Month: June 2024

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah took three wickets for just seven runs as India beat Afghanistan by 47 runs in their Super Eight match at the Twenty20 World Cup on Thursday.

Later, Pat Cummins took the first hat-trick of the tournament as Australia beat Bangladesh by 28 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis system due to rain delays.

Bumrah’s four-over spell was aided by Arshdeep Singh, who finished with 3-36. Spinners Kuldeep Yadav (2-32) and Axar Patel (1-15) shared three wickets as Afghanistan was bowled out for 134 runs.

Suryakumar Yadav scored 53 off 28 balls — his fifth T20 World Cup half-century — as India reached 181-8 in 20 overs after deciding to bat.

Yadav, named player of the match, hit three sixes and five fours, while Hardik Pandya scored 32 off 24 balls, including two sixes.

“I am clear in my mind how I want to bat,” Yadav said. “There’s a lot of hard work, process and routine involved in it. You just need to know your game plan and just play accordingly. In the end, we were happy with 180.”

On a slow-paced Barbados wicket, India had made a sluggish start. Skipper Rohit Sharma was out caught for eight, while star batter Virat Kohli only managed run-a-ball 24.

Rishabh Pant, batting at three, provided some acceleration — he scored 20 off 11 balls with four fours.

Afghanistan skipper and wrist spinner Rashid Khan did damage to India’s top order, dismissing both Kohli and Pant, the latter out lbw. It was the first time Khan picked up wickets against India in T20s.

India was down to 62-3 in 8.3 overs, when Yadav played a rescuing hand. He added 28 of 14 balls with Shivam Dube (10) and then the match-turning 60 runs with Pandya.

Yadav’s stand with Pandya came off only 37 balls as India scored 102 runs off the final 10 overs.

Rashid Khan finished with 3-26 in four overs.

Afghanistan’s chase got off to a poor start against Bumrah — he sent back both openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (11) and Haratullah Zazai (2) cheaply.

In between, Axar Patel struck in the fourth over as Ibrahim Zadran was out for eight, and Afghanistan slipped to 23-3 in 4.1 overs.

Ravindra Jadeja had 1-20 in three overs. Afghanistan lost its last five wickets for 32 runs across 28 deliveries as India crossed the finish line with ease.

Australia beats BangladeshAt North Sound, Antigua, Cummins claimed the first hat-trick of the tournament as Australia beat Bangladesh by 28 runs after rain delays forced the result to go to the the Duckworth-Lewis system.

Cummins dismissed Mahmdullah and Mahedi Hasan with the last two balls of the 18th over and Towhid Hridoy with the first ball of the 20th as Australia restricted Bangladesh to 140-8.

Australia was 100-2 when heavy rain set in after 11.2 overs, well ahead of the winning score it needed at the time. The umpires finally called off the match around 12.30 a.m. local time.

Cummins was the seventh player to complete a hat-trick — three wickets with three balls — at a Twenty20 World Cup and the second Australian after Brett Lee who achieved the feat, also against Bangladesh, in 2007.

“I had no idea,” Cummins said. “At the end of the over I saw it come up on the screen so I thought I’ll make sure I remember but I totally forgot about it. I had a few (hat-tricks) in juniors but never for Australia.”

David Warner and Travis Head then shared a 65-run opening partnership in 6.5 overs to set up Australia’s run chase. Head was out for 31 but Warner went on to make a half century from 34 balls. He finished 53 not out.

Mitchell Starc bowled Tanzid Hasan with the third ball of the match after Australia sent Bangladesh in and Bangladesh struggled to create momentum, hampered by regular wicket falls.

Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto made 41 from 36 ball and shared a half century partnership from 42 balls with Litton Das (16). But after the second-wicket pair were separated with the total was 58-2 in the ninth over, Bangladesh struggled to create partnerships.

Adam Zampa dismissed both Litton Das and Shanto, bowling Das with a ball that snuck under the bat and cannoned off the back leg onto the stumps. Shanto knelt to sweep a ball which skidded on a hit on the knee roll in front of middle.

