The World Health Organization approved a second malaria vaccine Monday. It’s hoped the new drug will quickly be rolled out in countries across Africa in the coming months. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
…

India has ordered Canada to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country, a Canadian official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Tuesday. 

Tuesday’s action by India, first reported by the Financial Times, follows both countries’ ousting each other’s senior diplomats.

The expulsion follows what Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, an Indian expatriate living near the Canadian city of Vancouver. India denies any wrongdoing. 

Top officials in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government have said that Nijjar’s role in a Sikh separatist movement that shook the nation in the 1980s made him a terrorist. The movement sought to establish an independent nation called Khalistan. New Delhi has long accused Ottawa of harboring pro-Khalistani extremists. 

A spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs had previously called for limiting the number of Canadian diplomats in India, claiming that India had fewer diplomats in Canada. 

Trudeau recently told reporters that Canada is “not looking to provoke or escalate.”

Trudeau and Modi had frosty run-ins during last month’s G20 conference in New Delhi — days before Canada canceled trade talks with India scheduled for this fall. 

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with India’s foreign minister last week and said Canada-India relations were brought up at the meeting. 

“Reality is we need to find pathways of de-escalation, and perhaps Canada’s allies can be helpful here,” said Bruce Heyman, a U.S. ambassador to Canada under President Barack Obama.

Some information was provided by the Associated Press. 
…

The Armenian parliament on Tuesday voted to join the International Criminal Court, which earlier this year indicted Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes connected to the deportation of children from Ukraine.  

The move is likely to further strain Armenia’s deteriorating relation with its ally Russia, which last month called Yerevan’s push to join the ICC an “unfriendly step.”  

Countries that have signed and ratified the Rome Statute that created the ICC are bound to arrest Putin if he sets foot on their soil.  

Armenian officials say the effort to join ICC has nothing to do with Russia and was prompted by Azerbaijan’s aggression against the country. 

 
…

Pakistan has decided that all citizens of neighboring Afghanistan will be required to enter the country with a valid passport and visa starting next month, similar to travelers from other countries, VOA learned Monday.

The landmark “one document regime” policy will replace the decades-old practice of granting special travel permits to individuals with divided tribes straddling the nearly 2,600-kilometer border between the two countries.

The “passport as the only traveling document is going to be implemented from November 1, 2023,” according to an official federal directive sent to immigration authorities at all Afghan border crossings and seen by VOA.

“No other document shall be accepted to travel from Afghanistan to Pakistan,” the document said. It instructed relevant authorities to make necessary arrangements and advertise the decision in “visible places” at all crossing points along the border.

The government has yet to make a formal announcement about the new policy. Pakistani Interior Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said Monday that he would discuss in detail Afghan-related policy matters at a news conference on Tuesday.

A senior Pakistani official confirmed the new travel rules for Afghans to VOA, saying Islamabad hopes Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities will cooperate in implementing the decision. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The official said Islamabad was hopeful Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities would cooperate in implementing the “one document regime” decision to help deter illegal crossers, including militants and smugglers.

“Since the Taliban have brought normalcy and good governance in the country, they will comply with the international norms governing the conduct of bilateral relations, including the visa regime,” the Pakistani official said.

The Taliban did not immediately comment on the new travel requirements.

Passengers and trade convoys travel through the northwestern Torkham and southwestern Chaman border crossings between Pakistan and landlocked Afghanistan. Several other crossing points are used only for bilateral and transit trade activities.

The passport and visa requirement will primarily hit divided tribes in the Pashtun-dominated southern Afghan province of Kandahar and surrounding border areas.

Thousands of tribespeople travel through the Chaman border crossing daily to meet family members on the Pakistani side or in search of work and return home before sunset. They use a slip of paper, locally called tazkira, granted to them under the so-called easement rights that guarantee free travel.

The new policy comes amid a nationwide crackdown on Afghans living illegally in Pakistan or not renewing their visas.

Last Thursday, Pakistani caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani announced that his government would deport illegal Afghan and other foreign immigrants.

The move will likely hit about 1 million Afghans, including those who took refuge in the country after the hardline Taliban swept back to power in Kabul two years ago.

Pakistanis must possess a passport and valid visa to visit Afghanistan.

Jilani said that officially registered Afghan refugees and those with legal documents would not be asked to leave Pakistan. “But those who have come here illegally, whether Afghans or nationals of any country, will have to go back to their respective countries. We will strictly implement the policy.”

Amnesty International renewed Monday a call for Pakistani authorities to stop harassing and arbitrarily arresting Afghans seeking refuge.

“Many Afghans living in fear of persecution by the Taliban had fled to Pakistan, where they have been subjected to waves of arbitrary detentions, arrests, and the threat of deportation,” Amnesty said on X, formerly Twitter.

“It is deeply concerning that the situation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan is not receiving due international attention,” the rights watchdog wrote.

Pakistani police have, in recent days, arrested hundreds of Afghans in raids in and around the capital, Islamabad, saying they did not possess valid visas and would be deported back to their country.
…

As Pakistan conducts a nationwide crackdown to curb smuggling of the dollar and other commodities outside the country, a senior government minister acknowledged security forces are involved in the illegal activity.  

Pakistan’s caretaker government launched a nationwide crackdown last month to curb the illegal flight of the dollar — and unlawful money exchange and transfers — in a bid to strengthen the weak rupee.   

With help from security and law enforcement agencies, authorities are also clamping down on hoarding and smuggling of wheat and sugar abroad and the influx of cheap Iranian petroleum products.

At a news conference highlighting the impact of the crackdown, caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti admitted security forces are involved in smuggling.   

Responding to VOA, the minister said it was “100 percent right” to say that security officials have a role in the illegal cross-border movement of currency and commodities.  

“Smuggling hasn’t happened on camel backs. It has happened via trucks,” Bugti said. “The chief of Pakistan’s military has told his people clearly … that there won’t just be court martials but those who are involved in such practices will also be sent to jail.”  

The minister, however, said accountability of military personnel is a process not open to public scrutiny. 

The Pakistani military is the country’s most powerful institution. Despite a civilian caretaker government running the country until general elections are held next year, the head of the army, Gen. Asim Munir, is playing a prominent role in state affairs, much like his predecessors. 

