The recording studios at Afghanistan national radio and television where generations of male and female musicians and singers produced songs and melodies have gone silent for nearly two years.

The country’s Islamist Taliban regime does not air music on the national broadcasting network because their extreme interpretation of Islam considers it forbidden. Instead, they run so-called singsongs, which sound like chants with no music.

Known as the Taliban songs and nasheeds, the singsongs, voiced only by men, are mostly tributes to Taliban leaders, Islamic jihad and Afghanistan as a graveyard of foreign interventionists.

Many Taliban listen to these singsongs on their phones, in their cars and elsewhere as a source of entertainment, attachment and inspiration.

“Since the Taliban are religious zealots, they use songs for entertainment as well. It’s a form of competition for young Taliban to show off their voices. Songs are also designed to add some pleasure to an otherwise puritanical way of life,” said Wahed Faqiri, an Afghan analyst.

“[The Taliban] play it on radios and so, if you are in your car at that time and it’s on the radio, you listen to it because it’s kind of a captive/trapped audience,” Ali Latifi, a Kabul-based independent journalist, told VOA by email. “When I see Taliban playing them it’s usually on their phones (even little Nokia ones) while they’re standing or walking down the street (less often).”

Since the Taliban’s ascent to power in Afghanistan, the group’s singsongs have increasingly found their way to digital platforms where they are accessible to global audiences. Social media companies often prohibit official Taliban accounts and groups, but the group’s sympathizers have maintained a presence under pseudonyms.

Given the group’s longstanding disapproval of television, pro-Taliban songs loaded to YouTube carry only still images of Taliban leaders and symbols. During their first reign in 1994-2001, the Taliban completely banned television and the group’s morality police broke down private TV sets and displayed them on poles to deter the public from watching television even in their homes.

As an insurgent group, the Taliban ran sophisticated digital propaganda campaigns including videos of violent attacks on Afghan and foreign soldiers.

‘Genocide of music’

The Taliban’s swift return to power in 2021 saw an exodus of artists, singers, musicians and journalists from Afghanistan.

Over the past 20 months, about 3,000 artists and singers have sought relocation outside Afghanistan, according to Artistic Freedom Initiative, an organization that offers free immigration and resettlement assistance for artists at risk.

The country’s National Institute of Music (ANIM) has been closed as all of its trainers, students and personnel were evacuated to Europe in 2021.

“We are witnessing a termination of the rich musical heritage of Afghanistan,” Ahmad Sarmast, ANIM director, told VOA while describing the many ways musicians and artists suffer under the Taliban rule.

While most popular Afghan musicians and singers reside abroad, those left in the country have reportedly quit music and have resorted to other jobs.

Sarmast said his ANIM staff and other artists are trying to keep the Afghan music alive in exile by organizing concerts and events in different parts of the world.

For many Afghans caught in recurring cycles of brutal wars, extreme and widespread poverty, and many social and cultural restrictions, music is a source of spiritual strength and a means to mental and psychological healing, experts say.

“The Taliban’s anti-music policies are turning Afghans into a mentally impaired nation,” warned Sarmast, who said the Taliban’s singsongs are praising and promoting violence.

A Taliban spokesperson received VOA’s request for comment on the regime’s policies about music but did not respond.
…

For two months, Fatima Begum, 55, has mourned her daughter’s death. Her cries echo loudly, surrounded by relatives and neighbors in the Soibugh neighborhood of Budgam district on the Indian side of Kashmir.

On the morning of March 7, Begum’s 28-year-old daughter Aarifa Jan left her family’s home for a computer training center located a few hundred meters away. When she failed to return that evening, the family filed a missing person report with the local police.

“We were unable to reach her, as her phone appeared to be switched off,” Mazoor Ahmad Malik, Jan’s maternal uncle, told VOA. “Police called a few people [in] for questioning the next day to probe the missing complaint,” he added.

Two days later, Malik said, police intensified their investigation. An acquaintance of the family, identified as Shabir Ahmad Wani, was interrogated after Jan’s phone records were obtained to help trace her whereabouts.

“He said during the interrogation made-up stories to save himself, but police carried out the investigation during which he [admitted to killing] my niece,” Malik said. “The criminal turned out to be a well-known carpenter in our village,” he said.

“To hide his crime, he chopped the body into multiple pieces and buried them at several locations in and around his vicinity,” Malik added.

Crime against women rising

In the past couple of years, the Indian side of Kashmir has experienced a surge in violence against women, including murder, rape and physical assault.

India’s National Crime Records Bureau reported that the region saw a 15.2% growth in crimes against women in 2021. The report, as summarized in The Hindu newspaper, said 3,937 cases were reported in 2021 compared to 3,405 cases in 2020 and 3,069 in 2019.

Romaan Muneeb, a lawyer who deals with crimes related to women, believes the rise is caused by several factors, including a lack of awareness about women’s rights, drug abuse and a lack of seriousness in upholding laws by authorities.

“The crime rate in Kashmir may not be as high as in other parts of India, [but] it is crucial to raise awareness about the laws implemented by the Union of India to protect women,” Muneeb said. “Failure to do so will likely result in an increase in crimes against women,” he added.

Nisar Ahmad Chiloo, a resident of the Eidgah neighborhood of Srinagar, has packed his and his daughter’s luggage in order to visit Chennai, the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, for her further treatment.

On February 1, 2021, 25-year-old Tamana, whose name has been changed to protect her identify, was on her way home from work when two men riding a scooter intercepted her and threw acid in her face.

“We have had a tough time since that particular day,” Chiloo said. “So far, she has undergone 25 eye operations and two on her face at two different hospitals in Chennai,” he told VOA, adding that his entire family has yet to recover from the incident.

Both of the men responsible for the crime are in police custody, Chiloo said. One of the attackers was his daughter’s former fiance.

“We called off the engagement after we discovered that he was not a good person, as he used to take my daughter’s hard-earned money and gold ornaments,” Chiloo said.

“The crime he committed was the result of our refusal to continue the engagement,” Chiloo said adding that his daughter turned out to be brave and is determined to ask for capital punishment in court.

Mir Sabeen, 33, from Srinagar, told VOA that she had to return to her parent’s house along with her son after she was victimized by her in-laws and husband soon after her marriage.

“For three years, I bore everything. But once I felt unsafe, I returned to my parents’ home,” Sabeen said. “I filed a police complaint, as well, but nothing happened,” she added.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Shafi Khan, the father of Aarifa Jan, appealed to the government to award death sentences to everyone who has committed gruesome crimes.

“Life imprisonment is not a solution to put a brake on rising crimes. Rather, it inspires others to commit more and more crimes,” he said, adding, “Capital punishment will not erase the pain in our hearts but will provide us some satisfaction that the criminals are no longer alive.”
…

Afghan protesters took to Paris streets this week, demanding the international community refuse to recognize the Taliban. The demonstration comes as a U.N.-convened conference is underway in Doha on how to engage with the Taliban. Jalal Mirzad has the story, narrated by Mary Alice Salinas. Roshan Noorzai contributed to this report.
…

Participants at a United Nations-convened international meeting on Afghanistan in Qatar agreed Tuesday to work together to find a way to engage with the country’s fundamentalist Taliban authorities on issues such as human rights, governance, counterterrorism and anti-drug efforts. 

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and special envoys on Afghanistan from nearly two dozen countries, including the United States, China and Russia as well as international organizations, attended the talks that began on Monday. The Taliban criticized the session for excluding them. 

At the outset, Guterres told a post-meeting conference in the Qatari capital of Doha that it was about developing a “common international approach” and not about recognition of the Taliban government.  

The clarification stemmed from a senior U.N. official’s suggestion in the run-up to the Doha meeting that attendees would also discuss recognizing the Taliban’s men-only government.  

Taliban takeover

The Taliban seized power in August 2021 when U.S. and NATO troops departed the country after nearly two decades of involvement in the war with the then-insurgent Taliban.  

No foreign government has recognized the new administration in Kabul, known as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, in part because of its bans on women’s access to work, education and public life. 

“The current ban on Afghan women working for the United Nations and national and international NGOs is unacceptable and puts lives in jeopardy,” Guterres said Tuesday. “Let me be crystal clear, we will never be silent in the face of unprecedented, systemic attacks on women and girls’ rights.” 

The Taliban government has banned girls’ education beyond the sixth grade and barred most women from workplaces, including those working with the U.N. and nongovernmental organizations.  

“When it is the right moment to do so, I will obviously not refuse that possibility. Today is not the right moment to do so,” Guterres said when asked if he would be willing to hold a direct meeting with the Taliban.  

