epubdos : Afghanistan
SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS
Prepared for the U.S. Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
TO:
SCA & Staff
DATE:
Monday, February 10, 2025 6:30 AM ET

Afghanistan
They helped US order airstrikes against Taliban. Now Trump’s moves have left those Afghans in limbo (AP)
AP [2/9/2025 12:13 PM, Llazar Semini, Farnoush Amiri, and Munir Ahmed, 17996K]
They helped the U.S. military order airstrikes against Taliban and Islamic State fighters and worked as drivers and translators during America’s longest war. They were set to start new lives in the United States.

Then President Trump issued executive orders that put an end to programs used to help Afghans get to safety in America. Now those same Afghans, who underwent a yearslong background check, find themselves in a state of limbo.

"I was shocked. I am still in shock because I have already waited four years for this process, to get out of this hell and to get to a safe place and live in peace and have a new beginning," said Roshangar, one of the Afghans whose life was upended by Trump’s action.

Roshangar requested that the Associated Press use only his first name because he was afraid of Taliban reprisals. He spoke in an interview from Afghanistan where he, his wife and son live in hiding, fearing punishment or even execution by the Taliban for his more than decade-long partnership with American forces.

Roshangar served as a legal advisor to the Afghan air force, helping U.S. officials review and eventually approve airstrike packages that were used against the Taliban and the Islamic State group from 2007 until the fall of Kabul, the Afghan capital, in 2021.

"This was an unexpected move from Mr. Trump and everything went wrong and against us and leave us in severe danger under the Taliban regime," he said.

His family’s experience is just one aspect of the fallout from Trump’s orders, many of which were implemented without broad consultation with experts in the areas affected.

"It’s an absolute stain on our national honor that we’ve pulled the rug out from under people who have patiently been awaiting relocation and those here in the U.S. who have recently arrived," said Shawn VanDiver, a Navy veteran and head of #AfghanEvac, a coalition supporting Afghan resettlement efforts. "This is an imminently solvable issue and our national security demands we fix it.".

During the U.S. evacuation from Kabul in August 2021, American military planes airlifted tens of thousands of Afghans from the main airport. But many more did not make it onto the planes. Since then, the U.S. has had various ways to help Afghans immigrate to the U.S. depending on what their role was in helping the U.S.-led mission in Afghanistan. Those paths have been halted at this point.

It is the latest in a series of setbacks for the group of American allies who, despite strong backing from Republican and Democratic lawmakers along with veterans groups, continue to face hurdles in relocating and rebuilding their lives after the abrupt U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Many are now stranded in Albania, Pakistan and Qatar, where they were awaiting transfer to the U.S. Others are in hiding from the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Afghans who eventually make it to the U.S. have to undergo an extensive process that usually involves a referral from someone they worked with, background checks, a medical screening and an interview with U.S. officials.

Roshangar had his interview last August and was set to finish the final part of the process — a medical exam — this month when Trump announced he was halting all refugee resettlement.

One of the Americans he worked with, Lt. Col. Steve Loertscher, referred him to the refugee program in October 2021.

Loertscher describes Roshangar as a casualty of the Biden administration not prioritizing applicants like him who were at higher risk of retribution by the Taliban.

But he believes Roshangar could be exempt from the executive order, which states that the State Department could consider individual applicants on a "case-by-case" basis.

"Eventually, I’m hopeful that he’ll be able to become a refugee and come to the United States," Loertscher said.

Many veterans of the conflict have tried for years to help Afghans they worked with find refuge in the U.S. Many were prepared for setbacks but had hoped for special consideration for the Afghans.

Hashmatullah Alam had a flight scheduled to take him, his wife and six children to the U.S. when Trump’s order went into effect, just a day after the Republican president took office. The 40-year-old and his family had arrived in Albania in December to be processed and granted special immigrant visas before leaving for the U.S.

He is among at least 15,000 Afghans who were already cleared for travel before the pause took effect, according to AfghanEvac.

Alam, who remains hopeful that the pause will be lifted, said that he risked the lives of his family to assist the U.S. mission in Afghanistan during the war, landing him on the Taliban watch list. He had hoped after three years to be repaid for that sacrifice with a fresh start in America, where his children can grow up and receive an education.

"Also we help our families back home," Alam said. "They are living in Afghanistan, our mothers, our fathers and brothers.".

In Pakistan, Khalid, who worked alongside the U.S. Air Force, had been waiting by the phone to confirm his flight to America when the Afghan students he teaches notified him about Trump’s order.

"Let me tell you that my students cried after hearing that Trump has suspended the refugee program for us," he said.

After arriving in Islamabad in March 2023, Khalid, who also asked to be identified by first name only, completed the security clearance, medical tests and interviews over the next year. But as he waited to be approved to travel, he ran out of money to support his wife and children and began to teach children from other Afghan families who had come to Pakistan as part of the visa program.

He was reluctant to discuss how he helped America’s effort in Afghanistan, but said his contribution was "so important that if I go back, the Taliban will kill me.".

"We appeal to President Donald Trump to reverse his decision because we have lost whatever we had in Afghanistan, and he should know that we are waiting here for a bright future in America," he said. "He should evacuate us from here and take us to America, we were promised that we would be taken to America, and please honor that promise.".
Afghans who worked with US should be exempt from aid, refugee freeze, advocacy group says (Reuters)
Reuters [2/9/2025 4:34 PM, Jonathan Landay, 48128K]
A group representing U.S. veterans, service members and others is warning the Trump administration of severe impacts on U.S. security unless it exempts tens of thousands of Afghans – many at risk of Taliban retribution – from the president’s foreign aid and refugee freeze that has stranded them worldwide.

Possible consequences include a loss of trust that could impair local support for U.S. troops in future wars, said a letter sent on Saturday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio by Shawn VanDiver, the head of #AfghanEvac, the main coalition working on the resettlement of Afghans with the U.S. government.

Denying the exceptions, it added, also will show foes like Islamic State that "the U.S. abandons its allies," and endanger active-duty Afghan-American U.S. military members’ wives, children and parents who are stuck in Afghanistan.

Among President Donald Trump’s first acts upon taking office were to order a temporary halt to foreign aid and refugee programs, pending 90-day reviews. Rubio issued waivers for what he called "life-saving humanitarian assistance," but aid workers have said those waivers sparked widespread confusion.

"We are asking for relief in the form of exemptions," said the letter, reviewed by Reuters, which also went to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who served in Afghanistan during the 20-year U.S. war.

The U.S. Department of State did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Republican president ordered the refugee freeze as part of an immigration crackdown that he said is needed because of high levels of illegal immigration, but from which he exempted white South Africans on Friday.

The foreign aid freeze has stalled flights from Afghanistan for some 40,000 Afghans approved as refugees or for Special Immigration Visas.

SIVs are granted to Afghans at risk of Taliban retribution because they worked for the U.S. government during the war that ended with the pullout of the last U.S. troops in August 2021.

UN reports say that the Taliban have jailed, tortured and killed Afghans who fought or worked for the former Western-backed government. The Taliban deny the allegations, pointing to a general amnesty approved for former government soldiers and officials.

The flight freeze also has stranded some 3,000 vetted Afghans approved for travel to the United States in processing facilities in Qatar and Albania, said VanDiver and a U.S. official, who requested anonymity.

Some 50,000 others are marooned in nearly 90 other countries – about half of them in Pakistan – approved for U.S. resettlement or awaiting SIV or refugee processing, they said.
Republican Urges Trump Admin to Admit Afghan Allies During Refugee Freeze (Newsweek)
Newsweek [2/9/2025 5:17 PM, Mandy Taheri, 56005K]
Representative Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, said on Sunday that he supports an exception to President Donald Trump’s refugee freeze for the resettlement of thousands of Afghans who aided the U.S. during its 20 years in the country.

Newsweek has reached out to McCaul’s press team for comment via email on Sunday.

Why It Matters

U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021, ending a 20-year military presence that began as part of the War on Terror following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

After the U.S. left, the Taliban quickly regained control, prompting tens of thousands of Afghans to flee, especially those who worked with the U.S. government and feared retaliation.

Shortly after taking office last month, Trump signed an executive order pausing the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), freezing refugee processing across visa categories. Afghans who worked with the U.S. can also apply for Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs), which were affected by a separate executive order pausing foreign aid.

What To Know

Following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, then-President Joe Biden directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to coordinate and support the resettlement of "vulnerable Afghans, including those who worked alongside us in Afghanistan."

Newsweek has also reached out to the DHS for comment via email on Sunday.

McCaul, a former House Foreign Affairs Committee chair, discussed the issue and the now precarious situation many Afghan refugees are in with Margaret Brennan on CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday.

He said that "leaving our Afghan partners behind" is something the U.S. needs to "fix."

"We promised them we would protect them when they worked with our service men and women in Afghanistan. These are the interpreters, the ones who were right alongside our combat veterans, they have these special immigrant visas and it’s my view that they should be able to go forward with the SIV program," the congressman said.

He noted that the applicants have been "vetted," concluding that, "it seems to me we have to live up to our word, otherwise down the road in another conflict no one’s going to trust us."

Under Trump’s executive order, flights for resettlement, scheduled for January through April, are being canceled, leaving approximately 2,000 individuals in immediate limbo—potentially stranded in neighboring countries like Pakistan—and many more uncertain about their future.

The conversation about Afghan resettlement has resurfaced following Trump’s executive order Friday, in which he offered refuge to Afrikaners, predominantly descendants of Dutch settlers in South Africa. He wrote that if "South Africa continues these unjust and immoral practices" related to land laws, the U.S. "shall promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation."

The move has drawn criticism from some foreign policy experts and lawmakers, who argue that Afghans awaiting resettlement risked their lives aiding the U.S. in Afghanistan, while Afrikaners have no clear connection to the U.S.

What People Are Saying

Shawn VanDiver, a military veteran and the president of #AfghanEvac, told Newsweek in an email Sunday: "The Trump administration’s decision to extend refugee access to some while locking out the very people who fought and bled with us is indefensible. Our Afghan allies passed rigorous security screenings, followed every step of our process, and are now being left to die. If this administration truly values loyalty, service, and American credibility, it will act now to ensure their protection."

Representative Scott Peters, a California Democrat, wrote in an X, formerly Twitter, post on Saturday: "Why the hell do we continue to strand thousands of vetted Afghans who fought the Taliban alongside us overseas and instead offer refugee status to people who aren’t refugees? Abandoning our Afghan allies endangers the family of active-duty service members and damages trust abroad in our military, empowering our enemies."

Jason Kander, a U.S. veteran, wrote in an X post following Trump’s executive order offering refuge to white South Africans: "Afghan allies who risked their lives for America must live in hiding in Afghanistan but white South Africans can come here as refugees? Transparently pathetic."

Ahmad Shah, a member of Afghan USRAP Refugees, recently called on the U.S. to reconsider: "We seek the reversal of the ban on the refugee program on humanitarian grounds."

The U.S. agency overseeing refugee processing and arrival told staff and stakeholders last month: "Refugee arrival to the United States have been suspended until further notice."

International Rescue Committee (IRC) said in a January 23 statement: "The IRC urges the Trump administration to reverse course, maintain the resettlement program and work with its partners around the world to maintain global resettlement slots. If the program is not restored, political dissidents, religious minorities, and the most vulnerable victims of war and disaster will pay the price, and so will the United States."

What Happens Next?

Trump issued a 90-day pause on foreign aid to conduct a thorough review of "programmatic efficiencies and consistency with United States foreign policy."

Within 90 days, the secretary of homeland security, in consultation with the secretary of state, "shall submit a report to the President through the Homeland Security Advisor regarding whether resumption of entry of refugees into the United States under the USRAP would be in the interests of the United States."
Hegseth to look into ‘what went wrong’ in Afghanistan and pledges accountability, slams diversity motto (FOX News)
FOX News [2/7/2025 10:23 PM, Alexandra Koch, 49889K]
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday addressed events in Afghanistan, saying they created the perception of "American weakness."

While speaking to the Department of Defense and Pentagon workforce during a town hall on Friday, Hegseth said America "deserves to take accountability for" events in Afghanistan, the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, and the war that was unleashed in Ukraine.

