Hindu prayers begin inside India’s Mughal-era mosque after court order
Hindu worshippers have begun praying inside a 17th-century mosque in the Indian city of Varanasi, hours after a court order gave them the go-ahead at the disputed site. The Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi is one of several Muslim places of worship that right-wing Hindu groups, backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have sought for decades to reclaim. Varanasi is Modi’s parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, also governed by the BJP. On Wednesday, a local court ruled that Hindu worshippers could pray in the building’s basement and ordered the authorities to “make proper arrangements” for worshippers within a week. Indian media reports said the family members of Hindu priests started praying in the mosque’s basement in the early hours of Thursday. #WATCH | A priest offers prayers at ‘Vyas Ji ka Tehkhana’ inside Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, after District court order. Visuals confirmed by Vishnu Shankar Jain, the lawyer for the Hindu side in the Gyanvapi case pic.twitter.com/mUB6TMGpET — ANI (@ANI) February 1, 2024 Akhlaq Ahmad, the lawyer representing Muslim petitioners, said the court order would be appealed. The Gyanvapi Mosque was built during the Mughal Empire in a city where Hindus from across the country cremate relatives by the Ganges river. Hindu worshippers claim the mosque replaced a temple to the Hindu deity Shiva. Last month, the Archaeological Survey of India said a survey of the site appeared to corroborate the belief that it was originally home to a temple. Emboldened right-wing Hindu groups have laid claim to several Muslim sites of worship they say were built atop ancient temples during Mughal rule. Centuries-old mosque razed in Indian capital Meanwhile, bulldozers have knocked down a centuries-old mosque in India’s capital, a member of the building’s managing committee said. The Masjid Akhonji in New Delhi, which its caretakers say is about 600 years old, was home to 22 students enrolled in an Islamic boarding school. It was torn down on Tuesday in a forest of Mehrauli, an affluent neighbourhood dotted with centuries-old ruins from settlements predating modern Delhi. In Mehrauli, Delhi, the Delhi Development Authority carried out an arbitrary demolition of a 600-year-old mosque on Tuesday. Imam Zakir Hussain stated that Masjid Akhonji, which housed Madrasa Bahrul Uloom and the graves of revered figures, was completely razed. pic.twitter.com/tjEWowUfQN — Maktoob (@MaktoobMedia) January 31, 2024 Mohammad Zaffar, a member of the mosque’s managing committee, told the Agence France-Presse news agency it did not receive any prior notice before a demolition was carried out “in the dark of the night”. He said many graves in the mosque compound were also desecrated and no one was allowed to take out copies of the Quran or other materials from inside the mosque before it was razed. “Many of our revered figures and my own ancestors were buried there. There is no trace of the graves now,” Zaffar told AFP. “The rubble from the mosque and the graves has been removed and dumped somewhere else.” The officials said the demolition was part of a drive to remove “illegal” structures from a forest reserve. Calls for India to enshrine Hindu supremacy have grown rapidly louder since Modi took office in 2014, making its roughly 200-million-strong Muslim minority – the world’s third-largest Muslim population – increasingly anxious about its future. Last week, Modi presided over a grand inauguration ceremony in the nearby city of Ayodhya for a Hindu temple built on the former grounds of another Mughal-era mosque. Hindu zealots had torn down the Babri Mosque in 1992 in a campaign spearheaded by members of Modi’s party, sparking sectarian riots that killed 2,000 people nationwide, most of them Muslims. A decades-long court battle that ensued over the future of the Babri site ended in 2019 when India’s top court permitted the construction of a temple to the deity Ram, who, according to Hindu scripture, was born in the city. The consecration of the Ram temple by Modi fulfilled a 35-year-old pledge of the BJP and has been portrayed by the party and its affiliates as a Hindu reawakening. It also came months ahead of national elections due by May and is expected to boost Modi’s chances of winning a third term. Critics accuse Modi of pushing a pro-Hindu agenda and promoting discrimination against Muslims, but he says his government does not do so. Last week, a senior leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s far-right ideological mentor, questioned whether Gyanvapi Mosque and three others, including the razed one in Ayodhya, were mosques at all. “Whether we should consider them mosques or not, the people of the country and the world should think about it. They should stand with the truth, or they should stand with the wrong?” Indresh Kumar told Reuters news agency in an interview. “Accept the truth. Hold dialogues and let the judiciary decide.” Adblock test (Why?)
