Tag Archives: Western Subcontinent

Gender, Ideology + Affiliation, Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief, Sexual + Gender Minorities

Global Event: The Afghanistan Exodus

The International Situation of Afghan Asylum-Seekers

The pullout of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and the subsequent collapse of the Afghan government has generated a wave of Afghan people fleeing incoming Taliban rule. With the Taliban committed to governing according to fundamentalist interpretations of Islamic law, concerns are particularly heightened for women, ethnic and religious minorities, LGBTQ+ people, journalists, and those who supported the fight against the Taliban. Abroad, governments have debated whether and to what degree to accept asylum-seekers, with many seeking to either offshore asylum processing or contain refugees to the immediate region of southwest and Central Asia. For refugees who do make it out, the intensification of anti-immigrant sentiment across the world’s regions in recent years—including the increasing political power of far-right nativist movements—has created new threats for asylum-seekers in their destination countries.

While politicians and analysts around the world bicker over responsibility and blame, Afghans scramble to exit before the full weight of the new Taliban regime comes down. Here is a collection of reporting on the conditions in Afghanistan for those needing refuge, which countries are offering haven, and reactions from the Afghan diaspora.

Continue reading Global Event: The Afghanistan Exodus →
Ideology + Affiliation, Nationality + Migration

Pakistan News | Chinese Migrant Workers

Chinese workers injured in Baluchistan suicide attack
  • At least five—including three Chinese mining workers—suffered injuries when the van they were riding in was attacked by a suicide bomber outside Dalbandin, southwest of Quetta.
  • The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group, claimed responsibility, one of a number of attacks in the region targeting Chinese-backed projects in the region.
  • Chinese migrant workers in Pakistan number in the tens of thousands, with the Pakistani government seeking to grow the region’s infrastructure and the Chinese government expanding its Belt and Road initiative throughout Asia.
Read

“Five wounded in attack on bus ferrying Chinese workers in Pakistan” (Reuters | August 2018)

“Suicide Bomber Attacks Chinese Engineers in Pakistan” (VOA News | August 2018)

“Beijing condemns suicide attack on bus carrying Chinese engineers in Pakistan” (South China Morning Post | August 2018)

Religion + Belief

Afghanistan News | Sikh

Suicide bombing targets Sikhs in Jalalabad, leaving more than a dozen dead and 20 wounded
  • The attack targeted a vehicle traveling through the Mukhaberat district, with at least 10 of the dead members of the Sikh community.
  • The vehicle’s occupants had been traveling to meet with President Ashraf Ghani, who was on tour in Jalalabad and had recently attended the inauguration a new hospital.
  • Sikhs account for less than 1% of the Afghan population, their numbers having been drastically reduced in the last few decades as a result of death and displacement from war and institutionalized oppression and neglect.
Read

“Suicide Attack Targets Sikhs in Jalalabad, 19 Killed” (TOLOnews | July 2018)

“Deadly blast hits eastern Afghan city, targeting Sikh minority” (Reuters | July 2018)

Additional

“The decline of Afghanistan’s Hindu and Sikh communities” (Al Jazeera | January 2017)

 

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Pakistan Feature | Trans Women

The Fitful Progress of the Movement for Pakistani Trans Lives


Source: CGTN YouTube

By way of Pakistan’s landmark 2017 census, some 10,000 transgender Pakistanis have become officially visible in the eyes of the government, though community organizers say the number is likely much larger. Illiteracy, poverty, disenfranchisement, trafficking, threats to sexual health, and the dangers of unregulated sex work plague Pakistan’s trans women (khawaja siras, a reclaimed term in the trans community), but the recent securing of legal protections have given hope to a community where precarity reigns.

While communities of trans women have provided kinship and security where mainstream society has offered a mix of scorn and fetish, hierarchical systems within the communities have layered additional vulnerabilities upon threats already faced. The women have organized and built security-focused civil groups, and the last decade has seen a number of victories including census recognition, a third-gender option on ID cards, limited economic investments, and technological and political tools for accountability in law enforcement. Some hardline conservatives have become unlikely allies as trans women are seen among some Islamic sects as holy, though they have stopped short of supporting partnership rights. Recent international media coverage has highlighted recent gains as well as ongoing insecurity for Pakistan’s increasingly visible trans community.

