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:
Friday, March 21, 2025 6:30 AM ET

Afghanistan
Taliban Frees American Tourist Held in Afghanistan Since 2022 (New York Times)
New York Times [3/20/2025 4:14 PM, Edward Wong, 831K]
The Taliban on Thursday released George Glezmann, an American held since 2022 in Afghanistan, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

Mr. Glezmann, an Atlanta native, was a Delta Air Lines mechanic who was detained while visiting Afghanistan as a tourist in December 2022. The State Department had officially designated him a wrongful detainee.

Mr. Glezmann boarded a Qatari aircraft in Kabul, the Afghan capital, to fly to Doha, Qatar, with U.S. and Qatari officials on Thursday. Qatar maintains close ties with the ruling Taliban government in Afghanistan and has hosted talks between it and U.S. officials. Negotiations between the first Trump administration and Taliban insurgents for a U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan occurred in Doha.

In his announcement of Mr. Glezmann’s release, Mr. Rubio thanked the Qatari government for its help. Adam Boehler, who had been President Trump’s pick for special envoy for hostage affairs, took part in the negotiations with the Taliban.

The meeting in Kabul between American and Taliban officials was the first known in-person contact of any significance between the two governments since Mr. Trump took office in January. Mr. Boehler was accompanied on the trip by Zalmay Khalilzad, the special envoy for Afghanistan reconciliation in the first Trump administration and a former ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations.

Mr. Boehler arrived at the meeting in Kabul dressed in a gray jacket, black sweater and black baseball cap. Mr. Khalilzad wore a navy suit and purple-and-red floral tie. They sat at a wooden table across from Amir Khan Muttaqi, the foreign minister of Afghanistan, and other Afghan officials, photographs of the meeting showed.

The Taliban toppled a U.S.-backed Afghan government in August 2021 and returned to power after President Joseph R. Biden Jr. executed the troop withdrawal that Mr. Trump had negotiated in his first term. The United States does not have diplomatic relations with the Taliban and has imposed sanctions on its officials. Moderate Taliban officials are seeking to normalize relations with the United States.

The United States does not maintain a presence in Kabul, unlike European countries, which have been more successful in negotiating releases of their citizens with the Taliban.

Mr. Rubio said on Thursday that Mr. Glezmann’s release was “also a reminder that other Americans are still detained in Afghanistan.”

The State Department said it was still seeking the return of six American detainees in Afghanistan and the remains of one U.S. citizen. The agency has not labeled them wrongfully detained, although one State Department official said the Americans were unjustly detained.

A wrongful detention designation means the U.S. government tries to prioritize freeing that citizen.

The department has focused on Mahmood Shah Habibi, an Afghan American businessman who was taken from his vehicle near his home in Kabul in August 2022, according to an F.B.I. report. Mr. Habibi worked for the Asia Consultancy Group, a telecommunications company based in Kabul.

The Taliban government released two Americans, Ryan Corbett and William Wallace McKenty, in late January in a prisoner swap arranged by the Biden administration. U.S. officials released Khan Mohammed, a member of the Taliban who had been imprisoned for life in California on charges of drug trafficking and terrorism. Mr. Biden gave a conditional commutation to Mr. Mohammed before he left office.
American prisoner released by Taliban after first high-level U.S. visit (Washington Post)
Washington Post [3/20/2025 11:44 AM, Rick Noack, 31735K]
U.S. citizen George Glezmann has been released by the Taliban after 2½ years in captivity, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Thursday.

Glezmann, an airline mechanic, was detained by the Taliban in December 2022 while visiting Afghanistan for five days as a tourist. In his statement, Rubio thanked the government of Qatar, “whose steadfast commitment and diplomatic efforts were instrumental in securing George’s release.”

The news came the same day the Taliban said that Adam Boehler, President Donald Trump’s interim envoy for hostage affairs, had visited Kabul for talks. The visit marked the highest-level publicly known U.S. engagement with Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover in 2021.

While Rubio called Glezmann’s release a “positive and constructive step,” he cautioned that it’s also “a reminder that other Americans are still detained in Afghanistan.”

It’s unclear how many U.S. citizens are imprisoned in the country.

The Taliban-run Foreign Ministry said Glezmann was released on “humanitarian grounds,” adding that the U.S. delegation and Afghan diplomats “discussed bilateral relations, the exchange of prisoners, and consular access to Afghans in the United States.”

Boehler was accompanied on his trip by Zalmay Khalilzad, the former U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation.

The Taliban has long sought international recognition and access to frozen central bank reserves to allay a mounting economic crisis. But the regime’s repressive policies, including bans on women attending secondary schools and universities, have hampered efforts to reestablish ties with the West.

“I wouldn’t read this as a portent of expanding U.S. engagement with the Taliban,” said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington. “The administration has limited objectives in Afghanistan, and it isn’t about to accord extensive policy space to developing ties with a regime it doesn’t recognize.”

Freeing Glezmann, he said, is “likely a tactical play rather than the emergence of a broader engagement strategy.”

In January, two other Americans, Ryan Corbett and William W. McKenty III, were released by the Taliban. Corbett, from New York, was detained in Afghanistan more than two years ago, while McKenty’s detention had not been previously publicized.

Negotiations for that prisoner exchange had started two years ago and took place during several rounds of negotiations in Doha, Qatar.

At least one other American, Mahmood Habibi, is still believed to be held in Afghanistan. Habibi, an Afghan American businessman, was taken from a vehicle near his home in Kabul in August 2022.

“It is believed that Mr. Habibi was taken by Taliban military or security forces and has not been heard from since his disappearance,” the FBI said in August, as it appealed for information about his whereabouts.

The Taliban has denied it is holding Habibi.
Trump Secures Release of American Detained in Afghanistan (Wall Street Journal)
Wall Street Journal [3/20/2025 4:27 AM, Alexander Ward and Anat Peled, 810K]
The Taliban has released American George Glezmann, ending his two-year detainment and giving President Trump a diplomatic victory that could reshape U.S. relations with Afghanistan.

The Taliban agreed to send Glezmann back to the U.S. in exchange for improved relations with Washington, U.S. officials said, forgoing its previous demand that America hand over imprisoned Taliban members.

In a Thursday statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “George’s release is a positive and constructive step. It is also a reminder that other Americans are still detained in Afghanistan.”

Trump, he continued, “will continue his tireless work to free ALL Americans unjustly detained around the world.”

The Taliban didn’t respond immediately to a request for comment.

Dennis Fitzpatrick, a lawyer for the Glezmann family, praised the Trump administration’s efforts to bring George home after 836 days, directly naming Rubio, U.S. hostage envoy Adam Boehler, and national security adviser Mike Waltz. “George’s release was achieved based on the unique skill and dedication of these people,” Fitzpatrick said.

Aleksandra Glezmann, George’s wife, spoke with her husband on the phone while he was traveling home. In a statement, she said “I can’t wait to see George and help him on his road to recovery as we rebuild our lives. We are forever grateful to President Trump for bringing George home.”

Boehler traveled to Kabul to get Glezmann, U.S. officials said.

The talks to secure Glezmann’s release were mediated by Qatar, which has hosted senior Taliban leaders since 2013 with the support of the U.S.

“We extend our deepest appreciation to the State of Qatar, whose steadfast commitment and diplomatic efforts were instrumental in securing George’s release,” Rubio said in the statement.

Securing Glezmann’s return home is a significant win for Trump’s early hostage-release efforts, which have become a major effort of his presidency. While the Trump administration brought back Americans from Venezuela, Gaza and Belarus, among other places, Glezmann was a priority for the new team and one of the more high-profile outstanding cases, U.S. officials said.

Waltz, National Security Council counterterrorism chief Sebastian Gorka, and senior officials met in recent weeks with Aleksandra Glezmann at the White House, vowing to deal for Glezmann’s release.

Getting George Glezmann back in exchange for what Trump administration officials describe as preliminary diplomatic talks is a marked departure from negotiations during the Biden administration, when U.S. officials weighed releasing Afghans, including one held at Guantanamo Bay, in exchange for Glezmann.

While then-President Joe Biden was still in charge in January, the U.S. and Taliban nearly swapped Glezmann and one other American, Ryan Corbett, for three Taliban members in American custody. Among them was Muhammad Rahim al Afghani, who the U.S. government alleges was a senior al Qaeda aide and is held in Guantanamo Bay. But Biden demanded the Taliban release an American the group denies holding, Mahmoud Habibi, and decided he wouldn’t let go of Rahim. The deal fell apart.

But on his last day in office, Biden brought home Corbett—who shared a cell in Afghanistan with Glezmann—and William McKenty for a convicted Taliban drug trafficker.

There are still seven Americans detained in Afghanistan, including one who is deceased, who the Trump administration is actively working to release, U.S. officials said.

Glezmann, a Delta Air Lines mechanic, was touring Afghanistan when the Taliban seized him in December 2022. The State Department designated him as wrongfully detained 10 months after he was seized, giving the administration vast authority to secure his release. The Biden administration’s struggles to bring him home at one point led Glezmann’s family to consider direct negotiations with the Taliban.

But it appears the Taliban has let Glezmann go to catalyze talks that might, eventually, end Afghanistan’s international isolation.

In his first term, Trump struck a deal with the Taliban that eventually led to the Biden-directed withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, allowing the Taliban to sweep into power in 2021. The Biden administration refused to recognize the Taliban as the country’s leadership, imposing sanctions on Afghanistan and freezing its assets.
Taliban Frees US Citizen Glezmann After More Than Two Years (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [3/20/2025 3:37 PM, Iain Marlow, 3973K]
A U.S. citizen detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan for more than two years has been released, as the Trump administration continues to exert pressure on foreign governments to release detained Americans, the State Department said Thursday.

George Glezmann, a Delta Air Lines Inc. mechanic, was released after two and a half years of captivity and is on his way home to be reunited with his wife, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement, without commenting on anything the U.S. might have offered in return.

Glezmann’s release comes as President Donald Trump’s administration has spotlighted efforts to free unjustly detained Americans around the world, and follows the return of two other Americans from Afghanistan on the eve of his inauguration.

The administration has moved quickly to secure high-profile American hostages, including Marc Fogel last month after a three-and-a-half year detention in Russia and six citizens from Venezuela in January. The White House has also tried to free American hostages held by Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, even as a ceasefire deal and hostage exchange with Israel faltered.

Rubio in his statement also thanked Qatar for its "instrumental" role in the release. The Gulf nation - which has also worked alongside the U.S. and Egypt on Hamas-Israel negotiations and recently hosted talks between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda - said in a statement that it facilitated Glezmann’s release and that he transited the capital Doha on his way home.

A State Department spokesman said in response to questions that the U.S. didn’t release anyone in exchange for Glezmann, without providing further details. Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign affairs said in its statement that Glezmann’s release was "a gesture of goodwill" by the Taliban "reflecting its will to engage in dialogue.".

Glezmann, who turned 65 in captivity, went to Afghanistan as a tourist on a five-day trip to "explore the cultural landscape and rich history of the country," but was detained without charge, denied due process and was held in solitary confinement and underground for months at a time, according to a resolution in the U.S. Senate.

The Biden administration designated him as "wrongfully detained," while his family said they worried that Glezmann - who was suffering from hypertension, severe malnutrition and other medical conditions - may not survive the harsh conditions of his detention.

"George’s release is a positive and constructive step," Rubio said in a statement. "It is also a reminder that other Americans are still detained in Afghanistan. President Trump will continue his tireless work to free ALL Americans unjustly detained around the world.".
Taliban release an American man who was abducted while traveling in Afghanistan (AP)
AP [3/20/2025 6:32 PM, Eric Tucker, 126906K]
An American man who was abducted more than two years ago while traveling through Afghanistan as a tourist has been released by the Taliban in a deal with the Trump administration that Qatari negotiators helped broker, the State Department said Thursday.

George Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, is the third American detainee to be released by the Taliban since January. He was seized by the Taliban’s intelligence services in December 2022 and was designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained the following year.

In a statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Glezmann was on his way back to the United States to be reunited with his wife, Aleksandra, and praised Qatar for "steadfast commitment and diplomatic efforts" that he said were "instrumental in securing George’s release.".

"George’s release is a positive and constructive step," Rubio said. "It is also a reminder that other Americans are still detained in Afghanistan. President Trump will continue his tireless work to free ALL Americans unjustly detained around the world.".

Glezmann was being accompanied back to the U.S., through Qatar’s capital, Doha, by Adam Boehler, who has been handling hostage issues for President Donald Trump’s administration. The Taliban disclosed earlier Thursday that Boehler had met with a delegation that included Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.

Glezmann, 66, was in Afghanistan as a tourist at the time of his abduction and has visited more than 100 countries as part of his passion for exploring different cultures, according to a profile on the website of the Foley Foundation, an organization that advocates for the release of Americans detained by foreign countries.

The release of Glezmann is part of what the Taliban has previously described as the "normalization" of ties between the U.S. and Afghanistan following the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Most countries still don’t recognize the Taliban’s rule.

Glezmann’s release follows a separate deal, arranged in January in the final days of the Biden administration and also mediated by the Qataris, that secured the releases of Ryan Corbett and William McKenty.

The Taliban’s Foreign Ministry in Kabul said at the time that those two U.S. citizens had been exchanged for Khan Mohammed, who was sentenced to two life terms in 2008 after being convicted under U.S. narco-terrorism laws for securing heroin and opium that he knew was bound for the U.S.

