SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS

epubdos : Afghanistan

Prepared for the U.S. Department of State

Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs

By TechMIS
www.TechMIS.com

Mobile User Copy

TO:	SCA & Staff
DATE:	Wednesday, June 26, 2024 6:30 AM ET

Afghanistan

The Taliban confirm they will attend a UN-led meeting in Qatar on Afghanistan (AP)

AP [6/25/2024 2:41 PM, Staff, 1290K, Negative]
The Taliban on Tuesday confirmed their delegation will attend an upcoming U.N.-led meeting in Qatar on Afghanistan after the organizers said last week that women would be excluded from the gathering.

The meeting on June 30 and July 1 is the third U.N.-sponsored gathering on the Afghan crisis in the Qatari capital of Doha.

The Taliban were not invited to the first and the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said they set unacceptable conditions for attending the second meeting, in February, including demands that Afghan civil society members be excluded from the talks and that they be treated as the country’s legitimate rulers.

On Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry in Kabul said the chief Taliban government spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, will lead the Taliban delegation at the two-day meeting, starting Sunday.

The ministry said the strategy for the Doha gathering was discussed at a meeting chaired by Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi thet touched on several topics, including international restrictions imposed on Afghanistan’s financial and banking system, the challenges in growing the private sector and government actions against drug trafficking.

The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as American and NATO forces were in the final weeks of their pullout from the country following two decades of war.

No country has so far officially recognized the Taliban as Afghanistan’s government. The United Nations has said that recognition is almost impossible while bans on female education and employment remain in place.

Last week, the United Nations’ top official in Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, defended the failure to include Afghan women in the upcoming meeting in Doha, insisting that demands for women’s rights are certain to be raised.

UN warns of overdose deaths after Afghan opium production plummets (Reuters)

Reuters [6/26/2024 2:01 AM, Francois Murphy, 5.2M, Negative]
The Taliban-ordered crash in opium production in Afghanistan, long the world’s dominant supplier, could drive up overdose deaths as heroin users switch to synthetic opioids already proving deadly in Europe, a U.N. report said on Wednesday.

The cultivation of opium, from which heroin is made, fell by 95% in Afghanistan last year after the Taliban banned the production of narcotics in 2022. Although opium production in Myanmar increased by 36% last year, it still fell globally by 75%, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in its annual World Drug Report published on Wednesday.

"The result of a prolonged shortage of Afghan opiates could have multiple consequences in Afghanistan and in countries of transit and destination for Afghan opiates. The purity of heroin on the market is expected to decline," the UNODC said.

Preliminary field observations indicate a possible slight increase in Afghan opium cultivation this year but it is unlikely to return to pre-ban levels, the UNODC said.

While there were "no real shortages" in the main destination markets for Afghan opiates such as Europe, the Middle East and South Asia were reported until early 2024, that could change if future harvests remain small, it added.

"Demand for opiate treatment services, including for methadone, buprenorphine, and slow-release morphine treatment, may rise, but if these services are insufficient, heroin users may switch to other opioids," the report said, outlining the potential impact of reduced opiate supply.

"Such a switch may pose significant risks to health and lead to an increase in overdoses, especially if the alternative opioids include highly potent substances such as some fentanyl analogues or nitazenes that have already emerged in some European countries in recent years," it added.

Overdose deaths from nitazenes, a type of synthetic opioid more potent than fentanyl, have been reported in Ireland, Britain, Estonia and Latvia, UNODC research chief Angela Me told reporters.

Typically a heroin user will buy what they think is heroin but it will have been cut with far cheaper and more potent nitazenes, Me said. The drug is then detected when tests are performed after the overdose death.

The sprawling report also said cocaine supply hit a record high in 2022, the latest year for which data is available. While consumption in the United States appeared to fall, wastewater tests showed consumption increasing in Europe.

Cholera Outbreak Hits Afghanistan Amid Natural Disasters, Crumbling Health Care (Radio Free Europe)

Radio Free Europe [6/25/2024 4:14 PM, Sana Kakar and Abubakar Siddique, 235K, Negative]
Shahabuddin had a brush with death when floods ripped through his community and washed away his home in northern Afghanistan.

Having survived one near-death experience, Shahabuddin soon encountered another foe: disease.

“Within 24 hours, I was so weak that I could barely walk,” the father of four, who lives in the province of Baghlan, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.

Shahabuddin is among the nearly 47,000 Afghans who have contracted cholera so far this year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

A highly infectious bacterial disease, cholera spreads through contaminated food and water and results in acute diarrhea, fever, and dehydration. If untreated, it can lead to death.

At least 25 people have died of the disease so far in 2024 in Afghanistan, which has the highest number of cases in the world, according to a WHO report released on June 19.

Experts said a series of natural disasters, including floods that devastated swaths of northern and central Afghanistan in the spring and the country’s crumbling health-care system, are behind the sharp rise in cases.

‘No Access To Clean Water’

Sharafat Zaman Amar, a spokesman for the Taliban’s Ministry of Health, said Afghanistan “does not have any confirmed” cases of cholera.

But Faridullah Omari, a physician at the National Infectious Disease Hospital in Kabul, said each day the hospital receives up to 80 patients who are suffering from water-borne diseases like cholera.

He suggested the cholera outbreak has been fueled by lack of hygiene and more people drinking unsafe water.

Communities affected by the recent floods, which killed hundreds and impacted tens of thousands of people, said the deluges destroyed much of the water supply and infrastructure in the region. They also said there was a severe shortage of medicines available to treat infectious diseases like cholera.

"People don’t have access to clean water,” said Sharifullah, a resident of the northern province of Sar-e Pol, which was hit by floods.

“All the water is muddy from the floods,” he told Radio Azadi. “But people use this [dirty] water, and they don’t have the means to clean it. So people, especially children, are suffering from diarrhea.”

Khodayaqal, a resident of Baghlan, said they have little access to health-care facilities after the mobile clinics deployed by aid agencies and the Taliban government in the aftermath of the floods left.

“Our children are battling with diseases,” he told Radio Azadi. “We have one clinic here, but it doesn’t have any medicine.”

In its report, the WHO said diminishing stocks of cholera vaccines, as well as population growth, natural disasters, and climate change, have led to cholera outbreaks.

The public health-care system in Afghanistan, which was largely funded by foreign aid for nearly two decades, has been in free-fall since the Taliban takeover in 2021. The militants’ seizure of power led international donors to immediately cut financial funding.

Hundreds of health facilities have been closed in the past three years, with no funds to pay the salaries of doctors and nurses. Hospitals that are still open suffer from severe shortages of medicine.

While some foreign aid organizations continue to operate in Afghanistan, many of them have been forced to curb their work as international funding diminishes.

‘It’s just obscene’: House eyes crackdown on US dollars going to Taliban (FOX News)

FOX News [6/25/2024 11:09 AM, Elizabeth Elkind, 48215K, Neutral]
The House of Representatives is expected to pass a bill on Tuesday aimed at blocking countries that receive U.S. foreign aid from sending money to the Taliban.

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., introduced his No Tax Dollars for the Taliban Act late last year. If passed, it would force the State Department to report out which countries give aid to the Taliban – which has ruled Afghanistan since 2021 – that also get U.S. assistance.

It would also force the secretary of state to weigh if those countries should keep getting American dollars and develop a strategy to discourage them from continuing aid to the Taliban.

"It’s just obscene that any money would get to the Taliban," Burchett told Fox News Digital in an interview on Tuesday. "We are $35 trillion in debt and do not need to be funding our enemies one bit."

He argued that foreign cash being funneled to the Taliban is, in effect, wasting U.S. taxpayer dollars.

Burchett, the vice chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s subcommittee on the Middle East, also accused the State Department of being deliberately vague about how many federal dollars total have gone to the Taliban.

"If this was an oversight of them, funding our enemies, that just tells you they have zero management and zero quality control at all, they don’t know what’s going on," Burchett said. "They obviously – somebody knows what’s going on, and those people need to be out."

Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan nearly three years ago, the U.S. has provided over $2.8 billion to address the humanitarian crisis there, according to a Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) report released in May.

Republican national security hawks were outraged, arguing that at least some of that funding likely fell into the Taliban’s hands.

"It is unacceptable for any U.S. funding to benefit the Taliban. The Biden administration must take immediate action to prevent U.S. taxpayer dollars from going to the Taliban," House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said at the time.

House GOP leaders are putting the bill up for a vote under suspension of the rules, which is generally referred for noncontroversial legislation that’s expected to get bipartisan support.

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for comment on the bill and Burchett’s accusations.

The United Nations thinks the Taliban can be convinced to respect women (Washington Examiner – opinion)

Washington Examiner [6/25/2024 3:46 PM, Zachary Faria, 3607K, Neutral]
You are not supposed to negotiate with terrorists, but if you are the United Nations, you can sit down and have a nice, pleasant chat with them as they oppress millions of women.

U.N. Special Envoy Roza Otunbayeva, the top U.N. official in Afghanistan, is holding a meeting with the Taliban and envoys from 22 countries to ask the Taliban to protect women’s rights. Absent from this meeting are Afghan women, the ones who are being oppressed by the fundamentalist Islamic regime that blocks them from working, leaving the home, or going to school.

Otunbayeva insists “nobody dictated” that women must be left out of the meeting, meaning that the U.N. chose to make that part of the procedure in keeping with its tradition of pandering to the worst governments in the world. The U.N. had already been working toward recognizing the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan once the Taliban took over the country again, and Otunbayeva is going to legitimize them further in a useless meeting in which U.N. officials will ask very nicely for the Taliban to respect women, and the Taliban will laugh and go on with their normal activities.

That is the whole strategy, by the way. Otunbayeva said of the Taliban that “we need badly that they will change their minds and let girls go to school,” as if the terrorist group will suddenly change its ways when faced with U.N. lectures or begging. And in case you wondered just how unseriously the U.N. is treating this, there will also be a chunk of the meeting spent on lecturing the Taliban about climate change.

This is par for the course for the U.N. The U.N. is a tyranny-enabling, antisemitic collection of useless bureaucrats who are cashing in on American taxpayer dollars while achieving nothing beneficial for the world. The U.N. is a destructive force in the world, lending legitimacy to tyrants such as the Taliban. There is no reason this should continue to happen on the dime of American taxpayers.

Pakistan

Pakistan security forces have arrested 2 key Pakistani Taliban commanders, an official says (AP)

AP [6/26/2024 5:34 AM, Abdul Sattar, 3055K, Neutral]
Security forces in Pakistan have arrested two key commanders of the Pakistani Taliban in the country’s volatile southwest, an official said Wednesday.

The interior minister of Baluchistan province, Ziaullah Langau, congratulated the security forces for “saving the country from possible high-profile attacks” by arresting the militants, whom he identified as Commander Nasrullah and Commander Idress.

He said the arrests, seen as a significant boost for Pakistan’s government, were part of a “sophisticated intelligence-based operation.” The government announced this week the launch of a nationwide crackdown on insurgents.

The arrests came during a surge in attacks by the Pakistani Taliban, who are a separate group but are allied with the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.

At a news conference in Quetta, Langau released a video statement by Nasrullah in which he said he had been part of the Pakistani Taliban for 16 years, including several years which he spent in Afghanistan to escape Pakistani military operations. He alleged that the group as well as Baluch separatists received support from Afghanistan’s Taliban government.

In March, five Chinese engineers were killed when a suicide bomber targeted their vehicle in the northwest. Pakistan has said the attack was planned in Afghanistan and the bomber was an Afghan citizen. Afghanistan’s government and Pakistani militants have denied the allegations.

Baluch insurgents have also targeted Chinese in Baluchistan, which has been the scene of low-level insurgency by nationalists for more than two decades. They initially wanted a bigger share of provincial resources but are now seeking independence. The Pakistani Taliban and other domestic militant groups also operate in the province.

