epubdos : Afghanistan
SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS
Prepared for the U.S. Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
TO:
SCA & Staff
DATE:
Monday, July 29, 2024 6:30 AM ET

Afghanistan
Germany talking with Taliban to send back criminal migrants (The Telegraph)
The Telegraph [7/28/2024 4:38 PM, James Jackson, 29812K, Negative]
Germany is in “confidential” negotiations with the Taliban and the Assad regime over the deportation of “violent” migrants.

Nancy Faeser, the government’s interior minister, told Bild, the German tabloid: “We are negotiating confidentially with various states to make deportations to Afghanistan and Syria possible again.

“We particularly want to consistently deport violent Islamist perpetrators,” she added.

Migration has been a burning political issue in Germany for months. In May, the city of Mannheim experienced a violent knife attack that left one policeman dead and five others injured, including an anti-Islam activist.

Sulaiman Ataee, a 25-year-old Afghan asylum seeker whose initial application was refused according to Bild, was charged with murder, attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm.

About a million Syrians and 400,000 Afghans live in Germany.

Almost all Syrians are successful in their applications for asylum, but a recent ruling by a higher court in Muenster found that conditions in Syria are no longer dangerous enough to justify a blanket ban.

This is despite reports that the country is experiencing its worst escalation of violence since 2020.

Reports by the UN, EU and Amnesty International all concluded that migrants returned to the country are at risk of human rights violations, “including torture and persecution”.

In the UK, the Conservatives had planned to send failed asylum seekers from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan to Rwanda, but after Sir Keir Starmer scrapped the plans on his first day in office, migrants are unlikely to be deported back to conflict zones.

The government faces heavy criticism over the plans as Syria and Afghanistan are not considered safe spaces by many European countries, including the UK.

The Green-controlled foreign office wants to block deportations to Syria. A confidential foreign office report stated that “combat operations of varying intensity” were continuing “in all parts of Syria".

The United Nations has said the “conditions for the safe return of refugees” are therefore “not present”.

However, the Christian Democrats said the interior ministry does not go far enough, with Mario Voigt, a senior politician, calling for any Syrian national who does not have the right to remain in Germany to be deported.

Mr Voigt told the Stern magazine: “The court ruled correctly that there is no serious and general danger to life and limb in Syria. Therefore, it is absolutely wrong to continue to grant subsidised protection to refugees from Syria in general.”

He also said Germany should openly “enter into a dialogue with the Assad regime together with other EU states”.
Don’t expect too much from the Afghanistan War Commission (The Hill – opinion)
The Hill [7/28/2024 7:00 AM, Eliot Wilson, 18752K, Neutral]
Last week the bipartisan Afghanistan War Commission held its first public hearing since it was established in 2021, with members of the foreign policy great-and-good offering testimony on the origins of the conflict and why re-examining it is important. It is a solemn and noble exercise, founded on George Santayana’s famous aphorism that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” If we review the West’s 20-year deployment in Afghanistan, the logic goes, we will understand what we did wrong and we will not make the same mistakes in the future.

The commission was created by Congress with two purposes: first, to examine, in detail, with the calming distance of time, exactly what happened; secondly, more importantly, “​​to develop a series of lessons learned and recommendations for the way forward that will inform future decisions by Congress and policymakers throughout the United States Government.” It comprises 16 commissioners, eight appointed by the Democratic Party and eight by Republicans, and its co-chairs are Shamila N. Chaudary, a foreign policy academic who worked in the State Department and the National Security Council under President Barack Obama; and Colin Jackson, a Department of Defense official under President Donald Trump who served in Afghanistan.

This process of historical analysis and learning is scheduled to take four years. To put that in perspective, a newly commissioned infantry officer who was deployed to Afghanistan at the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001 could be a general by the time the commission publishes its conclusions. NATO combat operations ended with the transfer of responsibility to the Afghan national security forces a decade ago, at the end of 2014, and it is already nearly three years since U.S. combat forces left the country.

The obvious model for this is the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, the so-called 9/11 Commission, which was created to establish “a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11 attacks.” But that body moved at a wholly different pace, being set up only 13 months after the events it examined, and reporting in July 2004, less than three years after 9/11.

Its 585-page report was weighty and detailed, but manageable, and was addressing a dramatis personae many of whom—President Bush and Vice President Cheney, the secretary of State, secretary of Defense, national security advisor, director of the FBI—were still in post. The director of central intelligence, George Tenet, had only stepped down weeks before.

A more helpful comparison might be found in our experience in the United Kingdom. Although Lord Butler of Brockwell, former head of the civil service, had conducted a short review of the intelligence on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in the first half of 2004, a year after the coalition invasion, it was regarded by many as an establishment whitewash. In 2009, Prime Minister Gordon Brown set up a full public inquiry into every aspect of the UK’s involvement in Iraq between 2001 and 2009. It was chaired by Sir John Chilcot, a former civil servant with long experience of intelligence and security derived from seven years as official head of the Northern Ireland Office.

The Iraq Inquiry conducted hearings for 18 months, and eventually published its conclusions in 2016, seven years after it was first established. They were undeniably exhaustive: the report consisted of 12 volumes and an executive summary, a total of 2.6 million words, and it was extensively and harshly critical of the conduct of British foreign policy. “The government failed to achieve its stated objectives,” it decided, “the consequences of the invasion were underestimated” and the “planning and preparations for Iraq after Saddam Hussein were wholly inadequate.”

These findings were extensively reported at the time and the prime minister, David Cameron, made a statement to the House of Commons on the report’s publication. In truth, though, the repercussions were muted. Sir Tony Blair had stepped down as prime minister nine years before; his first foreign secretary, Robin Cook, was dead, while his second, Jack Straw, was no longer in Parliament; Blair’s chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, had disappeared into the private sector; and the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, was a largely forgotten footnote. Politics, bluntly, had moved on.

If a lesson was learned by the institutions of government, it was that major land commitments in the Middle East were financially and reputationally ruinous. British combat troops had left Iraq in 2011 and Afghanistan in 2015. A hope nurtured by some that there would be a reckoning for “guilty men” is only sustained if you think Sir Tony Blair is now in public disgrace and penury; and Jonathan Powell, Blair’s chief of staff, and Alastair Campbell, Blair’s pugilistic director of communications, are not respected consultants and broadcasters.

It may well be that the Afghanistan War Commission produces an impeccable, insightful and indispensable analysis of the United States’s deployment in the region when it reports towards the end of the 2020s. There may be some lessons which foreign policy experts absorb and implement. But, given the experience in Britain with the Iraq Inquiry, I can only advise management of expectations if anyone thinks Washington’s global stance will alter radically or that individuals will be held to account. It is simply too long ago.
Pakistan
Pakistan initiated talks on reprofiling Chinese power sector debt in Pakistan (Reuters)
Reuters [7/28/2024 6:42 AM, Ariba Shahid, 42991K, Neutral]
Pakistan has initiated talks on reprofiling its power sector debt to China, alongside talks on structural reforms suggested by the International Monetary Fund, Pakistan’s finance minister told a press conference on Sunday.

He said that Pakistan will address the reprofiling of Chinese credit to the power sector on a project-by-project basis and that Islamabad is looking to appoint a local advisor in China for the purpose.

The finance minister stressed that it is reprofiling and not restructuring of debt because there is no question of cutting the amount it owes. Reprofiling is generally understood to involve an agreed lengthening of the time needed to repay.

The countries, which share a border, have been longtime allies, and rollovers or disbursements on loans from China have helped Pakistan meet its external financing needs in the past.

Pakistan is in talks with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and China in order to meet gross financing needs under the IMF programme for which Islamabad needs a board level approval.

The IMF this month agreed on a $7 billion bailout for the heavily indebted South Asian economy, while raising concerns over high rates of power theft and distribution losses that result in debt accumulating across the production chain.
Cash-starved Pakistan engages in debt ‘reprofiling’ talks with China (VOA)
VOA [7/28/2024 2:37 PM, Ayaz Gul, 4032K, Neutral]
Pakistani Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said Sunday that he had engaged in "very constructive" talks with Chinese counterparts on rescheduling billions of dollars in debt owed to China, but he reported no immediate progress.

Islamabad is asking that Beijing, its close ally, delay at least $16 billion in energy sector debt repayments and extend the term of a $4 billion cash loan facility because of Pakistan’s economic troubles and dwindling foreign exchange reserves.

Aurangzeb, shortly after returning from a multi-day visit to the neighboring country, held a news conference in the Pakistani capital, sharing details of his meetings with Chinese Finance Minister Lan Fo’an and the central bank governor, among others.

“We presented the debt reprofiling proposal to them,” Aurangzeb said without specifying any amount. He said that his government is seeking to reschedule the debt for 10 China-funded energy-related projects in Pakistan.

“We’ll have to go project-by-project and work with the central bank in China… We’ll also appoint a local adviser (in China) instead of leading the process from Islamabad,” the minister added.

Aurangzeb said that in addition to China, Pakistan was in talks with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in seeking an extension on the existing $5 billion and $3 billion cash loan facilities, respectively.

He stated that his government was confident in securing these crucial extensions before an International Monetary Fund executive board meeting to grant final approval for a newly negotiated $7 billion loan for Islamabad.

“I want to assure you that external financing and assurances will be forthcoming between now and the IMF board approval,” the minister said.

The Washington-based global lender announced earlier in July that it had reached a preliminary agreement with Pakistan for a 37-month loan of $7 billion under the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility arrangement.

The IMF stated that the agreement “is subject to approval by its executive board and “the timely confirmation of necessary financing assurances from Pakistan’s development and bilateral partners.” It did not specify a date for the board meeting.

Some of the power projects in focus are built under the China-Pakistan Energy Corridor, or CPEC, a massive project aimed at improving Pakistan’s infrastructure for better trade with China and further integration of the countries of South Asia.

CPEC has, over the past decade, brought more than $25 billion in Chinese investment and loans to Pakistan as part of Beijing’s global Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to improve connectivity, trade, communication, and cooperation with participating countries.

Pakistani and Chinese officials deny allegations the mega project has deepened Islamabad’s economic troubles.
Pakistan to Start Selling Three of Its Power Utilities Next Year (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [7/27/2024 7:34 AM, Kamran Haider, 27296K, Positive]
Pakistan will start privatizing its power distribution companies from next year to stay on course with its pledge to the International Monetary Fund to fix the debt-hit energy sector.

The Privatization Commission Board has approved a plan to complete the legal formalities by January and is in the process of appointing a financial adviser to sell three utilities in the first phase, the commission said in a statement on Saturday without providing details. The proposal will now need to be vetted by the Cabinet Commission on Privatization.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government intends to privatize six power distributors while putting three others in the northwest and the south under concessional agreements.

Pakistan’s energy sector is plagued by mismanagement and inefficiencies that has led to rising debt at these state-run utilities and inflated tariffs, impacting the finances of the government and burdening the consumers.

The South Asian country is expecting the Washington-based multilateral lender to approve a $7 billion loan package under a new agreement that wants Pakistan to cut energy losses to revive the economy.
Key Pakistani Islamist party begins sit-in to protest increase in electricity bills (AP)
AP [7/27/2024 3:59 AM, Staff, 31180K, Neutral]
Hundreds of supporters of a key Islamist party began a sit-in protest in the garrison city of Rawalpindi late Friday after authorities detained dozens to prevent them from holding the rally in Pakistan’s neighboring capital, citing security reasons, officials said.

The Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan party originally issued a call for holding the sit-in near the parliament building in Islamabad to pressure the government to withdraw a substantial increase in electricity costs, which have drawn nationwide criticism. People complain they are getting electricity bills even higher than their salaries.

Naeem-ur-Rehman, who heads Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, told demonstrators in Rawalpindi that he was willing to stage the sit-in even for weeks. He said police arrested a large number of the party’s supporters to prevent them from staging the sit-in in Islamabad.

Authorities say electricity fees have been increased to meet conditions set by the International Monetary Fund during negotiations that led to a staff-level agreement for a new $7 billion loan deal for Pakistan earlier this month.
Dozens Dead After Land Feud Sparks Sectarian Fighting In Pakistan (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [7/28/2024 11:21 AM, Staff, 1530K, Negative]
A tribal land feud that sparked days of sectarian fighting has killed 35 people in northwestern Pakistan, local authorities said on July 28. Clashes over a land dispute between Sunni and Shi’ite tribes broke out on July 24 in the Kurram district, during which more than 160 people have been injured. The fighting started in the Boshera region and has since spread to at least five towns and villages. The clashes have resulted in the closure of public offices, schools, roads, and the local market. The authorities have shut down mobile internet in the district.
Gunmen kill Ahmadi minority doctor in Pakistan (VOA)
VOA [7/27/2024 9:16 AM, Ayaz Gul, 4032K, Negative]
Unknown attackers in central Pakistan shot and killed a member of the minority Ahmadi community Saturday amid an uptick in violence, against what critics describe as the country’s long-persecuted group.

The targeted shooting occurred in the Gujarat district in Punjab, the country’s most populous province, area police officials reported. They identified the victim as 53-year-old Zaka ur Rehman, a practicing dentist, saying the assailants fled the scene.

Witnesses reported to police that two gunmen on a motorbike arrived at Rehman’s clinic, with one of them firing multiple shots at him from close range, said Amir Mehmood, a spokesperson for the minority community. He demanded that Pakistani authorities swiftly arrest the culprits and bring them to justice.

Rehman is the fourth Ahmadi killed in Punjab and the country as a whole this year.

Saturday’s attack came two days after a United Nations panel of independent experts denounced the spike in attacks against members of Pakistan’s minority Ahmadi community and their places of worship.

“We are alarmed by ongoing reports of violence and discrimination against the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan. We urge Pakistani authorities to take immediate action to address this situation,” the experts, reporting to the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council, said in a statement Thursday.

Ahmadis are followers of the Ahmadiyya community, a contemporary messianic movement founded in 1889, and they profess to be Muslims.

The U.N. experts highlighted the killings of several Ahmadis in recent weeks and expressed concern over allegations of arbitrary arrests and detentions of worshippers from the community to keep them from participating in their religious rituals.

“Urgent measures are necessary to respond to these violent attacks and the broader atmosphere of hatred and discrimination which feeds it,” the panel stated.

No group has lately claimed responsibility for targeting Ahmadis, but their representatives blame Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan, or TLP, a far-right Islamist political party, for inciting followers to attack members and places of worship of the minority community.

TLP leaders routinely use offensive anti-Ahmadi language in rallies and gatherings.

Pakistan’s parliament declared Ahmadis non-Muslim in 1974 and subsequently prohibited them from "indirectly or directly posing as Muslims.” The minority sect is also barred from declaring or propagating its faith publicly and building places of worship in the country.

The legislative restrictions are blamed for the rise in violence against Ahmadis. Domestic and international human rights groups have persistently criticized Pakistan for not doing enough to deter crimes against members of its religious minorities, including Christians.
India
US discusses with India need for peace in Ukraine (Reuters)
Reuters [7/28/2024 10:20 PM, Kanishka Singh, 42991K, Negative]
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday emphasized the importance of a "just and enduring peace" for Ukraine in a meeting with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the State Department said. The discussion came amid a visit being reportedly planned to Ukraine by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

Modi is likely to visit Ukraine in August, various Indian media outlets have reported in recent days, which would be his first visit to the country since Russia invaded in February 2022 and would come just weeks after he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had expressed unhappiness and disappointment with Modi’s visit to Russia.

While Western countries imposed sanctions on Moscow following the invasion of Ukraine, nations friendly with Russia such as India and China have continued to trade.

KEY QUOTE

"Secretary Blinken underscored the importance of realizing a just and enduring peace for Ukraine consistent with the UN Charter," the State Department said in a statement on Sunday on the meeting between Blinken and Jaishankar.

Social media posts from both Blinken and Jaishankar on Sunday mentioned their meeting but did not specifically mention Ukraine.

CONTEXT

India has refrained from directly criticizing Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, while urging the two nations to resolve their conflict through dialogue and diplomacy. New Delhi has resisted pressure from the West to distance itself from Moscow since the invasion, citing its longstanding ties with Russia and its economic needs.

In recent years, Washington has looked to improve ties with New Delhi as it has increasingly viewed India as a potential counterweight to an ascendant China. However, while Modi was visiting Russia, the State Department said it raised concerns with India over its ties to Russia.
Indian PM Modi likely to visit Ukraine in August, local media reports (Reuters)
Reuters [7/27/2024 8:41 AM, Aditi Shah, 42991K, Negative]
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Ukraine next month, a local media report said, his first visit to the country since its war with Russia began and just weeks after he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Ukraine’s embassy in New Delhi said it had no information to share immediately. There was no immediate response from India’s foreign ministry.

Western countries have imposed sanctions on Moscow following its all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but "friendly" nations such as India and China have continued to trade.

India has refrained from directly blaming Russia, while urging the two nations to resolve their conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.

Modi met Putin just as a Russian missile struck a hospital in Kyiv killing at least 41 people. The Indian leader told Putin that the death of innocent children was "painful and terrifying".

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed unhappiness over Modi’s visit, calling it a "huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts" to see him hug "the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day".

Russia denied striking the hospital.

The U.S. State Department has raised concerns over India’s relationship with Russia especially at a time when it has been seeking to strengthen ties with India as a potential counterweight to an ascendant China.

New Delhi is seeking to deepen its relationship with the West while keeping ties intact with Russia.

The final date of Modi’s visit is not yet confirmed, The Print reported on Saturday.
Family of Indian man killed in Ukraine war waits for his remains (Reuters)
Reuters [7/29/2024 3:56 AM, Sakshi Dayal, 5.2M, Neutral]
Relatives of an Indian man who died in Russia have said he was killed after being forced to fight in the war against Ukraine, and are petitioning the government to bring his body back to his village in the northern Haryana state.

Several men and their families have contacted India’s foreign ministry over the last few months saying they were duped into travelling to Russia with the promise of jobs or education only to be forcibly recruited into its army, officials at the ministry said.

At least four other people have been killed in the violence, they say.

Ravi Moun, 21, travelled to Russia in January after being contacted by an agent who promised him a job in the transport sector, his relatives told Reuters.

Once there, however, he was forced to fight in the war.

Moun’s family last spoke to him on March 12 and had been trying to contact the government for help in tracking him down ever since, they said.

"If he (Moun) knew he would have to fight, he would not have gone...why would he go where death could be waiting?" said Sonu Mator, his cousin, adding that the family needed the government’s help to bring back the body.

"We do not have the money to arrange for it ourselves," Mator said.

A letter from the Indian Embassy in Moscow last week informed Moun’s relatives of his death without elaborating on the circumstances under which he died, according to The Indian Express newspaper.

"The Russian side had confirmed the death," wrote Gloria Dung Dung, the second secretary at the embassy, the newspaper reported.

Officials from India’s foreign ministry did not respond to requests from Reuters for comment.
Moun’s death comes days after Russia promised New Delhi that Indians duped into joining its army would be discharged, opens new tab.

The Russian Embassy in India has also said that Russia is committed to finding the "earliest possible solution".

India has arrested at least four people associated with the racket.

The South Asian nation has refused to condemn Russia’s war with Ukraine and instead called for peace through dialogue and diplomacy.

Sri Lanka and Nepal have also said that some of their citizens have been illegally recruited.
India’s cutthroat exam culture drives students to suicide (Nikkei Asia)
Nikkei Asia [7/27/2024 1:38 AM, Satoshi Iwaki, 2042K, Neutral]
When an Indian family in Uttar Pradesh state sent their 18-year-old daughter to a cram school in a neighboring state so that she could get an edge in her college entrance exams, they had no idea that would be the last time they would see her.

The daughter was an excellent student and wanted to be accepted into one of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), considered to be among the country’s top science schools. But when she called home from the school in Kota, Rajasthan state, the conversations often turned to how unhappy she was.

"She would sound very stressed when we would speak to her on the phone," said her father. "She mentioned that there is tough competition among her peers and that she doesn’t like the jealousy among students."

The daughter would call home like clockwork at 6 p.m. every day. But one day, the phone calls stopped and she did not return messages.

After two days of no contact, her family alerted authorities. The police later found that the student had died by suicide inside her dormitory.

"I told her a few times that if she feels like quitting, she can," said the father. But, he said, his daughter was a go-getter who wouldn’t give up. "I wish I had forced her to come home instead of letting her be there by herself," the father added.

Cram schools in India prepare students for taking standardized entrance exams, especially those used by IITs and other elite colleges and universities.

Competition to get into these schools is intense. The ratio of entrance exam takers to students accepted to IITs can range from 50-to-1 to more than 100-to-1.

At least 12 students attending cram schools in Kota have died by suicide this year. Last year, there were 26 such deaths in Kota, the most on record.

One suicide was that of a medical school hopeful from Rajasthan, whose death in April received wide media coverage.

"I am sorry, Papa," his suicide note read.

Kota is known as India’s cram school hub. There, aspiring college students train to take the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for a shot at attending an IIT, or the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) to qualify for undergraduate medical programs.

Although Kota does not have any other industries or attractions of note, an estimated 200,000 students move to the city each year to devote themselves to studying for entrance exams.

The city’s booming cram school industry started when Vinod Kumar Bansal, an engineer who could no longer work due to an ailment, turned to tutoring students at his home in Kota. Many of his students ended up going IITs, turning Bansal into a celebrity.

"Seeing him, many more entrepreneurs jumped into the fray," said Arvind Gupta, an acclaimed science educator. Now Kota has become a huge market for tutoring, according to Gupta.

However, cram schools are very honest about the fact that their purpose is not to provide an education, Gupta added.

"They only teach you a few tricks which help you to crack a [multiple-choice] based exam," said Gupta. "There is no reflection. Your hand or emotional skills are not tested."

IITs have produced global tech leaders such as Google CEO Sundar Pichai and IBM CEO Arvind Krishna. A degree from an IIT has come to symbolize a ticket to success, especially for students from poor families.

Students at cram schools are under immense pressure to live up to their parents’ expectations. Many low-income families take on second mortgages to send their children to Kota.

Isolation and stress are often especially severe among students from Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Those states, known for widespread poverty and low education levels, have been dubbed "Bimaru" -- meaning "sick" in Hindi -- from their initial letters.

"The young students have an emotional response to situations as their prefrontal cortex is not yet fully developed," said Swati Bajpai, a psychotherapist based in Chicago who was born and raised in India. "They feel a guilt that they have let their family down and also that this failure is the end of the road for them."

The stiff competition to attain a better life persists even after acceptance into a good university.

The Indian Institute of Technology Delhi has seen multiple suicides since last year. Students have criticized the school for seemingly blaming the victims, attributing the deaths to bad grades or personal problems, and demanded a full investigation into the deaths.

The institute was forced to postpone mid-semester exams amid the controversy, according to media reports.

