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:
Monday, March 18, 2024 6:30 AM ET

Afghanistan
Pakistani airstrikes target suspected Pakistani Taliban hideouts in Afghanistan, killing 8 people (AP)
AP [3/18/2024 3:46 AM, Munir Ahmed and Rahim Faiez, 456K, Negative]
Pakistani airstrikes targeted multiple suspected hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban inside neighboring Afghanistan early on Monday, killing at least eight people, two days after insurgents killed seven soldiers in a suicide bombing and coordinated attacks in a northwestern region, officials said.

The Afghan Taliban government denounced the strikes, which are likely to further increase tensions between Islamabad and Kabul.

According a Pakistani security official and an intelligence official, the airstrikes were carried out in Khost and Paktika provinces bordering Pakistan. The officials provided no further details. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

There was no immediate comment by Pakistan’s military. The Pakistani Taliban — a separate militant group but allied with the Afghan Taliban — also confirmed the strikes, saying the attacks killed several women and children.

It was not immediately clear how deep inside Afghanistan the Pakistani jets flew. The airstrikes were the first since 2022, when Pakistan targeted militant hideouts in Afghanistan. However, Islamabad never officially confirmed those strikes.

Separately, in January, Pakistani strikes — in a tit-for-tat exchanges with Tehran — hit Pakistani militants inside Iran.

Chief Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement that Pakistan’s airstrikes on Monday killed three women and three children in the district of Barmal in Paktika province while two other women were killed in a strike in Khost province.

“Such attacks are a violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty and there will be bad consequences that this country will not be able to control,” Mujahid said.

On Saturday, seven soldiers were killed when suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden truck into a military post in the town of Mir Ali, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan. Troops responded and killed all six attackers in a shootout, the military said.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari attended the funerals of the soldiers and vowed to retaliate for their killings, saying “the blood of our martyred soldiers will not go in vain.”

Saturday’s attack on the military post was claimed by a newly formed militant group, Jaish-e-Fursan-e-Muhammad. However, Pakistani security officials believed the group is mainly made up of members of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, which often targets Pakistani soldiers and police.

Muhammad Ali, an Islamabad based security expert, said Monday’s strikes were in retaliation for a series of TTP attacks, especially the one on Saturday in Mir Ali where an army lieutenant colonel and a captain were among those killed.

Ali said the Pakistani strikes came within 24 hours of Zardari’s promise of strong retaliation.

“It also indicates that Pakistan’s patience for the Afghan interim government’s continued hospitality for terrorists conducting frequent attacks on Pakistan from inside Afghanistan has finally run out,” he said.

The Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 as the U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout after 20 years of war. The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan emboldened the TTP, whose top leaders and fighters are hiding in Afghanistan.

Though the Taliban government in Afghanistan often says it will not allow TTP or any other militant group to attack Pakistan or any other country from its soil, the Pakistani Taliban have stepped up attacks inside Pakistan in recent years, straining relations between Kabul and Islamabad.
Taliban says eight killed in Pakistan’s two air strikes in Afghanistan (Reuters)
Reuters [3/18/2024 3:38 AM, Mohammad Yunus Yawar and Charlotte Greenfield, 5.2M, Negative]
Afghanistan’s Taliban said on Monday that Pakistan carried out two air strikes in Afghan territory, killing five women and three children, with a spokesman condemning the strikes as a violation of sovereignty.

The strikes came as the neighbours have traded blame over responsibility for recent militant attacks in Pakistan, which says they were launched from Afghan soil, although Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban deny this.

"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan does not allow anyone to compromise security by using Afghan territory," Zabiullah Mujahid, the spokesman of the Taliban administration, said in a statement.

The strikes killed five women and three children in the eastern border provinces of Khost and Paktika, he added.

Pakistan’s army and foreign office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strikes, which come after unknown militants attacked a military post in Pakistan on Saturday, killing seven security forces.

Though it was not immediately clear what prompted that attack, Pakistan government and security officials say such attacks have risen in recent months, many of them claimed by the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) and launched from Afghan soil.

The Afghan Taliban have denied allowing Afghan territory to be used by militants.

"Pakistan shouldn’t blame Afghanistan for the lack of control, incompetence, and problems in its own territory," Mujahid, the spokesman, said in the statement.

"Such incidents can have very bad consequences which will not be in Pakistan’s control."
Driving With Mr. Gil: A Retiree Teaches Afghan Women the Rules of the Road (New York Times)
New York Times [3/17/2024 4:14 PM, Miriam Jordan, 831K, Positive]
Bibifatima Akhundzada wove a white Chevy Spark through downtown Modesto, Calif., on a recent morning, practicing turns, braking and navigating intersections.

“Go, go, go,” said her driving instructor, as she slowed down through an open intersection. “Don’t stop. Don’t stop.”

Her teacher was Gil Howard, an 82-year-old retired professor who happened upon a second career as a driving instructor. And no ordinary instructor. In Modesto, he is the go-to teacher for women from Afghanistan, where driving is off limits for virtually all of them.

In recent years, Mr. Howard has taught some 400 women in the 5,000-strong Afghan community in this part of California’s Central Valley. According to local lore, thanks to “Mr. Gil,” as he is known in Modesto, more Afghan women likely drive in and around the city of about 220,000 than in all Afghanistan.

For many Americans, learning to drive is a rite of passage, a skill associated with freedom. For Afghan immigrants it can be a lifeline, especially in cities where distances are vast and public transportation limited. So when Mr. Howard realized the difference driving made to the Afghan women, teaching them became a calling, the instruction provided free of charge.

He has a wait list 50 deep and a cellphone inundated with texts from people seeking slots. Through word of mouth, he recently got an inquiry from Missouri.

After the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 and instituted a strict Islamic rule, they banned girls and women from schools and universities and barred them from driving.

But even before the fall of Kabul, most Afghan women rarely got behind the wheel. In Afghanistan’s conservative society, women are often kept at home unless accompanied by male family members.

In the United States, Afghan newcomers tend to preserve religious and cultural customs: Most women wear head scarves, or hijabs. Many who are learning English prefer single-sex classes. Married women who were interviewed for this article agreed to be photographed only if their husband consented, and many let men speak on their behalf.

Yet when it comes to driving, many Afghan women are keen to assimilate — though you will not hear them invoke gender equality or empowerment. Their principal motivation? Getting from point A to point B.

“It was my goal to drive to help the family,” said Latifa Rahmatzada, 36, who got her license last September.

In Kabul, Ms. Rahmatzada, the mother of three young boys, had been mainly confined to the extended family’s compound. Shopping was a man’s job. On rare outings, she was escorted by her husband or a male relative.

Nearly 7,500 miles away in Modesto, she had no trouble convincing her husband, Hassibullah, to give her the greenlight to drive. “I supported her right away. It was so stressful for me doing everything,” he said, and so he contacted Mr. Howard.

These days, while her husband is working nine-hour shifts stocking shelves at Walmart, Ms. Rahmatzada is often steering a 1992 Honda Accord — it had logged some 190,000 before it was donated to them — to their sons’ elementary school, the supermarket and other places around town.

The United States is home to about 200,000 Afghans, concentrated in California, Texas and Virginia. Roughly half of them have arrived since the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, and more are on their way.

Coming from a country where traffic lanes, lights and signs were virtually nonexistent, even men who drove in their homeland face a big adjustment to the rules of the road in the United States. Some do not feel qualified to teach their spouses.

“All Afghan women and men are happy with Mr. Gil’s classes,” said Ms. Akhundzada’s husband, Sangar.

It became essential for Ms. Akhundzada, 22, to learn to drive after her husband started driving for Uber several days a week in San Francisco, 90 miles away.

“She needs driving to bring groceries, bread and for going to the park with kids,” Mr. Akhundzada said.

Ms. Akhundzada speaks little English, but in California, driving tests are offered in 38 languages. She was able to pass the exam for her learner’s permit in Dari, the most widely spoken language in Afghanistan.

She then waited several months until Mr. Howard could squeeze her into his schedule.

Mr. Howard, who is quietly firm with his students, uses simple English and hand gestures for instruction. But he has also learned key words in Dari, like left, right, stop and go, to communicate with his pupils, and he used them while crisscrossing Modesto with Ms. Akhundzada.

“You’re learning pretty fast,” he said, after she parallel parked. “Another lesson or two and you’re ready to go.” Ms. Akhundzada responded with a giggle.

Mr. Howard, who lives alone and has grown children, moved to Modesto in 2012, after decades teaching operations research and mathematics at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.

“I thought I would work on my garden and do some traveling,” he said.

Moved by images of migrants drowning during attempts to cross the Mediterranean and reach the West, Mr. Howard decided to volunteer at World Relief, a nonprofit that helps to settle refugees in the United States. Soon he was furnishing apartments for refugees, ferrying them to appointments and distributing secondhand bicycles.

Many of the refugees had fled Afghanistan after their lives were threatened for working alongside U.S. troops. Mr. Howard took a deep interest in some of the families.

Unexpectedly, his 65 years of driving experience came in handy.

In 2017, two Afghan sisters who had settled in the area with their mother and young brother asked if he would teach them how to drive.

Mr. Howard initiated them in an empty parking lot.

“I had never seen a woman driving a car in Afghanistan,” recalled Morsal Amini, 24, one of the sisters. “Here it is so hard if you can’t drive.”

“D is for drive, R is for reverse, P is for parking,” Ms. Amini recalled Mr. Howard telling her.

Once the sisters had mastered the basics, they began plying country roads and then city streets with their instructor, whom Ms. Amini described as an “angel, comforting and patient.”

There was a close call when a truck stopped in front of her — and Ms. Amini did not immediately react. “Didn’t you see the brake lights?” Ms. Amini, now 24, recalled Mr. Howard asking her. She had no idea what they were.

It took a few tries, but both women passed their road tests and bought a car. “Our life changed completely,” Ms. Amini recalled.

So did Mr. Howard’s.

Soon he was fielding a steady stream of requests to teach other Afghan women. Many of them had taken an “English for Driving” course at Modesto Junior College. Initially, some were accompanied to lessons by chaperones, like an older brother or male relative, who sat in the back seat.

When women were ready for the road test, Mr. Howard would usually accompany them.

Demand for his tutelage soared after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in 2021, ushering in a fresh wave of Afghan evacuees to the United States, including Modesto.

To keep track of his expanding roster of students, he created a spreadsheet on his cellphone and prioritized those with learners’ permits close to expiring.

Some days, he teaches five back-to-back classes, each 90 minutes to two hours long.

His only qualm, he said, was that his blood pressure has risen from all the oil and salt in the rich Afghan food that he receives from students as a token of their appreciation.

On a recent Wednesday, Mr. Howard’s second pupil of the day was Zahra Ghausi, 18, whose road test was scheduled for the following week.

The college student was cruising down a residential street when she approached a school. “Watch the speed,” said Mr. Howard, his hand resting atop the hand brake, just in case.

He instructed her to get on the 99 Freeway. At 65 miles per hour, Ms. Ghausi sped by almond groves that lined the highway and changed lanes to pass a truck laden with metal sheets. The speedometer read 70 m.p.h.

“This is one I don’t have to say ‘go, go, go’ to,” Mr. Howard said. “She goes.”

Ms. Ghausi exited at Taylor Road and zipped to California State University in nearby Turlock.

“I just love driving,” she said, pulling into the campus. “I really love sports cars, too. Hopefully, one day I’ll drive a racing car.”

Mr. Howard then headed back to Modesto. There was another student waiting for a lesson.
A highway crash in southern Afghanistan kills 21 people and injures 38 (AP)
AP [3/17/2024 8:33 PM, Staff, 22K, Negative]
A highway crash in southern Afghanistan left at least 21 people dead and 38 others injured, according to a provincial traffic department.

The crash occurred on Sunday morning in Gerashk district of Helmand province on the main highway between southern Kandahar and western Herat provinces, the Helmand traffic office said.

A motorbike crashed into a passenger bus, which then hit a fuel tanker on the opposite side of the road, said Qadratullah, a traffic official in Helmand. An investigation into the accident was underway, he added.

Eleven of the 38 injured people were transferred to hospitals with serious injuries, said Hzatullah Haqqani, a spokesman for the Helmand police chief.

Traffic accidents are common in Afghanistan, mainly due to poor road conditions and driver carelessness.
Crash involving passenger bus, fuel truck kills 21 in Afghanistan (Reuters)
Reuters [3/17/2024 6:30 AM, Mohammad Yunus Yawar, 5239K, Negative]
A traffic accident in southern Afghanistan killed 21 people and injured dozens on Sunday, the provincial government said.

The crash on the Kandahar-Herat highway involved a motorcycle, a fuel truck and a bus, said Sher Mohammad Wahdat, head of the information department for Helmand’s provincial government, adding 38 people were injured.

Photos in local media showed a tanker on fire on the dusty road and the wreckage of vehicles from the accident, which occurred in the Gereshk district of Helmand.

Traffic accidents are common in Afghanistan, with poor infrastructure exacerbated by decades of war that ended when foreign troops left in 2021 and the Taliban took over. Southern Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold during the war, saw some of the country’s most intense fighting.
Elite Afghan soldiers turn barbers, gym trainers in India to escape Taliban (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [3/16/2024 1:02 AM, Junaid Kathju, 2060K, Neutral]
It is almost 5:40 in the evening. A hair salon in New Delhi’s bustling New Friends Colony neighbourhood is alive with the sound of buzzing clippers and chattering customers. The air is thick with the scent of hair spray and aftershave.

Zaki Marzai, 29, stands behind a barber’s brown chair, his hands moving with precision as he snips a customer’s hair.

Wooden shelves on the walls bear colourful bottles of shampoo and styling products. The mirrors reflect Marzai, his eyes focused on the hair before him. His customer looks satisfied.

Marzai, though, would rather be elsewhere – with a rifle in his hand, not a razor.

Three years ago, Marzai was a soldier in the elite special force of Afghanistan’s army, fighting the Taliban in a war that started with the United States and NATO forces invading the country in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. The Western-backed Afghan government had sided with the US in the 20-year war. Marzai joined the army in 2015 as a sergeant and was on track to become a commissioned officer.

Everything changed on June 20, 2018.

‘Sitting ducks’

At about 2am that day, Marzai was stationed outside a camp in Ghazni province of Afghanistan when a barrage of bullets hit him and his fellow soldiers.

Before Marzai and his comrades could realise what happened, 25 soldiers had died on the spot and six others had been injured. Bullets had pierced through Marzai’s chin and right leg.

“The attack was so intense we couldn’t do anything. The bullets were coming from all four sides. We were sitting ducks. The Taliban wiped out the entire camp,” he recalls. According to the United States Institute of Peace, an estimated 70,000 Afghan military and police personnel lost their lives in two decades of war in Afghanistan.

It was eight hours before any backup arrived to rescue the wounded. Marzai, who had lost a lot of blood, was first taken to a nearby hospital in Ghazni and soon transferred to a hospital in Kabul for further treatment on his jaw.

