Yangon — Myanmar’s junta on Wednesday denied a request by former Cambodian leader Hun Sen for talks with democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since a 2021 coup.

Suu Kyi has largely been hidden from view since the military detained her as they seized power in a putsch that has plunged the country into turmoil.

The junta has rebuffed numerous requests by foreign leaders and diplomats to meet the Nobel laureate, 78, who has reportedly suffered health problems during more than three years in detention.

On Tuesday Hun Sen, who ruled Cambodia for nearly four decades before stepping down last year, said he had requested a meeting with Suu Kyi during video talks with junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.

But the junta had “no reason to facilitate it at this moment,” junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said in an audio message released by the military’s information team.

The military would hold promised and much-delayed fresh elections “without fail,” he said, without giving details.

“We are going to avoid matters which can delay or disturb future processes.”

Since her detention Suu Kyi’s only known encounter with a foreign envoy came in July last year, when the then Thai foreign minister Don Pramudwinai said he had met her for over an hour.

Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year sentence imposed by a junta court after a trial condemned by rights groups as a sham to shut her out of politics. 

Last month the junta said she was being “given necessary care” as temperatures in the military-built capital Naypyidaw, where she is believed to be detained, hit around 40 degrees celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

Zaw Min Tun also addressed Thai media reports that former Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra had recently held talks with several Myanmar ethnic armed groups operating along their shared border.

Some of those groups have given shelter and military training to those fighting the junta’s coup and have themselves clashed regularly with the military.

“We assume that encouraging terrorist groups which destroy Myanmar interests is not appropriate,” Zaw Min Tun said.

The military launched its coup citing unsubstantiated claims of massive electoral fraud in 2020 elections won resoundingly by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).

It has pushed back a timetable to hold fresh polls several times.  

In March junta chief Min Aung Hlaing said it may not be able to hold polls nationwide as it struggles to crush opposition to its rule.
…

…

ISLAMABAD  — A bomb explosion in Afghanistan’s volatile northeastern Badakhshan province Wednesday killed at least three Taliban security personnel and wounded six others.

Multiple sources, including residents and area hospital officials, confirmed the casualties. They said that a “sticky improvised explosive device” apparently planted on a motorbike struck a Taliban military convoy in the provincial capital, Faizabad.

The Taliban’s Interior Ministry spokesman confirmed the casualties, saying the bomb targeted a unit of security forces that were heading to illegal poppy fields to destroy them. Abdul Mateen Qani said the attack was under investigation.

No group claimed responsibility for the bombing in Badakhshan, which has been in the grip of unprecedented violent public protests against Taliban authorities’ poppy eradication campaign. The unrest erupted last Friday and left two protesters dead in clashes with Taliban security forces.

Wednesday’s deadly blast came a day after the Taliban’s army chief, Fasihuddin Fitrat, said in a video message that he had addressed complaints of protesting farmers and resolved the unrest. He insisted on receiving public support for poppy eradication.

Fitrat arrived in Faizabad from Kabul two days ago as the head of a high-powered delegation to negotiate with the demonstrators’ leaders.

Ahead of his visit to the province, the Taliban army chief had threatened to militarily “quell the rebellion” if the demonstrations persisted. He reiterated his government’s resolve to eradicate poppy cultivation in Afghanistan and vowed to achieve this goal, come what may.

Since regaining control of the country, the Taliban’s reclusive supreme leader, Hibatullah Akundzada, has imposed a nationwide ban on poppy cultivation, production, usage, transportation, and trade of illicit drugs.

However, deteriorating economic conditions and the absence of alternatives for poppy-growing farmers have been causing unrest in parts of Afghanistan against the ban, which went into effect in April 2022.

The United Nations estimates the ban on poppy cultivation rendered some 450,000 people jobless in poverty-stricken Afghanistan and precipitated a $1.3 billion loss in farmers’ incomes.

Badakhshan and surrounding Afghan provinces are ethnically non-Pashtun regions. The Taliban, who represent the country’s majority Pashtun population, were unable to take control of the northern provinces during their first stint in power in the 1990s.

Critics argue that the rare public uprising in Badakhshan highlights the potential obstacles that the Taliban may face in maintaining their authority in Afghanistan, reeling from decades of war and the effects of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, and droughts.
…

…

…

Vienna — After “frank” discussions in France where President Emmanuel Macron pressed him on Russia’s war in Ukraine, trade disputes and human rights, China’s President Xi Jinping heads Tuesday to meet more pro-Beijing governments in Serbia and Hungary. 

Both countries have developed close ties with China and Russia under Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. 

China has been investing billions in both countries, with projects ranging from factories and mining to electric vehicles and a railway to connect their capitals — Belgrade and Budapest. 

China is both Hungary and Serbia’s largest trading partner outside the European Union.    

Xi arrives in Serbia for the 25th anniversary of the NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in 1999. The U.S. apologized for what it called a “mistaken” bombing that killed three Chinese nationals and injured 20.

Xi is expected to pay tribute to those killed at the site, which was turned into a Chinese cultural center. 

Ja Ian Chong, associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, told VOA, “Xi will probably try to stress the PRC’s [People’s Republic of China] role in supporting stability and maybe suggest but not openly accuse the United States of being destabilizing and unnecessarily aggressive.”

But analysts say Xi’s visits to Serbia and Hungary also reflect Beijing’s limitations amid the ups and downs in China-EU relations.