The national government is also taking action to address exam-related suicides. In January, the Ministry of Education issued rules banning coaching schools from publicizing students’ scores on assessment tests. The directives also mandated refunds of class and hostel fees for students who leave partway through a course.

To prevent suicides, Rajasthan authorities have ordered hostels and other lodging providers in the state to install spring devices on ceiling fans.

Many students from poor communities may feel pressure to study to become engineers or doctors, because their parents see the jobs as the only pathways to success.

"Awareness programs about other avenues besides medical and engineering should be brought forth especially by the media," said Bajpai.
NSB
‘All We Think of Is Him’: Putting Names and Faces to Bangladesh Carnage (New York Times)
New York Times [7/27/2024 4:14 PM, Mujib Mashal and Saif Hasnat, 831K, Neutral]
A part-time tutor, shot in the neck and killed. A journalist and young father, felled by a bullet to the head. A shopkeeper’s son, also fatally shot in the head.

When Bangladesh’s near-total communications blackout was partially lifted last week after a vicious crackdown on a student-led protest, one of the first things to emerge online was a digital yearbook of the dead.

It put names and faces to days of carnage unleashed by government forces seeking to quell what had begun as a peaceful demonstration against quotas that reserve sought-after government jobs for specific groups. Conservative estimates put the death toll at near 200. Thousands were injured; in one hospital in the capital, Dhaka, alone, more than 250 people required eye surgeries after being shot in the face by pellets or rubber bullets.

Most of the victims were young, in their 20s. They had been brought together on the streets by the bleak prospects of a stagnating economy. They were also fueled by anger at what they saw as government corruption, cronyism and impunity, as the country’s leaders dismissed their demand for a merit-based distribution of jobs.

Among the dead:

Hridoy Chandra Tarua, 23, was finishing a history degree and working as a tutor. His father is a carpenter, his mother a housemaid. On the days he returned home from college, he would wash clothes for his mother, grind spices on a stone slab and tell her it was just a matter of time before he got a job that would help ease her toil.

Hasan Mehdi, 35, was one of at least three journalists killed. He leaves behind his wife and two young daughters, the oldest a little over 3 years old. “My little daughter has just learned how to say ‘Abu, Abu,’” his wife, Farhana Islam Poppy, said, referring to the word for “father.” “My daughters will never get to know who their dad really was.”

Mahmudul Rahman Shoikot, 20, was closing his family’s shop when the crackdown began. He was killed when he rushed to help some injured students, his sister, Sabrina Shabonti, said. At 6-foot-3, he towered over his two sisters, who teased him for how easily and profusely he would sweat during the hours he spent in the sun playing cricket. “When they went to bury him, he was so tall they struggled to fit him into the grave,” Ms. Shabonti said.

For the families of the victims, the immediate task after their deaths was to piece together what had happened to them, to search for their bodies when the phones were down and a curfew restricted movement, and to carry out last rites as the government was trying to hide the toll, bury the evidence and prevent gatherings that could perpetuate the anger.

Only then could they turn to the shattering grief.

“I don’t know if we will ever be able to laugh openly again, to eat the food that was his favorite, or to be truly happy,” Ms. Shabonti said. “My mom cries all day. My dad cries all day. All we think of is him.”

The protest, which has subsided after the crackdown and the curfew, began early this month with a single demand. The students sought an end to a system that carved out about half of all civil service jobs for designated groups, with about 30 percent set aside for the descendants of the “freedom fighters” who liberated the country from Pakistan in the 1970s.

The demonstration descended into chaos about 10 days ago, as the country’s iron-fisted prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, sent the full array of Bangladesh’s security forces into the streets. Thousands of people have been swept into jails already overcrowded with political prisoners. Security forces have been surrounding neighborhoods, combing through houses and stopping people on the street to search their phones for footage of gruesome abuses that could be posted online.

Ms. Hasina’s forces have also continued to try to break the protesters. On Friday, three student leaders — one of whom had been tortured — who were receiving treatment for wounds were picked up from the hospital by law enforcement agents.

Asaduzzaman Khan, the home minister, described the arrests of the three as for their own good. He said that the student leaders had been “threatened and intimidated” by people who wanted them to continue their agitation. “Just for their own safety, we need to interrogate them,” he told reporters late on Friday.

Ms. Hasina has blamed the violence on her sworn enemies in the political opposition, saying they had infiltrated the protest to try to topple her government. At least three police officers were killed, a member of her party was lynched and state property was vandalized.

Analysts and diplomats say it is very likely that long-suppressed opposition parties did seize the moment and jump in. But they also say that Ms. Hasina’s response fits a pattern: pushing a confrontation to the point of rupture, then using her power to shield her supporters and round up her opponents.

In the digital yearbook, Abu Sayeed, 25, is listed as death No. 1. In his portrait, he is wearing a bandanna printed with the Bangladeshi flag.

Mr. Sayeed was a student in the northern city of Rangpur. His family, year after year, sold bits of their land to make ends meet. Fiercely independent, he wanted to make a life for himself with a government job away from Rangpur. But he knew that the odds were difficult: A cousin who had completed a master’s degree had still not found government work — which is seen as a path to economic stability — after years of trying.

Mr. Sayeed was incensed that the quotas essentially doubled the competition for civil service jobs. But there was another reason for his resolve in protesting: He had been attacked by members of the youth wing of Ms. Hasina’s party, who started targeting the peaceful protesters after she had likened them to traitors in Bangladesh’s war of independence.

In a video taken before his death, Mr. Sayeed is heard saying that he was slapped in the face. His family said the incident happened a day before his killing.

Another video, from the afternoon of July 16, was spread widely before the internet was shut down. In it, Mr. Sayeed wears a black T-shirt and holds a stick. He stretches his arms wide as police officers aim their guns and open fire. He crouches for a second as a voice in the video says “He’s been shot, he’s been shot.” Then he stands again, and the firing continues.

Most of his wounds were from rubber bullets. But his brother Romjan Ali, who received his corpse, said that Mr. Sayeed had at least one wound from a “real bullet” near his head.

“Sayeed’s anger may have accumulated because of that slap,” Mr. Ali said. “That’s why he put his chest in front of the gun.”

For the family, receiving the body was another harrowing ordeal.

After Mr. Sayeed was declared dead at a hospital, his friends wanted to take his body back to the protest site. But the police snatched it and hid it away. Mr. Ali said that when he arrived at the hospital, it took a couple of hours of searching and pleading to locate his brother’s body.

Mr. Ali left to sign some papers; when he returned, the corpse was missing again. He searched and pleaded for several more hours, he said, before being told that the body had been taken for an autopsy. It was clear to him what was happening: The police were killing time until nightfall.

Only after midnight, after student protesters threatened to attack the hospital if the body was not returned, was it handed over to the family. Officials pressured them to bury Mr. Sayeed before sunrise, which they resisted.

Before giving them the body, the police asked if the family would file a case.

“We said we wouldn’t,” Mr. Ali said. “We were afraid we would not get the body.”
Bangladesh restores internet as students call off job-quota protests (Reuters)
Reuters [7/29/2024 2:53 AM, Ruma Paul, 5.2M, Neutral]
Bangladesh said it had restored internet services as conditions return to normal after students called off protests against reforms to job quotas that killed nearly 150 people this month.

The agitation, which began in universities and colleges last month, flared into nationwide protests that injured thousands as security forces cracked down, leading to curfew, army patrols on the streets and internet suspension to rein in the violence.

"The broadband and mobile internet connectivity has been restored with full functionality by now," the foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

"Other forms of communications, including land-based and mobile telecommunications, were functional through the entire period of unrest and violence."

It added, "The government wishes to assure all international partners that the overall situation is turning back to normal, thanks to the timely and appropriate measures taken by the government and the people."

The United Nations, international rights groups, the U.S. and Britain were among critics of the use of force against protesters while asking Dhaka to uphold the right to peaceful protest.

Rights groups and critics say Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has grown more autocratic during 15 years in power, marked by mass arrests of political opponents and activists, forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, charges she denies.

Protests led by students broke out in June when a high court ordered the restoration of quotas in government jobs, including reservations for families of veterans of the 1971 war for independence from Pakistan.

Police fired rubber bullets, tear gas and lobbed sound grenades to disperse tens of thousands who flooded the streets.

Students agreed to pause their agitation after the Supreme Court scrapped most quotas on July 21, opening 93% of jobs to candidates selected on the basis of merit.

The "mostly peaceful and issue-specific students’ movement" were not involved in violence, Hasina’s government said, but blamed the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami party, which denied the assertion.

The students called off the protests, which had fallen off after the Supreme Court ruling.

"Our main demand for logical reforms to the government job quota system has been met," student co-ordinator Nahid Islam said in a video message on Sunday from police headquarters, calling for educational institutions to re-open.

He was among three protesters held by police while being treated in hospital, his younger brother told Reuters, in a step police said was aimed at ensuring security for protesters.
Bangladesh ends 11-day mobile internet blackout after deadly protests (The Hill)
The Hill [7/28/2024 8:15 PM, Miranda Nazzaro, 18752K, Negative]
Bangladesh restored mobile internet services on Sunday following an 11-day internet blackout in response to the days-long student protests over government job quotas.

The country’s 4G mobile internet services resumed Sunday, following a meeting with internet service providers and other leaders, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, the state minister for telecommunications and information communication technology, announced on social media.

Palak said the internet providers “suffered financial losses” and leaders decided to give all internet users a “5G internet bonus” for the next three days.

The South Asian nation has been roiled with chaos and violence as student protesters demand an end to a quota that reserved 30 percent of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971, The Associated Press (AP) reported. The students have argued the quota system is discriminatory and began peaceful protests after a High Court bench reinstated the quotas last month after they were abolished in 2018, Al Jazeera reported.

Protesters clashed with police and nearly 200 deaths were reported as of last Thursday, the news wire added.

The internet shutdown, imposed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government on July 17, made it more difficult for demonstrators to communicate with one another, a key protest organizer told the AP.

The government also imposed a curfew with a shoot-on-sight order, which was later relaxed to 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., while offices and banks also reopened last week with restricted hours, the news wire added.

The government pledged student protesters would not face legal action, though media reports said nearly 2,700 people were arrested across the country.
Bangladesh authorities detain student protest leaders in hospital (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [7/27/2024 4:13 AM, Staff, 20871K, Negative]
Bangladeshi authorities have taken three student leaders, who helped coordinate rallies against government job quotas, from a hospital following days of deadly nationwide protests and state-imposed curfews and communication blocks.

Officers reportedly forced the discharge of three leaders of the Students Against Discrimination movement from the Gonoshasthaya Kendra hospital in the capital, Dhaka, on Friday.

Police had initially denied that Nahid Islam, Abu Bakar Mazumdar and Asif Mahmud were taken into custody. But Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan subsequently told reporters: “They themselves were feeling insecure. They think that some people were threatening them.”

While Khan did not confirm whether the three had been formally arrested, he told reporters late on Friday, “We think for their own security they needed to be interrogated to find out who was threatening them. After the interrogation, we will take the next course of action.”

Security forces also picked up a ward boy from the hospital in the Dhanmondi area and seized the phones of Islam’s mother and wife, along with those of Mazumdar and Mahmud.

The incident took place an hour after an Al Jazeera team tried to interview them, but their rooms had been cordoned off.

Islam had told reporters last week that he feared for his life after being taken from a friend’s house and tortured.

At least 150 people have been killed and thousands have been arrested since the protests turned violent last week as pro-government student groups attacked rallies.

