SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS

epubdos : Afghanistan

Prepared for the U.S. Department of State

Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs

By TechMIS
www.TechMIS.com

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TO:	SCA & Staff
DATE:	Monday, July 8, 2024 6:30 AM ET

Afghanistan

Key Islamic State commander reported killed in Afghanistan (VOA)

VOA [7/7/2024 11:12 AM, Ayaz Gul, 4032K, Negative]
Taliban security forces in Afghanistan claimed Sunday that they had killed a key Islamic State commander in an eastern province bordering Pakistan.

An official Taliban media outlet reported that counter-terrorism forces in Nangarhar had raided a hideout of Islamic State Khorasan, also known as IS-K, an Afghan-based affiliate of the transnational extremist group.

The Al-Mersaad outlet said that Sunday’s action had resulted in the killing of “Zakirullah … known as Abu Sher” and identified him as IS Khorasan’s military leader for the border province’s Achin district.

The media report said “Taliban special forces” had concluded the operation in the Mohmand Dara district.

It was not possible to verify Al-Mersaad’s claims from independent sources, nor have Taliban government officials commented on the operation in a province where IS Khorasan launched its extremist activities in Afghanistan and the region at large in 2015, with Achin as its headquarters.

The Taliban returned to power in 2021 when all the United States-led NATO forces withdrew from the country after almost 20 years of involvement in the Afghan war. U.S. forces regularly conducted operations against IS Khorasan and killed several of its key leaders.

The extremist group intensified suicide bombings and other attacks against security forces and members of the Afghan Shiite community after the Taliban takeover. The violence has killed hundreds of people, including prominent Taliban leaders and religious scholars.

Taliban authorities say their sustained military actions against IS Khorasan hideouts have significantly degraded its ability to pose a threat to Afghanistan and beyond.

De facto Afghan authorities have accused Pakistan and Tajikistan of “training and nurturing” IS Khorasan operatives on their respective soils.

Both neighbors of Afghanistan have dismissed the accusation as frivolous and, in turn, blame the de facto rulers in Kabul for failing to prevent transnational terrorist groups from using their territory to threaten regional stability.

A quarterly U.S. Department of Defense report made public in late May noted that Afghanistan-based IS Khorasan had “demonstrated increased transnational terrorism capabilities through large-scale, multiple casualty attacks” in the region.

The report cited a January suicide bombing in neighboring Iran’s Kerman city of a memorial for a top Iranian military commander that killed at least 100 mourners. It added that IS Khorasan gunmen stormed a concert venue near Moscow in March, killing at least 140 people in what was described as the worst terrorist attack in Russia in 20 years.

In March, General Michael Kurilla, the commander of the U.S. Central Command, testified to Congress on the growing terrorist threat emanating from Afghanistan, warning that Islamic State affiliates “retain the capability and the will” to attack the United States and its allies in Europe in as little as six months.

The U.S. quarterly report stated that despite pledging to deny terrorist groups a sanctuary in Afghanistan, the Taliban “continued to privately provide shelter to al-Qaeda senior leaders while publicly denying that al-Qaeda uses its territory to pose threats to outside countries.”

In a January report, the United Nations Security Council said that IS Khorasan “has continued to pose a major threat in Afghanistan and the region despite losses in territory, casualties, and high attrition among senior and mid-tier leadership figures.”

Pakistan

Pakistan Withers Under Deadly Heat and Fears the Coming Rains (New York Times)

New York Times [7/6/2024 4:14 PM, Zia ur-Rehman, 831K, Negative]
In nearly every corner of Karachi, there are signs of the heat wave scorching the sun-baked city.

Hundreds of patients suffering from heat-related illnesses pour into the hospitals every day, pushing them far past their capacity. Morgues overwhelmed by a surge in bodies are struggling to find space.

Frustrated residents have begun blocking roads with stones and sticks to protest shortages of electricity and drinking water. Even the usually bustling markets and streets have emptied as people avoid leaving their homes unless they must.

Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and its economic hub, is the latest place to suffer as South Asia roasts under a blistering heat wave this summer, a brutal reminder of the deadly toll of climate change in a part of the world especially vulnerable to its effects, and in a country where ineffective governance and large economic disparities have magnified the sufferings of its poorest citizens.

In a particularly dire eight-day stretch late last month, temperatures reached 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius), with high humidity adding to the misery. That was the hottest since 2015, a year when officials reported that more than 1,200 people died from heat-related causes in Karachi.

With temperatures still hovering near 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the sense of crisis has persisted.

“It feels like living in a furnace,” said Akbar Ali, 52, a rickshaw driver who has transported many heat-struck people to the hospital in recent weeks. “It’s terrible seeing people collapse on the street.”

A port city on the Arabian Sea, Karachi is known for its hot summers and monsoon floods. Such extremes are particularly hard for the 60 percent of residents who live in the city’s sprawling slums, where houses are shoddily made of concrete or tarps, and roads are unpaved.

But this summer has been particularly bad. In the stretch of intense heat from June 23 to June 30, the city’s largest morgue received about three times as many bodies as it does on a typical day, according to the Edhi Foundation, a charity known for its extensive morgue operations and large ambulance fleet.

In all, the charity’s morgues received around 700 bodies in those eight days. Though the cause of death was not clear in every case, the timing was suggestive.

“This is a humanitarian crisis, but many heat wave-related deaths won’t be officially recorded as heat deaths,” said Erum Haider, an academic at the College of Wooster who has studied Karachi’s civic challenges. “They often get classified under ‘fever,’ ‘heart attack,’ or ‘infant mortality,’ which obscures the true impact.”

In recent weeks, power outages in the slums have become frequent and prolonged, lasting from six to 16 hours a day. Without power, millions cannot use the electric fans that offer some relief (air-conditioning is rare). Frustration with the power cuts has prompted residents to regularly block major roads in protest.

The outages are “catastrophic for everyone in these neighborhoods during a heat wave, but particularly for infants, the elderly and pregnant women,” Ms. Haider said.

Water has also become scarce. Many neighborhoods face severe water shortages, turning the lack of clean drinking water into a public health crisis. In Karachi, a significant portion of the population relies on purchasing water from private companies through tankers, as the city’s water infrastructure fails to meet the needs of all its residents. During the summer, even areas that typically receive piped water are compelled to buy water because of shortages. Skyrocketing prices for water tankers are adding to the burden of already struggling communities.

“The cost of water tankers has doubled or even tripled,” said Mehmood Siddiqui, a private-school teacher, whose monthly salary is $143. “They’re now charging $28 for a tanker of water that cost $14 just last month. It’s outrageous.”

Hospitals are overwhelmed with patients suffering from heatstroke and severe dehydration.

“Patients are reporting symptoms like high fever, weakness, gastroenteritis, vomiting and diarrhea in numbers far exceeding normal,” said Nasreen Gul, a nurse at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, the city’s largest state-run hospital.

Government officials have sought to play down reports of large-scale heat wave fatalities. Karachi Commissioner Hassan Naqvi, citing data from government hospitals, suggested that the number of deaths related to the heat was minimal.

Government officials have established cooling centers across the city. Charitable organizations are also providing some relief to residents, setting up roadside camps to offer water misting as well as glasses of cool water or Rooh Afza, a popular summer beverage in South Asia.

Rain last Thursday brought relief to Karachi after the midday temperature peaked at 104 degrees Fahrenheit. But it highlighted the city’s vulnerability to the summer’s other major weather problem: devastating floods.

“We can pray for rain to cool the weather,” said Ali Afzal, 44, a car mechanic in Karachi whose house was demolished in the July 2022 urban flooding caused by heavy rains. “But more rain poses another challenge, especially for city residents ill prepared to handle it.”

UNHCR Chief Meets With Afghan Refugees In Pakistan (Radio Free Europe)

Radio Free Europe [7/7/2024 5:35 AM, Staff, 1530K, Neutral]
The United Nations’ high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, who is on a three-day visit to Pakistan, met with Afghan refugees in Pakistan’s northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on July 7. Grandi listened to the refugees’ concerns and assured them of the support of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Qaisar Afridi, the UNHCR spokesperson in Peshawar, told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal. Grandi will meet Pakistan government officials and other humanitarian and development partners. Grandi’s visit comes as Pakistan continues to deport unregistered Afghan refugees. According to the UNHCR, Pakistan hosts approximately 3.2 million Afghan refugees, 76 percent of whom are women and children.

Former Sharif Ally Forms New Party to Change Pakistan’s Politics (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg [7/6/2024 7:33 AM, Ismail Dilawar, 27296K, Neutral]
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi launched a new party on Saturday as part of his fallout with the country’s powerful Sharif clan, amid growing public anger with the government’s austerity measures.

Abbasi, who led the country between 2017 and 2018, unveiled Awam Pakistan, or the People’s Pakistan party, with a group of former members of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, or PML-N. The former premier was a PML-N stalwart and an ally of de facto leader Nawaz Sharif for more than three decades until he left the party last year.

“Pakistan is lacking political and economic stability,” Abbasi said while introducing his party in Islamabad. “The people of Pakistan have tried and tested all other parties.”

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who’s from PML-N and is Nawaz Sharif’s brother, raised taxes by record amounts as well as energy prices, as Pakistan looks to clinch a new loan program with the International Monetary Fund to shore up an economy that’s reeling from a debt repayment crisis. Abbasi has criticized the latest government budget, calling it the worst in Pakistan’s history.

The political temperature is also on the boil with firebrand Imran Khan challenging the results of the February elections that saw his candidates sweep the most seats. Abbasi has criticized the powerful military and the Sharif family who control PML-N for rigging the elections — which they’ve repeatedly denied.

Awam Pakistan leaders have said recent governments headed by Sharif and Khan have been in league with the military establishment.

“Imran Khan’s favorite ally is the army which he had allied with in the past and will try to ally with in future as well,” Miftah Ismail, a former finance minister who’s part of the new party, said in an interview this week. “Nawaz Sharif too is in an alliance with the army today.”

In the election earlier this year, former prime minister Khan’s party members were barred from contesting using their official name and election symbol. They still came first in the Feb. 8 polls, in a sign of simmering public discontentment with the PML-N government and the military.

“The constitution will define our relations with the army because the country gets destroyed when the relations between the army and politicians go beyond the constitution,” Abbasi said in a television interview on Friday.

Abbasi was picked by Nawaz Sharif to become prime minister in August 2017.

A close aide of the Sharifs for 35 years, Abbasi parted ways with the family and the party last year on what he said concerns they were not acting democratically. He was replaced as PML-N vice-president by Sharif’s daughter and political heir, Maryam Nawaz.

“The party has been created out of frustration with the two major dynastic parties in Pakistan’s politics,” said Madiha Afzal, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution. “The party will have an uphill task becoming successful at the national level because of Pakistan’s parliamentary elections. It will be hard to displace the vote share” of the current political parties, she said.

