epubdos : Afghanistan
SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS
Prepared for the U.S. Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
TO:
SCA & Staff
DATE:
Thursday, April 4, 2024 6:30 AM ET

Afghanistan
UN sounds alarm on shortage of Afghan humanitarian aid (VOA)
VOA [4/3/2024 12:54 PM, Ayaz Gul, 761K, Negative]
The United Nations has warned that delivering life-saving aid to millions of people in Afghanistan could be “severely impeded” as donors have given only 6% of the humanitarian funding appeal for 2024.

Indrika Ratwatte, the humanitarian coordinator for the impoverished country, has urged the international community to redouble its commitment and increase financial support for the Afghan people.

According to a U.N. statement released on Tuesday, Ratwatte expressed “deep concern” over the current funding levels and noted that the U.N. had secured just $290 million of the $3.06 billion requirements.

“Such a significant gap between existing needs and available funding will severely impede the delivery of life-saving assistance,” the statement said.

U.N. agencies estimate that more than half of the population in Afghanistan needs humanitarian assistance, citing frequent natural disasters and years of war. They caution that the lack of donor funding is aggravating one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.

The return of the fundamentalist Taliban to power in 2021 has compounded challenges facing humanitarian operations in the country.

De facto Afghan authorities have banned many women from public and private workplaces, including the United Nations, and forbidden teenage girls from attending schools beyond the sixth grade.

The Taliban have rejected persistent international calls to reverse curbs on women, saying their governance is aligned with Afghan culture and Islamic principles.

Critics blame Taliban restrictions for contributing to the humanitarian crisis and discouraging foreign donors.

The World Food Program stopped food assistance for 10 million Afghans in 2023 because of a massive funding shortfall.

The Taliban have dismissed claims their misogynistic policies are jeopardizing the flow of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, alleging donors are politicizing the aid.

“We don’t need their assistance. Spare us from their [foreigners’] harm,” Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a recent social media-hosted seminar.
State Department officials told House investigators they created Afghanistan withdrawal plans from scratch (CNN)
CNN [4/4/2024 12:00 AM, Kylie Atwood and Jennifer Hansler, 6.1M, Neutral]
Hours of closed-door testimony from three top State Department officials shed new light on the “unprecedented” situation in the final days of the US presence in Afghanistan as the officials were rushed to the country with virtually no time to prepare and no established emergency evacuation plan in place when they arrived.

The three officials, John Bass, Jim DeHart and Jayne Howell, were all plucked from unrelated assignments and rushed into Afghanistan in the hours after Kabul fell to the Taliban due to their extensive experience in Afghanistan.

The transcripts of their interviews with the House Foreign Affairs Committee, obtained exclusively by CNN, are the latest tranche of more than a dozen interviews conducted by the committee as a key part of Republican Chairman Michael McCaul’s ongoing investigation into the 2021 evacuation that involved the deaths of 13 US service members.

McCaul is planning to put out a report later this year that includes overall takeaways from the interviews, as well as State Department notes the House Foreign Affairs Committee has received from the agency’s own review of the withdrawal. Biden administration officials expect that the report will be timed with a political motive: to bring the Afghanistan withdrawal back to the fore during the heat of the presidential election.

The new details paint a picture of the chaos outside the Kabul airport and the ad-hoc nature of the evacuation, something that top US military generals suggested could have been mitigated if the State Department had called sooner for a “noncombatant evacuation operation” – known as a NEO – for remaining US citizens in Afghanistan.

“It is my assessment that that decision came too late,” Gen. Mark Milley, the now-retired Joint Chiefs chairman, said at the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing last month. The State Department has continued to publicly defend its decision making around the NEO as well as the ending of the war.

A State Department spokesperson, asked about the interviews, said that “each of the current and former Department officials interviewed by the Committee worked alongside thousands of other personnel from the Department and the military to evacuate nearly 124,000 U.S. citizens, Afghan allies, and international partners, a massive and extremely challenging military, diplomatic, and humanitarian undertaking conducted under extraordinary circumstances.”

“It was the right decision to end the 20-year war in Afghanistan, the longest war in American history, and bring our troops home,” the State Department spokesperson told CNN Wednesday. “That decision has allowed the U.S. to better address the foreign policy challenges of the present and future, including the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.”

No working evacuation plan in place

All three of the officials rushed to Kabul in the days surrounding the Taliban’s seizure of the capital city, and dove into creating systems on the fly alongside the US military and with constantly-changing input on the ground and coming from DC.

Though officials who had worked at the embassy leading up to the evacuation told the committee investigators in separate interviews that planning for a NEO began in April or May, the officials who arrived in August said that no such clearly articulated plan served as their guide.

“I cannot emphasize enough to you that minute to minute, what was happening was changing,” Howell said in her July 2023 interview.

Every single US embassy around the world is required to have a NEO that can be used in the case of emergency evacuation situations, but the officials explained that the dangerous and over-crowded Kabul airport environment would have rendered any preformed plans ineffective and instead forced them to constantly adapt.

DeHart said they had to “create from scratch tactical operations that would get our priority people into the airport.” He added: “we were roughly as effective as we could be under the circumstances.”

Bass, who served as the top State Department coordinator on the evacuation efforts on the ground, echoed those sentiments.

“We were already in the midst of executing an evacuation that substantially exceeded I think the scope and scale of what had been contemplated,” explained Bass.

There was no time for them to prepare before landing in Afghanistan. Bass was serving at the Foreign Service Institute when he said he was asked to take up the role by then-Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, and he departed eight to ten hours later. DeHart, who worked as Bass’ deputy, left from his posting as coordinator for arctic affairs in Washington. Howell, who served as senior consular officer on the ground, traveled to Afghanistan directly from her posting in Turkey.

The officials had virtually no briefings ahead of their arrival. Bass said in his January 2024 testimony that “given how fluid the situation was on the ground, I’m not sure that additional preparation time would have yielded a significant benefit.”

But the weighty challenge was overwhelming for the consular officers, who vetted the people seeking to leave on US flights. They faced constantly changing directions in terms of who could be evacuated, and how many people could be evacuated, which led to an air of frustration.

“On a human level, that’s quite frustrating… it was required because of the circumstances,” said DeHart as he discussed the constantly changing guidance that consular officer would receive. In some cases, the new guidance meant that someone they had just turned away could have been let in.

Taliban obstacles

The efforts to get people into the airport compound faced countless setbacks, many of which were caused by the Taliban, which maintained security perimeters throughout the city and violently stopped people from reaching the airport.

“The situation was evolving constantly,” Howell said.

“It was the Taliban. It was what will the Taliban allow? What will they let people move through and how will they do it?” she said.

Howell noted that “it was very rare that all the gates (into the airport) were open” because there was so much chaos and violence as people desperately tried to get into the airport. The military would close them when they were deemed unsafe to operate at, Howell explained.

Howell described Abbey Gate, the site of the deadly ISIS-K bombing on August 26 that killed 13 American servicemembers, as “always the one with the most violence, the most issues with the Taliban, the most issues with crowd control.”

Because of the danger and chaos around the big gates into the airport, US officials tried to find other ways to get Americans and vulnerable Afghans in. Those efforts also were met with challenges from the Taliban.

Howell spoke of one incident where she had been briefed that the Taliban agreed to “admit Americans in a controlled fashion” into a passenger terminal, only for them to do nothing “they had agreed to do, and tens of thousands of people overran the passenger terminal.”

Howell said that after having worked on Afghanistan for 19 years it was “a little bit wild to tell people that you can trust the Taliban,” but explained that it was a necessity given the circumstances.

State Department criticism from Pentagon

On the whole, accusations about who was responsible for the chaotic final weeks have fallen largely along party lines, with Republicans pointing fingers at the Biden administration and Democrats casting blame on the Trump administration for the deal that set the US withdrawal into motion.

And when focusing on the withdrawal itself, the handling of the evacuation operation has been one of the areas where the administration, and specifically the State Department, has received the most criticism, as some Americans and thousands of Afghans who had served alongside US forces were left behind.

Milley and retired Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, who were in charge of the US military during the withdrawal, blamed the State Department for not ordering a NEO sooner.

McKenzie, the former commander of US Central Command, said that “the events of mid- and late August 2021 were the direct result of delaying the initiation of the NEO (evacuation) for several months, in fact, until we were in extremis, and the Taliban had overrun the country.”

State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said in response to the testimony that “the embassy maintained an active emergency action committee planning process that convened repeatedly in 2021 to assess the situation on the ground.”

“It’s also well documented that the US did not want to publicly announce planning for or the start of a NEO so as to not weaken the position of the then-Afghan government, potentially signaling a potential lack of faith,” he said at a press briefing last month.

The State Department officials did not weigh in on whether calling a NEO sooner would have had a substantial impact, as this would have preceded their arrival in Afghanistan. They told congressional investigators they were unsure if additional planning would have mitigated the dynamic challenges they faced.

Although the State Department has faced sharp criticism from the Defense Department – most recently in a congressional hearing with retired Gens. Mark Milley and Kenneth McKenzie – the transcripts suggest there were few of those divisions at play on the ground. Instead, officials spoke to an immense level of coordination within the Kabul airport to try get as many Americans and Afghan allies out of the country before time ran out.

Coordination with the military

And on the ground, as they grappled with the frenzied and fluid situation, State Department officials and service members at Hamid Karzai International Airport were regularly coordinating.

In his January interview, Bass said that “on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis in terms of the operational coordination of aspects of the NEO, I was engaging the senior military commanders regularly.”

DeHart said that he “didn’t find the chain of command to be unclear at any time.” Instead, he found that the emergency environment stripped away the typical bureaucratic constraints and allowed personnel on the ground to respond quickly to the constantly evolving challenges.

Howell described her experience coordinating with the military as “absolute lockstep,” noting that such levels of coordination were “unprecedented in (her) career.”
‘I wanted to end my life’: bookseller of Kabul rebuilds destroyed business (The Guardian)
The Guardian [4/3/2024 6:35 AM, Diane Taylor, 12499K, Neutral]
Shah Muhammad Rais first opened his bookshop in the Afghan capital in 1974. By 2003, when his story was made famous by the bestselling book The Bookseller of Kabul, the business had collected about 100,000 books, in different languages, about literature, history and politics. The collection included works of fiction and nonfiction, with everything from richly illustrated children’s tales to dense academic tomes.

After the Taliban stormed Kabul in 2021, Rais fled to the UK, telling the Guardian last year that he feared the group would destroy his cherished business. His fears came true.

Last December, the Taliban turned up at the bookshop, locked the doors and ordered the employees to hand over all the passwords for Rais’s website and catalogue, before destroying the archive he had been building since he first opened the shop.

“When I heard what had happened I couldn’t talk, I was frozen. My mind was not working,” said Rais, who is now almost blind. He was so grief-stricken that he considered taking his own life.

“For two weeks after this happened I wanted to end my life. But suddenly I got my energy back,” he said. He resolved to rebuild his unique collection from scratch. Because his online business was global, he already had many contacts in countries such as Iran and Pakistan and across central Asia. Rais, who speaks six languages, signed a deal with an Indian IT company to create a new website – Indo Aryana Book Co.

Now new books are being printed in India from pdfs and mailed into Afghanistan. Recently an online order was placed by someone in Mexico to deliver a copy of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry to an address in Kabul. The book is banned in Afghanistan, but the order was placed in the morning and had been delivered to the Kabul address by the afternoon.

Rais is especially keen to help give girls and women in Afghanistan access to books despite the Taliban ban on their education. He is using his contacts to get free or subsidised books to them in their homes or hidden schools. Even bus drivers help: secreting in their vehicles packages of books needing to be delivered discreetly, while driving across Afghanistan.

He says that whatever book-banning edicts the Taliban issues, a population thirsty for books are finding ways around them. He describes himself as a “proud Muslim” but says he abhors all forms of extremism and believes that people from all faiths and cultures can live together in harmony. “Books are a good, cheap weapon to fight against extremism,” he said.

His love affair with books began at the age of 17 when he read a copy of Shakespeare’s Othello for the first time. He has reread it more than 10 times. Selling books has repeatedly got him into trouble, with two stints in jail after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and forced closure of his shop in the mid-1990s by the Taliban.

