SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS
Prepared for the U.S. Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
TO: | SCA & Staff |
DATE: | Tuesday, July 16, 2024 6:30 AM ET |
Afghanistan
EU Nations Mull Reopening Afghan Embassies, Recognizing Taliban (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [7/16/2024 12:00 AM, Donato Paolo Mancini and Natalia Drozdiak, 5.5M, Neutral]
Several European countries are considering reopening their embassies in Afghanistan in a move that would entail diplomatic recognition of the Taliban almost three years after the fall of Kabul, according to people familiar with the matter.
In a sign of potential interest, Italy conducted a reconnaissance mission with its intelligence services in Kabul in the past few weeks, said some of the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive plans. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani confirmed Rome’s ambassador, currently posted to Doha, Qatar, had visited Kabul.
Western nations, including the US, left Afghanistan after hastily evacuating nationals and security personnel in 2021, as Kabul fell to the Taliban, who had mounted a decades-long insurgency after being toppled from power in 2001. At least 70,000 civilians are estimated to have been killed in the war, according to the Watson Institute at Brown University.
French, German and UK officials, however, said they had no immediate plans to reopen their missions in Kabul.
No European embassy is currently present on the ground, although the European Union has a delegation in the country and the US maintains an interest section at the Qatari representation. The only Group of Seven country with an embassy is Japan.‘Ready a Month Ago’
An EU spokesman said its mission was the only presence from the 27-member bloc so far, but declined to comment on the possible return of individual member states, saying it was a decision for those governments.
The EU’s “presence is calibrated to the policies and actions of the Taliban de facto authorities, and does not bestow any legitimacy on it,” according to the website of the bloc’s diplomatic service.“As soon as there are minimum security conditions, we’ll send our ambassador back,” Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, said in an interview last week. “We were ready a month ago. Unfortunately three Spaniards were killed by an ISIS terrorist attack in Afghanistan.”
Albares added Spain’s ambassador had moved to Kabul for some days in the wake of the attack. “What we are looking for, because we have an ambassador to Afghanistan, although he lives for security reasons in Doha — as soon as it’s possible, we’ll want him back,” he said.
A senior European diplomat said the view among officials in Brussels had shifted to recognizing the necessity of a physical presence in the country to conduct development projects, protect women’s rights, and establish a strategic presence.
In Germany, authorities are publicly debating how to return Afghan asylum seekers who committed crimes or are convicted terrorists. Currently, such individuals cannot be deported back to the country because Germany has no diplomatic relations with the Taliban regime.
A French official confirmed there were no current plans to reopen the embassy but said that question would need to be addressed eventually. The current situation, with zero presence on the ground, can’t be maintained indefinitely, the person added.
The UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth and Development office said it would “consider establishing a diplomatic presence in Afghanistan as soon as the security and political situation allows.”
A senior US administration official said the US had no intention of politically recognizing the Taliban or re-opening an embassy in Kabul. The official added the US had been clear with the Taliban that there were still concerns — primarily fair treatment for women and girls — that prevented it from moving in that direction. Forty dead in heavy rains in eastern Afghanistan; 17 killed in bus accident (AP)
AP [7/16/2024 4:06 AM, Staff, 456K, Negative]
Heavy rains in eastern Afghanistan have killed at least 40 people and injured nearly 350 others, Taliban officials said Tuesday. Separately, at least 17 died when a bus overturned on a main highway, official media said.
Sharafat Zaman Amar, a spokesperson for the Public Health Ministry, confirmed that 40 people had died in Monday’s storm and that 347 injured people had been brought for treatment to the regional hospital in Nangarhar from Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, and nearby districts.
Among the dead were five members of the same family who were killed when the roof of their house collapsed in Surkh Rod district, according to provincial spokesperson Sediqullah Quraishi. Four other family members were injured.
About 400 houses and 60 electricity poles were destroyed across Nangarhar province, Quraishi said. Power was cut in many areas and there were limited communications in Jalalabad city, he said. The damage was still being assessed, Quraishi said.
Abdul Wali, 43, said much of the damage occurred within an hour. “The winds were so strong that they blew everything into the air. That was followed by heavy rain,” he said. His 4-year-old daughter received minor injuries, he said.
In May, exceptionally heavy rains killed more than 300 people and destroyed thousands of houses, mostly in the northern province of Baghlan, according to the World Food Program.
Separately, the official Taliban news agency Bakhtar reported that at least 17 people were killed and 34 others injured when a bus overturned Tuesday morning on the main highway linking Kabul and Balkh in northern Baghlan province.
The cause of the accident wasn’t immediately clear, but poor road conditions and careless driving are often blamed for such incidents in the country. 40 Dead, Hundreds Injured After Heavy Rain, Storms In Eastern Afghanistan (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [7/15/2024 1:33 PM, Staff, 1530K, Negative]
Thirty-five people have died and more than 230 others have been injured in heavy rains and storms in Nangarhar Province in eastern Afghanistan, the provincial administration of the Taliban-led government said on July 15 in a statement. Earlier on July 15, five people died in heavy rain and floods in the eastern province of Kunar. The statement on the situation in Nangarhar Province said that heavy rain and strong winds contributed to the deaths there and said the number of victims is expected to increase. Officials also said financial losses and telecommunication interruptions are expected. The Meteorological Department of Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government predicted heavy rains and floods in 12 Afghan provinces. Taliban lies uncovered as proofs emerge of jailhouse rapes (Washington Examiner)
Washington Examiner [7/15/2024 4:13 PM, Beth Bailey, 3607K, Negative]
Explosive firsthand evidence of Taliban members engaging in “gang rape and torture” of an Afghan woman activist while she was in jail for participating in a public protest was published by the Guardian on July 3. This is the “first direct evidence” of horrifying jailhouse rapes that journalists and the U.S. government have warned about for more than a year.The outlet said its journalists examined the video of the grim assault, which was taken by the victim’s armed aggressors. In the video, the young woman is told to undress on camera before being “raped multiple times by two men.” When she tries to cover her face, one assailant gives her a hard push. In another section of the video, a Talib tells her, “You’ve been f***ed by Americans all these years, and now it’s our turn.”Talibs sent the video to their victim after she fled Afghanistan. They warned her they would send the video to her family or release it on social media if she continued speaking out against the Taliban.The outlet’s account follows on the heels of a June report that a young woman, arrested on charges of “bad hijab,” was sexually assaulted in Taliban prison. Another young woman was found dead in a water canal more than three weeks after a hijab-related arrest. Her body, bearing signs of torture and sexual abuse, was inside a pot.Also in June, journalist Lynne O’Donnell revisited a May 2023 account from Hasht-e Subh Daily. The report states that Afghan women have been impregnated by Taliban members who raped them in prison. Pregnant detainees were “taken to hospital under Taliban armed guard” and forced to undergo abortions, O’Donnell wrote. Several prisoners became so ill after repeated sexual abuse, the report said, that they were “ultimately executed by the Taliban.”It is suspected that the prisoners in the outlet’s report were held by the Taliban general directorate of intelligence. The GDI recently urged subordinate groups “to avoid circulating videos, pictures, and voice recordings,” according to leaked documents released by Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary.The report was featured in the State Department’s 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices and is now the subject of an investigation by the U.N. Special Rapporteur for Human Rights.The head of the Taliban’s Doha Political Office, Suhail Shaheen, did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment on the proof that Afghan women are being raped in Taliban jails. Less than two weeks earlier, he told Fox News that prior allegations of women being raped in prisons were “a mere claim and accusation.”Days before the outlet released its bombshell article, a Taliban delegation met with U.N. personnel and special envoys to Afghanistan for two days of discussions in Doha, Qatar. Afghan women were banned from attending the meetings, which commenced on June 30. Human rights activists castigated the choice to kowtow to the Taliban and neglect the gender apartheid that they say is being practiced against Afghan women.While Western attendees at the meeting repeatedly stressed their intention to discuss the Taliban’s violations of Afghan women’s rights, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid emphasized on June 29 that “our meetings, such as the one in Doha or with other countries, have nothing to do with the lives of our sisters, nor will we allow them to interfere in our internal affairs.”The Taliban have celebrated the fact that Western diplomats met their demands for two days of discussions. Mujahid applauded the “spirit of cooperation” in the meetings, telling attendees of a Kabul press conference that “Afghanistan has come out of isolation. An atmosphere of trust has been created.”Tomas Niklasson, the European Union’s special envoy to Afghanistan, shared positive feedback about how participants found “a lot of common ground” with the Taliban in Doha.
