SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS

epubdos : Afghanistan

Prepared for the U.S. Department of State

Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs

By TechMIS
www.TechMIS.com

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TO:	SCA & Staff
DATE:	Friday, November 15, 2024 6:30 AM ET

Afghanistan

After narrowly escaping Afghanistan, a Brown student forms a school for the girls left behind (Boston Globe)

Boston Globe [11/14/2024 6:00 AM, Edward Fitzpatrick, 3902K, Neutral]
In August 2021, as the Kabul airport plunged into chaos amid the withdrawal of American troops, Khadija Nazari sat on a bus with other female students, watching as bearded members of the Taliban brandished guns and desperate people attempted to board the bus.

A day earlier, the students had been turned away from the airport. But the next morning, the girls were told to leave everything but their cellphones and passports behind and to board the bus again.

"We were just hopeless," Nazari recalled on the Rhode Island Report podcast. "We thought maybe we just would end up staying in Afghanistan.".

But this time, they made it through the airport gates. “One of the Taliban came and said, ‘OK, go to your American father,’” she recalled.

Nazari stepped aboard the airplane with mixed feelings.

“I was feeling good because I left,” she said. “But at the same time, I was feeling super guilty that I survived. Now I’m leaving my friends that we went to school together, my friends that we had dreamed together ― that one day we will go abroad and we will continue our education. All these things all of the sudden shattered.”

While buoyed by her newfound freedom, Nazari escaped Kabul with a deep-seated sense of responsibility.

After making her way to the United States and securing a scholarship to Brown University, she set out to launch a school for girls left behind in Afghanistan. Now, with the help of women in Rhode Island, she has launched a nonprofit called Support for Afghan Girls’ Education, and SAGE has opened a school for girls at a secret location in Kabul that’s already educating 100 female students over the age of 12.

“They shouldn’t be hopeless because we are trying our best to change the situation,” Nazari said. “We are thinking of them, and they are not alone.”

The school’s opening comes as the Taliban have issued a 114-page manifesto restricting women’s rights. It decrees that in addition to no education beyond the sixth grade, no employment in most workplaces, and no leaving home if not covered from head to toe, the sound of a woman’s voice outside the home is outlawed.

Nazari said she has remained in touch with some of her friends and classmates who are still in Afghanistan, and they are depressed, with dreams dashed and hope ebbing.

She said many men are jobless, hungry, and lashing out at their wives. She said she knows one 21-year-old woman whose husband beat her so much that she was unable to walk for several weeks. “But there is no agency for them to go and say that ‘This happened to me,’” she said. “It’s unbearable.”

Anne Sliney, a Cranston nurse who previously served as the chief nursing officer for the Clinton Health Access Initiative, is now secretary of the SAGE board of directors. She said the group has already raised $30,000, mostly through word of mouth, and the school has five teachers, plus a head of school.

To be sure, the enterprise is risky. If the Taliban discovered it, Sliney said, “They would certainly close it down, and they would probably punish everyone ― teachers, students, families.”

But the value of that school to those girls is immense, Sliney said. “I believe it’s the one thing in their lives that gives them hope, that gives them purpose,” she said.

She said the school is helping the students obtain high school equivalency degrees so they might some day go to college outside Afghanistan, and it has begun offering Duolingo English tests and online college courses.

“Don’t forget them,” Sliney said of the girls left behind in Afghanistan. “There’s so much in the world for us to be worried about, but there’s really nothing that’s as drastically evil as this. It’s something we don’t hear about every day. We don’t think about it. But I would encourage us to think about it and do what we can.”

Nazari said the scenes she has lived through sometimes seem like a movie. When asked how that movie end if she could control it, she said, “We have hope and still we are really determined. What happened is what happened, but we will create our own future.”

How Can the West Handle the Taliban? (Foreign Policy – opinion)

Foreign Policy [11/14/2024 1:32 PM, Jens Vesterlund Mathiesen, Adam Weinstein, and Galina Mikkelsen, 1851K, Neutral]
With Donald Trump’s return to the U.S. presidency, the United States and the West face renewed opportunities and challenges in their approach to Afghanistan. His former envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, saw the election as an opening to fully implement the Doha Agreement, moving toward normalized relations, while the Taliban themselves have urged Trump for a "new chapter" in U.S.-Afghan relations.

Yet Trump’s new national security advisor, Mike Waltz, a decorated Afghanistan veteran, criticized the previous agreement, arguing that Washington had "unconditionally surrendered" and called for renewed U.S. fighting against the Taliban during the 2021 withdrawal. As the U.S. president who brokered the Doha Agreement, which set the stage for the complete withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan—and who once engaged in the controversial overture of inviting the Taliban to Camp David—Trump in his second term has a unique opportunity to build credibility with the Taliban to avoid past mistakes.

Trump will inherit a nearly deadlocked U.S. relationship with the Taliban, amid a waning Western focus. While Afghanistan’s neighbors are essentially moving toward de facto recognition, the recent closure of Afghan embassies in Europe and the quiet discontinuation of the position of the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan are signaling an increasing diplomatic decoupling between Kabul and the West. This has diminished the importance of formal recognition for the Taliban, eroding one of the West’s key leverage points.

The United States and its European partners have four key interests in Afghanistan: counterterrorism, counternarcotics, migration control, and the safe return of detainees held by the Taliban. Advancing these is fraught with challenges. Complicating matters further is a fifth, overarching concern—a moral obligation to protect human and women’s rights and preserve the gains from NATO’s 20-year intervention. Although promoting human rights was never the original aim of the U.S. intervention, and only part of European engagement, it has now become central to both genuine concerns and domestic political maneuvering.

For both the United States and Europe, the most pressing threat is the growing influence of the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP), a terrorist group that has established a foothold in Afghanistan and Pakistan. While the potential for this threat to be exaggerated exists, and alarmism should be avoided, ISKP has proved its capabilities, claiming responsibility for attacks that killed more than 200 people in Iran and Russia this year. Western intelligence agencies reported several foiled ISKP plots in Europe, including planned attacks at the Paris Olympic Games and a Taylor Swift concert in Austria—highlighting the group’s ambition and reach.

Navigating these complexities requires committed and coordinated U.S.-European diplomacy outside and inside Afghanistan. Just as they fought together, they must now present a united front in diplomatic efforts. While direct engagement with the Taliban remains controversial, positioning it as part of a broader trans-Atlantic effort makes it more politically viable. Instead of issuing ineffective demarches or hoping to fracture the Taliban from within, the West should accept Afghanistan’s current reality, engage where interests align, and practice strategic patience. The Taliban’s reclusive emir, Hibatullah Akhundzada, won’t live or lead forever, but the United States and Europe haven’t yet built ties with Afghanistan’s other key figures.

Demonstrating respect and granting legitimacy, such as formal recognition, are not the same. Since their first emirate in the late 1990s, the Taliban have sought international recognition, a U.N. seat, and diplomatic engagement, but more crucially, they have sought respect. Today, many senior Taliban leaders have spent years living abroad and have a stronger grasp of diplomacy than in the 1990s, spurred by the experiences, networks, and negotiating skills derived from the long process leading to the Doha Agreement in 2020. For the Taliban, de facto engagement and displays of diplomatic respect—such as Chinese President Xi Jinping personally receiving their ambassador—are far more significant than the de jure legitimacy of an international order they consider illegitimate.

There’s no shortage of engagement with the Taliban by non-Western powers. Aaron Zelin of the Washington Institute has meticulously tracked all Taliban diplomatic meetings since August 2021, nearly 2,000 in their first three years in power, with meetings accelerating year on year. When Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov completed a formal visit to Afghanistan in August, it all seemed very "normal," marking the highest-level visit since the Taliban took power. Hands were shaken, and trade deals were signed—and there was no mention of the Taliban’s policies toward women and girls or lack of inclusivity in government.

Countries such as China, Uzbekistan, and the United Arab Emirates are hosting Taliban ambassadors while avoiding the label of formal recognition or raising human rights concerns—a convenient diplomatic maneuver that the United States and European countries cannot replicate due to their own regulations and domestic politics.

However, while regional engagement enhances the Taliban’s legitimacy, it has yet to influence their behavior or prompt any meaningful compromises. Pakistani officials, for instance, are currently grappling with a surge in Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) attacks, which have claimed the lives of thousands of soldiers and police. Pakistan should have leverage in its relations with the Afghan Taliban, given that many senior Taliban leaders were educated in Pakistani madrassas, sought refuge in cities such as Quetta and Karachi after the 2001 U.S. invasion, received support during the war, and still have family in Pakistan today. Yet this leverage seems absent.

Pakistan does not need to rely on culturally alien diplomats using translators to engage with the Taliban. It has a direct line through a rotating cast of envoys, both formal and informal, such as political leader Fazlur Rehman—a Pashtun and graduate of the same Darul Uloom Haqqania seminary as many Taliban leaders—and Muhammad Taqi Usmani, the most revered living Deobandi cleric. Usmani has urged them not only to curtail support for the TTP but also to allow girls to attend school. Yet even these pleas from figures within their own tradition have been soundly ignored. If the Taliban are ignoring Usmani, they certainly won’t respond to Western criticism, which is often more performative than practical. Similarly, they are also unlikely to heed Islamic leaders or scholars from traditions far from theirs.

After all, the Taliban are victors, and victors are not inclined to listen. They are also ideologues, which sets clear limits on their pragmatism. In September, during a ceremony in Peshawar, the Taliban’s consul general theres refused to stand for the Pakistani national anthem because it featured music. This act of defiance sparked more outrage in Pakistan than the countless TTP attacks that the Taliban have enabled. This highlights a point often overlooked in U.S. and European diplomacy, not just in Afghanistan but across the region: Perceptions of respect—or disrespect—carry immense weight, even in the face of deep-seated conflicts. The Taliban’s refusal to stand was more than a snub; it was a reminder of their ideological intransigence, even toward their former hosts.

If regional engagement is yielding few results, why shouldn’t the United States and Europe keep their distance? Because disengagement offers even less. Up until now, the Biden administration has maintained an international consensus on withholding formal recognition of the Taliban, leveraging it as a potential bargaining chip. However, as regional players are prioritizing realpolitik over ideology, with increased regional engagement—approaching de facto recognition—a Western strategy of nonrecognition is no longer an effective coercive tool. More importantly, the illusory promise of recognition does not offer a meaningful way to compel the Taliban. Instead, it has led to a prolonged stalemate between the international community’s principles and the Taliban’s rigid, exclusionary policies, leaving the Afghan people trapped in the middle of this impasse.

In Western diplomacy, engagement is often viewed as a form of leverage, a key component of transactional negotiations. In Afghanistan, sitting with your adversary is simply the necessary starting point, not a sign of concession. By being present in Afghanistan, regional countries have leveraged aspects of the Taliban’s own values—rooted in its specific version of Pashtun culture, ideas around hosting outsiders, and religious sensibilities—to their advantage. If the West were to adopt a similar approach, it could help secure the release of detainees and address more difficult issues, such as terrorism or migration.

As Pakistan has learned, engagement is not a cure-all for the challenges posed by the Taliban. The West’s predicament is different, and its interests in Afghanistan are more straightforward and less entangled. Abandoning Afghanistan completely may be tempting, but it would echo the mistakes of the 1990s, which ultimately led to the events of 9/11. Rather than sticking to value-based or transactional diplomacy, clinging to ideals it cannot enforce on the Taliban, the West must adapt its approach to protect its interests. Disengagement or inaction risks losing influence and the ability to advocate for a more inclusive and stable Afghanistan.

For NATO states involved in the Afghanistan war, the legacy of two decades of conflict, compounded by the Taliban’s resurgence, has made it a "toxic issue" to revisit. Proactively and directly engaging with the Taliban is a serious political liability for Western leaders. As a result, meaningful diplomatic efforts have been stifled by domestic political concerns and the fear of legitimizing the Taliban government.

In October, Tom West stepped down as the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan without a successor. His responsibilities now fall on John Mark Pommersheim, the deputy assistant secretary of state for Central Asia, and Chargé d’Affaires Karen Decker in Doha. The lower-profile Afghanistan Affairs Unit in Doha could adopt a quietly proactive approach, out of the spotlight. Any meaningful progress will require political and bureaucratic backing, as well as strong leadership from whoever eventually takes over these roles. At some point, U.S. engagement with the Taliban will need to be conducted openly and within Afghanistan itself. Despite the fears of another Benghazi, Washington must find a way to deploy its diplomats, as it did in Cuba in the 1970s and in dangerous outposts today. Without a cohesive approach, it is likely that U.S. engagement with Afghanistan will become fragmented, with various agencies acting independently and ineffectively.

The West still has real interests in Afghanistan, with the growing threat of ISKP, which has proved its capacity for global reach. While the Taliban cannot be fully trusted, they can serve as limited counterterrorism partners against this shared threat. Afghanistan’s migration crisis poses a pressing issue for Europe. More than 100,000 Afghans made first-time claims for protection in the European Union in 2023 alone, making them the second-largest group of asylum-seekers. Driven by rising right-wing populism, even once welcoming nations such as Germany have adopted harsher migration policies.

The West cannot meaningfully influence Afghanistan’s future from a distance. This makes Western diplomacy inherently transactional when it needs to be personal and pragmatic, especially with a group such as the Taliban. Maintaining an arm’s-length approach will breed distrust and suspicion toward any Western efforts to benefit from future changes in the Taliban’s power structure or leadership. This distance also alienates Western countries from the Afghans who live within Afghanistan. Relying on a U.N. envoy is unlikely to change that.

