Protesters emphasized that Pakistani authorities demolished Afghan private and commercial properties, even when residents possessed valid registration cards and were legally residing in the country….reports Asian Lite News
Activists of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) in Europe staged a protest in front of the United Nations office in Geneva to denounce the crackdown and forced deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
PTM activist Fazal-Ur-Rehman Afridi said on Wednesday that the eviction is against international laws and must be stopped immediately as Pakistani law enforcement agencies have unleashed a ‘reign of terror’ against the refugees. He blamed them for harassing, keeping the refugees in arbitrary detention and also torturing them.
The protesters highlighted that Pakistani authorities also demolished several Afghan private and commercial properties, despite the fact that the majority of these people had proof of registration cards and were residing legally. Those who could not pay bribes to the local police were later deported, putting their lives in danger as Afghanistan itself is facing a humanitarian crisis.
The activists also noted that Noor Ullah Tareen, the coordinator of PTM Karachi, who is a strong voice for Afghan refugees, was also arbitrarily arrested on October 4 by the personnel of Secret Services and police without any warrant.
Meanwhile, Mushtaq, PTM Co-Ordinator of Peshawar, and other PTM activists, including Aftab Shinwari, Bilal Orakzai and Hayat Roghani, were arrested in Peshawar while on their way to a proposed seminar on Afghan refugees at the Peshawar Press Club on October 16.
Pakistan has so far not entertained calls by international organisations and refugee agencies to reconsider the move, saying Afghans have been involved in terror attacks and in crimes that undermine security.
The protesters in Geneva requested the international community to intervene and urged the European Union to reconsider the GSP status of Pakistan, which is coming to an end in December 2023, over the gross human rights violations. (ANI)
As per Iranian media reports, Wahidi said that there are currently 5 million Afghan refugees living in Iran….reports Asian Lite News
Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Wahidi has said the country will deport Afghan immigrants who lack permits, TOLO News reported.
TOLO News is an Afghan news channel broadcasting from Kabul.
The Minister of Interior of Iran asked the Islamic Emirate to provide conditions for the return of Afghan immigrants, and Afghan immigrants who do not have legal documents for residence will be deported, TOLO News reported.
As per Iranian media reports, Wahidi said that there are currently 5 million Afghan refugees living in Iran.
Wahidi said: “Based on our figures, there are currently around five million people. There are two parts that have been fully explained before, a part of them do not have permits which should be deported”, as per TOLO News.
Meanwhile, the Taliban-appointed second Deputy Prime Minister of Afghanistan Abdul Salam Hanafi asked the citizens of the country and aid institutions to help the immigrants who have returned to the country.
According to Hanafi, so far more than 400,000 Afghan immigrants have returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan.
“The immigrants who were forcibly expelled from our neighbouring countries against all national and international norms, have returned to their homeland, and the Islamic Emirate has provided them services with all the possible means it had,” Hanafi said, according to TOLO News.
Some refugee rights activists expressed concerns regarding the situation of Afghan immigrants in Iran.
Immigrants’ rights activist Mohammad Khan Talibi said: “The Afghan immigrants in Iran are facing challenges due to not having legal living permits.” (ANI)
To comply with the EU’s regulations, Meta might offer a view-only mode of its app to users in the region for consumption…reports Asian Lite News
Instagram’s Thread now supports all languages in its latest keyword search update, as it takes on Elon Musk-run X social media platform.
According to Instagram head Adam Mosseri, keyword search will be “supported in all languages.”
“We’re expanding keyword search everywhere Threads is available. This feature is supported in all languages – we hope this makes it easier to find and join conversations you’re interested in,” he posted on Threads.
“More improvements are coming to search soon, let me know in the replies if you have feedback,” he added.
The feature was initially tested in English-speaking markets including Australia and New Zealand in August before expanding to other countries.
“That will make the app, now used by nearly 100 million people per month, more useful to a broader, global audience,” reports TechCrunch.
Meta’s social network Threads could launch the platform in the EU next month, according to The Wall Street Journal.
To comply with the EU’s regulations, Meta might offer a view-only mode of its app to users in the region for consumption.
“This means users won’t necessarily have to make a profile in order to view posts. But they might have to create one for posting,” the report noted.
Additionally, the company rolled out a way for users to delete their Threads profile without deleting their Instagram profile.
You’ll have the option to hide the Locked Chats folder from your chatlist so that they can only be discovered by typing your secret code in the search bar…reports Asian Lite News
Meta-owned WhatsApp on Thursday launched secret code feature for millions of users, an additional way to protect sensitive chats on its platform.
