PRISON NATION USA

Juvenile lifer seeks reprieve amid broader push for leniency

LONG READ

By FELICIA FONSECA

yesterday

Carmen Briones holds up photos of her husband, Riley Briones Jr., who is serving life in prison, on Feb. 22, 2022, in Anthem, Ariz. Riley Briones' attorneys are asking a federal appeals court for another chance to argue his sentence should be cut short based on improvements he's made behind bars since being convicted in the 1994 death of Brian Patrick Lindsay when Briones was 17. (AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca)


FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Shortly after Riley Briones Jr. arrived in federal prison, he cut his long, braided hair in a symbolic death of his old self.

WAIT, WHAT? 
As a leader of a violent gang and just shy of 18, Briones drove the getaway car in a robbery turned deadly on the Salt River-Pima Maricopa Indian Community outside Phoenix in 1994. He was convicted of murder and given a mandatory sentence of life without parole.

In prison, he has been baptized a Christian, ministers to other inmates who call him Brother Briones, got his GED and has a spotless disciplinary record, his attorneys say in their latest bid to get the now 45-year-old’s sentence cut short.

“He’s clearly on the side of the line where he should be walking free,” said his attorney, Easha Anand.

The U.S. Supreme Court opened the door for that possibility with a 2012 ruling that said only the rare, irredeemable juvenile offender should serve life in prison. Over the past decade, most of the 39 defendants in federal cases who received that sentence have gotten a reprieve and are serving far fewer years behind bars.

Meanwhile, more than 60 legal experts and scholars have asked the federal government to cap sentences for juvenile offenders at 30 years, create a committee to review life sentences in the future and reconsider its stance in Briones’ case.

But the move toward greater leniency has been gradual and not without resistance.

Briones is among those whose life sentences have been upheld in recent years, though he still has another chance.

Prosecutors in his case have opposed a reduced term. They argue despite Briones’ improvements, he minimized his role in the gang and its crimes that terrorized Salt River amid an explosion of gang violence on Native American reservations in the 1990s.

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Briones began serving prison time in 1997 for the death of Brian Patrick Lindsay, a Northern Arizona University honors student who was home for the summer and had picked up a solo shift at a Subway sandwich shop.

Briones drove four others from the notorious “Eastside Crips Rolling 30s” gang to the restaurant on May 15, 1994, one of whom was armed with a 9 mm pistol, according to court documents. Lindsay was preparing food they ordered when one of the gang members went outside to talk to Briones, came back inside and suddenly shot Lindsay in the face. He pumped more bullets into Lindsay as he lay bleeding on the floor.

They had planned the robbery to get cash for guns, prosecutors wrote in court documents. They weren’t able to open the cash register but took a bank bag with $100 and the food the dying clerk had prepared.

Briones instructed another gang member to kill a maintenance man whom they saw earlier clearing the sidewalk, but they couldn’t find him, court documents state.

Prosecutors said the murder was the most egregious of the violent crimes that Briones helped plot and carry out on the reservation about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from Phoenix. But there were others that demonstrated a “murderous, unrepentant and unapologetic attitude,” prosecutors said.

The gang members set diversionary fires while they firebombed a rival’s house and did drive-by shootings. They stole cars and firearms to carry out the crimes. They also hatched plans to kill a tribal judge, federal prosecutors and tribal police investigators but didn’t follow through, according to court documents.

Briones was arrested at his home in 1995. Along with murder, he was convicted of arson, tampering with a witness and assault with a dangerous weapon. Three of his co-defendants were sentenced to life. One cooperated with prosecutors and received a lesser term.

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Bennit Hayes can’t imagine that version of Briones, whom he served time with at the federal prison in Beaumont, Texas. Hayes said he learned about Sunday chapel services and a Bible study group that gathered on the prison yard, and Briones welcomed him with a big smile and a hug.

Hayes said he respected Briones because he never talked over others, he studied intently, and he worked hard and encouraged others to lead better lives. Briones prayed for anyone who asked, Hayes said.

“God blessed me not only to have the camaraderie and the brotherhood but to see genuine change,” said Hayes, whose sentence was commuted by President Barack Obama in 2016. “He was the light in the candle that I put up against everything else going forward.”

By then, Briones had cut his hair that fell past his waist, abstained from food for 40 days and surrendered to God, said his wife, Carmen Briones.

“Riley made that decision,” said Carmen Briones, who is enrolled Pascua Yaqui. “He said, ‘I have to have a different life. I can’t have the same life I had before.’”

The couple met while they were teenagers attending a youth camp at Arizona State University. They had a daughter who is now 30 and got married in 1999 while Briones, who is San Carlos Apache and Salt River Pima-Maricopa, was in prison.

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Briones’ case became eligible for resentencing after the Supreme Court’s 2012 decision in Miller v. Alabama. It was part of a series of cases in which the court found minors should be treated differently from adults, partly because of a lack of maturity. The court previously eliminated the death penalty for juveniles and barred life-without-parole sentences for juveniles except in cases of murder.

A handful of the defendants in the 39 federal cases — most of whom are minorities — have been released from prison.

The Feb. 17 letter seeking reform from the Justice Department pointed to statistics that show the median sentence for adults convicted of murder in the federal system is 20 years — nearly half the median for the juvenile offenders.

“Taking a life is really, really serious, and I don’t belittle that at all,” said Mary McCord, executive director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at the Georgetown University Law Center, one of the signatories. “But a full life in prison when you’re a juvenile and you’re talking about 40, 50, 60 years in prison is exceedingly excessive probably in almost every case and not consistent with typical sentences for homicides, even adults.”

The Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

A decision in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2019 gave Briones an opportunity to plead again before a district court judge to lower his sentence. But before he got the chance, the U.S. Department of Justice asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hold the case until it decided another one, Jones v. Mississippi, meant to clarify rulings in two other cases regarding juvenile offenders.

From there, Briones’ case went back to the 9th Circuit.

A three-judge panel ruled against Briones, and now his attorneys are asking the full court to reconsider. The federal government’s response is due in May.

The California-based Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a victims rights group, said changes in the law that continually allow juvenile offenders to get another shot at freedom are damaging for the families, communities and the criminal justice system.

“Some of these crimes are just very horrible, and the impacts on the families are substantial, and they never go away,” said the group’s president, Michael Rushford.

The Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth has long argued the changes a person makes once they’ve entered prison should matter, and juveniles offenders should be able to live as adults outside prison walls.

“If the facts of the crime are always going to be the overpowering force, then Miller isn’t going to be meaningfully interpreted to outweigh all this positive growth,” said Rebecca Turner, who tracks the federal cases for the group.

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The federal court in Arizona has resentenced more of the juvenile offenders to life in prison than any other state. Texas has two juvenile offenders who are serving life but weren’t able to be resentenced because of how courts interpreted Miller v. Alabama. South Carolina resentenced one inmate to life.

All three federal cases in Arizona were from Native American reservations, where the federal government has jurisdiction when the suspect, victim or both are Native American for a set of major crimes, including homicide. The penalties, in general, are stricter than if the crimes happened off the reservation and the cases ended up in state court.

Branden Pete, who is Navajo, got a mandatory life sentence for raping and then killing a woman by throwing rocks at her head on the Navajo Nation in 2002. A judge considered his dysfunctional upbringing, substance abuse issues, prison disciplinary record and the brutality of the crime in resentencing him to 54 years in prison in 2017.

It’s the third-longest resentence among defendants, not including those whose life sentences were reaffirmed or didn’t get a chance to plead for less time. The resentences range from 15 years to 70 years.

The other Arizona defendant, Johnny Orsinger, is serving life for the deaths of four people in two incidents when he was 16. Orsinger, who is Ute and Mexican, also committed the crimes on the Navajo Nation, which spans parts of New Mexico, Utah and Arizona. A co-defendant in one of the cases, Lezmond Mitchell, was executed in 2020. He was the only Native American on federal death row at the time.

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Prosecutors in Briones’ case acknowledged he’s changed for the better and expressed remorse but argued he should remain imprisoned for life because he hasn’t accepted responsibility for Lindsay’s death and minimized his role as a founder and leader of the gang that spanned other tribal reservations.

The U.S. District Court judge who resentenced Briones in 2016 said he considered Briones’ troubled childhood that included abuse at the hands of his father — with whom the gang consulted — along with Briones’ alcohol and drug use, and immaturity. He also noted Briones had been a model inmate.

“However, some decisions have lifelong consequences,” the judge wrote.

The trial for Briones and his co-defendants was the first prosecution in Indian Country under a federal law meant to enhance sentencing for organized crime. During the trial, prosecutors played the 911 recording in which Lindsay told dispatchers through a mouthful of blood that he had been shot. His parents were in the courtroom.

“I can still almost hear that tape,” Paul Charlton, one of the prosecutors at the time, recently told The Associated Press. “And if you had been through that trial, if you had seen the callous and remorseless way in which these individuals faced the evidence against them and their lack of remorse at that time, most people would be as I remain today, unsympathetic to Mr. Briones’ arguments.”

The Salt River Police Department declined to comment. Emails and phone messages left at a number listed for Lindsay’s parents were not returned.

In a letter to the court during Briones’ 2016 resentencing, Sharyn and Brian Lindsay said the passing of time hadn’t made their lives easier or mended their hearts.

“Isn’t a lifetime without our son enough without having to go through another court proceeding?” they wrote.

They established an engineering scholarship in their son’s name at Northern Arizona University.

Briones now is at the federal prison in metropolitan Phoenix, about a 50 minute drive from Carmen Briones’ home on the Salt River reservation. She hasn’t seen him since last May because of pandemic restrictions, but they keep in contact through email and phone calls.

She said releasing Riley Briones from prison would mean they could be a family in a more meaningful way. But whatever the 9th Circuit decides won’t change who her husband has become, she said.

“He’s still going to continue wherever he’s at to minister, to mentor, to be a positive example and give guidance to those who he has contact with,” she said. “We’ve had enough appeals come and go that ... wisdom would tell you just pray and see what happens.”

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Fonseca covers Indigenous communities on the AP’s Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/FonsecaAP

M23 rebels resurface in DR Congo

After a ten-year lull, M23 rebels in eastern DR Congo have attacked Congolese soldiers. As a result, tens of thousands of people have fled to neighboring Uganda, fearing renewed violence.

Eastern DRC is rife with scores of rebel groups

Renewed clashes erupted on Wednesday in the troubled east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) between government troops and the M23 rebel group, according to local sources.

For nearly a decade, a brittle ceasefire was kept by what was once the strongest rebel group in eastern DRC — until the end of last month.

On March 28, fighters from the M23 rebel group attacked Congolese army positions in Rutshuru near the border with Uganda and Rwanda.

"People fled their homes. They are fleeing the violence from the area where the rebels attacked the DRC forces and are moving to Uganda," Wema Ndagije, a local civil society representative, told DW.

