SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS
Prepared for the U.S. Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
TO: | SCA & Staff |
DATE: | Monday, October 7, 2024 6:30 AM ET |
Afghanistan
The Azadi Briefing: U.S. Scraps Afghan Envoy Post (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [10/4/2024 1:08 PM, Abubakar Siddique, 235K, Neutral]
The United States has scrapped the post of special representative to Afghanistan.
Tom West, who held the position since October 2021, will not be replaced. The career diplomat has been given a new role in the State Department.
West was appointed just months after the collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government and the Taliban’s seizure of power.
West was seen as central to U.S. efforts to prevent a famine in Afghanistan and stabilize the freefalling Afghan economy after 2021.
U.S. policy on Afghanistan will now be overseen by U.S. Charge d’Affaires for Afghanistan Karen Decker; Rina Amiri, the U.S. special envoy for Afghan women, girls, and human rights; and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Central Asia and Ambassador John Mark Pommersheim.
Why It’s Important: There are concerns that the United States’ decision to scrap the post of special Afghan envoy signals Washington’s increasing disengagement from Afghanistan.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an October 1 statement that the "commitment to Afghanistan remains an enduring priority."
"Washington has not named a successor, but the U.S. continues to engage with Afghanistan," said Graeme Smith, a senior Afghanistan analyst at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.Smith said Washington’s disengagement from Afghanistan would undermine "international consensus in favor of peace."
In the 1990s, Afghanistan descended into a civil war with foreign powers arming rival groups.
What’s Next: Afghanistan no longer appears to be a U.S. foreign policy priority.
Washington is likely to continue to contribute to efforts to ease the devastating humanitarian crisis gripping the country as well as preventing Afghanistan from again becoming a safe haven for terrorist groups.
What To Keep An Eye On
In a new report, the Afghanistan Analyst Network (AAN) think tank has revealed the significant problems facing the over 700,000 Afghan refugees and migrants deported from neighboring Pakistan in recent years.
The report, based on interviews with returnees, said many are struggling to find shelter, work, and schooling.
The report said many were deported "with little or no time to prepare, mostly unable to bring assets with them and not having a home or job to come back to."
Why It’s Important: The deportation of Afghans from Pakistan and neighboring Iran has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, the world’s largest.
The Taliban’s cash-strapped government has been unable or unwilling to support the returnees. Meanwhile, donor countries have slashed their humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan in recent years. Survivors grapple with aid cuts and the Taliban a year after massive Afghan earthquake (AP)
AP [10/6/2024 12:42 AM, Riazat Butt and Omid Haqjoo, 31638K, Negative]
People had just seconds to flee their homes when the terrifying sound of earth cracking open reverberated across western Afghanistan’s Herat province.
Nobody knows for sure how many people died in a 6.3 magnitude earthquake on Oct. 7, 2023, or in the strong aftershocks that followed. The Taliban government estimated that at least 4,000 perished. The U.N. gave a far lower figure of about 1,500. Survivors stopped counting, exhausted after digging through dirt to save their loved ones or bury them.
It was the deadliest natural disaster to strike Afghanistan in recent memory.
It was also another major challenge for the Taliban since they seized power in 2021, a test of their readiness to lead a country beset by economic hardship, isolation, devastation from decades of war, and vulnerability to shocks like earthquakes and climate change.
"At that time, the government really cooperated in transporting patients and the dead," said Ismatullah Rahmani, from the quake’s epicenter in Zinda Jan district, where every home, usually built of mud and timber, was levelled. His brother and nephew were killed, and he spent hours trying to free his wife from under 1 1/2-meter (60 inches) of soil. She survived.
"They opened hospitals and provided water and food to people for free," he told The Associated Press from his new home in Zinda Jan. He said the Taliban went to camps and helped survivors over several months, a blessing ahead of the harsh Herat winter.
"After that, our aid stopped," said Rahmani.
Quake survivors rely on charities
Charities had stepped in to build housing for survivors. But the accommodation they built lacks walls so there is no privacy, while the poor design leaves them vulnerable to storms or heavy rainfall. Houses either have no bathrooms or the bathrooms don’t have a roof.
Rahmani’s village, Naib Rafi, still doesn’t have a health clinic or a school. Instead, children are learning in tents.
The government didn’t provide financial assistance, he said. Senior officials and Islamic scholars visited communities a few times, listened to people’s problems and left.
Ahmadullah Muttaqi, spokesman and member of the Herat Earthquake Commission, said authorities worked with charities and nongovernmental groups to provide shelter and medical assistance.
"People’s problems haven’t been solved, of course, but the first necessity is building houses until they stand on their own feet. They have been given food and hospitals are still working," he told AP. He said they were still working to rebuild mosques, schools, madrassas and parks.
He did not answer questions about authorities’ preparedness for future disasters.
Foreign aid money is drying up
Afghans were already struggling with displacement, food insecurity and poverty before the quake struck, and the tragedy put further pressure on public services. Aid agencies, which have been propping up Afghan health care and education for the past three years under the Taliban, became even more thinly stretched.
The International Rescue Committee set up feeding corners after the earthquake so mothers could safely breastfeed children and get nutrition counselling. The relief agency said it also fixed water systems, provided emergency cash, hygiene kits, medical and mental health support to tens of thousands of people.
But, with other global crises raging, such support is finite.
International funding for Afghanistan has received less than a third of its target. Changing political priorities, economic troubles and wars are hitting donors’ pockets, especially those in the West.
Widespread opposition to the Taliban’s treatment of Afghan women and girls is also having an effect.
"There is donor fatigue, for sure, but perhaps the bigger problem is a nervousness from many donors about supporting anything but the most urgent life-saving aid," said Mark Calder from World Vision International.
The U.N. says international recognition of the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan is nearly impossible while restrictions remain on female education and employment.
The Taliban reject this position, demanding Afghanistan’s seat at the U.N. and saying that sanctions and the country’s continued isolation are hurting people.
Investment in quality development assistance would benefit Afghan women and girls disproportionately and it’s sometimes in their name that a reduction in aid to Afghanistan is promoted, said Calder.
"It’s difficult to imagine that Afghan communities are much better prepared for natural disasters than they were a year ago," he added.
Fears of another disaster
Herat authorities have been unable to fully meet humanitarian needs, while damaged infrastructure has hampered recovery efforts. A near-total reliance on aid organisations for basics like health care and shelter has left people exposed.
Four of Gul Ahmad Osmani’s children died in the disaster. He heard boys screaming under the soil in his village. It was impossible to pull them out, he said.
He and his surviving family members spent the winter in a tent. "The government took care of us, keeping my wife and children in a camp, but we didn’t see anything from the government that was specifically from them, like flour, cooking oil or rice," Osmani said. "Our own people, the people of Afghanistan, brought food for several days."
The helping hands came from other cities, districts and provinces to clear away rubble, bury the dead, and distribute everyday items like clothing.
But it’s been almost six months since NGOs or well-wishers came to help the residents of Zinda Jan. A kind doctor from northern Baghlan province donated money recently.
"There are still earthquakes and these new houses are heavy," said Osmani. "Children are afraid. The help for the earthquake did not help us." Envoy: ‘Russian leadership’ decides to delist Taliban as terrorist group (VOA)
VOA [10/5/2024 1:35 AM, Ayaz Gul, 4566K, Neutral]
Russia reported Friday that a "principal decision" had already been made to remove Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban from Moscow’s list of terrorist organizations.
Zamir Kabulov, the Russian presidential envoy for the South Asian nation, was quoted by state-run TASS news agency as saying that the foreign ministry and national security agencies "are putting finishing legal touches" on the Taliban’s delisting in line with federal laws.
"A principal decision on this has already been made by the Russian leadership," said Kabulov. "Hopefully, the final decision will be announced soon."
The remarks were reported on the same day that Moscow hosted a conference of regional countries to discuss Afghanistan, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov presiding over the proceedings.
Lavrov later held bilateral talks with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, who led his delegation at Friday’s multilateral event in the Russian capital, organized under the Moscow Format platform.
"We firmly believe in the importance of maintaining a pragmatic dialogue with the current Afghan government," Lavrov said in his inaugural speech to delegates from countries such as China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan.
"Moscow will continue to develop political, trade, and economic ties with Kabul," Lavrov pledged.
Russia launched the Moscow Format in 2017 and it has since become a regular platform for discussing challenges facing impoverished, war-torn Afghanistan.
Muttaqi, in his broadcast address to Friday’s gathering, welcomed Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan’s recent announcements that they will remove the Taliban from their lists of outlawed groups.
"We also appreciate the positive remarks [made] by the high-ranking officials of the Russian Federation in this regard and hope to see more effective steps soon," said the Taliban chief diplomat.
Russia’s involvement in Afghanistan has been tumultuous. The Soviet army entered the country in 1979 to help a pro-Moscow government in Kabul but pulled out a decade later due to heavy losses inflicted by U.S.-backed Afghan insurgents, or mujahideen.
Moscow has developed close informal ties with the Taliban since they regained power in Afghanistan three years ago after the United States and NATO forces withdrew ending 20 years of war.
President Vladimir Putin stated in July that Russia considered the Taliban an ally in the fight against terrorism. The former Afghan insurgent group has been on the Russian list of terrorist organizations since 2003.
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov praised the Taliban for combating narcotics in Afghanistan and fighting a regional Islamic State affiliate known as IS-Khorasan (IS-K).
"We support the Afghan authorities’ resolve to combat the terrorist threat," he told the conference Friday.
Muttaqi called on all regional countries "to cooperate in preventing the recruitment of their citizens by ISIS and then send them to Afghanistan and other countries to carry out subversive operations." He used an acronym for IS-K, which the United Nations describes as the most significant terrorist regional threat emanating from Afghan soil.
The Taliban foreign minister did not name any country, but Kabul formally alleged last week that the terrorist group is orchestrating attacks from bases in Pakistan, charges officials in Islamabad have refuted as unfounded.
No country has officially recognized the de facto Taliban government, although China and the United Arab Emirates have formally accepted Taliban-appointed ambassadors.
Washington remains opposed to any step toward easing sanctions or moving toward recognition of the Taliban as Afghanistan’s rightful government, saying Kabul must improve its human rights record to win international legitimacy and support.
"We will look for interest in any outcomes and deliverables from the upcoming Moscow Format meeting, but we do not participate," Karen Decker, the head of the Doha-based U.S. diplomatic mission for Afghanistan, told reporters Thursday.
The U.S. has never attended a Moscow Format meeting because it is seen as a regional conversation, said Decker, who has also been tasked with overseeing Afghan diplomacy. Pakistan
China Calls for Tighter Security After Workers Are Killed in Pakistan (New York Times)
New York Times [10/7/2024 2:51 AM, Salman Masood, 831K, Neutral]
Two Chinese nationals were killed and another was injured after a convoy was attacked in Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan, on Sunday, adding to concerns over the safety of Chinese workers involved in major projects in the South Asian nation.
The attack happened near the port city’s busy international airport around 11 p.m. on Sunday. The Chinese Embassy in Islamabad said the convoy was carrying Chinese workers from the Port Qasim Electric Power Company, a nearby coal-fired power plant.
The Balochistan Liberation Army, a separatist group from Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had used a car bomb. The group has long opposed both Pakistan’s central government and China, accusing them of exploiting the resource-rich province.
A loud explosion was heard miles away, and a large plume of smoke could be seen rising from the site after the attack. Police officials initially said that an oil tanker caught fire near the airport. At least 7 vehicles caught fire from the explosion and 10 Pakistanis were injured, officials said.
The Chinese Embassy condemned the attack on Monday, calling it a “terrorist act” and urging Pakistan to increase security for Chinese citizens and projects in the country.
The Karachi explosion adds to a growing list of attacks on Chinese interests in Pakistan. Since 2015, China has invested about $60 billion in infrastructure, energy and other projects across the country as part of its Belt and Road Initiative. The projects are seen as critical to helping Pakistan’s struggling economy.
Ensuring the security of Chinese workers and projects has been difficult for Pakistan, and Beijing has repeatedly called for stronger measures to protect its nationals. Militants, especially in Balochistan, have targeted Chinese-led initiatives in recent years. In March, militants attacked the Chinese-operated port in Gwadar, killing two Pakistani security personnel. Days later, another attack targeted an air base in Baluchistan. Chinese nationals have also been targeted in Pakistan’s northern regions.
