The Paris-based media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the Israeli military’s “disgraceful tactic” to cover up war crimes in the wake of the killing of six journalists in Gaza on Sunday.
It has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to stop the massacre of journalists, RSF said in a statement.
The August 10 Israeli strike killed six media professionals in Gaza, five of whom currently work or formerly worked for the Qatari television network Al Jazeera and one freelance journalist.
The strike, which has been claimed by the Israeli army, targeted Al Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif, whom it accused, without providing solid evidence, of “terrorist affiliation”.
RSF said the military had repeatedly used this tactic against journalists to cover up war crimes, while the army has already killed more than 200 media professionals.
“RSF strongly condemns the killing of six media professionals by the Israeli army, once again carried out under the guise of terrorism charges against a journalist,” said RSF’s director-general Thibaut Bruttin.
“One of the most famous journalists in the Gaza Strip, Anas al-Sharif, was among those killed.
“The Israeli army has killed more than 200 journalists since the start of the war. This massacre and Israel’s media blackout strategy, designed to conceal the crimes committed by its army for more than 21 months in the besieged and starving Palestinian enclave, must be stopped immediately.
“The international community can no longer turn a blind eye and must react and put an end to this impunity.
“RSF calls on the UN Security Council to meet urgently on the basis of Resolution 2222 of 2015 on the protection of journalists in times of armed conflict in order to stop this carnage.”
Targeted strike on tent
The Israeli army killed Al Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif in a targeted strike on a tent housing a group of journalists near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
The strike, claimed by Israeli authorities, also killed five other media professionals, including four working or having worked for Al Jazeera — correspondent Mohammed Qraiqea, video reporter Ibrahim al-Thaher, Mohamed Nofal, assistant cameraman and driver that day, and Moamen Aliwa, a freelance journalist who worked with Al Jazeera — as well as another freelance journalist, Mohammed al-Khaldi, creator of a YouTube news channel.
The attack also wounded freelance reporters Mohammed Sobh, Mohammed Qita, and Ahmed al-Harazine.
This attack, claimed by the Israeli army, replicates a tactic previously used against Al Jazeera journalists. On 31 July 2024, the Israeli army killed reportersIsmail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi in a targeted strike, following a smear campaign against the former, who, like Anas al-Sharif, was accused of “terrorist affiliation”.
Hamza al-Dahdouh, Mustafa Thuraya and Hossam Shabat, who also worked for the Qatari media outlet, are among the victims of this method denounced by RSF.
As early as October 2024, RSF warned of an imminent attack on Anas al-Sharif following accusations by the Israeli army.
The international community, led by the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States, ignored these warnings.
Under Resolution 2222 of 2015 on the protection of journalists in armed conflict, the UN Security Council has a duty to convene urgently in response to this latest extrajudicial killing by the Israeli army.
Since October 2023, RSF has filed four complaints with the International Criminal Court (ICC) requesting investigations into what it describes as war crimes committed by the Israeli army against journalists in Gaza.
The New Zealand-based Pacific Media Watch collaborates with Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The Kanwar Yatra, which takes place during the auspicious Hindu month of ‘Shravan’ or ‘Saavan’, is a crucial pilgrimage for Hindus who worship the deity Shiva. However, the arduous yatra undertaken by these devotees, symbolising reverence, restraint and penance, has been marred by incidents of violence and vandalism over the past few years.
During this pilgrimage, ‘Kanwariyas’ or devotees carry water from the Ganges on a pole (called Kanwar) and offer it to the Shiva deity. They often fast and undertake the journey barefoot. The Kanwar these pilgrims carry is a bamboo or wooden stick decorated with fabric, threads and flowers. At both ends are urns filled with water from the holy river, which Kanwariyas carry for several kilometres on foot. Their yatra or pilgrimage is deemed complete after they offer this water to the Shiva deity. The Kanwar is considered sacred and the urns must be kept off the ground and away from anything deemed impure. If the Kanwar touches the ground, the water is no longer sacred and the whole yatra turns futile. Kanwariyas then have to fetch water and walk barefoot all over again. This is one reason why devotees lose their temper when something inadvertently touches the Kanwar.
However, this year, numerous videos from across the country, such as Mirzapur, Ghaziabad, Delhi, Rishikesh, Haridwar and Muzaffarnagar, have surfaced wherein Kanwariyas were seen beating people up, vandalising public property and causing a ruckus over seemingly insignificant issues. In one instance, they blocked an entire highway over a minor collision and vandalised bikes, cars, and buses. Elsewhere, they attacked security forces or damaged police vehicles. Surprisingly, many such incidents took place despite police presence; local administration and security forces seemed to have little control over things. Such incidents exposed a rather aggressive side of Kanwariyas, overshadowing notions of piety associated with them and the pilgrimage. In this report, Alt News will try to document some of these instances from this year’s yatra.
Haridwar: Dispute Takes Communal Turn
A few days before Saavan, an alleged incident of communal violence by Kanwariyas came to light from the Manglaur area of Haridwar. A car carrying a Muslim family, including women and children, accidentally collided with Kanwariyas walking on the road. According to reports, the incident, which started as a minor dispute, took a violent turn after Kanwariyas found that the car was being driven by a Muslim. Some Kanwariyas reportedly also misbehaved with the Muslim woman in the car and beat up another individual.
Mirzapur: A CRPF Jawan Attacked
Even Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were not spared. On July 18, a group of Kanwariyas brutally beat up a CRPF personnel at the Mirzapur railway station. The CRPF personnel, Gautam, was travelling from Mirzapur to Manipur with his son and a companion and was waiting for the Brahmaputra train. At the station platform, he got into an argument with some Kanwariyas, who soon threw him on the ground and beat him up. A video of the incident went viral on social media. While the fight ensued, many looked on, but no one came to help or save him. In the video, the CRPF jawan’s son was seen handling his father. After the matter escalated, a case was filed at the RPF post Mirzapur and seven Kanwariyas were arrested. A search was launched for others. Four of those arrested were minors.
In UP’s Mirzapur, a CRPF personnel was brutally assaulted by the Kanwariyas at the railway station. pic.twitter.com/t5R19OvNfL
On July 14, a group of more than three dozen Kanwariyas from Auraiya in Kanpur were headed to Shivrajpur Khereshwar (the site of a Shiv temple) from Bithoor on bikes carrying water from the Ganges. The group was crossing the Shivrajpur police station when one of the youths slipped and fell on the ground. A scout guide, Vishwajeet, and a home guard, Umashankar, from the police station standing nearby, helped him get him. However, suddenly, there was a ruckus and the youths clashed with the duo, accusing them of charging with sticks. The home guard was beaten up and his uniform torn. There was a lot of ruckus at the Shivrajpur police station but police personnel seemed helpless.
According to reports, Kanwariyas broke the glass of the women’s help desk and the windows of the police response vehicle, besides damaging other vehicles parked in the police station premises. CCTV cameras at the police station and nearby roads captured the whole incident. Based on the footage, police identified 20 suspects involved in the violence and registered an FIR against them. Five of those accused were arrested and sent to jail.
Basti: Police Vehicle Pelted with Sticks
On July 21, at the Kaptanganj crossing in Uttar Pradesh’s Basti district, Kanwariyas not only blocked the national highway, but also accused a youth from a different community of making objectionable comments about a temple. These Kanwariyas charged at police vehicles with sticks. They also destroyed police barricades and uprooted the hoardings, setting them on fire. Although the police force was present at the scene, they did little to curb the ruckus. At one point, Kanwariyas also targeted an ambulance and were seen entering it.
मौके पर उच्चाधिकारीगण मौजूद हैं, सभी कांवरियों को समझा बुझाकर शांत कराया गया, सभी कांवरिया शांतिपूर्वक अपने गंतव्य के लिए जा रहे हैं, शांति एवं कानून व्यवस्था कायम है।
As the situation got out of hand, the superintendent of police (SP) took charge and appealed to Kanwariyas to remain calm. However, even as he was making this appeal, someone from the crowd threw a stone towards him. The stone hit a policeman who was with the SP, resulting in him bleeding profusely. Despite this, the SP tried reasoning with the Kanwariyas as fellow policemen also pleaded with folded hands.
Meerut: School Bus Windows Broken
On July 14, a group of Kanwariyas vandalised a school bus in Meerut’s Sadar Bazaar police station area and broke its windows. They alleged four to five Kanwariyas had been injured and their Kanwars broken as a result of a collision with the bus. Following this, some Kanwariyas quarrelled with the bus driver and abused him. They also threatened to kill him and vandalised the bus.
Similarly, another incident of violence at the hands of Kanwariyas came to light from Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh. On July 24, near Nadarai village on the Mathura-Bareilly highway in the Kasganj district, angry Kanwariyas created a ruckus and vandalised a bus after their Kanwar, kept on the roadside, allegedly broke due to the bus. The police tried to pacify Kanwariyas and took them to the Lahara Ganga ghat in a government vehicle to refill their pitchers and brought them back.
सूचना पर थाना प्रभारी कासगंज द्वारा तत्काल मौके पर पहुँचकर कावडियों से वार्ता कर पुनः जल की व्यवस्था कराते हुए उन्हें सकुशल गन्तव्य हेतु रवाना कर दिया गया है, थाना स्तर से अन्य आवश्यक कार्यवाही की जा रही है ।
Some videos also emerged from Bareilly in which a group of devotees attacked and vandalised a car in the presence of police after a vehicle allegedly hit a Kanwariya.
In Ghaziabad’s Modinagar, a vehicle allegedly hit a Kanwariya. Following this, the angry Kanwariyas vandalised the vehicle and beat the driver brutally, leaving him in a near-dead state.
Muzaffarnagar: Biker Beaten
On July 8, in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar, a group of Kanwariyas started beating a local bike rider with sticks, accusing him of breaking a Kanwar. According to one report, the youth turned towards the group of Kanwariyas with his bike while crossing the road, resulting in the two brushing against each other. Despite the minor collision, Kanwariyas surrounded the apologetic youth and started beating him with sticks.
In the video, the youth is seen trying to save himself. However, the anger of the Kanwariyas reached a feverish pitch as the crowd kept attacking him and trying to burn his bike. Though police personnel arrived at the scene, they struggled to save the youth and his vehicle.
In Muzaffarnagar, Kanwariyas also created ruckus at an eatery over food and broke chairs and furniture. A video of this incident was viral on social media. On July 7, Kanwariyas had reached Shri Siddh Baba Balak Nath Dhaba on NH-58, within the Purkaji police station area of Haryana, to eat food, where they allegedly accused the Dhaba of serving food with onions and argued with the Dhaba owner and employees and vandalised the place. Kanwariyas do not consume meat, onion and garlic during this pilgrimage.
According to reports, the Dhaba owner and workers repeatedly explained that the Kanwariyas were not served dishes with onion, but despite this, the devotees continued to knock things over. On receiving information about this, the police reached there and tried to pacify the Kanwariyas and send them to their destination. The eatery manager claimed the police was there, but did little to help and instead asked him to spare the Kanwariyas. “They are innocent and devotees. My request is that you understand… everyone makes mistakes.”
Roorkee: Car Driver Assaulted
Kanwariyas accused a car driver of breaking a Kanwar near the Belda village on the Haridwar-Roorkee highway in Uttarakhand and beat him up, smashing the car to pieces.
In Roorkee, again, some Kanwariyas alleged that their Kanwar was damaged by an e-rickshaw and then vandalised the vehicle in front of cops.
हरिद्वार – रूड़की में कांवड़ियों का देखने को मिला तांडव
ई रिक्शा चालक से टक्कर लगना बताया कारण कांवड़ियों ने ई-रिक्शा में जमकर तोड़फोड़ की पुलिस कर्मियों के सामने कांवड़िए करते रहे तोड़फोड़ लाचार पुलिसकर्मियों ने काफी रोकने की कोशिश मंगलौर कोतवाली के लिब्बरहेड़ी मार्ग… pic.twitter.com/2lLdwBlOAf
— भारत समाचार | Bharat Samachar (@bstvlive) July 23, 2024
Haridwar: Several Incidents as Kanwariyas Chaos
In Haridwar’s Bahadarabad, when a Kanwar was broken due to a collision with a car, Kanwariyas damaged the vehicle with sticks and stones. The Haridwar police registered a case and detained three miscreants.
Some Kanwariyas also vandalised a spectacle shop in Haridwar after a dispute with the shopkeeper. Later, police officials from the Kotwali police station arrested two Kanwariyas.
In another case in Haridwar, Kanwariyas blocked the road by placing water from the Ganges on the road and created a ruckus. The police wanted to send the Kanwariyas from Haridwar to UP, Delhi, Haryana via the Ganganahar route, but the Kanwariyas were adamant on going via the Delhi-Dehradun highway. Later, the police resorted to a lathi-charge to disperse the crowd forcefully.
When a Kanwar broke near rge Bahadrabad toll plaza in Haridwar, Kanwariyas pelted stones on a bus and a police vehicle and damaged public property.
आज बहादराबाद टोल प्लाज़ा पर कांवड़ खंडित होने पर कुछ असामाजिक तत्वों ने रोडवेज बस व पुलिस वाहन पर पथराव कर सार्वजनिक संपत्ति को क्षतिग्रस्त किया।
पुलिस ने तुरंत स्थिति नियंत्रित कर यातायात बहाल किया।
— Uttarakhand Police (@uttarakhandcops) July 12, 2025
Later, the Uttarakhand police took control of the situation and restored traffic. After registering an FIR, they seized the vehicle and arrested two people.
In Haridwar, the pilgrims played loud music with DJs on the road, causing traffic jams. When policemen tried to disperse them, Kanwariyas attacked them.
Taking Law Into Their Hands
The string of incidents outlined above demonstrates how Kanwariyas almost took the law into their hands, resorted to violence over minor issues and even ignored police presence at the scene. On several occasions, police appeared helpless as a rowdy crowd of devotees destroyed public property and vehicles.
These incidents raise several questions. Does law and order take a back seat when it comes to devotion and faith? Why do such incidents happen despite police presence? Have we blurred the line differentiating between a devotee and a vandal? Why are such incidents increasing year after year?
New Zealand Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has been ejected from Parliament’s debating chamber and told to leave for the rest of the week after a fiery speech about the war in Gaza.
As Swarbrick came to the end of her contribution, she challenged coalition MPs to back her member’s bill allowing New Zealand to apply sanctions on Israel “for its war crimes”.
Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick asked to leave Parliament after Gaza speech Video: Parliament TV
“If we find six of 68 government MPs with a spine, we can stand on the right side of history,” Swarbrick said.
