epubdos : Afghanistan
SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS
Prepared for the U.S. Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
TO:
SCA & Staff
DATE:
Friday, March 1, 2024 6:30 AM ET

Afghanistan
UN ‘Appalled’ by Taliban-Ordered Public Executions in Afghanistan (VOA)
VOA [2/29/2024 6:11 AM, Ayaz Gul, 761K, Negative]
The United Nations is urging the Taliban government in Afghanistan to immediately cease "inhuman" public executions and floggings of individuals convicted of murder and other crimes.

The condemnation comes as Taliban authorities put to death three men by gunfire in Afghan sports stadiums across several cities in the past week in the presence of hundreds of onlookers.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Office, or OHCHR, said that it was "appalled" by the public executions, decrying them as "a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

The Taliban have publicly executed five convicted killers since they seized control of Afghanistan in August 2021 and have also flogged hundreds of people, including women, for committing crimes such as theft, robbery, and adultery.

The U.N. statement noted that the latest public floggings took place this past Sunday when a 12-year-old boy and a man were publicly flogged for the crime of immorality in eastern Laghman province. On the same day, a woman and a man convicted of running away from home and adultery were flogged 35 times in public in northern Baluch province.

"Corporal punishment also constitutes a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, which is prohibited under international human rights law," the U.N. cautioned.

It urged the fundamentalist Taliban to ensure full respect for due process and fair trial rights, in particular access to legal representation, for anyone confronted with criminal charges.

De facto Afghan authorities have dismissed criticism of their criminal justice system, saying it is aligned with Islamic rules and guidelines.

The Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on women’s rights to education and public life, barring female visitors from parks and gyms and forbidding girls from attending schools beyond the sixth grade.

The international community has rejected the Taliban’s calls for granting their administration formal recognition, citing their treatment of Afghan women and other human rights concerns.

Richard Bennett, the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, will unveil the findings of his new report at Thursday’s U.N. Human Rights Council meeting.

In an apparent preemptive reaction to the upcoming report, chief Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Bennett and other Western critics should stop "misusing" the Afghan human rights situation and instead focus on and stop rights abuses elsewhere in the world.
US lawmaker threatens to hold Blinken in contempt over Afghanistan documents (Reuters)
Reuters [2/29/2024 3:28 PM, Patricia Zengerle and Simon Lewis, 11975K, Neutral]
The chair of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee moved ahead on Thursday with a bid to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress for withholding documents related to the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Republican Representative Michael McCaul said the committee would meet on March 7 to consider a resolution recommending that Blinken be held in contempt "for his continued refusal to comply with a subpoena served by the committee in July."

The House committee has been seeking more information from the State Department for months over the withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. Republicans - and some Democrats - say there has never been a full accounting of the chaotic operation, in which 13 U.S. service members were killed at Kabul’s airport.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a briefing on Thursday that the department was in touch with the foreign affairs committee and would try to resolve the issue before March 7.

The State Department says it has turned over thousands of pages of documents to the committee and made witnesses available for transcribed interviews, while noting that the executive branch has "legitimate confidentiality rights."
Transgender Afghans escape Taliban persecution only to find "a worse situation" as refugees in Pakistan (CBS News)
CBS News [2/29/2024 12:22 PM, Sami Yousafzai, 76K, Negative]
Issues of gender and sexuality have long been taboo in ultra-conservative Afghanistan, and more so since the Taliban retook control of the country in 2021. For some members of the LGBTQ community, the Taliban’s comeback seemed too much of a risk, so they fled to neighboring Pakistan with countless other Afghan refugees.

In late 2023, Pakistan started a controversial program to expel Afghan refugees who lack documentation, fueling fears in particular for LGBTQ refugees like Laila Khan and Jannat, young transgender women who met with CBS News at a guesthouse where they’ve been living in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad.

Human rights groups say hundreds, if not thousands, of Afghan transgender refugees have sought safety in Pakistan, and about 50 have already approached courts in Peshawar seeking protection.

Laila and Jannat tell CBS News that life under the Taliban was unbearable, but circumstances in Pakistan haven’t been much better.

The Taliban’s "truly depressing" takeover

Jannat, who didn’t want to use her full name, said growing up in Afghanistan in the wake of the U.S.-led invasion, with a Western-backed government in power, she "was luckily able to complete my education until grade 12, despite being unwanted and unwelcome in Afghan society."

Since the Taliban returned to power, however, Afghanistan’s transgender community has faced even harsher mistreatment. The Taliban regime does not recognize the existence of transgender people as a group, so there is no way for them to seek justice when they face gender-based abuse or discrimination.

"We were relatively safe in Afghanistan before the Taliban came, but after their victory and takeover, we could not even walk outside," Khan told CBS News. "It is truly depressing."

She told CBS News about a time she says she was chased home by Taliban security forces.

"They reached my home and told my parents to ‘keep that piece of shame at home," she said. They also warned her parents to prevent her from "corrupting others."

"This is not my fault," she said. "I didn’t choose this as God made me this way."

"We are in a worse situation"

Jannat and Laila decided they were no longer safe in their country — though Jannat said she’d had serious concerns about seeking safety in Pakistan.

"I used to read about the violence against transgenders in Pakistan," she said. "It made me scared, but I had no choice."

They both crossed into Pakistan with help from a European organization dedicated to helping members of the Afghan transgender community. But they told CBS News that transgender Afghans face many of the same security concerns in Pakistan that they had in their own country.

"Being an Afghan refugee is not easy in Pakistan, it’s even harder to be a transgender refugee in a country that is not so welcoming to the LGBTQ community," Khan said.

Khan said she’s faced discrimination since arriving in Pakistan, including by a landlord who refused to rent her a home when he saw that she was transgender.

"I had the money. I was able to afford it. The landlord had the paperwork ready, but once he saw us, his attitude changed and he declined the tenancy agreement," she said.

Khan said she faced regular harassment and discrimination in Islamabad, including fellow passengers on a packed bus refusing to come near her, a taxi driver who verbally harassed her, and even police officers whom she said "tried to touch my private parts after I was stopped at a checkpoint, to find my sexual status, which was humiliating."

"In Pakistan we are in a worse situation," said Jannat, "because the hatred toward refugees is prominent here, but then when the authorities discover that we are transgender, they act even worse with us… I can’t even go to the doctor or to the shops."
Rights granted, but not guaranteed?

"Pakistani citizens who are transgender or members of the third gender are a recognized minority group and are thus entitled to certain civil rights, but it is not always the case" for refugees, Khan told CBS News. Third gender refers to individuals who do not identify as either male or female.

Hayat Roghani, lawyer who has represented transgender Afghan refugees in cases at the high court in the northern Pakistani city of Peshawar, told CBS News that transgender people are a recognized minority group under Pakistani law, which entitles them to certain civil rights including, for Pakistani nationals, property ownership and voting.

"Afghanistan has absolutely nothing for transgenders," he said, adding that his advocacy organization is currently handling the cases of about 50 transgender Afghan refugees. He said some of them don’t have documentation permitting them to remain in Pakistan, so if they’re caught, he fears they’ll be deported back to Afghanistan.

"The lack of rights and safety for transgenders under Taliban rule is deeply concerning," Farzana Riaz, president of the Peshawar-based rights group Trans Action Pakistan, told CBS News. "But unfortunately, even for the transgender Afghans who managed to cross into Pakistan, it does not mean an end to their problems, only a new chapter of problems."

"I don’t think any of the transgender Afghans have been deported," Peshawar police spokesperson Alam Khan said when asked about the accounts provided to CBS News. "As a law enforcement agency, we are fully committed to following up on all complaints made by anyone — regardless of whether they are Afghans or locals."

Khan said the Peshawar police had held "a series of meetings with the transgender community to solve the community’s problems, based on its priorities," adding that the department was using "all resources for the protection of the rights of transgenders."
Heavy snow kills nine in Afghanistan as extreme weather blocks key highways (The Independent)
The Independent [3/1/2024 4:20 AM, Arpan Rai, 3.1M, Neutral]
At least nine people have died in Afghanistan and two have suffered injuries after the conflict-battered country was hit by heavy snowfall and storm, the Taliban’s caretaker government said on Friday.

The bad weather combined with snow and sub zero temperatures has hit provinces running from northern Afghanistan to southern parts of the country.

“Due to cold weather and rainfall in Kandahar, Helmand, Badghis, Sar-e-Pol, Badakhshan and Jawzjan, nine people have died and two have been injured,” said Janan Saiq, the spokesperson for the Taliban-led ministry of state for disaster management, reported Afghan news channel Tolo news.

He added that the extreme weather destroyed residential houses and livestock.

Visuals shared by Afghan journalist in exile Bilal Sarwary showed extreme snowfall in western Afghanistan which led to a local losing his cattle.

“Snow is often seen as a blessing but not here for this Afghan man who lost his whole herd of sheep in Badghis province, deep in western Afghanistan,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.

Several highways have been hit by snowfall and storms, resulting in blockades of traffic movement until cleared.

The report added that several critical traffic roads and highways like the Kabul-Herat highways, Salang Pass and the Haji Gak Pass in Bamyan have been closed off for traffic.

Extreme snowfall in the country comes shortly after Herat province dozens of earthquakes killed more than 2,000 people and left several without homes. Afghanistan is also reeling from a mass deportation drive from Pakistan in October and November last year, which saw millions of locals forcibly exported out of the neighbouring nation and back into the Taliban-led regime.

