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:
Wednesday, July 31, 2024 6:30 AM ET

Afghanistan
Taliban Cuts Ties With 14 Afghan Diplomatic Missions Abroad (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [7/30/2024 6:50 AM, Staff, 1530K, Negative]
Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have announced that they are cutting ties with 14 Afghan diplomatic missions abroad and will cease to accept consular documents issued by those missions, in a move likely to cause further difficulties for Afghan citizens living abroad.

Following the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021 in the wake of the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces from Afghanistan, some diplomatic missions abroad continued to pledge allegiance to the former government.

The move, which takes effect immediately, was announced by the Taliban Foreign Ministry in a message posted on X on July 30.

It refers to passports, visas, and other consular documents issued by Afghan missions in London, Belgium, Berlin, Bonn, Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy, Greece, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Canada, and Australia.

The Taliban "has repeatedly urged the Afghan political and consular in European countries to engage with Kabul to at least address consular service-related issues of Afghans and provide better services for Afghan citizens," the statement said.

"Unfortunately, the actions of most of the missions are carried out arbitrarily, without coordination, and in explicit violation of the existing accepted principles," it said.

Afghans in the countries affected by the move were urged in the statement to seek consular and embassy services in the diplomatic missions controlled by the Taliban.

Afghan embassies in Pakistan, China, and Russia are among those controlled by the Taliban government. In October, Afghan diplomatic missions in Spain and the Netherlands publicly accepted to offer their services to the Taliban authorities in Kabul.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government has not been recognized by any country in the world, many of its leaders are under international sanctions, and the country’s seat at the United Nations is still occupied by former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s government.

However, countries such as China and Pakistan still have diplomatic missions in Kabul.

The UN has so far rejected the Taliban’s bid for Afghanistan’s seat in the organization three times.
Taliban Government Severs Ties With 14 Afghan Diplomatic Missions (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [7/30/2024 2:04 PM, Catherine Putz, 1156K, Positive]
As the third anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan approaches, the powers-that-be in Kabul have severed ties with 14 Afghan diplomatic missions.

In a July 30 post on X (formerly Twitter), Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a notice for “all Afghan Nationals residing in European countries!” which stated that the Taliban government would not recognize consular and other documents issued by 14 diplomatic missions, most of them located in Europe, which it accused of refusing to engage with Kabul and taking “arbitrary” actions.

The missions, as named in the statement, include both embassies and consulates, specifically: “London, Belgium, Berlin, Bonn, Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy, Greece, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Canada, and Australia.” And the documents affected range from passports to visa stickers, as well as deeds and other endorsements. Essentially, anything an Afghan citizen would require in terms of official documentation from an embassy while residing or traveling abroad will not be recognized by Kabul as valid if issued by one of the named missions.

The statement urges Afghans living abroad and foreign nationals to visit Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IAE) – the official name adopted by the Taliban government – political and consular missions in other countries to access consular services.

Left unsaid in the Taliban statement is the fact that the missions named are those that the Taliban have not been able to take control of or establish a working relationship with. Many of Afghanistan’s diplomatic properties remain in the hands of officials of the erstwhile Republic government; many of them have been largely inactive. Nevertheless, the persistence of alternative claims to Afghanistan’s international presence undercuts the Taliban’s desired aim to achieve international recognition for itself.

In March of last year, the Taliban government said it was trying to take control of the country’s diplomatic missions abroad. Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said at the time, “The Islamic Emirate has sent diplomats to at least 14 countries and efforts are underway to take charge of other diplomatic missions abroad… Diplomats of the former government are continuing their activities in coordination with the Foreign Ministry.”

Over the course of 2022 and 2023, the Taliban secured access to the former government’s diplomatic properties in a number of countries, including those in Central Asia. In December 2023, China became the first country to officially accept a Taliban-appointed ambassador. Beijing insists that this did not confer recognition on the Taliban government.

In October 2023, the Afghan diplomatic missions in Spain and the Netherlands confirmed that they were cooperating with the Islamic Emirate. They were not included in the list of disavowed missions. For Afghans in Europe, where most of the embassies with which Kabul has broken ties are, these two countries remain their only avenues for consular services. Documents like passports require periodic renewal to remain valid; however, it is not yet clear how this decision will affect how host countries interact, or don’t, with the affected Afghan missions.

With this move, the Taliban has taken yet another step to assert itself internationally. Which officials a country recognizes as representing a country – by issuing its passports and visas – confers a degree of legitimacy.
Afghanistan: Women tortured, raped in Taliban prisons (Deutsche Welle)
Deutsche Welle [7/30/2024 6:31 AM, Shabnam von Heim, 15592K, Negative]
In the three years since the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan, many accounts have surfaced detailing torture and sexual abuse in the country’s prisons.

One of them grabbed global headlines in July 2024, after the British daily Guardian reported on the rape of a female human rights activist that was caught on video. The video, made by the Taliban, shows armed men raping and torturing the inmate. Apparently, the Taliban sent the video to the women after she was released in an attempt to blackmail her and ensure her silence. She managed to flee the country and send the video to Afghan journalists, with the story eventually making its way to the British paper.

"We reported on the Taliban raping and torturing female inmates a week before The Guardian," Afghan-Canadian reporter Zahra Nader told DW. The 34-year-old is the editor-in-chief of the online magazine "Zan Times."

She launched the magazine in August 2022 to give a voice to Afghan girls and women in their homeland, with the publication relying on the reporting of a small group of female journalists inside and outside Afghanistan in both Dari and English.

Women locked up ‘at random’

Their local network has been investigating the fate of detained women in Afghanistan and the reports of torture, sexual assault, and rape.

"No one knows exactly how many women are imprisoned in Afghanistan," Nader says.

"The Taliban refuse to confirm many of the arrests. We don’t know what is the condition of the women who are imprisoned. Many of them have been arrested at random," she told DW.

"Witnesses report that the Taliban often detain young women who are out and about without a male escort, even if they wear a hijab."

The women disappear into overcrowded female prisons and are left at the mercy of men running the facility.

"There is no justice or judiciary in Afghanistan," Nadir says, "no prosecution. The Taliban don’t even agree on the hijab rules for women. What is wrong and what is right depends on the group and the locality."

Many women decide to take their own lives

The Taliban have imposed draconian limitations on the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan since taking over the country in the summer of 2021. Women were banned from public life, denied education and jobs, and had to contend with restrictions on their freedom of movement. They are now only allowed to be out in public if they are accompanied by a male chaperone, a Mahram.

Those fighting the oppression are imprisoned, and some of them disappear without a trace. Others are released, but are unable to go back to their lives.

"Some kill themselves after being released," said Nader. Last month, her magazine reported on the accounts of young women who had been arrested on hijab-related "offenses," tortured and sexually abused in jail, and then took their own lives.

Lilma Dawlatzai has her own story of trauma. She was not raped during her time in prison but suffered brutal torture. Before the Taliban takeover, she served as the head of the women’s council in the Chaharbulak district of the Balkh province. With the pro-Western government falling, she went into hiding and sought refuge with her friends.

"But, they found me," she tells DW. "I ended up in a prison where they beat me and attacked me with knives. They put salt on my wounds."

Dawlatzai eventually made a deal with one of the Taliban. She gave him all of her property in Afghanistan, and managed to leave the prison with his help. Eventually she fled the country and is now living in Germany.

"The Taliban have no mercy," Dawlatzai says. "They didn’t even let me wash my hands and face to pray after religious rituals. They treat prisoners any way they like."
Taliban want to bring back stoning

In the wake of all other oppressive measures against women, the Taliban are now planning to reintroduce public stoning. They are already using lashing, hanging and shooting as methods of punishment. The next step is to stone women for adultery, according to Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhunzada.

In March, he released an audio message directed at the Western governments.

"You may call it a violation of women’s rights when we publicly stone or flog them for committing adultery," he said.

"[But] I represent Allah, and you represent Satan."
Scheme to reunite separated Afghan families opens (BBC)
BBC [7/30/2024 12:19 PM, Adina Campbell and Becky Morton, 65502K, Negative]
Partners and children separated from their families during the evacuation of Afghanistan can now apply to join them in the UK, under plans announced by the government.

It comes three years since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, which led to a military operation to evacuate British nationals and Afghans, known as Operation Pitting.

A number of families became separated due to the speed and chaotic circumstances surrounding the evacuation.

On Tuesday, the government announced the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) separated families route had opened for applications for the next three months.

The route is open to the partners and children of people who escaped from Afghanistan under legal routes previously set up by the government.

Children who were evacuated without their parents can also apply for them and any siblings who were under the age of 18 at the time of the evacuation to come to the UK.

The Home office said additional family embers may be considered in exceptional circumstances.

The Refugee Council charity said the development was "hugely welcome" and would be "life-changing" for children and parents who had been separated for such a long period.

The pledge to reunite families separated during the evacuation of Kabul had been made under the previous Conservative government and Labour said it was now "implementing that commitment”.

The latest figures, published in May, show that almost as many Afghan nationals arrived in the UK by crossing the Channel in small boats, as through the government’s legal routes in the year to March.

A total of 5,662 Afghan nationals made the dangerous Channel crossing in that period, plus 350 of what the Home Office described as inadequately documented air arrivals, making a total of 6,012 people.

Data also shows that 758 lone Afghan children were recorded as applying for asylum having crossed the Channel.

The charity Safe Passage has also welcomed the opening of the family reunion route, but said these schemes had been "too slow, restrictive and currently have too few places”.

Immigration and Citizenship Minister Seema Malhotra said: "It is our moral duty to ensure that families who were tragically separated are reunited and are not left at the mercy of the Taliban."

She added: "Afghans did right by us, and we will do right by them, ensuring our system is fair and supports those most-at risk and vulnerable."

More than 15,000 people were evacuated from Kabul to the UK over two weeks in August 2021, as the capital fell to the Taliban.

These included British nationals, as well as more than 6,000 Afghans identified as being at risk from the Taliban, including female politicians, members of the LGBT community, women’s rights activists and judges.

It is this group that are eligible for the new family reunification route.

Thousands more Afghans who worked with the UK government in Afghanistan, along with their family members, have been relocated under the separate Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP).
Pakistan
Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan says he is ready to hold talks with the military (Reuters)
Reuters [7/31/2024 3:41 AM, Asif Shahzad, 5.2M, Neutral]
Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan has said his party is ready to hold "conditional negotiations" with the country’s powerful military and has appointed a representative for the talks.

"We will hold conditional negotiations if the military leadership appoints its representative," according to a post from Khan’s official X handle on Wednesday, which cited a message from him from inside a jail on Tuesday.

The military’s media wing did not immediately respond to request for comment.

The army has previously ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 63-year history, but denies it is currently involved in politics.

Khan has been in jail since last August and was convicted in some cases ahead of a national election in February. He is also fighting dozens of other cases which are continuing.

Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party say the charges were politically motivated to thwart his return to power.

Candidates backed by PTI had a stronger-than-expected showing in the country’s election and a court recently ruled they were eligible for extra reserved seats, though still not enough to rule outright.

Khan said that one of the conditions for negotiations was that "clean and transparent" elections be held and that what he called "bogus" cases against his supporters be dropped.

He appointed Mahmood Khan Achakzai, a close political ally and leader in a smaller party, to represent him in talks.
Gunmen open fire on a vehicle carrying UN staff in northwest Pakistan. No casualties (AP)
AP [7/30/2024 3:10 PM, Staff, 31180K, Negative]
Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a bulletproof vehicle carrying local staff working for a U.N. development agency in Pakistan’s volatile northwest bordering Afghanistan on Tuesday, but no one was harmed, police said.

The attack on the vehicle of the United Nations Office for Project Services happened in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in the Khyber, said Abdul Salam, who is the district police chief there.

Salam said all the people who were traveling in the vehicle are safe. He said police have launched a search to find and arrest those involved in the assault.

No one immediately claimed responsibility and the Pakistani Taliban said in a statement that they were not behind the attack.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks, mostly in the northwest, in recent years.

Authorities have blamed the Pakistani Taliban for such previous attacks on security forces and civilians.

The insurgents, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, are a separate group but are an ally of the Afghan Taliban. The group has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021.

Meanwhile, clashes between two tribes over a property dispute in the northwestern district of Kurram have come to an end following the deaths of 49 people, police official Javed Ullah said.

Local elders brokered a cease-fire between the tribes, he said. Such deadly property disputes among tribes in the region are common.
Protesters and military in standoff in Pakistani city home to China-built port (VOA)
VOA [7/30/2024 5:17 AM, Sarah Zaman, 4M, Negative]
The Pakistani city of Gwadar, home to a key Chinese-built deep seaport, is the scene of a tense stand-off between the military and Baloch protesters demonstrating against alleged human rights violations.

Thousands of people led by the Baloch Unity Committee or BYC, an ethno-nationalistic rights movement, arrived in the southwestern city Saturday for a so-called Baloch National Gathering. They are demanding the recovery of victims of enforced disappearances and meaningful involvement in Chinese-funded projects in the resource-rich yet impoverished Balochistan province.

In a statement Monday, the Pakistani military said one of its personnel was killed when a “violent mob in the garb of Baloch Raji Muchi [Baloch National Gathering] attacked security forces’ personnel.” Pakistani military controls security in Gwadar.

The statement also said 16 other personnel were injured in “unprovoked assaults by violent protesters” and vowed, “those responsible will be brought to justice.”

In a video statement to media, BYC leader Mahrang Baloch said authorities have arrested nearly 1,000 protesters in the last three days in an effort to derail the protest movement.

On Sunday, Baloch and other activists addressed the crowd of protesters in Gwadar that had gathered despite attempts by authorities to block them. The event received virtually no coverage in mainstream media.

BYC later announced the protest would transform into a sit-in, vowing to remain until those prevented from coming to Gwadar to join the protest were given access and all the detained protesters were released.

