their way of life.

For centuries, several Indigenous communities in India’s northeastern states of Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh have shared the same ethnicity and lived on both sides of the present 1,600km (1,000-mile) international border between India and Myanmar. Their coexistence as one community, in effect, continued even after India and Myanmar gained independence because of a largely porous border.

In 2018, the Indian government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi went one step further in its outreach to the country’s northeast and to the then-democratic government of Myanmar: it declared a free movement regime with Myanmar that allowed people on either side of the border to cross 16km (10 miles) into the other country without a visa. People needed a border permit, valid for a year, to stay on the other side of the border for about two weeks at a time.

But this February, weeks before the multi-phase elections begin, the Indian government scrapped the pact “to ensure the internal security” and “to maintain the demographic structure” of the regions bordering Myanmar, said Amit Shah, India’s home minister.

That decision came amid increasing clashes in Myanmar between a range of rebel groups and the military that grabbed power in 2021 through a coup. Those clashes have in turn sparked a refugee crisis, turning towns like Zokhawthar into safe havens for fleeing people. But many in India’s northeast see a deeper political reason behind the decision to seal the border: blaming migrants and refugees is a convenient escape from addressing deeper internal security failures that have led to the eruption of violence in the region in recent months.

For Vanlalchaka and others in his village, though, the politics is secondary — and the end of the free movement regime feels personal.

“The central government’s [decision of] border fencing and the end of the FMR will separate our families,” said Vanlalchaka. “It is just unfortunate,” his wife Thangi added.

‘For what?’

From trade to farming, the lives of thousands of people have long been dependent on open borders: Zokhawthar’s favourite betel nuts and handmade cigarettes are bought from Myanmar; the beer cans have the country’s labels; and getting around Mizoram’s rugged border terrain is impractical without a Kenbo-125 motorbike — which also comes from Myanmar.

“We mainly rely on border trade. If the import of essential commodities for our livelihood stops, most of the residents of this village will have to migrate because they will be jobless,” said Vanlalchaka.

Since the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, Mizoram has hosted thousands of refugees fleeing violence, despite opposition from the federal Indian government, which in September asked the state government to collect biometric details of Myanmar refugees. The state government refused.

Nearly 80,000 refugees and asylum seekers from Myanmar live in India, 53,000 of them since the 2021 coup. Mizoram alone hosts half of them — 40,000 refugees — according to 2023 data from the UNHCR, settled in makeshift camps in villages like Zokhawthar.

“Like other Mizoram residents, we have many close relatives in Myanmar,” said Thangi. Last month, she was joined by her elder sister, Marovi, and her family, who flew from Kalemyo, in Myanmar, amid worsening fighting. “Their house was bombed this morning,” she added, “we are fortunate it didn’t happen while they were at home.”

Their eldest sister, 73-year-old Lalchami ran away with her two children when the raging battles neared their home in 2022. Now, Lalchami and her children live on the farmland of Vanlalchaka, in a makeshift shanty made of wood and tin sheets. Lalchami’s 42-year-old daughter, Malsawmsangi, suffers from breast cancer.

“My daughter’s cancer has now spread to her lungs. If we remain in Myanmar, it will be very difficult for her to get treatment,” Lalchami told Al Jazeera. Their nearest medical facility is in Kalemyo, now a battleground, while medical facilities in Yangon and Mandalay remain inaccessible to them.

“What if we return and the fighting starts again? We are fortunate that she can receive medical treatment in Mizoram,” she said. “In our situation, the attempt to separate us [by the Indian government] is just sad and puts us in a vulnerable position.”

The pushback

The Indian government’s move has led to pushback — not just from border communities but also from political leaders in two states, including allies of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Mizoram’s Home Minister K Sapdanga has described the India-Myanmar border as a colonial legacy driving ethnic divisions. In February, he said people “have been dreaming of reunification and cannot accept the India-Myanmar border imposed upon us”. Earlier, Sapdanga’s party, the Zoram People’s Movement, had made it clear that they would not join hands with either the BJP or the opposition Congress-led alliance to “maintain its identity as an independent regional party free from [New] Delhi’s control”.

In Nagaland, a party allied to the BJP moved a resolution in the state assembly on March 1 arguing New Delhi’s decision to scrap free movement would disrupt age-old ties.

Across the border, the National Unity Government (NUG) — Myanmar’s government-in-exile comprising lawmakers removed in the 2021 coup — too has concerns about India’s policy shift.

“Burma is at war and it is a resistance war; the country is not in a normal situation,” a senior official of the NUG’s foreign ministry said in a phone interview, speaking under condition of anonymity from an undisclosed location. “And we rely heavily on India in seeking humanitarian assistance because our people are running for their lives from the junta.”

The official said the NUG had articulated its concerns to India. “New Delhi needs to acknowledge that the FMR is a humanitarian requirement,” the official said. “A country of India’s stature should not impose that kind of humanitarian crisis on our people.”

Fencing the border and ending free movement is also risky in the long run for New Delhi, which for decades has had a tense relationship with India’s northeast — a region that saw major secessionist movements, some of which are still alive.

“Successive governments have realised that local ethnic communities hold the open border policy dear to their social and cultural existence,” said Angshuman Choudhary, an associate fellow at the New Delhi-based think tank Centre for Policy Research (CPR), with a focus on Myanmar and northeast India. “If you tinker with that, you will create new cycles of discontent and violence. There are so many ethno-political differences, and border fencing is another front to oppose the central government.”

Border insecurity

To be sure, India does have its own genuine security concerns.

The Tatmadaw, the Myanmar army, has suffered significant blows in recent months, with the rebel Arakan Army running over many military outposts and making territorial gains in western Myanmar.

The Indian government’s move to fence the border is in many ways “a reaction towards a rapidly escalating and worsening war in Myanmar that poses major border security concerns for India and Bangladesh”, said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson International Center, in Washington, DC.

“India wants to do everything it can to reduce the likelihood of spillover effects of the conflict in Myanmar into India,” he said.

But on the ground, managing the border is a complex affair.

The bridge over the Tiau River, connecting Zokhawthar and Khawmawi, was being controlled by the Indian Army’s Assam Rifles, along with the Mizoram Police, and rebels associated with Myanmar’s Chin National Defense Force (CNDF), when Al Jazeera visited in March.

The region just across in Myanmar “is in the people’s hands”, said Rodina, secretary of the CNDF, who — like Vanlalchaka — goes by a single name.

