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:
Monday, August 5, 2024 6:30 AM ET

Afghanistan
Afghan missions vow to provide consular services despite Taliban disavowal (VOA)
VOA [8/2/2024 5:50 PM, Roshan Noorzai, 4032K, Neutral]
Afghan diplomats and diplomatic missions in Europe, Australia and Canada say they will continue providing consular services despite the Taliban’s recent announcement disavowing them.

The Taliban’s Foreign Ministry announced in a statement Tuesday that it would not recognize the legitimacy of consular services performed at Afghan diplomatic missions in Australia, Canada and 11 European countries.

"[T]he consular services such as deeds, endorsements, NOCs, issuing passports, passport renewal stickers, visa stickers, etc., from the missions in London, Belgium, Berlin, Bonn ... Austria, France, Italy, Greece, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Canada and Australia are no longer accepted by MoFA and relevant departments, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs bears no responsibility toward these documents and no actions will be taken thereof," read the statement.

Afghan diplomats working in the 13 missions disavowed by the Taliban are the employees of the former Afghan government, which collapsed after the Taliban seized power in August 2021. They have remained at their posts in the years since, helping Afghan citizens with a range of consular services.

Representatives of the missions said they would continue their services without interruption.

"The diplomatic and consular missions of Afghanistan in Europe, Canada, Australia, and elsewhere remain committed to continue providing consular services within the framework of national and international laws and regulations, and in understanding and collaboration with host country authorities," said a statement issued on Tuesday by the Coordination Council of Ambassadors and General Consulates of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

"I am confident that the consular services [in these countries] would continue as usual," said Nigara Mirdad, Afghanistan’s deputy ambassador in Poland.

She added that the consular services are permitted by the host countries and provided in accordance with international conventions and laws.

In the council’s statement, the Taliban said they "repeatedly urged" the missions in these countries to “engage” with the Taliban’s Kabul-based rulers, but "unfortunately, the actions of most of the missions are carried out without coordination, arbitrary and in explicit violation of the existing accepted principles."

Mirdad called the Taliban’s decision "unreasonable" and said that consular services are "transparent and based on Afghan laws."

She added that the diplomats working in the missions do not recognize the Taliban’s government as it does not have "any internal and international legitimacy."

"Instead, the Taliban should work on its government’s internal legitimacy and respect human rights and Afghanistan’s commitments to the international conventions and laws," Mirdad said.

The Taliban’s government is not yet recognized by any country, although China has accepted the credentials of the Taliban’s ambassador to Beijing.

The international community says that to gain recognition, the Taliban must honor their commitment to respect women’s rights and form an inclusive government in Afghanistan.

While the Taliban lack formal international recognition, some countries have handed over their local Afghan diplomatic missions to the Taliban.

In March 2023, the Taliban said they sent diplomats to at least 14 countries.

Last week, the spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, said in a news conference that "visas to people in Afghanistan are being given and that to and fro movement is happening."

In November, the Afghan Embassy in New Delhi closed as the diplomats appointed by the former government were not given visas.

Afghan diplomats in Spain and the Netherlands announced in October that they established contact with the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry.

Diplomatic missions in these two countries are not included in the list of missions that the Taliban announced cutting ties with.

Shah Sultan Akifi, former cultural attache of Afghanistan in Moscow, told VOA that the Taliban’s decision would not affect the operations of the 14 diplomatic missions listed in the announcement, but it would "create problems" for ordinary Afghans living in the host countries.

"It will be problematic for Afghans who want to travel to Afghanistan or those who want to attest their documents if the Taliban don’t accept the consular services in these countries," Akifi said.
The Taliban Fighter Who Taught Me Why the U.S. Lost the Afghan War (Wall Street Journal – opinion)
Wall Street Journal [8/2/2024 12:54 PM, Sune Engel Rasmussen, 810K, Neutral]
In the afternoon of Aug. 15, 2021, the day the U.S.-backed Afghan government fell, a young Taliban fighter strutted into Kabul, basking in victory in a war he had dedicated half of his life to.

“I can’t describe how happy I am,” the insurgent, Omari, told me weeks later. “This was something we had never even imagined would happen.”

Today, as the Taliban is about to mark three years in power, the shine has worn off. The Taliban’s Islamic Emirate isn’t everything Omari dreamed of. Amid political infighting and economic paralysis, even former fighters like him struggle to find work and provide for their family.

“They used me to fight their war,” he said of the Taliban leadership. “But at the end of the day, I’m nothing.”

I have known Omari since early 2016, when he was 21 years old, and I was living in Kabul. His story helps answer the perhaps most crucial question about why the U.S. lost its longest war: What compelled tens of thousands of young Afghan men to risk their lives for an archaic fundamentalist movement despite the fact that, for years, it appeared to be on the losing side of the war?

We first met in Omari’s embattled home province of Wardak, west of Kabul. Meeting me carried the risk of arrest by government intelligence, and he greeted me warily at first, his face covered by a woolen shawl. After the Taliban took power, we met frequently and clandestinely in corners of Kabul, as he defied orders not to talk to foreign reporters.

Born in 1995 in Sayedabad, a collection of villages shaded by green groves two hours west of the capital, his father had been part of the mujahideen who fought the Soviet army in the 1980s. Omari was raised on stories about fighting a holy war against foreign invaders. He could load a machine gun before he was strong enough to lift it.

Omari first saw the Americans when he was 9 years old, as they descended from their Humvees, weighed down by flak jackets and heavy backpacks to distribute candy to children. Early in the war, many in Sayedabad viewed the arrival of the Americans with optimism, hoping it would bring jobs. Alongside its war efforts, the U.S. was erecting the scaffolding of a new state, sinking billions of dollars into education, economic development and democratic institutions.

But the American attitude in Sayedabad soon changed. Shortly after the invasion, most Taliban fighters fled to Pakistan or melded back into civil society from where the movement had come. Al-Qaeda, which perpetrated the 9/11 attacks, also fled. Under orders to find terrorists, the U.S. military wound up detaining scores of Afghan civilians, often acting on bad intelligence. During the first three years of the war, more than 50,000 Afghans were detained in American detention facilities, including black sites where torture took place. Resentment grew in the population.

In Omari’s village, many men were detained and never seen again, or returned with strange headaches or quivering like children, Omari remembered.

The Taliban arrived in Sayedabad in 2005, two persons on each motorcycle, sleeping bags tied to the back. They belonged to the Haqqani network, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization and particularly violent wing of the Taliban with links to al Qaeda. Taliban commanders taught Omari and his classmates that the new government in Kabul was un-Islamic. Omari learned to drive a motorcycle and dig holes for roadside bombs.

At 14, in 2009, Omari left home without telling his parent and traveled to Miranshah, in the tribal areas of Pakistan, where the Haqqani clan ran a rogue mini state, to enroll in a religious seminary that trained teenage suicide bombers. His father had fought a holy war, and now, he thought, it was his turn.

Suicide academies were instrumental in the violent push that made the Haqqanis the deadliest force in the Taliban’s war. A Taliban spokesman, invoking the name of the movement’s founder, called the suicide bombers “Mullah Omar’s missiles.”

At the seminary, boys were issued blue tunics and black bandannas inscribed with the Islamic declaration of faith. They recited from pocket-size Qurans eight hours a day and listened to imams extolling the virtues of holy war.

“When we got emotional, we could feel our faith grow so strong that we nearly lost our minds,” he said, but rejected the accusation that the Taliban brainwashed kids. “They only preach,” he said.

Omari was not to become a martyr. His father found out through Taliban contacts that his son had run off to the camp and asked a commander there to send him back home.

Instead, at 16, Omari was sent on his first assignment near his home in Wardak: placing a bomb below a bridge to target an American convoy. Omari huddled in a field as the blast sent a Humvee door flying over his head. The explosion was still ringing in his ears as the surviving Americans searched the area and treated their injured comrades. Omari believed he helped kill four or five U.S. soldiers that day.

War was addictive. Armed resistance gave Omari a sense of ownership over his life. Americans controlled his country, but he could strike back.

The Taliban grew stronger. In 2011, the war’s deadliest incident for U.S. soldiers occurred in the Tangi Valley near Omari’s home, when a Taliban militant shot down a Chinook helicopter, killing 30 Americans and eight Afghans. Omari gathered with other villagers to watch as the fire from the crash lighted up the night.

To shift the war decisively in its favor, the U.S. sought to win Afghan hearts and minds, and turn them against the Taliban. Grievous mistakes repeatedly undermined those efforts.

In early 2012, American soldiers at Bagram Air Base mistakenly burned several Qurans amid a mass incineration of books from the prison library, which the U.S. said had been damaged or inscribed with “extremist” writings. The episode prompted protests in which 30 people died. A month later, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, who was later found to be under the influence of alcohol, sleeping pills and steroids, killed 16 villagers in the middle of the night in Kandahar, the worst massacre committed by a U.S. soldier since My Lai in 1968.

American drones bombed wedding parties and, most infamously, in 2015, a warplane bombed a Doctors Without Borders hospital, killing 42 people.

“The U.S. has the equipment to hit anyone at any time, and they can see from far away if someone is a terrorist. So don’t tell me they have come to Afghanistan to kill terrorists. They are here to eradicate Islam,” Omari said.

The Taliban around 2018 stepped up efforts to infiltrate Afghan cities in preparation for future military operations. Omari’s commander asked him to register as a student at Kabul University. He bought jeans and a button-down to try to fit in. On weekends he returned to Wardak to fight.

Yet, as foreign soldiers gradually withdrew from the battlefield, Omari’s resolve faded. He was tormented by killing fellow Afghans who now did most of the fighting for the government. Fear and grief for lost friends ground on him. His memory faltered, and he suffered from frequent headaches.

Omari was also troubled by the Taliban’s new levels of violence. In 2017, a massive car bomb in Kabul’s diplomatic quarter killed more than 150 civilians. The Afghan intelligence agency traced the bomb-laden car back to Haqqani members in Wardak, Omari’s home province.

“There were no foreign soldiers there,” he said, visibly pained. “They only killed Muslims.”

When the insurgents took Kabul in August 2021, Omari entered the city with a unit from the north. Wherever they advanced, government security forces scampered, leaving Humvees and other American-supplied equipment behind. Two policemen approached Omari, handed him their rifles, then walked off.

At the airport, tens of thousands of Afghans clamored to get on planes. Amid the chaos, an Islamic State suicide bomber detonated his explosives vest in a crowd. At least 183 people were killed in the explosion and the crush, including 13 U.S. servicemen.

Omari walked around the capital, for the first time without hiding his identity. He moved his extended family of 16 people into a small terracotta house on the western outskirts. But soon, the new reality set in.

The international community froze Afghanistan’s entire $9 billion reserves of foreign currency. The economy collapsed. Months after the Taliban seized power, half of all Afghans faced acute hunger, according to the United Nations.

After dedicating his adult life to the insurgency, Omari was now unemployed. As winter set in, his family could barely afford firewood.

Omari eventually found administrative work at the ministry of defense. Working 9-to-5 with little to do but browse the internet was a new and, frankly, quite boring reality. War had been horrendous, but also—he admitted—”it was a lot of fun.”

Earlier this year, the Taliban’s intelligence agency hired him to root out Islamic State sympathizers in the capital. He would prefer to fight them on the battlefield, he said.

“When we were at war, there was no other option,” he said. “It was a simple life.”
Pakistan
Pakistan’s jailed ex-PM Imran Khan says would be ‘foolish’ not to have good army ties (Reuters)
Reuters [8/5/2024 4:58 AM, Asif Shahzad, 5.2M, Neutral]
Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister, Imran Khan, who blames the military for his ouster and 12-month-old imprisonment on what he calls trumped-up charges, said on Sunday it would be "foolish" not to have an excellent relationship with the army.

Ahead of Monday’s anniversary of his jailing on dozens of charges ranging from corruption to leaking state secrets, Khan also said in written responses to Reuters questions that he held no grudge against the United States, which he has also blamed for his 2022 ouster from office.

"Given Pakistan’s geographical position and the military’s significant role in the private sector, it would be foolish not to foster such a relationship," Khan wrote in replies relayed by his media and legal team.

"We are proud of our soldiers and armed forces," he said.

Khan said his criticism since his ouster had been directed at individuals, not the military as an institution.

"The miscalculations of the military leadership shouldn’t be held against the institution as a whole," he wrote.

On Wednesday, the opposition leader offered to hold "conditional negotiations" with the South Asian nation’s military - if "clean and transparent" elections were held and "bogus" cases against his supporters were dropped.

Pakistan’s army and government did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Khan’s remarks to Reuters. They have both repeatedly denied his assertions about his ouster.

The United States also denies any role in it.

"The relationships between countries should always prioritise the welfare of their respective nations. When people vote you into office, you do not have the liberty to act on personal grievances," Khan said.

In his replies, the 71-year-old former cricket star did not specify what he wanted to discuss with the military.

‘OPEN TO ANY DIALOGUE’ WITH ARMY

The army, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half its 76-year independent history, plays an oversized role in the politics and governance of the nation of 240 million people.

No Pakistani prime minister has completed a full five-year term in office, and most have served time in jail. Analysts say most of those secured their release after striking deals with the military, a claim the army denies.

Khan, who lost power in a parliamentary vote of no confidence after falling out with the generals, has said the army has been backing what he calls the politically motivated cases against him, which the military has denied.

Still, he said, there would be "no harm" in engaging with the generals if he were released from jail and sought to return to power, adding, "I have always maintained that any political government chosen by the people must have an excellent relationship with the military leadership".

"We are open to any dialogue that could help improve the dire situation in Pakistan," he said, adding that it was useless to open any such talks with the coalition government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Khan says the government does not have public backing because it won what he calls a stolen election in February, with his party-backed candidates winning the most seats in parliament.

Rather, he said, it would be "more productive to engage with those who actually wield power".

The military - which says Khan and his party were behind attacks on military installations last year during widespread protests against his detention - has previously ruled out any talks with him.

Khan’s imprisonment has added to political volatility in Pakistan, which has experienced a prolonged economic crisis and last month received a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

The instability since Khan’s ouster drove Islamabad to accept the IMF’s painful fiscal consolidation requirements, including tax hikes, analysts say.