“Those who are trying to march, they are not letting them go. They are not letting them enter Gwadar,” Sadia Baloch, a unity committee member not related to Mahrang Baloch, told VOA Monday from the provincial capital Quetta.

Inaugurated in 2016, the seaport in Gwadar is the flagship project of the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Known by its acronym CPEC, the project is central to Beijing’s global Belt and Road Initiative.

“Gwadar is being called a game-changer for Pakistan and China, so it was important to tell them and the international media that this land belongs to us,” Sadia Baloch said. “The crackdown shows Baloch are not allowed to enter Gwadar.”

According to BYC, at least one person has died and several were injured as authorities continue to crack down on protesters in Gwadar. At least 14 people were injured in the town of Mastung on Saturday as they attempted to move towards Gwadar.

In many cities and towns, protesters blocked from moving forward also staged sit-ins.

Speaking Monday on the floor of the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan, Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti accused the demonstrators of engaging in anti-state propaganda and spoiling efforts to bring more Chinese investment.

Bugti and BYC activists have said they are ready to negotiate.

Authorities have suspended internet and cellular services in and around Gwadar since at least Friday, making it difficult for media to ascertain facts independently and to speak to local officials. Amnesty International urged Pakistani authorities Sunday to end the communication blackout.

Late last year, BYC led a 1,600-kilometer march to Islamabad with families awaiting the return of their loved ones gone missing in the fight between the state and Baloch separatists. Protesters faced severe police action as they tried to enter the capital. Demonstrators, braving the cold for days, eventually left after authorities warned of an imminent security threat.

As Pakistan deals with a resurgent wave of terrorism lead by Islamist militants and Baloch separatists, the state is struggling to ensure Chinese personnel and projects remain safe.

On Monday, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi apprised Zhao Shiren, China’s Consul General in Lahore, of security measures Islamabad is taking to protect Chinese nationals in the country.
Pakistan says its own messaging app for secure comms among officials is ready to launch (AP)
AP [7/30/2024 3:25 PM, Staff, 4032K, Neutral]
Pakistani engineers have developed and successfully tested a government messaging app for secure communication among officials, authorities said Tuesday, even as Islamabad restricts social media use and regularly shuts down internet and mobile phone networks to prevent dissent.

Should the government approve it, the messaging platform could eventually also be available to millions of citizens, said Baber Majid, chief executive officer at the country’s National Information Technology Board.

Enter “beep,” a chat application that Pakistani authorities say is exclusively homegrown.

“Beep has already successfully undergone trial runs since 2023 and is now ready for launch,” Majid said.

Meanwhile, ordinary Pakistanis have been struggling to access the social networking platform X, which authorities blocked ahead of the Feb. 8 parliamentary elections earlier this year, a vote overshadowed by violence, an unprecedented national shutdown of all mobile phone services and allegations of vote rigging.

Authorities later insisted that the phone service suspension was necessary for security reasons, but critics and Pakistan’s imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan have said the real intention was to disable communication to allow for vote rigging — a charge the government denies.

There have also been frequent internet restrictions in southwestern Baluchistan province and elsewhere. Pakistan every year suspends phone services during the Ashoura, an Islamic commemoration when minority Shiite Muslims hold processions.

Pakistan imposed five separate internet restrictions during and after the elections, according to research by the Netherlands-based cybersecurity company Surfshark B.V., which offers VPN services and data leak detection. It also tracks cases of government-imposed internet and social media disruptions.

“Such actions taken by the government undermine the very aspect of democracy and make it impossible for fair elections to take place,” it said.

Pakistan’s phone and internet suspensions have also affected communication between officials and security forces. Hence “beep,” which Majid said would ensure uninterrupted communication among officials.

He said the app has been designed to share text, audio, and videos and hold conference calls. It requires an internet connection but Majid did not elaborate on measures that would restrict internet availability to just Pakistani officials — or possibly whoever else gets approval to use the app.

“Beep is safer than other messaging apps,” he said.
India
Landslides in Southern India Kill More Than 100 People (New York Times)
New York Times [7/30/2024 4:14 PM, Sameer Yasir and Anupreeta Das, 831K, Negative]
At least 108 people were killed and dozens more injured in the southern Indian state of Kerala after days of heavy rainfall set off multiple landslides in a hilly region, in what government officials called one of its worst natural disasters.

The landslides in the district of Wayanad — a region whose natural, rugged beauty draws millions of tourists every year — uprooted trees, knocked down communication lines, submerged roads and washed away a bridge. Rescue operations were hindered by the region’s terrain, which made it harder to reach hundreds of residents in the areas that were hit the hardest.

“This is one of the worst natural calamities Kerala has ever witnessed,” said Pinarayi Vijayan, the chief minister of Kerala, in a statement. Mr. Vijayan said the damage to homes and livelihoods was “immense,” adding that his government had set up relief camps for thousands of people affected.

The death toll rose throughout the day as rescue workers recovered more bodies from under debris, and the number was expected to rise as the search continued, according to government officials. More than 125 people were injured.

“We are fighting nature at its worst,” said Akhilesh Kumar, an official with India’s National Disaster Response Forces who was overseeing the rescue operation along with the Indian Army and firefighters.

In his statement, Mr. Vijayan said the government was sending tankers of drinking water and rations and setting up temporary hospitals. He said there were efforts underway to identify the dead even as search teams looked for other victims of the catastrophe.

Landslides triggered by heavy rains and flooding are common in India and other South Asian countries during the monsoon season, which runs from June to September. The rains, which are crucial for millions of farmers, often cause widespread damage.

Kerala is especially prone to landslides. The state recorded the highest number of landslides in India for the seven years ending in 2022, according to a government official at the time. In Wayanad, the first landslide struck at around 2 a.m. on Tuesday, followed by a second one at 4:10 a.m.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured the local authorities that the federal government would provide all possible assistance. “My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones and prayers with those injured,” Mr. Modi said in a post on social media.

Rahul Gandhi, the leader of India’s opposition, had previously represented Wayanad District in the Lok Sabha, or lower house of Parliament. He said on X that he was deeply anguished and that the “devastation unfolding in Wayanad is heartbreaking.”

On Tuesday, the state government declared a two-day mourning period, and said all public functions and celebrations had been postponed.

Extreme weather events leading to more frequent rains, combined with Kerala’s topography, have only exacerbated its problems, according to experts. In recent years, cyclones, severe flooding and torrential downpours have eroded more than 1,200 acres of its coastal land, displacing thousands of people.

“Rainfall and other natural disasters can be unpredictable, especially in the context of climate change,” Mr. Vijayan said. “Unexpected heavy rains, cloudbursts, and landslides are part of this unpredictability.”

With its waterfalls and wildlife parks, the Wayanad region is one of the biggest tourist destinations in Kerala, which bills itself as “God’s own country.” Every year, more than a million tourists visit the area. In 2023, the state recorded a surge of domestic tourists, with more than 20 million visitors, as travel returned after the Covid pandemic.
Landslides, heavy rains kill at least 116 in south India’s Kerala state (Washington Post)
Washington Post [7/30/2024 11:12 PM, Annabelle Timsit and Anant Gupta, 54755K, Negative]
Heavy rains caused several landslides in the southern Indian state of Kerala, killing at least 116 people, and rescue efforts were underway to help those feared trapped, authorities said.

Kerala Health Minister Veena George said that 116 bodies had been recovered. At least 176 people were also injured in the floods, which hit the Wayanad district of Kerala on Tuesday at the height of monsoon season, according to the office of District Magistrate Meghashree D.R.

Indian army, navy and air force personnel and helicopters joined the search-and-rescue efforts Tuesday amid a continuous downpour that destroyed whole villages in the hilly district. The office of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the “entire government machinery” was involved in overseeing and coordinating rescue operations.

Amal Kabeer, a civil officer with the Kerala police, said the death toll is expected to rise. Dozens of people are missing, local disaster officials said.

Images and videos circulating on social media showed submerged railway lines, highways blocked by boulders and mangled cars stuck in uprooted trees as muddy rainwater steadily flowed through the towns and villages of Wayanad, which is ordinarily a hub for tourism in the region.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on X he was “distressed by the landslides in parts of Wayanad. My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones and prayers with those injured.”

Latheef P.S., 36, a teacher in Wayanad who is volunteering with the search-and-rescue operation, told The Washington Post in a phone interview that finding people was difficult because bodies were carried up to 10 miles away by floodwater. He lives near the flood site and said his home is underwater.

“Since morning we are trying to rescue people and help retrieve bodies. But it is not easy,” he said.

Latheef said that more than 200 houses were washed away in the landslides and that there was no way to know how many people are missing. The area around Wayanad is known for its tea plantations, with many workers living in small settlements constructed on the tea-producing hills. “Most of these workers couldn’t get out to save themselves as it happened suddenly. Their houses are gone,” Latheef said.

“If we are not able to locate people by evening, the death toll will rise significantly,” he added.

The disaster — which hit a state where devastating landslides and floods in 2018 killed over 400 people and forced more than a million to evacuate — prompted warnings from opposition politicians in India about the rising risks from landslides.

“Our country has witnessed an alarming rise in landslides in recent years. The need of the hour is a comprehensive action plan to address the growing frequency of natural calamities in our ecologically fragile regions,” opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said Tuesday in Parliament.

Gandhi also demanded that the compensation announced by the Indian government — $2,400 each for the families of the victims and $600 for those injured in the floods and landslides — be increased and expedited.

Floods are not uncommon during Kerala’s southwest monsoon season, which typically lasts from June to September.

Tuesday’s rain washed away many bridges, cutting off smaller towns and villages from the state highway network and complicating rescue operations, local media reported. According to the Hindu newspaper, state government minister Krishnankutty Rajan said authorities were trying to airlift stranded villagers and rig another bridge to reach the village of Mundakkai, where many were feared to be stuck.

The India Meteorological Department said rains are expected to continue Tuesday in Wayanad, as well as in three adjacent districts in Kerala.
Rescuers search through mud and debris as deaths rise to 151 in landslides in southern India (AP)
AP [7/30/2024 10:29 PM, Ashok Sharma, 27296K, Neutral]
Hundreds of rescue workers searched through mud and debris Wednesday from multiple landslides that have killed at least 151 people in southern India, police said.

The multiple landslides occurred after torrential rains triggered torrents of mud and water that swept through tea estates and villages.

Another 186 people were injured by the landslides that hit hilly areas in Kerala state’s Wayanad district early Tuesday, flattening houses, uprooting trees and destroying bridge, said police officer Aijaz, who uses one name.

More than a dozen bodies were found overnight, Aijaz said, as over 300 rescuers worked to pull out people stuck under mud and debris, but their efforts were hampered by blocked roads and unstable terrain.

The first landslide occurred at 2 a.m. on Tuesday, followed by another two hours later. Several areas, including Meppadi, Mundakkai and Chooralmala, were isolated, and roads were washed away causing immense damage to homes, said Kerala’s top elected official, Pinarayi Vijayan.

“Efforts to locate missing persons continue with all available resources,” their statement said.

Mundakka is in an area highly prone to disasters. However, the gushing soil, gravel, and rock reached the town of Chooralmala, 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) away.

Vijayan said more than 3,000 people have been moved to relief camps. The government is ensuring the delivery of food and essential items to the relief camps.

Authorities sent vehicles carrying 20,000 liters of drinking water to the disaster area. Temporary hospitals are being set up, the statement said on Tuesday night.

Local media reported that most of the victims were tea estate workers. Television footage showed rescue workers making their way through mud and uprooted trees to reach those who had been stranded. Vehicles swept off the roads were seen stuck in a swollen river. Local TV news channels also aired phone calls of stranded people asking for help.

Authorities mobilized helicopters to help with rescue efforts and the Indian army was roped in to build a temporary bridge.

“We are trying every way to rescue our people,” state Health Minister Veena George said.

In a post on social media platform X, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “distressed by the landslides in parts of Wayanad,” a hilly district which is part of the Western Ghats mountain range.

“My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones and prayers with those injured,” Modi wrote. He announced compensation of 200,000 rupees ($2,388) to the victims’ families.

India’s weather department has put Kerala on alert as the state has been lashed by incessant rains. Downpours have disrupted life for many, and authorities closed schools in some parts Tuesday.

Kerala, one of India’s most popular tourist destinations, is prone to heavy rains, flooding and landslides. Nearly 500 people were killed in the state in 2018 in one of the worst floods.

The Indian Meteorological Department said the state has had heavy rainfall over its northern and central regions, with Wayanad district recording up to 28 centimeters (11 inches) of rain on Monday and Tuesday.

“Monsoon patterns are increasingly erratic and the quantum of rainfall that we receive in a short spell of time has increased. As a result, we see frequent instances of landslides and floods along the Western Ghats,” said Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.

Koll also said authorities must check on rapid construction activities happening over landslide areas.
Top US diplomat expects more Indian engagement with Ukraine (Reuters)
Reuters [7/30/2024 8:01 PM, Patricia Zengerle and David Brunnstrom, 42991K, Neutral]
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said on Tuesday he expects word soon that India is becoming more engaged with Ukraine, responding to a question at a Senate hearing over Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Moscow visit this month.

"I think we’re likely to hear news of India engaging more directly in Ukraine. I’m grateful for that. I think India wants to play a responsible role globally," Campbell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

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

Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlier this month just as a Russian missile attack struck a hospital in Kyiv and killed 44 people across the country, drawing international condemnation.

Indian media outlets have reported that Modi is likely to visit Ukraine in August, his first visit to the country since Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Asked about Campbell’s comments, India’s Washington embassy referred to a news briefing in Tokyo on Monday by Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, at which he said more needed to be done to encourage negotiations to end the Ukraine conflict and that India was one of the few countries that was in touch with both sides.

