SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS
Prepared for the U.S. Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
TO: | SCA & Staff |
DATE: | Thursday, May 29, 2025 6:30 AM ET |
Afghanistan
Judge Blocks Shutdown of Biden-Era Migrant Entry Programs (New York Times)
New York Times [5/28/2025 4:14 PM, Zach Montague and Jazmine Ulloa, 931K]
A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from pulling legal protections from hundreds of thousands of people who entered the United States through Biden-era programs, ordering the government to restart processing applications for migrants who are renewing their status.
In a sweeping order that extended to Ukrainians and Afghans, as well as military members and their relatives, the judge, Indira Talwani of Federal District Court in Massachusetts, wrote that the Trump administration’s categorical termination of legal pathways for those groups was probably unlawful and had the potential to sow discord across the country.
The decision is a major victory for civil and immigrant rights groups that had sued to stop the administration amid a wider campaign by President Trump to strip legal status from a variety of groups living, working and studying in the country on a temporary basis.
Judge Talwani wrote that the overarching campaign to strip the protections from those who had already been granted them represented a major escalation by the Trump administration that would cause chaos once the programs were wound down.
In April, she had issued a similar order that applied more narrowly to hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans with temporary legal status through another program. The government is seeking a reversal of that decision before the Supreme Court.“This court emphasizes, as it did in its prior order, that it is not in the public interest to manufacture a circumstance in which hundreds of thousands of individuals will, over the course of several months, become unlawfully present in the country, such that these individuals cannot legally work in their communities or provide for themselves and their families,” Judge Talwani wrote. “Nor is it in the public interest for individuals who enlisted and are currently serving in the United States military to face family separation, particularly where some of these individuals joined the military in part to help their loved ones obtain lawful status.”
As part of the order, Judge Talwani, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, also moved to certify all those affected as a class, extending blanket protections temporarily to those in several programs pending a final decision in the case.
They included Afghans who worked with the U.S. military during 20 years of war in Afghanistan; Ukrainians fleeing violence after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022; and those in a family reunification program that allowed migrants from some Central and South American countries to join their family members in the United States while awaiting a visa.
While broad, the certification applied primarily to those who had already received humanitarian parole and were working to extend their status, receive another benefit or avail themselves of another legal pathway. It did not apply to individuals who had left the United States voluntarily and were living abroad.
The challenge was filed in response to an executive order by Mr. Trump on Jan. 20 that directed the government to end “all categorical parole programs” set up during the Biden administration. The termination of the initiatives is part of a wider push by the Trump administration to expand the definition of who is removable from the United States as it seeks to make good on Mr. Trump’s campaign promise to carry out mass deportations.
Though the decision on Wednesday is likely to be challenged, immigration advocates and lawyers lauded the move, calling it a step in the right direction and significant relief for families, some of whom had already lost protections and their ability to work.
Guerline Jozef, executive director and founder of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, one of the plaintiffs in the case, said in a statement that the news “should serve as a reminder that when we fight together, we win.”“Whether we come from Ukraine or Haiti, Afghanistan or Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba, all those with humanitarian parole should have the freedom to live and work peacefully in their adopted communities and with their families,” she said. US judge blocks Trump from suspending Biden-era migrant ‘parole’ programs (Reuters)
Reuters [5/28/2025 10:44 PM, Nate Raymond, 23958K]
A U.S. federal judge on Wednesday ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to resume processing applications from migrants seeking work permits or more lasting immigration status who are living in the country temporarily under "parole" programs.
The ruling by District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston will provide relief to thousands of migrants from Afghanistan, Latin America, and Ukraine who were granted a two-year "parole" to live in the country under programs established by Democratic former President Joe Biden’s administration.
The same judge had previously blocked the Trump administration from revoking the parole status of hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans. The administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to pause her decision.
Talwani, an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama, rejected the Trump administration’s claim that suspending the parole programs was within its broad discretion to direct immigration policy.
Federal law still requires agencies under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to follow a lengthy process for granting or denying parole and other immigration relief, she wrote in siding with migrants pursuing a class action lawsuit.
"We are pleased that the court has again rightly recognized the harm the government’s arbitrary decision-making has inflicted on innocent people," Anwen Hughes, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at Human Rights First, said in a statement.
The Homeland Security Department did not respond to requests for comment.
The ruling came on the same day as a U.S. trade court decision to block Trump’s tariffs from going into effect, delivering simultaneous blows to two of the president’s core agendas around trade and immigration.
The decision came in a lawsuit challenging a pause on the processing of applications from Ukrainian, Afghan, Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan migrants either seeking to be granted entry through the parole process or who have already been granted that status and are seeking to stay.
Talwani’s decision focused on policies adopted after Trump on his first day back in office on January 20 signed an executive order directing it to end the Biden-era parole program.
In a memo that day, Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman directed agencies under his purview to pause, modify or terminate any categorical parole programs, which he asserted were not authorized by law as parole could only be granted on a case-by-case basis.
DHS officials subsequently stopped processing new parole applications and in mid-February barred staff from considering requests from migrants from Ukraine and Latin America who had already been granted parole to pursue other forms of immigration status, such as asylum or temporary protected status. As US Ends Protected Status For Afghans, Thousands Face Deportation And Persecution (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [5/28/2025 7:22 PM, Kian Sharifi, 763K]
The United States has announced it will end the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghans, a move that will leave thousands at risk of deportation to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) declared on May 12 that TPS for Afghanistan will expire on July 14, with the decision affecting an estimated 9,000 to 12,000 Afghans currently living and working legally in the United States under this program.However, rights groups and Afghan refugees have condemned the decision, warning that it puts lives in jeopardy and ignores the realities on the ground.
Seeking Safety In The US
The DHS said in its statement that the termination of TPS is based on its assessment that conditions in Afghanistan have "improved sufficiently" and no longer meet the statutory requirements for TPS.
The statement said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem had also determined that permitting Afghan nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is "contrary to the national interest of the United States.".
The department cited national security and fraud concerns, claiming some individuals under TPS are being investigated for threats to public safety and national security.
But Afghans living in the United States under TPS say they will be in danger if they return to Afghanistan.
"It is true that there is relative security, but there are many problems," an Afghan man who spoke on condition of anonymity told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.
"Right now, former government soldiers are being arrested, disappeared, and even killed," said the man, who lives in Texas with his family of four.
Another Afghan national who moved to the United States four years ago echoed the same sentiment.
"If we are sent back, our lives will be at risk because we worked in the previous government and the current government still wants revenge," he told Radio Azadi. "We came to the United States for our safety, and now that this program is ending it will create many problems.".
These fears are rooted in the dramatic changes Afghanistan has undergone since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021. Following the withdrawal of US and NATO troops, Taliban insurgents seized Kabul, toppling the Western-backed Afghan government.
Since then, the Taliban has imposed a strict interpretation of Islamic law, rolling back rights and freedoms, especially for women and girls, who are now barred from secondary education and most employment.
Reports from the UN and human rights organizations have documented widespread human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and public floggings, particularly targeting former government officials, security personnel, and dissenters.‘Unconscionable’ To Deport Afghans
Human rights organizations such as Human Rights First, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), World Relief, and others have condemned the move, warning it puts thousands of Afghans at risk of deportation to a country where they could face persecution, torture, or even execution under Taliban rule.
"For the Trump administration to claim that conditions in Afghanistan have improved enough to justify returning people is simply unconscionable and divorced from reality," said Eleanor Acer, senior director of global humanitarian protection at Human Rights First.
Unless a court intervenes, the termination of TPS for Afghans will proceed as scheduled in July, leaving thousands facing an uncertain -- and potentially dangerous -- future under Taliban rule.
"People with TPS are valuable members of American communities, schools, and workplaces," IRC wrote in a statement. "We urgently call on the US government to reconsider this harmful policy change and maintain this life-saving humanitarian protection for people from Afghanistan.". ‘A Death Sentence’: Bay Area Afghans and Allies React to Trump Administration Ending TPS (KQED)
KQED [5/28/2025 6:00 AM, Ericka Cruz Guevarra, Rachael Myrow, Alan Montecillo, and Jessica Kariisa, 945K]
More than four years after the Taliban took control of Kabul, thousands of Afghan families are still waiting for the U.S. to fulfill promises it made to take them in for helping the American war effort.Now, the U.S. is moving to deport thousands of Afghans who have recently arrived here, after the Trump administration announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status for people from Afghanistan.
[Editorial note: consult audio at source link] Pakistan
Pakistan pitches ‘responsible’ image as diplomatic war with India heats up (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [5/29/2025 12:00 AM, Abid Hussain, 17M]
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Azerbaijan in February, and Turkiye only a month ago, in April.
Yet, this week, he was back in both countries, as part of a five-day, four-nation diplomatic blitzkrieg also including stops in Iran and Tajikistan, where Sharif will hold talks on Thursday and Friday. And he isn’t alone: Sharif is being accompanied by Army Chief Asim Munir – recently promoted to Pakistan’s only second-ever field marshal – and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar.
Their destinations might be familiar, but the context has changed dramatically since Sharif’s previous visits.
More than two weeks after a four-day standoff between Pakistan and India – during which they exchanged missile and drone attacks – diplomacy has become the new battlefront between the South Asian neighbours.
India has launched a global diplomatic campaign, sending delegations to more than 30 countries, accusing Pakistan of supporting “terrorist groups” responsible for attacks in India and Indian-administered Kashmir.“We want to exhort the world to hold those responsible for cross-border terrorism accountable, those who have practiced this for 40 years against India, that is Pakistan. Their actions need to be called out,” said Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, last week.
On April 22, gunmen killed 26 people, most of them tourists, in Pahalgam, a hill resort in Indian-administered Kashmir, in the worst such attack on civilians in years. India blamed the killings on The Resistance Front (TRF), which it alleges is linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan-based group designated as a “terrorist” entity by the United Nations. New Delhi accused Islamabad of complicity in the attacks.
Pakistan denied the allegations, calling for a “transparent, credible, independent” investigation.
Then, on May 7, India launched a series of missiles aimed at what it said was “terrorist infrastructure” in parts of Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Islamabad insisted that the missiles struck civilians, mosques and schools. More than 50 people, including at least 11 security personnel, were killed in the Indian missile attacks.
This was followed by drone incursions and, on May 10, both sides fired missiles at each other’s military bases, as they stood on the brink of a full-fledged war before they agreed to a ceasefire that the United States says it brokered.
Now, Pakistan, say officials and analysts, is looking to flip India’s narrative before the world – projecting itself as an advocate of peace and stability in South Asia, and New Delhi as the aggressor looking to stoke tensions.‘We want peace’
On Wednesday, Sharif expressed willingness to engage in dialogue with India on “all matters” if India reciprocates “in all sincerity”.
Speaking at a trilateral summit in Lachin, Azerbaijan, Sharif said trade could resume if India cooperated on all issues, including “counterterrorism”.“I have said in all humility that we want peace in the region, and that requires talks on the table on issues which need urgent attention and amicable resolution, that is the issue of Kashmir, according to the resolutions of the United Nations and the Security Council, and as per the aspirations of the people of Kashmir,” he said.
Kashmir, a picturesque valley in the northeastern subcontinent, remains the root of conflict between the two nuclear-armed nations since their independence in 1947.A 1948 UN resolution called for a plebiscite to determine Kashmir’s future, but eight decades later, it has yet to take place.
India and Pakistan each administer parts of Kashmir, while China controls two small regions. India claims the entire territory; Pakistan claims the portion administered by India, but not the areas held by Pakistan’s ally, China.
Contrasting diplomacy
But there are other motivations driving Pakistan’s diplomatic outreach, say officials and experts.
India’s diplomatic delegations that are currently touring the world include members from various political parties, including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Indian National Congress (INC), projecting a unified stance.
In contrast, Pakistan’s current mission is led by top state officials, including Sharif and army chief Munir, widely considered the most powerful figure in the country.
The trip also reflects strategic alignment, say analysts. Turkiye, whose drones were used by Pakistan in the recent conflict, is a key defence partner.“Pakistan’s defence cooperation with Turkey is especially deep,” said Christopher Clary, assistant professor of political science at the University at Albany.“Evidence suggests several Turkish-origin systems were used in this recent clash, with varying levels of effectiveness, so there is much to talk about between the two,” he told Al Jazeera.
Khurram Dastgir Khan, a former federal minister for foreign affairs and defence, is part of a Pakistani delegation set to visit the US, United Kingdom and European Union headquarters in Brussels next month.
He said the current trip by Sharif, Munir and Dar is at least partly about highlighting Pakistan’s capacity to wage a modern war against a larger adversary. “There is immense interest in how Pakistan fought the recent war,” Khan said.“There are countries deeply interested in learning the details, what capabilities Pakistan used and what Indians had,” he added.“This opens new strategic possibilities for Pakistan’s defence forces to provide training to others. We are battle-tested. This makes us highly sought after, not just in the region but globally.”
Pakistan relied heavily on Chinese-supplied weaponry, including the fighter jets and missiles it deployed against India, and the air defence systems it used to defend itself from Indian missiles.
