SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS

epubdos : Afghanistan

Prepared for the U.S. Department of State

Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs

By TechMIS
www.TechMIS.com

Mobile User Copy

TO:	SCA & Staff
DATE:	Friday, September 13, 2024 6:30 AM ET

Afghanistan

Afghan women defy Taliban and continue medical school in Scotland (Washington Post)

Washington Post [9/12/2024 7:58 PM, Daniel Wu, 52865K, Neutral]
Zahra Hussaini didn’t give up on her dream of becoming a doctor when a car bomb exploded outside a school near her home in Kabul in 2021, killing dozens of schoolgirls and sparking fears that her classrooms might be next.

She didn’t give up months later, when the Taliban took over Afghanistan, nor when the regime banned female students from attending universities in late 2022, months before she was set to complete her first year of medical school.

It took another 18 months of uncertainty — and a rewriting of student funding laws in the Scottish Parliament — but next week, Hussaini’s dream will continue more than 3,000 miles away. She and 18 other female Afghan medical students are resuming their studies at Scottish universities after a British nonprofit concluded a years-long effort to bring Afghan women to the country and enroll them in schools.

“It [is] going to be a new chapter of my life,” Hussaini, 20, told The Washington Post.

Lorna Norgrove, a trustee of the Linda Norgrove Foundation, the nonprofit that campaigned to bring Hussaini and her peers to Britain, said the effort was the first of its kind in Scotland. It was made possible by Scottish lawmakers amending educational policies to secure free tuition for the Afghan students, Norgrove said.

“It’s a great achievement,” she said. “And it’s just a relief to have them here.”

The Linda Norgrove Foundation was founded by Lorna and John Norgrove and named after their daughter, an aid worker who was kidnapped in Afghanistan and killed in a rescue attempt in 2010. The organization had previously sponsored roughly 100 scholarships for women studying in Afghan universities, including Hussaini, when the Taliban took over the country.

As the Taliban began imposing restrictions on girls’ education, the Norgroves watched nervously from Scotland.

“Our students have gone from being trainee doctors to facing a closed existence, consigned to cooking, cleaning and looking after children,” John Norgrove said in a statement in September 2023.

In high school, Hussaini had already endured the terror of one of Kabul’s grisliest school attacks. The bombing, which left more than 90 people dead, and other attacks on students in Afghanistan had spurred her to want to become a doctor. After living through that, she said, the Taliban’s prohibitions on women’s education were too much to bear.

“It made even the pain or the suffering [hurt] much more,” Hussaini said.

The Taliban’s steady rollback of women’s freedoms has forced Afghan women and girls to take desperate, clandestine measures to continue their education, The Post has reported. Some attend underground schools. Others learn languages and take classes online. The Norgroves lobbied for students sponsored by their foundation to be allowed to come to Scotland through a resettlement scheme for Afghan refugees and secured approval from several universities to admit around 20 students.

In 2023, the Norgroves were stonewalled when the British government informed them that the students wouldn’t be eligible for the country’s resettlement scheme, and would need to apply for student visas and pay out-of-state tuition of around $65,000, the foundation said.

Hussaini and her peers couldn’t afford that. Neither could the Linda Norgrove Foundation. Privately, Hussaini also worried about passing the necessary language exams and continuing her studies in another country, in English.

“At the beginning, it looked kind of impossible,” she said.

Hussaini’s family gathered their savings to pay for her to take English lessons. In her spare time, she downloaded digital copies of English textbooks, printed them and recited them in front of her mirror.

The Norgroves, meanwhile, pursued their own long-shot bid to fund the students’ education. Scottish residents who are undergrads at Scottish universities have their tuition funded by the state — a privilege that was also extended to some evacuated Afghan refugees in the country, but not to those entering on student visas. Could the foundation’s Afghan students be given an exception to receive the same funding once they arrived?

“Last October, we thought, ‘Right, we’ll have one last-ditch dance,’” John Norgrove said. The foundation urged supporters to write to their members of parliament about the issue.

Buoyed by support from Scottish Parliament members, the Norgroves’ appeal eventually compelled the government to amend Scottish legislation to grant free tuition to Afghan women who’ve had their studies interrupted, the Scottish government announced in August.

“I think everybody on both sides of the government actually thought that this was just the right thing to do,” said Matthew Forbes, head of international affairs and security policy at Britain’s Scotland Office.

Hussaini and her peers applied for their student visas at the British High Commission in neighboring Pakistan, completed the necessary paperwork and English language tests, and finally set off to continue their studies in August. They arrived in Scotland on Aug. 19 and traveled on taxis and trains to the four universities that had accepted them.

Hussaini, who is now enrolled in the University of Glasgow’s medicine program, has spent the weeks since adjusting to her new surroundings. Her neighbors and the university staff who helped her move in were friendly, and London’s Afghan restaurants feel like home, she said.

She has also overcome her anxieties about studying in English.

“I am the girl who could not speak in front of two people in a very small class,” Hussaini said. “But now I can speak like in a live program in [the] U.K. It was a kind of victory for me, that finally my hard working paid off.”

Hussaini’s classes haven’t started yet, but she’s already thinking ahead to when she reaches her goal of becoming a doctor.

“I really want to go back to Afghanistan and work and serve my own people,” she said.

Afghan women sing to protest a law that orders them to keep quiet (NPR)

NPR [9/12/2024 7:57 AM, Diaa Hadid, Khwaga Ghan, and Fariba Akbari, 40123K, Negative]
Across the internet, Afghan women are committing what would be a crime in their homeland, ruled by the Taliban: They’re singing, like Fatima Etimadi, 34, and her girlfriends, belting out this defiant tune, a little out of tune:

"The flower will unfurl, revealing a spring of freedom," they chant. "I sing the anthem of freedom, again, again, freedom." In the video posted online, Etimadi wears a headscarf. Her friends have unfussy short hair.

"Every day, the Taliban seeks new ways to restrict women," Etimadi tells NPR in an interview. "They’re making women die while they’re alive."

The protest began after the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice issued a sweeping morality law running over 100 pages in late August. It seeks to govern how people should behave in public as policed by officials of the ministry.

The law has various targets. Music and specifically "cassette tapes" are banned (the Taliban’s knowledge of music platforms seems to date to earlier citations from the ‘90s). Boys - defined as males who have not grown beards - are barred from serving as soldiers. Men are told they cannot shave their beads or wear Western dress - the law mentions ties specifically. It bans any representation of people in published or broadcast material, leading to concerns about how, for instance, identity documents will be used.

A focus on women

But much of the law dictates restrictions on women. They may not leave their homes unless it’s urgent. There’s no clear definition of "urgent" and presumably, that is decided by patrolling officials from the Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue, whose job it is to enforce this sweeping law. When they do venture outside their homes, they must always have a male guardian. They cannot raise their voices in public. Even if they are speaking in their home, they must not do so in a way that could be overheard by strangers. Also: No laughing. No speaking loudly. No singing. Even in private gatherings.

This comes from the Taliban’s belief that a woman’s body, her face, her voice - are attractive and alluring and must be hidden.

The prohibition of hearing a woman’s voice, including singing is an extreme interpretation of a belief long held by Islamic jurists that a woman’s voice is bewitching. "There have always been different shades of opinion," says John Butt, an Islamic scholar who lived in both Pakistan and Afghanistan for decades. He’s translating the morality laws for the thinktank the Afghanistan Analysts Network. Butt says scholars have debated whether a woman’s voice should "be hidden, should it be concealed? Should she not be able to speak in public?"

While Butt doesn’t agree with the Taliban’s interpretation - enough so that he helped writea radio drama for Afghans who were living under the Taliban in the ‘90s, which included actresses voicing some parts - he says: "one has to accept that there’s room for that opinion."

This new law comes three years into the Taliban’s rule of Afghanistan, which began after their fighters defeated forces loyal to the Western-backed Afghan government as the U.S. and Western allies withdrew in 2021.

Within that time, the Taliban have incrementally applied dramatic restrictions on women. Most are not allowed to pursue education beyond grade six. They may not work in most professions. They may not travel without a male guardian. That rule has now expanded: according to this new law, women and girls who have passed puberty are not allowed to leave their homes without a male guardian.

‘My voice is not immodest’

So far, reporting in Kabul and the western city of Herat suggest the Taliban have only partially implemented their new law. But even the idea of it is repugnant to some Afghan women, like Sahar Fetrat, an Afghan feminist and researcher with Human Rights Watch.

"This campaign is a direct response to the horrifying objectification and sexualization of women by the Taliban, where they say women’s voices equal their private parts," she tells NPR. "So they are saying you can’t objectify my voice like that. It’s not something, like a private part of your body, that you would cover. It’s my voice, and it’s important."

Some of the protest songs being posted by Afghan women are mournful. In one video, a woman in a black face veil sings plaintively."You sealed my lips with silence. You have imprisoned me for the crime of being a woman. Who will now provide for my children?"

There’s also cheeky defiance. One young woman slaps a tambourine and grins. "Oh Talib," she sings, "you go to sleep reading your books, but your mind drifts to women’s faces."

Many clips end the same way - with women repeating the same phrase: "My voice is not immodest."

Nilofer Fahim, 29, fled to France after the Taliban seized power. She feared their rule - her father, an Afghan security official, was killed by fighters of the militant group in 2019. She shared a clip in which she sings a defiant nationalist song. It’s all she can do from exile to support women in Afghanistan, she says. "The Taliban are turning women into nameless, anonymous shadows," says Fahim. "A tool, to be used and kept at home, a machine for making babies."

Etimadi, who released the video clip in which she sings with her girlfriends, fled Afghanistan a year after the Taliban seized power, after the Taliban detained her father. It was to pressure her to stop protesting the Taliban’s treatment of women when they first seized power three years ago. She says the singing is cathartic. "We’re singing out the pain and suffering of decades," she says.

Fetrat of Human Rights Watch says Afghan women have a long tradition of opposing the Taliban, but they feel alone - bereft of support from regional countries, Muslim-majority states and the international community. "Women are carrying much more on their shoulders than they should be. The world is just silently watching this, and nothing is happening."

Fetrat accuses the international community of emboldening the Taliban by not sanctioning them enough for their increasingly harsh treatment of women in their three years of rule - the prevention of girls from studying after grade six, the ban from most professions. "There were absolutely no consequences," she says.

Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for theU.N.’s human rights office, is one of theU.N. officials who say they’re pushing the Taliban behind the scenes. "We are doing what we can, to continue to engage with the Taliban," Shamdasani tells NPR - from briefings to the Security Council and bilateral engagement with countries still involved in Afghanistan.

"Isolation is never the answer. But at the same time, we do need to advocate for the victims publicly," she says, describing the new law this way: "it’s egregious. It’s intolerable. It’s a violation of international human rights law."

The Taliban says they’re following Islamic law and have urged outsiders to stop imposing their foreign beliefs or even expressing their opposition to their policies.

"Foreign entities must … refrain from meddling in Afghanistan’s governance, society, and domestic matters - or even from imposing their opinions," went a recent editorial in the state-run Bakhtar News.

"It is worth noting that the values of Muslims worldwide, particularly in Afghanistan, do not align with certain practices in other countries," the editorial continued. "For instance, the idea of mixed-gender education in American universities, compelling women to work for their sustenance, or sending elderly parents to nursing homes is deeply opposed by many Muslims. Despite this, Muslims do not interfere in these practices abroad."

(To be clear, women work across Muslim-majority countries and elderly people face challenges of abuse, poverty and abandonment, as they do around the world.)

What might change the Taliban’s rulings?

A longtime Afghanistan analyst says the international community is stuck. Andrew Watkins says violence - the stick - did not change the Taliban. "We saw over 20 years of war, killing huge numbers of their members, their leaders, even that did not deter them from pursuing their goal," he says.

Since the Taliban seized power over Afghanistan again in 2021, the international community has offered carrots, like recognition and more aid. "The really bad news is that we’ve also been testing the carrot and that seems just as ineffective as the stick."

So for now, it appears that Afghan women are stuck under a regime that sees them legally, as a temptation for men, as objects to be concealed.

And some Afghan women are raising their voices to anyone who’ll hear them. One widely-shared video is of two nameless women, concealed in blue burqas. They seem to sing along to this songplayed in the background: "The waves of girls’ voices will shatter this prison."

Several people killed in attack in Afghanistan, says Interior Ministry (Reuters)

Reuters [9/12/2024 4:11 PM, Staff, 37270K, Negative]
Several people were killed and others injured in an attack by unknown armed individuals in Afghanistan on Thursday, the country’s Interior Ministry spokesman said, the first attack on civilians in Daykundi province since the Taliban took power.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, the group said on Thursday on its Telegram channel. It did not immediately provide any evidence for its assertion.

Most of the residents of Daykundi province are Shia Muslims, and it was considered one of the safest provinces.

