The normal trade and movement of people between Pakistan and Afghanistan fully resumed on Saturday after the two sides reopened a key border crossing that was shut nearly a week ago by Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, stranding people and thousands of trucks carrying food and essential items.

The Afghan embassy in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, announced the reopening of the Torkham border on Saturday on Twitter. Pakistani officials and Afghanistan’s Taliban-appointed administrator in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province also confirmed that the border crossing is open to passengers and trade.

The announcement sparked a wave of joy among those who had been waiting for the reopening of the international trade route since Sunday, when Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers closed the crossing. The Taliban had claimed Islamabad was not abiding by an agreement with Kabul to allow sick Afghan patients and their caretakers to cross into Pakistan without travel documents for medical care.

Last Monday, Afghan Taliban forces and Pakistani border guards exchanged fire, wounding a Pakistani soldier. Since then, officials from the two sides were in talks to resolve the issue amid demands from people on both sides to immediately reopen the crossing.

On Wednesday, Khawaja Mohammad Asif, Pakistan’s defense minister, and Lieutenant General Anjum Nadeem, head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, traveled to Kabul and met senior Taliban officials to discuss the closure and other issues.

After the visit, the crossing was briefly reopened by the Afghan Taliban to allow some of the thousands of trucks that had lined up for days at the border — many with vegetables, fruits and other perishable food items — to cross and ease the backlog. But Pakistan shut the border on Thursday, saying it needed an explanation from the Afghan side about the abrupt closure of the border on Sunday.

Pakistani and Taliban officials on Friday held talks and finally agreed to reopen the border.

On Saturday, Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, a director of the Pakistan-Afghanistan joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said “we are happy to confirm that Torkham is fully open for trade and movement of people.” He said jubilant Afghan and Pakistani truck drivers were crossing the key trade route with supplies.

The Torkham border crossing is a vital commercial artery and a trade route to Central Asian countries, but Pakistan has accused the Afghan Taliban of providing sanctuary for Pakistani militants whose cross-border attacks have led to a spike in violence in Pakistan.

Pakistan recently warned that it has the right to target Pakistani Taliban sanctuaries in Afghanistan if the Afghan Taliban administration fails to rein in the militants, increasing the prospect of more cross-border violence. The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, are a separate group but allied with the Afghan Taliban, who seized power more than a year ago as U.S. and NATO troops withdrew from the country after 20 years of war.

The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan has emboldened the TTP, which in recent months has stepped up attacks in Pakistan, where security forces often raid their hideouts.
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Pakistani officials say at least 13 people were killed and 14 were injured in an accident on Multan-Sukkur Motorway on Friday night.

District Police Officer Rizwan Umar Gondal told Dawn.com, a Pakistani website, that a passenger bus stopped to let its passengers off to help people in an overturned van.

As the passengers were helping the people, a Jeep smashed into the bus, resulting in the deaths and injuries.

Traffic accidents in Pakistan are typically due to traffic rules violations, resulting in thousands of deaths and injuries every year.   
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On January 31, when Uzbekistan found 22 Karakalpaks guilty of crimes against the state, VOA spoke with seven of them, including a prisoner who died four days later. Their stories reveal the complexities and contradictions prevailing in this part of Central Asia.

In Bukhara, the trial of 39 more Karakalpaks is underway with no reporters or outside observers present. “The doors are wide open,” said Aziz Abidov, the court’s spokesperson.

The defendants in both trials, almost all men, were charged in connection with unrest on July 1- 2, 2022, that ended in the deaths of at least 21 people in the Republic of Karakalpakstan, an autonomous western territory of Uzbekistan.

Authorities cited security concerns as justification for holding the trials in Bukhara, rather than Karakalpakstan, where large crowds gathered during hearings held after the arrests of 516 people suspected of involvement in the violence.

As the trial of the first 22 began in November, the Interior Ministry confirmed it had 59 people in custody, including those in the first batch prosecuted, and that two had been conditionally released.

The proceedings have attracted little attention or media coverage in the capital, Tashkent, where many people have simply assumed that the system would find all the accused guilty.

Several media outlets, including those in Karakalpakstan, said they lacked resources to cover the trials, and in any case preferred to avoid “headaches with authorities.” But the website Gazeta.uz had its cameras in the courtroom for a few days.

VOA observed the last part of the first trial and on January 31 carried the verdict live: six suspects were released with suspended sentences, and the others received prison terms. Dauletmurat Tajimuratov, 44, described as “the mastermind of the attempt to overthrow the Karakalpak government,” was sentenced to 16 years.

Denouncing the verdict, his brother Renat Tajimuratov told VOA that the family had no complaints about the process or the judge.

“We will definitely appeal the sentence,” Tajimuratov said. “We proved that my brother did not commit any crimes against the state, did not engage in separatism nor urge people to commit violence. … This trial exposed the accusations were baseless. All should have walked free today.”

He argued that the unrest was instigated by politicians in Tashkent and the regional capital, Nukus, who pushed for constitutional changes that would have deprived Karakalpakstan of its autonomous status. “How come none of these folks are being held accountable? Why aren’t they on trial?” Tajimuratov asked.

VOA heard similar grievances from every Karakalpak in Bukhara, including the defendants and their relatives. Almagul Seytimbetova appealed to the president to pardon her son Nurlan Sultamuratov, 24, who received a three-year prison sentence “for threatening public safety.”

Following the violence, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev quickly rescinded the proposed amendments to the constitution, which currently describes Karakalpakstan as a sovereign republic with the right to secede through a referendum, a special status thousands of citizens came out defending. On February 8, the Uzbek general prosecutor’s office announced that three law enforcement officers were under arrest for their role in the July unrest.

At trial, the defendants, including the only female, Lolagul Kallykhanova, 34, said the protest was prompted by concern that Karakalpakstan would lose its special status as a republic within Uzbekistan.

Kallykhanova, a journalist-blogger, and other co-defendants in the courtroom were tearful. Publicly expressing contrition, they stressed that they had been merely exercising their constitutional right to free expression.

None of those VOA spoke with complained about detention conditions or claimed to have been tortured. But during the trial, Tajimuratov described having suffered physical abuse at the time of his arrest.

When VOA asked Ahmet Smetullayev, 30, about his worst moment in jail, he said, “I don’t wish anyone to ever end up there.”

Polat Shamshetov, 45, former internal affairs officer and son of a former Karakalpak leader, expressed relief that he had “only received six years” for what he described as being “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Shamshetov said the detainees were treated better now than in the past. “Having been part of the system, I surely notice the difference.”

But he died February 4 from a reported “thromboembolism of the pulmonary artery and acute heart failure.” A parliamentary commission investigation confirmed that conclusion, but other Karakalpak activists remain unconvinced.

Bakhtiyar Kadirbergenov, 37, said he came back from Russia to help Karakalpakstan develop. As an engineer, he had opportunities abroad, but aspired to launch a social enterprise at home, “plans destroyed by last year’s events.” He was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Baffled

Seyipnazar Kalimov, 43, who got a six-year sentence, insisted his participation in the protest was minimal. Calling himself “uneducated, lost in the crowd,” he claimed he didn’t hurt anyone and saw himself as victim of some conspiracy that “I don’t understand.”

“I’m not against anyone or any government,” said Azamat Turdanov, 38, another of those who were released.

Like other defendants, Turdanov maintained that no foreign element supported the protesters, refuting a theory put forward by officials, including some of those in Karakalpakstan’s leadership.

“We are not traitors,” exclaimed Azamat Nuratdinov, 34, who wrote poems during his seven months of pre-trial detention. Reciting lines on Uzbek-Karakalpak unity, he urged people to stay calm, adding: “Don’t believe in everything you see online.”

Domestic and foreign critics have cited the trial as evidence that the Uzbek court system still lacks an independent judiciary.