Post-conflict narrative battle
Though both countries claimed victory after the conflict, the battle over narratives has since raged across social media and public forums.
Pakistan claims to have downed six Indian jets, a claim neither confirmed nor denied by India, while Indian missiles penetrated deep into Pakistani territory, revealing vulnerabilities in Pakistan’s air defences.
India has also suspended the six-decade-old Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), a critical water-sharing agreement that is vital to Pakistan.
Recently, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Pakistanis to reject “terrorism”. “Live a life of peace, eat your bread or choose my bullet,” Modi said, during a speech in India’s Gujarat state.
He also criticised the IWT as “badly negotiated”, claiming it disadvantaged India.
Muhammad Shoaib, an academic and security analyst at Quaid-i-Azam University, said Modi’s remarks reflected “ultra-nationalism” and were targeted at a domestic audience.“The Indian diplomatic teams won’t likely focus on what Pakistan says. They will only implicate Pakistan for terrorism and build their case. Meanwhile, the Pakistani delegation will likely use Modi’s statements and international law regarding the IWT to bolster their arguments,” he told Al Jazeera.
Khan, who is also a senior member of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), the governing party which premier Sharif belongs to, said the upcoming diplomatic mission that he will be part of will focus on issues like India’s suspension of the IWT.“Our fundamental point is that Pakistan seeks to maintain lasting peace in South Asia, but three major hurdles are posed by Indian aggression,” he said.
The first, according to Khan, is “Indian-sponsored terrorism” in Pakistan, in which, he claimed, more than 20 people have been killed over the past four years. India has been accused by the US and Canada of transnational assassinations. In January 2024, Pakistan also accused India of carrying out killings on its soil. India denies involvement. Pakistan also accuses India of backing separatist groups in its Balochistan province – again, an allegation that India rejects.“The second point is India’s utterly irresponsible suspension of the IWT,” Khan said.“Pakistan has rightly said that any step by India to stop our water will be treated as an act of war. This is something that can bring all the region in conflict and I believe that if India acquires capability to divert waters in next six to 10 years, and tries to do so, it will lead to a war,” Khan warned.
The third issue, Khan said, is Pakistan’s concern over India’s “status as a responsible nuclear power”.
In the past, New Delhi has frequently cited the nuclear proliferation facilitated by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme, as evidence that Islamabad cannot be trusted with the safe management of its nuclear weapons.
But in recent days, India’s internal security minister, Amit Shah – widely viewed as the country’s second-most powerful leader after Modi – has confirmed that India used its homegrown BrahMos missile against Pakistan during the recent military escalation.
The BrahMos, developed with Russia, is a supersonic cruise missile capable of Mach 3 – three times the speed of sound – and a range of 300 to 500km (200 to 300 miles). It can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads and be launched from land, air, or sea.
Khan, who served as defence minister from 2017 to 2018, warned of “unimaginable consequences” from using such weapons.“Once the missile is in the air, you cannot know what payload it carries until it hits the target. This is very, very irresponsible,” he said. “India has already shown recklessness when it mistakenly fired a missile into our territory a few years ago.”
Khan was referring to an incident in March 2022, when India fired a BrahMos “accidentally” into Pakistani territory, where it fell in the densely populated city of Mian Channu, roughly 500km (300 miles) south of capital Islamabad.
India at the time acknowledged that accidental launch was due to a “technical malfunction” and later sacked three air force officials.
Ceasefire holds, but tensions linger
While the conflict brought both countries to the edge of war, the ceasefire declared on May 10 has held, with troops gradually returning to peacetime positions.
Shoaib, also a research fellow at George Mason University in the US, expressed cautious optimism.“Initiating hostilities is risky. No side wants to be seen as irresponsible. For that to break, it would take a major incident,” he said.
Tughral Yamin, a former military officer and researcher in Islamabad, noted that while diplomacy offers no guarantees, the ceasefire could last.“India has seen that Pakistan is no cakewalk. It has both conventional and nuclear deterrence,” he told Al Jazeera. “Both sides will remain alert, and Pakistan must address weaknesses exposed in the standoff.”
Clary added that while the India-Pakistan relationship remains fragile, history suggests that intense clashes are often followed by calmer periods.“It is reasonable for both countries and international observers to hope for the best but prepare for the worst over the next few months,” he said.
But Khan, the former minister, questioned Modi’s comments after the military crisis, where the Indian PM said any attack on the country’s soil would now be seen as worthy of a military response, and that New Delhi would cease to draw any distinction between Pakistan’s military and non-state armed groups.“The new stated policy of the Indian government is to attack Pakistan even after minor incidents, without waiting for evidence. This puts the entire region on edge,” he said. “This trigger-happy policy should concern not just Pakistan, but the entire world.” Banning child marriage is un-Islamic, Pakistani government told (The Telegraph)
The Telegraph [5/28/2025 9:14 AM, Samaan Lateef, 27190K]
Banning child marriage is un-Islamic, Pakistan’s government was told after setting 18 as the minimum age to marry.Its Child Marriage Restraint Bill, unanimously passed by both houses of the country’s parliament, seeks to protect the rights of children and eventually eradicate child marriage.Any form of co-habitation between adults and minors will be deemed statutory rape and punished by up to seven years in prison and a fine of no less than 1 million Pakistani rupees (£2,663).But the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), which advises the government on theological issues, said it rejected the bill because classifying marriage under the age of 18 as rape did not conform with Islamic law.Child marriage should be discouraged, but the Bill “has been declared un-Islamic”, it said on Wednesday.Replacing colonial legislationDespite the CII’s opposition, the Bill is to be signed into law in the coming days by Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan’s president.It will replace British colonial-era legislation that set the legal age of marriage for boys to 18 and girls to 16, although many Pakistani children continue to be coerced into underage marriages.The new legislation will apply to Islamabad, the capital, but politicians and activists hope to roll out similar laws to other areas of the country in the future. A similar Bill was passed in Sindh province over a decade ago.The CII’s verdict is unlikely to prevent the law’s enactment in Islamabad, but it could increase opposition to future legislation in more religious areas.Pakistan has one of the highest rates of underage marriage in the world, with nearly 30 million women, roughly 30 per cent of the female population, wed before the age of 18.Girls Not Brides, a global coalition aiming to end child marriage, has reported that 4 per cent of Pakistani girls and 5 per cent of Pakistani boys marry before the age of 15.Domestic violence and health problemsDuring the parliamentary debate, Naseema Ehsan, 50, a senator, shared her personal story of being married at 13 and said she wanted the practice banned.Those married as children are statistically the most likely to drop out of school, and are reported to often face domestic violence, or health complications, particularly with underage pregnancies.Dr Ifrah Aslam, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist in Mumbai, said: “These girls are still growing themselves; their bodies aren’t ready to carry a pregnancy.“Yet many are forced into early motherhood, often without access to contraception or proper maternal care. It’s no surprise that we see higher rates of miscarriage, childbirth complications, and even death, both for the mother and the baby.”The Bill notes that research “invariably proves that child marriage is harmful to both genders and especially girls who have hit puberty and are able to bear children”.It adds: “Furthermore, child marriages are in complete violation of the rights of children and international obligations and goal five of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals [which] focuses on gender equality and includes a target to end child marriage by 2030.“Therefore, in order to restrain child marriages and protect the basic rights of children, it is expedient to enact a law.” India
State Department official tells India that reciprocal market access is important (Reuters)
Reuters [5/28/2025 1:52 PM, Staff, 23958K]
US Deputy Secretary Christopher Landau told India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri during a meeting on Wednesday in Washington of the importance of fair and reciprocal market access to economic growth, the State Department said in a readout of their meeting, amid efforts to reach a trade deal. US calls for ‘fair and reciprocal’ trade access in talks with India (The Statesman)
The Statesman [5/28/2025 10:44 PM, Staff, 23958K]
A senior US diplomat stressed the importance of “fair and reciprocal market access” in discussions with his Indian counterpart, who came amidst ongoing talks on a trade agreement between the two sides.Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau on Wednesday also raised the issue of illegal migrants and counternarcotics in his meeting with the visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.Deputy Secretary Landau “underscored the importance of fair and reciprocal market access to fostering economic growth and prosperity in both countries,” Tammy Bruce, the State Department Spokesperson, said in a readout of the meeting of the two officials.The US official’s emphasis on “fair and reciprocal market access” came amidst reports that the US and India are close to finalising a bilateral trade agreement.Increased access to the Indian market has been a long-running US demand, cutting across party lines.Reciprocity in trade has been a cornerstone of President Donald Trump’s reshaping of America’s relations with all its trading partners, including close allies and partners such as the UK, the EU, Japan and India and competitors such as China.Earlier this week, a top US official said that a deal with India is imminent and soon.Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal was in Washington earlier for talks with Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary who is part of the US team conducting trade talks with multiple partner countries, along with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.The US official also raised “the importance of enhanced cooperation on migration and counternarcotics,” the spokesperson said without specifying.His indication was towards the previous instances where Indians were caught illegally crossing into the US, many of whom were later deported to India on American military planes. This process was captured in a heartbreaking video showing them being boarded while in shackles.The two sides also “reaffirmed their shared desire to maintain regional stability and peace.” The Mumbai billionaire taking aim at India’s business obstacles (Financial Times)
Financial Times [5/28/2025 10:05 AM, Chris Kay, 16.3M]
Jamshyd Godrej has big plans for Mumbai — if only he could get through the country’s red tape.
For years, the 76-year-old who heads one of India’s oldest conglomerates has been on a mission to transform its vast factory complex in the city. By moving production to an industrial park outside Mumbai, Godrej Enterprises Group will free up valuable real estate and expand its capacity to make everything from safes to components for India’s space programme.
But in an interview in the now semi-repurposed complex on Mumbai’s eastern flank, which houses offices for the likes of Accenture, the third-generation leader made clear his frustration at how difficult it is to do business in India.“We’ve been moving our businesses out of Bombay,” he said, referring to the city’s former name still used by many. “The problem is just getting things off the ground . . . for an Indian investor with a lot of patience that’s OK, but for a foreign investor without patience it’s very difficult.”
Just getting the land for the new $410mn manufacturing site about an hour’s drive south-east of Mumbai took a decade, Godrej grumbled.
His critique highlights the difficulties that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government faces in trying to position India as a serious contender in global manufacturing — competing against China and south-east Asia in supply chains being reshaped by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Godrej is one of the few Indian corporate leaders — many of whom have businesses that depend on government goodwill — to complain openly about the steep barriers to investment.
He echoed recent comments by India’s chief economic adviser for governments to “get out the way” of business and deregulate further.
Many of India’s “rules and regulations were originally written at a time when there was a control mindset”, said Godrej, pointing to British and then post-independence socialist governance. “It needs a huge shift away from that.”
A five-year-old, multibillion-dollar production-linked incentive subsidy plan by the government has had mixed results, and manufacturing as a share of India’s GDP has fallen since the scheme was launched.“Everyone would like some handout or other, but that’s not what’s going to make you competitive,” said Godrej. “What will make you competitive is the right infrastructure, the right attitude [and] timeliness of clearance.”
Godrej is relatively little known outside India compared with companies such as Tata and tycoons like Mukesh Ambani. But Godrej and his group occupy a central place in Indian corporate life.
The conglomerate was founded in 1897 by Ardeshir Godrej, a Parsee entrepreneur who made locks. Later, the company made ballot boxes for India’s first post-independence elections in 1951-52.
Today, it manufactures household wares, including microwaves, washing machines and alarm systems, while the new factory is set to expand capacity in areas such as precision engineering, security and aerospace.
Godrej and his sister, Smita Godrej Crishna, are together worth an estimated $11.1bn through their control of one wing of the family’s business, according to Forbes.
Jamshyd’s cousins Adi and Nadir head another wing, publicly listed Godrej Industries, which spans sectors including skincare, real estate and palm oil.
Many Indian business dynasties have been defined by internecine feuds. But the Godrejes last year orchestrated a rare amicable division, untangling a web of family crossholdings after spending years negotiating a separation deal.
The formal split was spurred in part by the infamous boardroom battle at Tata — another Parsee-founded conglomerate — between its late chairs Ratan Tata and Cyrus Mistry.“That was a catalyst,” said Godrej. “It was amicable because I think we all realised soon after that big spat with Mr Tata and Cyrus that nobody gains with all that publicity.”
The deal gives both sides freedom, said Godrej, adding that he had no plans for a public listing of his side of the business soon.
Godrej admitted it had been a “quite challenging” financial year, with India’s middle class squeezed by price rises and stagnant wages since the coronavirus pandemic.
Consumer-facing businesses account for about 60 per cent of revenue at the group’s privately held flagship company, Godrej & Boyce, where post-tax profits fell 11 per cent year on year in the final quarter of 2024 as India’s economy slackened. The government forecasts GDP growth eased to 6.5 per cent in the fiscal year ending in March, down from 9.2 per cent.
Godrej believes faster reforms are critical if India is to hit Modi’s target of achieving developed nation status by 2047, marking 100 years since independence. “That requires at least 8 per cent growth — we need that reform [mindset] to be accelerated.”
