SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS
Prepared for the U.S. Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
TO: | SCA & Staff |
DATE: | Wednesday, September 25, 2024 6:30 AM ET |
Afghanistan
Biden says he thinks about 13 US troops killed in disastrous Afghanistan pullout ‘every day’ in likely final speech to UN (New York Post)
New York Post [9/24/2024 5:56 PM, Steven Nelson, 62652K, Negative]
President Biden told the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday that he thinks "every day" about the 13 Americans who died in a suicide bombing at Kabul’s airport during the botched pullout from Afghanistan - hours before a House committee moved to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt for failing to give testimony on the attack.
"Thirteen brave Americans lost their lives, along with hundreds of Afghans, in a suicide bomb. I think [of] those lost lives - I think of them every day," Biden, 81, said in what he promised would be final speech to the UN - stumbling slightly over his script.
Biden called proceeding with the August 2021 fiasco "a hard decision, but the right decision" during the 24-minute address, which touched on major conflicts and global health concerns, as well as the rise of artificial intelligence.
The Afghanistan withdrawal is an election-year issue as Republicans accuse the White House of stonewalling inquiries into how an ISIS-K terrorist was able to blow himself up on Aug. 26, 2021, at the Abbey Gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport, which was mobbed by throngs of desperate Afghans seeking to flee the Taliban.
The House Homeland Security Committee voted 26-25 Tuesday afternoon to advance a motion holding Blinken in contempt for skipping out on a subpoena for his testimony to instead attend UN events in New York.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has latched onto the attack as the epitome of overseas ineptitude by Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who became the Democratic presidential candidate after party leaders forced Biden to drop his campaign for a second term.
Blinken, meanwhile, presented himself as unfazed by the House inquiry - watching Biden’s speech in the UN chambers after tweeting an informal video from his motorade in Manhattan saying "the United States is in a stronger position than it’s been to lead around the world" under Biden.
The State Department has described itself as cooperative with congressional investigations regarding Afghanistan - with spokesman Matt Miller last week citing the scheduling conflict.
"The secretary is willing to come and testify before that committee," Miller said. "Obviously they can’t just set a date when he has scheduled meetings to go [to and] participate in a Security Council meeting."
Meanwhile, Biden mentioned Harris just once in his speech to the General Assembly - crediting her with backing Ukraine against the nearly three-year-old Russian invasion of its neighbor.
"When Russia invaded Ukraine, we could have stood by and merely protested. But Vice President Harris and I understood that that was an assault on everything this institution was supposed to stand for," he said.
Biden then called for continued support for Kyiv, imploring delegates: "We cannot grow weary. We cannot look away. And we will not let up on our support for Ukraine, not until Ukraine wins a just and durable peace [based] on the UN Charter."
The president also demanded an end to the fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East - despite the remote possibility of a cease-fire agreement being reached before the end of his term.
"The world must not flinch from the horrors of October 7th. Any country - any country would have the right and responsibility to ensure that such an attack can never happen again," Biden said. before adding moments later that both the families of hostages held by Palestinian terror group Hamas and "innocent civilians in Gaza" were "going through hell."
"I put forward with Qatar and Egypt a cease-fire and hostage deal," he added. "It’s been endorsed by the UN Security Council. Now is the time for the parties to finalize its terms, bring the hostages home, en- - secure security for Israel, and Gaza free of Ha- - of Hamas’ grip, ease the suffering in Gaza, and end this war."
Biden also used his speech to refer to AI as a potentially malevolent force for mankind.
"Nothing is certain about how AI will evolve or how it will be deployed," he said. "As AI grows more powerful, it must grow more responsive to our collective needs and values … not to give dictators more powerful shackles on the human spirit."
Biden predicted that "there may well be no greater test of our leadership and how we deal with AI."The American president wrapped up his speech by calling on the world’s assembled tyrants and their emissaries to reconsider their grip on power - citing his own decision to relinquish his party’s presidential nomination July 21 after other Democratic leaders revolted out of concern about his mental acuity.
"This summer, I faced a decision whether to seek a second term as president. It was a difficult decision. Being president has been the honor of my life. There is so much more I want to get done," Biden said.
"As much as I love the job, I love my country more. I decided after 50 years of public service, it’s time for a new generation of leadership to take my nation forward."
"My fellow leaders, let us never forget, some things are more important than staying in power," the president added without any hint of irony. "It’s your people that matter the most. Never forget we are here to serve the people, not the other way around." Biden defends Afghanistan withdrawal in final UN speech (Washington Examiner)
Washington Examiner [9/24/2024 11:35 AM, Haisten Willis, 3358K, Negative]
President Joe Biden directly addressed the United States’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan on Tuesday in a speech before the United Nations that defended his foreign policy legacy across four years in office.
"When I came to office as president, Afghanistan had replaced Vietnam as America’s longest war," Biden said in New York City. "I was determined to end it, and I did. It was a hard decision, but the right decision. Four American presidents had faced that decision, but I was determined not to leave it to the fifth."
The decision to evacuate quickly caused lasting damage to Biden’s standing at home. Thirteen service members were killed at the Kabul airport in 2021, an anniversary recently marked by his political rival, former President Donald Trump, with a trip to Arlington National Cemetery. House Republicans continue to investigate the botched withdrawal and plan to advance a resolution this week condemning Biden administration officials for their role.
"The decision was accompanied by tragedy," Biden said. "Thirteen brave Americans lost their lives, along with hundreds of Afghans, in a suicide bomb. I think of those lost lives. I think of them every day."
Biden’s speech at the U.N. offered him one final chance to defend his record as president during a time of growing conflict in the Middle East. But he also alluded to the political events that led him to abandon his plans to run for a second term this summer.
Biden faced growing pressure to step aside after a poor debate performance in June that left Democrats wondering if he could defeat Trump in November.
"Being president has been the honor of my life," Biden said. "There’s so much more I want to get done. As much as I love the job, I love my country more. I decided after 50 years of public service, it’s time for a new generation of leadership to take my nation forward.""My fellow leaders, let us never forget, some things are more important than staying in power," Biden added. "It’s your people that matter the most."
Biden touched on Afghanistan and the foreign policy decisions that marked his time in office, arguing that his legacy will be re-engaged on the global stage following the Trump administration.
"We honor their sacrifices as well as face the future," Biden said. "I was also determined to rebuild my country’s alliances and partnerships to a level not previously seen. We did just that."
The president warned against protectionism in a veiled swipe at Trump, who has pledged less U.S. involvement in foreign wars.
"We defended the U.N. Charter and ensured the survival of Ukraine as a free nation," Biden said. "There will always be forces to pull our countries apart, and the world apart - aggression, extremism, chaos, and cynicism, a desire to retreat from the world and go it alone."
In his first speech to the General Assembly since Hamas massacred Israeli civilians and soldiers in its Oct. 7 attacks, Biden called for a ceasefire and a two-state solution. He said the families of Hamas victims and civilians in Gaza are "going through hell."
"I put forward with Qatar and Egypt a ceasefire and hostage deal," Biden said. "Now is the time for the parties to finalize its terms, bring the hostages home, secure security for Israel and Gaza free of Hamas’s grip, ease the suffering in Gaza, and end this war."
The remarks outlined Biden’s vision for how the world should focus on multilateral cooperation and defended fundamental principles such as the U.N. Charter. He also called for an end to the war in Sudan and said NATO is stronger than ever thanks to the additions of Finland and Sweden.
At the beginning of his remarks, Biden directly acknowledged that this would be his final address to the assembly, noting his involvement in U.S. foreign policy dating back to his days in the Senate. Qatar reaffirms commitment to Afghan women’s empowerment at UNGA (Doha News)
Doha News [9/24/2024 4:25 AM, Nassima Babassa, 125K, Positive]
Qatar has pledged $75m at the UN General Assembly to support Afghan women through education, healthcare, and empowerment initiatives.
Qatar’s Minister of State for International Cooperation, Lolwah Al Khater, has led discussions at an event on the role of women in Afghanistan’s future, where she stressed upon the Gulf state’s commitment to protecting their fundamental rights.
During the event, which was held at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Al Khater also announced Qatar’s pledge of $75m to support Afghanistan.
These funds will be directed towards initiatives benefiting Afghan women, including scholarships and training programmes in key sectors like healthcare.
In her speech, Al Khater highlighted Qatar’s commitment to empowering Afghan women and integrating them into the country’s future, stating that this initiative is a top priority in Qatar’s long-term strategy.
She emphasised that in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, access to education, economic participation, and other freedoms is essential for Afghanistan’s development.
"Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to education, and we remain committed to ensuring all Afghans have access to this basic right," Al Khater said.
Since their 2021 takeover of Afghanistan, the Taliban has banned women and girls beyond the sixth grade from receiving an education.
Qatar has expressed disappointment in the Taliban’s decision, reaffirming the right of education for everyone.
As a way to further support Afghan women’s education and empowerment, Doha has been hosting students from the American University of Afghanistan at Qatar Foundation’s Education City. House Panel Recommends Holding Blinken in Contempt (New York Times)
New York Times [9/24/2024 4:14 PM, Karoun Demirjian, 831K, Neutral]
Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday recommended holding Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken in contempt of Congress for failing to testify in their investigation of the chaotic U.S. exit from Afghanistan, in what Democrats charged was a political stunt ahead of the election.
The committee’s party-line vote came just days before the House was set to disband for the campaign trail and as Mr. Blinken was in New York, participating in high-level diplomatic meetings during the United Nations General Assembly.
It is one of two expected Afghanistan-related moves in the House this week. The full chamber is also expected to vote on a resolution condemning 15 senior members of the Biden administration — including President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Mr. Blinken — for their roles in the withdrawal.
Representative Michael McCaul, Republican of Texas and the committee’s chairman, said he was forced to pursue contempt charges after Mr. Blinken declined for months to commit to a September date to give testimony.“Secretary of State Antony Blinken brought this upon himself,” Mr. McCaul said, arguing that he would have accepted any date in September that Mr. Blinken proposed. “His willful indifference has brought us to this moment.”
But Democrats said Mr. McCaul’s insistence on a September appearance was politically motivated and accused Republicans of trying to damage the Biden administration at the height of a critical campaign season.“Why is there suddenly a rush to hold this contempt vote, when the secretary has made it very clear, time and time again, that he is willing to testify?” asked Representative Gregory W. Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the panel. “One reason: politics.”
House Republicans have stepped up their attacks on the Biden administration over the U.S. departure from Afghanistan as it becomes an issue on the campaign trail. Former President Donald J. Trump has blamed Ms. Harris for the deaths of 13 U.S. service members during the evacuation. Ms. Harris has accused Mr. Trump of trying to exploit the casualties for political gain, criticizing him for taking campaign photos and video at Arlington National Cemetery.
This month, Republicans on the panel released a 353-page report accusing the “Biden-Harris administration” of bumbling the withdrawal. It largely absolved Mr. Trump of any responsibility, though his administration reached the agreement with the Taliban committing the United States to a timeline for its departure.
Days before the report was released, Mr. McCaul issued a subpoena for Mr. Blinken’s testimony, ordering him to appear before the panel on Sept. 19. Mr. Blinken ended up being in Egypt that day. So on Sept. 18, Mr. McCaul issued a superseding subpoena, ordering Mr. Blinken to appear on Tuesday — the same day Mr. Biden was set to deliver a speech to the U.N. General Assembly.“I believe you would agree U.S. representation at the highest levels in these engagements is essential,” Mr. Blinken wrote to Mr. McCaul in a letter dated Sunday and obtained by The New York Times. He added that he was “profoundly disappointed you have once again chosen to send me a subpoena and threaten contempt, rather than engage with me through the constitutionally mandated accommodation process.”
In a follow-up letter dated Monday and also obtained by The Times, Naz Durakoglu, the assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs, said the Justice Department had concluded that Mr. Blinken could not be compelled to abandon his diplomatic duties at the United Nations to comply with the panel’s subpoena.“As a matter of law,” she wrote, “the secretary may not be punished by civil or criminal means for failing to appear at the scheduled hearing.”
But the Republicans on the panel were not swayed by such appeals.“Secretary Blinken is hiding at the United Nations General Assembly in New York,” said Representative Jim Baird, Republican of Indiana.
Other G.O.P. lawmakers recommended that House members take matters into their own hands.“I recommend the use of inherent contempt,” said Representative Keith Self, Republican of Texas, referring to the House’s power to fine or imprison people who flout congressional subpoenas, without relying on the Justice Department to bring charges. While the House has not invoked inherent contempt in almost a century, House Republicans tried and failed to impose a $10,000-per-day fine on Attorney General Merrick B. Garland this summer.
It is unclear when the House might vote on a contempt resolution for Mr. Blinken. Earlier this year, the chamber voted to recommend that Mr. Garland be held in contempt of Congress and to impeach Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary.
