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:
Thursday, March 14, 2024 6:30 AM ET

Afghanistan
Advocates Call on Congress to Avert End of Afghan Special Visa Program (VOA)
VOA [3/13/2024 2:29 PM, Akmal Dawi, 761K, Neutral]
The United States’ program to resettle former Afghan interpreters and contractors could come to an abrupt end in a few months as the number of available Special Immigrant Visas dwindles.

Activists are urging Congress to authorize additional visas, known as SIVs, with less than 8,000 remaining amid a backlog of over 120,000 applications.

“If more visas are not authorized, the program will likely run out of visas by the end of summer, which could be a death knell for the program,” said Andrew Sullivan, director of advocacy at No One Left Behind, an organization advocating for Iraqi and Afghan SIV beneficiaries.

The U.S. has ramped up SIV processing, issuing a record 39,000 SIVs in 2023. Still, demand far outstrips supply.

Last year, the U.S. Department of State asked Congress to authorize additional SIVs. The proposal received support from some lawmakers. In July, Senator Jeanne Shaheen celebrated a "landmark victory" when an amendment authorizing 20,000 new SIVs was included in the State Department’s appropriations bill.

However, it remains unclear whether the SIVs will be included in the final version of the bill, which must be approved by both the House and the Senate by March 22 to avoid a partial government shutdown.

“For two decades, the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan relied on trusted Afghan allies who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with American troops. We promised to protect them — just as they did for us; yet we are at grave risk of leaving behind many of our allies as the Taliban continue to hunt for them. We need to do more to help them and keep our promise — that’s why I secured an additional 20,000 SIVs in the bipartisan Senate-passed appropriations bill and I’ll continue fighting to get those visas included in the final package,” Shaheen told VOA in a written statement.

VOA sought comment from House Speaker Mike Johnson but has received no response.

“We are nearing the annual cap,” State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller warned last week. “We need statutory approval to raise the cap.”

Some 2½ years after the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan, evacuations of former contractors continue amid fears of Taliban reprisals.

Taliban de facto authorities say their prescribed general amnesty protects former U.S. collaborators from harm.

"Anyone who questions the Taliban’s brutality is wrong," Sullivan told VOA. “We have documented over 200 targeted reprisal killings by the Taliban.”

Since 2008, the U.S. has awarded nearly 120,000 SIVs to Afghans.

Afghanistan left out

Since the 2021 withdrawal, the U.S. government has largely excluded Afghanistan from its policy priorities. Washington refuses to recognize the Taliban regime, but also withholds support for opposition groups.

President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address last week did not include any reference to Afghanistan, a topic that previously featured prominently in U.S. policy discussions.

As Biden spoke, one man shouted, "Abbey Gate, Abbey Gate," referring to the entrance to the Kabul airport, where in August 2021 a massive explosion claimed the lives of more than 100 Afghans and 13 U.S. military personnel.

Biden “may try to turn the page on Afghanistan after his incompetence cost American lives, but NOT ON MY WATCH,” Brian Mast, a member of Congress who served in Afghanistan as an army bomb disposal expert, wrote on X.

Republican lawmakers often criticize Biden’s handling of the chaotic withdrawal. However, some activists fault the Republican-led House for inaction on the Afghan Adjustment Act, which seeks to offer legal paths to permanent residency for tens of thousands of Afghans admitted to the U.S. in 2021 and 2022 for humanitarian reasons.
Rubio bill aims to withhold UN funding for Afghanistan until assured it doesn’t funding terrorism (FOX News)
FOX News [3/13/2024 3:38 PM, Julia Johnson, 8967K, Neutral]
Sen. Marco Rubio introduced a bill that targets the United Nations and would withhold U.S. contributions to the body for the aid of Afghanistan until it is verified that the money is not finding its way to the Taliban or funding other terrorist organizations.

The bill, titled the Stop Funding Global Terrorists Act of 2024, would bar the U.S. from making "any voluntary or assessed contributions" to the U.N. for Afghanistan’s assistance, and require that the secretary of state determine and certify to the House and Senate Foreign Relations and Appropriations Committees that the money isn’t being funneled to the Taliban before the payments can be resumed.

"American taxpayer dollars should not benefit terrorist organizations, like the Taliban. Unfortunately, we are seeing this scenario play out today, in real time. Until we can be sure, we should withhold contributions to the U.N.," Rubio told Fox News Digital in a statement.

The secretary of state, under the measure, would specifically be tasked with ensuring that U.S. funds are not included in cash shipments to the country and no "specially designated global terrorist organization" is a recipient of these contributions.

Reports last year from U.S. government watchdogs montioring aid to Afghanistan following the American military withdrawal revealed that the Taliban has managed to infiltrate many charities and other bodies in order to siphon money for its own profit. According to a report from the U.S. Institute of Peace, which was commissioned by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Taliban has influenced "most U.N.-managed assistance programming."

Aid to Afghanistan and its implementation have proven to be a bipartisan issue, with both Democratic and Republican lawmakers expressing concerns after the U.S. military withdrawal in 2021.

In May 2023, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including the chairman and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, penned a letter to the U.N. secretary-general raising concerns over a mandate from the Taliban barring women from working for nongovernmental organizations (NGO) or the U.N. The group rejected the notion of male-only humanitarian aid implementation.

However, it is unclear what kind of support Rubio’s measure will garner, as it would halt any Afghanistan assistance to the U.N. from the U.S. if the Taliban is benefiting, thereby also preventing civilians from accessing the aid.
US military has completed additional review of deadly Kabul airport bombing (CNN)
CNN [3/13/2024 5:30 PM, Haley Britzky, 6098K, Neutral]
The US military has completed an additional review of the deadly Abbey Gate bombing, which killed 13 service members and dozens more Afghan civilians during the 2021 American withdrawal from Afghanistan, CNN has learned.

The review began in June last year, when the commander of US Central Command, Gen. Erik Kurilla, directed the commander of US Army Central to review public testimony from service members about their experiences at Abbey Gate.

The review was officially announced by CENTCOM in September, just days after an emotional congressional roundtable in late August where family members of the troops killed made clear their anger at the investigation and what they saw as a lack of accountability over the chaotic withdrawal.

The results of the new review, which was conducted by US Army Central, have been briefed to both Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Kurilla, a US official and source familiar with the review said. Families of the 13 service members killed in the attack — 11 Marines, one soldier, and a Navy corpsman — are “currently being informed of the findings” of the review, a statement from CENTCOM on Tuesday said.

“Our focus continues to be on fulfilling our solemn obligations to the Abbey Gate Gold Star Families,” CENTCOM said.

In announcing the review last year, CENTCOM said it was meant to determine if public testimony “contained any new information not previously considered in the [US Army Central-led] investigation of 2021.”

Among those who gave public testimony was Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who told Congress last March that he saw the suicide bomber responsible for the attack before the explosion occurred.

“Over the communication network we passed that there was a potential threat and an IED attack imminent. This was as serious as it could get,” Vargas-Andrews said, adding that when he asked for permission to shoot, “our battalion commander said, and I quote, ‘I don’t know,’ end quote.”

That review by ARCENT was completed in August, CENTCOM said last year, adding that Vargas-Andrews, who had not been interviewed in the original investigation, “made statements about his experience that contained new information not previously shared by any other witness.”

In September, Kurilla formally ordered more interviews be done with service members and other personnel to ensure the command did its “due diligence with the new information that has come to light.”

US service members involved in the original investigation often had conflicting recollections about seeing the suspected suicide bomber; some recalled a vague description that could have matched many people in the crowd, others felt confident they’d seen the person in question.

CENTCOM said Tuesday that a team of 13 Army and Marine Corps service members conducted more than 50 interviews over a period of five months, including with 12 US troops who were not interviewed in CENTCOM’s original investigation.

“These interviews sought to determine whether those service members possessed any new information surrounding the attack, and, if so, whether that information would affect the findings of the initial Abbey Gate investigation, completed in November 2021,” the CENTCOM statement said.

The original investigation found, among other things, that the bombing was not preventable as the military carried out the chaotic evacuation from Afghanistan.

“Based on our investigation at the tactical level, this was not preventable and the leaders on the ground followed the proper measures, and any time there was an imminent threat warning they followed the proper procedures: they lowered their profile, they sought cover, and at times, they even ceased operations at the gate,” Brig. Gen. Lance Curtis, the lead investigator, said in February 2022.
At least 60 Afghans killed by weeks of intense snow, rain (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [3/13/2024 8:25 AM, Staff, 11975K, Negative]
At least 60 people have been killed by heavy rain and snow in Afghanistan over the past three weeks, the government’s disaster ministry said Wednesday.

Afghanistan has been parched by an unusually dry winter, but the end of the season is normally a time when deadly bad weather -- particularly floods -- batter communities.

"Because of the snow and rains unfortunately sixty compatriots have been martyred and 23 people injured" since February 20, ministry spokesman Janan Sayeq said in a video statement.

About 1,645 houses have been totally or partially ruined and nearly 178,000 livestock killed, he added.

Since the collapse of the US-backed government and the return of the Taliban, foreign aid to Afghanistan has shrunk dramatically, undermining the already impoverished nation’s ability to respond to disasters.

Western Herat province -- still reeling from a succession of devastating earthquakes in October -- has been hit by flash floods after heavy rain since Monday evening.

Five members of the same family were killed Tuesday when the roof of their home collapsed in the provincial capital of Herat city, disaster management official Abdul Zaher Noorzai told reporters.

Provisional data showed about 250 houses had been destroyed and vast tracts of farmland flooded, he added, saying aid should begin arriving on Thursday.

Like many other houses in the area, the one that caved-in on the five relatives had been damaged in a series of earthquakes five months ago, local imam Naqibullah told AFP.

The trio of quakes -- starting on October 7 -- killed nearly 1,500 and left some 30,000 homes totally or partially destroyed, according to the United Nations.
Pakistan
IMF Team in Pakistan to Review Loan Program as New Funds Sought (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [3/13/2024 5:44 AM, Kamran Haider, 5543K, Positive]
International Monetary Fund officials will hold talks with Pakistan this week on its loan program, as the new government under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif already prepares to seek more funding from the Washington-based lender.

A team from the IMF will meet with Pakistani authorities March 14-18 to decide whether to approve the final payment under a $3 billion bailout package, the finance ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

If approved, a final tranche of $1.1 billion can be made to Pakistan. The country has already secured about $1.9 billion from the IMF under the nine-month loan program.

Pakistan had met all its targets for “successful completion of the IMF review,” the ministry said in its statement.

With the current loan package coming to an end, Sharif ordered talks on a new loan program with the IMF be fasttracked in order to bolster the economy and avoid a debt default. Newly installed Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. banker, said the government will seek a “longer and larger” facility from the Washington-based lender, local media reported Wednesday.

Sharif was elected prime minister after a disputed election last month. His party’s election manifesto included cutting the fiscal deficit and fixing the current account balance, in line with the IMF’s recommendations.
IMF to hold crucial talks with Pakistan over release of final $1.1B tranche of $3B bailout (AP)
AP [3/13/2024 9:10 PM, Munir Ahmed, 22K, Neutral]
The International Monetary Fund will hold a crucial round of talks with Pakistan’s newly elected government this week to determine whether the country has met conditions for receiving the much needed final $1.1 billion tranche of a $3 billion bailout, officials said Wednesday.