Most provinces will likely witness heavy snowfall, heavy rain and flooding along with storms for the next two days, the report added citing the Afghan Meteorology Department of the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation.
Pakistan
Some US lawmakers urge Biden, Blinken not to recognize new Pakistan government (Reuters)
Reuters [2/29/2024 7:39 PM, Kanishka Singh, 11975K, Negative]
Thirty-one members of the U.S. Congress have signed a letter to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging them to not recognize a new government, opens new tab in Pakistan until an investigation of election interference has been conducted.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Voters in Pakistan went to the polls, opens new tab earlier this month in a vote marred by a mobile internet shutdown on election day; arrests and violence in its build-up; and unusually delayed results, leading to accusations that the vote was rigged.

The United States, Britain and the European Union have expressed concerns, opens new tab about reported election irregularities and urged a probe.

BY THE NUMBERS

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) agreed to form a coalition government even as candidates backed by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan gained the most seats.

Khan-backed candidates won 93 seats, opens new tab, but did not have the numbers to form a government. He and his party rejected the results of the elections, alleging widespread rigging.

PML-N’s 79 and the PPP’s 54 seats together make a simple majority, opens new tab in parliament to form a government, which, however, will also rope in smaller parties in the coalition.

KEY QUOTES

The letter dated Wednesday urged Biden and Blinken to withhold recognition of a new government in Pakistan until a thorough, transparent, and credible investigation of election interference has been conducted."

It asked them to "urge Pakistani authorities to release anyone who has been detained for engaging in political speech or activity, and task State Department officials in Pakistan with gathering information about such cases and advocating for their release."

The letter also urged Biden and Blinken to make clear to Pakistani authorities that Washington could use the leverage for military and other cooperation to be halted if relevant steps were not taken.

CONTEXT

The letter signed by 31 Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives was led by Representatives Greg Casar and Susan Wild. The signatories included Representatives Pramila Jayapal, Rashida Tlaib, Ro Khanna, Jamie Raskin, Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush and Barbara Lee.

Khan was ousted in 2022 after falling out with the country’s powerful military, which denies meddling in politics. His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party won the 2018 national election. Multiple legal cases were brought against Khan, which disqualified him as a candidate and sentenced him to long prison terms. He denies wrongdoing.
Sharif Coalition Pick Wins Pakistan Parliament Speaker Job (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [3/1/2024 5:39 AM, Kamran Haider, 11975K, Neutral]
Lawmakers selected Sardar Ayaz Sadiq as the Speaker of Pakistan’s National Assembly at the parliament’s first session after last month’s general elections.

The lawmaker, who belongs to the party of former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, received the most votes, said outgoing speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf. His election will be followed by a vote for the prime minister on Sunday and paves the way for way for Shehbaz Sharif to return to power, after two old-hand parties joined hands and nominated him as their candidate.

The balloting on Friday saw Sadiq, Sharif-led coalition’s candidate, receive 199 votes of the newly elected members of parliament against 91 votes of Malik Amir Dogar, the representative of an alliance of jailed former premier Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and a conservative religious group, according to Ashraf.

Sharif is set to be elected prime minister for the second time on Sunday and he will seek a fresh bailout from the International Monetary Fund of at least $6 billion. The Feb 8. general elections resulted in an unclear mandate for any single party, forcing Sharif and Bhutto-Zardari to form a coalition to keep former cricket star Khan — whose candidates secured the most seats in the polls — from forming a government.

Khan has picked Omar Ayub Khan, a grandson of Pakistan’s first military dictator, as his party’s candidate. Sharif is expected to easily win the contest.
India
India Expects Piracy Attacks to Rise, Stretching Navy Resources (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [2/29/2024 11:13 PM, Sudhi Ranjan Sen, 5543K, Negative]
Attacks on commercial shipping in the Arabian and Red Sea by pirates and Iran-backed Houthi rebels are likely to continue, according to senior Indian officials.

Those attacks are stretching the Indian Navy’s capabilities as it maintains the tempo of its increased deployments in the region. Last week, an Indian warship rushed to the aid of merchant vessel Islander in the Gulf of Aden after it was hit by a drone, injuring a member of its crew. An explosive disposal team boarded the vessel before it was cleared for onward transit, an Indian Navy spokesperson said.

The attacks in the Arabian and Red Sea were the focus of discussions between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar at the recent Munich Security Conference. Blinken described the two countries’ approach to tackling the maritime problems as “mutually reinforcing,” according to a statement.

India has deployed a dozen warships alongside long-range surveillance maritime aircrafts and drones — its largest peacetime mission in seven decades — to monitor nearly 4 million square kilometers (1.5 million square miles) of the Arabian Sea, primarily to tackle increased piracy in the region that has largely coincided with the Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

There have been as many as eight hijacking attempts including a successful one since last November, according to the officials, who did not want to be named because they are directly involved in operations.

Even as the piracy attempts have dropped off since the US and UK began striking Houthi targets in Yemen — the US has now struck 230 targets in Yemen — the Indian Navy will need to continue its enhanced operations, according to the officials, given that fighting piracy requires time, huge resources and patience.

As an example, an Indian naval ship trailed a hijacked Iranian-flagged fishing vessel for over a day before the pirates eventually surrendered. The pirates set the 11 crew members free after it became clear that they would no longer be able to hijack the vessel and demand ransom, the people said, describing one operation.

The sustained operations are also stretching the Indian Navy, according to the officials and analysts. The navy has had to move ships from the Bay of Bengal — a key area of operations given the increased presence of Chinese vessels in the area — to patrol the Arabian Sea.

“The Indian Navy has done a very impressive job of maintaining a high tempo of operations in the region — and its role has been noticed and generally welcomed by the international community,” said Anit Mukerjee, a senior lecturer of South Asian security issues at Kings College, London. He warned though that it “is an open question” whether the Navy can maintain the deployments and tempo of operations given its limited resources.

The Indian Navy and Ministry of Defence declined to comment.

The Indian Navy is trying to add new anti-piracy capabilities. Earlier this week, marine commandos with motorized crafts parachuted into the Arabian Sea from a US-made C-130 transport plane. The commandos could add capability if the nearest warship is at quite a distance from a hijacked vessel, people familiar with the matter said.

Much of the piracy could be opportunistic, with Somali pirates trying to take advantage of the turbulence in the region. “The crisis in the Middle East, with the war in Gaza and the Houthi attacks, have certainly emboldened the Somalia-based pirates,” said Mukerjee.

Somali piracy in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Sea peaked between 2010-2013. The World Bank estimates that ransom payments yielded as much as $413 million in the seven years through 2012. The global economy lost an annual $18 billion, according to the United Nations.

India meets 88% of its oil demand via seaborne imports which is highly susceptible to any disruptions in sea lanes, according to the consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
India Cabinet Approves $9 Billion Plan for Rooftop Solar (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [2/29/2024 7:49 AM, Rajesh Kumar Singh, 5543K, Positive]
India’s cabinet approved a 750 billion-rupee ($9 billion) plan to add solar panels to 10 million homes, giving a fillip to a laggard industry in the country’s energy transition efforts.

The government will pay for as much as 60% of the costs for panels up to 2 kilowatts, and 40% of the cost for an additional 1 kilowatt, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur told reporters in New Delhi.

The program comes ahead of the general elections scheduled later this year, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be seeking a third term in office. The government has pitched the program as a way of providing 300 kilowatt hours of free power every month for consumers, while advancing the nation’s energy transition with the potential to add 30 gigawatts of solar capacity.

Customers can raise additional funds through collateral-free loans at an interest rate of about 7%, the government’s Press Information Bureau said in a statement.

The subsidies “improve the economic attractiveness of residential PV systems, but actual deployment may still be constrained by the unwillingness of households to give up available roof space,” said Rohit Gadre, an analyst at BloombergNEF in Mumbai. “The government should come out with detailed guidelines on subsidy allocation mechanism and ensure that lenders are willing to give such cheap loans.”

Poor progress on rooftop solar was one of the reasons India missed its 2022 goal of reaching 175 gigawatts of renewable power capacity. The country can hold as much as 637 gigawatts of rooftop solar panels, according to New Delhi-based think tank Council on Energy, Environment and Water.

However its potential remains unfulfilled due to the high installation costs for residents, and the state power retailers’ reluctance to allow lucrative industrial customers to generate their own clean energy. India currently has 11 gigawatts of rooftop solar capacity, less than 6% of the country’s clean power capacity.
India, Mauritius Inaugurate Island Facilities for Surveillance (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [2/29/2024 7:34 AM, Kamlesh Bhuckory and Sudhi Ranjan Sen, 5543K, Neutral]
India and Mauritius inaugurated a new airstrip and jetty on the islands of Agalega, boosting military infrastructure in a region marked by increasing piracy attempts and forays by Chinese warships.

The new facilities are helpful in “upgrading and reinforcing our maritime security,” Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth said at Thursday’s inauguration ceremony. He added that the infrastructure is critical for countering terrorism, piracy and the illegal narcotics trade near Agalega, which sits in an exclusive economic zone stretching 2.3 million square kilometers (888,000 square miles).

Prime Minister Jugnauth clarified that Mauritius will remain in control of Agalega, which is located about 1,080 kilometers north of the nation’s main island, also called Mauritius, and 3,729 kilometers west of Mumbai, India. Agalega — which is comprised of two islands — sits in a zone frequently used by cargo ships moving goods from Asia.

The race to control vast stretches of the Indian Ocean is heating up. The region is critical for global trade. Countries as varied as the US, France, the UK, India and China are deploying more warships than ever before in the waters.