After nearly a year of treatment, his jaw was still deformed, so the Afghan government sent him to India for better care. He left behind his parents, a sister and seven brothers.

In 2019, Marzai arrived at a medical facility in Gurgaon, a city adjoining New Delhi. Later, he was also taken to two other public sector hospitals in the Indian capital.

By August 2021, Marzai hoped to return to Afghanistan, his face finally fixed. But the Afghanistan he knew was about to be broken.

‘I cried all night’

As the Taliban grabbed control of province after province in Afghanistan in early August, Marzai was following the news on his phone, watching YouTube, tracking Twitter and waiting for Facebook updates.

Then, on August 15, the Taliban stormed into Kabul and took power, forcing the US and NATO forces to flee the country in a chaotic exit. Marzai tried to reach his family and soldier colleagues on the phone, but couldn’t get through because mobile networks were down.

He was stunned: Marzai had expected a fight, not a meek surrender from the country’s politicians, whom he accuses of looting Afghanistan and then escaping.

“I cried all night when the Taliban took over the country,” says Marzai. “I was heartbroken. I was looking forward to returning to my family and rejoining the army, but now I am stuck here [in India].”

Marzai is from Ghazni, an Afghan province dominated by the Shia Hazara community, which has been persecuted by the mainly Sunni Taliban for a long time.

And he is a former soldier for a government that the Taliban viewed as the enemy. Since August 2021, despite a general amnesty announced by the Taliban after its takeover, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) reported that at least 200 former Afghan soldiers and government officials have been killed extrajudicially by the new authority.

Marzai is not the only Afghan soldier in India, unable to return home.

‘We couldn’t return’

Khalil Shamas, a 27-year-old former lieutenant who now works as a waiter at a New Delhi restaurant, arrived in India in 2020 for training at the elite Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun, the hilly capital of India’s northern state of Uttarakhand. By the time he and his colleagues completed the course, the Afghan army had ceased to exist on the ground.

He says there were about 200 Afghan soldiers training at the IMA. A few returned to Afghanistan. Many others migrated to Iran, Canada, the US and Europe.

But at least 50 of them stayed back in India – unable to get visas to the West, and too scared to return to Afghanistan.

Back in India, the difficulties for Afghan soldiers forced to stay in exile worsened after the Afghanistan embassy in New Delhi, their only source of contact and support, stopped funding their stay after the government in Kabul changed. The soldiers are reticent about sharing details of just how the embassy supported them financially.

“Since 2021, we have not received any help from the embassy. We have been left on our own, to fend for ourselves,” says Marzai.

After exhausting all of his savings and with no help coming, Marzai managed to enrol in a six-month haircutting course and started working in a salon.

He lives in a two-room apartment with a damp odour, with three other Afghan men in the congested Bhogal area of South Delhi. The paint is peeling off the walls, and dirty quilts are strewn about.

Not far from Bhogal, Shamas lives with seven Afghan friends in a small apartment in the city’s Malviya Nagar area. “It is challenging to live in a foreign land without any financial assistance from your government. I had to not only look after myself but also send money back home for my family,” he says.

Shamas’s older brother Dost Ali Shamas was a district governor in his hometown, Ghazi, when Taliban fighters killed him in an ambush in 2018. After the incident, the family moved to Kabul in search of a safer environment.

Since 2022, India has also slowly increased its engagement with the Taliban, a group it shunned when it was in power in the 1990s and when it was fighting US-backed forces between 2001 and 2021. In June 2022, the Indian government reopened its Kabul embassy and deployed a team of “technical experts” to manage its mission.

In November last year, the Afghan embassy in New Delhi, which was led by diplomats appointed by the elected government that the Taliban overthrew, announced that it was shutting down, accusing the Indian government of no longer cooperating with it.

Now, in addition to no longer receiving financial support from the mission, the Afghan soldiers also have nowhere to go for paperwork to authenticate that they were once part of their country’s army.

According to a 2023 report by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), India is home to more than 15,000 Afghan refugees. Nearly 1,000 of those are Afghans who took shelter in India after the Taliban came to power in 2021.

The report says nearly 1.6 million Afghans have fled the country since 2021, bringing the total number of Afghans in the neighbouring countries to 8.2 million.

Among them is Esmatullah Asil.

‘My dream came crashing down’

Asil, another former Afghan soldier, begins his day at 7am. Dressed in a black sports T-shirt and trousers, he hurries to work where young boys and girls wait for his instructions.

Asil, 27, is a gym trainer in South Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar, home to hundreds of Afghan migrants who have opened restaurants, shops and pharmacies there.

After finishing his master’s degree in social science from Herat University in western Afghanistan, Asil enrolled in the army and was set to become a lieutenant. “It was my dream to join the army and serve my country. But after the Taliban returned, my dream came crashing down,” he says.

While at the IMA, Asil used to visit the academy’s gym, where he learned bodybuilding. It was a skill that came in handy when he then sought work at the Lajpat Nagar gym.

“I told the gym owner to give me a chance and worked there for free for six months. If I hadn’t secured the job, I don’t know how I would have survived here,” he says.

The former Afghan soldiers in India say they are afraid of returning to Afghanistan – they fear they will be targeted for supporting the US-led NATO forces.

Shamas, whose brother was killed by the Taliban, recounts the threats that preceded that assassination.

“My brother received numerous threatening letters from the Taliban demanding to quit his position before they ultimately killed him,” Shamas recalls.

Marzai has his own demons.

He says he still wrestles with nightmares from the “harrowing night” he was ambushed. He instinctively moves his hands and legs in sleep, as if trying to evade the bullets that rained on him years ago.

“I sleep alone in a separate room. My roommates are reluctant to sleep beside me. I don’t know whom I will hit in my sleep because I move unconsciously,” he says.

‘Never tastes like home’

In their free time, Asil and Shamas visit each other’s homes, recalling with nostalgia their days of hope and dreams at the IMA, where they first met. Conversations often end up veering towards the state of present-day Afghanistan – and the realisation that they need to distract themselves.

“We usually play cards, listen to songs – Afghani and Bollywood – watch movies on Netflix, and on occasions also cook,” Asil says. “My favourite actor is Shah Rukh Khan, and actress is Deepika Padukone,” he adds, laughing, referring to the Bollywood stars.

They cook their favourite dishes. Asil prefers kebabs and ashak, pocket-sized dumplings filled with chives, and typically served with yoghurt and a mint seasoning. Shamas has a weakness for kabuli pulao.

“We try our best to cook our favourite dishes. But it never tastes like home,” Shamas said.

And the delicacies of home can’t fill the void of missing out on family functions.

Shamas’s niece got married in early March, while Asil’s brother was married five months ago. One of Marzai’s older brothers got married in 2022.

“I desperately wanted to be there as my brother is no more. But, I couldn’t travel. I watched the wedding through a video call,” Shamas says.

Shamas and Asil want to migrate to the US. However, their lack of active service in the Afghan army makes them ineligible to seek asylum, they say.

“Because we were still in training and had not yet joined the army in active duty, the US authorities are not considering us for asylum despite the dangerous conditions we face in Afghanistan,” says Shamas.

According to the International Rescue Committee, up to 300,000 Afghans had been associated with US operations in Afghanistan since 2001. Since the withdrawal of the US, approximately 88,500 Afghans have been resettled in the US, according to the US Department of Homeland Security, while thousands more have applied, seeking asylum.

Asil is trying to move to other countries as well. “Let’s see what God has in store for me. I have no plans to return to Afghanistan. I want to settle in any Western country and later bring my family there as well,” he says.

Marzai is trying to get asylum in Europe or the US. “I am worried about my family. I want to go home but I am afraid of the Taliban. I am hoping that as a serving soldier, I will find a home in the West,” he said.

But for now, they must stay in India. And while the Afghan army they once served no longer exists, they can’t get rid of the habits they picked up over years of training.

Whenever Marzai meets a senior ex-officer, he maintains the same routine of discipline and respect he had been trained in, lowering his head and standing at attention while greeting the officer.

In Marzai’s head, he’s still a soldier.
Pakistan
‘Inflection point’: US hearing on Pakistan shines light on complex ties (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [3/15/2024 4:14 PM, Abid Hussain, 2.1M, Neutral]
The US Congress will hold a hearing next week on the “future of democracy” in Pakistan and the state of relations between the two countries, weeks after a controversial election in Pakistan that the country’s biggest opposition party alleges was manipulated.

But foreign policy analysts said that the March 20 hearing of the subcommittee of the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs is unlikely to affect the direction of ties between the nations that have been rocky, though they have improved in the past two years.

Formally, Pakistan welcomed the hearing, saying that it hopes that deliberations “contribute to promoting positive dynamics in bilateral ties” between the two countries.

“Pakistan values its close relationship with the United States and believes in constructive engagement on all matters. And we respect the prerogative of legislative bodies to discuss and debate international issues,” the Pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.

The hearing follows a letter that was endorsed by 31 Congress members, who wrote to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on February 29, urging them to not recognise the new Pakistani government and push for an investigation into alleged manipulation in elections.

Pakistan conducted its general polls last month, which were marred by widespread allegations of fraud, unusually delayed results and numerous other irregularities.

The biggest winners in the polls were Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed candidates, who won 93 seats, despite being denied the use of their electoral symbol, a cricket bat, days before the polls. The party’s leader, former Prime Minister Imran Khan, has been in prison since August 2023, and was convicted on multiple charges just before the elections. Numerous other party-backed candidates were unable to conduct election canvassing due to a crackdown by the authorities.

Despite winning the greatest number of seats, the PTI refused to form a coalition with either the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) or Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which won 75 and 54 seats respectively.

Subsequently, the PMLN and the PPP joined hands to form an alliance along with smaller parties to create the government, a near-repeat of a coalition they forged in April 2022, when the PTI and then-Prime Minister Imran Khan were removed from power through a parliamentary vote of no confidence.

Khan, who had been in power since August 2018, has repeatedly accused that his overthrow was engineered through a US-led conspiracy, in collusion with Pakistan’s powerful military establishment. Both the US and the Pakistani military have repeatedly rejected the allegations, describing them as false.

The former cricketer-turn-politician specifically accused Donald Lu, a US Department of State official, of delivering a message to Asad Majeed, Pakistan’s then-ambassador to the US, in which Washington allegedly suggested that Khan be removed from power for engaging with Russia despite the Ukraine war.

Lu, currently the assistant secretary of state looking after South and Central Asian affairs, will be appearing at the March 20 congressional hearing as a witness.

Earlier this year, Khan was sentenced to jail for 10 years along with his former colleague Shah Mahmood Qureshi on accusations of revealing state secrets, a case pertaining to Lu’s message, which was delivered via secret cable to Ambassador Majeed.

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Thursday that the US administration looks forward to the congressional meeting, and echoed past statements rejecting the allegations against Lu.

“With respect to the underlying allegations against Assistant Secretary Lu, they’re false. They’ve always been false. You’ve heard me say that more than once, more than twice, more than 10 times probably. Of course, we take any threats towards US officials seriously and condemn any effort to threaten the safety and security of our diplomats,” he said while answering a question.

Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States, United Nations and the United Kingdom cautioned against reading too much into the subcommittee hearing.

“The diaspora in the US is generally supportive of the PTI and they have managed to push for a subcommittee hearing. But these hearings take place all the time, and they have little operational impact,” she told Al Jazeera.

Kamran Bokhari, senior director for the Washington, DC-based New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, said that the campaign against Pakistan’s new government among parts of the diaspora was mistakenly confusing domestic US politics with the prospects of foreign policy change.

“A local congressperson is willing to issue statements to pacify you for the sake of gaining voters’ trust and for their constituents. This subcommittee hearing is the result of local US politics, and has nothing to do with US government foreign policy,” he told Al Jazeera.

Abdul Basit, a research fellow at S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, concurred.

“Will it be consequential? Perhaps not. They [hearings] are mostly cut out for the gallery and optics. I don’t think it will make any major political, or policy level difference,” he added.

Basit further said that Pakistan was not a priority for the US, and the relationship between the two nations is mostly framed in relation to Pakistan’s regional neighbours, India, China and Afghanistan.

“The Americans want Pakistan to maintain peace on the eastern front with India, while influencing the Afghan Taliban since the US withdrawal (in 2021),” he said, adding that the Pakistan-US relationship “is less about the countries itself”.

Lodhi, the former ambassador also agreed, and said that the relationship between them is currently at an “inflection point”.

“Ever since the US military withdrawal from the Afghanistan, relations have been in this rather tentative state. The US withdrawal, in fact, has completely changed the context of this relationship where for the last two decades, Afghanistan was the only common issue between them,” she added.

Bokhari also adds that from the State Department’s perspective, the US would like to avoid taking sides amid Pakistan’s multiple crises at a time when American diplomacy and the Biden administration are also swamped with several challenges.

“Pakistan is not on the priority list right now. The Americans have their hands full with the Middle East crisis, the Ukraine war, China, and then this is election season. They have no shortage of issues,” he said.

Lodhi says that until the US elections, scheduled for November this year, it is unlikely anything of significance will take place between the two countries.
7 soldiers killed in a suicide truck bombing and shootout in northwest Pakistan (AP)
AP [3/16/2024 6:42 AM, Riaz Khan, 22K, Negative]
A suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden truck into a sprawling military post in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, the military and security officials said. At least seven soldiers were killed in the bombing and ensuing shootout.

Troops responding to the attack in North Waziristan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan, killed six more attackers, some of whom were wearing suicide vests, the military said.

A newly formed militant group, Jaish-e-Fursan-e-Muhammad, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement.

The military said a portion of a military post collapsed. It said five soldiers died in the truck bombing and two officers in the shootout that followed.

A clearance operation is still underway in the area, it said, adding that the “security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country and such sacrifices of our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve.”

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and paid tribute to the troops who were “martyred” in the attack.

North Waziristan long served as a base for the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups until the army claimed a few years back that it had cleared the region of insurgents.

Occasional attacks have continued, however, raising concerns that the Pakistani Taliban are regrouping in the area. The Pakistani Taliban are a separate group but allies of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 as the U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout.

Since then the Pakistani Taliban have stepped up attacks on security forces, especially in the northwest.
Several Troops Killed In Suicide Attack On Pakistan Military Post (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [3/16/2024 6:34 AM, Ahmad Shah Azami, 223K, Negative]
Pakistan says seven soldiers were killed and 17 wounded in a militant attack that targeted a sprawling army post in the volatile North Waziristan district near the Afghan border on March 16.

"The terrorists rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the post, followed by multiple suicide-bombing attacks, which led to the collapse of a portion of a building," the Pakistani military said in a statement.

Residents in North Waziristan in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province said a powerful explosion shook doors and damaged windows at around 6.15 a.m. local time.

The army said five soldiers died in the truck bombing and two officers in the shoot-out that ensued. All six assailants were killed and a clearance operation was still under way in the area, it added.