Simon, a father of six, is one of the refugees. "We left our houses when we saw that the rebels were not far away. Bullets were flying, so we came here," he said.

Above all, he is troubled by the lack of support. "So far, no one has helped us. We suffer because we don't even have huts, and when it rains, we don't know what to do."

The M23 was one of the most strongest rebel group in the DRC

Tens of thousands uprooted

According to the UN refugee agency, tens of thousands of people fled Bunagana — an area just under 90 kilometers (56 miles) from the provincial capital of Goma — to Uganda's southwestern district of Kisoro. The Congolese army confirmed the attacks and accused Rwandan soldiers of aiding M23 rebels.

The Rwandan government and the M23 rejected the allegation. "The M23 is a Congolese politico-military movement and does not receive support from any neighboring country, near or far," Willy Ngoma, spokesperson for the M23, told DW.

He said the defamatory statements by the [Congolese] army were aimed at covering up their notorious incompetence

The rebel group said it was seeking dialogue with the government and had withdrawn its troops from the combat zone.

The M23 was formed by former members of a Tutsi militia group known as the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP). Rwanda and Uganda once supported it.

Its fighters were later incorporated into the Congolese army as part of a peace agreement signed on March 23, 2009.

However, they rebelled in 2012, claiming that the agreement had not been upheld, and renamed their group the March 23 (M23) Movement.

Fresh fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people in the region

No progress in disarmament

The M23 revolt peaked in 2012 and 2013 when it captured large parts of North Kivu province in eastern DRC. The M23, one of the many armed rebel groups roaming eastern DR Congo, briefly seized Goma before being defeated and driven out of the country by Congolese troops backed by UN peacekeepers (MONUSCO).

Following its defeat, the M23 signed an agreement with Kinshasa that included provisions for its fighters' reintegration into civilian society.

However, the group has accused the government of breaching the agreement once more, and fighting resumed last year.

Since then, there have been regional efforts at dialogue and disarmament, says Alex Vines of the British think tank Chatham House. However, he noted that M23 leaders have repeatedly complained about the slow implementation of the agreements.

"They want a disarmament and demobilization process, and that doesn't seem to be in sight," Vines told DW.

The fighting between the rebels and the army is a sign of how unstable the region in eastern Congo still is. Even before the recent attacks, clashes were taking place.

More than 20 soldiers were killed in January in Nyesisi, near the Virunga National Park, a UNESCO-designated world heritage site home to endangered mountain gorillas, the AFP reported.

On March 28, the M23 launched an attack on army positions in Rutshuru from their strongholds in the high hills.

"These rebels had already briefly captured two strategically important villages in November 2021," Vines said.

UN peacekeepers have been battling rebels in the region for years

Influence from neighboring countries

According to Vines, UN investigators have on several occasions established that Rwanda and Uganda also supported the M23.

"Our country is under attack. Rwanda is attacking us. There's no denying that anymore," an angry MP in Kinshasa said of the fighting last week.

According to UN figures, at least 2,300 civilians have already died due to the fighting in eastern Congo this year alone. In addition, a UN helicopter crash killed six people in late March.

Congolese authorities accuse the M23 of shooting down the helicopter, but the rebels say they were not responsible. Nevertheless, authorities have launched an investigation into the deadly incident.

M23 rebels allegedly shot down a UN helicopter in eastern DR Congo

Regional political rivalries

Political rivalries seem to be simmering in the tri-border area between DRC, Uganda, and Rwanda.

Uganda also accuses Rwanda of supporting the M23 to destabilize the country.

Onesphore Sematumba of the International Crisis Group (ICG) said the recent M23 attack was not a coincidence. The attack on the town of Bunagana on the border with Uganda took place when materials were to be provided for the construction of new roads between Congo and Uganda.

He said that joint projects between the Ugandan and Congolese armies were at stake, currently securing road construction projects between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"However, these routes practically run along the Rwandan border. Therefore, it is inconceivable that Rwanda would accept that the Ugandan army secures this section," Sematumba told DW. He said, likely, Kigali is practically using its heavily armed enemy to help.

Civil society under pressure worldwide, says new report

The latest "Civil Society Atlas" shows a disturbing trend: All over the globe, rights and freedoms are being curtailed – with particular setbacks also in Europe.


Belarus for instance has intensified its crackdown on dissent

Engagement in civil society can take many forms: environmental activism, fighting for gender equality, Indigenous groups joining forces. People unite for better working conditions, want to live their sexuality freely, defend themselves against various forms of oppression and much more.

Sometimes these initiatives are welcomed by governments – such as when citizens help the state to take care of refugees, as millions of Germans are doing to help those who have fled Ukraine. But many others are not.

People worldwide are feeling the effects. Silke Pfeiffer, head of the Human Rights and Peace unit at the Germany-based non-governmental organization Brot für die Welt (Bread for the World) illustrates this to DW with a shocking figure: "Only 3% of the world's population are fortunate enough to live in countries where the conditions for civil society action can be described as 'open.'"
Only 240 million people in 'open' countries

Of the nearly 8 billion people in the world, that is only 240 million. On the other hand, more than 7 billion people live in countries where critics are harassed, persecuted, and detained, where fundamental rights are curtailed.

These figures come from the latest "Civil Society Atlas," which Brot für die Welt is now presenting for the fifth time. It confirms a trend recently stated in the Bertelsmann Transformation Index and Amnesty International's annual report: Democracy is in retreat worldwide; human and civil rights are coming under pressure in an increasing number of countries.

