South Asia

Isolated people under threat in Andaman Islands

A US national was arrested on North Sentinel Island, in India’s remote Andaman & Nicobar archipelago, for illegally seeking to make contact with the isolated Sentinelese people, an officially designated “particularly vulnerable tribal group” (PVTG). London-based Survival International expressed relief at the arrest, but called the news deeply disturbing, saying the adventurer’s actions “put the lives of the entire Sentinelese tribe at risk,” due to their lack of immunity to common outside diseases. Within days of the arrest, a journalist with local news channel Republic Andaman was found dead—apparently targeted for his reportage on illegal logging and mining in the archipelago. And far greater threats loom; Survival warns that isolated peoples could be wiped out if New Delhi goes ahead with its plan to transform Great Nicobar Island into the “Hong Kong of India,” with massive new port facilities and rapid urbanization. (Photo: Survival International)

South Asia

Call for UN to intervene in Balochistan repression

The international Baloch Human Rights Council (BHRC) called upon UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to urgently intervene in the repression of peaceful protests in Pakistan’s conflicted Balochistan province. The group urged the UN to secure the immediate release of Dr. Mahrang Baloch and other members of the Baloch Yekjehti Committee, a local rights group. Dr. Baloch and several of her comrades were detained at a protest in provincial capital Quetta against enforced disappearances. Urging global action to hold Pakistan accountable, the BHRC described the arrests as “a blatant violation of fundamental freedoms and democratic principles.” (Image: BYC)

South Asia

Amnesty: India must end Manipur violence

Amnesty International called on Indian authorities to take immediate steps to end ongoing ethnic violence and ensure human rights protections in the conflict-torn northeastern state of Manipur. The statement comes as N. Biren Singh resigned as chief minister of Manipur. Since May 2023, ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities have left over 250 dead and more than 60,000 displaced. Villages, businesses, and places of worship have been destroyed, as vigilante groups operate with impunity. The resignation of Singh follows a Supreme Court-ordered forensic inquiry into leaked audio tapes that allegedly link him to instigating ethnic violence. Amnesty emphasized that Singh’s resignation provides an opportunity for authorities to break the cycle of violence and impunity that has plagued Manipur for nearly two years. (Photo: Asia Media Centre)

South Asia

Pakistan: truce follows weeks of sectarian clashes

A ceasefire agreement was reached between two warring tribes in Pakistan’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province following weeks of clashes that left 130 people dead in Kurram district, along the border with Afghanistan. A Grand Jirga of tribal leaders was called to mediate the truce. The violence exploded when a convoy of Shi’ite pilgrims traveling to a shrine in Peshawar was ambushed by armed assailants, killing at least 42. The ensuing clashes pitted members of the mostly Shi’ite Bagan tribe against their Sunni neighbors, the Alizai, with shops and homes ransacked and whole villages displaced. A land dispute between the two tribes had also caused clashes that led to 50 fatalities in September, and ended when some 100,000 local residents marched for peace. (Map: USAID via ReliefWeb)

South Asia

India: new eruption of violence in Manipur

The state of Manipur in remote northeastern India has again erupted in protest, after the bodies of six women and children from the majority Meitei community were recovered. Meitei leaders say the victims were kidnapped and murdered by members of the Kuki minority. The demonstrations, which saw protesters torch the homes and offices of government officials, have led to several arrests. A proposed change to land-tenure law in the state in favor of the Meitei last summer set off months of protests, violence, and a communications shutdown. (Map via TFI Post)

South Asia

Pakistan: Pashtun rights movement faces repression

The government of Pakistan has placed a ban on the activities of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement, a grassroots organization that advocates for the rights of the Pashtun minority, which has been subjected to decades of abuse. The government officially listed the PTM as a “proscribed organization,” essentially labelling it a terrorist group. The order came days before the PTM was slated to hold a large demonstration. Amnesty International described the action as “part of a systematic and relentless clampdown by the Pakistani authorities on peaceful protests and assemblies by dissenting groups.” (Photo: Osama Ahmad/TNH)

