Teesta Setalvad has been fighting for scores of survivors and victims of India's western state of Gujarat riots [File: Rafiq Maqbool/AP Photo] By Zafar Aafaq Published On 26 Jun 202226 Jun 2022 New Delhi, India – A United Nations expert has joined global human rights groups in expressing concern over the arrest of Indian rights defender Teesta Setalvad a day after the country’s Supreme Court upheld the findings of a special investigation team (SIT) that cleared Prime Minister Narendra Modi of complicity in 2002 anti-Muslim riots. Setalvad was picked by the anti-terrorism wing of the Gujarat police on Saturday afternoon from her home in Mumbai hours after India’s interior minister, Amit Shah, a close aide of Modi, accused her of giving baseless information to the police about the deadly anti-Muslim violence during Modi’s chief ministership of the state. “Deeply concerned by reports of #WHRD [Human Rights Defender] Teesta Setalvad being detained by Anti Terrorism Sqaud [sic] of Gujarat police,” said Mary Lawlor, UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders, in a tweet describing Setalvad as “a strong voice against hatred and discrimination”. Lawlor reiterated that defending human rights was not a crime as she urged the Indian authorities to release Setalvad and put “an end to [her] persecution by Indian state”. On Sunday, Setalvad, who long campaigned to get justice for victims of the 2002 religious violence, was produced before a local court in Ahmedabad, the largest city of Gujarat. The police have accused her of “committing forgery and fabricating evidence”, among other charges. Setalvad said, according to a complaint shared by her aide with Al Jazeera, that her detention was illegal and that the police assaulted her during the raid. Deadly riots under Modi The riots triggered by a train burning incident killed, according to some estimates, 2,000 people, a majority of them Muslim. Official figures stand at about 1,000. In one episode, a Hindu mob stormed the Gulbarg Society complex – a cluster of buildings housing Muslim families – and burned and hacked to death 69 people hiding there, including a former member of parliament, Ehsan Jafri. He had allegedly made calls to the then Chief Minister Modi for help but was rebuked, according to media reports. After local courts in Gujarat exonerated Modi of all wrongdoings, Jafri’s wife Zakia Jafri, 82, with assistance from Setalvad, moved the Supreme Court in 2013. On Friday, the court rejected the petition. Jafri’s son, Tanvir Jafri, who is in Saudi Arabia on the Hajj pilgrimage, told Al Jazeera that the family is “extremely disappointed” by the judgement. On Saturday, the Gujarat police opened investigations against Setalvad and two former top police officers – former Director General of Police RB Sreekumar and another former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Sanjiv Bhatt – alleging that they resorted to conspiracy and forgery to implicate innocent people. Sreekumar was picked up from his home in the state capital, Gandhinagar, while Bhatt is already in jail undergoing life imprisonment in a separate case. The police have cited observations from the judgement to justify the new case against the trio as the court said “all those involved in such abuse of process, need to be in the dock and proceeded with in accordance with the law”. ‘Chilling effect’ However, Prashant Bhushan, a senior lawyer based in New Delhi, criticised the top court’s remarks as “totally unwarranted and arbitrary”. “These people [Jafri and Setalvad] had gone to the court on the basis of voluminous evidence of different kinds on the basis of reports by independent commissions, court orders, testimonies of the accused in the violence, works of journalists. “All these things were more than enough for Zakia Jafri to pursue the petition and Setalvad to have helped her in the petition through the courts,” Bhushan told Al Jazeera. He said the judgement could prove a deterrent for people to file petitions for victims of violence. “It is important for people to call out the Supreme Court on this,” Bhushan said. Kavita Krishnan, a prominent civil liberties activist, termed these arrests a “revenge action” by the Modi government, accusing the court of paving the way for the case against Setalvad and two other officers. She said the action will have a “chilling effect” on the civil society in the country already facing pressure. “This regime is suppressing civil society that acts as a watchdog on the state.” These arrests have evoked condemnation within the country and abroad as some groups have given a joint call for countrywide protests on Monday. Detention of prominent human rights activist Teesta Setalvad by the Indian authorities is a direct reprisal against those who dare to question their human rights record,” Amnesty India tweeted. “Targeting human rights activists for their legitimate human rights work is unacceptable. The Indian authorities must immediately release Teesta Setalvad, and end the persecution of Indian civil society and human rights defenders.” Front Line Defenders, an international human rights organisation in Dublin, issued an alert on Twitter, saying they were “alarmed” by the action against Setalvad. “Gujarat Anti-Terror police, forcibly entered her home and detained her without basis. We call for her immediate release and an end to her legal persecution as punishment for her peaceful human rights work,” the group said. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders also expressed concern, calling for Setalvad’s “immediate release”. SOURCE: AL JAZEERA: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/26/indian-police-arrest-gujarat-riots-victims-advocate © 2022 Al Jazeera Media Network