Instead, the United States and Europe could move beyond occasional engagement in Doha and sporadic meetings in Kabul to take a long-term approach by meeting with the Taliban and the Afghan people inside Afghanistan. This approach must be coordinated, coherent, and grounded in personal diplomacy. Having a presence in Kabul is not a mere gesture of goodwill; it is a diplomatic necessity. By following the example of regional states in demonstrating respect through dialogue, Western diplomats can leverage the power of face-to-face interactions, recognizing that effective diplomacy is rooted in building personal relationships.

For the West, being present in Afghanistan could eventually pave the way for pragmatic progress, whereas maintaining distance only ensures failure. Trump should leverage his unique credibility with the Taliban, as the architect of the Doha Agreement, to pursue a forward-looking diplomacy, rather than return to the mistakes of the past.

Pakistan

WHO links forced Afghan repatriation from Pakistan to polio resurgence (VOA)

VOA [11/14/2024 9:26 AM, Ayaz Gul, 4566K, Neutral]
The World Health Organization has labeled a forced repatriation of Afghan nationals from Pakistan as a "major setback" for polio eradication efforts, contributing to the regional resurgence of the paralytic disease.

Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only two polio-endemic nations, reporting 49 and 23 cases respectively, so far this year, up from only six cases each in 2023.

The latest case in Pakistan was confirmed Thursday in the southwestern province of Balochistan, which sits on the Afghan border and accounts for half the cases reported in 2024.

"Until you get rid of polio completely, it will resurge and come back, and this is what we are seeing now in Pakistan [where] nearly half of the districts are infected, and in Afghanistan, a third of the provinces are infected," Hamid Jafari, the WHO director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said Wednesday while discussing causes of polio resurgence in both countries.

"I think the major setback was a forced repatriation of Afghan nationals that led to a massive and unpredictable movement of populations within Pakistan and across both borders and within Afghanistan, so the virus moved with these populations," Jafari told the virtual discussion hosted by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, or GPEI.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has said that Pakistan’s crackdown on undocumented foreign nationals has resulted in more than 730,000 Afghan migrants returning to Afghanistan since August 2023.

Jafari also mentioned other factors contributing to the rise of polio in Pakistan, including authorities’ inability to consistently carry out vaccination campaigns in areas affected by militancy, where children cannot be effectively immunized against the crippling disease. He also highlighted the presence of "significant vaccine hesitancy and community boycotts" rooted in public frustration over the lack of essential services in impoverished districts.

Pakistani and WHO officials say vaccine boycotts in some regions also result from the false propaganda that anti-polio campaigns are a Western plot to sterilize Muslim children. Additionally, anti-government militants in violence-hit regions occasionally stage deadly attacks on polio teams, suspecting them of spying for authorities, routinely disrupting vaccination drives in districts near the Afghan border.

Afghan polio ban

While sharing the latest polio situation in Afghanistan, the senior WHO official stated they are collaborating with various humanitarian actors and partners to promote vaccination against polio and all other diseases.

"We cannot implement house-to-house vaccination," Jafari stated, referencing the ban imposed by Taliban authorities on polio teams over security concerns.

"The program is working closely with [Taliban] authorities to re-update micro plans and work closely with the communities and local officials to make sure children are mobilized to vaccination sites," he added.

In September, the Taliban abruptly halted house-to-house vaccine deliveries in parts of southern Afghanistan, including Kandahar, without publicly stating any reason.

An independent monitoring board of the GPEI recently said that the Taliban’s action had stemmed from their "administration’s concerns about covert surveillance activities." The report quoted de facto Afghan authorities as explaining that their leadership is living in Kandahar and has concerns about their security.

Jafari stated that Pakistan and Afghanistan are taking measures to address the challenges in their bid "to rebuild community confidence" and work closely with security agencies in both countries to be able to access all children.

He cautioned that the current resurgence of polio in Pakistan and Afghanistan does not guarantee a low point next year.

"We are confident that we will come very close to elimination, but the key is to make sure that in these final safe havens for poliovirus in insecure areas, among migrant and mobile populations, and vaccine-hesitant communities, we can finally overcome these residual challenges to make sure that finally polio is eradicated," the regional WHO director said.

Polio once paralyzed an estimated 20,000 children in Pakistan each year until the country initiated national vaccination campaigns in the 1990s to control the infections, according to the WHO. In 2019, there were 176 reported cases in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In 2021 and 2022, however, the countries reported only one and two infections, respectively.

Pakistan military has no intention of cutting deal with jailed former prime minister Imran Khan – sources (The Guardian)

The Guardian [11/15/2024 2:39 AM, Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Shah Meer, 92.4M, Neutral]
Pakistan’s military has no intention of entering into negotiations or cutting a deal with incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan, senior military sources told the Guardian, after Khan said he would be willing to engage with the army leadership from his jail cell.

Khan, who is being held in Pakistan’s Adiala jail, is banned from meeting journalists but the Guardian was able to submit questions through his legal team.

In his responses, Khan said he has had “no personal engagement with the military” since he was arrested and imprisoned in August last year.

However, he said he would not rule out doing a deal with Pakistan’s powerful military establishment, despite previously accusing them of bringing down his government and being behind his incarceration.

“With regards to doing a deal with the military, any engagement would be based on principles and in the interest of the people, not personal gain or compromises that undermine Pakistan’s democratic values,” Khan told the Guardian.

He added that he would “rather live the rest of my life in prison than compromise on my principles.”

It is widely acknowledged that Khan, a former superstar cricketer, was helped into power in 2018 with the backing of the military, long seen as the kingmakers of Pakistani politics and whose interference has often been an obstacle to the country’s fraught path to democracy.

It was after Khan’s relationship with the army’s leadership fell apart in 2022 that he was toppled from power. Khan then began to vocally criticise the military establishment, accusing them of a role in an assassination attempt on his life and for orchestrating his arrest.

Khan now faces upwards of a hundred cases he claims are trumped up by the military and political opponents who form the current coalition government. In June, the UN Working Group on arbitrary detention declared that Khan’s detention was unlawful.

Nonetheless, as his time in jail has dragged on and the cases against him have mounted, the former prime minister’s rhetoric towards the current military establishment has taken a more conciliatory tone. In July, Khan publicly offered to hold “conditional” talks with the military, if they agreed to hold “clean and transparent” elections. Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have alleged that the elections held in February were undemocratic and marred by widespread allegations of rigging, and argue that PTI in fact won the election through the popular vote.

Behind the scenes, senior military leadership said that for the past few months Khan has been applying pressure for discussions with the military and had offered “unconditional” talks as he sought a deal to ensure his release.

However, senior military figures are said to be resolute in refusing to enter into any negotiations with Khan. “Khan has to face the court cases against him, and can’t expect any deals from the military. Khan wants everyone to follow the rule of law, but he does not want this rule of law for himself,” said one military source.

The current government, which is a coalition led by prime minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) party, is said to have the backing of the military. Over the past month, they have recently pushed through amendments to extend the term of the army chief to five years, and to give the government greater control over the supreme court, which PTI has alleged is to serve the military’s agenda and prevent Khan from being released.

In response to the constitutional amendments and the allegedly rigged election, this week Khan issued a “final call” for a PTI protest due to be held in the capital Islamabad on 24 November. The party has been facing an ongoing crackdown since Khan was arrested, with most of the party’s leadership either in jail or exile.

The government has still yet to confirm if they intend to try Khan in a military rather than civilian court, for some of his alleged crimes which include everything from bribery to terrorism. He denies all charges.

“How can any civilian ever be tried in a military court, let alone a former prime minister?” said Khan. “It’s ludicrous. The only reason to try a civilian in military court is simply because no other court of justice would convict me. The very idea of it is alarming.”

Concerns have also been raised at the conditions that Khan is being kept in while in jail. Last month, his ex-wife Jemima Goldsmith alleged he was being kept in solitary confinement and was not being allowed to make calls to his sons. The government hit back, alleging he was being kept in a luxurious “presidential suite” with his own cook.

Khan denied any privileged treatment and said he had been “held in conditions designed to intimidate, isolate, and break my resolve. For 15 days, I was denied any human contact, no electricity in cell and kept in lockup for 24 hours a day without access to exercise or basic freedoms.”

He emphasised that the ban on journalists being able to visit him or freely cover his trials “speaks volumes about the transparency – or lack thereof – surrounding my predicament”.

Nonetheless, Khan said he remained confident that he would get justice eventually and he still believed he would “have the opportunity to serve as prime minister again if that is the will of the people”.

Trump 2.0 Appears Unfavorable for Pakistan (The Diplomat)

The Diplomat [11/14/2024 7:10 AM, Umair Jamal, 1198K, Neutral]
As the announcement of Donald Trump’s election as president of the United States for a second term reverberates globally, leaders from Pakistan have swiftly extended their congratulations. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif characterized Trump’s win as a “historic second-term victory,” reflecting an immediate alignment with the incoming administration. The prompt response underscored a sense of urgency within the Pakistani leadership to establish rapport and signal support for Trump’s presidency.

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan also joined this chorus, expressing his congratulations through social media channels. His supporters have engaged in discussions regarding the implications of Trump’s victory on the fate of Khan, who has been incarcerated in Pakistan for over a year now. There is keen interest among Pakistani political circles about how Trump’s policies may affect domestic political dynamics.

Pakistan’s U.S. strategy appears to hinge on fostering a positive relationship with Trump early in his term, particularly given the unpredictability that characterized his first presidency. By framing his electoral success as historic, Sharif is hoping to appeal to Trump on a personal level while committing to collaborate closely with his administration.

However, questions loom regarding whether Trump 2.0 will be advantageous for Pakistan.

During his first term, Trump accused Pakistan of deception for allegedly providing sanctuary to terrorists, a narrative that strained bilateral relations significantly during his early days in office. His 2018 tweet threatening to cut aid highlighted these tensions: “The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies and deceit.”

In response to these challenges, Pakistan sought avenues for dialogue concerning Afghanistan during Trump’s tenure, which ultimately led to a reset in relations marked by cooperation on peace processes despite limited advancements in other areas. The transactional nature of this relationship was driven by Pakistan’s supposed importance in facilitating Afghan peace talks that eventually paved the way for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

With Afghanistan no longer serving as a focal point for Pakistan-U.S. relations, concerns arise regarding whether Islamabad will remain relevant on Washington’s agenda during Trump’s second term. Will Pakistan succeed in garnering Trump’s attention once again? Or will Trump merely maintain existing ties driven by low-level engagement with not much happening to boost ties economically and militarily?

President-elect Trump’s recent appointments to key positions in his administration such as secretary of state and national security adviser do not bode well for Pakistan’s relationship with the United States.

For instance, the selection of Florida Congressman Mike Waltz, known to be a China hawk, as national security adviser — a crucial foreign policy role within the White House — signals a shift in focus toward a more adversarial stance against China.

Waltz has publicly declared that the United States is engaged in a “cold war” with China and was among the first to advocate for a U.S. boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Furthermore, as a co-chair of the India Caucus, he has been an ardent supporter of establishing a formal India-U.S. alliance, positioning India as an essential partner in countering China’s influence and ensuring stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

Additionally, Trump is expected to nominate Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state — another figure known for his hawkish views on China and strong pro-India sentiments. The secretary of state serves as the principal advisor to the president on foreign policy matters and oversees diplomatic relations through the Department of State.

Earlier this year, Rubio introduced legislation aimed at enhancing Washington’s strategic ties with India while simultaneously scrutinizing Pakistan’s actions regarding allegedly supporting proxy groups targeting India. This bill proposed barring security assistance to Pakistan should it be found culpable in sponsoring sabotage efforts against India. Rubio’s bill sought to elevate India’s status concerning technology transfers to a level akin to that enjoyed by traditional allies such as Japan and Israel.

With an increasingly pro-India and anti-China team, the dynamics between Pakistan and the United States are poised for significant challenges under the new Trump administration. The emphasis is likely to shift toward specific security concerns related to India while subjecting Islamabad’s ties with its closest ally, China, to greater scrutiny.

In the past, India-U.S. relations have played an important role in shaping Pakistan-U.S. relations due to Islamabad’s historic conflict with New Delhi over Kashmir and other land and resource issues. Thus, Pakistan remains acutely sensitive to growing bilateral ties between Washington and New Delhi.

Trump’s team will undoubtedly exacerbate Islamabad’s apprehensions regarding military partnerships between India and the United States, including technology transfers. It could intensify lobbying efforts from both capitals aimed at pressuring Pakistan on terrorism-related issues. These developments could further reduce U.S. aid to Pakistan, with funds devoted only to small-scale counterterrorism and security initiatives.

Additionally, it will be tough for Pakistan to manage and balance its relationship with both China and the United States during Trump’s presidency. Trump’s anti-China stance may place additional strain on Pakistan, which has cultivated a strategic partnership with Beijing, notably through initiatives like the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Under a Trump administration, there may be increased scrutiny from the United States regarding Pakistan’s cooperation with China. This could lead to pressure on Islamabad to limit its engagement with Beijing, thereby complicating its diplomatic maneuvering.

While it is conceivable that Pakistan may seek to strengthen its ties with China in response to a diminishing relationship with the U.S., such an alignment could necessitate compromises from Pakistan that carry their own set of implications.

As Pakistan prepares to navigate this new chapter, it remains imperative for the country’s leadership to strategize effectively if they wish to secure favorable outcomes amidst a challenging geopolitical landscape marked by uncertainty and shifting alliances.

Overall, the prospect of Trump 2.0 appears unfavorable for Pakistan.

The reset achieved by Pakistan under the outgoing Biden administration to inject some momentum into the relationship may already be at risk of unraveling, leaving Islamabad to navigate a precarious path amid evolving international dynamics and competing interests.

World’s Worst Air Pollution in Lahore Reaches New Record (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg [11/14/2024 9:38 AM, Faseeh Mangi, 27782K, Neutral]
Pakistan’s smog situation has gone from bad to worse as air pollution rose to a record in Lahore.

