Gas-rich Turkmenistan held the first parliamentary polls Sunday since the ruling family tightened its iron grip on the Central Asian nation that does not tolerate political dissent or a free press.

Polling stations closed at 7 p.m. (1400 GMT), according to the electoral commission, with turnout estimated at 91.12% of the approximately 3.5 million voters.

The new president took power following a hereditary succession in March 2022, and the vote comes after the abolition of the legislature’s upper house and the creation of a supreme body.

The former Soviet republic is one of the world’s most repressive, secretive states and little is known about how the regime makes day-to-day decisions.

No election has been judged free or fair by Western poll observers.

President Serdar Berdymukhamedov and his father repeatedly stressed this election would be held according to democratic principles.

But the opposition is not taking part and censorship is in force.

“We have to pursue the efforts of the Hero-Protector and our dear president,” polling station returning officer Ogulgurban Ezimova told AFP in Ashgabat, referring to Berdymukhamedov senior and his son.

Eighteen-year-olds voting for the first time were given presents, flowers and “our dear protector’s books… to remember this special day in their lives,” said Ezimova.

Maia Ataeva had just received her gifts at the polling station.

“We students, we take these elections very seriously because as our dear president Serdar Berdymukhamedov said, they are a new stage in the democratization of the country,” she told AFP. 

People expected reforms

But beyond the polling stations, where an AFP correspondent in the capital saw plenty of people voting, enthusiasm for the election appeared limited.

Information about any policies is hard to find, and only the biographies of the 258 candidates are listed in the “Turkmenistan Neutral,” the successor newspaper to the communist party daily in Soviet times.

The candidates represent three parties and several groups of citizens. 

Former dentist and health minister Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov came to power in 2006, succeeding the nation’s founding president Saparmurat Niyazov after his death.

Berdymukhamedov established a strong cult of personality before handing the reins to his son Serdar last year after a token snap election. But he kept his position as chair of the upper house of parliament.

In January, Berdymukhamedov senior, aged 65, proposed abolishing the upper house — created at his request in 2021 — and set up after a unanimous vote “a supreme representative body of people’s power,” the Halk Maslahaty or “People’s Council.”

Also called Arkadag or “Protector,” he was named head of the new body and observers say he remains the real power. A new city is being built in his honor.  

The council’s remit covers the main directions of Turkmenistan’s domestic and foreign policy, overshadowing the unicameral national assembly and its 125 members. 

With the economy dependent on gas exports to Beijing and to a lesser extent Moscow, the new president has in recent months met China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladmir Putin.  

But Turkmenistan remains one of the world’s most closed-off countries, and according to Reporters Without Borders ranks 177th out of 180 countries for press freedom, ahead of Iran, Eritrea and North Korea. 

Officially the nation recorded not a single case of COVID-19.

“I watched the inauguration of the president, a lot of people were expecting major reforms from the new president,” said entrepreneur Maksat Redjenov. 

“We expected new factories to be built, the country to open up, the arrival of tourists, that state control would ease,” he told AFP.  

Achir Ovezov, who works at Ashgabat’s market, said he would not be voting. 

“I have to work, day and night, to feed my family and I don’t know the candidate,” he said.
…

A small group of female activists staged a protest rally in the Afghan capital, Kabul, Sunday, demanding that Taliban authorities reopen schools and universities for girls nationwide.

Protesters marched through the city’s western Pol-e Sokhta neighborhood before being forcefully dispersed by Taliban security forces.

Around 25 women and girls attended the demonstration, carrying placards and chanting slogans “freedom, work, education,” “wise mother strong nation,” and “education is our right,” organizers said.

Secondary schools for boys reopened this past week across the country after winter break, but the Taliban did not allow girls to return to classes despite international denunciation of the education ban and calls for lifting it.

The Taliban closed secondary schools for teenage girls since taking control of Afghanistan in 2021. Last December, they barred female students from attending universities, making Afghanistan the only country where women cannot receive an education.

The hardline rulers recently also banned female employees of nongovernmental organizations from workplaces after restricting most women government employees from returning to work.

Catherine Russell, the UNICEF executive director, in a statement at the start of the new school year last week, urged the Taliban to allow all girls to resume classes with immediate effect, saying excluding them from learning will have far-reaching consequences for the country’s already turbulent economy and health system.

“This unjustified and shortsighted decision has crushed the hopes and dreams of more than 1 million girls and marks another grim milestone in the steady erosion of girls’ and women’s rights nationwide,” Russell said. “Girls across Afghanistan have been denied their right to learn for over three years – first, due to COVID-19, and then because of the ban on attending secondary school.”

UNICEF tweeted a video Sunday underscoring the importance of educating Afghan girls. It shows 15-year-old Zahra lamenting she would have been in the 10th grade this year if schools were open.

“If schools do not open, then I will not have any hope for life,” she said. “I cannot achieve my dream of becoming a doctor, and I am deprived of my right to education.”

Torek Farhadi, a former Afghan official and political commentator, said the Taliban’s refusal to respect women’s right to education had discouraged major donors and partners of Afghanistan.

“More and more families are considering immigrating out of the country. While the Taliban deprive girls of getting an education, the message from Islamic countries and Afghanistan’s neighbors has been clear: we can’t recognize your government,” Farhadi said.

The Taliban have implemented their strict interpretation of Islamic law. They defend their governance, saying it is in line with Afghan culture and religious beliefs. Many Afghans and scholars in the rest of the Islamic world dispute the claims, however.

The former insurgent group seized power in August 2021 as the United States and NATO troops departed the country, but the world has not formally recognized the legitimacy of the de facto rulers over human rights concerns, especially the treatment of women.

The Taliban previously controlled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 when women’s access to education and work was entirely banned.
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Pakistan’s embattled former Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed tens of thousands of his supporters in the eastern city of Lahore late Saturday, renewing allegations that the powerful military’s meddling in politics pushed the country to the brink of an economic disaster and calling for early elections.

The 70-year-old leader of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party spoke from a bulletproof container, the first time he has done so since he was shot at and wounded last November while leading an anti-government rally, his aides said.

The turnout was massive despite government attempts to block access to the venue by placing shipping containers at crucial entry and exit routes of the city. The provincial government cited terrorism threats for beefing security and blocking “certain routes” in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, Pakistan’s the most populous.

Khan was removed from power in April in a no-confidence vote, but recent polls suggest he remains the country’s most popular political leader. He accused the recently retired Pakistani military chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, of orchestrating his ouster in collaboration with his successor, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and the United States, charges Washington and Islamabad have rejected.

In his speech Saturday, Khan alleged that the Pakistani military is behind a crackdown on his party and trying to get him disqualified from politics, fearing he would sweep national elections scheduled for later this year.

“I know you have decided you wouldn’t allow Imran Khan back in power. That’s fine with me. But do you have a plan or know how to get the country out of the current crisis?” Khan asked at the rally Saturday.

Khan maintains the government has filed more than 100 cases against him, including corruption, terrorism, blasphemy, and sedition charges, to keep him from leading his party’s election campaign. Khan denies all the allegations saying they are politically motivated.

Government officials say the number of legal cases against Khan is close to 40.

Khan reiterated his demand Saturday for early national elections, saying they would lead to political stability in Pakistan. He insisted that a government with public support can only introduce much-needed economic reforms and win the confidence of international lenders.

Inflation has risen to more than 46%, foreign exchange reserves have sunk to record lows, and the country of about 220 million people is on the brink of default on foreign debt payments as the International Monetary Fund has yet to revive a critical bailout program for Pakistan over a lack of economic reforms.

Khan, who accused Sharif and his administration of plotting the November assassination attempt, has repeatedly claimed that the government is conspiring to kill him.

Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif, speaking to reporters Friday, rejected Khan’s allegations as “scandalous” and said the PTI chief was making such claims to whip up his supporters.

Khan alleged Saturday that police had arrested about 2,000 members of his party to deter people from attending the rally. Local media widely reported a police crackdown on PTI workers in Punjab, leading to detention of scores people ahead of the rally, but officials did not comment on the reports.

Authorities, however, have confirmed arresting hundreds of Khan supporters for their alleged role in violent clashes with security forces in recent days.

According to sources at the media outlets, dozens of Pakistani television channels did not cover Saturday’s opposition rally under government pressure. PTI’s social media platforms, including YouTube, aired Khan’s speech.
…

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said on Saturday he had been disqualified from parliament because he has been asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi tough questions about his relationship with Gautam Adani, founder of the Adani conglomerate.

Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party responded saying Gandhi had been punished under the law for a defamatory comment he made in 2019 and it had nothing to do with the Adani issue.

Gandhi, a former president of India’s main opposition Congress party who is still its main leader, lost his parliamentary seat on Friday, a day after a court in the western state of Gujarat convicted him in a defamation case and sentenced him to two years in jail.

The court granted him bail and suspended his jail sentence for 30 days, allowing him to appeal.

The defamation case was filed in connection with comments Gandhi made in a speech that many deemed insulting to Modi. Gandhi’s party and its allies have criticized the court ruling as politically motivated.

“I have been disqualified because the prime minister is scared of my next speech, he is scared of the next speech that is going to come on Adani,” Gandhi told a news conference at the Congress party headquarters in New Delhi.

“They don’t want that speech to be in parliament, that’s the issue,” Gandhi said in his first public comments since the conviction and disqualification.