Government says 132 people killed as armed group attacks villages in in Mali’s central Mopti region. More than 100 civilians have been killed in attacks by suspected armed rebels in central Mali, the government has said. Members of the Katiba Macina armed group assaulted at least three villages in the rural commune of Bankass, in Mali’s central Mopti region, on the night between Saturday and Sunday, the government said in a statement on Monday. At least 132 civilians were killed and some of the perpetrators have been identified, it added. It said the civilians were “coldly killed by fighters of the Macina Katiba of Amadou Kouffa”, an organisation affiliated to al-Qaeda. The killings took place in Diallassagou and two nearby villages, Diaweli and Dessagou, in central Mali, which has long been mired in insecurity. “Investigators are on the spot today to find out exactly what happened,” Moulaye Guindo, the mayor of Bankass told The Associated Press news agency. Mali and the central Sahel region have for months faced a string of civilian massacres blamed on armed groups. The country has since 2012 been rocked by insecurity as groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) have attacked civilians, plunging the country into crisis. Violence that began in the north has since spread to the centre and to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks in central Mali. For several weeks rebels in central Mali have been blocking the road between the northern city of Gao and Mopti in central Mali. The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali issued a statement about the attacks on Twitter saying it is concerned by “attacks against civilians in the Bandiagara region (the area of central Mali) perpetrated by extremist groups. These attacks have reportedly caused casualties and displacement of populations.” Attacks on UN peacekeepers In a separate incident, a UN peacekeeper died on Sunday from injuries sustained from an improvised explosive device, the UN mission to Mali said in a statement. The head of the UN Mission to Mali, El-Ghassim Wane, said that since the beginning of 2022, several attacks have killed UN uniformed peacekeepers. He said that attacks on peacekeepers can constitute war crimes under international law and reaffirmed the mission’s commitment to supporting peace and security in Mali. Since the beginning of the year, several hundred civilians have died in attacks in central and northern Mali. The attacks are blamed on armed rebels as well as the Malian army, according to a report by the human rights division of the UN mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA. The UN peacekeeping mission in Mali began in 2013, after France led a military intervention to remove rebels who had taken over cities and major towns in northern Mali the year before. The mission now has about 12,000 troops in Mali and an additional 2,000 police and other officers. More than 270 peacekeepers have died in Mali, making it the UN’s deadliest peacekeeping mission, say officials. © 2022 Al Jazeera Media Network Link to source : https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/20/132-civilians-killed-in-mali-by-al-qaeda-affiliated-group

Khalid Omer Yousif and Wagdi Salih were previously involved in a taskforce that acted against bureaucrats linked to deposed leader Omar al-Bashir. By Al Jazeera Former cabinet minister Khalid Omer Yousif [File: El Tayeb Siddiq/Reuters] Two prominent Sudanese political figures who held top positions in the civilian administration before a military takeover in October have been arrested, their Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) coalition said in a statement on Wednesday. The arrests mark an extension of a crackdown on critics of the military and follow those of dozens of activists linked to a protest movement against the October 25 coup. The two officials detained, Khalid Omer Yousif and Wagdi Salih, had previously been involved in a task force that seized property and fired bureaucrats linked to the regime of Omar al-Bashir, who fell to a popular uprising in 2019. Yousif also served as a cabinet minister in a civilian government under a power-sharing agreement between the military and the FFC. Across Sudan, some 105 people were being held without charges over political activity, most of them members of local resistance committees detained in Khartoum’s Soba prison, Samir Sheikh Idris, a spokesman for an activist lawyers’ group, told the Reuters news agency on Wednesday. Some 2,000 people had been detained and released on bail in connection with demonstrations since the coup, Idris said. Sudan’s public prosecutors’ office did not respond to a request for comment. Lucy Tamlyn, the United States chargé d’affaires to Sudan, said in a Twitter post on Wednesday the “arbitrary arrests and detention of political figures, civil society activists and journalists undermine efforts to resolve Sudan’s political crisis”. The upheaval in Sudan worsened last month following the resignation of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who was the civilian face of the transitional government during the past two years. The prime minister, who was deposed in the October coup only to be reinstated a month later under heavy international pressure, stepped down on January 2 after his efforts to reach a compromise failed. The country, which was already in the grip of a dire economic crisis before the coup, has seen vital foreign aid cut as part of the international community’s condemnation of the takeover. Sources from Yousif’s Sudanese Congress Party said he was arrested from the party headquarters by security forces and taken to the North Khartoum police station. Tweets from Salih’s account said he was taken to the same station and then Omdurman Prison, along with another member of the task force and was under investigation regarding a charge of “breach of trust”. Earlier this week, a committee appointed by military leaders to review the work of the task force accused it of overreach. Sudanese anti-coup protesters take part in a demonstration calling for civilian rule and justice for protesters killed since last year’s coup, in the al-Diyum neighbourhood of the capital Khartoum on February 7, 2022 [AFP] Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, speaking from the capital, Khartoum, reported that the review committee had said many of the decisions were made by the taskforce without reaching a quorum of the committee members. “It says many of the assets that were received from people, who were loyalists to al-Bashir’s regime, were not seized following due process and were not handed over to the Ministry of Finance as they should be,” she added. Firings the taskforce had enacted in the central bank, judiciary and foreign ministry have since been reversed. Thousands of Sudanese marched against military rule on Monday in Khartoum and other cities, with some saying they were concerned about the return to government of members of the deposed Bashir regime. Medics aligned with the protest movement said at least 79 people have been killed as security forces have moved to break up protests with tear gas and gunfire. The military and the police say peaceful protests are allowed, and that casualties are being investigated. Further demonstrations are planned for Thursday and Monday. The United States, which suspended $700m in assistance to Sudan after the coup, has warned that a continued crackdown by the authorities would have “consequences”.