But Kallykhanova said she did not worry about such assessments. “I’ve never been afraid of telling the truth. I spent seven months behind bars and would not hide it if abused in any way. We’ve had enough time and the opportunity to speak up,” she said, rejecting suspicions that defendants were prepped for trial.

Prosecutors had asked for 11 years in prison; she got 3.5 years of probation. Kallykhanova said she had been bracing for the worst, speculating that the judge must have shown mercy to a “woman of childbearing years.”

Almost all the defendants, previous and current, have expressed remorse. They include journalists, entrepreneurs and other specialists. Karakalpak activists, including in Europe and neighboring countries, say fear drives these courtroom confessions.

Persecution

Watching from Kazakhstan, Aqylbek Muratbai sees only the persecution of Karakalpaks.

“I’m convinced that arrests after [the] Karakalpakstan protests aren’t carried out on principle. They arrested everyone who was somehow engaged in civic activity and is respected among Karakalpaks. There is a purposeful destruction of Karakalpak intelligentsia,” Muratbai wrote on Twitter.

“Every Uzbekistan citizen (including me) risks being persecuted for civic activism, arrested on false charges, unfair trial, torture and accidental death in prison,” he tweeted, adding “this leads to even more radicalization of supporters of Karakalpakstan separation.”

The parliamentary commission, tasked to report on the turmoil, includes rights defenders Azam Farmonov and Gulnoz Mamarasulova, representing local and foreign organizations.

Farmonov, a former political prisoner, told VOA, “This has probably been the most open and fair court proceeding ever in Uzbekistan.”

“Extensive work is required to achieve judicial independence, but this trial demonstrated that if steps are taken accordingly, we can ensure freedoms and the rule of law,” Farmonov said.

Mamarasulova admitted that Uzbekistan’s criminal justice system has long been corrupt: “As a result, there is multifold distrust and hate among our people towards the system.”

But in recent years, she has observed improvements: “Thousands of people have been exonerated of baseless charges in trials nationwide.”

She said Uzbekistan, including Karakalpakstan, will have to be resolute because an abysmal rights record still overshadows advancements.

Mamarasulova agrees with those demanding fairness and integrity: “The government must be accountable to its people. If they wanted to amend the constitution, they should have checked with the Karakalpak people first. That kind of engagement could have prevented this unrest.”
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Uber Technologies Inc. said on Friday plans by the local government in India’s Delhi city to only allow electric vehicles to function as bike taxis would risk “finishing off the sector” and impact the mobility needs of millions.

Delhi’s plans, part of a new policy to regulate vehicles used by ride-hailing companies like Uber and rival Ola, are being finalized and will be rolled out soon, the Economic Times reported earlier this week.

Reuters could not immediately confirm those plans.

If implemented, this would mark an aggressive step towards the country’s ambitions to ramp up the transition to vehicles that run on clean energy to reduce oil imports and curb pollution.

Uber, in a blogpost, said any such move would put at risk the livelihood of over 100,000 drivers in the city.

“Steep and infeasible EV mandates risk finishing off the sector as we know it. The impact of such a decision on the livelihoods and mobility needs of millions of Delhiites is clear,” San Francisco-headquartered Uber said, urging the government to initiate industry dialog.

Uber has set a 2040 target for 100% of its rides to be in zero-emission vehicles, public transport or with micro-mobility, including in India.

Earlier this month, Uber announced plans to introduce 25,000 EVs over three years in India. Electric cars will however still be a fraction of Uber’s current overall active fleet of 300,000 vehicles in India.

On Sunday, the Delhi government in newspaper ads said digital platforms offering two-wheeler bike taxi rides should not do so as it violates certain existing transport rules.

Uber, which offers bike rides in Delhi and many other states in India, did not respond to a Reuters request for a comment on the advertisement.
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Pakistan has to unwillingly accept the strict conditions of a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide a lifeline for an economy in turmoil, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Friday.

Sharif was speaking to top security officials at his office in Islamabad in a meeting that was telecast live.

“We have to accept unwillingly the strict conditions for the IMF deal,” he said, adding that an accord was still a “week, 10 days” away.

Pakistani authorities have been negotiating with the IMF since early February over policy framework issues and are hoping to sign a staff-level agreement that will pave the way for more inflows from other bilateral and multilateral lenders.

Once the deal is signed, the lender will disburse a tranche of more than $1 billion from the $6.5 billion bailout agreed to in 2019.

Pakistan has already taken a string of measures, including adopting a market-based exchange rate; a hike in fuel and power tariffs; the withdrawal of subsidies, and more taxation to generate revenue to bridge the fiscal deficit.

Officials say the lender is still negotiating with Islamabad over power sector debt, as well as a potential increase in the policy rate, which stands at 17%.

The strict measures are likely to further cool the economy and stoke inflation, which was 27.50% in January.

The South Asian country’s economy has been in turmoil and desperately needs external financing, with its foreign exchange reserves dipping to about $3 billion, barely enough for three weeks’ worth of imports.

A “friendly country” is also waiting for the deal to be confirmed before extending support to Pakistan, Sharif said without elaborating.

Longtime ally China this week announced refinancing of $700 million, according to Pakistan’s Finance Ministry.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday said Pakistan’s central bank has received the money.

“Thank God,” he said in a tweet.
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Russia’s war in Ukraine has added to Pakistan’s woes as its import-dependent economy has suffered price shocks. One year later, Islamabad not only continues to maintain a neutral diplomatic stance on Russia, but it is also trying to deepen trade ties with Moscow to acquire cheap energy. Sarah Zaman reports on how Pakistan walks a diplomatic tightrope in this conflict. Videographer: Wajid Ali Shah, Waqar Ahmad; Video editor: Waqar Ahmed
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A meeting of finance officials of the Group of 20 countries, which coincided with the anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine, revealed sharp differences between the world’s biggest economies on the conflict. The meeting began Friday in India’s southern city of Bengaluru. 

At the opening session, U.S. Trade Secretary Janet Yellen called on G-20 countries to “redouble their efforts to support Ukraine and restrict Russia’s capacity to wage war.”

“I urge the Russian officials here at the G-20 to understand that their continued work for the Kremlin makes them complicit in [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s atrocities,” Yellen said. “They bear responsibility for the lives and livelihoods being taken in Ukraine and the harm caused globally.” 

Russia’s finance minister did not attend the meeting and Moscow was represented by deputies.

Yellen also said that Russia’s “weaponization” of food and energy has not only affected Ukraine adversely, but it also has harmed the global economy. 

However, India, which holds the G-20 presidency this year, stayed away from mentioning the Ukraine conflict. New Delhi has not condemned the Russian invasion publicly nor joined Western sanctions against Russia. However, it has stepped up purchases of Russian oil.

In a video address to the gathering, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the world’s leading economies to focus on the world’s “most vulnerable citizens of the world.”

Modi said the COVID-19 pandemic and “rising geo-political tensions in different parts of the world” had led to unsustainable debt levels in several countries, disruptions to global supply chains and threats to food and energy security.

“You represent the leadership of global finance and economy at a time when the world is facing serious economic difficulties,” Modi said. “It is up to you, the custodians of the leading economies and market systems, to bring back stability, confidence and growth to the global economy.”

It remains unclear if delegates in Bengaluru will reach a consensus on a joint statement that is to be issued Saturday because of differences among delegates from different countries.

India does not want the word “war” to be mentioned, instead preferring the geopolitical tension to be referred to as a “crisis” or a “challenge,” according to domestic media reports.  

But countries like the U.S., Germany and Britain emphasized the need for an explicit mention of the Russian invasion.

Calling for “absolute clarity” on the anniversary at a news conference, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said, “This is a war. And this war has a cause, has one cause, and that is Russia and Vladimir Putin. That must be expressed clearly at this G-20 finance meeting.”

British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt told reporters, “In the end, unless we resolve the global security threats, there can be no progress on these other areas.”

On Thursday, Yellen told a news conference that she would like to see a “strong condemnation” of Russia’s invasion. 