“When I was released from jail by the Soviets I wiped the dust off the bookshelves in my shop and started again,” he said. Like Ray Bradbury’s dystopian 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451, which stands against censorship and in defence of literature, and is a book previously stocked in his shop, Rais says his resolve to keep books alive will not falter. His message to the Taliban is a defiant one.

“If you destroy my bookstore a hundred times I will rebuild it.”
10 years after her killing, Anja Niedringhaus’ photos speak for her (AP)
AP [4/3/2024 12:06 PM, Jacqueline Larma and Enric Marti, 456K, Neutral]
If she had lived, there would have been so many more photos.

Anja could have gone to Kabul for the chaotic U.S. withdrawal, and to war-shattered Ukraine after the Russian invasion. She would have been at the Olympics, and at center court at Wimbledon. She would have been at all the places where compassionate photographers with trained eyes make it their business to be.

But on April 4, 2014, outside a heavily guarded government compound in eastern Afghanistan, Associated Press photographer Anja Niedringhaus was killed by an Afghan police officer as she sat in her car. She was 48 years old. Her colleague Kathy Gannon, who was sitting beside her, was badly wounded in the attack.

Anja had a convulsive laugh, a thick German accent and an irrepressible decency that elicited trust from the people on the other side of her lens. She trusted them back, making photographs that captured their struggle for humanity, even in some of the world’s most difficult places.

The three of us became friends in Sarajevo in the early 1990s, when ethnic fighting was savaging the former Yugoslavia and a generation of young photojournalists came into their own. Anja was at the European Pressphoto Agency. We were at the AP.

But while Anja was fiercely competitive, she was also fiercely loyal. Soon we were sharing armored cars, unheated hotel rooms, games of Yahtzee and too many Marlboros.

At a time when women journalists were rare in war zones, Anja was best known as a conflict photographer. Her work helped define the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. Some of the most memorable images from those dark pages in history — ones you might well recognize — came from her camera and her vision.

But Anja never made much out of being a woman surrounded by men. And to see only her conflict work would be a mistake.

She was one of the great sports photographers, whether capturing Serena Williams jumping for joy after a Wimbledon victory or the immense smile of British runner Mohamed Farah as he takes Olympic gold in the 5,000-meter. She photographed everything from European elections to global summits. She mentored young photographers everywhere she went. She expertly told small stories of everyday life in dozens of countries.

And despite her reputation as a war photographer, very often she found beauty and joy on assignment — even in those difficult places where she spent so much time. And especially in the place where she ultimately lost her life.

Just look at her photos. She found joy in the moment when an Afghan nomad tenderly kissed his infant daughter, and happiness among Afghan girls finally able to go to school. She found beauty as a swimmer waded into Lake Geneva at sunrise.

She did it all. Now she is 10 years gone. And these images — the ones that were so important to her and so important to understanding a jumbled world — are what is left to speak for her.
Pakistan
Pakistan’s PTI slams poll body after Senate election delayed in a province (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [4/3/2024 12:36 PM, Abid Hussain, 2060K, Negative]
Pakistan’s main opposition party has condemned a decision by election authorities to delay a vote for seats in the upper house of parliament from a province the party holds, calling it a continuation of “mandate theft” conducted since February’s general election.

The elections to fill half of the Senate’s 96 seats are held every three years in Pakistan. The members, who have six-year terms, are elected by legislators in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, and in the four provincial assemblies. The seats in the Senate are determined by the numbers held by different parties in the national and provincial assemblies.

On Tuesday, a vote to elect 30 senators was held, days after 18 senators were elected unopposed from the Punjab and Balochistan assemblies.

But the election for 11 seats in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly was delayed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which said some members nominated by the ECP to fill reserved seats in the provincial assembly were not administered oaths of office.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, which governs the province, has challenged the ECP decision to allocate reserved seats to opposition parties and has refused to administer the oaths to the new members.

In a statement on Tuesday, the PTI said the Election Commission’s latest decision amounted to “poll robbery”.

“The ECP decision to postpone the polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is merely a continuation of the same conspiracy under which the people’s mandate was stolen after recent general elections,” the statement said, adding that the delay was a “conspiracy” to tamper with the numbers in the upper house.

After Tuesday’s vote for the Senate, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the second largest partner in the national coalition government, now has the largest share of seats in the Senate at 24 while the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has 19. A total of 64 seats is required to hold a two-thirds majority in the Senate.

The PTI, which already has 20 members in the Senate, could have won at least 10 more seats due to its strength in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly if polls had taken place, thereby becoming the single largest party in the upper house.

Ali Amin Gandapur, the province’s chief minister and a member of the PTI, accused the ECP of violating the constitution by postponing the Senate election in the province.

“The ECP has illegally denied giving our alliance the [reserved] seats we deserved and instead handed those to opposition parties,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

The ECP denies the allegation and says it is only following the electoral laws.

The PTI has been alleging election fraud since the February 8 national elections, held after a months-long crackdown on the opposition party, which began with Khan losing power in April 2022.

The former prime minister alleged he was removed due to a conspiracy hatched by his opponents and held nationwide rallies to demand immediate elections. The government swooped down on PTI protests, arresting Khan and dozens of other PTI leaders. In August, Khan was jailed on several charges, and his party was stripped of its election symbol – a cricket bat.

The loss of the election symbol forced PTI candidates to contest the February elections as independents. While PTI-backed politicians emerged as the largest group in parliament, no party gained a clear majority and a coalition opposed to the PTI formed the government.

The party announced that PTI-backed candidates would join the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), a right-wing religious party, to receive their share of reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies.

Despite being a registered political party, the SIC had chosen not to contest the polls and did not submit any list of reserved candidates, a necessary requirement, which was the reason cited by the ECP for depriving it of reserved seats in a controversial decision last month.

Akram Khurram, a constitutional expert, said the decision by the ECP to postpone polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa seems “political in nature”.

“When Peshawar High Court ordered the provincial assembly to administer the oath, it never said anything about delaying the Senate election if the oath-taking did not take place. I don’t think there was any reason for ECP to postpone the polls,” he told Al Jazeera.

Islamabad-based Khurram told Al Jazeera if the polls had taken place in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly without the reserved members, the PTI could have won 10 out of 11 seats.

“The objective of the ruling alliance was to gain a two-thirds majority in the Senate, which they will now have regardless of whenever Senate polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa take place,” he said.

Lahore-based political commentator Majid Nizami said it is highly unusual for Pakistan’s upper house to not have its full strength.

“The house remained suspended during martial law, but it was never incomplete, and due to this stance by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to not allow oath-taking of reserved seat candidates, the ECP decided to postpone the polls. This is quite remarkable and alarming,” he told Al Jazeera.
Pakistani judges say intelligence agency threatened them over Imran Khan (The Guardian)
The Guardian [4/3/2024 1:11 PM, Shah Meer Baloch, 12499K, Negative]
Claims by senior Pakistani judges that the intelligence agencies put pressure on them in cases involving the former prime minister Imran Khan have reached the country’s supreme court, following the publication of an unprecedented letter that has created a storm in Pakistan.

The letter from the six high court judges alleged the abduction of family members, torture, installation of cameras in their bedrooms and threats from the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI).

In one case the judges said they were forced to hear an appeal against Khan even after the majority of judges had decided it was not maintainable.

“Considerable pressure was brought to bear on the judges who had opined that the petition was not maintainable, by operatives of the ISI, through friends and relatives of these judges. Fearing for their security, they sought additional protection for their homes. One of the judges had to be admitted in a hospital due to high blood pressure caused by stress,” the letter claimed.

It alleged the brother-in-law of one judge was abducted by “individuals who claimed to be operatives of the ISI” and “tortured into making false allegations”.

Khan was removed from office in a confidence vote in April 2022, and has since faced arrest and charges of corruption, selling state gifts, leaking state secrets and was convicted in a multitude of cases with sentences ranging from 10 to 14 years’ imprisonment. He was charged in more than 100 cases and has been in prison since August. Khan has denied all charges and claimed his treatment is politically motivated, accusing Pakistan’s powerful military chief of harbouring a “personal grudge” against him. The military has denied his claims.

At the opening of the supreme court hearing on Wednesday, the chief justice Qazi Faez Isa said he had zero tolerance for challenges to the independence of the judiciary. Supreme court justice Athar Minallah said the letter addressed what has been happening in Pakistan for the last 76 years. “We can’t bury our heads like ostrich in the sands,” he said.

Syed Zulfiqar Bukhari, Khan’s adviser on international media and affairs, said that the letter written from the judges made it evident that the courts have been under duress for at least the past two years.

“This is not the first time nor will it be the last that the military establishment and ‘operatives’ have pressured desired verdicts from our courts. However, this time around the tactics used were appalling, from planting cameras in judges’ bedrooms to threats on them and family members,” said Bukhari.

The former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said it was unprecedented in Pakistan’s history for senior serving judges to go public on claims of intelligence agency interference.

“It is a test case for the supreme court as the high court judges are looking for justice and guidance from the supreme judicial council to end the interference of agencies.”

The judges noted in the letter that they had informed high court and supreme court chief justices in the past about the threats, and a military general in ISI had assured the chief justice of Islamabad high court (IHC) last May that “no official from ISI will approach judges of the IHC”. It claimed that interference from the intelligence operatives continued, however.

The letter came a week after the supreme court had ruled in favour of a high court judge, Shaukat Siddiqui, who was removed from the office when he publicly alleged that ISI operatives were involved in political engineering and manipulating decisions in the high court. The prime minister at the time was Khan.

Hasnaat Malik, an analyst, said that Khan’s own record in office was not good and he had sided with the military establishment, but at the moment, Khan and his party were facing the brunt of its pressure.

“We have seen in the past judges facing pressure from the operatives for political engineering. But this new episode of the letter is primarily focused against Khan and his party. It is the case for the supreme court and chief justice to decide the future of judiciary,” he said.

Intelligence officials have rejected the letter’s claims. “The accusations made by the honourable judges of IHC are frivolous in nature and out of context. The cases against the former prime minister Imran Khan are purely legal and have nothing to do with law enforcement agencies,” an official said.

“The allegations about abduction of the brother-in-law are also mere fabrications and are levelled without any evidence. As the matter is being adjudicated by the supreme court and being telecasted on national media, all the aspects will remain in public without any bias. Intelligence officials expect a free and fair hearing of the case which must be reaching to its logical conclusion.”
Pakistan’s democracy, its military, and America (Brookings Institution – opinion)
Brookings Institution [4/3/2024 11:32 AM, Madiha Afzal, 304K, Neutral]
Pakistan has a new government in power. The country held a delayed, flawed election on February 8, 2024, marked by a pre-poll crackdown on its most popular political party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), arrests of thousands of PTI members and senior leadership, and knocking the party name and election symbol off the ballot. Election day was marred by internet and cell service shutdowns. Voters showed up and cast their ballots anyway, but an unexplained delay in the result and reported discrepancies in vote tabulations further mired the election in controversy. Behind it all was the military’s usual playbook of propping up the party it favors, and stacking the deck against the party it does not.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, which has effectively downgraded the relationship with Pakistan, was conspicuously silent on the pre-poll manipulation leading up to the election. Biden has neglected Pakistan for the past three years—not calling the Pakistani prime minister even once—while the State Department has continued to engage with the country, trying to find a new basis for the relationship which floundered after the end of the U.S. war in Afghanistan. The day after the election, the State Department did acknowledge concerns about “allegations of fraud in the electoral process,” and called for claims of interference to be fully investigated.

A significant number of members of Congress and the chairs of the Senate and House Foreign Relations committees followed suit with their own statements, some considerably stronger than the State Department’s. In late February, 31 members of Congress sent a letter to the Biden administration calling on it to withhold recognition of the new government “until an investigation determines the election was not rigged.”

Official statements from other countries were also more pointed about Pakistan’s election day irregularities and specific about pre-poll manipulation. U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron, for instance, expressed “regret that not all parties were formally permitted to contest the elections and that legal processes were used to prevent some political leaders from participation.”

Neither the State Department nor the White House issued an official statement congratulating the new government, but the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Donald Blome, congratulated Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif soon after Sharif took his oath of office, and he has engaged with both him and the new president, Asif Zardari. On March 29, Biden wrote a short note to Sharif about the “enduring partnership” between the two countries, the first official outreach from Biden to a Pakistani prime minister since 2021.

