India expresses concern over reports of shelling near nuclear power plant in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia

'We continue to carefully follow developments regarding the safety and security of Ukraine's nuclear power reactors and facilities,' India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj said

Press Trust of IndiaAugust 12, 2022 

Representational image. Pixabay

United Nations: India has expressed concern over reports of shelling near the spent fuel storage facility of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine that could have "potentially serious consequences" for the people and called for mutual restraint to ensure that safety and security of nuclear facilities in the war-torn country are not endangered.

The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog told an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Thursday that fighting close to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine had caused some damage to the facility and called for an immediate inspection mission to be allowed to visit the plant.

"We continue to carefully follow developments regarding the safety and security of Ukraine's nuclear power reactors and facilities," India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj, said at the open meeting in the Security Council on the situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

"India attaches high importance to ensuring the safety and security of these facilities, as any accident involving nuclear facilities could potentially have severe consequences for public health and the environment," she said.

Kamboj said India expresses its concern over the reports of shelling near the spent fuel storage facility of the Zaporizhzhia NPP.

"We call for mutual restraint so as not to endanger the safety and security of nuclear facilities," she said.

Earlier, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi told the UNSC meeting that on August 5, the Zaporizhzhia plant -- Europe's largest -- was subjected to shelling, which caused several explosions near the electrical switchboard and a power shutdown.

Ukraine has informed the IAEA that 10 of the country's 15 nuclear energy reactors -- two at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, three at the Rivne NPP, three at the South Ukraine NPP and two at the Khmelnytskyy NPP -- are currently connected to the grid.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed grave concern about the unfolding situation in and around the Zaporizhzhia NPP in southern Ukraine and appealed to all concerned to exercise "common sense and reason" and not to undertake any actions that might endanger the physical integrity, safety or security of the nuclear power plant.

A spokesperson for the UN chief said regrettably, instead of de-escalation, over the last several days, there have been reports of further deeply worrying incidents that could, if they continue, lead to disaster.

"The Secretary-General calls for all military activities in the immediate vicinity of the plant to cease immediately and not to target its facilities or surroundings. He urges the withdrawal of any military personnel and equipment from the plant and the avoidance of any further deployment of forces or equipment to the site," the spokesperson said.

Guterres said the facility must not be used as part of any military operation and stressed that an urgent agreement is needed at a technical level on a safe perimeter of demilitarisation to ensure the safety of the area.

Kamboj underlined that India accords high priority to the discharge by the IAEA of its safeguards and monitoring activities, in accordance with its statute in an effective, non-discriminatory and efficient manner. She said New Delhi values the efforts of the IAEA on this issue.

Guterres added that the UN continues to fully support the critical work of the IAEA and its efforts to ensure the safe operations of the Zaporizhzhia NPP. The secretary-general urged the parties to provide the IAEA mission with immediate, secure and unfettered access to the site.

"We must be clear that any potential damage to Zaporizhzhia or any other nuclear facilities in Ukraine, or anywhere else, could lead to catastrophic consequences not only for the immediate vicinity but for the region and beyond. This is wholly unacceptable," Guterres said.

Russia's capture of the Zaporizhzhia NPP has renewed fears that the largest of Ukraine's 15 nuclear reactors could be damaged, setting off another emergency like the 1986 Chernobyl accident, the world's worst nuclear disaster, which happened about 110 kilometres north of the capital Kyiv.

Kamboj said India also continues to remain concerned over the situation in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the conflict, India has consistently called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and an end to violence.

"We have called upon both sides to return to the path of diplomacy and dialogue. We support all diplomatic efforts to end the conflict," Kamboj said.

While nations discuss the nuclear dimension of this conflict, Kamboj said, "We need also to be acutely cognizant of the impact of the Ukraine conflict on developing countries, particularly, on the supply of foodgrains, fertilisers and fuel. It is important for all of us to appreciate the importance of equity, affordability and accessibility when it comes to foodgrains. Open markets must not become an argument to perpetuate inequity and promote discrimination".

India welcomed the UN Secretary General-backed initiative to open the exports of grains from Ukraine via the Black Sea and facilitate the exports of Russian food and fertilisers.

"These efforts demonstrate that differences can be resolved through sustained dialogue and diplomacy, which has been the consistent position of India," Kamboj said.

