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:
Tuesday, January 9, 2024 6:30 AM ET

Afghanistan
U.S. Watchdog Tells Congress No ‘Specific’ Controls In Place For Afghan Assistance (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [1/9/2024 3:30 AM, Staff, 223K, Negative]
The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) says there are no specific controls in place to ensure funds headed to the war-torn country are not diverted to or misused by the Taliban militants who seized control amid the departure of international troops in August 2021.

In a response to a Congressional request for a report on the Switzerland-based Afghan Fund, SIGAR said in a letter late on January 8 that many questions remain about the situation and its $3.5 billion in funds.

SIGAR said the purpose of the Afghan Fund was to "receive, protect, preserve, and disburse" the assets it holds through Afghanistan’s central bank "for the benefit of the Afghan people."

Decisions regarding the disbursement of funds require a unanimous vote of the board of trustees, it added, noting that more than a year after being created, the fund had made no disbursements "for activities intended to benefit the Afghan people."

"Although the fund’s unanimous vote requirement could help prevent the fund from engaging in risky activity, there are currently no controls in place that specifically address the issue of Taliban diversion," SIGAR said.

The de facto Taliban government remains largely unrecognized by the international community and has been accused of widespread human rights abuses, particularly against women and girls. It has barred women from working for assistance organizations and has restricted the ability of such organizations to work in the education sector.

A SIGAR quarterly report in October 2023 warned the "the Taliban have effectively infiltrated and influenced most UN-managed assistance programming," raising fears among U.S. lawmakers that the Afghan Fund could suffer a similar fate.

SIGAR said in its letter to Congress that the U.S. Treasury and the State Department will not support transferring the funds back to the central bank, the Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), in Kabul until it "implements adequate anti-money laundering and countering-terrorist-financing controls."

"The DAB must also demonstrate its independence from political influence and interference, submit to monitoring by a ‘reputable’ third party, and undergo a third-party needs assessment," it added.

Amid its international isolation because of the Taliban rulers and a severe drought, Afghanistan is teetering on the brink of a humanitarian crisis, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report on January 8.

"An estimated 23.7 million people -- more than half of Afghanistan’s population -- will require humanitarian assistance to survive in 2024 as the country continues to reel from decades of war and grapple with climate-induced crises, recurrent natural disasters, entrenched poverty, and barriers to women’s participation in public life," the report said.

It added that more than $3 billion in "life-saving assistance" will be required in 2024 to avert the crisis.
Many Questions Remain About the Afghan Fund, and Its Frozen $3.5 Billion (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [1/8/2024 2:07 PM, Catherine Putz, 201K, Neutral]
A recent response from a U.S. government watchdog to a Congressional request for a report on the Afghan Fund underscores considerable barriers surrounding the future of the fund’s $3.5 billion, half of the $7 billion in Afghan central bank assets seized by the United States in the wake of the Afghan Republic’s collapse in August 2021.

In a January 4 report made public on January 8, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) replied to a March 2023 inquiry from Congressman Michael T. McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The inquiry, among other things, sought a report from SIGAR on the Afghan Fund.

The Switzerland-based Fund for the Afghan People was created in September 2022 with a mandate to to disburse $3.5 billion in assets belonging to Afghanistan’s central bank (Da Afghanistan Bank, or DAB) in support of Afghanistan’s macroeconomic stability. The Fund’s board consists of just four people: two Afghan nationals — Dr. Anwar ul-Haq Ahady and Dr. Shah Mehrabi — along with U.S. Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs Dr. Jay Shambaugh and Ambassador Alexandra Baumann, the head of the prosperity and sustainability division at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). The two Afghan nationals were selected (State, in its response to SIGAR prefers the terms “identified” and “certified”) by the U.S. State Department.

The Fund’s purpose, per its articles of association are to “receive, protect, preserve, and disburse” the assets it holds “for the benefit of the Afghan people.” Precisely how, when, and to what ends remain unanswered questions. To date, no disbursements have been made.

SIGAR’s report notes that at present, “[The U.S. departments of] Treasury and State are not currently willing to support a return of funds to DAB.”

Treasury and State say that they will not support transfers of money to DAB until the Afghan central bank “implements adequate anti-money laundering and countering-terrorist-financing controls (AML/CFT)” and can “demonstrate its independence from political influence and interference.”

Given that DAB’s top three officials are senior Taliban leaders under sanction by both the U.S. and the United Nations, the latter provision is far from being fulfilled. As for the first, Treasury and State are not convinced either.

In February 2023, USAID supported a third-party assessment of DAB, the results of which have been a bone of contention. SIGAR’s report notes that the assessment “completed in March 2023 identified weaknesses in DAB’s enforcement of AML/CFT measures” and Treasury referred to the assessment as merely “preliminary.”

In October 2023, Catherine Cartier reported for the The Diplomat that the assessment had not been shared with the board’s Afghan members, a detail SIGAR confirmed in its report. “In [a December 2023] response to a draft of this report, Treasury told SIGAR that it has now provided a copy of the assessment to the Afghan Fund’s board of trustees and executive secretary.”

In its report, SIGAR stated that “there are currently no controls in place that specifically address the issue of Taliban diversion” of funds, a major sticking point for U.S. officials, both within the executive branch and Congress alike. From SIGAR’s report, it appears that there are efforts underway to develop further safeguards, as those that do exist are not specifically related to the Taliban. For example, disbursement decisions can be made only by unanimous vote of the board of trustees, meaning that any one of the four board members can veto a disbursement.

That aside, SIGAR noted with concern the fact that one of the Afghan board members, Mehrabi, is also a member of DAB’s governing body, the Supreme Council, creating a potential conflict of interest. At issue: “It is also unclear who determines whether a conflict of interest exists or how it is defined” when it comes to the Afghan Fund.

Furthermore, SIGAR wrote in its report that “one of the individuals [the State Department] selected to be a fiduciary of DAB’s assets was fired from a previous position for misrepresenting his credentials, raising questions about the adequacy of State’s vetting process.” The individual is not named in the public report, but it’s a potential pool of two.

There’s a lot to pour through in the SIGAR report, and the back and forth with State and Treasury illuminate shades of bureaucratic territoriality and differences of viewpoint, if not fact. Beyond the scope of the the report, and far beyond SIGAR’s mandate to provide oversight (and that mandate has been questioned by some federal agencies, which like to point out that the U.S. government’s reconstruction efforts concluded in August 2021) is the reality that the people of Afghanistan continue to suffer. The Afghan Fund is not intended for humanitarian or development assistance, but it’s hard to separate the financial welfare of the Afghan state from the conditions of the people — just as it is difficult to disentangle the Afghan state as it is today from the Taliban.
Taliban-appointed prime minister meets with a top Pakistan politician in hopes of reducing tensions (AP)
AP [1/8/2024 8:44 AM, Rahim Faiez and Munir Ahmed, 22K, Neutral]
Afghanistan’s Taliban-appointed prime minister met Monday with one of Pakistan’s most senior politicians in an attempt to reduce lingering tensions between the two countries, a spokesman for the Taliban government said.

Fazlur Rehman, whose Jamiat Ulema Islam party is known for backing the Afghan Taliban, is the first senior Pakistani politician to visit Kabul since the Taliban seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops withdrew from the country after 20 years of war.

The Pakistani delegation met with Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund in Kabul, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement.

Rehman’s party in a social media post confirmed the meeting. Rehman has no current position in Pakistan’s government, but he is close to the military.

His visit comes less than a week after Mullah Shirin, the governor of Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, traveled to Islamabad and met with Pakistan’s caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani. They discussed issues including Pakistan’s ongoing expulsion of Afghans without valid documents.

During Monday’s meeting, the Taliban-appointed prime minister told the Pakistani delegation that the “Islamic Emirate will not allow anyone to pose a threat to any country.”

Pakistan is concerned about the presence in Afghanistan of the Pakistani Taliban, which is a close ally of the Afghan Taliban. Pakistan has said many Pakistani Taliban leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan and have been emboldened to carry out more attacks on security forces in Pakistan.

The Afghan Taliban government insists it does not allow the Pakistani Taliban to use its soil to launch attacks in Pakistan.

Monday’s Taliban statement quoted the head of the Pakistani delegation, Rehman, as saying the aim of his visit was to “remove misunderstandings between the two countries.”

Tensions also exist around Pakistan’s ongoing expulsion of Afghans.

Pakistan has deported more than half a million Afghans without valid papers in recent months as part of a crackdown on such foreigners. Pakistan has long hosted about 1.7 million Afghans, most of whom fled during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation. More than half a million fled Afghanistan when the Taliban seized power.

Monday’s statement quoted the Taliban-appointed prime minister, Akhund, as saying such “behavior does not solve the problems but leads to mistrust.”

In a separate meeting with the Pakistani delegation, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister for political affairs, Abdul Kabir, said the Taliban government seeks strong and respectful relations with countries, particularly Pakistan, and that such a commitment is based on mutual respect.

“Afghanistan’s land won’t be used against others,” Kabir was quoted as saying in a statement by the prime minister’s office. It said Kabir also sought more cooperation from Pakistan on issue of the expulsion of Afghans.
Pakistani Islamist Leader Attempts To Help Reset Ties With Afghan Taliban (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [1/8/2024 11:27 AM, Staff, 223K, Negative]
A senior Pakistani Islamist politician has met top Taliban leaders in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, in an attempt to revive ties between the two neighbors.

The January 8 meeting involving Maulana Fazlur Rehman, leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e Islam Pakistan (JUI) political party, hoped to improve ties marred by a violent campaign by the Pakistani Taliban allied with the Afghan Taliban and the ongoing forced expulsion of more than 1 million Afghans by Islamabad.

Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, the Taliban-led government’s prime minister, reiterated that officials want smooth relations -- strained due to the forced expulsion of Afghan refugees from Pakistan -- with the country’s neighbors.

Islamabad has accused the Taliban government of giving shelter to militants of the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, or other groups. Kabul denies the accusations.

"We will not allow anyone to [create problems] from our territory," he was quoted as saying by a Taliban statement after the meeting.

In recent months, Pakistan has taken steps to expel 1.7 million undocumented Afghans as part of a policy announced in October to repatriate "illegal foreigners" living on its soil.

The situation has led to chaotic scenes at some border crossings as returnees are funneled back into Afghanistan, where international aid groups are already struggling to provide humanitarian assistance to millions of people displaced by insecurity and a recent spate of earthquakes and perennial drought.

Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban’s foreign minister, highlighted the plight of Afghan refugees in Pakistan and the losses Afghan traders endure because of frequent border closures and stranded imports in Pakistani ports.

"The trade and economic exchange between the two countries should not be sacrificed for political ends," he was quoted as saying in the Taliban statement.

Rehman agreed with the Taliban’s complaints about the mistreatment of Afghans in Pakistan.

"We see this kind of attitude as a cause of the current problems between the two countries," he said in a statement issued by the JUI. "My visit aims to remove the misunderstanding between the two countries."

Rehman is visiting Kabul after the Taliban invited him last month.

Before leaving on the trip, Rehman told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal that it was endorsed by Islamabad, where senior government officials briefed him on the current state of relations with the Taliban government.

He said that he would also meet the Taliban’s supreme leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, who rarely meets foreign diplomats and political leaders.

"We will use our relations with the Taliban for the benefit of both countries," he said.

Rehman’s JUI has had close relations with the Taliban since its emergence in southern Afghanistan nearly three decades ago. Many Taliban leaders were educated in madrasahs run by former lawmakers and other JUI leaders.

But it is unclear how far his visit will go to quell tensions between Islamabad and Kabul.

For more than a year, the longtime allies have fallen out over the Taliban’s alleged support for the TTP. Islamabad blames the group for the rising attacks that have killed more than 2,000 people since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021.

Underscoring the challenges ahead, the TTP claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on a police vehicle on January 8.

At least five police officers were killed and 22 injured in an attack in the district of Bajaur on the Afghan border in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

The police were guarding a polio-vaccination team.
Pakistan
Pakistani Justices Reject Ban for Politicians With Past Convictions (New York Times)
New York Times [1/8/2024 4:14 PM, Salman Masood, 831K, Neutral]
Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Monday overturned a law that barred politicians with past convictions from seeking political office, in a move that paves the way for former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to run in parliamentary elections in February.

A seven-justice panel of the country’s top court, headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, ruled 6-1 that a person could not be banned for life from running for office. The court said instead that politicians could be barred for a term of only five years.

Critics had said that the law was draconian and used for political persecution.

Mr. Sharif, a three-time former prime minister, was disqualified from running for office for life in 2017. He never finished any of his terms in office, running afoul of the country’s powerful military or, in the latest case, being toppled by corruption allegations.

Mr. Sharif left Pakistan for London in 2019 but returned in October to revive his political career and to take part in the Feb. 8 general elections. Marriyum Aurangzeb, the central information secretary for the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz, Mr. Sharif’s political party, hailed the decision as a “vindication” for Mr. Sharif.