The G-20, which includes advanced and emerging economies, was created after the Asian financial crisis in 1999, and is seen as a forum that focuses on how to manage global economic crises.

At the two-day talks, ministers are expected to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war on poorer nations that have been adversely impacted by high food and fuel prices and are grappling with high debt.

They also will focus on issues including reform of institutions like the World Bank, debt relief for low-income countries, climate change and financial inclusion.

“Trust in international financial institutions has eroded. This is partly because they have been slow to reform themselves,” Modi said in his address.

India is hoping to use its presidency of the G-20 to bring attention to the problems faced by developing countries and emerge as the voice of what Indian officials call the “Global South.”
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The United States has repatriated two brothers to their native Pakistan after holding them for almost two decades without charges at the controversial Guantanamo Bay military prison.

Abdul Rabbani, 55, and Mohammed Rabbani, 53, were arrested by Pakistani authorities in their home city of Karachi in 2002 before swiftly being transferred to U.S. custody for allegedly operating al-Qaida safe houses.

The U.S. Defense Department on Thursday announced the repatriation of the brothers, who were never charged with a crime, to Pakistan, saying their detention was “no longer necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States.”

It said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had last month notified Congress of his intent to send both men back to Pakistan, noting the U.S. had completed the requirements for the transfer in consultation with Pakistan.

The Rabbani brothers were the latest inmates to have left Guantanamo Bay as part of President Joe Biden’s efforts to shut the controversial detention facility.

“The United States appreciates the willingness of the Government of Pakistan and other partners to support ongoing U.S. efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility,” the Pentagon said Thursday.

Another Pakistani detainee, Majid Khan, who confessed to his role as an al-Qaida courier, was transferred from Guantanamo and resettled in Belize earlier this month after completing his sentence.

Khan, 42, was held in the detention facility for about 15 years. He was sentenced in 2021 to 10 years, with credit for the years he spent cooperating with his American interrogators.

Last October, the United States released the oldest prisoner at Guantanamo, identified as Pakistani national Saifullah Paracha, and transferred him to his home country.

Paracha, 75, had been held at the detention center since 2003 on suspicion of being tied to al-Qaida but he was never charged with a crime.

Former U.S. President George W. Bush’s administration established the detention center at a naval base in Cuba for holding and interrogating terror suspects rounded up after September 11, 2001, al-Qaida attacks in the United States that killed nearly 3,000 people.

At its peak, the Guantanamo detention center reportedly housed as many as 600 inmates accused of plotting terrorism against Americans.

The Pentagon on Thursday noted there are 32 detainees remaining at Guantanamo Bay, 18 of whom are eligible for transfer, nine defendants in military-run tribunals, and two others convicted.

Human rights groups have long criticized the military prison and demanded its closure, citing reported abuses, torture, and prolonged detentions of inmates, many without charges or trial.
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India says it has found nearly 6 million metric tons of lithium-rich bauxite around the village of Salal of the Reasi district in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. The discovery a blessing in disguise for many locals. For VOA, Muheet Ul Islam has more from Salal.
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Uzbekistan, Central Asia’s most populous nation, has had the coldest winter and longest energy shortages in memory. In December and January, at the height of the crisis, people around the country told VOA the government was failing at its basic function — delivering gas and electricity “when most needed.”

“I’ve never been this angry with the state. It has no value for me right now,” said Diyor, 28, an IT specialist in the capital, Tashkent, who like others in this article asked to be identified by only one name for fear of retaliation.

“I understand many of our problems require time to solve, but I refuse to cope with no gas or power at home,” said Diyor “Shouldn’t the state ensure the supply of at least one of these? We pay for them!”

Authorities have attributed the problems to the unprecedented cold weather — what Uzbek media have termed an “anomalous winter” — but the public has not been satisfied with that answer.

“I came back from Europe two years ago believing that Uzbekistan was taking the right direction,” said Yunus, 34, another angry Tashkenter. “I trusted President Shavkat Mirziyoyev when he said we were building a new Uzbekistan. But Uzbekistan has not had gas and electricity for weeks. The government does not seem to care.”

Walking through Tashkent’s central neighborhoods alongside Tashkent Mayor Jakhongir Artikhojayev in December, the president scolded his subordinates for not serving the population. “Because of some irresponsible officials, our entire system gets denigrated,” he said.

Artikhojayev was fired a month later.

Many factors to blame

The government admits this has been a brutal season, with low gas pressure, power cuts and fuel shortages. The Energy Ministry has blamed a long list of factors for the problems: supply not meeting demand, infrastructure failures, production reductions because of extreme cold, import halts, and political and economic challenges.

On January 24, Tashkent signed a “road map” with Russia’s Gazprom that, as Uzbekistan’s Energy Minister Jurabek Mirzamahmudov put it, aims to assess existing pipelines and logistical-technical options. “If they bring the gas to our door for an acceptable price, we will take it, otherwise not,” Mirzamahmudov said of the arrangement.

Explanations from the Energy Ministry that the system is going through extensive reforms have been met with skepticism.

“What reforms? This year’s deficiency has been wider and longer than ever,” said 30-something Sherzod, waiting in a line at least two kilometers long to refuel his car outside Tashkent. “If we are reforming, should not conditions be improving? It’s been like this all winter.”

Throughout January, in Tashkent and other places, VOA heard rural and urban Uzbeks cursing the state and its leadership — not just privately, but on public transportation and in restaurants and teahouses, stores and salons, schools and universities, on the streets and in municipal offices.

Rural dwellers said they prepare themselves mentally and practically for some cuts each winter, but this year the cities have also experienced shortages. Frustrated residents “felt helpless” when providers asked them to be patient.

“We have been waiting for days,” said Kamola, 32. “Water lines are frozen without energy. I feel like we are in this crisis forever and this system does nothing.”

These residents did not see new appointments made by Mirziyoyev during the crisis as steps toward a solution.

“Where is gas? Where is power? I heard Mirziyoyev. … Good that he admits the failures of his government, but words won’t warm us,” said Barchinoy, 60, whose family moved to a newly constructed rental equipped with a generator. “Costly for sure, but we have grandchildren.”

“Why have my parents and grandparents been shivering at home?” asked Fatima, 21, a university student who is unhappy about her studies moving online and her siblings missing school. “It’s -20 Celsius out. No gas, and the voltage so low that we can’t even use an electric heater.”

Long waits in long lines

The situation started to improve in early February, with warmer temperatures. But long lines and hours of waiting for fuel persisted.

But in the Ferghana Valley in eastern Uzbekistan, home to more than 10 million people, there was limited sympathy.

“We’ve long been living in such harsh conditions. We burn coal and wood. Power cuts are daily occurrences here,” said Sharifa, 45, a mother of two. “Perhaps those in the capital feel some empathy toward the people of the valley now.”

The Uzbek parliament remained a passive observer throughout the crisis without any hearings on this predicament. Several lawmakers told VOA they were aware of the issues.

A February 9 investigative report by Radio Liberty, VOA’s sister organization, exposed corruption in Uzbekistan’s oil and gas sector with hundreds of pages of documents, highlighting that the key beneficiaries “are opaque companies controlled by Uzbek and Russian political insiders, including a billionaire confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

Radio Liberty’s findings infuriated the public. The Uzbek government has refuted some parts of the report, claiming that it misinterpreted agreements with investors, specifically the terms and costs. Energy Minister Mirzamahmudov said the country’s more than 250 energy fields are run by the state-owned Uzbekneftegaz, not the Russian companies.

But Tashkent has yet to respond to other findings in the report, which said the Mirziyoyev administration “was warned as early as three years ago that his ambitious projects to boost gas and oil output were riddled with problems.”

It also said a secret interagency study had warned that “multibillion-dollar deals struck under the president’s major energy initiatives risked the country’s energy security.”