Chicago becomes latest US city to seek ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza
City councillors narrowly approve nonbinding resolution that also includes call for humanitarian aid and release of captives. Chicago has become the latest city in the United States to call for a permanent ceasefire as Israel’s war on Gaza nears its four-month mark, placing more pressure on President Joe Biden before November’s election to help end the fighting. After weeks of rowdy public meetings, councillors in the US’s third largest city on Wednesday narrowly approved the nonbinding resolution 24-23. The tie-breaking vote was cast by Mayor Brandon Johnson, who also had to temporarily clear the council chambers during the heated session. The symbolic declaration includes a call for humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and the release of all captives held in the enclave. “Do I believe that the words that we speak today, how we vote today influences directly international policy? I don’t. I don’t have those illusions,” said Alderman Daniel La Spata, one of the resolution’s sponsors. “But we vote with hope. We vote with solidarity. We vote to help people feel heard in a world of silence.” The ordinance remained largely unchanged over the past few months despite urging from the council’s sole Jewish member, Alderwoman Debra Silverstein, who sought more support for Israel and criticism of Hamas. “We all want an end to the bloodshed and an end to the war. But it is vital to understand what caused the conflict, and we should pass a resolution that addresses the issue responsibly,” she said during the meeting. “We should not pass a resolution unless it makes clear that Hamas cannot and should not attack again.” Israeli attacks have devastated the Gaza Strip since Hamas fighters launched surprise attacks inside Israel on October 7 that killed about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials. Israel retaliated with a relentless air and ground offensive that has killed nearly 27,000 people, about 70 percent of them children, women and the elderly, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. The US under both Democratic and Republican presidents has been giving Israel $3.8bn in military aid annually, ranging from fighter jets to powerful bombs. But in recent months, Israel’s relentless military campaign on Gaza has exposed deep divisions in the US amid growing anger over the Biden administration’s foreign policy. The passing of the resolution means that Chicago has now followed cities such as Atlanta, Detroit and San Francisco to be calling for a ceasefire. An analysis of city data by Reuters news agency this week showed that at least 48 US cities have adopted symbolic resolutions calling for a halt to Israel’s Gaza bombardment, with six others passing resolutions advocating more broadly for peace. At least 20 have passed resolutions condemning Hamas’s October 7 attacks. Most of the ceasefire resolutions have passed in Democratic states like California, though at least 14 have passed in swing states like Michigan that could be decisive in Biden’s re-election bid, most likely against Republican former President Donald Trump. Many of the ceasefire calls are modelled after Missouri Congresswoman Cori Bush’s “Ceasefire Now” resolution, which also urges the release of captives and an increase of aid into Gaza. At least nine of the ceasefire calls were in Michigan, where Arab Americans account for 5 percent of the vote and Biden’s 2020 margin of victory over Trump was less than 3 percent. An October poll showed Biden’s support among Arab Americans had plunged to 17 percent from 59 percent in 2020. “Arab Americans will not vote for Joe Biden, no matter what. That’s it. They’re done with Biden,” Sam Baydoun, a Wayne County commissioner, told Al Jazeera this week. “That’s the bottom line. Joe Biden is not going to be able to regain the trust of the Arab-American community,” he said, reflecting the frustration of many members of the Arab-American community over Biden’s unwavering support for Israel. Douglas Wilson, a Democratic strategist in the swing state of North Carolina, said the war “is something that’s going to be on voters’ minds” in the upcoming election. “It’s gonna be an issue here and in all the swing states because of the Muslim populations in these states, the Jewish populations in these states and the Black and brown population [in] these states,” Wilson told Reuters. Adblock test (Why?)