Receiving a briefing with top provincial government officials recently, the army chief pledged that a crackdown on smuggling and other illegal activities would continue “to rid Pakistan from the substantial losses it continues to suffer due to pilferage,” according to a statement issued by the military’s media wing.

Rupee’s rise  

Since the crackdown began a month ago, the beleaguered rupee has seen its fortunes turn around, emerging as the best performing currency globally in September.  

According to data analyzed by Pakistani brokerage and research firm Arif Habib Ltd., the rupee gained more than 6 percent against the dollar last month. The currency rose to 287 to a dollar from a record low of 308 in September. 

Bugti told the media that nearly $2.3 million has been recovered and 168 police reports have been lodged since the crackdown commenced four weeks ago.  

In a recent report, the country’s finance ministry also said the crackdown was paying dividends.  

“The government’s stern administrative action against the unlawful foreign exchange dealers and hoarders in commodity markets is stabilizing the exchange rate,” the report said.  

As Pakistanis, however, face crippling inflation with prices of essential items up nearly 31 percent from a year ago, experts say a crackdown on illegal activities alone will not strengthen the rupee or the economy. 

“Even with the crackdown in place, the fundamental dearth of exports, [large] scale of imports, and debt repayment needs will inexorably weaken the PKR (Pakistani rupee) until the country’s leadership finds the resolve to undertake structural reforms,” said Ali Hasanain, associate professor at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in written comments to VOA.  

In July, Pakistan escaped default when it secured a $3 billion, nine-month deal with the International Monetary Fund. Among many conditions, the fund demanded the country allow the free market to determine the exchange rate.  

The crackdown on dollar smuggling and unlawful transfers of funds came as part of Pakistan’s efforts to quell speculation about the value of the rupee against the dollar. 

Analysts predict the rupee could further strengthen but that the economy will not be out of the danger zone any time soon as Pakistan must pay nearly $90 billion in external debt repayments over the next three years.

The foreign exchange reserves of the country’s central bank, according to its most recent figures, stand at just above $7.6 billion.
…

Nearly the entire population of ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh have fled to Armenia, and the one-time residents of the self-declared Republic of Artsakh are scattered. But as VOA’s Heather Murdock reports from Ishkhanasar and Kornidzor near the Armenia border with Azerbaijan, many fear the war that drove them out is not over. Yan Boechat contributed. Camera: Yan Boechat
…

More than 1,000 people have died from dengue fever in Bangladesh this year, making 2023 the deadliest year due to dengue, since the disease was first detected in the country, according to government figures.

The Directorate General of Health Services said that more than 200,000 dengue cases were recorded this year.

In a recent 24-hour period, nearly 3,000 were admitted to hospitals because of dengue, the Daily Star newspaper said.

The Mayo Clinic says dengue fever is “a mosquito-borne illness that occurs in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Mild dengue fever causes a high fever and flu-like symptoms. The severe form of dengue fever, also called dengue hemorrhagic fever, can cause serious bleeding, a sudden drop in blood pressure [shock] and death.”

“All our efforts to control the mosquito population have been ineffective,” Mushtaq Hussain, a consultant at Bangladesh’s Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research, told The Daily Star. He said the extended monsoon season is another contributing factor to the high case load.

Some information for this report came from AFP.
…

Two militants and a Pakistani police officer were killed when more than a dozen militants ambushed a police post Saturday in Mianwali.

By Sunday morning, police had put down the attack.

Officials say the militants belonged to a branch of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban.

Police repulsed another TTP strike earlier this year in Mianwali at the Makkarwal police station.

Two militants were also killed in that strike. 
…

Afghanistan’s volleyball team hope their appearance at the Asian Games in defiance of the Taliban will encourage other women from the country “to follow their dreams.”

The players braved conflict, exile and threats to their family back home to compete in Hangzhou, they say.

Women’s sport in Afghanistan was effectively banned by the Taliban when they returned to power in 2021.

That meant no women traveling from the country in the delegation of more than 120 competitors, coaches and supervisors in China.

But with the help of overseas sports bodies, more than a dozen foreign-based Afghan women are taking part, with the volleyball squad comprising most of them.

“I think it’s a big hope for Afghan women, that they haven’t given up their dreams, they have to follow their dreams,” 25-year-old middle blocker Mursal Khedri told AFP after a 3-0 defeat to Japan on Sunday. 

The 12-member Afghan squad team also faced off against Kazakhstan over the weekend, staying in good spirits despite being soundly defeated by their more seasoned opponents.

Wearing headscarves and long leggings, the players high-fived each other as they ran onto the court at the start of the match.

Spectators erupted in cheers when the Afghans belatedly scored their first point against Japan.

And even though they went down 3-0 in both matches, there was a strong sense of pride at even getting this far.

“It was so hard for Afghan women to attend this Asian Games because it’s a difficult situation for us, all of the people know about the situation of Afghanistan,” Khedri said.

Some of the Afghan volleyball players in Hangzhou declined to be interviewed, fearing retaliation against family members still living in Afghanistan.

Following the return to power of the Taliban, hundreds of Afghan athletes, coaches and officials — both men and women — were evacuated on humanitarian visas obtained by National Olympic Committees from various governments. 

Olympic officials said they would have faced significant risks had they remained in Afghanistan. 

Under their austere interpretation of Islam, Taliban authorities have imposed a slew of restrictions on Afghan women, including banning them from higher education and many government jobs.

The team are set to play against Hong Kong on Monday, the last of their matches.

Despite losing both of their encounters so far, Khedri said it was “a good experience for our women’s team.” 

“It was our first experience to participate in the Asian Games,” she said. “I think we felt very nervous, but we tried our best.”
…

Human Rights Watch and global workers’ rights organizations have intensified a call for action after the June killing of Bangladeshi union activist Shahidul Islam, urging the government to thoroughly investigate the death.

Islam, 45, a longtime Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation labor organizer, was beaten to death in Gazipur, a major garment industry hub on the outskirts of Dhaka. At the time, he was trying to intervene on behalf of workers in a factory dispute over unpaid wages. Colleagues allege he was killed by factory-hired goons.

“The motive was to prevent him from speaking on behalf of workers so that the factory management could get rid of him and not pay the workers,” union president Kalpona Akter told VOA.