Miftah Ismail, who left PML-N in 2023, was Shehbaz Sharif’s finance minister in his first tenure two years ago, and Zafar Mirza, an ex-health minister and Imran Khan’s aide, have also joined the new party.

Residents Protest Planned Military Offensive In Pakistan’s Swat Valley, Orakzai District (Radio Free Europe)

Radio Free Europe [7/6/2024 11:56 AM, Staff, 1530K, Neutral]
Hundreds of residents in Pakistan’s Swat Valley and Orakzai tribal district rallied to condemn a newly announced military operation by the federal government, with one movement calling for a nationwide protest on July 7.

The Ulasi Pasoon (Public Revolution) and Orkazai Peace Movement organized the protests on July 5 in which political workers, rights activists, and students carried placards demanding peace and security in their areas and denouncing the planned military operation.

Residents have long opposed the national government’s military operations in the region, claiming they have driven millions of people from their homes and disrupted businesses and other activities of ethnic Pashtuns in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

They have also protested the lack of overall security provided by the national authorities.

The protesters in Swat and Orakzai demanded peace and asked the military forces to target the terrorists’ hideouts rather than conducting operations in civilian areas.

Pakistan’s top leadership on June 22 approved plans for the Resolve For Stability military operation designed to combat escalating extremist violence and terrorist attacks in the region. The operation has not yet started.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a remote northwestern province near the Afghan border, has seen an increase in deadly attacks in the past two years, mostly blamed on Islamist extremist groups, including Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan and affiliates of Islamic State.

Islamabad has accused neighboring Afghanistan of providing safe havens for the groups operating in Pakistan, something Kabul has denied.

Pakistani security forces have said they have been conducting targeted operations against militants in several parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

Citing the effects of previous military operations, local residents and political activists in several districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa launched the protest rallies and other actions after plans for Resolve For Security were announced by the government in Islamabad.

The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) rights group has announced plans for countrywide protests against new military operations on July 7.

The office of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had stated that the new operation would not be a full-scale military campaign displacing a large number of people like the previous operations.

The Pakistani military on July 5 said in a statement that the new operation is aimed at “harnessing the national counterterrorism efforts in a synchronized manner to dismantle the nexus of terrorism and illegal spectrum in the country for enduring stability and economic prosperity.”

India

India’s Modi Seeks to Shore Up Ties With Russia and Offset China’s Sway (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal [7/5/2024 6:27 PM, Rajesh Roy, Ann M. Simmons, and Tripti Lahiri, 810K, Neutral]
A trip by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Russia next week is aimed at reinforcing the relationship with Moscow as New Delhi strengthens ties with the U.S. to counter China.

Modi will arrive in Moscow on Monday, marking his first visit to the country in five years. For Russian President Vladimir Putin, Modi’s presence will be an opportunity to show that Russia still has influential friends after more than two years of Western efforts to isolate the country.

Modi will get to Moscow just as Washington prepares to host a North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting that will focus on supporting Ukraine as the war drags on. The trip will be Modi’s first bilateral visit of his third term. Days after taking office in June, Modi met with President Biden as well as Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Italy.

“There have been some misgivings that there is a dilution in India-Russia ties due to Western pressure,” said Kanwal Sibal, a former Indian foreign secretary and former ambassador to Russia. “The visit will quell this speculation.”

Modi and Putin last met in 2022 at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional security bloc founded by Russia and China. They are overdue to get together again based on an agreement the two countries have that calls for a summit between their leaders annually.

Scheduling the summit was a priority because it hadn’t taken place since 2021, Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said Friday. The meeting is the “highest mechanism to steer and drive cooperation between our two countries,” he said.

Russia and India have enjoyed close ties dating from the Cold War era, when the Soviet Union became India’s main military supplier. But in recent years, shared concerns over China’s rise have prompted the U.S. and India to draw closer.

Meanwhile, Russian and Chinese relations have flourished as the authoritarian powers band together to confront what they see as a Western campaign to hem them both in. Putin visited Beijing in May and met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, ahead of this year’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting. Modi didn’t attend this year.

India is trying to offer a counterweight to U.S. and European sanctions that it believes have pushed Moscow closer to Beijing, political experts say. India wants to “ensure Russia has alternatives, that Russia isn’t cornered and doesn’t have to put all its eggs into the Chinese basket,” said Aleksei Zakharov, a Moscow-based expert on Russia-India relations.

In India’s calculus, Russia is part of its efforts to counter its more powerful neighbor. Relations between India and China have deteriorated sharply in recent years, particularly in the wake of a 2020 clash on their disputed Himalayan border that left 20 Indian soldiers dead and killed four Chinese troops.

“It will be impossible to contain China in Asia if Russia becomes a junior partner of China,” said Nandan Unnikrishnan, head of the Eurasia program at the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi think tank.

Like many leaders, Modi skipped a peace summit organized by Kyiv in Switzerland last month, but has expressed concern over the war. In 2022, at his first meeting with Putin after Russia invaded Ukraine, Modi publicly voiced concern over the war’s impact on global stability.

Also on the agenda will be sorting out areas of friction in the relationship that have arisen since the war, including Russia’s recruitment of Indian nationals as part of an effort to enlist foreign fighters in its war effort.

More than two dozen nationals have reached out for help after they said they were deceived into enlisting, according to Indian officials, and India has been able to bring back 10 people. Another four have died in fighting.

In recent months, India has raised the issue of securing the early release of its nationals more publicly and more forcefully.

“It upsets us why Russian authorities haven’t heeded to our demand promptly,” said an Indian official.

Suresh Kumar, a grocery-shop owner in northern India whose 19-year-old son Harsh Kumar traveled to Russia around Christmas and soon ended up on the front lines, said his son hadn’t yet returned. But he said he was hopeful India’s interventions would soon be successful after his son said the Indian Embassy in Moscow had told him and his friends in a recent call that the process for their return was “90% complete.”

In June, India’s Foreign Ministry demanded that the Russian army stop recruiting Indian nationals, indicating the issue could damage relations between the countries.

S. Jaishankar, the Indian foreign minister, said in a post on X that he had pressed for the return of Indian nationals fighting for Russia in a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Kazakhstan this week.

Trade between the two countries has become severely lopsided, with India’s massive purchases of discounted Russian oil driving imports from the country up to more than $60 billion. That has left Moscow with a big surplus of rupees it can hardly use, with purchases from India at just over $4 billion.

The two countries could also progress on a logistics agreement several years in the making that would simplify the refueling and resupplying of deployed vessels at each other’s ports. India has similar agreements with other countries, including the U.S. and the U.K.

While officials on both sides are set to telegraph that the relationship is as robust as ever, political experts say a fundamental shift is taking place, with strategic components giving way to more transactional elements. In part, the transformation comes as India’s economic and diplomatic stature has grown, while Russia’s has diminished.

“The future of Russia as this industrial powerhouse that it once was by comparison with India, is very much in doubt now that Russia is cut off from most Western technology and relies on China for substitutes or secondhand Western tech and equipment, and it is struggling to produce enough weapons for its own military,” said Eugene Rumer, a senior fellow and the director of the Carnegie think tank’s Russia and Eurasia program. “So how can it be a reliable supplier to the Indian military?”

An Indian security official said Indian forces have already started discarding and minimizing the use of decades-old Russian tanks, artillery, ships and helicopters, and don’t intend to place any major future orders for fighter aircraft or advanced military equipment to Moscow.

Still, large parts of India’s army and air force remain reliant on Russian heavy equipment, such as jet fighters and armored tanks, and therefore still need a steady supply of spare parts, an issue that will also be part of discussions next week.

Russia has been moving to produce some equipment in India in collaboration with domestic firms. On Thursday, Russia’s Rosoboronexport, a unit of state-run defense giant Rostec, said it had reached an agreement to locally produce armor-piercing rounds used by India’s Russian-made tanks. Last year, the two countries also established joint production of Kalashnikov rifles in India.

“India-Russia cooperation on spares, their co-production in India, isn’t a new item of discussion between the two countries,” Kwatra, the foreign secretary, said Friday. “This is part of a longstanding understanding between the two countries on how different systems and subsystems could eventually end up getting manufactured in India.”

Indian analysts say Russia’s intractable war in Ukraine has dimmed its appeal as a key strategic partner and there are concerns that Moscow’s increasing reliance on China might make it an unreliable ally for New Delhi in any future conflicts with Beijing.

“Will Russia balk from backing us up like they used to in the past?” said Sreeram Chaulia, dean at O.P. Jindal Global University’s School of International Affairs in Sonipat, India. “These question marks are around.”

Putin Hosts Modi After Hailing ‘Best in History’ Ties With India Rival China (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg [7/7/2024 5:00 PM, Sudhi Ranjan Sen and Dan Strumpf, 27296K, Neutral]
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia on Monday for the first time in five years at a time when Moscow is deepening its embrace of New Delhi’s rival, China.

Modi is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the visit, which will stretch into Tuesday. India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra told reporters in New Delhi that given the lack of recent summits, several issues on the bilateral agenda “have piled up, which need to be addressed.”

Senior Indian diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that while major announcements are unlikely, Modi’s visit is intended to send a signal that the two sides remain close. Russia’s ties to India stretch back to the Cold War, and the country is India’s biggest supplier of weapons and oil. That relationship has remained “resilient,” Kwatra said.

However, India is watching carefully as Russia draws closer to China, which has served as an economic and diplomatic lifeline amid sanctions over the Kremlin’s grueling war on Ukraine. During a security summit in Kazakhstan last week, Putin described relations with China as the “best in history.”

Relations between India and China have been stuck at a low point since a border dispute erupted into violence in 2020, though the two sides have agreed to talks to resolve the disagreement.

“India, situated between Russia, China, and the West, seeks more predictability from Russia and is willing to play a bigger role in promoting peace” in Ukraine, said Petr Topychkanov, associate senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

“Nevertheless, behind closed doors, Putin may face questions from Modi about the increasingly close ties between Russia and China,” he said.

Moscow will be Modi’s first bilateral visit since he won a third term in office last month. His decision to travel to Russia instead of neighboring countries like Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka marks a break in convention for Indian leaders. For Moscow, the trip helps rebuff Western efforts to cast Putin as a pariah over his February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, while also shoring up relations with an important trading partner and key buyer of its oil.

Measures to reduce a trade imbalance between the two countries are likely to figure prominently in the talks, Kwatra said. India currently imports about $60 billion a year in goods from Russia, which is buying less than $5 billion from India. China’s actions in the Indo-Pacific could also come up, India’s top diplomat said.

While in previous years the Indian and Russian leaders met annually, Modi began skipping those summits after Putin threatened to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine in 2022. The two last met that year on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in Uzbekistan.

Future arms deals could also be on the agenda, according to Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, a Moscow-based defense think tank. He said Russia could supply India with new air defense systems and Su-30MKI fighter jets, as well as the licensed production of Ka-226T multipurpose helicopters. India is facing a severe crunch of fighter jets and is considering buying a dozen more from Russia to replace those lost in accidents.