When I first spoke with Sahir last year, he was living in a camp for displaced people in northern Iraq. He told me how, at just 15 years old, he was abducted by ISIL from his family in Iraq. After enduring months of military training and countless hours of propaganda, ISIL forced him to fight in Syria, where he suffered extensive injuries. He was sent to a hospital to recover, and from there he finally managed to escape ISIL. But nearly three years after returning to Iraq, he is still feeling despondent. Like so many of the estimated 2,000 Yezidi child survivors of ISIL captivity, whose situation Amnesty International documented last year, he had not received any assistance since his return. “What I was looking for is just someone to care about me, some support,” he said. “Someone to put their hands on my shoulders and say everything will be OK.” When I spoke with him again recently, he told me he is still stuck in the camp: still waiting, still struggling, and still receiving no support. Yet the potential for change looms on the horizon for survivors like Sahir. On March 1, 2021, the Iraqi parliament passed the Yazidi Survivors Law, which provides a reparations framework for survivors of ISIL crimes. Those eligible include, among others, women and girls who were subjected to sexual violence, as well as child survivors who were abducted before the age of 18. Although the law is targeted at the Yezidi community, it includes in its scope survivors from the Christian, Turkmen, and Shabak minority groups as well. The law provides for, among other assistance, a monthly salary, a plot of land or housing unit, support to re-enter school, and access to psychosocial and other health services. Regrettably, the Survivors Law has a significant omission: it fails to address the needs of children born as a result of sexual violence by ISIL members, or the needs of their mothers. Although some Yezidi women chose to separate from children born of sexual violence, we found that many others have been forcibly separated – and are desperate to be reunited. The Iraqi authorities must address the plight of these women and children by specifically including children born of sexual violence in reparations and taking all necessary actions to ensure these women and children can live together in safety. However, the passage of the Survivors Law is still a remarkable achievement. With its holistic and comprehensive package of reparation measures, it has the potential to become the gold standard for future reparation schemes, setting an example for other governments in how to honour their obligations to survivors. To achieve that, though, the law must be transformed from words into reality. In recent weeks, Amnesty International consulted with civil society actors in Iraq, including SEED Foundation, Yazda, Free Yezidi Foundation, and the Coalition for Just Reparations (C4JR), an alliance of 31 Iraqi non-governmental organisations. It was the tireless advocacy of these organisations and other civil society actors and survivors that led to the passage of the law. If the law is to reach its potential, the Council of Ministers tasked with drafting its implementing regulations should heed these groups’ advice. While their recommendations are extensive and detailed, three are particularly crucial. First, the implementation of the law must be “survivor-centred”. All those supporting the delivery of services must respect survivors’ confidentiality and privacy, fully inform them of their rights, seek their informed consent, and encourage them to provide feedback on the process. Second, the application process to receive support from the government must avoid re-traumatising survivors. Eligibility for assistance and support should not rely on any further invasive methods of investigation, or require mandatory disclosure of sexual violence and other crimes. Where possible, survivors’ testimonies should be corroborated by the extensive documentation that has already been gathered in Iraq. Finally, the application must be accessible to all eligible survivors. They should have the option to submit their applications in person, online, or with the assistance of a third party or organisation. As the Iraqi mission of the International Organization for Migration recently argued, the many survivors based outside Iraq should also have access and be encouraged to apply for reparations under the law. According to Sahir, the way in which the Survivors Law is implemented – and indeed whether it is implemented at all – represents something of a final test in the eyes of the Yezidi community. “It is difficult for Yezidis to trust the government again,” he explained. “Until now, they have not done anything for our people. They came with this law now, but we do not know if they will follow through. Now, it is their chance.” © 2021 Al Jazeera Media Network

Panama’s government has failed to follow through with promised aide for Indigenous people, Human Rights Watch says. The small island of Gardi Sugdub, home to Indigenous people for more than 100 years, is dealing with a crisis as sea levels rise [File: Arnulfo Franco/AP Photo] As climate change and rising sea levels threaten the island of Gardi Sugdub, leaders in the local Indigenous community are increasingly worried that the Panamanian government will fail to follow through on promises to help with relocation. In a 52-page report on Monday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said “ongoing government delays” pose a serious threat to the human rights of Panama’s Indigenous Guna people. According to the group’s findings, the government has repeatedly failed to provide housing and infrastructure to a new community site on higher ground, despite repeated assurances and plans stretching back to 2010. “Panama should follow through on its promises and provide immediate support so the Gardi Sugdub community can relocate with dignity,” said Erica Bower, a climate displacement researcher at Human Rights Watch and author of the report. “It’s not too late for the government to take this opportunity and create a blueprint that coastal communities elsewhere in Panama and globally can turn to as they confront the climate change crisis.” Small island, big problems Gardi Sugdub — or “Crab Island” — is part of an archipelago on Panama’s Caribbean coast expected to face “the most severe impacts” of climate change, according to the report. At its highest point, the island is only one metre (3.2 feet) above sea level. And as the tides creep higher and higher, the island’s Guna residents are finding themselves with less and less space. An estimated 1,300 Guna people are packed onto an island only 300 metres (984 feet) long and 125 metres (410 feet) wide. And yearly floods — lasting up to two weeks at a time — have caused significant damage to their homes and livelihoods. “When I got home, the pier and the toilet had washed away,” one Gardi Sugdub resident, Eustacio Valdez, told Human Rights Watch, as he recalled one flood in 2008. “The canoes were gone. There were high waves. It was flooded for a week. School was suspended.” A difficult decision In 2010, the Guna community on Gardi Sugdub arrived at a heavy conclusion: The only sustainable solution was to relocate to a different site. “We are already too many in this town and we don’t fit,” Magdalena Martinez, secretary of the