Unlike in that arrangement, the U.S. did not give up any prisoner to secure Glezmann’s release, which was done as a goodwill gesture, according to an official briefed on the matter who insisted on anonymity due to the sensitivity of the negotiations.

On Thursday, Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Glezmann’s release on "humanitarian grounds." In a statement, it said the "Islamic Emirate again reaffirms its longstanding position that dialogue, understanding and diplomacy provide effective avenues for resolving all issues.".

President Joe Biden contemplated before he left office an earlier proposal that would have involved the release of Glezmann and other Americans for Muhammad Rahim, one of the remaining detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

But Biden told families during a call in January that he would not support trading Rahim unless the Taliban released Mahmood Habibi, an Afghan-American businessman who worked as a contractor for a Kabul-based telecommunications company and vanished in 2022.

The FBI and Habibi’s family have said they believe Habibi was taken by Taliban forces, but the Taliban has denied holding him. Representatives for Habibi on Thursday cited what they said was "overwhelming evidence" that he was arrested by the Taliban after his home was searched by people identifying themselves as part of the Taliban’s security service.

"We are confident that the Trump Administration will hold firm that my brother needs to be released for relations with the U.S. to move forward," one of Habibi’s brothers, Ahmad, said in a statement. "We have reason to be confident Mahmood is alive and in Taliban custody, despite their hollow denials of holding him. My brother is an innocent man who has been held away from his wife, young daughter, and elderly parents for 953 days.".
American citizen Glezmann freed by Taliban, returning to US (Reuters)
Reuters [3/20/2025 12:44 PM, Andrew Mills and Mohammad Yunus Yawar, 41523K]
The Taliban on Thursday freed an American citizen detained in Afghanistan for over two years following direct talks between U.S. hostage envoy Adam Boehler and Taliban officials in Kabul, a source briefed on the release told Reuters.

George Glezmann, who was detained in 2022 while visiting Kabul as a tourist, left Afghanistan aboard a Qatari aircraft on Thursday evening bound for Qatar, the source said. Glezmann and Boehler are expected to later travel onward to the United States.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement on Thursday confirming Glezmann’s release.

Thursday’s meeting in Kabul marked the highest-level direct talks between the United States and the Taliban since President Donald Trump came to power in January.

Boehler met with the Taliban administration’s foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, according to a statement by the Afghan foreign ministry.

"During this meeting, discussions were held on Afghanistan-U.S. bilateral relations, the release of prisoners, and the provision of consular services to Afghans in the United States," the statement said.

It added that the meeting was also attended by former U.S. special representative to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad.
Qatar, a Gulf Arab state which represents U.S. diplomatic interests in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, said in a statement posted on X that it had facilitated Glezmann’s release.

The source said that Qatar coordinated with Boehler to negotiate with the Taliban authorities.

"Following weeks of negotiations, a breakthrough was made by the Qataris during recent meetings with the Taliban," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

TALIBAN ‘GOODWILL GESTURE’

In a statement, the Taliban called Glezmann’s release a "goodwill gesture" reflecting its willingness to engage with the United States "on the basis of mutual respect and interests."

The source said that the release was not part of a deal to free any Afghan detainees held by the U.S. in exchange.

The U.S. in January freed an Afghan convicted by an American court on charges of drug smuggling and terrorism in exchange for two U.S. citizens held in Afghanistan.

Qatari officials were also involved in negotiations for that deal, which began during the administration of former U.S. president Joe Biden and led to the release of two Americans, Ryan Corbett and William McKenty.

A third American citizen, Mahmood Habibi, is thought to remain in custody in Afghanistan.

BOEHLER’S HIGH LEVEL DIPLOMACY

Glezmann was the second high-profile release of a U.S. citizen held overseas secured amid diplomacy by Boehler.
Boehler was involved in efforts that led to the release of American school teacher Marc Fogel from Russia last month.

In addition, Boehler has held direct talks with Palestinian militant group Hamas in an effort to secure the release of remaining hostages held in Gaza. He also travelled to Iraq last month to push for the release of Israeli-Russian researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, a student at Princeton University.

Glezmann, a mechanic for Delta Airlines in Atlanta, was visiting Kabul as a tourist when he was detained by the Taliban in December 2022, according to the Foley Foundation, which monitors cases of Americans detained overseas.

The foundation said Glezmann had been in sporadic telephone contact with his wife since he was detained, and that he had health conditions that deteriorated while in detention.
British couple held by Taliban due in Afghan court, family say (The Independent)
The Independent [3/20/2025 8:51 AM, Helen William, 44838K]
The daughter of a British couple detained in Afghanistan has spoken of her fears they may not get a fair trial and of her father’s worsening health as a court appearance looms.

Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife Barbie, 75, were arrested as they travelled to their home in Bamyan province, in central Afghanistan, in February.

Mrs Reynolds has managed to call her family to say they are expected to appear in court in Kabul on Thursday but they do not know what the charges are against them.

Their daughter, Sarah Entwistle, is worried they may not get a fair trial as the couple’s interpreter was also arrested and concern is growing over her father’s heart condition and his deteriorating health.

Ms Entwistle, of Daventry, Northamptonshire, told The Guardian newspaper : "Mum is obviously extremely concerned that without a competent interpreter, their case cannot be accurately or fairly represented and (they) will not be able to properly follow or engage in the proceedings, in serious breach of their rights.".

She added: "We remain extremely concerned for dad in particular. Without access to the medication he needs, his continued detention poses a serious risk to his life.".

The couple were arrested by the Taliban alongside an American friend, Faye Hall, who had rented a plane to travel with them, and a translator from the couple’s Rebuild training business.

They are being held separately and had been denied access to each other for the last 10 days, according to Ms Entwistle.

Mr and Mrs Reynolds have run school training programmes for 18 years and remained in the country after the Taliban takeover in 2021.

After taking power, the Taliban introduced a ban on women working and education for girls older than 12.

The couple, who originally met at the University of Bath, married in Kabul in 1970.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesman said: "We are supporting the family of two British nationals who are detained in Afghanistan.".
Pakistan
Pakistan Army Captain and 10 Militants Killed in a Security Raid in the Northwest (AP)
AP [3/20/2025 3:41 PM, Staff, 24727K]
Pakistani security forces raided a militant hideout in the country’s northwest on Thursday, triggering an intense gunbattle that left an army captain and 10 militants dead, the military said.

The raid was conducted in Dera Ismail Khan, a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan, the military said in a statement.

It identified the slain officer as Capt. Hasnain Akhtar, saying he was leading his troops from the front and after fighting “gallantly” he “paid the ultimate sacrifice and was martyred.”

The military also described the dead militants as “Khwarij,” a phrase the government uses for Pakistani Taliban, which are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, and are allies of the Afghan Taliban. TTP is a separate group and has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021.
India
X sues Indian government over censorship, upping U.S. pressure on Modi (Washington Post)
Washington Post [3/20/2025 1:12 PM, Karishma Mehrotra, 31735K]
X, the social media company owned by billionaire Elon Musk, sued the Indian government, accusing it of illegally blocking content on the platform.

The lawsuit, which was filed earlier this month and became public Thursday, alleges that the Indian government created a “censorship portal” last year, enabling government agencies, state authorities and tens of thousands of local police officers to issue takedown orders en masse, violating India’s constitution and the Information Technology Act.

“This will result in significant censorship and unlawful blocking of lawful information on the X platform, which will prejudice X and detrimentally impact its business,” the lawsuit states.

India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology declined to comment for this article.

The petition was filed in the high court in Karnataka, in southwest India, where X, formerly known as Twitter, lost a similar case in 2023. The unexpected suit comes at a delicate time both for Musk, who is seeking new economic entryways into India, and for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is under growing pressure from the Trump administration over trade and immigration.

“This is no longer a single, simple issue about the interpretation of a specific section of law,” said Shashank Reddy, managing partner at tech-focused firm Evam Law & Policy. “It is a larger geopolitical issue.”

India has tightened its grip on online expression throughout Modi’s time in power and has faced relatively little resistance — and even active cooperation — from American social media companies.

“This is the first aggressive, clear action by a U.S. tech actor in the last two years on the deteriorating censorship and digital authoritarian situation in India,” said Raman Chima, Asia policy director at Access Now, a digital rights group. That the challenge comes from a powerful Trump ally won’t be lost on authorities in New Delhi, analysts said.

“While India would like to protect its strongman image, they would like to do it in a way that won’t upset the current American leadership, which they have made their high priority,” Reddy said.

A fraught history with Modi’s India

The Washington Post reported in 2023 on secretive meetings between Indian officials and U.S. technology executives in which they negotiated what kinds of speech would be permitted on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Twitter, under its previous ownership, was most vocal in pushing back. After India passed new regulations holding tech employees criminally liable for failing to comply with takedown requests, anti-terrorism police raided Twitter’s office in New Delhi. When Twitter challenged specific takedown orders, the Karnataka High Court ruled in the government’s favor.

Over time, the company increasingly bent to India’s censorship demands. After purchasing Twitter and rebranding it as X, Musk appeared even less willing to challenge the status quo — until now.

The new lawsuit cites hundreds of takedown demands in February from the Railways Ministry — whose minister also controls the Technology Ministry — some of which were related to a stampede that took place on train platforms heading to the Kumbh Mela, a major Hindu pilgrimage. The stampede embarrassed Modi’s Hindu-nationalist government, which had promised new safety measures this year after similar tragedies in the past.

Trade tensions

The lawsuit comes as India and the U.S. are locked in negotiations over a trade arrangement, which New Delhi is hoping can head off new tariffs promised by Trump on April 2.

While India has already made concessions on goods like motorcycles and whiskey, Washington is pushing for broader tariff reductions, particularly on agricultural products. The Trump administration also wants India to increase defense purchases from the United States.

Bilateral relations have been further complicated by Trump’s immigration crackdown. In February, images of undocumented Indian migrants shackled aboard a U.S. military plane went viral here and sparked widespread outrage.

Indian analysts said the lawsuit should be viewed as one part of a broader American political strategy.

“Given how difficult it is to distinguish between Musk and Trump, I think it should be seen in that context,” said Harsh Pant, vice president at the Observer Research Foundation, an Indian think tank. The Americans, he said, “try to create a sense that they are willing to take certain risks, and therefore you need to be cognizant of how far they would be willing to go.”

Musk’s Indian ambitions

On his visit to Washington in February, Modi met with Musk, flanked by some of India’s most important officials. Soon after, Musk’s companies made significant inroads into India’s heavily regulated market.

Tesla inked deals on new showrooms in the country earlier this month. More unexpectedly, two of India’s largest telecom operators announced deals with Starlink, Musk’s satellite communications company, despite previous opposition from powerful Indian business figures.

“Keeping Musk happy seems to be a priority of the Indian government over the last few weeks in terms of its commercial and diplomatic conversations in the United States,” said Chima.

In a recent podcast interview, Modi spoke generously about his relationship with Musk, which dates back to his tenure as chief minister. The meeting in Washington, he said, was “warm and friendly.”

But Indian corporate elites have been far more skeptical about Musk. At a business summit earlier this month, steel magnate Sajjan Jindal dismissed the billionaire’s ambitions in India.

“He can’t be successful in this country,” he said. “Because we Indians are here.”
X sues Modi’s government over content removal in new India censorship fight (Reuters)
Reuters [3/20/2025 10:40 AM, Arpan Chaturvedi and Munsif Vengattil, 908K]
India’s IT ministry has unlawfully expanded censorship powers to allow the easier removal of online content and empowered "countless" government officials to execute such orders, Elon Musk’s X has alleged in a new lawsuit against New Delhi.

The lawsuit and the allegations mark an escalation in an ongoing legal dispute between X and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government over how New Delhi orders content to be taken down. It also comes as Musk is getting closer to launching his other key ventures Starlink and Tesla in India.

In the new court filing dated March 5, X argues India’s IT Ministry is asking other departments to use a government website launched by the Ministry of Home Affairs last year to issue content blocking orders and mandate social media companies to join the website too.

This mechanism, X says, does not contain the stringent Indian legal safeguards on content removal that required such orders to be issued in cases such as harm to sovereignty or public order, and came with strict oversight of top officials.

India’s IT ministry redirected a Reuters’ request for comment to the home affairs ministry, which did not respond.

The website creates "an impermissible parallel mechanism" that causes "unrestrained censorship of information in India," X said, adding it is seeking to quash the directive.

X’s court papers are not public and were reported for the first time by media on Thursday.

The case was briefly heard earlier this week by a judge in the High Court of southern Karnataka state but no final decision was reached. It will now be heard on March 27.

In 2021, X, formerly called Twitter, was locked in a stand-off with the Indian government over non-compliance of legal orders to block certain tweets related to a farmers’ protest against government policies.

X later complied following public criticism by officials, but its legal challenge to the decision is continuing in Indian courts.
Violence Flares as Hindu Group Calls for Removal of Muslim Ruler’s Tomb (New York Times)
New York Times [3/20/2025 4:14 PM, Hari Kumar, Anupreeta Das, and Pragati K.B., 831K]
A hard-line Hindu group’s call for the removal of the tomb of a 17th-century Mughal ruler has ignited tensions with Muslims in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, leading to communal violence and the imposition of a curfew.

The violence, which occurred this week in the city of Nagpur, centered around the tomb of Aurangzeb, a Muslim emperor of India whom Hindu nationalists have vilified as a tyrant who brutalized Hindus.

The clashes were contained by midweek, and the demand that the tomb be demolished has gone unheeded. But the flare-up showed how right-wing Hindus have seized on a long-ago history of Muslim rule of India to stoke grievances today against the country’s 200 million Muslims.