A congressional hearing on March 20 focused on Pakistan’s elections and the future of its democracy. In his testimony, Donald Lu, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, pointed to the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) investigation of election irregularities and noted that the ECP had previously held new elections in cases where irregularities were found. The State Department’s faith in the ECP is misplaced this election cycle: The organization has failed on multiple instances to fulfill its constitutional duties and has appeared partisan. In response to a question about what would happen to the U.S.-Pakistan relationship if the ECP failed to properly investigate irregularities, Lu noted that relations would be negatively affected. The history of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship tells us that is unlikely.

The Pakistani army and America

The Biden administration claims that democracy at home and abroad is a key focus. Yet, it has largely dropped the ball when it comes to Pakistan’s democracy. The U.S. administration’s tepid stance on the subversion of Pakistan’s democratic process in this election cycle belies more than a lack of interest: it reflects the very nature of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship. Pakistan’s army has long been America’s partner of choice in the country, through periods of both military and civilian rule.

America has arguably been closest to Pakistan’s military dictators, from General Ayub Khan in the 1960s to General Zia-ul-Haq in the 1980s and General Pervez Musharraf in the early 2000s. Part of the story is the decades-long American involvement in Afghanistan. In the 1980s, Pakistan partnered with America covertly to support the mujahideen in the Soviet-Afghan war. After 2001, Pakistan allied with U.S. President George W. Bush’s administration as it began the war in Afghanistan, receiving $23 billion in security aid and military reimbursements until 2018. The two militaries continue to join hands on counterterrorism concerns.

America’s partnership with Pakistan’s military is also a product of U.S. anxieties about Pakistan’s stability and the fear that its nuclear arsenal might fall into the wrong hands. Pakistan’s military projects itself as the most competent institution in the country to both domestic and foreign audiences, and America has internalized that notion. U.S. support to Pakistan’s military—both financial and non-financial—has in turn cemented the army’s strength.

Yet America’s belief in the military as the guarantor of stability in Pakistan has hardly borne out. In the last two years, the military has generated the worst political crisis Pakistan has faced in decades.

In the past the Pakistani army’s conduct has also been a cause of great frustration for the United States. America has long alleged that the army played a double game in Afghanistan by providing the Afghan Taliban sanctuary in Pakistan after 2001, to try to achieve an elusive “strategic depth” in Afghanistan—a friendly government in its western neighbor, to counter a foe to the east in India. That policy has also hurt Pakistan’s own citizens: since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, Pakistan once again faces a serious security challenge from the Pakistani Taliban, who have sanctuary and a logistical base across the border in Afghanistan.

Yet America still relies on the Pakistani army, especially on counterterrorism concerns in Afghanistan and the region. While America’s relationship with Pakistan’s civilian government has seen a downgrade during the Biden administration, the relationship between the two militaries has remained intact and strong. Pakistan’s current army chief visited the United States in December, and met U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, among other civilian officials.

America’s closeness with Pakistan’s military may explain why it stayed silent on the military’s use of its usual playbook to influence the country’s elections this year—even as the crackdown on the PTI grew more intense and thousands of the party’s members were imprisoned last summer. The PTI’s leader Imran Khan baselessly and repeatedly blaming the United States for his April 2022 ouster has also not won him friends in Washington.

Supporting Pakistan’s democracy

The Biden administration has spoken out more strongly in the case of flawed election processes in countries other than Pakistan. For instance, for Bangladesh, which held a problematic election a few weeks before Pakistan’s, the State Department noted that it “shares the view with other observers that these elections were not free or fair and we regret that not all parties participated.”

The United States also made a stronger statement after Pakistan’s flawed 2018 election, in which the deck was stacked against Sharif’s PML-N party but all political parties were permitted to participate with their party names and symbols (in contrast to 2024). The Trump State Department noted “unequal campaign opportunities” and that “the United States shares concerns about flaws in the pre-voting electoral process, as expressed by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.”

For the sake of Pakistan’s democracy (and for the sake of its own credibility), the United States must speak out more forcefully about the military’s undue interference in Pakistan’s electoral process and its other attempts to subvert its democracy. The U.S. government deflecting to Pakistan’s Election Commission or its judicial process is meaningless when those institutions often function as an accessory to the military, as they have this election cycle. A strong American stance on Pakistan’s democracy and its elections may well begin to change the Pakistani military’s usual playbook, because it derives a measure of legitimacy from American support.

Pakistani voters put their faith in democracy in 2024, but they were yet again relegated to voting in the margins of the constraints the country’s military establishment had drawn for them. The Biden administration missed an opportunity this election cycle. The United States should not do so in the future.
India
India Isn’t Expected to Stop Russian Oil Imports, US Official Says (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [4/4/2024 5:26 AM, Sudhi Ranjan Sen and Rakesh Sharma, 5239K, Neutral]
The US never expected India to stop importing Russian oil as it’s in Washington’s interest to keep energy flowing to prevent any supply shocks caused by the Ukraine war, US Treasury Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy Eric Van Nostrand said.

“What the sanction regime intends to do is to reduce Putin’s revenue,” Van Nostrand said on Thursday at an event in New Delhi. Russian oil will no longer be the same product once processed in refineries, and therefore not a target for penalties.

The trading of Russian oil is currently restricted by a strategy employed by the Group of Seven, which involves a $60-a-barrel price cap on Russian crude from December 2022. Buyers can still purchase crude above price cap, but in doing so they would lose critical western financing and insurance services for cargoes.

Russia, which prior to invading Ukraine had an insignificant role in India’s oil basket, has seen exports to India swell since the start of the war and consequent Western sanctions, becoming the country’s top supplier.

Despite pressures from the West and the cost of the ongoing war, Russia’s oil and gas tax revenue almost doubled in March from a year earlier. The nation’s producers adapted to sanctions through a large “shadow fleet” of tankers, said US Acting Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing Anna Morris, speaking at the same event.

The cost of Russian Urals crude fell to a $17 to $18-a-barrel discount to global prices in January and February this year, down from a $12 to $13 discount earlier.

“Russia will react to an effective price cap by continuing to invest money to avoid our sanctions, requiring us to continue to adapt and innovate in our strategy,” Morris said.
US to say Indian refineries help make Russia oil price cap work (Reuters)
Reuters [4/3/2024 5:33 PM, Timothy Gardner, 5239K, Neutral]
The G7 price cap on Russian oil shipments is cutting the revenue that Moscow has available to support its invasion of Ukraine, and the mechanism’s effectiveness is helped by the recent actions of Indian refiners, U.S. officials will say in New Delhi on Thursday, according to prepared remarks.

The U.S. Treasury officials, Eric Van Nostrand, assistant secretary for economic policy, and Anna Morris, acting assistant secretary for terrorist financing, will make the remarks at an event held by the Ananta Aspen Centre in New Delhi, the Treasury told Reuters on Wednesday.

"We know that the Indian economy has much at stake in the Russian oil trade, and has much at stake from the global supply disruptions that the price cap is designed to avoid," the officials will say.

India has been one of the top consumers of Russian oil since Western sanctions have shifted the market for the crude from Europe to Asia, imposing costs on Russia for relying on a "shadow fleet" of aging tankers to ship it further.

New Delhi has traditionally had close economic and defense ties with Moscow and refrained from criticizing Russia over its war in Ukraine. But last week the foreign ministers of Ukraine and India said they had agreed to restore trade and cooperation to levels before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The price cap imposed by the G7 countries, the European Union and Australia bans the use of Western maritime services such as insurance, flagging and transportation when tankers carry Russian oil priced at or above $60 a barrel. The West imposed the mechanism after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The U.S. officials are in India this week meeting with government officials and business leaders to discuss cooperation on anti-money laundering, countering the financing of terrorism, and implementation of the price cap.

Since October, the U.S. has enforced the price cap with sanctions including designating in February Sovcomflot (SCF), Russia’s state-owned shipping company.

The actions on Russia are helped by moves by international refiners, including India’s Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), to not buy Russian oil loaded on SCF tankers, the officials will say.

"Our efforts are bolstered by international support for these enforcement actions, like the recent decision from private and publicly owned refineries to halt imports on Sovcomflot ships," the Treasury officials will say.

Enforcement of the price cap on Russian oil has hit the price that Russia can get for its oil in global markets, reducing revenues for its war on Ukraine, the officials will say.

The Treasury estimates that the discount of Russian Urals oil to the Brent international benchmark has widened from about $12-$13 a barrel before October to $18 in January and to about $17 to $18 in February, the last month with data available, the officials will say.

"The United States, together with the rest of the (price cap) coalition, will need to remain vigilant and ensure that the policy, its implementation, and enforcement are deployed to inflict financial burden on Russia and keep global energy markets stable," the officials will say.
US-India Defense Ties Marching Ahead Fast (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [4/3/2024 4:14 PM, Rupakivoti Boarh, 201K, Neutral]
A recent report released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) makes for interesting reading. It notes that India was the world’s top arms importer between 2019 and 2023, with its imports having gone up by 4.7 percent compared to the period between 2014 and 2018. The same report also notes that “although Russia remained India’s main arms supplier [accounting for 36% of its arms imports], this was the first five-year period since 1960–64 when deliveries from Russia [or the Soviet Union prior to 1991] made up less than half of India’s arms imports.”

This shows that although Russia is still India’s biggest weapons supplier, weapons sales from the U.S. to India have increased dramatically. India now buys a whole range of defense weaponry from the United States. This includes C-17 Globemaster III aircraft, AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, MH-60 Romeo helicopters, P8I Poseidon Maritime reconnaissance aircraft, and many more deals are in the works.

It is to be noted here that during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s landmark state visit to the U.S. in June last year, the U.S. company GE Aerospace inked a pact with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to jointly produce fighter jet engines for Indian Air Force’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)-Mk-II—Tejas. This is a landmark deal for both countries and could open doors for many more deals to come.

So, What Has Changed?

Russia (and its predecessor the Soviet Union) used to be the main source of weaponry for India, but now India is drawing from a wide variety of countries like the U.S., France and others like Israel. For India, the U.S. is a very important partner as it faces twin threats from Pakistan in its western flank and China on its northern flank.

The relations between India and the U.S. changed in the aftermath of the landmark U.S.-India nuclear deal of 2008 under which the U.S. agreed to do nuclear commerce with India, although India has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or the CTBT (Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty).

The U.S. sees India as an indispensable partner as it seeks to counter an increasingly assertive China. Beijing under President Xi Jinping has made no bones about the fact that it wants a bigger say in the region. While the “hub and spokes” model has worked well for the United States in the past, no country in the Indo-Pacific region can make up for India because of its sheer size, the scale of its economy and its strategic heft.

Challenges

However, the challenge on the defense front between India and the U.S. will be the issue of technology transfer since India is now putting greater emphasis on its “Make in India” initiative, which aims at the indigenization of its defense weaponry.

In addition, India still continues to import weapon systems from Russia. New Delhi has ordered S-400 missile defense systems from Moscow. It has refused to back down in the face of threatened U.S. sanctions over the deal.

However, it is worth noting here that close to 60 percent of India’s overall in-service military arsenal is Russian in origin, even though in percentage terms, its arms imports from Russia between 2017 and 2022 have dropped from 62 percent to 45 percent. However, India will continue to rely on Moscow for technical support of its Russian weapons platforms. It is also collaborating with Russia for the manufacture of the BrahMoS missiles.

In addition, there is the Pakistan factor as the U.S. has supplied Pakistan with F-16 fighter jets, which have been used in actual fighting against India.

The Road Ahead

What remains certain is that defense relations between India and the U.S. will continue to grow irrespective of possible changes in governments at both ends. India and the U.S. must take incremental steps forward and focus on the low-hanging fruit first, before going in for the big items. The U.S. and India will also have to “ agree to disagree” on issues like Pakistan and Russia, keeping the long-term picture in mind. As they say, one must not miss the forest for the trees.
Indian company sold contaminated shrimp to U.S. grocery stores, ‘whistleblower’ says (NBC News)
NBC News [4/3/2024 8:39 PM, Kenzi Abou-Sabe and Alexandra Chaidez, 3304K, Neutral]
Joshua Farinella had been working in the seafood industry for eight years when he received an exotic job offer too lucrative to pass up — managing a shrimp factory in southern India. The salary: $300,000, more than double what he was making previously.

“I packed up two suitcases and moved 8,000 miles away,” said Farinella, 45, of Pittston, Pennsylvania. “It was supposed to be life-changing.”

