Urgent action is needed to find, test and treat the missing millions suffering viral hepatitis
Sep 15, 2024, at 03:51 pm
Millions of people across the world and in the WHO South-East Asia Region are infected with viral hepatitis without knowing and without receiving treatment. Both worldwide and in the Region less than one in 10 infected people are estimated to know their status, while less than 10% of those who do know their status are receiving appropriate treatment.
Sep 15, 2024, at 03:51 pm
On July 2, 2018, the Parliament of Nepal endorsed a Bill tabled on June 28, 2018, to extend the terms of two transitional justice bodies – the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP). With the passage of the Bill the terms of the two bodies were formally extended till February 7, 2019. TRC and CIEDP were formed on February 7, 2015, in the spirit of the Interim Constitution of 2007 and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2006, to probe instances of serious violations of human rights and determine the status of those who disappeared in the course of the armed conflict between the State and the then Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist), between February 13, 1996, and November 21, 2006. The Commissions were formed with a two-year term, and were awarded their first one-year extension on February 7, 2017. Their extended tenure expired on February 7, 2018.
Sep 15, 2024, at 03:51 pm
On June 28, 2018, Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF) militants shot dead a civilian, identified as Lanshinthui Kamei, at Gairilong Luangrang village in the Noney District of Manipur. The militants alleged that Kamei was an informer for the Security Forces (SFs).
Sep 15, 2024, at 04:05 pm
Within the logic of the war they are waging, executing dramatic retaliation for security forces’ success in Gadchiroli will certainly be high among their priorities. Revenge attacks may come wherever and whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Sep 15, 2024, at 04:06 pm
The Media in Pakistan has long faced the brunt of the all-powerful military establishment. Of late, with elections around the corner, there has been an intensification of the crackdown against journalists and news establishments. On June 6, 2018, The New York Times thus wrote
Sep 15, 2024, at 04:06 pm
On May 10, 2018, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) awarded the death sentence to war criminal Reaz Uddin Fakir (69), a member of the Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), for crimes committed during the Liberation War of 1971. According to the verdict, all the four charges brought against Reaz had been proved beyond any shadow of doubt. He was handed death sentences on two charges and a jail term until his death on two other charges. Reaz received a death sentence for murdering eight Hindu villagers in village Rishipara, Mymensingh District, on November 5, 1971. He was awarded the second death sentence for his complicity in murdering 43 villagers at Asimbazar, Bashdi and Valukjan, all under the Mymensingh District, on November 13, 1971. Reaz was handed a life term until death for murdering Abdul Mazid, Shahidullah Master, Jamshed Ali and two other unknown men at the Phulbaria town of Mymensingh District on August 25, 1971. He received the second life term until death for murdering three siblings, Altaf Ali Mondol, Taleb Ali Mondol and Sekander Ali Mondol, of village Bhalukjan in Mymensingh District on November 21, 1971.
Sep 15, 2024, at 04:06 pm
On April 4, 2018, Parliament comfortably defeated a No-Confidence Motion brought by the Joint Opposition group led by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Of the 225 Members of Parliament (MPs), 122 MPs – 104 of the United National Party (UNP), 16 of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), and one each of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) – voted against the No-Confidence Motion. 76 MPs – 70 of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and six of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) – voted in support of the No-Confidence Motion. Another 26 MPs including 25 SLFP MPs and one MP of the UNP absented themselves from the House during the vote. Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, a UNP MP, did not vote. Significantly, it was the first No-Confidence Motion brought against the current National Unity Government, formed on August 20, 2015.
Balochistan: Insecure Security
Sep 15, 2024, at 04:06 pm
At least 10 Policemen were killed and another 15 injured in two separate suicide attacks in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, on April 24, 2018. In the first incident, a suicide bomber drove his motorcycle into a Police truck, on Airport Road, killing seven Balochistan Constabulary. According to law enforcement sources, an estimated 20 kilograms of explosives were used in the attack. In a separate incident, three Frontier Corps (FC) personnel were killed and six were injured in the Mian Gundi area, when two suicide bombers targeted an FC check post in an attempt to enter the FC camp. Hizbul Ahrar, a splinter faction of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), claimed responsibility for both the attacks.