Francesco Sisci, an Italian sinologist, told VOA, “It’s interesting that … China didn’t manage to secure more significant countries for Xi’s visit to Europe. It seems that China is having greater difficulties in its ties with European countries, and it has good ties with two governments who have also good ties with Moscow. That is — Europe is moving faster away from China as it sees it too close to Moscow.”

Like Beijing, both Serbia and Hungary have spoken against sanctions by the U.S. and EU on Moscow over Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, though Hungary has voted for them. 

Orban, despite leading a nation that is both a member of the EU and NATO, has friendly relations with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and held talks with him on the sidelines of a forum in Beijing in October. Hungary buys most of its fuel from Russia and, unlike other EU members, has shown no interest in stopping. Serbia is a candidate to join the EU. 

During the third Belt and Road International Cooperation Summit Forum, Xi also met with Orbán, the only EU leader who attended.

Dragana Mitrovic, a political science professor at the University of Belgrade, says those relations have sparked tensions with Hungary’s partners in the West.    

“In this moment of tense geopolitical competition and measuring economic and overall cooperation by strategic gains and losses, Hungary will continue to be under pressure from Brussels and Washington when pursuing cooperation with China,” she said to VOA.

While Hungary has benefited from billions in EU aid, Mitrovic notes Hungary is also one of the world’s biggest recipients of Chinese foreign investment.  

China’s BYD, which last year sold more electric vehicles than Tesla, plans to build its first plant in Europe in Hungary. By building cars inside the EU, Beijing could avoid the threat of tariffs on electric cars imported from China. 

  Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
…

…

…

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said Tuesday his country will not back off from building a much-delayed gas pipeline with Iran. 

“We will not let anyone use their veto,” Dar said at a press briefing Tuesday, without naming the United States. 

Pakistan and Iran signed a Gas Sales and Purchase Agreement in June of 2009 for a pipeline that would supply 750 million to 1,000 million cubic feet per day of gas to energy-starved Pakistan from Iran’s South Pars Field. 

While Iran claimed in 2011 that it had completed its side of the pipeline, construction delays continue on the Pakistani side, primarily for fear of invoking U.S. sanctions. 

The Biden administration has repeatedly said it does not support the Pakistan-Iran pipeline as Tehran is under U.S. sanctions for its nuclear program. 

“The government will decide what, when, and how to do anything based on Pakistan’s interests. It cannot be dictated to us,” Pakistan’s foreign minister told reporters in Islamabad. 

In February, Pakistan’s outgoing caretaker government approved building a small patch of the pipeline from the Iranian border into Pakistani territory to avoid billions of dollars in penalties for project delays.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government, which took office in March, has not begun construction on the project. 

The pipeline received only a passing mention in a lengthy joint statement issued at the end of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit to Pakistan in late April, prompting speculation the project was not on track. 

“We have to watch our interest. We have to look at our commitments,” Dar said, rejecting the notion Pakistan was delaying the project under U.S. pressure. However, he conceded the pipeline is “an issue that is quite complicated.” 

After Raisi’s visit in which both sides agreed to boost bilateral trade to $10 billion dollars, the U.S. State Department warned, yet again, that Islamabad could face trouble for doing business with Tehran. 

“Broadly we advise anyone considering business deals with Iran to be aware of the potential risk of sanctions,” Vedant Patel, State Department deputy spokesperson, said during a briefing last month. 

Energy-starved and cash-strapped, the South Asian nation of some 240 million people needs cheap fuel from its neighbor. Pakistan currently meets much of its needs with expensive oil and gas imports from Gulf countries. 

Iran’s arch-rival Saudi Arabia, on whom Pakistan relies heavily for financial support, is also widely believed to be opposed to the pipeline. 

Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, spokesperson of Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, told media in late April that Islamabad was in talks with Washington to address concerns surrounding the pipeline. 

“We have noted some statements have been made by the United States. We are also engaged with the United States and discussed the various aspects of Pakistan’s energy needs,” Baloch said at a weekly press briefing. 

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs contended in the past that Islamabad does not need a sanctions waiver from Washington to build the pipeline with Tehran. 

However, experts say sanctions will kick in once gas is pumped. 

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Energy have not confirmed if Islamabad has applied for a sanctions waiver from Washington.  

Donald Lu, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs, told a Congressional hearing in March that Pakistan had not requested the waiver to purchase Iranian gas.
…

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan said Tuesday that recent militant attacks in the country, including a deadly suicide car bombing on Chinese engineers, were planned from “terrorist sanctuaries” in Afghanistan.

Major-General Ahmed Sharif, spokesperson for Pakistan’s military, leveled the allegations during a live broadcast news conference. He said Afghanistan’s Taliban government has failed to prevent the use of Afghan soil for cross-border terrorism despite repeated protests and sharing of “solid evidence” with them through diplomatic channels.

In late March, a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a convoy of Chinese engineers and workers in northwestern Pakistan, killing five of them and their local driver. The slain Chinese nationals were working on a major dam project.

“This attack was planned in Afghanistan, and terrorists and their facilitators were also being controlled from there,” said Sharif. “The car used in it was readied in Afghanistan, and the suicide bomber was also an Afghan national.”

The spokesperson also said Pakistani security forces captured and killed several Afghan nationals who were carrying out recent terrorist attacks, adding that members of the Afghan-based, anti-Pakistan Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, along with other fugitive insurgents, orchestrated the cross-border terror attacks.