Islamic State-Khurasan, a local affiliate of the Middle East-based Islamic State, has waged an insurgency against the Taliban, who they see as their enemies.

Taliban authorities say they have mostly crushed the group, even as it continues to carry out attacks in Afghanistan.

IS group claims deadly attack in central Afghanistan (Agence France-Presse)

Agence France-Presse [9/12/2024 4:33 PM, Staff, 8537K, Negative]
Gunmen killed a group of civilians in central Afghanistan on Thursday, the interior ministry said, in an attack that was claimed by the local chapter of the Islamic State group.

“Fifteen Shiite (Muslims) were killed and six others wounded in an attack carried out by the soldiers of the caliphate in central Afghanistan,” the group’s Amaq media wing said in a statement.

Attacks in Afghanistan have declined markedly since the Taliban ended their insurgency when they seized power in 2021, but a number of armed groups, including the regional Islamic State-Khorasan, remain a threat.

“Unknown gunmen have opened fire and have killed civilians,” Abdul Matin Qani, spokesman for the Interior Ministry told AFP, adding further details on the attack in Daykundi province would be announced later.

A source in the province which could not be identified for security reasons told AFP 14 people had been killed and at least four wounded.

The source said a group had gathered to welcome pilgrims returning from Karbala in Iraq, a Shiite holy site.

Local media website TOLOnews reported a death toll of 14, according to sources.

An official at a hospital in the city of Nili, the provincial capital of Daykundi said staff have been put on alert.

“They are informed to be prepared to receive and treat the wounded,” he told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Islamic State-Khorasan, or IS-K, is the group’s Afghanistan branch, “Khorasan” referring to a historical region that included parts of Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia.

The regional chapter of IS has a history of targeting Shiites they consider heretics but is also a rival of the Taliban, with whom the group shares an austere Sunni ideology.

The Taliban government has repeatedly played down the threat it poses.

Earlier this month the group claimed a suicide attack in the Afghan capital that killed six people.

It also said it was behind an attack targeting tourists in Afghanistan in May that killed six people, including three foreigners.

And in March, IS showed its wider capabilities by attacking a Moscow concert hall and killing 145 people.

A UN counter-terrorism official warned this month that IS-K poses the greatest external terrorist threat to Europe, having “improved its financial and logistical capabilities in the past six months”.

Chief Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the concerns raised were “driven by propaganda” and that the group had been “significantly weakened” in Afghanistan.

Closure Of Afghan Embassies In Europe Paves Way For More Taliban Engagement (Radio Free Europe)

Radio Free Europe [9/13/2024 12:00 AM, Abubakar Siddique and Faiza Ibrahimi, 235K, Neutral]
After the Taliban’s de facto government cut ties with a number of diplomatic missions operated abroad by diplomats loyal to the ousted Afghan republic, the British and Norwegian authorities have opted to shut down Afghan embassies on their soil.

Both Oslo and London say their decisions in no way represent official recognition of the Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan, which no country recognizes due to concerns over a woeful human rights record and other failures to live up to promises it made before seizing power in August 2021.

But experts say the embassy closures are likely to pave the way for more engagement with the Taliban, which controls all of Afghanistan’s territory and has increased its hold on power.

Diplomats who served the former Afghan government were left in limbo when the Taliban took control, but remained open for business in some Western states and continued to assist Afghan citizens.

The window on their operations began to close when the Taliban announced in July that it was cutting ties with 14 such missions in Western countries and that it would not accept any consular documents they processed, a critical source of funding to keep them running.

Many of the consular services, such as verification of identity documents or police clearance, offered by the embassies do require a degree of cooperation from the country’s government because diplomatic missions might not be able to access all government data.

This month, the British Foreign Office announced that it was shutting down the Afghan Embassy in London, explaining to RFE/RL on September 9 that the decision was made after the "dismissal of its staff by the Taliban."

Norway quickly followed suit, announcing that the Afghan Embassy in Oslo would be shut down on September 12.

Both the British and Norwegian governments have indicated that the move does not amount to a formal recognition of the Taliban’s hard-line government. And the embassy buildings, which are Afghanistan’s properties, will be eventually handed over to a "recognized" government of Afghanistan.

But Hameed Hakimi, an Afghanistan expert, says the decisions to shut the embassies can be taken as "reality setting in" that the Taliban is "unlikely to be replaced in the immediate future."

And for the Taliban, he says, it creates an opportunity to argue that its rule is being acknowledged, even without formal recognition.

"The Taliban can use this to their advantage in their pursuit of claiming legitimacy with the Afghans and internationally," said Hakimi, an associate fellow at London’s Chatham House think tank.

More than a dozen countries, mostly Afghanistan’s neighbors, already operate embassies in Kabul, and some have accredited Taliban diplomats. The Taliban government also partially controls diplomatic missions in some countries, and has established working relations with Afghan diplomatic missions in the Czech Republic, Spain, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, and the Afghan Consulate in Munich.

The missions operating in Western countries staffed by diplomats appointed by the previous government are the outlier.

Hakimi said that if all those missions are shut down, it "truly signifies the closure of the chapter of the Afghan Islamic Republic."

The Afghan Islamic Republic, as it was formally known, emerged soon after a U.S.-led military alliance toppled the Taliban government in November 2001 following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

Nearly two decades later, the internationally recognized Afghan republic collapsed as the Taliban seized power in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The Taliban, meanwhile, recreated its brutal emirate from the 1990s by imposing harsh bans and discriminatory laws that resulted in widespread human rights violations. Afghan women and girls are deprived of education and employment in most sectors and lack fundamental freedoms.

These Taliban policies have so far kept its government from being officially recognized. This absence of recognition has complicated engagement with the Taliban government on important issues, such as humanitarian aid, and made it difficult for the estimated 2 million Afghans living in Western countries to access consular services.

Graeme Smith, a senior Afghanistan analyst at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, says Western governments might be acting on the UN special coordinator’s recommendation to facilitate the processing of documentation for Afghans abroad.

In his report endorsed by the UN Security Council in December 2023, Feridun Sinirlioglu, the UN special coordinator for Afghanistan, called for better cooperation between the Taliban regime and the outside world to ensure that Afghans can obtain the paperwork they need to continue with their daily lives.

"Afghans have been suffering in limbo without clarity about where to go when they need identity papers or travel documents," Smith said, describing how Afghans who still do not have travel documents from another country suffer from the lack of consular services.

"The steps we are witnessing now may represent practical efforts by some governments" to remedy the situation, Smith said.

The challenge remains, he said, to ensure that efforts "aimed at pressuring the regime do not sabotage the lives and livelihoods of Afghans."

Many Western capitals are also grappling with the complex issue of what to do with Afghan asylum seekers whose applications were rejected.

Last month, Germany deported 28 Afghan men convicted of crimes in the country to Kabul, with Qatar playing an intermediary role in securing the Taliban’s cooperation in accepting the returning Afghans.

Smith said that some countries "are discovering the usefulness" of having a consular presence "connected to the authorities in Kabul" if they need to arrange the return of Afghan migrants.

"But it’s unclear if that motivated the recent closures," he said.

Both Britain and Norway have not said anything about whether they will allow the Taliban government to offer consular services in London and Oslo.

The fates of the Afghan Embassy in Berlin and consulate in Bonn are not clear, although the consulate in Munich is likely to remain open because it cooperates with the Taliban government on consular services.

In London, Afghanistan expert Hakimi said the closure could create an "opportunity for the Taliban to lobby with the Western countries" and allow its representatives to at least run counselor services.

These Afghan diplomatic missions can remain closed indefinitely, similar to what happened in the United States, where the Afghan Embassy and two consulates have been closed since March 2002. The Afghan Embassy in Canada offers remote consular services to Afghans living in the United States.

In Norway, Afghans have mixed feelings about their embassy’s closure.

Sima Nouri, an Afghan woman living in Oslo, is worried over how her compatriots will now access consular services.

"There is a possibility that the process of forced deportation of Afghan refugees will begin," she told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. "This process, however, must be stopped."

Mina Rafiq, another Afghan woman in Norway, prefers shutting the embassy down to cooperating with the Taliban.

"This might work to the advantage of Afghan asylum seekers," she said, "because the Norwegian government will now have to give them necessary documents."

VOA interview: Chairman speaks on Republicans’ Afghan withdrawal report (VOA)

VOA [9/12/2024 5:08 PM, Saba Shah Khan, 4566K, Neutral]
U.S. Representative Michael McCaul’s office recently released detailed findings of an investigation into the chaotic August 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which has been criticized for poor planning.

Speaking with Saba Shah Khan of VOA’s Urdu Service, McCaul, a Texas Republican who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, denied that the latest probe was a "political exercise" that coincides with a tight presidential race. He said its purpose was to ensure that "an evacuation will never happen like this again."

On Tuesday, the committee’s ranking Democrat, Representative Gregory Meeks from New York, issued a statement criticizing the report as a collection of “cherry-picked witness testimony” that excludes “anything unhelpful to a predetermined, partisan narrative about the Afghanistan withdrawal.”

“The Majority did not involve the Minority in this report, nor have they even provided a draft copy to us,” he wrote.

In the following interview, McCaul accuses White House officials of “stonewalling” the investigation and mentions his September 3 decision to subpoena Secretary of State Antony Blinken for testimony even though findings of the full report were released Monday.

“We’re still not finished with the investigation,” McCaul told VOA on Tuesday.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller last week issued a statement to The Hill stating that Blinken was unable to testify on the dates requested and offered "reasonable alternatives" to comply with McCaul’s request.

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

VOA: Why is the Foreign Affairs Committee report on U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan being released now? With less than two months left to Election Day, some would say the report is politically driven.

U.S. Representative Michael McCaul: It’s been three years since the ... chaotic evacuation. The first year, the majority — at that time, the Democrats — did nothing to investigate. So, I’ve had two years to put this very comprehensive, complete, historic account of what happened together. In the meantime, we served many subpoenas. We’ve had to threaten contempt proceedings. And I would have liked to have had this done a year ago. The administration has been, you know, stonewalling us and slowing down the delivery of the report. In fact, we’re still not finished with the investigation.

VOA: In light of the report, what do you think the Biden administration could have done differently to avoid the chaos and mayhem that unfolded during the withdrawal?

McCaul: That’s one of the key takeaways here. The military is on the ground doing their job. That’s to pull out by July [as dictated by a predetermined date of withdrawal negotiated by the prior administration]. The intelligence community sees what’s happening. They report this information. It gets a little bit manipulated when it gets to the higher level. And then it is amplified that everything’s fine in Afghanistan, when, in fact, on the ground, the conditions are getting very bad.

The State Department is required by law to come out with an evacuation plan called the NEO [Noncombatant Evacuation Operations]. They kept resisting this because they thought evacuation means failure. So, they wait until the very day that the Taliban is overrunning Kabul before they finally initiate an evacuation plan. That is why it was so chaotic. That is why the 13 servicemen and women were left behind — with Taliban, by the way — to work with them to help Afghans get out.

VOA: The report says that [President Joe] Biden kept Zalmay Khalilzad on as special representative [for Afghanistan reconciliation from September 2018 to October 2021], making it clear Biden embraced the [February 2020] Doha Accord. Sir, was that a good decision?

McCaul: The complaint I had — and Zal and I, you know, I’ve known him for a long time, and I have respect for him — but he did not include the Afghan government in the Doha talks. So, it was just between Zal Khalilzad and the Taliban. That sent a terrible message to the Afghan government. They felt like they were sidelined. ... The Doha Agreement had conditions. Most important is the Taliban cannot hit U.S. forces. They were continuing to do that. But according to President Biden’s press guy [former State Department spokesperson Ned Price], Doha was “immaterial” as to the evacuation. He was going to go to zero — that means zero troops, zero contractors, zero air power — one way or the other. That was going to happen. He made that decision on day one.

VOA: The [Doha] negotiations and the decision to leave Afghanistan was made during the Trump administration. Chairman, do you think....

McCaul: ... that isn’t accurate, because the Taliban were in violation of the Doha conditions. Twenty-five hundred troops were left on the ground — General [Kenneth] McKenzie and [Mark] Milly said that was sufficient to stabilize, along with 6,500 NATO and air power and contractors. That they could stabilize both Bagram and HKIA [Hamid Karzai International Airport] when it went to zero. That’s when it changed.

VOA: The date of withdrawal was decided by the Trump administration…

McCaul: ... if conditions were met, which they weren’t ...

VOA: ... do you think that it is fair to hold the Biden administration solely responsible for the failure?

McCaul: And we don’t. We actually fault Zal Khalilzad. We list a lot of top D.O.D. [Department of Defense] and State Department officials that Congress, in a resolution, will condemn for their actions. Zal Khalilzad, he’s a dear friend, but by not letting the Afghan government participate — to me, that was a major error. And a lot of this, by not executing a plan of action to get out and evacuate, according to the top generals and the intelligence community, was the fatal flaw, leaving behind Americans, Afghan allies, and most importantly, the women.