Israel’s war on Gaza: List of key events, day 118
EXPLAINER Hospitals in Khan Younis remain under siege as Red Sea tensions rise. Here’s how things stand on Thursday, February 1, 2024: Latest on human impact and fighting: The Israeli army on Wednesday stormed the courtyard of al-Amal Hospital affiliated with the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) in the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip following a 10-day siege. Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis also remains under siege as it faces a fuel shortage. Bombardment in Gaza continues, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported that several Palestinians were killed after Israel bombed a civilian car on the main road that links Khan Younis and Rafah. On Thursday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) released a statement saying US forces conducted strikes against Houthi unmanned aerial vehicles and the group’s ground control station in “self-defence”. Late on Wednesday, CENTCOM announced that the USS Carney shot down an antiship ballistic missile fired by the Houthis in the Gulf of Aden. No damages or injuries were reported. The European Union plans to launch a naval mission in the Red Sea within three weeks to help defend cargo ships against Houthi attacks, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday. About 184,000 people have registered for humanitarian assistance on the western outskirts of Khan Younis in recent days, the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA said in its daily update. Diplomacy A civil case accusing US President Joe Biden and other senior officials of being complicit in Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza has been dismissed by a US federal court judge on jurisdiction grounds. On Wednesday, the Chicago City Council passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire. Some 70 US cities have passed resolutions on Israel’s war on Gaza, most of them calling for a ceasefire. South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said on Wednesday that Israel has ignored the interim ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last week by killing hundreds more civilians in a matter of days in Gaza. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Wednesday that the US response to the attack on Jordan’s Tower 22 that killed three American soldiers “will not be escalatory”. He added that the US does not believe it is in the interest of any country in the region, including Iran, to see the conflict escalate. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met UN humanitarian coordinator Sigrid Kaag on Wednesday. Blinken said the US government is “working closely” with Kaag to “maximise aid getting into Gaza”. Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut reported citing Israeli media that Mossad spy chief David Bernea briefed Israel’s war cabinet about the captives’ release plan. The current plan suggests a 35-day pause in fighting and the release of 35 captives. The number of Palestinian prisoners released was not discussed. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is expected in Cairo on Thursday amid talks of a truce proposal. Settler attacks in West Bank Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that armed Israeli settlers injured two Palestinian children late on Wednesday near the village of Susya, to the south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, according to local sources. Wafa also reported that armed Israeli settlers assaulted an elderly man in the Masafer Yatta region, located south of the West Bank city of Hebron, on Wednesday, according to local sources. On Wednesday, an Israeli settler ran over a herd of sheep in al-Ma’rajat area, west of Jericho, Wafa reported. Adblock test (Why?)
Thailand deports dissident Russian rockers to Israel
Human rights advocates warned against sending Bi-2 to Russia where they could be persecuted for opposing Ukraine war. Thailand has deported members of a dissident Russian-Belarusian rock band critical of Moscow’s war in Ukraine to Israel after they were detained for performing without a permit. Members of Bi-2 left “safely” for Tel Aviv on Wednesday night, they said on their Facebook page. Human rights advocates had warned the group would face severe persecution for speaking out against Russia’s war in Ukraine if they were sent back to Russia. Thai authorities had detained the members of Bi-2 for working at the resort island of Phuket without a permit. The fate of the band provoked an international outcry, leading Thai immigration officials to give the band the choice of being deported to another destination if they felt unsafe to return to Russia. Thailand’s National Security Council, chaired by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, took charge of the case on Wednesday. Several members of the self-exiled group, which had been based in Israel in the 1990s, have dual nationalities, including Israeli and Australian. Deputy Police Chief Surachate Hakparn confirmed the band had requested to be deported to Israel. Under pressure The band was detained last week after they played a gig on Phuket, a southern island popular with Russian holidaymakers. Thai officials said they were held for performing without the correct work permits and transferred to an immigration detention centre in Bangkok. VPI Event, the organisers of the band’s Thailand concerts – which also included a show in Pattaya – said all the necessary permits were obtained, but the band had been issued tourist visas in error. VPI accused the Russian consulate of having waged a campaign to cancel the concerts since December and said they had faced “unprecedented pressure” as they sought the band’s release. War criticism Bi-2, which was founded in Minsk, Belarus, is popular in Russia. Russia’s Ministry of Justice labelled lead singer Yegor Bortnick a “foreign agent” after he criticised President Vladimir Putin online last year. Alexandr Uman of the alternative rock band Bi-2 performs in Portugal, July 6, 2023 [Horacio Villalobos/Corbis via Getty Images] One of the band’s founders has openly denounced the Putin government, saying it makes him feel “only disgust” and accusing the long-serving leader of having “destroyed” Russia. Several of their concerts were cancelled in 2022 after they refused to play at a venue with banners supporting the war in Ukraine, after which they left Russia. Human rights “Even though they [are] all safe, we still want Thai authorities to respect arrest procedures strictly,” human rights lawyer Pornpen Khongkachonkiet told the AFP news agency. “It could [have] happened to me, you, and others without international attention as this case got.” Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had recognised “the importance of upholding human rights principles” by not sending the band to “face persecution” in Russia. Very good news that all band members of the Russian-Belorussian rock band Bi-2 were able to leave #Thailand, & go safely to #Israel. Appreciate that @MFAThai recognized the importance of upholding human rights principles, & didn’t send them to face persecution & worse in #Russia. pic.twitter.com/JONpMmCRMX — Phil Robertson (@Reaproy) February 1, 2024 Robertson said that while “Thailand is vulnerable to effective manipulation by larger states pursuing transnational repression”, international pressure – and global economic concerns – had played a significant role. “Thailand realised that they didn’t need to make a lot of enemies by doing Russia’s bidding in this case.” Adblock test (Why?)