"Chaos happens when the perception of American strength is not complete," Hegseth said. "We aim to re-establish that deterrence."

He discussed the three pillars he will focus on during his term - reviving the warrior ethos, restoring trust in the military and rebuilding it by matching threats to capabilities, and reestablishing deterrence by defending the homeland.

Hegseth also spoke about the broken windows theory in policing, explaining that disregarding the small things in the military can create large problems.

"I think the same thing exists inside our services – making sure at every level, there [are] standards and accountability, and that we live it at the highest levels," he said.

That is why, Hegseth said, the U.S. will look back at what happened in Afghanistan.

He added the department will hold people accountable.

"Not to be retrospective, not for retribution, but to understand what went wrong and why there was no accountability for it," Hegseth said.

Going forward, the military will find strength in unity, not diversity, according to Hegseth.

"I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is ‘our diversity is our strength,’" he said. "Our strength is our shared purpose – regardless of our background, regardless of how we grew up, regardless of our gender, regardless of our race.

In the department, Hegseth said everyone will be treated equally.

"We will treat everyone with fairness," he said. "We will treat everyone with respect."

Service members and department civilian employees will be judged by their merit, commitment to the team, and the mission, according to Hegseth.
‘I didn’t want to surrender to the extremists’: The female tour guide showcasing Afghanistan’s beautiful side (The Independent)
The Independent [2/9/2025 1:00 AM, Tamara Davison, 57769K]
As Taliban fighters closed in on Herat, the third largest city in Afghanistan, in 2021, Fatima Haidari was faced with one of the hardest decisions of her life. Recognised as Afghanistan’s first female tour guide, she was used to being challenged about her work – but this was different.

It wasn’t the first time that the Taliban had been in control, and those who lived through the first government between 1996 and 2001 knew all too well what their return meant. As a prominent figure in Afghanistan, Fatima’s life was in immediate danger – not only because she was an independent woman but also because her work showcased Afghanistan’s heritage to the world.

"I didn’t want to leave at first because my parents, my family, everybody, and everything I had was there in Herat," the 26-year-old guide says. But her friends begged her to leave while she could, warning Fatima that if she was caught "they not only would kill you – but also your loved ones". On 21 August 2021, less than a week after the Taliban reclaimed power, Fatima fled to Italy.

It’s been almost four years since the Islamic fundamentalist group regained control of Afghanistan after US forces withdrew. Initial hopes that the regime would be less oppressive were dashed when top Taliban officials – who the International Criminal Court (ICC) recently planned to seek arrest warrants for – enforced strict and brutal interpretations of Sharia law almost immediately.

The rights of Afghan women and girls have been obliterated this time. First, it came in the form of bans on secondary education and the closure of beauty salons – but it’s since become more and more extreme.

The female population of Afghanistan, around 15 million women, have been prohibited from parks, banned from healthcare training and restricted from being heard speaking loudly in public. The Taliban continues to erase womanhood from their culture: one of the latest policies banned windows overlooking places where a woman might be seen.

"I’m one of the very, very fortunate women from Afghanistan who was able to leave the country," Fatima acknowledges, having been able to build a home in Milan after claiming asylum in Italy.

Fatima has also found an interesting way to continue advocating for the cultural preservation of her country and its women from exile, even though she’s thousands of miles away. Supported by adventure tour company Untamed Borders, Fatima runs remote tours in an attempt to showcase what Herat and central Afghanistan have to offer from afar. In the tours, she weaves Afghanistan’s rich history with experiences of growing up as a woman painting a unique and deeply personal depiction of the central Asian country.

"I just didn’t want to surrender to what the Taliban is doing out there," Fatima says, the one-hour remote tours serving as an act of rebellion in themselves.

During the virtual gathering, guests can learn directly from Fatima about what life is really like in Afghanistan. They may be guided around Herat Citadel, the spectacular Blue Mosque, and the old bazaar while learning about tea culture, traditional music and poetry. On her alternative tour, guests are taken around central Afghanistan, travelling through the highlands between Kabul and Herat and discovering Afghan heritage and the city of Bamiyan, which Fatima describes as "like a paradise".

Of course, Fatima’s work in tourism didn’t start in exile, and memories of growing up in Afghanistan also shape the stories she shares during virtual tours. Even before the Taliban returned, life had been challenging, she reveals. Threats regarding her work as a tour guide before 2021 weren’t uncommon, and she was forced to dress in long black clothes to detract any unwanted attention.

"There weren’t a lot of women in Afghanistan guiding tours, and it was a very challenging job for women to be doing because there are people who still lived with the mindset that Taliban left 20 years ago," she recalled. "I felt the pressure and restrictions," she adds, "because I was a target for extremists." However, the benefits she gained from welcoming people to her country before the Taliban returned outweighed the security risks. Working as a tour guide helped her learn about other countries and nationalities, build connections and make friends worldwide, despite being unable to travel herself because of Afghanistan’s weak passport.

Though Fatima can no longer guide in person, she’s also closely watched how tourism is surprisingly evolving under the Taliban. According to AP, foreign visitors to Afghanistan actually rose from 691 in 2021 to 7,000 in 2023, suggesting a small but growing demand for in-person visits to the country. Fatima hopes that one day Afghan women can once again guide travellers from the place they call home, but for now, the remote tours fill a unique space for tourism in more off-beat or dangerous locations.

Remote tourism seldom makes up for seeing a place in real life, but virtual tours have become more mainstream since the Covid pandemic. "We get to use technology to teach people about the countries they dream to travel to but cannot," she explains, adding it’s a nice alternative for elderly visitors or those who can’t afford adventurous travel.

For Fatima, the remote tours are all the more powerful as they provide a safe space for her to share an unfiltered perspective, allowing people from around the world to hear voices being silenced too often in Afghanistan. "My guests really love hearing women’s stories from someone who’s lived the story," she says. "And it’s a way for me to defy what the Taliban is doing right now to women in Afghanistan.".

It also gives her a chance to spread awareness about Afghanistan in a way that’s not covered by news headlines. "Afghanistan is not all about terrorists, it’s not all about war – it has a beautiful side," she notes, acknowledging the juxtaposition of tourism in a country with so few freedoms. "It has a very rich culture, nice people and everything is so diverse. Afghanistan has been the graveyard for empires, but pieces of their culture and history remain and need to be explored positively.".

Not only can Fatima’s remote tours help inform global audiences, they’re also having an impact closer to home.

Part of the proceeds from her tours support a girls’ education charity operating in Afghanistan, providing vital funds that provide language classes for Afghan girls. She has also launched an association called Alefba from Italy to further support the girls’ education back home. "One of the biggest reasons Taliban are restricting women is because they’re scared of the power that women in the country hold," she added, explaining that she remains inspired by the women of Afghanistan and their resilience in the face of such oppression.

Like many Afghans, Fatima also hopes that her nation’s magic and cultural essence will survive long after the oppressive regime. While she loves her adoptive home of Italy, Fatima longs to reunite with her family and, one day, hopes to work on reviving Afghanistan’s tourism from within.".

"I definitely would love to go back to join my family, friends," she said, hopeful about returning to in-person guiding one day. "My knowledge and insights are more use in Afghanistan.".
Pakistan
Pakistan to Force Tens of Thousands of Afghan Refugees Out of the Capital (New York Times)
New York Times [2/7/2025 4:14 PM, Zia ur-Rehman, 831K]
Tens of thousands of Afghan refugees who have congregated in Pakistan’s capital region to seek resettlement in other countries are being ordered to move elsewhere in Pakistan by March 31.

The refugees have arrived in large numbers in the capital, Islamabad, and in neighboring Rawalpindi because of the embassies and refugee agencies based there. Forcing them to go elsewhere in the country is intended to put pressure on Western nations, including the United States, to accept them quickly.

The Pakistani government’s announcement, issued last week, said that Afghan refugees who could not find a country to take them would be deported to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, although it did not say how quickly that would happen after the March 31 deadline.

The order has added to the fear and uncertainty faced by the refugees, especially the 15,000 who had applied for resettlement in the United States. Days earlier, President Trump put those Afghans’ fate in doubt with an executive order suspending all refugee admissions to the United States.

Many of those Afghans worked with the United States-led mission in their country, or with NGOs or other organizations funded by Western countries, before the Taliban took power in August 2021. Others are family members of Afghans who did so. Advocates for these refugees have accused the U.S. government of betraying wartime allies by blocking their paths to resettlement.

The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, and the International Organization for Migration said on Wednesday that many of the refugees threatened with deportation — particularly members of ethnic and religious minority groups, women and girls, journalists, human rights activists and artists — could be subjected to persecution by the Taliban government. In a joint statement, they urged Pakistan to “implement any relocation measures with due consideration for human rights standards.”

Sara Ahmadi, 26, a former journalism student at Kabul University, said her family had feared being deported to Afghanistan — “the very place we risked everything to leave” — since the Trump administration halted refugee admissions.

“That fear is now becoming a reality,” Ms. Ahmadi said in a telephone interview. Her mother had worked in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, for Children in Crisis, a U.S.-funded NGO. Their six-member family arrived in Islamabad in November 2021, hoping to eventually settle in the United States.

They were among hundreds of thousands of Afghans who fled to Pakistan after the Taliban takeover.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, Shafqat Ali Khan, recently said that nearly 80,000 Afghan refugees had left Pakistan for other countries, and that about 40,000 who had applied for resettlement elsewhere were still in Pakistan.

That includes the roughly 15,000 who were waiting for approval from the United States Refugee Admissions Program when Mr. Trump suspended it. The three-month suspension took effect on Jan. 27; the Trump administration has given no indication of whether resettlement will eventually resume.

Pakistan has forced hundreds of thousands of other Afghans — both documented and undocumented migrants, and even some who arrived in Pakistan for resettlement to Western countries — back to their home country because of rising tensions with the Taliban.

Pakistan accuses the Taliban of harboring Pakistani militants who conduct cross-border attacks, which the Taliban deny. The Pakistani authorities also frequently accuse Afghan nationals of involvement in terrorism.

The U.N. refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration said there had been an increase in arrests of Afghan nationals in Islamabad and Rawalpindi since Jan. 1, with more than 800 Afghans, including children, deported from those two cities alone.

Ms. Ahmadi said her family had endured police harassment and struggled with Islamabad’s relatively high housing costs for more than three years, while remaining hopeful that they would be relocated to the United States.

“One midnight in December, police officers forcibly entered our house and treated us roughly,” she said. “It was a terrifying experience.”

But Mr. Trump’s suspension of refugee admissions shattered her optimism, and Islamabad’s new directive to evict Afghan refugees from the capital has deepened her distress, she said.

“For two decades, my family built a life in Afghanistan, only for it to be destroyed in a single day when we were forced to leave everything behind in Kabul,” Ms. Ahmadi said. “We endured all these hardships in Islamabad with the hope that we would soon reach the United States and begin a new life.”

“But it seems the U.S. has abandoned us,” she said.
Pakistan says IMF mission will visit to assess governance, corruption risks (Reuters)
Reuters [2/9/2025 9:55 AM, Staff, 48128K]
A three-member International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission will visit Pakistan to conduct a Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment under the country’s 2024 Extended Fund Facility program, the finance ministry said on Sunday, without specifying dates.

The ministry added that the report will recommend actions for addressing corruption vulnerabilities and strengthening integrity and governance, noting that the findings would help shape structural reforms.

"The focus of the mission will be to examine the severity of corruption vulnerabilities across six core state functions. These include fiscal governance, central bank governance and operations, financial sector oversight, market regulation, rule of law, and AML-CFT," the ministry said in the statement.

Pakistan’s government welcomed the IMF’s technical support, saying the assessment would aid efforts to promote transparency and institutional capacity.

The South Asian country, currently bolstered by a $7 billion facility from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) granted in September, is navigating an economic recovery.

The IMF is set to review Pakistan’s progress by March, with the government and central bank expressing confidence about meeting its targets.
Pakistan’s Opposition Takes To Streets On Anniversary Of Disputed Elections (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [2/8/2025 9:09 AM, Staff, 1089K]
Pakistani opposition parties, including the Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, staged demonstrations on February 8 to mark the first anniversary of the country’s general elections, which triggered widespread allegations of vote-rigging.