"We do believe we should be more active there," Jaishankar said, adding that Modi met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in Italy before his Moscow visit.

"I can reasonably expect there will be more contacts between us and Ukraine and between us and Russia as well," Jaishankar said, when asked about the possibility of Modi visiting Ukraine.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Jaishankar in Japan on Sunday and emphasized the importance of a "just and enduring peace" for Ukraine.

The 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 China.

New Delhi has resisted pressure to distance itself from Moscow since the invasion, citing its longstanding ties with Russia and its economic needs.

Campbell said he believed India was "probably the most important relationship for the United States to get right," noting the huge Indian diaspora and the desire of most Indians to have a better relationship with the U.S.

"The hardest things to keep in mind is that India is also a great power. It has its own beliefs, its own interests. They will never be a formal ally or partner in the United States, but it doesn’t mean that we cannot have the strongest of possible relationships as allied nations on the global stage," he said.
India, Canada Meet as Arrests May Point to Another Sikh Murder Plot (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [7/31/2024 1:57 AM, Laura Dhillon Kane and Sudhi Ranjan Sen, 5.5M, Negative]
Indian and Canadian intelligence officials have met multiple times to exchange information as more arrests come to light that may point to a previously unknown plot to kill a Sikh activist on North American soil.

Five men were arrested on firearms charges on Nov. 3, 2023, near Brampton, Ontario, a day before the son of a prominent member of the Sikh independence movement was to be married in the Toronto-area city. Several other well-known advocates, including New York-based lawyer Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, were set to attend.

Those arrested included Amandeep Singh, who was later charged in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Sikh leader killed in British Columbia in June 2023. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly accused India of directing the assassination, sparking a diplomatic row between the two countries.

Intelligence chiefs from India and Canada have recently met to share evidence, said people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified to discuss sensitive matters. The new information has prompted more staff to depart India’s external spy agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, the people said.

The departures point to a cleanup of India’s security regime and follow the earlier exit of an officer that India described as a rogue agent involved in a foiled scheme in New York to murder Pannun. The US is separately urging India to prosecute officials responsible and to reform its security setup.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. was first to report that five men were arrested a day before the Brampton wedding. The accused include Swaranpreet Singh, 21, Jobanpreet Singh, 21, and Maninder Singh, 22, whose lawyers did not return requests for comment. An attorney for the fifth man, Ramanpreet Singh, 30, could not be reached.

The five men have not been charged with conspiring to kill anyone at the wedding and the gun charges have not been proven in court. Police and prosecutors in Ontario declined to comment as the legal process is still unfolding.

Still, the timing of the arrests — involving two traffic stops that police say uncovered illegal guns and ammunition inside the men’s vehicles — and the fact that Pannun was expected to attend the event raise the possibility that he was a target.

Pannun ultimately declined the wedding invitation at the last minute. In an interview, he expressed frustration with Canadian authorities’ silence on the matter.

“By not uncovering or by not disclosing, they are letting the Indian agents operate with impunity in Canada. They feel there are no consequences for the crimes they are committing,” he said.

Last month, the accused intermediary in the alleged scheme to kill Pannun in New York, Nikhil Gupta, was extradited from the Czech Republic to the US to face charges.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has denied involvement in the murder plots. It had designated both Nijjar and Pannun as terrorists. Both men have long said they only used peaceful means to advocate for an independent Sikh homeland known as Khalistan.

Even as relations remain fraught, there are signs of increased security exchanges between Canada and India. Intelligence chiefs from the nations held at least two meetings in a third country to share information, while Canada’s national security adviser has had a series of discussions with India’s high commissioner in Ottawa, people familiar said.

The Canadian government declined to comment in detail due to to the ongoing court case involving Nijjar’s murder. Four Indian nationals, including Amandeep Singh, have been charged in his death. But it confirmed that the national security adviser and director of the Canadian spy agency have both separately met with Indian officials and will continue to do so.

“Canada is a rule of law country and the protection of our citizens is fundamental. Canada has consistently called on India to work with Canadian authorities on this investigation,” said Jean-Sébastien Comeau, spokesman for Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, in a statement.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs didn’t respond to an email seeking comment. Last week, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry accused Canada of adopting “different yardsticks” to implement the law after police arrested two men over online threats against Trudeau.

“We expect Canada to take action against anti-India elements who have repeatedly threatened Indian leaders, institutions, airlines and diplomats by violence,” said Randhir Jaiswal.
American woman found chained to tree and left to die in India forest with chilling note (New York Post)
New York Post [7/30/2024 3:32 PM, Isabel Keane, 60169K, Negative]
A painfully frail-looking American woman was found chained to a tree in an Indian forest — claiming her husband left her to die there without food for 40 days.

Lalita Kayi, 50, was found chained up in a dense forest in the Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra by a shepherd who heard her cries for help Saturday night, according to NDTV.

She was taken to Goa Medical College for specialized therapy, where she was too weak to speak.

However, she scribbled a note in English saying she had gone “40 days without food in the forest” after her “husband tied” her to a tree with an iron chain.

Authorities believe that the woman — who also wrote of suffering “extreme psychosis” — suffers from mental health issues, NDTV said. Medications for such issues were found on her.

Still, police opened an investigation into possible attempted murder by her estranged husband, who was not identified.

“Police are also trying to verify if the woman’s claim that she was chained by her former husband was genuine. We are verifying every claim and information in the note written by her,” Police Superintendent Saurabh Agrawal told the outlet.

Kayi was found with an American passport — as well as an expired visa that suggested she had lived in India for 10 years, the outlet said. It was not clear where in America she was originally from.

Other documents suggested she had been living with her husband in Tamil Nadu.

She has not been able to provide authorities with an official statement due to her weakened state.

“When we discovered her, she was seriously dehydrated. It appears that she was stuck there for a minimum of 48 hours. Although she was mute,” said Amol Chavan, an inspector at Sawantwadi Police Station and member of the squad who located her.

Police had to chop down the tree and break the lock holding the woman captive, according to Chavan.

Officials have yet to confirm just how long Kumar was left tied to the tree, but the area she was in had recently experienced a heavy bout of rain.
Riding With a Trucker, Witnessing India’s Past and Potential (New York Times)
New York Times [7/30/2024 4:14 PM, Peter S. Goodman and Hari Kumar, 831K, Neutral]
Ragib Khan is a man of impeccable patience. On a sweltering morning at a truck yard in the northern Indian state of Haryana, he climbed into the cab of his 10-wheel tractor-trailer, started the engine and rumbled slowly onto the highway. Over the day, he clung to the slow lane, never exceeding 35 miles an hour, while keeping watch for hazards: animals wandering the road, motorbikes darting in front and holes in the pavement large enough to swallow an axle.

Mr. Khan, 49, is a driver for Chetak Logistics, a major Indian trucking company. He was starting a weeklong journey hauling eight Suzuki cars freshly produced at a nearby factory to a distribution center more than 1,300 miles away in Bengaluru, in the south of the country. He stopped every couple of hours at roadside tea stands and restaurants, devouring snacks and chatting with other truck drivers.

“I drive in a very leisurely manner,” Mr. Khan said. “I don’t mind spending extra time. Half the month, we are on the road. What’s the hurry?”

For those who earn their living navigating the unpredictable highways of India, Mr. Khan was voicing an unimpeachably sensible mantra. Yet for India as a whole, now focused on lifting its fortunes by boosting exports, the frequently slow pace of moving goods from factories to ports presents a major impediment to those national aspirations.

As trade animosities flare between the United States and China, and as multinational retailers absorb the lessons of the supply chain disruptions that accompanied the pandemic, businesses are reconsidering their traditional reliance on Chinese factories to make their products. That effort is gaining momentum as retailers take heed of the growing possibility that Donald J. Trump will return to the White House next year, promising 60 percent tariffs on imports from China.

In search of alternative suppliers, many companies are looking to India. At least on paper, it stands as the one nation large enough to develop a comprehensive supply chain for parts and raw materials that might eventually come close to replicating China’s.

Among the many reasons for skepticism is the reality we saw through Mr. Khan’s windshield. Every stretch of the trip was accompanied by the unrelenting prospect of an accident, or construction, or some other unforeseen situation that demands caution.

“Indian roads are full of surprises,” Mr. Khan said. “You have to be very careful.”

To a considerable extent, this situation has already been improved as the government — led by Narendra Modi, who in June started his third five-year term as prime minister — pursues an infrastructure build-out focused on improving highways, rail connections and airports.

“India has changed on the ground, but the perception has to change,” said Amitabh Kant, a senior government official who is close to Mr. Modi, and the author of “Made in India,” a book about the nation’s industrial reach. “Logistics costs are falling very sharply.”

So intense is the pace of construction that India has been gaining 17 miles of fresh highway per day, Mr. Kant said. Over the last decade, the national highway system has expanded 60 percent, according to government data, while the length of four-lane highways has nearly tripled.

“The road network has improved,” said Amitabh Kharbanda, director of Sunlord, a factory in the city of Greater Noida, south of Delhi. Six years ago, it took four days to haul a container from his factory to Mundra, a major container port in the state of Gujarat. Today, the same journey is often completed in less than half that time.

The digitization of tax payments and inspection forms has greatly eased the passage of cargo at state borders.

The government has also focused on expanding the capacity of rail to move cargo. Traditionally, passenger traffic has been prioritized in India. Freight trains must frequently pull off main tracks and wait for passenger cars to pass.

To ease the movement of cargo, the government is building dedicated freight corridors, laying new tracks for the sole purpose of hauling goods, including a link from Delhi to Mumbai that is mostly completed.

Some assert that the building binge reflects an undisciplined reach for scale, rather than a deliberative process of linking industrial centers in a thoughtful way.

“You have created highways, but highways to nowhere don’t make sense,” said Rayaprolu Nagaraj, an economist at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research in Mumbai. “Unless they cater to the local needs of specific industrial clusters, going from Point A to Point B is no good.”

As modern highways replace rutted roads, gas stations are increasingly clean and efficient, but facilities for drivers to get rest are minimal — a source of worry among those in the industry. Mr. Khan and his assistant driver, his nephew, Mustak Khan, typically pull off to the side of the road and slide into bunks in the back of their cab, dozing off amid a cacophony of blaring horns and roaring engines.

“There’s no proper rest areas,” said Sachin JKS haritasH, director of Mr. Khan’s employer, Chetak Logistics. “Drivers cannot get good quality sleep.”

The gap between India’s state of infrastructure and that of other large Asian economies remains significant.

On a scale of one to five, India’s overall capacity to move goods for international trade is rated 3.4, according to an index that is compiled by the World Bank and is based on a survey of companies that manage cargo shipments. That is ahead of Vietnam (3.3) and Indonesia (3.0), but behind Thailand (3.5), Malaysia (3.6), China (3.7) and South Korea (3.8).

On infrastructure specifically, India is rated only 3.2, compared with 3.7 in Thailand, 4.0 in China and 4.1 in South Korea.

As Mr. Khan guided his truck southeast down National Highway 8, his halting pace was guided by his knowledge of the perils absorbed over three decades behind the wheel.

He slowed his truck as a child edged toward his lane, preparing to cross the highway, and again as a slender cow stepped into traffic. He tapped the brakes as a herd of goats pivoted unexpectedly toward his path.

“There are multiple accidents taking place because of these animals,” he said. “Sometimes, you’re trying to save the animals, and then you wind up hitting somebody else.” This, he added, has never happened to him, but he has seen it.

The highway was three lanes in some places, two in others, and frequently not demarcated at all, leaving vehicles jockeying for space.

He stopped at every overpass and bridge, anticipating the bumps and potholes as his trailer shuddered. He steered around tractors and mounds of earth piled on the pavement at construction sites. He took note of the men repairing tires on the side of the road, near the rusted carcasses of misshapen truck cabs — testaments to the circumstances that halt many journeys.

Mr. Khan’s cab lacks air-conditioning despite heat that regularly exceeds 100 degrees. As the industrial landscape south of Delhi gave way to a flat spread of agricultural land, the horizons receded into pale clouds of dust. Mr. Khan kept his windows open. The cab filled with the pungent smell of diesel fuel mixed with animal manure, sewage and smoke wafting off garbage dumps along the highway.

Every momentary breeze was like a gift from the heavens.

As the miles rolled past, Mr. Khan contemplated what he was missing back home in Uttar Pradesh, where his wife was raising their children without him.

“Sometimes, we miss even family marriages, births, deaths,” he said. “We feel lonely.”

Some elements of his job have clearly changed for the better. He no longer has to travel with wads of cash, which made him susceptible to robbery, because his company supplies him with vouchers that can be used at gas stations for fuel.

His employer pays him via debit card. And he moves through tolls without having to stop thanks to a device attached to his windshield that allows him to make payments digitally.

The taxes that must be paid to transport cargo across state borders are now handled in advance, eliminating the checkpoints that used to tie up traffic for hours. As he crossed into the state of Rajasthan just after noon, the heat fierce and still building, he did not have to slow down.

“Driving has become a bit easier,” Mr. Khan said.

He stopped for a roadside lunch of lentils, okra and chapatis, washed down by buttermilk. He was halfway to his resting point south of Jaipur, a city in Rajasthan.

He washed his hands at a sink in front of the restaurant and walked slowly across the sun-baked earth to his vehicle. Whatever his pace, the destination would be waiting for him, another day unfolding like the one before it.

“We don’t get any advantage by driving fast,” he said.
How a Sugar Industry Stamp of Approval Hid Coerced Hysterectomies (New York Times)
New York Times [7/30/2024 4:14 PM, Megha Rajagopalan, 831K, Negative]
Bags of sugar that leave the Dalmia Bharat Sugar mill in the western Indian city of Kolhapur come with an industry guarantee: It was harvested humanely, in fields free of child labor, debt bondage and abuse.