Gandhi, 52, the scion of a dynasty that has given India three prime ministers, did not elaborate on why Modi might not like his next speech.

Gandhi’s once-dominant Congress controls less than 10% of the elected seats in parliament’s lower house and has been decimated by the BJP in two successive general elections, most recently in 2019.

India’s next general election is due by mid-2024 and Gandhi has recently been trying to revive the party’s fortunes.

“I am not scared of this disqualification … I will continue to ask the question, ‘what is the prime minister’s relationship with Mr Adani?’,” Gandhi said on Saturday.

Opposition questions

Modi’s rivals say the prime minister and the BJP have longstanding ties with the Adani group, going back nearly two decades when Modi was chief minister of the western state of Gujarat. Gautam Adani is also from Gujarat.

The Congress party has questioned investments made by state-run firms in Adani companies and the handover of the management of six airports to the group in recent years, even though it had no experience in the sector.

The Adani group has denied receiving any special favors from the government and government ministers have dismissed such opposition suggestions as “wild allegations”, saying regulators would look into any wrongdoing.

Congress, and its opposition allies have called for a parliamentary investigation.

“The life of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an open book of honesty,” BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad told a news conference called in response to Gandhi’s statements on Saturday.

“We don’t have to defend Adani, BJP never defends Adani, but BJP doesn’t target anyone either,” Prasad said, accusing Gandhi of habitually lying.

A former federal minister, Prasad listed international business deals the Adani group had signed when a Congress-led coalition government ruled India from 2004 to 2014 and its investments in Indian states ruled by Congress.

“So how is Adani group investing 650 billion rupees ($7.89 billion) in a state ruled by your party,” Prasad asked, referring to an announcement by the conglomerate in October that it would invest in the solar power, cement and airport sectors in the western state of Rajasthan, which is ruled by Congress.

Adani’s group is trying to rebuild investor confidence after U.S. short-seller Hindenburg Research accused it of stock manipulation and improper use of tax havens – charges the company has denied.

Hindenburg’s January 24 report eroded more than $100 billion in the value of the company’s shares.
…

The discovery of major lithium deposits is being seen as a mixed blessing in India’s troubled Kashmir region, where hopes for a major economic boost are tempered by fears of human displacement and damage to the territory’s fragile ecology.

The finding of the lithium, key to the manufacture of batteries used in electric cars and other electronic devices, is likely very good news for India as a whole, promising to save the country billions of dollars as it seeks to move its economy away from fossil fuels.

It also offers the hope of good-paying jobs in Kashmir, where investment has been in decline amid political uncertainty and frequent internet shutdowns since the Indian government revoked the region’s autonomous status in 2019.

But residents in the southwestern Reasi district of Jammu & Kashmir where the deposits are located say they are torn between those hopes and a fear of being driven off their land to make way for mining operations, as well as concern about the impact on local vegetation and wildlife.

The Geological Survey of India has estimated the area holds 5.9 million metric tons of lithium valued at around $410 billion, although further studies will be needed to determine the quality of the lithium and confirm it can be recovered.

If initial hopes are borne out, the deposit would represent a significant share of the world’s known lithium reserves, which were estimated last year by the U.S. Geological Survey at just 80.7 million tons. The Indian government plans to hold auctions for the reserves as early as June, with the caveat that refined lithium can only be processed within India.

“The scale of the reserves is significant and can — if proven to be commercially viable — reduce India’s reliance on imports of lithium-ion cells, which are a key component for EV batteries and other clean energy technologies,” said Siddharth Goel, a senior policy adviser at the Canada-based International Institute for Sustainable Development, in an interview with VOA.

“These reserves could potentially be a huge carrot to attract investment into domestic battery manufacturing and other clean energy technologies,” he said.

Having a domestic source of lithium would dramatically improve India’s prospects of meeting its goal of achieving 30% electric vehicle penetration for private cars, 70% for commercial vehicles, and 80% for two and three-wheelers by 2030.

India’s ministry of commerce data shows that India spent around $3.2 billion importing lithium between 2018 and 2021, money that would remain in the country if the lithium could be produced domestically. By speeding its transition to electric vehicles, India also hopes to reduce its dependency on imported oil.

“It will help India reduce import bill substantially and boost domestic production if the entire reserve can be extracted sustainably and is economically viable,” said Pradeep Karuturi, a researcher at the India-based OMI Foundation, a new-age policy research and social innovation think tank.

“However, it may take years for actual output so it’s important for India to create a cohesive multi-dimensional policy to strengthen energy security,” he said.

Effect on environment

Kashmiri environmentalists are more focused on the impact that lithium extraction will have on the ecology of the scenic Himalayan region. A report published by an environmental organization, the Nature Conservancy, notes that proven technologies for lithium extraction require vast amounts of land and can result in the removal of native vegetation.

Earlier this month, a group of NGOs including Climate Front Jammu, Environmental Awareness Forum and Nature Human Centric People’s Movement organized a climate strike at Press Club Jammu to express their concerns.

The founding director of Climate Front India, Anmol Ohri, told VOA the mining could cause irreversible harm to the ecosystem and adversely affect the indigenous and local communities near the mining area.

“If regulations are not stringent enough, this discovery could result in the communities surrounding the region abandoning their homes and relocating to urban areas, resulting in a loss of cultural heritage,” he said.

Kulwant Raj, a local resident and former candidate in area elections, said residents are pleased about the economic prospects that the deposits represent but simultaneously fear the government will confiscate their land.

While not opposed to mining in the area, Raj told VOA, the locals would like to be relocated to someplace nearby and compensated with government jobs.

Goel said it is important for the government of India to look to the experience of other countries as it seeks to balance the economic benefits of the lithium discovery with the environmental and social safeguards demanded by residents.

“Meaningful representation and participation of local communities in decision-making are essential to prevent community opposition to lithium mining,” he said. “As India is looking to export li-ion batteries, ensuring an environmentally friendly mining process is also essential to attract investment from large international companies given the growing global scrutiny of the battery value chain’s environmental footprint.”
…

Despite the Myanmar army’s denials, survivors and witnesses recently told VOA that during raids on their villages, soldiers used “systematic tactical force” to suppress resistance from villagers, including burning down houses, torture, rape, and mass killings.

According to witnesses, Tar Taing village in Sagaing township was raided by junta troops in early March, leaving 17 local people dead, all brutally tortured and killed. Pro-junta media outlets described the victims, who were shot in the back of the head, as “terrorists.”

Over the next 10 days, nearly 30 more civilians were killed in Nanneint village in the Pin Laung region of Shan State. Photos and a video taken of the incident, provided by the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) and verified by VOA, showed at least 21 bodies piled up around the Nanneint Monastery in Nanneint.

Disturbing pictures show mutilated corpses with severed limbs and heads placed in morbid arrangements on the ground. The junta immediately claimed that local fighters killed the villagers.

In a briefing to the United Nations General Assembly on the Myanmar situation on Thursday, Special Envoy Noeleen Heyzer said that since extending its state of emergency on Feb. 1, the junta has increased the use of force with more aerial bombing, burning of civilian homes and other “grave human rights violations to maintain its grip on power.”

According to the envoy, martial law has been imposed in 47 townships, and the regime has begun arming citizens deemed loyal to the regime.

The United States imposed its latest round of sanctions on the junta on Friday to help address its atrocities. The sanctions target the supply of jet fuel to the military and its allies in the Southeast Asian country, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement that identified two people and six entities connected to the junta.

According to the Treasury’ statement, those sanctioned are accused of enabling continuing atrocities, including through the import, storage and distribution of jet fuel to the military.

Raid on Tar Taing

Tar Taing is a small fishing village in the Sagaing region of central Myanmar, with a population of about 400 people. Survivors of the massacre there told VOA, “When the army surrounds a village, it has a tactical plan; it does not go in as a group. Soldiers surround the village in columns, spread out, and each column has an assignment. There is a column that arrests people, a column that enters houses and searches for things, and a column that tortures and kills people.”

According to Associated Press sources, soldiers in Myanmar rampaged through several villages, raping, beheading and killing in this area. Villagers familiar with the junta’s tactics describe the column sent to do the killing as “the demon column.”

Maung Zaw from Tar Taing village, whose 43-year-old wife Ma Swe Swe Oo was raped and killed by the soldiers in the “demon column,” told VOA by phone on Saturday that he saw his wife’s dead body, “with my own eyes. Her inner bodice was falling out of its hooks, I could see scratches on her nipples … there was male semen all over her body and in her vagina.”

“I felt devastated and heartbroken. My wife was killed. I am thinking about how me and my children will survive without her,” Maung Zaw said.

Maung Zaw recounted how he and his children escaped and hid in the jungle, but his wife was rounded up by the soldiers along with other villagers. “They captured them and held them in a monastery for the entire night.”

The next morning, March 2, soldiers took the hostages, including Maung Zaw’s wife and two other women, led them to another area and killed them.

Another villager who collected the bodies told VOA the victims of the mass murder were found dumped in a nearby village called Nyaung Yin in Myinmu township, separated from Tar Taing by the Mu River.

