SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS
Prepared for the U.S. Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
TO: | SCA & Staff |
DATE: | Monday, April 7, 2025 6:30 AM ET |
Afghanistan
Son of British couple held by Taliban asks US for help (BBC)
BBC [4/5/2025 10:22 AM, Aleks Phillips, 52868K]
The son of a British couple who were detained by the Taliban nine weeks ago is calling on the US to help secure their release from an Afghan prison.
Peter Reynolds, 79, and wife Barbie, 75, were arrested on 1 February while returning to their home in the central Bamiyan province.
Their son, Jonathan, called on the White House to intervene after Faye Hall, an American who was detained alongside them, was released last week by the Taliban, which returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021.
He told BBC News the detention of his parents - who have lived in Afghanistan for 18 years and ran education projects - had been "harrowing and exhausting" for their family.
Mr Reynolds said: "Anybody who has the ability to unlock that key and let them out, whether it be the Taliban, whether it be the British government or whether it be the American government, I would ask - do it now, please.
"And if you have the ability to put the pressure on the people who hold that key, do it now, please.".
Ms Hall became the fourth US citizen to be released by the Taliban since January after talks between officials in Kabul - in what the group described as a "goodwill gesture" towards the Trump administration.
That prompted Mr Reynolds to appeal to US President Donald Trump directly to aid in Peter and Barbie’s release, in a video taken outside the White House earlier this week.
Mr Reynolds, a US citizen, told BBC News that his parents had not been formally accused of any crime.
He said: "They’ve been in and out of court, which is infuriating for them because there’s no charges and they are told every single time: yes, they are innocent, it’s just a formality, we’ve made a mistake.".
An Afghan interpreter was also arrested alongside the British couple.
Mr Reynolds said his parents had sought to work with the Taliban and had "been open" about their work in the country.
He said he believes his mother received "the only certificate for a woman to actually teach and train even men", despite women typically being banned from employment under Taliban rule.
"They deeply love the country," he added.
Jonathan Reynolds said his parents’ detention had been "harrowing and exhausting" [BBC].
The couple married in Kabul in 1970 and later became Afghan citizens. They are being held separately in prison and Peter’s health has deteriorated while detained, Mr Reynolds said.
He said he had been able to speak to his parents via a prison payphone and described the conversations as "excruciatingly painful".
"Just to think of your parents, elderly parents and grandparents to my kids - and they’ve got great-grandkids even - and wondering if we’re going to see them again," he said.
"We want to see our parents again, to hug them and hold them.".
Mr Reynolds said securing his parents release was "complex" as they wish to remain in Afghanistan and continue their education work.
"They want to be released from prison because they’ve done nothing wrong, but they want to be released so they can carry on doing the work they’re doing - which just speaks to the character and the stamina and the vision and conviction that they have," he added.
He said the UK government had been "very supportive" and discussions with he US State Department had been "encouraging".
A Taliban official told the BBC in February that the group planned to release the couple "as soon as possible".
The UK shut its embassy in Kabul after the Taliban returned to power. The Foreign Office said this means its ability to help UK nationals in Afghanistan is "extremely limited". Briton held by Taliban with wife describes dire conditions in Kabul jail (The Guardian)
The Guardian [4/6/2025 9:19 PM, Hayden Vernon, 2K]
A Briton held captive by the Taliban for more than nine weeks has said he is living in dire conditions in a prison in Kabul, describing it as “the nearest thing to hell I can imagine”.In a recording of a phone call from Pul-e-Charkhi prison, Peter Reynolds, 79, also spoke of his fears for the safety of his wife, Barbie, who is being held in the women’s section of the the maximum-security jail.“I’ve been joined up with rapists and murderers by handcuffs and ankle cuffs, including a man who killed his wife and three children, shouting away, a demon-possessed man,” Reynolds said in recordings shared with the Sunday Times.Reynolds said he was living in “a cage rather than a cell”, but described his circumstances as “VIP conditions” compared with where his wifewas being held. He said he had lost weight and received only one meal a day.The couple have been running projects in schools in Afghanistan for 18 years and decided to stay in the country after the Taliban seized power in 2021. The Reynolds were detained at the start of February when they travelled to their home in Bamiyan province in a small plane rented by their Chinese-American friend, Faye Hall.Hall was also detained, but she was released last weekend after the Trump administration lifted bounties worth $10m (£7.8m) from the heads of senior Taliban figures including Sirajuddin Haqqani, the interior minister.Peter Reynolds said that when he was detained, he was initially told the plane lacked proper landing permission and they would be released. Instead, their phones were confiscated and they were transferred to the interior ministry in Kabul, where the couple were separated then locked up in Pul-e-Charki prison.Reynolds said he was told by the Taliban that they had confiscated 59 books from their home that were “against Islam”. He was asked why they had them. “I asked: ‘Can you tell me any part of those books which is against Islam?’” he said. “No one has been able to, so I think it’s an outrage.“They have interrogated more than 30 people who worked with us in Yakawlang and Kabul, including our accountant and tax people, and we had to put our thumbprint on a nine-page-long CID [criminal investigation department] report and they said they could find no crime. That was three weeks ago but still they haven’t released us.“These things are an utter disgrace and shame. The Taliban have made a mistake and need to face up to it.” Rifts growing in the Taliban over the ban on girls’ schooling (NBC News)
NBC News [4/6/2025 5:00 AM, Astha Rajvanshi and Mushtaq Yusufzai, 44742K]
Rifts are growing among Taliban officials over the group’s decision to ban girls from secondary education, leading at least one minister to leave Afghanistan and forcing families to move so their daughters can continue their schooling. As religious police patrol large parts of the country to ensure that rules are enforced, the restrictions have become so repressive that some senior members of the militant group have called for them to be rolled back in recent months, three Taliban officials told NBC News, which agreed not to identify them so they could speak candidly.All three said there was a growing divide between ultra-conservative Taliban members in the southern city of Kandahar, where the group’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, lives, and more moderate members from the capital, Kabul. The three officials have been affiliated with more hard-line wings of the Taliban, but they said their thinking on girls’ education differed, adding that it had been a mistake to bar them from going to school.Some Taliban officials “openly expressed their views in support of girls’ education, believing that it will have some impact on the leadership,” an official told NBC News this year. “Unfortunately, rather than welcoming their suggestions, some people took it negatively as if they were against the top leadership.”Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid denied that there were any tensions within the government, although he said there was occasionally a “difference of opinion among the people.”But in a rare rebuke of the Taliban from within its own ranks, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, Afghanistan’s acting deputy foreign minister, did speak out against the ban, which was introduced in September 2021, a month after the group took power following the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led forces from the country.The Taliban were “committing an injustice” by barring girls from school, Stanikzai said at a graduation ceremony in the eastern province of Khost on Jan. 18, adding that it was not in line with Sharia law but rather “our personal choice or nature.”
“There is no excuse for this, not now and not in the future,” he said.It would prove to be one of his final acts in Afghanistan. Within days, Stanikzai — a man the Taliban once trusted to lead a team of negotiators in Qatar in talks about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan — left the country for the United Arab Emirates.He has refused to return, despite a visit from Afghanistan’s deputy prime minister, Abdul Ghani Baradar, who failed to persuade him, the three Taliban officials confirmed.Stanikzai’s departure was a further mark of protest against the regime’s “illogical and irresponsible policies,” one of them said.
‘Taliban’s principles are difficult to change’With a new school year starting last week, almost 2.2 million girls have been deprived of their education in the country, according to UNICEF. But there are few signs the Taliban will reverse their policy, leading some families to risk their lives to flee Afghanistan so women and girls can pursue their schooling elsewhere, said Sahar Fetrat, an Afghan researcher with Human Rights Watch.Many “didn’t face persecution, per se; they left because they wanted to educate their girls,” she said, adding that their journeys are often “very risky and done in a very illegal way.”Gulalai, 15, said in an interview last month that her family decided to leave Kabul for Peshawar because her father, a grocery store owner, “wanted us to continue our education.”
“We were living a happy life. Then, suddenly, the Taliban suspended our education, and our dreams were shattered,” Gulalai said, speaking on the grounds of her new school.NBC News has agreed not to use her last name because of fears for her safety.After travel agents demanded $2,500 for each visa — far more than her family of seven’s entire savings — their only option was to bribe officials and cross the border illegally, Gulalai said. A relative eventually helped them settle in a two-room house on the outskirts of this city in northeastern Pakistan, she said, adding that her father had gotten a job at a store and that her mother was cleaning families’ homes to help make ends meet. Gulalai, who said she dreams one day of being a nurse, said she was struggling to settle in her new school because she does not speak or write Urdu, Pakistan’s national language. She added that she had lost a happy life of close friends, relatives and classmates in Kabul. “There was no more life in Afghanistan; otherwise, who can leave their birthplace?” she said. Even those who manage to escape safely eventually find that going to school remains out of reach in countries like Turkey or Iran, where there are strict restrictions on granting asylum, according to Fetrat, of Human Rights Watch. In Pakistan, the government announced in January that it would oust all Afghan refugees living in the country by March 31. From September 2023 to February, at least 844,499 Afghan nationals were deported, according to Amnesty International.
“My father took a risk by migrating us to Pakistan,” Gulalai said, adding that she did not know whether her family would be allowed to stay or be forced to leave.In Afghanistan, the Taliban, which appeared to take a more moderate stance after they took power, has cracked down further on women’s rights.
“Vice and virtue” laws passed in August now prohibit women from speaking in public, showing their faces outside their homes and moving in public spaces without male chaperones. “Whenever an adult woman leaves her home out of necessity, she is obliged to conceal her voice, face, and body,” the laws state.Despite internal pressure from some of their own members, it’s unlikely that the Taliban would shift their stance on girls’ education, said Gaisu Yari, an Afghan research fellow at the Wilson Center, a Washington-based think tank. Since he came to power, Akhundzada has moved to consolidate his ranks by appointing several hard-line loyalists who have supported the ban to key Cabinet positions.And while Stanikzai has supported girls’ education, “he now feels increasingly isolated due to his position,” Yari said, adding that his more moderate allies in Kabul could not go against their supreme leader’s directives.“The Taliban’s principles are difficult to change, particularly when it comes to women,” she said.The decrees, she added, “have not only been established as policies but have been solidified into law, making them hard to reverse.” Afghan rights defender told she faces ‘no risk’ from Taliban as Home Office denies asylum (The Guardian)
The Guardian [4/5/2025 4:00 AM, Diane Taylor, 78938K]
An Afghan woman who risked her life to defend human rights in her home country before fleeing to the UK has been told by the Home Office it is safe for her to return after officials rejected her asylum claim.
Mina (not her real name) worked for western government-backed projects and was involved in training and mentoring women across Afghanistan, which left her in grave danger even before the Taliban took over in 2021.
"I assumed my asylum claim would be granted – I am from Afghanistan, I’m a woman, I worked with western governments," said Mina. "The refusal was an absolute shock. Now every day I fear being sent back to my home country. Having a normal life here looks like a dream for me. I’m really suffering mentally.
"When I was working with western government projects I received security training about how to respond if I was caught up in a bombing or a kidnapping. Every day I was a few minutes or a few seconds away from bomb blasts.
"My heart beat so fast when I had to pass the checkpoints. Every morning when I said goodbye to my family to go to work I thought it might be the last time I saw them," she said. "Some of my colleagues just disappeared. The Taliban changed the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to the Ministry of Vice and Virtue – proper, systematic elimination of women.".
The Home Office has previously generally accepted protection claims from women like Mina who could be targeted by the Taliban because of their high-profile work empowering women and who have provided evidence of their work with western government projects.
But in the most recent data for the last three months of 2024 immigration statistics show 26 Afghan women had their claims rejected. Overall 2,000 Afghan asylum seekers had their claims refused, an increase from 48 in the same quarter of 2023. The grant rate for Afghan cases has gone down from 98.5% in the last quarter of 2023 to 36% in the last quarter of 2024.
The 2025 Human Rights Watch report into Afghanistan documents a serious deterioration in the rights of girls and women and an increase in risks to their safety.
Although Mina explained in her Home Office asylum interview of the dangers she faced in Afghanistan because of the work she did a Home Office decision maker who rejected her claim, concluded that: "It is considered that you do not face a real risk of persecution or harm on your return to Afghanistan on the basis of your claimed adverse attention by the Taliban.".
The refusal letter adds: "You likely have a great support network due to your occupation.".
However many of those Mina worked with prior to the Taliban takeover are either in hiding or have fled the country and these support networks have largely been destroyed.
"There are no compassionate factors in your case that warrant a grant of leave to remain outside the immigration rules," the letter states.
"When I arrived here I felt safe," Mina said. "I thought I would have a chance to live. In Afghanistan I had not been considered a human. I learnt to ride a bicycle here, something I was not allowed to do in my country. I was really full of hope that my life would change. But someone pressed pause on my life. I hope someone will press play again.".