Doctors treat thousands of heatstroke victims in southern Pakistan as temperatures soar (AP)

AP [6/25/2024 12:01 PM, Muhammad Farooq, 3055K, Negative]
A days-long intense heat wave has disrupted normal life in Pakistan, especially in its largest city, Karachi, where doctors treated thousands of victims of heatstroke at various hospitals, health officials said Tuesday.

Several people fell unconscious in the city and some of them later died, local media said.

Temperatures soared as high as 47 degrees Celsius (117 degrees Fahrenheit) in Sindh province on Tuesday. Authorities in Karachi, the provincial capital, are urging people to stay indoors, hydrate, and avoid unnecessary travel.

Weather forecasters say the heat wave, which began in May, will subside next week.

According to local media, the days-long heat wave also killed more than two dozen people in Karachi, but no government spokesman was available to confirm the number of heatstroke-related deaths.

On Tuesday, Faisal Edhi, the head of the Edhi Foundation, which runs the country’s largest ambulance service, said they received dozens of bodies of heatstroke victims in Karachi the previous day.

Imran Sarwar Sheikh, the head of the emergency ward at the state-run Civil Hospital in Karachi, told The Associated Press that they treated 120 victims of heatstroke the previous day. Eight of those patients later died, he said.

On Monday, more than 1,500 victims of heatstroke were treated at other hospitals in the city, according to local media.

Sardar Sarfaraz, the chief meteorologist in Karachi, said temperatures will continue to rise this week across Pakistan. “Today, the weather is dry. In such conditions, the temperature starts rising,” he said.

Pakistan’s climate is warming much faster than the global average, with a potential rise of 1.3 to 4.9 degrees Celsius (2.3 to 8.8 degrees Fahrenheit) by the 2090s over the 1986–2005 baseline, according to a World Bank expert panel on climate change.

The country, which is one of the most vulnerable in the world to climate change, also faces the risk of heavier monsoon rains, in part because of its immense northern glaciers, which are now melting as temperatures rise. Warmer air can hold more moisture, intensifying the monsoon.

This year’s monsoon will start in July, causing flash floods, according to a statement released by Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority. The warning from the agency comes less than two weeks after a top U.N. official said an estimated 200,000 people in Pakistan could be affected by the upcoming monsoon season.

However, officials say this year’s rains would not be as heavy as those in 2022 when devastating floods killed 1,739 people, destroyed 2 million homes, and covered as much as one-third of the country at one point.

The 2022 floods caused more than $30 billion in damage to Pakistan’s already cash-strapped economy.

Pakistan says despite contributing less than 1% to carbon emissions worldwide, it is bearing the brunt of global climate disasters.

The ongoing heat in recent months also had a large impact on agriculture, damaging crops and reducing yields, as well as on education, with school vacations having to be extended and schools closed in several countries, affecting thousands of students.

Climate experts say extreme heat in South Asia during the pre-monsoon season is becoming more frequent. The study found that extreme temperatures are now about 0.85 degrees Celsius (1.5 Fahrenheit) hotter in the region because of climate change, and this year Pakistan witnessed above-normal rains and heat.

Pakistan Launches New Counterterrorism Operation (The Diplomat)

The Diplomat [6/25/2024 9:52 AM, Umair Jamal, 1156K, Neutral]
The Pakistani government recently approved a new counterterrorism operation named “Azm-e-Istehkam,” meaning Resolve for Stability, to address the challenges of militancy and extremism in the country.

The operation comes at a time when intelligence-based counterterror operations are already underway, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and areas along the Afghanistan border, as well as in Balochistan.

The Shehbaz Sharif government’s announcement of Azm-e-Istehkam has raised questions about its objectives and the rationale behind its timing. Some opposition parties, such as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F), have expressed concerns, calling for an in-camera briefing and parliamentary involvement to understand the operation’s scope and potential implications.

In response, the government has said that Azm-e-Istehkam is not a large-scale military operation akin to previous campaigns like Zarb-e-Azb or Rah-e-Haq, which displaced large populations from tribal areas and other regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

It described the newly approved military operation as a “multi-domain, multi-agency, whole-of-the-system national vision for enduring stability in Pakistan.” The government said that the operation will focus on reinvigorating and re-energizing the implementation of the revised National Action Plan against terrorism, initiated in 2014 to root out militancy and extremism after building a national consensus across the political spectrum. The government statement stressed that the new operation has adopted a comprehensive approach aimed at strengthening the ongoing efforts to combat militancy and extremism while ensuring the stability and security of the country.

The government’s announcement of a new military operation is a strategic move aimed at addressing domestic and international concerns. The rise in militant attacks in Pakistan has led to its allies calling for more concerted efforts to curtail the threat of terrorism.

The timing of this announcement suggests that Pakistan wants to convey to its international partners and friends that it is acting on its commitment to improve the security environment in the country.

While the new operation may not differ substantially from the ongoing counterterrorism efforts, it could provide Pakistan with an opportunity to make a stronger case for its security credentials and the need for continued international support.

Moreover, the government’s decision to launch a new operation may also be an attempt to put the National Action Plan back on track, demonstrating a unified civil-military approach to addressing the challenge of terrorism. This could be seen as a message to the Afghan Taliban and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) that Pakistan is determined to deal with the threat from a position of strength, even if negotiations are considered at a later stage.

It is worth noting that the Imran Khan government’s policy of engaging the TTP in negotiations and granting amnesty to around 5,000 of its militants did not yield the desired results, as the group has continued to launch attacks from its bases in Afghanistan.

The announcement of the new operation may signal a shift in the government’s approach, indicating a more assertive stance against militant groups.

Furthermore, the timing of the announcement could be influenced by Pakistan’s close ally, China, which has expressed concerns over the rising number of terror attacks targeting its nationals in the country. The new operation may be an effort to address these concerns and strengthen Pakistan’s ties with China, a crucial partner in the region.

As Pakistan embarks on this renewed counterterrorism effort, it will be crucial for the government to maintain unity and coordination among various stakeholders, both at home and abroad. Moreover, as the details of operation Azm-e-Istehkam unfold, it will be crucial for the government to engage with opposition parties, to address their concerns and ensure a transparent and inclusive process.

India

Modi to Visit Russia for First Time Since Invasion of Ukraine (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg [6/25/2024 5:58 AM, Staff, 27296K, Positive]
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit Russia for the first time since the start of the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine, a trip that follows his return to office for a third term and underscores the strong ties between the two countries.

The Kremlin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, announced Modi’s trip on Tuesday, saying the exact dates of the visit will be confirmed later. Tass news service reported earlier that the Indian leader was set to spend two days in the country in early July.

Modi’s trip to Moscow will be a short, official visit, said a senior Indian official, who asked not to be identified because discussions are private. It would be his first trip to the Russian capital since 2015. Modi visited Vladivostok in 2019 and last met Russian leader Vladimir Putin two years ago on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs declined to comment when contacted for further information.

India and Russia share deep economic and political ties, which have remained strong despite sanctions against Moscow from the US and other Western governments after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. India, the world’s third-largest crude consumer, is a major buyer of discounted Russian oil. Moscow remains India’s biggest supplier of military hardware, accounting for 36% of India’s arms imports, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Both countries are also members of the BRICS group of nations, with Russia holding the rotating chairmanship of the bloc this year.

New Delhi has avoided criticizing Russia for invading its neighbor, and has advocated diplomacy to resolve the conflict. Modi skipped an annual in-person summit with Putin in December 2022 after the Russian leader threatened to use nuclear weapons in his war against Ukraine. Almost a year later, Putin failed to attend the Group of 20 leaders’ summit in New Delhi, which helped Modi forge a consensus statement on the invasion among the other members, including the US, which sought tough criticism of Russia.

Kremlin Says ‘Preparing’ For India’s Modi To Visit Russia (Agence France-Presse)

Agence France-Presse [6/25/2024 6:50 AM, Staff, 85570K, Neutral]
The Kremlin on Tuesday said it was "preparing" for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Russia in the near future, but declined to give a specific date.

The trip would be Modi’s first to Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale military offensive on Ukraine more than two years ago, a conflict which has tested relations between Moscow and New Delhi.

"We are preparing for the visit. We will inform you in a timely manner," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about earlier reports in Indian and Russian media that Modi was planning to visit Moscow in early July.

Putin sees India and Modi as a potential diplomatic and economic ally, but Russia’s offensive on Ukraine has complicated ties.

In a September 2022 meeting between Putin and Modi at a regional summit in Uzbekistan, the Russian president told Modi he understood he had "concerns" about the conflict and that Modi wanted it to end "as soon as possible."

Earlier this year, India said it was pushing Russia to release some of its citizens who had signed up for "support jobs" with the Russian army, following reports some were stranded in Russian border towns and had been forced to fight in Ukraine.

It urged Indians to "stay away from this conflict".

But New Delhi has also not been a staunch backer of Kyiv, notably declining to sign a joint communique at a peace summit in Switzerland earlier this month that called for Ukraine’s territorial integrity to be respected in any peace agreement.

India has also become a major buyer of Russian oil, providing a much needed export market for Russia after it was cut off from traditional markets in the West.

Recently re-elected for a historic third term, Modi last visited Russia in September 2019 for a India-Russia annual summit in the far eastern city of Vladivostok.

India’s Modi wins test of strength in parliament with election of speaker (Reuters)

Reuters [6/26/2024 2:25 AM, Shilpa Jamkhandikar, 5.2M, Neutral]
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi passed the first big political test of his third term on Wednesday as a ruling party candidate was elected speaker of the lower house of parliament, defeating an opposition lawmaker by a voice vote.

Om Birla, from Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who was speaker in the last term of the house, was elected again, beating K Suresh, an eight-time MP from the opposition Congress party.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was declared the leader of the opposition late on Tuesday by his party, accompanied Modi as they congratulated Birla on his election, a rare show of harmony between the two bitter rivals.

This is the first time that Gandhi, 54, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family, will assume a constitutional role in the parliament, a role that gives him the status of a cabinet minister.

"It is very important that the voice of the opposition is allowed to be represented in this house," Gandhi said in his speech while congratulating Birla.

The speaker of the Lok Sabha, as the lower house is known, is usually a lawmaker from the biggest party and is usually elected unopposed, through a consensus between parties.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has 293 lawmakers in the lower house, 21 more than the required majority of 272.

Modi, who was sworn in as prime minister for a record-equalling third time on June 9, will need the support of regional parties to run his government in his third term, after his party lost its outright majority in parliament.

The speaker, who conducts business in the decision-making lower house and presides over it, is critical to the passage of laws.

Gandhi Takes Leader of Opposition Role in India’s Parliament (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg [6/26/2024 4:18 AM, Sudhi Ranjan Sen and Preeti Soni, 5.5M, Neutral]
India’s opposition is gearing up to play a bigger role in the parliament, naming Rahul Gandhi into a key position and fielding its own candidate for speaker of the house in a rare contest for the post.

Gandhi was selected leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, his party said Tuesday, a post that’s been vacant in the first decade of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rule. The opposition put up its own candidate for the speaker post, a largely symbolic move that was defeated Wednesday by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies, who elected the incumbent Om Birla to the role.

The opposition alliance, led by Gandhi’s Indian National Congress, prevented the BJP from winning an outright majority in recent elections. The opposition won about 230 of the 543 seats in the lower house of parliament, with the Congress party gaining 99 seats on its own — the first time in a decade that an opposition party won more than 10% of the seats needed to stake a claim to the post of opposition leader.

This will be the first constitutional post for Gandhi, 54, a five-time lawmaker who comes from a long line of leaders who’ve dominated politics since India’s independence from Britain. He’s the great-grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first post-independence leader, and his father and grandmother were former prime ministers.

As leader of the opposition, Gandhi will be involved in the selection of India’s election commissioners, the chief of India’s federal investigative agency and several other constitutional positions. He’ll have the same rank as a cabinet minister, allowing him to discuss national issues with visiting heads of state.