The committee issued two previous subpoenas to Mr. Blinken for documents in the course of its Afghanistan investigation. US House committee recommends contempt charge for Blinken (Reuters)
Reuters [9/24/2024 5:58 PM, Patricia Zengerle, 37270K, Neutral]
A Republican-led U.S. congressional committee recommended on Tuesday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken be held in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena seeking information about the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee voted 26-25 in favor of a report recommending that the full House find Blinken in contempt after he did not appear at a hearing on Tuesday morning on the withdrawal.Every yes vote came from Republicans and every Democrat voted no, reflecting deep political divisions over the chaotic evacuation of Americans and Afghans who worked with them.Blinken, who is in New York for the U.N. General Assembly, said in a letter on Sunday to the committee’s chairman, Republican Representative Michael McCaul, that he had tried to reach an accommodation on when he would be available to testify and offered alternative witnesses.McCaul said before the vote that Blinken had declined to appear any time this month. "I offered any day in September, just a few hours in September. The Secretary couldn’t find one day, he couldn’t find one hour to come before the United States Congress," McCaul said.In a statement, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller called the panel’s action "a naked political exercise.""The State Department made clear in repeated communications with the committee that he is willing to testify again, but was unavailable to do so today because he is engaged in high level diplomacy at the United Nations General Assembly," Miller said.McCaul denied he was motivated by politics.The U.S. contempt of Congress statute outlines a process for the House or Senate to refer a non-compliant witness for criminal prosecution. Ultimately, the Justice Department decides whether to bring criminal charges.The full House has not scheduled a vote on the committee’s recommendation.McCaul released a report on Sept 8 on the committee Republicans’ investigation of the Afghanistan withdrawal, blasting Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration for failures surrounding the evacuation three years earlier.The issue has become intensely politicized ahead of the presidential election on Nov 5.Last month, the Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump, drew criticism for shooting video for his campaign at Arlington National Cemetery where he appeared at a ceremony honoring troops killed in the evacuation.Trump also has sought to pin blame for the withdrawal on Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent.The State Department said Blinken has testified before Congress on Afghanistan more than 14 times, including four times before the committee, and the State Department has provided the committee with nearly 20,000 pages of records, multiple high-level briefings and transcribed interviews. Driven out of Iran, Afghan refugees tell of ordeal (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [9/25/2024 3:17 AM, Staff, 1.4M, Negative]
At the border with Iran, streams of Afghan refugees return with children in their arms, their entire worldly possessions contained in a large bag.
Every day up to 3,000 Afghans -- some who were born in Iran -- arrive back in their home country after a failed attempt at a better life.
"Refugees face a lot of physical and mental torture," Abdul Ghani Qazizada, responsible for registering the arrivals in the border town of Islam Qala, told AFP.
Many entered Iran illegally or let their visas expire. Nearly 90 percent have been deported, with the rest returning voluntarily.
The rate of expulsions has increased "in the last six months," said Qazizada.
"They are warned there (in Iran) that they must leave within one week, or anyone above 18 must deposit 100 million toman ($2,375) in the bank," he said.
"These are the people who return to Afghanistan voluntarily because of this problem."
These refugees in counterfeit Fendi or Dior T-shirts are registered by the Afghan authorities and examined by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
To rebuild their lives, they are given 2,000 Afghanis ($29) per person if they arrive with their family, but nothing if they are alone.
Growing hostility
Ramazan Azizi, 36, waits, haggard, on a blue plastic chair to be registered with his wife and three children.They entered Iran illegally in 2023, after paying $1,220 to a trafficker but have faced growing hostility towards Afghans, accused of increasing unemployment and prices but also crime in a country under international sanctions.
"The owners had to pay a fine because they rented their home to us. They threw our things out of the windows," Azizi, a construction worker, told AFP.
"They (authorities) told us to pack up and we did, we were taken to a military camp to be deported."
He said the family were crammed in with 2,000 to 3,000 other Afghans for six days.
"We were exhausted... without food or water," he said, his little girl wearing a pink T-shirt with rabbits on it sat by his side.
Metal batons
Tears flow from Fazila Qaderi, 26, as she recounts the ordeal she and her husband endured in the Karaj camp near the capital Tehran.
The guards "beat us a lot for six or seven days with metal batons", making no distinction between men or women.
"I saw an Afghan die, and they shouted at him ‘son of a bitch, go home!’," she said, adding that her husband suffered broken bones.
"Yesterday I told (the guards): ‘kill me or send us back to Afghanistan’."
They arrived in Iran four years ago, having paid a smuggler, as farm workers in the central-northern province of Qazvin.
Their new life had started well, until she was hospitalised for 12 days for a severe allergy and needed an operation.
"We gave $1,200 to the doctor for the surgery and they said they would do it the next day. When we went back, the security officials took us," she explained.
"We had a three-room apartment full of belongings, we couldn’t take a single thing with us," she continues. "We had paid 50 million toman to the owner in advance, we couldn’t take that back either," nor the advance to the doctor.
Now they have no money to pay for the trip back to their home province of Takhar in northeastern Afghanistan.‘Less than a dog’
Day labourer Abdul Basir, 29, said he was arrested at work and expelled from Iran, despite having a valid passport and visa.
"With a passport I ended up in the military camp (in Karaj) for 10 days," he said. "What government can do that?"
With his hands and feet tied, he was taken away in a bus with 70 to 80 people standing, and once at the camp he was beaten to the point he couldn’t move.
He describes "broken hands and feet, people fainting, maybe even dead" and thirst and hunger.
"There were elderly Afghans, women and children," he says, adding that people were taken away and not seen again.
He also claimed that security personnel tore up Afghan passports or valid Iranian residence permits.
He was deported back to Afghanistan without his Afghan passport, which he paid $340 for so he could flee unemployment in Herat province.
"Now, I don’t have any money to pay for the bus to go home," he said.
The Afghan official at the border, Qazizada, said around 70 percent of the refugees were sent back without Iranian documents.
Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi asked Tehran on Thursday to "cooperate patiently with Afghan refugees, who have also contributed to the development of Iran".
In his first press conference earlier in the week, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran was repatriating illegal nationals to their country "in a respectful manner".
Iran has been a host country for 4.5 million Afghans fleeing decades of war and unemployment.
Iran’s spokesman for the parliamentary National Security Committee, Ebrahim Rezaei, earlier this month said police plan to "expel more than two million illegal citizens in the near future".
Afghans represent more than 90 percent of foreign nationals and most enter without identity papers, according to the official IRNA news agency.
More than 700,000 undocumented Afghans have also left neighbouring Pakistan following a crackdown which started in September last year.
In Iranian bakeries, signs prohibit the sale of bread to non-Iranians "under penalty of prosecution", according to photos on social networks.
Fazila Qaderi confirms that she has not been able to buy bread for two months: "For them, an Afghan is worth less than a dog." Pakistan
Pakistan brings arrested nurse before cameras to answer questions about her alleged bombing attempt (AP)
AP [9/25/2024 5:11 AM, Staff, 456K, Neutral]
Pakistani authorities brought a nurse they said was arrested over the weekend before state-run media on Wednesday to answer questions about her alleged suicide bombing attempt. The government-organized interview in Balochistan province was broadcast on national and local television channels.The southwestern Balochistan province has for years been the scene of a long-running insurgency, with several separatist groups staging attacks that target mainly security forces in their quest for independence. The province also has an array of militant groups that are active there.Pakistan’s government has also long battled militants and insurgents of various groups across the entire country — fighting that has killed hundreds, both civilians and members of the security forces.Authorities are likely eager to show that they are gaining the upper hand in the fight.In Wednesday’s interview in Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan, the nurse identified herself as Adeela Baloch and said she had worked at a government hospital in the district of Turbat before she was “misguided by terrorists” and recruited to carry out a suicide attack.She said she was arrested before she could carry out the attack.It was not clear if she spoke under duress. She did not name the group that had allegedly enlisted her or describe the target of the planned attack.The Associated Press could not independently confirm her identity or verify her claims. Officials contacted by the AP declined to provide details and only said she would not be prosecuted because she did not carry out the attack.Last month, the outlawed separatist Balochistan Liberation Army, said a woman was among a group of its fighters who had killed more than 50 people in the restive province.Earlier on Wednesday, a roadside bomb targeting police in Quetta wounded 12 people, according to local officials. Why Pakistan’s female doctors don’t feel safe (BBC)
BBC [9/24/2024 7:32 PM, Farhat Javed, 67197K, Negative]
Women working in hospitals in Pakistan say they regularly face sexual harassment, violence and verbal abuse, from male colleagues, patients and their families.
Following the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at work in an Indian hospital, more than a dozen female medics in Pakistan told the BBC they were worried about their own safety.
But this is a largely hidden crisis, as many are too scared to come forward to report the crimes - while those who do are often told no one would believe their allegations.
Most of the women the BBC spoke to asked that their names be withheld for fear of losing their jobs, "honour and respect".
A few months ago, a young doctor came to Dr Nusrat (not her real name) in tears. While she was using the toilet, a male doctor had filmed the woman through a hole in the wall and was using the video to blackmail her.
"I suggested filing a complaint with the FIA [Federal Investigation Agency, which handles cyber crimes], but she refused. She said she didn’t want it to be leaked and reach her family or in-laws," Dr Nusrat explained, adding that she knows of at least three other cases where female doctors have been secretly filmed.
Dr Nusrat happened to know someone senior in the police who spoke to the blackmailer, warning him he could be arrested for what he had done. The police officer made sure the video was deleted.
"Unfortunately, we couldn’t take further action, but we got the hole covered so that no-one could do it again," says Dr Nusrat.
