Category Archives: South and Central Asia

Myanmar’s ‘darkest moment’: death toll rises sharply as junta’s crackdown continues

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Ousted MPs urge citizens to defend themselves after one of deadliest days since February coup

At least 39 people have been killed in one of the deadliest days since Myanmar was thrust back under military rule, as a group of ousted MPs urged citizens to defend themselves during the nation’s “darkest moment”.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military forced the civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi from power in a coup on 1 February, triggering a mass uprising that has led to hundreds of thousands protesting daily for a return to democracy.

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Sri Lanka to ban burqa and close 1,000 Islamic schools

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Minister cites national security for decision, saying garments are ‘sign of religious extremism’

Sri Lanka has announced plans to ban the wearing of burqas and said it would close more than 1,000 Islamic schools known as madrassas, citing national security.

The minister of public security, Sarath Weerasekara, said he had signed a paper on Friday seeking the approval of the cabinet of ministers to ban burkas – outer garments that cover the body and face worn by some Muslim women.

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Primark supplier reportedly locks workers in factory to stop their anti-coup protest in Myanmar

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Garment workers in Yangon say they were dismissed for breaking out to take part in civil disobedience movement

Garment workers in Myanmar who produce clothing for Primark were locked inside their factory by supervisors who tried to prevent them from joining anti-coup protests, testimonies given to the Guardian claim.

Workers employed by GY Sen, which supplies Primark, claimed to the Guardian that their supervisors had sought to prevent them from missing work to take part in protests in the main city Yangon on 18 February. Up to 1,000 workers were trapped inside, according to workers, who said they were able to break free after several hours.

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Bangladesh shipbreakers win right to sue UK owners in landmark ruling

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Appeal court clears wife to sue company in London over husband’s death while helping to scrap tanker in Chittagong

British shipping companies that sell old vessels to be scrapped cheaply in dangerous, low-paid conditions in Bangladesh, India or Pakistan may now be sued in London for workers’ deaths or injuries.

In the first ruling of its kind by any higher court anywhere in the world, the court of appeal of England and Wales has held that a shipping company in London selling a vessel in south Asia could owe a legal “duty of care” to shipbreaking workers in Bangladesh even where there are multiple third parties involved in the transaction.

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Myanmar: UN calls for ‘utmost restraint’ from military as more deaths reported

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British-drafted UN statement watered down by China, Russia, India and Vietnam, as Amnesty says military using battlefield weapons on protesters

The United Nations has condemned the Myanmar military’s violent crackdown against anti-coup demonstrators as seven more people were reported shot dead in protests on Thursday.

Local media, witnesses and medics said six people were shot dead in the central town of Myaing when security forces opened fire on anti-junta protests and domestic media said one man was killed in the North Dagon district of Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city.

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‘Wolf in watchdog’s clothing’: India’s new digital media laws spark fears for freedoms

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Everything from online news to social media and streaming platforms are captured by the regulations, branded ‘palpably illegal’ by opponents

Not long before he was elected as India’s prime minister in 2014, Narendra Modi spoke of his dreams of a “digital India”, where “access to information knows no barriers”.

But this week, unprecedented barriers on every form of digital content, from online news to social media and films and television on streaming platforms, came into force, making India’s digital realm one of the most heavily regulated of any major democracy.

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Myanmar police surround protesters and raid compound in Yangon

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Demonstrators in North Okkalapa flee under fire, and junta units raid striking rail workers’ district

Police in Myanmar have surrounded and arrested at least 200 students and civilians protesting against the military coup on the outskirts of Yangon, according to witnesses who said those detained were driven away in unmarked trucks.

Video footage from North Okkalapa showed protesters fleeing under fire. At least one person appeared to be seriously wounded.

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Caste aside: hide names to curb Dalit job bias in India, study says

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Concealing candidates’ surnames in the ultra-competitive civil service exam would help to overcome caste prejudice, report urges

The exam is considered to be the country’s toughest – about a million people sit it every year vying for only a thousand or so vacancies in India’s hallowed civil service. Now a report suggests that it would be much fairer if all the candidates’ surnames were kept secret throughout the application process, as about 90% of Indian surnames reveal a person’s caste.

Candidates’ names are currently concealed, along with their religion, when they sit the written tests. But after the exam, the names of those who qualify for the final interview stage are used. And this, according to the report, scuppers the chances of Dalits, the lowest Hindu caste once called “untouchables”, because of the innate bias of interviewers.

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Indian theatre festival forced to close after Hindu vigilantes object to satirical plays

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Bajrang Dal hardliners in Madhya Pradesh threaten violence over plays ‘disrespectful to the Indian flag’

Rightwing Hindu vigilante groups in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh have forced the cancellation of an annual theatre festival, after threatening violence over satirical plays they accused of being “anti-national”.