None of that is true.

The mill is certified by a group called Bonsucro, which sets the industry standard for sugar production. Brands including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Unilever and General Mills use the Bonsucro name to reassure customers that their supply chains demonstrate “respect for human rights,” even in places where abuses are widespread, like the region around the Dalmia mill.

But a New York Times investigation found that Bonsucro’s inspections were all but guaranteed not to find problems. Internal documents and interviews with sugar mill executives, experts and Bonsucro contractors show that mills retain tremendous control over what auditors see and whom they can talk to. The audits are carried out hurriedly — from the mill to the farms in a matter of days — and the details are kept secret, which prevents public second-guessing.

Even the auditor who said she inspected the Dalmia mill said turning up problems was extremely rare.

“I’ve been auditing for the last two years, and I have not found any violations,” said Swapnali Hirve, who said she also inspected a mill owned by NSL Sugars. Both mills are in the state of Maharashtra.

But women who cut sugar cane that ends up in these mills work in brutal conditions. In interviews, they told us that they were pushed into underage marriages so that they could cut sugar with their husbands. They were locked into years of debt by sugar mill contractors. Some, like thousands of other working-age women in this region, said they felt pressured to get unneeded hysterectomies to resolve common ailments like painful periods and keep working in the fields.

One woman we talked to said that a contractor for the NSL mill even lent her the money for the surgery.

Yet Bonsucro certified the Dalmia mill. Two framed certificates, bearing Bonsucro’s olive green logo, hung in the factory’s back room during a visit last fall. NSL’s mill also passed its inspections and is in the process of being certified, mill executives said last year.

The audits are particularly notable because Bonsucro was warned years ago about debt bondage and child labor in India, records show. And Bonsucro’s chief executive, Danielle Morley, said in an interview that she knew about the unusually high rate of hysterectomies among sugar cane cutters in Maharashtra — even before a Times investigation in March.

Ms. Morley said that inspectors were never specifically told to look for evidence of coerced hysterectomies but will be from now on. “Going forward,” she said, “that’s what we’ve committed to.”

But she said the problem had deep social and economic roots that Bonsucro alone could not solve.

Bonsucro engages in what is known as social auditing, an inspection process that certifies many products that people consume or wear — especially those with labels like “sustainably produced.” Sometimes companies do the auditing themselves. Often, they outsource it to one of a niche industry of firms.

Human rights groups have argued for years that social auditing paints over abuses. And scholars have questioned whether groups like Bonsucro improve labor conditions.

“The question you need to ask is, what is the ultimate purpose of these organizations?” said Philip Schleifer, a professor at the University of Amsterdam who has researched Bonsucro. “Is it really to address problems, or to serve powerful companies?”

In Maharashtra, human rights problems persist in part because practically everybody says they are someone else’s responsibility. Factory owners blame the middlemen contractors who hire the laborers. Dalmia and NSL executives, for example, say that they do not directly employ the laborers, do not dictate the working conditions in the fields and see hysterectomies as a wider issue unrelated to the industry.

Contractors, in turn, say the factories are responsible. Big sugar-buying companies — both Indian and international — say it is tough to monitor farms. And consumers often have no idea about the origins of the sugar in the products they buy.

Bonsucro was meant to help fix that. Instead, its inspections have sent a false message that sugar mills that profit off abusive labor are actually problem-free.

In Maharashtra, hysterectomies are an extreme yet common consequence of this abusive system. Sleeping on the ground, giving birth in the fields and forgoing doctor visits can cause a host of gynecological problems. Faced with the misery of menstruating in 100-degree heat without running water or shelter, many women have hysterectomies to end their periods or to treat routine health conditions. Removing a uterus and ovaries can have lasting health consequences, especially for a working-age woman.

“My working conditions in the sugar cane fields led me to have a hysterectomy,” said Anita Bhaisahab Waghmare, a sugar cane cutter in her 40s who said she had worked since she was 13 for a contractor for the Bonsucro-certified Dalmia mill.

Auditors, though, say they have too few chances to speak to workers like Ms. Waghmare. The inspection process is highly stage-managed. Factory executives say they tell inspectors which farms they can visit — and choose only the best.

Bonsucro employs 30 people, many of whom operate from a London co-working space. Contractors carry out Bonsucro inspections, which are typically paid for by the factories themselves.

“We’re trying to do the right thing in a difficult sector with relatively limited resources,” Ms. Morley said.

Bonsucro said that Dalmia was vetted under an old standard. Only some fields were audited and, while the factory itself was certified, only some of its sugar qualifies. When the factory is recertified, Bonsucro will look at its supply chain more broadly.

Even after a Times investigation linked both Dalmia and NSL to labor abuses, Bonsucro did not sever ties with either company. Ms. Morley said Bonsucro was in discussions with the companies about the reported abuse.

But in the supply chains of the two mills that were inspected, she said, auditors saw no evidence of it.

How Did This Happen?

Bonsucro was formed in the mid-2000s at a critical moment.

Brands like Nike had faced boycotts over child sweatshop labor. Oil companies were under fire for pollution. Western companies faced the possibility of government regulation at home over labor and environmental practices abroad.

Sugar had not come under particular scrutiny, but it was widely known as one of the world’s most exploitative industries, involving a water-guzzling crop that requires backbreaking labor to harvest. Sugar cane farming conjured images of the cruelty of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Other industries had developed an answer to this threat of regulation. They embraced social auditing and formed certification bodies to inspect supply chains and hold companies to a standard.

For companies, it was a win-win. It allowed them, not governments, to set standards. And it signaled to the public that they worked with clean factories and humane suppliers.

While most advocacy groups preferred government regulation, a few embraced this model. Passing laws is hard. Better, they figured, to get companies to change on their own.

That is how Bonsucro began, as a mix of nonprofit groups and big sugar buyers: the World Wildlife Fund, Coca-Cola, Cargill and others.

WWF got involved as part of its broader ecological mission because sugar consumes so much water. Its participation was novel for an environmental group, Professor Schleifer said. “Earlier, there was a focus on more confrontational tactics, like boycotts,” he said.

In a 2004 internal memo that we reviewed, Jason Clay, of WWF said that a certification program would provide needed oversight. “My assessment was, we would never get governments to set regulations,” Mr. Clay said in an interview. “But we could get companies to.”

The case for social auditing assumes that consumers will pay a premium for green, humanely made products. Customers seem willing, for instance, to pay a little more for products like coffee that are stamped with the Fairtrade logo.

Sugar is different. Sugar from a variety of sources gets mixed together before it arrives on grocery store shelves. And consumers do not necessarily drive sales of sugar. Big companies like Tate & Lyle, Coca-Cola and Unilever do.

And according to sugar mill owners and others involved with Bonsucro, big companies were rarely willing to pay a premium for certified sugar.

That conflict lies at the heart of Bonsucro. Its seal of approval carries little value with customers. So sugar mills have little financial incentive to improve their practices to seek certification.

“It sounds like a minor difference,” one former Bonsucro member said. “But it’s huge.”

‘This Isn’t the Real Scenario’
Bonsucro focused first on Latin America, where a few dominant players often control much of the sugar cane harvest. That made audits relatively straightforward.

India, the world’s second-largest sugar producer, was more complicated. Each mill buys from thousands of farms, all of which would need to be audited to truly certify a supply chain.

“Organizing the smallholder farmer world in relation to migrant workers is beyond what Bonsucro can solve,” said Jeroen Douglas, a sustainability activist who was involved in the discussions around Bonsucro’s founding.

When auditors arrive in Maharashtra, they face a daunting question: Which farms should they inspect?

NSL Sugars, for example, buys from thousands of farms, said A. Arulappan, a company executive. When Ms. Hirve, the auditor, arrived, the company provided her with a list to choose from.

“We select good, progressive farmers, with loyalty to our unit,” Mr. Arulappan said in an interview.

Ms. Hirve, who conducted Bonsucro audits on behalf of the firm Control Union, acknowledged starting with what the mills give her. “They submit a farmer list,” she said. “During the audit, we choose the sample randomly.”

Ms. Morley, the Bonsucro chief executive, said she was surprised to hear that mill executives handpicked the farms. She called it “problematic.”

Sugar mill officials then accompany auditors to farms, Mr. Arulappan said. But auditors rarely speak to sugar cane cutting laborers, a Dalmia executive, S. Rangaprasad, said.

That oversight gap is significant because records show that Bonsucro was warned years ago that its inspections were insufficient at spotting abuses that were known to be rampant in India.

In 2018, Bonsucro commissioned a team of Columbia University graduate students to evaluate its effectiveness. The students focused on India. Before they left, they read local news and researched the Maharashtra sugar industry. They knew they were heading into a system that could be deeply harmful to workers.

When they arrived, though, they encountered many of the same obstacles that supply chain auditors face while inspecting sugar mills.

Sugar mill owners gave the Columbia team lengthy interviews but tightly restricted their access to the fields and workers.

“They planned it very strategically to make sure we did not reach the farmers directly,” said Priya Patil, an auditor who worked as an interpreter for the project. “There were moments where I felt like, ‘This isn’t the real scenario.’”

In 2019, a local government report revealed what those conversations might have yielded. Researchers surveyed 82,000 female sugar cane workers and documented abuses including debt bondage and child labor. About one in five women had undergone hysterectomies.

The Columbia team released its report that same year. It noted a series of risks — child labor, debt bondage and gender discrimination — but said that the researchers had been so tightly controlled that they could not study them.

In some cases, the researchers wrote, Bonsucro’s oversight system was unlikely to catch these abuses either. Because none of the audit details are public, nobody could know for sure. “These concerns underscore the weaknesses of social auditing,” they wrote.

Bonsucro does not make audit details public, Ms. Morley said, because companies would have to agree to it. “Everything that we do has to be discussed and negotiated and agreed upon by all of our members.”

She concedes that social auditing is flawed and can miss serious problems. “The challenges are quite well documented,” she said. But she said that Bonsucro was helping to change the industry by pushing for companies to improve their practices.

“The sugar cane sector is going on a journey of improvement,” she said. “But it does come from a fairly low base line.”
NSB
After Protest Crackdown, Bangladesh Accuses Tens of Thousands of Crimes (New York Times)
New York Times [7/30/2024 4:14 PM, Mujib Mashal and Saif Hasnat, 831K, Negative]
The authorities in Bangladesh have opened investigations against tens of thousands of people in recent weeks as security forces combed through neighborhoods as part of their deadly crackdown on a student protest that had spiraled into violence.

The widening legal net, confirmed in interviews with police officials and a review of records, comes as arrests surpassed 10,000 since the crackdown on protesters began two weeks ago. Charges range from vandalism and arson to theft, trespassing and damage of state property. In many of the cases, sections of the law that allow long-term detention were invoked.

“This is a witch hunt,” said Smriti Singh, the regional director for South Asia at Amnesty International.

The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has blamed opposition parties, mainly the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami, for the deadly turn in a previously peaceful protest against a quota-based system for distributing sought-after government jobs. Conservative estimates put the death toll at more than 200, mostly students and youths.

Activists, analysts and diplomats say the movement escalated into chaos after the ruling party, having dismissed the students’ demands, unleashed its violent youth wing and a wide array of security forces.

The new detentions and the sweep for more arrests are meant to prevent any regrouping. Many of the student leaders have been detained, some repeatedly. But the crackdown also follows a well-established tactic under Ms. Hasina’s 15-year rule: using every opportunity to crush her political opponents by rounding up their leaders and dismantling their mobilization.

“We see ‘block raids,’ knocking on doors in the dead of night, asking if there are students inside. If there are, they check their phones. They do this on the streets, too,” Z.I. Khan Panna, a veteran supreme court lawyer and rights activist, told reporters on Monday. “In Bangladesh, in this age of information technology, anyone can check my phone, my diary, my pants. No one should have this right.”

Tallies by Bangladeshi newspapers have put the number of arrested at more than 10,000 and the number of accused of various crimes around the country at more than 200,000. More than 2,800 people had been arrested in the past two weeks in Dhaka alone as of Monday, police officials confirmed to The New York Times.

Many of the more than 240 cases filed in Dhaka also have a feature used often in Bangladesh in recent years: large numbers of unidentified people, accused en masse.

In Badda, a township in the north of Dhaka home to many universities, the police said they had filed 10 cases, with 8,000 to 10,000 people accused in each case. In the Mohammadpur area, the police had filed 12 cases, each with 3,000 to 4,000 people being accused. In Lalbagh, the number of accused was 9,000-10,000 and in Mirpur 8,000-9,000, according to police files.

The opening of such cases, coupled with flimsy evidence and an overzealous police force, are practices widely used in recent years by Ms. Hasina’s government, activists and analysts say. As she tried to cripple her opposition ahead of elections last year, in which she steamrolled to a fourth consecutive term, thousands were arrested in similar cases. The tactic was also used to quell protests seeking better pay from the garment industry, a key driver of the Bangladesh economy.

In many of the cases, the courts provide the accused some relief later, with the accusations falling apart because of a lack of evidence. But the accused still end up spending weeks, if not months, in jail, and long remain entangled in legal requirements and hearings that effectively sideline them from political work.

In recent days, as the communication blackout and curfew have been relaxed, Ms. Hasina’s administration has mixed optics of reconciliation with promises of punishment.

She announced Tuesday as a day of mourning, and met with families of victims of the protest violence. But the universities remain shut and the student leaders and political opponents are being detained around the country. The government has also announced that it would ban Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamist party.

“Instead of taking steps like ordering investigations into violations by the security forces to end the violence,” Ms. Singh said, “the Bangladesh government seems to be going to extreme extents to suppress dissent with a complete disregard to rule of law and due process.”
Bangladesh mourns some 200 deaths as student protests wind down and thousands are arrested (AP)
AP [7/30/2024 2:47 PM, Julhas Alam, 26386K, Negative]
Bangladesh observed a day of mourning Tuesday in memory of more than 200 people killed in recent weeks during violence that evolved from student protests over the South Asian country’s quota system for government jobs.

