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:
Wednesday, April 3, 2024 6:30 AM ET

Afghanistan
Russia Says It Is Working on Removing Taliban From Its Terrorist List (Reuters)
Reuters [4/2/2024 6:55 AM, Staff, 33671K, Negative]
Russia said on Tuesday it had important matters to discuss with Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders and was working to remove the Taliban from its list of banned terrorist organisations.

"This is a country that is next to us, and one way or another we communicate with them," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"We need to resolve pressing issues, this also requires dialogue, so in this regard we communicate with them like practically everyone else - they are the de facto authority in Afghanistan."

Peskov did not elaborate on the "pressing issues", but Russia suffered its deadliest attack for 20 years last month when gunmen stormed a concert hall outside Moscow, killing at least 144 people.

Islamic State militants claimed responsbility and U.S. officials said they had intelligence that it was the network’s Afghan branch, Islamic State Khorasan, that was responsible. Russia has said it is also investigating a Ukrainian link, something Kyiv and the United States have strongly rejected.

The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 after the withdrawal of U.S.-led foreign forces, but have remained until now on a list of organisations that Russia designates as terrorist.
Russia: Taliban could be removed from terror blacklist (VOA)
VOA [4/2/2024 6:06 PM, Ayaz Gul, 761K, Negative]
Russia said Tuesday that it is engaged in an “active dialogue” with Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban and is working toward removing them from Moscow’s list of terrorist organizations.

"The fact is that this is our neighboring country. In one form or another, we maintain communication with them,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to Russian news agency TASS.

“We have to resolve pressing issues, which also requires dialogue. In fact, we are in contact with them just like everyone else,” Peskov stated. “They are actually the ones who are in power in Afghanistan."

He did not elaborate, but his statement came just days after gunmen stormed a concert hall outside the Russian capital and killed at least 144 people, making it the deadliest terrorist attack in the country in two decades.

Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the bloodshed, with U.S. intelligence officials saying the terror group’s Afghan branch, IS-Khorasan, was behind it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin quickly tied the attack to Ukraine — claims the neighboring country and the United States strongly rejected.

"You have said yourself that the option is under consideration. Let’s wait until this process ends,” Peskov said when asked for his response to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement on Monday about possibly removing the Taliban from the terrorist blacklist.

The Taliban condemned the Moscow attack as “a blatant violation of all human standards” and urged regional countries to take “a coordinated, clear and resolute position” against such incidents.

“Daesh, which has targeted civilians in Afghanistan and other regions of the world as well, again clearly demonstrated through this incident that it is a group in the hands of intelligence agencies aimed at defaming Islam and posing a threat to the entire region,” stated the Taliban Foreign Ministry, using a local acronym for IS-Khorasan.

The Taliban reclaimed power in 2021 after the U.S.-led foreign troops withdrew from Afghanistan, but they remain on a list of organizations Russia designates as terrorists.

No foreign country has formally recognized the government in Kabul, citing a lack of political inclusiveness and sweeping restrictions on Afghan women’s access to education and work.

Zamir Kabulov, the Russian special presidential envoy for Afghanistan, told TASS earlier this week that Moscow had invited a Taliban delegation to take part in an international economic forum, called "Russia - Islamic World: KazanForum,” in the city of Kazan from May 14 to 19.

Russia is among several regional and neighboring countries that have retained their diplomatic presence in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover. The U.S. and Western countries at large have since moved their Afghan diplomatic missions to Qatar.
Unexplained spill fuels concern about Afghan canal project (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [4/2/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, 57.6K, Neutral]
A mysterious spill is fanning fears across Central Asia about the construction of a canal in northern Afghanistan. The Taliban government in Kabul is vowing to press ahead with the project, which it insists will ease food insecurity for millions of Afghans. But many in neighboring Central Asian states view the Qosh Tepa canal as an environmental hazard.

Construction on the canal started in the spring of 2022. The second phase of the project got underway in late February, according to Taliban officials. Once completed, Qosh Tepa will siphon water from the Amu DaryaRiver to irrigate thee northern Afghan provinces. An Afghan news report, citing an economist named Qutbudin Yaqubi, predicted the project would bring about a “green revolution” spurring mass job creation.

Greater economic stability in Afghanistan is something that would be generally applauded by the international community. Yet Qosh Tepa has tended to inspire more concern than confidence among Afghanistan’s neighbors. Many quietly wonder about the quality of construction. Their fears have been fanned by satellite images showing that a vast amount of water escaped in November 2023 from a purportedly completed section of the canal. The cause of the spill remains a matter of dispute.

Was it an accident? An instance of engineering incompetence? An act of sabotage? Or something else? The available evidence is insufficient to support any definitive conclusion. All that is certain is that there was a breach in an approximately 30-meter section of the canal, resulting in a substantial loss of water.

Water was leaking from the canal for over a month before a regional environmental watchdog group, Rivers Without Boundaries, blew the whistle. Based on analysis of satellite imagery, the group attributed the spill to structural flaws in the canal’s design. The first 100-kilometer stage of the canal had reportedly begun to fill with water from the Amu Darya just a few weeks before the spill began in early November.

“The walls of the [canal] apparently could not withstand the pressure of the water flow – and a huge volume of water, escaping from the canal, spread throughout the entire nearby territory,” the watchdog group contended in a statement.

Taliban officials, meanwhile, claimed it was a controlled event designed to manage the groundwater level in the area near the canal’s 75th kilometer post. Many independent experts looked askance at the Taliban explanation.

Uzbek officials proceeded to muddy the issue by releasing a zig-zagging and self-contradictory assessment. A state agency in Tashkent, Uzbekkosmos, issued a statement noting that “regular observation” via satellite since the start of the canal’s construction in 2022 “determined a rise of groundwater in the areas where excavation works are being carried out.”

At the same time, Uzbekkosmos confirmed the appearance of a 30-meter gap in the canal wall on November 4. The flooded area on November 5 measured 19.5 square kilometers. By December 13, 30.3 square kilometers of territory were saturated, according to the Uzbek state agency. “No measures were taken to stop [the flow] of water,” the statement read.

Yet, after acknowledging the canal had sprung a leak, the Uzbek space agency suggested that the escaped water somehow didn’t come from the Amu Darya, even though the statement said earlier that “water flow had been created” in the canal in October. Ultimately, Uzbekkosmos’ confusing chronicle of events sided with the Taliban’s version of events.

“As a result of the analysis of high-resolution space images, visual signs of purposeful excavations (use of special equipment, appearance of excavated soil volume, etc.) were carried out on the banks of the canal to divert seepage waters,” the statement concluded, adding that the Rivers Without Boundaries account of the incident did “not correspond to the truth.”

Qosh Tepa is scheduled for completion in 2028. If it becomes fully operational, the canal will stretch 285 kilometers, will be about 100 meters wide and up to 8.5 meters deep. Experts project that it will divert roughly 20 percent of the water from the Amu Darya, which serves as the frontier between Afghanistan and its northern neighbors, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Central Asian governments have long been wary of the project’s potential to push an under-developed regional water-management system past the breaking point. The canal’s opening, for example, could have an adverse impact of Uzbekistan’s water-intensive cotton industry. The canal also would pose problems for Kazakhstan’s restoration efforts for the Aral Sea.

Heightening worries about Qosh Tepa, an assessment published by the Central Asian Bureau for Analytical Reporting raised “serious doubts” about construction quality. “The construction methods employed appear remarkably rudimentary, with a mere “digging” approach devoid of proper reinforcement or lining for the canal’s bottom and banks, the report stated. “Such an approach poses a grave risk, as significant water losses may occur due to seepage into the dry, sandy soil.”

Last September, in a speech at a regional meeting focused on the Aral Sea, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev stated “that the problem of water shortage in Central Asia has become acute and irreversible and will only worsen in the future.” He added that completion of Qosh Tepa “could radically change the water regime and balance in Central Asia.” His speech concluded with a call to bring Afghanistan into “the regional dialogue on the joint use of water.”

Uzbekistan’s muted response to the late 2023 spill may well be connected to Mirziyoyev’s desire to engage the Taliban on water-use issues. According to various media reports, an Uzbek delegation intended to visit Afghanistan in late 2023 for talks about Qosh Tepa. Since then, no reports have surfaced on the outcome of any bilateral discussions. Tashkent may feel that quiet diplomacy and a non-confrontational approach stands the best chance of getting the Taliban to cooperate on water management issues.
Malnutrition Threatens Future Afghan Generations (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [4/3/2024 4:14 PM, Susannah Walden, 304K, Negative]
Roya carefully spoon-feeds her daughter fortified milk in a ward for malnourished children, praying the tiny infant will avoid a condition that stalks one in ten young children in Afghanistan after decades of conflict.

The nine-month-old had been hospitalised three times already in remote Badakhshan province because her mother had trouble breastfeeding.

"She has gained a bit of weight, she has a bit of a glow," said 35-year-old Roya, cradling baby Bibi Aseya at the Baharak district hospital.

"She drinks milk as well but she still doesn’t smile," she added.

"I would stay awake day and night, now I can sleep."

Poor nutrition is rife in a country plagued by economic, humanitarian and climate crises two and a half years since the Taliban returned to power.

Ten percent of children under five in Afghanistan are malnourished and 45 percent are stunted -- meaning they are small for their age in part due to poor nutrition -- according to the United Nations.

Afghanistan has one of the world’s highest rates of stunting in children under five, said Daniel Timme, communications head for the UN children’s agency, UNICEF.

"If not detected and treated within the first two years of a child’s life the condition (stunting) becomes irreversible and the affected child will never be able to develop mentally and physically to its full potential," he said.

"This is not only tragic for the individual child but must have a severe negative impact on the development of the whole country when more than two out of five children are affected," he told AFP.

Malnutrition has been exacerbated by the upheaval sparked by the Taliban’s sweep to power in 2021.