The U.N. chief noted that delegates at the meeting were worried about the stability of Afghanistan and expressed serious concerns over “the persistent presence of terrorist organizations” and “the spread of drug trafficking that posed a risk for the region and beyond.  

“Participants agreed on the need for a strategy of engagement that allows for the stabilization of Afghanistan but also allows for addressing important concerns,” he said. 

“To achieve our objectives, we cannot disengage. Many called for engagement to be more effective and based on lessons which we have learned from the past,” the secretary-general said without elaborating. 

The United Nations is due to conclude by Friday its ongoing review of Afghan operations in the aftermath of the Taliban ban on its female staff, prompting fears the global body could be preparing to withdraw from the country.  

Guterres stopped short of ruling out the withdrawal possibility, while noting that Afghanistan is the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, with 97% of Afghans living in poverty.  

“Two-thirds of the population — 28 million — will need humanitarian assistance this year to survive. Six million Afghan children, women, and men are one step away from famine-like conditions. Meanwhile, funding is evaporating,” he said. 

The U.N. chief noted the world body has received only $294 million, or 6.4%, of its $4.6 billion Afghan humanitarian response plan for 2023. 

Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban permanent representative-designate to the U.N., hailed Guterres’ announcement that the meeting participants had agreed to maintain engagement with Afghanistan. 

“I believe a major flaw of the meeting was the exclusion of the IEA, the main party to the issue. Any meeting without their participation can neither be productive nor help in solving issues,” Shahen, who currently heads the Doha-based Taliban political office, told VOA by phone. 

He said that Afghanistan faces many challenges, and the Taliban would want to resolve them in line with “our own principles.” Shaheen pointed out that the Afghan nation had also been demanding the removal of international financial sanctions that were imposed on the country after the Taliban takeover. 

“But there was no discussion on the issue at the just concluded meeting. These sanctions are inflicting collective punishment on the poverty-stricken Afghan people. We welcome any gathering that aims to resolve issues, but if the purpose is to put pressure on us, it won’t work. The IEA is a reality, and no one should ignore it.” 

Hibatullah Akhundzada, the reclusive Taliban chief, has repeatedly rejected international calls for removing bans on women and girls, saying he will not allow any foreign interference in his Islamic governance. 

The Taliban previously controlled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Only three countries recognized their government then, including neighboring Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The hardline group had at the time wholly banned girls from receiving an education and women from working outdoors.  

They had also hosted al-Qaida leaders blamed for plotting the deadly September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. 
…

People squeezed by inflation and demanding economic justice took to streets across Asia, Europe and the Americas on Monday to mark May Day, in an outpouring of worker discontent not seen since before the worldwide COVID-19 lockdowns.

Celebrations were forced indoors in Pakistan, tinged with political tensions as in Turkey, as both countries face high-stakes elections. Russia’s war in Ukraine overshadowed scaled-back events in Moscow, where Communist-led May Day celebrations were once massive affairs.

Across France, some 800,000 people marched, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said. They mobilized against President Emmanuel Macron’s recent move to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. Organizers see pension reform as a threat to hard-fought worker rights, while Macron argues it’s economically necessary as the population ages.

While marchers were largely peaceful, violence by radicals, an ever-present reality at French marches, marred the message, notably in Paris. A Paris police officer was seriously injured by a Molotov cocktail, among 108 officers injured around France, Darmanin said.

“Violence is increasingly strong in a society that is radicalizing,” the interior minister said on BFM-TV news station, blaming the ultra-left. He said some 2,000 radicals were at the Paris march.

Tear gas hung over the end point of the Paris march, Place de la Nation, where a huge black cloud lofted high above the trees after radicals set two fuel cans afire outside a building renovation site, police said.

French union members were joined by groups fighting for economic justice, or just expressing anger at what is seen as Macron’s out-of-touch, pro-business leadership.

In Northern Macedonia’s capital Skopje, thousands of trade union members protested a recent government decision granting ministers a 78% raise. The minimum monthly wage in one of Europe’s poorest countries is 320 euros ($350), while the hike will put ministers’ wages at around 2,300 euros ($2,530).

In Turkey, police prevented demonstrators from reaching Istanbul’s main square, Taksim, and detained around a dozen of them, independent television station Sozcu reported.

In Pakistan, authorities banned rallies in some cities because of a tense security and political atmosphere. In Peshawar, in the restive northwest, labor organizations and trade unions held indoor events to demand better workers’ rights amid high inflation.

Sri Lanka’s opposition political parties and trade unions held workers’ day rallies protesting austerity measures and economic reforms linked to a bailout agreement with the International Monetary Fund. Protesters demanded the government halt moves to privatize state-owned and semi-government businesses.

In South Korea, tens of thousands of people attended rallies in its biggest May Day gatherings since the pandemic began in early 2020.

“The price of everything has increased except for our wages. Increase our minimum wages!” an activist at a Seoul rally shouted at the podium.

In Tokyo, thousands of labor union members, opposition lawmakers and academics demanded wage increases to offset the impact of rising costs as they recover from damage from the pandemic. They criticized Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s plan to double the defense budget, saying the money should be spent on welfare, social security and improving people’s daily lives.

In Indonesia, demonstrators demanded the government repeal a job creation law they argue would only benefit business.

In Taiwan, thousands of workers protested what they call the inadequacies of the self-ruled island’s labor policies, putting pressure on the ruling party before the 2024 presidential election.

Protests in Germany kicked off with a “Take Back the Night” rally organized by feminist and queer groups on the eve of May Day to protest violence directed at women and LGBTQ+ people. On Monday, thousands more turned out in marches organized by Germany labor unions in Berlin, Cologne and other cities, rejecting recent calls by conservative politicians for restrictions on the right to strike.

More than 70 marches were held across Spain, and powerful unions warned of “social conflict” if low salaries compared to the EU average don’t rise in line with inflation. The Illustrious College of Lawyers of Madrid urged reforms of historic laws that require them to be on call 365 days of the year, regardless of the death of family members or medical emergencies. In recent years, lawyers have tweeted images of themselves working from hospital beds on IV drips to illustrate their plight.

Italy’s far-right premier, Giorgia Meloni, made a point of working Monday — as her Cabinet passed measures on Labor Day that it contends demonstrates concern for workers. But opposition lawmakers and union leaders said the measures do nothing to increase salaries or combat the widespread practice of hiring workers on temporary contracts.

In war-ravaged Ukraine, May Day is associated with Soviet-era celebrations when the country was ruled from Moscow — an era that many want forgotten.

“It is good that we don’t celebrate this holiday like it was done during the Bolshevik times. It was something truly awful,” said Anatolii Borsiuk, a 77-year-old in Kyiv.

In Venezuela, which has suffered rampant inflation for years, thousands of workers demonstrated to demand a minimum wage increase at a time when the majority cannot meet basic needs despite their last increase 14 months ago. “Decent wages and pensions now!” protesters chanted in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.

In Bolivia, leftist President Luis Arce led a Labor Day march in La Paz with a major union and announced a 5% increase in the minimum wage. Arce said his government “is strong because the unions are strong.”

In Brazil, the focus was not only on traditional labor unions but on part-time workers and those in the informal sector, with the government of new leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announcing a group on proposals to regulate that sector after the president recently described those workers as “almost like slaves.”
…

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres began two days of private discussions in Qatar on Monday with special envoys from various countries on how to sustain humanitarian operations in Afghanistan, as the Taliban continue to place restrictions on Afghan women and girls.

The U.N.-convened meeting in Doha, Qatar, is being held behind closed doors. It aims to “reach points of commonality” on issues such as the rights of Afghan women and girls, inclusive governance, countering terrorism, and drug trafficking, said Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for the secretary-general.

“The meeting is intended to achieve a common understanding within the international community on how to engage with the Taliban on these issues,” Dujarric added.

Envoys from nearly two dozen countries, including the United States, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, India, Qatar and Britain, are participating in the discussions.

The Taliban government criticized the organizers for not inviting its representatives to the meeting and depriving it of its “legitimate right” to express its position to the delegates.

“Any meeting without the participation of IEA (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) representatives — the main party to the issue — is unproductive and even sometimes counterproductive,” said Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban permanent representative-designate to the United Nations.

Shaheen used the official title of the Taliban government, saying “one-sided decisions and intimidating demeanor” cannot help in solving issues.

“How can a decision taken at such meetings be acceptable or implemented while we are not part of the process? It is discriminatory and unjustified,” said Shaheen, who is based in Doha and heads the Taliban political office there.

Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban leadership has banned Afghan girls from attending schools beyond the sixth grade and women from participating in most public and daily life areas.