With a secret code, the users will be able to set a unique password different from what they use to unlock their phones to give their locked chats an extra layer of privacy.
“Rolling out secret code to Chat Lock on WhatsApp so you can protect your chats with a unique password. Now you can set your locked chats to only appear when you type the secret code in the search bar, so no one can unintentionally discover your most private conversations,” Meta Founder and CEO mark Zuckerberg said on his WhatsApp Channel.
You’ll have the option to hide the Locked Chats folder from your chatlist so that they can only be discovered by typing your secret code in the search bar.
“If that doesn’t suit your needs, you can still choose to have them appear in your chatlist. Whenever there’s a new chat which you want to lock, you can now long press to lock it rather than visiting the chat’s settings,” the company said in a statement.
The move will make the chats harder to find if someone has access to your phone or you share a phone with someone else. Earlier this year, WhatsApp had rolled out Chat Lock to help people protect their more sensitive conversations.
“We’re so happy our community has been loving Chat Lock, and hope that secret code makes it even more useful to them. Secret code starts rolling out today, and in the coming months will be available globally,” said the company.
Most malaria cases in the Region were concentrated in India (66 per cent) and about 94 per cent of deaths were in India and Indonesia….reports Asian Lite News
topped countries in the South-East Asia Region for the most number of malaria cases and deaths in 2022, according to the 2023 World malaria report published by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday.
The report showed that in 2022, nine countries in the South-East Asia Region contributed to about 2 per cent of the burden of malaria globally (5.2 million cases).
Most malaria cases in the Region were concentrated in India (66 per cent) and about 94 per cent of deaths were in India and Indonesia.
Globally, there were estimated 249 million malaria cases in 2022, exceeding the pre-pandemic level of 233 million in 2019 by 16 million cases.
There were also an additional five million malaria cases in 2022 over the previous year and five countries bore the brunt of these increases, the report said. Pakistan saw the largest increase, with about 2.6 million cases in 2022 compared to 500,000 in 2021. Significant increases were also observed in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea and Uganda.
Meanwhile, in the 11 countries that carry the highest burden of malaria, rates of new infections and deaths have levelled off following an initial upsurge during the first year of the pandemic.
These countries, supported through the WHO “High burden to high impact” approach, saw an estimated 167 million malaria cases and 426,000 deaths in 2022.
The report emphasised on the growing threat of climate change in increasing malaria cases. It showed that changes in temperature, humidity and rainfall can influence the behaviour and survival of the malaria-carrying Anopheles mosquito. Extreme weather events, such as heatwaves and flooding, can also directly impact transmission and disease burden.
Catastrophic flooding in Pakistan in 2022, for example, led to a five-fold increase in malaria cases in the country.
“The changing climate poses a substantial risk to progress against malaria, particularly in vulnerable regions. Sustainable and resilient malaria responses are needed now more than ever, coupled with urgent actions to slow the pace of global warming and reduce its effects,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, in a statement.
Climate variability is expected to have indirect effects on malaria trends through, for example, reduced access to essential malaria services and disruptions to the supply chain of insecticide-treated nets, medicines and vaccines. Population displacement due to climate-induced factors may also lead to increased malaria as individuals without immunity migrate to endemic areas.
There has also been progress toward malaria elimination in many countries with a low burden of the disease. In 2022, 34 countries reported fewer than 1000 cases of malaria compared to just 13 countries in 2000. This year alone, three more countries were certified by WHO as malaria-free — Azerbaijan, Belize and Tajikistan — and several others are on track to eliminate the disease in the coming year.
The report also cites achievements such as the phased roll-out of the first WHO-recommended malaria vaccine, RTS,S/AS01, in three African countries. In October 2023, WHO recommended a second safe and effective malaria vaccine, R21/Matrix-M. The availability of two malaria vaccines is expected to increase supply and make broad-scale deployment across Africa possible.
With large future telescopes, the researchers not only hope to discover new giant streams, they also want to zoom in on the Giant Coma Stream itself…reports Asian Lite News
An international team of researchers has discovered the largest-ever giant and extremely faint stream of stars running between galaxies.
The observations were made with University of California-Los Angeles astronomer Michael Rich’s relatively small 70-centimetre telescope in the US and using the 4.2-metre William Herschel telescope at La Palma, Spain.
After image processing, they saw an extremely faint stream more than 10 times the length of our Milky Way.
Named the Giant Coma Stream, it appeared to float in the middle of the cluster environment, not associated with any galaxy in particular, said the researchers in the paper published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
“This giant stream crossed our path by coincidence,” said lead researcher Javier Roman, associated with the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and the University of La Laguna in Spain.