A plunge in international aid and a drain of medical professionals from the country have weakened an already vulnerable health system, with women and children particularly impacted, NGOs say.

Hasina, 22, and her husband Nureddin are volunteers at one of the hundreds of community-based health posts supported by UNICEF in Badakhshan, a mountainous region that borders Pakistan, Tajikistan and China.

The couple is a first lifeline for the more than 1,000 residents of Gandanchusma village.

A map of the village dominates the mud wall of a room in their home they use as a clinic, plastered with educational posters.

On a February day, women from the village trickled in, many with babies in tow whom Hasina screened for malnutrition.

The babies squirmed in the cold air as their mothers pulled their sleeves off so Hasina could wrap a multi-coloured measuring band around their small arms and lift them into hanging scales.

"We gather women and children and weigh the babies. If they are malnourished, we support them and refer them to the clinic," a 30-minute walk away, Hasina said.

In warmer weather, she added, she sees more cases of malnutrition due to water-borne illnesses.

Baharak hospital nurse Samira said in summer the ward was typically full.

"Sometimes, we even have two patients in one bed," she told AFP, adding that training, including on how to support mothers’ breastfeeding, had improved malnutrition rates.

Seventy-nine percent of people in Afghanistan lack sufficient access to clean water, according to the UN development agency.

Aisha, who asked that her real name not be used, had a clean water pump installed at her home in the Badakhshan town of Khairabad through a UNICEF project.

But she said the women around her still lacked access to information.

"The women who had some education could boil water, provide medicine or make homemade medicines, but the women who did not have any education were less capable," she said.

Under Taliban authorities, women have borne the brunt of restrictions the UN has labelled "gender apartheid" that have pushed them from public life.

In a recent report warning of the frailty of the Afghan health sector, Human Rights Watch underscored the outsized impact on women because of restrictions on their movement, education and employment.

Aisha and her peers share information but worry that doing so is not enough to combat the web of challenges -- both social and economic -- that contribute to poor nutrition and stunting.

"At the village level, it is difficult for us because we have many illiterate mothers," said another Khairabad resident, Amina.

"We need more health and community workers to raise awareness among the people, distribute medicines for malnourished children and provide family planning and healthcare advice."
Online cosmetics stores thrive in Taliban’s Afghanistan despite beauty parlour ban (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [4/2/2024 11:43 AM, Alijani Ershad, 929K, Neutral]
After the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, women – as expected – were their primary target. First, women working in the public sector were forced to stay at home, then women in the private sector. Girls were banned from schools, young women from universities, and in July 2023, beauty salons were closed nationwide. All of this – work and education for women, and makeup in public – was considered “haram" by the Taliban, forbidden under their fundamentalist interpretation of Islam.

But while Afghan women are forced to cover themselves from head to toe in public and cannot work in stores, cosmetics are still widely available, at stores in cities and towns, and online.

‘Sometimes the Taliban ask my opinion about buying lipstick for their wives’

Ziba [not her real name] is a young Afghan woman who lives in Herat and runs an online clothing business. She says that the Taliban have pushed women out of public life by forbidding them to work or study, but the cosmetics market in Afghanistan is booming.

“The Taliban chase us from everywhere. If they leave cosmetics stores alone, it is because they want to be able to buy products themselves so the women in their families can be beautiful like dolls behind closed doors. I often see Taliban members coming to the cosmetics stores to buy lipsticks for their wives. They have even asked me for advice. The cosmetics market in Herat is not restricted. We have the same brands, the same availability of products as before the Taliban takeover.

There are not only traditional stores in the city, but also a large number of online cosmetics stores. Since the Taliban, the number of online cosmetics stores has exploded. Merchants sell their products on Instagram or Telegram.

It’s a huge market. Many people here barely have enough money to buy food, but they keep cosmetics on their shopping list, which is a bit sad. Also, since the Taliban returned to power, many women prefer the online stores, either because they don’t want to go outside or because their father or husband does not allow them to leave the house. It is convenient for them to order online. These stores deliver them to their doorstep and they pay on delivery.”

Searches on Instagram or Telegram channels in Afghanistan reveal online merchants selling cosmetic and personal health products, many of them with questionable health benefits. Skin-whitening creams are readily available, including one that claims to be “Made in France” and uses the protein collagen. Skin-whitening creams are in many cases banned on the European markets. The Local Government Association of England and Wales warned in a statement in 2019 that skin lightening creams "should be avoided at all costs".

Another online seller markets a “vaginal-tightening” pill from an unknown manufacturer, which is apparently produced in Iran and nothing is known about its ingredients. This vaginal pill is said to “refresh and tighten” the vagina. According to many published studies, pills with such claims can cause severe chemical burns.

Before the Taliban there was no monitoring, now it is even worse

Ziba explains:

“While the availability of the products could be perceived as good news for women, it is not, because most of these cosmetic products in stores or online shops are counterfeit. And most women do not know about them and risk their health by using them.

Before the Taliban there was no effective verification or monitoring of cosmetic stores, and since the Taliban takeover it is even worse. Nobody checks whether these products are original or fake, whether they are dangerous or not.

On the other hand, these fake products are much cheaper, so people can afford them. Even people who can afford it don’t see why they should pay more for the “same product” when there are cheaper ones available.”

Ziba shares the “safest” alternative she has found for this market flooded with unregulated goods:

“I buy my cosmetic products in an online store, but I know the origin of the products. All the products are made by an Afghan woman here in Afghanistan, and they are all organic. If there’s a product I can’t get from her, I buy it from the market. I buy some well-known Iranian cosmetic brands that I believe are not fake. Obviously they are more expensive.”

There are no reliable statistics about the volume of the official or underground cosmetic markets in Afghanistan. However in a rare communication in 2014, the director of Afghanistan’s customs claimed that, after cigarettes, cosmetics were the second-most imported item, accounting for 15% of all imported goods.
Bridging Divides: Finding a Regional and International Consensus for Afghanistan’s Future (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [4/2/2024 9:54 AM, Mustafa Aryan, 201K, Neutral]
Afghanistan’s tumultuous landscape has been further shaped by the return to power of the Taliban in August 2021. The return marked a pivotal moment in the country’s history. Since their resurgence, the Taliban have imposed stringent policies that have significantly impacted the sociopolitical fabric of Afghanistan. The evolving dynamics of the narcotics trade and the rise of extremism and terrorism under Taliban governance highlight the interconnectedness of regional and international actors in shaping Afghanistan’s political future. The importance of regional and international consensus in fostering stability and peace in Afghanistan amidst a complex geopolitical landscape is more crucial than ever.

Since August 2021, the Taliban have imposed policies restricting the basic rights of the Afghan people. The Taliban’s policies have been characterized by exclusivity and repression, leading to escalating grievances within the Afghan populace across various sectors. These policies have significantly altered Afghanistan’s sociopolitical fabric, posing a direct threat to the civil and political rights of Afghans, rights safeguarded by the constitution established in 2004. Furthermore, the Taliban’s policies have precipitated severe economic consequences. Under the Taliban’s regime, Afghanistan’s economy has been in a state of decline, resulting in the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs and a surge in malnutrition rates.

Additionally, the narcotics trade in Afghanistan has seen significant changes. According to a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report, since the Taliban’s takeover in 2021, opium cultivation in Afghanistan surged by 32 percent to 233,000 hectares in 2022, the third-largest area recorded. Despite a ban announced in April 2022, opium prices soared, and farmer income from opium sales tripled to $1.4 billion in 2022, representing only a fraction of the total revenue. Despite efforts to curb trafficking, seizures of opiates indicate continued rampant trafficking, as Afghanistan still supplies 80 percent of the global opiate demand. The Taliban’s intention and ability to combat the drug trade are uncertain and questionable. Consequently, the narcotics trade, especially the production of opium and methamphetamines, is flourishing under Taliban rule.

The Taliban’s close ties with terrorist groups including al-Qaida are another significant cause for concern. The relationship between the Taliban and al-Qaida is not merely ideological; it is also tactical and operational. Taliban-controlled Afghanistan now serves as a haven for al-Qaida, providing them with a secure base of operations from which to plan and launch international terrorist attacks. Afghanistan’s rugged terrain and remote locations make it an ideal hideout, complicating international efforts to monitor and counter al-Qaida’s activities. Furthermore, the Taliban’s control over Afghanistan could potentially provide al-Qaida with access to resources and recruits, further enhancing their capabilities. This potential alliance poses a significant threat to global security and underscores the importance of international cooperation in combating terrorism.

Other regional and international terrorist groups actively operating in Afghanistan include the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement, Islamic Jihad Group, Khatiba Imam al-Bukhari, and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. These groups have varying relationships with the Taliban and other state and non-state actors. The dynamics between these groups can significantly impact the security situation in Afghanistan, the region, and beyond. Additionally, the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) is active in Afghanistan. The group has conducted numerous high-profile attacks in Afghanistan, including a suicide bombing in August 2021 that killed 13 American military personnel and at least 169 Afghans in Kabul during the U.S. withdrawal from the country. Recently, ISKP claimed responsibility for a deadly attack in Russia. The group is considered a major threat to the Taliban’s ability to govern Afghanistan.

The current complex context in Afghanistan necessitates an immediate political process to address the country’s pressing issues, with key regional and international actors. Regional actors have a pivotal role in the Afghan conflict, influenced by their geopolitical, economic, and security interests. These actors encompass neighboring countries such as Pakistan, Iran, and Central Asian states, along with wider regional powers like Russia, China, and Turkey. They have participated in peace diplomacy and intra-Afghan peace dialogues, facilitated by nations including Qatar, Germany, Pakistan, Russia, and China. Their involvement extends from backing various factions within Afghanistan to facilitating political dialogues.