Almost immediately, Speaker Gerry Brownlee condemned the remark as “completely unacceptable” and demanded she “withdraw it and apologise”.
Swarbrick shot back a curt — “no” — prompting Brownlee to order her out of the chamber for the remainder of the week.
“Happily,” Swarbrick said, as she rose to leave.
Green Party whip Ricardo Menéndez March later stood to question the severity of punishment, saying Parliament’s rules suggested Swarbrick should be barred for no more than a day.
Brownlee later clarified that Swarbrick could come back to the debating chamber on Wednesday, but only if she agreed to withdraw and apologise.
“If she doesn’t, then she’ll be leaving the House again,” he said.
“I’m not going to sit in this chair and tolerate a member standing on her feet . . . and saying that other members of this House are spineless.”
‘What the hell is the point?’ — Swarbrick Speaking outside the debating chamber, Swarbrick described the ruling as “ridiculous” and the punishment excessive.
“As far as the robust debate goes in that place, I think that was pretty mild in the context of the war crimes that are currently unfolding.”
She drew a comparison with comments made by former prime minister Sir John Key in 2015 when he challenged the opposition to “get some guts”.
Swarbrick said she was tired and angry at the massacre of human beings.
“What the hell is the point of everything that we do if the people in my place, in my job don’t do their job?” she said.
“If we allow other human beings to be just mercilessly slaughtered, to be shot while waiting for food aid, what hope is there for humanity?”
Swarbrick was not the only MP to run afoul of the Speaker during today’s debate.
Earlier, Labour MP Damien O’Connor was told to either exit the chamber or apologise after interjecting while Foreign Minister Winston Peters was speaking. O’Connor stood and left.
Brownlee also demanded ACT MP Simon Court say sorry — which he did — after Court accused Swarbrick of “hallucinating outrage”.
Government urges caution, opposition demands action In his speech, Court said any recognition of a Palestinian state must be conditional on all Israeli hostages being returned and Hamas being disarmed and dismantled.
“Security must come before politics,” he said.
No National MPs spoke during the urgent debate.
Peters — who is also NZ First leader — told MPs the matter of Palestinian statehood was not a straightforward or clear-cut issue.
“There are strong opinions on both sides,” he said. “That is why we are approaching this issue carefully, judiciously and calmly.”
Peters also took umbrage with the opposition’s complaints, pointing out Labour never moved on the matter when it was in government.
In a 10 minute speech, Labour foreign affairs spokesperson Peeni Henare said New Zealand was being left behind as the coalition walked into a “sunset of denial”.
“How many more people will suffer and how many more people will die?”
‘Despicable’ justifications
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer told MPs it was “despicable” to hear the justifications for another month’s delay.
“What will be left? Rubble? Martyred spirits? What is that you want to have left in a month’s time?” she said. “I have never been more ashamed to be in the House than I am today.”
In her speech, Swarbrick told MPs libraries of evidence demonstrated that the events unfolding in Palestine were “ethnic cleansing… apartheid [and]… genocide”.
“We are a laggard, we are an outlier,” she said. “We are one of the very few countries in the world who so far refuse to acknowledge the absolute bare minimum.”
Earlier, during Parliament’s Question Time, ACT leader and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour objected to Swarbrick having a Palestinian scarf, or keffiyeh, draped across her seat.
“I invite you to consider what this House might look like if everybody who had an interest in a global conflict started adorning their seats with symbols of one side or another of a conflict,” he said.
“I think that would bring the House into disrepute and no member should be allowed to do such a thing.”
Brownlee said Seymour raised a good point, only for Swarbrick to then wrap the scarf around her neck.
“Oh, here we go,” he said. “Well, stay warm. We’ll move on now.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Within hours of sending in her bimonthly column to The Assam Tribune on the violation of human rights and ‘dehumanization’ of Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam, veteran journalist Patricia Mukhim was told by the paper on August 6 that the management had decided not to carry the piece. She was also instructed to concentrate only on Meghalaya.
Patricia, who has been the editor of The Shillong Times for almost two decades now, started contributing to the Assam Tribune, one of the largest-selling English dailies in the northeast, around 2014. On Wednesday, she sent in her piece to the Tribune which was to be published the next day, August 7. Soon after being informed about the rejection, the Padma Shri-winning journalist decided to cut off her ties with The Assam Tribune and not contribute to the paper henceforth. This, she announced in a Facebook post.
‘Concentrate Only on Meghalaya’
Expressing her disappointment at the development, the Meghalaya-based journalist wrote on the social media platform, “To be told what to write on and how to write are the marks of an authoritarian regime. It’s better to be a free spirit than be tied in knots and have your thoughts imprisoned.”
On August 6, an Assam Tribune staffer sent a text message to Patricia, saying “Management has gone through your article — ‘Needed a political catharsis’ — and instructed me not to carry it. From now on, therefore, you are humbly requested to focus only on Meghalaya.” They also said they were “simply conveying” to the journalist “what the management said” — that she should “concentrate only on Meghalaya”. “For any query in this regard, you may talk to the executive editor,” the text message added.
Patricia said when she started contributing to the paper around 2014, she was not given any such instruction on what she should or should not write on. “I travel the region and am a keen observer of its socio-political and geo-strategic twists and turns.”
“Then I realised that the inevitable had happened.. Anything that runs contrary to the current regime will not be entertained by the mainstream media barring a few brave ones that continue to stand their ground and have refused to become lapdogs of the ruling regime,” she says in her Facebook post.
‘Relentless Drive to Dehumanize Bengali-speaking Muslims’
The ‘rejected’ opinion piece, published two days later by Scroll, draws attention to how “the relentless drive to dehumanize Bengali-speaking Muslims, thousands of whom are now homeless and without a country, has crossed out “human rights” from the political discourse” in Assam. Referring to former US President Ronald Reagan’s inaugural address in 1981 in which he had famously remarked, “In the present crisis, government is not the solution to our problems. Government is the problem,” Patricia writes that Assam today has a “a one-man government”.
“We don’t hear voices that will calm the chaos. It’s as if the chief minister alone has taken upon himself the sole right of addressing the media. Assam society today is completely divided between Bengali Muslims and Bengali Hindus,” she adds.
It is relevant to add here that under chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, communal polarization in Assam has reached an unprecedented peak with incidents of hate and violence against Bengali-speaking Muslims rising exponentially. In July, Sarma justified the ‘fight’ against minorities even if they are not ‘foreigners’, when he wrote in an X post, “Just do not stop us from fighting for what is ours. For us this is our last battle of survival.”
Agree. Legally, all of them may not be foreigners. But we, the people of Assam—especially Hindus—are becoming a hopeless minority in our own land. All this has happened over a span of just 60 years.
We have lost our culture, our land, our temples. The law gives us no remedy.… https://t.co/OCDEilTESf
Earlier in May, the Himanta-led Cabinet brought in a scheme to give gun licenses to ‘indigenous people’ living in Muslim-majority areas. Justifying the move, Sarma has said, “A gun is essential. Without a gun, how will you live in places like South Salmara and Mankachar? You will understand when you go there…”
About 95% of the population in Salmara-Mankachar district are Muslims. In other words, Sarma, the constitution head of the state, made no bones about the fact that he felt guns were needed by Hindus to defend themselves against Muslims.
It is interesting to note that on August 11, the Assam chief minister’s office shared an Assam Tribune report on X which quotes Sarma justifying the gun policy by saying that gun is essential in vulnerable areas. The report says, “The Chief Minister stated the new policy is strictly limited to areas where national security concerns are pronounced, particularly along Assam’s international border with Bangladesh. Among the immediate areas being considered for arms licence issuance are Dhubri, South Salmara, Barpeta, Morigaon, and Nagaon.”
Fact is, neither Barpeta, not Morigaon, nor Nagaon shares international border with Bangladesh. However, all three are Muslim-majority districts. The report in The Assan Tribune chooses to ignore that.
In her article, Patricia does note how the media has joined the BJP government in Assam in polarizing the society. “Today, politics is driven purely by divisiveness and hatred. Day after day, TV channels and YouTubers carry out a vicious campaign against Muslims as if they do not deserve to live. Thousands of them are reduced to a life that hangs by a thread in what is the most inhuman treatment meted out to them.”
It is crudely ironic that in the piece itself, Patricia repeatedly refers to the shrinking space for questioning the powers that be. “Today we have reached a point in this country when asking hard questions from the ruling establishment turns you into a Pakistan sympathiser or an “anti-national”. Never in the past, not even during the Emergency, did we feel this sense of repression that we feel today.”
Things have come to such a passe, Patricia notes, that the Assam chief minister “is hell-bent on bringing to its knees the University of Technology and Management”, an institute located not in his state but in Meghalaya, “simply because its chancellor and founder is a Muslim”.
I Sense a Caste Bias Here: Patricia Mukhim
Speaking to Alt News, the senior journalist who is considered one of the most representative voices from the northeast, said that around 2014, it was “a personal approach” by the then executive editor, PJ Baruah, which started her association with The Assam Tribune. “He asked me to give a name to my column. I called it Rough & Tumble. He allowed me complete freedom and we never once had any complaints.”
About the manner in which the present editorial team treated her, Patricia said she could sense a caste bias at play here. “After having contributed to The Assam Tribune for over a decade the communication for not carrying my article was being conveyed by a junior staff of the newspaper. I can sense a caste bias here since I am a tribal and therefore am not supposed to comment or write on issues pertaining to the Assamese people, who until 1971 ruled over Meghalaya and other northeastern states before we were considered politically mature to manage our own affairs.”
Patricia referred to the historical reluctance of the Assamese gentry to grant autonomy to the tribes while explaining why she thought that the way the paper treated her was as problematic as the response itself. “The debates in the Constitution-making body when the tribes of Meghalaya demanded the Sixth Schedule as a protective cover for tribal customary practices and governance must be re-read to understand the views of the Assamese gentry at the time. They were against granting the Sixth Schedule to the tribes lest it lead to secessionism. It is against these backgrounds that the relations between the Assamese and the tribals continues till date. The equations have always been unequal.”
Senior Journalists Express Anger; Stand by Patricia
Reacting to the development, veteran journalist and author Paranjoy Guha Thakurta said he was “angry and deeply saddened” by the decision of The Assam Tribune to not carry Patricia Mukhim’s opinion article on the religious polarisation in Assam, Meghalaya and other parts of the northeast.
“If the owner of the publication is responsible for “killing” Patricia’s story, it cannot be justified under any circumstances. And if the concerned person has acted at the behest of the chief minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, it indicates how subservient a large section of the media has become in Assam and elsewhere. The chief minister seems to be following the playbook of his mentors in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah. More strength to Patricia!” he added.
Columnist, author and former editor of The Times of India Bachi Karkaria, who has known Patricia closely, told Alt News, “It must have been a difficult decision to let go of a platform with such huge reach in the north east. But she would have betrayed all that she has stood for if she had continued.” Bachi called Assam Tribune’s response ‘pitiable’.
“I am sure Assam Tribune gave her the column in 2014 as much for her strong voice as for her deep understanding of the people, culture and politics of the northeast. For them to stop just because it went against the ruling party at the Centre and the state was pitiable. To do it with such lack of grace makes it doubly so.”
“I have come to know, admire and respect Pat from our common membership of South Asian Women in Media (SWAM). She has always led from the front to defend the freedom of journalists. When her own rights were muzzled, to have quietly continued with Assam Tribune would have been hypocritical. Pat is neither hypocritical nor quiet,” Bachi noted.
Alt News has written to The Assam Tribune seeking a response to Patricia Mukhim’s remarks. This story will be updated if the paper gets back to us.
In Aotearoa, a Pacific advocate for youth homelessness says the country must address poverty and systemic inequities to fix the housing affordability crisis.
Research from the Salvation Army last month showed one in 1000 people in the country are without shelter. Youth were reportedly disproportionately affected.
Overall, Pasefika communities were also over-represented in the country’s hardship figures. For example, the latest government figures showed the Pacific unemployment rate was 12.1 percent – more than double the national average.
Brooke Stanley, of youth homelessness collective Manaaki Rangatahi, told RNZ Pacific Waves “successive government choices and policies” had failed to prioritise people’s housing needs.
That had led to rising homelessness, she said.
Homelessness reaches crisis point Video: RNZ
“I think that those policy choices and decisions are actually underpinned by a certain set of values that don’t recognise housing as being a human right,” Stanley said.
“We’re looking at a politics of ego, of competition, of division, of greed and profit.”
Pasefika bearing brunt Stanley also said the current government’s policies were making things worse, and Pasefika communities were bearing the brunt of it.
High rents, lack of public housing and affordable housing, as well as socio-economic status all contributed to Pasefika being disproportionately affected by the housing affordability crisis.
Tougher rules from Kāinga Ora — the government’s public housing agency — also painted a bleak picture.
For example, in Manurewa and Porirua, Pacific families were reportedly being kicked out of public housing at disproportionate rates. The pattern was identified in tenancy enforcement data by PMN.
In Manurewa, Pacific families represented about half of the agency’s tenants, but made up three-quarters of enforcement action. In Porirua, Pacific people represented about the same proportion of Kāinga Ora tenants but made up two-thirds of enforcement action.
Enforcement action included tenancy terminations.
Kāinga Ora has previously said it applied its policies in “a fair and consistent way in communities around the country”.
Ending tenancies
Kāinga Ora spokesperson Nick Maling said the decision to end a tenancy was never made lightly, especially when children and young people were involved.
Associate Minister for Housing Tama Potaka has said the government is working to address homelessness.
“There’s a number of things that this government is doing, whether or not it’s the build programme — making sure we build another 500 social homes in Auckland, Māori housing, Kainga Ora… resetting the housing system,” he told RNZ Morning Report in July.
He has also said that rebuilding the economy to create more jobs and get people into work was part of the government’s solution to homelessness.
Stanley believed New Zealand’s policymakers needed to shift their approach to housing and homelessness completely.
“We can’t talk about ending homelessness unless we also talk about ending poverty,” she said.
“I think we need to look at the different contributing factors . . . [and the] the structural inequities that also contribute to homelessness.
“I think it’s really important that our leaders just not only talk about these things, but also have the actions and policies that reflect those values.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
I never knew Anas al-Sharif personally. But somehow he seemed to be part of our whānau.
We watched so many of his reports from Gaza that it just appeared he would be always around keeping us up-to-date on the horrifying events in the besieged enclave.
Although he actually worked for Al Jazeera Arabic, the 28-year-old was probably the best known Palestinian journalist in the Strip and many of his stories were translated into English.
It is yet another despicable act by the Israeli military to assassinate him and four of his colleagues on the eve of launching their new mass crime to seize and demolish Gaza City with a population of about one million as part of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge to occupy the whole of Gaza.
