SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS
Prepared for the U.S. Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
TO: | SCA & Staff |
DATE: | Friday, November 8, 2024 6:30 AM ET |
Afghanistan
Taliban leaders in Afghanistan host rare official talks with India (VOA)
VOA [11/7/2024 3:05 PM, Ayaz Gul, 4566K, Neutral]
Afghanistan’s Taliban government has held talks with India on improving bilateral ties and seeking increased humanitarian assistance for the impoverished country, officials reported Thursday.
Jitender Pal Singh, the Indian foreign ministry’s point-person for Afghanistan, led his delegation’s meetings with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and a rare interaction with Defense Minister Mohammad Yaqoob, among others, during the November 4-5 visit to Kabul.
"Yes, this was the first meeting with" Yaqoob, Indian media quoted Randhir Jaiswal, the foreign ministry spokesperson, as telling a weekly news conference in New Delhi on Thursday.
Jaiswal stated that "humanitarian assistance from India was the centerpiece of the meetings of JP Singh with Afghan officials." He added that the Indian delegation also met with representatives of the United Nations agencies in Kabul.
The spokesperson discussed the visit a day after Yaqoob’s office publicly shared details of his meeting with the visiting Indian delegation. It read that "both sides declared their common desire to enlarge the bilateral relations … and expressed their interest in further reinforcing the interactions between Afghanistan and India.".
Both sides reported that the discussions in Kabul also focused on how the Afghan business community could access the India-operated Chabahar port in Iran, which borders landlocked Afghanistan, to increase bilateral trade.
On Thursday, Muttaqi’s office released details of his talks with Singh, saying the Taliban chief diplomat emphasized the need to improve bilateral political and economic relations and sought better visa facilitation for Afghan businessmen to help boost trade ties with India.
The Taliban statement quoted Singh as describing New Delhi’s relations with Kabul as historic and "important for his country." He promised to enhance Indian visa facilities for Afghans, it added.
The de facto Afghan leaders swept back to power in August 2021, when the United States and NATO troops left the country after almost two decades of war with the then-insurgent Taliban.
The Taliban takeover prompted New Delhi and Western countries to close their embassies in Kabul and mostly moved their diplomatic missions to Qatar.
No country has formally recognized the Taliban as the legitimate ruler of Afghanistan, but several neighboring and regional countries, including China, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, and Qatar, have retained their embassies. India recently reopened its diplomatic mission in Kabul, manned by low-level diplomats.
The International community has refused to recognize the Taliban regime over human rights violations, particularly its restrictions on Afghan women’s access to work and education.
India’s engagement with the de facto authorities in Afghanistan is expected to raise apprehensions in neighboring Pakistan, as noted by analysts.
Kabul’s ties with Islamabad lately have been strained over allegations that the Taliban harbor and support fugitive anti-Pakistan militants responsible for deadly "terrorist" attacks against Pakistani civilians and security forces.
The Pakistani military reported a fresh militant attack Thursday in a district on the Afghan border, saying the ensuing clashes killed four soldiers and five assailants.
Taliban officials have denied Islamabad’s allegations, stating that no foreign militants are present in Afghanistan, and no one is allowed to use their territory to threaten neighboring countries.
Pakistan officially recognized the first Taliban government in Kabul in the 1990s. It allegedly harbored and supported Taliban leaders, who directed years of insurgent attacks against U.S.-led international forces in Afghanistan after being dislodged from power in late 2001. India Holds First Talks With Taliban Defense Chief to Boost Ties (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [11/7/2024 6:55 AM, Eltaf Najafizada and Sudhi Ranjan Sen, 27782K, Negative]
India held its first official meeting with Taliban government’s defense minister in Afghanistan, after the group seized power three years ago amid a chaotic withdrawal of the US forces.The Indian delegation headed by senior diplomat J.P. Singh held talks with Defense Minister Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, the ministry said in a post on X. They discussed ways to expand relations and boost humanitarian aid to the country, according to the post. It’s India’s first official meeting with Mujahid, who is considered a key decision maker in the highly conservative Islamic establishment. The discussions included using Iran’s Chabahar port to increase bilateral trade with Afghanistan, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters in New Delhi.Mujahid asked the visiting delegation to fully restore India’s consular services in Kabul and grant visas for Afghans, Taliban government’s defense ministry spokesperson Enayatullah Khwarizmi said in a text message.India shut its embassy in Kabul in August 2021 and has repeatedly refused accepting a Taliban ambassador even though the latter has taken de facto control of its diplomatic mission in New Delhi.The meeting indicates India’s intention to build ties with the Taliban administration that received military and logistical support from Pakistan during the war against the US forces. Relations with its neighbor have since eroded after claims that the Taliban gave refuge to anti-Pakistan militant groups.While a handful of countries, including China, Pakistan and Russia, have accepted Taliban diplomats, they don’t formally recognize the government, which has been condemned internationally for human rights violations. China was the first nation to grant diplomatic credentials to the Taliban last year. Pakistan
Pakistan army says four soldiers killed in firefight with militants (Reuters)
Reuters [11/7/2024 11:16 AM, Staff, 37270K, Negative]
The Pakistan army said on Thursday that four of its soldiers were killed in a firefight with militants near the northwestern border with Afghanistan.
Five Islamist militants were also killed, it said.
The fire exchange took place in tribal region of South Waziristan, which sits next to the Afghan border - a region that has long been a safe haven for the militants who operate on both sides of the border.
Islamabad says the militants use the Afghan soil to train and plan attacks in Pakistan, a charge Kabul denies, saying the militancy has been a home grown problem for the South Asian nation.
An umbrella group of the militants called Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan have been attacking Pakistan and its forces for years in a bid to overthrow the government and replace it with their harsh Islamic system.
It has accelerated attacks since last year after it revoked a ceasefire with the government, accusing it of violating the truce. Four soldiers, two schoolchildren killed in attacks in northwest Pakistan (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [11/7/2024 2:12 PM, Staff, 25768K, Negative]
A roadside bomb exploded near a vehicle carrying security forces in northwestern Pakistan, killing four officers and wounding five others, officials said.The roadside bombing happened in South Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, local police officer Dilawar Khan said on Thursday.No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) armed group, also known as Pakistan Taliban, has stepped up its assaults in the region since its ally, the Afghan Taliban, seized power in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021.Pakistan’s military in a statement on Thursday confirmed the “martyrdom” of four officers, but said security forces also responded to the attack and killed five “Khwarij”, a term used by the military for the Pakistan Taliban.Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed “grief and sorrow” over the killing of the soldiers and said, “Our war against terrorists will continue until the complete elimination of terrorism from the country.”Also on Thursday, a mortar fired by armed fighters landed near a road in the Tirah valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing two schoolchildren who were going to school on foot, police said.For years, Pakistan Taliban fighters have been attacking the country and its forces in a bid to overthrow the government and replace it with its interpretation of a strict Islamic system. Attacks increased since last year after it revoked a ceasefire with the government after it accused them of violating a truce.Islamabad has also accused Kabul’s rulers of failing to root out rebels from staging attacks on Pakistan from over the border.Last month, 10 Pakistani police officers were killed in an attack on a security checkpoint. The Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.Pakistan saw 785 armed attacks during the first 10 months of 2024, resulting in 951 deaths and 966 injuries, reflecting a persistently high level of violence across the country, according to a report by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank.Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong in Islamabad on Thursday to brief him about the investigation into an attack on Tuesday where a guard shot and wounded two Chinese nationals at a textile mill in Karachi, allegedly over a private dispute.China has frequently demanded better security for its nationals who are in Pakistan to work for Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative. An unknown number of Chinese people are also working at factories in the country. Pakistan: 4 troops killed in clash with militants, army says (Deutsche Welle)
Deutsche Welle [11/7/2024 3:32 PM, Staff, 16637K, Negative]
Four Pakistani soldiers and five militants were killed in an exchange of fire near the northwestern border with Afghanistan, the military said in a statement on Thursday.
The clash occurred in the tribal region of South Waziristan, an area known for being a safe haven for militants.
"During the intense fire exchange, four brave sons of soil... having fought gallantly, embraced Shahadat (martyrdom)," the military statement said, before confirming the deaths of five militants.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office released a statement, expressing "grief and sorrow" over the deaths of the soldiers.
"Our war against terrorists will continue until the complete elimination of terrorism from the country," the prime minister’s statement said.
Uptick in militant attacks
The clash near the Afghan border comes after ten Pakistani police officers were killed in an attack last month on a security checkpoint. The attack was claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the country’s home-grown Taliban group.
Pakistan has been battling a resurgent militancy in its western regions since 2021 when the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan.
Islamabad accuses the Taliban of failing to root out the militants.
The TTP has been attacking Pakistan and its forces for years in a bid to overthrow the government. The group has accelerated attacks since last year after it withdrew from a cease-fire with the government, accusing Islamabad of violating the truce. Record Air Pollution Hospitalizes Hundreds in Pakistani City (New York Times)
New York Times [11/7/2024 4:14 PM, Yan Zhurang and Zia ur-Rehman, 831K, Negative]
Impounding polluting vehicles. Tearing down kilns. Banning rickshaws. Closing some barbecue restaurants.
These are some of the measures officials in Pakistan’s largest province, Punjab, have put in place as record-breaking air pollution chokes the region, hospitalizing hundreds and forcing students and workers to stay home.
Lahore, the capital of Punjab and Pakistan’s second-largest city, on Sunday had its worst air quality ever recorded, prompting the government to shut all primary schools this week. In the days since, the city has been cloaked in toxic, eye-irritating smog. On Thursday, Lahore had the worst air quality of any city in the world, according to IQAir, a Swiss air quality monitoring company.“The air feels thick, and it’s exhausting just to breathe,” Safdar Masih, 42, a gardener in Lahore, said on Thursday. Even with windows and doors shut, the smog had seeped into homes, he said.
On Wednesday, the authorities announced new public health measures, expanding the school closures to include all secondary schools until Nov. 17, and advising residents to wear masks in public spaces. The directives will affect more than 70 million people in the province. In Lahore, home to 13 million people, the authorities have ordered half of all workers to stay at home.“This is a critical situation,” Marriyum Aurangzeb, a senior minister in Punjab Province, said at a news conference on Wednesday. She warned that the poor air quality could linger for another 10 days.
Lahore regularly tops the list of the world’s most polluted cities, according to IQAir, which last year ranked Pakistan among the four countries with the worst air quality. The World Bank has said that air pollution shortens the average life expectancy of Pakistanis by 4.3 years and leads to losses equivalent to about 6.5 percent of the economy.