Other women shared experiences of being sexually harassed, including Dr Aamna (not her real name), who was a resident medical officer in a government hospital five years ago when she was targeted by her senior doctor, a powerful man.“When he saw me with a file in my hand, he would try to lean over it, make inappropriate comments, and try to touch me,” she says.She filed a complaint with the hospital administration, but says she was met with indifference. “I was told I had only been there for a short time, and asked what proof I had of this harassment. They said, ‘We’ve been unable to fix this person in seven years - nothing will change, and no-one will believe you’.”Dr Aamna says she knows of other women who have managed to record videos of harassment, “but nothing happens - the harasser is merely transferred to another ward for a few months, then comes back”.She had to complete her placement to qualify as a doctor, but moved as soon as it was over.Testimony gathered by the BBC suggests her story is disturbingly common. The root of the problem lies in a lack of trust and accountability, according to Dr Summaya Tariq Syed, the chief police surgeon in Karachi and head of Pakistan’s first rape crisis centre.She describes her 25 years of service as a constant battle against violence and betrayal, and says she has been disappointed with how things are handled.She recounts how, a few years ago when she was in a different role, she was shut in a room by colleagues who wanted her to change what she had written in a post-mortem examination report about someone who had been killed.“They said, ‘Sign it or you have no idea what we’ll do to you’,” but she refused. Given the senior position of one of the people involved, she says, no action was taken against them.Another female doctor at a government hospital in Punjab explains that it can be hard for women to report abuse.“The [hospital] committees that do exist often include the same doctors who harass us, or their friends. So why would anyone file a complaint and make their life even more difficult?”There are no official statistics available on assaults against female health workers in Pakistan. However, a report in the US National Institutes of Health in 2022 paints a troubling picture. It indicates that up to 95% of nurses in Pakistan have faced workplace violence at least once in their career. This includes assault and threats as well as verbal and mental abuse, from colleagues, patients and hospital visitors.This tallies with a report in the Pakistan Journal of Medicine and Dentistry, which quotes a 2016 study of public sector hospitals in Lahore that suggested 27% of nurses had experienced sexual violence. It also cites a study from Pakistan’s north-western Khyber Pakhtunkha province that indicated that 69% of nurses and 52% of female doctors there had experienced some sort of sexual harassment in the workplace from other staff.Dr Syed recounts a particularly disturbing attack that happened in Karachi in 2010: “A doctor at a government hospital lured a nurse to his hostel, where he wasn’t alone - two other doctors were there as well.” The nurse was raped and was so distraught that she jumped off the roof and was in a coma for about a week. “Nothing that happened was consensual. But she decided not to pursue the case.”Dr Syed believes that society often blames victims and if the nurse had reported it “the blame would have fallen on her”.Harassment and threats come from patients, their friends and families too, she says, describing how members of the public attacked her team while they were handling bodies in the mortuary last year.“Two people had to ward off blows from a person who tried to hit me, just because I told him not to make videos.”She registered a complaint with the police and is now waiting for the case to work its way through court. “We must continue our part of the fight - staying quiet will only strengthen the culprits.”Other female doctors also describe a lack of security as a problem, especially in state-run hospitals, where they say anyone can walk in unchecked. At least three said people who attacked them were ordinary citizens who had entered the hospital while drunk. Drinking alcohol is largely banned in Pakistan.Dr Saadia (not her real name) explains that several of her colleagues at a major government hospital in Karachi have been repeatedly sexually harassed. “It’s often people under the influence of drugs wandering into the hospital,” she says.“One evening, a colleague was on her way to another ward when a drunken man started harassing her. Another time, a different doctor was attacked. Some other doctors managed to get rid of the man, but there were no security guards around.”Nurse Elizabeth Thomas (not her real name) says incidents where drunk patients try to touch them are common. “We feel terrified, unsure whether to treat the man or protect ourselves. We feel utterly helpless. And there are no security staff to help us.”Dr Saadia says they don’t even know “if the person sweeping the floor or roaming around the ward claiming to be staff is actually staff”.Looking back at her time at a government hospital in Punjab five years ago, Dr Aamna says: “In remote areas, forget about security; they don’t even have proper lighting in the hallways.”According to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2023, there are 1,284 government hospitals in the country. Doctors say security measures are extremely poor.Healthcare workers say many either lack CCTV cameras or have too few, and those that do exist often don’t function properly. They say thousands of patients and their families visit these hospitals daily, and attacks on medical staff have become common.Dr Saadia recounts how she once had to hide after a patient’s relative attacked her for waiting for test results to arrive before administering an injection.“He was a tall man, and he started yelling at me. I was pressed against the door. He threatened me, saying, ‘Give the injection now, or I’ll kill you’.”Many of Pakistan’s nursing staff come from minority non-Muslim communities, which can make them vulnerable in other ways, says Elizabeth Thomas.“I know many nurses who are harassed, and if they don’t comply, they’re threatened with accusations of blasphemy. If a nurse is attractive, they’re often told to convert their religion.“We’re always left wondering how to respond because if we don’t do what they want, they might falsely accuse us of blasphemy. This has happened to nurses.”On top of the abuse, female doctors describe enduring long, demanding shifts with a lack of basic facilities.“During my house job, we went through times when, during a 30-hour shift, we didn’t have a room to rest in. We would go outside and rest in a colleague’s car for 15 minutes or so,” says Dr Saadia.“When I was in the emergency ward, there was no toilet. We couldn’t go to the loo during 14-hour shifts. Even when we were menstruating, we couldn’t use a toilet.”She says toilets for hospital staff were in other blocks, so far away that they didn’t have time to go and use them.The BBC asked local health ministers in the four provinces where these women have worked to comment, as well as the national health co-ordinator in Islamabad but did not receive any replies.Since the rape and murder of the trainee doctor in India, discussions have intensified among female doctors in Pakistan about how to ensure their own safety.Dr Saadia says it has affected her deeply and she has changed her routine: “I no longer go to dark or deserted places. I used to take the stairs, but now I feel safer using the lifts.”And Elizabeth Thomas says it has shaken her too. “I have a seven-year-old daughter, and she often says she wants to become a doctor. But I keep wondering, is a doctor safe in this country?” Who is Pakistan’s new spy chief Asim Malik? (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [9/24/2024 8:48 AM, Abid Hussain, 25768K, Neutral]
Pakistan’s military has announced the appointment of Lieutenant General Asim Malik as the new head of the country’s premier intelligence agency, the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).Malik will assume his role on September 30.Before this appointment, he served as the adjutant general (AG) at the army’s general headquarters, overseeing military administrative affairs, including legal and disciplinary matters, for the past three years.The ISI chief is often seen as the second-most powerful person in the military after the Chief of Army Staff — in a country where the military is the most powerful institution.The outgoing ISI chief, General Nadeem Anjum, took office in November 2021 under then-Prime Minister Imran Khan. His tenure, extended by a year in September 2022, coincided with significant political upheaval, including Khan’s ouster through a parliamentary vote of no confidence in April 2022 – a move Khan attributed to military interference, a charge that the military has consistently rejected.Malik, a highly decorated officer who enjoys goodwill within Pakistan’s close-knit military community, has not been immune from that tumult either.Who is Asim Malik, the new ISI chief?Malik, 59, has no direct experience in intelligence-related postings but has commanded infantry divisions in Balochistan and an infantry brigade in South Waziristan, areas that have been hotbeds of violence for nearly two decades.He has also served as an instructor at Pakistan’s National Defence University and the Command and Staff College in Quetta.A top-performing cadet during his training, Malik is the son of Ghulam Muhammad Malik, who was a three-star general in the 1990s and held prominent positions during his career.Asim Malik is a graduate of the Royal College of Defence Studies in London and Fort Leavenworth in the United States, where he wrote a thesis on mountain warfare.Retired Lieutenant General Naeem Khalid Lodhi, who served with Malik’s father, describes the incoming spy chief as a quiet yet highly respected officer.“Even as the AG, he did substantial work for the welfare of retired soldiers, particularly concerning pensions and other related issues,” Lodhi told Al Jazeera. He said Malik is credited with resolving concerns over delays in pensions and the medical treatment of veterans during his time as AG.However, Malik’s tenure as AG also coincided with a crackdown on former PM Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, leading to the arrest of numerous party supporters and leaders.After Khan was detained briefly on May 9 last year, many PTI supporters went on a rampage and damaged public property and military installations. Thousands were arrested, and just about 100 individuals faced military trials under the supervision of the AG.Last year, the army also announced prison sentences for two retired officers – a major and a captain – on charges of “inciting sedition” after court-martial proceedings. In August, former ISI chief General Faiz Hameed, along with three other former military officials, was also arrested for court-martial proceedings.A former colleague of Malik, a retired general, says his appointment reflects the trust placed in him by General Asim Munir, the current army chief.“In normal circumstances, with his career trajectory, Malik would have been given command of a corps. But with less than 20 months until his retirement, that’s unlikely. His appointment to the ISI underscores the strong confidence Munir has in him,” the former general said, requesting anonymity due to his familiarity with Malik.However, he also acknowledged that the roles of AG and ISI chief come with inherent controversies and that, in many ways, Malik must now in his new job be willing to do the dirty tricks his current role would have needed him to drown upon.“AG’s job is to ensure complete discipline in the institution and to take to task those who fail to uphold it. Whereas in the ISI, the job requires one to undertake unsavoury tasks which are controversial by nature,” he added. “Both these positions contradict each other.”The legacy of the outgoing ISI chiefFounded in 1948, the ISI is Pakistan’s equivalent of the CIA in the US, the British MI6 or India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). While the agency officially reports to the prime minister, the army chief recommends the appointment of its head.However, the intelligence agency is also highly controversial, with its critics describing it as a “state within a state”.The Pakistani military itself remains the single most powerful institution in the country, which wields considerable influence on the country’s political and foreign policy sphere, with the ISI often playing the role of enforcer.Anjum’s appointment as ISI chief in November 2021 was contentious, causing a rift between then-army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and then-Prime Minister Khan.At the time, General Hameed, now facing a court martial, was the ISI chief, and Khan insisted he should continue in the role. Khan’s critics say Hameed was seen as Khan’s enforcer against his political rivals — a charge the former PM has repeatedly denied.However, critics allege that under Anjum, the ISI continued to act in a manner that could be viewed by some as politically partisan, through its role in the crackdown against Khan’s political party, PTI.“I personally feel that Hameed was the wrong choice to lead ISI, but was brought by Bajwa, then army chief, to do his bidding,” said the former general who was also Malik’s colleague. “However, Anjum’s era saw a doubling down on those policies of repression and surpassed those.”The military and the ISI have consistently denied acting against Khan and his party because of political reasons, arguing that the crackdown against the PTI has been driven by legal considerations alone.What lies ahead for the ISI under Malik?Lodhi said he doubts whether Malik’s appointment could portend major changes in the ISI’s functioning.“The way institutions work, these appointments don’t change direction or policies in a drastic manner,” he said.The former three-star general, also a former war college instructor, echoed this sentiment. “Every new leader brings some change. Malik is known as a ‘gentleman officer’ – decent and well-regarded. But whether he can significantly improve the institution’s legacy remains to be seen.” India
Modi in the US: India’s Pursuit of Strategic Autonomy (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [9/24/2024 2:35 PM, Shanthie Mariet D’Souza, 1198K, Neutral]
In recent years, India has emphasized its commitment to a foreign policy based on the mantra of "strategic autonomy." Indian officials and ministers have also used terms like "multi-alignment" and "vishwa mitra" ("friends of the world"), which all convey a similar idea: India will avoid aligning with any specific bloc but will instead form issue-based alignments tied to its national interest.
Before the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi began its third term in office, there were questions about whether Indian foreign policy would witness any changes. Modi’s recent three-day visit to the United States underscores that his government will continue to follow the same approach of seeking strategic benefits from all sides in the changing global order.
Modi’s three-day visit was packed with a leaders’ summit of the Quad alliance, a bilateral dialogue with U.S. President Joe Biden, a speech at the United Nations Summit of the Future, and several other meetings with several heads of state or government, including from Japan, Australia, Palestine, Kuwait, Nepal, Ukraine, and Armenia. The meeting with Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas was significant, especially given Modi’s camaraderie with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Similarly, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s third meeting with Modi in the past three months, despite India’s close ties with Russia, endorsed India’s growing stature and possibly Modi’s capacity to play peacemaker. Modi’s usual rendezvous with the Indian community, a feature of every Modi tour in any country, was also featured as a major event. And so was a meeting with tech leaders, where Modi pitched India as an attractive investment destination.
The Quad delivered, without naming it, a ceremonial strong message, attracting an equally virulent reaction from Beijing. Both belonged to the realm of the expected. The U.N. Summit of the Future resulted in the "Pact of the Future" adopted by consensus promising to reform the Security Council. India aspires to be a permanent member of the UNSC, although the process is likely to be complex and a long and winding one. There are many claimants to the few positions that may open up, and India’s case isn’t guaranteed as long as China remains opposed to it.
The crucial gains, however, came from the bilateral meeting with the U.S. side, which resulted in a deal facilitating India’s purchase of 31 MQ-9B Sky Guardian and Sea Guardian drones. The bigger achievement, projected by both sides, was a semiconductor pact, which will in 2025 establish a fabrication plant to provide chips for the U.S. armed forces, allied militaries, and the Indian military. India’s past attempts to establish homegrown semiconductor units have not been successful. The U.S. side has described it as a "watershed arrangement," and the Indian media too has hailed it as a major achievement.
The China factor continues to play a critical role in strengthening India-U.S. relations despite events that typically would have proved strategic spoilers. India’s strong ties with Russia and Iran; the alleged involvement of Indian intelligence officials in the attempted killing of a U.S.-based Sikh activist, whom India describes as a terrorism promoter; and its refusal to play ball with U.S. policies in Ukraine are among the number of issues where both countries have differences. India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval did not travel with Modi after facing summons by a U.S. court for his alleged involvement in the attempt to kill the Sikh activist. Nevertheless, Indian policymakers acknowledge that New Delhi will continue to play a crucial role in the United States’ Indo-Pacific policy and will be given considerable leeway. It’s a tough bargain that the U.S. will have to strike in the fluid international system as it looks for partners to counter China.
Continuing with his policy of multi-alignment, Modi will travel next month to Kazan in Russia to attend the 16th BRICS summit. This will be his second visit to Russia in the past five months. The first, in July, had attracted a negative reaction from U.S. officials. BRICS, with Russia and China as leading members and Iran as one of its new members, poses a direct challenge to G-7-led global economic order. It is also a forum that will potentially allow Russia and Iran to circumvent the West’s sanctions to some extent. In Kazan, Modi in all probability will share the stage with Chinese President Xi Jinping and it may result in a bilateral meeting with him on the sidelines of the summit in a bid to bring the four-year border standoff to a close.
Indian policymakers have aimed to take advantage of the significant strategic and economic opportunities arising from the rivalries and competition between the United States and China, as well as the U.S. and Russia. Meanwhile, India’s foreign policy has encountered substantial challenges in South Asia, with its relationships deteriorating with the Maldives and Bangladesh. Additionally, the election of a new left-leaning president in Sri Lanka may further concern India about the possibility of encirclement by China. Nonetheless, these challenges will not deter New Delhi from showcasing its accomplishments on the global stage as India pursues its national interests through a multi-aligned foreign policy. Residents in India-controlled Kashmir vote in the second phase of polls surrounded by heavy security (AP)
AP [9/24/2024 11:12 PM, Staff, 44095K, Neutral]
Under elaborate security, residents in Indian-controlled Kashmir began casting their votes Wednesday in the second phase of a staggered election for a local government.
About 2.6 million residents are eligible to elect 26 of the 239 candidates in six districts, including in the biggest regional main city of Srinagar, where voters in some polling booths queued outside early in the morning.
It is the first such election in a decade, and the first since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government scrapped the Muslim-majority region’s semi-autonomy in 2019. The former state was also downgraded and divided into two centrally governed union territories, Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir. Both are ruled directly by New Delhi, allowing it to appoint administrators to run them along unelected bureaucrats and security setup.
The region has since been on edge with civil liberties curbed and media freedoms gagged.
The vote also comes for the first time in over three decades without any boycott call from separatists who challenge Indian’s sovereignty over Kashmir. Polls in the past have been marked with violence, boycotts and vote-rigging, even though India called them a victory over separatism.Authorities erected checkpoints and laid razor wire in the voting districts as government forces wearing flak jackets and carrying assault rifles patrolled the constituencies.
