Last summer’s flooding in Pakistan killed at least 1,700 people, destroyed millions of homes, wiped out swaths of farmland, and caused billions of dollars in economic losses. All in a matter of months. At one point, a third of the country was underwater. Pakistani leaders and many scientists worldwide blame climate change for the unusually early and heavy monsoon rains.

A year on, the country hasn’t fully recovered. The aftermath runs the length of the country; survivors living in makeshift huts where their homes used to be, millions of children out of school, damaged infrastructure waiting to be repaired.

Pakistan’s national disaster authority said most people have returned to their towns or villages, but its flood records stop in November 2022. Almost 8 million people were displaced at the height of the crisis. But there is no information on how many people remain homeless or live in temporary shelters. Aid agencies and charities provide up-to-date pictures of life, saying millions remain deprived of clean drinking water and that child malnutrition rates have increased in flood-affected areas.

And the impact of recent heavy rainfall augurs ill for Pakistan should there be more flooding this year. Torrents have caused rivers to overflow, flash floods, fatalities, infrastructure damage, landslides, livestock loss, ruined crops, and property damage in parts of the country.

UNICEF estimates around 20 million people, including 9 million children, still need humanitarian aid in flood-affected areas. Many of the hardest-hit districts were already among the most impoverished and vulnerable places in Pakistan. What little people had was washed away, forcing them to start their lives over again.

This journey through Pakistan looks at how the unprecedented flooding of 2022 affected everyday life – and future generations.

Restoring water

The high altitudes and sharp peaks of the Hindu Kush Mountains mean that heavy rains barrel down through the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. That’s good because the waters quickly drain to lower lying areas. But it’s bad because of the damage they wreak along the way.

Last summer’s raging floods were so powerful that some rivers changed course. They wrecked more than 800 drinking water supply systems across nearly half of the province’s 34 districts, damaging pipelines, supply mains, storage tanks and wells.

The impact on residents living by stagnant water and forced to rely on contaminated water for drinking was seen around two weeks after the flooding. Health care teams started receiving thousands of patients with diseases like dengue, malaria, acute diarrhea, cholera and skin infections.

Villagers often had to walk several kilometers to find water. With access more difficult, water consumption dropped drastically, from 30 liters (8 gallons) per person per day before the floods to as low as 10 liters (2.6 gallons) after, according to the UK-based charity WaterAid.

The use of unprotected water sources and poor sanitation were the primary causes of morbidity in some areas, it said, especially among infants and children. Damage to health facilities and disruptions to vaccination campaigns compounded the crisis.

Rizwan Khan, 48, said last August was a nightmare for him and his family. He lost his home, belongings and crops. He was moved to a camp in the town of Charsadda, but it didn’t offer enough medical services. It wasn’t long before he and others were suffering stomach illnesses, skin infections and fevers.

WaterAid said the scale and scope of the 2022 floods would have challenged any government’s capacity in every field. But over the past year, residents with the help of local government have succeeded in repairing most of the wells and water supply systems, and the situation has improved in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

But last year’s floods won’t be the last or the worst disaster the province could face in the future.

The province is “burdened with an alarming and diverse portfolio” of potential weather and water disasters because of its geography, said Taimur Khan, spokesman for the Provincial Disaster Management Authority.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has eight major rivers running through it, as well as mountain ranges, hills, flat green plains and arid plateaus. That makes it vulnerable to earthquakes, landslides, flash flooding, glacial lake outburst floods and melting glaciers.

Climate change, global warming and shifting monsoon patterns increase the frequency and impact of such disasters.

Authorities are taking some steps to prepare. They have installed an early warning system on seven of the major rivers to monitor water levels, and a monsoon contingency plan is being put in place to minimize loss of life and damage to property. Embankments were strengthened last year ahead of the flooding, helping to avert a bigger disaster, and riverbanks breached by floods have been repaired and reinforced.

Lucky break for agriculture

It wasn’t the flooding that nearly killed 80-year-old Razia Bibi and her family, it was the hunger.

They used to donate wheat to needy people, but the floods washed away the wheat they’d stored for the whole year in their home in Rojhan, Rajanpur district. Then they had to wait for weeks, scrounging for food, before food supplies arrived from the government and aid groups.

“The government did not give us enough rations and no relief team could reach our village because of a dam breaking,” she said. A $175 cash give-out from the government helped ease their ordeal, she said, adding that it was thanks to God that none of her family became sick.

Last year’s images of vast stretches of farmland underwater in Punjab province raised alarm over potential massive food shortages. Punjab is Pakistan’s biggest agricultural producer and its most populated province. Millions of acres of crops nationwide were destroyed by the waters, and a major international aid agency warned that the loss could be felt for years.

In the end, Punjab was spared, largely by luck rather than preparation. Authorities installed pumps that got rid of some of the standing water on farmland, but most of the waters drained on their own, some flowing down into Sindh province, some spreading into deserted, open areas.

Waters receded in time for Punjab farmers to do the October sowing season and the result was a bumper crop. In fact, the crop was boosted because the floods also brought with them good quality soil, a blessing in disguise, and enabled expanded planting in usually barren areas.

Still, the relief came after months of real food scarcity that followed the floods – and that risks being repeated in future disasters.

Across Punjab, stores of grain were wiped out along with at least a half-million acres of crops and orchards. Irrigation channels and roads connected farms to markets were wrecked. At the peak of the crisis, food prices rose sharply, as did those of everyday items like tea and sugar, which doubled. Vegetables were scarce.

The government scrambled to help the agricultural industry, a key driver of national growth and a major employer, through the distribution of seeds and fertilizer.

But infrastructure like roads and bridges remain unrepaired in the Punjab, which contributes more than half of the national GDP.

Ghulam Nabi, 42, lost everything when the floods swept through his town of Fazilpur. At first, he, his wife and five children moved into a school that had been turned into a public shelter for the homeless. But when it became overcrowded, they moved to a tent.

“Me and my pregnant wife were just living on water with no food available to us. It wasn’t even enough for our four children,” he said. “Living anywhere after being displaced is not easy. I pray that no one faces this situation.”

Left without schools

Situated downstream from Pakistan’s other provinces, Sindh suffered a heavy blow from last year’s flooding and has been slow to recover. One impact that residents fear will be long-lasting is the destruction of the province’s schools.

Around half of Sindh’s 40,356 schools were either fully or partially damaged, affecting 2.3 million of its 4.5 million students, according to local education official Abdul Qadeer Ansari. One reason for the scale of the damage was the age of the school buildings, between 25 to 30 years old, he said. Another is that they weren’t climate resistant or built to withstand flooding, despite the province suffering from some of the most extreme weather conditions in Pakistan.

So far, only around 2,000 schools are being rebuilt, with hefty contributions from the Chinese government and the Asian Development Bank. Ansari estimates reconstruction will take at least two years, with the new schools intended to be climate resistant.

In the village of Maskran Brohi, 115 students take classes in a temporary learning center in a tent. The 72-square-meter tent has no electricity, so it has neither lights nor fans. There are also no toilets and no clean water.

The only teacher, Zarina Bibi, worries what the summer will bring, when temperatures can reach 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), and the heat inside the tent will become unbearable.

UNICEF has supplied some books, but most students must make do with old books – if they have them. Many lost their books in the deluge.

At first after the floods, Bibi held classes under the shade of a tree. She doesn’t see most of the 87 kids she taught before the flooding_families scattered when the floods came_and rain flattened the roof and walls of the single-room primary school she used to teach in. Her only colleague quit last January, months before the monsoon season, in protest at the lack of facilities.

Even before the floods, primary education in Sindh was below par, said Noorul Huda Shah, an activist and writer. Government schools could only accommodate around half of the province’s school-age children, and there was already a high dropout rate among girls after grade 5 as middle schools couldn’t take all students. Now after the damage, it’s even worse.

“The long-term impact of this loss on future generations is a critical concern,” Shah said.

Starved for energy

Pakistan’s biggest province is also its most energy-starved.

Much of Baluchistan’s population relies on solar panels, not because of their green credentials but because they are the only way to power fans, lights and cell phones.

Outside cities like Quetta and Gwadar, there is almost no central electricity. The largely rural population is scattered over the mountainous landscape, crippled by an entrenched feudal system, under-development and neglect by the local and central government.

They faced losing what little they had in last year’s flooding. Last year was the wettest in Baluchistan since 1961, and August alone saw a 590% jump in its average rainfall for that month. Even those fortunate enough to have access to central electricity suffered as the floods destroyed 81 grid stations and downed power lines.