Ms. Aurangzeb said that Mr. Sharif had been a victim of political persecution. “Only the people of Pakistan have the power through their vote to qualify or disqualify their representatives,” she said.

As the country heads for elections early next month, the atmosphere in the country is tense. Pakistan has been reeling from a political and economic crisis since April 2022, when former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who remains widely popular, was removed from power by a vote of no confidence of Parliament after having lost the support of the powerful military establishment.

Mr. Khan is in jail on several charges, including treason, and candidates from his party are complaining of being denied a level playing field and the right to freely campaign. His party members have accused the state authorities of intimidation, harassment and unwarranted arrests.

The major political parties have not actively hit the campaign trail, and no big political rallies have been held so far, partly because of uncertainty about the polls and partly because of security fears. Militant attacks have also picked up in the country in recent months.

On Jan. 3, Mohsin Dawar, a prominent politician belonging to the National Democratic Movement political party, escaped an assassination attempt after his convoy came under attack in the North Waziristan region in the country’s northwest. Mr. Dawar’s bulletproof vehicle was hit on its front and side mirrors, though he remained safe. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack.

Last week, the country’s senate passed a resolution calling for a delay in the election, citing security concerns. The resolution was passed by a group of independent senators.

But government officials stressed that there would be no delay or postponement.

“The elections will be held on Feb. 8, as scheduled,” said Murtaza Solangi, the interim information minister.
Pakistan court ruling allows ex-PM Sharif to run for fourth time (Reuters)
Reuters [1/8/2024 9:51 AM, Asif Shahzad and Gibran Peshimam, 5239K, Negative]
Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Monday scrapped lifetime bans on contesting elections for people with criminal convictions, paving the way for Nawaz Sharif to run for prime minister for a fourth time.

Sharif’s party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), is considered a front runner to win elections scheduled for Feb. 8, with Sharif’s main rival, former prime minister Imran Khan, in jail and barred from contesting for five years.

In his ruling, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who headed a seven-member panel of judges, said the life bans "abridge the fundamental right of citizens to contest elections".

The court’s decision was six to one in favour of overruling a previous 2018 decision that imposed life bans on politicians convicted under certain provisions of the constitution.

Sharif, 74, was found guilty in 2017 of dishonest practices, which qualified for a ban under the 2018 ruling. Last year, the courts overturned the two convictions.

While Sharif was not an applicant in the latest Supreme Court case, which was filed by other politicians, the ruling makes him eligible to contest the polls as more than five years have elapsed since 2017.

Khan, 71, whose party won the last elections in 2018, will not benefit from the ruling as it abolishes only life bans, which means the cricketer-turned-politician remains disqualified until 2028.

"Alhamdulillah (praise be to God), today the dark chapter of judicial injustice of lifelong disqualification to make Nawaz Sharif a target of political revenge has finally ended," Marriyum Aurangzeb, a PML-N leader, said in a post on social media platform X.

One of Khan’s lawyers, Intazar Hussain Panjutha, described the scrapping of the ban as the "death of law and the constitution".

Sharif was removed from the premiership in 2017 and then convicted on the corruption charges. He spent time in jail before leaving for London in 2019, where he remained in self-imposed exile until October 2023.

In previous stints as prime minister, Sharif has favoured policies focused on rapid economic growth, including the inauguration of the mutli-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor development.

His push for closer ties with neighbour and arch rival India is cited as a reason behind his clashes with the country’s powerful military, which sees India as a threat. Nuclear powers Pakistan and India have fought three wars and currently have limited diplomatic ties.

Sharif blames the military for being behind his removal from office in 2017, which it denies. A standoff between Khan and the military afforded Sharif the political space to mount a bid to return to Pakistan’s top office.
Pakistani officer wounded while protecting polio vaccination workers dies, raising bombing toll to 7 (AP)
AP [1/9/2024 2:16 AM, Staff, 456K, Negative]
An officer critically wounded in a roadside bombing that targeted police assigned to protect polio vaccination workers in northwest Pakistan died in a hospital Tuesday, raising the death toll to seven.

Police said in a statement that at least three officers remained in critical condition after Monday’s bombing in Mamund, a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.

The militant group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in the world where polio remains endemic.

Monday’s bombing in Mamund happened after the government began another round of its regular vaccination drives. Islamic militants often target the polio teams and police assigned to protect them, claiming falsely that the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.

The vaccination drive in Mamund was suspended for a second day Tuesday.
India
India’s Top Court Reverses Early Release of 11 Men Convicted of Gang Rape (New York Times)
New York Times [1/8/2024 4:14 PM, Sameer Yasir, 831K, Neutral]
India’s top court on Monday restored life sentences for 11 Hindu men convicted of the gang rape of a Muslim woman in a case that became a powerful symbol of the widespread violence against Indian women and of communal tensions often exacerbated by Indian politicians.

The victim, Bilkis Bano, was three months pregnant when she and 15 members of her family tried to flee their village in 2002 during Hindu-Muslim violence in the state of Gujarat, in western India. The chief minister of Gujarat at the time was Narendra Modi, who is now the Indian prime minister.

Ms. Bano and her family came under attack by heavily armed Hindu rioters, who, in addition to raping Ms. Bano, also killed her 3-year-old daughter by smashing her head on a rock and raped her mother and a cousin. The attackers were convicted of rape and murder.

On Monday, India’s Supreme Court said that the Gujarat government had acted beyond its powers in granting the assailants early release from prison in August 2022. The court ordered the men, who had been greeted by right-wing Hindu nationalists with sweets and garlands upon their return home in 2022, to surrender within two weeks.

Vrinda Grover, a human rights lawyer based in New Delhi, said that the court’s decision amounted to “a scathing indictment of the state of Gujarat.”

The trigger for the 2002 riots, which left more than 1,000 dead, most of them Muslims, was a train fire that killed dozens of Hindu pilgrims. Mr. Modi has long been accused of having turned a blind eye to, or even encouraged, the mob violence, though the Supreme Court has cleared him of the allegations.

In 2008, a court sentenced 11 of 13 defendants in the Bano case to life imprisonment on charges of murder and gang rape.

When the government in Gujarat, which is run by Mr. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, ordered the release of the convicts in 2022, it was widely seen as an effort to rally the party’s Hindu-right base before a state election. The Indian home affairs minister, Amit Shah, considered Mr. Modi’s right-hand man, approved the Gujarat decision. The B.J.P. went on to win the state election.

After the 11 men were released, Ms. Bano said, “I will stand and fight again, against what is wrong and for what is right.”

On Monday, the Supreme Court justices wrote that they had considered whether a reduction in sentence was appropriate in cases of crimes such as those committed against Ms. Bano. They said that the men had lost their right to liberty once they had been convicted and imprisoned and that the Gujarat government had lacked the authority to reduce the sentence because the trial had been shifted from Gujarat to Mumbai.

“The primary duty of the court is to uphold justice and rule of law,” the justices wrote in an order. “Justice encompasses not just the rights of the convicts but also the rights of the victims.”
India’s top court quashes release of men in Muslim woman’s gang-rape – lawyer (Reuters)
Reuters [1/8/2024 7:26 AM, Sakshi Dayal, 761K, Negative]
India’s top court on Monday quashed the release of 11 Hindu men who had been jailed for life for gang-raping a pregnant Muslim woman and murdering her relatives during Hindu-Muslim riots in Gujarat state in 2002, a lawyer in the case said.

The court directed the men to surrender to prison authorities within two weeks, the lawyer added.

The victim, Bilkis Bano, was three months pregnant when she was gang-raped and seven of her relatives, including her three-year old daughter, murdered during the riots that killed more than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was Gujarat’s chief minister at the time and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party still rules the state.

The men, convicted in 2008, were freed by the Gujarat government in August 2022 after the prison they were being held in recommended their release considering the time served and their good behaviour.

Their release drew condemnation from the victim’s husband, lawyers, and politicians. Local media reported that several petitions were filed in the Supreme Court challenging the remission, including one by the victim herself.

In its verdict on Monday, the court held that Gujarat did not have the authority to reduce the sentence since the trial was moved to Mumbai, making neighbouring Maharashtra state responsible for the decision.

"The court has said that the law is clear, the appropriate government is the government where the accused are tried and sentenced," advocate Vrinda Grover, among the lawyers appearing for the petitioners, said.

The bench also held that a 2022 Supreme Court order, which directed the Gujarat government to consider remission, was obtained fraudulently, local media reported.

"Gujarat government usurped the powers of Maharashtra government...which in our opinion is a nullity," the court said, according to news website Live Law.

The Gujarat government will comment on the verdict only after going through the detailed order, a senior state official said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to the media.

There was no immediate reaction to the verdict from the 11 men.

The main opposition Congress party welcomed the decision.

"Bilkis Bano’s tireless struggle is a symbol of the victory of justice against the arrogant BJP government," Congress leader Rahul Gandhi posted on social media platform X.

Two BJP spokespersons in New Delhi did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. Two BJP spokespersons in Gujarat declined to comment.
China and India race to expand aircraft carrier fleets (Nikkei Asia)
Nikkei Asia [1/8/2024 10:39 PM, Yukio Tajima and Satoshi Iwaki, 293K, Negative]
China and India are scrambling to expand their naval capabilities amid their growing rivalry in the Indo-Pacific region, making moves toward each putting a third aircraft carrier into service.

The latest footage of China’s new Fujian aircraft carrier, aired by state broadcaster CCTV on Jan. 2, showed what appeared to be three catapult tracks on its deck.

In a November article by Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao, an expert said the Fujian had succeeded in launching a wheeled object while docked in Shanghai. Video circulated on social media of a splash in front of the Fujian, suggesting that something had fallen into the water.

Also in November, the South China Morning Post reported that the Fujian had moved around 27 meters from its usual berthing place before returning two days later -- a potential sign of an inclining test to gauge its weight, center of gravity and stability.

Based on expert analyses, the Communist Party-affiliated Global Times reported last week that the Fujian could soon enter trials at sea. Japanese security officials also believe the carrier to be undergoing final preparations for a test sailing.

Taiwan’s defense ministry predicts that the Fujian will be commissioned in 2025. This means that the carrier could play a role should China launch an armed invasion of Taiwan.

Launched in June 2022, the Fujian is China’s largest warship, with a displacement of more than 80,000 tonnes. By comparison, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s largest vessel -- the JS Izumo -- has a displacement of 27,000 tonnes.

The Chinese carrier is named after Fujian province, where President Xi Jinping worked for years before rising to the national stage. It can carry 60 to 70 fighter jets and early-warning aircraft -- at least 50% more than the Liaoning, a refurbished Ukrainian carrier, and the Shandong, China’s first homegrown carrier.

Its most distinctive feature is its electromagnetic catapults. These catapults "allow aircrafts to take off while carrying more weight in missiles and fuel, which improves their range and combat capabilities and expands tactical options," said Masafumi Iida, who heads the China division at Japan’s National Institute for Defense Studies.

The Liaoning and Shandong, by contrast, are equipped with ski-jump ramps, which provide some assistance but still require that aircraft take off under their own power. Smaller decks limit the size of the aircraft they can accommodate.

The U.S. currently has the world’s only armed forces with operational electromagnetic catapults. Some see nuclear power as the only way to meet the steep energy requirements of these catapults, though the Fujian is steam-powered.

"Even the U.S. military went through a lot of trial and error for its first vessel with electromagnetic catapults," Iida said. "It will take time before the Fujian can smoothly launch planes."

China’s military wants more of its vessels to be equipped with these catapults, stoking speculation that it could turn to nuclear power, starting with its fourth aircraft carrier. The U.S.-based Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments predicted in 2022 that the People’s Liberation Army "may have sufficient resources to boast five aircraft carriers" by 2031.

The increased Chinese military presence in the Indo-Pacific is pushing India to build a blue-water navy as well.

India now operates two aircraft carriers: the Russian-made INS Vikramaditya and the INS Vikrant -- India’s first homegrown carrier, with a displacement of around 43,000 tonnes, which entered into service in 2022. Indian naval chief Adm. Hari Kumar said in October that there were plans to commission another Vikrant-class carrier.

China has established a presence in ports along the Indian Ocean, including in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, under its so-called String of Pearls strategy. India has responded with a push to bolster its naval capabilities so that it can operate even in faraway waters, near the Maldives and the Seychelles.

India’s basic naval strategy is to station a carrier in the Bay of Bengal to its east and another in the Arabian Sea to its west.

Any Chinese carrier approaching India would likely do so from the east. An Indian carrier in the waters would be able to mount some sort of response in coordination with the tri-service command center in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

But because India only has two carriers, its defensive capabilities are stretched thin whenever one of them undergoes maintenance. India is focused on commissioning a third carrier to make up for this weakness.

India and the U.S. formed a working group on carrier-related technology in 2015. If necessary, India could advance domestic production of related components with American cooperation.
Ethnic conflict in India’s Manipur has ‘completely ruined’ businesses (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [1/9/2024 3:30 AM, Gurvinder Singh, 2.1M, Negative]
Helena Kshetri has seen her fruit sales wiped out since an ethnic conflict engulfed the northeast Indian state of Manipur in early May.