Pakistan’s Imran Khan is in political ruin. He’s partly to blame
Pakistan’s fractured politics is in overdrive as the country heads into general elections next week after nearly two years of tumult and strife. At stake is not just who forms the next government but what shape of democratic governance emerges in the weeks and months ahead. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan, hailed as one of the most popular politicians in the country, has already been knocked out of the contest. This week a local court handed down two jail sentences that also mean that he is barred from holding any public office for a decade. He can still appeal to the higher courts but as far as the February 8 elections are concerned, his name is already off the ballot. There are, however, bigger issues at play in Pakistani politics today than the holding of an election. In fact, this electoral outcome may not fully reflect the multiple fault lines that have developed within the political and social fabric of the country. These fault lines had started to emerge almost a decade ago when Khan and his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (Justice Party) had found traction among the voters and formed a government in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2013. After years of twists and turns in which Khan first found favour with the military establishment and then fell afoul of it, the real rupture happened on May 9, 2023. The events that transpired on this date – hundreds of Khan’s followers attacking, torching and ransacking military buildings across the country – have reshaped the politics of Pakistan. The tremors are reverberating to this day. Since then, Khan and his supporters have faced the brunt of the law as well as a volley of desertions. The empire has struck back hard. The political colossus that was once the PTI today lies in shambles. Its supporters are crying foul and bemoaning the lack of the proverbial level playing field. Few are however willing to admit that the blunders their leadership committed before and after the May 9 events have contributed in large part to their political ruination. Their black-and-white narrative of victimhood conveniently glosses over the varied shades of grey that paved the road to the party’s political Waterloo. At the heart of Khan’s political misjudgements lay a misreading of the military establishment and its foundational role within the state. Civil-military relations in Pakistan may be a worn-out subject for public discussions and published dissertations but its practical manifestations, in many ways, continue to define how power is shared and exercised in the country. Khan leveraged the power of the establishment to ride into power. He then used the same power to browbeat his opponents in a futile attempt to cripple their politics. But instead of further cementing this relationship, Khan committed the mistake of turning on his benefactor. The first schism opened over the key appointment of the head of the country’s premier intelligence agency. It never got repaired. In fact, it widened after Khan was ousted from government in a vote of no-confidence and decided to take on the military publicly. It was, as it turns out, an ill-advised move that betrayed a shallow understanding of the established power dynamics. In other words, Khan dangerously overestimated his power as a popular leader and attempted to convert this popularity into a quasi-rebellion against the established state structure. The initial response of his support base to his harangue against military officials was rapturous. In every speech in front of adoring crowds, he would cross a red line and name generals as being responsible for the so-called conspiracy against him. Emboldened by a lack of pushback by the military, he kept upping the ante. His advisors egged him on by arguing he was the only politician with enough public heft to take on the military and win. But at some point, during the course of this dangerous brinkmanship, Khan lost his political moorings. There is a thin line between attacking the military leadership and the institution itself. There is an even thinner line between drumming up a conspiracy theory about the US government plotting with the military to overthrow him and accusing the military of actual treason. Not only were Khan’s accusations inflammatory — they were also, as it turned out later, not backed by any evidence. The May 9, 2023 events were therefore waiting to happen. When his followers attacked military headquarters in Rawalpindi and set aflame a three-star general’s home in Lahore, they were acting upon what was deemed by the party leadership as a final push to topple the military high command and decisively convert the country’s power matrix in Khan’s favour. For all practical purposes, it was a coup attempt. Parallels drawn with Donald Trump supporters storming the Capitol building in Washington, DC are not far-fetched. The law took its course – often erring on the side of harshness – and Khan’s hubris brought his entire edifice down. For now. In consequence, has democratic space shrunk in Pakistan? In many ways, yes. Has the establishment’s footprint enlarged? Yes, it has. Have Khan’s political rivals, whom he refused to acknowledge as legitimate stakeholders, taken advantage of his downfall despite the shrinkage of political space? Certainly so. But is Khan really the victim his supporters are painting him as? Not really. Have he and his supporters acknowledged the grave blunder they committed on May 9? No, they have not. Have they acknowledged their misjudgements and missteps? They certainly have not. Pakistan may not be enjoying its ideal democratic moment, but if the elections can herald a new chapter, howsoever short-lived, that moves politics beyond the hate-filled, us-against-them, vitriolic brand epitomised by Imran Khan, we may find the breather that we so desperately need to start a process of national healing. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance. Adblock test (Why?)