They have recently stopped Afghan female employees from working with the U.N. and other aid groups in a country where nearly 29 million people, or two-thirds of the population, rely on humanitarian assistance. Several million Afghans are said to be just a step away from famine-like conditions.

“Reversing all measures that restrict women’s rights to work is key to reaching the millions of people in Afghanistan that require humanitarian assistance,” Guterres tweeted on Saturday. “Afghans urgently need emergency aid. Women are essential to ensure it’s delivered,” he said.

On Thursday, the 15-member U.N. Security Council unanimously condemned and demanded the Taliban swiftly reverse their crackdown on Afghan women’s rights.

The Taliban Foreign Ministry rejected the call and described the ban on women working with the U.N. as an “internal social matter of Afghanistan.”

Hibatullah Akhundzada, the reclusive Taliban chief, has dismissed international calls for removing curbs on women and girls, saying he will not allow any foreign interference in his Islamic governance.

The Doha meeting has been marred by controversy over whether it would also discuss the recognition of the Taliban government.

The controversy stemmed from U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks at a seminar at Princeton University earlier this month, where she suggested the recognition would also be on the agenda.

“We hope we will find those baby steps to put us back on the pathway to recognition … of the Taliban,” Mohammed said. Her comments have since forced the U.N. to repeatedly clarify that “recognition is not an issue on the table.”

Washington has dismissed as “unacceptable” any talks on the subject at Monday’s meeting.

No country has recognized the Taliban government. However, several neighboring and regional countries, including China and Russia, have kept their embassies open in Kabul and allowed the fundamentalist authorities to take charge of Afghan embassies on their respective soils.

Foreign governments have been pressing the de facto authorities to remove bans on women’s access to work and education and govern the country through an inclusive government representing all Afghan ethnicities.

The United States and Europe blocked Afghanistan’s foreign reserves of more than $9 billion after the Taliban takeover, and they remain frozen. Washington and other Western nations also ended financial assistance to the largely aid-dependent country and imposed banking sector sanctions.

The Taliban blame the sanctions for deepening economic and humanitarian troubles facing Afghanistan.

On Sunday, the U.N. humanitarian chief said they needed $4.6 billion to fund life-saving operations in the country this year.

“At the moment, we are begging governments to give us the money that we need to do that because that program is hugely unfunded,” he said.

Analysts said the Taliban had reneged on their pledges to respect the human rights of all Afghans, including women, making it difficult for the U.N. to conduct humanitarian activities in the war-ravaged country.

“Western donors are stepping away from Afghanistan, and the U.N.’s request for more than $4 billion is no longer heard by them,” Torek Farhadi, a former Afghan official, told VOA.
…

From a small office space at a Canadian university, journalist Zahra Nader runs a media outlet for Afghan women.

Her mission: to provide a platform where women can share their experiences in their own words.

For several years, Nader, 33, worked as a journalist in Afghanistan. But in 2017, she moved to Canada to study.

At that time, Afghanistan still had a vibrant media community where women like Nader were able to work freely.

But after the Taliban took over and media freedoms declined, with fewer women able to keep working, Nader saw a gap for news coverage. In August 2022, she launched Zan Times, one of several media sites set up by Afghan journalists living in exile.

“When we came together and launched Zan Times, we decided that we define our own realities and [share] our experience and the experiences of women without any censorship,” Nader said.

The news website mirrors Nader’s other interests. She is a doctoral student in gender and women’s studies at York University in Toronto.

Currently, Zan Times covers women’s issues, but Nader says she plans to expand that coverage to include the environment and LGBTQ+ issues.

“We want to be the voice of marginalized and underprivileged segments of the [Afghan] society,” Nader said.

Afghan women ‘under assault,’ says Nader

International watchdogs say the human rights situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated since the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021.

The Taliban “imposed policies severely restricting basic rights — particularly those of women and girls,” Human Rights Watch said.

Among those actions are a ban on girls attending secondary education and universities, working with government and nongovernmental organizations, and traveling long distances without a close male relative.

The Taliban’s spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, in an interview with VOA, denied that restrictions are imposed on media.

“[Journalists] can question [authorities] and have open discussions and independent reports,” he said.

He also dismissed threats or restrictions on female journalists, saying, “You can see, women work in the media.”

Nader, however, said that Afghan women “are under assault.”

“Our responsibility, as journalists, is to report and document” what is happening, she said.

‘She cares’

That commitment to journalism earned Nader a Kathy Gannon Legacy Award from the Coalition For Women In Journalism organization earlier this year.

The award is named in honor of the veteran Associated Press correspondent Gannon, who was seriously injured while on assignment in Afghanistan.

“The reason that [Nader] got selected very deservingly is because she is a great journalist. She cares about what is happening in Afghanistan,” said Kiran Nazish, the founding director of the Coalition For Women In Journalism. “She started this amazing news outlet with very little resources.”

Nazish told VOA that the work of nonprofit news organizations such as Zan Times is crucial in a country like Afghanistan.

“I think these are the only outlets that are going to give us a peek into what is happening in the country,” Nazish said.

Nader’s Zan Times team includes 12 full-time and four part-time journalists, including women reporters inside Afghanistan.

“All of our reporters in Afghanistan are women,” she told VOA.

After the Taliban’s takeover, the number of journalists, particularly women, decreased drastically in Afghanistan.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said that currently no women journalists are working in 11 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces.

Watch related video by Muska Safi and Lisa Bryant:

For Nader, the safety of her team in Afghanistan is a priority.

“We don’t know what would happen to them if the Taliban find out about them. It is our nightmare,” she said.

They use several measures to ensure the safety of those in Afghanistan.

“First, our policy is that none of our colleagues would report under their original name. Besides, no family members or friends should know if they are reporting. Those in Afghanistan should not know each other. They will only contact those colleagues who are outside the country,” she said

Nader said that it is important that women inside Afghanistan are given voices as they are “being removed” from public life under the Taliban.

But her news website is also a personal mission.

Nader was a child when the Taliban seized power in the 1990s, and her family was forced to leave Afghanistan for Iran. While living there as a refugee, she was not allowed to get an education.

“Now millions of women and girls in Afghanistan live the same experience,” Nader said. “I do not want girls to go through [that].”

Only when her family returned to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban in 2001, could she get an education. “There was no building for our school. We studied in tents. But I was happy to have the right to education,” she remembered.

“That is why, as a journalist, I want to make sure that the world hears Afghan girls and women.”

Najiba Salam from VOA’s Afghan Service contributed to this report. This story originated in VOA’s Afghan service.
…

The United States is pledging support for peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia and renewing its calls for an immediate reopening of the Lachin corridor to commercial and private vehicles.

Early Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken holds separate meetings with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov in Arlington, Virginia.

Blinken then meets with both Mirzoyan and Bayramov for bilateral peace negotiations at the diplomatic facility near the State Department.

In recent months, tensions between the two neighboring, former Soviet republics have increased over Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin corridor, which is the only land route giving Armenia direct access to the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The State Department had voiced “deep concern” that Azerbaijan’s establishment of a checkpoint on the Lachin corridor undermines efforts for peace talks.

Monday’s meetings come after Blinken’s call with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Sunday, when the top U.S. diplomat reiterated Washington’s call to reopen the land route.

A spokesperson from Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Mirzoyan’s working visit to the United States is to discuss “the agreement on normalization of relations” with Azerbaijan.

The two countries have had a decades-long conflict involving the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is inside Azerbaijan but populated mainly by ethnic Armenians.

The Lachin Corridor allows supplies from Armenia to reach the 120,000 ethnic Armenians in the mountainous enclave and has been policed by Russian peacekeepers since December of 2020.

The situation has left those ethnic Armenian residents in Nagorno-Karabakh without access to essential goods and services, including life-saving medication and health care, according to Amnesty International. The rights group said Azerbaijan’s government has failed its human rights obligations by taking no action to lift the blockade.

Azerbaijan maintains the land route is open for humanitarian delivery, emergency services, and peacekeepers.

Some material in this report came from Reuters.
…

Uzbekistan votes on constitutional amendments Sunday that promise its citizens greater social protections in exchange for resetting President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s term count to zero, which could allow him to run for two more seven-year terms.

Mirziyoyev, 65, has been praised at home and abroad as a liberal reformer for abandoning the previous leadership’s isolationist policies and police state approach.

And while Tashkent’s Western partners are unlikely to approve of the attempt to extend presidential powers, Uzbekistan risks little given the West is seeking support from all ex-Soviet nations in its efforts to isolate Russia over its war in Ukraine.

Although the current and the proposed new version of the constitution limit successive presidential terms to two, officials have said that if the revised constitution is adopted, Mirziyoyev’s term count would be reset to zero.

