SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS
Prepared for the U.S. Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
TO: | SCA & Staff |
DATE: | Wednesday, March 26, 2025 6:30 AM ET |
Afghanistan
US drops bounties on key Taliban leaders (BBC)
BBC [3/25/2025 11:40 AM, Yogita Limaye, 52868K]
The US has removed millions of dollars in bounties from senior members of the Haqqani militant network in Afghanistan, including one on its leader Sirajuddin Haqqani who is also the Taliban government’s interior minister.
It is a significant move given that the Haqqani network is accused of carrying out some of the most high-profile and deadly attacks in Afghanistan during the US-led war in the country, including attacks on the American and Indian embassies, and NATO forces.
Currently, the network is a key part of the Taliban government, which has controlled Afghanistan since foreign troops withdrew from the country in 2021, following a deal struck between the US and the Taliban during President Trump’s first term.
The move to lift the bounties comes weeks into President Trump’s second term, and just days after US officials met with the Taliban government in Kabul to secure the release of an American tourist, detained since 2022.
A US state department spokesperson confirmed to the BBC that "there is no current reward" for Sirajuddin Haqqani, his brother Abdul Aziz Haqqani and brother-in-law Yahya Haqqani, but they remain ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorists and the Haqqani Network remains designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization".
An FBI webpage, which on Monday showed a $10 million dollar bounty on Sirajuddin Haqqani, has now been updated to remove the reward offer.
Taliban interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani told the BBC that the lifting of bounties "was a result of continued diplomatic efforts" by his government. "It is a good step and this shows our new interaction with the world and particularly with the United States. They (the US delegation) told us they want to increase positive interaction and confidence building between us," he added.
On Saturday, a US delegation including hostage envoy Adam Boehler and former envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad met with the Taliban government’s foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and other Taliban officials in Kabul. Afterwards, US national George Glezmann, detained in December 2022 while visiting Afghanistan as a tourist, was released by the Taliban government.
It is unclear if lifting the bounties was a part of the negotiations.
Founded by Sirajuddin Haqqani’s father, Jalaluddin Haqqani in the 1980s, the Haqqani network started out as a CIA-backed anti-Soviet outfit operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But it grew into one of the most feared anti-Western militant organisations in the region.
The group allied with the Taliban when they first took power in Afghanistan in 1996. Jalaluddin Haqqani died of a prolonged illness in 2018.
Currently, Sirajuddin Haqqani is emerging as a power centre in Afghanistan’s Taliban government, as rifts between him and the Taliban’s supreme leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada grow.
Members of the Taliban government have told the BBC that the issue of women’s education is a key point of disagreement between the two sides.
The Haqqanis have sought to project themselves as more moderate, galvanising support among people in the country who are frustrated by the supreme leader’s intransigence on women’s education.
The dropping of bounties by the US government is evidence that its stature is also growing externally, among parts of the international community keen to engage with the Taliban.
Additional reporting by Mahfouz Zubaide and Bernd Debusmann. Countries Press UN Rights Council on Accountability in Afghanistan (Human Rights Watch)
Human Rights Watch [3/25/2025 10:33 AM, Hilary Power, 1.6M]
Last week, a cross-regional group of countries – led by Iceland, with support from Chile and South Africa – called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to act to advance accountability for past and ongoing rights abuses in Afghanistan. Their joint statement urged council members to launch an independent investigative mechanism with a comprehensive mandate and broad scope to complement the important work of the UN Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan.
The special rapporteur, Richard Bennett, had earlier warned that the international community’s failure to hold the Taliban accountable for abuses had emboldened them in their oppression of women and girls and wider rights crackdown. In his report to the Human Rights Council in February, Bennett urged states to consider creating a dedicated investigative mechanism to support efforts to hold perpetrators to account.
The joint statement reflects growing frustrations at the European Union’s unwillingness, as “penholder” on Afghanistan, to take the lead at the council on creating an accountability mechanism for Afghanistan. While the EU has played an important leadership role, including establishing and strengthening the mandate of the special rapporteur, there is growing recognition that the situation in Afghanistan requires a more robust approach.
Since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, Afghan and international civil society organizations have called on the Human Rights Council to create an independent mechanism with a mandate to investigate and collect, preserve and analyze evidence of grave human rights violations and abuses in Afghanistan. They have highlighted that such a mechanism could be a key tool in advancing accountability for grave abuses, including the Taliban’s systemic oppression of Afghan women and girls, and could play a pivotal role in supporting efforts at the International Criminal Court and through other legal initiatives.
Despite recognizing the need for stronger accountability measures for international crimes in Afghanistan, the most recent EU-led resolution stopped short of presenting such a proposal.
Every day, Afghan people – particularly women and girls – are suffering horrendous abuses, the evidence of which risks getting lost or destroyed. The EU should be doing all it can to advance the prospect that perpetrators will face justice, and establishing a comprehensive accountability mechanism is a critical step. If the EU remains unwilling to do so, the states leading this joint statement should step in. Pakistan
IMF reaches staff-level deal with Pakistan to unlock $1.3 billion of new cash (Reuters)
Reuters [3/25/2025 7:44 PM, Kanishka Singh and Ariba Shahid, 126906K]
International Monetary Fund staff reached a deal with Pakistan for a new $1.3 billion arrangement and also agreed on the first review of the ongoing 37-month bailout program, the IMF said on Tuesday.Pending board approval, Pakistan can unlock the $1.3 billion under a new climate resilience loan program spanning 28 months.The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here. It will also free $1 billion for the South Asian nation under its $7 billion bailout program, which would bring those disbursements to $2 billion.
The program, secured mid-year in 2024, has played a key role in stabilizing Pakistan’s economy and the government has said the country is on course for a long-term recovery.
"Over the past 18 months, Pakistan has made significant progress in restoring macroeconomic stability and rebuilding confidence despite a challenging global environment," the IMF said in a statement.
"Upon approval (by the IMF board), Pakistan will have access to about $1 billion under the EFF, bringing total disbursements under the program to about $2 billion," the IMF said.
Pakistan’s inflation is likely to remain steady in March, in the 1% to 1.5% range, the country’s finance ministry said in its monthly economic outlook, after slowing to its lowest level in almost a decade the previous month.
Inflation in Pakistan has been declining for several months, hitting 1.5% in February, after it soared to around 40% in May 2023.
Pakistan says its $350 billion economy has stabilized under a $7 billion IMF bailout that had helped it stave off a default threat.
"While economic growth remains moderate, inflation has declined to its lowest level since 2015, financial conditions have improved, sovereign spreads have narrowed significantly, and external balances are stronger," the IMF said about Pakistan.
Islamabad had been awaiting the IMF agreement on the first review of the bailout and disbursement of $1 billion ahead of the country’s annual budget, usually presented in June.
The IMF statement also noted what it called elevated downside risks such as geopolitical shocks to commodity prices, tightening global financial conditions, or rising protectionism.
It said such risks could undermine Pakistan’s "hard-won macroeconomic stability."
IMF Agrees On New $1.3 Bn Loan Program For Pakistan (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [3/25/2025 6:17 PM, Staff, 931K]
The IMF said Tuesday it has reached agreement with Pakistan on a new $1.3 billion loan program and reviewed an existing bailout that would, if approved, unlock an additional $1 billion.
The new 28-month deal would support Pakistan’s efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change, the International Monetary Fund said in a statement announcing its decision.
Both the new program and the loan review require approval from the Fund’s executive board, which is largely a rubber-stamping exercise.
Pakistan came to the brink of default in 2023, as a political crisis compounded an economic downturn and drove the nation’s debt burden to terminal levels.
It was saved by a $7 billion bailout from the IMF and has enjoyed a degree of recovery, with inflation easing and foreign exchange reserves increasing.
But the deal -- Pakistan’s 24th since 1958 -- came with stern conditions that the country improve income tax revenue and cut popular power subsidies, cushioning costs of the inefficient sector.On Tuesday, the IMF said the Pakistani authorities remained "committed to advancing a gradual fiscal consolidation to sustainably reduce public debt," along with tight monetary policy, cost-cutting measures and reforms, as they agreed in principle to the second review of the existing 37-month program.
Assuming the agreement is approved by the Fund’s executive board, the Pakistani authorities will get access to fresh funds worth around $1 billion.
That would bring the total disbursements under the existing program to around $2 billion, the Fund said.
"Over the past 18 months, Pakistan has made significant progress in restoring macroeconomic stability and rebuilding confidence despite a challenging global environment," IMF mission chief Nathan Porter said in a statement. Pakistan, China in talks about security for Chinese nationals (Reuters)
Reuters [3/25/2025 10:57 PM, Sinbin Huang and Liz Lee, 41523K]
Pakistan and China’s discussions about security measures to protect Chinese nationals working in the South Asian country are a work in progress, Islamabad’s ambassador to Beijing said on Wednesday.
Chinese nationals have been in the crosshairs of separatist militants who believe Beijing is helping Pakistan exploit minerals in the underdeveloped southwestern province of Balochistan, where China has a strategic port and mining interests.
It is Pakistan’s "national responsibility" and the country is "doing everything possible", Ambassador Khalil Hashmi told reporters at the sidelines of the Boao Forum in China’s Hainan province.
"I think our two countries work very closely in terms of information sharing, in terms of developing the standard operating procedures" to ensure Chinese nationals working in Pakistan are safe, he said.
"We keep our Chinese friends informed of the steps that we are taking, so it’s a work in progress.".
Beijing has been pushing Pakistan to allow its own security staff to provide protection to thousands of Chinese citizens working there, frustrated by the string of attacks on its citizens.
The push came after a bombing at the Karachi airport last October killed two Chinese engineers who were returning there to work at a power plant.
Hashmi said those talks are ongoing, with a high degree of trust between both countries.