‘Dining table amputation’: How an Israeli bomb took Ahed Bseiso’s leg
Ahed Bseiso was disoriented, shocked, and numb to the immense pain that would soon take over after she was wounded by Israeli shelling on her family home in northern Gaza. “All I could see was white fog … For a second, I thought I was dead,” Ahed told Al Jazeera, reliving the events of December 19. That day, following her routine since October 7, when Israel launched its most brutal assault on Gaza to date, the 17-year-old university student and her older sister Mona climbed to the sixth floor of their building at 10:30am. They went up there to call their father, who lives overseas. They tried to talk to him daily to tell him they were still alive amid a siege, intense bombardment, and a severe lack of essential supplies. Repeated telecommunication blackouts and jamming in Gaza mean many have to climb onto a roof to catch a signal, find signal boosters, or use eSIM cards connected to any regional telecom carrier. Ahed said she noticed an unusually large Israeli tank outside the building, but she did not give it much thought as their home had been encircled by army vehicles after a truce between Israel and Hamas came to an end in November. Ahed wants to live a ‘normal life’ and hopes to be evacuated from Gaza for treatment [Courtesy of Ahed Bseiso] She sat down and got ready to dial her father’s number. ‘I managed to say “I’m alive”‘ “I crossed my legs and all of a sudden, I was upside down,” she said. Ahed had lost a limb – almost her entire right calf – and was bleeding profusely. Her shock was so severe that she was silent, and so was her sister – she later realised “Mona was afraid to call out for me in case I didn’t respond”. “Eventually, as I gathered what had just happened, I managed to say: ‘I’m alive’.” Ahed’s male cousins rushed to carry her downstairs. She remembers looking down and shouting, asking her cousins if her leg was still there because she could not see it. “All my cousin did was cover my eyes,” she recalled. The only place they could set Ahed down was on the dining table, where her mother had been kneading bread dough earlier, a common sight in Gaza homes as Israel’s complete siege made food and basic commodities scarce. Someone ran to get her uncle, Hani, an orthopedist and the only doctor among the 30 relatives staying in the family’s building. Hani had sent his wife and four children out of the enclave at the beginning of the offensive, while he stayed. [embedded content] And so, he found himself looking down at his niece’s severed leg and knowing he had to save her, without medical supplies, anaesthesia, or even clean gauze. In Gaza today, medics have to carry out procedures with nothing, not even pain control, as a result of the severe shortages imposed by the siege. Hani needed to act on a difficult, yet obvious choice: amputate what was left of the lower leg and quickly stitch up the artery so his niece would not bleed to death. “I had nothing. I remembered my briefcase was in my room, so I asked my nephews to grab it … There was nothing in there except for some unsterilised gauze,” Hani said. ‘I stayed so Ahed can live’ Hani did not know how he would clean the wound or control the bleeding, a seemingly impossible task without sutures. All the while, Gaza’s largest medical facility, al-Shifa Hospital, was “five minutes away by car” but was both unreachable and out of service due to the fighting, Hani said. Hani Bseiso is an orthopaedic doctor who used to work at al-Shifa Hospital [Courtesy of Hani Bseiso] Like most hospitals across the enclave, al-Shifa had been attacked and raided in November, forcing thousands of wounded and displaced Palestinians there to flee and putting the hospital out of service. Hani looked around the room desperately, seeking anything to make the dreadful process a bit more manageable. At the kitchen sink, he saw a sponge and container filled with dish soap. “I started to clean the wound but felt Ahed’s eyes piercing me. She begged me not to cut the rest of her leg off,” Hani said. His heart was breaking and tears poured down his face, knowing what he had to do while Ahed was fully conscious. “I wondered what person could bear the pain of an amputation without anaesthesia,” Hani said. And so he operated on his niece with a kitchen knife and used a needle and thread from a sewing kit to stitch together the largest artery. When asked how she was able to bear the pain, Ahed said a strange feeling of calm took over. “I was just reciting verses from the holy Quran the entire time,” she said. To redress her wounds, the family had to wash the gauze in hot water and lay it out to dry so her uncle could put it back on her leg. In Gaza, a generation of child amputees is emerging as the vicious Israeli assault continues [Arafat Barbakh/Reuters] Knowing Ahed was prone to infection, Hani said he took “every antibiotic pill and painkiller in the house,” and rationed it out to her, mostly on an empty stomach because there was no food. It wasn’t until five days later that Hani was able to move her to a medical facility – one day after Israeli tanks withdrew from the area. There, Ahed underwent several surgeries, including one to mend her broken left leg. But it is still not enough, Hani said. “She needs so much more … cosmetic repair surgery for her amputated leg, an artificial limb,” Hani said. “I could have left with my wife and kids, but God made me stay. I stayed so Ahed can live.” Ahed is one of a generation of young amputees emerging from the enclave as a result of relentless Israeli
In Pakistan’s elections, the Lord of the Rings is showing his wrath
