epubdos : Afghanistan
SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS
Prepared for the U.S. Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
TO:
SCA & Staff
DATE:
Tuesday, June 25, 2024 6:30 AM ET

Afghanistan
Taliban tout UN invite to Doha meeting as proof of regime’s rising importance (VOA)
VOA [6/24/2024 11:06 AM, Ayaz Gul, 4032K, Neutral]
Afghanistan’s Taliban are touting a United Nations invitation to an international conference in Qatar later this month, viewing it as an acknowledgment of their administration’s growing significance globally.

The two-day U.N. meeting between the Taliban and international envoys on Afghanistan is set for June 30 in Doha, the capital of the Gulf state, amid sharp criticism from human rights groups for excluding Afghan women representatives.

It will be the third session of what is known as the “Doha process,” and the fundamentalist de facto Afghan rulers have agreed to attend for the first time.

“The Doha meeting will be held in the coming days, and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has been officially invited to attend,” Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi announced in a video statement released by his office on Monday.

The Taliban returned to power nearly three years ago and established their hardline male-only government in Kabul, named the Islamic Emirate, which has yet to be recognized by the international community.

“We have developed good relations with neighboring and regional countries and are also actively pursuing positive and cordial ties with Western and U.S. governments,” Muttaqi said while addressing his ministry staff in the Afghan capital.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched the Doha process a year ago to establish a unified international approach to engagement with the Taliban, who have banned Afghan girls from education beyond the sixth grade and many women from public and private workplaces.

Guterres did not invite de facto Afghan rulers to the first Doha conference in May 2023, and they refused to take part in the second this past February, citing the participation of Afghan civil society representatives and human rights activists.

U.N. officials have defended the upcoming rare dialogue with the Taliban, promising that special envoys from about 25 countries at the meeting will “forcefully” raise restrictions on women’s and girls’ rights, among other human rights concerns.

On Friday, Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA, emphasized the importance of the world community opening a direct dialogue with the Taliban, suggesting it could create opportunities for Afghan women to participate in future talks.

“They would tell them [the Taliban] that, ‘Look, it doesn’t work like this, and we should have women around the table and also provide them with access to the business,’” she told reporters in New York after briefing a U.N. Security Council meeting on the Afghan situation.

Speaking at the meeting, Otunbayeva said that her mission had met with hundreds of Afghans, especially women, around the country in the run-up to the third Doha meeting.

“These consultations revealed a broad agreement that it was important for the de facto authorities to attend the meeting but that there should also be no recognition of the de facto authorities until the issues of women’s rights, girls’ education, and an acceptable constitution were broadly addressed,” the UNAMA chief said.

Otunbayeva stated that the U.N. would consult Afghan civil society and rights representatives in Afghanistan and abroad before the June 30 meeting. She noted that U.N. political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo and envoys from various countries will meet separately with Afghan rights activists in Doha on July 2, a day after the meeting with the Taliban ends.

Human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have sharply criticized the U.N. for inviting the Taliban to the Doha talks rather than holding them accountable for “crimes” against Afghan women and girls.

"Excluding women risks legitimizing the Taliban’s abuses and triggering irreparable harm to the U.N.’s credibility as an advocate for women’s rights and women’s meaningful participation," Tirana Hassan, executive director at Human Rights Watch, said of the third planned Doha meeting.

Otunbayeva said the Doha meeting would mainly focus on private sector business, the Afghan banking sector, and counternarcotics, issues she attributed to women’s rights in the country.

The Taliban have vehemently defended their governance, claiming it is aligned with Afghan culture and their harsh interpretation of Islamic law. The hardline group seized power in August 2021 as U.S.-led NATO troops withdrew from Afghanistan after nearly two decades of engagement in the war with the then-insurgent Taliban.

Guterres chaired the previous Doha meetings, but the coming session will be hosted by DiCarlo. She traveled to Kabul in May and invited Muttaqi to attend the talks. The Taliban have not yet confirmed whether their foreign minister will lead the delegation at the meeting.

"We are trying to establish a process and preserve an important mechanism of consultation. We must be realistic about how much each meeting in this process can deliver, especially at this early stage where confidence and trust are insufficient,” stressed Otunbayeva in her speech to the U.N. Security Council on Friday.
Afghan women’s ‘erasure’ at UN’s Doha talks with Taliban sparks anger (The Independent)
The Independent [6/24/2024 7:44 AM, Arpan Rai, 56358K, Neutral]
Officials from the UN confirmed that their talks with the Taliban next week in Doha on the future of war-torn Afghanistan will be held without the presence of Afghan women at the table.

This will be the first meeting between the Taliban and 22 other international envoys since the takeover of Kabul by the group in 2021 after the US and Nato forces left the country.

Roza Otunbayeva, the UN special envoy for Afghanistan, defended the decision to keep women and civil society members out of the crucial talks.

She said “nobody dictated” conditions to the UN on the Doha meeting but added that no Afghan women will be present.

“[The Taliban] are not like us. The Taliban have come from the mountains and from war, and turning them into people who sit at the negotiation table and accept our principles is not easy,” she told reporters at a press conference in New York.

A Taliban delegation is expected from Kabul. Human rights groups and experts monitoring the hardline Islamist regime, which banished women and girls from public spaces and took away their right to study and work, called upon the UN to mandatorily ensure the presence of Afghan women at the table.

Activists said women have been excluded due to the Taliban’s preconditions.

“Not a single woman will be present during the Doha talks between the UN and Taliban. Without a doubt, the erasure of Afghan women and girls is the most pressing issue the country faces. To ignore this, and appease the Taliban as they wish, undermines the entire UN system,” said Sara Wahedi, an Afghan-Canadian entrepreneur.

“I should add that the Taliban has explicitly said that even the mention of the topic of women will result in them walking out of talks,” she said on X.

The upcoming dialogue is being held to discuss the war-torn nation’s future, economic crisis, drug addiction impacting millions and stability in the region, and excludes talks on women’s and humanitarian rights violations by the Taliban.

The UN plans to hold a meeting “without women’s rights on the agenda or Afghan women in the room are shocking”, said Human Rights Watch executive director Tirana Hassan, citing the Taliban’s tightening repression of women and girls in Afghanistan.

“The credibility of this meeting will be in tatters if it doesn’t adequately address the human rights crisis in Afghanistan and fails to involve women human rights defenders and other relevant stakeholders from Afghan civil society,” Amnesty International secretary general Agnes Callamard.

The UN’s undersecretary-general Rosemary A DiCarlo had visited Afghanistan in May and invited the Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. Ms DiCarlo will chair the meeting, ms Otunbayeva said. “We do hope that the delegation will be led by de facto foreign minister Muttaqi,” she said, adding that the Taliban may send another minister.

The talks will be about private business and banking in Afghanistan and counter-narcotics policy, she said, calling them the “most important acute issues of today”.

Both are about women, she said, and the envoys will tell the Taliban: “Look, it doesn’t work like this. We should have women around the table. We should also provide them access to businesses.

“If there are, let’s say, five million addicted people in Afghanistan, more than 30 per cent are women,” she said.

The talks in Doha, the third such UN-sponsored dialogue on the Afghan crisis in Qatar capital, will see the Taliban delegation making their first appearance after rejecting an invitation for the previous session at the last minute, citing the presence of civil society members.

In February, the Taliban told the UN that they will only attend on the condition that the civil society members, including women, will be excluded from the talks and that they should be treated as Afghanistan’s legitimate rulers. Their demands were struck down by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who called them “unacceptable conditions”.
Afghan girls accuse Taliban of sexual assault after arrests for ‘bad hijab’ (The Guardian)
The Guardian [6/25/2024 12:00 AM, Ahmad Ahmadi, Zahra Nader, and Fardis Aram, 86.2M, Negative]
Teenage girls and young women arrested by the Taliban for wearing “bad hijab” say they have been subjected to sexual violence and assault in detention.

In more than one case the arrests and sexual abuse that young women faced while in custody earlier this year led to suicide and attempted suicide, reporters from the Afghan news service Zan Times were told.

In one case, a woman’s body was allegedly found in a canal a few weeks after she had been taken into custody by Taliban militants, with a source close to her family saying she had been sexually abused before her death.

The UN say that many women were detained by the Taliban for “bad hijab” in December 2023 and January 2024, following a Taliban decree that women must cover themselves from head to toe, revealing only their eyes.

At the time the UN called the arrests “concerning” and girls and women told the Guardian they had been subjected to beatings and intimidation while in detention.

Now the girls and young women are coming forward to report that they also faced sexual violence and abuse by the Taliban police, with devastating consequences.

The family of 16-year-old Zahra* said she and another teenage girl were arrested in a shop in west Kabul in December 2023.

Her mother, Somaia*, says Zahra and her friend were detained for two weeks before being released. When she came home, Zahra was “not the girl who had left home two weeks before”.

“I ran and hugged her, but she cried and said, ‘I am dishonoured.’ For the rest of that day, Zahra didn’t eat or talk,” her mother said.

“She only sat in a room and cried. I couldn’t dare to ask about what had happened,” she said.

Amina*, a 22-year-old medical student, said she spent three nights in a Taliban prison after being arrested in January 2024. She said she was interrogated by an older man who asked her about her menstruation and whether she was married or not.

“I fell at his feet and begged him, ‘Please, kill me but don’t harass me’,” she said. “He said: ‘Since you are keen to die, I will kill you, but before that, let us have fun with you.’

“Then he started touching my private parts,” Amina said. “I fainted twice during the interrogation, but every time, he poured cold water over my head.”

Amina said what happened to her happened to every girl taken to that interrogation room and left alone with the man.

“[Now] I can’t sleep at night, I am so scared, and every time I see the Taliban soldiers, I faint,” she said. “I have tried to kill myself twice.

“Once I took all of my mother’s medication, but my family took me to hospital. Every time I remember that they touched me, I can’t bear living,” Amina said.

For Zahra, the ordeal she said she had faced in prison proved too much for her to bear, her family said.

“In the middle of the night I woke up and noticed Zahra was not there. I woke up my husband and we started looking for her in all the rooms.

“My husband found her dead body,” said Somaia. “She had hanged herself.”

Zahra’s death was not the only tragedy linked to the Taliban’s arrest of women over how they wore their hijab.

In December 2023, a 23-year-old university student from the same neighbourhood was also reportedly arrested by the Taliban.

Marina Sadat had been on her way to the Farabi Institute of Health Sciences, where she was studying midwifery, the only educational option available for women in the Taliban’s Afghanistan.

Twenty-two days later, people who know her family say her battered body was found inside a sack in a canal in Kabul’s Paghman district.

Zan Times reporters were told that she had been sexually abused. “It is just brutal that a young girl goes to university and her dead body comes home,” one interviewee told the journalists.

