Category Archives: South and Central Asia

India’s Rahul Gandhi appeals against defamation verdict

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Opposition leader was found guilty last month, given suspended jail term and barred from parliament

The Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has appealed against his conviction for defamation, seeking to overturn a judgment that resulted in his expulsion from parliament a year before a general election is due.

Gandhi, 52, was convicted last month in a case brought by a state lawmaker from Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) after comments Gandhi made in a 2019 speech were deemed to be insulting to the prime minister and other people surnamed Modi.

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Two Britons held by Taliban speak to families for first time since arrest

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Calls described as ‘great relief’ after Kevin Cornwell, 53, and an unnamed man were detained in Afghanistan

The families of two British men held in custody by the Taliban in Afghanistan have been able to speak to them for the first time since their arrest.

Kevin Cornwell, a 53-year-old charity medic, and another British national, who has not been named, were detained by the Taliban’s secret police on 11 January.

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Taliban holding three British men in detention in Afghanistan

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Charity medic, hotelier and ‘danger tourist’ reportedly arrested by Taliban’s secret police in January

Three British men including a charity medic and a self-styled “danger tourist” are being held in custody by the Taliban in Afghanistan, it has been reported.

The Mail on Sunday said Kevin Cornwell, a 53-year-old charity medic, and another British national who manages a hotel for aid workers in Kabul, who has not been named, were detained by the Taliban’s secret police in January.

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Female radio station in Afghanistan closed for playing music during Ramadan

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Sadai Banowan violated ‘laws and regulations of the Islamic emirate’, says local Taliban official

A female-run radio station in Afghanistan’s north-east has been shut down for playing music during the holy month of Ramadan, a Taliban official said.

Sadai Banowan, which means women’s voice in Dari, is Afghanistan’s only female-run station and started 10 years ago. It has eight staff, six of them female.

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Eight arrested in Pakistan after crush at free food point kills 12

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Police in Karachi say nine women and three children dead after crush outside factory during Ramadan alms-giving

Pakistani police have arrested eight people in the southern port city of Karachi after a crush killed 12 people at a Ramadan food and cash distribution point a day earlier.

Hundreds of women and children rushed to collect free food and cash outside a factory in an industrial area of the city on Friday. Business-owners during the Islamic holy month often hand out cash and food, especially to poorer people. An initial report from the police said nine women, aged between 40 and 80, and three children, aged between 10 and 15, had died in the crush.

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Thirty-six dead after floor of Indian temple collapses

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Worshippers in Indore fell into communal water source as they gathered to mark Ram Navami

At least 36 people have died after the floor of a Hindu temple collapsed in Indore, central India, plunging them into a well.

It has emerged that the floor which covered the stepwell – a stair-lined communal water source – consisted only of tiles laid over a metal grille.

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New project seeks to bring south Asian literature to western readers

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Founded by two translators – one American, one British – the Salt initiative will provide mentorships, funding and a south Asia-focused literary translation school

A new project to help bring the “extraordinarily rich” literature of south Asia to English-speaking countries will launch this summer, it has been announced.

The cross-continental South Asian Literature in Translation (Salt) project has been set up by the University of Chicago, in partnership with the American Literary Translators Association, English PEN, Words Without Borders and the British Council. The multi-year project will try to “strengthen each part of the publishing chain across the English-speaking world”, the University of Chicago has said.

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Afghan applying to resettle in UK asked to provide Taliban approval

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Despite MoD assurances, applicant and former British Council worker still being asked for Taliban-stamped papers

An Afghan who worked with the British Council and is applying to come to the UK has been told to retrieve documents from the Taliban or risk rejection, despite assurances earlier this month that such demands would end.

The Ministry of Defence apologised on 18 March after an investigation found that applicants to the Afghan relocations and assistance policy (Arap) scheme were required to provide birth and marriage certificates in English and bearing stamps from Afghan government departments.

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Bangladesh journalist charged over story about rising food prices

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Shamsuzzaman Shams was taken from his home at 4am and accused of spreading ‘false news’ over article about cost of living crisis

Bangladesh police on Wednesday charged a reporter from a leading newspaper with producing “false news”, stoking fears about media freedom, after an article about high food prices went viral.

Shamsuzzaman Shams was picked up from his home in the industrial town of Savar just outside Dhaka at about 4am by plainclothes police, according to his newspaper, Prothom Alo.

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Priyanka Chopra Jonas: Bollywood’s fair skin fixation helped drive me away

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Actor and former Miss World announced move to US at pinnacle of her fame in India eight years ago

The Indian actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas has spoken of how Bollywood’s enduring obsession with fair skin was one of the reasons she left the industry to try her luck in Hollywood eight years ago.