The five-day talks will begin Thursday in Islamabad with the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose advisers have hinted that Pakistan will seek a new bailout of up to $8 billion when the current one expires this month.

Pakistan is likely to get the final installment of $1.1 billion from the IMF under the 2023 bailout deal agreed to by both sides last year. It needs the funds to overcome one of the worst economic crises in its history that had raised fears the South Asian Islamic nation could default on the payment of foreign debts.

In a statement, Pakistan’s Finance Ministry said Pakistan has complied with all of the IMF’s conditions to receive the much-need final installment of $1.1 billion under the bailout which expires this month.

The ministry said once a staff-level agreement with IMF is reached, the executive board of the global lender will approve the disbursement of the $1.1 billion to Pakistan.

The latest development comes a day after Pakistan’s newly appointed Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb told reporters that Islamabad will seek a new bailout from the IMF when the current one successfully concludes.

Last year’s bailout was signed by Sharif, who replaced former premier Imran Khan after a no-confidence vote in parliament. Sharif was again elected the country’s premier this month after the Feb. 8 parliamentary elections.

The latest development comes days after Khan wrote a letter to the IMF urging it to link any talks with Islamabad to an audit of the recent elections, which his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party says were rigged. Authorities have dismissed the charge as baseless.

So far, the IMF has not commented on Khan’s letter.

Khan has come under criticism by Sharif’s government for writing the letter, which said it was a bid by Khan to harm the economy. Pakistan narrowly averted a default on foreign payments last summer when the IMF approved the bailout for it following monthslong talks.

Sharif this week said that his biggest challenge is to overcome the lingering economic crisis.
Pakistan to ask for new, longer-term bailout during IMF review (Reuters)
Reuters [3/13/2024 2:21 PM, Asif Shahzad and Ariba Shahid, 5.2M, Neutral]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will hold a second and last review of Pakistan’s $3 billion stand-by arrangement (SBA) this week, the finance ministry and the IMF said on Wednesday, during which the South Asian nation will ask for a new longer-term bailout.

The four-day review begins on Thursday, the ministry said in a statement, and if successful, will release a final tranche of around $1.1 billion secured by Islamabad under a last-gasp rescue package last summer, averting a sovereign debt default.

"Pakistan has met all structural benchmarks, qualitative performance criteria and indicative targets for successful completion of the IMF review," the ministry added, hoping for a successful IMF staff level agreement after the appraisal.

"The mission will be focused on (the) completion of Pakistan’s current SBA-supported programme, which ends in April 2024," the fund said through a spokesperson.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has already directed his finance team, headed by newly installed Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, to initiate work on seeking an Extended Fund Facility (EFF) after the standby arrangement expires on April 11.

Aurangzeb told reporters on Tuesday that Pakistan would use the opportunity during the IMF review to make the case for a larger, long-term programme, according to the Dawn daily.

The global lender has said it will formulate a medium-term programme if Islamabad applies for one.

The government has not officially stated the size of the additional funding it is seeking through a successor programme, however Bloomberg reported in February that Pakistan planned to seek a new loan of at least $6 billion from the lender.

Pakistan would be "very keen to start discussions on another EFF with them during these talks," the finance minister said, adding further talks would take place at the IMF and World Bank’s spring meetings in April in Washington.

PANDA BOND

Sajid Amin Javed, Deputy Executive Director at Sustainable Development Policy Institute, said Pakistan needed a new IMF programme immediately to manage external financing needs and economic recovery.

"It is encouraging to see that the new government is clear, unlike the past two experiences where engagements with IMF were delayed due to political baggage," he added.

Aurangzeb aims to bring stability to a country plagued by crippling boom-bust cycles that have led to more than 20 IMF bailout programmes in the past.

Pakistan would be moving towards tapping the Chinese bond market in the next fiscal year, Aurangzeb said in an interview with Geo News on Wednesday.

"We should go for an inaugural panda bond in the next fiscal year," said Aurangzeb, adding that he planned to tap into the good relations Pakistan had with China.

In February, China rolled over a $2 billion loan to Pakistan due in March.

Aurangzeb added that Pakistan should also look towards Middle Eastern banks once it entered a longer term programme with the fund.

The debt-ridden economy, which shrank 0.2% last year and is expected to grow around 2% this year, has been under extreme stress with low reserves, a balance of payment crisis, inflation at 23%, policy interest rates at 22% and record local currency depreciation.

Ahead of the stand-by arrangement, Pakistan had to meet IMF conditions including revising its budget, and raising interest rates and the price of electricity and gas.

The IMF also got Pakistan to raise $1.34 billion in new taxes. The measures fuelled all-time high inflation of 38% year-on-year in May.
China Will Help Pakistan Overcome Foreign Debt Woes, Envoy Says (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [3/14/2024 5:14 AM, Faseeh Mangi, 5543K, Neutral]
China will help Pakistan overcome its foreign debt woes by extending financial assistance to the South Asian country, according to its consul general in Lahore.

Beijing has never pressured Islamabad to repay loans and it has recently rolled over $2 billion in debt as the payment date neared, China’s Counsel General Zhao Shiren said in an address to the business community in Faisalabad in Punjab province. Zhao’s comments were carried in a statement released by the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

China’s $2 billion loan is equal to about a quarter of Pakistan’s central bank reserves that stand at around $7.9 billion. Zhao said the Chinese debt accounts for 13% of Pakistan’s total foreign debt. Data from the International Monetary Fund shows loans from China’s government are much higher at 23%.

Pakistan narrowly averted a debt default last summer by clinching a short-term loan from the IMF, which ends next month. The IMF has classified the nation’s debt as “borderline manageable” while a local think tank has labeled it as unsustainable.

Pakistan’s external debt and liabilities have almost doubled to $125 billion since 2011 and interest payments are at a record high, according to think tank Tabadlab.
Pakistan’s X blockage puts new PM Sharif in hot seat over free speech (Nikkei Asia)
Nikkei Asia [3/13/2024 10:42 PM, Adnan Aamir, 293K, Negative]
Pakistan is approaching a month without reliable access to the social media platform X, a blockage widely believed to be related to the country’s controversial elections and one that is taking a toll on both businesses and journalists.

Elon Musk’s platform stopped working in Pakistan on Feb. 17, after a government official blew the whistle on alleged tampering with the results of the Feb. 8 polls. It has been mostly blocked since, apart from a few brief interludes, the internet watchdog Netblocks recently confirmed.

Allies of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan say the election was rigged to allow the military establishment’s preferred parties to form a government led by new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, even though independent candidates backed by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party won the most seats. The Election Commission denies any manipulation, but experts believe the clampdown on X is designed to keep a lid on public anger.

Even if the microblogging platform is ultimately unblocked, critics say the episode highlights the shrinking space for free expression in the country. On election day itself, the authorities cut off mobile access across the country, citing security reasons. During the campaign, access to X and other social networks was also interrupted, coinciding with PTI efforts to mobilize voters.

Although some are using virtual private networks as a workaround, experts argue the prolonged X blockage constrains journalists’ ability to do their jobs.

"The ongoing restrictions to X in Pakistan must end immediately," said Beh Lih Yi, the Asia program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists. "These harsh restrictions not only severely undermine freedom of expression, but they also hamper journalists’ ability to report and citizens’ right to stay informed."

Pakistan is estimated to have a relatively modest 4.5 million X users, according to the information site DataReportal. But Amjad Qammar, the program manager at Bytes for All, a digital rights organization based in Islamabad, pointed out that a large number of key politicians and important figures communicate with the public and media through the platform. So the suspension "is not only blocking social interaction but affecting this communication channel among different communities."

Despite the limitations affecting the general public, the accounts of the prime minister and other officials were still active through mid-March.

A spokesperson for the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority -- the body responsible for regulating social media and the internet -- did not respond to Nikkei Asia’s questions. A government official privy to the developments told Nikkei on condition of anonymity that there is no time frame for restoring full X access.

Experts agree that the ban is being enforced to blunt criticism of the government and the army.

Sabookh Syed, a political analyst in Islamabad, questions whether that is effective: "Many people criticizing [the military] establishment are based out of Pakistan, and the ban on X will not affect them," he said. "Hence the blocking of X has not served its purpose."

Syed, who is also president of the Digital Media Alliance of Pakistan (DigiMAP), complained that the clampdown "has completely disrupted the information ecosystem in Pakistan."

"Journalists use [X] to get leads, verify news stories and get more details, and now they are deprived of that due to blockage in Pakistan," Syed said.

The blockage is in defiance of the high court in the province of Sindh, which ordered the government to restore access to X on Feb. 21. "The continued inaction on the high court’s ruling raises serious questions about Pakistan’s commitment to democracy and human rights," said Yi from the Committee to Protect Journalists.

In the meantime, businesses are also feeling the impact.

"The community [in Pakistan] which is earning through X monetization is facing financial losses," said Qammar at Bytes for All. "The businesses are not able to target specific local and international audiences using X services."

Qammar suggested that such restrictions could have a wider economic dampening effect. "Due to the uncertainty of digital infrastructure, investors and companies avoid investing their resources in the country, which ultimately affects the local business," he told Nikkei.

Providers of VPNs, at least, are beneficiaries. Pakistan has seen a 6,000% increase in VPN usage in the past 12 months, according to a report by Proton, a Switzerland-based privacy-focused company that also operates VPNs.

Nevertheless, experts say VPNs are not a viable solution.

"Not all people can use VPNs in Pakistan, and as a result the reach of X’s posts has declined significantly," Syed said. "The workable VPNs require payment via credit cards, which many people lack in Pakistan."

Qammar said it is challenging for many to use VPNs because "Pakistan’s internet infrastructure is notably weak," adding that the government has taken measures to block the internet addresses and computer port numbers used by free VPNs.

Now it falls to Sharif, who assumed office last week, to address the issue -- one of a litany of challenges facing his fledgling government amid an economic crisis.

"Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif must ensure freedom of expression and press freedom are protected and upheld in his newly elected administration, if Pakistan wants to be taken seriously as a democracy," Yi said.

Likewise, after Sharif’s election by the National Assembly, Reporters Without Borders issued an urgent call to his new government to "remedy an extremely degraded press freedom environment." The statement stressed, "The arbitrary shutdowns of the Internet and mobile services and blocking of social media for political purposes is unacceptable in a democracy."
Pakistan’s New Cabinet Indicates Military’s Influence (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [3/13/2024 7:28 AM, Umair Jamal, 201K, Neutral]
Pakistan’s new federal cabinet, which was announced recently, is made up of technocrats, seasoned politicians, and a few new names of people who are not affiliated with any political party. The new cabinet appears to be the outcome of a compromise reached by key stakeholders, including the military, and political parties in power to find a way to get Pakistan out of the volatile post-election period that was tainted by allegations of electoral manipulation.

The federal cabinet’s formation suggests that there was significantly more to the election-rigging controversy than was previously thought. It wasn’t a simple case of votes being stuffed in favor of one side. Instead, the alleged manipulation effort was aimed at assisting Pakistan’s influential institutions to sideline some members of the newly-elected ruling coalition from gaining influence over the new administration.

Thus, although the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) emerged as the front-runner in terms of seats in the National Assembly, some within the party feel that the PML-N’s founder, Nawaz Sharif, was set up to lose, allowing his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif and his group to gain strength at the federal level.