On 4 January a spokesman for the Taliban’s ministry of vice and virtue told the Associated Press that the women who were arrested “violated Islamic values and rituals and encouraged society and other respected sisters to go for bad hijab … [i]n every province, those who go without hijab will be arrested.”

After condemnation in Afghanistan and abroad, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, later denied that arrests over “bad hijab” had taken place.

In response to the allegations of sexual assault of young women in detention, a Taliban spokesman also denied there had been any arrests for “bad hijab” and said: “The issue of rape is not at all possible because there is not just one or two people [in the room with a prisoner] and when there are three people, such a crime would not happen …[this is] a very sensitive issue for the Taliban. I am sure such a thing did not happen.”

The reports of sexual violence and assault against women and girls in detention comes as the Taliban are expected to attend a UN conference on Afghanistan in Doha on 30 June, where the UN has confirmed that no Afghan women will participate and women’s rights will not be discussed.
Security Through Human Rights – For Afghanistan, It’s Not ‘Either/Or’ (The Diplomat – opinion)
The Diplomat [6/24/2024 9:38 AM, Annie Pforzheimer and Asila Wardak, 1156K, Neutral]
A belief that so-called hard security goals require tradeoffs with human rights imperatives underpinned some of the more egregious mistakes of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, such as supporting a brutal commander in the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar or excluding women’s issues from the 2020 Doha Agreement between the U.S. and the Taliban.

We can’t make this mistake again and give up human rights at the negotiating table at the upcoming U.N. meeting in Doha from June 30-July 1.

In the name of “hard security,” U.S. intelligence agencies reportedly cooperate with the Taliban against the “common enemy” of the Islamic State, and look the other way when Sirajuddin Haqqani, a senior Taliban official and head of the U.S.-listed terror group Haqqani Network, sanctioned by the U.N. and the subject of a “rewards for justice” notice by the FBI for information about his location, meets with UAE leadership in Dubai before going on hajj in June.

But this realpolitik has only netted the world a regime that according to U.N. reporting hosts multiple terror groups, uses al-Qaida to train its security apparatus, and murders former government officials and regime opponents.

A different way of considering the Afghanistan conundrum is to start with the goal of a peaceful and stable country in which internal critics can advocate for reforms. The international community doesn’t need to micromanage the human rights process or air-drop in a perfect constitution. But it should use all available tools to protect and strengthen the role of those non-violently opposing oppression, both in exile and within Afghanistan.

Another U.N. Meeting, But No Clear Roadmap

The United Nations, at the prodding of the United States and some European nations, is holding the third meeting of two dozen-plus special envoys for Afghanistan in Doha, Qatar, June 30-July 1. These meetings aim at kicking off a political process proposed in a November 2023 report to the U.N. Security Council, authored by former Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu, designed to lead to the normalization of Afghanistan within the international system.

Sinirloglu’s report describes this happening only if the Taliban abide by international human rights norms and engage in a political dialogue with the Afghan opposition. The Taliban’s abject failures in this regard, however, have been widely documented, most recently in devastating detail by the U.N. special rapporteur on Afghanistan during his June 18 report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva. In addition to describing the clear gender “apartheid” underway in Afghanistan, which has derailed the lives of tens of millions of women and girls who face violence and harassment both in their homes and when they try to venture out of them, the rapporteur’s report documents how Taliban security forces repress freedom of expression and political organization, with indiscriminate arrests and murders of former Republic security forces and those considered to be opponents of the regime.

The Doha meeting process is an effort to maintain a unified set of requirements for the normalization of relations, essential to the international community’s push for the Taliban to end these abuses. As of mid-2024, nearly three years after the Taliban seized power, there remains an unusually cohesive international position of denying the Taliban recognition as a government, but a predictable fraying of that consensus. Some self-interested regional states (such as China, and several Central Asian nations) are getting closer to the regime, prioritizing economic and security cooperation; others are making “Great Game” chess moves to block their traditional adversaries (India and Pakistan); while a few other nations (Norway and Japan, prominently) have decided to ignore multiple lessons of history and offer even more incentives to the Taliban, once again in the hope they will reciprocate with reform.

What is at Play – and at Risk – This Week in Doha

The upcoming special envoy meeting, known as “Doha 3,” is shaping up to be a step toward normalization for the Taliban.

The U.N.’s most senior official in the office of political and peacebuilding affairs, former U.S. diplomat Rosemary DiCarlo, traveled to Kabul in May to invite the Taliban to attend, giving the clear impression that their presence is key to the success of the process. Subsequent negotiations over how to get the Taliban to show up – with support for their position from Russia and China, in particular – have led the U.N. to truncate the agenda. According to the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Kabul, who said during a June 21 press availability that the Taliban had brought “stability,” the meeting will focus on counternarcotics and the development of the private sector. She noted there would be “many Doha meetings” to come, implying that human rights topics could wait. Perhaps without this attendance, per her thinking, the process could peter out.

But if the Taliban does attend and pushes human rights off the agenda, the process will simply die a more public death. The international community will be badly served by a repeat of the 2020 Doha Agreement, which empowered the Taliban’s most extreme factions. At play is not only the agenda but also the idea of whether to invite Afghan women activists, other leaders and civil society from both inside the country and in exile. No such invitations have been made as far as it is known, and the meeting is fast approaching. There are repeated calls by the special rapporteur, human rights organizations, and Afghan women activists to ensure that civil society has a seat at the table to keep these issues in the forefront.

Extremists everywhere use misogyny as a recruiting tactic and a badge of belonging. Civil rights and the personal safety of all citizens are mainstream security conversations, not “nice to have” goals or “Western” inventions. Human rights abuses have always driven the instability and terror which haunt Afghanistan, impacting its region and the world. The Taliban may have stopped bombing the country’s infrastructure, but there is no true peace in a country when grave domestic violence is rising with total impunity, suicide of women is on the rise, and adolescent girls die in childbirth without women doctors. Empowering women’s voices at the negotiating table, in local councils, and even within their own homes is the actual key to security for all.
Pakistan
Pakistan to Build ‘Consensus’ Before Operation Against Militants (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [6/25/2024 2:35 AM, Faseeh Mangi, 5.5M, Neutral]
Pakistan’s government is making efforts to build a nationwide “consensus” before it launches a new military operation against militants, the defense minister said, a move that comes after China showed concerns following attacks on its projects in the South Asian country.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet is discussing the modalities of the operation on Tuesday before the plan is announced to Parliament, Khawaja Asif said at a news conference in Islamabad.

A few political parties have opposed the planned on-ground operation.
‘Azm-e-Istehkam’: Can new Pakistani military operation curb armed attacks? (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [6/24/2024 9:06 AM, Abid Hussain, 20871K, Neutral]
Pakistan’s top leadership has approved the launch of a new military operation aimed at quelling a surge in violence.

Called Azm-e-Istehkam, meaning Resolve for Stability in Urdu, the operation was announced after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif led a review of the country’s “counterterrorism” operations over the weekend, especially the National Action Plan adopted in the aftermath of the December 2014 attack on Peshawar’s Army Public School. More than 140 people, predominantly students, were killed in the attack, which was claimed by the Pakistan Taliban, known by the acronym TTP.

The new military plan is expected to focus on domestic security threats and armed fighters crossing over from Afghanistan, amid mounting tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban rulers in Kabul. A statement issued by Sharif’s office on June 22 referred to plans to “intensify” efforts to curtail “terrorists” through regional cooperation with Pakistan’s neighbours.

“The campaign will be complemented by socioeconomic measures aimed at addressing genuine concerns of the people and creating an environment that discourages extremist tendencies,” the statement added.

Yet the new campaign is only the latest in a series of military operations that Pakistan has launched with the intent of crushing armed violence, and its timing has led to questions over the trigger for the initiative — and what it might accomplish. Pakistan had also announced a military operation in April 2023, during Sharif’s previous tenure as prime minister, but an official military campaign never commenced.

Afghan tensions

While the launch date of Operation Azm-e-Istehkam has not been formally declared, the announcement comes at a time when the country has seen a dramatic surge in violent incidents over the last 18 months. Most of these attacks are claimed by TTP, which is ideologically aligned with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The TTP unilaterally ended a ceasefire in November 2022 and Pakistan has repeatedly accused Kabul of harbouring them, a charge the Taliban government, which came to power in August 2021, has consistently rejected.

Now those already strained relations could be tested further if Pakistan’s military operation extends into Afghanistan, as analysts predict, in part based on recent events.

“In March, Pakistan even conducted cross-border strikes in Afghanistan against suspected Pakistani Taliban hideouts, which were publicly confirmed by the foreign office,” Ihsanullah Tipu, an Islamabad-based security analyst, pointed out in an interview with Al Jazeera.

Tipu, who also directs The Khorasan Diary, a news and research portal analysing security issues in the region, added that Islamabad views the use of active military force — known as kinetic action in army jargon — as the most effective approach to counter armed violence.

A Chinese trigger or domestic politics?

According to available data, Pakistan witnessed nearly 1,000 casualties from almost 700 incidents of violence in 2023, with most attacks occurring in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the southwestern province of Balochistan, often targeting law enforcement personnel.

Violent attacks have continued in 2024, including incidents targeting Chinese installations and personnel in both northern and southern regions. An attack on a convoy of Chinese engineers in March resulted in the deaths of at least five Chinese nationals and a Pakistani.

China, one of Pakistan’s key allies, has invested $62bn in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) development project. Sharif and Pakistan army chief General Asim Munir made a five-day trip to China earlier this month with the the security of Chinese nationals and interests a critical part of their agenda.

Senior Chinese official Liu Jianchao visited Pakistan last week, reiterating the importance of protecting Chinese interests in the country. “We need to improve security and the business environment. In Pakistan’s case, the primary factor shaking the confidence of Chinese investors is the security situation,” Liu told representatives of Pakistan’s leading political parties on June 21 while on the three-day trip.

However, Asfandyar Mir, a South Asia expert at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), said while Chinese concerns likely influenced the Pakistani leadership, the timing of the new operation was potentially driven more by domestic politics and economic considerations.

“Last year, Pakistan faced a near-default and underwent a contentious election amid significant domestic political turmoil. A large-scale military campaign was not feasible under those circumstances,” Mir told Al Jazeera.

“With the election done and a government in place, and the economic situation stabilising, at least relatively, Pakistani leadership probably feels confident that it has sufficient domestic political space and a modicum of economic stability now to pursue a vigorous campaign to address the deteriorating security situation,” Mir added.

Will the new operation work?

Abdul Sayed, a Sweden-based researcher on armed groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan, was sceptical about the operation’s potential for success.

Sayed said armed groups now primarily target security forces to undermine government interests while preventing the loss of public support. In the provinces that are worst affected by armed violence, a lack of public support for security forces “could hinder the operation’s effectiveness”, he told Al Jazeera.

Tipu pointed to another challenge that security forces might face: the transient nature of TTP bases in Pakistan and the potential for escalating tensions with Afghanistan.