The third phase is scheduled for Oct. 1 and votes will be counted on Oct. 8, with results expected that day. Voting began Sept. 18 with about 59% voter turnout in what the region’s chief electoral officer said was an "incident-free and peaceful" first round of polls.
Authorities have limited access of foreign media to polling stations and denied press credentials to most journalists working with international media, including to The Associated Press, without citing any reason.
India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety. Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.
The multistage election will allow Kashmir to have its own truncated government and a local legislature, called an assembly, rather than being directly under New Delhi’s rule. However, there will be a limited transition of power from New Delhi to the local assembly as Kashmir will remain a "Union Territory" - directly controlled by the federal government - with India’s Parliament as its main legislator. Kashmir’s statehood must be restored for the new government to have powers similar to other states of India. India allows foreign diplomats to observe first elections in Kashmir in 10 years (Reuters)
Reuters [9/25/2024 5:50 AM, Fayaz Bukhari, 1198K, Neutral]
Foreign diplomats from 15 countries were allowed to observe local elections in India’s Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, as New Delhi highlighted the first vote in the disputed Himalayan territory in a decade.It was the first time India has invited foreign diplomats to witness voting in the region, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped of its partial autonomy five years ago, though Delhi has hosted similar trips on other occasions and a G20 meeting on tourism there last year.More than 9 million voters are eligible to choose members for the region’s 90-seat legislature in the three-phase election, the second phase of which was underway on Wednesday. The vote is the first in the region since 2014.The visitors included diplomats from embassies of the United States, Mexico, Singapore, Spain and South Korea, among others, officials in Srinagar and New Delhi said. They visited polling stations across the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley."It is a rare opportunity to come to Kashmir and see the electoral process in action and see democracy. It looks very smooth, everything is very professional," said Jorgan K Andrews, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy.Jammu and Kashmir is India’s only Muslim-majority territory and has been at the centre of a dispute with neighbouring Pakistan since 1947. India and Pakistan both claim Kashmir in full but rule it in part, after having fought two of their three wars over the region.It has also been roiled by an insurgency that has killed tens of thousands since it began in 1989, although violence has largely abated in recent years.Until 2019, Jammu and Kashmir had a special semi-autonomous status that was revoked by Modi’s government.Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) government has said that the move has helped restore normalcy in the area and boosted development.But Modi’s opponents said the visit by diplomats was not necessary."When foreign governments comment (on Kashmir), the government of India says this is an internal matter for India, and now suddenly they want foreign observers to come and look at our elections," said Omar Abdullah, leader of the local National Conference party."Jammu and Kashmir elections are an internal matter for us and we do not need their certificate," he said, after casting his vote.In the past, pro-independence militants have targeted elections in Kashmir, and voter turnout has been largely weak. The territory, however, recorded its highest turnout in 35 years in national elections held in April and May, with a 58.46% participation rate. NSB
Biden meets Bangladesh interim leader in show of support (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [9/24/2024 1:21 PM, Issam Ahmed, 88008K, Neutral]
US President Joe Biden met Tuesday with Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus on the margins of the UN’s annual summit, in a show of support after an uprising toppled the country’s autocratic government.Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, later received high praise from former president Bill Clinton, who hailed their 40-year-long friendship and the global impact of the Bangladeshi’s pioneering microfinance loans.The 84-year-old economist was appointed as the country’s "chief advisor" in August following the bloody, student-led movement that ousted premier Sheikh Hasina, who has since fled the country.Biden offered "continued US support as Bangladesh implements its new reform agenda," a White House statement said.The US-Bangladesh relationship "is rooted in shared democratic values and strong people-to-people ties," it said.According to a readout provided by Bangladeshi officials, Yunus briefed Biden on how the students "rose against the tyranny of the previous government and gave their lives to create this opportunity to rebuild Bangladesh," and said his interim government would need US help to rebuild the nation.Yunus also presented Biden with a book featuring paintings made by the students.Yunus was later invited to speak at the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting, where former president Clinton said "few people on this planet have done as much (as Yunus) to change the lives of ordinary people who would never have had access to credit."Their friendship dates back to the 1980s, when Clinton, then governor of Arkansas, invited Yunus to visit and share his approach to alleviating poverty through small loans, which had successfully empowered impoverished Bangladeshi women without access to traditional banking services."You’re the only old guy I know who was ever drafted for his eminent position by the young people of his country," Clinton quipped about Yunus’s elevation to interim leader. "That’s because he has succeeded in doing what we all must do: we all have to stay in the future business."Yunus, in turn, thanked Clinton for believing in him in his early days, and for standing by him despite criticism at the time for promoting a Bangladeshi economist’s ideas in America.He also paid tribute to Bangladeshi youthful revolutionaries, saying: "They are the ones creating the new version of Bangladesh -- let’s wish them every success."Hasina’s government was accused of widespread rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killing of political rivals.More than 450 people were killed in the weeks of violence leading up to her removal.Since her departure for exile in neighboring India, cabinet ministers and other senior members of Hasina’s party have been arrested, and her government’s appointees have been purged from courts and the central bank.Journalists seen as close to her regime have also been detained.While the United States had generally maintained a cooperative relationship with Hasina, an ally of India and a partner on issues like combating Islamist extremism, Washington had criticized her government’s democratic backsliding. Bangladesh Says IMF Will Fast-Track Loans to Support Reforms (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [9/25/2024 2:24 AM, Arun Devnath, 5.5M, Neutral]
The International Monetary Fund has agreed to fast-track financial assistance to Bangladesh for supporting the new government’s efforts to implement key reforms, according to a statement from the office of the nation’s chief adviser
A team of IMF officials, currently visiting Dhaka for talks with Bangladeshi authorities, will submit its report to the lender’s management board next month. The offer to accelerate the assistance came as IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva met the South Asian country’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly in New York Tuesday.
After Yunus took over as the head of the new administration on Aug. 8, Bangladesh sought $3 billion in additional funds from the IMF to rebuild foreign currency reserves as it is under pressure to pay bills for overseas purchases. This will be in addition to the $4.7 billion loan program with the Washington-based lender.
The IMF board can start a new lending program for Bangladesh based on the report of the team or it may extend additional funds under the existing program, Yunus’s office said, citing his talks with Georgieva.
The Nobel laureate, who emerged as the consensus leader after a student-led uprising ousted Sheikh Hasina’s regime, also spoke to Georgieva about the six commissions formed by his interim government to recommend reforms in constitution, electoral systems, judiciary, police, the anti-corruption agency and public administration.“Once the consensus on the reforms is reached and the voter list is prepared, the date for the vote will be announced,” the statement cited Yunus as saying. The reform panels are expected to formally begin work on Oct. 1 and complete their reports in three months. Hasina’s son wants role for her party in Bangladesh reforms, election (Reuters)
Reuters [9/25/2024 3:34 AM, Krishna N. Das, 5.2M, Neutral]
The son of Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, said he was happy with the army chief’s timeline for elections within 18 months, though it was later than expected, but warned that genuine reform and polls were impossible without her party.
General Waker-uz-Zaman, whose refusal to stand by Hasina in the face of deadly student protests prompted her flight to India in August, has told Reuters that democracy should return within a year to a year-and-a-half.
"I’m happy to hear we have an expected timeline at least now," Hasina’s son and adviser, Sajeeb Wazed, told Reuters late on Tuesday.
"But we have seen this play out before where an unconstitutional, unelected government promises reform and then things only get worse."
He was referring to Bangladesh’s history of coups since independence from Pakistan in 1971. The most recent was in 2007, when the military backed a caretaker government that ruled until Hasina took power two years later in a tenure that ran 15 years.
With the police left in disarray after Hasina fled, the powerful army took a key role in subsequent events, with Zaman saying he meets the head of the interim government each week as the military backs its stability efforts.
The two main political parties, Hasina’s Awami League and its bitter rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), have both called for elections to be held within three months of the interim government taking office in August.
The south Asian nation’s unelected interim government led by Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus has promised reforms in the judiciary, police and financial institutions before elections, but has not set a date for the exercise.
On Wednesday, Yunus’ office said the government would hold talks with political parties after receiving recommendations from the six reform panels it has set up.
"Once the consensus on the reforms is reached and the voter list is prepared, the date for the vote will be announced," it said in a statement.
The BNP said it would like elections held at the earliest opportunity.
Wazed, who lives in Washington, said neither he nor the interim government had reached out for talks on the way ahead for the country of 170 million.
"It’s impossible to have legitimate reforms and elections by excluding the oldest and largest political party," he added.
Hasina has been sheltering near Delhi since she fled last month. Many other senior Awami League leaders have either been arrested on accusations of having roles in the strife that killed more than 1,000 people, or have gone into hiding.
Many Awami League activists have been killed since Hasina’s downfall, Wazed added.
Representatives of the interim government did not immediately respond to requests for comment on his statements.
The head of an election reform panel, Badiul Alam Majumder, said it would make recommendations within three months following a review.
"It’s up to the government to decide whether to hold talks with the Awami League or determine the timing of the elections," he added.
Last month, Wazed told Reuters that Hasina was ready to face trial at home, a demand made by students who led the uprising, and that the Awami League would like to fight the elections.
On Tuesday, asked when Hasina might return home, he replied, "That will be up to her. Right now I want to keep my party people safe, so I want to raise international awareness on the atrocities being committed against them by this Yunus regime." How Nahid Islam Became a Face of Bangladesh’s Student Revolution (Time)
Time [9/24/2024 10:12 PM, Verena Hölzl, 15975K, Negative]
Two years ago, Nahid Islam graduated from Dhaka University with a bachelor thesis that examined why no student movement in Bangladesh had ever managed to reach its goals. Little does it matter that he forgot what his conclusion was. The 26-year-old has now changed history.
Islam was one of the most visible faces of a student movement which kickstarted countrywide mass protests in Bangladesh in recent months, resulting in the ousting of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, once considered to be among the most powerful women in the world.
"Hasina is a bloodsucker and a psychopath," Islam told TIME with a calm voice from an opulent black leather chair in his wood-paneled office at the Ministry for Information Technology in Dhaka, on a Sunday afternoon in September.
Not long ago, he was an information technology tutor, forced into hiding in order to avoid being arrested by the government. Now he is the country’s ICT and media minister.
In June, together with a handful of other students, Islam walked into the library at Dhaka University, holding up placards calling on people to take to the streets. The High Court had just reinstated a controversial quota that favored family members of veterans from Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War to get government jobs. Islam and his colleagues demanded a fair chance for everyone instead.
Protests against the quota system first rattled university campuses across Bangladesh in 2018. At the time, the government eventually backtracked and the protests died down. This year too, it could have ended with the issue of the quota system, Islam said.
But then security forces began shooting live rounds at protesters. On July 16, Abu Sayed, another student leader, was shot dead while walking towards police officers with open arms.
"His killing turned out to be a game-changing moment for the movement," said Islam. The protests quickly swept up large parts of the population across the country, offering people a welcome outlet for mounting frustration in the face of a corrupt government, soaring prices, and an increasingly authoritarian rule.
Eventually the protesters focused on Prime Minister Hasina herself. When the students came up with a one-point demand on August 3, it was Islam who delivered it: Hasina needs to resign, he announced on the campus of Dhaka University. On August 5, when hundreds of thousands were closing in on her residence in the heart of Dhaka, she boarded a helicopter and was flown to India, where she remains in exile.
"No one thought she could be toppled," Islam said, rocking back and forth in his big leather chair.
With the military’s support, the students-all of the sudden in charge of a country of 170 million-asked Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus, 84, to preside over an interim government. The economist, who rose to fame when he revolutionized the development industry with his microcredit idea, was in exile himself due to an array of legal charges levied against him by the Hasina government. He’s been acquitted since taking office.
As the head of the interim government, Yunus is Islam’s boss now-but only because the students wanted it this way. When asked who was taking orders from whom, Islam smirks before saying: "Yunus consults us on all major decisions."
He points at a red landline on his desk at the ministry. "The VIP phone," Islam said and shrugged. "No idea what I should use it for. I text Yunus on Whatsapp."
If Islam is still puzzled about everything that has happened in his life over the past couple of weeks, his stoic demeanor does not give it away.
His personal secretary, a seemingly stressed officer older than himself, keeps rushing in and out of the room, carrying documents for him to sign. Islam’s two mobile phones are ringing constantly. And visitors show up until the early morning hours at his residence in an uncharacteristically lush area of Dhaka, where the living room alone-adorned with a chandelier and white velvet sofas-is almost as big as his old apartment.
The sociology graduate has always been among those who defied the government. In his first week of university in 2017, the Dhaka-born son of a teacher took part in protests against a coal plant on the edge of the Sundarbans, a mangrove forest on the border with India. In 2019, Islam ran for campus elections and later, along with his peers, formed a student organization at Dhaka University, the Democratic Student Force.
But he first became known to the larger public in July of this year, after he was kidnapped and tortured by the country’s intelligence services, notorious for its enforced disappearances of government critics. One sweltering night, around 30 plainclothes officers showed up at a friend’s house where he was hiding to avoid arrest for his role in the protests. He says they put black cloth on his head, then they told him: "the world will never see you again."