While the CNDF is trying to restart hospitals in the territory it controls, “we cannot admit serious patients due to lack of medical facilities”, Rodina said. “Many patients will still need to go to Mizoram for medical treatment.” It’s unclear how far that might be possible if the border is fenced.

Meanwhile, locals on the Indian side say the Assam Rifles has amped up the presence of armed personnel since the February announcement of the fencing plan.

And New Delhi finds itself in “unchartered territory”, said Choudhary of the CPR, because in the border state of Chin, the CNDF is not the only major rebel force. And the different rebel groups do not always agree. For the moment, he said, India appears to lack a coherent policy on how to deal with these multiple groups.

The Manipur piece of the puzzle

However, some analysts also question whether India’s new policy position is driven in part by another crisis — entirely within India — in the state of Manipur, to Mizoram’s north.

More than 200 people have been killed and thousands more displaced in ethnic violence that broke out in May 2023 and has raged ever since between the Meitei majority population of Manipur and the Kuki and Naga minorities. The state’s BJP government has been accused of fanning tensions to consolidate its Meitei support base — a charge the party has denied.

The BJP in turn has denied those charges and blamed “illegal migrants” from Myanmar for the violence. But critics say that position is aimed at drawing attention away from the government’s internal security failures.

“It is easy for them to point at the borders and say immigrants are responsible – it is just pure distraction,” said the CPR’s Choudhary.

In the past, Choudhary pointed out, Indian governments — including Modi’s — have refrained from moving ahead with border fencing even after deadly ambushes on Indian security personnel by armed fighters who crossed over from Myanmar.

If it goes ahead with fencing this time around, the Modi government risks further alienating already remote communities and “sparking a cycle of discontent, and of violence”, said Choudhary.

“It is all just going to be a mess eventually. And for what?”
Undocumented Indian migrants chart new path to US via Canada (VOA)
VOA [4/10/2024 11:20 PM, Masood Farivar, 761K, Neutral]
In recent years, the United States has seen an unprecedented surge in undocumented migrants from India, most slipping in through Mexico. But as the U.S.-Mexico border faces growing pressure, many are turning to a less conventional path: crossing the expansive and lightly guarded border with Canada.

In fiscal year 2023, U.S. border agents encountered nearly 97,000 undocumented Indian migrants nationwide, including more than 30,000 at the northern border, according to data from the Customs and Border Patrol or CBP.

Encounters include apprehensions and expulsions. In fiscal year 2019, more than 16,000 Indian migrants were encountered nationwide, CBP data shows.

In recent months, the numbers have continued largely unabated. Between October 2023 and February 2024, nearly 14,000 Indians were encountered at the U.S.-Canada border.

The record influx is part of a migration rush through Canada that has overwhelmed border security officials and unsettled communities in northern U.S. states. CBP data show that there were nearly 190,000 encounters at the Canadian border in 2023, more than six times the number in 2021.

A spokesperson for the Indian embassy in Washington said the "extent of illegal immigration from India to the United States is unclear."

"We have been constantly engaged with the United States authorities including through dialogues such as the India- U.S. Consular Dialogue and the Homeland Security Dialogue to enhance cooperation and strengthen people to people ties and to facilitate legal mobility and migration and to check illegal immigration and human trafficking," the spokesperson said in a statement to VOA.

Indians drawn to US asylum process

The end of the COVID-19 pandemic has spawned a rise in global migration. While people migrate for different reasons, experts say many Indian migrants are drawn to the U.S. by the Biden administration’s perceived openness to asylum-seekers.

"Overall, people are looking to come to the U.S. because they’ve heard about the asylum process here," said Chirag Patel, a Maryland-based immigration lawyer who handles Indian asylum cases.

Patel and other experts say the flow of asylum-seekers to the border will likely keep up as they anticipate potential policy changes with the November U.S. presidential election.

"People are trying to get a lot of things in before November, but also obviously before January, if November ends up being in favor of Trump," Patel said.

‘From all over the globe’

Once a trickle, the flood of Indian asylum-seekers entering the country shows the changing face of unauthorized migration to the U.S.

"They’re coming from all over the globe, literally all over the globe," said Muzaffar Chishti, senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute.

The rise in unauthorized Indian migration has made Indians the third-largest group of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. There were about 725,000 undocumented Indians in the U.S. in 2021, more than from any other country outside the Western Hemisphere, according to a recent Pew Research Center report.

Though many have genuine claims of persecution, experts say Indian asylum-seekers are predominantly economic migrants, drawn by the prospect of a better life in the U.S.

"Very few of these are the professionals," said Devesh Kapur, Starr Foundation professor of South Asian studies at Johns Hopkins University. "Because these youths are not very well-educated, their economic opportunities in India are pretty limited."

Most are relatively well off by Indian standards and hail from Punjab and Gujarat, two of India’s more prosperous states with a long history of immigration to the United States.

"One of the mistakes we make is to think it’s the poor that migrate," Kapur said. "The poor in South Asia simply cannot afford to take a flight."

But those who can often lack a legal pathway into the United States. U.S. student visas are hard to come by, and because of a massive backlog of immigration cases, an immigrant visa can take up to 20 years to secure.

That leaves the "donkey route" as the only option for many Indians anxious to reach America. The sometimes-dangerous journey across several continents, widely publicized on social media, is facilitated for a hefty fee by global human trafficking networks.

The cost of getting to the U.S. can exceed $50,000, but even a small-scale landlord in Punjab can afford it. An acre of agricultural land in the fertile state can command the same price, Kapur noted.

While Indian migrants often take the donkey route to Mexico, many find Canada a quicker and safer option, according to experts.

Political scientist Shinder Purewal said the current Canadian government’s push to attract international students has made it easier for Indians to obtain visas.

"It’s easier to get a visa to Canada than to Pakistan," said Purewal, who teaches at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, British Columbia.

Until recently, Indians often moved from Canada to the U.S. when they couldn’t get Canadian residency, Purewal said.

"Now, more and more people are just entering Canada so they can just go straight to the U.S. because the economy is better, job prospects are better there," Purewal said.

In a statement, Canada’s immigration agency said all study permits are reviewed "holistically" to ensure applicants "respect Canada’s immigration laws and regulations."