Her solicitor Jamie Bell of Duncan Lewis said: "It is shocking that 26 Afghan women were refused asylum in the last quarter. However this is a particularly upsetting case where the Home Office states that a woman who risked her life defending women’s rights in Afghanistan would not be at risk on return. The UK should be proud to offer protection to an individual like her. This refusal letter is offensive to all those who defended western values in Afghanistan and who ought to be offered protection when they cannot safely return.".
A Home Office spokesperson said: "It is our longstanding policy not to comment on individual cases.". Pakistan
For Afghan Refugees In Pakistan, A ‘Cruel’ Countdown Has Begun (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [4/6/2025 6:02 PM, Azmat Ali Shah and Kian Sharifi, 968K]
Pakistan’s plan to deport millions of Afghan migrants has drawn sharp criticism as the country begins implementing its controversial policy.
Rights groups warn that many returnees face severe risks in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, including persecution, violence, and economic hardship. Vulnerable individuals such as women, journalists, human rights defenders, and former government officials are particularly at risk.
The government had initially set March 31 as the deadline for Afghan migrants to leave voluntarily or face deportation. However, the deadline was postponed until April 10 due to the Eid al-Fitr holidays marking the end of Ramadan, officials said.The delay provides a brief reprieve for tens of thousands of Afghans but does not alter the government’s goal of expelling up to 3 million migrants by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, around 40,000 Afghans in Pakistan await uncertain resettlement to third countries, mostly in the West. Many fled after the Taliban’s 2021 return, fearing retribution due to ties with the United States, NATO, and other Western organizations.
Who Is Being Deported?
The deportation campaign targets Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders, undocumented individuals, and those who arrived after the Taliban’s return to power.
There are around 800,000 ACC card holders and 1.4 million Afghans who have been issued Proof of Registration (POR) cards by the UN refugee agency. POR card holders are not yet being deported, Pakistani officials say, as their permits expire in June.
ACC holders are granted temporary permission to reside in Pakistan, but the validity and duration of their stay are determined by the federal government. Unlike POR cardholders, ACC holders do not have guaranteed protections against deportation beyond the government’s specified deadlines.
This poses another problem, as members of the same family can hold different immigration statuses.
That’s the case for Rehmat Khan, a man in his 50s who is facing immediate deportation because he is an ACC card holder, while the other members of his family are POR card holders.
"I don’t know how I can leave my family behind, and I don’t know who will support them when I am deported to Afghanistan," he told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal.
Rehmat Khan is one of approximately 20,000 Afghans who live in Jalala refugee camp, some 150 kilometers northwest of Islamabad. Residents of the camp have been formally notified to prepare to leave.
Most of the Afghans in the camp are descendants of refugees who migrated to Pakistan after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Many are in their 30s, meaning they have never lived in Afghanistan and consider Pakistan their home.
The camp functions as a small village, with several schools, houses mostly made of mud, and a makeshift bazaar.
"I am in 11th grade. Sending me back to Afghanistan at this point in the school year will ruin my future," a student who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons told Radio Mashaal. "There are no educational opportunities there, and I am unfamiliar with the education system. I was born and raised here, and I know this place better than Afghanistan.".
A holding camp to process the relocation of refugees has been established in Landi Kotal in Peshawar, where Frontier Corps paramilitary forces and local police are deployed.
While no refugees are currently housed in the camp, officials expect an influx of families in the coming days as the repatriation process gains momentum.
Rights Groups Alarmed by ‘Cruel’ Deadline
The United Nations has expressed alarm over the plan, warning that some people would be at risk once in Afghanistan.
"We urge Pakistan to continue to provide safety to Afghans at risk, irrespective of their documentation status," said Philippa Candler, UNHCR’s country representative, said in a statement on February 5, when the initial deadline was set.
Amnesty International has also condemned the deportations, calling them a violation of international human rights law.
"The Pakistani government’s unyielding and cruel deadline to remove Afghan refugees shows little respect for international human rights law, particularly the principle of non-refoulement," Amnesty’s deputy regional director for South Asia, Isabelle Lassee, said on March 26.
She added that portraying Afghan refugees as a threat is "disingenuous" and scapegoats a community that has fled persecution.
Despite mounting criticism, Pakistani officials defend the policy as necessary for national security and resource management.
The Pakistani government has often blamed militant violence and criminal activity on Afghan citizens, allegations rejected by the extremist Taliban-led government in Kabul. ‘No one to return to’: Afghans fear Pakistan deportation (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [4/5/2025 2:16 AM, Staff, 62527K]
Benazir Raufi stands alone in her restaurant, her staff and customers too afraid to visit after Pakistan’s government announced it was cancelling the residence permits of hundreds of thousands of Afghans.
Islamabad announced at the start of March that 800,000 Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) would be cancelled -- the second phase of a deportation programme which has already forced 800,000 undocumented Afghans across the border.
"If I’m deported, it will destroy me. Either my heart will stop, or I’ll take my own life," 45-year-old Raufi, who was 13 years old when her family fled civil war in Afghanistan in the 1990s, told AFP.
"Pakistan gave us our smile and now those smiles are being taken away.".
Ten Afghan women who worked for her have refused to leave home after the restaurant in Rawalpindi was raided by police -- facing deportation to a country where women are banned from studying, certain jobs and visiting some public places like parks.
"I have no one to return to. The Taliban won’t accept us," Raufi added, her voice cracking.
The government’s deadline for ACC holders to leave voluntarily has been pushed back to April, but harassment by authorities has been underway for months, according to activists.
Those born in Pakistan, married to Pakistanis, or living for decades in the country are among those to have their government residence permits cancelled.The deportation campaign comes as political ties between the neighbouring governments have soured over Pakistan’s rapidly deteriorating security situation along the border.Last year was the deadliest year in almost a decade in Pakistan, with more than 1,600 people killed in attacks -- nearly half of them security forces personnel -- according to the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies.Pakistan accuses the Taliban government of failing to root out militants sheltering on Afghan soil, a charge the Taliban government denies.The Taliban government has repeatedly called for the "dignified" return of Afghans to their country, with Prime Minister Hassan Akhund urging countries hosting Afghans not to force them out.‘No future for my daughter’"I have freedom (in Pakistan) -- I can visit the park, and my daughter can go to school," Dua Safay, who fled when the Taliban government returned to power in 2021."There’s no future for me or my daughter in Afghanistan," added Safay, whose real name has been changed.Some 600,000 Afghans have crossed the border into Pakistan since the Taliban government implemented their austere version of Islamic law."They will be sent back to a country where conditions are extremely harsh, especially for women and children," according to Moniza Kakar, a Pakistan-based human rights lawyer."These people fled to escape persecution. Forcing them back into that fire is a violation of international law."Millions of Afghans have travelled to Pakistan over the past four decades, fleeing successive conflicts including the Soviet invasion, a civil war and the post-9/11 US-led occupation.The ethnic Pashtun belt of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which borders Afghanistan shares close cultural and linguistic ties with Afghan Pashtuns.Around 1.3 million Afghans with resident cards issued by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) are allowed to remain in the country but have been banned from the cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi."Over 1,000 people have been moved to detention centres in the past three to four days, while thousands are leaving voluntarily all over Pakistan," Kakar added.‘They’ll call me Pakistani’Many families fear being mistreated or extorted for money by the authorities if they are detained, or of being separated from relatives."If I have to go, I’ll go in tears, with a broken heart," said 43-year-old Naimatullah, who was born in Pakistan and has never been to Afghanistan."They (people) won’t even see me as an Afghan -- they’ll call me Pakistani. I am a nobody."After the deadline, Samiullah, who was born in an Afghan refugee camp in Pakistan and is married to a Pakistani woman, will be considered an illegal foreigner."My wife will not be able to go with me, my daughters are from here. It is a constant struggle. I can’t get caught," the 29-year-old told AFP.Tens of thousands of Afghans living in Pakistan who are waiting to be relocated to Western nations also fear being deported.Most are advised by Western nations to cross into Pakistan where their asylum claims take months to be processed.Among them is Samia Hamza, a 31-year-old women’s rights activist and mother of four, currently in the northwestern city of Peshawar."They gave us a support letter but the Pakistani police does not recognise it," she told AFP."We need to stay one more month in Pakistan, then we will receive our visa to Brazil and leave." India
Trump Calls India a Friend, but Is Trying to Block Its Imports (New York Times)
New York Times [4/4/2025 4:14 PM, Alex Travelli, 831K]
Sizing up what President Trump’s new tariffs mean for India was a puzzle from the start for even the country’s top trade economists. Its politicians, too, were stunned.
Starting next week, nearly all Indian goods arriving in the United States will be taxed an extra 27 percent.
The figure was bafflingly high, in part because the government’s ministers had been flocking to Washington since Mr. Trump won re-election. From the Rose Garden, Mr. Trump addressed India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, in absentia while delivering the disappointing news, calling him “a great friend of mine.” But that wasn’t enough.
The Trump administration, in a White House document, accused India of using “uniquely burdensome” methods to “make it difficult or costly for American companies to sell their products in India.”
The Indian government has been left figuring out how to respond. The country does sell more to the United States than it buys — by about $46 billion last year.
But unlike the other Asian countries that run trade surpluses with the United States, India has an overall negative balance of trade. It buys more from the rest of the world than it sells. That would make adjusting its trade policies to appease Mr. Trump especially painful.
Its currency was already weakening. Reducing its surplus with the United States would make everything it bought from the rest of the world more expensive.
Because of the new tariffs, some Indian companies will clearly have a harder time selling their products to American buyers. But it is unclear where that pain will land.
Mr. Trump isn’t wrong that India does use trade policies to wall off certain industries. In fact, some Indian economists are hoping that a crisis could force their country to stop using tariffs and other measures to protect its domestic industries from foreign sellers. They reason that more competition might force change and long-term gain. But in the short term, that looks unbearable. Bankruptcies of domestic companies would rise if suddenly forced to compete.
Some hopeful investors noted that, unlike countries that depended on exports, like China or Cambodia, India had a big and relatively untapped base of consumers at home. They could, in theory, replace American customers dissuaded by the higher cost of India’s imports.“India is domestically a very huge market,” said M.D. Ranganathan, chairman of Catamaran Ventures, a private investment firm in Bengaluru. He said India’s manufacturers could keep improving even if forced to depend more on buyers at home.
Finally, as bad as India is getting it on the tariffs front — nearly all of the countries with which it competes on the world stage are getting it even worse. India has been trying for years, with some success but even more failure, to pick up manufacturing work that has been leaving China. Countries like Vietnam beat it to the punch. But with Vietnam’s exports looking at 46 percent tariffs, India’s 27 percent seems like an advantage. Whether Indian factories can replace Vietnam’s is a remaining big question.
The other solace: Some of India’s most important exports will escape punishment. Exemptions made for energy products mean that the fuel trade between India and the United States, in which India imports, refines and then exports oil products to America, should not be affected. Likewise, India’s prized pharmaceutical exports will be excluded from the new tariffs. Even its specialized gems trade might find a way to escape. Of course, there is no telling that Mr. Trump will keep to those carve outs; future tariffs are entirely possible.
Textiles may provide another bright spot. India suddenly looks better off than Bangladesh, with 37 percent tariffs, or Sri Lanka, with 44 percent — both nearby neighbors that had learned to outcompete India on low-margin garment manufacturing.
Making iPhones and other electronics in India to sell in the United States will be suddenly much more expensive than it used to be — but, perhaps, suddenly more appealing than making the same things in Southeast Asia.
Ajay Srivastava, a former trade official who runs the Global Trade Research Initiative, a think tank in New Delhi, wrote that Mr. Trump’s full list presented India with an opportunity.“As global brands seek to diversify supply chains away from high-tariff countries, India can emerge as a preferred destination for new manufacturing setups and component assembly lines,” Mr. Srivastava wrote.
But the same problems that held India back from displacing China in global supply chains in 2022, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Chinese economic problems were making foreign investors talk about “decoupling” or “friend shoring” their factories to other countries, haunt India still.
Despite more than 10 years of a multifaceted program called Make in India, the share of the economy that is industrial has fallen to just 13 percent. Services and agriculture claimed larger proportions. India remains a hard place to do business, subject to layers of political interference, and with improved infrastructure — that still falls short of global standards.
Mr. Srivastava is not naïve about the difficulties facing Indian factory managers. He thinks it has made good sense to protect local industries from leaner, meaner competitors. Indian industry, he said, is “like a sick child.” What loving parent would want to pit that kid against global champions? India Seeks US Trade Talks, Signaling No Retaliatory Tariffs (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [4/6/2025 12:33 PM, Shruti Srivastava, 126906K]
India’s government indicated it won’t take retaliatory action against the US for imposing reciprocal tariffs, focusing its efforts instead on negotiating a bilateral trade deal with the Trump administration to bring down duties.
New Delhi is seeking dialog and not confrontation with the US, an Indian government official told reporters in a background briefing on Saturday, asking not to be identified in line with official rules.