Modi’s trip comes just weeks after a team of senior US officials traveled to India to discuss cooperation in technology, security and investment. Modi has sought a deeper partnership with the US and is pushing Washington to boost technology transfers and foreign investment.

The US for its part sees India as a partner in its rivalry with China, but the relationship has at times frustrated Washington. Modi has declined to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine even as it has pushed for diplomacy. US prosecutors also are investigating an alleged murder-for-hire plot on American soil that they say involved senior Indian officials.

US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell in late June said US officials have raised concerns about India-Russia ties with New Delhi, but that Washington retained confidence in India and wants to expand relations.

In addition to talks with Putin, Modi is expected to meet with members of the Indian community in Russia. About 14,000 Indians, including 4,500 students, reside there, according to the Indian embassy.

Indian Prime Minister Modi makes first visit to ally Russia since the start of its war on Ukraine (AP)

AP [7/8/2024 12:03 AM, Krutika Pathi and Jim Heintz, 456K, Neutral]
India’s prime minister begins a two-day visit to Russia on Monday, his first since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine, a war that has complicated the relationship between the longtime allies and pushed Russia closer to India’s rival China.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit will include a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, whom he last saw in Russia in 2019, in the far eastern port of Vladivostok. The two leaders also met in person in September 2022 in Uzbekistan, at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization bloc.

Russia has had strong ties with India since the Cold War, and New Delhi’s importance as a key trading partner for Moscow has grown since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China and India have become key buyers of Russian oil following sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies that shut most Western markets off to Russian exports.

Under Modi’s leadership, India has avoided condemning Russia’s war in Ukraine while emphasizing the need for a peaceful settlement.

The partnership between Moscow and New Delhi has become fraught, however, since Russia started developing closer ties with India’s main rival, China, because of the hostilities in Ukraine.

Modi notably stayed away last week from the most recent summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, in Kazakhstan.

Chietigj Bajpaee, senior South Asia research fellow at the U.K.-based Chatham House, said India is becoming increasingly estranged from forums in which Russia and China play a prominent role.

“This is evident in India’s relatively low key presidency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization last year, and now the decision by Modi not to attend this year’s summit,” Bajpaee said.

A confrontation in June 2020 along the disputed China-India border dramatically altered their already touchy relationship as the rival troops fought with rocks, clubs and fists. At least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers were killed. Tensions have since persisted despite talks.

Those tensions have seeped into how New Delhi looks at Moscow.

“Russia’s relations with China have been a matter of some concern for India in the context of Chinese increased assertiveness in the region,” D. Bala Venkatesh Verma, a former Indian ambassador to Russia, told The Associated Press.

But Modi also will seek to continue close relations with Russia, an important trading partner and major defense supplier for India.

Since Western sanctions blocked Russian oil exports after the start of the Ukraine war, India has become a key buyer of Russian oil. It now gets more than 40% of its oil imports from Russia, according to analysts.

India is also strongly dependent on Russia for military supplies, but with Moscow’s supply line hit by the fighting in Ukraine, India has been diversifying its defense procurements, buying more from the U.S., Israel, France and Italy.

“Defense cooperation will clearly be a priority area,” Bajpaee said, adding that 60% of India’s military equipment and systems is “still of Russian origin.”

“We’ve seen some delay in the deliveries of spare parts ... following the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” he said. “I believe both countries are due to conclude a military logistics agreement, which would pave the way for more defense exchanges.”

India has adopted a neutral stance, neither condemning nor condoning Russia’s war on Ukraine, and has called for negotiations to end the fighting. That in turn has bolstered Putin’s efforts to counter what he calls the West’s domination of global affairs.

Facing an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court for actions over the war in Ukraine, Putin’s foreign travel has been relatively sparse in recent years, so Modi’s trip could help the Russian leader boost his image.

“We kind of see Putin going on a nostalgia trip — you know, he was in Vietnam, he was in North Korea,” said Theresa Fallon, an analyst at the Center for Russia, Europe, Asia Studies. “In my view, he’s trying to demonstrate that he’s not a vassal to China, that he has options, that Russia is still a great power.”

Alexander Gabuev, head of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said that Putin’s interactions on the world stage show he “is far from isolated” and that Russia is not a country to be discounted.

Trade development also will figure strongly in the talks, particularly intentions to develop a maritime corridor between India’s major port of Chennai and Vladivostok, the gateway to Russia’s Far East.

India-Russia trade has seen a sharp increase, touching close to $65 billion in the 2023-24 financial year, due to strong energy cooperation, Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra told reporters Friday.

Imports from Russia touched $60 billion and exports from India $4 billion in the 2023-24 financial year, Kwatra said. India’s financial year runs from April to March.

He said India was trying to correct the trade imbalance with Russia by increasing its exports. India’s top exports to Russia include drugs and pharmaceutical products, telecom instruments, iron and steel, marine products and machinery.

Its top imports from Russia include crude oil and petroleum products, coal and coke, pearls, precious and semi-precious stones, fertilizer, vegetable oil, gold and silver.

Modi heads to Moscow with eye on Russia-China embrace (VOA)

VOA [7/7/2024 9:47 AM, Anjana Pasricha, 4032K, Neutral]
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will head to Russia on Monday for a two-day visit to shore up relations at a time that Moscow has deepened ties with New Delhi’s archrival, China.

New Delhi analysts say the summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin set for Tuesday will help counter perceptions of a drift in ties with its longtime ally as India builds a closer partnership with the United States.

“India’s goal is to emphasize that India-Russia relations are important and to ensure that Putin’s growing relations with China will not affect ties with New Delhi,” Chintamani Mahapatra, founder of the Kalinga Institute of Indo Pacific Studies told VOA.

“That is why it is extremely important to continue the dialogue with Russia at the highest level,” he added.

The summit will be the first since Russia invaded Ukraine, an issue on which New Delhi has maintained a neutral stance; It has neither condemned the war nor joined Western sanctions imposed on Moscow.

Although Indian and Russian leaders have held annual summits since 2000, none have been held since Putin visited New Delhi in 2021.

Calling the summit “something waiting to happen,” Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar stressed the two countries’ “strong history of working together.”

The focus of Modi’s first visit to Russia in five years will be reinforcing a time-tested relationship, analysts say.

“I don’t think this will set the course for a future-oriented or path breaking partnership with a lot of new initiatives and deliverables,” Sreeram Chaulia, dean at the Jindal School of International Affairs told VOA.

“Rather,” he said, “it is to sustain the relationship, maintain the existing links we have and ensure how to keep our defense and energy cooperation on track.”

Despite diversifying its purchases of military hardware in recent years, India remains reliant on Russian arms – about one-third of India’s defense imports come from Moscow, down from two-thirds five years ago. Concerns have been growing though, since the Ukraine invasion began, about Russia’s ability to supply spare parts and ammunition.

Meanwhile, bilateral energy trade has boomed as India increases purchases of cheap Russian oil in the aftermath of the Ukraine invasion. However, while Moscow’s total exports to India are $65 billion, Indian exports are only about $4 billion, causing concern in New Delhi.

"Trade remains imbalanced, which is a matter of priority in our discussions with the Russian side," Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra told reporters while announcing Modi’s visit on Friday. He said India wants to promote exports across various sectors, including farm products, technology, pharmaceuticals and services to lower the deficit.

For Putin, the visit will be important in underscoring that he has not been isolated by Western sanctions, according to analysts. Some ot them have pointed to the optics of his meeting with Modi, which takes place even as a NATO summit focused on security concerns in Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific region gets underway in Washington on Tuesday.

Russia is expecting a "very important and full-fledged visit" by Prime Minister Modi, “which is so crucial for Russian-Indian relations,” Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying on Saturday by Russia’s Tass news agency.

Analysts in New Delhi said Modi’s visit is unlikely to raise concerns in Washington, with which India has been deepening its security partnership amid mutual concerns about China’s assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific. So far India has managed to walk a fine line between the United States and Russia, according to Mahapatra.

The United States has "some concerns" over India’s engagement with Russia in military and technology matters, but Washington has confidence and trust in New Delhi to advance the U.S.-Indian partnership in key areas, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said at a virtual briefing on June 26 before the India-Moscow summit was announced.

Analysts in New Delhi say that while India has substantially strengthened its U.S. ties, its hostile neighborhood makes Russia important in its geostrategic calculations.

A four-year military standoff between India and China along their disputed borders that shows no signs of ending remains a worry for New Delhi.

“It is important for India that in the event of any India-China conflict, Russia will not side with China,” Mahapatra said. “That will only happen if Russia thinks India is an important country in their geopolitical calculations.”

However, it will be challenging for India to counterbalance China due to Russia’s huge dependence on Beijing in the wake of its isolation by Western countries. During a Putin’s May visit to China, the two countries pledged to intensify their partnership, which has burgeoned since the Ukraine war began.

“We are conscious that for Russia, China will remain its dominant ally, but India wants to make sure that it does not become completely predominant,” according to Chaulia. “We don’t want Russia to become a junior partner of China because then we will be surrounded by adversaries in the whole Eurasian region. So it is in our interest to make Russia stable in whatever way we can.”

After Moscow, Modi will go to Austria, the first visit by an Indian prime minister in over four decades.

Modi Government to Present India’s Federal Budget on July 23 (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg [7/6/2024 6:51 AM, Sankalp Phartiyal, 27296K, Neutral]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new government will present the federal budget for the fiscal year through March 2025 on July 23, a senior minister said Saturday.

Parliament’s budget session will run from July 22 until Aug. 12, Kiren Rijiju, India’s parliamentary affairs minister, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

A key regional ally of Modi’s coalition government is demanding financial support of more than 1 trillion rupees ($12 billion) for the state it runs in southern India, adding pressure on the federal budget, Bloomberg News reported.

Two Indian soldiers, six rebels killed in Kashmir gun battles (Al Jazeera)

Al Jazeera [7/7/2024 6:13 AM, Staff, 20871K, Negative]
Two Indian soldiers have been killed alongside six rebels in two separate gun battles in the Indian-administered Kashmir, according to the police, raising concerns about the security situation in the disputed Himalayan region.

Kashmir police’s Inspector General Vidhi Kumar Birdi told the AFP news agency on Sunday that security forces “carried out two different operations” in villages in the Kulgam district in the disputed territory in which two soldiers were killed.

Birdi said gunfights continued in Modergram and Frisal Chinnigam villages.

“We have retrieved the bodies of two terrorists from Modergram, and four others from Frisal Chinnigam,” said Birdi.

The deadly incident is the latest in an uptick of attacks in the Muslim-majority region, where armed rebellion erupted in the late 1980s against Indian rule. Tens of thousands of people have been killed, although violence has tapered off in recent years.

India regularly accuses Pakistan of supporting and arming rebels in the region, a charge Islamabad denies.

India and Pakistan both claim the Muslim-majority Himalayan region in full but govern part of it. They have fought three wars for its control.