Explaining that the Afghanistan-based terror group is aiming to undermine peace and stability in Pakistan, Sharif said, “The main reason for the new wave of terrorism in Pakistan is the facilitation and supply of modern weapons to the TTP” by elements in the Taliban government.

There was no immediate reaction from Taliban representatives, but Kabul has rejected such allegations in the past, maintaining it still bars anyone from attacking Pakistan or any country.

Surging TTP and other insurgent attacks have strained Islamabad’s ties with Kabul.

TTP, designated as a global terrorist organization by the United States and the United Nations, is a close ally of Afghanistan’s fundamentalist Taliban rulers.

The group is known to have provided recruits and shelter to Taliban leaders in Pakistani border areas when the Taliban was staging insurgent attacks against the U.S.-led NATO troops in Afghanistan for almost two decades. The Taliban seized power in 2021 as all foreign forces withdrew from the country.

Pakistani officials and the latest United Nations assessments have documented the presence of thousands of TTP fighters on Afghan soil since the Taliban takeover.

Sharif said Tuesday that growing incidents of terrorism in Pakistan prompted the government to evict undocumented Afghans and send them back to their native country. He noted that more than 563,000 Afghans living illegally in Pakistan had gone home since October, when Islamabad began its crackdown on undocumented migrants.

The crackdown is not targeting an estimated 1.3 million registered Afghan refugees in the country and the more than 800,000 others carrying government-approved Afghan citizenship cards.
…

Jakarta, Indonesia — The sounds from guitars strumming and drums beating sears through the air. Crowds dance in circles while thumping their heads back and forth.

Some 38,000 fans attended Hammersonic this past weekend, according to organizers of Southeast Asia’s largest annual heavy metal music festival. Featuring 55 bands, the event is held in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim majority country.

One of the groups performing, Lamb of God, was barred from performing in neighboring Malaysia in 2013 after Islamic leaders there said some of the band’s songs were blasphemous. Interestingly, the current president of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, talks openly about his passion for heavy metal and says he’s a fan of Lamb of God.

“We’re a moderate Muslim country and that’s why we’re more open to foreign influence including heavy metal music than some more conservative countries” said Pri Ario Damar, dean of the performing arts faculty at the Jakarta Institute of Arts.

Damar, 49, was a bass guitarist in a local heavy metal band back in the 1990s and currently plays with his students from time to time. “Heavy metal has been popular here for decades,” he says. “So there are several generations of listeners here who appreciate it as an outlet to comment on society, politics and the environment.”

At 6 p.m. local time, during a break in the live performances at Hammersonic, many fans went to the designated prayer area. Some of them prayed wearing heavy metal t-shirts simultaneously showing their Muslim faith and favorite music.

While bands from around the world took the stage, Dian Ranidita, a 40-year-old Indonesian mother of three, tapped her feet to the rhythms while her husband Yanuardi gently bobbed his head up and down.

“The stereotype of heavy music is always dark, violent, aggressive and also like a devil, but actually heavy metal is not like that,” Dian said, adding that she’s been a heavy metal fan since high school because of the different themes in the music that she relates to.

“For instance, romantic themes when you have a broken heart or feeling like fall in love with someone. And also if you’re feeling depressed, there are also depression themes, and when you’re feeling like you want to release your adrenaline,” she said. “Those are some of the many themes in heavy metal.”

Sisi Selatan is a heavy metal band from the Indonesian city of Solo. The group performed songs about love and social activism while fans in front of the stage jumped up and down. Band members say Indonesia is a country that embraces foreign cultural influences.

“We [Indonesians] absorb foreign cultures,” said guitarist Adi Wibowo. “Not only metal music, but also Korean, Japanese, Indian music and more. We embrace these types of music.”

Denisa Dhaniswara is a 24-year-old heavy metal vocalist from Jakarta. Like many singers, she writes songs based on her own personal experiences in life.

“A lot of my lyrics are filled with grief and greed. So, I really want people to feel unsettled when you listen to my music,” she said. “It’s a way of saying: I’ve been feeling like this, do you relate? If you relate that’s good. I mean I’m not alone here.”

Dhaniswara says Indonesia’s heavy metal fanbase is growing as performers get better and better.

“Indonesia has a lot of newer heavy metal bands and that makes me very happy because we’re always emerging,” she said. “Always finding out new stuff. Everybody’s so creative.”
…

A Muslim-dominated neighborhood in the Indian capital that held a massive months-long protest of a new citizenship law four years ago has transformed into one of the city’s food hubs. Residents link its new identity to the protests when people from different communities bonded over food. From New Delhi, Anjana Pasricha has a report. Camera: Darshan Singh
…

…

New Delhi — A little-known Muslim neighborhood in New Delhi sprang into the spotlight in the winter of 2019-20, when thousands of women squatted along a highway for three months to protest a citizenship law, introduced by India’s Hindu nationalist government, which Muslims said discriminated against them.

Four years on, the working-class area called Shaheen Bagh has transformed from a protest site to a food hub that draws hundreds of people.

Residents link its new identity to the days when people from different parts of the city came to express solidarity with the demonstrators and often sat together in a handful of food joints on a parallel street.