‘Critical thinking is on the rise’

Political analyst Kamoliddin Rabbimov, who discussed Radio Liberty’s findings with the officials, said “the system must be as transparent as possible, explaining the deals and investments.”

Rabbimov is also urging the public to refrain from emotional outrage. Yet he appreciates the social media debate and diverse opinion in today’s Uzbekistan.

“Critical thinking is on the rise in our society,” he wrote on Facebook. “Deeply rooted fear in our social mindset is diminishing.”

People freely expressing and sharing views on political issues, he argued, needs to be reinforced. In a society that has long lived under authoritarianism, citizens questioning their leaders is nothing but reassuring.

Ilyos Safarov, known for his wide-ranging political coverage on Kun.uz, a leading private media outlet, welcomed the government’s willingness to explain its position. “But the lack of expertise in crisis management and fear-driven practices exacerbate the situation,” he wrote on Telegram.

Like Rabbimov and others, including some in the government, Safarov said the authorities must be accountable to the public and address critical questions on time.
…

The government closure this week of the only newspaper of Bangladesh’s main opposition party has triggered outrage across the international media rights community.

The Dainik Dinkal, a Bengali-language daily broadsheet, was forced to stop publishing Monday after its printing license was canceled.

Carlos Martinez de la Serna, program director of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said in a statement Tuesday that the “shutdown of Dainik Dinkal is a blatant attack on media freedom ahead of Bangladesh’s January 2024 national election.”

The newspaper suspended its operations after the Bangladesh Press Council, a quasi-judicial, government-funded body headed by a former high court judge, rejected its appeal for publication against a government shutdown order, its managing editor, Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas, told CPJ.

In December, the local administration in Dhaka accused Dainik Dinkal of violating the law because its publisher, Tarique Rahman, the London-based acting chairman of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), is a convicted criminal.

Biswas told CPJ that the newspaper had filed documentation to the press council explaining that since 2016 Rahman had not been the publisher of Dainik Dinkal.

Rahman, son of Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh’s former prime minister, was convicted of several criminal charges by courts in Bangladesh and has lived in exile since 2008. The BNP claims that the charges against Rahman were politically motivated and were part of a conspiracy to prevent him from participating in Bangladesh politics.

Emails and text messages from VOA seeking comment from the press council have not received a response.

Shutdown ‘unabashedly fascist’

In Bangladesh, most media outlets are controlled by pro-government business groups, and they rarely publish news stories showing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s administration and the ruling Awami League in a poor light.

Launched about four decades ago, the Dainik Dinkal, a voice of the BNP, often ran reports critical of the current administration, including a recent police crackdown on opposition activists that triggered concerns among global rights groups.

“This shutdown of the Dainik Dinkal is a blatant crackdown by the government on the right to speak. The government cannot tolerate even the slightest dissent,” Biswas told VOA.

In January, the government ordered the closure of 191 news portals, accusing them of spreading “propaganda against the state.”

In recent years, during the administration of Sheikh Hasina, hundreds of people, including journalists, have been arrested after being charged under the Digital Security Act of 2018, which criminalizes a broad range of electronic speech, including anything likely to “prejudice the image of the state.”

The action by the government of Bangladesh to shut down the Dainik Dinkal has been condemned by rights groups.

“Closing a newspaper violates the democratic principles purportedly espoused by the Awami League-led government, and we call on the Bangladesh Press Council to review its order and uphold the free flow of information,” Serna said in the CPJ statement.

‘Brutish and brazen attack on press freedom’

Tasneem Khalil, a Bangladeshi journalist living in exile in Sweden, described the government action against Dainik Dinkal as “clearly part of an ongoing onslaught against the main opposition party.”

“The government is gearing up for the upcoming national election and has launched a multipronged crackdown on the BNP. A few weeks ago, we saw how the police entered the party’s headquarters in Dhaka and shot unarmed party activists and leaders sheltering inside. And now the party’s official mouthpiece has been silenced on very flimsy grounds,” said Khalil, editor-in-chief of Netra News, a Sweden-based investigative and public interest journalism portal focusing on Bangladesh.

“The shutting down of Dainik Dinkal is a brutish and brazen attack on press freedom,” he told VOA.

Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman, liaison officer of the Hong Kong-based Asian Legal Resource Center, said the media of Bangladesh are mostly owned and managed by pro-ruling party affiliates.

“These owners and editorial heads have clear track records of standing against universal freedom of press and the freedom of expression,” Ashrafuzzaman said.

“The government’s move to shut down the pro-opposition newspaper clearly indicates that the next election period under the Sheikh Hasina government is going to be extremely unbearable for the dissidents and the political opposition in Bangladesh,” he added.

Angelita Baeyens, vice president of international advocacy and litigation at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, said that free and fair elections are not only about the absence of violence on election day or the participation of opposition candidates in the electoral process.

“Free and fair elections require an open civic space and a free media, including media that has an opposition editorial line,” Baeyens told VOA.

“By shutting down the last pro-opposition newspaper, the Bangladeshi government is actively eroding the conditions for open and genuine elections, and that will affect the credibility of the electoral results.”
…

Afghanistan has a higher maternal mortality rate than all its six neighbors combined, according to a World Health Organization report released Thursday, and experts say the maternal health crisis is feared to get worse.

The landlocked country’s 620 fatalties per 100,000 live births is the highest in Asia, where most developing countries have made steady progress in improving maternal health care.

Despite the country’s improved maternal mortality rates between 2001 and 2021 — prior to international funding that coincided with the U.S.-led invasion, maternal mortality had been reported at 1,346 per 100,000 live births under the first Taliban regime in 2000 — the militant rulers’ August 2021 return to power has derailed that hard-won progress.

Now experts say health risks among Afghan women in general are expected to increase. Taliban-enforced bans on women’s education and work “prevent women from accessing healthcare,” Brienne Prusak, a spokesperson for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Afghanistan, told VOA, adding that the bans have increased medical needs and exacerbated the country’s already dire economic crisis.

The bans “have dealt women’s freedoms a grievous blow,” the International Crisis Group said in a report on Thursday. “They are also impeding delivery of life-saving assistance, disrupting the world’s largest aid operation even as half the population suffers from acute hunger.”

Making matters worse: Foreign donors have stopped development assistance, which accounted for some 70% of public spending under the former Afghan government, crippling the national economy and forcing millions of Afghans into extreme poverty.

“The public health care system in Afghanistan has been underfunded and overburdened for years,” said Prusak, adding that health sector funding has dropped significantly since 2021.

Significantly worse

A large majority of Afghans, 88%, either delayed, suspended or decided not to seek medical care in 2022 mostly because of Taliban restrictions and poverty, according to MSF.

“Sometimes, mothers are so malnourished they can’t produce milk,” said a medical staff with MSF in Afghanistan. “We see them putting tea in bottles to give to newborn babies — only seven or eight days old — which can be very dangerous.”

Meanwhile, human rights groups have warned about a sharp rise in cases of child marriage in Afghanistan, which often result in early pregnancy and serious health risks for young mothers.

While the U.N. and nongovernmental organizations that track maternal mortality have not revised their figures for Afghanistan since 2020, public health experts say the numbers have worsened significantly over the past two years.

“Approximately more than one third (36.6%) of respondents reported that infant/child mortality has ‘increased a little’ to ‘increased a lot,'” reads a report by the John Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health, citing interviews conducted with dozens of health workers and NGOs in Afghanistan between February and April 2022.

“Approximately one-third (31.4%) of respondents perceive that maternal mortality has increased in their community since August 2021,” the report says.

Maternal health indicators have seen alarming setbacks in many parts of the world over the last few years, according to the WHO.

“In total numbers, maternal deaths continue to be largely concentrated in the poorest parts of the world and in countries affected by conflict,” the organization said in its latest report.