Zampa also took a catch from Glenn Maxwell’s bowling to remove Rishad Hossain who had been promoted in the order to hurry the scoring but managed only two runs from four balls.
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Islamabad — As Pakistan this week celebrated Eid al-Adha — the festival coinciding with the Hajj pilgrimage — journalists in the country mourned the loss of yet another colleague.

On Tuesday night, unidentified gunmen killed Khalil Jibran and injured a lawyer accompanying him in the Khyber tribal district of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Reports indicate the journalist was on his way home with friends when the attackers ambushed his car.

Authorities said Jibran’s bullet-riddled body showed signs that he might have had a physical altercation with his attackers at the crime scene before being killed.

This was at least the sixth killing of a journalist in Pakistan this year. Four media members were killed just in May.

“It makes me feel miserable and insecure, and unsafe,” said veteran Pakistani journalist Absar Alam, who survived an assassination attempt in April 2021 in the nation’s capital, Islamabad.

‘An alarming deterioration’

The first three months under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif have been marred by “an alarming deterioration in press freedom,” according to Reporters Without Borders.

Listing the attacks on journalists and a raft of government measures, Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF, recently urged Sharif’s coalition government to uphold its commitment to media freedom.

“The many press freedom violations reveal a climate of violence and a determination to censor that has little in common with the undertakings given by the political parties in their election campaign manifestos, and the message of support for journalists by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif,” said Celia Mercier, head of RSF’s South Asia desk.

The organization ranks Pakistan very low — 152nd out of 180 countries in its global press freedom index, in which 1 is the best.

“Space for true journalism has reduced in Pakistan. It’s toxic. It’s unsafe. There are all kinds of actors — state actors, nonstate actors — who are making our space more limited,” said Alam.

Electronic curbs

The latest step that could further limit space for journalism and access to information may be the implementation of a national firewall to filter any online content authorities deem inappropriate.

In a January interview with a news channel, Pakistan’s then-interim prime minister, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, announced the measure.

“Very soon a national firewall will be deployed,” Kakar said.

A high-ranking government official recently confirmed to VOA Urdu that Sharif government authorities were working to deploy that nationwide online censorship tool, although the government has not issued a formal statement about it.

This follows the mid-February suspension of the X social media platform, formerly Twitter, on orders of Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior.

Speaking to VOA, the ministry spokesperson said he did not have information about the national firewall.

“It is not the domain of the Interior Ministry,” said Qadir Yar Tiwana, adding that just because the ministry banned X, it could not be held responsible for all similar measures.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, the country’s independent telecom regulator, and the Ministry of Information Technology – two offices Tiwana said would be responsible for implementing any firewall — did not respond to VOA requests for comment.

Minister for Information Attaullah Tarar received VOA’s query about the firewall but did not share a response in time for the publication of this story. At a recent press conference, however, Tarar dismissed the suggestion that Pakistan discussed acquiring the firewall from China during Sharif’s recent visit there.

Sadaf Khan, co-founder of the nonprofit Media Matters for Democracy, told VOA the lack of information about the firewall was adding to fears of further decline in media freedom and privacy in the country.

“There is no clarity on what this firewall is [or] how invasive it is. Is it surveilling data? Is there an encryption blockage?” Khan said. “If there is a bit of digital literacy, if people are smart about it, they will still be able to access the information that they need. However, obviously, it does increase the chance for surveillance. There might just be a chilling effect. This kind of ambiguity creates a lot of fear.”

Legislative curbs

Government efforts to curb what it considers fake news and propaganda online have compounded fears of declining freedoms of information and expression.

In May, the federal government created the National Cyber Crimes Investigation Agency under the controversial Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act. Despite the existence of the Federal Investigation Agency’s Cybercrimes Cell, Tarar said in a press conference that “there was a call for a specific authority to address the issue of online harassment.”

Critics say it is unclear how broad the new agency’s powers will be or what its impact on privacy and online freedom might look like.

Later that same month, the government in Punjab province, where Sharif’s niece Maryam Nawaz is the chief minister, enacted what was called an anti-defamation law. Media and civil society condemned the law for protecting state institutions from scrutiny and requiring no proof of damage for filing a defamation lawsuit. The law is currently being challenged in the Lahore High Court.