On Monday, Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said on X that he was “deeply shocked and saddened” by the attack. In a statement Monday, Pakistan’s foreign ministry reaffirmed “its unwavering commitment to the safety and security of Chinese nationals, projects and institutions” in the country.
Pakistan’s efforts to secure its economic interests and tamp down on militant violence have been complicated by lingering political unrest that was triggered in 2022 by the removal of the prime minister at the time, Imran Khan. Pakistan Orders Inquiry as Two Chinese Killed in Militant Attack (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [10/7/2024 3:10 AM, Ismail Dilawar, 5.5M, Neutral]
Pakistan is investigating an attack in the port city of Karachi that killed two Chinese citizens on Sunday, as the South Asian nation struggles to curb rising militancy targeting interests of its key economic partner.
The militants targeted a security convoy of Chinese workers working at the Port Qasim Electric Power Co. near Karachi’s airport, Chinese embassy in Pakistan said in a statement. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and vowed to protect Chinese nationals, according to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday.
Pakistani authorities are trying to protect about 2,500 Chinese nationals working on different projects from roads to power under the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The efforts are failing though. Militant attacks increased by 47% to 717 this year to September and killed 834 people in Pakistan, according to the data compiled by Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.
Five Chinese nationals working at a power project in Pakistan’s northwest region were killed in an attack in March that Islamabad blamed on Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, an offshoot of Afghanistan’s Taliban group. Baloch Liberation Army, a group of militants fighting security forces, claimed responsibility for the latest attack, Dawn newspaper reported,
China asked Pakistani authorities to probe the attack and protect its citizens and projects, its embassy said in a statement.
The attack comes a week before Pakistan hosts the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Islamabad. The China-led SCO is a Eurasian grouping of countries that includes Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will attend summit, the first visit to Pakistan by an Indian foreign minister since 2015.
These attacks are also hurting efforts by the Sharif government to revive an economy with the help of the International Monetary Fund’s three-year $7 billion loan secured last month.
Sharif has said China along with Saudi Arabia and the UAE were key in rolling over loans and help Pakistan secure the IMF loan. It also comes at a time Pakistan is looking to inject some fresh momentum to projects under China’s Belt and Road Initiative. A Pakistani separatist group claims bombing that killed 2 Chinese near Karachi airport (AP)
AP [10/7/2024 3:34 AM, Adil Jawad and Munir Ahmed, 456K, Neutral]
A Pakistani separatist group claimed responsibility for a late night bombing that targeted a convoy with Chinese nationals outside the country’s largest airport, killing two workers from China and wounding eight people, officials and the insurgent group said Monday.
The attack by the Baloch Liberation Army outside the airport in the southern port city of Karachi was the latest deadly assault on Chinese here and came a week before Pakistan is to host a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a security grouping founded by China and Russia to counter Western alliances.
The explosion, which the BLA said was the work of a suicide bomber, also raised questions about the ability of Pakistani forces to secure high-profile events or foreigners in the country. Among the wounded were also police officers who were escorting the Chinese convoy when the attack happened.
Initially, Pakistani authorities gave conflicting details and said the explosion may have been from an oil tanker but police later confirmed it was a bomb attack.
Pakistani news channels broadcast videos of flames engulfing cars and a thick column of smoke rising from the scene. Troops and police cordoned off the area. On Monday, counterterrorism officials were investigating how the attacker reached Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city.
The spokesman for the separatist group, Junaid Baloch, said Monday that one of their suicide bombers targeted the convoy of Chinese engineers and investors as they left the airport. The Baloch Liberation Army is mainly based in the restive southwestern Balochistan province but it has also attacked foreigners and security forces in other parts of Pakistan in recent years.
The Chinese Embassy in Islamabad said Chinese staffers working at the Port Qasim Electric Power Company — a coal-powered power plant that’s a joint China-Pakistan venture — were in the convoy when it came under attack around 11 p.m. on Sunday. Two Chinese nationals were killed and one was wounded, the embassy said and added, without elaborating, that there were also Pakistani casualties.
Pakistani security officials say a police bomb disposal unit in Sindh province, where Karachi is the capital, had cleared the road outside the airport ahead of the movement of the Chinese convoy, which was being escorted by police and security officials in several vehicles.
However, the road had not been blocked to avoid inconvenience for residents and travelers going to or from the airport, the officials said, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss security details.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the bombing, saying it was a “heinous terrorist attack near Karachi airport.” It said another Chinese was injured in the attack.“We extend our deepest condolences and sympathies to the families of the victims, both Chinese and Pakistani, and offer prayers for the swift recovery of the injured,” said the ministry in a statement. “We remain resolute in bringing to justice those responsible for this cowardly attack.”
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he was shocked and saddened, describing the attackers as “enemies of Pakistan” and promising the perpetrators would be punished.“I strongly condemn this heinous act and offer my heartfelt condolences to the Chinese leadership & the people of China, particularly the families of the victims,” he wrote on the social media platform X.“Pakistan stands committed to safeguarding our Chinese friends,” he added. “We will leave no stone unturned to ensure their security & well-being.”
Authorities estimate that the BLA, which Pakistan and the United States have designated a terrorist organization, has around 3,000 fighters. It regularly targets Pakistani security forces but has also in the past attacked Chinese nationals.
According to Abdullah Khan, a senior defense analyst and managing director of the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, BLA has preferred attacks on “moving targets” but its ability to launch high-profile attacks has increased in recent years.
More BLA attacks around the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit next week cannot be ruled out, Khan told The Associated Press.
Port Qasim Electric Power Company is owned by PowerChina Resource Ltd, a subsidiary of Power Construction Corporation of China whose spokesperson, Geng Xingqiang, said the company “is in the middle of making arrangements to actively deal with the incident.”
Pakistan hosts thousands of Chinese workers as part of Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, which is building major infrastructure projects.
The outlawed BLA has long waged an insurgency seeking independence and has repeatedly warned against any Chinese working in Balochistan.
The Sunday night attack followed deadly attacks in August that killed more than 50 people in Balochistan. Sharif at the time said the attackers sought to harm Chinese-funded development projects.
The oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest but also least populated province. It is also a hub for the country’s ethnic Baloch minority whose members say they face discrimination and exploitation by the central government. Along with separatist groups, Islamic militants also operate in the province.
In 2018, the BLA stormed the Chinese Consulate in Karachi, triggering an intense hourlong shootout that killed two Pakistani civilians and two police officers. All three assailants were also killed.
In March, in northwestern Pakistan, a suicide bombing killed five Chinese engineers and their Pakistani driver as they headed to the Dasu Dam, the country’s biggest hydropower project. In April, five Japanese workers were unharmed when a suicide bomber targeted their van as they were on their wat to a factory in Karachi. One bystander was killed.
In July 2021, at least nine Chinese nationals working on a dam and four Pakistanis were killed when a suicide bomber targeted their bus in northwestern Pakistan. Local authorities first said it was a road accident but Beijing insisted it was a bombing, which Islamabad later confirmed.
In 2022, three Chinese teachers and their Pakistani driver were killed when an explosion ripped through their van at the University of Karachi campus. Dozens of Pakistan police injured in clashes with supporters of former PM Khan (Reuters)
Reuters [10/5/2024 10:36 AM, Gibran Peshimam, 37270K, Neutral]
Over 80 police personnel have been injured in clashes with supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan taking part in a march near Islamabad, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Saturday.The march, which is being led by the head of the northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where Khan’s party remains in power, aims to gather in the capital, defying a ban on congregations, to press for Khan’s release and agitate against the ruling coalition."The convoy, led by the chief minister, fired on the police and continuously used teargas against law-enforcers," Naqvi told journalists.He said more than 80 police officers had been treated for injuries since Friday, when clashes broke out just outside the city during an anti-government rally.Authorities have sealed off Islamabad and blocked cellphone services to prevent the gathering.Islamabad is on high alert ahead of a series of top-level diplomatic events scheduled over the next two weeks, including a visit by India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.Naqvi said while the convoy was heavily armed, the police had been instructed not to carry weapons to prevent the situation from escalating. The government has deployed the army to enhance security in Islamabad.The protesters plan to gather in the city’s red zone, which houses the country’s parliament and a fortified enclave of foreign embassies.Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party denies using violence, and says it wants to hold a peaceful gathering.Naqvi had previously called on the PTI to delay any gathering until after diplomatic engagements in the city, including a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting on Oct. 15-16 which will be attended by delegations, including from China, Russia and India.On Saturday, Naqvi said the authorities had intelligence that the protesters planned to disrupt the SCO conference in a bid to gain attention."We can’t allow this. I will say to them again, to not cross more red lines - don’t make us take extreme steps," Naqvi said.The PTI, which says the Islamabad protest is just for one day, is also holding a gathering in the eastern city of Lahore on Saturday, where a lockdown of roads is in place. Imran Khan’s party says official detained by law enforcement forces (Reuters)
Reuters [10/5/2024 10:13 AM, Gibran Peshimam, 37270K, Negative]
The chief minister of Pakistan’s northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, a key aide of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, was detained in Islamabad on Saturday by law enforcement agencies, Khan’s party said.Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur was leading a convoy of Khan supporters into Islamabad which clashed with police officers on Friday and Saturday.He was detained by paramilitary and police forces after he arrived at the official residence of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister in Islamabad, Khan’s spokesperson Zulfikar Bukhari told journalists.Leaders of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party earlier said Gandapur had been arrested by police. They later clarified that he had been taken into custody but not formally arrested. Pakistan Bans Pashtun Civil Rights Movement As Threat To Security (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [10/6/2024 7:34 AM, Staff, 1251K, Neutral]
Pakistani authorities have banned a popular civil rights movement that campaigns for the country’s ethnic Pashtun minority. The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) has been engaged in “certain activities” that are harmful to public order and security in the country, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on October 6 without providing details. The PTM had in recent days reported a series of police raids and arrests targeting its leaders and members ahead of a “curial jirga” or people’s assembly on October 11 in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. The PTM has campaigned since 2018 for the civil rights of the country’s estimated 35 million ethnic Pashtuns. Many of Pakistan’s ethnic Pashtuns live in areas close to the border with Afghanistan, where the military has conducted campaigns it says defeated the Pakistani Taliban. Militants kill 6 Pakistani soldiers in a shootout (AP)
AP [10/5/2024 10:57 AM, Staff, 31638K, Negative]
Militants killed six Pakistani soldiers in a shootout, the army said Saturday, the latest unrest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan where armed groups including the Pakistani Taliban are active.
The troops died in an overnight operation in North Waziristan district on Saturday, according to an army statement. It said six militants also were killed.
The army said a separate operation killed two militants in Swat, also in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. One of them was said to be involved in an attack on a convoy of foreign ambassadors in the area earlier this month.
Also Saturday, cellphone services remained suspended in Islamabad as it entered a second day of a lockdown aimed at thwarting rallies in support of ex-leader Imran Khan. He is in prison on multiple charges.
Shipping containers blocked off the city’s entry and exit points, but videos from Khan’s PTI party showed supporters piled into vehicles and attempted to head toward Islamabad.
The chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ali Amin Gandapur, and others in the convoy worked throughout the night to remove shipping containers from the road, according to the party.
The PTI later said that security forces arrested Gandapur for entering Islamabad in defiance of a ban on rallies. Police and officials did not immediately confirm the arrest.
Clashes broke out between Khan supporters and security forces in D-Chowk, which is close to several key government buildings including Parliament and the Supreme Court.
The PTI also said it planned to hold a rally in Lahore.
As well as grappling with political instability arising from confrontations with Khan’s party, Pakistani authorities are struggling to contain violence in southwestern Balochistan province, where a blast killed three security personnel and injured four others on Saturday.