“Will that answer satisfy a girl who has been at home for 1,000 days and without a proper school?” Niklasson asked. “Probably not. But I think my realistic expectation for this meeting was also not that we were going to be able to fix that in three days.”As proofs emerge of the horrors Afghan women are subjected to under Taliban rule, Western dithering over attempting diplomacy with Afghanistan’s de facto leaders is unacceptable. Talks with the mendacious Taliban must cease. The veil of legitimacy they provide is the perfect cover as the Taliban continuously predate upon the very people they claim to govern. Pakistan
Pakistan Says It Will Ban Party of Jailed Former Leader Imran Khan (New York Times)
New York Times [7/15/2024 4:14 PM, Christina Goldbaum and Salman Masood, 831K, Neutral]
Pakistan’s government plans to ban the party of the imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, officials said on Monday, a decision expected to exacerbate the political turmoil that has consumed the country for the past two years.
The country’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said the government was moving to outlaw Mr. Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or P.T.I., after actions that had posed “a direct threat to the fabric of our nation.”
But analysts said the decision — which few expect to be upheld in court — reflected growing desperation by the Pakistani government. It has struggled to assert its authority after an election this year in which the country’s powerful military was accused of rigging dozens of races against the broadly popular P.T.I.“If pushed through, it will achieve nothing more than deeper polarization and the strong likelihood of political chaos and violence,” Asad Iqbal Butt, chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said in a statement.
The government’s announcement came days after Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled that P.T.I. was entitled to 23 unelected seats in Parliament reserved for women and minorities. That decision stripped the governing coalition, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of its two-thirds majority in Parliament, weakening an already fragile government that lacks mass popular support.
P.T.I., which won more seats than any other party in the election despite a crackdown on its candidates and supporters, has become a seemingly unstoppable force since Mr. Khan fell out with the military and was ousted in a vote of no confidence in 2022.
After his removal from office, Mr. Khan made a stunning political comeback and whipped up popular protests against the military, which he accused of orchestrating his ouster. He has stirred up a swell of anger at the generals’ longtime role in shaping the country’s politics from behind the scenes. He has also helped make Pakistan’s politics more polarized than ever, analysts say.
Mr. Khan, a cricket star-turned-populist politician, was imprisoned in August on what he claimed were trumped-up charges.
At a news conference on Monday, Mr. Tarar, the information minister, said P.T.I. was being banned because it had helped incite violent protests last year, and because party leaders had leaked classified information and received foreign funds from sources that are illegal in Pakistan. P.T.I. leaders have denied the allegations.
Mr. Tarar also said that the government planned to file a treason case against Mr. Khan and other key figures in the P.T.I. leadership for their roles in dissolving Parliament after the no-confidence motion to remove Mr. Khan was introduced in 2022. He added that the government planned to appeal the Supreme Court’s ruling last week giving P.T.I. additional parliamentary seats.
P.T.I. leaders and allies of Mr. Khan sharply criticized the government’s move to ban the party and promised to challenge it in court.“This is a clear sign of panic,” said Zulfi Bukhari, a close aide to Mr. Khan. “I’ve mentioned before that we are experiencing a soft martial law, and this move only substantiates our point further.”
The announcement on Monday was the second time in recent years that political leaders in Pakistan had moved to ban an opposing party in an apparent effort to curb its growing popularity.
In 2021, Mr. Khan’s government banned Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan, or T.L.P., a religious party known for violence against members of minority faiths. The ban was lifted seven months later, after party leaders staged mass protests.
The ban on P.T.I. threatens to plunge the country into mass unrest yet again, analysts said. It may also backfire, they said, deepening support for Mr. Khan, who is seen by many Pakistanis as a political martyr.“No political party should be banned in this day and age, least of all one that has the largest number of seats in Parliament,” Omar R. Quraishi, a columnist for The News, a leading daily newspaper in Pakistan, said. “Any such ban will only make the party more popular and make a mockery of democracy.” Pakistan’s government accuses ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan of treason, deepening political turmoil (AP)
AP [7/15/2024 10:20 AM, Munir Ahmed, 1156K, Negative]
Pakistan’s government plans to file treason charges against imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan for wrongfully dissolving parliament in 2022 and to ban his political party for allegedly receiving foreign funding, the information minister said Monday.The moves are certain to deepen the country’s political turmoil, which began after Khan’s 2022 ouster in a no-confidence vote in parliament. Khan, the main rival of current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, remains a popular figure despite a series of criminal cases against him that he and his supporters say are politically motivated.Khan’s spokesman said the government’s latest moves are a desperate response to recent court verdicts throwing out previous convictions against Khan, and an independent human rights commission urged the government to withdraw the plans.Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the government would file treason cases against Khan, former President Arif Alvi and then-Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri for wrongfully dissolving the National Assembly in April 2022 during Khan’s final days in power.Tarar also said the government has “credible evidence” that Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has received money from people and groups overseas, which is banned under Pakistani law. The government also accuses the party of inciting nationwide riots following Khan’s arrest last year.Tarar said the allegations against the party allow the government to ban it under Pakistan’s Constitution, but that the decision would be referred to the Supreme Court for its approval.Khan’s spokesman Zulfiqar Bukhari said the government moves to ban PTI are politically motivated. “This is a sign of panic as they have realized the courts can’t be threatened and put under pressure,” he said, adding that the government’s latest moves show that the country is “under soft martial law.”Monday’s announcement came two days after a court overturned convictions and seven-year sentences given to Khan and his wife. His supporters expected after the ruling that they would be released after almost one year in jail, but government authorities immediately arrested him again on charges related to last year’s riots.The acquittal of Khan and his wife Bibi was related to the legality of their 2018 marriage. She was previously married to a man who claimed that they divorced in November 2017, less than three months before she married Khan. Islamic law requires a three-month waiting period before a new marriage.Bibi said they divorced in August 2017, and the couple insisted that they did not violate the waiting period.The country’s independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said it was shocked by the government’s decision to ban the PTI, and said the decision should be withdrawn. “If pushed through, it will achieve nothing more than deeper polarization and a strong likelihood of political chaos and violence,” the commission said in a statement.Khan has blamed his removal on the United States and the powerful military, which has ruled Pakistan for half of its history since its independence from British colonial rule in 1947.The U.S., Sharif and the military have denied Khan’s claim.Last year’s violence subsided only when the Supreme Court ordered Khan’s release. However, he was again arrested in early August 2023 after a court handed him a three-year prison sentence on corruption charges.In recent months, Khan has been acquitted in several cases related to last year’s violence, but his bail was canceled this week in connection with one case pending in the eastern city of Lahore.On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that Khan’s party was improperly denied at least 20 seats in parliament, in a significant blow to the country’s fragile governing coalition.Adding 20 seats would bring the party’s strength in the parliament to 106 in the 336-seat National Assembly, but that would not pose any danger to the ruling coalition because Khan’s party would need 169 votes to oust Sharif.Khan’s party had previously been excluded from a system that gives parties extra seats reserved for women and minorities in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.Tarar, the information minister, also accused Khan on Monday of trying to damage diplomatic relations between Pakistan and the United States by alleging that his ouster as prime minister was a U.S.-led plot that had been carried out by the military and his rivals, including Sharif, who became prime minister after elections on Feb. 8 which Khan says were rigged. Pakistan seeks to ban former PM Khan’s party (VOA)
VOA [7/15/2024 3:20 PM, Sarah Zaman, 4032K, Neutral]
The government of Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif plans to seek a formal ban on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, the party of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan.“We feel we have very credible evidence that Tehreek-e-Insaf should be banned,” Attaullah Tarar, the minister for information and broadcasting, said at a press briefing in Islamabad on Monday.Alleging the party had received foreign funds and organized anti-state rioting, Tarar said the government would approach the Supreme Court of Pakistan to seek a ban.Khan’s party denies any wrongdoing.The announcement followed a Supreme Court ruling that granted Khan’s party a share in seats reserved for women and non-Muslims across all legislatures.The decision gives PTI roughly 80 seats. It also deprives Sharif’s ruling coalition of a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly, the lower house of Pakistan’s bicameral parliament.On Monday, the government filed a petition seeking a review of the top court’s verdict.PTI leader Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari said the government’s plan to ban the party was “a sign of panic.”