Many who lost their homes also lost their solar panels, and local authorities haven’t distributed replacements. Flood survivors living in temporary shelters repeatedly cited a lack of electricity or light as a major concern, the U.N.’s migration agency said in a report late last year, months after the rains stopped. It affected people’s safety, privacy, and comfort. Some of those interviewed for the report said electricity had never existed in their area.

“Even now, more than 4.5 million people (nationwide) are forced to drink dirty water while the limited supply of electricity and gas in these areas has increased the feeling of deprivation or neglect,” said Syed Waqas Jafri, the secretary-general of Pakistani charity Al-Khidmat Foundation.

Some made rescuing their solar panel a priority as they fled their homes in the face of the rising floods, wading with their panel through stagnant water.

Muhammad Ibrahim, a 32-year-old father of five, managed to save his panel from his roof. Still homeless a year later, he uses it in the tent camp where he lives in Sohbat Pur district.

“It is so hot. We use solar panels to run fans to get some cool air,” he said. “Otherwise living in these tents is not possible.”

He doesn’t feel prepared for the next major flood. “We’re scared of what will happen. But if it comes, we will run far away.”
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Islamabad has rejected a joint call by the U.S. and India for Pakistan to act against perpetrators of cross-border terrorism, calling it “unwarranted, one-sided and misleading.”

In a joint statement issued by the White House on Thursday after talks between U.S. President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a state visit to Washington, the two sides “strongly condemned cross-border terrorism and the use of terrorist proxies.”

The statement called on Pakistan “to take immediate action to ensure that no territory under its control is used for launching terrorist attacks.”

In its response, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the reference “politically motivated,” saying it was “surprised” by the reference given “Pakistan’s close counterterrorism cooperation with the U.S.”

“The statement shows that the cooperative spirit, so vitally needed to defeat the scourge of terrorism, has been sacrificed at the altar of geopolitical considerations,” the foreign office said in a written statement.

The ministry called India a “state sponsor of terror” that “habitually uses the terrorism bogey” to deflect attention from its human rights abuses.

Earlier in the day, other key Pakistani ministers condemned the statement. Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, the lower house of Pakistan’s bicameral parliament, Minister of Defense Khawaja Asif called Modi the “butcher of Gujarat,” referencing the communal riots of 2002 in which nearly 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed.

Modi was the chief minister of his home state of Gujarat at the time and was widely accused of turning a blind eye to the violence. According to the BBC, Modi has repeatedly rejected accusations of responsibility for the deadly riots. An Indian Supreme Court panel in 2013 ruled that it found insufficient evidence to prosecute him.

Asif blamed the U.S. for terrorism in his country, saying Pakistan “invited” it by providing support to the U.S. in Afghanistan.

“Pakistan supported the U.S. in the last 40, 45 years in two wars [in Afghanistan],” Asif said. “In both, Pakistan was a front-line state in a war that was not ours. As a result of that, we dragged terrorism into our home.”

Asif lamented there was “no acknowledgement” of the estimated 80,000 lives Pakistan claims to have lost to fighting terrorism. The country has seen a rise in terror attacks against security personnel by the Pakistani Taliban since Kabul fell to the Afghan Taliban in August 2021.

Calling on Pakistan to bring to justice those responsible for the Mumbai and Pathankot attacks in India, the White House statement said both sides reiterated the call for “concerted action against all U.N.-listed terrorist groups including al-Qaida, ISIS/Daesh [also known as the Islamic State, IS and ISIL], Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul-Mujahideen.”

Although Pakistan has put a few alleged perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks behind bars, including one previously believed to be dead, Islamabad blames New Delhi for not cooperating in bringing the accused to justice.

Pakistan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the global powers were not paying attention to the issue of terrorism because they were “distracted” by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“Their primary focus is geopolitics, and all other problems are secondary. We believe terrorism is an issue that should not be made controversial by big powers,” Bhutto Zardari said on the floor of the National Assembly. “They shouldn’t make it a victim of geopolitics.”

During Modi’s state visit, the U.S. and India also announced a list of defense deals, including signing off on an agreement between General Electric and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. to manufacture fighter jet engines in India.

Under a maritime agreement, U.S. Navy ships in the region will be able to stop in Indian shipyards for repairs, and India will buy 31 MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones worth over $3 billion and locally assemble them in a plant that U.S.-based General Atomics will build in Gujrat.

Kamran Bokhari, a senior director for the Eurasian security and prosperity portfolio with the Washington-based New Lines Institute, told VOA the deals represent a pivotal moment in U.S.-India relations.

“Washington is embracing New Delhi as an emerging power and seeks to integrate it as a key component into its international security architecture,” Bokhari said in written comments to VOA.

Pakistan’s former high commissioner to India, Abdul Basit, told VOA that Pakistan should be worried about the cooperation between the U.S. and Pakistan’s archrival India.

“At the end of the day, India’s [defense] capability will be used against China or Pakistan,” said Basit.

Along with a 75-year-old territorial dispute with Pakistan over the Himalayan territory of Kashmir, India has also been engaged in a decades-long border dispute with China that has intensified in the last four years.

“In the U.S. calculus, it cannot stand up to Chinese malign activities in the Indo-Pacific without India — the only country that is of the size, population and location to counter China,” Tamanna Salikuddin, director of South Asia programs at the Washington-based U.S. Institute of Peace, said in written comments to VOA.

She said such “remarkable” defense deals are usually reserved for only treaty allies, which the U.S. and India are not. This, she said, is the clearest sign for Pakistan that “the United States is firmly in a defense, economic and broader partnership with India.”

Basit believes the defense deals “are pushing South Asia to an interminable arms race” but that they would not necessarily push Pakistan closer to China.

“Diplomacy is all about creating space,” he said.

Pakistan’s foreign minister downplayed the growing U.S.-India defense ties.

“I don’t believe there is any reason for Pakistan to be insecure in its relationship with the world or its bilateral relationship with America as a result of increasingly close cooperation between [the] United States and India,” said Bhutto Zardari.
…

Late last year, investigative journalist Ahmad Noorani published an article looking at the tax records and assets of a former Pakistan army chief.

The journalist said he uncovered alleged corruption and thought that authorities would investigate the apparent wrongdoings. But, he told VOA, “instead, they are investigating me.”

One month after his report, Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency filed a First Information Report — the first step in bringing legal charges — against Noorani, saying that the tax documents he reviewed in his coverage were illegally obtained.

The Pakistan army’s Public Relations Department has denied the claims in Noorani’s report. And a statement that the minister of information and broadcasting shared with VOA said that “journalists are not exempt from legal obligations related to data protection and privacy.”

Noorani acknowledged that accessing tax records is not permitted but said that if someone leaks information to the media that is verified and of interest to the public, then a journalist should be free to use it.

“In Pakistan, military and intelligence officials enjoy unbridled power,” said Noorani, who is based in the U.S. He added, “This situation makes reporting on corruption a very risky assignment.”

Works in exile

Noorani published his work in FactFocus, an outlet that he runs from exile in the U.S. with a team of journalists.

The news website covers corruption, bad governance and human rights violations, mainly in Pakistan.

But even before starting FactFocus, Noorani had been reporting on organized crime, politics, corruption, fraud and human rights in Pakistan for over 15 years.

Noorani has been declared a “proclaimed offender” in the case, which means that if he surrenders, Pakistani officials can initiate a process to confiscate his properties and assets. A second journalist, a freelancer, Shahid Aslam, is also named in the case.

Describing the charges against him as baseless, Noorani said that the threat of legal action is a tactic used against media in Pakistan.

“False cases have been registered against journalists in Pakistan before, for example, if a journalist reports against a politician or a bureaucrat,” Noorani said.

“When journalists are retaliated [against] for public interest stories, they have to exercise self-censorship most of the time. This ultimately affects the quality of journalism, and in such situations, investigative journalism become[s] impossible,” Noorani said.

The case has been condemned by rights groups including the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and the Committee to Protect Journalists or CPJ.

The rights commission said on social media that the “action was disproportionate” and it urged the High Court to grant relief.

The CPJ in its statement said the targeting “is a clear intimidation and [a] threat to press freedom.”

The statement from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said assertions that Noorani and Aslam were “subjected to harassment is totally uncalled for, unsubstantiated and untrue.”

The statement added that the journalists are being investigated for leaking personal data and that legal proceedings should not be characterized as harassment or intimidation.

Bribery accusation

Aslam has been accused of offering a bribe to officials to obtain the tax data. He has denied the allegation.

The Lahore-based journalist used to work for the privately owned broadcaster BOL News. But, he said, after the recent case he lost that job.