In June, nine Indian Hindu pilgrims were killed and dozens wounded when a gunman opened fire on a bus carrying them from a shrine in the southern Reasi area.

It was one of the deadliest attacks in years and the first on Hindu pilgrims in Kashmir since 2017 when armed men killed seven people in another ambush on a bus.

In August 2019, Modi’s Hindu nationalist government stripped Kashmir of its special status, which allowed it a separate constitution and inherited protections on land and jobs under Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution.

The move was followed by an unprecedented months-long security clampdown in one of the world’s most militarised regions, where anti-India sentiment runs high.

The government said the move was aimed at ending “terrorism”, but attacks have continued, and further alienated Kashmiris from mainland India. The region has been governed from New Delhi since the special status was scrapped in 2019.

Eight Killed In Gun Battles In Indian Kashmir: Police (Agence France-Presse)

Agence France-Presse [7/7/2024 10:38 AM, Staff, 4032K, Negative]
Two soldiers and six suspected militants were killed in two separate gun battles in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said Sunday.

Kashmir police inspector general Vidhi Kumar Birdi told AFP that authorities in the disputed territory had "carried out two different operations" in villages in the Kulgam district.

Birdi said two members of the security forces had been killed, with clashes continuing in Modergram and Frisal Chinnigam villages.

"We have retrieved the bodies of two terrorists from Modergram, and four others from Frisal Chinnigam," said Birdi.

This is the latest incident in an uptick of attacks in the disputed territory.

India and Pakistan both claim Muslim-majority Kashmir in full and have fought three wars for control of the Himalayan region.

Rebel groups have waged an insurgency since 1989, demanding independence for the territory or its merger with Pakistan.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels.

In June, nine Indian Hindu pilgrims were killed and dozens wounded when a gunman opened fire on a bus carrying them from a shrine in the southern Reasi area.

It was one of the deadliest attacks in years and the first on Hindu pilgrims in Kashmir since 2017, when gunmen killed seven people in another ambush on a bus.

India: Police arrest 8 for politician’s murder in Chennai (Deutsche Welle)

Deutsche Welle [7/6/2024 5:27 AM, Staff, 15592K, Negative]
Police in India’s southern city of Chennai on Saturday said they had managed to arrest eight suspects in connection with the murder of a local political leader.

K. Armstrong, the Tamil Nadu state leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), was hacked to death with machetes near his home in Chennai on Friday night.

What is known about the killing

Local media reported that Armstrong had been talking to friends and supporters near his home, when he was set upon by men with knives, traveling on motorbikes who then reportedly escaped before any intervention could be made.

Armstrong was taken to hospital for treatment but succumbed to his injuries, according to authorities.

Police said they then managed to trace eight suspects "within hours of the incident and arrested them."

Mayawati, the national head of Armstrong’s BSP, who uses just one name, said the attack was "highly deplorable and condemnable."

"The state government must punish the guilty," she said in a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said "Mr. Armstrong’s assassination is shocking and deeply saddening" and called for police to bring those responsible to justice.

Indian broadcaster NDTV cited a senior police official as saying that the killing could be linked to the death of an underworld figure last year.

"We are conducting an investigation. The murder seems to be linked to an earlier killing," NDTV quoted the police source as saying.

India stampede: main organizer of religious event surrenders to police (Reuters)

Reuters [7/6/2024 1:29 AM, Shivam Patel, 85570K, Negative]
The chief organiser of an Indian preacher’s event where a stampede killed 121 people this week surrendered to police on Friday, a lawyer for the preacher said, after police had launched a manhunt.

Devprakash Madhukar was named a key suspect in an initial report registered by police under charges including attempted culpable homicide. Police had announced a reward of 100,000 rupees ($1,200) for information leading to his arrest.

A.P. Singh, lawyer for self-styled godman Bhole Baba, said Madhukar was the main organiser of the Hindu religious event on Tuesday attended by about 250,000 people in a village in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. District authorities had permitted an event of only 80,000 people.

"He has surrendered from Delhi. We are not seeking an anticipatory bail," Singh told reporters. He denied any wrongdoing by the event’s organisers and said Devprakash was getting medical treatment in a hospital after the stampede.

The preacher said on Saturday he was saddened by the incident and his aides would help the injured and families of the deceased.

"I have faith that anyone who created the chaos will not be spared," he told Indian news agency ANI, in which Reuters has a minority stake.

Hundreds of mostly exiled Tibetans celebrate the Dalai Lama’s 89th birthday in India’s Dharamshala (AP)

AP [7/6/2024 12:55 PM, Ashwini Bhatia, 47701K, Neutral]
Hundreds of mostly exiled Tibetans gathered in India’s hillside town of Dharamshala to celebrate the birthday of the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, who turned 89 on Saturday.

The Dalai Lama has made the hillside town his headquarters since fleeing Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. Representatives of a Tibetan government-in-exile also reside there.

The main celebrations took place in Tsuglagkhang temple inside the complex where the spiritual leader lives. Tibetan and Buddhist flags adorned poles and railings.

A volunteer distributed Indian sweets to exiled Tibetan Buddhist nuns as teachers helped children with their make-up as they prepared to perform traditional dances.

While a colorful three-tiered cake was cut inside the temple, schoolchildren sang: “Happy Birthday His Holiness.”

Artists from the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, dressed in traditional attire, played the drums and some marched with bagpipes inside the complex, drawing cheers and applause from the crowd. Then, Indian and Tibetan flags were hoisted, as the band played the two national anthems.

Tibetan and Indian officials sat on a slightly raised platform as photos of the Dalai Lama, some from his childhood, hung on pillars around them.

The Dalai Lama, however, wasn’t present. He is currently in the U.S. where he has undergone a knee replacement, according to his secretary.

Addressing the gathering on Saturday, Penpa Tsering, the president of the Tibetan government-in-exile, announced that several events commemorating the Dalai Lama’s achievements would be held throughout the year.

China doesn’t recognize the exiled Tibetan government and hasn’t held any dialogue with the representatives of the Dalai Lama since 2010.

Last month, a group of bipartisan U.S. lawmakers met with the Dalai Lama at his Dharamshala residence, sparking anger from China which views the exiled leader of Tibetan Buddhism as a dangerous separatist.

The Dalai Lama denies being a separatist and says he only advocates substantial autonomy and protection of Tibet’s native Buddhist culture.

India considers Tibet to be part of China, though it hosts Tibetan exiles.

NSB

Bangladesh to Sign 20 Accords With China, Start New Projects (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg [7/7/2024 11:04 PM, Arun Devnath, 5.5M, Neutral]
Bangladesh is likely to sign 20 accords with China and start new projects on July 10 during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Beijing, the foreign ministry in Dhaka said in a statement.

The accords will include financial and banking sectors, trade and investment, digital economy, infrastructure development, as well as assistance in disaster management and construction of bridges. Hasina will also hold a bilateral meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping and issue a joint statement on July 10.

Eight dead, two million affected by Bangladesh floods (Agence France-Presse)

Agence France-Presse [7/6/2024 7:27 AM, Staff, 85570K, Negative]
The death toll from floods in Bangladesh this week has risen to eight, leaving more than two million affected after heavy rains caused major rivers to burst their banks, officials confirmed Saturday.

The South Asian nation of 170 million people, crisscrossed by hundreds of rivers, has seen more frequent floods in recent decades.

Climate change has made rainfall more erratic and melting glaciers upstream in the Himalayan mountains.

Two teenage boys were killed when a boat capsized in flood waters in Shahjadur, the northern rural town’s police chief Sabuj Rana told AFP.

"There were nine people in the small boat. Seven swam to safety. Two boys did not know how to swim. They drowned," he said.

Bishwadeb Roy, a police chief in Kurigram, told AFP that three others had been killed in two separate electrocution incidents after their boats became entangled with live electricity wires in flood water.

Another three died in separate flood-related incidents around the country, officials told AFP earlier this week.

The government said it has opened hundreds of shelters for people displaced by the waters and sent food and relief to hard-hit districts in the country’s north region.

"More than two million people have been affected by the floods. Seventeen of the country’s 64 districts have been affected," Kamrul Hasan, the secretary of the country’s disaster management ministry, told AFP.

Hasan said the flood situation may worsen in the north over the coming days with the Brahmaputra, one of Bangladesh’s main waterways, flowing above danger levels in some areas.

In the worst-hit Kurigram district, eight out of nine rural towns have been marooned by flood water, local disaster and relief official Abdul Hye told AFP.

"We live with floods here. But this year the water was very high. In three days, Brahmaputra rose by six to eight feet (2-2.5 metres)," Abdul Gafur, a local councillor in the district, told AFP.

"Flood water has inundated more than 80 percent of homes in my area. We are trying to deliver food, especially rice and edible oil. But there is a drinking water crisis."

Bangladesh is in the middle of the annual summer monsoon, which brings South Asia 70-80 percent of its annual rainfall, as well as regular deaths and destruction due to flooding and landslides.

The rainfall is hard to forecast and varies considerably, but scientists say climate change is making the monsoon stronger and more erratic.

Bangladeshi protesters demand end to civil service job quotas (Agence France-Presse)

Agence France-Presse [7/7/2024 7:41 PM, Staff, 4032K, Neutral]
Thousands of Bangladeshi university students threw roadblocks across key highways on Sunday, demanding the end of "discriminatory" quotas for coveted government jobs, including reserving posts for children of liberation heroes.

Students in almost all major universities took part, demanding a merit-based system for well-paid and massively over-subscribed civil service jobs.

"It’s a do-or-die situation for us," protest coordinator Nahidul Islam told AFP, during marches at Dhaka University.

"Quotas are a discriminatory system," the 26-year-old added. "The system has to be reformed".

The current system reserves more than half of posts, totalling hundreds of thousands of government jobs.

That includes 30 percent reserved for children of those who fought to win Bangladeshi independence in 1971, 10 percent for women, and 10 percent set aside for specific districts.

Students said only those quotas supporting ethnic minorities and disabled people -- six percent of jobs -- should remain.

Critics say the system benefits children of pro-government groups, who back Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was Bangladesh’s founding leader.

Hasina, 76, won her fourth consecutive general election in January, in a vote without genuine opposition parties, with a widespread boycott and a major crackdown against her political opponents.

Critics accuse Bangladeshi courts of rubber-stamping decisions made by her government.

The system was initially abolished after weeks of student protests in 2018.

But in June, Dhaka’s High Court rolled that back, saying the cancellation had been invalid.

Hasina has condemned the protests, saying the matter had been settled by the court.

"Students are wasting their time," Hasina told female activists from her party on Sunday, Bangladeshi newspapers reported.

"After the court’s verdict, there is no justification for the anti-quota movement."

Protests began earlier in July and have grown in size.

"We will bury the quota system", students chanted on Sunday in Bangladesh’s second city Chittagong, where hundreds of protesters marched.

In Dhaka, hundreds of students disrupted traffic for hours, police said.