The trouble started on Monday, which, according to the Hindu calendar, is the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji, a valorized Hindu king who fought Aurangzeb. The Nagpur unit of a right-wing Hindu organization, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad or V.H.P., called for Aurangzeb’s tomb to be removed from the state, which had been the seat of Shivaji’s empire.

The grave is nearly 300 miles from Nagpur, in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district. Once known as Aurangabad, a name derived from the Mughal emperor’s name, the district was renamed after Shivaji’s son in 2023.

Members of the Hindu group protested in front of a Shivaji statue in Nagpur on Monday afternoon and burned an effigy of the ruler wrapped in green cloth, a color that has spiritual significance in Islam, said Amit Bajpayee, a V.H.P. volunteer.

Rumors that the cloth had verses from the Quran printed on it set off riots that evening, the police said. Mr. Bajpayee denied the rumors.

“During the protest, our simple slogan was that Aurangzeb’s tomb should be removed from Maharashtra,” he said. “It is correct that the effigy was wrapped with a green cloth, but there was nothing printed on it.”

Rioters pelted property with stones and set vehicles ablaze. Dozens of people, including police officers, were injured. The violence was limited mostly to Monday night, but the curfew remains in place, and dozens of people have been arrested.

On Tuesday, Devendra Fadnavis, the chief minister of Maharashtra State, blamed the violence on the Bollywood movie “Chhaava,” which was released just over a month ago and depicts the conflict between Aurangzeb and the son of Shivaji.

“‘Chhaava’ has ignited people’s anger against Aurangzeb,” Mr. Fadnavis, who belongs to the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, India’s governing party, said during a session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

The sixth emperor of the Mughal dynasty, Aurangzeb ascended to the throne by killing his brother and imprisoning his father, Shah Jahan, who had built the Taj Mahal. Aurangzeb ruled over the Indian subcontinent, including Delhi, from 1658 until his death in 1707 and sought to expand the Mughal empire.

Hindu leaders and groups have taken aim at Aurangzeb before. During a speech in Varanasi in 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the conflict between Aurangzeb and Shivaji to highlight the Hindu king’s bravery.

Someone like Aurangzeb, “who used his sword to kill civilization and tried to trample culture through fanaticism,” will be destroyed, said Mr. Modi, the leader of the B.J.P. “For every Aurangzeb who comes here, a Shivaji will rise.”

Some historians challenge assertions that the conflict between the two rulers was driven by religion. Sohail Hashmi, an expert on the history and heritage of Delhi, said that Hindus and Muslims fought on both sides at the time.

“Religion is not in the picture,” he said. “It is two feudal lords fighting.”
India’s $23 billion plan to rival China factories to lapse after it disappoints (Reuters)
Reuters [3/21/2025 1:12 AM, Sarita Chaganti Singh and Shivangi Acharya, 5.5M]
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has decided to let lapse a $23 billion program to incentivize domestic manufacturing, just four years after it launched the effort to woo firms away from China, according to four government officials.

The scheme will not be expanded beyond the 14 pilot sectors and production deadlines will not be extended despite requests from some participating firms, two of the officials said.

Some 750 companies, including Apple supplier Foxconn and Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, signed up to the Production-Linked Initiative scheme, public records show.

Firms were promised cash payouts if they met individual production targets and deadlines. The hope was to raise the share of manufacturing in the economy to 25% by 2025.

Instead, many firms that participated in the program failed to kickstart production, while others that met manufacturing targets found India slow to pay out subsidies, according to government documents and correspondence seen by Reuters.

As of October 2024, participating firms had produced $151.93 billion worth of goods under the program, or 37% of the target that Delhi had set, according to an undated analysis of the program compiled by the commerce ministry. India had issued just $1.73 billion in incentives - or under 8% of the allocated funds, the document said.

News of the government’s decision to not extend the plan and specifics about the lag in payouts are being reported by Reuters for the first time.

Modi’s office and the commerce ministry, which oversees the program, did not respond to requests for comment. Since the plan’s introduction, manufacturing’s share of the economy has decreased from 15.4% to 14.3%.

Foxconn, which now employs thousands of contract workers in India, and Reliance didn’t return requests for comment.

Two of the government officials told Reuters the end of the program did not mean Delhi had abandoned its manufacturing ambitions and that alternatives were being planned.

The government last year defended the program’s impact, particularly in pharmaceuticals and mobile-phone manufacturing, which have seen explosive growth. Some 94% of the nearly $620 million in incentives disbursed between April and October 2024 were directed to those two sectors.

In some instances, some food-sector companies that applied for subsidies weren’t issued them due to factors such as "non compliance of investment thresholds" and companies "not achieving stipulated minimum growth," according to the analysis. The document did not provide specifics, though it found production in the sector had exceeded targets. Reuters could not determine which companies the analysis referred to.

But Delhi had previously acknowledged problems and agreed to extend some deadlines and increase payment frequency after complaints from PLI participants. One of the Indian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential matters, said that excessive red tape and bureaucratic caution continued to stymie the scheme’s effectiveness.

As an alternative, India is considering supporting certain sectors by partially reimbursing investments made to set up plants, which would allow firms to recover costs faster than having to wait for production and sale, another official said.

Trade expert Biswajit Dhar at the Delhi-based Council for Social Development think-tank, who has said Modi’s government needs to do more to attract foreign investment, said the country might have missed its moment.

The incentives program was "possibly the last chance we had to revive our manufacturing sector," he said. "If this kind of mega-scheme fails, do you have any expectation that anything is going to succeed?"

The stalling of manufacturing comes as India tries to circumvent the trade war unleashed by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has criticised Delhi’s protectionist policies.

Trump’s threat of reciprocal tariffs on countries like India that have a trade surplus with the U.S. means the export sector is increasingly challenged, said Dhar. "There was some amount of tariff protection ... and all that is going to be slashed."

HITS AND MISSES

The program was introduced at an opportune time for India: China, which for decades had been the world’s factory floor, was struggling to maintain production amid Beijing’s zero-COVID policy.

The U.S. was also seeking to reduce its economic reliance on an increasingly assertive Beijing, prompting many multinationals to pursue a "China plus one" policy of diversifying production lines.

With its large youthful population, lower costs and a government regarded as relatively friendly to the West, India seemed set to benefit.

India has become a global leader in pharmaceutical and mobile-phone production in recent years.

The country produced $49 billion worth of mobiles in the 2023-24 fiscal year, up 63% from 2020-21, government data show. Industry leaders like Apple now manufacture their newest and most sophisticated cellphones in India, after having started with low-cost models.

Similarly, pharmaceutical exports nearly doubled to $27.85 billion in 2023-24 from a decade ago.

But the success was not repeated in the other sectors, which include steel, textiles and solar panel manufacturing. India faces fierce competition from cheaper rivals like China in many of those fields.

In the solar industry, for instance, eight of the 12 companies that signed up to PLI are unlikely to meet their targets, according to a December 2024 analysis of the sector prepared by the renewable energy ministry and seen by Reuters. The eight firms included units of Reliance, Adani Group and the Indian conglomerate JSW.

The analysis found that the Reliance entity would only meet 50% of the production target it had been set for the end of the 2027 fiscal year, when the solar PLI scheme will expire. It also said that the Adani business had not ordered equipment it needed to manufacture the solar panels and that JSW had not "done anything yet."

JSW declined to comment, while Adani did not respond to questions.

The commerce ministry said in a January letter to the renewables ministry seen by Reuters that it would not agree to its counterpart’s request to extend the scheme beyond 2027 as doing so "will result in unfair benefit for non-performers."

The renewables ministry said in response to Reuters’ questions that it was committed to "fairness and accountability," as well as "ensuring that only those who meet their targets are rewarded."

In the steel sector, investment and production also lag targets. Fourteen of the 58 projects approved for PLIs have been withdrawn or removed due to lack of progress, according to the undated program-wide analysis.
India grants initial approval for $6 billion defence purchases (Reuters)
Reuters [3/20/2025 9:33 AM, Shivam Patel, 5.2M]
India’s defence acquisition council gave initial approval on Thursday for the purchase of arms and equipment worth more than 540 billion rupees ($6.26 billion) to enhance the capabilities of its armed forces, the defence ministry said.

The approval includes the purchase of more powerful engines for Russian-origin T-90 battle tanks operated by the Indian Army, additional anti-submarine torpedoes for the Indian Navy, and airborne early warning and control aircraft systems for the Indian Air Force.

The defence body also approved guidelines for making the process of arms acquisition "faster, more effective and efficient".
Judge bars Trump administration from deporting Indian academic over political views (The Guardian)
The Guardian [3/20/2025 5:20 PM, Victoria Bekiempis, 126906K]
A US district judge has barred Donald Trump’s administration from deporting an Indian academic from Georgetown University after the Department of Homeland Security accused him of having ties to Hamas.

On Thursday, US district judge Patricia Giles in Alexandria, Virginia, prohibited federal officials from deporting Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at the university, in an order that is to remain in effect until it is lifted by the court, Reuters reports.

Giles’s order comes after Suri, whose wife is of Palestinian heritage, filed an emergency court request to prevent deportation.

Department of Homeland Security agents on Monday detained Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at the university’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, saying that his visa was revoked. Suri’s attorney said that he was arrested on the same spurious legal grounds as Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, according to Politico.

Suri was arrested after returning home from a traditional Ramadan meal and detained by masked federal agents, his legal team said. He has since been transported to several immigration detention facilities and is now at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement "staging center" in Louisiana "potentially awaiting deportation", the ACLU of Virginia said. His attorneys are requesting his immediate return to Virginia and release while his immigration case is being considered.

Detainees may only be held at this particular facility for 72 hours, his lawyers contend. "The facility also does not permit access to visitors or even legal counsel," court papers in support of the emergency petition say.

"Ripping someone from their home and family, stripping them of their immigration status, and detaining them solely based on political viewpoint is a clear attempt by President Trump to silence dissent," Sophia Gregg, a senior immigrants’ rights attorney at the ACLU of Virginia, said in a statement. "That is patently unconstitutional.".

Suri on Tuesday filed a legal petition for release; in court papers first reported by Politico, his attorney said that he did not have a criminal record, nor had he been charged with any crime.

The Department of Homeland Security alleged that Suri had ties to the Palestinian militant group Hamas and claimed he shared its propaganda and antisemitic content on social media, officials said in a statement to Fox News. This statement, which did not include any evidence, said that the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, found that his activities "rendered him deportable".

One of Suri’s attorneys, Hassan Ahmad, said he had not been able to reach him since the arrest outside his Arlington, Virginia, home. "We’re trying to speak with him. That hasn’t happened yet," Ahmad told Politico. "This is just another example of our government abducting people the same way they abducted Khalil.".

Suri, who was teaching a course this spring on "majoritarianism and minority rights in south Asia", holds a doctorate in peace and conflict studies from a university in India, according to Reuters. His wife, Mapheze Saleh, a US citizen, is the daughter of Ahmed Yousef, a former political adviser to Hamas.

For at least one month before Suri’s arrest, various hardline pro-Israel social media accounts, as well as Israel’s US embassy, highlighted his wife and father-in-law in posts on X. One 13 March missive, which showed a photo purporting to be Saleh and another photo of her and her father, tagged the US attorney general, Pam Bondi. Court papers say that such groups publicized the home address of the couple, who have three children.

"Dr Suri’s experience is shocking and disgraceful," Ahmad said in a a statement. "It should worry everyone that masked government agents can disappear someone from their home and family because the current administration dislikes their opinion.".

According to a 2018 article about Suri and Saleh in the Hindustan Times, Saleh is the daughter of Ahmed Yousef, a former political adviser to Hamas.

Suri’s arrest came amid Donald Trump’s efforts to expel foreign nationals who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations against Israel’s war in Gaza following the October 2023 Hamas attack. Civil liberties groups have decried Trump’s actions as assaults on free speech and illegal targeting of political opponents.

Khalil, a Palestinian Columbia graduate and green card holder, faces deportation under a provision of immigration law that permits the US secretary of state to expel non-citizens if their presence in the country is deemed a threat to foreign policy. A Manhattan federal court judge ordered that Khalil remain in the US while his immigration case is pending and has transferred the proceedings to New Jersey.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, confirmed in a social media post that Rubio deemed Suri’s presence a threat to US foreign policy interests.

"Suri was a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media. Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas," McLaughlin said in a post on X. "The Secretary of State issued a determination on March 15, 2025 that Suri’s activities and presence in the United States rendered him deportable under INA section 237(a)(4)(C)(i).".

A spokesperson for Georgetown said the university did not know of any alleged wrongdoing on Suri’s part and that it supported students’ and professors’ right to free expression.

"Dr Khan Suri is an Indian national who was duly granted a visa to enter the United States to continue his doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention," the university said. "We support our community members’ rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable. We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly.".

Trump has repeatedly characterized pro-Palestinian protesters as antisemitic. Those advocating for Palestine, among them some Jewish groups, contend that their criticism of Israel’s military efforts in Gaza and support for Palestinian rights has wrongly been cast as antisemitism by critics.
Indian Forces Kill 30 Maoist Rebels, One Soldier Dead (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [3/20/2025 5:18 AM, Staff, 354K]
Indian forces killed at least 30 Maoist rebels Thursday in one of the deadliest jungle clashes since the government ramped up efforts to crush the long-running insurgency.

More than 10,000 people have been killed in the decades-long "Naxalite" rebellion, whose members say they are fighting for the rights of marginalised people in India’s resource-rich central regions.

