South Asia

The number of people crossing the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan has doubled in recent days. The UN foresees the arrival of another half a million refugees. Two Pakistani soldiers killed at the border. Despite reassurances from Islamabad, security in the province of Balochistan remains unstable.

Special military exercises organised in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The Russians have several bases in the region. The Kremlin's ties with the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. Afghan extremists likened to Ukrainian anarchists of the 1917-1921 period.

In a televised interview, a Taliban leader suggests that trade with India could go through Pakistan. India pulled out its diplomatic personnel from Afghanistan but with 20 years of investments and US$ 900 million in exports at stake, it is holding a wait-and-see position. New Delhi is worried about jihadist infiltrations in Kashmir. New rockets fall in Kabul this morning. Local media say that children were among the victims of yesterday's US raid.

The UN today marks International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances celebrates. In Sri Lanka, the missing remain an open wound years after the civil war. Human rights activist Rev Sathivel asks, “Why is the government not saying anything” about Tamil fighters who surrendered.

Right-wing extremists are behind the violence. The false accusation of proselytising unleashed the attack. A 25-year-old clergyman and his family were the target. For GCIC president, the mob carried out “deliberate acts of violence even against women”. Scriptures and sacred books were torn up, wounding Christians’ religious feelings.

"We often think that evil comes above all from outside: from the behaviour of others, from those who think badly of us, from society". "And we spend time laying blame; but blaming others is a waste of time. One becomes angry, bitter, it keeps God out of one's heart".

Yesterday, a ferry boat and a sand trawler collided on the Laiska river. There are still several people missing and at least 30 injured. The district authority has already opened an investigation. Every year in Bangladesh hundreds of people die in boat accidents.

Despite objections, the Synod decided to go ahead with the introduction of the single mode of celebrating the liturgy, which will see the celebrant turn towards the faithful in the initial rites but then turn towards the altar in the central part. Some exceptions will be allowed in eparchies where there are more opponents, but only until Easter 2022.

Researcher Tasnim Butt of the Université Libre de Bruxelles speaks to AsiaNews about the gradual radicalisation of the religious community in Deoband. The Taliban's rigorous vision is intertwined with Pashtun culture and tribalism, while the strategic competition between al-Qaeda and the Islamic State has nothing to do with Islam.

Constant anguish under raids by fundamentalists amid failed attempts to escape. Anxiety for those who have remained, made even more lacerating by yesterday's bloody attacks. The testimony of a religious woman who arrived in Italy on one of the last evacuation flights: "The girls send me messages in tears. If it is possible I will return to Afghanistan.

Some priests and believers are against a uniform mode of celebrating. Pope refers to the issue in a letter. Fr Paul Thelakat attacks the “dictatorship of uniform thought” and notes that Catholicism - as Francis says - favours “unity in diversity”.

The textile and garment sector had so far withstood the pandemic and supported the Sri Lankan economy through exports. But now unions complain that workers in free trade zones have paid a price for this and demand the government ensure greater safety.