Neighborhood Committee on Gardi Sugdub, told Human Rights Watch. “There isn’t any more room.” To house their growing population, Guna community members donated a site for the project on the mainland, nicknamed “Isperyala” for its abundance of loquat trees. Around that time, Panama’s government also promised to build a “model school” and hospital for the area by 2014. But both have yet to be completed, according to Human Rights Watch. In 2017, the Ministry of Housing likewise committed to building 300 homes for the Guna people, as well as providing services like potable water, sanitation and roads. The project was originally slated to take 450 calendar days, according to Human Rights Watch. But then the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic slowed construction. A new completion date was set for September 2023. That too was delayed. “The government is not complying with what it agreed to for this project. Look at that delay. That is not fair,” community member Dillion Navarro said in the report. A measure of ‘last resort’ Meanwhile, on Gardi Sugdub, the Guna people struggle with overcrowding, a lack of educational resources for their children and unreliable access to fresh water, contributing to a high rate of gastrointestinal disease and poor sanitation. The Human Rights Watch report noted that the conditions in Gardi Sugdub reflected hazards facing vulnerable coastal communities around the world. “Even under the most optimistic scenarios of planetary warming, sea level rise is inevitable,” the report reads. “But planning today will mitigate some of the risks of tomorrow.” The report adds that relocation is “a measure of last resort” for Indigenous communities, who often have strong ties to their homelands. For the Guna, the islands provided sanctuary from centuries of colonial oppression. Starting in 1650, missionaries forced their people into settlements. Spanish colonisers confronted them with violence. And later, the Panamanian government attempted to suppress their traditional ways. The islands also allowed the Guna to escape the mosquito-borne diseases common on the mainland. But conditions on Gardi Sugdub are only expected to worsen due to climate change. A widespread crisis Human Rights Watch has estimated that at least 38 other islands in Guna Yala — the Guna’s ancestral territory — will soon require relocation, as well, due to climbing sea levels. That includes a total of approximately 28,000 people. And the Guna are hardly alone in facing this plight. The report noted that climate risks and other threats have prompted more than 400 planned relocations worldwide. But, the report concludes, results have been slow to materialise for the Guna: “To date, not a single person has moved.” It calls for “immediate support” to be given to the Guna people, as they contend with the worsening crisis. © 2023 Al Jazeera Media Network

How India came to embrace the politics of Hindutva As Modi religiously prepares for India’s elections, Sreenivasan Jain examines the tussle between Hindutva and secularism. The politics of Hindu nationalism have played a central role in the dramatic rise of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As the elections have neared, the Modi regime has turbocharged its Hindu-first agenda – best exemplified in the inauguration of the Ram Temple in the city of Ayodhya. Veteran journalist Sreenivasan Jain explains how the opening of this temple – and the whitewashing of its controversial past – illustrates how Modi and his party have made their brand of Hindu supremacism not only acceptable, but a key part of Narendra Modi’s appeal to Indians. Featuring: Asaduddin Owaisi – Member of the Indian Parliament Uma Bharti – Former Vice-President, Bharatiya Janata Party Hartosh Singh Bal – Political Editor, The Caravan © 2024 Al Jazeera Media Network

The Indian PM turned to old anti-Muslim tropes in an election rally, potentially signalling a shift in his campaign strategy, say analysts. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses his supporters during an election campaign rally in Balurghat in the eastern state of West Bengal, India, April 16, 2024 [Reuters] By Yashraj Sharma Al Jazeera New Delhi, India — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing accusations of spreading hatred against Muslims after controversial comments on Sunday wherein he equated the community to “infiltrators” and peddled anti-Muslim tropes in the middle of the country’s general elections. Speaking at a crowded rally in the western state of Rajasthan, Modi said if the opposition led by the Congress party came to power, it would distribute the country’s wealth among “those who have more children”, in an apparent reference to Muslims, whom he had spoken about just before. “Should your hard-earned money be given to infiltrators?” he said to the cheering crowd, before alleging that the opposition would take away even mangalsutras — the auspicious necklace that a husband ties around his wife’s neck in Hindu weddings — if given a chance. Local poll officials in Rajasthan confirmed to Al Jazeera that they had received at least two complaints against Modi, calling for his election campaign to be suspended and for his arrest. Renu Poonia, a nodal officer of the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the state capital, Jaipur, revealed that the complaints were received from the Azad Adhikar Sena, a regional political party, and a local non-profit organisation. India’s election code bars parties and politicians from engaging in speeches and campaigns that aim to perpetuate religious or caste differences. But independent watchdogs and activists have long complained that election officials act too slowly, if at all, especially when cases involve powerful officials in the government. Many leaders in Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies in India’s Hindu-majoritarian right have long portrayed the country’s 200 million Muslims effectively as outsiders. Muslim asylum seekers and refugees from Bangladesh and Myanmar are in particular targeted as “infiltrators”. The BJP and its partners have also long pushed a conspiracy theory that suggests that Indian Muslims produce more children intending to eventually outnumber Hindus in the country. In reality, government data shows that the Muslim fertility rate in India is dropping the fastest among all communities and has almost halved in the past three decades. Modi has himself promoted this stereotype — in 2002, after an anti-Muslim massacre in the state of Gujarat, where he served terms as chief minister — infamously mocking relief camps as baby-producing factories. Yet, in recent years, while others in his party and its coalition partners have often engaged in open Islamophobic commentary and even violence, Modi has focused on his government’s claimed accomplishments in the fields of the economy and social development. That had been the principal thrust of his 2024 re-election campaign too. Until now. Asim Ali, a political commentator, said Modi’s remarks were “the most inflammatory statement by a sitting prime minister in the recent history of India” and marked a significant shift in his election pitch. India is poised to vote in the second of seven phases of its national election on Friday, April 26. The first phase of voting was held on April 19. “Five years ago, the question was