South Asia

A tragedy of poverty and gambling addiction lies in a father's decision to take his own life after killing his wife and two children. In a statement, Minarul Islam mentions “debt and hunger”. This tragedy is like several others that have occurred in recent weeks. Investigators have opened a case to shed light on the organisation that lent the man money.

Villages in northern Sri Lanka have been protesting for weeks against the second phase of a 50 MW wind power project. The latter has “serious environmental consequences”, Fr Marcus Adigalar, parish priest of Thalaimannar, told AsiaNews. The project impacts marine and coastal ecosystems. Dissanayake is open to dialogue. Young people are calling for permits to be cancelled and a protected area to be created.

A Dalit worker told police that he was forced to remove the bodies of many victims of violence between 1995 and 2014. Having found some remains, the families of dozens of missing people are demanding full disclosure. But Hindu nationalists are calling this a "smear campaign", claiming (without evidence) that the man behind the charges was paid by Christians. For the Diocese of Mangalore, these claims are irresponsible.

A few days before the big event in Tor Vergata, the Archdiocese's Justice and Peace Commission held its Youth Day. Kashif Anthony: ‘I want to see their conditions improve and help them work to contribute to the betterment of society and our country.’

Islamabad has resumed forced repatriations, setting 1 September as the deadline for the departure of 1.4 million Afghans. The decision was taken despite the humanitarian disaster in their homeland, where, according to a recent US State Department report, the Taliban are imposing an ‘institutionalised system of repression’.

Tomorrow, 15 August, is the deadline set by the Mahaweli Authority for “unauthorised possession of government land”. Over 500 families have already left out of fear. Farmers tell AsiaNews: ‘The army supported us, we survived the war.’ The crops have been there since 1955, then resumed in 2010 due to an attack by the Tamil Tigers.

Hundreds of members of the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) stormed the ‘maqbara’ (tomb) of Nawab Abdus Samad despite police barricades. According to extremist leaders, a Hindu temple once stood on the site. Local bishops appeal for tolerance.

Malaysia and Bangladesh have decided to resume the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers, which was blocked after the discovery of criminal cartels defrauding migrants. The agreement provides for equal social security benefits for foreign workers and the possibility of filing complaints in Bengali.

90 boys and girls walked 27 km from Balangoda to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Assumption, Thanjanthenna. Fr Hariharan Rajappriya: ‘Pilgrimage to understand life’. Accompanied by concern for the environment with the participation of Buddhist monk Wekandawala Rahula Thero. Bishop Croos: ‘Young people united thanks to new and diverse work’.

During the International Day of Indigenous Peoples, some Christian leaders denounced exclusion and discrimination and renewed a series of demands to the government, including constitutional recognition, implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord and the establishment of a land commission.

In 2024, a record number of Indian fishermen were arrested, over 500 in one year. The problem has grown since the end of the internal conflict in 2009. The people of the north, already scarred by war, are paying the price. Calls for the application of international standards in the sector.

The court has suspended the “Land Pooling Policy 2025” for four weeks. Launched by the Aam Aadmi Party government to acquire 65,533 acres of agricultural land for residential and industrial purposes, the measure is contested by farmers and the opposition who say it was approved without consultation with village assemblies. Trade unions, which have organised several protests in recent days, denounce inadequate compensation, risks to the livelihoods of labourers and benefits only for large real estate groups.