VOA: The report also says that the U.S. did not keep track of whether the Taliban were following the Doha Agreement. In your opinion, how could the U.S. have made Taliban comply?

McCaul: In my opinion, they were in violation at the time the president made the decision to go to zero. But according to his press spokesperson, that was immaterial to the withdrawal. It was going to happen one way or the other. What people don’t understand is it’s not just the military being pulled out, it’s the air cover, it’s the contractors. When everything is pulled out, the Afghan army was virtually defenseless.

VOA: It is also said in the report that Afghanistan is a hotbed of terrorist activities. Can U.S. leave Taliban to their doings? And what is the way forward?

McCaul: It’s very, very dangerous. I was the chairman of Homeland Security Committee. What we’re seeing now, and we saw it before, is the Haqqani [network and] Taliban protecting Zawahiri, [the] number two Al-Qaeda [figure], who was taken by drone strike not too long after the evacuation. We know that they were collaborating — ISIS-K and Taliban — because United States is a common enemy.

Most disturbingly is Bagram, the prisons in Bagram. They [the Taliban] released thousands of ISIS prisoners that have now gone to the Khorasan region — that’s Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan — [for] external operations. Just recently, the FBI indicated to us that eight of them have been detained in the United States coming across the southwest border. ... So, when Americans think Afghanistan is some faraway, distant land, it is all interconnected and it does threaten the homeland.

VOA: What is the way forward? What do you think the U.S. strategy should be to handle this?

McCaul: Number one, we don’t want to see this happen again. This was not a political exercise for me. As a [former] federal prosecutor, I just wanted to get to the facts and the evidence, wherever that took me. I didn’t have conclusions in advance. ... So, to answer your question, we want to propose a new way to do this legislatively, through Congress, so that an evacuation will never happen like this again. Saigon was bad. This is worse.

VOA: The report quotes a study that 118 girls were sold as child brides in Afghanistan, in a village. And, in the same village, 116 parents are waiting for a buyer. So, my question to you is that it seems like there is no hope for women and girls in Afghanistan. What is your suggestion? And what can the U.S do?

McCaul: I mean, can you imagine being 25 years old as a woman and never lived under Sharia law, and now you have to go backwards to the stone age? And that’s essentially what has happened there. I got four busloads of the American School of Music girls out through Abbey Gate, because I knew the Taliban — the way they feel about women and music — their days would be numbered. Now, it’s very difficult. Do you normalize the Taliban? Do you treat them as a foreign terrorist organization?

I think any aid or assistance we give to Afghanistan has to be conditioned on treatment of women and children. And they should be allowed to go to school, they should be allowed to go outside their homes, they should not be beaten. Just fundamental rights.

GOP chair moves to hold Blinken in contempt over Afghanistan subpoena (The Hill)

The Hill [9/12/2024 4:52 PM, Laura Kelly, 19591K, Negative]
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) has scheduled a markup to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress, saying the secretary has failed to respond to a subpoena issued last week for his testimony about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.

The markup is scheduled for Sept. 19. Following a markup in the committee, the full House would need to vote on the measure to refer it to the Department of Justice for prosecution — a move unlikely to be carried out under the Biden administration, but that could be treated differently in a potential second Trump administration.

Blinken has testified before the committee on Afghanistan, appearing before the committee one month after the withdrawal in September 2021 for more than five hours. He has also appeared before the committee to testify on President Biden’s budget requests for the State Department, where he answered questions on Afghanistan.

The State Department said in a statement to The Hill that Blinken has testified before Congress on Afghanistan more than 14 times, including four times in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

But McCaul issued a new subpoena for Blinken’s testimony on Sept. 3 following the conclusion of his more than three-year investigation into the U.S. withdrawal, the final report published Sunday.

The report is highly critical of President Biden’s decision to withdraw all U.S. military forces from Afghanistan accuses the administration of failing to plan for all contingencies.

Ultimately, the internationally backed Afghan government fled in the face of a takeover from the Taliban and the U.S. carried out a last-minute and chaotic evacuation of America’s diplomatic and military personnel from the country. And while more than 120,000 civilians were airlifted out over the course of two weeks, thousands of American citizens and Afghan allies were left behind.

McCaul, and Republicans in general, have also focused blame on the Biden administration over a suicide bombing carried out by ISIS-K at Kabul’s international airport that killed 13 U.S. service members, roughly 170 Afghans, and wounded scores more during the withdrawal.

During a press conference earlier this week, McCaul stood alongside gold star families of some of the service members killed, criticizing Blinken for failing to commit to testify before the committee in September.

“This is a disgrace, and I will hold him in contempt if that’s what it takes to bring him before the American people, because they deserve the answers,” he said.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the secretary is unavailable to testify on dates proposed by the committee, but the agency has proposed “a number of reasonable alternatives to comply with Chairman McCaul’s request for a public hearing, including offering alternative senior-level witnesses to testify next week or making the Secretary available to testify at a later date that works for both his and the Committee’s schedule.”

“It is disappointing that instead of engaging with the Department in good faith and accepting our repeated offers to testify, the Committee instead is short-circuiting further discussion and moving forward with this mark-up,” Miller said in a statement.

Pakistan

US imposes sanctions on suppliers to Pakistan’s ballistic missile program (Reuters)

Reuters [9/12/2024 3:03 PM, Simon Lewis, 37270K, Neutral]
The U.S. State Department on Thursday imposed sanctions on a Chinese research institute and several companies it said have been involved in supplying Pakistan’s ballistic missile program.

Washington similarly targeted three China-based companies with sanctions in October 2023 for supplying missile-applicable items to Pakistan.

Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement that the Beijing Research Institute of Automation for Machine Building Industry had worked with Pakistan to procure equipment for testing rocket motors for the Shaheen-3 and Ababeel systems and potentially for larger systems.

The sanctions also targeted China-based firms Hubei Huachangda Intelligent Equipment Co, Universal Enterprise, and Xi’an Longde Technology Development Co, alongside Pakistan-based Innovative Equipment and a Chinese national, for knowingly transferring equipment under missile technology restrictions, Miller said.

"As today’s actions demonstrate, the United States will continue to act against proliferation and associated procurement activities of concern, wherever they occur," Miller said.

Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington, said: "China firmly opposes unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction that have no basis in international law or authorization of the UN Security Council."

China will "firmly protect" Chinese companies’ and individuals’ rights and interests, Liu said.

Pakistan’s embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pakistan Seemed Close to Beating Polio. Now It’s Spreading Quickly. (New York Times)

New York Times [9/13/2024 12:00 AM, Zia ur-Rehman and Christina Goldbaum, 831K, Neutral]
For a brief moment two years ago, Pakistan seemed finally on the verge of defeating polio. One of only two countries in the world where the virus remains endemic, Pakistan recorded no new infections for a little over a year starting in 2021 — the longest virus-free stretch the country had ever experienced.

But since then, polio has roared back, spreading beyond its traditional hot spots to areas once largely untouched by the virus.

Last week, health officials reported the first polio case in the capital, Islamabad, in 16 years. This month, environmental monitoring detected the polio virus in sewage samples from several major cities, including Peshawar and Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, where millions live in crowded, unsanitary slums.

And the virus has spread to a new epicenter in Balochistan, an arid, restive province in the southwest hundreds of miles from the virus’s former focal point in northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province.

On Monday, Pakistan began a weeklong nationwide polio vaccination campaign involving 286,000 health workers — the largest public health surveillance network in the world — aimed at vaccinating 30 million children under 5. The campaign, taking place across 115 of the country’s more than 165 districts, is part of the government’s renewed billions-dollar effort to contain the spread of the virus.

“I am hopeful that polio will be eradicated in the coming years and months through coordinated efforts,” Shehbaz Sharif, the country’s prime minister, said on Monday. “Polio will be driven out from the borders of Pakistan, never to return.”

The resurgence of polio in Pakistan is part of a global comeback of the virus, a highly contagious and sometimes deadly illness that once paralyzed hundreds of thousands of children worldwide every year. After vaccines were introduced in 1955, the number of cases dropped around the globe by more than 99.9 percent.

But after health authorities decided in 2016 to pare down the oral polio vaccine, the virus roared back. Since then, cases of vaccine-derived Type 2 polio have increased tenfold. This month alone, at least eight countries were battling polio outbreaks.

In Pakistan, the health authorities face an array of challenges.

Not only is the country home to difficult terrain, nomadic populations and poor infrastructure where polio thrives, but misinformation is also rampant, which has led to widespread distrust of vaccines.

Conservative religious scholars and militant groups have falsely asserted that the vaccination campaign is a Western conspiracy to sterilize Muslims, or that the vaccines contain ingredients derived from pigs, which are forbidden in Islam. Such claims have prompted entire communities to refuse vaccination.

Another problem: militants who attack vaccinators. This year, 15 people, mostly police officers, have been killed and 37 injured during vaccination campaigns, according to officials.

“Police officers are always easy targets, but those protecting polio vaccination teams are even more vulnerable,” said Muhammad Jamil, a Peshawar police officer.

Authorities in neighboring Afghanistan (the only other country where polio is endemic) have reported 18 polio cases so far this year, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. These cases are primarily concentrated in southern provinces like Kandahar and Helmand, regions that border Pakistan and where cross-border movement of population makes the risk of transmission particularly high.

Global health officials planned to coordinate the vaccination drive across both countries in September and October to ensure those in nomadic communities are not missed. But logistical issues delayed Afghanistan’s campaign.

Pakistani health workers have also reported facing pressure from parents and local leaders to falsely mark children’s fingers with indelible ink, indicating they’ve been vaccinated even if they haven’t — a practice that health officials say has significantly contributed to the virus resurgence. Many vaccinators also do not report when families refuse to be vaccinated, fearing backlash if authorities take action against resistant families or tribes, health officials said.

In Pakistan’s tribal areas, polio vaccination has been used as a bargaining chip for local leaders desperate for better government services in a region that the authorities have historically overlooked.

On Monday, some communities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province announced that they refused to vaccinate their children unless their demands — including improved infrastructure and support for people returning to villages after they were displaced during military operations — were met.

Protester leaders ordered community members to comply with the boycott, threatening to fine any family who violates it.

“We may not know whether the vaccine harms our children or not,” said Malik Shamshad, a leader of one of the boycott campaigns. “But we know that the government comes under pressure and resolves our problems when we refuse to vaccinate the children.”

Still, many health workers remain undeterred. Early Monday in Peshawar, a bustling city near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, around three dozen health workers gathered at a government health facility to start the week’s vaccination drive. With colorful scarves over their heads and shoulders, the workers recited verses of the Quran while police officers stood nearby.

“We know it’s a long battle,” said Firdos, 33, a health worker who preferred to go only by her surname for fear of retaliation. “But for the sake of our children, we have to keep going.”

IMF Board to Review Pakistan’s New $7 Billion Loan on Sept. 25 (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg [9/12/2024 1:11 PM, Faseeh Mangi and Eric Martin, 27782K, Negative]
The International Monetary Fund’s executive board will review its new $7 billion loan program for Pakistan on Sept. 25 after a delay raised investor concerns.

The nation has arranged more than $2 billion in financing and assurances from lenders other than the IMF, Jameel Ahmad, governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, said at an analyst briefing Thursday after announcing a larger-than-expected cut to interest rates. The external funding was seen as the final requirement for an IMF loan.

“All those assurances and external financing have already been arranged by the government and I don’t see any further hurdle now in taking our case to the board,” Ahmad said. The country also raised its tax revenue goal by a record 40% and increased energy prices to meet demands set by the IMF.

IMF spokeswoman Julie Kozack said in a separate briefing Thursday in Washington that the fund’s executive board will review the program Sept. 25, when it could vote to finalize the deal.

The South Asian nation expected the board review in August after a preliminary staff-level deal for a 37-month program in July.

The country secured a credit rating upgrade from Moody’s Ratings and Fitch Ratings in late August. The IMF program brings certainty to Pakistan’s sources of financing to meet its needs over the next two to three years, Moody’s said.

Pakistan completed its previous $3 billion loan program in April.

Pakistan says it has met all the conditions set by the IMF to secure $7 billion loan (AP)

AP [9/12/2024 10:46 PM, Staff, 88008K, Positive]
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Thursday that his country has met all the conditions set by the International Monetary Fund to qualify for a new $7 billion loan to help prop up its economy.

During a Cabinet meeting, Sharif praised his finance team and other advisers for complying with the requirements set by the IMF, which is expected to sign a formal approval to the loan on Sept. 25, when the global lender’s board of executive directors is scheduled to meet.