Read

“Pakistan’s Transgender Women, Long Marginalized, Mobilize For Rights” (NPR | January 2018)

“Tabooed transgender community still facing discrimination but to be protected in Pakistan” (Xinhua | January 2018)

“New App TransMuhafiz Puts Pakistani Transphobic Offenders in the Spotlight” (Planet Transgender | January 2018)

Watch

Transgenders: Pakistan’s Open Secret (Clover Films, via Real Stories/YouTube | December 2016)

Somebody (TriumF Media, via YouTube | September 2017)

Connect

TransAction Pakistan

Gender

Afghanistan Feature | Women

The Invasive “Virginity Tests” of Afghanistan

Despite its condemnation by international medical experts as scientifically unsound and official promises to ban the procedure, healthcare and judicial systems in Afghanistan have continued to rely on abusive assessments of sexual activity in women accused or suspected of extramarital sex. The potential social catastrophe that could result from a positive result has led to the development of a black market of so-called hymen reconstruction, which has led to further health insecurity for women who undergo the procedure. Even the administration of the test can bring social shame to those subjected to it, leading to poor outcomes in education and employment as well as a contracting social network. Afghanistan is far from the only country in which the tests continues, and globalized efforts to end the gender-discriminatory practice have encountered mixed success in changing deeply rooted cultural norms.

Read

“The shame of Afghanistan’s virginity tests” (BBC News | December 2017)

“Despite Ban, Invasive Virginity Tests Remain Prevalent in Afghanistan” (The New York Times | January 2017)

Additional

“Here’s Everything You Need To Know About ‘Virginity Tests’” (BuzzFeed News | November 2017)

Religion + Belief

Afghanistan News | Shiite Muslim

Suicide bombing attack on Shia cultural center in Kabul kills dozens
  • A single suicide bomber infiltrated the Tabian Social and Culture Centre in Kabul’s Dasht-e Barchi neighborhood, leaving more than 40 dead and at least 80 injured.
  • The attack took place as a crowd of more than 100 gathered to mark the 38th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
  • The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest in a series of more than a dozen since 2016 targeting Shiites that have left more than 700 dead.
Read

“Suicide bombers kill dozens at Shi’ite center in Afghan capital” (Reuters | December 2017)

“ISIS suicide bombing in Kabul kills dozens” (CNN | December 2017)

“Why is ‘Islamic State’ targeting Shiites in Afghanistan?” (Deutsche Welle | December 2017)

Religion + Belief

Pakistan News | Christian

Suicide bombers kill 9 in attack on church in southwestern Pakistan
  • At least 9 were killed and 56 wounded following an attack by two suicide bombers on Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in Quetta, capital of Baluchistan province.
  • Nearly 400 had been in attendance for the pre-Christmas service, and authorities say the toll could have been much higher had the attackers reached the sanctuary.
  • The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, a part of ongoing targeting of the 2 million Pakistani Christians in the country by both IS and the Pakistani Taliban.
Read

“9 killed in suicide attack on Quetta’s Bethel Memorial Methodist Church” (Dawn.com | December 2017)

“Nine killed in terrorist attack on church in Quetta” (Geo News | December 2017)

“Suicide bombers attack church in Pakistan’s Quetta before Christmas, killing nine” (Reuters | December 2017)

Ideology + Affiliation

Afghanistan News | Religious Scholars

Religious scholars in Afghanistan one of Taliban’s most frequent targets
  • Over the last 16 years of war in the country, hundreds and perhaps thousands of ulema have been killed, although official numbers are difficult to track.
  • Taliban members surveil sermons to monitor adherence to Taliban interpretations of sharia, both courting and threatening scholars to buttress their power across the nation’s provinces.
  • Religious leaders note that the targeting of scholars is driven by anxiety over scholars’ influence on communities, a desire for ideological control, and the suppression of criticism.
Read

“Taliban Target: Scholars of Islam” (The New York Times | May 2017)

“Religious scholar shot dead in eastern Afghanistan” (Andalou Agency | May 2017)

(Image Credit: Jim Huylebroek/The New York Times)

Class + Socioeconomics, Gender, Religion + Belief

Pakistan Feature | Women & Girls

The Endless Labors of Pakistan’s Debt-Bound Women

A form of indentured servitude persists in the vast fields of Pakistan’s poorest regions, where families labor on lands to pay off debts whose balance never seems to decrease. But while men may find their “payments” limited to hard labor, women and girls find themselves vulnerable not only to physical labor, but to domestic, sexual, and even marital labor forced under conditions of extreme duress.  Religious minorities are particularly vulnerable, with an estimated 1,000 Hindu and Christian girls trafficked as a result of these debts, sold off to predatory landowners and forced to convert to Islam. The Associated Press examines the conditions faced by the more than 2 million Pakistanis living in what human rights organizations have called modern-day slavery and the particular indignities to which women and girls are subjected.

Read:
“A Pakistani girl is snatched away, payment for a family debt” (The Associated Press)

(Image Credit: B.K. Bangash/AP)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Pakistan Feature | Transwomen

The Subversive Visibility of Pakistan’s First Trans Model

Activist and model Kami Sid was the subject of a recent photo shoot in collaboration with photographer Haseeb M. Siddiqi, stylist Waqar J.Khan, and makeup artist Nighat Misbah, making her debut as the first out trans model in Pakistan. The photographs stand in stark contrast to the other forms of visibility that has kept the Pakistani trans community in the news in recent years, including sexual assaults and homicides. BuzzFeed features photos from the shoot and a look at the struggle to combat transphobia in Pakistan.