India reiterated that the global order should be anchored on international law, the UN Charter and on respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of states.

The UN nuclear watchdog chief also warned on Thursday that "very alarming" military activity at Europe's largest nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine could lead to dangerous consequences for the region and called for an end to combat actions there.

Rafael Grossi urged Russia and Ukraine, who blame each other for the attacks at the plant, to immediately allow nuclear experts to assess the damage and evaluate safety at the Zaporizhzhia facility.

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Storm Clouds Build Over Putin’s War


August 12, 2022

There can now be no doubt: Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has produced a durable “rally round the flag” effect. The rising tide of public sentiment, however, may be pushing the regime towards dangerous shoals.

The most reliable polling available, from the Levada Center, has put approval of Vladimir Putin at above 82% every month since the war began, levels nearly 20 points higher than his pre-war numbers and indistinguishable from those seen in the aftermath of the 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea. General optimism — whether people see the country as headed in the right direction — has rocketed to 68%, well above its post-Crimea peaks.

Similar to the post-Crimea rally, in which general euphoria boosted both political and economic sentiment, this rally is also generating a broad — and, as in 2014, broadly irrational — improvement in Russians’ sense of wellbeing. Levada’s index of family sentiment, which measures respondents’ sense of how their household is doing financially, has jumped 12%, while the index of consumer sentiment has jumped 11%.

Against this backdrop, numbers on the war itself are surprisingly soft. The Levada Center found that support for Russia’s so-called “special military operation” has continued to decline, albeit not dramatically, from an initial peak of 81% in March to 76% in the most recent poll. Moreover, more sophisticated research by the political scientists Philipp Chapkovski and Max Schaub indicates that as many as 10%-15% of respondents may be lying when they say they support the war.

Whether this somewhat conflicted picture shows resilient public support for the war or the appearance of fissures in Putin’s façade of public compliance depends on whether the Kremlin is more threatened by dynamics in macro-level public sentiment – where things look stable enough – or by micro-level developments.

Throughout most of his 22 years in power, Putin has shown concern for both the big picture and the little one. The Russian presidential administration has built a massive machine for monitoring, managing, and manipulating public opinion, with resources including constant surveys, social media analysis, and a near monopoly on large-scale media. But he has built an even more powerful machine for managing the economy, with an overriding focus on ensuring that Russia does not develop pockets of depravation – the kind of thing that can spark desperate protests akin to those that toppled authoritarian regimes in Tunisia and Egypt in 2011, and which nearly brought down Kazakh strongman Kassym-Jomart Tokayev earlier this year.

Yet there are important signs that this economic machine — which has allowed Putin to weather some eight years of economic stagnation and decline — may no longer be fit for purpose. While the pain of austerity and recession since 2014 has been more or less evenly distributed across the country, the pain of the war and the resulting sanctions have not. Inflation, running at around 20% nationwide, is a good example. According to Central Bank of Russia data, prices for fruits and vegetables in Moscow rose an average of 24.44% year-on-year in Moscow March through May. In Siberia, prices rose 31.93%; in the North Caucasus, they jumped a full 39.35%.

Unfortunately for Putin, the regions particularly hard-hit by inflation – Siberia, particularly Buryatia, and the North Caucasus, particularly Dagestan – are broadly the same ones that have contributed the most soldiers to the war effort, and thus have faced the highest casualties. In Buryatia and elsewhere, this has already given rise to movements questioning whether they are paying an unreasonable price for Moscow’s war.

There are other dividing lines for Putin to worry about. Class is one. While Levada polling has shown that most Russians are facing the impact of sanctions with a brave face – 61% of respondents claim to be unconcerned about their impact – a deeper dive shows more sober attitudes. Some 46% of respondents in Moscow, the country’s richest city by some distance, report being unable to find replacements for imported electronic goods, and only 32% had any faith that the country would ever be able to come up with domestic substitutes for imported automobiles. Age is another: 70% of respondents aged 18-24 support the war, compared to 92% of those aged 55 and above.

For the moment, none of these fissures have widened into a genuine threat to the stability of the regime. Neither has the impact of casualties: while the parents and partners of fallen soldiers are angry at their treatment by the government, they show no signs of coalescing into anything like the Soldiers’ Mothers movement that helped bring an end to Boris Yeltsin’s war in Chechnya. Whether Putin can keep it that way may depend on how he manages one last dividing line: people’s sense of when the war will end.