In terms of global ranking, South Sudan (1,223), Chad (1,063) and Nigeria (1,047) have the highest maternal mortality figures in the world, according to the WHO report, which draws on data from 2020.
…

Taliban authorities in Afghanistan said Thursday they had reopened a busy border crossing with Pakistan after four days of closure that saw thousands of travelers and trade convoys, with many carrying food items, stranded on either side.

Pakistani officials said, without elaborating, they were still completing “administrative requirements” to restore all movements through the Torkham point of transit.

The reopening came a day after a high-level Pakistani delegation visited the Afghan capital, Kabul, to discuss border security, counterterrorism, and economic cooperation with the Taliban leaders of the neighboring landlocked country.

Torkham, one of several crossings on the nearly 2,600-kilometer frontier separating the two countries, was closed by the Taliban on Sunday, accusing Pakistani immigration authorities of “misbehaving” with Afghan travelers, including those seeking medical care in Pakistan.

Officials in Islamabad rejected the charges, maintaining their tightening of border controls was meant to counter unlawful entrants linked to the banned Pakistani Taliban, commonly referred to as TTP, waging terrorist attacks in Pakistan out of Afghan sanctuaries.

The Pakistani delegation, led by Defense Minister Khawaja Asif, shared “irrefutable” evidence with Taliban interlocutors in the talks about the presence and activities of TTP leaders in Afghanistan, sources told VOA.

The Pakistani side demanded the Taliban take “practical steps” to stop the militant activity on Afghan soil in line with their counterterrorism assurances to the world. They also cautioned a lack of action against TTP could force Islamabad to further reduce its diplomatic presence in Kabul besides tightening border security measures.

Pakistan evacuated its chief diplomat in Afghanistan in December after he narrowly survived a gun attack while walking in his sprawling Kabul embassy compound. That shooting was claimed by the Afghan affiliate of the Islamic State terrorist group, known as Islamic State-Khorasan Province however.

Sources described Wednesday’s discussions in Kabul as productive and said, without elaborating, the Taliban also shared details of some of their actions against TTP and promised to do more. 

A post-meeting formal Pakistani statement suggested terrorism and security matters had figured high in the talks.

“Matters relating to the growing threat of terrorism in the region, particularly by TTP and ISKP came under discussion. The two sides agreed to collaborate to effectively address the threat of terrorism posed by various entities and organizations,” said the statement, referring to the regional Islamic State branch.

“Both sides agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in various fields to further enhance the fraternal relations between the two countries,” the statement concluded.

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the two sides had held detailed discussions, covering, among other issues, “security concerns” and “activities of armed opposition groups.” He did not elaborate on nor mention TTP in his statement.

Mujahid said their deputy prime minister, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, led his side in the talks where the foreign minister, Taliban spy chief, the defense, and the interior ministers assisted him.

TTP, designated a global terrorist group by the United States, is a Pakistani offshoot and a close ally of the Afghan Taliban. It provided recruits and shelter on Pakistani soil to the Taliban while they waged a deadly insurgency against U.S.-led NATO troops in Afghanistan for almost 20 years. The Taliban stormed back to power in August 2021 as foreign forces withdrew from the country.

Pakistan says TTP leaders and commanders, who have long taken refuge in Afghanistan, have benefited from greater freedom and mobility for plotting cross-border terrorism since the Taliban reclaimed power in Kabul 18 months ago.

Hundreds of Pakistanis, mostly security forces, have in recent months been killed by TTP-claimed suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks.

Late last month, a powerful mosque bombing in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar killed nearly 100 people, mostly police officers.

No foreign country, including Pakistan, has formally recognized the Taliban government in Afghanistan, citing human rights and terrorism concerns.

However, Islamabad has recently stepped up economic and trade cooperation with Kabul, enabling the cash-strapped Taliban administration to generate much-need revenues through bilateral and transit trade using Pakistani land and seaports.
…

Pakistan’s defense minister was in Afghanistan on Wednesday, meeting with officials there to resolve this week’s closure by the Taliban administration of a key border crossing between the two neighboring countries, officials said.

Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif’s trip to Kabul and his meeting with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban-appointed deputy prime minister for economic affairs, comes as tensions have increased between Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent months.

Taliban security forces on Sunday closed the Torkham border crossing with Pakistan and on Monday traded fire with Pakistani border guards. The exchange wounded a Pakistani soldier. The border crossing has since remained shut, hampering trade on both sides of the troubled boundary.

The Taliban government in Kabul said Torkham was closed because of Pakistan’s alleged refusal to allow Afghan patients and their caretakers to enter Pakistan for medical care without travel documents.

For Pakistan, the crossing is a vital commercial artery and a trade route to Central Asian countries. But Islamabad has also accused the Afghan Taliban of providing sanctuary for Pakistani militants whose cross-border attacks into Pakistan have led to a spike in violence in the region.

Since Sunday’s closure of Torkham, more than 6,000 trucks with goods, including vegetables, fruit and other perishable food items, have been stuck on the Pakistani side of the border.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Asif was in Kabul, saying only that he was there to discuss security-related matters, including counter-terrorism measures. Two Pakistani security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss border issues, told The Associated Press that Torkham’s closure was top of the agenda.

In Kabul, a statement issued by Baradar’s office about Asif’s visit said the two sides discussed the current situation at the crossing.

According to the statement, Baradar told the Pakistani delegation that “necessary facilities should be provided for all passengers” at Torkham and also at Spin Boldak, another trade route located to the south, across from Chaman in Pakistan’s restive southwestern Baluchistan province.

Baradar was also quoted as saying “special facilities” should be provided for the transportation of patients needing emergency medical care.

“The Pakistani side assured the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan that it would resolve solving the mentioned issues and … work quickly on this matter,” the statement said. Baradar also stressed it was important “to separate commercial and economic issues from political and security issues so that it does not become prey to politics.”

Meanwhile, Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, a director at the Pakistan-Afghanistan joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, deplored the traffic halt at Torkham.

“Miles after miles you can see trucks loaded with various items, and the drivers are waiting for the reopening of the Torkham border,” he told the AP. He said Afghan traders were also worried as the closure has caused problems on both sides of the border.

Closures, cross-border fire and shootouts are common along the Afghan-Pakistan border. Each side has in the past closed both Torkham and Chaman for various reasons.

The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were withdrawing from the country after 20 years of war. Like the rest of the world, Pakistan has so far not recognized Afghanistan’s Taliban government. The international community has been wary of the Taliban’s harsh measures, imposed since their takeover, especially in restricting the rights of women and minorities.

 
…

Afghanistan’s Taliban-led administration has set up a consortium of companies — including some in Russia, Iran and Pakistan — to create an investment plan focusing on power, mining and infrastructure, the acting commerce minister said Wednesday.

The consortium includes 14 Afghan businessmen, and the ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with foreign companies that would send delegates to Kabul to look into projects worth up to $1 billion, Nooruddin Azizi told Reuters.

Afghanistan’s economy has been severely hampered since the Taliban took over in 2021, sparking the international community to cut most development funding and enforce sanctions on the banking sector.

A series of attacks waged by the Islamic State group against foreign targets also has worried some investors.

Security a focus

Azizi said the administration was focused on launching several long-term business plans, including the consortium and special economic zones, and that it was working on ensuring security.

“Lots of discussions on security have taken place in cabinet meetings. Also, commissions have been established and … the hiding places [of militants] have been destroyed,” he said.

“The Islamic Emirate will ensure security and will support the private sector in the security field,” he said, referring to the Taliban administration.

Mining, power, possibly a tunnel

As well as mining and power projects, he said the consortium was eyeing the possibility of building a second tunnel through the Salang pass that connects Afghanistan’s north to the rest of the country, and a project to divert water from northern Panjshir province to the capital as well as rebuilding the main highway connecting Kabul to western Herat province.

The minister said the Taliban administration was planning to focus on building special economic zones it hoped would attract foreign investment.