“The Pakistani Taliban do not have permanent bases in Pakistan, instead they operate from makeshift ones, frequently changing locations,” he said. “If Pakistan conducts cross-border operations in Afghanistan, it could escalate tensions between the two countries.”

Meanwhile, though China has pressured Pakistan to crack down on the armed violence, Beijing’s strategic relationship with the Taliban means that it is not entirely on the same page as Islamabad when it comes to the current rulers in Kabul, Mir said.

“Pakistan and China diverge on how to approach the Taliban. A military campaign engaging in cross-border strikes to pressure the Taliban may challenge Beijing’s stance on Afghanistan,” Mir cautioned.
Pakistan: Police arrest 23 after ‘blasphemy’ lynching (Deutsche Welle)
Deutsche Welle [6/24/2024 7:10 AM, Staff, 15592K, Negative]
Police in northwestern Pakistan said on Monday that they had arrested at least 23 individuals suspected of being part of a mob that dragged a man from police custody, killed him and burnt his body last week.

The victim was accused of "blasphemy," the perceived insult of a god or religion, more specifically of desecrating a copy of the Muslim holy book the Quran in his hotel room.
Police continue search for further suspects

The mob confronted police in the Swat district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, demanding they turn the man over to them for immediate punishment. According to the police account, when officers refused and said the man would face a trial if there was merit to the allegations, the crowd attacked, wounding some police.

"We have already arrested 23 people over the weekend and [are] conducting a raid for more suspected being identified through mobile footage of the incident," local police chief Islamul Haq said.

Another officer, Mohamed Karam, said that all the suspects were being held at a secret location and were yet to appear in court because of the sensitivity of the case.

Police said the slain man’s family was yet to contact them to retrieve the body. Media reports in Pakistan suggest that they were estranged.
Blasphemy laws can carry death penalty, at least in theory

The case prompted public outrage and a stern condemnation from the national parliament on Sunday.

"This House takes serious notice of the recent mob lynchings of our citizens in Swat and Sargodha," the resolution said. "It is noted with grave concern that such incidents have recently increased in different parts of the country, which cannot be tolerated in any civilized society."

The statement also stressed that "persons involved in these incidents are identified, investigated and prosecuted under the relevant laws."

The country’s laws on the issue, which trace their roots back to British colonial rule but have been made stricter still since Pakistan’s independence, can in theory carry the death penalty. However, at least based on official information, nobody has been put to death via Pakistan’s courts for the supposed offense.

According to local media tallies, more than 80 people have been killed by mobs and during riots amid accusations of blasphemy since 1990.

Last month, a mob vandalized a Christian neighborhood in the central province of Punjab and tortured a man over similar allegations. He died in hospital some weeks later.

In 2020, a Pakistani-US citizen was shot and killed in court as he faced a blasphemy trial.
India
India’s Prime Minister Modi will visit Russia, the Kremlin says (AP)
AP [6/25/2024 5:46 AM, Staff, 5.2M, Neutral]
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Russia, the Kremlin announced Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs aide, Yuri Ushakov, said that Modi’s visit was being prepared but didn’t announce a date, saying that it will be done jointly later.

Russia has had strong ties with India since the Cold War, and New Delhi’s importance as a key trade 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 U.S. and its allies that shut most Western markets for Russian exports.

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

Modi’s visit follows his reelection for a third straight term. He last visited Russia in 2019 for an economic forum in the far eastern port of Vladivostok. He last traveled to Moscow in 2015.
India court extends suspension of bail order for detained Delhi Chief Minister (Reuters)
Reuters [6/25/2024 5:26 AM, Sakshi Dayal and Arpan Chaturvedi, 27296K, Neutral]
An Indian court on Tuesday extended a hold on a lower court’s order granting bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a graft case, leaving the key opposition leader in pre-trial detention.

India’s federal financial crime-fighting agency arrested Kejriwal, a fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in March on corruption allegations relating to the capital’s liquor policy - accusations he has denied and said are politically motivated.

Kejriwal was granted bail by a city court on Thursday but investigators challenged the order in the Delhi High Court, which suspended the bail order as it considered the challenge.
Delhi minister stages hunger strike for more water to city amid extreme heat (Reuters)
Reuters [6/24/2024 12:55 PM, Shivam Patel, 42991K, Negative]
A Delhi city minister has started an indefinite hunger strike to demand more drinking water for India’s capital, where taps in some of its poorest neighbourhoods are running nearly dry in the middle of searing heat.

"There are 2.8 million people in the city who are aching for just a drop of water," Delhi Water Minister Atishi said on Monday, the fourth day of her fast.

Millions of Indians face water shortages every summer when water demand rises in farms, offices and homes against a limited supply, but a prolonged heatwave this year has worsened the shortfall, including in Delhi and the southern tech hub of Bengaluru.

Delhi relies on the Yamuna River that runs through the capital for most of its water needs but the river slows down during dry summer months, causing shortages that lead to protests and calls for better water conservation.

Atishi blamed the neighbouring farming state of Haryana for guzzling up a large share of river water.

Haryana’s government responded that it was Delhi’s mismanagement that was causing water shortages. Experts said a federal-level review of decades-old water sharing pacts was needed to accommodate population growth.

Delhi, a city of 20 million people, is one of the world’s most densely populated capitals, where upscale neighbourhoods and manicured lawns are just a few miles away from unplanned working-class areas and slums.

But, in contrast to growing unplanned development over the years, the city’s water allocation from rivers has remained unchanged since 1994, said Depinder Kapur, the director of water programme at think tank Centre for Science and Environment.

"What was true 10-15 years ago is not true anymore. So, there is a situation of crisis and it’s a distribution issue," he said.

The Delhi government is working on plans to improve the groundwater table by reviving lakes and storing water overflow from the Yamuna during the seasonal monsoon rains, but officials say the summer shortfall is difficult to tackle by these measures alone.

"Water crisis in Delhi is a year-long crisis because extreme temperatures are not going anywhere," said environmentalist Vimlendu Jha. "Delhi needs a comprehensive water management plan in which Yamuna can’t be the only major source of water."
Delhi’s hunger-striking water minister taken to hospital (BBC)
BBC [6/25/2024 3:16 AM, Staff, 65.5M, Negative]
Delhi’s water minister Atishi has been admitted to hospital, five days after she began a hunger strike to highlight the city’s water crisis.

The Indian capital has been facing severe water shortages as a prolonged heatwave has pushed up consumption.

Ms Atishi was taken to hospital on Tuesday morning after her sugar levels dropped to 36 - way below the normal range of 70-100mg/dL.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, who goes by only one name, has accused neighbouring Haryana state of restricting water supply to the city.

But the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in power in Haryana, has denied the charge and blamed the AAP government for the water crisis.

"She has not eaten anything for the last five days," AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj wrote on X (formerly Twitter), adding that she was being treated in the ICU.

Delhi is experiencing one of its hottest summers this year, with temperatures crossing 40C for weeks.

This has led to a spike in the demand for electricity and water, putting a strain on the city’s resources.

With the water supply almost running out, people have had to depend on water supplied by tankers.

Ms Atishi has blamed the Haryana government for holding up a large share of water from river Yamuna, which runs through the capital.

Delhi and other northern states, including Haryana, depend on the river for their water needs.

In 1996, India’s top court ordered Haryana to provide a portion of its water to Delhi throughout the year because of the city’s growing demands for drinking water.

But last week, Ms Atishi requested the Haryana government to release additional water to the city on "humanitarian grounds".

The minister also alleged that for the past three weeks, Haryana had reduced water supply to the capital by 100 million gallons per day, depriving 2.8 million people of their needs.

The Haryana government, in turn, accused Delhi of mismanagement and said that authorities were responsible for the city’s water crisis.
India may be supplying Israel weapons to ‘return a favour’, claims former ambassador (The Independent)
The Independent [6/24/2024 9:21 AM, Shweta Sharma, 56358K, Neutral]
India may be supplying weapons to Israel for its war in Gaza as a way of “returning the favour” for Israeli assistance during the 1999 war with Pakistan, according to a former envoy.

Daniel Carmon who served as Israel’s ambassador to India from 2014 to 2018 made the comments in an interview to leading Israeli publication Ynetnews.

His comments came amid reports that India has been supplying drones and munitions for Israel’s military campaign to eradicate Hamas. India has neither confirmed nor denied the reports.

“The Indians always remind us that Israel was there for them during the Kargil war. Israel was one of the few countries that stood by them and provided them with weapons,” Mr Carmon said.

“The Indians don’t forget this and might now be returning the favour,” he said.

Mr Carmon was referring to the brief high-altitude war between India and Pakistan in the Kargil region of Jammu and Kashmir between May and July 1999. During that period Israel helped India by providing crucial military supplies and equipment, including precision-guided munitions and surveillance drones.

In May, Spain refused to allow ships carrying arms to Israel from India to call at its ports, the country’s foreign minister said, in keeping with its commitment not to “contribute to war”.

In February, a number of Indian media reports said Delhi had supplied Israel with advanced Hermes 900 drones manufactured in Hyderabad. The drones were produced at a facility originally set up by the Israeli military to supply the Indian military, but the reports said 20 drones were converted to be used by the Israeli Defence Forces after Israel’s own supplies ran low.

India has refrained from directly calling out Israel for its actions in Gaza and longstanding ties between the two countries have strengthened under the Narendra Modi government. The Indian foreign ministry has called for a ceasefire to be agreed, however, as well as expressing its support for a two-state solution.

Claims that India is exporting weapons to Israel have triggered protests back home, amid concern among the Indian public about supporting a military campaign that has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu began the operation against Hamas following the 7 October terror attack that killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 captive.

India has been open about another form of support for Israel – recruiting and dispatching thousands of workers to bolster Israel’s economy after the Netanyahu government banned tens of thousands of Palestinian workers.
‘Eid means mourning’: Muslims lynched in India after shock election result (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [6/25/2024 12:52 AM, Yashraj Sharma, 20.9M, Negative]
For Zakia Wali, Eid will never be joyous again. Instead, she says, the Muslim festival will serve as a horrific reminder of how her elder brother, Mohammad Fareed, was lynched in the town they have called home since they were born there 30 years ago.

“We were unable to give him a ghusl (full ablution), such was the condition,” recalled Wali, speaking with Al Jazeera from her home in Aligarh. “No one dared to count the injuries. Eid will only mean mourning now.”

Fareed, who made tandoori rotis – flatbreads cooked in giant clay ovens – at local eateries, was on his way back home a day after Eid when he was surrounded by a mob of Hindu hardliners.

More than a dozen men, armed with wooden sticks and iron rods, dragged the 35-year-old Fareed through the street and beat him to death as bystanders caught the horror on their phone cameras.

Aligarh, a city of 1.2 million people, is in Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state, which is ruled by the Hindu majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, under whose decade-long rule attacks on Muslims have skyrocketed.