"It’s a complex security environment," he said, "We have the capability to resolve, to counter and combat and defeat these terrorist forces.". India
US officials begin trade talks in Delhi as tariff deadline nears (BBC)
BBC [3/26/2025 4:45 AM, Neyaz Farooquee, 52868K]
India and the US have begun bilateral trade negotiations that will continue until Saturday in Delhi.A US delegation, led by Assistant Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch, arrived in the city on Tuesday for the talks."This visit reflects the United States’ continued commitment to advancing a productive and balanced trade relationship with India," a US Embassy statement said.The negotiations are happening ahead of President Donald Trump’s 2 April deadline to impose "reciprocal" or tit-for-tat tariffs on countries around the world, including India.India’s junior commerce minister Jitin Prasada told parliament on Tuesday that the two countries were planning to negotiate a "multi-sector bilateral trade agreement" that focused on increasing market access and "reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers."The countries have been engaged in hectic negotiations since Trump came into office.Trade Minister Piyush Goyal made an unscheduled visit to the US in March for talks following a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington in February.The US was until recently India’s biggest trading partner, with bilateral trade amounting to $190bn.Trump and Modi had set a target to more than double it to $500bn (£400bn). The two sides also committed to negotiating the first phase of a trade agreement by autumn 2025.The Trump administration has repeatedly accused India of being a "tariff king" and a "big abuser" of trade ties in the past.India has recently lowered tariffs on Bourbon whiskey, motorcycles and some other US products, but the balance of trade is still stacked heavily in its favour, with Delhi enjoying a $45bn trade surplus.India’s average tariffs of around 12% are also significantly higher than the US’s 2%.Officials have not spoken publicly about the contours of the trade talks, but Reuters has reported that India could be considering slashing tariffs on more than half of US imports worth $23bn in the first phase of a trade deal to avoid Trump’s reciprocal action.Trump had previously said he wanted to charge countries tit-for-tat tariffs whereby the US would impose exactly the same charges that other countries imposed on it.But on Monday, he suggested the White House might be "nicer than that"."We may take less than what they’re charging, because they’ve charged us so much, I don’t think they could take it," he said, while also acknowledging that some countries might be spared from the measures. US Trade Officials Visit India As Tariff Threat Looms (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [3/25/2025 6:51 AM, Staff, 931K]
US officials arrived in India on Tuesday to hammer out a trade deal just days before President Donald Trump’s tit-for-tat tariffs begin across the globe, including against the world’s most populous nation.
Assistant US Trade Representative Brendan Lynch will lead meetings with Indian officials as part of ongoing bilateral trade talks.
New Delhi and Washington announced last month that they would finalise negotiations on the first tranche of a "mutually beneficial" trade agreement this year.
But the threat of Trump’s reciprocal tariffs will loom large in the background of this week’s talks.
India’s protectionist policies and its trade surplus with the United States leave it open to potential tit-for-tat action on April 2, in line with Trump administration policy.
Credit rating agency India Ratings and Research projects that the proposed tariffs could see the country’s exports to the United States decline by up to $7.3 billion in the next fiscal year.
The world’s fifth-largest economy has over the last two months sought to reduce trade tensions with Washington by cutting tariffs on a few products, including high-end motorcycles and bourbon whiskey.
Indian media reports have suggested the government will offer an olive branch by scrapping its "Google tax", a six percent levy on online services such as advertising.
India has also signalled that it is open to "deeper" tariff cuts, including on some agricultural products, to help boost trade between the two countries, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported this month.
Other reports say the government is weighing possible tariff reductions on imports of cars, electronics and medical devices.
"India should consider handing over a list of industrial goods that it is willing to eliminate tariffs on," Ajay Srivastava of the New Delhi-based Global Trade Research Initiative think tank told AFP.
Trump’s decision to impose a 25 percent tariff on nations that purchase oil from Venezuela from April 2 is the latest salvo against countries including India, which has been a buyer of the Latin American country’s crude.However, the US president recently hinted at a potential softening on reciprocal tariffs, saying he may "give a lot of countries breaks", without offering further details.
India has yet to publicly comment on potential US tariff action.
Asked whether a tariff exemption could be in the offing, foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said last week that India would "have to wait" for trade talks to "come to a closure".
Analysts at Nomura believe the ongoing negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement augur well for India’s future prospects.
"India ranks high on tariff and non-tariff barriers, but the ongoing flurry of negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement with the US means that the impact of reciprocal tariffs on India could be less bad than is currently feared," they said in a note this week.
"As such, India could fare better than other economies." India Is on a Hiring Binge That Trump’s Tariffs Can’t Stop (New York Times)
New York Times [3/26/2025 3:04 AM, Alex Travelli and Hari Kumar, 831K]
In India’s most advanced cities, American companies are racing to set up more and bigger offshore campuses: fully staffed offices with high-skilled Indian professionals, performing functions vital to global business.
The concentration is most stark in bits of Bengaluru. Apul Nahata of RapidAI, a Silicon Valley-based medical technology company that uses artificial intelligence to interpret brain scans, can look out the window of the office he leads in India and see a “density of companies” relevant to his work.“If I walk a half-kilometer, I see Google, Qualcomm, Nvidia, Visa, Samsung and Amazon right here,” said Mr. Nahata, who spent 10 years of his career in California. He is especially tuned in to his neighbors in tech, but JPMorgan Chase has the biggest of these offices, with 55,000 workers spread across Bengaluru and four other Indian cities. Even all-American retailers like Target and Lowe’s have centers employing 4,000 to 5,000 Indians in Bengaluru.
Under President Trump, the United States is upending some of its most important trading partnerships. He is particularly irritated by the $46 billion U.S. deficit in the trade of goods with India. Mr. Trump has also complained about undocumented Indian workers.
But Mr. Trump’s stated policy solutions — higher U.S. tariffs meant to force India to lower its trade barriers, and the deportations of immigrants — will do nothing to slow the evolution of the long partnership that binds together American companies looking for skilled workers overseas and India’s abundant pool of labor.
Twenty years ago, many Americans feared that the outsourcing of office jobs to lower-wage economies like India would mean fewer jobs in the United States. Many kinds of jobs have moved overseas since then, and many of those have since been automated. But the American economy needs more skilled workers.Now many American companies are finding those workers in India. As of 2024, there were about 1,800 offshore corporate offices in India, owned by hundreds of foreign-based multinational companies — most of them American. There are 1.9 million people in India working for foreign companies, with 600,000 to 900,000 more expected to join them by 2030.
Together, the offshore business centers in India earned about $65 billion last year, more than the value of American imports to India. By 2030, they are expected to earn $100 billion or more. The business centers are springing up in other countries, too, like Mexico and Poland, but most are in India.
Across India, these foreign-owned offices are now the primary driver of commercial real estate. An estimated 50 new ones were established over the past year. The expectation is that 100 more will join them during 2025.
Together, the offshore business centers in India earned about $65 billion last year, more than the value of American imports to India. By 2030, they are expected to earn $100 billion or more. The business centers are springing up in other countries, too, like Mexico and Poland, but most are in India.
Across India, these foreign-owned offices are now the primary driver of commercial real estate. An estimated 50 new ones were established over the past year. The expectation is that 100 more will join them during 2025.
While salaries have gone up over the years, they are still about a quarter to a third of their dollar-adjusted equivalent in the United States. Managers of these offices, known as global capability centers, acknowledged the savings, but they said multinational companies were just as drawn to the quality and abundance of potential Indian workers.“Where else can you scale up with 2,000 engineers, or marketing professionals, within a year?” exclaimed one executive, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
Another point of consensus about the growth of offshore centers is that Covid-19 played a crucial role, as in so many other parts of office life. Pari Natarajan is the chief executive and a co-founder of Zinnov, a consultancy that helps companies set up shop in India. He has done this work since 2002 and witnessed successive waves of enthusiasm, the greatest of which started crashing ashore four years ago.“During Covid, companies realized that they could have teams anywhere — anywhere — and then people are equidistant from each other,” said Mr. Natarajan, who usually works from Manhattan.
Pure Storage, a company that makes data-storage hardware used around the world, is one of the newcomers here. Its co-founder John Colgrove, a Silicon Valley legend known as Coz, helped to start the company in Mountain View, Calif., in 2009.
Pure’s offices in Bengaluru, on high-rent Church Street, have a California tech feel: open-plan seating, espresso machines, acres of monitors and humming data rooms. Customized murals refer to Bengaluru and the rest of India. But the office has also taken pains to replicate the exact dimensions of the desks stationed in the Silicon Valley headquarters.
Ajeya Motaganahalli has been building up the Pure Storage office for the past three years. He is a vice president — Indians holding “V.P.-level” leadership jobs at the centers are common, he said. The chain of command runs around the world, he said, with Pure Storage’s reporting lines going up and down between California, Bengaluru and a third center in Prague.
Ekroop Caur, a secretary with the state government of Karnataka, is the official responsible for the growth and maintenance of Bengaluru’s foreign subsidiaries. One of her priorities is to help companies find suitable spaces, and talent, not just in Bengaluru, which is bursting at the seams, but also in other cities in the state of Karnataka.
The offshore office centers are full of tech start-ups like RapidAI and Pure Storage, but some venerable American corporations are part of the movement.
Pitney Bowes, founded 105 years ago in Stamford, Conn., by the man who invented the first postal meter, employs 11,000 people around the world, mostly still in the business of shipping. And about 85 percent of its shipping-technology work force is in India. Pitney Bowes started its Indian operations long before the current wave, setting up in Noida, an exurb of New Delhi, and Pune, an industrial city near Mumbai.
Anisha Johar, who has been with Pitney Bowes for a decade, works on its communications team. “I never thought I’d have a global role from India,” Ms. Johar said.
American companies are assembling their work forces in India mainly because it has become difficult to find the right kind of workers in the United States. Studies find that a third of all new engineering jobs go unfilled, while nearly 1.2 million Indians graduate with engineering degrees every year. Lower-wage American workers, who lost jobs as manufacturing work shifted to Asia, have been stranded without retraining.
Deborah Kops, the managing principal of Sourcing Change, has been working on this kind of business, especially in India, since the early 1990s.“We’ve got an inexorable trend right now, where enterprises understand that you can globalize the work,” Ms. Kops said. She has tried setting up global centers within the United States but says that “we just don’t have the education engine” to staff them.“Can you get 5,000 folks who know how to do this kind of work? You can’t,” she said. “But you can do it in India, and you can do it in other places in the world.” Canada and India Look to Reset Ties in Counter to Trump’s Duties (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [3/25/2025 6:32 PM, Sudhi Ranjan Sen and Laura Dhillon Kane, 5.5M]
Canada and India are taking steps to cool an escalation of diplomatic tensions that included harsh accusations and recriminations as both sides look to strengthen trade ties to counter US tariff threats.
The two countries are considering sending back envoys after tit-for-tat expulsions last year, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified as the discussions are private.