"Canada’s visa policy decisions are made in an effort to support travel and people-to-people connections, while preserving the integrity of our immigration system," the agency said. "We continuously monitor the impacts of our visa policy for both visa-exempt and visa-required countries and consider objective criteria when deciding whether to lift or impose a visa requirement. And new developments would be communicated publicly."

But economic prospects are not the only reason Indian migrants choose the U.S. Support from established Indian communities in the U.S. also influence their decision.

A smuggling network recently uncovered by U.S. investigators ferried Gujarati migrants from the Canadian border to Gujarati American-owned business establishments in the Chicago area.

"People who come have a way of coming," said Pawan Dhingra, an associate provost and associate dean of the faculty at Amherst College who teaches immigration studies. "They have a connection to the country. If it was just escaping India, they could just go anywhere in the world."

Not all cross border safely

Despite its reputation for safety, crossing the Canadian border has occasionally proven fatal for Indian migrants.

In January 2022, an Indian family of four was found frozen to death in Manitoba just meters from the U.S. border. In March 2023, the bodies of eight migrants, including four Indians, were recovered from the St. Lawrence River.

Maureen Silcoff, a Canadian refugee and immigration lawyer, said the extreme risks migrants take show their dire need to flee hardship.

"People don’t simply pick up and leave their homes, their communities, their families, their jobs out of a sense of wanting a thrilling adventure," Silcoff said in an interview. "People become desperate, and sometimes people are subject to very serious human rights abuses, and they try to alleviate those kinds of problems and other hardships by relocating to another country."
Japan targets India and Southeast Asia to recruit tech workers (Nikkei Asia)
Nikkei Asia [4/10/2024 1:24 PM, Hirofumi Kanaoka, 293K, Positive]
Japan’s Cabinet Office held a working group meeting on Wednesday that aims to expand direct investment in Japan and attract skilled tech workers from Southeast Asia and India.

A government task force is focusing on four points: expanding investment opportunities, securing highly skilled workers, promoting collaboration with foreign companies, and improving the domestic business and living environment.

One area under consideration is reviewing the residency status system to make it easier for tech workers from Southeast Asia and India to work in Japan. Additionally, to help foreign companies start a business in Japan, the government is considering allowing procedures for establishing a corporation to be conducted in English.

Tokyo has set a goal of boosting the balance of foreign direct investment in Japan to 100 trillion yen ($653.9 billion) by the end of 2030. The balance at the end of 2022 was 46 trillion yen. The government is hoping to attract more investment by securing skilled tech and other workers and improving their living conditions.

"We have identified priority issues...and will accelerate and strengthen efforts to achieve the 100 trillion yen balance of direct investment in Japan," said Tatsunori Ibayashi, deputy minister of the Cabinet Office, who attended the working group meeting.
NSB
Sri Lanka: Unlawful Use of Weapons During Policing of Protests (Amnesty International)
Amnesty International [4/10/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, 147K, Neutral]
Sri Lankan law enforcement officials engaged in the violent repression of protests must be held accountable for committing widespread human rights violations, said Amnesty International in a new investigative report released today.

The report, ‘Ready to Suppress Any Protest’: Sri Lanka – Unlawful Use of Weapons During Protests, analyses the use of force during policing of 30 protests that took place in Sri Lanka between March 2022 and June 2023. Amnesty International’s research shows a pattern in the unlawful use of tear gas and water cannon and the misuse of batons by Sri Lankan law enforcement officials with video evidence revealing that in at least 17 protests – more than half of those analyzed—the conduct of law enforcement officials fell well short of international law and standards on the use of force.

“From the outset, the Sri Lankan police approached the 2022-23 protests assuming that they would be unlawful and violent and that they would need to use force to repress them. The police failed to recognize that people have the right to peacefully protest, and that the authorities have a duty to facilitate and protect protests. Instead, they targeted, chased, and beat largely peaceful protesters,” said Smriti Singh, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for South Asia.

During 2022 and 2023, Sri Lankans called for accountability for the prolonged economic crisis, corruption and human rights violations, in large-scale protests and an occupy movement known as the Aragalaya in Colombo and other cities across Sri Lanka. Amnesty International has documented unlawful use of force against largely peaceful protests that continue to date, including in 2024.

Meanwhile, in the Northern and Eastern provinces of the country, security forces and intelligence agencies regularly carry out surveillance, intimidation, harassment, and obstruction of largely peaceful protests that have continued to take place since 2017 by the relatives of people forcibly disappeared during the internal armed conflict in Sri Lanka.

During its investigation, Amnesty International conducted 39 qualitative interviews and an open-source investigation into 95 verified videos gathered on social media of 30 protests, predominantly from Colombo, Battaramulla, Kelaniya, Jaffna and Galle. In March 2024, Amnesty International wrote to the Sri Lanka Police outlining the allegations in this report and requesting an official response but had not received a reply at the time of publication.

Unlawful use of tear gas, water cannons and batons
The police followed a pattern of using large quantities of tear gas against peaceful or largely peaceful protesters repeatedly in the same area without giving them an adequate opportunity to disperse, and without making any reasonable effort to limit risk of injury. Videos verified by Amnesty International also show the combined use of water cannon and tear gas by police against largely peaceful protestors in 2023 without giving them sufficient time and opportunity to disperse, in breach of international law and standards as well as best practices. This was documented in various protests and most prominently on the peaceful protest of 3 February 2023 in Colombo.

Thilina, a journalist and protester, told Amnesty International that police also used batons against them. He said: “After they used water cannon and tear gas on us, they pursued us and beat us as we were dispersing. I was hit with a baton on my back.”

Police fired tear gas grenades from behind the protesters while the protesters were trying to disperse, in breach of international human rights standards. They also repeatedly failed to take adequate precautionary measures when using tear gas, and fired into areas that had no clear exit such as near schools and on the street. This unnecessarily exposed children and bystanders to the effects of chemical irritants. Amnesty International analysed at least three videos which showed children rubbing their eyes, coughing, and experiencing discomfort.

Upeksha*, a protester, told Amnesty International: “Police used tear gas until people could not breathe. We went into a temple and used the utensils and water to wash the children’s eyes.”

The police used water cannon at close range against peaceful or largely peaceful protesters and in situations where protesters posed no threat to police officers and were attempting to disperse. Police also fired water cannon directly at a media correspondent reporting live from a protest in Colombo in June 2023, despite clear and visible signs of cameras and other media equipment. In the north of the country, police used water cannon against a largely peaceful protest by family members of the disappeared.