India has first-mover advantage over its rivals in the region since the government has already started talks on a trade deal with the Trump administration, the official said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met US President Donald Trump in Washington in February, where the two leaders agreed to boost trade and negotiate a bilateral agreement by the fall of this year.
Despite those talks, and a series of concessions already made by Modi’s government to reduce trade barriers, Trump last week announced a 26% tariff on US imports from India, among the highest rates for a major economy.
India’s restraint from immediate retaliation contrasts with its neighbor China, which on Friday announced it would impose a 34% retaliatory tariff on all goods imported from the US. In Southeast Asia, countries like Vietnam and Cambodia are also seeking to accommodate Trump rather than retaliate.
New Delhi plans to work toward a balanced and equitable trade agreement with the US, the Indian official told reporters Saturday. All options are up for negotiation, and both goods and services will be discussed, the official said. The government is also in touch with exporters to assess the likely impact of the tariffs and the support it can offer businesses, the person said.
Bloomberg News previously reported that officials in New Delhi are considering further reductions on import duties on US goods. India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry said last week it remains in touch with the Trump administration and expects to continue trade talks with officials there in the coming days.
The NSE Nifty 50 Index fared better than most Asian peers last week as the impact of the levies was deemed milder than that for other economies. India unlikely to retaliate against Trump’s tariffs as deal talks progress, sources say (Reuters)
Reuters [4/6/2025 8:15 AM, Shivangi Acharya and Aftab Ahmed, 41523K]
India does not plan to retaliate against U.S. President Donald Trump’s 26% tariff on imports from the Asian nation, an Indian government official said, citing ongoing talks for a deal between the countries.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration has looked into a clause of Trump’s tariff order that offers a possible reprieve for trading partners who "take significant steps to remedy non-reciprocal trade arrangements", said the official, who declined to be named as the details of the talks are confidential.
New Delhi sees an advantage in being one of the first nations to have started talks over a trade deal with Washington, and is better placed than Asian peers like China, Vietnam, and Indonesia, which have been hit by higher U.S. tariffs, a second government official said, also declining to be named.
In the days after Trump’s tariff announcement that has shaken global markets to their core, India joined nations like Taiwan and Indonesia in ruling out counter tariffs, even as the European Commission prepares to hit U.S. products with extra duties following China’s retaliation.
India and the U.S. agreed in February to clinch an early trade deal by autumn 2025 to resolve their standoff on tariffs.
The Indian prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment.
Reuters reported last month that New Delhi is open to cutting tariffs on U.S. imports worth $23 billion.
Modi’s administration has taken a number of steps to win over Trump, including lowering tariffs on high-end bikes and bourbon, and dropping a tax on digital services that affected U.S. tech giants.
Trump’s tariffs could slow India’s economic growth by 20-40 basis points in the ongoing financial year and may cripple India’s diamond industry, which ships more than a third of its exports to the U.S., putting at risk thousands of jobs. India sees no hit to projected growth from US tariffs, economists remain skeptical (Reuters)
Reuters [4/7/2025 2:18 AM, Shivangi Acharya and Manoj Kumar, 5.2M]
India may still meet its 6.3%-6.8% growth projection for the 2025/26 fiscal year that started on April 1 despite global disruptions from new U.S. tariffs, if oil prices stay below $70 per barrel, government officials said, even as many private economists lowered their forecasts.
Economists, including at Goldman Sachs, have lowered India’s growth estimates by 20-40 basis points to 6.1% for the current 2025/26 financial year, citing the impact of the global tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
A 26% tariff on Indian imports, with even higher levies on other countries like China, has escalated global trade tensions, with major stock indices plunging in Asia on Monday.
India’s diamond industry, which ships more than a third of its exports to the U.S., is expected to be among the worst hit sectors, putting thousands of jobs at risk.
Discussions are underway with ministries and exporters’ associations to assess the fallout, the officials said.
The finance ministry has already received four to five proposals from the commerce ministry to support export industries, including an extension of interest subsidy scheme, aid for diversification, and increased bank credit, a second official said.
"We are still studying the impact of tariff hikes on the export sectors and the decision could be taken at the appropriate time," the official said.
A third finance ministry official, however, said the tariffs would not weigh heavily on India’s key fiscal parameters for the 2025/26 year.
"We have already made provisions in the budget for duty remission schemes to help exporters and are open to doing more," the official said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
India’s finance ministry did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment.
India does not plan to retaliate against Trump’s tariffs as officials try to negotiate a resolution, Reuters has reported.
Officials said the impact of the U.S. tariffs on labour intensive sectors such as textiles, footwear and agriculture was the government’s biggest worry.
The government could increase support to exporters under its export promotion scheme announced in the budget, within fiscal constraints, the second official said. How Tariffs Have Worked for Four Other Countries (Wall Street Journal)
Wall Street Journal [4/4/2025 9:00 AM, Tripti Lahiri, Ryan Dube, and Peter Landers, 810K]
President Trump’s high tariffs would make the U.S. one of the world’s most protectionist countries.
There are precedents: Countries from India to Argentina have used tariffs—and a range of other trade restrictions—to protect nascent industries and freeze out imports. In a few rare instances, these measures led to results that pleased the architects of protectionist measures, such as spurring car production in Asia and boosting refrigerator manufacturing in South America.
But in most cases, tariffs and other measures resulted in poorly made appliances, highly expensive imports and industrial stagnation—factories that couldn’t compete in the open market while snuffing out innovation, economists say. It left many countries mired in slow-growth cycles, more dependent on exporting natural resources than competing in fast-growing global sectors.
Here are four countries that have—or had—depended on tariffs and how they fared.
Tariffs hurt competition in India
India, in the decades after its 1947 independence from Britain, went with an import-substitution policy—which sought to replace imports with locally produced goods—designed to create homegrown factories by leveling high tariffs. The plan failed to create a vibrant high-growth economy.
Then, in the two decades following a financial crisis in 1991, India dropped tariffs to an average of 13% from 125% on trade partners. The country’s economy leapfrogged from the world’s 12th largest to now the fifth-biggest. India, though, didn’t abandon protectionism: Tariffs have remained high, and the country hasn’t made the necessary changes to unravel red tape and reform labor laws and creaky courts to create a competitive economy.
India’s apparel exports are a prime example of the self-harm. As wages have risen in China in the last decade, Bangladesh and Vietnam saw opportunity and opened garment plants that added tens of billions of dollars to their economies. India’s apparel export sector, meanwhile, lost ground, which economists attribute largely to high tariffs on synthetic fibers used in fast-fashion products.“It makes it very hard for India to manufacture goods at a competitive rate,” said Abhishek Anand, an economist at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, who has called for India to slash its tariffs.
South Korea’s success story
Seoul showed that tariffs and other protectionist policies, in rare cases, can have desired results. A half-century ago, Hyundai Motors was little known, a company protected by a virtual ban on imported cars and then high tariffs.
The result of the protectionist policies was that Hyundai turned into an exporting powerhouse, becoming with sister brand Kia the third-largest automaker in the world in terms of vehicle sales, after Toyota and Volkswagen. Planning for an export-oriented future paid off.
The same story can be told for South Korea’s economy as a whole.
Seoul imposed high tariffs on consumer goods throughout the latter half of the 20th century, according to a recent analysis by Seoul National University emeritus economics professor Keun Lee. Once one of the world’s poorest countries after the Korean War, South Korea emerged as a star among Asia’s fast-growing economic tigers. By 2023, the country’s per capita output stood at $33,000, according to the World Bank, the same level as former colonial master Japan.“It can be argued that if Korea had opened up from the beginning without tariffs,” Lee wrote, “the Korean economy would not have been as successful in promoting domestic firms.”
He said the tariff policy was carefully calibrated to allow exporters low-tariff access to imported machinery while exposing companies to the discipline of world markets and keeping capitalism alive.
By early this century, South Korea’s policymakers felt the nation’s companies were ready to stand on their own. The U.S. and South Korea negotiated a free-trade agreement, which was ratified in 2011. An amended deal in the first Trump administration took effect in 2019.
Argentina’s protectionist wall
Argentina, too, walled off much of its economy in the hope of fostering homegrown factories when the Great Depression hammered what had been one of the world’s richest countries.
In the ensuing decades, successive populist leaders—from Gen. Juan Perón in the 1940s to President Cristina Kirchner earlier this century—made Argentina one of the world’s most closed democracies through a mix of tariffs, currency controls and restrictions on imports.
Kirchner imposed tariffs of up to 35% on imported electronics and implemented other strict import restrictions. Those measures at first created thousands of high-paying jobs as Argentine factory workers assembled Samsung TVs and Nokia cellphones.
But they also created inefficient businesses with huge costs for the treasury and taxpayers. Consumers got substandard products and paid twice as much for a television made in Argentina compared with a customer in neighboring, free-market Chile.“The level of protection that Argentina has has not helped the economy, it’s generated a lot of inefficiencies,” said Pablo Guidotti, an economist at the Torcuato Di Tella University in Buenos Aires.
The protectionism meant some of the world’s most popular tech products, like iPhones, were unavailable, forcing Argentines to pay jacked-up prices on the black market or fly to Miami.
Under President Javier Milei, Argentina is slashing regulations, cutting public spending and preparing for free trade. But so far Argentina has maintained some protectionist policies as Milei works to build up central bank reserves.
The rise of smugglers and oligarchs in Nigeria
Africa’s fourth-biggest economy has an average tariff of 12% across all products, with effective duties of 70% or more on luxury goods, alcohol, and tobacco and similar products, the International Trade Administration says.
Nigerian smugglers have taken advantage, sneaking in everything from rice to cars—items that, despite trade protections, Nigeria still doesn’t produce in quantities sufficient to satisfy the local market.
For the few who have built businesses protected by tariffs and other barriers, it has meant the amassing of wealth. The most prominent is Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, whose fortune comes from cement, sugar, salt and other commodities.“The tariff has to be there first to create the opportunity,” said Samuel Aladegbaye, an analyst at Zedcrest Group, a financial-services company based in Lagos, Nigeria. “But if you just have one person able to take advantage of the opportunity, then you can get a monopoly.”
Dangote denies that he has created a monopoly. He emphasized that anyone was free to make the risky investment decisions he made. YouTuber Is Arrested After Leaving Diet Coke on Isolated Tribe’s Island (New York Times)
New York Times [4/4/2025 4:14 PM, Christina Hauser and Hari Kumar, 831K]
An American tourist set off alone last week on an inflatable boat for the remote island of North Sentinel in the Indian Ocean. He had packed a Diet Coke and a coconut as an offering for the highly isolated tribe that lives there, and had brought along a GoPro camera in hopes of filming the encounter, the Indian police said.
Guided by his GPS navigation, the man, Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, 24, reached the northeastern shore of the island at 10 a.m. on March 29, according to the police. He scanned the land with binoculars, but saw no one. So he climbed ashore, left the Diet Coke and the coconut there, took sand samples, and recorded a video, the police said.
Mr. Polyakov was arrested on March 31 when he returned to Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, an archipelago more than 800 miles east of India’s mainland, the authorities said.Few outsiders have been to the island of North Sentinel, which is a territory of India and is illegal to visit. Indian government regulations prohibit any outsider interaction with its isolated tribe, whose members hunt with bow and arrow and have killed intruders for stepping onto their shore.
In 2018, an American missionary, John Allen Chau, set off for the island with a Bible. He was shot with bows and arrows by tribesmen when he got onshore, the Indian authorities later said. Fishermen who helped take Mr. Chau to North Sentinel told the police that they had seen tribesmen dragging his body on the beach.
In 2006, the Sentinelese killed two fishermen who had accidentally drifted on shore.
But Mr. Polyakov was not deterred. He had planned his journey “meticulously,” the police said, studying sea conditions, tides, and accessibility from Khurmadera Beach, located on Andaman island.
Even after he pushed back from North Sentinel island, Mr. Polyakov tried to attract the attention of the Sentinelese people, by blowing a whistle from his boat, the police said.
He was accused of attempting to “interact with the Sentinelese tribe,” the police in Andaman said in a statement. Mr. Polyakov is being held on charges that include violating a law protecting aboriginal tribes and is scheduled to appear in court on April 17. The charges carry a possible sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine.“His actions posed a serious threat to the safety and well-being of the Sentinelese people, whose contact with outsiders is strictly prohibited by law to protect their Indigenous way of life,” the statement said.
The police said that during their questioning of Mr. Polyakov, he disclosed that he was drawn to the island out of a “passion for adventure and his desire to undertake extreme challenges.” Officials added that his GoPro footage suggested entry into the island, and that he used GPS navigation throughout his voyage.“He was particularly fascinated by the mystique of the Sentinelese people,” the police said, adding that the authorities had extracted footage from his GoPro camera.
The police statement said that the Ministry of External Affairs and the United States Embassy had been informed of the arrest.
A State Department spokesperson said that the department was “aware of reports of the detention of a U.S. citizen in India” but had no further comment because of privacy issues.