His discussions with officials in Modi’s government left him with “the feeling that they are listening, they want to do something”, but ultimately they struggle because India’s states hold much of the power over reform, said Godrej.
The company’s Mumbai property has been entangled in multiple court battles, including a decades-long ownership dispute with the state government of Maharashtra, and a compensation tussle tied to a planned Japanese-funded bullet train project through their land.“There was a time when nobody wanted to be in this area,” said Godrej, whose family bought the land in the 1940s and who pointed to the disputes as an example of how India’s backlogged courts and prolonged litigation strangled investment.
The family’s ambition to transition its vast holdings into residential and commercial developments mirrors Mumbai’s broader transformation as former industrial facilities make way for white-collar business districts, restaurants and bars.“The western part of Bombay got developed initially,” Godrej said. “It will still take a little time for the eastern part of Bombay to be a big residential centre. But I think if we get a mixed use of residential, commercial, retail, all this together, I think it will become an interesting place.” Head of human smuggling plot gets 10 years after family of 4 froze to death on US-Canada border (AP)
AP [5/28/2025 9:35 PM, Steve Karnowski, 456K]
More than three years after a family of four from India froze to death while trying to enter the U.S. along a remote stretch of the Canadian border in a blizzard, the convicted ringleader of an international human smuggling plot was sentenced in Minnesota on Wednesday to 10 years in prison.
Federal prosecutors had recommended nearly 20 years for Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, and nearly 11 years for the driver who was supposed to pick them up, Steve Anthony Shand, who got 6 1/2 years Wednesday with two years’ supervised release.“The crime in many respects is extraordinary because it did result in the unimaginable death of four individuals, including two children,” U.S. District Judge John Tunheim said. “These were deaths that were clearly avoidable.”
Patel’s attorney, Thomas Leinenweber, told the court before sentencing that Patel maintains his innocence and argued he was no more than a “low man on the totem pole.” He asked for time served, 18 months.
But the acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota, Lisa Kirkpatrick, said Patel exploited the migrants’ hopes for a better life in America, out of his own greed.“We should make no mistake, it was the defendant’s greed that set in motion the facts that bring us here today,” she said.
Patel, in an orange uniform and handcuffed, declined to address the court. He showed no visible emotion as the sentence was issued. The judge noted that he is likely to be deported to his native India after completing his sentence. He cooperated as marshals handcuffed him and led him from the courtroom.
Shand, who had been free pending sentencing, showed no visible reaction to his own sentence, either. The judge ordered him to report to prison July 1 and agreed to recommend that he serve his sentence at the Federal Prison Camp in Pensacola, Florida, where he can be near his family.
The judge handed down the sentences at the federal courthouse in the northwestern Minnesota city of Fergus Falls, where the two men were tried and convicted on four counts apiece last November.
The smuggling operation
Prosecutors said during the trial that Patel, an Indian national who they say went by the alias “Dirty Harry,” and Shand, a U.S. citizen, were part of a sophisticated illegal operation that brought dozens of people from India to Canada on student visas and then smuggled them across the U.S. border.
They said the victims, Jagdish Patel, 39; his wife, Vaishaliben, who was in her mid-30s; their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and 3-year-old son, Dharmik, froze to death. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police found their bodies just north of the border between Manitoba and Minnesota on Jan. 19, 2022.
The family was from Dingucha, a village in the western Indian state of Gujarat, as was Harshkumar Patel. Patel is a common Indian surname, and the victims were not related to the defendant. The couple were schoolteachers, local news reports said. So many villagers have gone overseas in hopes of better lives — legally and otherwise — that many homes there stand vacant.
Harsh blizzard conditions
The father died while trying to shield Dharmik’s face from a “blistering wind” with a frozen glove, prosecutor Michael McBride wrote. Vihangi was wearing “ill-fitting boots and gloves.” Their mother “died slumped against a chain-link fence she must have thought salvation lay behind,” McBride wrote.
A nearby weather station recorded the wind chill that morning at -36 Fahrenheit (-38 Celsius).
Seven other members of their group survived the foot crossing, but only two made it to Shand’s van, which was stuck in the snow on the Minnesota side. One woman who survived had to be flown to a hospital with severe frostbite and hypothermia. Another survivor testified he had never seen snow before arriving in Canada.
What prosecutors say
Kirkpatrick told reporters after Wednesday’s hearing that as a lifelong Minnesotan, she would not have gone out in that weather. “But the defendants sent into that weather 11 migrants — Indian nationals who were not dressed appropriately, were ill-prepared for the weather they faced that night,” she said.
Kirkpatrick pointed out that the family who died had walked for hours trying to find Shand, who had been sent by Patel.“These defendants knew it was cold. In fact, they knew it was life-threatening cold,” she said. “They didn’t care. What they cared about was money, and their callous indifference to the value of human life cost a family of four their lives.”
What defense attorneys say
Patel’s attorney, Leinenweber, said his client will appeal but declined to speculate on what grounds.“He had kind of resigned himself to the fact that the sentence would be longer than he had hoped,” the attorney said. “And he’s not happy with it. But he does wish to appeal and take advantage of his rights.”
Shand’s attorney, federal defender Aaron Morrison, did not talk to reporters afterward.
Morrison acknowledged in a presentencing filing that Shand has “a level of culpability” but argued that his role was limited — that he was just a taxi driver who needed money to support his wife and six children.“Mr. Shand was on the outside of the conspiracy, he did not plan the smuggling operation, he did not have decision making authority, and he did not reap the huge financial benefits as the real conspirators did,” Morrison wrote.
Human smuggling at the northern border
A top regional U.S. Customs and Border Protection official told reporters Wednesday that human smuggling along the border in the area has been holding “fairly steady,” with no sharp increases or decreases.“We hope that this is a strong message, and especially during the inclement months,” said Michael Hanson, the acting chief patrol agent for the Grand Forks, North Dakota, sector, which covers North Dakota and Minnesota. “You know, there very well could have been 11 deaths associated with this event.” NSB
Bangladesh offers to buy more US cotton and oil, Yunus says (Nikkei Asia)
Nikkei Asia [5/29/2025 3:37 AM, Tamayo Muto, 1.1M]
Threatened with a 37% tariff on its exports to the U.S., Bangladesh has proposed buying more American cotton, oil and gas, and will use the offer in trade talks with the Trump administration, interim leader Muhammad Yunus told Nikkei Asia in a meeting on Thursday.
The interview was held on the sidelines of Nikkei’s annual Future of Asia conference.
Noting that U.S. President Donald Trump is aiming to reduce his country’s trade deficit with each partner, Yunus said that if the offer to buy more American commodities is accepted, Bangladesh will divert the flow of similar imports from other countries.
"For example, we buy a lot of cotton from Central Asia," he said. "Cotton from India, cotton from many other countries. We are now looking ... why don’t we buy it from the U.S., so [our] trade deficit [with the U.S.] will go down very big."
In the fiscal year through last June, Bangladesh exported $6.8 billion worth of goods to the U.S. and imported $2.5 billion worth from the U.S. Cotton made up $361 million worth of these imports.
As a major garment maker, Bangladesh sources $7.9 billion worth of raw cotton, some of it coming from the nearby Central Asian nations of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Cotton accounted for 12.5% of the country’s total imports for the same fiscal year.
"Cotton producers in the U.S. become very good friends of us," and they provide "some political access to the administration," Yunus said.
America’s "Cotton Belt (states) elect their members of Congress, in the House [and] in the Senate, so they become our supporters," he added.
As for energy, Bangladesh imports most of its oil from the Middle East, but Yunus said the commodity can also be purchased from the U.S.
While Yunus said he was not sure yet of the timeline of trade talks and the percentage of tariffs that can be potentially reduced, he stressed, "We see [the situation] not as a kind of a threat; we see it as an opportunity."
The U.S. Court of International Trade on Wednesday blocked Trump’s tariffs from taking effect, ruling that the constitution gives Congress the authority to regulate commerce and that the president can not override the legislative branch.
On the domestic front, Yunus told Nikkei that under the previous regime headed by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, about $234 billion was laundered abroad from Bangladesh. He added that "$11-12 billion worth of money inside Bangladesh already [has been] identified and attached [and] frozen."
Once Bangladesh’s current government gains access to these billions, it plans to establish two sovereign wealth funds that will pay for education and healthcare, and be used to "transform" the lives of the poor and help young people become entrepreneurs, Yunu said.
Last week, reports spread that Yunus had told a student leader he might step down if parties could not agree on reforms and an election timeline.
Asked if he conveyed such a sentiment, Yunus said, "I have not answered that question in Bangladesh. Since I didn’t say it in Bangladesh, if I say it in Japan, that will create a lot of trouble for me." Supporters of Bangladesh’s ex-Premier Khaleda Zia rally to call for a general election (AP)
AP [5/29/2025 3:49 AM, Julhas Alam, 456K]
Tens of thousands of students and youths from a leading Bangladeshi political party rallied in the capital, Dhaka, on Wednesday, calling for a general election in December as discontent grows with the interim government appointed after the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August.
Activists from three groups linked to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, or BNP, headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia gathered on the streets outside its party headquarters, under heightened security.
Wednesday’s rally was held after weeks of political tensions after interim leader and Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus threatened to quit and the influential military chief publicly declared his support for an election in December.
Zia, who has been suffering from ill-health for several years, recently returned to Bangladesh after four months of medical treatment in London, putting further pressure on Bangladesh’s interim government to call an election.“We have come here to respond to the call for the unity of the young people. We want democracy, we want election. Next election should be held soon, not later than December,” Jahangir Hossain, a student activist, told The Associated Press. “We are united for democracy.”
Hasina, Zia’s archrival, has been in exile in India since she was toppled last year by a mass uprising. Her party, the Awami League, was also banned by the interim government.
The BNP’s acting chairman, Tarique Rahman, Zia’s elder son, addressed the rally later on Wednesday by video link from London, where he is in exile.Detailing his party’s future plans for youth and others, Rahman reiterated his call for the next elections to be held in December and asked his supporters to prepare.“The polls must be held by December. It has to take place within December,” he said.
The interim government has been shaken by a series of protests, including by civil servants, primary school teachers and employees at the national revenue service in recent weeks. Many, including New York-based Human Rights Watch, accuse the government of failures in prosecuting organized crime figures responsible for killing and injuring hundreds of people. The rights group in a statement this month blamed the interim administration for legislative initiatives that undermine fundamental freedoms,
Business bodies have also criticized Yunus over the weakness of the economy and labor unrest.
When Yunus came to power, he promised to make reforms in areas including the election law, women’s rights and general administration, but the process has been slow and his critics believe he is using delaying tactics to remain in power.
The 10 months of rule under Yunus also marked a visible rise of influence by Islamists in the Muslim-majority country, which is governed largely by a secular constitution and legal system. A fatigued military, which has been out of barracks since July last year to maintain law and order, is unhappy because of the delay in returning to democracy.
The BNP recently met with Yunus and reiterated its demand for an election in December, saying that if Yunus quits, the country will find an alternative leader. But Yunus’ associates later said he was staying.
Yunus promised to hold an election by June 2026, depending on the extent of reforms it has undertaken. The BNP, which is hopeful of forming the next government with the absence of Hasina’s Awami League, said the pace of implementation of reforms should not be an excuse to delay the election and argued that the reform is a continuous process. Political Protests Paralyse Bangladesh Daily Life (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [5/28/2025 7:32 AM, Sheikh Sabiha Alam and Eyamin Sajid, 931K]
Protests have become part of daily life in Bangladesh’s capital, with residents either taking part as political parties jostle for power after an uprising last year -- or avoiding them.
The South Asian nation of around 170 million people has been in political turmoil since former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in August 2024, fleeing by helicopter as crowds stormed her palace.
Hasina’s 15-year-long authoritarian rule contained protests like a pressure cooker, until the student-led movement spearheaded a revolt that toppled her from power.
On Wednesday, at least half a dozen demonstrations were held in the sprawling megacity of Dhaka, home to more than 20 million people.
This was a typical day, with the demonstrations ranging from political rallies and counter-protests, to worker strikes and celebrations at the release of an Islamist leader from death row.
"I got released this morning after being imprisoned for 14 years," A.T.M. Azharul Islam said, waving at thousands of supporters of the country’s main Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami.
The tight-packed crowd cheered as the senior leader was released from a prison hospital in central Dhaka, a day after the Supreme Court overturned his death sentence and acquitted him of war crimes.
"There was no justice in the past... we expect the court will ensure that the people get justice in the coming days," Islam said.
Leftist parties say they will demonstrate in opposition to his release.
Across Ramna Park in the neighbourhood of Naya Paltan, thousands choked the streets as part of a rally in support of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP).
Political parties are readying for hugely anticipated elections which the interim government has vowed will take place by June 2026 at the latest.
While tens of thousands gather at major intersections across Dhaka with their demands, others spend hours navigating their way through traffic-snarled streets.
"All the major roads are blocked during the day," chicken seller Zakir Hossain said Wednesday.