At the elite Jahangirnagar University, at least 500 students blocked the highway connecting the capital with southeastern Bangladesh "for two hours", local police chief A.F.M. Shahed told AFP.

Bin Yamin Molla, a protest leader, said at least 30,000 students participated in the protests, although the number could not be verified.

Bangladesh was one of the world’s poorest countries when it gained independence in 1971, but it has grown an average of more than six percent each year since 2009.

Hasina has presided over that breakneck economic growth, with per capita income in the country of 170 million people overtaking India in 2021.

But much of that growth has been on the back of the mostly female factory workforce powering its garment export industry, and economists say there is an acute crisis of jobs for millions of university students.

Flooding and Landslides Kill at Least 15 in Nepal (New York Times)

New York Times [7/7/2024 4:14 PM, Bhadra Sharma, 831K, Negative]
Landslides and floods set off by torrential rains have killed at least 15 people in Nepal in the last 24 hours, officials in the small Himalayan nation said on Sunday, expressing fear that with further heavy rains expected, that number could rise.

Eighteen people were also injured in the flooding over the past 24 hours, and two are missing, said Dan Bahadur Karki, a police spokesman. Dozens of people were evacuated to safety, including some pulled from the rubble of their damaged homes.

Officials said the landslides had hampered vehicle traffic in most parts of a country where the terrain already makes travel difficult. Highways were damaged, as were the serpentine roads that connect cities with mountain villages. Military and police forces were deployed to help clear the roads.

Koshi, Gandaki and Bagmati Provinces, in the east and center of the country, were among the hardest hit. Weather experts predict that heavy rainfall could affect the remaining provinces as the rain heads west.

Nepal, which is among the places most vulnerable to climate change, routinely faces landslides and floods. Last year’s monsoon affected nearly 6,000 households, damaging homes and flooding fields. Since the beginning of the current monsoon season in June, at least 62 people have lost their lives, according to the country’s home ministry. Most of the deaths were because of flooding, but lightning was also a factor.

Political instability and widespread corruption have complicated a disaster response already short on resources.

The coalition government in Kathmandu is in disarray again, with a new alliance seeking to topple the current prime minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal. If he is ousted, the country will get its second government since the parliamentary elections held in November 2022.

Heavy rains trigger landslides in Nepal, 11 killed, 8 missing (Reuters)

Reuters [7/7/2024 1:11 AM, Gopal Sharma, 48440K, Negative]
Heavy rains triggered landslides and flash floods killing at least 11 people in the last 36 hours in Nepal and blocking key highways and roads, officials said on Sunday.

Eight people were missing, either washed away by floods or buried in landslides, while 12 others were injured and being treated in hospitals, police spokesperson Dan Bahadur Karki said.

“Rescue workers are trying to clear the landslides and open the roads,” Karki told Reuters, adding heavy equipment was being used to clear debris.

In southeastern Nepal, the Koshi River, which causes deadly floods in the eastern Indian state of Bihar almost every year, was flowing above the danger level, a district official said.

“The flow of Koshi is rising and we have asked residents to remain alert about possible floods,” Bed Raj Phuyal, a senior official of Sunsari district where the river flows, told Reuters.

He said at 0900 hours (0315 hours GMT) water flow in Koshi River was 369,000 cusecs per second, more than double its normal flow of 150,000 cusecs.

Cusec is the measurement of the flow of water and one cusec is equal to one cubic foot per second.

Authorities said all 56 sluice gates of the Koshi Barrage had been opened to drain out water compared with about 10-12 during a normal situation.

Authorities said the flows of Narayani, Rapti and Mahakali rivers in the west were also rising.

In hill-ringed Kathmandu, several rivers have overflown their banks, flooded roads and inundated many houses.

Local media showed people wading through waist-deep water or residents using buckets to empty their houses.

At least 50 people across Nepal have died in landslides, floods and lightning strikes since mid-June when annual monsoon rains started.

Hundreds of people die every year in landslides and flash floods that are common in mostly mountainous Nepal during the monsoon season which normally starts in mid-June and continues through mid-September.

In the northeastern Indian state of Assam, floods have killed dozens and displaced thousands of people in the past few days.

Central Asia

Kazakh Journalist’s Killing Sends Chill Through Exiles in Ukraine (New York Times)

New York Times [7/5/2024 4:14 PM, Carlotta Gall and Oleksandr Chubko, 831K, Neutral]
A small crowd of mourners gathered on Friday for the funeral of the Kazakh opposition activist and YouTuber Aidos Sadykov, who was assassinated in Kyiv, Ukraine — a killing that colleagues said had cast a chill over journalists and exiles in Ukraine and the wider region.

A former opposition politician and trade unionist, Mr. Sadykov, 55, lived in Ukraine after fleeing Kazakhstan, his homeland, with his family 10 years ago. He was granted political asylum in Ukraine and, with his wife, ran a widely followed YouTube Channel covering events in Kazakhstan.

He was shot last month outside their home, and died of his injuries earlier this week. Natalia Sadykova, his widow and a journalist, has laid the blame for her husband’s death on President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan.

“Aidos gave his life for Kazakhstan. He died a martyr’s death at the hands of killers,” she wrote on her Facebook page, announcing his death. “For 13 days, Aidos fought for his life in the I.C.U., but there was no miracle. His death is on Tokayev’s conscience.”

The president of Kazakhstan has not addressed Ms. Sadykova’s accusations directly. He announced soon after the shooting that he had ordered his officials to learn details of the incident and if necessary would offered Ukraine assistance in its investigation.

The Ukrainian prosecutor general has named two citizens of Kazakhstan as suspects in the shooting, and announced that the case was a murder investigation. The two individuals escaped the country via neighboring Moldova, according to the prosecutor.

One of the suspects turned himself in on his return to Kazakhstan and was being questioned, according to a statement from the Kazakhstan prosecutor’s office. The second man remains at large.

Ms. Saydkova was beside her husband in their car on June 18 as they drove into the courtyard of their home. In an interview, she said she saw a man holding a pistol with a silencer open fire at the car. He shot her husband in the head through the windshield, she said.

Mr. Sadykov was taken to a hospital and survived in a coma for two weeks before succumbing to his wounds. He leaves behind his wife and three children, ages 13, 12 and 5.

When they lived in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, both Mr. Sadykov and Ms. Sadykova were the targets of prosecutions that they said were politically motivated. He spent two years in prison, and she faced the prospect of imprisonment when they fled.

Mr. Sadykov was an outspoken critic of the Kazakh government and had long been active in organizing strikes and protests, in particular among oil workers. His YouTube channel, named Base (pronounced Ba-zay), has more than one million subscribers and was a source of irritation for the government, friends at the funeral said.

Many followers inside Kazakhstan would send in videos of protests and police brutality, which the channel would post, undermining the official accounts of events, said Vladimir Kozlov, a former political prisoner in Kazakhstan.

Refat Chubarov, the leader of the Crimean Tatar movement in Ukraine, spoke at the funeral in a Muslim community center in a suburb southwest of Kyiv, and suggested the real culprit was President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Crimean Tatars suffered centuries of oppression under Moscow’s rule, and most were forcibly resettled to Central Asia in the 1940s.

“Aidos was killed by those who don’t want a free and independent Kazakhstan,” he said, standing beside Mr. Sadykov’s body, which was laid on a wooden bier and covered with a cloth of green and gold, “He was killed in our country. It can only have been done by those who want to destroy all of us. I don’t know who did this, but it is clear it is coming from the enemy of us all, from one center, Moscow.”

The assassination was a message to all Kazakhs, Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars and the wider community, he said. “Everyone who thinks this war will not touch them, they should think again.”

International journalists’ organizations have deplored the killing and called for a full investigation.

“Journalists must be free to operate without fear of retribution, and Aidos’ killing while in asylum is deeply suspicious,” Anthony Bellanger, general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, said in a statement. “Those responsible must be held to account.”

Kazakhstan has prepared plan to compensate for oil overproduction (Reuters)

Reuters [7/8/2024 3:48 AM, Staff, 5.2M, Neutral]
Kazakhstan will compensate for oil output exceeding its OPEC+ quota in the first half of this year by September 2025, its energy ministry said on Monday, adding that it has prepared a detailed plan for gradual compensation.

The country is among eight OPEC+ countries that had pledged extra voluntary output cuts. It did not provide any output figures.

"Kazakhstan will make every effort to comply with its obligations and compensate for overproduction in accordance with the intended compensation plan," the ministry said in a statement.

Kazakhstan raised oil and gas condensate production in June by 4% from May on a daily basis to 7.24 million metric tons, exceeding its quota within the OPEC+ group of oil producers, according to two sources and Reuters calculations.

OPEC+ said last month that it would gradually phase out the production cuts over the course of a year from October 2024 to September 2025.

Kazakhstan: SCO summit doesn’t put much meat on organization’s bones (EruasiaNet)

EurasiaNet [7/5/2024 4:14 PM, Almaz Kumenov, 57.6K, Neutral]
Leaders attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization cast the group as capable of exerting increasing influence on the world stage. But beneath a veneer of solidarity, cracks are visible in the foundation.

The two-day SCO summit concluded July 4 with the signing of a bevy of documents, including a joint declaration that outlined an intention for the organization to exert a greater degree of global influence. “Tectonic shifts are occurring in global politics, the economy and other areas of international relations,” the document stated. “A fairer and multipolar world order is emerging.”

Earlier during the summit, Russian leader Vladimir Putin described the SCO as a “one of the key pillars of a fair multipolar world order.”

To substantiate Putin’s assertion, Russian media cited statistics that had little connection to tangible accomplishments, noting, for example, that SCO member states now account for almost 27 percent of the world’s landmass and more than 42 percent of the global population.

The summit’s most tangible result was the admission of Belarus as a full member. Most of the documents signed were aspirational.

In a carefully worded speech, the summit’s host, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, indicated that the SCO needed to become more cohesive. “The SCO must strengthen its stabilizing and creative role to overcome the erosion of international law, prevent geopolitical fault lines and, ultimately, strengthen peace and security in a broad global context,” Tokayev said.

The SCO has expanded from its original membership of Russia, China and all Central Asian states except Turkmenistan, to include India, Iran, Pakistan and, now, Belarus.

The speeches at the summit provided clues suggesting not all participants are on the same geopolitical page. Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for a “complete set of measures” on information sharing among members to promote mutual security. “Security is a prerequisite for national development, and safety is the lifeline to the happiness of the people,” Xi said. Putin, meanwhile, focused his address on criticism of the West.

Perhaps the clearest sign of differences within the group was the speech made by India’s representative, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who subtly criticized Beijing’s economic cooperation with Pakistan.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who participated in the Astana summit, sought to focus the group’s attention on pressing global matters, urging ceasefires for the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, and calling for an improved response to the “climate emergency.”

The SCO’s unifying factor at present is a general desire to see a reduction of Western global influence. Beyond that, there’s not much else that binds the organization. Kazakh political scientist Dimash Alzhanov believes SCO members prioritize their own interests rather than try to stake out a shared vision, noting that they have substantial tactical differences on efforts to contain Western influence.