After weeks of peaceful protests by students looking to change the system — which reserves 30% of government jobs for families of veterans and freedom fighters during the war of independence against Pakistan in 1971 — violence erupted on July 15 when activists of a student wing of the ruling party attacked demonstrators. Security officials opened fire, using tear gas and rubber bullets to try to quell the violence.

The quota protests posed the most serious challenge to Bangladesh’s government since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina won a fourth consecutive term in January elections that the main opposition groups boycotted.

The ruling Awami League party and opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party have often accused each other of fueling political chaos and violence, most recently ahead of the election, which was marred by a crackdown on several opposition figures.

Government officials — including those at the Bangladesh Secretariat, the top office containing most of the country’s ministers and bureaucrats — wore black badges Tuesday to mourn those killed in the violence.

Bangladesh is slowly crawling back to normalcy with the strict curfew being relaxed in recent days. Authorities also asked all mosques, temples and other religious installations to organize special prayers Tuesday for the dead.

Later Tuesday, Hasina visited a state-run hospital in the capital of Dhaka, where many of the injured were being treated. She asked hospital authorities to ensure the best possible care.

Also on Tuesday, members of 31 cultural groups tried to hold a procession in downtown Dhaka, condemning the deaths in the violence but police blocked it. No violence was reported as singers and other activists sat down on the street and continued the protests peacefully amid a tight police cordon.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan put the overall death toll at 150, while the country’s leading Bengali-language daily, Prothom Alo, said 211 people have been killed since the violence erupted on July 15 while thousands of others have been injured.

Media reports said about 10,000 people have been arrested over the past two weeks in relation to clashes at protests and other attacks on state properties. Rights groups have called for an end to arbitrary arrests, and critics accused the government of using excessive force to tamp down the violence.

“The mass arrest and arbitrary detention of student protesters is a witch hunt by the authorities to silence anyone who dares to challenge the government and is a tool to further perpetuate a climate of fear,” Smriti Singh, regional director for South Asia at Amnesty International, said in a statement Monday.

“Reports suggest that these arrests are entirely politically motivated, in retaliation for the exercise of human rights,” Singh said.

The government has defended its position, saying that the arrests were being made on specific charges, and reviewing CCTV footage and on the basis of evidence.

Six of the protest coordinators being held in custody by the Detective Branch of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police released a statement calling off the protests, but other demonstrators rejected the video statement, claiming it was coerced.

They say they will protest until all their demands are met, including a public apology from Hasina, the prime minister.

Police said the six coordinators were taken into custody for their safety, and their families met them on Monday. A video was posted showing the six having a meal with the head of the Detective Branch in Dhaka, Harun-or-Rashid.

Rights activists have demanded the six be released so that they can return to their families.

The protesters have no single leader, though the movement has a number of coordinators across the country. A news release attributed to one coordinator, Abdul Hannan Masooud, called for protests Wednesday at educational institutions, courts and major roads. The release could not be verified independently.

Also Tuesday, Bangladesh’s Law Minister Anisul Huq said that the government would ban the right wing Jamaat-e-Islami party and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir. Hasina and several other Cabinet ministers have accused the party and its student wing of playing a role in the violence during the student protests.

Huq said the ruling Awami League-led 14-party alliance had decided that the Jamaat-e-Islami party and its student wing should be officially banned on Wednesday. Details of the ban were not immediately clarified.

The party was a governing partner of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party under former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, Hasina’s arch rival, in 2001-2006. The party had actively campaigned in favor of Pakistan’s military and against the creation of independent Bangladesh in 1971.

Protesters have said the 30% quota was discriminatory and benefited supporters of Hasina, whose Awami League party led the independence movement, and urging that it be replaced by a merit-based system.

On July 21, the Supreme Court ordered that the 1971 war veterans’ quota be cut to 5%. Of the remainder, 93% of civil service jobs would be merit-based, while the remaining 2% would be reserved for members of ethnic minorities, transgender people and those with disabilities. Two days later, the government accepted the ruling and pledged to execute the decision.

The status of the 1971 war veterans remains a charged issue in Bangladesh as the quota had also applied to women raped by Pakistani soldiers and their collaborators during the war for independence — and their children. These women have been recognized as “freedom fighters” for the ordeal they suffered. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina’s father, is the independence leader of Bangladesh.

Both broadband and mobile data services were restored Tuesday after a dayslong internet blackout, but social media platforms including Facebook remained blocked. Banks and offices opened under a relaxed curfew. Schools and other educational institutions were closed with no opening date yet set as police continued to grapple with protesters.
Bangladesh set to ban top Islamic party after deadly jobs protests (Reuters)
Reuters [7/31/2024 4:05 AM, Ruma Paul and Sudipto Ganguly, 5.2M, Neutral]
Bangladesh is set to ban on Wednesday the main Islamic party and its student wing, which the government blames for violence this month that killed 150 people during student-led protests against reservations in government jobs.

The move, decried as "unconstitutional and illegal" by the party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, comes after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina blamed it and the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for violence that forced her to impose curfew.

The ban is to be adopted through an executive order on Wednesday, Anisul Huq, the minister for law, justice and parliamentary affairs, told Reuters.

"For the sake of the country the decision has been made," Huq added.

In a statement, Jamaat condemned the Awami League-led ruling alliance’s decision as "illegal, extrajudicial and unconstitutional", but did not say how it would respond.

"Using state machinery, they are playing a blame game against Jamaat and other opposition parties," said Shafiqur Rahman, chief of the party, which, along with the opposition, had denied the government’s statement that they stoked violence.

Jamaat was effectively banned from contesting elections by a 2013 court decision that its registration as a political party conflicted with the South Asian nation’s secular constitution.

Bangladesh shut down the internet and sent the army to enforce a nationwide curfew as the demonstrations spread after they began in universities and colleges in June.

Thousands were injured as security forces fired rubber bullets, tear gas and lobbed sound grenades to disperse tens of thousands of protesters who flooded into the streets.

The violence was the biggest test Hasina, 76, has faced since winning a fourth straight term in elections in January that were boycotted by BNP and also marred by deadly protests.

She first led her party to victory in elections in 1996, serving one five-year term before regaining power in 2009, never to lose again.

Rights groups and critics say Hasina has become increasingly autocratic during her last 15 years in power, marked by arrests of political opponents and activists, forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, charges she denies.

The United Nations, global rights groups, the United States and Britain criticised Dhaka’s use of force against the demonstrators, asking it to uphold the right to peaceful protest.

Members of the Students Against Discrimination group, who had agreed to call off their agitation after the Supreme Court scrapped most quotas on July 21, said they would march on Wednesday to protest recent deaths, arrests, and intimidation.

Rights groups have condemned authorities for arrests of close to 10,000 people over the past two weeks on charges of involvement in clashes and destroying state property.

"We will also demand a United Nations investigation into the violence," Mohammad Mahin Sarkar, a co-ordinator of the movement for quota reform, said in a statement.

In response, Huq said Dhaka had set up a judicial inquiry to investigate thoroughly.

Experts have blamed the unrest on stagnant job growth in the private sector and high rates of youth unemployment that have made government jobs more attractive at a time when inflation is running around 10%.
Bangladesh faces growing criticism for violent crackdown on students (VOA)
VOA [7/31/2024 1:22 AM, Shaikh Azizur Rahman, 4M, Negative]
International pressure is mounting on Bangladesh to end its violent crackdown on protesting students after scores of video clips and photos surfaced on social media over the past week showing police, army and paramilitary forces firing directly upon the protesters.

The United Nations, European Union and Amnesty International are among those that have called on the Dhaka government to ease up on the students, who have been demanding an end to quotas for government jobs that would limit their employment prospects.

University teachers have joined in the protests, which began after a July 1 High Court ruling re-establishing the quotas, and analysts say the students are enjoying broad support from ordinary citizens.

According to the quota system, 30% of civil service jobs – considered the steadiest job option for young Bangladeshis in a country facing high unemployment – would be reserved for the grandchildren of those who fought against Pakistan in Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War.

The students are demanding a merit-based system of job allocation. However, what started as a nonviolent protest turned violent after police fired bullets, pellets and tear gas at unarmed students.

According to reports by police and hospitals, more than 200 people died in the violence between July 16 and 22. Many deaths remain unregistered with bodies not reaching hospitals and police stations. Unofficial figures have put the death toll between 300 and 500.

Last week, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina blamed the Bangladesh Nationalist Party [BNP], the largest opposition party in the country, for the unrest. She said that she had ordered the deployment of police, paramilitary and army “to protect the students” but called the protesters “militants.”

Hasina, in office since 2009, has been accused of authoritarianism and corruption. Her party has been accused of rigging the last three general elections, a charge that the party denies.

On July 21, the Supreme Court scrapped most of the quotas and ruled that 93% of government jobs would now be open to candidates on merit, meeting a key demand of the protesters.

However, members of Students Against Discrimination [SAD], whose campaign against job quotas precipitated the unrest, said that the protests would continue until their latest set of demands is met.

A statement from SAD said on Monday that four ministers, including the home and law ministers, must be removed from the Cabinet. They also demanded that the police and pro-ruling party “goons” who fired on the students be arrested and prosecuted for “murdering” unarmed protesters.

In response, the government began arresting student leaders and opposition political activists.

One Dhaka-based rights group, which asked not to be identified for fear of official retaliation, said more than 10,000 people, mostly students, have been arrested over the past few days.

The police have already detained at least 10 of the more than 50 SAD coordinators who are leading the protest. One of the coordinators, who was released from police custody briefly before being detained again, said they were tortured in custody and pressured to call off the protests.

Several student leaders and rights activists said on Tuesday that the police, with the help of the army and paramilitary force, were conducting raids across the country and detaining students. The government is trying its best to demoralize the students and sabotage their protest movement, they said.

"Every night they are conducting block raids and picking up students and young people who took part in the uprising,” said a Bangladesh-based rights activist, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal from the government.

“Many of them have become traceless, which means they have become victims of enforced disappearances,” the activist told VOA. “The detained activists are being tortured in custody in the name of remand. This is how the judiciary is collaborating in torturing the students and young activists by sending them in for remand and by denying them bail.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called attention Monday to the reported mass arrests of thousands of students and political opposition members. U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Guterres was “deeply concerned about the situation in Bangladesh.”

“We continue to raise our concerns about the situation in the country with relevant authorities, both in the capital, Dhaka, and here in New York, and we count on Bangladesh to respect and uphold human rights, including as a top troop-contributing country to United Nations peacekeeping missions,” Dujarric said.

Smriti Singh, the regional director for South Asia at Amnesty International, said in a statement Monday that the mass arrest and arbitrary detention of student protesters was a “witch hunt by the authorities to silence anyone who dares to challenge the government.”

“Reports suggest that these arrests are entirely politically motivated, in retaliation for the exercise of human rights,” Singh said.

VOA reached out to the Home Ministry of Bangladesh for a response to the international criticism but has not yet received a response.

Ali Riaz, political analyst and professor of political science at Illinois State University, said the underlying cause of the upheaval is the “sense of disenfranchisement among people, both economic and political.”

“A large number of people are facing dire economic situation while those connected to the regime are plundering and siphoning off money to other countries. On the political front, three consecutive fraudulent elections have left no opportunity for them to participate in politics,” Riaz told VOA. “This is an outburst of these discontents which have transformed the movement.”
What’s behind India’s uneasy silence on Bangladesh riots? (Deutsche Welle)
Deutsche Welle [7/30/2024 9:37 AM, Murali Krishnan, 15592K, Negative]
Student groups in Bangladesh have called for fresh street protests after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government failed to meet their demand for releasing detained leaders and apologizing for the recent violence. The government puts the death tally at 150 as of this week, while media speaks of over 200 deaths in the clashes that came to articulate displeasure with Hasina’s 16-year rule.

India has been keeping a close eye on the unrest in Bangladesh, which is both a neighbouring country and one of New Delhi’s closest allies. It is also a temporary home for thousands of Indian students.

But New Delhi was careful not to rock the boat.

"India considers the ongoing situation in the country to be an internal matter of Bangladesh. With the support and cooperation of the Bangladesh government, we were able to arrange for the safe return of our students," the foreign office spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a weekly press briefing.

Around 6,700 Indian students have returned from Bangladesh amid the violent clashes in the country.

"Being a close neighbour with whom we share very warm and friendly ties, we are hopeful that the situation in the country would return to normal soon," Jaiswal added.

Bangladesh key to security, trade, diplomacy

For India, returning to normal means having Hasina firmly in power, partly for security reasons. The two countries share a 4,100-kilometer-long (2,500-mile) porous border, which can be exploited by human traffickers and terrorist groups.

Moreover, Bangladesh shares the border with the Indian states of West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram which are vulnerable to violent insurgencies.

Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, a former India’s high commissioner to Bangladesh, told DW that India has invested in the neighboring country to build public support and goodwill.

"Bangladesh’s geographical position makes it a stakeholder in the development of the sub-region comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal. This region includes Indian states to the north and east of Bangladesh. These states in the northeast of India were once integrated into the supply chain in undivided India," Chakravarty told DW.

Now, Bangladesh and India are working to boost transport links and "restore what existed in the pre-partition era," he added.

Billions in credit to Dhaka

India recognizes Bangladesh as a vital eastern buffer, and provides critical support through its ports and power grid access. New Delhi has so far extended almost $8 billion (€7.39 billion) in lines of credit to Dhaka which is used for development projects, building infrastructure and construction of a pipeline to supply diesel.