“When you sit in the protest for long, you feel exhausted, and out of exhaustion you come to a tea stall to sip a cup of tea. You don’t just sip tea, you sip ideas,” said Aasif Mujtaba, one of the organizers of the protest. “It was at that time that this obscure neighborhood came to be known for the hospitality of its people and the tasty food.”

Food was never far away from the protest.

Residents cooked at home to sustain the demonstrators who sat on the highway in the bitterly cold winter late into the night. Community kitchens sprang up.

Volunteers from outside the neighborhood brought food, tea and water. Journalist Tanushree Bhasin, whose first brush with the area came during the protests, says people have been drawn back by the hospitality many experienced when locals and outsiders shared food.

“It created bonds of solidarity. A lot of people who came from different backgrounds were coming together at this protest site and food really helped them connect,” said Bhasin. “The act of feeding someone of being fed by someone always creates that bond that lasts, that affects you. Whether you are an outsider, and the protestor is offering you tea, or whether volunteers are bringing food, these are powerful connections.”

The peaceful protest on the highway dispersed when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the city. But after restrictions were lifted, people began returning and gradually some of Delhi’s well-known Mughlai eateries set up shop to cater to the growing demand.

As the street food’s reputation spread, helped by Instagram reels and YouTube videos, the number of visitors rose, and more restaurants opened offering cuisines ranging from Mughlai to Afghan and Turkish. Now the aroma of grilled kebabs and chicken fills the air along the buzzing street.

Mohammad Nauman opened his restaurant, Changezi Chicken, in the area three months ago. “This place became famous after the protests. Delhi’s well-known food joints came here, so we also decided to open an outlet,” said Nauman as he prepared for the rush of customers on a Friday evening. He sees brisk business and says many of those who come are non-Muslims.

For locals, this food street means more than just business and jobs. They say it helps break misconceptions about Muslims in a country where critics say hate speech and discrimination targeting India’s largest minority has risen during the decade-long rule of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party – charges the BJP government strongly denies.

“The taboo of a bad Muslim, the taboo where Muslims are portrayed as terrorists, or the ghetto is portrayed as some unwelcoming space, this taboo is being removed by what? Food,” pointed out Mujtaba. “Even today because of these food joints large number of people from outside Delhi, especially non-Muslims, come to Shaheen Bagh and with most of them it becomes their first experience of interacting with Muslims.”

The contentious citizenship law that triggered the protests will fast-track Indian citizenship for religious minorities such as Hindus, Sikhs and Christians who faced religious persecution in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, but exclude Muslims. The government has dismissed criticism that the law is discriminatory.

But critics say such policies have deepened communal fissures in the Hindu-majority country where more than 200 million Muslims make up the largest minority. They point to India’s election campaign in which opposition parties accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of making divisive comments after he said at a rally last month that the main opposition Congress Party wants to give more benefits to “those who have more children” and to “infiltrators.” The remarks were widely seen as a reference to Muslims. Modi has told interviewers on the Times Now TV channel that he is not against Islam or Muslims.

At a time when the country is polarized, the food street in Shaheen Bagh presents a dramatically different picture. Bhasin, who now has many friends in the area, has called it a “metaphor for inclusivity.”

“This is a great microcosm of collaboration, solidarity between different communities, and there is so much respect and love for each other, so definitely this is a great model for the rest of India to follow.”

But she added, Shaheen Bagh remains a politicized space.

“Even now when you come here, there is no way you eat here and don’t think about the protests. They are very inextricably linked to each other.”
…

dhaka, bangladesh — Activists and human rights groups in Bangladesh are raising alarms over the government’s culture of impunity for human rights abusers, as detailed in the U.S. State Department’s recently released annual human rights report.

Bangladesh made no significant progress in improving its human rights situation, the department said in its 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.

The report said arbitrary killings, enforced disappearances and torture by government forces persisted throughout the past year. It also highlighted additional concerns, including harsh prison conditions, arbitrary arrests and a lack of judicial independence.

Reacting to the report, Nasiruddin Elan, a director of Odhikar — a human rights organization known for documenting thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Bangladesh — said, “These reports raise public awareness, making people more informed and aware about the issues, which is essential.”

In 2022, Bangladesh’s government accused Odhikar of spreading “propaganda against the state by publishing misleading information,” leading to the revocation of its operating license and criminal charges against Elan and Adilur Rahman Khan, the founder and secretary of the organization. 

Elan and Khan were sentenced to two years in prison in September 2023 following a trial widely criticized as “politically motivated” by campaigners. Both are currently out on bail. 

“The findings of the [State Department] report are not surprising to me. We are in a state where democracy is completely absent, and governance is increasingly autocratic. Under such conditions, those in power will show little regard for human rights. They have no reason to try [to] improve the human rights situation,” Elan told VOA.

Shahdeen Malik, a prominent Bangladeshi lawyer and human rights activist, expressed concern over the culture of impunity highlighted in the report, noting that it has created a dire situation where citizens have no recourse or means to seek remedy if they become victims of wrongdoing. 

“It’s a telltale sign of a dictatorship when the system disregards human rights, stifles freedom of expression and quashes rights movements,” Malik told VOA.

He believes targeted sanctions against high-ranking officials or visa restrictions might compel the government to address the human rights abuses by its agents.  

In December 2021, the U.S. placed sanctions on the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an elite unit of Bangladesh’s police force, and six of its current and former officers. The sanctions were imposed because of the RAB’s alleged involvement in many extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances. 