For now, the journalist said, he is working for BBC Urdu and running a YouTube channel, “Xposed with Shahid Aslam.”

The tax case has made him more cautious.

“I have stopped working on important stories,” he said. “I always fear that I may be harassed, chased, intimidated again.”

Umar Cheema, a prominent investigative reporter for the national Pakistani paper The News, said that targeting a journalist only because he or she reported about a government official doesn’t make sense.

“Pakistan has never been a safe place for practicing accountability journalism, but this shouldn’t be a reason to stop practicing journalism,” Cheema told VOA.

Matiullah Jan, a well-known journalist in Islamabad, said such cases create “a chilling effect on media and society.”

Jan, who currently broadcasts on YouTube, has been attacked, kidnapped and harassed for his work.

“When journalists are targeted due to their stories, it destroys people’s fundamental right to know and free speech,” he said. “Sources avoid giving information, journalists are scared to report it, government officials are reluctant to investigate and prosecute.”

Despite a small improvement in 2023, Pakistan ranks poorly on the World Press Freedom Index, coming in at 150th out of 180 countries, where No. 1 shows the best media environment.

In its assessment, Reporters Without Borders said any journalist who crosses red lines dictated by the intelligence agencies is “liable to be the target of in-depth surveillance that could lead to abduction and detention.”

Improvement cited

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, however, has said that the seven-point improvement on the 2023 index shows Pakistan’s “commitment to the freedom of media.”

“We believe that freedom of expression must be exercised responsibly and within the legal framework,” the statement added.

Noorani said he would fight the legal case. While he has not faced charges before, his reporting has resulted in threats and attacks.

While working as a journalist in Pakistan in October 2017, gunmen forcibly stopped his vehicle in Islamabad, dragged Noorani out of the vehicle and tortured him, he said.

But the journalist said he would still report from exile and would challenge the action against him.

“We always exercise caution and take all kinds of measures which can save us and our families from this harassment,” he said, adding that with the legal case, “we will be more cautious while performing our journalistic duties.”

The next hearing in his case is scheduled for late July.

This story originated in VOA’s Urdu Service.
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with U.S. and Indian technology executives in Washington on Friday, the final day of a state visit where he agreed to new defense and technology cooperation and addressed challenges posed by China. 

U.S. President Joe Biden rolled out the red carpet for Modi on Thursday, declaring after about 2-1/2 hours of talks that their countries’ economic relationship was “booming.” Trade has more than doubled over the past decade. 

Biden and Modi gathered with CEOs including Apple’s Tim Cook, Google’s Sundar Pichai and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella. 

Also present were Sam Altman of OpenAI, NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, and Indian tech leaders including Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra Group, and Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, the White House said. 

“Our partnership between India and the United States will go a long way, in my view, to define what the 21st century looks like,” Biden told the group, adding that technological cooperation would be a big part of that partnership. 

Observing that there were a variety of tech companies represented at the meeting from startups to well established firms, Modi said: “Both of them are working together to create a new world.” 

Modi, who has appealed to global companies to “Make in India,” will also address business leaders at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. The CEOs of top American companies, including FedEx, MasterCard and Adobe, are expected to be among the 1,200 participants.  

Not ‘about China’ 

The backdrop to Modi’s visit is the Biden administration’s attempts to draw India, the world’s most populous country at 1.4 billion and its fifth-largest economy, closer amid its growing geopolitical rivalry with Beijing. 

Modi did not address China directly during the visit, and Biden mentioned China only in response to a reporter’s question, but a joint statement included a pointed reference to the East and South China seas, where China has territorial disputes with its neighbors. 

Farwa Aamer, director for South Asia at the Asia Society Policy Institute, in an analysis note described that as “a clear signal of unity and determination to preserve stability and peace in the region.” 

Alongside agreements to sell weapons to India and share sensitive military technology, announcements this week included several investments from U.S.-firms aimed at spurring semiconductor manufacturing in India and lowering its dependence on China for electronics. 

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the challenges presented by China to both Washington and New Delhi were on the agenda but insisted the visit “wasn’t about China.” 

“This wasn’t about leveraging India to be some sort of counterweight. India is a sovereign, independent state,” Kirby said at a news briefing, adding that Washington welcomes India becoming “an increasing exporter of security” in the Indo-Pacific. 

“There’s a lot we can do in the security front together. And that’s really what we’re focused on,” Kirby said.  

Some political analysts question India’s willingness to stand up to Beijing over Taiwan and other issues, however. Washington has also been frustrated by India’s close ties with Russia while Moscow wages war in Ukraine.  

Diaspora ties 

Modi attended a lunch on Friday at the State Department with Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Asian American to hold the No. 2 position in the White House, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. 

In a toast, Harris spoke of her Indian-born late mother, Shyamala Gopalan, who came to the United States at age 19 and became a leading breast cancer researcher. 

“I think about it in the context of the millions of Indian students who have come to the United States since, to collaborate with American researchers to solve the challenges of our time and to reach new frontiers,” Harris said. 

Modi praised Gopalan for keeping India “close to her heart” despite the distance to her new home, and he called Harris “really inspiring.” 

On Friday evening, Modi will address members of the Indian diaspora, many of whom have turned out at events during the visit to enthusiastically fete him, at times chanting “Modi! Modi! Modi!” despite protests from others. 

Activists have called for the Biden administration to publicly call out what they describe as India’s deteriorating human rights record under Modi, citing allegations of abuse of Indian dissidents and minorities, especially Muslims. Modi leads the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and has held power since 2014. 

Biden said he had a “straightforward” discussion with Modi about issues including human rights, but U.S. officials emphasize that it is vital for Washington’s national security and economic prosperity to engage with a rising India. 

Asked during a rare press conference on Thursday what he would do to improve the rights of minorities including Muslims, Modi insisted “there is no space for any discrimination” in his government.
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Afghanistan’s western province of Herat is known for its raisins. Estimates show about 20 metric tons of the dried fruit are produced in the province each year using ancient methods. Safiullah Ahmadzai has the story from Herat, narrated by Anne Ball.
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The family of the British Pakistani father and son who were among the five people who died on the Titanic tourist submersible expressed “profound grief” at their loss Friday.

Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Suleman, 19, were part of the Dawood industrial empire, which has become one of the most profitable in Pakistan. 

“It is with profound grief that we announce the passing of Shahzada and Suleman Dawood,” said a statement from the Dawood Foundation.

“We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families of the other passengers on the Titan submersible,” it read, signed by Hussain and Kulsum Dawood, Shahzada’s parents. 

Hussain Dawood is one of Pakistan’s richest men, head of the Engro Corporation and chairman of the charity foundation that bears the family name.
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Titans of business, fashion, entertainment and more made the guest list for Thursday’s big White House dinner in honor India’s Narendra Modi, with the likes of designer Ralph Lauren, filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan and tennis legend Billie Jean King rubbing shoulders with tech leaders from Apple, Google and Microsoft. 

Shyamalan powered past reporters as he arrived, declaring it was “lovely” to be at the White House. Lauren revealed he’d designed first lady Jill Biden’s off-shoulder green gown for the occasion, calling her style “chic and elegant.” And violinist Joshua Bell, part of the after-dinner entertainment, said the evening was a “little different than anything I’ve done before.” 

“I’ll skip out and practice for half an hour” during dinner, he reported. 

Saris and sequins were prominent among those attending the splashy event, with a guest list of about 400 names heavy with prominent Indian Americans. Politicians of both parties also made the cut, notably including Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. 

Other notables on the guest list included social media influencer Jay Shetty, big Democratic donors including Florida lawyer John Morgan and civil rights activist Martin Luther King III. The CEO contingent included Apple’s Tim Cook, Google’s Sundar Pichai and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella. 

Guests were to dine on a plant-based menu of millet, mushrooms and strawberry shortcake, catering to the vegetarian tastes of the prime minister. For guests wanting something more, there was roast sea bass available on request. 

Despite deep differences over human rights and India’s stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine, President Joe Biden extended to Modi the administration’s third invitation for a state visit. It included the state dinner, a high diplomatic honor that the U.S. reserves for its closest allies. 

Biden hopes all the pomp and attention being lavished on Modi — from the thousands who gathered on the White House lawn to cheer his arrival in the morning to the splashy dinner at the end of the day — will help him firm up relations with the leader of a country the U.S. believes will be a pivotal force in Asia for decades to come. 

Guests were riding trolley cars down to a pavilion erected on the White House south grounds decorated in the green and saffron colors of India’s flag. 