Major Indian companies that have invested in the country include Marico, Emami, Dabur, Asian Paints, and Tata Motors. Any escalation of the student protests could directly or indirectly affect these companies.

"The relations between India and Bangladesh are embedded in their shared history, complex socio-economic interdependency, and their geo-political positioning. Any confrontational politics and political instability in the region invite the problems of terrorism, fundamentalism, insurgency, and migration," Sanjay Bhardwaj of Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Centre for South Asian Studies told DW.

"The violent protest and political instability will lead a circle of violence and people’s migration to India," he said.

Locked between India and China

In recent years, both India and China have expanded their economic stakes in Bangladesh, which is being folded into the two countries’ growing geopolitical rivalry.

Despite boasting close ties to Bangladesh, however, some analysts believe that Indian policymakers struggle to understand the anti-Indian sentiment prevalent among parts of the Bangladesh population. Some of it can be explained by New Delhi’s support to the ruling Awami League.

"The ‘uneasy quiet’ is India’s silent support for Hasina’s government and its policies to deal with the ongoing unrest. Over the past decades, India has invested heavily in the Awami League as a pro-India entity in Bangladesh," Shanthie Mariet D’Souza, the founder of independent research forum Mantraya, told DW.

Regime critics in Bangladesh accuse Hasina of trying to turn Bangladesh into a one-party state and are especially enraged by her crackdown on political opponents and civil society groups.

"The Indian government has shielded her government from American pressure to yield to the opposition’s demand to make the polls more democratic and transparent. The present silence is a continuation of the policy," D’Souza added.

India looks at bigger picture

According to D’Souza, India sees Bangladesh as crucial for several strategic reasons — including the development of the northeast, curtailing migration into India, and dealing with Islamist radicalization.

"Despite significant Chinese investments in that country, New Delhi still considers Hasina as someone who will prevent Bangladesh from transforming into a stooge of Beijing. As a result, supporting her becomes New Delhi’s only strategic option, even while her policies have often bordered on autocracy," she said.

Seen from that angle, the recent failings of the Hasina government and strengthening of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, as well local Islamist parties, is not good news for India.

Even so, professor Sreeradha Datta from the India-based Jindal School of International Affairs believes that the extreme response of the Hasina government to the student protests cannot be justified.

She criticized the Bangladeshi officials over their attempt to place all blame for the violence on opposition parties and Islamist students. The protests turned violent as a reaction to the government’s "non-response and rather derogatory remarks," Datta said.

"The mindless violence and deaths cannot be ignored or excused. The government turned the peaceful protests to the darkest phase in Bangladesh’s recent history," she told DW.
Nepal Is Hardly China’s Best Bet in the Himalayas (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [7/31/2024 4:22 AM, Saroj Aryal and Jagannath Panda, 1.2M, Neutral]
In July, Nepal’s fractious politics witnessed yet another churning. The 72-year-old veteran politician Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) – labeled “pro-China” by the Chinese media itself during his first term – won a vote of confidence in the Parliament soon after being sworn in as prime minister for the fourth time.

Days later, Foreign Secretary Sewa Lamsal left for Kunming, China, to deliver the keynote address and hold bilateral meetings with high-level officials at the fifth China-South Asia Cooperation Forum. The forum is China’s attempt to coalesce South Asian states, notably excluding India, to create a “regional Himalayan bloc” as part of its bid to create a Sino-centric global order.

Do such events imply that China is gaining an irreversible edge over India in the neighborhood? The answer is more complicated than the headlines suggest.

Nepal’s new government is yet another coalition following a series of short-lived political arrangements. Oli’s ascension to power is based on a recent deal forged between the two largest parties, the Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN-UML, which among other factors also includes the sharing of the prime ministerial position between Oli and NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba. The previous Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led “left-unity” coalition broke down only months after being formed, without any major apparent disagreements.

The fact that Nepal has had 13 separate governments since becoming a federal democratic republic in May 2008 has prompted deeper questions about the country’s domestic politics and its repercussions for not only Nepal’s economy and good governance but also its foreign policy. This sounds promising for India, which has been looking to curb China’s growing role in Nepal’s domestic economic and political affairs.

What will the ensuing domestic and regional politicking mean for Nepal’s engagements with China and India, notwithstanding the need to avoid simplistic characterizations of the Nepali Congress as “pro-India” and the CPN-UML as “pro-China”?

A Linchpin of China’s Himalayan Strategy?

At first glance, the return of Oli does not bode well for India. This is primarily because the CPN-UML leader is often seen as a China backer due to his tough stance on India during his previous tenures, including the adoption of a new federal constitution that resulted in a crippling “undeclared blockade” by India. In addition, Oli’s concerted outreach to China, which saw multiple bilateral agreements including a transit trade treaty aimed at reducing dependence on India and other infrastructure and connectivity deals via the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), highlighted the concerns for India under his leadership.

Amid multiple initiatives, from the advancement of hydropower projects funded or operated by Chinese companies, like the Upper Marsyandi, to the operationalization of the Nepal-China cross-border optical fiber link, China is undoubtedly making inroads into Nepal’s economy, resources, technology, and politics.

In exchange for Chinese largess and under pressure from Beijing, Nepal also has shown complete support for the “One China” policy, and tightened its grip on Tibetans in the name of not allowing the use of Nepali territory for “any anti-China or separatist activities.” The Nepali government’s restriction of Tibetan rights under Chinese pressure was acknowledged by Human Rights Watch in 2022.

As per Nepali political observers, the Chinese ruling regime has been known to favor communist parties, especially the now-split Nepal Communist Party, and has even in recent times made attempts to unite the left parties. According to the Chinese state media, Deuba is a U.S. and Indian ally. But as the constant change of regimes suggests, domestic politics is not immune from shifting alliances, the stress on non-alignment in official Nepali diplomatic rhetoric notwithstanding.

More to the point, despite both Oli’s and Dahal’s recent headline-making visits to China, the BRI project implementation plan is yet to see the light of the day. Until now, no single project has been greenlit due to a lack of consensus over a funding model, despite reports that Chinese investments into BRI countries in 2023 accelerated overall.

In fact, Nepal took umbrage at China’s controversial “lumping” of projects like the China-funded Pokhara International Airport under the BRI framework. Now Nepal’s anti-corruption agency is reportedly investigating the Pokhara project, further tarnishing the image of one of China’s landmarks projects in Nepal.

Nepal signed the BRI framework agreement way back in 2017, broadly aiming to connect trade, facilities, and people, as well as foster financial integration under a “new economic order.” The tall claims have faded amid Nepal’s fragile political climate and growing concerns about the BRI as an unsustainable and often debt-inducing project with expansionist ulterior motives. Reportedly, Nepal prefers grants and not loans, presumably to avoid getting caught in “debt-traps,” and China is not inclined to accede to this demand.

Notably, Nepal has disappointed China in its response to the three projects that aim to promote China’s vision of the multipolar world: the Global Development Initiative (GDI), the Global Security Initiative (GSI) and the Global Civilization Initiative. While agreeing to be part of two small projects under the GDI that align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Nepal – then under “pro-China” Dahal – opted out of the GSI, highlighting its policy of non-alignment. Nepal made a similar decision to stay away from the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific construct.

In addition, recent reports of Chinese “interference” in Nepali territory – despite denial from the Chinese side about any encroachments – would have put additional pressure on the Nepali government not to grow too complacent about Chinese financial overtures.

Yet Nepal’s strategic importance to China – whether as a vital resource for water and hydropower generation, a gateway into South Asia, India’s traditional backyard, or as a means of controlling the sizable Tibetan refugee population and their activities in Nepal – means that the landlocked Himalayan state will see China dangling more financial and political incentives both to gain greater access to the Asian subregion and to create more viable conditions for a Sino-centric world order.

India May Be Down, But Not Out

Regardless of China’s greater clout, resources, and even capabilities, India’s decades-old influence in Nepal cannot simply be mitigated, let alone erased. Nepal’s diplomacy, too, recognizes the imperative to continue persisting with political hedging in the garb of non-alignment, rather than taking sides.

So if Nepal is a willing participant in China’s BRI and accepts funding for hydropower and infrastructure projects, the former has also signed a long-term power trade agreement with India to export 10,000 megawatts of electricity, among several other productive deals including on renewable energy and community development projects. In the digital sphere, too, via India’s widely successful United Payments Interface, the India-Nepal connectivity will facilitate cross-border transactions and “create new avenues for trade” as well as enhance financial robustness for Nepal.

Importantly, Nepal not only has open borders and deep cultural linkages with India but its primary economic relationship is also with India. India is Nepal’s largest trading partner, provides transit for almost all of Nepal’s third-country trade, and accounts for a large chunk of “inward remittances.” Also, despite Nepal escalating the border dispute with India by “unilaterally” updating maps, particularly after 2020 – the year of the India-China Galwan conflict – Oli has pointed to India-Nepal diplomatic mechanisms as the way ahead, signaling a non-confrontational start to the new coalition.

Moreover, one of the major reasons for Nepal’s deep reluctance to accept China’s claims that projects like the Pokhara airport are part of the BRI is India’s objection to the initiative. India has thus far refused to allow direct flights between Pokhara and Indian cities, adding to the airport’s financial feasibility woes.

India’s Neighborhood First policy has received a major fillip in the Indian government’s new term, with Nepal as a special beneficiary. Modi’s swearing-in ceremony in June was attended by several leaders of the neighboring states, including Dahal, then Nepal’s prime minister. A month later, India in its budget for the Ministry of External Affairs in the new fiscal year increased allocations to Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Seychelles. Both factors highlight India’s intent to address the China factor and the Nepali leadership’s will to pursue national interests despite political or ideological differences with the Indian side.

Will India’s Indo-Pacific Partners Play Ball in Nepal?

Keeping in view both South Asia’s lack of regional integration and China’s military and ecological threat in the Himalayan region, be it via incursions along the Line of Actual Control, territorial adventurism in Nepal or Bhutan, or eco-dominance of the Tibetan Plateau resources and repression of the Tibetans, the only way out is through international cooperation with “like-minded” partners, particularly the European Union, Japan, and the United States.

For example, when China was looking to further restrict Tibetan rights in Nepal via the signing of a treaty on extradition with Nepal, the pressure from the international community, including the U.S. and the European states, was reportedly responsible for curtailing this reach.

In this context, Washington has been well aware of China’s Himalayan agenda, as is evidenced through growing U.S. engagement with Nepal. At the same time, Nepal has been careful in rejecting the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy and State Partnership Program, due to fact that their “security” angle contradicts Nepal’s non-aligned policy. However, despite similar sovereignty concerns, Nepal signed the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Compact, highlighting the U.S. investment of about $500 million in Nepal’s power and transport infrastructure. The United States now needs to have a South Asian policy that echoes or correlates with India’s regional vision centered on “Vashudhyeya Kutumbakam” while taking into account the China threat.

Moreover, a Japan-U.S. partnership in the Himalayan region, including in Nepal, can be influential given that Japan already has a strong investment outreach in Northeast India. Similarly, the EU via its Global Gateway connectivity strategy is already helping improve infrastructure development in Nepal; better coordination with India could enhance the strategic aspects.

It is imperative that India utilizes its growing economic, technological, and security ties with the West to highlight its Himalayan concerns. Particularly the threat from China in expanding its hydro-hegemony and the overall threat to the fragile Himalayan environment due to excessive Chinese actions, from mining to dam-building, on the Tibetan Plateau, should be enough to formulate a collaborative action plan. Nepal’s strategic location and enhanced ties with China make it a vital cog in such a cooperative plan especially given the right incentive.

As such, an optimistic perspective would serve Nepal well in a divisive regional landscape, where Nepal’s two nuclear neighbors are looking to establish Himalayan dominance amid the broader regional strategic competition between India’s Indo-Pacific partner the United States and rival China. So will an autonomous thinking among Nepal’s foreign policymakers. A new stable domestic politics and wooing by both India and China amid a fractured regional political climate may just provide some momentum for Nepal’s flagging economy.
Sri Lanka president gets backing from 92 lawmakers for reelection bid (Reuters)
Reuters [7/30/2024 11:15 AM, Uditha Jayasinghe, 42991K, Neutral]
Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe received backing from 92 lawmakers in the parliament on Tuesday, his media office said, giving momentum to his reelection bid in a vote in September.

A day after Wickremesinghe, who holds only one seat in parliament, failed to get official backing from Sri Lanka’s biggest political party, a signficant number of lawmakers in the 225-member house flocked to back him.

"The decision to not support the president was made by a few people within the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). They will now have to answer for the party’s downfall," State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe told reporters.

Wickremesinghe thanked the parlimentarians who have stepped up to support and said he was ready to welcome more.

"You understand the importance of putting aside party politics to unite as one," he said on X.

Nearly 17 million of Sri Lanka’s 22 million population are eligible to cast ballots in the vote on Sept. 21 that is crucial to determine the future of reforms as Sri Lanka weathers g its worst financial crisis in decades.

Among multiple candidates, Wickremesinghe is seen as the most market- and reform-friendly option.

He took over the top job in July 2022 as the economy crumbled under a severe financial crisis triggered by a record shortfall of foreign exchange reserves.

But with just one seat in parliament, he needs the support of the SLPP, which holds a parliamentary majority and counts former president Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother as key members, to be a stronger contender.

Wickremesinghe will also be working to drum up support from minority parties in the coming weeks to bolster his chances.

Over the past two years Wickremesinghe has overseen a fragile economic recovery securing a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout programme that helped stem a fall in the rupee, tame runaway inflation and rebuild dollar reserves.

Sri Lanka’s economy is expected to grow 3% this year after contracting 2.3% in 2023.
Central Asia
In Central Asia, National Languages Gain Ground Against Russian (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [7/31/2024 3:26 AM, Bruno Kalouaz, 1.4M, Neutral]
Hesitantly, with help from her teacher, Lyudmila Propishchan managed to string together a few basic phrases in Kazakh.