The protests were initially peaceful and focused on opposing a quota system that reserved 30 percent of government jobs for family members of those who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.

The Supreme Court last week scaled back the reservation to make 93 percent of jobs merit-based, and the government formally accepted the move.

But after the deadly crackdown on protesters and imposition of a curfew in tandem with a heavy throttling of internet access and phone communications, student leaders have made nine demands, including a public apology from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the sacking of police officers, multiple ministers and university chiefs.

The curfew has been relaxed for increasing hours each day, limited internet connectivity has been restored and a number of businesses have been allowed to reopen.

But many restrictions remain in place – amid a suspension of protests by the student leaders due to the bloodshed – further hurting the economy, which was already dealing with high inflation and youth unemployment.

Mohammad Arafat, Bangladesh’s minister of state for information and broadcasting, told Al Jazeera in an interview that “third-party” actors, including “extremists and terrorists”, have been fuelling the unrest.

The United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Volker Turk, called for an independent investigation into alleged human rights violations, saying many people “were subjected to violent attacks” by government-affiliated groups.

A group of UN experts also separately called for an independent investigation into what they said was a “violent crackdown on protesters” by the government.
Bangladesh says student leaders held for their own safety (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [7/27/2024 3:23 AM, Shafiqul Alam, 85570K, Negative]
Bangladesh said three student leaders had been taken into custody for their own safety after the government blamed their protests against civil service job quotas for days of deadly nationwide unrest.

Students Against Discrimination head Nahid Islam and two other senior members of the protest group were Friday forcibly discharged from hospital and taken away by a group of plainclothes detectives.

The street rallies organised by the trio precipitated a police crackdown and days of running clashes between officers and protesters that killed at least 201 people, according to an AFP tally of hospital and police data.

Islam earlier this week told AFP he was being treated at the hospital in the capital Dhaka for injuries police inflicted on him during an earlier round of detention.

Police had initially denied that Islam and his two colleagues were taken into custody before home minister Asaduzzaman Khan confirmed it to reporters late on Friday.

"They themselves were feeling insecure. They think that some people were threatening them," he said.

"That’s why we think for their own security they needed to be interrogated to find out who was threatening them. After the interrogation, we will take the next course of action."

Khan did not confirm whether the trio had been formally arrested.

Days of mayhem last week saw the torching of government buildings and police posts in Dhaka, and fierce street fights between protesters and riot police elsewhere in the country.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government deployed troops, instituted a nationwide internet blackout and imposed a curfew to restore order.

The unrest began when police and pro-government student groups attacked street rallies organised by Students Against Discrimination that had remained largely peaceful before last week.

Islam, 26, the chief coordinator of Students Against Discrimination, told AFP from his hospital bed on Monday that he feared for his life.

He said that two days beforehand, a group of people identifying themselves as police detectives blindfolded and handcuffed him and took him to an unknown location to be tortured before he was released the next morning.

His colleague Asif Mahmud, also taken into custody at the hospital on Friday, told AFP earlier that he had also been detained by police and beaten at the height of last week’s unrest.

Police have arrested at least 4,500 people since the unrest began.

"We’ve carried out raids in the capital and we will continue the raids until the perpetrators are arrested," Dhaka Metropolitan Police joint commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarker told AFP.

"We’re not arresting general students, only those who vandalised government properties and set them on fire."

Islam and other thousands of other students were protesting the June reintroduction of a scheme reserving more than half of all government jobs for certain candidates.

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

Critics say the quota is used to stack public jobs with loyalists to Hasina’s Awami League.

The Supreme Court cut the number of reserved jobs on Sunday but fell short of protesters’ demands to scrap the quotas entirely.

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

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

On Saturday Hasina again surveyed some of the damage caused during the unrest.

"This does is nothing but cripple our economy and turn us into a nation of beggars," she told reporters.

"I want justice."
Bangladesh Protests To Resume After Ultimatum Ignored (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [7/29/2024 4:46 AM, Shafiqul Alam, 1.4M, Negative]
Bangladeshi students called new street protests for Monday after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government ignored an ultimatum to release their leaders and apologise for those killed in deadly unrest.

Student rallies against civil service job quotas this month sparked days of violence that killed at least 205 people including several police officers, according to an AFP count of police and hospital data.

The clashes were some of the worst of Hasina’s 15-year tenure but her government has since largely restored order by deploying troops, imposing a curfew and shutting down the internet nationwide.

At least half a dozen leaders of Students Against Discrimination, the group that organised the initial protests, are among thousands since taken into police custody.

"The government is continuing to show complete and utter insensitivity to our movement," Abdul Kader, one of the group’s coordinators, said in a statement.

"We are calling for a protest rally across the country," he added. "We are requesting all citizens of Bangladesh to show solidarity with our demands and join in our movement."

Students Against Discrimination leaders had vowed to end a week-long moratorium on new demonstrations if police failed to release their leaders by Sunday evening.

The group’s demands also include a public apology from Hasina for the violence, the dismissal of several of her ministers, and the reopening of schools and universities around the country that were shuttered at the height of the unrest.

At least 9,000 people have been arrested nationwide since the unrest began, according to Prothom Alo, Bangladesh’s largest daily newspaper.

Troops are still patrolling urban areas and a nationwide curfew remains in force but it has been progressively eased since the start of last week.

Bangladesh’s mobile internet network was restored on Sunday, 11 days after a nationwide blackout imposed at the height of the unrest, in another sign of the government’s confidence that it was in control of the situation.

Protests began this month over the reintroduction of a quota scheme reserving more than half of all government jobs for certain groups.

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

Critics say the quota is used to stack public jobs with loyalists to the ruling Awami League.

The Supreme Court cut the number of reserved jobs last week but fell short of protesters’ demands to scrap the quotas entirely.

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

Her government is accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.
Shot in the eyes, victims of Bangladesh protest violence face dark future (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [7/29/2024 3:57 AM, Faisal Mahmud, 20.9M, Negative]
Within the sterile walls of the National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital (NIOH) in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, a sombre scene unfolds.

Dozens of young men, their faces etched with worry and uncertainty, sit in silent anticipation. Some shield their injured eyes behind dark sunglasses. Others wear white bandages on one or both eyes.

One question hangs in the air: Will these men ever see the world clearly again?

They are victims of pellet injuries — both survivors and reminders of the deadly clashes between protesters seeking job quota reforms and the security forces of Bangladesh that engulfed the nation of 170 million people for nearly two weeks this month.

Among them is Mohammad Anik, a 24-year-old salesperson from Madaripur – a central district some 150km (93 miles) away from Dhaka. “There is a less than 50 percent chance that he [Anik] will get his eyesight back,” said a duty doctor at NIOH who requested anonymity. “There were several injuries in his two eyes and we had tried our best.”

Last Monday, Anik was heading home from work when he got caught in a street clash between protesters and police. Before he could figure out what was happening, a pellet struck his face. He fell to the ground, unconscious and exposed, until bystanders intervened and took him to the hospital.

Now, he finds himself amid the dozens of young men at NIOH, their futures shrouded in darkness.

Hundreds of patients of pellet guns injury

The NIOH has treated nearly 500 patients in the last few days, hailing from various districts including Dhaka, all grappling with severe eye injuries. Hospital records reveal that at least 278 of these individuals also sustained wounds to other parts of their bodies.

Mohammad Shamim, a 10-year-old who worked at a motorcycle workshop, sustained pellet injuries to both eyes during a clash between police and protesters last Friday in the Mirpur area of the capital. Doctors have said he will never fully recover his vision. “My son’s future looks grim. What am I going to do with him?” lamented his father, Mohammad Idris.

NIOH’s director, Golam Mostafa, confirmed that shotgun pellets used during the anti-quota protests were the primary cause of the injuries.

“In cases where the pellet embeds itself in the retina’s centre or is forcefully ejected upon impact, partial blindness becomes the tragic outcome,” he said.

Researchers who looked at pellet injuries to protesters in Indian-administered Kashmir have previously found [PDF] that when fired at close range, the pellets lack sufficient time to disperse, resulting in a concentrated cluster that moves at incredibly high speeds. This concentrated force transforms the pellets into projectiles akin to handgun bullets, capable of piercing deep into soft tissues, particularly the eyes, causing extensive and irreversible damage.

The devastating impact of pellet guns on eyesight hinges on the velocity and distance at which the pellets are fired, the study explained. The severity of these injuries has prompted international condemnation, with Amnesty International calling for a ban on their use for crowd control in Indian-administered Kashmir a few years ago.

Violation of UN-issued guidance

The United Nations has warned against using metal pellets, like those expelled from shotguns, in law enforcement, arguing that they are inherently inaccurate and often violate the principles of necessity and proportionality.

Bangladeshi police and security forces however have resorted to using 12-gauge pump-action shotguns loaded with cartridges containing these very metal pellets, a number of security analysts told Al Jazeera after analysing several photos and footage.

Al Jazeera telephoned and sent text messages to Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan and several top officials from the police forces but received no response. Salim Mahmud, secretary of information and research of the ruling Awami League party, told Al Jazeera that he had to “check with the police and paramilitary forces” whether “any lethal weapon” was used against the protesters.

Meanwhile, the US-based Human Rights Watch has accused Bangladesh’s security forces of using excessive force during the protests. Their findings reveal the use of live ammunition, tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets, and shotgun pellets to disperse demonstrators. Amnesty International has also raised similar concerns.

Those who sustained eye injuries during the recent anti-quota protests, along with their families, claim that the police used indiscriminate force, firing at them without restraint.

Rakibul Ahsan from the southern district of Barisal was part of the protests. A fourth-year statistics student at BM College, Ahsan was on the streets with his classmates last Tuesday when he was shot in both eyes. Doctors have not assured him of a full recovery. “We were protesting for a legitimate cause and were shot at for it. There is no justice here,” Ahsan lamented.

Sumon Mia, a mason from Madaripur who shared a hospital ward with salesman Anik, was also struck by a pellet in his right eye. But unlike Ahsan, and like Anik, he was not involved in the agitation against the government — he was simply heading home from work. Despite a surgery, doctors couldn’t save that eye — his vision is lost.

“My brother wasn’t involved in any protests. Why was he shot? Who will be held accountable for this?” his sister, Lipi Akter, asked.
Central Asia
He got a restraining order against his wife. Then an S.F. judge’s ruling let her ‘abduct’ their son to Kazakhstan (San Francisco Chronicle – opinion)
San Francisco Chronicle [7/27/2024 7:00 AM, Emily Hoeven, 4705K, Negative]
Guillaume didn’t know when he’d be able to see his 17-month-old autistic son again when he left his San Francisco apartment on the morning of Feb. 6, 2023. All he knew was that he couldn’t go home.

It didn’t feel safe.

According to a domestic violence restraining order request Guillaume filed the day after Valentine’s Day in San Francisco Superior Court, Guillaume and his wife got into an intense argument the night of Feb. 5 over whether they should have another child. She wanted to. Guillaume didn’t think it was a good idea. (Guillaume requested that I not use his last name to protect his privacy. I am not naming his wife because she is not a public figure.)

The fight spilled over into the following morning. As Guillaume tried to leave to go to work, his wife blocked him — first in the bedroom and then in the bathroom. He wound up calling 911 several times before he could escape.

Things in the home had been tense for some time. Five days before requesting the domestic violence restraining order, Guillaume had filed for legal separation. He and his wife had been married just under three years.