Police official Habib ur Rahman said members of the Frontier Corps were on a routine patrol in Kalat district, around 160 kilometers (44 miles) south of the provincial capital Quetta, when a homemade bomb was remotely detonated.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. India
India Foreign Minister to Visit Pakistan for First Time Since 2015 (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [10/5/2024 2:21 AM, Sudhi Ranjan Sen, 27782K, Neutral]
India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will attend a China-led summit in Pakistan in place of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government said late Friday.It’ll be the first visit to Pakistan by an Indian foreign minister since 2015. Jaishankar will lead the delegation at a state-level meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation starting on Oct. 15, said Randhir Jaiswal, foreign ministry spokesperson. It’s not clear whether Jaishankar will hold a bilateral meeting with his Pakistani counterpart to discuss ties. “As and when the visit develops, we will inform,” Jaiswal told reporters. Relations between India and Pakistan have been hostile since each gained independence from British rule in 1947 and Muslim-majority Pakistan was created. Their tensions center on the border region of Kashmir, an area in the Himalayas claimed in full — and ruled in part — by both. They’ve fought two of their three wars over control of the region.The last Indian foreign minister to travel to Pakistan was Sushma Swaraj for a Heart of Asia Conference in December 2015. Within weeks, Modi followed with a surprise stopover in Lahore.The China-led SCO is a Eurasian grouping of countries that includes Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.Separately, India criticized Pakistan for welcoming Muslim cleric Zakir Naik, who’s wanted in India on allegations of money laundering and inciting extremism. Naik posted a video of himself on Thursday being welcomed by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad.“We are not surprised that a fugitive from Indian justice has received a welcome in Pakistan,” Jaiswal told reporters. “It is disappointing and condemnable, but not surprising.” Indian foreign minister rules out bilateral talks at SCO summit in Pakistan (Reuters)
Reuters [10/5/2024 8:57 AM, Ira Dugal, 37270K, Neutral]
India’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will not discuss bilateral relations when he visits Pakistan this month, the first such visit in nearly a decade, for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit."I expect there would be a lot of media interest because of the very nature of the relationship," Jaishankar said in response to a query at an event in New Delhi."But I do want to say it will be for a multilateral event. I am not going there to discuss India-Pakistan relations," he added.On Friday, the Indian foreign ministry confirmed that Jaishankar will visit Pakistan to participate in the summit on Oct. 15-16 but did not say if he would meet any Pakistani leaders on the sidelines.Relations between the two countries have gone through periods of thaw from time to time but have been largely frozen since they downgraded diplomatic ties in tit-for-tat moves in 2019.Earlier this year, Jaishankar said that India would want to "find a solution to the issue of years-old cross-border terrorism" but added that it cannot be the "policy of a good neighbour"."I am going there to be a good member of the SCO but since I am a courteous and civil person, I will behave myself accordingly," he said. Climbers Are Rescued After Three Nights at 20,000 Feet (New York Times)
New York Times [10/7/2024 3:19 AM, Yan Zhuang, 831K, Positive]
Two climbers, one American and one British, were rescued from a Himalayan mountain after being stranded for three nights at nearly 20,000 feet, Indian officials said.
The climbers, Michelle Dvorak and Fay Manners, were rescued on Sunday after an earlier attempt failed, according to a statement from the government of the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand. The women used a pager on Thursday to alert that they were stranded on the Chaukhamba III mountain in Uttarakhand, saying that their luggage, which included food and equipment essential for the climb, had fallen into a ravine.“Without these, they could neither go up nor come down,” the Uttarakhand government statement said.
Ms. Manners, who is British, told the newspaper The Telegraph that a falling rock had severed the rope they were using to haul their luggage behind them, sending it tumbling into the ravine.
The women were stranded at a height of about 6,015 meters, or 19,734 feet, according to the Uttarakhand government. At that altitude, about 980 meters below the mountain’s summit, the air is thin, the body begins to deteriorate and long-term survival is impossible, according to scientists.
The Indian Air Force deployed two helicopters on Friday but were unable to find the women, the Uttarakhand government said. Rescuers had to battle bad weather and extreme conditions, the air force said.
At the same time, the authorities began preparing to send climbers up Chaukhamba III to rescue Ms. Manners and Ms. Dvorak.
Meanwhile, the Indian Mountaineering Federation had contacted a French climbing team that was already on the mountain, and was able to reach them on Saturday evening, the Uttarakhand government said.
The five French climbers shared their coordinates with the Indian authorities, who launched another helicopter rescue attempt on Sunday morning, the Uttarakhand government said. This time, rescuers located the two women and brought them to safety.
After their ordeal, Ms. Manners posted a photo of herself and Ms. Dvorak on Instagram, captioned, “We are back down and safe.” India faces tough balancing act amid escalating Middle East conflict (VOA)
VOA [10/4/2024 4:47 PM, Suhail Anjum and Muhammad Atif, 4566K, Negative]
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over a Cabinet meeting on security Friday to address the escalating conflict in the Middle East. According to Press Trust of India, the meeting focused on the implications on trade and the supply of petroleum products.
India expressed grave concern regarding the escalation of the security situation involving Israel and its neighbors, emphasizing that "the conflict must not take a wider regional dimension."
In view of the increasing tensions, the question is how India will balance its relations with all parties if the situation becomes worse.
Analysts in New Delhi say India should adopt a neutral stance, especially if the situation worsens and a formal war breaks out between Iran and Israel.
India’s major concern is a potential extended disruption in trade. Traders worldwide are preparing for this, as the crucial Red Sea shipping route could stay closed to international shipping lines longer than initially expected, likely keeping freight rates and petroleum prices elevated.
Former Indian diplomat Rajiv Dogra told VOA that if the situation got more tense, it would affect the supply chain, imports and exports, and India’s interests in the region.
Dogra said that big powers were trying to ensure that the situation does not deteriorate, and that India was also trying to establish peace.
Journalist and author Nilofar Suhrawardy told VOA there would not be a formal war.
Suhrawardy referred to U.S. President Joe Biden’s statement that said that the Israeli reaction to the Iranian attack should be proportionate.
She said the Iranian ballistic missile attack Tuesday on Israel was in reaction to the September 27 killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the militant group’s headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon.
But if there is a full-scale war, what will be India’s stand?
Analysts said India would take a neutral stand. According to Suhrawardy, India has good relations with Israel, Iran, Arab countries and the Palestinians, so it will not take any party’s side.
She said she believed the policy India adopted in the Ukraine-Russia conflict would be applied to the Israel-Iran conflict, too.
Modi has spoken to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the past two weeks.
On September 23, he met Abbas in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
Modi spoke to Netanyahu by phone on Monday. The Indian leader condemned terrorism and urged the release of citizens held hostage by Hamas. India’s ruling party set to lose 2 state elections, exit polls show (Reuters)
Reuters [10/6/2024 6:37 AM, Sarita Chaganti Singh, 2376K, Neutral]
India’s ruling party is projected to have lost two key provincial elections to the main opposition Congress party and its allies, exit polls showed, suggesting another setback after the party fared poorly in national elections.
Local media reported that Congress had a clear advantage in exit polls in the northern state of Haryana, indicating an end to a decade of rule by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state. The opposition also held an edge in the Himalayan territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The two elections were held in phases that ended on Saturday. Votes will be counted on Tuesday and results will be announced the same day. The exit poll results were released late on Saturday.
Exit polls, conducted by private polling firms including TV broadcasters, have a patchy record in India, which analysts say poses a particular challenge due to its large and diverse voting population.
The exit polls had projected Modi’s BJP would win a large majority in the general election in June, but it fell short and had to depend on regional parties to secure a majority and form a coalition government.
The two Indian territories are the first to go to the polls since the national elections.
India’s industrial hub of Maharashtra and the mineral-rich eastern state of Jharkhand, next up in provincial elections, are awaiting the announcement of poll dates that are expected to be in November.
The Jammu and Kashmir election was the first in a decade in the Himalayan region, which has endured years of militant violence. It is India’s only Muslim-majority territory and has been at the centre of a dispute with neighbouring Pakistan since 1947.
Its status as a special semi-autonomous entity was revoked in 2019 by Modi’s government, which says the move has helped to restore normalcy in the area and boosted development. Indian troops kill 31 suspected Maoist rebels in forest battle (AP)
AP [10/5/2024 2:42 AM, Indrajit Singh, 31638K, Negative]
At least 31 suspected Maoist rebels were killed in a battle with Indian troops in central India, police said Saturday.
The fighting erupted on Friday when counterinsurgency troops, acting on intelligence, cornered nearly 50 suspected rebels in the Abhujmaad forest area along the border of Narayanpur and Dantewada districts in Chhattisgarh state, said state police Inspector General Pattilingam Sundarraj.
Sundarraj said the operation was launched on Thursday, and the battle began the next day, lasting about nine hours. He said search operations were continuing in the area and that the troops had recovered some arms and ammunition, including automatic rifles. There were no reports of casualties among the troops.
There was no immediate statement from the rebels.
Indian soldiers have been battling the Maoist rebels across several central and northern states since 1967, when the militants, also known as Naxalites, began fighting to demand more jobs, land and wealth from natural resources for the country’s poor indigenous communities. The insurgents are inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.
Years of neglect have isolated many local villagers, who face a lack of jobs, schools and health care clinics, making them open to overtures by the rebels. The rebels speak the same tribal languages as many local villagers and have promised to fight for a better future especially in Chhattisgarh, one of India’s poorest states despite its vast mineral riches.
Authorities say at least 171 militants have been killed so far this year in Chhattisgarh.
Friday’s fighting was the deadliest clash this year.
In April, government forces killed at least 29 suspected Maoist rebels in in Chhattisgarh, three days ahead of the start of India’s national election.
The rebels have ambushed police, destroyed government offices and abducted officials. They’ve also blown up train tracks, attacked prisons to free their comrades and stolen weapons from police and paramilitary warehouses to arm themselves. Misguided foreign policy has left India friendless in South Asia (Nikkei Asia – opinion)
Nikkei Asia [10/6/2024 10:03 PM, Toru Takahashi, 2376K, Negative]
Eager to position India as a leading Asian power to rival China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has prioritized strengthening ties with Sri Lanka and other nearby countries. However, political developments in neighboring nations, along with some misguided diplomacy from New Delhi, are undermining the leader’s efforts.
