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islamabad — At least four people were reported killed on Thursday during clashes between protesters and Taliban security forces in eastern Afghanistan.

Residents in Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan, held a demonstration after being told by Taliban authorities to vacate their homes for the construction of a customs clearing facility, according to witnesses and officials.

Protesters blocked a busy highway linking Afghanistan to Pakistan and refused to allow the destruction of their properties. Taliban security forces fired gunshots to disperse the crowd and clear the highway to allow trade convoys to resume their journey in both directions, eyewitnesses reported.

An area information and culture department spokesperson confirmed the clashes, saying residents “created chaos in response” to the official order. Arafat Mohajer said that the violence resulted in the death of a Taliban officer and “a number of people who were occupying the [state[ land [illegally].” He did not share further details.

Protesters refuted the official claims, saying they had the deeds and owned the land.

A resident in Jalalabad, the provincial capital, confirmed to VOA by phone that firing by Taliban security forces killed three protesters.

The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan three years ago and faced no public opposition to their hard-line policies until this month.

Last week, farmers and residents took to the streets in northeastern Badakhshan province to protest the eradication of poppy fields by the Taliban counternarcotics units.

Security forces opened fire to disperse the demonstrators, killing two people.

Hibatullah Akhundzada, the reclusive Taliban supreme leader, has imposed a nationwide ban on poppy cultivation and production, usage, transportation and trade of all illicit drugs in Afghanistan.

Some information for this report came from AFP.
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KUALA LUMPUR — A U.S. treasury official warned of environmental risks from illicit transfers of Iranian oil off Malaysia, news portal Malaysiakini reported on Thursday, as the United States narrows its focus on financing for militant groups routed through Southeast Asia. 

The United States sees Iran’s capacity to move its oil as being reliant on service providers based in Malaysia, a senior U.S. treasury official said this week. 

The official also said the U.S. was attempting to prevent Malaysia from becoming a jurisdiction where the Palestinian militant group Hamas could raise and transfer funds. 

Brian Nelson, U.S. Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said one of the main ways Iran raised money was through the sale of illicit oil to buyers in East Asia, Malaysiakini reported.  

“Many of these shipments traverse the waters around Malaysia and are loaded onto vessels of questionable legitimacy that may also pose major environmental and safety risks,” he was reported as saying. 

Nelson expressed concern for any parties providing “ship-to-ship” transfers of illicit oil as such maneuvers could lead to accidents or oil spills that could threaten Malaysia’s coasts.  

The U.S. Treasury has also seen an uptick in attempts by Iran and its proxies, including Hamas, to raise and move money in Southeast Asia, Nelson added.  

He urged those who wish to support humanitarian assistance to Gaza to donate to reputable charities to ensure the funds were not diverted elsewhere. 

Nelson and Neil MacBride, Treasury general counsel, are on a visit to Singapore and Malaysia this week to advance efforts in countering financing and revenue generation by Iran and its proxies.  

The office of Malaysia’s prime minister did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

But Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said he conveyed the country’s stance regarding sanctions to Nelson during a meeting on Thursday. Saifuddin said Malaysia would comply with United Nations sanctions but would not recognize unilaterally applied sanctions.  

He told reporters he also informed Nelson that Malaysia had investigated and taken action against an organization with suspected links to Palestinians. He did not name the organization.
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 Washington    — Media mogul Jimmy Lai’s trial for “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces” and “conspiracy to publish incitement” is set to drag on longer than the 80 days initially planned. As of Thursday, the 73rd day of the trial, only six of 14 scheduled witnesses had testified.   

Lai, the 76-year-old founder of Hong Kong’s Next Media and three companies owned by Apple Daily, which has been out of operation for nearly three years, was charged under the Hong Kong version of China’s national security law.  

Lai and his newspaper supported Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy movement, which the controversial law has been used to crush.  

If found guilty, he could be sentenced to life in prison. Lai, who is also a British citizen, has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.   

The trial, conducted by three judges designated under the national security law, began December 18, three years after Lai was arrested, and has been slower than expected. 

During cross-examination by the defense this week, Chan Tsz-wah, who was charged along with Lai but is now a witness for the prosecution, admitted he gave false statements to officers during interviews with police in October 2020, saying he was trying to distance himself from Lai and his personal assistant. 

Legal experts say the admission will make all sides view Chan’s testimony with caution, which could stretch out his questioning time.   

“So generally speaking, even if the court listens to and accepts his testimony, how much weight it will give his words is another matter,” Hong Kong lawyer Frankie Siu told VOA. 

Siu noted the trial is also slow because it is in English, while witness testimony is in Cantonese and has to be interpreted.   

Chung Kim Wah, former assistant professor in the Department of Applied Social Science at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, told VOA the prosecutor may also be trying to bolster the government’s charges through a lengthy trial.   