On Sunday morning, the city’s Air Quality Index surpassed 1,000 for the first time since IQAir began keeping records. Anything above 301 on the index is considered a hazardous situation that can cause severe eye and throat irritation and serious heart and lung conditions. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers anything beyond 500 as off the charts.
On Wednesday morning, Lahore had a reading of 1,165.
Most years, crop burning by farmers in northern India and Pakistan contributes to a sharp deterioration in air quality in October and November, according to NASA. Vehicle emissions, industrial activity and the lighting of cooking fires are also factors. Still, the levels of pollution this year have alarmed officials and residents, with medical experts raising concerns about the lasting damage of prolonged smog exposure.
More than 900 people were admitted to hospitals on Tuesday with respiratory problems in Punjab, Ms. Aurangzeb said, adding, “If you don’t want to become one of them, for God’s sake, stay at home.”
Syeda Fatima, a nurse at Jinnah Hospital, a major public health center in Lahore, said children every day were “arriving with severe respiratory problems.”“Their lungs are still developing, and this air could cause lifelong health issues,” she said.
Northern India is also experiencing high levels of air pollution. New Delhi, the Indian capital, had the second highest air pollution among world cities on Thursday, according to IQAir.
In Pakistan, the authorities in Punjab have also targeted industries they believe contribute to the smog, banning the use of outdoor barbecues that use wood or charcoal, and ordering motorized rickshaws off the roads.
The police in Punjab announced on Tuesday that they had impounded 521 vehicles for excessively polluting the air. And Punjab’s Environment Protection Department said on Wednesday that 12 kilns used for making bricks were torn down as part of its anti-smog measures.“Smog has made our lives miserable,” said Muhammad Kafil, a rickshaw driver who earns the equivalent of $4 a day. “Children and the elderly at home are sick, struggling to breathe, and now the government has imposed fines on rickshaw drivers, as if we are the only cause of the smog. In these conditions, what is a poor man supposed to do?” Record air pollution causes hospitalizations in Pakistan (AP)
AP [11/7/2024 7:49 AM, Trisha Mukherjee, 31638K, Negative]
In the Punjab region of Pakistan, record-high air pollution levels triggered hundreds of hospitalizations, school closures and stay-at-home orders, as cities and towns remain shrouded in a thick, toxic smog.
On the outskirts of Lahore, the region’s biggest city of 13 million residents, the Air Quality Index rose to 1900 on Sunday, according to IQAir, a Swiss company that monitors air quality around the world. It was the worst air quality ever recorded in the city, according to IQAir, and over six times higher than the level classified as "hazardous" by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Over 900 people, including children and elderly residents, were hospitalized on Tuesday due to the pollution, according to Marriyum Aurangzeb, a senior minister in the Punjab government.
On Wednesday, the Punjab government ordered that all primary and secondary schools shift to remote learning for ten days and instructed half of the workforce to stay home. The government also mandated that residents wear masks.
"This is a critical situation," said Aurangzeb. "I appeal to citizens that for God’s sake, don’t come out of your houses.".
Authorities have created a "smog war room" to tackle the pollution, using strategies like spraying water on the roads, demolishing environmentally harmful brick kilns and banning certain polluting vehicles.
Studies show the extreme air pollution is caused by the confluence of several factors: farmers in rural areas burn crops during the winter harvest months to clear their fields; brick kilns spew smoke from burning coal near densely populated hubs; and cars using diesel fuel emit fumes as they drive and stall throughout cities.
Aurangzeb blamed "winds from India" for bringing the smog to Pakistan and said she would write to the Indian government to initiate joint efforts to curb the pollution.
"Everybody is coughing and having asthma attacks and allergy attacks," said Sarah Javed, a family physician specializing in respiratory issues at the Vital Care Hospital in Lahore. She saw an influx of patients coming in with sinus, throat, skin, and eye infections due to the smog.
"It reminds all of us of the COVID days," Linda Wali, the director of a primary school in Lahore, told ABC News. "The students do not like to go online and honestly only half the students actually attend these classes.".
The U.N. Environment Programme estimates that air pollution leads to 8 million premature deaths every year, calling it the "greatest environmental threat to public health globally." During the wintertime, the cold air traps particulate matter, making the smog denser and longer-lasting.
Doctors recommend that residents use humidifiers, air purifiers and masks whenever possible.
"The smog started very early and at very high levels this year," said Javed. She predicted the problem will only get worse, adding, "Maybe next year the AQI will be over 2,000.". Pakistan bans entry to parks, zoos as air pollution worsens (Reuters)
Reuters [11/8/2024 5:04 AM, Mubasher Bukhari, 5.2M, Negative]
Pakistan’s Punjab banned entry to many public spaces from Friday, including parks and zoos, as it sought to protect people from severe air pollution in parts of the eastern province.The provincial capital Lahore has been engulfed in a thick, smoky haze this week and was consistently rated the world’s most polluted city by Swiss group IQAir in its live rankings, prompting the closure of schools and work-from-home mandates.The Punjab government’s Friday order placed a "complete ban on public entry in all parks ... zoos, play grounds, historical places, monuments, museums and joy/play lands" until Nov. 17 in areas including Lahore.Many parts of South Asia suffer severe pollution as temperatures drop each winter and cold, heavy air traps dust, emissions, and smoke from stubble burning - the illegal practice of burning crop waste to quickly clear fields.Punjab last week blamed toxic air wafting in from neighbouring India - where air quality has also reached hazardous levels - for the particularly high pollution this year.IQAir rated the Indian capital New Delhi the world’s second most polluted city on Friday, with government data indicating that farm fires in the neighbouring farming states of Punjab and Haryana were among the major contributors.To discourage the practice which has been lower this year, India’s federal government doubled fines imposed on violators on Wednesday.Farmers with less than two acres of land will now have to pay 5,000 rupees ($60) for violations. Those owning between two and five acres will pay 10,000 rupees and farmers with more than five acres will pay 30,000 rupees, the environment ministry said. Trump 2.0: Will China and Imran Khan test Pakistan ties with the US? (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [11/8/2024 5:14 AM, Abid Hussain, 25.8M, Neutral]
Amid a flurry of congratulatory messages from political leaders worldwide following his victory in the US presidential election, Donald Trump received a message from an unexpected source: Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan, his “very good friend” who is currently in jail.
In a brief, 55-word post on his X social media account, Khan congratulated Trump on his win and said the will of the American people “held against all odds”.“President Elect Trump will be good for Pak-US relations based on mutual respect for democracy and human rights. We hope he will push for peace, human rights, and democracy globally,” Khan’s message read.
The post points to some of the ways in which a deeply divided Pakistan’s relationship with the US under a second Trump presidency could be tested, say analysts.
Will Trump intervene on Khan’s behalf?
While most experts believe Pakistan is unlikely to be a priority for the new administration, Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), is hopeful that Trump’s win could ease the political troubles faced by the former prime minister, who just two years ago accused the US, under President Joe Biden, of meddling in Pakistan’s domestic politics to remove him from power.
Former Pakistan president and a senior member of PTI, Arif Alvi, congratulated Trump for his victory, adding that “free and fair” elections allowed “the citizens of America to make their dreams come true”.“We look forward to continued cooperation as democratic nations. Indeed, your victory must have sent shivers down the spine of dictators and aspiring dictators of the world,” Alvi wrote on platform X.
But Pakistan’s officials appeared confident that the US under Trump would not pressure them for Khan’s release – and laid down Islamabad’s red line on the matter.“Pakistan and the United States are old friends and partners, and we will continue to pursue our relations on the basis of mutual respect, mutual confidence and noninterference in each other’s domestic affairs,” Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch told reporters on Thursday.
Joshua White, a former White House official for South Asian affairs under the Obama administration, suggested that engagement with Pakistan will likely be a “low priority” for Trump’s team.
White, now a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution, noted that Pakistan is primarily viewed through a counterterrorism lens in Washington, with “little appetite” for renewing a broader security or economic partnership.“It’s plausible that someone in Trump’s circle might encourage him to address Khan’s case or the PTI’s position more generally,” White told Al Jazeera, “but it is unlikely he would use the US government’s influence to pressure the Pakistani military on this matter.”
After Khan was removed through a parliamentary vote of no confidence in April 2022, he accused the US of colluding with Pakistan’s military to remove him, a claim both Washington and Islamabad deny.
But relations have since warmed gradually between the two nations, with the Biden administration appointing Donald Blome as US ambassador to Pakistan in May 2022, filling a position vacant since August 2018.
Throughout the crackdown on Khan and PTI, including Khan’s imprisonment since August 2023, US authorities have largely refrained from commenting, citing it as an internal matter for Pakistan to resolve.
However, following controversial general elections in February, where the PTI claimed their majority was curtailed through a “mandate theft”, the US stopped short of characterising the election as free and fair.
Congress subsequently held a hearing on the “future of democracy” in Pakistan, spurred by legislators urging President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to scrutinise the election outcome. In October, more than 60 democratic legislators urged Biden to use Washington’s influence with Pakistan to secure Khan’s release.
Although Trump had criticised Pakistan in his first term, accusing it of providing “nothing but lies and deceit”, he developed a rapport with Khan during the latter’s premiership from 2018 to 2022.
The two first met in Washington in July 2019 and again in Davos in January 2020, where Trump referred to Khan as his “very good friend”. By contrast, relations between Khan and Biden were frosty, with Khan often complaining about Biden never making contact with him.
Just days before the November 5 election, Atif Khan, a senior PTI leader, also met Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, to discuss concerns about Khan’s incarceration.
Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pakistani ambassador to the US and the UK, questioned expectations that Trump might intervene on Khan’s behalf.“While Trump and Khan enjoyed a warm relationship, Pakistan does not figure prominently among US foreign policy priorities,” Lodhi told Al Jazeera. “Relations are at a crossroads and need redefinition, but it’s unclear how interested a Trump administration would be in engaging on this front.”
Will Pakistan matter more – or less – to the US under Trump?
Foreign policy expert Muhammad Faisal added that Pakistan, which had some engagement with the US under Trump due to the Afghanistan conflict, may now receive less attention as the administration grapples with issues like Gaza, Ukraine, and US-China tensions.“The presidency will be more focused on domestic policy and global trade issues. Pakistan’s domestic politics is not a topic of mutual interest for the incoming Trump administration,” the Sydney-based analyst said.