In Sri Lanka, antiestablishment lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake won the presidential election on Sept. 21. However, the coalition led by his Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party secured only three of the 225 seats in parliament, prompting Dissanayake to dissolve the legislature and call a general election for Nov. 14.In the island nation, sometimes referred to as "the pearl of the Indian Ocean," the Rajapaksa brothers and their clan -- who played a crucial role in ending a 26-year civil war in 2009 -- had long held power. The regime of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa collapsed in 2022, however, due to an economic meltdown caused by the perfect storm of inefficient investment in China-led infrastructure projects, the financial fallout from the COVID pandemic, and inflation triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Although the economy has recovered somewhat, painful measures such as tax hikes and spending cuts have fueled growing public discontent, contributing to Dissanayake’s electoral victory.Modi may now see an opportunity to improve ties with Sri Lanka, which, under the Rajapaksa family, had leaned toward closer relations with China. But, it remains uncertain whether this change in power will ultimately benefit India, which likes to see itself as the leader of South Asia.Sri Lanka, long plagued by deep-seated animosity between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamil populations, plunged into civil war in 1983 when separatist Tamil militants clashed with the military. New Delhi provided humanitarian support to the militants to address concerns among its own Tamil population while attempting to prevent the secessionist movement from spilling over into its territory. But, India’s half-hearted involvement in the civil war backfired, leading to the assassination of then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by a Tamil extremist.Currently, there are about 3.3 million Tamils in Sri Lanka, while nearly 80 million live across the Palk Strait in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.Dissanayake’s JVP once championed Sinhalese nationalism and still holds some anti-Indian sentiment. In February, Dissanayake visited India at New Delhi’s invitation to foster friendly ties. However, during his election campaign, he criticized infrastructure projects undertaken by India’s Adani Group in Sri Lanka and called for excluding Indian fishing boats from national waters. Even if the new president does not pursue a clearly pro-China policy, strengthening ties with India may not be easy.Sri Lanka is just one of several miscalculations in Modi’s "neighborhood-first" policy, which aims to cultivate good relations and economic synergy with India’s smaller neighbors.In Myanmar, the increasingly China-leaning military seized power in February 2021, detaining Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader who once studied in India. In Afghanistan, the withdrawal of U.S. forces in August of that year led to the resurgence of the Taliban regime, which is closely aligned with Pakistan, India’s archrival.Furthermore, the pro-India president of the Maldives lost the nation’s 2023 election to a pro-China candidate. Upon assuming power, the new president, Mohamed Muizzu, ordered the withdrawal of Indian military units that had been assisting the country with maritime surveillance and medical emergencies using their aircraft, while also signing a military assistance pact with China. In Nepal, K.P. Sharma Oli, a veteran communist politician with pro-China policies, became prime minister in July.Changes in national leadership culminated in major upheaval in Bangladesh in August, as antigovernment demonstrations led by students prompted the ousting of Sheikh Hasina, who had ruled the country with an iron fist for years. Hasina, the eldest daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman -- Bangladesh’s first president and a hero of the country’s fight for independence from Pakistan in 1971 -- has been closely aligned with India, which supported that struggle. After her ousting, Hasina has sought refuge in India.In an interview with the Indian Express, Abdul Moyeen Khan, a senior member of Bangladesh’s main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, argued that the Indian government made "massive" blunders by putting "all its eggs in one basket." The former minister of information was referring to New Delhi’s lopsided support for the ousted prime minister. The interim Bangladeshi government, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, has demanded Hasina’s extradition, placing India in a difficult position.Looking around, India now has only one country in South Asia that is friendly toward it: Bhutan, which relies on India for its economy and diplomacy. Many pundits attribute India’s predicament to its obsession with competing against China."The Asian balance of power was skewed by the Partition," wrote Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in his 2020 book "The India Way," referring to the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent into India and Pakistan, which consisted of West Pakistan (now Pakistan) and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), following independence from Britain. By the "balance of power," Jaishankar is clearly pointing to India’s regional standing in relation to China.According to United Nations estimates, China’s population was 540 million in 1950, compared to India’s 340 million. However, if the populations of East and West Pakistan had been included, India’s population would have been 420 million. By 2023, India’s population surpassed China’s for the first time, reaching 1.44 billion compared to China’s 1.42 billion. Pundits argue that without partition, India would have overtaken China long ago.Population may be just one element of national power, but from India’s perspective, the humiliating defeat in the 1962 Sino-Indian border conflict was attributed to the dilution of national strength, both economic and military, following partition. Actions taken by India, such as the de facto military alliance with the Soviet Union in 1971 and nuclear tests in 1974, were all aimed at countering China’s rise.India continues to face a security threat from China, as shown by a military standoff in the Doklam plateau near the borders of India, Bhutan and China in 2017, as well as a deadly clash between Indian and Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley of the Himalayas in 2020. This clash resulted in the first casualties in 45 years in the territorial conflict between the two powers.While India is preoccupied with Chinese threats on land, Beijing has accelerated its naval expansion. Since the 2000s, China has developed several ports in India’s neighboring countries, including Gwadar in Pakistan, Hambantota in Sri Lanka and Kyaukpyu in Myanmar. China is pursuing the "string of pearls" strategy, which aims to encircle India by financing infrastructure projects with potential military applications in these countries.This growing threat from China is why Modi began to pursue his neighborhood diplomacy after taking office in 2014. He was eager to reassert the country’s position as a dominant power in South Asia.Yet China’s overtures are not the only reason India’s neighbors have begun to distance themselves from the South Asian country. Many experts attribute this shift to India’s perceived arrogance in asserting itself as a "big brother" in the region.Public sentiment against India appears strong in some neighboring countries. "Our local bases in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were often reluctant to share information with the regional headquarters in India," said an executive at a Japanese company that moved its South Asia headquarters from New Delhi to Singapore five years ago.While directing much of his energy toward neighborhood diplomacy, Modi also sought to expand India’s geopolitical reach to better compete with China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Under his leadership, India has enhanced cooperation with ASEAN through the Act East policy, joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which includes Central Asian nations such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, and formed the I2U2 cooperation framework with the U.S., the United Arab Emirates and Israel.In addition, Modi has leveraged the Global South group of emerging and developing countries as a platform to solidify India’s position as a major player while countering China. In January 2023, shortly after assuming the chair of the Group of 20 major powers, India hosted an online summit that brought together 125 developing nations and regions to discuss a wide range of concerns and challenges. India has hosted the same event twice since then, again deliberately excluding China, despite Beijing’s claims of being part of the Global South.With Modi’s popularity declining at home, the tectonic shifts in political dynamics across South Asia threaten to undermine his major-power diplomacy. "Unlike China, India lacks the bargaining chips it can draw upon in areas such as funding, infrastructure technology, military support and natural resources," said Ryohei Kasai, a visiting associate professor at the Center for South Asian Studies at Gifu Women’s University. "It is clear to its neighbors that India’s means are limited, and it is merely engaging in ‘lip service diplomacy.’"He added, "Indian diplomacy is overrated, and its substance will come under increasing scrutiny in the future." NSB
Bangladesh’s interim leader seeks Malaysia’s support for repatriation of Rohingya refugees (AP)
AP [10/4/2024 10:50 AM, Julhas Alam, 456K, Neutral]
Bangladesh’s interim leader, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, on Friday sought Malaysia’s help in engaging a regional Southeast Asia bloc on raising the issue of repatriating Rohingya refugees home to Myanmar.
Malaysia takes over the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, known as ASEAN, next year.
The appeal came as visiting Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim met with Yunus in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital — the first visit by a foreign leader to Bangladesh since Yunus took over on Aug. 8 and the first state visit by a Malaysian leader to Bangladesh in 11 years.
Yunus took over after Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country during a mass uprising that accused her of corruption, violation of human rights and excessive use of force against the protesters. He has pledged reforms and a push for reviving Bangladesh’s troubled economy.
Bangladesh has been hosting 1 million Rohingya refugees who fled violence by Myanmar’s military. They live in destitute sprawling camps in Bangladesh and have long been demanding a safe return home.
Yunus told a news conference after the two leaders held talks that he asked for Malaysian prime minister’s help in raising the Rohingya repatriation issue at ASEAN.“Malaysia will be supporting us in raising that,” Yunus said. “This is something we have to resolve as soon as possible.”
Yunus said that they also discussed boosting bilateral trade and finalizing a free trade agreement between their Muslim-majority nations, as well as political cooperation, investment, cultural and humanitarian ties.
They stressed the need for exploring new opportunities in sectors such as agriculture, energy, education, the semi conductor industry and connectivity, Yunus said.
Along with involving ASEAN in resolving the Rohingya refugee crisis, Bangladesh is also eager to increase trade with the bloc’s countries. Bangladesh was Malaysia’s second-largest trading partner in South Asia in 2023, with total trade reaching $2.78 billion, according to official figures.
Malaysia is also one of the leading destinations for Bangladeshi migrant workers. About 800,000 Bangladeshi workers are employed as low-skilled workers in Malaysia’s construction, manufacturing, plantation and services sectors.
But the recruiting process is often corrupt, and allegations of rights violations by Malaysian employers and Bangladeshi recruiting agencies are rampant.
Also, more than 6,000 Bangladeshi students study at Malaysian higher education institutions, according to 2023 figures.
The United News of Bangladesh agency reported that Anwar offered on Friday to recruit 18,000 more new Bangladeshi workers for Malaysia, promising to also ensure decent working conditions for workers from overseas.“We need more workers but they can’t be treated as modern slaves,” the agency quoted him as saying. Anwar arrived from Pakistan with a 58-member delegation for the hourslong visit in Bangladesh. Floods in Bangladesh leave five dead, thousands stranded (Reuters)
Reuters [10/6/2024 8:45 AM, Ruma Paul, 37270K, Negative]
At least five people have died and more than 100,000 remain stranded as devastating floods, triggered by heavy rains and upstream torrents, continue to ravage northern Bangladesh, officials said on Sunday.In Sherpur, one of the hardest-hit northern districts, the water levels of major rivers have surged, submerging new areas and displacing thousands of families.Local authorities fear widespread damage to agriculture, with crops and farmlands, particularly rice fields, facing potential devastation. Many homes and roads are under several feet of water, cutting off villages and leaving residents in desperate need of rescue."I have never seen such flooding in my life," said Abu Taher, a resident of the district.Army personnel, using boats and helicopters, have joined rescue efforts, delivering emergency supplies and evacuating those trapped by the floods.Bridges have collapsed, and roads have been submerged, making it difficult for local authorities to reach affected areas."Our priority is to evacuate people to safe shelters and provide them with essential supplies," said Sherpur district administrator Torofdar Mahmudur Rahman.He said another decomposed body, suspected to have floated from India, had been found.The low-lying nation of 170 million has experienced multiple floods this year, underscoring its vulnerability to climate change. A 2015 World Bank Institute analysis estimated that 3.5 million people in Bangladesh are at risk of annual river flooding, a risk scientists say is worsening due to global climate change.As water levels continue to rise, concerns grow about the long-term impact on the region’s agriculture, particularly rice crops. If the floodwaters do not recede soon, the economic toll on farmers could be severe.Adding to the worries, the weather office has predicted more rain in the coming days, raising fears of further inundation.The floods in August in eastern Bangladesh, which left more than 70 dead, caused damage estimated at $1.20 billion, according to a study by the Centre for Policy Dialogue, a leading think-tank.The United Nations and its partners have launched a $134 million humanitarian appeal to provide urgent relief and support to communities affected by ongoing floods and cyclones in Bangladesh. Maldives President Muizzu to meet India’s Modi to repair strained diplomatic ties (AP)
AP [10/7/2024 3:07 AM, Ashok Sharma, 456K, Neutral]
Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu is expected to talk Monday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi as he aims to repair ties between the countries that have been strained since he came to power last year.
Muizzu and Modi are expected to discuss “bilateral, regional, and international issues of mutual interest,” according to India’s foreign ministry. Muizzu will also hold meetings with senior Indian officials during his five-day India visit.
Tensions between India and Maldives have grown since pro-China Muizzu came to power last year after defeating India-friendly incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.Leading up to the 2023 elections, Muizzu had promised to expel Indian soldiers deployed in Maldives to help in humanitarian assistance. In May, New Delhi replaced dozens of these soldiers with civilian experts.
Ties were also strained in January when some Maldivian leaders lashed out at Modi for promoting India’s Lakshadweep archipelago for Indian travelers. Lakshadweep is off the southwestern coast of the Indian mainland.
Maldivian leaders saw the move as a way to lure Indian tourists away from their country and encourage them to visit Lakshadweep instead. It sparked angry protests from Indian celebrities who called for a tourism boycott to Maldives. Tourism is the mainstay of the Maldives’ economy.
The dispute deepened when Muizzu visited China ahead of India in January, a move which was seen as a snub to New Delhi. On his return, Muizzu spelled out plans to rid his tiny nation of dependence on India for health facilities, medicines, and import of staples.
A thaw ensued after Muizzu attended Modi’s June swearing-in ceremony in New Delhi for a third five-year term. Since then, Muizzu has toned down his anti-Indian rhetoric, and official-level contacts have intensified with New Delhi.
India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, on Sunday said he was confident Muizzu’s talks with Modi would give “a new impetus” to the “friendly ties” between the countries.
Regional powers India and China compete for influence in the archipelago nation, which is strategically located in the Indian Ocean.
For decades, India has been a critical provider of development assistance to the Maldives, including infrastructure projects, medical care, and health facilities. Meanwhile, Maldives is part of China’s “Belt and Road” initiative to build ports and highways and expand trade, as well as China’s influence across Asia, Africa, and Europe.
Muizzu’s visit to New Delhi is essential for Modi, who is facing a challenging time in neighborhood diplomacy with Marxist politician Anura Kumara Dissanayake taking over as Sri Lanka’s president and India-friendly Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fleeing to India in August after being forced to resign by students-led protests. Nepal also now has pro-China K.P. Sharma Oli as its prime minister.
Experts say India needs to maintain close ties with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and the Maldives, which are its traditional spheres of influence. Maldives president Muizzu to meet India’s Modi amid economic woes (Reuters)
Reuters [10/7/2024 2:09 AM, Sudipto Ganguly, 5.2M, Neutral]
Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu will hold talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday during a five-day state visit, hoping for New Delhi’s continuing support as his Indian Ocean nation recovers from an economic crisis.