“They have realized the courts can’t be threatened and put under pressure,” Bukhari said in a statement to the media.The United States cautioned Pakistan against banning the PTI.“We saw those public statements from the government,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington when asked for a reaction to Pakistan’s decision to outlaw Khan’s party.“Our understanding is that this is the beginning of what would be a complex political process, but certainly, banning a political party is something that would be of great concern to us,” Miller said.Calling the decision unconstitutional and a blow to democratic norms, the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan urged the government to immediately withdraw the ban.“It will achieve nothing more than deeper polarization and the strong likelihood of political chaos and violence,” the commission said in a statement posted on social media platform X.The government will present the move to the Cabinet on Tuesday for approval, Tarar said.Grounds for banKhan’s party emerged as the single biggest national party in the February 8 general elections. PTI-backed candidates, forced to run as independents after the party was stripped of its unified electoral symbol, won 93 seats.If the party is dissolved, it will not only lose the share of reserved seats granted by the top court, but its current lawmakers will also have to quit all the legislatures.Pakistan’s federal government can dissolve a political party but must refer the decision to the Supreme Court within 15 days for formal approval, explained Rashid Chaudhry, national coordinator of the Islamabad-based electoral watchdog Free and Fair Election Network.“If the Supreme Court upholds the reference, then the party is dissolved,” Chaudhry told VOA.The Supreme Court might turn down the government’s request, said Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president of the Lahore-based Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency.He cited major legal victories that various courts handed down to the former prime minister and his party recently, including a decision on Saturday acquitting Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, of engaging in an illicit marriage.“PTI supporters and those who are neutral already hold very negative views about the government and the military,” Mehboob said. “They will become even more critical, and sympathy for the PTI will increase.”Freedom eludes KhanDespite courts overturning nearly three decades’ worth of prison sentences in recent months, Khan has remained in jail since August 2023. He faces numerous charges, including corruption and violence against state institutions.Earlier this month, the Geneva-based Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which reports to the U.N. Human Rights Council, said Pakistani authorities have “no legal basis” for Khan’s detention.Late last month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution urging “the full and independent investigation of claims of interference or irregularities” in Pakistan’s election.Criticizing that resolution as interference in the country’s internal matters, the Pakistani parliament passed a counter-resolution.Sharif’s government accuses PTI of seeking support from foreign capitals and lobbyists against Pakistan.It has also repeatedly rejected international calls to investigate the alleged manipulation of the February 8 vote. Pakistani troops kill 10 militants responsible for attack on military base that left 8 soldiers dead (AP)
AP [7/16/2024 4:50 AM, Ishtiaq Mahsud, 5.2M, Negative]
All 10 militants who rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a Pakistani military facility were killed in an 18-hour operation, officials said Tuesday.In its statement, the Pakistani military said eight soldiers were killed when a suicide bomber early Monday rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the outer wall of an army housing complex in Bannu, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.A splinter group of Pakistani Taliban, led by a militant commander Gul Bahadur, claimed the attack, which has been denounced by the country’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and other officials.The military said the suicide attack collapsed a portion of the wall and damaged nearby infrastructure, resulting in the killing of the eight soldiers.Responding to the attack, security forces killed all ten attackers, it said.The military said a “timely and effective response by the security forces prevented major catastrophe.”Pakistan has consistently raised its concerns with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, the military adds, “asking them to deny persistent use of Afghan soil by the terrorists and to take effective action against such elements.”The military said Pakistan’s armed forces “will keep defending the motherland and its people against this menace of terrorism and will take all necessary measures as deemed appropriate against these threats emanating from Afghanistan.”There was no immediate comment from Kabul.Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks, mostly in the northwest which borders Afghanistan, in recent years.Most such previous attacks have been blamed on Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP. They are a separate group but also an ally of the Afghan Taliban. TTP has stepped up its attacks on security forces across the country since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021. Pakistan army says eight soldiers killed in militant attack on base (Reuters)
Reuters [7/16/2024 4:01 AM, Gibran Peshimam, 5.2M, Negative]
Islamist militants attacked a military base in northwestern Pakistan, killing eight security personnel, the military said on Tuesday, after a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle loaded with explosives into a perimeter wall.
In the ensuing operation, security forces killed all 10 assailants targeting the base in Bannu, on the border with the tribal area of North Waziristan, which is known as a hotbed of Islamist militancy, and is close to the Afghanistan border.
"This timely and effective response ... prevented major catastrophe, saving precious innocent lives," the military said in a statement.
Among the dead in Monday’s attack were seven army men and one paramilitary soldier. Pakistani Court Ensures Dual Citizenship For Women Married To Afghans (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [7/15/2024 8:16 AM, Staff, 1530K, Negative]
The Pakistani High Court in Peshawar has ruled in a case brought by 95 Afghan and Pakistani citizens that women married to Afghan nationals have the right to both Pakistani and Afghan citizenship, eliminating a problem for many women stemming from administrative obstacles arising from such dual registrations. Millions of Afghan nationals live in neighboring Pakistan, many of them for decades dating back to the Afghan-Soviet War of the 1980s. A number of Pakistani women recently protested in Peshawar after Pakistani authorities expelled their husbands. India
Across river from lavish Indian wedding, frustration and flooded streets (Washington Post)
Washington Post [7/16/2024 5:41 AM, Gerry Shih and Anant Gupta, 42991K, Negative]On two streets half a mile apart last week, life in this city was disrupted for two very different reasons.On one side of the Mithi River, police fanned out to divert traffic and provide security for the wedding of Anant Ambani, the son of Asia’s richest man, and employees in the business district were asked to work from home. On the other side of a trash-strewn bridge, entire neighborhoods surrounding the thoroughfare known as LBS Road were submerged under monsoon rains — the perennial result, residents say, of an outdated drainage system and hapless city administrators.As Indians consumed the wall-to-wall media coverage this past week of the most expensive wedding in history, the Ambani family affair has become a national Rorschach test. Some saw an awe-inspiring showcase for India’s growing affluence and its rising clout. Others called it an indictment of its lopsided development; with a reported cost exceeding $500 million, the wedding bill probably eclipsed the yearly education budget of small Indian states.Here on the far side of the river, in the low-lying alleys and honking boulevards of working-class Mumbai, the most common reaction to the extravaganza was not resentment but frustration — about a system that catered to the whims of the exalted few yet rarely delivered for the many.Naushad Ahmed, who owns an auto repair shop on a flood-prone corner where dense slums open up onto LBS Road, wondered how the city could deploy resources for the Ambani wedding but fail to tackle basic infrastructure. He wanted potholes to be filled. He begged for a solution to the knee-deep floodwater that ruins businesses and homes during every monsoon.“Look, Ambani earned his money, and it’s his right to spend it on his own children,” Ahmed began, echoing a refrain commonly heard in a city that, after all, venerates success. “But it’s no surprise that the government makes everything easy for him,” he said. “If the government did as much for us as they did for him, then things could really be great.”The four-month nuptials, which ended Monday, kick-started in March with a pre-wedding ceremony attended by Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Rihanna. Then came a Mediterranean yacht trip for 1,200 guests in May. The festivities culminated with the blowout bash at the Jio World Convention Center in Mumbai, a gleaming 18½-acre project developed by Mukesh Ambani himself.On Saturday night, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stopped by to offer his blessings. Former British prime minister Boris Johnson was seen shuffling to bhangra music. Anant Ambani’s groomsmen, including the Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, took pictures with the $200,000 Audemars Piguet watches that they had received as gifts from the host. And a viral video captured a scantily clad Kim Kardashian milling near Mamata Banerjee, the matronly doyenne of West Bengal politics.The influx of guests has been so great that during the pre-wedding in March, the Indian Air Force ordered around-the-clock operations and built new roads, taxiways and immigration counters at a dual-use airfield. This past weekend, Mumbai police closed roads near the wedding venue, and travelers complained on social media that flights out of Mumbai International Airport were delayed by a flurry of private jet traffic.Reliance, the Ambani family conglomerate that has holdings spanning oil, telecommunications, media and retail, called the sprawling affair a reflection of India’s success. “The presence of esteemed individuals highlights India’s economic, political, intellectual, and scientific prowess,” the company said in a statement to Reuters.But to many in Mumbai and beyond, the contrasting images — of international VIPs paying respects to Ambani and of straining public infrastructure — pointed to a deeper truth about India today. It wasn’t just LBS Road in Mumbai that was flooded in recent weeks. Monsoon rains have paralyzed New Delhi, snapped bridges in Gujarat state and even ruptured the roof of an airport terminal in the nation’s capital, sparking popular outrage.Jayati Ghosh, an economist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, said the meteoric rise of Ambani and the rest of India’s 200 billionaires, who collectively hold nearly $1 trillion, according to Forbes, could unbalance India’s development at a time when other economic metrics are lagging.China invested nearly a quarter of its GDP on infrastructure at its peak, but India has hovered around 2 percent, Ghosh said. Meanwhile, Brazil and South Africa, two other developing countries with extreme wealth disparities, invest 17 and 15 percent of their GDP, respectively, on social services compared with India’s 3 percent, according to the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. While Modi has won plaudits for spending heavily on infrastructure, India continues to fall behind other countries, partly because of years of underinvestment.