Khan rejected the idea of reaching an out-of-court settlement with the government or military, unless they accepted that his PTI party had won a majority in the national election.
"The elections were the most rigged in Pakistan’s history," he told Reuters.
Political instability persists as former Pakistani PM Khan marks prison anniversary (VOA)
VOA [8/5/2024 4:17 AM, Sarah Zaman, 4M, Negative]
The tree-lined alley leading to the personal residence of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan in Lahore is quiet. A severe crackdown on his political party has scared away supporters who used to revel late into the night and sleep at their beloved leader’s doorstep.

Now, only a small contingent of police idly keep watch outside the iconic address in the eastern metropolis. A placard bearing a Quranic verse blesses the resident who has been gone for a year.

Aug. 5 marks one year since Khan was put behind bars in the garrison city of Rawalpindi near the capital Islamabad on graft charges. Over time, the list of the former prime minister’s alleged crimes grew to include treason, illicit marriage, fomenting anti-state violence and inciting vandalism of military and state properties.

Convictions coming in quick succession sentenced one of the country’s most popular politicians to nearly three decades in prison, just as Pakistan headed to general elections in February this year. By July, though, higher courts had overturned lower courts’ verdicts.

Despite much-needed legal relief, Khan remains behind bars facing new charges of corruption and anti-state violence. He denies any wrongdoing.

Analysts say Khan’s incarceration and the military-backed crackdown on his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, may have quashed street agitation that followed his 2022 ouster. They have failed to bring political stability. Instead, experts say, the widely criticized measures have plunged powerful state institutions into a tug of war.

Military v. judiciary

Veteran journalist and political analyst Suhail Warraich says the legal relief Khan has received after a very public falling out with the country’s powerful military is unusual in Pakistan’s political history.

"For the first time, the alliance between [military] establishment and judiciary that has been going on since 1954, in which the judiciary would stamp any decision that the military took, is not there," Warraich told VOA. "We know the [military] establishment wants one decision and judiciary is giving a different decision."

Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari, a spokesperson for Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party, told VOA the legal victories were expected.

"We knew that when his [Khan’s] cases come up in court, as soon as they go to a higher court, it will be virtually impossible for any judge to consider these previous cases as genuine," said Khan’s close aide.

Still, Khan has accused of bias the Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Esa and the top judge of the Islamabad High Court, demanding their recusal from his cases.

A United Nations-backed panel last month declared Khan’s detention arbitrary.

Speaking to VOA, Azma Bukhari, spokesperson of the Punjab government, rejected the popular view that the state failed to bring credible charges against Khan.

"Khan is a lucky man! It’s not as if the government has not been able to provide evidence. It’s just that nothing stands up to Imran Khan," said Bukhari, a member of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s party, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz).

"There is a sense that only those siding with Khan will be respected and spared bullying," Bukhari said, accusing senior judges of favoring Khan under populist pressure.

Analysts whom VOA spoke with agree some senior judges may be following the public’s pulse.

Unclear ideology

Since his ouster, Khan may have succeeded in unleashing pent-up public anger against the military’s self-admitted interference in political affairs, but it is unclear whether his aggressive criticism of the top brass is rooted in a desire for civilian supremacy, political observers say.

Last week, Khan offered "conditional negotiations" to the military if the leadership appointed a representative. He has refused to speak with politicians. The message came through a post on his account on X, formerly Twitter, operated from overseas.

"We will not hold any talks, nor will we negotiate [a deal] with the puppet, mafia regime, imposed on us illegitimately through fraud and rigging," the message stated.

Government spokesperson Bukhari and journalist Asma Shirazi criticized Khan for rejecting talks with public representatives.

"It is important to get clarity on what is Khan’s ideology? What does he want? How does he see democracy, civilian supremacy, freedom of expression? Where does he want to take that?" asked Shirazi.

While in office, Khan rejected the charge that he rose to power with the military’s support, though he frequently touted his closeness with the powerful institution. He repeatedly accused his political opponents of corruption and treason, without providing evidence. In 2021, global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders listed Khan among "press freedom predators."

"The way the constitution ensures judicial independence, media freedom, civil liberties, PTI does not believe in that strongly," Warraich said. "This is a gripe a lot of democratic [-minded] elements have with him."

Instability persists

Since May 9, 2023, when Khan’s supporters stormed government and military properties in protest, PTI has faced a severe military-backed crackdown, forcing several senior party leaders to either defect or go underground.

Still, PTI-backed candidates won the largest number of seats in the Feb. 8 general elections this year. PTI has also managed to keep Khan and the party’s plight in the spotlight internationally.

In June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution urging an investigation into claims of election irregularities.

"There is a diaspora that has influence, and it is using that," Shirazi said.

Pakistan rejected statements from U.S. lawmakers as unwelcome and unwarranted interference.

“That is not interference. That is awareness," said Khan’s aide Bukhari, defending the leader’s seemingly contradictory position of seeking support from U.S. lawmakers while accusing the Biden administration of conspiring in his ouster. Washington has denied the allegation.

Sharif’s government seems to have backed down on its recent threat to ban PTI for alleged anti-state activities, but the party’s spokesperson and its electronic and social media team members are under arrest, facing anti-state propaganda and terrorism charges.

Social media platform X, where Khan’s supporters are active, has remained largely suspended in Pakistan since February, while PTI’s attempts at street agitations have been frequently quashed.

Despite being imprisoned, Khan holds the key to end the political deadlock that continues to destabilize the country, Shirazi insists, since public sympathy remains with him.

The battle between Khan and the military, however, has deep implications for Pakistan, she said.

"This is not a fight for rule," Shirazi said. "This is a fight for power."
Even after a year in jail, Imran Khan still dominates Pakistan’s politics (BBC)
BBC [8/4/2024 7:22 PM, Caroline Davies, 65502K, Neutral]
Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan has now been behind bars for a year – although there are times you would barely know it.

Mr Khan is still the dominant force of Pakistan’s opposition politics; his name still in the papers and the courts. His social media supporters have been unrelenting.

With no public appearances, the few people allowed in to see the former cricket star regularly – his lawyers and family – have become his conduit for messages to the outside world. They are keen to push the message that his 365 days behind bars have left him unbowed.

“There is still a swagger about him,” Aleema Khanum, Imran Khan’s sister, says. “He’s got no needs, no wants - only a cause.”

According to those who visit him, Mr Khan spends his days on his exercise bike, reading and reflecting. He has an hour a day to walk around the courtyard. There have been occasional disagreements about how quickly the family can provide him with new books.

“He has said ‘I’m not wasting a minute of my time in jail, it’s an opportunity for me to get more knowledge’,” Ms Khanum tells the BBC.

But the fact is Mr Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi are still trapped in prison, with no sign they will be released any time soon.

According to some, this is not a surprise.

“There was no expectation that Mr Khan was going to do anything that would make it easy for him to get out of jail,” says Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Centre think tank in Washington.

And the military - Pakistan’s powerful behind-the-scenes player - “don’t ease up when they decide there’s a political figure that they want to lock up”, says Mr Kugelman. “That has especially been the case with Khan.”

Indeed, the military has been key to many of the ups and downs of Mr Khan’s life in the last decade. Many analysts believe it was his initial close relationship with the military establishment which helped him win power.

But by 9 May last year, that was in tatters. Mr Khan - who had been ousted from power in a vote of no confidence in 2022 - had been arrested, and his supporters came out to protest.

Some of those protests turned violent, and there were attacks on military buildings - including the official residence of the most senior army official in Lahore which was looted and set alight.

In the aftermath, BBC sources said Pakistan’s media companies had been told to stop showing his picture, saying his name or playing his voice.

Mr Khan was released - but ultimately only for a few months.

He was jailed again on 5 August for failing to correctly declare the sale of state gifts - and that was just the start.

In the run-up to the election, the cases against him mounted; by the start of February - just days before the vote - the 71-year-old had acquired three long prison sentences, the last for 14 years.

By the election, many of the candidates standing for Mr Khan’s PTI party were also in prison or in hiding, the party stripped of its well-recognised symbol of a cricket bat - a vital identifier in a country with a 58% literacy rate.

Despite this, “we were determined and wanted to make a statement”, Salman Akram Raja, Mr Khan’s lawyer and a candidate in the election, says.

“It was very constrained, many couldn’t campaign at all. The loss of the cricket bat symbol was the body blow.”

All candidates stood as independents, but hopes - even within the party - weren’t high.

Yet candidates backed by Imran Khan won more seats than anyone else, forcing his political rivals to form an alliance to block them. The PTI, meanwhile, was left to fight for many of their seats in court, alleging the results were rigged.

Supporters see the election on 8 February as a turning point, proof of Mr Khan’s potent message - even from behind bars.

“There is a change, that was expressed on 8 February,” says Aleema Khanum. “Change is coming, it is in the air.”

Others say that practically, the result hasn’t changed the status quo.

“We are really where we might expect to be given past precedent,” Mr Kugelman says.

“PTI didn’t form a government, its leader is still in jail and the coalition in power is led by parties backed by the military.”

But more recently, things have certainly seemed to be looking up for Mr Khan and his supporters.

All three of the sentences handed down just before the election have fallen away, a United Nations panel declared his detention was arbitrary and Pakistan’s supreme court said PTI was an official party and should receive "reserve seats"; the seats reserved for women and non-Muslims allocated according to the proportion of seats the party has won.

But none have yet had a practical impact: Mr Khan is still in jail with new cases against his name, and the reserve seats have yet to be allocated.

His wife Bushra Bibi, whose prison sentence was dropped when the case that declared their marriage illegal was appealed, is also still in prison on new charges.

Meanwhile, the government has made it clear that it sees Mr Khan and his party as a public threat. It announced earlier this month that it intends to seek to ban PTI, despite warnings from groups like the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

The military also shows no indication it has changed its mind. On the 9 May anniversary this year, a statement from its public relations wing said there would be no compromise with the “planners, facilitators and executioners” and nor would they be allowed to “hoodwink the law of the land”.

And it is this relationship with the military that most analysts think Mr Khan really needs to smooth out to finally escape prison.

“I think we can come up with an arrangement that gives everyone a way out and allows the system to function,” says Khan’s lawyer, Mr Raja.

Meanwhile, from jail, Mr Khan has been delivering his own messages. Aleema Khanum recently said that that he had told the military to "stay neutral… to let this country run" and called it "the backbone of Pakistan".

It has been seen as an olive branch by some commentators, although the use of the term neutral was picked up on; when the army previously declared itself neutral by not taking sides in politics, he ridiculed the expression, saying "only an animal is neutral".

His recent call for snap elections is a move that some see as one of his conditions to the military.

“I don’t think that’s very realistic,” says Mr Kugelman. “Over time, Khan may relent a bit. It is one of the truisms of Pakistani politics: if you want to be prime minister you need to be in the good graces, or at least not the bad graces, of the military.”

For now at least, the stalemate continues.
Pakistan’s Imran Khan completes year in prison: 5 things to know (Nikkei Asia)
Nikkei Asia [8/4/2024 10:25 PM, Adnan Aamir, 2042K, Neutral]
Pakistan’s ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan has been in prison for a year now despite the conviction that landed him there having been suspended and a few other cases ending in acquittals.

The ex-cricket star, whose prison time reached the one-year mark on Monday, was removed from office in April 2022 following a no-confidence vote. He remains the country’s most popular opposition leader, however, which allowed his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to emerge from elections in February as Pakistan’s largest political party.

Here are five things to know about the 71-year-old’s complicated situation.

What legal cases does Khan face?

Currently, Khan is on trial in two cases.

One is known as the Al-Qadir Trust case, in which the former prime minister is accused of abusing his authority in the process of retrieving from the U.K.’s National Crime Agency 190 million pounds ($242 million) belonging to a Pakistani real estate tycoon.

The other is a state gifts misappropriation case, in which Khan faces allegations of selling expensive watches and jewelry received as state gifts without first registering them with the government.

Khan is also under investigation in a case looking into the turmoil of May 9, when PTI supporters allegedly attacked military installations in response to his first arrest earlier that month. He was released on bail a couple of days later.

How has the Pakistani government managed to keep Khan behind bars?

Earlier this year, lower courts convicted Khan for making public a classified diplomatic cable and later for violating Islamic law by marrying his third wife too soon after her divorce. Appeal courts later acquitted Khan in both of these cases.

There is a pattern: As soon as Khan is acquitted in one case, he is hit with another.

"The judicial system of Pakistan is badly compromised," Asad Toor, a political analyst based in Islamabad, told Nikkei Asia, "and Imran Khan’s case is a glaring example of that."

Added Cyril Almeida, an Islamabad-based political analyst: "The process is the punishment in Pakistan. If the military really desires, the state can manipulate the judicial system endlessly and keep someone in jail for years, even a decade, without a conviction."

How long is Khan expected to spend in prison?

The government makes no qualms about keeping Khan locked up until 2029 when the current administration’s five-year term ends.

Ahsan Iqbal, federal minister for planning, in June told reporters that Pakistan can only move forward if Khan is jailed for the next five years.

Experts believe Khan is not likely to get out anytime soon, not as long as the existing political power equation persists.

Toor, the political analyst, said the government plans to keep Khan locked up at least for the next 12 months. "There is no possibility of Khan getting out anytime soon," he added.

Added Almeida, "Khan will be released when the military establishment decides he is more trouble in jail than outside."

"Getting out of jail for Khan depends on the relations with powerful quarters and not the justice system itself," said Tahir Naeem Malik, a professor of international relations at the National University of Modern Languages (NUML) in Islamabad.

How is Khan’s imprisonment affecting Pakistan?

Pakistan has lacked political stability ever since Khan was removed as prime minister in April 2022. And keeping him in jail after his party won the most seats in the recent elections further destabilizes the situation.

The country’s political instability is also helping to feed its economic instability.

"[Khan]’s imprisonment is one of the reasons Pakistan does not have political stability, which is required by foreign countries and firms to do business with Pakistan," a government official told Nikkei on condition of anonymity.

What would happen if Khan were released?

The general belief among political pundits in Pakistan is that due to his immense public popularity, Khan would immediately create a host of problems for the government. The thinking is that Khan would marshal his public support to go on an agitation offensive, which could put the government on the ropes.