“It is very important that the voice of the opposition is allowed to be represented in this house,” Gandhi told lawmakers Wednesday in his first speech as the leader of the opposition. “This election has shown that the people of India expect the opposition to defend the constitution.”

Modi often attacks Gandhi for his privileged background, calling him a prince who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Gandhi attempted to shake that image by embarking on weeks-long yatras, or foot journeys, in 2022 and this year, traversing across the country to connect with mainly rural voters. The opposition’s successful campaign during the elections was largely focused on improving the lives of the poor and lower-caste individuals, and creating more jobs for young people.

The BJP-led government’s selection of Birla to the speaker of parliament position shows Modi is seeking continuity despite his party’s worse-than-expected performance in the elections. Modi also retained his top cabinet ministers in their roles, including Nirmala Sitharaman as finance minister.

“Mr Modi is a person who wants to send a signal both at home and abroad that it is business as usual,” said Rasheed Kidwai, a visiting fellow at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation. “He doesn’t want to send a signal of any weakness or compromise.”

The parliament has held elections for the speaker position only a handful of times in India’s post-independence history, with the last contest taking place in 1998.

Indian Opposition Chief Vows Lawmakers Will Not Be Silenced (Agence France-Presse)

Agence France-Presse [6/26/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, 1.4M, Neutral]
India’s new leader of the opposition Rahul Gandhi said Wednesday that his lawmakers would not be silenced, in his first speech since formally taking up a post vacant for a decade.

Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s chief rival, was appointed by fellow opposition lawmakers to the post in a signal of a reinvigorated challenge to the government.

"The government has political power, but the opposition also represents the voice of India’s people," Gandhi said in a speech in the lower house of parliament, accompanied by supportive thumps by his party’s lawmakers on their desks.

"This time, the opposition represents significantly more voice of the Indian people."

In the past two parliaments, Gandhi’s once-mighty Congress party did not have enough seats in the legislature to qualify him for the post.

Modi’s first two terms in office followed landslide wins for his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), allowing his government to drive laws through parliament with only cursory debate.

However, the BJP won only 240 seats in this year’s poll, its worst showing in a decade, and 32 seats below a majority.

That forced it to rely on coalition allies to build a 293-seat majority in the 543-seat lower house.

Modi, 73, on Monday appealed to an emboldened opposition for "consensus" following his election setback.

Gandhi, 54, defied analysts’ expectations and exit polls to help his Congress party nearly double its parliamentary numbers.

It was its best result since Modi swept to power in 2014, and rescued it from the political wilderness.

"We would like the house to function often and well," Gandhi told veteran BJP lawmaker Om Birla, the speaker in the previous parliament, who was reelected on Wednesday to the post.

"It is very important that cooperation happens on the basis of trust," he added.

"It is very important that the voice of the opposition is allowed to be represented in this house."

Modi’s BJP remains in control of all key cabinet posts, but analysts say he will be forced to seek consensus within his coalition to push more contentious legislation through parliament.

Gandhi told Birla that the speaker’s role was not only to facilitate the passing of laws, but also to ensure democratic debate flourished.

"The question is not: How efficiently the house is run? The question is: How much of India’s voice is being allowed to be heard in this house?" Gandhi said.

"The idea that you can run the house efficiently by silencing the voice of the opposition is a non-democratic idea," he added.

"This election has shown that the people of India expect the opposition to defend the constitution of this country."

Indian Opposition Leader to Remain in Jail After Bail Revoked (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg [6/25/2024 6:28 AM, Debjit Chakraborty, 5.5M, Neutral]
A top opposition leader in India and critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had his bail revoked Tuesday, denying his release from jail, according to the Press Trust of India.

The Delhi High Court overturned a decision by a lower court last week to grant bail to Arvind Kejriwal, leader of the Aam Aadmi Party and also chief minister of Delhi. He’s accused of alleged corruption in a now-scrapped liquor sales tax scheme, charges he’s denied and has said are politically motivated.

Kejriwal was arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement — the federal anti-money laundering agency known as ED — in March, just weeks before India’s national elections kicked off. He was granted interim bail in May to campaign during voting, and returned to prison two days before the results were declared on June 4. On June 20, a Delhi trial court granted him bail, which was then challenged by the ED.

Kejriwal’s party said Tuesday they’ll challenge the decision to revoke bail in the Supreme Court, according to PTI.

For American Brands Worried About China, Is India the Future? (New York Times)

New York Times [6/26/2024 12:00 AM, Peter S. Goodman, 831K, Neutral]
Melissa & Doug had a situation. For decades, the American toy brand had leaned heavily on factories in China to make its products — wooden puzzles, stuffed animals, play mats. Suddenly, that course looked risky.

It was February 2021, and the world was besieged by a pandemic. Lockdowns disrupted Chinese factories. Trade hostilities between Washington and Beijing were undermining the benefits of depending on plants in China. President Donald J. Trump had slapped tariffs on a broad variety of Chinese imports, increasing their prices, and President Biden extended that policy.

Melissa & Doug was eager to shift some production to other countries. Which explained the arrival of its chief supply chain officer at a factory in Greater Noida, a fast-growing city about 30 miles southeast of the Indian capital, New Delhi.

The factory was owned by a family business called Sunlord. The Melissa & Doug executive was surprised to see that the plant could make high-quality wooden toys, at prices comparable to those in China. Late last year, Sunlord completed its first batch of products for Melissa & Doug, a modest order of about 10,000 items, and now is cranking out 25,000 per month.

“What they want is 20 to 30 percent of their production being done in India,” said Sunlord’s director, Amitabh Kharbanda. “India has a lot of positive vibes right now.”

In a global marketplace reshaped by volatile forces — not least the animosity between the United States and China — India shows signs of emerging as a potentially significant place to manufacture products. Multinational brands that have for decades relied on Chinese factories are expanding to India as they seek to limit the vulnerabilities of concentrating production in any single country.

The shift to India could make the global supply chain more resilient, reducing its susceptibility to shocks. It could also boost fortunes in India, which missed out on the manufacturing boom that lifted hundreds of millions of people from poverty in East Asia — first in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, then in China and, more recently, in Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Though roughly one billion people are of working age in India, the country has only 430 million jobs, according to the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy, an independent research institution in Mumbai. And most of those who are counted as employed endure a precarious existence as day laborers and farmhands. Growing exports could be a source of new jobs — especially for women, who have been largely shut out of the formal working ranks.

India’s manufacturing growth remains nascent and tenuous. In its nearly 80 years as an independent nation, the country has typically been ruled by stultifying bureaucracy, ardor for self-sufficiency and disdain for international trade.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has altered that perception, winning plaudits from business leaders for streamlining regulations and championing industry. But this has produced more speeches than paychecks: Manufacturing makes up only 13 percent of India’s economy, a lower share than a decade ago, when Mr. Modi took office. His authoritarian bent and demonization of India’s Muslim minority stoke doubts about his leadership, risking social strife that could undermine the country’s appeal.

And Mr. Modi’s disappointing performance in recent national elections yielded greater uncertainty. After losing its Parliament majority, his Hindu nationalist party was forced to forge a coalition to maintain power — a wild card for future governance.

Over the past 10 years, even as India has aggressively built out ports and highways, its basic infrastructure has remained patchy, challenging the movement of raw materials and finished goods. Even those involved in Indian manufacturing wonder about the country’s ability to handle a surge of growth.

American brands “see the strength which India brings to the table,” said Kailesh Shah, managing director of All Time Plastics, which operates a kitchenware factory north of Mumbai. But American companies rely so heavily on Chinese industry that even a modest shift could have big consequences.

“Even taking out 5 percent of those programs will flood the factories in India,” Mr. Shah said.

China remains China — a formidable country boasting the know-how and infrastructure to make virtually everything cheaply in mass quantities.

India Has the Size

Not for the first time, the world echoes with pronouncements that India is finally on the verge of seizing its destiny as a major manufacturing power. Such rhetoric previously failed to translate into reality. But this time, India’s mission is helped by geopolitical realities.

Last year, in a survey of American companies with operations in China by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, 40 percent said they were shifting planned investments to other countries, or intending to do so, because of tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Most of the companies were looking to Southeast Asia. Mexico is especially well positioned to capture additional orders, given its proximity to and trade pact with the United States. But those countries are puny compared with China, limiting how much additional business they can absorb. They also remain significantly dependent on Chinese industry for key components and raw materials.

India presents a unique proposition as a country of 1.4 billion people, making it even larger than China. With abundant raw materials, from cotton to iron ore to chemicals, it holds the potential to develop its own supply chain. If any country might someday replicate China’s role in the manufacturing realm, India may possess the best shot.

These attributes explain why Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is aggressively expanding its pursuit of suppliers in India, with the goal of increasing its purchases to $10 billion a year by 2027, from about $3 billion in 2020. Apple is entrusting Indian factories with growing slices of the enterprise for making iPhones.

“I do not foresee future investments of American companies going into China,” said Amitabh Kant, a senior government official who is close to Mr. Modi. “All of them are shifting their manufacturing to India. It’s a massive opportunity to create jobs.”

European companies are similarly inclined.

“There’s been way too much dependence on consumer goods from China,” said Uli Scherraus, managing director of TecPoint, a German retailer of steak knives, cutting boards and grilling accessories. “What everyone is learning the hard way is that it’s not good to rely on one supplier for anything.”

‘This Is a Big Order’

For India, the hope is that an influx of multinational brands will spread the bounty of manufacturing beyond the south of the country, where auto plants and technology businesses have proliferated.

At the center of that vision is India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, which has long been synonymous with rural poverty. Suddenly, representatives from retailers in North America and Europe are descending to explore possible factory sites.

“It’s a tantalizing possibility, a potential game changer,” said Arvind Subramanian, a former economic adviser to the Modi government and now a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “It’s 225 million people, so if you can get something going there, where you have lots of unskilled labor and the young population is growing, in a sense it could be like what China was 40 years ago.”

In western Uttar Pradesh, the city of Moradabad — home to 1.3 million people — has long sustained itself by forging metal goods. It is positioned on the Ramganga River, whose banks are made of sand that has proved especially useful for the art of casting.

That skill set has lately attracted the attention of companies like Walmart.

“Walmart’s sourcing efforts focus on ensuring we have a broad diversification of current and new suppliers, including small businesses and entrepreneurs from all over the world,” a company spokeswoman, Blair Cromwell, said in a statement. “This strategy creates redundancy in our supply chain, reducing reliance on any single market or suppliers.”

On a recent afternoon, inside a factory run by a family-owned business called Shree Krishna, hundreds of men wielded machinery to transform coils of steel and piles of lumber into products destined for kitchens from Barcelona to Boston — cutting boards, cocktail shakers, ladles.

A half-dozen workers pulled off an industrial magic trick, dipping wreath holders made of stainless steel into a bubbling green bath of chemicals that changed their color to copper. Others pushed hunks of metal onto spinning balls of stone that smoothed out imperfections as sparks shot sideways. Downstairs, men fed boards into screaming saws, the air thick with sawdust.

It was 106 degrees (41 degrees Celsius), and the windows were propped open, allowing a modest breeze to permeate as ceiling fans whirred. Air-conditioning was not on the menu.

“We are used to it,” said Samish Jain, who oversees Shree Krishna’s marketing.

Mr. Jain, 35, paused at a table where men applied swaths of cloth to wipe dust from wooden cake stands for Walmart Superstores in the United States. The American brand previously purchased small quantities of these items from his factory, he said.

“This is a big order,” he added. “Two million dollars plus.”

Mr. Jain’s father and his two brothers began making stainless steel jugs and mugs for the domestic market. By the mid-1990s, they were exporting, sending mixing bowls and colanders to the United States.

These days, the four sons of the founders, Mr. Jain among them, play active roles in the company. Educated at a graduate business program in Florence, Italy, he favors fashionable eyewear and designer shirts. Where his father prefers to speak Hindi, Mr. Jain is fully comfortable in English and savvy in traveling the globe.