“We are often forced to shut shops due to curfews and shutdowns even after months of violence,” said the 50-year-old vendor, who works at Ima Keithel, or the Mother’s Market, in the state’s capital Imphal.

Her sales have crashed from 30,000-40,000 rupees ($360-$480) per day to barely 4,000 rupees ($48). “I deal in fruits and cannot hold them for long in case they rot, and I’m forced to sell even in losses. The government should bring the situation under control so that we can run our businesses,” Kshetri said.

Businesses and entrepreneurs, both small and large on both sides of the divide, are hurting on account of the violence that broke out on May 3 and has continued to engulf the state in an ethnic conflict. So far, about 180 people, including women and children have been killed, and several homes, businesses and places of worship have been torched with thousands left homeless, many of whom have fled to other states to seek refuge.

Retail inflation is through the roof at 11.63 percent and the internet has been shut down for vast periods, affecting businesses and residents.

“We are passing through a very difficult phase and the situation is even worse than insurgency, demonetisation [of currency] and COVID,” said Haorokcham Anil, the secretary of the Manipur Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “The business has been completely ruined and it’s very hard to predict when the situation would be even close to normal.”

Violence begins

Manipur is home to several communities and tribal groups including the Meitei, Nagas and Kuki. The dominant Meitei community is largely Hindu and lives in the Imphal Valley, while the Naga and Kuki tribes, who are predominantly Christians, mostly reside in the hills.

The Meiteis comprise 51 percent of Manipur’s population of 2.3 million but are concentrated in the plains, holding only 10 percent of the land. Kukis and Nagas, who comprise 40 percent of the population, occupy 90 percent of the land as they are mostly based in the hills that dominate the state’s landscape. Due to their larger numbers, Meiteis have a larger share of representation in the politics and state assembly.

While tension between the Meitei community and the Kuki tribes had been brewing for a while, it came to the forefront in the first week of May after the Manipur High Court, acting on a writ petition on April 14, directed the state government to send a recommendation to the federal government to grant tribal status to the Meiteis. The court’s order was strongly opposed by the Kukis who argued that it would further strengthen the already dominant Meitei community.

Members of a community with tribal status get reservations in government jobs and educational institutions.

On May 3, the All Tribal Students’ Union Manipur rallied across all hill districts of the state to protest the court order. The demonstrations turned violent and the next day, the violence spread to the capital Imphal with clashes breaking out between the two groups.

The situation is still tense and this journalist was held briefly by members of one of the groups for nearly two hours while conducting interviews in the state last month.

‘Forced to completely shut’
The violence has almost paralysed the state economy, leaving the business community in severe distress with no signs of recovery in the near future.

Several entrepreneurs said their businesses have been hit by more than 70 percent in losses and it has become difficult to even maintain daily expenses, forcing them to retrench their employees and adopt other cost-cutting measures.

Thangjam Joy Kumar Singh, the managing director of Likla, one of the biggest fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands in the state selling fruit juices, pickles, bakery and packaged drinking water, conceded that he has been forced to lay off 200 of his 900 employees.

“Initially, I didn’t take the situation seriously and thought that things would turn normal within a week, but I was wrong. It was something that we had never witnessed before. We were forced to completely shut our factories for the first 15 days before we started producing packaged water as it was a necessary commodity,” he said.

Singh shut his bakery division for nearly three months and closed the bakery outlets in Kuki-dominated areas fearing violence.

“At present, we are operating at just 50 percent of our capacity and somehow managing to run the show,” he said.

The ethnic tension has split the two communities into separate zones. As a result, neither side can enter the other’s territory to do business or any activity for fear of being attacked or even killed.

Keisham Ranjan Singh, a Meitei who had a modular furniture showroom in the Kuki-dominated Churachandpur District about 60km (37 miles) from Imphal, rued that he had lost approximately 8 million rupees ($96,000) in the mayhem after his shop there was set on fire on May 16.

“We had Kuki workers also but they have lost their livelihood due to the turmoil,” he said.

Businesses in Imphal have not been spared.

Dinesh Kapoor, 59, a sound engineer who runs a sound system shop in the state capital has seen his sales crash as he used to get a lot of customers from the hills.

Compared with the 1 million rupees ($12,029) that Kapoor would typically make per day in the holiday season from sales of sound systems, his revenue from the shop has crashed to a mere 15,000 rupees ($180) a day.

“The months starting from November to March [are] good for business because Christmas, New Year, Holi and even Thabal Chongba, the biggest festival of the state, is held. But the violence has destroyed all. We hardly have any sales and it’s difficult to even pay the rent of the shop. The market in Imphal mostly depends on the people from the hills and their absence has affected us badly,” Singh said.

Hanjabam Shubhra Devi, 55, the founder of Meira Foods, a packaged food venture that employs mostly women, feared that loss of business might lead to domestic violence in employees’ households.

“The women… usually remain at the receiving end of the economic turmoil caused in the family due to loss of income. There are apprehensions of an increase in domestic violence in the aftermath of the present condition,” she told Al Jazeera.

Kuki businessmen too have felt the brunt of the violence.

Mang Misao, 40, runs a gas agency in Imphal. His office and home were attacked and vandalised on May 4 and about 1,200 gas cylinders and two commercial vehicles were looted.

Misao and his extended family of 20 lived in a three-storey building near his office. “We had already escaped to our neighbour’s house fearing violence and were later rescued by army personnel,” Misao told Al Jazeera.

In July, a mob burned his three trucks stationed at an LPG bottling plant on the outskirts of Imphal.

Since then, the family has been scattered, with some moving to Kuki-dominated areas and others having fled to neighbouring states for a few months.

“We had been running the agency for the past four decades and have never faced such situation before,” Misao said. “We are in dilemma as to whether to resume the business in future or not … Everything is lost.”

Tourism hit

Manipur’s tourism sector has not been spared either. According to data from the state Tourism Department, about 160,000 tourists, including 5,400 foreign nationals, visited Manipur in the financial year ending March 2023. But the numbers collapsed to just 19,908, including 1,144 foreign visitors, from April until November.

“We were witnessing one of the best times” because of a G20 meeting in February, which was followed by the Miss India pageant in April, said Kherdananda P, the deputy director of Manipur’s Department of Tourism. “Everyone was optimistic that Manipur was the next favourite destination for business and tourism after facing years of insurgency [over demands for a separate statehood]. But the violence changed the complete scenario, bringing us to ground zero.”

The hospitality industry is bearing the brunt of that. Thangjam Dhabali Singh, a veteran entrepreneur who runs a resort and three hotels including the Classic Grande in Imphal, the only four-star hotel in Manipur, said that the occupancy of the 370 rooms across all his properties has dropped to just 30 percent since the violence broke out.

“The year [2023] had started on a good note as the business was booming due to various high-profile events like G20 and we had around 70 percent of our rooms occupied. But the situation is too bad now,” he told Al Jazeera. While Singh has not laid off any of his 600 employees, their duties have been reduced to a rotational basis due to a smaller number of guests, he said, adding that the “tourism industry has witnessed the worst of the crisis”.

According to Chinglen Maisnam, an economics professor at Manipur University, the state is heading towards economic stagnation and breakdown.”We can expect a sharp fall in growth rate because of slowing investment growth and slackening consumption demand,” he added.

The government, he said, needs to assess the extent of the economic loss caused by the conflict and provide compensation and livelihood to the affected people.

A senior government official, on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the press, said the time is not yet conducive to calculating the economic loss caused by the violence. “The situation is still volatile… It would take a detailed study across the state to find the extent of the damage but it is dangerous to enter those areas that have been severely hit by the violence.”
NSB
The US and UK say Bangladesh’s elections extending Hasina’s rule were not credible (AP)
AP [1/8/2024 9:41 PM, Julhas Alam, 11975K, Neutral]
The United States and the United Kingdom said the elections that extended Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s rule were not credible, free and fair.

Both countries, which have trade and development ties with Bangladesh, also condemned political violence that preceded Sunday’s election in which Hasina’s party won more than two-thirds of the parliamentary seats while turnout was low and the main opposition party boycotted.

“The United States remains concerned by the arrests of thousands of political opposition members and by reports of irregularities on elections day. The United States shares the view with other observers that these elections were not free or fair and we regret that not all parties participated,” State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller said from Washington.

He urged Bangladesh’s government to credibly investigate reports of violence and hold those responsible accountable.

The U.K. said the democratic standards were not met consistently in the lead-up to the election.

“Democratic elections depend on credible, open, and fair competition. Respect for human rights, rule of law and due process are essential elements of the democratic process. These standards were not consistently met during the election period. We are concerned at the significant number of arrests of opposition party members before polling day,” the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said in the statement.

The U.S. statement said it remains “committed to partnering with Bangladesh to advance our shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific, to supporting human rights and civil society in Bangladesh, and to deepening our people-to-people and economic ties.”

Bangladesh is an important partner of the U.S. interest in the Indo-Pacific region along with neighboring India amid growing influence of China.

China, Russia, India and some other countries congratulated Hasina for the victory and pledged to continue to partner with the South Asian nation.

The statements came after Hasina said at a news conference Monday that the elections were free and fair.

Her ruling Awami League won 222 seats of 299 contested. Independent candidates took 62, while the Jatiya Party, the third largest, took 11 seats and three smaller parties got 3 seats. The result in one seat remained undeclared. The election of one seat was postponed because a candidate died.

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and its allies boycotted the election, and voter turnout was a low 41.8%. While election day was relatively calm, a wave of violence preceded the vote.

Zia’s party said more than 20,000 supporters had been arrested since Oct. 28 when an anti-government rally turned violent in Dhaka. The government disputed the figures and said arrests were for specific charges such as arson and vandalism.

Bangladesh has a history of political violence, military coups and assassinations. Hasina and Zia governed the country alternately for many years, cementing a feud that has since polarized Bangladesh’s politics and fueled violence around elections. This year’s vote raised questions over its credibility when there are no major challengers to take on the incumbent.
US says Bangladesh elections were not free and fair (Reuters)
Reuters [1/8/2024 10:11 PM, Kanishka Singh, 5239K, Negative]
The United States shares the view that the weekend’s elections in Bangladesh were not free and fair, the U.S. State Department said on Monday, adding that Washington was concerned by reports of vote irregularities and condemned violence that took place.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina swept to a fourth straight term in power, with her party winning almost 75% of the seats in Sunday’s general election.

But the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) boycotted the vote and turnout was low.

KEY QUOTES

"The United States remains concerned by the arrests of thousands of political opposition members and by reports of irregularities on elections day," a U.S. State Department spokesperson said on Monday.

"The United States shares the view with other observers that these elections were not free or fair and we regret that not all parties participated."

CONTEXT

The ruling Awami League party won 222 seats out of 298, according to unofficial results released by the Election Commission. The election was Bangladesh’s 12th since independence from Pakistan in 1971.

Rights groups have warned of a virtual one-party rule by Hasina’s Awami League in the South Asian country of 170 million people.

The daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, founding father of Bangladesh, Hasina, 76, first became prime minister in 1996.

Hasina played down the opposition’s boycott and said her aim was to boost the economy.
UN Urges Bangladesh to Change Course After Controversial Vote (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [1/8/2024 11:23 AM, Staff, 761K, Negative]
The UN rights chief on Monday condemned the violence and repression during controversial elections in Bangladesh that were boycotted by the opposition, urging the country to strengthen democracy.

Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina secured her fifth term in power following Sunday’s vote, after the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) called a general strike and, along with dozens of others, refused to participate.

"I implore the government to take the necessary steps to ensure that the human rights of all Bangladeshis are fully taken into account, and to strengthen the underpinnings of a truly inclusive democracy," Volker Turk said in a statement.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights pointed out that "thousands of opposition supporters have been detained arbitrarily or subjected to intimidation".

"Such tactics are not conducive to a truly genuine process," he warned.

Hasina has presided over breakneck economic growth in a country once beset by grinding poverty, but her government has been accused of rampant human rights abuses and a ruthless crackdown on dissent.

Turk said that mass arrests, threats, enforced disappearances, blackmailing and surveillance were all methods reportedly used by law enforcement officials in the months leading up to the vote.

He also lamented reported acts of political violence, including arson attacks allegedly committed by opposition groups.

"Around 25,000 opposition supporters have been arrested, including key party leaders, since October 28," the statement said, adding that at least 10 of them had reportedly died or been killed in custody.

This, it cautioned, raises "serious concerns about possible torture or harsh conditions of detention".

Many rights defenders had meanwhile been forced to go into hiding and even flee the country, while dozens of people had reportedly been victims of enforced disappearances.

"These incidents must be independently investigated, and those responsible must be brought to justice in fair and transparent trials," Turk said.

"Violations and irregularities during the campaign and on election day itself should also be thoroughly and effectively investigated."