The composition of the new cabinet makes it very clear that not even a handful of Nawaz’s supporters hold significant positions in the administration. For example, former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, a close ally of Nawaz, has not returned to assume leadership of the ministry. As I noted in a previous piece, Dar was unlikely to be put in charge of the finance ministry. Crucial discussions between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about a new loan arrangement are imminent, and the Fund is reportedly not comfortable engaging with him because of his purported inefficiency in negotiations. In addition, he may also have lost the portfolio due to his close ties with Nawaz.

Instead, Muhammad Aurangzeb, a renowned banker, has been assigned the role of finance minister along with overseeing the revenue portfolio. Since Aurangzeb is not a member of any political party and has not been elected to the legislature, it is possible that the military leadership recommended his appointment.

The foreign ministry has been assigned to Dar. He won’t be able to operate independently even there, though, for two reasons. First is that foreign policy is the area in which the security establishment interacts most closely with any government. The security establishment is involved in all important decisions made at the ministry. Second, Dar won’t have much room to influence anything other than implementing the Foreign Office’s recommendations because he will have to collaborate with advisers who work more closely with the establishment than the elected government,

In a similar vein, Nawaz’s reliable internal security aide Rana Sanaullah, who oversaw the PML-N’s interior ministry in the past, has been kept out of the cabinet, and the interior ministry has been assigned to Mohsin Raza Naqvi, the outgoing interim chief minister of Punjab. Being closer to the military establishment, Naqvi appears to have been appointed to the position at the military’s request to oversee law and order in accordance with the demands of the security establishment.

In another crucial appointment, Aleem Khan, the leader of the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP), has been assigned the vital privatization ministry. A Board of Investment portfolio has also been allocated to him. Khan’s portfolio is all the more important in light of Pakistan’s desire to collaborate with the IMF to privatize state-owned businesses that are heavily in debt.

In order to effectively manage affairs at the Board of Investment, Khan will need to work closely with the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), a body that is currently in charge of leading initiatives to attract foreign investments and boost the nation’s economic growth. The army chief is legally permitted to have a seat on the SIFC, which is organized by the armed forces. Khan’s appointment to the position is yet another indication that the establishment has ensured that privatization is led by a person it deems reliable, with no affiliations to the PML-N or other political parties.

In the same vein, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is seen as the main point person to maintain strong relations with the military establishment. It was during his previous rule as premier that he advocated the concept of establishing the SIFC and giving the military constitutional authority to influence it. This essentially means that the premier has been receptive to the influential institution’s advice on crucial aspects of cabinet formation and is likely to continue in that route going forward.

Overall, the cabinet shows that the military has been successful in placing its reliable people in important posts while assigning others to less significant ones. It is reasonable to wonder in this situation how much leeway the premier will have to decide independently on important matters of governance and policy.

The military’s backing for the cabinet’s composition sends a strong message that any attempts by the political opposition to undermine the new government will be met with force. Seemingly, the prime minister and other lawmakers will not stand in the way of the cabinet’s advancement of reforms, and it will engage with the international community with authority.

How successful this formula will be in light of the challenging economic conditions and developing political challenges remains to be seen.
India
Indian farmers protest in New Delhi demanding new legislation for minimum crop prices (AP)
AP [3/14/2024 3:20 AM, Rishi Lekhi and Ashok Sharma, 456K, Neutral]
Thousands of farmers crowding buses and trains traveled to the Indian capital on Thursday to press their demand for new legislation to guarantee minimum profitable crop prices, after weeks of being blocked from the city.

They avoided using their tractors after authorities barricaded highways into New Delhi with cement blocks and barbed wire. A condition of allowing their rally in the capital were that the farmers not use their farm vehicles. They were also barred from carrying sticks or swords to avoid clashes with police.

The protesters carried placards demanding free electricity for farming. They contended that without guarantees for their crop prices, they would be at the mercy of the markets and that would spell disaster, especially for the more than two-thirds of them who own less than 1 hectare (2 1/2 acres) of land.

The rally, organized by the United Farmers Front, was held at Ramlila Ground, which is used for religious festivals, major political meetings and entertainment events.

The police permitted the rally also on the condition that the farmers wouldn’t bring in more than 5,000 people, the Press Trust of India news agency said.

The protests come at a crucial time for India, which has a national election in April-May, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party widely expected to secure a third successive term. Farmers are a particularly influential voting bloc in India with their sheer numbers. More than 60% of India’s 1.4 billion people depend on farming for their livelihoods.

The farmers are also pressing the government to keep its promises to waive loans and withdraw legal cases brought against them during their 2021 protests. Several talks so far have failed to break the deadlock.

Thousands of farmers have been protesting separately in Shambhu, a town some 200 kilometers (120 miles) from the capital, since Feb. 13.

Authorities have barricaded highways leading to New Delhi with cement blocks, metal containers, barbed wire and iron spikes to prevent the farmers from entering. The farmers have brought in bulldozers and excavators to try and push through.

On Feb 21, clashes between farmers and police left one protester dead as the farmers tried to resume their march to the Indian capital after talks with the government failed to end an impasse over their demands for guaranteed crop prices.

Haryana police said 12 officers were injured after protesters attacked them with sticks and pelted them with stones.

The farmers paused their protest and hunkered down near the town of Shambhu, close to the border between Punjab and Haryana states, as their unions engaged in discussions with government ministers.

They rejected a proposal offering them five-year contracts of guaranteed prices on a set of certain crops, including maize, grain legumes and cotton.

Two years ago, tens of thousands of farmers camped out on the outskirts of New Delhi forcing Modi to repeal new agriculture laws in a major reversal for his government.

Jagjit Singh Dallewal, one of the farmers leading the march, said they did not want any violence, but condemned the federal government over the massive security measures.

The protest organizers say the farmers are seeking new legislation that would guarantee minimum prices for 23 crops. The farmers believe this would help stabilize their income.

The government protects agricultural producers against sharp falls in farm prices by setting a minimum purchase price for certain essential crops, a system that was introduced in the 1960s to help shore up food reserves and prevent shortages. The system can apply up to 23 crops, but the government usually offers the minimum price only for rice and wheat.
New Delhi steps up security ahead of rally by protesting farmers (Reuters)
Reuters [3/14/2024 12:09 AM, Sakshi Dayal, 5.2M, Neutral]
Police in the Indian capital put up barricades, stepped up security and warned of traffic congestion on Thursday as thousands of protesting farmers were due to arrive for a rally in support of their demand for higher crop prices.

Thousands of farmers began a ‘Delhi Chalo’ (Let’s go to Delhi) march last month to demand higher guaranteed prices for their crops but were stopped by police armed with tear gas and water cannons about 200 km (125 miles) north of the capital, where they have remained camped since.

The protesters, most of who belong to the northern state of Punjab, have urged farmers across the country to gather at Delhi’s iconic Ramlila Maidan (ground) on Thursday to escalate their campaign, days before general elections are called.

Police have permitted 5,000 farmers to gather at the ground but farmers’ leaders said they could not promise to stick to that limit, local media reported.

"A huge gathering of people from all parts of India is expected to attend the protest," Delhi Police said in a traffic advisory on Wednesday.

Police in the neighbouring suburb of Noida also warned commuters that there may be traffic congestion and diversions on routes leading into Delhi as vehicles entering the capital would be "checked".

Farmers’ leaders said last week that people from several central and northern states were expected to participate in Thursday’s rally, while farmer groups from southern and western India also said they were preparing to join the protests.

The protest comes weeks before national elections, due by May, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a rare third term.

Farmers say at least one protester has died in clashes with police and dozens more have been injured.

A similar year-long protest two years ago had forced Modi to repeal some farm reform laws in his biggest political defeat.
Government panel recommends India hold simultaneous state, national elections (Reuters)
Reuters [3/14/2024 5:49 AM, Shilpa Jamkhandikar and Arpan Chaturvedi, 5.2M, Neutral]
A government-appointed panel on Thursday recommended India hold elections to state assemblies and the national parliament at the same time, saying the process would increase transparency and inclusivity and improve governance and growth.

The panel, appointed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in September, submitted its report to President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday, days before an election date is expected to be set.

The report will not affect the upcoming elections, which have to be held by May, as a "one nation, one election" law will have to be passed by parliament and ratified by states, many of which are ruled by Modi’s rivals and have opposed the idea as they say it violates India’s federal politics.

Nearly one billion voters are eligible to vote in the general elections, but polls to the 28 state assemblies are spread out as they take place when their five-year terms end.

"Asynchronous elections cause uncertainty and instability, thwarting supply chains, business investments and economic growth," the panel, led by former president Ram Nath Kovind, said.

The nine-member panel said it found that real GDP growth was higher when simultaneous polls were held, compared to a decrease when they were not.

Simultaneous polls used to be the norm in India, but the cycle was disrupted decades back, resulting in the current staggered system.

The panel recommended that as a first step, simultaneous elections be held to the lower house of parliament and state assemblies, with the terms of state assemblies being curtailed or extended to synchronise with parliamentary elections.

In the second phase, elections to local bodies such as municipalities and village councils would be held within a hundred days of state and national elections.

Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have pushed for combining state and federal elections as it would also help cut the cost of conducting polls in the world’s most populous country and ensure politicians are focused on governance rather than electioneering.
Indians die fighting for Russia in Ukraine, leaving a trail of helplessness (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [3/14/2024 4:40 AM, Rifat Fareed, 2.1M, Negative]
On the night of February 20, Ashwin Mangukiya’s phone rang. It was a WhatsApp call from his son Hemil, who told his family that he was speaking from a military dormitory in Donetsk, the eastern Ukrainian region occupied by Russia.

Hemil, 23, said he had been eating well and had warm bedding. But the father knew he was trying to “hide his turmoil inside him”, he said. Hemil was on the front lines of Russia’s war on Ukraine, his role very different from the task of a Russian “army helper” that he had signed up for.

“That night, he didn’t want to hang up the call and was consumed by a deep longing for home,” Ashwin told Al Jazeera over the phone from his home in Surat city in India’s western state of Gujarat. The call lasted an hour.

It would be their last conversation.

Two days later, they received another call. It was not Hemil.

“Hemil has been killed in a missile strike,” said the man on the call in Hindi, identifying himself only as Imran from the southern Telangana state.

Imran told them the missile attack took place on February 21 – the day after Hemil’s call to his family – while he was digging a bunker.

“I felt like our world had come crashing down,” said Ashwin. He said Hemil’s shocked mother has been hospitalised several times since the news was broken to them. “She stopped eating and did not talk for days.”

Ashwin learned from Imran that three Indians had carried Hemil’s body in a truck to a military base. Beyond that, he said, he did not know the details surrounding his son’s death.

YouTube video to recruit

In early December, Hemil was offered a job as a helper in the Russian army and promised a monthly salary of $1,800, which appeared to be a passport to prosperity for a family dependent on a small textiles shop in Surat. That is where Hemil worked too, helping his father until the dream of a future abroad took hold.

Hemil’s parents, along with a dozen relatives, travelled to Mumbai on December 14 to see him off at the airport, where two people – a man and a woman – who claimed to be employees of the recruiting firm that hired Hemil, received them and assured them their son would be safe from any actual fighting.