Canada’s intelligence chief Daniel Rogers also participated in an intelligence conclave hosted by India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval last week in New Delhi. A meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Alberta in June cannot be ruled out, the people said. India is an observer to the G-7.
The rift between Canada and India started in September 2023 when then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Indian officials of masterminding the assassination of prominent Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen. Modi’s government denied any involvement, calling the accusations “absurd.” Nijjar was fatally shot in British Columbia in 2023.
Canada’s new leader, Mark Carney, took office in March, presenting an opportunity to reset the relationship, a Canadian official said. Ottawa has been seeking better ties with New Delhi for months — contingent on respect for Canada’s laws — and the approach has not changed since Trudeau left office, the official added.
The easing in tensions come as both India and Canada are being targeted by US President Donald Trump with higher tariffs and expect to see jolts to their economies when sweeping duties take effect on April 2. Many countries are looking to bolster ties with other trading partners to offset the possible slide in US trade.“What Canada will be looking to do is to diversify our trading relationships with like-minded countries, and there are opportunities to rebuild the relationships with India,” Carney told reporters on March 4, days before he won a race to succeed Trudeau as leader of Canada’s Liberal Party.
To be sure, there are still frictions between the two countries. The Globe and Mail reported on Tuesday that Indian agents allegedly meddled to support the campaign of Pierre Poilievre to become Conservative leader in 2022. Carney and Poilievre are in a tight race for next month’s election.
Poilievre has dismissed the media report, noting there was no evidence that he or his inner circle were aware of the alleged effort. The report also said India had attempted to cozy up to politicians of all parties. India’s Ministry of External Affairs didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Criminal Gangs
A team of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police visited New Delhi to meet India’s federal anti-terror and anti-money laundering officials in January, according to people familiar with the matter. The two sides discussed organized criminal gangs and the Sikh separatist movement, they said.
In October, Trudeau accused Indian diplomats of “supporting criminal activity against Canadians here on Canadian soil.” The RCMP broadened the allegations against India and accused the country’s diplomats of involvement in multiple homicides and extortion.
New Delhi refused to waive the officials’ diplomatic immunity for questioning, leading Canada to expel India’s high commissioner and five other officials. India responded by kicking out six Canadian diplomats, which were in addition to the 41 officials it ousted in 2023 over the Nijjar murder accusations.
Global Affairs Canada didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment and the RCMP declined comment.
Although trade between Canada and India is small — amounting to $8.4 billion in the Indian fiscal year ended in March 2024 — Canada is a major supplier to India of potash, a fertilizer critical to the agricultural sector. It also supplies timber, paper and mining products. India supplies Canada with pharmaceuticals, gems and jewelry, textiles, and machinery.
Canadian pension funds, with a cumulative investment of $55 billion, have put money in Indian sectors including infrastructure, renewable energy and financial services. Talks toward a trade pact broke off in 2023 just before Trudeau’s public allegations.“The downturn in India-Canada relations was caused by the license that was given to the extremist and secessionist elements in that country,” Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, told reporters last week. “Our hope is that we can rebuild our ties based on mutual trust and sensitivity.” India eyes tariff cuts on $23B of US imports to avoid Trump’s reciprocal taxes: report (New York Post)
New York Post [3/25/2025 1:05 PM, Taylor Herzlich, 54903K]
India is open to slashing its tariffs on $23 billion worth of US imports as it rushes to shield itself President Trump’s reciprocal taxes, according to a report.
The South Asian nation is feeling the heat as the White House gears up to launch stiff reciprocal tariffs on April 2, what Trump has called "Liberation Day.".
New Delhi estimated such tariffs would hit 87% of its total exports to the US worth a whopping $66 billion, two government sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
India’s proposal to cut tariffs on more than half of US imports is contingent on securing relief from the reciprocal taxes, according to the report.
The White House and a representative for India’s government did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
Trump has warned there will be no relief for any so-called "trade abuser" nations, specifically naming India, from the reciprocal tariffs.
The US trade-weighted average tariff was about 2.2% in 2023 – far below India’s 12%, according to data from the World Trade Organization. The US has a $45.6 billion trade deficit with India.
China’s average tariff stands at 3%, while Japan’s is 1.7%.
But New Delhi has been eager to clinch a deal ahead of the April deadline.
Brendan Lynch, assistant US trade representative for South and Central Asia, is set to lead a delegation of officials from the US for trade talks starting Tuesday, according to the report.
The two nations first agreed to start working toward an early trade deal during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US in February.
As part of the proposed deal, India signaled that it’s open to lowering tariffs on 55% of US imports, which are currently subject to 5% to 30% taxes, the government sources told Reuters.
The decision to cut tariffs is still in flux, with other options on the negotiating table, including changes to product-by-product or sectoral taxes, according to the report.
India is also weighing more widespread reforms to its tariffs, but these discussions are in the early stages and might not figure into the US talks, a source told Reuters.
New Delhi estimated Trump’s reciprocal tariffs would raise taxes 6% to 10% on items like pearls, mineral fuels, machinery, boilers and electrical equipment, which make up half of its exports to the US, sources told Reuters.
Trump’s tariffs on pharmaceutical drugs and the auto industry could also hit India hard, since it is dependent on the US market, one of the sources said.
Alternative suppliers – like Indonesia, Israel and Vietnam – could stand to benefit from the hefty reciprocal taxes on India, they added.
While India is intent on reaching a deal with the US, it has clarified that lower tariffs on certain goods – like meat, maize, wheat and dairy products – are out of the question.
The South Asian nation is also planning to push for phased cuts to its automobile tariffs – which reach as high as 110%, which Trump ally Elon Musk has criticized as one of the steepest in the world.
Sunil Barthwal, India’s trade secretary, told a parliamentary committee earlier this month that India did not want to lose the US as a trading partner – but that it remained unwilling to "compromise on our national interest," according to sources who attended the closed-door meeting.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, however, urged India to "think big" after it cut tariffs on motorcycles and bourbon whiskey this year. US religious freedom panel urges sanctions against India’s external spy agency (Reuters)
Reuters [3/25/2025 6:10 PM, Kanishka Singh and David Brunnstrom, 41523K]
Minorities in India face deteriorating treatment, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said on Tuesday, and it recommended targeted sanctions against India’s external spy agency over alleged involvement in assassination plots against Sikh separatists.
The panel’s annual report also said communist-ruled Vietnam stepped up efforts to regulate and control religious affairs. It recommended Vietnam - a country like India with which Washington has sought to build close ties given shared concerns about China - also be designated a "country of particular concern.".
Analysts say Washington has long seen New Delhi as a counter to China’s rising influence in Asia and elsewhere, and, hence, overlooked human rights issues in India. It is unlikely the U.S. government will sanction India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) spy service, as the panel’s recommendations are not binding.
Since 2023, India’s alleged targeting of Sikh separatists in the U.S. and Canada has emerged as a wrinkle in U.S.-India ties, with Washington charging an ex-Indian intelligence officer, Vikash Yadav, in a foiled U.S. plot. India labels Sikh separatists as security threats and has denied involvement.
"In 2024, religious freedom conditions in India continued to deteriorate as attacks and discrimination against religious minorities continued to rise," the U.S. commission said in a report released on Tuesday.
It said Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) "propagated hateful rhetoric and disinformation against Muslims and other religious minorities" during last year’s election campaign.
Modi in April last year referred to Muslims as "infiltrators" who have "more children.".
U.S. State Department reports on human rights and religious freedom have noted minority abuses in recent years. New Delhi calls them "deeply biased.".
Modi, who has been prime minister since 2014, denies discrimination and says his government’s policies like electrification drives and subsidy schemes help all communities.
The panel recommended the U.S. government "designate India as a ‘country of particular concern’" for religious freedom violations and "impose targeted sanctions" against Yadav and RAW. The Indian embassy had no immediate comment.
Rights advocates, in noting the plight of Indian minorities, point to rising hate speech, a citizenship law the U.N. called "fundamentally discriminatory," anti-conversion legislation that critics say challenges freedom of belief, the revoking of Muslim majority Kashmir’s special status and the demolition of properties owned by Muslims.
The commission is a bipartisan U.S. government advisory body that monitors religious freedom abroad and makes policy recommendations.
On Vietnam, the panel said a new decree issued this month allowed Vietnamese authorities to further demand financial records from religious organizations and suspend religious activities for what the report said were vaguely worded "serious violations.".
As of December, the U.S. panel’s Freedom of Religion or Belief Victims List included over 80 prisoners whom the Vietnamese government punished for religious activities or religious freedom advocacy. The Vietnamese embassy had no immediate comment. India Is Said to Have Meddled in Canadian Party Election (New York Times)
New York Times [3/25/2025 8:13 AM, Noriitsu Onishi, 777K]
Reports of past meddling by the Indian government roiled Canada’s general election on Tuesday, putting Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative Party leader and the main challenger to Prime Minister Mark Carney, on the defensive.Canadian intelligence officials said Indian agents and proxies raised money and organized support for Mr. Poilievre in the 2022 Conservative Party leadership race that he won, Canadian news media reported on Tuesday. Intelligence officials said there was no evidence that Mr. Poilievre or people close to him were aware of the interference.There was no indication that the meddling influenced the outcome of the leadership race, which Mr. Poilievre won in a first-round landslide, garnering 68 percent of the votes.But news of India’s involvement resurrects uncomfortable questions concerning Mr. Poilievre’s steadfast refusal to seek top security clearance to receive classified briefings on interference in Canada by foreign countries. Mr. Poilievre, the only federal party leader to refuse to get top security clearance, has said that getting the clearance would restrict what he can say in public.Canadian intelligence officials did not inform Mr. Poilievre of Indian interference in 2022 because he lacked the necessary security clearance, according to The Globe and Mail, which was the first to report on the meddling.A yearlong public inquiry into foreign interference in Canadian politics identified India as one of the main actors, along with China, saying that it supported candidates believed to be pro-India. One intelligence report released last year said that India had interfered “in a Conservative Party of Canada leadership race.’’But Tuesday’s reports were the first to connect India’s interference to the 2022 race that Mr. Poilievre won.Mr. Poilievre, in a news conference on Tuesday, said that he had “won the leadership fair and square.”He also restated his opposition to accepting top security clearance.“They don’t want me to be able to speak about these matters,” Mr. Poilievre said, adding that the Liberal-led government wanted to impose an “oath of secrecy” on him.Mr. Poilievre went on the offensive, attacking Mr. Carney’s dealings with China as a former chairman of Brookfield Asset Management, a global investment firm.Mr. Carney, who called a general election on Sunday less than two weeks after succeeding Justin Trudeau as prime minister, said Mr. Poilievre’s decision not to seek security clearance was “irresponsible.”Yves-François Blanchet, the leader of the Bloc Québécois, a party that supports independence for Quebec and runs candidates for the federal Parliament only in the French-speaking province, said he had never felt muzzled after getting security clearance. Mr. Poilievre, he added, had chosen not to get clearance and classified briefings to protect Conservative candidates who might otherwise be forced to withdraw from races.Asked about Mr. Blanchet’s comment, a Conservative Party spokesman referred to Mr. Poilievre’s news conference, which did not address it.The yearlong public inquiry revealed meddling by China and India in Canada’s two previous elections. The Chinese government and its proxies mostly supported candidates of the Liberal Party, which, especially during Mr. Trudeau’s early leadership, pushed for friendly ties with Beijing.China also tried to undermine Conservative candidates who espoused a hard line against China and were critical of its human rights record.By contrast, the Indian government has had tense relations with the Liberal Party, which it has accused of coddling Sikh-Canadians promoting a separate Sikh state in India. Historically, the Indian government has had friendly relations with the Conservative Party.Stephen Harper, the former Conservative prime minister under whom Mr. Poilievre served in ministerial positions, recently said during a visit to India that he was “heartbroken” about the bad relations between India and Canada. Relations worsened in the past two years when Mr. Trudeau accused Indian government agents of orchestrating the assassination of a Sikh-Canadian activist in Vancouver. India accused of meddling in Canada’s Conservative Party race (BBC)
BBC [3/25/2025 8:59 PM, Nadine Yousif, 126906K]
Canada’s Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has said he won his leadership "fair and square" after reports emerged that India allegedly meddled in the party’s contest.