An essential component of the Civil Society Atlas is the CIVICUS Monitor. The non-governmental organization CIVICUS, headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, constantly evaluates reports from partner organizations globally, as well as public sources. Based on this data, countries are divided into 5 categories, from "open" to "closed." Compared to their previous report, only one country has improved: the status of Mongolia was upgraded from "restricted" to "impaired."

Setbacks in Europe

At the same time, 14 countries have moved down the rankings, including two European Union member states: The Czech Republic and Belgium deteriorated from "open" to "impaired". "In the case of Belgium, this is due to the police crackdown on peaceful assemblies in late 2020-early 2021," Silke Pfeiffer explains.

In Belarus, as with Nicaragua, the CIVICUS Monitor diagnosed that the situation had deteriorated so badly that both countries were put in the worst category: "closed." That category includes 23 other nations such as North Korea, China, and Saudi Arabia.

In Russia, classified in the second-worst category of "suppressed,"the situation had already been deteriorating over recent years. "It has worsened since the war of aggression against Ukraine," Silke Pfeiffer observed. "People who have taken to the streets [to protest the invasion] are arrested en masse, media outlets are shut down, certain things are no longer allowed to be reported on. Significant voices are now forced to go abroad."

Russian journalist Davydova was forced into exile in March

One of those voices is Angelina Davydova. Since late March, the journalist, civil society expert and environmental activist has been in Berlin. She left Russia via Istanbul, like so many others. Davydova described the growing pressure that civil society has faced over recent years and the repression of activists. She speaks of the "huge shock" caused by the ban of the country's most renowned human rights organization, Memorial International, at the end of last year – because it was a sign that their work "is perceived by the state as being hostile." Memorial was founded in the Soviet era and honored for its work with the Alternative Nobel Prize in 2004.

Despite these growing difficulties, many activists have chosen to stay, Davydova said. She wishes for the West to remain in dialogue with Russian civil society – and never forget "that there are also people in Russia who think differently and civil society initiatives that are important."

Networking and misinformation

A key topic in the Civil Society Atlas is digitization. According to Rupert Graf Strachwitz, civil society expert at the Maecenata Foundation: "The possibility of disseminating information without having a 'gatekeeper' in between was one of the reasons civil societies has been able to develop so strongly over the past 30 years."

The power of digital media is also demonstrated by the extent to which particularly authoritarian regimes are upgrading their technological capacity. The goal: to tighten the room for maneuver that has opened in the digital space.

According to the Atlas, one particularly drastic measure is being more commonly used: shutting down the Internet completely. For example, many social media sites in Tanzania were blocked in the days surrounding the 2020 presidential election. In India, which likes to describe itself as "the biggest democracy in the world", the plug was pulled on the information stream in various regions more than 100 times last year.

The downsides of digitalization include the spreading of misinformation and hate speech. According to the Atlas, Russia was weaponizing lies on a large scale even before its invasion of Ukraine began. The right to information, however, is a fundamental human right and an essential prerequisite for a functional civil society, explained Silke Pfeiffer. "If this right is curtailed by the spreading of false reports, it erodes a key foundation for civil society engagement."

This article was translated from German.

In the shadow of the atomic bomb: Life during the Cold War

Russia's invasion of Ukraine raises fears of a new Cold War. DW's Susanne Spröer describes what it was like to grow up with east German border controls and peace demonstrations.

A graffiti depiction of the GDR border on Berlin's East Side Gallery

"Susanne is easily tempted to chatter." That comment was in my report card at the end of the first grade, in the summer of 1972.

Which is why what my parents now demanded of me was truly harsh punishment: We were on a train and I was to be absolutely quiet when we reached the border and were checked.

This "border" in question was the one that divided Germany into two states until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989: the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and a member of NATO on the west, and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and Warsaw Pact signatory on the east.

COLD WAR NIGHT LIFE -- RATIONAL YOUTH

Led by the United States in the West and the Soviet Union in the East, the two sides would be embroiled in a weapons-laden standoff for some four decades. Once allies, who together with Britain had defeated Nazi Germany in World War II, the US and Soviet opposing ideologies and systems — capitalism in the West and communism in the East — saw this alliance rapidly disintegrate.

A temporary alliance: Heads of state Churchill, Truman, and Stalin in 1945

 

Therefore this border, which we were now approaching to exit the East and enter the West, was one of the most closely guarded in the world. It was quite literally the "dividing line" of the Cold War.

'Show your ears!'

When the train slowed down, I nervously fidgeted on the seat that smelled of plastic, exchanging silent glances with my little brother. The other passengers were silent as well, with only occasional soft whispers punctuating the silence. Outside, the sun was shining; inside there was a sense of unease.

This picture would have been invalid as a passport photo: Author Susanne Spröer's ears are covered

After what seemed like an interminable time, the compartment door opened and grim-looking GDR border guards in drab grey uniforms began their check.

"Papers!" My parents handed over visas and passports. The officers then scrutinized each of us against our respective passports for an agonizingly long time.

"Show your ears!" — our ears had to be clearly visible in passport photos. I brushed back my hair, trembling and sitting quietly as a mouse, with my heart caught in my throat.

The border officials never smiled — not even at us children. 

Escape and separated families

Frostiness, silence, and hours of waiting: That's what the Cold War felt like to me, long before I even knew what the term meant.

Yet I was privileged to be allowed to cross this border toward the West at all.

The GDR barred its citizens from traveling to the West, with the exception of only a select few. Some attempts to leave East Germany ended fatally. At least 500 people died trying to escape over the border and the Berlin Wall; the exact number remains unclear.