His ministry has helped develop a plan to convert foreign bases into the zones, and a board was being set up with representatives of different ministries. He declined to elaborate while the details were finalized with other ministries and senior leadership.

Shipments of oil, gas and wheat under a major deal with Russia last year had begun arriving in Afghanistan by road and rail through Central Asia, he said, after the payments were made via banking channels despite sanctions that have limited many international payments.

He did not elaborate on which banks had facilitated the payment.
…

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has asked his ministers and advisers to fly economy class, forgo luxury cars and their salaries as part of an austerity drive that will save the government $766 million a year.

The belt tightening comes as Islamabad — which is facing a balance of payment crisis — thrashes out a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to secure funds worth $1 billion which have been pending since late last year over policy issues.

Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen below a three-week import cover and the expenditure cuts announced on Wednesday are part of an effort to stave off an economic meltdown.

“These austerity measures will save us 200 billion rupees annually,” Sharif told a news conference in Islamabad.

“These measures are need of the hour, and these savings no matter if that’s one penny is very significant,” he said, terming it a sacrifice for the poor who wouldn’t afford food on the table or medicines in the face of consistently high inflation, which touched 27.5% in January.

Sharif said all federal ministries and government offices have been directed to reduce expenditure by 15% and that he had asked his ministers and advisers to forgo salaries, allowances, luxury cars, foreign trips and business class travel.

The ministers agreed to the measures voluntarily, he said, adding all Cabinet members will surrender their salaries and perks, and they will pay all of their utility bills from their pockets.

Armed forces have given a positive response to cut non-combat expenditures, Sharif said without elaborating.

Other steps include a complete ban on the purchase of luxury items or vehicles for all government-run entities and no administrative unit like a new district or town will be created for two years.

All luxury vehicles will be withdrawn from the ministers, advisers and bureaucrats, who would travel abroad only if inevitable and that too in economy class.

The South Asian nation hopes to secure funds from the IMF soon, Sharif said, adding the stringent measures were part of the requirements the lender had asked Pakistan to fulfill before finalizing a deal.

Talks between Pakistan and the IMF are due to conclude this week, officials say.

Before the talks the IMF had asked Pakistan to take a host of prior actions, which included withdrawal of subsidies, hiking energy tariffs, raising extra revenues and arranging external financing.
…

Afghanistan’s central bank Wednesday welcomed a U.S. federal judge’s decision against turning over $3.5 billion in frozen Afghan funds to victims of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks to settle court judgments against the Taliban.

“The currency reserves are owned by Afghans, which are lawfully used for monetary stability, strengthening the financial system and facilitating trade with the world,” said what is known as Da Afghanistan Bank, or DAB in a statement.

It renewed a call for the United States and other Western nations to unfreeze all Afghan central bank reserves to help “the beleaguered nation overcome their economic problems.” The statement added that DAB was ready to fully cooperate with countries of the world and related institutions to address any international concerns.

Tuesday, District Judge George Daniels in New York ruled that the plaintiffs were not entitled the Afghan assets because U.S. courts lacked legal jurisdiction to authorize the seizure.

Daniels noted he was “constitutionally restrained” from letting victims seize the funds, saying it would amount to ruling that the Taliban are Afghanistan’s legitimate government.

“The judgment creditors are entitled to collect on their default judgments and be made whole for the worst terrorist attack in our nation’s history, but they cannot do so with the funds of the central bank of Afghanistan,” Daniels wrote.

He added “the Taliban – not the former Islamic Republic of Afghanistan nor the Afghan people – must pay for the Taliban’s liability in the 9/11 attacks.”

The fundamentalist Taliban waged a deadly insurgency against the internationally supported Afghan government in Kabul before storming back to power in August 2021 as U.S.-led NATO troops withdrew from the country after almost two decades of war.

The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 to oust the then-Taliban government for harboring the al-Qaida planners of the September 11 terror attacks on the U.S. that killed nearly 3,000 people.

No country has recognized the new Taliban government, citing human rights and terrorism concerns. Some Taliban cabinet members are under U.S. sanctions for their alleged involvement in terrorist activities.

Tuesday’s court ruling dealt a blow to several groups of creditors that had claims against some of the $7 billion of DAB funds frozen at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York since the Taliban takeover 18 months ago.

Other Western nations also have frozen about $2 billion of DAB reserves in their banks.

U.S. President Joe Biden in February 2022 ordered $3.5 billion of the DAB funds set aside to help ease the suffering of the Afghan people.

That money has recently been transferred to a special Swiss-based Afghan Fund to help stabilize the Afghan economy and ease an already bad humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged South Asian nation. Biden diverted the remaining $3.5 billion to potentially pay families of 9/11 victims pending court judgments against the Taliban.

“The decision deprives over 10,000 members of the 9/11 community of their right to collect compensation from the Taliban,” said Lee Wolosky, a lawyer for one credit group known as the Havlish plaintiffs. “We believe it is wrongly decided and will appeal.”

The other creditor groups were reportedly also planning an appeal.

Some information for this report came from Reuters.
…

Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities were in talks Tuesday to resolve differences that led to the closure of their busiest border crossing two days ago, stranding thousands of cargo trucks and travelers on both sides, according to officials in both countries.

The Taliban closed the Torkham point of transit with the landlocked country’s eastern neighbor Sunday, accusing Pakistani immigration officials of “misbehaving” with Afghan visitors, particularly those seeking medical care in Pakistan. The tensions also sparked brief skirmishes between security forces of the two countries across nearby border posts hours later, killing a Taliban guard and wounding a Pakistani soldier, security sources said.

Local border officials from the two countries have since held several rounds of negotiations to defuse the tensions and reopen the border crossing, one of several formal routes on the nearly 2,600-kilometer border. But Torkham remained closed and the outcome of the talks was not known as of Tuesday evening.

Pakistan has not publicly offered comments on the standoff since its eruption on Sunday.

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has defended the decision to suspend traffic through the crossing, alleging Afghan citizens were being “very humiliatingly” treated by Pakistani border officials.

“Their [travel] documents and identity as well as refugee cards were being torn and thrown away. Patients requiring medical care [in Pakistan] and elderly men as well as women were also being harshly treated,” Mujahid said in a statement his office released to journalists late on Monday. He added, however, that the issue would be resolved soon through talks.

Authorities in Islamabad rejected Kabul’s charges and also blamed Taliban forces for initiating the “unprovoked” predawn cross-border gunfire on Monday.

A Pakistani official, who requested anonymity, said the Taliban shut the border gate after Pakistani immigration authorities had denied entry to attendants of Afghan medical patients for not having valid travel documents or identity cards.

Afghan and Pakistani traders reported the border closure had been causing huge financial losses to business of the two countries, saying several thousand trucks loaded with commercial goods, including fresh fruit and vegetables, were stranded on both sides.

Traders said the cash-strapped Taliban leadership in Kabul heavily relied on trade with Pakistan to generate much-needed revenue and the border closure was hurting that effort.

“This issue damages both countries because we are transporting goods. We have trade with Pakistan,” Khan Jan Alokozai, the vice president of the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was quoted by the Afghan Tolo news channel as saying.

The Taliban reclaimed power in Afghanistan in August 2021 and have since increased trade with Pakistan, exporting thousands of tons of Afghan coal and other supplies every day to the energy-starved neighboring country.

The Taliban-led finance ministry said on Monday its revenue collection in 11 months of the current fiscal year had reached a historic more than $1 billion, with a major portion coming from taxes collected at borders.

Last month, a World Bank assessment also backed the Taliban’s claims of strong revenue collection and exports in the first nine months of financial year 2022-2023. The report noted that Pakistan remained the destination for 65% of Afghan exports. Islamabad has also removed tariffs and eased visa restrictions for Afghan traders in recent months to encourage bilateral trading activity.

Pakistan allegedly sheltered Taliban leaders and fighters while they were waging a deadly insurgency against U.S.-led Western troops in Afghanistan for almost two decades before reclaiming power 18 months ago.