Temur Umarov, a fellow at the Carnegie BerlinCenter, described the SCO as an organization lacking in operational substance to back up its grand intentions. “The SCO is still trying to understand what it is now and what it can be,” Umarov said in an interview with Radio Azattyk, the Kazakh service of RFE/RL. “In the end, its main advantage is only its size and collective GDP, but there are still almost no significant results.”

Kazakhstan leverages middle power status with West, China, Russia (Nikkei Asia – opinion)

Nikkei Asia [7/8/2024 4:05 AM, Janusz Bugajski, 2M, Neutral]
Kazakhstan hosted the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit (SCO) on July 4, a meeting that included China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The summit provided an opportunity for Kazakhstan to highlight its independence and develop its relationships with major neighbors. It involved the signing of new agreements in both the political and economic spheres.

But Western countries must not fall behind, and should continue to enhance their ties with Kazakhstan and the broader Central Asian region.

Central Asia was once on the periphery of Western diplomatic priorities, but it is now starting to play a more critical role in Eurasia. Kazakhstan, the largest Central Asian state both in size and economically, in particular, is leveraging its potential as a supplier of energy and transit hub for Euro-Asian trade. As geopolitical upheaval across Eurasia continues unabated, including Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, Western countries need stable and trusted partners in the region. They should now use the opportunity to deepen engagement with Kazakhstan.

Central to Kazakhstan’s position is its emergence as a middle power. Capitalizing on its strategic location, growing economy, and abundant natural resources, Kazakhstan has increasingly become a significant player on the Eurasian stage. Its role as a connector between East and West allows it to influence regional cooperation and economic integration. By developing diplomatic ties with both Western and Eastern powers, Kazakhstan has positioned itself as a key mediator and economic partner in Eurasia.

A prime example of Kazakhstan’s potential is the provision of rare earth metals -- a high-demand resource increasingly indispensable in high-tech industry. The country is rich in various solid minerals, including iron, copper, uranium, zinc, and aluminum, and produces 18 of the 34 types of raw materials identified as "critical materials" by the European Union. As the West seeks to diversify its supply chains away from monopolistic dependencies, Kazakhstan can become a reliable alternative, capable of supplying materials essential for everything from electric vehicles and aviation to renewable energy technologies.

In 2022, the EU and Kazakhstan signed a memorandum to develop a secure and sustainable supply of raw materials, batteries, and renewable hydrogen. Now, it is necessary to establish joint ventures between EU companies and Kazakh companies. This includes development of mining, processing, and refining projects.

The EU can provide advanced mining technologies and expertise in exchange for raw materials. It is important for both parties, of course, to ensure that mining practices adhere to strict environmental and social standards. This includes decarbonizing the critical raw materials value chain and using renewable energy sources.

Furthermore, Kazakhstan’s geographic position makes it an important transit hub for trade between Asia and Europe. The country accounts for about 80% of all land transit from China to Europe, offering faster, more efficient alternatives to traditional maritime routes.

The EU and other international partners have committed significant investments to enhance the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), which links China to Europe via Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, and the South Caucasus. It has become a viable alternative for transit cargo transportation from China. Encouraging investments from private companies, especially in managing key infrastructure such as ports and airports, can significantly enhance Kazakhstan’s transit capabilities.

Importantly, the EU and the U.S. should collaborate with Kazakhstan to navigate the challenges posed by sanctions on Russia. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has publicly reaffirmed Kazakhstan’s commitment to comply with international sanctions against Russia and has assured Western leaders that his country is not aiding Russia in evading them. Kazakhstan has implemented several measures to prevent the use of its territory to circumvent sanctions, including launching an online system last year to track goods crossing its borders in real-time.

Recently, EU Sanctions Envoy David O’Sullivan commended the steady decline in the import and re-export of dual-use sanctioned items to Russia via Kazakhstan, praising its proactive measures and cooperation with the EU.

Western countries should acknowledge Kazakhstan’s geopolitical challenges due to its proximity and economic ties with Russia. They can support Kazakhstan’s efforts by providing technical assistance and training to improve customs monitoring systems, establishing intelligence-sharing mechanisms to identify potential sanctions evasion tactics, and offering economic incentives and support for Kazakhstan’s compliance with sanctions, such as investing in infrastructure projects that enhance Kazakhstan’s independent trade routes.

Yet, Western countries, traditionally cautious in engaging with regimes considered undemocratic, has been less willing to collaborate with Kazakhstan beyond oil-related business deals. However, since the election of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in 2019, the country has been implementing political reforms to decentralize power, limit presidential authority and increase the influence of an elected parliament.

While the promise of reforms often does not meet expectations, the changes in Kazakhstan appear to be consequential. In 2021, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed strong support for the country’s reform agenda, noting the positive international response to these changes. And in May, at the third session of the annual High-Level Dialogue on Human Rights and Democratic Reforms between Kazakhstan and the U.S., the American side reaffirmed its strong support for the full implementation of Tokayev’s reform agenda.

Kazakhstan’s reforms have positively impacted its ability to attract foreign direct investment, particularly from Western countries. The country is Central Asia’s top investment destination, securing over 61% of the region’s total FDI. In 2022 to 2023, the country attracted a record high amount of FDI, at approximately $41.3 billion. The EU is the largest trade and investment partner for Kazakhstan, making up about 30% of the country’s foreign trade.

But more can be accomplished. Closer relations between Western countries and Kazakhstan would ensure that the country remains committed to domestic reform. By partnering with Kazakhstan, the West will gain access to critical natural resources that enable the diversification necessary for energy security and technological development.

A stable Kazakhstan will also facilitate Europe’s trade with Asia, including through the TITR. To build these closer relations, Western countries can invest in joint ventures in key sectors such as mining, renewable energy, and infrastructure. For example, collaborating on environmental sustainability initiatives, such as projects aimed at decarbonizing the economy, would also be beneficial. Additionally, they can provide technical assistance and share best practices in governance and regulatory frameworks.

As a middle power, Kazakhstan has shrewdly balanced its relations with major powers such as Russia and China, acting as a stabilizing force in the region. The West must carefully navigate the layered geopolitical realities in Central Asia, where Russia and China exert significant influence and project their military capabilities.

A measured approach that respects Astana’s existing relationships and does not push Kazakhstan toward Russia or China through invasive mentoring would open new avenues of cooperation with Europe and America.

Ultimately, Kazakhstan’s role as a middle power, combined with its political reforms, make it a constructive and evolving player in Eurasian affairs. As Kazakhstan continues its reform trajectory, the West should support domestic change and develop this strategic partnership, which will benefit both sides.

China’s Xi Pledges Support For Tajikistan ‘Territorial Integrity’ (Agence France-Presse)

Agence France-Presse [7/5/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, 1.4M, Neutral]
Chinese President Xi Jinping promised on Friday to defend the "territorial integrity" of Tajikistan as he announced a boost to diplomatic relations with the neighbouring country on a rare visit.

Xi arrived in the Tajik capital Dushanbe, Thursday night from Kazakhstan following a gathering of leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), during which he held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and urged the bloc to "resist external interference".

Central Asia is a vital link in China’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a massive infrastructure project that Beijing has used to expand its clout overseas, but which critics say has left developing countries saddled with onerous loans.

Beijing has sought to fill a void in the region created by Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as former Soviet states worry about an increasingly bellicose Russia.

"China will continue to unswervingly promote friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation with Tajikistan... firmly support Tajikistan’s efforts to safeguard national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity," Xi told his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Xi also pledged to "firmly oppose any external interference in Tajikistan’s internal affairs under any pretext", without mentioning any foreign player by name.

Beijing has recently stepped up its diplomatic efforts in Central Asia, a region rich in hydrocarbons and crucial for the transport of goods between Europe and Asia, but also traditionally a region of Russian influence.

Xi, who was welcomed by Rahmon at Dushanbe’s airport where more than 1,500 young Tajiks dressed in traditional costumes performed Chinese and Tajik songs and dances, praised his counterpart.

"Thanks to the joint efforts of the two sides, the political mutual trust between the two countries has been continuously deepened," said Xi, praising Rahmon.

"No matter how the international situation changes, China will always be Tajikistan’s trustworthy friend, reliable partner and close brother," said Xi.

The two leaders announced the upgrading of diplomatic relations, as Xi awarded Rahmon a order of friendship offered to personalities who have promoted relations with China.

Xi has previously visited Tajikistan in 2014 and 2019.

The SCO was founded in 2001 but has come to prominence in recent years. Alongside China, Russia and Belarus, its full members are: India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan.

On Thursday in the Kazakh capital Astana, Xi told SCO leaders: "We should join hands to resist external interference, firmly support each other, take care of each other’s concerns... and firmly control the future and destiny of our countries and regional peace and development in our own hands."

Central Asians Prod Russia Over Deteriorating Migration Environment (Radio Free Europe)

Radio Free Europe [7/6/2024 4:15 AM, Chris Rickleton, 1530K, Neutral]
More than three months after a deadly attack on a concert hall near Moscow prompted a crackdown on Russia’s Central Asian migrant populations, governments of the region are asking their ally for some relief.

But is Moscow taking heed, or doubling down?

Xenophobia and calls for tougher migration rules are not new to Russia, but popular demand for immediate action spiked after 11 Tajik men were arrested for their alleged involvement in the attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue in March that left 144 people dead.

For the moment, increased pressure on migrants has taken a mostly arbitrary form – more police raids, more deportations, and multiday delays for groups of migrants arriving at Russia’s borders.

But migrant rights advocates are now focusing their attention on a new threat: a draft law that passed a first reading last month and could expand police powers over guest workers that Russia’s undersupplied labor market desperately needs.

That, in turn, would create fresh risks for Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan – three Central Asian countries where billions of dollars in annual remittances from Russia keep millions of poor families afloat.

If official comments are anything to go by, all three are worried.

Law Would Make ‘Defending Migrants Impossible’

Many of the proposed amendments to the tough migration legislation that Russia’s State Duma passed in the first of three readings on June 18 were drafted years ago.

But it is the Crocus attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) extremist group – the deadliest attack of its kind on Russian soil in two decades – that has fueled serious discussion of the discriminatory changes.

One ominous stipulation would require guest workers entering the country to sign a “loyalty agreement” that entails acceptance of limited rights. This document covers a wide range of points, including respect for Russian national traditions, a pledge not to interfere in Russia’s internal affairs, and an acknowledgment that foreign nationals can be deported for administrative violations.

Such an agreement makes “defending migrants impossible,” according to Valentina Chupik, an Uzbekistan-born lawyer and migrant rights advocate who has continued to work on behalf of Russia’s guest workers despite being barred from Russia herself in 2021.

Even more alarming, said Chupik, is the “registry of controlled persons” that the law envisages, which would allow police to impose extrajudicial house arrests on migrants and cut off their access to government services.

