DHAKA, 11 August 2021, (TON): 140 shelters have been set up in the seven upazilas of the district

The authorities have asked the residents of Bandarban to clear the hilly areas of the town to avert possible landslide-related accidents.

The initiative was taken after heavy rainfall over the past few days.

In order to alert people to move to safer places, announcements were made using megaphones in the town’s Hafez Ghona, Islampur, Kalaghata, Baruartek, and Balaghata areas.

Simon Sarkar, Bandarban executive magistrate and district relief and rehabilitation officer, said that they had prepared 140 shelters in the seven upazilas of the district for the people.

“Since Bandarban is a hilly area, landslides occur during the monsoon resulting in serious loss and damage,” he added.

NAYPYITAW, 11 August 2021, (TON): A three-day military raid on villages in eastern Depayin Township, Sagaing Region, has forced thousands of locals to flee their homes.

Multiple villagers who spoke to media said that junta troops were searching the Depayin villages of Namyar and Mayakan house by house on Monday, but locals from around 20 villages in three tracts had fled, afraid that their communities would be next. 

A displaced Mayakan resident told media “it’s not going to be safe if they start looking through the forests. It’s just one big field without any shrubs or bushes to hide in. The only place we could hide is in the water.”

The raids started on Sunday in Letyat Kone, Nyaung Hla, and Wea Gyi villages, where heavy artillery was also fired, according to locals. The night before, two military vehicles had been hit by landmines around four miles outside of Depayin town, near the village of Kya Khat.

Junta troops who had previously raided Wea Gyi then came to Namyar and Mayakan in two groups on Monday morning, according to locals, who then fled.

In the three days since the attack on the military vehicles, junta troops have occupied at least six villages within 15 miles of the area where the landmine blasts happened.

A Namyar resident said while in hiding “We’re monitoring the village from where we are. We didn’t see any fire but they were going through the houses one after another, taking the things they wanted.”

DHAKA, 11 August 2021, (TON): Canadian Minister of International Development Karina Gould has started her three-day virtual visit to Bangladesh Tuesday evening.

Minister Gould will have the chance to meet with government officials and key partners to discuss Canada-Bangladesh cooperation, and the Rohingya response, a Canadian high commission's statement said here.

It said “she will have the chance to see firsthand how Canada's development projects are being delivered, meet with affected populations, and hold bilateral discussions”

The high commission said with the upcoming 4th anniversary of the Rohingya crisis later this month, it is an important opportunity to recognize the people and the government of Bangladesh for continuing to generously host 889,000 Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar district.

It said "no one wants to be a refugee or to be forced to leave their home,"

It further added that while the situation in their home country of Myanmar is not encouraging, Canada shares the Bangladesh's objective of Rohingya's safe, dignified, and voluntary repatriation.

By TON Research Section

The Indian High Commission in Maldives is facing continuous ‘India Out’ campaign on social media platforms which has gained momentum in previous days. Indian High Commission while expressing concerns over the smear social media campaign had written to the government of Maldives asking for action and greater security. Indian High Commissioner Sunjay Sudhir said in his letter to the Foreign Ministry that these attacks were motivated, malicious, and increasingly personal. He said, “Such repeated attacks can affect the efficient performance of the functions of the High Commission and can damage the time-tested and mutually beneficial bilateral relations.” The letter further said that they were also aimed at inciting hatred and violence against India.

The ‘India Out’ campaign started last year in 2020 on-ground protests in Maldives and promptly moved to social media platforms. However, its origin dates back to the year 2013 when Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom of the Progressive Party (PPM) became president of Maldives. The PPM was considered by many as pro-China and anti-India which soared feelings in India. The pro-China policy adopted by then President Yameen was not acceptable for India as long India has considered Maldives in its sphere of influence.