The reform also extends the presidential term to seven years from five, which could in theory allow Mirziyoyev to remain in charge of the country of 35 million people until 2040. His current term ends in 2026.

At the same time, the package of amendments proclaims Uzbekistan a “social state” with increased welfare obligations and allows non-farming land ownership.

It also abolishes the death penalty and establishes greater personal legal protection, for instance to a person’s rights when they are detained by police, and the concept of habeas corpus, or protection against unlawful and indefinite imprisonment.

“Our lives have been improving, and under this president it will continue, I hope,” said 62-year-old voter Nazira who declined to give her last name. “I don’t mind and approve (presidential) terms being extended. I thank the president for what he is doing for us.”

Some Uzbek commentators have called for more democratic principles to be included in the bill, and in stronger wording, but the general idea of reform — and extending presidential powers in particular— has met no opposition.

“What I see is that the new changes will boost our rights and the openness (of the state),” said another voter, Abdurashid Kadirov, 65.

Mirziyoyev cast his ballot at one of the polling stations in Tashkent, stopping to greet other voters on his way in and out.

“Every person should have a belief in tomorrow in their heart and support reforms. We are doing our best to ensure that, and God willing, your trust in reforms will be remain strong,” he said.

Patriotic music was played at many polling stations Sunday, some decorated with flowers and some handing out baseball caps and T-shirts with the referendum logo to first-time voters.

The Central Election Commission declared the referendum valid after turnout surpassed 50%; it reached 81.4% by 1700 local time. Preliminary vote results are expected Monday.
…

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has renewed a call for Afghanistan’s Taliban to remove curbs on women’s rights to work and education as he prepares to convene a meeting of envoys from several countries Monday to discuss the situation in the strife-torn nation.

The two-day closed-door gathering in Qatar’s capital, Doha, will discuss a “common way forward” on how to engage with the Taliban in the aftermath of their latest edicts banning Afghan women from working with the U.N. and other aid organizations.

“Reversing all measures that restrict women’s rights to work is key to reaching the millions of people in Afghanistan that require humanitarian assistance,” Guterres tweeted late Saturday.

“Afghans urgently need emergency aid. Women are essential to ensure it’s delivered,” he said. He reiterated female humanitarians bring life-saving services to Afghan women and girls.

U.N. officials say the restriction on female aid workers has dealt a blow to humanitarian operations in the country where millions of Afghans are just a step away from famine-like conditions.

Special representatives from various countries and international organizations will attend the Doha meeting, but Guterres “has not extended an invitation to the de facto [Taliban] authorities,” his spokesperson told reporters Friday.

“The purpose of the meeting is to reinvigorate international engagement around common objectives for a durable way forward on Afghanistan and to reach a sort of unity or commonality of the message, such as human rights, particularly on the issue of women and girls, inclusive governance, countering terrorism, drug trafficking,” Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for the secretary-general, said.

Dujarric declined to share the list of participants. He did not disclose the venue of the huddle in the Qatari capital.

The Taliban regained power in August 2021 as the United States and NATO troops departed Afghanistan after almost two decades of involvement in the war.

Hibatullah Akhundzada, the reclusive chief of the fundamentalist Taliban, has since barred girls from attending schools beyond the sixth grade and most women from working across the impoverished nation.

Akhundzada has rejected international calls for ending curbs on women and girls, saying he will not allow any foreign interference in his Islamic governance.

On Thursday, the U.N. Security Council unanimously condemned the restrictions on women and called for their urgent reversal.

The Taliban foreign ministry rejected the call and described the ban on women working with the U.N. as an “internal social matter of Afghanistan.”

Controversy

The Doha meeting has been marred by controversy over whether it will also discuss the recognition of the Taliban government.

The controversy stemmed from U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks at a seminar in April at Princeton University, where she suggested recognition would also be on the agenda.

“We hope that we will find those baby steps to put us back on the pathway to recognition … of the Taliban,” Mohammed said.

Her comments have since forced the U.N. to repeatedly clarify that “recognition is not an issue on the table.”

Washington has dismissed as “unacceptable” any talks on the subject at Monday’s meeting.

“What I would say is that any kind of recognition of the Taliban is completely off the table,” said U.S. State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel.

On Saturday, about two dozen Afghan women staged a protest in Kabul, demanding the U.N. not formally recognize the Taliban government at Monday’s meeting. They said doing so would amount to violating women’s rights.

Protesters chanted they would fight and die for taking back their rights, accusing Guterres of “lobbying for Taliban recognition.”

Dujarric dismissed suggestions Friday that the U.N. intends to leave Afghanistan due to restrictions on its female staff.

“There is a review going on, on how we do our work. But we’re trying to walk a fine line, which will need to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid,” he said.
…

Officials say at least people three were killed and 10 were injured in India when a building collapsed Saturday in Bhiwandi.

India Today reports that a man was rescued Sunday, about 18 hours after the collapse.

Rescue operations were ongoing to recover any other people who may be trapped under the rubble, according to authorities.
…

Voters in Uzbekistan, the most populous former Soviet Central Asian republic, cast ballots Sunday in a referendum on a revised constitution that promises human rights reforms but that also would allow the country’s president to stay in office until 2040.

Approval appears certain. Backers have conducted an array of promotional events featuring local celebrities, and elections in Uzbekistan are widely regarded as noncompetitive.

The proposed changes include lengthening the presidential term from five to seven years, while retaining the existing two-term limit. But although President Shavkat Mirziyoyev is in his second term, the change in term length would allow him to run twice more after his current tenure ends in 2026.

Other changes include abolishing capital punishment and boosting legal protections for citizens, including those accused of crimes.

Under Mirziyoyev’s predecessor, Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan was one of the region’s most repressive countries. Mirziyoyev, who took over after Karimov died in 2016, touts the constitutional changes as showing that Uzbekistan will make freedoms and human rights paramount.

The referendum originally was planned for last year, but was put off in the wake of deadly unrest in the Karakalpakstan region when it was announced that the changes would include rescinding Karakalpakstan’s right to vote on whether to secede.

Although the likelihood of secession is very small, that proposal angered residents of the poor and environmentally beleaguered republic that makes up a third of Uzbekistan’s territory but holds only about 5% of the country’s 36 million people. Mass unrest broke out in the Karakalpak capital Nukus; at least 18 people died in clashes with police.

The new package being voted on Sunday retains the Karakalpakstan secession right.
…

A gas leak in a factory in India on Sunday killed at least nine people and injured 11.

Police have sealed off the area in Ludhiana in Punjab, and emergency workers are on the site.

Details of he incident are unfolding.  
…

Ten-year-old Fatima is counting the days until her father, Azerbaijani journalist Polad Aslanov, is released from prison.

Aslanov, the chief editor of the independent news websites Xeberman and Press-az, has been detained since his arrest in 2019. One year later, a court convicted him of treason and sentenced him to 16 years in prison.

The Supreme Court later reduced the sentence to 13 years, but his detention weighs heavily on the family.

His wife, Gulmira Aslanova, told VOA she hoped he might be released soon as part of an amnesty. 

“As his wife and [on behalf of the] family, my demand is his freedom. My husband is innocent,” Gulmira Aslanova told VOA. “I hope that this year my husband will attain his rightful freedom with a pardon and will be reunited with his young child.”

Aslanova doesn’t believe that her husband’s trial was conducted fairly. A lawyer for the journalist has filed a case on it with the European Court of Human Rights.

Aslanov is one of several journalists and bloggers facing legal action. Data from December 2022 by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists showed two imprisoned in Azerbaijan for their journalism.

A more recent list of political prisoners, released on April 20 by two monitoring groups, shows that of the 182 political detainees they have documented as in custody, six are journalists or bloggers.

But arrests are not the only challenge for the country’s media, experts say.

Rufat Safarov, executive director of the human rights organization Defense Line, said the country has many obstacles to freedom of speech and expression.

“In practice, forcing citizens to change their opinions and beliefs is widespread,” Safarov told VOA. As a result of this, several journalists and bloggers “have been isolated from the society.”

Some are in prison, others have trials pending.

Another obstacle is the media legislation, signed into law by President Ilham Aliyev in January 2022.

The law’s regulations will further stifle the freedom of speech in the country, experts say. Independent journalists in Azerbaijan are protesting the law and calling for its repeal, saying it obstructs their ability to work and gives the government too much control over the media.

As part of the regulations, journalists must sign on to a registry. Without that accreditation, they are prevented from accessing officials or news briefings.

Safarov believes the law could pave way to more journalists and bloggers being detained if additional amendments are made to the law.