The annual theatre festival organised by the Indian People’s Theatre Association in the small town of Chhatarpur became the object of abuse and violent threats by Bajrang Dal, a hardline Hindu group linked with the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP).

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Quarter of women and girls have been abused by a partner, says WHO

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Largest such study finds domestic violence experienced by one-in-four teenage girls with worst levels faced by women in their 30s

One in four women and girls around the world have been physically or sexually assaulted by a husband or male partner, according to the largest study yet of the prevalence of violence against women.

The report, conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN partners, found that domestic violence started young, with a quarter of 15- to 19-year-old girls and young women estimated to have been abused at least once in their lives. The highest rates were found to be among 30- to 39-year-olds.

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‘Shoot me instead’: Myanmar nun’s plea to spare protesters

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Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng is photographed begging armed police officers not to shoot ‘the children’

Kneeling before them in the dust of a northern Myanmar city, Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng begged a group of heavily armed police officers to spare “the children” and take her life instead.

The image of the Catholic nun in a simple white habit, her hands spread, pleading with the forces of the country’s new junta as they prepared to crack down on a protest, has gone viral and won her praise in the majority-Buddhist country.

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Afghan TV station ‘can’t hire women’ over security fears after four killed

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Government blamed for not ensuring safety as broadcaster’s female staff told to stay home after attacks by Isis

A radio and television broadcaster in eastern Afghanistan that has had four of its female employees murdered since December has said it will not hire any more women until security in the country improves.

The broadcaster, Enikass Radio and Television, has also told all female employees to work from home. Islamic State (Isis) has claimed responsibility for killing all four women, but Enikass also blames the Afghan government for not providing adequate security.

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Female workers at H&M supplier in India allege widespread sexual violence

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Multiple women at Natchi Apparels have reported abuse weeks after 21-year-old worker was allegedly killed by her supervisor

Women in India making children’s clothes for H&M have spoken out about widespread sexual violence they claim to have faced at one of the company’s suppliers in India.

The allegations come just weeks after the body of Jeyasre Kathiravel, a 21-year-old Dalit garment worker, was found in a field close to her family home after she failed to return from her shift at the Natchi Apparels factory in Tamil Nadu.

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Myanmar protesters ‘barricaded’ in apartments by security forces – video

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Hundreds of anti-coup protesters were 'barricaded' by Myanmar security forces in apartment buildings in Yangon on Monday, the UN secretary-general said, calling for their release 'without violence or arrests'.

The police and military have responded with an increasingly brutal crackdown on demonstrators protesting the military coup in February. More than 50 people have been killed and nearly 1,800 arrested.

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Police in Myanmar occupy hospitals as unions call for national strike

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Police target outlet after hospitals stormed on Sunday night amid call for strike in protest at coup

Myanmar security forces have raided the Yangon offices of a local media outlet as the ruling junta widens its efforts to suppress opposition to the coup it carried out more than a month ago.

Soldiers and police on Monday evening raided the headquarters of Myanmar Now, a news outlet that regularly scrutinises the Tatmadaw, or military, seizing computers, part of the newsroom’s data server and other equipment, a representative of the outlet said.

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‘Pandemic of patriarchy’: Pakistani women defy threats to hold march

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Healthcare is focus of event to mark International Women’s Day, as organisers say pandemic has led to setbacks in rights

A march during the time of Covid is a difficult thing to plan safely. For Pakistan’s women, determined to have their “Aurat March” today, there are other risks – to their physical safety as well as of online abuse and trolling.

Noor is an organiser for this year’s masked nationwide rallies. She said she could not give her surname for fear of reprisals over her work.

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How pandemic may finally sink Kashmir’s famous houseboats

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Building and repair ban had turned Dal Lake into graveyard for sinking boats even before coronavirus and Delhi crackdown

Ghulam Nabi Butt may be 90 years old, but he has never forgotten the three days that George Harrison came to stay on his houseboat in October 1966.

It was here, on one of Butt’s first historic Clermont houseboats moored on the northern bank of Dal Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir, that the Beatles lead guitarist met the Indian musician and composer Ravi Shankar and was taught to play the sitar – marking the beginning of an musical collaboration that would last decades.

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Secretary of state Blinken proposes steps to boost Afghanistan peace talks

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  • Top diplomat warns US forces could be withdrawn by 1 May
  • Proposes UN conference and Kabul-Taliban talks in Turkey

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has proposed a series of steps to help restart stalled peace talks between the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban, according to a letter from Blinken to President Ashraf Ghani published on Sunday by Afghanistan‘s TOLONews.

Related: Afghans dread the ‘danger hours’ as fragile gains of 20 years slip away

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