“The fact that you can hire Rihanna or Justin Bieber is supposed to be a sign of India’s strength, but it’s not,” Ghosh said. The policies of the Modi administration and previous governments, she added, “have enabled certain businesses to prosper at the expense of the Indian people. They have oligopoly or monopoly power over every major sector.”But near the wedding venue, many residents didn’t begrudge the clan often called the “first family of Mumbai.” Sweaty welders said they sold contractors 50 tons of steel just to build the event’s awnings and made good money in the process. Outside the gleaming Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Center at Dhirubhai Ambani Square, streets smelled like citrus blossoms. A group of young students huddled under a tree, reveling in the celebrities they saw and the $38 they made working as caterers the night before.Dev Kanojiya, a stylish 20-year-old college student from the city of Varanasi, said he passed an interview to get the job after proving he was over 5-foot-4, could speak with poise and possessed a basic knowledge of Western liquor. He caught a glimpse of the Kardashian sisters and the professional wrestler John Cena, but he said he was delighted above all to see the cavernous event hall decorated in the theme of his hometown and for the foreign guests to be exposed to classical Hindustani music and Sanskrit mantras.“He was not just doing all this spending for his son. He was presenting India in a different way to the world, showcasing India’s culture,” Kanojiya said excitedly. “We grew up hearing India is a very poor country and we can’t afford these things, but today, you see how this is done.”Back across the river, Ahmed the mechanic and his neighbor Shareef Khan, a locksmith, stood surveying a stretch of LBS Road where shallow pools were forming again as rain began to fall. At that moment, a bus hit a pothole with such force that every head on the street corner swiveled, thinking there was an accident.“I know why the roads here are bad,” he said. “Politics.” India seeks to boost exports to Russia after Modi trip (Reuters)
Reuters [7/15/2024 7:57 AM, Shivangi Acharya, 42991K, Negative]
India is exploring ways to boost its exports to Russia, including by encouraging rupee-rouble trade and pushing Moscow to lift non-tariff barriers, New Delhi said on Monday, in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Moscow.Old partners India and Russia have stepped up trade since Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, but the increase has been overwhelmingly one-way, dominated by India buying Russian oil shunned by traditional customers in Europe.Surging Russian exports to India accounted for $61.43 billion of the $65.7 billion in trade between the two countries in the last fiscal year that ended in March.While trade between the two countries was up a third on the year before, India’s exports of pharmaceuticals, machinery and other goods to Russia have barely budged.In a news conference, Indian trade secretary Sunil Barthwal said the government had asked Russia to consider changes to some non-tariff barriers on Indian exports of marine food products.New Delhi is also encouraging rupee-rouble trade that has failed to take off, and would send a trade delegation, he said, without giving further details."When we are looking at Russia, we are looking at how both the countries can gain by better trade relationships," he told the press conference. "We are looking at various sets of commodities for example electronics, engineering goods and other items where there can be exports."New Delhi and Moscow have been trying to settle more trade in roubles and rupees since the war led to sanctions on Russian entities. But such settlements have not taken off because the Indian currency is not among the most transacted in the world and Russia does not want to amass it.During Modi’s visit to Russia last week, which coincided with a missile strike on a children’s hospital in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv that killed dozens, the Indian leader told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the death of innocent children was painful and terrifying. Russia has denied responsibility.Russia and India also outlined nine key areas for closer cooperation, ranging from nuclear energy to medicine, and said they aimed to boost bilateral trade to hit $100 billion by 2030.Washington has criticised New Delhi for maintaining close ties with Moscow. A U.S. State Department spokesperson said: "we have made quite clear directly with India our concerns about their relationship with Russia". 4 Indian soldiers are killed in a gunfight with suspected rebels in disputed Kashmir (AP)
AP [7/16/2024 2:50 AM, Staff, 456K, Negative]
Four Indian soldiers were killed in a gunfight with suspected rebels fighting against Indian rule in the disputed region of Kashmir, the Indian military said Tuesday.
The soldiers were killed late Monday when they were fired at by militants hiding in the forests of southern Doda district in Jammu division, the Indian military said in a statement on the X social media platform. Government forces had been conducting a search based on intelligence input when the shooting occurred.
No insurgent group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
The attack was the latest in a flurry of violence in the region. Last week, five soldiers were killed in the nearby Kathua district when suspected rebels ambushed an army vehicle. In June, nine people were killed when suspected militants fired at a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims.
Rebel groups have been fighting since 1989 for Indian-controlled Kashmir’s independence or merger with neighboring Pakistan. Most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebel goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
New Delhi insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and most Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle.
Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.
Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety. Lawyers go on strike in India’s capital over criminal law overhaul (Reuters)
Reuters [7/15/2024 1:10 PM, Arpan Chaturvedi, 85570K, Negative]
Thousands of lawyers in India’s capital protested on Monday against an overhaul in criminal legislation by staying away from work and boycotting court hearings, as opposition mounted to the changes.Many have been angered by new laws that came in on July 1 expanding police powers to keep people in pre-trial detention and requiring judges to issue written rulings within 45 days of the end of a trial.Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has defended the changes - which also include the death sentence for gang rape of women under 18 - saying they are "victim-centric", modernise the system and "end the endless wait for justice".But lawyers’ bodies, opposition parties and activists have called for a pause, saying the changes will give excessive powers to the police and pile pressure onto an already overburdened justice system as lawyers try to interpret and challenge the new legal provisions.Lawyers in seven district courts around New Delhi took part in the strike on Monday, N.C. Sharma, the spokesperson of the All District Courts Bar Associations of Delhi, said."Lawyers are protesting because the changes will create confusion," he added.New Delhi’s Patiala House district court was much quieter than usual on Monday when Reuters visited. One court official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said many cases were not argued and lawyers sought adjournments.The Supreme Court of India and the High Court continued to operate normally. India’s Arm Sales to Israel During a War Are a Political Statement (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [7/15/2024 10:50 AM, Omair Anas, 1156K, Neutral]