“And through the statements of several accomplice witnesses, especially one or two of them, they hope to create the image that Jimmy Lai premeditated and colluded with the United States.” 

Rights groups and U.S. officials have condemned the trial as politically motivated.   

In April, two U.S. lawmakers proposed a bill to rename the street and mailing address for the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Hong Kong’s de facto embassy in Washington) to “Jimmy Lai Way” to honor the jailed media entrepreneur. 

Lai’s case is the first in Hong Kong of “colluding with foreign forces” since Beijing enacted Hong Kong’s national security law in 2020. 

Beijing says the security law is needed to maintain stability, but has used it to arrest, jail and try hundreds of pro-democracy activists, stifling Hong Kong’s once vibrant civil society. 

In March, Hong Kong lawmakers unanimously and quickly approved their own sweeping national security law known as Basic Law Article 23, strengthening the government’s ability to silence dissent. 

VOA’s Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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washington — In a rare discussion of Central Asia policy on Capitol Hill, a senior legislator told VOA that the United States needs to look past the abysmal human rights records of the countries in the region to confront terrorism and Russian and Chinese influence.

“If we want their help somehow, we need to be able to help them,” Representative Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said in a one-on-one interview.

The 27-year House lawmaker was part of the most recent congressional delegation to visit Uzbekistan, along with Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers, Salud Carbajal and Veronica Escobar.

The message they carried to the region was clear: Washington wants to enhance security cooperation while backing political and economic reforms.

The Uzbek leadership, in turn, conveyed enthusiasm for broadening the strategic partnership, which dates to the early 2000s.

During the March 26-27 visit to Tashkent, the delegation met with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov and Minister of Defense Major General Bakhodir Kurbanov. According to Smith, these discussions underscored Uzbekistan’s pivotal role in “keeping an eye on what’s going on in Afghanistan.”

He sees the Islamic State extremist group, or ISIS, and radicalization in general, as the most prominent terrorism threats.

“Uzbekistan is close and could potentially be a partner in tracking ISIS or other extremist elements,” he said. “So, having a partner in the region that we can work with to identify potential threats and counter radicalization, to make sure that the ideologies don’t take hold or produce terrorists, like the ones that struck in Moscow.”

Several Central Asian citizens were arrested in connection with an attack on a Moscow concert hall in March that killed 144 people. Responsibility was claimed by Islamic State-Khorasan, also known as ISIS-K or IS-K, a regional offshoot of Islamic State.

Despite the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, Smith said the United States still has interests in that country and that Tashkent, which maintains a tight relationship with the Taliban, can help in that regard.

“Al-Qaida is still in the region. ISIS, obviously. The Taliban are fighting ISIS-K,” the congressman said. “We are still very interested in the region. The difference is we’re not there. We don’t have a good ability to monitor it and act. So, we are looking for partners.”

In Smith’s view, the U.S. must be more strategic in competing with Russia and China as they try to advance their own influence in the region.

Unlike Moscow and Beijing, Washington does not build infrastructure. Instead, it offers technical assistance and works through international financial institutions — endeavors that Smith describes as substantial.

One way the United States could help Uzbekistan, he said, is by helping to find a way to advance the landlocked country’s goal of establishing a rail link through Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Indian Ocean.

Security relationships with countries in the region “have not significantly increased” since the U.S. left Afghanistan, Smith acknowledged, but “we’re trying to build some of those relationships with Uzbekistan.”

In 2021, Congress appropriated $10 million under the Foreign Military Financing program to enhance Central Asia’s border security and counterterrorism capabilities, supplying vehicles, communications equipment and training.

Brushing off Russian speculation that the U.S. is seeking to open a military base in Central Asia, Smith said there are no such efforts.

“We’re seeking partners. We’re not seeking a presence,” he said while emphasizing the importance of overflight agreements and intelligence collaboration.

Smith and other lawmakers, including those in the congressional Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan caucuses, concede that Central Asia has some of the world’s most authoritarian regimes, which suppress dissent and independent media. State Department reports describe the countries as prominent human rights violators.

In Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov ruled for 15 years before passing the presidency to his son, Serdar Berdimuhamedov, in 2022.

In Tajikistan, President Emomali Rahmon has been in power since 1992 and is expected to follow Berdimuhamedov’s path.

In Uzbekistan, a government-engineered constitutional referendum in 2023 allowed Mirziyoyev, president since 2016, to continue for two seven-year terms.

Nursultan Nazarbayev governed Kazakhstan for 30 years before stepping down in 2019. His hand-picked successor, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, also changed the constitution but promised to leave at the end of his term in 2029.

For years, Kyrgyzstan stood out as having the most democratic potential in the region. However, its current president, Sadyr Japarov, has jailed critics and recently adopted a Russian-style “foreign agents” law.

Smith says the U.S. does not ignore reality, yet he favors pragmatism over preaching.