The opposition parties are demanding that new elections be held in the country, which the current coalition government made up of Khan’s rivals -- the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) -- have rejected.

Khan’s PTI and other opposition parties allege that the Pakistani military rigged the February 8, 2024, elections in favor of the ruling PML-N. The allegations have been denied by the PML-N, the military, and the Pakistani Election Commission.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has also rejected the request to void the election, which prompted the United States, Britain, and the European Union to voice concerns about the way the vote was conducted and to urge an investigation.

Other parties participating in the February 8 demonstrations, included the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), PTI and Muhajir Qaumi Movement (MQM-Haqiqi).

Ali Amin Gandapur, a key Khan ally and chief minister of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, repeated the allegations of widespread fraud in a video address to party workers ahead of the so-called "Black Day" demonstrations on February 8.

Caravans of demonstrators from across the province traveled to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swabi district, where thousands gathered to call for Khan’s release.

Ahead of the demonstrations, the federal government in Islamabad and provincial authorities in Balochistan and Punjab enacted measures to restrict public gatherings, citing security concerns.

Scores of PTI members and leaders over the past two years have been targeted for protesting the jailing of Khan and the military’s alleged meddling in politics.

Khan last month was sentenced to 14 years in prison on fresh corruption charges in a case he denounced as politically motivated. His wife was also convicted and sentenced to seven years.

The 72-year-old former cricket superstar-turned-politician, who served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, has been in jail since August 2023.
India
India’s Modi to meet Trump with planned tariff concessions (Reuters)
Reuters [2/9/2025 8:48 PM, Sarita Chaganti Singh, Shivangi Acharya, and Shivam Patel, 48128K]
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is preparing additional tariff cuts ahead of his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump that could boost American exports to India and avoid a potential trade war, government officials said.

Modi’s trip to the U.S. on Wednesday and Thursday comes as Trump plans to announce reciprocal tariffs on many countries, a move aimed at reshaping global trade relationships in favour of the United States.

Trump has not specified which countries would be hit but has previously called India a "very big abuser" on trade and stressed that India should buy more American-made security equipment to move toward a fair bilateral trading relationship.

India is considering tariff reductions in at least a dozen sectors, including electronic, medical and surgical equipment, along with some chemicals, to raise U.S. exports. These reductions align with New Delhi’s domestic production plans, three government officials said.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that concessions are being considered for items that India primarily sources from the U.S. or has potential to buy more of, such as dish antennas and wood pulp. Modi is expected to discuss tariffs with Trump next week and India is open to discussing a possible mini trade deal.

The early visit hopes to avoid a "trade war-like situation that is happening between U.S. and China," a third official said. Trump imposed sweeping 10% tariffs on Chinese imports, prompting Beijing to respond with duties on American energy.

The officials did not wish to be identified as they are not authorised to speak to media. India’s trade ministry, foreign affairs ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to requests for comment e-mailed outside official work days.

The discussions on tariff concessions follow a reduction in India’s average import tariff rates to 11% from 13% on several items in the country’s annual budget, and a cut in taxes on high-end bikes and luxury cars.

India is also reviewing surcharges levied on more than 30 items, including luxury cars and solar cells.

The upcoming meeting between Modi and Trump will focus on trade, defense cooperation and technology, but has been overshadowed by the recent deportation of Indians from the U.S.

One of the three officials said the meeting will help offer political direction to ties between the two countries and detailed talks on tariffs will follow the trip.

Despite Trump’s criticism of India’s trade practices, the U.S. president has called Modi "fantastic".

The U.S. is India’s largest trading partner and two-way trade surpassed $118 billion in 2023/24, with India posting a surplus of $32 billion.

Trade ties between the two nations have grown steadily over the last decade, with Washington increasingly viewing New Delhi as a counterbalance to China’s growing regional influence.
Modi’s impending Trump meeting overshadowed by deportation of Indians (Reuters)
Reuters [2/7/2025 9:02 AM, Shivam Patel, 5.2M]
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the U.S. on Wednesday for talks with President Donald Trump on trade and other issues, days after many Indians were deported in shackles on a U.S. military plane and more are due to come.

Modi’s February 12-13 schedule was announced by India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Friday during a press conference, during which he was peppered with questions about the treatment of the 104 deportees on the flight this week despite the close ties between the two countries.

Misri said U.S. authorities had told New Delhi that there were up to 487 more presumed Indian citizens with final removal orders who could still be deported. India will verify their nationality, he said.

In the last 16 years, more than 15,000 Indians have been sent back from the U.S., with a record number during Trump’s last presidency, according to Indian government data.

The latest deportation used a military aircraft because U.S. authorities felt it would be the quickest option, he said.

"In the U.S. system itself, it was described as a national security operation. And that is perhaps one of the reasons why a military aircraft was used," Misri said, adding that India had agreed to that means of transport.

"In so far as alternatives are concerned, we will consider any alternatives that would be feasible (for future deportations)."

During the U.S. visit, Modi and Trump will discuss trade, defence cooperation and technology, among other issues, he said.

India, a strategic partner of the U.S. as a counter to China, has been keen on more H-1B visas, used by people with specialised skills to work temporarily in the U.S. and often used in the tech sector. India, known for its big IT workforce, accounts for the bulk of such visas issued by the United States.

Late in December, Trump said he fully backed the visa programme for foreign workers.
Trump spoke with Modi on January 27, when he brought up immigration and the need for India to buy more American-made security equipment.

New Delhi is also keen to avoid tariffs that Trump has previously threatened, citing India’s high tariffs on U.S. products.

India is already planning to review import tariffs on more than 30 items, including luxury cars, solar cells and chemicals, a senior Indian official told Reuters this week.

The U.S. is India’s largest trading partner and bilateral trade surpassed $118 billion in 2023/24, with India posting a trade surplus of $32 billion.

Ahead of the trip to Washington, Modi will visit Paris from February 10 to 12 for an AI summit, during which he will also hold a bilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.
India in talks with US to buy combat vehicles, seal fighter jet engine deal as Modi visits, sources say (Reuters)
Reuters [2/10/2025 3:26 AM, Shivam Patel, 5.2M]
India is in talks with the United States for the purchase and co-production of combat vehicles as well as finalising a fighter jet engine deal, people familiar with the matter said, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets President Donald Trump this week.

The world’s biggest arms importer, India traditionally relies mainly on Russia. Last month, Trump asked Modi, who heads to Washington on Wednesday for a two-day visit, to buy more U.S.-made security equipment and move "toward a fair trading relationship".

"I look forward to meeting my friend, President Trump," Modi said in a statement on Monday before leaving for France and the United States.

"This visit will be an opportunity to build upon the successes of our collaboration in his first term and develop an agenda to further elevate and deepen our partnership, including in the areas of technology, trade, defence, energy, and supply chain resilience."

Modi is preparing additional tariff cuts ahead of his meeting with Trump that could boost American exports to India and avoid a potential trade war, government officials said.

India and the United States have been in protracted talks over the co-production of Stryker combat vehicles made by General Dynamics (GD.N) and also used by the U.S. Army.

They are also working to wrap up contract talks on co-production of fighter jet engines in India for the Indian Air Force, a deal agreed in 2023, said two sources who sought anonymity as they were not authorised to tall to the media.

"We certainly wish to expedite the transaction which we would like to have with the United States," Defence Production Secretary Sanjeev Kumar told reporters on Sunday, adding that such efforts were underway. But he did not elaborate.

Officials of India’s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) (HIAE.NS) are set to meet in coming weeks with U.S. officials and the aerospace unit of General Electric (GE.N), maker of GE-414 engines, for talks to finalise the deal by March, the sources said.

GE, HAL, General Dynamics, the U.S. embassy in New Delhi and Indian defence and foreign ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

New Delhi has started talks with the Trump administration on a plan to buy Stryker vehicles after they were demonstrated late last year for the Indian Army, two other sources said, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

The plan envisages that India will acquire a few hundred Strykers with a mounted anti-tank guided missile system, they added, and later co-produce them through a state-run firm, the sources said.

It was not immediately clear if the two potential deals would feature in talks between Modi and Trump, whose warning on Sunday that he would introduce new 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports into the United States could also hurt Indian companies.
Modi’s Party Wins Major Victory in Election in India’s Capital Region (New York Times)
New York Times [2/9/2025 12:00 AM, Suhasini Raj and Mujib Mashal, 831K]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s national governing party has swept to victory in an important regional election in India’s capital, where voters previously rejected Mr. Modi’s Hindu-first platform for nearly three decades even as it expanded its footprint elsewhere across the vast country.

By late afternoon on Saturday, the counting of most of the votes in elections for New Delhi’s regional assembly showed that the Bharatiya Janata Party was comfortably forming the government with over 40 seats.

The incumbent Aam Aadmi party, which has governed the capital area for the past decade but has increasingly struggled against Mr. Modi’s efforts to crush it, was trailing with about 20 seats.

A party needs 36 seats in the 70-seat assembly to form the government.

“Development wins, good governance triumphs,” Mr. Modi said in a celebratory message on X.

Arvind Kejriwal, the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, conceded the election in a video message, saying, “Whatever the people’s mandate, we accept it most humbly.”

The political fight over who governs the capital region has come to epitomize the cutthroat nature of Indian politics.

Mudslinging rival parties have been competing for votes with handouts and with pressure tactics that include A.I.-heavy disinformation campaigns and outright jailings of politicians.

Meanwhile, delivery of basic government services for a region of more than 20 million people appears increasingly paralyzed. Residents in large stretches of the capital region lack drinking water on tap, instead relying on tankers sent into poor neighborhoods. The river that cuts through Delhi is deeply contaminated, and the air grows severely polluted every winter.

The Aam Aadmi Party, which was born out of an anticorruption movement that indirectly helped Mr. Modi reach national power in 2014, had hoped to win a third term.

But in recent years, much of the party’s top leadership was jailed by central investigating agencies that report to Mr. Modi in connection with accusations of an excise scam. Before last year’s parliamentary elections, Mr. Kejriwal, the A.A.P.’s leader and the chief minister of Delhi, was arrested on accusations of corruption involving the city’s liquor policy, in a case that is still pending.

Mr. Kejriwal continued to govern the capital from his cell. Once released on bail, he stepped aside from leading Delhi. He elevated a lieutenant as chief minister while trying to appeal to his support base, contending that Mr. Modi’s central government was deliberately denying Delhi residents the delivery of basic services to portray the A.A.P. as a failure and open the way for the B.J.P.

Mr. Modi’s strategy centered on challenging A.A.P.’s image as an anticorruption party of the common person. And he has said that if his party came to power in the capital, it would not make “any excuses or blame others for the problems related to Delhi’s health, traffic, electricity, water, transport.”

Opposition parties have accused the election commission, which regulates campaigning and oversees the vote, of creating an uneven playing field that favors Mr. Modi’s party.

A day before the Delhi results, several leaders of an opposition coalition raised questions about another important election in the state of Mahrashtra, where the B.J.P. won handsomely after strong-arm tactics had reshaped the political landscape. The opposition contended that the number of registered voters in the election had exceeded the state’s adult population.

The election commission did not immediately address the discrepancy, but said it “would respond in writing with full factual & procedural matrix.”

One result of the daily bickering in the capital region has been a paralysis of routine governance, affecting vital issues like controlling pollution and providing access to water, garbage pickup and health care.

That was clear during a visit to Kusumpur Pahari, a slum on the edge of one of the poshest areas of Delhi, in the days ahead of the vote. The arrival of a water tanker resulted in commotion as women and children jostled to the front, large containers in hand. Nearby, trash was piled outside the public toilet complex as residents complained about the lack of municipal services.

While Mr. Kejriwal still enjoys support in such working-class neighborhoods whose voters have long been the core of his party, the B.J.P.’s efforts also appeared to be finding traction.

“I have never seen anything but a struggle to get in queues for water,” said Vijay Prakash, 25. “At least Kejriwal has got toilets constructed and ensures we get water tankers.”