India’s diplomacy in the Middle East is again under pressure from conflicting parties of the Arab-Israeli crisis. India’s traditional policy of favoring a two-state solution with East Jerusalem as the capital of an independent and viable Palestinian state remains unchanged. Nevertheless, much has changed about how India reinterprets the meaning and the context of its Palestine policy. After the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Indian media and right-wing public opinion had overwhelmingly supported the Israeli military response in Gaza. Arab diplomats based in New Delhi expressed their unease over the increasingly hostile public opinion toward Palestine.Beyond the Balancing ActThe ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s pro-Israeli gestures are no secret to Arab diplomats. They knew that a BJP-led government in New Delhi would start a new chapter of relations with Israel beyond the traditional “balancing act.” The BJP and its ecosystem of support see Israel as a country that always stood with India in times of crises with Pakistan. Israel, aware of India-Pakistan disputes, fully used this as an opportunity and kept its normalization efforts with Pakistan secret to avoid India’s sensitive public opinion. Those who are aware of Israel’s efforts to normalize ties with Pakistan understand that two Muslim nations, Pakistan and Indonesia, remain top priority for Israel and its Western backers, who facilitated the Abraham Accords. Saudi Arabia, too, supports Pakistan-Israeli relations, as Pakistan remains its key traditional ally. In this context, the India-Israeli ties may not stay exclusive and may not be specifically Pakistan-centric in the long term. Israel, along with Pakistan and Turkey, was a key supporter of Azerbaijan’s recapture of Nagorno Karabakh in 2020, while Armenia relied on Indian military supplies.Since the Gaza-Israel conflict started, India has faced a different challenge.First, there is a strong pro-Israeli public opinion that is ingrained in the ideology of the ruling party and its supporters in India. Second, under Narendra Modi’s decade-long rule, India has decided to end the previous reluctance and isolation from regional affairs, reprioritizing its relations with Gulf countries.How China Fits InIn an ongoing competition for influence in the Gulf between the United States and China, India has joined the West-led efforts to support the Gulf countries’ security and stability. This is a bid to check the growing Chinese influence in the region. India is ready to offer strategic and security support to the region via newly upgraded relations. The China-brokered Iran-Saudi normalization has also helped India.For India, Iran’s real strategic value is not in the Gulf but in Central Asia and South Asia, where Iran supports India’s efforts in multiple connectivity projects. In this sense, India’s advancing relations with Israel have received little or muted objection from Iran.When news broke about India supplying arms and ammunition to Israel amid military conflict, neither Arab states nor Iran reacted. The supply of ammunition, yet to be confirmed officially, is a significant statement on India’s recalibration of Middle East relations. All official statements of India’s Ministry of External Affairs have underlined that Hamas’ actions on October 7, 2023, were acts of “terrorism,” a position taken by most of Western governments and silently supported by their Gulf allies, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE.India has previously welcomed the Abraham Accords, a Donald Trump-era initiative to re-engineer the resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict outside the U.N. resolutions. Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Qatar, and Iran have refused to jump on the bandwagon of the so-called new peace process. Crisis Shapes the FutureThe ammunition supplies to Israel may bring more support for India within Western capitals. However, the Arab-Israeli crisis continues to shape the future balance of power in the Middle East, mainly against the Western countries and their Gulf allies. Saudi Arabia has been more cautious and sensitive to the crisis because its domestic politics is more susceptible to widespread anger and unrest if it is perceived to be supporting Israel at the cost of a Palestinian state. Iran, with its regional ambitions, enjoys popular support in Lebanon, Yemen, and parts of Gulf societies. Whether the Arab states accept Iran’s role in the Arab-Israeli crisis or not, it remains an influential player whose support is crucial to maintaining any peace mechanisms. The brief military confrontation between Iran and Israel has alarmed the European powers about losing their say in the region if the United States continues to disregard Palestinian demands. Egypt, on the other hand, is the biggest loser in the crisis despite having supported Israel for decades. Egypt is also wary of alternative routes being created by the India-Middle East Economic Corridor. The Israeli plans to carve out a new canal between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean via the occupied Gaza are not going well with Egypt. That is the reason why Egypt must protect Hamas despite its abhorrence of Hamas’ ideological patron, the Muslim Brotherhood.India is seeking opportunities for defense exports as the Modi government focuses on developing a robust defense industry. However, selling ammunition to Israel during a war showcases arms exports as a political statement.India’s quest for a regional strategy, however, has to be in compatible with the realities of the region where India is situated. Its geopolitics will, therefore, be tested less in the Atlantic and more in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf.Regional actors show little faith in U.S. leadership and are searching for a new security architecture, which is less dependent on the United States and Europe and willing to resolve regional crises. In the post-Gaza war period, regional powers like Egypt, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia may actively seek the participation of Russia and China in the region. India must, therefore, be ready for a broader regional engagement beyond bilateral immediacies. NSB
Bangladesh deploys police as job protests flare up (Reuters)
Reuters [7/16/2024 4:47 AM, Ruma Paul, 42991K, Neutral]
Thousands of riot police fanned out at university campuses across Bangladesh on Tuesday, a day after protests against a quota system for government jobs turned violent and more than 100 people were injured in the South Asian nation.In the first significant demonstrations against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government since she won a fourth straight term in January, protests have erupted against quotas for jobs, including a 30% reservation in jobs for descendants of freedom fighters from the 1971 War of Independence.Stagnant job growth in Bangladesh’s private sector has made government jobs, which offer regular wage hikes and other privileges, more attractive, said Mohammad Abdur Razzaque, chairman of Research and Policy Integration for Development.In Bangladesh, 56% of government jobs are reserved for various quotas. Women have a 10% reservation, 10% is for people from underdeveloped districts, 5% for indigenous communities and 1% for people with disabilities.Violence erupted on Monday when thousands of anti-quota protesters clashed with members of the student wing of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party.Protesters have planned more marches and rallies nationwide and demonstrations will continue until their demands are met, said Nahid Islam, the coordinator of the anti-quota protests.Sporadic violence was reported on Tuesday, with students blocking railways and major highways. TV footage showed heavy presence of police, wearing protective vests and helmets and armed with wooden sticks, outside the Dhaka University campus.The student wing of the main opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party, also called for marches on Wednesday to demonstrate against Monday’s attack on protesting students.Protests began earlier this month when the High Court ordered the government to reinstate the 30% job quota.The Supreme Court suspended the order last week for a month but protests continued and they intensified after Hasina refused to meet the students’ demands, citing ongoing court proceedings.Hasina labeled those opposing the quota as "razakar" - a term used for those who allegedly collaborated with the Pakistani army during the 1971 war - prompting more widespread protests.Despite manufacturing production having grown by an average of 10% annually since 2011, employment in the sector has fallen between 2017 and 2023, Razzaque said, citing official statistics."Additionally, youth unemployment is high, with nearly 32 million young people not in education, employment, or training," Razzaque added. More Than 400 Injured In Bangladesh Job Quota Rally Clashes (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [7/16/2024 4:08 AM, Eyamin Sajid, 85570K, Neutral]More than 400 Bangladeshis were injured in ongoing protests over quotas for coveted government jobs, police and protesters said Tuesday, after clashes between rival student groups the previous day.Demonstrators said they were holding peaceful marches on Monday at two universities in the capital Dhaka when they were attacked by student activists from the ruling party armed with sticks, rocks, machetes and molotov cocktails.The violence was a sudden escalation in efforts to hinder a determined student movement that has ignored calls by Bangladesh’s prime minister and top court to return to class.Police inspector Bacchu Mia told AFP that "297 people were treated at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital" in the aftermath, with 12 of that number admitted.Another 111 protesters at Jahangirnagar University were treated at a medical clinic on campus and a nearby hospital."More than 100 students were treated at our centre," Shamsur Rahman, head of the Jahangirnagar University medical centre, told AFP.Yousuf Ali, a doctor at the Enam Medical College Hospital, said 11 patients had been treated at his facility."Four people, including a professor who was hit with rubber bullets, are still admitted," he added.Students have for weeks staged near-daily protests demanding the government scrap a quota system for government jobs and introduce a merit-based scheme instead.The scheme reserves more than half of well-paid civil for specific groups, including children of heroes from the country’s 1971 liberation war from Pakistan.Critics say the system benefits children of pro-government groups who back Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.Riot police last week attempted to disperse rallies with tear gas and rubber bullets, injuring at least 11 students in the eastern city of Comilla.Monday’s clashes were the worst violence since the campaign began, with activists at Jahangirnagar University saying that they were mercilessly attacked by members of the ruling Awami League’s student wing.The violence was condemned by Amnesty International, with the rights watchdog urging Bangladesh to "immediately guarantee the safety of all peaceful protestors".US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller also denounced "violence against peaceful protesters".Protesters from university campuses around the country have vowed to resume demonstrations later on Tuesday. Why Is the Bangladesh Government Unable to Quell Ongoing Students Protests? (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [7/15/2024 10:06 AM, Mubashar Hasan and Arild Engelsen Ruud, 1156K, Neutral]