“We were studying halos of stars located around large galaxies.”
The discovery of the Giant Coma Stream is remarkable because it is a rather fragile structure amid a hostile environment of mutually attracting and repelling galaxies.
“Meanwhile, we have been able to simulate such huge flows in the computer. We therefore expect to find more of them. For example, if we search with the future 39-metre ELT and when Euclid starts producing data,” said co-author Reynier Peletier from University of Groningen.
With large future telescopes, the researchers not only hope to discover new giant streams, they also want to zoom in on the Giant Coma Stream itself.
“We would love to observe individual stars in and near the stream and learn more about dark matter,” Peletier said.
The Coma Cluster is one of the best-studied clusters of galaxies. It contains thousands of galaxies at a distance of about 300 million light-years from Earth in the direction of the northern constellation Coma Berenices.
In 1933, Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky showed that the galaxies in the cluster move too fast if you only take the amount of visible matter into account. He figured out that there must be dark matter that keeps things together. The exact nature of dark matter is still unknown.
The two sides reviewed the situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas and engaged in an open, constructive and in-depth discussion…reports Asian Lite News
The 28th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) was held on Thursday.
The Joint Secretary (East Asia) from the Ministry of External Affairs led the Indian delegation and the Director-General, Boundary and Oceanic Affairs, of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs led the Chinese delegation, informed the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
The two sides reviewed the situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas and engaged in an open, constructive and in-depth discussion of proposals to resolve the remaining issues and achieve complete disengagement in Eastern Ladakh, MEA said in a press release.
They further agreed on the need to maintain peace and tranquilly along the border areas, ensure a stable situation on the ground and avoid any untoward incidents.
The two sides agreed to continue dialogue through military and diplomatic channels and hold the next round of the Senior Commanders’ Meeting at the earliest to achieve the above objective, the MEA release said.
China’s pneumonia concern
Hot on the heels of a deadly Covid-19 pandemic, the recent pneumonia outbreak reported in China is a concern for the rest of the world as our interconnected world still poses risks, said experts on Thursday, while calling on the need for preparing for the worst.
A recent post on ProMED Mail, the online reporting system of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, reported that China was experiencing a major pneumonia outbreak with no known cause in children.
It said that the outbreak, causing symptoms such as high fever, and some developing pulmonary nodules is overwhelming paediatric hospitals in the country.
Upon request, Chinese officials informed the World Health Organisation (WHO) that no new pathogens were detected in the outbreak, and instead the illnesses were caused by known seasonal viruses such as the flu and RSV, along with the bacteria Mycoplasma pneumoniae.
Netherlands and Denmark have also reported a similar uptick in pneumonia cases among children.
While there is currently no report of a spread, it may be too early to say whether it can spread, said health experts calling for increasing surveillance.
“While the risk of the new China flu threatening India is currently low, the potential for spillover remains. Implementing proactive preventive measures and strengthening public health infrastructure are crucial to safeguard India’s health security,” Dr Tushar Tayal, Consultant, Internal Medicine, CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram, told IANS.
“In the wake of the pneumonia outbreak in China, vigilance becomes our greatest shield. Although, there is no imminent threat to India, given our robust preparedness. Drawing from our past encounters with novel viruses, our readiness is evident. The lessons learned have fortified our capabilities to effectively address potential challenges posed by emerging infectious agents. However, our interconnected world still poses risks, and in such a case awareness and precautions are potent tools,” added Dr Nidhin Mohan, Consultant, Internal Medicine, Narayana Health City, Bengaluru.
A new paper in the Lancet journal shows a significant resurgence of Mycoplasma pneumonia cases post Covid in several countries including Singapore and Sweden since April.
Last week, the Union Health Ministry noted that it is “closely monitoring the reported outbreak of H9N2 cases and clusters of respiratory illness in children” in northern China. (IANS/ANI)
The exploitation of workers in the Pakistan’s garment sweat shops has been a sticky issue because of the private sector’s employment practices. A study found that the workers face not just financial but also physiological and psychological pressures. The oppression is sustained due to the structural inequalities in Pakistani society, manifesting as power distance and the intrusive role of political parties, their clientelist practices, and patronage politics, besides fundamental issues of elite-driven social structure … writes Dr Sakariya Kareem writes on the GSP+ Status Extension and the case of abusive industries in Pakistan
Though in October 2023, Pakistan’s GSP+ (Generalised Scheme of Preference) status was renewed, experts around the world have not ceased to express their concerns over the excesses taking place in Pakistan’s GSP+-favoured industries. It will help Pakistan to get preferential treatment in the EU countries.