Others, like 68-year-old Lalita Devi, were doubtful. “Who knows, if someone new comes, maybe they will make better arrangements for us?”

Much of the campaign between the rival parties has been an effort to outdo each other in generosity to various sectors of the voting public.

The A.A.P. has highlighted its improvement of Delhi’s schools and promised financial assistance to women, free health care to older people and transportation subsidies to students.

The B.J.P.’s promises have included even handsomer handouts. It has vowed monthly financial help to women about 20 percent higher than what the A.A.P. is offering, a subsidy on gas cylinders, and a monthly pension for older people. It has also promised life and accident insurance for taxi drivers, in the past a core group of Mr. Kejriwal’s supporters.

The campaign has also included colorful ways of getting at each other.

The B.J.P. sent a truck around the city bearing a replica model of what it said was the “palace of mirrors” that Mr. Kejriwal has built for himself, highlighting in particular an outsized “toilet made of gold” — an effort to undercut the A.A.P. chief’s image as a common man and an anticorruption crusader.

Mr. Kejriwal’s party, on the other hand, showed Mr. Modi’s party as a vulture in its campaign ads, out to stop the facilities offered by him to Delhi residents.
Modi’s Party Wins Election in National Capital After Decades (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [2/8/2025 5:18 AM, Swati Gupta, 21617K]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party pulled off a victory in India’s national capital in a sign of his continuing popularity.

In a post on X, Modi announced his party’s win in Delhi. “It is our guarantee that we will leave no stone unturned in developing Delhi, improving the overall quality of life for the people and ensuring that Delhi has a prime role to play in building a Viksit Bharat (developed India),” he posted.

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is expected to win 48 of the 70-member legislative assembly, where it was leading, according to the Election Commission of India’s website. BJP is reclaiming Delhi after almost three decades.

Its main rival, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, which means the common man’s party, is ahead in 22 seats. The final counting of the votes is still underway.

Aam Aadmi Party’s leader Arvind Kejriwal also conceded defeat in a post on social media platform X.

A victory in Delhi would mark the third major electoral success for the BJP in the last four months after winning the states of Haryana and Maharashtra. Not only would this win help the BJP recover from the setback in national elections last year, but it would also signal that the Modi government’s record tax cuts in the federal budget last week have got the approval of middle-class consumers.

“It is a big feather in their cap,” said Rahul Verma, a political scientist and fellow at the Centre for Policy Research. “Winning this state means a big thing for them.”

Several exit polls released Wednesday predicted a win for Modi’s Party, which last controlled Delhi in 1998. The incumbent Aam Aadmi Party has been in power in Delhi since 2015 but suffered reputational damage in recent years due to corruption allegations against some of its leaders.

Most of the AAP initiatives were from their first term and they did not show an improvement on civic issues, said Verma. “Subsidies alone cannot make a difference to electoral outcomes.”

Several leaders from the AAP have spent months in jail amid allegations of impropriety in a liquor license distribution case, impacting their ability to govern. The party has consistently denied the allegations and described them as a political witch-hunt by the BJP-led government that controls the country’s federal investigative agencies.
Modi’s party wins most seats in high-stakes New Delhi polls for first time in 27 years (AP)
AP [2/8/2025 9:11 AM, Staff, 1286K]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist party won the most seats in the high-stakes state legislature election in India’s federal territory, including New Delhi, for the first time in over a quarter-century, according to official data on Saturday.

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party won 47 seats in the 70-member assembly that includes India’s capital of 20 million people, ousting the Aam Aadmi Party, or AAP, that ruled New Delhi since 2015. The AAP won 22 seats. The outcome of the race in one remaining seat had yet to be declared, according to the Election Commission of India.

India’s main opposition Congress party lost on all seats for the third consecutive term.

In a major upset, the AAP founder and leader Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy, Manish Sisodia, lost their seats despite their party having built widespread support with its welfare policies and anti-corruption movement.

“We accept the mandate of the people with great humility,” Kejriwal said in a video statement while congratulating the BJP on its victory. He said he hoped that the BJP would fulfil its election promises.

“We have done a lot of work in the field of health, education, and infrastructure in the last 10 years,” Kejriwal said. “We will not only play the role of a constructive opposition but will also remain among the people and continue to serve them.”

Waving party flags and posters of Modi, supporters of the BJP chanted slogans and danced outside its headquarters in the capital as vote results began trickling with most exit polls predicting the party’s win.

Parties made pledges on schools and health services

The BJP’s Amit Shah, who is India’s powerful home minister, said his party’s victory signified that “people can’t be misled with lies every time.” He said under the leadership of Modi, the BJP would make New Delhi “the world’s No. 1 capital by fulfilling all promises.”

“Our victory is a sign of the people’s faith in Prime Minister Modi’s vision of progress,” he said in a statement.

Saturday’s victory is seen as a big boost for the BJP after it failed to secure a majority on its own in last year’s national election but formed the government with coalition partners. It gained some lost ground by winning two state elections in northern Haryana and western Maharashtra states last year.

Ahead of the election, Modi’s party slashed income taxes on the salaried middle class, one of its key voting blocs, in the federal budget.

During the electioneering, both Modi and Kejriwal offered to revamp government schools and provide free health services and electricity, along with a monthly stipend of over 2,000 rupees ($25) to poor women.

Misusing federal investigation agencies

Kejriwal was arrested last year along with two key party leaders on charges of receiving bribes from a liquor distributor. They have denied the accusations, saying they are part of a political conspiracy.

The Supreme Court allowed the release of Kejriwal and other ministers on bail. Kejriwal later relinquished the chief minister’s post to his most senior party leader, Atishi, who won her seat on Saturday.

Opposition parties widely condemned Kejriwal’s arrest, accusing Modi’s government of misusing federal investigation agencies to harass and weaken political opponents. They pointed to several raids, arrests and corruption investigations of key opposition figures before the national election.

Kejriwal formed the AAP in 2012 after tapping into public anger over corruption scandals. His pro-poor policies have focused on fixing state-run schools and providing cheap electricity, free health care and bus transport for women.

In 2020, the AAP won 62 out of 70 seats in a landslide victory in the last state legislature election, leaving the BJP with eight and the Congress party with none.

The BJP was voted out of power in Delhi in 1998 by the Congress party, which ran the government for 15 years.
Modi’s party wins election in New Delhi after 27 years out of power (Reuters)
Reuters [2/8/2025 9:12 AM, Adnan Abidi and Rajendra Jadhav, 48128K]
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party on Saturday regained power in the nation’s capital for the first time in 27 years, a boost for the Hindu-nationalist leader after a disappointing national election last year.

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party won 48 of the 70 seats in the Delhi capital district, well ahead of the 22 for the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of Arvind Kejriwal, a fierce critic of Modi, data from the Election Commission of India showed.

"It is our guarantee that we will leave no stone unturned in developing Delhi, improving the overall quality of life for the people," Modi wrote on social media platform X.

AAP, which grew out of an anti-corruption movement in 2012, tasted its first electoral success in Delhi and has ruled the territory, which includes India’s parliament and federal government offices in New Delhi, for two terms from 2015.

Kejriwal, 55, an anti-corruption crusader-turned-politician who was arrested on graft charges weeks before last year’s general election began, alleged a political vendetta by the Modi government. The BJP denies his claims.

Kejriwal, who was released on bail and resigned as Delhi chief minister to focus on campaigning for the state election, lost the seat he was contesting.

AAP will play the role of constructive opposition after trying to improve the city’s infrastructure, education, and healthcare in the past ten years, Kejriwal said in a video message on X.

AAP, which won the past two elections with thumping majorities, was popular because of its largesse, such as free water and power for the poor, its main voter base.

To counter AAP, the BJP promised monthly payments of 2,500 Indian rupees ($28) to all poor women, a one-time payment of 21,000 rupees to each pregnant woman, subsidised cooking gas, a monthly pension of 2,500 rupees for the elderly and 15,000 rupees for the youth to prepare for competitive exams.

Modi lost his majority in India’s parliament last year but returned as prime minister for a record-equalling third term with the support of regional parties. His BJP has won three of four subsequent state elections.

State election victories help political parties boost their numbers in the upper house of parliament, which is key for decision-making.
Dozens of Maoist Guerrillas Killed in Central India, Officials Say (New York Times)
New York Times [2/9/2025 4:14 PM, Hari Kumar and Mujib Mashal, 831K]
Dozens of Maoist guerrillas were killed in central India by government forces on Sunday, one of the deadliest operations in recent years against leftist rebels who have waged an insurgency that has ebbed and flowed over several decades.

The operation, in the forested Bijapur area in the state of Chhattisgarh, was carried out against the so-called Naxalite movement, and left 31 rebels dead, along with two members of the police forces, according to the area’s police chief, Jitendra Kumar Yadav.

Chief Yadav said the authorities had also recovered a number of AK-47 assault weapons and several other automatic rifles after the clashes.

“We will completely eradicate Naxalism from the country, so that no citizen of the country has to lose his life because of it,” said Amit Shah, India’s home minister, referring to the left-wing insurgency.

The Maoist insurgency began in eastern India in the 1960s and spread widely in central and southern parts of the country.

The violence peaked in 2010, when more than 600 civilians and over 250 security forces were killed in the conflict.

In recent years, civilian deaths have dwindled, after government operations shrunk the space for the insurgents to operate. The insurgency’s leadership has also struggled, analysts say, in the face of targeted operations, old age and illness.

The Home Ministry told Parliament last year that the threat of leftist extremism had dropped significantly in recent years, in terms of the number of deaths as well as the amount of affected territory.

Deaths of civilians and security forces related to the insurgency in 2023 were 86 percent lower than at their peak in 2010, the ministry said, adding that the number of districts affected by the violence had shrunk to 38 from 126.

Niranjan Sahoo, who studies left-wing extremism at the Observer Research Foundation, an Indian think tank, said the Maoists were struggling to recruit members, among other problems.

He also said they were concentrating their activities in several districts around the Abujhmad forest, including Bijapur, after suffering losses over the years.

“The Maoists are at their weakest point, largely because they have lost a lot of their territory,” he said.
Security forces gun down 31 Maoist rebels in India’s Chhattisgarh state (Reuters)
Reuters [2/9/2025 5:41 AM, Jatindra Dash, 48128K]
Indian security forces gunned down 31 Maoist rebels in the forests of country’s central state of Chhattisgarh on Sunday, police said, in its biggest encounter this year.

Two security personnel were killed, while two others sustained injuries.

The rebels, who follow a form of communism propagated by the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong, have waged a guerrilla-style insurgency against the government, particularly in central and eastern India, for decades, leading to periodic clashes and casualties on both sides.

Police said in a statement that they had recovered 31 bodies and several weapons after the clash.
Chief of violence-hit Indian state of Manipur resigns (Reuters)
Reuters [2/9/2025 11:11 AM, Tora Agarwala, 48128K]
The chief minister of India’s northeastern state of Manipur resigned on Sunday, bowing to pressure to quit amid ongoing ethnic clashes that have cost at least 250 lives since they broke out nearly two years ago.

N Biren Singh, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), submitted his resignation to the state’s governor in the capital city of Imphal, a day ahead of a scheduled legislative assembly session.

Local reports said the opposition Congress party was expected to move a no-confidence motion against Singh.

The governor accepted Singh’s resignation and asked him to continue until alternate arrangements are made, according to a statement.

Singh’s resignation follows intense sectarian clashes between the majority Meitei and minority Kuki communities over economic benefits and job quotas. The conflict has killed at least 250 people and displaced 60,000, with sporadic violence continuing.

Kuki groups have long accused Singh of his bias towards the Meitei community, and have demanded his removal since the conflict began.

Singh, a Meitei leader, has also been under increasing pressure from his own allies to step down. BJP lawmakers have periodically sought his resignation over his handling of the crisis.

In November, the regional National People’s Party, a key BJP ally in the state, withdrew from the ruling coalition, citing Singh’s failure to resolve the crisis.

In his resignation letter, Singh thanked the federal government in Delhi for its efforts to protect Manipur’s interests and urged continued action to curb border infiltration and deport "illegal immigrants".