why is Modi not reigning in extremist voices; now, PM Modi is the most extremist campaigner,” said Ali. ‘Unconscious comment’ or ‘true nature’? In his speech, Modi said he was referring to the Congress election manifesto, which promises wealth redistribution amid growing concerns over inequality, and to past statements by the opposition party. “When they [the Congress] were in power, they said Muslims have first right over resources. They will gather all your wealth and distribute it among those who have more children,” Modi said. In 2006, then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of the Congress had said India’s traditionally marginalised communities, including castes that had faced historical discrimination and religious minorities, “particularly Muslims”, should have the first claim on the nation’s resources. Singh’s comment had followed a report by a government-appointed panel under a former judge that had found that the social, economic and educational conditions of Indian Muslims were worse than those of any caste or community. Modi’s comments, some analysts and common Muslims said, could instigate hate-fuelled violence against Muslims — already a problem that has skyrocketed under the current government’s decade-long reign. “The PM might have said it as a jibe against the Congress, but eventually this will further perpetuate the stereotype of Muslims as a problem, and not an asset for India,” said Zeyad Masroor Khan, journalist and author of City on Fire, a book on an anti-Muslim riot in Aligarh in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The comments might “even promote acts of violence against Muslims”, he said. Khan said the shift in campaign messaging “exposes the true nature of Modi”. Sandeep Shastri, the national coordinator of the New Delhi-based Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) research programme Lokniti Network, said he hoped Modi’s comments were a slip — and not a conscious change in campaign strategy. According to CSDS polling, the BJP holds a comfortable 12 percent vote advantage over the principal opposition alliance. “I do not think that the ground situation warranted any rashness from Modi,” said Shastri, adding that he was personally “disappointed” by the statement. “It could have been an unconscious comment – made in the rush of the moment or excitement of campaign,” Shastri added, referring to Modi’s assertion, after he won the 2019 election, that he would work for all Indians. Against that backdrop, comments like Sunday’s “are best avoided”, he said. “If the intention is what the speech suggests, it is a matter of huge alarm.” ‘Scared to go to the market’ Ashfaq Hussain, a 35-year-old contractor in Rajasthan, is not waiting for any clarification from Modi or the BJP about Sunday’s comments. He said he has seen enough. Hussain was sitting with his teenage son when a snippet of Modi’s speech popped up on his smartphone. He scrolled the feed quickly, he said. “Our PM is using language like ‘infiltrators’ for us. I feel ashamed and it is gutting,” he told Al Jazeera. Rajasthan has witnessed a series of anti-Muslim hate crimes in recent years, including lynchings. “[Modi’s speech] endangers my family’s safety and further divides our society by erasing the historical brotherhood.” “I’m scared to even go to the market alone in the evening; people call names and try to instigate, which then can anytime turn into a lynching,” Hussain said. BJP national spokesperson Zafar Islam said Modi’s comments were being misinterpreted. “We need to get this in right context. In the past, a lot of people have come from outside and have now mixed in the society and using resources,” he said, suggesting that Modi was referring to foreign nationals illegal in India, and not Indian Muslims, while speaking of “infiltrators”. Islam claimed that Indian Muslims had benefited from government schemes under Modi and that opposition parties relied on scaremongering to get religious minorities to vote for them. But the Congress party chief, Mallikarjun Kharge, said Modi’s “hate speech” was “a deliberate ploy to divert attention”. Ali, the political commentator, agreed. The opposition has been focusing on the need for a caste census — an enumeration of the populations of different castes in India. The Congress claims this would show how disadvantaged castes have been denied adequate affirmative action. “To respond to the opposition, textbook politics say you need a scapegoat; and for the BJP, it has been Muslims,” he said. The speech was also worrying, Ali said, because of Modi’s attempt to portray Muslims as dangerous to the very identity of Hindus. “Mangalsutras are considered sacred – it was a deeply psychological attack that gives a sense that Muslims will endanger your private, domestic space,” said Ali. “This is a very dangerous moment for Indian politics.” © 2024 Al Jazeera Media Network

Belarus air traffic controllers ordered Ryanair flight to land in Minsk following the fake threat. The UN's aviation agency has for the first time accused senior Belarus officials of being behind the forced grounding of a flight between Greece and Lithuania in May 2021 [File: Christinne Muschi/Reuters] July 20th 2022 The UN’s aviation agency has for the first time accused senior Belarus officials of being behind the forced grounding of a flight between Greece and Lithuania that led to the arrest of a dissident journalist. Belarus air traffic controllers ordered the Ryanair flight to land in Minsk as it was travelling between Athens and Vilnius in May 2021, citing a bomb threat. Belarus journalist Roman Protasevich was detained along with his then-girlfriend once the plane was on the ground. After previously saying it did not know who was behind the fake threat, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on Tuesday condemned Minsk for “committing an act of unlawful interference” that contravened aviation rules. “The ICAO Council acknowledged that the bomb threat against (the flight) … was deliberately false and endangered its safety, and furthermore that the threat was communicated to the flight crew upon the instructions of senior government officials of Belarus,” the agency said in a statement, citing new information. The agency, which has its headquarters in Montreal, Canada, added that Russia’s representative strongly objected to the conclusion. Western nations, including Canada, have imposed sanctions on Belarus for supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Belarus foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ICAO statement. Minsk has previously insisted it acted legally and in accordance with all international norms, accusing Western countries of using the episode to try to undermine President Alexander Lukashenko. Shortly after he was detained, Protasevich, the former editor of an opposition news outlet, renounced his political activism and was released from jail into house arrest. Belarus opposition figures believe his recantation was coerced. © 2022 Al Jazeera Media Network