Citing a source with top-security clearance, the Globe and Mail newspaper reported allegations that Indian agents were involved in fundraising and organising within Canada’s South Asian community for Poilievre in the 2022 leadership race.
There is no evidence that Poilievre or his team were aware of the alleged interference.
The allegation dominated the second full day of campaigning in Canada’s general election, which will be held on 28 April.
India has been accused of interfering in Canada’s elections in the past. Its government has repeatedly denied those allegations.On Monday night, the Globe and Mail reported that Canadian intelligence agents were unable to raise the issue of India’s alleged interference with Poilievre because he has not obtained the necessary security clearance.
The report said India’s alleged attempts to interfere were part of a larger effort to influence Canadian politicians of all parties.
Poilievre is the only Canadian federal party leader running for prime minister that has refused the security clearance.
He defended his decision on Tuesday, calling the process politicised and saying it would bar him from being able to speak publicly about issues of national importance.
"What I will not do is commit to the oath of secrecy that the Liberals want to impose on me," Poilievre told reporters.
"They don’t want me to speak about these matters, so they bring me into a dark room and they say: ‘We’re going to give you a little bit of bread crumbs of intel and then we’ll tell you you can’t talk about this stuff any more.’".
Poilievre won the 2022 leadership race with 68% of the vote. Canadian intelligence agents said there is no indication the alleged interference attempt influenced the outcome, the Globe and Mail reported.
The Globe’s reporting was also confirmed by broadcaster Radio-Canada.
The allegations served as political ammunition for Liberal leader Mark Carney, who criticised Poilievre for not obtaining the clearance, telling reporters on Tuesday that it was "beyond baffling".
"I find it downright irresponsible that the Leader of the Opposition day-after-day, month-after-month, year-after-year refuses to obtain a security clearance," Carney said.
Foreign meddling in Canada’s elections has been a growing concern in recent years, and a public inquiry was launched last year to look into the issue.
The foreign interference inquiry concluded that China and India had attempted to interfere in Canada’s two previous elections.
While these attempts were "troubling" they had "minimal impact", a final report by the inquiry said - but it warned that disinformation posed an "existential threat" to the country’s democracy.
A Canadian election integrity task force cautioned on Monday that agents tied to China, Russia and India will try to influence the ongoing campaign.
The Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) task force said foreign agents could use tools like artificial intelligence, proxies and online disinformation to target diaspora communities in Canada to try and influence how they vote.
Officials said Canadians will likely see a "more active" federal government response on issues of disinformation as a result. Mob Descends on a Comedy Club After a Comic Jokes About a Politician (New York Times)
New York Times [3/25/2025 4:14 PM, Mujib Mashal, 831K]
The joke was nothing too unusual for political comedy. But in India, where there is little room anymore to make fun of politicians without drawing court cases or mob violence, all hell quickly broke loose.
Just hours after video from a stand-up show in Mumbai was posted online Sunday, supporters of a state political leader barged into the popular club where it had been taped. The vigilantes intimidated the crowd, which had gathered for an unrelated event, and vandalized the place as the police watched.
The state’s chief minister called for legal action against the comic who performed the show, and the police filed charges, accusing him of defamation. The local municipality then sent government employees to batter the comedy club with hammers, a lighter version of what has become known as bulldozer justice.
The comic, Kunal Kamra, who is among the last comedians still taking on politicians in India, issued a statement on Monday emphasizing that he would not be intimidated.“Attacking a venue for a comedian’s words is as senseless as overturning a lorry carrying tomatoes because you didn’t like the butter chicken you were served,” he said.
But the effect — the deepening chill on speech in India — was clear.
On Monday, the club, Habitat, announced that it had shut down, depriving India of one of the few places still willing to host shows of an edgy political nature. The police and the vigilantes remain on the hunt for Mr. Kamra, who is believed to be in a southern state.
Those vigilantes, followers of Eknath Shinde, the second-in-command in the western state of Maharashtra, were offended by one word that Mr. Kamra used in a song during his act: “gaddar,” or traitor, an apparent reference to Mr. Shinde’s defection from his party in 2022.
The kerfuffle has dominated discussions in the Maharashtra state assembly as well as national news headlines. Leaders of Mr. Shinde’s party, the Shiv Sena — which, ironically, was founded by a political cartoonist — have doubled down with their threats.“Shiv Sena will give answer in Shiv Sena’s language,” the party spokesman, Raju Waghmare, told a local news outlet, referring to the party’s history of attacking those it disagrees with. He said that the emotions of party workers could not be controlled if a leader was insulted.
Punit Pania, a comic who had recently performed at Habitat, said it had become an important arts hub. Its closing will reverberate.“Why would anyone take the chance if the mob can come in with the police just standing by and watching them?” Mr. Pania said.
He said that many venues simply did not host comedy shows anymore, because “being offended has become like a sport” in India. The boundaries are clear: no jokes about politics, religion or sex.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared on a recent podcast, “I have a strong belief that criticism is the soul of democracy.” But as parties across the spectrum, including in opposition-run states like West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, have jailed people over political comments, it has become evident that speech is free only if you fall in line.
Comics often turn to joking about how hard it is to joke.
In announcing the house rules at a recent stand-up show, the comic Varun Grover asked the audience not to use their phones to record jokes because it would “meddle with the natural order” of how the business works these days.“We write new content for three to four months, then it becomes a show, then we go on tour,” he said. “Once the tour is almost over, we record it, tape it, put it on YouTube — and then go to jail.”
Mr. Shinde provided ample comedic material when he left his party in 2022 and took dozens of lawmakers with him, locking them up in resort hotels in other states until their own government collapsed.
Some of the lawmakers claimed they were kidnapped, and even drugged. When Mr. Shinde came to power in a new coalition with the help of Mr. Modi’s party, his allies danced on tables.
With repeated defections and breakups of parties in Maharashtra, “gaddar” became a routine label. The state’s chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis, himself used the word to describe the political opposition in a statement condemning the comic’s joke.
In his song, Mr. Kamra did not mention Mr. Shinde by name, though he used identifying references.
The offense taken by Mr. Shinde’s followers resurfaced online in an old joke by the poet Rahat Indori.
In the 1970s, when India briefly plunged into dictatorship under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Mr. Indori said at a poetry event that “the government is a thief.”
He was called into a police station and asked about his comment.“I said, ‘Yes, I said the government is a thief,’” Mr. Indori recalled responding to the officer. “‘But I didn’t say which government — India’s government, Pakistan’s government, the U.S. government or the British government.’”The officer smiled, Mr. Indori said, then replied: “OK, so now you think we are fools, too? That we don’t know which government is a thief?” NSB
Bangladesh’s Yunus Heads To China For First State Visit (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [3/26/2025 3:40 AM, Staff, 931K]
Bangladeshi leader Muhammad Yunus flew to Beijing on Wednesday for his first state visit as frosty relations with neighbouring India spur his caretaker administration to court new friends.
The 84-year-old Nobel laureate will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday before returning Saturday after several other high-level meetings.
Yunus took charge of Bangladesh last August after the toppling of autocratic ex-premier Sheikh Hasina, who fled to New Delhi after a student-led uprising.
India was the biggest benefactor of Hasina’s government and her overthrow sent cross-border relations into a tailspin.
"Muhammad Yunus has chosen China for his first state visit and with this Bangladesh is sending a message," Dhaka’s top foreign ministry bureaucrat Mohammad Jashim Uddin told reporters on Tuesday.
Several agreements are expected to be signed on economic and technical assistance, cultural and sports cooperation, and media collaboration between the two countries.
"We are expecting declarations on key issues including the economy, investment and economic zones," Jashim Uddin said.
Talks are also expected to touch on Bangladesh’s immense population of Rohingya refugees, most of whom fled a violent military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar in 2017.
China has acted as a mediator between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the past to broker the repatriation of the persecuted minority, although efforts stalled because of Myanmar’s unwillingness to have them returned.
"Rohingya repatriation will be a point of discussion as we all know China previously attempted to broker a deal," Jashim Uddin said.
Yunus will also attend the Investment Dialogue with Chinese Business Leaders and is set to receive an honorary doctorate from Peking University.
Tensions between India and Bangladesh have prompted a number of tit-for-tat barbs between senior figures from both governments.
They have also almost entirely halted the flow of medical tourism to India by Bangladeshis, thousands of whom crossed the border each year to seek care in their larger neighbour.
Jashim Uddin said talks in Beijing would touch on the establishment of a Chinese "Friendship Hospital" in Bangladesh.
Yunus’s caretaker administration has the unenviable task of bedding down democratic reforms ahead of fresh elections expected by mid-2026.