A joint opinion from the Council of Europe bodies, the Venice Commission and the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law said that “in the context of an already extremely confined space for independent journalism and media in Azerbaijan,” the new law will have a “chilling effect.”

“It is quite clear that some of the new provisions of the new media law do not comply with European standards of media freedom and journalistic freedom,” said Mogens Jensen, general rapporteur on media freedom and safety of journalists of PACE, or the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Jensen said that they want Azerbaijan to revise the law using recommendations from the Venice Commission.

The U.S. State Department report on human rights in Azerbaijan noted that with the new law, the government has imposed further restrictions on journalists and “continued to routinely arrest independent journalists, especially those critical of government officials or investigating corruption.”

Azerbaijan’s government contends that it respects freedom of expression and the press, and that it is making sincere efforts to uphold these freedoms.

“As you know, censorship has been banned in the country for almost 30 years. There are numerous media institutions operating. We have always encouraged the activity of both internal and foreign institutions for more effective provision of media freedom,” Bahruz Maharramov, a member of the Azeri parliament, told VOA.

He said that in the eyes of Western institutions, only media outlets that share the same Western values are considered independent.

“For some reason, media organizations that take a radical stance against the government are generally labeled as free, while media structures that are neutral or positive towards the current administration are branded as dependent media,” he said.

In Aslanov’s case, the journalist’s wife told VOA she hoped that he would soon be freed and that their family life would return to normal.

“I can’t imagine my family without Polad. He is my friend, my work and life partner. Soon I want to see my husband free next to me and doing his work.”

Since his arrest, one of the two news websites that Aslanov ran had to close. Content is rarely posted to the other site, Aslanova said.

This story originated in VOA’s Azeri Service.
…

Pakistan’s Chief of the Army, General Asim Munir, is in China on a four-day official visit where he is holding meetings with the leadership of the People’s Liberation Army to discuss military cooperation between the two countries.

Munir met with Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, where the Chinese official described the relationship between the two countries as consistent. “No matter how the international situation changes, China always gives Pakistan priority in its neighborhood diplomacy,” Zhang said, according to China’s state news agency Xinhua.

Pakistani military to further deepen and expand their pragmatic cooperation and jointly safeguard the common interests of the two countries, as well as regional peace and stability,” according to Xinhua.

After arriving in China, Munir visited the headquarters of the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, and then had a detailed meeting with the PLA commander. Bilateral security and military cooperation issues were discussed in the meeting, said Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry of the Pakistan Military’s Inter Service Public Relations.

The military commanders from the two countries reiterated the need to maintain peace and stability in the region and to increase military cooperation, Chaudhry said. The Pakistani army chief will hold several meetings with China’s military leadership to enhance the long-standing relationship between the militaries of both countries.

Military interests

Former Pakistani diplomat Ali Sarwar Naqvi said Munir’s visit is key for the militaries of both countries, and there will be discussions regarding the security of Chinese nationals working in Pakistan on various projects, including the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, a connectivity infrastructure project that is a part of China’s larger Belt and Road Initiative.   

“Although the army chief is the head of the land forces, he also plays an important role in Pakistan’s overall defense affairs, so it is likely he will have discussions on eight submarines for [the] Pakistan Navy, out of which four were to be built in China and four in Pakistan,” Naqvi said.  

“In addition, Pakistan had an agreement to buy 25 J-10 aircrafts, of which only 12 so far have been received by Pakistan. Apart from this, many weapons, including tanks for the Pakistani army, may be discussed,” Farhan Bukhari, Pakistan correspondent of Jane’s Defense Weekly and Financial Times told VOA.

Geopolitical interests

Former Pakistani Lt. Gen. Naeem Khalid Lodhi, speaking to VOA Urdu, said this visit is important in terms of getting economic assistance.

“Many countries are moving away from America and getting closer to China, so Pakistan also needs to look at it from a long-term benefit perspective rather than short term. America is backing India to challenge China, which is against our interests. Similarly, they don’t want [the] Taliban government in Afghanistan. This is also against our interests, so Pakistan needs to make its own decisions, and these issues will be discussed in the visit,” Lodhi said.   

The bilateral meeting comes at a time when relations between China and India are tense, which Bukhari said can benefit Pakistan in its rocky relationship with India.

Saudi Arabia to the negotiation table and restoring diplomatic relationship between the two countries. China is a major player in the region and is trying to resolve major issues, and Pakistan can take advantage of its good relations with China,” he said.
…

India and China disagreed during a meeting of their defense ministers Thursday on the importance of restoring peace along their disputed border to developing bilateral ties.

India called such restoration key to developing the ties, while China sees the border situation as largely stable, the respective governments said in statements issued after the meeting.

The meeting, between Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart, Li Shangfu, was held in New Delhi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization defense ministers’ meeting Friday.    

This was the first visit by a Chinese defense minister to India since tensions spiraled after a 2020 border clash that killed 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers. The defense ministers’ meeting was keenly watched to see if the high-level interaction would help bridge what is called a “trust deficit” between the two countries. 

An Indian Defense Ministry statement said Singh had “categorically conveyed that development of relations between India and China is premised on prevalence of peace and tranquility at the borders.”    

According to the Indian statement, he reiterated that “violation of existing agreements has eroded the entire basis of bilateral relations and disengagement at the border will logically be followed with de-escalation.”    

The Chinese National Defense Ministry said Li had described the situation along the border as “generally stable.” The Chinese statement said “both sides should take a long-term view, place the border issue at an appropriate position in our bilateral relations, and promote the normalization of the border situation as soon as possible.”  

Li said that as major neighboring countries the two sides should view bilateral relations and each other’s development from a “comprehensive, long-term and strategic perspective and work together to continuously enhance mutual trust between the two militaries.”  

India accuses China of intruding into its side of the disputed border in violation of agreements signed since the 1990s. Beijing denies the accusations and blames New Delhi for the transgressions.    

Eighteen rounds of negotiations between military commanders of the two countries since the 2020 clash have failed to defuse the tensions, with the latest round of talks ending this week without a breakthrough.  

New Delhi analysts said restoring ties between the countries will be a long haul.  

“The shadow of what happened in 2020 is not going away quickly. There has been a collapse of trust and you cannot restore it through negotiations and meetings,” Manoj Joshi, distinguished fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, said.

“Normalcy in ties is not going to happen soon because India is not sure what Beijing is trying to achieve,” he said.    

He pointed to a clash that took place between Indian and Chinese soldiers in December in Arunachal Pradesh, in which New Delhi had accused Chinese troops of trying to encroach the Line of Actual Control – the countries’ nearly 3,500-kilometer border in the Himalayan mountains.     

While both countries have withdrawn soldiers from some of the disputed areas, they still deploy an estimated 60,000 soldiers and advanced weaponry along the frontier. They are also rapidly building infrastructure, including roads and helipads in the mountains.    

Analysts have warned of the risk of confrontations between soldiers who are often posted within meters of each other. 
…

Pakistan said Thursday that it was buying discounted Russian crude oil with the implicit approval of the United States, and the first shipment is expected to arrive in the country soon. 

Masood Khan, the Pakistani ambassador to the U.S., made the remarks at a conference in Washington organized by the Wilson Center’s South Asia Institute on the future of relations between the two countries. 

“We have placed the first order for Russian oil, and this has been done in consultation with the United States government. There’s no misunderstanding between Washington and Islamabad on this count,” Khan said. 

The top diplomat was responding to suggestions the energy purchase could undermine Pakistan’s already tumultuous relationship with the U.S. 

“They have suggested that you are free to buy anything below or up to the price cap, and we have abided by that agreement. I think Washington is fine with that,” Khan added without elaborating. 

Vote of confidence for Sharif

He spoke just hours after Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told the parliament in Islamabad his government was set to receive an inaugural shipment of Russian crude oil. 

“As we speak, the Russian oil is being loaded to arrive here,” Sharif said after securing a vote of confidence from the National Assembly, the upper house of parliament, amid opposition allegations he had lost an already thin majority in the house. 

A State Department spokesperson responding to Pakistan’s import of Russian energy told VOA that Washington recognizes the pressure governments face to secure affordable fuel, and each country will have to make its own choices regarding energy imports.  

“We continue to coordinate with allies and partners to mitigate the impact of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine on global energy markets,” the spokesperson said. “Russia’s actions have clearly demonstrated it is not a reliable supplier of energy, and we encourage steps to reduce long-term dependence on energy supplies from Russia.” 

The State Department official, however, did not address VOA’s direct question about whether the U.S. would be comfortable with Pakistan buying Russian oil as long as it’s under the price cap. 