The new facilities in Mauritius are advantageous for India. Warships deployed by the South Asian nation can refuel from Agalega. Big aircraft — including the P8i, India’s fleet of US-made long range maritime surveillance aircraft — can also land on a new three-kilometer-long airstrip.

Nearby, the Maldives recently ordered Indian military personnel to leave the island nation and remove their helicopters and a radar chain used for monitoring commercial ships.

India has extended a credit line of $1 billion and a grant of $400 million to Mauritius over the last few years, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the inauguration ceremony on Agalega. India has also allocated 3.7 billion rupees ($44.6 million) as aid to the island nation for the next fiscal year, according to budget papers presented in Parliament.
India halts farmers’ march with smoke bombs and drones (Financial Times)
Financial Times [2/29/2024 4:14 PM, John Reed, 1.9M, Negative]
The last time Indian farmers marched on New Delhi, they forced Prime Minister Narendra Modi into a rare policy climbdown. So earlier this month Juzhar Singh climbed on his tractor to join thousands of fellow farmers streaming south towards the capital to try to do it again.

But while in 2020 and 2021 farmers from northern India’s agricultural belt were able to camp out in New Delhi for nearly a year, this time they have been stopped at a state border more than 200km away by barricades and police armed with smoke bombs and drones dropping tear gas.

Now Singh, 60, who trekked south from near Amritsar in India’s northern Punjab state, is stuck on the highway in a cart decorated with a sign declaring: “We are farmers, not terrorists.”

The tough government measures come ahead of a general election expected to be held in April and May, in which Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party is the strong favourite to win re-election for a third five-year term.

But the resurgence of India’s farmer protests has highlighted the Modi government’s failure to rationalise an agriculture sector that employs nearly half the population in a country where more than 800mn people rely on free, government-supplied food grains.

The farmers’ demands, including for higher government-backed prices for their crops and debt forgiveness, have once again thrust their complaints back to the centre of national debate.

After the last Dilli Chalo, or “Let’s Go to Delhi”, protest, Modi in November 2021 scrapped three laws that would have transformed farming, including by allowing private corporations to enter the market. It was a highly unusual policy retreat for a politically dominant leader.

Thousands of Punjabi farmers, mostly older men, are now camped out in the villages of Shambhu and Khanauri on the border between Punjab and Haryana states, sleeping in their carts and using hay bales as seats.

The farmers were blocked by cement barriers and metal spikes planted on the road, while drones dropped tear gas and police fired smoke bombs and pellets, according to more than a dozen participants in the protest. They said some farmers suffered eye injuries or skin wounds. One farmer died during a clash with police at the border last week.

“We have been treated like people from an alien country,” said Manjeet Singh Ghumana, national president of the Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union, one of the farmers’ groups leading the protests. “It is our fundamental right to agitate for our demands, and we are being browbeaten, not being allowed to reach Delhi.”

In a sign of the political sensitivity, journalists and activists covering or involved in the farmers’ march have complained of social media censorship. Elon Musk’s platform X said last week that the Indian government had ordered it to take down posts and block users.

The farmers say the government must raise its “minimum support prices” for commodities such as rice and wheat and extend it to more crops.

“Elections are around the corner, and if all these people go and sit around Delhi, the national capital, the government has to do something to resolve this,” said RS Khatra, a farmer and retired Indian army officer who supports the protest. “By stopping them here, the government can breathe easy.”

The government did not respond to a request for comment, but has held four rounds of talks with the farmers and reportedly offered them some concessions on minimum prices.

The Indian march comes alongside an international wave of protests by farmers, who have in blocked roads in Germany, spilled imported Ukrainian grain in Poland and scrapped with police in France and Belgium.

This week Indian protesters set alight effigies meant to represent the World Trade Organization, which farmers blame for the government’s reluctance to give them greater price support.

“Farmers are in an agitation mood in Paris, Germany, Spain, other places — similarly in India,” said Sawinder Singh Chautala, a senior member of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, another farmers’ union. “They have been allowed to go to their capitals, but in India they are not being allowed to reach Delhi on the behest of the corporates.”

Sympathy for Punjabi farmers is limited in other parts of India because their relatively big farms make them on average more prosperous than those farther south. They are also seen by other Indians as having cornered most of the benefits of minimum support prices because of the government’s large-scale buying of wheat and rice, the state’s two biggest cash crops.

Agronomists in the 1960s and 1970s chose Punjab as a laboratory for the “Green Revolution” of improved seeds and better farming that transformed India into one of the world’s largest food producers.

Punjab and Haryana remain two of India’s most productive farming states, but overfarming of thirsty crops such as rice and wheat has depleted water and soil, and farmers say they want minimum prices to be extended to a wider range of foodstuffs to help them diversify to more sustainable crops.

They also say the prices do not take into account the rising cost of fuel, fertiliser and other inputs, and they are barred from exporting staples including wheat and rice by a government keen to keep inflation under control.

Analysts say demands for across-the-board price support are unrealistic, but the government could ease farmers’ plight by easing export bans.

“The government need to clean up the mess in the market so the farmers can get a fair price in the market,” said Ashok Gulati, an agricultural economist. “They could also announce investment support or income support, which does not distort the markets.”

Juzhar Singh, the farmer from near Amritsar, said he was prepared to camp on the highway for as long as it took to force a government rethink. “Until our demands are met, we are sitting,” he said.
India: Protect Farmers’ Right to Peaceful Protest (Human Rights Watch)
Human Rights Watch [2/29/2024 9:30 PM, Staff, 190K, Neutral]
Indian authorities are using threats, excessive force, and internet shutdowns to stop farmers from holding peaceful protests, Human Rights Watch said today. Since mid-February 2024, farmers from Punjab and Haryana states seeking higher prices for their produce have congregated outside India’s capital, New Delhi, to raise their demands.

The protests revive a year-long movement that ended in 2021 after tens of thousands of farmers camped outside New Delhi and obtained the repeal of new agricultural laws. The farmers’ current demands include an expanded list of 23 crops that the government would purchase at a minimum guaranteed price. To prevent the demonstrators from entering the city, the authorities have barricaded highways with cement blocks, metal containers, and barbed wire. Talks between the farmers and the government have been deadlocked.

“The Indian authorities have an obligation to uphold the right to peaceful protest, whoever is taking part and whatever the issue,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities may not threaten or use force against the farmers to deny their right to express their views in a peaceful manner.”

India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government has repeatedly cracked down on peaceful protests and arrested critics of government policies. In response to the farmers’ protest, the government has urged dialogue. However, the authorities have threatened to revoke demonstrators’ passports and visas, with a police official stating, “We have identified them with CCTV and drone cameras. We will request the ministry of home affairs and the embassy to cancel their visas and passports.”

The authorities also deployed drones and used tear gas shells to disperse gatherings and medical camps. They fired shotguns loaded with metal pellets, which can cause blindness and other serious injury, for crowd control. On February 21, Shubhkaran Singh, a 24-year old farmer, died of a bullet wound to the head after police repeatedly fired on protesting farmers in the area bordering Punjab and Haryana states.

The protesting farmers have taken several measures to counter security force actions, such as flying kites to distract drones, wearing swimming goggles to protect their eyes from tear gas, and using their tractors to pull down barricades.

The Haryana government imposed temporary restrictions on internet services in seven districts in an apparent attempt to disrupt the farmers’ protests, a tactic the Indian government often uses for political purposes. The Global Government Affairs team at X (formerly Twitter) stated that the Indian government issued “executive orders” requiring them to take down specific accounts on February 21. Most of these accounts, including some barred on Facebook, belong to journalists reporting on the protests, farmers union leaders, and others supporting the farmers’ actions.

India is obligated under international human rights law to ensure that internet-based restrictions are provided by law and are a necessary and proportionate response to a specific security concern. In July 2016, the United Nations Human Rights Council condemned measures to intentionally prevent or disrupt access to or dissemination of information online.

BJP supporters have used social media to describe the protesting farmers, many from the Sikh minority community, as “separatists,” a dangerous accusation. In West Bengal state, a BJP leader used a similar slur against a Sikh police officer, leading to strong condemnation by police officers and protests by the Sikh community. The authorities have repeatedly failed to hold to account BJP leaders and supporters who incite violence against religious minority communities, which communal divisions can escalate to a human rights crisis, Human Rights Watch said.

The Indian government should publicly direct the security forces to abide by the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials and take all other necessary steps to ensure that the forces act with restraint, Human Rights Watch said. Protest organizers should take steps to deter their supporters from engaging in violence against members of the public and law enforcement officers.

The 2020 UN guidance on “less-lethal weapons” in law enforcement says, “Multiple projectiles fired at the same time are inaccurate and, in general, their use cannot comply with the principles of necessity and proportionality. Metal pellets, such as those fired from shotguns, should never be used.”

“As India heads into elections, it’s critical for the BJP-led government to act to minimize rather than exacerbate political violence,” Pearson said. “A genuine commitment to human rights and democracy means providing room for dissent, peaceful protest, and political disagreement.”
Big Spending on Infrastructure Powers India’s Growth (Wall Street Journal)
Wall Street Journal [2/29/2024 8:16 AM, Vibhuti Agarwal and Shan Li, 810K, Neutral]
India’s economic growth accelerated in the most recent quarter, fueled by a government push to pave roads, expand railroads and upgrade the power grid.

The South Asian nation reported that gross domestic product grew 8.4% over the previous year in the quarter that ended in December, picking up from the 8.1% in the preceding quarter.