On June 4, after the BJP lost its national majority in stunning results from India’s mammoth national election, opposition parties portrayed the outcome as a victory for the country’s democratic and secular traditions. Many analysts suggested that the results, and Modi’s dependence on coalition partners in government, would force moderation within the Hindu hardline groups that have long inhabited the fringes of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh – the BJP’s ideological mentor organisation – but gained some mainstream acceptance in recent years.

Yet three weeks later, a spate of anti-Muslim attacks in different parts of the country – including in states ruled by the Congress, the principal opposition party – has left India’s largest religious minority grappling with a very different reality.

Homes of families were razed over suspicion they were keeping beef – the meat of a cow, a holy animal to many Hindus – in their refrigerators. Three men were beaten to death after being tortured on a highway. A hospital treating patients was vandalised.

The incidents are related only by the faith of the victims.

These attacks, said Ali Khan Mahmudabad, a political scientist and historian at New Delhi’s Ashoka University, only underscore the folly of some of the analysis that followed the Indian election results.

“It will be a mistake to read the polls results as a victory for secularism,” said Mahmudabad, referring to the historically low numbers of Muslims voted into parliament in the recent election.

In fact, he said he expects “anti-Muslim sentiment violence” to increase across India as a way to “distract” from the myriad challenges that the country faces – unemployment and inflation were the top concerns for voters ahead of the just-concluded election.

A protest … to defend the mob

Mohammad Zaki, 30, was at home when he heard a crowd of neighbours bang on his door just past 10pm on June 18. “They showed me a video and some photos of a badly injured man,” he said. It was Fareed, his elder brother, who had been attacked less than a kilometre away from their home.

If the people who had come to alert him about the attack on his brother were neighbours, so too were the attackers themselves — a fact that is not lost on Zaki.

“I’m so scared that these kinds of people live among us in the same society,” he said. “They were just thirsty for Muslim blood.”

Zaki said that upon inquiring among locals, the family learned that a passer-by had called the police fearing for Fareed’s life. But Fareed died before he reached a hospital.

Aligarh police officials investigating the lynching told Al Jazeera that they are yet to pin down what led to the killing, though they have arrested at least six people so far and charged them with murder. The accused claim that Fareed was a thief, which his family and friends have denied.

“He was a very calm man, who never spoke ill about anyone,” said Mushtaq Ahmed, a childhood friend of Fareed’s. “He never even picked a nail that did not belong to him. They [the accused] are just lying because they have committed a horrifying crime.”

Soon after the arrests, the BJP, alongside far-right groups, staged a protest to defend the six accused people and demand their release. The town was shut down due to the protest.

“If a Muslim man enters to rob your home, will you garland him?” Shakuntala Bharti, an influential BJP leader and former mayor of Aligarh, told Al Jazeera.

“If the police do not investigate properly, we know our way around. It is Uttar Pradesh, where [the] bulldozer rules,” she added, referring to a tactic used in Uttar Pradesh and other BJP-governed states in which homes of Muslims are bulldozed. Amnesty International has described the use of bulldozers to demolish Muslim homes without any legal mandate as deliberate “punishment to the Muslim community”.

But for Wali, Fareed’s younger sister, the questions about her brother’s alleged crime is immaterial. “Even if he was a thief, slap him and hand him over to the police,” she said. “Why kill my brother like savages?”

For now, she said, she must focus on her bed-ridden 70-year-old mother Zubaida, who is suffering from paralysis. “Fareed would take her to the toilet, feed her breakfast and take care of her medicines,” she said. “The [elderly] woman’s only support is gone now.”

Since Fareed’s lifeless body was brought home, his mother’s blood pressure has shot up, said Wali.

Unlike a decade ago, Wali would celebrate festivals with her Hindu neighbours, she said, adding that that trust has been shattered irreparably. “We feel terror in Aligarh now, scared of our own neighbours.”

“Eid is our biggest festival, but now, Eid will only remind me of the sacrifice of my brother.”

‘Deafening silence’

Nearly 400km (240 miles) away, a photograph set off mob violence on June 17.

After Javed Qureshi uploaded a picture posing with the carcass of an animal as his WhatsApp status, a mob in Nahan town of the northern Himachal Pradesh state stormed his shop accusing him of slaughtering a cow.

In the presence of police personnel, the crowd barged into the locked shop (Qureshi lives in the state of Uttar Pradesh and had gone home for Eid) and looted it. The crowd then attacked another shop owned by Qureshi’s brother.

They warned other Muslim business owners to leave Nahan and called for their boycott.

Two days later, a police investigation found that the animal depicted in the photograph was not a cow. Still, the police arrested Qureshi for “hurting religious sentiments”, citing the “graphic” image he had used on WhatsApp.

Himachal Pradesh state is governed by the Congress party, which claims to stand by the secular principles enshrined in India’s Constitution.

“The silence of the opposition leaders on attacks on the Muslims is deafening,” said Nadeem Khan, the national secretary of the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR), an advocacy group.

Mahmudabad, the political scientist, said the BJP had “pulled the centre of the Indian politics to the right”.

“So, the opposition has to do that as well and align with ‘soft Hindutva’,” he said. Hindutva is the political ideology of the BJP and its Hindu majoritarian allies.

The silence of opposition leaders will make Muslims rethink their voting patterns, said Khan. “There is no complaint about the BJP because there is no expectation from them, but we had high hopes from people claiming high secular credentials.”

Khan referred to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s promise to build a “shop of love in a market of hate”.

Gandhi, Khan said, cannot bring himself to “use the M-word”. “The opposition is complicit in disenfranchising the Muslim community,” he said.

Gandhi’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, in a village in the BJP-governed Madhya Pradesh state about 640km (400 miles) away, authorities demolished the homes of 11 Muslim families suspected of keeping beef in refrigerators.

Al Jazeera reached out to two BJP national spokespersons for a response to concerns over anti-Muslim violence, but they refused to comment.

A known mob

Even hospitals are no longer sanctuaries of safety.

In the town of Medak in the southern state of Telangana, where Gandhi’s Congress controls the state government, administrators at the Minhaj Ul Uloom, a religious school for Muslims, bought 40 oxen worth $30,000 for collective sacrifice by more than 700 people on the occasion of Eid. They were wary: the BJP doubled its parliamentary seat tally in the state, from four to eight, and the school’s leaders were worried about triumphalism over that verdict turning into aggression against Muslims.

While the cattle were grazing in a field near the school, a far-right team of vigilantes ostensibly trying to stop cow slaughter caught the oxen on June 15. Arguments ensued. Police intervened and took the oxen while they determined whether the animals were cows. They were not and the cattle were later released.

Meanwhile, fighting broke out between a mob and those in the school.

Two injured Muslims were taken to the nearby Medak Orthopaedic Hospital, but the mob followed. Dr Surender Reddy was treating them in the hospital when he heard “loud noises and stone pelting outside”.

Terrified, Reddy’s staff appealed to the relatives of the injured inside the hospital to not react. But it was in vain. The relatives of the injured Muslims went outside and tried to fight the mob, which vandalised the hospital premises, including Reddy’s new car.

“I have never experienced anything like this because at least hospitals are spared by the mob,” Reddy told Al Jazeera. “It was just absolutely horrific.” Broken windowpanes and medical equipment littered the blood-stained floor when staff reopened the hospital three days later. The hospital now stays open for only a few hours a day.

“Some of the staff is yet to come back since the incident,” he said. “They are terrified.”

Since the attack on the hospital, some of the members of the mob apologised to Reddy, he said. Meanwhile, Telangana police have arrested 36 people, including 13 members of the BJP.

The attacks in Medak, Aligarh and Nahan – in states governed by both the BJP and the Congress – represent “a reaction to the electoral outcome”, said Khan of the APCR.

“The message [from Hindu majoritarian groups] is unified: ‘We are still all-powerful and will not cede any space’.”

Khan said that Muslims were increasingly being pushed towards second-class citizenship in India. “There is no value in a Muslim’s life today,” he said. “You feel insecure even inside your house as a Muslim in India now.”
India’s Congress party vows to fight ‘fascist rule’ of Modi’s BJP (Nikkei Asia)
Nikkei Asia [6/24/2024 5:00 PM, Kiran Sharma, 2042K, Negative]
Rahul Gandhi, scion of India’s Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty and a senior figure in the opposition Indian National Congress party, came to a press briefing on Thursday wearing his trademark white polo shirt and began speaking with a smile.

"The prime minister, if I [may] say so, is psychologically broken," said Gandhi in his usual aggressive manner, but with more confidence. "And knowing his personality, he will struggle to run a government like this."

Gandhi claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s idea of running a government "is to generate fear" among people. "The basic concept of Modi has been destroyed in this election," he said. "Now people are not scared of him" and the country has "a stronger opposition."

India’s long beleaguered opposition is gearing up to tackle the new coalition government of Modi with increased vigor thanks to its stunning recovery in the polls.

"Now [the government] cannot take one-sided decisions," Narayan Bareth, a political analyst and former information commissioner in the northwestern state of Rajasthan, told Nikkei Asia.

Ahead of the elections, the Modi government exuded confidence, focusing on land, labor and capital reforms for its third term, which it was confident of winning by an even bigger margin. Those ambitious plans may now face some hiccups.

The reforms were aimed at liberalizing land acquisition rules, creating a world class pool of skilled labor and easing access to capital. These would all benefit production capacity, spurring economic growth as India strives for developed nation status by 2047, the centenary of its independence from British rule.

"These reforms may not sail through easily now," V. Upadhyay, a New Delhi-based economist, told Nikkei. He foresees objections from the now robust opposition and possibly some concerns among ruling allies as well. The government is now expected to tread "a middle path" on important matters. "Unlike in the past, it cannot initiate any radical steps," he said.

The opposition is collectively known as the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). The bloc contains over two dozen parties and is led by the Congress. It clinched an unexpected 234 seats out of 543 in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament. The BJP-led ruling coalition, the National Democratic Alliance, emerged with 293 seats from the six-week general election that ended on June 1 and was the world’s largest ever.

The majority in the Lok Sabha is attained at 272 seats. The BJP on its own secured 240 seats -- markedly lower than the 303 it won in 2019 and 282 in 2014.

"The INDIA bloc will continue to fight against the fascist rule of the BJP led by Modi," Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters on June 5. "We will take appropriate steps at the appropriate time to realize the people’s desire not to be ruled by the BJP’s government," he said. "Whatever promises we have given to the people we will keep."

"I think the opposition also realizes that they need to be pro-active and seen not to just criticize," said Navnita Chadha Behera, a professor in the department of political science at the University of Delhi. "They need to be also part of the governance process."

According to Bareth, most bills in the past decade sailed through parliament with little or no debate, and with simple voice votes, because the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party always controlled the majority. This made possible the contentious passage of three agriculture laws in 2020 when the government hoped to liberalize the agriculture sector by facilitating private investment in supply chains and farm infrastructure.