Akter filed a police complaint. The Industrial Police Unit is currently investigating the case and has made a few arrests but has yet to file any charges.

An officer who is investigating the incident would not comment when contacted by VOA in early September, saying the case was still “being investigated.”

Akter said Islam was a target of threats and assaults by factory owners and law enforcement authorities in the past because of his labor rights work.

The Bangladesh government has a history of cracking down on trade union activists in the garment industry, and putting them behind bars, a move that has been criticized by human rights groups.

“Bangladesh authorities should ensure that an independent and thorough investigation is conducted to hold accountable all those involved in directing, planning, and executing the attack,” Human Rights Watch said in a September 14 statement.

Activists from Clean Clothes Campaign, a Netherlands-based workers’ rights organization, protested in Amsterdam last month at a Bangladesh garment industry exhibition to urge the Bangladeshi government, the employers’ association, and brands sourcing from Bangladesh to take immediate action regarding Islam’s killing.

Activists also demanded safeguards for the right to organize, and a new minimum wage in line with workers’ demands in Bangladesh.

Difficulties organizing

Labor activists say Bangladeshi factory owners block workers from forming unions, despite laws that in theory allow workers to organize.

Bangladeshi law requires at least 20% of a factory’s workforce in a factory to sign a petition if they want to form a union. However, union organizer Dolly Akhtar in Gazipur, told VOA that once signature collection starts, “the factory management finds out pretty soon, and they try everything in their power to foil the attempt to form a union in their factory.”

Factory owners commonly threaten workers and organizers with dismissal and blacklisting if they attempt to unionize, Akhtar said.

“I’ve received countless written and verbal threats for trying to organize workers and demand due payments, severances and better working conditions,” she said. “The factory authorities often use the thugs and goons, local political leaders to intimidate me. They have money and the means to make anyone dance to their tune. They filed bogus cases against me, and local goons stopped me on the road to threaten me at night when I come back home. Because I am a woman they think I’ll get scared easily,” Akhtar said.

Additionally, government bureaucracy and red tape remain significant obstacles to union formation. The law requires a lengthy and complex registration process, which can drag on for months or years.

As a result, only a small percentage of garment workers in Bangladesh, about 7%, are union members, according to a 2020 Cornell University report.

Workers’ rights groups have been advocating reforms to give workers more power and protect union organizers for a long time.

“It’s crucial to prioritize the safety of these dedicated organizers because they are the backbone of the labor movement. Their safety ensures the continued empowerment of workers and the protection of their rights. Without secure and protected organizers, the struggle for fair labor practices and workers’ rights would be significantly hampered,” said Sarwer Hossain, a grassroots union organizer in Savar of Bangladesh Textile and Garment Workers League.

Christie Miedema of Clean Clothes Campaign called on international brands to ensure that the factories they use follow ethical labor standards.

“It is of utmost importance that the government, factories and brands create an enabling environment for independent organizing – lowering hurdles for independent unions to register, allowing access to workers to independent union organizers, and for brands to clearly signal to factories that they value freedom to organize and to stop the downward price pressure,” Miedema told VOA through an email.

VOA contacted Bangladesh’s Ministry of Labor and Employment and its Department of Labor but was unable to obtain a comment.
…

Sanjay Chauhan witnessed monsoon rains lash down over his home and farm in the Indian Himalayas this year with a magnitude and intensity he’s never experienced before.

“Buildings have collapsed, roads are broken, there were so many landslides including one that has destroyed a large part of my orchard,” said the 56-year-old farmer, who lives in the town of Shimla in Himachal Pradesh. “I have not seen anything like this.”

The devastation of this year’s monsoon season in India, which runs from June to September, has been significant: Local government estimates say that 428 people have died and Himachal Pradesh suffered over $1.42 billion worth in property damage since June.

Human-caused climate change is making rain more extreme in the region and scientists warn Himalayan states should expect more unpredictable and heavy seasons like this one. But the damage is also exacerbated by developers paying little mind to environmental regulations and building codes when building on flood- and earthquake-prone land, local experts and environmentalists say.

Damages to property in Himachal Pradesh this year were more than the last five years combined. Other regions also suffered heavy losses in terms of lives, property and farmland — including the neighboring state of Uttarakhand, Delhi and most northern and western Indian states.

In the second week of July, 22.4 centimeters of rainfall descended on the state instead of the usual 4.2 centimeters for this time of the year — a 431% increase — according to the Indian Meteorological Department. Then for five days in August, 11.2 centimeters poured down on Himachal Pradesh, 168% more than the 4.2 centimeters it would typically receive in that timeframe.

The rainfall spurred hundreds of landslides, with overflowing rivers sweeping vehicles away and collapsing multiple buildings, many of them recently constructed hotels. Key highways were submerged or destroyed and all schools in the region were shut. Around 300 tourists stranded near the high altitude lake of Chandratal had to be airlifted to safety by the Indian Air Force.

Jakob Steiner, a climate scientist with the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development, said rising global temperatures from human-caused climate change means more water evaporates in the heat which is then dumped in heavy rainfall events.

And when all the water pours in one place, it means other regions are starved of rain.

In the south of the country, rain was so rare that the region had its driest monsoon season since 1901, the IMD said. The government of Karnataka in southern India declared drought conditions in most of the state.

Climate change compounds the phenomenon of weather extremes, said Anjal Prakash, a research director at the Indian School of Business, with both droughts and deluges expected to intensify as the world warms.

In the Himalayas, the problem of climate changed-boosted rain is worsened by unregulated development and years of devastation piling up with little time to adapt or fix the damage in between.

“Roads, dams and settlements have been built without proper environmental assessments or following building codes,” said Prakash. Unregulated development has also led to increased soil erosion and disrupted natural drainage systems, he said.

Y.P. Sundarial, a geologist with Uttarakhand-based HNB Garhwal University, agrees.

“People here are building six-floor buildings on slopes as steep as 45 degrees” in a region that is both flood and earthquake prone, Sundarial said. “We need to make sure development policies keep the sensitiveness of Himalayas in mind to avoid such damage in the future.”

When these structures almost inevitably topple year after year during monsoon rains, it creates a “cumulative impact” said local environmentalist Mansi Asher, meaning residents are now living with years of unaddressed devastation.