But we came from the West, and had to travel to the GDR if we wanted to visit my mother's foster parents, Uncle Max and Aunt Frieda in Karl-Marx-Stadt (now known as Chemnitz). They had taken care of my mom as a child, when my widowed grandmother had to work.

When my 13-year-old mother and grandmother fled to the West in 1956, they and many other relatives stayed behind in the GDR.

In the West, my mother met my father, and they married in 1963 — six months after the Cold War almost reached a tipping point during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.

Cold War with 22 million victims

Yet the term "Cold War" plays down the fact that despite no direct military confrontation between the two superpowers themselves, namely the USA and the USSR, numerous proxy wars over territory, resources and ideological spheres of influence were fought elsewhere: in Korea and Vietnam, on the African continent and in Afghanistan.

Around 22 million people died in these bloody conflicts, but I only learned about all this much later, at school and during my further studies. 

While I was traveling to the GDR, children in Vietnam were being bombed with napalm

Back in 1972 though, I was a naturally chatty six-year-old sitting on a train, feeling thoroughly intimidated. For there was something to keep mum about — and it had to do with my feet.

Economic scarcity, long waits and arbitrariness

In the communist planned economy, there were strict regulations for the import and export of goods.

Many things were not allowed to be imported, for example, "printed matter that contradicted the interests of the GDR or its citizens," as one information brochure put it.

Given that such formulation was open to arbitrary interpretation, even Mickey Mouse magazines could have been considered "undesirable Western propaganda."

When leaving the East, on the other hand, it was strictly forbidden to export important GDR products — which included children's clothing and shoes. And that was exactly what I had on my feet: a pair of red sandals. 

GDR children's clothing: Export strictly prohibited!

My parents had bought them during our visit using GDR marks, which every traveler into the country was obliged to use in exchange for foreign currency, and which they could not then exchange again before leaving the GDR.

Since we stayed with Uncle Max and Aunt Frieda, we had trouble spending all the exchanged East German marks every time. 

What is now merely a bizarre anecdote was rather risky back then: Violations of the GDR's customs and foreign exchange regulations were subject to heavy fines, with the threat of arrest and pre-trial remand for serious violations. And one never knew what constituted a serious violation.

Anywhere but the GDR

Over the years, I lost contact with Uncle Max and Aunt Frieda and the rest of our family in the GDR.

As a young woman, I longed for the south, traveling to France, Spain or Italy, which were wonderfully uncomplicated. I only crossed the inter-German border when I had to. It almost always took hours before we were allowed to continue our journey, with dread hanging over me every time.

A memorial today: The former GDR border crossing Marienborn

Apart from that, the Cold War was a rather vague threat to me, just like for many young people in Western Europe. We knew the world as divided into two blocs — and I never thought Germany would be reunified.

Largest postwar peace movement

But I was convinced that the two blocs should finally make peace.

At the start of the 1980s, the arms race entered a new phase with the deployment of the Soviet SS-20 medium-range missiles and the NATO Dual Track policy, which provided for further missile deployments by NATO in Central Europe if the disarmament negotiations between the two superpowers failed.

This led to the largest peace protests Germany had seen up to then, driven mainly by the Green Party, segments of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the churches.

US singer Harry Belafonte at the peace demonstration in Bonn in 1981

More than 300,000 people attended a peace demonstration at Bonn's Hofgartenwiese in October 1981: Heinrich Böll, the Nobel Prize winner for literature, whom I admired, was there and US musician Harry Belafonte performed there too.

German singer and songwriter Nena's " 99 Luftballons" — a song alluding to the paranoia of the Cold War — received much airplay in 1983. It was re-recorded in English later that same year as "99 Red Balloons"; both versions became chart-toppers in various countries.

The peace movement was clearly influencing culture.

No more war!

I was a staunch pacifist at that time. I felt the same way as my grandmother, who had experienced two world wars and lost her husband and brother in the process.

After all, the Second World War started by Germany had led to the division of Germany and the subsequent Cold War in the first place.

That's why in 1985 Sting's song "Russians" resonated with me. When US President Ronald Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as an "evil empire," I could not and would not share such a worldview. Sting, on the other hand, appealed to the power of humanity.

Recently, Sting re-recorded the song in support of Ukraine. After all, one of the lines goes, "The Russians love their children too." And today, as in the 1980s, I hope that Russian mothers and fathers will love their children so much that they will finally take a stand against this cruel war that contravenes international law, and through which Russia's President Putin has invaded Ukraine. Because not only countless innocent Ukrainians are dying as a result of it, but also young Russians.

Postscript: End to a horrid era

The wall has fallen! And we want to go there. Brandenburg Gate in November 1989

When I heard on the news that the GDR border had opened on that fateful night of November 9, 1989, I called my grandma and my parents. We cried over the phone. 

My brother and I spontaneously decided to drive to Berlin. We got as far as the Marienborn border crossing, but that was still 180 kilometers (112 miles) away from Berlin, and traffic on the transit route to city was at a standstill. So when our passports were returned, we turned around and helped tow a stalled Trabant car, whose driver was desperate to get to the West.

Buoyed by the chaotic merriment around us, we toasted with sparkling wine. The border no longer felt threatening.

 

This article was originally written in German.

   

How India is pushing for the return of stolen artifacts

As the conversation around looted artifacts gains prominence across the world, India's attempts to repatriate stolen heritage items are beginning to bear fruit.


Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inspected the artifacts repatriated from Australia in March

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently thanked Australia for returning 29 Indian-origin artifacts that hade been stripped from the South Asian country illegally. It's the latest in a string of ancient artifacts that have been returned to India.