In many ways the bravery of al-Sharif — he had warned several times that he was being targeted — was the embodiment of the Palestinian courage under fire when UNESCO awarded the 2024 World Press Freedom Award collectively to the Gazan journalists.
But it wasn’t enough just to “murder” him and his colleagues — as the Al Jazeera channel proclaimed in red banner television headlines — Israel attempted unsuccessfully to try to smear him in death as a “Hamas platoon leader” without a shred of evidence.
The drone attack late on Sunday night hit a journalists’ work tent near the main gate of Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, killing seven people. Among those killed beside al-Sharif were fellow Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Moamen Aliwa and Mohammed Noufal.
Call for UNSC emergency session
Al Jazeera later said a sixth journalist, freelancer Mohammad al-Khaldi, was also killed in the strike. Reporters Without Borders said three more journalists had been wounded and called for a UN Security Council emergency session to discuss journalist safety.
Al Jazeera condemns the assassination of its journalists by Israeli occupation forces
Al Jazeera Media Network condemns in the strongest terms the targeted assassination of its correspondents Anas Al Sharif and Mohammed Qraiqea, along with photographers Ibrahim Al Thaher, and… pic.twitter.com/0otP6IYIgC
In a statement, the Qatar-based Al Jazeera Media Network condemned in “the strongest terms” the killing of its media staff in “yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom”, noting that the Israeli occupation force had “admitted to their crimes”.
“This attack comes amid the catastrophic consequences of the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza, which has seen the relentless slaughter of civilians, forced starvation, and the obliteration of entire communities,” Al Jazeera said.
“Anas and his colleagues were among the last remaining voices from within Gaza, providing the world with unfiltered, on-the-ground coverage of the devastating realities endured by its people.”
Five Al Jazeera journalists killed in Gaza by Israel’s “psychopathic liar” — Marwan Bishara Video: Al Jazeera
“In fact, we have decided, and I’ve ordered, directed the military, to bring in foreign journalists, more foreign journalists,” Netanyahu told a news conference in Jerusalem.
Israeli authorities have in the past barred any foreign media from entering the Gaza Strip, while it has been deliberately targeting and killing local Palestinian journalists.
Other attacks on Al Jazeera
The deadly strike on Anas al-Sharif and his four colleagues is not the first attack on Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza since the start of Israel’s current war on the Palestinian territory in October 2023
Israeli forces have previously killed five Al Jazeera journalists: Samer Abudaqa, Ismael al-Ghoul, Ahmed al-Louh, Hossam Shabat and Hamza Dahdouh, son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, Wael Dahdouh, as well as many of the family members of Al Jazeera journalists.
The Israeli military has been systematically killing journalists, photographers and local media workers in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war in an attempt to silence their reports.
But some media freedom groups put the casualty figure even higher. The Government Media Office in Gaza, for example, reports that 242 journalists have been killed.
The Israeli military have frequently accused journalists of being “terrorists” without evidence.
‘Enormous influence’
“He’s held enormous influence there, and that’s precisely why Israel murdered him.
Shehada told Al Jazeera he had “looked into the allegations” that Israel produced, trying to smear him as a Hamas militant, adding that “the allegations were completely contradictory.” He added:
“There’s zero evidence that al-Sharif took part in any hostilities, in any armed actions, aided or abetted any kind of these hostilities. None at all. His entire daily routine was standing in front of a camera from morning to evening.”
An early Instagram report of the killing of the Gazan journalists . . . later updated to five Al Jazeera staff and a sixth journalist. Image: AJ
It had been alleged by Israel that Anas al-Sharif was a member of the military wing of Hamas, and the army claimed that it had found documents in Gaza that proved their point.
“It includes some links to content that anyone could have printed,” she said. “This has been going on for a few weeks, ever since Anas started reporting on the starvation in Gaza, and he had such a huge impact on the Arab world.
“Immediately after, a spokesman for the Israeli army in Arabic… posted a video on social media, accusing al-Sharif of being a Hamas member and threatening him.”
‘Knew he was at serious risk’
Abdel-Hamid said she had been going through his X feed.
“He knew his life was at serious risk, and he repeatedly wrote that he was just a journalist, and he wanted his message to be spread widely, because he thought that was a way to protect him.”
Posted on his X account in case he was killed was his “last will” and final message. He wrote in part:
“I entrust you with Palestine — the jewel in the crown of the Muslim world, the heartbeat of every free person in this world. I entrust you with its people, with its wronged and innocent children who never had the time to dream or live in safety and peace.
“Their pure bodies were crushed under thousands of tons of Israeli bombs and missiles, torn apart and scattered across the walls.
“I urge you not to let chains silence you, nor borders restrain you. Be bridges toward the liberation of the land and its people, until the sun of dignity and freedom rises over our stolen homeland . . . “
This is my will and my final message. If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice. First, peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings.
Allah knows I gave every effort and all my strength to be a support and a voice for my…
— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) August 10, 2025
Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said that last October Israel had accused al-Sharif and “a number of other journalists of being terrorists without providing any credible proof”.
“We warned back then that this felt to us like a precursor to justify assassination, and, of course, last month… we saw again, a repeated smear campaign”, she told Al Jazeera.
“This is not solely about Anas al-Sharif, this is part of a pattern that we have seen from Israel… going back decades, in which it kills journalists.”
Accusations repeated
Al-Sharif had warned last month about the starvation facing journalists — “and we saw then the accusations repeated.
“Of course, now we are seeing a new offensive, plans for a new offensive, in Gaza, the kind of thing that Anas has been reporting on for the best part of three years.”
“The [Israeli] occupation is preparing for a major massacre in Gaza, but this time without sound or image,” Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya told Turkiye’s Anadolu news agency.
“It wants to kill and displace the largest number of Palestinians in Gaza City but this time in the absence of the voice of Anas, Mohamed, Al Jazeera and all satellite channels.”
Assassinated Gazan journalist Anas al-Sharif . . . “killed to prevent coverage of atrocities” Israel intends to carry out in its Gaza City seizure. Image: AJ screenshot APR
‘Fabrications don’t wash’
Al Jazeera’s senior analyst Marwan Bishara warned that “Israel’s lies” about al-Sharif endangered journalists everywhere, saying that the “best response to the killing of our colleagues is by continuing to do what we do”.
“I want to correct one thing [about Western media reports], and I need our viewers and readers around the world to pay attention:
“It doesn’t matter whether what Israel said about al-Sharif is correct or not.
“It’s an absolute fabrication. It’s wrong. But it doesn’t matter.
“Because if every American journalist who served in Iraq and Afghanistan would have been killed because there’s a suspicion that they worked for the CIA; if every French and British journalist would be killed because they work for the MI5 or something like that, then I think there will be no Western journalists working in the Middle East.
“It’s not OK to kill a journalist in a tent of journalists because you accuse him of something.
“If you accuse him of something, you take him to court, you make a complaint, you follow certain procedures, with the network, with the [International Federation of Journalists], and so on and so forth.
“You don’t kill a journalist who has been doing their job for months on, day in, day out, night and day, and claim later that they work for Hamas.
“That doesn’t wash.
“It’s wrong, it’s a lie, it’s a fabrication as usual, but this psychopathic liar should not get away with killing a journalist and simply attaching an accusation to it.
“It doesn’t wash, because otherwise, every single Western journalist covering a war that a Western government is involved in is going to be a target.
I wrote that it was time for journalists to take a moral stand for truth and justice, and although I expected a strong response, the feedback was merely tepid. It was as if Western journalists did not comprehend the enormity of the Gaza crisis facing the world.
It is shameful that New Zealand journalists and media groups have not come out in the past 22 months with strong denunciations of Israel’s war on both journalists and truth – and the genocide against Palestinians.
A leading advocacy group supporting Palerstine has called on the government to follow Germany’s lead and suspend New Zealand military support for Israel to continue its mass killing and mass starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.
Germany and New Zealand were two of the countries to sign a letter yesterday condemning Israel’s plans to extend its war to Gaza City, displacing another million Palestinians.
However, one of the other signatories, Australia, announced that it would go a step further by moving to recognise a state of Palestine at the UN General Assembly next month.
“I have said it publicly and I said it directly to Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu: the situation in Gaza has gone beyond the world’s worst fears,” he said.
“Far too many innocent lives have been lost. The Israeli government continues to defy international law and deny sufficient aid, food and water to desperate people, including children.”
The decision rides on a condition that the Palestinian resistance group Hamas plays no role in its future governance.
Letter condemns Israel
New Zealand joined Australia, United Kingdom, Germany and Italy in signing a letter that said:
“The plans that the government of Israel has announced risk violating international humanitarian law. Any attempts at annexation or of settlement extension violate international law.
It will aggravate the catastrophic humanitarian situation, endanger the lives of the hostages, and further risk the mass displacement of civilians.”
PSNA co-chair John Minto said in a statement that Israel had a long history of ignoring outside opinion because they never included accountabilities.
“However, Germany has followed its condemnation with action. New Zealand needs to do the same,” he said.
Minto says New Zealand should:
• End approval for Rakon to export crystal oscillators to the US which are used in guided bombs sent to Israel for bombing Gaza;
• Ban all Rocket Lab launches from Mahia which are used for Israel reconnaissance in Gaza; and
• Launch an investigation by the Inspector-General of Security and Intelligence into the sharing of intelligence with the US and Israel which can be used for targeting Palestinians.
“New Zealanders expect our government to end its empty condemnations of Israel and act to sanction this rogue, genocidal state,” Minto said.
Another truth-teller targeted and killed in Gaza. I wish the journalists — some of whom I taught to master the skills of journalism, would look at this travesty and call it what it is: a genocide.
I wish they would remember that journalists have a code of ethics, I wish they would remember to serve the people and not despotic governments.
Good journalists are truth seekers and truth tellers.
Like this man, Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif, targeted, murdered for revealing the truth that tens of thousands of children, women, and men are regarded as the enemy by a country that wants to take their land and expand.
His Al Jazeera crew of five were wiped out yesterday.
In 1982, I asked an Israeli what he thought of the (then) invasion into Lebanon. He replled that if the government in Tel Aviv had its way and some Israelis were not against invasion, the army would have invaded Turkey. Look at what has happened now.
Massacre after massacre
Far more Palestinians were killed in the year leading up to October 7, 2023, than Israelis killed on that day. Palestinians have faced massacre after massacre ever since the Nakba in 1948.
They experience apartheid, they experience exile, they are not allowed to call Palestine their homeland, but it is their homeland.
Britain swooped into that country and appropriated a religious myth that dated back thousands of years, but being anti anti semitism means ensuring that people are comfortable in their own land, it does not mean booting one people out to make a home for yourself.
Settler colonisation continues to perpetuate the worst injustice. It just dealt another blow. Starving children and a good man, a truth teller, killed in cold blood.
Saige England is an Aotearoa New Zealand journalist, author, and poet, member of the Palestinian Solidarity Network of Aotearoa (PSNA), and a contributor to Asia Pacific Report. This commentary was first published on England’s social media.
LIVE: Al Jazeera Arabic reporter Anas Al Sharif was killed in an Israeli strike on a tent in Gaza City. https://t.co/f5TlGRMjIH
The Committee to Protect Journalists has made a statement today that it is appalled to learn of the killing of an Al Jazeera media crew of five, including journalists Anas Al-Sharif, Mohammed Qreiqeh, camera operators Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa by Israeli forces in Gaza.
The journalists were killed in an attack on a tent used by media near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City during a targeted Israeli bombardment, according to Al Jazeera which has described the killings as “murders”.
In a statement announcing the killing of Al-Sharif, Israel’s military accused the journalist of heading a Hamas cell and of “advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and [Israeli] troops”.
Israel has a longstanding, documented pattern of accusing journalists of being terrorists without providing any credible proof.
“Israel’s pattern of labeling journalists as militants without providing credible evidence raises serious questions about its intent and respect for press freedom,” said CPJ regional director Sara Qudah.
“Journalists are civilians and must never be targeted. Those responsible for these killings must be held accountable.”
Al-Sharif had been one of Al Jazeera’s best-known reporters in Gaza since the start of the war and one of several journalists whom Israel had previously alleged were members of Hamas without providing evidence.
Reported on starvation
Most recently, Al-Sharif had reported on the starvation that he and his colleagues were experiencing because of Israel’s refusal to allow sufficient food aid into Gaza.
In a July 24 video, Avichay Adraee, an Israel Defence Forces spokesperson, accused Al-Sharif of having been a member of Hamas’s military wing, Al-Qassam, since 2013 and working during the war “for the most criminal and offensive channel”, apparently referring to Al Jazeera Arabic.
LIVE: Al Jazeera Arabic reporter Anas Al Sharif was killed in an Israeli strike on a tent in Gaza City. https://t.co/f5TlGRMjIH
Al-Sharif told CPJ in July: “Adraee’s campaign is not only a media threat or an image destruction — it is a real-life threat.”
He said: “All of this is happening because my coverage of the crimes of the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip harms them and damages their image in the world.
“They accuse me of being a terrorist because the occupation wants to assassinate me morally.”
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, Irene Khan, said she was “deeply alarmed by repeated threats and accusations of the Israeli army” against al-Sharif.
Since the start of the Israel-Gaza war on October 7, 2023, CPJ has documented 186 journalists having been killed. At least 178 of those journalists are Palestinians killed by Israel.
Pacific affairs and media commentator Dr David Robie reflected on the 1985 Rainbow Warrior mission to Rongelap atoll to help US nuclear refugees and the bombing of the Greenpeace campaign ship by French secret agents in a kōrero hosted by the NZ Fabian Society.
His analysis is that far from the sabotage being an isolated incident, it was part of a cynical and sordid colonial policy that impacts on the Pacific until today.
He also spoke on wide-ranging issues ranging from decolonisation in Kanaky New Zealand and Palestine to climate crisis and opposition to AUKUS in the livestreamed event on Friday evening.
The Fabian Society and Just Defence spokeperson Mike Smith introducing journalist and author David Robie at the kōrero on Friday.
Former professor David Robie has a passion for the Asia-Pacific region and he founded the Pacific Media Centre at Auckland University of Technology in 2007 which ran until 2020 when he retired from academic life.
A journalist for more than 60 years, David has reported on postcolonial coups, indigenous struggles for independence and environmental and developmental issues in the Asia-Pacific.
On Saturday, he participated in the Nagasaki Day / Aro Valley Peace Talks where he and former RNZ journalist Jeremy Rose were in conversation analysing Pacific geopolitics and media coverage and challenges of the future.