Farmers feared the new legislation would leave them at the mercy of big corporations, and massive demonstrations were triggered. Thousands of farmers camped along border of New Delhi to force their repeal.

"Debate and discourse -- both are essential for a vibrant democracy," said Bareth.

Among other examples are three criminal laws due to come into effect on July 1. These were passed last year with practically no debate to replace British-era legislation. And in 2020, the Congress and some other parties slammed the Modi government for "bypassing" the bicameral house on the new education policy which, they said, was approved without adequate consultation.

Behera criticized the brazen bypassing of parliamentary committees and laws that went through without any debate over the past decade. She said there was now hope that this would all change.

According to Ajay Kaul, editor-in-chief of the United News of India agency, opposition parties that used to be scattered with their own agendas, and failed to support each other, will function as a parliamentary coalition.

"Now they will be strategizing their common actions on what issues to take up together and how to corner the government on issues like unemployment and price rises," he said.

"As a coalition, they have a powerful number, and their voice will be much more forceful. If a single party has the majority, they can bulldoze issues and legislation," he said. "A system of checks and balances [will be] in place."

Bareth agreed, saying: "This is an ideal situation for a democracy when the opposition is so strong."

The country’s minority Muslims, whose leaders often accuse the Modi government of marginalizing their community, also hope the opposition will now be effective in raising their concerns.

Navaid Hamid, a leader of the country’s Muslim community, which generally supports anti-BJP parties, including the Congress, Samajwadi Party and Trinamool Congress in the INDIA bloc, said the opposition alliance won so many seats because ordinary people want to strengthen democracy and have their voices heard in the corridors of power.

"To a larger extent, the parties in the INDIA bloc have a greater responsibility now to raise the voices of the people in the Lok Sabha, to defend their rights irrespective of the religion and caste affiliations," Hamid, a former president of All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, an umbrella group for Muslim organizations, told Nikkei.

India, the world’s most populated nation, has over 1.4 billion people, about 80% of whom are Hindus, from whom the BJP mainly draws its support. Muslims make up only 14% of the population.

"The biggest challenge for the opposition currently is how they can educate the common masses about the divisive policies" of the BJP, he said. "The opposition must not wait for the next elections. It’s very important for the Congress party and [its allies] to maintain touch with the masses."

Importantly, the Lok Sabha will now have a leader of the opposition. This powerful position goes to the leader of the largest opposition party providing it has no less than 10% of the seats. A Congress leader is expected to take up the position after the party nearly doubled its tally to 99 seats compared to 52 in 2019. The party’s worst showing was in 2014 with just 44 seats.

This post comes with certain privileges. The leader of the opposition plays an important role in the running of parliament, including in the formation of crucial committees, questioning decisions taken by the government and making fair criticism. To ensure neutrality, this person is also involved in selecting chiefs of various statutory bodies, including the Central Vigilance Commission, the Central Information Commission and the National Human Rights Commission.

In the past decade, Congress failed to secure this key position as it did not have the requisite numbers. It now wants Gandhi, its star campaigner who turned 54 on Wednesday, to take on the job. He has yet to take a call on this.

"During the elections, we raised so many burning issues such as unemployment, inflation, women’s issues and social justice," K.C. Venugopal, a senior Congress member of parliament, said in a June 8 news briefing. He said these now need to be explored in parliament.

"Rahul is the best person to lead this campaign," he said.

Despite all the optimism among the opposition partners -- many of whom were bitter rivals before they joined forces under INDIA last year -- the big challenge facing the Congress will be keeping this flock together. The BJP’s critics often highlight its track record of engineering splits among opponents. It was successful in doing so in the past at the state level. In the western state of Maharashtra and the central state of Madhya Pradesh, it formed governments with the help of rebels from opposition parties.

Behera feels that Congress should more or less manage to maintain the alliance, but the picture will be clearer after state polls in Maharashtra later this year.

"If their coalition holds up to collectively fight the Maharashtra elections, my personal understanding is ... they’ll probably win," she said.

Even though the Congress and its allies seem happy with their poll performance, Modi took a swipe at them for not even matching the BJP’s seat numbers.

"Our opponents, despite coming together and forming an alliance, could not win the same numbers of seats which the BJP won in these elections single handedly," he said after the poll outcome was known on June 4.

The opposition certainly cannot be complacent. "They really have a lot of homework to do on their organizational strength," said Behera. "They are not in a condition to sit and rest on their laurels for sure."

"They have got a reprieve -- the much deserved and much hard-earned reprieve. What they have established is that they are still in the game, but they are still the opposition."
India Central Bank Policymakers Divided Over Rate-Growth Debate (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [6/24/2024 8:00 PM, Anup Roy, 27296K, Negative]
A consensus appears to be emerging among the external members of the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy committee that high interest rates are damaging to economic growth, a sign that the debate over the timing of any easing is intensifying.

Jayanth Rama Varma and Ashima Goyal voted at the June meeting for a rate cut, arguing
that too restrictive policy will hurt growth, recent minutes showed. Shashanka Bhide, the third external official on the six-member committee, voted against easing, but in an emailed response to questions, he acknowledged that inflation-adjusted rates above 1.5% “is not supportive of higher growth.” India’s real, or inflation-adjusted, rate is currently at 1.75%.

Bhide still advocated for caution, though, saying rapid economic growth and inflation can be “sub-optimal.”

The rest of the monetary policy committee is made up of RBI officials, who have stuck to their relatively hawkish stance on inflation, including Governor Shaktikanta Das. Any “hasty action” will do more harm than good, Das argued at the last MPC meeting, according to the minutes.

The split in the views show a widening gap between the external and internal members on how to balance economic growth and inflation. The committee has kept the benchmark repurchase rate unchanged at 6.5% for more than a year now, with inflation still hovering above the RBI’s 4% target.

Madhavi Arora, lead economist at Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd., said it’s unclear if the differences in views means any rate action will follow in coming months. She predicted the RBI likely won’t ease until after the Federal Reserve does so.

“We maintain that rate cuts will be a calendar year 2025 tale but liquidity management will be the near-term story, implying that a mild stealth easing is still on the anvil,” she wrote in a note.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predict the RBI will lower rates in the final quarter of 2024. The next rate decision is on Aug. 8.

External MPC member Varma said as inflation moves closer to the target, monetary policy should be “only mildly restrictive, so that the growth sacrifice is modest.”

Bhide refuted the notion that too-high borrowing costs have choked off growth, saying rapid expansion of more than 7% in recent years has been driven by domestic demand. To sustain that pace, “we need supportive external demand conditions” going forward, he said.

Varma argued that India needs faster growth rates than what’s projected over the next two years, given its “current stage of the demographic transition.”

Both MPC members will leave the committee in October, once its term ends. Here’s more of what they said in emailed responses to questions:

“It is important to recognize that we now have a lower inflation rate and we need to sustain this lower inflation rate close to the target,” Bhide said

“A well distributed normal monsoon would be supportive of rural growth,” Bhide said

Both the members denied that the MPC is waiting for the US Federal Reserve to cut rates first. “I believe that there are honest differences of opinion here,” Varma said

“I would not like to speculate on how other members of the MPC might act in future meetings. I am happy that at this meeting, we had another voice emphasizing the growth concerns that are there today,” Varma said
Shock in Indian district where 56 died from tainted alcohol (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [6/24/2024 7:32 AM, Satish Babu, 85570K, Negative]
Plumes of smoke from funeral pyres darkened the sky Monday over the Indian town at the epicentre of a poisoning by a batch of illegal alcohol that has killed 56 and hospitalised more than 100.

Wailing relatives mourned the dead, draping flower wreaths on coffins as the community gathered in shock in Kallakurichi district in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

Indian police said Monday the death toll from the toxic batch had risen to 56, with 117 people in hospital recovering, several in serious condition.

Others have been blinded after drinking the locally made "arrack" last week, which was laced with methanol.

Kokila, aged 16, lost both her parents to the toxic brew. She is determined to make them proud.

"My father wanted me to be an engineer," Kokila said, who uses only one name. "That is why I will study and become one."

Hundreds of people die every year in India from cheap alcohol made in backstreet distilleries, but last week’s poisoning is one of the worst in recent years.

To increase its potency, the liquor is often spiked with methanol, which can cause blindness, liver damage and death.

Top district police official Rajat Chaturvedi told AFP that "56 people have died so far and around 117 people are currently under medical treatment".

Political rivals in the state have blamed each other for the deaths, and the site of the tragedy on Monday witnessed a protest by local opposition politicians.

Poor labourers in Kallakurichi district regularly bought the liquor in plastic bags costing 60 rupees ($0.70), which they would drink before work.

This batch, however, was devastating.

Some people went blind, while others collapsed in the street and died before they could make it to hospital.

Murugan said he had tried to get his father, 55-year-old Vijayan, to give up drinking alcohol. Vijayan also died after drinking the tainted batch.

Murugan said government compensation payments would not make up for the loss.

"Despite repeated requests, he continued to consume liquor in the evening after work," he said.

"The government has given us money, but I can’t get my father back."

Tamil Nadu is not a dry state, but liquor traded on the black market comes at a lower price than alcohol sold legally.

Selling and consuming liquor is prohibited in several other parts of India, further driving the thriving black market for potent and sometimes lethal moonshine.

Last year, poisonous alcohol killed at least 27 people in one sitting in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, while in 2022, at least 42 people died in Gujarat.
NSB
IMF’s Executive Board makes available about $1.148 billion to Bangladesh (Reuters)
Reuters [6/24/2024 2:56 PM, Eric Beech, 42991K, Positive]
The International Monetary Fund said on Monday its Executive Board has concluded a second review of Bangladesh’s bailout program, giving the country immediate access to about $928 million in loans for economic support and about $220 million to combat climate change.

"Bangladesh’s economy is navigating multiple macroeconomic challenges," IMF Deputy Managing Director Antoinette Sayeh said in a statement.

"Even in the difficult environment, program performance has been broadly on track and the authorities remain committed to undertaking the necessary policy actions and reforms," she said.

Bangladesh’s $4.7 billion bailout was approved by the fund’s Executive Board in January 2023.

The board’s first review of the bailout plan was cleared in December and gave Bangladesh immediate access to about $468.3 million for its economy and about $221.5 million in support of its climate change agenda.
Bangladesh’s deadliest executioner dies (BBC)
BBC [6/24/2024 8:50 PM, Kathryn Armstrong, 65502K, Negative]
Bangladesh’s deadliest executioner, who hanged serial killers and politicians alike and even wrote a book about it, has died.

Shahjahan Bhuiyan, 74, was admitted to hospital on Monday in the country’s capital, Dhaka, after complaining of chest pains.

He later died while undergoing treatment, local media report.