“The seemingly autocratic government now ignores pressure from civil societies and rights activists. The international community could implement targeted actions to punish the wrongdoers. However, it is important to remember that broader trade sanctions would ultimately harm the general population,” Malik said.

A 34-year-old opposition political activist of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), who asked to remain unnamed for fear of repercussions, said the report revealed the “true face” of the current government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“To remain in power, the government has violated the human rights of opposition activists and the free press to an unthinkable extent. And the U.S. report has done a great service to the people of Bangladesh highlighting the dire state of the country’s human rights situation,” he told VOA via telephone from a northwestern district of the country.

He added that he currently faces nearly a dozen charges because of his involvement in BNP politics. The activist said that these charges have resulted in five incidents of imprisonment, but said he was currently out on bail. He denies the allegations, asserting that they are baseless and politically motivated. 

The “international community and also the U.S. now must act on the findings of the report; like they previously imposed sanctions on the RAB forces, they should hold the human rights abusers accountable,” he said.

Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to VOA’s calls, messages and email requests for comment. However, during a media briefing in April, the ministry criticized the U.S. assessment, saying the report did not accurately reflect the situation on the ground and claimed it was based on “isolated and unfounded allegations.”

“It is also apparent that the report mostly relies on assumptions and unsubstantiated allegations drawn from local and international nongovernment organizations (including anonymous sources), many of which are supported by the U.S. government or related entities,” ministry spokesperson Seheli Sabrin told journalists while reading from a statement on April 25.

Extrajudicial actions

Citing data from a prominent local human rights organization, Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), the State Department report noted that although there was a reported decline in extrajudicial killings from the previous year, ASK’s records indicate that from January to September 2023, eight individuals died under questionable circumstances. That includes two deaths in shootouts and three from physical torture, either before or while in custody.

This number, however, represents a decrease from the 12 incidents reported in the corresponding period in the previous year.

The department’s report also points out that enforced disappearances, mostly targeting “opposition leaders, activists and dissidents,” orchestrated by or on behalf of government authorities, continue unabated, with security services frequently implicated. According to an unnamed local human rights group cited in the report, from January to September 2023, 32 individuals became victims of enforced disappearances.

The report said, “There were numerous reports of widespread impunity for human rights abuses. In most cases, the government did not take credible steps to identify and punish officials or security force members who may have committed human rights abuses.”

Suppressing freedom of expression 

The report noted restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, including violence or threats against journalists, unjustified arrests or prosecutions, censorship and the use or threat of criminal libel laws to curtail free speech.

It also criticized the Digital Security Act, or DSA, a law enacted in 2018 that has long been termed by rights activists as “draconian” for its misuse by the government to suppress dissent and freedom of speech.

“The law was used against speech found on social media, websites and other digital platforms, including for commentators living outside of the country,” the report said.

Bangladesh enacted a modified version of the DSA last year, now named the Cyber Security Act. Rights activists maintain it remains as repressive as its predecessor.
…

BANGKOK — A powerful ethnic minority armed group battling Myanmar’s army in the country’s west claimed Monday to have taken hundreds of government soldiers prisoner when it captured a major command post.

The Arakan Army, the well-trained and well-armed military wing of the Rakhine ethnic minority movement, has been on the offensive against army outposts in the western state of Rakhine — its home ground — for about six months.

The group said in a video statement posted on the Telegram messaging app that soldiers belonging to the military government’s Operational Command No. 15 headquarters in Rakhine’s Buthidaung township surrendered after a siege.

Buthidaung is about 385 kilometers (240 miles) southwest of Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city.

The reported capture of the base could not be independently confirmed. Myanmar’s military government made no immediate comment, and the spokesperson of the Arakan Army did not respond to questions sent by The Associated Press.

The fight in Rakhine is part of the nationwide conflict in Myanmar that began after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 and suppressed widespread nonviolent protests that sought a return to democratic rule.

Despite its advantages in arms and manpower, Myanmar’s army has been on the defensive since October, when an alliance of three ethnic rebel groups launched an offensive in the country’s northeast.

The video released by the Arakan Army was described as having been made Saturday. It shows Arakan Army fighters guarding men in military uniforms and civilian clothes, some injured, as they walk through a field and down a roadside accompanied by women and children — families of soldiers often live at their posts.

A caption accompanying the video says it shows the deputy commander of the group and his troops after a “final assault in which (they) faced total defeat and surrendered.”

The video does not specify the total number of captured soldiers and their family members, but in one part about 300 men can be seen sitting in rows in an open field.

In a statement released Sunday, the Arakan Army said it captured the command post Thursday after attacking it for two weeks. It claimed another army post was seized the next day, along with others over the past two months.

The attackers captured “weapons, ammunition, military equipment and surrendered prisoners of war,” the statement said.

Some parts of the video released Monday show young men who appear to be members of the Muslim Rohingya minority.

Myanmar’s military has been accused of filling its depleted ranks with Rohingya men in Rakhine under the recently activated conscription law. The army has lost personnel to casualties, surrender and defections while facing increasingly tough opposition on the battlefield.

The Rohingya were the targets of a brutal counterinsurgency campaign incorporating rape and murder that saw an estimated 740,000 flee to neighboring Bangladesh as their villages were burned down by the army in 2017.

Ethnic Rakhine nationalists aligned with the Arakan Army were also among the persecutors of the Rohingya minority, but now the Arakan Army and the Rohingya are uneasy allies in opposition to the military government.