Journalist and author Dr David Robie speaking to the Fabian Society about environmental activism, decolonisation and Pacific geopolitics. Image: Del Abcede.APR
Claims that Manipur’s Kuki tribe are refugees from Myanmar, welcomed to the state by the Congress government in 1968 and now have the upper hand, as they enjoy the Scheduled Tribe status, are being shared widely on social media platforms. Those making these claims have also shared some correspondence between the then-deputy commissioner of Manipur, S C Vaish, and the state government under-secretary, Birender Singh, on the “re-settlement of Kuki refugees” in certain areas.
The claims have emerged amid a stormy Monsoon Session of the Parliament, wherein Opposition leaders criticised the Centre for not addressing ethnic clashes that have erupted in Manipur since 2023 owing to conflict between the Meitei and Kuki communities. The northeastern state saw major violence and uneasy calm after the majoritarian Meitei community demanded their inclusion among the Scheduled Tribes. While this is the most recent trigger, the rift between the Kukis (primarily residing in the hills) and the Meiteis (valley residents) has been widening over decades. At present, Manipur is under President’s rule.
Coming back to the viral claims. On July 29, 2025, a Facebook user (Hiren Hindu) shared two documents claiming that Kukis were refugees who were given shelter in Manipur by Congress in 1968. This user also provocatively suggested that “sheltering Rohingyas and Bangladeshis” will eventually lead to them “occupying your houses, just like they did in Kashmir yesterday and are doing in Manipur today.”
The same documents and claims were also shared by X user (@Chhora_Up_Wala) on July 30.
कांग्रेस मणिपुर मणिपुर क्यों चिल्ला रही थी समझिए…???
क्यों की आज मणिपुर है कल पूरे देश में होना है
इन दस्तावेजों के मुताबिक कुकी शरणार्थियों को जून 1968 में कांग्रेस ने मणिपुर में बसाया था।
मैतेईस(हिंदुओ) ने उन्हें स्वीकार किया और खुले दिल और बांहों से उनका स्वागत किया।… pic.twitter.com/QCSimui20O
Alt News found that this was not the first time such claims went viral. In December 2024, X user @jpsin1 also shared these documents with similar claims to attack Congress. Note that this user has been called out on several occasions by Alt News for spreading communal misinformation.
Below are more instances of similar historical correspondence surfacing on social media since 2023.
Fact Check
The Kukis form an ethnic group that inhabits not just Manipur but several neighbouring northeastern states, such as Mizoram, Assam and Nagaland. They also inhabit certain regions ofBangladesh and Myanmar. Due to the proximity and porous borders they share with neighbouring states and countries, as well as the overlaps they have with tribes in these regions, many Kukis have often been accused of being “outsiders” in Manipur. Also, Kukis are not a unified tribe but comprise several subgroups, such as Aimol, Anal, Chawte, Chiru and Kolhen, among others. The name Kuki, too, was likely prescribed during British colonial rule.
Their historic origins and how they came to be settled during colonial rule in India require a much longer and detailed scholarly analysis, which we will not get into here. But historical records indicate that Kukis have been part of Northeast India and modern-day Manipur for hundreds of years.
One of the early records on Kukis was in a monograph by British officer Lt Col. John Shakespear in the book The Lushei Kuki clans, published in 1912 by Macmillan. Here, he says that records of appearances of “Old Kukis” in Manipur date as far back as the 16th century. He also said that they appeared in vast numbers in the Cachar region (now Assam) around 1800.
These findings have also been backed by other scholars as well as in publications by other British officers in the 19th century. (See this and this.)
Shakespear identifies the clans Aimol, Anal, Chawte, Chiru, Kolhen, Kom, Lamgang, Purum, Tikhup, and Vaiphei as Kukis found in hills bordering the Manipur valley. From the book:
“In the Manipur chronicle the Chiru and Anal are mentioned as early as the middle of the sixteenth century, while the Aimol make their first appearance in 1728.”
Additionally, Kukis also led a rebellion against the British between 1917 and 1919. Known as the Kuki Rising or the Anglo-Kuki War, the uprising was sparked, to some degree, due to the ‘forcible’ recruitment of Kukis as labour for World War I. As scholars Jangkhomang Guite and Thongkholal Haokip write in The Anglo-Kuki war, 1917–1919 (Routledge, 2019), the “active warfare and counterinsurgency operation” that began in March 1917 went on for till May 1919, “suspending two agriculture seasons and ending with the systematic destruction of villages, properties and all sources of livelihood.”
Kukis were granted the ST status in Assam and Tripura in 1950 and 1956 under the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950.
All of this makes it amply clear that Kukis inhabited the Northeast and Manipur far before 1968, unlike what the viral claims suggest.
What are the Viral Letters About?
On investigating further, we found that in 1967, the then-Burmese government had launched Operation Khadawmi to oust non-Burmese residents. As a result, thousands of villagers were pushed out of their homes because they were unable to furnish a national identity card. Among those pushed out were Kukis who migrated to the northeastern state of Manipur. Some scholars also claim that the Kukis who were pushed out of Burma in the 1960s had migrated there from the northern hills in Manipur in the late 1950s when the Naga movement started gaining momentum and several leaders of the Kuki clan began being killed.
In 2021, the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) had clarified that the Indian government had offered humanitarian aid to Kukis who fled to Manipur from Burma and that the now-viral letters were used to wrongly suggest that all Kukis were refugees.
“In 1967 during the Khadawmi operation in Burma, between Christmas and the New year, a small population of Kukis were forced to flee to Manipur. The hapless people, treated as refuges, were given humanitarian aid by the Indian Government. Government Notification (D.O. No. B-R/67/DC/1314-6, dated June 6 1968) to this effect was issued by District Commissioner Manipur. Suisa Tangkhul was the Member of Parliament from Outer Manipur at the time. The unfortunate event has been misrepresented to suggest all Kukis are refugees!” the KNO’s statement to The Frontier Manipur read.
Alt News reached out to a senior journalist from Manipur, Pradip Phanjoubam, to understand the context of these letters. Phanjoubam told us that while little is known about why some Kukis came to Manipur that year, the most likely explanation is that it was triggered by the anti-purge operation led by then Myanmar chief general Ne Win in 1967. While he said that there are some gaps in this explanation, it was most plausible.
This suggests that the letters exchanged between the then-deputy commissioner of Manipur, S C Vaish, and the state government under-secretary, Birender Singh, were possibly regarding the resettlement of these refugees from Myanmar, driven out due to the political situation there, in the Kongkhanthana area of Ukhrul in Manipur.
To sum up, while the issue of migration and repatriationof Kukis from Myanmar and their ethnicity is complex and layered, claims that all Kukis were refugees who were welcomed to Manipur in 1968 by Congress are far from true. While the documents shared by social media users do mention Kuki refugees from Myanmar settling in certain regions in Manipur (Kongkhanthana), they do not say all Kukis living in Manipur are refugees. Moreover, our findings indicate the correspondence may be referring to Kukis driven out from Myanmar in the mid-1960s amid Operation Khadawmi.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi held a press conference on August 7 in New Delhi in which he made serious allegations of voter list manipulations in at least one Karnataka constituency during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and accused the Election Commission of ‘vote theft’ and ‘criminal fraud’.
During his presentation, he showed that the names of two persons—Aditya Srivastava and Vishal Singh—were also on the voter list of other states, including Uttar Pradesh. To make his point, he shared screenshots of this, taken on March 16, 2025, from the Election Commission website and questioned how the same voter featured in voter lists of more than one state.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi makes a presentation on alleged voter list manipulations in Karnataka in front of India Bloc leaders in New Delhi on August 7, 2025. | Photo courtesy: Facebook/ @IndianNationalCongress
The screenshot shared by the Opposition leader shows Aditya Srivastava (with voter id or EPIC number FPP6437040) present in the voter list of two booths of the Mahadevpura constituency in Karnataka. The same name with the same EPIC number was also present in the voter lists of Jogeshwari East constituency in Maharashtra and Lucknow East in Uttar Pradesh.
He also shared a screenshot of a Vishal Singh (EPIC number INB2722288) whose name also appeared in voter lists of two booths of Mahadevpura assembly in Karnataka. His name was also present in the voter list of Varanasi Cantt assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh with the same EPIC number.
Responding to Rahul Gandhi’s allegations, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Uttar Pradesh issued a statement on August 7, 2025, denying Aditya Srivastava Vishal Singh were in the state’s voter lists.
The statement said that on searching for Aditya Srivastava (EPIC number FPP6437040), son of S P Srivastava, and Vishal Singh (EPIC number INB2722288), son of Mahipal Singh, on the Election Commission website it found that Srivastava’s name at serial number 1265 in the voter list of Mahadevpura’s booth number 458 Bengaluru Urban. Meanwhile, Vishal Singh’s name was present at serial number 926 in the voter list of booth 513 of Mahadevpura assembly of Bengaluru Urban. Refuting Gandhi’s claims, the UP CEO said that the names of these two voters were not part of voter lists of UP’s Lucknow East and Varanasi Cantt constituencies.
Firstly, the screenshot shared by Rahul Gandhi from the Election Commission website is from March 16, 2025, but the statement issued by the Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh is based on the EPIC search on the Election Commission website on August 7, 2025.
To verify the statement by the Uttar Pradesh CEO, we searched the names and EPIC numbers shared by Rahul Gandhi in the Draft Roll-2025 published by the Election Commission on 29 October 2024 and Final Roll-2025 published on 7 January 2025 for Lucknow East and Varanasi Cantt constituencies. We found that the names of Aditya Srivastava and Vishal Singh were present in these lists. The EPIC numbers of both match the screenshot shared by Rahul Gandhi. The UP CEP’s statement does not match the information in the Draft Roll-2025 and Final Roll-2025 available on the Election Commission website that we accessed. Their statement appears to be misleading and false.
The links to download the full Draft Roll-2025 and the Final Roll-2025, published by the EC on October 19, 2024, and January 7, 2025, respectively for Lucknow East and Varanasi Cantt constituencies have been added below.
A careful reading of the UP CEO’s statement revealed more errors.
For instance, the statement says that on searching on the Election Commission website, the name of Aditya Srivastava, son of S P Srivastava (EPIC number FPP6437040), appears at serial number 1265 in the voter list of booth number 458 of Mahadevapura Assembly constituency 174, Bengaluru Urban.
However, when we searched with Aditya Srivastava’s EPIC number in the voter list of the Mahadevpura constituency, the voter details were different from the UP CEO’s statement. The voter details do not show Aditya Srivastava’s father’s name but the name of a relative — Rithika Srivastava.
Moreover, when we tried to look for Aditya Srivastava based on the information in the screenshot shared by Rahul Gandhi under the ‘Search by Details’ option on the Election Commission’s website, we found the name Aditya Srivastava, the son of S P Srivastava (as mentioned in the UP CEO’s statement), in the voter list of Lucknow East assembly seat. However, in a strange twist, the EPIC number against his name is different now.
We cross-checked his details with the Final Roll-2025 published by the Election Commission and found that most of these details such as the polling station, serial number and age of the voter (Aditya Srivastava, son of SP Srivastava) matched except the EPIC number. The EPIC number FPP6437040 has been changed to RXM4728275.
The discrepancies in our findings and the UP CEO’s indicate that the claims made by the electoral officer are misleading and likely issued hurriedly and without adequate research.
[7 August 2025] The CSO Working Group on Independent National Human Rights Institution (Burma/Myanmar) (Working Group) and the Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI) acknowledge that the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions’ (APF) has decided to expel the junta-controlled Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) from its network.
The APF’s decision is a principled step in the right direction.
We call on the Southeast Asia National Human Rights Institution Forum (SEANF) to follow suit and immediately remove the MNHRC from its human rights network.
What happened
In May 2025, the APF officially removed the MNHRC from its regional human rights network, following the removal of its accreditation by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) in December 2024 and subsequently, its GANHRI membership in March 2025.
According to the APF’s Constitution, full members hold an “A” status accreditation from GANHRI, indicating full compliance with the Paris Principles—the international standards for effective, credible, and independent NHRIs. Members with a “B” status accreditation—signifying only partial compliance—are only granted associate membership.
As the APF uses GANHRI’s accreditation decisions to determine membership status in its network, the expulsion of the MNHRC following GANHRI’s removal of the MNHRC’s accreditation status was imminent and necessary.
Five long months after GANHRI revoked the MNHRC’s accreditation, the APF has finally taken the critical decision required under its own constitution. This long-overdue, principled decision is the result of more than four years of consistent advocacy efforts and repeated calls by the Working Group and ANNI alongside their local, regional, and international partners.
How the MNHRC supports the junta
Since the attempted coup in 2021, the Myanmar military junta has continued to commit atrocity crimes against the people of Myanmar—killing more than 7,000 people, torching more than 110,000 homes, and conducting more than 5,000 airstrikes, most of which have targeted civilians.
The MNHRC has been an accessory to these crimes, serving as a smokescreen for the junta by echoing false narratives, thus lending false legitimacy to the perpetrators of these human rights abuses.
For more than four years, the MNHRC has clearly violated the Paris Principles through persistent silence and inaction towards the junta’s grave human rights violations. It has also expressed vocal support for the junta.
Khin Ohmar, Chairperson of Progressive Voice, member of the Working Group, said: “The APF’s long-awaited decision to remove the junta-appointed MNHRC demonstrates that the network is, at last, willing to take a principled stance. This decision sends a clear message to the people of Myanmar that the APF is finally upholding its integrity by refusing to tolerate the MNHRC’s blatant disregard for the Paris Principles and cover-up of human rights violations.
“This is an overdue but necessary commitment to accountability and human rights by the APF. This proxy institution of the Myanmar military—the MNHRC—is irreparable. All regional NHRIs and networks must cease any support for and engagement with the MNHRC. Continuing to do so risks complicity in the crimes of the Myanmar military and undermines the credibility and integrity of their own human rights institutions.”
Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso, Executive Director of FORUM-ASIA, which serves as the Secretariat of ANNI, said: “The recognition by global and regional NHRI networks of the junta-controlled MNHRC as unacceptable and in violation of international standards is critical in promoting justice and accountability. We call on other international and regional bodies, particularly the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the SEANF to take immediate steps towards disengaging with the discredited MNHRC in order to preserve its credibility and public trust.”
Bo Bo, Executive Director of Generation Wave, member of the Working Group, said: “The APF’s long-overdue decision must serve as a critical push for SEANF to uphold the same principles and remove the MNHRC from its human rights network without further delay. For SEANF’s credibility and integrity as a human rights network, this step must be taken. The removal of the MNHRC from the APF echoes the voices of Myanmar’s civil society that have tirelessly called out the MNHRC’s non-compliance with the Paris Principles and dangerous alignment with the murderous junta.