Bhuiyan is thought to have carried out at least 26 executions but some reports have put the number as high as 60.

A former revolutionary, he became a hangman while serving a 42-year prison sentence for robbery and murder.

Bhuiyan’s desire to have his jailtime reduced by volunteering as an executioner was rewarded last year when he was released 10 years early.

Among those who died at his hands were military officers found guilty of killing the country’s founding leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman - father of Bangladesh’s current prime minister.

He also executed politicians Ali Ahsan Mujahid and Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, who were both charged with war crimes, as well as the serial killer Ershad Shikder.

Bhuiyan had always defended his role as a hangman, reportedly saying, "If I didn’t hang them, someone else would."

A book about his experiences, including an explanation of the hanging procedure, was released earlier this year and attracted significant attention.

Following his release from prison, Bhuiyan briefly married a girl who was 50 years younger than him and, according to the Dhaka Tribune, faced legal complications as a result.
Nepalese spiritual leader ‘Buddha Boy’ convicted of sexual assault on minor (AP)
AP [6/25/2024 2:34 AM, Binaj Gurubacharya, 456K, Negative]
A court in southern Nepal convicted a controversial spiritual leader known as “Buddha Boy” on charges of sexually assaulting a minor.

Ram Bahadur Bamjan, who’s believed by some to be the reincarnation of the founder of Buddhism, was arrested by police in January on charges of sexual assault and suspicion of involvement in the disappearance of at least four of followers from his camps.

A judge at the Sarlahi District Court on Monday found him guilty of sexually assaulting an underage girl, and said sentencing will be on July 1. The charges related to the disappearances of his followers are still pending trial.

He could face at least 12 years in jail, but can still appeal his conviction.

Bamjan is believed by many Nepalese to be the reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, who was born in southwestern Nepal some 2,600 years ago and became revered as the Buddha. Buddhist scholars have been skeptical of Bamjan’s claims.

Bamjan was arrested from a house in a suburb of Kathmandu, the country’s capital, after jumping two floors from a window in an attempt to flee.

Police said they seized Nepalese banknotes worth $227,000 and other foreign currencies amounting to $23,000 at the time of the arrest.

Bamjan became famous in southern Nepal in 2005, when claimed to be able to meditate without moving for months while sitting beneath a tree with no food or water.

His popularity has declined amid accusations of sexual and physical assaults on his followers, but he still maintains camps in southern Nepal where thousands come to worship or live.
Nepalese court finds ‘Buddha Boy’ guilty of child sexual abuse (Reuters)
Reuters [6/25/2024 1:43 AM, Gopal Sharma, 5.2M, Negative]
A Nepali court has found a man who thousands believed was a reincarnation of the Buddha guilty of child sexual abuse, a court official said on Tuesday.

As a teenager, Ram Bahadur Bamjon drew international attention in 2005 when tens of thousands of people turned up to see the so-called ‘Buddha Boy’ sitting cross-legged under a tree in a dense forest in southeastern Nepal for nearly 10 months.

Devotees said he could meditate for several days without water, food or sleep.

Sadan Adhikari, registrar of the Sarlahi district court, said Bomjon had been found guilty of child sex abuse, without giving details. The court will sentence Bomjon, 33, on July 1, Adhikari added.

Bomjon, who faces up to 14 years in prison, could not be reached for comment. His lawyer, Dilip Kumar Jha, said that there was no evidence against his client and that they would appeal the case in a higher court.

In January, Bomjon was arrested by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police from a house on the outskirts of Kathmandu where he had been hiding since the court issued an arrest warrant against him following allegations of sexual abuse.
Sri Lanka to sign agreement with creditor nations on Wednesday (Reuters)
Reuters [6/25/2024 3:57 AM, Uditha Jayasinghe, 5.2M, Neutral]
Sri Lanka will sign a debt restructuring agreement with a group of creditor nations on Wednesday, the government said in a major step to help stabilise the country’s finances following its economic crisis.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe updated his cabinet on the debt restructuring late on Monday, Foreign Minister Ali Sabry told Reuters by phone.

The cabinet also approved the debt restructuring framework, Cabinet spokesman Bandula Gunawardana told reporters, while declining to divulge details.

"The president informed cabinet the agreements with the official creditor committee will be signed tomorrow," he told the weekly cabinet press briefing.

"Details of the agreement will be presented to parliament later to ensure transparency."

The deal will allow creditor nations to resume lending to Sri Lanka. The economy crashed in 2022 when a fall in foreign exchange reserves prompted the island to default on its foreign debt.

Sri Lanka’s bonds , were up 0.2-0.3 cents in late Asian trading, slightly outperforming most emerging markets and maintaining the more than 15% gains made since February.

Sri Lanka’s finance ministry said in November that the debt restructuring agreement in principle covered approximately $5.9 billion of outstanding public debt and involved a mix of extending the maturity of long-term borrowings and reducing interest rates on the credit.

The majority of the debt is owed to Japan and India, which chair the OCC along with France.

A provisional agreement with the OCC was reached in November.

Sri Lanka, which has roughly $37 billion in external debt, still needs to hammer out an agreement on $12.5 billion owed to private bondholders as well as a final deal with the Export-Import Bank of China on $4.2 billion in loans.

Aided by a $2.9 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund, Sri Lanka’s economy is expected to grow 3% in 2024 after two years of contraction.
Central Asia
Chinese Megaprojects Back In Fashion In Central Asia’s Poorest States (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [6/24/2024 5:13 PM, Chris Rickleton, 1530K, Neutral]
For most of the last two decades, China has been the most obvious source of foreign direct investment for the countries of Central Asia.

But for the two poorest countries of the region -- Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan -- truly strategic investment from Beijing appeared to peak in the middle of that period.

That was when Chinese companies agreed on deals to overhaul the transport and energy infrastructure in the two mountainous countries, build or modernize power plants in their respective capitals, and acquire lucrative mineral deposits along the way.

These deals were most often backed with loans from Chinese state banks and carried the logic of Beijing’s mammoth Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), despite some of them predating Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s 2013 unveiling of that vision.

But more recently there has been something of a lull -- or at least an absence of eye-catching deals by Beijing for major projects.

Recent official rhetoric suggests that Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are eyeing fresh investment splurges from China, with one of those projects -- the multibillion dollar China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway -- rivaling some of Beijing’s largest projects in the region.

That is all positive, but can they enjoy a new wave of investment and avoid the “debt trap” that has become part of the BRI narrative in other countries around the world?

CKU Railway Finally On Track?

In the years immediately after Kyrgyzstan’s second revolution in 2010, hundreds of millions of Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) poured into the country.

One of the most obvious successes of this drive was the Datka-Kemin power transmission line, a $400 million project unifying the country’s northern and southern electricity grids that was completed in 2015. After that, there was a drop off.

While some analysts blamed this on chronic security issues in Kyrgyzstan -- a particular drag on the mining sector -- it is also true that Chinese investment had fulfilled many of the government’s top priorities in terms of national-level projects.

One idea that remained little more than a discussion since it was first conceived in the 1990s was the CKU railway, which supporters see as a game changer in intercontinental overland trade.

The link has the potential to become an even faster rail route connecting Chinese and European markets than the routes that go through Kazakhstan, Russia, and Belarus.

In an interview with RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service this month, Central Asia-focused researcher Davide Cancarini argued that CKU’s urgency for Beijing has grown notably as the more traditional route loses its appeal due to the increased sanctions risk connected to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Although the route remains operational for the moment, “for China, it has become important to find routes between East and West that don’t traverse Russia,” Cancarini noted.

This same logic has also seen a boost in interest and investment in the so-called Middle Corridor, a route connecting China though Kazakhstan to the Caucasus and onto the large European Union single market.

Still, the roughly 300-kilometer Kyrgyz leg of the railway has always looked rather expensive due to the extreme technical challenges through mountainous territory.

And that is why the latest three-way meeting with the heads of state of the three countries present -- via video link -- in Beijing on June 6 had the feel of a breakthrough.

“The transport ministers of [Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan] and the chairman of the State Committee for Development and Reform of China have signed [the agreement], financial models are approved, money has been found, and we plan to begin construction in August,” trumpeted Akylbek Japarov, chairman of the Kyrgyz Cabinet of Ministers one week after the meeting.

But the idea that “money has been found” deserves further scrutiny.

The agreement reached in Beijing and subsequently disclosed by Kyrgyzstan’s unicameral legislature, the Jogorku Kenesh, is significant in that it offers details about the divisions of financial responsibility.

According to the document, the three trio will form a joint company in which China will hold a 51 percent stake while Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan will be responsible for 24.5 percent each.

The conundrum lies in the fact that even official Kyrgyz estimates for the cost of its part of the track vary from $4.5 billion to $8 billion, with Japarov himself voicing the upper figure.

Moreover, the agreement states that the project will operate under a BOT (build–operate–transfer) structure to be agreed to between Kyrgyzstan and the joint company where China has full control.

The BOT principle should -- in theory -- protect Kyrgyzstan from excessive debt exposure but it may have to forfeit at least part of the revenue the railway generates from transit fees until it has covered its own building costs.

And those could well increase further, given that the project will involve building around 50 tunnels and 90 bridges, in some cases at altitudes of 3,000 meters.

Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov (no relation to Akylbek Japarov) said at the June 6 event that transit could bring $200 million annually into his country’s coffers.

Official estimates for Kyrgyzstan’s contribution begin at almost $600 million. That is most likely to be met in the form of a Chinese loan, whose conditions are unknown.

But at least Beijing’s political will is clear.

Kyrgyz media reported this month that China’s Foreign and Commerce ministries had lowered the Central Asian country’s risk rating to medium, leaving only “high-risk” ratings for two of the country’s seven provinces that the track will not go through.

The CKU railway is by far the largest and most intriguing potential project involving China and Kyrgyzstan.

But an increasingly confident administration in Bishkek is also hopeful that Beijing will revive others.

In October, Akylbek Japarov said Bishkek was hoping for Chinese assistance in building Kambarata-1, a $3 billion, 2,000-megawatt hydropower project on the Naryn River.

He also mentioned the much smaller-scale Upper Naryn hydropower cascade, priced at more than $700 million over a decade ago.

Both projects were originally slated for Russian investors before Bishkek tore up the deals, citing a lack of progress.

Speaking on June 20 in parliament, Akylbek Japarov said that projects like Kambarata-1 and the China-led railway would put Kyrgyzstan’s development on "a different trajectory," and likened President Japarov to Russia’s visionary monarch Peter the Great.

The cabinet chief also denied that either project would increase the state debt, since they are being carried out "as part of a public-private partnership," but offered no further details.

In August, Japarov held talks with China’s ambassador to Bishkek, Du Duwen, over Beijing’s potential investment in yet another hydropower facility on the Sary-Jaz River in the eastern province of Issyk-Kul. The idea for that six-bloc, 1,100 megawatt facility dates back to the Soviet period.

