The Freedom Network on Sunday released its annual 'Pakistan Press Freedom Report', which said that press freedom violations in Pakistan increased by more than 60 percent from May 2022 to March 2023.
According to a report by media watchdog Freedom Network, incidents of press freedom violations in Pakistan have seen a 63% increase in the last 11 months. These include threats, arrests and attacks on journalists.
According to a Reporters Without Borders (RSF) report last year, Pakistan is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. 93 journalists have been killed in the last 20 years.
According to Arab News, arrests of journalists, media censorship, online abuse and physical attacks are common in Pakistan.
In October last year, well-known TV anchor Arshad Sharif, who was also a staunch critic of Pakistan's government and military, was shot dead by the Kenyan police in Nairobi.
Kenyan police say that journalists who fled Pakistan due to threats to their lives were killed due to mistaken identity, while many people have expressed doubts about their alleged murder.
The Freedom Network on Sunday released its annual 'Pakistan Press Freedom Report', which said that press freedom violations in Pakistan increased by more than 60 percent from May 2022 to March 2023.
Released in the context of World Press Freedom Day on May 3 every year, the report said, "In recent months, the environment of the country's media has become dangerous and more violent." The statistics show that press freedom violations increased from 86 in 2021-22 to 140 in 2022-23, an annual increase of about 63 percent.
Iqbal Khattak, executive director of the Freedom Network, said the increase in violence against journalists in Pakistan was "disturbing and requires urgent attention."
"Attacks on free journalism prevent access to essential information, which is particularly harmful during ongoing political and economic crises when the public needs reliable news to understand and respond to issues," he said. .'
According to the report, in 2022-23, there were an average of 13 press freedom violations per month in Pakistan, or at least one violation every three days, compared to one violation every five days in 2021-22.
The report states that 51 (36 percent) of attacks on journalists were carried out by handguns, 21 (15 percent) attacks involving damage to equipment, journalists' homes or offices and 14 (10 percent) cases were offline. or received online threats, including seven death threats.
The report named Islamabad as the 'most dangerous' city for journalists in Pakistan, saying that 40 percent of violations (56 out of a total of 140 cases) were recorded in the city.
According to the report, Punjab ranks second with 25 percent violations (35 cases) and Sindh ranks third with 23 percent (32 cases).
Most of the attacks were on TV workers. The report states that at least eight incidents of targeting of female media professionals, including a transgender female journalist, have been reported over the past 11 months.
The report pointed out that in 21 percent of the cases, political parties were the biggest threat identified by the victims or their families.
According to the report, 'Equally troubling is that officials of state institutions come second, suspected to be involved in 19 percent of the total cases. The remaining two main threats were from the multi-source categories.'
'These were miscellaneous 'others' (including private persons etc.). 27% of cases are attributed to them and with 24% of cases the multisource is 'unknown'.
Doha meeting ineffective without Afghan representation: Sohail Shaheen
Sohail Shaheen has said in one of his statements that 'Islamic Emirates, which is the main party of the problem, if any meeting without its representatives is ineffective and sometimes it can be counterproductive.'
Afghan Taliban spokesman Sohail Shaheen has said about Monday's Afghanistan-related meeting at the United Nations in Doha that any meeting is ineffective without representatives of the Afghan government.
Sohail Shaheen, the head of the Taliban's political office in Doha, said in a statement that "the Islamic Emirates, which is the main party to the problem, without its representatives, any meeting is ineffective and can sometimes be counterproductive."
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is hosting a meeting on Afghanistan in the Qatari capital Doha on Monday, to which the Taliban have not been invited.
According to the Pakistani Foreign Office, Pakistan's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar is also participating in this meeting.
In his statement regarding the meeting, Sohail Shaheen has said that it is the legal right of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to be given an opportunity to clarify its position in such meetings.
He added that 'how can the decisions taken in such a meeting be acceptable or implemented when we are not part of the process.'
"This is discriminatory and unjustified," Sohail Shaheen said.
On the other hand, according to the news agency AFP, before the two-day talks held at a secret location, a small group of women protested against the international recognition of the Taliban government in Kabul on Saturday.
However, the United Nations and Western powers are adamant that it will not be discussed.
US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel says that 'recognition of the Taliban will not be considered in any way.'
Apart from confirming that the Taliban leadership is not on the list of participants, the UN has declined to provide details on the location of the meeting in the Qatari capital or who will join Guterres.
The Taliban's Deputy Minister for Refugees, Mohammad Ursula Khoruti, said on Sunday that 'such meetings will not yield any results.'
"Unless they establish proper relations with the Emirate (Taliban-ruled Afghanistan) and there is no representation from the Emirate, these meetings will not be largely successful," he told AFP at Kabul airport. '
The idea for the meeting came after senior UN officials visited Kabul in January to try to negotiate with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan a ban on non-governmental organizations that employ Afghan women.
In particular, UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed realized that a political plan was needed to negotiate with the Emirate.
However, in recent days, the Doha meeting has been mired in controversy over a proposal to consider recognizing the Taliban government.