Despite concerns about backsliding on democracy in India, Representative Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said she was attending to send the message that the nation of 1.4 billion people is important and “we must call out some of the real issues that are threatening the viability of democracy in all of our countries.” 

A group of more than 70 lawmakers, organized by Jayapal, wrote to Biden this week urging him to raise concerns about the erosion of religious, press and political freedoms with Modi. 

Jayapal, who praised Modi’s leadership skills, told The Associated Press earlier that Modi “has the ability to move India and the people in his party back to the values that we have held so dear as a country.” 

Pichai said he looked forward to the dinner as “an exciting time for U.S.-India relations.” 

“I think we have two countries which have a lot of shared foundations, large democratic systems and values,” Pichai said earlier Thursday in an interview. He cited technology as one area of mutual interest between the nations. “So I think it’s an exciting opportunity. I’m glad there is a lot of investment in a bilateral relationship.” 

Jill Biden enlisted California-based chef Nancy Curtis to help in the kitchen. Curtis specializes in plant-based cooking and said the menu “showcases the best of American cuisine seasoned with Indian elements and flavors.” She said she used millet because India is leading an international year of recognition for the grain. 

The dinner featured a salad of marinated millet, corn and compressed watermelon, stuffed Portobello mushrooms and saffron risotto, and a strawberry shortcake infused with cardamom and rose syrup. 

Lotus flowers, which are native to Asia and featured in Indian design, were visible throughout the pavilion, along with saffron-hued floral arrangements that differed from table to table. 

“We hope guests feel as if someone has set that table just for them — because we have,” the first lady said as she and her staff previewed the setup. 

After-dinner entertainment was from Bell; Penn Masala, a South Asian a cappella group founded by students at the University of Pennsylvania; and the U.S. Marine Band Chamber Orchestra. 

India was last honored with a state visit in 2009, when President Barack Obama pulled out all the stops for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. More than 300 guests attended what was the first big social event of the new administration. 

But it made headlines worldwide after a celebrity-seeking husband and wife were admitted, even though they were not invited, and were able to interact with both leaders. 

The embarrassing episode led the White House and U.S. Secret Service, which protects the president and the executive mansion, to overhaul its clearance and security procedures. 

 
…

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told U.S. lawmakers Thursday the United States-India partnership is bound by the shared values of respecting debate and equality in a democracy.

“The U.S. is the oldest and India the largest democracy,” Modi said, addressing a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress. “Our partnership augurs well for the future of democracy.”

U.S. lawmakers hailed Modi’s address as a key opportunity to forge closer ties between the United States and India, even as concerns remain about Modi’s human rights record.

“Our partnership — which spans trade, innovation, technology and security — has never been closer, stronger or more important. From this solid foundation, anything is possible. I look forward to increased economic and national security ties between our two great nations,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said in a statement following the address.

Modi told U.S. lawmakers that India’s rapidly growing economy was driven by women-led development and the technological innovations of the younger generation. He also said bloodshed and suffering in Ukraine must be put to an end and emphasized the importance of “a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific, connected by secure seas.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said a in statement after meeting with Modi, “India and the United States share more than robust trade and basic values. We share an interest in keeping the Indo-Pacific free and open, and we face common challenges. India understands China’s belligerent behavior firsthand.”

Pauses in Modi’s speech were greeted by enthusiastic chants of “Modi, Modi, Modi,” from visitors filling the upper galleries of the House of Representatives chamber. The most sustained applause from members of Congress followed Modi’s acknowledgment of Vice President Kamala Harris’ Indian heritage.

Modi is the only Indian prime minister to address a joint meeting of Congress twice. His last speech to Congress was in 2016. He was denied a visa to visit the United States on the basis of human rights concerns in 2005 under the administration of President George W. Bush.

Earlier this week, 70 members of Congress signed on to a letter urging Biden to raise key human rights concerns in his meetings with Modi, citing 2022 U.S. State Department reports on a rise in religious intolerance and a tightening of controls on political expression.

“We want a close and warm relationship between the people of the United States and the people of India. We want that friendship to be built not only on our many shared interests but also on shared values,” said the letter, led by Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen and Democratic Representative Pramila Jayapal.

“We do not endorse any particular Indian leader or political party — that is the decision of the people of India — but we do stand in support of the important principles that should be a core part of American foreign policy,” the letter read in part.

Before Modi’s speech, Democratic Representative Jim Costa told VOA that while the U.S. and India have strong bilateral relations, human rights remain a source of concern.

“Many of us have been concerned by what we would call backsliding on the part of India as they become more ultranational and in their adherence to democratic principles to talk about freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the important ability to demonstrate, and to make your views known without being punished,” Costa said.

Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar announced in a tweet on June 20 that she would not attend the speech.

“Prime Minister Modi’s government has repressed religious minorities, emboldened violent Hindu nationalist groups, and targeted journalists/human rights advocates with impunity,” she said.

Omar said she would instead hold a briefing “to discuss Modi’s record of repression and violence.”

Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib also announced she would not attend the speech. Both women are Muslims.

Democratic Senator Mark Warner and Republican Senator John Cornyn, co-chairs of the Senate India Caucus, introduced legislation earlier this week that if passed would add India to the list of favored nations for U.S. arms sales.

“It’s also more important than ever — in the face of rising global authoritarianism — that we respect and reaffirm the shared values that form the foundations of our respective nations, such as democracy, universal human rights, tolerance and pluralism, and equal opportunity for all citizens,” Warner said in a statement following the speech.

Tabinda Naeem contributed to this report.
…

Ali Hussain’s mother can barely speak a sentence without breaking down. Her voice is hoarse from crying. Holding back tears, she says that she recites the Quran all day, praying for her son’s miraculous return.

Hussain is among the hundreds of Pakistanis missing since an overloaded fishing boat carrying up to 750 migrants capsized in the Mediterranean Sea on June 14.

The accident near Greece could be one of the deadliest in recent history. Reports suggest the boat was carrying about 200 to 300 Pakistanis, the most from any single country. Pakistan observed a day of mourning this week.

Hussain, 18, and his cousin Ali Jahanzaib, 21, who is also missing, paid a trafficking agent $3,000 each to fly to Libya from Pakistan. They committed to pay another $5,000 upon reaching Italy by boat.

Sitting in a room full of relatives and friends comforting the family, Hussain’s father, Hafeez-ul-Rehman, told VOA he learned about the accident through social media.

He had come back from midday prayers, Rehman said, when he opened Facebook and saw that the incident was trending as top news. He called the trafficking agent in Libya to find out if his son and nephew had been on that boat.

“He [the agent] was asleep. We asked him what was going on? He said he didn’t know and would check. It was around midnight or so when he confirmed that it was indeed that ship,” Rehman said.

The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, known as Frontex, recorded about 54,000 attempts to illegally enter the continent in the first quarter of this year.

In the same period, more than 440 died taking the perilous journey, according to the International Organization for Migration, making it the deadliest quarter since 2017.

More than half of the illegal attempts, three times more than last year, were made via the central Mediterranean route, according to Frontex.

After Ivory Coast and Guinea, Pakistan accounts for the greatest number of migrants on this route. Many come from the central areas of Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, and Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

Muhammad Ajmal, an acting deputy director of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency, or FIA, told VOA that human trafficking thrives in these areas because of a mindset that says, “We will send at least one of our children to Europe, at any cost.”

While growing economic desperation drives many, Ajmal said others leave because of the “demonstration effect.”

“People see that a neighbor’s son went overseas and now the family has a nice house, a car, and that pushes them to send their child,” he said.

Watching friends make it to Europe successfully also inspires many to take the perilous journey.

Hussain and Jahanzaib, the missing cousins, belong to a family of gold jewelers. Rehman, Hussain’s father, told VOA he had once gotten the trafficking agent to cancel the tickets, but the young men were adamant, so he caved in.

In response to this tragedy and another earlier this year in which nearly 30 Pakistanis perished in the Mediterranean, authorities have cracked down on human trafficking.

The FIA has arrested at least 17 suspects and registered 54 cases. The agency has collected 167 DNA samples from families to assist in identifying the remains in Greece.

Ajmal rejected the notion the agency had been turning a blind eye to human smuggling or that its agents were involved in the crime, saying that “without the deterrence it [trafficking] would be much more prevalent.”

He said agents were having trouble getting cooperation from families.

“We have sent our teams to every victim’s house. Some have simply refused to meet with us. Others say, ‘We don’t know anything,’ that ‘Our son managed this on his own,’ and ‘We don’t know anything about the agent,’ and ‘We don’t want to disclose.’ Some say, ‘We don’t want to pursue any legal action.’ So, we are running into a lot of problems,” Ajmal told VOA.