Sensors tracked by the Swiss monitor IQAir recorded an air quality index of 1,300 in the country’s second-largest city at 5 p.m. local time, the highest this year and well beyond a level of 50 that is deemed safe.

Lahore has been the world’s most polluted city for most of November, forcing the local government to close schools, shut parks and museums until Nov. 18, enforce mask wearing and ask offices to operate at reduced capacity.

Pakistan and North India suffer from a chronic air pollution crisis that worsens during winter, much of it caused by crop burning and low wind speed. Climate advocacy group Pakistan Air Quality Initiative in a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif this week outlined measures to help reduce pollution including shutting brick kilns and cracking down on vehicles that fail to meet emission standards.

As Pakistan chokes on smog, is the government doing enough? (Al Jazeera)

Al Jazeera [11/14/2024 8:40 AM, Abid Hussain, 25768K, Neutral]
With a staggering 1.8 million people requiring medical treatment in Pakistan’s eastern province of Punjab and 11 million children facing health risks, according to the United Nations, provincial authorities are scrambling to combat hazardous smog that has driven air pollution to unprecedented levels.

Lahore, the provincial capital of 14 million residents, was the world’s most polluted city on Thursday with an air quality index (AQI) reading surpassing 1,400, according to IQAir, a Swiss climate monitoring group.

The city frequently makes it to the list, but pollution levels this month have been unprecedented, touching 1,900 in some places earlier this month. The AQI measures the concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the atmosphere. Any reading above 300 is considered hazardous by the World Health Organization.

In order to combat such alarming levels of pollution, authorities in Punjab, Pakistan’s largest and most populous province, have launched nearly 200 mobile clinics and added more beds in hospitals. Earlier, they shut schools until November 17, ordered early market closures, and imposed other restrictions, including shutting down brick kilns and banning outdoor events.

For Lahore resident Shoaib Naveed, the past few days have been nothing but “dreadful”, impacting every aspect of his life.

“It is incredibly difficult, especially for families with children. Schools have been shut now for weeks, and what was traditionally one of the better seasons in Lahore has become the worst time to live in the city,” the father of a four-year-old son told Al Jazeera via telephone.

Naveed said the toxic environment has forced families to keep children indoors and made masks a necessity. Air purifiers cost anywhere between $100 to $250, and so cannot be afforded by most city residents.

Raja Jahangir Anwar, Punjab’s secretary for environment and climate change, told Al Jazeera on Thursday that the government was “seriously considering” a complete lockdown in the worst-hit areas, similar to those implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have to take stringent measures given the emergency we are facing, even though we understand the economic costs,” he said.

Last year, the Punjab government experimented with artificial rain to mitigate the smog, doing so with support from the United Arab Emirates, where the measure is often taken up to tackle pollution or hot weather.

This year, Anwar said, the government aims to repeat the process using homegrown technology. “We are watching the weather closely and are hopeful we can induce artificial rain in Lahore by Saturday,” he said.

But Sara Hayat, a climate policy lawyer based in Lahore, said that while closing schools saves students, especially young children, from exposure to toxic pollution and reduces vehicular traffic, the efficacy of artificial rain was unclear.

“The government tried this last December with minimal success. The rainfall was light and did not significantly improve air quality, especially since it wasn’t accompanied by wind,” she told Al Jazeera.

Some experts argue that the government’s approach this year in tackling pollution is inadequate and merely repeats past strategies.

“The government’s smog mitigation plan, originally proposed in 2017, is essentially the same, with minor updates,” said Abid Omar, founder of Pakistan Air Quality Initiative (PAQI), a climate research and advocacy group. He argued that without targeted, evidence-based policies, air quality will not improve.

In a letter to the Punjab government earlier this week, PAQI emphasised the need for “scientific evidence and global best practices” in air pollution management, recommending three primary measures: the shutdown of all brick kilns, vehicle emissions control, and the closure of noncompliant industries.

“If these three actions are taken, urban air pollution levels could potentially drop by 45 percent,” Omar said, adding, “If this is truly an emergency, the government’s response needs to reflect the urgency.”

Calling the government’s pollution mitigation plan “business as usual”, Omar added, “They have declared a smog emergency, yet the measures are not making a difference. The AQI readings speak for themselves. Unless we address the biggest polluters directly, the situation won’t change.”

Anwar, the government official, said authorities have issued loans to the polluting industries to support compliance, imposed large fines on polluting vehicles, and shut down more than 800 brick kilns across the province.

Despite these efforts, he admitted that this year’s smog has been overwhelming.

“We began preparing for this season four to five months ago, and AQI levels in September showed improvement compared to last year. However, unexpected weather patterns, including eastward winds bringing pollution from India, surprised us,” he said.

Omar, the climate expert, stressed the need for a deeper understanding of smog composition to determine the major polluters and assess the cost-effectiveness of mitigation strategies. “We don’t fully understand why the AQI is so high, but changing meteorological patterns are likely contributing,” he said.

The government’s response to pollution has faced further criticism due to the absence of Punjab province’s Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, who is on a personal trip to Switzerland and the United Kingdom with her father, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The province’s senior minister, Marriyum Aurangzeb, who looks after climate issues, was also with them, amplifying complaints that the government was not addressing the crisis seriously.

Maryam Nawaz told supporters in London that she was seeking treatment in Switzerland. Meanwhile, Aurangzeb returned to resume her duties on Wednesday.

But Zartaj Gul of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, who served as federal minister of state for climate affairs in former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s cabinet, criticised Nawaz for leaving the country when it was facing record pollution and a health crisis.

“People cannot breathe in the province due to such smog, and there is zero visibility. But the chief minister has left the country to the mercy of god and flown out from where she is asking the public to wear masks,” she said in a video message.

“This smog should be treated as an emergency requiring all hands on deck,” Omar said.

Anwar, however, stressed that authorities in Punjab were working “tirelessly” to combat the pollution crisis affecting the province’s 130 million residents.

“We understand the gravity of the situation. We are holding almost daily meetings with stakeholders to find a collective solution. This issue isn’t just about Lahore or Punjab. We need everyone to work together to resolve it,” he said.

But Lahore resident Naveed feels the government has abandoned its responsibilities towards the people.

“It just seems like every basic necessity of everyday life, which should be the responsibility of a basic functioning government to deliver, has to be arranged by the individual themselves,” he told Al Jazeera. “Electricity, gas, schooling, healthcare, water and now even clean air are all basics that the state feels they are not responsible to deliver.”

Iran’s Jask and Pakistan’s Gwadar are China’s ports of power (Nikkei Asia – opinion)

Nikkei Asia [11/14/2024 3:05 PM, Syed Fazl-e-Haider, 2376K, Positive]
Iran recently began exporting oil from its new terminal at Jask port on the Gulf of Oman, a move that allows it to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. This new route could benefit China, which may now rely on the Iranian port to secure steady oil supplies amid any potential closure of the strait due to the Iran-Israel conflict. In addition, Pakistan’s Gwadar port serves as another strategic asset for China in sustaining its oil imports from the Middle East.

The Strait of Hormuz, a critical transit point for global oil shipments, has gained attention amid the escalating Iran-Israel tensions. About 20% to 25% of the world’s oil supply passes through this narrow strait, which connects the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. Any disruption here would have widespread implications, particularly for China, the world’s largest oil importer.

Iran’s Jask port, located just east of the Strait of Hormuz, hosts an oil terminal established three years ago as a safeguard for Iran’s oil exports. A full-blown conflict between Iran and Israel could force a closure of the Strait, a scenario that would significantly impact China, which sources 60% of its oil from the Middle East. In 2021, Tehran and Beijing formalized a comprehensive strategic partnership involving China’s $400 billion investment in Iran in exchange for long-term oil supply at a discounted price. A key element of this deal is China’s access to Jask port, enabling it to receive oil imports from Iran and other Middle Eastern countries even if the Strait of Hormuz is blocked.

China also operates the port of Gwadar in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. Located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf and near the Strait of Hormuz, Gwadar is a crucial component of the $62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a key element of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The CPEC project aims to create an energy corridor connecting Gwadar with China’s Xinjiang region through highways, railways and pipelines, thus offering an alternative to the risky Malacca Strait for Middle Eastern oil shipments. However, to achieve this goal, Gwadar port needs further development. Currently, with a depth of 14.5 meters, it cannot accommodate large crude oil tankers, and plans to construct an oil refinery and an oil pipeline to Xinjiang’s Kashgar remain unfulfilled, largely due to security issues. Baloch insurgent groups have resisted Chinese presence, viewing Beijing as complicit in exploiting local resources.

Despite these challenges, China’s strategic presence at Gwadar allows it to monitor the region and respond swiftly to changes around the Strait of Hormuz. Furthermore, Iranian oil could be transported overland from Iran to Balochistan, then onward to China via the Karakoram Highway.

China has long anticipated the need for alternative oil supply routes, signing a strategic partnership with Iran in 2021 and assuming operational control of Gwadar in 2013. With Jask and Gwadar ports, Beijing is well-positioned to secure stable oil imports from the Middle East. These investments could also yield long-term strategic gains. In the future, China’s military presence at both ports could provide its navy with a strategic advantage in the Indian Ocean, enabling it to monitor U.S. naval operations, including those of the U.S. 5th Fleet based in Bahrain.

Ultimately, Jask and Gwadar, situated outside current conflict zones, have the potential to reshape Asia’s trade landscape. Beyond their geopolitical significance, these ports should be developed as alternative shipping routes that benefit the entire Asian region. With a focus on regional trade, both ports could foster commercial growth across Asia under an open trade agenda, rather than serving merely as assets in the geopolitical maneuvers of global powers.

India

Is India warming up to Taliban? (Deutsche Welle)

Deutsche Welle [11/14/2024 8:36 AM, Murali Krishnan, 16637K, Positive]
A recent report by the Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency stated that the Islamic fundamentalist regime has appointed Ikramuddin Kamil, a post-doctoral student of international law from New Delhi’s South Asia University, as its envoy in Mumbai.

While Indian officials have yet to officially comment, the agency quoted sources in the Taliban "Foreign Ministry" as confirming Kamil’s appointment as "the acting consul of the Islamic Emirate" who will be in charge of Afghanistan’s consular services and representing Kabul’s interests in the Indian metropolis.

"He is currently in Mumbai, where he is fulfilling his duties as a diplomat," the agency said of Kamil this week.

Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, the Taliban’s deputy foreign minister for political affairs, also posted on X about Kamil’s appointment to the consulate in Mumbai.

India sends diplomat to Kabul

The Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, but have yet to gain recognition from any other country in the world. At the same time, multiple countries have boosted their ties with the regime without recognizing it, including India, which has a strategic plan to expand its footprint in Afghanistan.

The news of Kamil’s posting in Mumbai comes just days after a senior official from India’s Foreign Ministry visited Afghanistan. J P Singh, the head of India’s diplomatic division for Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran (PAI), met Afghanistan’s "acting defense minister" Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob — the son of the Taliban’s late founder Mullah Muhammad Omar — as well as former President Hamid Karzai and other senior ministers during his visit last week.

A spokesman for India’s Foreign Ministry said the talks had focused on "India’s humanitarian assistance that we are providing to people in Afghanistan" and the ways "the business community in Afghanistan" could use Iran’s Chabahar port for international trade. India views the port as a strategic location, and it signed a deal with Iran earlier this year to develop and operate the site over the next decade.

Engaging without recognition

In recent years, New Delhi has been carefully calibrating its moves towards Kabul to avoid recognizing the Taliban as legitimate and yet engage them to protect its interests in Afghanistan.

In June 2022, India sent a "technical team" to Kabul to coorinate the delivery of humanitarian assistance and to see how New Delhi could support the Afghan people. Since the opening of the technical mission, the Taliban have been demanding to place their own representative in Delhi.

Then, in January this year, India participated in the Regional Cooperation Initiative meeting convened by the Taliban in Kabul that included representatives from several countries, including China, Russia, Pakistan, and Iran.

Afghanistan reduced to a ‘non-issue’.

India has been working to gradually regain the strategic influence in Kabul that it lost when the Taliban took power in August 2021, Afghanistan expert Shanthie Mariet D’Souza told DW.

"It may pave the way for activating its trade linkages with Central Asian countries through the Chabahar port in Iran and the territory of Afghanistan and deny Pakistan the strategic depth that it has been seeking since the ascent of the Taliban in Afghanistan," said D’Souza, who serves as the head of Mantraya Institute of Strategic Studies in India.

The Taliban also want to "deepen their relationship" with India, according to the Afghanistan expert.

D’Souza acknowledged that the Taliban’s quest for legitimacy would get a boost with India’s rapprochement.

"However, the reality is that the West and the US have effectively reduced Afghanistan to a non-issue aside from occasional mentions of the violations of girls’ and women’s rights. In contrast, nearly all of Afghanistan’s regional neighbors have recognized the wisdom of engaging with the Islamic Emirate, even without officially recognizing it," said D’Souza.

And even on the issues such as the discrimination of women, having "a strong presence in Kabul" would allow India to influence the Taliban policies better than "taking a sulking and detached stance," she said.

New Delhi wants to minimize threats

Ajay Bisaria, a former high commissioner to Pakistan, believes that the presence of an Afghan official in Mumbai will be of practical help to the Afghan community, which is bereft of any representative to deal with issues concerning their home country.

"This is part of India’s policy of calibrated and pragmatic engagement with the de facto rulers of Afghanistan. India has a technical team in place in Kabul and has engaged at the official level with the Taliban on multiple occasions," Bisaria told DW.

In his estimate, India’s minimum expectation would be that the Taliban will not take any steps to threaten India’s security as they did in the 1990s and ideally also protect India’s interests in Afghanistan.