"We’ve had to shift our schedules. I start work at midnight now, even though the law and order situation is worsening every day, and muggings have become common."
It worries many, remembering the violence last year when police tried -- and failed -- to crush the protests that toppled Hasina.
"The situation is unpredictable -- the protests can turn violent at any moment," said a 43-year-old housewife, asking not to be identified as her husband is a government employee.
"I never used to call my husband much, but now I do. If he is even a little late coming home from the office, all sorts of bad thoughts come to my mind."
Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus, the 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who is leading the caretaker government as its chief adviser until elections are held, has called for parties to build unity and calm intense political power struggles.
The government warned on Saturday that "unreasonable demands" and obstruction had been "continuously obstructing" its work.
Yunus has said polls could be held as early as December but that having them later would give the government more time for reform.
Rallies organised by the powerful BNP are calling for the government to set an election date, as well as a raft of other demands, including the sacking of multiple members of Yunus’s cabinet.
In other protests, tax authority workers, angered at an overhaul of the body that would place it under the finance ministry’s control, held a two-week partial strike.
That escalated on Sunday when security forces surrounded the national tax headquarters, before the government later backtracked on its reform.
Civil servants this week also demonstrated at the main government ministry complex to rally against orders changing employment rules -- which the government then said it will reconsider.
On the streets, the protests continue.
"Customers rarely come to the bank when they see the roads blocked," said bank manager Muhammed Sazzad.
While he supported the right to assemble, he suggested the government "could designate a specific area for protests".
Rakib Hasan Anik, a lecturer at the Bangladesh University of Professionals, said that "academic discipline is suffering", with students stuck in traffic and missing class.
"There needs to be a balance," he said. "We can only hope all sides reach a consensus that prioritises the public." Pressure Mounts in Bangladesh (Foreign Policy)
Foreign Policy [5/28/2025 3:00 PM, Michael Kugelman, 1.7M]
The highlights this week: Bangladeshi leader Muhammad Yunus finds himself under pressure as calls for elections grow louder, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visits Washington, and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency flags Pakistan’s nuclear weapons in its annual global threat assessment.
Yunus in the Hot Seat
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has led Bangladesh’s interim government for nearly 10 months, since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned under pressure from mass protests last August.
Yunus has had a difficult job from day one, tasked with rebuilding Bangladesh after years of government repression and saddled with the high expectations of a public eager to see far-reaching reforms to restore democracy and stability. And he has held his own—commanding considerable respect in the country, especially among young people.
But now the pressure has begun to build, and things are coming to a head. The Bangladeshi public has grown increasingly impatient with an interim government that lacks a mandate, has not set a date for elections, and insists on pursuing comprehensive reforms despite little tangible sign of their progress. The interim government says a national vote will happen by mid-2026.Meanwhile, Bangladesh has been buffeted by bad news: Provisional figures indicate that economic growth in fiscal year 2024-25 will be the lowest since the COVID-19 pandemic. The country’s law and order situation is getting worse, as violent crime rises.
Last Wednesday, Bangladesh Army chief Waker-uz-Zaman told military officers that elections should happen by December at the latest. The same day, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) took to the streets in protest against the interim government for the first time. The BNP, the main rival of Hasina’s Awami League party, has repeatedly called for early elections.
Then, Nahid Islam—a top leader of last year’s protests who heads a student-run political party, the National Citizen Party (NCP), and former advisor to the interim government—disclosed that Yunus was considering resigning. He has not, but the threat may have been a tactic by Yunus to wake up those around him to the seriousness of the problems that they now confront.
Either way, Yunus risks putting himself on a collision course with critical stakeholders. He has deferred to the student leaders and backed their policy positions, and they are determined to see reforms through, even if it means delaying elections. But the Bangladesh Army, the BNP, the business community, and likely much of the public want elections sooner rather than later.
New fault lines could emerge from this increasingly fraught political environment. The BNP’s demand for early elections puts it at odds with other key parties, including the NCP and the large and influential Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamist party. As many parties with divergent views take to the streets to push for their demands, there is a real risk of political violence.
Though the interim government insists there are no tensions with the military, Waker’s call for elections is telling. With a few exceptions, Waker has rarely spoken publicly about politics since Hasina’s ouster, suggesting his comments were urgent. Waker reportedly differs with the government on other policies, including its recent decision to launch Elon Musk’s Starlink service.
At the same time, the enmity between the BNP and Awami League is festering. Hasina’s refusal to acknowledge her party’s abuses has enraged many people in Bangladesh, likely contributing to the interim government’s decision to ban the party from contesting elections. The Awami League’s leadership has mostly fled abroad, but the move won’t sit well with what remains of the party’s base.
In a worst-case scenario, these volatilities could veer into violence, resulting in serious political instability. That would raise questions about the military—which is less inclined to intervene in politics than in the past—taking control until conditions are calm enough to hold elections.
The best-case scenario—which is wholly viable if cooler heads prevail—is for the interim government to settle on a few core reforms with buy-in from a range of political parties, set a date for their implementation, and announce an election timeline. Encouragingly, parties are already approaching a consensus on a few key measures.
This scenario would pave the way for a peaceful political transition and prepare Yunus for a smooth return to the private life that he likely misses these days.
What We’re Following
India’s foreign secretary in Washington. Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri is in the United States this week, with a three-day visit to Washington scheduled to end on Thursday. A statement from India’s Ministry of External Affairs described Misri’s trip as a follow-up to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s White House visit in February.
The visit is likely an effort to smooth out some tensions creeping into the U.S.-India relationship. Comments from U.S. President Donald Trump this month, including his announcement of the India-Pakistan cease-fire and his offer to help solve the Kashmir dispute, didn’t go over well in New Delhi. India is sensitive about external mediation in its bilateral crises, preferring that it not be broadcast to the world.
The Indian government knows Trump better than most: Modi’s cabinet is largely the same as during his previous term, which coincided with the end of Trump’s first. Still, some of Trump’s statements—including boasts of using trade as a pressure tactic to get India and Pakistan to stop fighting, which India denies—likely came as an unpleasant surprise in New Delhi.
Still, the imperatives of strategic and commercial partnership remain strong, and Misri’s visit could help move the needle on getting the two sides closer to a phase-one agreement on a bilateral trade deal. After a visit to Washington by Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, negotiations are reportedly “entering the final leg,” with a U.S. delegation due in India next month.
U.S. DIA flags Pakistan’s nukes. On Monday, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) released its 2025 global threat assessment report. Its section on Pakistan focuses heavily on concerns about nuclear proliferation, suggesting that over the next year “nuclear modernization” will be one of the Pakistani military’s top priorities.
The DIA predicts that Pakistan, impelled by its view of India as an “existential threat” and desire “to offset India’s conventional military advantage,” will continue to develop battlefield nuclear weapons and modernize its arsenal. This suggests that the United States will view future India-Pakistan confrontations through the lens of nuclear escalation risks—as it did during the most recent crisis.
This position may pose a challenge for India, which wants the United States and the world to turn their attention to what it describes as the Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in India that often triggers these crises.
Jaishankar speaks with Canadian counterpart. Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar spoke by phone with his new Canadian counterpart, Anita Anand, on Sunday—marking the first known official contact between New Delhi and Ottawa since Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney took office in March.
Each leader posted about the call on X, though Anand’s message was more detailed and indicated that the two officials discussed strengthening economic cooperation and “advancing shared priorities.”
India’s relations with Canada have been very tense in recent years, mainly due to allegations by former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about Indian government complicity in the assassination of a Sikh separatist in British Columbia in 2023. The new government in Ottawa has raised hopes that the relationship can recover; after all, New Delhi had held Trudeau personally responsible for the breakdown in ties.
Already, diplomatic relations are poised for a boost: Each government is reportedly considering restoring its high commissioner—equivalent to an ambassador—next month. India’s push for more global trade deals, coupled with the resilience of India-Canada trade ties, also suggests that deeper commercial cooperation could help bring some stability to the bilateral relationship.
Under the Radar
This week, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Asim Munir visited Iran. Though Pakistani premiers and military leaders often travel to the Gulf region, they don’t go to Iran as often—and typically not together.
Munir was in a delegation that Sharif led to Tehran—part of a four-country tour that began in Turkey and continues later this week in Azerbaijan and Tajikistan. Pakistan has warm ties with the other countries. But its relations with Iran are more fragile, in part because of Pakistan’s alliance with Saudi Arabia and tensions over cross-border violence. Last year, Iran targeted militants in Pakistan with airstrikes, sparking a brief military confrontation.
Recent developments, however, help explain why Sharif and Munir would visit Tehran together. Iran was one of the first countries to offer and pursue mediation during the recent India-Pakistan crisis. Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi visited Islamabad and New Delhi during the week that the military confrontation began.
Furthermore, Islamabad is likely keen to ensure its other volatile borders stay calm. In recent weeks, Pakistan has held high-level talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan to reduce tensions. It likely aims for similar results with Iran.
Unsurprisingly, Munir’s meetings in Tehran included talks with Iran’s top military official, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, which focused on border security. Moreover, as India attempts to step up its isolation of Pakistan on the global stage, Islamabad has a strong incentive to showcase its ties with as many countries as possible—including those that aren’t its closest partners. Mango deal sweetens ties between Bangladesh and China (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [5/28/2025 8:44 AM, Staff, 58908K]
Bangladesh waved off its first consignment of mangoes to China on Wednesday, a largely symbolic export as Beijing sweetens ties after relations soured between Dhaka and former ally and neighbour India.Bangladesh, still reeling from the political fallout of a 2024 uprising that ended the autocratic rule of Sheikh Hasina -- who fled by helicopter to New Delhi -- has since been courted by Beijing, India’s rival."It is such a great pleasure to jointly witness this historic moment, as the first consignment of Bangladesh’s premium mangoes sets off for China," China’s ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen said, alongside government officials.Bangladesh, largely encircled by land by India, has seen relations with New Delhi turn icy.Interim Bangladeshi leader Muhammad Yunus’s first state visit was to China, while Bangladesh has also moved closer to Pakistan, India’s arch-enemy."President Xi Jinping has emphasised on several occasions that China’s door of opening up will not close, but will only open wider," Yao said, at a small ceremony at the airport alongside Bangladeshi ministers."I am confident that the export of Bangladeshi mangoes to China is just the beginning," he added.In China, the fruit has a particular historic diplomatic resonance -- including the curious cult of the mango.After Chairman Mao Zedong was pictured gifting a mango to a group of workers in 1968, during the mania of the Cultural Revolution, the fruit became an object of veneration.Those mangoes were reportedly a gift from the foreign minister of Pakistan -- and at that time, in 1968, Bangladesh had yet to win its independence from Islamabad.Export levels are small so far, just 50 tonnes in an initial phase, but both Bangladesh and China said they hoped to increase that.In the past year, China has sponsored several tours for Dhaka’s political party leaders, and has begun hosting Bangladeshi patients in its hospitals.India has long been wary of China’s growing regional clout and the world’s two most populous countries compete for influence in South Asia, despite a recent diplomatic thaw. Nepal’s mountaineering community celebrates 72nd anniversary of Mount Everest conquest (AP)
AP [5/29/2025 2:19 AM, Binaj Gurubacharya, 456K]
Nepal’s mountaineering community celebrated the conquest of the world’s highest mountain with a rally of climbers, guides and others who gathered for International Everest Day.
The event Thursday marked the 72nd anniversary of the first summit climb of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953, by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay.
Nepal’s minister for culture and tourism led the celebration in the capital, Kathmandu, that included a walk around the city and a gathering at the old palace.“We are celebrating May 29 as the international Sagarmatha (Everest) day because the world needs to continue to recognize the achievement and contribution of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay,” said Ang Tshering, who runs Kathmandu-based Asian Trekking.The event was not just a celebration for the mountaineering community but also a festival for Nepal and the world, said Tshering, who has helped hundreds of clients scale the Himalayan peaks.
Nepal contains eight of the highest peaks in the world and every year hundreds of foreign climbers fly to the country in South Asia to tackle the mountains. The climbers hire thousands of people in Nepal to assist their climbs by carrying gear, cooking food and generally taking care of them as they spend weeks in the mountains.
Nepal’s government collects money from the climbers through permit fees.
The end of May also marks the end of the popular spring mountaineering season, when climbers finish their adventures and retreat from the peaks before the monsoon season brings foul weather.“This day is celebrated also to mark the end of the climbing season where we gather climbers and the community,” Jiban Ghimire of Shangri-La Nepal Trek said.
According to Nepal’s Department of Mountaineering, 468 foreign climbers from 57 countries received permits to climb Everest by the end of May, along with a roughly equal number of Nepalese mountain guides.
Many were able to scale the peak, but officials were still working to verify how many reached the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) summit. Climbers must report to the department with proof they reached the summit and cleared their garbage before they are issued the official certificate.