In his restraining order request, Guillaume said he decided to leave home due to his wife’s escalating abusive behavior, including a Nov. 22, 2022, argument that also centered on Guillaume leaving for work. That incident, Guillaume wrote, culminated in his wife “violently grabbing my shoulder and scratching at me in several places — all as I was holding our son.” The scratches on Guillaume’s back, shoulder and chest were deep enough to draw blood, according to photos submitted to the court.

Guillaume first reached out to me in January 2024. The tech research scientist, who is now 38, wanted to shine a spotlight on the fact that men can also be victims of domestic violence. But he was also disturbed by what he perceived as the injustices of San Francisco’s family court system.

Neither of us had any idea at the time how much more disturbing his case would become — and how the city’s judicial system would continue to fail him over and over again.

In August 2023, the court granted Guillaume a two-year domestic violence restraining order against his wife. Yet, in November 2023, Judge Michelle Tong ordered Guillaume to cover $20,000 of his wife’s legal fees and other expenses.

Yes, the court actually ordered a victim of domestic violence to pay the legal fees of his alleged abuser.

Tong, a former deputy public defender, was elected in 2020 amid a leftward shift in San Francisco judicial politics. That year, Tong, another deputy public defender and a longtime tenant lawyer triumphed over opponents endorsed by most of the city’s Superior Court judges. Their terms end in 2027.

Guillaume was flabbergasted by Tong’s ruling, which he described as “offensive” — particularly in light of the finding Judge Daniel Flores had made on May 23, when he denied Guillaume’s wife’s Feb. 22 request for her own domestic violence restraining order against Guillaume. (She had been granted a temporary restraining order, which was terminated with Flores’ ruling.)

In her filing, Guillaume’s wife alleged that he “attacked me” and “roughly pushed me out of the way by the face” in the Feb. 6 argument, resulting in bloody scratches, and that he had pushed her from behind two days before, injuring her knees. She asserted that during the Nov. 22, 2022, argument, Guillaume “twice shoved (me) down onto the bed while holding our child.” She also alleged that he “has repeatedly violently ripped our child from my breast.” The filing included letters from her mother, brother and brother’s wife attesting that they saw Guillaume shake, yell at and “roughly spank” the couple’s son, among other allegations.

But Judge Flores found “significant credibility concerns” with that narrative and said that her relatives had made “outrageous allegations” against Guillaume, court transcripts show.

Flores also found that she had refused to leave during Guillaume’s allotted parenting time and had even made a false police report in which she baselessly accused Guillaume of threatening to take their son out of San Francisco.

“When someone reports something false to law enforcement with all of the consequences that can flow from that — arrest, potential physical harm — dangerous things can happen,” Flores said, according to a court transcript. “That is highly concerning to this court.”

Yet Judge Tong appeared to ignore all that, determining that because Guillaume had a much higher “net spendable income” — he was working and his wife wasn’t — he had an “unfair legal advantage” and thus had to cover a portion of her legal fees.

As absurd as this sounds, several family law experts told me that such rulings, while relatively rare, are intended to ensure equal access to justice: There aren’t appointed public defenders in civil cases, so plaintiffs and defendants generally need to hire their own lawyers.

Guillaume found the idea that he had an unfair legal advantage preposterous. His wife was an attorney who had passed the New York bar. And although she was now a stay-at-home mom, she seemed to have significant financial resources at her disposal; Guillaume alleged in court filings that she had recently transferred more than $200,000 to her brother.

Yet Guillaume’s ordeal was only just beginning.

A few months later, Judge Tong handed down a far more consequential ruling — one whose impacts are reverberating on an international scale.

In late February, Guillaume alerted me that Judge Tong had granted his wife’s request to take their son to Kazakhstan. The roughly two-week trip was purportedly to visit her ill mother.

Guillaume feared the worst.

“I am terrified that, given her conduct in this case thus far, her mother’s illness gives her the perfect opportunity to abduct our son and that she will not return from Kazakhstan and that I will never see our son again since she has nothing to lose,” he wrote in a court declaration. Guillaume also noted that Kazakhstan is not a U.S. treaty partner under the Hague Abduction Convention, which would make it far more difficult to get his son back.

His arguments didn’t persuade Tong, who noted in a Feb. 21 ruling that his wife had completed 16 hours of anger management training, taken parenting classes and secured stable housing and employment. She also found that Guillaume and his wife “appear to have civil communication,” and “factors contributing to health and safety of the child have been considered.”

Guillaume, still skeptical, preemptively hired a lawyer in Kazakhstan.

The trip seemed to go relatively smoothly at first: His wife sent pictures of their son at a mosque, at a playground and with family members.

But two days before she and the child were set to return to San Francisco, she texted Guillaume to say she and their son had COVID-19 and would have to delay their trip home by a week, according to message records I reviewed.

“What??? When did you get tested?” Guillaume wrote back. “You should not have taken this decision without talking to me first. This is unacceptable.”

She wrote back saying that their son was sleeping and that they could talk more later.

Then she stopped responding to messages. The AirTag in their son’s pocket, which the court had permitted Guillaume to use to track the child’s location, switched off.

Plunged into darkness, Guillaume went into “robot mode.” He had feared, even anticipated, this. But living through it was another thing altogether.

Guillaume and his legal team contacted local, state, federal and international authorities, including the FBI, Interpol and Kazakhstan police.

On April 15, Judge Tong issued an order finding that Guillaume’s wife had “taken/abducted the child.” In an April 23 ruling, she elaborated on that order, finding that Guillaume’s wife had “abducted the minor child … has failed to return with the child, a two year old autistic child, on two separate dates, has stated that she does not intend to return with the child to San Francisco, and has illegally retained the minor child in the country of Kazakhstan, in violation of this Court’s orders.”

Tong also enlisted the San Francisco district attorney’s child abduction unit to help enforce the order, granted Guillaume full legal and physical custody of his son and terminated his wife’s visitation rights. And she suspended the requirement that Guillaume continue paying his wife’s legal fees and child support.

Obviously, for Guillaume, it was too little, too late.

When I visited him at his Noe Valley apartment in June, he noted ruefully that it was meaningless to have full custody on paper when his son was thousands of miles away.

As we spoke, I couldn’t help but notice several tiny pairs of children’s shoes lined up by the front door. Colorful cubbies contained neatly folded toddler clothes that Guillaume said his son had doubtless already outgrown. On the wall was a gold-and-silver growth chart, the last measurement of 96 centimeters (a little over 3 feet) taken in February.

Guillaume wasn’t sure when, or if, he would see his child again. He told me that his wife was refusing to return to the U.S., asserting that she was a domestic violence victim and that her life was in danger. She did not respond to my email request for comment. She also recently denied requests from the U.S. and French consulates in Kazakhstan to conduct welfare visits, according to email records I reviewed.

She does not appear to currently have an attorney in San Francisco; court records show that she has so far retained five different lawyers during the case. On July 11, the court granted a motion from her most recent lawyer, Christopher “Casey” McNamara, to be relieved as counsel. McNamara told me he has no comment.

Meanwhile, her attorneys in Kazakhstan, Tatyana and Ablakhat Mergenbaevy, did not respond to my questions. Instead, they wrote in an email: “The release of information about our client grossly violates her constitutional and civil rights.”

Guillaume is now waiting for the San Francisco court to register his divorce. His lawyer in Kazakhstan, Abzal Kassymzhanov, told me that once the divorce certificate is filed in Kazakhstan, he plans to start child abduction court proceedings there.

After his experience with the San Francisco courts, however, Guillaume isn’t holding his breath.

“There were so many red flags” that should have prevented Judge Tong from signing off on his wife’s application to go to Kazakhstan with their son, he told me.

Ann Donlan, a spokesperson for San Francisco Superior Court, said in a statement that “the court is not able to comment under the California Code of Judicial Ethics … which requires that a judge shall not make any public comment about a pending or impending proceeding in any court.”

As of July 8, Tong was no longer overseeing family court. According to a June 13 memo from Presiding Judge Anne-Christine Massullo, she has been assigned to civil harassment and traffic court instead. The court did not respond to my question asking why Tong was reassigned.

Guillaume estimates that he has spent more than $150,000 in legal fees thus far. On July 11, the court tentatively granted his request that his wife reimburse him about $40,000 for costs related to her non-return from Kazakhstan, but Guillaume told me he doubts he will ever see the money.

He’s disturbed by the fact that less affluent parents in similar situations could lose their kids simply because they can’t afford expensive lawyers and court battles in multiple countries.

“Having more or less money wouldn’t make me a better or worse father,” he told me.

He’s also disturbed that the family court process, intended to protect a child’s best interests, has instead exacerbated his son’s trauma.

If his son ever returns to San Francisco, it likely will be due to law enforcement intervention. And even if that day should come, Guillaume is doubtful his son will recognize him. Given his young age, he almost certainly won’t remember how to speak English or French, Guillaume’s native language. Guillaume plans to study Russian to be able to communicate with him. Meanwhile, his mother likely will continue to be denied visitation and possibly face civil or criminal charges.

In other words, the family will be broken up all over again.

“What’s so infuriating,” Guillaume told me, “is it was easily preventable.”

Guillaume’s case is a stark reminder of the importance of the judiciary and the role of judicial elections, which are starting to receive more attention in San Francisco amid concerns about crime. It’s an open question as to whether voters should even be picking judges in the first place. Our choices can clearly have dire consequences.

One of them is that Guillaume is now living every parent’s worst nightmare.
Kyrgyzstan president arrests niece’s fiancé after ‘ostentatious’ proposal (The Telegraph)
The Telegraph [7/27/2024 4:19 PM, James Kilner, 29812K, Negative]
Kyrgyzstan’s president has imprisoned his niece’s fiancé after he staged an “embarrassingly ostentatious” marriage proposal while deadly mudslides hit the south of the country.

Sadyr Japarov was furious when Aftandil Sabyrbekov, the partner of his beauty queen niece, used a government helicopter for the elaborate wedding proposal last month.

“I apologise to the people for my niece,” the leader of the former Soviet Central Asian state said in media interviews. “She also listens to people’s opinions. I believe that she will draw the right conclusions from this.”

When Mr Sabyrbekov failed to issue his own public apology, Mr Japarov lost patience and ordered his arrest a fortnight later on drug-related charges.

Mr Japarov also briefed the media that Mr Sabyrbekov did not love his niece and had only proposed to her because he wanted to build political patronage “to protect himself and to hide his illegal activities”.

People convicted of drug-related crimes in Kyrgyzstan usually spend years in prison.

The engagement video that sparked Mr Japrov’s fury showed the young couple dressed in white flying to a mountainside location on one of only three Kyrgyz Emergencies Ministry helicopters that they had rented for £1,500 per hour.

After hopping out of the helicopter, they strolled down a wooden walkway hand-in-hand and kissed next to a giant white heart as friends clapped and cheered as fireworks exploded in the background.

The video went viral in Kyrgyzstan and infuriated Mr Japarov, who has made a show of admonishing politicians for wasting money since he seized power in a coup nearly four years ago.

His 23-year-old niece, Lazzat Nurgozhoeva, who was Miss Kyrgyzstan 2020, has deleted the video from her Instagram channel but analysts said that Mr Japarov needed to be seen to impose discipline, just as his role model Vladimir Putin had done in December when he punished Russian TV personalities and presenters for their decadent “nearly naked” Christmas party.

“Lots of people discussed the lavish marriage proposal that seemed to use state assets as a sign of high-level corruption,” said Erica Marat, a Central Asia expert and associate professor at the National Defense University in Washington. “The arrest of his niece’s fiancé is a move to quell domestic criticism".