Iran and China already welcomed Taliban envoys

Afghanistan’s embassy in New Delhi ceased operations in October last year. The embassy cited a series of issues, including a lack of cooperation from the Indian government. The previous ambassador, Farid Mamundzay — who was appointed by the government of former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani — left India and never returned, creating a leadership void.

India’s former envoy to Iran Gaddam Dharmendra told DW that the latest news of the new Mumbai envoy represents a hard-headed, pragmatic move.

"The Taliban-Pakistan relations are strained. And Iran and China have permitted the Taliban to operate the embassies in Tehran and Beijing. So, it makes sense for us to leverage our national interest," said Dharmendra.

India-Canada tensions spill onto students, education consultancies (Al Jazeera)

Al Jazeera [11/14/2024 9:55 PM, Gurvinder Singh, 25768K, Neutral]
For the past several years, Manpreet Singh has been dreaming of going abroad for higher studies.

The 22-year-old Sikh, a resident of Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh state, chose Canada as his destination as that is where many of the Sikh diaspora is settled.

But the current diplomatic tension between India and Canada has put a damper on those plans, leaving him disappointed. Singh is now planning to go to Europe and complete his education.

“Canada was always on the top of my list for foreign education as several people of our community are settled there, and I would have felt at home there. I had convinced my parents to send me, but they have now refused due to the present turmoil between the two countries,” he said.

His father, Inderjeet Singh, told Al Jazeera that his son’s safety is his top priority. “We also want our child to get a good education, and I had agreed to his Canada plan. But the current situation has made me rethink, and I prefer to send him to a safer country,” he said.

Several students from India, especially the northern states of Punjab and Haryana, who had been aspiring to go to Canada for higher education, have put their plans on hold due to the escalating tension between the two countries over the killing last year of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh involved with the Sikh independence movement, commonly known as the Khalistan movement, that calls for an independent Sikh state.

Nijjar was shot dead by two masked gunmen in Surrey, British Columbia, in western Canada last year in June.

Since then, Ottawa has said New Delhi staged the attack on Canadian soil and has even accused Indian Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah of being behind a campaign of violence and intimidation targeting Sikh activists. It has also expelled several Indian diplomats, including as recently as in October in the latest round of this political face-off, resulting in similar retaliatory actions.

Students affected

Political repercussions apart, the tension between the two countries has come as a major blow to several thousand Indian students who aspire to go to Canada for undergraduate and postgraduate courses every year.

The situation has also affected education and immigration consultants, who depend on these students for their livelihood and charge anywhere between 50,000 rupees ($594) to 500,000 rupees ($5,945) depending upon the country and the university selection, and help students in the application and documentation process.

Of the more than 1.3 million Indian students studying abroad in 2024, Canada tops the position with 427,000 – which is 41 percent of total international students in Canada. The United States has 337,000 students, the United Kingdom has 185,000 students, and Germany hosts 42,997 Indian students, as per data from the Ministry of External Affairs.

Pratibha Jain, the founder of Eduabroad, a consultancy which for the past three decades has helped students get admission into some of the top universities across the globe, told Al Jazeera that there has been about a 10 percent decline in queries for Canada and the trend has been shifting to other countries instead including the UK, Australia, Dubai and in Europe.

Tightening entry

Apart from the current tension, Canada’s domestic political and economic situation is also deterring foreign students.

In January, the Canadian government announced an intake cap on international student permit applications for the next two years, citing pressure on housing, healthcare and other services. The cap is expected to reduce by 35 percent the student intake in 2024 as compared to 2023, and which will be followed by an additional 10 percent reduction in 2025.

Gurtej Singh Sandhu, an education consultant based in Chandigarh, estimates that there are more than 150,000 educational and immigration consultancies in the northern states of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi generating an annual turnover of about 12 billion rupees ($142.42m) and many reliant on sending students to Canada for a vast chunk of their revenue.

“The business of education consultancy from Canada has come down to just 20-25 percent and several consultancies have been forced to close their operations”, Sandhu said.

To be fair, the student visa has so far also been a route for many international students to settle in Canada as graduates of Canadian universities could apply for what is known as an open work permit, allowing them to work across sectors, including in jobs that had no connection with their studies. Any spouses could also get a visa, allowing them to work. This open plan had helped spawn several educational institutions, including private career colleges offering courses in collaboration with public sector colleges, of vastly varying calibre.

Now, the Justin Trudeau government has barred private and public-private colleges from issuing open work permits and has only allowed postgraduate students studying in public colleges and universities to get these permits. Spouse permits allowing them to work are continuing. These changes “are further deterring Indians from moving to Canada”, Sandhu said.

High expenses

The Guaranteed Investment Certificate (GIC) fee, a mandatory liquid investment in banks in Canada for international students, has also more than doubled to $20,635 since January, further deterring Indian students.

Maninder Singh Arora, founder of Apexvisas, a Pune-based immigration and visa consultancy, told Al Jazeera that Canada’s housing shortage and the high cost of living have also forced students to rethink their plans. “The demand for Canada is not over, but it has obviously decreased to a much extent,” Arora said.

“We have sent around 55 students to Canada this year as compared to 80 last year. The high expenses and negativity about the country in terms of housing and political issues have been contributing to the downfall,” he explained.

Manan Gupta, a regulated Canadian immigration consultant (RCIC) in Brampton, a Toronto suburb popular with Indians, told Al Jazeera that while international students contributed around $37.3bn to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022, it was necessary to reduce their numbers “as the infrastructure in Canada is yet to match the high influx of people coming from outside and using education as a backdoor to take up jobs and settle here,” he said. “Most of the parents will also deter to send their children in a country where there no diplomats to handle any untoward situation,” he added.

The future of immigration in Canada, he said, would depend on the poll outcomes as elections are due by October.

Delhi air pollution blankets India’s capital in dense smog, sparking emergency measures (CBS News)

CBS News [11/14/2024 12:24 PM, Arshad R. Zargar, 59828K, Negative]
Thick smog blanketed India’s capital Thursday as the annual ritual of choking on incredibly polluted winter air took hold of New Delhi yet again. Authorities ordered many students to stay home as the smog delayed more than 300 flights and prompted health warnings and a halt to all construction activity in the city.

The air quality rating in the densely packed city of roughly 33 million people first spiked on Wednesday to the highest "severe" category, under the World Health Organization’s Air Quality Index ratings. With an AQI reading Thursday afternoon above 450, Delhi was contending with the worst air pollution in any city in the world.

Any reading over 150 on the AQI index — which measures the levels of five key pollutants harmful to human health in the air at any given time — is considered unhealthy. When the AQI rises to 301 or above, it’s considered an emergency, and harmful to all people.

Higher AQI levels pose serious health risks, particularly for children, the elderly and those with respiratory issues, who can all be affected at even lower levels.

Indian authorities have advised Delhi residents to limit their outdoor activities and, Thursday night, the Delhi government announced enhanced anti-pollution measures, banning all non-essential construction and demolition work and restricting the entry of buses and trucks to the city. Elementary school students were told to switch to remote learning for Friday.

The use of diesel generators was also to be restricted from Friday.

Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport issued an advisory to air travelers Thursday, saying "low visibility procedures" had been enacted at the busy airport. Earlier, the IndiGo airline asked passengers to keep tabs on their flight status and leave for the airport early due to the low visibility on roads around the airport.

In addition to the hundreds of flights delayed Wednesday, at least 10 flights were diverted from Delhi altogether.

Delhi’s air quality started worsening at the beginning of November, when fireworks lit up the skies for the Diwali Hindu religious festival.

The city sees a major spike in air pollution every winter due to several factors, including the burning of farm waste in the adjoining states of Haryana and Punjab.

Last year, the air quality readings went off the charts, prompting authorities to shut down schools for weeks.

India’s capital New Delhi shuts all primary schools as air quality worsens (Al Jazeera)

Al Jazeera [11/14/2024 12:44 PM, Staff, 25768K, Neutral]
India’s capital New Delhi has ordered all primary schools to cease in-person classes until further notice and the country’s government has banned non-essential construction in the city and urged residents to avoid burning coal for heating, to combat worsening air quality that has disrupted flights and obscured the Taj Mahal.

“Due to rising pollution levels, all primary schools in Delhi will be shifting to online classes, until further directions,” New Delhi’s Chief Minister Atishi, who goes by one name, announced on social media platform X on Thursday.

The other measures, which include sprinkling water with dust suppressants on roads, as well as mechanised sweeping that would help settle dust, will come into effect from Friday morning.

Air quality in Northern India has deteriorated over the past week, with toxic smog obscuring India’s famed monument to love, the Taj Mahal, about 220km (136 miles) from New Delhi, as well as Sikhism’s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

On Thursday, New Delhi flights also faced delays, with tracking website Flightradar24 showing 88 percent of departures and 54 percent of arrivals were delayed as of Thursday afternoon due to smog.

On Wednesday, levels of PM2.5 pollutants – dangerous cancer-causing microparticles that enter the bloodstream through the lungs – were recorded more than 50 times above the World Health Organization’s recommended daily maximum.

Children also flocked to hospitals in the city, complaining of asthma and other respiratory diseases.

“There has been a sudden increase in children with allergies, cough and cold … and a rise in acute asthma attacks,” Sahab Ram, a paediatrician in Punjab’s Fazilka region, told national news agency ANI.

Officials have blamed the high pollution – combined with humidity, becalmed winds and a drop in temperature – for the smog that cut visibility to 300m (984 ft) at the city’s international airport, which diverted flights amid zero visibility on Wednesday.

Delhi’s minimum temperature fell to 16.1 degrees Celsius (61 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday from 17C (63F) the previous day, weather officials said.

The pollution in New Delhi is likely to stay in the “severe” category on Friday, India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences said, before improving to “very poor”, or an index score of 300 to 400.

Last month, India’s Supreme Court ruled that clean air was a fundamental human right and ordered both the central government and state-level authorities to take action.

Meanwhile, Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s eastern province of Punjab, was also rated the world’s most polluted city on Thursday, in IQAir’s rankings.

Authorities there have also battled hazardous air this month. Punjab has set up a “smog war room” to tackle severe pollution, officials said last week. The Pakistan government has also said it is looking into methods to induce artificial rainfall to combat the pollution.

Rebel attacks keep Indian-run Kashmir on the boil (Agence France-Presse)

Agence France-Presse [11/14/2024 10:34 PM, Parvaiz Bukhari, 88008K, Negative]
Ambushes, firefights and a market grenade blast: headline-grabbing attacks in Indian-run Kashmir are designed to challenge New Delhi’s bid to portray normality in the disputed territory, Indian security officials say.

Kashmir has been divided between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan since their partition at the chaotic end of British rule in 1947, and both countries claim the territory in full.

"The attacks are not merely about killing, but also to set a narrative to counter the Indian narrative -- that everything is fine," said the former head of India’s Northern Command forces, retired general Deependra Singh Hooda.

Half a million Indian troops are deployed in the far northern region, battling a 35-year insurgency in which tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels have been killed, including at least 120 this year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government cancelled the Muslim-majority region’s partial autonomy in 2019, a decision accompanied by mass arrests and a months-long communications blackout.

The territory of around 12 million people has since been ruled by a governor appointed by New Delhi -- overseeing the local government that voters elected in October in opposition to Modi.

New Delhi insists it helped bring "peace, development and prosperity" to the region.

But military experts say that small bands of rebels -- demanding either independence or Kashmir’s merger with Pakistan -- use attacks to contradict the claims.

Half a million Indian troops are deployed in Kashmir, where an ongoing insurgency has killed tens of thousands.

"The larger message being sent out is that the problem in Kashmir is alive," Hooda said.

India blames Pakistan for arming militants and helping them "infiltrate" across the militarised dividing line to launch attacks, an allegation Islamabad denies.

A "spurt in infiltration" this year by insurgents was "not possible without Pakistan’s army actively allowing it", Hooda charged.

Many clashes take place in forested mountains far from larger settlements.

But the huge military presence visible in sprawling camps and roadblocks -- roughly one in every 25 people in Kashmir is an Indian soldier -- serves as a constant reminder.

Many are frustrated by traffic jams caused by military orders that civilian cars stay at least 500 metres (1,640 feet) away from army vehicles.

Yet those who have long lived under the shadow of the grinding insurgency seemingly shrug off the threat.

When an attacker this month hurled a grenade at security forces in a busy market -- killing a woman and wounding 11 civilians -- shoppers returned within a couple of hours.

This month, thousands attended an army recruitment drive, even as soldiers battled gunmen in a nearby district.

One security official told AFP that Kashmir will remain ‘on low boil’ as long as it is divided between India and Pakistan.

Attacks appear dramatic, including a gun battle in downtown Srinagar in early November that police said killed a commander of the Pakistan-backed Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group.

Earlier this year, attacks in the Jammu area -- a Hindu-majority region -- prompted the army to supply thousands of militia forces, dubbed village defence guards, with rifles.

But the death toll of 120 civilians, soldiers and rebels killed this year is, so far, similar in intensity to 2023, when 130 people died, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, a New Delhi-based monitoring group.

"It will remain like this on low boil, as long as Kashmir is divided (between India and Pakistan)," a security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to journalists.

"We control it here; they (Pakistan) will activate it from there.".

The Indian army says around 720 rebels have been killed in the past five years.

Regional army commander MV Suchindra Kumar said in October he believed fewer than 130 remained in the fight.

Another security official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said those include "highly trained and well-armed" fighters who had crossed from Pakistan.

"They are causing some damage by surprise attacks," the official said. "But the situation is under control".

Hooda, drawing on his long experience as a general, predicts little change as long as violence serves the agenda of India’s rival Islamabad.

"I don’t see this coming down immediately," he said, referring to the number of attacks.

