Pakistan seals off capital, blocks cellphones ahead of protest by Imran Khan’s party

Pakistan seals off capital, blocks cellphones ahead of protest by Imran Khan’s party
Activists of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party of former prime minister Imran Khan take part in a public rally on the outskirts of Lahore on Sept. 21, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 04 October 2024
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Pakistan seals off capital, blocks cellphones ahead of protest by Imran Khan’s party

Pakistan seals off capital, blocks cellphones ahead of protest by Imran Khan’s party
  • It would be the latest in a series of protest rallies since last month to press for Khan’s release
  • Islamabad police warn they would take action against anyone attempting to disturb the peace in the capital

ISLAMABAD: Authorities in Pakistan sealed off the capital, Islamabad, and blocked cellphone services on Friday to prevent an anti-government rally by supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, officials said.
It would be the latest in a series of protest rallies since last month to press for Khan’s release and agitate against the ruling coalition government, which the party calls illegitimate, saying it was formed after a fraudulent election.
Shipping containers have been placed to block Islamabad’s entry and exit points, guarded by large numbers of police and paramilitary troops, the officials said, while police banned any gathering in the capital.
“If someone plans to storm Islamabad, we wouldn’t let that happen,” Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told a news conference late on Thursday.
He urged Khan’s party to shift the rally to later dates, to avoid disrupting Islamabad’s preparations to host a meeting of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO) on Oct. 15 and Oct. 16.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is visiting, to be followed by a high-profile Saudi delegation and Chinese Premier Li Qiang ahead of the conference, Naqvi said, adding, “We can’t allow any chaos.”
Any agitation in the capital would not send a good signal to the world ahead of the conference, Naqvi said.
Disregarding the appeal, Khan asked his supporters to gather outside parliament regardless of obstacles.
“I want you all to reach D-Chowk today for a peaceful protest rally,” he posted on X on Friday, referring to a spot outside parliament. “This war has entered a decisive phase.”
Even though Khan has been in jail since Aug 2023, candidates backed by him won the most seats in February’s general election, though their numbers were insufficient to form a government.
His opponents, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, formed a coalition government instead.
In a statement on Friday, Islamabad police warned they would take action against anyone attempting to disturb the peace in the capital, adding that any gathering had been banned.
Schools were shut and cellphone services suspended in Islamabad and the adjacent garrison city of Rawalpindi.
A telecoms official said cellphone services were blocked on directions from the interior ministry. A ministry spokesman did not respond to a request for a comment.


Trump ramps up transition moves with key appointments

Trump ramps up transition moves with key appointments
Updated 11 sec ago
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Trump ramps up transition moves with key appointments

Trump ramps up transition moves with key appointments
WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump has moved quickly to staff up his incoming administration, naming loyalists to several key posts within days of his election victory and signaling his desire to have some seated without a Senate confirmation process.
The staffing picks are the subject of intense speculation and scrutiny, with Trump vowing that his second administration will oversee a radical shake-up of the federal government.
The 78-year-old Republican tycoon said Sunday he would tap hard-line immigration official Tom Homan as the country’s “border czar,” while US media reported the nod for UN ambassador as going to New York congresswoman Elize Stefanik, a vocal Trump ally.
Stephen Miller, another fierce critic of illegal immigration who served in Trump’s first administration, has been tapped for deputy chief of staff.
The picks signal movement on a number of Trump’s key campaign messages, with Homan’s hard-line immigration stance making him a loyal hand in carrying out the incoming president’s deportation promises, while Stefanik, who has voiced strong support for Israel, will represent the administration as the UN grapples with the ongoing wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Stefanik’s nomination would need approval by the Senate, but Trump is hoping to bypass Congress by making appointments while the chamber is in recess.
He has turned the issue into a loyalty test, insisting that any Republican seeking to be the leader of the Senate “must agree” to recess appointments.
The three senators jockeying for the post immediately issued statements saying they supported the move, or were at least open to the idea.
Trump will not be inaugurated until January, and had previously made one cabinet-level appointment, naming his campaign manager Susie Wiles as his White House chief of staff, a position that does not require Senate confirmation.
His weekend nominations for both border czar and ambassador to the UN will help him fulfill a number of his key promises to the American electorate.
Homan, a former acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), holds strident views on immigration, as does Miller, who served as Trump’s senior adviser and speechwriter during his first term.
Curbing illegal immigration served as one of Trump’s central campaign promises as he pledged to launch the largest deportation operation of undocumented migrants in US history beginning on day one.
“I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders,” Trump said of Homan on Truth Social, adding that he will be in charge of “all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin.”
Stefanik, a key Trump ally now in her fifth term in office, has been a staunch defender of Israel and will head to the UN as the wars in Gaza and Lebanon dominate diplomacy.
Israel welcomed the appointment Monday.
“At a time when hate and lies fill the halls of the UN, your unwavering moral clarity is needed more than ever,” its UN ambassador Danny Danon wrote on X, wishing her “success in standing firm for truth and justice.”