Mr. Polyakov’s family members could not be reached.
Mr. Polyakov has recorded his travel exploits on his YouTube channel, which includes videos of him in what he described as “Taliban-controlled Afghanistan,” some of which involve posing with and firing weapons.The police said he had made previous trips to the remote region. In October, hotel staff stopped his attempt to go to North Sentinel Island using an inflatable kayak, the police said. In January, he reached Baratang Island, in the archipelago, and “illegally videographed” another tribe, the Jarawa, the police said.
Survival International, a group that protects the rights of Indigenous tribal peoples around the world, said that Mr. Polyakov’s attempted contact with the tribal people of North Sentinel was “reckless and idiotic.”“This person’s actions not only endangered his own life, they put the lives of the entire Sentinelese tribe at risk,” the group’s director, Caroline Pearce, said in a statement. “It’s very well known by now that uncontacted peoples have no immunity to common outside diseases like flu or measles, which could completely wipe them out.”
She said it was disturbing that he was able to reach the island at all.“The Indian authorities have a legal responsibility to ensure that the Sentinelese are safe from missionaries, social media influencers, people fishing illegally in their waters and anyone else who may try to make contact with them,” she said. YouTuber arrested after trying to contact remote Indian tribe, police say (Washington Post)
Washington Post [4/4/2025 3:10 PM, Victoria Craw, 31735K]
Indian police have arrested an American YouTuber, accusing him of traveling to the remote North Sentinel Island — home to one of the world’s most isolated tribes — without authorization.Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, 24, faces a maximum of eight years in prison if convicted.Polyakov, of Scottsdale, Arizona, was drawn to the island, home to the Sentinelese, because of “his passion for adventure and his desire to undertake extreme challenges,” Andaman and Nicobar Islands police said in a statement.He arrived on an inflatable boat with a coconut and a can of Diet Coke as a gift to the Indigenous people, police said. A review of his GoPro footage showed he had entered the island “claiming unofficial representation of the U.S.” police said in a statement.It was Polyakov’s third attempt to reach the island after being stopped in October 2024 and January 2025, police said, adding that he had planned his journey “meticulously” with research into tides and weather.He landed on the island but did not find anybody, police said, staying for around five minutes while collecting sand samples and recording a video. He then returned to his boat and remained offshore for an hour, blowing a whistle, but received no response. He was later spotted by local fishermen when he returned to Kurma Dera Beach. The fisherman reported Polyakov to Indian authorities.Visiting the island is illegal, and the Indian government patrols a three-mile buffer zone around it to protect those living there.The prohibition also protects would-be visitors. The Sentinelese have violently resisted foreign contact in the past, killing American missionary John Allen Chau in 2018 after he landed on the island as part of a years-long plan to convert its residents to Christianity. Two Indian fishermen were also killed in 2006 after their boat drifted onto the island while they were asleep.HGS Dhaliwal, the chief of police for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, said contact with the tribe is dangerous because they have been hostile to outsiders in the past. “Polyakov was just trying to be a thrill seeking adventurer who manages a contact with this primitive and reclusive tribe,” he told The Washington Post in a text message.At a court hearing on Friday, Polyakov was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days before his next appearance on April 17, police said.Ilango Dhandapani, a lawyer for Polyakov, said in a text message that his client denied the allegations. Dhandapani said that Polyakov is a U.S. citizen, as did Indian police.The U.S. State Department said in a statement it was aware of reports of the detention of a U.S. citizen in India and was monitoring the situation.The YouTube channel Neo-Orientalist, which police said belonged to Polyakov, has just over 700 subscribers and shows him previously on a three-week trip across Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Five months ago it posted a cartoon-style image of a man on a boat with a small dog heading for a remote island, with the caption “A little Columbus Day teaser for the fans.”The Sentinelese are the most isolated Indigenous people in the world, according to Survival International, which works to protect Indigenous groups. The small forested island of North Sentinel is about the size of Manhattan, and is part of a chain that is also home to the Shompen, another isolated group, according to the agency.On Thursday, tribal-welfare officers surveyed the island by boat, using binoculars, to ensure there was nothing left behind that could endanger the tribe, a senior Andaman and Nicobar police officer told news agency Press Trust India.Little is known about the Sentinelese, but they are hunter gatherers and are estimated to number from 50 to 200 people, Survival International spokesman Jonathan Mazower said.Mazower said attempting to contact the group is a “completely crazy and incredibly irresponsible and reckless thing to do,” as forcing contact upon uncontacted people “almost always ends up with catastrophic levels of death among them from epidemics of diseases.”He said while isolated Indigenous groups are already at risk from practices like logging and mining, his organization is also seeing a growing threat from influencers carrying out stunts “just for the sake of subscribers. It’s definitely an increasing trend and really worrying,” he said. From India to US detention: Trump’s campus crackdown sends warning to foreign students (France24)
France24 [4/5/2025 9:27 AM, Leela Jacinto, 126906K]
She was a translator in Gaza. He was an academic from New Delhi on a humanitarian visit to the Palestinian enclave. Their meeting and marriage made headlines in India, where newspapers described the "Indo-Palestinian love story" as "the stuff of Bollywood movies".
But the narrative took a bad turn in the USA last month. This time, the headlines were terrifying. The Indian academic, Badar Khan Suri, now a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University in Washington DC, was arrested on March 17 outside his home in Virginia. His wife, Mapheze Saleh, a US national of Palestinian origin, was in their apartment when she received a call from Suri around 9pm, asking her to come outside because he was being arrested.
"When I came downstairs, I saw three uniformed, masked agents who were in the process of handcuffing Badar and placing him in a large black SUV," Saleh told a Washington DC local radio station.
Suri’s detention came a week after Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student activist at Columbia University, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in New York, part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on international students in US universities.
In a post on X three days after Suri’s arrest, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at the US Department of Homeland Security, said the Georgetown scholar was detained for his "close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, a senior adviser to Hamas".
Suri denies the allegations. In a Virginia district court filing, his lawyer stated that Suri was targeted because of his wife’s Palestinian identity and "the constitutionally protected speech of his wife on behalf of Palestinian human rights".
While Saleh is a US citizen, her Indian husband has been in the US on a J-1 visa for research scholars since 2022, when the couple relocated from Delhi with their three children.
A Bollywood-style love story, kindled in Gaza and legalised at an exuberant Delhi wedding ceremony, is now the subject of scrutiny in the US courts as the Indian academic battles for his liberty and livelihood.
Suri’s lawyers are currently seeking his transfer to Virginia, where a federal judge is considering a motion to release him on bond while litigation proceeds. The Georgetown fellow was taken to a detention facility in Louisiana after his arrest. Days later, he was transferred to an immigrant detention centre in Alvarado, Texas, even as his lawyers were battling for Virginia jurisdiction for his case.
He is just one in hundreds of foreign students and scholars whose lives have been upended by arrests, often with little warning and few details about why they were being detained. The crackdown has sparked alarm bells across the globe, particularly among students considering a US education. In Suri’s home country, India, which sends the largest number of international students to America, enrollments at US universities are falling just as many educational institutions are facing federal funding cuts under the Trump administration.
The disproportionate number of students of colour who have been targeted for participating in campus demonstrations in solidarity with Palestinians has also sent a chilling message in Global South countries, where the US was once admired for its diversity and liberties.
An ‘epic’ bus trip to Gaza
At the heart of the Trump administration case against Suri lies the allegation that the Indian academic has links to Hamas, a designated terrorist group in the US. Both Suri and Columbia student activist Khalil have been detained under a rarely used provision of a 1950s McCarthy-era immigration law that enables the deportation of immigrants who have "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences" for the US.
The families and friends of the two detained men vehemently deny the allegations, which will be up to the US courts to decide.
For Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, it’s a cruel twist in an academic career focused on peace and conflict resolution studies.
His journey began in December 2010, when as a master’s student in a Delhi university, Suri joined a humanitarian convoy of Asian activists to Gaza. It was at a time when Israel had imposed yet another blockade on the Palestinian enclave, prompting activists in many countries to organise "freedom flotillas" to deliver aid.
"We Indian social activists certainly did not have the resources to organise a flotilla, but we decided to organise a land convoy, in which we travelled across the borders by bus," said Feroze Mithiborwala, one of the caravan’s organisers. Dubbed a "bus yatra", using the Hindi word for procession, the convoy was "organised in the tradition that was part of our Gandhian legacy and that of our national freedom movement", noted the Mumbai-based activist.
In keeping with their peace message, the Indian delegation left from Mahatma Gandhi’s cremation spot in New Delhi, joining up with activists from 15 other countries in what was dubbed "the first Asian convoy to Gaza".
The convoy – which included prominent activists such as a former Indian parliamentarian and a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award, often called "the Asian Nobel prize" – finally made it into the besieged enclave in January 2011 after what Mithiborwala called "a momentous and epic journey".
Nearly 15 years later, Mithiborwala remembers Suri as an "intelligent and well-mannered" young student. "We had some good delegates, young delegates, he was definitely one of these thinking types," he recounted.‘Targeted’ for his marriage
The Asian peace delegation spent a few days in Gaza, during which time, Suri met his future wife. Mapheze Saleh is the daughter of Ahmed Yousef, a former adviser to Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political leader who was assassinated in an Israeli strike last year."In India, Hamas or Hezbollah are not proscribed or terrorist organisations, so there was nothing wrong then," said Mithiborwala. "Now some family member somewhere was an adviser [to a Hamas official] – okay, but for him to be targeted is atrocious actually. The point is, has he violated any American law? And the answer is no. They really have no basis in American law.".
In a message to the New York Times from Gaza last month, Yousef confirmed that Suri is his son-in-law and said his daughter’s husband was not involved in any "political activism," including on behalf of Hamas.
In a court statement, Saleh said her father left the Gaza government in 2010 and "started the House of Wisdom in 2011 to encourage peace and conflict resolution in Gaza".
Suri has no criminal record, nor has he been charged since his March 17 detention. A close friend of the Indian academic, who declined to be named due to fear of trolling and surveillance, dismissed the Trump administration’s allegations of Suri’s political links to Hamas. "They are trying to link him with his father-in-law, they’re just targeting him due to his marriage," he said. "He’s been targeted for his identity and for marrying a Palestinian girl.".
The rights of noncitizen residents
Since President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January to begin a crackdown on what he called anti-Semitism, at least 300 international students and academics have had their US visas revoked.
The figure is likely to be an underestimation. When US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked about it at a press conference on March 27, he was dismissive about the exact number. "Maybe more, it might be more than 300 at this point," Rubio said. "At some point I hope we run out because we’ve gotten rid of all of them, but we’re looking every day for these lunatics that are tearing things up.".
Civil and immigrant rights groups however warn that the Trump administration is getting rid of and tearing up fundamental free speech rights guaranteed to citizens and noncitizen residents in the US.
"The Trump administration is claiming the authority to punish and remove noncitizen dissenters at will, without showing any meaningful justification," said John Raphling, associate US program director at the New York-based Human Rights Watch. "These actions not only violate the rights of those being targeted, but by intimidating others into silence, they represent a much wider threat to the right to free expression.".
In a statement published on Thursday, Human Rights Watch noted that the under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the US ratified in 1992, noncitizens have the right to hold opinions and to express them.
Declining international interest in US universities.
It’s an issue that’s being closely monitored in India, where the media has been covering the cases of two Indian nationals targeted in the US campus crackdown.
In addition to Suri, Ranjini Srinivasan, an Indian doctoral candidate at Columbia University, left the US for Canada last month after ICE agents came to her campus apartment twice to try to arrest her.
A leading Indian daily last week reported that hundreds of international students had received emails from the US State Department warning them to self-deport or face arrest and deportation.
In its report, The Times of India published the full contents of the email, which sounded like a compelling incentive to abort plans to study in the US. "Please note that deportation can take place at a time that does not allow the person being deported to secure possessions or conclude affairs in the United States. Persons being deported may be sent to countries other than their countries of origin," said the emails.
Meanwhile Indian admissions to US universities are falling. India sends the world’s largest number of postgraduate students to foreign universities. In 2023, a whopping 331,602 Indian students pursued higher education degrees in US universities. That figure dropped to 204,058 in 2024, a 13 percent decrease, according to Indian government data.
On a trip to India last month, Clay Harmon, executive director of the Association of International Enrollment Management (AIRC), a membership organisation focused on international students, found recruiting agencies reporting a decline in student interest in US universities. "What they were seeing at the time was students who were kind of taking more of a wait-and-see approach about the US," he said. "There were, of course, headlines in the Indian media about the changes that the Trump administration was putting into place, et cetera. And so, there was some uncertainty among students.".
Local agents reported an increase in students looking to Europe for their studies. "It sounded like Germany was the main winner there. But of course, we know that Germany does not have the same capacity that the United States has in terms of the number of students that they can possibly host. So, it’s still a relatively small group of students who are open to Europe," he explained.