"Pakistan has always felt that ratcheting up attacks will bring the spotlight on Kashmir".

Clean energy could create millions of tons of waste in India. Some are working to avoid that (AP)

AP [11/15/2024 12:00 AM, Sibi Arasu, 456K, Neutral]
On the edges of a dense forest in southern India, six women in a small garage are busy stitching cloth bags, pants, hospital gowns and office uniforms with automated sewing machines.

About four years ago, power cuts constantly interrupted their work. Heavy rain disrupted transmission lines and air conditioners pumping in extreme heat exhausted the grid. But now a small black box in a corner of the garage, not much larger than an office printer, keeps their operations running. The battery pack, made from used electric vehicle batteries, keeps their sewing machines and lights on even when the main power is off.

“This battery is a godsend for us,” said H. Gauri, one of the women. “Before the battery came, we’d have to stitch manually when there was no electricity which is exhausting. That is not a concern anymore and we’re able to finish all our orders on time.”

While the group is successful, initiatives like it in India are still few and far between. As the country gets more electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines, all aimed at reducing the country’s dependency on planet-warming fossil fuels, energy experts say that India will need to find ways to repurpose the batteries, panels and blades at the end of their lifespans or risk creating millions of tons of waste. If the country comes up with a comprehensive strategy to recycle components, it would both reduce waste and lead to fewer imports of the critical minerals needed for clean power in the future.

Currently, many panels, batteries and other clean energy parts end up in landfills. But others are processed by unlicensed waste recyclers, and some newer businesses and organizations are coming up with ways to recycle the valuable components.

Old EV car batteries can power rural livelihoods

The six tailors in Kenchanahalli say their lives have completely changed since the battery smoothed over power cuts.

Gauri, 32, said the steady income from the tailoring work has helped build a new home for her and her three children. She said it has also brought her more independence.

“Earlier, my husband was not happy about me working long hours or going to nearby towns to get tailoring orders,” she said. “However, after seeing how much I was earning, he has taken a step back. It’s not only me, this job has changed everything for all the women in this room.”

The lithium-ion batteries can provide backup power for up to six hours. They were provided by battery refurbishing and energy storage company Nunam and set up at the campus of the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement, a nongovernmental organization that works to help poor and Indigenous communities in remote regions of Karnataka.

These relatively small electricity needs are perfect ways to reuse electric vehicle batteries, said Prithvi Raj Narendra, an engineer at Nunam. “The way EVs use these batteries is like asking it to run. Using it to power small machines and streetlights is like asking it to walk,” he said.

In the four years since the tailoring operation was set up, Nunam’s orders have exponentially increased. Their two dozen employees in Bengaluru’s electronic city neighborhood are busier than ever designing and packaging battery packs from used EV batteries from cars and three-wheelers.

Narendra said the company aims to produce one gigawatt-hour of power — enough to power one million homes for a year — by the end of this decade for homes and small businesses across India, especially those without consistent sources of electricity.

With a surge in solar, planning can minimize waste
India is the world’s most populous nation and among the biggest emitters of planet-warming gases. Like the rest of the world, a major part of transitioning away from dirty fossil fuels for electricity comes in the form of solar panels.

Solar panels typically last between 20 and 30 years. Some estimates say that 100 kilotons of solar power-related waste is already produced every year in India and this number could grow to 340 kilotons by 2030.

“The issue is not very large right now, but it will become so as the installed base of solar panels becomes larger,” said Adarsh Das, who’s worked in India’s solar power sector for the past 30 years.

The country has set an ambitious target of producing 500 gigawatts of clean power by the end of this decade and is also aiming to become a global hub for manufacturing clean power components like solar cells, panels and wind turbines.

The Indian government has included solar, wind and EV components in its electronic waste regulations, and has called for producers to recycle components, but there’s little clarity about how they should do that.

U.S.-based renewable energy company First Solar owns a solar manufacturing site in Chennai, India, and has already included solar panel recycling in their business model. In the future, new panels will be made from old recycled components.

Sujoy Ghosh, their managing director for India, said the government’s waste regulations show it’s thinking in the right direction, but the “devil is in the details.” Rules around how solar panels should be recycled, and how companies can profit from setting up recycling facilities, are needed, he said.

Anjali Taneja, a senior policy specialist at the Indian think-tank Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy, thinks recycling can definitely be profitable for Indian solar producers. But without a clear recycling plan, Taneja worries that the country “could become one of the largest waste generators.”

Creating a national effort to recycle raw materials

India currently imports over 95% of lithium-ion batteries as well as large amounts of nickel, cobalt and other rare earth minerals that are needed for clean power and EV batteries, government reports say. Experts estimate that nearly 90% of those materials can be recovered to make new solar power panels, batteries and wind turbines within India.

The ability to recycle critical minerals is “a huge opportunity for India,” said Akansha Tyagi of the New Delhi-based Council on Energy, Environment and Water. “Many strategies can be put in place to design products better, use them better over their lifetime, repair them before you recycle and eventually responsibly recycle.”

The next step, Tyagi said, is to create a comprehensive policy for creating a circular economy — an economic model that aims to maximize the use of anything that is manufactured and create as little waste as possible.

Industry stakeholders agree.

Deepali Sinha Khetriwal, who runs a coworking space for electronic waste recyclers just outside New Delhi, said there is tremendous potential for creating jobs in the clean energy sector if recycling is taken up more seriously.

“You need skilled and semi-skilled people,” she said. “The resource recovery industry is such a great job creator.”

Khetriwal added that her hope is to see more recyclers like her across the country, creating national momentum for clean energy recycling.

“While our setup is still small, what we’re trying to do can be replicated,” she said. “We’re excited about what the future holds if as a country we plan ahead.”

US returns looted antiquities worth $10 million to India (CNN)

CNN [11/15/2024 8:22 AM, Karina Tsui, 24.1M, Neutral]
The United States has returned more than 1,400 looted artifacts worth $10 million to India as part of an ongoing initiative to repatriate stolen art from countries across South and Southeast Asia, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office announced Wednesday.

The trafficked goods recovered include items that, until recently, were on view at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Among them is a sandstone sculpture of a celestial dancer that was smuggled from central India to London, before being illegally sold to one of the Met’s patrons and donated to the museum.

The repatriations resulted from “several ongoing investigations” into looting networks, including those operated by convicted art traffickers Nancy Wiener and Subhash Kapoor, an American antiquities dealer who was sentenced to 10 years in jail for running a multimillion-dollar looting network through his New York gallery, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said in press release.

Kapoor was sent to face charges in India’s Tamil Nadu state following his arrest in Germany in 2011. The DA’s office obtained an arrest warrant for him in 2012though he remains in custody in India, pending his extradition to the US.

Kapoor was sent to face charges in India’s Tamil Nadu state following his arrest in Germany in 2011. The DA’s office obtained an arrest warrant for him in 2012though he remains in custody in India, pending his extradition to the US.

“Today’s repatriation marks another victory in what has been a multiyear international investigation into antiquities trafficked by one of history’s most prolific offenders,” William Walker, the federal Homeland Security Investigation’s New York special agent in charge, said in a press statement.

The items were formally returned at a ceremony at the Indian consulate in New York Wednesday.

Since its creation over a decade ago, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit –– a task force of lawyers, investigators and art experts –– has recovered 5,800 antiquities valued at almost $460 million. The unit has also convicted 16 people of trafficking offenses and filed for the extradition of six others linked to stolen cultural property.

In July, the US and India signed an agreement to protect cultural property by preventing illegal trades and streamlining the process of returning stolen antiquities back to India.

India’s More Immediate Worry Is Tomatoes, Not Trump (Bloomberg – opinion)

Bloomberg [11/14/2024 4:00 PM, Andy Mukherjee, 27782K, Negative]
Donald Trump is not India’s No. 1 problem. At least not right now. His hawkish trade policy may well emerge as an outsize threat to supply chains and global growth. But a bigger, more immediate worry for the central bank in Mumbai is tomatoes.

Or, to be more specific, a 161% jump last month in tomato prices — due to late and heavy rainfall — from a year ago. With potatoes and onions also becoming dearer, food expenses are out of control. The average cost of a homecooked meal in October — a standard fare of rice, roti, dal, veggies, salad and yoghurt — was the steepest in 14 months, according to CRISIL, an affiliate of S&P Global Inc.

The chances of a December rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India were dimming even before the US election. But with inflation spiking above the upper end of the central bank’s tolerance range of 2%-6%, many analysts are ruling out monetary easing before the start of the next financial year in April. By which time, the next American president’s policies would have started to have an effect, particularly on the exchange rate.

Tomatoes now, and Trump later. Both may constrain the RBI’s room for maneuver — how soon it can come to the rescue of a slowing economy, and how much help it can provide. High cost of living and low income growth are hollowing out consumer demand, especially in the larger metropolises. But the dollar is spiking, and foreigners have pulled more than $13 billion from India’s expensive stock market so far this quarter. Lower Indian interest rates could aggravate the capital flight if a global trade war takes over from where domestic inflationary pressures ease off.

The US president-elect’s proposed import tariffs threaten to throw the world’s production networks into disarray. They are also expected to feed into American consumer prices and slow the pace of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

A more severe impact on Chinese exporters may bring some benefits to Indian rivals, though any gains in market share may be short-lived if Beijing allows the yuan to weaken significantly against the dollar. Besides, a tough-on-trade Trump won’t leave India unscathed. There’s plenty of reason to suspect that the incoming administration will push New Delhi hard on behalf of US technology firms. In 2019, Trump had cut some duty-free imports from India under a decades-old Generalized System of Preferences because of an alleged failure to provide “equitable and reasonable” access to its market.

That was just a light rap on the knuckles. This time around, the stakes are higher.

Elon Musk, whom Trump has anointed as the co-head of a new department of government efficiency, may have a direct interest in more than one such conflict around access. Musk’s Starlink Inc. is hopeful of offering satellite broadband services in India, for which it wants the government to set a fee. New Delhi seems amenable to the idea, but dominant local tycoons, Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal, are opposed. They’re demanding a competitive auction to ensure parity between satellite and terrestrial mobile spectrum. The lobbying is getting intense. Starlink’s ties to the US intelligence and military establishment make it a “wolf in sheep’s clothing,” a New Delhi-based think tank said this week.

And that may be just one area where powerful domestic players will want to protect their turf even as Trump puts pressure on New Delhi to open up the market. For years, Tesla Inc. and the Narendra Modi government have unsuccessfully courted one another over a proposed electric-vehicle factory. In March, India slashed its EV import duties, hoping to buttress Modi’s reelection campaign by getting the Tesla boss to visit. Yet, Musk was a no-show, and his India factory plan is all but dead.

Indian demand for battery-powered cars may be too insignificant at present to merit an all-out trade war. But that will change as the charging infrastructure falls into place. Still, Trump will need to be cautious to not press Modi too hard. Even China’s BYD Co. is keen to make EVs locally; it’s waiting for warmer relations between Beijing and New Delhi for its joint-venture proposal to be approved.

A multi-cornered contest in which US tech leaders are lobbying Washington for access, but some Indian enterprises are pushing New Delhi for a restricted market while others are pitching on behalf of their Chinese partners, can get messy. Instead of inadvertently bringing business interests in the rivals closer together, it’s probably best if Trump lets Modi sort out the slowdown in the domestic economy first.

Thanks to India’s soaring income and wealth inequality, there will be plenty of EV buyers in the years ahead. It’s the vast bottom of the pyramid struggling to afford a decent meal that needs urgent attention via a rekindling of broad-based growth in jobs and incomes. Let authorities deal with tomatoes first. Trump and his tariffs can wait.

NSB

Bangladesh recovers thousands of guns looted during revolution (The Independent)

The Independent [11/14/2024 6:01 AM, Alisha Rahaman Sarkar, 53826K, Negative]
Bangladesh’s army has recovered 6,000 guns that were stolen during the student-led bloody revolution in August that forced prime minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee the nation.

The army on Wednesday said it arrested 2,500 people for allegedly looting thousands of weapons during the deadly protests and in the aftermath of unrest.

Intekhab Haider Khan, the Colonel Staff of the Directorate of Military Operation, said 6,000 weapons were recovered along with 200,000 rounds of ammunition. The operation to recover illegally held firearms was still ongoing, he told reporters.

The Bangladesh army in September had recovered 3,700 weapons of different varieties during an amnesty to surrender guns.

The military was given magistracy powers on 17 September to address instability across the country in the days following the month-long unrest.

The interim government headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus said more than 1,000 people were killed in the violent agitation in capital Dhaka. The death toll included children, law enforcement agents and journalists.

Police in Bangladesh were accused of using lethal force to contain the protests before stepping back in the wake of the prime minister’s minister.

"More than 400 students and members of the general public have lost their sight," said Nurjahan Behun, the health adviser in the interim government.

Colonel Intekhab on Wednesday said the military has managed to control over 700 violent incidents, which included 141 instances in educational institutions, 86 in government offices, and 98 political conflicts. "In most cases, our timely measurers had helped prevent many unpleasant situations including losses of life and properties," he told reporters.

He said more than 700 drug dealers or people associated with drug trading have been arrested and large quantities of banned substances have been recovered.

The army is "highly conscious" of upholding human rights and preventing "extrajudicial killings was a top priority" under orders from the government, he added.

Bangladesh’s interim government last week said it would request Interpol to bring back the ousted prime minister from India to face trial for "crime against humanity".

"Those responsible for the indiscriminate killings during the mass uprising in July and August will be brought back from wherever they have taken refuge", law advisor Asif Nazrul said on Sunday.

Bangladesh: What’s behind the spike in journalist killings? (Deutsche Welle)

Deutsche Welle [11/14/2024 11:57 AM, Afrose Jahan, 16637K, Negative]
Mehedi Hasan, a Dhaka Times journalist, was killed on July 18 after being shot while covering a clash between law enforcement officials and anti-government protesters in theBangladeshicapital’s southern Jatra Bari area.