Still, some see Pakistan’s relevance to US interests potentially increasing if tensions in the Middle East rise, particularly with Iran.“Pakistan’s significance may grow if tensions between the US and Iran escalate,” Washington-based geopolitical commentator Uzair Younus told Al Jazeera. “In such a scenario, Pakistan could serve as a partner to limit the influence of Iran’s regional proxies.”
The China test
Pakistan’s ties with China could also come under the microscope, said other observers.
China, Pakistan’s longstanding ally, has invested heavily in Pakistan through the $62bn China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a flagship project under Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Pakistan’s increasing economic dependence on China has led to concerns among international lenders, particularly given Pakistan’s $130bn debt, with 30 percent owed to China.
Niloufer Siddiqui, an associate professor of political science at the University at Albany, State University of New York, said Pakistan might have two reasons to remain wary under Trump.“The first is that foreign aid to Pakistan may be further cut during his tenure. The second is that given Trump’s hawkishness on China, Pakistan may find itself caught between wanting to improve relations with the United States but still maintain its close strategic alliance with China. This balancing act is likely to get trickier under Trump,” she told Al Jazeera.
While Pakistan was one of the highest recipients of US aid during the initial years of the war in Afghanistan, the last six years have seen a drastic reduction, with the country receiving just more than $950m of aid, according to a 2023 Congress report.
White, the former Obama government official, echoed this sentiment, noting that Trump’s advisers are likely to view China as an adversary and could therefore approach Pakistan with some caution, perceiving it as an ally of Beijing.“The incoming Trump team is likely to be led by officials who see China in stark terms as a political, military, and economic adversary of the United States. As such, they will be inclined to view Pakistan with suspicion as a country within China’s sphere of influence,” he added.
As Trump’s inauguration in January approaches, the next few months will reveal how relations between the US and Pakistan might evolve, say experts. But ultimately, they suggest that any significant change is unlikely.“With the US likely investing its attention and energy on China and the Indo-Pacific region, and a war in Afghanistan no longer occupying American attention, the most Pakistan can hope for is continued engagement on the economy, climate change and counterterrorism,” Fahd Humayun, an assistant professor of political science at Tufts University, told Al Jazeera. India
With Trump win, India open to freeing up market access for U.S. firms, sources say (Reuters)
Reuters [11/7/2024 6:20 AM, Shivangi Acharya and Krishn Kaushik, 37270K, Positive]
India is open to offering easier market access for U.S. firms if Washington reciprocates under President-elect Donald Trump, who has long called out New Delhi for its high tariffs, sources aware of the matter said.Trump, who made a stunning political comeback four years after being voted out of the White House, recently labelled India a "very big abuser" of trade ties, vowing to raise tariffs on all imports by the United States during his campaign.During his first term as president from 2017 to 2021, Trump warred with the South Asian nation over tariffs but shared a healthy relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Closer to the end of his time in the White House, India and the United States agreed to negotiate a limited accord, in an effort to bridge their differences."India is open to lowering tariffs for entry of U.S. companies if that means better trade terms for Indian goods," said one of the sources aware of the government’s thinking, who spoke on condition of anonymity.The South Asian nation could lower import tariffs in sectors such as automobiles, the source added."We had a fairly good convergence during his first term in office," said Harsh Vardhan Shringla, who was India’s ambassador to Washington during Trump’s first term."I think his second term will be even better because the two sides have developed a certain amount of mutual understanding and respect, especially at the level of the leaders."India had almost concluded a mini trade deal during Trump’s first term but for the COVID-19 pandemic, the retired diplomat added. "So, there is a scope to conclude a free trade agreement under Trump II."New Delhi is not too worried about the fate of its trade ties with Washington in Trump’s coming term, the sources said, with China largely front and centre for his tariff threats.Trump’s approach to trade matters is transactional, which New Delhi believes helps in talks, another source, who is a senior government official, said days before Trump won the election.India’s external affairs and trade ministries did not immediately reply to mails seeking comment.STEADY PROGRESSModi, who flaunts warm ties with Trump, was of one the first world leaders to speak to him by telephone after his historic win. Despite criticising India on trade, Trump called Modi "fantastic" during his campaign.The Indian leader also had good relations with Democratic presidents such as Barack Obama and Joe Biden.The White House rolled out the red carpet for him last year, touting deals on defence and commerce as Washington increasingly views New Delhi as a counterweight to China’s growing regional influence.Regardless of who occupies the White House, trade ties between the two nations have grown steadily over the last decade.The United States is India’s top export destination, with goods and services exports of $120 billion in 2023. Trump’s return to power presents a complex landscape for India-US ties, ranging from China containment to trade issues. (Deutsche Welle)
Deutsche Welle [11/7/2024 7:39 AM, Murali Krishnan, 16637K, Positive]
With Donald Trump set to return to the White House following his resounding victory in the US presidential election, India feels optimistic about the ties between the two countries that present both opportunities and challenges across various domains.
During his first term, Trump shared warm relations with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but this time around, the geopolitical landscape appears more complex than before.
It is unclear how the two leaders would tackle issues such as Russia’s war in Ukraine, China’s growing influence in Asia, immigration, and bilateral trade.
Diplomats and foreign policy experts have expressed both optimism and caution and emphasized that ties between the two countries should not be taken for granted given Trump’s unpredictable leadership style.
Modi-Trump bond
Soon after Trump was projected winner in US elections, Modi felicitated the Republican Party candidate, describing him as "my friend.".
"As you build on the successes of your previous term, I look forward to renewing our collaboration to further strengthen the India-US Comprehensive Global and Strategic Partnership. Together, let’s work for the betterment of our people and to promote global peace, stability, and prosperity," the Indian premier posted on social media platform X.
Modi and Trump are both known for preferring their "personal relation" with world leaders over other matters.
In September 2019, they showcased their camaraderie by holding the "Howdy Modi" event in Houston, where Trump addressed some 50,000 Indian Americans, marking a significant moment in US-India relations.
This was followed by the "Namaste Trump" event in February 2020 in India’s Gujarat state, where Trump vowed to solidify US-India ties.
The Republican politician even praised Modi during the 2024 election campaign, calling him "the nicest human being" and a "friend" in a podcast.
"Our (India’s) relationship with the US will only grow, regardless of the election outcome," India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said earlier this week.
Speaking on the sidelines of the India-Australia Foreign Ministers’ Framework Dialogue in Canberra, Jaishankar pointed out that the India-US ties have not only survived but thrived through five different presidencies.
Countering China’s influence
Jaishankar’s confidence in maintaining close relations with Washington stems from the two countries’ shared objective: Containing China in the Indo-Pacific region.
During Modi’s visit to the US in June last year, India and the US signed new defense deals, which allowed New Delhi to buy military equipment and new defense technologies worth $20 billion (€18.3 billion).
Over the years, China has been central to the US engagement with India.
"Trump is likely to deepen geopolitical engagement with India and the QUAD (a grouping of nations comprising the United States, India, Japan, and Australia), while intensifying contestation with China," Ajay Bisaria, a former Indian diplomat, told DW.
"As a result, New Delhi may attract more global supply chains and private investment. The defense and technology partnership is likely to get a boost," he added.
"Under Trump, the US may also become more sympathetic to Indian concerns in South Asia. If Trump managed to end the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, it would benefit India. He may even want to involve India in the effort," Bisaria said.
Trade ties and immigration
While security ties between New Delhi and Washington are likely to remain stable, the same cannot be predicted about their trade relations in Trump’s second term.
C Raja Mohan, a foreign policy expert, believes Trump’s "America first" policy could lead to increased tariffs on Indian exports that would particularly affect the IT, pharmaceutical, and textile sectors.
"Trump previously labeled India a ‘tariff king’ and indicated intentions to implement a reciprocal tax system if he got re-elected, which would further complicate trade dynamics between the two nations," Mohan, who is also a visiting professor at Singapore’s Institute of South Asian Studies, told DW.
"The second Trump presidency underscores a complex setting for India marked by weighty risks in trade and immigration," he added.
Meera Shankar, a former Indian envoy to the US, told DW that the broad strategic trajectory of India-US relations can be expected to continue under Trump without major deviations, but Trump’s overall foreign policy could be more isolationist and protectionist.
"Several trade issues between India and the US had surfaced during his first term and there could be renewed trade friction, which India will have to deal with pragmatically, given that the US is our largest export market in goods and services," Shankar underlined.
With the annual bilateral trade surpassing $190 billion, the US is India’s largest trade partner.
It is feared that Trump could levy hefty taxes on Indian exports, which might take a toll on India’s domestic businesses.
Mohan Kumar, another former Indian ambassador, said New Delhi will have to "understand and manage Trump" on trade issues.
"Trump can make the most consequential partnership in the world even more consequential. This is particularly true in fields of defense, and even immigration, where India is concerned about the issue of legal immigration," Kumar told DW.
Would India have preferred Harris?
Former envoy Shankar believes that the Democratic Party candidate Kamla Harris, who is partly of Indian origin, would have made history had she won the November 5 election.
"But we recognize that she is an American first. The American people have delivered a decisive verdict, which we accept," she said.
Kumar said there is not too much disappointment in India about Harris’ defeat: "Many in New Delhi were secretly hoping that Trump would win because there would be less US hectoring about democracy and human rights and because of greater strategic convergence with Trump," he said. Tycoon Drives India’s Push Against China’s Solar-Energy Dominance (Wall Street Journal)
Wall Street Journal [11/8/2024 12:05 AM, Megha Mandavia, 810K, Neutral]
Gautam Adani, the billionaire founder of one of India’s biggest business conglomerates, lies at the intersection of the country’s clean energy challenge to China.
Adani Group, which built its energy empire on coal, is setting up an entire solar supply chain starting with indigenous manufacturing of ingots, wafers, cells and panels, and soon polysilicon. It is also constructing a solar farm in Khavda, western India, that will cover an area over five times the size of Paris.
The group’s goal reflects India’s twin aims of aggressively chasing renewable-energy targets while reducing dependence on Chinese imports, goals that are often in conflict with each other.
India wants to install 500 gigawatts of renewable-energy capacity by 2030, but it is only two-fifths of the way there. Solar makes up nearly half of the country’s renewable mix. Although India has managed to start building solar panels within its borders, the raw materials are mainly imported from China.
At the same time, India is forcing domestic solar-power developers to buy panels from approved Indian manufacturers that sell at almost twice the price of Chinese panels and are often of inferior quality.
That tension offers opportunities for firms with deep pockets, such as the $200 billion Adani Group, that can afford to take on enormous investments throughout the supply chain.“We are playing the entire energy game,” said Sagar Adani, who oversees the group’s renewable-energy businesses and is Gautam Adani’s nephew.