The UN rights chief highlighted that "democracy was hard won in Bangladesh and must not become cosmetic".

"The future of all Bangladeshis is at stake."
Bangladesh PM says vote ‘victory of people’; opposition to continue protest (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [1/8/2024 7:46 AM, Faisal Mahmud, 2060K, Neutral]
Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina says her fifth term in power is a “victory of the people”, dismissing the opposition’s allegation that the vote was a “sham”.

“I have been fighting throughout my life to ensure people’s democratic rights,” the 76-year-old leader said while addressing a news conference at her residence in capital Dhaka on Monday.

Without naming the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which boycotted Sunday’s polls, Hasina said, “They didn’t come to the election as they feared people’s judgement”, adding that the absence of one party did not mean “democracy is absent” in Bangladesh.

The 12th parliamentary elections in the South Asian country saw an official voter turnout of about 40 percent, its third lowest ever. The BNP and some independent observers, however, questioned the veracity of that figure.

BNP leader Abdul Moyeen Khan called it a “fake election” and said the Awami League-led government was “illegitimate”, demanding the vote be cancelled.

During a press briefing at the party office on Monday, Khan demanded a new election under a neutral caretaker administration to form “a credible and responsible government”.

“A government of the dummy, by the dummy, for the dummy will be established if Hasina attempts to form any kind of government through this dummy election,” he said.

Khan said the BNP will continue its protest to “restore people’s democratic rights” amid a months-old crackdown by the government.

“We have a responsibility towards the people. We can’t let our country turn into a complete authoritarian state,” he said.

The Jatiya Party, which is now the main opposition group in parliament, also disputed the poll turnout and said the vote took place only to re-elect Hasina and her party members, “not to count people’s votes”.

The party bagged 11 out of 300 parliamentary seats, while the governing party won 222. The independents won 61.

Hasina herself won 249,962 votes from her constituency Gopalganj, about 165km (100 miles) south of Dhaka, while her nearest rival secured just 469 votes, local media reports said.

‘Authoritarian state’

Jatiya Party leader GM Quader said the election was fair only in the constituencies the Awami League wanted it to be fair. “But in other places, they just declared the numbers and names of the winning candidate. It was all pre-set,” he said.

Envoys from several nations, including India, Russia, and China, congratulated Hasina on securing a record-extending fourth consecutive term.

The United States, which had warned of a visa ban on Bangladesh’s government officials if the vote was unfair, has not issued any statement yet. The European Union and other Western governments had also put pressure on Hasina to ensure a free vote.

Dhaka-based political analyst Zahed Ur Rahman told Al Jazeera Bangladesh has experienced a “severe blow to its core and structure” during Hasina’s 15-year tenure as premier.

“There is hardly any separation of power that exists in this country now,” said Rahman, adding that the executive, the legislature and the judiciary are all essentially under the direct control of the prime minister’s office.

“All other constitutional or statutory institutes in this country – like the Election Commission – have become mere extensions of the regime,” he added.

Asif Nazrul, professor of law at Dhaka University, told Al Jazeera Bangladesh is already “an authoritarian state” in all the senses of the term.

“All important institutions have been compromised to keep Hasina in power, and the way that has been done indicates the country’s transformation towards an authoritarian state,” he said.
Bangladesh’s Hasina celebrates ‘absolute victory’ after polls without opposition (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [1/8/2024 6:04 AM, Shafiqul Alam, 13914K, Neutral]
Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday dismissed the opposition’s criticism of the country’s general election as "illegitimate" as she celebrated securing her fifth term in power.

Hasina has presided over breakneck economic growth in a country once beset by grinding poverty, but her government has been accused of rampant human rights abuses and a ruthless crackdown on dissent.

"The election was free and fair," Hasina told reporters in her first comments since the vote on Sunday, where her party took three-quarters of seats in parliament after polls boycotted by the opposition, with the turnout a meagre 41.8 percent.

"If any party does not participate in the election, it does not mean there is no democracy," she said, adding that "those who want to criticise can criticise".

The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which has seen its ranks diminished by mass arrests, called a general strike and, along with dozens of others, refused to participate.

Senior BNP leader Moyeen Khan called it a "fake election" and told reporters in Dhaka on Monday that the government was "illegitimate".

Hasina, 76, branded the BNP "a terrorist organisation".

Britain and the United States slammed the vote, but India endorsed it.

"The United States shares the view with other observers that these elections were not free or fair and we regret that not all parties participated," US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in Washington.

Like India, the United States has largely had a warm working relationship with Hasina, seeing her as pro-business and like-minded on opposing Islamist extremism, but Washington has not shied away from criticism on rights issues.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres "calls on all parties to reject all forms of violence and to ensure that human rights and the rule of law are fully respected," spokeswoman Florencia Soto Nino said Monday in a statement.

Bangladesh was the first in key South Asian elections this year where embattled opposition parties face a tough battle -- including in Pakistan, where jailed former prime minister Imran Khan has been rejected as a candidate, and in neighbouring India.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Monday he had called Hasina and congratulated her on her "historic" victory, praising the "successful conduct" of the polls.

Election Commission secretary Moniruzzaman Talukder said Hasina’s party had won 222 seats in Sunday’s polls, but the support of other lawmakers means her actual control over the 300-seat parliament is even higher, analysts said.

"This is a one-party parliament," Ali Riaz of Illinois State University told AFP, adding that "only the allies of the Awami League had the opportunity to participate".

The Jatiya Party, which won 11 seats, is a long-time ally of Hasina’s Awami League, as are many of the 61 independent candidates, said Mubashar Hasan, a political scientist at the University of Oslo.

"This election has legitimised one-party rule in the country with no credible and effective opposition in the parliament," Hasan told AFP.

"Almost all the independent candidates who won the parliamentary seats are also part of the Awami League."

Among the victors was Bangladesh cricket team captain Shakib Al Hasan, who won a seat for the ruling party.

Hasina’s party avoided fielding candidates in a few constituencies, in an apparent effort to avoid the legislature being branded a one-party institution.

"It was a farce election, like a local neighbourhood or a market association election," said Mohammad Shahin, 42, who pulls a rickshaw.

Opposition activists staged a protest Monday in Dhaka, wearing black gags over their mouths to condemn the election.

BNP head Tarique Rahman, speaking from Britain where he lives in exile, called the result "a disgrace to the democratic aspirations of Bangladesh" in a social media post, alleging he had seen "disturbing pictures and videos" backing his claims.

Meenakshi Ganguly, from Human Rights Watch, said the government had failed to reassure opposition supporters that the polls were fair, warning that "many fear a further crackdown".

Envoys from China and Russia were among the first to congratulate Hasina, visiting her at home on Monday and praising her "absolute victory", her office said in a statement.

Beijing’s ambassador Yao Wen praised a "long-established friendship" with Dhaka in a statement, underlining the deepening ties during Hasina’s 15-year-long rule.

Politics in the country of 170 million people has long been dominated by the rivalry between Hasina, the daughter of the country’s founding leader, and two-time premier Khaleda Zia, wife of a former military ruler.

Hasina has been the decisive victor since returning to power in a 2009 landslide, with two subsequent polls accompanied by widespread irregularities and accusations of rigging.

Zia, 78, was convicted of graft in 2018 and is now in ailing health at a hospital in Dhaka. BNP head Rahman is her son.
Bangladesh is now in effect a one-party state (The Economist – opinion)
The Economist [1/8/2024 10:00 AM, Staff, 1141K, Neutral]
It was the kind of result truly democratic politicians dream of. Not long after polls in Bangladesh’s parliamentary election closed on the afternoon of January 7th, a returning officer in Sheikh Hasina’s Dhaka constituency announced that the prime minister had been re-elected with a whopping 249,965 votes. The runner-up received 469.

The long-serving prime minister’s overwhelming victory was matched by that of her Awami League (AL) party, which won 223 of the 299 seats being contested, according to early results. With the main opposition party boycotting the poll, the AL was the only powerful political group to take part. The process confirms Bangladesh’s transition from a flawed but competitive democracy to a de facto one-party state, albeit with some trappings of electoral democracy. Unless Sheikh Hasina, who has governed uninterrupted for the past 15 years, radically changes tack, the country’s 170m people face ever-increasing levels of authoritarianism.

Casting her vote shortly after polls opened, Sheikh Hasina naturally declared that the election was free and fair. “I am trying my best to ensure that democracy should continue in this country,” she told reporters. Yet many leaders and thousands of supporters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the only party capable of mounting serious opposition to the AL, spent election day in prison. Most of those still at liberty boycotted the poll. Of the 76 seats not won by the AL, 62 went to so-called “independent” candidates, mostly AL members or supporters who had been fielded with official encouragement to give the impression of a competitive poll. The Jatiya Party, an AL ally currently acting as the official opposition in parliament, appeared to have won a handful of votes. Official results are expected soon.

That the election result was baked in was not lost on Bangladeshis. Previous elections, following the country’s emergence from military rule in 1991, saw raucous campaigning. By contrast, streets across the country remained largely quiet in the days leading up to this vote. Except for isolated incidents of violence, including an arson attack on a train bound for Dhaka on Friday that killed four people, the atmosphere was quiet, though tense in opposition centres such as the teeming capital. The government had taken the precaution of deploying the army widely to maintain order.

Turnout looked sluggish, with many polling stations reported to be deserted. Many people eligible to vote told reporters they saw no point in doing so, given that they had little choice of candidates. Shortly after polls closed an official from the election commission told a press conference that turnout was 28% before swiftly correcting himself and saying it was 40%. Local observers consider the lower number more plausible. Either way, it represented a big drop compared with the previous election in 2018, in which some 80% of eligible voters took part. That election, though marred by allegations of widespread ballot-box stuffing, was not boycotted by the opposition.

Despite this democratic farce, there is unlikely to be much imminent resistance to Sheikh Hasina’s increasingly iron-fisted rule. The BNP is ill-placed to recover from the recent crackdown; its ailing leader, Khaleda Zia, Sheikh Hasina’s main rival, is languishing under house arrest after being convicted of corruption. Moreover, despite recent high inflation and other economic pressures, the prime minister’s development record remains strong. She has the support of China, whose ambassador called on her on Monday 8th to congratulate her on her victory, and India, where the prime minister, Narendra Modi, with whom she is friendly, is likely to be re-elected in May. America and Europe, though critical of Sheikh Hasina’s authoritarian streak, are wary of alienating a big Asian country that is already close to China. They are also big customers of Bangladeshi garments, the country’s biggest export. January 7th was a bad day for Bangladesh’s democracy. It was another good day for South Asia’s iron lady.
Voters begin casting ballots in Bhutan, where an economic crisis looms large (AP)
AP [1/9/2024 1:30 AM, Anupam Nath and Wasbir Hussain, 456K, Neutral]
Voters in Bhutan, a landlocked country in the eastern Himalayan mountain range with a population of around 800,000 people, began casting their ballots Tuesday to elect a new Parliament, hoping the politicians make good on their promises to fix the nation’s economic crisis.

Some voters are expected to trek in freezing temperatures to reach the polls to elect a set of 47 parliamentarians who will form the next government. Results are likely to be announced later in the night.

The national elections are the fourth in Bhutan after it saw a transformation from a traditional monarchy to a parliamentary form of government in 2008. Ballots include only the People’s Democratic Party of former Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, and the Bhutan Tendrel Party headed by former civil servant Pema Chewang. A primary round of voting in November eliminated three other parties.

Bhutan lies sandwiched between China and India, with both neighbors vying for influence in the country.

Bhutan’s severe economic crisis played a major role in campaigning. According to the World Bank, Bhutan grew at a rate of 1.7% over the past five years. With unemployment a chronic problem, an exodus of young people in search of higher education and jobs abroad is undermining the country’s economic potential.

In a bid to overcome the economic challenges, Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck announced in December plans for a megacity in Gelephu, a town on the border with the northeastern Indian state of Assam, that will have zero-carbon industries with foreign investment.

King Wangchuk said the city-building would be mindful of Bhutanese culture and tradition and will blend with the Himalayan ecosystem. He met with top Indian business leaders who are expected to invest in the project. Construction will take place in a specially administered zone in Bhutan that has investment-friendly laws.
Bhutan votes in final round of national elections, economy main issue (Reuters)
Reuters [1/9/2024 12:03 AM, Gopal Sharma, 5.2M, Neutral]
Bhutan began voting on Tuesday, the final round of national parliamentary elections that will form the Himalayan kingdom’s fourth government since democracy was established 15 years ago, with economic growth the main issue in the wake of COVID-19.

Bhutan is known for its Gross National Happiness (GNH) index, an economic gauge that takes into account factors ignored by gross domestic product measures, such as recreation and emotional well-being.

Nestled between China and India, the majority-Buddhist nation ushered in democracy with the first free vote in 2008, two years after former king Jigme Singye Wangchuck abdicated in favour of his Oxford-educated son Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck.

Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB) said voting started at 8 a.m. (0200 GMT) and will close at 4 p.m. Results are expected by Wednesday.