But Islamabad’s relations with Taliban leaders, which have not been recognized by the world, have since gradually strained over allegations Kabul was not preventing anti-Pakistan insurgents from using Afghan soil to orchestrate cross-border terrorist attacks.

Pakistani military officials complain Taliban forces guarding the Afghan side of the frontier “still behave like insurgents” because of a lack of professional military training, leading to occasional flare-ups between the two sides.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari reiterated those concerns while speaking at the Munich Security Conference last week and advocated for the world to help the Taliban to build their capacity in dealing with security challenges.

“We need to find a way to build the capacity for them to able to do. They don’t have a standing army, they don’t have a counterterrorism force, they don’t even have a proper border security force,” Zardari said.

But Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi swiftly rejected Zardari’s assertions as untrue, describing Taliban security forces as “professional and experienced” and claiming that “Afghanistan’s security is now much better than many countries around the world.”

Balkhi also rejected allegations that terrorism in Pakistan was stemming from Afghan soil, saying his government remains determined not to allow anyone to use Afghanistan against other countries, particularly against its neighbors.
…

Eight rapporteurs to the United Nations have written to the government of Bangladesh, expressing concern over what they say is the harassment and intimidation” of two well-known human rights groups in the country as well as the “use of excessive and lethal force” by police against opposition political activists.

The rights groups are Odhikar and Maayer Daak. Odhikar is known for its documentation of human rights violations, including forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Bangladesh. Maayer Daak is a platform for families of the victims of enforced disappearance in the country.

The rapporteurs sent two letters to the government in December but the letters only became public earlier this month.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen later told local media many of the allegations were not factually correct.

“In every country the police have the right to respond to incidents in which people create disturbances and destroy public property,” the foreign minister told local media. The law enforcement agencies are just doing their job,” Momen said in response to the allegations of police excesses.

In one letter dated December 22, Aua Baldé, the U.N. chair-rapporteur of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, or WGEID, and two other rapporteurs said an “alleged smear campaign” had been launched against Odhikar and its secretary, Adilur Rahman Khan, who is also facing “intimidation and harassment” by different government agencies.

“These outlets have reported inaccurate and misleading information on the WGEID’s activities, including its humanitarian procedure. …The allegations received also refer to acts of harassment and intimidation against members of the NGO Maayer Daak,” the letter said, referring to the agencies.

The three rapporteurs asked for details of steps taken to investigate the cases of intimidation and harassment of the rights groups, including against Khan, the Odhikar secretary.

In the second letter, five other rapporteurs expressed concerns over reported “attacks and the use of excessive and lethal force” against protesters from the country’s main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, or BNP. That letter was dated December 27.

“We are troubled by the allegations of arrests, detentions and legal cases that have been filed against individuals for participating in protests and for being members of the opposition political parties or critical civil society groups, despite reports that the protests were peaceful,” the second letter said.

Rights groups allege harassment

Odhikar, one of Bangladesh’s top human rights organizations, is globally known for its human rights-related work in the country and works closely with the U.N., Human Rights Watch and other international rights groups.

Last June, the Bangladeshi government accused Odhikar of spreading “propaganda against the state by publishing misleading information” on its website and that Odhikar “seriously tarnished the image of the state to the world.” The government canceled the group’s registration, triggering outrage across the international human rights community.

Angelita Baeyens, vice president of international advocacy and litigation at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, said, “The persecution and criminalization of Odhikar executives, one of the most prestigious human rights organizations in the country, shows an intentional effort by the government to silence those that expose the grave abuses instead of addressing the underlying causes.”

Sanjida Islam Tulee, a coordinator at Maayer Daak, said that members of her organization faced harassment by the government and law enforcement agencies.

“The level of harassment and intimidation of the members of our organization has increased in the past months since Michelle Bachelet visited Bangladesh in August and called for the government to establish ‘an impartial, independent and transparent investigation’ into allegations of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killing and torture,” Tulee told VOA.

Bachelet served one term as the U.N. high commissioner for human rights. She visited Bangladesh prior to stepping down from the post.

Protesting the rise in the cost of essential commodities and demanding the installation of a neutral caretaker government, the BNP has been conducting rallies across the country for several months.

According to the BNP, law enforcement agencies have arrested more than 10,000 of its leaders and workers in the past six months and at least eight BNP activists have been shot dead by police during that period.

Last month, Human Rights Watch voiced concerns about “violence and repression” ahead of Bangladesh’s general elections, as attacks against opposition political leaders and workers continued to rise.

Alleged police brutality

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, the BNP secretary general, said, “The police brutality has risen to an unprecedented level” against the political activists.

“Lethal arms are being used in violent crackdowns against peaceful protesters. No political activity or campaigning by the opposition can take place when we are facing such atrocities on a daily basis. There is absolutely no space for political opponents and dissenters in Bangladesh,” Alamgir told VOA.

“Awami League captured power through rigged elections in 2014 and 2018. They will do the same again in 2023. Free and fair elections are impossible under the current regime. BNP will simply not validate these sham elections by pointless participation.”

Awami League is the ruling party.

No date for the elections has been announced.

Last week, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told visiting State Department Counselor Derek Chollet that she never wanted to come to power through rigged elections.

“The next elections will be free and fair. I have fought for democracy throughout my life,” she told Chollet, who led a delegation that met with her.

Baeyans from Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights noted that Bangladesh is an “inflection point.” Baeyans said that as the elections draw closer, “serious human rights violations continue to happen there with minimum accountability.”

“The attacks and persecution of Maayer Daak and Odhikar are examples of the broader crackdown against civil society and the media and the targeting of critical voices, including opposition members,” Baeyens said.

“In these conditions, one can hardly expect the elections to be genuinely free and fair.”
…

There are reports Monday of brief cross-border exchange of gunfire at Torkham, a main border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan. There has been no word on casualties.

Pakistani officials told The Associated Press the Afghan Taliban closed the border Sunday because Pakistan allegedly refused to allow Afghan patients and their caretakers into Pakistan without travel documents.

Mullah Mohammad Siddiq, a Taliban Torkham border official, advised Afghans not to travel to the Torkham border. He said in a tweet that Pakistan had not lived up to its “commitments,” but did not specify what those were.

Torkham is a main point of transit between Pakistan and Afghanistan, a landlocked nation. The countries share a nearly 2,600-kilometer border.

Ayaz Gul contributed to this report from Islamabad.
…

Pakistan officials say at least 14 members of a wedding party, including children, died when the bus that was taking them back to Lahore from Islamabad fell into a ravine and overturned.   

Dawn, a Pakistani newspaper, reported that 64 people were injured in the accident Sunday night that happened on a dangerous stretch of a highway near Kallar Kahar.  

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed his sympathies to the families and has ordered authorities to provide the injured with the best medical care.
…

The Taliban said Sunday they were working to turn former foreign military bases in Afghanistan into special business and trade centers to promote “economic growth and development” in the war-ravaged country.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban deputy prime minister for economic affairs, chaired a meeting in the capital, Kabul, and directed relevant officials to move ahead with the plans, his office said.

“Following a thorough discussion, it was decided that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce should progressively take control of the remaining military bases of the foreign forces with the intention of converting them into special economic zones,” the statement said.

It went on to note, without sharing further details, “pilot operations” would begin to turn bases in Kabul and the northern Afghan province of Balkh.

“Yes, Bagram is among the military bases being converted into special economic zones under the plan unveiled today,” chief Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told VOA when asked about the status of the sprawling former United States-run military facility.

Bagram, located some 70 kilometers north of Kabul, had for nearly 20 years served as the nerve center of the U.S. counterterrorism missions against al-Qaida operatives in Afghanistan and military operations against the then-insurgent Taliban.

The former Soviet Union built the Bagram Air Base in 1950 and used it during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan between 1979 and 1989.