“All of them were villagers,” the man said, requesting anonymity for fear of government reprisal. “The soldiers took them as hostages and killed them. They shot five men in the mango grove. They shot their chests and heads. We found nine more bodies in another place on March 2. Three women and six men. We saw two more bodies the next day. The faces are no longer visible because they were brutally tortured. We burnt all of the dead bodies after we identified their names.”

According to Myanmar Now, currently publishing bilingual Burmese and English articles on its online portal, the Tar Taing massacre is “one of the worst massacres” since the military coup in February 2021.

As of this report, the junta has not released an official statement about the mass killings in Tar Taing Village. Their social media outlets, such as one on Telegram, refer to the raids as fighting against the presence of the People’s Defense Forces (PDF) in the villages. Locals told VOA there were no arms or PDF fighters in their village, only unarmed fishermen.

The PDF comprises small armed groups of young protesters who are easily overrun by the junta’s military force.

Mass killing in Shan State

Another mass killing took place in southern Shan state on March 11. A Buddhist monastery in Nanneint was attacked, leaving 22 civilians dead, including three monks. Their bloody bodies were left displayed in rows against the monastery walls in pools of blood.

VOA interviewed Khun Bedu, chairman of the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, also known as the KNDF, from bordering Karenni state. The group sent its members to the massacre site to document the killings and provided photo and video evidence to international news outlets including VOA.

The KNDF is an armed resistance group formed in response to the 2021 Myanmar coup. In his interview via Zoom last week, Khun Bedu said that bullets found near the victims were of a type used by the Myanmar military, substantiating the reports of government responsibility. After the soldiers left Nanneint village the next day, March 12, KNDF and local Pao ethnic PDF forces arrived at the monastery where they found the aftermath of the killings.

“Evidence shows the killing of the villagers was carried out by the junta. The type of bullets and the manner of the killings, with civilians being executed along the walls of the monastery, points to military involvement. Medical records show there were scratches on their backs and cigarette burns on their bodies.

“We found bodies with mutilated legs, and smashed hands; evidence that they were brutally tortured before being killed. The victims were finally shot in the head or the mouth. It is all documented, and verified by doctors on site,” Bedu noted.

A day before the mass killing in the monastery, Bedu said, “fighting had broken out in Nanneint Village on March 10 between the military and combined forces of local resistance armed groups.”

That fighting resulted in the military shelling and launching airstrikes directly at the village, prompting many of the civilians to take refuge in the monastery where they were found and killed. Other villagers “left for safer places,” Bedu said.

Responsibility for mass killings

In a response to VOA by phone on March 12, General Zaw Min Tun, a spokesperson for the junta, confirmed there was a massacre at Nanneint Monastery but said it was an act between competing armed groups and that the military, known as the “Tadmadaw,” was not involved.

He claimed that military and armed civilian groups cooperating in the area were only providing “security and law enforcement.”

“These KNDF groups, the terrorist groups, have been more active in the Pao area. … We have seen some deaths there. The issue is between them, but they blame the Tatmadaw.”

In a Zoom interview, National Unity Government Human Rights Minister Aung Myo Min told VOA that in the two years since the military coup there have been at least 64 civilian massacres of five people or more carried out by the junta. According to Min, mass killing is “a pattern by the junta attacking its own civilians.”

He added, “The killings are a war crime committed by the military.”

The NUG has called for an expansion of the International Criminal Court investigations into human rights abuses in Myanmar to include not only the treatment of the Rohingya, but also the killing of ethnic resistance groups all over Myanmar.
…

Two years after the military took control of Myanmar, widespread opposition to the junta has fueled an armed resistance and conflict across the country.

Journalists trying to report on the situation are often forced to work underground or in exile to avoid arrest or retaliation.

It’s a situation that brings its own challenges, including finding regular funding, withstanding pressure from the military and others, and keeping staff secure.

In the first few months of the takeover in 2021, the military revoked licenses of several media outlets and detained dozens of journalists.

The quickly diminishing environment for media led to the creation of Lu Nge Khit.

“We founded a media [organization] because we don’t want to give up our media freedom,” Lu Nge Khit editor Hsu Htet told VOA.

Freedom underground

The independent media outlet now reports on conflict, refugees and internally displaced people.

With a team of 16 journalists based throughout Myanmar, Lu Nge Khit in many ways is an underground operation.

Many of its team had joined the civil disobedience movement, Hsu Htet said.

“[They] lost their job(s) from their media organizations because they don’t agree with the stuff from their previous media organizations and don’t want to comply with the [State Administration Council] rules,” Hsu Htet said.

The outlet has built up a substantial Facebook following of more than 315,000, but after 18 months, Lu Nge Khit is struggling to have its work noticed more widely through its social media pages and website.

“Some of us don’t take salary from this organization. We’ve relied on donors, but other media relies on donors,” Hsu Htet said. “Because we are small, we face more challenges.

“We do not really have any resources…we are barely surviving. We don’t have [media] registration so many people don’t know about us, so it limits our capacity to get news, to reach out to our sources….it impacts on the quality of reporting,” she added.

Press registration is a tricky issue in the restrictive media environment.

To be legally able to report in Myanmar, news outlets must register with the military government. And to do that, journalists must provide their personal details.

With regional watchdog Reporting ASEAN showing 135 journalists detained so far since February 2021, many are wary of registering.

Tin Htar Swe is a former journalist for BBC Burmese who currently works as a freelance Myanmar analyst based in Britain.

The journalist, who was awarded an Order of the British Empire in 2014, said getting press accreditation means you must report the official narrative.

“One you are registered with [Myanmar’s] Ministry of Information and given a journalist pass, you have to toe their line, if you don’t toe the line, they can easily revoke the license,” she told VOA.

But on the flip side, she said, it’s a huge risk for journalists to keep reporting underground without accreditation.

“You can move from house to house, but the owner of the house has to register with the local administration that they have somebody staying overnight. If there is [someone] not from the area, they have to notify the local authorities they are staying with them. It’s impossible to be a professional journalist,” she said.

Media workers who have been released from prison also have said that authorities warned that if they keep reporting they will be “held accountable for all previous offences at once.” One reporter said they were told they would be shot, according to Reporting ASEAN.

In previous comments to VOA, the military spokesperson has dismissed concerns over the media environment, saying that members of the press and opposition forces on social media are spreading “fake news.”

Taking steps to protect staff

Some journalists with media accreditation still take steps to protect their staff.

Until the coup, the media outlet Myaelatt Athan reported on local news in and around Myanmar’s Magway region.

The news outlet has official press accreditation that is valid until 2024, but most of the staff report in self-exile.

“They [authorities] are searching for the media everywhere. They know our detailed information from the license registration. This is why I cannot stay no longer in Myanmar or in my hometown,” Salai Kaung Myat Min, the managing editor, told VOA. “[Some] still live in Myanmar, hiding town by town.”

The decision to leave came in 2021 when local police detained one of the outlet’s reporters.

Salai says that police demanded that Myaelatt Athan stop reporting in exchange for their colleague’s release.

Salai reluctantly agreed, but the editor had a plan. Once his journalist was freed and had left Myanmar completely, the editor started his media outlet again.

“This is why I was forced to stop Myaelatt at this time, the page, website, and everything. We created a new page,” Salai said.

Even then, the military has tried to influence reporting, the journalist said.

“[The military] wanted to negotiate with me, three or four times by phone calling. They don’t want to stop our media, but they wanted to give [us] some information, they want [us to report their] propaganda,” he said.

Salai however admitted that the situation in Myanmar has led to both sides trying to promote their narratives.

“Sometime the anti-military side, they want [to] promote their organizations, but I don’t want to promote them. I just want to know only about the ground situation, the realistic situation,” he said.

Hsu Htet echoed that difficulty.

“If [journalists] talk to the military or police for information they will be considered as informants and targeted by resistance groups,” she said. “If they report against the military, they are already targeted by these people.”
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Rahul Gandhi, leader of India’s main opposition Congress Party, was ousted from his parliament seat Friday. 

Gandhi was expelled from his lower house seat a day after a court ordered a two-year jail term for him in a defamation case stemming from 2019 remarks he made questioning why a number of thieves share a surname with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Gandhi’s lawyers are set to appeal the case and the politician has not been detained. 

Congress Party officials say the conviction was politically motivated. 

“The BJP is fearful about the rise of Rahul Gandhi,” Pradip Bhattacharya, a Congress Party lawmaker from West Bengal state told Reuters.  “He poses a direct threat to the Modi government,”

The 52-year-old politician was born into India’s most famous political dynasty.  Gandhi is the son, grandson and great-grandson of former prime ministers, beginning with independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru.
…

Republican House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul is demanding that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken provide documents on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. McCaul said the ‘catastrophic’ exit from Afghanistan emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine. Cindy Saine reports.
…

Leaders of Indian minority communities say controversial anti-conversion laws enacted in some states of India are aimed at persecuting and harassing Christian Muslim minorities, as the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has expressed concerns and called for the laws’ revocation.

“India’s state-level anti-conversion laws violate international human rights law’s protections for the right to freedom of religion or belief. They impermissibly limit and punish an individual’s right to convert and right to persuade or support another individual to convert voluntarily,” the commission said in a report released March 14, Issue Update: India’s State-Level Anti-Conversion Laws. 

“The anti-conversion laws also worsen religious freedom conditions in India which, as USCIRF has reported, are already poor,” the commission added.