"If Khan comes out of prison, then this government will not survive," Toor said, adding that keeping Khan imprisoned is a kind of insurance policy for the government.

Malik, the NUML professor, agrees. "Khan," he said, "has the capacity to foment enough trouble to destabilize the government and bring it to its knees."
Protesters in Pakistan-held Kashmir mark 5th anniversary of India stripping region of semi-autonomy (AP)
AP [8/5/2024 5:05 AM, Staff, 37088K, Neutral]
Hundreds of angry people took to the streets in Pakistan-administered Kashmir Monday to mark the fifth anniversary of India’s decision to strip the disputed region of its semi-autonomy and take direct control of it.

The decision— which Islamabad insists was unilateral and violated United Nations resolutions — has tested the already strained ties between the two countries.

Protesters in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-held Kashmir which is split between Pakistan and India and claimed by both in its entirety, burned an effigy of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indian national flags, vowing to fight New Delhi’s decree until its dissolution.

Another protest of about 200 people was led by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar in the capital.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was also expected to address lawmakers in Muzaffarabad later on Monday. In a statement, he called to resolve the tense territorial dispute over Kashmir through the diplomatic channels of the U.N., saying Pakistan will continue to “extend its strong moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people.”

In 2019, India’s Hindu nationalist-led government revoked the special status of Muslim-majority Kashmir after cutting off communications and deploying thousands of troops in the restive Himalayan region amid uproar from Pakistani lawmakers.

In December, India’s top court upheld the decision by Modi’s government.

The future of Muslim-majority Kashmir was left unresolved at the end of British colonial rule in 1947, when the Indian subcontinent was divided into predominantly Hindu India and mainly Muslim Pakistan. Pakistan has long pushed for the right to self-determination under a U.N. resolution passed in 1948, which called for a referendum on whether Kashmiris wanted to merge with Pakistan or India.

The rebels in Indian-administered Kashmir have been fighting Indian rule since 1989.
India
Mystery surrounds US woman found starving and chained to tree in India (BBC)
BBC [8/2/2024 7:03 PM, Geeta Pandey, Cherylann Mollan, and Mushtaq Khan, 65502K, Neutral]
Mystery surrounds an American woman who was found chained to a tree "screaming" in a forest in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

Lalita Kayi, 50, was discovered a week ago in the dense forests of Sindhudurg district after her cries for help were heard by shepherds. They alerted the police who sawed off the chain and rescued her.

Ms Kayi, who appeared completely emaciated, was taken to hospital. Her physical health has since improved and, on Friday, she was moved to a psychiatric facility for further treatment, doctors treating her told the BBC.

In a written statement to the police, she has alleged that her husband "chained her and left her in the forest to die without food or water".

Police say they are looking for her husband in the southern state of Tamil Nadu on the basis of information she provided them.

But seven days after Ms Kayi was rescued, many questions remain unanswered.

Pandurang Gawkar, a cow herder who found her last Saturday, told BBC Marathi that he had taken his cattle to graze in the forest when he heard "a woman screaming loudly".

"The sound was coming from the forest on the side of the mountain. When I went there, I saw that one of her legs was tied to a tree. She was screaming like an animal. I called other villagers and the local police."

Police said that on her they found a copy of her passport, which stated that she was an American citizen, and her Aadhaar card - a unique ID for Indians - with her home address in Tamil Nadu.

They said she also had a mobile phone, a tablet and 31,000 rupees ($370; £290) in her possession - which allowed them to rule out theft as a motive.

Locals say that it was the woman’s good fortune that the shepherd picked a spot near her to graze his flock that day. The forest she was discovered in is vast and she otherwise could have gone for days without anyone hearing her cries for help.

Police initially took her to a local hospital before moving her to a hospital in the neighbouring state of Goa.

Dr Shivanand Bandekar, dean of Goa Medical College, told The Indian Express newspaper that she had some wounds on her leg and that she appeared to be suffering from a mental health condition.

"We do not know for how long she did not eat, but her vital signs are stable," Dr Bandekar said.

On Friday, the woman’s physical health had improved enough to be moved to a psychiatric hospital in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra state.

"Currently, her health is stable," hospital superintendent Dr Sanghamitra Phule told BBC Marathi.

"She is taking medication, eating, and interacting with people. If she wants something, she can communicate it. She only knows English."

According to the police, Ms Kayi was a ballet dancer and yoga practitioner in America - some reports say specifically Massachusetts - and moved to India about 10 years ago to study yoga and meditation in Tamil Nadu.

It was there that she met her husband - in some media reports, police have called him Satish. Police say they believe at some point she fell out with her husband.

Some reports say that she stayed in a hotel in Goa for two days and then travelled to Mumbai city, India’s financial capital.

But there is no clarity surrounding when or how she then ended up in the forest where she was discovered last week.

Ms Kayi, who was initially unable to speak, communicated with the police and doctors by scribbling notes on a pad. Through them she blamed her husband for tying her to the tree and claimed that she had gone without food and water for 40 days.

She also claimed that she had been given an "injection for extreme psychosis" which locked her jaw and prevented her from drinking water, and that she had to be provided nutrition intravenously.

"I am a victim and survived. But he ran away from here," she alleged.

Police say they have been unable to verify these claims and believe it is unlikely that someone would survive without food or water for so long.

They have registered a case of attempted murder against her husband and have dispatched teams to Tamil Nadu, Goa and Maharashtra to investigate the matter further. Her husband is yet to be traced by the police and hasn’t made any statements to the media.

Police say they are also looking for clues in the mobile phone and the tablet they found on the woman.

The US embassy in Delhi - which media reports say has been "exerting pressure on the police to speed up the investigation" - has refused to comment on the case.

A spokesperson told the BBC that it could not respond to inquiries "due to the US Privacy Act", which governs the dissemination of private information.
Indian police launch murder investigation after a US woman was found screaming and chained to a tree in the middle of a forest (Business Insider)
Business Insider [8/3/2024 7:58 AM, Rebecca Rommen, 60154K, Negative]
The case of a US woman who was discovered chained to a tree in a rural part of the western Indian state of Maharashtra is puzzling investigators.

Lalita Kayi, 50, was found last week in the state’s Sindhudurg district after her screams were heard by a local, according to local media reports.

A cow herder who found Kayi told BBC Marathi that he had heard screams "coming from the forest on the side of the mountain" as he took his cattle to graze.

"When I went there, I saw that one of her legs was tied to a tree. She was screaming like an animal. I called other villagers and the local police," he said.

Police said the 50-year-old was found with a copy of her passport, an Indian ID card, a cellphone, a tablet, and 31,000 rupees (about $370), per the BBC.

The Indian Express reported that she also had a medical prescription with her.

She appeared emaciated and was reportedly taken to hospital and then on to a psychiatric facility to recover. Doctors said Kayi seemed to be experiencing a mental health condition.

Unnamed sources told India Today that after her rescue, Kayi provided police with a written statement in which she alleged that her husband had chained her to the tree and left her without food or water.

"Injection for extreme psychosis which caused a severely locked jaw and inability to drink any water. Need intravenous food. 40 days without food and water. Husband tied me to a tree in the forest and said I would die there," she wrote on a pad.

Police said it was unlikely she would have survived there for so long, however.

Sindhudurg police have since registered a case of attempted murder against Kayi’s husband.

Details about Kayi’s life are scant, and it remains unclear exactly how she ended up in the forest.

Police believe Kayi moved to India from the US around a decade ago to study yoga and meditation. She had previously lived in the state of Tamil Nadu in the south of the country, where authorities are now searching for her husband.

The Indian Express said that Kayi had recently fallen out with her husband and had been staying in Goa, a small neighboring state on India’s southwestern coast.

Authorities are reportedly still searching for the husband.

A spokesperson for the US embassy in Delhi told the BBC that it would not respond to questions "due to the US Privacy Act."
How missed warnings, ‘over-tourism’ aggravated deadly India landslides (Reuters)
Reuters [8/2/2024 8:48 AM, Munsif Vengattil, Krishn Kaushik, and Chris Thomas, 5.2M, Neutral]
With a steeply pitched tiled roof piercing misty green hills in southern India and a stream gushing through rocks nearby, the Stone House Bungalow was one of the most popular resorts in the Wayanad area of Kerala state.

It was empty when two landslides early on Tuesday washed away the 30-year-old stone building: staff and tourists had left after rain flooded its kitchen a few days earlier.

But neighbouring dwellings in Mundakkai village were occupied and 205 people, almost all locals, were killed and scores are missing. Tourists had been warned to leave the day earlier because of the rain.

Local authorities are now counting the cost of the disaster and questioning whether the rapid development of a tourism industry was to blame for the tragedy. Weather-related disasters are not unusual in India, but the landslides in Kerala state this week were the worst since about 400 people were killed in floods there in 2018.

Mundakkai, the area worst affected by the landslides, was home to some 500 local families. It and neighbouring villages housed nearly 700 resorts, homestays and zip-lining stations attracting trekkers, honeymooners and tourists looking to be close to nature, a local official said. Cardamom and tea estates dotted the hills.

Experts said they had seen Tuesday’s disaster coming for years and several government reports in the past 13 years had warned that over-development in the ecologically sensitive areas would increase the risk of landslides and other environmental disasters such as floods by blocking natural water flows. The warnings were largely ignored or lost in bureaucratic wrangling.

A fast-growing India is rapidly building infrastructure across the country, especially in its tourist destinations, including the ecologically fragile Himalayan foothills in the north where there has been a rise in cave-ins and landslides.

Just three weeks before the latest disaster, Kerala state Tourism Minister P. A. Mohammed Riyas said in the local legislature in answer to a question that Wayanad was "dealing with an influx of more people than it can handle, a classic example of a place facing the problem of over-tourism".

The area is just six hours by road from Bengaluru, India’s tech hub, and is a favoured weekend destination for the city’s wealthy IT professionals.

However, officials were unable to share any documentary evidence with Reuters of resorts and tourist facilities flouting building regulations, although they said some had done so.
Noorudheen, part of Stone House’s managing staff who goes by one name, said no government or village authority had warned the management against building or operating a resort there.

There was no sign that the landslides were directly caused by over-development. Residents said regions higher up in the hills were loosened by weeks of heavy rain and an unusually heavy downpour on Monday night led to rivers of mud, water and boulders crashing downhill, sweeping away settlements and people.

But experts said the unbridled development had worsened the situation by removing forest cover that absorbs rain and blocking natural runoffs.

"Wayanad is no stranger to such downpours," said N. Badusha, head of Wayanad Prakruthi Samrakshana Samiti, a local environment protection NGO.

"Unchecked tourism activity in Wayanad is the biggest factor behind worsening such calamities. Tourism has entered ecologically sensitive fragile areas where it was not supposed to be."

SURGE IN TOURISM

Wayanad received more than 1 million domestic and foreign tourists last year, nearly triple the number in 2011 when a federal government report warned against over-development in the broader mountain range the district lies in, without clearly spelling out the consequences.

"The geography is really too fragile to accommodate all that," K. Babu, a senior village council official in Mundakkai, said in his office this week as he coordinated rescue efforts. "Tourism is doing no good to the area...the tourism sector was never this active."

A Wayanad district disaster management report in 2019 warned against "mindless development carried out in recent decades by destroying hills, forests, water bodies and wetlands".

"Deforestation and reckless commercial interventions on land have destabilised the environment," Wayanad’s then top official, Ajay Kumar, wrote after landslides in the district that year killed at least 14 people.

Reuters reached out to the Wayanad district head, its disaster management authority, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s office and the federal environment ministry seeking comment but there were no responses.

Mundakkai used to be a small village sitting on the eastern slope of one of the forested green hills of the Western Ghats mountain range that runs parallel to nearly the entire length of India’s western coast for 1,600 km (1,000 miles).

Rashid Padikkalparamban, a 30-year-old Mundakkai native who lost six family members including his father to the landslides, said that the place came to the attention of outsiders mainly after 2019 and turned it into a major tourist attraction.

"They discovered a beautiful region full of tea and cardamom plantations, and a river that swept through it," he said at a school-turned-relief camp.

Many locals sold their lands to outsiders, who then built tourist retreats in the area, he said.

‘GOD’S OWN COUNTRY’

Kerala, a sliver of land between the Western Ghat mountains to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west, is one of the most scenic states in India, and is advertised as "God’s Own Country".

But it has witnessed nearly 60% of the 3,782 landslides in India between 2015 and 2022, the federal government told parliament in July 2022.

Studying the ecological sensitivity of the Western Ghats, a federal government-appointed committee said in 2011: "It has been torn asunder by the greed of the elite and gnawed at by the poor, striving to eke out a subsistence. This is a great tragedy, for this hill range is the backbone of the ecology and economy of south India."

The committee, headed by ecologist Madhav Gadgil, recommended barring mining, no new rail lines or major roads or highways in such areas, and restrictions on development in protected areas that it mapped out. For tourism, it said only minimal impact tourism should be promoted with strict waste management, traffic and water use regulations.

State governments, including Kerala, did not accept the report, and a new committee was set up, which in 2013 reduced the overall protected area from 60% of the mountain range to 37%.

But all the states along the mountain range wanted to reduce the protected area even further, minutes of successive meetings until 2019 show. The federal government issued drafts to implement the recommendations for all stakeholders, but is yet to issue a final order.

Gadgil told Reuters his committee had "specifically recommended that in ecologically highly sensitive areas there should be no further human interventions, such as reconstruction".

"The government, of course, decided to ignore our report," he said, because tourism is a cash cow.

Kerala Chief Minister Vijayan dismissed questions about the Gadgil recommendations, telling reporters his focus was on relief and rehabilitation and asking people to not "raise inappropriate propaganda in the face of this tragedy".

While experts bemoan tourism-led development, locals like Mundakkai’s Padikkalparamban said it brought jobs to an area that did not have many options earlier.

"After the plantation estates, resorts are the second biggest job-generating sector in the area now," he said.

But K.R. Vancheeswaran, president of the Wayanad Tourism Organisation that has some 60 resorts and homestays as members but none in the vicinity of the landslides, said the industry needed to take some of the blame.