Chopra, 40, is a former Miss World and was at the pinnacle of her fame in India when she abruptly announced the move to the US.

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Victory over big pharma opens door to cheaper tuberculosis drugs

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India’s patent office turns down bedaquiline extension to Johnson & Johnson, clearing the way for generic versions

People with drug-resistant tuberculosis in India could soon have access to critical medication at a far lower cost after the authorities rejected US pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson’s application to extend a patent.

The firm wanted to extend its patent on bedaquiline, which expires in July, until 2027, which would have prevented cheaper generic versions reaching the market.

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Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party dissolved

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Party refuses to comply with tough new registration law imposed by Myanmar’s military junta

Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) has been dissolved after it refused to comply with a tough new party registration law imposed by Myanmar’s military, according to junta-controlled media.

The military, which seized power in a coup in February 2021, set Tuesday as a deadline for political parties to re-register under the restrictive new law. It has promised to hold an election, though such a vote has been widely dismissed as lacking in any credibility.

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Afghan refugees face homelessness under UK plans, say rights groups

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Ministers announce refugees in hotels will be offered move to a home on condition they accept first offer

People who fled the Taliban in Afghanistan are at risk of homelessness in the UK, humanitarian groups have warned, after ministers announced plans to move the refugees out of hotels and into homes on the condition they accept the first offer made to them.

Afghans living in “temporary bridging accommodation” in the UK under the UK’s two resettlement schemes would be given additional support to find settled accommodation after 18 months in hotels, the Home Office said.

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Founder of Afghan girls’ school project arrested in Kabul

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Matiullah Wesa, head of Pen Path, beaten and arrested outside a mosque after prayers

The founder of a project that campaigned for girls’ education in Afghanistan has been detained by Taliban authorities in Kabul, his brother and the UN have said.

The Taliban government last year barred girls from attending secondary school, making Afghanistan the only country in the world where there is a ban on education.

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India’s Rahul Gandhi vows to ‘defend democracy’ after being stripped of seat

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Top opposition figure expelled from parliament after being convicted of defamation over Modi remark

The top Indian opposition figure Rahul Gandhi has said he will keep fighting for democracy after blaming his expulsion from parliament on his demands for an investigation into a key business ally of the prime minister, Narendra Modi.

Gandhi was stripped of his parliamentary seat on Friday, a day after he was convicted of defamation in Modi’s home state of Gujarat for a 2019 campaign-trail remark seen as an insult to the prime minister.

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Indian opposition leader expelled from parliament after defamation conviction

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Rahul Gandhi of Congress party had asked why ‘all thieves have Modi as [their] common surname’

The Indian opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, has been expelled from parliament 24 hours after he was convicted of defamation for a remark implying the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, was a criminal.

Senior members of Gandhi’s Congress party met on Friday morning to discuss the conviction and his two-year jail sentence when they received news of his expulsion.

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UK aid cuts could force closure of Afghan project supporting women and girls

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Slashing funding to the programme from a promised £7m to just £1m sends a ‘stark message to the world’, says Save the Children

The UK government has cut almost £6m in funding to a programme in Afghanistan supporting vulnerable women and girls.

Save the Children said it has been told by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office that it will receive just over £1m of a promised £7m to support more than 100,000 people to access essential basic services such as healthcare and education.

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A team of vets, four ‘kumki’ and one tranquilliser dart: the plan to capture Kerala’s marauding elephant

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Known as ‘Rice Tusker’ for his insatiable hunger, the 30-year-old pachyderm has been terrorising the Indian region for years

The trail of destruction left by an elephant in Kerala could finally come to an end on Sunday as a crack team of experts plan to capture him.

The team of 71 vets, forest officers and field workers have identified a specific spot among the wooded hills in Idukki district where Arikompan – which means the Rice Tusker, because of his love for rice – comes every couple of days to cool off in water.

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Pakistan delays Punjab election despite supreme court ruling

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Former prime minister Imran Khan says election commission’s move is violation of Pakistan’s constitution

Pakistan has postponed elections in Punjab, the country’s most populated province, in a move that spurns a recent supreme court ruling and is likely to cause more sparks between supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan and the government.

In an eight-page order seen by the Guardian, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) claimed that “it is not possible to hold and organise the elections honestly, justly, fairly, in a peaceful manner”, blaming security threats and financial problems. It said it would be unable to provide a “level playing field” to all political parties as a result.

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Rahul Gandhi found guilty of defaming Narendra Modi

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Indian opposition leader accused of implying prime minister was a criminal in remark made in 2019

A court in India has found the opposition leader Rahul Gandhi guilty of defamation for a remark implying the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, was a criminal.

On Thursday, Gandhi, 52, was sentenced to two years in prison but was granted bail after his lawyers announced their intention to appeal.

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