In what Islam believes was one of their secret prisons, they beat him with what he says felt like an iron rod, leaving bruises on his arms and legs. Dizzy from a combination of the pain, tormenting sounds, and a glistening bright light directed at him, he drifted in and out of consciousness.
"Who’s the mastermind? Where is the money coming from?" they wanted to know, he recalled. A day later, Islam says he was dumped beside a bridge. Photos of his injuries were circulated by local media and caused outrage.
"The intelligence services were looking for known faces, for the leader of our movement, but we didn’t have just one. That was our main strength," he said. And while he seems to be navigating his new role as a minister with confidence, he insists that leading the protests was teamwork: "The media always want one face, but I am not the only leader in this movement. There were many of us."
After Hasina’s government was ousted, the power vacuum had to be filled quickly. Dr Samina Luthfa, Islam’s sociology professor from Dhaka University, says she met an uncharacteristically nervous Islam on the day the students announced the interim government to the people. "He’s very young, it was a huge responsibility."
In the aftermath of the overhaul, people’s expectations projected onto the interim government are skyrocketing. In this new Bangladesh, everybody anticipates only the best from the students who guided them in the liberation from a "dictator," as many now dare to say openly.
His phone is ringing, again. He is being asked to mediate at a Dhaka hospital, where students attacked doctors after one of their peers died from alleged neglect. The doctors responded with a strike. While he is gulping down his rice and chicken lunch, another call. Can Yunus’ office share his number with some protesters who demand government jobs?
"It’s odd," Islam said, "once this was us," he says, referring to the protesters. "Now we’re the ones who have to manage it."
Bangladeshis are energized by the success of making their voices heard after a 15-year rule that was sustained by vote rigging, crackdowns on critics, and a general climate of fear. People are now making use of their new freedom. Women stage demonstrations against harassment cases. Students oppose exams they want to see postponed after weeks of interrupted classes. Even school children in upper-class parts of Dhaka were seen protesting-they didn’t like their principal, they said.
"Over the last 15 years people couldn’t talk, now they finally get a chance," Islam explained.
But his biggest challenge might still lie ahead.
While there is a general sense of relief in the country, there’s not been much time to celebrate. Restoring law and order remains a concern for the new government. And there’s also a lingering fear that the military or the ousted Awami League could try to forcibly take back power. It would not be the first time, as in Bangladesh, politics have traditionally been marred by violence.
Islam says that it is the job of the interim government to root out corruption and bring the country back onto a path of democracy until elections are held. "We will only be here for a short time."
"All the corruption and the violence - people don’t want this anymore," he said. "We should understand the pulse of the new generation. We need to move on." Maldives leader says Israel must be held to account for ‘genocide’ in Gaza (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [9/24/2024 3:14 PM, Staff, 25768K, Negative]
Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu has told the United Nations that Israel must be held accountable for the crimes it is committing in Gaza, including “genocide”, as well as its attacks on journalists and other violations of international law.“The ongoing massacre, the genocide by Israel in Gaza is a travesty of justice and the international system,” the leader of the Indian Ocean archipelago told the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.He said Israel’s killing of civilians and its “repeated destruction” of homes, hospitals, and schools in Gaza was now being extended to Lebanon.On Tuesday, Israel and Hezbollah again traded cross-border fire, a day after the Israeli military launched a wave of air attacks into Lebanon that have killed at least 569 people so far.Israel’s new offensive against Hezbollah has stoked fears that nearly a year of conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza will explode into a larger regional conflagration.The Israeli military is shifting its focus from Gaza to the northern frontier, where Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas, which is also backed by Iran.Israel has made a war priority of securing its northern border and allowing for the return of displaced residents. This has set the stage for a long conflict, while Hezbollah has said it will not back down until a ceasefire is reached in Gaza.Muizzu also said Israel was attempting to cover up its crimes by targeting Palestinian and Lebanese journalists, including by closing Al Jazeera bureaus in Israel and the occupied West Bank.“How can we interpret this as anything other than brutal attempts to prevent the world from knowing the crimes taking place?” he asked.“Israel must be held accountable for these acts of terrorism, for these violations of international law and UN resolutions.”In June, Muizzu said his government will ban Israelis from the Maldives, known for idyllic beaches and luxury resorts, as public anger in the predominantly Muslim nation was rising over Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, displaced nearly all of the population, and left much of the enclave in ruins.On Tuesday, he called for the world to accept a sovereign and independent Palestinian state on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.“Now, we must ensure that Palestine becomes a full member of the UN,” he added.In May, the UNGA backed a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognising it as qualified to join and recommending the UN Security Council “reconsider the matter favourably”. The United States had vetoed a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member at the Security Council in April.Muizzu makes climate crisis pleaMuizzu also asked world leaders on Tuesday for additional support in combatting the climate crisis, which is threatening the existence of the world’s lowest-lying country.“Climate change is the most serious threat to our world, the defining challenge of our generation. It’s washing away decades of progress in mere minutes,” he said.“It’s diverting already depleted resources for long-term development to emergency relief and reconstruction, preventing countries from adapting to the climate impact.”He called on rich countries and the worst emitters of carbon to not only meet exisiting financial pledges made to developing countries to help them adapt to climate change, but also to extend that funding when the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference, more commonly known as COP29, takes place in November.“As we work towards COP 29, we must ensure the new goal on climate finance matches the level of climate action required.” How a Leftist Delivered Sri Lanka’s Biggest Political Jolt in Decades (New York Times)
New York Times [9/24/2024 4:14 PM, Mujib Mashal and Pamodi Waravita, 831K, Neutral]
Two of the front-runners in Sri Lanka’s presidential election were the sons of former presidents. A third contender, the incumbent, was the nephew and political heir of yet another president.
But when Anura Kumara Dissanayake arrived at the election commission office late Sunday to accept his victory in the vote, he cut a different figure, his sleeves rolled up and his beige shirt tucked into simple blue jeans.
His sweep to power is the biggest jolt to Sri Lanka’s political landscape in decades — an emphatic rejection of the political elite that had long ruled the island nation. He rode a wave of discontent that crested in 2022 with a popular uprising over an economic collapse and continued until the first presidential election since then.
Mr. Dissanayake, 55, offered his broad leftist coalition as the best hope for a different political culture. He cast it as an alternative for a country with an aspiring middle class that is hungry for competent economic leadership that the old political system, rife with nepotism and corruption, did not provide.
His personal story resonated: The son of a farmer and a homemaker, he worked as a tutor, sold cigarettes on trains and hawked vegetables in his village market before committing to politics. He vowed to clean up the patronage networks that had enriched a small elite while the fortunes of the majority stagnated and then plummeted as the country’s economy disintegrated.“They think that the family power they have obtained from ruling the country for a long time will bring them victory,” Mr. Dissanayake said at one of his final rallies. “It is the people’s power that will definitely win.”
His government faces a hard road ahead. The country’s economy, while stabilized after the long fuel and food lines of two years ago, continues to suffer from deep structural flaws: too much spending, and too little taxation and revenue. And there are no easy fixes.
Austerity measures have added to the suffering of the poor, with a quarter of the country’s population of 23 million below the poverty line. Corruption and patronage won’t be easily rooted out. The ethnic prejudices that led to a 26-year civil war remain largely unaddressed.
For decades, temporary covers — from majoritarian ethnic nationalism to the economic boost from heavy spending at the end of the civil war — papered over anger at “the decadence of this political elite,” said Nirmal Dewasiri, a professor of history at the University of Colombo, in Sri Lanka’s capital.
The economic collapse two years ago, Dr. Dewasiri added, awakened the country to how deep and structural the political rot was.
Now, with Mr. Dissanayake’s victory, “it’s a very unique situation,” Dr. Dewasiri said. The two traditional political camps “have sort of broken down.”
Power in Sri Lanka long alternated between two dominant parties until one of them, the center-right United National Party, entrenched itself in the 1970s and ruled for 17 years.
The party’s consolidation of power and crackdown on dissenting voices helped lead to violent insurrections — the three-decade Tamil insurgency in the north, and repeated violent Communist insurrections in the south. New coalitions and networks formed in an effort to topple the U.N.P.
Another reality was also emerging. While established politics long relied on rural patronage, the country was developing a new urban and semi-urban middle class that was looking beyond party structures for a path to prosperity.
The Rajapaksa family stepped into this moment of churn, tapping into the nationalism of the majority Buddhist Sinhalese population to rule for 10 years under its patriarch, Mahinda Rajapaksa. When his tenure ran its course, a second Rajapaksa brother, Gotabaya, ascended to power in 2019 with a campaign intended to appeal to the urban middle class.
He pitched himself as a technocratic “nonpolitician” who was at once an insider and an outsider, a former army officer who was returning from living in the United States. As a candidate he held a series of symposiums around the country where professionals would offer solutions to problems.
But Sri Lanka’s economic crisis and the resulting protests that forced out Mr. Rajapaksa provided an opening for other political forces that had spent years organizing.“Many of the things that we would have been speaking about in the past I think began to make sense to people — that, primarily, the problem in the country stems from the political culture, corruption, nepotism, the patronage system,” Harini Amarasuriya, an academic and activist who is a senior leader of Mr. Dissanayake’s alliance, said in an interview before the vote.
On Tuesday, Dr. Amarasuriya was appointed as Sri Lanka’s new prime minister. While she is the third woman to hold the post, women’s representation in Parliament still remains just 5 percent. The two previous female prime ministers both came from a political dynasty.
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, the Marxist party that Mr. Dissanayake helped lead to power as part of a broader coalition, is drastically different today than when he joined it as a student leader in the 1980s.
Thousands were killed in violence between J.V.P. insurgents and Sri Lankan government forces. Mr. Dissanayake’s own family home was burned, and the family was forced to live in a relative’s kitchen. A cousin his parents had raised almost as a sibling to Mr. Dissanayake was shot dead not far from him. He kept this news from his family for a decade, he said; they kept a vigil and visited temples to pray for his return.
In Sinhalese Buddhist culture, families keep a horoscope that, based on planetary alignments, predicts their child’s future. Past leaders, particularly the Rajapaksas, emphasized astrology in political life. When Mr. Dissanayake was asked in a recent interview whether his horoscope had predicted his rise, he was blunt.“In 1989, our house was burned. My horoscope got burned with it, and I haven’t made a new horoscope since then. I don’t believe in horoscopes,” he said. “My parents didn’t have big dreams — their world wasn’t that big. The biggest hope my mother had for me was the teaching profession. That was their world.”
The J.V.P. spent decades trying to distance itself from the violence and radical communism of its past. With the stigma not yet fully gone, Mr. Dissanayake ran under the name of his coalition, the National People’s Power. Though the coalition retained the J.V.P. at its core, it brought in academics and activists like Dr. Amarasuriya who had none of the old political baggage and could better articulate an alternative vision.
The alliance vowed to change the political culture within existing frameworks. It reached out to young people and women who had long been on the political margins. It ensured “a feminist sensitivity” by putting female voices in its leadership and mobilizing female voters, Dr. Amarasuriya said.
Two years before, it had been young people and women who spilled into the streets as the economy cratered.“Although the husband might bring the money, the women felt the brunt more because they run the kitchen,” said Hiranthi Boralessa, 59, a teacher in the southern district of Galle.
She had been married to a J.V.P. leader for over three decades but had only now gotten directly involved in political organizing.
Her husband, Dharmawardhana Munasinghe, 69, a retired teacher, was part of the earliest leadership of the J.V.P. His detention at an army camp, and his cat-and-mouse game with the authorities for nearly a decade after, complicated their young romance. Their wedding had to wait for a decade, and it eventually happened at a small, hushed ceremony in Colombo.
Mr. Munasinghe said that in all the decades after the party distanced itself from the violence, it had remained a marginal player in Galle. But he said the landscape changed entirely after the 2022 protest movement, with the local cells of the two main parties discredited over the economic collapse and hated for years of impunity for local abuses.