Tens of thousands of university students are out on the streets of Bangladesh to protest a quota system that reserves a substantial proportion of civil service jobs for children of liberation war fighters. At the time of writing, the protests are still ongoing and showing no sign of abating.The protests continue despite threats and intimidation by the Bangladeshi police and ruling party activists. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has scolded the students and dismissed their demands. Leaders and ministers of the ruling Awami League have accused the students of various misdeeds.The AL was the party that led Bangladesh’s liberation war. The protesting students insist that the quota system is discriminatory and enables the recruitment in government jobs of people who are already partisan toward the ruling party. They want instead a recruitment system based on merit.The protests strike deeper than the quota issue. The issue gets to the heart of the AL’s claim that it represents the people and has the moral authority to rule, although it has remained in power thanks to an election that was neither free and fair nor inclusive.In increasingly authoritarian Bangladesh, the room for protests against the rulers is severely limited. Single-issue topics like the quota system work as a conduit for expression of broader dissatisfaction. The quota protests are one type of “democratic bricolage” in a country where authoritarian leaders try to muffle and silence opposition by denying access to information or political spaces to express dissatisfaction.In the original sense, bricolage refers to the act of creating something useful – a tool, for instance – from available material. It will not be perfect or beautiful the way things made in factories are, but it will serve the purpose. A good example is when Bangladeshi farmers who received Chinese water pumps converted these into boat engines during the wet season.Democratic bricolage refers to acts that make use of whatever opportunity arises to make a larger, political and pro-democratic point. Fundamentally, where autocratic rulers seek to muffle dissent, democratic bricolage constitutes acts that express a demand to be heard.In Bangladesh, democratic bricolage is about opening up spaces, often new and unexpected spaces. It is based on the principle that all have the right to protest and the right to be heard. The protest against the quota system becomes an objection against the ruling party, which relies on this system to remain in power.With no one person leading the protest movement, officials and law enforcement agencies are confronted with a challenge in trying to suppress the protests. According to informed sources in Bangladesh, students are using internet messaging apps to coordinate their activities. They are divided into small groups and messages are forwarded from group to group without any central source. In this way, they are able to organize, coordinate, and stay connected while also dodging surveillance efforts by the law enforcers. Using these innovative tactics, the protesting students can continue their movement despite efforts by the ruling party to suppress them.Several news reports of serious corruption and illicit wealth accumulation by Bangladeshi civil servants, including a prominent actor behind the deepening authoritarianism in the country, former police and chief of the elite Rapid Action Battalion Benazir Ahmed, a serving bureaucrat, and a National Security Intelligence official, have been doing the rounds in the last several months.The protests and the news stories about corruption have come just a few months into Sheikh Hasina’s fourth continuous term as prime minister after yet another heavily machinated vote exercise. Seemingly solidly in power since 2009 and completely in command of the state machinery, Hasina’s party won elections virtually uncontested against an enfeebled opposition whose members have been heavily persecuted.But if so solidly in power, why is the AL government still unable to tackle the protests or muffle the corruption revelations?The two developments – the protests against the quotas and revelations of corruption – deny the rulers’ claim to authority and full control. The corruption revelations point to mutual back-scratching, embezzlement, and corruption in high places – circles that support authoritarianism and violations of civil and political rights for financial gain and illicit wealth accumulation. They both express a similar sentiment – an objection to the ruling party’s claim to be a legitimate ruler.Instead, both underline a continued popular desire to have a say and a space in which to say it, of being able to hold the powerful accountable. These are expressions of democratic resilience that continue to exist in Bangladesh after 15 years of democratic backsliding and autocratic rule.Over these years, Sheikh Hasina has stirred the country toward authoritarianism where critics, dissenters, and opposition activists came under severe repression, including imprisonment in phantom cases, extrajudicial killings, and enforced disappearances. While ruling party activists and leaders go largely scot-free despite evident corruption and street violence against opposition activists, the latter are forced to appear in court, go into hiding, or are imprisoned.According to a New York Times report, many opposition activists have been slapped with over 400 cases each. Police shut down opposition rallies. Critics such as journalists Shahidul Alam and Rozina Islam have been imprisoned. A culture of fear grips society where news outlets apply self-censorship to remain safe.Despite dominating the state, the government has been unable to establish control over society even after 15 years in power.The resilience of a democratic spirit and a deep desire to be allowed to speak against power have made Bangladeshis of different walks of life engage in innovative forms of democratic bricolage to register their protest and criticism of the rulers. Bangladesh Turns Back Fleeing Myanmar Soldiers At Border (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [7/16/2024 5:04 AM, Staff, 85570K, Neutral]
Bangladesh stopped dozens of Myanmar security personnel from crossing into its territory to flee advancing rebel forces, a local government official based near their river border said Tuesday.Clashes have rocked Myanmar’s western frontiers since the Arakan Army (AA) attacked security forces in November, ending a ceasefire that had largely held since the country’s 2021 military coup.Hundreds of Myanmar troops have taken refuge in India and Bangladesh since then, usually staying for days or weeks before being repatriated on junta-organised flights.But on Sunday at least 66 members of Myanmar’s Border Guard Police (BGP) were sent back immediately while trying to cross the Naf river into Bangladesh."The BGP members wanted to enter Teknaf on two boats. The coast guard prevented their entry," Mujibur Rahman, a councillor of Bangladesh’s southeastern border town of Teknaf,There was no immediate comment from either Bangladesh’s coast guard or Myanmar junta representatives.A Teknaf-based journalist who took photographs of the boats said the vessels came close to a pier in the town but were pushed back towards Myanmar later in the night."Some of them were not wearing any shirts," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.Months of fierce fighting in Myanmar have seen steady advances by the AA in the western state of Rakhine, piling further pressure on the junta as it battles opponents elsewhere in the country.Medical charity Doctors Without Borders last month announced it was halting all activities near the state’s border with Bangladesh due to an "extreme escalation of conflict" in the area.Bangladesh has accepted more than 850 fleeing Myanmar soldiers this year, a senior government official told AFP on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media."We have already handed over 752 of them to Myanmar," he said, adding around 100 border police and troops were waiting to be repatriated.Bangladesh is home to around one million Rohingya refugees, most of whom fled Rakhine in 2017 after a military crackdown now the subject of a genocide investigation at a UN court. Nepal authorities say 65 people were on board the buses missing in a river since Friday (AP)
AP [7/16/2024 1:46 AM, Binaj Gurubacharya, 456K, Neutral]
There were 65 people on board the two buses that were pushed into a swollen river in Nepal, of which rescuers have been able to recover 14 bodies, authorities said Tuesday.
Eight of the bodies have been identified and are being handed over the relatives. Six of them were Indian nationals.
The two buses were on the key highway connecting Nepal’s capital to southern parts of the country when they were swept away Friday morning near Simaltal, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of Kathmandu. The bodies were washed away down the Trishuli river as far as 100 kilometers (60 miles).
The Chitwan District Administration Office published a list with names and details of the 65 people who were on board. There were 38 people on one bus and 27 in another. Three people survived after being ejected from one of the buses.
Hundreds of rescuers from the police and army searched the river and downstream areas Tuesday but they have yet to find any trace of the two missing buses.
Nepal’s rivers are generally fast-flowing due to the mountainous terrain. Heavy monsoon downpours in the past few days have swollen the waterways and turned them murky brown, making it even more difficult to see the wreckage.
Monsoon season brings heavy rains to Nepal from June to September, often triggering landslides in the mountainous Himalayan country. Central Asia
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan seek to reduce trade barriers (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [7/15/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, 57.6K, Positive]
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have announced a goal of more than doubling trade volume in “the coming years.” To hit that very ambitious target, top officials from both countries intend to remove trade barriers.
The two countries accounted for 57 percent of all trade in Central Asia in 2023, with bilateral turnover amounting to $4.5 billion during the year. The pace of trade has dipped so far this year, with total volume totaling $1.2 billion during the first four months of 2024. Nevertheless, during regular bilateral consultations in Astana July 11-12, Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov and his Uzbek counterpart, Abdulla Aripov, said the two countries aim to boost volume to $10 billion annually in the near future.
In a statement, Aripov advocated for a “transition to a full free-trade regime,” with digitized border-crossing procedures to reduce transit times. Meanwhile, Bektenov said Kazakhstan would focus on developing two sectors, agro-food and industrial cooperation, to drive an expansion of trade.
The Kazakh-Uzbek commitment to breaking down trade barriers fits in with a US-facilitated plan, dubbed the B5+1, to promote commerce on the nascent East-West corridor. Under the first phase of the B5+1 framework, the onus is on Central Asian states to create a streamlined and unified regional trade regime, as well as enhance property rights protections. Doing so will make Central Asia a more attractive foreign investment destination, thereby encouraging an expansion of trade.