India has long had a strained relationship with its neighbor. Ties between the countries hit a nadir in 2020 after clashes between Indian and Chinese troops along the Himalayan border turned deadly. Since then, India has intensified its efforts to build out local production in new technology sectors.
In 2022, India imposed tariffs of 40% on solar panels and 25% on solar cells to discourage imports from China. In April, the country dictated that Indian solar-power producers must purchase from an approved list of domestic solar-panel makers—Adani’s Mundra facility among them. Similar rules for solar cells could come in 2026.
India has offered subsidies of close to $3 billion to the solar manufacturing industry, but putting a dent into China’s dominance is a formidable challenge. China’s share in all the manufacturing stages of solar panels exceeds 80% globally, according to the International Energy Agency, a Paris-based intergovernmental organization. Wood Mackenzie estimates China invested $130 billion in the solar industry last year.
Adani Enterprises, the group’s flagship firm, started manufacturing the wafers and ingots used for making solar-power cells and panels earlier this year, making it India’s first company to do so. The facility in Mundra, a small port town on India’s west coast, is capable of producing ingots and wafers to feed about half of its current panel production of 4 gigawatts. China’s wafer capacity is over 300 times that of India’s.
By the end of the year, it will firm up a timeline for investing in the manufacture of polysilicon, the high-purity silicon that is the building block for solar panels. India doesn’t produce that material now.
But safeguarding the energy supply chain from China is depriving India’s solar-power developers of cheap, technologically advanced panels and other raw materials that are slowing its renewable-energy build-out.
Analysts say India is likely to miss its target of having 500 gigawatts of renewable capacity by 2030 by a wide margin, and many assign a significant share of the blame to the country’s insistence on localizing its supply chain. Wood Mackenzie estimates India may succeed in installing only 375 gigawatts by the deadline. “The intent of the government is to make everything in India,” said Nikhil Nigania, an analyst at Bernstein, who tracks Adani Green Energy and ReNew Power, another renewable-energy firm in India. “At this point in time, it makes sense to allow imports to come. The public is paying more because you are not importing, you are using expensive domestic modules.”
The most commonly available India-made panels are priced around 18 cents a watt, or roughly double the prices of Chinese-made panels, according to August data from BloombergNEF. Panels account for about 40% of the cost of developing a solar farm.
Beyond panels, other parts of the supply chain will be more difficult and expensive to replicate in India.
JMK Research & Analytics and the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis estimate the cost of developing polysilicon for 1 gigawatt of solar power in India would be about $130 million, or more than twice the cost in China, in large part because of higher industrial power prices.
Sagar Adani acknowledges that using Indian components can make projects more expensive and that Adani doesn’t use them when it doesn’t make business sense. “That’s why we buy from outside,” he said. “Because they are much cheaper than what we make here today.”
Adani Green Energy continues to buy panels from China and Southeast Asia, as well as Adani Enterprises, depending on what the rules allow. The mandate to source locally doesn’t apply to private projects, and import contracts for projects with the government that predate the new rule are exempt. Meanwhile, the bulk of Adani’s panel production is sold to the U.S.
India’s harder stance on China has at times tripped up firms trying to help India compete with its neighbor—including Adani.
The company’s facility in Mundra has hundreds of workers clad in blue protection gear manufacturing missile-shaped ingots that are the building blocks of solar panels. It relies largely on Chinese equipment to make these.
A projected increase in power demand across India adds another challenge to the country’s effort to add renewables while weaning itself off Chinese imports. India’s per capita electricity consumption is a third of the global average, according to government estimates, but is expected to surge to power its economic engine. “If we add that much capacity of thermal coal-based power, whatever decarbonization efforts are going on in the world will all be neutralized or negative just because of India,” said Sagar Adani. Reliance Power to legally challenge Indian clean energy agency’s ban (Reuters)
Reuters [11/7/2024 9:39 AM, Sethuraman NR, 37270K, Neutral]
India’s Reliance Power (RPOL.NS) said on Thursday that it will legally challenge a three-year ban by the country’s top renewable energy agency from participating in its clean energy project tenders.
Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) said on Wednesday that it had banned Reliance Power and its units after the state-owned agency found the endorsement of a bank guarantee to be fake while scrutinising a bid for a tender.
The ban comes as Reliance Power, a coal power generator, is looking to expand into the domestic and overseas renewable energy sector.
"The Company and its subsidiaries acted bonafidely and have been a victim of fraud, forgery and cheating conspiracy," Reliance Power said in a statement.
The company, run by Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani, said it had already lodged a complaint against the third party that arranged the bank guarantee with the economic offence wing of the Delhi Police. It did not name the third party.
Indian companies are increasingly looking to set up clean energy projects as the country targets 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030 as part of its 2070 net zero goal, up from the current installed capacity of about 154 GW.
In August, Anil Ambani was banned from the securities market for five years and fined about $3 million by the Indian markets regulator on charges of diversion of funds. 2 suspected rebels, 2 members of government-run militia are killed in Indian-controlled Kashmir (AP)
AP [11/8/2024 2:16 AM, Staff, 456K, Negative]
Two suspected militants were killed in a gunfight with government forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said Friday, while assailants killed two members of a government-sponsored militia elsewhere in the disputed region.
The region, divided between India and Pakistan but claimed by both in its entirety, has experienced an increase in violence in recent weeks.
The Indian military said a joint team of soldiers and police raided a village near northwestern Sopore town late Thursday following a tip about the presence of a group of militants.
The militants “fired indiscriminately” at the troops, leading to a gunbattle in which two were killed, the military said in a statement.
Troops were continuing to search the area, it said. There was no independent confirmation of the incident.
Meanwhile, assailants killed two members of a government-run militia called the “Village Defense Group” in the remote southern Kishtwar area late Thursday, officials said.Police blamed rebels fighting against Indian rule in Kashmir for the killings.
The two were abducted from a forested area where they had gone to graze cattle on Thursday. Their bodies were found late Thursday, police said.
The militia was initially formed in the 1990s as a defense against anti-India insurgents in remote Himalayan villages that government forces could not reach quickly. As the insurgency waned in their areas and as some militia members gained notoriety for brutality and rights violations, the militia was largely disbanded.
However last year, after the killing of seven Hindus in two attacks in a remote mountainous village near the highly militarized Line of Control that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, authorities revived the militia and began rearming and training thousands of villagers, including some teenagers.
The Kashmir Tigers, which Indian officials say is an offshoot of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group, claimed responsibility for the killings of the two in a statement on social media. The statement could not be independently verified.
Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict. India surge fuels global patent filings to record high (Nikkei Asia)
Nikkei Asia [11/7/2024 3:21 PM, Madoka Kitamatsu, 2376K, Positive]
Patent applications rose 2.7% in 2023 to a record 3.55 million worldwide, fueled in part by strong activity in India.China remained comfortably in the top spot with 1.64 million filings, up 3.6% on the year, according to World Intellectual Property Organization data released Thursday.The U.S. followed with more than 518,000 for a 2.5% increase. Japan came in third with more than 414,000, up 2.2%. South Korea with nearly 288,000 and Germany’s more than 133,000 rounded out the top 5.Sixth-place India recorded over 64,000 filings for a 15.7% jump, the only country with double-digit growth in the top 10.India saw active filings by domestic residents. Total filings in the country were lifted by the growth in the local economy and strong activity by entrepreneurs, Carsten Fink, the WIPO chief economist, told a news conference.Applications by category have yet to be disclosed for 2023. For 2022, computer technology accounted for the biggest slice at 12.4%.By company, WIPO data released in March showed that China’s Huawei Technologies was the top filer in 2023. India Ban on Rushdie’s ‘Satanic Verses’ May Ease on Legal Loophole (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [11/7/2024 12:20 PM, Shruti Mahajan, 27782K, Negative]
Salman Rushdie’s controversial 1988 novel The Satanic Verses could become available in India for the first time in decades after a court in Delhi said the government was unable to produce the original notification document that banned imports of the book.“We have no other option except to presume that no such notification exists,” the Delhi High Court said in an order earlier this week in a case brought by a prospective book buyer who questioned India’s ban.Many Muslims considered Rushdie’s book blasphemous because of its portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad. It was banned by several countries, and in 1989, Iran’s Supreme Leader issued a “fatwa” death order for the author and his publishers. India, while mostly Hindu, has the world’s third-largest Muslim population at around 200 million. It blocked imports of the book through a notification passed in 1988.Five years ago, a man who wanted to buy the book filed a petition urging an Indian court to examine the correctness of the import ban. But during the course of the litigation, none of the authorities were able to produce the original notification, prompting the court to say it couldn’t examine the validity of the document, which is now presumed to not exist.The court ruled that the petitioner is now “entitled to take all actions in respect of the said book as available in law,” which could pave the way for bringing the book to India. India’s Hindus bathe in holy river defiled by pollution (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [11/7/2024 7:58 AM, Abhaya Srivastava, 88008K, Negative]
Sweeping aside thick toxic scum, thousands of Hindu devotees ignored court warnings Thursday against bathing in the sacred but sewage-filled Yamuna river, a grim display of environmental degradation in India’s capital.
Thousands celebrated the festival of Chhath Puja for the Hindu sun god Surya, entering the stinking waters to pray as the evening rays set in the sky.
A parliamentary report in February called the Yamuna "more of a toxic waterway than a river", saying the foam clouds were formed from a potent chemical soup including laundry detergent and phosphates from fertilisers.
"Please understand you will fall sick", a high court order said Wednesday, Indian media reported, restricting ritual bathing on health grounds. "We can’t allow you to go into the water."
But housewife Krishnawati Devi, 45, said she was not worried.
"I believe the waters of the river are pure and blessed by the sun god himself," she said. "Nothing will happen to me -- god will take care of everything."
Hindu faithful ignored the order, with women wrapped in fine saris and heavy jewellery wading into the grey waters.
White foam swirled around their feet. In places, it was so thick it looked like the river had frozen.
"Chhath is a festival of unflinching faith", said Avinash Kumar, 58, a government office worker. "We can also offer prayers at home but it doesn’t feel the same as praying in the river."
Others thumped drums and sang.- ‘Toxi-city’ -
New Delhi’s authorities have poured in anti-foaming agents to disperse the froth, and used nets to sweep the scum away -- but it has done nothing to clean the fetid water itself.
"It stinks, but it’s ok," said 14-year-old schoolgirl Deepa Kumari. "What is important is that we get to celebrate in the river with our people."