NATO chief calls for calm and says the organisation’s peacekeepers were ready to intervene if necessary. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called for calm from all sides and said the alliance's 3,700-strong peacekeeping force in Kosovo stood ready to intervene if stability was at risk [File: Laura Hasani/Reuters] 17 Aug 2022 The leaders of Kosovo and Serbia will join EU-mediated talks in Brussels on Thursday aimed at averting what Pristina says is a threat of renewed armed conflict, as ethnic Serb and Albanian residents of Kosovo say they see little hope of progress. Long-running tensions flared anew this month after Kosovo said Serbs living in its northern region – who are backed by Belgrade and do not recognise Kosovo institutions – must start using vehicle licence plates issued in Pristina. Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti told the Reuters news agency in an interview last week that Belgrade’s “aggressive policies” could turn into “an assault against Kosovo in one way or the other”. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (right) holds a joint news conference with Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium August 17, 2022 [Johanna Geron/Reuters] Kurti, who will join Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic for the talks in Brussels, has agreed under Western pressure to postpone the licence plate regulation until September 1. “I don’t expect anything tomorrow and both these men will not solve anything. Tensions are unavoidable between Kosovo and Serbia in the future,” Malush Bajraj, 41, an ethnic Albanian resident of Kosovo’s capital Pristina, told Reuters news agency. The mood is similarly gloomy among ethnic Serbs who make up just 5 percent of Kosovo’s 1.8 million, mainly ethnic Albanian population. “I am not optimistic that this round of the dialogue will be successful,” said Nenad Radosavljevic, editor in chief of RTV Mir, which broadcasts to Serbs living in northern Kosovo, citing the downbeat messages coming out of both capitals. Escalating tensions Kosovo, a landlocked Balkan nation, gained independence from Serbia in 2008, almost a decade after an uprising against Belgrade rule. Today both Belgrade and Pristina are seeking EU membership, but Serbia legally still considers Kosovo an integral part of its territory. With Russia’s help, it has blocked Kosovo from membership in various international institutions. Thursday’s talks are expected to cover a range of issues from greater autonomy to municipalities in northern Kosovo with a Serb majority. Kurti has said such a step would contravene Kosovo’s constitution. Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday called for calm from all sides and said the alliance’s 3,700-strong peacekeeping force in Kosovo stood ready to intervene if stability was at risk. “NATO will take any measure necessary to preserve safety and security for all communities. All must engage constructively in the EU-led Belgrade–Pristina dialogue,” he tweeted after his meeting with Vuvic in Brussels. Stoltenberg said NATO-led troops stationed in Kosovo have strengthened their presence on Kosovo’s northern border with Serbia because of the current tensions. “But of course, we will act when needed and we will act in a proportionate way because our main aim is to help to reduce tensions and to ensure all communities’ freedom of movement – the safety of all communities, including, of course, the Serbs in Kosovo,” Stoltenberg added. Vucic said it was “a lie” that Serbia wants to intervene in Kosovo but added that a generation of new Serb “kids” living in there “do not consider Kosovo as an independent state and view it as a part of Serbia”. “We are going to have difficult discussions tomorrow,” Vucic said. “We do not agree almost on anything.” © 2022 Al Jazeera Media Network

Violence has erupted in a city at the centre of a dispute between Somalia’s semi-autonomous Somaliland and Puntland regions. 24 February 2023 By Mohammed Haji A woman and child relax next to a mural of Somaliland's flag, in Hargeisa, Somaliland, a semi-autonomous breakaway region of Somalia, on Feb. 9, 2022. Brian Inganga/Copyright 2022 The AP. Since February 6, there has been heavy fighting in the northern Somali city of Las Anod (Laascaanood) between troops of Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland and local militia from the Dhulbahante clan in northern Somalia. So far, at least 82 people have died and 400 have been wounded. But what exactly is the issue? How did it all begin? The Dhulbahante clan lives in the regions of Sool, Sanaag as well as the district of Buuhoodle in the Togdheer region, all of which are disputed between Somaliland – which seceded from Somalia in 1991 – and Puntland. Las Anod, the capital of the Sool region, is also claimed by the clan as its capital. Somaliland claims the borders of the old British Somaliland protectorate which merged with what was known as Italian Somaliland in the 1960s to form Somalia. In 1991, after clan militias overthrew Siad Barre, Somalia’s military ruler at the time, the country descended into prolonged conflict, and Somaliland proclaimed its secession. Before 2007, when Somaliland seized Las Anod, it was administered by Puntland. The current upheaval in Las Anod began on December 26 when a local opposition politician, Abdifatah Abdullahi Abdi, was assassinated by unknown attackers, sparking anti-government protests across the city. Unverified footage on social media during the protests showed Somaliland’s security forces indiscriminately firing at demonstrators. Local reports say as may as 20 people were killed during these initial protests in December that spilled over into January. Somaliland’s troops have since been stationed outside the city, which has since remained under the control of a local committee of 33 elders of the Dhulbahante clan. What is at stake here? After years of debate, Dhulbahante elders in Sool announced on February 6 that they would like to be independent of both administrations and form their own federal state under Somalia, named SSC-Khaatumo. “We have decided that the Federal Republic of Somalia shall administer the SSC-Khaatumo region until the completion of the federalisation of Somalia’s land,” they said in a statement, quoting the Somali constitution. Just before the declaration was to be released, forces from Hargeisa, Somaliland’s capital, reportedly attacked Las Anod and forces loyal to the clans fought back. “We believe Somaliland had received some information of the details of the declaration in advance which they didn’t receive well,” Garad Mukhtar, one of the elders at the conference, told Al Jazeera. “We strongly believe the attack was their attempt to disrupt the meeting.” Markus Hoehne, a social anthropologist at the University of Leipzig who conducted research in Somaliland for many years, told Al Jazeera, “Somaliland needs the land [not the people] to establish its claim to statehood, which is based on colonial boundaries.” “Puntland’s claim rests on kinship ties with clans from the region and adherence to unity,” Faisal Roble, Horn of Africa political analyst and principal city planner for Los Angeles, told Al Jazeera. What has the damage been so far? In addition to deaths and injuries, the United Nations estimated that more than 185,000 people have been displaced due to the conflict in Las Anod. “Somaliland must withdraw its forces from Sool and have immediate negotiations with the traditional elders of the Dhulbahante clan in order to facilitate international aid,” Hoehne told Al Jazeera. Abdirizak Shuriye, a doctor at Manhal Hospital in Las Anod, told Al Jazeera that hospitals and ambulances have been shelled, resulting