Singh and the federal government have blamed the violence partly on an influx of refugees from Myanmar following the 2021 military coup there.

Soon after Singh resigned, Manipur BJP president Sharda Devi told reporters that the chief minister took the decision "in the interest of the people of Manipur".
India’s Modi heads to Paris as co-chair of AI summit (Nikkei Asia)
Nikkei Asia [2/9/2025 1:25 AM, Mailys Pene-Lassus, 1286K]
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting France from Monday as co-chair of an international summit on artificial intelligence in Paris that is expected to be attended by industry leaders, including executives from OpenAI and DeepSeek.

Hosted by France over Monday and Tuesday in cooperation with India, the AI summit is yet another sign that President Emmanuel Macron’s government -- and the European Union -- is seeking closer ties with New Delhi in areas like technology amid a fraught relationship with Beijing and a disrupted one with Washington.

Modi and Macron have cultivated close ties over the years. Modi was invited to Bastille Day in 2023, and Macron in turn attended India’s Republic Day last year.

Both leaders share "values of independence and strategic autonomy," said Sylvia Malinbaum, head of India and South Asia research at the French Institute of International Relations’ Center for Asian Studies.

India’s non-alignment policy echoes France’s "third way" approach vis-a-vis China and the U.S.

"India may feel a little more understood by France than by other Western countries," she explained, pointing to France’s relaxed attitude to India’s development of nuclear capabilities.

After the AI summit, Macron and Modi will head to Marseille, the Mediterranean port the government hopes will attract Indian companies for its strategic location as a potential European gateway for the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) that is Modi’s brainchild.

Unveiled by Modi at the G20 meeting in September 2023, the trade route is touted as a response -- albeit belatedly -- to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Elsewhere around Europe, India is increasingly seen as an important partner to counter China’s influence, and to provide opportunities to diversify economic ties at a time of unruly geopolitics. Beyond AI, India has been teaming up with European giants in various sectors, notably defense, transport and aeronautics.

The EU and India have "common interests in breaking out of the U.S.-China confrontation," Malinbaum said.

Ursula von der Leyen announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month that she would soon visit India as the first official visit of her new term as European Commission president. She is expected to ramp up talks on a long-discussed free trade agreement, in view of an upcoming tariff battle with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Europe is knee-deep in a trade conflict with China, with both sides imposing tit-for-tat tariffs and conducting anti-dumping probes, while being in Trump’s crosshairs. Securing closer ties with India is, therefore, a top priority for Brussels.

Having set support for AI and tech as a main direction in the EU’s new roadmap, von der Leyen will attend the Paris summit to "send out a strong message on European AI strategy," a spokesperson for the French presidency told journalists on Monday.

European countries need to step up AI strategies, and India is seen as an ally to help put Europe on the tech map and "overturn the narrative," the spokesperson said.

Top executives and political leaders are expected in Paris, including Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang and U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance. OpenAI boss Sam Altman will also be attending the summit, according to the French presidency, and DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng may be present as well.

Altman has been on an Asia tour that took in India, which AI giants consider to be a strategic market. His company is thought to be seeking new partners following the shockwave caused by Chinese competitor DeepSeek last month.

Paris expects "massive" deals to be signed this week, the presidency’s spokesperson told journalists, the equivalent of the 15 billion euros ($15.6 billion) that poured into France following its investment summit "Choose France" last year. India was the guest of honor at that summit.

France is also actively strengthening defense ties with India, the world’s largest arms importer which is slowly turning away from major supplier Russia in favor of contracts with the West. At the same time, New Delhi is boosting domestic military manufacturing capabilities, which offers opportunities for European defense companies.

During Modi’s trip, the two leaders may finalize a deal for the Indian Navy to procure 26 Rafale-M fighter jets.

"The 26 Rafale Marine aircraft are very critical for the Indian Navy as they will improve its strike capabilities," said Raj Kumar Sharma, a senior research fellow at NatStrat, an independent think tank focused on India’s national security and foreign policy. Sharma pointed to the fact that France is India’s oldest European partner in the space sector, with ties that began in 1964.

Other European countries like Spain, Italy and Poland are also positioning themselves to benefit from military deals with India.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited India in October to inaugurate the Tata Aircraft Complex in Gujarat state that will manufacture Airbus C-295 transport military aircraft in cooperation with Airbus Spain.

Modi was invited to Warsaw in August last year where he met with Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
India opens air show with eye on boosting defence manufacturing and exports (Reuters)
Reuters [2/10/2025 12:55 AM, Shivam Patel and Abhijith Ganapavaram, 5.2M]
India is committed to boosting manufacturing and exports of defence equipment in the coming years, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday at the opening of the country’s biggest air show, where its military ambitions will be in focus.

India, the world’s largest arms importer, has stressed the need to modernise its military and boost domestic defence production to counter rival China’s growing military strength and influence in South Asia.

India’s domestic defence manufacturing value will reach more than 1.25 trillion rupees ($14.24 billion) in the fiscal year ending in March, while its defence exports will cross a record 210 billion rupees for the first time over the same period, Singh said.

"We are fully committed to significantly increase these numbers in the coming years," he said at the show, which kicked off with the country’s fighter jets flying past in formations across a clear sky.

New Delhi aims to explore possible joint production of defence equipment and to scout for billions of dollars worth of military deals at the biennial Aero India aerospace exhibition that began on Monday in the southern city of Bengaluru.

More than 150 foreign companies are participating in the event that runs through Friday, while defence ministers or representatives from about 30 countries were expected to arrive, according to India’s defence ministry.

Two Russian and U.S. fifth-generation advanced stealth fighter jets will also be displayed at the event - the Russian Su-57 and Lockheed Martin’s (LMT.N) F-35 Lightning II, the defence ministry said.

"The inclusion of both the Su-57 and F-35 highlights India’s position as a key hub for international defence and aerospace collaboration," the ministry said. "Aero India 2025 will provide a rare side-by-side comparison of Eastern and Western fifth-generation fighter technology".

Over the past decade, India has steadily increased defence acquisitions from Western nations to diversify its supplies after traditional defence partner Russia was hobbled by the war in Ukraine.

The U.S. embassy in India said more than two dozen American exhibitors will engage Indian counterparts and explore new business opportunities at the event.
‘Our lifeline’: Kashmiris fear losing orchards, land to mega Modi projects (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [2/9/2025 4:14 PM, Staff, 19.6M]
Malik Haroon crouches on the ground covered with white frost on an early winter morning in Dafferpora village in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

He traces his fingers on the bark of an almond tree – of which there are hundreds around – to check for signs of fungal disease.

“It’s fine,” he says, beaming.

With the scenic snow-clad Pir Panjal mountains in the backdrop, Haroon’s 1.25 acres (0.5 hectares) of orchard land, fed by the Rumshi Nallah River in southern Pulwama, are plush with groves that yield nearly 30 tonnes of apples, pears, plums and almonds every year.

However, the Indian government’s decision to construct an engineering college at the site in Pulwama – which includes almost all of Malik’s land – threatens to strip him and thousands of other cultivators in Kashmir of land, the source of economic livelihood for about 4 million people in the region.

“I earn $11,000 on average, annually, on account of their harvest,” Haroon, 27, tells Al Jazeera.

The income has helped his family of four sidestep widespread economic instability and an unemployment crisis in Indian-administered Kashmir since 2019, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu majoritarian government scrapped Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which granted a special status to the Muslim-majority region.

That status allowed the disputed region – also claimed by Pakistan – to make its own laws in all matters except finance, defence, foreign affairs and communications. The law protected the Indigenous rights of the region’s residents by barring outsiders from taking up government jobs or buying property there.

Apart from stripping the region of its special status, the Modi government also carved it into two federally governed union territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

Since then, the government has announced dozens of infrastructure projects, claiming they will bring economic prosperity to the region and connect its people to the rest of India.

But residents and critics fear the slew of projects are aimed at tightening New Delhi’s control over the region, changing its demography by settling in outsiders and boosting access to areas along India’s tense borders with its archrivals China and Pakistan.

One of the projects that has triggered considerable anguish among residents in Pulwama is the establishment of a National Institute of Technology (NIT). The NITs are a government-run nationwide chain of engineering colleges, among the country’s most reputable tech schools. A whopping 600 acres (243 hectares) of land are being acquired for the college, according to a government notification issued on December 24, most of it prime agricultural and horticultural land and grazing grounds residents depend on for livelihoods.

“The proposed land transfer affects as many as 10 villages in Pulwama,” says Haroon. “This land is our lifeline.”

He says that most people in these villages have no economic pursuits other than horticulture.

“Some rear sheep for a living but even then, it is these grounds where the livestock come to graze,” he says.

New railway lines

It is not just a college the government has planned for the region. Since 2019, New Delhi has authorised a series of mega projects – roads, tunnels, railway lines and residential complexes – which critics say could destroy not just prime agricultural land and livelihoods, but also the Himalayan region’s fragile topography.

Kashmiris accuse the government of sidelining them while making decisions about their lands – without consent or proper compensation.

Ghulam Muhammad Tantray, 65, owns 1.25 acres (0.5 hectares) of orchard land at Dirhama, a small cluster of 150 homes amid a vast swath of green fields covered with thousands of apple trees in the Anantnag district.

“The orchard fetches me about $13,000 every year,” Tantray says.

But he fears losing his property after Indian railway officials arrived in Dirhama to conduct what they called a “survey” of lands in the area a year ago.

“We had no idea what was coming until the Railway Ministry revealed that it had commissioned a final location survey to add five new railway tracks to the region. We panicked like anything. It’s like losing something very dear to you. We have groomed this land and these trees like our children,” Tantray tells Al Jazeera.

The valley area of Indian-administered Kashmir has long had just one railway line connecting the southern hill town of Banihal with the Baramulla district in the north.

But the government plans to add five more lines crisscrossing the valley, for which hundreds of acres of land will be acquired, thereby eliminating flourishing apple orchards and other plantations key to the region. The upgrade is part of the government’s ambitious project to link Kashmir with the rest of the country through an all-weather train track, making travel easy and affordable for millions of Indians who visit the region for tourism or religious pilgrimage.

One of the five new railway lines will cross Dirhama, where a railway station will also be built.

“At least 80 of 150 homes in Dirhama will lose their key sources of income after the completion of the railway project,” says Tantray. “As for me, of the 1.25 acres [0.5 hectares] that I own, 1 acre [0.4 hectares] will be used up for the new railway station. What will that leave me with?”

Tantray says the villagers have held several protests, demanding the railway station be relocated and reasoning with government officials that they “never asked for it”.

“The land is our family inheritance. It has ensured our livelihood for generations,” Tantray tells Al Jazeera. “In the face of a rising unemployment crisis, this land is the only option my three sons will have in case they are not able to get jobs.”

Another resident, speaking on condition of anonymity, says: “Locals in Kashmir do not know how these projects will benefit them.”

Al Jazeera reached out to several government officials for their comments on the railway projects, but they did not reply.

Civil, military objectives overlap

Some of the nearly 50 infrastructure projects under way in Indian-administered Kashmir are about building more roads and extending its road connectivity with the border region of Ladakh, where Indian and Chinese troops clashed in 2020, triggering a military standoff that lasted years – with signs of a thaw between the Asian giants only now beginning to emerge.

Last month, Modi inaugurated a 6.5km-long (4 miles) Z-Morh road tunnel, built at an altitude of 2.6km (8,500 feet), which links Kangan village in central Kashmir with Sonmarg, a popular tourist resort on the way towards Ladakh.

Others reflect more clear civilian objectives.

A 250km (155-mile) road connecting the southern plains of Jammu to the region’s main city of Srinagar is being widened into four lanes at a staggering cost of $1.92bn (168 billion rupees), according to government documents.

Then there is a 6.84km (4.3-mile) ring road being built around Srinagar to allow vehicles – both civil and military – to bypass the traffic-clogged urban areas of the city and ease mobility with the districts of Baramulla and Ganderbal abutting Pakistan and China, respectively. The ring road will see new highways built through rice fields and apple orchards around Srinagar.

And then there are initiatives that could serve both civilian and military purposes.