Hemil’s family said he was first taken to Chennai city in India’s south from where he flew to Dubai and was finally sent to Russia. The entire process, they said, appeared genuine until he reached Russia and was forced to undergo arms training. He was then deployed to the front lines, tasked with digging bunkers and transporting heavy weapons for the Russian soldiers, said his father.

But Hemil is not the only Indian lured by online recruiters offering “army helper” jobs in Russia. The jobs were posted by ‘Baba Vlogs’, a YouTube channel with 300,000 subscribers and purportedly operated by a Dubai-based Faisal Khan.

The job video on the channel, shot on the streets of the Russian city of Saint Petersburg, was posted in October and has garnered more than 42,000 views since. It promises the prospect of Russian citizenship and the flexibility to relocate to any other European country after six months of service.

Al Jazeera reached out to Khan, the operator of the YouTube channel, but did not receive a response.

Ashwin said Hemil was coerced into paying a hefty commission of $3,600 to his recruiting agents – half transferred online and the remaining given to the agents he met at Mumbai airport. He said he had borrowed the money from his aunt.

Ashwin told Al Jazeera that Hemil “began expressing his desperation to leave” as soon as he landed and was made to join the war. “But there seemed to be no means of escape,” he said.

Ashwin wrote several emails to the Indian embassy in Russia and the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, seeking their help in removing his son from the war. “Hemil might have been alive today if the government had helped on time,” he told Al Jazeera.

The Indian government last month admitted nearly 20 of its nationals are “stuck” in the Russian army and said it is trying for their early discharge and eventual return home.

Last week, ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said action has also been initiated against “agents and unscrupulous elements who recruited” Indians on false pretexts and promises.

“The Central Bureau of Investigation yesterday [March 8] busted a major human trafficking network conducting searches in several cities and collecting incriminating materials. A case of human trafficking has been registered against several agents,” he told reporters, adding that people should not be swayed by offers for support jobs in the Russian army. “This is fraught with danger and risk to life.”

Last week, a video showing seven men in army fatigues, most of them from the northern states of Punjab and Haryana, went viral. In the video, one man from the group said they were visiting Russia to celebrate the New Year when they were deceived by an agent into fighting in the war. They said they were being compelled to fight on the front lines despite no knowledge of operating a gun as they appealed to the Indian government to help them.

Russia has been accused of hiring vulnerable unemployed men from India and other South Asian countries as combatants to fight its war with Ukraine. Al Jazeera has already reported about hundreds recruited from Nepal, at least 12 of whom have died in the war.

Hemil is also not the only Indian to have lost his life fighting a foreign power’s war.

Muhammad Asfan, a 30-year-old man from the southern state of Telangana, also fell victim to the job fraud and tragically lost his life, the Indian embassy in Moscow announced on March 6, adding that efforts to repatriate his body to his native place are on.

‘They can be killed any time’

Azad Yusuf Kumar, 31, is from Pulwama district in northern Indian-administered Kashmir. His father and older brother earned their livelihoods by digging bore wells, but it did not pay enough for the family to earn a living.

Azad, a commerce graduate, went to Saudi Arabia where he worked for two years. But he returned home in 2021 to get married and decided to find a job nearby. But opportunities were limited in job-starved Kashmir, where the unemployment rate was 18.3 percent in 2023, according to the Indian government, much above the national average at 8 percent.

Azad started looking online and stumbled upon the same YouTube channel that Hemil and Asfan were duped by. In December, he left home, telling his family he had been selected as a cook in Dubai. It is unclear whether Azad lied to his family or was promised a job very different from the one he would end up having to do.

Within days after he had left India, Azad’s phone could not be reached, his brother Sajad told Al Jazeera. After a month of anxiety and silence, Sajad’s phone rang. It was Azad.

Sajad learned that his brother was not in Dubai, but fighting the war in Russia’s Zaporizhia region and had even sustained a gunshot wound in his foot.

Azad told him he was forced to sign a contract written in Russian, a language he didn’t know, after he arrived. He had to take on odd jobs, including carrying heavy guns at the frontier.

“We were taken aback on knowing how he had been cheated,” said Sajad.

A 41-second video Azad sent them showed him dressed in army uniform inside a room, making a plea to the government for help. “We are requesting the government to take us back to India,” he says in the video while another Indian man is heard echoing a similar helplessness.

The two men say they had made several attempts to reach out to the Indian embassy in Russia through calls and emails, but were asked to only wait.

“They can be killed any time,” Sajad said, adding he fears for the worst every time the home phone rings.

‘His hands and face were wounded’

The family of Arbab Hussain in Kasganj district of the northern Uttar Pradesh state said he was excited after landing a job as a helper in the Russian army.

Arbab’s family deals in construction materials and did not have the $3,600 he needed to pay as a commission to the recruiters before flying to Russia. The 23-year-old arts graduate therefore took a loan.

Arbab first flew to Chennai, from where he was taken to Sharjah and then to Moscow.

“Upon reaching Russia, he made a call to us through WhatsApp,” his brother Tariq told Al Jazeera.

In the call, Tariq recalled, his brother said he was lodged in an apartment in Moscow and being given arms training. His phone was confiscated, so he could no longer reach his family even on WhatsApp.

It was not until January 23 that Arbab called again – from a hospital bed. “His hands and face were wounded,” Tariq said.

The family said it made desperate attempts to contact both the agents and the Indian embassy in Russia but did not get any response.

“He is scared for his life,” Tariq said.

Severe unemployment at home has driven many Indians to take desperate measures, including seeking employment in conflict-ridden areas. In January, thousands of Indians signed up for construction worker jobs in Israel as the ongoing war in Gaza created a labour crisis in that country.

Last week, an Indian worker from Kerala state was killed in a missile strike on Israel’s border with Lebanon. Two other Indians sustained injuries in the attack.

Labour rights activist Sucheta De told Al Jazeera the government must put pressure on foreign governments to ensure that migrant workers from India are not denied their rights.

“I believe international bodies like the International Labour Organization should intervene in this regard,” De said.

Colin Gonsalves, a prominent lawyer at the Supreme Court and founder of Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), said the constitution obliges the government to protect the rights and liberties of its citizens, even when they are abroad.

He said the Indian government failed to act against the middlemen such as Faisal Khan running such “job scams”.

“The middlemen are … exploiting these people terribly and fleecing their money. They are getting them [workers] into a situation of bonded labour and slavery.”

Meanwhile, the Mangukiya family in Surat left for Moscow on Sunday to retrieve Hemil’s remains.

“Our grieving hearts need a closure. We want to see his face one last time,” said Ashwin.
China Fumes as India’s Modi Visits Contested Border (Newsweek)
Newsweek [3/13/2024 7:38 AM, Aadil Brar, 2244K, Neutral]
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, a contested region that Beijing claims as part of "South Tibet," has angered China.

"China strongly deplores and firmly opposes the Indian leader’s visit to the East Section of the China-India boundary. We have made solemn representations to India," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said during a daily press briefing on Monday.

China lodged a diplomatic protest with its neighbor over the visit to Arunachal Pradesh, intensifying tensions over the disputed boundary. The move underscores Beijing’s longstanding claim to the region, and China said that Modi’s actions are complicating the unresolved territorial dispute.

China and India in 1962 fought a bloody war over the question of control over Arunachal Pradesh; since then, New Delhi has maintained control of the region, which is now part of India despite Beijing’s continuing territorial claims over the region.

The diplomatic friction comes amid heightened military tensions between the two Asian giants over their historical land border dispute. China and India are building strategic infrastructure along their shared border to enhance their military advantage as the tensions simmer.

China has in the past protested against Indian leaders’ visits to Arunachal Pradesh to assert its territorial claims over the area, which Beijing calls "Zangnan" in Chinese.

The Chinese and Indian armies have been in an ongoing standoff since June 2020. The standoff has seen the deployment of about 50,000 soldiers on either side of the border.

China and India have held 21 rounds of talks to try and resolve the dispute, with the most recent discussions on February 19 at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point in Eastern Ladakh.

Meanwhile, a Chinese defense ministry spokesperson, Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang, recently commented on the 21st round of talks, saying Beijing hopes India and China will meet halfway.

"China attaches great importance to the military-to-military relations between China and India and hopes that India and China will meet each other halfway, enhance mutual trust, properly handle differences, and jointly maintain peace and tranquility in border areas," Zhang said, during the defense ministry’s monthly press conference on February 29.

"The area of Zangnan is Chinese territory. The Chinese government has never recognized the so-called ‘Arunachal Pradesh’ illegally set up by India and firmly opposes it. The China-India boundary question has yet to be solved. India has no right to arbitrarily develop the area of Zangnan in China," Wang added.

During his visit last week, Modi on March 9 inaugurated the Sela Tunnel, a strategic infrastructure project designed to enhance all-weather connectivity to the frontier region of Tawang. The construction of the Sela Tunnel began in October 2020.

Built at an altitude of 13,000 feet, the tunnel is celebrated as the world’s longest bi-lane road tunnel at such an elevation. According to military officials, it’s expected to significantly improve the mobility of troops and military equipment along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, according to the Indian news agency Press Trust of India on Tuesday.

India remains steadfast in its position, dismissing China’s objections to Modi’s visit.

"We reject the comments made by the Chinese side regarding the visit of the Prime Minister to Arunachal Pradesh," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

"Objecting to such visits or India’s developmental projects does not stand to reason. Further, it will not change the reality that the State of Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India."

In December 2023, the U.S. ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, visited Arunachal Pradesh, which came after the last visit to the region by former Ambassador Kenneth Juster in 2019.
Obscure trust links India’s top businesses with Modi’s election war chest (Reuters)
Reuters [3/13/2024 10:45 PM, Krishn Kaushik, 5239K, Positive]
Behind the doors of a small, non-descript office in the heart of New Delhi lies the headquarters of an electoral trust run by just two men that is the largest-known donor to India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), according to a Reuters review of public records.

The Prudent Electoral Trust has raised $272 million since its creation in 2013, funnelling roughly 75% of that to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party. The trust’s donations to the BJP total 10 times as much as the $20.6 million it issued to the opposition Congress party, the records show.

The previous Congress-led government introduced electoral trusts in 2013 to allow for tax-exempt contribution to parties. It said the mechanism would make campaign financing more transparent by reducing cash contributions, which are harder to trace.

But some election experts say the trusts contribute to opacity around the funding of political parties in India, where this year’s general election – due to be called within weeks – is expected to return Modi to power for a rare third term, polls predict.

While Prudent does not disclose how donations made by individual corporate donors are distributed, Reuters used public records from 2018 to 2023 to track flows from some of India’s largest companies.

Eight of India’s biggest business groups donated at least $50 million in total between 2019 and 2023 to the trust, which then issued cheques for corresponding amounts to the BJP, according to the Reuters analysis.

Four companies whose transactions were identified by Reuters - steel giant ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel (ESRG.UL), telco Bharti Airtel (BRTI.NS), opens new tab, infrastructure developer GMR and energy giant Essar - have not given money to the party directly and do not appear on its donors’ list.

GMR and Bharti Airtel said in response to Reuters questions that Prudent determines how their donations are distributed.

Prudent decides "as per their internal guidelines, which we are unaware of," said a GMR spokesman. He added that the company doesn’t "like to align with any political party."

Bharti Airtel, which created Prudent before transferring control to independent auditors Mukul Goyal and Venkatachalam Ganesh in 2014, said it has "no influence on the decisions, directions and mode of disbursal of funds."

