JAMMU AND KASHMIR, 30 December 2020, (TON): For young Kashmiri journalist, the fear of getting arrested or summoned by police always lurks around as Journalists have been attacked and press freedom curtailed since India stripped Kashmir of its special status last year.

A young Kashmiri journalist, Masrat Zahra, was charged under anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), in April this year for allegedly posting “anti-national” content on social media. Zahra was among several Kashmiri journalists who were summoned by police early this year.

More complaints of “harassment” and “intimidation” by journalists followed during the course of the year as reporting from the region has been increasingly becoming difficult since India’s Hindu nationalist government introduced the Revised Media Policy following scrapping of the Article 370 of India’s constitution that granted the disputed region a measure of autonomy. The new media policy authorises government officers to decide on what is “fake news” and “anti-nationalism” – a step that media personnel say could be misused by authorities in the disputed region, where anti-India sentiments run high.

Since late last year, several local journalists have been summoned by police or investigating agencies for doing their professional duty. India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) raided the office of Greater Kashmir newspaper and the residence of AFP news agency’s journalist, Parvaiz Bukhari on October 28. This followed a week after office of the oldest English Daily of the region, Kashmir Times, was sealed.

“This was simply done to punish us for speaking the truth,” said Anuradha Bhasin, the Executive Editor, who had approached the Supreme Court against the communication blockade imposed last August.

In September, journalist Auqib Javeed said that he was slapped at the police station in Srinagar after summoned for doing a story on intimidation of Twitter users by the cyber cell of the police.

A few weeks later, three Kashmiri journalists – Fayaz Ahmad, Mudasir Qadri and Junaid Rafiq – were beaten up and their phones and cameras were taken away by police while they were doing their professional duty in southern Kashmir.

Senior journalists say the local administration, which takes orders directly from New Delhi, has launched a “a lethal assault” on journalism in Kashmir since downgrading the status of the region. New Delhi has since passed laws that will allow outsiders to settle in Kashmir, causing fears of demographic shift.

“We have witnessed our colleagues getting killed with bullets when the armed conflict was at its peak [during 1990s and early 2000s]. But, now the journalism itself is being killed with selective usage of laws and other methods,” says veteran journalist, Altaf Hussain, who has had a long stint with BBC news.

Meanwhile, Michael Kugelman, the Asia Program Deputy Director and Senior Associate for South Asia at the Washington based Woodrow Wilson Center said, “Before the Article 370 move, there would be periodic coverage of the dispute, with much of the focus on human rights abuses in Kashmir…But the spike in coverage after the Article 370 repeal far exceeded anything that had come for many years prior,”

“This was a clear indication that for the international press, the Article 370 move was about much more than what New Delhi shrugged it off as a routine internal and administrative change. In this sense, New Delhi’s decision to repeal Article 370 did more to internationalise the Kashmir dispute than anything Pakistan had done in previous years,” he further noted.

ZAGREB, 30 December, 2020, (TON): A strong earthquake in central Croatia has killed at least seven people, injured more than 20 and caused a significant destruction in Petrinja, a town southeast of the capital Zagreb.

The 6.4-magnitude quake was felt as far afield as Vienna but the heavy damage was concentrated in and around Petrinja, a town of around 20,000 some 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Croatia's capital Zagreb.

Tuesday’s earthquake was felt throughout the country, neighbouring Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and as far away as the Austrian capital, Vienna. It was the second quake in the area in as many days.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said late Tuesday that seven victims had been found so far and that there would "probably be more".

The European Union's crisis management chief, Janez Lenarcic, said the bloc was preparing aid and that he would visit Petrinja on Wednesday.

The earthquake, which hit around 1130 GMT according to the US Geological Survey, rattled Petrinja and the surrounding area just a day after a smaller earthquake struck in the same vicinity, causing some damage to buildings.

The tremors reverberated across neighbouring countries, including Serbia and Slovenia, which as a precaution shut down the Krsko nuclear power plant it co-owns with Croatia.