The ring road, for instance, will be complemented by another 161km-long (100 miles) project, costing about $95m, which begins in Srinagar and will join the Baramulla road on its way to the border town of Uri, where it will intersect with another 51km (32 miles) four-lane section, easing the commute between the districts closer to India’s deeply militarised border with Pakistan.

Michael Kugelman, South Asia Institute director at the Wilson Center, a Washington, DC-based think tank, says the projects are intended to strengthen India’s military posture in sensitive border areas, with the repeal of Article 370 making it easier for New Delhi to push forward.

“These infrastructure schemes may be meant to bolster Indian national security interests, but the irony, given locals’ resistance to the projects, is that they could end up undermining them – and that is no small matter in a wider region where grievances against the government have been strong,” he says.

Pulwama resident Haroon also fears the proposed NIT project has military dimensions.

“It looks like this project is meant to create a more entrenched military presence here,” he says. “Otherwise, why would they need 600 acres [243 hectares] of land for the project? The 2014 guidelines issued by India’s Ministry of Human Resources put the ideal land requirement for NITs at 300 acres [121 hectares]. But this is twice as much.”

Altaf Thakur, spokesman for Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the region, concedes that some of these projects “are of dual-use in nature”.

“But the fact is that they are also there to facilitate the local economy and eliminate travel-related hassles,” he tells Al Jazeera. “Obviously, a lot of thinking goes behind these projects. Why would we bring a project if it does not benefit the people?”

‘Death by a thousand infrastructure projects’
In another move that has prompted fears of a demographic change in the region, the government last year announced the setting up of at least 30 residential colonies within a 500-metre (1,640ft) periphery of the Srinagar ring road.

Fears of a demographic alteration arose in Kashmir in 2020 when New Delhi relaxed rules for Indian nationals to settle in the region.

Kashmiri academic Mohamad Junaid, assistant professor of anthropology at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in the United States, tells Al Jazeera he fears the railway and other infrastructure projects are not based on Kashmiri people’s needs, “or even on future needs of the Kashmiri society”.

“They are meant to alter the landscape and disorient and disrupt the Kashmiri economy. It is death by a thousand infrastructure projects,” he says, adding the Kashmir Valley has “very limited agricultural land available which is critical for a large section of the society to sustain themselves”.

“Building such projects upon it will not only consume land but also disconnect communities and create barriers between them. While it is clear the railways are meant for Hindu pilgrimage and troop movement, it is even more worrisome that the government is creating ‘townships’ – for who? These settlements are not meant for Kashmiris.”

The BJP, however, accuses critics of trying to keep Kashmir “trapped in its violence-ridden past”.

“All those whose land is involved in these projects will be compensated,” spokesman Thakur insists. “These things don’t happen without consensus. The projects have long-term benefits and will maximise the economic potential in the region.”

Activists, meanwhile, describe the ongoing land acquisitions for New Delhi’s projects as “arbitrary”, alleging that some aggrieved landowners were being compensated under a 1990 law, which they say became outdated after New Delhi scrapped the region’s special status.

“The newly-applicable Right to Fair Compensation Act of 2013 promises compensation four times the market rate,” says Raja Muzaffar Bhat, an environmental activist based in the region.

A retired government officer, familiar with the controversy regarding allegedly lower compensation to the landowners under the Srinagar ring road project, says the government invoked the 1990 law retrospectively because the 2013 law was not applicable when the notification for the project was issued in 2017.

“The compensation rates have to be drawn up within two years of the issuance of notification,” he says, speaking on condition of anonymity. “But in this case, it took more than three years. By the time it was prepared, Article 370 was revoked and a new law came into its place.”

But Haroon in Pulwama says he will refuse the government’s compensation or a job offered in place of his land.

“Jobs or compensation will last only for a few years. But this land has been passed down for generations,” he says.

“Just last year, 1kg [2.2 pounds] of almond we produced on this land sold for 250 rupees (almost $3). This year, it sold for 350 (more than $4). When considered in totality, that is a massive hike in income which a job or one-time reparation can never compensate for.”
NSB
Tulip Siddiq’s illegal funds in the UK will be seized, vow Bangladeshi authorities (The Telegraph)
The Telegraph [2/9/2025 7:24 PM, Neil Johnston, 24814K]
Bangladeshi authorities have vowed to seize funds in the UK from Tulip Siddiq which they claim were obtained through worldwide money laundering.

Senior officials at the country’s anti-corruption commission (ACC) are "actively working to repatriate" money they say was siphoned off by her aunt Sheikh Hasina’s despotic regime.

Akhtar Hossain, the ACC’s director general, said it was liaising with "multiple countries" over investigations into the family of Sheikh Hasina, the former prime minister of Bangladesh.

Ms Siddiq is still facing questions over her property affairs and links to her aunt’s authoritarian regime in Bangladesh nearly a month after she resigned as City minister.

She was forced to resign from the front bench after Sir Laurie Magnus, the Prime Minister’s ethics adviser, found that she had inadvertently misled the public over a flat gifted to her by a man linked to the Awami League Party led by Hasina.

The MP, whose short-lived position as Treasury minister had included combating corruption, had referred herself after weeks of questions over her use of properties in London linked to her aunt’s political party.

Sheikh Hasina, 77, who had been the longest-serving prime minister of Bangladesh, is now in India, having been ousted last August.

It came after a brutal response to protests over the summer which resulted in the massacre of 1,500 people.

During her tenure, it was alleged that opponents were attacked, arrested and secretly imprisoned as the regime carried out extrajudicial killings.

The ACC has launched a number of investigations into Sheikh Hasina including a number where Ms Siddiq has been named.

The most serious case accuses Hasina and other family members including Ms Siddiq of being involved in the £4 billion embezzlement of funds from a nuclear power plant deal with Russia.

It emerged on Sunday night that the money-laundering inquiry has been widened to 12 countries.

Investigators from the ACC had requested information from between 10 and 12 countries as part of investigations into Hasina and with her family, it was reported by The Times.

It remains unclear as to which countries have been approached for information regarding inquiries into Siddiq.

"Our teams are working to recover funds that were siphoned off [abroad]. We are assured of assistance from the UK, the European Union and other countries," a spokesman said.

During late January, officers from Britain’s National Crime Agency spent several days in Dhaka aiding ACC investigators with their inquiries.

Speaking yesterday Mr Hossain said the ACC was still investigating Ms Siddiq’s alleged involvement and had asked the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit to send a report.

"We are still also collecting evidence from foreign sources, including the UK and other countries. Initial reports indicate that the laundered money has been transferred not only to the UK but to multiple destinations," he said.

"We are trying to send mutual legal assistance requests through the proper channel. So, after getting [help] from overseas and other sources, then our team will decide how they will proceed on.".

Investigators in Bangladesh have been assisted by Britain’s National Crime Agency and travelled to the country’s capital city of Dhaka in October.

Mr Hossain indicated that it would take legal action or seek the help from authorities to recover funds it believed had been laundered to the UK.

"Law enforcement agencies from multiple countries, including the European Union and the UK, have assured their co-operation in recovering laundered money," he said.

"Several meetings have already been held regarding this matter, and the investigation team is actively working to repatriate the funds through legal procedures.".

A spokesman for Ms Siddiq said: "No evidence has been presented for these allegations. Tulip Siddiq has not been contacted by anyone on the matter and totally denies the claims.".
Minister blames monkey for Sri Lanka nationwide power cut (BBC)
BBC [2/9/2025 11:15 PM, George Wright and Kelly Ng, 57114K]
A nationwide blackout in Sri Lanka has been blamed on a monkey that intruded into a power station south of Colombo.

Power is gradually being restored across the island nation of 22 million people, with medical facilities and water purification plants being given priority.

"A monkey has come in contact with our grid transformer, causing an imbalance in the system," Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody told reporters.

The blackout started at about 11:00 local time (05:30 GMT) Sunday, forcing many to rely on generators. Officials say it may take a few hours to get power back.

On social media, people criticised the authorities while making fun of the incident.

"A rogue monkey knocked out Sri Lanka’s entire power grid after triggering a total failure at a substation in Colombo," X user Mario Nawfal wrote.

"One monkey = total chaos. Time to rethink infrastructure?" he added.

Another X user, Sreeni R, posted an illustration of Hanuman, a Hindu god with the face of a monkey.

"Sri Lanka tasted monkey business in the past," he wrote.

"Only in Sri Lanka can a group of monkeys fighting inside a power station cause an islandwide power outage," wrote Jamila Husain, editor-in-chief of local newspaper Daily Mirror.

In a report published on Monday, the newspaper said engineers have been warning consecutive governments "for years" to upgrade its power grid or face frequent blackouts.

"The national power grid is in such a weakened state that frequent islandwide power outages maybe expected if there is a disturbance even in one of our lines," it quoted an unnamed senior engineer saying.

Sri Lanka experienced widespread blackouts during its economic crisis in 2022.
Sri Lanka investigates deaths of British and German tourists (Deutsche Welle)
Deutsche Welle [2/8/2025 5:02 AM, Wesley Dockery, 13448K]
Sri Lanka police said Saturday that they have opened an investigation into the deaths of two female tourists.

A 24-year-old British national, along with a 26-year-old German, were feeling sick at their hostel in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, and then taken to the hospital.

The family of the British woman, Ebony McIntosh, said she had experienced symptoms of vomiting, nausea and difficulty breathing.

McIntosh passed away in the Sri Lankan hospital where she was being treated on February 1. It was the same day she entered the facility for treatment.

The German woman passed away later. She was staying at the hotel with a German man, who is still hospitalized.

What could the cause of their deaths be?

Sri Lankan authorities are seeking to determine whether the deaths of the tourists can be linked to their rooms being cleansed for insects on January 30. The police say toxic pesticides may have been used in the rooms to control bed bugs and other pests.

There is also a chance that the death of the female tourists could have been due to food poisoning.

Ebony McIntosh’s family has started a GoFundMe to travel to Sri Lanka and bring her back to the UK. "We need to be with her and bring her home safely," it read on the GoFundMe page.
Central Asia
Chevron accelerates Kazakh oilfield ramp-up, sources say (Reuters)
Reuters [2/7/2025 10:57 PM, Staff, 129344K]
Chevron is speeding up its expansion of Kazakhstan’s Tengiz oilfield, two sources familiar with the plans told Reuters, raising its output to around 1% of global crude supply.

Chevron said in January it had begun a $48 billion expansion of Tengiz, which is one of the world’s deepest and most complex fields due to high sulphur levels and harsh weather conditions.

Enlargement of the Kazakh oilfield has suffered delays and huge cost overruns since it began in 2012.

Clay Neff, Chevron’s head of international exploration and production, told Reuters last month that the Tengiz expansion was expected to reach full capacity of 260,000 barrels per day (bpd) by June, lifting its overall production to around 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Chevron’s spokesperson said on Friday that Tengizchevroil (TCO) has safely started initial production from the Future Growth Project (FGP).

"Once all Tengiz facilities are operating at full capacity, TCO’s total annual crude oil production is expected to reach approximately 40 million tons per annum. Beyond this, TCO does not comment on specific details of current or future production levels," he said.

A source familiar with the plans said on Friday that Chevron is likely to complete the ramp-up of the expansion by the end of February, four months earlier than expected.

Kazakhstan has persistently exceeded its output quota of 1.468 million bpd under the production-curbing deal struck by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia - together known as OPEC+.

The speedy expansion of the field will likely complicate efforts to restrain Kazakhstan’s overall oil output in line with the quotas agreed by the OPEC+ group of leading producers.

The Central Asian country plans to boost its oil and gas condensate production this year to 96.2 million metric tons (around 2 million bpd) from 87.56 million tons in 2024.

Kazakhstan’s energy ministry said on Tuesday that the country will do whatever is necessary this and next year to fulfil its obligations under the OPEC+ agreement and compensate for oil overproduction in 2024.

CPC

Oil from the field is shipped via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline for export from a terminal near Russia’s Black Sea’s port of Novorossiisk.

Another source, familiar with the data, said oil production at Tengiz has already reached 900,000 bpd, up from 606,000 bpd on average in 2024.