Famed Sherpa guide Kami Rita reached the Everest summit for the 31st time Tuesday, breaking his own record for the most climbs to the top of the famed mountain. Central Asia
China angling to elbow Russia out of Kazakh nuclear power station contract (EurasiaNet)
EurasiaNet [5/28/2025 4:14 PM, Staff, 57.6K]
The race to build Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power plant appears to be tightening. The Russian nuclear entity Rosatom has long appeared to have the inside track on the construction contract, but the China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) is coming up on the outside, hoping to win it at the wire.
The head of China’s National Nuclear Safety Administration Dong Baotong made a push to secure the deal for CNNC during talks in Astana with the head of the Kazakh Atomic Energy Agency (KAEA) Almasadam Satkaliev, the Kursiv news outlet reported May 26, citing an agency statement. In addition to building the plant, China is also making a strong pitch to handle the nuclear fuel cycle and “the strengthening of scientific and technical infrastructure,” according to the statement.
The Chinese bid is receiving “special attention” from Kazakh officials. Cost differential appears to be Beijing’s biggest advantage. CNNC has estimated it can build two HPR-1000 reactors, envisioned as generating a combined 2.4 Gigawatts of electricity annually, for roughly $5.5 billion.
Kazakh authorities, meanwhile, have projected the cost of other reactor designs from Rosatom, as well as from firms from South Korea and France, as ranging upwards of $12-15 billion. First Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar noted recently that the cost of materials and services are continuing to rise.
Speaking to journalists in Astana on May 28, Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister Roman Vassilenko indicated that Astana’s preference is for a consortium of countries to be involved in the first nuclear power plant’s operations. He also emphasized that President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has envisioned the construction of a cluster of nuclear plants. “There could be different types of consortia building different types of plants” over time, Vassilenko said.
Kazakhstan was originally expected to award the construction contract in late 2022, but the deadline has been repeatedly pushed back. According to the Kursiv report, a decision is now planned for the end of June. Vassilenko confirmed no decision has been made so far.
A nationwide referendum in October 2024 authorized the construction of nuclear power plants. The site for the country’s first nuclear facility has already been selected along the shore of Lake Balkhash in the Zhambyl District, roughly 300 miles northeast of the country’s commercial hub, Almaty.
Nuclear power plants are needed to “help prevent energy shortages in several regions, reduce dependence on imports, and stabilize electricity prices,” according to a government statement. In addition, officials have cast nuclear power as a “green energy” solution that can play “a key role in achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, aligning with Kazakhstan’s international commitments.”
The last reported engagement by Russian nuclear energy officials with their Kazakh counterparts occurred in late January. In addition to Baotong’s visit May 26, President Tokayev and other Kazakh officials met with CNNC chief Shen Yanfeng in March.
Heightening speculation that Kazakh authorities may prefer the Chinese bid, the German outlet Deutsche Welle reported that in mid-December, Astana pressured Rosatom to sell its interests in three uranium mining concerns to Chinese entities. DW also quoted a Kazakh economist, Almas Chukin, as saying Kazakhstan may have wanted Rosatom to divest “because the presence of Rosatom in the [mining consortium] makes the asset toxic and limits opportunities” due to the fallout from Russia’s ongoing military action in Ukraine.
Kazakh officials insist the tender decision-making process is considering not just cost, but also “technological reliability and environmental safety.”
The KAEA’s statement announced the formation of a Supervision and Control Committee, which will be responsible for monitoring plant operations and ensuring “the implementation of international standards and best practices,” Kursiv cited Satkaliev as saying. Kazakh officials are particularly interested in “studying the Chinese experience in ensuring nuclear and water-ecological safety at all stages” of the nuclear plant’s construction and operations, the KAEA statement added. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan Can’t Ignore the Geopolitics of Critical Minerals (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [5/28/2025 8:22 AM, Zhangeldi Agybay, 555K]
A little-known lithium deposit in central Uzbekistan sparked a bidding war not between mining companies, but between foreign governments. Recent geological surveys and exploration in Uzbekistan’s Kuldjuktau and Auminzatau mountain deposits have prioritized the evaluation of critical mineral reserves, positioning the country to strengthen its mining sector, attract strategic foreign investment, and secure a long-term, sustainable supply of essential resources. Recognizing the geopolitical and economic value of these deposits, both Uzbekistan and the United States initiated bilateral cooperation to enhance technical expertise and investment potential. Neighboring Kazakhstan is also seeking to deepen international investment in its own critical mineral reserves.
This exploration underscores a growing policy problem: Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, both rich in critical minerals such as uranium, lithium, and rare earth elements, are becoming key players in global geopolitics, yet their policy frameworks lag behind this strategic significance, creating vulnerabilities for both regional and global stability.
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan must reorient their critical minerals policies, moving beyond a strictly national economic lens and embedding them within a comprehensive geopolitical strategy. Their central position in Eurasia places them at the crossroads of Chinese, Russian, and Western interests, which transforms mineral exports into tools of influence. Mineral exports offer Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan a rare opportunity to shift their roles from passive resource providers to active shapers of regional order. Both countries, however, face internal governance gaps and lack long-term regulatory clarity in resource policy, which invites geopolitical manipulation.
The absence of consistent, long-term regulatory frameworks in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan undermines investor confidence and weakens strategic planning in the mineral sector, limiting their capacity to leverage resources for sustained regional influence. Internal governance challenges such as institutional fragmentation, limited transparency, and uneven enforcement of contracts further erode the effectiveness of resource management. These structural weaknesses create openings for external powers to exploit regulatory ambiguities, influencing domestic policies through conditional investments or preferential agreements.
Critical minerals are indispensable to clean energy and defense technologies. They offer the region an advantage, if wisely managed.
A more robust, multilateral mineral governance structure is essential for protecting national interests and enhancing regional cooperation. Strategic neutrality and transparency should be the pillars of this reorientation. By coordinating mineral policies, investing in local processing, and limiting long-term concessions to any one power bloc (Russia or China), Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan can rebalance existing asymmetries and assert greater control over their future.
Furthermore, regional states should consider a competitive bidding framework backed by international financial institutions to ensure fair access and transparency, while safeguarding sovereignty. This step is necessary to address the monopolization of mineral value chains by China and, increasingly, Russia. Uzbekistan, for example, signed a major lithium development deal with a Chinese firm in 2023, bypassing local environmental review and excluding Western bidders. This model of closed-deal diplomacy sidelines both democratic accountability and long-term economic resilience.
Kazakhstan has demonstrated a similar pattern, where major mineral projects have been agreed through direct negotiations with countries like China and Russia, often without competitive bidding. For example, in 2022 and 2023, Kazakhstan signed several strategic agreements with Chinese companies to develop rare earth and battery-related minerals, including lithium and beryllium, under bilateral frameworks. These deals prioritized political and strategic interests over open competition or strong environmental oversight. Such arrangements have raised concerns among analysts and civil society about transparency, accountability, and ecological impact. Excluding international financial institutions and competitive processes from these agreements limits Kazakhstan’s ability to build a resilient and diversified system for resource governance. Adopting transparent bidding mechanisms aligned with global norms could improve investor trust and support long-term national control over critical mineral assets.
Finally, anti-corruption institutions must be empowered with oversight tools tailored to the extractives sector, and mineral governance should be integrated with broader democratic reforms. In both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, strengthening anti-corruption institutions is essential to improve transparency in the extractive industries. These institutions need specific oversight tools like public contract registries, real-time licensing databases, and independent audits of mineral revenues. In Kazakhstan, recent reports have shown that uranium licenses were awarded to politically connected figures without public disclosure, highlighting the need for tighter scrutiny. Uzbekistan has taken initial steps by joining the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), but enforcement remains weak without broader legal and judicial reforms. Reforms are necessary to restore public trust and prevent external actors from exploiting internal divisions.
Some critics argue that Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan should avoid the risk of politicizing their mineral policies by engaging in the efforts explained above and instead focus on simply attracting investment. While economic development is vital, this perspective underestimates the strategic nature of critical minerals in a multipolar world. Critics are right to warn against overregulation or foreign investor flight, but they overlook the risks of geopolitical entrapment. A smart policy approach would balance investor interest with national security and long-term development planning.
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan stand at a pivotal juncture: they can either allow external powers to dictate the terms of critical mineral extraction, or they can seize the initiative to build sovereign, strategic, and sustainable resource policies. Through regulatory reform, international cooperation, and strategic neutrality, both countries can transform geopolitical vulnerability into geopolitical agency. The time to act is now to avoid confrontation over critical minerals and build cooperation for a better future. Kazakhstan to allow hunting once endangered antelopes (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [5/28/2025 7:57 AM, Staff, 47007K]
Kazakhstan said Wednesday it will authorise the hunting of saiga antelopes, once an endangered species that the government says is now threatening farming in the vast Central Asian country.
The country previously backtracked on lifting a hunting ban on the species, recognisable by their long, trunk-like rounded snout.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev had called the antelopes "sacred animals for the Kazakh people". The saiga was massively poached in the 1990s.
State media cited Kazakhstan’s deputy minister of ecology as saying the decision to hunt them was "necessary due to the rapid growth of their population" and "complaints from farmers".
A spokeswoman for Kazakhstan’s ecology ministry told AFP Wednesday that "according to scientific research, it is possible to eliminate up to 20 percent of the total population without harming the species".
The exact number of animals allowed to be culled and the start date of the hunt are yet to be determined, she added.
Farmers complain that saigas have stomped thousands of square kilometres of farms, where crops are also threatened by climate change.
According to the latest estimates, there are 4.1 million saigas in the former Soviet republic, representing almost the entire global population, a number that could rise to five million by the end of the year.
An attempt to lift the ban was met with opposition in 2023, a rare occurrence in Kazakhstan, where freedom of expression is limited. The authorities reversed the decision a few months later.
Poaching of the antelopes exploded after the collapse of the Soviet Union, particularly as their horns are used in traditional medicine.
Water shortages and disease had also endangered the species before the Kazakh authorities introduced a policy to protect them. In Kyrgyzstan, Kloop Journalists Taken For Questioning (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [5/28/2025 10:02 AM, Catherine Putz, 555K]
At least four former and current journalists working with investigative outlet Kloop were taken in for questioning on May 28, the embattled outlet and other Kyrgyz media have reported. The Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security has not commented on the matter.
On the morning of May 28, the Osh family home of 25-year-old journalist Zyyagul Bolot kyzy was searched by State Committee for National Security (SCNS or GKNB) officers. The officers confiscated her laptop and phone and took her in for questioning. Around lunchtime, the Bishkek home of Kloop cameraman Aleksandr Aleksandrov was searched and he was also taken in for questioning. A third Kloop journalist, Aidai Erkebaeva, was also reportedly detained for questioning, alongside former Kloop journalist, Zara Sydygalieva, who resigned from the outlet in 2023.According to Kloop, its employees have been denied access to lawyers.
In February 2024, the Kloop Media public foundation was ordered to liquidate by a Bishkek court following a protracted legal battle. Kyrgyz authorities had complained that the publication "often publishes negative information that sharply criticizes the policies of the current government and is aimed at discrediting representatives of state and municipal enterprises." The government sought Kloop’s closure on grounds that it technically violated its charter as a public foundation.
In an interview days before the liquidation order, Kloop co-founder Rinat Tukhvatshin told The Diplomat, "It is impossible to predict what will trigger the country’s authorities.".
Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court denied Kloop a final appeal in September 2024. Tukhvatshin vowed to continue publishing. "[A]s long as at least one Kyrgyzstani reads us, we will continue to publish the most in-depth investigations, the most balanced news, and the most incisive columns," he said.
The outlet’s website was blocked in Kyrgyzstan in September 2023.
Kloop isn’t the only Kyrgyz media outlet to face pressure from the state. In January 2024, over the course of two days Kyrgyz authorities carried out raids on the homes and offices of more than dozen journalists in Bishkek, ultimately detaining 11 journalists associated with Temirov Live and sealing the offices of 24.kg. The detained journalists were charged, among other things, with making "calls for mass unrest.".
Of the 11 journalists charged, two received prison sentences, two probation, and seven were acquitted due to a lack of evidence in October 2024.