Concerns have grown in recent months that cash-strapped Maldives could become the first country to default on Islamic sovereign debt but sentiment has improved since China and India, which vie for influence in the strategically located archipelago, extended fresh support lines.
Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu will hold talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday during a five-day state visit, hoping for New Delhi’s continuing support as his Indian Ocean nation recovers from an economic crisis.
Concerns have grown in recent months that cash-strapped Maldives could become the first country to default on Islamic sovereign debt but sentiment has improved since China and India, which vie for influence in the strategically located archipelago, extended fresh support lines.
Much of the money the Maldives owes is to China and India, which have extended $1.37 billion and $124 million in loans respectively, according to World Bank Data. The fear of Maldives’ default follows a turbulent few years, as COVID-19 hammered the nation’s mainstay tourism industry.
Maldives-India relations were hurt after Muizzu won power in April and demanded New Delhi replace 80 defence personnel it had stationed on the Maldives with civilians as part of his "India out" campaign. But the relationship has been on the mend following diplomatic talks and meetings since.
"Recent developments reflect a positive trajectory in our bilateral relations, and we are committed to fostering a cooperative and mutually beneficial partnership," Muizzu said in an interview published in Monday’s Times of India newspaper. Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [10/4/2024 10:21 PM, Paavan Mathema, 88008K, Negative]
Mingma Rita Sherpa was not home when the muddy torrent roared into his village in Nepal without warning, but when he returned, he did not recognise his once beautiful settlement.
It took just moments for freezing floodwaters to engulf Thame in the foothills of Mount Everest, a disaster that climate change scientists say is an ominous sign of things to come in the Himalayan nation.
"There is no trace of our house... nothing is left," Sherpa said. "It took everything we owned."
Nepal is reeling from its worst flooding in decades after ferocious monsoon rains swelled rivers and inundated entire neighbourhoods in the capital Kathmandu, killing at least 236 people.
Last weekend’s disaster was the latest of several disastrous floods to hit the country this year.
Thame was submerged in August by a glacial lake that burst high in the mountains above the small village, famous for its mountaineering residents.
It was once home to Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, the first person to climb the world’s highest mountain Everest, along with New Zealander Edmund Hillary.
"We are afraid to return, there are still lakes above," Sherpa said.
"The fertile land is gone. It is hard to see a future there," he added, speaking from the capital Kathmandu, where he has moved.
A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) is the sudden release of water collected in former glacier beds.
These lakes are formed by the retreat of glaciers, with the warmer temperatures of human-caused climate change turbocharging the melting of the icy reservoirs.
Glacial lakes are often unstable because they are dammed by ice or loose debris.
Thame was a popular stop during the trekking season, perched at an altitude of 3,800 metres (12,470 feet) beneath soaring snow-capped peaks.
But in August, during the monsoon rains, the village was largely empty.
No one was killed, but the flood destroyed half of the village’s 54 homes, a clinic and a hostel. It also wiped out a school started by Hillary.
Sherpa, like many in the village, ran a lodge for foreign trekkers. He also worked as a technician at a hydropower plant, a key source of electricity in the region. That too was damaged.
"Some are trying to rebuild, but the land is not stable," he said. "Parts continue to erode."
Thame’s residents are scattered, some staying in neighbouring villages, others in Kathmandu.
Local official Mingma Chiri Sherpa said the authorities were surveying the area to assess the risks.
"Our focus right now is to aid the survivors," he said. "We are working to help the residents rebuild or relocate".
Experts say that the flood in Thame was part of a frightening pattern. Glaciers are receding at an alarming rate.
Hundreds of glacial lakes formed from glacial melt have appeared in recent decades.
In 2020, more than 2,000 were mapped across Nepal by experts from the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), with 21 identified as potentially dangerous.
Nepal has drained lakes in the past, and is planning to drain at least four more.
ICIMOD geologist Sudan Bikash Maharjan examined satellite images of the Thame flood, concluding it was a glacial lake outburst.
"We need to strengthen our monitoring... so that we can, at least to some extent, predict and prepare," he said.
"The risks are there... so our mountain communities must be made aware so they can be prepared".
Scientists warn of a two-stage impact.
Initially, melting glaciers trigger destructive floods. Eventually, the glaciers will dry up, bringing even greater threats.
Glaciers in the wider Himalayan and Hindu Kush ranges provide crucial water for around 240 million people in the mountainous regions.
Another 1.65 billion people depend on them in the South Asian and Southeast Asian river valleys below.
Former residents of Thame are raising funds, including Kami Rita Sherpa, who climbed Everest for a record 30th time this year.
Kami Rita Sherpa said the locale had long been a source of pride as a "village of mountaineers", but times had changed.
"The place has no future now", he said. "We are living at risk -- not just Thame, other villages downhill also need to be alert."
The veteran mountaineer said his beloved mountains were under threat.
"The Himalayas have changed," he said. "We have now not only seen the impact of climate change, but experienced its dangerous consequences too." IMF, bilateral creditors back Sri Lanka on $12.5 bln bondholder debt rework (Reuters)
Reuters [10/4/2024 10:00 AM, Uditha Jayasinghe, 5.2M, Neutral]
Sri Lanka’s $12.5 billion bondholder debt rework has received support from bilateral creditors and the International Monetary Fund, the finance ministry said on Friday, a huge boost to the island nation’s fragile economy.
Sri Lanka defaulted on its foreign debt for the first time ever in May 2022, engulfed in a severe crisis and buckling under its high debt burden and dwindling foreign exchange reserves.
Last month, it reached a draft deal with creditors to restructure $12.5 billion of international bonds, and said on Friday it had got backing from the IMF and its bilateral creditors, including India, China and Japan for the same.
Sri Lanka’s finance ministry said in a statement it had received formal confirmation from the Official Creditors Committee that the terms of the Agreement in Principle were compatible with the Comparability of Treatment principle.
An IMF delegation was also in Colombo to discuss latest economic developments and reforms under Sri Lanka’s economic programme supported by the IMF ahead of the third review of the bailout deal, the approval of which will see the disbursement of a fourth tranche of about $337 million.
"The IMF team will continue its close engagement with Sri Lanka’s economic team to set a date for the third review of the IMF-supported programme," said Krishna Srinivasan, director of the IMF’s Asia Pacific department, at the completion of the trip on Friday.
Earlier on Friday, Sri Lanka said it had appointed Citigroup Global Markets Inc (Citi) as the dealer manager for its proposed sovereign bond exchange and that Citi in turn had appointed legal firm Hogan Lovells to advise it.
The process of issuing new bonds was likely to be completed within 10 weeks, the finance ministry said in a separate statement on Friday.
The country’s new government, under President Anura Dissanayake, said on Thursday it planned to move ahead with the third review of its nearly $3 billion programme of support from the International Monetary Fund.
Further discussions with the IMF will take place later this month when a Sri Lanka delegation, led my its central bank governor, meets during the annual IMF meetings in Washington. Central Asia
World’s Top Uranium Miner Backs Nuclear Plant in Referendum (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [10/7/2024 3:06 AM, Sing Yee Ong and Nariman Gizitdinov, 5.5M, Neutral]
Voters in Kazakhstan, the world’s largest uranium miner, backed the construction of a nuclear power plant in a referendum on Sunday.
Kazakhstan’s central election commission said on Monday that 71% of voters cast their ballots in favor of the government plan to build a new reactor. Turnout was about 64%, well above the threshold necessary for the result to be valid, the commission said, citing preliminary calculations.
Central Asia’s largest oil producer hasn’t used nuclear generation since 1999. The country has been grappling with a power shortage partly due to growth in the energy-intensive crypto industry and emergency shutdowns at old plants. The nation is seeking to significantly expand power generation by 2035, with nuclear sources as part of the mix, according to the Energy Ministry. The ministry said an initial estimate for the cost of the nuclear power plant was about $10 billion-$12 billion.
Kazakhstan’s backing for atomic energy underscores rising global interest in stable, round-the-clock nuclear power as countries attempt to meet rapidly rising energy demands while also reducing dependence on fossil fuels to slash emissions.
China National Nuclear Corp, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., Russia’s Rosatom Corp and Electricite de France SA were on a list of possible builders, according to a presentation from the Energy Ministry.“My personal opinion is that an international consortium, consisting of global companies with the most advanced technologies, should work in Kazakhstan,” President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said after he cast his vote on Sunday, according to his press office. Kazakhstan votes in favor of nuclear power plant construction, exit poll shows (Reuters)
Reuters [10/6/2024 3:53 PM, Mariya Gordeyeva and Olzhas Auyezov, 88008K, Neutral]
Kazakhstan voted in a referendum on Sunday on whether to build its first nuclear power plant, and an exit poll showed voters backed the idea promoted by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s cabinet as a way to phase out polluting coal plants.
The plan has faced public criticism due to concerns about related hazards, the Soviet nuclear testing legacy, and fears that Russia will be involved in the project.
Almost 64% of registered voters cast their ballots by 8 p.m. local time (1500 GMT) when the polling stations closed, the Central Election Commission said, making the vote valid.
The Commission will announce preliminary results on Monday but an exit poll of about 284,000 voters showed 69.8% of them voted in favor of the plan, local pollster SOCIS-A said hours after the vote ended.
"I have come to the conclusion that the decision to build the nuclear power plant, and to build it with (Russian state nuclear firm) Rosatom, has already been made in (Tokayev’s office) and the people of Kazakhstan are being invited to polling stations as ‘notaries’ to authenticate this decision with their votes," popular blogger Vadim Boreiko wrote.
In the village of Ulken on the shores of Lake Balkhash, in the southeast of the country, which the cabinet has designated as the site to build the plant, some locals hoped the project would bring jobs. Others expressed concern about the impact on the quality of the lake water.
"I support the power plant," said Dametken Shulgeyeva, who has lived in the village of 1,200 people for more than 20 years. "This is our future."
Despite its sizeable natural gas reserves, the Central Asian nation of 20 million relies mostly on coal-powered plants for its electricity, supplemented by some hydroelectric plants and the growing renewable energy sector.
Kazakhstan already imports electricity, mostly from Russia, as its facilities, many of which are old, struggle to meet domestic demand. And coal is regarded as the most polluting energy source.
SOVIET LEGACY
The government says a reliable energy supply is needed to supplement renewable sources such as solar and wind power, and, since Kazakhstan is one of the world’s biggest uranium producers, nuclear power is a logical choice.
"In order not to remain on the sidelines of global progress, we must use our competitive advantages," Tokayev said ahead of the vote.
The former Soviet republic, however, does not enrich uranium to the point where it can be used as fuel. The cabinet estimates that a nuclear power plant would cost $10 billion-$12 billion to build and expects contractors to secure the financing.
Critics say the same goal could be achieved with gas-powered plants which, although they still use fossil fuel, are much less polluting than coal plants and come with less risk.
Kazakhstan was part of the Soviet Union in 1986 when the Chornobyl nuclear disaster occurred, and tens of thousands of Kazakhs took part in the subsequent clean-up operation that left many with lifelong health issues.
The country was also the site of hundreds of Soviet nuclear weapon tests which have made swathes of land uninhabitable, led to disease among people in nearby areas, and have made many people distrustful of anything nuclear.
Tokayev, who publicly cast his vote in the capital Astana told reporters he had no single country or company in mind as a potential contractor.
"My personal vision on this matter is that an international consortium would need to work in Kazakhstan made up of global companies that possess the most advanced technologies," he said. (Reporting by Mariya Gordeyeva and Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Barbara Lewis) Tajikistan nationals with alleged ISIS ties removed in immigration proceedings, U.S. officials say (CBS News)
CBS News [10/6/2024 7:00 AM, Nicole Sganga, 59828K, Negative]
When federal agents arrested eight Tajikistan nationals with alleged ties to the Islamic State terror group on immigration charges back in June, U.S. officials reasoned that coordinated raids in Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia would prove the fastest way to disrupt a potential terrorist plot in its earliest stages. Four months later, after being detained in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities, three of the men have already been returned to Tajikistan and Russia, U.S. officials tell CBS News, following removals by immigration court judges.