An Indian paramilitary soldier was also killed in one of two separate skirmishes that broke out in central Chhattisgarh state, both of which carried on through the day, according to police.

Bastar Inspector General of Police Sundarraj Pattilingam told AFP that the soldier had been killed during a skirmish that broke out in Bijapur district, where 26 guerrillas had also been killed.

Another four rebels were killed in a separate clash in the state’s south.

Searches at both battle sites saw security forces recovering caches of arms and ammunition from both areas.

"The (Narendra) Modi government is moving forward with a ruthless approach against Naxalites and is adopting a zero tolerance policy against those Naxalites who are not surrendering," interior minister Amit Shah wrote on social media platform X.

The rebels, known as Naxalites after the district where their armed campaign began in 1967, were inspired by the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.

Shah has repeatedly vowed that India’s government would crush the remnants of the rebellion by the end of March next year.

A crackdown by security forces killed around 287 rebels last year, an overwhelming majority of them in Chhattisgarh, according to government data.

More than 80 Maoists had already been killed so far this year, according to a tally on Sunday by the Press Trust of India news agency.

The Maoists demand land, jobs and a share of the region’s immense natural resources for local residents.

They made inroads in a number of remote communities across India’s east and south, and the movement gained in strength and numbers until the early 2000s.

New Delhi then deployed tens of thousands of troops in a stretch of territory known as the "Red Corridor".

The conflict has also seen scores of deadly attacks on government forces. A roadside bomb killed at least nine Indian troops in January.
Adani defending key India projects against environmental challenges (Reuters)
Reuters [3/21/2025 1:09 AM, Dhwani Pandya and Arpan Chaturvedi, 5.5M]
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s group is battling allegations in court this month that its planned multibillion-dollar power plant and a luxury housing complex breach environment laws, adding to its many legal headaches.

Such allegations have often troubled Adani projects in India and abroad. In Australia, the group battled a seven-year activist campaign against its Carmichael coal mine, and construction at its seaport in south India was halted for months in 2022 due to protests over coast erosion.

Now, Adani Group is defending itself against allegations made in India’s National Green Tribunal that it started work on a $2 billion power plant without waiting for environmental clearance. This case is set for a hearing on Friday.

The lawsuit by an activist says the site for the plant is within a forest in the Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh. The suit seeks to halt the project saying it would devastate the area and impact wildlife, court papers show.

Adani denied in a March 6 filing that any of its activities at the site are environmentally damaging. "The project land is not a forest land," Adani also said in the filing.

State pollution control official Reetesh Kumar Tewari told Reuters that Adani stopped work at the site after it was sent a November warning notice about the construction.

Adani Group did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment. Debadityo Sinha, the activist who filed the lawsuit, declined comment citing ongoing legal proceedings.

Legal cases in India can drag on for years, and environment-related challenges often emerge as a sticking point for big companies.

The latest legal tussles come just as India’s government has asked a local court to deliver a summons from the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission to group founder Gautam Adani over his alleged role in a $265 million bribery scheme. Adani has denied those allegations and said they are baseless.

LUXURY PLANS AND SLUM REDEVELOPMENT

Adani is pursuing two big projects in Mumbai, one of world’s most expensive real estate markets, and both are being challenged over environmental issues.

Its luxury residential project in the coastal suburb of Bandra is being challenged by another activist, Zoru Bhathena, and a residents group who are trying to halt the project.

They are arguing in a case at the high court in Mumbai that the land Adani plans to use for the project has been reclaimed from the sea and remains a legally protected coastal region where no construction is allowed.

India’s environment ministry and the Adani Group disagree, telling the court in February the land is no longer classified as a protected area following a rule change in 2019, non-public court filings reviewed by Reuters show.

The court has described the Bandra case as involving a "vital issue relating to environment protection". The next hearing on the matter is set for March 27.

Adani’s other high-profile project in Mumbai is the redevelopment of Dharavi slum, one of the group’s most ambitious undertakings. It started work there after winning a $619 million redevelopment bid two years ago.

Dharavi, about three-quarters the size of New York’s Central Park and where 1 million people need to be rehoused, was featured in the 2008 Oscar-winning movie "Slumdog Millionaire". Its open sewers and shared toilets, close to Mumbai’s international airport, stand in contrast to India’s development boom across residential, commercial and infrastructure sectors.

The Adani-led Dharavi redevelopment company, now called Navbharat Mega Developers, was allotted 256 acres (104 hectares) of salt-pan lands in September to build rental housing for Dharavi residents as part of the project.

But activist lawyer Sagar Devre has filed a public interest litigation in the Mumbai high court against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, alleging it changed rules in August 2024 to allow residential development on salt-pan lands - ecologically sensitive areas that help in flood protection.

The court has not yet heard the case, but the rule change has been a topic of political wrangling, with India’s Congress Party saying it is an example of Modi changing policy to help Adani - allegations of impropriety both have repeatedly denied.

Spokespersons for Modi’s federal government did not respond to a request for comment on the salt-pan land issue.
French tourist sexually assaulted by India tour guide during pilgrimage, police say (The Independent)
The Independent [3/20/2025 7:50 AM, Maroosha Muzaffar, 33298K]
A French woman on pilgrimage in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu was allegedly sexually assaulted by a local tourist guide who took her to a secluded spot for meditation.

According to the police, a 42-year-old man named Venkatesan from Tiruvannamalai town was arrested near the Arunachaleswara temple after an investigation.

The man is accused of taking the woman, believed to be in her 40s, to a secluded and restricted area on the Arunachala Hills in Tiruvannamalai under the pretext of meditation and then sexually assaulting her. Tiruvannamalai, a historic town in Tamil Nadu, about 190km southwest of capital Chennai, is renowned for the Arunachaleswara temple, dedicated to the Hindu deity Lord Shiva and the sacred Arunachala Hill.

Police reported that the woman, who arrived in Tiruvannamalai in January this year and was staying at a private lodge, encountered Venkatesan while exploring different ashrams and pilgrimage spots.

On Monday, he allegedly led her to a restricted section of the hill overseen by the state forest department, falsely presenting it as a perfect meditation spot. It was there that the assault reportedly took place.

The woman raised an alarm, drawing the attention of devotees and passersby on the Girivalam path, a popular circumambulatory route around the sacred hill, according to The Indian Express.

The victim’s name has not been revealed to the public to protect her privacy.

Tiruvannamalai superintendent of police, M Sudhakar, said: "We formed special teams to identify the suspect. There were multiple witnesses who reported seeing the victim climbing the hills with a local man.

"We narrowed down the probe to five individuals who usually work as tourist guides, including the accused. The victim identified him as Venkatesan when he was paraded before her.".

He added: "Venkatesan is in police custody and we are probing if he engaged in similar crimes in the past.".

The woman has since been admitted to a district hospital for medical checkups and a police probe is underway.

In 2018, a 21-year-old Russian tourist was drugged and gang-raped in a service apartment in the temple town of Tiruvannamalai.

The French woman’s sexual assault comes just weeks after a 36-year-old British tourist was allegedly raped and molested at a hotel in Delhi’s Mahipalpur area. Police arrested two people, one who reportedly befriended the woman on Instagram and was accused of rape, and another, a hotel staff member charged with molestation.

The alleged assault on the British tourist occurred just days after a 27-year-old Israeli traveller and her Indian homestay operator were gang-raped near a Unesco World Heritage site in Karnataka.
NSB
With aid cuts looming, Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh face halved rations and misery (AP)
AP [3/21/2025 12:24 AM, Al-Emrun Garjon, 456K]
They first faced persecution in their country. Then a deadly crackdown by Myanmar’s army sent hundreds of thousands fleeing into Bangladesh. Driven from their homes, many of the Rohingya have since lived in refugee settlements entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance.

That assistance — largely led by the United States — is at the risk of being cut, following U.S. President Donald Trump’s decree to freeze most of his country’s foreign aid. For more than 1 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh it means they could be left with too little food and money for survival.

No cuts have happened yet. But the U.N. World Food Program said if it is not able to raise funds, it will have no option but to halve food rations to $6 a month from previous $12.50 in the country’s southern coastal district of Cox’s Bazar, where the Rohingya live in sprawling camps.

It was not immediately clear if the WFP’s decision was directly related to the Trump administration’s action, but during a recent visit to the refugee camps, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres criticized the U.S. and other countries in Europe for halting or reducing their aid budgets.

UN food agency says no choice but to reduce rations

To be sure, a large portion of funds needed for supporting Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh has come from the U.S. Agency for International Development, but the country’s government and dozens of aid organizations also look after their daily needs. Yet, any drop in humanitarian aid could have extreme impact on the lives of Rohingya refugees.

“Cox’s Bazar is ground zero for the impact of budget cuts on people in desperate need,” Guterres said last week during his visit to the camps. He said that drastic cuts in humanitarian aid are “a crime” and urged the international community to continue to support the Rohingya refugees.

Aid workers have warned that aid cuts — if they become effective in April — will devastate the lives of the refugees, especially women and children. “We will have no choice but to reduce rations starting in April,” said WFP spokesperson Kun Li.

Rohingya say aid cuts will make their lives impossible

Before being forced from Myanmar, farmer Mahabub Alam was an influential figure in his community, serving as the chairman of a local government body in a village in western Rakhine state. Today, the 56-year-old says, he is broke and his nine-member family solely depends on aid, because like other refugees he is not formally allowed to work outside the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.

Alam has been worried, even shocked, since he first heard that food rations could be cut to half from next month.

“We will not be able to live on that ($6 a month), and we will die here,” said Alam, who has been living in the camp since 2017, after fleeing the Myanmar military’s brutal attacks on the Rohingya.

The $6 allowance per month will only be sufficient for minimum quantities of rations, Alam said. According to UNICEF, more than 15% of children in the camps are acutely malnourished.

“Earlier, we used to be able to eat something, have medications, and fish, but now we won’t be able to have any of them,” he said.

Alam’s worries are not only limited to having access to food and financial support. He said aid cuts could also fuel unrest in the camps, where groups among the refugees have sometimes clashed over essentials and to establish supremacy.

“There will be an increase in number of thieves and robbers here. People will get kidnapped, things will be stolen, and unrest will increase. The situation will worsen,” Alam said.

He said he’d rather go back to Myanmar — but only if there are guarantees for safety. In reality, returning is not option for the refugees, as military-ruled Myanmar is mired in a civil war.

Children most at risk

The aid cuts — if they do come — could also cause major concern for camp residents who need money for medical treatment.

“It will be very difficult for us to live,” said Tomida Khatun, 46, who arrived to Cox’s Bazar with her family in 2017. “We have diseases, high blood pressure and diabetes. We need money for treatment, but we will not have any.”

“We are worried about how we are going to feed our children. How are we going to send them to school?” Khatun said.

The monthly food ration of $12.50 for each member of her family is already stretched to the limit, she said, and the funding shortfall could only makes things worse.
Rohingya in Bangladesh pray for release of arrested insurgent leader (Reuters)
Reuters [3/20/2025 8:26 AM, Ruma Paul and Sudipto Ganguly, 62527K]
Dozens of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh gathered to pray for the early release of a Rohingya insurgent leader arrested this week on charges of murder, illegal entry and militant activities.

Ataullah Abu Ammar Jununi, leader of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), and some others were arrested on Tuesday during a raid near the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.

An International Crisis Group report said Ataullah led ARSA’s violent campaign in 2016 against Myanmar’s security forces to reclaim the rights of Rohingya Muslims, who say they face persecution at the hands of Myanmar’s Buddhist majority.

ARSA attacks on border guard posts led to a military crackdown in Myanmar that prompted more than 750,000 Rohingya to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh in 2017.

Videos shared by Rohingya Muslims living in refugee camps in southern Bangladesh showed men and women gathered at separate meetings to pray for Ataullah.

A government official in Cox’s Bazar, the Bangladeshi coastal city that hosts the world’s largest refugee settlement, confirmed that the prayer meetings were held on Wednesday.

"ARSA is the only group that has managed to put pressure on the Myanmar government," said Mohammed Taher, a Rohingya refugee. "Our voices and our plight have reached the world because of them. If they are working honestly for our cause, they should be allowed to continue."

However, Taher said some people in the camps were happy with Ataullah’s arrest because they believed it would improve law and order that has been eroded by factional violence there.

Bangladeshi police said ARSA activities extend beyond insurgent operations, with some members allegedly involved in killings, kidnappings and smuggling within refugee camps in Bangladesh, where over a million Rohingya are sheltering.

ARSA’s presence in the camps has also led to violent infighting, with dozens of deaths resulting from clashes between ARSA militants and rival factions.

Bangladesh says it is overburdened with the Rohingya and wants them repatriated.

Myanmar’s rulers view the Rohingya as foreign interlopers and have denied them citizenship, leaving little prospect of their repatriation from its South Asian neighbour.

"To us, these people are notorious hoodlums. We (have) never believed they have any political foresight or political philosophy," said Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, Bangladesh’s refugee relief and repatriation commissioner based in Cox’s Bazar.

"We are confident that there will be improvement in law and order inside and outside the camps if we are able to combat them effectively. We are continuously working towards that."
Bangladesh Govt Says Will Not Ban Ousted PM’s Party (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [3/21/2025 3:27 AM, Staff, 354K]
Bangladesh’s interim government says it has no plans to ban the political party of ousted premier Sheikh Hasina, putting it at odds with the student revolutionaries who overthrew her in an uprising last year.

Hasina’s Awami League was accused of extensive human rights abuses during her 15-year tenure, including a violent crackdown on last year’s protest movement that killed more than 800 people.

