Today, India decided to reopen its embassy in Kabul, marking an unprecedented political step towards the Taliban government. The announcement came after Pakistan struck the Afghan capital to eliminate Noor Wali Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban. These developments are part of a new phase in the conflict between India and Pakistan, which began with Operation Sindoor, launched by New Delhi in May in response to an attack in Kashmir.
The Canadian government has listed the powerful India-based criminal network as a terrorist group. The decision follows a long trail of shootings and extortions against members of the Sikh diaspora, and comes as Ottawa attempts to restore cooperation with New Delhi following tensions over the murder of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Canadian authorities accuse the gang of acting as a tool of intimidation, with connections to Indian intelligence, a charge New Delhi vehemently denies.
The head of India's highest judicial body was targeted with a shocking gesture by a lawyer from a Brahmin family for comments he made during a hearing regarding a temple in Madhya Pradesh that Hindutva nationalists deemed offensive. The judicial community was outraged by a casteist attack that “cannot be tolerated”.
The boy, accused of ‘contaminating’ the home of a higher caste family, was beaten and locked in a barn. They demanded a goat from his parents as a sacrifice to ‘purify’ the home. The bishop of the diocese of Simla and Chandigarh told AsiaNews: ‘This is not an individual tragedy, but a social sin. We are all responsible if structures of discrimination go unpunished.’
New Delhi is weighing the consequences of the end of US exemptions on the Iranian port of Chabahar, in which it has invested hundreds of millions of dollars as a strategic hub to Central Asia and a counterweight to China's presence in Gwadar. New sanctions risk stalling the project and further complicating relations with Washington, already beset by tariffs and new visa restrictions. In the long run, analysts warn, China could be the real beneficiary of the crisis.
Today's historic decision by the Church of England, which will see a female head of the primatial see for the first time, is also highly significant for the Asian Churches that are part of the Anglican Communion. Among them are the United Churches of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, which have already opened up the ordained ministry to women, with female bishops in some Indian dioceses.