The army did not name the militant group behind the attack. But a newly formed militant group, Jaish-e Fursan-e Muhammad, claimed responsibility for the assault.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and paid tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives.

North Waziristan has long been a hotbed of militants operating on both sides of the border. Pakistani officials say attacks have risen in recent months, many of them claimed by the Pakistani Taliban (TTP).

After the Afghan Taliban returned to power following the withdrawal of the U.S.-led forces from the country, many TTP members have reportedly found sanctuary in Afghanistan, using it to launch more frequent attacks on Pakistani troops and civilians.

It has damaged the relationship between Islamabad and the Taliban-led government in Kabul, which denies allowing Afghanistan to be used by militants.

Pakistani military officials have previously claimed that their mop-up operations in North Waziristan cleared the area of Taliban fighters and other militant groups.
India
Data Dump Exposes the Fuzzy Lines Between Money and Politics in India (New York Times)
New York Times [3/15/2024 4:14 PM, Alex Travelli and Hari Kumar, 831K, Neutral]
Politics in India is an expensive business, and sometimes lucrative, too. In this year’s election, parties are expected to spend more than $14 billion — as much as in the United States. But there has been little in the way of transparency for the huge sums sloshing around.

On Thursday night, a rare and chaotic beam of light shot through the darkness. By order of India’s Supreme Court, the government-owned State Bank of India handed reams of data to the election commission, showing who had directed cash to the country’s political parties through a mechanism known as electoral bonds.

Reading between the lines of the spreadsheets full of names poses questions about the intersection of government and business in India. Construction companies, gambling impresarios, pharmaceutical bosses and many more corporate entities and individuals had forked over $1.7 billion in bonds since 2019. Many ended up winning government contracts. Most had faced trouble with the federal police.

Jairam Ramesh, a leader of the opposition Indian National Congress party, said a clear picture had emerged: that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi used law enforcement agencies to extort businesses into filling its coffers.

“In my view, this is independent India’s biggest scandal,” Mr. Ramesh said. The way the country’s top law enforcement and financial crime agencies had “been used to terrify people,” he added, “it has never happened before.”

Mr. Ramesh’s party has deposited electoral bonds, too, worth at least $170 million. But Mr. Modi’s B.J.P., which controls both the budget and the federal agencies, has received nearly four times as much since 2019, more than the next six parties combined.

The full reach of this data dump will take days if not weeks to parse. In the meantime, election season is hitting a fever pitch. On Saturday, the voting dates will be announced; they are likely to stretch from April into May.

Electoral bonds are just one avenue for campaign finance, but they have attracted more attention than any other since the B.J.P. introduced them nearly seven years ago.

Perhaps the most striking thing about the list of donors is the names it does not include. The Adani Group, the giant conglomerate whose value has grown by almost 1,000 percent since Mr. Modi took power, appears nowhere. Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man, does not either, although his Reliance Industries has a roundabout connection to the third-largest donor listed.

Directors on the board of Qwik Supply Chain, which bought about $50 million worth of electoral bonds, sit on the boards of Reliance companies. Reliance released a statement saying that Qwik Supply “is not a subsidiary of any Reliance entity.”

The biggest buyer was a company called Future Gaming and Hotel Services, which snapped up $165 million in bonds. That is many times greater than the profits it has reported in any year. The company’s owner, Santiago Martin, often styled as India’s “lottery king,” was under investigation for money laundering. He was also locked in a dispute with the state of Tamil Nadu, which tried to ban gambling — only to be thwarted by the national government.

Ironically, the electoral bonds system was promoted as a means to bring legitimacy to a hodgepodge of mostly illegal funding practices that all parties had been using for decades. Donors would buy bonds from the state bank anonymously and then pass them on to politicians. Critics complained immediately that this process only formalized secrecy.

Mr. Modi’s government had come to power in 2014 on the back of a series of financial scandals that humbled his predecessors. Then an anti-corruption campaign boosted his campaign. Yet any revelations now cannot be expected to generate widespread protest. The Indian media is reliably supportive of Mr. Modi’s government.

Democracy activists had petitioned the country’s top court in 2017 to declare the new fund-raising model unconstitutional, on the grounds that it lacked transparency and denied a level playing field to different parties.

“The whole idea for anonymous donations was to make money, to get kickbacks, anonymous kickbacks. Clearly, almost everything is a kickback,” said Prashant Bhushan, one of the lawyers who brought the case against the government.

Jagdeep Chhokar, an activist who petitioned the court, said that with Thursday’s data release, the bank authorities still had not revealed the “granular details” — for example, “which company has donated exactly how much money to which party exactly on what date.”

Since the day the policy was framed, Mr. Chhokar said, he and other activists have been arguing “that this is the way to legalize something which is patently wrong.”

Nirmala Sitharaman, the government’s finance minister, dismissed any allegation of quid pro quo, saying that there was nothing to establish a link between raids by investigative agencies and funding, and that any such charges were mere “assumptions.”

“Was the system before this 100 percent perfect? No,” Ms. Sitharaman told an Indian television channel. “This is certainly not perfect, but one bit better.”

Electoral bonds as a mechanism may go away after the Supreme Court’s decision against them a month ago, but their story is not yet over. On Friday, India’s chief justice issued another directive to the State Bank of India. Why, he asked, has it failed to provide the bonds’ identifying numbers, which would establish which political group received funds from where?

“The judgment of the constitution bench clarified that all details of electoral bonds will be made available including date of purchase, name of purchaser, the denomination,” the judge, Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, wrote. He ordered the bank to fill in the missing facts by Monday.
India to Hold Vote Starting in April as Modi Seeks to Stay (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [3/16/2024 8:32 AM, Swati Gupta, Sudhi Ranjan Sen, and Siddhartha Singh, 5543K, Positive]
India will hold general elections over six weeks from April 19, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi bidding for a third term in office buoyed by a strong economy and his party’s Hindu nationalist policies.

The national polls will be carried out over seven phases until June 1, Rajiv Kumar, India’s chief election commissioner, told reporters in New Delhi on Saturday. The votes will be counted on June 4, he said. Preliminary results are usually known the same day.

Modi has said his Bharatiya Janata Party and allies will sweep the elections with more than 400 of the 543 parliamentary seats up for grabs in the polls. He faces a weakened opposition alliance, which has been struggling to put across a cohesive message that resonates with voters.

About 970 million Indians are registered to vote and over 1 million polling stations will be set up, the commission said.

The elections will be carried out over several weeks to ensure citizens get access to electronic voting machines. India will also hold state assembly polls in the northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, Odisha in the east and Andhra Pradesh in the south.

The BJP’s seat target is an ambitious goal when compared with the 303 seats won in the 2019 elections. Modi’s support among the majority Hindu population is high, and his party has taken several steps to promote a Hindu-first policy. Modi earlier this year opened a temple on a site where a 16th-century mosque once stood, and the government this week enacted a law that fast-tracks citizenship for non-Muslim immigrants.

Another five-year term would give the BJP room to push through other controversial policies. The party has proposed a population register that critics say would discriminate against minorities and also wants to implement a legal code that may replace all religion-based laws.

A third term also gives Modi the chance to continue an economic program that investors have broadly embraced. India is posting growth rates of more than 7%, making it one of the fastest expanding economies in the world. The stock market has more than doubled since Modi took power in 2014, exceeding the 176% increase in the S&P 500 in the past decade.

India has also become an important security partner to Washington and a manufacturing alternative to a slowing China economy.

One of Modi’s main economic challenges is finding jobs for the tens of millions of young people who join the workforce every year — a major concern for new voters in the country, some 18 million who are eligible to cast their ballots for the first time. The government is also struggling to quell farmers protests over food crop prices.

Modi will face an alliance of more than 20 opposition groups in the polls, the biggest of which is the Indian National Congress. The alliance has struggled to capitalize on voters’ discontent about bread-and-butter issues as they work out seat-sharing deals. Several high-profile alliance members defected to the BJP in the past several months and numerous opposition leaders are under investigation by federal agencies or have been arrested.

Some opposition parties are focusing on the regions they dominate. Those who remain in the alliance are looking to circumvent Modi’s star power with a state-by-state campaign aimed at celebrating India’s religious diversity.

They are also offering support to low-income households, although they face a well-funded campaign by the BJP-led government, which is giving cheaper loans, affordable cooking gas and cash handouts to citizens.

The Election Commission also gave its first clear statement on polls in the contentious region of Jammu and Kashmir, saying voting for the state assembly will take place soon after the federal elections. India’s only majority Muslim state, Jammu and Kashmir was stripped of its autonomy in 2019.

Elections in the state couldn’t be held simultaneously with the federal polls because of security concerns, Kumar said. Each state candidate for the assembly polls would require individual security cover, he said.
India announces 6-week general elections starting April 19 with Modi’s BJP topping surveys (AP)
AP [3/16/2024 7:23 AM, Staff, 22K, Neutral]
India on Saturday announced its 6-week-long general elections will start on April 19, with most surveys predicting a victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

Voting in the world’s largest democracy will stretch over seven phases, with different states voting at different times and results will be announced on June 4. Over 970 million voters — more than 10% of the world’s population — will elect 543 members for the lower house of Parliament for a term of five years.

Modi, who is seeking a third consecutive term, faces little challenge as the main opposition alliance of over two dozen regional parties led by the Indian National Congress party appears to be cracking, riven by rivalries, political defections and ideological clashes.

Analysts say the elections are likely to cement Modi as one of India’s most enduring most consequential leaders who has sought to transform the country from a secular democracy into an avowedly Hindu nation.

Each election phase will last one day and several constituencies — spread across multiple states, densely populated cities and far-flung villages — will vote that day. The staggered polling allows the government to deploy tens of thousands of troops to prevent violence and transport electoral officials and voting machines.

India has a first-past-the-post multiparty electoral system in which the candidate who receives the most votes wins.

Ahead of the polls, Modi has been travelling across the country inaugurating new projects, making speeches and engaging with voters. Support for the leader surged after he opened a Hindu temple in northern Ayodhya city in January, which many saw as the unofficial start of his election campaign because it fulfilled his party’s long-held Hindu nationalist pledge.

The 73-year-old Modi first swept to power in 2014 on promises of economic development, presenting himself as an outsider cracking down on the political elite. Since then, he has grown increasingly popular and mixed religion with politics in a formula that has resonated deeply with the country’s majority Hindu population even if it undermines India’s secular roots.

The elections come as India’s clout on the global stage has risen under Modi, thanks to its large economy and partly because it is seen as a counterweight to a rising China.

Critics say that nearly a decade of Modi’s rule has been marked by rising unemployment even as its economy swells, attacks by Hindu nationalists against the country’s minorities, particularly Muslims, and a shrinking space for dissent and free media. The opposition says a win by Modi’s party could threaten India’s status as a secular, democratic nation.

A victory for Modi’s BJP would follow a 2019 electoral triumph, when it secured an absolute majority with 303 parliamentary seats against 52 held by the Congress party.
India vote to start on April 19, Modi says confident of win (Reuters)
Reuters [3/16/2024 11:09 AM, YP Rajesh, 11975K, Positive]
India will elect a new parliament in seven phases between April 19 and early June, the country’s election authority said on Saturday, in what amounts to the world’s largest election with nearly one billion eligible to vote.

The election pits two-term strongman Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his regional allies against a bickering alliance of two dozen opposition parties, with surveys suggesting a comfortable win for Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP).

A victory would make Modi, 73, only the second prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s independence hero and its first prime minister, to win a third straight term.

"We address you at a precious moment, when we as a nation are set to reiterate our pledge to electoral democracy, when Indians will together express their will once again," Rajiv Kumar, the head of the independent Election Commission of India, told reporters.

The last of the seven phases of voting will be held on June 1 and votes counted on June 4, he said.

Modi said the "biggest festival of democracy" had started and his party would campaign on its track record of "good governance and public service".

"I have full confidence that we will get the full affection and blessings" of more than 960 million voters for the third consecutive time, he said in a series of posts on X.

Modi and his party have been in campaign mode for months. The prime minister has been flying around the country almost daily, inaugurating new projects, taking part in religious events and addressing public and private meetings.

In his speeches, Modi has been showcasing India’s economic growth, with India becoming the fastest-growing major economy in the world at present, as well as investment in infrastructure and welfare programmes for the poor.

OPPOSITION ALLIANCE STRUGGLING

A main talking point has also been his party’s agenda for Hindu reawakening, including the inauguration of a grand temple to Lord Ram on the site of a destroyed mosque.

Modi has set a target of 370 seats for BJP and 400-plus for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) it heads in the 543-member lower house of parliament, up from the 303 the BJP won and more than the 350 the NDA won in 2019.

The 2019 performance was the best ever for the party which was formed in 1980.

Modi will be challenged by an alliance of some two-dozen opposition parties led by the main opposition Congress party called INDIA or the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.

The alliance formed last year has, however, been struggling to stay united and share seats amicably.

Congress, which has ruled India for 54 of its 76 years since independence from Britain, has sunk to record lows after Modi swept to power and is struggling to revive support.

The party is highlighting unemployment, rural distress, what it says is crony capitalism, the need for more affirmative action for the so-called backward castes and the need to end religious polarisation and hate in its pitch to defeat Modi.

"This will perhaps be the last chance to save democracy and our constitution from dictatorship," Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge posted on X. "We the people of India will together fight against hatred, loot, unemployment, price rise and atrocities."

Nearly 970 million people are registered to vote at over one million polling stations in the mammoth electoral exercise with 2,400 political parties likely to contest.
India dismisses U.S. concern about its citizenship law as ‘misplaced’ (Reuters)
Reuters [3/15/2024 7:25 AM, Krishn Kaushik, 5.2M, Neutral]
Comments by the United States expressing concern about India’s implementation of a contentious citizenship law based on religion are "misplaced, misinformed, and unwarranted", the foreign ministry of the South Asian nation said on Friday.

India’s move this week sparked sporadic protests, with critics, including Muslims groups and opposition parties, saying the law was discriminatory and undermined the country’s secular constitution.

In a statement, the U.S. State Department said it was "concerned" about the notification of the law, citing "respect for religious freedom and equal treatment" as a fundamental democratic principle.

"We are of the view that it is misplaced, misinformed, and unwarranted," Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesperson for India’s Foreign Ministry, said on Friday, in response to the U.S. statement.

"Lectures by those who have a limited understanding of India’s pluralistic traditions and the region’s post-partition history are best not attempted," he added.

The reference was to the colonial-era division of the subcontinent at the time of independence from Britain in 1947.

There were no grounds for concern about the treatment of minorities, Jaiswal said, adding, "Votebank politics should not determine views about a laudable initiative to help those in distress."

The Indian law provides a fast-track for citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who have fled to India from neighbouring countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has earlier defended the law, known as the Citizenship Amendment Act, saying it will benefit the victims of years of such persecution in India’s neighbours.