Tajikistan’s Billion-Dollar Solar Savior?

Chinese investments are very much in the news in Tajikistan these days, too.

On June 21, Chinese investors at a forum in Dushanbe made pledges of over $500 million, according to the State Committee for Investment and Property Management of Tajikistan.

They included promised investment for an iron-ore processing plant in the northern city of Khujand, the modernization of one of the capital’s main stadiums, and the purchase of Chinese electric cars for local taxi services.

This is standard fare for a country that the U.S. State Department called “saturated in opaque loans connected” to China’s BRI and dependent on Beijing for more than “99.8 percent” of FDI in a 2023 investment climate statement.

More eyebrow-raising is the apparent $1.5 billion commitment of a Chinese company to building a solar power plant near Tajikistan’s border with Afghanistan.

The investment revealed in late May by Tajikistan’s Economic Development Ministry is envisaged in four stages, with the first costing a mere $150 million with a capacity of 150 megawatts.

But if completed it would dwarf the investments made by China in other Tajik plants, such as the Dushanbe-2 power plant, commissioned in 2016, that cost $350 million.

The power needs in Tajikistan -- where severe brownouts are common -- are well known.

The World Bank estimated in 2013 that winter energy shortages alone cost the country more than $200 million -- 3 percent of gross domestic product -- each year. They remain chronic.

Yet the latest round of Chinese investment comes at a time when Tajikistan’s debt repayments are increasing.

Dushanbe’s obligations to the Export-Import Bank of China are the largest to any single creditor, standing at $900 million, down from nearly $1.4 billion in early 2022, while the grace period for a series of loans from this bank ends in 2025, according to the Tajik Finance Ministry.

Combined with the expected full repayment of a $500 million Eurobond issued at a rate of more than 7 percent in 2027, this means that the cost of servicing the country’s multibillion dollar external debt will more than double in the coming years.

The proceeds from the Eurobond sale were earmarked for the Roghun megadam, a major weight on the national budget that officials estimate will require another $5 billion to finish.

And China, too, is backing this project -- set to be the tallest in the world -- albeit via a financial institution where it has a privileged role.

In May of last year, Tajikistan’s presidential administration said the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, where Beijing holds more than 30 percent of the shares and has a voting stake of at least 26.5 percent, had pledged its own $500 million loan for Roghun.
Another Kyrgyz Jailed For Fighting With Russian Troops In Ukraine (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [6/24/2024 6:46 AM, Staff, 1530K, Negative]
The Osh regional court in southern Kyrgyzstan told RFE/RL on June 24 that a lower court had sentenced a local man, whose identity was not disclosed, to five years in prison two weeks earlier for joining Russian troops fighting in Ukraine. In January, a Bishkek court handed a suspended seven-year prison term to another Kyrgyz man, Askar Kubanychbek-uulu, for joining the Russian military in Ukraine. In April, Kubanychbek-uulu fled the country for Russia. On June 22, the chairman of Russia’s National Anti-Corruption Committee, Kirill Kabanov, said that Kubanyuchbek-uulu signed a new contract with the Russian military to fight in Ukraine.
Whereabouts Of Five Tajiks Deported From Russia Unknown (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [6/24/2024 8:36 AM, Staff, 1530K, Negative]
The parents of five young Tajik men from the volatile Gorno-Badakhshan region told RFE/RL on June 23 that their sons did not arrive at the airport in the southern city of Kulob, where they were expected to arrive from Moscow on June 20 after Russian authorities deported them for unspecified reasons.

It remains unclear if the men were deported for violating Russia’s migration regulations, or at the request of the Tajik authorities.

Relatives told RFE/RL that the men called their parents, who are from the community of Yazgulom, asking them to meet them at the Kulob airport on June 20. However, the men were not among the passengers who disembarked from the plane on that day.

The parents said they travelled 300 kilometers to reach Kulob to meet their sons after a Tajik official promised them by phone that they would be able to meet their sons at the airport.

Sources close to Tajik law enforcement have told RFE/RL that since May at least 15 residents of Yazgulom had been extradited from Russia to Tajikistan, where they were charged with "membership in an extremist organization" or "having links with members of an extremist organization."

There has been no official statement regarding the situation.

On May 16, Tajik security forces arrested more than 30 residents of Yazgulom, accusing them of plotting unspecified sabotage.

Sources told RFE/RL at the time that those arrested were suspected of having links with "extremist groups" in neighboring Afghanistan.

Residents of Gorno-Badakhshan have been under pressure for years. A crackdown on the restive Tajik region intensified in 2022 after mass protests in May that year were violently dispersed by security forces.

Tajik authorities said at the time that 10 people were killed and 27 injured during the clashes between protesters and police.

Residents of the remote region’s Rushon district, however, have told RFE/RL that 21 bodies were found at the sites of the clashes.

Dozens of the region’s residents have been jailed for lengthy terms on terrorism and extremism charges since then.

Deep tensions between the government and residents of the volatile region have simmered ever since a five-year civil war broke out shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Still, protests are rare in the tightly controlled state of 9.5 million where President Emomali Rahmon has ruled with an iron fist for nearly three decades.
New Uzbekistan, Old Tricks (The Diplomat – opinion)
The Diplomat [6/24/2024 11:12 AM, Mihra Rittmann, 1156K, Negative]
As the government of Uzbekistan celebrates the election of its representatives to three international rights bodies in the last month, my attention is on the increasing number of activists, bloggers, and government critics the very same government has been trying to silence.

There was a time soon after President Shavkat Mirziyoyev came to power in 2016 when rights defenders and journalists – who had previously been imprisoned for nothing more than doing their jobs – were released. It seemed as if a “new” Uzbekistan was emerging: a country more open than it had been under former President Islam Karimov, more open to engagement, open to investment, and also, on occasion, open to reforms.

But that was years ago, and old habits die hard.

What we’re seeing in Uzbekistan today is a police force and judiciary increasingly emboldened to arrest and prosecute activists and others who criticize the government, including Uzbekistan’s president. Parliament is considering a law allowing the authorities to designate as “undesirable” foreigners whose speech or actions are perceived to “threaten the sovereignty, integrity and security of the country, incite enmity, or humiliate the honor, dignity or history of the people” and ban them from the country for up to five years.

We are seeing the reemergence of an Uzbekistan that jails rights defenders, bloggers, and government critics on overbroad or unfounded charges.

All while senior Uzbek officials have been elected to the U.N. Human Rights Committee and the governing bodies of the International Labour Organization and ECOSOC, the U.N.’s Economic and Social Council.

Dilmurod Mukhitdinov, a human rights activist from Andijan, was arrested on April 30 on criminal charges of extortion and degrading the honor and dignity of a person. Other details relating to the allegations have not been made public, but there are concerns that his arrest is linked to his collaboration with Achchiq TV, a local news agency known for reporting critical of government.

This is not the first time police have targeted Mukhitdinov, a human rights activist for over two decades. In May 2005, he was arrested during the post-Andijan crackdown on civil society in Uzbekistan and was sentenced to five years in prison in January 2006. He was released in February 2008.

At least half a dozen bloggers are behind bars, some prosecuted on dubious extortion charges, such as Olimjon Khaidarov, who was sentenced to eight years in prison in December 2023. Khaidarov is well-known in the Fergana region for his reports criticizing local authorities and for raising concerns related to alleged corruption and free speech. The ongoing crackdown on critical bloggers has had a chilling effect on freedom of speech in Uzbekistan.

On June 7, the trial of Nargiza Keldiyorova, an activist and member of the human rights group Ezgulik, began in the Kashkadarya Region. The authorities have accused Keldiyorova of organizing teachers into a criminal gang to extort money from several people, for example by threatening to reveal negative information about the former director of a local school.

The prosecution also accused Keldiyorova of “terrorism” and “insulting the president online” for comments Keldiyorova made in private voice messages referring to protests in Kazakhstan and Karakalpakstan in 2022, and about Uzbekistan’s president, respectively. A state-ordered linguistic analysis of her comments related to those protests concluded that she was trying “destabilize the socio-political situation in Uzbekistan” although the comments were not made publicly. She faces no less than eight years in prison, if convicted.

In March 2023, 40 journalists and others signed a letter to Mirziyoyev expressing concern about the intimidation, censorship, and harassment they faced. Others have announced their departure from journalism. There has also been a notable increase in the number of people jailed for criticizing the president online, a criminal provision that was introduced in 2020 and carries a maximum five-year prison sentence.

Human Rights Watch documented half a dozen such cases in the last year alone, including the criminal prosecution of a 19-year-old for a single comment he left on Instagram that a state-ordered expert analysis found to be “insulting and discrediting” of the president. He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in a penal colony.

Authorities in Uzbekistan have also ramped up efforts to silence activists from the Karakalpakstan region who have openly supported or called for its independence since the violent suppression of mostly-peaceful protests in July 2022.

In December 2022, Saaditdin Reimov and Kungratbay Redzhepov were sentenced to four and seven years in prison, respectively, for “anti-constitutional activity” after supporting calls for peaceful protests. The lawyer and blogger Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov, whom authorities accused of organizing the protests, is languishing in prison serving a 16-year prison sentence after being prosecuted on unfounded charges.

With so many activists in Uzbekistan once again behind bars, the president’s promises of reform ring increasingly hollow and the government’s efforts to have its representatives sit on international human and labor rights bodies seem little more than an attempt to whitewash the country’s image.

Uzbekistan should immediately release any activists or journalists imprisoned on unfounded criminal charges and renew its commitment to upholding and protecting the right to freedom of expression.
Twitter
Afghanistan
Suhail Shaheen
@suhailshaheen1
[6/24/2024 3:40 PM, 731.3K followers, 46 retweets, 268 likes]
We strongly condemn the atrocities being committed by invading Israeli forces in Gaza against defenceless people. It is a genocide. All freedom-loving people with free conscience who truly advocate human rights should join hands to stop the bloodshed of innocent Palestinians.

Heather Barr
@heatherbarr1
[6/24/2024 7:31 AM, 62.7K followers, 142 retweets, 216 likes]
Here’s a thread about the upcoming @UN Doha 3 meeting on Afghanistan & why the UN decision to leave human rights off the agenda and exclude Afghan women from attending the meeting is such a betrayal & such a harmful precedent for women’s rights everywhere. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/article/2024/jun/21/shutting-afghan-women-out-of-key-un-conference-to-appease-taliban-a-betrayal

Heather Barr
@heatherbarr1
[6/24/2024 7:37 AM, 62.7K followers, 3 retweets, 20 likes]
There’s history here. The UN excluded Afghan women from Doha 1. When they were called out--this violated Security Council res 1325 that calls for women’s full participation in all key discussions--@UN tacked on a quick virtual consultation w/Afghan women. https://www.passblue.com/2023/04/25/disregarding-security-councils-groundbreaking-1325-resolution-about-us-without-us/

Heather Barr
@heatherbarr1
[6/24/2024 7:45 AM, 62.7K followers, 4 retweets, 16 likes]
Then there was Doha 2. This time @UN moved a bit on including women, though it was still very token—two hours, after the SG left, with envoys who chose to participate (not Russia). But it was a step toward honoring 1325—one we hoped UN would improve on. https://kabulnow.com/2024/02/34575/

Heather Barr
@heatherbarr1
[6/24/2024 7:48 AM, 62.7K followers, 5 retweets, 14 likes]
Which brings us to Doha 3. No Afghan women invited, no human rights on the agenda. Afghan activists—who risk their lives protesting Taliban abuses—have increasingly called for states to boycott the meeting. Now some are calling for the UN SRSG to resign.