Student leaders still grieving the deaths of their comrades have demanded the party, which played a pivotal role in Bangladesh’s bloody 1971 independence war under Hasina’s father, be outlawed.

But Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, the de facto leader of the caretaker government that took office after her toppling, said it had no intention of doing so.

“Professor Yunus stated that the interim government has no plans to ban the party,” said a government statement issued late Thursday.

“However, individuals within its leadership who are accused of crimes, including murder and crimes against humanity, will be tried in Bangladesh’s courts.”

A tribunal in Dhaka has already issued arrest warrants for Hasina, who took refuge in neighbouring India after her toppling, and her allies.

A fact-finding mission from the UN rights office said last month that her government was responsible for systematic attacks and killings of protesters in an attempt to hold onto power last year.

It found "reasonable grounds to believe that the crimes against humanity of murder, torture, imprisonment, and the infliction of other inhumane acts have taken place”.

Since she was toppled, students have consistently demanded the party be banned ahead of elections for a new government, expected by June next year.

The interim government did ban the Awami League’s student wing last October, citing its involvement in violent attacks on last year’s protests, while leaving open the fate of its parent organisation.

Hasnat Abdullah, one of the leading figures of a new student-backed political party, planning to contest the next polls, slammed the government’s decision.

"The Awami League has to be banned," he wrote on Facebook.

Fellow student leader Nasir Uddin Patwary warned last month that failure to ban the party “will push Bangladesh toward civil war”, according to local newspaper Prothom Alo.

Shafiqul Rahman, the leader of Bangladesh’s main Islamist party Jamaat, likewise wrote on social media Friday that people would not accept the party’s “rehabilitation”.
Bangladesh reins in inflation, but road to full recovery still rocky (Nikkei Asia)
Nikkei Asia [3/21/2025 4:00 AM, Masum Billah, 1.2M]
In the food markets of Dhaka, the sense of relief among shoppers is palpable: Skyrocketing prices are a thing of the past.

Six months on from the dramatic uprising that saw the country’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina flee to India, the interim Bangladesh government, led by its Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, still faces a road to recovery riddled with political uncertainty, law and order problems and dwindling foreign investment.

But for shoppers like middle-aged housewife Nipa Begum and schoolteacher Delwar Hossain, the Yunus reform agenda is paying off. Inflation has eased, a bank liquidity crisis was averted, foreign reserves have steadied, with a record inflow of remittances, and the ready-made garment sector -- the country’s key export industry -- remains robust, defying earlier concerns.

"Almost every vegetable has become 10 to 20 Bangladeshi taka ($0.08-$0.16) cheaper (per kilogram). Potatoes, for instance, soared to 50 to 60 taka a few months ago. Now, they’re around 20 to 25 taka," Nipa told Nikkei Asia. During the ongoing Ramadan season, onions are selling for 40 to 45 taka: Last year at Ramadan, the price was 100 to 120 taka per kilogram.

Bangladeshis like Delwar have been concerned their country might face a financial crisis echoing that of its South Asian peer Sri Lanka, which defaulted on its foreign debt in 2022, triggering food and fuel shortages.

"We were very worried that Bangladesh might turn into Sri Lanka, but Yunus is trying to avert the crisis," said Delwar.

The coming months will be crucial, as the interim government led by Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist, businessman and politician, seeks to balance economic recovery, political reforms and societal expectations while also paving the way for the next general election. A date has yet to be set for the ballot.

So far, its supporters claim a positive record. During the final months of Hasina’s tenure and the transition to the new government, the country of 175 million people faced not only soaring food prices. Foreign exchange reserves shrank, imports were restricted and concerns grew over corruption and a severe liquidity crisis in banks plagued by nepotism.

Yet since then, the Bangladeshi economy has begun to steady, as the Yunus administration pushed through reforms. Inflation has eased from a rate of more than 11% year-on-year to below 10%, with government forecasts of further decline to 7% to 8% by June. Despite the challenges, the government’s tight monetary policy, increased exports and rising remittance inflows -- which reached a record $26.9 billion in 2024 -- have contributed to economic resilience.

Last month, Shafiqul Alam, press secretary to Yunus, said at an event in Dhaka that the country’s economic turnaround from the brink of collapse was nothing short of a "miracle."

"If you look at the figures ... I would say it’s a miracle," Shafiqul said, crediting the reform initiatives undertaken by the Yunus administration.

The government claims that the overall macroeconomic situation is now stable.

However, professor Selim Raihan, executive director of the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM), believes macroeconomic development has not yet reached a satisfactory level. "I would say there have been improvements in some sectors, but my biggest concern is whether this success will be sustained. The poor law and order situation puts garment factories in constant insecurity, and high interest rates are discouraging private investment," Selim said.

He emphasized the need to implement recommendations in a post-Hasina regime white paper -- the establishment of two committees focused on economic reform and investigating corruption under Hasina -- to achieve lasting solutions.

Among the interim government’s achievements are banking reforms -- reorganizing boards and implementing a tight monetary policy to restrain inflation. It has also enhanced flexibility in the foreign exchange market and managed to quell early signs of labor unrest in the ready-made garment sector following Hasina’s fall.

"Our first priority was to restore people’s confidence in the banking system," said Arief Hossain Khan, executive director and spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, speaking in an interview with Nikkei Asia. "The banks were struggling due to the incompetence or dishonesty of their boards and management. We dissolved those boards and appointed new ones."

A major boost to the country’s economy in 2024 came from record-breaking remittance inflows of $26.9 billion, bolstering foreign currency reserves. The remittance growth has continued this year: Bangladesh Bank reported a 25% increase in February from the same month a year earlier to $2.52 billion.

Last October, Bangladesh Bank Gov. Ahsan H. Mansur said nearly $2 billion in debt had been repaid without depleting the reserves, and that banks now have a surplus of dollars.

"The reserves, which had been depleting by $1.3 billion per month under the previous government, are now showing a more positive trend," Mansur told the Dhaka-based UNB news agency.

BB spokesperson Arief said that the increase in remittances is also improving the balance of payments. "The credit goes to our remittance warriors," he said, referring to Bangladeshi migrant workers in the Middle East who, despite the risk of harsh legal consequences in host countries, protested Hasina’s autocratic regime.

In another encouraging sign, the Bangladeshi currency has remained stable, at 120 to 122 versus the dollar, for the past few months.

A robust performance by the country’s apparel industry, which accounts for more than 80% of Bangladesh’s total exports, has underpinned growing optimism among Yunus supporters.

Violence at factories amid the anti-Hasina protests last July and August, coupled with labor unrest in the following months, had raised concerns that the industry might lose orders. However, defying these fears, Bangladesh’s ready-made garment sector recorded export growth of more than 7% last year versus 2023.

Sharif Zahir, managing director of Ananta Group, a leading apparel exporter, attributes this to the "remarkable resilience" of Bangladeshi entrepreneurs.

"The Bangladesh Bank and the Ministry of Finance have implemented prudent monetary policies, including contractionary measures that have helped curb inflation to some extent," Sharif said.

"Reforms and stricter enforcement in the banking sector -- particularly in Islamic banks and previously struggling institutions -- have also played a role in restoring financial stability," added Sharif, who recently became chairman of United Commercial Bank.

Despite the positive developments, inflation remains a concern, worsened by supply chain bottlenecks, a complex distribution system and extortion at various levels, he said.

"A clear election road map and stronger law enforcement are crucial for stability. ... The recent political turmoil has highlighted the urgent need for stable governance to support sustainable economic growth and retain buyer confidence in the ready-made goods sector," Sharif added.

For the first time in several years, national current accounts have turned positive, the trade deficit has narrowed and the decline in foreign reserves has been halted, said professor Mustafizur Rahman, a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue, a think tank based in Dhaka.

"However, we must be cautious," he warned. "The trade deficit has decreased, due to strong export performance, but this growth is based on a similarly stagnant rate from the previous year. Sustaining and further increasing it will be challenging, to some extent."

He warned that export growth was driven by volume, not price, as buyers dominate the market, leaving Bangladesh unable to leverage pricing power. "If we want to improve, we must focus on both volume and price," Mustafizur said.

Zahangir Alam, a small entrepreneur based in Dhaka, imports fragrance products and sells them to offices in the city.

During Hasina’s final months in power, Zahangir struggled to open a letter of credit (LC). "I waited for days and explored every option, but due to the dollar crisis, my LC kept getting delayed. They required a 100% deposit, whereas earlier, it was only 10% to 15%," he said.

After Hasina’s fall, the situation improved. "Now, banks process LCs without hesitation, but the deposit requirement is still 50%," he added.

For some, however, exporting remains fraught with hurdles.

Abul Kalam, managing director and CEO of Chaity Group, one of Bangladesh’s leading garment and textile makers, said banks still hesitate when opening export LCs.

"Exports are increasing, and business has stabilized since August," Abul said. "However, we still lack adequate gas supply, and the recent government move to hike the gas price is a double blow, especially since the last increase was less than a year ago. If the gas and electricity sectors become volatile again this summer, our industry will suffer."

Another bump in the road to recovery is declining investment.After Hasina’s fall, the situation improved. "Now, banks process LCs without hesitation, but the deposit requirement is still 50%," he added.

For some, however, exporting remains fraught with hurdles.

Abul Kalam, managing director and CEO of Chaity Group, one of Bangladesh’s leading garment and textile makers, said banks still hesitate when opening export LCs.

"Exports are increasing, and business has stabilized since August," Abul said. "However, we still lack adequate gas supply, and the recent government move to hike the gas price is a double blow, especially since the last increase was less than a year ago. If the gas and electricity sectors become volatile again this summer, our industry will suffer."

Another bump in the road to recovery is declining investment.

The country’s investment-to-GDP ratio fell by 0.25 percentage point to 30.7% this fiscal year, while foreign direct investment (FDI) hit an 11-year low of $104 million in the first quarter of the current fiscal year ending June 30, a 71% drop from the same period last year.

Despite being dubbed one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, Bangladesh has struggled to attract FDI since 2019 ended with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, Ashik Chowdhury, executive chairman of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, told Nikkei that FDI will rise "dramatically" in 2026 as the administration works to "fix problems" this year.

Another "fix" is needed for the Bangladesh stock market, which has slumped 11% over the last 12 months as investors flee the risks involved in securing the economy’s recovery. In the latest blow to confidence, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission was hit by a one-day strike by employees, who demanded the resignation of senior management, alleging misconduct.

All the while, security in the country remains fragile. A wave of armed robberies in Dhaka and across the country has spooked citizens, while hardline Islamists of banned group Hizb ut-Tahrir organized a rally in Dhaka on March 7, which police dispersed with batons and tear gas.

On the plus side for the economy, however, Bangladesh’s imports have increased for the first time in two years, growing 3.5% in the first half of fiscal 2024-25, compared with a 20% decline during the same period the previous fiscal year.

Back in the food markets of Dhaka, teachers like Delwar Hossain are among the lowest-earning professionals in Bangladesh, and he welcomed the stabilization of food prices. As a father, Delwar said he relied heavily on eggs to meet his child’s nutritional needs.

"Even eggs became unaffordable at one point, reaching 160 taka or more per dozen. I was relieved when the price dropped below 120 taka. ... If Yunus can keep the food market under control throughout his short tenure, it will set an example for future governments after the elections," Delwar said.
Citizens of tiny Bhutan, ‘Land of the Thunder Dragon,’ may end up on Trump travel ban list (USA Today)
USA Today [3/20/2025 3:31 PM, Kim Hjelmgaard, 75858K]
A remote Himalayan mountain kingdom nestled between China, India and a bunch of clouds may be about to get more distant. Bhutan is known as the "Land of the Thunder Dragon" and for its deeply Buddhist culture and for measuring national happiness.

On Friday, it could became one of 43 countries whose citizens face restrictions or demands on entering the U.S. because of a new Trump administration travel ban.

According to a draft list of plans developed by the State Department, Bhutan could join "red" list countries such as traditional American adversaries Iran and North Korea, whose citizens may be entirely barred from entering the U.S.

Another possibility is it could be designated an "orange" list nation, for which travel is restricted but not entirely cut off, or a "yellow" list country, which means it would be given 60 days to address concerns about its perceived immigration-related deficiencies. The draft memo was seen by The New York Times and Reuters news agency.

President Donald Trump imposed a ban on travelers from seven majority-Muslim nations in his first term. When he took office for his second term, he issued an executive order requiring the U.S. State Department to identify countries "for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries." Trump said that he was taking the fresh action to protect American citizens "from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes.".

It’s not fully clear why Bhutan, home to fewer than 800,000 people and until relatively recently tucked away in the mountains in virtual isolation from the rest of the world, was added to the list.

Here’s some of the factors that might come into play.

First of all, what do we know about Bhutan?

Bhutan was an association of local fiefdoms until the 18th century; following British intervention, it became a hereditary monarchy in 1907. The country became a two-party parliamentary democracy about 100 years later, though Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck − Bhutan’s fifth "Dragon King" − is still the de facto constitutional head of state.

The country only started opening up to outsiders in the 1970s, when the first tourists were allowed in. Bhutan did not get television until 1999. It still has no traffic lights − perhaps the only country in the world without them.

Bhutan is approximately half the size of Indiana. Its constitution mandates that 60% of the country must remain under forest cover for all time as part of a commitment to conserve the environment. Since 2008, Bhutan has been using what it calls the "Gross National Happiness" index to track its citizens’ well-being, a gauge that goes beyond economic indicators to encompass social, cultural and environmental factors that contribute to happiness. However, Tshering Tobgay, Bhutan’s prime minister, has said the concept can mask real problems in Bhutan, such as chronic unemployment, poverty and corruption.