But just a few months after he arrived on the job in October 2023, Farinella said he became deeply disturbed by what he was witnessing.

His company, Choice Canning, supplies shrimp to major U.S. grocery chains including Walmart, Aldi, ShopRite and H.E.B. It touts its “state-of-the-art processing plant” and “commitment to international standards of quality.”

But Farinella said he soon discovered that Choice Canning operated unsanitary offsite “peeling sheds” and routinely approved the export of shrimp tainted with antibiotics in violation of U.S. food safety law.

The company’s treatment of workers was equally jarring to Farinella, he said. Migrant workers rarely had a day off, slept in overcrowded, bedbug-infested dorms and were restricted from leaving the walled-off company compound in Amalapuram, according to Farinella. They were mostly women who were often recruited from the poorest sections of the country.

Farinella left the job after about four months, but not before recording conversations with senior leadership and capturing video footage of conditions at the plant and at an offsite peeling facility.

“The consumers need to understand that they’ve been purchasing a contaminated product that was made by people who don’t have the luxury of going home,” said Farinella, who has filed a whistleblower complaint with the Food and Drug Administration and other regulators detailing his allegations and has shared it with members of Congress.

U.S. lawmakers are looking into Farinella’s allegations, which underscore long-held concerns about the farmed shrimp industry globally and more recent findings about India’s in particular.

In a letter dated March 18, ranking Democrats on the House Committee on Natural Resources requested documents and recordings from Farinella in response to his complaint. The letter references the committee’s “ongoing efforts to reduce human rights violations and increase transparency in the seafood supply chain.” (Farinella’s lawyers said they’ve provided all relevant records in response.)

After the nonprofit news organization The Outlaw Ocean Project published its investigation into Farinella’s claims, other lawmakers called on the Biden administration to take action to protect American consumers.

“Damning evidence from someone in the industry has revealed strong concerns of severe food safety issues and labor violations at an Indian shrimp processing plant,” Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, and Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., wrote in a March 22 letter to President Joe Biden. “The whistleblower alleged that the company was deliberately exporting shrimp contaminated with antibiotics and engaging in forced labor practices.”

Lawyers for Choice Canning categorically denied any wrongdoing, including the claims about abusive labor practices and the illegal use of antibiotics.

“The allegations that have been brought against our company are false and without merit,” a spokesperson for Choice Canning Company Inc. said in a statement.

“During our history we have maintained a spotless record with regulators and continue to exceed industry standards to ensure our products meet all certifications. Throughout our history we have dedicated significant resources to developing and adhering to comprehensive auditing processes and protocols as well as employee welfare programs.”

The company also cast Farinella as a disgruntled former employee who should not be believed because of his criminal past.

Farinella was convicted of a series of felony and misdemeanor crimes between 1999 and 2014 — a period when he says he was struggling with depression and substance abuse. The offenses included grand theft auto, burglary and identity theft.

“It was 10-plus years ago,” said Farinella, who is married with two stepchildren, ages 17 and 24. “That’s not who I am at this point in my life.”

Walmart and Aldi said in statements to NBC News that they were investigating Farinella’s claims and expect their suppliers to treat workers fairly. Wakefern Food Corporation, which owns ShopRite, referred to Choice Canning’s response to the allegations. HEB did not respond to requests for comment.

“We expect suppliers to operate safe workplaces, take responsibility for the well-being of their workers, adhere to our forced labor prevention principles and to protect the integrity of the food we sell by complying with all FDA regulatory requirements and Walmart food safety standards,” a Walmart spokesperson said.

A troubled industry

Americans love shrimp. It’s the most consumed type of seafood in the U.S, and nearly 40% of the imported crustaceans now comes from India — more than any other country.

Thailand was for a long time the largest exporter of shrimp to the U.S. But the industry was jolted by high rates of shrimp disease and repeated reports of forced labor. With Thailand’s shrimp business in crisis, India boosted production to meet global demand.

A new report by the Corporate Accountability Lab (CAL), a Chicago-based advocacy group, suggests that Farinella’s allegations are part of a larger, systemic problem in the Indian shrimp industry.

The report was based on interviews with more than 150 workers and others in the country’s shrimping sector.

The CAL report did not investigate Choice Canning, but found that shrimp operations in India often rely on forced labor and “dangerous and abusive working conditions” to “meet demands for ever-lower prices.”

“In the processing sector, workers live in overcrowded and often unsanitary conditions under the careful surveillance of company guards,” reads the report. “They are rarely allowed to leave the premises.”

CAL also found that debt bondage — preventing workers from leaving a job until they have paid off a loan — is common. And shrimp production is also causing severe environmental damage, the report says.

The report didn’t focus on food safety, but it does note that the Indian shrimp industry focuses on two national markets “with fewer regulations and less monitoring of imported shrimp: China and the U.S.”

While the European Union samples 50% of shrimp from India for antibiotic traces, the U.S. inspected just over 1% of shrimp imports in 2023, the FDA said. According to publicly available import refusal data from the FDA, the FDA refused 51 shipments of shrimp due to antibiotics last year and over 70% of them involved shrimp exported from India.

“The minimal testing combined with the huge quantity of shrimp entering the United States means that there is a high risk of shrimp with traces of antibiotics entering the U.S. market from India,” the Corporate Accountability Lab report says.

Shrimp farmers sometimes use antibiotics to reduce the spread of disease, but the practice is heavily restricted in many countries in part because eating contaminated shrimp could lead to increased resistance to antibiotics.

Farinella said his plant shipped out antibiotic-tainted shrimp “nearly half a dozen times” in the time he was there. Company leaders even had a code name for it, he said: Oscar.

In a WhatsApp text exchange cited in the whistleblower complaint and viewed by NBC News, Farinella wrote to an executive about a shipment of cooked shrimp for a U.S. grocer that he said tested positive for antibiotics. “Please use the word Oscar lol” the executive wrote.

“Oscar was the word when nobody wanted to see a message out there saying, ‘Hey, this shrimp is contaminated,’” Farinella said.

Choice Canning disputed Farinella’s characterization, saying the term Oscar is used to denote shrimp that had tested positive for antibiotics in an initial inspection, but negative in a subsequent, more precise one known as LCMSMS.

“Cleared OSCAR products can only be exported after LCMSMS reports are negative and further time requires senior management approval for final shipments,” reads a policy document provided by Choice Canning.

Farinella said the processing plant itself was inspected by auditors from Best Aquaculture Practices, a group that ensures seafood is responsibly and sustainably sourced, but a substantial portion of the work was actually done at offsite peeling sheds with subpar standards of hygiene and sanitation.

Workers in street clothes and sandals would peel shrimp in rooms exposed to the elements and without temperature control, Farinella said.

Choice Canning said it only relied on an offsite peeling shed from January to February, and that it was used for shrimp bought by customers who purchase seafood that is not certified by Best Aquaculture Practices, or BAP.

“Choice is not aware of any unsanitary conditions, and the shed has not been used since March 1, 2024,” the company said. A second shed was used by a “copacker,” and the shrimp processed there was not owned or sold by Choice, the company added.

Farinella said he decided to speak out about what he experienced in the hope of forcing a reckoning on the shrimp industry.

“I need a change to happen, and that will make this worth it,” he said.
India’s Unusual Jobs Math: More Education Equals a Higher Chance of Unemployment (Wall Street Journal)
Wall Street Journal [4/3/2024 5:30 AM, Vibhuti Agarwal and Shan Li, 810K, Neutral]
A lawmaker from eastern India had just begun to appeal for an airport in his rural district when cries broke out and yellow smoke began wafting through India’s parliament.

A man had set off a smoke canister in the chamber and was leaping from bench to bench shouting antigovernment slogans. Another protester made it to the chamber’s visitor’s gallery. Outside, two protesters chanted “end dictatorship.”

The protest in December brought a rare and brief disruption to India’s parliament but it highlighted a long-running problem in India’s economy: Young, highly educated people often struggle to find jobs. The protesters were well-educated by India’s standards—two of them have college degrees and one has graduated high school—but were having a hard time getting well-paying jobs. A fourth protester, also a high school graduate, was in a similar situation, Indian media reported.

The four people arrested at the parliament that day are being investigated on terrorism charges. They are still in detention and couldn’t be reached for comment.

As they were being led away on the day of the protest, one of the college graduates, Neelam Verma, in her late 30s, shouted, “I am a regular person, a student and an unemployed person.”

India is one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world. The government said gross domestic product likely grew at a rate of 7.6% in the fiscal year that ended on March 31. But the economy isn’t creating enough jobs for the millions of young people joining the labor force each year in the country of 1.4 billion.

India has seen some urban job growth in recent years, but most of it is in low-wage services and construction. Economists say the country isn’t creating enough white-collar jobs that appeal to educated young people, and government efforts to bring in more investment in factories have yet to lead to large-scale increases in blue-collar employment. India has only about 60 million manufacturing jobs, while more than four times that many people work in farming.

Globally, unemployment among young people tends to run higher than for the labor force as a whole. But higher levels of education tend to lead to better chances of employment. In the U.S., for example, a young person with a college degree is more likely to have a job than a high-school dropout.

In India, the math is flipped. More than 40% of college graduates under the age of 25 are unemployed, compared with 11% of those of the same age group who are literate but haven’t completed primary school, according to a 2023 report from Azim Premji University in Bengaluru that is based on official data.

In China, even though growth has been slowing, the unemployment rate for college graduates under the age of 25 hovers around 7.5%, according to an Asian Development Bank report from last year, based on official data from 2018 and 2020. Young people in China are far more likely to have a college degree than those in India.

Economists say India’s stark share of unemployment among its most educated is because young people who have managed to get through grueling school and college entry exams know they are in a select group in the country and want to hold out for better jobs—and can often count on financial support from their families. Young people with less education know they have to make do with whatever they can get.

Compounding the problem, recruiters also find that many of those who have college degrees aren’t equipped for the jobs they aspire to. Many young people are getting general degrees from for-profit colleges that don’t prepare them for highly competitive sectors such as tech and finance, which offer jobs to a tiny percentage of India’s college graduates each year, said Amit Basole, a professor of economics at Azim Premji University and a co-author of its report on employment.

“What we have on the supply side of the labor market is a lot of young men and women with a lot of degrees,” said Basole. “But it isn’t clear what they have been trained to do.”

Verma, one of the protesters at India’s parliament, aspired to be a teacher, her family said. She has degrees in art and philosophy but was earning about $3.60 a day as a farm laborer, helping to grow rice and wheat in her village, Ghaso Khurd, in the northern state of Haryana. “We knew she was capable of doing much more than that,” her cousin Mahaveer said.

When local politicians came to the village, she would hand them her résumé and a note asking for help finding a job.

As she became more frustrated over her situation, she became more politically active, organizing small-scale protests over unemployment in the region and joining in farmers’ demonstrations in 2020 and 2021 that pushed successfully for the repeal of laws Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced to overhaul the agricultural sector.

The family had scraped together thousands of dollars for Verma’s education, along with that of her two brothers. But despite graduating with master’s degrees, her brothers didn’t find jobs either. Now they run a business supplying milk to the village.

“We worked so hard to educate them,” her mother said. The fact that she struggled so much to find a job “makes us feel hopeless.”

Sagar Sharma, one of the other protesters, had graduated from high school in the northern Indian city of Lucknow, his father said. That in theory opens the door to the first rung of white-collar and retail jobs. Sharma, in his late 20s, first worked as an office assistant and then at a flour mill earning about $60 a month.

“He kept switching jobs in the hope of making more money,” said the elder Sharma.

Eventually, he bought an electric rickshaw and earned $110 a month ferrying passengers, with much of that going to pay the loan that funded the purchase. A third protester had a degree in computer engineering but never managed to find a job either, said his mother.

India’s government has sought to increase employment primarily by offering incentives to companies to set up factories and training programs for young workers. But many economists say the incentives haven’t focused on the types of industries that would generate significant employment.

India’s Labor Ministry didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Unemployment remains high even for graduates aged 25 to 29, at nearly 23%, indicating a persistent problem. While unemployment eventually declines for people in their 30s, that could suggest they eventually settle for work they are overqualified for, the report by Azim Premji University said.