Alam, the veteran Pakistani journalist who served as the chairman of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority from 2015 to 2017, said some of the state’s concerns regarding fake news are not unfounded.

“It’s not only the state that suffers from fake news and irresponsible journalism,” Alam said, pointing to cases where Pakistani citizens won defamation lawsuits in Britain for content broadcast there by Pakistani channels.

Given Britain’s tough laws, Alam said, Pakistani news channels now often refrain from airing potentially defamatory content in the United Kingdom but still show it in Pakistan.

Still, he acknowledged, strict laws in Pakistan are often used as a tool to target journalists.

“Past history tells that all governments have been using such laws against journalism, not against fake news spreaders,” Alam said.

Awaiting justice

Media watchdogs regard Pakistan as a dangerous country for journalists. Most cases of journalists targeted for their work remain unresolved.

On Thursday, journalists in several towns across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa protested Jibran’s killing. The day before, locals, journalists and civil society activists protested with Jibran’s shrouded remains, temporarily blocking a highway that runs to the border with Afghanistan.

Although Sharif condemned the killing, Alam is not optimistic that justice will be served anytime soon.

“Successive governments in the last many years have not apprehended the culprits who attacked journalists,” said Alam, whose attackers and their financiers are out on bail or have disappeared. “So, I think the statement by the prime minister may be part of the verbal support to journalists but, practically speaking, the problem is in our culture.”
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islamabad — Authorities in northwestern Pakistan reported Thursday that an enraged crowd stormed a police station, seized a detainee facing blasphemy charges and killed him. 

 

The evening violence erupted in Swat District, a popular tourist spot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, after local announcements that a tourist had desecrated the Quran. Residents tortured the man before area police took him into custody and moved him to their detention facility. 

 

Witnesses and officials said a mob later gathered outside the police station, demanding the man be swiftly brought to justice for insulting Islam’s holy book. Police used aerial fire to disperse protesters but failed to prevent them from assaulting and setting fire to the building and police vehicles before taking “the suspect away.” 

 

Zahidullah Khan, the district police chief, told local media that the crowd had also set fire to the suspect’s body after beating him to death. He added that the unrest resulted in several injuries. 

 

Videos shared on social media showed a crowd gathered around a burning body in the middle of the street. VOA could not immediately ascertain the veracity of the footage from independent sources.  

 

Khan said police reinforcements later arrived in the area and efforts were under way to defuse the tensions.  

 

Blasphemy is a highly sensitive issue in majority-Muslim Pakistan, and mere allegations have led to mobs lynching scores of suspects — even some in police custody. Insulting the Quran or Islamic beliefs is punishable by death under the country’s blasphemy laws, though no one has ever been officially executed. 

 

Last month, hundreds of people gathered in a Christian settlement in the central Pakistani city of Sargodha and killed a Christian man in his early 70s after accusing him of desecrating the Quran.  

 

In August 2023, in a similar blasphemy accusation, thousands of Muslim protesters attacked a Christian neighborhood. They burned scores of properties, including 21 churches, over allegations that two Christian brothers had desecrated the Quran.   

 

Domestic and international rights groups have long demanded Pakistan reform its blasphemy laws, arguing they are often used to fulfill personal vendettas and disputes and intimidate religious minorities. 

 

Critics say that hundreds of suspects, mostly Muslims, are languishing in jails in Pakistan because fear of retaliation from religious groups deters judges from moving their trials forward.
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WASHINGTON — In 2021, the United States began one of its biggest humanitarian evacuations in history as it withdrew from Afghanistan, resettling more than 80,000 Afghans fleeing Taliban rule in the initial weeks of Operation Allies Welcome. However, they were brought into the U.S. through the humanitarian parole process that gives temporary immigration status to the displaced persons. But how has this temporary status affected Afghan evacuees in the U.S.?

Upon arrival in the United States, more than 70,000 evacuees were granted humanitarian parole for two years, a temporary immigration status with no path to permanent residency. Uncertainty around the humanitarian parole status has had several concrete effects on aspects of the evacuees’ lives, including financial, employment, housing, and mental health.