Harmon’s trip to India was in early March and he was careful to note that, "things are changing so rapidly here in the United States" that the real effects of the Trump administration policies will not be visible until enrollments for the fall semester – which begins in September – end.
The stakes, for many US universities, are high. International students are a lucrative revenue source particularly as domestic enrollments decline and many institutes face federal budget cuts. In the 2023-2024 academic year, 1.1 million international students at US universities contributed $43.8 billion to the nation’s economy and supported more than 378,000 jobs, according to data released by NAFSA, an agency that promotes international education.
"There are so many ways in which the United States relies on international students, some of those benefits which the current administration does not appear to appreciate," said Harmon. "There are the financial benefits for individual institutions who charge significantly higher fees to international students than they do to local students. And not to mention the actual advantages of having a diverse and globally representative classroom, which benefits domestic students.".Far-right convergences in US, Israel and India
But even as US campus administrators worry about falling foreign enrollments, Suri’s friends back home fervently hope the Georgetown academic will not be deported back to India.
While India has historically supported the Palestinian cause, in recent years Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration has developed close, strategic ties with Israel.
On social media sites, many supporters of Modi’s Hindu nationalist policies are vocal proponents of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank. Using tropes familiar to far-right extremists in the US, Israel and India, some Hindu nationalists on social media have been quick to call Suri, an Indian Muslim, a "terrorist". Others have called on Trump to deport Suri to Gaza, not his home country.
America’s reputation as a free speech sanctuary may be battered, but in some corners of the world, it’s not yet broken. "We’re very concerned about Badar because if they deport him to India, the kind of hate messages on portals, YouTube comments et cetera, are very ugly. So, people here are wondering that if he comes back, will the security agencies interrogate him, will they harass him, what will be the implications?" Mithiborwala says. "We are just hoping and praying that he’ll be given a fair trial in the US and be allowed to continue his work in peace.". India Passes Contentious Bill Increasing Oversight of Muslim Land Trusts (New York Times)
New York Times [4/4/2025 4:14 PM, Mujib Mashal and Hari Kumar, 831K]
The Indian Parliament passed a controversial bill on Friday that increases government oversight of properties held by Muslim trusts, despite vocal protests that the religious minority was being singled out for interference.
The bill would allow the appointment of non-Muslims to panels administering the trusts, called Waqf boards, and empower state officials to be adjudicators of disputes.
The Waqfs — whose legal foundation in India is over 100 years old — are one of the largest landowners in the country, managing more than 800,000 properties covering nearly a million acres, according to government figures. A 2006 report commissioned by the government estimated the value of the properties — which include mosques, religious seminaries, graveyards and other land often donated by individuals — at over $14 billion.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party has said the changes in how the trusts are run was needed to improve efficiency and accountability, and prevent abuse.
Ahead of introducing the bill in Parliament for a vote, Kiren Rijiju, India’s minister for parliamentary and minority affairs, said the legislation was not an attack on Muslim rights but a necessary reform to protect Waqf assets from misuse.“This is about transparency, not interference,” Mr. Rijiju said.
Unlike during Mr. Modi’s previous term, when he used an absolute majority to push legislation through Parliament with often heavy-handed swiftness, the Waqf bill underwent months of deliberation. It also saw two days of passionate but cordial debate that went well past midnight each day before the vote.
The sparring — increasingly rare in the legislature, where fewer bills have come under deliberation and scrutiny in recent years — was a sign that Mr. Modi, who lost his majority in last summer’s election, now needs the help of allied parties to pass legislation. But it also showed that his well-entrenched Bharatiya Janata Party was able to get its way even with reduced power, and that his parliamentary allies only acted as a slight moderating factor.
Faizan Mustafa, the vice chancellor of Chankaya National Law University, said that while the Parliament has the power to enact legislation on religious and charitable endowments, those laws could still face further tests in the courts.“If any provision of the Waqf bill is in contravention of fundamental rights, it may be challenged and possibly struck down in the courts,” he said. “There can be an argument that Muslim endowments are treated differently from Hindu endowments laws in some places,” he added.
Many critics of the new Waqf bill agree that there was a need to improve the management of the trusts. But they also say they are concerned that the bill is the ruling Hindu nationalist party’s latest attempt to target the country’s largest religious minority.
While the constitution protects the rights of religious groups to manage their own affairs, some observers say this bill provides a new legal basis for the authorities to target the Muslim community.
In states where Mr. Modi’s B.J.P. is in power, officials have been bulldozing Muslim properties after alleging encroachment, often ignoring court orders on due process, the critics say.
Right-wing groups have laid claim to several mosques, arguing in court that they were once the site of Hindu worship — despite Indian laws that prevent changing the status of places of worship. Vigilantes have also attacked Muslim shrines, taking hammers to graves.
Imran Pratapgarhi, a Muslim member of Parliament from the opposition Indian National Congress, said he did not believe B.J.P. assertions that the bill was meant to benefit the Muslim community.“I am requesting the government: At least do not snatch away our places of worship, do not run bulldozers over our homes, and let us be at peace in our graves,” Mr. Pratapgarhi said. Protests break out in India over new bill that would change Muslim land endowments (The Independent)
The Independent [4/5/2025 7:32 AM, Arpan Rai, 44838K]
India’s political opposition on Saturday protested a controversial bill moved by prime minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government to amend laws governing Muslim land endowments.
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024 was passed on Thursday after a 12-hour debate in parliament’s lower house with 288 votes in favour and 232 against. The contentious bill later sailed through the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian parliament.
Under the bill, the government is seeking to add non-Muslims to boards that manage Waqf land endowments and allow the Hindu-led government a larger role in validating their land holdings.
Muslim groups and opposition parties protested the move, with India’s three opposition parties – Indian National Congress (INC), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), challenging the bill in the country’s Supreme Court.
The groups have called it an overreach by Mr Modi and pointed out that the move will further undermine the rights of the minority Muslims. They said it will be weaponised to confiscate historic mosques and other property from India’s past Islamic rule.
Waqf refers to property donated for religious or charitable purposes under Islamic law. Once declared Waqf, ownership is transferred from an individual to Allah, and the asset becomes inalienable, managed by a trustee for the benefit of the community.
Amanatullah Khan, the AAP lawmaker who moved the top court on Saturday, said the amendment will reduce the religious and cultural autonomy of Muslims in India, reported NDTV. The government intervention will also undermine the rights of Muslim minorities to manage their religious and charitable institutions, he said, challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf amendment bill.
Mr Khan said the legislation violates multiple fundamental rights of citizens, including freedom of equality, managing religious affairs, and the rights of minorities.
Mr Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government argued that the changes moved by the amendment will help to fight corruption and mismanagement while promoting diversity. The top Indian leader cheered the clearance of the amendment and called its passage a "watershed moment in our collective quest for socio-economic justice, transparency and inclusive growth".
Additionally, the bill will transfer ownership determination to a state-appointed collector if the land is disputed – removing this power from the Waqf Board itself.
At least 24 people were arrested in northern state of Uttar Pradesh for protesting the amendment by wearing a black band.
The Congress-led Indian opposition parties firmly opposed the proposal, calling it unconstitutional and discriminatory against Muslims.
"The Waqf (Amendment) Bill is a weapon aimed at marginalising Muslims and usurping their personal laws and property rights. This attack on the Constitution by the RSS, BJP and their allies is aimed at Muslims today but sets a precedent to target other communities in the future," said Rahul Gandhi, the leader of opposition in the Parliament.
He said the Congress party "strongly opposes this legislation as it attacks the very idea of India and violates Article 25, the Right to Freedom of Religion"."The government says disputed land will now be assumed to be government property, and it’ll be the collector’s decision. That’s against natural justice," AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi told The Independent. "How can you be a judge in your own case?" he asked. India navy delivers aid to quake-hit Myanmar (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [4/5/2025 5:57 AM, Staff, 62527K]
India’s navy on Saturday delivered hundreds of tonnes of food aid to earthquake-hit Myanmar, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met reclusive junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.
The death toll from the earthquake has risen to more than 3,300, Myanmar state media said Saturday.
More than one week after the disaster, desperate survivors remain without enough food and shelter.
The latest aid from India comprised 442 tonnes of food including rice, cooking oil, noodles and biscuits, the Indian embassy in Yangon said.
The consignment arrived via an Indian navy ship, INS Gharial, at Thilawa port.
Modi held a rare face-to-face meeting on Friday with Min Aung Hlaing on the sidelines of the Bangkok BIMSTEC meeting -- the grouping of the seven nations on the Bay of Bengal.
"India is doing whatever is possible to assist our sisters and brothers of Myanmar in this critical time," Modi was quoted as saying in a government statement on Friday.
India’s foreign ministry said that Modi told the junta chief that there was "no military solution to the conflict", and stressed the "importance of early restoration of a democratic process through inclusive and credible elections".
Min Aung Hlaing’s armed forces have ruled Myanmar since a 2021 coup, when they wrested power from the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a multi-sided conflict.
The junta leader had issued a rare appeal for international aid following the earthquake, indicating the severity of the crisis.
Previous military regimes in the country have shunned foreign assistance even after major natural disasters.
Sri Lanka also sent a medical team and a plane loaded with supplies, many funded by donations from Buddhist temples, to Myanmar, a defence official said.
Colombo has pledged more than $1 million to help quake victims in the fellow Buddhist nation. NSB
Leading garment producer Bangladesh holds crisis talks on US tariffs (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [4/5/2025 6:30 AM, Staff, 2923K]
Bangladesh’s interim leader called an emergency meeting on Saturday after textile leaders in the world’s second-largest garment manufacturing nation said US tariffs were a "massive blow" to the key industry.
Textile and garment production accounts for about 80 percent of exports in the South Asian country, and the industry has been rebuilding after it was hard hit in a revolution that toppled the government last year.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday slapped punishing new tariffs of 37 percent on Bangladesh, hiking duties from the previous 16 percent on cotton and 32 percent on polyester products.
Bangladesh exports $8.4 billion of garments annually to the United States, according to data from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the national trade body.
That totals around 20 percent of Bangladesh’s total ready-made garments exports.
Interim leader Muhammad Yunus "convened an emergency meeting… to discuss the US tariff issue," the government said in a statement.
Sheikh Bashiruddin, who holds the commerce portfolio in the government, told reporters after the meeting that Yunus "will raise the issue with the US administration".
Bashiruddin said he believed Bangladesh would "not be severely affected", adding that some other competitors faced "much higher than those on us".
Yunus’ senior advisor Khalilur Rahman said the government had been readying for the tariff hike, and had began talks with US officials in February.
"I have already spoken with several State Department officials," Rahman said on Saturday.
"The discussions are ongoing. We will take the necessary steps based on these discussions.".
Bangladesh’s tax authority, the National Board of Revenue, is also expected to meet to review the fallout from the tariffs.
Rakibul Alam Chowdhury, chairman of RDM Group, a major manufacturer with an estimated $25 million turnover, said on Thursday that the industry would lose trade.
"Buyers will go to other cost-competitive markets — this is going to be a massive blow for our industry," he said.Several garment factories produce clothing for the US market alone.
Anwar Hossain, administrator of the BGMEA, has told AFP that the industry was "not ready" for the tariff impact.
Bangladesh, the second-largest producer after China, manufactures garments for global brands — including for US firms such as Gap Inc, Tommy Hilfiger and Levi Strauss. South Asian garment makers anxious about future after Trump’s ‘shock’ tariffs: ‘Terrible for business’ (The Independent)
The Independent [4/5/2025 7:10 AM, Alisha Rahaman Sarkar, 44838K]
Manufacturers and suppliers across Asia are anxious over the future of apparel hubs following Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs that they believe could endanger their businesses.
The US president on Wednesday slapped particularly harsh tariffs on major apparel manufacturing countries in Asia, with Cambodia being hit by 49 per cent levies, followed by Vietnam with 46 per cent, Bangladesh with 37 per cent, Indonesia with 32 per cent and "very good friend" India at 26 per cent.
The tariffs have pushed companies in mostly impoverished South Asian countries such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – both nations that have recently witnessed political upheaval and a socio-economic crisis – to press government officials to negotiate with the Trump administration to prevent foreign buyers bolting to save costs.
The tariff hike will directly impact the fast-fashion retailers and sportswear brands manufactured in Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
The US is one of the world’s largest consumers of apparel and footwear, but only 2.5 per cent of the US apparel market and 1 per cent of footwear are produced domestically.
Manufacturing hubs in South Asia got a boost during President Trump’s first term, when tariffs on China pushed apparel and footwear makers to shift to other parts of Asia. However, the hefty tariffs have left them nowhere to hide.
"We knew something was coming, but we never expected it to be this drastic ... This is terrible for our business and for thousands of workers," garment exporter Shahidullah Azim, whose clients include North American and European retailers, told Reuters.
Mr Azim said his company, which employs 3,200 factory workers, was bracing for order cancellations as rising costs for buyers could spell the end of Bangladesh’s competitive edge.