First, the fundamentals: In Pakistan, the election cycle is not the only process to be watched when determining the future political direction of the country; the cycle of the appointments of, and extensions granted to, the army chief is of equal and sometimes greater importance. That is because Pakistan’s chequered political history is the tale of a push and pull between civilian politicians and the military establishment; ground is gained and ceded and relations span the spectrum of cooperation, co-optation and confrontation – sometimes within the same tenure – and all depending on who is the current face of the civilian regime and who is heading the establishment. Nothing is a monolith, after all. But inevitably, a falling-out does tend to take place and that is because, in Pakistan, much as in Tolkien’s Middle-earth, there is only one Lord of the Rings, and he does not like to share power. His influence may ebb at times, and he may even go into hibernation for years, but eventually, the true lord always returns. To shift fictional universes for a moment, one could say that the empire always strikes back, and usually with a vengeance. Right now, that vengeance is on full, naked, display with just about every trick in the book, traditional and brand-new, being used to decimate the former governing party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). It is not quite the death of a thousand cuts – more like a dozen or so – and it is designed to whittle the party down to nothing before the elections. This week, former Prime Minister Imran Khan was sentenced to 10 years and 14 years in jail in two consecutive cases and has been barred from holding public office for a decade. Many legal experts have called the proceedings hasty and in violation of due process, while also pointing out that the sentences are draconian and disproportionate. However, the very questionable conduct of these cases also allows for the convictions and sentences to be struck down during the appeal process, leaving the door open for a “redeemed” and “acceptable” Khan to rejoin the political fray once it becomes convenient for the state to allow this. Whether he will play ball at any time in the future is an open question, but we have seen this particular drama unfold a few times before, with today’s villains becoming tomorrow’s heroes; the script tends to remain the same even if the actors change. Many other PTI leaders have also been imprisoned along with a host of party workers, most of whom were arrested in the aftermath of the events of May 9, 2023, when military installations were attacked during protests against the army that turned violent. The PTI claims it was a false flag event while the establishment — as the military in Pakistan is euphemistically known — and its allies insist it was an attempt to cause a mutiny in the ranks of the military. The truth, as usual, likely lies somewhere in the middle. In any case, PTI leaders and workers are facing several cases at a time, with acquittal in one leading to detention or imprisonment in another; it is a virtual revolving door of justice, as it were, designed to break the will and prevent said leaders from campaigning and mobilising their voters. Those who bend the knee are forgiven after confessional news conferences or clearly staged interviews and are then usually inducted into other parties or bow out of politics entirely. It is near impossible for the PTI to mobilise in large numbers, staging the kind of rallies and corner meetings that are a feature of any election. Moreover, PTI flags, posters and banners are largely missing from the streets of Pakistan, and credible reports indicate that this is at least in part because printers have been instructed not to cater to such orders. With Khan unable to conduct his signature daily speeches, one important link to the voters is cut off, and the very display of his image on television is also banned. But the PTI adapted by doing what they do best: leveraging social media and technology, a game in which they are light years ahead of the opposition. In this case, from notes provided by Khan himself, they created an artificial intelligence-generated voice to address a virtual rally, a first not only in Pakistan but perhaps anywhere in the world. Then begins the digital cat-and-mouse game, with Pakistan’s internet experiencing a mysterious slowdown just about every time the PTI decides to hold an online rally. The authorities explain this away as a “technical” fault due to an unexplained “upgradation” of software, but if you believe that you may as well believe that there is a terribly persistent shark loose somewhere in the Arabian Sea which, due to a personal grudge against the PTI, decides to chew the undersea internet cable right before any such rally. Yet, the real arterial wound to the PTI was the controversial decision to take away the party’s election symbol: the cricket bat. This works on many levels. PTI candidates will now have to contest as independents, which means that the party will not be able to avail the 70 National Assembly seats reserved for women and minorities that are proportionally distributed among all parties that manage to get more than 5 percent of the vote. Then there is the confusion: PTI nominees are contesting the elections with a host of symbols and if even 10 percent of PTI voters are uncertain who their actual candidate is, well then, that is another cut right there. To counter this, the PTI launched an app in which one can enter the constituency name and find out who the party is fielding, and to counter a possible chewing on the internet cable by the aforementioned shark, an offline version was also created, along with a website. But to counter that countermove, a fake website was created with almost the same name as the actual website but
‘Blood and sweat’: Myanmar resistance fights to overturn military coup