Economists said heavy infrastructure spending is lifting India’s economy, which continues to outperform other major economies. In early February, New Delhi unveiled an annual budget that earmarked nearly $134 billion for infrastructure projects nationwide, up about 11% from a year earlier.

“It is a combination of government consumption and public capital expenditure that is driving growth,” said Aurodeep Nandi, an economist with Nomura in Mumbai.

Domestic consumption has picked up among wealthy Indians, especially during the last three months of the year which spans the wedding season and a number of key festivals, economists said. Several Indian automakers have reported record sales in January, with total domestic passenger-vehicle sales climbing 37.3% compared with the previous month, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

But inflation continues to bite into the spending power of lower-to-middle-class consumers. While overall retail inflation eased slightly in January to 5.1%, after two months of back-to-back upticks, food prices jumped by 7.6%.

Ashok Kumar, a 43-year-old personal driver in New Delhi, said the high costs of staple foods are cutting into his family’s budget. “Prices of tomatoes and onions are shooting up but incomes are not going up,” Kumar said. “Can this be called good growth?”

His salary was recently slashed by 25% because his employers saw a decline in their garment business. Kumar said he wished the government would concentrate on improving the lives of ordinary people instead of bragging about national GDP growth.

“They think having 7% growth is the solution to all problems,” he said. “That’s a worrying attitude of the government.”

As India heads into a marathon season of state and local elections spanning over weeks, the health of the economy will be a topic hotly debated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and opposition parties.

Modi, who is running for a third term as prime minister, has proudly pointed to India’s position as the world’s fastest-growing major economy. His political rivals have countered that economic growth hasn’t translated into a bonanza of new jobs.

In January, the International Monetary Fund raised its forecast for India for the fiscal year ending March 31 to 6.7% from 6.3%, and raised its forecast for the year ahead. The government on Thursday projected a slightly higher GDP growth of 7.6% for the current fiscal year.

Many economists expect that continued government spending, combined with consumption from the country’s wealthy, will keep driving the economy.

“Despite a disturbing global macroeconomic environment, the Indian growth story is on track to drive the global economy,” said Sujan Hajra, chief economist at Anand Rathi Securities in Mumbai.
India ‘easily’ the fastest-growing economy, IMF executive director says, as GDP growth blows past estimates (CNBC)
CNBC [3/1/2024 3:40 AM, Shreyashi Sanyal, 6.8M, Neutral]
India is “easily” the fastest-growing economy in the world, IMF executive director Krishnamurthy Subramanian said, as the country’s third-quarter GDP growth blew past analysts’ estimates.

At 8.4%, India’s economy expanded at its fastest pace in six quarters, data showed late on Thursday, on strong private consumption and upbeat manufacturing and construction activity. Reuters estimates had pegged growth in the October-to-December period at 6.6%.

“If you look at the GDP numbers ... India’s poised for about 8% growth this year,” Subramanian, who is also a former chief economic adviser to the Indian government, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Friday.

The Indian government also raised its GDP growth outlook for fiscal year 2023-24 to 7.6% from 7.3% forecast earlier.

Subramanian said that growth in India’s economy was driven by a shift in the government’s focus toward higher capital expenditure, which has increased significantly over the last few years.

The Indian Finance Ministry presented a fiscally prudent interim budget in early February, estimating that the fiscal deficit for the financial year 2025 would narrow to 5.1% from the revised 5.8% for 2024, while emphasizing the government’s plan to boost spending on infrastructure.

The interim budget estimated that capital expenditure will rise 11.1%, to 11.11 trillion Indian rupees ($133.9 billion), in fiscal year 2025, while tax revenue for the year is expected to increase 11.4%, to 38.31 trillion rupees.

Subramanian said he expected similar fiscal prudence from the full union budget, which will be released after India’s general elections.

“I do expect the focus on capital expenditure to continue and the fiscal math also is looking very responsible,” he added.

The GDP data has boosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic record ahead of a highly anticipated national election.

“For PM Modi and BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) who will be going to the polls in April-May, it will yet provide another boost. For RBI (Reserve Bank of India), the strong growth momentum will only reinforce their bias to stay on hold at 6.5% for the foreseeable future,” Commerzbank analysts wrote in a note.
Cracks in G20 let Russia grow trade with China and India (Nikkei Asia)
Nikkei Asia [2/29/2024 12:33 PM, Shiori Goso, Kosuke Takami, and Akira Yamashita, 293K, Neutral]
As Group of 20 finance ministers meet in Brazil, divisions within the G20 have allowed Russia to maintain a high level of economic growth since its invasion of Ukraine by trading sharply more with China, India and other members.

Russia’s real gross domestic product rose 3.6% in 2023 by an official preliminary estimate. In January, the International Monetary Fund upgraded the country’s 2024 real GDP growth forecast to 2.6%, compared with an average forecast of just 1% for the Group of Seven advanced economies for this year.

While Western sanctions have sought to squeeze Moscow’s ability to pay for its war in Ukraine, trade has grown free from such restrictions between Russia and fellow BRICS members Brazil, India, China and South Africa.

In a joint statement Saturday, the second anniversary of the invasion, G7 leaders expressed "concern about transfers to Russia from businesses in the People’s Republic of China of dual-use materials and components for weapons and equipment for military production."

The value of imports from Russia by Japan, the U.S., the European Union and the U.K. fell about 70%, or a total of $184.1 billion, from 2021 to 2023. Meanwhile, official and other trade statistics show that the value of imports from Russia by the other BRICS members plus Indonesia and Turkey rose $124.4 billion.

This means that about 70% of the decrease in Japanese, U.S. and European imports was offset by the increase from the latter six countries.

The value of imports by India, which has maintained a neutral stance on the Russian sanctions, grew sevenfold. Imports by China increased roughly 60%, and imports by current G20 president Brazil rose about 80%. All may be record-high levels.

Imports of Russian oil and diesel fuel have increased. In December 2022, the G7 and other countries introduced measures to cap the price of Russian crude oil. But these were not meant to cut off Russia’s energy income.

There are concerns that if a certain amount of Russian crude oil does not flow into the market, high prices could spur inflation and supply instability could become an economic headwind for developing countries.

Russia’s oil tax revenues fell 40% on the year for the January-September period, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.

"Since implementing the price cap, these [emerging] countries have benefited from increased stability and lower prices," U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told a news conference Tuesday in Sao Paulo, Brazil, ahead of meetings of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors. This stability has come at the price of allowing some funding for Russia’s war machine.

The sanctions network hastily put together by Western countries in the immediate aftermath of the invasion has failed to isolate the Russian economy. Although major Russian banks were cut off from the SWIFT international payment messaging network, Gazprombank -- a vital channel for payments to the Russian energy industry -- was spared.

Gazprombank continues to function as a hub for payments for liquefied natural gas and other Russian resource exports.

Some countries are strengthening ties with Russia. China has expanded yuan settlements in order to boost trade with Russia. Reuters reported in 2023 that India was in talks with Russia on a free trade agreement.

The biggest risk for Western unity now is U.S. politics. Ahead of the presidential election in November, Congress is deadlocked over the continuation of aid to Ukraine as hard-line Republicans close to former President Donald Trump oppose a deal that does not increase security at the U.S.-Mexico border.

"The House of Representatives must now act to maintain budget support for Ukraine to enable Ukraine’s continued heroic resistance," Yellen said at Tuesday’s news conference.

The G7’s GDP has shrunk to 40% or so of the world’s. The BRICS account for around 40% of the global population, and continued high growth is expected in the future now that five new countries have joined the grouping this year. With the G20 unable to reach consensus, there is a limit to the effectiveness of economic sanctions.
Blast at cafe in India’s Bengaluru injures 4, police say (Reuters)
Reuters [3/1/2024 4:50 AM, Indranil Sarkar, Shivam Patel, and Tanvi Mehta, 5.2M, Negative]
At least four people were injured in a blast at a popular cafe in India’s technology hub of Bengaluru on Friday, police said.

The blast at Rameshwaram Cafe in the east of the city occurred during the busy lunch hour when crowds from nearby offices line up.

The cause of the blast was not immediately known, a policeman at the site said, adding that a bomb squad was on its way to investigate.

Television footage showed some minor damage inside the cafe premises, with police and fire officers clearing crowds that gathered after the blast.
NSB
Fire in Bangladeshi Shopping Mall Kills Dozens (New York Times)
New York Times [3/1/2024 2:27 AM, Saif Hasnat and Orlando Mayorquin, 831K, Negative]
A fire ripped through a shopping mall in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, late Thursday, killing at least 46 people and leaving dozens of others injured, officials said.

The deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning after people became stuck in an enclosed room and suffocated from the smoke, the country’s health minister, Dr. Samanta Lal Sen, told reporters.

At least 75 other people were injured, fire officials said.

Earlier, Bachchu Mia, a police inspector at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, said that at least 27 bodies had been identified and sent to their families.

Witnesses said the shopping mall had one staircase and elevator, with no emergency exit, making escape difficult. Some people trapped inside jumped from higher floors, they said.

Deadly fires and industrial disasters, particularly in garment factories, have been a recurring problem in Bangladesh. The steady economic growth of the country of 170 million people has been a regional success story in recent years, but human rights and labor organizations have long expressed concern about poor working conditions and workplace safety measures.

The worst of the disasters happened in 2013, when the collapse of an eight-story garment factory killed more than 1,100 people. In 2021, a factory fire in the city of Narayanganj killed more than 50 people.