Zagreb is still rebuilding from a 5.3-magnitude quake that struck in March, the most powerful to hit the capital in decades. The Balkan region lies on major fault lines and sees regular earthquakes.

DHAKA, 30 December 2020, (TON): Four Bangladesh navy ships carrying at least 1,800 Rohingya refugees on Tuesday left the Chattogram port for Bhashan Char island in the Bay of Bengal.

Navy Commodore Abdullah Al Mamun Chowdhury said at least 1,804 Rohingya were being moved in ships to Bhasan Char. “We are ready to receive the new arrivals,” he said by telephone from the island.

The Rohingya carried bags of belongings, toys and chickens and took selfies with each other as they sat on wooden benches during the three hour trip from Chattogram to Bhashan Char.

Although, rights activists expressed new doubts about the transfers. They said some Rohingya had their shanty homes in the camps on the Myanmar border padlocked so they had no choice.

But, with Bangladesh now struggling to find a long-term solution to the Rohingya exodus, government refugee officials said there were better living facilities and better security for the Rohingya in Bhashan Char.

“They are very eager to go to Bhashan Char because they have heard from their relatives, those who have gone to Bhashan Char, that it is an excellent place,” Momen said.

Some Rohingya in the latest group said they were going willingly. “The camp is a difficult and overcrowded place to live and move around,” Shafi Alam said on the navy ship.

Grandmother Morium Khatun, 55, said she was going to escape drug-related crimes that resulted killings of many.

“I am looking for peace of mind. The refugee camp is not a place for that,” she said.

More than 700,000 Rohingya were sheltered in camps in Bangladesh in 2017 following a dreadful Myanmar’s military crackdown that UN said could be genocide. Several attempts at repatriation of the Rohingya to Myanmar have failed after the refugees said they were too fearful of further violence to return.

NEW YORK, 30 December, 2020, (TON): Volkan Bozkir, president of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), on Tuesday expressed his disappointment at the world body's failure to adopt the budget and plan for 2021.

"I would like to express my concern and disappointment that the United Nations' budget and plan for 2021 have still not been adopted. We are facing an unprecedented situation, in which we are still continuing discussions that have traditionally been finalized before Christmas," the UNGA president said in a statement.

This year, consensus is more urgent than ever. The world has yet to fully address the health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated socio-economic consequences, the statement noted.

"The world is therefore looking to the United Nations, including the General Assembly, for leadership and demonstrable action to address these pressing challenges in the real world. The General Assembly has a responsibility to meet the world's expectations and support multilateralism and pandemic recovery, in a manner that accelerates the implementation of the 2030 Agenda during this Decade of Action," it said.

The statement noted that if member states fail to reach an agreement, the consequences on the work of the United Nations will be "dire."

First of all, according to the statement, all personnel, including in special political missions, will be asked to stand down from any activity except the minimum needed to ensure the safety of our personnel and assets.

On other consequences, the statement said that all mandated activity, including support for political processes under way, will be disrupted, increasing the risk of instability. "The missions with time sensitive tasks will be most affected."

The statement also added that “Support operations funded wholly or partly by the regular budget will be disrupted.”

BEIRUT, 30 December, 2020, (TON): The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) on Tuesday projected the growth rate in the Arab region next year at either 3.5 percent or 2.8 percent.

The ESCWA report, "Survey of Economic and Social Developments in the Arab Region," said that the Arab region faces two economic scenarios for 2021: an optimistic one projecting a growth rate of 3.5% and one that is less optimistic, limiting growth prospects to 2.8%.

The actual path will hinge on the ability of Arab countries to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused losses of about $140 billion for the region, resulting in an estimated -3% growth contraction in 2020.

The ESCWA warns that, although growth is expected to be positive in both scenarios, it will not be enough to yield decent job opportunities.

Indeed, the region's unemployment rate is expected to rise to 12.5 percent in 2021.