On February 1, 2021, a military coup in Myanmar sparked widespread nonviolent protests that quickly turned into an armed uprising after the military responded with brutal force. Ethnic armed organisations fighting for autonomy along the country’s borders also joined the anti-coup groups in a war, which has since reached an unprecedented scale in Myanmar’s history. Resistance forces share not only a common enemy but also a desire to overturn Myanmar’s military-dominated political system and establish a federal democracy that grants the right to self-determination for its ethnic minorities. Al Jazeera spoke with four people who are part of the armed resistance. They come from different backgrounds and are serving with different groups, but nonetheless share the same broad political goals, as well as a will to advance a more just and equitable society. They are using their noms de guerre to protect their families from military reprisals. Ma Wai, 32, Bamar People’s Liberation Army The BPLA, established in April 2021 by activist and poet Maung Saungkha, is the country’s only armed resistance group identifying with the ethnic Bamar majority, and which specifically seeks to combat the dominant role of Bamar people in Myanmar society. Since late October, it has taken an active role in Operation 1027, a joint offensive that has brought major gains for anti-coup forces. Ma Wai returned to her village in the Bago region from Dubai during the pandemic, with a plan to go back and resume her job as a chef at a four-star hotel once travel restrictions eased. Then the coup happened, and she joined street demonstrations instead. Ma Wai, previously a chef in Dubai, joined the forces fighting to remove the military in May 2021 [Supplied] Weeks later, soldiers and police were firing live rounds, and Ma Wai was tending to a wounded protester. “I saw the blood flowing with my own eyes,” she said. “The incident was so vivid and devastating that it will haunt me for the rest of my life.” Soon, her peers were taking up arms in the jungle, but Ma Wai initially hesitated to join them. Her job in Dubai had provided the main source of income for her widowed mother and two younger brothers, who are both in their 20s, and she worried about how they would get by if she didn’t go back. Still, her commitment to resisting the military won out, and she confided her decision to her brother the day before her planned departure for the jungle. “He told me, ‘Sister, you’re a girl, so don’t go. As a boy. I can do more, so I’m supposed to go,’” she recalled. Ultimately, however, their mother gave them both her blessing. “[She] decided, ‘You both should go as you made this decision for the people,’” said Ma Wai. In May of 2021, she and her brother enlisted in one of thousands of groups forming across the country at the time, commonly known as people’s defence forces (PDFs). Like many PDFs, theirs was based in the territory of the Karen National Union, Myanmar’s oldest ethnic armed organisation. Although it signed a ceasefire with the military in 2012, it has resumed its fight for self-determination since the coup, while also participating in the country’s wider pro-democracy struggle. Ma Wai joined the resistance intending to fight until the end, but her plans soon began to falter. Her PDF’s leaders seemed not to have a clear plan for its recruits, who began returning to their towns and villages after completing the group’s 10-day military training. “I knew that the training wasn’t enough for me to fight against the military, but when I thought about returning home, I didn’t want to go back either,” said Ma Wai. “I really wanted to connect with a group that could provide weapons and train us well.” The opportunity came that August, through a chance encounter with BPLA leader Maung Saungkha. As he spoke about the group’s philosophy and approach, as well as its equal treatment of women and men, Ma Wai’s direction became clear. “I felt that he wasn’t talking like an election campaign, but expressing his determination, vision and mission,” she said. “I realised that this was the kind of group I wanted to join.” Her brother came to the same decision, and soon after, they were climbing rugged mountains in the heavy rain and linking arms with their new comrades to cross rushing streams. When they reached their new camp, they underwent a training programme far more rigorous than the first – so much so that Ma Wai’s legs became stiff and swollen, and her trainers told her to seek medical attention. Realising her limitations, she said, was even harder than enduring the ache in her legs. “The trainers didn’t allow me to continue even though I straightened up and tried to force myself,” she said. “It was the most painful moment for me.” A fighter from the anti-coup People’s Liberation Army forces engaged in a battle with the military government in the Sagaing region in November [Reuters] She later completed the training after receiving treatment for vitamin B12 deficiency and began serving in a logistical role to manage the distribution of rations to BPLA soldiers. A year later, she was transferred to the finance and support department, and now supervises the BPLA’s administration office. Ma Wai estimates that while one-tenth of the BPLA’s members are female, women make up about a third of people serving in leadership roles. While Ma Wai said she hasn’t faced any discrimination as a woman, she acknowledged that she initially had to work extra hard to demonstrate her capabilities, especially to some of her male comrades. “Sometimes … they looked at me as if I didn’t know anything, but that was in the early days,” she said. “When we worked together, they came to understand me more and appreciate my talent.” She has also undergone a personal transformation, as she learns about the Myanmar military’s brutal history against the country’s ethnic minorities and reflects on
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 708