Pakistan’s textile industry is one of the prominent beneficiaries of such preferential trade deals. Ironically, the workers in this industry are also the most exploited and underpaid. International media, activities, and Human Rights organizations have persistently raised their voice against the issue of rampant exploitation of workers involved in industries supplying to the fast-fashion market of Europe, but policy-makers in Pakistan are inert such voices demanding justice.
As per investigations by the Guardian, Pakistani factory workers who supply to big brands in Europe are being paid less than 35 dollars a month, which is much lower than the legal minimum wages in Pakistan. However, upon investigation, the factory owners often denied their trucks with fashion brands or labor exploitations. One among them is Madina Gloves, a textile exporter company located in the Pakistani town of Samanabad, which falsely denied any claims of supplying garments to a British fashion company, despite its workers claiming it to be so.
As per a research study, labor exploitation in the Pakistan’s garment sweat shops has been a sticky issue because of the private sector’s employment practices. The study found that the workers face not just financial but also physiological and psychological pressures. The oppression is sustained due to the structural inequalities in Pakistani society, manifesting as power distance and the intrusive role of political parties, their clientelist practices, and patronage politics, besides fundamental issues of elite-driven social structure. The political economy aspect of oppression is evident from the lack of implementation of minimum wages for the workers, just because the business owners in close nexus of the government do not find it profitable and make sure the rules like minimum wages remain an empty threat.
The exploitative capitalist nature of the Pakistani sweat shops knows no bounds. As per Human Rights Watch, workers, especially women, suffer physical, verbal, and sexual abuse, along with necessary overtime and denial of basic needs like sanitation facilities or medical and maternity leaves. The nexus between business owners and politicians ensures the breakdown of labor union activities. Over the last decade or so, labor rights activists have been either shot dead or have been framed under false cases of extortion. The government has not done much despite the lived trauma of an explosion due to unsafe work conditions in a garment factory a few years back. The conditions of many of these factories are abysmal, with non-existent fire-safety regulations. The political clout of factory owners is so strong that no reforms take place despite consistent appeals by local and international organizations.
In the wake of the rollover of GSP+ status and the existing oppression of labor in garment factories in Pakistan (which, as mentioned, is the major beneficiary), it is important to revisit the tenets of GSP+ policy. As highlighted by experts, GSP+ is a development tool, with focus on the effective promotion of human and labor rights progress. Apparently, only theoretically per se, GSP+ makes it mandatory to implement 27 international conventions on human and labour rights, good governance, and environment protections. However, it seems no much weight has been given to the considerable evidence of how Pakistan has not been sincere about achieving these goals is not being much heed.
A few days ago, Human Rights Watch, expressed its concern on the renewal of GSP+ status against the abusive practices of the beneficiary governments. Apart from labor exploitation in Pakistan’s garment and textile industry, Pakistan is a case of rampant human rights violations as well. In the wake of the extension of the GSP+ status of Pakistan, the HRW commented that, “Pakistan is by far the main GSP+ beneficiary, but the government has yet to consider reforming the highly abusive Blasphemy Law and Prevention of Cybercrimes Act, and political repression has intensified in the country over the past months.”
As of now, the current GSP regulations are set to expire on the 31st December 2023, and negotiations on new rules and reforms are underway. Though the EU has declared the extension of GSP+ till 2027, it is ideal that the terms of the renewed agreement be used as a disciplining mechanism for the abusive governments. As per Business Europe, “…the role that the GSP can play in promoting sustainable trade, transparency, and good governance, should be further underlined and reflected throughout the modernized EU Regulation, with improved monitoring procedures and stricter timelines, especially in cases of serious violations when it comes to the respect of human rights.”
Again, keeping in mind GSP+ as a development tool, the demand for reforms should hold water and not again be an empty threat. Experts have suggested that EU GSP+ scheme should include businesses and civil societies as important stakeholders to ensure monitoring and transparency. One important reform proposed by EU that needs to be strictly implemented is the withdrawal of preferences on certain or all products in the case of serious and systematic violation of principles laid down in the international conventions. This would act as a carrot and stick approach, disciplining notorious governments whenever the rules are flouted. This proposal would be successful with the active involvement of civil societies, who can act as a whistle-blower in case of abusive practices supported by the governments, and provide civil society a safer space to raise voice against oppression, and incentives Pakistani government to civil societies seriously. It has to be kept in mind that the continuation of GSP+ without any effective reforms will hurt the goals of human development and sustainability in the long term.