Rituals in the days-long festival culminate at dawn on Friday.
"I don’t bother about the pollution", said Pooja Prasad, 20, a student. "The mother goddess will take care of all our troubles", she added.
The sprawling megacity of some 30 million people is also smothered in poisonous smog -- fuelled by burning crop fields and vehicle exhaust fumes.
Levels of fine particulate matter -- dangerous microparticles known as PM2.5 pollutants that enter the bloodstream through the lungs -- have this week surged beyond 50 times the World Health Organization recommended daily maximum.
"Toxi-city", broadcasters dubbed the capital.- ‘Filth’ -
City authorities have declared repeated efforts to clean the river.
From an icy source of a Himalayan glacier, the Yamuna feeds into the mighty Ganges, flowing more than 3,100 kilometres (1,925 miles) to the sea in the Bay of Bengal.
But barely 400 kilometres into that journey, the water passing New Delhi is already effectively dead.
The parliamentary report warned of an "excessive presence of heavy metals" and cancer-causing pollutants ranging from arsenic to zinc, from everything from batteries to pesticides.
"Contamination... transform it into a carrier of untreated industrial waste, garbage, agricultural run-off and municipal waste," the report read.
"This has a profound effect on the well-being of the people".
Government statistics say 80 percent of the pollution load is raw sewage, far exceeding permissible levels for bathing.
Some of the faithful have traditionally drunk the water.
Levels fluctuate, but in one spot in 2021 in south Delhi, faecal bacteria levels exceeded maximum health regulations by 8,800 times.
But many say they are frustrated at the situation.
"The river is sacred to us, but all the filth from the industrial belt nearby is being pumped into it," added Kumar.
"Every year they say they are going to clean it, but nothing ever happens." India’s Top Court Orders Liquidation of Bankrupt Jet Airways (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [11/7/2024 5:33 AM, Shruti Mahajan, 27782K, Neutral]
Jet Airways, once India’s second-biggest carrier, is to be liquidated, the country’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday, ending a tumultuous five-year insolvency resolution saga for the bankrupt airline.The Jalan-Kalrock Consortium, the winning bidder, failed to implement its revival plan and “contravened the terms of the resolution plan,” a three-judge bench of the court said, while overturning a tribunal order for transferring ownership to the group.Jet Airways was the first Indian commercial airline to be admitted to bankruptcy court, but a string of lawsuits delayed the revival. The airline’s lenders clashed with the consortium over its refusal to infuse funds into the carrier, a condition for the transfer of ownership.A bankruptcy court in Mumbai will now appoint a liquidator for Jet Airways. Any funds invested by the consortium so far, will be forfeited and all bank guarantees invoked, according to the court order. The Secret Sauce of the China-India Rivalry Is Education (Bloomberg – opinion)
Bloomberg [11/7/2024 4:00 PM, Andy Mukherjee, 27782K, Neutral]
The world’s two most-populous nations began to open up to the world around the same time, in the early 1990s. But while both grew rapidly and pulled hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, China’s per capita income is now more than double India’s, when their currencies are adjusted for their true purchasing power. What’s behind the divergence?Beijing and New Delhi pursued quite separate paths to globalization. One set its sights on becoming the world’s factory, starting with toys and electronics, and moving on to electric cars and semiconductors. The other emphasized services like computer software. Their population structures were dissimilar, too. A one-child policy gave rise to a pronounced youth bulge and brought China to the brink of rich-country status before it started turning old. India’s demographic destiny is playing out now, though minus the jobs to absorb surplus farm labor. And then there are differences in political institutions. China’s is a single-party state, while India is a messy, multiparty, electoral democracy.This is the conventional narrative. But what if there was a more fundamental force operating beneath the surface, a sharp departure in the long history of how the two nations embraced modern education? That’s the thesis of The Making of China and India in 21st Century, a new paper by Nitin Kumar Bharti and Li Yang. The scholars at the Paris School of Economics’ World Inequality Lab have pored over official reports and yearbooks going back to 1900 to make a database of who studied what in the two countries, for how long, and what was taught to them. The different courses charted by China and India for the last 100 years may have led to striking outcomes for human capital and productivity.Here’s what Bharti and Yang found. Thanks to a 50-year head-start in exposure to Western learning, India had a student population that was eight times bigger than China’s at the turn of the 20th century. China began to catch up only after the abolition of the imperial examination system in 1905 bid farewell to Confucianism. By the 1930s, it had achieved parity with India’s overall enrolment.In the 1950s, the newly formed People’s Republic kept up a steady pace of expansion, not even allowing the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) to come in the way of secondary schooling. Where the chaotic decade extracted a heavy price was in undergraduate education. In the early 1980s, India’s college enrollment ratio was five times higher than China’s. By 2020, however, the story had changed: China was sending a far bigger share of its university-age cohort to tertiary institutions than India. The different trajectories have their roots in history. China’s late-19th-century Qing dynasty rulers wanted manpower with vocational skills to handle military-related production. By contrast, India’s British colonial masters had little interest in creating a manufacturing base. So they seeded the education system with a bias for producing clerks and junior administrators. Only the more affluent sections of the society had access to government jobs, and to the education required to land them. After independence in 1947, India doubled down on tertiary institutions, investing in elite colleges at the expense of basic reading and math skills.The decision to emphasize tertiary education was a top-down choice for India, where half the individuals born in the 1960s were likely to remain illiterate, compared with 10% in China, according to the Bharti-Yang study. Most school-age Indian kids dropped out quickly (if they even started), either because nobody came to their villages to teach, or because more hands were needed to augment the family labor pool. A bottom-up strategy involves giving a large number of young pupils five years of learning, then enabling an increasingly bigger subset of them to attend high schools for a total of 12 years of instruction — before opening pathways to 16 years of education. This is what China chose.An even more stark finding of the study is about college majors. Historically, India has had a preponderance of social-science graduates at the bachelor’s degree level. In China, however, the overrepresentation of humanities, law and business began to ebb as early as the 1930s as more undergraduates got trained as teachers, scientists, engineers, doctors and farming experts.This might have had a bearing on growth. As a 1991 paper by Kevin Murphy, Andrei Shleifer, and Robert Vishny has shown, a country that wants to expand faster needs more engineers than lawyers. (Law and economics have seen a revival in China after economic reforms created new demand for human capital in these areas.)The common view, particularly in the US, is that India is the “land of engineers.” It’s true that many tech-industry founders and chief executives, including the CEOs of Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc., were born and educated in India. But the huge expansion of its high-speed train network — or the sophistication of its EVs — shows that Bharti and Yang may have zeroed in on an often-overlooked source of China’s competitiveness. “China’s higher share of engineering and vocational graduates, combined with a higher share of primary and secondary graduates, lends itself more readily to a focus on manufacturing,” the authors say. Deng Xiaoping’s 1992 tour of southern China signaled Beijing’s willingness to engage with capital from the West, while retaining the primacy of the Communist Party. Just a few months earlier, Manmohan Singh, then the new Indian finance minister, too, had made a decisive break from decades of Soviet-inspired socialism and isolationism. India, he said, was going to be a major economic actor. “No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come,” Singh said, invoking Victor Hugo.The residues of history, however, are often hard to brush off. The top-down, elitist bias that the British put into India’s education has carried over. One final finding in the Bharti-Yang paper proves the point: In 1976, China had 160 million people who had missed out on regular schooling in adult education programs, compared with just 1 million in India. The progeny of those 159 million extra minds to whom China gave literacy and numeracy may have played more than a small role in beating India at growth. NSB
India’s Adani Power cuts Bangladesh supply by over 60% on payment dispute (Reuters)
Reuters [11/8/2024 4:35 AM, Ruma Paul and Sethuraman N R, 5.2M, Neutral]
India’s Adani Power (ADAN.NS) has further reduced electricity supply to neighbouring Bangladesh as it seeks to recover more than $800 million in dues, according to data from Bangladesh’s grid operator and two sources familiar with the move.Adani Power, which exports power to Dhaka from its dedicated 1,600 megawatt (MW) Godda plant in eastern India’s Jharkhand state, had reduced supply this month to 700 MW-750 MW from around 1,400-1,500 MW in early August.Late on Thursday, supply was further reduced to about 520 MW, according to Power Grid Bangladesh data and an official with the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB)."We are gradually paying the dues and will take alternative measures if anyone stops the supply. We will not let any power producer hold us hostage," Muhammad Fauzul Kabir Khan, power and energy adviser in Bangladesh’s caretaker government, told Reuters on Thursday.Bangladesh continues to get a reduced supply even though it has expedited the payment of dues and a Nov. 7 payment deadline by Adani had been lifted, the BPDB official said.Reuters reported this week that the troubled South Asian country had opened a letter of credit for $170 million for Adani and was accelerating payments.Adani Power did not respond to queries from Reuters on the reduction in power supply and details of payments made by Dhaka.The power supply has been gradually reduced based on demand from Bangladesh as well as keeping payment dues in mind, a source at Adani Power told Reuters.The Bangladeshi board and Adani Power officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to the media.Bangladesh has been struggling to pay its bills due to costly fuel and goods imports since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The political turmoil that led to the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August has also compounded its troubles. Bangladesh staves off more Adani power cuts (Financial Times)
Financial Times [11/7/2024 4:14 PM, Chris Kay, 14.2M, Neutral]
Bangladesh has staved off more power cuts by India’s Adani Group after supplying the conglomerate with a new credit letter and reassurances that it will clear its mounting electricity bill.
Billionaire Gautam Adani’s group began reducing electricity supplies to Bangladesh from its 1,600 megawatt capacity coal plant in eastern India last week over a backlog of overdue payments estimated by the group to be about $850mn. The company had threatened a full cut by Thursday if Bangladesh did not give further information over its ability to clear the backlog.
The power dispute comes as Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, the country’s caretaker leader, is grappling with an economic crisis. The government in Dhaka is in talks with lenders, including the IMF and Asian Development Bank, for budgetary support to bolster its economy and replenish dwindling foreign exchange reserves.
Rezaul Karim, chair of the Bangladesh Power Development Board, confirmed that a new letter of credit to Adani Power had been signed off by the country’s government on Wednesday. “Now they can restart,” he told the Financial Times. “We are paying day to day, it’s a continuous process.”
A person familiar with the negotiations between Dhaka and Adani said the letter of credit was worth $173mn and was recognised as “valid” by the conglomerate after an initial dispute over the issuing bank.
Adani Group did not respond to a request for comment.
