Category Archives: South and Central Asia

US dropped record number of bombs on Afghanistan last year

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Warplanes dropped 7,423 bombs and other munitions, the most since Pentagon began keeping track in 2006

The US dropped more bombs on Afghanistan in 2019 than any other year since the Pentagon began keeping a tally in 2006, reflecting an apparent effort to force concessions from the Taliban at the negotiating table.

According to new figures released by US central command, US warplanes dropped 7,423 bombs and other munitions on Afghanistan, a nearly eightfold increase from 2015.

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Asia Bibi: Pakistani woman jailed for blasphemy releases photos in exile

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Bibi, freed last year and now in Canada, will release her autobiography on Wednesday

Asia Bibi, the Christian woman who spent eight years on death row in Pakistan for blasphemy, has released two photographs taken in exile, as she prepares for the launch of her autobiography on Wednesday.

The former farm labourer, whose case became one of the most high-profile human rights campaigns in the world, was freed last year and flew to Canada, where she was reunited with her family. They are all believed to be living under assumed identities, at a secret location, as they still receive death threats from extremists.

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Rajasthan’s women encouraged to remove veil in state campaign

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Chief minister argues initiative will empower women, but move sparks controversy in conservative Indian state

When women reach the polling booths to cast their vote in current village council elections in Rajasthan, they may be asked to remove their veil, showing their faces in front of strangers.

The move is controversial in this vast, conservative rural hinterland, where the veil is worn by Hindu and Muslim women as well as other groups.

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International court to rule on Rohingya genocide safeguards

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ICJ could impose protective ‘provisional measures’ to stop further killings in Myanmar

The United Nation’s highest tribunal is to deliver its decision on whether emergency measures are required to prevent Myanmar conducting genocide against its Rohingya Muslim minority.

The momentous pronouncement on Thursday follows a three-day hearing at the international court of justice in The Hague last month at which the Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi defended her country against accusations of systematic human rights abuses and war crimes.

Related: Aung San Suu Kyi pleas with court to dismiss genocide claims

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Ai Weiwei on his new life in Britain: ‘People are at least polite. In Germany, they weren’t’

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Devastated by his time in Germany, which he regards as still Nazi, the artist has moved. As he unveils a powerful virtual reality artwork, he talks about needing a monster to fight – and why he’d like to be a barber

‘When we filmed this,” says Ai Weiwei, “the elephants didn’t know what to do. Once they were used for labour, and now they have lost their job.” The artist is talking about the groundbreaking documentary he has just made about unemployed logging elephants in Myanmar. You watch the film, shot with 360-degree virtual reality technology, through a special headset. Turn your head slowly and your view gradually changes. Turn your head 180 degrees and the picture changes completely.

“When they lost their job,” he continues, “each elephant had a few people to take care of it, so those people also lost their job.” Ai (Weiwei is his first name and means unknown or future) relates to the elephants as readily as he does to the subject of the second part of his VR project – this one about the lives of Rohingya refugees in a Bangladeshi camp.

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‘The river is our home’: Bangladeshi boatmen mourn their receding waters

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Decreased flows caused by water-hungry neighbours, especially India, are damaging river communities

• All photographs by Kaamil Ahmed

Holding his downturned palm level with his waist, Musana Robi Das indicates how tall he was when he started working on Bangladesh’s rivers.

As a child he helped his father ferry villagers across local waterways. Now a tall and spindly 50-year-old, he has had to abandon that life as a boatman. The waters now sit so low that his services are unnecessary. So the past decade has instead been spent repairing shoes inside a dimly lit wooden booth in the village market.

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Nepal avalanche: South Koreans among seven missing

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Four South Koreans and three Nepalis are out of contact after an avalanche close to Annapurna base camp

An avalanche in Nepal’s Annapurna region has left at least seven people missing, including four South Koreans and three Nepalis, officials said Saturday.

The incident occurred at an altitude of around 3,230 metres close to the base camp for Annapurna, one of the highest peaks in the Himalayas, following heavy snowfall on Friday.

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Baby mauled to death by dogs in Indian hospital

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Staff charged with manslaughter after newborn attacked inside operating theatre

Indian police have sealed a private hospital and charged staff with manslaughter after a newborn baby was mauled to death by dogs inside an operating theatre.

The three-hour-old baby was attacked by the pack of dogs, who got into the hospital through a window, before relatives heard growling inside the room early on Monday in Farrukhabad district, 110 miles (180km) from Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh.