Last week, Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik said Pakistan had made its first purchase of Russian crude oil at a discounted rate and the cargo would reach the country next month via sea. He did not share further details, saying Islamabad plans to increase the import volume to 100,000 barrels per day if the first transaction with Moscow goes through smoothly. 

The move was expected to bring a much-needed respite to the cash-strapped South Asian nation, with energy imports making up most of its external payments. 

The Sharif government has been struggling to avert a balance of payments crisis as it awaits the resumption of financial lending from the International Monetary Fund. The Pakistani central bank’s foreign exchange reserves have lately fallen to nearly $4.5 billion, barely enough to cover a month of imports. 

Ties with US back on track 

Khan told the audience in Washington on Thursday that Pakistan’s ties with the United States had suffered a “brief period of uncertainty” after the U.S.-led foreign military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, when the then-insurgent Taliban seized control of the country. 

Despite being an ally of the U.S., Islamabad was accused of sheltering and supporting Taliban insurgents while they were battling the U.S. and NATO troops for almost two decades. 

The Pakistani ambassador insisted the relationship with the U.S. was back on track and both sides were working to scale up economic and security partnerships. 

“We are back in business. … It is important that the United States restores for Pakistan foreign military financing and foreign military sales, which were suspended by the previous [Trump] administration,” the Pakistani ambassador said. 

Former President Donald Trump cut military cooperation with Pakistan, citing its covert support for the Taliban, charges Pakistani leaders rejected. 

Khan stressed the need for Islamabad and Washington to work together to eliminate the Islamic State-led threat of terrorism stemming from Afghanistan, noting a surge in terror attacks in Pakistan since the Taliban’s return to power in the strife-torn neighboring country. 

He said Pakistan was politically engaging with Taliban authorities to try to persuade them to deny Afghan space to terrorists waging deadly attacks in his country and those linked to Islamic State-Khorasan, the regional branch of Islamic State. Khan asserted that the U.S. was also “talking directly to Taliban cabinet ministers.” 

“Let’s work together to eliminate this threat in the region,” he said. “Today, it’s a threat to Pakistan and Afghanistan. If unchecked, it will spread to other parts of the region and beyond. Urgent action is needed to fight this menace.”

Defense talks 

Senior State Department official Elizabeth Horst, speaking at the Wilson Center conference Thursday, said the last year had helped reset the U.S.-Pakistan relationship.

The two countries held midlevel defense dialogues in Washington and a counterterrorism working group in Islamabad in February and March, respectively, she said. 

“Since the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, we have been more aligned than ever with Pakistan on how to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a base for terrorism,” said the principal deputy assistant secretary and deputy assistant secretary for Pakistan, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs. 

Horst said that Washington was concerned that the number of attacks, mainly targeting Pakistani security forces, has increased. 

“Pakistan has much to gain from a peaceful and stable Afghanistan, and the United States and Pakistan have a shared interest in holding the Taliban to its counterterrorism commitments.” The U.S. official said that this topic was the focus of recent dialogues between the U.S. and Pakistan. 

Khan also emphasized the need to work “collectively for promoting women’s and girls’ education and inclusive governance in Afghanistan.” 

No foreign government has recognized the Taliban as the legitimate ruler of Afghanistan. The international community is pressing the Taliban leadership to remove bans on women’s access to education and work. The hard-line de facto authorities are also required to give representation to all Afghan ethnic groups in their administration. 

VOA State Department Bureau Chief Nike Ching contributed to this report.
…

India’s defense minister accused China on Thursday of eroding the “entire basis” of ties between the countries by violating bilateral agreements, a reference to a nearly 3-year-old standoff involving thousands of soldiers stationed along their disputed border in the eastern Ladakh region.

Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh met with visiting Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu and “had frank discussions about the developments in the India-China border areas as well as bilateral relations,” India’s Defense Ministry said. 

Singh told Li that “development of relations between India and China is premised on the prevalence of peace and tranquility at the borders,” and that all border issues need to be resolved in accordance with existing agreements and commitments, the ministry said in a statement. 

There was no immediate comment on the talks by the Chinese side. 

India says the deployment of a large number of Chinese troops, their aggressive behavior and attempts to unilaterally alter the border status quo violate agreements between the countries. The violations have “eroded the entire basis of bilateral relations,” Singh said. 

A clash three years ago in the Ladakh region killed 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese. It turned into a long-running standoff in the rugged mountainous area, where each side has stationed tens of thousands of military personnel backed by artillery, tanks and fighter jets. 

Days before Li’s visit, top Indian and Chinese army commanders held an 18th round of talks in an attempt to work out a disengagement of troops from areas of tension. 

Both India and China have withdrawn troops from some areas on the northern and southern banks of Pangong Tso, Gogra and Galwan Valley, but continue to maintain extra troops as part of a multitier deployment. 

A Line of Actual Control separates Chinese and Indian-held territories from Ladakh in the west to India’s eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims in its entirety. India and China fought a war over their border in 1962. 

Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu is visiting New Delhi to attend a meeting of the defense chiefs of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on Friday. The group consists of China, India, Pakistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Krgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. 

Singh also met separately on Thursday with the defense ministers of Iran, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.
…

A standoff between the government and judiciary over a key provincial election has pushed Pakistan into a political and judicial crisis, with experts blaming the quagmire on the military’s long-standing interference in political affairs.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ordered elections to be held on May 14 in Punjab, the nation’s most populous province, where an opposition party led by former Prime Minister Imran Khan is hugely popular. But the 13-party ruling alliance led by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif is refusing to comply.

Not backing down, the Supreme Court has refused to reverse its order, even after the defense ministry requested postponement on security grounds.

In a further show of defiance, the parliament has passed a bill called the Practice and Procedure Bill (2023) that would limit the chief justice’s authority to take up an issue of important public interest on its own initiative — the procedure is known as suo moto.

The chief justice responded by forming an eight-judge panel comprising himself and many like-minded colleagues from among the court’s 15 judges to review the bill. A lawyer filed a reference against the eight judges with the Supreme Judicial Council of Pakistan, however, which hears cases of judicial misconduct.

The bill has since become law.

Origins of the crisis

The crisis began with Khan’s removal from office in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence last April, less than four years into his term. Khan then launched a nationwide campaign to push for early elections. Sharif’s government refused the demand, saying it would stay in power until the parliament’s remaining term ends in August of this year.

In a bid to force early elections this past January, Khan’s party dissolved the assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, two provinces where it held majorities in the legislatures. According to Pakistan’s constitution, elections must be held within 90 days of the dissolution of an assembly. Until then, a caretaker government runs the affairs and oversees elections.

But it was President Arif Alvi, a member of Khan’s party, rather than the election commission, who set an April 9 date for polls in both provinces. That prompted the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take suo moto notice in late February and constitute a nine-member bench of the Supreme Court, led by himself, to determine who had the authority to announce the election date.

Complicating factors

Soon after the suo moto hearings began, two judges recused themselves while two separated from the bench after writing dissenting notes. The remaining five judges, led by the chief justice, ruled 3-2 in favor of holding elections within 90 days or as soon after the deadline as possible, granting Khan a victory.

The governing alliance refused the court’s decision, arguing that because a total of four judges of the original bench had dissented, the decision by three judges therefore was a minority decision and not applicable.

When the independent election commission suddenly postponed Punjab polls to October 8, citing a lack of funds and security, Khan’s party approached the Supreme Court. By that time, two more dissenters had recused themselves, and the remaining three judges granted Khan another victory by ordering that elections be held on May 14 in Punjab. The court called the election commission’s decision to delay polls “unlawful.”

The ruling alliance refused in a parliamentary vote to grant funds for the elections. It has been calling for a full court to reconsider the matter, a demand the chief justice so far has ignored.

Grave situation

Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), a Lahore-based think tank, said Pakistan’s economic, political, judicial, and governance crises have come together to create a grave situation for the nation of nearly 230 million. He holds the powerful military responsible.

“The continuous interference of the establishment in the country’s political affairs, judicial affairs, almost everything, starting from deciding major policies, making major decisions, I think that has been the major reason for this crisis,” Mehboob said. Establishment is a term commonly used in Pakistan to refer to the military.

Mehboob said the interference, which the outgoing army chief acknowledged publicly last year, has weakened state institutions, rendering them unable to address crises effectively.

Parties in the ruling coalition argue that early elections in Punjab, politically the most prized province, will affect the outcome of parliamentary elections later this year. Khan’s popularity has increased exponentially since his ouster, and a common perception is that the government is stalling elections for fear of losing.