Hindu groups and leaders of India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party  allege that Christian missionaries are converting people across India through allurement, use of force and fraudulent means. In recent years, they have also claimed that Muslims were converting people to Islam through unfair means. 

There are state-level anti-conversion laws enacted in 12 of India’s 28 states. Some other states are considering introducing the law. 

The states where the anti-conversion laws are in force say they have enacted them to tackle involuntary conversions.  

The USCIRF said several features of the anti-conversion laws, among them prohibitions on conversions, notice requirements, and burden-shifting provisions, are “inconsistent with international human rights law’s protections for freedom of religion or belief.”  

“Each of these features violates rights protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” the commission said in announcing the report. India has been a signatory to the declaration since 1942, and it also ratified the covenant in 1979.

The report also said “enforcement of state-level anti-conversion laws suggests the legislations’ intent is to prevent conversions to disfavored religions—such as Christianity and Islam— and not to protect against coerced conversions”. 

Chander Uday Singh, a senior counsel at India’s Supreme Court, said “there is no doubt whatsoever” that India’s anti-conversion laws are “intended to marginalize and persecute Muslims and Christians” and that the so-called issue of “love jihad” was a “vicious product of hate-spewing imaginations”. 

“Love jihad is a myth, a pernicious lie that has been repeated thousands of times in spite of being proved to be nonexistent. … Several state and national investigating agencies have closed their inquiries into the related cases on finding that there is no such thing as love jihad,” Singh told VOA.

New Delhi-based lawyer Mujeeb ur Rehman told VOA that charging someone and putting the onus to prove his innocence on him is “nothing more than prosecuting the person without evidence which can never be accepted in a civilized and liberal society.”

“In the true spirit of the Constitution, citizens are free to profess or even not to profess any religion as they want, and scrutinizing someone’s faith to look out for the motivation behind conversion from one religion to another should not be the domain of any State. It is intruding the personal domain or privacy of a person and it also raises questions on the capability of a person to choose right,” Rehman said. 

Gujarat-based Jesuit rights activist, the Rev. Cedric Prakash, said that the Article 25 of the Constitution of India guarantees that everyone has a right to freely preach, practice and propagate their religion.  

“But the draconian anti-conversion laws violate the fundamental rights of a citizen of India. The anti-conversion laws are clearly meant to crack down on India’s religious minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians. They are also meant to polarize the people on religious lines … and to legitimize majoritarianism in the country,” Prakash told VOA.   

However, the leaders of India’s ruling party insist that the anti-conversion laws have been enacted to “stop the conversions done by coercive measures.”  

“In India, many people are being converted by the promise of marriage, allurement of money and also through other unethical means. The anti-conversion laws are meant to put a stop to such illegal practices,” Alok Vats, a New Delhi-based senior BJP leader told VOA. 

“Certainly, we have no issues with voluntary conversions. None can challenge the freedom of a person changing religion voluntarily.”
…

Pakistan’s lingering political crisis is deteriorating further after election authorities delayed the polls for a key provincial legislature, a move legal experts and politicians are warning could plunge the nuclear-armed country into a constitutional crisis.

The Election Commission of Pakistan, or ECP, tasked with holding national and provincial elections, announced late Wednesday it is moving the vote for the legislative assembly of the Punjab province from April 30 to October 8 after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government refused to provide the necessary funds and security.

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which was in control of the legislature and that of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, dissolved both in January in a bid to push the government to call snap general elections in the country.

Khan denounced the commission’s announcement to postpone the election as a violation of the Constitution.

“For if this is accepted today, then it is the end of the Rule of Law in Pakistan,” the populist former prime minister said on Twitter.

“We dissolved our 2 provincial legislatures with the expectation that elections would be held in 90 days as clearly given in our Constitution. We did not take this action to allow a bunch of fascists to impose a reign of terror, violating the Constitution & Rule of Law,” Khan wrote.

The federal minister for law and justice, Azam Nazir Tarar, on Thursday defended the election panel’s decision to delay the polls until October, when the national parliament also completes its five-year mandatory term.

Tarar told a news conference in Islamabad the government was unable to fund and ensure the safety of the vote in the wake of a “dire economic crisis” and “deteriorating security situation” in Pakistan. He argued that both national and provincial elections must be held on the same day, as has been the tradition in the country.

Khan’s party said the government was shying away from the elections, fearing its defeat.

Legal experts maintained the government and the ECP both were constitutionally bound to organize the vote within 90 days and in line with a recent Supreme Court verdict ordering authorities to respect the deadline outlined in the constitution.

“Disgusted. Yet another dark moment in our sad history. Little men on high chairs,” tweeted Salman Akram Raja, a senior Supreme Court attorney, in response to postponing the polls.

Asad Rahim Khan, a lawyer and columnist, said the election panel’s move was “destructive for democracy” in Pakistan.

“The ECP shuttering the polls is violative of the Constitution, a mockery of the law, and contemptuous of the Supreme Court,” he said on Twitter. “This goes beyond voting preferences now: the principle – of the freedom to elect one’s representatives – is at stake.”

Michael Kugelman, the director of the South Asia Institute at the Washingon-based Wilson Center, said challenges of a looming economic meltdown, a constitutional crisis, political paralysis, institutional breakdowns, and resurgent terrorism are not new to the country.

“Pakistan has confronted all these challenges in the past, but rarely all at once and so acutely. The result is a slow-motion train wreck with no apparent end in sight,” Kugelman said on Twitter.

Khan, the cricket hero-turned-prime minister, was removed from office in a parliamentary no-trust vote last April, toppling his nearly four-year-old government and paving the way for the then-opposition leader, Sharif, to become the prime minister of a new coalition government.

Khan has since demanded a new election, calling his removal illegal. Sharif has rejected Khan’s demand, and the government has called for outlawing his party for being a “gang of militants.”

Khan has held massive anti-government protest rallies to promote his case, with thousands of people attending the gatherings. Recent surveys indicate Khan is the most popular national politician and his party has swept regional elections held since his ouster.

The 70-year-old politician was shot and wounded during a protest rally last November. Khan accused Sharif and an unnamed army general, among others, of plotting to kill him. Since then, he has largely confined himself to his home in Lahore, the capital of Punjab, and urged the courts to allow him to appear virtually in legal cases because of threats to his life.

Khan says the government has instituted more than 100 “fake” legal case challenges against him since his removal from power, including terrorism, blasphemy, corruption, and sedition charges. He rejects the allegations, saying they are part of efforts by Sharif and the powerful military to have him arrested or disqualified from national politics in the wake of his party’s popularity and sweeping victories in recent elections.

The government denies the charges, saying Khan is avoiding accountability for his alleged wrongdoings while in office.

Thousands of PTI supporters have clashed with Pakistani security forces in recent days, injuring dozens of people on both sides. The violence erupted last week when police raided Khan’s residence in Lahore to try to arrest him and later in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, where he made a court appearance.

The Sharif government has since unleashed a crackdown on the PTI, rounding up hundreds of its workers and second-tier leaders on terrorism charges and for other criminal offenses.

Critics say Khan is being punished for questioning the military’s involvement in politics.

The prestigious English language DAWN newspaper warned in an editorial this week against treating the country’s largest political party as a “terrorist outfit.”

The government “seems to be borrowing even its vocabulary from a dictator’s playbook,” the editorial read. “History will not judge kindly those who throw the laws of this land in the bin in their blind desperation to keep just one man and one political party away from power.”

Human Rights Watch on Tuesday accused Pakistani police of using “abusive measures” in an escalating confrontation with Khan’s supporters, such as striking them with batons, firing tear gas, water cannon, and rubber bullets, and detaining them under sweeping counterterrorism laws.

“The use of Pakistan’s vague and overbroad anti-terrorism provisions against opposition protesters is very worrying,” said Patricia Gossman, the associate Asia director at the U.S.-based watchdog, in a statement.
…

Sikh separatist leader Amritpal Singh was little known inside India until a month ago. Now police have launched a massive manhunt for him in India’s northern Punjab state after his calls for an independent Sikh homeland stoked fears of violence in a region that was gripped by a bloody insurgency four decades ago.

The 30-year-old Singh, a self-styled Sikh preacher, catapulted onto the national stage when he and scores of young men brandishing swords and guns stormed a police station in Punjab last month demanding the release of a jailed aide. Police later said they could not beat back the mob because they used the Sikh holy book as shields.

The images of Singh’s armed followers chasing policemen raised concerns that his support could be growing in the farming state, where nearly 60 percent of the population is Sikh.

Thousands of police and paramilitary forces have been searching for Singh since Saturday. More than 150 of his followers have been arrested and internet service has been restricted in the state.

Accused of sowing discord, Singh has been declared a fugitive. Promoting the cause of Khalistan — the name given to an independent Sikh homeland — has been outlawed in India and has little support in Punjab, according to analysts. It remains a rallying cry, though, among some sections of the Sikh diaspora in countries like Britain and Canada.

But the sudden emergence of Singh in Punjab revived chilling memories of the bloody insurgency that led to the death of thousands of people, including top officials in the 1980s and early 1990s. Former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984 after she ordered an army operation to flush out militants from the Golden Temple, one of Sikhism’s holiest sites.