At present, the political process in Afghanistan stands at a critical juncture, highlighting the significance of regional and international consensus. The escalating threat of terrorism transcends regional boundaries, necessitating cooperation among regional and international actors. The absence of such cooperation inadvertently benefits groups like the Taliban, fostering instability and strengthening terrorist groups in Afghanistan. Exploiting the lack of unity among international actors, the Taliban advance their agendas, leading to heightened violence and instability.

Efforts toward regional and international collaboration can significantly bolster the political process, aiming to establish an inclusive government in Afghanistan. Such a government would not only address the needs of its people but also tackle urgent issues like terrorism and narcotics. A unified regional and international consensus regarding Afghanistan’s political process would compel the Taliban to engage in intra-Afghan dialogue. Collaborative efforts among regional and international actors can pave the way for a stable and peaceful Afghanistan, contributing to regional stability and countering the global threat of terrorism. Hence, building a consensus among regional and international stakeholders is not just advantageous but imperative for Afghanistan’s political process.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 2721 (2023) outlines a framework to cultivate consensus in support of Afghanistan’s political process. Central to this resolution is the call for the appointment of a special envoy for Afghanistan by the secretary-general, emphasizing the urgent need for a comprehensive and inclusive political process led and owned by Afghans themselves. This emphasis on Afghan-led initiatives is crucial for restoring peace and stability in Afghanistan amid complex geopolitical challenges. Additionally, initiatives like the Doha conference in February 2024 underscore the necessity of international support to address critical issues facing Afghanistan, such as women’s rights and the country’s sovereignty.

Since August 2021, the international community, along with regional powers, has engaged with the Taliban, albeit without formal recognition. This engagement is viewed as a diplomatic effort, yet its effectiveness has been limited, underscoring the necessity for a conditional engagement strategy. A consensus among regional and international actors to restrict engagement with the Taliban could prove beneficial in initiating a political process. Through a conditional engagement approach, clear signals can be conveyed to the Taliban that formal diplomacy hinges on their commitment to addressing the conflict through inclusive political means involving opposition movements. Additionally, financial assistance should be tied to conditions aimed at preventing potential misuse by the Taliban.

The United Nations has allocated nearly $3 billion to Afghanistan since 2021, with the United States being the largest contributor, providing $2.6 billion to the humanitarian fund. For the U.S., adopting a condition-based approach to financial assistance is imperative, ensuring that aid aligns with the objective of kickstarting a political process in Afghanistan. Over the past three years, the Taliban have reaped the benefits of international aid without significant positive outcomes. Implementing stringent measures will safeguard aid from inadvertently bolstering the Taliban. This concern is underscored in a recent report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), John Sopko, revealing that a substantial portion of U.N. cash shipments to Afghanistan ends up in Taliban hands. While delivering life-saving humanitarian aid remains paramount, mitigating the risk of aid benefiting the Taliban is equally crucial.

In conclusion, the challenges posed by Taliban rule in Afghanistan are multifaceted and require concerted efforts from both regional and international stakeholders. The policies implemented by the Taliban have not only curtailed basic rights but have also exacerbated existing economic and humanitarian crises. The rise of extremism and terrorism under Taliban governance further complicates the path towards peace and stability. However, the collective resolve of regional and international actors offers a glimmer of hope for the Afghan people. Moving forward, it is imperative to prioritize inclusive political processes and ensure that international aid is effectively utilized to address the needs of the Afghan populace. By fostering a comprehensive approach that embraces dialogue, cooperation, and diplomacy, we can aspire to create a brighter future for Afghanistan, one that is free from the shackles of extremism and terrorism, and characterized by peace, prosperity, and stability.
Pakistan
Pakistan Seeks Bids to Sell Majority Stake in National Carrier (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [4/2/2024 6:04 AM, Faseeh Mangi, 5543K, Negative]
Pakistan is seeking bids to sell a majority stake in Pakistan International Airlines, with the aim to complete the deal in two months for the state-owned carrier that has failed to make a profit in almost two decades.

Investors have been asked to submit bids by May 3, with the government targeting to sign the share purchase agreement for a 51% to 100% stake with the buyer by June, according to a document posted on the website of the Privatisation Commission, the asset sale agency. Domestic and global roadshows will start next week, Usman Akhtar Bajwa, the secretary at the agency, said by phone.

The planned stake sale is a step toward the government’s commitment to undertake economic reforms as agreed with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout and Pakistan’s intentions to seek a new loan from the lender by July. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who returned to power last month, has said the airline’s annual losses were no longer sustainable for the government to bail it out every year with tax payers money.

Past attempts to sell a stake in the airline failed after being opposed by political groups and labor unions. This time, progress made by the government has buoyed investors, helping the airline’s shares almost quadruple since the start of the year and making them the best performer on the Bloomberg Intelligence Global Airlines Valuation Peer Group.

International investors from Germany, France, Netherlands, Qatar, UAE, Malaysia and Turkey, along with local groups, have shown interest to buy a stake in the airline, according to a statement by the aviation ministry last month.

The government has decided not to pass on 73% of the airline’s total 830 billion rupees ($2.98 billion) debt to the buyer, according to the document on the agency’s website. Pakistan Air has the rights to land at 178 destinations including key international airports such as London Heathrow. However, it had to scale back operations recently after running short of funds to pay for fuel.

The government has hired Ernst & Young to help sell the stake as the financial adviser.
New Hope for Pakistan’s Mistreated Workers (Foreign Policy)
Foreign Policy [4/2/2024 9:23 AM, Louise Donovan, 315K, Negative]
Nasir Mansoor has spent 40 years fighting for Pakistan’s workers. Whether demanding compensation on behalf of the hundreds of people who died in a devastating 2012 factory fire in Karachi or demonstrating against Pakistani suppliers to global fashion brands violating minimum wage rules, he’s battled many of the country’s widespread labor injustices.

Yet so far, little has improved, said Mansoor, who heads Pakistan’s National Trade Union Federation in Karachi. Despite spending most of his time dealing with issues in the country’s garment sector, labor laws are still routinely flouted inside factories. Not even European Union trade schemes such as the Generalized Scheme of Preferences—which benefits developing countries such as Pakistan but requires them to comply with international conventions on labor rights—have helped curb violations in an industry notorious for them. Regulations and trade protocols look good on paper, but they rarely trickle down to the factory level. “Nobody cares,” Mansoor said. “Not the government who makes commitments, not the brands, and not the suppliers. The workers are suffering.”

But change might finally be on the horizon after Germany’s new Supply Chain Act came into force last year. As Europe’s largest economy and importer of clothing, Germany now requires certain companies to put risk-management systems in place to prevent, minimize, and eliminate human rights violations for workers across their entire global value chains. Signed into law by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in January 2023, the law covers issues such as forced labor, union-busting, and inadequate wages, for the first time giving legal power to protections that were previously based on voluntary commitments. Companies that violate the rules face fines of up to 8 million euros ($8.7 million).

For decades, Western companies based in countries with highly paid workers and strong labor protections have sourced from low-income countries where such laws don’t exist or are weakly enforced. While this business model cuts costs, it’s made it incredibly difficult for workers to seek justice when problems arise. Given the garment sector’s long history of poor labor conditions—whose victims are a predominantly female workforce—rights groups say the industry will feel some of the highest impacts of new due diligence laws such as Germany’s.

Until now, promises made by fashion brands to safeguard workers stitching clothes in factories around the world have been largely voluntary and poorly monitored. If the promises failed or fell short and that information became public, the main fallout was reputational damage. As governments come to realize that a purely voluntary regimen produces limited results, there is now a growing global movement to ensure that companies are legally required to protect the people working at all stages of their supply chains.

The German law is just the latest example of these new due diligence rules—and it’s the one with the highest impact, given the size of the country’s market. A number of other Western countries have also adopted similar legislation in recent years, including France and Norway. A landmark European Union law that would mandate all member states to implement similar regulation is in the final stages of being greenlighted.

Although the United States has legislation to prevent forced labor in its global supply chains, such as the 2021 Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, there are no federal laws that protect workers in other countries from abuses that fall short of forced labor. That said, a proposed New York state bill, the Fashion Act, would legally require most major U.S. and international brands to identify, prevent, and remediate human rights violations in their supply chain if passed, with noncompliance subject to fines. Since major fashion brands could hardly avoid selling their products in New York, the law would effectively put the United States on a similar legal level as Germany and France.

Abuses in textile manufacturing have been well documented. Horror stories about brutal violence or building collapses make the news when there’s a major incident, but every day, members of a predominantly female workforce live on low wages, work long hours, and endure irregular contracts. Trade unions, when they are allowed, are often unable to protect workers. A decade ago, the European Parliament described the conditions of garment workers in Asia as “slave labour.”

As of January, Germany’s new law applies to any company with at least 1,000 employees in the country, which covers many of the world’s best-known fast fashion retailers, such as Zara and Primark. Since last January, German authorities say they have received 71 complaints or notices of violations and conducted 650 of their own assessments, including evaluating companies’ risk management.

In Pakistan, the very existence of the German law was enough to spark action. Last year, Mansoor and other union representatives reached out to fashion brands that sourced some of their clothing in Pakistan to raise concerns about severe labor violations in garment factories. Just four months later, he and his colleagues found themselves in face-to-face meetings with several of those brands—a first in his 40-year career. “This is a big achievement,” he said. “Otherwise, [the brands] never sit with us. Even when the workers died in the factory fire, the brand never sat with us.”

Nearly 12 years on from the 2012 fire, which killed more than 250 people, violations are still rife for Pakistan’s 4.4 million garment sector workers, who produce for many of the major global brands. Several of these violations were highlighted in research conducted by FEMNET, a German women’s rights nonprofit, and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), a Berlin-based nongovernmental organization, into how companies covered by the Supply Chain Act were implementing their due diligence obligations in Pakistan. With the help of Mansoor and Zehra Khan, the general secretary of the Home-Based Women Workers Federation, interviews with more than 350 garment workers revealed the severity of long-known issues.