The country of fewer than 800,000 people, roughly the size of Switzerland, has deep economic and trade relations with its southern neighbour India, its biggest donor and economic partner.

It has no formal diplomatic relations China but is in talks with Beijing to resolve border disputes - negotiations closely watched by India, which has its own border dispute with China.

But the border issue has not been a subject of debate during campaigning.

Nearly half a million voters are eligible to choose 47 members of parliament or National Assembly from among 94 candidates fielded by two political parties – Bhutan Tendrel Party (BTP) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which won the primary round in November.

"The most important thing the Bhutanese people need is economic growth and the growth of their own,” said Karma, 49, a voter from Punakha, near Thimphu. “Many people are unemployed and even those who have jobs get salary that is not enough to support the growth of their family.”

Both parties have similar election manifestos, in which they have vowed to boost the $3 billion economy. The country relies heavily on aid and tourism, which has failed to recover despite the scenic nation lifting pandemic restrictions in September 2022.

They share similar views on harnessing the country’s potential for hydro-electric power, boosting agricultural growth and minimising climate change risks in the world’s first carbon-negative country.

Both the BTP and PDP parties pledge to promote investment and boost foreign exchange reserves, which according to the central bank stood at $464.66 million at the end of October, compared with $759.16 million a year ago.

Analysts said their promises should be taken with a pinch of salt and few believed the parties would deliver on their promises if elected.

“People now tend to be sceptical about promises the political parties make, as they have seen that many (past) promises remained unfulfilled,” said political analyst Sonam Tshering.

In the three elections since 2008, no party has been chosen to head the government twice.

Political parties are “also aware that Bhutanese voters are much matured and discreet about whom they vote so that their votes remain secret”, Tshering said.

BTP was formed in 2022 and is led by a former bureaucrat. PDP was founded in 2007 by Tshering Tobgay, who had led the government after the elections in 2013.
Maldives president courts investors in China as Indian ties sag (Reuters)
Reuters [1/9/2024 2:41 AM, Ryan Woo and Joe Cash, 5.2M, Neutral]
At an "Invest Maldives" forum in a southern Chinese port city, Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu shook hands and exchanged words with smiling local officials on a China visit set to deepen bilateral ties as the archipelagic nation pirouettes away from India.

After the forum in Fuzhou on Tuesday, Muizzu and his delegation will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing during his week-long visit, where pacts from infrastructure to tourism are expected to be signed.

Muizzu became president of the Indian Ocean nation in November after winning on his "India Out" campaign platform under which he called New Delhi’s huge influence a threat to sovereignty. His government has since asked dozens of locally based Indian military personnel to leave. And in an apparent snub to India, Muizzu is in China this week, before any visit to his country’s giant neighbour.

In Fuzhou, the Chinese city designated as the start of China’s maritime "Silk Road", Muizzu said China remained one of his country’s "closest allies and developmental partners", according to a statement released by his office.

Increasing export of fish products to China under the two countries’ free trade agreement will be a key priority, Muizzu added.

Fishing is the largest source of employment in the Maldives, where 99% of its territory comprises the sea. Aquatic products account for over 98% of exports by volume and value.

Muizzu also said his government was keen to explore partnerships under Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative, including the expansion of the country’s central airport and commercial port.

Under the Belt and Road Initiative aimed at building a global trade and infrastructure network, China has already helped expand the Velana International Airport in Male and built the cross-sea China-Maldives Friendship Bridge.

Chinese firms have invested $1.37 billion in the Maldives since its decision to join the Belt and Road Initiative in 2014, data from the American Enterprise Institute think tank shows.

TOURISM

In 2019, Chinese tourists represented 19.7% of foreign visitors, making them the biggest tourist group, but slipped to third position by 2022 during the pandemic.

The Maldives is also a popular destination among Indian nationals, whose presence has grown more prominent when China’s pandemic restrictions kept Chinese visitors away.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was snorkelling last week in Lakshadweep, an archipelago of atolls and reefs off the coast of Kerala, a visit that some viewed as an attempt to draw tourists away from the nearby Maldivian islands.

Modi’s Lakshadweep visit prompted three Maldivian government officials to call him names including "a clown", leading some Indian tourists to share screenshots of cancelled bookings of Maldivian holidays. #ExploreIndianIslands became a trending hashtag in India on X.

One of India’s largest travel platforms suspended flight bookings to the tourism-dependent Maldives on Monday .

"India’s strained relations with certain countries in South Asia can be attributed to its perception of being the regional boss," China’s Global Times reported on Monday, citing analysts.

And, the newspaper added, quoting a Chinese academic, India’s current "nervousness" about Muizzu’s visit to China showed its "lack of confidence".

‘DEBT TRAP’

But the World Bank, in a report in October, warned further cosying up to China could spell trouble in the Maldives, since the $1.37 billion it already owes the Asian giant represents around 20% of its public debt.

China is the Maldives’ biggest bilateral creditor, ahead of Saudi Arabia and India, which it owes $124 million and $123 million, respectively.

Former president Mohamed Nasheed in 2018 called Beijing’s lending "a debt trap." Beijing rejects accusations its lending practices in developing economies are predatory.

Male spent $162.3 million on interest payments between January to August 2023, the World Bank report said, up 15% from a year earlier and "far exceeding" the annual average between 2014-2019 of $85 million.

The World Bank cautioned a "build-up of sovereign exposure" had taken place during the pandemic and that there was a "lack of domestic investment opportunities," despite Muizzu’s appeal for fresh Chinese funding.

The "Invest Maldives" website lists "opportunities" across 10 sectors, including tourism, renewable energy, banking and finance, and agriculture.
Sri Lanka to join US-led naval operations against Houthi rebels in Red Sea (AP)
AP [1/9/2024 5:12 AM, Bharatha Mallawarachi, 6902K, Negative]
Debt-ridden Sri Lanka ‘s navy is preparing to join a U.S.-led operation to protect merchant vessels sailing in the Red Sea against attacks by Houthi rebels, a Sri Lankan navy spokesman said on Tuesday.

The attacks by Houthi rebels have targeted commercial shipping vessels transiting through the critical Bab el-Mandeb Strait that links markets in Asia and Europe following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and Israel’s subsequent war against the militant group in Gaza.

The U.S. and its allies launched Operation Prosperity Guardian to protect ship traffic, and warships from the U.S., France, and the U.K. are patrolling the area.

No date has been set for sending the Sri Lankan ships and the area they will patrol has not been finalized, said navy spokesman Capt. Gayan Wickramasuriya.

The decision to send the ships drew criticism from opposition lawmakers in the island nation. Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa blamed the government for spending LKR 250 million ($777,000) to send ships to fight Houthi rebels in the Red Sea when Sri Lankans are experiencing severe economic hardships at home.

State Minister of Defense Pramitha Tennakoon defended the move, saying the government wants to fulfill its “global responsibilities” and noting that “Sri Lanka is against any form of terrorism.”

He added that Sri Lanka would incur no additional costs by joining the operations, as the country’s ships are already patrolling its vast maritime area in the Indian Ocean.

Sri Lanka is struggling to get through the worst economic crisis in its history. The country declared bankruptcy in April 2022 with more than $83 billion in debt — more than half of it to foreign creditors. Its economy was plunged into crisis, with severe shortages of food, fuel and other necessities.

Strident public protests led to the ouster of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The IMF agreed in March last year to a $2.9-billion bailout package.

Sri Lanka hopes to restructure $17 billion of its tens of billions of outstanding debt.

Over the past year, severe shortages of essentials like food, fuel and medicine have largely abated, and authorities have restored power supplies. But public dissatisfaction has grown over the government’s efforts to increase revenues by raising electricity bills and imposing heavy new income taxes on professionals and businesses.

Last week, the government increased the rate of the valued added tax and extended it to cover many essential items, including cooking gas, fuel, medicine and others.
Sri Lanka Navigates the Seas of Geopolitics (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [1/8/2024 1:07 AM, Rathindra Kuruwita, 201K, Neutral]
In recent months, Sri Lanka has found itself at the center of an escalating geopolitical storm, which seems to have prompted it to impose a one-year moratorium on foreign research vessels. Behind this seemingly local decision looms the intensifying tensions between China and the Quad, an alliance comprising the United States, India, Japan, and Australia.

The decision is expected to affect Chinese ships the most.

The Indian Ocean has been an arena of great power competition and conflict for centuries. In recent years, it has become a theater for strategic maneuvering, where China’s expanding influence is being countered by the Quad.

A coalition formed in response to China’s growing regional and global reach, the Quad seeks to curb Chinese initiatives, notably the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and assert its dominance in the Indo-Pacific region. This power struggle manifests in various forms, including increased scrutiny of Chinese activities in vital maritime routes.

For Sri Lanka, a nation that is strategically positioned in the heart of the Indian Ocean, this geopolitical tug-of-war poses significant challenges. The island nation has historically enjoyed relationships with multiple global powers, leveraging these ties for economic development and infrastructure projects. However, the recent decision to impose restrictions on foreign research vessels, largely impacting Chinese ships, underscores the complexities of maintaining this delicate balance amid mounting pressures.

It is evident that Sri Lanka’s decision to impose a one-year moratorium on foreign research vessels has come in response to relentless pressure from India and the United States to halt the growing frequency of Chinese research vessels docking at Sri Lankan ports.

Announcing the moratorium, Foreign Minister Ali Sabry claimed that Sri Lanka will spend the next year preparing guidelines on procedures to follow when a foreign research vessel arrives in the country. Sri Lanka currently lacks a comprehensive policy concerning these vessels, leading to a situation where various government institutions issue conflicting statements regarding the intentions and parameters of recent Chinese research vessels’ arrivals. This lack of coherence has significantly contributed to the confusion among all involved parties.

Uditha Devapriya, lead researcher for the Colombo-based international relations think tank, Factum, said two Chinese research vessels docked in Sri Lanka in 2022 and 2023, and this caused a lot of diplomatic tension for Sri Lanka. The Chinese have also asked permission for the research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 3 to dock in Sri Lanka in January 2024.

“The proposed arrival could have sparked another significant diplomatic dispute for Sri Lanka,” Devapriya explained, pointing to likely objections from India and the U.S. “With parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for 2024, the influence of China, India, and the U.S. could impact the election’s outcome. Clearly, President Ranil Wickremesinghe aims to steer clear of controversies in this crucial electoral year.”

Research vessels have been arriving in Sri Lanka for decades. The recent hyperbolic scrutiny of these ships by a section of the media, however, is new. The scrutiny for the most part comes from the Indian media. India is a close ally of the United States in its containment efforts of China.

China has developed rapidly in the last five decades and is on the verge of becoming a regional hegemon. International relations scholars of the realist school have insisted that this is not a development the United States, the only current regional hegemon, would readily accept. Once China becomes the undisputed power in Asia, it can intervene in other theaters, a privilege only the U.S. currently enjoys.

Sri Lankan attorney-at-law and expert in international security Indika Perera said that announcing a moratorium provides Sri Lanka temporary relief from Indian and American pressure.

Perera said that Sri Lanka has not clearly communicated the fact that it has banned research vessels from all countries. The prevailing impression in China is that Sri Lanka has prohibited only Chinese research vessels, while keeping its ports open for research vessels from other nations, Perera, who was in China recently, said.

“My impression was that the Chinese media too had picked up on Indian reporting. A lot of people asked me why Sri Lanka has targeted Chinese vessels alone. They had not seen the official statement by our foreign minister,” Perera said. “This is a major problem Sri Lanka is facing. It does not communicate its policies and its thoughts. If we clearly articulated our positions through the media and conveyed our stance through diplomatic channels, we could avoid a lot of confusion.”

Perera said that across Asia, the Quad has been trying to counter BRI initiatives and there is intense pressure on the smaller nations to pick a side. With the absence of a movement similar to the Non-Aligned Movement, which once allowed smaller nations to navigate international power politics without firmly aligning with one camp or the other, smaller Asian countries will be compelled to choose between China and the Quad.

Sri Lanka faces the daunting task of safeguarding its sovereignty and interests, while balancing relationships with major global players. It finds itself walking a tightrope, striving to avoid becoming collateral damage in the escalating Cold War tensions.

The scrutiny faced by Chinese research vessels in Sri Lanka serves as a poignant reminder of the intricate dance smaller nations must perform in a world dominated by geopolitical rivalries. As the storm clouds of this Cold War continue to gather, Sri Lanka stands as a testament to the complex realities faced by nations seeking to carve their path in a world overshadowed by power struggles.
Central Asia
Kazakhstan: Alleged Deripaska plane purchase raises sanctions bypass questions (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [1/8/2024 4:14 PM, Almaz Kumenov, 57.6K, Neutral]
Officials in Kazakhstan have denied a report by investigative media outlet Verstka alleging that Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska bought a business jet from a Kazakh airline as a way of circumventing Western sanctions.

Verstka claimed in a report published on Jan 5 that the Dassault Falcon 7X aircraft was bought for around $36 million from Irtysh Air in February 2023. The outlet said its reporting was based on scrutiny of Russian customs data and an analysis of Deripaska’s movements over the past year.

