A suicide bomber from a Pakistani separatist group has killed four people, including three Chinese nationals, in an attack on a minibus carrying staff from the Confucius Institute at Karachi University. The Baloch Liberation Army – one of several groups fighting for independence in Pakistan’s biggest province – claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s bombing, saying it was the first suicide attack by a female assailant. Chinese targets have regularly been attacked by separatists from Balochistan, where Beijing is involved in huge infrastructure projects as part of its belt and road initiative.…
Tag: South and Central Asia
What does political upheaval in Pakistan mean for the world?
Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, was ousted from office in a no-confidence vote in parliament in the early hours of Sunday after three years and seven months in power. A new government will be formed, most likely under opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif, after parliament reconvenes on Monday to vote for a new prime minister. The country of more than 220 million people lies between Afghanistan to the west, China to the north-east and India to the east, making it of vital strategic importance. Since coming to power in 2018, Khan’s…
The Guardian view on Putin and the world: it’s not just about China | Editorial
When Vladimir Putin recognised Donetsk and Luhansk as independent republics, days before his invasion of Ukraine, one of the most powerful denunciations came from Kenya’s envoy to the UN. Martin Kimani cited his country’s own history as he warned against irredentism and expansionism: “We must complete our recovery from the embers of dead empires in a way that does not plunge us back into new forms of domination and oppression,” he said. On two general assembly resolutions – the first denouncing the invasion, the second blaming Russia for creating a…
Narendra Modi walks diplomacy tightrope with Vladimir Putin on Ukraine
As the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, picked up the phone to Vladimir Putin this week – the latest in several phone calls between the two leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine – he put forward a suggestion. Modi’s push, according to an Indian government statement, was that Putin should have a “direct conversation” with the Ukrainian prime minister, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in order to “greatly assist ongoing peace efforts”. It was the latest signal from India that while it has refused publicly to condemn Russia’s violent and merciless actions in Ukraine,…
At least 21 dead after Pakistan army clashes with militants for third day
Pakistani troops battled separatist militants for a third day on Friday in the troubled province of Balochistan, where hundreds of residents in a town near the Iranian border remained trapped by shellfire and heavy fighting. The violence erupted on Wednesday when insurgents from the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) launched twin assaults on bases of the paramilitary Frontier Corps in the Naushki and Panjgur districts, leading to the deaths of at least 12 soldiers and nine militants. The fighting in Noshki lasted 16 hours before all the assailants were killed, and…
The Biden doctrine: Ukraine gaffe sums up mixed year of foreign policy
Joe Biden marked his first anniversary in office with a gaffe over Ukraine that undid weeks of disciplined messaging and diplomatic preparation. The president’s suggestion that a “minor incursion” by Russia might split Nato over how to respond sent the White House into frantic damage limitation mode. Officials insisted Biden had been referring to cyber attacks and paramilitary activities and not Russian troops crossing the border. That failed to entirely calm nerves in Kyiv and other European capitals, especially as Biden also raised eyebrows by predicting that Vladimir Putin would…
Increased repression and violence a sign of weakness, says Human Rights Watch
Increasingly repressive and violent acts against civilian protests by autocratic leaders and military regimes around the world are signs of their desperation and weakening grip on power, Human Rights Watch says in its annual assessment of human rights across the globe. In its world report 2022, the human rights organisation said autocratic leaders faced a significant backlash in 2021, with millions of people risking their lives to take to the streets to challenge regimes’ authority and demand democracy. Human Rights Watch also said the emergence of opposition parties willing to…
India to ban private cryptocurrencies and launch official digital currency
The Indian government is preparing to ban private cryptocurrencies and allow the country’s central bank to launch an official digital currency. The proposed legislation follows a crackdown on cryptocurrencies in China, where financial regulators and the central bank have made all digital currency transactions illegal. The Indian proposals were flagged in a parliamentary bulletin listing upcoming legislation which included one paragraph on “The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021”. The accompanying description of the bill appeared to leave some room for using cryptocurrencies, however. “To create a…
America will never be back like before, but the world still needs democratic leadership | Timothy Garton Ash
“America is back,” said President Joe Biden earlier this year, and the entire democratic world breathed a sigh of relief. But as we watch the debacle of the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan – Kabul as Saigon 2 – a ghostly voice whispers to us: what if America is not back? What if it is never coming back? What happens then? The Chinese century? Europe as new leader of the free world? Or just plain old international anarchy? If only this were like Saigon in 1975. The US humiliation in…
China will tread carefully in navigating the Taliban’s return
The US’s hasty departure from Afghanistan has provided much material for China’s propaganda agencies to discredit Washington’s foreign policy. But Beijing is also treading a careful line in navigating an increasingly uncertain security situation in one of its most volatile neighbours. On Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, said that while Beijing will “continue developing good-neighbourly, friendly and cooperative relations with Afghanistan”, it also urges the Taliban to “ensure that all kinds of terrorism and crimes can be curbed so that the Afghan people can stay away from war…