Nearly all workers interviewed were paid less than a living wage, which was 67,200 Pakistan rupees (roughly $243) per month in 2022, according to the Asia Floor Wage Alliance. Nearly 30 percent were even paid below the legal minimum wage of 25,000 Pakistani rupees per month (roughly $90) for unskilled workers. Almost 100 percent had not been given a written employment contract, while more than three-quarters were either not registered with the social security system—a legal requirement—or didn’t know if they were.

When Mansoor, Khan, and some of the organizations raised the violations with seven global fashion brands implicated, they were pleasantly surprised. One German retailer reacted swiftly, asking its supplier where the violations had occurred to sign a 14-point memorandum of understanding to address the issues. (We’re unable to name the companies involved because negotiations are ongoing.) The factory complied, agreeing to respect minimum wages and provide contract letters, training on labor laws, and—for the first time—worker bonuses.

In February, the factory registered an additional 400 workers with the social security system (up from roughly 100) and will continue to enroll more, according to Khan. “That is a huge number for us,” she said.

It’s had a knock-on effect, too. Four of the German brand’s other Pakistani suppliers are also willing to sign the memorandum, Khan noted, which could impact another 2,000 workers or so. “The law is opening up space for [the unions] to negotiate, to be heard, and to be taken seriously,” said Miriam Saage-Maass, the legal director at ECCHR.

After decades of issues being swept under the carpet, it’s a positive step, Mansoor said. But he’s cautious. Of the six remaining global fashion brands contacted, three are in discussions with the union, while three didn’t respond. Implementation is key, he said, particularly because there has already been pushback from some Pakistani factory owners.

Last month, EU member states finally approved a due diligence directive after long delays, during which the original draft was watered down. As it moves to the next stage—a vote in the European Parliament—before taking effect, critics argue that the rules are now too diluted and cover too few companies to be truly effective.

Still, the fact that the EU is acting at all has been described as an important moment, and unionists such as Mansoor and Khan wait thousands of miles away with bated breath for the final outcome. Solidarity from Europe is important, Khan said, and could change the lives of Pakistan’s workers. “The eyes and the ears of the people are looking to [the brands],” Mansoor said. “And they are being made accountable for their mistakes.”
India
India Court Grants Bail to Modi Critic in Money Laundering Case (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [4/2/2024 6:18 AM, Shruti Mahajan, 5543K, Positive]
India’s top court granted bail and ordered the release of a key opposition official from a party governing Delhi and also a prominent critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Supreme Court released Sanjay Singh, a lawmaker from the Aam Aadmi Party, six months after he was arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement in relation to a money laundering case. Other party leaders, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, have also been detained in the case, which involves a now-scrapped liquor sales tax in Delhi.

The federal financial crimes agency didn’t oppose Singh’s release on Tuesday. The party, also known as the AAP, has said Modi’s government was using federal investigative agencies to target opposition groups ahead of the elections starting later this month.

The court said Singh was free to resume his political activities. In a post on X welcoming Singh’s release, senior AAP leader Atishi, who goes by one name, said “truth alone triumphs.”

On Sunday, tens of thousands of people gathered in India’s capital, along with dozens of opposition chiefs, calling for a free and fair election — and to protest the arrests of several top political leaders.

The reprieve for Singh and the AAP comes after Kejriwal was arrested in March over allegations his government skewed the state’s alcohol pricing in return for bribes. Singh’s arrest was also related to this case. AAP, Kejriwal and Singh deny the allegations.

Other federal anti-corruption agencies, including the Central Bureau of Investigation, are also probing the alcohol policy.
Sanjay Singh: AAP leader gets bail in corruption case (BBC)
BBC [4/3/2024 1:21 AM, Staff, 14.2M, Neutral]
India’s Supreme Court has granted bail to an opposition MP and leader of Delhi’s governing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in a money laundering case.

Sanjay Singh was arrested in October in an investigation into the city’s now-scrapped policies over alcohol sales.

Mr Singh, who denies the corruption allegations, had challenged his arrest in court.

On Tuesday, the court observed that India’s financial crimes agency did not recover any illegal funds from him.

"Fact of the matter is that money has not been recovered," it said and granted Mr Singh bail.

The court, however, dismissed a second plea by Mr Singh accusing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) of arresting him "illegally".

Mr Singh’s release comes days after his colleague and Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested in the same case.

The move sparked criticism from opposition parties that the government was stifling them ahead of the general elections, which are due in few weeks.

ED officials say they are investigating allegations that an alcohol sale policy implemented by the Delhi government in 2022 - which ended the government monopoly - gave undue advantages to private retailers.

Several AAP leaders have been accused of taking bribes in exchange of granting liquor licences to select businesses. Mr Singh was the second AAP leader to be arrested after Delhi’s former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in February 2023.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) denies any wrongdoing and says the cases against its leaders are politically motivated.

Questions around financial misconduct are a sensitive matter for the AAP, which emerged from a major movement against corruption more than 10 years ago.

AAP leaders allege their party is being "targeted" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Other opposition parties in the country too have accused the BJP of using federal investigation agencies "to settle political scores" - a charge it denies.
Modi Alliance to Win Most Votes in Key India State, Survey Shows (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [4/2/2024 9:53 PM, Niki Koswanage, 5543K, Positive]
An alliance led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party is expected to get the majority votes in the country’s most populous state, according to an opinion survey some two weeks before national elections.

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is expected to get 52% of votes in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, according to findings from ABP News-CVoter opinion poll late Tuesday. An opposition coalition of more than 20 parties is likely to see its share of the vote at 36%. Uttar Pradesh is politically important because the state alone sends 80 lawmakers to the 543-member lower house of parliament.

The prime minister is banking on strong economic progress and Hindu nationalist policies to return to power for a record third term. Modi is predicting his party and allies will win more than 400 seats in parliament.

Here are some of the other findings from the survey:

42% of the poll respondents were highly satisfied with Modi’s government while 29% reported being less satisfied and 27% were dissatisfied
62% want to see Modi as prime minister, and 24% want Rahul Gandhi of the opposition Congress to get the top post
On the performance of the BJP-controlled state government in Uttar Pradesh, 51% reported being very satisfied while 25% were less satisfied. Another 23% were dissatisfied
The survey covered 2,258 people. It has a margin of error of 3%-5% in either direction
Modi’s Visit to Bhutan Amid Elections in India Raises Questions (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [4/2/2024 9:23 AM, Sudha Ramachandran, 201K, Positive]
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bhutan on March 22 and 23, India announced the doubling of its assistance to Bhutan from 50 billion Indian rupees ($0.6 billion) for its 12th Five Year Plan (2018-2023) to 100 billion rupees ($1.2 billion) for its 13th Five-Year Plan (2024-2029). The Gelephu Special Administrative Region, an economic hub that will come up on Bhutan’s border with Assam in India’s Northeast, and connect with an economic corridor linking South Asia to Southeast Asia, is expected to be a major beneficiary of India’s substantially enhanced assistance to Bhutan.

During Modi’s visit, the two sides also signed Memorandums of Understanding and agreements on energy, trade, digital connectivity, space, agriculture, youth exchange, environment and forestry. The text of an MoU on establishing two railway lines — Kokrajhar-Gelpehu and Banarhat-Samtse — between India and Bhutan was initialed. India also promised to build an airport and waterways navigation on the River Brahmaputra as well as integrated check posts to strengthen connectivity and trade infrastructure between the two countries.

India and Bhutan enjoy a close relationship. The Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, 1949, which was revised and renewed in February 2007, provides the framework for the relationship. India provides landlocked Bhutan with access to the sea. It is its top trade partner, accounting for around 80 percent of Bhutan’s overall trade. India is also Bhutan’s main source of investment. Since the 1960s it has contributed substantially to Bhutan’s five-year plans and is its principal development partner.

India-Bhutan diplomatic and defense cooperation is strong as well. The fact that India and Bhutan have territorial disputes with China and some of the territory that Beijing claims in the latter — the Doklam Plateau and the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary — has strategic importance for India, explains India’s enormous role in the Himalayan kingdom.

India’s large support to Bhutan is aimed at preventing Beijing from gaining leverage over Thimphu, especially on the border dispute. It is in this context that the doubling of assistance to Bhutan must be seen.

China and Bhutan have engaged in direct talks since 1984 to settle their border dispute. In 1996, Beijing put forward a package deal under which it offered to accept Bhutan’s sovereignty over Pasamlung and Jakarlung in north-central Bhutan in exchange for Thimphu ceding control over Doklam in western Bhutan to China.

China has been altering the status quo on the ground to pressure Thimphu, building roads and permanent structures inside Bhutanese territory it claims. Satellite images reveal that it is building roads and other permanent infrastructure in Doklam, and entire villages, roads, hydropower stations, communications facilities, and military and police outposts inside Bhutanese territory in Jakarlung and Menchuma valleys in northcentral Bhutan and Beyul Khenpajong, an area that is sacred to Buddhists and the Bhutanese royal family. Besides, China has opened a new front in its dispute with Bhutan by adding the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary in eastern Bhutan to its territorial demands.

While Bhutan rejected the Chinese package for decades, there is apprehension in India’s security establishment that Bhutan will now cede control over Doklam to the Chinese to settle the border and stop Chinese ingression into its territory. Such apprehension has surged with Sino-Bhutanese talks gathering momentum and showing “significant progress” in recent years. In 2021, China and Bhutan agreed on a Three-Step Roadmap to settle the border, and the first boundary delimitation technical talks were held in August 2023. In May 2023, Bhutan’s then-Prime Minister Lotay Tshering said that the two sides would demarcate boundaries in “one or two meetings.”

There has been a flurry of high-level visits and meetings between India and Bhutan over the past year. Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck visited New Delhi in April and November 2023; while Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay did so on March 14-18, 2024. Modi visited Bhutan just days later.