Four more Tajik nationals - also held in ICE detention facilities - are awaiting removal flights to Central Asia, and U.S. officials anticipate they’ll be returned in the coming few weeks. Only one of the arrested men still awaits his legal proceeding, following a medical issue, though U.S. officials speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive proceedings indicated that he remains detained and is likely to face a similar outcome.
The men face no additional charges - including terrorism-related offenses - with the decision to immediately arrest and remove them through deportation proceedings, rather than orchestrate a hard-fought terrorism trial in Article III courts, born out of a pressing short-term concern about public safety.
Soon after the eight foreign nationals crossed into the United States, the FBI learned of the potential ties to the Islamic State, CBS News previously reported. The FBI identified early-stage terrorist plotting, triggering their immediate arrests, in part, through a wiretap after the individuals had already been vetted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, law enforcement sources confirmed to CBS News in June.
Several months later, their removals following immigration proceedings mark a departure from the post-9/11 intelligence-sharing architecture of the U.S. government.
Now facing a more diverse migrant population at the U.S.-Mexico border, a new effort is underway by the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice and the Intelligence Community to normalize the direct sharing of classified information - including some marked top-secret - with U.S. immigration judges.
The more routine intelligence sharing with immigration judges is aimed at allowing U.S. immigration courts to more regularly incorporate derogatory information into their decisions. The endeavor has led to the creation of more safes and sensitive compartmented information facilities - also known as SCIFs - to help facilitate the sharing of classified materials. Once considered a last resort for the department, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has sought to use immigration tools, in recent months, to mitigate and disrupt threat activity.
The immigration raids, back in June, underscore the spate of terrorism concerns from the U.S. government this year, as national security agencies point to a system now blinking red in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, with emerging terrorism hot spots in Central Asia.
A joint intelligence bulletin released this month, and obtained by CBS News, warns that foreign terrorist organizations have exploited the attack nearly one year ago and its aftermath to try to recruit radicalized followers, creating media that compares the October 7 and 9/11 attacks and encouraging "lone attackers to use simple tactics like firearms, knives, Molotov cocktails, and vehicle ramming against Western targets in retaliation for deaths in Gaza."
In May, ICE arrested an Uzbek man in Baltimore with alleged ISIS ties after he had been living inside the U.S. for more than two years, NBC News first reported.
In the past year, Tajik nationals have engaged in foiled terrorism plots in Russia, Iran and Turkey, as well as Europe, with several Tajik men arrested following March’s deadly attack on Crocus City Hall in Moscow that left at least 133 people dead and hundreds more injured.
The attack has been linked to ISIS-K, or the Islamic State Khorasan Province, an off-shoot of ISIS that emerged in 2015, founded by disillusioned members of Pakistani militant groups, including Taliban fighters. In August 2021, during the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, ISIS-K launched a suicide attack in Kabul, killing 13 U.S. service members and at least 170 Afghan civilians.
In a recent change to ICE policy, the agency now recurrently vets foreign nationals arriving from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries, detaining them while they await removal proceedings or immigration hearings.
Only 0.007% of migrant arrivals are flagged by the FBI’s watchlist, and an even smaller number of those asylum seekers are ultimately removed. But with migrants arriving at the Southwest border from conflict zones in the Eastern Hemisphere, posing potential links to extremist or terrorist groups, the White House is now exploring ways to expedite the removal of asylum seekers viewed as a possible threat to the American public.
"Encounters with migrants from Eastern Hemisphere countries-such as China, India, Russia, and western African countries-in FY 2024 have decreased slightly from about 10 to 9 percent of overall encounters, but remain a higher proportion of encounters than before FY 2023," according to the Homeland Threat Assessment, a public intelligence document released earlier this month.
A senior homeland security official told reporters in a briefing Wednesday, that the U.S. is engaged in an "ongoing effort to try to make sure that we can use every bit of available information that the U.S. government has classified and unclassified, and make sure that the best possible picture about a person seeking to enter the United States is available to frontline personnel who are encountering that person."
Approximately 139 individuals flagged by the FBI’s terror watchlist have been encountered at the U.S.\u2011Mexico border through July of fiscal year 2024. That number decreased from 216 during the same timeframe in 2023. CBP encountered 283 watchlisted individuals at the U.S.-Canada border through July of fiscal year 2024, down from 375 encountered during the same timeframe in 2023.
"I think one of the features of the surge in migration over recent years is that our border personnel are encountering a much more diverse and global population of individuals trying to enter the United States or seeking to enter the United States," a senior DHS official said. "So, at some point in the past, it might have been primarily a Western Hemisphere phenomenon. Now, our border personnel encounter individuals from around the world, from all parts of the world, to include conflict zones and other areas where individuals may have links or can support ties to extremist or terrorist organizations that we have long-standing concerns about."
In April, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that human smuggling operations at the southern border were trafficking in people with possible connections to terror groups.
"Looking back over my career in law enforcement, I’d be hard-pressed to think of a time when so many different threats to our public safety and national security were so elevated all at once, but that is the case as I sit here today," Wray, told Congress in June, just days before most of the Tajik men were arrested.
The expedited return of three Tajiks to Central Asia required tremendous diplomatic communication, facilitated by the State Department, U.S. officials said.
Returns to Central Asia routinely encounter operational and diplomatic hurdles, though regular channels for removal do exist. According to agency data, in 2023, ICE deported only four migrants to Tajikistan. Viral video of teacher assault sparks Uzbek-Russian row (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [10/4/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, 57.6K, Neutral]
A side-effect of Russian aggression in Ukraine seems to be a diminished ability on the Kremlin’s part to bully other formerly Soviet states. A recent spat between Russia and Uzbekistan that ended with Tashkent ignoring Moscow’s protests underscores the erosion of Russia’s coercive powers.
The trigger for the spike in Uzbek-Russian tension was a video that went viral on social media in late September, in which a teacher at a Tashkent school at which Russian is the primary language of instruction physically abuses a student after the pupil asked the instructor to speak in Russian, instead of Uzbek.
Russian media was quick to portray the incident as a broad attack on Russian speakers, and an example of the widespread discrimination that Russians endure in Uzbekistan. (The boy who was assaulted was an ethnic Tatar). Before long, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova demanded an explanation from Uzbek authorities, claiming that “In the friendly relations of strategic partnership and alliance between the two states, there is no, and cannot be, place for any hostility, especially when it concerns language.”
Andrei Klimov, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, went so far as to warn Uzbekistan that it could share the same fate as Ukraine if it didn’t show more respect for Russian-speakers. Meanwhile, a top official in Russia’s foreign development agency, Rossotrudnichestvo, challenged Uzbekistan, saying Tashkent “has a choice: be a civilized state [and punish the perpetrator] or be a primitive/Neanderthal state.”
Even Russia’s presidential commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for her role in the kidnapping of Ukrainian children to Russify them, got involved, reaching out to her Uzbek counterpart. “Persons who allow improper treatment of children in educational institutions should not only be dismissed from their positions, but also held accountable in accordance with the law,” the RASPI news service quoted Lvova-Belova as saying.
Ultimately, the dispute reached the halls of the United Nations, as the Uzbek and Russian foreign ministers met of the sidelines of the general assembly session to discuss the matter. Uzbek Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov did not sound a conciliatory note when describing the meeting in a Telegram post. He stressed “the importance of the adherence to the principle of non-interference in each other’s internal affairs in order to strengthen mutual trust.”
In Tashkent, all the Russian shouts, scolding and bluster fell on deaf ears. The highest-ranking Uzbek official to respond to Russia’s harangues was Alisher Kadyrov, a prominent MP, who basically called Russian officials out as hypocrites, saying Russia must “focus on its own affairs that are full of trouble.” Uzbeks and other citizens of Central Asian states living in Russia face widespread and systematic discrimination, observers in Tashkent and elsewhere are quick to point out.
The teacher, Ozoda Ravshanova, who provoked the diplomatic row with her abusive behavior, did not go unpunished. According to various media accounts, Rovshanova was involved in a separate incident at her own daughter’s school in which she reportedly assaulted that school’s deputy principal and subsequently physically resisted efforts by police to take her into custody. For this collective assault spree, she was fired from her teaching post and got off with a relatively light punishment of seven days of administrative detention for “petty hooliganism” and a fine of about $800, far lower than the potential maximum penalties. Central Asian Returnees Struggle To Find Work Amid Russia’s Record-High Deportations (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [10/6/2024 3:13 AM, Farangis Najibullah, 1251K, Negative]
Ever since she was deported from Russia last year, Dilfuza Hayitova has been looking for work in her native city of Termez, in southeastern Uzbekistan. But jobs are hard to find in the country, forcing the single mother to survive with a meager income from recycling plastic bottles and empty cans.
Unable to afford rent, Hayitova lives in her elderly father’s house. The some $2.50 a day that Hayitova earns is barely enough for "bread and other most basic needs," she says.
"I face a constant shortage of money, and it is suffocating. There are no jobs here," says Hayitova, who is in her late 30s. "I wouldn’t have survived without my father’s help."
Hayitova is among tens of thousands of Central Asian workers who are struggling to cope amid chronic job shortages in their home countries after recently being deported from Russia.
Moscow recently reported a record-high number of deportations and rejections of efforts to enter the country in the first seven months of 2024 amid an apparent anti-migrant drive that mostly targeted Tajik, Uzbek, and Kyrgyz citizens.
More than 143,000 people were denied entry to Russia from January to July, a significant spike from 2023, the Russian Interior Ministry reported.
Nearly 93,000 people were deported from Russia, in a 53 percent rise from the same time last year.
Additionally, the number of temporary and permanent residence permits issued from January to July dropped by 44 and 18 percent, respectively, compared to last year.
The ministry said 1,053 naturalized citizens were stripped of their Russian passports during these seven months.
The number of police raids targeting migrant-owned businesses rose by more than 200 percent, the Interior Ministry said.
While the ministry did not provide a breakdown of the statistics for each month, an unprecedented surge in deportations and entry refusals began after the March 22 terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall outside Moscow.
Russia claims that attack on the concert venue, which killed 145 people, was carried out by four Tajik citizens. It further fueled a long-standing anti-migrant sentiment in Russia, which hosts millions of workers from Central Asia.Hayitova says she was detained in a police raid in late March 2023, just days after the deadly attack. Police told the Uzbek migrant she was being deported for violating the terms of her work permit.
Hayitova, who earned about $25 a day washing dishes at a Moscow restaurant, says she would go back to Russia if she could.
Uzbekistan officially claims to have a relatively low unemployment rate of 6.8 percent, but many believe it doesn’t reflect the reality. Official employment figures include seasonal and temporary jobs, especially in the agriculture sector. Workers also complain about low wages.‘Where Are The Promised Jobs?’
The situation is even worse in neighboring Tajikistan, where more than half of all households depend on remittances from migrants in Russia.
Mirmoh Shamsova, a resident of the capital, Dushanbe, hasn’t been able to find any work since she returned to Russia after losing her job in the wake of the Crocus attack.
The housewife had become a migrant laborer four years ago after her husband died from an illness and the family was left with "big debts."
Shamsova says she earned an average of about $30 a day while in Russia juggling different jobs: cooking and cleaning at a private home and working at a candy factory.
The Tajik Labor Ministry announced that more than 100,000 new vacancies were created in the first half of the year alone.
"Where are these jobs so I could apply and get one?" Shamsova asked. "Wherever you go, even to get a job as a janitor, they ask you for $150 to $200 in bribes. I don’t have that much money."
The allegation of widespread bribery and a shortage of jobs has been shared by many Tajiks looking for work.
Shamsova says she is waiting for the situation to "calm down" in Russia so she could return. But there is no sign it will change anytime soon.‘I Blame Our Own Government’
Russian authorities continue to deport or deny entry to Central Asian nationals -- migrants, students, and others -- regardless of the validity of their passports and permits.
Some of those affected claim they were verbally insulted and even beaten by Russian officers in detention centers at airports and border crossings.
Tajik Muhammadjon Boev, who studies at the Michurin Agriculture University in Russia’s Tambov region, says he was detained at the Saratov land border crossing as he was returning from Tajikistan.