In May — when the conflict was still relatively young, but the Kremlin’s initial hopes for a swift victory had long been dashed — a plurality of Levada Center respondents believed the so-called “special military operation” would be over in six months or less. Six months in, that number has fallen from 37% to 27% and is, for the first time, smaller than the portion of respondents who believe the war will last more than a year (28%). If Western officials are right in their projections and the war does drag on into next summer, the vast majority of Russians will thus turn out to have been wrong.

How people deal with that disappointment will depend in great measure on the degree to which the war is a source of pain in their lives: whether it has made them poorer than other Russians, whether it has offended their sense of ethnic identity, or whether it has disrupted their careers before they even began. Those losses may be bearable when an end to the war seems in sight. As that prospect fades, frustration and conflict will mount, and the Kremlin will find itself fighting both abroad and at home.

Sam Greene is Director for Democratic Resilience at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). Sam is also a Professor of Russian Politics at King's College London.

CLIMATE CHANGE IN YOUR FACE

Drought in England, fires rage in France as heatwave persists

By Stephane Mahe and Manuel Ausloos

Firefighters from across Europe help France with monster fire

Drought officially declared in parts of England

Europe hit by successive heatwaves

SAINT-MAGNE, France, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Firefighters from across Europe came to France's rescue on Friday to battle a massive wildfire, while fire also raged in Portugal and parts of England faced a severe drought, as successive heatwaves renewed the focus on climate change risks.

Much of Europe has faced weeks of baking temperatures that have also depleted water levels of the Rhine River in Germany and seen the source of Britain's River Thames dry up further downstream than in previous years.

High temperatures and a worsening drought brought a high risk of new fires breaking out in Gironde, in southwestern France, local officials said, even after an overnight reprieve held in check the wildfire that has been burning for days, scorched thousands of hectares and displaced 10,000 people.

Firefighters from Germany, Romania, Greece and beyond were on the ground to help France battle the fire in the region - home to Bordeaux wine - as well as on other fronts, including in Brittany in the northwest.

"It doesn't matter the country, we are firefighters and we are there to help," said chief Romanian firefighter Cristian Buhaianu, in Gironde.

French commandant Stephanie Martin welcomed their support in an area that already battled a massive fire for weeks last month. "Our firefighters are tired after one month of fighting. It is really good support for us, so we can also focus on the other operation," she said.

But while an expected end of France's third heatwave on Sunday could bring some relief, the fire has already left much destruction in its wake, including over 7,400 hectares (18,286 acres) of forest burnt to the ground - equivalent to the size of a major French city such as Nice.

What firefighters called a "monster fire" also destroyed houses, including the ancestral home of the family of 19-year old student Juliette Pilain, from Belin-Beliet, in the heart of Gironde.

"It is complicated to process this news. It's a house that's been in the family for years, it's especially painful for my grandparents," Pilain told Reuters.

"We had all the furniture of my great-grandparents there, books and encyclopaedia belonging to my great grandmother ... we cried a lot but then thought it is just material damage and we are all still here."

2/10
A firefighting aircraft drops flame retardant to extinguish a wildfire near Hostens, as wildfires continue to spread in the Gironde region of southwestern France, in this handout photograph released on August 12, 2022. Courtesy SDIS 33/Handout via REUTERS

PORTUGAL FIRES, UK DROUGHT

In central Portugal, a huge wildfire raged into its seventh day, with 1,600 firefighters backed by 13 waterbombing aircraft, including one sent from Spain, combating the blaze that has destroyed about 15% of the Serra da Estrela national park.

After starting in the Covilha area on Saturday, the fire has spread to several neighbouring councils, burning around 15,000 hectares overall.

Meanwhile, water levels on the river Rhine in Germany have fallen again, with some vessels no longer able to sail, shipping operators and brokers said. read more

Further north, in Britain, the heatwave was also hitting hard, with the government formally declaring parts of southern, central and eastern England in drought after a prolonged period of hot and dry weather.