Shree Krishna has been making products for Walmart for more than two decades. But recent months have brought a surge of interest from the retailer, whose buyers recently visited the plant from company offices in Bangalore and Hong Kong. The Jain family envisions multiplying its business by 10 or even 20 times over the next five years.

“Walmart doesn’t want to put all their eggs in the China basket,” Mr. Jain said. “They see India as the only country that can handle the scale of what they do in China.”

Part of the appeal for Walmart, he added, is that all the wood the factory needs is harvested in India, including mango and acacia. It buys 95 percent of its steel domestically, though it does import machinery from Chinese producers.

The company recently bought a textile plant 30 miles west of Moradabad. It plans to increase the number of sewing machines to 1,200, from 350, within two years, while making T-shirts and exercise clothing, exporting nearly two-thirds of its production.

The site includes an empty space large enough to park several jumbo jets, room to expand to make metal goods.

“Whatever we want to do, we can do here,” Mr. Jain said. “Once this is done, Walmart will have the capability to move production from China to India.”

The biggest impediment to that vision may be the unreliable state of infrastructure.

“The power never fails,” boasted Mr. Jain’s father, Sandeep, as he sat in the air-conditioning of a factory conference room. “Not since Modi.”

Seconds later, the air-conditioning groaned to a halt, and the lights went dark.

A Global Quest

In recent months, Samish Jain has been traveling more than usual.

In April, he visited Walmart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., hauling a duffel bag full of samples that he displayed to the company’s buyers.

For three days, he wandered a convention center in downtown Chicago amid 10,000 attendees at the Inspired Home Show, a trade fair. He huddled with representatives from American, European and Australian kitchenware brands.

Many worried that the relationship between the United States and China would yield further business-impeding acrimony — especially if Mr. Trump regained the White House in November’s election.

“If Trump gets in again, he’s going to finish off what he started,” said Dov Shiffrin, a representative for Yukon Glory, a barbecue accessories company that manufactures in China.

“India is the wave of the future,” he said. “They’re going to be the next China.”

Hindu mob lynchings stoke fear and anger among India’s Muslims (Nikkei Asia)

Nikkei Asia [6/25/2024 9:59 PM, Quratulain Rehbar, 2042K, Negative]
A string of lynchings in India has stoked fear and anger among minority Muslims, just weeks after an election that saw the ruling Hindu nationalist party accused of spouting hate-filled rhetoric.

Longstanding religious tensions have soared as critics blame Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for ignoring a jump in violence and hate directed at Muslims, who make up about 14% of India’s Hindu-majority 1.4 billion population.

The issue came to a head less than a week after the polls wrapped up on June 1 when a Hindu mob brutally beat three Muslim men in the central city of Raipur, killing two of them on the spot while another died later in hospital.

The victims were reportedly transporting cattle when they were chased down by so-called cow vigilantes, who claim they are protecting the animals which are considered sacred in Hinduism.

Police initially suggested the trio had "fallen or jumped off" a bridge, but they had since arrested someone implicated in the case.

"His family is devastated," Shoaib, one of the victims’ relatives, told Nikkei Asia. "This incident has shaken us all and we feel numb now."

Hate-tracking organizations said dozens of Muslims have been lynched or attacked by right-wing Hindu mobs in the past few years, often over suspicion of killing cows, which is restricted or banned in many Indian states.

Eating beef is not banned in Islam and animal slaughter is a key part of some religious festivals.

While cattle-linked killings happened before Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014, violence has been on the rise during its tenure, observers said.

"We are documenting hate crimes and dangerous speeches targeting Muslims on an almost daily basis," said Raqib Hameed Naik, founder of India Hate Lab which tracks incidents directed at minorities. "Cow vigilantes are running amok, attacking Muslim drivers transporting cattle in both BJP-ruled and non-BJP-ruled states."

Indian media have reported nearly a dozen hate-fueled incidents in the past few weeks, including the mob killing of a 35-year-old Muslim man in India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh. Six people have been arrested in the case, which has sent local tensions soaring.

Days earlier, authorities in Madhya Pradesh demolished 11 Muslim households where police say they found beef, which is banned in the state.

Recordings of some attacks have been shared widely online in a trend that analysts warn could aggravate violence against India’s minorities.

In neighboring Muslim-majority Pakistan, the recent mob killing of a local tourist over blasphemy allegations provoked a strong reaction among Indian social media users. But there is relatively little discussion among them about the problem of lynchings at home, critics said.

"We didn’t see any tweets, statement or any reaction from politicians, civil society or even ministers of those states where such lynching incidents happened," said Apoorvanand Jha, a University of Delhi professor and political analyst. "It simply means it doesn’t shock us anymore and it has been taken as a norm."

Some put the blame for the recent violence on Modi who used derogatory terms for Muslims on his campaign trail, including calling them "infiltrators" and "people who breed more," in reference to the group’s relatively higher birth rate.

He has also invoked Love Jihad, a debunked conspiracy theory that Muslim men are luring Hindu women into marrying them so they can be converted to Islam. The BJP has long denied claims that it oppresses minorities.

"It is extremely concerning that there were a number of speeches during the Indian election campaign that could incite violence against minorities, particularly Muslims," said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy director of the Asia division at Human Right Watch.

"It is crucial that such attacks are properly prosecuted, that political leaders publicly condemn hate crimes, and that the authorities stop acting in a partisan manner by failing to arrest government supporters that engage in violence, while arresting Muslims or destroying their properties," Ganguly said.

India Hate Lab documented 668 hate-speech incidents targeting Muslims last year, with 75% of them happening in BJP-ruled areas.

The BJP lost its outright majority after this month’s polls, a surprise result that forced it to form a coalition government, and gave some observers hope for more accountability with a reinvigorated opposition. But those who track hate have little faith that change is coming.

"It doesn’t matter that Modi has lost the majority. His decade-long rule has made the Hindu far-right organizational infrastructure extremely powerful," said IHL’s Naik. "These elections don’t change the ground reality for minorities, as discrimination and persecution continue to persist, in some cases with even more intensity."

NSB

Blinken welcomes Maldives counterpart, says U.S. seeks deeper ties (Reuters)

Reuters [6/25/2024 7:20 PM, David Brunnstrom, 42991K, Positive]
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with his counterpart from the Maldives on Tuesday and said Washington sought a deeper partnership with the Indian Ocean island state and stood with it in ensuring a free-and-open Indo-Pacific region and in dealing with climate change.

Maldives Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer’s Washington visit comes two months after the party of President Mohamed Muizzu won a landslide in parliamentary elections. Muizzu has pivoted ties towards China and away from India, a key U.S. regional partner in standing up to China in the Indo-Pacific.

The U.S. opened an embassy in Male in 2023 to boost engagement with the low-lying archipelago of about half a million people in the face of China’s efforts to spread its regional influence.

After the April election, Washington said ties were being strengthened in areas including economic development, education, security cooperation, and climate-crisis response.

"For us, the Maldives is an important partner, and we want to make sure that we’re a good partner to the Maldives," Blinken told Zameer.

"We stand together in working to make sure that we have a free and open Indo-Pacific region. We stand together in dealing with the challenge posed by climate change ... We’re working together to make sure that we have a secure maritime space, and fundamentally work together to try to build a prosperous future for our people."

A State Department statement said that in the meeting, Blinken highlighted the U.S. donation of eight patrol boats to the Maldives and planned provision of $2 million in hydrographic support to help mitigate the impact of rising sea levels.

The two sides discussed other ways to enhance cooperation in addressing the climate crisis, as well as ways to promote economic growth and maritime security, it said.

Zameer said the Maldives government appreciated high-level exchanges it had with the U.S. since taking office.

"I really look forward to have a very fruitful relationship with U.S., and, also, I think we have had in the past governments as well. So, we will continue to be working together," he said.

In May, India said it had replaced 80 soldiers on the Maldives with civilians after a demand by Muizzu, who has courted China and deepened defense ties with Beijing.

The Indian troops supported two helicopters and an aircraft provided by New Delhi and mainly used for marine surveillance, search-and-rescue and medical evacuation operations.

Apart from the troops issue, the Maldives’ permission to a Chinese research vessel to dock at its port, in India’s backyard, also caused concern in New Delhi.

India opened a new naval base near the Maldives in March to enhance surveillance in the Indian Ocean and in spite of the strains, its development projects in the archipelago have gained pace.

Is US Paying the Price for Criticizing Sheikh Hasina’s Autocratic Rule? (The Diplomat)

The Diplomat [6/25/2024 10:05 AM, Mubashar Hasan, 1156K, Neutral]
In a significant departure from its long-standing tradition of using American-made Boeing aircraft, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, Bangladesh’s national air carrier, recently decided to buy four European-made Airbus planes.

Biman Bangladesh has a fleet of over 20 planes, most of which are wide-bodied Boeing planes, with some Dash-8 turboprops.

According to the newspaper reports, in deciding to purchase wide-bodied Airbus A-30 planes, Biman went against the evaluation of the aircraft by its own appraisal committee, which found in January 2024 that Biman would incur huge financial loss if it bought Airbus planes.

Following that committee’s report, the government appointed another appraisal committee, which in April 2024 found that purchasing Airbus aircraft would be financially beneficial for Biman. The government went with the second evaluation to opt for Airbus.

The price of each Airbus plane is $180 million with a non-refundable $5 million commitment fee for each airplane. Bangladesh will have to fork out this amount for four Airbus planes when the country’s economy is weakening and it is in the grip of a dollar crisis. The situation is not good as U.S. companies operating in Bangladesh are reportedly unable to remit their profit due to the dollar crisis.

In an official statement, Biman’s outgoing Managing Director Shafizul Azim said that the purchase of Airbus planes is driven by a desire to avoid future uncertainty, given the recent safety concerns surrounding Boeing. By diversifying the airline’s fleet Biman is ensuring its long-term stability and security, he said.

Azim’s argument is not without basis. Boeing is facing serious credibility issues due to accidents, flaws in their aircraft, and slow delivery of planes to customers. As a result, the company has lost $32 billion worldwide.

Customers are moving away from this iconic American company. This is the case with Saudi Arabia, for example, which recently placed an order for 105 Airbus planes.

However, Biman’s decision to purchase Airbus aircraft is influenced not by financial or business logic. Rather it appears to have been heavily influenced by geopolitics and Bangladesh’s foreign policy priorities.

Prioritizing politics above business interests in the aviation sector is not unique to Bangladesh. According to aviation researchers, the aviation industry differs from most businesses relating to services or commodities as it directly involves national interests, sovereignty, and prestige of countries. In international relations, the politics of civil aviation affects how governments view one another, and how individual citizens view their own and foreign countries.

Bangladesh’s relationship with the United States has been deteriorating in recent years. In 2021, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Bangladesh’s elite paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and several of its top security officials for human rights violations.

Then, in the run-up to Bangladesh’s controversial one-sided general elections held in January 2024, the U.S. announced visa restrictions for officials and politicians who were found to be subverting free and fair elections in Bangladesh. Recently, the U.S. has imposed sanctions on Bangladesh’s former army chief for alleged corruption.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has responded strongly to the U.S. actions. She accused Washington of conspiring against her government and recently, without naming the U.S., she claimed that a country is plotting to establish an air base and a Christian state like that of Timor-Leste, using the territories of Bangladesh and Myanmar. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu denied these allegations.

The decision to shift away from Boeing is likely part of Dhaka’s responses to the recent U.S. decisions. The purchase of Airbus aircraft is also likely aimed at strengthening Bangladesh’s relationship with European countries like France, Spain, Germany, and the U.K., which manufacture and assemble various parts of the Airbus planes. The Airbus case also underpins a rift in foreign policy priorities between the U.S. and European countries.