Singh, who had moved to Dubai in 2012 to join his family’s transportation business, returned to India last year when he became the leader of a group called Waris Punjab De, or “the heirs of Punjab.” The organization played a role in mobilizing a massive, year-long protest movement by thousands of farmers in 2021 against agricultural reforms introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

In recent months, Singh led marches calling for protecting the rights of Sikhs against what he called the overreach of Modi’s Hindu nationalist government. He said an independent homeland was the only way to protect Sikh culture and address societal problems, such as the widespread use of drugs in the state.

“It is very peculiar how suddenly out of the blue he came from Dubai. He is not leading an organically grown movement of the kind witnessed during the 1980s. Today, there is virtually no public support in Punjab for Khalistan. It is only a demand raised by fringe elements in the state and in the Sikh diaspora,” pointed out political analyst Neerja Chowdhury.

Singh’s appearance also caused some concern — his long flowing beard revived memories of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the Sikh separatist leader who was blamed for leading the armed insurgency advocating a separate homeland in the1980s. He was killed during the army operation in the Golden Temple. Singh’s followers have often compared him to Bhindranwale and, in September, Singh was honored in a religious ceremony in Bhindranwale’s home village.

For authorities, the concern is whether he could build wider support in a state that is relatively affluent but where unemployment has been growing, farm incomes have dwindled and where drug and alcohol abuse among young people presents a challenge.

“Authorities wanted to nip any national security threat in the bud. Having gone through the bloody separatist movement in the 1980s and ‘90s, the government did not want to take any chances,” according to Chowdhury.

Saying that Punjab’s peace and harmony and the country’s progress were his top priorities, Chief Minister of Punjab state Bhagwant Mann declared that “we will not spare any force working against the country.”

Questions have been raised, however, about how Singh continues to elude police despite the massive manhunt.

The Punjab High Court on Tuesday demanded to know how he had managed to elude arrest. “You have 80,000 police personnel. How has he not been arrested? This is an intelligence failure,” the court said.

India also has lodged protests with Britain and the United States over separate incidents that involved vandalizing the Indian consulates in London and San Francisco during demonstrations by Sikh protesters held last Sunday (March 19), a day after the manhunt was launched for Singh. The protesters planted flags of Khalistan inside the San Francisco consulate and pulled down the Indian flag in its high commission in London.
…

An Indian court found opposition leader Rahul Gandhi guilty of defamation Thursday over his remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surname and sentenced him to two years in prison.

The case against Gandhi dates back to an election rally in 2019 where he said, “Why do all thieves have Modi as their surname?” In his speech, he then went on to name fugitive Indian diamond tycoon Nirav Modi, banned Indian Premier League boss Lalit Modi, and Narendra Modi.

Narendra Modi is not related to either of the other two.

The defamation case against Gandhi was filed by a leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in western Gujarat state. The complainant, Purnesh Modi, said Gandhi’s comments had “defamed the entire Modi community.”

Modi is a common last name in western Gujarat state.

Gandhi, who was present in the court when the verdict was announced, said his remarks were meant to highlight corruption and were not directed against any community. He won’t go to jail immediately as the court granted bail for 30 days to file an appeal against the verdict.

Mallikarjun Kharge, president of Gandhi’s Congress Party, said Gandhi would appeal against the verdict in a higher court and called Modi’s government “cowardly and dictatorial.”

After the verdict, Gandhi wrote on Twitter: “My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God, and non-violence the means to get it.”

Gandhi, a lawmaker, is one of the main opposition leaders in India. He will most likely go up against Modi when he seeks his third term as prime minister in 2024.
…

When Shavkat Mirziyoyev replaced longtime strongman Islam Karimov as Uzbekistan’s president in 2016, he promised democratic reforms, openness and accountability. But a key element of those reforms — a proposed rewrite of the country’s 31-year-old constitution ­— has democracy advocates asking whether it is a step forward or back.

Uzbek lawmakers gave nearly unanimous approval to a draft of a new basic law that has 26 new articles that contain over 150 new clauses outlining principles, such as the commitment to democracy. The draft will now be sent forward for a referendum vote on April 30. The legislators argue that, among other advancements, it elevates the parliament and restricts conflicts of interest in the system.

Both Washington and the United Nations have expressed support for Mirziyoyev’s agenda, boosting the government’s confidence. But on social media in Uzbekistan, the debate is focused on a provision extending the presidential term from five years to seven and making it possible for the term-limited Mirziyoyev to seek two more terms, potentially extending his time in office until 2040.

“No one doubts that the administration will get what it wants,” says Anora Sodiqova, chief editor of the Rost24.uz news site, which is halting its work due to continuous threats from political and business circles.

Sodiqova says she has come “under so much pressure for investigating corruption and vested interests in the system” that her team decided to be idle for a while.

Blogger and researcher Sardor Salim advocates “not participating in this charade.” He and other independent voices argue that Mirziyoyev is following in the footsteps of his autocratic predecessor by seeking to negate term limits that would force him to step down in 2026.

Still, the changes are supported by people like Mubashshir Ahmad, founder of Azon TV, who urges his fellow citizens to campaign and vote for the new constitution. These advocates credit Mirziyoyev for allowing unprecedented religious freedom and economic liberalization and hope the new constitution will put both on firmer legal ground.

That argument rings hollow for Sodiqova, who asks, “If democracy is on a firm path forward, why have the authorities increased pressure on so many of us? Why silence any skeptic with a bit of influence ahead of the referendum?”

Uzbekistan, where no leader has ever stepped down according to the constitution, is a country of young people. More than 75% of its 36 million-plus population is under 45.

“When he came to power, Mirziyoyev energized us with audacious pledges, admitting systemic problems, vowing to fight them, boosting our spirits. Seven years later, we find ourselves again under old terms and conditions – fear and pressure,” Sodiqova told VOA.

During recent visits to Uzbekistan, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk praised the Uzbek leader but reminded him of his promises.

Blinken said Washington “supports the full implementation of President Mirziyoyev’s reform agenda,” highlighting progress made on labor rights and pushing in other areas. “That includes delivering on commitments to defend religious freedom and press freedom and strengthen protections for vulnerable populations,” he said.

The Biden administration has also called for “fully and transparently investigating allegations of human rights violations committed by law enforcement officers” during a deadly wave of protests in July 2022 in the western region of Karakalpakstan.

Sixty-one Karakalpaks have been convicted of illegal acts as a result of the protests, but no official has been held accountable. Authorities say they have three servicemen in detention, charged with crimes, but human rights advocates fear they could be tried in a closed military tribunal.

Türk underscored the importance of fair trials at a March 15 press conference in Tashkent.

“As Uzbekistan maps out further reforms, my office is prepared to offer support in strengthening the social contract, based on inclusion, participation, and protection,” he said.

The protests, which claimed at least 21 lives, were sparked by a provision in the new draft constitution that would have revoked the region’s status as an autonomous territory within Uzbekistan. The provision, described as “the bloody chapter” of the reform process, has since been scrapped.

“Nothing will change without your consent and blessing,” Mirziyoyev assured Karakalpaks. The latest draft reflects the president’s promise, but Karakalpaks still want accountability for those who repressed the protesters and punishment for those who championed the amendments that sparked the unrest.

Campaigning elsewhere in Uzbekistan, Mirziyoyev has been interacting with farmers and soldiers and opening up about the country’s challenges, including the hard choices it must make as Russia wages war in Ukraine.

“They want us to pick a side,” he said in Surkhandarya, a southern region bordering Afghanistan, following talks with American and Russian officials. “But I will choose Uzbekistan’s national interests and am ready to die defending them.”

Last month in the Kashkadarya region, a large military hub bordering Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, Mirziyoyev acknowledged that many around him want to restrict freedom of media and expression. “But I like the breath of freedom and want our people to enjoy them, even though this makes my work difficult,” he said, expressing appreciation for “fair and justified criticism.”

“When we were a closed country, not backing media, people had no voice. … Now I’m online every day, a couple of hours when I can, personally following coverage. I write down issues they are raising, and nine out of 10 turn out to be true. Is this the right way to go? Of course, it is. Otherwise, we will not hear you,” Mirziyoyev told the public.

Following these remarks, nearly 50 activists, journalists and bloggers appealed to Mirziyoyev to do everything in his power to stop censorship and repression.

“Media are not allowed to freely raise problems. Journalists can’t cover the situation as they want. The state authorities relentlessly pressure news outlets as well as bloggers, controlling the tone and overall content to distort it or not publish and air it at all,” their open letter said.

The group, which includes Salim, Ahmad and Sodiqova, argued that the government must not see critical voices as a threat to peace.

“Mr. President, in pushing for freedom of speech and opinion we are not interested in jeopardizing Uzbekistan’s social and political stability,” they wrote. “On the contrary, we see security as the foundation of these freedoms. But security without these freedoms is fragile and transient.”

Uzbekistan’s state-funded Association of Journalists, meanwhile, claims that the media “is enjoying more freedom than ever.”

“Journalists or bloggers doing critical reports without enough basis or fairness must be held accountable,” its chief, Kholmurod Salimov, has written. His organization sees professional education as a remedy.

Journalists like Sodiqova, trained at home and abroad, still hope that Mirziyoyev hears their grievances. They consider him the only person who can change the status quo.