Unemployment will reach its regional highs in Palestine (31 percent) and Libya (22 percent), while exceeding 21 percent in Jordan and Tunisia and hovering around 5.8 percent in Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

"The crisis faced by the Arab region goes beyond the economic realm to encompass major social challenges," explained the lead author of the report, Mohamed Hedi Bchir.

"The region is also suffering from rising poverty, with an average rate that might reach 32 percent in 2021, affecting 116 million people. It is grappling with rising youth unemployment, with an average rate that might reach 27 percent; and with persisting gender inequality as it registers the world's highest gender gap of 40 percent," he said.

Bchir further underlined that the challenges faced by the region require extensive efforts from Arab governments to provide the necessary social safety nets, especially in communities hosting refugees and migrants where there is growing fear of further deterioration in living conditions due to the economic recession in donor countries.

The report also argues that, if the current debt situation persists, it will bring about a crisis that can only deepen the current socioeconomic crisis, especially in middle-income countries that will not benefit from the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) targeting low-income countries.

MOSCOW, 30 December, 2020, (TON): Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed developments in relation to the joint Russian-Turkish peacekeeping center in Nagorno-Karabakh and bilateral ties under U.S. sanctions during his meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Sochi on Tuesday.

"The center was created as a result of an agreement reached between the President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan," the Russian Foreign Ministry cited Lavrov said during a press conference following the meeting of the Russia-Turkey Joint Strategic Planning Group in Sochi.

Lavrov further emphasized that progress in relation to the development of the monitoring center is currently underway.

According to TASS, the Turkish side acknowledged that a ceasefire regime has been established in the region, and expressed hope that the joint monitoring center will be fully set up in the very near future.

Both sides agreed that the tense situation in Nagorno-Karabakh should not be used to deploy foreign mercenaries to the conflict, the ministry said.

"Relations between the Russian Federation and Turkey have intrinsic value and are self-sufficient. They do not depend on someone's aggressive, unfriendly actions and do not depend on anyone's whims," Lavrov noted while discussing bilateral ties.

"Our relations acquired strategic importance long before the West began to threaten and impose its illegitimate unilateral sanctions," the minister said.

The Nagorno-Karabakh war has shown the growth of Turkish influence in the Caucasus, and Moscow no longer looks like the only major power in the region. The peace treaty securing the presence of Russian peacekeepers will expire in five years, after which both Azerbaijan and Armenia will be in a position to call for their withdrawal.

The case of Nagorno-Karabakh highlights the Russian-Turkish dynamic more broadly. The two states are partners as well as competitors across various theatres: in Syria, in Libya, the Southern Caucasus and the Black Sea, as well as the Western Balkans. They have learned their lesson and know how to manage their differences and focus on shared interests.

NEW DELHI, 30 December 2020, (TON):  Despite Indian strategy of becoming a regional power and the fact that India allocated allotted USD 66 billion equivalent to INR 471,378 crores for the purpose of military and defense expenditures for FY 2020-2021 with overall increase in the military allocation as compared to defense budget of 2019-2020 is INR 40,367.21 crores which indicates 9.37% growth, a gloomy picture is being propagated. 

India is unclear about its military and strategic objectives with that of its adversaries, Pakistan and China, and neither of them can be defeated in a war, a new book by N.C. Asthana, former Indian police officer respected for his insights into security affairs, says.

A review of the book National Security and Conventional Arms Race: Spectre of a Nuclear War carried out by The Wire news network on Tuesday quoting the book as observing, “a huge mismatch between the militaristic official and media rhetoric, on the one hand, and the reality, which is that India cannot defeat either country militarily”.

The reviewer, Siddharth Varadarajan, editor of the esteemed current affairs portal, quotes Asthana as suggesting that instead of pouring vast sums of money into expensive weapons imports, India would be better served by finding solutions to the security challenges both Pakistan and China present by strengthening itself internally and pursuing non-military solutions, including diplomacy.