The Arakan Army, which seeks autonomy from Myanmar’s central government, is part of an alliance of ethnic minority armies that launched an offensive in October and gained strategic territory in Myanmar’s northeast bordering China.

Its success was seen as a major defeat for the military government, and boosted the morale of restive ethnic minorities as well as the pro-democracy resistance.

On Sunday, the Kachin Independence Army, another major ethnic armed group, claimed to have captured Sumprabum, a township in the northern state of Kachin.
…

Taipei, Taiwan — China has initiated a series of influence campaigns against Taiwan ahead of the island’s inauguration of president-elect Lai Ching-te on May 20. Beijing has increased the scale and frequency of military activities near Taiwan while partially relaxing travel and import restrictions.

Some analysts say Beijing is trying to test how the incoming Taiwanese government will respond to the increased pressure from Beijing while further eroding the longstanding status quo across the Taiwan Strait at a time when Taiwan is preparing for a transition of power.

“In the short term, Beijing is trying to see how the new Taiwanese government under Lai may respond to its pressure campaign,” said Chen Fang-yu, a political scientist at Soochow University in Taiwan.

“At the same time, the Chinese government is attempting to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait when Taipei is focusing on the inauguration,” he told VOA by phone.

Taiwan’s defense ministry detected 26 Chinese military aircraft and five Chinese naval vessels near the island between May 2 and May 3, including 17 Chinese military aircraft crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait. Some Chinese aircraft got as close as about 76 kilometers from Taiwan’s northern port city of Keelung, which hosts an important naval base.

Meanwhile, the director general of Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, Tsai Ming-yen, told Taiwanese lawmakers on May 1 that the Chinese military had incorporated new tactics into its joint combat readiness patrol near the island, including staging night-time combat patrols and using landing ships and minesweepers during these exercises.

Additionally, he said Taiwanese authorities are tracking the increased patrols carried out by the Chinese coast guard near Taiwan’s outlying island, Kinmen. On April 29, Beijing said the Fujian Coast Guard had organized a fleet of ships to increase the frequency of patrols in waters near Kinmen since April.

Beijing also announced plans to allow residents from its southern province of Fujian to travel to Taiwan’s outlying island of Matsu while lifting import restrictions on Taiwanese pomelos and two types of seafood late last month.

The news came after a group of lawmakers from Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang, which advocates closer ties between Taipei and Beijing, visited China.

Some experts say the measures rolled out by Beijing in recent weeks are all part of its influence operation against Taipei, which involves using disinformation campaigns, economic coercion, and gray zone operations to impose pressure on Taiwan.

“China’s overall strategy is still to increase pressure on Taiwan but they are also offering some small favors to Taiwan’s opposition parties,” said Su Tzu-yun, a military expert at the Taipei-based Institute for National Defense and Security Research.

While recent developments should be viewed as part of China’s overall influence operation against Taiwan, Su said part of Beijing’s long-term goal is to increase its control over the Taiwan Strait.

“By increasing the frequency of deploying Chinese coast guard vessels to restricted waters near Kinmen and flying Chinese military aircraft closer to Taiwan’s main island, Beijing is hoping to eventually turn the Taiwan Strait into its territorial water,” he told VOA by phone.

Beijing has repeatedly threatened to achieve reunification with Taiwan through force in recent years, and the Chinese government views Taiwan’s president-elect Lai as an advocate of Taiwan independence.

Since the Chinese military usually concentrates military exercises between June and November, Su said the incoming Taiwanese government needs to closely monitor any increase in Chinese military activities around the island after May 20.

In addition to threats posed by a possible buildup of Chinese military activities, some security analysts say Taiwan should also be mindful of Beijing’s efforts to create division in Taiwan’s domestic politics.

“There is every reason to believe that [the Chinese Communist Party] is ramping up efforts to use Taiwan’s democracy against itself,” J. Michael Cole, a Taipei-based security analyst, told VOA in a written response.

He said China will rely on China-friendly political forces in Taiwan to “sabotage the Lai administration” and these efforts will have “serious ramifications for Taiwan’s ability to counter Chinese infiltration and the Taiwan government’s ability to function.”

Prioritizing policy continuity

In light of the increasing Chinese pressure, Lai has appointed some current cabinet members to key positions in charge of national security, foreign policy, and cross-strait relations in his cabinet.

Taiwan’s current foreign minister Joseph Wu will be the secretary general of the National Security Council. The current head of the council, Wellington Koo, will be the new defense minister in the Lai administration.

On the foreign policy front, the current secretary general of Taiwan’s presidential office Lin Chia-lung will be the new foreign minister, and Chiu Chui-cheng, a former deputy political minister for Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, which handles cross-strait relations, will be the new head of the council.

Cole said Lai’s personnel picks for national security and foreign policy reflect his intention to continue the policy agenda of the outgoing administration under President Tsai Ing-wen, who has focused on strengthening Taiwan’s relations with like-minded democracies including the United States and Japan.

The decision “will play a major role in reassuring allies and partners around the world that Taiwan will remain committed to the kind of responsible foreign policy that existed under the Tsai administration,” he told VOA.

Chen at Soochow University said the incoming Taiwanese government’s cabinet lineup will benefit the U.S.-led efforts to strengthen security-related cooperation among democratic countries in the Indo-Pacific region.