On the same day, Nadia Sharmeen, a reporter for Ekattor TV, was wounded by police gunfire.

Attacks on media professionals rose particularly in July amid massive and intense student-led anti-government demonstrations that led to the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Hundreds were killed in the unrest that began as a protest over government jobs and morphed into a large-scale revolt against the former prime minister’s increasingly autocratic administration. Hasina eventually fled to India.

Local media report that eight journalists have been killed in the South Asian country so far this year and hundreds wounded, the highest figure over the past decade.

Lack of safety gear and training

Reporter Nadia Sharmeen says the nationwide crackdown that led to her being wounded was the most brutal she had ever experienced.

"They were shooting people everywhere around," she told DW. "I survived luckily due to the safety gear I had on. But Mehedi was covering this violent protest without any safety gear. Maybe he would be alive today if he had gotten a bullet-proof vest and a helmet from his media house.".

Sharmeen said many media outlets in Bangladesh did not provide safety gear for journalists even if they were working in conflict situations.

Ibrahim Khalilullah, a journalist who has worked for various television stations for the past 10 years, shared a similar view.

"Reporters are often sent to high-risk areas without essential protective gear. Also, many journalists lack basic safety knowledge on how to protect themselves while reporting on such events," he said. "The lack of preparation poses a serious risk to their safety," he added.

Press freedom a major concern

Bangladesh currently ranks 165 out of 180 in the World Press Freedom Index, the country’s lowest ranking ever.

And press freedom hasn’t improved since the interim administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunuscame to power.

Many legal cases have been filed against journalists accused of aiding and abetting the Hasina government’s crackdown on anti-government demonstrators. Critics say the cases are not evidence-based and could set a bad precedent.

The caretaker government also recently revoked press accreditations for 167 journalists.

The targeting of journalists has raised significant concerns and drawn widespread criticism from rights groups.

The interim administration, however, has maintained that it is committed to ensuring media freedom.

Shafiqul Alam, the interim leader’s press secretary, told DW that the administration was carrying out investigations into those killed during the anti-Hasina unrest.

He stressed that media organizations must also reflect on their role in protecting journalists, especially when reporting in conflict settings.

Seeking justice remains an uphill battle

Meanwhile, Mehedi Hasan’s father Mosharrof Hossain said he was being forced to move from pillar to post to get justice. He accused the police of inaction.

"I want justice for my son. And police are not filing the case even after the court has ordered them to do so. I went to the police station at least 50 times, and they kept me going in a circle.".

Masud Kamal, a senior reporter, blamed the country’s ineffective justice system for creating a culture of impunity.

"Bangladesh’s justice system is weak due to heavy political influence. There are also other factors like legal costs, which many journalists and their family cannot afford," he pointed out. "Investigations aren’t impartial either; everything is politically influenced, and it’s getting worse.".

Kamal stressed that the situation was taking a heavy toll on journalists’ families.

"These families suffer as crimes against journalists go unpunished. Impunity has two sides: Wealthy perpetrators hire lawyers, are emboldened to threaten others and create a climate of fear," he said. "Journalists must battle the government, media owners, poverty, and threats to their own lives — all to ultimately fulfill their role as journalists.".

Van falls off mountain highway in Nepal, killing 8 and injuring 4 (AP)

AP [11/15/2024 2:06 AM, Staff, 456K, Negative]
A passenger van veered off a mountain road early Friday in western Nepal, killing eight people and injuring four others, the army said.

The van rolled about 200 meters (650 feet) below the road before dawn near the village of Shaileshikar, about 600 kilometers (375 miles) west of the capital, Kathmandu.

The van was returning to the village with people who had been to a festival in a nearby town.

The army said it used a helicopter to rescue the four injured people and flew them to a hospital for treatment.

It was not clear what caused the crash.

Nepal is covered with mountains where roads are narrow and poorly maintained, and autumn and winter weather conditions also make driving difficult and dangerous.

Sri Lanka’s Ex-Marxists Win Supermajority in Rebuke of Old Guard (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg [11/15/2024 3:38 AM, Anusha Ondaatjie and Asantha Sirimanne, 27782K, Neutral]
Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s coalition won a historic parliamentary supermajority in the country’s election, underscoring the depth of the support for the leftist leader who pledges to combat corruption and change the terms of an unpopular International Monetary Fund bailout.

His National People’s Power bloc got 159 parliament seats, more than two-thirds of the 225 total that allows it to amend the constitution, according to private broadcaster Adaderana on Friday. Rival Sajith Premadasa’s Samagi Jana Balawegaya party had 40 seats.

“Thank you to all who voted for a renaissance!” Dissanayake said on X.

Dissanayake, 55, called for the early poll after his victory in the island nation’s presidential election on Sept. 21, a rebuke of Sri Lanka’s political elite following a historic debt default in 2022. A $3 billion IMF bailout the next year came with tough austerity measures that Dissanayake’s party said increased the economic burden on the poor.

Top of the new president’s agenda is rewriting parts of the deal with the IMF. Dissanayake has said he’s committed to continuing the funding facility struck with the Washington-based lender but wants to amend unpopular austerity measures and reduce taxes.

Dissanayake’s coalition held just three of the 225 seats in the dissolved legislature. There have been no opinion polls on voters’ preferences, but political analysts expected the NPP to comfortably win a parliament majority and target a supermajority.

“Any party getting two-thirds majority is very dangerous,” said Bhavani Fonseka, senior researcher and lawyer at the Colombo-based Centre for Policy Alternatives. “As we have seen in the past, the executive president could move forward with reforms which are detrimental to democracy and in that a strong opposition is needed.”

Dissanayake, however, has said he would abolish Sri Lanka’s executive presidency and replace it with a system led by a prime minister more beholden to parliament. This requires a supermajority in parliament.

Sri Lanka’s main stock index, sovereign bonds and its currency, the rupee, have gained since Dissanayake’s presidential win in September, on investor expectation that the government will strike new terms with the IMF. His victory followed years of political turmoil in Sri Lanka, after a debt default and economic meltdown in 2022 led to riots in Colombo and the ouster of populist President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Rajapaksa’s nephew Namal, who earlier contested the presidency, congratulated Dissanayake and his coalition. His party, which stormed to a landslide win in 2020 on a campaign of strengthening security after the Easter bombing attacks, came away this time with just three seats.

“This marks a new path and a fresh approach chosen by the people,” Namal said on X.

The NPP started out as a violent Marxist movement in the 1970s and 1980s, but has since renounced violence and run on a broadly leftist political platform.

Turnout for the parliamentary elections was at the lowest in 14 years, with observers saying the opposition parties didn’t come up with a strong campaign and were mostly fragmented.

Party of Sri Lanka’s new Marxist-leaning president wins two-thirds majority in parliament (AP)

AP [11/15/2024 4:17 AM, Krishan Francis and Bharatha Mallawarachi, 456K, Neutral]
The party of Sri Lanka’s new Marxist-leaning President Anura Kumara Dissanayake won a two-thirds majority in parliament, according to official election results Friday, providing a strong mandate for his program for economic revival.

Dissanayake’s National People’s Power Party won 159 of the 225 seats, according to the Elections Commission.

The Samagi Jana Balawegaya, or United People’s Power Party, led by opposition leader Sajith Premadasa had 40 seats and was in second place.

The election comes at a decisive time for Sri Lankans, as the island nation is struggling to emerge from its worst economic crisis, having declared bankruptcy after defaulting on its external debt in 2022.

The size of the victory will enable Dissanayake to carry out sweeping reforms, including the enactment of a new constitution which he promised during the presidential campaign, without having to rely on other parties.

Dissanayake was elected president on Sept. 21 in a rejection of traditional political parties that have governed the island nation since its independence from British rule in 1948. He received just 42% of the votes, fueling questions over his party’s outlook in Thursday’s parliamentary elections. But the party received a large increase in support less than two months into his presidency.

In a major surprise and a big shift in the country’s electoral landscape, his party won the Jaffna district, the heartland of ethnic Tamils in the north, and many other minority strongholds.

The victory in Jaffna represents a great dent for traditional ethnic Tamil parties that have dominated the politics of the north since independence.

It is also a major shift in the attitude of Tamils, who have long been suspicious of majority ethnic Sinhalese leaders. Ethnic Tamil rebels fought an unsuccessful civil war in 1983-2009 to create a separate homeland, saying they were being marginalized by governments controlled by Sinhalese.

According to conservative U.N. estimates, more than 100,000 people were killed in the conflict.

Veeragathy Thanabalasingham, a Colombo-based political analyst, said northern voters chose the NPP because they could not find a local alternative to traditional Tamil political parties, with which they were disillusioned.

“The Tamil parties were divided and contested separately, and as a result the Tamil people’s representation is scattered,” he said.

Of the 225 seats in parliament, 196 were up for grabs under Sri Lanka’s proportional representative electoral system, which allocates seats in each district among the parties according to the proportion of the votes they get.

The remaining 29 seats — called the national list seats — are allocated to parties and independent groups according to the proportion of the total votes they receive countrywide.

The country is now in the middle of a bailout program with the International Monetary Fund, with debt restructuring with international creditors nearly complete.

Dissanayake said during the presidential campaign that he planned to propose significant changes to the targets set in the IMF deal, which his predecessor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, signed, saying it placed too much burden on the people. However, he has since changed his stance and says Sri Lanka will go along with the agreement.

Sri Lanka’s crisis was largely the result of economic mismanagement combined with fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, which along with 2019 militant attacks devastated its important tourism industry. The pandemic also disrupted the flow of remittances from Sri Lankans working abroad.

The government also slashed taxes in 2019, depleting the treasury just as the virus hit. Foreign exchange reserves plummeted, leaving Sri Lanka unable to pay for imports or defend its currency, the rupee.

Sri Lanka’s economic upheaval led to a political crisis that forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign in 2022. Parliament then elected Wickremesinghe to replace him.,

The economy was stabilized, inflation dropped, the rupee strengthened and foreign reserves increased under Wickremesinghe. Nonetheless, he lost the election as public dissatisfaction grew over the government’s effort to increase revenue by raising electricity bills and imposing heavy new income taxes on professionals and businesses as part of the government’s efforts to meet the IMF conditions.

Voters were also drawn by the NPP’s cry for change in the political culture and an end to corruption, because they perceived the parties that ruled Sri Lanka so far caused the economic collapse.

Dissanayake’s promise to punish members of previous governments accused of corruption and to recover allegedly stolen assets also raised much hope among the people.

Jeewantha Balasuriya, 42, a businessman from the town of Gampaha, said he hopes Dissanayake and his party will use their resounding victory to rebuild the country.

“People have given them a strong mandate. I am hopeful that the NPP will use this mandate to uplift the country from the present pathetic situation,” he said.

He expressed confidence that Dissanayake and his party would curb corruption and mismanagement and establish law and order, which he said were vital for resuscitating the economy.

Sri Lankan president’s coalition wins big majority in general election (Reuters)

Reuters [11/15/2024 4:33 AM, Uditha Jayasinghe and Sudipto Ganguly, 88008K, Negative]
Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s leftist coalition won a thumping victory in a snap general election, gaining power to push through his plans to fight poverty and graft in the island nation recovering from a financial meltdown.

The sweeping mandate, which included surprise backing from the north and east of the country which is home to the minority Tamil people, is an unprecedented vote for change and indicates that Sri Lanka is in sync on moving ahead, analysts said.

While the strong showing will strengthen political stability in the South Asian country, some uncertainty on policy direction remains due to Dissanayake’s promises to try and tweak terms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) rescue programme that bailed the country out of its economic crisis, they said.

The new government is also expected to face a talent challenge as the coalition has few leaders with governance and policy-making experience.

Dissanayake, a political outsider in a country dominated by family parties for decades, comfortably won the island’spresidential election in September.

But his coalition had just three seats in parliament, prompting him to dissolve it and seek a fresh mandate in Thursday’s snap election.

Sri Lanka typically backs the president’s party in general elections, especially if voting is held soon after a presidential vote.

“The president has a huge mandate now to carry through the reforms but also huge expectations from the people,” said Bhavani Fonseka, a researcher at Colombo think tank Centre for Policy Alternatives.

“People are looking beyond the issues of the past ... people want to see a direct impact on the cost of living,” she said.

STRONG MAJORITY, BIG CHALLENGES

Dissanayake’s Marxist-leaning National People’s Power (NPP) coalition won 159 seats in the 225-member parliament, the election commission said on Friday, a massive two-thirds majority and one of the biggest in the country’s history.

NPP secured almost 62% or almost 7 million votes, up from the 42% Dissanayake won in September, indicating that he had drawn more widespread support including from minorities.

The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party of the Rajapaksa family, whose cohort of brothers gave Sri Lanka two presidents during a dozen years in power and had 145 seats in the outgoing legislature, was virtually wiped out, winning just three seats.

“We see this as a critical turning point for Sri Lanka. We expect a mandate to form a strong parliament, and we are confident the people will give us this mandate,” Dissanayake said after casting his vote on Thursday.

“There is a change in Sri Lanka’s political culture that started in September, which must continue.”

TENTATIVE ECONOMIC RECOVERY

Celebrations were largely muted, with the exception of a few NPP loyalists who lit fireworks on the outskirts of the capital, Colombo.

The Samagi Jana Balawegaya party of opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, the main challenger to Dissanayake’s coalition, won 40 seats and the New Democratic Front, backed by previous President Ranil Wickremesinghe, won just five seats.

The president wields executive power but Dissanayake still required a parliamentary majority to appoint a fully-fledged cabinet and deliver on key promises to cut taxes, support local businesses, and fight poverty.