Beyond trade topics, the bilateral consultations featured a lengthy discussion on water usage. The foreign ministers explored joint steps to digitalize and automate distribution systems to make the existing water-management framework more efficient.
Meanwhile, Tashkent is set to host a gathering of Kyrgyz and Uzbek business leaders on July 17. In addition to exploring potential deals, the meeting will provide a forum for executives to discuss ways to simplify trade procedures. Kazakhstan, Stati settle after protracted legal dispute (Reuters)
Reuters [7/16/2024 1:39 AM, Tamara Vaal, 5.2M, Neutral]
The government of Kazakhstan and Moldovan businessman Anatolie Stati have ended a lengthy legal battle that at one point saw the assets of the Kazakh sovereign fund frozen in the West, the justice ministry said on Tuesday.
It gave no details of the settlement, but said it would require no extra budget spending.
Stati, his son Gabriel and their companies have said they were subjected to harassment by Astana, aimed at forcing them to sell their Kazakh investments cheaply.
Kazakhstan denied the accusations and refused to pay a $500-million arbitration award, prompting the Statis to file enforcement lawsuits in several European countries, leading to the large-scale freezing of Kazakh assets.
The Statis could not immediately be reached for comment. State Of Emergency Declared In Kyrgyz City After Deadly Flooding, Mudslides (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [7/15/2024 5:56 AM, Staff, 1530K, Negative]
Authorities in Kyrgyzstan’s southern city of Osh have declared a state of emergency after mudslides and flooding caused by heavy rains killed at least four people on July 14. As of July 15, the deaths of a 44-year-old woman and her three daughters, as well as the death of another woman, have been confirmed. The Ak-Buura River’s currents became extremely dangerous over the weekend, officials said, and its banks were breached, flooding the local market as well as a village near the city. Kyrgyz officials said earlier that mudslides and floods caused by heavy rains in recent months killed 17 people. Kyrgyz Government Critic Loses Appeal Against 5-Year Prison Term (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [7/15/2024 10:24 AM, Staff, 1530K, Negative]
The Chui regional court in northern Kyrgyzstan on July 15 rejected an appeal filed by government critic and journalist Oljobai Shakir (aka Egemberdiev) against the five-year prison term he was handed in mid-May on a charge of making online calls for mass unrest. Shakir called the regional court’s ruling "unjust." He was arrested in August 2023, days after he criticized the government’s decision to hand four spa centers near Lake Issyk-Kul to Uzbekistan and called on President Sadyr Japarov and the chief of the State Committee of National Security, Kamchybek Tashiev, to participate in public debates with him. Chinese embassy denies report of military base in Tajikistan (Reuters)
Reuters [7/15/2024 11:01 AM, Ethan Wang, 85570K, Negative]
China’s embassy in Tajikistan on Monday denied media reports that Beijing was building a military base in the Central Asian country."The information disseminated by certain media about the establishment of a Chinese military base on the territory of Tajikistan is groundless," the embassy said in a statement."This issue is also not on the agenda of China-Tajikistan negotiations," it added.British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported last week that China was constructing a secret military base in Tajikistan, citing satellite images. Gulnara Karimova Enjoying ‘Special Treatment’ In Uzbek Prison, Former Inmate Says (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [7/15/2024 1:47 PM, Farangis Najibullah, 1530K, Negative]
Life behind bars in a Tashkent prison -- where inmates are allowed to shower just once a week -- is a far cry from the jet-set lifestyle Gulnara Karimova once enjoyed when she split time between her luxury homes in Asia and Europe.But even in prison, the 52-year-old daughter of former authoritarian Uzbek President Islam Karimov enjoys special treatment and privileges not available to other inmates, claims a former inmate who served at the same penitentiary in the Zangiota district of the Tashkent region.“She has four beds that she has separated with sheets from the others in the cell [so she has privacy],” the woman said in an interview with prominent Uzbek blogger Kirill Altman.“[Gulnara] wears a uniform that is similar to other inmates’ uniforms, but hers are made from more breathable fabrics. She also wears shoes with laces, even though shoelaces are not allowed in prison,” claimed the inmate, whose identity is known but who spoke on condition of anonymity.Karimova -- who was convicted of embezzlement, money laundering, and other charges -- does not eat with others in the prison canteen but rather has food delivered to her from outside of the prison, the former inmate says.“She gets her food delivered…when there is nobody around,” the former prisoner said. “It’s not an ordinary parcel of some 10 kilos, it’s much bigger.”Karimova exploited her position as the Uzbek president’s daughter to gain prestigious diplomatic posts in Europe while also amassing enormous wealth and wielding influence in Uzbekistan’s business world.In addition to her various businesses, Karimova also released pop songs under the stage name Googoosha, designed jewelry, served as Tashkent’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva in 2008, and was named Uzbek ambassador to Spain in 2010.But she disappeared from public view in 2014 amid reports of falling out of favor with her father, who ruled Uzbekistan from 1989 until his death in 2016.Karimova, who was once tipped as her father’s successor to the presidency, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2015, though it was shortened to five years served in house arrest. But in 2020 she received another 13-year jail term in a separate case.In 2019, she was transferred to prison for violating the terms of her house arrest. Karimova’s crimes, according to the court, inflicted damages of at least $1.6 billion on Uzbekistan.Karimova also faces a myriad of criminal charges in the United States, Switzerland, and other countries in connection with alleged illegal business practices.‘She Gets What She Wants’Karimova previously claimed she faced mistreatment in prison, while her lawyer and family complained that they were denied access to Karimova.Her mother, Tatyana Karimova, said last year that she wasn’t allowed to visit her daughter in prison.But the former inmate claimed that Karimova isn’t mistreated in jail and -- even though she “doesn’t obey the rules” -- is not punished.“There are some claims that she gets bullied [in prison] but…nobody bullies her. In fact, it’s her who provokes [conflicts]. [Prison authorities] make a lot of concessions to her that others don’t get,” the woman claimed, adding that Karimova often “gets whatever she wants.”
“Once she wanted to meet another inmate [from a different part of the prison compound]. She went to the guards and became hysterical. The guards then brought that inmate and the two women went for a walk for about an hour. It’s a kind of VIP treatment. If anyone else would try that, she would be punished,” the woman claimed.The former inmate also claimed that Karimova one began a “rebellion” in prison, though she didn’t provide any details about what allegedly happened.RFE/RL cannot independently verify the inmate’s claims. But several other women who served in the same penal colony and a prison source made similar allegations to RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service.RFE/RL has asked Karimova lawyer, Gregoire Mangeat, for comment on the allegations but received no reply by the time of publication.Gulrukh Karimova (no relation to Gulnara), the warden of the women’s prison in Tashkent where Gulnara Karimova is being held, did not respond to RFE/RL’s request for comment. However, one prison employee told RFE/RL on condition of anonymity that Gulnara Karimova and her “behavior” and “provocations” have created a headache for prison authorities at Zangiota."The prison administration has several times had to appeal to high-placed authorities about Gulnara Karimova’s behavior and the provocations she staged against other inmates,” the employee said.“On one hand, we are instructed to be cautious in handling her. On the other hand, we were told: ‘Don’t give her any special treatment,’” the prison worker added.Describing the overall situation in the prison where Karimova is serving, the former inmate said it’s a place with poor ventilation, relatively good food, and limited access to water and sanitation.“Inmates are normally allowed to take a shower only once a week. In the summer, twice a week. But those who work can take a shower every day,” she said, adding that hot water is very limited. Twitter
Afghanistan
Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office@amnestysasia
[7/15/2024 7:13 AM, 82.1K followers, 41 retweets, 73 likes]
354,847 people around the globe have signed our petition urging the Taliban de-facto authorities to respect and protect human rights in Afghanistan. Together, we must continue and demand an end to systemic repression and a commitment to justice. #EndImpunity"
Husain Haqqani@husainhaqqani
[7/15/2024 5:39 AM, 461.2K followers, 19 retweets, 46 likes]
So much for ‘Taliban will make Pakistan Safer.’ ‘UN report says Afghan Taliban increase support for anti-Pakistan TTP terrorists’ via @VOANews https://voanews.com/amp/un-afghan-taliban-increase-support-for-anti-pakistan-ttp-terrorists/7694324.html Pakistan
Michael Kugelman@MichaelKugelman
[7/15/2024 9:26 AM, 211.1K followers, 823 retweets, 2.4K likes]
It’s hard to imagine Islamabad’s decision to ban Imran Khan’s PTI party will hold up in the courts; the Supreme Court recently affirmed that it’s indeed a political party. This latest move will deepen the confrontation between the judiciary and the civilian/military leadership.