Ten years ago, an estimated 6,000 people died in flash floods caused by a cloudburst in Uttarakhand which destroyed hundreds of villages; between 2017 and 2022, around 1,500 people died in Himachal Pradesh from extreme rain-related incidents; and earlier this year at least 240 families were relocated away from the religious town of Joshimath after the ground caved in from over construction despite warnings from scientists.

Governments on the state and national level have been looking at how to address the destruction.

Himachal Pradesh’s government announced a $106 million disaster risk reduction and preparedness program with support from the French Development Agency this year to strengthen its response to extreme rainfall.

The state also published a comprehensive climate action plan in 2022 but many of the plan’s recommendations, such as creating a fund to research climate challenges or helping farmers in the region adapt to changing weather conditions, have not yet been implemented.

The Indian federal government meanwhile has set an ambitious target of producing 500 gigawatts of clean energy by 2030 and has installed 172 gigawatts as of March this year. India is currently one of the world’s largest emitters. The country also created a national adaptation fund for climate change, releasing just over $72 million for various projects since 2015.

But these initiatives are too little, too late for apple farmer Chauhan and others picking up the pieces after an especially catastrophic monsoon season.

Chauhan, who’s also the former mayor of Shimla, wants to see a firm plan that addresses climate change in the face of the region’s growing population and development needs.

“Those in power really need to step up,” he said.
…

The Afghan Embassy said it is closing in New Delhi from Sunday due to a lack of diplomatic support in India and the absence of a recognized government in Kabul.

But it will continue to provide emergency consular services to Afghan nationals, it said in a statement.

“There has been a significant reduction in both personnel and resources available to us, making it increasingly challenging to continue operations,” the statement said.

India has not recognized the Taliban government, which seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021. It evacuated its own staff from Kabul ahead of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan two years ago and no longer has a diplomatic presence there.

The Afghan Embassy in New Delhi has been run by staff appointed by the previous government of ousted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, with permission from the Indian authorities.

There was no immediate comment by India’s External Affairs Ministry, but an official said last week that the Afghan ambassador left India several months ago and other Afghan diplomats have departed for third countries reportedly after receiving asylum.

India has said it will follow the lead of the United Nations in deciding whether to recognize the Taliban government.

The Afghan Embassy statement said that it wanted to reach an agreement with the Indian government to ensure that the interests of Afghans living, working, studying and doing business in India are safeguarded.

Afghans account for around one-third of the nearly 40,000 refugees registered in India, according to the U.N. refugee agency. But that figure excludes those who are not registered with the U.N.

Last year, India sent relief materials, including wheat, medicine, COVID-19 vaccines and winter clothes to Afghanistan to help with shortages there.

In June last year, India sent a team of officials to its embassy in Kabul.
…

Canadian Sikhs are grateful to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for giving voice to their fears and standing up to India at the risk of a severe backlash from New Delhi, which he said could be linked to the killing of a Sikh separatist leader.

The Indian government considered Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen who was shot to death in June in British Columbia, a terrorist because of his advocacy for Khalistan, an independent Sikh state.

India forcefully denied its involvement in Nijjar’s slaying, which took place in the parking lot of a Sikh temple in Surrey, B.C. But Canadian Sikhs are unconvinced, and the minority who are active proponents of Khalistan are afraid.

“There’s a lot of fear,” said Sentokh Singh, who was among the small group who protested in front of the Indian High Commission in Ottawa this week. “That’s why we are here today.”

Both countries expelled diplomats in a tit-for-tat retaliation after Trudeau’s bombshell announcement last week, but India has gone further, issuing a travel warning and halting visa issuance to Canadians.

Trudeau’s move risks derailing a strategic economic and political shift many Western countries are making toward India to counter China. It also distracted attention from his push to address cost-of-living concerns, which have weighed heavily on his popularity in opinion polls.

Canada is home to about 770,000 Sikhs, the highest population outside the northern Indian state of Punjab, and the Indian government has for decades expressed its displeasure with some community members’ outspoken support for Khalistan.

Sikhs punch above their weight in Canadian politics. They have 15 members in the House of Commons, more than 4% of the seats, mostly from key battlegrounds in national elections, while comprising only about 2% of the Canadian population.

Furthermore, one member is Jagmeet Singh, leader of the opposition New Democrats, a left-leaning party that is supporting the Trudeau’s minority government.

Trudeau’s “unsubstantiated allegations” seek to shift focus away from “Khalistani terrorists and extremists who have been provided shelter in Canada,” India’s foreign ministry said.

Canada says Sikhs have a right to peaceful protest and there has been no evidence of violence, terrorist activity or wrongdoing.

A friend of Nijjar’s, Gurmeet Singh Toor, is an active member of the same temple and a Khalistan supporter. He was told in August by the federal police that his life might be “in peril,” according to a document he was given by police that provided no details about the potential threat.

The RCMP would not corroborate the document, saying it could increase the risk to the individual who received it.

An insurgency seeking a Sikh homeland of Khalistan killed tens of thousands in the 1980s and 1990s and was crushed by India. It has almost no support in Punjab today.

However, on Friday hundreds of Sikh activists staged a demonstration outside the Golden Temple in Amritsar, in Punjab, demanding punishment for the Nijjar’s killers.

Mukhbir Singh, a member of the Ottawa Sikh Society, said Canadian Sikhs’ views on Khalistan vary and everyone should be able to express their own opinion. He said Trudeau is sticking up for Canadian democratic values.

“Prime Minister Trudeau has taken a stance” to make “paramount” the safety of its citizens, he said, even though the Canadian government does not support Khalistan. “In Canada, we have the right to express our opinions even if they don’t align with the opinions of the government.”

Trudeau, the longest serving progressive leader in the G7 group of wealthy nations, is trailing badly in opinion polls. As he rolls out a series of measures to address cost-of-living concerns and tries to claw back support, the tensions with India have interfered with attempts to communicate those new policies, senior officials in Ottawa said.

Suk Dhaliwal, a Sikh Liberal member of parliament for Surrey, told Reuters he is not a Khalistan separatist, but a Canadian, and Canadians have a right to protest peacefully. He said his constituents have suspected since June the involvement of the Indian government in Nijjar’s killing.