“SEANF and regional NHRIs must honor these voices. At a time when the Myanmar people continue to suffer under the illegal junta’s campaign of terror, it is all the more urgent and imperative that regional NHRI networks stand with civil society in Myanmar as we work to build a genuinely independent and credible national human rights institution rooted in the Paris Principles.”
For more information, please contact:
The CSO Working Group on Independent National Human Rights Institution (Burma/Myanmar); WG_NHRI@protonmail.com
About the Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI)
The Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI) was established in December 2006. It is a network of Asian non-governmental organisations and human rights defenders working on issues related to National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs). ANNI currently has 33 member organisations from 21 countries or territories. ANNI members work on strengthening the work and functioning of Asian NHRIs to better promote and protect human rights as well as to advocate for the improved compliance of Asian NHRIs with international standards, including the Paris Principles and General Observations of the Sub- Committee on Accreditation (SCA) of the Global Alliance of NHRIs (GANHRI). The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) has served as the Secretariat of ANNI since its establishment in 2006.
About the CSO Working Group on Independent National Human Rights Institution (Burma/Myanmar)
The CSO Working Group on Independent National Human Rights Institution (Burma/Myanmar) advocates for the establishment of a new NHRI—tentatively named the Union Human Rights Commission—to replace the illegitimate MNHRC which has aligned itself with the illegal military junta. The Working Group was previously known as the ‘CSO Working Group on MNHRC Reform.’ Currently, it consists of 20 Myanmar civil society organizations. From its founding in 2019 until the attempted coup in February 2021, the Working Group consistently advocated for an effective MNHRC that demonstrated a commitment to the international standards set forth in the Paris Principles.
BANGKOK, Thailand (7 August 2025) – The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) strongly condemns the shooting of Filipino environmental and indigenous rights defenders Rudolph Dela Cruz Espe and Rico Gonzaga Malubay on 26 July 2025.
Justice and accountability must be served for victims and their families.
“FORUM-ASIA condemns the brutal killing of Filipino environmental human rights defenders Espe and Malubay. We urge the authorities to thoroughly investigate this case. Justice should be accorded to victims and their families without delay. Extrajudicial killings must stop. Any form of violence against human rights defenders should be stopped,” said Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso, Executive Director of FORUM-ASIA.
What happened
Espe and Malubay were reportedly shot multiple times by an unidentified gunman along the national highway in Banaybanay in the province of Davao Oriental.
Espe and Malubay served as paralegals for the Ateneo de Davao University. They were respected community leaders, who advocated for environmental and land rights protection as well community development.
Espe actively spoke against destructive mining operations. He openly opposed policies that jeopardized Banaybanay’s biodiversity as well as the rights of indigenous communities. Espe also reportedly criticized the laterite mining operations of Asiaticus Management Corporation and BHP Billiton, which have allegedly caused water pollution in Banaybanay river.
The brutal killing of the two defenders are not isolated incidents. In the Philippines, extrajudicial killings against human rights defenders remain rampant under the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
Last June, an LGBTQIA+ rights defender Ali Macalintal was also fatally shot.
For over a decade, the Philippines has consistently ranked as the deadliest Asian country for land and environmental defenders. A third of such documented killings in the country are linked to defenders opposing mining projects.
Call to action
FORUM-ASIA renews its call for the Philippine Government to swiftly investigate the brutal killings of human rights defenders.
Perpetrators should be held accountable.
As the Philippines is set to chair ASEAN in 2026, it must fully commit to protecting human rights, particularly on the right to life for all as prescribed by Article 11 of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration.
“The extrajudicial killing of Espe and Malubay highlights the ongoing pattern of violence that environmental defenders in the Philippines face for simply doing their invaluable work. The government must work hard to reverse this disturbing trend and ensure the safety of all human rights defenders,” Bacalso stressed.
Greenpeace says moves to weaken ocean protection through dodgy fisheries “reforms” will be met with strong opposition, as Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announces he wants to proceed with a raft of proposed changes to fisheries laws.
The controversial changes are some of the largest in decades, and would restrict public access to cameras on boats footage, remove the requirement for fishers to land all their catch, and stop legal challenges to catch limits that have been successful in protecting species in recent years.
The reforms will also give the minister the ability to set catch limits for five years.
Greenpeace oceans campaigner Ellie Hooper said these proposals would give the industry carte blanche on ocean destruction, weaken transparency and block the public from having input into fisheries decisions.
“These changes spell disaster for the already struggling ocean around us,” she said.
“Championed by the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, the changes green light ocean destruction and remove the already minimal checks and balances designed to keep the fishing industry accountable.
“It is yet another example of how this government is pandering to the fishing industry while ignoring the overwhelming majority of New Zealanders who want more ocean protection, not less.
“New Zealanders want a healthy, thriving ocean where fish are plentiful and ecosystems are thriving.
‘More destruction’
“These reforms will mean more destruction, more decline in fish populations, and will allow the industry to go back to operating in the dark — hiding the impact they have.”
One of the proposed reforms is to restrict access to footage from cameras on boats to industry and government only.
“This is not how it should work,” said Hooper.
“There are far more people in this country than just the commercial fishing industry who have a right to know how the ocean is being impacted, and have a say on what happens about protecting it.”
Hooper also warns that setting catch limits for five years could spell disaster for fish numbers, noting the recent collapse of the Chatham Rise Orange Roughy fishery, which has been so mismanaged it could now be at 8 percent of its original size.
“Greenpeace, backed by thousands of New Zealanders, stands for defending nature and ocean health. We are calling for an urgent end to destructive bottom trawling on seamounts and other vulnerable features, and for all footage from cameras on boats to be made accessible via the OIA (Offical Information Act),” she said.
“During a biodiversity and ocean crisis, we will strongly oppose moves to expedite destruction at the hands of the commercial fishing industry, as will the tens of thousands of New Zealanders who also back ocean protection.”
The prime minister has announced a new High Commission building in Papua New Guinea and an economic support package, as his trip to the country concludes on Wednesday.
Christopher Luxon arrived on Monday for the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties, and flew out of Port Moresby yesterday afternoon.
The economic support package included funding assistance for the polio epidemic and the creation of fisheries scholarships.
“I am delighted to be here to mark this important milestone,” Luxon said.
New Zealand announces a new PNG package Video: RNZ News
“I talked with Prime Minister [James] Marape and his Cabinet ministers about the next 50 years of our partnership, increasing our engagement on issues of regional importance, and continuing to strengthen our proud legacy of supporting Papua New Guinea’s development.
“Papua New Guinea is a country with big aspirations, with plans to expand its economy and play a bigger role in the Indo-Pacific. We are committed to supporting Papua New Guinea to achieve its goals.
“Contributing to a more stable and prosperous Papua New Guinea benefits everyone in the Pacific — including New Zealand.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
The Cook Islands has no intention of leaving its special relationship with New Zealand, says Prime Minister Mark Brown.
The Cook Islands marked 60 years of self-governance in free association with New Zealand on August 4.
“The value of our relationship with New Zealand cannot be overstated,” Brown said at the national auditorium in Rarotonga on Monday. His remarks were met with a round of applause.
“I would like to emphasise that there is not now, nor has there ever been, a strategic shift by the Cook Islands government or our peoples to reject the value and responsibilities of our relationship of free-association with New Zealand.”
The Cook Islands marked 60 years of self-governance in free association with New Zealand on August 4. Image: Caleb Fotheringham/RNZ Pacific
The celebration was filled with dancing, singing, food and a 45-minute speech by Brown on where the nation has come from and where it’s going.
“Every island holds a piece of our future, let us stand with conviction on the global stage. Our people span oceans. Our voice carries across borders. And our contribution continues to grow,” Brown said.
Notably absent from the four Pacific leaders attending was New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who is in Papua New Guinea. Foreign Minister Winston Peters was also absent.
Reflection needed
Brown said like any relationship, there will be moments that needed reflection.
“There are times when we must pause and consider whether the conventions and evolved understandings between our freely associated states remain aligned, we find ourselves in such a moment.
“I see our relationship as one grounded in enduring kinship, like members of a family who continue to care deeply for one another, even as each has grown and charted their own path.”
Brown called the current issues a bump in the road. He said they had been through far worse, like natural disasters and the covid-19 pandemic.
“[The relationship] is too well entrenched and too strong, like steel, that nothing will break it, it is too strong that even disagreeing governments will not break it.”
Representing New Zealand was Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro, who also talked of the long-standing relationship, stemming back hundreds of years to voyaging ancestors.
“That bond of deep friendship between our two peoples, that will transcend all else as we continue to face the challenges, and celebrate the joys of the future, together.”
Massive cakes at the Cook Islands 60th celebrations of free association with New Zealand. Image: Caleb Fotheringham/RNZ Pacific
Sharing their thoughts
After the official ceremony, there was a big kai kai. Those attending shared their thoughts on what they wanted for the future of their country.
“To see our future generations grow up in our own paradise instead of them going overseas,” one woman said.
Another said she wanted the Cook Islands to remain a Christian nation and to keep their culture strong.
One nurse said medical was always on the go and wanted more investment, “the resources we have are very limited, so I want to see a bigger improvement within our medical side of things”.
A dentist wanted the Cook Islands to be “a modern nation” and “to be a leader in economic wealth.”
Another man wanted to remain in free association with New Zealand but wanted the country “to make its own decisions and stand on its own two feet”.
A primary school principal said he wanted more young people to learn Cook Islands Māori.
“This is our identity, our language.”
More economic independence
He also wanted the country to be more independent economically.
“I think we as a nation need to look at how we can support other countries .. . I don’t like that we’re still asking for money from New Zealand, from Australia, at some point in the future I would like us as a nation to help other nations.”
A big kai kai was part of the celebrations. Image: Caleb Fotheringham/RNZ Pacific
New Zealand paused close to $20 million in development funding in June, citing a lack of consultation on agreements signed between the Cook Islands and China earlier in the year.
China’s ambassador to New Zealand, Wang Xiaolong, was attending the event.
RNZ Pacific approached him, but the ambassador said he was unable to comment because he had to leave the event.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
The words and pictures documenting the famine in the Gaza strip are horrifying.
The coverage has led to acrimonious and often misguided debates about whether there is famine, and who is to blame for it — most recently exemplified by the controversy surrounding a picture published by The New York Times of an emaciated child who is also suffering from a preexisting health condition.
While pictures and words may mislead, numbers usually don’t.
The Nobel prize-winning Indian economist Amartya Sen observed some decades ago that famines are always political and economic events, and that the most direct way to analyse them is to look at food quantities and prices.
This has led to decades of research on past famines. One observation is that dramatic increases in food prices always mean there is a famine, even though not every famine is accompanied by rising food costs.
The price increases we have seen in Gaza are unprecedented.
The economic historian Yannai Spitzer observed in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz that staple food prices during the Irish Potato Famine showed a three- to five-fold increase, while there was a ten-fold rise during the Great Bengal Famine of 1943. In the North Korean famine of the 1990s, the price of rice rose by a factor of 12.
At least a million people died of hunger in each of these events.
Now, The New York Times has reported the price of flour in Gaza has increased by a factor of 30 and potatoes cost 50 times more.
Israel’s food blockade As was the case for the UK government in Ireland in the 1840s and Bengal in the 1940s, Israel is responsible for this famine because it controls almost all the Gaza strip and its borders. But Israel has also created the conditions for the famine.
Following a deliberate policy in March of stopping food from coming in, it resumed deliveries of food in May through a very limited set of “stations” it established through a new US-backed organisation (the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation), in a system that seemed designed to fail.
Before Israel’s decision in March to stop food from coming in, the price of flour in Gaza was roughly back to its prewar levels (having previously peaked in 2024 in another round of border closures). Since March, food prices have gone up by an annualised inflation rate of more than 5000 percent.
The excuse the Israeli government gives for its starvation policy is that Hamas controls the population by restricting food supplies. It blames Hamas for any shortage of food.
However, if you want to disarm an enemy of its ability to wield food supplies as a weapon by rationing them, the obvious way to do so is the opposite: you would increase the food supply dramatically and hence lower its price.
Restricting supplies and increasing their value is primarily immoral and criminal, but it is also counterproductive for Israel’s stated aims. Indeed, flooding Gaza with food would have achieved much more in weakening Hamas than the starvation policy the Israeli government has chosen.
The UN’s top humanitarian aid official has described Israel’s decision to halt humanitarian assistance to put pressure on Hamas as “cruel collective punishment” — something forbidden under international humanitarian law.
The long-term aftermath of famines Cormac Ó Gráda, the Irish economic historian of famines, quotes a Kashmiri proverb which says “famine goes, but the stains remain”.
The current famine in Gaza will leave long-lasting pain for Gazans and an enduring moral stain on Israel — for many generations.
Ó Gráda points out two main ways in which the consequences of famines endure. Most obvious is the persistent memory of it; second are the direct effects on the long-term wellbeing of exposed populations and their descendants.
The Irish and the Indians have not forgotten the famines that affected them. They still resent the British government for its actions. The memory of these famines still influences relations between Ireland, India and the UK, just as Ukraine’s famine of the early 1930s is still a background to the Ukraine-Russia war.
The generational impact is also significant. Several studies in China find children conceived during China’s Great Leap Forward famine of 1959–1960 (which also killed millions) are less healthy, face more mental health challenges and have lower cognitive abilities than those conceived either before or after the famine.
Other researchers found similar evidence from famines in Ireland and the Netherlands, supporting what is known as the “foetal origins” hypothesis, which proposes that the period of gestation has significant impacts on health in adulthood. Even more worryingly, recent research shows these harmful effects can be transmitted to later generations through epigenetic channels.
Each day without available and accessible food supplies means more serious ongoing effects for the people of Gaza and the Israeli civilian hostages still held by Hamas — as well as later generations. Failure to prevent the famine will persist in collective memory as a moral stain on the international community, but primarily on Israel. Only immediate flooding of the strip with food aid can help now.
Almost a week after a group of men assaulted, tied up and paraded several Muslim persons in West Bengal’s Durgapur district while accusing them of being Bangladeshi intruders smuggling cattle, Parijat Ganguly, the BJP youth leader who led the brutal attack, remains at large.
The incident took place on July 31 at Gammon Bridge in DPL Coke Oven Colony, barely 200 metres from Coke Oven police station in Durgapur town. In videos that have since gone viral, a mob can be seen assaulting and tying up five men and accusing them of illegally smuggling cows. One of the men had the rope tied around his neck while the others had their hands tied together.