Sharif specially thanked China for helping Pakistan to secure the bailout, but declined to provide further details.

The IMF had asked Pakistan to broaden the country’s tax base and eliminate energy subsidies, a demand Sharif’s government has already implemented, raising concerns among Pakistanis who say they are unable to pay high energy bills.

Pakistan’s Finance Ministry said Thursday in a statement that all the matters with the IMF have been finalized “amicably.”

Thursday’s announcement comes two months after the IMF said it had reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan for the new $7 billion loan deal.

Pakistan is currently facing one of its worst economic crises and Sharif has expressed hope that the country would be able to reduce its reliance on foreign loans in the years to come.

The new loan deal, if approved by the IMF’s board of executive directors, would last for 37 months.

Pakistan needs to learn lessons from failed Iran gas pipeline project (Nikkei Asia – opinion)

Nikkei Asia [9/12/2024 4:05 PM, Vandana Hari, 2376K, Negative]
Pakistan has no good options in navigating the legal quagmire and Iran’s ire after failing to complete a natural gas pipeline connecting the two nations a whole decade after construction was originally meant to conclude. Missing out on a much-needed supply of a relatively clean fossil fuel -- the project stands next to nil chances of materializing -- is a double blow for Islamabad.

But Pakistan could use the lessons learned to conduct a radical overhaul of how it evaluates the feasibility of mega energy projects before committing to them. Such astuteness across the political and bureaucratic administrative machinery is fundamental to a sound national energy policy, all the more so in a country reeling under years of economic and energy crises.

Tehran last month served Islamabad a final ultimatum to finish its portion of a 1,900-kilometer cross-border gas pipeline or expect to be hauled to the Paris-based International Court of Arbitration, where it could face a penalty payment estimated at around $18 billion.

In 2010, the neighboring countries signed an agreement to jointly build the pipeline connecting Iran’s South Pars field with Pakistan’s Balochistan and Sindh provinces. Pakistan inked a 25-year deal to buy 750 million cubic feet per day of Iranian gas through the pipeline, with supplies originally targeted to begin by 2015.

While Iran claims to have completed laying a 1,150-km pipeline in its territory to the common border in 2011, Pakistan has dragged its feet and remains way behind schedule despite repeated warnings from Iran and multiple deadline extensions. Under a revised timeline agreed upon between state-run gas companies of the two countries in September 2019, Iran had agreed to hold off going to court until September 2024.

Pakistan needs the gas as badly as Iran needs the revenue from its sale. The South Asian country’s dwindling domestic gas production is stretched thin by fast-growing domestic energy consumption, and it has struggled to find affordable supplies of liquefied natural gas. A severe energy crisis over many years, marked by chronic fuel, gas and electricity shortages and high prices, has played its part in hobbling Pakistan’s economy, which has been kept afloat by multiple bailouts from the International Monetary Fund.

Faced with the latest Iranian warning, Islamabad has reiterated its helplessness due to the threat of secondary U.S. sanctions for doing business with Iran. In September 2023, Pakistan put a temporary hold on the pipeline project under pressure from Washington and issued a force majeure notice to Iran, to get out of honoring the gas sales and purchase agreement.

The U.S. last imposed stringent unilateral sanctions against Iran’s energy sector in 2018; Pakistan had a window of opportunity that it did not use in the years following a 2015 landmark agreement between major world powers and Iran, under which the latter was granted sanctions relief in exchange for agreeing to curbs on its nuclear program.

Over the years, Pakistan’s political leaders have either flip-flopped or engaged in unhelpful rhetoric on the topic of needing a waiver from U.S. sanctions to proceed with the Iran gas project.

While U.S. pressure and the threat of secondary sanctions on countries and entities dealing with Iran are real, they are only part of the myriad reasons Pakistan has been unable to hold up its end of the deal.

It is an open secret that Pakistan has struggled with a few other intractable challenges. Funding for the project, which runs into a few billions of dollars, has been hard to come by, thanks to Pakistan’s economic and political instability and international lenders unwilling to risk being involved with Iran.

China, which invests in infrastructure projects in Pakistan under a bilateral economic corridor project, is not interested, and India, which had initially entertained the idea of buying Iranian gas by extending the pipeline into its territory, withdrew in 2009 after weighing the geopolitical risks.

The southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan, through which the gas pipeline would have to pass, is wracked by separatist violence and unrest, which pose a threat to construction and would also endanger the safety and security of the infrastructure and gas flows, should the project materialize. The province’s mountainous terrain also poses construction challenges for the pipeline. The federal government has not even acquired all the land needed to lay the pipeline across the country.

It is understandable that Pakistan was lured into the idea of securing long-term gas supply from an immediate neighbor at prices that would probably remain heavily discounted to international market rates for the foreseeable future. It already receives smuggled oil and gas from Iran through a 900-km porous border worth $1 billion in annual trade, according to a recent Pakistani intelligence report.

But what seems like a good idea in theory isn’t always so in practice, especially when it involves setting up major infrastructure across national boundaries and navigating geopolitical, economic and regulatory complexities and uncertainties.

The graveyard of energy projects is full of transnational gas pipeline plans, even in geopolitically and economically stable regions. Besides, the blowing up of the massive Nord Stream 1 and 2 undersea gas pipelines between Russia and Europe in 2022 is testament to the ugly face of international energy weaponization in geopolitical conflicts in today’s world.

The U.S. makes all the right gestures of helping Pakistan with its energy and transition needs, supporting the latter’s goal of fortifying its electricity infrastructure and attaining a 60% share for renewables in its power sector by 2030 under the U.S.-Pakistan Clean Energy Partnership program. But the target is wildly ambitious, given the current share of renewable power at a mere 7%. In the meantime, Pakistan needs a reliable and affordable supply of fossil fuels to keep its economic engine humming.

Pakistan, like the rest of its emerging-economy peers in the Global South, deserves the freedom to pursue its energy security, set the pace of decarbonization in a manner that is most conducive to its economic growth and procure its needs from any supplier of its choosing, without the West’s arm-twisting.

However, it needs to bring a healthy dose of realism into its energy policy and walk into any megaprojects and long-term energy deals with its eyes wide open. That includes ensuring it will have the necessary financing, regulatory and community support domestically before committing to projects. Commercial and political decisions that involve sticky international issues need a realistic assessment of the stumbling blocks and rigorous diplomatic engagement with all stakeholders from the start, not as an afterthought.

India

US to Consider More Funding to Spur India’s Clean Energy Sector (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg [9/13/2024 3:48 AM, Shruti Srivastava, 5.5M, Neutral]
The US International Development Finance Corp. will consider more deals to accelerate India’s adoption of clean energy after making loans to solar equipment makers.

Recent agreements included a $500 million loan to a First Solar Inc. manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu, and the lender has struck previous pacts with Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd. and Vikram Solar Ltd.

“We see scope for expanding that,” Nisha Biswal, deputy CEO of the US government agency, said in an interview. “One of the key conversations we are going to have is clean energy manufacturing,” including solar, wind, cooling and the electric vehicle value chain, she said.

The lender has offered financing worth almost $4 billion in India, making the nation its largest single market.

India, the world’s third-largest emitter, needs trillions of dollars in investment in clean energy generation, grid upgrades and EVs to meet targets to decarbonize, according to BloombergNEF. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to hit net zero by 2070, and is also contending with fast rising electricity demand in the world’s most-populous nation.

“No global target is achievable if India doesn’t achieve its target,” Biswal said.

India’s top court allows release on bail of New Delhi’s chief minister after 6 months in jail (AP)

AP [9/13/2024 3:25 AM, Ashok Sharma, 456K, Neutral]
India’s top court on Friday allowed the release on bail of Arvind Kejriwal, a prominent opposition leader and chief minister of New Delhi, who was arrested nearly six months ago ahead of national elections on charges of receiving bribes from a liquor distributor.

Supreme Court Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan granted him bail because his trial is expected to take time.

Kejriwal is the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, or Common Man’s Party, which governs New Delhi. He is one of India’s most influential politicians of the past decade and a fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Kejriwal was initially arrested in March, weeks before national elections. He denied the accusations and called them a political conspiracy.

His party is part of a broad alliance of opposition parties called INDIA which was the main challenger to Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in the elections, which concluded in June.

Kejriwal’s arrest was widely condemned by opposition parties as a move by Modi’s government against its opponents. They accused the government of misusing federal investigation agencies to harass and weaken its political opponents, and pointed to a series of raids, arrests and corruption investigations of key opposition figures in the months before the elections.

Kejriwal was released temporarily on bail in May to allow him to campaign in the elections before returning to jail on June 2. The Supreme Court granted him interim bail in July, but he was rearrested by another government agency, blocking his release. The court granted him bail in that case on Friday.

The government agencies accused Kejriwal’s party and ministers of accepting 1 billion rupees ($12 million) in bribes from a liquor distributor nearly two years ago in return for revising a liquor sales policy in New Delhi, allowing private companies greater profits.

Kejriwal’s release will boost his party, which faces new elections in New Delhi by February next year.

Kejriwal, a former civil servant, launched the Aam Aadmi Party in 2012. He promised to rid the Indian political system and governance of corruption and inefficiency.

The party’s symbol — a broom — and its promise to sweep the administration of graft struck a chord with New Delhi’s residents, fed up with runaway inflation and slow economic growth.

India’s top court grants bail to opposition leader Kejriwal in graft case (Reuters)

Reuters [9/13/2024 2:15 AM, Sakshi Dayal, 5.2M, Neutral]
India’s Supreme Court granted bail on Friday to opposition leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a graft case, paving the way for his release almost six months after he was arrested.

Kejriwal’s release is expected to boost the morale of his decade-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as it will allow him to campaign in regional elections next month in the northern state of Haryana, where AAP is trying to make inroads, and in Delhi early next year.

Kejriwal was first taken into custody in March by India’s financial crime-fighting agency, weeks before the country’s national elections, in relation to alleged irregularities in the capital city’s liquor policy.

Although he was granted bail in that case in July, he remained in detention due to his arrest a month previously by the federal police in a graft case related to the same policy.

Kejriwal, 55, and AAP deny the allegations and say the cases are "politically motivated".

Ordering Kejriwal’s release, Justice Surya Kant said that the issue related to "liberty" and "prolonged incarceration" could not be justified.

The two-judge bench was split, however, on Kejriwal’s appeal challenging his arrest, with Kant holding it lawful while Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said the timing raised serious questions.

The federal police "must not only be above board but must also be seen to remain so ... in a functional democracy governed by the rule of law, perception matters," Bhuyan said.

In its first reaction following the verdict, AAP said, "Truth can be troubled, but not defeated".

Opposition parties have been demanding Kejriwal’s release, saying his arrest was an attempt by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to deny them a level playing field in the polls, charges denied by Modi and BJP.

Other countries, including the U.S., had urged a "fair" and impartial trial.

On Friday, BJP said bail to Kejriwal did not mean he was innocent.

Rohingya refugees in India on hunger strike over ‘prolonged’ detention (Reuters)

Reuters [9/12/2024 8:32 AM, Tora Agarwala and Sudipto Ganguly, 37270K, Negative]
More than 100 Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar including women and children have been on hunger strike since Monday to protest at their indefinite detention at a camp in northeastern India, authorities told Reuters.

More than one million Rohingya refugees fled to countries including Bangladesh and India after a military-led crackdown in Myanmar in 2017. They have little hope of returning home, where they are largely denied citizenship and basic rights.

The protesters include about 103 Rohingya Muslims and 30 Christian Chin refugees, also from Myanmar, and many have refugee cards issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said a Rohingya who is in touch with the protesters in Matia Transit Camp in Assam state.

The camp is India’s largest detention centre for undocumented migrants who enter India illegally.

"Many of them have finished their terms, but are still stuck in detention. They are not criminals, they fled persecution," the person said, adding that 36 Rohingya protesters possessed UNHCR cards.

"The jail conditions are not good, relatives cannot even visit ... they just want to be free and shift somewhere where life is better," the person added.

The protesters want to be handed over to UNHCR and resettled in a third country, the person said, adding that they have written letters to the Assam government seeking their intervention in the last few months.

"They are demanding they be released," said Ravi Kota, Assam’s most senior bureaucrat, adding that the state government has sent prison and interior ministry officials to the camp to "understand their issues" and submit a report.

"Not all were detained under a single court order, so we are trying to find out what are these orders, what are the charges, and what the legal status is," he said.

Reuters was not immediately able to establish for how long the refugees were initially ordered to stay in the camp.

UNHCR said in a statement there are 676 Rohingya refugees in immigration detention across India and 608 of them have no ongoing court cases or sentences pending.

“Consistent with international law and standards, UNHCR takes the position that the detention of asylum seekers should be an exceptional measure of last resort,” it said. It added that UNHCR is ready to work with New Delhi to address the situation of all asylum seekers and refugees in detention.

