China, Maldives upgrade ties with infrastructure deals

China recently pledged to extend funding for infrastructure in the Maldives, after it upgraded ties with the strategic Indian Ocean archipelago.
With Beijing and New Delhi tussling for influence, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu was elected in November after pledging to cultivate “strong ties” with China and eject Indian troops.
Muizzu embarked in January on his first state visit to China — the Maldives’ largest external creditor — and the two sides issued a joint communique detailing the “broad consensus” reached by their two leaders.
China vowed to “continue to provide support within its capacity to the Maldives side in areas of priority concern”, the statement published on state broadcaster CCTV said.
That included “infrastructure construction, medical care and health care, improvement of people’s livelihoods, new energy sources, agriculture and marine environmental protection”, it said.

Afghan women detained over ‘improper’ hijab

Several girls and women were detained recently in Kabul for not covering themselves properly, after reports circulated of a crackdown in the Afghan capital.

Security official Ehsanullah Saqib told a gathering of religious scholars in Kabul’s western Dasht-e-Barchi neighbourhood that in the past week “we have detained a number of women and girls who were without hijab, with the help of women police”.

Women have been squeezed from public life, barred from travelling without a male relative and ordered to cover everything but their hands and eyes when outside the home, though many women still go out in Kabul without covering their mouths.

Pakistani among recipients of Religious Freedom Award

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently awarded the International Relig­ious Freedom Award to distinguished individuals, including Peter Jacob of Pakistan, for their unwavering commitment to promoting and defending religious freedom globally.

Peter Jacob, a relentless advocate for religious freedom and human rights, has dedicated over 35 years to championing the rights of Pakistan’s marginalised religious minority communities. His extensive efforts include lecturing, writing, and advocating for equal treatment and freedom of religion.

These awards, presented in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the International Religious Freedom Act.

OIC denounces temple opening at Babri Mosque site

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) denounced the construction and inauguration of the ‘Ram Mandir’ built on the site of the five-century-old Babri Masjid in India’s Ayodhya.

At a grand event on January 22. 2024, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi consecrated the idol of Lord Ram at the new temple built on the site where the Babri Masjid stood for centuries before it was demolished by a Hindutva mob in 1992.

The demolition had triggered the worst religious riots in India since independence — killing 2,000 people, most of them Muslims — and shook the foundations of the country’s officially secular political order.

But for Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the opening of the Ram Mandir was a landmark moment in a decades-long campaign to align the country’s governance with its majority faith.

In a press release issued, the OIC — a 57-member bloc of Muslim countries — expressed “grave worry” over the construction and inauguration of the temple at the site of the razed Babri Masjid.

“In line with the OIC position expressed by the Council of Foreign Ministers in its previous sessions, the General Secretariat denounces these actions aimed at obliterating the Islamic landmarks represented by the Babri Mosque, which has stood tall in the exact location for five centuries,” it said.

The inauguration was also met with criticism in India, levelled by opposition parties over turning the event into a grand spectacle and the “state-sponsored assault” on the pan-India peace march, headed by Congress’ Rahul Gandhi, in BJP-ruled Assam state.

Bangladeshi Nobel winner convicted of violating labour laws

Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus has recently been convicted of violating Bangladesh’s labour laws in a case decried by his supporters as politically motivated.

Yunus, 83, is credited with lifting millions out of poverty with his pioneering microfinance bank but has earned the enmity of longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has accused him of “sucking blood” from the poor.

Hasina has made several scathing verbal attacks against the internationally respected 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, who was once seen as a political rival.

Pakistan Launches Three Groundbreaking Initiatives

In the wake of the recently concluded 6th Karachi International Water Conference, organized by Hisaar Foundation (HF) in association with Infra Zamin Pakistan and other partners, Pakistan has taken a significant leap by unveiling three essential initiatives aimed at addressing pressing water and climate challenges. The two-day conference, a testament to Hisaar Foundation’s persistent dedication to water-related issues in Pakistan served as a spark for these transformative endeavors, culminating in a Declaration that proposed the launch of these three initiatives, and within a month of the Conference, the proposal has been brought to fruition by HF.

The first of the initiatives announced is the establishment of a National Panel on Water. The second initiative is the launch of the Youth Water Network. Hisaar Foundation has also initiated a Water and Climate Justice Committee. These endeavors signify a noteworthy stride in Pakistan’s dedication to tackling the intricate challenges of climate change and water insufficiency. The efforts of Hisaar Foundation with the collaboration of international and national panels signify a renewed focus on sustainable solutions and global cooperation and highlight the Foundation’s commitment to making good on their promises.

PTI Senator appointed as CEO of vaccine alliance Gavi

PTI Senator and former special assistant to the prime minister Dr Sania Nishtar has recently been appointed as the chief executive officer of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation.

Gavi, the global vaccine alliance which played a crucial role in the Covid-19 pandemic, said in a press release that Nishtar will assume office from March 18.

A trained medical doctor, Dr Nishtar has built an outstanding career over 30 years as a global public health leader. In the national government, she served between 2018 and 2022 as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, a role with the status of a federal minister.