England suffered its driest July since 1935, with only 35% of the average rainfall for the month, and parts of England and Wales were now in the middle of a four-day "extreme heat" alert. read more

"All water companies have reassured us that essential supplies are still safe, and we have made it clear it is their duty to maintain those supplies," Water Minister Steve Double said, following a meeting of the National Drought Group.

The companies will now begin enacting pre-agreed drought plans to help protect supplies, and the government said members of the public and businesses in drought-affected areas were urged to use water wisely.

Earlier on Friday, Yorkshire water announced a hosepipe ban would begin on Aug. 26, forbidding customers from using hoses to water gardens, wash cars or fill up paddling pools.

Across France as well, there are restrictions on water use, and water police has been handing out fines. Local media have reported that outdoor Jacuzzis were vandalised in the tourist Vosges area, as some tensions over water rose.

Reporting by Farouq Suleiman and Sachin Ravikumar, Myriam Rivet, Manuel Ausloos, Stephane Mahe, Layly Foroudi, Geert de Clercq, Farouq Suleiman, Andrei Khalip and Michael Hogan; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Alison Williams and Emelia Sithole-Matarise

Firefighters from all over Europe battle 'monster' blaze in France as others burn in Portugal, Germany and Spain

Some 360 fire staff and 100 vehicles have been sent to the Gironde region of France from Germany, Romania, Poland and Austria to help put out the flames.

Friday 12 August 2022 

Fires near Saint-Magne, just south of Bordeaux. Pic: AP

Firefighters from all over Europe have been deployed to help battle the "monster" wildfire in southwest France for a third day in a row - as others burn throughout the continent.

The blaze in the Gironde and Landes regions has damaged 29 square miles of land - around 7,000 hectares.

At least 10,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, with 360 fire staff and 100 vehicles sent from Germany, Romania, Poland and Austria to help put out the flames.

Greece also sent two specialist aircrafts, while Sweden deployed two firefighting Air Tractor planes to help with separate wildfires in Brittany.

Gregory Allione, of France's firefighting body the FNSPF, described it as an "ogre" or a "monster".

Planes help fight the 'monster' wildfire in Gironde, France

Burnt out trees in Gironde, southwestern France

Blistering August temperatures and long periods of no rainfall have resulted in rural fires across the continent.

MORE ON FRANCE

More than 1,000 firefighters struggling to tackle huge forest blaze in France


Swifts nearly baked alive, sparrows stuck to tarmac, and hedgehogs orphaned - the destruction caused by France's fourth heatwave

Wildfires

In Portugal, 1,500 firefighters are working for the sixth day to put out one in the central Covilha region that has burned across 40 square miles, including parts of the Serra da Estrela national park.

Over the border in Spain, electrical storms have seen a forest fire break out in Caceres, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of nearby residents.

Wildfires in Videmonte, Celorico da Beira, Portugal

Smoke rises from fires in Videmonte, Portugal

Alpine cattle have water airlifted by helicopters

Across the Alps, Swiss army helicopters have been drafted in to airlift water to cows, pigs and goats whose normal water supplies have dried up.

In other parts of France, trucks are having to deliver water to remote villages were sources have run dry, while nuclear power stations have been given waivers to keep pumping hot discharge water into rivers.

Damage caused by forest fires in the Czech Switzerland National Park in the Czech Republic

Germany's Rhine River is at such low levels that shipping and freight operations are being disrupted.

While on the Italian island of Sicily, the mayor of Palermo has demanded that horses carrying tourists be given at least 10 litres of water a day as a safety precaution.

Smoke and flames from a wildfire in Caceres, Spain

Smoke from fires in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany

Droughts, which have also been declared across large parts of England, are expected to reduce the EU's maize harvest by 15% this year.

This would result in a 15-year low yield, compounded by soaring prices from the war in Ukraine.

Experts have called on governments to protect their water supplies and agricultural sectors to prevent further chaos.

CANADA

No plans to declare monkeypox a national public health emergency: officials

Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam listens to a question during a news conference,

 Tuesday, January 12, 2021 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Spencer Van Dyk
CTV News parliamentary bureau writer, producer
Follow | Contact
Published Aug. 12, 2022 

Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says there are no plans at the moment to declare monkeypox a public health emergency.

While the World Health Organization and the United States have both recently done so, Tam said there is little benefit to declaring a federal public health emergency in Canada, because of the structure of regional and provincial public health authorities.