Varun Goel, a 23-year-old with a degree in software engineering, said the protesters’ frustrations resonated with him, though he disagreed with what they did. Goel said he first tried working at an information technology consulting firm in Bareilly, a city in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh, but he only earned $145 a month. He quit, unsatisfied with the pay, but he didn’t find another suitable job. So he decided to enroll in business school.

Goel said many of his friends who graduated with degrees in business and technology were struggling like him.

“After studying so much, we can’t start driving rickshaws or selling ice cream,” said the student, who is getting by with the help of savings and family support. “The government has to create the right kind of jobs for those with graduate degrees.”

Amid the absence of good private jobs, many are entering the highly competitive fray for government jobs, which pay less but come with job security, good benefits—and respect.

“I can’t work just anywhere,” said Siddharth Sharma, an unemployed 24-year-old from the central Indian city of Gwalior who has several college degrees, including one in philosophy. “I want a particular kind of work that offers good pay and stability.”

Sharma is currently preparing for the country’s grueling civil services entrance examinations. But he’s aware he may not get lucky there either.

“I have only one demand from the government,” he said. “Where is my job?”
Modi could sweep away Congress in Indian election, says survey (Reuters)
Reuters [4/3/2024 11:45 AM, Krishna N. Das, 5239K, Positive]
A coalition led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party could win nearly three-fourths of the parliamentary seats in elections starting this month, according to a survey, while the main opposition Congress could hit a record low.

The immensely popular Modi is riding high on the back of strong economic growth, handouts and the January inauguration of a Hindu temple on a contested site in the Hindu-majority country, despite his poor job-creation record and widening disparity between the rich and poor.

Elections for a five-year term will be held in seven phases between April 19 and June 1 and votes will be counted on June 4.

Modi’s National Democratic Alliance coalition could win 399 of the 543 seats in the lower house of parliament while his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alone is projected to win 342, according to an India TV-CNX opinion poll published on Wednesday. The majority mark is 272 seats and Modi’s target for his alliance is to win more than 400.

Opinion polls have a mixed record in the diverse country of 1.42 billion people.

Five years ago, the BJP won 303 seats and its alliance more than 350.

Congress could fall to 38 seats, a record low, from 52 in 2019 and the previous low of 44 in 2014, according to the survey conducted in March that covered nearly 180,000 people. It is the first major opinion poll since election dates were announced last month.

The party’s "INDIA" coalition partners that have agreed to jointly contest the elections are expected to win a total of 94 seats, according to the survey. Big regional party Trinamool Congress, which is part of "INDIA" but declined to jointly contest with Congress in the eastern state of West Bengal, could win 19 seats.

Like in the previous two elections, the BJP is expected to do very well in the country’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, winning 73 of the 80 seats there.

In the prosperous south of the country, where the BJP has struggled to make much headway, the party could see good numbers from Karnataka, the only state in the region it has ruled locally and where Congress is now in power.

The opposition, meanwhile, is struggling to stay united and its leaders are facing multiple corruption charges that they say are politically motivated. Modi says investigation agencies are independent.

"This fight is to save democracy and the constitution," said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after filing his nomination papers.

Helping Modi is the economy that is expected to have grown by about 8% in the last fiscal year ended March 31, the fastest among major countries. Fruits of the booming economy, however, are more visible in the cities than in the vast countryside.

To help them cope with rural distress and high prices, the government has been giving free rations to 814 million Indians since the COVID-19 pandemic.

And it is not just handouts that could help the BJP.

Modi in January led the consecration of a grand temple to Hindu God-king Ram on a site believed to be his birthplace, fulfilling a 35-year-old promise of the Hindu-nationalist BJP. A Hindu mob in 1992 pulled down a 16th-century mosque on the site, which many Hindus believe was built over a demolished Hindu temple under the Mughal ruler Babur.
Rahul Gandhi files nomination for India election from Kerala seat (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [4/3/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, 2.1M, Neutral]
Thousands of supporters thronged India’s most prominent opposition leader Rahul Gandhi during a campaign procession before his formal nomination for the parliamentary election starting this month.

Gandhi, 53, is the son, grandson, and great-grandson of former prime ministers, but his Congress party has already suffered two landslide defeats against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

He is the leading figure in an opposition alliance fighting an uphill battle in this year’s polls against Modi, who remains broadly popular after a decade in power and is likely to retain office comfortably.

But Gandhi was given a rousing reception in Wayanad, a picturesque town in the southern state of Kerala, with a huge crowd gathering to cheer his arrival on Wednesday.

“I don’t think of you as my electorate but as my family,” he told the gathering from atop a truck, flanked by his younger sister Priyanka and cadres from his party.

Gandhi formally filed his nomination, vying to retain the Wayanad seat, with the local election office after the rally.

He was first elected from the constituency in 2019 but was briefly disqualified from parliament last year after his conviction for criminal libel in a case filed by a member of the BJP.

He was reinstated pending a Supreme Court appeal, but his decision to recontest the seat has caused some friction within the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), of which Congress is a part.

His main challenger is firebrand left-wing candidate Annie Raja of the Communist Party of India, a fellow member of the INDIA bloc. Her allies have criticised Gandhi for not choosing to fight in another seat against an established candidate from Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“The entire country should discuss the inappropriateness of this,” Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, a member of Raja’s party, told reporters on Tuesday.

In the 2019 general election, Gandhi lost his formerly safe seat of Amethi in the northern Uttar Pradesh state to the then-rising BJP star, Smriti Irani. He blamed the defeat on the BJP using “the entire machinery of the Indian state” against the opposition.

Starting April 19, nearly a billion Indians will vote to elect a new government in the seven-phase election. The votes will be counted on June 4.
Online hate sows Muslim fears as India votes (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [4/3/2024 10:51 PM, Davesh Mishra, 11975K, Negative]
After his brother was murdered in anti-Muslim riots, Pervez Qureshi watched the videos he believes incited the killers, part of a wave of hatred being fomented on social media ahead of India’s elections.

India has a long and grim history of sectarian clashes between the Hindu majority and its biggest minority faith, but analysts warn increasingly available modern technology is being used to deliberately exploit divisions.

"Videos and messages were shared on Facebook and WhatsApp which contained inflammatory language and incitement to violence," Qureshi told AFP, recalling the attack on his brother Faheem in February in the northern city of Haldwani in Uttarakhand state.

"It poisoned the atmosphere."

Nearly 550 million more Indians have access to the internet than when Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power a decade ago, according to figures from the Internet and Mobile Association of India.

Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is widely expected to win a third term in elections that begin on April 19.

Part of his popularity can be attributed to his party’s masterful online campaign team, staffed by thousands of volunteers who champion his good deeds and achievements.

Modi’s use of social media "awakens nationalism and patriotism among the youth in every corner of the country", said Manish Saini, a youth leader of a BJP "IT Cell" in Uttarakhand state, who works online to reach voters.

Critics however accuse the BJP’s sophisticated social media apparatus of also fanning the flames of division.

Haldwani community leader Islam Hussain said tensions were already high before February’s violence, after months of incendiary social media posts calling Muslims "outsiders".

"It was said that due to the increasing population of Muslims, the social demography of Uttarakhand is changing", Hussein said.

"Right-wing social media cells have a big role in creating an atmosphere of hatred against Muslims."

Clashes erupted after the authorities said a mosque had been built illegally, and a Muslim group gathered to prevent its demolition.

Some hurled stones at police officers, who beat them back with batons and tear gas.

Hindu residents gathered to cheer on the police clampdown, chanting religious slogans and throwing rocks at the crowd.

Footage of the riots spread swiftly on social media.

Egged on by online calls to mobilise, Hindu mobs rampaged through the streets.

"It’s time to teach them a lesson," read the caption to one of dozens of inflammatory posts, many of which remain online.

"The time has come to beat Muslims."

Qureshi said his brother Faheem, 32, was killed by Hindu neighbours after they first torched his car.

But Saini, coordinator for the BJP’s youth wing, said the online team he leads does not encourage violence -- and is under strict instruction not to "write anything against anyone’s religion".

He said his colleagues had mobilised quickly on the day riots broke out to provide information, not to stir up trouble.

"When we got the news, we immediately started preparing graphics, videos and text messages to reach people with the correct and accurate information related to the incident," he said.

He said the initial violence was clashes between police and a Muslim group -- and blamed Modi’s opponents for instigating riots to tarnish the government’s image.

Critics disagree.

Raqib Hameed Naik, from research group Hindutva Watch, said that the BJP’s IT Cell had generated anger towards minorities, by promoting the government’s Hindu-nationalist agenda.

Naik, who documents hate speech against religious minorities, said the social media messages spreading during the Haldwani violence followed a pattern seen in previous riots.

"First, hate speech against Muslims by a Hindu activist or politician creates an atmosphere... then the hate speech triggers an incident," Naik said.

Afterwards, online Hindu-nationalist campaigners "hold Muslims responsible" for the violence, he added.
Muslims in India’s most populous state protest ban on madrasas (VOA)
VOA [4/3/2024 10:55 AM, Shaikh Azizur Rahman, 761K, Neutral]
Muslim educators in India are protesting a recent court ruling that would effectively shut down thousands of religious schools known as madrasas in the nation’s most populous state.

In its March 22 ruling, the Allahabad High Court scrapped the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education Act 2004, saying it violated India’s constitutional secularism. It ordered that all Islamic school students in Uttar Pradesh be shifted to "regular" schools.

Leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, say the decision will benefit Muslim society by providing the community’s students with the opportunity to study in modern mainstream schools.

But Muslim leaders say the ruling ignores years of reforms that have modernized India’s madrasas and introduced nationally approved syllabuses, including subjects such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, computer programming and social sciences.

"The court order violates Articles 29 and 30 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees the right of religious minorities to establish and run educational institutions of their choice," Zafarul-Islam Khan, former chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission, told VOA.

"Muslims whole-heartedly welcomed modernized madrasas, and we have seen madrasa-educated students becoming civil servants, scientists, doctors, engineers and other modern professionals," he added. "Yet, the authorities are closing down all madrasas going against the wishes and interests of the Muslim community."

The court order directly impacts around 16,500 madrasas, which are recognized by the UP Board of Madrasa Education, their 1.95 million students and 100,000 teachers. These include a number of non-Muslim students, mostly Hindus.

Madrasa teachers said the ruling will ultimately impact all 25,000 recognized and unrecognized madrasas in UP, where 2.7 million students are taught by 140,000 teachers.

"The Supreme Court has repeatedly emphasized modern education with modern subjects, an education that is universal in nature that prepares a child to make his future bright and to take this country forward," the court said in its order.

The syllabus in the madrasas under the Madrasa Act "is certainly not equivalent to" what is followed by students in mainstream schools, and so the education being imparted in madrasas is neither "quality" nor "universal" in nature, the court said.

But several recognized madrasa teachers question the court’s reasoning, telling VOA that the recognized madrasas provide a modern education and since 2018 have followed a syllabus guided by the National Council of Educational Research and Training, or NCERT.

NCERT is a federal government-established body that devises and monitors academic curricula in government schools across the country.

"These are all modernized madrasas," said Ajaz Ahmad, president of UP’s Islamic Madrasa Modernization Teachers Association and a member of the Indian government’s National Madrasa Modernization Consultative Committee.

"Declared unconstitutional, all recognized madrasas will be shut down and around 100,000 teachers will be jobless," Ahmad told VOA.

Babu Ram, a Hindu who teaches science at a modernized madrasa in UP’s Meerut district, noted that Indian madrasas have been undergoing reforms since 2009 under the federally introduced Scheme for Providing Quality Education in Madrasas, or SPQEM, which initially funded the hiring of over 25,000 teachers.

"For educational upliftment of the ... Muslim community, the government introduced modernized madrasas," Ram told VOA. "The SPQEM scheme became very successful with increasing number Muslim children being enrolled in these madrasas.

"Muslim parents traditionally prefer modernized madrasas to mainstream schools so that their children can receive religious education alongside studying regular subjects," he added.

"If madrasas are closed down, the dropout rate among Muslims will certainly rise. The authorities are closing down madrasas despite them being as good as regular schools — this would make us victims of injustice."

Muslims in India have long complained of discrimination. Social activists say that anti-Muslim sentiments have heightened since the administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014 with a Hindu nationalist agenda.

But Alok Vats, a New Delhi-based senior leader in Modi’s ruling BJP, dismissed the suggestion that the party pursues an anti-Muslim agenda as "baseless."