In addition to the United States, the United Nations expressed concern about the law’s implementation, which comes ahead of general elections due by May at which Modi will seek a rare third term.
India rejects US concern over citizenship law as ‘misplaced, unwarranted’ (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [3/15/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, 2.1M, Neutral]
India has rejected comments by a United States official raising concern over the implementation of a religion-based citizenship law as “misplaced, misinformed and unwarranted”.

On Monday, just weeks before the general election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government announced rules to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which makes getting Indian citizenship easier for non-Muslim refugees from three Muslim-majority South Asian nations: Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The move sparked sporadic protests with critics, including Muslims groups and opposition parties, saying the law discriminates against Muslims and undermines India’s secular constitution.

On Tuesday, a US Department of State spokesperson expressed concern about the law and said Washington is “closely monitoring how this act will be implemented”.

“Respect for religious freedom and equal treatment under the law for all communities are fundamental democratic principles,” the spokesperson added.

In response, a spokesman for India’s Ministry of External Affairs on Friday said the CAA was an “internal matter” and the US State Department’s statement was “misplaced, misinformed and unwarranted”.

Spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said the law was “in keeping with India’s inclusive traditions and our longstanding commitment to human rights” and “grants a safe haven to persecuted minorities”.

“The CAA is about giving citizenship, not about taking away citizenship. It addresses the issue of statelessness, provides human dignity and supports human rights,” he told reporters in New Delhi.

“Lectures by those who have a limited understanding of India’s pluralistic traditions and the region’s post-partition history are best not attempted,” he said, referring to the colonial-era division of the Indian subcontinent to create the state of Pakistan in 1947.

The United Nations, which also expressed concerns about the CAA’s enforcement, had called the CAA “fundamentally discriminatory in nature” when it was passed in parliament in 2019.

Modi’s government did not implement the law that year as nationwide protests broke out over its passage. In eastern parts of New Delhi, Muslim neighbourhoods were attacked for days, and dozens of people were killed.

Activists and human rights groups said the law, combined with a proposed national register of citizens, could discriminate against India’s 200 million Muslims – the world’s third largest Muslim population. Some fear the government might remove the citizenship of Muslims without documents in some border states.

Rights groups also note the law leaves out Muslim minority groups like the Shias from India’s neighbouring Muslim-majority countries while also excluding countries where Muslims are a minority, like the Rohingya in Myanmar.

On Thursday, Amnesty International said the CAA was “a blow to Indian constitutional values and international standards” and demanded its repeal.

“The Citizenship Amendment Act is a bigoted law that legitimises discrimination on the basis of religion and should never have been enacted in the first place. Its operationalisation is a poor reflection on the Indian authorities as they fail to listen to a multitude of voices critical of the CAA,” said Aakar Patel, chairperson of the board at Amnesty International India.

Next week, India’s top court will hear nearly 200 petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the law implemented before the general election, local media reports said on Friday.

India is expected on Saturday to announce the date of the vote, scheduled to be held in April and May, in which Modi is seeking a third straight term.
India’s Muslims See Discrimination in New Religion-Based Citizenship Law (VOA)
VOA [3/17/2024 2:47 PM, Shaikh Azizur Rahman, 761K, Negative]
The Indian government’s recent announcement of rules to implement a 2019 citizenship law has sparked protests in India, with many accusing it of polarizing the society ahead of general elections scheduled for next month.

Under the Citizenship Amendment Act or, CAA, “persecuted” religious minorities from Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, who entered India before December 2014, will be allowed to claim Indian citizenship on a fast-track basis.

Since the law applies only to non-Muslims, critics — including rights groups, opposition political parties and Muslim community leaders — say it discriminates against Muslims.

After last week’s announcement, Amnesty International described the CAA as “a discriminatory law that goes against the constitutional values of equality and international human rights law.”

A spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights was quoted by the Reuters news agency on Tuesday as saying the law is “fundamentally discriminatory in nature and in breach of India’s international human rights obligations.”

Home Minister Amit Shah has defended the CAA, calling it a “special act” designed to protect persecuted minorities from three countries and saying it has nothing to do with Indian Muslims.

“Indian Muslims need not be afraid because of the CAA. It has no provision to take away the citizenship rights of any Indian,” Shah said.

Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians will be allowed onto a fast track to Indian citizenship under the law. Jews and Bahais are not included among the specified minorities.

Although the measure was approved in 2019, the Modi government put implementation on hold after hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets protesting what they called a discriminatory anti-Muslim law.

The protests led to the outbreak of communal violence in Delhi and other places, during which thousands of protesters were arrested and more than 100 were killed. The legislation was further delayed by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the Indian Citizenship Act, all foreign nationals are required to stay in India for 11 years before being eligible to apply for a passport. That law did not make religion a determinant of one’s eligibility for citizenship.

Practitioners of the designated religions will now be eligible to apply for citizenship after having stayed in India for five years. It is the first time that religion has been explicitly made a basis on which people will be eligible for citizenship.

Despite the home minister’s assurances, the implementation of the law has reignited fear among India’s 200 million Muslims, especially those in certain border states, of having their citizenship revoked should they be unable to produce specific documents.

Those fears could be realized if the government moves ahead with implementation of another law providing for an updated National Register of Citizens, or NRC, under which “all Indian citizens” are to be identified and listed.

People left out of the NRC will face the threat of losing their citizenship through the power vested in quasi-judicial bodies known as foreigner tribunals, which are responsible for determining if a person is staying in the country illegally.

Individuals determined to be “foreigners” will be sent to detention centers, Amnesty International noted in a report.

A provision in the CAA ensures that non-Muslims not included in the NRC are protected from the threats of deportation and internment but grants no such security to Muslims.

The sudden implementation of the CAA, after years of delay and weeks before April 19 general elections, suggests the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is using it to polarize the Hindu-majority society and reap electoral benefits, alleged Zafarul-Islam Khan, former chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission.

“Minority Uyghur and Rohingya Muslims have for decades been facing persecution in neighboring China and Myanmar, and are seeking refuge in other countries,” Khan told VOA. “If the CAA is aimed to protect all persecuted minorities around India’s neighborhood, it should have included those Muslims, too. This is undoubtedly an anti-Muslim law.”

The government maintains that the CAA is neither anti-Muslim nor unconstitutional. “This law is to help those who during the partition of the subcontinent had stayed back in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, faced religious persecution there and later came over to India,” Home Minister Shah said on Thursday.

The United States has said it is “concerned” about the notification of the CAA.

“We are closely monitoring how this act will be implemented. Respect for religious freedom and equal treatment under the law for all communities are fundamental democratic principles,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters during a daily briefing on Thursday.

On Friday, India said that the statement of the State Department on the issue was “misplaced, misinformed and unwarranted.”

"The CAA is about giving citizenship, not about taking away citizenship. It addresses the issue of statelessness, provides human dignity and supports human rights,” Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, while asserting that the issue is an “internal matter.”
Indian Navy seizes ship from Somali pirates and rescues 17 crew (Reuters)
Reuters [3/16/2024 2:36 PM, Harshita Meenktshi and Mrinmay Dey, 223K, Negative]
Indian naval forces including special commandos seized a cargo vessel that had been hijacked by Somali pirates, rescuing 17 crew members, a spokesperson for the navy said on Saturday.

The navy said in a post on social media platform X that all 35 pirates aboard the ship, the Maltese-flagged bulk cargo vessel Ruen, had surrendered, and the ship had been checked for the presence of illegal arms, ammunition and contraband.

The Ruen had been hijacked last year and the navy said it had intercepted the vessel on Friday.

The vessel may have been used as the base for the takeover of a Bangladesh-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Somalia earlier this week, the European Union naval force said.

The hijacking of the Ruen was the first successful takeover of a vessel involving Somali pirates since 2017 when a crackdown by international navies stopped a rash of seizures in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

Somali pirates had caused chaos in important global waterways for a decade but had been dormant until a resurgence of attacks starting late last year.

India deploys at least a dozen warships east of the Red Sea to provide security against pirates as Western powers focus on attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis.

At least 17 incidents of hijacking, attempted hijacking and suspicious approaches had been recorded by the Indian Navy since Dec. 1, Indian officials previously said.
India’s Bengaluru is fast running out of water, and a long, scorching summer still looms (AP)
AP [3/16/2024 10:10 PM, Sibi Arasu, 761K, Neutral]
Bhavani Mani Muthuvel and her family of nine have around five 20-liter (5-gallon) buckets worth of water for the week for cooking, cleaning and household chores.

“From taking showers to using toilets and washing clothes, we are taking turns to do everything,” she said. It’s the only water they can afford.

A resident of Ambedkar Nagar, a low-income settlement in the shadows of the lavish headquarters of multiple global software companies in Bengaluru’s Whitefield neighborhood, Muthuvel is normally reliant on piped water, sourced from groundwater. But it’s drying up. She said it’s the worst water crisis she has experienced in her 40 years in the neighborhood.

Bengaluru in southern India is witnessing an unusually hot February and March, and in the last few years, it has received little rainfall in part due to human-caused climate change. Water levels are running desperately low, particularly in poorer areas, resulting in sky-high costs for water and a quickly dwindling supply.

City and state government authorities are trying to get the situation under control with emergency measures such as nationalizing water tankers and putting a cap on water costs. But water experts and many residents fear the worst is still to come in April and May when the summer sun is at its strongest.

The crisis was a long time coming, said Shashank Palur, a Bengaluru-based hydrologist with the think tank Water, Environment, Land and Livelihood Labs.

“Bengaluru is one of the fastest growing cities in the world and the infrastructure for fresh water supply is not able to keep up with a growing population,” he said.

Groundwater, relied on by over a third of the city’s 13 million residents, is fast running out. City authorities say 6,900 of the 13,900 borewells drilled in the city have run dry despite some being drilled to depths of 1,500 feet. Those reliant on groundwater, like Muthuvel, now have to depend on water tankers that pump from nearby villages.

Palur said El Nino, a natural phenomenon that affects weather patterns worldwide, along with the city receiving less rainfall in recent years mean “recharge of groundwater levels did not happen as expected.” A new piped water supply from the Cauvery River about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the city has also not been completed, adding to the crisis, he said.

Another concern is that paved surfaces cover nearly 90% of the city, preventing rainwater from seeping down and being stored in the ground, said T.V. Ramachandra, research scientist at the Centre for Ecological Sciences at Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Science. The city lost nearly 70% of its green cover in the last 50 years, he said.

Ramachandra compared the city’s water shortage to the “day zero” water crisis in Cape Town, South Africa, 2018, when that city came dangerously close to turning off most taps because of a drought.

The Indian government estimated in 2018 that over 40% of Bengaluru residents won’t have access to drinking water by the end of the decade. Only those that receive piped water from rivers outside Bengaluru are still getting regular supply.

“Right now, everyone is drilling borewells in buffer zones of lakes. That is not the solution,” Ramachandra said.

He said the city should instead focus on replenishing the over 200 lakes spread across the city, stop new construction on lake areas, encourage rainwater harvesting and increase green cover across the city.

“Only if we do this will we solve the city’s water problem,” he said.

Palur added that identifying other sources and using them smartly, for example by reusing treated wastewater in the city “so that the demand for fresh water reduces,” could also help.

Until then, some residents are taking serious measures. S. Prasad, who lives with his wife and two children in a housing society made up of 230 apartments, said they have begun water rationing.

“Since last week we’ve closed the water supply to houses for eight hours every day, starting at 10 a.m. Residents have to either store water in containers or do everything they need to in the allotted time. We are also planning on installing water meters soon,” he said.

Prasad said their housing society, like many others in Bengaluru, is willing to pay high costs for water, but even then it’s hard to find suppliers.

“This water shortage is not only impacting our work but also our daily life,” Prasad said. “If it becomes even more dire, we’ll have no choice but to leave Bengaluru temporarily.”
India investigates alleged Hindu nationalist attack on foreign students offering Ramadan prayers (CNN)
CNN [3/18/2024 3:35 AM, Rhea Mogul, 6.1M, Negative]
Authorities in western India have launched an investigation after far-right Hindus allegedly attacked foreign university students offering prayers during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, as religious tensions simmer ahead of a crucial general election.

Two people were detained following clashes at the Gujarat University that broke out Saturday after students from countries including Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Tajikistan began praying on the campus grounds, Ahmedabad police said Sunday.

“Around 20-25 people came and asked them why they were offering namaz (prayers) here and should instead read it in the Masjid (mosque),” Ahmedabad police commissioner GS Malik told reporters.

“An argument broke out between them, stones were pelted, and their rooms were vandalized by the people from outside.”

At least two foreign students were injured, according to India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

“State government is taking strict action against the perpetrators,” spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal posted on social platform X.

The incident is the latest in a string of communal clashes to make headlines in the democracy of 1.4 billion, which has become increasingly polarized along religious lines under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government.

One eyewitness told CNN the students were offering prayers when a group of people arrived and repeatedly told them to stop, while chanting Hindu slogans.

“One of the students got up and slapped a member of the group,” the Gujarat University student, who does not want to be named out of fear of retribution, told CNN. “After that, a larger group arrived and started pelting stones.”

Viral video, purportedly of the incident, shows men throwing stones at the students’ hostel and damaging vehicles. In another clip, men can be heard chanting “Jai Shree Ram (Hail Lord Ram),” a Hindu slogan that has in recent years become a clarion call against Muslims. Another video appears to show a student slapping a man wearing a saffron scarf, a color associated with Hinduism.

CNN cannot independently verify the videos.

Speaking to regional channel News Capital Gujarat, an Afghan student said about 15 people were praying for Ramadan.

“Three people came chanting ‘Jai Shree Ram,’ he said. “After a while, they came back with at least 200-250 people, pelted stones… They broke our bikes, laptops, phones… We are not safe. We request the university to shift us to a safe place.”

Another student told Gujarat First News that the university had given them permission to pray on campus.

Gujarat University vice chancellor Neerja A. Gupta confirmed clashes broke out between two groups after which some foreign students were injured.

“An investigation is underway,” she told reporters. “Some videos have gone viral and the police is trying to investigate the trigger points.”

Analysts have repeatedly raised alarm against rising intolerance in the world’s largest democracy and fear that inter-religious tensions will increase as Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pushes its populist yet divisive policies in the lead up to a nationwide election next month.

In January, communal tensions rose in western Maharashtra state, with three reported altercations between Hindus and Muslims, according to local police.

In a separate incident in central Madhya Pradesh state, a group of right-wing Hindus was seen placing saffron-colored flags on top of a Christian church.

Both incidents took place one week after Modi inaugurated the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir, a controversial Hindu temple built on the ruins of a 16th century mosque that was destroyed by hardline Hindus some 30 years ago, setting off a wave of deadly sectarian violence not seen in India since its bloody 1947 partition.

Prominent Muslim lawmaker Asaduddin Owaisi criticized Saturday’s violence in Gujarat, calling out Modi and top officials within his government.