Families are desperate for information. Mariam Bibi, a mother of two brothers on the boat, told VOA she just wants closure.

“We have hope, but we don’t have any information,” Mariam said, expressing her frustration. “Someone says they [her sons] are fine, someone else says they are not.”

Rehman said he was prepared for any eventuality, but that his wife was not ready to accept her son might be dead.

Asked if he would recommend that anyone let children attempt the perilous journey, Rehman said no, but he contended the latest tragedy would not deter many.

“Nobody stops. Even those that are already there [in Libya] know the ship has sunk, still they are going” Rehman noted.

The survivors’ tally stands at 104, and a dozen are Pakistani.
…

Afghanistan’s Taliban rejected a fresh call Thursday from the United Nations to remove what it says are “punishing restrictions” on the impoverished country’s female population.  

The rebuke comes a day after a meeting of the U.N. Security Council was told the restrictions block Afghan women and girls from accessing education and work and participating in public life at large.  

Since regaining control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban has banned girls from universities and teenage girls from attending schools beyond the sixth grade. They have also ordered most public sector female employees to stay at home. Women have also been barred from visiting parks and gyms.  

Responding to the criticism from the U.N., the Taliban-led foreign ministry in Kabul called the remarks an interference in the country’s internal affairs.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan remains committed to international norms and obligations that do not contradict the principles of Islamic law, contravene Afghanistan’s cultural norms or undermine our national interests,” the statement said, using the official name of the Taliban government.

“We, therefore, urge all actors to respect the peremptory norm of non-interference and cease all attempts at meddling in our internal affairs, including the modalities and composition of our governance and laws.”

The Taliban is not recognized by any foreign government or international organization and their curbs on women and girls are seen as a major obstacle in its efforts to be regarded as Afghanistan’s legitimate government.  

While briefing the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, Roza Otunbayeva, a former head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, slammed Taliban edicts banning her organization and other agencies from employing local women.  

She urged the Taliban to “rescind” the ban to enable the United Nations to continue its full support to millions of Afghan families in need of urgent assistance.

Otunbayeva also rejected Taliban suggestions to replace female national staff with male Afghans. Since the ban went into effect on April 5, the U.N. has instructed its female staff to work from home and for non-essential male staffers to also work remotely.

“We have been given no explanations by the de facto authorities for this ban and no assurances that it will be lifted. We will not put our national female staff in danger and therefore we are asking them not to report to the office,” she said.

The U.N. envoy said she had told the Taliban that as long as restrictions on Afghan women “are in place, it is nearly impossible that their government will be recognized by members of the international community.”

In a meeting earlier this month, Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada directed government spokespersons to emphasize the enforcement of Islamic law in their statements.

“The United Nations and the United States have held the entire world hostage and nothing moves without their dictation,” he told the meeting in the southern city of Kandahar, which is known as the birthplace of the Taliban.  

“The Islamic Emirate [the Taliban] effectively controls all parts of Afghanistan, but non-Muslim and even Islamic countries refuse to recognize it,” the reclusive Taliban leader, who rarely leaves Kandahar, was quoted as saying.  

The Taliban welcomed parts of Otunbayeva’s speech on Wednesday, where she acknowledged that the group’s ban on opium cultivation in Afghanistan had been “effectively enforced,” and decreased the cultivation “significantly.”  

New satellite images examined by geospatial analytics firm Alcis and longtime Afghanistan expert David Mansfield revealed this month that the scale of the reduction in opium production across the country is unprecedented, with cultivation in southern provinces down by at least 80% compared with last year when the Taliban banned the growing of poppies for opium.  

The U.N. envoy also praised the Taliban’s efforts to improve the Afghan economy, reduce corruption and generate “sufficient” revenues to finance government operations, including paying civil-service salaries.
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Militance by separatist insurgents in Jammu, part of India’s Jammu and Kashmir territory, is resurfacing after a gap of 14 years, a former top military officer told VOA June 20.

There have been at least six deadly attacks, resulting in the loss of 33 lives, including 10 civilians, since 2021. The first wave of militancy emerged in 1990.

Deependra Singh Hooda, former general officer commanding-in-chief of the Indian army’s Northern Command said two factors contribute to the resurgence – difficulties the militants face in the Kashmir Valley because of tough Indian government response and a shifting of troops from Jammu to deal with border issues with China.

“The deployment of troops to address border tensions with China in Ladakh has resulted in a relatively lower presence of security forces in certain areas of Jammu,” Hooda said. “The reduced security presence provided an opportunity for terrorists to establish a foothold and to carry out their activities in the region,” he said.

Militants attacked an army vehicle in the Bhimber Gali area on April 20, an attack in which five soldiers were killed while one suffered serious injuries.

The militants escaped into the dense forests spanning the districts of Rajouri and Poonch, which share a 225-kilometer section of the Line of Control, a de facto border with Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

In response to the attack, a combined team of army and local police initiated an extensive search operation within the forests to locate the militants. However, two weeks later, on May 5, 2023, the militants ambushed the search party, resulting in the casualties of five commandos.

Munshi Khan, a 65-year-old resident of Totta Gali in the Poonch district, told VOA that the region was peacful from 2007 to 2021, after the initial phase of militancy ended.

In October 2021, militants carried out two deadly attacks on Indian forces in the Bhatta Durian forests spanning Rajouri and Poonch districts. The attacks led to the death of five soldiers on October 11 and another four on October 15.

Government forces conducted a search operation in the hilly terrain for over a month, utilizing helicopter and drone services, but were unable to locate the militants hiding within the forest. However, on August 11, 2022, militants executed a suicide attack on an army camp in Rajouri in which five soldiers and two militants were killed.

“The resurgence of militancy has created an atmosphere of panic and fear among the locals,” Khan said. “During the first phase militants were visible as they were often seen roaming the streets but during the current phase they remain invisible as locals have not spotted them yet,” he added.

Residents of Poonch and Rajouri, according to Khan, used to venture into the forests to collect firewood and graze their domestic animals. However, their regular activities have been disrupted since the attacks.

“We risk becoming targets from both sides if we venture into the forest, so to avoid any trouble, we stay away,” Khan said. “Our normal activities have diminished,” he added.

Neither Haseeb Mughal, deputy inspector general of Poonch-Rajouri Range of J&K Police, nor Lieutenant Colonel Devender Anand, public relations Officer of Indian army in Jammu, would comment on the matter.

A senior police officer, speaking anonymously, acknowledged the resurgence of militancy in the Jammu region emphasizing that the number of militants is significantly lower than in the 1990s.

“Poonch and Rajouri districts are predominantly covered by dense forests, providing militants access to Kashmir, Jammu, and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir,” he said. “We have not achieved success so far as militants have changed their strategies,” he added. He claimed that militants avoid the use of electronic devices and prefer to remain disconnected from locals as they do not find the same level of support as they do in the Kashmir valley.

“The police and army are actively engaged in eliminating all terrorists involved in destabilizing the peace in the region,” he said. “We urge the people to remain patient and support us,” he concluded.
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Plant-based courses of millet and stuffed mushrooms are on the menu for some 400 guests invited to Thursday’s fancy White House state dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Modi is a vegetarian and first lady Jill Biden enlisted California-based chef Nancy Curtis, who specializes in plant-based cooking, to help in the kitchen. Biden previewed the menu and decor for the news media on Wednesday after she returned from an outing with the prime minister.

She described the menu as “stunning.”

For her part, Curtis declared herself “so excited.”

“You must understand the pressure I’m under standing here before you, but it’s a kind of pressure that is also an elation because, when you’re asked by the first lady to come and join her at the White House, it’s an experience that I hope many chefs get to have,” she said.

“This is definitely a pinnacle moment in my career and truly a pleasure to be able to work with the first lady and help her to bring her culinary vision to life,” Curtis added.

Politicians, CEOs, celebrities, White House and administration officials and other guests will dine on a salad of marinated millet, corn and compressed watermelon, stuffed Portobello mushrooms and saffron risotto, and a strawberry shortcake infused with rose and cardamom.

Curtis said the menu “showcases the best of American cuisine seasoned with Indian elements and flavors.” She said India is leading an international year of recognition for millet.

Trolleys will deliver guests to a pavilion built on the south grounds for the affair. It will be decorated in the green and saffron colors of India’s flag, with translucent walls offering views of iconic symbols of American democracy and history, including the Jefferson Memorial and Washington Monument.