“Migrants can fall onto this list merely by being under suspicion of having committed an administrative detention or because their employers did not pay their tax payments on their behalf. There are at least seven pretexts for such arrests in the text, but in reality the number of pretexts can be endless,” said Chupik, who said she first saw a copy of the amendments in 2019.

“It was obvious then that its main function is police corruption. So it is not so much that the law is needed because of Crocus, but rather that something like Crocus was needed to pass this law,” said Chupik, who ran a migrant center in Moscow before Russia revoked her refugee status and banned her from the country.

Russia’s Interior Ministry originally authored the amendments. And Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev made no apologies for Moscow’s hardening stance on migration during a recent work trip to Tashkent.

After holding talks with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev on June 25, the Interior Ministry said that Kolokoltsev had “assured” Mirziyoev that there were no “political or other motivations” in authorities’ targeting of Uzbek nationals.

In a meeting with the Uzbek Interior Ministry’s leadership the same day, Kolokoltsev asked Tashkent to intensify cooperation with Russia on the exchange of citizens’ data to help reduce “negative trends” in migration and ensure the security of both states.

Kolokoltsev’s visit came around a week after Uzbekistan’s embassy in Moscow said that it had sent a note to the Russian Foreign Ministry inquiring about “additional and excessively lengthy checks” on Uzbek nationals trying to enter Russia via Moscow’s Domodedovo airport.

‘A Very Sensitive Issue’

This is a clear change of tune on Tashkent’s part.

At the beginning of May, Uzbekistan’s external labor migration agency refuted reports of Uzbeks being turned back at Russia’s borders.

On May 27, however, Mirziyoev flagged migration after talks with Vladimir Putin, claiming the Russian president had “supported my proposals on this sensitive issue” during their bilateral meeting in the Uzbek capital.

The leaders of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, whose countries send fewer migrants to Russia in absolute terms than Uzbekistan but are more dependent on migrants’ money transfers, have also raised the topic.

Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon called migration “a very sensitive issue for us and one of the main issues” for talks with Putin in Moscow on May 9. Earlier this week, a group of migrants from Tajikistan complained to RFE/RL’s Tajik Service of being stuck for a fifth day at Russia’s land border with Kazakhstan, which they were using as a transit country.

Migrants from Kyrgyzstan enjoy certain preferences in Russia over their Tajik and Uzbek counterparts, owing to their country’s status as one of five members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).

But Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov said during a meeting of EEU heads of states on May 9 that the union’s agreements relating to worker mobility were not being respected. This risked “serious damage to the image of our association,” Japarov said.

These signals of frustration – and the potential ramifications of changes to Russia’s migration framework – contrasted strongly with the sunny assessment of Russian Ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova at a June 27 meeting in Moscow of the human rights commission of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), another regional grouping where Russian influence is strong.

“An analysis of the [CIS] countries’ legislation showed that they are largely synchronized in terms of creating favorable conditions for the work of foreign workers,” said Moskalkova, who is under U.S. and EU sanctions in connection with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“However, [participants] noted that there remain bottlenecks in ensuring the rights of migrants that need to be resolved and that the commission will continue to work on,” Moskalkova added in a summary of the meeting. “The main goal is to offer legal protection mechanisms in which the citizens of our states and everyone located in the commonwealth feel socially protected.”

Twitter

Afghanistan

Jahanzeb Wesa
@JahanzebWesa
[7/7/2024 11:31 AM, 2.6K followers, 6 retweets, 10 likes]
UNHCR confirmed that Filippo Grandi has visited Afghan refugees and talked about their concerns in Pakistan While more Afghans lives are in danger, are complaining from UNHCR in Pakistan that their cases have not been dealt with for years and request from Grandi to take action.

Jahanzeb Wesa
@JahanzebWesa
[7/7/2024 11:03 AM, 2.6K followers, 1 like]
Thomas West: The Taliban’s words about the consequences of the sanctions on the economic and living conditions of the people as misleading. Thomas added that private banks are hesitant to do more in Afghanistan because of concerns about the Taliban’s poor human rights record.

Jahanzeb Wesa
@JahanzebWesa
[7/6/2024 3:14 PM, 2.6K followers, 18 retweets, 26 likes]
BREAKING:
—Taliban fighters have launched extensive house-to-house searches in several areas.
—Operations involved forced evictions and invasive inspections of homes without female police present.
—Concerns over mistreatment and assault during these searches persist.

Heather Barr
@heatherbarr1
[7/8/2024 3:04 AM, 62.9K followers, 9 retweets, 20 likes]
Afghans: You’ve banned women from work and girls from education and we’re struggling to feed our families and drought is coming. Taliban: All taxis must be turquoise. https://8am.media/eng/taxi-color-changes-and-taliban-corruption-drivers-speak-out-against-extortion-and-crushing-costs/

Pakistan

Government of Pakistan
@GovtofPakistan
[7/7/2024 10:19 AM, 3.1M followers, 22 retweets, 69 likes]
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif receives briefing about Hutchison Ports Pakistan Terminal at Karachi Port.

Government of Pakistan
@GovtofPakistan
[7/7/2024 9:25 AM, 3.1M followers, 12 retweets, 61 likes]
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif chairs a meeting regarding Karachi Port Trust, Port Qasim Authority and Pakistan National Shipping Corporation, today in Karachi.

Government of Pakistan
@GovtofPakistan
[7/6/2024 12:03 PM, 3.1M followers, 10 retweets, 36 likes]
Islamabad: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif chairs a meeting regarding reforms of Power Sector and Solarisation.

Madiha Afzal
@MadihaAfzal
[7/5/2024 5:37 AM, 42.8K followers, 1 retweet, 4 likes]
Detention of Imran Khan violates international law, UN working group says https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/former-pakistani-prime-minister-khan-arbitrarily-detained-says-un-working-group-2024-07-01/

Madiha Afzal
@MadihaAfzal
[7/5/2024 10:23 PM, 42.8K followers, 1 like]
When asked about the UN report on Khan, State said it’s an “internal matter” for Pakistan. Meanwhile members of congress including Ro Khanna and others have said they’re in agreement with the UN on this.

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[7/6/2024 11:13 AM, 211K followers, 37 retweets, 97 likes]
The ML-I rail project has become the new Gwadar Port project of CPEC: a much-hyped, high-visibility initiative that struggles to get off the ground. This reflects CPEC’s flagging momentum, which even a long visit to Beijing by the Pak PM couldn’t fix. https://tribune.com.pk/story/2477028/dar-defers-67b-cpec-rail-project

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[7/6/2024 10:51 AM, 211K followers, 20 retweets, 43 likes]
I’m quoted here on why border and terrorism issues are driving Afghanistan-Pakistan tensions, and how China’s own concerns about security threats in the region could potentially help ease these tensions. https://time.com/6995069/pakistan-afghanistan-relations-taliban/

Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office
@amnestysasia
[7/8/2024 12:45 AM, 81.8K followers, 347 retweets, 617 likes]
Pakistan: Kashmiri poet and journalist Ahmed Farhad, disappeared on 15 May 2024, was recovered after two weeks on 29 May 2024. Since then he has faced criminal charges which have sought to penalize his freedom of expression and right to protest. Join @amnesty in its call to the government of Pakistan to drop all criminal proceedings against Ahmad: https://amnesty.org/en/documents/asa33/8257/2024/en/

India

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[7/8/2024 1:06 AM, 99.7M followers, 2.2K retweets, 16K likes]
Over the next three days, will be in Russia and Austria. These visits will be a wonderful opportunity to deepen ties with these nations, with whom India has time tested friendship. I also look forward to interacting with the Indian community living in these countries. https://nm-4.com/WTr9Dx

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[7/5/2024 11:28 AM, 99.7M followers, 8.3K retweets, 66K likes]
Attended the Defence Investiture Ceremony-2024 (Phase-1) at Rashtrapati Bhavan, where Rashtrapati Ji presented the Gallantry Awards. Our nation is proud of the valour and dedication of our brave soldiers. They exemplify the highest ideals of service and sacrifice. Their courage will always inspire our people.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[7/6/2024 2:13 AM, 3.2M followers, 266 retweets, 2.5K likes]
Paid homage to Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee in the Central Hall on his Jayanti today. His beliefs and values continue to shape our nation. His pursuit of national unity and integrity will always be our guiding light. Here’s a link to the Syama Prasad lecture I delivered in Kolkata last year: https://youtu.be/cVElQyDozFE?si=Y_Evw6HjcopDgKgE

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[7/5/2024 12:52 PM, 3.2M followers, 253 retweets, 1.7K likes]
Working towards creating a SECURE SCO. A productive visit to Astana this week. Highlights https://x.com/i/status/1809269137069265370

Dipanjan R Chaudhury
@DipanjanET
[7/7/2024 10:46 PM, 5.1K followers, 4 retweets, 8 likes]
First India-Russia annual summit held in Moscow in 2001. PM Narendra Modi then Gujarat CM was part of the meet @ETPolitics @ETDefence

Rahul Gandhi
@RahulGandhi
[7/8/2024 2:37 AM, 26.3M followers, 1.7K retweets, 5.9K likes]
The extreme devastation caused by flooding in Assam is heartbreaking - with innocent children like 8-year old Avinash being taken away from us.
My heartfelt condolences to all the bereaved families across the State.
Assam Congress leaders apprised me of the situation on ground:
60+ deaths
53,000+ displaced
24,00,000 affected
These numbers reflect the gross and grave mismanagement by BJP’s double-engine government which came to power with the promise of a "flood-free Assam". Assam needs a comprehensive and compassionate vision - proper relief, rehabilitation, and compensation in the short term, and a pan-Northeast water management authority to do everything necessary to control floods in the long term. I stand with the people of Assam, I am their soldier in Parliament, and I urge the Central govt to extend all possible help and support to the State expeditiously.

Rahul Gandhi
@RahulGandhi
[7/6/2024 1:06 AM, 26.3M followers, 7.6K retweets, 32K likes]
Deeply shocked by the brutal and abhorrent killing of Thiru Armstrong, the Tamil Nadu Chief of the Bahujan Samaj Party. My heartfelt condolences go out to his family, friends and followers. Tamil Nadu Congress leaders are in constant touch with the Government of Tamil Nadu, and I am confident that the Government will ensure that the culprits are brought to justice expeditiously.

NSB

Awami League
@albd1971
[7/7/2024 4:31 AM, 639.2K followers, 26 retweets, 96 likes]
Bangladesh and India want to use each other’s ports for #trade with third countries. #Bangladesh, currently exporting goods via ports in Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia, eyes ports in its bordering states of India, while India aims to use #Chattogram Port for its trade with third countries. https://tbsnews.net/bangladesh/dhaka-delhi-explore-each-others-port-use-trade-third-countries-893526

Awami League
@albd1971
[7/6/2024 8:12 AM, 639.2K followers, 30 retweets, 73 likes]
Prime Minister #SheikhHasina said the completion of #PadmaBridge construction with own funds, despite local and international conspiracies, has garnered respect for #Bangladesh from the global community. https://albd.org/articles/news/41474/ #Connectivity #MegaProject #ElectionManifesto

Tshering Tobgay
@tsheringtobgay
[7/6/2024 7:06 AM, 99.4K followers, 6 retweets, 40 likes]
Blessed to have His Majesty The King grace the closing ceremony of the 1st session of 4th Parliament today. Grateful to all fellow MPs for their dedication, hard work, and support. We remain united in our commitment to strive for the prosperity and progress of our beloved nation.