Devika*, whose husband was forcibly disappeared 15 years ago after the end of the internal armed conflict, told Amnesty International: “The jet was directed at my face, and I was hit badly in the eye. My eye swelled and I blacked out.”

Lack of investigation and accountability
Despite widespread human rights violations by law enforcement agencies and security forces, not a single police officer or member of the army has been prosecuted or convicted for the unlawful use of force during protests in 2022 and 2023. This lack of accountability exists within the context of a wider culture of impunity, where police and military personnel have rarely been held accountable for human rights violations; it also emboldens law enforcement officials to continue violently suppressing protests.

The Sri Lankan state is responsible under international law to investigate effectively, impartially, and in a timely manner, any allegation or reasonable suspicion of human rights violations by law enforcement officials. If the investigations find sufficient credible evidence, those suspected of criminal responsibility must be brought to justice in fair trials before ordinary civilian courts. This applies to those with responsibility at all levels, including senior officers.

“The brute force approach to policing of protests does not comply with international law and standards and restricts the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in Sri Lanka which is guaranteed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Sri Lanka is a state party. The authorities must therefore urgently investigate all credible allegations of unlawful use of force by police during the 2022-23 protests as a failure to do so would in itself be a violation of human rights,” said Smriti Singh.

*Names changed to protect identity.
Central Asia
Floods Batter Russia and Kazakhstan, Forcing Tens of Thousands to Evacuate (New York Times)
New York Times [4/10/2024 4:14 PM, Ivan Nechepurenko, 831K, Negative]
More than 100,000 people were forced to evacuate on Wednesday after devastating spring floods engulfed cities and villages across vast sections of Russia and Kazakhstan.

The floods affected multiple settlements across Russia in the South Urals region east of Moscow, in Western Siberia and near the Volga River, as well as at least five regions of Kazakhstan, which shares a long border with Russia.

Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, said on Wednesday that the situation was “quite tense” and the forecast was “unfavorable” as “large amounts of water are coming to new regions.”

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is receiving reports about the flooding but has no plans to visit the affected areas, Mr. Peskov said. On Tuesday, Mr. Putin discussed the emergency with his Kazakh counterpart, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the Kremlin said in a statement.

In the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan, the authorities said on Wednesday that more than 96,000 people had been evacuated and rescued, and more than 3,400 buildings remained flooded in five regions.

Heavy floods are a regular feature of the spring season in Russia. But the situation appeared to be substantially worse this year after a brisk heat wave caused large amounts of snow to melt rapidly, prompting local rivers to rise, the Russian emergency authorities said.

Waterlogged soil that froze during the winter and heavy precipitation also contributed to the flooding, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.

Parts of the Russian city of Orenburg, a regional capital of about 540,000 people, were deluged with water on Wednesday as the Ural River that runs through it swelled more than 33 feet and continued to rise, the mayor said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

More than 7,700 people were evacuated in the Orenburg region, the regional government said.

Overall, more than 13,000 residential buildings have been flooded across Russia, according to TASS, a Russian state news agency. Russian state television showed residents paddling along roads and water touching the windows of traditional wooden houses.

Government officials urged local residents in affected areas or in those localities that were under threat of flooding to evacuate. Local prosecutors warned shops against raising prices on bottled drinking water.

On Wednesday, the situation in Orsk, a major Russian town near the border with Kazakhstan, began to improve after a flood destroyed an embankment dam on Friday, submerging the old part of the city and its smaller residential buildings.

The situation angered hundreds of residents, who went in front of Orsk’s City Hall to demand a swifter response from the local government, according to Kommersant, a Russian newspaper.

The regional governor said the situation was unprecedented and that the floods were the worst in recorded history.
Water levels rise and homes flood in Russia after a dam bursts near the Kazakhstan border (AP)
AP [4/10/2024 10:27 PM, Staff, 441K, Negative]
Russian officials scrambled to help homeowners displaced by floods as water levels rose in the Ural River, authorities said Wednesday.

Floods in the Orenburg region near Russia’s border with Kazakhstan sparked the evacuation of thousands of people following the collapse of a dam on Saturday. Russia’s government has declared the situation a federal emergency. Although President Vladimir Putin is frequently shown on Russian state television meeting officials and traveling across the country, the Kremlin said he is not yet planning to visit the flood-hit region.

The river’s water level in the city of Orenburg was above 10 meters (almost 33 feet) Wednesday, state news agency Ria Novosti reported, citing the regional governor. Photos shared by Russian news outlets showed roads covered in water, submerged fields and partially submerged houses.

The water was approaching high-rise buildings, Ria Novosti said, and more than 300 homes were flooded overnight, according to state news agency Tass.

People in the city of Orsk gathered in a rare protest Monday, calling for compensation after their homes were damaged. Protests are unusual in Russia, where authorities have consistently cracked down on any form of dissent following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Hundreds of people gathered in front of the administrative building in Orsk on Monday, and videos posted on Russian social media showed people chanting “Putin, help us!” and “Shame!”

Other videos on social media showed angry Russians refusing to leave the areas near their homes because they said thieves were looting abandoned houses with boats.

The floods prompted the Orsk oil refinery to suspend operations, Interfax said.

The floods had forced over 4,000 people, including 885 children, to evacuate in the Orenburg region, the regional government said Sunday. Tass said Monday that around 10,000 homes, including some 7,000 in Orsk, were flooded.

Following the protest, Tass reported that the governor of the Orenburg region, Denis Pasler, promised compensation payments to those affected, including 10,000 rubles ($108) a month for six months to people forced out of their homes by the floods.

The total damage from the floods in the region is estimated at about 21 billion rubles ($227 million), the regional government said Sunday.

A criminal probe has been launched to investigate suspected construction violations that may have caused the dam to break. Local authorities said the dam could withstand water levels up to 5.5 meters (nearly 18 feet). On Sunday, the level in Orsk reached 9.7 meters (31.82 feet), according to Russia’s water level information site AllRivers.

The Ural River, about 2,428 kilometers (1,509 miles) long, flows from the southern section of the Ural Mountains into the north end of the Caspian Sea, through Russia and Kazakhstan.
Russia and Kazakhstan battle record floods as rivers rise further (Reuters)
Reuters [4/11/2024 2:47 AM, Guy Faulconbridge and Olzhas Auyezov, 5.2M, Neutral]
The Russian city of Orenburg battled rising water levels on Thursday after major rivers across Russia and Kazakhstan burst their banks in the worst flooding seen in the areas in nearly a century.