Lotus flowers, native to Asia and featured in Indian design, will be incorporated throughout, along with saffron-hued floral arrangements that differ from table to table. Dinner will be candlelit, reflecting the first lady’s love of candles.

Each table arrangement, she said, is “warm and unique. We hope guests feel as if someone has set that table just for them — because we have.”

After dinner, guests will enjoy music by American violinist Joshua Bell; Penn Masala, a South Asian a cappella group founded by students at the University of Pennsylvania; and the U.S. Marine Band Chamber Orchestra. They will exit the grounds by walking across a lawn illuminated by hundreds of glowing lanterns.

Earlier Wednesday, the first lady and Modi visited the National Science Foundation in Alexandria, Virginia, for an event highlighting workforce training programs. He flew in from New York where earlier in the day he performed backbends and corpse poses during a yoga session with a multinational crowd on the lawn of the United Nations.

“Our universities are partnering together, leading research, creating apprenticeships and internships that span the ocean,” Biden said at the event. “And as we’ve seen here, students from both countries are learning and growing alongside of each other, discovering the people they want to become and building a better world together.”

Modi spoke about the emphasis India has placed on education, integrating learning and training. “Our goal is to make this decade a ‘tech decade’ or ‘tech-ade,'” the prime minister said, speaking in Hindi.

President Joe Biden, who extended the state visit invitation to Modi, could not join the outing because he was flying back from California after raising money for his reelection campaign. The president returned to Washington in the evening and he and the first lady hosted Modi at the White House for a more intimate dinner before Thursday’s splashier affair.

As the official gift, the Bidens presented Modi with a handmade, antique American book galley from the early 20th century, the White House said. The president also gave Modi a vintage American camera and a hardcover book of American wildlife photography, while the first lady gave him a signed, first-edition copy of “Collected Poems of Robert Frost.”

Despite deep differences with India over its record on human rights and its approach to Russia’s war in Ukraine, Biden nevertheless extended to Modi the administration’s third invitation for a state visit. With all the pomp and attention being paid to Modi, Biden hopes to firm up his relationship with the leader of a country the U.S. believes will be a pivotal force in Asia for decades to come.

Biden hosted the presidents of France and South Korea on official state visits in December 2022 and April of this year, respectively.
…

U.S. President Joe Biden hosts Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for talks Thursday at the White House.

“The visit will strengthen our two countries’ shared commitment to a free, open, prosperous, and secure Indo-Pacific and shared resolve to elevate the technology partnership, including in defense, clean energy, and space,” the White House said ahead of the meeting.

In a rare move for the Indian leader, Modi and Biden are scheduled to appear at a joint news conference Thursday.

Modi is also due to give an address to a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress.

Thursday’s events close with a state dinner at the White House.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
…

People-to-people relations are a huge component of diplomacy between India and the U.S., especially in science and technology. India’s prime minister met with U.S. and Indian students at the National Science Foundation to underscore these ties. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Alexandria, Virginia.
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Last week’s migrant boat accident in the Mediterranean Sea near Greece has sent shock waves through Pakistan, home to almost 300 passengers of the overcrowded fishing vessel. VOA’s Pakistan bureau chief Sarah Zaman met with some parents waiting to learn the fate of their missing children.
…

The United Nation’s top official in Afghanistan said Wednesday there have been no assurances from the Taliban that they will lift their “punishing restrictions” on the country’s female population, placing a “question mark” over U.N. activities in the country.

“We have been given no explanations by the de facto authorities for this ban, and no assurance that it will be lifted,” Roza Otunbayeva, head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

On April 5, the Taliban verbally informed the United Nations that an existing ban on women working for humanitarian organizations had been extended to include the United Nations. About 400 Afghan women work for the U.N. in the country.

Since then, the U.N. has ordered its female staff to work from home and for non-essential male staffers to also work remotely.

“We are steadfast — female national staff will not be replaced by male national staff as some de facto authorities have suggested,” Otunbayeva said.

The Security Council condemned the Taliban’s edict and called for its reversal in a resolution adopted unanimously on April 27.

The Taliban has been unmoved. Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada directed government spokespersons this month to emphasize the enforcement of Islamic law in their statements.

“The United States and the United Nations have held the entire world hostage, and nothing moves without their dictation,” he told a meeting in the southern city of Kandahar, which is known as the birthplace of the Taliban. “The Islamic Emirate [Taliban] effectively controls all parts of Afghanistan, but non-Muslim and even Islamic countries refuse to recognize it.” 

Otunbayeva said the Taliban wants international recognition, but that means fulfilling responsibilities under the U.N. Charter, not working against its values.

“In my regular discussions with the de facto authorities, I am blunt about the obstacles they have created for themselves by the decrees and restrictions they have enacted, in particular against women and girls,” she said. “We have conveyed to them that as long as these decrees are in place it is nearly impossible that their government will be recognized by members of the international community.”

She said the bans, which include earlier ones preventing girls attending secondary schools and universities, visiting parks and gyms, and restricting their movements outside their homes, have taken a toll on women’s mental and physical health.

Otunbayeva urged the Taliban to lift the restrictions so the U.N. can continue its full support to the Afghan people, more than 28 million of whom require some form of humanitarian assistance.

Ayaz Gul in Islamabad contributed to this report. 
…

As two Indian states that are reeling under a heat wave reported scores of deaths in recent days, the government said it will take steps to prevent casualties from heatstroke and mitigate the impact of the searing temperatures.  

In recent years, heat waves fueled by climate change have become more intense across large parts of India, say experts. 

In the last week, more than 100 deaths have been reported in two of India’s most populous states in the north and east, but it remains unclear if they are linked to scorching temperatures above 42 degrees Celsius. 

In Uttar Pradesh, authorities said they are investigating whether the deaths of 68 people admitted to a government hospital in Ballia district were linked to heat. The deaths occurred during five days between Thursday and Monday. 

In Bihar, officials said that the sweltering heat had taken a toll of nine lives while many had been admitted to hospitals due to heat-related illnesses. 

India’s health minister, Mansukh Mandaviya, said Tuesday that “arrangements will be made at every level for the protection of common life. We want to ensure no one dies of a heat stroke.”  

He said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will develop long term and short term plans to minimize the adverse impact of heat waves.  The ICMR is India’s leading clinical research agency.  

Officials are also being sent to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to help the two states with public health response measures. Authorities in the two states have issued advisories asking elderly people and those suffering from various health conditions to stay indoors during the daytime.

Experts warn that the searing temperatures experienced across large swathes of India in the main summer months of April to May pose huge health hazards to millions of people in the country of 1.4 billion people.  

Most of the population does not have access to air conditioning. In the country’s densely packed cities, concrete buildings and roads trap heat, exacerbating the impact of high temperatures.  

The most vulnerable are millions of low-income people who work outdoors – construction labor, street vendors or rickshaw pullers in urban areas and agricultural labor in its vast rural areas. India has no laws restricting work in the afternoon hours. 

Experts say heatwaves have a severe impact on human health. “About 400 million people are at the bottom of the pyramid and their health and nutrition conditions are not appropriate to withstand another level of climatic conditions that is detrimental to health. These are vulnerable populations,” points out Anjal Prakash, clinical associate professor and research director at the Bharti Institute of Public Policy. 

He points out that blaming heat for deaths is not always easy because scorching temperatures often impact people with existing health conditions.

There are question marks over the cause of the spike in deaths in recent days. While a local health official in Uttar Pradesh told reporters last Friday that heat may have been a factor in the deaths of 25 people, the state’s health minister, Brajesh Pathak, later called it a “careless statement” given without “proper information” and said authorities are probing the cause of the deaths. Officials said most of those who died were elderly people suffering from existing ailments. 

In April, 11 people died from heatstroke after attending an outdoor ceremony under a blazing sun in Maharashtra state.

Experts say that the scorching heat could worsen in coming years as a warming planet drives an increase in disasters ranging from cyclones, heatwaves to floods. 

The “IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) reports have noted the rise in heatwave conditions in southern Asia and India has been one of the hotspot regions for heatwave conditions,” says Prakash, who is an IPCC author. “There has been an increase in both frequency and duration of heatwaves during the last 10 to 15 years and studies suggest that temperatures will continue to rise as combating global warming still remains a challenge.”
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Myanmar’s military lacks a strategic plan to end the conflict in the country and move the nation forward regionally and globally on a diplomatic level. That’s what experts are saying after Myanmar’s military leadership, officially the State Administrative Council, met Monday with senior Thai officials in Thailand.

Myanmar Foreign Minister Than Swe reportedly attended the meeting, which is taking place over two days in Pattaya, a holiday resort 60 miles from Bangkok.

Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said the crisis in Myanmar is sending refugees across the Thai-Myanmar border, and trade between the two countries has been damaged. Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Laos and Vietnam reportedly are attending the meeting as well.

David Scott Mathieson, a Myanmar analyst, says the military has no long-term blueprint.

“There is no way out internationally; the time for a post-coup exit plan was early in 2021 after the ASEAN plan, and they totally missed that opportunity. They’re simply making up their strategy day to day, which means you have no chance of a coherent diplomatic plan. [They’re] just reactive, that’s all [General] Min Aung Hlaing can do,” he told VOA.

ASEAN discontent

The meeting was unexpected because Myanmar’s leaders have been barred from participation in major gatherings of the 10-member ASEAN regional grouping. Some ASEAN members — including current chair Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore — declined to attend the Pattaya sessions.

Aung Thu Nyein, a Myanmar analyst, said the meeting has irked multiple ASEAN members.

“Many ASEAN countries assume Thailand is a front-line country with Myanmar, and it can initiate some policies because of its significance. But for this meeting, many ASEAN members opposed [it] and say it seemed [to cross] the line of the organizational agreement,” he told VOA.

Myanmar’s shadow government, the National Unity Government, said the talks won’t stop the crisis, and more than 80 Myanmar activist groups condemned the meeting.

So far, international organizations have been unable to find a diplomatic solution in Myanmar.

The U.N. special envoy to Myanmar, Dr. Noeleen Heyzer, left her role last week after her contract ended on June 12 after 20 months in the role without achieving a diplomatic breakthrough.

“I can’t see any diplomatic progress [from] the military leadership. Until the [State Administrative Council] actually wants some genuine outside help, all these efforts are performative, empty of any substance, and actually serve to confuse some observers who think there is merit in reaching out,” Mathieson said.

Thomas Kean, senior consultant at the International Crisis Group and editor-at-large of Frontier Myanmar, shared Mathieson’s view about the junta’s lack of an exit plan.

“The election was the regime’s exit strategy from day one, and it doesn’t appear to have a backup plan. The current state of emergency will expire at the end of July. It’s not clear what the military will do, but certainly it hasn’t made much progress since then in quelling unrest, and there are no signs of preparations for an election,” Kean said.

State of emergency

Myanmar’s ruling generals promised new elections after their February 2021 coup but, faced with widespread resistance to their rule, have repeatedly extended a state of emergency, with the latest extension set to expire on August 1.

Reports also emerged last week that the junta had visited jailed democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to discuss a peace deal. But military general spokesman Zaw Min Thu denied this to VOA Burmese.

Suu Kyi, who turned 78 on Monday, is serving a combination of prison sentences totaling 33 years after being convicted on several charges by a military-run court.

Pro-democracy activist Thinzar Shunlei Yu said it makes no difference whether the reported visit happened.

“If the negotiation ever happened that [would be] merely a dialogue between [Aung San Suu Kyi] and her party. That won’t represent the whole revolution or the key stakeholders of the resistance,” she told VOA.

Myanmar’s military has upped its airstrikes against resistance forces in the last year and some commentators see that as an indication the military is struggling on the battlefield.

“That change came midway through last year, when the Burma army [leaders] were starting to feel they weren’t winning this war. The shift went from bombing military targets, resistance camps, roads, vehicles, to clinics, schools,” Dave Eubank, founder of the Free Burma Rangers, a Christian, multi-ethnic humanitarian group, told VOA earlier this year.

In the deadliest airstrike since the coup, the military killed at least 168 people in April, including dozens of children, in the Sagaing region in northwest Myanmar.

Kean said the airstrikes are part of the junta’s brutal combat tactics.

“This shouldn’t necessarily be seen as a sign of weakness or that it is on its last legs, as some have argued. Brutal counterinsurgency tactics have long been part of its modus operandi, and it has only acquired this aerial capacity relatively recently.”

Following the coup, the military has cracked down on nationwide resistance, killing thousands and jailing political leaders, which has fueled an armed resistance led by people’s defense forces and ethnic armed organizations.

According to a Thailand-based monitoring group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma, 3,672 people have been killed by the military since the coup.
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The White House is pulling out all the stops for a state visit for India’s leader, Narendra Modi, this week. He and President Joe Biden have a lot of ground to cover — including relations with China, the conflict in Ukraine and bilateral issues — but hopes are high in the White House that Washington and Delhi will forge ahead in important areas. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington. Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report.
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A scorching heat wave in two of India’s most populous states has overwhelmed hospitals, filled a morgue to capacity and disrupted power, prompting staff to use books to cool patients, as officials investigate a death toll that has reached nearly 170.

In the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, 119 people have died from heat-related illnesses over the last several days while neighboring Bihar state reported 47 fatalities, according to local news reports and health officials.

“So many people are dying from the heat that we are not getting a minute’s time to rest. On Sunday, I carried 26 dead bodies,” Jitendra Kumar Yadav, a hearse driver in Deoria town, 110 kilometers from Ballia, told The Associated Press.

Other residents said they were afraid to go outside after midmorning.

The largest hospital in Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh is unable to accommodate more patients. Officials said the morgue was full after 54 people, all of whom were elderly suffering from various health issues, died during the heat wave. Some families were asked to take the bodies of their relatives home.

On Sunday, the state health minister, Brajesh Pathak, said a two-member team will look into what caused the large number of deaths and investigate how many of them are directly related to heat.

While northern regions of India are known for sweltering heat during the summer months, temperatures have been consistently above normal, according to the Indian Meteorological Department, with highs reaching 43.5 degrees Celsius (110 degrees Fahrenheit). A heat wave is declared in India if temperatures are at least 4.5 C above normal, or if the temperature is above 45 C (113 F).

“We have been issuing heat wave warnings for the past few days,” said Atul Kumar Singh, a scientist at the IMD.

Despite the warnings, government officials did not ask people to brace for the heat until Sunday, when the death toll began to increase.

Adding to the heat stress are consistent power outages across the region, leaving people with no running water, fans or air conditioners.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the government was taking measures to ensure an uninterrupted power supply. He urged citizens to cooperate and use electricity judiciously.

“Every village and every city should receive adequate power supply during this scorching heat. If any faults occur, they should be promptly addressed,” he said Friday night in a statement.

Inside the Ballia district hospital, the chaotic scenes were reminiscent of the coronavirus pandemic, with families and doctors scrambling as many patients required urgent attention.

“All our staff has been here for three days straight and are completely overworked,” said Dr. Aditya Singh, an emergency medical officer.

The wards in the hospital had no functioning air conditioners, and cooling units that were installed were not working properly because of the power fluctuations. Attendants were fanning patients with books and wiping their sweat in an attempt to keep them cool.

Officials said more severe cases were being shifted to hospitals in bigger cities nearby such as Varanasi, and more doctors and medical resources were being sent to the district hospital to deal with the heat-induced crisis.

Climate experts say that heat waves will continue, and India needs to prepare better to deal with their consequences. A study by World Weather Attribution, an academic group that examines the source of extreme heat, found that a searing heat wave in April that struck parts of South Asia was made at least 30 times more likely by climate change.

“Plans for dealing with heatwaves are essential for minimizing their effects and preserving lives. These plans include all-inclusive approaches to dealing with high heat occurrences, such as public awareness campaigns, the provision of cooling centers, and healthcare assistance,” said Aditya Valiathan Pillai, an associate fellow at a New Delhi-based think-tank, Centre for Policy Research.
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Amid unresolved wrangling with Taliban authorities over women’s right to work and education and a decline in donor funding, the United Nations has cut its humanitarian aid request for Afghanistan by more than $1 billion, forcing aid agencies to stop giving critical assistance to millions of people.

In March, the U.N. belatedly launched a Humanitarian Response Plan, or HRP, for Afghanistan, asking donors for $4.6 billion in funding to assist more than 23 million of the most vulnerable Afghans this year. The appeal’s launch was delayed for two months following a Taliban announcement in December banning Afghan women from working at U.N. agencies.

Women in Afghanistan are barred from education and work indefinitely due to “religious and cultural considerations,” Taliban officials say.

Several aid agencies suspended operations in response to the ban on women’s work as donors warned there would be consequences for the Taliban regime.

A mid-year review of the HRP has resulted in significant adjustments in the required funding and the number of beneficiaries it will assist.

“The revised HRP aims to reach 20 million people with multi-sectoral assistance between June and December 2023, requiring $2.26 billion in new funding,” the U.N. said last week.