During Modi’s recent visit to Bhutan, the king conferred the Order of the Druk Gyalpo, Bhutan’s highest civilian award, on the Indian prime minister. The Bhutanese government had announced the award in December 2021 but the pandemic prevented Modi from traveling to the Himalayan kingdom at that time. Modi’s recent visit was to receive the award, officials say.

The timing of Modi’s visit has raised questions. Having deferred receiving the award for over two years, what was the hurry for Modi to visit Bhutan even as campaigning for India’s 18th general elections is underway and the model code of conduct for elections is in effect? It is rare for Indian leaders to make foreign visits after elections are announced.

Reports in sections of the Indian media say that the conferring of the award on Modi presented his government with an opportunity to project his global leadership to impress voters. India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra trumpeted that “Modi is the first foreign dignitary and the fourth person to have been conferred this award in Bhutan.” Modi’s leadership even received the King’s endorsement. “With him [Modi] at the helm, India’s future is bright,” he said, praising India’s rise “as a global power under his leadership.” The Prime Minister’s Office was quick to publicize the praise for Modi’s leadership.

However, analysts are also pointing out that Modi’s visit to Bhutan and the increased assistance was to pre-empt embarrassment amid elections. As noted Indian security analyst Pravin Sawhney posted on X, formerly Twitter, “India does not want Bhutan to announce it’s [sic] border settlement with China (which is ready) before India’s general elections are over!”

Modi has projected himself as a muscular leader, who has stood up even to the big powers. His Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party claims it is the most effective guardian of India’s security interests.

Any disclosure on a China-Bhutan deal that undermines Indian security and territorial integrity would be particularly embarrassing for Modi, who is expected to return for a third straight term as prime minister. While his government has been able to hide Indian territorial losses to China in Ladakh, Bhutanese territorial concessions to China that impact India will be harder to hide.

This would have been on Modi’s mind as he flew into the Himalayan kingdom.
China, India boost seaborne thermal coal imports as power demand surges (Reuters)
Reuters [4/2/2024 8:00 AM, Clyde Russell, 5.2M, Neutral]
China and India lifted imports of seaborne thermal coal to three-month highs in March as the world’s two biggest buyers took advantage of lower international prices of the fuel to meet strong domestic power demand.

China, the world’s biggest coal producer and importer, saw arrivals of seaborne thermal coal of 29.7 million metric tons in March, according to data compiled by commodity analysts Kpler.

This was up from 23.03 million tons in February and was also higher than the 28.62 million in March 2023.

For the first quarter, China’s seaborne imports of the grade of coal used mainly to generate electricity were 80.64 million tons, up 17.2% from the 68.82 million recorded in the same period in 2023.

The strength in China’s imports is being driven by a combination of strong growth in power demand and by seaborne prices being competitive with domestic coal.

Official data showed China’s power consumption was 11% higher in January and February this year compared to the same months in 2023, and power generation rose 6.9% in 2023, outpacing the 5.2% growth rate for the economy as a whole.

China’s electricity demand is being boosted by a variety of factors, including increasing electrification of the vehicle fleet, higher demand from air conditioners and appliances, and increased electrification of industrial processes, such as some types of smelting.

A drop in hydropower output amid drought has also boosted fossil fuel generation, predominantly coal-fired, further lifting demand for the fuel.

China’s domestic coal prices have also remained relatively high with thermal coal at Qinhuangdao ending at 825 yuan ($114) a ton on Monday.

While this is down from a recent peak of 940 yuan on Feb. 27, the prices of seaborne grades popular in China have also been declining.

Australian coal with an energy content of 5,500 kilocalories per kilogram (kcal/kg) , as assessed by commodity price reporting agency Argus, slipped to $87.37 a ton in the week to March 28, down from the recent high of $96.66 in the seven days to March 1.

Indonesian coal with an energy content of 4,200 kcal/kg ended last week at $55.70 a ton, down from the recent high of $58.17 from the week to March 8.

Even allowing for freight costs, Chinese import duties and differences in energy content, imported seaborne grades are currently slightly cheaper than domestic supplies, especially for utilities in China’s southeast.

The competitiveness of seaborne grades can be seen in China’s imports, with arrivals of 20.24 million tons of Indonesian thermal coal in March, up from 16.96 million in February.
Imports of Australian thermal coal hit a three-month high of 5.08 million tons in March, up from 3.45 million in February.

INDIA STRENGTH

It’s a similar story for India, where robust growth in power demand is fuelling coal imports, which reached 15.21 million tons in March, up from 14.09 million in February and 13.41 million in March 2023, according to Kpler.

First quarter thermal coal imports were 42.79 million tons, up 23.8% from the 34.57 million in the same period a year earlier.

Coal demand is likely to remain elevated in India as the South Asian nation braces for more heatwave days than normal between April and June.

In the second quarter, various parts of the country could record 10 to 20 heatwave days compared to the normal four to eight days, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director-general of the India Meteorological Department, told a virtual news conference on Monday.

India’s top supplier of seaborne thermal coal is Indonesia with March arrivals of 10.23 million tons being the highest in four months.

Australia isn’t a major supplier of thermal coal to India, with most of the coal trade between the two countries being metallurgical coal, which is used to make steel.

However, it’s worth noting that U.S. supplies to India have been increasing, with March imports at a three-month high of 1.10 million tons and an estimated 1.62 million expected to arrive in April, which would be a record high.

At the same time, India’s imports of Russian thermal coal have been slipping, with March arrivals of 730,000 tons being the lowest since November.

A combination of Western sanctions on shipping and concerns over the safety of transiting the Red Sea has boosted the landed price of Russian coal in India.

The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.
India to monitor capacity, harness surplus power to meet summer demand (Reuters)
Reuters [4/2/2024 12:50 PM, Shilpa Jamkhandikar, 5239K, Negative]
India is taking all necessary measures to ensure that power demand is met during what is expected to be a brutal summer this year, the federal government said on Tuesday.

The government would monitor capacity additions in coal, hydro, nuclear, solar and wind power plants to speed up commissioning of that extra capacity, it said in a statement. It would also try to harness surplus power which may be available at generating stations dedicated to specific users, the government said.

India’s weather department said on Monday that the country was likely to experience more heat waves than normal between April and June.

A heat wave for the third year in a row could dent production of wheat, rapeseed and chickpeas, and also lift power demand above supply during the summer season.

"All thermal generating stations must offer their un-requisitioned/surplus power in power exchanges," the statement said.

Electricity demand in the summer would be higher than in previous years, it said, while noting that the overall shortfall between energy demand and availability narrowed in 2023-2024 to 0.2% from 0.5% in 2022-23.
Four children killed in bus accident in northern India (Reuters)
Reuters [4/2/2024 11:06 AM, Saurabh Sharma, 5239K, Negative]
Four children were killed and 12 injured when a school bus overturned in Barabanki district in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh, a police official told Reuters.

The injured were rushed to the nearest healthcare facility, said Ajay Singh, a local police officer.

Singh said the children were returning from a picnic at a zoo in state capital Lucknow and the accident occurred when the bus driver took measures to avoid colliding with a motorcyle rider.

Further details on the bus and the incident were not immediately available.
Son of UK man held in India criticises British govt response (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [4/2/2024 1:21 PM, Staff, 11975K, Negative]
The son of a British man held in an Indian jail for more than five years awaiting trial on Tuesday criticised the UK government over its response to the case.

Arms dealer Christian Michel, 62, has been detained in India since December 2018 after being extradited from the United Arab Emirates over a helicopter deal.

India’s Supreme Court last month refused to intervene in the case, which has been linked with a Dubai princess who claims she was kidnapped, and has attracted international attention.

Rights experts have called for Michel to be freed, with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) arguing his imprisonment lacked a legal basis.

It had also raised concerns that his extradition was "a de facto swap" for India’s capture and return of an unnamed high-profile detainee to Dubai in March 2018.

Reacting to the latest court decision, one of Michel’s sons, Alois, said the family had previously written to ex-UK prime minister Boris Johnson and the country’s current leader Rishi Sunak about the case.

But he said they had not received a response from either, which Alois Michel branded an "intolerable attitude towards one of their own nationals".

The 26-year-old said they had also tried to lobby the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office but had again failed to make headway.

"My father is now an example of the risks it represents to be extradited to India as one’s rights may not be upheld," Alois Michel said.

"He has neither been tried nor has he been found guilty even after 63 months in incarceration, which exceeds the expected time for such condemnation, underlining the ridiculousness of this case."

Michel’s detention has suspected links to Sheikha Latifa, the daughter of Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum.

She was captured by Indian commandos at sea in 2018 after trying to flee the UAE.

In videos secretly sent to friends she has said she was abducted by her family, something her relatives have denied, insisting she is being cared for at home.

In 2022 she assured the UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet during a meeting in Paris that she was well and asked for "respect for her privacy," according to the High Commissioner.

Britain’s Sky News television has previously acquired video of Michel -- filmed while he was in detention in Dubai -- in which he links his pending extradition to Latifa’s case.

He was working in the UAE as a middleman and consultant for a subsidiary of the Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland, itself a subsidiary of aerospace and defence group Finmeccanica.

He was accused of arranging kickbacks to Indian officials to secure a deal to supply 12 helicopters in 2010.

India cancelled the deal in January 2014 amid allegations of bribery.
NSB
China Accused of Buying Off Strategic Island Nation With Bottled Water (Newsweek)
Newsweek [4/3/2024 5:30 AM, Aadil Brar, 304K, Neutral]
China has been accused of buying off the the strategic Indian Ocean island nation of the Maldives with a million bottles of water from melting Tibetan glaciers.

"The Chinese Xizang [Chinese name for Tibet] Autonomous Region has extended a generous donation of 1500 [tonnes] drinking water to the Maldives, aimed at alleviating water shortages on the islands," Public Service Media, the state broadcaster of the Maldives, reported on March 27.

However, some social media users alleged that China’s donation was for the personal use of Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu.