For this musician from Kazakhstan, an ex-Soviet Central Asian country where Russian is widely spoken, learning the local language is hard work, but she is keen to try.

"In Kazakhstan, not everyone is fluent in Kazakh. I started learning a month and a half ago and my aim is to be able to hold a conversation," said the 44-year-old violinist.

Like most other Central Asian languages, Kazakh is a Turkic language unrelated to Russian but written in the Cyrillic alphabet with some additional letters.

More than three decades after the end of the Soviet era, during which Russian became the lingua franca and the language of the elite, long-sidelined national languages are making a comeback in this region.

While Moscow still views Central Asia as its backyard, people here are increasingly turning towards their national heritage.

Out of a population of 20 million, Kazakhstan has around three million ethnic Russians.

Only half the population uses the Kazakh language in everyday life, according to the authorities.

Propishchan takes a Kazakh language class in Karaganda, the main city of the vast industrial region of the same name, with around 20 other adults.

During the lesson, taught in Russian, some whisper to each other about tricky grammar points.

"In Karaganda, Russian used to be everywhere, we didn’t use Kazakh. But nowadays the language is being revived," said Lydia Khan, a 68-year-old taking a class.

"People are surprised that I’m learning Kazakh at my age," she added.

"I tell them that this is my country and that I want the language to develop."

Yakub Dzhamalov, a young local councillor, said that he "grew up in a Russian-speaking environment" but now feels it is his "duty" to learn Kazakh.

The decline of Russian in favour of Central Asian languages is undoubtedly linked to demographic change.

In Kazakhstan, the ethnic Russian population has fallen over the last 30 years from about 38 percent to 15 percent. In other Central Asian countries, it is no more than five percent.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the imperialist rhetoric of many Russian officials, including their calls to protect Russian-speaking minorities in ex-Soviet countries like Ukraine, have also prompted Central Asian countries to work harder on reviving their national languages.

Since 2023 it has been compulsory for Kazakh and Kyrgyzstan officials to master the national languages, which are also being used more widely by media.

The Kazakh president’s party also offers free language courses, sometimes with monetary incentives.

In Karaganda, local authorities organise fun competitions such as "declare your love in Kazakh and win a romantic break" or "read a book in Kazakh and win an iPhone".

On social media there are also numerous channels for learning Kazakh.

In a symbolic first, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev chose to use Kazakh at a joint press conference with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in autumn 2023.

This seemed to surprise Putin -- who is used to regional leaders speaking to him in Russian -- and caused a comical scene as Kremlin insiders scrambled to put on earpieces to listen to a translation.

But Russian is still widely used in Kazakhstan, which shares a 7,500-kilometre (4,660-mile) border with Russia, and is an official language alongside Kazakh.

Russian is heard constantly in public life, the arts, education and business.

The situation varies in other Central Asian countries.

Kyrgyzstan gives Russian similar official status, while in Tajikistan Russian is "the language of inter-ethnic communication".

In Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, however, Russia has no official status but is still used.

Throughout the region, Russian remains associated with social aspiration: giving access to better jobs at home and allowing migrants to go and work in Russia.

For younger generations, it is still hard to get a high-level education without Russian.

Kazakhstan’s education minister recently complained that schools’ teaching of Kazakh "leaves much to be desired", while his Kyrgyz counterpart lamented the "very weak level of teaching of Kyrgyz" and poor textbooks.

Language policy is also sensitive as all five Central Asian ex-Soviet states are close to, or dependent on, Moscow.

Talk of promoting national languages or changing Russian-sounding street names provokes sabre-rattling from Kremlin supporters, who raise the spectre of "persecution" of ethnic Russians.

That is one of the justifications -- rejected by Kyiv -- given by Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

Whatever the governments do to promote national languages, Russian is likely to retain its status as lingua franca, with the countries planning a treaty to promote its use as the go-to common tongue.
Bishkek, Dushanbe Agree On 94 Percent Of Border, Kyrgyz Official Says (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [7/30/2024 6:14 AM, Staff, 1530K, Neutral]
Kyrgyz government spokesman Nazirbek Borubaev said on July 30 that 94 percent of the 972-kilometer Kyrgyz-Tajik border had been agreed upon by officials from the two Central Asian nations. Borubaev added that discussions between Kyrgyz and Tajik officials on defining the remaining sections of the border will be held on August 11-17. The governor of Tajikistan’s Sughd region, Rajabboi Ahmadzoda, confirmed that 94 percent of the border had been agreed on. The delimitation of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border has been an issue for decades. Several deadly clashes have taken place along the border’s disputed segments in recent years.
Indo-Pacific
China Responds to Quad Group as U.S. Hails ‘Strategic Alignment’ (Newsweek)
Newsweek [7/30/2024 1:24 PM, Micah McCartney, 50452K, Neutral]
Beijing has rebuked the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) after its thinly veiled criticisms of China during a meeting where U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hailed the group as a "strategic alignment."

The top diplomats of the Quad, an informal grouping comprising the United States, India Japan, and Australia, gathered in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday to discuss furthering cooperation and threats to the international order.

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

In a regular press briefing on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian reacted by demanding that "countries outside the region" refrain from "fueling tensions in the region."

"China believes that cooperation between countries, as well as regional initiatives, should be conducive to peace, stability, and prosperity in the region" instead of "forming exclusive clubs that undermine trust and cooperation among regional countries," said the spokesperson.

During the press conference for the event, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa cited "unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force in the East and South China seas."

Neither Kamikawa nor her counterparts called China out by name. However, the country’s growing assertiveness in the region was a central focus of the talks, which occurred just over a month after a clash between Chinese forces and a Philippine supply convoy within the U.S. ally’s exclusive economic zone that left several Philippine troops injured.

Secretary of State Blinken went on to detail what a "resilient Indo-Pacific region" entails.

"That means, simply put, that problems are dealt with openly; rules are reached transparently, applied fairly; that goods, that ideas, that people will flow freely and lawfully across land, across cyberspace, the open seas," he said.

Newsweek contacted the U.S. Department of State via email for comment.

Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong in her remarks touted a dual strategy of "reassurance and deterrence" to support "a strategic balance in our region so that no one country dominates and no country is dominated."

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar stressed the Quad "is not a talk shop but a platform that generates practical outcomes."

One practical application, he pointed out, is the plan the Quad announced that day to expand collective maritime security efforts in the Indian Ocean.

Don McLain Gill, Manila-based geopolitical analyst and lecturer at De La Salle University’s Department of International Studies, said this move is critical for "strengthening the rules-based order in the entire Indo-Pacific."

He said that the Chinese navy has been boosting its presence in the Indian Ocean over the past decade.

"Along with establishing its first offshore naval base in Djibouti, Beijing has also forged agreements for military access to ports in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. It has also invested in constructing terminals in Sudan, Kenya, and the United Arab Emirates," Gill added.

Gill went on to cite Chinese encroachments on Indian, Bhutanese and Nepalese territories in recent years.

He also pointed to agreements with African states bordering the Western Indian Ocean that he says allow China to "unfairly compete with local small-scale fisheries" within those countries’ exclusive economic zones.

He added that Washington and Quad strategies have until now focused on the Eastern Indian Ocean at the expense of the Western part of the waterway and that it’s time for a more holistic approach.

On Sunday, Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin joined their Japanese counterparts in Tokyo. They agreed China "seeks to reshape the international order for its own benefit at the expense of others," according to statements issued later by both countries.

They also emphasized the "critical importance of continuing to enhance U.S. extended deterrence" to Japan, including the U.S. nuclear umbrella. The U.S. officials also reiterated Washington’s security treaty with Tokyo extends to the disputed Senkaku Islands, where China’s heavily armed coast guard continues to challenge Japanese control.
Twitter
Afghanistan
Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Afghanistan
@MoFA_Afg
[7/30/2024 3:02 AM, 67K followers, 104 retweets, 358 likes]
Notice for all Afghan Nationals residing in European countries! https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTt5d7FagAAwTc5?format=jpg&name=medium

Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Afghanistan
@MoFA_Afg
[7/30/2024 7:04 AM, 67K followers, 15 retweets, 40 likes]
All Afghan and foreign nationals seeking consular services in Europe can visit Afghan missions in the following countries:
1.The Kingdom of Spain;
2.Kingdom of the Netherlands;
3.The Republic of Bulgaria;
4.The Czech Republic; and
5.Munich, Federal Republic of Germany.

Amrullah Saleh
@AmrullahSaleh2
[7/30/2024 4:26 AM, 1.1M followers, 24 retweets, 115 likes]
Updates from under the skin of the Taliban:
1-The Taliban are using, seemingly per agreement, the Kuchi community as intelligence gatherers & under-cover observers. Some hard evidence of such scheme has been obtained by the intelligence unit of @AGTAfghanistan. This is an ultra dangerous scheme for future intra-ethnic harmony & also the future of Kuchi community as a whole. They take their herds to pastures mostly in areas nhabited by the anti Taliban people and grieved communities. Taliban is a variable. People are a constant. Better have this fact in mind.
2- A Taliban commander captured red handed while selling weapons to ISKP has been re-instated as battlion commander due to his affiliation with Haqqani. Black and white or white and black. Very little difference.
3- The pharmacy stores in Bamyan have protested the resignation of the chief inspector who was kicked out by the corrupt governor as Dr. Hekmat refused to extort the medicine sellers.
4- Thugish militias from Kandahar region have flocked to picnic sites of Salang valley - using fields without permission of the owners and beating the locals. It is interpreted as ethno-racist behavior. The Quran is only a slogan when it comes to micro-matters. It always seems small and neglectable. Rain drops cause floods. For details visit the @AGTAfghanistan site.

Mohammed Haneef Atmar
@MHaneefAtmar
[7/30/2024 4:20 AM, 714.6K followers, 3 retweets, 24 likes]
Thanks to the #InternationalInstituteOfCulturalDiplomacyBerlin, it was an honor to engage with esteemed leaders, former presidents, prime ministers and ministers, experts, academics and students at the #WorkdForumOnDemocracyAndPeace in Berlin. Shared insights on #Afghanistan’s path to peace, human rights, and democracy. https://youtube.com/watch?v=FQWZDkK91Cs

Zahir Aghbar
@ZahirAghbar
[7/30/2024 10:16 AM, 7.5K followers, 9 retweets, 33 likes]
Official Statement of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in Tajikistan regarding the recent decision by the Taliban on the validity of consular documents of Afghan Embassies Abroad, particularly in Europe https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GTvcvdCW0AAyhNI?format=jpg&name=small

Bilal Sarwary
@bsarwary
[7/30/2024 8:13 PM, 254.4K followers, 31 retweets, 54 likes]
Taliban’s attempt at global recognition has failed, leaving Afghanistan with no legitimate government. Their oppressive rule is rejected internationally. In response, they pressured Republic-era officials in missions abroad to report to them, but many refused. Now, they’ve cut ties with 14 Afghan embassies and consulates, ceasing document recognition in countries like the UK, France, Belgium, Italy, Canada, and Australia. Afghan citizens in these regions face new challenges for consular services. : https://www-rferl-org.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.rferl.org/amp/taliban-diplomatic-missions-afghanistan/33056291.html

UNAMA News
@UNAMAnews
[7/30/2024 5:30 AM, 309.6K followers, 27 retweets, 34 likes]
UNAMA update on the human rights situation in #Afghanistan, covering April to June 2024 Read here: http://rb.gy/av4drp

Freshta Razbaan
@RazbaanFreshta
[7/30/2024 6:15 AM, 4.8K followers, 11 retweets, 21 likes]
The report provides a comprehensive overview of the human rights conditions in Afghanistan during April to June 2024. Key points include:
1. Women’s Rights and Employment: The report highlights the continued restrictions on women’s rights, including the limitation of female civil servants’ roles and salaries. The de facto authorities issued directives to standardize women’s salaries to a fixed, low amount and imposed restrictions on women’s freedom of movement without a male guardian (mahram).
2. Civilian Harm and Security Incidents: The report documents numerous security incidents resulting in civilian casualties. Notable incidents include attacks on Shi’a worshippers and tourists, as well as cross-border clashes between Afghan and Pakistani forces. The report also covers ISKP’s claimed attacks targeting Shi’a Muslims and de facto authorities.
3. Poppy Cultivation and Enforcement: The de facto security forces conducted operations to clear poppy fields, which led to confrontations with local residents. These confrontations resulted in casualties among protestors.
4. Judicial Corporal Punishment: The report notes the use of judicial corporal punishment against at least 179 individuals, reflecting the enforcement of Sharia law by the de facto authorities. The administration of justice includes the release and reduction of sentences for certain prisoners and concerns about the qualifications and conduct of judges .
5. Freedom of the Media: The report discusses the suppression of media outlets, particularly those with alleged political affiliations. The de facto authorities suspended the activities of several TV channels, citing violations of national and Islamic values .
This summary captures the main issues discussed in the report, providing a snapshot of the human rights landscape in Afghanistan from April to June 2024.