"If human activities are going to be unbearable to nature, nature will unleash its power and we will not be able to withstand it," Vancheeswaran said. "We have had to pay a very, very high price, so let us try to learn from it."
NSB
Roaring Back After Crackdown, Bangladesh Protesters Demand Leader’s Ouster (New York Times)
New York Times [8/3/2024 4:14 PM, Saif Hasnat and Mujib Mashal, 831K, Negative]
Fresh protests roiled Bangladesh on Saturday, just weeks after a deadly government crackdown, as demonstrators returned to the streets in what appeared to be the biggest numbers yet and escalated their demands to include the prime minister’s resignation.

In its efforts to break last month’s student-led protests, which started peacefully but turned violent after demonstrators were attacked, the government detained student organizers, rounded up about 10,000 people and accused tens of thousands more of crimes such as arson and vandalism.

A curfew and communications blackout quieted things down, and the students won a significant concession from the courts on their initial demand to end a preferential quota system for public-sector jobs.

But the crackdown by the security forces of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina — which led to the deaths of more than 200 people — seems to have made many Bangladeshis even angrier and broadened the movement’s scope.

The protesters’ re-emergence on the streets, days after the curfew and communications blackout were eased, ratcheted up what was already the biggest challenge that the iron-fisted Ms. Hasina has faced in her 15 years as leader of this country of 170 million people.

As they gathered in huge numbers on Saturday, the demonstrators whittled their demands to a single — and highly provocative — request. Previously, they had called for an apology by Ms. Hasina and the firing of some officials. Now, they are demanding the resignation of both her and her government as accountability for the hundreds of protester deaths.

The demonstrators called for further protests and a “complete noncooperation movement” until Ms. Hasina steps down.

“It is time for her to go,” Nahid Islam, one of the student leaders who was tortured in custody in recent weeks, said at Shaheed Minar, a national monument in Dhaka where teeming crowds gathered on Saturday. “It is not enough to just oust Sheikh Hasina; the murders, looting and corruption that have taken place in this country must see justice.”

In an indication of the risk of violence in the days ahead, Ms. Hasina’s ruling Awami League called for gatherings of its own across the country on Sunday and Monday.

By late Saturday evening, the homes of several officials in Ms. Hasina’s party had been attacked in Chattogram, Bangladesh’s second-largest city, according local police officials and party leaders. Hours later, the homes of several opposition leaders were also attacked in the city, in what appeared to be retaliation.

The protests began largely peacefully in early July, after a Dhaka court reinstated quotas for more than half of all civil service jobs, which are highly sought after. Under pressure from protests in 2018, Ms. Hasina had paused the decades-old system that gave preference to, among others, descendants of people who fought for Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan.

Students called the quotas discriminatory. But anger over the issue was also expressive of broader unhappiness with an economy that has stagnated in recent years, and an increasingly authoritarian governing party in which cronyism was entrenched, analysts said.

Ms. Hasina’s initial response to the protests was dismissive, fueling a perception that she favored reinstating the quotas as an offering to her supporters after winning a fourth consecutive term in January.

When the protests grew angry and violence flared, she struck a more conciliatory note, and then a Supreme Court ruling reduced the quota-reserved jobs to 7 percent of the total, down from 56 percent. But by then the crackdown had already resulted in the deaths of students.

On Saturday, Ms. Hasina again spoke of conciliation, a tone that for many clashed with the violence of the earlier crackdown. “The door of Ganabhaban is open,” Ms. Hasina said, referring to her official residence. “I want to sit with the agitating students of the movement and listen to them. I want no conflict.”

Ms. Hasina’s government blamed last month’s violence on her sworn political enemies, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamic party, and rounded up their leaders. She also issued a decree banning the political activities of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing. Ms. Hasina’s lieutenants put some arrested student leaders on camera, where they read a statement declaring the end of their movement.

But the moment the government eased up on the restrictions, the protesters began demanding justice for their peers who had been killed, wounded or detained. Once the student leaders were freed, they said they had been forced to make that statement, and they repeated their call for mass gatherings.

Mr. Islam, the student leader who called for Ms. Hasina’s resignation on Saturday, was picked up by the security forces shortly after the crackdown began around July 16. When he was released days later, his sister Fatema Tasnim said he had been tortured. He had bruises on his arms, and his thighs had turned black from beatings. He was picked up again days later while receiving treatment at the hospital.

Ms. Tasnim said people were looking to student leaders like her brother to break the entrenched authoritarianism in Bangladesh, in which Ms. Hasina’s government enforces policies without much care for the population. Ms. Tasnim quoted a Bengali poet: “If we don’t wake up, mother, how will the morning come?”

The political culture in Bangladesh has long been violent. But many saw the targeting of students and other young people by Ms. Hasina’s government as crossing a line.

The Bangladeshi newspaper Prothom Alo examined 175 of the more 200 deaths. The paper found that 137 of the bodies had bullet wounds, and that more than 100 of the dead were people under 30. UNICEF said that at least 32 children were killed in the crackdown.

The protesters had returned to the streets after congregational noon prayers on Friday, the start of the weekend in Bangladesh, with thousands braving rain across the country to participate. Late in the afternoon, clashes between the protesters and security forces were reported across the country. At least two people were killed, including one police officer.

The numbers appeared to have grown on Saturday. Local news reports estimated the number of protesters at Shaheed Minar in Dhaka, where the largest of the gatherings took place, at tens of thousands. Large rallies were also reported across several other districts of the country. While the security forces in Dhaka appeared more restrained on Saturday, there were reports of dozens of injuries in other districts.

“There’s a storm inside my chest,” a group of protesters gathered near Dhaka College chanted on Saturday. “I’ve bared my chest, go ahead and shoot.”

Salimullah Khan, a university professor who joined the protests once they resumed, said there was anger over the killings, and no trust that the same authorities who administered the crackdown would deliver justice.

“How can you ask a killer to bring justice to a murder?” he said. “These killings were state sponsored, carried out by state forces and their collaborators.”
At Least 70 Dead as Bangladesh Protests Grow; Curfew Is Reinstated (New York Times)
New York Times [8/5/2024 12:04 AM, Saif Hasnat and Mujib Mashal, 831K, Negative]
At least 70 people were killed in clashes between security forces and protesters on Sunday in Bangladesh, as the country’s leaders imposed a new curfew and internet restrictions to try to quell a growing antigovernment movement.

The revival of student protests after a deadly government crackdown late last month, as well as a call by the governing party for its own supporters to take to the streets, has plunged the country of over 170 million into a particularly dangerous phase.

The exact number of deaths on Sunday was unclear, but it appeared to be the deadliest day since the protests began in July. A diplomatic official in Dhaka, the capital, said the toll across Bangladesh was at least 72, while tallies by local news media and the protest coordinators put the count at anywhere from 70 to 93. At least 13 of the dead were police officers, the country’s Police Headquarters said in a statement.

Sunday’s toll added to the more than 200 people killed in the crackdown on protesters last month by security forces under Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s increasingly authoritarian leader. In a sign of the risk of further violence, the protest coordinators said they would march on Monday toward the official residence of Ms. Hasina, whose resignation they are demanding.

During a meeting with her top security officials on Sunday, Ms. Hasina called those behind the violence “terrorists” and called on the country’s people “to curb anarchists with iron hands,” Bangladesh’s state news agency reported.

Over the weekend, the tensions flared into the kind of localized clashes across the country that appeared difficult to contain. With the public already angry at the police forces, seeing them as an overzealous extension of Ms. Hasina’s entrenched authority, attention focused on Bangladesh’s powerful military.

Ms. Hasina has worked to bring the military to heel. But it has a history of staging coups and was being watched for how it positions itself in the escalating crisis.

What began as a peaceful student protest last month over a preferential quota system for public-sector jobs has morphed into unprecedented anger at Ms. Hasina’s growing autocracy and her management of the economy.

While the crackdown, which included the arrests of more than 10,000 people and the lodging of police cases against tens of thousands more, temporarily dispersed the protesters, the demonstrations have been back in full force since Friday.

The protesters’ anger over the large numbers of deaths has solidified their demands to a single point: On Saturday, at a rally of tens of thousands, they called for the resignation of Ms. Hasina, who has been in power for the past 15 years.

In response to the resignation call, her Awami League party called on its supporters to join counterprotests — setting up the tense situation that unfolded on Sunday.

In a statement sent to the news media on Sunday, as internet restrictions went into effect, leaders of the student movement called for the protests to continue uninterrupted.

“If there is an internet crackdown, if we are disappeared, arrested, or killed, and if there is no one left to make announcements, everyone should continue to occupy the streets and maintain peaceful noncooperation until the government falls in response to our one demand,” Nahid Islam, one of the movement’s leaders, said in the statement.

As the chaos escalates, with both the protesters and Ms. Hasina’s governing party digging in their heels, and as opposition parties take the opportunity to pile on, the country’s military may help determine what happens next.

The army and other security forces were deployed during the crackdown in July. On Sunday, however, the army’s chief, Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman, gathered senior officers for a meeting that was seen as an attempt to allay concerns over the army’s position in the crisis and reinforce its neutrality.

In a statement issued after the meeting, the army said its chief had reiterated that “the Bangladesh Army will always stand by the people in the interest of the public and in any need of the state.”

Reports from student protesters and diplomatic officials about the army’s conduct on Sunday were mixed. While in some parts of the country the army cracked down on the protesters, in other places, it was seen protecting the protesters against attacks by the governing party’s youth wing.

In announcing the reinstatement of the curfew, the army said it would “carry out its pledged duties in accordance with the Constitution and the country’s prevailing laws.”

While the army was long prone to staging coups, it has grown more disciplined in recent years, exercising its influence from behind the scenes.

Analysts attribute that to a combination of factors: Ms. Hasina’s stacking of the top ranks with loyalists, and the lucrative business of United Nations peacekeeping, to which Bangladesh’s army is a major contributor. Human rights abuses like those attributed to other forces under Ms. Hasina, or involvement in a coup, would have international ramifications.

In an indication of the growing pressure on the army to stick to a neutral position, dozens of former officers — including a former army chief — held a news conference on Sunday in Dhaka and called on the military to withdraw its forces from the streets.

“We are deeply concerned, troubled and saddened by all the egregious killings, tortures, disappearances and mass arrests that have been tormenting Bangladesh over the past three weeks,” Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan, who served as army chief from 2012 to 2015, said in a statement on behalf of the former officers. “In no way our armed forces should come forward to rescue those who have created this current situation.”
Dozens killed as anti-government protests resume in Bangladesh (Washington Post)
Washington Post [8/4/2024 1:41 PM, Jennifer Hassan and Azad Majumder, 54755K, Negative]
Violence erupted between Bangladeshi security forces and anti-government protesters Sunday, killing at least 57 people, according to a Washington Post tally of reports from hospitals and police.

Local media placed the toll even higher, saying nearly 100 people had died. At least 14 police officers were among the dead, Enamul Haque, a police spokesperson, said in a statement.

Hospital officials in several districts, including Magura and Sirajganj, said many of the victims they received had bullet wounds.

Sunday’s protests are the latest bout of unrest in the South Asian country — where some 200 people were killed last month in clashes between security forces and student protesters, who took to the streets to oppose a policy that reserves a portion of government jobs for families of those who fought in the country’s 1971 war for independence against Pakistan.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is facing calls to resign, called for an intense crackdown, branding the student protesters as “terrorists,” according to her assistant press secretary, ABM Sarwer-E-Alam Sarker.

Bangladesh’s law and justice minister, Anisul Huq, told the BBC on Sunday that authorities were showing “restraint” and that, if they had not done so, “there would have been a bloodbath.”

The government imposed an indefinite nationwide curfew starting at 6 p.m. Sunday.

The 30 percent job quota for “freedom fighters” and their relatives existed until 2018, when it was canceled by the Hasina government following violent protests. In June, though, a Bangladeshi court reinstated the policy at Hasina’s urging.

Government positions in Bangladesh are highly coveted, viewed by many young job seekers as a path to a secure future. While the protests started out as peaceful, demonstrators were met with “unlawful, and sometimes lethal, force,” according to Amnesty International, an accusation that Hasina and other government officials have denied.

Amid the protests last month, NetBlocks, an internet monitoring group, said the country had been plunged into a near-total internet shutdown, with news websites failing to update or inaccessible and TV channels off the air.

Last week, Bangladesh observed a day of mourning in memory of those killed.

Amid the outrage, Bangladesh’s top court scaled back the controversial quota system once more, which some considered a partial victory and led to a period of relative calm on the streets.

The court said the veterans’ share of jobs would be cut to 5 percent, with 93 percent allocated on merit. The remaining 2 percent will be set aside for ethnic minorities and transgender and disabled people, the Associated Press reported.

But protesters began to gather again Friday — this time to protest the deaths of those who lost their lives in July, and to continue pressuring Hasina to step down.

In January, Hasina, who has won every election since 2009, secured her fourth straight term, granting her another five years in power.

Many chanted “we want justice” on Sunday as they marched while waving anti-government signs, according to Reuters.

Asif Mahmud, a coordinator of the group Student Movements Against Discrimination, urged people to join a march to the capital on Monday.

“I call upon the students and people of the whole country to leave for Dhaka tomorrow,” he said Sunday.
Dozens Killed in Protests Against Bangladesh’s Prime Minister (Wall Street Journal)
Wall Street Journal [8/4/2024 3:53 PM, Krishna Pokharel and Shan Li, 810K, Negative]
Dozens of people were killed on Sunday in protests throughout Bangladesh, as demonstrators called for the resignation of the prime minister after weeks of violent upheaval led by student protesters rocked the country.

At least 85 people, including police officers, were killed in bouts of violence that erupted around the country on Sunday, according to a statement posted on X by the opposition political party, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, which has been banned by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government.

“People from all levels of the country stand by the students,” the party said on X. “They demand the trials of the offenders of genocide and also the resignation of Sheikh Hasina.”

Protests broke out last month with students demonstrating against a quota system that earmarked 30% of government jobs for the families of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.

The demonstrations turned violent, leading to the deaths of about 200 people.

The Supreme Court stepped in last month and ruled that the quota must be slashed to 5%, with 93% of jobs to be filled based on merit. The other 2% would be allocated for disabled or transgender people, or those belonging to ethnic minority groups.