Pakistan: Minorities under Collusive Terror
Sep 15, 2024, at 04:07 pm
At least two members of the Christian community, Rashid Khalid and Azhar Iqbal, were killed and another five were injured in a firing incident near a church in the Essa Nagri area of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, on April 15, 2018. Quetta’s Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Abdur Razzaq Cheema, stated that the incident occurred when worshippers were leaving after attending the Sunday service at the church. Islamic State (IS, also Daesh) claimed responsibility for the attack through the Amaq ‘news agency’, its propaganda wing.
Andhra Pradesh: Collapsing Movement
Sep 15, 2024, at 04:08 pm
A woman cadre of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), identified as Irothu Sundaramma akaSadhana, carrying a reward of INR one million on her head, surrendered before the Superintendent of Police (SP), C.M. Trivikrama Varma, in Srikakulam District on March 17, 2018. Sadhana was involved in a number of Maoist-linked offenses, including an attack at National Aluminium Company (NALCO) Company at Damanjodi in the Koraput District of Odisha on April 12, 2009, in which 11 Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel were killed.
Sep 15, 2024, at 04:09 pm
Tripura once again remained as the most peaceful among the seven troubled States of India’s Northeastern region, in terms of insurgency-related violence, as the State Government continued the stabilization process through 2017. In 2017, the entire Northeastern region registered its lowest insurgency-linked fatalities since 1992 (103 – including 34 civilians, 13 Security Force (SF) personnel and 56 militants; SATP data available since 1992). Tripura and Mizoram did not account for a single such fatality in 2017.
Sep 15, 2024, at 04:09 pm
According to a February 15, 2018, report, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) is likely is to include two Districts from Kerala – Palakkad and Malappuram – in its list of Districts affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in the country. Never in the past, has any District from Kerala been included in such a list. The last such list, released on July 18, 2017, included 106 Districts across 10 States, but made no mention of Kerala.
Sep 15, 2024, at 04:10 pm
A local Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) leader, Malik Tufail, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in the Mughalkhel area of Bannu District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on February 4, 2018.
Meghalaya: Undercapitalized Gains
Sep 15, 2024, at 04:10 pm
On January 11, 2018, Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) ‘deputy commander in chief’ Matchallang M. Sangma aka Vietnam was killed in an encounter with Meghalaya Police at Bawe Duragre village in East Garo Hills District. No other insurgency-linked killing has been reported from the State in 2018 so far (data till January 28, 2018).
Sep 15, 2024, at 04:11 pm
At least two civilians were killed and another injured when a terrorist attacked a 'checkpost' of the peace committee in the Wana area of South Waziristan Agency (SWA) in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) on December 14, 2017. No group has, so far, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Sep 15, 2024, at 04:41 pm
A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper, Ashish Patra (29), was killed during an exchange of fire between Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres and Security Force (SF) personnel in the Chakarbandha Hills near Balthar village under Barachatti Tehsil (revenue unit) in Gaya District on January 2, 2018. According to sources, on January 1, after receiving specific intelligence regarding Maoists' movement in the area, a search operation was launched by the SFs. On the next day (January 2), at around 3.30pm, an exchange of fire took place between the two sides in which the CRPF trooper sustained injuries and died later.
Sep 15, 2024, at 04:42 pm
After a gap of 18 years, the first phase of Provincial and Parliamentary Elections was held across 32 Hill Districts in six Provinces on November 26, 2017. 65 per cent of the 3.19 million voters cast their votes. Elections in the first phase took place for 37 federal Parliamentary and 74 Provincial Assembly seats. There are 165 seats in the House of Representatives and 330 in the Provincial Assemblies in total. The remaining seats are scheduled for elections on December 7, 2017, in the second phase covering 45 Districts, including Kathmandu valley and the southern plains of Nepal known as the Terai. The country must conduct the elections to the House of Representatives and Provincial Assemblies by the constitutional deadline of January 21, 2017. This is for the first time that elections for the Parliament and Provincial Assemblies are being conducted under the new Constitution adopted on September 20, 2015. The last parliamentary poll was held in 1999.