“Right now, I see us going backward to where we were six years ago, when Mirziyoyev announced reforms. If this upcoming referendum is the continuation of that agenda, shouldn’t we see the expansion of space for media and political freedoms?” said Sodiqova.
…

Growing up in a religious family in Pakistan, exiled journalist Taha Siddiqui wasn’t allowed comic books.

“My father was very religious,” Siddiqui told VOA, adding that his father believed that comic books and any drawings of the human body were “not allowed in Islam.”

But now the journalist, who has been living in Paris since 2018, is using that medium to tell his story of surviving an attempted kidnapping and other threats.

Released in France in March, Dissident Club is a comic book-style autobiography. And Siddiqui sees publishing it as an act of resistance.

“Comic-, graphic-style book writing is very common and popular throughout Europe, including France,” said Siddiqui. “So, my author friends suggested that I should write something in [that] style.”

Comics are a new venture for Siddiqui. When he lived in Pakistan he worked as a reporter with several international media outlets.

It’s work that earned him recognition, including the Albert Londres Prize in 2014 for his reporting on the dangers for health workers supplying polio vaccines in areas vulnerable to extremist groups.

The dramatic end to his journalism career in Pakistan is the start to Dissident Club.

“On January 10, 2018, I was going to Islamabad Airport when unknown armed men tried to kidnap me, but I managed to escape,” he told VOA.

The journalist was pulled from a taxi into a different car. Fortunately he was able to see an unlocked door and escaped the moving vehicle.

He believes he was targeted for his criticism of the Pakistani military, including his reporting for The New York Times exposing secret prisons.

Pakistani government and security agencies have denied allegations that state agencies are involved in enforced disappearances.

Siddiqui filed a first information report — the initial step in filing a police complaint — and was offered police protection.

But he said, “My friends from the media and my family advised me to leave the country, so I finally came to France with my wife and 4½-year-old child.”

The graphic novel also covers issues of extremism in the region, as viewed through Siddiqui’s upbringing, and details the period of 9/11, when Siddiqui returned to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia, and eventually became a journalist.

“This is my own story, but it is also the story of what was happening in the society at that time,” he said.

When he started reporting for foreign media, Siddiqui says that the media wing of the Pakistan Army, known as the ISPR, “started harassing and threatening me.”

A legal complaint was also filed against him under Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act.

“Asma Jahangir was my lawyer for that case, I have shown in the book how she helped me,” Siddiqui said.

The book also describes how his life in Pakistan gradually became difficult after the 2018 attack and how the circumstances forced him to leave the country.

The ISPR did not respond to VOA’s email request for comment.

Life outside Pakistan

Even in exile Siddiqui says he did not find complete safety.

American authorities contacted the journalist in late 2018 to say that his name was on a “kill list” and that if he ever went to Pakistan, he would be in danger. The French authorities also contacted him with the same information the following January.

“Many people ask me that you left Pakistan, you must have been safe. This is not true. There are many Pakistanis in exile who have had faced such disturbing incidents,” he said. “I still receive threatening phone calls, people coming to my workplace and harassing me. … My family members are still being harassed in Pakistan.”

Such threats are common for journalists in and outside of Pakistan, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), whose annually updated Press Freedom Index ranks Pakistan 157 out of 180 countries, where 1 has the best environment for journalists.

Daniel Bastard, RSF’s Asia-Pacific director, says the effect on media is devastating, with journalists aware that they potentially risk their lives for their work.

“There has been a pattern in recent years, through which Pakistani journalists living abroad have been subject to intimidation and more,” Bastard said. “The most extreme case is that of Arshad Sharif of course, who was killed in Kenya after having to flee his own country.”

Sharif was shot by police in Kenya last year in what Kenyan authorities at the time say was a case of mistaken identity.

Pakistan has set up a commission to investigate Sharif’s death and the country’s information minister has repeatedly called for others to avoid speculation while that commission investigates the facts.

Speaking about the environment for media in the country, Bastard said, “It seems that some state agencies in Pakistan, who are already closely monitoring what journalists can and cannot write or say, are also trying to prevent voices from speaking up about subjects that are taboo in the Pakistan-based media.

“These agencies have absolutely no limitation regarding the respect for the rule of law and the sovereignty of the countries where journalists [move to],” he said.

VOA attempted to reach Marriyum Aurangzeb, the federal minister of information and broadcasting, for comment. One of her staff said that the minister was busy but would answer later. At the time of publication, VOA had not received a response to its text message.

Pakistani authorities have previously said that Islamabad values the role of independent media.

Exiles unite

When Siddiqui needed a title for his book, he found an idea close to his new home.

The book is named after his bar in Paris — the Dissident Club — that he opened for exiles like himself.

Russian, Chinese, Iranian, Ukrainian and Afghan political exiles and refugees, among others, come for intellectual, political and cultural activities.

“Sometimes exile can make you feel a little lonely, so the idea of the bar was to sort of create a space where I would have of course, financial stability, but also meet similar people with similar backgrounds so that I feel like I’m not the only one doing this,” said Siddiqui.

“It’s a way to give meaning to my exile,” he added.

The journalist has also founded the website Safe Newsrooms, which focuses on media censorship in South Asia.

This story originated in VOA’s Urdu Service.
…

In a mansion in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif that was recently profiled on YouTube, all the windows and doors are bulletproof — a testament to the former residents’ security fears in a country where tens of thousands of people were killed each year in a war that took almost two decades to end.

In other videos, properties are shown having private jails, helipads, gardens with exotic plants, gyms, sauna and steam rooms, pools and other amenities that defy the description of Afghanistan as one of the world’s poorest countries, where most of the population cannot afford food.

Now vacant, these mini palaces belong to former warlords, government officials and lawmakers who fled the country before or immediately after the Taliban seized power in August 2021.

Despite their long-standing animosity toward the owners of these mansions, de facto Taliban authorities have not confiscated them so far, calling them private properties. Most are even protected against ransack and plunder, practices often seen during the many regime changes Afghanistan has experienced over the past few decades.

While the former Afghan elites are scattered around the world, most of them have regularly spoken against the Taliban, and some have even sought foreign assistance to wage another war against the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

The United States, which fought the Taliban for two decades, has said it does not support armed opposition against the Taliban, but has also repeatedly demanded the formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan.

Symbols of corruption 

Videos of the mansions posted on YouTube and other social platforms receive large viewership and generate passionate comments about corruption and abuse in the upper ranks of the former Afghan government.

“These places were built with corruption. … These mansions were built by the money [stolen] from the poor,” YouTube blogger Hamayon Afghan, who has produced videos from different parts of Afghanistan before and after the Taliban’s return to power, told VOA from Kabul.

For about 20 years, the United States and European donors invested heavily in building a democratic government, the rule of law and public accountability in Afghanistan, but the efforts largely failed because of endemic corruption.

Investigations by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) “identified corruption at virtually every level of the Afghan state — from salaries paid by international donors for Afghan soldiers and police who do not really exist to theft of U.S.-military-provided fuel on a massive scale.”

Of the $146.68 billion the United States appropriated for the reconstruction of Afghanistan between 2002 and 2022, SIGAR reviewed the spending of $63 billion and discovered that a staggering $19 billion, 30%, was lost to waste, fraud and abuse, a spokesperson told VOA.

Other independent organizations have made similar assessments.

“Corruption was central to the failure of the international effort to establish peace and security in Afghanistan,” Ilham Mohamed, a regional adviser at corruption watchdog Transparency International, told VOA.

“It undermined the legitimacy and capability of the Afghan government, hollowed out the Afghan military, and channeled resources to and strengthened popular support for the Taliban,” Mohamed said.

Accountability

Speaking to a VOA television host, Atta Mohammad Noor, a former governor of Balkh province whose lavish lifestyle has been reported in the media, accused the Taliban of using several of his properties for various military and administrative purposes.

“Only my residence has been vacated,” Noor told the host via video link from the United Arab Emirates, adding that he would not return to Afghanistan to claim his properties.

The Taliban claim they have offered a blanket amnesty to all their former enemies, but the U.N. said some former Afghan military personnel have been killed, detained or tortured by Taliban gunmen over the past 18 months.

Taliban authorities have also indicated they would not prosecute former Afghan officials on charges of past corruption and abuse unless there are individual complainants seeking reparation and justice.

There is no anti-corruption entity in the Taliban’s interim administration, and it is unclear how the group investigates and handles corruption within its own ranks.

In the comments posted under the videos showing the houses of the former officials, many called for some sort of accountability.

“Eight out of 10 Afghans we speak to demand accountability from previous officials and leaders,” YouTuber Afghan said.

It is unclear if the former elites can sell their real estate in Afghanistan and take the funds abroad.

For some owners, potential risks from the Taliban outweigh the financial attraction of their properties.

“I call on the Taliban to identify all my properties and either sell them or destroy them by bombs and mines. They do not have the value of the wing of a fly or a mosquito for me,” Noor said.

When the VOA host asked him about his collection of expensive watches, Noor smiled and said, “I have taken them with me.” 
…

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. says the locations of four new military bases that will house a rotating crew of Americans will soon be revealed.

Marcos told reporters in Manila Wednesday that some of the new sites will be in the northern and southern Philippines and western Palawan province.

The president also said sites will boost the country’s ability to defend its eastern coast, including the coastline of its largest island, Luzon, which is the closest Philippine island to Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing claims is part of China.