in the deaths of medical personnel, pregnant women and children. “What is happening in the city of Las Anod is a massacre,” he added. On February 8, Abdirihin Ismail, the city’s mayor, said, “This isn’t a war between Somaliland and Puntland nor between Somaliland and terrorists, but rather the Somaliland army and the people of Las Anod.” Mukhtar told Al Jazeera that his house was shot at by Somaliland’s military alongside more than 1,000 others damaged or demolished by them. He added that Somaliland was shelling targets indiscriminately, which was “evidence that Somaliland wants to inflict as much damage on the people of Sool as possible”. Two days after the ceasefire was announced, a reported mortar attack at the Gargaar Hospital in the city, killed one of its doctors, Abdisalam Muse Said. On its part, Hargeisa has claimed that the “ceasefire has been infringed on numerous occasions by armed militias and the terror groups who attacked the city” and also blamed the Somali government and Puntland for what it called attempts to destabilise the breakaway region. “Unfortunately, we have no other choice but to defend,” Somaliland Defence Minister Abdiqani Ateye said. What have the reactions been so far? Somaliland’s Information Minister Sulayman Koore declined to respond to Al Jazeera. The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, has also called for an investigation into the killings. After several days of fighting and condemnation by international human rights organisations and the United States, Somaliland declared an unconditional ceasefire on February 10. On February 7, Somaliland state broadcaster SLNTV tweeted that its army “has the full capacity to counter any terrorist attack in the country and will strive to bring peace and stability in the region”. Opposition politicians and other leaders outside the region have said Hargeisa is branding the clashes as operations against ”terrorism” to obfuscate its intentions. Ahmed Khalif, a politician in Somaliland’s opposition Waddani party, accused Hargeisa of spreading misinformation, telling local station Horn Cable TV, that “it is a lie that there are terrorists in Las Anod, the people of Sool are not terrorists”. Puntland’s Information Minister Mohamoud Dirir dismissed Somaliland’s allegation. “This is simply the people of Sool defending themselves from aggression,” he told Al Jazeera. Al-Qaeda-affiliated armed group al-Shabab has also rejected claims that it was involved in the fighting. Somaliland’s international partners, including the US and the UK, expressed concerns about the violence and called for immediate de-escalation. Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has also called for a negotiated resolution to the issue. But Somaliland has responded to the calls for calm from the international community with defiance, with its foreign ministry accusing “international entities” of “encouraging radicals” and spreading “misinformation”, which ignored the country’s “three-decade-long track record for peace and democracy”. What happens next? On February 16, Somaliland President Muse Bihi said he has initiated peace talks with the traditional elders of the Dhulbahante clan. Elders of the clans denied any contact with Bihi for peace talks saying none can be held with Somaliland “until its forces retreat from Las Anod”. After fighting broke out, influential Sool leader Garad Jama Garad Ismail called for a withdrawal of Somaliland troops from the city as a condition for negotiations but analysts warn their positions on the question of Laascaanood’s future remain far apart. Hoehne told Al Jazeera, “The Dhulbahante clan never truly accepted the secession of Somaliland from Somalia.” Analysts say Somaliland may be forced to withdraw its troops and allow aid as peace talks begin. “The international community’s pressure on Somaliland could help sustain the proposed peace talks and eventually lead to meaningful talks,” Roble said. © 2023 Al Jazeera Media Network

Violence has erupted in a city at the centre of a dispute between Somalia’s semi-autonomous Somaliland and Puntland regions. Muse Bihi Abdi, president of Somaliland, speaks during a news conference in his office in Hargeysa, in northern Somalia's semi-autonomous Somaliland region, October 10, 2018 [File: Tiksa Negeri/Reuters] By Mohammed Haji Published On 20 Feb 202320 Feb 2023 Since February 6, there has been heavy fighting in the northern Somali city of Las Anod (Laascaanood) between troops of Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland and local militia from the Dhulbahante clan in northern Somalia. So far, at least 82 people have died and 400 have been wounded. But what exactly is the issue? How did it all begin? The Dhulbahante clan lives in the regions of Sool, Sanaag as well as the district of Buuhoodle in the Togdheer region, all of which are disputed between Somaliland – which seceded from Somalia in 1991 – and Puntland. Las Anod, the capital of the Sool region, is also claimed by the clan as its capital. Somaliland claims the borders of the old British Somaliland protectorate which merged with what was known as Italian Somaliland in the 1960s to form Somalia. In 1991, after clan militias overthrew Siad Barre, Somalia’s military ruler at the time, the country descended into prolonged conflict, and Somaliland proclaimed its secession. Before 2007, when Somaliland seized Las Anod, it was administered by Puntland. The current upheaval in Las Anod began on December 26 when a local opposition politician, Abdifatah Abdullahi Abdi, was assassinated by unknown attackers, sparking anti-government protests across the city. Unverified footage on social media during the protests showed Somaliland’s security forces indiscriminately firing at demonstrators. Local reports say as many as 20 people were killed during these initial protests in December that spilled over into January. Somaliland’s troops have since been stationed outside the city, which has since remained under the control of a local committee of 33 elders of the Dhulbahante clan. What is at stake here? After years of debate, Dhulbahante elders in Sool announced on February 6 that they would like to be independent of both administrations and form their own federal state under Somalia, named SSC-Khaatumo. “We have decided that the Federal Republic of Somalia shall administer the SSC-Khaatumo region until the completion of the federalisation of Somalia’s land,” they said in a statement, quoting the Somali constitution. Just before the declaration was to be released, forces from Hargeisa, Somaliland’s capital, reportedly attacked Las Anod and forces loyal to the clans fought back. “We believe Somaliland had received some information of the details of the declaration in advance which they didn’t receive well,” Garad Mukhtar, one of the elders at the conference, told Al Jazeera. “We strongly believe the attack was their attempt to disrupt the meeting.” Markus Hoehne, a social anthropologist at the University of Leipzig who conducted research in Somaliland for many years, told Al Jazeera, “Somaliland needs the land [not the people] to establish its claim to statehood, which is based on colonial boundaries.” “Puntland’s claim rests on kinship ties with clans from the region and adherence to unity,” Faisal Roble, Horn of Africa political analyst and principal city planner for Los