This process has come with many challenges for the resettled men, women and children from Afghanistan.

Masi Siddiqi, who came to the United States after the Taliban took control over Kabul, was granted admission to the prestigious Columbia University in New York. However, his status hindered his ability to secure funding through loans to continue his studies.

“I was admitted to Columbia University for the fall of 2023, and I did attend one semester. I thought that I may be able to afford it at first because I had my family’s support. But after doing one semester I found out that I was financially not able to do it because I did not qualify for Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), for federal loans, for federal aid, grants, funds and for none of the benefits that a U.S. citizen or non-citizen would qualify for,” Masi said.

Safiullah Rauf, founder of Human First Coalition, an organization providing aid primarily to Afghanistan and Afghans, leads a team of hundreds to provide food, medical care and resettlement services to more than 15,000 Afghans in need. The organization has helped evacuate more than 7,000 people, including 1,400 U.S. nationals, since the Taliban seized control of the country.

Rauf is visiting communities in the United States to gather support for Congress to do more to support Afghans in the U.S., including in the form of draft legislation known as the Afghan Adjustment Act.

“[The] Afghan Adjustment Act is one of the most important pieces of legislation that was introduced in 2022 to help those allies we brought to the U.S. in 2021,’’ Rauf told VOA. ‘’There are over 80,000 allies that were brought to the U.S., and many came with the humanitarian parole. They had a two-year visa to stay in the U.S. and their future was uncertain though the parole was extended for another year; but they still face an uncertain future. The Afghan Adjustment Act makes sure that all who came in 2021 go through a vetting process and after that they will become a productive member of the society.

“In the United States, passing of any kind of legislation is a huge hurdle and you have to move mountains to approve any law, especially right now where [the] Senate and the House is most divided,’’ Rauf said. ‘’Because this bill is somewhat related to immigration, the Republicans are very much against any immigration bills right now. However, this bill is different than a normal immigration bill. This bill is for those allies who supported the U.S. for over 20 years in Afghanistan and their life will be in danger and it is a certain death if they go back to Afghanistan. So they must be given a permanent residency here.’’

According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, legal assistance resources and immigration processing are experiencing extreme delays that could span years.

Laila Mangal, who is working for LLS resettlement agency as a case manager and cultural liaison in the state of Virginia, told VOA Deewa about the challenges faced by the Afghans who came to the U.S. on short notice and in chaotic circumstances. She expressed that the unclear nature of evacuees’ immigration status for the near future, has posed a critical structural barrier to their well-being and, ultimately, their success in the U.S.

“When their legal case is in the process and it takes longer, the refugees go through stress and pressure,’’ Mangal said. ‘’Sometimes this legal battle drains their mental health.”

Masi, the student, calls on the Senate and the House of Representatives to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act so the displaced Afghans can be categorized as U.S. permanent residents.

“As the U.S. officials say ‘we stand by our Afghan allies,’ we do expect them to stand by their allies because I personally believe that they have not yet stood by their Afghan allies,’’ Masi said. ‘’Not only with the ones that are left behind but also the ones that are currently facing the immigration limbo here in the U.S.; just like my family and myself. I really appreciate that the senators and the representatives from my state and from the other states should support the Afghan Adjustment Act. I think the social media slogans are not enough by themselves. They must push the majority leaders to bring the act to the floor because with bipartisan support, we can have the act pass.”

Like other resettled immigrants, Afghans were encouraged to find jobs quickly and felt the pressure to do so given the high costs of living, limited aid available, and, for some, the large families they’re supporting. Many found low-wage jobs in manufacturing, hospitality, retail, food processing, trucking, or ride sharing to support themselves and their families.

But with the pending expiration of employment authorization documents this fall, employment stability is at risk for some. Stakeholders shared that because of the expiration date, some employers have begun notifying people they will lose their jobs later this year or that they are now no longer needed.

This story originated in VOA’s Deewa service.
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IN THEIR OWN WORDS: With opportunities for journalists limited since the Taliban’s return to power, Farogh Tarin and her family left Afghanistan in pursuit of a better life. Now in Paris, France, the journalist wants to be a voice for those silenced in her home country.
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