Commissioner of Asansol-Durgapur Police Sunil Kumar Chaudhary has said that four to five cows were being transported from Asuria market in Bankura district for agricultural purposes. Four accused persons, identified as Kiran Man, Basudeb Badyakar, Anish Bhattacharya and Dipak Das, have been arrested so far, while Ganguly remains ‘untraceable’.
না, এটা উত্তরপ্রদেশ নয়! দিদির সোনার বাংলার বর্ধমানেই এই ঘটনা।
গরু পাচারের অভিযোগে উত্তাল হয়ে ওঠে পশ্চিম বর্ধমানের দুর্গাপুরের ডিপিএল কলোনি এলাকা। বাঁকুড়া থেকে আসা গরু বোঝাই পিকআপ ভ্যান আটকায় বিজেপির যুবনেতা পারিজাত গঙ্গোপাধ্যায়ের নেতৃত্বে বিজেপি কর্মীরা।
গাড়ির লোকজনকে দড়ি দিয়ে বেঁধে মারধর করা হয় এবং কান ধরে উঠবোস করানো হয়। গরুগুলিকে নামিয়ে ছেড়ে দেওয়া হয়।
এই ঘটনায় তৃণমূল জেলা সভাপতি নরেন্দ্রনাথ চক্রবর্তী থানায় লিখিত অভিযোগ দায়ের করেছেন।
While roughing up the alleged cattle smugglers, the group of ‘vigilantes’ forced them to chant Jai Sri Ram and warned them against smuggling cattle again. The men were also made to do sit-ups while holding their ears. The vigilantes then proceeded to ‘rescue’ the cattle from the truck in which they were being transported, parked near the scene of the assault.
Ganguly can be seen in the videos leading the group, wearing a pink kurta and dark sunglasses. He is first seen rounding up two older men, aggressively questioning them about where they were from and on whose behalf they were allegedly ‘selling the cattle’. The men kept shaking their heads repeatedly, insisting they were doing it for no one. The man was then seen instructing his compatriots to tie the alleged smugglers up.
Speaking to local media channels after the incident, Ganguly said around 20 cows were in the truck. “We want to know who is behind this. Surprisingly, all of the people we apprehend are Jihadis. All of them have beards, wear skull caps, and are selling cows… It is not my responsibility if they are getting beaten up. Maybe locals have done it (assaulted them)… They are saying they are from Joydeb, but they are actually not from there. They are all Bangladeshi. They do not have specific Aadhaar cards… We do not want such foreigners residing in Durgapur or West Bengal…”
Parijat also accuses the police of being involved in this ‘trade’.
While Parijat denied physically assaulting the alleged smugglers, during his media byte the man standing next to him wearing a pink t-shirt could be seen hitting the victims with sticks. The man, identified as Dipak Das, also issued an open threat on camera. The victims were later paraded down the street, forced to hold their ears and subjected to physical intimidation, including being shoved by Dipak, as bystanders, including school students, looked on.
One of the people apprehended, Nasimuddin, spoke to a reporter, stating that he was from Jemua, a town approximately 12 km from the place of assault. He said that they often had to pay the police at several stops during their journey, with the amounts ranging from Rs 200 to Rs 500. He also stated that they were held captive for nearly four hours by the vigilantes, during which they were beaten up. The release of the cattle, he said, resulted in an estimated loss of Rs 5 to 7 lakh.
গরু পাচারের অভিযোগকে ঘিরে ব্যাপক উত্তেজনা দুর্গাপুরের কোকওভেন থানার অন্তর্গত গ্যামন ব্রিজ এলাকায়।
In a statement on X, Bengal police said the ‘hooligans’ who were behind the attack belonged to a ‘particular political party’.
Two persons belonging to the minority community, while carrying cattle for farming purpose, were detained and severely beaten up yesterday in Durgapur by some hooligans belonging to a particular political party. A case has been registered over the incident and two of the… pic.twitter.com/ynLwciWAhE
It is worth noting that both Parijat Ganguly and Nasimuddin, in their respective media statements, said that police had not arrived at the scene at the time of the ruckus, despite Coke Oven police station being only 200 metres away. Choudhary, the police commissioner, later issued a statement saying that Parijat, Dipak, and around 15 to 20 others had stopped the vehicle, assaulted the men severely, damaged the vehicle, and taken away the small amount of money they had on them. He added that police had taken immediate and strong action as soon as they were alerted to the incident.
Choudhary also confirmed said that both Das and Ganguly were affiliated with the BJP, and that Parijat Ganguly held a position in the party’s state youth wing, the BJP Yuva Morcha. According to him, Ganguly was absconding since the incident, and police had conducted raids at his residence and other potential hideouts.
মুসলিম গরু ব্যবসায়ীদের উপর আ*ক্রমণ, দুজনকে গ্রেফতার করেছে পুলিশ।
After videos of the assault went viral, Parijat Ganguly gave another media statement in which he said he would file a case against the victims for allegedly failing to transport the cattle in accordance with the law. He said he was willing to have a hundred cases filed against him, but would never let a single cow pass illegally. He also denied accusations of theft, saying that opposition leaders were behind the ‘false accusations’ against him.
দুর্গাপুরের নিরীহ মুসলিম ব্যবসায়ীদের হেনস্ত করা মূল অভিযুক্ত Parijat Ganguly এখনো গ্রেপ্তার হয়নি!
While cases of cow vigilantism are extremely rare in West Bengal, Alt News found that this was not the first time Parijat Ganguly was involved in ‘apprehending’ alleged cattle smugglers. About a month ago, on July 2, Parijat and his compatriots were behind the arrest of two alleged cattle smugglers. According to a local Bengali news report, the accused in that case, Farukh Sheikh (resident of Pandua in the Hooghly district) and Mohammed Ashraf (a resident of Bihar) were arrested in Kanksa Police Station area in Durgapur for allegedly smuggling 20-25 cows in a container.
In videos of that incident, Ganguly and his group can be seen physically intimidating the accused and kicking them in front of police. In another video, they can be seen forcing the accused to chant slogans of Jai Sri Ram.
Needless to say, Parijat Ganguly has been pictured with several BJP West Bengal bigshots, including present state president Samik Bhattacharya and two former presidents, Sukanta Majumder and Dilip Ghosh.
In the following video, Bhattacharya is seen alongside Ganguly and Durgapur West MLA Lakshman Chandra Ghorui. Bhattacharya can be seen endearingly putting a saffron stole around Ganguly’s neck.
Ganguly has also been photographed alongside other BJP WB leaders like Dilip Ghosh (seen here with wife Rinku Majumder), West Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, film star turned BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty, BJP Bengal co-in-charge Asha Lakra, former Bengal BJP president and Union education minister for state Sukanta Majumder, among others.
Leaders of the three Pacific nations with diplomatic ties to Taiwan are united in a message to the Pacific Islands Forum that the premier regional body must not allow non-member countries to dictate Forum policies — a reference to the China-Taiwan geopolitical debate.
Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine, in remarks to the opening of Parliament in Majuro yesterday, joined leaders from Tuvalu and Palau in strongly worded comments putting the region on notice that the future unity and stability of the Forum hangs in the balance of decisions that are made for next month’s Forum leaders’ meeting in the Solomon Islands.
This is just three years since the organisation pulled back from the brink of splintering.
Marshall Islands, Palau and Tuvalu are among the 12 countries globally that maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
At issue is next month’s annual meeting of leaders being hosted by Solomon Islands, which is closely allied to China, and the concern that the Solomon Islands will choose to limit or prevent Taiwan’s engagement in the Forum, despite it being a major donor partner to the three island nations as well as a donor to the Forum Secretariat.
President Surangel Whipps Jr . . . diplomatic ties to Taiwan. Image: Richard Brooks/RNZ Pacific
China worked to marginalise Taiwan and its international relationships including getting the Forum to eliminate a reference to Taiwan in last year’s Forum leaders’ communique after leaders had agreed on the text.
“I believe firmly that the Forum belongs to its members, not countries that are non-members,” said President Heine yesterday in Parliament’s opening ceremony. “And non-members should not be allowed to dictate how our premier regional organisation conducts its business.”
Heine continued: “We witnessed at the Forum in Tonga how China, a world superpower, interfered to change the language of the Forum Communique, the communiqué of our Pacific Leaders . . . If the practice of interference in the affairs of the Forum becomes the norm, then I question our nation’s membership in the organisation.”
She cited the position of the three Taiwan allies in the Pacific in support of Taiwan participation at next month’s Forum.
Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Feleti Teo . . . also has diplomatic ties to Taiwan. Image: Ludovic Marin/RNZ Pacific:
“There should not be any debate on the issue since Taiwan has been a Forum development partner since 1993,” Heine said.
Heine also mentioned that there was an “ongoing review of the regional architecture of the Forum” and its many agencies “to ensure that their deliverables are on target, and inter-agency conflicts are minimised.”
The President said during this review of the Forum and its agencies, “it is critical that the question of Taiwan’s participation in Forum meetings is settled once and for all to safeguard equity and sovereignty of member governments.”
Leaders of the three Pacific nations with diplomatic ties to Taiwan are united in a message to the Pacific Islands Forum that the premier regional body must not allow non-member countries to dictate Forum policies — a reference to the China-Taiwan geopolitical debate.
Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine, in remarks to the opening of Parliament in Majuro yesterday, joined leaders from Tuvalu and Palau in strongly worded comments putting the region on notice that the future unity and stability of the Forum hangs in the balance of decisions that are made for next month’s Forum leaders’ meeting in the Solomon Islands.
This is just three years since the organisation pulled back from the brink of splintering.
Marshall Islands, Palau and Tuvalu are among the 12 countries globally that maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
At issue is next month’s annual meeting of leaders being hosted by Solomon Islands, which is closely allied to China, and the concern that the Solomon Islands will choose to limit or prevent Taiwan’s engagement in the Forum, despite it being a major donor partner to the three island nations as well as a donor to the Forum Secretariat.
President Surangel Whipps Jr . . . diplomatic ties to Taiwan. Image: Richard Brooks/RNZ Pacific
China worked to marginalise Taiwan and its international relationships including getting the Forum to eliminate a reference to Taiwan in last year’s Forum leaders’ communique after leaders had agreed on the text.
“I believe firmly that the Forum belongs to its members, not countries that are non-members,” said President Heine yesterday in Parliament’s opening ceremony. “And non-members should not be allowed to dictate how our premier regional organisation conducts its business.”
Heine continued: “We witnessed at the Forum in Tonga how China, a world superpower, interfered to change the language of the Forum Communique, the communiqué of our Pacific Leaders . . . If the practice of interference in the affairs of the Forum becomes the norm, then I question our nation’s membership in the organisation.”
She cited the position of the three Taiwan allies in the Pacific in support of Taiwan participation at next month’s Forum.
Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Feleti Teo . . . also has diplomatic ties to Taiwan. Image: Ludovic Marin/RNZ Pacific:
“There should not be any debate on the issue since Taiwan has been a Forum development partner since 1993,” Heine said.
Heine also mentioned that there was an “ongoing review of the regional architecture of the Forum” and its many agencies “to ensure that their deliverables are on target, and inter-agency conflicts are minimised.”
The President said during this review of the Forum and its agencies, “it is critical that the question of Taiwan’s participation in Forum meetings is settled once and for all to safeguard equity and sovereignty of member governments.”
The world’s most important hostage — must be released. The powerful Western countries have signalled that in the face of the genocide they may recognise the state of Palestine.
States need leaders. That’s why Marwan Barghouti – often dubbed the Palestinian Mandela — must be freed.
A former head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, Ephraim Halevy, agrees with calls by leaders from across the Middle East for Barghouti’s release: “Barghouti is popular with his people, he has a clear position, he speaks Hebrew well and can negotiate; all of which qualifies him to lead a new path.
“We have to be creative in dealing with the future in the West Bank as well and the rest of the territories, as there are millions of Palestinians, and transferring two million Palestinians from Gaza is unrealistic,” Halevy told Middle East Monitor.
States need leaders The UK, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and a baker’s dozen of Western-aligned states have signalled they may finally join humanity and recognise the right of Palestine to exist as a state.
They are doing so at a moment when the physical existence of the Palestinian people in Palestine is in peril due to the US-Israeli genocide.
If this is not simply another hollow, performative gesture, real things must happen: first and foremost the lifting of the siege and the ending of the man-made famine.
Simultaneously, Palestine needs a credible leadership to negotiate its future. Why call for recognition of a state when hundreds of the top leadership of that future state are held in cruel captivity?
These hostages seldom receive any attention — in contrast to the remaining 20 or so living hostages held by Hamas and other groups.
Who decides who represents Palestine? In typical Western fashion the announcement of potentially recognising the Palestinian state comes with a swag of conditions — foremost that Hamas, the most popular movement in Palestine, the winner of the last free and fair elections in both the West Bank and Gaza, must not be part of any government.
OK, so, if the Palestinians bow to that condition, who will be the leaders of this state? Who has the standing with all the factions of the Palestinian polity?
Marwan Barghouti could be such a man. The geriatric and thoroughly discredited Mahmoud Abbas, unelected leader of the Palestinian Authority, is largely seen as a tool of the US and Israel.
More than 90 percent of Palestinians want him gone. In contrast, Barghouti is a revered figure, respected by all Palestinian organisations. He consistently polls as the most popular leader.
The Israelis have murdered many of the Palestinian leaders (along with targeted assassinations of hundreds of writers, professors, lawyers, doctors and other people crucial to state-building). They even killed the lead negotiator in the hostage release process.
It is vital that the West ensures Barghouti is protected from further mistreatment. It is also worth dismissing the lie that Israel has no Palestinian partner to negotiate with; Barghouti has the will and the attributes.
The blockage is actually Western complicity in ethnic cleansing, land stealing and the overall Greater Israel Project.
Barghouti: the most important political prisoner During the past 23 years in Israeli prisons Barghouti has been beaten, tortured, sexually molested and had limbs broken, as documented by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. What hasn’t been broken is the spirit of the greatest living Palestinian — a symbol of his people’s “legendary steadfastness” and determination to win freedom from occupation.
As I wrote in 2024:
“Barghouti, the terrorist, rotting in jail. Barghouti, the indomitable leader who has not given up on peace. Barghouti, loved by ordinary people as ‘a man of the street’. Barghouti, supporter of the Oslo Accords. Barghouti, the 15 year-old youth leader standing beside Yasser Arafat.
“Barghouti, once a member of parliament and Fatah secretary-general. Barghouti, leader of Tanzim, a PLO military wing, choosing militancy after the betrayal of the Oslo promise by the Americans and Israelis became fully clear.