The ready-made garment industry is of existential importance to Bangladesh’s economy, accounting for more than 80 per cent of total export earnings, employing 4 million people, mostly women, and contributing roughly 10 per cent to its annual GDP.
Bangladesh, the second-largest producer after China, produces garments for global brands such as Carrefour, Tire, Uniqlo, Primark, H&M and Zara. Manufacturers rued that buyers would be forced to choose other cost-competitive markets, which would be a massive blow to the industry in Bangladesh.
The International Apparel Federation, which represents garment manufacturers in 40 countries, called the tariffs a "major shock", adding: "Ultimately, someone will have to pay the price.".
In Sri Lanka, the garment industry exports about 40 per cent of its output to the US, which helped the island nation earn $1.9bn last year, following a massive economic crisis that triggered a mass protest against the government in 2022.
The tariffs will hurt more than 350,000 employees of the garment industry. Apparel is also Sri Lanka’s second largest foreign exchange earner, which helped the country limp back to economic stability following the protests.
Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s office said in a statement that a panel of government officials and apparel companies has been formed to study "potential issues" that could arise from the new tariffs.
"Sri Lanka could very quickly see its share of US business move to countries with lower tariffs," said Yohan Lawrence, Secretary General of Sri Lanka’s Joint Apparel Association Forum. "This situation is serious, and it must be addressed as a matter of national urgency.".
Trade group United States Fashion Industry Association said they were "deeply disappointed by the Trump Administration’s decision to impose new tariffs on all imports". It added that the action will "particularly affect American fashion brands and retailers". Bangladesh Grants Musk Licence For Starlink Rollout (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [4/6/2025 4:55 PM, Staff, 931K]
Bangladesh said on Sunday it had granted a licence to tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service, as punishing US tariffs raise fears for its key garment sector.
The Starlink service will be unveiled at a government-backed investment summit that opens in Dhaka on Monday.
"We granted them approval," Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud, chairman of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, told reporters on Sunday.
Mahmud said it was granted on March 28, several days before US President Donald Trump unveiled his wide-ranging tariff programme that sent global markets into a tailspin.
The new tariff on Bangladesh goods was set at 37 percent, hiking duties from the previous 16 percent on cotton.
Musk has a highly visible White House role as Trump’s right-hand man and his meetings with foreign leaders have raised questions about the blurring of the line between his official roles and business interests.
Dhaka’s interim authorities, who took over after a student-led revolution toppled the hardline former government in August 2024, are seeking US diplomatic support.
Interim leader Muhammad Yunus, held an emergency meeting on Saturday to assess the impact of the tariffs on the world’s second-largest garment producer.
Nobel Prize winner Yunus will write to Trump about the tariffs, his press secretary said on Sunday.
Musk and Yunus spoke in February about bringing Starlink, which provides internet access to remote locations by low Earth orbit satellites, to Bangladesh.
At the time, they emphasised that the service would create new opportunities for "Bangladesh’s enterprising youth, rural and vulnerable women, and remote communities", a statement from Yunus’ media office said.
Textile and garment production account for about 80 percent of exports from the South Asian country.
Bangladesh exports $8.4 billion of garments annually to the United States, according to data from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, the national trade body.
That accounts for about 20 percent of Bangladesh’s total exports of ready-made garments. Myanmar confirms 180,000 Rohingya refugees eligible for return, says Bangladesh (Reuters)
Reuters [4/4/2025 10:21 AM, Ruma Paul, 5.2M]
Myanmar has confirmed that 180,000 Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh since fleeing their homeland are eligible to return, the Bangladesh government’s press office said on Friday.
The announcement, following talks in Bangkok, offered a possible breakthrough in the long-stalled repatriation process, although many Rohingya refugees say all of them should be allowed to go home.
More than a million Rohingya have been crammed into the camps in southeastern Bangladesh, the world’s largest refugee settlement. Most fled a brutal crackdown by Myanmar’s military in 2017, although some have been there for longer.
Around 70,000 Rohingya crossed into Bangladesh last year, many fleeing worsening hunger and violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.
Friday’s announcement followed a meeting in Bangkok between Khalilur Rahman, High Representative of Bangladesh’s interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, and Than Swe, Myanmar’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, on the sidelines of the 6th BIMSTEC Summit.
The 180,000 names were part of a list of 800,000 Rohingya that Bangladesh submitted to Myanmar in six batches between 2018 and 2020. Myanmar has also indicated that final verification of another 70,000 refugees is pending further review of photographs and identity details.
The statement said Myanmar had pledged to expedite the verification process for the remaining 550,000 names on the original list.
Myanmar’s government did not immediately comment on the outcome of the meeting in Bangkok.
The Rohingya refugees have little hope of returning to their homeland, where they continue to face systematic denial of citizenship and basic rights.
Attempts to begin repatriation in 2018 and 2019 failed as the refugees, fearing prosecution, refused to go back.
"After all these years, they are confirming only 180,000 names. This feels like nothing more than an eyewash. We want a genuine solution," one Rohingya refugee, Shafiqur Rahman, told Reuters.
"Myanmar must take all of us back — not just a selected few — and they must ensure we return with full rights, dignity, and citizenship. Without that, this process means nothing to us." Central Asia
Samarkand Summit Marks A New Era In EU-Central Asia Relations Amid Geopolitical Challenges (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [4/4/2025 4:14 PM, Merhat Sharipzhan, 235K]
The European Union says it is entering a "new era" in its relationship with Central Asian nations following a summit aimed at making inroads in a region dominated by Russia and China.
Speaking on the last day of the summit, held in Uzbekistan’s ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said a deluge of global tariffs laid out by US President Donald Trump on April 3 showed the importance of building relations in a new era.
"We are at another turning point. New global barriers arise, investments are being redirected, powers around the world are carving up new spheres of influence," von der Leyen emphasized in a speech on April 4.
"Reliable partners have never been so important. We want to explore new avenues."
The two-day summit involving the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, comes as traditional ally Russia and neighboring China vie for influence, while the region also eyes deeper ties with the West.
Central Asia is interested in Europe’s advanced industrial technology -- which Russia and China struggle to provide -- while Brussels eyes the region’s precious natural resources.
Von der Leyen reaffirmed the EU’s 10 billion euro investment in the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), a project that could potentially halve the travel time between Europe and Central Asia while bypassing Russia.
Von der Leyen also declared an additional 12 billion-euro investment in the Global Gateway to kick-start a new digital and infrastructural development project set.
The investment is aimed at enhancing connectivity and trade, tying the five Central Asian nations closer to European markets and opening a route to access the region’s richness in critical raw materials such as uranium, copper, coal, zinc, titanium, manganese, lithium, graphite.
"We want to be partners not just in extraction but in building up local industries," von der Leyen said.
Central Asian leaders have been trying to maintain a balance with Moscow and Beijing while also developing ties with Europe.
But they’ve also been looking to open up borders among themselves following decades of underdeveloped relations.
"Seven or eight years ago, borders between states were closed. There was no trade, no transit, no business… Relations were frozen," Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev, who was chairing the summit, said.
"Nobody would have imagined that we could unite to represent the region at negotiations with European leaders," he said.
Mirziyoev has opened up Uzbekistan after he came to power in 2016 following decades of isolation under his predecessor Islam Karimov. Central Asia eager to cooperate with the EU ‘as a bloc’ (Euronews)
Euronews [4/5/2025 4:23 AM, Bojan Brkic, 126906K]
Two main messages resonated through all the speeches of Central Asian leaders at the first EU-CA summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
One was that they demonstrated once more that the region achieved stability, good neighborly relations and harmonious approach to further development. And that the European Union recognised it by speaking to them as if they were a bloc, which gave them more weight on the international arena.
The region’s largest economy, Kazakhstan, has high expectations for the next steps as the county is well aware of its importance for the European Union.
13% of all oil and gas imports in the EU comes from Kazakhstan while investment from the European bloc account for 43% of all foreign investment in the largest central Asian country.
Speaking to Euronews, Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Serik Zhumangarin says the summit in Samarkand was an opportunity to show that the Central Asia region is stable and can equally contribute to the strategic relations with Europe.
"The main conclusion for us is that, in principle, Central Asia is now perceived as a whole. Central Asia is a reliable bridge between China, South-East Asia and Europe, but it is also a reliable supplier of the necessary materials. We are talking about everything from uranium, oil and gas to critical materials, foodstuffs, wheat.".
The second important message is that Central Asian leaders eagerly embrace all forms of cooperation proposed to them by European leaders on the summit because they saw it as a way to further development.
This is reason why they invested lots of time and effort in Samarkand to present new projects, programmes and initiatives that could benefit from cooperation with European institutions, financial organisations and private investors from all the EU member states. Uzbekistan’s Silk Mirage: Is Freedom Of Speech Heading ‘Back To The Future’? (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [4/6/2025 12:04 AM, Chris Rickleton, 968K]
A decade ago, when Uzbekistan’s first president, Islam Karimov, was still alive, it would have been difficult for a Western journalist to research and write a book covering the country, its society, and its political regime.
In that sense Joanna Lillis’s forthcoming book Silk Mirage: Through The Looking Glass In Uzbekistan is an achievement of the "New Uzbekistan" touted by Karimov’s successor, Shavkat Mirziyoev, who surprised longtime observers of the country by rolling back some of his mentor’s authoritarian excesses.
But if a chapter on freedom of speech previewed by RFE/RL is anything to go by, it is unlikely to be one Uzbek officials will boast about.
Lillis’s reporting -- the product of more than two decades living and working in the region -- captures how many who recall the promise of the early Mirziyoev years following Karimov’s death in 2016 now see that promise fading.
A ‘Breath Of Freedom’ Too Short
The chapter titled Red Lines begins with a journalist who seemingly crossed more than one red line just trying to bring information to the public.
For some time under Karimov, Anora Sodiqova headed a small newspaper that covered social issues and the everyday problems of citizens in the nation of more than 35 million.
Back then, straying into overtly political territory would have been a fast track to an Uzbek jail, and even the cautious reporting of Sodiqova and her colleagues sometimes attracted the attention of zealous state censors.
By the time of the fatal Sardoba dam burst in May 2020, the first major disaster of the Mirziyoev era, Sodiqova was putting her experience to use for a state media outlet.When she traveled through the region most affected by the dam break, she was amazed to find locals claiming everything was fine and insisting they had not been affected.
Digging deeper, Sodiqova learned there was a good reason for this: Locals had been told by provincial officials not to complain to the press.
This was precisely the kind of behavior Mirziyoev had explicitly condemned in his public speeches, instead exhorting journalists and bloggers to "expose the shortcomings" of bureaucrats whatever they were.
But when Sodiqova wrote about the attempt to suppress information on Facebook, she was immediately sacked.
Her next journalistic endeavor, as the founding editor of a hard-hitting, often corruption-focused outlet called Rost 24, proved short-lived.
Setting up Rost in 2022, she ended up being bounced out of her own startup due to "pressure and blackmail," Sodiqova told Lillis.
That was in 2023, as officials prepared for a referendum on constitutional changes that forged a path for Mirziyoev to stay in office at least as far as 2037.
Sodiqova stands out in the chapter as an interviewee who speaks frankly and without anonymity.
Other journalists and bloggers Lillis spoke to seemed to do one or the other, with one unnamed blogger complaining in a cagey cafe meeting that media freedoms were going "back to the future" after the initial "breath of freedom" sounded by Mirziyoev.‘Paranoia’ Over Islam
If releases of Karimov-era political prisoners meant the Mirziyoev era celebrated the first year in two decades without journalists behind bars in 2018, then the sentencing of blogger Otabek Sattoriy to a 6 1/2-year jail term in 2021 was the beginning of a very different trend.
After that, there was no let-up in the arrests, with a series of repressive laws -- such as one criminalizing insults to the president -- further chilling the environment.
Lillis’s book will be the first tome in English covering post-Karimov Uzbekistan.
Another, titled Nowy Uzbekistan (New Uzbekistan in Polish), was published in Warsaw in 2023.
Its author, journalist Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska, was refused entry to Uzbekistan, where she had lived for several years, in 2021.
Lillis, a correspondent for The Economist, held accreditation in Uzbekistan from 2019 to 2023 but has not had it extended since then despite submitting applications for renewal.
Silk Mirage is her second book on the region after Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan is also an authoritarian country but typically enjoys some distance from Uzbekistan in the annual indexes of Western rights groups, even after the Mirziyoev "thaw.".
Lillis, who has lived in the oil-rich country since 2005, argues that the differences between the two countries are partly due to the differences between their two founding presidents.
While Karimov was naturally "prickly" and hostile to outside influences, Nursultan Nazarbaev, the president of Kazakhstan until 2019, was "bolder and somewhat more worldly," she said, initially tolerating some political opposition as he sought international acceptance and acclaim.
