South East Asia

The pictures from Afghanistan in August 2021 are indelible: As the Taliban swept through the countryside and stormed Kabul, reclaiming the country from Western-funded elites, the U.S. presence in the country evaporated overnight, and thousands of Afghans tried in desperation to escape the country on the last few U.S. aircraft to leave. Approximately 76,000 escaped in the cargo holds of American planes, the largest humanitarian airlift in recent history.

On October 4, Pakistan’s caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti ordered “illegal immigrants” to vacate the country by the end of that month. The move has invoked widespread fear among the approximately 1.7 million Afghans living in the country.

Afghans are the most unfortunate ones on the planet that they have in trouble in their homeland and with neighbours, soon after they emerged as a nation in 1747 due to their geography and geo-strategic importance well described by great poet Alama Iqbal, “the heart of Asia and Lord Curzon a British statesman, foreign secretary and viceroy in United India, “the roundabout of Asia.

Pakistan has ordered all undocumented immigrants, including 1.7 million Afghans, to leave the country by November 1, vowing mass deportations for those who stay.

Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar approved the plan Tuesday at a high-level meeting of his top civilian and military officials in Islamabad.

Despite repeated promises of the Pakistani authorities, the arrest and harassment of Afghan refugees by the police in Pakistan continues, Afghan embassy in Pakistan said on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday.

Over the last two weeks, many Afghans have been arrested in different areas of Pakistan, especially in and around Islamabad, where the majority of documented refugees reside.

At the G20 summit, the United States and its partners revealed an economic corridor linking India, the Middle East, and Europe. It is premature, however, to call this a serious counterweight to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

From a magically successful G20 Summit exemplifying trust management, consensus building, and diplomatic sophistication to being alleged of its agents’ involvement in the killing of a Khalistani separatist in Canada, New Delhi continues to draw the world’s attention. Though the allegations are still unsubstantiated and appear “absurd and motivated,” it is pertinent to throw light on the ancient practice of intelligence and espionage in India. If G20 was shepherded around the age-old concept of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, where might the legacy of India’s spycraft lie?