Earlier in 2010 and 2015, India gifted two Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters (ALF) to Maldives for the use in sea rescue operations, maritime weather surveillance for airlifting patients between islands. However, the PPM argued that the helicopters gifted by India marked the start of military presence in the country and it’s a secrete attempt of India to set up a naval base in Addu after which the Maldives government requested Indian government in 2016 to take back the helicopters but Indian government refused to take back the helicopters and denied the claims. Albeit, after two years the new government of Ibrahim Mohamed Solih overturn the orders and said to use those gifted choppers, which slowed down ‘India Out’ campaign in the country. Another reason of the ‘India Out’ campaign gaining momentum and prominence was that the bilateral agreements between both countries were not discussed in Parliament of Maldives due to which controversies were arisen.

Earlier, before the request of taking back helicopters, the Maldives government declined India’s invitation to participate in a naval exercise. Over the past few years the bilateral relations between India and Maldives nose-dived after Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen declared an emergency on 5^th February. Undoubtedly, India has been one of the biggest players in the country so far. According to Reuters report after the emergency declared in Maldives on February 5^th, Indian government sent troops to foil a coup in Maldives moreover, it moved aircraft and ships to its southern bases and put Special Forces on standby but the Indian Prime Minister Narendera Modi deferred and canceled the action in the end. Whereas, China considered this act not very kind and define it as foreign involvement in sovereign state. 

India has also been investing in Maldives with a firm eye on China. Indian government not only gifted two helicopters to Maldives but also stationed six pilots and over a dozen ground personnel to operate the ALHs and help the Maldivian National Defence Forces. India is also assisting Maldives in setting up 10 coastal surveillance radar system (CSRS) stations equipped with navigation radars, electro-optic sensors and AIS (automatic identification system) transponders. 

Maldives is positioned geographically as a gate linking western Indian Ocean chokepoints of the Gulf of Aden on one side and on the other hand the Strait of Hormuz therefore, these are of particular importance to India. The Indian Ocean is the key pathway for global trade. It is very much obvious that in efforts to limit China’s engagement in Maldives, India is struggling to bolster its position in the country because China’s presence in the region has the potential to hinder trade movement at these chokepoints that are vital to India’s economic interests.

Where India is investing on large scale in Maldives, China also sees Maldives as a key participant in its 21st century Maritime Silk Road plan in the Indian Ocean. China is investing millions of dollars on Belt and Road Initiative and it will not let any intervention of third party to damage it. Undoubtedly, India has been keeping a wary eye on China so that it could not let China build its inroads in South Asian countries especially in its own neighborhood but today; China’s presence in South Asian region has been stronger than that of India. It has been a worrying fact for India from long that Maldives has allowed China to muscle in economically, politically and most importantly strategically.

ROME, 10 August 2021, (TON): One thousand refugees from Lebanon will be granted access to Italy over the next two years through humanitarian corridors thanks to a new protocol signed by the Italian government, Catholic NGO the Community of Sant’Egidio, the Federation of Italian Evangelical Churches and the Waldensian Table of Italy.

The protocol was signed in Rome on the first anniversary of the explosion at the Port of Beirut, on Aug. 4, 2020, in which 217 people were killed and 7,000 injured.

The blast displaced 300,000 people, caused widespread destruction and devastation, damaging buildings up to 20km away, and worsened the country’s already difficult economic situation.

Humanitarian corridors such as the ones promoted by the Community of Sant’Egidio are considered a model of best practice at an international level and were emulated in similar projects in France, Belgium, Andorra and San Marino.

The agreement was signed by Marco Impagliazzo, president of the Community of Sant’Egidio; Luca Maria Negro, president of the Federation of Italian Evangelical Churches; Alessandra Trotta, moderator of the Waldensian Table; Luigi Maria Vignali, director-general for migration policies at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Prefect Michele di Bari, chief of the department for civil liberties and immigration at the Ministry of Interior.

The 1,000 people being granted access to Italy from Lebanon will be selected by the NGOs participating in the program among those in refugee camps who are experiencing a particularly difficult situation. Once in Italy, they will be granted the status of refugees and given social assistance.

PARIS, 10 August 2021, (TON): The Elysee presidential palace said Monday in a statement issued shortly after a phone call between Macron and his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi “French President Emmanuel Macron urged Iran to resume talks on reviving its 2015 nuclear deal struck with world powers.”