Spokespeople for the other groups did not respond to calls, text messages and emails.

Goyal and Ganesh did not respond to questions sent via email and post. When asked on a brief phone call about how Prudent functioned, Goyal said: "That is something we do not discuss."

Prudent - the largest of India’s 18 electoral trusts - is legally required to declare how much it has collected from each donor and the total amounts disbursed to each party.

But it is the only one among India’s four largest electoral trusts to accept contributions from more than one corporate group.

Trusts "provide one layer of separation between firms and parties," said Milan Vaishnav, an expert on Indian campaign finance at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington-based think-tank.

Political finance in India is widely seen as murky, with most political donations in India undisclosed, Vaishnav added.

BJP said in its latest public disclosure in March 2023 that its political war chest - funds it had available including cash reserves and assets - was valued at 70.4 billion rupees ($850 million). That gives it a colossal financial advantage over Congress, which had 7.75 billion rupees in funds.

BJP spokespeople did not respond to repeated requests for comment for this story.

The records show that Prudent was also the largest-known donor to the Congress party in the decade to March 2023.

LAYER OF SEPARATION

India’s Supreme Court said in a February campaign finance ruling that corporate contributions are "purely business transactions made with the intent of securing benefits in return."

Reuters was unable to establish if political parties know the identities of donors that give through trusts that receive contributions from multiple groups.

MV Rajeev Gowda, head of research for Congress, told Reuters that electoral trusts are a "semi fig-leaf" and that he believed parties knew the donors’ identities. Gowda, who doesn’t manage the party’s finances, didn’t provide evidence.

BJP’s next largest known donor is Tata Group’s Progressive Electoral Trust, which has given the party 3.6 billion rupees collected from the salt-to-airline conglomerate’s companies. Progressive is also Congress’s next largest donor, having given it 655 million rupees.

Progressive’s by-laws require it to distribute funds proportionate to the number of seats held by each party in parliament. Prudent has no similar restrictions and Reuters’ analysis of its donations found no such pattern.

NEAR-INSTANT TRANSFERS

Trusts are allowed to retain a maximum of 300,000 rupees for annual operating expenses. Remaining funds must be disbursed in the fiscal year they were received.

In its analysis of contribution reports filed by Prudent to electoral authorities, Reuters identified 18 transactions between 2019 and 2022 in which the eight corporate groups made large donations to the trust. Within days, Prudent issued cheques for the same amounts to BJP.

Before the 18 contributions, which are not exhaustive of all the donations made by the groups to Prudent, the trust did not have sufficient funds for the payments to BJP.

Companies tied to billionaire L.N. Mittal’s ArcelorMittal group were among Prudent’s most prolific donors.

On July 12, 2021, for instance, ArcelorMittal Design and Engineering Centre Private Limited gave Prudent a cheque for 500 million rupees ($6.03 million). The next day, Prudent issued a cheque to BJP for the same amount.

ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India also issued 200 million rupees to Prudent on Nov. 1, 2021, and 500 million rupees on Nov. 16, 2022. The respective sums were sent to BJP on Nov. 5, 2021, and Nov. 17, 2022.

A spokesman for ArcelorMittal did not respond to requests for comment.

Bharti Airtel, meanwhile, issued 250 million rupees to Prudent on Jan. 13, 2022 and 150 million rupees on March 25, 2021. The trust sent out cheques to BJP for those amounts on Jan. 14, 2023 and March 25, 2021.

And three companies in the RP-Sanjiv Goenka group - Haldia Energy India, Phillips Carbon Black and Crescent Power - cut cheques for 250 million rupees, 200 million rupees and 50 million rupees on March 15, March 16, and March 19, 2021 respectively. On Mar. 17, BJP received a 450-million-rupee cheque from Prudent; a 50-million-rupee cheque followed on March 20.

The RPSG group did not respond to requests for comment.

Donations from Serum Institute and companies in GMR Group, DLF Ltd (DLF.NS), opens new tab and Essar Group moved to BJP immediately after Prudent received them.

Reuters was unable to identify a similar pattern of funds being sent to the trust and transferred to Congress immediately afterwards.

However, Reuters found similar patterns involving two regional parties. Megha Engineering and Infrastructure transferred 750 million rupees to Prudent across three transactions on July 5 and July 6, 2022. The trust issued a 750-million-rupee cheque on July 7 to Bharat Rashtra Samithi, a centrist party in Telangana state, where Megha group is headquartered.

And property developers Avinash Bhosale Group, based in the western Maharashtra state, gave 50 million rupees to Prudent on Nov. 27, 2020. The trust issued a cheque for that amount to the Maharashtra Pradesh Nationalist Congress Party, which is independent of the national Congress party, on Nov. 30.

The corporate groups did not immediately return requests for comment. BRS’s general secretary said he was "not aware" of specifics about the donations, while a senior NCP official said that the party had recently split and "every record will not be available with us.

CAUSE OF CONCERN?

Public records and party reports show BJP’s war chest has swelled since Modi became prime minister in 2014, from 7.8 billion rupees ($94.09 million) in March 2014 to 70.4 billion rupees in March 2023. Congress’ funds increased from from 5.38 billion rupees to 7.75 billion rupees in the same time period.

The financing gap between the BJP and Congress is a cause of concern, said Jagdeep Chhokar of Association of Democratic Reforms, a Delhi-based civil society group that was the main petitioner behind the electoral bonds challenge in the Supreme Court.

"Level playing field is an essential part of democracy," he said.

Some BJP officials have said in the past that the large sums it has raised on its books are an example of its transparency.

BJP has been the major beneficiary of electoral bonds, a mechanism that allowed donors to give unlimited amounts to parties without public disclosure.

It received some 65.66 billion rupees of the 120.1 billion rupees worth of such bonds sold between their January 2018 introduction and March 2023. Such bonds made up more than half the contributions received by the BJP in all but one fiscal year since their introduction.

The Supreme Court called the mechanism "unconstitutional" in February and ordered the government-owned State Bank of India, which issued the bonds, to release buyers’ details. Specifics are set for release by March 15.
Modi’s Election Campaign May Have Already Peaked (Bloomberg – opinion)
Bloomberg [3/13/2024 6:00 PM, Andy Mukherjee, 5543K, Positive]
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi likes to win his elections well before the actual vote. Ten years ago, when he was an opposition politician, just securing his party’s backing for the top job was enough — swirling anti-government sentiment did the rest. In 2019, after a sudden escalation in military tensions with Pakistan, he cruised to victory amid a last-minute surge of chest-thumping nationalism.

This time around, though, Modi’s bid for a third five-year term might have peaked a bit too soon, with the Jan. 22 consecration of a Hindu temple, built at the site where a medieval Muslim mosque was razed by extremist mobs in 1992.

That glitzy ceremony, attended by billionaire tycoons, such as Reliance Industries Ltd.’s Chairman Mukesh Ambani and Bharti Airtel Ltd.’s founder Sunil Mittal, boosted his appeal among the Hindus of northern India. More importantly, it also left a gap on the election calendar. Every day from now until May, Modi has to protect his popularity — and his government’s track record — not just from attacks by opposition politicians, jobless youths and disgruntled farmers, but also from a late (and faint) spark of independence within the judiciary.

Assuming the schedule is the same as in 2019, voting will start in phases around mid-April and go on for about 40 days. A lot can come unstuck over this period, both for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, and the 30-party alliance that has coalesced around the single-point agenda of unseating Modi. But three important events since the temple inauguration show that the risks are rising disproportionately for Modi. The autocratic leader will likely still be India’s next prime minister, but his party’s goal of winning 370 parliamentary seats out of 543 is looking like a tall order. Even maintaining the 2019 tally of 303 may not be all that easy.

So what are the events tilting the scales? The first was a small mayoral election in Chandigarh, a city in the north. The returning officer blatantly tampered with the votes — in full view of CCTV cameras — to declare the BJP candidate as the winner. “This is nothing but murder of democracy,” said Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, as the Supreme Court invoked special constitutional powers to judge the contest in the opposition’s favor and ordered the government to prosecute the officer.

The indictment has sent a chilling message to the district magistrates who will serve as returning officers in the upcoming polls. If they’re convicted of electoral fraud and go to jail, they’ll be suspended and may lose their jobs. As a result, expect the voting process to run more fairly. The administrative advantage the BJP draws from being in power in many northern states — and Gujarat and Maharashtra in the west — may be constrained this time around.

The second important judicial entanglement is the Supreme Court’s recent decision to invalidate electoral bonds. The bearer instruments, introduced in 2018, were a channel for anonymously routing corporate money to political parties. Banning them this late in the game won’t make a dent in the BJP’s financial advantage in the world’s most expensive elections. It has already received 60% of the $2 billion in bonds that companies have bought, and gets to keep the money that’s already in the bank.

However, the court also ordered the State Bank of India to furnish a list of everyone it has sold the bonds to by March 6. The election commission was instructed to make the information public. Just before the deadline, the State Bank asked the court for more time — until June 30. By then, the elections would be over. Naturally, opposition parties and right-to-information activists were suspicious that the list of donors is being suppressed because it would show quid pro quo, or intimidation of private businesses.

To Modi’s discomfiture, the judges rejected the SBI’s plea, and forced it to furnish the data to the poll watchdog by Tuesday. The election commission must publish the information by Friday. Disclosure so close to voting could damage the BJP’s prospects. The ruling party says it respects the court’s verdict and noted it was only trying to bring transparency to political funding with the bonds.

The third setback to Modi came last weekend when an election commissioner abruptly resigned, barely days before the expected release of the polling schedule. With another having retired, the three-person watchdog needs new members. The government, already at loggerheads with the judiciary over how to fill the vacancies, has passed a law giving the political executive control over the selection process. Although it seems unlikely, expect more chaos if judges strike down the law or suspend its application.

The opposition parties, meanwhile, are in an unstable network. The Congress Party’s Rahul Gandhi is the de facto leader. Although he favors expanding the welfare state, the coalition lacks a clear agenda in the unlikely event that it wins. Governance has always been an afterthought in Indian politics. Power is more important, and it might be that the unwieldy alliance isn’t hoping to capture it. Not this time. The goal is to rein in Modi and his Home Minister Amit Shah, and put a stop to the targeted hounding of anti-BJP politicians by federal investigation agencies. That way, they keep their flock together, out of jail and away from the BJP’s overtures.

But preparing for a fight in 2029 against someone other than Modi — he will be 79 by then — is also a risky strategy. That election may be for a revamped, expanded parliament with diminished representation for the southern states, where the BJP is weak. By then, India’s religious minorities, left-wing politicians and liberals may have lost the fight to keep the republic secular. The structure of the economy would also have changed with investment-led growth and spending by a narrow elite extending their dominance over mass employment and consumption.

Just as Modi’s campaign appears to have used up its fuel too early, 2029 may be too late for the resistance against Modi to peak.
NSB
China deepens defense ties with Maldives, Sri Lanka and Nepal (Reuters)
Reuters [3/13/2024 7:15 AM, Albee Zhang and Ryan Woo, 11975K, Neutral]
A Chinese military delegation on Wednesday wrapped up a visit to three of India’s closest neighbors - the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Nepal - to boost bilateral defense ties, deepening relations in a region that New Delhi considers its sphere of influence.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) delegation held "in-depth discussions" on bilateral defense cooperation and reached various points of "consensus" during a visit from March 4 to 13, China’s defense ministry said in a statement, without elaborating.