The suggestion was quickly and categorically denied by the UN Secretary General's spokesperson.
The Taliban's extension of a ban on Afghan women working at the United Nations almost a month ago has made things even more complicated.
The Doha meeting will be held behind closed doors, with Secretary-General Guterres hosting special envoys for Afghanistan.
The list of participants has not been released but it is expected that countries from the region and major donors will be involved. The Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan and his Deputy for Political Affairs have arrived from Kabul.
After much speculation in the media about whether the Taliban would attend the meeting, the Secretary-General's spokesperson confirmed that, unlike the last such meeting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in July 2022, the Secretary-General Taliban officials have not been invited.
The meeting is an opportunity for international forces, countries interested in Afghanistan and the United Nations to discuss ways to deal with the Taliban.
According to Reuters, Guterres' deputy Amina Mohammed suggested last week that the meeting in Doha could "find small steps that could put us on the path to recognition (of the new government)."
The Taliban have maintained that they respect women's rights according to Islamic law. Taliban officials said decisions about women aid workers were an "internal issue".
Why are the relations between the Taliban and the rest of the world so difficult?
Relations between the Taliban and many of Afghanistan's democratic-era allies have soured since the Taliban took power in August 2021. In the early months of the republic's collapse, however, the Taliban seized power by military force and then – as many international powers observed – broke their promise to negotiate with other Afghans.
The United Nations has said it faces a 'dreadful decision' about whether to continue its massive operation in the country of 38 million people.
Talks in Doha in 2020 and 2021 before the Taliban takeover gave some hope that this time the Taliban might take a different approach and respect the rights and freedoms of the Afghan people — women and girls, the media and protesters. . And that official pardons granted to former officials and the military will be respected. Reopening embassies, starting 'reconstruction talks' and resuming development aid were all on the table at the time.
None of these happened. No country has recognized the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan, although a handful of embassies are now in the hands of Taliban appointees and some countries have opened missions in Kabul.
The UN has given little indication of what proposals might be made at the meeting.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday that it was aimed at "reinvigorating international ties around common goals for sustainable progress on the Afghanistan issue."
The world body also wants to deliver a 'unity or consensus message' on women's and human rights, combating terrorism and drug-trafficking.
US Ambassador to Afghanistan Thomas West has been touring West Asia in recent weeks, meeting with various governments and groups.
Last year, the US transferred $3.5 billion in seized Afghan assets to a Swiss fund to pay for relief and imports. Assets held in the US and Europe have been frozen since the change in power.
US and UN sanctions, which applied to the Taliban or individual members before the occupation, now apply to the country. A number of concessions have been made to these restrictions to allow for more trade, remittance flows and aid, but they still have a chilling effect on business and other financial relations as foreign correspondent banks, which are and act as intermediaries between international banks, reluctant to deal with Afghan banks.
Hong Kong "May Day Parade" Extinct Social Democracy: Thousands of people celebrate "Jiang Tao's birthday" without the risk of being robbed? : China
On May 1st, the first Labor Day after the lifting of epidemic prevention restrictions in Hong Kong, the labor movement demonstrations that used to be crowded with thousands of people have not seen "return to normal". Many labor groups, such as the Trade Union and the Federation of Labor, had applied for demonstrations, but they were forced to fail, and only a small number of people could be sent to the government headquarters to petition. In contrast, the day before yesterday, thousands of people rushed to celebrate the birthday of artist Jiang Tao in Causeway Bay. The chairman of the Social Democracy League, Chen Baoying, questioned: "Why is there no risk of being hijacked for "Jiang Tao's birthday", and the police can maintain order, but the workers can't hold a parade of 100 people?" The number of trade unions in Hong Kong has dropped sharply in recent years. Regarding the future development of the labor movement, Chen Baoying not optimistic.
The Social Democratic League: Disappointed and Angry at Hong Kong's "Water Running Out of Water, No Parade"
In Hong Kong before 2020, every May Day, there will be parades in parallel with the international community to arouse the society's attention to labor rights. However, since the implementation of the "Hong Kong National Security Law" in 2020, the Hong Kong government has rejected all parade applications on the grounds of epidemic prevention. Since this year, the epidemic prevention restrictions have been fully lifted. Many groups have tried to fight for the right of Hong Kong people to parade in the past, but there are still very few parades that have been approved to hold. And this year's "May 1st" did not have any trade unions or labor-focused groups successfully held a parade, and instead sent a small number of people to the government headquarters to petition. Among them, 5 members including the chairman of the "May 1st Parade" Lian of Social Democracy and its chairman Chen Baoying were also present.
When Chen Baoying spoke, she expressed "disappointment and anger" at today's "water is running out and geese are flying, and there is no parade" in Hong Kong.
Chen Baoying said: There is no parade in Hong Kong today, because the organizers were all persuaded by the police to withdraw, and the police used some false excuses to force the organizers to withdraw their applications. …A thousand people celebrated Jiang Tao’s birthday in Causeway Bay yesterday. The police were able to help maintain order, and nothing happened. Why today, on May 1st, the police could create such a panic and threaten violence to make the parade impossible?