The electricity curbs and deadline imposed by the conglomerate prompted a heated response from Bangladesh’s new government, which took control following the ousting of autocratic leader Sheikh Hasina by student protesters in August.
Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, chief energy adviser to Yunus’s government, told the FT earlier this week that “we would not allow any power producer to hold us hostage” but added that Bangladesh was “ramping up payments to all power producers as the economy improves”.
Adani has asked Bangladesh to settle its electricity dues at the end of the current financial year ending in March 2025, according to the person close to the talks between the company and Dhaka.“The primary reason for all this is that Bangladesh simply does not have dollars,” they said. “It is affecting everything they do and their ability to do anything.” Central Asia
How a drab Soviet metropolis became Central Asia’s capital of cool (CNN)
CNN [11/7/2024 11:40 PM, Joe Yogerst, 24.1M, Neutral]
Several cities around the globe have reinvented themselves in recent years, but none more successfully than Almaty.
Since the collapse of the USSR, Kazakhstan’s largest city (population 2.2 million and growing) has evolved from a drab, run-of-the-mill Soviet metropolis into the urban star of Central Asia.
Along the way, the city has developed one of the world’s most beautiful metro systems, grown into a thriving banking and finance center, complemented its vintage bazaars with luxury boutiques and modern shopping malls and reshaped its traditional gastronomy into a nouvelle cuisine that’s drawing raves from foodies around the world.
Almaty is also evolving into the cultural and artistic hub of Central Asia. It’s already got several world-class museums (including a “secret” underground collection that doesn’t even have a name) and a dazzling new cultural center slated to open early next year.“It’s an incredibly livable city,” says long-time American resident Dennis Keen, a historic preservation advocate and founder of Walking Almaty.“Green and clean. You don’t need a car. The public transit here is fantastic. And it’s very much the center of contemporary art and dining in Central Asia.”
Keen adds that whenever he tells someone back home that he lives in Kazakhstan, “Borat” inevitably comes up. The movie’s title character doesn’t paint a very flattering portrait of the Central Asian nation. But nowadays one is tempted to think that if Borat visited Almaty now, he would say, “Very nice!”
A checkered history
Although people have lived in the region for thousands of years, most were nomads who roamed the vast steppes between China and Europe. An ancient city flourished nearby during medieval times — a waystation on the Silk Road — but had disappeared by the time the Russian Empire conquered the region in the mid-19th century.
A fort established by tsarist troops to bolster the Russian occupation, it evolved into a small city with a grid system of north-south and east-west streets and abundant trees. The Russians also constructed the ornate onion-domed Ascension Cathedral, one of the city’s architectural icons. Otherwise, there are few relics of the tsarist era in present times.
A few years after independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the national capital was moved to Astana. Losing that revered status was a wake-up call for the city. Rather than sulk about the snub, the leaders and residents of Almaty found common ground to reinvent the city if for no other reason than to prove that it was still superior to Astana.“It’s now a city of entrepreneurs and artists,” says Jama Nurkalieva, director of the new Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture. She thinks the national capital relocation liberated Almaty to do its own thing.“This freedom brought here this unique spirit of creativity, possibilities, reflection, debate. So no wonder we have the largest artistic scene in the region and a megalopolis economy. So many businesses big and small. This is the place to be for many creative people, and not only artists.”
Channeling your inner nomad
Chefs have also taken up the challenge of creating something thoroughly new with roots in Kazakhstan’s past. They call it neo nomad cuisine, a fusion of modern cooking techniques and presentation with heirloom ingredients used by the nomadic people who continue to inhabit the grasslands around Almaty.“We find inspiration in traditional nomad techniques like smoking or cooking meat over an open flame or burying the meats in and cooking over hot stones,” says Sat Nurmash, general manager of the city’s upscale Auyl Restaurant.
But that’s where the similarities end. Marinated with special herbs and spices, and cooked slowly over a low flame, it takes two days to prepare the meats served as main courses. Portions are small and every plate a tiny work of art.
Among the dishes on Auyl’s seven-course tasting menu are dungan noodles with spicy duck, horse meat samosas, beshbarmak with smoked brisket and lamb shank, cold chalop (sour horse milk) soup, and lamb tongues with pomegranate.
Other purveyors of neo nomad cooking include Tör Restaurant inside the Glass Cube on Esentai Square and Tarih Restaurant near Dynamo Stadium. Meanwhile, Auyl is also drawing raves for its yurt-inspired design, chosen as one of 16 finalists in the Prix Versailles World’s Most Beautiful Restaurants” competition.
Yet not everything is 21st century. Founded in 1868, the colossal Zeleny Bazaar (Green Market) is filled with stalls selling delicious fresh fruits, kurt (sour cheese balls), shubat (camel’s milk), and other local delicacies. There’s an entire section for different types of horse meat, including surprisingly tasty sausages.
Those seeking a more in-depth nomad experience can find it right outside Almaty.
In the snowcapped Tien Shan Mountains east of the city, Kolsai Lakes National Park offers yurt accommodation in private camps near Lower Kolsai Lake and horseback treks with nomad guides to remote Kaindy Lake and its eerie ghost forest.
Over and underground art
Crowned by the Louvre-like glass pyramid, the eclectic Abilkhan Kasteev State Art Museum is the nation’s primary showcase of Kazakh creations, from paintings and sculptures to decorative arts like carpets, jewelry and woodwork.
Other good collections include the Ihlas Museum of Folk Musical Instruments (in a Russian-style wooden mansion built in 1908) and the ethnographic artifacts of the Almaty Museum.
The city’s most intriguing collection is a “secret museum” that doesn’t even have a formal name. Adding to its mystique is the fact that it’s underground in both a literal and figurative sense — located in the basement of the French House, a luxury shopping arcade on Furmanov Avenue fronted by a replica of the Eiffel Tower.
The owner of the private collection is also a mystery, said to be a local oligarch who’s both an avid collector and intensely proud of his hometown. There’s no admission fee, but reservations are mandatory. And to snag a ticket, you need to know someone with the closely guarded phone number or email address to make that reservation. A local guide (who also wants to remain anonymous) calls it “Kazakhstan’s most important collection of native art and artifacts.”
Dozens of rooms showcase an amazing array of items from ancient torture devices, medieval (male) chastity belts and nomad fashion to early radios and televisions, Soviet-era posters and cosmonaut mementos. There are also rooms with Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Buddhist artifacts that originated in Kazakhstan. The museum caretaker follows you around the entire time making sure you don’t take photos or touch anything.
The soon-to-open Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture is also funded by a local entrepreneur and businessman who doesn’t mind if his name is public knowledge (Kairat Boranbayev) and wants everyone to visit an institution he envisions as the best of its kind in Central Asia.
Located in a restored Soviet-era Tselinny Cinema, a glass-fronted, postmodern structure built in 1964, the center will host a wide range of contemporary music, dance, film, fine art and theater as well as research projects, education and publishing.“Our artistic strategy is based on the symbiosis between two motifs we call Here and Now,” says Jama Nurkalieva.“Here is about a physical space where various formats or events are happening. Now is based on the research projects that are occurring in the moment and continuously in the future to create an intellectual space enhanced by engagements with artists, theorists and intellectuals from various disciplinary, cultural, social and ideological perspectives. Now serves as a tool for the realization of the Here programming.”
The city’s public spaces also host a wide array of art. The Almaty Metro is renowned for its elaborately decorated stations, in particular Zhibek Zholy with its Wonders of the Ancient World mosaic, the colorful stained-glass apple tree at Almaly and the traditional Kazakh wedding scene at Auezov.
American resident Keen has devoted much of the last decade to uncovering and preserving much of the Soviet-era public art that’s been neglected — and in many cases painted or plastered over — since independence.
One of his walking tours features masterpieces of Socialist Modernist architecture like the Arasan bathhouse, spa and wellness center, as well as Hotel Otrar reliefs and murals, and the Academy of Science mosaics and stained glass.“Some of this architecture and art is off the beaten path,” says Keen, “in a city that many people already consider off the beaten path. But it’s one of the things that makes Almaty special.”
Getting there
Turkish Airlines flies nonstop two-to-three times daily between Almaty and Istanbul, with connections to multiple European, African and Middle Eastern cities.
Air Astana offers domestic service to numerous cities across Kazakhstan, plus daily flights to Beijing, Seoul, New Delhi and Bangkok.
Where to sleep
Located on the upper floors of a 30-story skyscraper at the Esentai Mall, the Ritz-Carlton Almaty delivers modern luxury and killer city views.
Within walking distance of Ascension Cathedral, the Green Market, and Arasan Baths, the Renion Park Hotel delivers mid-range comforts and service at bargain prices.
Or take a time trip back to Soviet days at the centrally-located Hotel Otrar with its vintage architecture and mural-covered dining room.
Where to eat
Renowned for its cutting-edge neo nomad cuisine, Auyl restaurant in the Medeu Valley south of the city is also a design-savvy feast for the eyes.
The seven branches of Lanzhou, a noodle house, and the upscale Sandyq Restaurant beside the Novotel City Center are popular spots for traditional Kazakhstani cuisine.Almaty also offers eats from around the former Soviet empire like the Georgian kachapuri at Darejani restaurant or the borscht, beef cheeks and other Russian delicacies at Mar’ina Roshcha, both of them near the southwest corner of the Ascension Cathedral park. Kyrgyzstan: Chinese firm scores a sweetheart deal to turn Bishkek’s garbage into profits (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [11/7/2024 4:14 PM, Arlan Mashanio, 57.6K, Neutral]
A partner post from Mediazona Central Asia
An agreement to build a power plant in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek reinforces the notion that one person’s trash is another’s treasure.
The Chinese firm that started construction on the $95-million plant back in March, JunXin, is positioned to reap large profits for decades by using Bishkek’s garbage to generate electricity, an investigation by Mediazona-Central Asia has found.
Terms of the development deal had not been previously released, but Mediazona found the document text in a publicly accessible database maintained by Chinese stock exchange platform cninfo.com.cn.
The upshot is that when the plant becomes operational in 2025 or 2026, Bishkek city officials will pay the Chinese plant operator up to $17,000 a day to accept as much as 1,000 tons of trash a day. The Chinese firm, in turn, will use the waste to generate electricity, and will enjoy the right to sell the power and keep all the profits. The agreement, which has a term of 35 years, sets the payment price that Bishkek city officials will pay the Chinese firm at roughly $17 per ton.
Initial power-generating capacity is projected to be 20 MW/h. The plant will also generate heating and certain types of building materials, according to the terms of the deal.