The talks also focused on regional and security issues, the statement said, adding it "enriched the content of defense cooperation" between China and the three countries.

Ties between Beijing and New Delhi have grown more tense in recent months, strained by disputes over how their borders should be drawn to the passage of Chinese survey vessels in the Indian Ocean. In 2020, relations nosedived after 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed during a border skirmish.

On Tuesday, India rejected Chinese objections to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s weekend visit to Arunachal Pradesh in the eastern Himalayas, which China claims to be a part of southern Tibet.

Adding to India’s unease, China has been trying to boost ties with nations in the Indian Ocean since the world’s second-biggest economy reopened its borders after three years of self-imposed pandemic curbs.

China this year elevated ties with the Maldives when its newly elected President Mohamed Muizzu pivoted from India and paid his first state visit to Beijing after winning on on "India Out" campaign platform, vowing to remove a small Indian military presence of about 75 personnel from the island nation.

China would provide it with "military assistance," a media report cited the Maldivian defense ministry as saying earlier this month.

Beijing’s interest in the Indian Ocean is also commercial. Half of its oil imports pass through the region.
UN seeking more than $850m for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [3/13/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, 2.1M, Neutral]
The United Nations is calling for more donations for Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh.

In its annual response plan to the crisis, the UN appealed for $852.4m to provide food and other aid to the mostly Muslim Rohingya refugees and their host communities.

Bangladesh has taken in more than a million members of the mostly stateless minority, many of whom fled a 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar, where conflict continues to escalate.

About 95 percent of the Rohingya people in Bangladesh remain dependent on humanitarian assistance, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement on Wednesday.

“International solidarity with Bangladesh and refugee protection is needed more than ever as the conflict in Myanmar escalates,” it said.

The UN made a similar appeal last year, asking countries to provide $876m to help the Rohingya, but only $440m was provided.

With the humanitarian crisis largely out of the international spotlight, the UNHCR warned that significant funding shortfalls in recent years has had “serious implications”.

Many of the refugees are struggling to meet their basic needs, it warned, insisting that “sustained assistance is critically and urgently needed.”

More than 75 percent of the refugees receiving aid are women and children, it said, adding that they are facing “heightened risks of abuse, exploitation and gender-based violence”.

“More than half of the refugees in the camps are under 18, languishing amidst limited opportunities for education, skills-building and livelihoods,” the UNHCR said.

The donations will be used to pay for food, shelter, healthcare, drinking water access, protection services, education and other assistance, the agency said.

Many Rohingya wanting to escape conditions in the camps have attempted dangerous, often deadly boat journeys to Malaysia and Indonesia.

Meanwhile, there is little progress towards repatriating the refugees to Myanmar, which is facing a UN genocide probe over the 2017 crackdown.

In 2021, the military seized power in Myanmar, ousting Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government.

“The human rights situation in Myanmar has morphed into a never-ending nightmare away from the spotlight of global politics,” UN rights chief Volker Turk told the UN Human Rights Council this month.
EU maritime force says it is shadowing a Bangladesh-flagged ship seized by pirates off Somali coast (AP)
AP [3/13/2024 3:39 PM, Staff, 456K, Negative]
The 23 crew members of a Bangladesh-flagged cargo ship boarded by pirates off Somalia this week have been taken hostage, and a European Union vessel is tracking the ship as it heads toward the coast, the EU’s maritime security force said Wednesday.

The hijacking of the MV Abdullah, first reported Tuesday by the British military, took place nearly 700 miles (1,100 kilometers) east of Somalia’s coastal capital Mogadishu.

An EU ship deployed as part of Operation ATALANTA is “shadowing” the cargo carrier, the EU force said in a statement.

“The situation on board is that pirates have seized and taken its 23-member crew hostage,” the statement said. “The crew is safe, and the action is still ongoing. The ship is sailing towards the Somali coast.”

Twenty armed assailants took control of the vessel while it was going from the Mozambique capital Maputo to Hamriya in the United Arab Emirates, according to Ambrey, a British maritime security company.

The ship is owned by Bangladeshi company SR Shipping Lines, a sister concern of Chattogram-based Kabir Steel and Rerolling Mill Group, company media advisor Mizanul Islam told local media in Bangladesh.

Once-rampant piracy off the Somali coast diminished after a peak in 2011, but concerns about new attacks have grown in recent months.

In December, at least two incidents were reported. One involved a trading vessel seized by heavily armed people near the town of Eyl off the coast of Somalia. The other involved a Maltese-flagged merchant vessel that was hijacked in the Arabian Sea last and moved to the same area off Somalia’s coast.

The waters off Somalia saw a peak in piracy in 2011 when the U.N. said more than 160 attacks were recorded. The incidents declined drastically afterward, largely due to the presence of American and allied navies in international waters.
Nepal PM wins parliamentary vote of confidence, third in 14 months (Reuters)
Reuters [3/13/2024 6:44 AM, Gopal Sharma, 11975K, Neutral]
Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal won a parliamentary vote of confidence on Wednesday, a week after he formed his third coalition in just over a year to head a government which is dominated by the liberal communists.

Dahal, a former Maoist guerrilla leader in the Himalayan nation sandwiched between China and India, formed a coalition cabinet including the Nepali Congress party and other smaller groups last year.

He changed allies this month saying he was not given a free hand.

The new cabinet is dominated by the liberal Nepal Communist Party (UML) and includes several other smaller groups. He had also headed a coalition with the UML briefly after the 2022 elections.

Parliament Speaker Dev Raj Ghimire said Dahal won 157 votes against the 138 required in the 275-member parliament, while 110 lawmakers voted against him.

"I was let down several times ... and was forced to form a new coalition cabinet, which is just a regular political process," Dahal said in parliament on Wednesday, referring to the Nepali Congress, which is now the main opposition party.

Nepali Congress said after the break-up last week that the prime minister had deceived it by dumping it from the cabinet without any notice.

Dahal led a decade-long insurgency from 1996 which caused 17,000 deaths before he joined mainstream politics under the 2006 peace deal overseen by the United Nations.

He is serving a third time as prime minister but did not complete the full five-year term during his previous stints.

Nepal has had 13 governments since it abolished its 239-year-old monarchy in 2008 and became a republic.

Instability has hampered growth of the $40 billion economy and thousands of young Nepalis are heading abroad - mainly to the Middle East, South Korea and Malaysia - for work.

Nepal has extensive social and economic ties with India, a key donor. China is also pouring in aid and investment in infrastructure to woo Kathmandu as an ally.
From India to China, Nepal’s Maoist Prime Minister Displays His Hindu Diplomacy (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [3/13/2024 10:33 AM, Birat Anupam, 201K, Neutral]
In Nepal, the Maoists have been the leading force pushing to establish Nepal as a secular state, which was finally achieved on May 28, 2008. The majority of hardliner Hindus in Nepal saw this move as an official license to promote Christianity. They cite the fact that Hindu-majority Nepal has been the fastest-growing Christian country in the world since the secular state declaration. For this, they blame Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as Prachanda, who is currently serving as Nepal’s prime minister.

Because of this critical background, Dahal’s recent Hindu diplomacy means a lot – both for admirers and critics in Nepal.

Dahal’s Hindu diplomacy started in India. He visited Mahakaleshwar temple in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh on June 2, 2023. Visiting a Hindu temple as part of his four-day official visit was an unusual choice for the Maoist leader. His first tenure as prime minister some 14 years ago was tarnished with removal of an Indian priest from Pashupatinath, the famed Hindu temple in Nepal’s capital city. Dahal diluted the cultural and religious bonds between India and Nepal with his extreme nationalist rhetoric.

In his third term as prime minister, however, Dahal is striking a different tone. His decision to visit Mahakaleshwar was all the more striking as it came before he set foot in Pashupatinath, which is within walking distance from both his personal and state residences in Kathmandu.

Dahal did eventually visit Pashupatinath on June 11, 2023. Like his pilgrimage to Mahakaleshwar, this was not an individual affair. He visited the Pashupatinath temple with his fellow cabinet members, which earned criticism from some of his colleagues.

Former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, who was the second senior-most leader of the Maoists behind Dahal during the insurgency and is now a coalition partner, has criticized Dahal’s temple diplomacy. In a Facebook post, Bhattarai said, “When the Prime Minister and the entire cabinet visits a religious place together, it takes a political dimension, and naturally, questions and concerns arise.”

In another marked shift from his previous positions, Dahal stressed the importance of Sanskrit education in June 2023. Dahal’s own party used to criticize Sanskrit education during its 10-year-long insurgency from 1996 to 2006. The Maoists even torched Nepal’s lone Sanskrit-language university in 2002. After 21 years, the Maoist leader visited the same university for its fifth convocation ceremony, describing the educational significance of Sanskrit.

Dahal’s U-turn in his approach to Hinduism has both political and diplomatic undertones.

Diplomatically, he has been accused of trying to curry favor with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is known for his Hindu nationalism. In his five visits to Nepal, Modi has made a point to visit major religious destinations such as the Pashupatinath, Muktinath, Lumbini, and Janaki temples, among others.

Modi’s approval of Dahal’s Hindu diplomacy was evident in their joint address at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on June 1. Before concluding his speech, Modi said, “Right Honorable Prime Minister Dahal-ji, you will visit Indore and the religious city of Ujjain. I am sure your visit to Ujjain will be full of energy, and you will also have a spiritual experience in this journey from Pashupatinath to Mahakaleshwar.”

In his book titled “Why Bharat Matters,” India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar defined India as the Hindu “civilizational power.” Dahal’s embrace of Nepal and India’s shared Hindu heritage would naturally be viewed with favor in New Delhi. However, its notable that Dahal also continued his Hindu diplomacy in China, which is waging a battle for influence in India’s neighborhood.

On September 28, 2023, Dahal visited the famed Hindu shrines of Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar in Tibet. This area is believed to be the abode of the god Shiva, and it is a pilgrimage site for Hindus.

China has been playing up its connections to Hinduism as well as Buddhism through its Global Civilization Initiative. Thus it is diplomatically advantageous for Dahal to support that initiative by visiting China’s sacred Hindu sites.

However, Dahal’s Hindu diplomacy is not primarily motivated by foreign policy calculations, whether regarding China or India. Instead, his change of heart stems from his compulsion to maintain political relevance in Nepal’s competitive power plays.

By making public displays of respect for Hinduism, Dahal hopes to increase his vote share among Hindus, who account for 81 percent of Nepal’s population. Dahal desperately needs to shore up support in order to improve upon his party’s current third-place position in Nepal’s lower house in the upcoming elections.

Dahal has seen the increasing currency of Hindu votes for other parties, mainly the openly Hindu monarchist party RPP, the fifth largest party in Nepal’s Parliament. He wants to grab some section of these Hindu votes.

For the three-time prime minster, losing ideology is easier than losing his hold in power. Therefore, he is openly wooing Hindu constituencies of Nepal despite a long track record of championing secularism as the Maoist chief. As Dahal himself put it upon his return from India Kathmandu on June 3, 2023: “I am not just a communist; I am also the prime minister.”