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‘No debate, no democracy’: journalists in Nepal fight new threat to press freedom

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Bills introduced by ruling Communist party will bring in heavy fines and the threat of jail to stifle debate, say critics

Jail terms of up to five years could be imposed on people in Nepal who post “offensive” comment on social media sites, including Facebook and Instagram in the latest move by the government to crack down on dissent.

The information technology bill, introduced at the end of December, imposes fines of up to 1.5m rupees (about $13,000) for anyone posting content deemed to promote hate crime or ridicule. It would apply to all social networking sites.

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Two US military service members killed in Afghanistan

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  • Roadside bomb explosion seems certain to stall Taliban talks
  • Two US service members wounded, military says

Two US service members were killed and two injured when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, the US military said on Saturday.

In keeping with defense department rules, the military did not identify the service members.

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Police in Bangladesh make arrest in connection with alleged rape of student

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Dhaka University demonstrators demand prompt action following reported rape of 21-year-old woman

Police in Bangladesh have arrested a man in connection with the alleged rape of a student at Dhaka University amid angry protests on campus.

More than 2,000 students and human rights activists – some brandishing placards asking: “Tell me, am I next?” – demonstrated this week following the alleged rape of the 21-year-old student. They demanded the death penalty for anyone found guilty of rape.

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India supreme court orders review of Kashmir internet shutdown

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Judges say blackout infringes on freedom of speech and expression

India’s supreme court has ordered the government to review all restrictions in Indian-controlled Kashmir within a week, saying the indefinite suspension of people’s rights amounted to an abuse of power.

In a blow to the Hindu nationalist government of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, the country’s highest court said the expression of opposition to state policy could not justify the crackdown.

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Indian towns and cities grind to halt as workers stage 24-hour strike

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Action to protest against slowing economy and PM’s policies disrupts many areas

A 24-hour strike has disrupted much of India as workers took to the streets in several major cities to protest against the country’s worsening economic slowdown.

At least 10 trade unions called on employees to stage protests on Wednesday against what they described as the “anti-people” policies of Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government.

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India campus attack: police fail to make arrests but charge injured student

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Student leader beaten with iron bar during attack charged with two offences for prior incident

Police in Delhi have faced criticism for failing to arrest any members of a violent mob that stormed the campus of the Jawarharlal Nehru University (JNU) in the Indian capital, while at the same time charging a student leader beaten over the head with a metal bar with two offences.

Police have been accused of failing to intervene when about 50 masked men went on the rampage on Sunday evening, attacking students and academic staff, and vandalising buildings and property. More than 30 people were injured.

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Masked mob storms top Delhi university, injuring staff and students – video

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Students have protested in cities across India after a masked mob attacked students and teachers with weapons including sledgehammers, iron rods and bricks, injuring more than 30 people. Opposition parties and injured students blamed Sunday night’s violence on a student organisation linked to Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party, which has increasingly targeted the institution

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Students protest across India after attack at top Delhi university

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Opposition links violence to Narendra Modi’s BJP party and tensions over citizenship law

Students have protested in cities across India after a masked mob stormed a high-profile university in Delhi and attacked students and teachers with weapons including sledgehammers, iron rods and bricks, injuring more than 30.

Opposition parties and injured students blamed Sunday night’s violence on a student organisation linked to the prime minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), which has increasingly targeted the institution.

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India citizenship law: 100,0000 attend Hyderabad protest

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Demonstration was organised by umbrella group of Muslim and civil society organisations

More than 100,000 protesters have taken part in a peaceful march in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, chanting slogans against Narendra Modi’s new citizenship law.

The protest, labelled the Million March, was organised by an umbrella group of Muslim and civil society organisations. More than 40% of Hyderabad’s estimated population of nearly 7 million people are Muslims.

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Chandrayaan-3: India unveils fresh $35m attempt to put a rover on the moon

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Space programme seeks to bounce back after 2019 project ended with a crash landing on the lunar surface

India plans to make a fresh attempt at an unmanned mission on the moon this year, the head of the country’s space programme has said, after a 2019 bid ended in a crash landing.

Work was going “smoothly” on the Chandrayaan-3 mission to put a rover probe on the moon’s surface, Indian Space Research Organisation chairman K Sivan said. “We are targeting the launch for this year but it may spillover to next year,” Sivan said. Indian sources said authorities had set November as a provisional target for launch.

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Kashmir: text messaging services to be restored in disputed region

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Curbs on internet services remain five months after India revoked semi-autonomous status

Authorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir are to restore text messaging services in the disputed region, almost five months after India’s government downgraded its semi-autonomy and imposed a strict security and communications lockdown.

A local government spokesman, Rohit Kansal, said the decision was made after a review of the situation.

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