Michael Hutt, a professor at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, said Bhutan’s political elite has traditionally been dominated by Buddhists who emigrated from Tibet. There is also a large Hindu minority, originally from Nepal. In the 19990s, Bhutan’s Buddhists started to see its Hindus as a political threat, though the conflict was not over religion, it was over ethnicity and politics, sparked by resurgent Bhutanese nationalists.

After a rebellion, about 100,000 Bhutanese Hindus left for refugee camps in Nepal. Hutt said they lived in these camps for about 20 years until countries in the West, including the U.S., offered to resettle them. Around 65,000 moved to the U.S., chiefly to the East Coast; also to cities in western Pennsylvania and Ohio.

In recent years, Bhutan has become the world’s third largest cryptocurrency investor.

Why would Trump put Bhutan on a travel ban list?

The White House has not said why Bhutan could be specifically targeted.

But visa overstays may be one factor.

While the total number of travelers to the U.S. from Bhutan each year is relatively small − well short of 1,000 − data from the Department of Homeland Security’s 2023 "Entry/Exit Overstay Report" show that Bhutanese who entered the U.S. that year as students, for exchange visits, or for business or tourism purposes, had a high overstay rate.

The report said that more than a quarter − 26.6% − of Bhutanese students and exchange visitors remained in the U.S. beyond their authorized period. For Bhutanese nationals who entered the U.S. on business or tourist visas, the overstay figure in 2023 was 12.7%. By comparison, the average overstay rate for students and exchange visitors from the United Kingdom in 2023 was 1%; for business and tourist travelers, it was 0.4%.

The Bhutanese, a news website, reported that Bhutan’s inclusion in the travel ban could also be linked to a series of immigration fraud scandals. In one, Nepalese nationals falsely posed as Bhutanese refugees to try to gain entry into the U.S. In another, first made public in a 2010 cable by the WikiLeaks whistleblowing platform, a group claiming to be cultural performers from Bhutan was unearthed as front to get into the U.S. illegally.

According to the WikiLeaks cable, the group initially told the U.S. Embassy that their purpose of travel was to perform as members of a Buddhist folk music and dance troupe at several U.S. venues. Some members admitted they were actually intending to travel to the US. to work illegally and hoping to bring other with them.

Bhutan has a high youth unemployment rate that hit 19% in 2024, according to the World Bank. That may be one reason pushing many Bhutanese seek work and study opportunities overseas, with Australia the top destination.

Bhutan vs. Trump. What happens now?

Bhutan’s ministry of foreign affairs and external trade did not return a request for comment on what the country could be asked to do to satisfy U.S. immigration officials − to get off the Trump administration list.

According to Kuensel, a Bhutanese media outlet, the nation’s officials have formally requested a review of the listing, insisting that Bhutanese citizens do not pose a significant security threat to the U.S.

Karma Loday is a blogger and former Bhutanese politician. He wrote an open letter Trump on his Facebook page, saying he felt "it is unfair" to have his "beloved country enlisted with some of the countries with terrorism history.".

In other posts, Loday also appeared to suggest that Bhutan had ultimately been placed on the list as a result of having its reputation being "smeared using false narratives" by members of Bhutan’s diaspora. He didn’t elaborate.

Hutt, who wrote a book on Bhutan’s refugees, said it’s a misconception that Bhutan’s Hindu minority were persecuted. "They weren’t nice to them. They weren’t persecuting them" because of their religion, he said.

Still, he said Bhutan is not an easy for place to reach or procure a visa for and that refugees who fled the country find it "problematic" to go back because they are scrutinized by Bhutan’s security services.

A Human Rights Watch report published on Tuesday, based on findings from the United Nations, found that Bhutan’s government has locked up people for life without parole for expressing their political opinions.

"We may not have the answer to why Bhutan is on the list," said Sudarshan Pyakurel, the executive director of the Bhutanese Community of Central Ohio, in an email. "We strongly believe that the White House should engage with Bhutan to establish diplomatic and bilateral relations rather than resorting to a one-sided travel ban.".
Sri Lanka Govt Faces Popularity Test With Local Polls (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [3/20/2025 6:03 AM, Staff, 354K]
Sri Lanka’s long-delayed local council polls will be held in May, the election commission announced Thursday, setting up the first popularity test of the island nation’s new leftist government.

The vote was due in 2022 but was postponed by the last administration, which argued that an unprecedented economic crisis that year had left it unable to afford the contest.

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court ruled in August that then-president Ranil Wickremesinghe had acted unlawfully by delaying the polls indefinitely and ordered them held at the earliest opportunity.

Elections for all but three of Sri Lanka’s 339 local government bodies will be held on May 6, the commission announced, with the remainder to be scheduled later.

Sri Lanka faced its worst-ever economic crisis in 2022 when it declared its first sovereign default on $46 billion in external debt.

Months of consumer goods shortages sparked widespread civil unrest culminating in the ousting of then-leader Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

His successor Wickremesinghe secured a $2.9 billion bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in March 2023 after doubling income taxes, removing energy subsidies and increasing prices.

Wickremesinghe lost last year’s presidential polls, which saw the landslide victory of leftist Anura Kumara Dissanayake thanks to simmering discontent over the crisis and its aftermath.

Dissanayake has continued with the austerity measures introduced by Wickremesinghe, while the IMF has said the country’s economy is stabilising and emerging from its worst meltdown.
Sri Lanka Police Chief Denied Bail Over Deadly Raid (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [3/20/2025 7:28 AM, Staff, 354K]
Sri Lanka’s police chief was denied bail Thursday after going on the run over a deadly illegal raid and facing accusations of being a crime boss.

Deshabandu Tennakoon turned himself in on Wednesday, after being in hiding for nearly three weeks to evade a warrant for his arrest.

Magistrate Aruna Buddhadasa ordered he be held in custody until April 3, when the case will be heard again, at the urging of state prosecutor Dileepa Peeris.

"Earlier, I had said Tennakoon was not suitable to be even a constable. Today, I apologise to all constables," Peeris told the magistrate on Wednesday.

"What I want to say is that he is... the head of a criminal network."

Peeris noted that more than 1,000 bottles of alcohol and more than 100 Christmas hampers had been found in Tennakoon’s private home during a search on Tuesday.

Tennakoon’s lawyers asked the magistrate to order extra security for him in prison, a request that was granted.

Tennakoon stands accused of authorising an ill-fated drug bust in 2023, allegedly against internal regulations, that sparked a gun battle between competing police units in the southern coastal resort town of Weligama.

One police officer was killed and another critically wounded in the incident, and no drugs were found.

Tennakoon was appointed police chief in November 2023, but the move was challenged in the Supreme Court, which suspended him last July pending the outcome of a separate case.

He was given the top job despite Sri Lanka’s highest court ruling that he had tortured a suspect in custody by rubbing menthol balm on his genitals.

The Supreme Court ordered Tennakoon to pay half a million rupees ($1,600) in compensation to the victim, but the government at the time ignored judicial orders to take disciplinary action against him.
Central Asia
Kyrgyzstan: Seeking Elon Musk-like figures to lead the government (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [3/20/2025 4:14 PM, Staff, 57.6K]
A bill that would streamline existing requirements to occupy cabinet-level governmental posts in Kyrgyzstan seems on its way to parliamentary approval. Some are dubbing it the Kyrgyz Musk Act.

A parliamentary committee approved the bill on March 18. It is not certain when the full legislature will take up the measure. The draft law in its current form would remove an existing requirement that a nominee for a cabinet post have at least a decade of prior experience in government, including five in a leadership position.

That requirement places an unnecessary restriction on the potential candidate pool for top governmental posts, according to Marlen Mamataliev, a leading proponent of the bill. Specifically, he thinks government can be more efficient and effective if led by entrepreneurs with experience mainly in the business world.

“This is being done for the educated and intelligent citizens of our country who have succeeded, for example, abroad, and work in large global companies. We have a lot of guys like Elon Musk,” RFE/RL quoted Mamataliev as saying, referring to the proposed rules changes.

Musk himself has proven a supremely divisive figure in American politics in just two months in his high-profile, unelected and Senate-unconfirmed role as the Trump administration’s efficiency maven. Even the ardently pro-government media outlet Fox News has labeled him a “lightning rod” for controversy.

Kyrgyzstan has been buffeted by political volatility for much of the 21st century, including multiple bouts of upheaval that forcibly toppled governments. In the 34 years since Kyrgyzstan gained independence amid the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, the country has had 33 prime ministers.

The Kyrgyz bill, though appearing to have broad support from MPs, does have some vociferous critics in the legislature. “If a candidate has not worked a day in the civil service, how can he become a leader?” Vice Speaker Nurbek Sydygaliev stated. The RFE/RL report also cited Azamat Attokurov, an expert on good governance for Unison Group, a Bishkek-based management consultancy, as saying that easing the existing qualifications could exacerbate the problem of grand corruption in the country.

Kyrgyzstan’s ranking in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index has tanked in recent years. In its most recent survey Kyrgyzstan ranked 146th out of the 180 countries surveyed. A decade ago, the country was 123rd.

Meanwhile, Kyrgyz legislators on March 19 ratified a treaty that demarcates the country’s border with Tajikistan. Kamchybek Tashiev, head of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security, revealed to MPs that Tajikistan relinquished claims to 210,000 hectares of Kyrgyz territory to get the frontier deal done.
How China is Adapting to Tajikistan’s Demand for Security Cooperation (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace – opinion)
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace [3/20/2025 4:14 PM, Edward Lemon and Rusian Norov, 693K]
Preface

China Local/Global

China has become a global power, but there is too little debate about how this has happened and what it means. Many argue that China exports its developmental model and imposes it on other countries. But Chinese players also extend their influence by working through local actors and institutions while adapting and assimilating local and traditional forms, norms, and practices.

With a generous multiyear grant from the Ford Foundation, Carnegie has launched an innovative body of research on Chinese engagement strategies in seven regions of the world—Africa, Central Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa, the Pacific, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Through a mix of research and strategic convening, this project explores these complex dynamics, including the ways Chinese firms are adapting to local labor laws in Latin America, Chinese banks and funds are exploring traditional Islamic financial and credit products in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, and Chinese actors are helping local workers upgrade their skills in Central Asia. These adaptive Chinese strategies that accommodate and work within local realities are largely ignored by Western policymakers.

Ultimately, the project aims to significantly broaden understanding and debate about China’s role in the world and to generate innovative policy ideas. These could enable local players to better channel Chinese energies to support their societies and economies; provide lessons for Western engagement around the world, especially in developing countries; help China’s own policy community learn from the diversity of Chinese experiences; and potentially reduce frictions.

Introduction

Over the past decade, the authoritarian government of Emomali Rahmon has consolidated its power while Russia has reduced its military presence in Tajikistan, calling into question Russia’s reliability as Tajikistan’s primary security partner. This opening has allowed China to play a more prominent role in Tajikistan’s security. Tajikistan’s partnership with China has become a fertile testing ground for Chinese security initiatives. This experimentation is exemplified by investments from Huawei to build a surveillance infrastructure, Chinese military aid, and joint exercises between the Tajik and Chinese militaries. The arrival of Chinese investments were spurred on by tumultuous regional developments. The emergence of Syria as a haven for foreign fighters after 2011 along with the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan in 2021 have heightened threat perceptions for both China and Tajikistan further driving coordination and cooperation.

Seeing these regional threats along with internal instability, Rahmon’s government has sought out Chinese investments to meet its own domestic objectives, instead of China purely imposing upon Tajikistan to accept its growing presence. The country’s security forces have primarily been deployed to suppress internal dissent, most recently in the Pamir region. The pull from Tajikistan instead of the push from China has shaped the scope, intensity, and specifics of cooperation. In November 2021, for example, it was Tajikistan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs that invited the Chinese government to fund a new paramilitary facility in the Wakhan Corridor on the border with Afghanistan, not Beijing that proposed it. Chinese support is being shaped by the regime in ways that help it maintain its grip on power and the country’s resources.

Why Does China Support Tajikistan?

China supports the government of Emomali Rahmon, who has ruled since 1992, because he is a long-time partner and potential bulwark against instability. Tajikistan, Central Asia’s poorest country with a weak military, and long border with Afghanistan, is a potential weak point through which Uyghur terrorists might try to capitalize to launch operations into Xinjiang. In 2014, Xi Jinping stated that “after the United States pulls out of Afghanistan, terrorist organizations positioned on the frontiers of Afghanistan and Pakistan may quickly infiltrate into Central Asia.” This comment proved prescient as Chinese nationals in Central Asia have become targets of terrorist attacks. The Islamic State of Khorasan Province attacked a Kabul hotel that is frequented by Chinese delegations killing five Chinese citizens in December 2022. Dozens of Chinese citizens have been killed in Pakistan by a range of terrorist groups since 2021. In November 2024, an attack on a Chinese mine near the Afghan border left one Chinese citizen dead and four injured. Besides threatening Chinese workers, these attacks also endangered Chinese investments as well, leading China to expand its security assistance program in the region—especially in Tajikistan. Despite Russia still being the main security provider for Tajikistan, China’s presence in the nation is growing.