Angeles, told Al Jazeera. What has the damage been so far? In addition to deaths and injuries, the United Nations estimated that more than 185,000 people have been displaced due to the conflict in Las Anod. “Somaliland must withdraw its forces from Sool and have immediate negotiations with the traditional elders of the Dhulbahante clan in order to facilitate international aid,” Hoehne told Al Jazeera. Abdirizak Shuriye, a doctor at Manhal Hospital in Las Anod, told Al Jazeera that hospitals and ambulances have been shelled, resulting in the deaths of medical personnel, pregnant women and children. “What is happening in the city of Las Anod is a massacre,” he added. On February 8, Abdirihin Ismail, the city’s mayor, said, “This isn’t a war between Somaliland and Puntland nor between Somaliland and terrorists, but rather the Somaliland army and the people of Las Anod.” Mukhtar told Al Jazeera that his house was shot at by Somaliland’s military alongside more than 1,000 others damaged or demolished by them. He added that Somaliland was shelling targets indiscriminately, which was “evidence that Somaliland wants to inflict as much damage on the people of Sool as possible”. Two days after the ceasefire was announced, a reported mortar attack at the Gargaar Hospital in the city, killed one of its doctors, Abdisalam Muse Said. On its part, Hargeisa has claimed that the “ceasefire has been infringed on numerous occasions by armed militias and the terror groups who attacked the city” and also blamed the Somali government and Puntland for what it called attempts to destabilise the breakaway region. “Unfortunately, we have no other choice but to defend,” Somaliland Defence Minister Abdiqani Ateye said. What have the reactions been so far? Somaliland’s Information Minister Sulayman Koore declined to respond to Al Jazeera. The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, has also called for an investigation into the killings. After several days of fighting and condemnation by international human rights organisations and the United States, Somaliland declared an unconditional ceasefire on February 10. On February 7, Somaliland state broadcaster SLNTV tweeted that its army “has the full capacity to counter any terrorist attack in the country and will strive to bring peace and stability in the region”. Opposition politicians and other leaders outside the region have said Hargeisa is branding the clashes as operations against ”terrorism” to obfuscate its intentions. Ahmed Khalif, a politician in Somaliland’s opposition Waddani party, accused Hargeisa of spreading misinformation, telling local station Horn Cable TV, that “it is a lie that there are terrorists in Las Anod, the people of Sool are not terrorists”. Puntland’s Information Minister Mohamoud Dirir dismissed Somaliland’s allegation. “This is simply the people of Sool defending themselves from aggression,” he told Al Jazeera. Al-Qaeda-affiliated armed group al-Shabab has also rejected claims that it was involved in the fighting. Somaliland’s international partners, including the US and the UK, expressed concerns about the violence and called for immediate de-escalation. Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has also called for a negotiated resolution to the issue. But Somaliland has responded to the calls for calm from the international community with defiance, with its foreign ministry accusing “international entities” of “encouraging radicals” and spreading “misinformation”, which ignored the country’s “three-decade-long track record for peace and democracy”. What happens next? On February 16, Somaliland President Muse Bihi said he has initiated peace talks with the traditional elders of the Dhulbahante clan. Elders of the clans denied any contact with Bihi for peace talks saying none can be held with Somaliland “until its forces retreat from Las Anod”. After fighting broke out, influential Sool leader Garad Jama Garad Ismail called for a withdrawal of Somaliland troops from the city as a condition for negotiations but analysts warn their positions on the question of Laascaanood’s future remain far apart. Hoehne told Al Jazeera, “The Dhulbahante clan never truly accepted the secession of Somaliland from Somalia.” Analysts say Somaliland may be forced to withdraw its troops and allow aid as peace talks begin. “The international community’s pressure on Somaliland could help sustain the proposed peace talks and eventually lead to meaningful talks,” Roble said. SOURCE: AL JAZEERA © 2023 Al Jazeera Media Network

Officials say attack targeted the village of Mukondi, about 30km (19 miles) south of the city of Beni in North Kivu province, an area rife with rebel activity. The DRC government declared a state of siege in North Kivu and neighbouring Ituri province in 2021 in an attempt to stem rampant violence in the country's vast mineral-rich east (© Brent Stirton | Getty Images) At least 36 people were killed during an overnight attack on a village in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. A local official and the head of a civil society group said on Thursday the assailants were believed to be members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) – a Ugandan armed group based in eastern DRC that has pledged allegiance to ISIL (ISIS) and wages frequent deadly raids on villages. The attack targeted the village of Mukondi, 30km (19 miles) south of the city of Beni in North Kivu province, an area plagued with rebel activity and which has been under military administration since 2021 in an attempt to restore order. Provincial governor Carly Nzanzu Kasivita said on Twitter at least 36 people had been killed in the attack, which began on Wednesday evening. The head of a local civil society group, Mumbere Limbadu Arsene, gave a provisional death toll of 44, including women, children and the elderly, and said several villagers were still missing. “The modus operandi suggests it was the ADF because no bullets were fired,” he told Reuters news agency via telephone, adding some victims died trapped in their homes after attackers set them ablaze. The ADF often wages attacks using machetes and hatchets. A local army spokesperson, Antony Mwalushayi, confirmed there had been an attack but did not give a death toll. Kakuke Kilalo Emmanuel, a resident of the nearby village of Kalunguta, said he went to Mukondi on Wednesday but turned back after he saw people in a state of panic as the attack was unfolding. Many Kalunguta residents have fled out of fear for their safety, he added. The ADF was formed in 1995 by a coalition of rebel forces – including the Uganda Muslim Liberation Army and the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda – to fight against the Yoweri Museveni administration. It is among the most violent groups in the DRC, and has been accused of a string of bomb attacks and civilian massacres. According to the Catholic Church in the country, the ADF has killed about 6,000 civilians since 2013. US-based monitor the Kivu Security Tracker blames the group for more than 1,200 deaths in the Beni area alone since 2017. The DRC government declared a state of siege in North Kivu and neighbouring Ituri province in 2021 in an attempt to stem rampant violence in the country’s vast mineral-rich east. But the killings and rebel activity have not shown any sign of abating. © 2023 Al Jazeera Media Network