Tshering Tobgay
@tsheringtobgay
[7/5/2024 7:59 AM, 99.4K followers, 12 retweets, 28 likes]
Thrilled to interact with innovators and researchers from 53 different nationalities at the closing of the Global Innovation Fest hosted by @UNDP_Bhutan. Productive events like this are why I believe the UN system has been and will continue to be vital for Bhutan’s progress.

M U M Ali Sabry
@alisabrypc
[7/7/2024 11:22 AM, 5.8K followers, 10 retweets, 44 likes]
**R. Sampanthan, an Unrealized Dream: The Dilemma of a Moderate**
Sri Lanka stands at a crucial point in its history. The recent passing of R. Sampanthan, a towering figure and steadfast advocate for Tamil and minority rights, gives us a moment to reflect on the broader issues of national unity, the challenges we face, and the way forward. Sampanthan’s legacy, especially his focus on "devolution of power within an undivided and indivisible Sri Lanka," offers valuable lessons for building a cohesive and harmonious nation.

In our society, we often find ourselves divided, seen in black and white, with media catering to specific audiences and presenting one-sided perspectives. Opportunists are hailed as heroes, while true advocates for diverse viewpoints are vilified. We’ve been conditioned to see dissent as betrayal, leading us to waste valuable time, energy, and resources fighting each other—resources that could be better spent on nation-building.

The challenges of national unity in Sri Lanka are deeply rooted in our history and social fabric. Differences of opinion among communities have persisted for too long, widening gaps rather than closing them. While no right-thinking Sri Lankan will ever tolerate any attempt to divide our beautiful island, meaningful devolution of power does not equate to division, as evidenced by many countries worldwide. Mr. Sampanthan, often mislabeled as a separatist traitor by sections of the media and public, exemplified this principle. My experiences with him in parliament, listening to his discussions with Presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa, revealed a man dedicated to finding solutions within a united, undivided, and indivisible Sri Lanka.

Despite being unfairly portrayed by some as a threat to national unity, my personal interactions with Mr. Sampanthan showed a leader deeply committed to the well-being of all Sri Lankans. His speeches always called for unity and peace, emphasizing that devolution of power can strengthen rather than divide our nation. His vision was clear: a united Sri Lanka where diversity is celebrated, and every citizen enjoys equal rights and opportunities.

In discussions with President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the words "undivided and indivisible" have consistently been echoed. This underscores our collective commitment to preserving the unity of our nation while pursuing meaningful devolution of power.

Promoting national unity requires addressing the legitimate grievances and aspirations of the Tamil community and other minorities. We must ensure that all citizens, regardless of their ethnic or religious backgrounds, feel valued and included in the national narrative. This involves not only political solutions but also social and economic measures that promote inclusivity and equality.

I was shocked to read articles and comments from sections of separatist elements and the diaspora who are hell-bent on separatism, labeling Sampanthan as a traitor for standing against their cause. Sampanthan was a patriot. A patriot need not assimilate their culture, language, heritage, and values just to fit into the dominant ideology of a country. People can be patriotic while democratically agitating for their rights.

The irony is that moderates like Sampanthan are criticized by both sides of extremism—those who, even after terrible conflict and loss of lives, still articulate separatism and try to mislead another generation, and those who believe that devolution leads to separatism. These critics overlook that devolution of power is an acceptable form of government and democracy. Moderates will continue to find it difficult to navigate these complex issues, particularly because a section of the public remains prisoners of the past and thrives on division for their survival.

While we vehemently oppose and resist any semblance of separatist ideology and dividing this beautiful nation, for Sri Lanka to achieve its true potential (1/3)

M U M Ali Sabry
@alisabrypc
[7/7/2024 11:22 AM, 5.8K followers, 9 likes]
we must promote national harmony through devolution of power and accountability within the framework of the constitution. There must be policy consistency across governments, particularly concerning the economy and national issues. It is time for Sri Lankans to learn from the past and move forward with a realistic and pragmatic approach, shunning extremism of all forms and separatism, creating a country where diversity is celebrated and considered a strength rather than a drawback.

### National Unity: Challenges and the Path Forward

Sri Lanka is a mosaic of cultures, languages, and traditions. Our diversity is our strength, yet it has also been the source of significant challenges. The post-independence period has seen numerous efforts to address the ethnic tensions that have occasionally flared into conflict. However, true reconciliation and unity have often seemed elusive. To move forward, we must address these challenges head-on, with a focus on empathy, equality, and accountability.

Devolution of Power

One of the most significant steps towards national unity is the meaningful devolution of power. Devolution is not a path to division but a means to empower all regions and communities, ensuring that governance is more responsive to local needs. Countries worldwide have successfully implemented devolution, strengthening their unity while respecting regional diversity.

Overcoming Media Bias and Political Opportunism

Our media often exacerbate divisions by catering to specific audiences and promoting one-sided perspectives. Political opportunists exploit these divisions for personal gain, further polarizing society. We must advocate for a more balanced and responsible media landscape that promotes dialogue and understanding rather than division.

Addressing Historical Grievances

A significant barrier to national unity is the unresolved historical grievances that different communities harbor. Addressing these grievances through a truth and reconciliation process can help heal old wounds and build a foundation for lasting peace. This process must be inclusive, transparent, and committed to justice.

Promoting Rational and Pragmatic Discourse

We must move beyond the rhetoric of hate and embrace a more rational and pragmatic discourse. This involves rejecting extremist ideologies and focusing on policies that promote the common good. Rational thinking and evidence-based policymaking should guide our national discourse, ensuring that decisions are made in the best interest of all citizens.

Ensuring Equality and Protection for All

Equality and protection under the law are fundamental to national unity. Every citizen, regardless of ethnicity, religion, or region, must feel that they are treated equally and protected by the state. This involves robust anti-discrimination laws, equitable resource distribution, and a commitment to social justice. (2/3)

M U M Ali Sabry
@alisabrypc
[7/7/2024 11:22 AM, 5.8K followers]
### The Way Forward
To build a united Sri Lanka, we must learn from the past and adopt a forward-thinking
approach. This involves:
- Embracing Diversity: Celebrating our cultural, linguistic, and religious diversity as a source of strength.
- Promoting Devolution: Implementing meaningful devolution of power to ensure that all communities have a voice in governance.
- Fostering Dialogue: Encouraging open and respectful dialogue between different communities to build understanding and trust.
- Ensuring Accountability: Holding leaders accountable to promote transparency, justice, and equality.
- Rejecting Extremism: Shunning all forms of extremism and promoting a moderate, inclusive approach to national issues.

In conclusion, the path to national unity is complex and challenging, but it is achievable. By embracing our diversity, promoting devolution, addressing historical grievances, fostering rational discourse, and ensuring equality and protection for all, we can build a harmonious and prosperous Sri Lanka. Let us honor the vision of leaders like R. Sampanthan by committing to these principles and working together to create a united, peaceful, and inclusive nation. (3/3)

Namal Rajapaksa
@RajapaksaNamal
[7/7/2024 9:44 AM, 436.5K followers, 7 likes]
Today, I met with the Kegalle district election committee to discuss the upcoming election operations for the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna.

Namal Rajapaksa
@RajapaksaNamal
[7/7/2024 1:13 PM, 436.5K followers, 1 retweet, 13 likes]
Congratulations to MP Rohitha Abeygunawardena, National Convener of SLPP, on celebrating a 27-year political journey. His dedication and leadership, in representing both government and opposition, have been exemplary. Here’s to this remarkable milestone!

Central Asia

UNODC Central Asia
@UNODC_ROCA
[7/8/2024 1:12 AM, 2.4K followers, 3 retweets, 4 likes]
Amb. Lesslie Viguerie @USEmbassyKG , members of Parliament, reps from Cabinet of Ministers Kyrgyzstan officially opened #OneWindowCenter for survivors of violence. This center was established under @UNODC & @StateINL #GBV project. Video to learn more about this important initiative!

António Guterres
@antonioguterres
[7/6/2024 9:23 PM, 2.3M followers, 201 retweets, 605 likes]
As I finish my visit to Central Asia, I leave encouraged by the profound sense of solidarity I encountered across the region. In a splintered world, it is heartening that Central Asia is choosing a different path — a path of cooperation and common solutions.

António Guterres
@antonioguterres
[7/6/2024 4:18 PM, 2.3M followers, 88 retweets, 278 likes]
Today I am in Turkmenistan, where I met with President Serdar Berdimuhamedov and the Leader of Nation and Chairperson of Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. We discussed cooperation between the @UN & Turkmenistan, and regional developments in Central Asia.

António Guterres
@antonioguterres
[7/6/2024 2:22 PM, 2.3M followers, 168 retweets, 480 likes]
Young people are a massive resource for maintaining peace, but their potential is largely untapped. My thanks to the students of the Preventive Diplomacy Academy of Turkmenistan for their views, ideas & commitment to address the world’s most pressing issues.

António Guterres
@antonioguterres
[7/5/2024 2:37 PM, 2.3M followers, 148 retweets, 452 likes]
It was a privilege to meet with young people in Tajikistan and learn how the @UN is helping them achieve their goals, and what we can do to better support them. 70% of Tajikistan’s population is under 30. They must have a say in the decisions affecting their lives and futures.

António Guterres
@antonioguterres
[7/5/2024 12:05 PM, 2.3M followers, 89 retweets, 314 likes]
In Tajikistan today, I commended President Emomali Rahmon’s leadership on the water agenda and his advocacy for glacier preservation. I’m grateful for the strong cooperation between the @UN and Tajikistan on #ClimateAction and sustainable development.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service
@president_uz
[7/5/2024 11:17 AM, 195.1K followers, 6 retweets, 43 likes]
President of #Uzbekistan Shavkat #Mirziyoyev completed a working visit to Astana. At #Astana International Airport, he was accompanied by @primeministerkz Olzhas Bektenov and other officials. The head of state departed for #Tashkent.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service
@president_uz
[7/7/2024 10:26 AM, 195.1K followers, 7 retweets, 27 likes]
President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev participated in a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (#SCO) plus format, emphasizing the relevance of multilateral dialogue for sustainable global development. He addressed key issues such as conflicts and economic fractures, stressing the need for solidarity to ensure global security and prosperity. The President also proposed a new agenda for the SCO aimed at enhancing security and fostering trade, innovation, and climate cooperation.

{End of Report}

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