SOUTH ASIA

Quetta, Sep 21 (IANS) At least five Baloch civilians were extrajudicially killed by the Pakistani forces in Balochistan as the cycle of persecution continues across the province, according to a leading human rights organisation.Human rights organisation the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) mentioned that the mutilated body of Ustad Allah Dad, a resident of Soler Ghichk region of Panjgur, was discovered in the district on the night of September 20 after four days of illegal detention.The BYC stated that Allah Dad was forcibly disappeared by Pakistani forces in the Naag area of Washuk district on September 16."The body showed clear signs of severe physical torture and inhumane treatment, indicating he was subjected to extreme punishment before being killed," the rights body added.On the other...

Seoul, Sep 21 (IANS) Former South Korean Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung on Sunday appeared for questioning by a special counsel team as part of its investigation into former President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched martial law bid.Shim appeared at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office at around 9:54 a.m. to attend the questioning by special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team. He did not respond to questions by the press over allegations of his involvement in the imposition of martial law.Cho's team has been investigating allegations that Shim received an order from then Justice Minister Park Sung-jae to send prosecutors to a joint investigation headquarters shortly after Yoon's martial law declaration on December 3, reports Yonhap news agency.Shim is suspected of having held three phone calls with Park ov...

Washington, Sep 21 (IANS) US President Donald Trump has issued a stern warning to Afghanistan, demanding the return of the Bagram air base to the United States.Posting on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump wrote, "If Afghanistan doesn't give Bagram Airbase back to those that built it, the United States of America, bad things are going to happen."Trump earlier reiterated that Washington has been pushing to regain control of the base, which was a key operational hub for American forces following the September 11, 2001, attacks.Addressing reporters on Friday, he confirmed that discussions with Afghanistan on the matter were underway.The Bagram air base, once the largest US military installation in Afghanistan, was taken over by the Taliban after the withdrawal of American forces i...

Baghdad, Sep 21 (IANS) Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani has announced the launch of a national development vision, stressing that the country "cannot continue relying solely on fossil fuels as the cornerstone of its national economy."According to a statement by al-Sudani's media office on Saturday (local time), the Prime Minister attended a launching ceremony of the Iraq Vision 2050 for Development and the Future, an event also joined by senior government officials, diplomats, and private sector representatives, among others.The vision aims to diversify Iraq's economy, reduce oil dependency, and increase private sector participation through structural reforms, read the statement.Key projects include positioning Iraq as a transit hub for 20 per cent of Asia-Europe trade through...

Dhaka, Sep 20 (IANS) Bangladesh’s Awami League Party on Saturday highlighted that over 10,000 new millionaires have emerged in just 8–10 months amid the country's economic recession, while ordinary people are being swept away in a tide of poverty under the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.According to the party, the economy of Bangladesh is currently in a severe recession with unemployment exceeding eight per cent, and the poverty rate at nearly 28 per cent.The party mentioned that hundreds of factories have shut down, foreign investment is almost zero, and 2.6 million people have lost their jobs, with ordinary people struggling to cope with soaring prices of essential goods. It stressed that in the post-Covid period, GDP growth has dropped to just 3.97 per cent.“Never before has th...

Islamabad, Sep 20 (IANS) Pakistan's Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights has reviewed disturbing reports of corporal punishment, torture, and sexual abuse against children at religious seminaries across provinces of Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, local media reported.The meeting, chaired by Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri at Parliament House, called for strong action to protect children from abuse at seminaries and schools, declaring that no child should suffer in the name of education.Highlighting that the Pakistani authorities bear the foremost responsibility to protect children, Senator Zehri expressed concern over the lack of proper registration, financial transparency, and monitoring of these institutions.She demanded strict measures, including regular inspections of madras...

Kabul, Sep 16 (IANS) One person was killed and three others injured, with one in critical condition, as two motorbikes collided with each other in Afghanistan's Badakhshan province, police said on Tuesday.The mishap took place due to reckless driving in Kasham district on Monday evening, provincial police spokesman Ehsanullah Kamgar said.More than 100 commuters have been killed due to road mishaps elsewhere in Afghanistan over the past month. Thousands of people lose their lives in road accidents in Afghanistan each year due to reckless driving on congested roads, poor conditions of roads, lack of traffic signs on dilapidated highways, overloading and overspeeding.On September 14, at least six passengers were killed and four others injured in a head-on collision between a passenger car a...

Kabul, Aug 20 (IANS) At least 64 commuters have been killed and three others sustained injuries in a deadly road mishap in western Afghanistan's Herat province, head of the rescue department in the province, Abdul Zahir Noorzai, said Wednesday.The accident took place on Tuesday night after a passenger bus collided with a motorbike and a mini-truck on a road linking the neighbouring Iran to Herat city in Afghanistan, Xinhua News Agency reported, quoting the official.The majority of the victims, including women and children, were Afghan refugees who returned from Iran to settle in their homeland, Afghanistan, according to the official.In the meantime, another official, on the condition of anonymity, said that the passenger bus caught fire and many bodies could not be recognised.The number ...