The objects — including sculptures, paintings, photographs and a scroll — date back to the ninth century and were held by the National Gallery of Australia.

"I thank you for your initiative to return Indian antiquities and the antiquities sent by you include artifacts hundreds of years old and photos that were illegally taken out of Rajasthan, West Bengal, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and other Indian states," Modi told Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the 2nd India-Australia Virtual Summit on March 21.


A catalog shared by the government showcased 12th-century Chola bronzes, 11th-12th century Jain sculptures from Rajasthan, 12th-13th century sandstone Goddess Mahisasuramardini from Gujarat, a number of 18th-19th century paintings, and early gelatin silver photographs.

Push to bring back heritage items

India has lost several significant national artifacts, first under British colonial rule and then through illegal smuggling activities. As the conversation around looted artifacts gains prominence across the world, its attempts to repatriate stolen heritage items are bearing fruit.

In September last year, Prime Minister Modi was credited with bringing back 157 Indian artifacts, which were handed to him during his visit to the United States, where he and US President Joe Biden expressed their commitment to strengthening efforts to combat theft, illicit trade and the trafficking of such objects.


While almost half of these artifacts were cultural, the other half were figurines linked to Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

It's estimated that thousands of artworks are stolen from Indian temples each year and put on a thriving international antiquities market.

Where do the artifacts go?

Since coming to power in 2014, Modi has brought back Indian cultural items from trips to many countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Singapore, as well as the US.

"The return of these artifacts is a welcome move as they represent the cultural identity of India," Juhi Sadiya, assistant professor at the New Delhi-based National Museum Institute, told DW.

While the final destination of these items will be decided by the competent authorities within the government, Sadiya said that the museum was well equipped to provide the preventive conservation these objects required. This includes offering micro-climates with the right humidity, temperatures and light conditions to prevent any damage.

Anupam Sah, a leading art conservation-restoration practitioner, said that preventive conservation can be implemented even at novice institutions.

"Cultural holdings in the country are spread across private ownership, monasteries and religious institutions, universities and public institutions, as well as the specific repositories of cultural heritage, which are museums," Sah told DW, adding that India had the requisite tools and expertise for preventive conservation.

While the primary aim is to avoid future risks to objects, specialized curative treatments are being conducted for objects that need further attention.

Religious identities of the relics

While many say the artifacts belong in Indian museums, some groups of volunteers have been calling for the relics to be returned to temples, their "rightful" place. One such group is the India Pride Project (IPP), run by two Singapore-based Indian-origin art enthusiasts.

The group, which prides itself as the world's first crowd-sourced heritage-recovery project, uses its global network of volunteers to build "the case for India's stolen heritage to be brought back home," co-founder Anuraag Saxena told DW in an earlier statement.

According to the activist, "history belongs to its geography," and nations, museums, citizens, as well as officials, need to understand why this is the right thing to do. The group has one uniting theme: #BringOurGodsHome.

"We have taken an academic issue and made it into a social movement," Saxena said.

The IPP has already successfully traced some stolen statues, but experts are wary of leaving the task of recovery to private individuals, who might sometimes bring back pieces that best suit their version of history.

If possible, Sah says artifacts should not be taken out of their cultural context. "This is not limited to religious objects but also, for example, a cave painting that is displayed out of its original environment," Sah said.

"In an ideal situation, I would prefer for these objects to be returned to their original cultural context with proper systems in place to ensure their security and longevity," Sah said. But until the time their safety is ensured, Sah believes they should be in a safe holding area with trained professionals best suited to handle the task of conservation.

Long road ahead

While reclaiming the world-famous Kohinoor Diamond, now a part of the British Crown Jewels, is still a dream for many in India, the cultural importance of newly reclaimed artifacts cannot be dismissed.

UNESCO, the UN agency for culture, says heritage theft remains a rampant problem across India, which is compounded by poverty and poor protection of historical monuments.

Laying emphasis on international cooperation to retrieve illegally stolen antiquities, the UN agency has highlighted the importance of developing capacities for conservation within the country.

"A key measure is the development of digital inventories and professional documentation of cultural property," UNESCO said in a statement. Pushing for a nationally coordinated approach, the organization said newly developed mechanisms, if available in regional languages, would be able to "report theft instantly, and could facilitate the interception of stolen objects before they enter illegal trade channels."

Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru

Prestigious British art school in Rome accused of being a ‘toxic’ place to work

A taxpayer-funded charity that runs a prestigious art school in Rome has been accused of failing in its duty of care after allegations of mismanagement, a “toxic” working environment and unfair working practices.

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images

Matteo Civillini and Jon Ungoed-Thomas

THE GUARDIAN

The British School at Rome (BSR) launched an inquiry after 24 staff, former employees and alumni complained about the charity’s operations in April 2020 to its trustees. It was alleged that staff were suffering “physical and mental health issues” because of poor working conditions.

It is alleged a “grievance panel” set up by the charity’s trustees to investigate the claims was suspended before it reported its findings. The charity said last week it had conducted a “comprehensive, independent and confidential” investigation.

BSR was established in 1901 and is housed in a neoclassical building in Rome designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. Alumni include Turner prize winners Elizabeth Price and Mark Wallinger. It receives more than half of its funding from the British Academy, which is supported by a grant from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

A two-page complaint written in April 2020 was sent to the charity’s council, whose members are its trustees. The council is chaired by Mark Getty, a member of the Getty family oil dynasty and co-founder of the media company Getty Images.

© Provided by The Guardian 

Multimillionaire Mark Getty is chair of the charity’s council. 