But another important distinction between the two was the bigger role Islam played in Uzbekistan’s society, with the government facing challenges from extremist groups early in independence that "fueled Karimov’s paranoia about threats to his power," Lillis told RFE/RL in an interview.
Here, too, the Mirziyoev administration promised a break with the unrelenting crackdowns of the past, and among the hundreds of bloggers who came to prominence in the first years of his reign, some were religious conservatives.
They have fared variously.
While some have shot to prominence with obvious support from the state, sometimes trashing liberal views, others have faced state punishments just like their secular colleagues.
Lillis believes Uzbekistan’s reversion to type in some areas is logical insofar as "fostering an environment in which genuine freedom of expression prevailed could, in the mindset of authoritarian leaders, present a threat to the regime.".
At the same time, the journalist hopes her book, which she said documents both "heartening changes" in Uzbekistan after Karimov and the first president’s brutal legacy, will be "a timely reminder about why commitment to reform is -- while enormously challenging -- so important" for the country. Indo-Pacific
India and Sri Lanka sign defense and energy deals as Modi’s visit strengthens ties (AP)
AP [4/5/2025 8:11 AM, Bharatha Mallawarachi, 34586K]
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated construction work on a solar plant in neighbouring Sri Lanka and witnessed the signing of energy and defense agreements seen as efforts to consolidate New Delhi’s influence in the debt-stricken island nation.
India has been concerned about China’s increasing presence in Sri Lanka, which is located on one of the world’s busiest shipping routes in what India considers part of its strategic backyard.
Beijing has provided Sri Lanka with billions of dollars in loans for development projects. But Sri Lanka’s economic collapse in 2022 changed the country’s priorities and provided an opportunity for India, as New Delhi stepped in with massive financial and material assistance. At the same time, China’s support for restructuring its infrastructure loans is vital for Sri Lanka.
Modi on Saturday held talks with Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and the two virtually inaugurated construction work on an Indian-funded 120 megawatt solar power plant, which is being built as a joint venture between the two countries.
Sri Lanka faced a severe power shortage in 2022, after being unable to pay for oil and coal to power its electricity plants. It has also set ambitious goals of reducing its dependence on fossil fuel.Modi welcomed the agreements on defense cooperation and said both sides agreed to work together on security cooperation in the Indian Ocean through a regional grouping called the Colombo Security Conclave, which also includes Bangladesh, Maldives and Mauritius.“I am grateful to President Dissanayake for his sensitivity towards India’s interests. We believe that we have shared security interests. The security of both countries is interconnected and co-dependent,” Modi said.He said India has a special place for Sri Lanka in its “Neighbourhood First Policy” and has fulfilled its duties as a truly friendly neighbour when Sri Lanka was in difficulty.Modi was awarded “Sri Lanka Mitra Vibhushana,” the highest award presented to a foreign leader.Dissanayake said that he reiterated during talks with Modi that Sri Lanka’s territory will not be used for any acts that could harm India’s security and as well as the stability of the region.China plans to build a $3.7 billion oil refinery near Hambantota port, which was taken over by Beijing after Sri Lanka failed to pay back the loan to develop the port. It gives China a key foothold in the country directly opposite India’s coastline.Both India and China have separately agreed on terms with Sri Lanka for restructuring its debt, which would enable the country to come out from bankruptcy and rebuild the tattered economy.While the agreements were being signed, hundreds of protesters gathered opposite the capital Colombo’s main rail station, claiming the agreements were a betrayal of the country to Indian domination.Frontline Socialist Party, a radical splinter party of Dissanayake’s People’s Liberation Front, accused the president of backing down from his original stand on India. The leader of the party, Kumar Gunaratnam, said India had never been a genuine friend of Sri Lanka.Dissanayake’s party took up arms against a 1987 peace agreement between India and Sri Lanka but has since moderated its policy on its giant neighbor.India, which has its own sizable Tamil population, intervened in 1987 and signed an agreement with Sri Lanka to resolve Sri Lanka’s civil conflict. Some Tamil armed groups accepted the deal, the Tamil Tigers, the largest group, rejected it and continued to fight for separation. Government troops crushed the Tamil Tigers in 2009, and since then the government has faced international pressure to resolve the power-sharing issue through talks. India, UAE to develop Sri Lanka energy hub as Delhi competes with China for influence (Reuters)
Reuters [4/5/2025 8:10 AM, Uditha Jayasinghe and Shivam Patel, 41523K]
India and the United Arab Emirates agreed to develop an energy hub in Sri Lanka, India’s foreign ministry said on Saturday, as New Delhi’s competition with China grows in the Indian Ocean island nation.
The three nations signed the pact for the hub during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka, the first by a global leader since Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake took office in September.
New Delhi and Colombo have worked to deepen ties as India’s southern neighbour recovers from a severe financial crisis triggered in 2022, during which India provided $4 billion in financial assistance.
Saturday’s agreement boosts New Delhi’s competition with China, whose state energy firm Sinopec (600028.SS) has signed a deal to build a $3.2-billion oil refinery in Sri Lanka’s southern port city of Hambantota.
The energy hub in the strategically important city of Trincomalee, a natural harbour in the Sri Lanka’s east, will involve construction of a multi-product pipeline and may include using a World War Two tank farm partly held by the Sri Lankan subsidiary of Indian Oil Corp (IOC.NS), Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told reporters in Colombo.
"The UAE is a strategic partner for India in the energy space and therefore was an ideal partner for this exercise that is being done for the first time in the region," Misri said. "The exact contours of UAE’s role will be elaborated once the business to business discussions kick off.".
The three nations will next choose business entities that will consider the financing and feasibility of projects for the hub, he said.
Modi also inaugurated a $100 million solar power project, a joint venture between Ceylon Electricity Board and India’s National Thermal Power Corp (NTPC.NS).
India and Sri Lanka also concluded their debt restructuring process, Foreign Secretary Misri said. Sri Lanka owes about $1.36 billion in loans to EXIM Bank of India and State Bank of India, according to Sri Lanka Finance Ministry data.
Colombo kicked off debt restructuring talks after it defaulted on its debt in May 2022, signing a preliminary deal with bilateral creditors Japan, India and China last June.
India and Sri Lanka also signed pacts on power grid connectivity, digitalisation, security and healthcare. India’s Modi praises close Sri Lanka ties at holy tree (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [4/6/2025 3:29 AM, Staff, 62527K]
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid homage to Sri Lanka’s sacred Buddhist tree on Sunday before wrapping up a state visit during which he secured defence and energy deals.
Modi offered flowers to the Sri Maha Bodhi, an object of worship and a symbol of sovereignty for the Buddhist-majority island, in the pilgrim city of Anuradhapura.
The tightly-guarded fig tree is believed to have grown from a sapling of the tree in India under which the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment over 2,500 years ago.
The Hindu-nationalist Indian premier also worshipped and offered robes to the tree during a previous visit in 2015, underscoring its religious and cultural importance to both nations.
The tree, botanical name ficus religiosa, is worshipped daily by thousands as a symbol of the "living Buddha", its branches propped up by gold-plated iron supports.
The tree is guarded around the clock by monks, police, and armed troops.
"This visit has reaffirmed the deep cultural, spiritual and civilisational ties between our two nations," Modi said on social media, before returning to India.
On Saturday, Modi and Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake oversaw the signing of seven agreements including on defence and energy.
Dissanayake rolled out the red carpet for Modi and conferred on him the country’s highest civilian honour for "the deep personal friendship" shown to Sri Lanka.
Modi’s visit is seen as a strategic move to counter rival China’s growing influence in the region.
"We believe that our security interests are aligned," Modi said Saturday.
"Our security is interdependent and interconnected.".
Dissanayake said he had assured Modi that Sri Lankan territory "will not be allowed to be used by anyone to undermine India’s security". India’s Modi urges Bangladesh leader to avoid rhetoric that mars ties (Reuters)
Reuters [4/4/2025 8:19 AM, Devjyot Ghoshal and Shivam Patel, 5.2M]
India’s prime minister urged Bangladesh’s interim leader to avoid rhetoric that marred bilateral relations during their first meeting on Friday since the ouster of Bangladeshi premier Sheikh Hasina, India’s foreign ministry said.
Relations between the South Asian neighbours, which were robust under Hasina, have deteriorated since she fled the country last August, in the face of massive student-led protests, and sought shelter in India.
Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who took over as the chief adviser of an interim government in Dhaka after Hasina’s exit, met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday on the fringes of the BIMSTEC summit in Bangkok.
"Prime Minister (Modi) urged ... that any rhetoric that vitiates the environment is best avoided," India’s foreign secretary Vikram Misri told reporters.
"(Modi) reiterated India’s support for a democratic, stable, peaceful, progressive and inclusive Bangladesh," Misri said, adding that the Indian leader had also stressed New Delhi’s desire for "a positive and constructive relationship with Bangladesh based on a spirit of pragmatism".
Bangladesh described the 40-minute exchange between the two leaders as "candid, productive, and constructive".
Yunus told Modi that Bangladesh wanted to work with him to set the relationship on the right track for the benefit of both countries, Yunus’s press office said in a statement.
Public opinion in Bangladesh has turned against India, in part over its decision to provide sanctuary to Hasina. New Delhi has not responded to Dhaka’s request to send her home for trial.‘ATROCITIES’
The two leaders discussed Bangladesh’s request seeking Hasina’s extradition, Misri said, without elaborating further.
"She has consistently made false and inflammatory accusations against the interim government of Bangladesh," the statement from Bangladesh quoted Yunus as saying.
Yunus requested New Delhi take appropriate measures to restrain Hasina from making incendiary remarks while she remained in India, said the statement, adding that Modi said India did not support any particular party in Bangladesh.
India’s Misri said Modi had asked Yunus to help maintain border security and stability, and expressed his hope that Bangladesh would thoroughly investigate all cases of "atrocities" committed against people from minority groups, including Hindus.
India has repeatedly urged Bangladesh to protect its minority Hindus, saying they were being targeted in the Muslim-majority country since Yunus took charge. Dhaka says the violence has been exaggerated and is not a communal issue.
"The hope would be that this meeting would start the process of rebuilding some engagement," said Harsh Pant, foreign policy head at the Observer Research Foundation, an Indian think-tank.
"I think at this point, simply stabilising the relationship perhaps should be the priority."
With longstanding cultural and business ties, the two nations share a 4,000 km (2,500 mile) border. India also played a key role in the 1971 war with its rival Pakistan that led to the creation of Bangladesh.Modi and Yunus met on the sidelines of a summit in Bangkok of BIMSTEC, or the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, a grouping that also includes Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. Twitter
Afghanistan
Pakistan
Government of Pakistan@GovtofPakistan
[4/6/2025 4:14 AM, 3.1M followers, 8 retweets, 22 likes]
In line with the directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif @CMShehbaz , the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has dispatched a second tranche of humanitarian assistance, comprising 35 tons of essential relief goods, to the people of Myanmar, bringing Pakistan’s total aid to 70 tons. The consignment was formally handed over by Pakistan’s Ambassador to Myanmar, Imran Haider, at Yangon Airport. This gesture reflects Pakistan’s unwavering solidarity with the people of Myanmar in their time of distress and reaffirms our shared commitment to regional cooperation and humanitarian relief efforts. #Myanmar #MyanmarEarthquake #EmergencyAid India
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[4/6/2025 11:17 PM, 107.4M followers, 1.4K retweets, 5.7K likes]
On World Health Day, let us reaffirm our commitment to building a healthier world. Our Government will keep focusing on healthcare and invest in different aspects of people’s well-being. Good health is the foundation of every thriving society!
Narendra Modi@narendramodi[4/6/2025 6:29 AM, 107.4M followers, 9.1K retweets, 62K likes]
A special day for India’s efforts to build top quality infrastructure! The New Pamban Bridge was inaugurated and Rameswaram-Tambaram (Chennai) train service was flagged off.
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[4/6/2025 5:05 AM, 107.4M followers, 3.8K retweets, 16K likes]
Delighted to be in Rameswaram on the very special day of Ram Navami. Speaking at the launch of development works aimed at strengthening connectivity and improving ‘Ease of Living’ for the people of Tamil Nadu.
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[4/6/2025 3:15 AM, 107.4M followers, 9.3K retweets, 51K likes]
On the way back from Sri Lanka a short while ago, was blessed to have a Darshan of the Ram Setu. And, as a divine coincidence, it happened at the same time as the Surya Tilak was taking place in Ayodhya. Blessed to have the Darshan of both. Prabhu Shri Ram is a uniting force for all of us. May His blessings always remain upon us.