Sep 15, 2024, at 04:43 pm
On October 21, 2017, 40 Islamic State (IS, formerly, Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham, also Daesh) terrorists, including two trainers and 38 suicide bombers, were killed in a deadly United States (US) airstrike targeting a training camp for the suicide bombers in the Achin District of eastern Nangarhar Province. Police identified the two Daesh trainers killed in the attack as Qari Quran and Qari Fida. A significant cache of weapons, ammunition and explosives belonging to the terror group were also destroyed in the airstrike.
Sep 15, 2024, at 05:20 pm
On September 18, 2017, the third and final phase of local level elections was held for 136 local units including one metropolitan city, three sub-metropolii, 73 municipalities and 59 rural municipalities in the eight Districts of Province 2 in Nepal. Of the 2,664,950 registered voters, 73 per cent cast their votes. The voting concluded peacefully though there were some reports of pre-poll and post-poll violence. Pre-poll violence included:
Sep 15, 2024, at 05:20 pm
In the morning of September 2, 2017, two terrorists carried out an attack targeting Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader, Khwaja Izharul Hassan, killing two persons, including one of his guards and a child in the vicinity, and injuring another two in the Buffer Zone area of Karachi (Karachi District), the provincial capital of Sindh. Khwaja Hassan, who is also the leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly, survived the assassination attempt unhurt. According to details the assailants clad in Police uniforms and riding on a motorcycle opened fire on Hassan when he was leaving a mosque after offering Eid-ul-Adha [Islamic festival of sacrifice] prayers. Ansar-ul-Shariah Pakistan (ASP) in a Tweet on September 3 claiming responsibility for the attack, alleged that Khawaja Hassan was a "pro-American MQM leader".
Sep 15, 2024, at 05:21 pm
With the United States exerting more pressure, there seems to be urgency among terrorist formations/individual leaders operating out of Pakistani soil to gain 'political legitimacy' to counter any further existential threat. On September 30, 2014, Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil, founder of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) which operates in Indian Jammu & Kashmir, reportedly decided to form his own political party. Khalil was declared a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" by the US on September 30, 2014. Khalil confirmed this decision in an August 25, 2017, report:
Manipur: Churachandpur: The Heart of 'Kukiland'
Sep 15, 2024, at 05:21 pm
On August 2, 2017, unidentified militants killed Kuki National Liberation Front (KNLF) 'general secretary', Lalmoi Haokip aka Tonglenlal, at Tuibong Bazar in Churachandpur District. KNLF is one of fifteen constituents of the Kuki National Organisation (KNO), which is maintaining a Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with both the Union and State Governments since August 22, 2008.
Are we denying our children their first food and medicine?
Sep 15, 2024, at 05:21 pm
Every year, an entire week in the beginning of August is dedicated to spread awareness about the importance of breastfeeding. Organisations working with issues of child health and nutrition along with doctors and medical practitioners have always stressed upon the critical role colostrums, the first milk, plays in boosting the natural immunity of a newborn to give it the right start to its life. The question is, where do we stand as a nation in terms of awareness and implementation of the process that can help give our children a solid foundation to a healthy childhood? A process, that is as natural as it can get.
Maharashtra: Maoists Struggle to Survive
Sep 15, 2024, at 05:22 pm
An 'area committee member' of the Aheri Dalam (armed squad) of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), identified as Mangru aka Ram Chinna Portet (48), was killed during an encounter with personnel of C-60, the Maharashtra Police counter-insurgency commando unit, in the forest area of Kopewancha near Rajaram Khanla village under Aheri taluka (administrative division) in Gadchiroli District on July 23, 2017. One 12 bore gun and some Naxal [Left Wing Extremism (LWE)]-related literatures were recovered from the encounter site. Portet had been involved in the 'movement' for more than two decades and had more than 40 offences registered against him. He carried a reward of INR 600,000 on his head. Portet was shifted to Aheri (he had earlier been working in the 'medical unit' of the outfit elsewhere) in Gadchiroli as a 'doctor' a couple of years ago by senior Maoist leaders in order to help strengthen the base of the party in his home taluka.