She said a federal emergency declaration would involve the Emergencies Act — which hasn’t even been invoked to address the nearly two-and-a-half-year COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. Tam said thus far, Canada has already been able to mobilize vaccines, therapeutics, and funding to tackle monkeypox.

Tam also said local and provincial authorities have more flexibility, and have been able to respond to the rise in monkeypox cases. Local and provincial authorities could also decide to declare the virus a public health emergency at those levels, as many did with COVID-19.

“To date our discussions have focused on testing, working with community organizations to raise awareness on ways to limit spread the virus, and deployment of the Imvamune vaccine and therapeutics,” Tam said. “As the global monkeypox outbreak continues to be a serious concern, focusing efforts on the impacted communities in Canada and worldwide, including with vaccinations, we have an opportunity to contain the spread.”

To day, approximately 99,000 doses of Imvamune have been deployed to the provinces and territories, and more than 50,000 people have been vaccinated, Tam said.

Canada's Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Howard Njoo said the approach continues to be vaccinating higher risk communities first, and there are currently enough doses to do so.

Tam says there have been approximately 31,000 cases of monkeypox reported globally, with 1,059 in Canada, mostly in Ontario.

While cases of the virus first started popping up in Quebec, Ontario has since surpassed it in its number of infections.

To date, there have been 28 hospitalizations — two in intensive care — from monkeypox in Canada, and no deaths. Tam said it’s too soon to tell whether the number of cases has plateaued in Canada.

Dog With Monkeypox Sparks Questions About Human-to-Animal Transmission

BY EMMA MAYER ON 8/12/22 

Monkeypox has continued to spread in the U.S. and in countries all over the world, but for the first time, a dog has tested positive after its owners showed symptoms.

It has been unclear whether or not the virus could be spread from human to animal, as the virus is zoonotic, meaning it is more commonly known to spread from animal to human.

However, a recent report from The Lancet showed evidence that two patients, both male who lived together, contracted monkeypox and most likely gave the virus to their 4-year-old Italian greyhound.

The couple arrived at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, France, on June 10 with symptoms of monkeypox, including rashes and ulcerations, as well as headaches and fevers.

A dog has reportedly tested positive for monkeypox for the first time after its owners both tested positive. Above, Kyle Planck, 26, who has recovered from monkeypox, shows a photo of a rash on his skin during an interview in New York on July 19, 2022.

YUKI IWAMURA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

The report said that 12 days after the onset of symptoms, their dog appeared to have the same scabs and lesions that coincide with monkeypox. Using PCR testing protocol and comparing monkeypox virus DNA sequences from the dog with one of the dog's owners, it was confirmed that the dog had monkeypox.

The report added that the men said they let their dog sleep in their bed but had been carefully isolating their pet from contacting other dogs or humans after they developed symptoms.

The Lancet report said that because the dog also had the monkeypox rash, as well as a positive PCR test, it confirmed that dogs can contract the actual virus instead of being a simple carrier.

"Our findings should prompt debate on the need to isolate pets from monkeypox virus-positive individuals. We call for further investigation on secondary transmissions via pets," the report said.

"This case establishes the possibility of human-to-domestic pet transmission," said Dr. Jonathan Temte, the associate dean for public health and community engagement at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Temte told Newsweek that it is hard to determine the likelihood that pets can get monkeypox, however.

"Many species of animals can be infected with monkeypox, but—for the vast majority—we simply do not know how susceptible they are. Furthermore, we do not know the risk for transmission from a pet (such as a dog) to a human," Temte said.

The transmission of monkeypox has been widely up for debate since the Biden administration declared the virus a public health emergency last week, and amid fears of the growing virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) condemned some who were attacking monkeys in response.

"What people need to know very clearly is the transmission we are seeing is happening between humans," WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said. "The concern should be about where it's transmitting in the human population and what humans can do to protect themselves from getting it and transmitting it. They should certainly not be attacking any animals."

Amesh Adalja from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security told Newsweek that because the virus is a zoonotic infection with a source likely to be a rodent of some kind, "it is not surprising that, in certain contexts, humans can pass it on to their pets."