The Taliban have struggled to improve the economy since storming back to power in August 2021 as the United States and NATO troops withdrew after almost two decades of war against the Taliban and their al-Qaida allies in Afghanistan.

The insurgent takeover of Afghanistan prompted the U.S. and other Western nations to cut off development funding for the largely aid-dependent Afghan economy. They also blocked the Afghan central bank’s access to its foreign-held assets, isolated the banking sector, and strictly enforced sanctions on Taliban leaders for their alleged links to terrorism.

The punitive actions pushed the Afghan economy to the brink and worsened an already bad humanitarian crisis, which stems from decades of war and prolonged drought in the poverty-stricken country.

Taliban officials, however, maintain that effective anti-corruption efforts and a focus on increasing investment and trade with regional as well as neighboring countries have enabled them to contain the downward economic slide.

Last month, the World Bank also delivered a surprisingly upbeat assessment of the Afghan economy in the first nine months of fiscal 2022, citing high exports, a stable exchange rate, and strong revenue collection under Taliban rule.

The international community has refused to grant legitimacy to the de facto rulers in Kabul, citing counterterrorism and human rights concerns.

The Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on Afghan women since returning to power. They have banned girls from attending schools beyond the sixth grade and barred women from most workplaces, including NGOs.

The ban on female aid workers has forced several major foreign charity organizations to partially suspend their operations in Afghanistan, where more than half of the estimated 40 million population need humanitarian assistance.  
…

A prominent female rights activist in Afghanistan lambasted the global community Saturday for failing to come up with a plan or agreement on how to help her crisis-ridden country since the Taliban took control of it 18 months ago. 

Mahbouba Seraj, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, spoke virtually from the Afghan capital, Kabul, to a town hall at the Munich Security Conference on prospects for her country under Taliban rule. 

“Is there a plan, or you are just going to sit down and have meetings after meetings and talk about it and not get anywhere?” she asked. “Is that the name of the game now?” 

Seraj, 75, and a handful of female activists stayed behind when the Taliban reclaimed power in August 2021 as the United States and NATO troops chaotically withdrew from Afghanistan after almost 20 years of war with the then-insurgent Taliban.  

“You were a part of our lives for so long. You did so much for us, we counted so much on you. What happened?” she asked, adding Western nations need to take urgent measures to help Afghans get out of the current situation.  

U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, along with his counterparts from Belgium and Spain, were among the speakers at the town hall event. 

Restrictions on women

Since capturing Kabul, the radical Taliban have placed sweeping restrictions on women across Afghanistan, effectively blocking their access to public life. They closed schools for girls beyond grade six, have progressively banned most women from government and private workplaces, citing edicts stemming from their interpretation of Islamic laws or Shariah — interpretations that most Islamic scholars do not agree with. 

The restrictions, coupled with terrorism-related concerns, have kept the world from opening formal political engagements with the Taliban and from granting them legitimacy. However, there has been no disruption in humanitarian assistance for millions of Afghans through the United Nations and its partner organizations. When the Taliban banned women from NGOs in December, several did suspend their operations there. 

Seraj suggested the global community needs to engage with the Taliban. She warned that deepening economic and social problems could make it difficult for women to return to schools even if the ban on their education is removed. 

“There are no proper schools, there are no teachers, there is no money, (Taliban) can’t do it. So how are we going to do it? Very soon you are going to be actually sitting in a country that is falling apart,” she said. “The poverty is holding us by the neck and is going to take us down.” 

Economy pushed to brink

The return of the Taliban to power prompted tens of thousands of capable and educated Afghans, particularly those who worked with U.S.-led foreign troops, to flee the country fearing reprisals.  

Washington and other Western nations suspended financial support for the largely aid-dependent country since the Taliban took over and isolated the country’s banking sector. 

The Afghan central bank’s access to more than $9 billion in foreign exchange reserves in U.S. and European banks has been blocked to keep the money from falling into the hands of the de facto rulers as many of them remained under sanctions for terrorism. 

The U.S. has transferred $3.5 billion of the $7 billion in its banks to a newly created Swiss-based Afghan Fund to help stabilize the country’s economy but the remaining amount is blocked and could go to U.S. victims of terrorism pending court judgments against the Taliban.  

Critics say the sanctions and other punitive measures have pushed the country’s war-hit economy to the brink and its revival is crucial for resolving the long-running Afghan humanitarian crisis. 

“Until they engage in better behavior, we cannot recognize them as an official government,” McCaul said, supporting calls from other speakers for the Taliban to remove restrictions on women. “… I think we can leverage them to change [that] behavior but until that happens, we do have these restrictions in place.”

‘We can’t wash our hands and turn our backs’

For his part, Zardari argued that without economic engagement with Kabul, the de facto Taliban authorities would not be able to build their capacity to counter terrorist groups such as Islamic State and anti-Pakistan insurgents sheltering on Afghan soil.  

“We can’t wash our hands and turn our backs on Afghanistan. It’s time to create a consensus based on the realities of Afghanistan. We need to continue the humanitarian aid, open up their banking channels, unfreeze their funds so their economy can function,” the Pakistani foreign minister said.  

Zardari acknowledged that his country has experienced an increase in terrorist attacks emanating from Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power there, saying if the radical regime demonstrates resolve to combat terrorism the world should help them improve their capacity to counter the threat effectively. 

Earlier this week, Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said they had brought peace to Afghanistan and that no one was allowed to use the country for cross-border attacks. Muttaqi added that his administration was determined to seek engagement with the world, including the U.S., to discuss and resolve security, diplomatic and other issues.  

However, Taliban leaders have refused to negotiate their rules for women, claiming they are strictly in line with Afghan culture and Shariah. 
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The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan bickered over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region Saturday, highlighting their disparate positions and offering scant evidence that lasting peace was on the cards as they met in Munich.

Tensions between the two ex-Soviet neighbors have escalated over a two-month blockade of the Lachin corridor, the only land route giving Armenia direct access to Nagorno-Karabakh.  

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev’s first face-to-face encounter since October began with talks hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, following which both sides said progress on a peace deal had been made.

But at a subsequent panel discussion on “building security in the South Caucasus,” the two men demonstrated how far apart the two sides remain on Nagorno-Karabakh, the Lachin corridor blockade and the direction of future negotiations.

Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but its 120,000 inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Armenians, and it broke away from Baku in a first war in the early 1990s.

Azerbaijan regained much of the lost territory in a six-week conflict in 2020 that killed thousands and was ended by a Russia-brokered truce and the dispatch of Russian peacekeepers.  

“I think Azerbaijan and Armenia need to demonstrate that the transition from long-lasting standoff, mutual hatred and hostility must end,” Aliyev said during the panel.

The conciliatory tone ebbed away as he then accused Armenia of occupying Azerbaijan’s lands for almost 30 years and criticized a senior Nagorno-Karabakh separatist official.  

“Azerbaijan has adopted [a] revenge policy,” Pashinyan said, going on to question whether they wanted to use their meeting for “enflaming intolerance, hate, aggressive rhetoric” or for making things better.

Peace proposals

Baku is studying Yerevan’s draft peace proposals, Aliyev said. Russian news agencies reported that Aliyev also said Baku had proposed creating checkpoints on the border with Armenia.

Azeri civilians identifying themselves as environmental activists have been facing off since Dec. 12 with Russian peacekeepers on the Lachin corridor.

Yerevan says the protesters are government-backed agitators. Baku denies blockading the road, saying that some convoys and aid are allowed through, something Aliyev repeated Saturday.

Pashinyan said the last time a bus full of Armenian children had tried to pass through the corridor masked Azeri men had prevented them from doing so.

After the trilateral talks with Blinken, Pashinyan’s office said he had reaffirmed Armenia’s determination to reach an agreement that will “truly guarantee long-term peace and stability in the region.”

Aliyev said: “I think (the peace agreement) could be a good example of how countries which had serious, historical disagreements can get together and turn the page of hostility.”
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