Agreements, Visits, and Meetings

In July 2024, Xi Jinping arrived for a state visit to Dushanbe and was received with much fanfare. During a speech to the media, he stated it is “important to deepen security cooperation and create a security barrier for the development of the two countries.” President Rahmon vowed, “to ensure through joint efforts the sustainable development of the region and collectively counteract the challenges and threats that are common to all of us.”

Regular high-level visits and meetings and the signing of agreements in the field of security and technology indicate the increasing institutionalization of relations. The basis of bilateral cooperation is based on 300 agreements covering almost all areas of activity, as well as various agreements established by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), of which both are founding members. Key agreements on security issues between the two countries include a law enforcement cooperation agreement and a cooperation agreement to combat terrorism, separatism, and extremism signed in 2002 and 2003 respectively. They also signed a Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership agreement in 2024, elevating ties to the highest level.

Meetings take place on a regular basis. Between 1992 and 2023, there were at least 117 meetings between senior officials from both countries where security was on the agenda. Regular meetings occur between Tajikistan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and State Committee on National Security and China’s Ministry of Public Security, and between both countries’ Ministries of Defense, Ministries of Foreign Affairs, and Prosecutors General Offices, all of which have a focus on security.

Training and Joint Exercises

The Chinese government increasingly provides training to Tajik security officials. The PRC’s Ministry of Public Security has led cooperation in this regard. Niva Yau, nonresident fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, compiled a list of training activities involving Tajik and Chinese government actors until 2021, finding that China’s Ministry of Public Security accounted for fifteen of the twenty-one activities she identified. Other actors are also involved. For example, in October 2024, a delegation from China’s Criminal Police University trained twenty-seven representatives from the Ministry of Internal Affairs in crime scene investigation, terrorism in China, combating money laundering, counter-narcotics, and online crimes. Courses have also been offered for Tajikistan’s Drug Control Agency.

Tajikistan participated in nineteen of the thirty-six joint military exercises China was involved in with militaries from Central Asia between 2002 and 2023. Of these, the vast majority were conducted through the SCO, with six being organized bilaterally (see table 1).

Exercises have involved both military units and internal security forces, with all focusing on border security and joint counterterrorism operations in line with their collective concerns over spillovers across the Tajik–Afghan border and the Tajik government’s concerns around internal rebellions or coups. In 2023, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Public Security pledged to organize joint anti-terrorist exercises at least once every two years in a further sign of the growing institutionalization of ties. The training and exercises bolster the security forces’ ability to suppress insurgencies. Exercises are designed to mirror the kind of small-scale violence that has erupted periodically since 1991. Despite claiming to be fighting terrorism, most of the political violence in the country since independence has been driven by domestic struggles for political control. China’s assistance, which has focused on counterterrorism and border security, is particularly helpful to the regime as it seeks to stamp out opposition.

Paramilitary Facility, Joint Patrols, and Operations

In 2016, China’s Ministry of Public Security established a military facility in Tajikistan’s Pamir region. Located ten miles from the Afghan border, the facility includes space for 500 personnel and a helipad. It is China’s first security facility in the region and first outside its territory. It foreshadowed the expansion of other Chinese military facilities in Djibouti, Cuba, and Argentina.

In 2023, China’s Lanzhou University established a weather station in southern Tajikistan near the Afghan and Uzbek borders. Ostensibly used for climate and environmental monitoring, the station could also be used to monitor militant movements in nearby Afghanistan. Lanzhou University has proven links to China’s defense industry. Rather than China forcing Tajikistan’s government to accept its presence, it is often the Tajik side asking for more Chinese support. The SCO, which is dominated by China, has discussed establishing a second regional counterterrorism center (the other having been launched in 2004 in Tashkent). Speaking to the Chinese media in 2024, President Rahmon commented that “considering that our country is on the front line of the fight against the drug threat, we consider the placement of this SCO [counterterrorist] center in Tajikistan to be completely fair.”

Beyond China’s growing network of facilities, it has deepened cooperation with Tajik counterparts along the border. Tajikistan and China share a 296-mile border, which was fully delimited in 2011. Since then, cooperation has increased between the People’s Armed Police and People’s Liberation Army and Tajikistan’s State Committee on National Security, which are collectively responsible for border security. A joint operation involving over 5,000 officers in November 2014 resulted in the arrest of thirty-eight drug smugglers. Chinese and Tajik forces have also conducted joint patrols along the border in 2017 and 2019. Such exercises benefit both sides, but particularly build the capacity of the Tajik side to maintain security and keep the regime in power.

Security Assistance and Arms Supplies

Russia remains the dominant provider of security assistance, including arms, non-lethal equipment and aid for infrastructure, accounting for over 90 percent of arms transferred to the country since independence in 1991. But in recent years, China has made inroads into this sector.

According to local media, at least $10 million in aid was transferred from the Chinese government to the Tajik Ministry of Defense from 1991 to 2006. Since then, increasing numbers of Chinese-made arms have been on display in military parades in Tajikistan. Equipment that has been gifted to Tajikistan from China since 2018 includes Norinco VP-11 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, Shaanxi Baoji Tiger vehicles, Norinco CS/VN3 light tactical armored vehicle, Type 56-3 7.62 mm assault rifles, LR2 12.7 mm rifles, and CS/SS4 82 mm self-propelled mortars. The Chinese side has also given non-lethal equipment. The PRC Ministry of Public Security gave the Tajik Ministry of Internal Affairs $500,000 in non-lethal equipment in 2011 and $150,000 in clothing in 2015.

China has also focused particularly on building facilities for Tajikistan’s security apparatus. The following table (table 2) lists some of the main projects:

Opening ceremonies for new buildings have been attended by senior officials, including President Rahmon, ministers from both sides and China’s ambassador, highlighting the importance placed on this area of cooperation. The construction of paramilitary bases, border complexes, and training centers simultaneously contributes to Tajikistan’s dependence on Chinese technology and infrastructure, which in the long term may limit its independence in making decisions in the security sphere. But at the same time, more advanced facilities and equipment bolster the ability of the regime to maintain control.

Smart Cities and Surveillance

China has become known as a leading innovator in the realm of digital authoritarianism. In 2015, China launched the Digital Silk Road to develop new infrastructure. This investment in digital infrastructure includes 5G, smart cities, cloud computing, and fiber optic cables. Tajikistan has joined this effort. Dushanbe launched its Safe City project in 2013, with support from Huawei and a $21 million loan from the Export-Import Bank of China, installing 870 cameras in the capital city. Huawei trained over fifty employees from Tajikistan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs to install and use the new surveillance system.

Huawei communications equipment serves nearly nine million local wireless users, or over 70 percent of the market. In 2023, Huawei signed an agreement to install 7,600 cellular communication stations across the country to allow access to mobile internet. Chinese company Hytera provided radio equipment for the 2019 Commonwealth of Independent States summit and SCO summit in 2021, both held in Dushanbe.

Chinese technology has also enabled the monitoring of internet traffic. In collaboration with the security services, Tajikistan’s State Communications Service established the “Unified Electronic Communications Switching Center” (EKTs) in 2016 at a cost of $50 million. The equipment was purchased from the Chinese company ZTE. The government claimed the system was aimed at “ensuring national and information security,” as well as the ability to keep “gray traffic” and telephone conversations under control. But in reality, it gives the government the ability to surveil citizens’ online activities and even suspend mobile and wireless connectivity entirely during crises for the regime, a step taken by the government in the Pamir region on numerous occasions since 2018.

However, this technological dependence raises concerns from a national security perspective. The integration of Chinese technologies into key areas such as e-government, intelligent transportation systems, and city management systems provides Huawei with direct access to Tajikistan’s information and communication networks. If the government is concerned, it’s not evident, as it is the Tajik side that often calls for new investments. President Rahmon meets with Chinese technology companies on a regular basis. In 2015, he expressed interest in ZTE expanding its footprint in the country. He repeated the call for greater Chinese investment in the country’s tech sector on a visit to China in 2022. In 2022, Chinese company Hytera Public Safety Solutions held a conference for thirty government officials in which they showcased their surveillance technology and established relationships with government contracts. The Head of the Communications Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Tajikistan said they had achieved “amazing results.”

Box 1: Case Study of the Pamir Region

Since 2013, China has provided cameras to Tajikistan that have been installed in the restive Pamir region. The mountainous Pamir region makes up almost half the country’s territory. It is home to various indigenous peoples from different ethnic groups, many of whom do not profess the same religion as most Tajiks. Tajikistan has long sought to assert greater surveillance and central government control over Pamir, finding a willing ally in China, which shares a border with the Pamir, and through which, the only land transit route flows between China and Tajikistan. After mass protests in the cities of Khorog and Rushan in the Pamir region erupted in November 2021 following the police killing of local resident Gulbiddin Ziyobekov, Chinese-made security cameras started being installed in March 2023. Officials claimed this was “to ensure order, peace and public safety, to identify and prevent violations of the regime and crimes in everyday life.”

Stabilization is critical for Tajikistan’s elite as it paves the way for increased Chinese investments, which benefit the Tajik side by reinforcing stability. The Pamirs are rich in gold, silver, copper and other minerals. Lithium has been a focus in recent years as demand for electric vehicles, which rely on the element, surges. Most deposits are in the southern Pamir region. But extraction has been plagued by the region’s lack of infrastructure and potential for instability. In August, Minister of Industry and New Technologies Sherali Kabir announced that a mining and processing plant for lithium would be opened on the Afghan border in Ishkashim with Chinese investment.

China’s primary vector of influence on Tajikistan’s legal system has been the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The SCO has served as a platform for seeking regional consensus over concepts like information security, cyber sovereignty, and internet sovereignty. These are based on respect for national sovereignty and non-interference in efforts to curtail online activities that undermine public safety.

China has worked with officials in Central Asia to harmonize understanding over key concepts and norms. For example, the International Congress of Deputies of the Parliaments of the Central Asian States, which was held in October 2024 in China, aimed to share model bills and form common approaches to managing a range of issues. The Tajik delegation expressed a particular interest in developing common approaches to countering extremism. Such exchanges of ideas and practices help the Tajik side strengthen their control by emulating policies adopted by their eastern neighbor to suppress and control populations in regions like Xinjiang.

The “Safe City” system, related to transport management and public order, is only part of a larger strategy of introducing surveillance technologies. These projects are becoming an important tool for monitoring and controlling civil society. This cooperation is not imposed on Tajikistan from the outside, but is conditioned by the interests of the Tajik authorities themselves, who seek to strengthen their control and suppress possible sources of discontent in society.

Conclusion

Tajikistan has become a vivid example of how local governments are leaning on China to strengthen their regimes. Over the past two decades, China has significantly strengthened its presence in the country using financial, technological, and military instruments. While dependence on China may be growing, the Tajik side still shapes the relationship and forms of support that China provides.

Tajikistan is in many ways a pilot project for China, testing various mechanisms of influence that can later be transferred to other countries in the region. Cooperation with Tajikistan demonstrates the successful integration of Chinese technologies, such as Huawei’s developments in 5G and smart cities, as well as an example of how China supports authoritarian regimes through financial, economic, and military assistance. China actively supplies weapons and participates in joint military exercises, which leads to the strengthening of its military presence in Tajikistan. These technologies and military aid strengthen the authoritarian regime, allowing it to consolidate its power by suppressing the opposition and neutralizing any attempts at resistance.
Indo-Pacific
Deportees from the US hop embassy to embassy in Panama in a desperate scramble to seek asylum (AP)
AP [3/21/2025 2:28 AM, Matias Delacroix and Megan Janetsky, 456K]
Migrants from Afghanistan, Russia, Iran and China deported from the United States and dropped into limbo in Panama hopped door-to-door at embassies and consulates this week in a desperate attempt to seek asylum in any country that would accept them.

The focus of international humanitarian concern just weeks before, the deportees now say they’re increasingly worried that with little legal and humanitarian assistance and no clear pathway forward offered by authorities, they may be forgotten.

“After this, we don’t know what we’ll do,” said 29-year-old Hayatullah Omagh, who fled Afghanistan in 2022 after the Taliban takeover.

In February, the United States deported nearly 300 people from mostly Asian nations to Panama. The Central American ally was supposed to be a stopover for migrants from countries that were more challenging for the U.S. to deport to as the Trump administration tried to accelerate deportations. Some agreed to voluntarily return to their countries from Panama, but others refused out of fear of persecution and were sent to a remote camp in the Darien jungle for weeks.

Earlier this month, Panama released those remaining migrants from the camp, giving them one month to leave Panama. The government said they had declined assistance from international organizations, instead choosing to make their own arrangements. But with limited money, no familiarity with Panama and little to no Spanish, the migrants have struggled.

Seeking asylum door-to-door

On Tuesday, about a dozen migrants began visiting foreign missions in Panama’s capital, including the Canadian and British embassies, and the Swiss and Australian consulates with the hope of starting the process to seek refuge in those countries. They were either turned away or told that they would need to call or reach out to embassies by email. Messages were met with no response or a generic response saying embassies couldn’t help.

In one email, Omagh detailed why he had to flee his country, writing “please don’t let me be sent back to Afghanistan, a place where there is no way for me to survive.”

“The Embassy of Canada in Panama does not offer visa or immigration services, not either services for refugee. Nor are we allowed to answer any questions in regards to visa or immigration,” the response read.

At the British Embassy, a security guard handed asylum-seekers a pamphlet reading “Emergency Help for British People.” The Swiss consulate told the group they would have to reach out to the embassy in Costa Rica, and handed the migrants a piece of paper with general phone lines and emails printed from the embassy’s website.

Canadian, British and Australian diplomats in Panama did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. The Swiss consulate denied that they turned away the asylum-seekers.

