VIF Neighbourhood News Digest - January 05, 2023

Afghanistan

Islamic Emirate Rejects US Official’s Remarks on Its Commitments: Tolo News

The Islamic Emirate rejected the remarks by US State Department spokesman Ned Price and said that the Islamic Emirate is committed to all its promises.The deputy spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, Bilal Karimi, said there is no evidence to show that Afghan soil will be used against any other count“All territory of the country is controlled by the Islamic Emirate and there is no evidence to show that there is any action from our country towards other countries and their activities,” Karimi said. Click here to read... [2]

TTP Threatens Top Pakistani Leadership Weeks after Ending Ceasefire: The Khaama Press

Pakistani Taliban warned the country’s main ruling parties of “concrete action” for “declaring war” against it, according to sources, months after the group ended ceasefire. A statement released by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban, on Wednesday explicitly named Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Sharif is the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) which along with Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) are the main coalition partners in the government. Click here to read... [3]

Bangladesh

High Commissioner Pranay Verma calls on Bangladesh I&B Minister Dr. Hasan Mahmud – NewsOnAIR

Talking to the media after the meeting, High Commissioner Pranay Verma said that they discussed a wide range of issues including those related to the Information and Broadcasting sector. He said that Information and Broadcasting Ministries of both sides play a very important role through the exchange of media including film and television. Click here to read... [4]

Bangladesh: Hindu activist Rakesh Roy sentenced to 7 years in jail over ‘blasphemy’ case, Roy says he was framed – OpIndia

Rakesh Roy, a Bangladeshi Hindu and the organising secretary of Bangladesh Jatiya Hindu Mohajote, was sentenced to a rigorous seven-year prison term by Sylhet Cyber Tribunal judge Abu Kashem. In addition to serving a prison sentence, a fine of Taka 1 Lakh has also been imposed on him. Click here to read... [5]

Bangladesh reiterates call for Rohingya repatriation – New Age

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said the next election would be held as per country’s constitution and there was no problem if foreign observers came to monitor elections. ‘The next election will be held as per the constitution,’ prime minister’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim quoted her as saying while briefing reporters after four MPs of the British All-Party Parliamentary Group called on her at Prime Minister’s Office. Click here to read... [6]

Bhutan

NBR allows imports from Bhutan through Akhaura land port – The Business Standard

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has released a new list of importable products which allows the import of all products from Bhutan (except potatoes and yarn) through Akhaura land port in Brahmanbaria. A few new products have been added to the list published on Wednesday. The newly added products include marble chips, sesame, fly ash and a few other things. Click here to read... [7]

India-Bhutan relationship: A testimony of friendship and camaraderie – The Print

The relationship between India and Bhutan is based on the pillars of trust, goodwill and mutual understanding. The two neighbours have a close civilisational, cultural and economic relationship that dates back centuries. Bhutan considers India as gyagar, meaning the holy land, as Buddhism originated in India, which is the religion followed by the majority of BhutaneseClick here to read... [8]

Maldives

Research conducted on connecting India and Maldives to a single grid - Avas

India's Power Ministry said in its annual summary published on December 27 that a team from India had visited the Maldives to conduct research under the 'One World, One Sun, One Grid' initiative to interconnect India's power grid with other countries' power grids. The team researched ways to link India and the Maldives in one grid via the islands of Lakshadweep. Click here to read... [9]

Maldives welcomes 1.67 million tourists in 2022 - Raajje

Maldives Immigration has disclosed that the Maldives welcomed 1.67 million tourist in 2022. According to the statistics publicized by Maldives Immigration, 184،051 tourists were welcomed to the Maldives in December 2022. Looking at the monthly statistics publicized by the Ministry of Tourism, 131,764 tourists were welcomed during January, 149,008 tourist arrivals during February, 150,739 tourists welcomed during March and 145,280 tourists welcomed during April. 125,522 tourists were welcomed during May followed by 110,889 tourists in June and 133,561 tourists welcomed during July. In August, Maldives welcomed 131,862 tourists, followed by 111,986 in September. Click here to read... [10]

Myanmar

Myanmar allocates 170 billion kyat for small and medium enterprises - Mizzima

Military junta’s Deputy Union Minister of Planning and Finance Maung Maung Win said that his government granted allocation of 170 billion kyat for establishing a MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) Development Fund from its supplementary budget for 2022-23 financial year. Click here to read... [11]

Myanmar’s Military Junta Takes Step Toward Controversial Election - The Diplomat

Speaking during a ceremony in Naypyidaw yesterday marking the 75th anniversary of Myanmar’s independence from Great Britain, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing urged the Myanmar people and the wider world to support the election. He described it as an important step toward what the military establishment refers to as “the genuine, discipline-flourishing multiparty democratic system.” Click here to read... [12]