The fire erupted at about 9:51 p.m. on the mall’s second floor, which features a popular biryani restaurant, fire officials said. It quickly spread to the rest of the seven-story building, ripping through a clothing store on the third floor.

The restaurant, called Kacchi Bhai, said on its website that the fire had started on the ground floor. On its Facebook account, it posted a video of a part of the building’s ground floor ablaze in what appears to be an early stage of the fire.

It took crews at least two hours to put the fire out, officials said.

Video showed that most of the floors had been charred by the flames. A firefighter atop a fire engine ladder could be seen trying to extinguish a small fire that was still burning near one of the upper floors. Another video showed survivors being lowered onto a ladder as a crush of emergency workers, media and onlookers waited to receive them on street below.

The shopping mall, on Bailey Road, houses a mix of eateries and stores. Almost every floor has a restaurant, and most have gas cylinders, a fire official told a television news reporter. He added that the cylinders could have played a role in the fire spreading so quickly. It was unknown what caused the fire.

The mall is a popular spot on Thursdays, the end of the workweek in Bangladesh. On Friday morning, only a burned out husk remained.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police officers were investigating the scene on Friday morning, using a drone overhead. Police tried to corral hundreds of onlookers.

Ismail Hossain Sohel, an information technology engineer who often visited a restaurant and music cafe, Ambrosia, in the building, said he was about to enter just before the fire engulfed the mall.

“I’ve never seen a disaster like this before,” he said, recounting how a man had jumped from the third floor, injuring his head.

Salman Alim, who works at the Pizza Inn at the mall, said his workday had ended about two hours before the fire started.

By the time Mr. Alim returned, the fire was raging, he said. “None of our employees were killed,” he added. “They ran to the top floor, and the fire people rescued them.”
Bangladeshi leader says a shopping mall that caught fire had no emergency exits. Death toll climbs (AP)
AP [3/1/2024 5:02 AM, Staff, 441K, Negative]
A six-story shopping mall that caught fire in the Bangladeshi capital had no fire exits, the country’s prime minister said Friday, as the death toll climbed to at least 46 and rescuers continued to search for more victims.

The fire started late Thursday in a restaurant on the first floor of the Green Cozy Cottage Shopping Mall in downtown Dhaka. More than a dozen firefighting units were deployed.

Firefighters rescued survivors and pulled out bodies, and by early Friday, at least 43 people were confirmed dead. Three injured people died later, said Health Minister Samanta Lal Sen. He said the toll could rise further as at least a dozen critically injured people were being treated in two state-run hospitals.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her shock at the loss of lives and said that it was a result of negligence.

“What could be more painful than this?” she said, speaking at an unrelated event in Dhaka.

“We always request our architects, at least when they design homes or buildings, (to) keep a small open balcony, a fire exit or ventilation. But architects ... will not design that properly and also the owners do not want to leave an inch of space,” she said.

One survivor said people escaped by heading to the building’s roof.

“I knew about the fire when it was at the first floor. We moved to the roof of the building. Around 30 people were there. After the fire was under control, fire service personnel broke into one side of the roof and rescued us,” Mohammed Siam said.

Forty-one victims have been identified and 38 of the bodies have been handed to their families, said Bacchu Mia, who is in charge of a police outpost at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

“Overnight many families waited here for their loved ones. It’s a heartbreaking scene as they desperately looked for their family members who died in the tragedy,” Mia said.

Five members of one family were among the dead, while the toll also included students, teachers and two reporters. The fire broke out at the beginning of the country’s weekend and many people were dining.

A fire department team entered the charred building Friday morning to see if there were more bodies, and forensic experts began looking for evidence.

The cause of the fire has not been determined. But the fire service department said the building owner was served at least three times with notice to correct the building’s fire extinguishing system.

Bangladesh has a history of such fires in commercial buildings in Dhaka and outside. Experts say lax monitoring and violation of building codes by construction companies and owners have proved deadly.
Bangladesh building fire kills 45, injures dozens (Reuters)
Reuters [2/29/2024 11:56 PM, Ruma Paul, 5239K, Neutral]
A massive fire in Bangladesh that raced through a six-storey building home to restaurants where many families with children were dining has killed at least 45 people and injured dozens, the health minister said on Friday.

Fire authorities said a gas leak or a stove could have caused Thursday’s blaze in the capital, which spread quickly after breaking out in a biryani restaurant, and was only reined in following two hours of effort by 13 units of firefighters.

Hospitals are treating 22 people with burn wounds, Health Minister Samanta Lal Sen told reporters.

"All 22 people ... are in critical condition," Sen said after a visit to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed shock and sorrow over the incident, ordering officials to provide swift treatment for the injured.

One survivor, Mohammad Altaf, recounted his narrow escape from the blaze that killed two colleagues.

"I went to the kitchen, broke a window and jumped to save myself," he told reporters, adding that a cashier and server who urged people to leave during the first moments had died later.

Firefighters used cranes to rescue people from the charred building, said fire officials, who were still working to clear debris and stamp out any remaining embers.

Relatives gathered at the hospital early on Friday to receive the bodies of the dead, with some mourning outside the emergency department.

Doctors said most of the dead were killed by suffocation with others dying as they jumped off the building, which also houses some clothing and mobile telephone shops.

The fire could have originated from a gas leak or stove, said Brigadier General Main Uddin, a top fire service official.

"It was a dangerous building with gas cylinders on every floor, even on the staircases," he told reporters.

The government has set up a five-member panel to investigate the incident.

Intense scrutiny of Bangladesh and the major global clothing retailers that manufacture there has helped prevent disasters in the garment sector since a fire in 2012 and a building collapse in 2013 together killed more than 1,200 workers.

But in other industries, mainly catering to Bangladesh’s booming domestic economy and lacking equal emphasis on safety, hundreds of people have died in fires.

Fires are common in densely populated Dhaka, where many new buildings have sprung up, many without adequate safety measures. Fires and explosions have resulted from faulty gas cylinders, air conditioners and poor electrical wiring.

In July 2021, many children were among 54 people killed at a food processing factory outside Dhaka, while at least 70 were killed in a February 2019 fire that engulfed a centuries-old precinct.
India begins replacing military personnel with civilians in response to Maldives’ demand (AP)
AP [2/29/2024 9:09 AM, Staff, 22K, Neutral]
India on Thursday said it has begun replacing dozens of its military personnel in Maldives with civilian technical staff who will operate three aircraft given by India to provide humanitarian services.

The first batch of technicians to operate a helicopter has reached Maldives, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

The decision comes after new Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu demanded that the Indian military personnel be withdrawn by March 15.

At least 75 Indian military personnel are believed to be in Maldives. Their known activities include transporting patients from remote islands and rescuing people at sea. India earlier gave Maldives a Dornier airplane and two helicopters.

Tensions between India and Maldives have grown since pro-China Muizzu came to power last year.

The Maldives Foreign Ministry said last month that officials from the two countries had agreed that India would complete the withdrawal of its troops by May 10.

After taking office, Muizzu visited China ahead of India and said Maldives’ small size is not a license for anyone to bully it. His comments were an apparent response to calls on social media in India for tourists to boycott Maldives after three Maldives deputy ministers made derogatory posts about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The dispute began in January when Modi posted pictures on X, formerly known as Twitter, of himself strolling on the beach and snorkeling in Lakshadweep, an Indian archipelago that his government believes has untapped tourism potential.

Some in Maldives saw it as an attempt to lure tourists away from its sandy white beaches and luxury island resorts.

Muizzu suspended the deputy ministers, saying their comments did not reflect government policy. However, Muizzu announced plans after returning from China to end Maldives’ dependence on India and find alternate places for Maldivians to obtain education and health services and import food and medicine.
Suing Maldives to Enforce its Environmental Laws (Human Rights Watch)
Human Rights Watch [2/29/2024 1:32 AM, Robbie Newton, 190K, Neutral]
An ongoing court case in the Maldives sheds light on why it is so hard to get the government to enforce the country’s environmental laws.

The Maldives is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the consequences of climate change, with 80 percent of the archipelago’s islands less than a meter above sea level. The government has enacted significant environmental legislation, most notably the Environment Protection and Preservation Act, which mandates Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for all development projects.

The act stipulates that EIAs must be carried out before development projects can be approved. However, government ministries often preapprove projects, rendering EIAs little more than box-ticking exercises. A former official from the Maldives Environmental Protection Agency told Human Rights Watch that once EIAs are published for a particular project, officials often reject most of the recommendations.

These issues are being played out in Maldives courts in the case of the Gulhifalhu reclamation project. In 2019, the Maldives government awarded the project to the Dutch construction company Boskalis without any formal tendering process, in a deal reportedly worth US$53 million. Six months later, the authorities released an EIA that revealed that the project could cause irreversible environmental damage. The decision to proceed with the project had been made prior to the completion of the EIA.

In 2021, climate activist Humaida Abdul Gafoor filed a case against the government on the grounds that the reclamation project risked causing serious economic, environmental, and cultural harm to the local community.

Earlier this month, climate activists were encouraged when the high court issued an injunction to suspend work on the reclamation project with immediate effect, pending a final ruling in the case. However, the government immediately appealed the injunction to the Supreme Court, arguing that a halt would cause severe financial losses to the project. The Supreme Court lifted the injunction, allowing work on the project to continue.

The case can still proceed to the merits, even as the reclamation continues to cause harm. But importantly it has already put the government on notice that if it wants this and similar projects to continue, it will be subjecting its lax enforcement of the country’s environmental protection laws not only to judicial scrutiny, but to the scrutiny of the Maldives public and beyond.