"It does not appear, however, that this is a common phenomenon but one that merits more study," Adalja added. "The danger with monkeypox passing into animals in non-endemic countries is that it allows the virus to establish a domestic reservoir outside of its usual zone of endemicity."

Previously, the virus remained endemic to West and Central Africa.

Dr. Gary Kobinger, director of the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch, told Newsweek, "It is expected that current vaccination regiments that show protection in other animal species, and/or humans, will also work in dogs. This could be one prevention measure to confirm (in dogs) and use."

He added that the isolation recommendation includes isolating oneself from pets.

As of Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a total of 10,768 confirmed monkeypox cases in the U.S.

Update 8/12/22, 4:40 p.m. ET: This story was updated with a statement from Dr. Gary Kobinger.

‘What does she even mean?’: Truss prompts fierce reaction from Jewish civil servant

"I feel these sort of comments try to victimise Jews and cynically instrumentalise our experience."

by Jack Peat
2022-08-13
in Politics


Credit:PA

Liz Truss has prompted a fierce reaction after claiming she will tackle the “woke”

Civil Service culture that “strays into antisemitism” in an interview.

The Foreign Secretary was blasted by the head of the FDA, which represents civil servants, for providing “no evidence for her accusation”, which he said “goes further than the usual dog-whistle politics” of the leadership election.

In an interview, she told the Jewish Chronicle she had stood alongside her “good friend” Yair Lapid, despite some in the department claiming this could lead to Britain becoming “isolated”.

FDA general secretary Dave Penman said: “The Conservatives have been in Government for more than 12 years now and, for most of that time, Liz Truss has been a minister.

“So accusations of ‘civil service wokeism’ are a little ironic, given it’s essentially a criticism of their own leadership.

“However, Truss’s accusation of antisemitism goes further than the usual dog-whistle politics that has been on display during this leadership campaign when it comes to the Civil Service.

“She provides no evidence for her accusation that many civil servants will find both insulting and abhorrent.

“A prime minister is also minister for the Civil Service, and throwing around such unfounded inflammatory accusations illustrates a lack of leadership, the very thing that she claims to be demonstrating.”

Evidence

Mike Clancy, general secretary of the Prospect union, which also represents civil servants, said Ms Truss should publish the evidence for her claims, if any exists.

“Antisemitism and racism in any form is deplorable and must be eradicated,” he said.

“After 12 years of this Government and eight years for Liz Truss in the Cabinet, she should have a better grip on both the evidence and facts about what is happening in the Civil Service. If there is evidence, she should publish it.

“This smacks more of further attempts to undermine public services rather than focus on the job of serving the public.”

“What does she even mean?”

Speaking to The Sun, one Jewish civil servant said they have “absolutely no idea” what Truss is referring to.

“What does ‘Woke civil service culture strays into antisemitism’ even mean? I’ve never worked in a more inclusive and diverse environment.

“I feel these sort of comments try to victimise Jews and cynically instrumentalise (sic) our experience”, they said.

PAKISTAN

SOCIETY: A DEADLY TRADITION

Nisar Ahmad Khan Published August 7, 2022

Civil society comes together to protest cases of honour killings | Reuters

It was too much for the villagers of Shangal Dar to watch as police exhumed the body of a minor girl in front of them in broad daylight. None of them could stay and witness the entire process. The judicial magistrate and a team of doctors had to look on though, as the girl’s body was to be autopsied under medico-legal procedures (MLP) to unearth ambiguities over her death.

Shangal Dar is a far-off village in Torghar District of Hazara Division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is mainly home to slum dwellers, and its women are largely uneducated. Age-old customs are still prevalent there, such as the heinous act of murdering girls and women in the name of honour. Those labelled perverted, or “chor” in the local dialect, including couples who have engaged in extramarital affairs, are condemned to death. No one had dared to question this cruel law of the land, until now.

The local rumour mill threw up different opinions over the police action. Some looked at the exhumation as an insult to corpses, while others were hopeful that perhaps fear of police investigation could curb killings in the garb of honour in the future.

Such police action had never occurred previously, allowing murderers to go scot-free. In the deeply conservative society of Torghar, eliminating a woman is a non-cognisable offence, and perpetrators routinely escape justice.