“What a shame. When your devotion & religious slogans only come out when Muslims peacefully practice their religion,” he wrote on X. “When you become unexplainably angry at the mere sight of Muslims. What is this, if not mass radicalisation?”
India: Authorities Revoke Visa Privileges of Diaspora Critics (Human Rights Watch)
Human Rights Watch [3/17/2024 10:30 PM, Staff, 190K, Negative]
Indian authorities are revoking visa privileges to overseas critics of Indian origin who have spoken out against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government’s policies, Human Rights Watch said today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi often attends mass gatherings of diaspora party supporters in the United States, Europe, Australia, and elsewhere to celebrate Indian democracy, while his government has targeted people it claims are “tarnishing the image” of the country.

The Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) status is available to foreign citizens of Indian origin or foreigners married to Indian nationals to obtain broad residency rights and bypass visa requirements, but does not amount to citizenship. Many of those whose OCI visa status was revoked are Indian-origin academics, activists, and journalists who have been vocal critics of the BJP’s Hindu majoritarian ideology. Some have challenged their exclusion in Indian courts on constitutional grounds seeking protection of their rights to speech and livelihood.

“Indian government reprisals against members of the diaspora who criticize the BJP’s abusive and discriminatory policies show the authorities’ growing hostility to criticism and dialogue,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities seem intent on expanding politically motivated repression against Indian activists and academics at home to foreign citizens of Indian origin beyond India’s borders.”

The BJP-led government has in recent years become more cautious about the visa status for overseas Indians. In 2021, the government downgraded the privileges of the 4.5 million OCI cardholders by re-categorizing them as “foreign nationals,” and requiring them to seek special permission to carry out research and journalism, or visit any area in India listed as “protected.”

Over the past decade, the government has canceled over 100 permits and deported some status holders for allegedly showing “disaffection towards the Constitution.” This has heightened concerns for OCI cardholders whether living in India or abroad, many of whom have older parents and other strong personal ties to India.

In 2022, after the authorities revoked his status, Ashok Swain, an Indian-origin Swedish academic, appealed to the Delhi High Court, which quashed the order, stating that the government had not provided any reasons for its action. In July 2023, the Indian consulate in Sweden sent Swain a fresh order canceling his OCI status because of his social media posts “hurting religious sentiments” and “attempting to destabilize the social fabric of India,” without providing specific evidence to substantiate those allegations.

When Swain challenged the order in September 2023, the authorities claimed they had received “secret” inputs from security agencies. In February 2024, Swain’s X (formerly Twitter) account was blocked in India and subsequently hacked.

“My case has been used as an example to scare or to force other academics outside India to not be critical of the regime,” Swain told Human Rights Watch. “They want to create fear because people want the opportunity to go back to the country.”

Indian authorities have also prevented academics who are OCI cardholders from entering the country. On February 23, the authorities barred Nitasha Kaul, a British professor at the University of Westminster in London from entering India. Kaul said immigration authorities did not provide any reasons but a Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson later said in response to questions about her case that “the entry of foreign nationals into our country is a sovereign decision.” Unidentified government officials also told the media that Kaul had “shown animus” toward India. Kaul has been a vocal critic of the BJP and its affiliated groups, and in 2019 she testified before the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs about human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.

Kaul told Human Rights Watch that she has received numerous rape and death threats online from pro-BJP trolls in India and overseas. “In addition to this, they have called me jihadi and a terrorist,” she said. “There has been a vast amount of deliberate disinformation suggesting that because my work is critical of the ruling party in India, that makes me pro-Pakistani.”

In some cases, the authorities have openly cited criticism of BJP government policies as evidence to revoke the visa status. In response to a petition by a British activist, Amrit Wislon, challenging her cancellation, the government cited her social media posts about Kashmir and her article condemning the police’s excessive use of force against protesting farmers in 2020 and 2021.

Indian authorities are increasingly using what appear to be politically motivated tactics against the around 25 foreign reporters with OCI status working in India as of January 2024, embroiling them in opaque bureaucracy or simply denying them permission to continue reporting.

Vanessa Dougnac, a French journalist who had lived in India for 22 years, said she left the country after the Ministry of Home Affairs sent her a “show cause” notice in January, saying it intended to cancel her OCI card because she did not have a permit to work as a journalist and her news reports created a “biased negative perception of India.” Dougnac was denied permission to work as a journalist in 2022, and said the ministry had not responded to her “repeated requests” for an explanation or review of its decision.

In 2023, the authorities revoked the OCI status of an American journalist shortly after the journalist published a report about criminal actions by an Indian company. The journalist, who did not wish to be identified, told Human Rights Watch: “No specific allegation was made against me, and no evidence has been produced despite several requests.”

In 2022, the authorities deported the American-Sikh journalist Angad Singh. After Singh brought a lawsuit challenging the decision, the government told the Delhi High Court that he “presented a very negative view of India’s secular credentials” in a 2020 documentary about the 2019-20 protests against the country’s amended citizenship law.

Foreign writers, journalists, academics, and activists have been increasingly denied access to India for seemingly political reasons, Human Rights Watch said. In March 2022, British anthropologist Filippo Osella, who had visited India regularly for over 30 years, was turned away by immigration authorities despite holding a valid research visa. Others denied entry include an Australian writer, Kathryn Hummel; a Pakistani academic, Annie Zaman; a former Swiss diplomat and activist, Kurt Vogele; Mukunda Raj Kattel, director of Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development; and Aaron Gray-Block and Ben Hargreaves, both Greenpeace activists.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which India is a party, addresses in article 13 the rights of aliens lawfully in a country, and non-discrimination against “all persons,” including non-nationals, in article 26. The Covenant does not recognize non-nationals having a right to enter or reside in a country, a decision left to the state. However, the United Nations Human Rights Committee, the international expert body that monitors compliance with the ICCPR, has stated in its General Comment No. 15 on the status of aliens, that, “in certain circumstances an alien may enjoy the protection of the Covenant even in relation to entry or residence, for example, when considerations of non-discrimination … arise.”

The General Comment further provides that if the legality of an alien’s “stay is in dispute, any decision on this point leading to his expulsion or deportation ought to be taken in accordance with article 13. It is for the competent authorities … in good faith and in the exercise of their powers, to apply and interpret the domestic law, observing, however, such requirements under the Covenant as equality before the law” in accordance with article 26. Distinctions are permissible only when based on reasonable and objective criteria.

“Foreign governments eager to partner with India on trade and security should take note that the Indian government is increasing repression to hide a deteriorating human rights situation,” Pearson said. “These governments should press the Modi administration to interact with its critics to bring about reform instead of intimidating them into silence.”
Investors Get a Reminder That India Makes Sudden Moves Too (Wall Street Journal)
Wall Street Journal [3/18/2024 12:29 AM, Shefali Anand, 810K, Neutral]
Foreign investors have increasingly shifted their investments to India from China in recent years, partly because of concerns over Beijing’s unpredictable policy moves and China’s sputtering economy.

But a recent clampdown on one of India’s biggest financial technology companies rattled investors and serves as a reminder that New Delhi can also make sudden moves with a hefty impact on companies and market value.

India’s Paytm, a pioneer in the country’s shift to mobile payments whose investors have included Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and China’s Alibaba Group, has been shaken following an order from India’s central bank that largely crippled its banking affiliate. From Saturday, the bank can no longer carry out most types of transactions.

One97 Communications, Paytm’s parent, also owns 49% of Paytm Payments Bank and was relying on it to build new sources of income. After the Reserve Bank of India’s order, which was issued in late January and cited persistent failures in compliance at the bank, One97’s share price tanked.

Paytm is now in damage-control mode. Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma called the order a “speed bump,” and said Paytm and the bank are moving to address the regulator’s concerns. But with the affiliate’s regulatory uncertainty clouding Paytm’s prospects, the company’s market cap has sunk to around 15% of its valuation of nearly $19 billion at the time of its blockbuster IPO in 2021.

“Investors don’t like surprises,” said Mohanjit Jolly, co-founder of Iron Pillar, a U.S. venture-capital fund that invests in Indian startups. Jolly said they have largely steered clear of investing in financial technology startups “because of the regulatory unpredictability.”

The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emphasized fighting tax evasion and money laundering, which has led to intensifying scrutiny of a financial sector that now includes thousands of fintech firms that some experts say have been lightly regulated.

Foreign companies have raised concerns about regulatory surprises in other arenas as well.

In its recent list of challenges of doing business in India, the U.S. International Trade Administration, which supports American businesses overseas, cited nontransparent or unpredictable regulations and tariffs.

One such move came in August last year, when India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry abruptly announced that the import of laptops and other personal-computing devices would require permits, a move that would make the process more onerous. After an outcry, the government ultimately diluted the new rule.

In 2020, Chinese firms and Indian internet users were caught off guard by India’s decision to ban 59 Chinese apps, citing national security, after India and China engaged in a deadly clash on their disputed Himalayan border. In one fell swoop, short-video platform TikTok, owned by Chinese social media giant ByteDance, lost its biggest market. India has banned dozens more apps since.

Internet policy experts say India’s bans should be accompanied by more public notice and disclosures about the process. In the U.S., a monthslong legislative process is under way that could potentially ban TikTok.

The trade and technology ministries didn’t respond to requests for comment.

It was India’s most unexpected policy move of recent years that helped Paytm rise in the first place. In 2016, Modi canceled two widely used currency notes to combat tax evasion, a step that throttled many small businesses that operated largely on cash and slowed the economy’s growth.

The decision was a shot in the arm for Paytm, which immediately advertised its digital wallet on the front pages of major newspapers. The company became synonymous with mobile payments in India and has nearly 100 million active monthly users.

For years, Paytm was on the right side of India’s drive to curb the use of cash and move more transactions into the formal domain—and tax them. In 2017, Paytm Payments Bank started operations as a new type of bank in India intended to serve users who often struggle to access financial services. While it couldn’t lend, it could sell loans and other financial products from traditional banks and collect fees.

But the affiliate ended up in the crosshairs of India’s central bank, which has focused its sights on reining in new avenues of lending and policing how firms vet new customers, impacting both startups and established financial firms, such as foreign credit-card issuers. The RBI, which is seen as one of the country’s more methodical regulators, had previously flagged issues related to customer due diligence at the Paytm bank, and last year fined it.

A person familiar with the matter said the Paytm affiliate didn’t address the compliance issues previously raised, leading to further action. Analysts said that the stringency of the Paytm Payments Bank action, while directed at a single entity, signals that the bank won’t tolerate lapses. “This is a warning to the entire sector,” said Hemindra Hazari, a banking analyst in Mumbai.

One of the risks Paytm faces now is that the affiliate’s regulatory woes drive away a core income-generating client base—shopkeepers and merchants who use Paytm’s technology to conduct transactions for a fee. The hit to Paytm comes amid growing competition from competitors like Walmart-backed PhonePe and Alphabet’s Google Pay, which have taken over market share.

The government has sought to temper concerns among startups sparked by Paytm’s troubles. In February, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met with fintech firms. At the meeting, Sitharaman asked regulators, including the central bank, to meet startups monthly to field their concerns over regulation, the ministry said.

Also last month, in an unusual departure, central bank governors took time at a monetary policy meeting to dispel concerns that the central bank had been hasty in its dealings with the fintech giant and its affiliate.

Some experts said drastic action in this case was warranted.

“The one thing regulators have realized around the world is that fining people fails to have…much of an impact,” said Siddarth Pai, founding partner of 3one4 Capital, a venture fund that manages around $500 million.

In the case of Paytm, Pai said the central bank had given plenty of warnings.

“If you fail to adhere to those, then they have to take action, otherwise the regulator looks weak and the regulator can’t look weak,” he said.
How China Could Swamp India’s Chip Ambitions (Wall Street Journal)
Wall Street Journal [3/16/2024 9:00 AM, Megha Mandavia, 810K, Neutral]
When India’s largest conglomerate, Tata Group, broke ground on a $11 billion semiconductor factory this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country was poised to become a world leader in the sector.

He might be in for a rude awakening.

Tata isn’t going it alone, which raises the probability of success. It will partner with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing to make older-generation, mature-node chips, which have features measuring 28 nanometers or wider.

The problem is that China, whose ambitions in cutting-edge chips have been stymied by U.S. and European export controls, is pouring capital into legacy chip making on a breathtaking scale. That will compress margins for everyone—and make life especially difficult for new small-scale players.

China will add more chip-making capacity than the rest of the world combined in 2024, according to research consulting firm Gavekal Dragonomics: one million more wafers a month than in 2023—all mature nodes. Tata plans to make 50,000 wafers a month. Industry tracker TrendForce projects that China’s share of global mature-node production will grow from 31% in 2023 to 39% in 2027.

China’s aggressive expansion comes at a time when the market for legacy chips is already well supplied. The artificial-intelligence revolution is supercharging demand for advanced chips, but older ones are another matter. Utilization rates for producers of mature-node chips have fallen from nearly 100% in 2020 to 65-75% at present, according to Gavekal.

China’s government incentives—worth more than $150 billion—will help producers absorb losses. But India would struggle to shower such a capital-intensive infant industry with that kind of cash, especially given its already high government debt and enormous funding needs for infrastructure in general. Those infrastructure challenges represent a direct challenge to the chip-making process, too. Dependable water and power are essential—power outages not only disrupt operations but can damage equipment and wafers in production. The Tata project is already poised to absorb billions of dollars’ worth of state funding.

A lack of upstream industrial capacity is another hindrance. India’s chemical and gas producers, for example, already produce many chemicals required for semiconductor manufacturing. But India lacks the refining capacity to boost purity levels to semiconductor grade, according to an industry-funded report by the Washington, D.C.-based Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. Foreign sourcing can substantially raise costs, the ITIF says.

Protectionism—i.e., big tariffs on Chinese chips—might be one solution. But as Western nations have learned to their chagrin over the past two years with Russia, controlling trade flows of legacy chips is difficult. The incentives for corruption and gaming the system through third countries would be enormous. And even assuming a tariff system worked as intended, it would put the rest of India’s burgeoning electronics business at a serious disadvantage.

According to Ashok Chandak, president of the India Electronics & Semiconductor Association, Tata’s success will be critical to attracting other chip makers to India—and it will have to surmount big challenges so it becomes easier for those that follow. The ITIF says India is likely to commission two to three plants for mature-node chips within the next five years.

But China could pour cold water on those ambitions. Gaining a foothold in the less demanding area of chip packaging and testing—with the help of foreign firms like Micron—makes good sense for Indian companies. Spending scarce government funds babysitting cash-hungry infant chip-fabrication plants, rather than on infrastructure in general, could be a far riskier move.
NSB
How Should Bangladesh Handle Myanmar’s Fleeing Soldiers? (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [3/15/2024 4:14 PM, Shahariar Sadat and Arafat Reza, Neutral]
On February 6, 264 members of Myanmar’s border and security forces took shelter in Bangladesh to escape heavy fighting between Myanmar’s army and the Arakan Army. They were disarmed by the members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and taken to a safe shelter. Those who sustained critical injuries were given treatment at local hospitals.