The proximate trigger of the recent detention for questioning of current and former Kloop journalists remains unclear as of writing, but these cases fit into a larger pattern that has emerged over the past few years of increasing pressure on media – often in the wake of reporting on elite corruption. While current Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov stands as the face of the country’s democratic decline since 2020, pressure on media is not unique to his regime. Kazakhstan Says It Can’t Cut Oil Output Despite OPEC+ Deal (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [5/29/2025 5:05 AM, Nariman Gizitdinov and Grant Smith, 301K]Kazakhstan said it can’t cut oil production right now, and even hopes to increase output beyond planned levels later this year, deepening a stand-off with its OPEC+ counterparts.Output is more than 70% controlled by 3 large international consortiums and “the republic has no right to enforce production cuts” on their fields, Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov told reporters in Astana on Thursday. Nor can it “practically” cut output at other old fields operated by state-run KazMunayGas National Co. JSC, he said.The comments, made just two days before the OPEC+ alliance meets to discuss production levels for July, threaten to inflame tensions with the group’s leadership.Saudi Arabia has steered the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners to agree two bumper production increases since early April, moves that some delegates said are intended to punish members like Kazakhstan for flouting their supply quotas.OPEC+ has discussed making a third hike of 411,000 barrels a day in July, to be finalized during a video-conference on Saturday, according to officials. Crude futures are trading near $65 a barrel in London, below the levels many alliance members need for state budgets.Kazakhstan pumped 1.823 million barrels a day in April, exceeding its agreed limit by roughly 400,000 barrels a day, according to data from OPEC’s secretariat. Its exports are set to remain near record levels in June, according to people with knowledge of the shipments.While the Central Asian country held meetings last month with international oil firms to discuss complying better, Chevron Corp. and Eni SpA say said they haven’t been asked to rein in operations.The nation plans to produce 96 million tons of oil this year, but the minister says he hopes to be able to surpass this figure. “Let’s wait until September” to be able to confirm that, he said.Astana’s inability to adhere to its OPEC+ limits has spurred speculation that Saudi Arabia’s supply increases have another motive, such as providing a concession to President Donald Trump or recouping its lost share of world oil markets.The possibility of Kazakhstan quitting the alliance like some other members is a “tricky question” but not the most likely outcome, according to Energy Aspects Ltd.“Kazakhstan remains a member of OPEC+, and therefore it has obligations, and I think this is an ongoing conversation between countries,” the consultant’s director of research Amrita Sen said in an interview with Bloomberg television. “Ultimately there will have to be a solution to this compliance problem,” which could come under the guise of maintenance at oil fields in the months ahead, she said. Uzbekistan Seeks to Increase Tourist Flows, Floats Possibility of Visa-Free Regime for US Citizens (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [5/28/2025 11:28 AM, Catherine Putz, 555K]
In a May 15 presidential decree, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev directed his government "to dramatically increase the flow of tourists," setting out 2025 targets and outlining new efforts to open the country to travelers from abroad. Mirziyoyev also instructed the Uzbek Foreign Ministry to start negotiations with the United States with the aim of introducing a visa-free entry regime. That effort, the decree made clear, is to be paired with an easing of visa requirements for Uzbek citizens seeking to enter the United States.
When pursuing various visas, Uzbeks face high rejection rates. According to the U.S. State Department, in fiscal year 2024, 64.41 percent of all Uzbek B-visa applications (for business or tourism) were rejected. This is not the highest in the world (sorry Laos, which had a 82 percent rejection rate in FY24), but exceeds rejection rates for neighboring Kazakhstan (46.29 percent), Kyrgyzstan (39.14 percent), Tajikistan (45.24 percent), or even Turkmenistan (58.80 percent).
An Uzbek friend once remarked to me that trying to get to the United States is akin to a national sport for Uzbeks. It was a quip backed by data.
Beyond travel for tourism or business, Uzbeks are regularly among the top pools of applicants to the U.S. "green card lottery" – the Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV) program – demonstrating sustained interest in moving to the United States. In the 2019-2021 period, the last for which complete data is currently available, nearly 4 million Uzbeks filed applications ("entrants" in the lottery), with an additional 2.3 million listed in the applications ("derivatives," spouses and children). This is despite the cratering of applications amid the COVID-19 pandemic (which shows up in the 2021 numbers) and does not include those Uzbek citizens who may have believed they applied but were scammed.
Interest is extremely high, higher than almost anywhere else in the world. For comparison, in 2019 – arguably the last "normal" year before the pandemic – there were 1.8 million primary Uzbek applicants, representing 12 percent of the entire pool of more than 14 million applicants. The only country in the world that comes close is Ghana, which in 2019 saw just over 2 million primary DV applicants.
Rejections far exceed the visas made available. In 2019, of the 1.8 million primary Uzbek applicants, just 3,461 were awarded visas.
While Tashkent is certainly not aiming to export Uzbeks to the United States on a permanent basis, it’s clear from the recent presidential decree that Mirziyoyev hopes to make it easier for Uzbeks to visit the U.S. for business and tourism purposes. At least his government wants to try.
Uzbek authorities have been cooperative with U.S. efforts to deport illegal Uzbek immigrants. In April, the Uzbek government reportedly fully funded the deportation of more than 130 illegal Uzbek immigrants from the United States. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was effusive in its praise: "This operation, in which Uzbekistan fully funded the deportation of their own nationals, underscores the deep security cooperation between our nations and sets a standard for U.S. alliances." (Emphasis added: The U.S. and Uzbekistan do not have an alliance.).
At present, U.S. citizens seeking to visit Uzbekistan for tourism purposes must obtain a visa, with most applicants eligible for a $20 e-visa. In 2021, Uzbekistan introduced a limited visa-free regime for U.S. citizens over the age of 55.
Uzbek citizens, as noted above, face a much greater mountain to obtain a visa to come to the United States.
The recent presidential decree sets out new targets for tourism entries: 15.8 million foreign tourists and $4 billion in tourism services. Mirziyoyev also set a target of 40 million local tourists, illustrating an effort to increase tourism within Uzbekistan alongside drawing in foreign tourists.
Starting in June, individuals from Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman will be able to enter Uzbekistan for a period of up to 30 days without a visa for tourism.
The decree instructed the Foreign Ministry to engaged in negotiations within three months and report back regarding two important lines of effort. The first is the possible introduction of a new entry regime for citizens of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan using internal documents (ID cards) in lieu of passports. For Kazakhstanis in particular, this could be critical in increasing regional tourism. In 2023, Kyrgyz citizens became eligible to travel to Uzbekistan with an ID card.
The second line of effort laid out in the decree for the Foreign Ministry is feeling out the possibility of introducing a 30-day visa-free regime for U.S. citizens, "as well as on the easing of visa requirements for entry of citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan into the territory of the United States of America.".
Whether Uzbekistan will be successful in seeking an easing of visa requirements is uncertain. Other Central Asia countries have introduced visa-free regimes for U.S. citizens – Kyrgyzstan (60 days) and Kazakhstan (30 days) – but there has not been a comparable easing of entry requirements into the United States for the citizens of those countries.
Given the avowedly anti-immigrant bent of the Trump administration, it’s hard to fathom a dramatic easing of requirements for Uzbeks, but these days, it seems anything is possible. Indo-Pacific
Lutnick Defends US Tariffs as Key to India-Pakistan Ceasefire (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [5/29/2025 1:56 AM, Swati Gupta, 5.5M]
The ceasefire between India and Pakistan earlier this month was only achieved after US President Donald Trump offered the two countries trading access, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a legal submission defending the White House’s tariff policy.
Lutnick made the submission in response to a court challenge filed on behalf of business owners against the Trump administration’s tariff policy. On Wednesday, the US Court of International Trade ruled the vast majority of Trump’s global tariffs illegal and blocked them.
In a submission to the court dated May 23, however, Lutnick said the tariffs were an important foreign-policy tool, and constraining them could jeopardize the India-Pakistan ceasefire. The truce, he said, was struck only after “President Trump interceded and offered both nations trading access with the United States to avert a full-scale war.”
The submission sheds light on Trump’s use of US trade access in the conflict — and is likely to add fuel to a brewing dispute between the US and India over who was responsible for the May 10 truce that brought an end to four days of fighting between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. Trump and Lutnick have said that the US was responsible, while India has repeatedly said the ceasefire was negotiated directly between the two neighbors.
The fighting between the two nations followed an attack that killed 26 people, mostly Indian tourists, in Indian-administered Kashmir, a region that both countries claim. India has always maintained that the issue of Kashmir will be resolved bilaterally and without foreign interference. Pakistan has welcomed foreign intervention in the conflict and praised Trump’s statements that the US brokered the ceasefire.
In his court submission, Lutnick said invalidating Trump’s use of Emergency powers would dismantle a cornerstone of national security architecture, harm the US’s ability to respond to foreign threats and disrupt foreign policy-related economic actions.
Wednesday’s ruling applies to Trump’s global flat tariff, elevated rates on China and others, and his fentanyl-related tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico. The Justice Department has filed a notice of appeal on the ruling. India-Pakistan clashes renew fears over nuclear risk (Washington Post)
Washington Post [5/28/2025 12:27 PM, Gaya Gupta, 32099K]
The tenuous ceasefire that brought India and Pakistan back from the brink of war this month was hailed on both sides as a victory. But experts warn that the disruption to the regional equilibrium renews concern over the risks posed by armed conflict between nuclear powers.Following an attack by militants in India-administered Kashmir that left more than 20 people dead, India accused Pakistan of involvement in the attack — a claim Pakistani officials denied. India responded with strikes in Pakistan, which rapidly escalated into an exchange of attacks that included an Indian strike near Pakistan’s army headquarters, after which U.S. officials stepped in to help broker a ceasefire deal.India and Pakistan both possess roughly 170 nuclear weapons across their respective countries, encouraging a degree of restraint. But the conflict has raised questions about whether the strategy of using nuclear weapons as a way to deter military attacks is working as it should, with some analysts saying that the conflict has highlighted the unpredictable conditions that could cause a step — or misstep — toward nuclear conflict.“Do you look at close calls and see warnings, or do you look at close calls and see a system that’s functioning exactly as intended?” said Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at Middlebury’s Institute of International Studies, referring to nuclear deterrence.“India has shown it’s willing to test what it calls Pakistan’s nuclear blackmail,” or the idea that India would not risk major strikes for fear of a nuclear response, said Lisa Curtis, former National Security Council senior director for South and Central Asia from 2017 to 2021, and a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. “I think we have entered a new and dangerous era for India-Pakistan relations.”Though the U.S.-brokered ceasefire still appears to be holding, many experts say it’s a matter of when, not if, the two countries return to hostilities.Here’s what we know about what the two sides have done to roll back risk — and why concerns are mounting.A ‘new normal’In his first public address after the four-day cross-border strikes, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the country’s operation represented “a new benchmark in our fight against terrorism, and has set up a new parameter and new normal.”
“If there is a terrorist attack on India, a fitting reply will be given,” he said, adding, “India will not tolerate any nuclear blackmail.”Modi’s attitude appears to signal a shift from India’s approach in recent decades. Since 1998, when India and Pakistan declared themselves nuclear powers, risk that any conflict could spiral out of control has deterred India from escalatory responses to terrorism it blames on Pakistan. Pakistan has supported militant groups in Indian-administered Kashmir in the past, though it has tried to distance itself from those connections amid Western pressure.“The example I always give is ski helmets,” said Lewis, the Middlebury professor. “If you put on a ski helmet, you have the option of just skiing like you always ski at a much safer level, or you can take bigger risks”
“And so what I think we have seen is that Pakistan has typically over the years decided that the value of nuclear weapons means that it can take bigger risks with regard to supporting basically terrorist attacks against India,” knowing that India has to have some limits in its response, he added.India, for example, did not retaliate militarily against Pakistan in 2008, when militants opened fire in Mumbai, the country’s financial capital, killing 166 people and injuring hundreds more. Then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh instead opted to diplomatically and financially isolate Pakistan. India also joined a global task force that later called out Pakistan’s failure to take meaningful measures to prevent terrorist groups from gaining access to funds. Modi also called for restraint after an attack on an Indian army camp in 2016.However, India’s approach appeared to shift in 2019, when it launched airstrikes into Pakistan after an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir.The two countries have several measures in place to facilitate communication and mitigate the threat of nuclear escalation. Amid crises, military officers in both countries can communicate through a hotline between the two country’s capitals, which was used during the most recent conflict.India also officially operates under a “no first use” policy, meaning it will not be the first to trigger its nuclear weaponry — though some Indian officials have introduced some conditionality and ambiguity to this policy. (Pakistan has not adopted this policy.) In 1988, both countries also signed the Non-Attack Agreement, a pledge to refrain from targeting each other’s nuclear installations and to share the locations of those facilities.But both countries have experienced religious and nationalist shifts in recent years, particularly since Modi was elected in 2014. Researchers have also found that as India struggles to deter threats from Pakistan, it has quietly bolstered its nuclear arsenal and explored the possibility of using preemptive force.After the April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed more than two-dozen tourists, most of them Hindu, the political pressure within India to respond skyrocketed, according to Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based analyst and columnist for Foreign Policy.“The Indian government, which is a Hindu-nationalist government … is very sensitive to any type of case where you would have significant levels of threats to the Hindu community,” Kugelman said, adding that the targeting of Hindus in Kashmir “led to this especially robust Indian military response.”
“And since so much force was used initially by India, that then led to Pakistan wanting to engage in a proportionate response,” he said, adding that while India blamed Pakistan for the attack, Pakistan rejected responsibility. “So Pakistan’s response was also driven by anger in the sense that they’re being punished for something they didn’t do.”A test for deterrenceThe extent to which nuclear deterrence — the threat of nuclear retaliation that prevents other parties from launching military attacks — can be relied upon to stave off disaster between India and Pakistan is a matter of debate.“The nuclear deterrent has been alive and well, but I think that it was put to its biggest test during this most recent crisis,” said Kugelman.It comes down to the “unanswerable question” about how to interpret a close call, Lewis said. On one hand, the two countries did avoid nuclear catastrophe, meaning that deterrence worked, he said. On the other hand, “if things had gone just a little differently, it could have been really bad.”For Lewis and others, the conflict has highlighted the dangers that come when the two sides rely on nuclear weapons to resolve their political disputes, because neither side knows exactly where each other’s limits to sparking nuclear conflict are.“Pakistan and India think they know where each other’s red lines are. They probably have a pretty good idea,” he said. “But if there’s one thing we know about human beings, it’s that we are not perfect decision-makers. We miscalculate, we misperceive … and sometimes the military does something that is not what the leader intended.”