“If you simply say, ‘We don’t think your elections were as free and fair. We’re out, we’re not working with you,’ those countries can very, very easily turn to China, Russia, Iran and who knows, maybe someday, North Korea. So, we have to understand what’s doable and realistic.”

Having met the Uzbek president in Tashkent, Smith calls Mirziyoyev “a smart guy” who is moving Uzbekistan “in the right direction.”

“I think they are genuinely trying to improve their economy, deal with terrorism but they’ve got a long way to go,” he said.

As on many issues, Democrats and Republicans differ on Central Asia. But Smith stresses that “most members of Congress don’t pay attention to that part of the world. There is not a well thought-out approach.”

“If you were to poll 435 [representatives] over their two-year term, how many times have they thought about Uzbekistan? Very few. I’d say probably 400 of them never thought about it,” Smith said. “So, we are working on that.”
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ISLAMABAD — Human rights in Pakistan took a nosedive and civic spaces contracted to an extraordinary degree in 2023 in the wake of violent political protests, the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said in a new report reviewing the past year.

“This year was remarkable for the State’s blatant disregard for its own Constitution, adherence to a bare, notional democracy, and civic spaces having shrunk to an all-time low,” said the report released Wednesday.

The document covers a wide range of human rights issues that weakened Pakistani democracy last year, from unelected caretaker governments exceeding their constitutionally mandated term to the parliament hastily passing laws including those granting more powers to security agencies.

Political repression

The commission said the human rights situation reached a new low on May 9, 2023, “a defining day” on which supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan stormed military and government installations to protest his arrest.

“The state retaliated with a fierce crackdown and mass arrests of thousands of party workers and leaders, including women,” the report said. “Many [were] kept in military custody, not allowed to meet their families. Internet and social media shutdowns were imposed.”

The report recorded at least 15 instances of internet services being shut down in the last year. Following the violence on May 9, government suspended internet services for nearly four days across much of Pakistan.

The HRCP said the authorities repeatedly banned gatherings of more than four people in a bid to restrict political activities.

Missing persons

According to HRCP’s monitoring of media reports, 82 men and seven women were forcibly disappeared during 2023. The report said some of the disappearances were short-term, targeting political party members.

Referring to data provided by the government’s Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, HRCP said nearly 2,300 cases of missing persons remained unresolved at the end of last year.

A weekslong protest movement led by Baloch women seeking recovery of missing family members returned empty-handed from Islamabad after talks with caretaker government officials stalled. The protesters were brutally dispersed upon arrival in the capital.

“Baloch women were not even given the dignity of a conversation,” said Munizae Jahangir, co-chairperson of the HRCP.

Holding security agencies responsible for enforced disappearances, the commission’s chairperson, Asad Iqbal Butt, said the acts violated an array of civil rights.

The security agencies “think they are friends of Pakistan, but whenever I have a meeting with them, I tell them, ‘You are not a friend of Pakistan. You are engaging in animosity with Pakistan,’” Butt said.

He urged the courts to ask recovered victims of enforced disappearances to identify the agencies that detained them.

“Unless those who pick people up are not brought to justice, unless they are punished, this problem cannot be resolved,” Butt said, adding that the issue of enforced disappearances was hurting the public’s trust in state institutions.

Military’s response

In a rare press conference a day earlier, military spokesperson Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry defended the crackdown on the Pakistan Tareek-e-Insaf Party, or PTI.

“If, in any country, an attack is launched on its army, symbols of its martyrs are insulted, its founder’s house is set on fire, hatred is created between its army and public. And if the people behind it are not brought to justice, then there is a question mark on that country’s justice system,” Chaudhry told the media.

The chief of Inter-Services Public Relations, Chaudhry supported PTI’s demand for a judicial commission to probe the events of May 9. However, he said the commission should investigate the party’s past attacks on government properties as well.

Calling PTI a group of anarchists, the military spokesperson demanded the party “apologize publicly.”

Speaking to reporters in court on Wednesday, Khan said he would not apologize.

“I should be apologized to, as I have been arrested illegally,” said Khan, who has been in jail since Aug. 5, 2023, on multiple corruption charges that he has denied.

While speaking to the media on Tuesday, Chaudhry said it was unfair to blame enforced disappearances on law enforcement agencies, since some allegedly missing persons are found to be involved in terrorism and other illegal activities or are in private jails run by local militias.

He said the issue was serious and complex but rejected the debate surrounding it as propaganda by “certain political elements, media elements, NGOs and some with links overseas.”

“Here [in Pakistan] there is exaggerated propaganda on this issue,” Chaudhry said, arguing that the scope of the problem in Pakistan was smaller than in many other countries.

Butt on Wednesday dismissed Chaudhry’s assertions as “foolish,” saying men in uniform were seen abducting people.

Jahangir called for stronger legislation to determine the mandate of security agencies. She urged the government to ratify the United Nations’ International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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