This format could be used, said Alexey Likhachev, Director General of the State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom)….writes Venkatachari Jagannathan
India and Russia can cooperate in building small floating reactors with the latter providing the nuclear heart (reactor) and the former taking care of the tow boat and electrical systems, said a top official of Rosatom.
Rosatom could offer the nuclear heart or the nuclear core (reactor) and other systems while India can take care of the tow boat and the electrical systems needed for the floating nuclear power station.
This format could be used, said Alexey Likhachev, Director General of the State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom).
Likahachev was answering a question raised by Venkatesh Varma, former Ambassador of India to Russia at the ninth edition of the International Forum ‘Primakov Readings’ held in Moscow.
Varma had asked about the small modular reactors for developing countries like India and whether Rosatom is prepared to provide an export version of this small modular reactors.
Interestingly, India and the US in July this year had agreed to work on the development of next generation small modular reactor technologies for domestic and export markets.
In the nuclear power field, small modular reactors are the new development.
Small modular reactors are the ones which are factory-made compact with less than 300 MW capacity. Incidentally, the world’s first land-based small modular reactor (SMR) with RITM-200N is slated to be commissioned in 2028 in the Russian Arctic region.
It would be very strange if our Indian friends were offered to build, let’s say, the seventh unit of Kudankulam with a capacity of 100 MW.
Since there is a power grid, consumption is growing.
Where there is a network and concentration of large consumers, one needs to build units with capacity like 1,000-1,500 or 800 MW, Likhachev said.
“In remote areas where there is no grid, but consumption is concentrated at 50, 60, 100 and 120 MW, that is where the solution of small modular reactors is needed. Plus, for newcomers (and India is certainly not a newcomer in this respect), it is very important to minimise the infrastructure,” he added.
According to Likhachev, for such locations, Rosatom could offer a floating nuclear power plant which is fixed on the shore and one need not build either a powerful physical protection or the appropriate facilities for storing nuclear fuel.
The entire generation actually takes place within the framework of one self-propelled vessel. And the reloading of fuel, then or the liquidation of this facility, it happens, in general, without any changes on land, everything happens in the water.
“That is, small capacity associated with a specific, localized consumer network and mobile solutions where you need to quickly start generating power,” he said.
The important conditions of small modular reactors are, they are 10 times smaller but not 10 times cheaper and the construction time is also not short and it should comply with the country’s regulations.
Chipping in, Alexander Dynkin, President of the Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Full Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences said several companies located in the Novgorod region have followed Rosatom to India offering various services at Kudankulam.
India’s atomic power plant operator Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has two 1,000 MW plants (Units 1 and 2) at Kudankulam, while four more (Units 3, 4, 5 and 6) are under construction.
All the six units are built with Russian technology and equipment supplied by Rosatom with NPCIL taking care of the civil construction and non-nuclear systems.
New Delhi, Sept 21 (ANI): Proceedings of the Lok Sabha are underway during the Special Session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Thursday. (ANI Photo/SansadTV)
The government is likely to introduce seven new bills in the House during the Winter session…reports Asian Lite News
Ahead of the Winter session of Parliament, the Centre has called for an all-party meeting at 11 a.m. on December 2. On behalf of the Central government, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi told the media in New Delhi.
Calling the upcoming Winter session of Parliament starting from December 4 as the last session of the current Lok Sabha, Joshi on Wednesday appealed to all the opposition parties to cooperate and participate in the discussion in the House.
He said that at present the Central government has fixed 24 bills for the current Winter session, its list will be finalised in the coming one or two days and the government will inform all the opposition parties about it in the forthcoming all-party meeting.
The government is likely to introduce seven new bills in the House during the Winter session, including setting up a Central Tribal University in Telangana and giving reservation to women in the Legislative Assembly of Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry.
The government has introduced the Indian Justice Code Bill — 2023, Indian Civil Defence Code Bill — 2023 and Indian Evidence Bill 2023, which replaces the IPC, CrPC and the Indian Evidence Act, as well as those related to the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners. Including this bill, 18 bills have also been listed for the session.
The Winter session of Parliament will conclude on December 22. There will be 15 meetings during the 19 days of the Parliament session.
This Winter session of Parliament is going to start from the next day after the election results of five states are declared and in such a situation, the election results are sure to have an impact on the proceedings of the Parliament session.
Counting of votes for the five states — Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram Assembly elections is to be held on December 3 and this Winter session of Parliament is going to start the next day i.e. from December 4.
If Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla accepts the Ethics Committee’s recommendation to cancel the membership of TMC MP Mahua Moitra, then the proposal to cancel her membership can also be placed in the Lok Sabha during the Winter session of Parliament.