Photograph: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

The complaint seen by the Observer said there were grave concerns at the school with regard to mismanagement, unfair working practices and alleged demeaning language towards some female employees. The letter complained of a “toxic” and “divisive” working atmosphere.

The document stated: “Since July 2019, a number of trustees have been approached and these issues have been brought to their attention, but nothing positive has resulted. People should be given the opportunity to speak in a safe and protected environment.”

In one case of alleged unfair working conditions, a senior female arts researcher who lived at the school and has spoken to the Observer said she was expected to act as a “janitor” on some nights, and was given a torch and high-visibility vest to patrol the premises.

She said: “I actually found a naked man in the lecture theatre one Saturday evening and I had to deal with that. I think he was on drugs.” When she complained that out-of-hours duties were not in her contract, she claims she was told she would not be granted her holiday leave unless she agreed to do the out-of-hours work. The researcher was dismissed after refusing to work out of hours, but says she pursued an unfair dismissal case in the Rome courts and received compensation in a settlement.

The council overseeing the charity commissioned an independent review in June 2020. The panel recommended forming a grievance panel and also identified a “very urgent” need for staff to get access to human resources advice and support.

A grievance panel composed solely of lawyers appointed by the BSR was conducted with hearings in July 2020. In September that year, 37 staff, former employees and alumni wrote to the British Academy, complaining they had not been informed of any findings by the panel and the charity had “failed in its duty of care”.

The British Academy and the BSR reviewed the charity’s governance. Reforms were proposed, including a new code of conduct, the formation of a senior management team and a new approach to diversity and inclusion. The British Academy reported to the complainants in June 2021 that the council had “decided to suspend the operations of the grievance panel despite the absence of any resolution of the issues that came before it”.

The charity, which has about 30 employees, said last week that all the review’s recommendations had been implemented. It said it could not fully respond to specific claims because of confidentiality arrangements, but no members of staff were the subject of disciplinary action.

It said it consulted staff last summer about the grievance panel and the council concluded it was appropriate to consider the procedure closed. It said that no researchers had been asked to act as janitors, but residential staff had shared duties for out-of-hours emergencies. Since spring 2020, a professional security service had been in place, the charity said. An HR manager was appointed in 2021.

Mark Getty, chair of the BSR council, said: “I am confident that with an enhanced framework for the BSR’s governance and with new dynamic leadership, the BSR is now well-placed to develop the UK’s creative and academic presence in Italy.”

The British Academy said it was not in its remit to investigate specific complaints from employees, but said it was satisfied the issues identified in its governance review were “in hand”.

Professor Stephen Milner, director of the charity at the time of the complaints, left at the end of his secondment in January 2021. Milner, Serena Professor of Italian at Manchester University, said last week the BSR would respond on the issue.

Imran Khan Ousted as Pakistan Leader, Paving Way for Power Shift

Kamran Haider and Ismail Dilawar
Sat, April 9, 2022





(Bloomberg) -- Pakistan lawmakers ousted former cricket star Imran Khan as prime minister in a no-confidence vote, ending his four-year run as leader after he clashed with the country’s powerful military and Asia’s second-fastest inflation eroded support.

A united opposition bloc cobbled together 174 lawmakers to vote against Khan after midnight in Islamabad, two more than required to remove him from office. Parliament will convene again on Monday to pick a new prime minister, which will almost certainly be opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif.

“A new morning is beginning, a new day is about to start,” Sharif told lawmakers after the results were declared in the early hours of Sunday. “The prayers of millions of Pakistanis have been heard.”

The political shakeup in the world’s fifth-most populous nation is likely to immediately rebalance Pakistan’s foreign policy more toward the U.S. and Europe. Khan had shifted Pakistan closer to Russia and China, and sought to sabotage the no-confidence vote by claiming the Biden administration conspired with the opposition to remove him from power.

A Sharif-led government is also likely to help secure about $3 billion left from an International Monetary Fund loan needed to bolster foreign reserves and the currency. The rupee is trading near a record low against the U.S. dollar and foreign currency reserves have dropped to the lowest in about two years, enough to cover a couple months of imports. The central bank surprised analysts last week with the biggest rate hike since 1996.

Ahead of his ouster, Khan called on supporters to protest peacefully after evening prayers on Sunday. A national vote must be held by August 2023, and Khan is already pressuring the opposition to go to the polls.

Khan’s loss came after a fallout with Pakistan’s army over a range of issues, including interference in military promotions, his rocky relationship with the U.S. and management of the economy. Pakistan’s military has ruled the country for almost half of its 75-year history, and no prime minister has completed a full term in that time.

Khan didn’t go quietly. Last weekend, his party shocked Pakistan when one of his allies canceled the no-confidence vote over the foreign interference claims, after which Khan quickly called an election. Pakistan’s opposition called the move treasonous, as the constitution doesn’t allow parliament to be dissolved during a no-confidence debate.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court later rejected Khan’s rationale for scrapping the vote and ordered the no-confidence vote to go ahead on Saturday. During the parliament session, Khan’s party triggered multiple adjournments by repeating claims without showing evidence that the U.S. wanted to oust his government -- an allegation the Biden administration has denied.

When the vote finally took place, opposition lawmakers cheered and clapped as the numbers were called out. Television channels showed opposition party flags being waved on the street and celebratory fireworks and gunfire sounded in Karachi and Islamabad.

(Updates throughout)

Imran Khan dismissed as Pakistan PM in no-confidence vote

Pakistan's Imran Khan who was dismissed on April 10, 2022 as prime minister after losing a no-confidence vote in parliament following weeks of political turmoil.