The 90-day window to hold elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ended on April 14 and April 18, respectively. Mehboob said that by focusing on Punjab and ignoring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the chief justice and his colleagues are not doing “real justice.”

Holding elections early in two of the four provinces also will lead to a staggered election schedule in the future, as the assemblies will finish their terms at different times. Mehboob noted this is unprecedented, and in the context of Pakistan it will mean, “there’s a likelihood of political interference of whatever party wins election in Punjab.”

Karachi-based lawyer Abdul Moiz Jaferii told VOA the Supreme Court and the ruling alliance are all “acting beyond their station.”

He said although the judiciary is in the right to enforce a constitutional requirement, its credibility has been hurt by its past decisions, which were rooted not in differing ideologies but “in individuals, their interests, their political alignments, and lack of ability to, to look forward to the institute’s mission and the greater good of an institution.”

The crisis, Jaferii said, can be resolved if the Supreme Court “get its own house in a minimum amount of order.”

“Then all that remains is for the establishment to actually step back from the support it is giving the coalition government, which gives this coalition government the backbone to … defy the court. So, if that support goes away, and Supreme Court orders are implemented under threat of contempt, I feel that this crisis is over.”

The military claims it’s not supporting Sharif or opposing Khan, with whom it has had a very public falling out in the last year. Jaferii asserts that the political and judicial crises have put Pakistan’s military in a “lose-lose situation.”

It is unclear whether polls in Punjab will be held in a few weeks. The chief justice has said the order will not be reversed but has also asked major political parties to negotiate a date for nationwide elections, saying the court could then look into finding a path to hold same-day polls.

Sharif said arbitration is not the court’s job.
…

This week marks 10 years since the Rana Plaza collapse, the Bangladesh garment industry’s worst tragedy that killed 1,134 workers inside an eight-story Dhaka factory. But the legal battle over the deadly building collapse has made little headway.

The factory collapsed just before 9 a.m. on April 24, a day after workers raised concerns about cracks appearing in the walls. In the hours and days following the collapse, this correspondent witnessed the frantic rescue calls made by the people trapped inside. As rescue workers struggled to reach them for days afterward, many slowly perished.

Of the 14 legal cases filed over the disaster, 13 have seen little progress over the past decade. Only 45 witnesses out of 594 have testified in court in the last 10 years. Who is responsible for the slow pace is in dispute.

10 years of testimony

Bangladesh courts sentenced Rana Plaza building owner Sohel Rana and his mother, Morzina Begum, to prison for corruption charges in 2017 and 2018. The owners, along with some 40 other people, still face charges over the collapse. Thirty-eight people are accused of murder. Trials have been stalled for years at a time as the accused persons went to the High Court to secure stay orders.

Prosecutors blame delays on the stay orders and the logistical difficulties of transporting victims of the disaster to court. Public Prosecutor Bimal Samadder told VOA, “The trial proceedings were halted for eight years only due to stay orders of some accused persons.” He said there was still no indication of when the trial would conclude.

“The biggest challenge here is that the witnesses are very needy. Many had moved to their village home after the incident. We bring them to Dhaka with the help of the police and bear the cost of their travel from our own pocket,” Samadder told VOA.

A survey done by the Institute of Social Business on behalf of ActionAid Bangladesh found that 55% of the survivors of the disaster were still jobless and 89% of them did not have any work for five to eight years.

Senior journalist Masudur Rahman has been following the cases closely for 10 years and told VOA the process of taking testimony was laborious. “The witnesses are spread across different districts of the country,” he said. “Some of them are injured; some are mutilated, while some are mentally ill. Many had moved to their villages after the incident.”

He said that even when witnesses do appear in court, there sometimes are too many other cases that prevent them from testifying.

“A total of 15 witnesses were scheduled to testify [at] the latest date, but deposition of only eight of them was recorded. They go back dejected when they come here but can’t testify.”

Labor leaders and rights activists contend that ultimately it is the government that bears responsibility.

Taslima Akhter, president of Bangladesh Garment Sramik Samhati, a labor rights group, said the fact that no one who designed the building or who approved the construction had been held accountable was part of the reason the situation remained “utterly tragic.”

“We think the government’s negligence and carelessness are partly to blame,” she said. “Such delay in the trial process proves again that the government and owners don’t consider the workers even as humans.

Despite criticism of the handling of the trial, Akhter said there were signs the work environment in factories had improved somewhat since the Rana Plaza collapse.

“Although we heard of sporadic incidents of fire in different factories in the last 10 years, we’ve not seen any incident like building collapse,” she said. “This indicates some improvements took place.”

The rights activist wants the anniversary of the Rana Plaza to be commemorated around the world as a day for workers.

“We want 24 April to be declared Rana Plaza Day and observed throughout the world to improve the living standard and safety of the workers,” Akhter said. “Moreover, all the persons involved with the incident should be punished and the victims should be rehabilitated.”
…

India’s Supreme Court has issued an order to Delhi Police to file charges as soon as possible against parliamentarian and Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexually harassing several Indian female wrestlers.  

The court order Tuesday came two days after India’s top wrestlers began a sit-in protest in the capital demanding Singh’s immediate arrest.

Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud noted that the allegations by the wrestlers are “serious” and need “consideration by this court.”

Singh has said the allegations against him are “baseless,” calling them a conspiracy to remove him from parliament.

On Wednesday, the Delhi Police told the Supreme Court said it would abide by Tuesday’s order but said that a primary inquiry should be conducted in the case before formal charges are filed.

Protests began in January

Months after the issue first surfaced in social media, in January, some wrestlers, both male and female, organized a sit-in protest in Delhi and demanded action against Singh and several wrestling coaches for the alleged sexual harassment of seven Indian female wrestlers, including one minor.

The wrestlers called off that protest after three days, following assurance of action from Indian Sports Minister Anurag Thakur. The sports ministry took away Singh’s administrative powers in WFI.  But Singh, a member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and considered a party strongman, has remained the federation’s president.

The wrestlers resumed the sit-in protest in Delhi on April 23, because, they said, they were not satisfied with the “insufficient action” taken against the accused. They submitted a complaint against Singh and other coaches at Connaught Place police station in Delhi weeks ago, but the police have yet to pursue the matter, they said.

On Tuesday, the seven wrestlers, who have represented India at the international level, filed a petition to the Supreme Court, asking that police file charges of sexual harassment against Singh.

The wrestlers told local media that they would not end their sit-in until Singh is charged and arrested.

In the petition, the wrestlers accused the police of inaction and said that their role “clearly depicts a sad state of affairs and a clear violation of human rights.”

Before filing the petition to the court, lawyer Kapil Sibal, who represented the wrestlers, said in a tweet that the wrestlers failed to move the “conscience of those in power” because the charge of sexual harassment was against a powerful ruling party MP.  He added that he would continue to support the protesting wrestlers.

On Tuesday, the court fixed April 28 as the next hearing in the case and said: “There are serious allegations made in the petition by wrestlers who have represented India, and sexual harassment meted out to them. The matter requires consideration by this court.”  

Vinesh Phogat, one of the wrestlers in the sit-in protest and the first Indian woman to win gold at both the Commonwealth and Asian Games, said in a tweet Monday: “From the podium to footpath: we wait under the open sky at midnight, in the hope of justice.” The tweet also carried a photo of the protesting wrestlers and some of their sympathizers lying on a sidewalk in Delhi, at night.

Bajrang Punia, bronze medalist in men’s freestyle wrestling at the Tokyo Olympics, said that after the names of the wrestlers who complained against the WFI chief were leaked, the wrestlers and their families received threats and they are anxious.

“Still these female wrestlers have been continuing their protest and fight courageously. This is not a fight of only some wrestlers. All athletes should come forward and join us in this fight,” Punia, who has taken part in the ongoing sit-in strike, said to the reporters.
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India’s Supreme Court is holding landmark hearings on legalizing same sex marriage following petitions filed by several members of the LGBTQ community. Anjana Pasricha in New Delhi speaks to a gay couple who are among the petitioners on why the right to marry is important for them.
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India’s Supreme Court is hearing arguments in a landmark case on whether to legalize same sex marriage in the South Asian country, a right given by only about 34 countries so far.

The case follows a number of petitions filed by LGBTQ couples saying that the constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gives all citizens the right to marry a person of their choice.

“What we are canvassing before this court is a new imagination of marriage and family whose foundation is love, care and respect,” Vrinda Grover, one of the lawyers for the petitioners told the court.

India’s Hindu nationalist government and leaders from India’s main religions — Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Sikh and Christian, have strongly opposed same sex marriage.

The government has called same sex marriage a “mere urban elitist concept far removed from the social ethos of the country” and told the court that it will undermine social and religious values, while religious leaders have raised concerns of what same sex unions would mean for the “natural family order.”