“Since some of his cabinet members are holdovers from the current administration, they have already established relationships with officials in other countries, and some of the existing cooperations can continue,” he told VOA.
…

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Schools in Bangladesh reopened on Sunday and classes were continuing over the weekend after a searing heatwave a week ago that suspended lessons as the country baked in temperatures that surged to well over 40 degrees Centigrade.

Bangladesh has wavered over reopening schools for some 33 million students amid pressure to prepare pupils for exams, even as the worst heatwave in seven decades sent temperatures as high as 43.8 C (110.84° Fahrenheit) last week.

Many people have died across the region, and experts warned the heat could exacerbate inequalities, widen a learning gap between developing and developed nations in the tropics.

Bangladesh, which follows the Islamic work week from Sunday to Thursday, will hold classes on Saturdays until further notice, the education ministry said. Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury has said schools would open on Friday if needed to complete the curriculum.

Parents have welcomed the decision.

“Children don’t want to study at home. This will help them make up for the loss,” said Fatema Akhtar, who was waiting to pick up her grade-two daughter outside a school.

Scientists have said climate change is causing more frequent, severe, and lengthy heat waves during summer months.

The U.N. children’s agency has estimated that one in three children, or nearly 20 million children, in low-lying Bangladesh bear the brunt of such climate change every day.

Separately, a fire that broke out amid the heatwave on Saturday and spread across three acres of the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest that is home to the Royal Bengal tiger, was brought under control on Sunday, officials said.

Intense heatwaves have caused water shortages and frequent power cuts, hitting the key apparel sector that accounts for more than 80% of exports and supplies retailers such as H&M, Walmart and Gap Inc.
…

Brussels — EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said Monday she will press for “fair” competition with China in talks with its President Xi Jinping, who is in Paris on a state visit.

“We have to act to make sure that competition is fair and not distorted,” she said in remarks issued hours before a face-to-face Paris meeting between her, Xi and French President Emmanuel Macron.  

She added that, previously with Xi, “I have made clear that the current imbalances in market access are not sustainable and need to be addressed.”

Von der Leyen’s European Commission, the European Union’s authority on trade issues, has opened a slew of competition probes targeting China in recent months.

Beijing has reacted furiously to the most recent investigation, into suspected inequitable access to China’s medical devices market, calling it a sign of EU “protectionism.”

China is also angry at an EU probe into Chinese wind turbine suppliers for the European market. Other Brussels investigations have focused on Chinese subsidies for solar panels, electric vehicles (EVs) and trains.

Von der Leyen reiterated the EU’s position that it “should derisk its relations, but not decouple from China” — meaning reducing the dependence on Chinese suppliers but not going as far as the United States in penalizing or blocking trade streams in key sectors.

“We have been very clear-eyed about our relationship with China, which is one of the most complex, but also one of the most important,” the commission president said.

“Over the last year, I have met with President Xi twice and we have spent some time discussing the EU-China relations from trade to climate, from global affairs to digital issues,” she said.

Von der Leyen stressed the problem of Chinese overcapacity and the way that was leading to Chinese goods entering the European Union at prices too low for EU firms to compete with.

“China is currently manufacturing, with massive subsidies, more than it is selling due to its own weak domestic demand. This is leading to an oversupply of Chinese subsidized goods, such as EVs and steel, that is leading to unfair trade,” she said.

“Europe cannot accept such market distorting practices that could lead to de-industrialization in Europe.”

Von der Leyen said she would “encourage the Chinese government to address these overcapacities in the short-term,” adding that the EU will work with other wealthy and emerging economies that were “increasingly affected by China’s market distortions.”
…

Human rights proponents say political repression in Pakistan has increased in the year since supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan stormed military properties to protest his arrest. VOA Pakistan bureau chief Sarah Zaman has the details. Wajid Asad contributed.
…

Some residents of Nairobi’s suburbs are up in arms over what they say is illegal construction of high-rise buildings in their neighborhoods, mainly by Chinese developers. Juma Majanga reports from Nairobi. Camera and video editing by Amos Wangwa.
…

Paris — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday arrived in France on a state visit hosted by Emmanuel Macron where the French leader will seek to push his counterpart on issues ranging from Ukraine to trade. 

Xi’s arrival for the visit marking 60 years of diplomatic relations between France and China was the start of his first trip to Europe since 2019 which will also see him visit Serbia and Hungary. 

But Xi’s choice of France as the sole major European power to visit indicates the relative warmth in Sino-French relations since Macron made his own state visit to China in April 2023 and acknowledges the French leader’s stature as an EU powerbroker. 

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said the plane carrying Xi had touched down in Paris. 

The leader of the one-party Communist state of more than 1.4 billion people, accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan, was to be welcomed at Paris Orly airport by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. 

Xi is to hold a day of talks in Paris on Monday — also including EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen — followed by a state banquet hosted by Macron. 

Tuesday will see Macron take Xi to the Pyrenees mountains to an area he used to visit as a boy for a day of less public and more intimate talks. 

A key priority of Macron will be to warn Xi of the danger of backing Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, with Western officials concerned Moscow is already using Chinese machine tools in arms production. 

Beijing’s ties with Moscow have, if anything, warmed after the invasion and the West wants China above all not to supply weapons to Russia and risk tipping the balance in the conflict. 

“It is in our interest to get China to weigh in on the stability of the international order,” said Macron in an interview with the Economist published on Thursday. 