View:
“Pakistan’s First Trans Model Did An Absolutely Stunning Fashion Photoshoot” (BuzzFeed)

Additional coverage:
“Pakistan’s first transgender model makes debut with stunning photoshoot” (The Express Tribune)
“Kami Sid becomes Pakistan’s first transgender model and her debut photoshoot is gorgeous” (Mic)

(Image Credit: Muhammad Haseeb Siddiqui, via BuzzFeed)

Nationality + Migration

Pakistan News | Turkish Immigrants

Pakistan court stays expulsion order for Turkish teachers following school closure
  • The Peshawar High Court temporarily blocked the government’s expulsion of more than 100 teachers at the PakTurk International Schools and Colleges, a network of private schools in the country, and their families.
  • The closure of the schools comes as a result of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ongoing purge of organizations perceived as connected to exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, leaning on Turkey’s relationship with Pakistan to push the government to close the schools.
  • The administration has rejected the accusations, and staff have expressed fear at returning to Turkey, believing continued government antagonism awaits them.

Read more:
“Turkish Teachers In Pakistan Face Uncertain Fate As Deportation Looms” (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
“PHC halts government order to deport Pak-Turk school staff” (The Express Tribune)
“Peshawar High Court halts govt order to deport Pak-Turk school staff” (DAWN)

(Image Credit: via Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Religion + Belief

Afghanistan News | Shiite Muslims

Attack on Shiite mosque in Kabul kills more than 30, injures dozens more
  • A suicide attacker entered the Baqir-ul-Olum mosque during a gathering for Arbaeen, a devotional ritual.
  • Among the dead were a number of children, and reports put the number of injured at at least 35.
  • The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest in a series targeting Shiite Muslims in the Sunni-majority country.

Read more:
“IS claims attack that kills dozens at Shi’ite mosque in Kabul” (Reuters)
“Afghanistan Kabul mosque suicide attack kills dozens” (BBC)
“Afghanistan mosque attack: 30 dead, ISIS claims responsibility” (CNN)

(Image Credit: Reuters, via BBC)

Religion + Belief

Pakistan News | Sufi Muslims

More than 50 killed after bombing at Sufi shrine in Pakistan
  • The attack took place in the Khuzdar district of Baluchistan province, killing at least 52, wounding more than 100, and trapping an unknown number of others.
  • Security forces believe a suicide attacker carried out the massacre as hundreds were in the shrine for daily devotional activities.
  • The attack was the latest in a series targeting Sufis, members of a minority Islamic sect that has been the target of a number of attacks from extremist Sunni groups.

Read more:
“Bombing at Sufi Shrine in Pakistan Kills Dozens” (The New York Times)
“IS-claimed bombing kills at least 52 at Khuzdar shrine” (The Express Tribune)
“‘No one was able to hear their cries’: Families ripped apart as terror strikes Khuzdar shrine” (AFP via DAWN.com)

(Image Credit: AP, via DAWN.com)

Religion + Belief

Pakistan News | Shiite Muslims

Gunmen kill at least 4 Shiite Muslims, injure others in Karachi
  • The victims were attending a religious gathering in the North Nazimabad neighborhood of Pakistan’s largest city.
  • The shooting was carried out by the Al Alami faction of the Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
  • The attack follows the recent massacre of more than 60 police cadets by Al Alami in coordination with the Islamic State.

Read more:
“Gunmen kill four at Shi’ite Muslim gathering in Karachi” (Reuters)
“Five killed, several injured in sectarian attack on Nazimabad majlis” (The Express Tribune)
“5 killed as gunmen target Shia gathering in Karachi” (The Nation)

Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief

Afghanistan News | Hazaras

Bombing during protest in Kabul devastates Afghanistan’s Hazara community
  • A triple suicide attack left at least 80 dead and 231 wounded at a protest in the Afghan capital, with the Islamic State claiming responsibility for one of the deadliest attacks in the country since 2001.
  • The demonstration had been organized to protest an electricity route in the country and the perceived abandonment of the Hazara community by political leaders.
  • Afghanistan’s Shiite Hazaras have long been targeted in the country, including in recent decades by the Taliban and now the Islamic State.

Read more:
“Kabul Bombing Adds New Layers of Agony for Afghanistan’s Hazaras” (The New York Times)
“ISIS Claims Suicide Attack On Kabul Protest By Hazara Minority, Dozens Killed” (The Huffington Post)
“Kabul explosion: Islamic State ‘admits attack on Hazara protest’” (BBC)

(Image Credit: Adam Ferguson/The New York Times)