"The BJP is not against madrasas, but it is concerned about the welfare of Muslim children," he told VOA. "Sending the children from madrasas to regular schools is a progressive move. The children will get better opportunities to study in a modern academic environment.

"The only thing which pains us is what will happen to the huge number of teachers of the madrasas now," Vats said. "If a step is taken to get these teachers absorbed in other regular schools, the issue will not trigger any problem."
A fire in a tailoring shop in India kills 7, including children (AP)
AP [4/3/2024 8:59 AM, Staff, 456K, Negative]
A fire in a tailoring shop on Wednesday killed seven people, including two children, in the Indian city of Aurangabad, police said.

The blaze created panic in part of the business district of the city in Maharashtra state.

Authorities suspect that the deaths occurred due to smoke inhalation, the New Delhi Television cited city police chief Manoj Lohiya as saying.

Authorities were investigating the cause of the fire in the city nearly 340 kilometers (210 miles) northeast of Mumbai, India’s financial and entertainment capital.

Fires are common in India, where builders and residents often flout building laws and safety codes.

In 2019, a fire caused by an electrical short circuit engulfed a building in the Indian capital and killed 43 people. In 2022, a fire in a four-story commercial building in New Delhi killed at least 27.
Four killed in chemical factory blast in India (Reuters)
Reuters [4/3/2024 10:07 AM, Rishika Sadam and Jatindra Dash, 5239K, Negative]
At least four people were killed and 16 injured after a blast at a chemical factory in southern India’s Telengana state on Wednesday, a local police official told Reuters.

"We have a team of 40 people on the ground for rescue operations and all the people who have been trapped have been rescued," police official CH Rupesh said.

The factory was owned by pharmaceutical firm SB Organics and a senior executive is suspected to have been killed in the incident, he added.

Reuters could not immediately reach the company for comment.
India’s Early Rate-Cut Hopes Dim as Inflation Threat Lingers (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [4/3/2024 11:42 PM, Anup Roy and Subhadip Sircar, 5543K, Neutral]
India’s central bank will likely keep interest rates unchanged Friday, with chances of an early cut fading after the government warned of a coming heatwave and the economy grew faster than expected.

The Reserve Bank of India will likely keep its benchmark repurchase rate at 6.5% for a seventh straight policy meeting, according to all 39 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Only three of 23 analysts expect the central bank to change its hawkish policy stance to neutral.

The timing of any easing has been complicated though by the threat of rising food prices and signs of strong demand in an economy growing close to 8%. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has said he wouldn’t consider easing until inflation settles around the 4% target on a sustainable basis, reducing the chances of an early cut.

The RBI is likely to keep its rate unchanged, “retain the monetary policy stance of ‘withdrawal of accommodation’, sound optimistic on growth, and continue to reiterate the commitment to the 4% headline inflation target,” Santanu Sengupta, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s India economist, wrote in a recent note.

Some economists have pushed back their forecasts for rate cuts to later in the year. Morgan Stanley now expects the easing cycle to begin by October instead of June given India’s better-than-expected growth. Teresa John, an economist at Nirmal Bang Equities Pvt., pushed out her rate cut call too, citing concerns that heatwaves will keep inflation high.

The RBI is trying to rein in inflation while still keeping monetary policy supportive enough for the economy, implying rates will remain stable for now. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who’s seeking a third term in office in elections starting in two weeks time, said April 1 that growth should be the central bank’s top priority over the next decade.

The possibility of the US Federal Reserve delaying its rate cuts also gives the RBI a breather. Like other emerging market central banks, the RBI tends to track Fed policy in order to keep its currency stable.

Here’s what to watch from the policy statement, which will be delivered by Das at 10 a.m. in Mumbai on Friday:

Inflation Risks

The consumer price index rose 5.09% in February from a year earlier, well above the RBI’s target, largely due to higher food prices. The core measure, which strips out volatile food and fuel costs, has tumbled though, implying there’s little demand-push inflation in the economy.

The voting pattern of the six MPC members will be closely watched too. Jayanth Varma, an external committee member, was the only one calling for a rate cut in the February meeting. If others join him this week or vote for a change to the policy stance, that may be a sign the RBI is ready to pivot to rate cuts.

Policy Stance

The RBI has maintained its hawkish stance of “withdrawal of accommodation” since June 2022. Some economists say there’s a chance it may shift to a neutral stance now that core inflation is easing, consumer spending in some sectors is soft and the government is reining in its fiscal deficit.

“There is a small likelihood” of the stance being changed to neutral, “but if that happens, it will be a positive surprise for the market,” wrote Deutsche Bank AG’s India economist, Kaushik Das, in a note.

Markets and Liquidity

India’s bonds have benefited from a gush of foreign inflows ahead of the inclusion in global bond indexes and lower-than-expected government supply. The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond is down about 5 basis points this year while similar tenor US yields are up about 50 basis points.

In the absence of any rate action, traders will keep a close watch on the central bank’s views regarding liquidity in the market. The RBI has become more nimble in its liquidity management, adding and removing liquidity to align the weighted average call rate to the policy repurchase rate.

“RBI is expected to touch upon smoothening of liquidity conditions,” said Parijat Agrawal, head of fixed income at Union Mutual Fund. “Systemic liquidity shall improve going ahead.”
NSB
Nepal’s traditional healers vow to preserve ‘secret and sacred’ indigenous knowledge even as climate change bites (South China Morning Post)
South China Morning Post [4/4/2024 12:00 AM, Bibek Bhandari, 951K, Neutral]
When a patient visits Tsewang Gyurme Gurung’s clinic, he reaches for their wrist first.

His eyes are closed and his fingers move slowly as if he is shifting guitar chords, while examining for a pulse.

Gurung, a traditional healer in Nepal’s northern district of Mustang, is making a diagnosis. Known as an amchi, he practices the traditional Sowa Rigpa system of medicine, which is based on Buddhist philosophies dating back to more than 2,500 years.

“When we do the pulse reading, we will be watching the frequency and amplitude of vital organs to find out if there are any imbalances,” Gurung explains. “The fingers are our tools, they’re the scanner to the body. Pulses are the messenger to the amchi from that body.”

The ancient practice of Sowa Rigpa is facing an existential crisis in Nepal. There are only about 200 amchi still practising in the country, according to the Sowa Rigpa Association, their numbers dwindling due to limited educational pathways and legal recognition challenges.

In his late-30s now, Gurung has been practising the Sowa Rigpa system of medicine since his childhood. He initially wanted to be a surgeon, but followed the path of traditional medicine after his elder brother showed little interest in continuing their family lineage.

Gurung said he learned about human anatomy and medicinal plants used for treatments from his father, Tshampa Ngawang Gurung. He was diagnosing patients when he was a teenager and is now an 11th-generation amchi based in the remote village of Jomsom, the district headquarters.

Sowa Rigpa, commonly referred to as traditional Tibetan medicine, derives its knowledge from centuries-old texts that have been passed on from generations of healers. They studied the human body in detail, while also documenting hundreds of plant species that are used to treat ailments, ranging from coughs and fevers to more severe illnesses.

At his clinic in Jomsom Bazaar, housed on the ground floor of his Dancing Yak Hotel, Tsewang Gyurme unwraps a text book, written by his great-grandfather, covered in a red cloth. Written in Tibetan script under the dim light of a burning incense stick when there was no electricity, he referred to the book as a “red treasure” with “secret and sacred” indigenous knowledge on the science of healing.

For generations, the book has served as a guiding star to treat people in the remote Himalayan regions with little or no healthcare facilities. But even as hospitals and smaller health posts have become available, amchis are still the most trusted medical practitioners in places such as the Mustang and Dolpa regions.

Kunga Gurung, a 36-year-old farmer from Lo Manthang in Upper Mustang that borders Tibet, said he consults a local amchi for common ailments and would only visit a hospital for major issues such as surgeries. He also believes plant-based medicines have fewer side effects than modern medicines.

“Our grandfathers and fathers used to go to the amchi, and we continue to go as well,” Kunga said. “It’s a habit and also the faith we have in them.”

But despite the faith many still place in them, the number of amchis practising in Nepal continue to shrink, in part because there are few opportunities for those who wish to study it but do not have an amchi in their family to learn from.

To fill that gap, Tenjing Dharke Gurung opened the Sowa Rigpa International College in Kathmandu in 2016. The five-year undergraduate degree under Lumbini Buddhist University, founded in the birthplace of Buddha, aims to promote the traditional practice alongside a science-based education.

“This will allow us to save our tradition and move it forward,” said Tenjing Dharke, an amchi in Kathmandu, adding that 17 students have graduated so far.

Despite his generational knowledge, Tsewang Gyurme said he attended the Chagpori Tibetan Medical Institute in Darjeeling, India, for a formal education to become certified. But it has been an uphill battle to get the traditional healing system recognised in Nepal, unlike in countries like Bhutan, Mongolia, India and China, where Sowa Rigpa is formally recognised.

Though Nepal’s Health Act of 2018 lists the Sowa Rigpa system and amchis as “health services” alongside modern treatments and Ayurveda, the practitioners are not licensed by the Nepal Health Professional Council, which registers “all health professionals other than medical doctors, nurses, pharmacists and ayurveda”.

Sarina Guragain, who oversees the homeopathy and amchi unit at the government’s Department of Ayurveda and Alternative Medicine, said the process to grant licences to amchis was still under discussion. She added that Nepal has not been able to invest in amchis, considering their small population.

However, the department has set standards and allowed local authorities to register amchis so that they can practice in their designated areas.

In Jomsom, Tsewang Gyurme is the only registered amchi who sees a handful of patients daily. Despite a growing number of doctors, he said people still visit his clinic.

“In [modern] medicine, they see the human body a little different than we do, but they have also learned from ancient knowledge,” he said. “The main difference is we use herbal science, which is not about chemicals but compositions.”

Sitting in his clinic, surrounded by herbs and medicinal plants, Tsewang Gyurme shows the raw materials and medications he has prepared in the form of pills and powder. Over the years, he has changed certain compositions, akin to the changes in chemical compositions in modern medicines.

“I have to understand the compositions of the medicinal plants I have in my basket and which to mix,” he said. “So an amchi has to be an expert in pharmaceuticals, too.”

After Nepal’s government introduced policies to regulate the collection and trade of medicinal plants, the amchis were quick to switch to alternatives that are also mentioned in ancient texts. Nepal’s amchis have identified 200 substitutes derived from plants, animals and minerals as alternatives for those that are rare, threatened or not locally available, according to a 2021 report published by WWF Nepal and the Himalayan Amchi Association.

But one of the most pressing issues for amchis and their medicines, Tsewang Gyurme says, is climate change. The changing weather patterns and overharvest of certain plants are endangering Himalayan plants.

Though the primary intention is to heal the needy while sourcing plants, he said they are aware of the need to protect rare and vulnerable species, including the Himalayan marsh orchid and caterpillar fungus, also known as Himalayan Viagra.

Tsewang Gyurme said most amchis only pick the plants they require, replant them and cautiously tend to root medicines so they are preserved for the following seasons.

“To be an amchi, you also have to be an environment lover and conservationist,” he said. “You have to be very near to nature.”

But as Tsewang Gyurme is working to protect and preserve the precious plants, the tradition he is holding to may fast be disappearing. He is unmarried and does not see himself settling down soon, raising uncertainty about his lineage of amchis.

However, he said he is not worried and keeps himself busy by researching the ancient practice, along with working on social issues in Jomsom. The amchi believes that there will be a remedy to create a balance, just like how he prescribes plants to fix imbalances in the human body.

“We need colleges and proper licensing for the amchis to thrive,” he said. “As for myself, if I eventually have children, I will pass on the knowledge to them. Otherwise, if anyone else comes to me seeking for knowledge, I will pass on to them. This is another way how lineage is passed on.”
Sri Lanka sees no need for talks with India on island it ceded decades ago (Reuters)
Reuters [4/4/2024 3:59 AM, Uditha Jayasinghe, 5.2M, Neutral]
Sri Lanka does not see any need to re-open talks on a contentious island ceded to it by New Delhi 50 years ago, the foreign minister has said, after the low-key territorial squabble turned into a hot-button election issue in India.

The party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is expected to win general elections that start on April 19, has flagged the issue of Indian fishermen discontented after a 1976 pact between the neighbours barred them from the waters around the island.