The deluge of meltwater has forced over 110,000 people from their homes in Russia’s Ural Mountains, Siberia and Kazakhstan as major rivers such as the Ural, which flows through Kazakhstan into the Caspian, overwhelmed embankments.

Residents in the city of Orenburg said the waters of the Ural rose very swiftly and to far beyond breaking point, forcing them to flee with just their children, pets and a few belongings.

"It came very quickly at night," Taisiya, 71, told Reuters in Orenburg, a city of 550,000 about 1,200 km (750 miles) east of Moscow. "By the time I got ready, I couldn’t get out."

Whole areas of the city were underwater, and the Ural rose another 32 cm (13 inches) to 10.54 metres (34.6 ft), 124 cm (49 inches) above the level considered by local authorities as safe. Officials warned the river would rise further.

The flooding has struck Russia’s Urals and the northern Kazakhstan worst, though waters are also rising southern parts of Western Siberia, the largest hydrocarbon basin in the world, and in some places near the Volga, Europe’s biggest river.

Water levels were also rising in Siberia’s Tomsk, which sits on the Tom River, a tributary of the Ob, and in Kurgan, which straddles the Tobol river.

After the Ural burst through dam embankments in Orsk, upstream from Orenburg, on Friday, some residents expressed anger over how local officials had handled the situation, demanding greater compensation and begging for help from President Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin said Putin was being updated regularly on the situation but had no current plans to visit the area while emergency services tried to deal with rising waters.

In Orenburg, some residents expressed disappointment that local officials had not done enough to prepare for the annual snow melt.

"There is a lot of excitement, indignation and strong emotions that I understand and share," Orenburg Mayor Sergei Salmin said. "The issue of receiving compensation and the procedure for processing payments is one of the main ones."

SNOW MELT

Spring flooding is a usual part of life across Russia - which has an area equal to the United States and Australia combined - as the heavy winter snows melt, swelling some of mighty rivers of Russia and Central Asia.

This year, though, a combination of factors triggered unusually severe flooding, according to emergency workers.

They said soils were waterlogged before winter and then was frozen under deep snow falls which melted very fast in rising spring temperatures and heavy rains.

Climate researchers have long warned that rising temperatures could increase the incidence of extreme weather events, and that heavily forested Russia is of major importance in the global climate equation.

In Kurgan, a region which straddles the Tobol river, water levels rose in Zverinogolovkoye beyond the critical 10 metre (33 foot) mark, said Governor Vadim Shumkov who was shown visiting evacuated families.

Kazakhstan has been badly hit.

The emergencies ministry said on Thursday morning that the number of evacuees stood at over 97,000, unchanged from Wednesday, and a state of emergency remained in effect in eight regions of the country.

Emergency workers have removed 8.8 million cubic metres (310 million cubic feet) of water from flooded areas, the ministry said. The Kazakh government also said movement was restricted on hundreds of kilometres of roads in the Aktobe, Akmola, Atyrau, Kostanai, Mangistau and North Kazakhstan regions.
‘Very Tense’: Anger Rises To Surface Over Government Response To Kazakh, Russian Floods (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [4/10/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, 235K, Neutral]
Floodwaters continue to submerge large areas of southern Russia and northern Kazakhstan with officials predicting the worse is yet to come as a massive snowmelt amid unseasonably warm temperatures forced tens of thousands from their homes.

Dozens of towns, villages, and cities near the Ural River, Europe’s third-longest, which burst its banks sending water cascading through the Russian city of Orenburg and the Kazakh city of Oral to the south.

The Orenburg regional administration said in a statement on April 10 that more than 7,700 residents and hundreds of domestic animals have been evacuated from districts affected by the floods, while about 13,000 private houses and about 15,000 households remain under water.

While the water level in the city of Orsk, where at least five people died during the floods after a local dam ruptured three times since last week, has started to go down, the region’s government said the situation will remain complicated until at least April 25.

The Kremlin gave a starker outlook on the situation, saying it was "very, very tense" and likely to worsen.

"The water is continuing to rise. Large [amounts of] water are coming to new regions," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

In Kazakhstan, floods continue in several regions in the north that border Russia.

Officials said on April 10 that just over 96,000 people had been evacuated since the start of the floods last week, an increase of 10,000 from a day earlier.

Anger over the government’s response has started to build, with residents of the Zhylyoi district in the western Kazakh region of Atyrau picketing the local government building in the town of Kulsary, demanding financial assistance to cover damages caused by the high waters.

The protesters said they are skeptical of the local government’s decision to postpone mortgage payments for two months for residents whose houses have been damaged by the floods.

"The postponement of the mortgage payment for two months means we’ll have to pay it back later with a higher interest rate. This is what exactly we faced during the COVID period. Forgive our home loans completely as we all are drowning not only in water but in debt, as well," one of the picketers, Zhanar Shudabaeva, told RFE/RL.

Local pensioner Quttybai Aiteshov told RFE/RL that although his house is debt free, he is afraid that due to the scale of the floods, he will be unable to repair his house since his monthly pension is too low to cover the costs.

The governor of the North Kazakhstan region, Ghauez Nurmukhambetov, issued a statement on April 10 warning that "a huge amount of water is coming" to the region via the Esil River and will reach the regional capital, Pertropavl, and dozens of local towns and villages in "a day or two."

Compounding the situation for those who are seeking shelter, cold weather is forecast in several regions for the rest of the week.

One resident said they were concerned over health conditions after the flood waters recede.

"We saw the bodies of buried people washed out of their graves. Many people who died of COVID were buried there. What about the tap water we use now? The local administration has not told us if it is safe to use the tap water. After the floods are over, will it be safe from a sanitary point of view to stay in the districts affected by the floods? I have a 2-month-old daughter," the young man said.
Detained Kyrgyz Journalist Alleges Abuse by Guards (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [4/10/2024 9:35 AM, Catherine Putz, 201K, Negative]
On April 6, investigative journalist Bolot Temirov claimed in a Telegram post that his wife, Makhabat Tajibek kyzy, had been beaten alongside other detainees by prison guards in Kyrgyzstan.

Prison authorities offered a weak denial, stating that pre-trial detention employees do not have the right to beat prisoners.