While the United States has focused on a democratic outcome for Bangladesh, even describing the recent Bangladesh general election in a State Department statement as “not free or fair,” European countries have prioritized deepening business ties with Bangladesh. The European Union was less harsh in its response to the general elections, merely expressing concern over the limited participation, and urging the government to work toward greater transparency and adhere to democratic values.

During his visit to Bangladesh in 2023, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the sale of 10 Airbus planes. The joint communique issued at the end of the visit mentioned “prosperity, peace, and people,” but Macron refrained from explicitly criticizing Bangladeshi’s democratic backsliding.

Selling Airbus planes to Bangladesh has allowed France and other European powers to outsmart the Americans, who have traditionally used bilateral air service agreements to win contract rivalry with Europeans in many instances.

This rivalry among Western countries has provided Hasina with leverage. Purchasing Airbus planes will likely ease any pressures for democracy from the European countries.

Pride Month is a secret celebration in Bangladesh (VOA)

VOA [6/26/2024 4:46 AM, Redwan Ahmed, 1156K, Neutral]
Pride Month, the monthlong celebration of LGBTQ+ culture and rights, is not publicly celebrated in Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority country where same-sex relationships are illegal under a colonial-era law dealing with “unnatural offences,” and conservative religious values are rising, despite the nation’s self-imposed secular label.

A teenage high school student from an affluent Dhaka family who identifies as a lesbian and asked that her name not be used told VOA she limited her celebration to a virtual party on an exclusive private online forum.

“My devout Muslim father would be shattered,’’ she told VOA. ‘‘My grandparents would think they’re being punished for their sins, and my mom wouldn’t be able to come to terms with it.”

With the constant risk of social rejection and disappointment from her family, the student remains closeted, a situation that mirrors the country’s pervasive and deeply ingrained cultural and religious attitudes.

Despite public constraints, private LGBTQ gatherings still take place in secret locations, embassies, and safe spaces organized by civil society groups, as well as online. Organizers and participants say these events connect to the global LGBTQ community, fostering discussions on diversity and acceptance in a confidential, supportive setting.

“The Bangladeshi LGBTQ community has been organizing its own private events for years,” Tushar Baidya, a Dhaka LGBTQ and human rights activist, told VOA. ‘‘The positive side of these gatherings is that attendees find a sense of connectivity, build new networks, and enjoy knowing they have a common, safe space to share.’’

However, such events have limitations, Baidya said, typically attracting an urban, educated and wealthier audience and often regularly draw the same attendees.

As the COVID-19 pandemic forced global shifts in work and activism, the LGBTQ community in Bangladesh adapted. In 2021, they organized the country’s first "Virtual Pride Event" to continue their advocacy during the pandemic and try to connect with a broader audience.

“These virtual Pride events have not only put Bangladesh back on the world Pride map but also sparked conversations about the human rights of LGBTQ people within Bangladeshi society,” said Baidya, an organizer of the virtual “Dhaka Pride” event on YouTube, which includes online discussions and recorded musical and dance performances. “For decades, the human rights of this marginalized group have been intentionally kept taboo, allowing misconceptions to spread and narratives to shrink their rights.

Progress in hijira legal status

Over the past decade, transgender women, commonly referred to as "hijra" – a term derived from the old Hindi language that originally meant "impotent" – in South Asia, have gained increased legal recognition in Bangladesh, where they are officially acknowledged as a third gender.

Bangladesh’s hijras, previously excluded from prayer services, can now worship at a new mosque near Mymensingh, north of the capital Dhaka, that does not discriminate against them.

The Third Gender Community and Dakshin Char Kalibari Ashrayan Mosque was built on land donated by the government after hijras were expelled by locals from an established traditional congregation. Afterward, with local government assistance, they obtained the land and built the new mosque themselves, mainly with hijra donations.

There has been opposition to similar efforts, though, including opposition that stopped a similar project in another part of Mymensingh.

Anwara Islam Rani, a transgender candidate for a parliamentary seat, attracted considerable attention in the country’s January general election, which political activists and analysts have described as one-sided. Although unsuccessful, her campaign garnered significant public support.

Bangladesh’s most recent census in 2022 reported 12,629 transgender individuals, yet the exact number of LGBTQ people in the country remains unclear because of the criminalization of same-sex relationships and the related social stigma.

‘One Step Forward, Three Steps Back’

While the government has made progress in promoting social acceptance for hijras, it has made limited efforts to advance the rights of other LGBTQ Bangladeshis and has not offered legal recognition.

The anti-LGBTQ stigma in Bangladesh is deeply ingrained and consistently reinforced by the legal system, societal norms, and religious beliefs. Religious hardliners increasingly use such social media platforms as YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok to disseminate homophobic content, reaching broad audiences to encourage discrimination.

“My father is a massive follower of some so-called religious scholars on YouTube, and he often listens to them spreading all sorts of rubbish, hateful misinformation about queer people,” the high school student said.

“Even a couple of years ago, he wasn’t this stupid and intolerant of gay people, but I can sense the videos changed him for the worse, and that frustrates me,” she added.

“I feel society is sometimes taking one step forward by recognizing the identities of trans people, but three steps back when it comes to the rest of us.”

Mosques

The issue is discussed beyond the digital realm and in such places as mosques, where some imams deliver speeches that include homophobic rhetoric during the Friday sermons.

The speeches reinforce negative stereotypes and hostility towards LGBTQ individuals, deepening prejudices.

This rhetoric, both online and offline, apparently poses real danger to members of the LGBTQ community.

Shahanur Alam, founder and president of the human rights organization JusticeMakers Bangladesh in France, told VOA via WhatsApp, “Throughout the year 2023, there were 56 reported incidents affecting 219 individuals within the LGBTQI+ community” in Bangladesh.

Shahanur – who, like many Bangladeshis, prefers using his first name on second reference – operates in France because of past attacks, death threats, and fabricated legal cases against him in Bangladesh, stemming from his LGBTQ rights activism.

Incidents, he said, included killings, assaults, suicides, kidnappings, detainments, harassment, and extortion.

In March 2023, Imtiaz Mohammad Bhuiyan, a gay architect, was killed in Dhaka by a smartphone app-based blackmailing racket of persons using the app Grindr, which targets gays. His body was later discovered, and police investigations indicated that the crime was facilitated through connections made on the app.

In April 2016, Xulhaz Mannan, co-founder of Roopbaan, Bangladesh’s first LGBTQ-focused magazine and a U.S. Embassy employee, and fellow activist Mahbub Rabbi Tanoy, were murdered in a Dhaka apartment by attackers armed with machetes and guns. The assault was claimed by Ansar Al Islam, the regional affiliate of al-Qaida.

Shahanur added that religious fundamentalist homophobic and transphobic rhetoric in Bangladesh “greatly intensifies the challenges faced by the LGBTQ community, resulting in legal persecution, social ostracism, violence, and significant mental health issues.”

Nepal convicts ‘Buddha Boy’ of child sexual abuse (Deutsche Welle)

Deutsche Welle [6/25/2024 12:07 PM, Staff, 15592K, Negative]
Ram Bahadur Bamjan, revered by his followers as "Buddha Boy," was convicted by the Sarlahi District Court in Nepal on Monday of sexually abusing a minor.

Bamjan, whom his followers believe to be the reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, better known as Buddha, was arrested in January for the sexual assault of a minor as well as suspicion of involvement in the disappearance of at least four of his devotees.

Bamjan could face up to 12 years in prison when he is sentenced on July 1. He also has the option of appealing the ruling.

Who is ‘Buddha Boy’?

Ram Bahadur Bamjan gained fame as a teenager in 2005, when he claimed to be able to meditate motionless without food or drink for months on end.

Though Buddhist scholars were skeptical of the claims, he gained a following that swelled into the tens of thousands, especially among the people of southern Nepal.

Dozens of physical and sexual assault claims were filed against the self-proclaimed guru as far back as 2010. At the time he said he had beaten followers because they had disturbed his meditation.

On the run for years, the 33-year-old was arrested by officers from Nepal’s Central Investigation Bureau this January on the outskirts of the capital Kathmandu.

Bamjan sought to escape arrest by jumping out of a second-story window. Authorities say they seized $250,000 (€234,000) in cash from his apartment when he was arrested.

Though his fame faded after the onslaught of allegations of sexual assault, thousands of devotees nevertheless still worship and live at his ashrams in the south of Nepal.

In 2019, authorities opened a separate investigation into the disappearance of four devotees from one of his ashrams after police were contacted by the missing individuals’ families. A trial in that case is pending.

Sri Lanka signs debt deal with creditor nations in Paris (Reuters)

Reuters [6/26/2024 5:31 AM, Uditha Jayasinghe, 42991K, Neutral]
Sri Lanka signed a deal with creditor nations to restructure about $5.8 billion in bilateral debt, the office of the country’s president said on Wednesday, in a move that would help stabilise its crisis-hit economy.

Officials from the cash-strapped South Asian nation signed the agreement in Paris with the Official Creditor Committee (OCC), which is co-chaired by Japan, India, and France.

"This agreement grants significant debt relief, allowing Sri Lanka to allocate funds to essential public services & secure concessional financing for its development needs," the president’s media office said in a statement.

Sri Lanka is also in the process of signing separate bilateral agreements with China EXIM Bank to restructure $4.2 billion of debt, State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe said on social media platform X.

Central Asia

The Southern Border, Terrorism Fears and the Arrests of 8 Tajik Men (New York Times)

New York Times [6/25/2024 4:14 PM, Adam Goldman, Eric Schmitt, and Hamed Aleaziz, 831K, Negative]
When eight Tajik men sought asylum at the southwestern U.S. border months ago, federal authorities had no reason to doubt that they were desperate migrants fleeing a poor country in war-torn Central Asia.

But soon after they were admitted into the country, the F.B.I. learned they might have ties to the Islamic State and opened a counterterrorism investigation.

This was no ordinary inquiry. Dozens of personnel monitored the men closely as they made their way to different cities across the United States, officials said. The White House was updated regularly.

The bureau hoped to gather information about a broader terrorist network. But heightened concerns about a potential attack in at least one location triggered the arrest of all eight men earlier this month on immigration charges, according to several U.S. officials speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive investigation. So far, the men have not been charged with any terrorism-related offenses.

The dramatic episode unfolded as anxiety has risen among U.S. officials, who have been warning for months that the conflict in Gaza and unrest in Central Asia could spill into the United States, most likely in the form of small radicalized groups acting on their own initiative or lone-wolf terrorists.

The new details about the F.B.I. investigation and the decision to arrest the men underscore the deluge of terrorism threats inundating national security agencies, some emanating from well-known international actors, others from emerging hot spots like Tajikistan.

Since the Hamas attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, the F.B.I. has received “more than 1,800 reports of threats or other types of tips or leads that are somehow related to or have a nexus to the current conflict in Israel and Gaza,” Lisa Monaco, the deputy attorney general, said in a television interview in December. She added that many of the cases were resolved without incident.

National security officials are deeply concerned about the pace of the threats.

“Looking back over my career in law enforcement, I’d be hard pressed to think of a time when so many different threats to our public safety and national security were so elevated all at once, but that is the case as I sit here today,” the F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, told Congress this month, just days before the men were arrested.

An F.B.I. spokeswoman declined to comment.

For years, Republicans and conservative media outlets have described the potential dangers posed by terrorists who might slip into the country at the southwestern border along with tens of thousands of Latin American migrants. Those fears, for the most part, have not been realized.

It is still unclear if the men were, in fact, planning a terrorist attack — whether directed by the Islamic State or inspired by the extremist group. But the resources the F.B.I. devoted to the case underscore how seriously the bureau continues to view the threat as a top priority.

The arrests come at a moment of maximum political attention to border security. The issue has emerged as a major source of contention between President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump, who frequently talks about “migrant crime.”

