Wickremesinghe revives India’s plan for close economic integration With the Rajapaksas pushed into the background and due to the high powers vested in the Sri Lankan Executive Presidency, President Ranil Wcikremesinghe is now in a position to take his island nation closer to India and away from China by promoting economic, investment and national security ties. China’s distancing itself from […]

Data protection regulation in India has recently faced several setbacks. The Personal Data Protection Bill was introduced to India’s lower house on 11 December 2019. But the government withdrew the Bill after India’s Joint Parliamentary Committee proposed 81 amendments and 12 recommendations. A new bill with a more comprehensive framework, including modern digital privacy laws, will be released soon. There […]

Russia’s special envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said the United States is no longer included in the Extended Troika, and instead, Iran will take its place. In a televised interview with Sputnik last week, Kabulov said the US was using this structure to advance its own interests, and that Washington’s participation in the Extended Troika was not beneficial for Afghanistan. […]

The Iranian Ambassador to Afghanistan, Bahadur Aminian, says at least 6,000 Afghan citizens enter Iran every day and that only about half have visas. The rest enter illegally, he said, adding that these migrants risk falling victim to human traffickers. Speaking to the BBC Aminian said the only way to reduce the wave of refugees into Iran was to create […]

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan said Sunday the border clashes between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were “alarming” and that continued clashes could affect the security of the region. The ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement “these clashes have caused problems for civilians on both sides, particularly, leading to the displacement of thousands of civilians on the Kyrgyz side. The […]

The Taliban’s foreign affairs ministry on Thursday condemned the United States’ decision to transfer Afghan central bank reserves into a Swiss-based trust, saying it was against international norms. On Wednesday, Washington announced it would transfer $3.5 billion in previously frozen Afghan central bank assets into a new trust fund that it said would be shielded from the Taliban and used […]

Authorities in Pakistan said they have offered the Taliban “intelligence and operational assistance” to hunt down the leader of a Pakistani militant group who is believed to be in Afghanistan. Masood Azhar, the head of the Jaish-e-Mohammed organization, was designated a global terrorist by the United Nations Security Council in 2019. The issue of Azhar’s presence in Afghanistan has been […]

The Taliban have summarily executed members of a resistance group fighting against their harsh rule in Afghanistan. A video filmed and shared on the Taliban’s group chats shows a group of five blindfolded fighters who have their hands tied behind them before they are executed by cheering members of the Taliban. In a move that echoes ISIS’s social media strategy, […]

When it comes to any terrorism related issue, Pakistan insists on taking the high moral ground and never tires of repeatedly reminding the world about its participation in the most extensive war against terror in history. And herein lies the paradox because ever since 2018, the name of this self-anointed crusader against terrorism continues to figure in the grey list […]

This report, which covers developments affecting the freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly in Tajikistan for the period from July 2021 to July 2022, was prepared by International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) for the CIVICUS Monitor. The reporting period saw a serious deterioration in the protection of fundamental freedoms due to a violent crackdown, mainly on protesters, by […]