He said that Mr. Dissanayake’s pragmatism and discipline had achieved what older generations of leftist leaders could not.“I’m not a wizard or a magician — I am a normal citizen of this country,” Mr. Dissanayake said on Monday after taking the oath of office in a low-key ceremony in Colombo. “My main task now is to absorb my skills and collect my knowledge to lead this country. It is my responsibility to be a part of that collective intervention.” New Sri Lanka President Dissolves Parliament, Calls Early Poll (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [9/24/2024 1:20 PM, Anusha Ondaatjie, 1784K, Neutral]
Sri Lanka’s new president Anura Kumara Dissanayake dissolved the nation’s parliament with effect midnight Tuesday and called for early elections, framing his decision as steps toward combating corruption and renegotiating a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund.In a special gazette, the president ordered for the parliamentary election to be held on Nov. 14. The new legislature is to meet on Nov. 21.Dissanayake, 55, a leftist political outsider, won the presidential race on Sept. 21. His victory was a stunning rebuke of Sri Lanka’s political elite, which voters blamed for leading the island nation into a historic economic crisis a couple of years ago.Dissanayake, popularly known as AKD, won 5.74 million votes after two rounds of counting in the country’s first-ever runoff, defeating opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, who came in second, as well as incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who helped broker the IMF loan program.Dissanayake leads the National People’s Power, a coalition of leftist political parties and groups backed by protesters responsible for ousting President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2022. The NPP has just three parliamentarians in Sri Lanka’s 225-seat legislature.Earlier on Tuesday, Dissanayake chose Harini Amarasuriya from his coalition as the nation’s new prime minister and appointed a three-member cabinet, including himself, from among his party.Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena resigned from his post on Monday, thereby dissolving the previous cabinet and allowing Dissanayake to make his appointments. The same day, Dissanayake also chose a replacement for his own seat in the parliament.Under its constitution, Sri Lanka must hold parliamentary elections by the middle of 2025. And in the nation’s executive system, the president can hold multiple cabinet portfolios.Dissanayake leads a party that was once known for violent Marxist uprisings in the 1970s and 1980s, but has since renounced those tactics. The incoming president has positioned himself as a center-left figure.In his inaugural speech, Dissanayake said he was fully committed to democracy during his five-year term.“We have got a very challenging country. Our policies have to be clearer. People expect a cleaner culture,” Dissanayake said on Monday. “We are ready to commit to that.” Sri Lanka president dissolves parliament to make way for Nov. 14 polls (Reuters)
Reuters [9/24/2024 11:53 PM, Uditha Jayasinghe and Jahnavi Nidumolu, 37270K, Neutral]
Sri Lanka’s newly elected President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has dissolved parliament to clear the way for a snap general election in the debt-ridden country, he said in a government gazette notification on Tuesday.The parliamentary election will be held on Nov. 14, the notification said, adding that the next parliament would convene on Nov. 21.The last general election in Sri Lanka was held in August 2020. Lawmakers are elected for a five-year term.Sri Lankans chose Dissanayake in a weekend presidential election, giving the Marxist-leaning politician a key role in deciding the future of reforms in the island country that is slowly emerging from a crushing financial crisis.But his coalition, the National People’s Party, has just three of 225 seats in the current parliament, prompting him to dissolve the legislature to seek a fresh mandate there for his policies.Saturday’s presidential vote was Sri Lanka’s first election since its economy buckled in 2022 under a severe foreign exchange shortage, leaving it unable to pay for imports of essentials including fuel, medicine and cooking gas. Protests forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee and later resign.Dissanayake promised to bring change for those reeling under austerity measures linked to a $2.9 billion IMF bailout programme following the economic crisis and has also pledged to expand existing welfare schemes.But his intentions to slash taxes and desire to revisit the terms of the bailout have worried investors, who fear that it could delay a crucial $25 billion debt restructuring.He will have to ensure the economy returns to sustainable and inclusive growth, reassure local and international markets, attract investors and help a quarter of the 22 million population climb out of poverty. Sri Lanka’s new leader must balance ties between regional powerhouses India and China (AP)
AP [9/25/2024 1:15 AM, Krishan Francis and Krutika Pathi, 456K, Neutral]
The Marxist lawmaker who won Sri Lanka’s presidency faces a key challenge in how to balance ties with his country’s two most crucial partners, India and China, as he seeks to draw foreign investment and pull the economy out of the doldrums.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake, 55, won the weekend election in an extraordinary political upset against an old political guard that voters blame for tipping the country into its worst economic crisis two years ago. Dissanayake must now deliver on promises to improve Sri Lankans’ lives, clean up government and ease austerity measures imposed by international lenders.But looking beyond Sri Lanka’s borders, he also must navigate the rivalry between regional powerhouses India, the country’s next-door neighbor, and China, which Dissanayake’s party traditionally has leaned toward.
Located on one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, Sri Lanka has long been eyed by the two regional rivals. Sri Lanka governments have swung between the two camps, and New Delhi and Beijing have intensely jockeyed for influence in the island nation of 22 million.“Dissanayake will try to keep both India and China at an equal distance” but his ability to balance them is likely to be tested in the coming weeks, said Veeragathy Thanabalasingham, a Colombo-based political analyst. “It’s going to be a tightrope walk,” he added.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping both congratulated Dissanayake soon after he won.
The victory was by the National People’s Power coalition led by Dissanayake’s People’s Liberation Front — also known as Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, or JVP — which considers itself Marxist, though it now expresses support for a free market economy.
Dissanayake and his party have in the past been seen as more ideologically aligned with China.
Analysts say that could mean drawing more Chinese investment, which slowed after the Sri Lankan government was blamed for taking on too many Chinese loans that added to the country’s debt as its economy collapsed in 2022.
Chinese money quickly became a cautionary tale in the country, while the economic crisis allowed India to gain some sway as it stepped in with massive financial and material assistance to its neighbor.
Just after Dissanayake was sworn in, Beijing said it wants to work with the new government on boosting development and cooperation in building China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Under Dissanayake, “there’s a possibility of more Chinese money coming into Sri Lanka,” said Happymon Jacob, founder of the New Delhi-based Council for Strategic and Defense Research, adding that this could concern India.
For New Delhi, Dissanayake and his JVP party could throw up fresh challenges. The party has previously criticized what it called “Indian expansionism” in the region, and Dissanayake has rejected devolving more power to Sri Lanka’s north and east, where most of the country’s Tamil minority lives - an issue close to India, given the community’s cultural links to the country’s Tamil Nadu state.
While campaigning, Dissanayake also said he would shut down a wind power project funded by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani who is seen to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling it a “corrupt deal.”
Indian analysts say that Dissanayake’s victory comes as a number of neighboring countries have recently drifted towards Beijing, including Nepal and the Maldives, which now have more pro-China leaders, and Bangladesh, where the ouster of a pro-India leader last month is also testing New Delhi’s regional power.
But Chinese grants and lines of credit into South Asia overall have slowed down in the past four years, said Constantino Xavier, senior fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress. This has made countries in the region “realize that they have to reset their relations with India,” he added.
Similarly, Dissanayake has been pragmatic in his approach towards India so far, with New Delhi also keen to engage.
In February, months before the election was announced, the leader was invited to India where he met with the country’s foreign minister. And the Indian envoy in Colombo was the first to meet Dissanayake after the results were announced.
As a neighboring country, “we need to be concerned over India’s stability, national interests and national security when taking decisions,” Dissanayake told The Associated Press in an interview a few weeks before the election.“Our main objective is the safety of the region and we will not allow any party to use our land, sea and air to create instability,” he added.
In the past, Chinese research ships docked at Sri Lankan ports have stoked security concerns in New Delhi over Beijing’s growing influence in the Indian Ocean.
Thanabalasingham, the Colombo-based analyst, said Dissanayake’s party has largely transformed into a liberal democratic party for practical purposes so that it is easier to deal with a range of countries and partners. Although he remains head of a Marxist party, he now says he supports a free market economy.
But Dissanayake may need to woo domestic voters who backed him, including a nationalist segment of the population that is anti-India, which could add pressure to court China more.“He is likely to initially play up China to polish his credentials at home - even if only to extract maximum bargaining power with India,” said Xavier. Sri Lanka President Dissanayake picks Amarasuriya as PM, takes finance job (Reuters)
Reuters [9/24/2024 10:01 AM, Uditha Jayasinghe, 88008K, Neutral]
Sri Lanka’s new president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, named college professor and first-time lawmaker Harini Amarasuriya as the new prime minister of the Indian Ocean island nation on Tuesday, making her the third woman to be appointed to the post.Dissanayake, 55, has taken the key finance portfolio himself as Sri Lanka looks to emerge from its most punishing economic crisis in 70 years and its first debt default, while keeping promises to aid the nation’s poor.The Marxist-leaning firebrand politician will also hold the economic development and tourism jobs in the cabinet.Dissanayake’s intentions to slash taxes and desire to revisit the terms of a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund bailout have worried investors, who fear that it could delay a crucial $25 billion debt restructuring.His comments during Monday’s inauguration offered few clues as to how hardline his economic approach will be."Our politics needs to be cleaner, and the people have called for a different political culture," the 55-year-old said. "I am ready to commit to that change."Dissanayake ran in Saturday’s presidential election as the candidate for the National People’s Power coalition, which includes his Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna party that traditionally championed Marxist economic policies centred on protectionism and state intervention. In recent years the party has taken more centrist positions.DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT EXPECTEDHe picked veteran legislator Vijitha Herath to helm foreign affairs and public security, among other portfolios, according to the president’s office.While Herath, 56, has been a parliamentarian since 2000, Amarasuriya, 54, only entered the legislature in 2020.An academic with a doctorate in social anthropology from the University of Edinburgh, Amarasuriya, will also hold the portfolios of education, media and women and children affairs.She is the third woman prime minister of Sri Lanka, following the world’s first woman prime minister, Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1960, and her daughter Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga in 1994.This was Sri Lanka’s first election since its economy buckled in 2022 under a severe foreign exchange shortage, leaving it unable to pay for imports of essentials including fuel, medicine and cooking gas. Protests forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee and later resign.Dissanayake and his new cabinet face the task of establishing an interim government, with analysts predicting he will dissolve parliament and call a snap general election as his party has just three of 225 seats in the current house.Just before Dissanayake took the oath of office on Monday, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardene resigned to make way for a new prime minister and cabinet. ‘Only the beginning’: Sri Lankans hope for deep changes under new president (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [9/25/2024 1:45 AM, Saroj Pathirana, 67197K, Neutral]
For Dilshan Jayasanka, the victory of Anura Kumara Dissanayake as Sri Lanka’s first Marxist-leaning president is the beginning of a “radical new path” for the crisis-hit island nation.Just more than two years ago, the 29-year-old former floor manager at a restaurant in Colombo was a regular visitor to Gota Go Gama, the tent city erected by tens of thousands of protesters in the city’s picturesque Galle Face area.The protests in 2022 were aimed at toppling the then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government, which was blamed for Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis since its independence from British rule in 1948.After the restaurant he worked at was forced to close due to the financial meltdown, Jayasanka made the tent city his home.“Many non-partisan people who took part in ‘Aragalaya’ [struggle in Sinhalese] are now with the National Peoples Power [NPP],” Jayasanka told Al Jazeera on Tuesday, a day after Dissanayake, who leads the NPP alliance, was sworn in as the country’s ninth president.As Dissanayake assumed the presidential office, located right opposite Colombo’s Galle Face, Jayasanka, who had spent weeks there in 2022 fighting for change in his country, said: “I believe his victory is a positive development for my country. I hope he will make a better Sri Lanka.”Jayasanka also hailed the 55-year-old leader for appointing Harini Amarasuriya, one of NPP’s three legislators in the 225-member parliament, as the country’s new prime minister, making her the country’s first woman to head the government in 24 years.“As someone who actively took part in Aragalaya, I highly commend that move. In fact, many women took part not only in Aragalaya but also bringing Dissanayake to power,” he said.Hours after appointing Amarasuriya as the prime minister, Dissanayake dissolved the parliament effective midnight on Tuesday and called for a snap parliamentary election on November 14.‘Great opportunity for a system change’Dissanayake and his Stalinist political party, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), played an active role during the 2022 protests. The controversial party led two insurrections against the Sri Lankan state in the 1970s and 1980s, during which 80,000 people were killed. The party has since renounced violence and Dissanayake has apologised for their crimes.First elected to parliament in 2000, Dissanayake remained a peripheral player in Sri Lankan politics until he made fighting corruption and reviving the economy the main planks of his campaign this year.His call for unity amid ethnic divisions, clean politics and pro-people economic reforms resonated in the crisis-hit nation of 22 million. For decades, Sri Lanka was under the grip of a bloody civil war after its Tamil minority, mainly concentrated in the north, began a movement for an independent ethnic state.Tens of thousands of people were killed during the 26-year civil war, which ended in 2009 when Sri Lankan forces destroyed the last strongholds of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the rebels fighting for a Tamil homeland. At least 40,000 civilians were killed in the final days of the war, according to estimates by the United Nations, and the military was accused of widespread human rights violations.The scars of the civil war are still visible in Sri Lanka’s politics and the Tamil question remains unresolved. In fact, Dissanayake’s JVP itself was once accused of fomenting anti-Tamil sentiments.But Anthony Vinoth, 34, who was an active member of the 2022 mass protests, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that Dissanayake’s victory was “a significant reward for the Aragalaya movement”.“As a member of the Tamil community, I feel that the victory of [Dissanayake] is a great opportunity for a system change which we have been longing for a long period… Now he has an opportunity to address issues faced by different communities without bias,” he said.However, a majority of Tamil voters in the northern, eastern and central provinces had voted for other candidates, including Dissanayake’s main rivals Sajith Premadasa and Ranil Wickremesinghe, in Saturday’s election.The Tamil community had been asking for a political solution to their grievances. They have also been asking for the whereabouts of their loved ones missing after the end of the civil war, the return of land captured by the military, and a proper devolution of power to the regions so that they could manage their own affairs.“Anura Kumara’s campaign didn’t target much of the minority community’s demands. This is a point of view among the Tamil communities,” Anthony said, adding that he will “wait and see” how the plans for reconciliation promised by the new president would be implemented.“But I am optimistic and hoping for positive political and cultural changes in the country.”