The government said it would respect the ruling, but demonstrations have continued calling for Hasina’s government to be held accountable for what the protesters said was the violence that stemmed from attempts to quash the protesters.

The protests have been the greatest threat to Hasina’s grip on power in Bangladesh, where she has ruled continuously for more than 15 years. The election that returned her to a fourth consecutive term as prime minister in January was boycotted by main opposition parties.

Hasina has blamed her opponents for the violence. Last week, her government banned the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami opposition party and its student wing under an antiterrorism law. In its ban notification on Aug. 1, the government said it has evidence that the party and its student organization were involved in the “recent killings, destructive activities and terrorist activities,” according to a Bangladesh state news agency.

The opposition party on Sunday blamed a student organization affiliated with the ruling party for attacks against protesters.

Jamaat and its student group have said the ban on the party is illegal and dictatorial. They say now they have a single demand: Prime Minister Hasina must resign.

Hasina called for the country’s people to respond to “anarchists with iron hands,” the state news agency reported, after the prime minister held a high-level security meeting Sunday with senior ministers at her residence in Dhaka.

“No one of those who now are carrying out violence is a student. They are terrorists,” a spokesman for the prime minister quoted her as saying, according to the state news agency.

The Home Ministry said Sunday that it was imposing a curfew, beginning Sunday evening. A previous curfew in place had been relaxed in recent weeks.

The government announced a three-day holiday starting Monday. Mobile internet access was cut off, including access to many social-media platforms.
Bangladesh Protesters March to Dhaka, Defying PM Hasina (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [8/5/2024 4:46 AM, Arun Devnath, 5.5M, Negative]
Bangladesh’s student-led protesters marched to the country’s capital Dhaka on Monday to pressure Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign, defying a curfew while the army chief prepares to address the nation.

The Anti-Discrimination Student Movement started the march in the afternoon, calling on other Bangladeshi citizens to join the protest from all over the country. The march was brought forward after clashes on Sunday between pro-government supporters and groups demanding the prime minister’s resignation left more than 100 people dead, some of them police officers.

Bangladesh Army Chief of Staff Waker-Uz-Zaman delayed his address to the nation to 3 p.m. local time. At Shahbag square, a popular demonstration site in Dhaka, people were gathering. Some were declaring it was “a victory for students” that the army chief will be speaking soon. Others were hugging the troops on the streets, television footage showed.

What started out in late June as peaceful protests seeking to abolish a government jobs quota has now turned into deadly unrest in recent weeks with demonstrators now seeking to oust Hasina who has vowed to go after those spreading anarchy. The clashes have continued to distract Hasina’s government as it seeks more funds from creditors and the International Monetary Fund to bolster dwindling foreign-exchange reserves.

Bangladesh has taken a $10 billion hit to the economy from the curfews and the internet blackouts. This time around, the nation is again shutting government and private offices, including banks, for three days starting on Monday and mobile internet services have been switched off.

Hasina’s office on Sunday urged students and parents to return home, saying “militant attacks” took place in parts of Bangladesh. “The authorities will take tough action against the attackers,” her office said in a message to the media.

While Hasina has overseen one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and helped lift millions out of poverty, those achievements are often overshadowed by what critics contend is her authoritarianism. They allege the 76-year-old leader has used state institutions to stamp out dissent and stifle the media, something she denies.

The student protests were initially a reaction to the High Court reinstating a controversial government jobs quota system, which gives preferential treatment to families of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence from Pakistan in 1971. The Supreme Court later rolled back the system.

The jobs situation has turned more acute since the pandemic as youth unemployment has stayed persistently high and the private sector has struggled to expand. The unrest has made it difficult for the garment sector, a key earner of dollars, has struggled to open and this is likely to have an impact on reserves that have fallen to $21.8 billion in June.
Bangladesh Orders Mobile Internet Shutdown to Quell Protests (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [8/4/2024 10:28 AM, Arun Devnath, 27296K, Negative]
Bangladesh tightened a nationwide curfew and ordered a shutdown of mobile Internet services for the second time in three weeks as renewed protests over the weekend led to more than 70 deaths.

The curfew, starting at 6 p.m. local time, will continue until further notice, according to the home ministry. The nation is also shutting government and private offices, including banks, for three days starting on Monday as it grapples with restoring order.

The measures are being imposed after a new wave of violence on Sunday, where protesters demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina clashed with pro-government supporters. The deaths included 13 law enforcement officials who were beaten to death after a mob attacked a police station in the city of Sirajganj.

On Sunday, a group set vehicles on fire at a government-run medical university and hospital near Shahbag square, a popular demonstration site in the capital of Dhaka. Most shops are shut and public transport disappeared from the capital’s streets as the violence spread.

The protesters also launched a disobedience movement, urging citizens to withhold tax or utility bills and asked overseas workers to stop sending remittances home, as part of the nationwide campaign to pressure Hasina and her cabinet to step down.

The ruling Awami League and its supporters held marches across the country on Sunday, seeking to maintain their position against the protesters, according to the party’s General Secretary Obaidul Quader.

‘Militant Attacks’

Hasina’s office urged students and parents to return home, saying “militant attacks” took place in parts of Bangladesh. “The authorities will take tough action against the attackers,” Hasina’s office said in a message to the media.

The unrest stemmed from a controversial government jobs quota system, and demonstrations forced authorities to impose a curfew as well as a near-complete blackout of the mobile Internet for 11 straight days in July. Those protests left some 200 people dead.

Curfews and the Internet shutdown is estimated to have a $10 billion impact on the economy with costs expected to climb further, Zaved Akhtar, president of the Foreign Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said late last month. The FCCI represents investors from 35 countries.

Hasina has offered to meet protest coordinators and ordered the release of detained students as crowds swarmed streets across Dhaka on Saturday. “My doors are open. I want to sit with protesters and listen to them. I don’t want any conflict,” she said.
Thousands storm Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina’s official residence (AP)
AP [8/5/2024 5:46 AM, Julhas Alam and Krutika Pathi, 37088K, Negative]
Protesters stormed inside Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s official residence as the leader’s whereabouts were unknown, after demonstrators defied a military curfew to march in the capital.

Thousands appeared to have entered Hasina’s official residence in Dhaka on Monday, following weeks of violent demonstrations and clashes with security forces.

Bangladesh’s military chief Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman is expected to address the nation later today.

The protests began peacefully in late June, as students sought an end to a quota system for government jobs, but turned violent after clashes between protesters and police and pro-government activists at Dhaka University.

The government’s attempts to quell the demonstrations with force, curfews and internet shutdowns backfired, prompting further outrage as nearly 300 people were killed and leading to demands for an end to her 15 years in power.

On Sunday, nearly 100 people were killed as the protesters clashed with security officials and the ruling party activists across the country.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

Broadband internet and mobile data services were restored across Bangladesh on Monday, while anti-government protesters vowed to march to the capital to demand the prime minister’s resignation, defying a military-ordered curfew after a weekend of violence that left about 100 people dead.

The protests began peacefully as frustrated students demanded an end to a quota system for government jobs, but the demonstrations have since morphed into an unprecedented challenge and uprising against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her ruling Awami League party.

The government has attempted to quell the violence with force, leaving nearly 300 people dead and fueling further outrage and calls for Hasina to step down.

At least 95 people, including at least 14 police officers, died in clashes in the capital on Sunday, according to the country’s leading Bengali-language daily newspaper, Prothom Alo. Hundreds more were injured in the violence.

Authorities first shut off mobile internet on Sunday in an attempt to quell the unrest, while the broadband internet stopped working from late Monday morning. This is the second internet blackout in the country after the protests turned deadly in July.

On Monday, after three hours of suspension of broadband services, both broadband and mobile internet returned.

The military-imposed curfew went into effect Sunday night and covered Dhaka and other divisional and district headquarters. The government had earlier imposed a curfew with some exceptions in the capital and elsewhere.

The government also announced a holiday from Monday to Wednesday. Courts were to be closed indefinitely. Mobile internet service was cut off, and Facebook and messaging apps, including WhatsApp, were inaccessible on Monday.

Bangladesh has previously shut down internet services in areas affected by protests, using it as a measure to suppress dissent by opposition parties. Internet watchdog Access Now said it recorded three shutdowns in the country in 2023, all of which overlapped with opposition rallies and were limited in scope to one city or district. That came after six shutdowns in 2022.

Hasina said the protesters who engaged in “sabotage” and destruction were no longer students but criminals, and she said the people should deal with them with iron hands.

The prime minister’s ruling Awami League party said the demand for her resignation showed that the protests have been taken over by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the now-banned Jamaat-e-Islami party.

Hasina’s 15-years dominance over the country is being tested like never before.

The 76-year-old was elected for a fourth consecutive term in a January vote that was boycotted by her main opponents, triggering questions over how free and fair the vote was. Thousands of opposition members were jailed in the lead-up to the polls, which the government defended as democratically held.

Today, she is the longest-serving leader in the history of Bangladesh, a predominantly Muslim nation of over 160 million people strategically located between India and Myanmar.

Her political opponents have previously accused her of growing increasingly autocratic and called her a threat to the country’s democracy, and many now say the unrest is a result of her authoritarian streak and hunger for control at all costs.

At least 11,000 people have been arrested in recent weeks. The unrest has also resulted in the closure of schools and universities across the country, and authorities at one point imposed a shoot-on-sight curfew.

Over the weekend, protesters called for a “non-cooperation” effort, urging people not to pay taxes or utility bills and not to show up for work on Sunday, a working day in Bangladesh. Offices, banks and factories opened, but commuters in Dhaka and other cities faced challenges getting to their jobs.

The protests began last month as students demanded an end to a quota system that reserved 30% of government jobs for the families of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence against Pakistan in 1971.

As the violence crested, the country’s Supreme Court ruled that the veterans’ quota must be cut to 5%, with 93% of jobs to be allocated on merit. The remaining 2% will be set aside for members of ethnic minorities and transgender and disabled people. The government accepted the decision, but protesters have continued demanding accountability for the violence they blame on the government’s use of force.

Hasina’s administration has blamed the opposition parties and their student wings for instigating the violence in which several state-owned establishments were also torched or vandalized.

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secretary-general of the main opposition party, repeated a call for the government to step down to stop the chaos.

Hasina offered to talk with student leaders on Saturday, but a coordinator refused and announced a one-point demand for her resignation. Hasina repeated her pledges to investigate the deaths and punish those responsible for the violence. She said she was ready to sit down whenever the protesters want.

The protests have become a major challenge for Hasina, who has ruled the country for over 15 years. She returned to power for a fourth consecutive term in January in an election that was boycotted by her main opponents.
Bangladesh protesters call for PM Hasina’s resignation as death toll rises to 91 (Reuters)
Reuters [8/4/2024 11:22 PM, Ruma Paul, 2042K, Negative]
At least 91 people were killed and hundreds injured in clashes in Bangladesh on Sunday as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse tens of thousands of protesters calling for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign.

The death toll, which includes at least 13 policemen, was the highest for a single day from any protests in Bangladesh’s recent history, surpassing the 67 deaths reported on July 19 when students took to the streets to demand the scrapping of quotas for government jobs.

The government declared an indefinite nationwide curfew starting at 6 p.m. (1200 GMT) on Sunday, the first time it has taken such a step during the current protests that began last month. It also announced a three-day general holiday starting from Monday.

The unrest, which has prompted the government to shut down internet services, is Hasina’s biggest test in her 20-year regime after she won a fourth straight term in elections that were boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Critics of Hasina, along with human rights groups, have accused her government of using excessive force against protesters, a charge she and her ministers deny.

Demonstrators blocked major highways on Sunday as student protesters launched a non-cooperation program to press for the government’s resignation, and violence spread nationwide.
"Those who are carrying out violence are not students but terrorists who are out to destabilize the nation," Hasina said after a national security panel meeting, attended by the chiefs of the army, navy, air force, police and other agencies.

"I appeal to our countrymen to suppress these terrorists with a strong hand."

Police stations and ruling party offices were targeted as violence rocked the country of 170 million people.

Thirteen policemen were beaten to death in the north-western district of Sirajganj, police said. Nine others were killed in the district, where two lawmakers’ homes were set on fire.

At least 11 people, including two students and a ruling party leader, were killed and dozens injured amid fierce clashes in several places in the capital, Dhaka, police and witnesses said.

India’s foreign ministry urged its nationals not to travel to Bangladesh until further notice.

BULLET WOUNDS

Two construction workers were killed on their way to work and 30 injured in the central district of Munsiganj, during a three-way clash of protesters, police and ruling party activists, witnesses said.

"They were brought dead to the hospital with bullet wounds," said Abu Hena Mohammad Jamal, the superintendent of the district hospital.

Police said they had not fired any live bullets.

In the northeastern district of Pabna, at least three people were killed and 50 injured during a clash between protesters and activists of Hasina’s ruling Awami League party, witnesses said.

Eight each in Feni and Lakshmipur, six in Narsingdi, five in Rangpur, four in Magura and the rest in several other districts, hospital officials said.

"An attack on a hospital is unacceptable," said Health Minister Samanta Lal Sen after a group vandalised a medical college hospital and set fire to vehicles, including an ambulance, in Dhaka.

At least four garment factories were set on fire in Ashulia, on the outskirts of Dhaka, police said.

For the second time during the recent protests, the government shut down high-speed internet services, mobile operators said. Social media platforms Facebook and WhatsApp were not available, even via broadband connections.

Bangladesh authorities instructed the country’s telecoms providers on Sunday to shut down 4G, effectively disabling internet services, according to a confidential government memo seen by Reuters.

GOVERNMENT ORDERS

“You are requested to shut down all your 4G services until further notice, only 2G will be effective,” said the document issued by the National Telecommunication Monitoring Center, a government intelligence agency.

Telecoms companies were previously told their licences would be cancelled if they did not comply with government orders, a person with direct knowledge told Reuters.

The telecom regulatory body did not respond to Reuters’ calls.

Last month, at least 150 people were killed and thousands injured in violence touched off by student groups protesting against quotas for government jobs.

The protests paused after the Supreme Court scrapped most quotas, but students returned to the streets in sporadic protests last week, demanding justice for the families of those killed.

"I think the genie is out of the bottle and Hasina may not put it back in the bottle again," said Shakil Ahmed, associate professor for government and politics at Jahangirnagar University.