Netherlands to impose land border controls from Dec 9, says migration ministry

Netherlands to impose land border controls from Dec 9, says migration ministry
Updated 11 November 2024
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Netherlands to impose land border controls from Dec 9, says migration ministry

Netherlands to impose land border controls from Dec 9, says migration ministry

AMSTERDAM: The Netherlands will impose controls on its land borders from Dec. 9, a spokesperson for Migration Minister Marjolein Faber said on Monday, confirming an earlier report by Dutch news agency ANP.
The controls on borders, all of which are with fellow countries in the EU's Schengen border-free zone, are set to last six months, part of a wider crackdown on migration proposed by the right-wing coalition led by the anti-Muslim nationalist PVV party of Geert Wilders. They follow a similar move by neighbouring Germany.


Trial starts over rape, murder of junior doctor in India’s Kolkata

Trial starts over rape, murder of junior doctor in India’s Kolkata
Updated 11 November 2024
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Trial starts over rape, murder of junior doctor in India’s Kolkata

Trial starts over rape, murder of junior doctor in India’s Kolkata
  • The woman’s body was found in a classroom at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital on Aug. 9
  • The case has reignited criticism of lack of safety for women in India, despite introducing tougher laws

KOLKATA: A court in the eastern state of West Bengal began the trial on Monday of a police volunteer accused of raping and murdering a doctor at a government hospital in August, a case that has sparked outrage over the lack of safety for women in India.
The woman’s body was found in a classroom at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in the state capital Kolkata on Aug. 9, federal police said. They also said they had arrested a police volunteer, Sanjay Roy, for the crime.
Charges were drawn up last week, while Roy said he was “completely innocent” and was being framed, local media reported.
The legal case has reignited criticism of India’s poor record on women’s safety despite the introduction of tougher laws following the 2012 gang rape and murder of a woman on a moving bus in New Delhi.
It also shines a light on the poor infrastructure and security at government hospitals in India, many of which lack basic facilities including CCTV cameras and security personnel.
Around 128 witnesses will be examined during the trial, court sources told Reuters, with hearings taking place on a daily basis as authorities look to fast-track the high-profile case. They will not be open to the public.
One source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the father of the woman doctor, the alleged victim, gave evidence on Monday.
In addition to the defendant Roy, India’s federal police said they arrested the officer in charge of the local police station and the superintendent of the hospital for allegedly tampering with evidence and financial irregularities.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met protesters last month and accepted most of their demands, doctors seeking reforms said, but they added they would track progress on her assurances and maintain pressure for change.


10 killed in northeast India police station attack — government

10 killed in northeast India police station attack — government
Updated 11 November 2024
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10 killed in northeast India police station attack — government

10 killed in northeast India police station attack — government
  • Violence occurred after burnt corpse of Kuki community woman was found last week
  • Rights activists have accused local leaders of exacerbating ethnic divisions for political gain

NEW DELHI: Indian police in troubled northeastern Manipur state on Monday battled with Kuki minority forces and killed at least 10 people after their station was attacked, a district official said Monday.
One officer was wounded as they “repulsed an attack on a police station,” Krishna Kumar, deputy commissioner of the state’s Jiribam district told AFP, adding that “10 bodies of miscreants have been recovered so far.”
The violence is the latest in a simmering conflict that broke out in Manipur in May 2023, between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki community.
Those killed come from the Hmar people, a smaller group within the Kuki.
The violence comes after the burned corpse of a Kuki woman was found in the district last week, sparking fury.
At least 200 people have since been killed in the violence, and communities have splintered into rival groups across swaths of the state, which borders war-torn Myanmar.
After months of relative calm, an uptick in violence in September killed at least 11 people, including by insurgents reportedly firing rockets and dropping bombs with drones.
Long-standing tensions between the Meitei and Kuki communities revolve around competition for land and public jobs.
Rights activists have accused local leaders of exacerbating ethnic divisions for political gain.
Manipur is ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
 


EU may launch new sanctions against Israeli settlers ‘soon’: France

EU may launch new sanctions against Israeli settlers ‘soon’: France
Updated 11 November 2024
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EU may launch new sanctions against Israeli settlers ‘soon’: France

EU may launch new sanctions against Israeli settlers ‘soon’: France
  • During a visit to the West Bank on Thursday, Barrot had already threatened a new round of sanctions

Paris: France’s foreign minister said on Monday that the European Union could soon launch a new round of sanctions against Israeli settlers accused of fueling violence in Palestinian territories.
France had already imposed sanctions against “28 violent settlers” and been instrumental in deciding sanctions at the European Union level, Jean-Noel Barrot told the Paris Peace Forum, an annual gathering dedicated to international dialogue.
The EU’s sanctions regime had already been activated twice, and “might be activated a third time soon,” he said.
“We are deeply attached to the security of Israel,” Barrot said, but “in the interest of Israel, of Israeli security, international law needs to be respected and justice needs to be reached.”
During a visit to the West Bank on Thursday, Barrot had already threatened a new round of sanctions, and renewed France’s commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Settlement activities “threaten the political perspective that can ensure durable peace for Israel and Palestine,” he said after talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah.
The United States, Britain, Canada and Australia have also imposed sanctions against extremist settlers.
The EU’s foreign affairs commissioner, Josep Borrell, said in August that Israeli settlers were endangering “any chance of peace” and called on the Israeli government to “stop these unacceptable actions immediately.”
Sanctions would also be aimed at the “enablers” of violent settler actions, “including some Israeli government members,” Borrell said.
Over 700 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli troops and settlers in the last year, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.