Edward Lemon, an associate professor at Texas A&M University, agreed. He said that Mr Japarov wanted to present himself as a “man of the people”.

“In reality, his regime is deeply corrupt. They just prefer their kleptocratic activities to take place outside of the public eye,” he said.

Kyrgyzstan is one of the poorest countries in Asia, with an average monthly GDP of £930 per person. Cash sent back by Kyrgyz working in Russia is a major source of income and when David Cameron visited Bishkek in April as foreign secretary, he discussed organising a flow of migrant workers to Britain from Kyrgyzstan.

The West has been trying to woo Kyrgyzstan and the four other former Soviet Central Asian states since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but Mr Japarov’s natural authoritarian bent has made this complicated.

This year Mr Japarov has imposed a Kremlin-inspired “foreign agents” Bill that will give the government more power to interfere with NGOs by forcing those that receive funding from overseas to register with a special government body, and he regularly arrests critical journalists.

Some Western NGOs have already quit Kyrgyzstan, once held up by the US as a “beacon of democracy” in the region, complaining that it was now impossible for them to continue working under the new rules.

This includes George Soros’s Open Society Foundations which had given out grants in Kyrgyzstan worth roughly £100 million over 30 years.
Noted Member Of Banned Tajik Political Party Dies In Prison (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [7/26/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, 235K, Negative]
A noted member of the banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), Muhammadali Faizmuhammad, died in a Tajik prison infirmary at the age of 65, his relatives told RFE/RL on July 26. According to the relatives, Faizmuhammad had heart problems and diabetes. He was arrested in September 2015 along with 13 other members of the IRPT and later sentenced to 23 years in prison. Tajikistan outlawed the opposition group in 2015, branding it a terrorist organization, a claim the party denies.
October Date Set For Parliamentary, Local Elections In Uzbekistan (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [7/26/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, 235K, Neutral]
Uzbekistan’s Central Election Commission announced on July 26 that parliamentary and local elections will be held in the Central Asian nation on October 27. Those up for election include 150 members of the parliament’s lower chamber, the Legislative Chamber; 56 members of the upper chamber, the Senate; and 65 members of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan, as well as members of the Tashkent municipal, regional, and 208 district councils. Half of the Legislative Chamber of deputies will be elected via party lists, while the other half will be voted in from single-mandate districts under a majority system.
Uzbekistan Set To Ban Cousin Marriages, Citing Birth Defects As Main Reason (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [7/27/2024 7:24 AM, Farangis Najibullah, 1530K, Neutral]
Sirojiddin Toghaev is dependent on crutches, a wheelchair, or scooter to move around.

A resident of Uzbekistan’s southeastern Surkhondaryo region, he blames his health condition on being born in a consanguineous marriage.

“My father married his cousin, the daughter of his father’s sister,” he said. “It was arranged by my grandfather. My elder sister, Oibahor, and I were born with birth defects because our parents were blood relatives.”

The only healthy child in this consanguineous marriage is Firuza, who has been looking after her brother and sister since their parents died a few years ago. The siblings, all in their 30s, live in their parent’s house in the town of Denov.

Marriage between bloodline cousins is widespread in many parts of Uzbekistan, especially in the Toghaevs’ native Surkhondaryo and the neighboring Qashqadaryo region.

Uzbek authorities now want to end to the practice, blaming the phenomenon for genetic disorders among newborns.

The Committee for Family and Women’s Affairs has published draft amendments to the country’s Family Code, proposing that the parliament put a ban on marriage between cousins, including both first and second cousins.

The amendments aim at “preventing babies being born with disabilities,” the document states.

Some international studies show that marriage between blood relatives raises the risk of babies being born with birth defects because when two closely related people reproduce, there is a higher likelihood that both parents carry the same genetic mutation.

According to official statistics in Uzbekistan, nearly 10 percent of the babies born with disabilities in 2023 in the country were children of consanguineous marriages.

Nearly one-third of the cases were recorded in Surkhondaryo, followed by Qashqadaryo, the two provinces that also have the highest number of cousin marriages. According to one report, about 60 percent of the 1,210 first-cousin marriages registered between July and December 2021 took place in those two regions.

A high number of babies born with disabilities last year was also reported in the Sirdaryo, Andijon, Samarkand, and Bukhara provinces.

In the first five months of this year, about 29 percent of the 6,660 children treated for various illnesses at the National Pediatric Center in Tashkent were born to cousin marriages, Uzbek media reported.

Some Parents Not Convinced

Calls to restrict or prohibit consanguineous marriages in Uzbekistan began in the early 2000s. But the tradition continues to be strong despite doctors’ and officials’ warnings about the potential health risks to babies.

In the eastern Namangan region, Sabohatkhon Alimova has been married to her first cousin -- the son of her maternal aunt -- for more than 40 years. Her own parents were also first cousins.

Alimova, who hails from neighboring Tajikistan, insists all four of her children were born “healthy and normal.” Two of them went on to marry relatives.

“There is more trust and love among relatives [and] there are not many divorces in such marriages,” Alimova said. “When your daughter-in-law or son-in-law is your relative, you know that they will look after you when you’re old and sick.”

But Toghaev, who struggles with disabilities in his everyday life, believes it is the children that pay the price for their parents’ decision.

“Recently, our provincial governor wrote on the Internet: ‘Don’t marry your relatives. Your children will suffer as a result, not you.’ He is right. People should think about it when they consider getting married,” he said.

Toghaev and his sister Oibahor, who walks with a severe limp, say they try to survive and make the best of their difficult situations.

Oibahor works at a kiosk where locals receive remittances sent by their relatives working abroad.

Toghaev uses his special mobility scooter -- a gift from the provincial government -- to take his sister to and from work. The scooter, which resembles a small pickup truck, enables him to carry goods if needed.

He also raises four sheep and grows vegetables to generate income. He says he made $80 selling radishes last month.

But for most of the household chores they depend on Firuza, the only able-bodied sibling in the family.

“We all face hardships. I do all the work in the house,” Firuza said. “My brother and sister have physical disabilities and I take care of them.”
Indo-Pacific
Blinken and envoys from Japan, Australia and India work to improve maritime safety in Asia-Pacific (AP)
AP [7/29/2024 3:57 AM, Mari Yamaguchi, 456K, Neutral]
Top diplomats from Japan, the U.S., Australia and India meeting Monday in Tokyo compiled a set of measures to reinforce maritime safety and cybersecurity and to support other Asia-Pacific countries in improving their defenses during growing tensions in the regional seas.

After the meeting, host Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmayam Jaishankar said they were “seriously concerned” about the tensions and expressed “strong opposition” to unilateral changes to the status quo by coercion.

They noted “the militarization of disputed features, and coercive and intimidating maneuvers in the South China Sea” as examples, but carefully avoided identifying China in their joint statement.

Several regional governments dispute China’s sweeping territorial claims over the South China Sea, which has crucial maritime trade routes and potential energy reserves. It also claims self-governing Taiwan as its territory, to be annexed by force if necessary.

At what are known as the Quad talks, the four ministers agreed on a number of initiatives to counter cyberattacks, ensure maritime security and deal with disinformation. They also announced expanded support for other countries, including in Southeast Asia and Pacific islands, to bolster their abilities in those areas as the Quad seek to expand its partnerships.

The ministers plan to launch a maritime legal dialogue to focus on the international law of the sea. They said they were determined to contribute to maintaining and developing free-and-open maritime order consistent with the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea in the Indian and the Pacific Oceans and to enhance cooperation and coordination on it.

Their initiatives included support for installing a secure telecommunications network in Palau and building cybersecurity capacity in the Philippines and India, according to the joint statement. The ministers reaffirmed their commitment to improving the region’s connectivity through the development of resilient infrastructure such as undersea cables.

“We are committed to putting our collective resources, our collective strength to work to benefit people across the region that we share,” Blinken told a joint news conference after the talks. “We continue to work with partners to ensure that freedom of navigation, overflight, the unimpeded flow of lawful maritime commerce that these continue to go forward. They are critical to the region’s security. They’re critical to its ongoing prosperity.”

Kamikawa said maritime security in the region is increasingly unstable, so unity and cooperation were needed more than ever among the Quad countries in securing a rules-based free and open international order.

Without naming China, Kamikawa said escalating tensions in “a certain region” and cyberattacks by “a certain country” could easily spill to other countries and increase their risks.

“In order to have the prosperity in the region, we must ensure stability of the foundation in maritime, cyber and space domains,” she said. “We Quad nations aim to protect the foundations of prosperity in the Indo-Pacific as we seek to achieve an international community of coexistence and coprosperity.”

Australia’s Wong said the Quad nations were working to achieve a region that is governed by “accepted rules and norms where all of us can cooperate, can trade and thrive” and where “sovereignty is respected and competition is managed responsibly.”

The talks came after Japan and the United States held their “2+2” security meeting Sunday, when they called China “the greatest strategic challenge.” They agreed on further deepening military cooperation by making major upgrades to their command structures and bolstering Japanese production and repair of U.S.- licensed weapons.
Quad foreign ministers decry dangerous South China Sea actions (Reuters)
Reuters [7/29/2024 2:04 AM, Simon Lewis and Rocky Swift, 42991K, Positive]
Foreign ministers from Australia, India, Japan and the United States said on Monday they were seriously concerned about intimidating and dangerous manoeuvres in the South China Sea and pledged to bolster maritime security in the region.

The joint statement came after talks between the so-called ‘Quad’ countries in Tokyo, attended by Australia’s Penny Wong, India’s Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Japan’s Yoko Kamikawa and Antony Blinken from the U.S..

In security talks between the U.S. and Japan on Sunday, the two allies labelled China the "greatest strategic challenge" facing the region.

"We are seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas and reiterate our strong opposition to any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion," the ministers said in the statement, which did not directly mention China.

They also expressed serious concern about the militarization of disputed features and coercive and intimidating manoeuvres in the South China Sea, including dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels.

Chinese vessels have repeatedly clashed with Philippine ships seeking to resupply its troops on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in recent months, although the two countries in July reached a provisional agreement that aims to ease tensions.

The Quad group said they were working on a series of initiatives to maintain "the free and open maritime order" including helping partners improve domain awareness via satellite data, training and capacity building. They also announced a plan to set up a new maritime legal dialogue.

"We are charting a course for a more secure and open Indo-Pacific and Indian Ocean region by bolstering maritime security," Blinken said in remarks to reporters after the meeting.

"In practical terms what does this mean? It means strengthening the capacity of partners across the region to know what’s happening in their own waters," he added.

He said the U.S. would continue to work with its partners to ensure freedom of navigation and the unimpeded flow of lawful maritime commerce.

The U.S. announced plans on Sunday for a major revamp of its military command in Japan. It was among several measures announced by the allies to address what they said was an "evolving security environment", noting various threats from China including its muscular maritime activities.

"Uncertainty surrounding the international order as well as the international situation has been increasing with Russia continuing its aggression in Ukraine, attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force in the East China Sea and South China Sea, and the launch of ballistic missiles by North Korea," Japan’s Kamikawa said after the talks.

The Quad ministers also pledged to advance cooperation in cybersecurity to protect supply chains and critical infrastructure, including undersea cables.

