Pakistanis Protesting Arrest Of Pashtun Rights Activist Detained
By RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal
January 28, 2024
Police in the Pakistani city of Lahore have detained several members of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) who were protesting the continuing detention of group leader Manzoor Pashteen, who has campaigned for the country’s Pashtun minority. The movement has pressed since 2018 for the rights of Pakistan’s estimated 35 million ethnic Pashtuns, many of whom live near the Afghan border. It has attracted tens of thousands of people to public rallies in recent years to denounce the powerful Pakistani Army’s heavy-handed tactics in its fight against the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups.
Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
Pakistan PM says next government should continue deportation of illegal migrants
Kakar
Ariana: Pakistan caretaker Prime Minister Anwaa-ul-Haq Kakar has once again defended the move to deport illegal migrants, saying it was the correct decision and the next government should continue the process. According to reports, Kakar said on Friday that Afghans who enter Pakistan must have a visa. Click here to read more (external link).
17 dead in 10 traffic accidents on Kabul-Jalalabad highway in a single day
Ariana: Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said Sunday in a post on X that 17 people had died and 10 others were injured in 10 separate traffic accidents on the Kabul-Jalalabad highway in a single day. Zadran said the accidents happened in various areas in the Sorubi district in Kabul province. Click here to read (external link).
Child Sales in Northern Provinces of Afghanistan: Around 70 Children Sold in the Past Year
8am: Credible sources within aid organizations working closely with residents of Jawzjan, Faryab, and Samangan provinces report that during this period, 68 infants and children under the age of five, approximately 70% of whom are girls, have been sold by families due to poverty, unemployment, and domestic violence, each fetching between 50,000 to 70,000 Afghanis. Sources add that the lack of oversight, limited access by human rights organizations, and restrictions imposed by the Taliban have prevented accurate reporting of child sales by the media and child advocacy organizations. Click here to read more (external link).
Terrorists from Tajikistan Have Become a Global Menace
8am: Over the last decade, Tajikistan’s foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) have brought their homeland under negative limelight on numerous occasions. The most notorious of them all is Gulmurod Khalimov, who became the IS Minister of War after joining the group in 2015. Before becoming a high-ranking terrorist, he served as the head of the special forces unit under Tajikistan’s Interior Ministry in the rank of colonel. After defecting to Syria, Khalimov recorded a video message in which he criticized the Tajik authorities for their ‘anti-Islamic’ religious policy and poor economy that pushed his compatriots out of the country in search of jobs. The IS used Khalimov as its poster boy for the recruitment of Tajik nationals and other Central Asians until he died in 2017. Between 1,100 and 1,900 Tajik citizens joined the IS. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghanistan Does Not Have Formal Border With Pakistan: Officials
Durand Line
Tolo News: The acting Minister of Borders and Tribal Affairs, Noorullah Noori, said that Afghanistan does not have a definite border with Pakistan. “We do not have a formal border with Pakistan and do not have a zero point with Pakistan. This [Durand Line] is an imaginary line between us,” Noorullah Noori said. Click here to read more (external link).
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Tolo News in Dari – January 27, 2024
Pak Army Chief Gets ‘A’ for Honesty in Expressing Disdain for Afghans
Munir
Michael Hughes: Ex-Afghan spy chief and former VP, Amrullah Saleh, has applauded Pakistan’s military chief for refusing to conceal how Rawalpindi really feels about Afghanistan. Earlier this week, Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir bluntly said when it comes to Pakistan’s security, “the whole of Afghanistan can be damned.”
“The only aspect of surprise is the way this statement has been conveyed so loud and clear to the public. Gen. Asim Munir’s clarity, however bitter, makes things easier not harder,” Saleh said in a post on X on January 26. “The trouble was always in the sweetness of their diplomatic words and the poisonous actions of their deep state. I hope that the deceptive behavior and the destructive duality is no longer easy to conceal… Avoiding a bite by a snake out in the open is far easier than the one hiding in the cupboard.”
Taliban Arrest Poet, Magazine Editor, Family Members Say
VOA Afghan Service
January 26, 2024
Afghanistan’s Taliban government on Thursday detained an Afghan poet, Izatullah Zawab, who serves as the head of Meena (Love) magazine in eastern Afghanistan, as part of an ongoing crackdown on freedom of expression and independent media in the country, family members posted on social media.
The family members said Zawab was apprehended by the Taliban while traveling from the capital, Kabul, to eastern Nangarhar province.
In a social media post, Zawab’s sons, Attullah Zawab and Nusrat Arman, said the Taliban authorities did not reveal why their father was detained but assured them of his well-being and imminent release.
The brothers asked other social media users to delete posts related to the arrest. In response, some Facebook users urged them not to remove the posts until Zawab’s release.
Taliban authorities have not provided any official statement regarding the detention, only telling family members that he is detained “in connection with an issue” without further details.
Zawab is renowned for his critical poetry, which some social media users speculate may have contributed to his arrest. He had faced previous arrests and imprisonment during the former Afghan government because of his critical poetry. Zawab has been critical of mullahs, the mujaheddins and what he called corrupt officials of the country without naming anyone.
Zawab serves as the editor of Meena (Love) magazine published in eastern Afghanistan and owns a bookstore in Kabul.
Since regaining power in August 2021, the Taliban suspended Afghanistan’s constitution and revoked most laws implemented over the past two decades. According to the Afghanistan Journalist Center, the Taliban arrested 61 journalists in 2023.
While some were released after weeks or months of detention, others received lengthy prison sentences.
In the past year, the center documented 168 cases of violence and intimidation against journalists, highlighting the extensive censorship exercised by the authoritarian rulers over the media.
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