It has requested India allow Hasina’s extradition to face crimes against humanity charges for the killing of hundreds of protesters during the unrest that toppled her government, to no avail.
Yunus has also sought a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a bid to reset relations, with both expected to be at the same regional summit in Bangkok next month.
His government has yet to receive a response, with Indian foreign minister S. Jaishankar saying the request was "under review". Bangladesh to secure Starlink internet deal within three months, says interim leader (Reuters)
Reuters [3/25/2025 11:03 AM, Ruma Paul, 62527K]
Bangladesh’s interim leader said on Tuesday a commercial deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX-owned satellite internet network Starlink is expected to be reached within three months to provide internet services across the South Asian country.Muhammad Yunus, who has led Bangladesh’s government since the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last year, has said the deal would provide a reliable internet service that could not be disrupted by any future political upheaval.Yunus, a Nobel laureate, took charge of the interim government in August after Hasina was forced to flee to neighbouring India following weeks of violent protests."If Starlink is launched, no government will have the ability to shut down internet access or lock citizens out of the digital world," Yunus said in a televised speech to the nation ahead of Independence Day.As protests spread nationwide in July last year, authorities suspended internet and text messaging services. The interim government says Starlink’s satellite-based technology would reduce the potential for government-imposed disruptions.Yunus said inflation was the government’s biggest challenge. Inflation had fallen to 9.32% in February, the lowest level in 22 months, he said, and he hoped it would drop below 8% by June.He reiterated that a national election will be held between December this year and June 2026.“Our goal is to ensure that the upcoming election is the most free, fair, and acceptable in the history of Bangladesh," Yunus said. Bangladesh reports first bird flu outbreak on farm since 2018, WOAH says (Reuters)
Reuters [3/25/2025 12:35 PM, Sybille de La Hamaide, 126906K]
Bangladesh reported a first outbreak of highly pathogenic bird flu on a farm since 2018, the World Organisation for Animal Health said on Tuesday, citing local authorities.Highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, has spread around the globe in the past years, including in the United States, leading to the culling of hundreds of millions of poultry.The outbreak killed 1,900 birds out of flock of 3,978 birds in the district of Jessore. All remaining birds were culled. A transgender woman’s fight for dignity in Bangladesh’s Rohingya refugee camps (Reuters)
Reuters [3/25/2025 11:19 PM, Ruma Paul and Sam Jahan, 62527K]
With her tiny studio tucked in the crowded lanes of the sprawling Rohingya refugee camp in south-eastern Bangladesh, Tanya is a popular beautician, with long lines of people waiting for her signature haircuts and facials.But behind her carefully applied makeup lies a harsher reality for Tanya - she is a transgender woman in a community that barely tolerates her existence."Being Rohingya is hard," she said. "But being a transgender Rohingya is even harder."Tanya, 25, left Myanmar in 2017 with hundreds of thousands of other Rohingya Muslim refugees escaping a brutal military crackdown.Life in the world’s largest refugee settlement is difficult for everyone, but for Tanya, the discrimination adds extra challenges.Along with the hardship of displacement, she faces rejection from her own people, who see her identity as taboo."I can’t visit my 55-year-old mother anymore,” she said, sitting in her 10-by-10-foot (three-by-three metre) salon. "Every time I tried, the neighbours attacked me. They threw water at me, pelted stones, pulled my hair. I couldn’t bear it anymore, so I stopped going."Born in Maungdaw in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, Tanya knew from an early age she was different. But in the conservative Rohingya society, there was no place for someone like her.When her family refused to accept her, she left home and found support amongst the Hijra, a community of transgender people who often live together for safety and survival. Her godmother in the group gave her the name Tanya.Officials estimate there are about 10,000 hijras, or third-gender people, in Bangladesh but rights groups say the figure could be as high as 1.5 million in the country of 170 million.They face severe social stigma and discrimination in both Myanmar and Bangladesh, with many disowned by their families, denied education, and forced into begging or sex work to survive.Tanya was determined to find another path.While still living in Myanmar, she apprenticed at a local beauty parlour, learning makeup, hairstyling, and bridal makeovers. Those skills became her lifeline when she arrived in Bangladesh."I had no job when I came here," Tanya said. "But I found the owner of this shop and requested him to open a beauty parlour for me. He gave me a chance. Since then, I’ve been working here."Today, Tanya earns about 5,000 to 6,000 taka ($45 to $55) a month, enough to cover her basic needs. Her salon attracts both Rohingya refugees and local Bangladeshis, with long queues often forming for facials, haircuts, and wedding makeup.But outside the walls of her shop, acceptance remains distant."Many transgender people like me hide their identity and live as men just to avoid harassment and rejection," she said.Still, Tanya is determined to make a difference. She has trained four other transgender women as beauticians, and they have since found jobs abroad.Tanya hopes to follow one day."They always call me and tell me to come. I want to go too," she said. "I dream of opening my own salon and standing on my own feet."Tanya has lost contact with her parents and siblings, some of whom now live in India."My parents are alive, but I am dead to them," she said. "Even the person I loved left me."As International Transgender Day of Visibility approaches on Monday, Tanya hopes her story will help change how people view transgender Rohingya."I always tell my community, don’t beg - learn a skill," she said. "If we work hard, maybe one day people will respect us.""I just want to be seen as a human being," she added. "Not as a burden, not as a shame - but as someone who deserves dignity." Bangladesh Monastery A Beacon Of Harmony After Unrest (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [3/25/2025 10:22 PM, Sheikh Sabiha Alam, 931K]
A Buddhist monastery in Bangladesh has found renown for opening its doors to the needy during Ramadan -- a beacon of interfaith harmony in a time of religious tension.
For more than a decade, the Dharmarajika Buddhist Monastery in Dhaka has provided free meals for hundreds of the capital’s poorest residents to break their fast each evening during the Muslim holy month.
Its work has assumed a new resonance this year after political upheaval that last summer ousted autocratic leader Sheikh Hasina, leaving many religious minorities in the Muslim-majority nation fearful of persecution.
"I live nearby and earn very little from my job. This meal is a relief," said Moushumi Begum, who joined around 200 others at the fast-breaking meal known as iftar.
"I am grateful for their kindness and pray to God for their wellbeing."
The monastery’s abbot, Buddha Priya Mahathero, said the annual tradition began in 2013 with the simple principle that no one fasting should be turned away hungry.
"We have fostered a culture of harmony," he told AFP.
"We saw people struggling for food during Ramadan. That’s when we decided to step in," he added.
"What began as a small effort has continued, and we hope to keep doing our part."
The monastery was founded in 1960, more than a decade before Bangladesh became an independent nation, and has long been known as a paragon of interfaith philosophy.
One of its biggest early initiatives was the establishment of an interfaith orphanage for children whose parents were killed during the country’s 1971 liberation war.
Buddhists make up around three percent of Bangladesh’s population of 170 million, the second-largest religious minority after its substantial Hindu community.
Hasina’s ouster in last year’s student-led revolution saw several reprisal attacks against Hindu households.
The interim administration that took office after her toppling came down strongly on such attacks, arresting dozens of people in the months that followed.
It has also insisted that some of those attacks were motivated by political vengeance rather than religious animosity, and blamed organised disinformation from neighbouring India for exaggerating the magnitude of the problem.
Non-Muslim Bangladeshis have nonetheless voiced unease at developments since the fall of Hasina’s government, which despite a litany of rights abuses was seen as a steadfast protector of minority religious communities.
Numerous shrines to Sufi saints were vandalised after Hasina’s overthrow, with suspicion falling on Islamist hardliners who consider that branch of the Muslim faith heretical.
Several attacks on Hindu temples were also reported in the chaotic hours after Hasina went into exile in India.
The Dharmarajika Buddhist Monastery has not suffered a similar fate, and its custodians say that leaders from several political parties had paid visits to offer their respect and support.
"All of them pledged to protect us," Swarupananda Bhikkhu, a monk at the monastery, told AFP.
"Our gates have always been open, regardless of religious identity." Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Sees Fragile Economy Through 2028 (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [3/25/2025 2:08 AM, Anusha Ondaatjie and Jeanette Rodrigues, 5.5M]
Sri Lanka’s new government will be restricted in how much it can spend for at least the next two years, the prime minister said, as it looks to balance campaign pledges to unwind tax increases and other austerity measures against limits set by its $3 billion bailout program.
Despite an unprecedented mandate that handed his government a supermajority in parliament, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has had to rein in plans to lower taxes on health and education because of conditions under the 2023 International Monetary Fund bailout, Harini Amarasuriya said Tuesday.
Her administration will walk that tightrope to maintain economic stability, she said.“Having to really think through all the different ways in which we could deliver, and not take the recovery off the track, that has been the most challenging to manage,” Amarasuriya said in an interview at Temple Trees, her frangipani-lined office in Colombo. “2028 I would say is the critical year because that’s when we come out of the IMF program.”
Dissanayake’s government swept to power late last year in elections that ousted a ruling elite blamed by voters for bankrupting the nation and foisting it with unpopular austerity measures linked to the IMF bailout. Since taking office, Dissanayake and the IMF have renegotiated some of the bailout’s conditions, such as allowing higher public-sector salaries, while allaying investors’ concerns that he would scrap the IMF program altogether.
The comments by Amarasuriya, an academic who was appointed Dissanayake’s No. 2 in September, come ahead of an expected visit by the IMF to the island nation next month for a fourth review of the loan program, now roughly at its halfway point.
Sri Lanka’s economy has turned a corner in recent months, growing faster than expected last quarter and with expansion expected to sustain at around 5% in 2025. Moody’s and Fitch Ratings upgraded Sri Lanka’s credit rating in December after it concluded debt restructuring of its dollar bonds.
The Sri Lankan rupee is down about 1% this quarter after surging 25% in the previous two years. The nation’s dollar bonds have handed investors a 4% gain this quarter, adding to the 133% return in the previous two years.
The central bank on Wednesday left the policy rate at 8% and expressed confidence that inflation will move toward the 5% target from the current deflationary environment, which is providing some reprieve for consumers.