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[4/6/2025 2:17 AM, 107.4M followers, 4K retweets, 29K likes]
Deeply grateful to President Dissanayake, the people and Government of Sri Lanka for the warmth extended during my visit. Be it in Colombo or Anuradhapura, this visit has reaffirmed the deep cultural, spiritual and civilisational ties between our two nations. It will surely add momentum to our bilateral relations. @anuradisanayake
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[4/6/2025 1:35 AM, 107.4M followers, 5.1K retweets, 29K likes]
Boosting connectivity and enhancing friendship! In Anuradhapura, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and I jointly inaugurated the track upgradation of the existing Maho-Omanthai railway line. The signalling project which involves the installation of an advanced signalling and telecommunication system along the Maho-Anuradhapura section was also launched. India is proud to support Sri Lanka in various aspects of their development journey. @anuradisanayake
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[4/5/2025 9:32 PM, 107.4M followers, 3.8K retweets, 18K likes]
Greetings to all @BJP4India Karyakartas on the Party’s Sthapana Diwas. We recall all those who devoted themselves to strengthening our Party over the last several decades. This important day makes us reiterate our unparalleled commitment to work towards India’s progress and realise the dream of a Viksit Bharat.
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[4/5/2025 9:32 PM, 107.4M followers, 854 retweets, 2K likes]
The people of India are seeing the good governance agenda of our Party, which is also reflected in the historic mandates we’ve received in the years gone by, be it in the Lok Sabha elections, Assembly elections across different states and various local body polls across the nation. Our Governments will continue serving society and ensuring all-round development.
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[4/5/2025 9:32 PM, 107.4M followers, 856 retweets, 2K likes]
My best wishes to all our hardworking Karyakartas, the backbone of our Party, as they actively work on the ground and elaborate on our good governance agenda. I am proud of the manner in which our Karyakartas are working round the clock, in every part of the nation and serving the poor, downtrodden as well as marginalised. Their energy and enthusiasm are truly motivating.
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[4/5/2025 12:38 AM, 107.4M followers, 2.9K retweets, 15K likes]
Key agreements have been signed between India and Sri Lanka which will add vigour to our friendship. Important projects were also inaugurated, which will benefit countless people of Sri Lanka. India will always support the people of Sri Lanka in their development trajectory.
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[4/5/2025 8:25 AM, 107.4M followers, 5.7K retweets, 34K likes]
The meeting with leaders of Indian Origin Tamil (IOT) was fruitful. The community constitutes a living bridge between the two countries for over 200 years. India will support construction of 10,000 houses, healthcare facilities, the sacred site Seetha Eliya temple and other community development projects for IOTs in cooperation with the Government of Sri Lanka.
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[4/5/2025 6:45 AM, 107.4M followers, 5.2K retweets, 35K likes]
Glad to meet Sri Lanka’s Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Sajith Premadasa. Appreciated his personal contribution and commitment to strengthening India-Sri Lanka friendship. Our special partnership receives support in Sri Lanka cutting across party lines. Our cooperation and robust development partnership are guided by the welfare of the people of our two countries. @sajithpremadasa
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[4/5/2025 4:53 AM, 107.4M followers, 3.3K retweets, 18K likes]
Held extensive and productive talks with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in Colombo. A few months ago, President Dissanayake chose India as the place for his first overseas visit after becoming President. Now, I have the honour of being the first foreign leader he is hosting in his Presidency. This indicates his personal commitment to India-Sri Lanka ties and the unbreakable bond that exists between our nations. @anuradisanayake
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[4/5/2025 4:53 AM, 107.4M followers, 657 retweets, 1.5K likes] Substantial ground has been covered since President Dissanayake visited India, particularly in sectors like energy, solar power, technology and more. In our talks today, we discussed ways to add more momentum to linkages in security, trade, agriculture, housing, culture and other sectors.
Dr. S. Jaishankar@DrSJaishankar
[4/6/2025 7:03 AM, 3.4M followers, 194 retweets, 1.5K likes]
The New Pamban Bridge inaugurated by PM @narendramodi today is another example of India’s steady infrastructure advancement. NSB
Chief Adviser of the Government of Bangladesh@ChiefAdviserGoB
[4/7/2025 2:46 AM, 137.6K followers, 13 retweets, 157 likes]
Bangladesh Investment Summit 2025 kicks off on Monday, aiming to spotlight the country’s evolving investment landscape, poised for transformative opportunities and unprecedented growth.
Chief Adviser of the Government of Bangladesh@ChiefAdviserGoB
[4/4/2025 6:07 AM, 137.6K followers, 55 retweets, 1.1K likes]
Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus holds a bilateral meeting with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya on the sidelines of the sixth BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday.
Jon Danilowicz@JonFDanilowicz
[4/6/2025 3:53 AM, 14.9K followers, 22 retweets, 212 likes]
The Bangladesh Army Chief’s visit to Russia provides an opportunity to explore possibilities for a future peacekeeping deployment in support of a peace agreement between Moscow and Kiev. Bangladesh would be well placed to contribute to efforts to bring peace to that troubled region.
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[4/5/2025 2:45 AM, 102.7K followers, 15 retweets, 321 likes]
Returned to Bhutan this morning after a successful #BIMSTEC2025 & meaningful sideline engagements. I thank the Royal Thai Government for their warm hospitality as host of the Summit. Look forward to building on the shared commitments and advancing deeper regional cooperation.
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[4/4/2025 4:53 AM, 102.7K followers, 172 retweets, 3.3K likes]
Had a meaningful conversation with Professor Muhammad Yunus @ChiefAdviserGoB. We discussed opportunities to deepen our bilateral cooperation and strengthen the bonds of friendship between our two nations.Anura Kumara Dissanayake@anuradisanayake
[4/6/2025 6:27 AM, 148.7K followers, 148 retweets, 1.3K likes]
It was an honour to welcome you to Sri Lanka. Your visit reflects the enduring friendship between our nations. From Colombo to Anuradhapura, we celebrate the deep-rooted cultural and spiritual bonds that unite us. Farewell, my friend — until we meet again. We look forward to advancing our partnership in the years ahead. @narendramodi
Anura Kumara Dissanayake@anuradisanayake
[4/6/2025 4:49 AM, 148.7K followers, 114 retweets, 1K likes]
Indian Prime Minister @narendramodi and I paid homage at the sacred Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura. We engaged in meaningful discussions with the Chief Prelate, Most Venerable Dr. Pallegama Hemarathana Nayaka Thera and later inaugurated the upgraded railway signaling system and Railway line.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake@anuradisanayake
[4/6/2025 12:52 AM, 148.7K followers, 183 retweets, 1.5K likes]
The launch of three key development projects during PM @narendramodi’s state visit to Sri Lanka holds great significance. Together, we inaugurated the Sampur Solar Power Plant, a game-changer for our energy security and the Dambulla Agricultural Cold Storage Complex to support our farmers. Plus, we kicked off a solar panel installation project across 5,000 religious sites. Exciting times for sustainable growth!
Anura Kumara Dissanayake@anuradisanayake
[4/5/2025 10:10 AM, 148.7K followers, 617 retweets, 5.2K likes]
A moment that echoes the enduring friendship between our nations. Honoured to confer the ‘Sri Lanka Mitra Vibhushana’ on Prime Minister @narendramodi — a true friend of Sri Lanka. This recognition reflects the shared values, trust, and timeless bond between our peoples.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake@anuradisanayake
[4/5/2025 8:56 AM, 148.7K followers, 300 retweets, 2.7K likes]
I witnessed the exchange of 7 MoUs between Sri Lanka and India this morning at the Presidential Secretariat, alongside PM @narendramodi. These agreements in energy, digitalization, defence, healthcare and development mark a new chapter in our bilateral relations. Excited for the benefits this partnership will bring!
Anura Kumara Dissanayake@anuradisanayake
[4/4/2025 7:53 AM, 148.7K followers, 38 retweets, 417 likes]
I presided over the 58th National New Paddy Harvest Festival (Aluth Sahal Mangalya) this morning at the sacred Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura. This timeless tradition symbolizes our commitment to a self-sufficient agricultural economy.
Sajith Premadasa@sajithpremadasa
[4/6/2025 7:20 AM, 234.6K followers, 54 retweets, 649 likes]
Honoured to have met with Prime Minister @narendramodi during a moment that calls for more than economic cooperation, it calls for a deeper partnership between our nations. Sri Lanka and India have the chance to shape a future of Shared Ascent, where growth is not just measured in trade, but in the wellbeing of our people. Grateful for India’s unwavering support during Sri Lanka’s most difficult times.
Sajith Premadasa@sajithpremadasa
[4/5/2025 12:46 AM, 234.6K followers, 5 retweets, 83 likes]
I met with the Joint Apparel Association Forum Sri Lanka (JAAF) to discuss a united way forward. A non-political meeting, based on achieving our immediate goal of protecting over 350,000 direct jobs and the livelihoods of over a million Sri Lankans tied to the apparel industry. We must open new doors, defend our exports, and do what it takes to secure our future.Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office@amnestysasia
[4/5/2025 4:41 AM, 100.1K followers, 50 retweets, 76 likes]
Sri Lanka: @amnesty is concerned by the arrest of 22-year-old Mohamad Rusdi on 22 March 2025 in Colombo. Amnesty International has seen a copy of the Detention Order signed off by the Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on 25 March in his capacity as the Minister of Defense ordering the detention of Rusdi for a period of ninety days, issued under the powers vested in him through the notorious anti-terror law, the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). We are disappointed to see the PTA in regular use by authorities under Sri Lanka’s new leadership, despite the government’s pledges that it would repeal this draconian law.
According to the Detention Order, Rusdi is detained under the suspicion that he is connected with or concerned in unlawful activity with regards to "associating with members of extremist or terrorist organizations, motivated by extremist ideologies and acting in a manner detrimental to peace and harmony among communities and knowingly concealing such information from security forces." Two weeks since the arrest, Sri Lankan authorities have been unable to furnish any evidence of criminal wrongdoing legitimising his arrest or continued detention.
The Sri Lankan authorities must immediately restore Rusdi’s due process rights, including ensuring that he has unfettered access to his family and lawyers, and, in the absence of any charges of credible evidence of an internationally recognisable crime being committed, release him.
Furthermore, in order to breakaway from the authorities’ past practices of abusing the PTA for decades, the new Sri Lankan government must be resolute in its stance on the PTA and issue strict guidelines to authorities to desist from resorting to and abusing the PTA’s vast powers where there is no legitimate suspicion of a terror offence. There must be an immediate moratorium on the use of the PTA and the government should make public a timeline for its plans to do away with this abusive law. Those affected by the PTA must be provided remedies and reparations for the injustice they have suffered. #SriLanka #PTA Central Asia
MFA Tajikistan@MOFA_Tajikistan
[4/5/2025 3:59 AM, 5.2K followers, 4 likes]
Participation in the High-Level Forum under the theme “Central Asia facing global climate challenges: consolidation for common prosperity” https://mfa.tj/en/main/view/16832/participation-in-the-high-level-forum-under-the-theme-central-asia-facing-global-climate-challenges-consolidation-for-common-prosperity
MFA Tajikistan@MOFA_Tajikistan
[4/6/2025 3:58 AM, 5.2K followers, 1 retweet, 2 likes]
Tajikistan and the European Investment Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding https://mfa.tj/en/main/view/16835/tajikistan-and-the-european-investment-bank-signed-a-memorandum-of-understanding
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service@president_uz
[4/7/2025 1:45 AM, 215.4K followers, 4 retweets, 5 likes]
Address by the President of the Republic Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the 150th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union https://president.uz/en/lists/view/8034
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service@president_uz
[4/4/2025 10:03 AM, 215.4K followers, 7 retweets, 35 likes]
On the margins of the #Samarkand Climate Forum, President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev met with @UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of @UNHABITAT @AnacludiaRossb1. Sides emphasised cooperation in implementing modern digital solutions for urban management, developing green construction standards, and launching a climate change adaptation program. They also discussed holding World Cleanliness Day in #Uzbekistan and opening the organization’s office in #Tashkent.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service@president_uz
[4/6/2025 7:51 AM, 215.4K followers, 15 retweets, 65 likes]
On the sidelines of the “Central Asia-European Union” summit, the leaders jointly visited the exposition of the Aral Cultural Summit. The exhibition presented unique initiatives aimed at restoring the Aral ecosystem, preserving the cultural heritage of the region and promoting sustainable development.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service@president_uz
[4/4/2025 7:04 AM, 215.4K followers, 12 retweets, 37 likes]
President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev addressed the Samarkand International Climate Forum, which was attended by the EU and Central Asian leaders, the head of the @EBRD, the Executive Secretary of the @UNECE for Europe, and over 2,000 foreign guests. @UN Secretary-General @antonioguterres addressed the forum via video message. In his speech, President Mirziyoyev called for enhanced cooperation between Central Asia and the #EU on environmental issues, including scientific and educational collaboration, and the implementation of joint projects with secured funding.
Navbahor Imamova@Navbahor
[4/4/2025 9:38 AM, 24.2K followers, 2 retweets, 3 likes]
Samarkand summit: Central Asia and the EU leaders "expressed their commitment to regional and global stability, particularly in Afghanistan and Ukraine, and to the promotion and protection of the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms." https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2025/04/04/joint-press-release-following-the-first-eu-central-asia-summit/{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.