The Rohingya suffered from poor healthcare facilities, a lack of water and inhumane treatment in the camp, said Rohingya Human Rights Initiative (R4R), a rights group. "Our people fled genocide and persecution, only to be imprisoned in a country where they sought refuge," R4R chief Sabre Kyaw Min said.

The Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK also urged New Delhi to release the refugees, saying their detention was a "grave injustice".

India: Striking doctors defy government over rape, murder (Deutsche Welle)

Deutsche Welle [9/12/2024 8:44 AM, Murali Krishnan, 16637K, Negative]
Some 6,000 Indian doctors are pushing ahead with the strike and protests over a month after a gruesome rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata.

The woman fell asleep in a seminar room after a 36-hour shift in the government-run RG Kar medical college and hospital. Her severely battered body was discovered by colleagues the next morning.

The anger over the rape and murder has since escalated into nationwide outrage and stirred widespread protests and calls to fight violence against women in India.

Who will be the first to blink?

The striking doctors have decided to ignore the Supreme Court decision ordering them to return to work this week. They have also rejected the offer of talks by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the head of the state government of West Bengal, where Kolkata is located.

Camping outside the Health Ministry, the protesters call for the removal of Kolkata police commissioner Vineet Goyal and several top state health department officials. They have also demanded elections be held for all decision-making committees within medical colleges.

"The state government has not taken any genuine steps regarding the main demands of the movement. No action has been taken regarding police negligence or health corruption," Debashish Halder of the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front (WBJDF) told DW.

"We want the case to be fast tracked and are hopeful that the government will act," said Halder.

Parents of the rape and murder victim have also visited the protest site.

No deal on live broadcast for talks

The doctors are enraged by what they see as procedural lapses and negligence following the death of the trainee doctor. Hospital officials reportedly first told the victim’s parents she died due to an illness, then that she took her own life, and only later acknowledged there was violence.

State government officials and police officers who first began investigating the case have been accused of mishandling the investigation and not securing the crime scene.

Amid the continuing deadlock between the government and health workers, the striking doctors have now requested a delegation of 30 representatives to meet Banerjee and insisted on a live broadcast of the meeting for transparency.

The government has rejected the agitators’ demand to broadcast the talks live.

"It is clear to us now that the cycle of corruption in the state’s health system and the threat of politics in colleges cannot be avoided by the senior officials of the health department. This has continually disrupted patient services," Arif Ahmed Laskar, a doctor at RG Kar hospital, told DW.

Laskar referred to a complaint about alleged financial irregularities at the hospital filed by Akhtar Ali, the former deputy superintendent to the state vigilance commission and the anti-corruption bureau, who was in office last year.

"Instead of acting on his complaints, it led to his own transfer from the institution," added Laskar.

What do doctors want?

India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken over the case by re-examining forensic material on theday of the crime and questioning the main accused, Sanjay R. earlier this month. The agency also arrested Sandip Ghosh, RG Kar’s principal, and three others for alleged financial irregularities and corruption at the hospital.

The West Bengal government, on its part, has introduced a slew of safety measures for women at workplaces, particularly in state-run hospitals working night shifts following the protests that rocked the state.

However, doctors want to see fundamental changes in the health system and a genuine appreciation of the hardships they face.

"After such a huge incident which has captured the country’s imagination and led to hundreds of protest rallies, the health system is still not people-centric despite our movement for the victim’s justice," Urmimala Bhattacharjee, a senior resident doctor, told DW.

"What the government has assured us does not inspire confidence. We need a sound health policy and true intent to make the system operate well," she added.

Measures introduced for women safety

New measures for women’s safety include creating CCTV-monitored safe zones, developing an emergency mobile app, and increasing night police patrols. Furthermore, women will be encouraged to form two-member teams during night shifts, with security staff pushed to maintain a more equal gender ratio.

Places who have women work night shifts will be assisted by the flagship program "Rattirer Sathi" (Helpers of the Night), which is comprised of volunteers.

The Supreme Court has also established a 10-member National Task Force to develop a protocol for safeguarding doctors and health care workers.

Doctors’ strike costs lives, say West Bengal officials

According to West Bengal Health Secretary N S Nigam, the strike has caused disruptions in health care services, which resulted in the deaths of 23 individuals. He said approximately 700,000 were unable to receive treatment in outpatient departments and 70,000 patients denied care in inpatient facilities of state-run hospitals.

However, the WBJDF insists that patient services are operational in every medical college in the state, with senior doctors providing care. Additionally, the body claimed to have created a new telemedicine service, which was launched on August 31 to help the patients.

"There are 245 government hospitals in the state, of which only 26 are medical colleges. The number of junior doctors is less than 7,500," said the WBJDF in a statement.

"West Bengal has nearly 93,000 registered doctors. Given that only a few medical colleges have junior doctors on strike, how can the entire health care system be said to be collapsing?" it asked.

‘We want justice and we will take it’

While the recent rape and murder captured headlines in India and abroad, it is only one of the many incidents involving attacks on doctors and nurses in recent years. These attacks have prompted many complaints from doctors about their safety and working conditions.

For now, the stalemate continues between the agitating doctors, for whom public support grows, and the state government, which remains firm.

"The state government must develop a spine. There is no politics behind our stir. We want justice and we will take it," Shreya Shaw, a resident doctor at R G Kar hospital, told DW.

NSB

Bangladesh seeks help from FBI, U.N. agency to recover laundered money (Nikkei Asia)

Nikkei Asia [9/12/2024 6:22 AM, Syful Islam, 2376K, Positive]
Bangladesh will collaborate with international agencies to bring back billions of dollars laundered out of the country during the past 15 years under the rule of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Officials of Bangladesh’s Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) this week had meetings with officials from the FBI and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Both organizations came up with offers of assistance in recovering laundered money. This would be the first time for the FBI to help Bangladesh.

Khorsheda Yasmeen, secretary of the ACC, told media that the FBI officials inquired about how Bangladesh’s investigation and intelligence activities are being carried out. "They also asked us to explore any assistance [from the FBI] if necessary in recovering laundered money," she said.

The FBI team will visit Bangladesh soon again to further discuss methods of assistance, ACC Deputy Director Aktarul Islam told Nikkei Asia.

The FBI National Press Office declined to comment to Nikkei when asked by email for details about possible cooperation with the ACC.

The office of the chief adviser in Bangladesh’s interim government estimates that nearly $100 billion was smuggled out of the country during the last 15 years.

It is believed that funds are being smuggled out mainly through trade misinvoicing and a type of negotiable bill of exchange called hundi, which was developed in medieval India for carrying out trade and credit transactions and now is used to avoid normal banking channels.

According to a Global Financial Integrity report published in 2021, an average of about $8.3 billion was laundered out of Bangladesh annually between 2009 and 2018.

During the 15 years of Hasina’s Awami League regime, politicians and businesspeople patronized by the former prime minister and her party took billions out of the country.

One example is the conglomerate S. Alam Group, which has control of eight commercial banks, including six Shariah-based banks since 2017. From Islami Bank Bangladesh alone, the group has taken 880 billion taka ($7.3 billion) out of the country, the chairman of the bank told news media recently.

Analysts and organizations working on money laundering believe the amount of laundered money was much bigger during the last five to 10 years than the report said.

Iftekhar Zaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh, thinks the annual amount laundered was between $12 billion and $15 billion. He said over 70% of the money was laundered through the misinvoicing of trade goods. Many influential people even go abroad with suitcases fully loaded with foreign currency, he added.

The central bank’s governor, Ahsan H. Mansur, said most of the laundered money ended up in countries such as the U.S., the U.K., the United Arab Emirates and Singapore. Such money is also known to have gone to Canada and Switzerland.

"Bringing back laundered money is possible through identifying the launderers and employing highest efforts," Zaman said. Collaboration with international agencies that have been working on these issues may help expedite it, he added.

Zaman and his colleague in Transparency International U.S., Gary Kalman, on Tuesday called in a joint letter to the U.S. administration for providing "critical support" to the interim government of Bangladesh "to address corruption and money laundering."

"Now, serious evidence regarding the misappropriation of state assets by former Bangladeshi officials and their allies is being unearthed. These assets ultimately belong to the people of Bangladesh," they wrote in the letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Also, Bangladesh’s home adviser to the interim government had a meeting on Monday with the Canadian ambassador in Dhaka in which he sought her assistance to get back money siphoned out of the country by politicians, bureaucrats and businesses.

Money laundering has had significant impacts on the country’s economy, according to Zahid Hussain, a former lead economist at the World Bank’s Dhaka office.

"Unless the money was laundered out, [it] could have been invested in manufacturing sectors or trading sectors, leading to higher productivity and employment generation," he told Nikkei Asia.

Hussain said the country’s current account balance would now be in a more positive condition if this had not happened. "We could have had more bargaining power in case of taking foreign loans if the forex reserve was at well position," he said.

He added that due to money laundering the foreign exchange reserves have become paltry, the economy has become dependent on foreign loans, and the financing of imports such as fuel for electricity generation has become tougher. With higher forex reserves, he said, financing imports would be easier and Bangladesh might not have had to take out costly loans for large projects.

As the forex reserves have fallen by billions of dollars, the government is hunting for low-cost support loans from various development partners. Already, letters have been sent to the IMF seeking $3 billion in additional support, while $1 billion each has been sought from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Talks are underway with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and some other bilateral development partners for more budget support to replenish the country’s coffers.

Bangladesh pushes ‘groundbreaking’ reforms after Hasina exit (Nikkei Asia)

Nikkei Asia [9/12/2024 10:50 PM, Faisal Mahmud, 2376K, Negative]
Bangladesh’s caretaker government is launching a "groundbreaking" overhaul of its electoral system, judiciary and other key institutions in a major reform push after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in a student-led uprising.

The plan unveiled late Wednesday by Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Prize-winning head of the caretaker government, was embraced in some quarters, just over a month after Hasina fled in the face of social unrest and protests that left more than 600 dead and thousands more injured.

But others warned over the scale of the unprecedented task for the South Asian nation, given that Hasina’s administration had become synonymous with corruption and rights abuses.

"Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule has severely damaged the police bureaucracy, judiciary, and other institutions," said Sadia Rahman who works for a nongovernmental organization. "Real change is impossible without reforming these areas and removing the remnants of Hasina’s authoritarian regime."

Yunus, whose pioneering work in microloans won him international acclaim, said the interim government would create six reform commissions tasked with recommending changes to the constitution, electoral system, judiciary, police, anti-corruption commission and public administration.

In a televised address to the country of 171 million, Yunus said leaders of the new commissions were picked from a diverse crop of civil society activists, former judges, anti-corruption experts and prominent lawyers.

The new agencies are set to begin their work from the start of October and must deliver reform proposals within three months, Yunus added, as the interim government moves to hold fresh elections.

Once the commission reports are released, the government will consult with major political parties to finalize the reform framework.

Badiul Alam Majumdar, secretary of civil rights group Shujan (Citizens for Good Governance) and head of the new electoral reform commission, told Nikkei Asia that his work ahead would be tough because Hasina’s ruling Awami League had undermined trust in the electoral process.

Hasina, who has taken refuge in neighboring India while some of her key ministers have been arrested, won a fourth consecutive term in January after a vote boycotted by the opposition and slammed by some Western governments as rigged.

"There haven’t been genuine elections for the past decade and a half; what took place were selections made by the ruling regime in various forms, eroding public trust in the electoral process," Majumdar said. "Restoring that trust will require monumental efforts."

Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), said his goal as the new chief of the anti-corruption reform commission is to take on the country’s eye-watering levels of graft.

Bangladesh ranked a lowly 149 out of 180 nations on Transparency International’s 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index. The office of the chief adviser in the country’s interim government estimates that nearly $100 billion was smuggled out of the country during Hasina’s rule.

"We will certainly focus on corruption within the police, judiciary, and bureaucracy," he said. "These areas are deeply affected by corruption and we need to identify effective strategies to address it."

Overhauling public administration would be another Herculean task after the previous government reduced it to a clan-based patronage system, said another observer.

"They largely prioritized party loyalty over merit in their recruitments, which has diminished the functionality and credibility of the bureaucracy," added Salahuddin M. Aminuzzaman, a professor at the South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance at North South University in Bangladesh. "A major overhaul of this sector is essential to realign the country and set it back on the right path."

Political analyst Zahed Ur Rahman described the unprecedented overhaul as "groundbreaking" in its promise to not only implement reforms, but also to consult with relevant stakeholders and parties across the political spectrum.

"This shows that Yunus genuinely wants to ensure that the people’s will is represented," Rahman said.

But he expressed concern about moving ahead on constitutional reforms, saying such sensitive changes could be better handled by an elected government rather than an unelected interim administration.