“This is not a chess game. No one can see all the pieces, the moves are not discrete and obvious,” he continued. “This is a much more ambiguous thing, and it’s that ambiguity that makes it dangerous.” How social media lies fuelled a rush to war between India and Pakistan (The Guardian)
The Guardian [5/28/2025 10:36 AM, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, 83003K]
As missiles and drones crisscrossed the night skies above India and Pakistan earlier this month, another invisible war was taking place.
Not long after the Indian government announced Operation Sindoor, the military offensive against Pakistan triggered by a militant attack in Kashmir that Delhi blamed on Islamabad, reports of major Pakistani defeats began to circulate online.
What began as disparate claims on social media platforms such as X soon became a cacophony of declarations of India’s military might, broadcast as "breaking news" and "exclusives" on the country’s biggest news programmes.
According to these posts and reports, India had variously shot down multiple Pakistani jets, captured a Pakistani pilot as well as Karachi port and taken over the Pakistani city of Lahore. Another false claim was that Pakistan’s powerful military chief had been arrested and a coup had taken place. "We’ll be having breakfast in Rawalpindi tomorrow," was a widely reshared post in the midst of hostilities, referring to the Pakistani city where its military is headquartered.
Many of these claims were accompanied by footage of explosions, crumbling structures and missiles being shot from the sky. The problem was, none of them were true.‘Global trend in hybrid warfare’
A ceasefire on 10 May brought the two countries back from the brink of all-out war after the latest conflict, which marked the biggest crisis in decades between the nuclear-armed rivals, and was ignited after militants opened fire at a beauty spot in Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing 26 people, mainly Indian tourists. India blamed Pakistan for the attack – a charge Islamabad has denied.
Yet even as military hostilities have ceased, analysts, factcheckers and activists have documented how a fully fledged war of disinformation took place online.
Misinformation and disinformation was also being circulated widely in Pakistan. The Pakistan government removed a ban on X shortly before the conflict broke out, and researchers found it immediately became a source of misinformation, though not on the same scale as in India.
Recycled and AI-generated footage purportedly showing Pakistani military victories was shared widely on social media and then amplified by both its mainstream media, respected journalists and government ministers to make fake claims such as the capture of an Indian pilot, a coup in the Indian army and Pakistani strikes wiping out India’s defences.
There were also widely circulated fake reports that a Pakistani cyber-attack had wiped out most of the Indian power grid and that Indian soldiers had raised a white flag in surrender. In particular, video game simulations proved to be a popular tool in spreading disinformation about Pakistan "delivering justice" against India.
A report into the social media war that surrounded the India-Pakistan conflict, released last week by the civil society organisation The London Story, detailed how X and Facebook "became fertile ground for the spread of war narratives, hate speech, and emotionally manipulative disinformation" and "drivers of nationalist incitement" in both countries.
In a written statement, a spokesperson for Meta, the owner of Facebook, said it had taken "significant steps to fight the spread of misinformation", including removing content and labelling and reducing the reach of stories marked as false by their factcheckers.
While disinformation and misinformation were rampant on both sides, in India "the scale went beyond what we have seen before", said Joyojeet Pal, associate professor at the school of information at the University of Michigan.
Pal is among those arguing that the misinformation campaign went beyond the usual nationalist propaganda often seen in both India and Pakistan: "This had the power to push two nuclear armed countries closer to war.".
Analysts say that it is evidence of a new digital frontier in warfare, where an onslaught of tactical misinformation is used to manipulate the narrative and escalate tensions. Factcheckers say misinformation including the repurposing of old footage and widespread fake claims of military victories mirrored much of what had come out of Russia in the early days of the Russia-Ukraine war.
The Washington DC-based Centre for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH), which tracked and documented the misinformation coming from both sides, warned that the weaponisation of misinformation and disinformation in the the most recent India-Pakistan conflict was "not an isolated phenomenon, but part of a broader global trend in hybrid warfare".
Raqib Hameed Naik, the executive director of CSOH, said there had been "a pretty catastrophic failure" on the part of social media platforms to moderate and control the scale of disinformation that was being generated from both India and Pakistan. Of the 427 most concerning posts CSOH examined on X, some of which had almost 10m views, only 73 had been flagged with a warning. X did not respond to request for comment.
Fabricated reports from India first emerged largely on X and Facebook, Naik said, often shared or reposted by verified rightwing accounts. Many accounts openly supported the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) government, led by the prime minister, Narendra Modi, which has a long history of using social media to push its agenda. BJP politicians also reposted some of this material.
Among the examples circulating were a 2023 video of an Israeli airstrike on Gaza that was falsely claimed as an Indian strike on Pakistan, as well as an image of an Indian naval drill from the same year presented as evidence that the Indian navy had attacked and taken over Karachi port.
Video game imagery was passed off as real-life footage of India’s air force downing one of Pakistan’s JF-17 fighter jets, while footage from the Russian-Ukraine war was claimed to be scenes of "massive airstrikes on Pakistan". Doctored AI visuals were circulated widely to show Pakistan’s defeat and visuals of a Turkish pilot was used in fabricated reports of a captured Pakistani pilot. Doctored images were used to fabricate reports of the murder of Pakistan’s popular former prime minister Imran Khan.
Many of these posts first generated by Indian social media accounts gained millions of views and the misinformation spread to some of India’s most widely watched TV news.‘Fog of war accepted as reality’
India’s mainstream media, which have already suffered a major loss of credibility owing to their heavy pro-government stance under Modi, are facing difficult questions. Some prominent anchors have already issued apologies.
Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), an Indian human rights organisation, has filed formal complaints to the broadcasting watchdog for "serious ethical breaches" of six of the country’s most prominent television news channels in their reporting of Operation Sindoor.
Teesta Setalvad, the secretary of CJP, said the channels had completely abandoned their responsibilities as neutral news broadcasters. "Instead, they became propaganda collaborators," she said.
Kanchan Gupta, a senior adviser to the Indian ministry of information and broadcasting, denied any government role in the misinformation campaign. He said the government had been "very alert" to the issue of misinformation and has issued explicit advice to mainstream media reporting on the conflict.
"We set up a monitoring centre which operated 24-7 and scrutinised every bit of disinformation that could have a cascading impact, and a fact check was put out immediately. Social media platforms also cooperated with us to take down vast numbers of accounts spreading this disinformation. Whatever was in the ambit of the law to stop this was done.".
Gupta said that "strong" notices had since been issued to several news channels for a violation of broadcasting rules. Nonetheless, he emphasised that the "fog of war is universally accepted as a reality. It is a fact that in any conflict situation, whether overt or covert conflict, the nature of reportage tends to go high-pitch". Twitter
Afghanistan
Zalmay Khalilzad@realZalmayMK
[5/28/2025 9:24 AM, 265.2K followers, 151 retweets, 830 likes]
The Taliban leader has issued a clear instruction forbidding Taliban members from participating in "jihad" by joining militant groups outside Afghanistan. This is positive. #Afghanistan #Pakistan #USA
Mariam Solaimankhil@Mariamistan
[5/28/2025 2:14 PM, 101.3K followers, 17 retweets, 83 likes]
August 8, 2021- seven days before Kabul fell. We, Afghan women MPs, delivered a final warning to the U.S. Chargé d’affaires, Ross Wilson: the Taliban would erase women from public life. He didn’t argue. He didn’t deny it. He knew- and the look on his face said everything: dread, powerlessness. We stood there not as victims, but as leaders still placing faith in our forces, our people, and the republic. Because we understood: this was never just a military collapse. It was a political surrender orchestrated far beyond Afghanistan’s borders. And we still stand. Not blind. Not broken. But wide awake.
Beth W. Bailey@BWBailey85
[5/28/2025 6:27 AM, 8.5K followers, 15 retweets, 40 likes]
After failing to hear back from Cheryl Benard, I came to a realization: there’s no need to debate how safe Afghanistan is for women. The de facto government has told us everything we need to know. Today at The Afghanistan Project, I read a list compiled by U.S. Institute of Peace of the decrees pushed out since August 2021. https://youtube.com/watch?v=eYQqhyEKvOo Pakistan
Shehbaz Sharif@CMShehbaz
[5/28/2025 2:57 PM, 6.8M followers, 568 retweets, 2.5K likes]
Honoured to join my dear brothers, President Tayyip Erdogan @RTErdogan and President Ilham Aliyev @azpresident, in the beautiful city of Lachin on a historic day—when Pakistan marks Youm-e-Takbeer and our brotherly country, Azerbaijan, celebrates its Independence Day. Our meeting today in the trilateral format reaffirmed the deep-rooted brotherhood between Pakistan Turkey Azerbaijan and further strengthened our shared resolve to always stand together, while working closely to advance regional peace, prosperity, and cooperation. We are now three nations, one heart!
Hamid Mir@HamidMirPAK
[5/28/2025 1:51 PM, 8.7M followers, 98 retweets, 735 likes]
Pakistan have 170 nuclear warheads. India have 175. Pakistani warheads can reach 2750 km inside India. One nuclear warhead can destroy half of Delhi. India must avoid a nuclear war with Pakistan. Nuclear power is a deterrence not for war.
Elizabeth Threlkeld@ethrelkeld
[5/28/2025 9:27 AM, 8.7K followers, 22 retweets, 106 likes]
Very pleased to publish @clary_co’s detailed analysis of what’s known and still unknown about the IN-PK crisis. With divergent narratives taking hold on both sides, this working paper is a timely effort to sort fact from fiction and identify implications for regional stability.
Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office@amnestysasia
[5/28/2025 8:54 AM, 100.4K followers, 986 retweets, 1.9K likes]
PAKISTAN: Amnesty International, along with four other human rights organizations, calls for an end to the harassment and arbitrary detention of Baloch human rights defenders exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in Pakistan, particularly in Balochistan province. All five organizations - Amnesty International, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Front Line Defenders, International Federation for Human Rights, World Organisation Against Torture - appeal to Pakistan’s Prime Minister, @CMShehbaz, to release Baloch human rights defenders and end the crackdown on dissent in line with Pakistan’s international human rights obligations. Read the joint letter: https://amnesty.org/en/documents/asa33/9434/2025/en/ @forum_asia @OBS_defenders @FrontLineHRD India
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[5/28/2025 11:01 PM, 108.7M followers, 2.4K retweets, 15K likes]
Chaired a PRAGATI meeting yesterday, where projects worth over Rs. 62,000 crore were reviewed, covering diverse sectors like roads, power, water resources, semiconductors and more. Emphasised on ensuring all infra projects are completed on time. Also deliberated on RERA-related grievances. It’s our Government’s priority to ensure justice for homebuyers. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=2132189
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[5/28/2025 11:24 AM, 108.7M followers, 3.7K retweets, 28K likes]
The passing of Shri Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa Ji is a major loss to our nation. He was a towering statesman with great wisdom and an unwavering commitment to public service. He always had a grassroots level connect with Punjab, its people and culture. He championed issues like rural development, social justice and all-round growth. He always worked to make our social fabric even stronger. I had the privilege of knowing him for many years, interacting closely on various issues. My thoughts are with his family and supporters in this sad hour.
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[5/28/2025 10:50 AM, 108.7M followers, 3.1K retweets, 17K likes]
The 4-Lane Badvel-Nellore Corridor, whose construction has been approved by the Cabinet will benefit the development journey of Andhra Pradesh and generate several opportunities for the youth of the state. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2131992
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[5/28/2025 10:49 AM, 108.7M followers, 2.7K retweets, 20K likes]
Congratulations to the people of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh! Two projects have been approved by the Cabinet, which will boost growth, sustainability, lower logistics costs and more. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2131995
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[5/28/2025 7:22 AM, 108.7M followers, 4.4K retweets, 34K likes]
Tomorrow, 29th May is a landmark day for the people of Bihar and Patna in particular. This great city will get a new passenger terminal which can handle bigger volumes of traffic. The people of Bihar have been waiting for this for many years. The foundation stone for a new civil enclave of Bihta Airport will also be laid. These initiatives will lead to better connectivity and will boost commerce.
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[5/28/2025 7:21 AM, 108.7M followers, 4K retweets, 21K likes]
I will be addressing a BJP West Bengal public meeting in Alipurduar tomorrow afternoon. Over the last decade, the various schemes of the NDA Government have been greatly appreciated by the people of West Bengal. At the same time, they are tired of the corruption and poor administration of the TMC. @BJP4Bengal
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[5/28/2025 7:20 AM, 108.7M followers, 2.5K retweets, 13K likes]
It is always a delight to be among the people of West Bengal. At a programme in Alipurduar in the afternoon tomorrow, 29th May, the foundation stone for City Gas Distribution (CGD) project in Alipurduar and Cooch Behar districts will be laid. This will benefit several households, improve the environment and provide job opportunities for people.