Honour killings are most rife in the remote districts of Torghar and Kohistan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Many lives are lost in the dark as this old custom is perpetuated to this day by influential jirgas and conservative men under the garb of religion

The 13-year-old girl, whose body was being exhumed, was buried in the Asharay Pattah locality of Shangal Dar. Her murderer is believed to be her father, who dug her grave clandestinely at night, after killing her. He and his family maintain that the girl had been in a relationship with a man who she kept in touch with through a secret mobile phone, hidden particularly from her father and brothers.

The police confirmed the victim possessed a cell phone.

The father changed his story frequently. Sometimes he said his daughter had died a natural death; other times he said she had committed suicide. But the autopsy, according to police, revealed that the victim had been gunned down, contrary to her father’s testimonies.

According to locals, this is one of the rare cases where police intervened, based on a tip-off, to investigate a girl’s murder under the pretext of honour. Hassan Khan, the station-house officer (SHO) at the Judbah police station, says the accused could have escaped justice if police had not been quick to act and arrest him under Section 202 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

The families of victims of chor often do not move any court or notify the police about the murders. “Such crimes where women are killed or handed over to rivals to settle bloody feuds under the wani custom are mostly perpetrated by families and clans covertly, and nobody comes forward to register an FIR,” points out the SHO. But Section 202 empowers police to act on their own when a crime is perpetrated.

Zahid Khan, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s district coordinator in Torghar, has reported various heinous crimes and murders committed under the garb of honour. He says that the cold-blooded elimination of a young girl by her father, allegedly over her telephonic relations with a man, is nothing exceptional; such violence is common in the area.

Afzal Kohistani (right) was shot and killed for campaigning against honour killings | Dawn file photo /Umar Bacha

He says that, in the recent past, men and women who married out of their free will or choice or even indulged in verbal contact with the opposite sex were murdered either upon a jirga’s decree or by their own family members’ actions. “Married couples can also be declared chor. This centuries-old custom still very much exists and the victims and their families suffer unimaginably,” Zahid Khan tells Eos.

The HRCP coordinator recalls another horrific case where a man mutilated the genitals/reproductive organs of his wife upon suspicion of her having an affair with someone else. “The incident happened in 2016 in Oghi, after the family migrated from Torghar. The accused was arrested. The victim was shifted, profusely bleeding, to the Ayub Medical Complex Hospital in Abbottabad,” he remembers.

“The mortality ratio of couples or individuals targeted in the name of honour is much higher than that of incidents reported to the police,” Khan explains, “as families still practise this ancient custom without question.”

Ulema and religious clerics are influential in the highly conservative Torghar. Maulana Safiullah is considered a liberal cleric, who condemns human and women’s rights violations. He maintains that Islam strictly forbids the killing of human beings under the pretext of honour. “Murdering someone in the name of honour is as punishable as any other assassination, in the eyes of Islam,” Maulana Safiullah clarifies.

But clerics settled in the remote parts of Torghar district never condemn the killings of men and women in the name of honour, says Maulana Safiullah, and that is one of the major reasons why the custom of labelling and killing people as chor has not ended. “The ulema in our district even decreed a family to give away their three-year-old girl in marriage to one of their rivals in order to settle a bloody feud,” he says.

The majority of local residents get their minor girls engaged soon after birth. When the girls grow up and refuse to get married to their fiancé, they face the same fate as the 13-year-old killed in Shangal Dar. “There have been many incidents in the recent months and years where such girls, after attaining puberty, married out of their free will and were killed by their families along with their partners,” Maulana Safiullah says.

However, there is now a clear division of opinion over honour killings and some clerics are considered to be hardliners while others are seen as liberal and progressive. A group of ulema now openly oppose the traditional customs being practised by the jirgas and raise their voice against such violence during Friday prayer sermons and public appearances.

The erstwhile tribal belt of Torghar became a settled district in 2011, but it remains an area without a single middle school for girls or even a college for boys, Maulana Safiullah elaborates.

Along with Torghar, Kohistan district is a hotbed for honour killings. Men and women act as judge, jury and executioner of women they deem perverted or immoral. According to official data, both areas have the highest number of cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and honour killings in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

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Afzal Kohistani was one of the first Pakistanis to publicly challenge the custom of chor in Kohistan in 2012. He was gunned down in a busy commercial area in Abbottabad in 2019.