Northeast: Talks and Some Troubles
Sep 15, 2024, at 05:38 pm
The Union Government is considering the partial removal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA)-1958 from the States of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Media reports cited an unnamed Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) official as stating, "The notification extending AFSPA in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh is issued for six months after a review twice a year. We have reduced this duration to three months and see if it could be withdrawn completely from certain areas. For the time being, the proposal is only for the two States but we are also looking for a similar solution in Manipur."
Sep 15, 2024, at 05:39 pm
According to the latest Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) report released in March 2017, the number of Counterfeit Currency Reports (CCRs) in India's banking channels was 353,837 in Financial Year (FY) 2014-15. The number of such instances stood at 8,580 CCRs in 2007-08; 35,730 in 2008-09; 127,781 in 2009-10; 251,448 in 2010-11; 327,382 in 2011-12; 62371 in 2012-13; and 301,804 in 2013-14. FIU began compiling this data in 2007-08, when the Government mandated it to receive such reports from banks under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). [CCR is defined as the usage of a forged or counterfeit currency notes or bank notes as genuine or where any forgery of a valuable security or a document has taken place during a cash transaction at a bank.] The amount of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) detected were not specified in the report.
Sep 15, 2024, at 05:39 pm
On June 21, 2017, the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) Amendment Bill was unanimously passed by Sri Lanka's Parliament. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, presenting the Bill to the House, declared, "This institution is paramount in order to put an end to the issue pertaining to the disappearance of persons as soon as possible." On August 11, 2016, despite objections raised by the Joint Opposition which alleged that the Bill will betray the military, the OMP Bill was passed in Parliament without a vote, after the Prime Minister convinced the Joint Opposition that, "This office is not vested with powers to take criminal actions or prosecute forces for war crimes, as some claimed. It would be purely a legal process." The OMP will identify appropriate mechanisms for and help search for and trace missing persons, submit recommendations to authorities to take measures on missing persons, protect the rights of missing persons and their relatives, identify channels through which missing persons and their relatives can obtain relief, collate data related to missing persons obtained by Government institutions and other institutions, and centralize all available data within its database.
Sep 15, 2024, at 05:39 pm
In a scathing commentary on Pakistan's direct role in Afghanistan's continuing misery, Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani declared that Afghanistan could not "figure out" Pakistan's intention. Delivering a speech at the first meeting of the Kabul Process for Peace and Security Cooperation on June 6, 2017, Ghani stated,
Northeast: Persistent Anxieties
Sep 15, 2024, at 05:40 pm
In the Northeast Security Review meeting, presided over by Union Home Minister (UHM) Rajnath Singh, held at New Delhi on May 16, 2017, security agencies demanded a greater presence of intelligence and Security Force (SF) personnel in five contiguous Districts of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland along the Indo-Myanmar border. An unnamed official who participated in the meeting disclosed, "We have apprised the Home Minister of the security situation in the Northeast and informed him that all militant activities are being controlled from Arunachal's Tirap, Changlang and Longding Districts; and Nagaland's Mon and Tuensang Districts,". During the meeting it was emphasized that these five districts had emerged as the hub of the 'last remaining militants' in the Northeast.
Jharkhand: Internecine Carnage
Sep 15, 2024, at 05:40 pm
On May 21, 2017, seven cadres of the Tritiya Prastuti Committee (TPC), a splinter group of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), were killed in an exchange of fire between two of its own factions in the Keredari area of Hazaribagh District. Three of the slain cadres were identified as TPC 'zonal commander' Sagar Ganzu, 'area commander' Manish Mahato and 'commander' Jhonson. One severed head recovered from the spot is yet to be identified. The remaining three bodies were taken away by the rebels. The Police team recovered some empty cartridges, Naxal [Left-Wing Extremism (LWE)] uniforms, a blood-stained carpet and other items from the spot. Bhimsen Tuti, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), North Chhotanagpur Division, disclosed that the group fought following a dispute on the sharing of money extorted from construction companies.