The Kyrgyz Ombudsman Institute visited the pre-trial detention center where Tajibek kyzy is being held and confirmed that she had bruises on her arms, the left side of her jaw, and her left armpit. Staff at the detention center did not allow the ombudsman representatives to take photographs of the bruises.

Representatives of Kyrgyzstan’s National Center for the Prevention of Torture also visited the detention center and filed complaints on behalf of the women.

Temirov connected his wife’s alleged beating with his investigative work. “I consider it a warning sent to me through the beating of my wife in custody,” he said, citing recent work on the family of President Sadyr Japarov and fact-checking of a claim by State Committee for National Security head Kamchybek Tashiev that Kyrgyzstan had recovered 100 billion som in its fight against corruption (Temirov says only 500,000 som has been returned to the Kyrgyz state).

Temirov has had a long antagonistic relationship with the current Kyrgyz government given his sharp coverage of corruption issues. The battle between Bishkek and Temirov resulted in his deportation to Russia in November 2022, with the authorities claiming he’d illegally obtained Kyrgyz citizenship.

Tajibek kyzy, Temirov’s wife and the director of Temirov Live and the Ait Ait Dese project, was detained during a January 16 sweep that targeted a number of journalists, many with connections to Temirov.

Ultimately, 11 journalists were detained in Bishkek, with the authorities citing alleged “calls for mass unrest.” Two of those initially detained were released to house arrest in mid-March – journalist Sapar Akunbekov and camera operator Akyl Orozbekov – while another, Jumabek Turdaliev, a former project manager, was released with a travel ban.

On April 9, four more detained journalists were released to house arrest – Tynystan Asypbek, Zoodar Buzumov, Saipidin Sultanaliev, and Maksat Tazhibek uulu.

In addition to Tajibek kyzy, Aktilek Kaparov, Aike Beyshekeeva, and Azamat Ishenbekov remain in detention.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reissued its call for Kyrgyz authorities to drop the charges against the journalists.

Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, said in a statement, “While the release of another four journalists associated with Temirov Live is a step in the right direction, Kyrgyzstan continues to grossly flout its international free speech obligations by charging 11 journalists, four of whom are still being held, in retaliation for their reporting on official corruption.”

In a related development, in early April the Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security (SCNS) reportedly suspended its criminal case against 24.kg, an outlet whose offices had been raided and sealed on January 15. At the time, the authorities alleged vague “war propaganda” charges against the outlet, which has subsequently changed hands.

In March, senior editor Makhinur Niyazova announced she was quitting, writing in a Facebook post, “I don’t want my name to even be mentioned next to that of the people into whose hands the news agency has passed.”

24.kg’s founder Asel Otorbayeva posted her own statement denying that the outlet had been taken over and saying that the change in ownership was long-planned and not political.
China expanding security footprint in Central Asia (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [4/10/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, 57.6K, Neutral]
Uzbekistan and China are tightening security ties following a visit to Tashkent by Beijing’s top cop, Wang Xiaohong.

During his Tashkent visit in early April, Wang, whose official title is minister of public security, held talks with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Interior Minister Pulat Bobojonov. The outcome was the signing of an enhanced security cooperation agreement covering 2024-25.

In a statement laced with honorific jargon, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that the two countries will strive to coordinate actions to combat the so-called “three evils” – terrorism, separatism and religious extremism. In addition, they intend to join forces to combat transnational criminal activity.

“China also aims to strengthen law enforcement capacity to build a solid security barrier for common development, which will make more contributions to developing an all-weather, comprehensive strategic partnership” between Tashkent and Beijing, according to the Xinhua report.

The Uzbek presidential press service offered a more expansive take on the cooperation agreement. In addition to fighting terrorism and extremism, Uzbek authorities said the two countries’ security forces will hold “joint events” and conduct trainings for “qualified specialists,” according to a report published by Gazeta.uz. Closer cooperation will also entail the sharing of information technologies and investigative methods.

An Uzbek Interior Ministry statement described bilateral security cooperation as already robust and set to become stronger. “The exchange of information and mutual experience between [Uzbek and Chinese] ministries, advanced training of personnel, and bilateral visits are intensively carried out,” Gazeta.uz quoted the statement as saying. Xinhua, meanwhile, quoted Wang as saying Chinese-Uzbek relations were enjoying a “golden era.”

The Interior Ministry noted that expanded security cooperation will extend to combating drug trafficking and other forms of transnational crime, as well as fighting cybercrime and improving digital forensic capabilities. In addition, the two countries will explore establishing a joint Research Institute of Criminology.
Freedom House Sounds Alarm As Democracy Plummets Amid Autocratic Surge For 20th Year (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [4/11/2024 12:00 AM, Staff, 235K, Negative]
Democratic governance in Central Europe and Central Asia declined for a 20th consecutive year, according to rights watchdog Freedom House, driven by Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Azerbaijan’s "military conquest" of Nagorno-Karabakh.

In a report released on April 11, the Washington-based group said that of 29 "nations in transit" -- a grouping comprised of former Soviet and Warsaw Pact nations -- 10 saw a decline in their democracy scores in 2023, while only five improved over the previous year.

The report singled out Russia and Azerbaijan for their "wars of aggression," calling them the two "most glaring examples of the disdain that today’s autocrats hold for fundamental human rights and pluralist societies."

“Authoritarian regimes are stepping up their attacks and undermining democratic governance across the region,” said Michael J. Abramowitz, president of Freedom House.

“In Ukraine and Nagorno-Karabakh, we’ve already seen the devastating consequences of authoritarian expansion, and there’s no reason to believe it will stop there. Unless democracies act urgently and consistently to uphold their own interests and values, more territory will be lost to dictatorship and repression,” he added.

Russia launched its ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, while Azerbaijan launched a lightning offensive in September 2023 that ended with Baku regaining control over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh that for three decades had been under ethnic Armenian control.

The report said the countries with the lowest "democracy scores" among the 29 nations were Turkmenistan (1.00), Tajikistan (1.04), Azerbaijan (1.07), and Russia (1.07).

Serbia posted the largest decline in its score among the nations, falling to 3.61 from 3.79. The lower the score, the lower the level of democracy in a country.

"[Serbia’s] decline was the result of fraudulent elections, state capture of the media, the weakening authority of municipal governments, and years of waning judicial independence," Freedom House said.

One of the few bright spots in the report was Ukraine.

Freedom House said that gains in the country resulted from the government’s progress in building up judicial and anti-corruption institutions and actively investigating graft, including in the military. Ukraine’s score rose to 3.43 from 3.36.