A video that most would find innocent is what led to the death of Kohistani. The video was made by one of his brothers, showing five women singing a wedding song and two men dancing to its rhythm. One of the men dancing was also Kohistani’s brother, Gul Nazar. The video went viral on social media and the group of men and women involved were all decreed as chor by a local jirga.

“So far nine people — the five girls seen cheering in the video and four of my brothers, including Afzal — have fallen prey to this custom, says Bin Yaseer, who filmed the happy scene of song and dance. “The perpetrators are still after me and my brother, Gul Nazar, and we have frequently been changing our residence to avoid execution,” he tells Eos.

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Today, the two brothers are called “zinda laash” [the walking dead] and Bin Yaseer affirms that is exactly what his life has been like. He believes that the decree issued by the jirga, led by a cleric, will certainly be carried out and the matter would meet its end only after he and his brother have been killed. He claims that a squad of more than a 100 men has been appointed by the jirga in Kolai-Palas to execute its decree. He and Gul Nazar are followed 24/7, so they move from place to place and are under police protection.

“The life of a chor is hell in this life,” says Bin Yaseer. “Since being declared chor by the jirga, we have lost almost all our male family members. We have lost the livelihood that supported over 45 people, 22 of them orphans, including Afzal Kohistani’s four children and his two widows,” Bin Yaseer says.

“Our agricultural land, houses and whatever we possessed is occupied by our enemies and the families of the five girls killed. We are living underground to protect our lives. We are at the gallows, living and dying every day,” he adds despondently.

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The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police recently released data regarding Gender Based Violence (GBV) for last year, based on reported incidents across the province. It reveals as many as 125 women were killed in the name of honour, while 299 others lost their lives to domestic violence. As many as 343 women were raped, 154 harassed sexually and physically, and as many as 1,522 were abducted across the province.

“We have actively been policing to bring an end to assassinations in the name of honour in Kohistan district,” the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Hazara range Mirvais Niaz says.

He says that a total of 24 people were killed in the name of honour in the Hazara division in 2021 and almost half of them were from Upper Kohistan. Five people were killed in Mansehra, three in Abbottabad, two each in Lower Kohistan and Kolai-Palas. Yet, not a single honour killing was reported in Torghar and Haripur districts.

“We have arrested almost 90 percent of the accused in honour-related murders but cases are still there,” admits the DIG.

A resident of Kolai-Palas, Sher Mohammad Kohee says, “Though there is a slight decline in killings and other brutalities committed in the name of honour since those five girls cheering a dancer in a party were killed under chor, the custom still exists everywhere, particularly in the remote parts of Kohistan district.”

The DIG says that the Hazara police also constituted committees of ulema and influential people, headed by the district police officers, in Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan and Kolai-Palas, to urge an end to killings in the name of honour. “Seminars and jirgas are being held to sensitise people to stand against the killings in the name of honour or under the chor custom,” he says.

“Because of the effective role executed by the police, now prayer leaders in Kohistan have openly been opposing killings in the name of honour during Friday sermons, declaring such practices repugnant to Islamic injunctions and the writ of the law,” says Niaz.

Maulana Asmatullah who belongs to Kolai-Palas is a thrice-elected MPA and leads a jirga. According to him, killing women in the name of honour is a social custom and has nothing to do with Islam.

“The jirga that is held to decide the fate of chor is not held under the Islamic Shariah,” Maulana Asmatullah says. “Witnesses lie to get the accused couples punished. The government should take serious remedial measures to do away with such traditions.”

The National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) has also initiated a campaign to amend laws dealing with killing in the name of honour and other crimes inflicted on women.

Nilofar Bakhtiar, who pushed for legislation calling for perpetrators of so-called honour killings to be punished when she served as minister of women’s affairs, currently chairs the NCSW. She says, “I was the only federal minister and lawmaker of my party [PMLQ] who persuaded the ruling and opposition benches in 2004 to pass the ‘Anti Honour Killing’ bill and, now, as chairperson of the NCSW, I have initiated a campaign to get it and such other laws amended, to make them flaw free.”

It’s definitely a start and all such efforts are required. But changing mindsets in remote areas like Torghar and Kohistan will require much more than well-intentioned parliamentary interventions.

The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Mansehra. He tweets @nisarkhan1269

Published in Dawn, EOS, August 7th, 2022