Still, Representative Jim Himes, Democrat of Connecticut and the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, urged that the incident be put in context. He cautioned that the “number of fatal terrorist attacks undertaken by undocumented migrants who crossed our southern border is zero” and that the “number of Americans injured by foreign-born terrorists who entered the country illegally is zero.”

Tajik adherents of the Islamic State — especially within an affiliate known as ISIS-K — have taken increasingly high-profile roles in several recent terrorist attacks. Over the past year alone, Tajiks have been involved in assaults in Russia, Iran and Turkey, as well as foiled plots in Europe.

ISIS-K, or the Islamic State Khorasan Province, was founded in Afghanistan in 2015 by disaffected members of the Pakistani Taliban, who then embraced a more violent version of Islam. The group saw its ranks cut roughly in half, to about 1,500 to 2,000 fighters, by 2021 from a combination of American airstrikes and Afghan commando raids that killed many of its leaders.

The group got a second wind soon after the Taliban toppled the Afghan government that year. During the U.S. military withdrawal from the country in August 2021, ISIS-K carried out a suicide bombing at the international airport in Kabul that killed 13 U.S. troops and as many as 170 civilians.

ISIS-K has since revived some of its global ambitions, with Tajiks constituting more than half of its several thousand soldiers, experts said.

Russia is a frequent target, but ISIS-K has also vowed to attack Americans and the United States.

Most of the details surrounding the F.B.I.’s investigation remain secret, but interviews with several U.S. officials familiar with the case have provided additional insights.

The officials said the men entered the United States through the border in Southern California and Texas beginning in 2023. They are all ethnic Tajiks, but at least one had a Russian passport. Some of the men might have known one another.

They made their way to Los Angeles, Philadelphia and New York, where there are large Central Asian populations. Once the F.B.I. determined that the men might have a connection to the Islamic State or sympathize with the group, the bureau managed to figure out their whereabouts.

That set off a sprawling investigation that was reminiscent of the bureau’s efforts after Sept. 11 to track multiple terrorism suspects in thwarted attacks, such as a plot against the New York subways in 2009. In previous high-priority terrorism investigations, the F.B.I. has relied on aerial surveillance and a critical warrantless surveillance program known as Section 702 to gather intelligence.

The program authorizes the government to collect the communications of foreigners abroad who have been targeted for intelligence purposes, including when those people are interacting with Americans.

The stakes were extremely high for the F.B.I. and Mr. Wray. If any of the men had slipped away and carried out a terrorist attack, the bureau would have been blamed for not apprehending them earlier and faced more withering Republican criticism. Yet there is always a trade-off. Arrests make it harder to gather information about a possible network.

In the case of the Tajiks, officials said, it is still not known what the men were doing, whether they were being directed by a terrorist group outside the United States or had been inspired to carry out an attack on their own.

Whatever the F.B.I. eventually learned about the men’s movements caused bureau counterterrorism officials to take them off the street and have them arrested on immigration charges. Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the F.B.I. picked up the men, who have not been named, over the weekend of June 8 in New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia.

Federal authorities have not disclosed publicly what led investigators to believe the men might be involved in terrorism. At the time, law enforcement officials said only that the men were arrested after unspecified “derogatory information” about them was discovered.

In a separate case, lawyers representing a group of nationals from Uzbekistan sued the U.S. government in federal court in February, claiming that migrants from that Central Asian country had been targeted for detention at the southern border.

If the Tajiks are held only on immigration charges and not other federal crimes they will almost certainly be deported, officials said.

In his testimony to Congress before the arrests, Mr. Wray hinted at the threat even as the F.B.I. quietly watched the suspects.

“But, now, increasingly concerning is the potential for a coordinated attack here in the homeland, akin to the ISIS-K attack we saw at the Russia concert hall in March,” Mr. Wray said.

More than 130 people were killed in that attack near Moscow, and several of the suspects who have been arrested are Tajik.

DHS identifies over 400 migrants brought to the U.S. by an ISIS-affiliated human smuggling network (NBC News)

NBC News [6/25/2024 5:53 PM, Julia Ainsley and Tom Winter, 48440K, Negative]
The Department of Homeland Security has identified over 400 immigrants who have come to the U.S. from Central Asia and elsewhere as “subjects of concern” because they were brought by an ISIS-affiliated human smuggling network, three U.S. officials tell NBC News.

While over 150 of them have been arrested, the whereabouts of over 50 remain unknown, the officials said, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement is looking to arrest them on immigration charges when they are located.

“In this case, it was the information that suggested a potential tie to ISIS because of some of the individuals involved in [smuggling migrants to the border] that led us to want to take extra care,” said a senior Biden administration official, “and out of an abundance of caution make sure that we exercised our authority in the most expansive and appropriate way to mitigate risk because of this potential connection being made.”

The official added that since ICE began arresting migrants brought to the U.S. by the ISIS-linked smuggling group several months ago, no information has emerged tying them to a threat to the U.S. homeland.

Many of the more than 400 migrants crossed the southern border and were released into the U.S. by Customs and Border Protection because they were not on the government’s terrorism watchlist, according to the three officials, and the agency did not have information raising concerns at the time.

But recent terrorist attacks in Russia have fueled heightened concern about ISIS and its offshoot ISIS-K. In recent months, DHS has been looking more closely at migrants from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Russia, countries where ISIS-K has been active.

“The fact that the whereabouts were unknown is clearly alarming,” said former FBI counterterrorism section chief Christopher O’Leary, who now works at security consulting firm The Soufan Group.

O’Leary said ICE is likely looking to make these arrests to get people who may pose a threat to national security into custody, even when there is no evidence they’re plotting an attack.

“I believe the [U.S.] is scrambling to locate these individuals, and using the immigration charges is not uncommon,” O’Leary said. “They are in violation of that law. And if you need to take somebody off the street, that’s a good approach to do it.”

Thousands of migrants from those countries are already inside the U.S. awaiting court decisions on whether they can stay.

Two officials said federal law enforcement agencies are “not panicking” about those people now identified as “subjects of concern,” but are prioritizing them for arrest on immigration charges out of an abundance of caution.

Some of the 150 who were arrested have already been deported, the officials said. The whereabouts of other people in 17 states are known, and they may be arrested soon. Other migrants may have already left the U.S. voluntarily.

Some of those detained or deported to date have been charged with immigration violations. None have been charged with terrorism-related offenses.

Earlier this month, ICE arrested eight Tajik men in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles for their suspected ISIS affiliation.

NBC News was first to report on the similar arrest of an Uzbek man in Baltimore whose home country alerted the U.S. that he was affiliated with ISIS. He was arrested in April after living in the U.S. for over two years, two U.S. officials said. At the time he entered the U.S., there were no indicators he had any link to terrorism.

Counterterrorism officials say the threat of terrorism from migrants crossing the U.S. borders has historically been low. Since October, the number of migrants crossing into the U.S. from Mexico and Canada that authorities have matched with names on the terrorism watchlist has made up .014% of all CBP encounters, or slightly less than one out of every 7,000 migrants vetted, according to CBP data.

Recently, however, some current and former U.S. officials are sounding the alarm that vetting at the U.S. border needs to be improved for the sake of national security. They point to an increase in immigration from countries like Venezuela, China and across the Eastern Hemisphere that do not routinely share law enforcement information and criminal data with the U.S. as reason for concern.

NBC News reported in April that an Afghan named Mohammad Kharwin, 48, whose name was on the U.S. terrorist watchlist, was released by CBP because they did not have enough information at the time he crossed. He spent nearly a year inside the U.S. before he was arrested in San Antonio in February. He was released again on bond after a court hearing and then arrested again hours after NBC News published a story on his case.

The DHS Office of Inspector General recently outlined problems with vetting at the U.S. southern border, saying in a report, “The Department of Homeland Security’s technology, procedures, and coordination were not fully effective to screen and vet non citizens applying for admission into the United States.”

In a letter to DHS on Monday, the Republican-led House Homeland Security Committee asked for the unredacted version of that Inspector General report to “evaluate DHS’s handling of this important national security matter.”

ISKP posing rising threat to Central Asia (EurasiaNet – opinion)

EurasiaNet [6/25/2024 4:14 PM, Lucas Webber, 57.6K, Negative]
Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP), the terror group responsible for the attack on a Moscow concert venue in March that left over 140 individuals dead, is ramping up its media outreach in Central Asia. The group’s propaganda efforts are raising concerns about the possibility of a terror attack in the region.

The Moscow terrorist tragedy opened eyes around the globe to the seriousness of the trans-national threat posed by ISKP. The assault also marked ISKP’s third successful external operation within a span of less than three months, following the suicide bombing in Kerman, Iran, and the church shooting in Istanbul, Türkiye.

Several other plots were foiled across Eurasia during the same time span, along with the takedown of an alleged IS-linked network in June with operatives in New York City, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. Many of those connected in recent years to an ISKP attack or foiled plot are Central Asian nationals, with Tajiks featuring most prominently. Yet, despite the prominence of Central Asian citizens in ISKP operations, little attention has been given to the growing threat to Central Asia itself.

Over the last few months, reports of an increasing number of ISKP-related arrests point to the group’s growth in Central Asia. In late December 2023, for example, two teenagers were arrested after special forces disrupted an alleged plot targeting multiple locations in the southern Kyrgyz city of Jalal-Abad. A few months later, a car bombing incident in Tajikistan’s Kulyab Region was deemed a terrorist act linked to ISKP.

In mid-June, Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security detained 15 individuals in Bishkek and elsewhere alleged to have ISKP connections, retrieving a “large quantity of literature.” The suspects are accused of posting videos online that provide tactical advice on the use of weapons and explosives. These arrests took place around the time that Kazakhstan busted a female cell said to be planning to attack a Western target, though authorities refuted the reports.

These incidents signal a troubling extension of ISKP’s regional influence, building on its pre-existing propaganda campaign tailored for Central Asian audiences. In 2022, the group established official Tajik and Uzbek wings of its in-house Al-Azaim Foundation for Media Production. Additionally, it now has a functioning Russian-language arm. The Central Asia-facing campaign, which gained steam in 2020/2021, continues to find new means of conveying its messages, rolling out a new Tajik-language magazine shortly after the March 22 attack in Moscow.

Jihadism researcher Riccardo Valle noted to Eurasianet that ISKP is now “calling for similar actions to the Moscow attack.” The group, in Valle’s view, is also adding nuance to messaging concerning the Tajik government, hoping to incite supporters to violence by exploiting hostile sentiments related to specific policies, such as Dushanbe’s recent hijab ban.

ISKP also seeks to score propaganda points by calling attention to Dushanbe’s and Tashkent’s close relations with Moscow. Valle said ISKP is framing Uzbekistan as a Russian proxy and Tajikistan’s government as a “Russian puppet aiming to impose communism and eradicate Islam from the country.” These efforts by Al-Azaim are being leveraged by supportive, pro-ISKP propaganda outlets that are now beginning to publish in regional languages. Collectively, these initiatives illustrate the still-growing emphasis the movement is placing on Central Asia.

Central Asia has been fundamental to ISKP’s doctrinal shift in expanding its militant power projection, striving to position the group as the only vehicle available to disaffected extremists from the region capable of challenging entrenched governments. As part of its stepped-up outreach, ISKP has been engaging members of Jamaat Ansarullah, the Turkistan Islamic Party, and others, casting itself as an alternative for radicals who, it argues, are being constrained by the Taliban, and not allowed to take the fight to Central Asia.

ISKP’s Central Asia campaign is starting to shift, complementing propaganda with more work to expand its regional support base, recruit members and fundraise. This strategy started coming into focus after the rocket attacks into Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in 2022, which were declared the start of the Islamic State’s “great jihad to Central Asia.” Now that ISKP has developed the foundation of its Central Asia strategy and has successfully expanded its influence among radicals in the region, its propaganda machine is starting to move in ways consistent with the group’s previous external operations against Iran, Turkey, and Russia. The same pattern is becoming apparent in Central Asia, in which ISKP floods the information space with propaganda as a prelude to direct attacks.