The two-thirds majority also gives Dissanayake the power to begin the process of abolishing the executive presidency, although analysts say that is not a pressing concern and is unlikely to be a priority.

While he was in opposition, Dissanayake argued against the massive powers of the executive presidency and its links to abuse of power.

A nation of 22 million, Sri Lanka was crushed by a 2022 economic crisis triggered by a severe shortage of foreign currency that pushed it into a sovereign default and caused its economy to shrink by 7.3% in 2022 and 2.3% last year.

Boosted by a $2.9 billion bailout programme from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the economy has begun a tentative recovery, but the high cost of living is still a critical issue for many, especially the poor.

Dissanayake also aims to tweak targets set by the IMF to rein in income tax and free up funds to invest in welfare for the millions hit hardest by the crisis.

But investors worry his desire to revisit the terms of the IMF bailout could delay future disbursements, making it harder for Sri Lanka to hit a key primary surplus target of 2.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2025 as set by the IMF.

On Friday, Sri Lanka’s international bonds nudged slightly higher with the 2026 maturity rising 0.3 cents to 62 cents in the dollar, Tradeweb data showed.

Many of the bonds are trading at their strongest level since late 2021, before the country tumbled into default a few months later.

“The country has given a clear mandate politically. The key question would be if this is at the cost of economic policy,” said Raynal Wickremeratne, co-head of research at Softlogic Stockbrokers in Colombo.

“I think with this majority they may try to negotiate a bit more on the (IMF) targets as well,” he said. “A continuation of the current reform programme on a broader extent would be positive for the country.”

Sri Lanka president’s party wins two-thirds of seats in parliament (Nikkei Asia)

Nikkei Asia [11/15/2024 3:24 AM, Marwaan Macan-Markar, 2.4M, Neutral]
Sri Lanka’s National People’s Power (NPP) party, led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, won Thursday’s parliamentary election in a landslide, paving the way for the new president to push his policies.

The NPP secured 159 seats in the 225-member legislature, or 70% of the total, according to the final result released Friday by the Election Commission of Sri Lanka, marking a seismic shift in voter sentiment for a party that held only three seats in the parliament before the election. Out of 225 seats, 196 are contested across the nation’s 22 districts under a proportional representation system, which allocates seats to parties based on the number of votes obtained in each district. The remaining 29 are distributed to parties based on the nationwide vote count.

Some commentators on Sri Lankan national TV described the outcome as a "political tsunami" during overnight broadcasts. The results exceeded even the optimistic expectations of the NPP’s leaders as they aimed to cross the 113-seat threshold to secure a simple majority to govern without a coalition.

Dissanayake and his party not only broke a coalition bloc that has controlled the Sri Lankan parliament since the mid-1990s but have made history: This is the first time a single party has won a two-thirds majority under Sri Lanka’s proportional representation system.

Trailing a poor second in the election was the Samagi Jana Balawegaya party, which had been the opposition in the previous parliament. It bagged 40 seats, echoing the loss of political fortunes the party already suffered at the September’s presidential elections, when its leader Sajith Premadasa, a seasoned politician and former cabinet minister, came second to Dissanayake. In the 2020 general elections, the SJB had won 54 seats.

The voters’ harshest judgment against a political establishment was leveled at the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party, the standard bearer of the ultra-nationalist and hawkish Rajapaksa family, which had produced two former presidents, Mahinda and Gotabaya, and a string of cabinet ministers in their over two decades of dominance. Rajapaksa dynasties were blamed for the island nation’s economic meltdown in 2022. The party scraped through with a mere two seats, a humiliation from the 145 seats it won in 2020.

The polls echoed similar wrath against former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who stepped in as the interim leader after a parliamentary vote in 2022 to help rebuild the bankrupt economy following Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation. The alliance he was part of, the New Democratic Front, won only five seats. It came on the heels of the veteran politician and six-time prime minister already tasting defeat by a distant third at the presidential polls.

Central Asia

8 Tajik Politicians, Public Figures Go On Trial For ‘Plotting To Seize Power’ (Radio Free Europe)

Radio Free Europe [11/14/2024 8:31 AM, Staff, 1251K, Negative]
Eight former top officials, politicians, and public figures in Tajikistan have gone on trial behind closed doors on charges of plotting to forcibly seize power, calling for mass disorder, and inciting hatred.

The trial, which began on November 14 in a pretrial detention center in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, includes former Foreign Minister Hamrohkhon Zarifi, former Foreign Ministry spokesman Abulfaiz Atoi, and former parliament speaker Akbarshoh Iskandarov.

The Supreme Court officials who are hearing the case have refused to comment to RFE/RL, while the classification of the materials by the Tajik Prosecutor-General’s Office means the exact details of the charges brought against the eight defendants are not known.

The Tajik government has brutally cracked down on dissent in recent years, jailing opposition politicians or forcing them into self-exile. Dozens of independent journalists, activists, and government critics have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms.

Senior politicians on trial in the case also include the ex-leader of the Democratic Party, Saidjafar Usmonzoda, Democratic Party of Tajikistan Deputy Chairman Ahmadshoh Komilzoda, and Social Democratic Party Deputy Chairman Shokirjon Hakimov.

Two former top officers of the State Committee for National Security, Nuramin Ghanizoda and Jamshed Boev, are also being tried in the case.

All of the defendants were arrested over the past year. It is unknown how seven of them pleaded. Associates of Hakimov, who is a lawyer, have said he has rejected the charges.

Relatives of the defendants were not allowed to attend the trial, while lawyers who arrived at the detention center refused to talk to journalists.

In 2015, Tajik authorities banned the main political opposition, the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, as well as Group 24 -- an organization that had been gaining popularity among younger Tajiks.

Both parties were branded as "terrorist" and the government of autocratic President Emomali Rahmon continues to target their members and supporters both at home and outside the country.

The founder of the Group 24, businessman Umarali Quvatov was assassinated in Turkey in 2015.

The Social Democratic Party has been officially registered in Tajikistan, but it has been under constant political and financial pressure. Controlled elections have made it impossible for the party to ever win a seat in parliament.

Rahmon, who has run Tajikistan for almost three decades, has been criticized by international human rights groups over his regime’s stifling of political pluralism, independent media, religious freedoms, and civil society.

Uzbek Man Held In South Korea Over ‘Attempted Murder’ Of Politician Close To President Mirziyoev’s Daughter (Radio Free Europe)

Radio Free Europe [11/14/2024 12:24 PM, Staff, 1251K, Negative]
South Korean authorities have detained Uzbek citizen Javlon Yunusov on suspicion of involvement in the attempted murder of Komil Allamjonov, a close associate of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev’s daughter, independent sources in South Korea and Uzbekistan told RFE/RL on November 14.

A source in Uzbekistan’s law enforcement called Yunusov’s detention "a turning point" in an ongoing investigation. A representative of the Uzbek Embassy in Seoul confirmed Yunusov’s detention but did not elaborate.

Interpol had issued a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and arrest Yunusov, 36, on behalf of Uzbekistan on a charge of attempted murder.

The Red Notice issued by Interpol is not an arrest warrant but allows a third country to detain a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action, according to Interpol.

The alleged crime took place on October 26 in the Tashkent region, according to the Uzbek Prosecutor-General’s Office. Authorities said that unknown individuals opened fire on a Range Rover. There were no injuries, the Prosecutor-General’s Office said.

Sources close to the investigation told RFE/RL at the time that the alleged attackers targeted Allamjonov, a prominent political figure in Uzbekistan with close ties to the presidential family.

Uzbek authorities have said little publicly about their investigation into what they have called an attempted assassination, and local media have been gagged from reporting any information not released through official channels.

The reports on the attack, initially thought to be a botched hit, have now spiraled into a tangled web of intrigue implicating powerful figures within Mirziyoev’s inner circle.

Uzbek authorities arrested two suspects in Uzbekistan following the attack.

Allamjonov, once a key adviser to Mirziyoev and mentor to his daughter, Saida Mirziyoeva, recently resigned from his post in the presidential administration. His departure, though publicly framed as a move to the private sector, was widely seen as a prelude to a growing rift within the ruling family.

Mirziyoeva, 40, is regularly mentioned in conversations about her father’s long-term succession planning.

Authorities have remained tight-lipped, with no official explanation or details about the investigation released to the public.

Many in Uzbekistan suggest that the silence points to a deeper power struggle within Uzbekistan’s elite, one that may ultimately involve the highest levels of government.

War for citizenship: Why Uzbeks fight for Russia (EurasiaNet)

EurasiaNet [11/14/2024 4:14 PM, Dmitri Belyayev, 57.6K, Neutral]
North Koreans may be the highest-profile mercenaries fighting for the Kremlin in the Russia-Ukraine war, but an investigation carried out by Eurasianet’s content partner Mediazona Central Asia shows that dozens of Uzbeks are also fighting and dying for Russia. While many Uzbeks who enlist in the Russian army do it for the money, the possibility of obtaining a Russian passport is another motivating factor.

In contrast to North Korea’s leadership, Uzbek authorities are actively discouraging Uzbek nationals from joining not just the Russian military, but all foreign armies. For example, on October 14, the Uzbek Consulate in the Tatarstan capital Kazan warned citizens against participating in military actions abroad. Such outreach efforts reportedly have vexed Russian officials, who are eager to fill their army’s ranks with men wherever they can find them.

In spite of official discouragement, Uzbeks, along with citizens of other Central Asian countries, are still fighting on the Russian-Ukrainian front. According to a Ukrainian website, titled Casualties, at least 20 Uzbek citizens fighting for Russia have been confirmed killed in action. Most of the dead were criminal convicts who took a shot at freedom by joining private military companies, such as Wagner Group. The BBC’s Russian service has reported the deaths of at least 34 Uzbeks in the war.

These are just estimates, however. No one has a complete picture, or official statistics.

Uzbek authorities do not officially disclose data on the number of citizens killed, or on the number of those who participate in the hostilities in Ukraine. But local news reports concerning the criminal prosecution in Uzbekistan of citizens charged with engaging in mercenary activity shed some light on the situation.

Over the past year, at least six Uzbeks citizens have been convicted in Uzbekistan for participating, or attempting to participate, in the Russia-Ukraine war. Those convicted range in age from 23 to 56. Under Uzbek law, the maximum penalty for mercenary activity is 10 years in prison. So far, none of those convicted this year has received a term of more than five years. All of this year’s convicts fought for Russia.

One individual convicted of mercenary activity was only identified as a 48-year-old former “Wagnerite” from Tashkent, tried in court under the name B.Z. In August 2024, the court sentenced him to four years of restricted freedom, prohibiting him from leaving his home at night, or leaving the country. Despite his active participation in fighting, for which he received a medal “For the Liberation of Artemovsk,” B.Z. received a relatively lenient sentence. The court took into account mitigating factors, including the fact that he is raising minor children and helping his wife with a disability. In addition, B.Z. fully admitted his guilt.

According to the case materials, the convicted man enlisted out of a desire to improve his living conditions. In Tashkent, he lived in a two-room apartment with his wife, mother, younger sister and three children. Because of this, B.Z. and his wife had to sleep in the kitchen.

In 2022, the man went to work as a baker in Russia. There, after reading an advertisement for a PMC, he signed a contract, tempted by a salary of 240,000 rubles and other benefits. In May 2023, B.Z. joined the service, but after the Wagner Group rebellion in June 2023, followed by the death of its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, his contract was terminated. The man received 467,000 rubles and was offered the chance to obtain a Russian passport if he agreed to serve in Africa. However, B.Z. refused and returned to his homeland, where he was detained.

Another individual convicted for mercenary activity is identified as 34-year-old Golib Aliyev, according to the Kun.uz news outlet. In 2016, Aliyev, who lived in Uzbekistan’s Namangan region, went to work in Russia, where he accidentally killed a citizen of Tajikistan during a fight. A Russian court sentenced him to 15 years in prison for manslaughter. In September 2022, Prigozhin visited the prison colony in the Tambov region where he was serving his sentence.

“He promised that those who signed a contract and returned alive would be paid 175,000 rubles a month (1.2 million rubles in total), and their criminal records would be expunged, and they would be granted Russian citizenship. About 700-800 prisoners agreed, and I decided to join to avoid prison,” Aliyev said during his trial in Uzbekistan.

In January 2023, Aliyev was wounded in the shoulder while climbing out of a trench in search of food. “I woke up in the hospital, where I lay for about 50 days and left on February 17, 2023. For this, I was paid 600,000 rubles,” Aliyev recalled. In March 2023, his contract with the Wagner Group expired and Aliyev was sent to Rostov, where he received a medal for courage under fire. At the end of the summer, he was also granted Russian citizenship.

That December, Aliyev returned to Uzbekistan. There, a criminal case was opened against him and he was sentenced to five years in prison. At the trial, Aliyev claimed that he agreed to fight only out of a desire to quickly return to his homeland.

A similar story happened to 26-year-old Shavkat Yuldashev from Akhangaran. In 2019, he went to Russia to earn money, only to end up with a criminal conviction for drug trafficking. Having signed a contract with a private military contractor in October 2022, he spent six months at war, earning almost 1 million rubles and a medal. In August 2023, after returning to Uzbekistan, he was sentenced to correctional labor and withholding of 20 percent of his earnings for the benefit of the state. Yuldashev claims that he did not participate in the fighting but was attached to a construction battalion in the Luhansk region.

Since the terrorist attack at Moscow’s CrocusCity Hall music venue, Russia has adopted a dual approach towards Central Asian citizens. The government is acting to tighten rules covering Central Asian labor migrants. However, when it comes to the participation of Central Asian citizens in the war effort, the government adopts a very different stance.

Starting in mid-2023, according to Radio Azzatyk, Russian authorities started using increasingly sophisticated methods of “recruitment.”