After leaving Tokyo, Blinken and Austin will hold security talks with another Asian ally, the Philippines, as the Biden administration seeks to counter an increasingly bold China.
Quad countries agree to expand Indo-Pacific cyber, maritime initiatives (Nikkei Asia)
Nikkei Asia [7/29/2024 2:28 AM, Alice French, 2042K, Neutral]
Foreign ministers from Australia, India, Japan and the U.S. stressed unity and vowed to expand collaboration on cyber and maritime security in the Indo-Pacific at a meeting in Tokyo on Monday, which U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hailed as "a moment of unprecedented strategic alignment."

At a joint news conference, Blinken, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Australia’s Penny Wong and India’s Subrahmanyam Jaishankar announced initiatives to bolster the resilience of undersea cable networks, extend "maritime domain awareness" and streamline their disaster response framework in the region.

In a statement, the four said they were "seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China seas" and reiterated their "strong opposition to any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion."

The statement did not directly name China, but came as Beijing launched a series of military drills in the seas around Taiwan in May, and stepped up joint military activities with Russia in the South China Sea earlier this month.

The ministers also cited North Korea’s launching of ballistic missiles and Russia’s "aggression" in Ukraine as key threats to a "free and open" Indo-Pacific.

"This is a moment of unprecedented strategic alignment among our four countries," Blinken said. "We have four countries that are united by a shared vision for a free and open, a connected, a secure, a prosperous, resilient Indo-Pacific region."

The agreements came against a backdrop of an "increasingly uncertain international order," Kamikawa told reporters as the ministers met for the first since September 2023.

Just ahead of the start of the gathering, Wong said: "We all understand we face the most confronting circumstances in our region in decades. We all cherish the region’s peace, stability, prosperity, and we all know that it is not a given."

Wong unveiled an Australian Cable Connectivity and Resilience Center, which she presented as her nation’s "contribution" to a Quad partnership on undersea cable communications.

Subsea cables have become a key battleground in the U.S.-China tech war in recent years, and leaders from the Quad countries promised to cooperate on strengthening Indo-Pacific cable networks at their summit in May of last year.

Australia’s new center will provide technical support and training for cable systems in the region, Wong told the news conference. In Monday’s joint statement, the U.S. also pledged to train over 1,000 telecom officials and executives in the region.

The foreign ministers also announced they would extend the scope of the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness to the Indian Ocean. The initiative, launched by Quad leaders in 2022, intends to "strengthen the capacity of partners across the region to know what’s happening in their own waters," Blinken said on Monday.

The Indian Ocean portion of the program will be handled in collaboration with the Indian Navy’s Information Fusion Centre, a regional maritime security base, according to the statement.

Monday’s meeting also saw the finalization of the Quad’s standard procedures on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, which aim for more streamlined coordination when responding to emergencies in the region. The alliance contributed around $5 million in aid to Papua New Guinea following a deadly landslide in May, according to the joint statement.

Blinken, Jaishankar, Kamikawa and Wong underscored the importance of multilateral cooperation in "seeking a region in which no country dominates and no country is dominated." In their statement, they reaffirmed their "unwavering support for ASEAN’s unity and centrality" and their backing of Pacific island countries.

"The overall messaging is that our four countries -- all democratic polities, pluralistic societies and market economies -- are working together," Jaishankar told reporters. "That by itself is a powerful stabilizing factor in an uncertain and volatile world."

The four-way gathering followed a "two-plus-two" session between foreign and defense ministers from Japan and the U.S. on Sunday. The two nations agreed to closer collaboration between their defense forces in the Indo-Pacific -- including a revamping of how U.S. forces are organized in Japan -- and a renewed bilateral focus on Japan’s southwestern islands located close to Taiwan.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called the reorganization, which is aimed at deepening cooperation with Japanese forces, "the most significant change to U.S. Forces Japan since its creation, and one of the strongest improvements in our military ties with Japan in 70 years."
Twitter
Afghanistan
SIGAR
@SIGARHQ
[7/28/2024 12:34 PM, 170.3K followers, 3 retweets, 16 likes]
SIGAR’s commissioned assessment of Afghan views on security: A little more than half of participants said Taliban provided commendable security…while another 16 said Taliban could not maintain full security & 8 said Taliban were authoritarian & not trusted by Afghans

Heather Barr
@heatherbarr1
[7/28/2024 2:52 AM, 62.8K followers, 105 retweets, 173 likes]
The Taliban does not recognize the three women representing Afghanistan at the Olympics. In fact, they have banned all women and girls from playing sports in the country. https://x.com/i/status/1817453107954995507

Heather Barr
@heatherbarr1
[7/27/2024 4:40 AM, 62.8K followers, 34 retweets, 58 likes]
“Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan, as the third anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power approaches.” https://humanrightscommission.house.gov/events/hearings/women-and-girls-afghanistan

Golchehrah Yaftali
@womenaidafghan1
[7/26/2024 6:56 AM, 24.3K followers, 12 retweets, 33 likes]
#Afghanistan girls are a symbol of freedom and talents in other countries, in their own country they are imprisoned at the level of a maidservant, @ZKhudadadi Khudadadi carried the Olympic torch through the streets of #Paris #womenempowement
Pakistan
Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office
@amnestysasia
[7/28/2024 9:18 AM, 86.9K followers, 2.1K retweets, 4K likes]
Pakistan: @amnesty is alarmed at the use of unlawful and unnecessary force against the participants of the Baloch National Gathering by security forces yesterday. It is a blatant violation of people’s right to freedom of peaceful assembly. On 27 June, Frontier Corps reportedly fired on unarmed and peaceful protestors in Mustang, Balochistan, resulting in 14 injuries, several among them serious. A complete internet shutdown has also been imposed in Gwadar, hindering the flow of information in and outside the region. Amnesty International calls on the Pakistan authorities to immediately lift the internet shutdown in Balochistan, and fulfil its obligations under domestic and international human rights law to facilitate people’s right to peaceful protest by lifting the road blockades on the way to Gwadar to allow freedom of movement for protestors. #BalochNationalGathering #ProtectTheProtest

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[7/26/2024 12:08 PM, 211.2K followers, 12 retweets, 74 likes]
This sort of flew under the radar, but it’s a pretty big deal that Pakistan announced the arrest of a top al-Qaeda leader earlier this month-a close Bin Laden aide who once led the elite security unit that protected OBL. He’d been arrested in 2008-and then released in 2011.
India
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[7/27/2024 12:58 PM, 100.5M followers, 5.5K retweets, 41K likes]
Met @BJP4India Chief Ministers and Deputy Chief Ministers. Our Party is working tirelessly to further good governance and fulfil the aspirations of the people.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[7/27/2024 12:09 PM, 100.5M followers, 6.1K retweets, 43K likes]
Attended the 9th Governing Council Meeting of @NITIAayog. Heard the insightful views of Chief Ministers.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[7/27/2024 12:07 PM, 100.5M followers, 2.9K retweets, 16K likes]
Addressed the 9th Governing Council meeting of @NITIAayog. Highlighted the importance of collective efforts by the Centre and States to build a Viksit Bharat. Emphasised on various subjects including the need to boost investments, increasing exports, ensuring greater skill development opportunities for the youth, harnessing Jal Shakti and more. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2037976

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[7/27/2024 12:24 AM, 100.5M followers, 8.9K retweets, 68K likes]
On the occasion of their Raising Day, my greetings to all @crpfindia personnel. Their unwavering dedication and relentless service to the nation are truly commendable. They have always stood for the highest standards of courage and commitment. Their role in keeping our nation safe is also paramount.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[7/27/2024 12:23 AM, 100.5M followers, 2.7K retweets, 17K likes]
Pained by the passing away of former MP, Thiru Master Mathan Ji. He will be remembered for his efforts to serve society and work for the downtrodden. He also played a commendable role in strengthening our Party in Tamil Nadu. Condolences to his family and supporters. Om Shanti.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[7/27/2024 9:56 AM, 100.5M followers, 8.3K retweets, 43K likes]
Here are highlights from the programme in Kargil this morning. India takes immense pride in our armed forces and their efforts to keep our nation safe. https://x.com/i/status/1816834949003030533

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[7/28/2024 7:54 AM, 100.5M followers, 5.7K retweets, 35K likes]
Today, we mark #10YearsOfMyGov. I compliment all those who have enriched this platform and shared their valuable insights as well as inputs. Over the last decade, MyGov has emerged as a vibrant forum for participative and good governance.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[7/29/2024 1:40 AM, 3.2M followers, 156 retweets, 887 likes]
Addressing the press alongside FM @Kamikawa_Yoko, @SecBlinken and FM @SenatorWong after the Quad Foreign Ministers Meeting in Tokyo today.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[7/29/2024 1:56 AM, 3.2M followers, 135 retweets, 735 likes]
Concluded an extremely productive and detailed Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting today in Tokyo. Thank @Kamikawa_Yoko, @SecBlinken and @SenatorWong for sharing their assessments. Quad today
- is systemically embedded in our respective foreign policies.
- has an expansive agenda, including fostering maritime partnerships, increasing connectivity, ensuring energy security, supporting dialogue and sharing benefits of technology with the Global South.
- is not a talk shop but a platform that generates practical outcomes.
- involves democratic polities, pluralistic societies and market economies working together for a free and open Indo-Pacific, rules based order and for global good.
- is having a strong interactive dynamic bilaterally and trilaterally as well, enhancing the value of Quad.
In a challenging world, Quad is a contemporary example of trusted partners and international cooperation. My remarks : https://mea.gov.in/Speeches-Statements.htm?dtl/38043/Remarks_by_EAM_Dr_S_Jaishankar_at_the_Quad_FMM_2024_Press_Conference

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[7/28/2024 2:01 AM, 3.2M followers, 451 retweets, 3.8K likes]
Great to catch up with @SecBlinken in Tokyo today. Our bilateral agenda progresses steadily. Also had a wide ranging discussion on regional and global issues. Look forward to attending the Quad FMM tomorrow.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[7/27/2024 6:18 AM, 3.2M followers, 186 retweets, 1.1K likes]
Participated at the 31st ASEAN Regional Forum #ARF in Vientiane today. Highlighted that:
- Covid, Conflict and Climate highlight our predicament today. Solutions can only emerge through Cooperation - economic, political, technological and connectivity.
- Neither the deployment of new technologies nor the interdependence of globalization must be unfairly leveraged.
- Only international cooperation can ensure that the global commons is secure and global goods are delivered.
- Be robust in combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, dismantle terror sanctuaries and UN-proscribed terrorism financing networks and tackle cybercrime. #ARF can make a difference.
- Strong support for ASEAN unity, centrality and the ASEAN Outlook on Indo-Pacific (AOIP). Synergy between India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative and the AOIP.
- Recognise the importance of maritime safety and security, freedom of navigation and overflight and peaceful resolution of disputes in the region, in accordance with international law, especially UNCLOS 1982.
- Quad complements ASEAN-led mechanisms in their effort to make the region stable, secure and prosperous through delivery of people-centric benefits.
India remains steadfast in our commitment to contributing to #ARF activities over the coming years.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[7/27/2024 4:19 AM, 3.2M followers, 180 retweets, 1K likes]
Spoke at the 14th East Asia Summit #EAS Foreign Ministers Meeting in Vientiane. Conveyed that:
- EAS process completes two decades next year & India will contribute towards stronger EAS process.
- Act East Policy, announced at 9th EAS, completes a decade. India will continue to uphold ASEAN unity and centrality through our Act East Policy.
- India remains a steadfast supporter of AOIP and appreciates its convergence with IPOI. Encourages more EAS members to join IPOI.
- We have consistently contributed towards EAS Plan of Action. Reflected in EAS Conference on Maritime Security and Cooperation held in Mumbai.
- Nalanda University is a realization of important commitment to EAS.
- Value the participation of ASEAN members in the Voice of the Global South Summit.
- SLOC passing through the South China Sea are critical for peace, stability, prosperity and development of the Indo-Pacific Region. Code of Conduct should be substantive and effective, consistent with international law and should not prejudice legitimate rights and interest of nations not party to discussions.
- On Myanmar, our bilateral efforts are in tandem with ASEAN, designed to engage all stakeholders. India’s focus is on ensuring border security, countering trans-national crime, mitigating violence and advancing connectivity projects. Our endeavours are mutually supportive in order to restore democracy.
- Call for de-escalation and restraint in Gaza. India continues to extend humanitarian assistance to the people of Palestine. Attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea are concerning. India is independently contributing to ensuring the safety and security of maritime shipping.
- On the conflict in Ukraine, maintained the importance of dialogue and diplomacy. PM @narendramodi recently engaged President Putin and President Zelenskyy. India stands ready to contribute in any manner possible.
#EAS is crucial in bringing us together at a time when differences are sharp and interests are diverse. India will always stand firm in its commitment to the EAS process.
NSB
Awami League
@albd1971
[7/28/2024 1:28 PM, 640.3K followers, 78 retweets, 143 likes]
#Bangladesh: #Students Against #Discrimination coordinators withdraw all ongoing programmes. Says their main demand has been met by the Govt. Demands investigation of, and punishment for, the killings and property destruction during the #violence centering the #QuotaMovement.