Deripaska and companies associated with him have been subjected to sanctions by the U.S. government since 2018 over his connections to the Russian state. Those links led the European Union and the United Kingdom to impose their own sanctions following Russia’s full-blown invasion of Ukraine.

Kazakhstan’s Transportation Ministry has promptly dismissed Verstka’s reporting, specifically refuting the notion that the Falcon 7X in question was purchased from a Kazakh carrier with a view to bypassing sanctions.

The ministry stated that the aircraft was never registered in Kazakhstan’s civil aircraft registry. Moreover, Irtysh Air, the airline in question, has not held an active civil aircraft operator certificate for almost a decade and has not operated flights over that period, the ministry’s statement read.

Independent media outlets are skeptical about this denial, however. News website Vlast.kz said it had not received any response to queries over the possibility that the airline had bought the aircraft in question and immediately resold it without going through the motions of registering it in Kazakhstan.

Dwelling on this scenario further, Vlast.kz explained that it has become common practice for sanctions-evaders to buy assets through third-party intermediaries that never actually take physical receipt of the item in question.

Digging into Irtysh Air, Vlast.kz detected some apparently suspicious irregularities over its tax payments, despite the fact that the company does not offer regular flights. While the company paid the equivalent of around $5,000 in taxes in 2022, its bills to the tax service in 2023 — the year of the alleged jet sale — amounted to around $66,000.

For all this, National Economy Minister Alibek Kuantyrov boasted in December that not a single company in Kazakhstan has been subjected to secondary Russia-related sanctions — a fate that has befallen several entities in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Anger In Kyrgyzstan As Self-Proclaimed ‘New God’ Becomes The Latest Prison Death (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [1/8/2024 8:13 PM, Chris Rickleton, 235K, Negative]
efore the interview, there was the head massage.

Arstan Abdyldaev, aka Arstan Alai, then a candidate in the 2017 presidential election, insisted on it.

Already famous for predicting the disappearance of winter and for hailing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s abilities as a "complex biorobot," the businessman-turned-clairvoyant wanted to know if I could feel the energy of the universe flowing through him.

I couldn’t, but he wasn’t offended.

Some people could feel the connection immediately, he explained to me, smiling sympathetically. For others, it might take "years."

After the massage, he sat down with me and a colleague to discuss his and Kyrgyzstan’s respective roles in saving humanity as he rolled out a second presidential bid.

The election would end with him receiving just over 0.1 percent of the vote, less than the 0.5 percent that he scooped in 2011. It was in that year that he went viral with the phrase "zima ne budet" (there will be no winter) during a press conference in which he claimed to be in possession of "the code to the future."

There was a third unsuccessful presidential bid, in the 2021 election won by current President Sadyr Japarov. But there won’t be a fourth.

On December 15, after relatives raised the alarm when he failed to come home, Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security (UKMK) confirmed that Abdyldaev had been arrested on charges of inciting religious enmity.

Then, on January 5, according to the state prison service, he was found hanged in the canteen of a special medical and correctional institution outside Bishkek that he had been transferred to without consultation with his lawyer after experiencing what the prison service called "an unspecified personality disorder and hallucinations."

Abdyldaev is one of several public figures who have died under investigation during Japarov’s three years in power -- a period that has seen the country join its authoritarian regional neighbors in the "unfree" category of international democracy indexes.

But his tragic end has a symbolic feel.

Once the only country in Central Asia where an independent candidate as mercurial and quirky as Abdyldaev could throw his or her hat into the presidential ring, Kyrgyzstan is now a country where the people who go to prison cannot be sure if they will leave it alive.

‘Who Strung You Up?’

Officially, the circumstances of Abdyldaev’s death are being raked over by the prosecutor-general and a commission set up by the Justice Ministry.

In comments that might foreshadow the outcome of those probes, Justice Minister Ayaz Baetov wrote in a January 5 Facebook post that surveillance footage given to the ministry by the state prison service showed "clear signs of suicidal behavior" on the prisoner’s part. He did not provide any details.

Neither of Abdyldaev’s children believe it was possible that he could have taken his life, however.

At his 55-year-old father’s funeral on January 7, Toro Abdyldaev spoke through tears as he listed his father’s long history of supporting charitable causes and offering interest-free loans to young entrepreneurs.

"If I could have one wish, I would ask [him]: ‘Father, how are you? Who strung you up?’" he said during the ceremony in the village of Orok, near Bishkek, where Islamic rites were observed.

His sister, Aksana Arstanbekova, said Abdyldaev had been in "good spirits" when they last spoke and confident that he would not be spending too much more time in jail.

Both have alleged that his corpse showed bruising not concurrent with a hanging.

Another lingering question is why the authorities felt the need to arrest him in the first place.

Abdyldaev had faced prosecution before the Japarov era, in 2019, when he referred to himself as a god, having previously only portrayed himself as a prophet-type figure with visions of the world’s Kyrgyz-led future.

Then, as now, the authorities opened a case into incitement of religious enmity.

Abdyldaev’s supporters sprang to his defense, holding a press conference at which they called for the charges to be dropped.

"All Kyrgyz are gods," one was quoted by RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service as saying at the time. "Our ancestors were gods. And we are also gods. So let them bring a criminal case against all of us, too!"

The charges were subsequently dropped.

But this time around, they stuck.

"He considers himself a ‘new god,’ a ‘savior,’ and considers other religions, beliefs, and views to be inferior, weak, and invalid delusions, and assesses them negatively," the UKMK said in a December 15 statement justifying the detention as well as raids on his property.

Speaking anonymously to RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service later that week, a supporter of Abdyldaev denied these claims, as well as the UKMK’s suggestions that Abdyldaev may have been intimate with some of his female adherents.

"We meet three times a week, older and younger people, both women and men. Some come specially from remote regions to listen to Arstan Alai. During his lectures he talks about a new era, a new scientific civilization. There were no conversations [against] religion. On the contrary, he says that in the new century, all religions will unite."

Abdyldaev did occasionally allow himself to venture into more political matters, however. In at least two interviews last year he called Japarov’s arrival to power a "tragedy for the Kyrgyz people," foreseeing the president’s eventual downfall in what would be the country’s fourth revolution.

No Country For Watchdogs

Abdyldaev was one of the last people that I interviewed while living in Kyrgyzstan.

One of the first people that I interviewed there was Marat Kazakpaev, then a lecturer at the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University.

His phone number had been given to me by a civil society leader. "You can phone him any time of day. He loves to talk," she promised.

Sure enough, Kazakpaev was generous with his time, and a dead certain for a fast quote on election nights. So, there was naturally a lot of shock when the analyst was suddenly jailed on high-treason charges in April 2021.

UKMK chief and Japarov friend and political ally Kamchybek Tashiev told local media that the investigation into Kazakpaev’s alleged espionage had predated the duo’s arrival to power, which may well have been the case.

But it was under the Japarov/Tashiev watch that Kazakpaev died on June 10, 2022, in a hospital, after first falling into a coma while in jail.

The year before, Kazakpaev had complained of being intimidated by UKMK operatives -- claims Tashiev personally refuted. By April 2022, Kazakpaev’s wife, Anar Kazakpaeva, told the National Center for the Prevention of Torture that her husband’s health was at grave risk.

After a medical examination that confirmed a severe case of hypertension, the center recommended Kazakpaev’s release from jail for planned treatment in line with Kyrgyz law -- but the UKMK ignored the advice.

Just over a week after Kazakpaev’s death, the UKMK was in the spotlight again after a noted banker accused of corruption died in his jail cell. The UKMK said that Bakyt Asanbaev had committed suicide.

But Kyrgyzstan’s then-ombudswoman, Atyr Abdrakhmatova, still had plenty of questions, noting that Asanbaev had been interrogated by an investigator without his lawyer present on the eve of his death. "Then there is the question of why he was moved to a different cell…why were there extension cords and other things that would allow for something like this to happen to a person?" Abdrakhmatova told journalists.

Subsequent government investigations into the deaths failed to find any fault with the authorities.

But pro-government lawmakers were soon finding plenty of faults with Abdrakhmatova’s rigorous approach to her job. In May 2023, she was handed her marching orders by parliament, which endorsed a career prosecutor as her replacement.

January 10 will mark the anniversary of the election victory that confirmed Japarov’s remarkable rise to power -- from a prison cell, no less -- following postelection unrest in 2020.

Since then, the former opposition politician has overseen constitutional changes that have greatly strengthened his office and weakened parliament. He has also cracked down on online critics and trained his sights on reshaping the country in his own image -- even changing the national flag.

Of his 16 opponents in the 2021 presidential contest, at least nine have spent time in jail during his presidency, while one has now died there.
Russian Neo-Imperialist Assertions Spark Pushback in Uzbekistan (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [1/8/2024 10:26 AM, Mukhammadsodik Donaev, 201K, Neutral]
Zakhar Prilepin, a notable Russian public figure, made a startling statement during a press conference in Moscow on December 20, 2023. Advocating for the Soviet Union’s restoration and Russian language imposition in former Soviet states, his remarks have resonated deeply within public discourse in Uzbekistan. Prilepin’s televised remark that Russia could claim territories with significant Russian-speaking populations mentioned Uzbekistan in particular, given the large number of Uzbek labor migrants in Russia, and triggered widespread indignation.

Prilepin’s exact words as reported by Daryo.uz:

I am actually sincerely advocating that these territories, from where migrant workers come to us, should be annexed and taught the Russian language on the spot, not here, but there, in Uzbekistan, for example. We will raise the topic of disavowing the collapse of the Soviet Union, which will allow us to say at any time: since 2 million of your citizens are on our territory, we claim your territory. Because the majority are already here, and they even voted for it. Who forbids us to do anything in Eurasia after the parade in Kyiv? No one.

This provocative claim spurred a vigorous reaction across Uzbekistan, mobilizing citizen journalists, bloggers, and the general populace into heated discussions. There were widespread calls on social media for the Uzbek government to issue a formal inquiry to the Russian embassy for clarification on these contentious remarks. Political experts urged the government to adopt a firmer stance in response to Prilepin’s words.

The reaction to his statements in Uzbekistan, however, is not just about a single provocative claim. It is a reflection of a deeper, more pervasive anxiety about the future of the region’s sovereignty and identity. The unity in the Uzbek response, cutting across societal divisions, signifies a collective resolve to safeguard the national integrity and to resist any attempts at undermining the country’s hard-won independence.

Subsequently, on December 21, the Russian ambassador to Uzbekistan, Oleg Malginov, was summoned to the Uzbek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In a later statement, Maria Zakharova, the official spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, clarified that Prilepin’s views were personal and did not represent the official stance of the Russian Federation. She highlighted the comprehensive strategic partnership and alliance relations between Russia and Uzbekistan.

In response to Prilepin’s statements, Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Defense, referencing Article 153 of the Constitution, made a public statement reaffirming the nation’s military preparedness to ensure national security. Moreover, members of the Uzbek parliament countered Prilepin’s stance, stating, “Such statements are completely unacceptable and this kind of view is further reducing Russia’s ever-decreasing influence.” They emphasized the growing negative perception of Russia among Uzbeks.

Even President Shavkat Mirziyoev have made a statement at a public event on December 22, seemingly in response to the Prilepin’s words. He said that:

We have all witnessed that the powerful centers of the world, which used to protect their goals and interests mainly through diplomacy and politics, have now turned to the path of open pressure, confrontation, and conflict. Unfortunately, the impact of such large-scale and extremely conflicting processes does not bypass the Central Asian region and our country, which is part of it. It is certainly not easy to find the right way that meets the national interests of Uzbekistan in such a complex and dangerous situation.

Although this was a soft diplomatic response, and did not address the issue directly, such a comment from the president is rare in Uzbekistan.

Russian public figures have made controversial statements in the media before, often triggering frustration among the Central Asian countries. These declarations typically revolve around territorial claims, Russian language promotion, migrant worker issues, and interference in the internal affairs of former Soviet states, indicating a persistent view of Central Asia as being within Russia’s sphere of influence.

The resurgence of an imperialistic mood in Russia, labeled “New Tsar Russia,” reflects an attempt to apply outdated rules and strategies in modern geopolitics. These provocative statements exacerbate negative sentiments toward Russia in Central Asia and in the current milieu potentially increase support for Ukraine. Central Asia’s intellectuals view Ukraine’s struggle as a defiant stand against imperialist Russian ambitions, making the conflict’s outcome pivotal for the region’s own future. A Russian victory, feared by many, could embolden Russia to make further territorial claims in other former Soviet states, a daunting thought for the independent nations south of Russia. Previous incidents, like Russia’s territorial claims against Kazakhstan, demonstrate that Russian political rhetoric often transcends mere words.

The labor migration dynamics between Central Asia and Russia further illuminate this complex relationship. In 2022, a significant share of foreign workers in Russia were Uzbeks (41.9 percent), followed by Tajiks (28.4 percent), and Kyrgyz (16.2 percent). These migrants primarily work in construction, agriculture, trade, and public catering, often in unskilled, manual labor roles.