Raisi informed Macron that negotiations with world powers to revive the 2015 nuclear deal must guarantee Tehran’s rights.

Raisi said in an hour-long phone call “on any negotiation, the rights of the Iranian people must be upheld and the interests of our nation ensured.”

KABUL, 10 August 2021, (TON): Taliban militants captured a sixth provincial Afghan capital, a lawmaker said, after ousting Afghan security forces from border towns and trade routes as US-led foreign forces pull out.

The Taliban have stepped up their campaign to defeat the government as foreign forces withdraw after 20 years of war.

They took Aybak, capital of the northern province of Samangan.

Ziauddin Zia, a lawmaker in Aybak said "right now the Taliban are fighting with Afghan forces to capture the police headquarters and compound of the provincial governor."

Several parts of the capital have fallen to the Taliban.

The insurgents took three provincial capitals over the weekend - Zaranj, the capital of the southern province of Nimroz, Sar-e-Pul, the capital of the northern province of the same name, and Taloqan, the capital of northeastern Takhar province.

They had already taken the northern provincial capital of Kunduz and Lashkar Gah, capital of southwestern Helmand province.

The Taliban gains have sparked recriminations over the withdrawal of foreign forces. British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told the Daily Mail that the accord struck last year between the United States and the Taliban was a rotten deal.

Wallace said his government had asked some NATO allies to keep their troops in Afghanistan once the US troops departed, but failed to garner enough support.

ISLAMABAD, 10 August 2021, (TON): At least one person was killed and four others sustained injuries in a grenade attack at Sher Jan stop in Quetta on Monday.

The target of the blast was a pushcart vendor selling Pakistani flags and Independence Day paraphernalia to mark the 74th birthday of the country.

The deceased person was identified as 25-year-old Amanullah. His body was shifted to Civil Hospital along with the injured persons who are currently undergoing treatment.

Earlier, over the weekend on August 8, two policemen were martyred and 21 persons were injured in a blast near Quetta’s Serena Hotel.

According to provincial government spokesperson Liaquat Shahwani, a police van was targeted during the attack. He said that the explosive material was planted in a motorcycle.

WASHINGTON, 10 August 2021, (TON): The State Department said “the US envoy to Yemen, Tim Lenderking, announced nearly $165 million in new humanitarian assistance for Yemen.

The statement said “the funding, issued from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) “will provide lifesaving aid for Yemenis continuing to face humanitarian crisis after almost seven years of war that has left 20 million people struggling to survive without basic necessities, including more than two million young children facing deadly malnutrition.”

The aid will go toward helping the UN World Food Program to continue providing emergency food assistance to more than 11 million people every month.

The USAID called on other donors to step up their contributions to help deliver critical assistance to the Yemeni people, but said “the US reiterates that only a political agreement can address the root causes of the crisis in the war-torn country.”

USAID said “the United States calls on all parties to the conflict to end the fighting and ensure needs do not continue to worsen.”

It said “aid from the international community has so far prevented people from slipping into famine, the recent escalation of violence in Marib is only increasing humanitarian needs as it threatens to displace hundreds of thousands of people, placing further strain on an already stretched humanitarian response.”

ISLAMABAD, 10 August 2021, (TON): Former special assistant to the Prime Minister Zulfiqar Bukhari said that Pakistan to chair the upcoming Abu Dhabi Dialogue (ADD) for the first time since its inception in 2008.

He said in a tweet “It’s a privilege for Pakistan to chair the upcoming Abu Dhabi Dialogue being held later this year for period of next 2 years. This honour comes for 1st time since Dialogue’s inception in 2008 from among 18 nations. We thank ADD & all member states, we hope to chair with fruitful insight.”

The ADD was established in 2008 as a forum for dialogue and cooperation between Asian countries of labour origin and destination.

The ADD consists of the 12 member states of the Colombo Process (CP), namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam; and six Gulf countries of destination: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Malaysia.