“In any case, the moment Pakistan feels that it is going to lose a conventional war under the weight of a bigger Indian military, it will feel compelled to go nuclear immediately. This is not 1971. Recall what General Khalid Kidwai, head of Pakistan’s strategic command, told a visiting Italian arms control organisation delegation about the country’s red lines in 2002,” the book quoted.

Author further made it clear that exploiting enmity with Pakistan for electoral benefits has made Indian leaders victims of their own rhetoric.

Asthana’s columns are widely read for their scholarly insights and he has authored 48 books, written or co-authored while in service. He is particularly known for his willingness to be sharply critical of the political and bureaucratic establishment, Varadarajan says.

NEW DELHI, 30 December 2020, (TON): Indian Air Force chief R.K.S. Bhadauria on 29 December 2020 that China’s objective may be to engage in a military standoff with India to change the status quo in Ladakh. He feared that Pakistan is becoming a pawn in Chinese policy and Beijing could use it to enter Afghanistan after the exit of US forces. He confirmed heavy deployment of radars, surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles as well as other air assets to support Chinese army in view of the border standoff in eastern Ladakh.

Indian Air Force chief  said, "US exit from Afghanistan has opened options for China in the region, both direct and through Pakistan, allowing it entry into Central Asia, a region they have been eyeing for long."

Meanwhile, the officials at Beijing issued strong denial of any Chinese objective to dominate region may enter Afghanistan. The statement said, New Delhi Afghan policy is based on continuous presence of foreign forces that allow Indian presence in Kabul.

While expressing his concerns, he said, "Was it deployment and training of their western theatre forces in a war like scenario where Galwan was an overreach or was it to fine tune and enhance their military technologies and fill the gaps or it could be planned to start border talks for new positions or was it just a misadventure that got escalated."

He said, "China's aspirations are on the global front and regional domination is a part of the route. Any serious China-India conflict is not good for China at the global front and does not suit their goal."

While explaining Chinese objectives behind aggression in Ladakh, Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria said: "Pakistan is increasingly becoming a pawn in Chinese policy. Under the increased CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) debt trap, we are going to further witness military dependency."

GENEVA, 29 December 2020, (TON): World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in his personal comments, has spoken of his “personal pain” about the “worsening” conflict raging in his home country of Ethiopia.

“In addition to COVID, 2020 has been very difficult for me because my country is in trouble,” Tedros told reporters in the United Nations health agency’s last news conference of the year on the pandemic on Monday.

Tedros, the world’s highest-profile Tigrayan, told Monday’s news conference that he had many relatives in the troubled region, “including my younger brother, and I don’t know where they are.” “I have not communicated with them because communication is not there,” he said.

“As if COVID is not enough, I have that personal pain also,” he said. “I worry about the whole country. “I cannot worry about my younger brother or my relatives alone because the situation is worsening.”

Tedros denied the accusations of taking sides in a tweet, saying he had seen the destructive nature of war as a child, and had “used that first-hand experience to always work for peace”.

“There have been reports suggesting I am taking sides in this situation. This is not true,” he wrote. “I want to say that I am on only one side, and that is the side of peace.”

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Nobel Peace Prize winner, ordered troops into the northern region of Tigray on November 4, saying the operation was in response to alleged attacks on federal army camps by the regional governing party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). So far, the fighting in Tigray has left thousands dead, according to the International Crisis Group think-tank, and sent tens of thousands of refugees streaming across the border into Sudan.

BAKU, 29 December 2020, (TON): Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said on Monday its army units came under attack by “an illegal Armenian armed group” in Nagorno-Karabakh, killing one Azerbaijani serviceman and wounding another.

The ministry informed that the attack took place in the Khojavend region on Sunday afternoon and was thwarted, leaving all six attackers dead.

The statement comes just hours after the Armenian Defense Ministry denied media reports of fighting in the neighboring Hadrut region and said the ethnic Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh were “strictly observing” the cease-fire.

However, neither Armenian nor Nagorno-Karabakh officials have commented on Azerbaijan’s statement so far.