"They confiscated my passport and student ID and took me to a detention center. They kept me there for three days; they mocked me, verbally assaulted, and beat me…. They almost broke my hand," he said in an open letter to the Russian ambassador in Dushanbe.
Boev claims he was expelled from Russia for no valid reason. Education officials in Dushanbe said at least five other Tajik students have faced similar treatment in Russia this year.
At least 100 Uzbek passengers on a Samarkand-Moscow flight were denied entry to Russia at Sheremetyevo Airport on July 30.
Three of the passengers who gave only their first names -- Asliddin, Iskandar, and Siroj -- shared the videos they recorded of the day-and-half they were kept at the airport and their deportation flight home.
The men told Current Time that airport officials took their fingerprints and DNA samples before announcing they could not return to Russia for 20 years.
"They did not give any reason as to why they were deporting us. We haven’t done anything illegal," they said.
Siroj, 23, told Current Time that he and many others on the flight had borrowed money to buy tickets to Moscow, hoping they could pay it back with the money they would earn in Russia.
"I don’t know what I’m going to do. There are not many jobs in Uzbekistan. You can find work for a salary of about $240 a month, but this money is not enough to live on," he said. "I used to work at a farm, but prices for the harvest dropped this year, so I decided to go to Russia."
Russian authorities put the number of Central Asian workers in Russia at around 10.5 million, but other sources give lower figures.
In Russia’s Orenburg region, Tajik national Niso Shermatova hasn’t been able to submit her application for permanent residency. The bakery worker says she is eligible to apply because her husband is a Russian citizen and she is a "law-abiding person" who works and pays taxes.
Shermatova said she was told by a migration officer in September that the agency has "instructions not to accept applications from Tajik nationals for the time being."
"I don’t like how Russia treats us, migrants, but sometimes I think Russia and other foreign countries don’t owe us anything," Shermatova told RFE/RL. "I am angry with our own government, the Tajik government, which doesn’t care about its citizens. If we had a normal life at home, we wouldn’t be searching for a better life abroad." Twitter
Afghanistan
Abdul Qahar Balkhi@QaharBalkhi
[10/6/2024 11:33 AM, 247.8K followers, 101 retweets, 304 likes]
Remarks by IEA-MoFA Spokesman Regarding Recent Developments in Pakistan The tensions between the government & political opposition supporters in Pakistan has reached an alarming level that could adversely impact the entire region.
Abdul Qahar Balkhi@QaharBalkhi
[10/6/2024 11:33 AM, 247.8K followers, 12 retweets, 61 likes]
The best approach to address the legitimate demands of the people is via negotiations & understanding. The recent events have proven that rejecting negotiations further complicates matters.
Abdul Qahar Balkhi@QaharBalkhi
[10/6/2024 11:33 AM, 247.8K followers, 15 retweets, 54 likes]
We are closely monitoring the situation in Pakistan & hopes that the Pakistani government & influential institutions will deal reasonably and pragmatically with the growing discontent.
Habib Khan@HabibKhanT
[10/6/2024 11:04 PM, 237.8K followers, 93 retweets, 179 likes]
It’s been 1,116 days since the Taliban banned teenage girls from attending school. Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where educating girls is illegal. #LetHerLearn
Habib Khan@HabibKhanT
[10/5/2024 10:14 PM, 237.8K followers, 118 retweets, 367 likes]
The Taliban are trying to rewrite the narrative, blaming U.S. troops and ANDSF for civilian casualties, but their bombs caused most of the deaths. This video of a truck bomb in Kabul, killing over 150 civilians, is just one example.
Habib Khan@HabibKhanT
[10/4/2024 1:44 AM, 237.8K followers, 643 retweets, 1.1K likes]
Young girls are being sold into marriage in Afghanistan, a trend that has worsened since the Taliban’s return in 2021, deepening the humanitarian crisis, especially for women and girls.
Sara Wahedi@SaraWahedi
[10/6/2024 10:14 AM, 95.7K followers, 77 retweets, 349 likes]
Many Afghan women have reached out today about the European court’s decision on asylum for Afghan women. The current asylum process is outdated and needs to reflect the new ruling. Will be connecting with European legislators this week on how to support Afghan women to apply.
Sara Wahedi@SaraWahedi[10/6/2024 10:26 AM, 95.7K followers, 2 retweets, 27 likes]
To quell a lot of misunderstood anxiety: asylum processes are notoriously complex. The decision by the European courts *promotes* safe asylum pathways, mitigating dangerous ones. This supports Afghan women in following due process and obtaining asylum legally and safely. Pakistan
Shehbaz Sharif@CMShehbaz
[10/7/2024 12:26 AM, 6.7M followers, 167 retweets, 490 likes]
Deeply shocked and saddened by last night’s tragic incident in Karachi, resulting in the loss of two precious Chinese lives & injuring another. I strongly condemn this heinous act and offer my heartfelt condolences to the Chinese leadership & the people of China, particularly the families of the victims. May the injured recover soon. The perpetrators of this dastardly incident cannot be Pakistanis but are sworn enemies of Pakistan. An immediate investigation is underway to identify them and bring them to justice. Pakistan stands committed to safeguarding our Chinese friends. We will leave no stone unturned to ensure their security & well-being.
Shehbaz Sharif@CMShehbaz
[10/5/2024 5:11 AM, 6.7M followers, 344 retweets, 1.2K likes]
On #WorldTeachersDay , we honor the unwavering dedication of teachers who are transforming lives through education. Education is the key to unlocking a brighter future. Let us celebrate the tireless efforts of our teachers who, stand on the frontlines of education every day to shape the minds of our future.
Imran Khan@ImranKhanPTI
[10/5/2024 5:23 AM, 20.9M followers, 23K retweets, 49K likes]
I am so proud of all our people. Thank you for keeping the faith. You showed unfaltering resilience and courage as you came out yesterday & overcame unbelievable obstacles to keep marching forward towards D Chowk. You fought through the fascist govt’s endless shelling and firing, you overcame the containers, the dug up motorway and the iron nails placed there to keep moving forward - the women and elderly men along with the youth all showing relentless strength & fortitude. I am calling on everyone to keep heading to D chowk and join Ali Amin’s convoy. I especially want to commend our people from KP, North Punjab and Islamabad. You have defeated insurmountable obstacles, including shelling, chemicals fired from helicopters, trenches & nails on the motorway, with your determination and commitment. I am also asking our people from Punjab to move towards Minar i Pakistan in Lahore. If they cannot make it there they must join the protests in their cities. This is a fight for Haqeeqi Azadi so we can truly live as free citizens in our country within the Constitution & Rule of Law as envisaged by our Founder Quaid e Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
Michael Kugelman@MichaelKugelman
[10/6/2024 4:07 PM, 213.7K followers, 123 retweets, 437 likes]
The Balochistan Liberation Army has claimed an attack on a Chinese convoy just outside Karachi’s international airport. This marks yet another case of Chinese nationals being targeted in Pakistan, which has become a tension point in Pakistan’s critical relationship with Beijing.
Michael Kugelman@MichaelKugelman
[10/5/2024 11:13 AM, 213.7K followers, 587 retweets, 1.7K likes]
Tense moment in Pakistan. PTI is upping the ante, escalating rhetoric and stepping up protests as Parliament prepares to vote on constitutional amendments that could ban PTI from politics. The govt/mil, uneasy about PTI escalations as SCO summit approaches, is clamping down hard.
Michael Kugelman@MichaelKugelman
[10/5/2024 11:13 AM, 213.7K followers, 18 retweets, 67 likes]
"For Pakistan’s leaders, cutting the PTI down to size may amount to a Pyrrhic victory; [it] still boasts a large support base but is running out of space to channel its many grievances peacefully. This is unsettling for the country’s social stability." https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/10/02/pakistan-protest-imran-khan-politics-tension-military/ Habib Khan@HabibKhanT
[10/6/2024 2:51 AM, 237.8K followers, 83 retweets, 384 likes]
Chaos in Pakistan. Mass arrests of PTM activists ahead of the Pashtun grand gathering, while PTI supporters clash with police in Islamabad. Meanwhile, at least 17 Pakistani soldiers have been killed in separate attacks by the BLA and TTP.
Anas Mallick@AnasMallick
[10/7/2024 12:51 AM, 73.9K followers, 6 retweets, 27 likes]
2 Chinese Nationals among 3 dead in the attack near #KarachiAirport last night confirms Pakistan’s @ForeignOfficePk — Attack was claimed by terrorist outfit BLA. This barbaric act will not go unpunished reads statement. #Pakistan #China
Anas Mallick@AnasMallick
[10/6/2024 2:32 PM, 73.9K followers, 15 retweets, 60 likes]
Blast near Karachi airport just before the airport at the last signal, Police says that by the looks of it, it was an oil tanker explosion but yet to conclude on what really caused the explosion. #Pakistan
Anas Mallick@AnasMallick
[10/6/2024 3:55 AM, 73.9K followers, 14 retweets, 71 likes]
With IG Islamabad, Secretary Interior in participation, Islamabad police hold funeral prayers at D-Chowk in Islamabad for their martyred policeman Abdul Hameed Shah who was critically injured during the PTI protest and lost his life earlier this morning.Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office@amnestysasia
[10/6/2024 9:27 AM, 92.2K followers, 341 retweets, 564 likes]
PAKISTAN: Last month, in September, at least 2 people were extra-judicially killed by police officers in Sindh and Balochistan based on blasphemy allegations. With complete impunity, vicious mob attacks and vigilante violence have become all too frequent following blasphemy accusations in Pakistan.
Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office@amnestysasia
[10/6/2024 9:27 AM, 92.2K followers, 7 retweets, 15 likes]
At least 4 people have been killed so far in 2024 on blasphemy allegations in Pakistan. Pakistani authorities must ensure that those responsible are held accountable and effective measures are put in place to prevent the recurrence of these acts, including by repealing all blasphemy laws.
Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office@amnestysasia
[10/6/2024 8:37 AM, 92.2K followers, 6.3K retweets, 10K likes]
PAKISTAN: The blanket shutdown of mobile network and internet in Islamabad and Rawalpindi and complete blockade of roads to the capital imposed ahead of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) protests today, infringe on people’s right to freedom of expression, access to information, peaceful assembly and movement. These restrictions are part of a worrying clampdown on the right to protest in Pakistan through internet shutdowns, mass arrests, unlawful use of force and arbitrary imposition of Section 144. (1/3)
Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office@amnestysasia
[10/6/2024 8:37 AM, 92.2K followers, 858 retweets, 1.4K likes]
As hundreds of PTI supporters have been arrested in anticipation of the protest today, the authorities have also repeatedly weaponized sedition and anti-terror laws to press criminal charges against PTI’s leaders and supporters. Earlier on 2 October, the police used firearms and teargas to dismantle the peaceful Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) camp in Khyber district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. (2/3)
Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office@amnestysasia
[10/6/2024 8:37 AM, 92.2K followers, 826 retweets, 1.4K likes]
Amnesty International calls on the Pakistani authorities to immediately restore communication networks, respect the right to protest and refrain from use of any unlawful force against peaceful protesters. Further, all those arbitrarily detained and arrested in anticipation of today’s protest must be immediately released. Pakistan must adhere to its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights before, during and after the upcoming review at the Human Rights Committee on 17 and 18 October. (3/3) India
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[10/6/2024 3:36 AM, 102.5M followers, 8.6K retweets, 62K likes]
Memorable moments from the Mumbai Metro. Here are highlights from yesterday’s metro journey. https://x.com/i/status/1842831278334210328
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[10/5/2024 11:00 AM, 102.5M followers, 3.1K retweets, 18K likes]
There is immense happiness across Maharashtra at the Union Cabinet’s decision to accord Classical Language status to Marathi. This evening in Mumbai, I joined a program attended by eminent individuals from various walks of life who expressed their appreciation for this decision. People have been demanding it for decades, and I am honored that our government had the opportunity to fulfill this request.
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[10/6/2024 10:57 AM, 102.5M followers, 4.4K retweets, 29K likes]
Members of the Bhikkhu Sangh, Mumbai met me and expressed joy on the Cabinet’s decision to confer the status of Classical Language on Pali and Marathi. They recalled the strong connection of Pali with Buddhism and expressed confidence that more youngsters will learn about Pali in the coming times.