Consequently, the revised funding appeal now totals just over $3.2 billion, including $942 million (with $850 million carried over from last year) that has been already expended to aid 17.3 million people between January and May of this year.

“Only a fraction of the appeal has been responded to favorably, so that’s the reason that the program had to be cut,” Richard Hoffman, director of ACBAR, a coordination platform for NGOs in Afghanistan, told VOA.

Taliban restrictions are contributing to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and “the responsibility for the consequences lies with the Taliban leadership,” Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.

Drop in donor funding

As of June 20, donors have given or pledged less than 15% ($467.5 million) of the required funding for the HRP, according to the U.N.

In March, Roza Otunbayeva, U.N. special representative for Afghanistan, had warned that “funding for Afghanistan is likely to drop if women [are] not allowed to work.”

Several Western donors that gave more than $2 billion in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan in 2022, before the Taliban imposed their ban on women’s work for the U.N., now appear to have cut aid to the country.

The United States, which contributed more than $1.2 billion to the humanitarian appeal last year, has given $74 million as of this past June.

Similarly, the United Kingdom, another major donor, allocated $522 million in 2022 but has only contributed around $30 million thus far in 2023. Germany’s funding has dropped from $444 million to $34 million during the same period, according to U.N. figures.

Western donors blame the Taliban for impeding humanitarian operations in the country by adopting misogynistic and intrusive policies.

“The U.S. government remains committed to helping the Afghan people through the humanitarian and economic crisis that the Taliban created and have exacerbated with the discriminatory NGO edict,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State told VOA in written comments.

Last week, the United States announced $920 million in additional humanitarian aid for Syria, taking its total assistance to Syria and the region to $1.1 billion in 2023 and nearly $16.9 billion since the start of the 12-year crisis there.

The State Department spokesperson did not answer a question about the disparity in U.S. assistance to Syria and Afghanistan.

The Taliban, however, accuse donors of politicizing aid to Afghanistan, saying the group has facilitated a safe environment for aid agencies to operate.

“I think it’s fair to say that there are consequences for the [Taliban] government’s decisions and actions,” said Hoffman from ACBAR.

“When I meet government officials, the first thing that they mentioned is always that they are grateful for the assistance that NGOs bring to Afghanistan and I’m quite open in saying that, you know, we will be able to deliver that aid more effectively and efficiently if female NGO workers can work alongside their male counterparts,” Hoffman said.

Needs persist

The shortage of funding has already forced the World Food Program (WFP) to cut much-needed food aid to 8 million Afghans over the past two months, including for 1.4 million children and mothers who face risks of malnutrition.

“Removing 8 million poor Afghans from assistance over less than 60 days is an immense shock for over a million families already struggling to meet their daily food needs,” a WFP spokesperson wrote to VOA in written comments.

The agency said it requires $900 million in the next half of the year to deliver life-saving aid to millions of households across the country.

Aid agencies also warn about cuts in other critical areas such as health, shelter and education.

“Without an urgent injection of funding, the country could spiral into famine-like conditions,” Save the Children, an international NGO operating in Afghanistan, said in a statement on Monday.

“The legacy of decades of conflict, a third consecutive year of drought, the international community’s suspension of development assistance and imposition of sanctions since August 2021, and a worsening economy, are contributing to the suffering of the Afghan people,” the statement added.
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Pakistan and China signed a $4.8 billion deal Tuesday to build what would be the seventh Chinese nuclear power plant in the South Asian nation.

The 1,200-megawatt project will be installed in the central Pakistani city of Chashma, where Beijing already has built four nuclear power generation units with a collective output of nearly 1,230 megawatts.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif oversaw Tuesday’s signing of the memorandum of understanding between China National Nuclear Cooperation and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission.

According to the agreement, the Chinese company will employ its HPR 1000 technology, known as HPR1000 or Hualong One, to construct the nuclear power unit. It will be the third facility in Pakistan to feature the HPR 1000, or pressurized water reactor technology.

“Investment from China in this project to the tune of $4.8 billion sends a loud and clear message that Pakistan is a place where Chinese companies and investors continue to show their trust and faith,” Sharif said.

He thanked Beijing for offering a more than $100 million discount for what is named the Chashma 5 power plant. The work on the project was initially planned to start a couple of years ago, but Sharif said the Chinese partners had not rescheduled costs despite the long delay.

“This project is part of our energy security plan to diversify the energy mix with a focus on ensuring the provision of cheap electricity to the industry & relief to the common man,” the Pakistani prime minister wrote on Twitter after the ceremony.

Sharif’s coalition government is struggling to deal with unprecedented economic challenges facing Pakistan, including a balance of payments crisis.

China has recently also constructed two nuclear power plants in the southern port city of Karachi, each with a 1,100-megawatt generation capacity.

Pakistani officials say the two Chinese-supplied third-generation Hualong One reactors, known as K2 and K3, cost roughly $10 billion. They are equipped with “advanced safety and foolproof security features” and have enhanced Pakistan’s nuclear energy production to more than 3,500 megawatts.

“K2 and K3 are fully functional and supply 2,200 megawatts of electricity to the national grid. Similarly, nuclear power plants at Chashma are contributing more than 1,300 megawatts,” a PAEC spokesman told VOA on Tuesday.

Canada helped Pakistan build its first nuclear power plant in 1972 in Karachi, producing about 80 megawatts of electricity. It is expected to be shut down soon after having served its purpose for about the full extent of the planned operation.

China maintains close defense and economic relations with staunch ally Pakistan. It has invested more than $20 billion in building road networks, power plants, and ports over the past decade under what is known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC.

Officials in both countries say the collaboration, an extension of Beijing’s global Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, has created tens of thousands of jobs and ended Pakistan’s crippling energy crisis.
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Afghanistan’s Taliban carried out Tuesday what is believed to be the second public execution of a person convicted of murder since they returned to power in August 2021.

The execution ignored criticism from the United Nations that such actions constitute a form of “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

The Afghan man put to death in the eastern Laghman province was found guilty of murdering five people, mostly members of the same family, the Taliban supreme court announced in a statement.

It added that a large number of Taliban justice and government officials as well as residents, had witnessed the execution in the main mosque of Mihtarlam, the provincial capital.

The court shared no further details, noting that the judicial order was enforced after the Taliban supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, “carefully” examined and approved it.

The first known public execution of a man charged with murder was staged last December in the western Afghan province of Farah. That was performed with an assault rifle by the victim’s father.

The U.N. human rights office at the time denounced the action and urged the Taliban to immediately halt any further executions and prohibit all other public punishments.

Since taking control of Afghanistan nearly two years ago, the Taliban have applied their strict interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, to the criminal justice system. They have performed public lashings of scores of men and women in front of hundreds of onlookers in football stadiums in the capital, Kabul, and several Afghan provinces.

The victims were accused of “moral crimes” such as adultery, theft, and running away from home.

Public floggings and executions were widespread under the previous Taliban government in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.

Despite repeated assurances to the international community that they would govern the war-ravaged country inclusively and respect women’s rights to public life and education, the Taliban have brought back their harsh policies to rule the improvised South Asian nation.

The hardline authorities have suspended girls’ education beyond the sixth grade across Afghanistan and banned many female government employees from workplaces. The Taliban have barred Afghan women from working for the United Nations and other aid agencies.

The discriminatory policies against women as well as other human rights concerns have drawn international denunciation and deterred foreign governments from recognizing the Taliban as legitimate rulers of the country.

Hibatullah rejects criticism of his policies, saying they are aligned with Afghan culture and Sharia.

On Tuesday, Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid accused the United Nations and Western institutions of spreading “propaganda” against their administration. “Islamic laws are under implementation in Afghanistan; objecting to them is a problem with Islam,” he asserted.

Mujahid made the remarks a day after a U.N. expert said that the treatment of Afghan women and girls by the Taliban could amount to “gender apartheid” as their rights continue to be gravely infringed by the de facto authorities.

“Grave, systematic and institutionalized discrimination against women and girls is at the heart of Taliban ideology and rule, which also gives rise to concerns that they may be responsible for gender apartheid,” U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, told the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday.

The international community has halted development assistance and imposed financial sanctions on Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power, pushing the economy to the brink and causing an already dire humanitarian crisis to deteriorate.
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World Refugee Day, designated as such by the United Nations, is marked every year on June 20. The day is meant to highlight the plight of refugees around the globe who have been forced to flee their home countries due to conflict or persecution. The theme of World Refugee Day 2023 is “hope away from home,” according to the U.N. Refugee Agency. Here’s a look at some key facts about the current state of refugees in the world today.
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