Petitioners have however argued that the concept of marriage has changed over time. “Earlier we had child marriages, temporary marriages, a person could marry any number of times. That also changed,” lawyer Mukul Rohatgi said.

The hearings that began on April 18th before a five-judge bench led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, are being livestreamed on YouTube and are getting widespread attention, both in the packed courtroom and outside.

Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta, who is appearing for the government, also questioned the court’s jurisdiction in deciding the matter, saying that only parliament and not judges could amend the law.

The judges dismissed his plea. But chief justice Chandrachud has said “the test really is how far can the courts go?” Activists have meanwhile pointed out that all the legal rights that the LGBTQ community has secured so far have come through the Supreme Court’s intervention.

The case holds huge significance for India’s LGBTQ community, which only emerged from the shadows four and a half years ago after the top court struck down a law criminalizing homosexuality.

Their legal battle for the right to marry marks the next big step in a country that is still largely conservative, but where acceptance and understanding of same sex relationships has been gradually growing. In the big cities, many now celebrate their sexuality openly.

The government estimates India’s gay population at about 2.5 million while gay rights campaigners say it is over 100 million.

Petitioners say both emotional compulsions and the practical need for legal rights that heterosexual couples take for granted prompted them to approach the court.

Among them are Abhay Dang and Supriyo Chakraborty, a gay couple based in the southern city of Hyderabad who held an elaborate “wedding” ceremony a year and a half ago to seal their partnership. But they still do not count as a married couple under the law.

“I really wanted to call Abhay my husband. My mother, my family accepted us. I want my mother to call Abhay loudly, proudly, legally as her son-in-law,” says Chakraborty as he emerged from the courtroom where the hearings were going on.

Another gay couple, Utkarsh Saxena and Ananya Kotia, who met 15 years ago in college, want the right to marry to be able to take their relationship forward. “In Indian society, marriage is an important institution, it is the bedrock on which a lot of social and family interactions occur, so emotionally this is an important next step for us,” says Saxena.

In practical terms, both couples say they want the host of legal rights that flow from being marriage such as adoption, filing joint taxes, holding joint bank accounts and inheritance rights.

The pivotal moment that prompted Dang and Chakraborty to approach the court was when they both contracted COVID-19 during the pandemic.

“It just made us realize that life is very, very fragile and we can’t really predict what may happen in the next moment,” said Dang. “We cannot sign documents for each other. Suppose I am hospitalized, and I need someone to make a decision for me, like a surgery or something of that sort, Supriyo would not be able to make that decision.” Both had contracted the virus during a deadly second wave that struck India in 2021.

Since they first met 10 years ago on a dating app, their journey has been like that of any heterosexual couple.

“As part of the relationship, we both have grown in terms of how to deal with things and just to value each other more than ourselves, our individual egos,” says Dang.

Gay rights activists dismiss the government’s argument that same sex marriage will undermine Indian society.

“We are looking at people who want to do something that society holds a lot of value for, the institution of marriage for example. And marriage denotes commitment, caring for each other, loving each other,” says Anjali Gopalan, Executive Director of the Naz Foundation. “They need a strong law to give them protection.”

The organization played a frontline role in a long legal battle to strike down the law criminalizing gay relationships.

While same sex marriages may still not be accepted by many in a society that is still traditional, petitioners have argued that societal acceptance will follow once law shows the way.

“There are social transformations happening and this is reflected in popular culture. For example, increasingly one sees very sensitive depictions of gay couples in movies and shows on streaming platforms. This shows us that people are ready for such a step,” according to Saxena.

Chakraborty found that in the last five years, discussions about homosexuality have come more easily, whether with families or friends.

“People don’t say the word gay not very quietly anymore. People are very confident to start a conversation about it. And I am not just talking about the LGBTQ community, I am talking about everybody in general.”

It is not clear when the court will pronounce a decision. But even as they wait for it, Saxena and Kotia hope the law will soon allow them to plan a marriage while Dang and Chakrabarty hope that ceremonies like the one they held will count as a legal wedding someday.
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The leader of the Islamic State terror group cell that carried out the August 2021 bombing that killed 13 U.S. troops and about 170 Afghan civilians is dead, slain during recent clashes with Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban.

U.S. officials, who initially confirmed the death to VOA on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the intelligence, declined to name the cell leader or say when or where he was killed.

It was also unclear whether the individual was targeted by the Taliban or was killed as a result of ongoing fighting between the two groups.

National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby confirmed the cell leader’s death in an email to VOA, calling it “another in a series of high-profile leadership losses” that the group has suffered so far this year.

Kirby said the cell leader was a key official “directly involved in plotting operations like Abbey Gate,” adding that the IS affiliate’s ability to launch additional attacks against U.S. interests has been diminished due to a series of setbacks inflicted by the U.S. and its partners, and even the Taliban.

Confirmation of the IS cell leader’s death came as multiple U.S. media outlets reported U.S. officials were contacting family members of the 13 U.S. troops killed in the attack on Kabul Airport’s Abbey Gate to inform them of the development.

The attack on Abbey Gate in the waning days of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan left a lasting mark on the United States.

Following the attack, U.S. President Joe Biden promised justice for those killed.

“To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive,” Biden said in a nationally broadcast address. “We will hunt you down and make you pay.”

But since the withdrawal, the U.S. has carried out just one counterterrorism strike in Afghanistan: Last July, a drone strike killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of IS rival al-Qaida, as he hid in the capital of Kabul.

U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in South Asia, has acknowledged two other operations but said the details remain classified.

In the meantime, the Islamic State’s Afghan affiliate, known as IS-Khorasan or ISIS-K, has spread across the country, with cells in the Afghan capital and a growing number of provinces.

Intelligence shared in a United Nations counterterrorism report earlier this year estimated IS-Khorasan has between 1,000 and 3,000 fighters but cautioned that the affiliate was looking to expand its reach, pumping out propaganda in multiple languages, including Persian, Tajik, Uzbek and Russian.

Top U.S. military and intelligence officials have also grown increasingly wary of the IS Afghan affiliate.

Last month, CENTCOM Commander General Michael Kurilla told U.S. lawmakers that IS-Khorasan has set its sights on striking the West.

“They can do external operations against U.S. or Western interests abroad in under six months with little to no warning,” Kurilla said, adding the likely targets would be in Asia or Europe.

U.S. intelligence agencies have likewise sounded alarms about IS-Khorasan’s ambitions.

Defense Intelligence Agency chief Lieutenant General Scott Berrier said early last month that it was only “a matter of time before they may have the ability and intent to attack the West.”

This past January, National Counterterrorism Center Director Christine Abizaid called IS-Khorasan the “threat actor I am most concerned about.”

U.S. officials have also expressed little faith in the ability of the Taliban to make good on their pledge to contain IS-Khorasan.

“The Taliban doesn’t have the precision to go after individuals,” CENTCOM’s Kurilla told U.S. lawmakers.

“They [Taliban] will do large, sweeping clearance operations,” he said, noting such operations are only “disruptive to a point.”

The White House’s Kirby, late Tuesday, defended U.S. efforts to target IS-Khorasan, despite the lack of strikes.

“We have made good on the president’s pledge to establish an over-the-horizon capacity to monitor potential terrorist threats, not only from in Afghanistan but elsewhere around the world,” he said.

As an example, Kirby pointed to the U.S. counterterrorism operation this past January in Somalia that killed IS operative Bilal al-Sudani, who played a key role in funding IS-Khorasan.

IS-Khorasan was quick to claim the August 26, 2021, attack on Kabul Airport’s Abbey Gate, using it to build momentum as the U.S. left.

But despite initial claims by U.S. military officials that the bombing was part of a coordinated attack on the airport, a subsequent Pentagon investigation determined that was not the case.

“This was not a complex attack,” Army Brigadier General Lance Curtis told reporters in February 2022, detailing the investigation’s findings. “It was a single blast, and it did not have a follow-on attack.”

According to the report, all of the death and damage was caused by the single bomb, which investigators said was powerful enough to send shockwaves through the tightly packed crowds at Abbey Gate, spreading 50 meters from the detonation site.

The Abbey Gate bombing put the U.S. military in Afghanistan on heightened alert until the very end of the withdrawal, and possibly contributed to a botched airstrike three days later that killed as many as 10 civilians, including an aid worker and seven children.

“The degradation of ISIS in the region continues to be a top priority for this administration,” State Department Principal Deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters during a briefing earlier Tuesday. “It’s something that we continue to work collectively on with our allies and partners and others in the region.”
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