The expansion is part of the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which includes five existing sites.

The expansion of the agreement comes as the two longtime allies seek to counter China’s increasing assertiveness toward Taiwan and Beijing’s actions in the South China Sea.

Beijing has accused Washington of endangering “regional peace and stability” with its increasing military presence in the Philippines.

The new bases are also opposed by some local Philippine officials, who fear the new EDCA sites will put them at the center of a potential armed conflict between the United States and China over Taiwan.

Marcos says he has spoken with local officials about the importance of the new bases and “why it will actually be good for their provinces.”

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
…

At least 13 people were killed across Afghanistan and Pakistan by a powerful earthquake that struck northeast Afghanistan Tuesday. 

The U.S. Geological Survey says the 6.5 magnitude quake struck about 40 kilometers southeast of the town of Jurn in the mountainous Hindukush region, at a depth of 118 kilometers.  

At least four people were killed and 50 others injured in northeast Afghanistan, while officials in Pakistan say at least nine people were killed and 44 injured in the northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.  

Dozens of houses and buildings collapsed or were heavily damaged. Tremors from the quake were felt across South Asia as far away as New Delhi, more than 2,000 kilometers from the epicenter. 

The region is prone to violent seismic events. Tuesday’s quake occurred nearly a year after a 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck southeastern Afghanistan, killing more than 1,000 people. Tens of thousands of people across Pakistan and Kashmir were killed by a 7.6 magnitude quake in 2005. 
…

USGS said the quake was centered near Jurm in northeastern Afghanistan and had a depth of 187 kilometers
…

A global rights organization has accused Pakistani police of using “abusive measures” in an escalating confrontation with former prime minister Imran Khan’s supporters amid a worsening political environment within the nuclear-armed country.

Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that police had charged protesters with batons and detained them under sweeping counterterrorism laws.

“The use of Pakistan’s vague and overbroad anti-terrorism provisions against opposition protesters is very worrying,” said Patricia Gossman, the associate Asia director at the U.S.-based watchdog, in a statement.  

She urged Pakistani authorities to charge protesters under “appropriate” laws if they believed that Khan or his supporters’ actions had resulted in violence or constituted a real threat to public safety.

Thousands of supporters of Khan’s opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) political party have clashed with police over the past week outside a courthouse in the capital, Islamabad, and near his residence in the eastern city of Lahore.  

The clashes erupted after authorities attempted to force the opposition leader to appear in court in connection with various cases brought against him.

Police have fired tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets against protesters and charged them with batons, prompting PTI workers to attack law enforcement personnel with sticks and stones. The violence has injured dozens of people on both sides and damaged several vehicles.

Authorities have since charged Khan, 70, and scores of his party members with terrorism offenses, rioting, assault on police and criminal intimidation.

Fawad Chaudhry, a central PTI leader, claimed in a tweet Tuesday that an ongoing police crackdown on his party has led to the arrest of more than 500 party workers.  

Police have confirmed rounding up more than 200 protesters in Islamabad and scores of others in Lahore, saying raids were being carried out to arrest more in connection with the clashes.

“All sides should display restraint and respect for human rights and the rule of law,” Gossman said. “It is vitally important for the police to respect the right to the peaceful assembly while holding those responsible for unlawful violence to account.”

Khan, the cricket hero-turned-prime minister, was removed from office in a parliamentary no-trust vote last April, toppling his nearly four-year-old government and paving the way for the then-opposition leader, Shehbaz Sharif, to become the prime minister of a new coalition government.

The deposed Pakistani leader has since been demanding a new election, calling his removal illegal. He has held massive protest rallies across the country to promote his case, with thousands of people attending the gatherings.  Recent surveys indicate Khan is the most popular politician in Pakistan.  

Khan was shot and wounded during a protest rally last November. He accused Sharif and an unnamed army general, among others, of plotting to kill him. Since then, he has urged the courts to allow him to appear virtually in dozens of cases brought against him — due to the threats on his life.

Sharif has rejected Khan’s demand for early elections, saying they would be held as scheduled later this year when the current parliament completes its mandatory five-year term.

Khan’s party says the government has brought 97 legal cases against him since his ouster, including sedition, terrorism, blasphemy, and corruption charges. He appeared before a provincial high court in Lahore Tuesday and secured protective bail in fresh terrorism cases against him, his lawyers said.

The PTI chief rejects the allegations, calling them “fake” and part of alleged efforts by Sharif and the military to have him arrested or disqualified from national politics in the wake of his party’s popularity and sweeping victories in recent elections.

The government denies Khan’s charges. Some ministers have lately even called for outlawing the PTI.

“Gang of Militants”

On Monday Sharif chaired a meeting of his coalition partners where Khan’s party was denounced as a “gang of militants.”

A post-meeting statement said the government could not tolerate “this enmity against the state” and decided “that action would be taken according to the law,” the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency reported Tuesday.

Pakistan’s parliament has been convened for a special joint session on Wednesday where lawmakers would “take important decisions” to enforce the state’s authority, the news agency reported, without elaborating.  

The ousted prime minister launched his PTI (which translates to Pakistan Movement of Justice in the local language) 25 years ago to enter Pakistani politics after leading the national team in winning the 1992 Cricket World Cup and establishing an internationally recognized charity hospital for cancer patients in Lahore.  

Political tensions have risen as the country of about 220 million people is on the brink of financial default, with inflation rising to historical levels and foreign exchange reserves sinking to record lows.
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Sri Lanka has secured a $ 2.9 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, raising hopes the funding will mark the beginning of economic revival in a country confronting its worst crisis in decades.  

The IMF approval Monday came about a year after the island nation of 22 million was plunged into turmoil as it grappled with crippling shortages of food, fuel and medicine, triggering massive street protests.    

Although the situation has improved marginally, the country still faces an uphill task in repairing its broken economy. The snaking lines for fuel have vanished, the hours-long daily power cuts have ended and severe shortages of cooking gas have eased.  But high inflation is still hurting millions of people and the government suspended repayment of its foreign debt as its foreign exchange reserves dipped to record lows.  

The approval of the IMF rescue package took longer than initially expected as Sri Lanka negotiated with its biggest creditor, China, to support the restructuring of its debt.

“Sri Lanka is no longer deemed bankrupt by the world,” Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe said in a video statement. “The loan facility serves as an assurance from the international community that Sri Lanka has the capacity to restructure its debt and resume normal transactions.” 

The IMF will immediately disburse $333 million to Sri Lanka, with more funds to follow in the coming months. The president’s office said in a statement that the agreement will enable the country to access up to $7 billion altogether from the IMF and other international financial institutions.  

“The amount of the loan may not be large, but its significance lies in the IMF saying that it is OK to lend to Sri Lanka,” says Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Executive Director at the Center for Policy Alternatives in Colombo. “That opens the doors for other international lenders to come forward.” 

However, the road to recovery will not be easy — the IMF loan has been approved with conditions that will involve tightening public spending and rolling back some policies that led to the current crisis.  

The government has already raised income taxes and slashed electricity and fuel subsidies, fulfilling some of those conditions. But there are more stringent reforms that will have to be implemented in the months ahead.  

Analysts say that the government could face hostility from trade unions over plans to privatize several loss-making state-owned companies as part of the reform agenda. Earlier this month, the government’s decision to postpone local elections because of lack of funds triggered angry protests.  

The government also agreed to enact tough anti-corruption laws as it negotiated with the IMF, which has said that Colombo must rein in the corruption that has been partly blamed for the crisis.  

The IMF said Tuesday it is also assessing governance in Sri Lanka, making it the first Asian country facing scrutiny for corruption as part of a bailout program.  

“We emphasize the importance of anti-corruption and governance reforms as a central pillar of the program,” Peter Breuer, the IMF’s senior mission chief for Sri Lanka, told reporters Tuesday. “They are indispensable to ensure the hard-won gains from the reforms benefit the Sri Lankan people.” 

There are some hopeful signs that the economy is now on the right path. The crucial tourism industry that was devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic is recovering as visitors begin to return to the island country’s pristine tropical beaches.  

“Last year, I lost my job, and I was unemployed for almost nine months. It was a very bad period for me,” says tour guide Hasitha Vishwa, who is based in Kalutara, famed for its beaches. “But since November, I have again found work as tourists from countries like India, Russia and Britain return. So, things are a little better,” he said, expressing hope that the IMF loan is a signal that the worst is over the country. 

The economy of a country that just years ago was ranked as a middle- income country unraveled after being hit both by the COVID-19 pandemic and economic mismanagement blamed on the previous government led by former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. He resigned last July after protestors stormed his residence.  

The protests ended after Wickremesinghe took a tough approach to the demonstrations but there is simmering anger in the country over the difficult times that lie ahead.  

“The protests now are over the higher taxes and electricity tariffs that ordinary people have to pay when they are already facing difficulties. There will be resentment over the conditions that the IMF loan involves,” according to analyst Saravanamuttu.  

The situation in Sri Lanka is still bleak, according to aid organizations. Half of the families in the country have been forced to reduce portions they feed their children, according to a survey by Save the Children released this month.
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow this week suggests China does not think the Kremlin should face accountability for the “numerous war crimes and other atrocities” committed by Russia’s armed forces in Ukraine that was documented in a State Department report.

