Neighborhood News Digest – 07 December 2023

Afghanistan

Taliban arrests three commanders and 16 TTP fighters in Afghanistan- The Khama Press

The Taliban captured three leaders and 16 Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters, as per the Express Tribune, a Pakistani newspaper. These Pakistani militants were apprehended in the border city of Kandahar. The arrest of Pakistani Taliban members came as a result of Pakistan’s pressure on the Afghan Taliban to take decisive action against the Pakistan Taliban. Click here to read... [2]

Islamic Emirate Never Sought to Harm Other Countries: Deputy PM- Tolo News

The Deputy Prime Minister for Administrative Affairs, Abdul Salam Hanafi, said that the Islamic Emirate never sought to damage other countries, and urged the neighboring countries to be politically neutral towards Afghanistan. The Deputy PM said the Islamic Emirate wants to have good relations with all countries and that the foreigners should also not interfere in internal affairs of the country. Click here to read... [3]

Empowering Widows: Sewing Workshops from Scratch – Women’s Resilience for Survival in Jawzjan Province- Hasht-E Subh

In the province of Jawzjan, numerous women, constrained by Taliban restrictions, are now striving to address their economic and psychological challenges by establishing a tailoring workshop. They claim to have embarked on this endeavor with empty hands. According to them, many women and girls in this province, prohibited from continuing education and employment, have turned to carpet weaving, beadwork, and tailoring. Click here to read... [4]

Bangladesh

No outside pressure over election - The Daily Star

Election Commissioner Md Alamgir yesterday said the EC is not facing pressure from outside regarding the upcoming national polls. The foreigners, who have met the Election Commissioners, did not put any pressure on the EC. Foreigners have no right to put pressure on this (election), said Alamgir while talking to reporters at Jamalpur District Commissioner's office. Click here to read... [5]

12Th National Polls: EC allows 29 more local observers – The Daily Star

The Election Commission yesterday allowed 29 more local observers to monitor the upcoming national election. In a statement released in the evening, the EC said that these observers will get registration for five years. Among the new local observers, two organisations -- Election Monitoring Forum (EMF) and SAARC Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) -- have faced criticism for bringing in some inexperienced foreign nationals as observers in the last national election. Click here to read... [6]

Bangladesh gets first foreign port operator – The Daily Star

Port management in Bangladesh entered a new era yesterday through the appointment of a Saudi Arabia-backed foreign operator to equip and run a newly-built container terminal of the Chattogram seaport. The operator, Red Sea Gateway Terminal International (RSGTI), will invest approximately $170 million to install equipment at the Patenga Container Terminal's (PCT's) upgradation, read a press release from the Sustained Infrastructure Holding Company, one of the operator's investors. Click here to read... [7]

Bhutan

Bhutan endorses five declarations at COP28 – Kuensel

Dubai, UAE—In a show of global solidarity governments, businesses, investors and philanthropies have announced over USD 57 billion across the climate agenda in the first four days of the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) in Dubai. Bhutan has endorsed five declarations that concern the nation ranging from sustainable agriculture to health and renewable energy, among others. Click here to read... [8]

Maldives

President says confident of winning super majority in parliament- Atoll Times

Maldives is set to host the 2024 Parliamentary elections. The Maldives Election Commission (EC) is yet to announce the dates for the elections. Considering election President Muizzu stated that ‘The result will be that the PPM and PNC will hopefully win a super majority in the upcoming parliamentary elections,’ and ‘Challenges should be an encouragement for us to progress. Our intention is to work for the sake of religion and country [and] for the welfare of the people.’ Click here to read... [9]

Motion calls on govt to disclose troop removal 'pact' with India- Atoll Times

An emergency motion has been moved in the parliament on December 6, calling for the government to disclose the agreement with the Indian government to withdraw its troops from Maldives. President Mohamed Muizzu announced three days ago that India had agreed to remove its troops, but did not specify whether it was a written agreement. The emergency motion was moved by the MDP deputy chairperson, Baarah MP Ahmed Abdulla. Click here to read... [10]

Myanmar

Myanmar military falling back on almost every front; turning point in struggle to oust Army leaders - Wion News

Myanmar's pro-democracy fighters have intensified their fight against the country's military. The People's Defense Force groups or the PDFs are now pushing to capture the first state capital from the junta. Click here to read... [11]

China hopes Myanmar achieves rapid national reconciliation – Wang Yi – Kdal

China hopes Myanmar achieves national reconciliation quickly and continues its political transformation, top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi said on Wednesday. Wang, who met Myanmar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Than Swe in Beijing, said both countries should strengthen law enforcement cooperation to eradicate telecom fraud, China’s foreign ministry said in a statement. Click here to read... [12]