"It wasn’t announced officially because Muizzu wanted to use this at Muleeaage [the official residence of the Maldives president]," one user from the Maldives said on X, formerly Twitter.

"We are not aware of the specifics you mentioned, and please refer to competent authorities for your specific question," the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., told Newsweek in a reply by email.

The Maldives’ foreign ministry didn’t reply to Newsweek’s request for comment by publication time.

Muizzu, who came to power last year, has increasingly adopted a pro-China position while relegating the Maldives’ traditional ties with India. The U.S. has taken note of Beijing’s growing influence in the Maldives, a strategic island nation that sits on the critical waterways connecting the Indian Ocean to the Middle East and Africa.

The Maldives’ foreign ministry has denied the allegations, saying that the drinking water was a donation by Yan Jinhai, the chairman of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, rather than a gift to Muizzu, AFP reported on March 29.

Yan, a senior Chinese politician in charge of Tibet, visited the Maldivian capital, Malé, in November 2023 to boost ties between China and the Maldives, the Maldivian President’s Office said last year.

"Produced within the pristine mountains of the Xizang Autonomous Region, the bottled water donation signifies a gesture of solidarity and support from China to the Maldives during times of need," the Public Service Media, Maldives’ State Broadcaster reported on March 27.

In 2023, the U.S. opened its first embassy in the Maldives to boost its presence in the Indian Ocean region, while recognizing the importance of Maldives.

"The United States is committed to strengthening cooperation with the Maldives, a key partner in ensuring a free, open, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Donald Lu, told the Press Trust of India in February.

The Maldives faces a shortage of fresh water while also living with the threat of rising sea levels caused by global warming.

"The only available natural water resources are rain and groundwater, both of which are highly vulnerable to climate change," Abdulla Naseer, the Maldives’ former Minister of State for Environment, Climate Change and Technology, told the United Nations in March 2023.

China donated five seawater desalination systems to the Maldives to help with the drinking water shortage, Chinese state media outlet China Daily reported on March 17.
Sri Lanka Recovering But Poverty Enduring: World Bank (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [4/2/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, 304K, Neutral]
Crisis-hit Sri Lanka will return to growth this year, the World Bank said Tuesday, but around a quarter of the country’s citizens will remain living in poverty.

The Indian Ocean island nation was hammered by its worst-ever economic crisis in 2022, when it ran out of foreign exchange and protests over the resulting shortages of food, fuel and pharmaceuticals forced its president to resign.

Sri Lanka’s economy shrank by 7.3 percent that year, followed by another contraction of 2.3 percent in 2023.

But in a new report the World Bank said Sri Lanka’s GDP was expected to stabilise this year, projecting growth of 2.2 percent.

Even so, the bank warned that the recovery would make little difference for many of those who were still suffering from the crisis.

More than 5.5 million Sri Lankans -- or a quarter of the country’s population of the 22 million -- were living below the poverty line of $3.65 a day, the World Bank said.

That compared to 11.3 percent in 2019, before the crisis hit.

"The modest economic recovery will be insufficient to reverse welfare losses experienced during the crisis," the bank said, estimated poverty would stay above 22 percent until 2026.

Utility price rises and government revenue measures meant household budgets would "remain stressed", it added.

The bank warned that Sri Lanka must carry out a "deep debt restructuring" and restore its access to international financial markets, blocked since it defaulted on its $46 billion foreign debt in April 2022.

Colombo secured a $2.9 billion IMF bailout in early 2023 after sharply raising taxes and cutting energy subsidies.

The government has secured financial assurances from its bilateral creditors, including China, the biggest official lender to the island, but formal debt deals are yet to be signed.

Sri Lanka’s inflation slowed to 0.9 percent in March, a huge drop from the peak of nearly 70 percent in September 2022.

The country’s central bank last week cut its benchmark lending rate from 10 percent to 9.5 percent -- the first reduction in four months -- in a measure it said would boost "the ongoing revival of economic activity".

Months of protests during the economic crisis led to the ouster of then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa when demonstrators stormed his residence in 2022.

His successor Ranil Wickremesinghe has cracked down on protests, raised taxes and prices as he secured the four-year IMF rescue loan.

Both Wickremesinghe and the IMF have said the South Asian nation was "gradually" emerging from the crisis following austerity measures.
Central Asia
Government Under Fire As Kazakh Regions Go Under Water (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [4/2/2024 2:51 PM, Chris Rickleton, 223K, Negative]
Water and Kazakhstan: There’s either not enough of it -- or entirely too much.

This year’s seasonal floods are an example of the second problem, necessitating more than 15,000 evacuations to date, killing livestock, cutting off access to highways, and sending dozens of villages under water after an abrupt period of warm weather led to a huge snowmelt.

At present, at least four people -- all in the eastern region of Abai -- are thought to have died, with the Emergencies Ministry warning of an ongoing flood risk in multiple provinces in the north, east, and center of the country.

Unsurprisingly, the havoc the floods have wrought has triggered sharp criticism of authorities who have once again proven themselves disaster-unprepared.

And the sight of so much of a scarce resource being put to bad use, instead of good, has put another crucial item on the agenda: How to conserve and redirect precious meltwater in light of the Kazakh summers that climate change is making longer, hotter, and drier?

Water World

Local states of emergency have been declared in 20 different locations hit by the flash floods to date.

In Abai’s Ayagoz district, video from March 26 showed two villagers marooned atop a tractor while sinking into the fast-flowing river.

Tursyngali Kazhigereyev, the father of one of the men, said the pair were stranded on the vehicle “for 10 hours, just 10 minutes from dry land,” but that when he called for emergency services, no help came. A man mounted a horse in a bid to save the pair but abandoned the effort after it became clear he could drown in the strong current.

Village head Madiyar Baizhumanov told RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service that he had “asked everywhere he could…even for a helicopter.”

But Ayagoz district didn’t even have boats available for rescue until they arrived from the city of Semey, he said.

The two men are among four people missing and presumed dead in Abai.

Over the weekend, flooding also ravaged Kokpekti, another district in Abai.

Residents of the villages of Bigash and Kokzhayik contacted RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service with video showing their houses partly submerged.

But Abai’s regional authorities published a post on Instagram noting that “flood control measures have been taken in the village of Bigash. There is no risk of the flooding of houses.”

“What kind of flood-control measures are taken after the flood?” read one angry comment on social media.

“Take a video of the entire village, don’t show only the places you want to show,” read another.

Comments to the video were eventually disabled.

In the northwestern province Aqtobe, all but one district was badly affected, while the floods even reached the airport of the province’s administrative center -- a city of 500,000 people.

One widely shared clip on Telegram showed residents of the province ankle deep in water as a bus drove through the floodwaters.

In another, a man grinned as he retrieved a fish from the middle of a flooded road.

Near the Kazakh capital, Astana, in the town of Qoyandi, villagers wading down a street blamed local authorities for failing to clear the large piles of snow that had melted, flooding at least three homes.

Qoyandi Mayor Bakyhtkhan Soltanbai rejected the accusations in an interview with RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service, claiming that all snow-clearing work had been carried out on schedule, despite not being given enough money for the job.

Reprimands, Reprimands

Recriminations at the government level followed a familiar pattern, with President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev railing at ministers and provincial administrations for their poor planning and ineffective coordination after apologizing to citizens for the floods.

Toqaev also criticized the government-approved action plan for developing and managing water resources until 2030 as too “declarative,” calling for officials to further develop the document.

“Forecasting work was completely absent, which is due to the shortage of relevant specialists,” he fumed on March 30 after returning from a visit to China, where he attended the Boao Forum for Asia.

“The consequences and scale of the disaster, even taking into account weather conditions, could have been less if the [provincial administrations] had carried out all planned flood-control measures annually. [They] apparently did not do this,” said Toqaev, who will visit a flooded region on April 4, his press office said.

The main problem for Toqaev is that whether it is forest fires in one region, floods in another, or earthquake scares in Kazakhstan’s largest city of Almaty, the government’s planning and response always seems to inspire anger rather than praise.

And he has done little to address the widely held notion that systemic corruption is weakening the country’s hand in fighting natural disasters.

“People are tired of this empty criticism. He always criticizes, but we never see a result,” said Sanzhar Bokaev, an opposition-oriented former candidate for parliament, in an April video on the floods liked more than 45,000 times on Instagram.

“It isn’t just the government that is guilty in these disasters, it is Toqaev himself,” he vented.

First Floods, Now Droughts?

Kazakhstan’s state meteorological agency Kazgidromet has politely disputed suggestions from the president and regional officials that warnings were not timely.

Danara Alimbaeva told journalists on April 2 that above-average snowfall in the winter and a sudden onset of warmer temperatures had created ideal flooding conditions.

“Starting in December, we warned that there would be flood-prone regions,” said Alimbaeva.

"More than 100 storm warnings were issued since March. They were sent to both local executive bodies and central authorities,” she insisted.

Deputy Emergencies Minister Bauyrzhan Syzdikov said the same day that his ministry had not been prepared for large volumes of water arriving from elevated steppe land -- rather than rivers and other bodies of water -- something he said had caused villages normally outside the flooding zone to suffer.

"No country can account for this type of water currently," Syzdikov said.

What is less disputed in terms of bad planning is that existing water infrastructure is either inadequate or poorly maintained.

Despite being reinforced last year, the wall of a Soviet-era reservoir in Aqtobe burst during the floods, sending water into the Irgiz River.

Another complaint of experts is that while local authorities are supposed to clean clogged ditches that elevate the risk of flood in times of high discharge, this work is rarely done.

The bitter irony of the spring floods is that the water that has taken villages underwater will be sorely needed closer to the end of the growing season.

If major flooding has in recent times happened roughly every half-decade -- authorities say the current floods are worse than those in 2012 and 2017 -- then bad droughts have been every other year of late, hitting agriculture hard both last year and in 2021.