‘Muslim community was very hurt’Sinhala Buddhists make up about 70 percent of Sri Lanka’s population, while the Hindu and Christian Tamil minority are at about 12 percent. Muslims, who make up about 9 percent of the population, were rarely the targets of ultra-nationalist Sinhalese groups in the country.But that changed in the years after the end of the civil war, reaching a peak in 2019 when suicide bombers linked to ISIL (ISIS) attacked churches, hotels and other locations across the country on Easter Sunday, killing 269 people. The fallout from that attack saw Sri Lankan legislators proposing curbs on the rights of Muslim citizens. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Muslims were criticised for their practice of burying the dead.Like many Muslims, Farhaan Nizamdeen, another member of the Aragalaya movement, supported Dissanayake in the presidential election.To be sure, the Muslim vote also went to Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) or its breakaway group, Samaji Jana Balawegaya, led by Premadasa.But Nizamdeen, a freelance journalist, said most Muslims in his neighbourhood in the southern Sri Lankan town of Galle backed Dissanayake. “I view this as a breakdown of the traditional politics in Sri Lanka,” he told Al Jazeera.Following the Easter Sunday attacks and COVID-19 outbreak, the Muslim community “lost faith not only with the main parties but also with their own representatives”, said Nizamdeen.“National leaders and our own Muslim leaders pledged many things in every election but they never delivered. And the Muslim community was very hurt when Gotabaya Rajapaksa government forcefully cremated Muslims during the COVID-19 outbreak,” he told Al Jazeera.“So I feel this as a protest vote against those leaders, including the leaders of Muslim political parties, than a vote for Anura Kumara [Dissanayake]. But I don’t believe everything will be resolved overnight simply because he is now in power.”
‘Break from the traditional elite’Melani Gunathilake, an environmental and human rights activist, told Al Jazeera that a president from a working-class background “who genuinely understands the people’s pain, was very much needed”.But she added that Dissanayake’s NPP had failed to capitalise on the national unity and reconciliation displayed by the young protesters during the Aragalaya movement.Pointing out that the Marxist leader did not secure significant Tamil votes, she said: “It shows that once again, we in southern Sri Lanka have failed to address their grievances and play our role in taking Tamil people with us on our journey.”Senior journalist and political analyst Sunil Jayasekara told Al Jazeera that Dissanayake’s victory carried historic significance and marked a fundamental shift in Sri Lanka’s governance for a second time.“First, it was in 1956 when SWRD Bandaranaike was elected [and] the country’s governance was taken away from the traditional elite,” said Jayasekara, the general secretary of National Movement for Social Justice, a civil society movement that has been campaigning for democracy, human rights and rule of law.Bandaranaike himself was from a wealthy political family but formed a coalition of Buddhist monks, Ayurvedic practitioners, teachers, farmers and labourers to defeat the government run by the traditional elite in 1956. He was assassinated by a Buddhist monk in 1959. His widow, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, became the world’s first female prime minister in 1960. Later, his daughter, Chandrika Kumaratunga, would serve as the country’s first female executive president from 1994 to 2005.Like Bandaranaike, Jayasekara said, Dissanayake represents a break from the traditional elite. “And it is our sincere hope that the people’s expectations will be fulfilled.”However, Jayasanka, the former restaurant floor manager, said Dissanayake’s victory is “only a beginning and there is a long way ahead”.“I think everybody should help him deliver what he promised. But if he fails, he might even be ousted in a shorter period than Gotabaya [Rajapaksa].” Central Asia
Kazakhstan expects progress in arbitration against oil firms in coming months (Reuters)
Reuters [9/25/2024 5:35 AM, Mariya Gordeyeva, 1851K, Neutral]
Kazakhstan expects preliminary results of multi-billion arbitration proceedings against international oil majors by December, the country’s Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev told Reuters on Wednesday.Kazakhstan last year started arbitration proceedings against companies developing its giant Kashagan and Karachaganak oilfields over $13 billion and $3.5 billion, respectively, over disputed costs.The offshore Kashagan field, one of the world’s biggest discoveries in recent decades, is being developed by Eni (ENI.MI), Shell (SHEL.L), TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA), ExxonMobil (XOM.N), KazMunayGaz (KMGZ.KZ), Inpex (1605.T) and CNPC (CNPC.UL).Their consortium, called the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC), has invested some $50 billion in the project.Eni, Shell and KazMunayGaz are also partners in Karachaganak, alongside Chevron (CVX.N), and LUKOIL (LKOH.MM) with investments at more than $27 billion.Bloomberg News reported in April that Kazakhstan raised arbitration claims against the Kashagan consortium to more than $150 billion, Neither the government nor the companies have disclosed the details of the claims."Everything, which relates to the subject of the claim, is confidential information. We are talking about the execution of the terms of the production-sharing agreement on Kashagan and Karachaganak," Satkaliyev told Reuters.Kazakhstan has a history of multi-billion claims against international companies, which say the government uses to increase its shares in key oil and gas projects in what amounts to "resource nationalism".Kazakhstan’s authorities have rejected such criticism saying its aim was to rein in costs inflated by Western majors.The landlocked Kazakhstan, Central Asia’s largest economy, has pinned its hope on Kashagan for future prosperity and has for years expressed its concerns over cost overruns and delays in its development.The oilfield’s crude contains high concentrations of poisonous hydrogen sulphide, which complicates the extraction process. Its production reached around 380,000 barrels per day last year.Satkaliyev also said that Kazakhstan’s oil exports to Germany via the Soviet-built Druzhba pipeline were seen at 1.2 million metric tons (24,000 barrels per day) this year, while Germany sought to double its imports to 2.5 million tons per year.Kazakhstan’s role as an oil exporter has increased following Western sanctions against Russian oil over the war in Ukraine.While it remains Moscow’s ally it has not taken sides in the conflict or supported Moscow’s claims to some Ukrainian territories.Germany has said it was interested in expanding trade with Kazakhstan while ensuring it does not serve to circumvent Europe’s sanctions on Russia. Tajik judges lead the way in trauma-informed approaches to gender-based violence cases (UNDP)
UNDP [9/24/2024 4:14 PM, Staff, Neutral]
The USAID Stop Gender-Based Violence Project, in collaboration with UNDP Tajikistan, supported eleven judges from Tajikistan’s Supreme Court in benefiting from intensive training sessions designed to align their approach to handling cases involving gender-based violence (GBV) with international best practices. This training was aimed at supporting Tajikistan’s ongoing efforts to build the capacity of justice sector actors to deliver gender-responsive, trauma-informed, and survivor-oriented services.
During the training with the Supreme Court judges, Morgane Landel, an international expert provided up-to-date international best practices on judicial responses to GBV.
Nigora Kholova, another neurology expert, explained how traumatic experiences leave a long-term impact on the human brain and affect the behavior of GBV survivors.
This was the first time the participating judges had received training on how trauma from GBV can impact the ability of a survivor to tell her/his story.
Moreover, during the training, an advocate who specializes in providing access to justice for GBV survivors shared the challenges survivors face in getting support from law enforcement and courts. Shamigul Aminova, an adult education expert, shared techniques with the judges for effectively training their peers.
By building the capacity of the justice sector, particularly the judiciary, the activity seeks to ensure that women who come forward with complaints of GBV, especially domestic violence, receive the necessary and effective support.
The training was facilitated by Morgane Landel, an international consultant with 10 years of experience working on GBV across numerous countries, who emphasized the critical role that judges play in the governmental response to GBV.
"Having judges as participants in this training is paramount because they are the main duty bearers who can foster a better environment for a society free from gender-based violence," Landel said.
Reflecting on the current state of the legislative framework, Judge Daler Kholikmuradzoda, a participant, noted that although steps have been taken to prevent GBV and support GBV victims in Tajikistan, more efforts are still required: "In our society, some challenges related to this issue are still persistent. I believe that the training of judges will be beneficial to achieve gender equality, provide equal opportunities to exercise human rights, particularly for women, and it will produce effective results."
Another senior Supreme Court judge, Mavjuda Pulodi, remarked, “It is worth highlighting that most of the judges who received the training are trainers themselves, tasked with equipping other judges with practical knowledge. For me, it is not just interesting but essential to learn how our colleagues in European countries address GBV.” She added, “The knowledge we gain from this training empowers us to critically examine our practices and to ensure that our responses as judges are not only legally sound but deeply compassionate and informed by the experiences of survivors.”
This training for the judges was the first in a series of justice sector trainings on the topic, and future participants will include civil society organizations and advocates.
As Tajikistan continues to align its legal framework and policies with international best practices, UNDP remains committed to collaborating with national partners to ensure that survivors of GBV receive the support and justice they deserve. Together, we are paving the way for a future where all individuals can live free from violence and discrimination. Twitter
Afghanistan
Malala Yousafzai@Malala
[9/23/2024 4:59 PM, 1.9M followers, 734 retweets, 3.9K likes]
I met with PM @JustinTrudeau today to discuss the urgent need for global leadership to stand with Afghan girls and hold the Taliban accountable. Their oppressive system of gender apartheid must be recognised as a crime against humanity.
Jahanzeb Wesa@JahanzebWesa
[9/23/2024 6:40 PM, 4K followers, 6 retweets, 6 likes]
Afghanistan is Not Safe Despite the Taliban’s claims of peace and security, there are increasing cases of children getting abducted. Yesterday, the body of a 7 year old Afghan girl, disappeared 2 days earlier, was found in Herat city.—Photos via social media.
Jahanzeb Wesa@JahanzebWesa
[9/23/2024 1:54 PM, 4K followers, 31 retweets, 62 likes]
Femena_Net shared a video for support of Afghan women Afghan women enduring severe human rights abuses under Taliban rule. Despite immense challenges, they fight for dignity & freedom. international organizations & UN should take action about the situation & freedom of women. Pakistan
Government of Pakistan@GovtofPakistan
[9/24/2024 2:25 PM, 3.1M followers, 12 retweets, 17 likes]
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif meets President of Maldives, Dr. Mohamed Muizzu (@MMuizzu) on the Sidelines of 79th Session of United Nations General Assembly. Both leaders emphasized the importance of fostering people-to-people exchanges and collaborative efforts to promote economic growth and sustainable development in their respective countries. They also recognized the shared responsibility of South Asian nations to work together for peace, prosperity, and stability of the region. #PakatUNGA79 #PMShehbazAtUNGA #UNGA79
Shehbaz Sharif@CMShehbaz
[9/24/2024 7:43 PM, 6.7M followers, 343 retweets, 1.1K likes]
Great discussion on spearheading actions to reach the 2030 promise through just and inclusive transitions. We must bridge the $4 trillion SDG financing gap in order for developing countries to achieve the SDGs. I emphasized the need to reforming the unjust international financial system, resolving the debt crises facing developing countries and delivering climate justice for those who have contributed the least to climate change.
Shehbaz Sharif@CMShehbaz
[9/24/2024 1:29 PM, 6.7M followers, 380 retweets, 1.7K likes]
Delighted to meet President of the Maldives H.E. Dr. Mohamed Muizzu @MMuizzu. We held wide ranging talks during our interaction on the sidelines of UNGA 79. We reiterated our shared responsibility as South Asian nations to work together for peace, prosperity and stability of the region.
Michael Kugelman@MichaelKugelman
[9/24/2024 12:38 PM, 213.5K followers, 27 retweets, 128 likes]
Pakistan has appointed a new spy chief. He’s the first to have a PhD--and it’s on US-Pakistan relations. From @AzazSyed: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1233315-gen-asim-malik-appointed-first-phd-holding-chief-of-isi India
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[9/24/2024 1:42 AM, 102.2M followers, 1.6K retweets, 10K likes]
Today, we mark #10YearsOfMakeInIndia. I compliment all those who are tirelessly working to make this movement a success over the last decade. ‘Make in India’ illustrates the collective resolve of 140 crore Indians to make our nation a powerhouse of manufacturing and innovation. It’s noteworthy how exports have risen in various sectors, capacities have been built, and thus, the economy has been strengthened. The Government of India is committed to encouraging ‘Make in India’ through all possible ways. India’s strides in reforms will also continue. Together, we will build an Atmanirbhar and Viksit Bharat! @makeinindia
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[9/24/2024 4:08 AM, 102.2M followers, 8.9K retweets, 52K likes]
This has been a fruitful USA visit, covering diverse programmes and focusing on a series of subjects aimed at making our planet better. Here are the highlights.