India reminds Myanmar to return to ‘federal democracy’ - The Hindu

As conflict intensifies between armed resistance groups and the Myanmar military in Chin, Shan and Sagaing provinces, India on Wednesday reminded Myanmar to return to the path of federal democracy. The message was delivered by Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra who held a Foreign Office Consultation with a Myanmarese delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister of Myanmar U Lwin Oo. Click here to read... [13]

Nepal

Nepal police detain 10 over allegations they sent youths to Russian army – Reuters

Police in Nepal have detained 10 people they say charged unemployed youths huge amounts of money for travel visas, then sent them for illegal recruitment into the Russian army, an official said on Wednesday. Nepal asked Moscow this week not to recruit its citizens into the Russian army, and to send any Nepali soldier in its armed forces back to the Himalayan nation after six of its citizens serving in Russia's military were killed. Click here to read... [14]

Nepal’s Ruling Coalition Holds For Now, But Cracks Visible - StratNews Global

Politics is the art of the possible. In Nepal, Kedar Karki a rebel candidate of the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) was elected chief minister of eastern Koshi province last month with the backing of opposition party lawmakers, stunning the official candidate Indra Bahadur Angbo of the Maoist Centre. Supporting the rebel was Shekhar Koirala, a leading member of the NC and nephew of the country’s first elected prime minister the late B.P. Koirala. He also had the support of the opposition CPN-UML, and eight lawmakers from his own party who had earlier favoured Angbo, also of the Maoist Centre. Click here to read... [15]

Nepal protests for restoration of monarchy and reviving a Hindu state pit India against US – MoneyControl

The countrywide marches have opened up the possibility of turning Nepal back into a Hindu state. Marches demanding the restoration of monarchy, and even more importantly, turning Nepal back into a Hindu state, are expected to intensify this month. New Delhi, on its part, is closely monitoring the developments without getting unduly perturbed by the turn of events in the fledgling democracy, strategically perched in the Himalayas in India’s immediate neighbourhood, where China and the United States have also emerged as major players. Click here to read... [16]

Pakistan

COAS says illegal foreigners ‘seriously affecting’ Pakistan’s security and economy, backs deportation drive – Dawn

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir on Thursday backed the interim government’s decision to deport illegal foreigners, saying that they were “seriously affecting Pakistan’s security and economy”. According to a handout issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the army chief passed these remarks during a visit to Peshawar. Click here to read... [17]

Udhampur attack plotter, aide of 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed, killed in Pak – India Today

Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Hanzla Adnan, who masterminded the attack on a BSF (Border Security Force) convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur in 2015, has been killed by unknown gunmen in Pakistan's Karachi. Considered to be close to LeT chief Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Hanzla Adnan was shot outside his house on the intervening nights of December 2 and 3. Four bullets were found in his body. Click here to read... [18]

Ex-Pakistan PM Imran Khan's request to shift case to separate court rejected – Hindustan Times

Imran Khan appealed last year in the Islamabad High Court against the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) finding that he had unlawfully sold state gifts. An Islamabad court on Wednesday rejected former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's request to withdraw a key appeal so he could move it to a different court in the city of Lahore, his lawyer said, a possible setback in his efforts to overturn a decision set to prevent his running in elections next year. Click here to read... [19]

Taking Kashmir to UN, 1948 ceasefire with Pakistan — Amit Shah lists ‘Nehru’s historic blunders’ in LS – The Print

Union Home Minister Amit Shah Wednesday blamed India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for the festering dispute in Kashmir, adding that its escalation to the United Nations and agreeing to a ceasefire with Pakistan in 1948 were two of his “historic blunders”. Shah was replying to the debate on the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill and the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, which were later passed by the Lok Sabha. Click here to read... [20]

Sri Lanka

SL Navy seizes 31st Indian poaching trawler, 195 fishermen arrested in 2023 – Daily Mirror Online

Twenty-one Indian fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy during special operations conducted to chase away Indian poaching trawlers from Sri Lankan waters yesterday. The Navy said the separate operations led to the seizure of 04 Indian trawlers with 21 fishermen poaching in Sri Lankan waters off Mannar and Kovilan, Kankesanthurai. The North Central Naval Command and Northern Naval Command deployed their Fast Attack Craft and Inshore Patrol Craft to chase away a cluster of Indian poaching trawlers, after having spotted they were engaging in illegal fishing in Sri Lankan waters on Wednesday evening. Click here to read... [21]

November Sees Record Tourist Surge In Sri Lanka; India Contributes 20% - TBM

November marked a significant milestone for Sri Lanka, with 151,496 international tourists arriving—a peak for 2023, as per the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA). This surge surpassed the 150,000 mark for the first time since December 2019, a milestone highlighted by the SLTDA. The cumulative count for the initial 11 months of the year stands at 1.27 million tourist arrivals, according to SLTDA figures. India contributed around 20 percent of the total influx, alongside notable visitor numbers from Russia, Germany, Britain, Australia, China, the United States, and France. Click here to read... [22]