The agreement also specifies that the Chinese firm will retain all intellectual property rights connected with the plant’s operation. Kyrgyz officials also are obligated to make landfill space available free of charge for any hazardous byproducts from regular plant operations.
A clause allows the agreement to be extended for an indefinite period, “if both parties come to such an agreement by the end of the term.” Initial plant capacity will be 1,000 tons per day, which generally coincides with the current amount of garbage collected in Bishkek every day, but it can be expanded to up to 3,000 tons daily down the road.
Currently, Bishkek’s trash is dumped into a landfill that had been smoldering for decades, polluting the vicinity and harming the health of the approximately 3,000 residents who live in the nearby Altyn Kazyk neighborhood. The landfill fire was finally extinguished in May 2023.
Three previous efforts since 2013 to build a trash-to-electricity plant never got off the ground, prior to the city’s deal with JunXin.
The Chinese company stands to benefit significantly by generating revenue from accepting trash and from selling the electricity the garbage generates. If the target of 1,000 tons of garbage processed per day is met, the company’s investment will pay off in 15 years, leaving at least two decades of pure profit generation.
The financial benefits for Bishkek appear to be limited. While the city will no longer have to operate the landfill, it will still incur approximately $6 million in annual costs to have the Chinese firm take trash off the municipality’s hands. At the same time, city officials claim that the new arrangement will be environmentally friendly, maintaining the plant’s emissions levels will be significantly lower than EU standards for waste incineration plants.
A study undertaken by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, however, suggests that there may be an environmental toll to pay. A team of experts analyzed the soil near a plant in Changsha, similar to the one planned in Bishkek, and found an abundance of microplastics. The highest microplastic content was found in the bottom ash.“The treatment and disposal of bottom ash and fly ash from municipal solid waste incineration is a problem that cannot be ignored,” the authors wrote in the conclusion of their study. “The current results showed that the fly ash and bottom ash generated from municipal solid waste incineration contain microplastics and heavy metals, polluting the surrounding soil environment.” On Press Day, Kyrgyz Authorities Urge Journalists To Focus on Positive News (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [11/7/2024 9:19 AM, Catherine Putz, 1198K, Neutral]
Kyrgyz authorities marked the country’s Information and Press Day on November 7 with an old request: Less bad news, please.
Head of the Cabinet of Ministers Akylbek Japarov (no relation to President Sadyr Japarov) held a breakfast meeting with media representatives. According to a government readout of the meeting, Japarov stressed the important role of journalists "in shaping public opinion.".
"Despite the rapid development of technology and the introduction of artificial intelligence into our lives, the profession of a journalist remains important and irreplaceable," he said. "Your job is not just transmitting information; it is creating context, analyzing events and presenting them in an accessible form for society.".
Kyrgyzstan recently put nearly a dozen journalists on trial and ordered the liquidation of Kloop, one of the country’s best investigative outlets. The country’s crackdown on media has been well documented.
A little later in the November 7 meeting, Japarov reportedly appealed to journalists to create a positive image of country, specifically for tourists.
"Let’s write about our country in a positive light and try to focus less on negative news," he urged.
For Japarov, this is an old argument. Back in 2018, when he sat in parliament as part of the Bir Bol faction, Japarov suggested banning the publication of negative news in Russian. He cited a recent trip to Georgia where, he claimed, he didn’t see any bad news.Japarov said that was by design: "It turned out that in 2004 the President of Georgia addressed the people and said: ‘Let’s write something bad in Georgian, and good in Russian and English.".
"And do you read our websites?" he went on. "There is news that a 92-year-old grandmother was raped. And it will be there for a week. Therefore, the minister must make an appeal. We need to praise the good and hide the bad.".
As RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service, Azattyk, reported, "In the run-up to [Information and Press Day], employees of independent media reported that they faced pressure from unknown people." The report chronicled visits by people "who introduced themselves as employees of the State Committee for National Security" to the homes of two employees PolitKlinika earlier this week.
PolitKlinika Editor-in-Chief Dilbar Alimova told Azattyk:
They came to their place of registration, questioned relatives. They collected information about journalists and told them ‘not to interfere in politics.’ We do not interfere in politics. As journalists, we are just doing our job. We did not understand what happened. We contacted the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Committee for National Security, and they said they knew nothing. In addition, at the same time, an attack was carried out on the pages of our employees on social networks. We are very concerned about this. All this affects our work.
Yulia Kuleshova, a journalist with April TV, reported a similar visit in a Facebook post.
In October, Kyrgyzstan’s parliament, the Jogorku Kengesh, adopted a first reading of a draft law that would mandate fines for slander and insult on the internet and in the media. Like the 2021 false information law – which has been weaponized against Kloop most prominently – the proposed slander bill centers the Ministry of Culture as the arbiter of truth.
During an October 23 discussion of the bill, outspoken Deputy Dastan Bekeshev argued, "Citizens will lose many of their rights. We are transferring judicial powers to the Ministry of Culture. This is wrong.".
Supporters of the bill often remark on the responsibility that comes along with with the freedom of speech. Deputy Kamila Talieva said, "If someone speaks, they must provide facts so that they can respond. Every phenomenon has two sides. On the other hand, there should be no double standards.".
The demonstrated reality, however, is that Kyrgyzstan’s existing laws against insult and slander have been primarily used to sue media organizations for investigative reporting.
In 2020, former deputy customs chief Raimbek Matraimov took Azattyk and Kloop to court, accusing the outlets – which had reported extensively on Matraimov’s connection to a massive corruption scheme – of libel and seeking millions of soms in damages. The lawsuits were eventually withdrawn in April 2021 after Matraimov had been arrested, released after pleading guilty to corruption and paying a small fine, re-arrested and released again with the charges dropped.
In March 2024, Matraimov was once again arrested.
The lesson here is that what one side called "libel" was, in fact, well supported reporting. The civil court process lengthened the path between the accusation of libel and punishment, ultimately allowing time for the truth to bear out. Allowing the Ministry of Culture to issue fines at will shortens that path and will, arguably, speed punishment for journalists – the truth be damned.
In 2018, when Japarov suggested banning bad news in the interest of increasing tourism, I concluded: "Ultimately, it won’t be the lure of overly saccharine news that draws in visitors to Kyrgyzstan… Instead, simplifying procedures, improving infrastructure, and providing experiences tourists are seeking will bring them in. That would be the real good news.". Uzbekistan Jails 11 Men On Terrorism Charges (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [11/7/2024 6:04 AM, Staff, 1251K, Negative]
Uzbekistan’s State Security Service (DXX) announced on November 7 that a court in the city of Qoqon sentenced 11 individuals to prison terms ranging from six to 12 years for terrorism-related offenses. They were convicted on charges including financing terrorism, plotting to change the constitutional system, and possessing materials threatening public safety. The individuals were accused of promoting extremist ideologies between 2021 and 2023 at regular gatherings disguised as social events, called "Saturday dinners," at local teahouses. The discussions reportedly focused on jihad and the creation of an Islamic state. The case is part of government efforts to combat religious extremism, particularly in Qoqon, located in the ethnically diverse and historically volatile Ferghana Valley. The region has been a hot spot of both domestic and transnational Islamist groups, raising concerns about local instability and the spread of extremist ideologies. Twitter
Afghanistan
Zalmay Khalilzad@realZalmayMK
[11/7/2024 10:11 AM, 225.1K followers, 1.7K retweets, 7.8K likes]
Trump’s return to US presidency, there is an opportunity for full and implementation of all the elements of the Doha Agreement in #Afghanistan. #USA
Graeme Smith@smithkabul
[11/7/2024 3:53 PM, 19.7K followers, 3 retweets, 15 likes]
The idea of a "common minimum agenda" for engagement with Afghanistan is an interesting thought - especially this week, when everyone is wondering if the global order has a safety net. Worth a read. https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/chance-reframe-international-engagement-afghanistan
Habib Khan@HabibKhanT
[11/7/2024 10:54 AM, 244.1K followers, 197 retweets, 436 likes]
The Taliban’s ban has kept 1.4 million Afghan girls from classrooms, depriving them of their right to an education. It’s now been 1,148 days since Afghanistan became the only country where teenage girls are legally barred from school. #LetHerLearn AI
Freshta Razbaan@RazbaanFreshta
[11/7/2024 8:45 PM, 5K followers, 6 retweets, 12 likes]
Let me highlight a specific group of Afghans who suffered immensely after the Taliban’s return to power—the former Afghan prosecutors. For 20 years, they were loyal allies of the United States, playing a crucial role in America’s mission to combat terrorism in Afghanistan. But, tragically, they were left behind. We’ve lost around 40 of them already, hunted down by the Taliban, al-Qaeda, ISIS, the Haqqani network, and other criminals and terrorists released from prison when the Taliban took over. Hundreds more fled to neighboring countries, facing hardship as they wait and hope for a chance at a safe and dignified life. These former prosecutors are exceptional allies who placed their trust in America’s commitment and now look to the U.S. to honor its promises. They deserve the chance to live freely, with dignity, under the values of democracy. As President @realDonaldTrump mentioned Afghanistan many times in his campaign, we hope the U.S. will swiftly bring these allies to safety. They are skilled, law-abiding, educated professionals who could thrive in American society, contributing with dedication to its principles and values, ready to work, study, and build lives with dignity. SAVE THE FORMER AFGHAN PROSECUTORS!
Jahanzeb Wesa@JahanzebWesa
[11/7/2024 6:14 PM, 4.2K followers, 18 retweets, 24 likes]
Reports indicate that Taliban has issued a new directive further restricting women’s freedom in Afghanistan. The law bans women from appearing in media & requires them to be fully covered in TV programs, aiming to erase their visibility & limit their participation in public life.