"This is a problem discussed and resolved 50 years ago and there is no necessity to have further discussions on this," Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry told the domestic Hiru television channel on Wednesday.

"I don’t think it will come up," he said, adding that no one had yet raised the question of a change in the status of the island, located 33 km (21 miles) off India’s coast in the Palk Strait that divides the neighbours.

His comments came after Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party made the 285-acre (115-hectare) island an election campaign issue by accusing the opposition Congress party of having "callously" given it away.

The BJP seeks to make election inroads in the coastal state of Tamil Nadu facing the island after failing to win any of the southern state’s 39 seats in India’s 545-member parliament in the last election.

Tamil Nadu goes to the polls on April 19 in the first of seven rounds of voting set to end on June 1.

India ceded the island to Sri Lanka in 1974, followed by the pact on the fishermen in 1976, but unhappiness over the transfer and the abridged rights spurred two as yet unresolved Supreme Court challenges in the last 20 years.

The fishermen of both countries have occasionally violated the pact on the waters around the uninhabited island, called Katchatheevu.

On Monday, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said Sri Lanka had detained more than 6,000 Indian fishermen and 1,175 fishing vessels over the last 20 years, following the no-fishing pact.
Sri Lanka Hones Its Balancing Act (Foreign Policy)
Foreign Policy [4/3/2024 5:00 PM, Michael Kugelman, 315K, Positive]
Sri Lanka’s Strategic Autonomy

Most South Asian governments tend to have nonaligned foreign policies, balancing their relations with major powers. This maximizes their diplomatic flexibility and ability to operate independently on the world stage, also known as strategic autonomy. India and Pakistan are two prominent examples: They both balance their relations with the United States and at least one of its core rivals (Russia and China, respectively).

But it’s important not to overlook Sri Lanka: In the last two years, Colombo has quietly and successfully navigated global conflict and great-power rivalry. Like many other countries in the region, Sri Lanka has not condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine, even though resulting price shocks exacerbated its own economic crisis in 2022. Yet it has called for an end to the war and announced new measures that step up economic and energy ties with India.

This week, Sri Lanka’s government announced a $1 million donation to assist children in Gaza affected by the Israel-Hamas war, following the establishment of a national Children of Gaza Fund calling for contributions from the Sri Lankan public. The country has previously announced other aid commitments, expressed solidarity with Palestinians, and accused the European Union of “double standards” in its approach to Gaza.

But Sri Lanka is also a close friend of Israel, which supplied arms to the Sri Lankan military during its decades-long civil war. Since the Israel-Hamas war began, Sri Lanka has reached a controversial deal that enables Israel to hire Sri Lankan workers, and its diplomats in Israel have delivered assistance and donated blood. Colombo also joined the U.S.-led military campaign against Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, making it the only South Asian country to do so.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has strengthened economic ties with China and already hosts many large Chinese infrastructure projects. Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has also embraced Beijing’s position on key issues, including the AUKUS security alliance between Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom, which he has labeled a “mistake,” and the term “Indo-Pacific,” which he has called an “artificial framework.”

However, last November, Colombo inked a $553 million deal with the U.S. International Development Finance Corp. to support a port development project in Colombo that is backed by India’s Adani Group. In January, Sri Lanka imposed a one-year ban on Chinese research ships entering its ports. The move came soon after Wickremesinghe rejected Indian allegations that Chinese spy vessels have docked in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka’s actions may be driven by a commitment to strategic autonomy, but its motivations are as much about practicality as principle. The country is emerging from an acute economic crisis, and it needs as much financial assistance as it can get. It’s easier to achieve that goal when it works with all the major powers. It’s not coincidental that China, India, and the United States were three of Sri Lanka’s most generous donors during its crisis.

Wickremesinghe must also proceed cautiously during an election year for Sri Lanka. Colombo’s deals with Beijing, including the latter’s 99-year lease on the Hambantota International Port, have led to increased anti-China sentiment in the country in recent years. But the president will also do everything he can to distance himself from his wildly unpopular predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who remains a political ally of Wickremesinghe.

Rajapaksa, who heavily courted Chinese investments while in office from 2019 to 2022, published a book last month that lambasts Beijing for providing loans that deepened Colombo’s economic crisis. This gives Wickremesinghe some incentive to show some love for China in order to distance himself from Rajapaksa’s position.

South Asia has become a battleground for geopolitical rivalry, which puts pressure on the region’s nonaligned governments to take sides. But to this point, Sri Lanka has navigated this state of affairs successfully, demonstrating the capacity of states in the global south to reinforce multipolarity in the current world order.
Central Asia
Kazakhstan: Can a black spot on the Caspian Sea be called an oil spill? (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [4/3/2024 4:14 PM, Almaz Kumenov, 57.6K, Neutral]
Russian researchers say they have detected a large spill in Kazakhstan’s Kashagan oil field covering at least seven square kilometers. But the entity that operates rigs in the area denies a spill has occurred.

The researchers, working on a project called Transparent World of the Caspian Sea, published a satellite image of the area on their Telegram channel, describing a black spot shown as an oil “slick of anthropogenic origin.”

The group’s experts suggested that a production mishap could be the cause. Another theory circulating attributes the spill to accidental discharge of production water containing petroleum products from oil production platforms.

On April 3, five days after the first image of the purported slick appeared, the operator of the North Caspian project, NCOC, disputed the notion that it was the result of an accident at the site. In a post on its corporate Facebook page, the company attributed the spot to a “natural phenomenon,” without elaborating.

“The area identified in the publication... was inspected and no spills or leaks were found,” NCOC said. The company stressed that it has not had a single hydrocarbon spill since the start of its oil production activities at Kashagan in 2016.

Government officials are not jumping to conclusions. Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliev, on the sidelines of a parliament session on April 3, told reporters that an oil spill in the Caspian Sea was “preliminarily not confirmed.” He added that ecologists were taking and analyzing water samples throughout the area.

Oil and gas expert Arthur Shakhnazaryan suggested in comments on Facebook that the slick is actually a sandy trail from a ship. Ecologists with the Transparent World in the Caspian project reiterated in an April 3 Telegram post that the slick’s mushroom-like shape is “very similar to discharges of industrial waters.”

This is not the first occasion in which the findings of Transparent World on the Caspian have become a matter of dispute. In March, the group reported on a suspicious, purportedly man-made spot in the Caspian Sea, 14 kilometers from the Kazakh city of Aktau, next to a ship. However, local environmental officials said that following an inspection, no oil slicks were found in the specified offshore areas. Analysis of water samples also did not yield excess levels of harmful substances.

Meanwhile, the Kashagan operator, NCOC, has been cited in the past for violations of environmental regulations. On March 29, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources announced that NCOC had paid a fine of more than 12 billion tenge (about $28 million) following a court decision in the western city of Atyrau. In 2022, an environmental inspection found that the company violated a number of environmental standards, including burning sulfur dioxide without environmental permits and discharging production water into the Caspian Sea without treatment. NCOC representatives insist the company complies with environmental regulations.
Media Watchdog Calls For Repeal Of Kyrgyz ‘Foreign Representatives’ Law (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [4/3/2024 8:27 AM, Staff, 223K, Negative]
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Kyrgyz authorities to repeal a controversial "foreign representatives" law that the Central Asian nation’s President Sadyr Japarov signed on April 2, saying it is a replica of a repressive Russian law on "foreign agents."

In a statement issued after Japarov endorsed the bill into law, the CPJ described the move as "Japarov’s decision to follow Russia’s lead on ‘foreign agent’ legislation," which "threatens to erase Kyrgyzstan’s 30-year status as a relative haven of free speech and democracy in post-Soviet Central Asia."

"While the law’s current form does not directly target media outlets, it could cripple the work of press freedom groups and nonprofits running several of Kyrgyzstan’s celebrated independent media organizations and must be repealed," CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator Gulnoza Said’s statement said.

The law obliges noncommercial organizations and media outlets that receive foreign funding and are engaged in broadly defined "political" activities to report their activities to the authorities. The legislation also introduces wide oversight powers by the authorities and potential criminal sanctions for undefined criminal offences.

Last week, more than 100 Kyrgyz NGOs urged Japarov not to sign the bill, saying it will negatively affect the operations of all such organizations in the country.

They warned Japarov that, if the measure comes into force, organizations involved in assisting Kyrgyz citizens with obtaining medical equipment and medicine to treat numerous diseases, including cancer and HIV, as well as groups involved in educational programs, human rights, and anti-corruption activities, may have to stop their operations.

Earlier statements by human rights groups regarding the controversial bill stated that the legislation will negatively affect the freedom of expression in Kyrgyzstan.

Since the law was first introduced last year, civil society activists have warned of the consequences of approving such legislation, especially given that similar legislation in Russia laid the groundwork for the systematic dismantling of civil society.

Since 2012, Russia has used its “foreign agents” law to label and punish critics of government policies, including the February 2022 full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

The vague laws have been used to persecute organizations working in diverse fields such as education, culture, health care, environmental protection, human-rights defense, and especially independent media.

Once called an "island of democracy" in the region, Kyrgyzstan stood out in Central Asia for many years thanks to the independent journalism, intrepid reporting, and media innovation that existed in the country. However, in Reporters Without Borders’ most recent global ranking, Kyrgyzstan fell 50 places, sitting in 122nd place -- only 12 spots above its longtime authoritarian neighbor Kazakhstan.
Criminal Case Against Kyrgyz News Agency Suspended (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [4/3/2024 1:30 PM, Staff, 223K, Negative]
One of Kyrgyzstan’s first online news websites, 24.kg, reported on April 3 that the State Committee for National Security (UKMK) has suspended a criminal case against it. The UKMK launched the case -- which came amid a government crackdown on civil society and free media -- against the independent news agency on grounds of spreading "war propaganda" over reporting about the conflict in Ukraine. Authorities closed the editorial offices of 24.kg on January 15, and the site’s director-general, Asel Otorbaeva, and two chief editors were briefly detained. Otorbaeva has since stepped down citing “family reasons and health problems.”
Twitter
Afghanistan
Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office
@amnestysasia
[4/4/2024 3:28 AM, 79.6K followers, 1 retweet, 1 like]
AFGHANISTAN: As schools reopen, Afghan girls remain locked out. Confined to their homes, their dreams are imprisoned by the Taliban’s cruel policies. We must put an end to the systematic assault on an entire generation. Demand action now! Sign our petition to hold the Taliban accountable: https://amnesty.org/en/petition/stop-the-roll-back-on-human-rights-in-afghanistan/

Bilal Sarwary
@bsarwary
[4/3/2024 11:11 PM, 252.7K followers, 5 retweets, 21 likes]
Many mid-level and some senior Taliban members oppose the Security and Clearing Commission’s decisions appointed by the Ministry of Defence to clear their ranks from officers not loyal to them. These commanders believe that their top leaders are acting selfishly for personal and political reasons. Meetings in Nangarhar, Ghazni, and elsewhere challenged the commission’s authority and work. For example, senior GDI director like Dr. Bashir, in Jalalabad view these actions as mistreatment of fellow Taliban, revealing the long hidden internal power struggles. The growing disarray and division among Taliban factions raise concerns about their ability to govern effectively. The group continues to operate in various factions with each factions trying to consolidate power and resources. How would they manage the security challenges of Afghanistan?

Bilal Sarwary
@bsarwary
[4/3/2024 12:40 PM, 252.7K followers, 50 retweets, 100 likes]
Masoor Zoari was kidnapped for ransom in Kabul city, his body was returned to his family after 12 days. Kidnapping for ransom, armed robberies, theft and carjacking are increasing in Kabul, and across major cities in Afghanistan under the Taliban.
Pakistan
The President of Pakistan
@PresOfPakistan
[4/3/2024 9:20 AM, 733.1K followers, 32 retweets, 80 likes]
Pakistan’s newly-appointed High Commissioner, Ms. Rabia Shafiq, called on President Asif Ali Zardari.

The President of Pakistan
@PresOfPakistan
[4/3/2024 7:45 AM, 733.1K followers, 96 retweets, 204 likes]
General Syed Asim Munir, NI(M), Chief of Army Staff met with President Asif Ali Zardari,at the Presidency,today. COAS extended felicitations on his appointment as President of Pakistan and Commander in Chief of Armed Forces and conveyed his sincere wishes for a successful tenure.