“We must, therefore, work with China to build peace,” he added. 

Macron also said in the same interview Europe must defend its “strategic interests” in its economic relations with China, accusing Beijing of not respecting the rules on international trade. 

But he acknowledged in an interview with the La Tribune Dimanche newspaper that Europeans are “not unanimous” on the strategy to adopt as “certain actors still see China essentially as a market of opportunities” while it “exports massively” to Europe. 

The French president had gladdened Chinese state media and troubled some EU allies after his 2023 visit by declaring that Europe should not be drawn into a standoff between China and the United States, particularly over democratic, self-ruled Taiwan. 

China views the island as part of its territory and has vowed to take it one day, by force if necessary. 

“The worst thing would be to think that we Europeans must be followers and adapt ourselves to the American rhythm and a Chinese overreaction,” Macron said at the time, warning against a “bloc versus bloc logic”. 

Rights groups are urging Macron to bring up human rights in the talks, accusing China of failing to respect the rights of the Uyghur Muslim minority and keeping dozens of journalists behind bars. 

“President Macron should make it clear to Xi Jinping that Beijing’s crimes against humanity come with consequences for China’s relations with France,” said Maya Wang, acting China director at Human Rights Watch. 

The group said human rights in China had “severely deteriorated” under Xi’s rule. 

However analysts are skeptical that even with the lavish red carpet welcome and trip to the bracing mountain airs of the Col du Tourmalet over 2,000 meters (6,560 feet) above sea level on Tuesday Macron will be able to exercise much sway over the Chinese leader. 

The other two countries chosen by Xi for his tour, Serbia and Hungary, are seen as among the most sympathetic to Moscow in Europe. 

“The two core messages from Macron will be on Chinese support to Russia’s military capabilities and Chinese market-distorting practices,” said Janka Oertel, director of the Asia program at the European Council on Foreign Relations. 

“However, both messages are unlikely to have a significant impact on Chinese behavior: Xi is not on a mission to repair ties, because from his point of view all is well.” 
…

Islamabad — Afghanistan’s hardline Taliban leaders have threatened to militarily suppress unprecedented violent public protests in a northeastern border region against a nationwide ban on poppy cultivation.

The unrest erupted last Friday when the Taliban’s anti-narcotics forces began destroying poppy fields in Badakhshan province, prompting angry farmers to resist it with the support of local residents.

Multiple sources confirmed Sunday that Taliban security forces used firearms to disperse the demonstrators, killing two of them during the two days of protests.

Videos circulating on social media showed residents chanting slogans against reclusive Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, who has banned poppy cultivation across Afghanistan through a religious decree. VOA could not ascertain the authenticity of the footage independently.

While Taliban authorities claimed Sunday the situation had returned to normal, residents said tensions were running high, and they were waiting for a high-powered government team to address their complaints.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an overnight official announcement that their army chief, Qari Fasihuddin, a Badakhshan native, would lead the team to thoroughly investigate the violence and circumstances leading to it.

Mujahid said that an anti-poppy campaign in Badakhshan was under way in line with Akhundzada’s decree to prevent the cultivation of the illegal crop and its smuggling.

“This decree extends to all regions without exception. Regrettably, there have been incidents where offenders attempted to attack the security forces involved in the fight against poppy cultivation, resulting in tragic events,” he said.

Fasihuddin reportedly warned on Sunday that he would be compelled to deploy additional military forces to “quell the rebellion” if the demonstrations persist. He reiterated the Taliban’s resolve to eradicate poppy cultivation in Afghanistan and vowed to achieve this goal, come what may.

Badakhshan and surrounding Afghan provinces are ethnically non-Pashtun regions. The province borders Tajikistan and Pakistan.

The Taliban, who represent the country’s majority Pashtun population, were unable to take control of these provinces during their first stint in power in the 1990s.

Following their takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have successfully established control over all 34 Afghan provinces.

However, some experts argue that the public uprising in Badakhshan highlights the potential obstacles that the Taliban may face in maintaining their authority.

The international community has not yet formally recognized the Taliban government, citing its restrictions on Afghan women’s access to education and work, among other human rights concerns.

Afghanistan has faced dire economic problems since the Taliban takeover nearly three years ago. The Afghan banking sector largely remains isolated, and terrorism-related sanctions on Taliban leaders continue to deter donors from resuming financial assistance for development programs.

The restrictions have fueled unemployment and economic problems for the poverty-stricken country’s estimated 40 million population.

The World Bank noted in its latest report released on Thursday that the Taliban’s ban on opium cultivation precipitated a staggering $1.3 billion loss in farmers’ incomes.

Citing U.N. estimates, the report said that the opiate economy’s value has contracted by 90 percent, while the area under cultivation declined by 95 percent, costing Afghans 450,000 jobs at the farm level alone.

The World Bank report noted that Afghanistan’s economic outlook remains uncertain, with the threat of stagnation looming large until at least 2025. “For a sustainable future, Afghanistan needs to address harmful gender policies, invest in health and education, and focus on the comparative advantages it has in the agricultural and extractive sectors,” it said.

Afghanistan used to be the world’s largest opium-poppy producer until the Taliban imposed the ban on cultivation in early 2022.

The ban strictly prohibits the cultivation, production, usage, transportation, trade, export, and import of all illicit drugs in Afghanistan. Afghan poppy farming accounted for 85% of global opium production until recently, according to United Nations estimates.
…

…