And Kazgidromet has warned that another drought might be on the cards this summer, with both higher-than-average temperatures and lower-than-average precipitation forecasted for the beginning of the season.

Water analysts consulted by RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service argued that Kazakhstan could offset both problems by investing more in control gates to regulate upstream flow and set aside water for downstream agriculture.

Such regulation is currently already in use in southern Kazakhstan, where its operation helps secure the water from the Amu Darya River necessary to irrigate rice fields in Qyzylorda Province.

Last week, the Water Resources and Irrigation Ministry said it was building something similar for the Esil River in the northern Akmola Province that surrounds Astana.

But in Aqtobe, dams and other water infrastructure are aging and poorly maintained, leading to blockages because "there is no money for it," suggested one expert, Amirkhan Kenshimov.

Other experts argued that building new reservoirs -- the government’s preferred water management strategy -- might exacerbate rather than alleviate Kazakhstan’s summer droughts in the long-term.

“Kazakhstan’s freshwater reserves are 100 billion cubic meters. They say that if 20 reservoirs are built there will be another 2 billion cubic meters [available]. Why should we spend so much money for this?” asked Erlan Badashev.

Amid high temperatures and due to the large surface areas of reservoirs, “this water will simply evaporate,” he told RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service.
Giant Kazakh oil field operator denies spill reports (Reuters)
Reuters [4/2/2024 6:27 PM, Staff, 11975K, Neutral]
The operator of Kazakhstan’s giant offshore Kashagan oilfield denied reports of an oil spill near the field and said on Tuesday its facilities were working normally.

Globus, an ecological organisation in the Central Asian nation, said earlier on Tuesday that satellite imagery had captured a large oil spill in the northern Caspian Sea near Kashagan.

Globus director Galina Chernova posted on Facebook that a slick of around 7 square km (2.7 square miles) had formed, citing images from Sentinel-1A, a European satellite.

But NCOC, largely owned by Western oil majors which operate the field, said those satellite images showed some different, natural phenomenon, and subsequent shots of the same location showed nothing unusual.

The company said it had studied the area and found no irregularities.

Kashagan, one of Kazakhstan’s largest oil fields, is being developed by the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) consortium, which includes Shell (SHEL.L), Eni (ENI.MI), TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA), and Exxon Mobil (XOM.N).

The ecology department of Kazakhstan’s Atyrau region, which borders the Caspian, has also said it would conduct a visual inspection and take samples at the oil production site.
Kyrgyzstan adopts law targeting foreign-funded NGOs (Reuters)
Reuters [4/2/2024 7:53 PM, Olzhas Auyezov, 5239K, Neutral]
Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov on Tuesday signed into law a bill tightening state control over foreign-funded non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which human rights bodies and groups have criticised as restrictive.

The law, which uses provisions and language similar to that of the 2012 Russian law on "foreign agents", introduces additional reporting obligations on NGOs with foreign funding that are engaged in "political" activities.

It also gives the Central Asian nation’s authorities greater oversight powers and provides for criminal sanctions in the event of non-compliance.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe warned in February that passing the bill "would have an overwhelmingly negative impact on civil society, human rights defenders, and the media in Kyrgyzstan".

Japarov’s office said in a statement that the law was designed to make the work of NGOs more transparent.

Its adoption follows what Western governments have described as a crackdown on independent media in the country, which is closely allied with Moscow and hosts a Russian military airbase.

The U.S. State Department said it was "deeply concerned" by the adoption of law, adding that it puts the work of NGOs at risk.

"This is the latest in a series of Kyrgyz government actions that have undermined democratic governance and civil society," department spokesperson Matt Miller said in a statement.
Kyrgyzstan president signs Russian-style ‘foreign agents’ proposal into law (VOA)
VOA [4/2/2024 9:38 PM, Staff, 761K, Neutral]
Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov on Tuesday signed a controversial law modeled on Russia’s "foreign agents law" over objections of nonprofit groups who say it will stigmatize them and create unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles.

The law says that any organization receiving foreign funding must register as a "foreign representative." Another provision gives the Ministry of Justice, which would implement the law, the authority to conduct unscheduled inspections and audits of such organizations.

"You have been working with foreign donors for 30 years and no one has prosecuted you for taking money. Are we going to start doing that now? As the Head of State, I guarantee there will be no persecution," Japarov said in his April 2 social media statement.

"Our state has no secrets to hide from you and your donors,” he said. “All our information is in the public domain. If you can, get billions, not millions. It will only benefit our country."

While Japarov argues that this is a key step to ensure transparency, critics say Kyrgyzstan already has necessary laws in place. Additionally, foreign funding typically comes with strict conditions for openness and accountability.

The nation’s Parliament approved the legislation on March 14 after 64 of the 90 deputies put their signatures to the draft bill. Witnesses said the passage occurred without debate and took just seven minutes.

The move comes amid international concern that authorities in Kyrgyzstan, a mountainous country of 7 million people, have been curtailing citizens’ freedoms and taking increasingly harsh measures against political dissent.

In October 2022, authorities jailed 27 civil society activists on charges of fomenting unrest after they opposed a controversial border deal with Uzbekistan. In 2023, the Kyrgyz government closed several independent media outlets, arrested several journalists and bloggers, and also jailed Adahan Madumarov, a member of Parliament and a prominent government critic.

The U.S. State Department issued a statement on Tuesday expressing deep concern regarding the law, which it said puts at risk the work of NGOs, "essential to a more democratic and inclusive Kyrgyz Republic."

"This is the latest in a series of Kyrgyz government actions that have undermined democratic governance and civil society," said spokesperson Matthew Miller.

Freedom House, in its 2023 report on the state of democracy titled Nations in Transit, categorized Kyrgyzstan as a “consolidated authoritarian regime.”
Kyrgyzstan to stop servicing Russia’s Mir payment cards from this week (Reuters)
Reuters [4/2/2024 11:26 AM, Staff, 11975K, Neutral]
Russia’s Mir payment cards will stop working in Kyrgyzstan from this week, the country’s local payments operator said on Tuesday, citing the risk of secondary sanctions on its own payments infrastructure.

Mir payment cards, Moscow’s alternative to Visa and Mastercard, have become more important since those U.S. companies suspended operations in Russia over the conflict in Ukraine and their cards issued in Russia stopped working abroad.

Kyrgyzstan’s move mirrors one made by Armenia, which stopped servicing Mir cards from March 30, and highlights the problem Russia faces in facilitating payments for its citizens abroad, even in countries that have not imposed sanctions against Moscow.

Russia has been courting these "friendly" countries, but only a handful of nations actually accept Mir cards and banks in some countries have backtracked on facilitating Mir transactions.

"In order to minimise the risk of secondary sanctions, the Interbank Processing Centre (IPC), as guarantor of the smooth operation of the Elkart national payment system, informs about the halting of servicing Mir bank cards in its infrastructure from April 5, 2024, due to the termination of a mutual relationship with the NSPK," the IPC said in a statement.

Russia’s National Card Payment System (NSPK) said it had received warning from Elkart that Mir would stop working on April 3 in Kyrgyzstan.

The Bank of Russia’s First Deputy Governor Olga Skorobogatova said the central bank was working on solving the problem with foreign banks’ refusal to accept Mir cards with the help of Russian banks’ foreign subsidiaries and the central bank’s Faster Payments System (FPS), a financial messaging service.
Kyrgyzstan to stop accepting Russian payment cards (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [4/2/2024 11:40 AM, Staff, 39236K, Neutral]
Kyrgyzstan will stop accepting Russia’s Mir payment cards amid concerns it could expose the country’s financial sector to Western sanctions, the national payments operator said Tuesday.

The United States in February sanctioned the organisation behind Mir -- Russia’s domestic card payments system -- and is putting pressure on third countries over their financial links to Moscow.

Kyrgyzstan’s Interbank Processing Center said Tuesday it would "stop servicing ‘Mir’ bank cards from 5 April" in order to "minimise the risk of secondary sanctions."

It cited the US Treasury’s decision to sanction the Russia’s National Card Payment System, the Mir operator, in February.

Banks in the Central Asian nation had mostly stopped using Mir cards in 2022, but the decision demonstrates the effect of escalating Western pressure being put on Russia’s allies.

Some Western officials have expressed concerns Kygryzstan, a Russian ally which is part of a Moscow-led security alliance and customs union, has become a back door for goods to get into Russia.

Trade between several Western countries and the likes of Kyrgyzstan and Armenia have leapt since 2022 when the West imposed sanctions on Russia over its Ukraine offensive.

The United States has warned Moscow’s allies and partners that they will be targeted if Washington suspects they are helping Russia avoid sanctions.

Armenian banks stopped processing payments through Mir cards over the weekend, also citing the risk of secondary sanctions.
Uzbekistan: Once a gas exporter, now an importer (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [4/2/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, 57.6K, Neutral]
Uzbekistan is grappling with a natural gas production crunch, putting pressure on state coffers.

In February, Tashkent sharply reduced gas supplies to China, according to a March 28 report published by the UzDaily.uz website. The drop in export volume resulted in a sharp downturn in earnings, from $38.77 million in January to $18.6 million in February, according to data published by China’s General Customs Administration. The February 2024 figure was still better than earnings during the same month the previous year, during which no gas export earnings were recorded.

The Chinese export totals differed significantly from the amounts published by Uzbekistan’s States Statistical Agency, which showed gas export earnings of $21 million in January and $5.7 million in February. Uzbek officials attributed the discrepancy in earnings data to Beijing’s tendency to include revenue from the transit of Turkmen gas via Uzbekistan in the totals, Gazeta.uz reported. But that explanation, the outlet added, still doesn’t square the numbers.