"It is ahead of schedule it seems," a trader said.

Chevron has a 50% stake in the Tengizchevroil joint venture, which it operates. Exxon Mobil holds 25%, Kazakh oil firm KazMunayGas 20% and Russia’s Lukoil 5%.

Tengizchevroil is expected to generate $4 billion of free cash flow in 2025 and $5 billion next year at an average Brent price of $60 a barrel.

The oil currently trades at around $75 per barrel.
Indo-Pacific
As Pakistan and India spar over basmati rice, some fear for its survival (Washington Post)
Washington Post [2/8/2025 1:00 AM, Rick Noack and Karishma Mehrotra, 40736K]
Long before this land was part of a frontier between India and Pakistan, farmers here grew a precious long-grain rice that was coveted the world over.

Basmati rice — the region’s “scented pearl” — was probably once exported to the Roman Empire, historians say, and is today in growing demand in the United States and Europe. Yet its origins have never been more divisive or its future more uncertain.

Officials in New Delhi are pushing for basmati rice to be granted protected status in global markets as a uniquely Indian product. They have been met with vehement opposition from Pakistan, which claims the rice is part of a shared heritage between the two countries.

But in the world’s basmati heartlands, many fear the real threat is being ignored by leaders in both nations. As analysts predict international demand for basmati to double over the next few years — reaching an estimated $27 billion by 2032 — farmers and rice connoisseurs say the signature strain is on the brink of disappearing.

Basmati’s name is derived from an ancient Indo-Aryan word for “aromatic” and “fragrant,” and it is described by many here in almost religious terms.

“There’s this special moment when you lift the lid of your metal pot and the steam comes out,” said Muhammad Nawaz, 37, a Pakistani chef. “It’s an eruption inside your nose; it intoxicates you.”

Nobody can say with certainty when exactly that began to change. But all agree that’s not what most basmati rice here tastes like these days — even if it carries the label.

“Young farmers have lost the traditional knowledge of how to maintain genetic purity,” said Debal Deb, an ecologist who works with Indian farmers to conserve indigenous seeds. He called the debate over who owns basmati “a complete waste of energy on both sides.”

In the 1980s, Indian and Pakistani farmers seeking a market advantage began growing varieties that matured faster and produced higher yields but lacked basmati’s characteristic richness. As small farms gave way to large agribusiness over the following decades, quicker harvest cycles, processing shortcuts and soil degradation, partly caused by climate change, all contributed to a less fragrant rice.

But the new varieties are cheaper and easier to prepare at home. More important, according to exporters, most customers in the West can’t tell the difference.

In Lahore, and across this agricultural belt of South Asia, many feel that true basmati rice is quietly dying out. “We have compromised on the definition,” said Faisal Hassan, whose father became a national hero in Pakistan when he helped create a popular variety of basmati rice in the 1960s.

“This is suicidal,” he said.

Basmati’s global boom

Basmati rice is deeply rooted in the Punjab region, which today comprises a state in India and an adjacent Pakistani province. Early forms may have been cultivated here as long as 2,000 years ago, archaeologists have found; written references to the rice appear as early as the 16th century, when the Mughal Empire ruled over much of the Indian subcontinent.

“It was the food of emperors and kings,” said Raja Arslan Ullah Khan, a Pakistani rice exporter.

In the 1930s, Britain’s colonial government in India officially recognized the first standardized variety of basmati, which had been researched in a part of what would become the Pakistani Punjab province when British India was partitioned in 1947.

Basmati rice wasn’t an immediate international success. Initial importers were mostly in the Middle East, which had a growing affinity for biryani, and among South Asian diasporas in Europe and the United States.

From the start, India and Pakistan quarreled over who had the best basmati, and who had rightful claim to the name. In the 1965 Indo-Pakistani war, Pakistani farmers accused Indian soldiers of stealing their seeds; India subsequently accused its neighbor of copying its most prized varieties.

“Our rice was far better in quality compared to that of India,” said Chaudhry Arshad Mahmood, a 55-year-old Pakistani farmer whose family has grown rice in the region for decades.

Ganesh Hingmire, an Indian professor who specializes in intellectual property disputes, couldn’t disagree more: “If you have an inferior quality, you have no right to claim it’s yours,” he said.

In recent decades, India has undeniably gained the upper hand in the race to global basmati dominance. Its increasingly successful marketing strategies and export policies have outpaced those of Pakistan, which is “late to the party,” said Saboor Ahmed, a rice supplier in Lahore.

The country is looking for opportunities to seize more market share, as it did after 2018, when Indian exports to Europe were affected by new E.U. pesticide limits.

But “let’s be honest: Their variety is similar to ours,” said Yograjdeep Singh, a basmati rice business strategist in India. “Why are we fighting about this?”

New Delhi’s global efforts to enshrine its ownership of basmati have largely stalled. While an Indian case in the European Union is pending, Australia and New Zealand have rejected similar legal claims.

A legacy in doubt

There are no exact figures for how much traditional basmati is still grown in Pakistan, but exporters and experts agree that the majority of rice produced here is now of the newer, high-yield varieties. On the other side of the border, Pusa Basmati 1121, or PB 1121, a newer strain, accounted for around 70 percent of all basmati cultivated in India’s Punjab state in 2019.

It’s a trend that is unlikely to be reversed. According to one study, farmers netted an average of $1,400 per hectare of PB 1121, more than double the $650 they earned from older varieties.

Deb, the Indian ecologist, maintains his own rice seed bank, part of a small but growing grassroots movement to conserve traditional basmati. “We maintain genetic purity of each variety,” he said, “and then distribute them to farmers for free.” He added that more extensive efforts are needed across the region if the original taste and smell of indigenous varieties are to endure.

In Pakistan, people say basmati will always have a place at their tables, even if it’s not what it once was.

Faqir Hussain, a Lahore-based restaurant owner, switched to serving his customers a cheaper long-grain alternative years ago. “People will probably forget that traditional basmati rice ever existed,” he said.

Hussain and other businessmen in Pakistan are focused on catering to younger generations — the country’s median age is around 20 — who often lack the emotional connection to traditional basmati and the means to afford it.

Lahore-based waiter Saqib Ur Rahaman, 52, said he understands why many are moving on; dishes at his restaurant would double in price if the old varieties were still used.

For Rahaman, though, there’s no substitute for the original. He still receives the precious grains at affordable prices from his wife’s relatives, who live nearby in the rice-growing heartlands.

“As long as my in-laws are alive, I’ll be okay,” he said.
Twitter
Afghanistan
Shawn VanDiver
@shawnjvandiver
[2/9/2025 1:56 PM, 30.5K followers, 58 retweets, 283 likes]
This has always been, remains, and should always be a non-political / non-partisan issue. #AfghanEvac https://www.newsweek.com/republican-urges-trump-admin-admit-afghan-allies-during-refugee-freeze-2028462

Habib Khan
@HabibKhanT
[2/9/2025 12:23 PM, 247.5K followers, 296 retweets, 735 likes]
The Taliban’s ban on girls’ education has now lasted 1241 days, and it will continue for thousands more, as they view educated women as a threat to their regime. As long as the Taliban remain in power, women will be denied the right to work or study.

Habib Khan
@HabibKhanT
[2/9/2025 12:46 PM, 247.5K followers, 45 retweets, 195 likes]
Afghanistan’s Freedom Front killed three Taliban members in an attack that targeted a Taliban convoy in Taloqan city of Takhar province.

Freshta Razbaan
@RazbaanFreshta
[2/8/2025 8:25 AM, 5.5K followers, 48 retweets, 100 likes]
Heartbreaking news: Ghulam Jilani, a P2 case holder for the US, who had been waiting for his process for years, passed away due to a heart attack in Golberg Green, Islamabad, from the stress of case suspension and fear of deportation to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. His oldest child is only 10, and his family has no guardian. P1 and P2 case holders processed by USRAP have been under severe psychological stress since President Trump @POTUS suspended the process, leading to mental health issues. They waited over three years for their legal process to complete. #WartimeAllies #NoOneLeftBehind #PromisesKept #USRAP
Pakistan
Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan
@ForeignOfficePk
[2/8/2025 3:36 PM, 480.8K followers, 21 retweets, 42 likes]
Deputy Prime Minister/ Foreign Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50 received a telephone call from Foreign Minister of Iran, H.E Seyyed Abbas Araghchi today.
- The two Ministers exchanged views on the situation in Middle East with a particular focus on the continuing plight of Palestinians in Gaza.
- ⁠Commenting on the proposal to displace the people of Gaza, the Deputy Prime Minister/ Foreign Minister termed it as deeply troubling and unjust.
- ⁠He emphasized that the Palestinian land belongs to the Palestinian people and the only viable and just option is the two-state solution, in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions. Pakistan shall continue to support the establishment of a sovereign, independent, and contiguous Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital, he added.
- ⁠He also conveyed Pakistan’s support for convening of an Extraordinary OIC meeting of Foreign Ministers to deliberate upon this issue.
- ⁠The two Ministers agreed to maintain close contact on these developments in the days ahead.

Imran Khan
@ImranKhanPTI
[2/8/2025 3:51 PM, 21.1M followers, 15K retweets, 25K likes]
Second Open Letter to the Chief of Army Staff by Former Prime Minister Imran Khan - February 8, 2025

“I wrote an open letter to the Chief of Army Staff (you) with sincerity and in the best interest of the nation, aiming to bridge the widening gulf between the military and the people. However, the response to my letter was highly dismissive and irresponsible. I am the former Prime Minister of Pakistan and the leader of the country’s largest and most popular political party. I have spent my entire life elevating the name of Pakistan on the global stage. 55 years of my public life since 1970 and what I earned in the last 30 years is all transparent for everyone to see. My life and death are inextricably linked to Pakistan. My concern is for the perception of our army and the serious consequences of the growing divide between the people and their armed forces, which is what prompted me to write the letter. I highlighted six key points in my letter, and if public opinion is sought, 90% of the people would agree with them.

The manipulation of election results through pre-poll rigging orchestrated by intelligence agencies, the forced passage of the 26th Constitutional Amendment in Parliament at gunpoint to take control of the judiciary and appoint handpicked judges, the imposition of draconian legislation like the amendments to PECA laws to silence dissent, the economic devastation caused by political instability and the rule of force, the persistent targeting of the largest political party through state terrorism, and the engagement of state institutions in political engineering and victimization instead of fulfilling their constitutional duties, are all deepening the rift between the people and the military.

The army is a vital institution of the country, but a few black sheep within it are causing severe damage to its reputation. One such individual, a colonel stationed at Adiala Jail, is blatantly violating the constitution, the law, and prison regulations while trampling on human rights. He disregards court orders with impunity and behaves like an ‘occupying force’. The former, conscientious, Superintendent of Adiala Jail, Akram, was abducted and tortured for upholding the law and ensuring adherence to prison rules. Now, the entire prison staff is being intimidated. Under the orders of this colonel, in blatant violation of fundamental rights, the prison administration has subjected me to relentless persecution to exert pressure on me.

I was placed in solitary confinement in a death-row cell for 20 days, where even the light of the sun could not reach. Electricity to my cell was cut off for five consecutive days, leaving me in total darkness. My exercise equipment, television, and even access to newspapers was taken away. Even outside those 20 days, books are arbitrarily withheld, or I am placed in lockdown again for 40 hours at a time. In defiance of court orders, I have only been allowed to speak to my sons three times in the last six months, depriving me of my fundamental and legal rights.

My party members travel long distances to visit me, yet they are denied access despite court directives. In the past six months, only a handful of individuals have been allowed to meet me. Despite clear orders from the Islamabad High Court, I am not permitted to meet my wife, who is also in solitary confinement.