Freshta Razbaan
@RazbaanFreshta
[7/30/2024 6:35 AM, 4.8K followers, 2 likes]
In a recent press briefing, @StateDeputySpox, the Deputy Spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, referred to the Taliban as a "terrorist organization." This designation is well-founded given the Taliban’s history and ongoing actions, which pose significant threats both regionally and globally. The group’s strict enforcement of oppressive policies, particularly against women and girls, and their violent suppression of dissent highlight their disregard for basic human rights. Furthermore, the Taliban’s connections with other extremist groups, such as Al-Qaeda, and their role in facilitating terrorist activities destabilize the region and threaten international security. Their continued attacks on civilians and inability to maintain peace and security underscore the importance of recognizing and addressing the threat they pose as a dangerous terrorist organization. @StateDept @SecBlinken

Heather Barr
@heatherbarr1
[7/30/2024 1:10 PM, 62.8K followers, 24 retweets, 45 likes]
Starting shortly, at 2 pm EST: @TLHumanRights hearing on the rights of women/girls in Afghanistan, ahead of the 3rd anniversary of the Taliban takeover. @SE_AfghanWGH first, then @AmiriWahida @Metra_Mehran and me. Watch live here: https://humanrightscommission.house.gov/News/Watch-Live

Metra Mehran
@Metra_Mehran
[7/30/2024 1:26 PM, 9.8K followers, 33 retweets, 88 likes]
As the 3rd anniversary of the Taliban’s draconian return approaches, I will testify before Congress to push for accountability and justice.Humbled to be joined by our steadfast ally @heatherbarr1 and our own @AmiriWahida

Habib Khan
@HabibKhanT
[7/30/2024 11:10 AM, 228.9K followers, 5 retweets, 29 likes]
Most Afghan refugees in Iran are Hazara Shia, who have faced prolonged persecution. Forcing them to return would expose them to further attacks, highlighting deep-seated racism in Iran where even those sharing the same language and sect of Islam are not accepted as immigrants.
Pakistan
Shehbaz Sharif
@CMShehbaz
[7/31/2024 2:12 AM, 6.7M followers, 37 retweets, 136 likes]
While celebrating Madr-e-Millat Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah’s birth anniversary, we reflect on her significant contributions alongside our esteemed founder, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, during the struggle for independence. Her commitment to promoting democracy was both remarkable and inspirational. She remains a respected and beloved role model for all Pakistanis, embodying the spirit of resilience and dedication. The enduring legacy she left behind will continue to illuminate our path forward.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan
@ForeignOfficePk
[7/30/2024 4:06 PM, 479.6K followers, 31 retweets, 87 likes]
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50 met with Iranian President Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian @drpezeshkian after the investiture ceremony in Tehran today. The Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister conveyed the warmest wishes of Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif @CMShehbaz and President Asif Ali Zardari @PresOfPakistan on his electoral victory and reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to strengthen bilateral relations with Iran. Dr. Pezeshkian appreciated the felicitation messages and underlined Iran’s commitment to good neigbourly relations.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan
@ForeignOfficePk
[7/30/2024 1:48 PM, 479.6K followers, 23 retweets, 65 likes]
Foreign Secretary of Sri Lanka, Aruni Wijewardane, presents a gift of five eye corneas for Pakistani patients to Foreign Secretary, Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi @syrusqazi. Over the years, Pakistan has received 35,000 corneas, which account for around 40% of Sri Lanka’s total cornea donations. This tradition of generosity has profoundly impacted countless lives, restoring sight and hope to the recipients.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan
@ForeignOfficePk
[7/30/2024 10:41 AM, 479.6K followers, 12 retweets, 43 likes]
The seventh round of Bilateral Political Consultations (BPC) between Pakistan and Sri Lanka was held today in Islamabad. The Sri Lankan delegation was led by Foreign Secretary Aruni Wijewardane while the Pakistan side was headed by Foreign Secretary Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi @syrusqazi. The Consultations were held in a cordial and constructive atmosphere. The two sides reviewed the entire range of bilateral relations and reaffirmed the resolve to further strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation. It was agreed to enhance bilateral dialogue and exchanges and to strengthen the dialogue mechanisms. They also agreed to explore new opportunities for cooperation in the fields of agriculture, health, connectivity and culture.

Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office
@amnestysasia
[7/30/2024 8:27 AM, 88.3K followers, 1.2K retweets, 2.1K likes]
PK: Every time Baloch protests take place, their demands are met with violence by security forces and mass arrests. Read more on why the repeated punitive crackdowns on Baloch protests in Pakistan must end:(http://amnesty.org)

Habib Khan
@HabibKhanT
[7/30/2024 1:01 PM, 228.9K followers, 302 retweets, 640 likes]
Devastating news from Balochistan: The Pakistani army has fired on protesters, wounding over 60 Baloch. The military has been blocking access to the #BalochNationalGathering, a crucial rally for the rights of Baloch people.

Anas Mallick
@AnasMallick
[7/30/2024 4:26 AM, 73.3K followers, 5 retweets, 35 likes]
A UN Vehicle from the Office for Project Services has come under-fire in Tank in Khyber Pankhtunkhwa -- All occupants of the vehicle were unharmed in the terrorist attack because of the vehicle being bullet-proof. #Pakistan
India
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[7/30/2024 10:06 AM, 100.5M followers, 16K retweets, 51K likes]
This speech by my young and energetic colleague, Shri @ianuragthakur is a must hear. A perfect mix of facts and humour, exposing the dirty politics of the INDI Alliance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8CG3sbyeJs&feature=youtu.be

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[7/30/2024 10:01 AM, 100.5M followers, 3.9K retweets, 14K likes]
FM @nsitharaman presents a very comprehensive picture of this year’s Budget and what it offers for every section of society. She reiterates our Government’s commitment to growth and reforms. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYHWCD7FZgQ&feature=youtu.be

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[7/30/2024 9:11 AM, 100.5M followers, 3K retweets, 12K likes]
Take any sector, be it railways, highways, agriculture, defence or more, our Government has worked on a scale that has never been seen in India’s history. This also reflects in our Budgets. https://x.com/i/status/1818273322183922149

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[7/30/2024 2:44 AM, 100.5M followers, 3.8K retweets, 13K likes]
Speaking at post-budget conference of CII. @FollowCII. https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1yoKMybOARwKQ

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[7/30/2024 11:02 AM, 3.2M followers, 421 retweets, 2.8K likes]
Quad is here to stay, here to do and here to grow. Concluded an excellent visit to Tokyo for the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. Highlights: https://x.com/i/status/1818301220680860080

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[7/30/2024 6:42 AM, 3.2M followers, 121 retweets, 948 likes]
Deeply saddened by the loss of lives due to the landslide in Wayanad, Kerala. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. Pray for the safety of those trapped and well being of the injured.

Rahul Gandhi
@RahulGandhi
[7/30/2024 12:56 PM, 26.5M followers, 5.8K retweets, 26K likes]
Priyanka and I were scheduled to visit Wayanad tomorrow to meet with families affected by the landslide and take stock of the situation. However, due to incessant rains and adverse weather conditions we have been informed by authorities that we will not be able to land. I want to assure the people of Wayanad that we will visit as soon as possible. In the meantime, we will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide all necessary assistance. Our thoughts are with the people of Wayanad at this difficult time.

Rahul Gandhi
@RahulGandhi
[7/30/2024 3:11 AM, 26.5M followers, 7.6K retweets, 25K likes]
The devastation unfolding in Wayanad is heartbreaking. I have urged the Union government in Parliament to extend all possible support, including increased compensation and its immediate release to the bereaved families. Our country has witnessed an alarming rise in landslides in recent years. The need of the hour is a comprehensive action plan to address the growing frequency of natural calamities in our ecologically fragile regions.
NSB
Awami League
@albd1971
[7/30/2024 11:38 AM, 640.5K followers, 54 retweets, 120 likes]
HPM #SheikhHasina visited the patients admitted at the Suhrawardy Hospital today who were injured in the recent @BJI_Official-@bdbnp78 #terrorist attacks during #QuotaReformMovement.

Awami League
@albd1971
[7/30/2024 4:55 AM, 640.5K followers, 137 retweets, 176 likes]
#Bangladesh is observing #nationalmourning today in memory of the murdered victims in clashes during #QuotaReformMovement. As much as 150 people were killed in the conflict and #violence surrounding the movement. To mark the day, black badges are being worn, and special prayers are being organised in all mosques, temples, churches and pagodas across the country. https://tbsnews.net/bangladesh/countrywide-mourning-being-observed-906081

Bangladesh Nationalist Party-BNP
@bdbnp78
[7/31/2024 1:58 AM, 57.2K followers, 2 retweets, 5 likes]
U.S. Senators @SenatorCardin (D-Md.), Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and @SenBooker (D-N.J.), issued a statement condemning #Bangladeshi security forces for their use of force and violence against student protesters. The security forces involved in these horrific acts include a paramilitary unit(#RAB) whose leaders have faced U.S. sanctions over human rights abuses. #QuotaReformMovement #StepDownHasina #StudentKilling #SaveBangladesiStudents https://foreign.senate.gov/press/dem/release/cardin-booker-statement-on-violent-suppression-of-protests-in-bangladesh/

Bangladesh Nationalist Party-BNP
@bdbnp78
[7/30/2024 7:12 AM, 57.2K followers, 191 retweets, 825 likes]
The @UN has found evidence of excessive force and human rights violations, and is prepared to take action as needed according to its mandate. https://x.com/i/status/1818243211728716170

Sabria Chowdhury Balland
@sabriaballand
[7/30/2024 7:01 PM, 6.2K followers, 20 retweets, 35 likes]
At what point will the international community actually take decisive & concrete measures to hold Sheikh Hasina & her administration accountable for killing innocent children? For killing university students? Can @StateDept & @StateDeptSpox & the @UN go beyond “following events closely”? There are egregious human rights violations & crimes against humanity taking place on innocent civilians. What else will it take to take action against an unelected, abusive “leader” & regime? #Bangladesh

Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office
@amnestysasia
[7/30/2024 11:47 AM, 88.3K followers, 1K retweets, 2.3K likes]
BANGLADESH: @amnesty’s Secretary General @AgnesCallamard urges Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to end the ongoing crackdown on protesters and cooperate with the UN to conduct a thorough, effective, independent, and impartial investigation into the deaths and injuries that have resulted from crackdown. She reiterates that Amnesty’s findings findings point to unlawful use of birdshot against student protesters, dangerous use of tear gas in enclosed student spaces and unrestrained use of lethal firearms, such as AK-pattern assault rifles, by security forces. They also point to violence unleashed by Bangladesh Chatra League (BCL), the student wing of your the ruling party, first against unarmed and peaceful student protesters in the University of Dhaka and then against students receiving medical treatment at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Additionally, the mass arrest and arbitrary detention of student protesters has further perpetuated a climate of fear. All the people detained or arrested solely for exercising their right to protest peacefully must be unconditionally released. #ProtectTheProtest #SaveBangladeshiStudents Read the open letter with the full list of demands here: https://amnesty.org/en/documents/asa13/8372/2024/en/

The President’s Office, Maldives
@presidencymv
[7/30/2024 12:37 PM, 109.1K followers, 94 retweets, 94 likes]
His Excellency Vice President @HucenSembe attends the inauguration ceremony of the President of Iran, His Excellency @drpezeshkian, as the special envoy of His Excellency President Dr @MMuizzu.

Embassy of Nepal, Washington, D.C.
@nepalembassyusa
[7/30/2024 7:34 PM, 3.4K followers, 2 retweets, 10 likes]
CDA Kumar Raj Kharel held today a meeting with Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asian Affairs Mr. Brendan Lynch at his office in Washington, D.C, and discussed about preparations for upcoming Nepal-US Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) Council

Embassy of Nepal, Washington, D.C.
@nepalembassyusa
[7/30/2024 7:35 PM, 3.4K followers]
meeting. Other matters related to enhancing Nepal-US trade and investment engagements were also covered in the meeting.

M U M Ali Sabry
@alisabrypc
[7/30/2024 6:22 AM, 6K followers, 43 retweets, 207 likes]
The economy is our top priority. We’ve seen how everything can collapse if the economy fails, like it did in early 2022. President @RW_UNP has done an outstanding job rescuing and stabilizing it. We can’t risk trying new things when the current plan is working. Sticking to our successful policies is vital for our country’s future. To keep strengthening our economy, I fully support President Ranil Wickremesinghe. Now is the time to put our country first, above all else.

Karu Jayasuriya
@KaruOnline
[7/30/2024 11:48 PM, 53.4K followers, 6 likes]
It is regrettable that the minority party representative MP position in the Constitutional Council is still vacant. This void creates an imbalance in this crucial democratic institution, as reflected in issues such as appointment of the IGP. https://www.themorning.lk/articles/0Eac1NMKboDValo8ptLY
Central Asia
UNODC Central Asia
@UNODC_ROCA
[7/30/2024 8:16 AM, 2.5K followers, 7 likes]
Today, on #WorldDayAgainstTraffickingInPersons, UNODC kicks off the International Conference “Strengthening National and International Partnerships in Countering Trafficking in Persons” in Bishkek to enhance cooperation and strategies in combating human trafficking.

MFA Tajikistan
@MOFA_Tajikistan
[7/30/2024 5:39 AM, 4.9K followers, 3 retweets, 5 likes]
Meeting with the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian https://mfa.tj/en/main/view/15456/meeting-with-the-president-of-the-islamic-republic-of-iran-masoud-pezeshkian

MFA Tajikistan
@MOFA_Tajikistan
[7/30/2024 5:27 AM, 4.9K followers, 2 retweets, 4 likes]
Presentation of credentials to the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization https://mfa.tj/en/main/view/15453/presentation-of-credentials-to-the-director-general-of-the-united-nations-educational-scientific-and-cultural-organization

Peter Leonard
@Peter__Leonard
[7/30/2024 8:29 AM, 22.6K followers, 11 retweets, 28 likes]
The much-loved Rokhat teahouse in Tajikistan’s capital is to be demolished. It has survived earlier such plans, but my money is on its days being numbered https://rus.ozodi.org/a/chayhana-rohat-v-dushanbe-budet-snesena-/33054634.html

Peter Leonard
@Peter__Leonard
[7/30/2024 9:42 AM, 22.6K followers, 6 retweets, 54 likes]
The president of Turkmenistan’s son, Kerimguly "Berdymukhedov," did not turn up to pick up his graduation diploma from the University of Exeter h/t: @adalatseeker

{End of Report}
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