Dr. S. Jaishankar@DrSJaishankar
[5/29/2025 1:17 AM, 3.8M followers, 96 retweets, 681 likes]
On the International Day of UN Peacekeepers, we honour the sacrifice and courage of the brave men and women who carry out @UNPeacekeeping around the world. Their unwavering dedication and contributions towards maintaining peace and security are deeply appreciated.
Dr. S. Jaishankar@DrSJaishankar
[5/28/2025 11:23 AM, 3.8M followers, 347 retweets, 2.1K likes]
Delighted to attend #AfricaDay2025 Celebrations today in Delhi. India and Africa have a deep solidarity and an unshakeable friendship. India stands fully committed to Africa’s development, prosperity and progress. Our partnership continues to strengthen in trade, development cooperation, capacity building and security. And as Global South partners, India strongly advocates a greater voice for Africa in global institutions and discourse. India and Africa will engage and work together very closely. We will together fashion a contemporary agenda of cooperation aimed towards realisation of African priorities.
Dr. S. Jaishankar@DrSJaishankar
[5/28/2025 11:00 AM, 3.8M followers, 202 retweets, 1K likes]
Significant decisions taken by the Union Cabinet today:- Approved construction of 108.134 km 4 - lane Badvel-Nellore corridor in Andhra Pradesh. A step - forward for stronger regional industrial connectivity, logistics efficiency and employment generation. - Two multitracking projects across Indian Railways in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh approved. The initiative will create new economic opportunities, improve ease of living and lower carbon emissions. - Approved increase in Minimum Support Price (MSP) of 14 Kharif Crops for marketing season 2025-26. Will help improve farm incomes, while incentivising crop diversification and sustainable agricultural practices.- The continuation of Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS) for FY 2025 - 26 with existing interest subvention will further strengthen the rural credit ecosystem while boosting agri growth. #CabinetDecisions
Suhasini Haidar@suhasinih
[5/28/2025 10:28 PM, 1.3M followers, 195 retweets, 347 likes] US govt has, for the first time, put on record in a court Trump claim that ceasefire between India and Pakistan, was “only achieved” after US mediation, offers of "trading access" to “avert a full-scale war” Reporting with @SharadRaghavan https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/trump-used-offers-of-trade-access-to-broker-indo-pak-ceasefire-claims-us-commerce-secretary/article69630615.ece
Derek J. Grossman@DerekJGrossman
[5/29/2025 2:22 AM, 101.6K followers, 5 retweets, 35 likes]
Indian FM Misri is in Washington this week. Can’t help but think that US-India ties have taken a severe bruising lately. Within this context, Misri’s visit is probably meant to smooth things over. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/foreign-secretary-vikram-misri-washington-visit-india-usa-may-28-2025/article69627765.ece
Derek J. Grossman@DerekJGrossman
[5/29/2025 2:13 AM, 101.6K followers, 9 retweets, 73 likes]
Planning continues for Putin’s visit to India--it’ll be the first since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/lavrov-may-visit-india-in-june-ahead-of-vladimir-putins-trip/articleshow/121399023.cms NSB
Chief Adviser of the Government of Bangladesh@ChiefAdviserGoB
[5/28/2025 9:30 PM, 168.1K followers, 16 retweets, 152 likes]
Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus joins a Q&A session at Nikkei Forum Future of Asia on Thursday
Chief Adviser of the Government of Bangladesh@ChiefAdviserGoB
[5/28/2025 8:20 AM, 168.1K followers, 28 retweets, 267 likes]
Nippon Foundation head meets Chief Adviser TOKYO, May 28: Yohei Sasakawa, the respected and celebrated head of The Nippon Foundation, on Wednesday hosted a dinner in honour of the visiting Bangladesh Chief Adviser, Professor Muhammad Yunus, at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. The two leaders discussed the Rohingya crisis, the evolving situation in Myanmar and the sharp decline of grants and aid to humanitarian crises across the globe in recent months. Professor Yunus praised the efforts of Yohei Sasakawa in fostering peace and brokering ceasefires in the violence-plagued Myanmar, where the military has been engaged in fighting with regional rebel groups. As the head of the Nippon Foundation and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Yohei Sasakawa visited Myanmar more than 150 times and is hugely respected by the Myanmar government and the country’s more than 100 ethnic groups. Professor Yunus sought Sasakawa’s support to resolve the Rohingya crisis and help return some 1.2 million Rohingya refugees who live in Bangladesh back to their home. "We know you enjoy deep-rooted admiration from all sides in Myanmar," Professor Yunus said.
The Chief Adviser said every year some 35,000 babies are born in the Rohingya camps in Bangladesh, and they are growing up without any hopes. "Help us before it becomes explosive and dangerous for us," he said, adding that increasing smuggling of drugs has also worsened the security situation in the camps. "We need to bring an end to the Rohingya crisis. This is a good moment. We can work together," he said.
The Chief Adviser also sought support from the Nippon Foundation for life-saving healthcare research work of the ICDDR’B, which has been hit hard by the suspension of aid by the USAID. The Chief Adviser invited Mr Sasakawa to visit Bangladesh. Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain, Special Envoy of the Chief Adviser, Lutfey Siddiqi, and SDG Coordinator Lamiya Murshed also joined the dinner. End
Chief Adviser of the Government of Bangladesh@ChiefAdviserGoB
[5/28/2025 7:51 AM, 168.1K followers, 27 retweets, 242 likes]
Chief Adviser renews pledge for election between December and June Tokyo, May 28, 2025: Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Wednesday reiterated that a general election will be held in Bangladesh by June next year under any circumstances to carry forward the reform initiatives taken by the current interim government. Professor Yunus renewed the vow when former Japanese Prime Minister and Japan-Bangladesh Parliamentary Friendship League (JBPFL) president Taro Aso called on him at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo as the Chief Adviser began his four-day visit to Japan. The Chief Adviser arrived in Tokyo at 2:05 p.m. local time to attend the Nikkei Forum for Asia and hold bilateral talks with Japanese leaders.
Taro Aso, also a former Japanese foreign minister and longtime friend of Bangladesh, who has been holding the position of the JBPFL, thanked Professor Yunus for moving Bangladesh towards political stability and emphasised the need for a general election for a smooth democratic transition. The Chief Adviser said that the interim government is working on prioritising three key areas — reforms, trials of killers and a general election. He also said that the interim government has made significant economic progress in restoring discipline in the banking sector, rebuilding the foreign exchange reserve and repaying the debts. “The previous regime destroyed every institution of our country, forcing the young people to rise up against it. The young people invited me to fix the mess that has been created,” he said. “Japan has given every kind of assistance that we needed in the past ten months. I want to thank Japan a lot for its support. This is, in a way, a thank you tour,” the Chief Adviser said.
Professor Yunus invited Aso to visit Bangladesh to see the changes taking place firsthand. Several Japanese lawmakers who accompanied Aso during the meeting said that signing the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) could be a further step forward in attracting more Japanese investment in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is expecting to complete the negotiation by August and sign the agreement in September. Once signed, Japan will be the first country to have an EPA with Bangladesh.
The Chief Adviser also explained the situation of Rohingya refugees to Japanese lawmakers and sought their support to promote the agenda for Rohingya repatriation. He said that the Rohingya refugee crisis is different from other refugee crises in the world, as they are not begging to go to any other country but their home. Foreign Adviser Md Touhid Hossain, Chief Adviser’s special envoy Lutfey Siddiqi and senior secretary for SDG affairs Lamiya Morshed were also present at the meeting.Bangladesh Nationalist Party-BNP@bdbnp78
[5/28/2025 10:25 AM, 83K followers, 16 retweets, 92 likes]
Today’s "Rally for the Establishment of Youth Political Rights" at Naya-Paltan, Dhaka, organized by BNP’s Jubo, Swechchhasebak, and Student wings in coordination with Dhaka, Mymensingh, Sylhet and Faridpur divisions, witnessed the spontaneous participation of hundreds of thousands of young people and general public. #YouthPoliticalRights #VoiceOfTheYouth #YouthForDemocracy
Tarique Rahman@trahmanbnp
[5/28/2025 9:11 AM, 77.1K followers, 87 retweets, 381 likes]
I often make a point that bears repeating: reforming individual mindsets is far more important than reforming texts or institutions on paper. After all, the constitution of North Korea proclaims the country to be the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.” The words may be there, but it is adherence, not articulation, that defines democratic integrity. For any interim government, neutrality and credibility are its greatest assets. These must not be squandered. Nothing should be done that erodes public trust or alienates citizens. We urge the interim administration not to view democracy loving citizens or political parties as adversaries. If anyone currently in power wishes to remain in governance, they must resign and seek a mandate through the people’s vote. In the last fifteen years, Bangladesh’s voter registry has expanded by more than 35 million new voters. Yet, these citizens have not had the opportunity to participate in a national election to choose their representatives. For them, democracy remains a promise unfulfilled. To the deposed, disgraced, and fugitive autocrats of our past, neither rights nor elections held much meaning. That is why reform, while necessary, is insufficient on its own. The interim government must now demonstrate visible, concrete preparations for a national election.
Historically, caretaker governments in Bangladesh have shown that national elections can be organised and executed within three months. The precedent is clear: it can be done. And yet, ten months into its tenure, the interim administration has still not announced an election date. The people of Bangladesh deserve better. We seek a nation free from authoritarianism, led by a government elected through a fair vote, and accountable to its citizens. The call to the interim government is simple: ensure that national elections are held by December.
Jon Danilowicz@JonFDanilowicz
[5/28/2025 4:51 PM, 15.3K followers, 7 retweets, 62 likes]
Tarique Rahman continues to say all the right things but still there is a trust deficit. This can be explained in part because so few Bangladeshis have had any direct contact with him over the past 17 years. Every additional day outside Bangladesh represents a lost opportunity to connect with the country and people he hopes to lead.
Jon Danilowicz@JonFDanilowicz
[5/28/2025 11:17 AM, 15.3K followers, 25 retweets, 137 likes]
Credit where credit is due: the BJP bot farms were able to mobilize on behalf of their Awami League allies to corrupt my online poll about reforms and elections. A surge of votes in the last 30 minutes changed what had been a consistent and clear preference for reforms. The lesson for Bangladeshis, particularly those looking to challenge the status quo, is that the forces opposing them are clearly better organized and motivated here on @x. We saw that consistently during the disinformation campaign and were reminded of it again more recently. Another lesson which a number of more thoughtful commentators pointed out is that the concept of “reform” needs to be better explained. More to follow on this topic.
Derek J. Grossman@DerekJGrossman
[5/29/2025 2:09 AM, 101.6K followers, 9 retweets, 29 likes]
Can Yunus survive? Too much seems to be going wrong in Bangladesh nowadays to have any confidence that he will remain in place. And amid BNP protests, he just left for Japan.
Brahma Chellaney@Chellaney
[5/28/2025 6:56 AM, 294.4K followers, 69 retweets, 306 likes]
With the Bangladesh economy facing significant challenges, including recording its slowest growth in 34 years (excluding the Covid pandemic), the country’s interim leader is in Tokyo, seeking $1 billion in assistance. Tokyo is likely to unveil a large aid package for Bangladesh.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake@anuradisanayake
[5/28/2025 4:28 PM, 151.9K followers, 9 retweets, 79 likes]
I participated in the ‘Yathindrabhivandana Maha Utsavaya’ yesterday (28) at the Ruhunu Magampura International Conference Hall in Hambantota, celebrating the 75th birth anniversary of the esteemed Ven. Dr. Omalpe Sobhitha Thera. His dedication to our nation and the Buddha Sasanaya is truly inspiring. I offered my heartfelt wishes for his continued health and longevity.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake@anuradisanayake
[5/28/2025 4:16 AM, 151.9K followers, 5 retweets, 124 likes]
Had a productive meeting this morning with the heads of institutions under the Ministry of Industries and Entrepreneurship Development at the Presidential Secretariat. We tackled the pressing challenges facing our export-oriented industrial sector and brainstormed effective solutions. Excited about the future plans and the comprehensive long-term strategy we’re developing to strengthen our export sector! Central Asia
Saida Mirziyoyeva@SMirziyoyeva
[5/29/2025 2:24 AM, 22.2K followers, 8 likes]
Within the programme of my visit, met with Vladimir Medinsky, the Assistant to President of the Russian Federation, to strengthen Uzbek-Russian cultural and humanitarian ties. We discussed joint efforts in education, heritage, and the arts—key pillars of our growing partnership.
Saida Mirziyoyeva@SMirziyoyeva
[5/28/2025 2:27 PM, 22.2K followers, 1 retweet, 24 likes]In Moscow, a productive meeting was held with Anton Vaino, Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation. Discussed Uzbek-Russian cooperation, including trade, innovation, migration & humanitarian ties. Emphasis on coordination & top-level agreements.{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.