“The community feels a bit relieved now that at least there is someone who has shown leadership to bring this message forward,” Dhaliwal said.
…

India’s monsoon rainfall this year was its lowest since 2018 as the El Nino weather pattern made August the driest in more than a century, the state-run weather department said Saturday. 

The monsoon, which is vital for India’s $3 trillion economy, brings nearly 70% of the rain the country needs to water crops and replenish reservoirs and aquifers.  

Nearly half of the farmland in the world’s most populous nation lacks irrigation, making the monsoon rains even more vital for agricultural production. 

The summer rainfall deficit could make staples such as sugar, pulses, rice and vegetables more expensive and lift overall food inflation. 

Lower production could also prompt India, the world’s second-biggest producer of rice, wheat, and sugar, to impose more curbs on exports of these commodities. 

Rainfall over the country during June to September was 94% of its long period average, the lowest since 2018, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a statement. 

The IMD had anticipated a rainfall deficit of 4% for the season, assuming limited impact from El Nino. 

El Nino is a warming of Pacific waters that is typically accompanied by drier conditions over the Indian subcontinent. 

The monsoon was uneven, with June rains 9% below average because of the delay in the arrival of rains, but July rains rebounding to 13% above average.  

August was the driest month on record with a 36% deficit, but again in September rainfall revived and the country received 13% more rainfall than normal, the IMD said.  

The erratic distribution of monsoon rains has led India, the world’s largest rice exporter, to limit rice shipments, impose a 40% duty on onion exports, permit duty-free imports of pulses, and could potentially result in New Delhi banning sugar exports. 

The country is expected to receive normal rainfall from October to December, the weather department said, adding that temperatures were likely to remain above normal in most of the country during October. 
…

Militant attacks have surged in Pakistan, killing more than 700 security forces and civilians in the first nine months of the year, according to a report released Saturday.

The Islamabad-based independent Center for Research and Security Studies, or CRSS, published the report a day after suicide bombings and insurgent raids in southwestern Baluchistan and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces killed at least 69 people. No group has claimed responsibility for Friday’s deadly violence.

The report noted that the number of fatalities from terrorist attacks this year has increased by 19 percent compared to 2022, with the two Pakistani provinces bordering Afghanistan suffering 92% of all fatalities.

“Pakistan’s security forces lost at least 386 personnel, 36% of all fatalities — including 137 army and 208 police personnel — in the first nine months of 2023, marking an eight-year high,” the CRSS said.

The report said 33 paramilitary forces, supervised by the army, also were among the fatalities.

The military, however, has confirmed the death of 214 of its soldiers and officers so far this year in counterterrorism operations and insurgent attacks, according to data compiled by VOA from official statements by the army’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations.

Deadly day

Friday’s attacks marked one of the deadliest days Pakistan has had in recent months. Most of the casualties occurred in Mastung, a volatile Baluchistan district, where a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of devotees marking the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.

The powerful blast killed 59 people and injured dozens more. The rest of the deadly violence took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, targeting security forces.

The outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, the regional branch of the Islamic State terrorist group, known as the Islamic State-Khorasan, or IS-K, and separatist Baluch insurgents often claim or are blamed for the violence in Pakistan.

TTP claims many attacks

The TTP, a globally designated terrorist group, has primarily claimed recent attacks in Pakistan, targeting soldiers and police personnel. The group operates out of Afghanistan and has intensified attacks since the Taliban reclaimed control of the war-shattered neighboring country two years ago, according to Pakistani officials.

Commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban, the TTP is an offshoot and close ally of the Afghan Taliban. However, de facto Afghan rulers maintain they do not allow anyone to threaten Pakistan or other countries from their soil.

Islamabad has lately stepped-up diplomatic pressure on Kabul to prevent the TTP from staging cross-border terrorist attacks from Afghan sanctuaries.

Earlier this week, Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani confirmed that Taliban authorities had arrested 200 TTP militants in Afghanistan for launching attacks against Pakistan. The Afghan side has so far not challenged the claims.
…

The death toll from a large blast at a mosque in Pakistan rose to 59 on Saturday as the government vowed to find the perpetrators and accused India’s intelligence agency of being involved.

Friday’s blast tore through a mosque in Mastung in the southern province of Balochistan after a bomber detonated his explosives near a police vehicle where people were gathering for a procession to mark the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.

Pakistani officials have long claimed that India sponsors violent groups in Pakistan — claims India has always denied.

“Civil, military and all other institutions will jointly strike against the elements involved in the Mastung suicide bombing,” interior minister Sarfaraz Bugti told media in Balochistan’s capital, Quetta.

“RAW is involved in the suicide attack,” he said, referring to India’s Research & Analysis Wing, an intelligence agency.

He did not provide details or evidence about the alleged involvement.

India’s foreign ministry and a government spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Wasim Baig, the spokesman for Balochistan’s health department, said seven more people died in the hospital since Friday, adding that more patients remained in critical condition.

A second attack on Friday at a mosque in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa killed at least five people. Police on Saturday filed a report to launch an investigation, saying they sent DNA from the suicide bomb attacker to be analyzed.

No group has claimed responsibility for either attack. A surge in militant attacks in Pakistan’s western provinces has cast a shadow on election preparations and public campaigning in the run-up to January’s national vote, but until now the attacks had mostly targeted security forces.

The Pakistani Taliban responsible for some of the bloodiest attacks in Pakistan since the group’s formation in 2007 denied responsibility for Friday’s blasts.
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Maldivians were voting Saturday in the runoff presidential election which has turned into a virtual referendum on which regional power — India or China — will have the biggest influence in the Indian Ocean archipelago nation.

Neither main opposition candidate Mohamed Muiz nor incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih got more than 50% in the first round of voting earlier in September, triggering a runoff election.

Solih, who was first elected president in 2018, is battling allegations by Muiz that he had allowed India an unchecked presence in the country. Muiz’s party, the People’s National Congress, is viewed as heavily pro-China.

Muiz secured a surprise lead with more than 46% of votes in the first round, while Solih secured 39% votes.

Abdullah Yameen, leader of the People’s National Congress, made the Maldives a part of China’s Belt and Road initiative during his presidency 2013 to 2018. The initiative is meant to build railroads, ports and highways to expand trade — and China’s influence — across Asia, Africa and Europe.