In early 2023, nearly 1.3 million foreign workers entered Russia, nearly half of whom were Uzbeks. The largest contingents came from Uzbekistan (630,859), Tajikistan (349,357), and Kyrgyzstan (172,591). The economic repercussions of this migration are profound. World Bank reports indicate that remittances remain high to Central Asian countries, forming a critical part of their economies. Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan received remittances equal to 32 percent and 31 percent of GDP, respectively, while in Uzbekistan, remittances equaled about 17 percent of GDP in 2022, rising sharply from 13 percent in the previous year. Notably, 80 percent of these remittances originated from Russia.

The fact that a considerable number of Central Asian citizens are employed as migrant workers in Russia has increasingly become a significant political issue. This condition impacts more than just economic ties; it also presents a potential for geopolitical influence, affecting the balance of power within the region considerably. The reliance of these countries on remittances, alongside their vulnerability to foreign media influence and propaganda, constitutes a major challenge to their sovereignty and independence.

Prilepin’s comments sharply highlighted these issues, signaling an urgent need for Central Asian nations rethink and strengthen their geopolitical and economic strategies. As Uzbekistan, along with its Central Asian neighbors, observes the developments in Ukraine, there’s a growing recognition of the need for regional solidarity and a wider strategic vision. The echoes of their shared history serve as a constant reminder of the importance of shaping a future where sovereignty and cultural identity are not only safeguarded, but also revered. The reactions following Prilepin’s comments are indicative of a larger, ongoing conversation about nationhood, independence, and national identity in Central Asia.
Indo-Pacific
India and Maldives Trade Barbs After Modi’s Beach Visit (New York Times)
New York Times [1/8/2024 4:14 PM, Alex Travelli, 831K, Negative]
It started with a postcard-perfect snapshot. An image of India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, lounging in a chair on a secluded white-sand beach, provoked heated words from officials in the Maldives, a tiny archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean.

Indians on social media reacted with a ferocious wave of indignation, causing ripples all the way to Beijing.

Mr. Modi had been posing for a series of pictures to highlight the beachy natural beauty of the islands called Lakshadweep, an Indian territory 150 miles from the mainland and just 100 miles north of the Maldives.

Lakshadweep is like a mini Maldives, with barely a tenth of the landmass of the more famous atolls to its south. The people on Minicoy, its southernmost island, speak the same language as they do in the Maldives, and preserve some of its oldest customs.

But in Mr. Modi’s seemingly harmless words of praise — morning walks on the beach were “moments of pure bliss” — the Maldives heard a threat. Its about a half-million people are sensitive to feeling pushed around by India, with its population of 1.4 billion.

“What a clown,” Mariyam Shiuna, a deputy minister in the Maldives’ government, wrote on the social media platform X. She accused Mr. Modi of being a “puppet of Israel” and of wearing a lifejacket while pretending to scuba dive. The post was later deleted.

In fact Mr. Modi had been snorkeling — a lifejacket-compatible activity. But he is in fact friendlier with the Israeli government than is popular in the Muslim-majority islands. Other Maldivians used their social media posts to insult Indian tourists and India generally.

The backlash was swift, and by some accounts apparently coordinated. A barrage of posts by high-profile Indians, including government officials and Bollywood stars, blasted simultaneous outrage at the Maldivians. These posts were illustrated with travel-brochure-like images of Lakshadweep, making the competition explicit. (Many of these photographs were actually shot in the Maldives, though.)

On Monday, push came to shove. An Indian travel portal, EaseMyTrip, joined the Indian celebrities in boycotting travel bookings to the Maldives. The Maldivian government finally cried uncle. Ms. Shiuna was suspended from office, along with two other ministers who had joined her in remarks seen as offending India.

Since the 1970s, the Maldives has become one of the global jet set’s preferred resort destinations, earning $3 billion in tourism revenues in 2019, worth about a quarter of its national economy. After coronavirus pandemic-related lockdowns took effect, when outbound Chinese tourism stopped in its tracks, India became the Maldives’ biggest source of high-spending visitors.

India had always kept tinier Lakshadweep under wraps. Until recently its islands saw only 10,000 visitors a year, nearly all of them Indian. In 2021, Mr. Modi’s government indicated that it saw great untapped potential there. If Lakshadweep’s coral-shaped lagoons can be sold to the world as an alternative to the Maldives, they would strike at the small country’s economic lifeblood.

Just as the war of words with India hit fever pitch, with some Indian celebrities swearing they would restrict their luxury vacations to India’s own shores, the Maldives’ new president, Mohamed Muizzu, was starting a five-day state visit in China. His trip was planned much earlier, but rivalries with India were already on the agenda.

The Maldives, like several other countries around South Asia, has for years bobbed along the surface of a great-power competition between India and China. Successive governments have been more pro-China, like Abdulla Yameen’s, from 2013 to 2018, or pro-India, like the one led by Ibrahim Mohamed Solih until November. Mr. Muizzu, who defeated him in the polls, had campaigned on a platform of “India Out.”

Mr. Muizzu had already broken with tradition by skipping visiting India and spending his first state visit in Turkey. So it was little surprise that he chose China for his second state visit. His government also intends to eject the 80 or so Indian military personnel who operate aircraft based in the Maldives.

But Mr. Muizzu’s country and India might want to be careful about escalating the tension further. India has major infrastructure projects underway in the Maldives, which neither side wants to cancel. In suspending Ms. Shiuna and her colleagues, Mr. Muizzu sent a message.

India, for its part, does not want to erode its influence among its smaller neighbors. In the Himalayas, Nepal and Bhutan have made unusually open gestures toward China recently. The importance of keeping allies in its rivalry with China is one reason India has doubled down on its close relationship with Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister of Bangladesh, who is this week claiming her fourth consecutive term in power.
Top India Travel Platform Suspends Maldives Trips As Row Worsens (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [1/8/2024 9:16 PM, Karen Leigh, 5543K, Negative]
One of India’s biggest online travel platforms halted bookings to the Maldives, amid an increasingly fraught diplomatic spat that began when officials in the tourism-dependent island nation derided Indian leader Narendra Modi on social media.

“Our company is entirely homegrown and made in India,” Prashant Pitti, co-founder of EaseMyTrip, wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “We have decided that we will not accept any bookings for Maldives.”

With Indians the biggest group of visitors to the Maldives, the spat threatens a key sector of the economy in the strategically-important archipelago of more than 500,000 people that sits west of Sri Lanka. The fallout comes on the back of growing tensions between India and the Maldives since a new president, Mohamed Muizzu, came to power last September.

He wants India to remove its troops from the island nation and has sought to build closer ties with China. Muizzu is currently on a five-day visit to China, where he’s expected to meet President Xi Jinping.

Both India and China have invested heavily in upgrading the Maldives’ infrastructure and extending loans to its government.

‘A Clown’

The row was triggered after Modi made a visit to Lakshadweep, an Indian archipelago of 36 islands that lies north of the Maldives, to promote domestic tourism.

A deputy minister in the Maldives posted on the social media platform X about Modi’s visit, calling him a “clown” and a “puppet of Israel.” The post appears to have been later deleted.

The deputy minister and two other government officials were suspended on Sunday for their social media posts, according to Press Trust of India.

The original image of Modi walking on a Lakshadweep beach has since sparked a local social media frenzy to promote the Indian territory as a tourism alternative to the Maldives.

Another travel booking platform, MakeMyTrip, said it had seen a 3,400% rise in on-platform searches for Lakshadweep since Modi’s visit and would launch a new “Beaches of India” campaign for local travelers.

Pitti of EaseMyTrip wrote on X that he wanted Lakshadweep to become an international destination.
Why Modi’s beach shots sparked calls for an Indian boycott of Maldives tourism (CNN)
CNN [1/9/2024 12:01 AM, Chris Lau, Heather Law, Manveena Suri, and Vedika Sud, 225K, Neutral]
Maldives is facing a boycott from one of its biggest sources of tourism income after three of its officials mocked India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sparking calls from Indian citizens and celebrities to shun the sun-kissed getaway for domestic beaches instead.

The controversy erupted after Modi posted images to social platform X of himself snorkeling and walking along a beach in Lakshadweep, a southern Indian island chain in the Laccadive Sea, off the coast of Kerala.

Modi did not mention India’s picturesque neighbor Maldives in his post, but his effusive praise of the beautiful scenery of the lesser-known archipelago may have been seen as a charm offensive to draw people there for vacation rather than Maldives.

Three Maldives officials responded to his post, describing Modi as a “clown,” “terrorist” and a “puppet of Israel,” according to Reuters.

The Maldives government moved quickly to distance itself from their comments, suspending the three officials - deputy ministers with the Ministry of Youth Employment, Information and Arts - a senior Maldives official told Reuters on Sunday.

In a statement, the Maldives government said it was aware of “derogatory” comments made on social media but stressed the “opinions are personal” and do not represent its views.

“The government believes that the freedom of expression should be exercised in a democratic and responsible manner, and in ways that do not spread hatred, negativity, and hinder close relationships between the Maldives and its international partners,” it said.

The incident comes at a sensitive time, as Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu embarks on a five-day visit to China, his first as President following his election win last October.

Muizzu is known for his pro-China stance and pledged to end his predecessor’s “India first” policy in a region where New Delhi and Beijing vie for influence.

During the trip, he’s expected to meet Chinese officials and sign “key agreements to improve trade, professional, and socioeconomic development,” according to a government statement.

But while Muizzu will be keen to tighten ties with Beijing, the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago – home to around half a million people – can’t afford to alienate its closest neighbor.

Maldives relies heavily on tourism and a large slice of that income comes from India – last year the world’s most populous country accounted for the largest group of tourists visiting its tropical beaches, according to Maldives’ tourism website.

Indian tourists made more than 209,000 trips to Maldives in 2023, making up 11% of its tourism market, statistics released last week show. Russia contributed about the same amount, and China wasn’t far behind, providing 187,118 visits, or 10% of the total.

But the officials’ remarks angered some Indian holidaymakers, who posted screenshots on social media to show they had canceled their trips to the island chain under the hashtag #BoycottMaldives.

Prominent figures, from Bollywood actors to cricket players, also urged fans to turn to local destinations instead, with another hashtag #ChaloLakshadweep – meaning “Let’s go to Lakshadweep,” where Modi visited – gaining traction.

Among them was Bollywood star Akshay Kumar, known for playing the lead in movies with a patriotic theme. He called the Maldivian officials’ remarks “hateful and racist.”

“We are good to our neighbors but why should we tolerate such unprovoked hate? I’ve visited the Maldives many times and always praised it, but dignity first. Let us decide to #ExploreIndianIslands and support our own tourism,” he said.

Indian travel site EaseMyTrip said on Monday it had suspended bookings for flights to Maldives.

“In solidarity with our nation, @EaseMyTrip has suspended all Maldives flight bookings,” Nishant Pitti, CEO and co-founder of EaseMyTrip said in a post on X.

In a post on X, Maldives Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer called the officials’ remarks “unacceptable,” adding that the archipelago is committed to “fostering a positive and constructive dialogue with our partners.”

A source told CNN on Monday that the Indian High Commission in Maldives had “strongly raised and expressed concerns” to the Maldivian Foreign Office.

Michael Kugelman, director of South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington, said the Maldives government’s quick action to suspend the officials and denounce their comments showed how much it values Indian relations.

“This dispute that’s been playing out in recent days suggests that there will be some challenges ahead, but I would argue that at the end of the day the new leadership in Maldives does not want to risk losing its relationship with India,” he said.

“I would contend that this government in Maldives is going to want to balance its relations with both India and China.”
Twitter
Afghanistan
Massoud Hossaini
@Massoud151
[1/8/2024 5:02 PM, 31.3K followers, 1 retweet, 9 likes]
Tolo Tv has become a #TalibanTerrorist propaganda machine. During the republic, this TV was getting bribe by @ashrafghani & @hmohib to creat some fake content for their interest! Now it is supporting #terrorism & @USAID still funding it by US tax payers!
Pakistan
Anwaar ul Haq Kakar
@anwaar_kakar
[1/8/2024 8:48 AM, 139.9K followers, 207 retweets, 1.1K likes]
I congratulate Sheikh Hasina on her re-election as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. I wish Sheikh Hasina a successful term in office and look forward to enhanced cooperation between Pakistan and Bangladesh under her leadership.

Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office
@amnestysasia
[1/8/2024 10:14 AM, 75.3K followers, 1.5K retweets, 2.5K likes]
Pakistan: The Baloch Long March that started on 6 December 2023 from Turbat, Balochistan to Islamabad, in wake of the extra-judicial killing of Balach Mola Bakhsh’s killing, is being led by women and families of those forcibly disappeared. Since reaching Islamabad the protestors have been holding a sit in for the last 16 days. Enforced disappearances are a violation of several human rights of those disappeared, including their right to life and liberty, as well as the economic and social rights of their families. The impact on families and communities, where enforced disappearances take place, has been documented in Amnesty’s report ‘Living Ghosts’: https://amnesty.org/en/documents/asa33/4992/2021/en/. 1/3

Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office
@amnestysasia
[1/8/2024 10:14 AM, 75.3K followers, 242 retweets, 452 likes]
Families of those forcibly disappeared are subject to threats and intimidation as a direct result of speaking out about their loved ones. The protestors of the Baloch Long March, like the ones before them, have been subject to police brutality, detentions and harassment. Amnesty has previously documented the obstacles faced by protestors against forced disappearances in its report ‘Braving the Storm’: https://amnesty.org/en/documents/asa33/5872/2022/en/. 2/3

Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office
@amnestysasia
[1/8/2024 10:14 AM, 75.3K followers, 232 retweets, 428 likes]
Amnesty International demands that the Government of Pakistan:
1. End the practice of enforced disappearances and immediately release disappeared people or unconditionally disclose their fate/whereabouts.
2. Ensure victims and families of disappeared people are given full and effective reparations to address any hardships endured, including compensation, restitution, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition.
3. Uphold the right to protest of people participating in the Baloch Long March by providing effective means of protection and redress for families against threats, intimidation, and reprisals.
4. Conduct an impartial investigation of all enforced disappearances, particularly in Balochistan, in line with international standards.
5. Criminalize enforced disappearance as per international human rights law, standards and best practice. 3/3

Madiha Afzal
@MadihaAfzal
[1/8/2024 10:57 AM, 41.5K followers, 72 retweets, 356 likes]
Lifetime disqualification was used for political purposes 5 years ago, and lifetime disqualification has been overturned for political purposes now…

Madiha Afzal
@MadihaAfzal
[1/8/2024 9:12 AM, 41.5K followers, 27 retweets, 108 likes]
Pakistan’s Supreme Court (predictably) overturns its own 2018 ruling on the lifetime disqualification of politicians. The result: Nawaz Sharif, formerly disqualified for life, is now cleared to run for election.

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[1/8/2024 10:33 AM, 203.7K followers, 62 retweets, 282 likes]
Pakistan’s Supreme Court has struck down its earlier ruling on lifetime disqualifications. That ruling had arguably been Nawaz Sharif’s biggest legal obstacle to returning to power. That obstacle has now been removed, paving his way to participate in elections, if they happen.

Hamid Mir
@HamidMirPAK
[1/8/2024 9:00 AM, 8.3M followers, 985 retweets, 3.4K likes]
A retired senior ISI official claimed that US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger threatened Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and said “If you don’t cancel a deal with France for nuclear reprocessing plant we will make you a horrible example” Watch the complete VLOG: http://youtube.com/watch?v=vuCcJ1xCutI&t=1737s
India
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[1/8/2024 9:20 PM, 94.4M followers, 2.5K retweets, 11K likes]
Greetings on Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas. This is a day to celebrate the contributions and achievements of the Indian diaspora worldwide. Their dedication towards preserving our rich heritage and strengthening global ties is commendable. They embody the spirit of India across the globe, fostering a sense of unity and diversity.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[1/8/2024 9:19 PM, 94.4M followers, 6.8K retweets, 50K likes]
Birthday wishes to Union Minister @DrSJaishankar Ji. His dedication and contributions in shaping India’s foreign policy have been exemplary. May this year bring more success and good health as he continues to serve our nation with dedication.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[1/8/2024 12:37 PM, 94.4M followers, 5.2K retweets, 36K likes]
Landed in Ahmedabad a short while ago. Over the next two days, will be taking part in the Vibrant Gujarat Summit and related programmes. It is a matter of immense joy that various world leaders will be joining us during this Summit. The coming of my brother, HH @MohamedBinZayed is very special. I have a very close association with the Vibrant Gujarat Summit and I am glad to see how this platform has contributed to Gujarat’s growth and created opportunities for several people.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[1/8/2024 8:08 AM, 94.4M followers, 7.6K retweets, 65K likes]
Spoke to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and congratulated her on her victory for a historic fourth consecutive term in the Parliamentary elections. I also congratulate the people of Bangladesh for the successful conduct of elections. We are committed to further strengthen our enduring and people-centric partnership with Bangladesh.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[1/8/2024 9:44 PM, 3M followers, 768 retweets, 5.8K likes]
On Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas, greetings to the Indian Diaspora across the world. We take immense pride in your achievements. Your outstanding contributions play a crucial role in enhancing India’s global standing.
NSB
Awami League
@albd1971
[1/8/2024 11:33 AM, 634.7K followers, 56 retweets, 182 likes]
Bangladesh stands with Democracy. We Congratulate the People of Bangladesh! ---- #Bangladesh stands with #AwamiLeague, first ever party to secure a straight fourth term. Being the largest, oldest and most popular political party in the country, Bangladesh Awami League congratulates all the voters who stood against an anti-democratic and terrorist force #BNP #Jamaat and gave their mandate in our pursuit to serve the nation in its bid to build a #SmartBangladesh. We are grateful and indebted to millions of supporters who toiled day and night to unite the country in ensuring the historic victory for the party, a mandate for the continuation of the legacy of the father of the nation carrying forward by her daughter #SheikhHasina: build Smart Bangladesh anchored on the spirit of supreme sacrifice of war heroes. We reiterate our commitment to deliver on the pledges that earned Awami League this trumpeting support, withstanding all forms of violence and terror already unleashed by BNP Jamaat a combine that seeks to usurp power without #polls and derail #democratic process and future of the country. Upholding democracy, #humanrights, #freedomofspeech is always our priority. #BangladeshElections #Elections #BangladeshPolls #BangladeshElection2024 #BangladeshNews #BDPolitics

Awami League
@albd1971
[1/8/2024 9:46 AM, 634.7K followers, 34 retweets, 87 likes]
We showed that elections can be fair and unbiased. We hope to form the government. Starting in 2026, #Bangladesh will begin its journey as a #developingnation. The development of my people and country is my main goal. - HPM #SheikhHasina https://albd.org/articles/news/41250 #Election2024

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[1/8/2024 4:45 PM, 203.7K followers, 22 retweets, 81 likes]
My read of this US readout on Bangladesh’s election is that the current US policy toward Dhaka will essentially remain in place-a continued strong focus on rights and democracy, but otherwise stay the course and keep pursuing deeper strategic partnership. https://www.state.gov/parliamentary-elections-in-bangladesh/

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[1/8/2024 2:57 PM, 203.7K followers, 99 retweets, 366 likes]
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller on Bangladesh’s election: "The United States shares the view with other observers that these elections were not free or fair and we regret that not all parties participated."

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[1/8/2024 7:37 AM, 203.7K followers, 121 retweets, 745 likes]
Within hours after Bangladesh’s election result was declared, the Indian, Russian, & Chinese ambassadors all extended their congratulations to Sheikh Hasina. If anyone is surprised by this, there’s no reason to be. They all (not just India) have long viewed her as a key partner.

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[1/8/2024 8:15 AM, 203.7K followers, 61 retweets, 260 likes]
And guess what other country’s ambassador has now congratulated Hasina? Pakistan. Perhaps the only country in South Asia that might be a bit uncomfortable about her return. But still willing to accept the election result.

Sabria Chowdhury Balland
@sabriaballand
[1/8/2024 4:53 PM, 4.9K followers, 1 retweet, 15 likes]
This is an affront to democracy & human rights. The US cannot claim to be supporting the people of #Bangladesh when the “election” was not free, fair or legal. Basically, an authoritarian regime got away with committing atrocious crimes. How exactly is the Biden administration committed to human rights and democracy?

Sabria Chowdhury Balland
@sabriaballand
[1/8/2024 12:20 PM, 4.9K followers, 3 retweets, 32 likes]
There is a great deal of discussion about the voter turnout percentage in the farcical #BangladeshElections2024 & what the EC is or isn’t saying. The entire system is rigged & the entire existence of the unelected ruling regime is illegal. Therefore, a focus on how to establish sanity in #Bangladesh should be the priority, not discussions about minute details of percentages of a fake display called an “election”. Percentages of something fake do not matter. #StepDownHasina is never going to happen automatically.

The President’s Office, Maldives
@presidencymv
[1/8/2024 9:44 PM, 105.8K followers, 168 retweets, 190 likes]
H.E. President Dr @MMuizzu attended the Invest Maldives 2024 in China, organized by @MoEDmv. The forum aims to foster both G2G & B2B collaboration between the Maldives and China, paving the way for Chinese investors to contribute to the growth and development of the Maldives.

Moosa Zameer
@MoosaZameer
[1/8/2024 11:27 PM, 12.1K followers, 74 retweets, 127 likes]
I am honoured to join President Dr @MMuizzu at the Invest Maldives Forum in Fuzhou, where the President shared his vision for the development of our nation through engagement, partnership building, and focused delivery. We are grateful for the strong and fruitful cooperation between Maldives and China, which spans across government, business, and culture. The Belt and Road Initiative has brought significant benefits to our infrastructure and economy. The Free Trade Agreement will also create new opportunities for our trade and investment, especially for our fishery sector. We look forward to strengthening the Maldives-China bond and exploring new avenues of collaboration for the mutual benefit of our peoples.

Moosa Zameer
@MoosaZameer
[1/8/2024 5:44 AM, 12.1K followers, 113 retweets, 168 likes]
Joined President Dr @MMuizzu’s meeting with the leadership of China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) today. The China-Maldives Friendship Bridge, one of the most significant projects undertaken by the team of CCCC, has been instrumental to the development of the Greater Male’ Region.

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[1/8/2024 10:02 AM, 203.7K followers, 12 retweets, 65 likes]
India and Maldives, led by a newly elected president viewed as pro-China, are embroiled in a spat after several Maldives political leaders insulted Modi. This piece I wrote in 2021 (with a big assist from @IshaLGupta) offers some geopolitical context: https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2021/07/16/the-maldives-an-island-battleground-for-india-china-competition/

MOFA of Nepal
@MofaNepal
[1/8/2024 5:50 AM, 256K followers, 8 retweets, 16 likes]
A parliamentary delegation led by Rt. Hon. Mr. Jerry Buttimer, Chairman of the Upper House of the Parliament of Ireland had a courtesy meeting with Hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs @NPSaudnc at the Ministry today.

MOFA of Nepal
@MofaNepal
[1/8/2024 5:50 AM, 256K followers, 2 retweets, 5 likes]
Views were exchanged on matters relating to parliamentary cooperation between the two countries. @sewa_lamsal @amritrai555

M U M Ali Sabry
@alisabrypc
[1/8/2024 5:38 AM, 4.7K followers, 3 retweets, 6 likes]
Met the @USAmbSL today and had a broad range of a discussion covering multifaceted aspects of the Sri Lanka-U.S. relationship in the New Year. @MFA_SriLanka

Dinesh Gunawardena
@DCRGunawardena
[1/8/2024 9:04 AM, 29.7K followers, 11 retweets, 21 likes]
Warm congratulations to Prime Minister Hon Sheikh Hasina, reelected with a resounding victory at the Parliamentary Elections to serve a fourth consecutive term as Prime Minister of Bangladesh …

Dinesh Gunawardena
@DCRGunawardena
[1/8/2024 9:04 AM, 29.7K followers, 1 retweet, 8 likes]
... I look forward to working closely with Hon PM Sheikh Hasina and Awami League @albd1971 to promote friendly cultural bonds and bilateral cooperation between Bangladesh & Sri Lanka
Central Asia
Bakhtiyor Saidov
@FM_Saidov
[1/8/2024 11:26 AM, 2.7K followers, 5 retweets, 11 likes]
It was a great pleasure to have a phone call with my colleague H.E. @HakanFidan, Foreign Minister @MFATurkiye. We discussed the expanding agenda of #Uzbekistan - #Turkiye comprehensive strategic partnership, overviewed the successful outcomes of 2023, and reviewed our plans for 2024.

Navbahor Imamova
@Navbahor
[1/8/2024 11:41 PM, 22.3K followers, 2 retweets, 3 likes]
Uzbekistan econ: Out of 13,353 #foreigninvestment businesses, 10,000 are in Tashkent city and region. The smallest number of them is in the west - Khorezm (136) and Karakalpakstan (165). Most #familybusinesses are in Samarkand (the largest region by population) - 8, 138 firms. Ferghana and Khorezm lead next, with 5,000+ each. Out of total 46,185 family-owned enterprises across 🇺🇿, only 282 are in Sirdarya. Significantly fewer than other regions. Namangan, second from bottom, has nearly 1,000. Source: Uzbek state stats

Steve Swerdlow
@steveswerdlow
[1/9/2024 3:08 AM, 15.3K followers]
Local activist in Uzbekistan fights against imminent forced evictions https://housing-uz.info/ru/en/1349/

{End of Report}
To subscribe to the SCA Morning Press Clips, please email SCA-PressOfficers@state.gov. Please do not reply directly to this email.