Until the government has more freedom to spend, it will rely on targeted policies, Amarasuriya said. Toward that goal, she said the administration is looking to create a database to help better identify beneficiaries of welfare programs, which would take at least a year.“We are working with a pre-existing database, which we know is flawed,” Amarasuriya said. The main aim of the exercise is figuring out how “we benefit the person at the lowest level without creating a huge upheaval, without ballooning the cost of the public sector,” she said. Sri Lanka central bank holds rate to support economic recovery (Reuters)
Reuters [3/25/2025 11:04 PM, Uditha Jayasinghe, 69901K]
Sri Lanka’s central bank kept its key policy rate unchanged for a second consecutive meeting on Wednesday to underpin the island nation’s economic recovery from its worst financial crisis in decades.The overnight policy rate, introduced in November, was held steady at 8% - in line with a majority of economists polled by Reuters."The Board remains confident that the prevailing monetary policy stance will ensure that inflation will move towards the target of 5% while supporting the growth of the domestic economy," the central bank said in its statement.The South Asian nation posted a better-than-expected 5% gross domestic product growth in 2024, signalling a turning point for an economy that plunged to its worst financial crisis in decades three years ago.Sri Lanka’s consumer price index contracted 4.2% year-on-year in February, largely driven down by a reduction in household power tariffs by 20% at the start of the year. The nation suffered record inflation during the 2022 economic meltdown that was triggered by a precipitous fall in dollar reserves.Inflation is expected to reach positive territory by the middle of 2025 and track closer to the central bank’s target of 5%, the bank’s statement added."If Inflation falls below target by mid-year there is a likelihood that CBSL will cut rates," said Udeeshan Jonas, strategy head at Colombo-based equity research firm CAL."Given the possibility of global commodity prices remaining low and concerns about a global trade slowdown there is a likelihood that inflation can trend lower than the target."Sri Lanka’s economy has made a "remarkable" recovery from the crisis, the IMF said earlier this month, while approving a fourth tranche of $334 million under the $2.9 billion programme.The central bank expects growth to be above 3% in 2025 due to the higher year-ago base effect and as the economy navigates global headwinds. Central Asia
No Aid, All Investments: The Future of Chinese Engagement in Kazakhstan (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [3/25/2025 9:37 AM, Albert Otkjaer, 2K]
On March 10, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio tweeted that 83 percent of the 6,200 projects run by USAID globally would be shut down. While it wasn’t stated exactly which programs were to be terminated, a leaked document from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee provides some insight. This document reveals that at least two Kazakh civil society projects promoting civic engagement and LGBTQ rights have been cut, losing nearly $6 million in funding.
As U.S.-backed projects close, China has been mentioned as a possible successor. In fact, China is already investing large sums into Central Asia, and specifically Kazakhstan.
Despite China pouring vast sums of money into Kazakhstan, its financial influence remains far from matching that of the United States. Unlike the U.S., the bulk of Chinese funding does not come in the form of aid projects, but instead as loans. As a result, the scope of Chinese projects differs significantly from those previously run by USAID. Instead of civil society and media initiatives, Chinese funds are allocated primarily to infrastructure, energy, and industrial development.
Despite many differences, both countries provide aid in the realm of health. A recent report by the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) stated that the agency has begun focusing on what it calls "small and beautiful" projects. The term, originally used in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), reflects China’s shift toward smaller-scale, high-impact projects. One such focus is improving local health and medical care. These grants could be particularly significant for Kazakhstan, where health-related aid disbursements have decreased by almost 80 percent from last year. However, the likelihood of China providing foreign aid to Kazakhstan remains low, as it has not done so in the past, despite the close economic ties between the two countries.
While CIDCA has held multiple meetings with Kazakh representatives in recent years, there is no evidence of direct aid being granted. Instead, these meetings have focused on expanding collaboration, particularly regarding loans and investments into other countries. Although Kazakhstan is unlikely to receive much aid from CIDCA in the near future, other aspects of the BRI are already directing funds toward Kazakh projects.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kazakhstan received multiple financial contributions from Chinese state actors, mainly within the railroad industry, to prevent disease outbreaks. Since the end of the pandemic, however, such direct aid has largely ceased, with most Chinese projects now structured as loans or investments. These projects are primarily tied to the BRI, which aims to strengthen China’s connections with Europe and Africa, much like the historic Silk Road.
One example of this is the state-connected firm Sinopec, which invested approximately $1.25 billion last year in a petrochemical unit. In addition to producing sought after raw materials for plastic products, the plant is expected to generate 850 permanent jobs. And while some projects are financed as semi-private investments into Kazakhstan, many are also driven by state loans. An example of this is when the Bank of China lent Kazakhstan $100 million to build the Big Almaty Ring Road, completed in 2023, covering one-eighth of the total cost. Beyond its goal of reducing air pollution in Almaty, the project also created stable jobs.
While the loans given to Kazakhstan have put the country $9 billion in debt to China, these along with massive investments have bolstered Kazakhstan’s development in the sectors of infrastructure and energy.
Whether these financial commitments can generate the kind of soft power influence U.S.-backed civil society projects did remains uncertain.
As China’s economic involvement in Kazakhstan continues to grow, the shift from grants to loans highlights a key distinction in its approach compared to the United States. While Beijing prioritizes long-term economic partnerships over traditional development aid, the future of Kazakhstan’s civil society remains in question. If U.S.-backed initiatives remain defunded, it is unlikely that China will step in to fill the gap, leaving Kazakhstan facing a challenging road ahead in fostering democratic governance and human rights. Central Asian states drained rivers at lower-than-expected levels in 2024 (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [3/25/2025 4:14 PM, Staff, 57.6K]
Water usage for irrigation and other purposes by Central Asian states was lower than permitted allotments in 2024, despite generally adequate supplies, according to data published by the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination of Central Asia.
The commission published data separately for Central Asia’s two major water sources, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers. Turkmenistan was the largest consumer of the Amu Darya’s resources, slightly more than Uzbekistan. But Tashkent consumed the overwhelming majority of Syr Darya waters, the data shows.
For the Syr Darya, spring rains filled reservoirs beyond expected levels and “during the growing season [in] 2024, water withdrawal was 2.05 km3 less than planned under limits approved” by the commission. Water usage along the agrarian, lower reaches of the Syr Darya “including water withdrawal plus water losses, minus lateral inflow is estimated at 4.29 km3; this is less by 18 percent of the plan,” the commission report added.
The Amu Darya also registered higher than expected inflow into reservoirs. Even so, water flow along the river tended to be lower than forecasted volume. Accordingly, water usage was lower than projected, reaching only 85 percent of the “established water withdrawal limit,” according to the commission’s data. Tashkent had a higher water-use quota in 2024, but Turkmenistan actually used slightly more water, despite the Turkmen population being about one-fifth that of Uzbekistan.
The data shows the volume of water reaching the Aral Sea was lower than hoped for in 2024. The commission had estimated that 2.1 km3 would reach the “Aral Region and Aral Sea” in 2024 via the Amu Darya River, but only 59 percent of that amount, or 1.24 km3, was actually reported. Meanwhile, slightly less than the 1 km3 projected to reach the Aral vicinity from the Syr Darya actually did so. Five Areas Where Turkey Plays A Key Role In World Affairs (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [3/25/2025 7:01 PM, Ray Furlong, Hannah Kaviani, and Arbana Vidishiqi, 968K]
As Turkey witnesses its biggest protests in more than a decade, there’s intense speculation about whether these events will lead to a significant challenge to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan or a lurch further into authoritarianism.The protests were prompted by the jailing of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the candidate from the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) for the 2028 presidential election.What happens next could have implications far beyond Turkey’s borders.The War In UkraineEarly in the war, Turkey achieved a significant diplomatic success by mediating a deal between Russia and Ukraine enabling both countries to export grain through the Black Sea.The deal was a crucial factor in getting vital Ukrainian grain exports to countries in the Global South that rely heavily on them -- lasting for a year before Russia pulled out.Its importance is underlined by the fact that Washington has made restoring it a key priority of its talks with Moscow and Kyiv.Ankara has very much played its own game over the course of the war.Although Turkey is a NATO member, Erdogan has sought to maintain good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two leaders share a strongman style that has perhaps cemented their understanding.But this has not stopped Turkish drone manufacturer Bayraktar pushing ahead with a planned factory in Ukraine. Its products played a key role in Ukraine’s defense in the early stages of the war.Ihor Semyvolos, director of the Center for Middle East Studies in Kyiv, says the driving force of Turkish foreign policy is economic.“As far as regional questions go, Russia, Ukraine, the Middle East, the key role is played by business interests. They will revolve around Imamoglu the same way they currently revolve around Erdogan,” he told RFE/RL’s Current Time.Western Ties -- The EU And WashingtonTalking of business, Turkey’s largest trading partner is the European Union -- accounting for around a third of its trade, according to EU statistics.A change of government in Turkey would almost certainly influence its relationship with Brussels, which put Turkey’s EU accession process on hold in 2018 amid criticism of democratic backsliding.Imamoglu would likely push for better relations and a restart of Turkey’s EU accession talks.But relations between Brussels and Ankara may warm anyway. As Europe seeks to reduce its defense reliance on Washington and form a military mission to Ukraine, Turkey’s armed forces could make it a key player.European leaders face an uncomfortable choice between condemning Erdogan’s actions at home or benefiting from a key security relationship.Economics was also top of the agenda when Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington this week.Erdogan was hoping to get relief from sanctions imposed by US President Donald Trump in 2020 after Turkey purchased Russian S-400 air defense systems.Iran And The Middle EastDevelopments in Turkey come at a time when Tehran and Ankara have been exchanging accusations and threats over interference in each other’s domestic affairs.The two countries often have conflicting interests on various regional issues, such as Turkey’s support for the opposition to the Assad regime in Syria and its backing of Azerbaijan against Armenia.Yet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said events in Turkey are “an internal matter.”Aydin Akhavan, a political analyst based in Istanbul, told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda, “Erdogan has presented himself as a pragmatic leader, shifting alliances whenever it serves his interests…. The opposition, on the other hand, is Eurocentric and advocates for a secular and democratic system. The world Erdogan envisions is certainly more aligned with Tehran’s preferences.”Geography gives Turkey immense regional influence. Early in the Ukraine war, it closed the Bosphorus to Russian naval shipping, complicating Moscow’s communications with its forces in Syria.Turkey’s influence on Syria, where it is one of the main allies of the interim government in Damascus, gives it many cards to play in international diplomacy. Turkish and Turkish-backed forces have played a big role in the conflict and will likely continue to do so now.Central AsiaTurkey’s influence reaches beyond the Middle East and into the Central Asia, where overwhelming majorities in four nations -- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan-- speak Turkic languages.All but Turkmenistan are grouped together in the Organization of Turkic States, which also includes Azerbaijan.Some regional experts have said Turkey represents an alternative pole amid concerns that Russian expansionism could be focused on areas in Central Asia with Russian-speaking populations, as it has been in Ukraine.“They are conducting joint military exercises and are establishing arms procurement and production from markets other than Russia,” Assel Tutumlu, from Near East University in northern Cyprus, told RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service in November.Before the Ukraine war, much of Central Asia’s trade with Europe went through Russia. Tutumlu said Western sanctions on Russia had given impetus to new trade routes via Azerbaijan and Turkey.Indeed, strengthening transport and logistics ties on the so-called Central Corridor of routes from China to Europe that bypass Russia was given top billing at a regional summit in Bishkek late last year.The BalkansTurkey is also a major player in energy markets, and nowhere is this more evident than in southeastern Europe.Hungary, Romania, and Serbia are all major consumers of gas piped by Turkey. Turkstream is now the only pipeline moving Russian gas to Europe, running directly from Russia to Turkey under the Black Sea and then on to the Balkans.“Ankara is making a renewed push to establish Turkey as the region’s premier energy hub,” noted Karim Elgendy of the Chatham House think tank in London in December.Turkey is also a major investor in the Balkans, particularly Serbia. As well as promoting ambitious plans for a Belgrade-Sarajevo highway, it has floated plans to build its trademark drones in Serbia.Drone deals have also been discussed in Bosnia and Albania.In the Balkans, Turkey has used economic power as an icebreaker for political moves as it looks beyond countries with large Muslim communities to forge close relations elsewhere. Indo-Pacific
International Religious Freedom in the Spotlight Amid US Political Recalibration (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [3/25/2025 6:33 PM, Catherine Putz, 777K]
On March 25, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) held a launch event for its annual report. The event, held in a Senate office building on Capitol Hill, featured 10 current members of Congress. The strong Congressional showing and repeated emphasis on USCIRF’s independent and bipartisan roots belied the present unusual political moment in the United States: a moment characterized by the Trump administration’s slash-and-burn approach to government reform, hostility toward foreign aid, and virulent partisanship.
USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan federal body that monitors the status of freedom of religion abroad in order to make policy recommendations to the president, secretary of state, and Congress. Each year, USCIRF releases an annual report covering the previous year’s developments and making recommendations on the designation of "countries of particular concern" (CPCs) where there is "systematic, ongoing, and egregious" violations of religious freedoms.
Traditionally, later in the year, the U.S. State Department makes its determination on which countries to actually designate as CPCs under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), which stipulates punitive sanctions – unless, of course, those sanctions are waived. The report also recommends countries to include on a special watch list (SWL), which entails no immediate punishments, but indicates growing concern.
Although USCIRF released a report in 2024, the outgoing Biden administration did not make CPC designations last year, meaning that the 2023 designations remain in place.
The 2025 report recommends that the U.S. State Department re-designate 12 countries currently labeled as CPCs (China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan), and designate four additional countries (Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Vietnam). The report recommends that the State Department keep Algeria and Azerbaijan on the SWL, and include 10 other countries: Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. The report also recommends re-designating seven nonstate actors as "entities of particular concern" (EPCs).
Of the 16 countries USCIRF recommends for CPC designation, nine are in The Diplomat’s core coverage area, with Iran and Russia additional notable countries on Asia’s peripheries. Asia is also overrepresented in the SWL.
Once again, the USCIRF recommended that the U.S. State Department designate Tajikistan and Turkmenistan as CPCs for being among the world’s worst violators of religious freedoms. The 2025 annual report also recommends listing the rest of Central Asia – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan – on the SWL. The commission again suggested that Tajikistan and Turkmenistan not be granted waivers, and thereby face the repercussions of designation.
In 2024, USCIRF recommended for the first time the inclusion of Kyrgyzstan in the SWL, meaning that – also for the first time – every Central Asian state appeared in the report, underscoring the region’s complex and difficult religious milieu.
Commissioner Mohamed Elsanousi acknowledged that Central Asian countries are "still struggling with providing religious freedom for everyone." He suggested that this, in part, stems from fear. "They are scared about their neighbors, let’s put it this way," he told The Diplomat. He noted that these countries are worried that in the course of providing greater religious freedom, "some of the neighbors may influence those groups.".
"We acknowledge that these countries still have work to do," he said.
Although USCIRF has recommended that Afghanistan, under the de facto rule of the Taliban, be designated as a CPC since its 2022 report, the State Department has continued to maintain the Taliban on its EPC list, a decision arguably rooted in Washington’s non-recognition of the Taliban government. The 2025 report, however, notes that despite a lack of formal recognition, "several delegations of U.S. officials participated in international forums with Taliban members in 2024.".
Also since 2022, USCIRF has recommended that Congress carve out a P-2 designation – a type of priority designation for refugees seeing safety in the United States – specifically for "members of religious groups at extreme risk of persecution by the Taliban.".
Although this recommendation is not new to the 2025 report, the circumstances surrounding refugee admittance, regardless of category, in the United States has changed dramatically. On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, with devastating effects for Afghan refugees, among others. Although a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction in late February, and this week blocked the administration from terminating agreements with refugee-servicing agencies, it’s not yet clear what the Trump administration will do in response.
"The court was clear: the refugee program is not optional," Shawn VanDiver, president of #AfghanEvac said in an email to journalists on March 25. "It’s the law. But that only matters if the administration follows the ruling – and so far, they haven’t.".
Commissioner Elsanousi noted that, "in the first Trump administration we have seen that the administration paid special attention to religious freedom. I believe that in the second Trump administration they will also make religious freedom a priority foreign policy tool." Elsanousi characterized the administration’s early moves as painting with a broad brush. "But I think they may come back and say that those who are persecuted because of their faith or belief, they may give them waivers, they may make exceptions," he said.
International Religious Freedom Abroad, Political Turmoil at Home?
The report launch event featured remarks by two senators and eight representatives (Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D, CA-11), Brad Sherman (D, CA-32), Lateefah Simon (D, CA-12), Jim McGovern (D, MA-2), Chris Smith (R, NJ-4), Robert Aderholt (R, AL-4), John Moolenaar (R, MI-2), Bill Huizenga (R, MI-4) and Senators James Lankford (R-OK), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)) – five Republicans and five Democrats.
Some members of Congress spoke with great passion about the importance of the United States supporting religious freedom around the world.
"Make no mistake, the freedom of worship is a bedrock human right," Pelosi, formerly the speaker of the house, said in her remarks.
In his remarks, Representative McGovern made a striking statement that turned attention from freedom abroad to freedom at home and the link between: "Let us be clear, it is wrong for any government to try to dictate what people are allowed to believe and to use the power of the state to impose such dictates by institutionalizing discrimination though law and policy. This is a violation of human rights whether that government is a foreign country or our own.".
He went on also to note other administration efforts that may affect U.S. understanding about religious freedom conditions aboard, including the campaign to shut down Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), as well as Voice of America and other U.S.-government funded broadcasting outlets.
"I have to tell you, I worry about the future. For its meticulous research, your report relies on the essential reporting of Radio Free Asia on developments in China, Vietnam, and North Korea; the same with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Russia, Turkmenistan, and beyond," McGovern said.
The decision to cancel RFA and RFE/RL’s grants "is as shocking as it is self-defeating," he added. Unless a bipartisan coalition in Congress can save them, "these indispensable sources of independent information from within closed societies will disappear." To that, McGovern added concerns about other agencies and NGOs which do work on which USCIRF relies.
"How can we speak up for those who are suffering for their beliefs if we lose the ability to know what they are experiencing?".
In his opening remarks, USCIRF Chair Stephen Schneck acknowledged the transition period and, just as Elsanousi later did in his interview with The Diplomat, urged the Trump administration to recall its past actions in support of international religious freedom.
"I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge that the transition to a new U.S. administration in January 2025 has involved policy shifts that will undoubtedly impact international religious freedom," Schneck said. "This has included the suspension or cancellation of programs that Congress had funded specifically for IRFA-related work, including emergency support to victims of religious repression. We have likewise seen a suspension of refugee resettlement programs for those fleeing religious persecution in their countries of origin.".
Schneck went on to note that IRFA mandates a "holistic approach" to pursuing the cause of international religious freedom. "IRFA states that in addition to condemning violations – name and shame – it shall be the policy of the United States ‘to use and implement appropriate tools in United States foreign policy apparatus including diplomatic, political, commercial, charitable, educational and cultural channels to promote respect for religious freedom by all governments and peoples,’" Schneck said, quoting the law directly.
"As such, the statute requires religious freedom to be an element not only of U.S. bilateral and multilateral diplomacy but also of U.S. foreign assistance, cultural exchange and international broadcasting programs.".
In 2020, during his first administration, Trump signed an executive order dedicating $50 million annually IRFA programs through the State Department and USAID, including programs that Vice President J.D. Vance praised last month when speaking at the fifth annual IRF Summit.
"With these issues in mind, we at USCIRF encouraged the new administration of Donald J. Trump to demonstrate the same or even greater commitment to advancing international religious freedom as was so evident in his first administration," Schneck said. Twitter
Afghanistan
W.A. Mubariz@WakeelMubariz
[3/25/2025 2:36 PM, 80.5K followers, 133 retweets, 462 likes]
BREAKING NEWS: Islamic Emirate Set to Take Control of Afghan Embassy in the U.S. Islamic Emirate spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Al Arabiya (@AlArabiya) in an interview that discussions are underway for the transfer of the Afghan embassy in Washington, D.C.
Lina Rozbih@LinaRozbih
[3/25/2025 10:12 AM, 427.8K followers, 1 retweet, 2 likes]
U.S. Lifts Millions in Bounties on Senior Taliban Officials. Let’s hope they don’t return the favor by plotting another attack on the US soil. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/world/asia/taliban-haqqani-bounties.html?smid=tw-shareHabib Khan@HabibKhanT
[3/25/2025 2:05 PM, 247.8K followers, 50 retweets, 145 likes]
The Taliban’s so-called ‘amnesty’ is a hoax. They have systematically hunted down and executed former security personnel. Colonel Hassan Khan, a former member of the Afghan security forces, is the latest casualty.