“Barghouti, a leader of the intifada that restored hope to a broken people. Barghouti, the scholar and thinker. Barghouti, the political strategist and unifier.”
Marwan is the most famous Palestinian prisoner but it should never be forgotten that the entire Palestinian people have been held in bondage for generations.
The West should force the Israelis to release Barghouti — and thousands of other hostages held by Israel. To do so publicly and successfully would be a powerful statement of future intentions.
The release of one man cannot, however, change the world: it will take a genuine course correction by the West to use their collective power to force the Israelis to abandon the endless killings, starvation, land thieving and other lawlessness in the Palestinian lands.
The West must stop posturing and start acting If the Western states fail to quickly move to change facts on the ground, it will suggest that the whole exercise was only intended to achieve political cover for the pro-genocidal forces of the US and the other enablers like Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
Netanyahu is driving both the Palestinians and Israel to destruction.
Ironically, the Palestinian Marwan Barghouti could save Israel from moral death and, simultaneously, the Palestinians from further physical destruction. He is a leader that the West and the Israelis, if they chose, could negotiate with.
As Alon Liel, formerly Israel’s most senior diplomat, said a couple of years ago: Barghouti is “the ultimate leader of the Palestinian people,” and “he is the only one who can extricate us from the quagmire we are in.”
One final point: negotiating with ‘terrorists’ The West has made it clear they believe Hamas are too monstrous, too terroristic to be involved in a peace process.
But the West is entirely comfortable with the racist, fascist, genocidal leaders of Israel remaining at the helm of their country. There is a reason for this and one the West needs to front up to: racism and contempt for the Palestinians as a people.
Barghouti and hundrds of other leaders have endured torture and worse without our side raising even an eyebrow. The recent skite videos posted by IDF soldiers committing rape-murder inside Sde Temein prison says it all — they rightly assumed their depraved criminality would be sanctioned by the state and silently tolerated by the West.
War crimes are fine and no barrier to leadership if these crimes are committed by regimes that we are deeply committed to. After all, as our leaders repeatedly tell us: we share values with the Israelis.
I’ll give the last word to Marwan Barghouti.
“Resistance is a holy right for the Palestinian people to face the Israeli occupation. Nobody should forget that the Palestinian people negotiated for 10 years and accepted difficult and humiliating agreements, and in the end didn’t get anything except authority over the people, and no authority over land, or sovereignty.”
It is time to change that and to stand with humanity. Free Marwan Barghouti!
Eugene Doyle is a writer based in Wellington. He has written extensively on the Middle East, as well as peace and security issues in the Asia Pacific region. He contributes to Asia Pacific Report and Café Pacific, and hosts the public policy platform solidarity.co.nz
An NIA court on August 2 granted bail to the two Catholic nuns from Kerala, Vandana Francis and Preethi Mary, and a tribal man named Sukhman Mandavi arrested in Chhattisgarh on charges of religious conversion and human trafficking.
The nuns, members of the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate (ASMI), and Mandavi, a resident of Narayanpur district in Chhattisgarh, had been accused of converting and trafficking three tribal women aged between 19 and 22. They were arrested on July 25. The charges mentioned in the FIR registered against them include unlawful religious conversions under Section 4 of the Chhattisgarh Freedom of Religion Act, 1968, and human trafficking under Section 143 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
According to a reports, Sukhman and the three women — his sister Sukhmati Mandavi, Lalita Usendi and Kamaleswari Pradhan — reached Durg railway station on July 25, where the two nuns were to meet them. When a platform ticket examiner was asking for their tickets, the nuns arrived and told the ticket examiner that they had the tickets. Around this time, members of the Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), arrived at the location in large numbers, reportedly after receiving a call from the ticket checker. Ultimately, the nuns, the man and the three women were detained by the railway police, and an FIR was filed, allegedly on the insistence of the Bajrang Dal workers. The three women were later moved to a government-run shelter, while Sisters Francis and Mary, and Sukhman Mandavi were arrested. While rejecting the trio’s bail plea on July 30, a sessions court had transferred the hearing of the case to a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Bilaspur.
It should be noted that the initial FIR (copy attached below) did not include charges of religious conversion, and only mentioned Section 143. It is to be noted that multiple sources, including the families of the three tribal women, have confirmed that they were Christians, so there was no question of conversion.
The arrest of the two Malayali nuns triggered outrage from political and religious leaders from Kerala even as their families questioned the basis of the police action. The family members of the three tribal women not only confirmed that they were Christians, but also rejected all the allegations against the nuns.
While Chhattisgarh chief minister and BJP leader Vishnu Deo Sai backed the allegations slapped by the police against the nuns, Kerala BJP chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on July 29 that the nuns “were not involved in trafficking or conversion activities”. Chandrasekhar added that BJP Kerala general secretary Anoop Antony had himself gone to Chhattisgarh, and that BJP was extending all possible help.
Naked violation of Constitutional Rights: Kerala Priest
Alt News reached out to Father Tom Olikkarott, priest and spokesperson of the Syro-Malabar Church in Kerala. He told us that both Sister Vandana Francis and Sister Preeti Mary were part of the same congregation.
“They have dedicated their lives to treating leprosy patients. They were engaged in charitable and philanthropic work. They were helping build the nation,” Father Olikkarott told Alt News. “The girls were travelling with a man who was the elder brother of one of the girls. Sisters Francis and Mary had appointed them (the three women) to work at an organisation in Agra, and that is where they were going. A few of their (the three women’s) neighbours were already working there, and that is how they got in touch with the nuns,” he added.
Olikkarott also confirmed to Alt News that the three women belonged to the Christian community. “The families have been Christians for generations. How can there be a question of conversion?” he asked.
“The Bajrang Dal members arrived at the station, harassed them and started asking for details. Who are they to enquire anything? They (the nuns) have the right to travel, right? This is a complete violation of human rights and a naked violation of minority and constitutional rights,” he added.
‘Deliberate Delay in Legal Procedure’
Speaking to Alt News a day before the nuns were released on conditional bail, Jimson Mathew, younger brother of Sister Vandana Francis, said, “We will go ahead legally. We have full faith in the justice system. But they are using legal loopholes to delay the process as a whole. But we haven’t done anything wrong, and we believe that justice will prevail.”
Mathew was in Chhattisgarh to deal with the legal proceedings when he spoke to Alt News. “We were able to meet my sister. The jailer was cooperative,” he added.
Speaking about the charges levelled against his sister, he told Alt News, “The human trafficking accusations are baseless. The three people (the three young women and Sukhman Mandavi) who were with the nuns were going to join work. Their parents had no objection to their joining this job. They even had police clearance to travel and work (likely because the women belonged to a tribal community). These clearance papers were with the Sisters when they were arrested… None of them did anything wrong; their only fault was not having a platform ticket.”
Mathew reiterated that the women were being taken to Agra to work in a convent there. “All three people are adults. The Sisters chose to personally take them over as they were young people from a tribal background. All of them had travel tickets to Agra,” he added.
The Tribal Women were being Taken to Agra Forcibly: Bajrang Dal
A Bajrang Dal member Alt News spoke to, however, had a different version of the events. Saurabh Dewangan, a Bajrang Dal activist from Durg, Chhattisgarh, was present at the rail station when the incident took place.
“The women looked visibly upset and expressed reluctance to travel from Narayanpur to Agra. They said, ‘Let us go,’ but the pastor (referring to Sukhman Mandavi) was forcing them to travel with him and the nuns,” claimed Dewangan. He further alleged that the three were not well-educated, had received nursing training, and were being taken under the pretext of being offered jobs. However, according to him, the women had no clear idea where they were being taken. He also claimed that each girl possessed two sets of Aadhaar cards.
Dewangan shared with us a 1.17-minute-long video containing a remark by Sukhmati. She says that she did not want to leave her home and travel as far as to Agra, but her brother (Sukhman Mandavi) insisted that the train tickets had already been booked and could not be cancelled.
We tracked down the full video, which is over 38 minutes long and includes the woman’s statement mentioned above. It was posted on YouTube by the channel VLC News on July 25. This video summarily refutes Dewangan’s claims. The woman, Sukhmati, who identifies herself with her name, tells a reporter in this video that they were headed to Agra to work as cooks at a place run by the nuns. She also says they had been informed about the job in advance and were asked whether they wanted to go. She and the other women agreed to visit and check out the workplace. Sukhmati adds that train tickets were bought and that several other women from her district also joined the same job. The interviewer then asks similar questions to Kamleswari, apparently attempting to imply that the nuns were conspiring to do something beyond what the women had been told. However, she, too, asserts that her parents were aware of her travel plans.
Hours after we traced this video, VLC News made it ‘private’, i.e., inaccessible for viewers. When we contacted a representative of the channel, he said the channel had “received guidelines” to do so, once the matter blew up.
Some parts of the conversation between the women and mediapersons and a Bajrang Dal leader named Jyoti Sharma are still available on the internet.
‘Slapped, Physically Heckled, Forced to Give False Statements By Bajrang Dal Activists’
In one video, police personnel are seen present in the room where the nuns, along with the man and the ‘victims’, are seated. However, the questioning is initially carried out by Jyoti Sharma, a Bajrang Dal leader. She is seen checking the documents carried by the women and the nuns, and speaking to them brashly. Sharma can be heard asking the women: “You are not that young that you just agreed to go with these people. Don’t you know anything about these kinds of people? Don’t you use social media? Don’t you use WhatsApp? Don’t you know what these people do after taking you with them?” A local Bajrang Dal leader told Indian Express that Sharma was not from the same outfit. She is an activist with the Durga Vahini Matrushakti.
This takes place in the presence of Railway Police officials, who appear to wait for Sharma to finish searching their belongings before taking over.
VLC News posted a Short on YouTube on July 25. Here, Sukhmati can be heard saying that they were headed to Agra to work as cooks at a place run by the nuns. She says they had been informed about the job in advance and were asked whether they wanted to go. She and the other girl agreed to visit and check out the workplace. Sukhmati also states that train tickets were bought and that several other women from her district also joined the same job.
We found another video by a channel called CG Khabar, where statements of the three women were included. They clearly state that they were coerced into giving false statements and had filed a counter-FIR.
दुर्ग रेलवे स्टेशन मामला: पीड़ित युवतियों ने बजरंग दल और ज्योति शर्मा के खिलाफ दर्ज कराई शिकायत
#छत्तीसगढ़ के दुर्ग रेलवे स्टेशन में 25 जुलाई को हुई कथित #धर्मांतरण और मानव तस्करी की घटना अब नया मोड़ ले रही है। पीड़ित युवतियों ने #नारायणपुर एसपी कार्यालय पहुंचकर ज्योति शर्मा और बजरंग दल के कार्यकर्ताओं के खिलाफ गंभीर आरोप लगाते हुए शिकायत दर्ज कराई है। उनका कहना है कि उनके साथ मारपीट, जातिगत गाली-गलौज और गलत बयान दर्ज कराने का प्रयास हुआ। इस मामले में #NIA कोर्ट से मिली जमानत के बाद अब पीड़ित न्याय की मांग कर रहे हैं।
In this report, Lalita Usendi says, “What Jyoti Sharma did to us was wrong. There were around 50 or maybe 100 or 150 people with her who dragged us to the police station. We were scared. They told us that we would get raped and would be made to sleep with men. Our parents were aware of our travel, but still Jyoti Sharma caused us so much trouble. The men who were there with her were touching our waist and dragging us to the police station. We also asked them not to record our video, and she said she was protecting her daughters. She even slapped me so many times, but they did not record that part,” She breaks down while making the statement.
Sukhmati, who reportedly said that she had no idea where she was going, says in this video, “I am happy that the nuns and brother got bail, they are innocent.” Breaking down into tears, she adds, “That day when we were at the Durg station, the Bajrang Dal members came and started physically attacking us.” She reiterated that they were also inappropriately touched once they were taken inside the police station.
The third woman, Kamaleswari, reiterated this. She also claims that Jyoti Sharma allegedly called them “neechi jaati” (lower caste) and “hamari jooti ke samaan” (equal to our shoe’s value). “All three of them, the nuns and the man, were innocent”.
India Today reported on July 30 that the families of the women had come forward to say that they had sent their daughters willingly and denied the charge of forced conversion. India Today quoted the elder sister of one of the women, saying, “Our parents are no longer alive. I sent my sister with the nuns so she could take up a nursing job in Agra. I worked with them earlier in Lucknow. This opportunity would help her become self-reliant.” Further, the report mentioned that a relative confirmed that the family had converted to Christianity five years ago, as the woman in the yellow salwar suit had mentioned, and called the arrest of the nuns and Mandavi “unjust and manipulative”.
The report also quoted Narayanpur SP Robinson Guria, who confirmed that all three families submitted written declarations on July 26 to local police, stating that they had willingly sent their daughters with the nuns for employment. However, despite these statements, a Government Railway Police (GRP) officer told the news outlet that the investigation was ongoing and “corroborative evidence” was still being collected.
Rise in Attacks Against Christians
The Chhattisgarh incident, where all available evidence suggests that the police action against the nuns were entirely uncalled for, comes in the wake of several incidents of attacks on Christian by the Hindutva outfits and BJP leaders cross the country. BJP MLA from Maharashtra Gopichand Padalkar in June announced a bounty reward ranging from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 11 lakh for acts of violence against Christian priests and missionaries involved in “forceful conversions”, in a clear case of inciting violent vigilantism and disregarding the law.
A video report by Caravan, published in May 2025, highlights the persecution and baseless allegations of forceful conversion that the Christian community faced in several parts of Uttar Pradesh.
Additionally, Bajrang Dal leader Jyoti Sharma, who could be seen grilling the nuns in presenec of police, had been found harassing individuals from the Christian community in the past. She calls this a ‘ghar wapsi’ operation, where ‘deflected’ individuals (those who have converted to other religions from Hinduism) are ‘rescued back’ to Hinduism.
Quoting the data on attacks against Christians between 2014 and 2024, compiled by the United Christian Forum, Father Tom Olikkarot said, “When you look at the data from 2014 till now, there have been 4,316 incidents in India where Christian minorities were targeted. It is very pathetic that minorities are facing such grave violence. The government and political parties have to look into this and ensure the security of Christian minorities.”
New Zealand’s foreign minister says Cook Islanders are free to choose whether their country continues in free association with New Zealand.
Winston Peters made the comment at a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the constitution of the Cook Islands in Auckland today.
Peters attended the community event hosted by the Upokina Taoro (East Cook Island Community Group) as part of an official contingent of MPs. Minister for Pacific Peoples Shane Reti and Labour Party deputy leader Carmel Sepuloni also attended.