Panama limbo

The migrants had travelled halfway across the globe, reached the U.S. border where they sought asylum and instead found themselves in Panama, a country some had traversed months earlier on their way to the U.S.

Many of the deportees said they would be open to seeking asylum in Panama, but had been told both by international aid groups and Panamanian authorities that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to be granted refuge in the Central American nation.

Álvaro Botero, among those advocating for the migrants at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, said he wasn’t surprised that they were turned away from embassies, as such help is often only offered in extreme cases of political persecution, and that other governments may fear tensions with the Trump administration.

“It’s crucial that these people are not forgotten,” Botero said. “They never asked to be sent to Panama, and now they’re in Panama with no idea what to do, without knowing what their future will be and unable to return to their countries.”

The Trump administration has simultaneously closed legal pathways to the U.S. at its southern border, ramped up its deportation program, suspended its refugee resettlement program, as well as funding for organizations that could potentially aid the migrants now stuck in Panama.

Over the weekend, the Trump administration sent more than 200 Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador to be held in a maximum-security gang prison, alleging that those expelled were part the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang without providing evidence.

Limited options remain

On Thursday, the migrants visited the Panama offices of the U.N. refugee agency. Omagh said they were told that the agency could not help them seek asylum in other countries due to restrictions by the Panamanian government. A U.N. official told them they could help start the asylum process in Panama, but warned that it was very unlikely that Panama’s government would accept their claim, Omagh said.

The U.N.’s International Organization for Migration and the refugee agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment by the AP.

The same day, Filippo Grandi, head of the U.N. refugee agency, warned that aid cuts by the U.S. government would hurt refugee services around the world.

“We appeal to member States to honor their commitments to displaced people. Now is the time for solidarity, not retreat,” Grandi said in a statement.

Deportees including Omagh worried that foreign governments and aid organizations were washing their hands of them.

Omagh said that as an atheist and member of an ethnic minority group in Afghanistan known as the Hazara, returning home under the rule of the Taliban would mean death. He only went to the U.S. after trying for years to live in Pakistan, Iran and other countries but being denied visas.

Russian Aleksandr Surgin, also among the group seeking help at the embassies, said he left his country because he openly opposed the war in Ukraine on social media, and was told by government officials he could either be jailed or fight with Russian troops in Ukraine.

When asked Thursday what he would do next, he responded simply: “I don’t hope for anything anymore.”
Twitter
Afghanistan
Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Afghanistan
@MoFA_Afg
[3/21/2025 12:45 AM, 74.4K followers, 14 retweets, 87 likes]
Today, the United States Special Representative for Hostage Response; Mr. Zalmay Khalilzad, former US Special Representative for Afghanistan; and an accompanying delegation called on IEA Foreign Minister Mawlawi AmirKhan Muttaqi.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Afghanistan
@MoFA_Afg
[3/21/2025 12:45 AM, 74.4K followers, 4 likes]
The meeting focused on bilateral relations between Afghanistan and the United States, the release of prisoners, and the provision of consular services to Afghans residing in the United States. Welcoming the delegation, Minister Muttaqi called their visit to Kabul...

Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Afghanistan
@MoFA_Afg
[3/21/2025 12:45 AM, 74.4K followers, 1 retweet, 4 likes]
a good development in bilateral relations. Minister Muttaqi said that IEA seeks positive relations with all sides in light of its balanced foreign policy, adding that it is important that Afghanistan and the United States should be able to resolve issues through dialogue

Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Afghanistan
@MoFA_Afg
[3/21/2025 12:45 AM, 74.4K followers, 4 likes]
He also said that the two countries must overcome the effects of the twenty-year war and have positive political and economic relations. Mr. Adam Buehler, US Special Envoy for Hostage Response, called the progress pertaining to prisoners between Afghanistan...

Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Afghanistan
@MoFA_Afg
[3/21/2025 12:45 AM, 74.4K followers, 5 likes]
and the United States a good step towards trust building. He also appreciated the efforts to combat narcotics and ensure security in Afghanistan. Mr. Bueller emphasized the continuation of dialogue between the two countries and called strengthening relations...

Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Afghanistan
@MoFA_Afg
[3/21/2025 12:45 AM, 74.4K followers, 5 likes]
through dialogue important. He also stated that the two countries have historical relations that have faced problems at times, however, now it is important to look forward.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Afghanistan
@MoFA_Afg
[3/21/2025 10:51 AM, 74.4K followers, 47 retweets, 136 likes]
Today the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan released an American prisoner, George Glezmann, on humanitarian grounds. The Islamic Emirate again reaffirms its longstanding position that dialogue, understanding and diplomacy provide effective avenues for resolving all issues,

Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Afghanistan
@MoFA_Afg
[3/21/2025 10:51 AM, 74.4K followers, 6 retweets, 20 likes]
with the release of American citizen serving as a goodwill gesture, reflecting Afghanistan’s readiness to genuinely engaging all sides, particularly the United States of America, on the basis of mutual respect and interests.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Afghanistan
@MoFA_Afg
[3/21/2025 10:51 AM, 74.4K followers, 5 retweets, 19 likes]
The end of conflict in Afghanistan, suppression of corrupt groups such as Daesh, and no threat emanating from Afghanistan towards others, demonstrates that Afghanistan can play a positive role in regional and world stability, and is able to resolve its issues...

Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Afghanistan
@MoFA_Afg
[3/21/2025 10:51 AM, 74.4K followers, 6 retweets, 18 likes]
with the world on amicable terms. To end, we extend our appreciation to the friendly governments of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar for facilitating this development between the IEA and USA, and for their instrumental and effective role in resolving this case.

Zalmay Khalilzad
@realZalmayMK
[3/20/2025 9:54 AM, 256.3K followers, 3.1K retweets, 11K likes]
Today is a good day. We succeeded in obtaining the release of an American citizen, Georg Glezmann, after two years in detention in Kabul. The Taliban government agreed to free him as a goodwill gesture to @POTUS and the American people. George is on his way home to his family. @realDonaldTrump has made the freedom and homecoming of Americans held abroad a high priority. It is an honor to assist in this important effort.

Navbahor Imamova
@Navbahor
[3/20/2025 11:51 AM, 24.2K followers, 1 retweet, 1 like]
George Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, is the third American detainee to be released by the Taliban since January. He was seized by the Taliban’s intelligence services in December 2022. https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-hostage-taliban-trump-e6a4d42edc25f290552a5e2ad21f8889

Sara Wahedi
@SaraWahedi
[3/20/2025 10:37 AM, 96.9K followers, 291 retweets, 2K likes]
The Taliban has banned the official celebration of Nowruz. For many Afghans, it’s the start of the new year. In protest, we dress in our brightest colours. Whether Afghan women celebrate in their homes in secret, or are displaced, we resist. Always will. Nowruz Mubarak!

Jahanzeb Wesa
@Jahanzeb_Wesa
[3/20/2025 11:17 AM, 5.7K followers, 36 retweets, 59 likes]
No hope, no freedom for the people of Afghanistan, especially women and girls. According to the World Happiness Report 2025, Finland ranks as the happiest country, while Afghanistan stands at 147th, the saddest in the world. #Afghanistan #HumanRights #Women #UN
Pakistan
Government of Pakistan
@GovtofPakistan
[3/20/2025 7:45 PM, 3.1M followers, 16 retweets, 83 likes]
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif offers prayers in the Masjid e Nabvi in Madina Munawwara.

Dr. Arif Alvi
@ArifAlvi
[3/20/2025 6:19 PM, 4.4M followers, 473 retweets, 2K likes]
20th March is the World Oral Health Day. I take pride that this day and date was decided with the efforts of leadership from Pakistan. Very important clip. Do watch for good health, to prevent pain, .discomfort, loss of teeth, cancer, and save millions also in the bargain
India
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
[3/20/2025 9:00 AM, 105.9M followers, 4.8K retweets, 19K likes]
Sharing my remarks during a programme of Bavaliyali Dham in Gujarat. https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1rmGPywONlbJN

President of India
@rashtrapatibhvn
[3/20/2025 9:58 AM, 26.5M followers, 303 retweets, 1.8K likes]
President Droupadi Murmu visited the Udyam Utsav in the President’s Estate. She visited the pavilions displaying various products ranging from handicrafts and food products to khadi products. The Udyam Utsav - celebration of the spirit of MSMEs - is open for public until March 30, 2025. Entry through Gate No. 35 between 10 am to 8 pm.
NSB
Chief Adviser of the Government of Bangladesh
@ChiefAdviserGoB
[3/20/2025 11:34 AM, 126.1K followers, 56 retweets, 933 likes]
Bangladesh’s Interim Government has vowed to hold elections on schedule, refusing to delay the vote for any demands, Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus stated Thursday.

Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office
@amnestysasia
[3/21/2025 12:40 AM, 97.3K followers, 3 retweets, 6 likes]
Bangladesh: Amnesty International and eight other human rights organizations call on the interim government of Bangladesh to protect freedom of expression and opinion in a joint statement issued today. #Bangladesh has a history of widespread violations of the right to freedom of expression. In order to build a rights respecting future, it is essential to break from that past. Read more: https://amnesty.org/en/documents/asa13/9165/2025/en/ @article19org @forum_asia @CIVICUSalliance @FortifyRights @FrontLineHRD @hrw @PENamerica @CPJAsia

The President’s Office, Maldives
@presidencymv
[3/20/2025 9:15 AM, 112.4K followers, 167 retweets, 163 likes]
President Dr @MMuizzu tours the Greater Malé Environmental Improvement and Waste Management Project site on Thilafushi Island this afternoon. The project aims to establish a sustainable solid waste management system across the Greater Malé region and surrounding islands, featuring modern waste collection, transfer and disposal systems. It also strengthens community-based waste management, mitigates disaster risks, enhances climate resilience and fosters a cleaner environment. #RoadhaigeRoohu

The President’s Office, Maldives
@presidencymv
[3/20/2025 9:12 AM, 112.4K followers, 125 retweets, 132 likes]
President Dr @MMuizzu visits the Thilafushi Regional Waste Management Facility this afternoon to assess significant progress since October 2024. The facility has successfully implemented enhanced waste layer techniques, notably reducing fires and boosting waste clearance efficiency, while improved resort waste management reinforces sustainability efforts. These improvements are crucial for fostering a cleaner and safer environment for all. #RoadhaigeRoohu

MOFA of Nepal
@MofaNepal
[3/20/2025 4:07 AM, 262.4K followers, 18 likes]
Ms. Meghan Nalbo, The Asia Foundation’s country representative in Nepal paid a courtesy call on Foreign Secretary Mr. Amrit Bahadur Rai today. Various matters related to cooperation between Nepal and The Asia Foundation were discussed during the meeting. @amritrai555

Harsha de Silva
@HarshadeSilvaMP
[3/20/2025 7:44 AM, 360.9K followers, 11 retweets, 67 likes]
Budget 2025 exposed! New debt, tax flops, VAT mess, rising bills & conflicts of interest. Full speech out now—watch & see why the math doesn’t add up. SL deserves better! https://bit.ly/4bEF6Qz #Budget2025 #SriLanka #LKA #EconomyLK

Namal Rajapaksa
@RajapaksaNamal
[3/20/2025 10:03 AM, 436.8K followers, 2 retweets, 28 likes]
Sri Lanka’s economic growth needs a real shift—not just incremental changes. At 5% growth, it will take 27 years to reach a middle-income level. To get to 7-8%, we need bold decisions, even beyond IMF agreements. Yet, this budget lacks a clear investment plan. Taxes are rising—VAT amendments impact digital consumers, while new tax policies burden local and foreign service providers. Meanwhile, renewable energy projects stall, and international investors turn away. Where is the roadmap for real economic growth? Where is the strategy to drive investment? The government must act now. #SriLanka #EconomicGrowth
Central Asia
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service
@president_uz
[3/20/2025 12:57 PM, 214.2K followers, 7 retweets, 29 likes]
Continuing his program, President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev visited Rohat mahalla in #Bektemir district, joining festive events and reviewing two manufacturing enterprises. He participated in the Sumalak celebration and engaged with residents and elders, discussing plans for the year with a focus on peace, stability, entrepreneurship and job creation.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service
@president_uz
[3/20/2025 11:40 AM, 214.2K followers, 1 retweet, 15 likes]
President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev participated in a tree-planting event in #Bektemir district alongside state representatives and the public. He met with mahalla members, elders, and youth, expressing gratitude for their efforts and extending #Navruz greetings. This spring, 125 million trees will be planted focusing on site selection and irrigation. Additionally, it’s planned to establish 18 forestry farms for seedling cultivation, integrating science and practice, while the “Yashil Olam” platform will enable online seedling purchases.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service
@president_uz
[3/20/2025 10:48 AM, 214.2K followers, 6 likes]
During his visit to the capital’s #Bektemir district, President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev inspected development efforts. He toured a newly opened school for nearly 1,000 students, equipped with modern classrooms, laboratories, computer and foreign language centers, a robotics club and a library.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service
@president_uz
[3/20/2025 9:57 AM, 214.2K followers, 4 retweets, 18 likes]
President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev reviewed development projects in #Tashkent, including the “High Town City” complex in Yunusabad, featuring a shopping and entertainment center, sports grounds and a business hub, with plans for a 24-story hotel and 28-story residential buildings. Discussions also covered public transportation, including extending the Chilanzar metro line to the Tashkent Tractor Plant. Additionally, a new urban center is planned in Bektemir district with various facilities near the Chirchik River to boost urbanization.

{End of Report}
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