The Maldives is made up of 1,200 coral islands in the Indian Ocean located by the main shipping route between the East and the West.

Muiz promised that if he won the presidency, he would remove Indian troops stationed in the Maldives and balance the country’s trade relations, which he said were heavily in India’s favor.

There are more than 282,000 eligible voters and the runoff result is expected Sunday.
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When 2019 finalists England and New Zealand meet again to open the Cricket World Cup next week, it will mark the tournament’s return to India after 12 years.

But preparations for this year’s tournament — in which the home side will start among the favorites and won the event when it was last played in India in 2011 — haven’t gone smoothly.

The event experienced numerous organizational and planning issues which the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the host body, often had difficulties dealing with them.

The 13th edition of the tournament was first scheduled for February-March 2023, but it was delayed to its current Oct. 5-Nov. 19 schedule after the COVID-19 pandemic caused a ripple effect for the hosting of 2021 and 2022 Twenty20 World Cups.

In the meantime, the BCCI delayed formalizing tax agreements with the Indian government — an issue that had plagued the 2011 ODI and the 2016 T20 World Cups, both hosted in India.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) usually receives a tax exemption benefit for its events, but that is in contravention of Indian laws. In March, the BCCI told he ICC that it would cover about $116 million in taxes out of its own pocket in lieu of the tax exemption from the Indian government.

It was, however, only the first of several stumbling blocks.

Most ICC event schedules are announced a year in advance. The BCCI only announced the World Cup scheduling on June 27. A month later, the original scheduling ran into problems when Ahmedabad police said they was unable to provide ample security for the high-profile India-Pakistan match on Oct. 15 because of already-planned festivities in the western India city.

The BCCI had to rework the schedule and a final version was released on Aug. 9 with the big India-Pakistan match now scheduled a day earlier on Oct. 14.

That caused further issues for ticketing and travel arrangements for fans across the world. Even before the final scheduling had been announced, hotel prices and airfares in major host cities shot up to exorbitant rates.

Ticketing has been another major issue in the build-up to this World Cup. After the scheduling was finally announced, tickets first went on sale as late as Aug. 30. Despite the staggered sale of tickets, Indian fans complained, and the BCCI released another 400,000 tickets to the general public on Sept. 6 in the second phase of ticketing.

BCCI secretary Jay Shah defended his group’s actions over the past few months.

“The scale and diversity of India require meticulous planning, coordination, and execution to ensure the tournament’s success and seamless experience for players, fans, and stakeholders,” Shah said in a statement.

With less than a week to go before the opening match, the tempo has gradually built up as fervent cricket loyalists in India — and there are millions— get ready to welcome the 10 teams.

All eyes will be on Rohit Sharma’s India as they look to emulate M.S. Dhoni’s team’s feat of winning the World Cup at home. India hasn’t won an ICC event since the 2013 Champions Trophy, and the 2011 triumph remains its last World Cup trophy.

Defending champion England and record five-time winners Australia, who play India in its first match on Oct. 8 in Chennai, are the other top contenders for the title.

Regional foe Pakistan’s challenge depends on the form and fitness of two players — skipper Babar Azam and pacer Shaheen Afridi. Pacer Naseem Shah has been ruled out of the World Cup due to a right shoulder injury.

Sri Lanka punched above its weight to reach the Asia Cup final. New Zealand — which lost to England in a controversial boundary countback in the 2019 final — South Africa, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and the Netherlands complete the 10-team lineup which will be expanded to 14 teams for the next Cricket World Cup in October-November 2027 co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

The round-robin format sees all 10 teams play each other once in a single group (45 matches). The top four teams advance to the semifinals on Nov. 16 and 17. The final is scheduled for Nov. 19.

In between, Sharma will try not to let the home-crowd hype get to him, although that might be easier said than done.

“For me, it is important how to keep relaxed and not worry about external factors that play a role, whether positively or negatively,” Sharma said. “It is about shutting out everything.”
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Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi attended talks Friday in the Russian city of Kazan, where he praised China for sending a new ambassador to Afghanistan and urged other countries to follow China’s example.

The newly appointed Chinese ambassador to Kabul signals China’s continued interest in Afghanistan, analysts say.

The Taliban’s deputy prime minister, Abdul Salam Hanafi, said the new development “will play an effective role in strengthening the relations between Afghanistan and China.”

During a meeting in Kabul last week, Hanafi and Chinese Ambassador Zhao Xing “exchanged views on enhancing bilateral relations and expanding practical cooperation,” stated the website of the Chinese Embassy in Afghanistan.

China’s ambassador is the first of any country to be appointed in this role since the Taliban takeover in 2021.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the appointment was “the normal rotation of China’s ambassador to Afghanistan” and Chinese policy is “clear and consistent.”

However, experts say the move signals China’s expanding influence in Afghanistan and the region.

By sending an ambassador to Afghanistan, China aims to “maintain and expand its influence” in the region, said Claire Chao, an analyst at The Asia Group. “China sees its long-term security and economic goals in Afghanistan hinge on security and stability in Afghanistan.”

Chao told VOA that China “knows that it needs to take a more active role to secure its interests,” though Beijing “will be careful about its economic involvement and security commitment in Afghanistan.”

China is one of the few countries that handed over the Afghan Embassy on its soil to the Taliban after the former government in Afghanistan collapsed in 2021.

China also kept open its embassy in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover, but it has not yet recognized the group’s de facto government. No country has formally recognized the Taliban government in Afghanistan.

China-Taliban relations

Officially, Beijing says it “hopes” that the Taliban will form an inclusive government, while it has called on the international community and regional countries for “coordination on the Afghan issue.”

A Chinese ambassador in Afghanistan “should not be seen as an immediate formal recognition of the Taliban government by China but rather indicates China’s intent to sustain diplomatic ties with the Taliban,” Chao said.

Considering it “a step towards recognition,” Afghan political analyst Haidar Adal, told VOA that the appointment at the ambassadorial level will not only help China expand its influence but also “boost” the Taliban’s position.

“It increases their [the Taliban’s] self-confidence, and they can now claim that ‘our relations have developed up to the level of ambassadors.’ They can say that their diplomacy is working.”