Chief of Army Staff General Waker-Uz-Zaman on Saturday directed his officers to ensure the security of people’s lives, properties, and important state installations under all circumstances, a statement said.

"(The) Bangladesh Army is a symbol of the people’s trust. The army is always there and will always be there for the people’s interests and for any needs of the state," the statement quoted him as saying.

Zaman will brief the media on Monday, an army spokesman said.
Bangladesh Students Step Up Protests To Press PM’s Resignation (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [8/3/2024 7:14 AM, Shafiqul Alam, 4032K, Negative]
Bangladeshi student leaders on Saturday said they would carry on a planned nationwide civil disobedience campaign until Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned following last month’s deadly police crackdown on protesters.

Rallies against civil service job quotas sparked days of mayhem in July that killed more than 200 people in some of the worst unrest of Hasina’s 15-year tenure.

Troop deployments briefly restored order but crowds returned to the streets in huge numbers this week ahead of an all-out non-cooperation movement aimed at paralysing the government planned to begin on Sunday.

Students Against Discrimination, the group responsible for organising the initial protests, rebuffed an offer of talks with Hasina earlier in the day before announcing their campaign would continue until the premier and her government step down.

"She must resign and she must face trial," Nahid Islam, the group’s leader, told a crowd of thousands at a monument to national heroes in the capital Dhaka to roars of approval.

Students Against Discrimination have asked their compatriots to cease paying taxes and utility bills from Sunday to pile pressure on the government.

They have also asked government workers and labourers in the country’s economically vital garment factories to strike.

"She must go because we don’t need this authoritarian government," Nijhum Yasmin, 20, told AFP from one of many protests staged around Dhaka on Saturday.

"Did we liberate the country to see our brothers and sisters shot dead by this regime?"

The looming non-cooperation campaign deliberately evokes a historical civil disobedience campaign during Bangladesh’s 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.

That earlier movement was spearheaded by Hasina’s father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s independence leader, and is remembered by Bangladeshis as a part of a proud battle against tyranny.

"Now the tables have turned," Illinois State University politics professor Ali Riaz told AFP.

"The regime’s foundation has been shaken, the aura of invincibility has disappeared," he added. "The question is whether Hasina is ready to look for an exit or fight to the last."

Hasina, 76, has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.

Her government is accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.

Demonstrations began in early July over the reintroduction of a quota scheme -- since scaled back by Bangladesh’s top court -- that reserved more than half of all government jobs for certain groups.

With around 18 million young Bangladeshis out of work, according to government figures, the move upset graduates facing an acute employment crisis.

The protests had remained largely peaceful until attacks on demonstrators by police and pro-government student groups.

Hasina’s government eventually imposed a nationwide curfew, deployed troops and shut down the nation’s mobile internet network for 11 days to restore order.

But the clampdown provoked a torrent of criticism from abroad and failed to quell widespread rancour at home.

Crowds returned to the streets in huge numbers after Friday prayers in the Muslim-majority nation, heeding a call by student leaders to press the government for more concessions.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell this week called for an international probe into the "excessive and lethal force against protesters".

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters last weekend that security forces had operated with restraint but were "forced to open fire" to defend government buildings.

At least 32 children were among those killed last month, the United Nations said Friday.
Students renew Bangladesh protests, call for PM Hasina’s resignation (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [8/3/2024 7:41 AM, Staff, 20871K, Negative]
Protesters in Bangladesh have taken to the streets to demand justice for the more than 200 people killed in last month’s student-led demonstrations over quotas in government jobs.

The large protests on Saturday came as student leaders called for a nationwide civil disobedience campaign until Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government resigns.

Students Against Discrimination, the group responsible for organising the initial protests, rebuffed an offer of talks with Hasina earlier in the day.

“She must resign and she must face trial,” Nahid Islam, the group’s leader, told a crowd of thousands at a monument to national heroes in the capital Dhaka to roars of approval.

Reporting from Dhaka, Al Jazeera’s Tanvir Chowdhury said that the student movement had turned “into a public movement”, noting that people from all walks of life had joined Saturday’s protests calling for the government to resign.

He added that clashes also took place between protesters and police in the Gazipur and Comilla districts in the capital’s outskirts.

Hasina on Saturday called upon protest leaders to meet her at her official residence Ganabhaban, saying the “door is open”.

“I want to sit with the agitating students of the movement and listen to them. I want no conflict,” she said, according to local media.

The prime minister has also appointed three senior officials to negotiate with the protesters, Chowdhury reported.

The demonstrations began over the reintroduction of a quota scheme – since scaled back by Bangladesh’s top court – that reserved more than half of all government jobs for certain groups.

With some 18 million young Bangladeshis out of work, according to government figures, the move upset graduates facing an acute unemployment crisis.

The protests had remained largely peaceful until attacks on demonstrators by police and pro-government student groups.

Hasina’s government eventually imposed a nationwide curfew, deployed troops and shut down the nation’s mobile internet network for 11 days to restore order.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters that security forces had operated with restraint but were “forced to open fire” to defend government buildings.

The government has been weathering a worsening backlash over the deadly police crackdown that resulted in deaths of at least 200 people including 32 children, as well as hundreds of pellet gun injuries.

UN experts have called for an immediate end to the violent crackdown against protesters as well as accountability for human rights violations.

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk today called on the government to disclose full details about its crackdown on protests and to provide the details of those killed, injured or detained for the benefit of their families.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also called for an international probe into the “excessive and lethal force against protesters”.
Maldives pushes to mend relations with India, eyeing tourism and aid (Nikkei Asia)
Nikkei Asia [8/2/2024 10:00 PM, Kiran Sharma, 2042K, Positive]
After months of strain in its ties with India, the Maldives appears to be making efforts to reset the relationship by wooing tourists from its big neighbor and acknowledging New Delhi’s financial support in strengthening the island country’s economy.

On Tuesday, Maldivian Tourism Minister Ibrahim Faisal held talks with his Indian counterpart, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, in New Delhi and discussed boosting tourism between the two nations. He also met India’s Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, following which Faisal posted on X that their conversation "focused on strengthening connectivity between the Maldives and India, as well as exploring ways to elevate tourism between our two nations."

Faisal is currently touring the neighboring country as part of the Welcome India road show, which is taking place in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru on different days until Saturday. The aim of the visit is to attract more Indian visitors to the Maldives, whose numbers have been falling significantly.

According to data from the Maldives’ Ministry of Tourism, India was the top market for inbound tourism in 2023, reaching 209,198, or 11.1% of the total. This year’s data up to July 24, however, shows India dropping to No. 6, with 69,852 visitors, or 6.1% of the market share. China, which was No. 3 last year, now holds the No. 1 spot with 148,839 arrivals, or 13% of the total.

"It is true that [Faisal’s] visit may address Maldives’ immediate concern" about a dip in Indian tourists, said Udai Bhanu Singh, a strategic analyst who was formerly at the New Delhi-based Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, noting that the Maldives is the smallest South Asian country and its economy is heavily dependent on tourism.

Faisal’s India visit follows a statement from Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu addressing a gathering at the Maldives Centre for Social Education on July 27 in which he expressed "sincere gratitude" to India, as well as China, for "support in easing the Maldives’ debt repayment, thereby enabling the country to ensure economic sovereignty."

India has been a key provider of development assistance to the Maldives, often extending financial support on favorable terms in the past.

Muizzu said in a statement issued by his presidential office that the government was in talks with both China and India about facilitating currency swap agreements, which would "help alleviate the local shortages of U.S. dollars." The statement also mentioned that his administration was negotiating a free trade agreement with the U.K. and they hope to reach a similar agreement with India.

Experts have noted the reconciliatory tone of Male’s overtures to New Delhi.

"Yes, there is definitely a change in the attitude" of the Muizzu government toward India of late, Yogesh Gupta, a former Indian ambassador and secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, told Nikkei Asia. "They have realized that India is positively disposed toward Maldives’ stability, security and growth."

Gupta points out that India has sent essential food, construction and other urgently needed commodities to the Maldives, and last year the people "were shocked at their new president’s overbearing and insensitive attitude toward India," which he believes led to a decline in the number of Indian tourists.

"India is the next-door neighbor of the Maldives and always comes to its assistance in times of need," Gupta said. China, on the other hand, he added, "is far away and is not sensitive to the security, financial and other interests of smaller countries."

Muizzu visited New Delhi in June at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the latter’s swearing-in ceremony as prime minister for a third straight term. This was his first visit to India since assuming office, and during the trip he emphasized that strong ties between the two countries would bring prosperity to the Maldives and its citizens, and "expressed optimism for a successful bilateral relationship in the future," his office said in a statement.

"Muizzu’s presence in the oath-taking ceremony of Modi is an indication that both [countries] are trying to convey ‘let bygones be bygones,’" said Shamshad Ahmad Khan, assistant professor of international relations at BITS Pilani Dubai Campus.

The relations hit turbulence with the election last year of Muizzu, who is considered pro-China. One of his campaign promises was to remove the fewer than 100 Indian troops stationed in the Maldives for humanitarian and medical evacuation services. That promise was followed through with ahead of the May 10 deadline set by Muizzu, with all such troops currently having been withdrawn.

Another major diplomatic row erupted in January over some Maldivian ministers making disparaging remarks about Modi after he made a series of posts on X promoting tourism in India’s Lakshadweep archipelago off the coast of the southern state of Kerala. The comments were met with angry calls in India for a boycott of the Maldives, a scenic island nation known for its idyllic resorts.

After entering office, Muizzu chose to go to Turkey on his first official visit in November, breaking with the tradition of all previous democratically elected Maldivian presidents by not making his first visit to India. He then visited China in January, a move that was seen as Male tilting toward Beijing and away from New Delhi against the backdrop of both Asian giants seeking influence in the strategically situated Indian Ocean archipelago.

Maldivian Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer, however, visited New Delhi in May, where he was told by his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, that bilateral ties depended on mutual interests and reciprocal sensitivity.

According to strategic analyst Singh, the Maldives is a geopolitically significant, albeit small, neighbor to India in the Indian Ocean region and occupies an important place in India’s policies, such as "neighborhood first" -- which is aimed at improving ties with immediate neighbors -- and "security and growth for all in the region."

He also said that "a stable Maldives is in India’s interest," observing that the island nation’s geostrategic significance makes it "prone to interference by major powers."

Assistant professor Khan observed that India and the Maldives have long maintained a cordial and friendly relationship, but Muizzu’s anti-India rhetoric during the election was aimed at galvanizing a specific section of voters.

"After gaining power and amid Indian tourists’ desertion of the Maldives, [his government] realized the role India plays in their economy," Khan told Nikkei.

He added that it seems the Maldives is trying to maintain an equal distance between China and India "to safeguard its interests."
Central Asia
Kazakh Court Sentences Journalist To 7 Years In Prison (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [8/4/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, 235K, Negative]
A court in Kazakhstan’s southern town of Qonaev on August 2 sentenced journalist Duman Mukhammedkarim to 7 years in prison for financing an extremist group and participating in a banned group’s activities, charges he rejects as politically motivated.

The court also banned Mukhammedkarim from performing public activities for three years.

Mukhammedkarim’s lawyer, Ghalym Nurpeisov, said the ruling will be appealed.

A day earlier, Mukhammedkarim reiterated his innocence, stressing he criticized the government "only for the sake of Kazakhstan’s further development, which is not a crime," his lawyers said.

While, Mukhammedkarim was delivering his final statement in the courtroom, dozens of his supporters chanted "Liberty! Liberty!" near the court building as the trial was held behind closed doors.

Two of the supporters, Abzal Dostyar and Bekzat Maqsutkhan, were detained then and later sentenced to 20 and 10 days in jail, respectively, on a charge of violating regulations for holding public events.

On July 18, Mukhammedkarim was transferred to a hospital as his health dramatically deteriorated following several hunger strikes to protest the secrecy of the trial.

Mukhammedkarim, whose Ne Deidi? (What Do They Say?) YouTube channel is extremely popular in Kazakhstan, was sent to pretrial detention in June 2023 over an online interview he did with fugitive banker and outspoken government critic Mukhtar Ablyazov.

Ablyazov’s Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement was declared extremist and banned in the country in March 2018. As Mukhammedkarim’s trial started on February 12, he complained of being beaten by jail guards, prompting prosecutors to launch an investigation into the matter.

Mukhammedkarim’s trial was then postponed until an unspecified date to allow for the investigation, which was shut down later due to a purported lack of evidence.

The proceedings resumed after that.

Domestic and international right organizations have urged the Kazakh authorities to drop all charges against Mukhammedkarim and immediately release him. Kazakh rights defenders have recognized Mukhammedkarim as a political prisoner.

Rights watchdogs have criticized the authorities in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic for persecuting dissent, but Astana has shrugged off the criticism, saying there are no political prisoners in the country.

The oil-rich Central Asian nation was ruled by authoritarian President Nursultan Nazarbaev from before its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 until current President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev succeeded him in 2019.

Over the past three decades, several opposition figures have been killed and many jailed or forced to flee the country.

Toqaev, who broadened his powers after Nazarbaev and his family left the oil-rich country’s political scene following the deadly, unprecedented antigovernment protests in January 2022, has promised political reforms and more freedoms for citizens.

However, many in Kazakhstan describe the reforms announced by Toqaev as cosmetic, and a crackdown on dissent has continued even after the president announced his "New Kazakhstan" program.
In Tajikistan, Clerics And Government Officials Are Deciding What Women Should Wear (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [8/4/2024 4:05 AM, Farangis Najibullah, 1530K, Neutral]
Women’s clothes are high on the government’s agenda once again in Tajikistan, where authorities and Islamic leaders are working on new guidelines on what women should wear to work and during their leisure time.

The new dress code -- the second of its kind in six years -- is expected to be made public in the coming days, and a special event is reportedly being planned for the capital, Dushanbe, in August to showcase compliant clothes.

Sulaimon Davlatzoda, the head of the state Committee for Religious Affairs and the Regulation of Traditions, told a press briefing in the capital this week that "a joint task force of the Culture Ministry, the Women’s Committee, and the Religious Affairs Committee is working together to determine what clothes are most compatible with our national values and traditions."