Michael Kugelman@MichaelKugelman
[7/15/2024 9:26 AM, 211.1K followers, 21 retweets, 93 likes]
Pakistan is now poised for a fresh bout of political instability just days after the IMF announced a new staff-level agreement with Islamabad-one requiring IMF Board approval and financing commitments from other donors. Not the best timing for greater political turbulence risks.
Madiha Afzal@MadihaAfzal
[7/15/2024 1:45 PM, 42.8K followers, 2 retweets, 25 likes]
A lot happening in the world, but there have been important developments in Pakistan in recent days: On Fri, the Supreme Court recognized the opposition PTI as a full political party and gave it its reserved seats, thus making it the largest single political party in parliament.
Madiha Afzal@MadihaAfzal
[7/15/2024 1:49 PM, 42.8K followers, 6 likes]
On Saturday, another court quashed Imran Khan’s illegal marriage case conviction (a regressive case roundly decried by rights groups), setting him up for release from jail, but the government moved to "rearrest" him on other charges.
Madiha Afzal@MadihaAfzal
[7/15/2024 2:00 PM, 42.8K followers, 3 likes]
Today, the government announced its plans to ban PTI and begin proceedings of high treason against Khan and other PTI leaders. These are unlikely to fly in court.
Madiha Afzal@MadihaAfzal
[7/15/2024 2:01 PM, 42.8K followers, 1 retweet, 2 likes]
But this signals that the civilian-military leadership feels weak and threatened, and is determined to make moves antithetical to democracy. It also intensifies an ongoing judiciary-establishment clash.
Madiha Afzal@MadihaAfzal
[7/15/2024 2:07 PM, 42.8K followers, 2 likes]
These moves are likely to make PTI more popular. A crackdown like this also makes one worry about civil unrest. As the march toward authoritarianism continues, one hopes institutions like judiciary, too often compromised in the past, may hold out.
Madiha Afzal@MadihaAfzal
[7/15/2024 3:05 PM, 42.8K followers, 2 retweets, 2 likes]
US State Dept spokesman today: “certainly banning a political party is something that would be of great concern to us.”
Madiha Afzal@MadihaAfzal
[7/15/2024 9:15 AM, 42.8K followers, 9 retweets, 37 likes]
The PML-N seems so bent on power this time around that it is ruining itself (and Pakistan’s democracy) for the future — unless it wants to stay in a hybrid relationship with the military forever. Pakistanis will remember.
Madiha Afzal@MadihaAfzal
[7/15/2024 9:07 AM, 42.8K followers, 37 retweets, 140 likes]
The government’s decision to ban PTI: desperate, destructive. Not clear that the courts will allow it. But what’s clear is that those at the top want to take a hammer to whatever is remaining of Pakistan’s democracy.
Raza Ahmad Rumi@Razarumi
[7/15/2024 7:52 AM, 576.1K followers, 247 retweets, 849 likes]
The undemocratic proposal to ban PTI betrays desperation on part of the establishment and govt. Such moves have failed in the past and this one is likely to fail. PTI will be the largest party in the parliament & demonstrated its electoral strength on Feb 8. Respect the voters!
Habib Khan@HabibKhanT
[7/16/2024 12:09 AM, 228.5K followers, 9 retweets, 27 likes]
Pakistani security forces failed to contain a complex Taliban attack on a major military base in Bannu, Pakhtunkhwa. Residents of Bannu are accusing the Pakistan Army of using excessive force, leading to civilian deaths. India
Dr. S. Jaishankar@DrSJaishankar
[7/15/2024 1:54 AM, 3.2M followers, 461 retweets, 4.5K likes]
Congratulate Foreign Secretary @VikramMisri as he assumes his new responsibility today. Wish him a productive and successful tenure.
Rajnath Singh@rajnathsingh
[7/16/2024 1:57 AM, 24.2M followers, 135 retweets, 547 likes]
Deeply saddened by the loss of our brave and courageous Indian Army Soldiers in a counter terrorist operation in Urrar Baggi, Doda (J&K). My heart goes out to the bereaved families. The Nation stands firmly with the families of our soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty. The Counter Terrorist operations are underway, and our soldiers remain committed to eliminate the scourge of terrorism and restore peace and order in the region. NSB
Awami League@albd1971
[7/15/2024 12:58 PM, 639.1K followers, 42 retweets, 84 likes]
New video footages expose lies of anti-quota protesters --- Armed with rods and sticks, anti-quota protesters attack dormitories of #DhakaUniversity. It was a deliberate attack to destabilize the safety of general students on the campus who refused to join their movement.
Awami League@albd1971
[7/15/2024 8:01 AM, 639.1K followers, 28 retweets, 64 likes]
HPM #SheikhHasina asked businessmen and exporters to target the markets of Middle East (ME), gulf countries, Africa, South Asia, South East Asia, East Asia and East Europe for export earnings alongside diversifying the #Bangladeshi products. https://albd.org/articles/news/41492
Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office@amnestysasia
[7/15/2024 5:09 PM, 82.1K followers, 97 retweets, 253 likes]
BANGLADESH 🇧🇩: Amnesty International strongly condemns the attacks against quota reform protestors in Dhaka Univeristy and other campuses across the country, which has reportedly injured hundreds of students. We urgently call on the Government of Bangladesh to immediately guarantee the safety of all peaceful protestors and proper treatment of all those injured. The description of the violence against protestors is consistent with the kind of violence Amnesty has documented in the past, whereby individuals in civilian clothing, brandishing weapons like hammers, sticks, and clubs interrupted protests and beat up protestors. Bangladesh must uphold its obligations under international law and its own constitution to fully respect the people’s rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and protect peaceful protestors from further harm. #ProtectTheProtest
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[7/15/2024 9:29 AM, 99.4K followers, 9 retweets, 40 likes]
Pleased to meet Ms. Rebecca Hunter, Director of Global Licensing @Starlink and explore the potential of bringing Starlink services to Bhutan. Discussed how Starlink’s internet technology could profoundly enhance connectivity across our country.
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[7/15/2024 9:00 AM, 99.4K followers, 14 likes]
Fortunate to receive blessings from Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche at Rinchen Terzoed Empowerment in Paro today. The day was doubly blessed as I also took the opportunity to attend Shree Vishnu Maha Purana Gyana Mahayagya and offer my prayers for the wellbeing of our country & people.
MOFA of Nepal@MofaNepal
[7/16/2024 7:15 AM, 258.5K followers, 39 retweets, 120 likes]
Newly appointed Foreign Minister Hon. Dr. Arzu Rana @Arzuranadeuba assumed office of the Foreign Minister of Nepal today. Foreign Secretary @sewa_lamsal and other officials of the Ministry warmly welcomed the Hon FM at MoFA.
Abrar H Hashmi@abrarhashmi88
[7/15/2024 2:20 PM, 2.8K followers, 1 retweet, 12 likes]
Felicitated Rt. Hon PM @kpsharmaoli today at Rashtrapati Bhawan (Presidency) at his and new cabinet’s swearing-in ceremony. Conveyed best wishes of leadership and people of Pakistan and hoped to expand relations with🇳🇵in mutually beneficial areas @PM_nepal_ @ForeignOfficePk @PakinNepal Central Asia
UNODC Central Asia@UNODC_ROCA
[7/15/2024 12:33 PM, 2.4K followers, 1 retweet, 4 likes]
Safer borders, stronger communities. @UNODC equips Central Asian border officers with skills to fight drug trafficking & raises awareness on #WorldDrugDay. Read the full story: https://shorturl.at/9V4ZY @MittalAshita @TMurshudlu @JapanGov @JapanMissionVie @uninkazakhstan @MFA_KZ
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service@president_uz
[7/15/2024 2:56 PM, 195.6K followers, 14 likes]
President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev reviewed the report on state university admissions and education improvements. This year, 805,000 applicants are taking exams. Plans include establishing the #Termez State University of Engineering and Agro-Technology and opening the #American Technological University, which will offer #US-recognized degrees in engineering, architecture, IT, and more.{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.