It was the first time since the launch of the highly successful Operation 1027 by the Three Brotherhood Alliance last year that Myanmar troops had fled into Bangladesh. It would not be the last.

On February 15, a total of 330 soldiers and civilians from Myanmar were repatriated from Bangladesh by sea. They were received by Lt. Col. Myo Thura Naung, the leader of a five-member Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) delegation that came to take them back following a roll call and identification by Aung Kyaw Moe, ambassador of Myanmar to Bangladesh. The process was supervised by the BGB with the assistance of the Bangladesh Navy, the Coast Guard, and other law enforcement agencies.

More recently, on March 11, at least 179 members of Myanmar’s BGP fled to Bangladesh amid ongoing heavy gunfights with the Arakan Army. The BGB disarmed the troops and took them into custody. A day later, speaking with journalists, Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud said that the BGP members would be repatriated, in the same manner as the 330 Myanmar nationals sent back in February.

When asked why Myanmar border and security forces were allowed to come to Bangladesh in the first place, Mahmud stated, “This is not a matter of competency. They also entered India and were sent back through discussion. The border is open. When they were attacked by their opponents, they infiltrated into Bangladesh. This is the issue.”

As conflict in Myanmar near the border of Bangladesh continues to escalate, one can reasonably expect that instances of soldiers and civilians of Myanmar fleeing into Bangladesh will become more commonplace in the near future. Against this backdrop, Bangladesh needs to re-evaluate how it handles these incidents.

In particular, Dhaka should be more cautious about sending the Myanmar soldiers and civilians back.

The repatriation of soldiers and civilians invokes discussion on the principle of non-refoulement. This principle has been reflected in many international treaties. Among these, Bangladesh is a party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Nevertheless, the principle of non-refoulement falls under customary international law. It means that even if a state has not signed any international treaty requiring it to uphold the principle of non-refoulement, it is nevertheless under an obligation to ensure compliance with it. Customary international law is equally binding on a state as international treaties to which it is a party.

This nature of customary international law was also acknowledged by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh in 2017. In discussing the applicability of the principle of non-refoulement in relation to a Rohingya refugee who was held in detention long after he had completed a five-year sentence, the court noted that the 1951 Refugee Convention had “become a part of customary international law, which is binding upon all the countries of the world, irrespective of whether a particular country has formally signed, acceded to or ratified the Convention or not.”

Under the principle of non-refoulement, states are prohibited “from transferring or removing individuals from their jurisdiction or effective control when there are substantial grounds for believing that the person would be at risk of irreparable harm upon return, including persecution, torture, ill- treatment or other serious human rights violations.”

Given the Myanmar military’s well-documented history of violence, there is a considerable risk that repatriated soldiers and civilians would face persecution, torture, ill-treatment, or other serious human rights violations on return. Indeed, senior Myanmar military officials have reportedly been sentenced to death for surrendering to rebel forces. Thus, any hasty attempt to send these soldiers back to Myanmar by Bangladesh should be avoided, as it might constitute a violation of the principle of non-refoulement.

Instead of focusing on repatriating them as soon as possible, Dhaka could seek to use the issue of fleeing soldiers from Myanmar to help the international community ensure justice for the Rohingya people.

Bangladesh currently hosts approximately 1.2 million Rohingya refugees, officially known as Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals, most of whom sought refuge after the Myanmar military launched a “clearance operation” against the Rohingya in northern Rakhine State on August 25, 2017. During the crackdowns, the military burned villages and murdered, raped, and tortured innocent civilians under the guise of fighting insurgents.

Bangladesh should investigate to see if any of the soldiers fleeing across the border were involved in or have any relevant information on the atrocity crimes committed against the Rohingya in Myanmar. Such information might help bring about justice and create a favorable environment for Rohingya refugees to return to Myanmar, the lack of which has resulted in the failure of previous repatriation efforts.

Bangladesh has coordinated with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the past and helped bring alleged perpetrators – Myanmar military soldiers Myo Win Tun and Zaw Naing Tun – to book for their involvement in the atrocities committed in Myanmar. It should continue its cooperation with relevant bodies including ICC and the International Independent Mechanism for Myanmar.

Dhaka should not miss this golden opportunity of investigating Myanmar soldiers that have willingly crossed onto Bangladeshi soil to find relevant information that would help the international community to ensure justice for the Rohingya people.

Bangladesh should be mindful about returning the soldiers to Myanmar from a political viewpoint as well. With the Myanmar military losing ground in the fight against the Arakan Army and others, it would be unwise for Bangladesh to act in such a way that any party perceives as biased toward the other, at least for the time being. If the soldiers are sent back and the military government redeploys them in battle, rebel groups might start to question the neutral position of Bangladesh. Among other things, it might significantly damage the prospect of repatriation of the Rohingya refugees in the future.
Nepal political shakeup thrusts Kathmandu into India-China rivalry (Nikkei Asia)
Nikkei Asia [3/16/2024 3:55 AM, Pranay Sharma, 293K, Negative]
A shock political shakeup in Nepal is set to push the Himalayan nation closer to Beijing, aggravating a bitter China-India rivalry as the giant neighbors jockey for influence across South Asia.

Nepal’s prime minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, popularly known as Prachanda, surprised Indian observers last week when he ditched his Delhi-leaning coalition partner for staunch China ally K.P. Sharma Oli, head of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist).

The new power-sharing agreement came just weeks after Nepal’s foreign minister -- who is also a leader in the dumped coalition partner Nepali Congress -- met with his Indian counterpart in Delhi to discuss strengthening bilateral ties.

The joining of Nepal’s two-biggest communist parties also follows India’s retreat from the Maldives where a new pro-China leader pledged to end his island nation’s "India first" policy.

"There is a strong dislike among some political parties about India. Though it is a very important neighbor, many political parties don’t trust it," said Yubaraj Ghimire, a Kathmandu-based political commentator. "This often leads them to lean towards China as a counterbalance to India’s influence."

Delhi has regained much of the diplomatic ground in Sri Lanka that it had lost to China and holds a stronger position in Bhutan and Bangladesh, where it has close ties with recently re-elected Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, despite opposition calls to reduce India’s influence. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi heads to Bhutan next week with his government concerned about Chinese encroachment amid a push for early completion of a Sino-Bhutanese territorial agreement.

Developments in Nepal, however, have sparked speculation that the broader Sino-Indian tussle -- including bitter battles over territorial and border claims -- is set to heat up.

India has not reacted officially. However, the wranglings in Kathmandu are a clear setback for Delhi, observers said, as the new coalition also draws in several smaller leftist parties.

By contrast, China was quick to congratulate the new alliance and call for stronger ties, fanning rumors it played a behind-the-scenes role in the shakeup. A Chinese military delegation visited Nepal days after the shift and later pledged to beef up defense cooperation.

The possibility of an all-left alliance had raised eyebrows in Washington, which worked with Delhi to caution Nepalese leaders against such a move.

"India and the United States worked for months to ensure the communists don’t form a government together in Kathmandu," Ghimire said. "The alliance is certainly a failure in that effort."

Ostensibly, the upheaval was driven by Prachanda’s concerns over factions of his coalition partner moving to re-open a debate on secularism, which some saw as a step toward restoring Nepal’s Hindu monarchy with the tacit support of India.

Nepal’s leader, a former Maoist guerrilla, had previously led a decadelong insurgency against the royalist system before India brokered a peace deal that ended hostilities in 2006. Two years later, the country’s 240-year-old monarchy was abolished and Nepal turned into a republic led by Prachanda in his first stint as prime minister.

While Nepal’s political alliances have a long history of being short-lived, the country has increasingly come under China’s orbit. Ties have traditionally been linked to the security of Tibet and preventing anti-Chinese activities by Tibetan supporters in Nepal.

Now, the priority has shifted to stalled projects under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a globe-spanning infrastructure drive that has left some countries deeply in debt to Beijing. Nepalese leaders have demanded substantial increases in the grant portion of China’s funding for BRI projects.

"Implementing the BRI projects may not be that smooth," said Ranjit Rae, a former Indian ambassador to Nepal. "The Nepalese leadership is worried that the Chinese-funded projects that are mostly under commercial loans could create an economic crisis like the one in Sri Lanka."

But even as recent developments advantage China, they don’t mean India is out of the picture, said political commentator Dev Raj Dahal.

"China does not want to carry the entire burden of Nepal on its shoulder," he added.

Nepali citizens enjoy special privileges under a 1950 treaty, which allows them to work, live and invest in India as well as join its armed forces. India, which is land-locked Nepal’s largest trade partner and biggest source of foreign investment, lets the tiny nation use its own roads and ports for trade with other countries.

Communist Party leader Oli’s key presence in the new alliance worries some observers after past diplomatic run-ins led India to launch an economic blockade on its smaller neighbor. Oli, then Nepal’s prime minister, turned to China for help and distanced himself from Delhi, stoking longstanding mutual mistrust.

Though Nepal’s current leader has also been seen as pro-China, he’s taken a course correction over the years to develop better relations with Delhi and stressed the importance of both neighbors. Last year, Prachanda chose India as his first foreign visit as the new prime minister while visiting China months later.

"China’s growing footprint in South Asia is the ‘new normal’ and our neighbors have learnt to deal with both India and China," said Jayant Prasad, another former Indian ambassador to Nepal. "We too will have to recalibrate our policies and face this reality."
Sri Lanka parents spending hundreds on child leukaemia meds (BBC)
BBC [3/15/2024 11:29 PM, Anbarasan Ethirajan, 14192K, Negative]
Upali Pushpakumara, a farmer from central Sri Lanka, has to travel 230km (143 miles) every time his son, Nuwan, needs cancer treatment.

The 18-year-old was diagnosed with leukaemia last year, and since then, Mr Pushpakumara and Nuwan have had to make several trips all the way to Maharagama, a suburb of the capital Colombo, to get to the National Cancer Institute.

Sri Lanka provides universal healthcare - free health services - to its citizens. The government spends 4% of its budget on healthcare, and its state hospital system has been praised as one of the best in the region.

However, the effects of a devastating economic crisis have meant this once celebrated system is now dealing with a shortage of drugs and problems with counterfeit medicines, as well as the fact that doctors are leaving the country in droves.

Hospitals like the National Cancer Institute are a critical lifeline for millions like Mr Pushpakumara’s family, who cannot afford to get treated at private healthcare institutions.

Here, patients like Nuwan are meant to receive diagnoses, chemotherapy, surgery and life-saving medicines free of cost.

But lately, that has not really been the case.

"The treatment here is fine. But most medicines are not available in the hospital. We have to buy them from private pharmacies," Mr Pushpakumara told the BBC.

He says he spends about $500 every month on medicine.

Spiralling costs

"I am borrowing from family and friends. But the prices of many drugs have gone up sharply," he said.

Hit hard by the pandemic, deadly bomb attacks on Easter Sunday in 2019 and disastrous economic policies, Sri Lanka ran out of foreign currency reserves and declared bankruptcy in April 2022.

To save money, curbs were imposed on imports of food, fuel and medicine, leading to crippling fuel and power shortages.

To boost income, the government drastically increased tax rates and brought those with lower incomes into the tax net for the first time. This means that millions of families are now struggling with an exponentially high cost of living while seeing their incomes reduce.

Among those hit hardest are the ones with a sick family member to take care of.

Niluka Sanjeevani, whose four-year-old son has leukaemia, told the BBC she spends about $600 a month on medicines for her child - a sum she can little afford as the price of food and housing have skyrocketed.

The healthcare sector itself has been hit hard too - Sri Lanka imports almost all of its medicine.

Pharmaceutical industry experts say there’s still a shortage of many life-saving drugs produced by global pharmaceutical companies, as a result of pricing issues and commercial viability.

The prices of imported medicines also soared as the Sri Lankan rupee dropped by nearly 70% against the dollar in the 2022-2023 period.

"Some unscrupulous people are illegally bringing in medicines from countries like India and Turkey. They charge five or six times the original prices," a pharmaceutical executive, who didn’t want to be identified, told the BBC.

Dr Ramesh Pathirana, the country’s health minister, admits that there have been some shortages, but insists the government is committed to increasing funding for the healthcare system.

"Some consultants are prescribing newer molecules, expensive drugs, sometimes the government couldn’t bear [the cost]," Mr Pathirana told the BBC.

However, he said the budget allocation for health has been increased this year to address the escalating costs of medicines.

But shortage is not the only issue.

"First, there’s a shortage of drugs and then some of the medicines the government hospital provides are out of date," Ms Sanjeevani, who’s from the central city of Anuradhapura, says.

This was echoed by AMK Athanayake, who’s waiting for her five-year-old son to get surgery.

"Some of the medicines provided by the hospitals are of poor quality, not original. They are not effective. Hence we have to buy medicines from outside," she said.

These concerns have been echoed by several activists and unions over the last year. They say low-quality medicines have led to poor patient care, even causing deaths and blindness.

The government has ordered an inquiry into the reported purchase of substandard medicines by the previous health administration.

Then there is the exodus of many healthcare professionals, including doctors, which is also putting huge pressure on hospitals.

Ms Sanjeevani says they are getting appointments mostly with junior doctors due to a shortage of specialist consultants.

Hospital with no surgeons

Sri Lanka’s largest doctor’s union, the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) says about 1,500 doctors have gone abroad on leave either for higher studies or to work in the past year.

Another 3,000 more medical professionals have asked for long leave. The country of around 22.16 million people has a total of around 20,000 doctors.

In Sri Lanka, medical education is state-funded. Those who graduate are mostly absorbed into the public health system and deployed to work in different parts of the country.

For those living in rural areas, these doctors are often their only access to medical treatment.

With many, particularly specialists, leaving the country, that’s having a knock-on effect on hospitals.

The problem could not be more acute than in the main hospital in Dehiattakandiya in eastern Sri Lanka. It made headlines last year after its only surgeon left the country.

The hospital caters to about 150,000 people in nearby areas.

"We haven’t done any major surgery for several months," a senior doctor, who didn’t want to be identified, told the BBC in January.

"We are referring patients requiring major surgeries to other hospitals in the region which are about 50km away. It’s difficult to run the facility without specialists."

A replacement specialist doctor was only appointed in February.

The shortage of specialists and other doctors has also led to long waiting times.

"I have diabetes and other age-related ailments. It takes several hours to see a doctor here. So I have now started going to a private clinic, which is costing me money," says DM Siyathu.

"Actually, it’s an alarming situation at the moment," Dr Haritha Aluthge, the secretary-general of the GMOA, told the BBC.

"We have to close down 20 peripheral health stations due to the shortage of medical officers," he added.

Following a wave of anger over these allegations of mismanagement and corruption, then-health minister Keheliya Rambukwella was replaced last October.

Mr Rambukwella and several other officials were arrested in February over allegations that the government purchased counterfeit drugs when he was in charge of the health ministry. He denies the allegations but has resigned from the cabinet.