In 2013, during Pakistan’s caretaker government, she served as a federal minister with responsibility for re-establishing the country’s Ministry of Health among other roles, winning acclaim for transparency and accountability during her time in office,” the press release said.

It added that her appointment would come at an important time for the organisation with its fifth five-year strategic period drawing to a close at the end of 2025 as Gavi will seek board approval during the current years for its 2026–2030 strategy.

German brand makes strong statement for Palestine

The recently concluded Men’s Paris Fashion Week witnessed a remarkable finale with GmbH, the innovative German fashion label founded by Serhat Işık and Benjamin Huseby, taking centre stage.

In a groundbreaking move, the Berlin-based brand called for a ceasefire in Gaza, the release of Israeli hostages, a free Palestine, and an end to the Israeli occupation, making a powerful statement that transcends the boundaries of fashion. GmbH’s Fall/Winter 2024 collection went beyond fashion aesthetics, incorporating powerful symbolism into its designs.

Harvard president to resign over allegations of plagiarism

The president of Harvard University has decided to resign, the prestigious US school’s student newspaper reported, after she faced criticism over allegations of plagiarism and her handling of “anti-Semitism” on campus.

Claudine Gay was criticised in recent months after reports surfaced alleging that she did not properly cite scholarly sources in her academic work.

Gay was also engulfed by scandal after she declined to say unequivocally whether calling for genocide of Jews violated Harvard’s code of conduct, during testimony to Congress alongside the heads of MIT and the University of Pennsylvania in December 2023.

The university’s governing Harvard Corporation backed her after her appearance before Congress, but did criticise her response to the Oct 7 raid in Israel.

More than 70 lawmakers, including two Democrats, called for her resignation, while a number of high-profile Harvard alumni and donors had called for her departure.

Still, more than 700 Harvard faculty members had signed a letter supporting Gay.

Gay, 53, was born in New York to Haitian immigrants and is a professor of Political Science who in July became the first Black president of 368-year-old Harvard University, in Cambridge, outside Boston.

Indian state stops funding to Muslim religious schools

India’s most populous state has stopped paying some 21,000 teachers of subjects including mathematics and science in Muslim religious schools, or madrasas, and they could lose their jobs altogether.

The teachers work at madrasas in Uttar Pradesh, ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party, and the move comes ahead of Modi seeking his third straight term in a general election due by May.
“Over 21,000 teachers are set to lose their jobs,” Iftikhar Ahmed Javed, chief of Uttar Pradesh’s madrasa education board, said. “Muslim students and teachers will go back by 30 years.”

Saudi Arabia to allow alcohol sales

Saudi Arabia plans to allow alcohol sales to non-Muslim diplomats for the first time, modifying strict rules governing liquor in the conservative country.

Alcohol “will be sold to non-Muslim diplomats” who previously had to import alcohol via a diplomatic pouch, or sealed official package. The sales will take place in a store in Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter, a neighbourhood of foreign missions and residences west of the city centre.

Access to the store will be restricted to people who register on an application known as the Diplo App, and monthly quotas will be enforced. Prohibition has been the law of the land in Saudi Arabia since 1952, shortly after one of King Abdulaziz’s sons got drunk and, in a rage, shot dead a British diplomat.

Rumours have swirled for years that alcohol would become available in the Gulf kingdom amid a wave of social reforms introduced as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 agenda, among them the introduction of cinemas and mixed-gender music festivals.

Muslim world urged to support South Africa in icj

Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed has urged Muslim countries like Pakistan, Malaysia and Jordan to support South Africa in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
In December, South Africa had filed a genocide case against Israel before the ICJ.

He also suggested that Turkey and Pakistan take the initiative of sending a food flotilla under the UN umbrella for the Palestinians.

Deepfakes deceive voters in India, Pakistan before elections

Sith elections due in India and Pakistan in the coming weeks, misinformation is rife on social media platforms, with deepfakes — video or audio made using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and broadcast as authentic — being particularly concerning, say tech experts and authorities.

In Pakistan, where an election is scheduled for February 8, former premier Imran Khan, who is in prison in an Official Secrets Acts case, used an AI-generated image and voice clone to address an online election rally in December, which drew more than 1.4 million views on YouTube and was attended live by tens of thousands.

While Pakistan has drafted an AI law, digital rights activists have criticised the lack of guardrails against disinformation, and to protect vulnerable communities, including women.

In India, where more than 900m people are eligible to vote, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said deepfake videos are a “big concern”, and authorities have warned social media platforms they could lose their safe-harbour status that protects them from liability for third-party content posted on their sites if they do not act.

During the general elections in January in Bangladesh, deepfake videos of female opposition politicians Rumin Farhana in a bikini and Nipun Roy in a swimming pool had emerged.

While they were debunked quickly, they are still circulated, and even poor-quality deepfake content is misleading people, said Sayeed Al-Zaman, an assistant professor of journalism at Bangladesh’s Jahangir nagar University.