The State Department unveiled its 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices on Monday, which cites “credible reports of summary execution, torture, rape, indiscriminate attacks, and attacks deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure by Russia’s forces in Ukraine, all of which constitute war crimes.” 

The report says the crimes occurred following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

“Instead of even condemning [Russia forces], [the People’s Republic of China] would rather provide diplomatic cover for Russia to continue to commit those very crimes,” Blinken told reporters during a press conference on Monday.

Russia-China

The top U.S. diplomat said the United States expects that China may use Xi’s visit to reiterate calls for a cease-fire under its peace proposal.

“The fundamental element of any plan for ending the war in Ukraine and producing adjusted durable peace must be upholding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, in accordance with the United Nations’ Charter,” Blinken urged.

White House official John Kirby, National Security Council strategic communications coordinator, said Monday, “Any cease-fire that does not address the removal of Russian forces from Ukraine would effectively ratify Russia’s illegal conquest.”

The State Department’s annual human rights report also underscored cases of forced deportation of civilians and children from Ukraine to Russia. 

The report comes after the International Criminal Court issued warrants for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a Russian children’s rights official for their roles in alleged war crimes relating to the illegal transfers and deportations of children from occupied Ukrainian territories to Russia. 

Moscow said the arrest warrants are outrageous and has dismissed the prospect of Putin going to trial. Russia does not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction. 

U.S. President Joe Biden and senior officials from his administration have accused Russia of committing war crimes and atrocities in Ukraine. In February, the State Department determined that members of the Russian forces and other Russian officials had committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine.

The report also highlighted concerns about continuing human rights abuses in Iran, China, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma,) Afghanistan, South Sudan, Syria and other authoritarian nations. 

Afghanistan

The State Department report gave a grim outlook on the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.

“The Taliban relentlessly discriminates against and represses women and girls, so far issuing 80 decrees and that restrict women’s freedom of movement and the right to education and work,” said Blinken on Monday.

In December, the Taliban ordered international and national nongovernmental organizations to suspend Afghan female staff from the workplace. 

Iran

On Iran, Blinken said this year’s report documents in detail the Iranian regime’s violent crackdown and its continued denial of the Iranian people’s universal human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran’s so-called morality police last September for an alleged dress code violation triggered peaceful protests across Iran.

“In the wake of the tragic death of Mahsa Amini, authorities have killed hundreds of peaceful protesters, including dozens of children, and arbitrarily detained thousands,” said Blinken on Monday.

While the Iranian government launched an investigation after the death of Amini, it focused on the acts of the protesters whom the government called “rioters” with no indication it would investigate the conduct of security forces, said the State Department report. 

China

On China, Blinken said, ”Genocide and crimes against humanity” continued to occur against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang). 

These crimes include the arbitrary imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty of more than one million civilians, forced sterilization, coerced abortions, rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence, and persecution including forced labor and draconian restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, freedom of expression, and freedom of movement, according to the human rights report.

The report added some activists and organizations accused the Beijing government of forcibly harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience, including religious and spiritual adherents such as Falun Gong practitioners and Muslim detainees in Xinjiang.

“Organ harvesting has been a part of the human rights report, it has been reported on there,” said Erin Barclay, State Department acting Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. “We will continue to focus on that as an issue across the broad spectrum of human rights and trafficking issues.”

On Myanmar, the report said the military regime continues to use violence to brutalize civilians and consolidate its control, killing more than 2,900 people and detaining more than 17,000 since a military coup in February 2021.

The new report documents the status of respect for human rights and worker rights in 198 countries and territories. The State Department has issued its annual Country Report on Human Rights Practices for more than 40 years. 
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The United Nations has renewed its call for Afghanistan’s Taliban to immediately reopen schools to teenage girls, saying the de facto authorities have no justification for denying the right to education on any grounds, including religion or tradition.

“The ongoing unlawful denial of girls and young women’s right to education in Afghanistan marks a global nadir in education, impacting an entire gender, a generation, and the future of the country,” a U.N. panel of experts said Monday.

There is no indication the Taliban intend to lift the ban on female education as secondary schools across the South Asian nation reopen later this week after winter break, the statement lamented.

“Instead, it appears that for the second successive school year, teenage girls will be banned from resuming their studies,” the U.N. panel said, adding that Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls and young women are barred from receiving an education.

Separately, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, while launching the 2022 Human Rights Report on Monday, renewed Washington’s denunciation of curbs on Afghan women’s access to education and work.

Blinken said the Taliban leadership “relentlessly discriminates and represses” Afghan women. He noted the de facto authorities have so far issued 80 decrees that restrict women’s freedom of movement and the right to education and work.

“I’ll say very simply that we deplore the edicts,” Blinken told reporters.

He said the order banning Afghan female employees of nongovernmental organizations from workplaces “imperils” millions of Afghans who depend on humanitarian assistance for survival.

The Taliban returned to power in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops withdrew from Afghanistan after two decades of war.

The hardline former insurgent group has since implemented its strict interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, barring most women from workplaces and banning female education beyond grade six in the war-torn country of about 40 million people.

The Taliban have rejected calls to reverse the bans, saying they align with local tradition and Sharia.

No country has formally recognized the de facto Afghan authorities as the legitimate rulers, citing human rights concerns, particularly the treatment of women.

“I think it’s safe to say from conversations with countries around the world that to the extent the Taliban is looking for more normal relations with countries around the world, that will not happen so long as they continue to advance these repressive edicts against women and girls,” Blinken stressed.

Meanwhile, Qatar said Monday it had hosted talks with a Taliban delegation led by Education Minister Mawlawi Sayyid Habeeb on “the future of education in Afghanistan and the challenges and obstacles facing it.”

The Foreign Ministry in Doha said regional UNICEF representatives had also attended the meeting where “equal access to education for all, especially girls” was discussed, among other issues.

“The participants also agreed on the need to ensure the right to education for all, develop a common vision that deals with challenges, and provide high-quality education opportunities for all Afghan students in all regions,” the statement said.

It quoted the Taliban delegation praising Qatar’s efforts “in organizing that event that would come up with solutions to help the Afghan people improve the quality of education and ensure its access to male and female students” across Afghanistan.

Western governments relocated their embassies from the Afghan capital, Kabul, to Doha after the Taliban takeover. Russia, Turkey, Qatar and Afghanistan’s neighbors — including China, Pakistan and Iran — are among over a dozen countries that have kept their embassies open in Kabul. They have also allowed the Taliban to run Afghan embassies and consulates in their territories.
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A police crackdown in Pakistan has led to the arrest of around 300 supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan for their alleged involvement in recent clashes with security forces and arson.

Authorities and Khan’s opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said Monday that the arrests occurred in the capital, Islamabad, and the eastern city of Lahore.

A police statement confirmed overnight raids had rounded up some 200 PTI supporters in the capital for their role in arson and attacks that injured dozens of security forces. The rest of the arrests took place in Lahore. The detainees faced terrorism and other offenses.

Khan’s party workers also clashed with security forces for two straight days starting last Tuesday after police officers attempted to arrest the 70-year-old opposition leader at his Lahore residence for failing to appear before an Islamabad court hearing graft charges against him.

Another round of violent clashes took place on Saturday outside a court compound in Islamabad when Khan was due to face charges of unlawfully selling state gifts he received while in office.

Fawad Chaudhry, a central PTI leader, told reporters police had raided the homes of all senior party leaders late on Sunday.

Khan condemned the police action against his party.

“Fascism at unprecedented levels with police in Islamabad raiding homes without warrants to abduct PTI workers,” he said on Twitter late Sunday. “We demand the immediate release of all our workers & their children who have been abducted.”

Khan, the cricket hero-turned prime minister, was removed from office in a parliamentary no-trust vote last April, toppling his nearly four-year-old government and paving the way for the then-opposition leader, Shehbaz Sharif, to become the prime minister of a new coalition government.

Since then, in major protest rallies across Pakistan, the ousted prime minister has been demanding a snap election, alleging his removal was illegal because the Pakistani military and Sharif, in collaboration with the United States, orchestrated it.

Washington and Islamabad have rejected the charges. Sharif has also turned down calls for a snap vote until later this year when parliament completes its mandated five-year term.

Khan’s party says the government has brought 97 legal cases against him since his ouster, ranging from sedition, terrorism, blasphemy, and corruption charges.

The PTI chief rejects the allegations, calling them “fake” and part of alleged efforts by Sharif and the military to have him arrested or disqualified from national politics in the wake of his party’s popularity and sweeping victories in recent elections.

The government denies Khan’s charges. Some ministers have lately even called for outlawing the PTI, even though recent surveys have found Khan to be the most popular leader with a massive following in urban centers of Pakistan.

Khan launched his PTI party 25 years ago to enter Pakistani politics after leading the national team in winning the 1992 Cricket World Cup and establishing an internationally recognized charity hospital for cancer patients.

Khan was shot and wounded during a protest rally last November. Khan accused Sharif and an unnamed army general, among others, of plotting to kill him. Since then, he has urged the courts to allow him to appear virtually in the dozens of cases brought against him — due to the threats to his life.

Pakistan’s lingering political turmoil comes amid a deepening economic crisis facing the country of about 220 million people. Inflation has risen to historic levels and foreign exchange reserves have sunk to record lows amid fears of a default on foreign debt payments.
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