Newsletter 27 January

Sino-Indian Standoff: China tries to open new front with Naku La clash, test India’s defense: Experts

UN Chief urges India, China to dial down border tensions

After another border face-off between India and China, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Tue called for the two countries to dial down tensions through dialogue.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Sec.-Gen., said at a news briefing, while he was responding to a question on whether the UN Secretariat or the Sec.-Gen. had any comment on the “renewed India-China border clashes”.

India's permanent banning of 59 Chinese apps including TikTok is 'proof of allegiance' to US: Global Times

GT, a Chinese State Media through the Chinese expert said India’s banning of 59 Chinese apps permanently including TikTok is ‘proof of allegiance’ to the US, a comment after India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued an updated notice announcing a permanent a ban on video app TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps in June.
Reuters reported on Mon, citing Indian media reports that the Govt is not satisfied with the response or explanation given by these companies of their position on compliance with privacy and security requirements, as the Govt released the high-profile notices 7 months ago.
China reacts on the New Delhi’s move, and its Foreign Ministry said, move in violation of WTO non-discriminatory principles and fair competition.

Farmers’ tractor rally violence: 22 FIRs filed by Delhi Police so far

The national capital descended into chaos as thousands of farmers protesting against the three laws passed in Sept to reform the agriculture sector on Tue stormed into Delhi’s Red Fort
Delhi Police spokesman Anil Mittal said the cases have been registered at police stations across the Capital under Indian Penal Code sections including those pertaining to rioting and damage to public property.
The FIR has been registered on Wed in connection with the violence at Red Fort in Delhi during farmers’ tractor rally yesterday. Names of Farmer leaders are also included in Delhi violence.
Delhi Police register FIR under IPC Sec 395 (dacoity), 397 (robbery, or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt), 120 b (criminal conspiracy) and other sections, regarding yesterday’s violence. Matter to be investigated by a special of Crime Branch, along NIA, and others agencies.
300 Republic Day artistes, including children, rescued after being stranded at Red Fort.
The protesting farmers were to take the rally through 3 designated routes in Delhi on day 62 of their protest against the laws.
One of the farmer groups from Ghazipur protest site deviated from the agreed-upon route, reached ITO, and ran riot.
Another group from Singhu border stormed the Red Fort, where one of the protesters climbed the first available flag post and hoisted the Nishan Sahib, the flag of the Sikhs.
Sources said that Banned in India, Khalistani terror group Sikhs For Justice confesses to their hand in Red Fort violence and rioting in New Delhi. Announce reward of US $350,000 for those who waved “Khalistani Flag”. SFJ asks farmers to lay siege on Indian Parliament on Feb 1^st.
A youth from Vaan Tara Singh village of Punjab’s Tarn Taran district is being named on social media as the protester who hoisted the Sikh religious flag.
The protesters on tractors rammed through buses and barricades.
Men with swords on horses tried to run down policemen as police rushed containers, buses, and barriers to block key roads in central Delhi.
A protesting farmer died after his tractor overturned at ITO. A video showed the tractor ramming into a police barricade.
The police fired tear gas shells and resorted to baton charges at several points where clashes broke out.
The Delhi Police said 83 (others claimed 42) personnel were injured after being attacked by agitating farmers.
Some groups of farmers began returning to their respective sit-in sites in the evening.
But thousands could still be seen in several areas including ITO, Nangloi, and Mukarba Chowk.
Mobile internet services were suspended in three Haryana districts of Sonipat, Jhajjar, and Palwal for 24 hours ending 5pm Wed.
4 districts of Uttarakhand have been put on high alert in the wake of the violent incidents in Delhi. Special instructions have been given to maintaining strict vigilance in Udham Singh Nagar district.
Twitter suspends over 550 accounts after violence during farmers’ Republic Day tractor rally
Actor Deep Sidhu, activist Lakha Sidhana played major role in instigating protesters.
Deep Sidhu Sidhu and Lakha Sidhana came to Delhi two days ago and gave a provocative speech to the protesters at the Singhu border.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Ravneet Singh Bittu also claimed that it was Deep Sidhu who unfurled the flag at Red Fort. “He (Sidhu) is a member of banned extremist outfit Sikhs for Justice (SFJ),” Bittu alleged.
Use of tear gas, baton charge against farmers is unacceptable: CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury
All India Student Association (student wing of CPI) hails farmers for the ‘historic’ tractor parade carried out on Republic Day.
In a visual, one of the ‘farmers” leaders Chadhuni was saying on camera. “On 26^th we’ll play the final match.” “We have asked farmers to come prepared with tractors and forcefully break barricades. Let the Govt open fire, lath charge.”