Human rights concerns

Adal added this “will make it more difficult for the international community to put pressure on the Taliban to respect the human rights, particularly women’s rights, in Afghanistan.”

“And those who suffer would be the people of Afghanistan, particularly,” he said.

The international community has called on the Taliban to honor their commitment to respecting women’s fundamental rights in Afghanistan before any talks about the recognition of their regime in Afghanistan.

Since coming to power in August 2021, the Taliban have imposed repressive measures on the women in the country. Women under the Taliban are not allowed to work, get secondary and university education or travel long distances without a close male relative.

Palwasha Hassan, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace and Security, told VOA that China’s move is concerning, but “does not surprise” her as “China’s priorities are not the human rights condition but security and economic considerations.”

“For China, security is more important. It wants the Taliban to curb militants who could cause problems in China,” said Hassan. “The economy is important too for China. These are the important issues, not human rights.” 

China is concerned about the presence in China of Uyghur separatists “who are trying to fight for the independence of Xinjiang in China,” said Barnett Rubin, a former State Department official.

He added that Beijing engaged with the Taliban to “pressure them to hand [Uyghur militants] over to China,” but the Taliban “have moved them away from the Chinese border.”

Rubin told VOA that the Taliban have also kept their ties with other extremist organizations, including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which is accused of several deadly attacks on Chinese interests in Pakistan.

The Taliban, however, have said they will not allow any militant groups to use Afghanistan’s soil against any country.

Chinese investments

Although China prioritizes security, it agreed in May to expand the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan, a $60 billion connectivity project that is part of China’s globe-spanning Belt and Road Initiative.

Some Chinese companies have recently shown interest in investing in Afghanistan.

In July, officials of Fan China Afghan Mining Processing and Trading Company announced an investment of $350 million in various sectors.

Earlier in January, the Taliban signed a contract with Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Company to extract oil in the north of the country by investing $150 million annually.

A Chinese company, Metallurgical Corporation of China, which signed a contract with the then-Afghan government in 2008 to extract copper from the Mes Aynak mine in the Logar province, has met with Taliban officials in recent months on how to start the extraction of the mine.

But the work has not yet started.

Rubin said although the Taliban hope China will invest in larger projects, the conditions “for a huge investment simply do not exist in Afghanistan.”

“The expectation that they [China] would come in with big projects and do a lot, I think was much exaggerated,” Rubin said.

This story originated in VOA’s Afghan Service.
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American chemical manufacturer Albemarle Corporation has agreed to pay more than $218 million to settle allegations of bribing officials at state oil refineries in three Asian countries, the U.S. Justice Department announced Friday.

The North Carolina company admitted to using “third-party sales agents” and foreign employees to bribe officials to win contracts with state refineries in India, Indonesia and Vietnam, the department said.

The department said Albemarle received nearly $100 million in profits from the corrupt scheme.

Under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the United States, it is illegal to bribe any foreign official in exchange for obtaining or retaining business. The FCPA is the main tool enforcement agencies use to police foreign bribery.

Both the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the financial oversight body, were investigating the company for FCPA violations in connection with the bribery scheme.

“Corruption has no borders, but neither does justice,” Dena J. King, U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, said in a statement. “Companies are expected to adhere to the same ethical and legal standards whether they are doing business on U.S. soil or overseas.”

The Justice Department said it entered into a three-year nonprosecution agreement with Albemarle after the company voluntarily disclosed the alleged bribery to U.S. prosecutors.

Under a nonprosecution agreement, the Justice Department agrees not to prosecute a company in exchange for cooperation, payment of a fine and compliance with other requirements.

A spokesperson for Albemarle did not immediately return a request for comment.

According to the company’s admissions in connection with the settlement, the alleged bribery took place between 2009 and 2017, the Justice Department said.

In India, Albemarle used a third-party intermediary to do business with the country’s state-owned oil company by avoiding a blacklisting.

In Indonesia, the company enlisted another intermediary to do business with the state refinery even after being told Indonesian officials would have to be paid bribes.

And in Vietnam, Albemarle obtained contracts at two state-owned oil refineries through an intermediary sales agent, who requested increased commissions to pay bribes to officials.

As part of the nonprosecution agreement with the Justice Department, Albemarle agreed to pay a penalty of about $98 million and administrative forfeiture of about $99 million.  The Justice Department said it would credit about $82 million of the forfeiture to the SEC.

King said the agreement with Albemarle “underscores our commitment to fight corruption affecting the United States no matter where it occurs.”

Under the Biden administration, the Justice Department has prioritized fighting corporate corruption, announcing several major changes to beef up enforcement policies and practices.
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At least 47 people were killed and 66 injured in southwestern Pakistan Friday when a  suicide bomb blast ripped through a religious procession.

The attack near a mosque in Mastung, a volatile district in Baluchistan province, targeted a rally of Muslim devotees marking the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, witnesses said.

Abdul Razaq, the district deputy commissioner, confirmed the casualties, saying a top police officer was also among the dead. He told reporters that several injured had received severe injuries.

Pakistani Interior Minister Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti condemned the deadly violence against innocent devotees, saying that “terrorists have no faith or religion.”

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the violence in a district where militants linked to a regional affiliate of the Islamic State group, Islamic State-Khorasan, or IS-K, are active.

Earlier this month, a roadside bomb explosion in Mastung injured 11 people, including a senior religious party leader, with IS-K claiming responsibility. That attack occurred a day after Pakistani security forces announced the killing of key IS-K commanders in a district counterterrorism raid.

Meanwhile, police in northwestern Pakistan said a twin suicide bomb attack on a mosque inside a district police headquarters during Friday afternoon prayers killed five worshippers and injured 12 others.

A suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to the compound while another detonated explosives strapped to his body inside the main prayer hall, police said.

The United States condemned Friday’s deadly bombings. “Our hearts go out to the victims and their families. We will continue to stand with Pakistan in the face of these vicious attacks,” Donald Blome, the U.S. ambassador in Islamabad, said on X, formerly Twitter.

Nisar Ahmed, the Hangu district police chief, told reporters that the mosque’s roof caved in because of the impact of the blast, trapping up to 40 people under the rubble. He said rescue efforts were underway to retrieve the victims.