Africa

UK offers new ‘detention facility’ to Diego Garcia detainees

With conditions among the asylum seekers on Diego Garcia growing dire and the island set to be ceded to Mauritius, the UK is under pressure to relocate the 56 Sri Lankan asylum seekers stranded there, plus eight receiving medical treatment in Rwanda. The British government has offered to transfer 36 of them to a UN-run transit center in Romania. After six months there, if they do not accept repatriation or re-settlement in another country, they will be accepted to the UK. However, lawyers are trying to have the group brought to the UK directly, arguing that forcing them to spend six months in a Romanian “detention facility” would “cause them to suffer further avoidable harm.” The Romania plan has also upset the 28 men who did not receive the offer and have been told they will stay on the island indefinitely if they do not accept repatriation. At least two began a hunger strike in protest. (Photo via TNH)

Africa

UK to transfer sovereignty of Chagos Islands to Mauritius

The UK announced that it will transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, now ruled as the British Indian Ocean Territory, to Mauritius after more than two centuries of control. A joint statement issued by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Jugnauth hails the accord as an “historic political agreement on the exercise of sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago.” The UK-US military base on the archipelago’s principal island of Diego Garcia will remain operational for an initial period of 99 years to ensure its continued “vital role in regional and global security.” The UK will be “authorised to exercise the sovereign rights of Mauritius” on Diego Garcia. The decision follows two years of negotiations over the future of the islands between the two nations. (Map: Republic of Mauritius)

South Asia

Bangladesh leader condemns attacks on Sufi shrines

The interim leader of Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus, issued a stern condemnation of recent attacks on Sufi shrines across the country. Bangladesh has experienced a recent rise of extremist violence targeting religious and cultural sites, including both Sufi shrines and Hindu temples. Protests have erupted across the country, with thousands of Hindus and followers of Sufi saints taking to the streets to demand greater protection for their religious sites. (Photo: Dhaka Tribune)

South Asia

Pakistan: new escalation in Baloch insurgency

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan expressed concern over the deteriorating security situation, rampant rights abuses and ongoing political dysfunction in Balochistan province. The commission highlighted a continued pattern of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, with an alarming lack of government action in holding perpetrators accountable. The report came days after at least 73 people were killed in clashes between the military and Baloch ethnic separatists as insurgents launched a series of attacks across the province. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attacks targeting police and security outposts. The attacks were timed for the anniversary of the death of Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti, who was killed in a 2006 raid by the military. Former President Pervez Musharraf was put on trial for the slaying, but acquitted in 2016. (Map via Atheer)

Planet Watch

World war or world revolution?

In Episode 239 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg provides an overview of the protest waves and uprisings going on across the planet—in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Bangladesh, India, China, Serbia, Venezuela, and in Israel. This as worldwide protests in solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza continue. Amid ongoing protests against Netanyahu in Israel, there have also been protests against Hamas in Gaza. Despite internal dangers and contradictions in all these upsurges, there is a sense that we could be approaching a revolutionary moment such as that seen in 2011—the year of the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street. And with the planet on an accelerating trajectory toward world war, the linking of these upsurges through conscious solidarity and the infusion of anti-war content to their demands is urgently mandated. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo via Twitter)

South Asia

India lifts ban on civil servants joining RSS paramilitary

The Indian government has removed a 58-year-long policy forbidding civil servants and bureaucrats from joining or associating with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an opposition leader revealed. Jairam Ramesh, a member of Parliament with the Indian National Congress, posted a photo on Twitter of the memorandum lifting the ban by the Department of Personnel & Training. In his post, Ramesh noted that the ban was put in place in response to the assassination of independence leader Mohandas Gandhi by RSS militant Nathuram Godse in 1948. The initially temporary ban was made permanent in 1966. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is widely perceived to be “on the same page” as the RSS, and his Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has long-standing ties to the right-wing Hindu paramilitary organization. This has been protested by the opposition as contrary to the spirit of India’s secular constitution. The result of India’s elections for the lower house of Parliament, the Lok Sabha, was announced in June, with the BJP-led coalition winning a third consecutive term. (Photo: Suyash Dwivedi via Wikimedia Commons)