Myanmar junta marks 75th year of independence with show of force in Naypyitaw - Mizzima

Myanmar troops and weaponry paraded through the military-built capital Naypyidaw to mark the country's Independence Day Wednesday, days after the junta jailed democracy figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi for 33 years. Swathes of the Southeast Asian country have been engulfed by fighting between junta troops and anti-coup rebels since the military seized power almost two years ago. The junta, which recently wrapped up a series of closed-court trials of Aung San Suu Kyi, says it is preparing for fresh elections later this year that the United States has said would be a "sham." Click here to read... [13]

Nepal

Dahal meets Nepal seeking support for vote of confidence – The Kathmandu Post

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal held a meeting with CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal on Wednesday. During the meeting the prime minister sought the support of the Unified Socialist for the upcoming vote of confidence. The party has 10 members in the 275-member House of Representatives. Earlier, the Unified Socialist, which had decided to unify the party with Dahal’s CPN (Maoist Centre) after the elections, had remained undecided on whether to join the Dahal-led ruling coalition. But Dahal had been insisting that the party come on board. Click here to read... [14]

Nepal villagers again pelt stones on Indian side of Kali river in Uttarakhand – Hindustan Times

Villagers from Nepal have again pelted stones on the Indian side at the Indo-Nepal border in the Dharchula area of Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh district, officials said on Wednesday. The incident occurred when labourers on the Indian side were building an embankment on the Indian side of Kali river, which acts as the border between Nepal and India, on Tuesday evening. Click here to read... [15]

Nepal to receive 1.5 million doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine – The Himalayan

Nepal is all set to receive 1.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines (for booster dose) from the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunization (GAVI) next month. According to the government, the GAVI has confirmed dispense of such quantity of vaccine to Nepal on February 2. The vaccine will be arriving in the Himalayan Nation in the first week of February. Click here to read... [16]

Sources: China-Nepal to meet on belt and road initiative– Wion News

China is keenly looking at increasing its stakes in South Asia and now Nepal is on its radar. Sources say a high-level Chinese delegation will be visiting Kathmandu next week, and the focus of their visit will be the belt and road initiative. Click here to read... [17]

Pakistan

Pakistan banks on Saudi Arabia to avoid default: The Express Tribune

At a joint press conference with the government’s economic team, Dar showed his commitment to the IMF programme but at the same time stressed that he would not take any steps that would put a burden on the people. At the presser, Dar did not say categorically that the National Security Committee (NSC) clearly backed the IMF programme plan. Click here to read... [18]

PTI’s white paper paints ‘bleak’ economic picture: The Express Tribune

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has painted a bleak picture of the economy as it released a white paper on the economic situation of the country, blaming the PML-N led coalition government of pushing the economy into a tailspin.The white paper, which was unveiled on Tuesday at a ceremony in Lahore, said inflation had increased by 45 per cent during the last eight months under the coalition government.The Consumer Price Index (CPI), the inflation monitor, rose by 24.5% in December compared to the same period of last year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Monday. Click here to read... [19]

PMLN MPAs told to be in Lahore for assembly session: The News

These directions were passed to the party MPAs in a meeting held under the chair of Federal Interior Minister and party’s Punjab president Rana Sanaullah Khan here on Wednesday.The meeting discussed in detail the possibility that the CM of Punjab may try to take a vote of confidence during the assembly session called on January 9, 2023. The meeting also discussed the present numbers game. Click here to read... [20]

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka crisis: Parents forced to pick which child can go to school - BBC

Six months ago, Sri Lanka was in the eye of the storm for its worst economic crisis since independence. While calm has largely returned to the island nation, the full impact of mass unemployment and dramatic price rises is now visible among many families. Today Malki’s first day back at school and she wants to be spotless. But her siblings must stay at home - her family can only afford to send her. Click here to read... [21]

UN assures crisis-hit Sri Lanka with financial, technical support – Siasat

UN Assistant Secretary-General and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific Kanni Wignaraja has assured Sri Lanka with UN’s financial and technical support as the South Asian island country attempted to recover from an economic crisis. Click here to read... [22]

Tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka on rise despite economic crisis – THBL

Sri Lanka received over 7,00,000 tourists in 2022 despite the ongoing economic and political situation in the island nation which is recovering from the worst economic crisis in decades. This marks a significant increase from the pandemic hit in 2021. In 2021, the tourist arrivals were under 195,000, according to Sri Lanka's Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA). Click here to read... [23]