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[10/6/2024 10:56 AM, 102.5M followers, 3.8K retweets, 30K likes]
Delighted to interact with students, youngsters, beneficiaries of Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana and those Shramiks who built the Metro.
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[10/5/2024 10:15 AM, 102.5M followers, 2.7K retweets, 11K likes]
Marathi being recognised as a Classical Language is a moment of pride for everyone. Speaking at a programme in Mumbai. https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1ZkJzRWrlaNJv
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[10/5/2024 8:36 AM, 102.5M followers, 5.9K retweets, 40K likes]
A memorable visit to Washim, made even more special by visiting various places integral to the Banjara culture. https://x.com/i/status/1842544355636019648
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[10/5/2024 7:29 AM, 102.5M followers, 2.1K retweets, 7K likes]
Maharashtra plays a crucial role in India’s progress. To accelerate the state’s development, several transformative projects are being launched from Thane.
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[10/5/2024 6:20 AM, 102.5M followers, 4K retweets, 28K likes]
Banjara Virasat Museum in Poharadevi is a commendable effort to celebrate Banjara culture. Happy to have inaugurated it. I urge all those who are passionate about history and culture to visit the museum.
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[10/4/2024 4:22 AM, 102.5M followers, 8.8K retweets, 86K likes]
This morning, had the special opportunity to pray at the Poharadevi Temple in Washim district, Maharashtra. May Maa Jagdamba bless us all with happiness and good health.
Dr. S. Jaishankar@DrSJaishankar
[10/6/2024 9:06 AM, 3.2M followers, 834 retweets, 4.7K likes]
Pleased to call on President @MMuizzu today at the start of his State Visit to India. Appreciate his commitment to enhance 🇮🇳 🇲🇻 relationship. Confident that his talks with PM @narendramodi tomorrow will give a new impetus to our friendly ties
Dr. S. Jaishankar@DrSJaishankar
[10/6/2024 7:07 AM, 3.2M followers, 170 retweets, 1K likes]
An animated conversation with @NKSingh_MP today at the 03rd #KautilyaEconomicConclave. Spoke about the churn in global order, need for reformed multilateralism, understanding the technology race, securing against weaponisation of trade and solidarity among Global South. Underlined India’s resolve to overcome longstanding challenges in infrastructure, manufacturing and skilling. And become a trusted and reliable partner of the world. #KEC2024
Dr. S. Jaishankar@DrSJaishankar
[10/5/2024 5:50 AM, 3.2M followers, 232 retweets, 1.6K likes]
Pleased to deliver the Sardar Patel Lecture on Governance organized by the IC Centre for Governance today in New Delhi.As the world today is again in great churn and we see the emergence of multi-polarity and the return to the natural diversity of the world, 🇮🇳 needs the right combination of self-belief, realism, preparation and nationalism to prepare for Viksit Bharat. Sardar Patel will always be an inspiration in this endeavour. : https://mea.gov.in/Speeches-Statements.htm?dtl/38379/Remarks_by_EAM_Dr_S_Jaishankar_at_the_Sardar_Patel_Memorial_Lecture_on_Governance_October_4_2024
Michael Kugelman@MichaelKugelman
[10/4/2024 7:40 AM, 213.7K followers, 42 retweets, 411 likes]
Though Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan is about multilateral diplomacy more than bilateral relations, the significance for India-Pakistan ties shouldn’t be overlooked. It’s the first visit to Pakistan by an Indian Cabinet minister since 2016 (when Rajnath Singh went for SAARC).
Michael Kugelman@MichaelKugelman
[10/4/2024 7:40 AM, 213.7K followers, 2 retweets, 27 likes]
2019 was a disastrous year for India-Pakistan relations. 2020 brought the pandemic. 2021 yielded a new LoC truce, which has helped keep ties relatively stable-a cold peace-despite continued tensions. It’s in this environment that Jaishankar’s visit was able to go forward. NSB
The President’s Office, Maldives@presidencymv
[10/6/2024 11:15 AM, 110.2K followers, 242 retweets, 247 likes]
This evening, President His Excellency Dr @MMuizzu and First Lady Madam Sajidha Mohamed engaged with the Maldivian community residing in New Delhi, India. The President and First Lady inquired about the community’s wellbeing, listened to their concerns and challenges, and reaffirmed the Administration’s dedication to addressing those issues.
The President’s Office, Maldives@presidencymv
[10/6/2024 9:02 AM, 110.2K followers, 302 retweets, 314 likes]
The External Affairs Minister of India, His Excellency @DrSJaishankar pays a courtesy call on President His Excellency Dr @MMuizzu. During the call, Minister Dr Jaishankar welcomed the President, on his first State Visit to India, and they discussed a variety of issues of mutual interest to both countries.
The President’s Office, Maldives@presidencymv
[10/6/2024 8:06 AM, 110.2K followers, 317 retweets, 333 likes]
President His Excellency Dr @MMuizzu and First Lady Madam Sajidha Mohamed arrive in New Delhi, India, for a state visit, at the invitation of Indian President, Her Excellency Droupadi Murmu. The official welcoming ceremony will take place tomorrow. The President and First Lady are accompanied by a high-level government delegation.
The President’s Office, Maldives@presidencymv
[10/5/2024 12:28 AM, 110.2K followers, 290 retweets, 297 likes]
President Dr @MMuizzu and the First Lady Madam Sajidha Mohamed attend the official ceremony to commemorate the day Maldives embraced Islam. The 2nd of Rabi’ul Aakhir marks the day Maldives embraced Islam, and is celebrated annually.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake@anuradisanayake
[10/6/2024 11:00 AM, 130.5K followers, 51 retweets, 507 likes]
I visited St. Sebastian’s Church in Katuwapitiya today (06) where the Easter Sunday Attack happened in 2019. A tragedy of such a nature should never happen again. We will ensure a fair, transparent investigation which will bring justice to the victims.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake@anuradisanayake
[10/5/2024 11:58 AM, 130.5K followers, 55 retweets, 634 likes]
This afternoon (05), I visited the sacred Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura to pay homage and receive blessings. Upon arriving at the historic site, I first met with the Atamasthana Chief Prelate, Most Venerable Pallagama Hemarathana Nayaka Thero, Chief Sanghanayaka of Nuwara Kalaviya and Head of the Anuradhapura Mahavihara Pirivena. During the meeting, I inquired about his well-being and engaged in a brief conversation. Afterward, I participated in religious observances at Udamaluwa, where the Atamasthana Chief Prelate, along with the Maha Sangha, conducted a Seth Pirith chanting ceremony at the main Dharma Hall of the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi to offer their blessings. The event was also graced by the presence of other prominent clergy, including Venerable Ralapanave Dhammarajothi Nayaka Thero, Chief Incumbent of Lankarama, Venerable Eethalawetunuwewe Gnanatilaka Nayaka Thero, Chief Incumbent of Ruwanwelisaya, Venerable Kahalle Gnaninda Nayaka Thero, Chief Incumbent of Thuparamaya, Venerable Welihehne Sobitha Nayaka Thero, Chief Incumbent of Mirisawetiya, Venerable Kalanchiye Ratanasiri Nayaka Thero, Chief Incumbent of Abhayagiri, Venerable Mathawa Sumangala Nayaka Thero, Chief Incumbent of Isurumuniya, and Venerable Nugetenne Pannyananda Nayaka Thero, Chief Incumbent of Sri Sambuddha Jayanthi Vihara. During a brief address, the Atamasthana Chief Prelate, Most Venerable Pallagama Hemarathana Thero, stated that, as a leader from the North Central Province, I have the undeniable responsibility of improving the living conditions of the people in the region. Later, I visited the sacred Ruwanwelisaya and received blessings from the Chief Incumbent, Venerable Eethalawetunuwewe Gnanatilaka Nayaka Thero. Several dignitaries, including Governor of the North Central Province Wasantha Jinadasa, District Secretary Ranjith Wimalasuriya, former MP Wasantha Samarasinghe, Deputy Chairman of the All Ceylon Farmers’ Federation Susanta Navaratne, and Professor Sena Nanayakkara along with others were also present at these events.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake@anuradisanayake
[10/5/2024 4:24 AM, 130.5K followers, 30 retweets, 441 likes]
This morning (05), I visited the headquarters of the Sri Lanka Ramanna Maha Nikaya, Narahenpita, where I met with the Maha Nayaka Thero of the Ramanna Nikaya Most Ven Aggamahapanditha Makulewe Wimala Mahanayake Thero, and received his blessings. The Anunayaka Theros and Lekhakadhikari Theros of the Ramanna Nikaya were also present at the occasion, and chanted Seth Pirith offering their blessings to me. During the meeting, the Maha Sangha requested that qualified and intelligent individuals be appointed as Ambassadors to represent our country abroad. They also emphasized the need for responsible, non-political individuals to be appointed as Governors. Additionally, the monks highlighted the importance of appointing appropriate individuals as Secretaries to the Ministries.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake@anuradisanayake
[10/4/2024 4:11 AM, 130.5K followers, 31 retweets, 410 likes]
This morning (05), I visited the headquarters of the Sri Lanka Amarapura Maha Nikaya, Wellawatte and met with the Acting Maha Nayaka, Most Venerable Karagoda Uyangoda Maitrimurthi Thero, from whom I received blessings. The senior Nayaka Theros of the Secretariat of the Amarapura Maha Nikaya were also present at the occasion, where they invoked Seth Pirith and blessed me. Afterward, I joined a brief discussion with the Maha Nayaka Thero and the senior Theros, focusing on the current economic, social and political situation. During the conversation, the Venerable Maha Nayaka emphasized the importance of utilizing the country’s resources to their fullest potential in order to build a strong state, which would enable Sri Lanka to rise as an independent nation on the global stage.
M U M Ali Sabry@alisabrypc
[10/4/2024 11:21 AM, 7.3K followers, 54 retweets, 440 likes]
Today, Sri Lanka has officially completed its debt restructuring process, marking the country’s exit from bankruptcy, an incredible achievement given where we were in April 2022. As the Finance Minister at the time, I made the difficult decision to approve the selective moratorium on foreign debt repayment, one of the most challenging decisions of my career. It was a necessary step toward stabilizing the economy and setting us on the path to recovery. Under the leadership of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the government undertook critical economic reforms and carried the process forward. Though the recent elections saw a change in leadership, with a new government now in place, they have thus far stayed the course with the reforms and processes initiated by the previous administration, despite their earlier criticisms during the campaign. The completion of this debt restructuring process, covering bilateral, commercial, and local debt, brings with it the prospect of debt sustainability, as indicated by the IMF. It is estimated to provide approximately USD 17 billion in savings to the country, offering significant financial relief. Looking ahead, I wish the government the strength and foresight to navigate the challenges that lie ahead and to create an economy that will never again have to endure what we went through. The foundations laid by the reforms during this process present an opportunity for Sri Lanka to build a sustainable and resilient economy for the future. Central Asia
Yerzhan Ashikbayev@KZAmbUS
[10/6/2024 3:02 PM, 2.7K followers, 15 likes]
Today, I made an important decision as a citizen of Kazakhstan, but also as a husband and father. Every step we take shapes the future for our families and our nation #referendum2024.
Yerzhan Ashikbayev@KZAmbUS
[10/5/2024 4:02 PM, 2.7K followers, 1 retweet, 12 likes]
I was deeply moved by @JAFELT gift - a felt installation for our yurt, crafted from American wool using Kazakh techniques. This is public diplomacy at its finest, a powerful symbol of KZ-US partnership.
Navbahor Imamova@Navbahor
[10/5/2024 7:13 AM, 23.7K followers, 17 likes]
Muynak, home of the Aral Sea, is the largest district of Karakalpakstan. The sea has been rapidly drying, posing enormous challenges. Yet more than 30,000 live here. The population has been steadily growing, says Deputy Mayor Murod Juraboyev, despite the environmental devastation. He admits thousands are labor migrants but also argues that people are returning. “Muynak calls us back. We must revive our area. Who else will do it?” https://lnkd.in/efwYGtnu {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.