Many former "May Day Parade" regulars applied for the parade but eventually gave up
Looking back on recent months, former members of the Trade Union Union, the Federation of Labor and many other regulars of the "May Day Parade" in the past have applied for a letter of no objection to the police. However, in early April, when Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council of China, visited Hong Kong, he said that "parades are not the only way to express interests" and he was afraid of "being hijacked by others." Although the pro-China establishment camp interpreted that "it does not mean that Hong Kong people are not allowed to parade", the Federation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Labor have successively announced the abandonment of holding parades with the same caliber as "fear of being hijacked". Huang Naiyuan, the former chairman of the Trade Union Union who has been insisting on bidding for the parade, was suddenly taken away by the Hong Kong police for questioning after being questioned last Wednesday (April 26 ) after leaving a message on the page. Cancel the parade application.
Chen Baoying pointed out to this station that the police used the attitude of "assisting to maintain order" in the face of thousands of people blasting Causeway Bay to congratulate the artist Jiang Tao's birthday, and questioned why they did not treat the activities for workers' rights with the same attitude, but instead " In the name of "National Security", all kinds of disproportionate restrictions have been imposed?
Chen Baoying said: May Day parades and public gatherings, the police should maintain order and make the activities go smoothly. This is the role of the police, instead of using a reason for panic on May Day and March Eight Prevent). It was obvious yesterday that many people gathered but nothing happened, which shows that Hong Kong people are well aware of the purpose of the march and followed suit.
Large pro-government labor groups also voluntarily forgo the opportunity to speak out
Chen Baoying recalled that Hong Kong people insisted on organizing the "May Day Parade" for about 20 years. Until two years ago, they were still able to keep pace with the international community. citizen voice. In contrast, the voices of employers are overwhelming in the Legislative Council today, but local workers have lost a major platform to speak out, reflecting that the government does not respect the rights and dignity of wage earners. She is also disappointed that the Federation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Labor, as large pro-government labor groups, have voluntarily given up the opportunity to speak out.
Chen Baoying said: In the past, pro-Beijing groups such as the Federation of Trade Unions paraded in the morning, and the independent former Trade Union Union in the afternoon. Basically, the day was very lively, and labor issues were constantly raised throughout the day. It is hard to see that the demands of Hong Kong workers have been taken seriously by the government, because the parade itself is an important way for workers to demonstrate their strength.
Asked whether the League of Social Democracy will try to bid for the parade in the future, Chen Baoying mentioned that the Hong Kong Women's Labor Association took advantage of the "March 8th Women's Day" in early March to apply for the women's rights parade, and once announced that it had received a letter of no objection from the police. After the first approved large parade. However, before the parade, the association was interviewed by the police many times, and regretfully announced that it had stopped. At that time, four members of the Social Democracy League were questioned by the national security police and warned not to participate in the parade. They stated that if they insisted on attending, they would be arrested. Chen Baoying said that as "a group that has been closely watched by the national security, there is little chance of participating in the rally and parade."
The Number of Newly Registered Trade Unions Continues to Decrease After the National Security Law
According to the data, the anti-revision movement in 2019 once triggered a wave of new trade union registrations. However, after the "National Security Law" in 2020, more than 60 trade unions and groups including the trade union were forced to announce their dissolution. Figures from the Labor Department’s reply to the Legislative Council’s Special Finance Committee’s question show that the number of newly registered trade unions has continued to decrease in the past three years, from 495 in 2020 to only 40 in 2022, and the total number of registered trade unions has also decreased from the end of the previous year 1527, down to 1454 at the end of last year. The number of declared members has also decreased year by year, from 930,000 in 2019 to 890,000 the year before.
Regarding the future direction of the labor movement, Chen Baoying pointed out that although the opportunity to speak out has decreased, it is still necessary to strive for opportunities to speak out. She also said that "unless all labor issues in Hong Kong are resolved, there will be a need for trade unions to exist, and voices are also necessary. Organized Have the power to speak out."
India : A transgender man killed his 'live-in-partner', another transgender
Police told that there used to be a fight between the two over small things. There was a quarrel between them on Monday afternoon at around 1.30 pm and the victim was attacked by his 'partner' with a tile of the floor.
Mumbai:A 30-year-old transgender man was allegedly beaten to death by his 'live-in-partner' in Maharashtra's Thane district. The police gave this information on Tuesday. The station in-charge of Bhiwandi Nagar police station told that both the transgender persons were related and they lived together in Gabi Nagar area. The police officer told that there used to be a quarrel between the two on small matters and on Monday afternoon at around 1.30 pm, there was a quarrel between them and the victim was attacked by his 'partner' with a tile of the floor.
Another transgender from the area told media persons that neighbors tried to intervene in Monday's brawl but the accused chased them away saying it was his personal matter. The officer said that a case has been registered under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code and the accused is being searched. Murder of a transgender person by another transgender who lives with him. It definitely sounds different in hearing this news. But the reason behind the murder seems to be domestic violence like in other cases.
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