Instead, the Maldives government should be championing its environmental protection laws and minimizing the environmental damage caused by development projects.
Sri Lanka halts free visas for long-staying Russian, Ukrainian nationals (Reuters
Reuters [2/29/2024 5:54 AM, Uditha Jayasinghe, 11975K, Neutral]
Sri Lanka has decided to stop issuing free long-term visas to Russian and Ukrainian nationals who have lived in the Indian Ocean island nation for the past two years, a government official said on Thursday.

Since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Sri Lanka has allowed Russians and Ukrainians to stay in the country without paying for visas, but they will now have to pay the charges.

The rate is about $50 for a 30-day visa, if they wish to stay in Sri Lanka, Public Security Minister Tiran Alles told Reuters.

"Whoever wants to stay back can apply for new visas," Alles added. "They can immediately renew their visas and remain here."

Last week immigration authorities said they were ending the free long-term visa scheme for Russian and Ukraine nationals, setting a March 7 deadline for the departure of those without new visas in a notice that sparked comment on social media.

About 300 to 400 Russians and Ukrainians are estimated to have been staying in Sri Lanka since February 2022, said Priantha Fernando, the chairman of the island’s tourism body.

"This has nothing to do with normal tourists," Fernando said. "We are more than welcoming them ... there is no issue."

Britain, Germany, India and Russia are the top sources of visitors to Sri Lanka, which has already received close to 400,000 tourists in 2024.

Sri Lanka aims to welcome about 2.2 million tourists by December in its efforts to recover from the worst financial crisis in decades.

New Russian tourists will be eligible for free visas under a separate promotion scheme adopted from last November, however.

Under that scheme, tourists from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Russia and Thailand will continue to be issued free visas till March 31.
Central Asia
Kazakhstan to unify time zones across 1,900 miles (Reuters)
Reuters [2/29/2024 8:14 AM, Olzhas Auyezov, 5239K, Neutral]
Consumers in Kazakhstan have received messages from banks, mobile telecommunications operators and other service providers warning of possible disruptions as most of the country prepares to switch to a different time zone from March 1.

In order to unify time across the country the size of Western Europe, most of Kazakhstan’s regions will move their clocks back by one hour at midnight on Thursday, putting the whole country in the UTC+5 time zone.

Until now, only the country’s western provinces were in that time zone, while others, including main cities Astana and Almaty, were an hour ahead. Kazakhstan, which borders Russia and China, stretches 3,000 kilometres (about 1,900 miles) from east to west.

Kazakhstan’s backbone oil industry is concentrated in its west and is therefore unlikely to suffer from any disruptions.
The Kazakh Connection Shows How Europe’s Russia Trade Is Flowing (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [2/29/2024 1:05 PM, Bastian Benrath, 5543K, Neutral]
European exports to Russia haven’t stopped in the two years since war broke out, but they’re taking some long and quirky detours.

That’s the crux of research by Bloomberg Economics, which focuses on Kazakhstan to study how trade flows have shifted since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. It shows that Europe’s curbs on transportation to Russia have drastically rewired commercial ties, rather than cutting them altogether.

“Trade ties with Russia have remained stronger than the headline data suggest, and so the impact of sanctions on Putin’s war economy has been less than appears,” economists Alex Isakov and Gerard DiPippo wrote in their report. “Shipments have still fallen markedly, but not by as much as the bilateral data suggest.”

While Moscow does obtain prohibited goods from the European Union, they found that only 7% of Kazakhstan’s increased sales to Russia in 2023 can be linked to such items. Tools and cars are among other categories of exports that have risen. The EU sanctions include aircraft, firearms and some semiconductors.

Russia relies on shell companies to seek out goods for military production. Trade through intermediary countries, when it first emerged in the wake of the conflict, alarmed European officials, worried that parts of ordinary consumer goods such as washing machines could be redeployed.

The Bloomberg economists honed in on Kazakhstan, which is one of the likely hubs along with Turkey for so-called transshipment of goods to Russia, for a granular look at how exports via intermediary nations have soared.

“For Kazakhstan, we find that most of the increase is likely driven by workarounds for transportation restrictions rather than trade in sanctioned goods,” they said.

That points to the impact of limits on transportation and logistics services imposed by the EU. Road freight was banned, and Russian-owned aircraft were outlawed from the region’s airspace.

The study ultimately points to the unintended consequences that sanctions can have, and to shortcomings in the current EU approach.

Tightening up such limits will help — including a new measure called the “no re-export to Russia” clause for contracts, Isakov and DiPippo say.

Even so, Robin Brooks, who will join the Brookings Institution in Washington as a senior fellow in March, says that the continuing trade flows underscores how Europe needs to do more.

“The question is, why do sanctions not work?” he said. “In the case of the EU, it’s because there are vested interests — there are some very rich people and some very big businesses who are not interested in having them work — and governments are unfortunately listening to them.”
Kyrgyzstan: As net tightens around Matraimov, Japarov is clearing field of viable threats (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [2/29/2024 4:14 PM, Ayzirek Imanaliyeva, 57.6K, Negative]
There was a time when many in Kyrgyzstan’s political elite would have been honored to enjoy an association with Rayimbek Matraimov.

That remained the case even after investigative journalists published a series of bombshell reports in 2019 exposing how the former deputy head of the customs services had allegedly amassed vast riches through smuggling. Officials at the time mumbled weak promises to investigate the claims. Those pledges came to nothing.

Now that the government is putting the squeeze on Matraimov, however, the fallen kingmaker’s erstwhile allies are scrambling desperately to distance themselves from him. Even his brother, a member of parliament, has got in on the act.

“By law, when a person reaches the age of 18, their parents are no longer responsible for them. A brother is likewise not responsible for their younger sibling. He can answer for his own work,” Iskender Matraimov told RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz service, Radio Azattyk, earlier this month.

Iskender Matraimov was just one of multiple MPs to enjoy his once-powerful brother’s political patronage.

On February 15, a pro-government television station, Region, ran a report detailing the alleged links between several of those MPs to the former customs boss and concluded with a demand that they all surrender their seats.

This generated the string of disavowals.

One came from Nadira Narmatova, who has sought to curry the government’s favor by casting herself as an attack dog against critics of the authorities.

Another MP, Aibek Osmonov, who is on record showering praise on Matraimov’s charitable Ismail-Ata Foundation, said he refused to give up his seat. The only reason he knew Matraimov was that they grew up in the same district in the southern city of Osh, he insisted.

“The whole area knows him. We all know each other. And if everyone knows each other, then there will be some kind of relationship, right?” he said.

Shailoobek Atazov conceded that he had organized rallies in support of Matraimov in 2021, but added that he was, after all, “elected by the people,” so there was no reason for him to resign his mandate.

These protestations have not proven sufficient.

Sensing the mounting pressure, Iskender Matraimov and another deputy, Nurlan Razhabaliyev, also an ex-customs official, eventually agreed to leave parliament. The Central Election Commission accepted their resignations on February 22. A week later, several media outlets reported that Iskender Matraimov, along with Osmonov and Atazov, had slipped out of the country. Osmonov told reporters he had gone abroad for his annual medical check-up.

As for Rayimbek Matraimov himself, he is said to be on the run overseas. This revelation emerged in January, when the head of the security services, Kamchybek Tashiyev, announced that the government was poised to confiscate the former customs official’s considerable assets and properties. Matraimov is now reportedly being sought on charges that include “forcibly depriving a person’s freedom.”

“We will take away all his property in Osh and in all of Kyrgyzstan. We will not leave him even 100 square meters of land. And even if he returns, he will no longer be that once-strong Rayim Million,” Tashiyev said, deploying Matraimov’s widely used nickname.

The reference to Osh, which is the name of the eponymous region, was not incidental. The south of Kyrgyzstan was Matraimov’s stronghold and the site of many of his properties.

Multiple residential and commercial properties belonging to the Matraimov family, in Osh and Bishkek, worth around $80 million in the aggregate, according to security officials, have now been seized.

The team around President Sadyr Japarov will point to these developments as the fulfillment of promises made shortly after he seized power amid protests against hotly contested parliamentary elections in October 2020.

Matraimov was, indeed, arguably a key trigger of the events that led to Japarov’s rise to office. Observers of Kyrgyzstan’s political scene universally agreed that those elections were poised to produce a chamber stuffed with Matraimov proxies and loyalists of then-President Sooronbai Jeenbekov.

An initially peaceful rally on the evening of October 5 imperceptibly graduated into turmoil. By the following morning, Japarov, a firebrand ex-MP who had been serving a prison sentence for hostage-taking, had been released and addressed his supporters in downtown Bishkek.

A couple of days later, Japarov delivered another emotion-laden speech to a boisterous crowd in which he vowed that he would throw Matraimov into prison.

“Rayim-Million will be arrested. I have not yet fully got into running state affairs. But as soon as I do, he will be arrested,” said Japarov, who was still at that stage jostling for power.

Sure enough, once Japarov had succeeded in chasing out Jeenbekov, the security services declared that they had filed corruption charges against Matraimov. This was a largely performative exercise, however. The jailed ex-customs boss consented to plead guilty to some corruption charges and was levied a paltry $3,000 fine. He also agreed on the side to hand over 2 billion som ($24.5 million) in cash and assets to the state in compensation for damage caused to the country’s coffers by his activities. And again he was free.

This relatively light treatment gave rise to speculation about whether Matraimov’s arrest was simply theater, and if he might continue to play some kind of role in backroom politics. Or at least be allowed to enjoy his ill-gotten riches in freedom.