Heather Barr
@heatherbarr1
[6/24/2024 7:59 AM, 62.7K followers, 6 retweets, 19 likes]
Now that UN faces criticism, they’re pulling together a virtual pre-consultation & meeting on July 2—but that’s after Doha 3, set weeks ago for June 30-July 1, is over. So...not participation. SRSG media stakeout is gone from UN site but here’s a clip.

Heather Barr
@heatherbarr1
[6/24/2024 8:01 AM, 62.7K followers, 1 retweet, 15 likes]
The women, peace, & security (WPS) agenda grounded in Security Council res 1325 is absolutely fundamental to women’s rights everywhere. The people who know how to protect women’s rights are…women. They can’t do that if they’re always shut out of the room. https://hrw.org/sites/default/files/supporting_resources/our_rights_are_fundamental_to_peace.pdf

Heather Barr
@heatherbarr1
[6/24/2024 8:02 AM, 62.7K followers, 4 retweets, 15 likes]
And yet women are shut out, more & more often, by male leaders, & not just in Afghanistan, as my colleague writes here. This is a real crisis for everyone everywhere who cares about women’s rights—and it should be an existential crisis for the UN itself.
Pakistan
Government of Pakistan
@GovtofPakistan
[6/24/2024 3:04 PM, 3.1M followers, 13 retweets, 42 likes]
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif meets Chairman Gates Foundation, Mr. Bill Gates The Prime Minister briefed about the government’s efforts to achieve economic stability and key advances in digital financial services, increased health coverage, climate change adaptation and efforts to eradicate polio. He deeply appreciated Gates Foundation’s valuable support for Government’s initiatives to digitize the economy. Both sides agreed to continue working together to not only eradicate polio, but to strengthen health systems across the provinces, and to ensure prosperity for all Pakistanis, especially women and girls.

Government of Pakistan
@GovtofPakistan
[6/24/2024 1:31 PM, 3.1M followers, 10 retweets, 27 likes]
The federal government along with all the provincial governments resolved to eliminate the menace of Polio forever. We are fully committed to control its spread through collective efforts. Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif while addressing the National Task Force for Eradication of Polio

Government of Pakistan
@GovtofPakistan
[6/24/2024 11:38 AM, 3.1M followers, 9 retweets, 64 likes]
Islamabad: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif interacts with Members of the National Assembly during the budget session.

Husain Haqqani
@husainhaqqani
[6/24/2024 4:15 AM, 461.3K followers, 262 retweets, 987 likes]
The words ‘Lashkar,’ ‘Jaish,’ ‘Sipah’ all mean the same thing -’army.’ Pakistan’s problems compounded when ideologically driven militias were created in addition to a large standing army. Unconventional warfare against Afghanistan & India has ended up making Pakistan less secure.

Husain Haqqani
@husainhaqqani
[6/25/2024 1:57 AM, 461.3K followers, 22 retweets, 97 likes]
U.S. President Calvin Coolidge said, ‘The business of the American people is business.’ This defines a national attitude of producing, buying, selling, investing & prospering. Pakistan’s chief business seems to be religious strife & ‘ghairat’ & that wont lead to prosperity.
India
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[6/24/2024 11:48 PM, 99.2M followers, 13K retweets, 46K likes]
Today is a day to pay homage to all those great men and women who resisted the Emergency. The #DarkDaysOfEmergency remind us of how the Congress Party subverted basic freedoms and trampled over the Constitution of India which every Indian respects greatly.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[6/24/2024 11:48 PM, 99.2M followers, 2.1K retweets, 6K likes]
Just to cling on to power, the then Congress Government disregarded every democratic principle and made the nation into a jail. Any person who disagreed with the Congress was tortured and harassed. Socially regressive policies were unleashed to target the weakest sections.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[6/24/2024 11:48 PM, 99.2M followers, 2K retweets, 5.3K likes]
Those who imposed the Emergency have no right to profess their love for our Constitution. These are the same people who have imposed Article 356 on innumerable occasions, got a Bill to destroy press freedom, destroyed federalism and violated every aspect of the Constitution.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[6/24/2024 11:48 PM, 99.2M followers, 1.7K retweets, 4.6K likes]
The mindset which led to the imposition of the Emergency is very much alive among the same Party which imposed it. They hide their disdain for the Constitution through their tokenism but the people of India have seen through their antics and that is why they have rejected them time and again.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[6/24/2024 4:52 AM, 99.2M followers, 7.9K retweets, 31K likes]
For us, reforms are a means to improve the lives of 140 crore Indians. After the introduction of GST, goods for household use have become much cheaper. This has resulted in significant savings for the poor and common man. We are committed to continuing this journey of reforms to transform people’s lives. https://business-standard.com/finance/news/7-years-of-gst-households-emerge-top-beneficiaries-shows-cbic-data-124062300708_1.html

President of India
@rashtrapatibhvn
[6/25/2024 3:05 AM, 25M followers, 75 retweets, 662 likes]
Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Bhupender Yadav along with Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Kirtivardhan Singh, called on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

President of India
@rashtrapatibhvn
[6/24/2024 11:54 AM, 25M followers, 956 retweets, 7.9K likes]
President Droupadi Murmu hosted a dinner in honour of the Union Council of Ministers, led by Prime Minister @narendramodi, at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[6/24/2024 10:28 PM, 3.2M followers, 1.7K retweets, 7.4K likes]
On the anniversary of the declaration of Emergency, recall the dark period for Indian democracy and the courage shown by those who resisted that challenge. The collective response of the nation defined our generation. It will remain a constant reminder of the need to keep working to protect, preserve and fight for our democracy. #DarkDaysofEmergency

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[6/24/2024 9:02 AM, 3.2M followers, 277 retweets, 2.3K likes]
Congratulate Shri @JPNadda ji on being appointed as the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha. Confident that his vast experience and able leadership will benefit the House tremendously as he discharges this responsibility.
NSB
Awami League
@albd1971
[6/25/2024 12:53 AM, 638.7K followers, 15 retweets, 30 likes]
HPM Sheikh Hasina’s press conference on her recent visit to India #SheikhHasina #Bangladesh #BDIndiaRelations https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1OdKrjXvgXVKX

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maldives
@MoFAmv
[6/24/2024 11:14 PM, 54.2K followers, 22 retweets, 23 likes]
Minister @MoosaZameer had a productive meeting with @PowerUSAID, Administrator of USAID, today. Minister Zameer conveyed gratitude for the ongoing support through USAID and conveyed commitment towards enhancing existing cooperation.

Moosa Zameer
@MoosaZameer
[6/24/2024 10:06 AM, 13.4K followers, 72 retweets, 107 likes]
Just arrived in Washington D.C. on an Official Visit. Looking forward to meeting US Secretary of State, @SecBlinken and senior officials from the US Government to further strengthen the longstanding ties of friendship and cooperation between the #Maldives and the #US.

Moosa Zameer
@MoosaZameer
[6/24/2024 9:13 AM, 13.4K followers, 29 retweets, 47 likes]
Today, on International Day of #WomenInDiplomacy, I am proud to celebrate women diplomats in the #Maldives and across the world, who continue to enrich the global diplomatic landscape. The contribution of women to the foreign service through their leadership and dedication is significant and multiple in value. From their engagement in key issues in the multilateral and bilateral arena to the innovative approaches they bring to the policy tables, women diplomats have driven key changes to make the world a more inclusive and resilient place. As we acknowledge their achievements today, let us reaffirm our commitment to supporting and empowering women in diplomacy. #IDWID2024 #WomenEmpowerment

PMO Nepal
@PM_nepal_
[6/24/2024 9:01 AM, 714.3K followers, 4 retweets, 49 likes]
H.E. Mr. Sun Weidong, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, paid a courtesy call on Rt. Hon. Prime Minister @cmprachanda at the latter’s office today. During the meeting, discussions focused on enhancing bilateral relations and mutual cooperation.

MOFA of Nepal
@MofaNepal
[6/25/2024 1:39 AM, 258.1K followers, 5 retweets, 12 likes]
The Sixteenth Meeting of Nepal-China Diplomatic Consultation Mechanism began in Kathmandu this morning. Foreign Secretary Ms. Sewa Lamsal and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China H.E. Mr. Sun Weidong are leading their respective delegations.

MOFA of Nepal
@MofaNepal
[6/25/2024 1:39 AM, 258.1K followers, 1 like]
Matters relating to the entire gamut of Nepal-China relations and cooperation is being discussed during the delegation level talks.

MOFA of Nepal
@MofaNepal
[6/24/2024 3:29 AM, 258.1K followers, 5 retweets, 41 likes]
DPM & Foreign Minister Hon Mr Narayan Kaji Shrestha addressed 19th ACD Ministerial Meeting chaired by HE Dr Ali Bagheri, Acting Foreign Minister of Iran, being held in Tehran today.

MOFA of Nepal
@MofaNepal
[6/24/2024 3:29 AM, 258.1K followers, 2 retweets, 8 likes]
In his address, Hon DPMFM reiterated Nepal’s stronger commitment to regional cooperation and multilateralism, and stressed need to implement ACD Vision 2030; ACD Blueprint 2021-2030 for achieving growth, sustainability and prosperity including SDGs 2030;

MOFA of Nepal
@MofaNepal
[6/24/2024 3:29 AM, 258.1K followers, 2 retweets, 8 likes]
He highlighted challenges posed by Covid-19, climate change, global economic recession, rising conflicts & geopolitical rivalries. He also stressed on collective vision, unity, solidarity and collective collaboration for a more integrated, resilient and prosperous Asia.
Central Asia
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service
@president_uz
[6/24/2024 7:23 AM, 192.6K followers, 9 retweets, 29 likes]
Following the fruitful negotiations between President of #Uzbekistan🇺🇿 Shavkat #Mirziyoyev and President of #Mongolia🇲🇳@UKhurelsukh, a ceremony was held for the signing of bilateral documents. A Joint Statement on interstate relations and cooperation was signed, along with 14 other agreements, including an intergovernmental program on trade, economic and investment cooperation for 2024-2026.

{End of Report}
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