India pledges USD 150,000 for UN peacebuilding ANI |

TS Tirumurti, permanent representative of India to the United Nations on Tue announced a pledge of USD 150,000 to activities of the UN fund this year.
On India’s peacebuilding efforts at UN, Tirumurti said, “As the world’s largest democracy, we are conscious of the need to prioritize the building of governance structure to strengthen democracy and the rule of law.
India also recognizes the critical role played by women and youth in peacebuilding activities.
Strengthening security structures go hand in hand with strengthening civilian structures of good governance.”
India continues to assist countries bilaterally in post-conflict situations by providing substantial grants and soft loans.

Disinformation being used to interfere in Internal Affairs of countries: India

Addressing the Arria-formula meeting on media freedom in Belarus organized by the Estonian Permanent Mission on Fri, India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador K. Nagaraj Naidu said that the information revolution has both benefited and weakened media systems.
India has called on technology companies to ensure transparency and a check on misinformation on their platforms, cautioning that there is a growing tendency of foreign interference in the Internal Affairs of other countries through disinformation campaigns.
“Today, the global economy of disinformation rests on the complex interaction between data sets, algorithms and information infrastructure built by technology companies.
These algorithms govern not just what information is available to different populations, but also to whom, and with what frequency,” Naidu said. “
Sounding a note of caution, Naidu said there is also a “growing tendency of foreign interference in the internal affairs of other countries through use of disinformation campaigns to advance ulterior political agendas.”

India and 3 other G4 nations seek single text for UNSC reforms

India and three other G4 nations seeking a permanent seat in the UN Security Council have asserted that the format of the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) on UNSC reforms can be saved only if there is a single negotiating text and application of the General Assembly rules of procedure.
Participating in the first IGN meeting on the UNSC reforms in the 75^th session of the General Assembly on Mon, India, Brazil, Japan and Germany underlined that without the two, it can no longer be the forum where the long-pending amendments can “realistically be achieved”.

Biden withdraws move to rescind work authorization for H-1B spouses

The steps that were underway, by the Trump administration to rescind the employment authorization program, for certain categories of spouses of H-1B visa holders, is history. Nearly a lakh Indian spouses can now breathe a sigh of relief.

NEIGHBORHOOD/ WORLD

Leaked emails confirm UN passed info to China in name-sharing scandal

UN Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says controversial practice ended in 2015
The UN Human Rights Office is under fire for sharing the names of Chinese Govt opponents, including Uighur activists, Tibetans and HongKongers, who took part in UN activities, for a long period.
Emma Reilly, a staffer at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and a human rights lawyer, has repeatedly alleged that the office shared the names of dissidents with the Chinese Govt.
She recently shared the emails she received through the UN body’s internal emailing system while she was on active duty at the OHCHR with Anadolu Agency.
Although, the OHCHR denies the allegations, some emails among its employees, press releases and interviews have revealed that the UN shared the names of many Chinese activists and some opponents who attended panel discussions, conferences, and open sessions on human rights with the Chinese Govt.
The allegations have come to light after Reilly reported it to authorities.
Mostly Uighur activists’ names leaked
Isa, the President of the World Uyghur Congress confirms allegations, testifies in Reilly’s favor.

Imran Khan’s Chinese game plan for Gilgit-Baltistan

After his party’s victory in the elections in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Govt plans to open a Special Economic Zone in the region to facilitate the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
It is widely believed that Pakistan’s Govt is acting under the pressure from China in inching towards granting the status of the fifth province to Gilgit-Baltistan.
The China-Pakistan collaboration in Gilgit-Baltistan has serious implication for India’s security concerns.
India has slammed Pakistan saying any action to alter the status of GB by Islamabad has no legal basis.

Chinese vaccine trial in Dhaka fell through. Its state media blames New Delhi

Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech told Bangladesh in Sept. last year, that it didn’t have money to pay for the vaccine trials and its request for funding to CEPI had been declined.
Trials for Chinese Covid-19 vaccine Sinovac were halted in Bangladesh last year due to meddling by India, China’s state media has claimed in a report on Tue, accusing New Delhi of torpedoing Beijing’s efforts to push its vaccine in Dhaka.
The claim reported in the Global Times, a nationalist tabloid run by the Communist Party of China, is Beijing’s response to a report in the HT that outlined how Bangladesh rescinded its decision to allow Covid vaccine trials last Oct after a last-minute demand by Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech that Dhaka co-fund the trials.