“We may not be perfect, but we’ve never wavered from our responsibilities wherever they lay,” Peters said.
“For six decades, we have stood by ready to support the Cook Islands economic and social development, while never losing sight of the fact that our financial support comes from the taxes of hard working New Zealanders,”
This week’s anniversary comes at a time of increasing tension between the two nations.
At the heart of that are four agreements between the Cook Islands and China, which Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown signed in February.
NZ funding halted
The New Zealand government said it should have been consulted over the agreements, but Brown disagreed.
The diplomatic disagreement has resulted in New Zealand halting $18.2 million in funding to the Cook Islands, which is a realm country of New Zealand.
Under that arrangement — implemented in 1965 — the country governs its own affairs, but New Zealand provides some assistance with foreign affairs, disaster relief and defence.
Peters today said the “beating heart” of the Cook Islands-New Zealand relationship was the “right to choose”.
“Cook Islanders are free to choose where to live, how to live, and to worship whichever God they wish.”
After his formal address, Peters was asked by media about the rift between the governments of the Cooks Islands and New Zealand.
‘Carefully crafted’
He referred back to his “carefully crafted” speech which he said showed “precisely what the New Zealand position is now”.
Brown has previously said that if New Zealand could not afford to fund the country’s national infrastructure investment plan – billed at $650 million — the Cook Islands would need to look elsewhere.
Brown also said in at the time that funding the development needs of the Cook Islands was a major motivator in signing the agreements with China.
Discussions between officials from both countries regarding the diplomatic disagreement were ongoing.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
The New York Times recently revealed that the Israeli military has “never found proof” that Hamas has “systematically stolen aid from the United Nations” — a lie that has been told by Israeli officials for months now, reports the independent media company Zeteo.
With the Israeli and US government telling so many lies about the violence in the Middle East, and with so much false reporting circulating in mainstream media around what even Israeli rights groups are now calling a genocide in Gaza — here’s a full list of groups Zeteo reported — many people are understandably looking for a fresh breeze of truth.
“We hear you, we feel you, and we will gladly debunk as many falsehoods as we can for you,” says Mehdi Hasan, the British-American progressive broadcaster, writer, and founder of Zeteo.
“Debunked!” is back. Watch Mehdi shatter the top 10 lies you’ve been seeing and hearing about this genocide for the past 22 months — in under three minutes!
“Debunked! Israel’s Top 10 Lies on Gaza”
Watch me bring receipts to debunk them all, from falsehoods about Hamas stealing aid to brazen lies about hostages, human shields, and more.
COMMENTARY:By Clancy Overell, editor of The Betoota Advocate
After years of sitting on the fence and looking the other way, the Australian media is today reckoning with the fact that showing basic sympathy towards the starving and war-weary people of Gaza is actually a very mainstream sentiment.
This explosive moment of self-reflection has rocked newsrooms all over the country, from the talk back radio stations to the increasingly gun-shy ABC.
This comes as the tens of thousands of everyday Australians marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in solidarity in protest against the abhorrent war crimes being committed by Israel against the Palestinian people.
This existential media feeling of extreme detachment from the general public is only amplified by the undeniable fact this crowd actually isn’t even that representative of the actual number of people who are horrified by the events taking place on the Gaza Strip — as the extreme weather conditions clearly shrank the overall number of people who would have otherwise attended this record-breaking protest.
The crowd that did make it there is still one of the biggest to ever march the Harbour Bridge, many who braved heavy winds and rain to join the chants “ceasefire now” and “free Palestine”.
With a large number of high-profile household names such as Julian Assange and former NSW Premier Bob Carr making their presence known, it’s now very difficult for the media to now write these protesters off as “terrorist sympathisers”.
It’s also clear that the plight of the Palestinians is something that ripples far beyond the university lawns and instagram timelines that have since been dismissed as the musings of “detached inner-city elites” and “brazen antisemites”.
Sydney’s “Rainy Sunday” march also comes as a blow to both the Federal and State Labor governments, which have worked tirelessly to squash these protests using police powers and anti-free speech laws.
The Betoota Advocateis an Australian satirical news website that takes its name from the deserted regional western Queensland town of Betoota but is actually published in Sydney.
“Here in the homeland, we’re complacent,” he told RNZ Pacific.
“People have stopped using it in their everyday lives. Even my children, I must admit, don’t speak Cook Islands Māori. They understand it, thankfully, but they can’t speak it.”
Kairua said he thinks Cook Islands Māori is stronger in Aotearoa because that is where a lot of the language teachers are living.
“We haven’t done a welfare audit of the language in Aotearoa [but] I would imagine that it’s a lot stronger, purely because a lot of our teachers, a lot of our orators, are living in Aotearoa.
“I guess being away from the source, being away from home, there is a feeling of homesickness, so that you do tend to grab onto to what you’re missing.”
Critical to ‘wake up’
He said it was “critical” that Cook Islanders “wake up and appreciate the importance of our language and make sure that it’s not a dying part of our identity”.
“A race without a language – they don’t have an identity. So as Cook Islanders, either first, second or third generation, we need to hold on to this.”
Ministry of Pacific Peoples Secretary Gerardine Clifford-Lidstone said there was power in the language — it anchored identity and built belonging.
The theme of the week, ”Ātui’ia au ki te vaka o tōku matakeinanga”, translates to “connect me to the offerings of my people”.
The Cook Islands Māori community is the third-largest Pacific group in Aotearoa New Zealand.
UNESCO lists te reo Māori Kūki ‘Airani as one of the most endangered Pacific languages supported through the Pacific Language Week series.
Antony Loewenstein, author of The Palestine Laboratory, a book on the Israeli arms and surveillance industry, says Australian protesters are “outraged” not just by what Israel is doing in Gaza, but also by the Australian government’s “complicity”.
Loewenstein, who also spoke at the rally, told Al Jazeera that Australia has, for many years, including since the start of the war, been part of the global supply chain for the F-35 fighter jets that Israel has been using in attacking the besieged enclave.
“A lot of Australians are aware of this,” he said. “We are deeply complicit, and people are angry that their government is doing little more than talk at this point.”
Asked about opinions within Israel, Loewenstein, who is an Australian-German and Jewish, condemned what he called a prevailing climate of “genocide mania” and also criticised the role of the mainstream media in not reporting accurate coverage of the reality in Gaza.
Organisers of the Palestine Action Group Sydney-led march across the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge have said at least 100,000 people — and perhaps as many as 300,000 — took part in the biggest pro-Palestinian held in Australia. Police say more than 90,000.
Mehreen Faruqi, the New South Wales senator for the left-wing Greens party, addressed the crowd gathered at central Sydney’s Lang Park before the march, calling for the “harshest sanctions on Israel”, accusing its forces of “massacring” Palestinians.
The horrifying images of Gazans being deliberately starved is adding to the pressure on Western governments which have been enthusiastic supporters of Israel’s genocide, reports the Sydney-based Green-Left magazine.
Former US President Barack Obama has started to push for an end to Israel’s military operations. Sections of Israeli society, including five human rights organisations, now agree that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Media corporations, such as BBC, AFP, AP and Reuters, which have been complicit in manufacturing consent for “Israel has a right to defend itself” line, are now condemning the killing of Palestinian journalists.
These shifts reflect the scale of the horror, but also the success of the global Palestine solidarity movement.
With the exception of Ireland and Spain, Western governments have refused to describe Israel’s war as an act of genocide.
.@antloewenstein on the huge pro Palestinian Sydney Harbour bridge march and what it tells us about where people around the world are at. He goes on to draw parallels with the attitude towards apartheid South Africa in the 1980s and notes that that regime ended in 1994. pic.twitter.com/jvCsr8ZgOV
Three times this year the world has been close to nuclear catastrophe of one form or another — the India–Pakistan conflict, the ongoing Ukraine–Russia war and more recently the Israel/US–Iran “12 day war”. Here is one of the speeches at the 80th anniversary of Hiroshima Day in Sydney before the “March for Humanity” on Sydney Harbour Bridge.
COMMENTARY:By Peter Murphy
I acknowledge the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation as the Traditional Owners of the Land on which we are gathered and pay respect to their Elders past and present. I also acknowledge the Pitjantjatjara and other peoples of the APY lands who suffered the direct impact of nuclear weapons tests at Maralinga and nearby in the 1950s and early 1960s.
I am standing in here for Michael Wright, the national secretary of the Electrical Trades Union, who was unable to take up our invitation to be here today.
The Electrical Trades Union (ETU) has a very solid record for opposing the nuclear industry and nuclear weapons, and really campaigned hard on this issue against Peter Dutton and the Coalition in the May federal elections.
The ETU campaigned in Dutton’s seat of Dickson and he lost his seat to Labor’s Ali France. You have to conclude that among the many reasons that Australian voters deserted the Coalition and Dutton, the Coalition’s nuclear energy policy was a big one.
Since the election, the Coalition has continued to entertain the idea of a nuclear-powered Australia, showing that they just refuse to listen to the Australian people. But they are only too happy to listen to and take the money of the fossil fuel corporations and the nuclear power companies like Westinghouse, who are the ones who benefit from government policies to foster nuclear power.
They are determined to delay the transition to renewable energy as long as possible, whatever the cost to all of us in runaway climate disasters.
The ETU’s official policy against the nuclear industry dates back to the 1950s, resulting from the shared experiences of ETU members who returned from Japan after the Second World War. In the decades since, the ETU has regularly revisited this policy to learn more about the nuclear fuel cycle, changes and advances to technologies, technical interaction with the network and economic viability.
Opposed nuclear industry
Let’s honour those long-gone ETU members who recognised the crimes that took place at Nagasaki and Hiroshima 80 years ago by vigorously opposing the nuclear industry and nuclear weapons today. And let’s remember some other Australians who were there then — Tom Uren saw the mushroom cloud over Nagasaki from the copper mine where he was working as a prisoner of war; and Wilfred Burchett, the journalist, who first told the world from Hiroshima about radiation sickness.
Nuclear power stations generate radioactive waste such as spent reactor fuel, reprocessing effluents, and contaminated tools and work clothing. These materials can remain radioactive and hazardous to human health for tens of thousands of years.
And this is the kind of waste that comes from nuclear-powered submarines, during regular maintenance, and at the end of their life — 30 years we have been told for the AUKUS submarine nuclear reactors.
This waste will need to be trucked across the country on public roads to be disposed of in a nuclear waste facility.
But, Australia does not have a dedicated national radioactive waste facility. And the Albanese government is refusing to say where they plan to put that waste.
The people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and those at the nuclear tests sites in Nevada, the Marianas, French Polynesia, Algeria, Kazakhstan, and the Monte Bello Islands, Emu Fields, Maralinga in Australia have been living with these nuclear wastes in their environment for up to 80 years.
We don’t want this to go any further in Australia or anywhere else in the world.
Democratic failure over AUKUS
How dare the Albanese government commit future generations to somehow keep that deadly nuclear waste safe for tens of thousands of years.
The ETU stood up at the August 2023 ALP National Conference and opposed the AUKUS project, spelling out these concerns and also the democratic failure of Labor to consult the public and the Parliament before committing to the AUKUS deal.
The Albanese leadership tried very hard to make sure that AUKUS was not debated at that ALP National Conference. So it was a victory first of all to have the debate and openly discuss the big problems with AUKUS.
The pro-AUKUS case was so weak that the Defence Industry Minister at the time, Pat Conroy, defended it by accusing the critics of being like the appeasers of the Nazis in the 1930s. In doing so he was saying that China is a fascist state and it is the enemy we have to fight with these hopeless submarines.
The grotesque comparison of us and of China to Nazis is ironically more appropriate for Trump and the USA, who are right now purging people of colour from the streets and workplaces of the United States and supporting a genocide in Gaza.
AUKUS is one building block in the US plan to wage war on China to remove its capacity to challenge US primacy in this region and world-wide. A conga line of US military commanders and cabinet secretaries have made this clear.
It is imperial madness writ large.
The deeper reason
And this is the deeper reason why we must oppose AUKUS, because we have to stop this deadly drive for a war between nuclear-armed superpowers. Such a war would almost certainly go nuclear, the world would go into nuclear winter, there would be no winners and huge huge casualties.
Japan, the Philippines, and Australia would be very early targets in such a war.
We remember that 200,000 people, almost all civilians, men women and children of all ages, were killed by those two nuclear bombs 80 years ago, and endless suffering has continued down to this day.
So we recommit to opposing nuclear weapons and the nuclear industry which produces them. We commit to getting Australia’s signature on the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons.
We commit to stopping AUKUS. We commit to stopping the active US and Australian plan for a war with China.
This is edited from Peter Murphy’s speech at the 80th anniversary Horoshima Day rally for the Sydney Peace and Justice Coalition and Sydney Anti-AUKUS Coalition on 3 August 2025.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was among the tens of thousands of protesters in Australia staging a “humanitarians for Gaza” march today across the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The transparency media campaigner and activist, who moved back to his native Australia last year, after reaching a plea deal with the US government to avoid possible life imprisonment for publishing classified anti-war government information, was not expected to speak at the protest.
The bridge was closed for Australia’s biggest pro-Palestine march.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Sydney Harbour Bridge humanitarian protest for Gaza today. Image: X/@EllaCoo55777104
Protesters marched across the bridge this afternoon after the Supreme Court of New South Wales refused an application by police to ban the demonstration.
Police had raised concerns about public safety and the potential for a “crowd crush”, but Justice Belinda Rigg sided with the organisers, finding that they had convincingly explained the reasons why they believed the Israeli genocide in Gaza demanded an urgent response.
Palestine Action Group Sydney, the organiser of the march, said before the protest that it expected 50,000 people to attend. However, heavy rain was a dampener but thousands still marched onto the bridge with estimates being put at 25,000.
The activist group said it wanted to highlight what the United Nations has described as worsening famine conditions in Gaza.
News media reported that the Israeli military had killed at least 62 people in Gaza yesterday, including 38 people desperately seeking food aid.
A 17-year-old Palestinian was reported to have died of starvation, one of at least seven Palestinians who died of malnutrition within the past 24 hours across Gaza, report medical sources.
The death toll from Israel’s 22-month war on the besieged enclave has reached at least 61,709, including including 17,492 children.
ई रिक्शा चालक से टक्कर लगना बताया कारण
LIVE: Al Jazeera Arabic reporter Anas Al Sharif was killed in an Israeli strike on a tent in Gaza City. 
इन दस्तावेजों के मुताबिक कुकी शरणार्थियों को जून 1968 में कांग्रेस ने मणिपुर में बसाया था।
(@Chhora_Up_Wala) 
ভিডিওটি দেখুন ও শেয়ার করুন।