It added that in order to ensure that "Ukraine wins on Ukraine’s terms," governments must sustain and increase "much-needed" military, humanitarian, and budgetary aid to the country while also seizing and repurposing frozen Russian assets to facilitate Ukraine’s reconstruction and support its efforts to build a "durable democracy."

“The fate of European democracy now depends in large part on the willingness of democratic states to adopt a more active approach to security in the region, most urgently by supporting Ukraine,” said Mike Smeltzer, the report’s co-author and senior research analyst for Europe and Eurasia.

“Any failure to stand up for democracy during this critical moment will make it more costly to check authoritarian expansion in the future, both in the region and around the world. The United States and Europe must act now to ensure the defeat of Moscow’s invasion and to protect democratic institutions and norms more broadly,” he added.

The report said the countries with the highest "democracy scores" were Estonia (6.00), Latvia (5.79), and Slovenia (5.79).
Twitter
Afghanistan
Nilofar Ayoubi
@NilofarAyoubi
[4/10/2024 2:13 PM, 64.6K followers, 41 retweets, 120 likes]
The inaugural meeting of the "United Against Gender Apartheid" campaign successfully convened, bringing together women from Iran and Afghanistan, including activists and participants of the movement along with Masih Alinejad. The campaign aims to share and highlight the egregious violations and discrimination faced by women under the Taliban and the Islamic Regime. Emphasizing unity, Masih Alinejad stated, "Being ‘United Against Gender Apartheid’ symbolizes the collective stance of Iranian and Afghan women to share their joy, sorrow, and resistance against the oppressions of the Talib and Mullahs."

Kicked off by @AlinejadMasih President of the @WLCongress, a prominent figure in the fight against mandatory hijab in Iran and an advocate for women’s rights, the meeting focused on key themes of the campaign. Over forty-five activists from both countries participated, underscoring the meeting’s significance. Alinejad highlighted the critical role of solidarity, social media narrative, and the historical backdrop of Iranian and Afghan women’s struggles for rights and freedoms. The emphasis was placed on unity and solidarity, particularly in advocating for women’s rights and feminist agendas. @ShukryaBarakzai, a former Afghan Parliament member and a human rights advocate, further elaborated on the campaign’s multifaceted approach encompassing media, legal, and political efforts. Highlighting the value of legal strategies and international awareness, Barakzai called for continued unity among women from both nations.

The assembly also served as a platform for individual activists to introduce themselves, with notable figures such as Kausar Eftekhari, @HodaKhamosh, @EEjbari19292, Sofia Hamid, @SarehSedighi, @simamoradb51053, Fatema Etemadi, @mozhgankshavarz, @fari23ba, Sameera Khamosh, @MaryaMahmoodi, @jilamostajer, Narges Sadat, @AwinMostafazad, @KhoshroF, @Ghazzallz, @FamNawabi, Mahbooba Faiz , Nilofar Ayoubi, @WSohrabi90956, @MatinNilofar, Sudabe Osmani, @Munisa_Mubariz_, Nasrin Hamidi, @SabrinaSaqeb, @salik_tahmina, @AyubiNajiba, @DelbarTavakoli, Raha Shams, @Khani2Mina, @melikazarr, @Shiva_amini_11, @RoyaMahboob, @Begana_musawer many others from Iran, Afghanistan, and the region sharing their harrowing experiences with gender apartheid’s brutalities. The narratives encompassed torture, imprisonment, and various forms of persecution by the regimes in Iran and Afghanistan.

Concluding on a strong note of solidarity, the participants unanimously voiced the importance of unity among women from diverse backgrounds and the expansion of the "United Against Gender Apartheid" campaign, with a firm commitment to ongoing meetings and efforts to combat gender-based oppression. #UnitedAgainstGenderApartheid

Heather Barr
@heatherbarr1
[4/10/2024 12:30 PM, 62.5K followers, 24 retweets, 48 likes]
Governments should hold the Taliban accountable for their grave rights violations against women and girls through steps like bringing a case under the women’s rights convention in the International Court of Justice.

Heather Barr
@heatherbarr1
[4/10/2024 12:00 PM, 62.5K followers, 79 retweets, 150 likes]
The Taliban have adopted one abusive policy after another. And they have gotten to this point because the international community has not held them accountable.

Sadanand Dhume
@dhume
[4/10/2024 2:43 PM, 171.2K followers, 4 retweets, 8 likes]
Despite what many leftists believe, a diminished U.S. would be a disaster for many nations of the so-called Global South. Ask the women of #Afghanistan. [My take] v @WSJopinion https://www.wsj.com/articles/meet-the-new-taliban-same-as-the-old-taliban-middle-east-terrorism-pakistan-afghanistan-d8b8483b?st=955a34dwtris2ug&reflink=mobilewebshare_permalink

Hafiz Zia Ahmad
@HafizZiaAhmad
[4/10/2024 11:17 PM, 89.4K followers, 19 retweets, 111 likes]
IEA-Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi held a telephonic conversation with Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political wing of the HAMAS movement, in order to offer him condolences over the martyrdom of his children and family members.

Hafiz Zia Ahmad
@HafizZiaAhmad
[4/10/2024 11:17 PM, 89.4K followers, 1 retweet, 10 likes]
In the beginning, expressing condolences on this tragedy & praying for the acceptance of the martyrdom of the martyrs, FM Muttaqi said that the blood of the martyrs will definitely bring colour, and we believe that as a result of these sacrifices,

Hafiz Zia Ahmad
@HafizZiaAhmad
[4/10/2024 11:17 PM, 89.4K followers, 1 retweet, 12 likes]
the land of Palestine will be freed from the clutches of the Zionist invaders. Highlighting the fact that Afghanistan also gained independence as a result of many sacrifices, FM Muttaqi asked the Mujahid people of Palestine to have perseverance, persistence and patience.