In that sense, Dahal may indeed be taking inspiration from Modi – but not in the foreign policy sense. Instead, Dahal wants to emulate Modi’s track record of resounding election victories by copying his pro-Hindu playbook.
Central Asia
Kazakhstan boosting freight rail links to Russia, China (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [3/13/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, 57.6K, Neutral]
Kazakhstan Railways is bolstering its presence in both China and Russia to cement the Central Asian state’s role as a hub for both Europe- and Russia-bound freight rail traffic originating in East Asia.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, speaking via video link, inaugurated a Kazakhstan Railways (KTZ) logistics and innovation center in the central Chinese city of Xian in late February. The facility has the capacity to handle roughly 66,000 standard intermodal containers, as measured in 20-foot equivalent units (TEU), per year.

A KTZ statement noted that roughly 40 percent of all Europe-bound freight trains originating in China are assembled in Xian. “This will infuse momentum into the growth of not just the transport-logistics sector, but [Kazakhstan’s] economy as a whole,” the presidential press service quoted Tokayev as saying, referring to the KTZ presence in Xian.

The state railway company reported that the volume of freight rail traffic between China and Kazakhstan increased by 22 percent during the month of January this year, compared to the same month in 2023, totaling 2.4 million tons. A KTZ subsidiary, meanwhile, announced in early March an agreement with a Chinese logistics firm based in the central city of Chongqing to facilitate the transit via Kazakhstan of at least 200 container trains with a total cargo volume of 20,000 TEU. KTZ is projecting that 3,500 container trains will transit Kazakhstan in 2024 with an expected volume of 350,000 TEU.

KTZ is also cooperating with a Russian firm on the expansion of transport and warehousing capacity for Russia-bound freight, an initiative that can abet sanctions-busting trade. In late February, KTZ signed a memorandum of understanding with a Chinese firm and Russia’s JVC Slavtrans-Service covering the construction of facilities in Selyatino, a town near Moscow. The memo also outlines plans to strengthen transit links between Xian and Moscow.
Kyrgyzstan: Parliament adopts contentious foreign agents law without debate (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [3/14/2024 4:30 AM, Ayzirek Imanaliyeva, 57.6K, Negative]
Lawmakers in Kyrgyzstan have, in a widely anticipated move, given their definitive backing to a bill that stands to cripple the work of nongovernmental organizations advocating for human rights and independent media.

Fully 66 MPs registered as being present in the Jogorku Kenesh on March 14 voted in favor of the legislation in its third and final reading. Five voted against. Another nine present in the chamber abstained. There was no debate before the vote, which took seven minutes to complete.

All that remains is for President Sadyr Japarov to add his signature for the bill to become law. With that likely to happen imminently, affected NGOs will have only a short window of time in which to adapt.

The legislation has been sold by its backers as a blow to “Western ideology,” a concept that is variously used to describe campaigning for political freedoms and LGBT advocacy. The Kyrgyz bill closely apes similar legislation adopted by Russia in 2012.

The rushed vote in parliament, which took place without being featured on the chamber’s official timetable, came amid sustained international criticism from Kyrgyzstan’s partners and international organizations.

Last month, Matteo Mecacci, the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s democracy- and rights-promotion arm, ODIHR, warned of what he saw as the risks of adopting what has commonly come to be known as the “foreign agents law.”

“If this legislation is adopted, I am worried it would have an overwhelmingly negative impact on civil society, human rights defenders, and the media in Kyrgyzstan,” he said in a statement.

Kyrgyzstan is a member state of the OSCE.

Another line of objection came from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is reported to have expressed his misgivings in a letter sent to the Kyrgyz authorities in January. In the note, Blinken reportedly stated that the bill threatened “Kyrgyz citizens’ access to vital services such as health care and education through programs run by NGOs with support from the U.S. government and international partners.”

“Some U.S. implementing partners are so concerned about this law … they are considering the possibility of a preventive termination of their activities in the Kyrgyz Republic,” Blinken said in the letter.

Japarov initially lashed out at that criticism, although lawmakers did subsequently mitigate one punitive aspect of the proposed law. They did so by removing a provision invoking criminal liability and sentences of up to 10 years in prison for members of NGOs found guilty of involvement in “violence against citizens” or inducing the public “to refuse to perform civil duties or commit other illegal acts.”

Under this legislation, any NGOs receiving funding from abroad will be classified as “foreign representatives.” Those types of organizations will also have to submit to annual audits and provide details on all their employees and their salaries.

Critics complain that the selectively imposed bureaucracy entailed in the requirements of the new rules will be so costly and onerous that many NGOs will have to cease operations. In February, the OSCE’s media freedom representative, Teresa Ribeiro, argued that news outlets could be especially hard-hit, further chilling a worsening environment for independent journalism.

“The introduction in this draft law of burdensome reporting requirements is likely to prove unsustainable for small and medium-sized media organizations, and will pose significant risks to media freedom and open debate on issues of public interest in Kyrgyzstan,” she said.

While pro-government voices contend that their intention is merely to enhance financial transparency, the potentially affected parties suspect the true goal is to stir public animosity toward them by having them cast as operatives for outside paymasters.

Approval of the NGO legislation comes on the heels of what had looked like a placatory gesture from the increasingly authoritarian system presided over by Japarov.

The president’s office announced on March 13 that he had withdrawn a contentious draft bill that was fueling unhappiness over its potential for restricting freedom of speech. Japarov’s press secretary said in a Facebook post that the president took the decision to seek a revision of the bill after meeting with 40 media representatives a few days earlier.

The media legislation now put on ice stood to complicate the work of journalists by instituting bureaucratically onerous accreditation procedures. Another provision made journalists liable for producing content perceived as calling for public unrest or toppling the government, promoting same-sex marriage and “non-traditional sexual relationships,” or harming “public morals.”

The sudden and cursory way in which parliament has adopted the foreign agents law means NGOs will have to scramble to ensure compliance.

A coalition of rights groups warned ahead of this vote that if finally approved, “the new law would enter into force very rapidly.”

It will happen “10 days after its official publication, with the government having only one month to elaborate implementing procedures. These procedures could be developed without any public consultation,” the coalition said in their collective statement.
Kyrgyzstan: President withdraws restrictive media law (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [3/13/2024 4:14 PM, Ayzirek Imanaliyeva, 57.6K, Positive]
Kyrgyzstan’s president has withdrawn a contentious draft bill that has sparked criticism over its potential for restricting freedom of speech.

Sadyr Japarov’s press secretary said in a Facebook post on March 13 that the president took the decision to seek a revision of the bill after meeting with the editors of major local publications.

The meeting between Japarov and representatives of media outlets was also attended by the head of the security services, Kamchybek Tashiyev, deputy prime minister Edil Baisalov, Prosecutor General Kurmankul Zulushev, and Interior Minister Ulan Niyazbekov.

Japarov’s spokesman, Askat Alagozov, did not divulge in his Facebook post which specific aspect of the proposed law has triggered the pause.

Media in Kyrgyzstan are currently regulated by legislation adopted in 1992. Last May, Japarov’s administration began floating amendments that critics have said were designed to complicate the work of journalists. A draft put forward by the executive in December was met with widespread criticism from local journalists, as well as international and local human rights organizations.

The main area of contention is the bureaucratic difficulties the bill would create for the media. Under current rules, outlets only need to seek special accreditation for their reporters to work at strategically sensitive locations or to cover international events. The amendments would have required journalists to obtain permission to operate at a far broader array of locations and occasions.

The legislation would have given officials the authority to strip a journalist of their accreditation if their coverage was deemed to discredit them.

Media advocates were also alarmed by proposed provisions making journalists liable for producing content perceived as calling for public unrest or toppling the government, promoting same-sex marriage and “non-traditional sexual relationships,” or harming “public morals.” Critics argue that what is deemed as falling under those categories is necessarily subjective and liable to political manipulation in a country where the justice system is viewed as operating at the government’s behest.

Proponents of the bill, meanwhile, argued that the 1990s law was no longer fit for purpose and that it was incumbent on the authorities to “shape the social responsibility of journalists.”

“The events of recent years in the world show a clear need to strengthen the information sovereignty of the Kyrgyz Republic,” the bill’s sponsors wrote in a supporting note.

The bill had been green-lit at committee stage, but was not reviewed in plenary in parliament. With Japarov’s order for a review, the government will be required to make further adjustments.

This is not the first law criticized for restricting freedom of expression introduced in Kyrgyzstan since Japarov came to power in 2020.

Legislation adopted in 2021 — widely known as the “law on fakes” — gave the authorities the power to order internet service providers to block websites containing information that they deem to be false. Judgement calls on what should be determined as true or not rest with the government itself. The tool has been used to muzzle outlets such as RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz service and independent news website Kloop.
Jailed Kyrgyz Border-Deal Protesters Criticize Judge For Trial Delays (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [3/13/2024 12:24 PM, Staff, 223K, Neutral]
Eleven jailed Kyrgyz activists who are on trial along with 16 others who are under house arrest for their 2022 protest against a Kyrgyz-Uzbek border delimitation deal accused Judge Marat Sydykov on March 13 of violating their rights by repeatedly postponing hearings. The Birinchi Mai district court in Bishkek said illness among three of the defendants’ lawyers was to blame for the delays. Earlier this week, hundreds rallied in Kyrgyzstan’s three regions demanding the defendants’ release. The activists were arrested in October 2022 after they protested the deal, which saw Kyrgyzstan hand over the territory of the Kempir-Abad water reservoir to Uzbekistan.
Tajikistan: Authorities struggling, and failing, to provide power to households (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [3/13/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, 57.6K, Negative]
In a gesture of generosity apparently occasioned by the holy month of Ramadan, the authorities in Tajikistan have pledged to make certain that households across the entire country get at least eight hours of electricity daily.

A note sent by the state-run power distribution company via mobile phones earlier this week stated that electricity will be available from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. local time.

The message does not specify if the capital, Dushanbe, is covered by this timetable.

Due to Tajikistan still being heavily reliant on domestically produced hydropower, the supply of electricity is strongly subject to seasonal fluctuations. A rationing regime has accordingly been in force for a number of winters now.

While Dushanbe has been immune from these restrictions over the past decade or so, things took a turn for the worse last month. On March 1, entire swathes of the country, including the capital, were left without electricity for several hours on end in the morning as a result of what appears to have been a major technical malfunction at the Nurek hydropower plant.

Officials have not yet confirmed what caused the blackout, but Dushanbe households have been suffering intermittent outages ever since that time.

Neither President Emomali Rahmon nor any other top officials have commented publicly on the crisis.

In some neighborhoods, power is provided according to a schedule: three hours in the morning, three hours in the evening. In other areas, particularly in high-rise buildings, the blackouts are implemented far more erratically.

For the longest time that people can remember, street lighting is now not turned on at night.

In the face of ample evidence, power utility Barki Tojik and the Energy Ministry deny any power rationing is happening. They have said the rolling blackouts are connected with ongoing repair work. Because of the cold weather, households are using more electricity, causing more technical malfunctions to occur, they have said.

This has left citizens perplexed.

“If they would just acknowledge that rationing had been introduced and would make a schedule of shutdowns, then we would at least know how to react. We could stock up on warm water and food. We would have time to bathe the children and charge our phones. Now they are just turning it off when it’s convenient for the person sitting at the control panel,” Gulbahor, the mother of one- and four-year-old children, told Eurasianet.