As the war enters its 708th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Thursday, February 1, 2024. Fighting A Russian bomb hit a hospital in northeastern Ukraine, forcing the evacuation of dozens of patients, smashing windows and damaging equipment. Volodymyr Tymoshko, head of the Kharkiv regional branch of the national police, said the bomb made a direct hit on the hospital in the town of Velykyi Burluk, northeast of Kharkiv, and a second bomb landed nearby. Four people were slightly injured. Ukraine’s air defences shot down 14 out of 20 drones launched by Russia in an overnight attack that injured one person and damaged commercial buildings. The air force said the Iranian-made Shahed drones and three Iskander missiles targeted five Ukrainian regions in the south and the east. Russia said it destroyed 20 missiles launched by Ukraine over the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow invaded in 2014 and then annexed. Ukraine’s air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said its forces struck the Belbek military airfield in Crimea. He did not go into detail. Politics and diplomacy Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war. Russia’s Defence Ministry said 195 of its soldiers were freed, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 207 people, including some civilians, had been returned to Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told his country’s parliament that he would rally European partners to deliver support for Ukraine that was “so huge” it would weigh on Russian President Vladimir Putin. His comments came ahead of a key European Union summit on 50 billion euros ($54bn) of funding for Ukraine that is being blocked by Hungary. Victoria Nuland, the United States acting deputy secretary of state, visited Kyiv and said she was encouraged by Ukraine’s strengthening defences and that Moscow should expect some “surprises” on the battlefield. A US military aid package for Ukraine is being held up in Congress by Republicans who want to link it to policy changes at the US border. Nuland said she was confident it would be adopted. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) rejected much of a case filed by Ukraine that accused Russia of bankrolling separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine a decade ago, saying only that Moscow had failed to investigate alleged breaches. Boris Nadezhdin submitted his bid to run for the Russian presidency in March’s election after delivering 105,000 signatures backing his campaign to the Central Election Commission (CEC). The 60-year-old has emerged as a prominent critic of the Kremlin and promised to end the war in Ukraine. Weapons The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell admitted that the EU’s promise to supply Ukraine with one million artillery shells by March would fall short, with just over half that number expected to be delivered by that deadline. The remaining 155-mm artillery shells are likely to be delivered by the end of the year, Borrell said. Adblock test (Why?)
Argentina lawmakers debate Milei’s ‘omnibus’ economic reform bill
Opposition has pledged to block the president’s mega-bill to reform the economy, politics and even some aspects of private life. Argentina’s lower house of Congress has begun what is expected to be a marathon debate on libertarian President Javier Milei’s mega-bill to reform the economy, politics and even some aspects of private life. The government raced to secure votes for the key “omnibus” reform bill on Wednesday, even as the left-leaning opposition pledged to block it. The bill initially contained 664 articles, but has lost almost half of these in tough negotiations with the opposition, which largely outnumbers Milei’s Libertad Avanza party that has just 38 of the 257 seats in the lower house of Congress. The bill is one the main planks in Milei’s reform push to tackle the South American country’s worst economic crisis in decades, with inflation over 200 percent and state coffers running dry. It marks the president’s first major test since the self-described “anarchocapitalist” took office in December after a shock election win in which he campaigned with a chainsaw pledging to slash spending and the size of the state. Milei, 53, faces a challenge to win over allies and push the bill through. His government yanked a divisive fiscal section from the bill last week to boost support. “Today, politicians have the chance to start reversing the damage they’ve caused the Argentine people,” Milei’s office said, urging lawmakers to support the bill. In a sign of the challenge ahead, the main Peronist opposition bloc Union por la Patria, which is the largest single grouping in the National Congress of Argentina, said it would reject the bill, posting a picture with a slogan: “No to the Omnibus bill” on X. “We reject the Omnibus bill because it puts fuel in Milei’s chainsaw to hurt the daily lives of Argentines,” wrote Peronist politician and former Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero, a reference to his austerity plans to undo a deep fiscal deficit. Milei began his term in office by devaluing the peso by more than 50 percent, cutting state subsidies for fuel and transport, reducing the number of ministries by half, and scrapping hundreds of rules so as to deregulate the economy. His massive reform package touches on all areas of public and private life, from privatisations to cultural issues, the penal code, and divorce, to the status of football clubs. On Wednesday, outside the legislature, hundreds of protesters gathered to express their unhappiness with the reform bill, the AFP news agency reported. Moderate opposition lawmakers have warned they will seek further changes to the bill, in particular on the touchy issue of the delegation of special powers to the executive in an economic emergency, and on the scope and extent of privatisations. If the law is approved in the lower chamber – a debate that will likely extend beyond Wednesday – it would move next week to the Senate. Adblock test (Why?)