Hafiz Zia Ahmad
@HafizZiaAhmad
[4/10/2024 11:17 PM, 89.4K followers, 1 retweet, 10 likes]
Later, Mr. Ismail Haniyeh expressed gratitude to FM Muttaqi for sharing his condolences and prayed for the acceptance of martyrdom. Calling the people of Afghanistan the pioneers of the struggle for independence, Mr. Ismail Haniyeh said that we are walking

Hafiz Zia Ahmad
@HafizZiaAhmad
[4/10/2024 11:17 PM, 89.4K followers, 1 retweet, 11 likes]
on their footprints hoping that our blood will also bring colour. In the end, Mr. Ismail Haniyeh conveyed warm regards to the IEA-Supreme leader and the people of Afghanistan.
Pakistan
Anas Mallick
@AnasMallick
[4/10/2024 8:17 AM, 73.1K followers, 7 retweets, 35 likes]
#Pakistan has been re-elected to the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) for a 3- year term (2025-27) by the 54-member Economic & Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations through unanimous endorsement.
India
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[4/10/2024 10:44 AM, 97.1M followers, 4.2K retweets, 15K likes]
Do read my interview with @Newsweek, in which I have shared my thoughts on various issues, both domestic and international. https://newsweek.com/2024/04/19/exclusive-interview-narendra-modi-unstoppable-rise-india-1888678.html @NancyCooperNYC @TellDM

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[4/10/2024 8:19 AM, 97.1M followers, 3.9K retweets, 18K likes]
Overwhelmed by the blessings and affection of people in Mettupalayam. We will do everything possible to ensure all-round progress of Tamil Nadu.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[4/10/2024 8:14 AM, 97.1M followers, 10K retweets, 38K likes]
DMK asks…"Annamalai, who is that?" The answer to such arrogance will come from the people of Tamil Nadu when they vote against DMK.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[4/10/2024 8:13 AM, 97.1M followers, 5.5K retweets, 19K likes]
DMK leaders want me to leave India. But, I want corruption, dynastic politics, drug menace and such evils to leave India. And, I will not stop working till that aim is achieved.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[4/10/2024 6:08 AM, 97.1M followers, 4K retweets, 19K likes]
Outstanding support at the NDA rally in Vellore! Urged people to bless us so that we can continue working for the welfare of Tamil Nadu and improve the lives of people.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[4/10/2024 6:06 AM, 97.1M followers, 5.1K retweets, 31K likes]
Some glimpses from the journey to the rally in Vellore. The people’s affection is immense. It is indicative of the direction in which Tamil Nadu’s politics is heading.

Rajnath Singh
@rajnathsingh
[4/11/2024 1:03 AM, 24.1M followers, 107 retweets, 553 likes]
In this extensive interview with @Newsweek PM Shri @narendramodi has talked about his commitment to transform the lives of 140 crore Indians and how India is increasingly playing a significant role on global fora. Do read and share. @TellDM

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[4/10/2024 10:51 PM, 209.8K followers, 22 retweets, 110 likes]
Given his popularity and a weak and divided opposition, Modi doesn’t really need another pre-election gift. But new allegations of Indian extrajudicial killings in Pakistan can be exploited by his BJP to back up its claims of acting with strength abroad to advance its security interests, and to showcase its tough stance against Pakistan. My latest for @ForeignPolicy: https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/04/10/india-pakistan-elections-extrajudicial-killings-modi-bjp/

Brahma Chellaney
@Chellaney
[4/10/2024 11:05 AM, 263.2K followers, 70 retweets, 249 likes]
India’s military standoff with China, triggered by furtive Chinese encroachments on Indian borderlands, is about to enter its fifth year. Talks to end the Himalayan confrontation have made little progress, yet Modi remains hopeful. In an interview with Newsweek, Modi said this: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GKz9tuWW4AAC0h3?format=png&name=4096x4096

Brahma Chellaney
@Chellaney
[4/10/2024 9:39 AM, 263.2K followers, 105 retweets, 411 likes]
China has kept its stranglehold on the global supplies of rare earths despite rising concern over its dominance. It is time to look at South-South collaboration. Vietnam, with the second largest rare-earth reserves, and India could join hands to build an alternative supply chain.
NSB
Awami League
@albd1971
[4/10/2024 1:39 PM, 636.9K followers, 36 retweets, 148 likes]
HPM #SheikhHasina greets the nation on the occasion of the #EidUlFitr. #Bangladesh #AwamiLeague #EidMubarak

Karu Jayasuriya
@KaruOnline
[4/11/2024 2:13 AM, 53.4K followers, 3 retweets, 6 likes]
In an inspiring act of dedication, postal and customs officers will be at work tomorrow to clear heaps of overseas parcels. Sacrificing holidays for public service deserves our respect. It’s the people who serve that pave the way for a country that truly works for its citizens.
Central Asia
UNODC Central Asia
@UNODC_ROCA
[4/11/2024 1:36 AM, 2.4K followers]
Empowering the youth in Central Asia! UNODC ROCA’s Wunderkind Model UN Conference brought together 80 school students in Tashkent to tackle global issues like cybercrime, terrorism, and drug use. #WMUN2024 #YouthEmpowerment #LeavenoOnebehind @UNODC @MittalAshita @GilADSantos

Ryskeldi Satke
@RyskeldiSatke
[4/10/2024 5:11 AM, 4K followers, 2 retweets, 3 likes]
Victims of flooding in Kulsary township demand aid and support from the Kazakh government. Makes me wonder whether Kazakh officials in Astana watch independent TV or social media videos from flood affected regions these days. https://youtube.com/watch?v=LfGfbPSQCic

Yerzhan Ashikbayev
@KZAmbUS
[4/11/2024 12:21 AM, 2.4K followers, 2 likes]
Thrilled to celebrate Eid al-Fitr w/ renowned Kazakhstan & US religious leaders&enjoyed meaningful dialogue on religious freedom. Special thanks to our guests @StateDept @lyn_community @IrfSecretariat & @USCIRF to bring together diverse religious associacions to promote understanding&peace

Asel Doolotkeldieva
@ADoolotkeldieva
[4/10/2024 4:54 AM, 13.8K followers, 42 retweets, 98 likes]
While Russian authorities claim that the Ukranian embassy in Dushanbe recruits Tajiks, another Kyrgyz family is a victim of Russian mobilization. A young labor migrant was set up with narcotics and now is blackmailed: either prison or war https://rus.azattyk.org/a/32895885.html

Navbahor Imamova
@Navbahor
[4/10/2024 4:07 AM, 23K followers, 1 retweet, 2 likes]
Russia and China are in relatively weak positions, argues Vladislav Inozemtsev in this paper. "While Russia is preoccupied with its war with Ukraine and China with its economic malaise ... this is the time to comprehensively engage with Central Asia." https://ifri.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/ifri_inozemtsev_central_asia_2023.pdf

{End of Report}
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