Still, the main opposition party has already embraced moves to reform major institutions, said Zahir Uddin Swapan, adviser to Bangladesh Nationalist Party acting chairperson Tarique Rahman.

"In fact, BNP has long advocated for significant reforms and has already published proposals addressing these six institutions," Swapan told Nikkei.

Six people, including three Rohingya, killed in Bangladesh landslides (Reuters)

Reuters [9/13/2024 3:45 AM, Ruma Paul, 5.2M, Neutral]
At least six people, including three Rohingya refugees, died and several others were injured on Friday after heavy rains triggered landslides in southeastern Bangladesh, officials said.

The landslides took place in two separate places in the border district of Cox’s Bazar, including the Rohingya camps, after three days of intense late monsoon rains, said Mohammad Shamsud Douza, a senior government official overseeing refugee affairs.

More than 1 million Rohingya live in squalid camps in Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee settlement, many having fled from a military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar in 2017. The refugees mostly live in flimsy shelters made of bamboo and plastic sheets, often situated on unstable, steep hillsides.

Three other people were killed in Cox’s Bazar town, where heavy rainfall has caused widespread waterlogging, another official said.

The Cox’s Bazar weather office recorded 378mm of rainfall from 6 a.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday, marking the highest rainfall of the monsoon season so far, meteorologist Abdul Hannan said.

The South Asian country is still recovering from a deadly flood after torrential rains and upstream water from India left more than 70 dead and displaced millions.

Sri Lanka Opposition Candidate Wants to Renegotiate IMF Loan (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg [9/12/2024 11:33 PM, Anusha Ondaatjie, 5.5M, Neutral]
Sri Lanka’s main opposition leader said he’ll reopen negotiations with the International Monetary Fund on its $3 billion loan if he wins next week’s presidential election to ease the financial burden on working class people.

Sajith Premadasa, 57, wants rich individuals to bear more of the cost of the economic adjustment that came with the bailout program. The austerity measures that were imposed, such as tax and electricity-price hikes, and the debt restructuring, have made the incumbent leader Ranil Wickremesinghe deeply unpopular, creating a tight race for the Sept. 21 vote.

“We will make sure there is justice and fairness,” Premadasa said in an interview in his Colombo office. “The burden should be shared by the super rich, not the working class poor.”

The election will be the first for the country since an economic crisis in 2022 caused living standards to plunge and the government to default on its debt for the first time ever. Widespread unrest that followed forced the populist Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and resign. His successor Wickremesinghe went on to negotiate the IMF bailout the following year.

Premadasa, who runs a breakaway group that splintered from Wickremesinghe’s party in 2020, has emerged as one of the three leading candidates contesting an election that analysts say is too close to call. He’ll face Wickremesinghe and Anura Kumara Dissanayake, a candidate with roots in Marxist socialist policy.

Both Premadasa and Dissanayake have said they’ll reopen negotiations with the IMF, adding to policy uncertainty. The IMF needs to conduct a third review of the loan program before it disburses the next tranche of funding, estimated at about $350 million.

Sri Lanka’s government still hasn’t finalized debt restructuring deals with some of its creditors two years after defaulting. Investors have in recent weeks started to cut their exposure to the nation’s dollar bonds amid concerns over further delays in the debt overhaul.

Premadasa declined to give details of what he’ll seek to change in the IMF loan conditions, although he was critical of a domestic debt restructuring agreed to by the current administration, which he called “dastardly” unfair in its treatment of local pension funds.

In an Aug. 2 statement, the IMF said that the timing of the program’s third review will be discussed with the government after the polls. Julie Kozack, the IMF’s chief spokesperson, reiterated that view on Thursday in Washington, saying “we will move forward with program discussions after the presidential elections take place.”

Dhananath Fernando, chief executive officer of Advocata Institute, a Colombo-based think tank, said rising costs, including food price hikes, can’t be fully attributed to the IMF program, and energy prices were raised to partly make up for the currency’s depreciation.

He noted that most food prices and energy costs have eased in the past two years, although lower-income consumers are still “worse off compared to before the crisis.”

Boosting Exports

Premadasa leads the Samagi Jana Sandhanaya and has previously held ministerial portfolios in government, including housing and health. His manifesto, titled ‘Towards an Advanced Social Market Economy,’ champions boosting exports, reducing taxes, setting up an independent public prosecutor to tackle corruption and strengthening the rule of law.

“Export-driven economic development is one of our main mantras,” Premadasa said in the interview on Wednesday. “We would also have a purposeful effort to promote manufacturing industry, as it is of great importance to ensure that we have quality economic growth.”

Premadasa said he champions good governance and will strive to improve Sri Lanka’s business environment to help lure foreign direct investment. In a reference to popular leftist candidate Dissanayake, Premadasa said “Marxist ideologies, and extreme hardline leftist tendencies will certainly not be the kind of situation which would attract FDI.”

Dissanayake is gaining momentum in the race on a campaign platform of eliminating corruption. His coalition of leftist parties and groups, backed by protesters who ousted the Rajapaksa government in 2022, opposes the debt restructuring framework agreed with the multilateral lender.

Premadasa said the IMF program needs to be reworked to ensure a better outcome for citizens.

“We need to be very professional in our negotiations with the IMF and we will have a good deal, a strong deal,” he said. “Nothing will be derailed but everything would be humanized.”

Sri Lanka’s opposition leader says the rich will pay more if he becomes president next week (AP)

AP [9/12/2024 6:38 AM, Krishan Francis, 88008K, Negative]
Sri Lanka’s opposition leader contesting the presidential election next week said Thursday that if he comes to power he will renegotiate with the International Monetary Fund the 2022 economic reforms package to ensure that the rich pay more taxes and the poor see their conditions improve. The reforms were introduced after Sri Lanka defaulted on its foreign debt creating the worst economic crisis in its history.

Sajith Premadasa, the opposition leader in Parliament told The Associated Press in an interview that his party has already started discussions with the IMF to find ways to ease the tax burden on the people.

“We will be embarking on the third path, the middle path, the path is where wealth is created, the country grows and the wealth is equitably distributed,” Premadasa said.

He said there needs to be “fundamental changes” to the current agreement between the IMF and Sri Lanka’s government but those should be in a more “humanistic manner” to ensure that the burden on the people is lessened.

“And if there are burdens that have to be imposed, the super-rich and the rich have to disproportionately take a bigger share of the burden rather than the working men and women of Sri Lanka.”

Sri Lanka is in the middle of reforms and a debt restructuring program under an IMF agreement whereby taxes have been increased to boost state revenue. After the island nation defaulted on its foreign debt in 2022, borrowing was reduced and the printing of new currency notes was stopped by law.

The opposition parties say however that many of the wealthy and those with connections with the authorities don’t pay their taxes and the burden is borne by the middle classes and the poor through income taxes and value-added tax on goods and services.

The presidential election on September 21 is seen as a referendum on the reforms initiated by President Ranil Wickremesinghe. They have improved key economic figures, but their effects have yet to reach many ordinary people.

Premadasa criticized Wickremesinghe’s economic policies saying that he is trying to find solutions through contraction. Premadasa said his policy is to “grow out of the problem” through an export-oriented, knowledge-based economy.

Premadasa, 57, is the son of a former president late Ranasinghe Premadasa who was assassinated by an ethnic Tamil separatist suicide bomber in 1993.

He also contested the presidential election in 2019 and lost to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was forced to flee after two years amid angry protests against the country’s economic meltdown.

Unsustainable debt, a severe balance of payments crisis, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the government’s spending of scarce foreign reserves to prop up the country’s currency, the rupee, led to a severe shortage of foreign currency and essentials such as fuel, medicine, cooking gas and food in 2022.

It sparked riots, forcing Rajapaksa to flee the country and later resign. Sri Lanka’s parliament elected Wickremesinghe as president to cover Rajapaksa’s remaining time.

Wickremesinghe is also contesting the election and is seeking approval for his economic agenda, promising rapid growth with an ambitious target of making Sri Lanka a developed nation by the centenary of its independence in 2048.

Inflation dropped to 0.5% last month from 70% two years ago under Wickremesinghe’s administration. Interest rates have also come down, the rupee has rebounded, and foreign currency reserves have increased. Creditor countries such as India, Japan and France have agreed to defer debt repayments until 2028, giving the island nation space to rebuild its economy.

But professionals have been complaining of high taxes and all especially the poor have been affected by high living costs.

Premadasa is one of the three leading candidates, from a total of 38, and is supported by many ethnic and religious minority groups.

Premadasa said that he would prosecute those in the Rajapaksa administration who ordered cremating the dead bodies of Muslim COVID-19 victims, ignoring their religious sentiments at the height of the pandemic and pay compensation to their families.

Authorities then had mandated cremation of the COVID-19 victims citing health and soil experts who had cautioned that the deadly virus could contaminate ground water.

Premadasa however called it a “racist policy.”

Premadasa also said that he would allow maximum devolution of power to the ethnic Tamil majority in the northern and eastern provinces, a long-standing demand from the community. He also promised to call an international donor conference to help rebuild areas affected by a 26-year separatist civil war in those provinces.

The war killed at least 100,000 people.

Premadasa also said he would bring closure to the issue of forcible disappearances and those who went missing in action.

Sri Lankans’ fury forced the powerful Rajapaksa clan out. Now its heir is running for president (AP)

AP [9/13/2024 1:07 AM, Krishan Francis and Sheikh Saaliq, 456K, Neutral]
When an uprising ousted Sri Lanka’s president, many saw it as the end of his powerful family’s hold on the island nation after more than 12 years of rule.

Now, as Sri Lanka prepares to elect a new leader, Namal Rajapaksa is running for president. The 38-year-old is the son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the nephew of the ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Namal Rajapaksa is presenting himself as an agent of change, but many see his bid for presidency as an attempt by the controversial political dynasty to regain power.

By mid-2022, the clan’s political career seemed in ruins. Some of its members were forced into hiding in military camps after angry protesters stormed their residences. Others simply gave up their seats in the government as people blamed them for hurtling the country of more than 20 million people into an economic crisis.

Two years later, the family — shunned and pushed to political wilderness — is trying make a comeback via the Rajapaksa heir apparent who is styling himself as someone who could deliver Sri Lanka into a prosperous future.

But for Namal Rajapaksa, it’s more than just a political choice — it’s a deeply personal one. He wants to shed the widespread allegations that the Rajapaksa clan ran the country as a family business that led to the economy crashing in 2022 — as well as the guilty verdict on corruption charges against them.

“The corruption charges are not something common to my family or to myself. If you look at all politicians in this country or in the world, including our region … all have been accused of being corrupt,” Namal told the Associated Press on a recent afternoon. “People will understand, you know, because if you look at the current stage, everyone is blaming each other.”

Sri Lanka was once an economic hope in South Asia, before it plunged into an economic crisis in 2022 when unsustainable debt and the COVID-19 pandemic led to a severe shortage of essentials. The crisis morphed into a popular uprising, with angry street protesters taking over the president’s and prime minister’s offices and other key buildings, forcing Gotabaya to flee the country and later resign.

Many blamed the Rajapaksas.

The family still had a big parliamentary majority, and voted Ranil Wickremesinghe to serve the remainder of the presidential term. Wickremesinghe ensured them protection in return for their support to pass laws in Parliament, enabling the clan to mark a return in politics.

“We didn’t run away, we never ran away. It’s just that some people thought we were hiding,” said Namal.

Namal’s prospects for a political comeback appear grim, as the main contest appears to be between three other candidates: Wickremesinghe, the parliamentary opposition leader and a left-leaning politician with a powerful alliance.

Alan Keenan, senior consultant on Sri Lanka at the International Crisis Group, said the younger Rajapaksa’s bid for the presidency is a test run that would establish “his position as the heir apparent” of the political dynasty.

“I think they (the Rajapaksas) know that Namal will not win. But his candidature effectively reasserts the family’s ownership of the party,” Keenan said.

The Rajapaksa family has been a mainstay in Sri Lankan politics for decades. They influenced nearly everything — from bureaucracy to courts, police, business and sports.

Namal Rajapaksa’s father was a prime minister and then a two-term president from 2005 to 2015. Even though Mahinda Rajapaksa was adored by the country’s majority Buddhist Sinhalese for defeating the ethnic Tamil separatists after a 26-year bloody civil war, allegations of human rights violations and corruption led to his defeat in 2015.

The family, however, returned more powerful four years later, when Mahinda’s brother was elected president. Gotabaya Rajapaksa whipped up majority Buddhist Sinhalese sentiments after the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, blamed on Islamic extremist groups, killed 290 people.

But the family’s popularity quickly eroded under a tanking economy and alienation among ethnic Tamils, Muslims and other minorities.

With hopes to reinvent himself as a young, modern leader removed from his family’s tainted past, Namal Rajapaksa’s efforts mirror that of his father, who still enjoys considerable support among some voters who credit him for crushing the Tamil separatists.