Dr. S. Jaishankar@DrSJaishankar
[9/25/2024 12:02 AM, 3.2M followers, 90 retweets, 307 likes]
In conversation with @dannyrrussel @AsiaPolicy on the theme ‘India, Asia & the World’. #UNGA79 https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1jMKgBygLjyxL
Dr. S. Jaishankar@DrSJaishankar
[9/24/2024 2:40 PM, 3.2M followers, 120 retweets, 582 likes]
Pleased to join @POTUS, @SecBlinken and other leaders today at the Summit for the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats.
Highlighted that:- India’s role as co-chair of Working Group 1, focused on preventing the illicit manufacture and trafficking of synthetic drugs, showcases our proactive stance. - India has long been affected by the nexus between terrorist groups and narco-trafficking. Cross-border rackets smuggle drugs into our territory, with proceeds supporting terrorism.- India has signed 45 bilateral agreements to strengthen cooperation and established a robust framework domestically regulating 27 precursor chemicals. - The deepening partnership between India and the United States must be recognized. Our Counter Narcotics Working Group has met four times, and the conclusion recently of the bilateral Drug Framework and MoU at Wilmington is a notable step.- India calls for enhanced operational cooperation, intelligence sharing, and stronger law enforcement collaboration to combat the synthetic drug trade.
As we unite in this mission, confident that our collective resolve and cooperation will build a safer, drug-free world for all. #UNGA79 NSB
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh@BDMOFA
[9/24/2024 1:25 PM, 49.5K followers, 37 retweets, 520 likes]
Foreign Affairs Adviser, HE Md. Touhid Hossain, met with DG @UNmigration @IOMchief (Amy Pope), on UNGA79 sidelines. She lauded #Bangladesh role as Global Migration Compact champion. They discussed #Rohingya crisis as also ways to facilitate safe|orderly #migration.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh@BDMOFA
[9/24/2024 12:18 PM, 49.5K followers, 463 retweets, 3.8K likes]
Chief Adviser, HE Prof Muhammad Yunus, met with US @POTUS @JoeBiden on UNGA79 sidelines; discussed ways to deepen #Bangladesh | #USA ties and engagements.@Yunus_Centre @ChiefAdviserGoB @StateDept
Michael Kugelman@MichaelKugelman
[9/24/2024 2:39 PM, 213.5K followers, 45 retweets, 346 likes]
If I’m not mistaken, the Biden/Yunus meeting today marks the first time that the top leaders of the US and Bangladesh have had a formal bilateral meeting since Bill Clinton met Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka in 2000.
Michael Kugelman@MichaelKugelman
[9/24/2024 11:32 AM, 213.5K followers, 3 retweets, 48 likes]
Dr Yunus won’t be at the UNGA for long, which makes his bilat today with Biden (who also won’t be at UNGA for long) especially significant. Expect them to discuss US support for the economy and reform efforts and perhaps also political transition issues.
Michael Kugelman@MichaelKugelman
[9/24/2024 11:32 AM, 213.5K followers, 6 retweets, 42 likes]
Yunus won’t be meeting with Modi. Yunus arrived in the US last night soon after Modi had left (though Jaishankar met w/the BD foreign affairs advisor yesterday). Incidentally, Yunus and his team reportedly flew commercial to NYC on Qatar Air. Impressive!
Michael Kugelman@MichaelKugelman
[9/24/2024 9:28 AM, 213.5K followers, 5 retweets, 19 likes]
With President Biden expected to meet Dr Yunus today on the sidelines of the UNGA meetings, my latest interview, for @unbnewsroom, Bangladesh’s main news wire service, looks at prospects for US-Bangladesh relations in the post-Hasina era: https://unb.com.bd/category/Bangladesh/vibes-with-us-may-change-if-trump-returns-to-presidency-kugelman/143405#google_vignette
Brahma Chellaney@Chellaney
[9/24/2024 12:41 PM, 266.1K followers, 494 retweets, 1.3K likes]
After the failed regime-change effort in Venezuela and Congo’s handing down of death sentences to three Americans for a coup attempt, Biden today met the nominal head of Bangladesh’s new military-installed regime, Muhammad Yunus, and extended "full support" to his usurper regime.
Brahma Chellaney@Chellaney
[9/24/2024 5:15 AM, 266.1K followers, 102 retweets, 360 likes]
The power behind the throne in Bangladesh, General Zaman, tells Reuters that, "come what may," he’ll back the interim regime he helped install. Zaman was instrumental in bringing about regime change, packing Prime Minister Hasina off to India and handpicking new regime’s members.Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[9/24/2024 11:28 PM, 99.6K followers, 13 likes]
At the High-Level Reception for "Leveraging Ambition for 30x30 & Beyond: The Road to CBD COP16," I delivered the keynote address where I shared that, owing to the visionary leadership of our monarchs, who have long been stewards of our pristine environment & rich biodiversity…
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[9/24/2024 11:28 PM, 99.6K followers, 1 retweet, 3 likes]
…conservation in Bhutan is not merely a policy - it is woven into the very fabric of our national identity. Protecting the environment is not merely an objective - it is a sacred promise we make to Mother Earth.
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[9/24/2024 11:28 PM, 99.6K followers, 1 retweet, 3 likes]
As we unite global efforts to advance the ambitious goal of conserving 30% of the planet by 2030, alongside other commitments from the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, I am optimistic that together we can halt biodiversity loss & secure a sustainable future.
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[9/24/2024 11:03 PM, 99.6K followers, 2 retweets, 9 likes]
Pleased to interact with Mr. Carlos Rodriguez of @theGEF and Ms. Mafalda Duarte of @theGCF. Expressed gratitude to GEF and GCF for their ongoing support for Bhutan’s environmental conservation efforts and climate change initiatives.
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[9/24/2024 1:07 PM, 99.6K followers, 7 retweets, 21 likes]
I thank the @UNDP for hosting a high-level consultation meeting on the formation of a forum for #carbonneutral and #carbonnegative countries, on the sidelines of the UNGA.
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[9/24/2024 1:07 PM, 99.6K followers, 1 retweet, 5 likes]
I am truly inspired by the collective commitment to advancing climate action and sustainability. Together, we are laying the groundwork for a powerful platform to drive real change and lead the global effort toward a greener, more sustainable future!
Moosa Zameer@MoosaZameer
[9/24/2024 2:05 PM, 13.9K followers, 33 retweets, 35 likes]
The #Maldives is one of the most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change. It is the defining challenge of our generation. President Dr @MMuizzu called on the world to "face the climate emergency head-on". The Maldives has always been a leader and strong advocate for enhanced climate action. He outlined the Government’s strong commitment towards addressing climate change and ensuring environmental protection.- The President reiterated the target announced at COP28, to meet 33 percent of country’s electricity demand from renewable energy by 2028. - The Maldives is also targeting to meet 35% of fisheries sector’s electricity needs from renewable sources.- The Maldives ratified the #BBNJ Agreement today!
As the world gears up for COP29 in #Azerbaijan, the President called for stronger action to agree on a new collective quantified goal on climate finance. #MaldivesAtUNGA79
Moosa Zameer@MoosaZameer
[9/24/2024 1:52 PM, 13.9K followers, 40 retweets, 44 likes]
Today is a historic occasion! President Dr @MMuizzu delivered his first address at the General Debate of the @UN General Assembly — an inspiring speech which outlined his development vision for the #Maldives, his foreign policy goals, and the hopes of the Maldivian people for a stronger and robust multilateral system. Central to his statement is his wish to see the Maldives as a developed country by 2040 — on the 75th anniversary of independence. He outlined three pathways to this goal:
1 Investing in productive capacity and increasing productivity. He stated that boosting productivity will be the key to economic transformation and committed to increasing state capacity, reforming and strengthening institutions, and leveraging the private sector. He also announced plans to diversify the economy, build new industries including a robust financial sector in the Maldives.
2 Moving towards a fully digitised economy, driven by artificial intelligence. Maldives will use 5G technology, invest in digital infrastructure, and creating monetising opportunities to work towards establishing a digital economy that contributes up to 15% of our GDP by 2030.
3 Leveraging natural beauty and our marine resources. The President outlined his vision to enhance the tourism sector even further, boost connectivity and expand the airport. #MaldivesAtUNGA79
Moosa Zameer@MoosaZameer
[9/25/2024 12:15 AM, 13.9K followers, 32 retweets, 39 likes]
I was pleased to join President Dr @MMuizzu during his meeting with @PowerUSAID, USAID Administrator, today on the sidelines of #UNGA79. In the meeting, President Dr Muizzu expressed appreciation for USAID’s continued support and reaffirmed his commitment to strengthening the partnership. #MaldivesAtUNGA79
K P Sharma Oli@kpsharmaoli
[9/24/2024 1:56 PM, 858.5K followers, 24 retweets, 150 likes]
Had a fruitful meeting with USAID Administrator @PowerUSAID on the sidelines of UNGA79. Expressed my gratitude to the US for its steadfast support in Nepal’s development efforts, especially through USAID.
K P Sharma Oli@kpsharmaoli
[9/24/2024 10:54 AM, 858.5K followers, 34 retweets, 211 likes]
Had a productive meeting with the president of @WorldBank Group Ajay Banga #UNGA79 Discussed our long-standing collaboration and partnership. Expressed my appreciation for the Bank’s vital support in projects, budget assistance, and technical aid.
K P Sharma Oli@kpsharmaoli
[9/24/2024 9:06 AM, 858.5K followers, 31 retweets, 275 likes]
The General Debate of #UNGA79 kicks off today. Looking forward to addressing this august assembly on 26 September. Nepal remains firm in its multilateral commitment with the UN at the center of our global engagements.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake@anuradisanayake
[9/24/2024 12:39 PM, 118.5K followers, 190 retweets, 1.7K likes]
Member of Parliament Harini Amarasuriya took oaths as the new Prime Minister at the Presidential Secretariat today (24). New Cabinet Ministers also took office today.
Accordingly, Cabinet responsibilities under me,
01. Defence
02. Finance, Economic Development, Policy Formulation, Planning and Tourism
03. Energy
04. Agriculture, Land, Livestock, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources
Cabinet responsibilities under Dr. Harini Amarasuriya,
05. Justice, Public Administration, Provisional Councils, Local Government and Labour
06. Education, Science and Technology
07. Woman, Child and Youth Affairs and Sports
08. Trade, Commercial, Food Security, Cooperative Development, Industry and Entrepreneur Development
09. Health
Cabinet Responsibilities under MP Vijitja Herath,
10. Buddha Shasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs, National Integration, Social Security and Mass Media
11. Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation.
12. Public Security
13. Foreign Affairs
14. Environment, Wildlife, Forest Resources, Water Supply, Plantation and Community, Infrastructure.
15. Rural and Urban Development, Housing and Construction
MP Lakshman Nipunarachchi, Former MP Sunil Handuneththi, Bimal Rathanayake, Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, Wasantha Samarasinghe, Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumara, Defence Secretary H.S. Sampath Thuyacontha also joined the occasion. Central Asia
MFA Tajikistan@MOFA_Tajikistan
[9/24/2024 6:25 AM, 5K followers, 1 retweet]
Meeting with the Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres https://mfa.tj/en/main/view/15790/meeting-with-the-secretary-general-of-the-united-nations-antonio-guterres
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service@president_uz
[9/25/2024 2:59 AM, 201.5K followers, 1 retweet, 7 likes]
President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev was informed of proposals aimed at advancing the vocational education system and reforming the national qualifications framework, including the integration of international educational programs. Notably, the English #BTEC program will be implemented in select schools across the country, with diplomas recognized in 70 countries globally. These initiatives seek to enhance the quality of education and align qualifications with international standards.
Bakhtiyor Saidov@FM_Saidov
[9/25/2024 12:23 AM, 9.5K followers, 4 retweets, 12 likes]
Productive meeting with H.E. Ambassador @KairatSarybay, Secretary General of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in #Asia (@CicaSecretariat). We had a comprehensive discussion on the ways to make regional cooperation even more productive, especially in economic dimension. We believe that better connectivity, regular exchanges, strong business ties serve for the peace and prosperity of all.
Bakhtiyor Saidov@FM_Saidov
[9/24/2024 2:12 PM, 9.5K followers, 4 retweets, 11 likes]
Met with @UN Under-Secretary General, Executive Director of @UN_Women H.E. Sima Sami Iskandar Bahous. @GOVuz is fully committed to promoting women empowerment and gender equality. We are grateful to @unwomenchief for full support of the reforms in Uzbekistan to create the most favorable conditions for all women and girls in our country.
Bakhtiyor Saidov@FM_Saidov
[9/24/2024 12:37 PM, 9.5K followers, 2 retweets, 8 likes]
Glad to catch up with H.E. Sirojiddin Muhriddin, Foreign Minister of #Tajikistan (@MOFA_Tajikistan), on the margins of #UNGA79. UZ-TJ strategic partnership and alliance ties are getting stronger. We are committed to creating the good neighborhood relations that will serve the interests of all the people in #CentralAsia.{End of Report} To subscribe to the SCA Morning Press Clips, please email SCA-PressOfficers@state.gov. Please do not reply directly to this email.