Uzbekistan has traditionally relied on gas exports to generate a significant chunk of revenue for the state. But for the first time in its post-Soviet history, the country became a net importer of gas in 2023. Last fall, Uzbek officials signed a two-year deal to import up to 9 million cubic meters of Russian gas per day. The import-export deficit totaled about $165 million in 2023.
Twitter
Afghanistan
Ziauddin Yousafzai
@ZiauddinY
[4/2/2024 7:17 PM, 158K followers, 21 retweets, 66 likes]
DAY: 928
DAY: 468
To #UNGA 6th Committee @UN:
Why should the world recognize gender apartheid in Afghanistan and codify it in the draft of crimes against humanity?
1. The Taliban regime has issued 130 decrees, 85 of which directly violate the rights of women and girls due to gender discrimination.
2. Girls and women have been prohibited from attending schools and universities, solely based on their gender.
3. Women are not allowed to work in any field, solely because of their gender.
4. Women are restricted from freely moving in public places, even with a Mahrem, illustrating gender-based constraints.
5. Recently, Mullah Haibatullah openly declared intentions to stone and flog women to enforce Sharia law, demonstrating extreme gender persecution.
6. The Ministry of Vice and Virtue is empowered to issue decrees that confine women to their homes and exert authority through sever punishments for non-compliance.
It is imperative to end gender apartheid in Afghanistan and advocate for gender equality worldwide. #RecogniseGenderApartheid #CodifyGenderApartheid #ACrimeAgainstHumanity Photo: @Metra_Mehran at #NMAL2023

Shafiqa Khpalwak
@ShafiqaKhplwak
[4/2/2024 5:28 PM, 245.8K followers, 29 retweets, 64 likes]
A 17-year-old girl in Kabul, who was sent home from her English lessons course, wrote to me: ‘I’ve lost faith in everyone. I can’t see a better future ahead. I’m tired and can’t bear it any longer. This course was my only chance to learn, and they’ve taken it away from me.’

Massoud Hossaini
@Massoud151
[4/2/2024 1:21 PM, 31.2K followers, 4 retweets, 13 likes]
Several sources mentioned that #TalibanTerrorist militia fighters have killed Amir Hossain, 24, inside his home in #Panjshir. Sources mentioned that @panjsher0021 who is a wanted terrorist has revenged Amir’s family as his father was fighting against #terrorist s in #Afghanistan
Pakistan
The President of Pakistan
@PresOfPakistan
[4/2/2024 5:52 AM, 733.1K followers, 79 retweets, 231 likes]
Federal Minister for Commerce, Mr. Jam Kamal Khan, called on President Asif Ali Zardari, at Aiwan-e-Sadr.

Madiha Afzal
@MadihaAfzal
[4/2/2024 12:43 PM, 42.5K followers, 22 retweets, 117 likes]
The answer to Pakistan’s woes is not to create new, ad-hoc bodies like the SIFC, hoping that this, finally, will be a magic bullet. The answer is less flashy: reform and strengthen existing institutions, and recognize that this will take time.

Brahma Chellaney
@Chellaney
[4/3/2024 2:39 AM, 263.1K followers, 93 retweets, 195 likes]
Biden has not only embraced Pakistan’s new military-backed government but also pledged to "continue to forge a strong partnership" with that country, a mecca of terrorism. The US is helping keep Pakistan afloat while modernizing its F16 fleet to make it more potent against India.
India
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[4/2/2024 11:17 AM, 96.9M followers, 3K retweets, 11K likes]
Democracy is all about fulfilling aspirations but, political parties driven by dynasties stifle democracy. https://twitter.com/i/status/1775180686561005899

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[4/2/2024 11:14 AM, 96.9M followers, 3.1K retweets, 12K likes]
During the recent interview with @ThanthiTV, I spoke about my own association with Tamil Nadu. https://twitter.com/i/status/1775179922795061692

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[4/2/2024 8:42 AM, 3.1M followers, 261 retweets, 1.2K likes]
An interaction on Indian Foreign Policy in Ahmedabad. @GCCIAhmedabad

Brahma Chellaney
@Chellaney
[4/3/2024 2:10 AM, 263.1K followers, 42 retweets, 103 likes]
As two of the most ancient civilizations, China and India need to find ways to peacefully coexist and cooperate on shared objectives. But it is far from certain that reconciliation between the two giants will be possible while Xi and CCP remain in power. https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/China-s-Indian-land-grab-has-become-a-strategic-disaster

Shashi Tharoor
@ShashiTharoor
[4/2/2024 11:58 PM, 8.4M followers, 932 retweets, 3.7K likes]
Yet again a journalist has asked me to identify an individual who is the alternative to Mr Modi. The question is irrelevant in the Parliamentary system. We are not electing an individual (as In a presidential system), but a party, or coalition of parties, that represents a set of principles and convictions that are invaluable to preserve India’s diversity, pluralism and inclusive growth. The alternative to Mr Modi is a group of experienced, capable and diverse Indian leaders who will be responsive to people’s problems and not driven by individual ego. Which specific person they will choose to be Prime Minister is a secondary consideration. Protecting our democracy and diversity comes first.
NSB
Awami League
@albd1971
[4/2/2024 11:57 AM, 637.1K followers, 33 retweets, 98 likes]
During her meeting today with @rosatom DG Alexey Likhacev, PM #SheikhHasina sought Russian cooperation to setup another #NuclearPowerPlant in Rooppur. She also asked to ensure sending back the used #nuclearfuel of RNPP Units to Russia as per agreeement. https://link.albd.org/8m75c

Awami League
@albd1971
[4/2/2024 7:44 AM, 637.1K followers, 35 retweets, 79 likes]
#Bangladesh has been one of the leading countries that promptly address #climate issues and incorporate climate challenges into national budgets and yearly plans. Every year, Bangladesh spends $3.5bn in #climateadaptation. However, the Minister for @bdmoefcc @saberhc believes we need more than that to successfully tackle the challenges. https://daily-sun.com/post/742117

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh
@BDMOFA
[4/2/2024 9:10 AM, 35.2K followers, 13 retweets, 56 likes]
Lord Purvis of Tweed paid a courtesy call on HFM Dr. Hasan Mahmud, MP today at MOFA. They discussed inter-alia resilience of BD-UK bilateral relations, VSO operations in Bangladesh, bilateral trade, Rohingya crisis and war in Gaza.

M U M Ali Sabry
@alisabrypc
[4/2/2024 11:08 AM, 5.1K followers, 4 retweets, 14 likes]
President RW_UNP called a stakeholders meeting at my request to discuss the problems Muslim schools and children face, like a dearth of teachers, inadequate facilities, and curriculum development. The President promptly initiated steps to address some of these issues, directing officials from the Ministry of Education and the Urban Development Authority to investigate and report on specific matters. To address the concerns, specific directives were provided, such as opening a school for students in central Colombo. The meeting was attended by Senior Advisor to the President on National Security and Chief of Presidential Staff Sagala Ratnayaka, Governor of the Western Province Air Marshall Roshan Gunathilaka, Secretary to the President Saman Ekanayake, Secretary to the Ministry of Education Thilaka Jayasundara, Provincial Education Officials, representatives from the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, Urban Development Authority Officials, school principals, members of school development committees, representatives of Muslim organizations and educators.

Harsha de Silva
@HarshadeSilvaMP
[4/2/2024 10:18 AM, 357.3K followers, 1 retweet, 19 likes]
#CoPF scores major win for #inclusivepolicymaking on #MicrofinanceBill, as the MoF withdraws it based on CoPF stakeholder discussions & other concerns raised. MoF now believes it may not adequately address initial concerns & fear it could potentially stifle microfinance & SMEs.
Central Asia
Navbahor Imamova
@Navbahor
[4/2/2024 10:12 PM, 23K followers, 2 retweets, 5 likes]
While Japarov argues that this is a key step to ensure transparency, critics say Kyrgyzstan already has necessary laws in place. Additionally, foreign funding typically comes with strict conditions for openness and accountability.

Navbahor Imamova
@Navbahor
[4/2/2024 8:28 PM, 23K followers, 4 retweets, 4 likes]
Foreign Representatives Law: "This is the latest in a series of Kyrgyz government actions that have undermined democratic governance and civil society." - @StateDeptSpox https://www.state.gov/protection-of-non-governmental-organizations-in-the-kyrgyz-republic/

Navbahor Imamova
@Navbahor
[4/2/2024 3:30 AM, 23K followers, 1 retweet, 5 likes]
US-Central Asia, #Ukraine, #Russia, #Gaza, #Israel, IS-K, #CivilSociety Highlights from @CentralAsiaProg security workshop @IERES_GWU, March 28, 2024.

Asel Doolotkeldieva
@ADoolotkeldieva
[4/2/2024 2:48 AM, 13.8K followers, 2 retweets, 19 likes]
With all the draught, climate change, melting of glaciers, and competition for dams & channels, I am waiting when Kyrgyzstan is to create a Water Ministry. It’s should be actually the first to have one in the region and lead water discussions. It’s a shame it doesn’t yet.

MFA Tajikistan
@MOFA_Tajikistan
[4/2/2024 11:21 PM, 4.6K followers]
Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan https://mfa.tj/en/main/view/14742/statement-by-the-ministry-of-foreign-affairs-of-the-republic-of-tajikistan

Bakhtiyor Saidov
@FM_Saidov
[4/2/2024 8:07 AM, 3.5K followers, 2 retweets, 10 likes]
Welcomed the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kyrgyz Republic H.E. Musa Jamanbaev today @uzbekmfa. We are proud of Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan relations of friendship, good-neighbourliness and comprehensive strategic partnership. 2023 was rich in our bilateral agenda and 2024 is going to be even more dynamic.

Furqat Sidiqov
@FurqatSidiq
[4/2/2024 5:42 PM, 1.2K followers, 4 retweets, 14 likes]
A moment of pride for the #PresidentialSchools. It’s student Abdulaziz Sobirov has been enrolled into @Harvard w/ a $354K grant. His achievements is result of high attantions to the education by @president_uz & the potential of #Uzbek students. Congratulations to Abdulaziz!

{End of Report}
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