Like his father, Namal Rajapaksa wears the trademark outfit that highlights his Buddhist Sinhalese culture, with a maroon scarf around his neck, a sarong and a white robe. During campaigns he can be seen touching his father’s feet in reverence, a practice most locals consider noble. He is also promising to free the island nation from its debt crisis, create more jobs and eradicate corruption by digitizing the administrative systems.

Still, many in Sri Lanka are done with the family, and public opposition to Rajapaksa’s candidacy is particularly palpable among the Tamil community that makes up about 11% of Sri Lanka’s population.

The group was crushed in a 2009 government offensive headed by Mahinda and Gotabaya Rajapaksa to end the separatist civil war that broke out in 1983 and left at least 100,000 on both sides, with many more missing. Though not all Tamils were part of or supported the rebel group, their defeat has effectively become a political defeat to the community. They also blame the Rajapaksas for alleged human rights violations against civilians during the war.

Vellaiyan Sivaprakash, a Tamil who works as an auditor in central Sri Lanka, said he constantly lived in fear of violence during the Rajapaksa rule and doubted whether he could live in Sri Lanka anymore.

“Their rule was like a monarchy and they behaved like princes and treated us like slaves,” Sivaprakash said. “They should never come back to power.”

Rajapaksas still have a large chunk of supporters who appreciate their role in ending the war and in big infrastructure projects including a road network, an airport and a seaport built on high-interest Chinese loans.

Even though many of them believe Namal Rajapaksa has no chance of winning, they are banking on his future prospects.

“I will vote for Namal because I got my job under his father’s government. He is still young and one day he can be the president,” said R. M. Lasantha, who works as a pipe fitter at the state-owned petroleum corporation.

Some Sri Lankans say it would take the Rajapaksas at least a decade to make a political comeback.

“Their name is associated with corruption and bankruptcy, so rebuilding (their image) is a major challenge,” said Manilal Ranasinghe, who works in the tourism industry.

“At the same time,” Ranasinghe said, “we know that Sri Lankans have a short memory.”

Central Asia

Kazakh Court Cancels Ruling On Early Release Of Businessman Convicted In Banker’s Murder Case (Radio Free Europe)

Radio Free Europe [9/12/2024 11:37 AM, Staff, 1251K, Negative]
The Almaty regional court on September 12 canceled a lower court’s decision to grant an early release to Kazakh businessman Muratkhan Toqmadi, who was sentenced in 2018 to a lengthy prison term for his alleged involvement in the killing of banker Erzhan Tatishev.

It was announced last month that Toqmadi was supposed to be released on August 10. However, the late banker’s relatives filed an appeal against the court’s decision to grant an early release to Toqmadi.

In March 2022, Toqmadi called on President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev to review his case after he retracted his testimony against Mukhtar Ablyazov, a fugitive outspoken critic of Kazakhstan’s government and former banker.

In his open letter to Toqaev, Toqmadi said he confessed to the killing of Tatishev on a hunting trip in 2004 and falsely testified in 2018 that he killed Tatishev at the behest of Ablyazov because he was tortured and faced psychological pressure imposed on him by the National Security Committee.

Tatishev at the time was the head of TuranAlem bank, which was later renamed BTA. After Tatishev’s death, which was ruled an accident at the time, Ablyazov became the bank’s chief. He has been living abroad since 2009.

Toqmadi’s letter to Toqaev came after deadly unrest in January that resulted in the removal of former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev and his clan from the political scene.

In February 2018, Toqmadi, who was initially sentenced in 2017 to three years in prison for extortion and illegal firearms possession, entered a guilty plea at the murder trial, which ended with him being sentenced to 10 1/2 years in prison.

In November that year, Ablyazov was tried in absentia, convicted of murder based on Toqmadi’s testimony, and sentenced to life in prison.

In a separate trial in absentia that ended in 2017, Ablyazov was convicted of embezzlement, abuse of office, and organizing a criminal group and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Ablyazov has denied all the charges, saying they are politically motivated.

Tajikistan: Rights group documents persistent abuses in mountainous autonomous region (EurasiaNet)

EurasiaNet [9/12/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, 57.6K, Negative]
A leading rights watchdog group has released a report documenting an ongoing government crackdown on the poorest of the poor in Central Asia’s least economically developed state. Persistent repression, the report contends, is destroying the “socioeconomic potential” of hundreds of thousands of citizens living in the remote Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region.

The report by Amnesty International, titled Tajikistan: Reprisals Against Pamiri Minority, Suppression of Local Identity and Clampdown on all Dissent, asserts that President Emomali Rahmon’s government in Dushanbe has viewed Gorno Badakhshan as a hotbed of “potential political opposition” since the end of the Tajik civil war in 1998. The crackdown aims to “establish [the Rahmon regime’s] full effective political and economic control over the region and reduce its de facto autonomy,” the report states.

The residents of Gorno Badakhshan, known as Pamiris, are an ethnoreligious minority group, speaking a distinctive dialect and adhering to the Ismaili Shi’a branch of Islam, Amnesty International contends. The large majority of Tajikistan’s population is nominally Sunni Muslims. The Tajik government does not recognize Pamiris as an ethnic minority.

The report focuses on government actions over the past three years, including the “unlawful” use of force against peaceful protesters in 2021 and 2022, resulting in over a dozen deaths. It suggests that eyewitness testimony supports “credible allegations that some influential Pamiri figures were unlawfully killed” by government security forces. The report also documents that “torture and other ill-treatment [of detainees] are commonplace.”

More broadly, the heavy-handed government presence in Gorno Badakhshan is causing the socioeconomic marginalization of Pamiris. In addition, “the use of Pamiri languages and expression of Pamiri identity and culture, as well as traditional religious practices, have been suppressed,” the report states.

Amnesty International asserts that the long-term effect of the intensive securitization of Gorno Badakhshan “amounts to violations of economic, social, and cultural rights insofar as they lead to the impoverishment of the Pamiri minority in Tajikistan and the curtailment of its socioeconomic potential.”

The local economy is now heavily dependent on state employment, giving central government authorities “considerable additional leverage over the local population.”

Germany’s Scholz seeks Central Asian energy ties in shadow of Ukraine war (Reuters)

Reuters [9/13/2024 2:41 AM, Riham Alkousaa, 5.2M, Neutral]
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz embarks on his first visit to Central Asia on Sunday, travelling to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as Berlin looks for new markets and sources of energy and minerals in the wake of the Ukraine war.

He already has some key deals under his belt. Kazakh crude started flowing through the Druzhba pipeline last year, keeping Berlin’s Schwedt refinery running after the European Union imposed sanctions on Moscow, and Russian supplies dropped off.

"This marked a completely new direction in bilateral cooperation, as no Kazakh oil had previously flowed through this pipeline," a Kazakh government official said.

Scholz’s visit will give some clues on where Germany wants to take the relationship next.

On top of the oil, Kazakhstan has more than two trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, according to Kazakh government data.

Many German companies who shut down businesses in Russia - historically a key hub for Central Asia - have set up their own sales offices and operations across the region, Eduard Kinsbruner, Central Asia regional director at the German Eastern Business Association, said.

German groups have been negotiating contracts in chemicals, skilled labour, renewable energy, logistics and education among other sectors, Kinsbruner added.

Many of those contracts are expected to be signed during Scholz’s visit, he added.

HYDROGEN HOPES

Kazakhstan - seven times the size of Germany - has lots of space, as well as sun and wind, for energy projects.

In Kazakhstan’s southwestern region of Mangystau, Germany-based SVEVIND Energy Group is developing what it says is one of the world’s largest green hydrogen projects, with a planned 40 gigawatts of renewable power capacity.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited in June last year.

Germany’s new push is already showing up in the statistics.

In 2023, Kazakhstan exported 8.5 million tons of oil to Germany, accounting for 11.7% of Germany’s total oil imports, and up from round 6.5 million tons before the Ukraine war.

That jump made Kazakhstan Germany’s third-largest supplier after Norway and the United States, data from Germany’s Federal Statistics Office showed.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited in June last year.

Germany’s new push is already showing up in the statistics.

In 2023, Kazakhstan exported 8.5 million tons of oil to Germany, accounting for 11.7% of Germany’s total oil imports, and up from round 6.5 million tons before the Ukraine war.

That jump made Kazakhstan Germany’s third-largest supplier after Norway and the United States, data from Germany’s Federal Statistics Office showed.

Indo-Pacific

Biden to host ‘Quad’ leaders from Australia, India and Japan in his Delaware hometown (AP)

AP [9/12/2024 12:35 PM, Zeke Miller, 88008K, Positive]
President Joe Biden will host the leaders of Australia, India and Japan next weekend in his Wilmington, Delaware, hometown, the White House announced, as he looks to burnish his legacy before leaving office in January.

Biden was the first American president to host a summit of the so-called Quad leaders in 2021, with annual summits since then, as the U.S. looked to pivot its foreign policy focus to the Indo-Pacific region to counter China. This will be the first time Biden has hosted foreign leaders in Delaware during his presidency, as he has been spending more time in his home state since dropping his bid for reelection in July.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden’s decision to host Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Wilmington was “a reflection of his deep personal relationships with each of the Quad Leaders, and the importance of the Quad to all of our countries.”

“The Quad Leaders Summit will focus on bolstering the strategic convergence among our countries, advancing our shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region and delivering concrete benefits for partners in the Indo-Pacific in key areas,” Jean-Pierre said.

Construction of Afghan section of Turkmenistan-to-India pipeline starts (AP)

AP [9/12/2024 11:00 AM, Staff, 88008K, Neutral]
Top officials of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan on Wednesday witnessed the start of construction of the Afghanistan section of the pipeline that will supply Afghanistan, Pakistan and India with natural gas from Turkmenistan’s vast reserves.

The Afghanistan section was to have been completed in 2018, but construction was repeatedly postponed because of security concerns. Only the Turkmenistan section has been finished.

The Wednesday ceremony to weld the first joint of the 100-kilometer (62-mile) pipeline section from Turkmenistan to the Afghan city of Herat was observed by Afghan Prime Minister Hassan Akhund, Turkmenistan President Serdar Berdymukhamediv and his father and predecessor Gurbanguly.

The pipeline will eventually supply 33 billion cubic meters of gas a year.

Turkmenistan has the world’s fourth-largest gas reserves, which are the keystone of its economy. After losing its gas trade with Russia, Turkmenistan sought to diversify its customers and currently exports mainly to China.

Gurbanguly Bersymukhamedov, who holds the title of National Leader of the Turkmen People, said that the pipeline project and ancillary projects will add 12,000 jobs in Afghanistan and more than 1 billion US dollars per year in revenue, according to the government newspaper Neutral Turkmenistan.

Twitter

Afghanistan

Habib Khan
@HabibKhanT
[9/12/2024 4:48 PM, 236.5K followers, 166 retweets, 392 likes]
The Taliban has effectively imprisoned women in the name of Islam, while Islamic countries remain blissfully indifferent. If this extremism continues unchecked, it could very well spread to other Islamic nations.

Habib Khan
@HabibKhanT
[9/12/2024 4:43 PM, 236.5K followers, 82 retweets, 135 likes]
The Taliban’s Ministry of Justice announces that criticizing their vice and virtue laws, including bans on women speaking in public or attending school, will result in imprisonment.

Habib Khan
@HabibKhanT
[9/12/2024 4:26 PM, 236.5K followers, 46 retweets, 100 likes]
Gunmen linked to ISKP pulled Hazara civilians from vehicles and killed 14 of them in Daikundi, Afghanistan. The Hazaras, a predominantly Shia Muslim community, have faced systematic persecution, with attacks in schools, gyms, and even maternity hospitals. #StopHazaraGenocide

Fereshta Abbasi
@FereshtaAbbasi
[9/13/2024 12:32 AM, 25.4K followers, 1 retweet, 1 like]
Australia should support the call by human rights groups for the Human Rights Council to establish a comprehensive accountability mechanism in Afghanistan and press other countries to commit to accountability for grave crimes. By @Dgavshon https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/09/12/winding-path-justice-australian-war-crimes

Fereshta Abbasi
@FereshtaAbbasi
[9/12/2024 10:05 AM, 25.4K followers, 12 retweets, 21 likes]
This Council needs to do more to address the Taliban’s sweeping abuses, particularly their crimes against women and girls – which the Special Rapporteur has identified as “gender apartheid” – and to address decades of entrenched impunity in Afghanistan. https://hrw.org/news/2024/09/10/un-rights-body-should-take-action-advance-accountability-past-and-ongoing-grave

Pakistan

Government of Pakistan
@GovtofPakistan
[9/12/2024 11:54 AM, 3.1M followers, 6 retweets, 39 likes]
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif chairs the meeting of the Federal Cabinet, today in Islamabad.