The forced passage of the 26th Constitutional Amendment was aimed at controlling the judiciary, recruiting handpicked judges, and suppressing election fraud and human rights violations. My legal cases are being decided under extreme pressure. I have been sentenced in four cases through unlawful convictions. The pressure on judges is so intense that one judge’s blood pressure spiked five times, requiring hospitalization in the prison hospital. That judge confided in my lawyer that immense pressure was exerted from the "top" to convict me and my wife. 1/2

Imran Khan
@ImranKhanPTI
[2/8/2025 3:51 PM, 21.1M followers, 3.4K retweets, 5K likes]
Extreme violence was unleashed on our unarmed pro-democracy supporters on May 9th (2023) and November 26th (2024). Peaceful civilians were directly shot at. Over the past three years, state security agencies have raided the homes of hundreds of thousands of our supporters, arrested over 20,000 of them, abducted and tortured many, and detained thousands on baseless charges for months. Under pressure from state agencies, more than 2,000 bail petitions for our supporters and party leaders remain indefinitely delayed in high courts.

The treatment meted out to our women over the past three years is shameful and disgraceful. Never in Pakistan’s history have the families of politicians been targeted in this manner. This highlights the moral decline of our society. Elderly women and young girls have been imprisoned. My wife (Bushra Bibi), Dr. Yasmin Rashid — a 75-year-old cancer patient — my sisters, both over 65 years old, and hundreds of other women have been unjustly detained, violating their dignity.

During the time of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), women, the elderly, and children were not harassed. Islam prohibits mistreatment of even the enemy’s women and children during war, yet, our own mothers, sisters, and daughters are not spared here. This is against our traditions and has fueled growing resentment against the military, which, if not addressed promptly, could lead to irreversible damage to both the army and the country.

The draconian amendments to the PECA law have been used to curb social media and internet freedoms. As a result, Pakistan’s GSP Plus status is now at risk. Disruptions to the internet have caused billions of dollars in losses to our IT industry and destroyed career opportunities for the youth.

By dishonoring the people’s mandate to satisfy the whims of a few individuals, a political crisis has been engineered, plunging the economy into chaos. Investors and skilled professionals are fleeing the country with their capital. Economic instability is at its peak. Growth has stagnated, and investment in Pakistan has dwindled to negligible levels. Poverty and unemployment are soaring.

Our soldiers are sacrificing their lives for Pakistan. Success in the war against terrorism requires the unwavering support of the people for the military. However, due to the establishment’s policies and these unlawful actions, military’s reputation is steadily deteriorating. These are violations of the military’s oath. No country’s army treats its own citizens in this manner — such behavior is typical of occupying forces that consider themselves above all laws and constitutions.

For national stability and security, it is imperative to bridge the growing divide between the armed forces and the people. There is only one way to achieve this: the military must return to its constitutional boundaries, disengage from politics, and focus on its designated duties. The military must take this step itself; otherwise, this widening gulf will become a national security fault line.” 2/2

Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office
@amnestysasia
[2/7/2025 3:48 AM, 96.2K followers, 2 retweets, 15 likes]
PAKISTAN: Discrimination against Khwajasira and transgender individuals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa does not end with their death. Families often refuse to claim their Khwajasira or transgender loved one’s bodies, leaving the community to manage burial arrangements. Arzoo Khan, a transgender activist and executive director of the Manzil Foundation, describes how arranging a burial for a transgender individual is an uphill battle - from trying to secure the government’s approval for burial in public cemeteries, to convincing religious clerics who refuse to offer the funeral prayers. Khwajasira or transgender people are restricted from entering and participating in funeral prayers in public prayer spaces. According to Manzil Foundation, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has announced plans to designate land for a dedicated cemetery for Khwajasira and transgender individuals to bury their dead, but no implementation has as yet taken place.

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[2/9/2025 9:52 AM, 218.2K followers, 2.7K retweets, 7K likes]
A year ago, Pakistan’s PTI, cut down to size, not allowed to directly field candidates & deprived of the use of its electoral symbol, fielded independents that won the most seats, defeating the military-sponsored parties. One of the biggest electoral feats in Pakistan’s history.

Madiha Afzal
@MadihaAfzal
[2/8/2025 2:25 PM, 43.1K followers, 22 retweets, 86 likes]
A year after a marred election, Pakistan’s civilian coalition government & military team have consolidated & cemented their hold on power — for the remainder of this electoral term, if not beyond. Political instability, a mainstay for nearly three years, seems to have plateaued.

Madiha Afzal
@MadihaAfzal
[2/8/2025 2:28 PM, 43.1K followers, 3 retweets, 12 likes]
This has had costs: to the country’s democracy, to the judiciary’s independence, to people’s freedom of speech and their right to information.

Madiha Afzal
@MadihaAfzal
[2/8/2025 2:32 PM, 43.1K followers, 2 retweets, 12 likes]
Is this model going to generate much desired levels of economic growth for the country? At this point at least, I don’t see the signs or the vision.
India
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[2/10/2025 2:01 AM, 105.2M followers, 1.8K retweets, 11K likes]
Over the next few days, I will be in France and USA to take part in various programmes. In France, I will be taking part in the AI Action Summit, where India is the co-chair. I will be holding talks with President @EmmanuelMacron towards strengthening India-France relations. We will also be going to Marseille to inaugurate a Consulate there. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2101222

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[2/10/2025 2:01 AM, 105.2M followers, 423 retweets, 1.7K likes]
In Washington DC, I look forward to meeting @POTUS @realDonaldTrump. This visit will further cement India-USA friendship and boost ties in diverse sectors. I warmly recall working with President Trump during his first term and I am sure our talks will build on the ground covered then.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[2/8/2025 4:01 AM, 105.2M followers, 16K retweets, 103K likes]
Jana Shakti is paramount! Development wins, good governance triumphs. I bow to my dear sisters and brothers of Delhi for this resounding and historic mandate to @BJP4India. We are humbled and honoured to receive these blessings. It is our guarantee that we will leave no stone unturned in developing Delhi, improving the overall quality of life for the people and ensuring that Delhi has a prime role to play in building a Viksit Bharat.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[2/8/2025 4:01 AM, 105.2M followers, 2.8K retweets, 13K likes]
I am so proud of each and every @BJP4India Karyakarta, who has worked very hard, leading to this outstanding result. We will work even more vigorously and serve the wonderful people of Delhi.

Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[2/7/2025 12:36 PM, 105.2M followers, 6.5K retweets, 33K likes]
Just concluded an extensive meeting of the Advisory Board of WAVES, the global summit that brings together the world of entertainment, creativity and culture. The members of the Advisory Board are eminent individuals from different walks of life, who not only reiterated their support but also shared valuable inputs on how to further enhance our efforts to make India a global entertainment hub.

President of India
@rashtrapatibhvn
[2/9/2025 11:28 PM, 26.4M followers, 643 retweets, 6.4K likes]
Governor of Uttar Pradesh Smt Anandiben Patel and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath received President Droupadi Murmu on her arrival at Prayagraj.

President of India
@rashtrapatibhvn
[2/7/2025 7:13 AM, 26.4M followers, 493 retweets, 5.8K likes]
Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Shri Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu called on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

President of India
@rashtrapatibhvn
[2/8/2025 1:44 AM, 26.4M followers, 257 retweets, 2.1K likes]
Governor of Kerala, Shri Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar called on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[2/8/2025 7:46 AM, 218.2K followers, 24 retweets, 244 likes]
India’s BJP scores a dramatic electoral feat, taking Delhi’s elections for the first time in nearly 30 years. It beat the AAP at its own game, arguing it can best do development, bring basic services, and counter corruption. And it defeats Arvind Kejriwal, a longtime BJP nemesis.

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[2/9/2025 7:56 AM, 218.2K followers, 32 retweets, 216 likes]
It’s official: India’s PM Modi will visit Washington Feb 12-13. He’ll be just the third world leader to meet Trump since he took office. The first two, the Israeli and Japanese PMs, represent two top U.S. allies. Likely on the agenda: Trade, energy, immigration, defense, Quad.
NSB
Ashok Swain
@ashoswai
[2/9/2025 3:17 PM, 621.5K followers, 30 retweets, 149 likes]
When Hasina was in power in Bangladesh, the opposition was not allowed to have a voice. After Hasina fled from Bangladesh, the opposition is not allowed to have a voice. Bangladesh was not a democracy, Bangladesh is still not a democracy.

Michael Kugelman
@MichaelKugelman
[2/7/2025 8:26 AM, 218.2K followers, 9 retweets, 28 likes]
I spoke to @dwnews about the recent attacks on the homes of Sheikh Hasina and her father, why there is so much anger against Hasina in Bangladesh, and how the country has changed since her ouster. Part of a solid report by @beenishjaved

Anura Kumara Dissanayake
@anuradisanayake
[2/10/2025 2:04 AM, 145.3K followers, 12 retweets, 96 likes]
I am heading for the UAE on a three-day official visit at the invitation of President @MohamedBinZayed. I look forward to addressing the 2025 World Government Summit, engaging in key bilateral discussions, and exploring investment opportunities for Sri Lanka.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake
@anuradisanayake
[2/7/2025 11:16 AM, 145.3K followers, 15 retweets, 212 likes]
I invited Sri Lankan exporters to rebuild and thrive on a strong economic foundation and assured them the government is ready to support recovery efforts and work towards economic stability. Strategic trade agreements, not reckless market moves, will secure our place in the global economy.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake
@anuradisanayake
[2/9/2025 5:18 AM, 145.3K followers, 36 retweets, 274 likes]
Today (07), under my patronage, Sri Lanka launched three key digital initiatives to accelerate our digital transformation. GovPay, eBMD, and the expansion of the President’s Fund will ensure efficiency, accessibility, and transparency. Digitalization is the key to our nation’s progress! My government is committed to elevating our nation to a new stage of development through digitalization.

Namal Rajapaksa
@RajapaksaNamal
[2/9/2025 11:42 AM, 436.8K followers, 10 likes]
Met with SLPP supporters at the Viharagala residence of former Pradeshiya Sabha member Chandana Udayakumara as part of the Gamin Gamata initiative. Grateful for their well wishes and unwavering support.#GaminGamataNR #SLPP

Namal Rajapaksa
@RajapaksaNamal
[2/9/2025 10:07 AM, 436.8K followers, 12 likes]
Visited the historic Somawathiya Raja Maha Viharaya, built in the 2nd century BC and home to the sacred right tooth relic of Lord Buddha. Received blessings from Most Ven. Dr. Pahamune Sumangala Nayaka Thero.#GaminGamataNR #Polonnaruwa #SLPP

Namal Rajapaksa
@RajapaksaNamal
[2/7/2025 9:14 AM, 436.8K followers, 34 retweets, 121 likes]
In 2017, #USAID donated $2 million to combat AIDS in Sri Lanka, aiming to end the epidemic by 2025. But by Jan. 2025, HIV cases have risen compared to 2023, according to local media reports. Wonder what happened to this $2 million and on what it was invested on? @elonmusk @RapidResponse47
Central Asia
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service
@president_uz
[2/7/2025 10:11 AM, 211.7K followers, 4 retweets, 21 likes]
President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev chaired a meeting on boosting the service sector in the regions. A program launched three years ago has already shown success, with 1.5 million people gaining stable income and the service sector growing from $19 billion in 2018 to $65 billion. Key sectors like IT, finance, tourism, aviation, education, and healthcare have seen significant growth. This year’s goals include increasing service volume to $82 billion, exports to $8.5 billion, and creating 2.5 million jobs in the sector, with specific growth targets for each area.

Navbahor Imamova
@Navbahor
[2/8/2025 2:32 PM, 24K followers, 3 retweets, 3 likes]
http://UzDiplomat.uz, journalist Anora Sodiqova’s new media platform, was set to hold an awards ceremony today to recognize "the best" in Uzbekistan’s media, political, and civil sectors. However, Zarafshon Hall in Tashkent abruptly closed its doors to 150 attendees from across the country, despite multiple official permits for the gathering. The decision was clearly the result of serious pressure from somewhere above the permitting authorities. In response, UzDiplomat successfully relocated the event to a large restaurant, where it proceeded without issue. This incident serves as a testament to the resilience and determination of Uzbekistan’s media community—never underestimate their power and will. The winners, determined through a media survey, were predominantly government officials and entities, including Sardor Umurzakov, President Mirziyoyev’s former right-hand man. Now serving as a special advisor, Umurzakov has remained largely out of the public eye for nearly two years. He was invited to today’s event but did not attend.

{End of Report}
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