Jahanzeb Wesa@Jahanzeb_Wesa
[3/25/2025 3:02 PM, 5.8K followers, 19 retweets, 25 likes]
Members of the “Support” organization protested the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education, urging the world to act against their misogynistic policies. They called for concrete action to defend Afghan women’s rights and freedoms. #LetAfghanGirlsLearn #WomenRights #UN
Heather Barr@heatherbarr1
[3/25/2025 8:27 AM, 62.2K followers, 18 retweets, 51 likes]
FIFA should act to stop the ongoing discrimination against Afghan women footballers living in exile and facilitate their return to international competition, the Sport & Rights Alliance said in a report released today.
Diaa Hadid@diaahadid
[3/26/2025 3:27 AM, 30.4K followers, 4 retweets, 4 likes]
Afghan women are dying in childbirth, and so are their babies, as USAID cuts engineered by the world’s richest man shutter primary health care clinics in one of the world’s poorest countriesAAN Afghanistan@AANafgh
[3/26/2025 1:30 AM, 167.9K followers, 4 likes]
Floods, droughts, landslides, avalanches and extreme temperature events, these are some of the #ClimateChange related shocks, in #Afghanistan. @assemmayar1 looks into the economic toll on the country, putting figures to the harm being done. #ClimateJustice https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/themed-reports/economy-development-environment-themed-reports/the-economic-consequences-of-climate-change-for-afghanistan-losses-projections-and-pathways-to-mitigation/ Pakistan
Government of Pakistan@GovtofPakistan
[3/25/2025 5:34 AM, 3.1M followers, 8 retweets, 13 likes]
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif extended his heartfelt condolences on the sad demise of the mother of General Syed Asim Munir, Chief of Army Staff. The Prime Minister prayed to Allah Almighty for the eternal peace of the departed soul and expressed solidarity with the bereaved family in this hour of grief.
Ashok Swain@ashoswai
[3/26/2025 6:07 AM, 621.7K followers, 260 retweets, 521 likes]
Is Pakistan going to recognize Israel? 11 Pakistani journalists visited Israel, gave pro-Israel statements and the Pakistani government is saying it knows nothing about it.
Ashok Swain@ashoswai
[3/25/2025 3:17 PM, 621.7K followers, 424 retweets, 1.3K likes]
A new bill “Pakistan Democracy Act” is introduced in the Congress, which would place sanctions on Pakistan’s Army Chief Asim Munir under the Global Magnitsky HRs Accountability Act. He would be subjected to denial of entry to the US and ineligibility for U.S. visas.
Ashok Swain@ashoswai
[3/25/2025 9:16 AM, 621.7K followers, 158 retweets, 747 likes]
Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir’s mother died of old age - Pakistan witnesses a wave of condolences from country’s political leadership, from President to Prime Minister, from National Assembly speaker to Punjab Chief Minister. If you had any doubts, Munir is the real ruler!
Habib Khan@HabibKhanT
[3/25/2025 3:45 PM, 247.8K followers, 27 retweets, 98 likes]
Baloch women are leading protests against Pakistani military oppression in Balochistan, following the arrest of two prominent women leaders, Mahrang and Sammi. The Pakistani state has systematically suppressed Baloch rights movements for decades. India
Vice-President of India@VPIndia
[3/26/2025 12:58 AM, 1.6M followers, 25 retweets, 135 likes]
Hon’ble Vice-President and Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar interacted with Members of Parliament from various political parties at Parliament House today. #RajyaSabha @mdmkiw @geetashakyaUP @JPNadda @jayantrld @pramodtiwari700 @SunetraA_Pawar @DeoSulata @UpendraKushRLM
Vice-President of India@VPIndia
[3/25/2025 8:42 AM, 1.6M followers, 114 retweets, 806 likes]
Hon’ble Vice-President, and Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar met Floor Leaders of various political parties in Rajya Sabha at Parliament House today. #RajyaSabha @JPNadda @kharge @KirenRijiju @arjunrammeghwal @Murugan_MoS
Dr. S. Jaishankar@DrSJaishankar
[3/25/2025 9:56 AM, 3.4M followers, 151 retweets, 977 likes]
Glad to meet UN Special Envoy of the SG on Myanmar Julie Bishop this evening in Delhi. Discussed our border stability, refugee situation, trans-national crime out of Myanmar and providing economic support. Exchanged views on the political situation.
Rahul Gandhi@RahulGandhi
[3/25/2025 10:07 AM, 27.7M followers, 3.3K retweets, 12K likes]
Today, I had the opportunity to meet a diverse group of activists, editors, researchers, and domain experts in Parliament. They voiced serious concerns about the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, particularly its impact on the scope of the RTI Act. This legislation, under the pretext of safeguarding privacy, curtails access to public information which is essential for citizens and journalists to hold the government accountable. The NDA government is attempting to shield itself from scrutiny, undermining transparency and weakening democratic oversight. In the interest of accountability and good governance the Congress Party will discuss this issue with INDIA leaders and take the necessary steps to protect the rights of our people.
Ashok Swain@ashoswai
[3/25/2025 6:27 AM, 621.7K followers, 44 retweets, 510 likes]
Modi goes to Mongolia, Papua New Guinea & Turkmenistan to hug their leader but has no time to meet Bangladesh’s interim govt Chief Yunus at the Bimstec meeting in Bangkok. Bangladesh is waiting for a week now to get the confirmation. Yunus is going to China tomorrow to meet Xi. NSB
Chief Adviser of the Government of Bangladesh@ChiefAdviserGoB
[3/26/2025 3:21 AM, 127.4K followers, 25 retweets, 194 likes]
Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus departed for China for a four-day visit by a special China Southern flight at 1:00pm on Wednesday.Jon Danilowicz@JonFDanilowicz
[3/25/2025 7:56 PM, 14.7K followers, 29 retweets, 190 likes]
Bangladesh National Day PRESS STATEMENT MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE MARCH 25, 2025
On behalf of the United States of America, I congratulate the people of Bangladesh as they celebrate their day of independence on March 26. This celebration comes at a pivotal point in Bangladesh’s history, as the Interim Government prepares the nation for elections that will allow the people of Bangladesh to choose the path forward for their nation. The United States supports Bangladesh in its journey toward a bright and democratic future. We look forward to continuing our partnership promoting economic development and regional security in the Indo-Pacific. As Bangladesh marks this special occasion, I extend my warm regards to its people and reaffirm the United States’ commitment to working together to make both our nations safer, stronger, and more prosperous. https://state.gov/bangladesh-national-day/
Dr Mohamed Muizzu@MMuizzu
[3/26/2025 2:07 AM, 90.8K followers, 50 retweets, 56 likes]
My best wishes and greetings to President Mohammed Shahabuddin, Chief Advisor of the interim Government Dr Muhammed Yunus @ChiefAdviserGoB, and the friendly people of Bangladesh on their Independence Day. I hope for continued stability and unity amongst the people of Bangladesh, and may the mutual commitment to goodwill and cooperation between the Maldives and Bangladesh strengthen in the years ahead.
M U M Ali Sabry@alisabrypc
[3/26/2025 3:39 AM, 8K followers]
The decision to impose Maximum Retail Prices (MRP) for medicines and drugs is a welcome move provided it is practically and impactfully implemented. Healthcare is not a luxury. It is a fundamental right. For far too long, the high cost of essential medicines has placed a disproportionate burden on low and middle income families. Price regulation, if done with proper consultation, transparency, and continuous monitoring, can ease that burden significantly and ensure that patients are not exploited. However, as with any good policy, the key lies in effective and fair implementation. Authorities must ensure adequate supply, prevent artificial shortages, and support pharmacies and distributors to maintain quality and availability.
M U M Ali Sabry@alisabrypc
[3/25/2025 6:56 AM, 8K followers, 28 retweets, 97 likes]
Who Really Benefits When Rooftop Solar is Discouraged? Let the numbers speak. In 2023, 52% of Sri Lanka’s electricity came from thermal power, burning imported coal and oil. The cost? A staggering Rs. 407.5 billion 87% of our total generation cost. Meanwhile, the remaining 48% came from renewable sources, large hydro, rooftop solar, wind, and small hydro. The cost? Just Rs. 63.1 billion a mere 13% of the total. That’s nearly half the power for a fraction of the cost. And yet, policies are being rolled out that disincentivize rooftop solar, such as slashing the tariff paid for units fed back to the grid. Who gains from this? The Diesel Mafia , those profiting from our continued dependence on expensive, polluting fossil fuels. If anything, the solar tariff should be protected until thermal power is phased out , a process still years away. So why this indecent hurry to undermine clean energy?
If we are truly committed to lowering electricity bills, building energy security, and protecting the environment, we must:- Promote rooftop solar not punish those who invest in it - Encourage private investment in wind, solar, and small hydro- Phase out costly thermal power, which is bleeding our economy dry
This is more than an energy debate it’s a national issue. If you are truly national-minded, you stand with low-cost, clean energy. You stand with the people, not with vested interests that thrive on crisis and dependency. Let’s make choices that empower the nation, not just a powerful few. If your argument is that you want to pass it down to consumers/ public , a better way to do is, increase renewable energy with incentives and cut down on fossil energy. Central Asia
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service@president_uz
[3/25/2025 2:51 PM, 214.7K followers, 8 likes]
Address by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the Iftar ceremony at "Kuksaroy" residence https://president.uz/en/lists/view/7974
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service@president_uz
[3/25/2025 2:47 PM, 214.7K followers, 12 likes]
President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev joined an #Iftar ceremony in #Tashkent, part of a nationwide celebration, and congratulated the people and global Muslim community on #Ramadan. About 60,000 people from diverse backgrounds, including the elderly, intellectuals, people with disabilities took part in Iftar events across the country. The ceremony, attended by foreign ambassadors, international organizations, and religious leaders, emphasized the nation’s spirit of tolerance.
Navbahor Imamova@Navbahor
[3/25/2025 6:12 AM, 24.2K followers, 1 retweet, 1 like]
.@USDOL cutting a $1.5 mln grant to enhance transparency and accountability in Uzbekistan’s cotton industry; $7 mln grant promoting climate change policies and practices in Brazil, Chile, South Africa, and Colombia; $18 mln in grants promoting collective bargaining in Brazil, Colombia, Cote D’Ivoire, Indonesia, and Guatemala, and $1.5 mln grant to improve compliance in workplace standards in Georgia.{End of Report} To subscribe to the SCA Morning Press Clips, please email SCA-PressOfficers@state.gov. Please do not reply directly to this email.