The President of Pakistan
@PresOfPakistan
[4/3/2024 7:45 AM, 733.1K followers, 1 retweet, 4 likes]
The COAS apprised the President regarding the ongoing operations of the Army against terrorism and highlighted the operational preparedness against conventional threats.

The President of Pakistan
@PresOfPakistan
[4/3/2024 7:45 AM, 733.1K followers, 4 retweets, 9 likes]
The COAS also intimated about the contributions of the Army towards development initiatives, particularly in the regions of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The President of Pakistan
@PresOfPakistan
[4/3/2024 7:45 AM, 733.1K followers, 1 retweet, 5 likes]
The President acknowledged the exemplary role of the Armed Forces of Pakistan, affirming that the Army’s contributions have been instrumental in safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state. He commended the Army’s efforts towards social uplift of

The President of Pakistan
@PresOfPakistan
[4/3/2024 7:45 AM, 733.1K followers, 1 retweet, 4 likes]
the affected areas, underscoring the unwavering commitment of the Pakistan Army to national progress. The President emphasised Pakistan’s steadfast commitment against terrorism and reaffirmed the nation’s resolve to respond with full force through all elements of national power.

The President of Pakistan
@PresOfPakistan
[4/3/2024 7:45 AM, 733.1K followers, 1 retweet, 4 likes]
President noted with grave concern the baseless and unsubstantiated allegations levelled by specific political party & its few individuals against institution and its leadership to accrue narrow political interests and resolved to deal with such disruptive elements with iron hand

The President of Pakistan
@PresOfPakistan
[4/3/2024 7:45 AM, 733.1K followers, 3 retweets, 11 likes]
The President paid homage to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the nation, emphasizing that their blood will forever symbolize the resilience and strength of the Pakistani nation. He reiterated the nation’s unwavering commitment to honouring the sacrifices

The President of Pakistan
@PresOfPakistan
[4/3/2024 7:46 AM, 733.1K followers, 3 retweets, 10 likes]
of the Shuhadas and their families, holding them in the highest esteem. The meeting concluded on a note of solidarity and determination to uphold the values of peace, security, and progress in Pakistan.

Madiha Afzal
@MadihaAfzal
[4/3/2024 9:42 PM, 42.6K followers, 5 retweets, 18 likes]
Pakistan’s military projects itself as the country’s most competent institution to both domestic & foreign audiences, & America has internalized that notion. Yet America’s belief in the military as the guarantor of stability in Pakistan has not borne out. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/pakistans-democracy-its-military-and-america/

Madiha Afzal
@MadihaAfzal
[4/3/2024 2:07 PM, 42.6K followers, 121 retweets, 262 likes]
The Biden administration’s tepid stance on the subversion of Pakistan’s democratic process in this election belies more than a lack of interest. It reflects the fact that Pakistan’s army has long been America’s partner of choice in the country. My latest: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/pakistans-democracy-its-military-and-america/

Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office
@amnestysasia
[4/3/2024 1:07 AM, 79.7K followers, 58 retweets, 128 likes]
Pakistan: Government must stop ignoring global calls to halt unlawful deportation of Afghan refugees “The Pakistan authorities’ callous disregard for the persecution, serious human rights violations and humanitarian catastrophe that await Afghan refugees if deported to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is heart-breaking. Instead of heeding repeated global calls to halt deportations, the newly elected Pakistani government has disappointingly now extended the deportation drive to Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders as well," James Jennion, Campaigner for the Refugee and Migrants’ Rights at Amnesty International.

Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office
@amnestysasia
[4/3/2024 1:07 AM, 79.7K followers, 3 retweets, 8 likes]
“The decision endangers the lives of over 800,000 Afghan refugees across Pakistan and threatens to unleash another wave of harassment and detentions after the holy month of Ramadan," noted Jennion. Read Amnesty International’s reaction to the newly elected government’s announcement to expand and expedite its plans to unlawfully deport Afghan refugees in Pakistan after the festival of Eid-ul-Fitr next week: https://amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/04/pakistan-government-must-halt-deportation-of-afghan-refugees/

Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office
@amnestysasia
[4/3/2024 9:03 PM, 79.7K followers, 69 retweets, 119 likes]
Pakistan’s ‘Illegal Foreigners’ Repatriation Plan’ is in violation of refugee and international human rights law, and puts the lives of all Afghan refugees at risk. Read more: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/04/pakistan-government-must-halt-deportation-of-afghan-refugees/

Bilal Sarwary
@bsarwary
[4/4/2024 2:20 AM, 252.7K followers, 9 retweets, 8 likes]
Unknown gunmen opened fire, critically wounding an Afghan reporter in Islamabad’s G-6, Embassay road. Mr. Hanaish was returning to his place of residence. Ahmad Hanayash, a reporter for Radio Free Europe, covered his native Parwan and Panjshir province. Mr. Ahmad owned radio Dunya and Kahkashan. According to his friends and colleagues, the Afghan reporter was in Islamabad waiting to leave Islamabad for a western country. Despite such threats, Western embassies are not willing to accept their cases. #Journalismisnotacrime #PressFreedom @usembislamabad @CanHCPakistan @ukinpakistan @GermanyDiplo
India
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[4/3/2024 7:32 AM, 96.9M followers, 4.8K retweets, 18K likes]
Every BJP Karyakarta in West Bengal is working tirelessly to serve the people of the state. @BJP4Bengal is a shining example for our cadres nationwide. Interacting with our hardworking Karyakartas.

Rahul Gandhi
@RahulGandhi
[4/3/2024 5:15 AM, 25.3M followers, 12K retweets, 49K likes]
Wayanad is my home, and the people of Wayanad are my family. From them, I have learned a great deal over the last five years and received an abundance of love and affection. It is with great pride and humility that I file my nomination for Lok Sabha 2024 once again from this beautiful land. This election is a fight for the soul of India; it is a fight to preserve our democracy from the forces of hatred, corruption, and injustice that seek to suppress the voice of Bharat Mata. I, along with every member of INDIA, will not rest until this battle is won. We will bring together every citizen from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and from Manipur to Mumbai to strengthen our Union of States. Judega Bharat Jeetega INDIA
NSB
Awami League
@albd1971
[4/3/2024 9:05 AM, 637.2K followers, 33 retweets, 75 likes]
#Bangladesh’s export earnings have exceeded $5 bn for the four consecutive months as exports reached $5.10 billion in #March, marking a 9.88% increase compared to the same month last year. The EPB data showed that overall export earnings rose by over 4.39% to $43.55 billion in the first nine months of this fiscal year. #MadeInBangladesh #Export #SheikhHasina https://bssnews.net/business/182063

Awami League
@albd1971
[4/3/2024 5:47 AM, 637.2K followers, 39 retweets, 95 likes]
In its recent twice-yearly update, @WorldBank said that#Bangladesh’s economy has made a strong turnaround from the #Covid19 pandemic. The report also said that 🇧🇩continues to face various challenges that are disrupting the post-pandemic recovery. https://en.somoynews.tv/news/2024-04-02/bangladesh-s-economy-makes-strong-turnaround-wb

MOFA of Nepal
@MofaNepal
[4/3/2024 5:16 AM, 257K followers, 9 retweets, 31 likes]
SAARC Secretary General H. E. Mr. Golam Sarwar paid a courtesy call on Hon’ble DPM and Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr. Narayan Kaji Shrestha at the Ministry today. Matters relating to revitalization of SAARC process and deepening regional integration were discussed.

Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office
@amnestysasia
[4/3/2024 7:01 AM, 79.7K followers, 10 retweets, 17 likes]
SRI LANKA: We’re relieved to hear that the Colombo Chief Magistrate last week quashed terror charges against student leader Galwewa Siridhamma Thero in a case filed under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Siridhamma Thero was arrested in August 2022 amidst a crackdown on protesters agitating against and seeking accountability for the dire economic crisis in #SriLanka. @amnesty has been calling for the terror charges against the Thero to be dropped immediately.
Central Asia
MFA Kazakhstan
@MFA_KZ
[4/4/2024 1:49 AM, 51.3K followers]
First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kairat Umarov held a meeting with Andrei Mikhnev, the World Bank Country Manager for Kazakhstan https://gov.kz/memleket/entities/mfa/press/news/details/741783?lang=en

MFA Tajikistan
@MOFA_Tajikistan
[4/4/2024 2:00 AM, 4.6K followers]
Meeting with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) https://mfa.tj/en/main/view/14752/meeting-with-the-international-telecommunication-union-itu

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service
@president_uz
[4/4/2024 2:01 AM, 164.7K followers, 5 likes]
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev reviewed proposed measures aimed at improving #migration regulation and reinforcing support for labor migrants. Building upon his earlier directive to facilitate entrance into international labor markets and assure job provision for returning labor migrants, proposals have been put forward to enhance the labor migration system. #LaborMigration #MigrantSupport #Employment #MigrationPolicy #WorkforceDevelopment #EconomicOpportunity

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service
@president_uz
[4/4/2024 1:40 AM, 164.7K followers, 5 likes]
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting with State Council member and Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong. They explored ways to further expand practical cooperation and coordinate joint efforts in combating contemporary challenges and security threats. #SecurityCollaboration #InternationalCooperation #PublicSafety #SecurityChallenges #GlobalSecurity #StrategicPartnerships #SafetyFirst

Saida Mirziyoyeva
@SMirziyoyeva
[4/3/2024 10:58 AM, 17.6K followers, 13 retweets, 69 likes]
Today, we met with the Special Representative of the Russian President on International Cultural Cooperation, Mikhail Shvydkoy. We discussed cooperation in the information policy, cultural, and humanitarian spheres and issues of holding joint events in these areas.

Bakhtiyor Saidov
@FM_Saidov
[4/3/2024 11:21 AM, 3.5K followers, 5 retweets, 10 likes]
Met with H.E. Antti Karttunen (@akarttun), Head of @OSCE Project Co-ordinator in #Uzbekistan (@OSCE_PCUZ). We are working on developing joint projects on all three dimensions, especially on the economic and environmental one. Grateful to the OSCE for the continued support of the reforms being implemented in our country.

Bakhtiyor Saidov
@FM_Saidov
[4/3/2024 5:09 AM, 3.5K followers, 4 retweets, 7 likes]
Pleased to meet with the Special Representative of the President of #Russia for International Cultural Cooperation H.E. Mikhail Shvidkoy. Had a candid discussion on several areas of the comprehensive partnership agenda between #Uzbekistan and #Russia. Paid special attention to cultural and humanitarian cooperation.

Furqat Sidiqov
@FurqatSidiq
[4/3/2024 5:38 PM, 1.3K followers, 2 retweets, 12 likes]
Had the honor of attending the Ambassadorial Interview Series by @caspiancenter. Shared insights on @GOVuz’s ongoing reforms, political and economic developments in Uzbekistan, and strategies for fostering stronger UZ-US cooperation.

Navbahor Imamova
@Navbahor
[4/4/2024 12:12 AM, 23K followers, 1 retweet]
Highlights from @caspiancenter event with Furqat Sidiqov, Uzbekistan’s Amb to the US, focusing on political and economic ties. @FurqatSidiq also responded to VOA’s questions re US-UZ security relationship, Afghanistan, and Uzbek migrants.

Asel Doolotkeldieva
@ADoolotkeldieva
[4/3/2024 9:18 PM, 13.8K followers, 2 retweets, 27 likes]
In the early days of the Krokus terror attack, I’ve seen suggestions about reinforcing US & EU anti-extremism & anti-terrorism programs in Central Asia. Let’s not forget one significant element of these: they first of all benefit and empower law enforcement apparatus and ½

Asel Doolotkeldieva
@ADoolotkeldieva
[4/3/2024 9:18 PM, 13.8K followers, 1 retweet, 16 likes]
And special services. There is already huge penetration of these repressive bodies & surveillance into society. Did it help stoping recruitment? Time to learn on these outcomes 2/2.

Asel Doolotkeldieva
@ADoolotkeldieva
[4/3/2024 9:13 PM, 13.8K followers, 5 retweets, 21 likes]
The Krokus terror attack will only reinforce repressive bodies in Tajikistan. Authorities are after the relatives of suspects. We know what methods they use to "uncover the truth". Rahmon already showed in the past little care for its population for the sake of ties with Putin

{End of Report}
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