Bilal Sarwary@bsarwary
[11/7/2024 8:10 PM, 254.3K followers, 10 retweets, 28 likes]
Taliban officials in the remote province of Ghor in western Afghanistan have confirmed the execution of TWO members of ISKP by Taliban soldiers. Local sources have confirmed to me, the execution took place in the dark, late evening in Shah Teagh and Ghalmeeen area, 40KMs outside of the provincial capital of Ferozkoah, according to local residents those executed hailed from Murghab district in Ghor. The execution raises several concerning questions: why are the Taliban executing prisoners, in this case, even if those killed were alleged members of ISIS; why do so without a due process? Some Taliban field commanders, fighters and senior members have switched allegiances to ISKP in province, and recently Taliban carried a raid against Daish in the province, resulting in the death of several ISKP members including Taliban special forces unit commander. Are these executions taking place to deter others to join the ISIS ranks? Pakistan
Anas Mallick@AnasMallick
[11/7/2024 11:43 PM, 74.1K followers, 3 retweets, 16 likes]
Pakistan’s Prime Minister @CMShehbaz to depart for Saudi Arabia on a 2 day visit on Sunday, the 10th of November to attend the OIC Extra Ordinary Summit session on the situation in Middle East and West Asia which will be held on 11th Nov, per sources. #PakistanAnas Mallick@AnasMallick
[11/7/2024 12:56 PM, 74.1K followers, 7 retweets, 30 likes]
Pakistan’s resolution at UNGA First Committee on “Conventional arms control at the regional and subregional levels”, adopted with overwhelming majority with 179 votes in Favour, 01 Against and 01 Abstention. #PakistanatUNGA
Zalmay Khalilzad@realZalmayMK
[11/7/2024 10:01 AM, 225.1K followers, 13K retweets, 28K likes]
With Trump’s victory in the #USA election, how would General Assim Munir explain the ongoing unjustified imprisonment of his friend Imran Khan. It is time to release Imran Khan and others who are being held without a fair judicial process. #Pakistan India
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[11/8/2024 1:50 AM, 103.4M followers, 1.5K retweets, 8.4K likes]
Maharashtra trusts the NDA and will vote for our alliance in the upcoming elections. Addressing a massive rally in Dhule. https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1kvJpbkwXrmKE
President of India@rashtrapatibhvn
[11/7/2024 9:56 AM, 26M followers, 500 retweets, 3.6K likes]
During her ‘Day at Sea’ onboard India’s indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, President Droupadi Murmu witnessed several naval operations including MiG 29K take-off and landing, missile firing drills from a warship, and also submarine operations. The President also interacted with the crew of INS Vikrant which included first batch of women Agniveers posted onboard. The President appreciated the Indian Navy for creating more opportunities for women to make greater contribution in national maritime security.
President of India@rashtrapatibhvn
[11/7/2024 2:56 AM, 26M followers, 18 retweets, 237 likes]
President Droupadi Murmu graced the Vigilance Awareness Week 2024. The President said that corruption is not only an obstacle to economic progress, but also adversely affects the feelings of fraternity among people.
Dr. S. Jaishankar@DrSJaishankar
[11/7/2024 1:51 AM, 3.3M followers, 93 retweets, 476 likes]
Delivered keynote address at the 8th Roundtable of ASEAN - India Network of Think - Tanks in Singapore today. Spoke about the world in transition, and opportunities for a stronger India - ASEAN partnership.
Highlighted :- The imperative of resilient supply chains, trusted partners and diversified production.- The emerging knowledge economy and advancement of AI necessitates greater human and enterprise mobility within our region. - Put forth IN’s commitment to collaborative connectivity - Digital, Energy and Highways.- IN’s Global Capability Centres, Industrial Parks and skilling & education endeavours open new avenues for deeper ASEAN partnership.- The promise of green hydrogen, green ammonia, green shipping and green steel for a more sustainable region. - Our deep cultural and civilisation connect and 4 decades of fruitful cooperation, lay a strong foundation for a deeper partnership benefitting our people.
As India’s engagement with Indo - Pacific and Quad deepens, ASEAN centrality and cohesion will continue to be a guiding principle.
Richard Rossow@RichardRossow
[11/7/2024 9:55 AM, 29.6K followers, 7 retweets, 41 likes]
India has its second-largest monthly FPI sell-off on record. $11.5b net outflow in October. NSB
Anura Kumara Dissanayake@anuradisanayake
[11/7/2024 5:54 AM, 134.4K followers, 19 retweets, 261 likes]
This morning (07), I had the pleasure of receiving the credentials of two newly appointed ambassadors to Sri Lanka: Mr. Adel Ibrahim, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and Mr. ISOMATA Akio, Ambassador of Japan. Following the official ceremony, we briefly met to discuss our shared goals and cooperation.
Derek J. Grossman@DerekJGrossman
[11/7/2024 1:46 PM, 94.3K followers, 13 retweets, 160 likes]
Deposed Bangladeshi PM Hasina praises Trump’s "resounding victory" and "extraordinary leadership." https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/deposed-bangladesh-pm-sheikh-hasina-wishes-trump-on-resounding-victory-hails-extraordinary-leadership/articleshow/115022643.cms
Awami League@albd1971
[11/7/2024 10:35 PM, 649.1K followers, 10 retweets, 45 likes]
As many as 20 houses, including the residence of a #journalist, have been #attacked and #vandalised by #drugdealers in #Cumilla while law enforcement took a backseat. @ChiefAdviserGoB’s govt is fueling #mobculture in #Bangladesh while terrorists run free. https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/b03eef133413
Jon Danilowicz@JonFDanilowicz
[11/7/2024 8:43 AM, 8.5K followers, 49 retweets, 299 likes]
With gleeful supporters of the Hasina Regime eagerly awaiting President Trump’s return, it is all the more important that #Bangladesh put in place a credible accountability mechanism to remind the world of the crimes committed during the dictatorship. The best way to ensure that the criminals behind the events of July/August do not return to power is to lay bare their misdeeds. #NeverAgain
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[11/7/2024 9:20 AM, 100.1K followers, 10 retweets, 153 likes]
This afternoon, I attended the historic inauguration of the Immigration Check Post at Darranga, Assam, where I received the very first stamp! This will be the first of many stamps, as people from both countries pass through this gateway, strengthening our bonds.
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[11/7/2024 9:20 AM, 100.1K followers, 8 likes]
This new gateway is not just a route for tourism - it is a bridge of friendship and opportunity, opening doors for vibrant trade and closer people-to-people ties. Let’s all make the best use of this facility, embracing the spirit of Bharat for Bhutan and Bhutan for Bharat.
The President’s Office, Maldives@presidencymv
[11/7/2024 1:48 PM, 110.7K followers, 81 retweets, 87 likes]
Vice President Uz @HucenSembe inaugurates the Health Expo 2024 and unveils the "Haftha 52" booklet. "Haftha 52” showcases the health sector’s accomplishments and initiatives during the first 52 weeks of the current administration. The Vice President also took the opportunity to tour the various stalls at the Expo and engage with participants.
The President’s Office, Maldives@presidencymv
[11/7/2024 6:31 AM, 110.7K followers, 184 retweets, 191 likes]
President Dr @MMuizzu attends the inauguration of Velana International Airport’s new Fuel Farm and Hydrant System. This project aims to enhance fueling efficiency, safety, and sustainability to meet increasing demand and support long-haul flights. Key features include a 37,000-square-meter area—tripling the previous capacity—and the potential for two additional Jet A-1 storage tanks for future expansion. Completed with strict adherence to international standards, this modern infrastructure ensures VIA is equipped for a strong, adaptable future.
The President’s Office, Maldives@presidencymv
[11/7/2024 4:42 AM, 110.7K followers, 134 retweets, 132 likes]
President Dr @MMuizzu attends the MoU signing between @MoEDmv and @mibmv to introduce ATM services across various regions of the Maldives. This initiative will enhance convenience for the Maldivian community and support local businesses by providing greater access to banking services.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maldives@MoFAmv
[11/7/2024 8:55 AM, 54.9K followers, 26 retweets, 28 likes]
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Abdulla Khaleel, received a donation of 80 Computers and 20 Laptops from China, today. This contribution will support the President’s efforts to build a digitally connected government. @ChinaEmbassy_MV
Eran Wickramaratne@EranWick
[11/7/2024 11:27 AM, 69.9K followers, 2 retweets, 13 likes]
In an interview with Daily FT, I said that the ideal candidate for parliament should be of good character, experienced and educated. Age is not the sole determinant. Whether the person is fit and proper is also important. You can read the full interview here: https://ft.lk/columns/No-space-for-NPP-s-Govt-to-do-past-mistakes-as-SL-can-t-survive-another-crisis-Eran/4-768983
Eran Wickramaratne@EranWick
[11/7/2024 11:09 AM, 69.9K followers, 8 retweets, 56 likes]
This is the speech I delivered in parliament in defence of Dr. Shafi Shihabdeen in May 2019, shortly after the sterilization allegations were first made against him. I said that everybody is innocent until proven guilty and that we should allow the legal process to take its course. Therefore, I was delighted to hear yesterday that the Kurunegala Magistrate’s Court acquitted him. Justice has finally been served.
Harsha de Silva@HarshadeSilvaMP
[11/8/2024 1:19 AM, 359.6K followers, 2 retweets, 17 likes]
The #EVPermit scandal continues: From worker remittances to luxury cars. As #COPF Chairman, I didn’t just expose the scheme - we followed the money. Part 2 reveals how deep the #corruption runs. Because oversight matters when millions are at stake. #Transparency #Remittances Central Asia
Javlon Vakhabov@JavlonVakhabov
[11/8/2024 12:46 AM, 6.2K followers, 2 likes]
I had a tremendous time meeting with Yerkin Tukumov (@YTukumov), the Director of the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies (@KAZ_ISS) under President @TokayevKZ. We talked extensively about our shared priorities for a more stable and prosperous Central Asia. The Uzbekistan – Kazakhstan relationship is built on a solid foundation of friendship and a long-standing history of fraternity. This has been evident in our support for one another during the chairmanship at the Consultative Meetings of the Heads of States of Central Asia, which Kazakhstan has recently completed and Uzbekistan has taken on.
Leila Nazgul Seiitbek@l_seiitbek
[11/7/2024 3:27 AM, 4K followers, 14 retweets, 54 likes]
Colleagues! For English speaking people: Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov congratulated Donald Trump with victory in presidential elections. Sadyr Japarov is also a convicted felon. They have a lot in common.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service@president_uz[11/7/2024 3:51 PM, 203.7K followers, 2 retweets, 8 likes]
President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev chaired a meeting on measures for rational use of #water and #energy resources, and reducing losses in #agriculture. To achieve this, water supply infrastructure will be improved with involvement of private sector, including via digitalization and widespread introduction of resource-saving technologies.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service@president_uz
[11/7/2024 3:18 PM, 203.7K followers, 10 likes]
President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev reviewed new measures for improving quality of teaching and #education in schools, including in military and patriotic sphere aimed at shaping strong personality of students. Necessary facilities like sport clubs and courage schools will be created, teaching training in music and physical activities will be radically improved.{End of Report} To subscribe to the SCA Morning Press Clips, please email SCA-PressOfficers@state.gov. Please do not reply directly to this email.