Separately, the Pakistani military said Friday that an overnight shootout with “terrorists” near the Afghan border had killed four soldiers.

The clashes erupted when militants linked to the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, attempted to “infiltrate from Afghanistan into Pakistan” in the Zhob district of Baluchistan, the military’s media wing said. It added that the exchange of fire had also killed three militants and wounded several others.

TTP, a globally declared terrorist group, operates out of sanctuaries on the Afghan side of the border and has killed hundreds of Pakistani security forces in bomb and gun raids this year.

The TTP said in a statement sent to media that it was not behind the bombings in Mastung and Hangu.
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Exiled Afghan female athletes are participating in the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, which end Oct. 8. They say they want to raise awareness of the plight of women in Afghanistan, who are barred from playing any sports in the country. Waheed Faizi has the story, narrated by Elizabeth Cherneff.
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Since Canada’s claim that agents of the Indian government played a role in the killing of a Sikh leader on Canadian soil, the diplomatic relationship between the two countries has grown tense. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias looks at the role the United States might be playing amid this dispute between two allies.
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In cities and villages across Afghanistan, men with no formal legal training but with membership in the Taliban and a rudimentary grasp of 8th-century Islamic jurisprudence wield unprecedented power over the fate of defendants and the resolution of civil disputes.

Under this summary judicial system, most cases are resolved swiftly, often receiving a verdict on the very first appearance before a tribunal. Plaintiffs and defendants make brief presentations, and a judgment is rendered.

Even in the most serious criminal cases, the absence of prosecutors investigating and presenting the facts to a jury or court means that thorough judgments are a rarity.

The Taliban dismantled Afghanistan’s attorney-general office in 2021, deeming it an unnecessary bureaucratic appendage that fostered corruption and inefficiency.

Under the new system, every aspect — from assigning cases to charging and sentencing — must be carried out in the presence of a judge without the involvement of public prosecutors, according to Abdul Malik Haqqani, the Taliban’s deputy chief justice.

“A judge cannot base his decision on a prosecutor’s investigations. This is our Sharia principles,” Haqqani told a local television channel this week.

Farid Hamidi, Afghanistan’s former attorney-general who now lives in the United States, described the dissolution of the attorney-general’s office as a mortal blow to justice in the country.

“A prosecutor’s only job is to help judges have all the facts before issuing a verdict on a case,” Hamidi told VOA. “This is a widely accept principle all over the world, which aims to ensure only justice is served.”

When the Taliban seized power in 2021, they not only dismantled the attorney-general’s office but persecuted former prosecutors who had previously built criminal cases against thousands of Taliban insurgents.

Thousands of prisoners the Taliban set free from jails across Afghanistan in 2021 have sought to carry out reprisals against prosecutors and judges resulting in the killings of more than a dozen former prosecutors, the U.N. human rights body reported in January.

Speed

What sets the Taliban’s justice system apart is its speed.

Unburdened by bureaucratic red tape, Taliban judges have resolved more than 200,000 cases in the past two years, including thousands that had been backlogged in the previous government’s judiciary.

However, critics argue that expeditious verdicts should not come at the cost of true justice.

“They are sacrificing justice for speed,” said Hamidi.

Afghans, who often complained about the sluggishness and bureaucracy of the former government’s courts, have praised the Taliban’s swift justice.

“Sometimes justice delayed is justice denied and sometimes it is most important to move incrementally and achieve a result based on better information,” Neal Davins, a professor of law at William & Mary Law School, told VOA.

The United Nations and human rights bodies have denounced the Taliban’s criminal justice system as brutally harsh.

While the Taliban defend public displays of corporal punishment as consistent with Islamic law, the U.N. deems them inhumane and violations of international conventions against torture.

The Taliban also claim effective enforcement of court orders, contrasting it with the reported shortcomings of the former Afghan government in implementing justice over powerful individuals.

In a bizarre event in November 2015, Khalilullah Ferozi, a banker sentenced to jail for financial crimes, walked out of his cell to sign a multi-million-dollar real estate contract with the Ministry of Urban Development.

In another widely reported incident in November 2016, a former vice president who was accused of detaining and sexually assaulting a tribal rival in Kabul brazenly bore no legal or penal responsibility.

Absolute monarchy

The Taliban have suspended Afghanistan’s constitution guaranteeing the political and administrative independence of the judiciary.

There is also no written document stipulating the appointment of judges, their authorities and judicial accountability.

“We are only accountable to our leader…matters related to authorities of Sultan and King are referred to our leader,” said Haqqani, the deputy chief justice.

There is no limit to powers of the mysterious Taliban leader.

That the judiciary is accountable only to the Sultan, according to Haqqani, is a testament to its independence from both internal and external interventions.

For decades, the Taliban fought the previous Afghan government, accusing it of being a puppet regime serving foreign interests.

While they claim total independence in the way they now govern Afghanistan, the Taliban have widely been reported as a proxy of the Pakistani military — accusations both Pakistan and the Taliban reject.

“The powers and limits of every public institution must be enshrined in a public document or a constitution. Without that the independence of judiciary has no actual meaning,” contended Hamidi.

The absence of written laws has left judicial verdicts open to varying interpretations of broad Islamic rules.

That legal ambiguity has led to serious human rights violations, such as the indefinite detention and torture of individuals without specified charges or the right to a court hearing.

The Taliban’s intelligence agency, for instance, has indefinitely detained and tortured individuals on charges not specified in any law without giving detainees a right to a court hearing, according to independent human rights organizations.

Matiullah Weesa, an activist for girls’ education, has been languishing in Taliban detention for about six months without charges.

Backed by the United States, the former Afghan government had a progressive constitution, which, although symbolic and marred by allegations of violations, sought to distribute power democratically with equal rights for all citizens, regardless of gender.

“A constitution is only as good as the people who interpret/enforce it. It typically serves a useful purpose in constraining government and protecting individual rights — but only if it is treated with respect,” said Davins.

Like other parts of the Taliban’s government, women are excluded from work at the judiciary and there are not any female judges to address disputes among female plaintiffs and defendants.

Called the world’s only gender-apartheid regime, the Taliban definitely claim they have given Afghanistan a better justice system than the one built with large international support.
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