Awami League
@albd1971
[7/28/2024 12:23 PM, 640.3K followers, 42 retweets, 89 likes]
HPM #SheikhHasina visited several wards of BSMMU Hospital to inquire about the current physiological state of those injured in terrorist attacks by @bdbnp78 and @BJI_Official in different places of the country. Photo: Saiful Islam Kallol #QuotaMovement #QuotarmReformProtest #Bangladesh #BNPJamaatViolence

Awami League
@albd1971
[7/28/2024 9:49 AM, 640.3K followers, 41 retweets, 66 likes]
Residents of Mohammadpur area passed an anxious time from 18 to 20 July. @bdbnp78 and @BJI_Official activists attacked government establishments, private properties, vehicles, and even ordinary road users. Eyewitnesses said most of the attackers came from outside Dhaka. The local MP says the perpetrators will be brought to justice after being identified by CCTV footage. #QuotaReform #QuotaMovement #Bangladesh

Awami League
@albd1971
[7/28/2024 5:42 AM, 640.3K followers, 53 retweets, 174 likes]
Prime Minister #SheikhHasina on Sunday extended her condolences and support to the families of those killed during the mayhem created by “BNP-Jamaat terrorists,” leveraging the quota reform movement. Family members of #AbuSayeed, an English Department student of Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur, and 33 other bereaved families, gathered at the Prime Minister’s official residence, Ganabhaban, in Dhaka. PM handed over cash assistance and savings certificates to the grieving families. The emotional weight of the gathering was palpable as family members broke into tears in her presence. #QuotaProtest #QuotaMovement #Bangladesh #Violence

Awami League
@albd1971
[7/27/2024 8:49 AM, 640.3K followers, 41 retweets, 96 likes]
Prime Minister #SheikhHasina said #AwamiLeague govt will ensure proper treatment for those who are injured due to the violence carried out by the terror duo @bdbnp78 and @BJI_Official cadres who took advantage of the #QuotaProtest in #Bangladesh. https://albd.org/articles/news/41498

Awami League
@albd1971
[7/27/2024 5:02 AM, 640.3K followers, 47 retweets, 103 likes]
Prime Minister #SheikhHasina has visited the Setu Bhaban, Disaster Management Department in Mohakhali and Dhaka #ElevatedExpressway which suffered extensive damage during the recent #QuotaReform movement protests. Photo: Saiful Kallol #QuotaMovement #Violence #ArsonAttack

Bangladesh Nationalist Party-BNP
@bdbnp78
[7/28/2024 3:00 PM, 56.1K followers, 110 retweets, 502 likes]
The detained student leaders at the #DBPolice office have given statements at gunpoint, claimed their fellow leaders. They presented this picture as evidence. #StudentsUnderAttack #Bangladesh #StepDownHasina

Bangladesh Nationalist Party-BNP
@bdbnp78
[7/28/2024 3:33 AM, 56.1K followers, 76 retweets, 303 likes]
Bangladeshi expatriates have announced a halt to sending #Remittance in protest against the government-sponsored massacre of students. This announcement has already begun to impact #Bangladesh Bank’s reserves. #QuotaReformMovement #StepDownHasina #RemittanceShutdown

Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office
@amnestysasia
[7/28/2024 4:24 PM, 86.9K followers, 708 retweets, 1.4K likes]
Bangladesh: Media reports state that security forces have been raiding neighbourhoods and conducting mass arrests, targeting students and opposition activists. Whereabouts of some of those arrested are unknown. Several student leaders have been arrested from the hospital where they were being treated for injuries. In a virtual press conference held yesterday, a coordinator of the anti-discrimination student movement alleged that over 3,500 students have been detained across the country. Amnesty International urges the authorities to immediately stop the blanket hunt for students and opposition members. Peaceful protest is not a crime. #ProtectTheProtest #SaveBangladeshiStudents

Sabria Chowdhury Balland
@sabriaballand
[7/29/2024 1:58 AM, 6K followers, 1 retweet, 3 likes]
Just as expected. The illegitimate government of #Bangladesh gave 9.5 lakh Taka as a “compensation” to the family of Abu Sayed. They murder your children, your sons, daughters, parents, siblings & friends. Then, if they want to, for photo ops, they throw some money at you. 9.5 lakh Taka for murdering a young, unarmed university student in cold blood because he wanted equality in job opportunities. This is not just about quotas, #Bangladesh.

Sabria Chowdhury Balland
@sabriaballand
[7/28/2024 10:34 AM, 6K followers, 125 retweets, 273 likes]
The situation in #Bangladesh has become so dire that a member of the US Congress has written to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. He requests a briefing on the State Department’s current policy on Bangladesh.

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[7/27/2024 1:35 PM, 211.2K followers, 9 retweets, 30 likes]
My interview in the @DhakaTribune on the Bangladesh crisis-impacts on Bangladesh’s politics, economy, and PM Hasina’s legacy. What it may mean for Bangladesh’s foreign policy and the international community. And also my advice to the PM. https://www.dhakatribune.com/webiners-and-interviwes/352841/it-s-hard-to-overstate-how-profoundly-this-crisis

MOFA of Nepal
@MofaNepal
[7/28/2024 9:21 AM, 258.8K followers, 7 retweets, 34 likes]
Hon. Mr. TAKEBE Arata, Member of the House of Representatives (HoR) of Japan, Chair of the Standing Committee on Judicial Affairs of the HoR and the leader of the Japanese delegation visiting Nepal, paid a courtesy call on FM Hon. Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba at the Ministry today.

Ranil Wickremesinghe
@RW_UNP
[7/28/2024 12:33 PM, 322K followers, 31 retweets, 223 likes]
I took the challenge because I saw how people were suffering. People were lining up for fuel, fertiliser, and medicine. Schools were shut down, businesses were at a standstill. I saw the struggle and knew I had to step in. It wasn’t easy, but I took the reins with one goal in mind, to turn things around, and I did it. I reached out to global leaders, from the IMF to the World Bank, even the Prime Minister of Japan. I knew we needed international support to rebuild. And we got it. With these aids, we started making progress. Slowly but surely, we began to stabilise. Every step of the way, there were tough calls to make. But I tackled each one head-on, knowing that recovery was on the horizon. It was about reducing the immediate burden and setting the stage for long-term growth. I didn’t stop there. We rolled out significant support measures, increasing subsidies and providing scholarships. We gave land rights to thousands, ensuring that everyone, especially the underprivileged communities, had a stake in our country’s future. We focused on modernising agriculture, transforming rural areas into thriving communities. Tourism started picking up, bringing in much-needed revenue. It was clear, we were on the right track.

Today, our economy is showing signs of strength. The rupee is stabilising, and we have essential goods in stock. We’re not done yet, but we’re on our way. Our path forward is clear—we continue working together, honoring our commitments, and keeping an eye on the next step. This isn’t just about getting by, it’s about thriving. We’re creating a future for our young people, ensuring they have opportunities right here at home. We can be like Singapore, like Dubai. It’s within our reach. I’m running as an independent candidate, stepping away from old politics. It’s time for a new era, and I need your support to make it happen. Let’s build a prosperous, united Sri Lanka together. Thank you for believing in our future. Let’s move forward, stronger than ever.

Ranil Wickremesinghe
@RW_UNP
[7/27/2024 10:20 AM, 322K followers, 103 retweets, 421 likes]
With a clear vision and unwavering determination to elevate our nation on the global stage and transform it into a prosperous and thriving country, I am proud to announce my candidacy for the upcoming presidential election. In a time when our nation was in chaos and on the brink of bankruptcy, it was my love for this country and its people that drove me to take on the arduous task of rebuilding it. United with the strength and resilience of our people, we overcame financial ruin and restored normalcy to our daily lives. Now, it is imperative that we continue to advance our country’s progress and bring it to greater heights. To achieve this success, we need the commitment of every citizen to join hands on this journey. Let’s unite in our love for this nation and work together to make our country a beacon of prosperity and success. Join me as we create a bright future for our beloved motherland. Together, we can and will achieve greatness.

Eran Wickramaratne
@EranWick
[7/27/2024 10:18 AM, 68.9K followers, 7 retweets, 23 likes]
The speech made by Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena yesterday morning in parliament was shocking, as I explained at this press conference held on the same day. It was shocking for two reasons. Firstly, it was an absolutely distorted interpretation of the constitution. Secondly, it is a statement that was unbecoming of a country’s prime minister. As I have maintained throughout, the IGP was appointed without the approval of the Constitutional Council. This week, a 3-judge bench of the Supreme Court unanimously held that the IGP should not perform the functions and duties of that position. It was to defend the IGP’s appointment that the Prime Minister made this misleading and erroneous speech in parliament.
Central Asia
Furqat Sidiqov
@FurqatSidiq
[7/26/2024 5:22 PM, 1.4K followers, 1 retweet, 7 likes]
Today, at @projectcure’s distribution center in #PA, we have loaded life-saving medical supplies destined for the #AralSea. Together with @IslamicRelief, Project C.U.R.E, & compatriots we successfully secured 6 out of 10 containers worth 500K each.

Furqat Sidiqov
@FurqatSidiq
[7/26/2024 1:57 PM, 1.4K followers, 3 retweets, 7 likes]
Have you ever visited the safest country in the world? According to the 2023 Safety Perceptions Index (@GlobPeaceIndex), "Uzbekistan ranks as the most safest and the least risk impacted country, driven by its low levels of reported experience of harm.

Navbahor Imamova
@Navbahor
[7/28/2024 10:19 AM, 23.5K followers, 2 retweets, 3 likes]
Last year’s military spending by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan was $1.8 billion. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan do not disclose such information. @VOANews https://www.voanews.com/a/central-asian-military-spending-surges-amid-border-tension-regional-conflict-fears/7712266.html

Navbahor Imamova
@Navbahor
[7/28/2024 10:54 AM, 23.5K followers, 1 retweet, 1 like]
Following #AmuDarya, one of the main sources of water in Central Asia. Shrinking dramatically as it flows towards the #AralSea, which has been drying up since the 1960s.

{End of Report}
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