If any deal was hatched, it was definitively nixed in January.

Political analyst Medet Tiulegenov told Eurasianet he believes that this latest assault on Matraimov stems from Japarov’s desire to be seen as keeping his word.

“Japarov has mentally drawn the line that half of his [six-year] presidential term has passed and that a second one is looming. And so this is the time to remember what promises were made and … to somehow try to fulfill them,” Tiulegenov said.

There is another, harder-edged and more pragmatic, explanation, though.

The formal political opposition to Japarov has all but been sidelined. The October 2022 arrest of dozens of activists campaigning against a land swap deal with Uzbekistan has cowed many into silence. Some figures who nevertheless insisted on being troublesome have been dealt with. The independent media scene is wilting under growing pressure. Nongovernmental groups are in the crosshairs too.

In truth, though, the elements deemed as posing the most substantial danger to the authority wielded by Japarov and his closest associate, the security services chief, Tashiyev, were those operating in the shadows.

Matraimov was one.

Another was powerful crime boss Kamchybek Kolbayev, a figure so notorious that he was even wanted by the U.S. government. But in October, Kolbayev was cornered in a cafe in Bishkek and killed in an armed standoff against security service special forces troops.

Tashiyev declared all-out war on organized crime after that.

“From now on, in our country there will be no thieves-in-law, no leaders of organized crime groups, no criminal organizations,” Tashiyev said in a speech.

Tiulegenov said that the fight against Matraimov and the killing of Kolbayev should be seen as links in the same chain.

“This is a clearing of the field of possible competitors,” he said.
Swathes of Tajikistan crippled by unexplained power outage (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [3/1/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, 57.6K, Negativel]
Entire swathes of Tajikistan were left without electricity for around three hours on March 1 amid what appears to have been a major technical malfunction.

Households in the capital, Dushanbe, reported power outages at around 11 a.m. local time. Electricity supplies were restored three hours later.

Many homes were left without heating and hot water, both of which are supplied by means of a centralized system.

After weeks of unseasonably warm weather, daytime temperatures in Dushanbe have in recent days slipped to near or below freezing. This has prompted many to fall back on electric heaters, which appears in turn to have triggered staggered outages. Cold weather conditions are forecast to persist over the weekend.

Over the duration of the outage, no government officials publicly commented on the situation.

Independent media outlet Asia-Plus cited unnamed sources as saying there had been an unspecified incident at the Nurek hydroelectric power plant. According to the World Bank’s estimates, Nurek, which first went online in 1972, provides around 50 percent of the country’s total energy needs. Asia-Plus said it was unable to get through to state-run power company Barki Tojik or Dushanbe city hall for official comment.

Some Dushanbe residents reported being left without running water at all. Certain mobile internet providers were also down. Mobile banking apps, which are increasingly used by Tajiks for their daily shopping needs, were not functioning.

There were indications that some parts of the country were spared the blackout. Asia-Plus said electricity was being supplied to homes in the southern city of Bokhtar.

Another region of the country that should have been unaffected was the mountainous Pamirs region of Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, or GBAO, which is provided with electricity by local hydroelectric generators.

While Dushanbe has latterly become unused to experiencing lengthy power outages, the rest of the country accepts them as a routine.

When the temperature sinks below a certain level, output from the Nurek plant grinds to a near-halt. Under the annually imposed economy regime, which is meant to be ending sometime this month, households outside the country’s largest urban centers endure blackouts from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and then from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Uzbekistan plans to build $10 billion chemicals plant (Reuters)
Reuters [3/1/2024 5:15 AM, Mukhammadsharif Mamatkulov, 223K, Negative]
Uzbekistan plans to build a large chemicals plant worth more than $10 billion by 2028 in the Khorezm region in the northwest of the country, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s office said on Friday.

It said Mirziyoyev has discussed the project with government officials and a large foreign investor during his visit to the region, without naming the potential investor.

When built, the facility is expected to be capable of producing 2.5 million metric tons of products per year and create 3,000 jobs, it said.

Uzbekistan´s production of natural gas, which will be the feedstock for the plant, has been declining in recent years and amounted to 46.7 billion cubic metres in 2023, a year-on-year decrease of 9.6%.

The country has started importing Russian gas, and plans to boost such purchases.
Italian Insurer Buttresses Russian Gas Investment in Uzbekistan (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [2/29/2024 1:11 PM, Paolo Sorbello, 201K, Neutral]
The main state-controlled insurer in Italy is guaranteeing a petrochemical project in Uzbekistan that could be backed by Russia’s Gazprombank, an investigation showed, raising doubts about a potential indirect collaboration between Italian institutions and a lender under U.S. and U.K. sanctions.

The investigation by Re:Common, an Italian environment and corruption watchdog, drew a link between SACE, the state-owned Italian insurer, and an engineering company owned by Bakhtiyor Fazilov, a businessman from Samarkand, and allegedly bankrolled by Gazprombank.

Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Energy signed a memorandum of understanding in 2021 with Vnesheconombank (VBE), a Russian state-owned foreign investment bank, and Gazprombank, among others for the development of a new gas-to-chemical complex in Karakul, a special economic zone in the Bukhara region.

Shortly after the project was kickstarted, Versalis, the petrochemicals subsidiary of Italy’s ENI (which in turn is 30 percent owned by the Italian government), won a tender with the complex’s main contractor, the Singapore-based Enter Engineering Pte. Ltd. Other Italian companies also won tenders for specific supplies.

With a $3 billion commitment, Singapore-based Enter Engineering Pte. Ltd. is the main contractor of the project and has unequivocal links to Russia through Fazilov, who also owns Eriell, an oilfield service group.

According to industry data seen by Re:Common, SACE is guaranteeing the financing of at least two deals worth 51.4 million euro. The first is an 11.4 million euro Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) service that Enter Engineering subcontracted to the Italian branch of Wood, a Scotland-based engineering company. Italy’s Unicredit, one of the country’s largest lenders, is the financial link of the operation, figuring in the contract as the “facility agent.” The second is a 40 million euro deal to supply industrial machinery, the financing of which was set up by Unicredit as the “mandated lead arranger.” An Italian company is poised to supply the machinery to a plastic bags factory in Uzbekistan.

Essentially, should Enter Engineering fail to meet its contractual obligations and pay the Italian suppliers, SACE would step in and compensate the companies, while attempting to collect the debt via other legal means. In case of default, according to Re:Common, Enter Engineering could be subjected to a previous “put and call” agreement that the company seems to have with Gazprombank.

Through a complex web of relations with Cyprus-based companies related to both Fazilov and Gazprombank, the worst-case scenario for Enter Engineering could mean that its shares could be transferred to the sanctioned Russian bank.

A worst-case scenario, though potentially unlikely, should be taken into account by the insurer, which manages 300 billion euro in savings of Italian taxpayers.

Investigations from 2023 support the findings by Re:Common, especially regarding the links between companies owned by Fazilov and sanctioned Russian entities and individuals.

Radio Ozodlik, RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service, found that “the granting of development and extraction rights [and contracts] to obscure offshore firms located in Cyprus, Singapore, China, and Great Britain, among other jurisdictions, are grounded primarily on decrees issued by [Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat] Mirziyoyev himself.”

Within this context, the principal beneficiary has been Russia’s gas giant Gazprom, specifically via ties to Fazilov.

A detailed report of the investigation was published by Kristian Lasslett, a professor at the University of Ulster focusing on corruption.

The report indicates that companies tied to Uzbekistan’s and Russia’s governments formed an international consortium, or as the dossier puts it “an octopus.” Given that Russian stakeholders exercise significant control and that the consortium “has secured a sizable share in Uzbekistan’s gas and oil fields, gas storage and oil/gas refining capability,” the report concludes that “the Kremlin [holds] potential leverage” over Uzbekistan through one of its key industries.

Given the right of reply, Fazilov answered sharply: “We hereby confirm you that your information is grossly incorrect, inaccurate and incomplete.” The businessman, however, did not specify which part of the report contained factual mistakes.

While the agreements between SACE and the main contractors and backers of the petrochemical complex pre-date the start of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, the contracts might have to be reconsidered in light of the current risks associated with the Russian role in the Uzbek project. As Re:Common’s report concludes, over the long term “SACE could now end up helping one of Russia’s most important banks.”
Twitter
Afghanistan
Tajuden Soroush
@TajudenSoroush
[3/1/2024 4:46 AM, 159.3K followers, 26 retweets, 94 likes]
Last week, the Taliban fired at a vehicle carrying Pakistani diplomats in Pol Matak area of Parwan province, in which two Pakistani diplomats were injured. Following this incident, Pakistan has demanded Taliban an investigation into this incident, sources in Kabul.

Bilal Sarwary
@bsarwary
[2/29/2024 9:38 AM, 251.4K followers, 31 retweets, 57 likes]
Taliban’s notorious GDI intelligence chief issues another directive to all intelligence officers and intelligence departments urging them to abstain from attending meetings organized by aid and humanitarian agencies involving female photography. Officers are also instructed to share details of such meetings where such photos and videos are shot, with the head office, and awaiting further actions. Such unnecessary restrictions on videos, photography and meetings will affect the work of aid agencies as raising future funding requires a level of transparency and evidence. Afghans, particularly women are grappled with a group limiting their civil liberties on a daily basis on the name of religion.