Bishkek Court Extends Former Customs Official Matraimov’s Pretrial Detention (Radio Free Europe)

Radio Free Europe [6/25/2024 6:29 AM, Staff, 1530K, Negative]
The Birinchi Mai district court in Bishkek told RFE/RL on June 25 that it extended until at least August 26 the pretrial detention of Raimbek Matraimov, the former deputy chief of Kyrgyzstan’s Customs Service who was at the center of a high-profile corruption scandal involving the funneling of close to $1 billion out of the country.

Raimbek Matraimov and three of his brothers -- Tilek, Ruslan, and Islambek -- were extradited to Kyrgyzstan in March from Azerbaijan, where they were in hiding.

Raimbek, the most notorious of the brothers, was charged with money laundering and the abduction and illegal incarceration of unnamed individuals as part of the 2020-21 corruption scandal.

In February 2021, a Bishkek court ordered pretrial custody for Matraimov in connection with the corruption charges. He received a mitigated sentence that involved fines amounting to just a few thousand dollars but no jail time.

The court justified the move by saying that Matraimov had paid back around $24 million that disappeared through corruption schemes that he oversaw.

In November last year, the chairman of the state security service, Kamchybek Tashiev, accused Matraimov and crime boss Kamchy Kolbaev (aka Kamchybek Asanbek), who was added by Washington to a list of major global drug-trafficking suspects in 2011, of "forming a mafia in Kyrgyzstan."

Matraimov left Kyrgyzstan in October after Kolbaev was killed in a special security operation in Bishkek. In January, the Kyrgyz Interior Ministry said Matraimov was added to the wanted list of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security.

In 2019, an investigation by RFE/RL, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, and Kloop implicated Matraimov in a corruption scheme involving the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars out of Kyrgyzstan.

Also in March, a court in neighboring Uzbekistan sentenced late Kolbaev’s close associate, influential Uzbek crime boss Salim Abduvaliev, to six years in prison on charges of illegal possession and transportation of arms and explosives.

Abduvaliev is believed to have ties with top Uzbek officials and leaders of the so-called Brothers’ Circle, a Eurasian drug-trafficking network that included Kolbaev.

Prosecutor in Kyrgyzstan Seeks 8 Year Sentence for Akyn Askat Zhetigen (The Diplomat)

The Diplomat [6/25/2024 10:18 AM, Catherine Putz, 1156K, Negative]
Prosecutors in Kyrgyzstan have asked a court in the capital to convict musician Askat Zhetigen and sentence him to eight years in prison.

Zhetigen was arrested in mid-March on charges of calling for the seizure of power and mass unrest allegedly via video posts on Facebook. According to reporting at the time by 24.kg, Zhetigen had posted a video criticizing Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, using “profanity.” After being released, he was quickly detained again and placed in pre-trial detention.

In a Facebook post after his initial arrest, Zhetigen expressed thanks to those who had show support for him – even those who criticized his words as being disrespectful.

“All good and bad words spoken are for the good! Even those who criticized me for swearing… understood the essence of what I said,” he wrote. He went on to admit showing bad manners, but that “The truth must be called the truth.” He also wrote that the “Eki Dos” (“two friends,” a reference to Japarov and the head of the State Committee for National Security Kamchybek Tashiev) had become “insolent.”

Zhetigen is a prominent musician; he is often referred to as an “akyn” (or aqyn).

The art of the akyn – a distinctive combination of improvisational singing and music accompaniment (typically a Kazakh dombyra or Kyrgyz komuz) – was inscribed on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage in 2008 and aitys(h) – a contest of improvised oral poetry between two akyn – was added in 2015. To oversimplify the latter: It’s like a rap battle with guitars.

These poet-singers, versed in improvisation and tapping into popular sentiment, have increasingly been seen through an a activist lens, though arguably they have always served such a function. As Assem Kalkamanova and Akylai Otkulbek kyzy noted in a recent report published by the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs, citing additional research on music in Central Asia, “Historically, aqyns spoke on behalf of people and publicly criticized leaders for their wrongdoings and injustices.” The report, which explores aitys(h) as a form of civic activism in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, importantly makes the observation that:

It can be acknowledged that in Kyrgyzstan the term “activist” has undergone a transformation in popular perception, influenced by the country’s authoritarian turn under Japarov and Russian-language discourses on “foreign agents,” now often evoking images of radical protesters. As a result, conventionally, aqyns do not commonly regard themselves as activists.

The report cites an instance in which one akyn, Bayan Akmatov “sang that there is no friendship in politics (referring to current president Sadyr Japarov and his friend and the head of the Kyrgyz security service Kamchibek Tashiev) and immediately added: ‘I’d rather hold my tongue so that not to become a neighbor of Olzhobay Shakir.’”

Olzhobay Shakir is a Kyrgyz writer and government critic who was sentenced to five years in prison in Kyrgyzstan for social media posts criticizing the transfer of four resorts on Issyk-Kul to the Uzbek government. He was convicted on charges that mirror those against Zhetigen.

This trend of punishing critics with prison time does not bode well for Zhetigen’s case, despite the fact that during the trial two “experts” arrived at two different conclusions when examining the akyn’s statements: One reportedly saw in the video a call to overthrow the government and the other didn’t.

Zhetigen has spoken out about gambling in Kyrgyzstan and the recent change of the country’s flag; he condemned the arrest of activists and was vocal on other issues – in the grand tradition of Kyrgyz akyns going back centuries.

As reported by Kloop, Zhetigen called the accusations against him “baseless,” adding, “The Kyrgyz Republic is a democratic country in which every citizen has the right to express their own opinion. I believe that one cannot be held accountable for this.”

Tajikistan Toughens Punishment For Soothsaying Amid ‘Anti-Witchcraft’ Campaign (Radio Free Europe)

Radio Free Europe [6/25/2024 10:46 AM, Staff, 1530K, Neutral]
Tajikistan has toughened the punishments for soothsaying and performing "healing sessions" for sick and disabled people as part of an ongoing campaign against those involved in fortune-telling, sorcery, or witchcraft.

According to amendments introduced to the Central Asian country’s Criminal Code last week, sorcerers and fortune tellers will now face up to two years in prison or a hefty fine of up to 144,000 somonis ($13,350) .

Previously, according to a 2008 law that outlaws soothsaying as a form of witchcraft, the punishment did not envision imprisonment, while the fine for performing fortune-telling was up to 3,000 somonis ($280).

The campaign against witchcraft has been ratcheted up in recent weeks after multiple videos showing men and women "repenting" for performing soothsaying and "healing sessions" for disabled persons to earn money were aired on television.

It is not clear where and in what conditions the videos were shot.

Relatives of some individuals shown in the videos "repenting" for their soothsaying activities told RFE/RL that not all those who were shown on television as magicians were engaged in fortune telling or healing activities.

Lawyer Shokirjon Hakimov questioned the showing of "repenting" individuals on television before their trial.

Hakimov told RFE/RL that the authorities showed their "incompetence" in understanding the concept of presumption of innocence, adding that showing "repenting" people on television across the country was "an act of humiliation."

An Interior Ministry official defended the practice, telling RFE/RL that it helped society tackle a "widespread and deep-rooted problem."

Although 90 percent of Tajikistan’s population is Muslim -- a religion that considers soothsaying to be a sin -- many Tajiks also hold superstitious beliefs in magic, fortune tellers, and paranormal powers.

Even relatives of high-ranking military and government officials have been among the clients of the most elite soothsayers -- who often take hefty payments for their consultations.

In 2012, in an apparent effort to eradicate widespread soothsaying practices, Tajik authorities even introduced higher taxes for soothsayers, as if the profession was legal.

Uzbek Lawmakers Take Aim at ‘Undesirable’ Foreigners (The Diplomat)

The Diplomat [6/25/2024 2:35 PM, Catherine Putz, 1156K, Negative]
Uzbek lawmakers have advanced a bill that outlines the procedure for deeming a foreign citizen or stateless person “undesirable” and provides for a five-year entry ban, among other restrictions.

On June 25, the lower house of the Uzbek parliament, the Oliy Majlis’ Legislative Chamber, adopted a bill amending the law “On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons in the Republic of Uzbekistan.”

As Kun.uz reported: “Under this law, actions or public statements that are against the state sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of Uzbekistan, or that incite interstate, social, national, racial, or religious enmity, or insult the dignity, value, or history of the Uzbek people can be the basis for declaring a person’s stay in the Republic of Uzbekistan as undesirable.”

The proposed law would prohibit such people from entering Uzbekistan, as well as bar them from opening bank accounts, purchasing real estate, “participating in the privatization of state property,” and essentially conducting business in Uzbekistan for five years. It also outlines procedures for deporting “undesirable” individuals, if they do not voluntarily leave the country within 10 days of being labeled “undesirable.”

As Gazeta.uz noted, the chamber’s press service justified the draft law as necessary to “establish new measures to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Uzbekistan in the modern context of globalization.”

The press service pointed to the “experience” of a range of countries – namely Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Poland, Belarus, and China – in informing the draft.

Precisely which foreigners, and what kinds of statements threaten state sovereignty, are not explained in media reports or the draft law beyond the broad language cited above.

But the language cited in the law – particularly the laundry list of enmities that must not incited – is not new. This kind of language has been used repeatedly, via other laws in Uzbekistan, to silence domestic critics and, perhaps most egregiously, deny individuals their constitutional rights, whether to free speech writ large or, in the case of Karakalpakstan, the right to seek a referendum on independence.

One example is the case of Karakalpak lawyer Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov, who was given a 16-year prison sentence last year following his public dissent against the then-proposed draft constitution (which was later passed after reinstating the very provisions Tazhimuratov was complaining about the removal of). He was charged with, among other things, “preparation and dissemination of materials threatening public security and order.”

Another example is Karakalpak activist Aqylbek Muratbai, who was detained in Kazakhstan earlier this year at the behest of Uzbek authorities on charges of “public calls for mass disorder and violence” and “preparation and dissemination of materials threatening public security and order.” The charges stemmed from his posting of a video of another activist speaking at a major human rights conference in Europe. These cases provide a baseline for what Uzbek authorities have judged as threats to security in the past.

Ultimately, if the draft bill passes and is signed into law, we will have to see how Uzbek authorities interpret and apply the law. Who will be declared “undesirable”? Will the law be applied to chauvinistic Russian commentators? Will it be used to target human rights activists who pen critical reports about government policies and decisions? Will it be used to target journalists, like myself, for writing articles like this one? Will branding any or all of the above as “undesirable” truly secure Uzbekistan’s sovereignty and preserve its dignity, or merely emphasize its extant insecurities?

Twitter

Afghanistan

Abdul Qahar Balkhi
@QaharBalkhi
[6/25/2024 11:59 AM, 241.7K followers, 29 retweets, 187 likes]
A coordination meeting was held by the Foreign Minister, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, regarding participation in the upcoming UN-led Doha meeting. The meeting was attended by the chief spokesman Mawlawi Zabihullah Mujahid, the Deputy Director General of DAB Noor Ahmad Agha,

Abdul Qahar Balkhi
@QaharBalkhi
[6/25/2024 11:59 AM, 241.7K followers, 1 retweet, 5 likes]
the Deputy Minister of Interior for Counter Narcotics, Mullah Abdul Haq, & advisors of the Ministry of Industry & Commerce. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi said that as per the instructions of the leader of the Islamic Emirate,

Abdul Qahar Balkhi
@QaharBalkhi
[6/25/2024 11:59 AM, 241.7K followers, 3 retweets, 8 likes]
the delegation to participate in the UN-led Doha meeting will be led by the chief spokesman Mr. Mujahid. During meeting, the participants held discussions on numerous issues including sanctions on IEA officials, restrictions on the financial & banking sector,

Abdul Qahar Balkhi
@QaharBalkhi
[6/25/2024 11:59 AM, 241.7K followers, 2 retweets, 7 likes]
challenges hindering development of the private sector, & the measures taken by the Afghan government in regards to combatting narcotics.