There have also been intermittent strikes by healthcare workers’ unions since January demanding better pay and conditions.

The doctors’ union says apart from the shortage of doctors, many faulty pieces of equipment such as CT scan and MRI scan machines have not yet been repaired or replaced in hospitals.

Mr Pathirana admits that there are "some lacunae or deficiencies" in relation to certain specialists like paediatricians and transplant surgeons.

"There is no acute shortage of specialists as such. Generally, yes, we need to have more surgeons in the country," Mr Pathirana, who’s a doctor himself, said.

The government is aware that the health sector is on a precipice. Even as it struggles to emerge out of the crippling economic crisis, authorities know that the collapse of its highly regarded healthcare system is something they just cannot afford either.
Central Asia
Uzbek Activist Faces Threat of Deportation From Kazakhstan (VOA)
VOA [3/16/2024 7:28 AM, Naubet Bisenov and Navbahor Imamova, 761K, Negative]
Uzbek law enforcement officials this month confirmed to VOA that an Uzbek extradition request was behind the February 15 arrest in Kazakhstan of Karakalpak activist Akylbek Muratov, known as Aqylbek Muratbai on X and other social media.

Karakalpaks are indigenous Turkic people of Karakalpakstan, since 1993 a sovereign republic within Uzbekistan with its own parliament, national symbols and language. This status has been a source of friction with the Uzbek government because it often stirs discussions of secession.

Muratov, arrested in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, had been under Uzbek scrutiny since 2015. He is suspected of engaging in separatism and “destructive activism,” according to officials in Tashkent.

Karakalpakstan’s Internal Affairs Ministry indicted him late last year, accusing him of preparing and distributing materials that "threaten public safety and order." Uzbek authorities say he has used social media to foment mass unrest in Karakalpakstan, but he denies the charges.

Uzbek officials told VOA that Muratov had been warned through the Uzbek Consulate in Almaty and by his father, but that he persisted in what Tashkent views as anti-government propaganda. Writing on the X social media platform, formerly Twitter, in October, Muratov described these messages as threats and vowed to "not stop my activities to disseminate information about repressions against ethnic Karakalpaks in Uzbekistan.”

Muratov is the sixth Karakalpak to be taken into custody in neighboring Kazakhstan at Uzbekistan’s request since protests in July 2022 against proposed constitutional amendments intended to strip the republic of its autonomous status and right to secede. At least 21 people were killed during the unrest in Nukus, Karakalpakstan’s capital.

None of the five previously arrested in Kazakhstan has been extradited, but they have not received refugee status, which would offer more international protection, including the opportunity to resettle in another country. Muratov, who lived in Kazakhstan for 13 years, is seeking that status.

As a result of the unrest, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev withdrew the proposed amendments that triggered mass discontent and pledged not to change Karakalpakstan’s status.

Sixty-four people were convicted for their roles in the violence. One defendant, former police officer Polat Shamshetov, died in prison in February 2023, shortly after receiving a six-year prison term. The longest sentence, 16 years, was given to the lawyer and blogger Dauletmurat Tajimuratov, whose case Muratov often highlighted.

Karakalpaks in Kazakhstan on edge

Muratov’s detention, days after a new Kazakh government was sworn in, has drawn attention to Kazakhstan and put Karakalpaks in Kazakhstan on edge.

Muratov’s sister, Fariza Narbekova, told VOA that he has been charged by Uzbek authorities for publishing video of Karakalpak activists’ speeches at an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe conference in October and for urging Karakalpaks on his Telegram channel to switch off lights at home on November 13 for 16 minutes to mark the first anniversary of Tajimuratov’s 16-year imprisonment.

Mihra Rittmann, senior Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a February 26 statement that the charges “have no merit and should be dropped, and Kazakhstan should release him from custody immediately.”

“Kazakhstan is bound by international human rights law not to return Muratbai to Uzbekistan, where he faces serious risk of politically motivated persecution,” she said.

Human Rights Watch said human rights organizations had “documented numerous cases of torture and other ill-treatment, and arbitrary detention, of individuals accused of anti-state crimes in Uzbekistan in recent years.”

This is “a clear-cut case of retaliation” by Uzbek authorities against Muratov for exposing human rights violations in Karakalpakstan following the July 2022 protests, Rittmann said.

Karakalpaks feel discriminated against in their own homeland because migrants from other parts of Uzbekistan are given jobs and farmland there, Galym Ageleuov, an Almaty-based Kazakh rights activist, told VOA.

The proposed constitutional amendments triggered an outpouring of discontent that had built up in Karakalpakstan for years, he said, citing local frustration that Tashkent brings workers from elsewhere to develop gas fields in the Aral Sea region instead of employing locals.

“What Kazakh authorities are doing to Karakalpak activists living in Kazakhstan by detaining them is an incompetent policy to suppress the diaspora and its activists who are standing up for rights, and it’s the continuation of Uzbek authorities’ suppression of human rights in Karakalpakstan,” said Ageleuov, who has researched the July 2022 events and monitored subsequent developments in Karakalpakstan.

“Person seeking asylum” status

In what is seen as a face-saving exercise, on February 23, Kazakh authorities granted Muratov “person seeking asylum” status for three months, preventing him from being handed over to Uzbekistan during that period, treatment similar to that of the five other Karakalpaks, who were released after a year in detention.

Muratov was instrumental in publicizing the detentions and court proceedings involving Karakalpaks in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan on social media.

“We fought for the rights of Karakalpakstan and Karakalpaks and activists, and ordinary Karakalpaks who were imprisoned after the July events rely on our help for their release,” cardiologist Raysa Khudaybergenova, one of the five Karakalpaks detained in Kazakhstan, told VOA in an Almaty clinic where she works.

“They all want to get out of prison,” she said of the activists who remain in Uzbek prisons.

Like Muratov, Khudaybergenova is an Uzbek citizen and was not involved in political activism before the 2022 turmoil, focusing mostly on cultural, linguistic and health issues in Karakalpakstan.

Denis Zhivago, an Almaty-based human rights lawyer, told VOA that according to Kazakh law, “detention on extradition requests could last for a year, that’s why other Karakalpak activists spent a year in detention.” Muratov’s lawyer, Inara Masanova, would not comment on the case because of its sensitivity.

“Akylbek is now likely to spend a year in detention, unfortunately,” Zhivago said.

“As in the previous five cases, I hope wisdom would triumph with Kazakh authorities and they will give the man a chance to avoid extradition and leave for a third country. There is a big chance that will happen, but we shouldn’t rule out any possibilities.”

In the past, Kazakhstan was notorious for handing over those without refugee status. It extradited about 30 Uzbek asylum seekers to Tashkent and at least one Uyghur to Beijing in the early 2010s. Last December, it extradited Russian security officer Mikhail Zhilin at Moscow’s request.

Zhivago said Uzbekistan keeps submitting extradition requests because it is “irritated” and wants to silence activists publicizing violations of rights in Karakalpakstan.

This has left Kazakhstan in a “complicated” situation because it is bound by agreements and friendly relations with Uzbekistan, he said.

“Our government, on the one hand, doesn’t want to spoil relations with Uzbekistan and, on the other hand, wants to provide Karakalpak activists with a chance of obtaining asylum,” Zhivago said. He noted Kazakhstan’s status as a signatory to the Geneva conventions against torture and on the status of refugees.
Kazakhstan moves to adopt classic jury trials (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [3/15/2024 4:14 PM, Almaz Kumenov, 57.2K, Neutral]
Kazakhstan is poised to introduce classic jury trials, moving away from a hybrid system in which the outcome of criminal cases is decided by professional and citizen judges working in tandem.

On March 13, the Majilis, the lower house of parliament, gave its backing in a first reading to legislation regulating how those juries will operate.

Once the bill is adopted, decisions in cases tried by jury will be decided by 11 individuals without interference from the judge, who will then deliver their verdict. This scenario is familiar in the West, but a rarity in most of the former Soviet space.

Backers of the change have argued the reform will ensure a more objective consideration of criminal cases. The momentum for the shift has been building for some time.

“Under Kazakhstan’s constitution, authority stems from the people. Based on that provision, it is logical and justified … that justice be administered by the representatives of the people themselves through the introduction of the classical model of a jury trial,” Bakhtiyar Buleuliyev, a law professor, wrote in government newspaper Kazakhstanskaya Pravda last year.

Kazakhstan introduced its current hybrid system in 2007. In the early years, jury trials were reserved exclusively for especially serious crimes, ones envisioning the death penalty and life imprisonment. From 2007 to 2009, around 50 cases were tried by juries. The criteria for jury trials have since been broadened to cover offenses punishable by imprisonment for periods of more than 12 years.

Verdicts are decided by 10 jurors and the judge in a secret ballot. Only the accused can choose to have a jury trial.

The proposed reform has earned buy-in from senior figures in the judiciary. In an interview earlier this year, Supreme Court judge Nazgul Rakhmetullina echoed Buleuliyev’s evaluation.

“It is the classical model that best meets the goals and intent of creating the institution of jury trials, when the citizens of the country themselves issue a verdict that is based on their inner convictions,” Rakhmetullina said.

The possibility is that classic jury trials may culminate in a greater number of acquittals. It is already the case that more people are acquitted under the hybrid system, better known as the continental jury trial system.

As senior Supreme Court judge Abdrashit Zhukenov revealed in November 2022, jury courts in Kazakhstan tend to acquit in 10 percent of the cases under their consideration.

“In general courts, this figure is 1.5-2 percent,” Zhukenov told state news agency KazInform.

Sentiment among lawyers certainly indicates a groundswell for change.

A survey of lawyers conducted in 2017 by the Almaty-based Legal Policy Research Center revealed a strong desire for change. Of the 128 lawyers queried, nine out of every 10 expressed dislike for joint deliberation and decision-making by judges and jurors. The most common ground for dissatisfaction was the perception that judges were influencing or pressuring juries.

Discussions around this broader topic have acquired particular salience in recent days with the opening of a high-profile trial in Astana.

At the center of this drama is Kuandyk Bishimbayev, a 43-year-old former top-ranking minister, who stands accused of murdering his wife, Saltanat Nukenova.

The judge presiding over the case, Aizhan Kulbayeva, agreed to a petition from Bishimbayev’s lawyers on March 12 for the verdict to be considered by jury.

With public awareness around the issue of domestic abuse on the rise, there have been widespread calls among the public for Bishimbayev to face the maximum penalty. Lawyers for the ex-minister have described this clamor as an unjust form of pressure on the courts.

Pundits have suggested this is an attempt by Bishimbayev to seek a lenient outcome.

“If he had not chosen a jury trial, where he has a better chance to argue his position, then the result would have been what was demanded by public opinion, up to and including life in prison,” lawyer Vitaly Voronov said in an interview on the HyperBorey YouTube channel.

The Bishimbayev saga highlights the current predicament in a fuller context.

On one hand, the justice system in Kazakhstan is perceived by many experts and rights activists to be sorely lacking in scope for independent action. Freedom House articulated that thought in its 2023 Freedom in the World country report on Kazakhstan.

“The judiciary is effectively subservient to the executive branch, with the president nominating or directly appointing judges based on the recommendation of the Supreme Judicial Council, which is itself appointed by the president,” the report stated. “Judges are subject to political influence, and corruption is a problem throughout the judicial system.”

In this optic, the authorities could in cases like that of Bishimbayev be expected to place their thumb on the scales to prevent public outcries.

Even under jury trials, as they are currently arranged, suspicions linger about the court’s susceptibility to meddling.

This point was made by Gulnara Bazhkenova, the editor in chief of news website Orda.kz, during an interview on her YouTube channel with seasoned rights activist and lawyer, Yevgeny Zhovtis.

“We have comments from people saying that [Bishimbayev’s people] have bought the jurors,” Bazhkenova said.

Zhovtis responded that the solution to this is to ensure that the public have clear and transparent accounts of what is happening in the courts. That means the media need to be granted full scope to convey that information, he said.

“Make trials open. Because public opinion has a strong effect,” he said. “In that way, you will get rid of all these rumors and assumptions.”
Dissing The Tajik President Online Can Send You Straight To Jail (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [3/16/2024 8:07 AM, Staff, 223K, Negative]
Shahboz Sharifbek has never had a political agenda or supported any political, religious, or social group. He doesn’t stand out from the crowd for any reason.

Too poor to attend college, Sharifbek’s life revolved around finding odd jobs in his home village on the outskirts of the capital, Dushanbe, to provide for his impoverished family that includes his younger brother and their 82-year-old grandmother, who raised Shahboz and his brother when they were orphaned as kids.

But the 23-year-old was recently sentenced to five years in prison for allegedly making a "public call via social media for extremism activity," a charge based on a video he posted online in October that criticized the authorities, including President Emomali Rahmon.

In the video recorded at his home in the village of Odili in the Vahdat district, Sharifbek accuses local officials of forcibly taking his brother from their home to enlist in the army and beating his grandmother in the process.

Sharifbek’s case has stunned many Tajiks as a glaring example of the government’s complete lack of tolerance of any dissent and its retaliation against anyone who dares to voice discontent with officials or their actions.

Tajikistan has over the years jailed dozens of independent journalists, activists, and political opponents while also shutting down media outlets critical of the government or its policies.

But the jailing of Sharifbek means that the clampdown is being extended to ordinary citizens, in what many Tajiks see as a warning to others to keep silent.

‘Acting Like Kidnappers’

In his nearly 13-minute smartphone video, Sharifbek angrily claims that local officials seized his brother from their home illegally "without providing a summons" and "treated him like an animal." Sharifbek adds that officials had "beaten up, dragged," and "threatened" his elderly grandmother and aunt in the process.

"If you want to recruit someone to the army, then do it according to the law -- send him a summons, call him to the enlistment office," Sharifbek says in the video.

"Instead they beat up an elderly grandmother, her daughter, and shoved my brother into a van and took him away, acting like kidnappers," Sharifbek said, showing the two women, who seemed to be in distress.

RFE/RL cannot independently confirm Sharifbek’s claims. But Tajik officials are known to routinely round up conscript-age men from their homes and the streets during military call-up season and put pressure on families.

In the video, Sharifbek also directs his anger at the country’s long-serving president, saying Rahmon often "condemns Afghanistan for violating women’s rights but doesn’t see what’s going on in his own country."

He goes on to accuse local officials of exploiting their positions to enrich themselves and grab property while ordinary people struggle in poverty.

Sharifbek warns that officials’ mistreatment of people, violation of their civic rights, and poverty "can push young people toward extremism and terrorism."

Sharifbek accuses Tajik bloggers of not writing about the people’s difficult plight or the authorities’ wrongdoings.

Without providing any evidence, he then blames the opposition Islamic Renaissance Party (IRPT) -- which has been banned in Tajikistan -- for trying to recruit "impoverished young men" for potentially organizing "terrorist" activities. The IRPT didn’t comment on the charges but has previously rejected such claims and has no history of violence.