The new dress code comes after Tajikistan officially issued a ban in June on "clothes alien to Tajik culture," a term widely used by officials to describe Islamic dress, which they treat as an outward sign of potential religious extremism.

Earlier this week, the Central Asian country’s state-backed Islamic Council of Ulema issued a fatwa -- a religious edict -- against "black clothes" as well as "tight-fitting and see-through" garments for women. In Tajikistan, the term "black clothes" tends to be a euphemism for the Islamic hijab.

The July 26 fatwa proclaimed that the color of black is not compatible with "our national and geographical characteristics."

Echoing the government’s long-standing position on female clothing, the fatwa also promoted a national costume for Tajik women, which consists of a dress, trousers, and a kerchief.

The fatwa explained that the three-piece was fully in line with the Islamic practice mandating a woman cover her entire body, with the exception of her face, hands, and feet.

‘We Got The Message’

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, who has been in power for more than 30 years, has been criticized by rights groups for clamping down on independent media, political pluralism, and also religious freedom. Religious beliefs and practices that deviate from the state-mandated norm are often seen by the authorities as a threat to Tajikistan’s stability and security.

Tajiks, especially those who wear the hijab, say they believe that the June hijab ban, the latest fatwa, and the upcoming guidelines on women’s clothing are a "needless, excessive step."

"Black was already banned," said Munisa, a nurse in a state hospital in a northern city who didn’t want to give her full name. She was referring to the state Religious Committee’s 2017 statement that prohibited wearing black at funerals.

Instead, the statement urged Tajik women to stick to the local tradition of wearing blue to mourn their dead.

"Nothing is new about the hijab ban, either. It’s been [effectively] in place for a decade at least," Munisa said.

"We got the message already. There’s no need to keep repeating it, with new laws," the 40-year-old nurse said.

Like many Tajiks, Munisa dismisses the fatwa against tight and see-through dresses as a smokescreen, saying the real target is Islamic dress, which the government considers "alien" and a threat to the secular government. For example, previous bans on miniskirts and plunging necklines have never been enforced.

In predominantly Muslim Tajikistan, a country of nearly 10 million people, the authorities’ campaign against the Islamic head scarf began in 2007 when the Education Ministry prohibited the hijab -- and miniskirts -- at schools and universities.

The ban eventually expanded to workplaces, and officials and police conducted raids to ensure its compliance.

Many hijab-wearing women faced a tough choice between their religious and cultural beliefs and their careers. Some quit their jobs or studies, while others -- like Munisa -- swapped their Islamic head scarf for the traditional kerchief.

Tajik men have also fallen afoul of government edicts in the past, with the authorities seeing them as suspect because of their long or bushy beards.

In 2015, a regional police chief in the southern Khatlon Province announced that nearly 13,000 men "with long and unkempt beards" were rounded up in the streets and bazaars over the course of the year and had their beards "brought to order."

A high-ranking government official warned Tajik bloggers in 2023 that promoting beards might be interpreted as "an expression of solidarity with terrorist groups" and presents "a threat to national security."

In 2018, the Culture Ministry published The Guidebook To Recommended Outfits In Tajikistan, which outlines acceptable designs, colors, and fabrics for clothing.

While the guidebook encouraged women to wear the Tajik national three-piece costume, for the office it suggested that they wear Western-style clothes, albeit with more modest necklines and hemlines.

It is not clear if the upcoming dress code will supersede the previous guideline.

New Crackdown

Some Dushanbe residents have complained that the recent official ban on "alien" clothes has prompted the authorities to crack down.

In Dushanbe, a group of hijab-wearing women were rounded up on May 22 by law enforcement officers and representatives of the local women’s affairs office and taken to the police station.

One of the women later told RFE/RL’s Tajik Service that their fingerprints and mugshots were taken and they were made to promise not to wear "alien" clothes ever again, before being released the same day.

On May 23, police in the capital’s Shohmansur district briefly detained 13 men with bushy beards and demanded that they shave. Police warned them they "will be arrested if caught again with long beards," one of the men told RFE/RL.
Turkmen authorities scrambling to control scheme that gives citizens open access to the Internet (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [8/2/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, 57.6K, Neutral]
When it comes to controlling the flow of information in Turkmenistan, authorities don’t mess around. Those caught trying to evade government censorship measures to communicate with the outside world can potentially be criminally prosecuted as spies, according to media reports.

Currently, Turkmen security services are trying to contain a work-around found by citizens to gain open access to the Internet, according to a report published by the Uzbek news outlet Podrobno.uz. Turkmen citizens living in northern and eastern areas bordering Uzbekistan have taken to buying Uzbek SIM cards on a burgeoning black market to evade the Turkmen government’s smothering censorship, which has effectively cut the country off from the World Wide Web.

Shuttle traders and other frequent cross-border travelers are smuggling Uzbek SIM cards en masse. The cards enable Turkmen cell users to evade the controls imposed by Altyn Asyr, the country’s only cellphone operator. According to Podrobno, which cites reporting by RFE/RL’s Radio Ozodlik, the cost can reach $450, an enormous sum for the average Turkmen citizen, to browse the web at will.

Turkmen authorities have conducted raids on suspected sales points and are conducting spot inspections of individuals’ phones in an effort to keep a tight lid on knowledge. Podrobno quoted a “source” saying anyone discovered communicating with foreigners could quickly find themselves in deep trouble.

“If it is discovered that [an individual] has contacted any foreign organizations or received any assistance from them using Uzbek SIM cards,” the source is quoted as saying, he or she faces prosecution “under the article of the Criminal Code of Turkmenistan on espionage.”

Watchdog groups such as Freedom House have labeled Turkmenistan as one of the most repressive places on earth, a country where “political rights and civil liberties are almost completely denied in practice.”
Uzbekistan wind farms planned by Japan’s Toyota Tsusho, Sojitz (Nikkei Asia)
Nikkei Asia [8/3/2024 2:02 PM, Shin Watanabe, 2042K, Positive]
Japanese trading houses Toyota Tsusho and Sojitz plan to build and operate wind farms in Uzbekistan, aiming to tap demand for renewable energy in a country largely reliant on natural gas for power generation.

Eurus Energy Holdings, wholly owned by Toyota Tsusho, will develop and operate a wind farm with a generating capacity of 500 megawatts. Surveying of the construction site is underway. This is expected to be the first wind farm overseen by a Japanese company in Uzbekistan.

Toyota Tsusho operates 95 wind farms with a combined 3.31 gigawatts capacity in Japan and abroad.

Sojitz will build and operate a wind farm with a capacity of 1 GW, equivalent to the power generated by one nuclear reactor, in the Navoiy region of central Uzbekistan. The start of operations has yet to be determined.

Sojitz also plans to construct a natural gas-fired plant in Uzbekistan, with operations scheduled to begin in 2026.

Eurus Energy Holdings and Sojitz have already signed memorandums of understanding with Uzbekistan’s Energy Ministry for their respective development plans. The two companies intend to meet with local officials and advance the plans when Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visits Central Asia from Aug. 9.

Partners in the projects and other details will be hammered out later. Operating expenses for a large wind farm with a capacity of more than 500 MW typically reach into the tens of billions of yen (10 billion yen equals $67 million). Both companies did not disclose specific operating expenses and investment amounts.

Fossil-fuel plants using natural gas accounted for 88% of Uzbekistan’s electricity as of 2022, according to Our World in Data, a group consisting of University of Oxford researchers and others. With renewable energy only a small part of the country’s energy mix, the Uzbek government is rushing to develop wind and solar power generation.

While Central Asia is rich in natural resources, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan rely on fossil fuels for electricity. China and Russia are also approaching Central Asia with power projects.

An affiliate of state-owned China Energy Engineering Group was contracted to build a large-scale solar plant in Uzbekistan and brought it into operation in June. Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned nuclear power company, is expected to build Central Asia’s first nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan.
Twitter
Afghanistan
Bilal Sarwary
@bsarwary
[8/3/2024 11:10 AM, 254.3K followers, 12 retweets, 27 likes]
Taliban’s local administrations have turned into centres of corruption. @Etilaatroz (newspaper) has reported on various issues and published investigative reports exposing cases of financial corruption within senior Taliban ranks.
Specific Incidents:
1.Kunar Province:
- Mawlawi Rohullah Mohammad: The head of intelligence was caught taking bribes from miners but was later. released. He continues to serve in his role.
2.Nangarhar Province:
- Atta Rahman: The traffic license senior officer was caught selling fifty fake licenses. Despite being arrested, his close ties with Taliban’s political deputy, Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, led to his release and reinstatement.
- Dr. Abdullah Azizi: Acting deputy head of public health and head of an NGO, was arrested for corruption but released on bail and continues his work.
- Six officials of Jalalabad Municipality: Arrested, imprisoned, and dismissed for financial corruption.
3.Jalalabad Municipality:
- Dolat Khan Amarkhail: Previously a university professor, was caught taking bribes a month after his appointment as the financial and administrative head, leading to his dismissal and imprisonment.
- Engineer Dost Mohammad: Appointed as head of the municipality building department, he embezzled twenty million Afghanis and fled Afghanistan.
- Engineer Bilal Boshri: Head of technical and sectoral affairs, was arrested for taking bribes and remains imprisoned.
- Engineer Shukrullah Anwari: Financial and administrative head, was arrested and imprisoned for collecting money on behalf of the former mayor, Mullah Nematullah Akhund.
- Hedayatullah Sadaqat: Head of technical and sectoral affairs, was dismissed a month ago due to corruption.
Corruption has become widespread within the Taliban administration, with bribery and financial misconduct. The absence of media freedom and suppression of free speech prevents the public from voicing their concerns and exposing corruption. The extent of corruption in Afghanistan under Taliban’s rule remains to be seen, and only time will reveal the full scale of these issues. Stay tuned for more updates…!

Jahanzeb Wesa
@JahanzebWesa
[8/3/2024 5:55 PM, 2.6K followers, 6 retweets, 8 likes]
On the eve of the third anniversary of the Taliban’s rule over Afghanistan, a number of protesting women and human rights activists have issued a call for demonstrations in Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan. @Elaha8369261 @Munisa_Mubariz_ @UN

Jahanzeb Wesa
@JahanzebWesa
[8/3/2024 5:54 PM, 2.6K followers, 2 retweets, 2 likes]
Sad Story of Afghan Girls! Mahnaz is 15 years old she worried about her future. She says that she was forced into a forced marriage after the schools were closed by the Taliban. She adds that like her more Afghan girls banned from school and "Our life is face with dark future."

Jahanzeb Wesa
@JahanzebWesa
[8/3/2024 5:45 PM, 2.6K followers, 1 like]
The Afghan Permanent Representation in Geneva is organizing the second X-SPACE to facilitate better and more effective participation of women, girls, women’s rights and human rights activists in the process of reporting on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination

Shaharzad Akbar
@ShaharzadAkbar
[8/2/2024 10:17 AM, 174.8K followers, 41 retweets, 127 likes]
Another example of a woman from Afghanistan surviving war, misogny, poverty & descrimination, becoming a star and giving us all hope. Power to you Nigara Jan. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crg4vr7kyq5o
Pakistan
Shehbaz Sharif
@CMShehbaz
[8/4/2024 11:41 PM, 6.7M followers, 302 retweets, 956 likes]
On the fifth Youm-e-Istehsal , I stand with the entire Pakistani nation in expressing unwavering solidarity with our Kashmiri brothers and sisters. The people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir must be granted their legitimate and inalienable right to self-determination, as mandated by the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. The international community must make efforts to ensure justice and peace in the region. #YoumEIstehsal

Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan
@ForeignOfficePk
[8/4/2024 6:46 AM, 479.7K followers, 15 retweets, 36 likes]
Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50 visited Tehran on 30 July 2024 to attend the investiture ceremony of the President of Iran, Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian. Here is a brief recap of the visit https://x.com/i/status/1820048556931113186

Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan
@ForeignOfficePk
[8/2/2024 10:07 AM, 479.7K followers, 25 retweets, 63 likes]
In the run up to the fifth ‘Youm-e-Istehsal’, Foreign Secretary Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi @syrusqazi briefed the Islamabad-based diplomats on the situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. He underscored the grave consequences of India’s actions of 5 August 2019 from the perspective of international law, human rights, and peace and security.

Imran Khan
@ImranKhanPTI
[8/5/2024 12:22 AM, 20.8M followers, 6.1K retweets, 11K likes]
5th August marks a black day in the long history of the brutal Indian occupation of IIOJK. Today, 5 years ago, Modi’s govt illegally ended the special status of IIOJK & unleashed a new wave of violence & oppression on the Kashmiri people. IIOJK was turned into an open prison cut off from the world as Indian Occupation forces attacked the Kashmiris with their military might including torture & arbitrary arrests. 5 years on, the UN & the international community have yet to act against India’s continuing violations of international law, including international humanitarian laws, especially the Fourth Geneva Convention. I call on the UNSC to fulfil its own obligations under the Charter & UNSC resolutions, reaffirming the right of the Kashmiri people to self-determination.

Imran Khan
@ImranKhanPTI
[8/2/2024 9:06 AM, 20.8M followers, 26K retweets, 56K likes]
I strongly condemn the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Iran and the bombing of Beirut by the government of the war criminal, Netanyahu. Israel’s war crimes and blatant violations of international laws and conventions reflect the complete breakdown of any international rule-based order that may have existed.