Heather Barr
@heatherbarr1
[2/29/2024 10:25 AM, 62.3K followers, 12 retweets, 57 likes]
Appreciate @SR_Afghanistan mentioning Taliban attacks on the rights of LGBTQI+ Afghans, an issue too often ignored by the UN.
Pakistan
Madiha Afzal
@MadihaAfzal
[2/29/2024 5:31 PM, 42.4K followers, 315 retweets, 720 likes]
The military failed at decimating the PTI after the most heavy-handed crackdown a party has seen in recent decades, and Pakistanis saw that. They have realized the power of their votes. And they will use it again. My latest on Pakistan’s 2024 election: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/pakistans-surprising-and-marred-2024-election-and-what-comes-next/

Hamid Mir
@HamidMirPAK
[2/29/2024 12:13 AM, 8.4M followers, 120 retweets, 440 likes]
Govt of shaheed Benazir Bhutto dismissed due to many reasons. 1-Gas pipeline from Iran, 2-Signing of contract about another gas pipeline from Turkemanistan with Argentinian company instead of an American company and 3- Missile technology from North Korea.
India
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[2/29/2024 1:38 PM, 95.8K followers, 1.6K retweets, 5.6K likes]
From Sindri, projects relating to fertiliser, rail and power sectors are being launched. These will strengthen Jharkhand’s progress and strengthen the state’s economy.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[2/29/2024 9:59 PM, 95.8K followers, 3.4K retweets, 15K likes]
With the Cabinet approval of 3 semiconductor units under the India Semiconductor Mission, we are further strengthening our transformative journey towards technological self-reliance. This will also ensure India emerges as a global hub in semiconductor manufacturing.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[2/29/2024 8:13 AM, 95.8K followers, 23K retweets, 76K likes]
Robust 8.4% GDP growth in Q3 2023-24 shows the strength of Indian economy and its potential. Our efforts will continue to bring fast economic growth which shall help 140 crore Indians lead a better life and create a Viksit Bharat!

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[2/29/2024 10:24 AM, 3M followers, 406 retweets, 2.2K likes]
Addressed the inaugural session of the #AsiaEconomicDialogue 2024 virtually today. Highlighted the three broad geoeconomic challenges facing us - supply-chain challenge, technology challenge and challenge of over-concentrations stemming from the nature of globalization. Our goals and ambitions cannot be determined by the goodwill of others. Stressed on the need to build deep national strengths during the Amrit Kaal that will drive the transition towards a developed economy and a leading power. My remarks: https://twitter.com/i/status/1763223815197454560

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[2/29/2024 10:22 AM, 3M followers, 507 retweets, 6.1K likes]
A warm interaction with a delegation of Sikhs for America led by Shri Jasdip Singh. Wish them all success as they keep working to strengthen India-US relationship.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[2/29/2024 6:37 AM, 3M followers, 648 retweets, 4.4K likes]
Significant decisions taken at the meeting of the Cabinet today: 1. Approval of three semiconductor units under Development of Semiconductors and Display Manufacturing Ecosystems in India. Will develop capabilities in chip fabrication and lead to indigenous development of advanced packaging technologies. https://x.com/pib_india/status/1763160127681548663?s=46&t=2N6X7TX2JO0EMlbL5d523g

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[2/29/2024 6:37 AM, 3M followers, 62 retweets, 431 likes]
2. Approval of PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana for installing rooftop solar in 10 million households. Will save electricity bills and help households earn additional income through sale of surplus power to DISCOMs. Will also create around 170,000 direct jobs. https://x.com/pib_india/status/1763161696330289536?s=46&t=2N6X7TX2JO0EMlbL5d523g

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[2/29/2024 6:37 AM, 3M followers, 57 retweets, 333 likes]
3. Approval of royalty rates for mining of 12 critical and strategic minerals. The decision completes the rationalisation of royalty rates for all 24 critical and strategic minerals and will enable Government to auction blocks for these 12 minerals for the first time. https://x.com/pib_india/status/1763155837286068241?s=46&t=2N6X7TX2JO0EMlbL5d523g

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[2/29/2024 6:37 AM, 3M followers, 55 retweets, 334 likes]
4. Approval of Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) rates for Kharif season. The decision provides subsidies on Phosphatic and Potassic fertilizers and includes 3 new fertilizer grades under NBS scheme.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[2/29/2024 6:37 AM, 3M followers, 61 retweets, 393 likes]
5. Approval of establishment of International Big Cat Alliance with headquarters in India.

Brahma Chellaney
@Chellaney
[3/1/2024 1:04 AM, 262.5K followers, 26 retweets, 93 likes]
My essay: China’s economic and geopolitical rise since the 1990s helped reshape the world. Now India, if it can get its act together, has an opening to change the world again with its own economic and geopolitical rise. https://openthemagazine.com/essay/the-global-swing-state/
NSB
Awami League
@albd1971
[3/1/2024 2:22 AM, 636.3K followers, 8 retweets, 8 likes]
Prime Minister #SheikhHasina has expressed deep shock and sorrow over the fire incident at a commercial building on #BaileyRoad in #Dhaka that claimed numerous lives. She prayed for the eternal salvation of the departed souls of those who died in the fire incident and expressed sympathy to their bereaved family members. #BaileyRoadFire #Bangladesh

Awami League
@albd1971
[2/29/2024 12:40 PM, 636.3K followers, 19 retweets, 53 likes]
The @bdbnp78 is active in implementing a master plan to destroy the country, said #AwamiLeague’s General Secretary @obaidulquader. He also said that #BNP was born in military camp after Ziaur Rahman seized power unconstitutionally. https://link.albd.org/5lxft #Bangladesh

Awami League
@albd1971
[2/29/2024 11:37 AM, 636.3K followers, 14 retweets, 39 likes]
The #AwamiLeague government has taken initiatives to restore and preserve 10,000 killometre waterways of #Bangladesh, State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury told parliament. Govt is also including more powerful rescue ships in its fleet https://link.albd.org/rviv8

Awami League
@albd1971
[2/29/2024 10:34 AM, 636.3K followers, 24 retweets, 72 likes]
Prime Minister #SheikhHasina has said that new crimes are emerging with the advent of advanced technology, asking the police personnel to make necessary preparations to thwart the diversified crimes. https://link.albd.org/1wu0a #CyberCrime #Bangladesh #cybersecurity

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[2/29/2024 9:22 AM, 209.7K followers, 12 retweets, 72 likes]
US-Bangladesh relations have taken a more positive turn after a Bangladesh election that the US described as not free or fair. This week for @ForeignPolicy I explain why, and also argue that this shift isn’t actually as sharp as it seems.

Sabria Chowdhury Balland
@sabriaballand
[2/29/2024 7:03 AM, 5.1K followers, 1 retweet, 7 likes]
The United Nations has said Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus is a friend of the UN and he has been critical to the development work they do today. #Bangladesh Prof Yunus remains a dear friend of UN throughout his career: Spokesperson

Namal Rajapaksa
@RajapaksaNamal
[2/29/2024 12:34 PM, 438.1K followers, 3 retweets, 20 likes]
Today at Kande Viharaya in Aluthgama, I received blessings from Most Ven. Kokkavita Vipulasara Nayaka Thero. This temple holds deep significance in our family’s history, especially with my father, @PresRajapaksa. Grateful for the blessings and guidance.

Namal Rajapaksa
@RajapaksaNamal
[2/29/2024 11:57 AM, 438.1K followers, 6 likes]
Today’s #Dasabalasena meeting in Beruwala electoral of Kalutara District. Appreciative of Mr. Prasanna Sanjeeva’s efforts in organizing the event.
Central Asia
Peter Leonard
@Peter__Leonard
[3/1/2024 2:31 AM, 22.3K followers, 13 retweets, 17 likes]
Hearing reports that Tajikistan has since around 0600 GMT been paralysed by a major power outage. No electricity in Dushanbe, even traffic lights not working. Heating and hot water also offline. Reasons unclear. May be nationwide. No officials responding to queries

Sherzod Asadov
@Sherzod_Asadov
[3/1/2024 2:14 AM, 2.1K followers, 5 likes]
Uzbekistan is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the world. Thus, the development of transport infrastructure is vital for us. Yesterday, @president_uz inaugurated the new bridge in the Amudarya district of Karakalpakstan, making people’s centuries-old dream come true

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service
@president_uz
[2/29/2024 1:58 PM, 157.7K followers, 1 retweet, 11 likes]
The head of state reviewed a presentation of investment projects slated for implementation in the Khorezm region. He engaged in discussions with the initiators of the projects – foreign investors and local entrepreneurs. The economic efficiency of the projects was deliberated, and directives were given to expedite their progress and to create additional conditions for entrepreneurs.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service
@president_uz
[2/29/2024 11:13 AM, 157.7K followers, 1 retweet, 20 likes]
In his visit to the Khorezm region, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev toured the "Khiva cluster" textile enterprise. Aligning with the global shift to eco-friendly technologies, this enterprise is particularly focused on energy efficiency. The President reviewed new initiatives designed to boost raw cotton production and transform it into higher value products, alongside efforts to localize small-tonnage truck manufacturing. The company conveyed its intention to adopt a zero-waste production process in the near future.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service
@president_uz
[2/29/2024 6:47 AM, 157.7K followers, 1 retweet, 18 likes]
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, on a dedicated working visit, arrived in the Khorezm region and proceeded to the Amudarya district in the Republic of Karakalpakstan. Here, he was part of a significant milestone—the opening ceremony of a new bridge, an event that was graced by the presence of esteemed elders from both Karakalpakstan and the Khorezm region. Subsequent to the ceremony, he held an open and sincere discussion with the public figures representing the two regions.

{End of Report}
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