Sharifbek pleads with Rahmon to order a probe into what he called the beating of his grandmother and aunt.

The footage was viewed more than 1 million times shortly after it was first posted on October 15. Sharifbek was detained the following day, and the post has since been removed.

Sharifbek used strong language in his video toward both Vahdat officials and the IRPT, but his statements do not contain a call for extremist activities.

A Warning To Others

Several Tajik lawyers told RFE/RL that Sharifbek’s video does not constitute the criminal offense he was charged and convicted of. They described the case as a government warning to others not to use social media to criticize the government.

"There is no element of extremism in Sharifbek’s action. Launching a criminal case against him is a message [from the authorities] to other Tajik citizens that they should not speak up about truth and justice and refrain from complaining about the wrongdoing of officials," lawyer Shuhrat Qudratov said.

"It makes it clear that if a citizen tries to defend his own rights he will face extremism charges," he added.

Sharifbek’s grandmother, Safargul Ghafurova, and aunt, Shodigul Ghafurova, confirmed to RFE/RL that Sharifbek was serving his sentence in a prison in the northern Sughd region, while his younger brother is serving in the army.

The family said they sent numerous letters to Rahmon and other officials asking them to release Sharifbek and order a probe into the "recruitment" incident, but their request was denied. They said they couldn’t afford a lawyer to defend Sharifbek during his trial.
Twitter
Afghanistan
UNAMA News
@UNAMAnews
[3/16/2024 3:05 AM, 304.7K followers, 35 retweets, 57 likes]
Security Council Extends Mandate of Assistance Mission in #Afghanistan, Unanimously Adopting Resolution 2727 (2024).

Heather Barr
@heatherbarr1
[3/17/2024 12:40 PM, 62.4K followers, 41 retweets, 67 likes]
“The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan stopped its activities due to the pressure of the Taliban.” That’s big—and awful news.

Heather Barr
@heatherbarr1
[3/15/2024 4:51 AM, 62.4K followers, 4 retweets, 5 likes]
In the last 2.5 years the Taliban have created the world’s most serious women’s rights crisis. The response of the intl community seems to lack appreciation of how the situation in Afghanistan has grave implications for the rights of women/girls globally.

Bilal Sarwary
@bsarwary
[3/17/2024 5:49 PM, 251.7K followers, 32 retweets, 102 likes]
Taliban continue to invest in digital space by manipulating information and disseminate their messages via social media. Taliban’s notorious intelligence service, THE GDI today is deep invested in psychological operation via these platforms. They have two major tasks 1) Discredit anti-Taliban voices 2) amplify pro Taliban voices. These also include an aggressive recruitment campaign of youth from west as well.

Bilal Sarwary
@bsarwary
[3/17/2024 2:13 PM, 251.7K followers, 6 retweets, 11 likes]
In the district of Kohsan in the Herat province, a 12-year-old boy lost his life in an ordinance explosion at home. The boy found this unexploded ordinance in the field and brought it home to sell. His brother also got injured in this incident. Poverty and explosive remnants of the four plus decades of conflict in Afghanistan too often bring sudden tragedies. Reports also indicate a rise in ordinance sales, highlighting the dire impact of poverty and poor governance on a struggling nation.

Bilal Sarwary
@bsarwary
[3/16/2024 2:05 PM, 251.7K followers, 7 retweets, 17 likes]
Under Taliban rule, drugs continue to flow from Afghanistan despite their promises of control. The concern raised by Tajikistan’s Drug Control Agency more recently and Iranian authorities sometime back suggests that drug smuggling continues at large scale, indicating either the Taliban’s inability or unwillingness due to financial gains to effectively combat this trade. Taliban seems to be allowing the depletion of existing drug stockpiles before resuming cultivation. Many senior Taliban leaders have benefited from drug business in the past. Their promise to keep Afghanistan drug-free appears to contradict the reality on the ground.
Pakistan
Habib Khan
@HabibKhanT
[3/18/2024 2:07 AM, 225.8K followers, 7 retweets, 30 likes]
Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Paktika and Khost provinces have killed children and women. Over the past years, Pakistan has continuously bombarded and shelled eastern and southeastern provinces along the Durand Line, resulting in civilian fatalities and displacement

Bilal Sarwary
@bsarwary
[3/17/2024 7:03 PM, 251.7K followers, 2 retweets, 11 likes]
Pakistan’s President and military chief are giving shoulder to the fallen army officers in Waziristan two days ago in Rawalpindi where the TTP took responsibility for it. The insecurity and instability persist in Pakistan and there is no sign of a peaceful settlement with TTP. Pakistani army has made Pakistan a victim of their own actions by sponsoring these extremist groups for several decades.
India
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/18/2024 12:15 AM, 96.3M followers, 3.3K retweets, 18K likes]
I will be addressing rallies in Jagtial and Shivamogga today. Later in the evening, will join the roadshow in Coimbatore. Be it Telangana, Karnataka or Tamil Nadu, there is exceptional fervour in the NDA’s favour.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/18/2024 2:03 AM, 96.3M followers, 863 retweets, 2.9K likes]
BJP stands committed to fulfil the aspirations of the people of Telangana. The record affection at the Jagtial rally is a clear indication of which way the wind is blowing. https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1vOxwjgjbmvJB

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/17/2024 12:36 PM, 96.3M followers, 2.7K retweets, 10K likes]
Paid homage to the great NTR and recalled his vision for Andhra Pradesh. NDA will keep working to fulfil his vision. https://twitter.com/i/status/1769402521632882845

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/17/2024 12:28 PM, 96.3M followers, 10K retweets, 56K likes]
These glimpses from Palnadu show the overwhelming support in favour of NDA. People feel @JaiTDP, @JanaSenaParty and @BJP4Andhra can provide development while YSRCP is synonymous with corruption and mis governance.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/17/2024 5:15 AM, 96.3M followers, 9.8K retweets, 46K likes]
On the way to Andhra Pradesh, where I will be addressing an NDA rally at Palnadu along with @ncbn Ji and @PawanKalyan Ji this evening. The NDA is seeking AP’s blessings to bring a positive change in people’s lives and take the state to new heights of progress.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/17/2024 11:17 AM, 96.3M followers, 7.8K retweets, 24K likes]
Addressing the #IndiaTodayConclave24. @IndiaToday https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1djxXNZnqPoGZ

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/16/2024 6:59 AM, 96.3M followers, 16K retweets, 82K likes]
The biggest festival of democracy is here! EC has announced the 2024 Lok Sabha election dates. We, the BJP-NDA, are fully prepared for elections. We are going to the people on the basis of our track record of good governance and service delivery across sectors. #PhirEkBaarModiSarkar

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/16/2024 6:59 AM, 96.3M followers, 2.3K retweets, 9.5K likes]
Ten years ago, before we assumed office, the people of India were feeling betrayed and disillusioned thanks to INDI Alliance’s pathetic governance. No sector was left untouched from scams and policy paralysis. The world had given up on India. From there, it’s been a glorious turnaround.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/16/2024 6:59 AM, 96.3M followers, 1.9K retweets, 7.5K likes]
Powered by 140 crore Indians, our nation is creating new records of development. We have become the fifth largest economy and crores of people have been freed from poverty. Our schemes have reached all parts of India and the emphasis of saturation has yielded great results.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/16/2024 6:59 AM, 96.3M followers, 1.8K retweets, 7K likes]
The people of India are witnessing what a determined, focused and result oriented government can do. And, they want more of it. That is why from every corner of India, cutting across all sections of society, the people are saying in one voice- Ab Ki Baar, 400 Paar!

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/16/2024 6:59 AM, 96.3M followers, 1.9K retweets, 7.2K likes]
Our Opposition is rudderless and issueless. All they can do is abuse us and practice vote bank politics. Their dynastic approach and attempts of dividing society are not being accepted. Equally hurting them is their corruption trackrecord. People don’t want such leadership.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/16/2024 6:59 AM, 96.3M followers, 1.8K retweets, 6.8K likes]
In our third term, there’s much work to be done. The last decade was about filling gaps created by those who ruled for seventy years. It was also about instilling a spirit of self-confidence that yes, India can become prosperous and self-reliant. We will build on this spirit.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/16/2024 6:59 AM, 96.3M followers, 1.7K retweets, 6.6K likes]
The war against poverty and corruption will go on at an even faster pace. The emphasis on social justice will be strong. We are going to work towards making India the third largest global economy. We will further cement our effort for fulfilling the dreams of the youth.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/16/2024 6:59 AM, 96.3M followers, 2.6K retweets, 8.8K likes]
I can clearly see that the coming five years will be about our collective resolve of establishing the roadmap that will guide our trajectory as a nation for the next thousand years and make India the embodiment of prosperity, all-round growth and global leadership.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/16/2024 6:59 AM, 96.3M followers, 2.9K retweets, 10K likes]
I derive great strength from people’s blessings, especially the poor, our farmers, Yuva and Nari Shakti. When they say ‘मैं हूँ मोदी का परिवार’, it fills me with joy and makes me work harder to build a Viksit Bharat. This is THE era to make it happen and together we will!

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[3/16/2024 12:11 PM, 3.1M followers, 1.2K retweets, 7.6K likes]
Prime Minister @narendramodi has championed the “Passport Revolution” in the last decade. Following his vision, #TeamMEA has striven to ensure a transparent, efficient, reliable, corruption free and accountable public service delivery system Commend the hard work and confident that they will keep working to enhance citizen experience and public delivery.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[3/16/2024 1:07 PM, 3.1M followers, 739 retweets, 7.7K likes]
The announcement of General Elections by the Election Commission of India starts the process of largest and grandest democratic festival of the world. The BJP led NDA alliance under the able leadership of Prime Minister @narendramodi ji will participate with full confidence and enthusiasm. It is an opportunity to further strengthen our commitment to serve the people of the nation and make India a developed nation. #PhirEkBaarModiSarkar

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[3/16/2024 8:41 AM, 3.1M followers, 406 retweets, 1.9K likes]
Speaking at the #IndiaTodayConclave24. https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1mrGmyNnWDLGy

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[3/15/2024 12:59 PM, 3.1M followers, 444 retweets, 2.3K likes]
Thank #ETAwards for this honor. It’s a recognition for the work of #ModiSarkar and our collective efforts at the global level. Industry today recognizes the transformational changes of the last decade. Its political, economic, technology and cultural impact is visible on the world. India is regarded as a more credible, effective and valuable partner by the international community. My remarks https://twitter.com/i/status/1768683532585693477
NSB
Awami League
@albd1971
[3/17/2024 3:08 AM, 636.9K followers, 67 retweets, 206 likes]
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the leaders of #AwamiLeague have paid rich tributes to the Father of the Bengali Nation #Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on his 104th birth anniversary today. Bangabandhu’s youngest daughter Sheikh Rehana was also present at the ceremony. #March17 #Mujib #BirthAnniversary

Awami League
@albd1971
[3/16/2024 8:43 AM, 636.9K followers, 38 retweets, 101 likes]
Amid the rising prices of daily commodities during #Ramadan, the #AwamiLeague government has fixed reasonable prices for 29 agricultural products at production, wholesale, and retail levels across the country. For details: https://link.albd.org/i44lv #RamadanKareem #PriceHike

MOFA of Nepal
@MofaNepal
[3/16/2024 2:46 AM, 256.9K followers, 6 retweets, 43 likes]
MoFA organized an in-house annual interaction program on 16 March 2024. National Security Advisor Mr. Shanker Das Bairagi made a presentation on “Maximizing Benefits from the Rise of India and China”.

MOFA of Nepal
@MofaNepal
[3/16/2024 2:46 AM, 256.9K followers, 4 retweets, 12 likes]
Hon DPMFM @nksthaprakash addressed the program and directed MoFA officials to continue to hone professionalism, integrity and competence for ensuring that national interest are safeguarded and promoted. @MofaNepal @sewa_lamsal @amritrai555

M U M Ali Sabry
@alisabrypc
[3/17/2024 11:47 PM, 5.1K followers, 1 retweet, 6 likes]
Sri Lanka’s economy grew sharply by 4.5% year on year in the four quarter but ended 2023 with a 2.3% contraction, the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS).
Central Asia
MFA Kazakhstan
@MFA_KZ
[3/15/2024 3:02 PM, 51.1K followers, 4 retweets, 17 likes]
During a meeting with Director-General/ Executive Director of the UNOV/UNODC @GhadaFathiWaly, Murat Nurtleu expressed his gratitude for a longstanding fruitful cooperation with Kazakhstan. Parties discussed UNODC regional projects in the fight against drugs, crime and terrorism.

MFA Kazakhstan
@MFA_KZ
[3/15/2024 2:59 PM, 51.1K followers, 8 retweets, 18 likes]
DPM&FM Murat Nurtleu held a meeting with the Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the #CTBTO @_RobFloyd. During the conversation, an exchange of views took place on the current situation in the field of international security.

MFA Kazakhstan
@MFA_KZ
[3/15/2024 2:59 PM, 51.1K followers, 8 retweets, 16 likes]
During the meeting with #IAEA Director General @rafaelmgrossi, both sides highly appreciated the large-scale cooperation, and also noted that the visit of the head of the Agency to #Kazakhstan in April last year provided a new impetus to the bilateral dialogue.

MFA Kazakhstan
@MFA_KZ
[3/15/2024 8:40 AM, 51.1K followers, 4 likes]
Meeting of the Senior Officials Committee of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia was held under the chairmanship of Alibek Bakaev, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Kazakhstan https://gov.kz/memleket/entities/mfa/press/news/details/728233?lang=en #mfakz #kazakhstan #cica

Navbahor Imamova
@Navbahor
[3/16/2024 11:03 PM, 22.9K followers, 4 retweets, 11 likes]
Uzbek law enforcement officials this month confirmed to VOA that their extradition request was behind the February 15 arrest in Kazakhstan of Karakalpak activist Akylbek Muratov, known as Aqylbek Muratbai on X and other social media. His detention, days after a new Kazakh government was sworn in, has drawn attention to Kazakhstan and put Karakalpaks there on edge. https://voanews.com/a/karakalpak-activist-faces-threat-of-deportation-from-kazakhstan/7530370.html

Furqat Sidiqov
@FurqatSidiq
[3/18/2024 6:18 AM, 1.2K followers, 2 retweets, 9 likes]
I was honored to witness the establishment of a new Uzbek community, the Turan Association, a testament to the vibrant spirit of the Uzbek community in the U.S. Special thanks to Nilufar Qahorova, the founder, whose dedication and vision have brought this initiative to life.

Furqat Sidiqov
@FurqatSidiq
[3/17/2024 6:15 PM, 1.2K followers, 1 retweet, 3 likes]
Honored to meet compatriots, residing in #MA, and discuss ways to enhance UZ-US relations and our homeland’s prosperity. It also introduced the "Ildiz" platform, designed to support and provide opportunities for compatriots to initiate and be involved in projects in #Uzbekistan.

{End of Report}
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