Hamid Mir
@HamidMirPAK
[8/4/2024 8:48 AM, 8.5M followers, 42 retweets, 176 likes]
Journalists in many parts of KPK especially the tribal regions cannot work without guns for their security and anti-anxiety pills for the sleep.Militants accuse them of working for the state and state accuse them as the facilitators of anti-state elements. https://www.dawn.com/news/1849832

Hamid Mir
@HamidMirPAK
[8/3/2024 11:21 AM, 8.5M followers, 222 retweets, 807 likes]
Pakistan must lift ban on X and try to attract foreign companies who will be affected by ban on social media in Bangladesh. No country can move forward by restricting social media because YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, X & WhatsApp are must for e-business . https://news.abplive.com/technology/bangladesh-ban-whatsapp-instagram-tiktok-youtube-crisis-internet-shutdown-students-protest-1707621

Hamid Mir
@HamidMirPAK
[8/4/2024 7:50 AM, 8.5M followers, 230 retweets, 779 likes]
China is a good friend of Pakistan but Pakistan cannot become China. Pakistan’s selfish ruling elite is trying to control digital spaces like China and offending young Pakistanis who depends a lot on X, Facebook and YouTube. Youngsters are 60% of Pakistan. https://www.dawn.com/news/1849810

Madiha Afzal
@MadihaAfzal
[8/3/2024 12:38 PM, 42.8K followers, 12 likes]
Some data on “missing persons” in Pakistan: https://www.dawn.com/news/1843174
India
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[8/3/2024 12:30 PM, 100.7M followers, 4.9K retweets, 42K likes]
Attended the Conference of Governors today and also took part in the various deliberations. Here are some glimpses.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[8/4/2024 12:15 PM, 100.7M followers, 4.8K retweets, 41K likes]
It’s so heartening to see our former PM and respected statesman, Shri @H_D_Devegowda Ji visiting the @PMSangrahalaya, where he himself is prominently featured.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[8/3/2024 12:26 AM, 100.7M followers, 5.6K retweets, 22K likes]
Addressing the International Conference of Agricultural Economists. We are strengthening the agriculture sector with reforms and measures aimed at improving the lives of farmers.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[8/2/2024 11:43 AM, 100.7M followers, 5.1K retweets, 23K likes]
TRANSFORMATIVE boost to India’s infrastructure landscape! The Cabinet’s approval of 8 National High-Speed Road Corridor Projects at an expenditure of over Rs. 50,000 crore will have a MULTIPLIER EFFECT on our economic GROWTH and boost EMPLOYMENT opportunities. It also underlines our commitment to a futuristic and connected India.

President of India
@rashtrapatibhvn
[8/3/2024 10:35 AM, 25.4M followers, 597 retweets, 3.8K likes]
The two-day ‘Conference of Governors’ concluded today at Rashtrapati Bhavan. In her closing remarks, the President emphasised on issues such as tribal welfare, women empowerment, natural farming and drug addiction among others. She appreciated the work done by the groups of Governors constituted to deliberate on different issues of national importance. She expressed confidence that suggestions given by the Governors would be taken forward. The Vice President, Prime Minister and Home Minister also addressed the concluding session.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[8/3/2024 6:20 AM, 3.2M followers, 1.1K retweets, 8.7K likes]
#HarGharTiranga is a mass movement that captures the zeal and enthusiasm of the people of Bharat, living in India or abroad, for our motherland. On PM @narendramodi’s call, all of us have been celebrating it over the past two years. This time also, let us all come together to proudly display India’s pride and honour, our Tiranga in our homes from 9 August to 15 August. Do take a selfie and upload it on the http://harghartiranga.com website. Participate and also inspire others to join in as well.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[8/2/2024 1:02 PM, 3.2M followers, 116 retweets, 745 likes]
A significant decision of the Cabinet today to approve 8 National High-Speed Road Corridor Projects. Will improve logistics efficiency, reduce congestion and enhance connectivity across the country.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[8/2/2024 8:30 AM, 3.2M followers, 232 retweets, 1.7K likes]
Very glad to deliver the 7th Jasjit Singh Memorial Lecture at Centre for Air Power Studies, New Delhi. Enjoyed reminiscing and discussing issues which Air Cmdre Jasjit Singh was closely associated with in his lifetime. Were he been here to strategize with us today, my guess is that he would want Bharat to:
(i) Build core strengths and deep capabilities ASAP. Especially for a world of chips, drones, space and underwater. Rashtra Suraksha is Atma Nirbharta.
(ii) Focus on technology and related Human Resource capacity. Prepare for the era of AI that we have entered. Create the institutional capacities and practices for it.
(iii) Mitigate external exposure to leveraging by building multiple options.
(iv) Find convergent partners and advance specific agendas. No matter if they sometimes are at odds; diplomacy will find a way. Trust us.
(v) Leapfrog on capabilities, out-think on tactics and don’t be gamed, and
(vi) Fix the bane of all systems i.e., siloed thinking. Integration, jointness and holistic approaches are not just military challenges but systemic ones.
The global landscape has changed and will continue to do so. India’s primary concerns and challenges are reflecting that transformation. The task before us is to effectively address challenges and confidently exploit opportunities. I have little doubt that Jasjit Singh would have exhorted us to plan well to rise in an uncertain world. @CAPS_INDIA: https://bit.ly/46rVIZf
NSB
Awami League
@albd1971
[8/4/2024 4:32 PM, 640.5K followers, 50 retweets, 128 likes]
Quota organiser incites students for armed jihad in Bangladesh, calls further bloodshed for political gains —- Glorifying the coordinated attack against liberals, minorities and law enforcers by militants across the country, Nahid Islam, one of the coordinators, asked students to take up arms, in a fresh escalation of violence. Like any hardline Islamist outfits, this call for asking students to take up arms is akin to serve the interest of outlawed militant outfits, no democratic causes. Rejecting the call for dialogue by Prime Minister, now Nahid legitimized the unconstitutional demands seeking for bloodshed to pursue the goals of his political party. While Nahid hid his political affiliation with the student front of BNP Jamaat sympathizer Nurul Haque Nur at initial stage of the movement, finally with this call exposed his interest to serve the interest of his political party. Nur has long been a strong ally of BNP Jamaat and even lent support for outlawed militant outfits. While general students rejected Nahid’s call for violence earlier, they will again thwart these militants. The world should not consider these radical sympathizers as face of general students. Read https://dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/353685/nahid-islam-if-sticks-don%E2%80%99t-work-we-are-ready-to #Bangladesh #BangladeshUnderAttack #StandWithSheikhHasina

Awami League
@albd1971
[8/4/2024 2:14 PM, 640.5K followers, 65 retweets, 99 likes]
One of the coordinators of #QuotarmReformProtest, Rifat Eashid, has openly called the #terrorists to attack the members and families of #AwamiLeague and Police. In a video message, Rifat asked his followers to "beat them when they return hooke. Organise in groups, beat them up, and drive them away." This is not a student protest anymore. No students are involved in this movement anymore. The #antiBangladesh communal forces have joined hands to oust the only #secular leader in #Bangladesh #BangladeshUnderAttack

Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office
@amnestysasia
[8/4/2024 4:28 PM, 89.7K followers, 856 retweets, 1.4K likes]
Bangladesh: As protests continued today, reports of death of nearly 100 people including 14 police officers is extremely concerning. The state has a duty to create an enabling environment for peaceful assembly. As such, it must take necessary, reasonable and proportionate measures to de-escalate the violence at protests, in order to protect the right to protest. Amnesty calls upon law enforcement agencies to act with restraint to avoid further serious injury and loss of life. They may only use the minimum level of force necessary to bring a situation under control where doing so is strictly necessary and proportionate. Even in instances where some parts of a protest turn violent, law enforcement must assess the situation on a case-by-case basis with use of force only where absolutely necessary and only against those engaged in violence. It must be strictly proportionate to the situation, which means authorities must not cause more harm than they seek to avert. #ProtectTheProtest #SaveBangladeshiStudents

Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office
@amnestysasia
[8/2/2024 7:25 PM, 89.7K followers, 1.5K retweets, 3K likes]
Bangladesh: Issuing an Urgent Action for three of the thousands of students who were arrested, @amnesty urges the government of Bangladesh to:
Immediately release all protesters who have been unlawfully detained solely for exercising their human rights, including Arif Sohel, Rony Sheikh, and Sabir Rahman
Ensure that all protesters arrested for a recognizable offence receive a prompt and fair trial.
Immediately grant access to the families and the lawyers of those who have been detained, and ensure that the whereabouts of each person in detention is urgently communicated to their families.
End custodial torture and other forms of ill-treatment.
Conduct a prompt, thorough, effective, independent, and impartial investigation into the deaths and injuries during the crackdown. Those found responsible for the unlawful use of force must be held accountable. #FreeArif #FreeRony #FreeSabir #SaveBangladeshiStudents Sign the Urgent Action now https://amnesty.org/en/documents/asa13/8388/2024/en/

Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office
@amnestysasia
[8/4/2024 2:23 PM, 89.7K followers, 373 retweets, 780 likes]
BANGLADESH: @amnesty’s South Asia Researcher @taqbirhuda spoke to @dwnews at 1 PM BST today about the escalation of violence in Bangladesh, the likely impact of the civil disobedience movement and the prospects for accountability and reconciliation. #ProtectTheProtest #SaveBangladeshiStudents https://x.com/i/status/1820163676982124813

Sultan Mohammed Zakaria
@smzakaria
[8/5/2024 1:55 AM, 4.6K followers, 94 retweets, 82 likes]
#Bangladesh: The regime has cut off the internet, isolating the country once again. The last internet shutdown, from July 18-23, led to a massacre, killing over 250 student protesters. Bangladeshi youth, students, and young kids, fearing the same, are sending an SOS to the world.

Sultan Mohammed Zakaria
@smzakaria
[8/4/2024 2:02 AM, 4.6K followers, 292 retweets, 1.3K likes]
From the people of Bangladesh to India:
Dear @DrSJaishankar & @MEAIndia colleagues:
We have 3 messages for you:
1) We understand your strategic concerns. The people of Bangladesh aren’t enemies of Indian people. If you do not work against us, you have nothing to fear from the changes in Bangladesh.

Sultan Mohammed Zakaria
@smzakaria
[8/4/2024 2:02 AM, 4.6K followers, 26 retweets, 293 likes]
2) If you read the history of the Bengal delta, you’re probably aware of the rebellious nature of its people, whose refusal to being enslaved has been consistent. Show mutual respect, & we will cooperate with you to address your concerns while protecting our mutual interests.

Sultan Mohammed Zakaria
@smzakaria
[8/4/2024 2:02 AM, 4.6K followers, 31 retweets, 309 likes]
3) As a responsible partner and aspiring global power, please respect the Bangladeshi people’s fight for democratic rights. Show solidarity with us—privately if not publicly. At the very least, do not stand in our way. That will not bode well for either of us.

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[8/4/2024 4:34 PM, 211.8K followers, 930 retweets, 1.7K likes]
Don’t look away from Bangladesh, the world’s 8th most populous country, where 300+ have died in protests in recent days (nearly 100 today alone). Most victims were young, including several dozen children. And even larger-scale loss of life is a real risk in the coming days.

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[8/4/2024 11:41 AM, 211.8K followers, 139 retweets, 409 likes]
By sending its supporters into streets filled with angry (though mostly peaceful) anti-government protestors, Dhaka may have sought to goad the protestors into resorting to violence, to validate the government’s false narrative that the protests are led by thugs and terrorists.

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[8/4/2024 11:41 AM, 211.8K followers, 16 retweets, 49 likes]
And if that’s what’s at play, this would be a case of using the cruelest and most cynical form of political repression to ensure regime survival. Today’s death toll is now at 88, according to @ProthomAlo. And it’ll likely continue to rise through the night.

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[8/4/2024 8:59 AM, 211.8K followers, 238 retweets, 850 likes]
A group of retired senior and mid-level Bangladesh military officers, including two former Army chiefs, has released a statement about the crisis. It doesn’t mince words: "Do not destroy the good standing of our armed forces by keeping them engaged in a disgraceful campaign."

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[8/4/2024 8:59 AM, 211.8K followers, 11 retweets, 57 likes]
It also makes an important but overlooked point: Deploying border troops in the crackdown takes critical resources away from a volatile border (especially with an intensification in the conflict next door in Myanmar).

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[8/4/2024 2:10 PM, 211.8K followers, 154 retweets, 640 likes]
As pressure builds on PM Hasina to step down, the position of two critical actors looms large: Bangladesh’s army, her most important internal backer, and India, her most important external backer. Retaining the former’s support could prove tougher than retaining the latter’s.

Tshering Tobgay
@tsheringtobgay
[8/3/2024 12:13 PM, 99.5K followers, 2 retweets, 34 likes]
A dinner reception was hosted for the esteemed participants of the ongoing @BhutanEchoes festival. As I could not be present, Health Minister Lyonpo Tandin Wangchuk as the Officiating Prime Minister, represented me.

Tshering Tobgay
@tsheringtobgay
[8/3/2024 12:13 PM, 99.5K followers, 1 like]
Under the royal patronage of Her Majesty Gyalyum Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck, Bhutan Echoes is a celebration of literature, arts, and culture, and annually brings together voices from across the world to inspire and connect.

Tshering Tobgay
@tsheringtobgay
[8/3/2024 12:13 PM, 99.5K followers, 1 like]
I hope the dinner event presented an opportunity for an evening filled with enriching conversations and shared experiences.

The President’s Office, Maldives
@presidencymv
[8/2/2024 9:56 AM, 109.2K followers, 168 retweets, 187 likes]
President Dr @MMuizzu and First Lady Madam Sajidha Mohamed observes the military parade, route march and display by the @MNDF_Official and National Cadet Corps on Friday to commemorate the 59th anniversary of the Maldives’ independence.

MOFA of Nepal
@MofaNepal
[8/2/2024 6:37 AM, 258.9K followers, 17 retweets, 54 likes]
United Nations Resident Coordinator in Nepal Ms. Hanaa Singer-Hamdy paid a courtesy call on the Minister for Foreign Affairs Hon. Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba today. During the meeting, various areas of Nepal-UN partnership including upcoming UNGA were discussed. @Arzuranadeuba

MFA SriLanka
@MFA_SriLanka
[8/3/2024 1:21 AM, 38.3K followers, 5 retweets, 11 likes]
New recruits to Sri Lanka Foreign Service to attend programme at the Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service in New Delhi Read More: https://mfa.gov.lk/new-recruits-slfs-to-india/@Awijewardane @SSIFS_MEA @DrSatyanjal #DiplomacyLK #lka
Central Asia
Furqat Sidiqov
@FurqatSidiq
[8/2/2024 6:03 PM, 1.4K followers, 1 retweet, 2 likes]
Glad to have had a productive meeting with Helaina R. Matza, the Acting Special Coordinator for PGI (@US_PGI). Discussed the opening avenues for promising infrastructure, digital and mining projects that can facilitate to the strengthening of trade and economic cooperation.

{End of Report}
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