Gulbahor, a Dushanbe resident who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that her inability to keep the house warm has caused the children to fall ill.

“When the snow fell, I went to my relatives in the village. They have a stove there, so we took refuge. But when I called the power company, they told me everything was fine, that electricity was being supplied uninterruptedly. But why lie? Just tell it like it is. [If I had not] returned to the city, my children would not have got sick,” she said.

Things are worse in the villages.

According to Idigul, a resident of the Romit district, they have been on one hour of electricity in the morning and two in the evening for a period of 10 days. People in rural areas have written on social media that they are on average getting between one and three hours of power supply a day.

“This is enough for us to recharge our phones, tablets, and watch TV a little. We have been preparing food, boiling water on our stove since the beginning of winter,” Idigul said.

But the use of stoves fueled by coal or other flammable items sometimes leads to tragic consequences. On the night of February 28, six members of one family died from carbon monoxide poisoning in Dushanbe.

The fatalities comprised the mother and father, 37 and 38, respectively, and four children, aged 11, nine, eight and six.

On March 5, three members of one family died from carbon monoxide in Gissar, about 40 kilometers from Dushanbe.
Twitter
Afghanistan
Bilal Sarwary
@bsarwary
[3/14/2024 1:17 AM, 251.7K followers, 2 retweets, 1 like]
Stifling of voices and preventing free access has become a prevalent feature of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Afghanistan: Media landscape suffocated by repressive Taliban directives that target women in particular

Bilal Sarwary
@bsarwary
[3/13/2024 7:10 PM, 251.7K followers, 15 retweets, 37 likes]
Some sources confirm that the former president of Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai, has not been allowed to travel out of Afghanistan. It has been over a year since he last traveled out of country. He is now subject to something similar to house arrest. He usually receives medical care and treatment in Germany. It is also reported that the Taliban wants him to travel abroad under certain conditions. The top priority for the Taliban is to utilize his influence to help them gain international recognition, including efforts to open embassies of foreign countries in Kabul. The Taliban face a crisis of recognition, and they also expect him to help find resources and infrastructure projects that are badly needed to keep the economy running and to create jobs. If this is the situation of a former president in the current Taliban administration, it raises serious concerns about the viability of returning to Afghanistan by many political leaders and other Afghans given the current setup.

Bilal Sarwary
@bsarwary
[3/13/2024 6:11 PM, 251.7K followers, 20 retweets, 57 likes]
Taliban are forcing Afghans to pray according to the Taliban instructions. In this case there is no obligation for Muslims to pray what the Taliban obligated people to pray and those whose prayers are shorter should be punished according to Taliban governor in Badakhshan province.

Navbahor Imamova
@Navbahor
[3/13/2024 9:36 AM, 22.9K followers, 2 retweets, 4 likes]
Taliban emphasis on “equitable utilization of the [Amudaryo] river akin to other countries in the Amu River basin … ensuring the rights of Afghans without causing concern to neighboring countries”. https://www.gazeta.uz/en/2024/03/13/afghanistan-talks/
Pakistan
Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[3/13/2024 11:13 AM, 209.7K followers, 510 retweets, 949 likes]
The US House Foreign Affairs Committee has announced its Subcommittee on Mideast/Africa/Central Asia will hold a March 20 hearing on the future of democracy in Pakistan and US-Pakistan relations, post-Pakistan elections. Donald Lu will be a witness. https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/press-release/subcommittee-hearing-announcement-pakistan-after-the-elections-examining-the-future-of-democracy-in-pakistan-and-the-us-pakistan-relationship/

Hamid Mir
@HamidMirPAK
[3/14/2024 12:34 AM, 8.4M followers, 99 retweets, 369 likes]
What is the use of Rangers in the biggest city of Pakistan? More than 15,000 cases of street crimes, 274 murders, 84 cases of kidnappings for ransom and 30 cases of extortion reported in the first 10 weeks of 2024 in Karachi city. Why we blame only police?

Hamid Mir
@HamidMirPAK
[3/14/2024 12:12 AM, 8.4M followers, 161 retweets, 440 likes]
Those who voted in favour of a ban on TikTok in USA should not call them “democrats”. This legislation will open new doors of cyber censorship in many countries like Pakistan in the name of national security. @hrw @amnesty @UNHumanRights https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68556540

Brahma Chellaney
@Chellaney
[3/13/2024 11:22 AM, 262.7K followers, 111 retweets, 342 likes]
In addition to a final tranche of $1.1 billion, cash-strapped Pakistan is seeking a new larger and longer-term bailout from IMF. Instead of making a new IMF bailout contingent on Pakistan severing its nexus with terrorist groups and correcting civil-military relations, the Biden administration is likely to back the military-backed Pakistani government’s request, just as it agreed to modernize Pakistan’s F-16 fleet to make it more lethal against India.
India
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/14/2024 1:43 AM, 96.2M followers, 1.4K retweets, 5.4K likes]
Watching this episode on the majestic ‘Statue of Unity’ will be an eye opening experience but most importantly, it will make you want to visit Kevadia at the very earliest! @souindia https://youtu.be/aDrMvZcAEK0

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/14/2024 1:39 AM, 96.2M followers, 675 retweets, 3K likes]
This decision of the Cabinet will strengthen Delhi’s infrastructure, improve connectivity and ‘Ease of Living.’ https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2014128

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/13/2024 8:03 AM, 96.2M followers, 2.7K retweets, 10K likes]
India’s reforms and efforts to promote semiconductors offer many opportunities for the youth.

President of India
@rashtrapatibhvn
[3/14/2024 2:34 AM, 24.3M followers, 121 retweets, 755 likes]
Former President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind who heads High-Level Committee (HLC) on ‘One Nation, One Election’ presented the report on simultaneous elections in the country to President Droupadi Murmu along with members of the HLC including Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah, Minister of State (I/C) for Law and Justice Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal and former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad among others.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[3/13/2024 10:33 AM, 3M followers, 557 retweets, 5.1K likes]
Welcome PM @narendramodi’s decision to commemorate September 17 as the Hyderabad Liberation Day. It honours freedom fighters who ensured a united and strong nation. The country will never forget their sacrifices.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[3/13/2024 10:29 AM, 3M followers, 256 retweets, 2.2K likes]
The foundation stone laying of three semiconductor facilities today is a path-breaking development . It will create capabilities and strengths that we have long needed. Applaud PM @narendramodi’s vision of Viksit Bharat, a leading power.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[3/13/2024 10:24 AM, 3M followers, 262 retweets, 2.3K likes]
Important decisions taken by the Cabinet today: 1.Approval of signing of an agreement between India and Bhutan in the area of food safety. Will promote Ease of Doing Business and will reduce compliance cost on both sides.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[3/13/2024 10:24 AM, 3M followers, 31 retweets, 132 likes]
2.Approval of Inter-Governmental Framework Agreement between India and UAE on cooperation for the empowerment and operation of the India-Middle East Europe Economic Corridor. Will strengthen relations between the two countries in the ports, maritime and logistics sectors.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[3/13/2024 10:24 AM, 3M followers, 24 retweets, 118 likes]
3.Approval of signing of MoU between India and Bhutan on cooperation in the field of Energy Efficiency and Energy Conservation Measures. Will assist Bhutan enhance energy efficiency in the household sector by promoting star labeling programme developed by Bureau of Energy Efficiency.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[3/13/2024 10:24 AM, 3M followers, 27 retweets, 137 likes]
4.Approval of signing of MoU between India and Bhutan on general supply of petroleum, oil, lubricants and related products from India to Bhutan. Will improve India-Bhutan economic and commercial linkages, particularly in the area of hydrocarbon sector.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[3/13/2024 10:24 AM, 3M followers, 18 retweets, 106 likes]
5.Approval of two new corridors of Delhi Metro’s Phase-IV project. Will further improve the Metro connectivity in the national capital.

Sadanand Dhume
@dhume
[3/13/2024 9:05 PM, 171.2K followers, 27 retweets, 162 likes]
In India, the temptation to demonize wealth and exalt holy poverty remains ever present. The big fat Indian wedding is arguably the single best example of a culture becoming more comfortable with wealth creation. We should welcome it. [My take] https://www.wsj.com/articles/heres-to-the-ambanis-big-fat-indian-wedding-what-leftwingcritics-miss-effc8ef1?st=tuwq9270piolw52&reflink=mobilewebshare_permalink
NSB
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh
@BDMOFA
[3/13/2024 2:00 PM, 34.5K followers, 10 retweets, 46 likes]
Foreign Secretary had a meeting with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Mr Filippo Grandi on 13 March 2024 in Geneva. Principal Secretary to the HPM also attended the meeting. FS is visiting Geneva to join the launch event of the Joint Response Plan 2024 cohosted by UNHCR and IOM.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh
@BDMOFA
[3/13/2024 1:56 PM, 34.5K followers, 4 retweets, 30 likes]
Foreign Secretary (Senior Secretary) Masud Bin Momen met with Director General of IOM Amy Pope on 13 March in Geneva. Among other issues they discussed about her forthcoming visit to Bangladesh.

Embassy of Nepal, Washington, D.C.
@nepalembassyusa
[3/13/2024 10:52 AM, 3.2K followers, 2 retweets, 26 likes]
Ambassador Srihdar Khatri and the US Assistant Trade Represenative Brendan Lynch had a meeting at the Embassy on 12th March 2024 and discussed various matters of mutual interest in promoting trade between Nepal and the US.

Embassy of Nepal, Washington, D.C.
@nepalembassyusa
[3/13/2024 10:52 AM, 3.2K followers, 1 retweet]
Topics discussed during the meeting included extending the GSP facility to Nepal, promoting Nepali high quality products such as woolen carpets, pashmina, tea, and coffee.
Central Asia
Joanna Lillis
@joannalillis
[3/14/2024 2:50 AM, 28.8K followers, 9 retweets, 10 likes]
#Kyrgyzstan adopts "foreign representative" law modelled on #Russia’s "foreign agent" law in the latest step towards authoritarianism under Japarov

Furqat Sidiqov
@FurqatSidiq
[3/13/2024 9:49 PM, 1.3K followers]
Congratulations to @MelisaEsposti on her new role as Business Development Manager at @IntlSOS! Wishing you the best of luck in your new position. Looking forward to continuing collaboration with you on future projects!

Furqat Sidiqov
@FurqatSidiq
[3/13/2024 9:49 PM, 1.3K followers, 2 likes]
It was a pleasure meeting with @FLEXProgram students from Uzbekistan currently studying at high schools in #SouthDakota, #Colorado, #Missouri, #Texas, and #Iowa. Grateful to @AC_Global for facilitating this invaluable exchange program!

Furqat Sidiqov
@FurqatSidiq
[3/13/2024 9:39 PM, 1.3K followers, 1 retweet, 3 likes]
The First Book on the Women’s Dance Traditions of Uzbekistan by Dr. Laurel Gray (@SilkRoadDanceCo) in the United States! Big thanks to Laurel Xonim for promoting Uzbek dance and culture in the US

MFA Tajikistan
@MOFA_Tajikistan
[3/13/2024 4:15 AM, 4.5K followers]
Presentation of the copy of Credential of new Indian Ambassador https://mfa.tj/en/main/view/14592/presentation-of-the-copy-of-credential-of-new-indian-ambassador

{End of Report}
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