Government of Pakistan
@GovtofPakistan
[9/12/2024 9:59 AM, 3.1M followers, 7 retweets, 39 likes]
Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Mr. Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco called on the Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif today.

Government of Pakistan
@GovtofPakistan
[9/12/2024 10:00 AM, 3.1M followers, 4 retweets, 8 likes]
The Prime Minister underlined Pakistan’s desire for expanding fisheries and maritime trade, exploring offshore resources, promoting coastal tourism, and fostering a sustainable shipbreaking industry. The Prime Minister said that his government was prioritizing the blue economy as a central pillar of its economic development strategy. He highlighted the role of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) in attracting investments and introducing modern technologies to advance fisheries and the shipbreaking sector. The Prime Minister also renewed Pakistan’s firm commitment to work with the international partners and the IMO to contribute to global efforts aimed at reducing maritime emissions.

Government of Pakistan
@GovtofPakistan
[9/12/2024 10:01 AM, 3.1M followers, 2 retweets, 6 likes]
Secretary General Velasco appreciated the Prime Minister’s leadership and Pakistan’s proactive approach towards leveraging its maritime resources for economic progress and its role in the global maritime community. He acknowledged Pakistan’s active participation in the international maritime community and assured continued support from the IMO in furthering collaboration for sustainable development.

Kamran Khan
@AajKamranKhan
[9/12/2024 10:52 AM, 5.6M followers, 24 retweets, 237 likes]
This is possibly the best-case scenario for Pakistan’s sluggish economy. Today’s 2 percent cut in the interest rate, the final approval of the IMF program later this month, coupled with a significant drop in global oil prices, will energize and stimulate the market. Fast-paced economic recovery is the only recipe available to those striving to diminish Imran Khan’s political power. Answer is economy, not disgraced politicians.

India

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[9/12/2024 9:21 AM, 101.8M followers, 4K retweets, 16K likes]
India’s aviation sector is witnessing a remarkable transformation. It is enhancing ease of travel for citizens as well as boosting connectivity. Speaking at the 2nd Asia Pacific Civil Aviation Ministers Conference.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[9/12/2024 8:39 AM, 101.8M followers, 6.1K retweets, 56K likes]
Saddened by the passing away of Shri Sitaram Yechury Ji. He was a leading light of the Left and was known for his ability to connect across the political spectrum. He also made a mark as an effective Parliamentarian. My thoughts are with his family and admirers in this sad hour. Om Shanti.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[9/12/2024 11:35 AM, 3.2M followers, 193 retweets, 1.9K likes]
Delighted to see @DrTedros, DG of World Health Organisation this afternoon. Discussed our cooperation in WHO including on traditional medicine and public health.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[9/12/2024 11:28 AM, 3.2M followers, 206 retweets, 1.6K likes]
Good to meet @volker_turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva today. Shared India’s perspectives on the global human rights situation and how challenges are best addressed.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[9/12/2024 11:17 AM, 3.2M followers, 156 retweets, 960 likes]
Thank @abagchimea for hosting the leadership of International Organisations in Geneva. Appreciate the meeting today with @DrTedros, @volker_turk, @RGrynspan, @NikhilSethUN, @MumbaMusondam, Amb Jean-David Levitte and @ThGreminger.

Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
[9/12/2024 4:31 AM, 3.2M followers, 156 retweets, 1.2K likes]
Started my visit to Geneva by paying homage to Mahatma Gandhi. In a world of polarisation and conflict, Bapu’s message of harmony and sustainability is more relevant than ever.

Rahul Gandhi
@RahulGandhi
[9/13/2024 2:80 AM, 26.9M followers, 3.5K retweets, 8.2K likes]
When the owner of a small business, like Annapoorna restaurant in Coimbatore, asks our public servants for a simplified GST regime, his request is met with arrogance and outright disrespect. Yet, when a billionaire friend seeks to bend the rules, change the laws, or acquire national assets, Modi Ji rolls out the red carpet. Our small business owners have already endured the blows of demonetisation, an inaccessible banking system, tax extortion and a disastrous GST. The last thing they deserve is further humiliation. But when the fragile egos of those in power are hurt, it seems humiliation is exactly what they’ll deliver. MSMEs have been asking for relief for years. If this arrogant government would listen to the people they would understand that a simplified GST with a single tax rate would solve the problems of lakhs of businesses.

NSB

Awami League
@albd1971
[9/12/2024 7:48 PM, 646.2K followers, 23 retweets, 63 likes]
False murder charge against journalists and monthlong inaction from Dr Yunus led regime -- On September 11, Dr Yunus, in his national address, claimed his unelected regime has ensured journalists are not subjected to harassment but turned a blind eye to call of global rights bodies to end filing of false murder charges against journalists under his watch. Read @bdnews24com https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/ccbcdc3d4c00

A day after his address, a total of 25 journalists fallen prey to the spree of outrageous murder charge of shooting students in the capital, another glaring testament to Dr Yunus’s month long denial and complicity in destroying freedom of press in pretext of reform. Read https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/94ea06876c96

The case is another testament to the ongoing climate of fear instilled among #journalists to put curbs on freedom of press by criminalizing journalists with judicial and legal abuse in trumped up murder charges, a hallmark of repression and harassment endorsed by @ChiefAdviserGoB and defended by his legal advisor. Read https://observerbd.com/news.php?id=488538

While on August 5 Sheikh Hasina left the country to stop #violence and bloodshed, the case has been filed even accusing her along journalists of killing a student who was shoot around 7:00pm while attending victory rally, a ludicrous claim that runs out of logic yet registered by police.

The journalists are Naem Nizam, Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul, Shyamal Dutta, Farida Yasmin, Omar Faruque, Monzurul Islam, Monjorul Bari Nayan, Sohel Haider Chowdhury, Quddus Afrad, Arun Kumar Dey, Nurul Haque, Jihadur Rahman Jihad, Abdul Majid, Sajjad Alam Khan Topu, Syed Shukur Ali Shuvo, Haider Ali, Ashikur Rahman Srabon, Alamgir Hossain, Shoriful Islam, Mainul Alam, Zayadul Ahsan Pintu, Kabir Ahmed Khan, Abdullah Al Kafi, Nurul Islam Hasib , Shahnaz Sharmeen.

Sajeeb Wazed
@sajeebwazed
[9/12/2024 9:10 AM, 466.4K followers, 75 retweets, 417 likes]
25 journalists named alongside deposed PM Hasina in murder case https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/94ea06876c96

Sajeeb Wazed
@sajeebwazed
[9/12/2024 9:08 AM, 466.4K followers, 96 retweets, 386 likes]
12 September, Prothom Alo Report on Communal Attacks Between August 5 and August 20, at least 1068 houses and businesses belonged to minorities are attacked, looted and vandalised in 49 districts out of 64. Moreover at least 49 worship places came under attack, reveals Prothom Alo report. While this compilation stands for only 15 days, after one month into office, the govt. told the world that reports on #minority attacks exaggerated, instead of taking measures to prevent attacks and safeguard minorities rights to exist. Even without any extensive investigation Dr Yunus asserted that these attacks are not #communal rather #political. Prompt and sincere measures would have prevented attacks on minorities but the policies pursued by the state failed miserably. Importantly, majority #media outlets are not carrying reports also. https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/97chuvmupe

Tshering Tobgay
@tsheringtobgay
[9/12/2024 7:23 AM, 99.5M followers, 1 retweet, 7 likes]
Pleased to meet @jagan_chapagain of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The Bhutan Red Cross Society was established in 2017 and we continue to benefit greatly from this partnership.

Tshering Tobgay
@tsheringtobgay
[9/12/2024 7:23 AM, 99.5M followers, 1 like]
In particular, I expressed my gratitude to the Red Cross Society for their immense assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic and for being among the first responders during the recent Dechenchholing flood.

The President’s Office, Maldives
@presidencymv
[9/12/2024 11:54 AM, 109.8K followers, 152 retweets, 158 likes]
President Dr @MMuizzu attends the third and final session of the ‘Top Achievers’ Award 2022-2023’ ceremony organised by @MoEdumv. First Lady Madam Sajidha Mohamed accompanied the President. The President attended all three sessions of the ‘Top Achievers’ Award 2022-2023’.

Comrade Prachanda
@cmprachanda
[9/12/2024 12:21 PM, 418.5K followers, 6 retweets, 88 likes]
I am deeply saddened by the demise of CPI(Marxist) GS Comrade @SitaramYechury. His passing has caused the communist movement to lose a prominent leader, and we have lost a good friend. I offer my heartfelt tribute to him and express my deep condolences to his party and family.

M U M Ali Sabry
@alisabrypc
[9/12/2024 12:33 PM, 6.4K followers, 9 retweets, 55 likes]
IMF Says Next Sri Lanka Review After Elections; Will Work With Government Selected By The People She stressed that it is important for Sri Lanka to safeguard the hard won gains.

Namal Rajapaksa
@RajapaksaNamal
[9/12/2024 10:05 PM, 436.3K followers, 4 retweets, 18 likes]
With #NamalDakma, I’m empowering our youth through tech innovation. By building ICT clusters and ensuring equal access, we’ll create opportunities and bridge the urban-rural divide— for you! #Namal2024 #NamalVision #TechForAll https://www.linkedin.com/posts/namalrajapaksa_youthempowerment-techforall-foryouaconnectedsrilanka-activity-7239855026758672384-UlIp?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios

Namal Rajapaksa
@RajapaksaNamal
[9/13/2024 3:13 AM, 436.3K followers, 2 likes]
With #NamalDakma, I’m driving Sri Lanka’s future with renewable energy. By harnessing solar, wind, and hydropower, we’ll reduce fossil fuel dependency and grow a sustainable economy— for you! #Namal2024 #NamalVision #GreenSriLanka #RenewableEnergy https://www.linkedin.com/posts/namalrajapaksa_greensrilanka-renewableenergy-foryouasustainablesrilanka-activity-7240208524494921728-jR4v?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios

Central Asia

MFA Tajikistan
@MOFA_Tajikistan
[9/13/2024 1:14 AM, 5K followers, 2 likes]
Meeting with Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization https://mfa.tj/en/main/view/15702/meeting-with-secretary-general-of-the-world-meteorological-organization

MFA Tajikistan
@MOFA_Tajikistan
[9/13/2024 12:39 AM, 5K followers]
Meeting of the Minister with the Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation https://mfa.tj/en/main/view/15701/meeting-of-the-minister-with-the-assistant-secretary-general-of-the-organization-of-islamic-cooperation

MFA Tajikistan
@MOFA_Tajikistan
[9/13/2024 12:38 AM, 5K followers, 1 like]
Participation of the delegation of the Republic of Tajikistan in the 31st OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum https://mfa.tj/en/main/view/15700/participation-of-the-delegation-of-the-republic-of-tajikistan-in-the-31st-osce-economic-and-environmental-forum

Javlon Vakhabov
@JavlonVakhabov
[9/12/2024 10:14 AM, 6K followers, 2 likes]
Have had a privilege to join Abdulaziz Kamilov, Special Representative of the President of Uzbekistan for Foreign Affairs, and Ismatilla Irgashev, Special Representative of the President of Uzbekistan for Afghanistan, in welcoming Karen Decker, the Chargé d’Affaires of U.S. Mission Afghanistan, resident in Doha, Qatar (@USEmbassyDoha), here at the International Institute for Central Asia (@IICAinTashkent). Our discussion centered on enhancing cooperation in Afghan affairs, focusing on strategies to promote regional stability and development. This dialogue highlights our shared commitment to fostering meaningful partnerships and addressing common challenges.

Javlon Vakhabov
@JavlonVakhabov
[9/12/2024 12:02 PM, 6K followers, 4 likes]
What a remarkable day for two fraternal neighbors, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, as they take significant steps toward enhancing regional connectivity and easing travel across their borders. Following the reopening of the “Karasu” border post, which links the Andijan region in Uzbekistan with the Jalal-Abad region in Kyrgyzstan, a new chapter of cooperation is underway with the official opening of the Uchkurgan (Kensai) checkpoint, connecting the Namangan region in Uzbekistan with the Jalal-Abad region in Kyrgyzstan. In total, more than 12,000 people through Karasu and 10,000 through Uchkurgan will be able to cross the border daily, marking a major milestone in facilitating movement between the two nations.

Jahanzeb Wesa
@JahanzebWesa
[9/12/2024 3:16 PM, 3.8K followers, 3 retweets, 6 likes]
Silenced Afghan women raise their voices in hope - Censorship!Powerful message from the MP @Farzanakochai:—No matter if I’m Pashtun, I’m Kochi, I’m Uzbek, I’m Hazara, or whatever – we are targeted as women. We are all victims of the same thing https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2024/09/silenced-afghan-women-raise-their-voices-in-hope/

{End of Report}

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