“Wherever you go, they start agitating for you to go to war. By law, this is mercenary [activity]. In the homeland [of a migrant], they can be imprisoned for this,” a migrant from Tajikistan living in Moscow told reporters.

In October 2024, the mother of a young Uzbek convicted in Russia told reporters that in the colony her son was forced to enlist while facing threats and psychological pressure. The fact that Russia is purposefully recruiting migrants to be sent to fight in Ukraine was reported by Bloomberg in the summer of 2024. As journalists noted, in this way the authorities hope to avoid an unpopular move order a general mobilization, the prospect of which has already led to a massive outflow of the population.

During the summer, the chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin, said that the Russian authorities identified 30,000 migrants who recently became citizens of Russia, but who did not register for military service. The official boasted that 10,000 of them had already been pressed into service and sent to the war to dig trenches and engage in rear-area work.

How many of them are Uzbeks and how many of them will be convicted if they return to t

Twitter

Afghanistan

Suhail Shaheen
@suhailshaheen1
[11/14/2024 3:23 PM, 737.3K followers, 11 retweets, 94 likes]
Today, I met Ms Rossella Miccio, President of EMERGENCY and her team in Doha and discussed with her a number of topics. EMERGENCY is in the health sector in Afghanistan now for a few decades. Their work is laudable and felt in the country.

Habib Khan
@HabibKhanT
[11/14/2024 11:55 AM, 244.6K followers, 111 retweets, 432 likes]
Young Afghans must reclaim their pre-Islamic identity. Afghanistan existed long before the Arab Muslim invasion, as the heart of civilizations that nurtured Buddhism, Hinduism, and Zoroastrianism. Islamists have deliberately severed our connection to this glorious past.

Habib Khan
@HabibKhanT
[11/14/2024 9:34 AM, 244.6K followers, 272 retweets, 564 likes]
Habiba Sarabi, Afghanistan’s first female governor, reports the Taliban are arresting and torturing Afghan policewomen, mostly from the Hazara community. The Hazaras have faced historic discrimination due to their ethnicity and faith.

Shaharzad Akbar
@ShaharzadAkbar
[11/15/2024 3:45 AM, 174.4K followers, 4 retweets, 4 likes]
Listen to https://apacikradyo.com.tr as the amazing @aysealtinay speaks about our campaign of solidarity with women of Afghanistan. @FemenaNet @rawadari_org #Power2AfghanWomen https://apacikradyo.com.tr/

Pakistan

Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan
@ForeignOfficePk
[11/14/2024 10:54 AM, 480K followers, 8 retweets, 13 likes]
The Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation on Afghanistan, Ambassador Zamir Kabulov met with the Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch and Additional Secretary (Afghanistan and West Asia) Ahmad Naseem Warraich in Islamabad. The two sides exchanged views on relations with Afghanistan and called for enhanced coordination among regional countries for a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan.

Imran Khan
@ImranKhanPTI
[11/15/2024 2:22 AM, 20.9M followers, 4K retweets, 7.7K likes]
A special message for students and the youth from former Prime Minister Imran Khan (November 14, 2024)

Thousands of our young people have to leave the country and go abroad to find employment. But how many of our youth can go abroad? Not everyone can get a visa nor does everyone have the resources to do so. There is no democracy in our country anymore. There is no rule of law. The judiciary has been taken over. If you want your rights, a bright future, and genuine freedom, you have no choice but to stand up against this bogus system. All young people, especially students should come out for their rights with us on November 24 because the future of the youth in Pakistan is now in grave danger.

My instructions for the young leaders of Insaf Students Federation and Insaf Youth Wing are to work on growing membership in colleges and universities in their respective regions, and to mobilize students and our youth for a movement for the genuine freedom of Pakistanis.

Hamid Mir
@HamidMirPAK
[11/14/2024 11:15 PM, 8.5M followers, 212 retweets, 613 likes]
Internet was banned in Pakistan 10 months ago in the name of national interest. Now we are told that this ban is very damaging for the economic interests of Pakistan. https://tribune.com.pk/story/2509738/internet-curbs-may-cost-pakistan-dearly

India

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[11/14/2024 10:58 AM, 103.6M followers, 3.6K retweets, 23K likes]
Gratitude to the people of Mumbai for the affection. NDA’s focus remains development and good governance. We will continue working to improve ‘Ease of Living.’ Here are some glimpses from today’s rally…

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[11/14/2024 9:43 AM, 103.6M followers, 2.7K retweets, 12K likes]
Delighted to be among the dynamic people of Mumbai! The city is significantly powering the nation’s growth. A vote for the NDA will add momentum to the development journey.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[11/14/2024 7:39 AM, 103.6M followers, 5.6K retweets, 44K likes]
In Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, I met Mahant Subhadra Aatya. She has been associated with the Mahanubhav Panth. Her work in education and empowering the girl child is very inspiring.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[11/14/2024 7:38 PM, 103.6M followers, 2.2K retweets, 12K likes]
Param Pujya Babhulgaonkar Maharaj is widely respected for his noble thoughts and writing. He has authored several books and also been conferred with various awards for that. Met him at Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar earlier today.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[11/14/2024 7:36 PM, 103.6M followers, 2.6K retweets, 19K likes]
It was wonderful to meet Upadhyay Shri Rishi Pravin Ji. He is widely respected for his study of Jain texts and culture. He has travelled extensively across India to promote harmony and brotherhood.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[11/14/2024 7:35 PM, 103.6M followers, 3.9K retweets, 28K likes]
Met Mahamandaleshwar Swami Shantigiri Maharaj in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar. He has been at the forefront of numerous community service efforts and has been working to empower the poor and downtrodden.

President of India
@rashtrapatibhvn
[11/15/2024 1:49 AM, 26M followers, 89 retweets, 382 likes]
President Droupadi Murmu pays tribute to Bhagwan Birsa Munda and touches upon certain aspects of the life and progress of the tribal communities in an article, on the occasion of Bhagwan Birsa’s birth anniversary celebrated as Janjatiya Gaurav Divas.
Hindi: https://presidentofindia.gov.in/hi/bhagwan-birsa-munda-150-celebrating-spirit-janjatiya-gaurav
English: https://presidentofindia.gov.in/bhagwan-birsa-munda-150-celebrating-spirit-janjatiya-gaurav

NSB

Tarique Rahman
@trahmanbnp
[11/14/2024 9:45 AM, 68.2K followers, 141 retweets, 939 likes]
When I personally speak of reform, I envision transformative change that enhances people’s lives – not mere revisions to a few constitutional paragraphs. ‘Reform’ for me means ensuring livelihood, socio-economic advancements, and financial security for every family. ‘Reform’ must address unemployment by creating jobs for all and ensure the dignity, freedom, and empowerment of women and minorities.

‘Reform’ should guarantee the safety and welfare of all citizens. It must provide our youth with modern education and moral values. It has to deliver the healthcare system that people deserve. It must stabilize the market and control prices of essential goods and services. ‘Reform’ needs to establish fair wages for farmers, labourers, and people from every working segment of Bangladesh. The people of Bangladesh deserve these transformations in their lives and for the future of their children.

Jon Danilowicz
@JonFDanilowicz
[11/14/2024 2:13 PM, 9.4K followers, 25 retweets, 148 likes]
I would love to sit in on an @albd1971 strategy session and listen to Hasina’s minions explain how Donald Trump is the key to her returning to power. These are likely the same advisers who told her to call protesters “razakers” and brag about how many bullets they had.

Jon Danilowicz
@JonFDanilowicz
[11/14/2024 2:07 PM, 9.4K followers, 3 retweets, 47 likes]
Looking forward to reading and reflecting on this new @CrisisGroup report on #Bangladesh. It is important that the world keep track of developments there and the 100 day mark is a good time to take stock of what has been achieved and what needs to be done.

The President’s Office, Maldives
@presidencymv
[11/14/2024 9:53 AM, 110.8K followers, 112 retweets, 118 likes]
First Lady Madam Sajidha Mohamed concludes visit to Dhiggaru Island of Meemu Atoll. The First Lady officially unveiled the Non-Communicable Disease Clinic on the island and attended the official function to mark the World Diabetes Day 2024.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake
@anuradisanayake
[11/14/2024 5:33 AM, 135.1K followers, 35 retweets, 601 likes]
Voted this morning at the Saikoji Preschool polling centre, Abeysingharama Temple in Panchikawatta, for the 2024 General Election. Proud to be part of the democratic process as we elect representatives for a clean parliament.

M U M Ali Sabry
@alisabrypc
[11/15/2024 2:37 AM, 7.6K followers, 1 retweet, 20 likes]
Sri Lankan Diaspora Needs to See This Ground Reality
The recent electoral outcome in Sri Lanka has delivered a powerful and unifying message from the people a call for solidarity, mutual understanding, and reconciliation. Across the island, from North to South and East to West, the electorate has spoken with one voice, expressing a shared aspiration to move beyond the divisions of the past and embrace a future of collective progress and harmony.

This moment is an opportunity for all Sri Lankans, including those in the diaspora, to reflect deeply on the new realities and sentiments that define the nation today. Unfortunately, sections of the diaspora, often removed from the ground realities in Sri Lanka, continue to polarize communities along lines of race, religion, and ethnicity. The pursuit of a separatist agenda rooted in outdated and divisive narratives stands in stark contrast to the aspirations of the people living in Sri Lanka.

Many within these circles have never set foot in Sri Lanka, and others have not returned since 2009. This distance, both physical and emotional, has left them out of touch with the remarkable transformation within the country. It is essential for them to pause, listen, and understand the hopes and dreams of the younger generations and the people on the ground who are striving for unity and reconciliation. Supporting this transition is not just a moral imperative; it is a duty to ensure that the wounds of the past are not perpetuated into the future.

Sri Lanka cannot remain an eternal prisoner of its history. While the past must be remembered, it cannot define the nation’s destiny. The electorate’s clear mandate reflects a collective desire to transcend historical grievances, reject divisive agendas, and build a nation where all communities coexist in harmony.

To the members of the diaspora: this is a pivotal moment to align with the people of Sri Lanka. Support the efforts for reconciliation, economic development, and national unity. Recognize that the dreams of the new generation are not bound by the confines of the past, but are directed toward a brighter and more inclusive future.

The message from Sri Lanka’s electorate is unmistakable, unity over division, progress over stagnation, and hope over despair. Let us all work together to honor this mandate and ensure that Sri Lanka moves forward, united and resolute.

M U M Ali Sabry
@alisabrypc
[11/14/2024 9:02 PM, 7.6K followers, 5 retweets, 83 likes]
“With great power comes great responsibility.” The results of the elections have given Sri Lanka a historic and unparalleled opportunity to move forward as one nation, united under one flag. This is a defining moment to rise above the divisions that have held us back for decades—be it racism, separatism, or other forces of disunity—and to chart a path toward lasting harmony and progress.

Let us not let this moment slip away with rhetoric or rabble-rousing that deepens divides. Instead, let us embrace this opportunity with hope, courage, and a collective resolve to build a Sri Lanka where every citizen—regardless of ethnicity, race, or religion—can prosper and live with dignity.

The challenges are great, but so is our potential. Together, as a united people, we can overcome the shadows of the past and shape a brighter, more inclusive future.

May the new government and President Anura Kumara Dissanayake draw upon the courage, wisdom, and foresight required to lead us toward true reconciliation, peace, and progress. Let this be the moment when Sri Lanka turns the page and fulfills its promise as a nation united in purpose, enriched by its diversity, and inspired by its shared vision. Sri Lanka Can - Sri Lanka should

Karu Jayasuriya
@KaruOnline
[11/15/2024 3:22 AM, 53.7K followers, 10 likes]
On behalf of the National Movement for Social Justice, we salute the Election Commission, the governement, and all parties dedicated themselves to make this election the most free and peaceful election in Sri Lanka’s history. This is a true milestone for democracy.

Harsha de Silva
@HarshadeSilvaMP
[11/14/2024 4:14 AM, 359.7K followers, 4 retweets, 230 likes]
We performed our civic duty at our local booth early this morning. Hope you did yours… if not yet, you still have till 4pm. Your vote counts immaterial of who you vote for! #SriLankaElections

Central Asia

UNODC Central Asia
@UNODC_ROCA
[11/14/2024 8:23 AM, 2.5K followers, 2 retweets, 5 likes]
Happening now: UNODC’s Training on Dynamic Security at Kostanay Academy! KZ Officers are gaining skills to address radicalization to violence in prisons and support vulnerable groups, advancing Academy’s role as a regional knowledge hub in #DynamicSecurity

UNODC Central Asia
@UNODC_ROCA
[11/14/2024 6:25 AM, 2.5K followers, 1 retweet, 3 likes]
Officers of internal affairs, prosecutors and judges from Tashkent are trained in the investigation, prosecution, and adjudication of human trafficking cases during a workshop taking place with the support of @StateINL.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service
@president_uz
[11/14/2024 1:39 PM, 204.8K followers, 3 retweets, 16 likes]
Public health protection is an ongoing priority in our country. In this regard, President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev reviewed proposals on early detection and effective treatment of oncologic, hematologic, cardiologic and endocrinologic diseases, including comprehensive donor support.

Bakhtiyor Saidov
@FM_Saidov
[11/15/2024 3:11 AM, 12.6K followers, 2 retweets, 5 likes]
Welcomed Deputy Foreign Minister of #Turkmenistan H.E. Ahmet Gurbanov today @UzbekMFA. Emphasized that the Leaders of UZ and TM have established a solid foundation for continuing the positive momentum in our bilateral and multilateral relations. We discussed enhancing cooperation and strengthening regional ties between our states, as well as the schedule of upcoming events.

{End of Report}

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