Shaharzad Akbar
@ShaharzadAkbar
[6/26/2024 1:38 AM, 175K followers, 2 retweets, 8 likes]
Enabled Children School in Kabul offers special education to boys and girls with disabilities. It has created a safe and supportive environment for vulnerable children, in an immensely challenging environment. Vote for them here please: https://vote.worldsbestschool.org/public-vote-2024/entry/1332?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2nkqiN5Wv8-kGHWRPMGynipjT4_nmmQ-tCSfbR7bwgsUD0UHhOnVqDw4w_aem_DhB0LYyFHZuVPQFPSDFn-w

Pakistan

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[6/25/2024 9:58 PM, 210.7K followers, 2.1K retweets, 4.2K likes]
US House resolution 901 has just passed by a massive 368-7 vote. This means that 85% of the members of the House of Representatives have voted in favor of urging "the full and independent investigation of claims of interference or irregularities" in Pakistan’s 2024 elections.

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[6/25/2024 9:58 PM, 210.7K followers, 604 retweets, 1.5K likes]
HR 901 also "condemns attempts to suppress the people of Pakistan’s participation in their democracy, including through harassment, intimidation, violence, arbitrary detention, restrictions on access to the internet...or any violation of their human, civil, or political rights."

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[6/25/2024 11:27 PM, 210.7K followers, 256 retweets, 892 likes]
HR901 won’t have much impact on US policy toward Pakistan. It’s worth noting that the Biden administration itself has called for an investigation into election irregularities concerns. But the vote does raise questions about what additional legislation we could see re Pakistan.

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[6/25/2024 11:27 PM, 210.7K followers, 58 retweets, 173 likes]
What really stands out for me is the margin of the vote, and the number of Members that voted. 85% of House members voted on it, and 98% voted in favor of the resolution. This is quite significant.

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[6/25/2024 1:05 PM, 210.7K followers, 21 retweets, 59 likes]
Join us Wed. at 930am ET as senior officials, former US ambassadors to Pakistan, journalists, scholars, and business and diaspora leaders discuss prospects for future US-Pakistan cooperation—and how to get there. More details including RSVP info here: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/looking-back-looking-forward-assessing-us-pakistan-relationship

Husain Haqqani
@husainhaqqani
[6/26/2024 1:27 AM, 461.3K followers, 4 retweets, 27 likes]
The only mention of Imran Khan in HR 901 is where it recognizes legitimacy of the 2022 Vote of No Confidence. “Whereas, on April 9, 2022, the National Assembly voted to remove Imran Khan as Prime Minister through a vote of no-confidence motion.”

Husain Haqqani
@husainhaqqani
[6/26/2024 1:26 AM, 461.3K followers, 45 retweets, 91 likes]
Important to note that U.S..Congress’ HR 901 talks about suppression of democracy in Pakistan in general and, despite PTI lobbying, does not show support or sympathy for Imran Khan or PTI.

India

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[6/25/2024 8:57 AM, 99.2M followers, 3.7K retweets, 26K likes]
Had a good conversation with President of Kazakhstan H.E. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Thanked him for warm wishes on the success in the elections. Reiterated the commitment to advance our Strategic Partnership with Kazakhstan. Conveyed India’s full support for the success of the upcoming SCO Summit. @aqorda_press

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[6/25/2024 5:42 AM, 99.2M followers, 8.2K retweets, 73K likes]
Met Shri @MVenkaiahNaidu Garu. I have had the opportunity to work with him for decades and have always admired his wisdom and passion for India’s progress. Venkaiah Garu conveyed his best wishes for our third term.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[6/25/2024 4:26 AM, 99.2M followers, 12K retweets, 42K likes]
The #DarkDaysOfEmergency were very challenging times. In those days, people across all walks of life came together and resisted this attack on democracy. I also had numerous experiences working with various people during that time. This thread gives a glimpse of that...

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[6/25/2024 8:21 AM, 3.2M followers, 238 retweets, 1.7K likes]
Delighted to meet journalists from 10 Eurasian countries who are on an India immersion visit. Spoke to them about our long-standing ties, the transformation unfolding in India over the last decade and its prospects for the Global South. Nice to see their interest in greater exchanges with India.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[6/25/2024 6:32 AM, 3.2M followers, 123 retweets, 1.1K likes]
Pleased to meet Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner Kshenuka D. Senewiratne today. Discussed recent developments in our bilateral relations, including my visit to Colombo. Wish her a successful tenure.

NSB

Awami League
@albd1971
[6/25/2024 12:45 PM, 638.9K followers, 25 retweets, 51 likes]
The @IMFNews’s executive board has approved the third tranche of $1.12 billion loans. Central Bank spokesman Mezbaul Haque confirmed the matter. The funds will be added to the reserves in two days. #IMF #Bangladesh #ForexReserve https://link.albd.org/jnboj

Awami League
@albd1971
[6/25/2024 10:48 AM, 638.9K followers, 28 retweets, 72 likes]
HPM #SheikhHasina said her government will receive the most beneficial proposal for the country and its people over implementing the #Teesta master plan project. "We must accept the proposal which will be more beneficial for the people of our country," https://albd.org/articles/news/41462

Awami League
@albd1971
[6/25/2024 9:36 AM, 638.9K followers, 22 retweets, 62 likes]
Prime Minister and #AwamiLeague (ALBD) President #SheikhHasina asked her partymen to work for a well- organized party and achieve people’s confidence and trust so that no attack or conspiracy can destroy the party. https://albd.org/articles/news/41458 #ALBDat75 #PlatinumJubilee #Bangladesh

Tshering Tobgay
@tsheringtobgay
[6/25/2024 6:04 AM, 99.4K followers, 6 retweets, 37 likes]
Successfully concluded deliberation and adopted the Budget for FY 2024-25 in the National Assembly session today. Extend my gratitude to fellow MPs for their support and the many constructive suggestions.

Moosa Zameer
@MoosaZameer
[6/25/2024 11:41 PM, 13.5K followers, 41 retweets, 55 likes]
I am delighted to meet with the Honourable @SecBlinken, Secretary of State of the US, today. I reaffirmed our commitment to further strengthen the partnership between the Maldives and US in tackling climate change, promoting democracy and cooperation in maritime security.

Moosa Zameer
@MoosaZameer
[6/25/2024 3:50 AM, 13.5K followers, 58 retweets, 93 likes]
Delighted to meet with USAID Administrator @PowerUSAID, today. I conveyed appreciation for the contributions through USAID towards the Maldives’ development journey and reaffirmed commitment to enhance and diversify the partnership.

President of Nepal
@OOP_Nepal
[6/26/2024 1:22 AM, 1.6K followers, 7 retweets, 14 likes]
Rt. Hon. President Mr. Ramchandra Paudel received a courtesy call from H.E. Mr. Sun Weidong, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, today.

M U M Ali Sabry
@alisabrypc
[6/25/2024 3:53 AM, 5.8K followers, 1 retweet, 28 likes]
The Bohra Conference and Convention are scheduled to take place from July 7-16 at the Bambalapitiya Bohra Mosque and the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre. Around 15,000 members of the Bohra community from various countries, including India, are expected to attend. A preparatory meeting to discuss the issues relating the conference was held and necessary instructions were given to provide all assistance.

Harsha de Silva
@HarshadeSilvaMP
[6/25/2024 5:56 AM, 356.6K followers, 3 retweets, 52 likes]
Had a great meeting with @Microsoft COO for India and SA @ablall on exciting tech partnerships we can develop soon. Looking forward to #SriLanka leveraging on Digital Public Infrastructure solution I am working on with @pramodkvarma team. Local MS CEO Harsha Randeny also joined.

Namal Rajapaksa
@RajapaksaNamal
[6/26/2024 12:34 AM, 436.6K followers, 11 likes]
Attended the ‘Negenahira Poson Udanaya 2024’ program organized by the W. D. Weerasingha Foundation in Ampara yesterday. It was a wonderful event celebrating our heritage and community spirit. #PosonUdanaya #Ampara @fernandoharin

Central Asia

UNODC Central Asia
@UNODC_ROCA
[6/25/2024 6:41 AM, 2.4K followers, 2 likes]
|@MittalAshita met with H.E. Mr. Akmalkhuja Mavlonov, Chairperson of the Customs Committee under the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Uzbekistan, to discuss achievements and priority areas for cooperation in countering illicit drugs and organized crime in the region.

Javlon Vakhabov
@JavlonVakhabov
[6/25/2024 5:09 AM, 6K followers, 1 retweet, 5 likes]
Excellent meeting with Ambassador Vijay Thakur Singh, Director General at the Indian Council of World Affairs (@ICWA_NewDelhi), touching upon the foreign policy approaches to international affairs both of our nations are leaning on in times of turbulence and uncertainty. Appreciate the opportunity to engage in such a frank and productive discussion.

Hugh Williamson
@HughAWilliamson
[6/24/2024 10:53 AM, 10.4K followers, 8 retweets, 15 likes]
Worrying development in Kazakhstan: New Mass Media Law Threatens Freedom of Speech, Information. @HRW urges govt to revise the law, calls on Astana’s partners to raise their voices about the law https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/06/22/new-mass-media-law-threatens-freedom-speech-information-kazakhstan

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service
@president_uz
[6/25/2024 10:15 AM, 193K followers, 10 likes]
President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev met with the #Russian Minister of Internal Affairs, Vladimir #Kolokoltsev. They discussed practical measures to enhance cooperation in combating terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking, organized crime, and cybersecurity, with special attention given to migration issues. During the meeting, condolences were extended to the families of the law enforcement officers who lost their lives in the terrorist attack in #Dagestan.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service
@president_uz
[6/25/2024 9:57 AM, 193K followers, 2 retweets, 17 likes]
President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev evaluated plans to improve the functions and conditions of local communities. This involves establishing mahalla service companies focused on community betterment, providing services like maintaining utility networks and managing waste on a contractual basis. As a pilot project, these service entities will be introduced in 208 mahallas.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service
@president_uz
[6/25/2024 9:38 AM, 193K followers, 2 retweets, 14 likes]
President #Mirziyoyev has examined proposals to progress the livestock sector, focusing on poultry, and sheep and goat farming. The objective is to boost meat, egg, and milk production, curb food inflation, and generate employment. Plans include adopting genetic innovations and a cluster approach, alongside tax waivers to propel industry expansion.

Saida Mirziyoyeva
@SMirziyoyeva
[6/25/2024 8:25 AM, 18.5K followers, 3 retweets, 74 likes]
Today, we met with H.E. Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan, Beibut Atamkulov. We talked about ways to strengthen the cultural and historical connections between our countries and agreed to work harder to bring our citizens closer together.

Navbahor Imamova
@Navbahor
[6/25/2024 12:59 PM, 23.4K followers, 3 retweets, 3 likes]
Uzbekistan’s Legislative Chamber @OliyMajlis today approved a bill intended to ban foreign citizens who "undermine" the country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security, incite enmity, and insult the nation’s dignity, values, and/or history. Some lawmakers in Tashkent are pointing to chauvinist voices in Russia, but the overwhelming concern is that the authorities are determined to censor any critical voice abroad under the vague pretext that they may be attacking the nation through speech or action. https://kun.uz/en/53842156

Navbahor Imamova
@Navbahor
[6/25/2024 7:22 AM, 23.4K followers, 3 retweets, 6 likes]
Uzbekistan’s Legislative Chamber @OliyMajlis Foreign citizens “who undermine Uzbekistan’s sovereignty, integrity, and security, incite enmity, or insult the nation’s dignity, values, or history will be banned from entering the country.” https://kun.uz/en/53842156

{End of Report}

To subscribe to the SCA Morning Press Clips, please email SCA-PressOfficers@state.gov. Please do not reply directly to this email.