By AFP
Islamabad

Imran Khan was dismissed Sunday as Pakistan's prime minister after losing a no-confidence vote in parliament following weeks of political turmoil.

A new premier will be chosen Monday, with Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) chief Shehbaz Sharif almost certain to be picked to lead the nuclear-armed nation of 220 million people.

No prime minister has ever served a full term in Pakistan, but Khan is the first to lose office this way.

Opposition supporters took to the streets early Sunday, waving national and party flags from car windows as they raced through the streets.

There had been a massive security presence in the capital, but no incidents were reported.

Acting speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said 174 lawmakers had voted in favour of the motion, "consequently the vote of no confidence has passed".

Lost his majority

Khan, 69, who was not present, lost his majority in the 342-seat assembly through defections by coalition partners and even members of his own party, and the opposition had needed just 172 votes to dismiss him.

He tried everything to stay in power — including dissolving parliament and calling a fresh election — but the Supreme Court deemed all his actions illegal last week, and ordered the assembly to reconvene and vote.

There was drama right until the midnight deadline ordered by the Supreme Court, with the speaker of the assembly -- a Khan loyalist -- resigning at the last minute.

In the end, the session continued through to Sunday with a replacement.

"We will put a balm on the wounds of this nation," Sharif said immediately after the result was announced.

Militancy on the rise

Whoever takes over will still have to deal with the issues that bedevilled Khan: soaring inflation, a feeble rupee and crippling debt.

Militancy is also on the rise, with Pakistan's Taliban emboldened by the return to power last year of the hard-line Islamist group in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Tempers rose in the assembly when Sharif insisted a vote be held immediately — as ordered by the Supreme Court on Thursday — but Khan loyalists demanded discussion first on their leader's claims there had been foreign interference in the process.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi accused the opposition of leading the country down a dangerous path.

"History will expose all those, who set the stage for this move to topple the government," he said, to chants of "vote, vote" from the opposition.

Khan insists he has been the victim of a "regime change" conspiracy involving the United States.

Conspiracy claim

He said the PML-N and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) — two normally feuding dynastic groups who joined forces to oust him — had conspired with Washington to bring the no-confidence vote because of his opposition to US foreign policy, particularly in Muslim nations such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

He also accused the opposition of buying support in the assembly with "open horse-trading... selling of lawmakers like goats and sheep".

How long the next government lasts is also a matter of speculation.

The opposition said previously they wanted an early election — which must be called by October next year — but taking power gives them the opportunity to set their own agenda and end a string of probes they said Khan launched vindictively against them.

Local media quoted an election commission official as saying it would take them at least seven months to prepare for a national vote.

Publicly, the military appears to be keeping out of the current fray, but there have been four coups since independence in 1947, and the country has spent more than three decades under army rule.

Challenges ahead: Key issues facing Pakistan’s next leader


By AFP
April 9, 2022

Whoever becomes Pakistan’s next prime minister following the dismissal of Imran Khan Sunday will inherit the same issues that bedevilled the former international cricket star.

A poorly performing economy, rising militancy and shaky relations with former allies will be top of the agenda for the next administration.

The incoming government will need to stave off “multiple challenges on domestic and foreign relations levels”, said Professor Jaffar Ahmed, director of the Institute of Historical and Social Research.

Following are the key issues ahead for the incoming premier of the country of 220 million people:

– The economy –

Crippling debt, galloping inflation and a feeble currency have combined to keep growth stagnant for the past three years with little prospect of genuine improvement.

“We don’t have any direction,” said Nadeem ul Haque, vice-chancellor of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), a research organisation in Islamabad.

“Radical policy reforms are needed to turn around the economy.”

Inflation is ticking along at over 12 percent, foreign debt is at $130 billion — or 43 percent of GDP — and the rupee has dipped to 190 to the dollar, a decline of nearly a third since Khan took power.

A $6 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package signed by Khan in 2019 has never been fully implemented because the government reneged on agreements to cut or end subsidies on certain goods and improve revenue and tax collection.

“The IMF package must go on,” said Ehsan Malik, head of the Pakistan Business Council.

On the bright side, remittances from Pakistan’s vast diaspora have never been higher, although the cash flows have put Pakistan on the radar of the Financial Action Task Force, the global money-laundering and terrorist-funding watchdog.

“This is a hanging sword which could fall on the country any time,” Jaffar said.

– Rise of militancy –

Pakistan’s Taliban, a separate movement that shares common roots with the militants who took power in Afghanistan last year, have stepped up attacks in recent months.

They have threatened an offensive against government forces during Ramadan — which started Sunday — and in the past have been blamed for a string of murderous attacks.

Khan attempted to bring militants back into the mainstream, but talks with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants got nowhere last year before a month-long truce collapsed.

Afghanistan’s Taliban say they will not allow the country to be used as a base for foreign militants, but it remains to be seen if they will genuinely put a stop to the activities of thousands of Pakistani Islamists based there — or where they will go if they are kicked out.

There are no easy solutions even for the incoming government, experts say.

“The insurgency challenge would remain as big and crucial for the new government,” said political analyst Rafiullah Kakar.

In mineral-rich Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province, separatists have been demanding more autonomy and a greater share of the wealth for years, and the region is riven by sectarian strife and Islamist violence.

Kakar suggested a two-pronged approach — “confidence-building measures and political reconciliation” in Balochistan, but taking off the kid gloves for the Taliban “once and all”.

– Foreign relations –

Khan claims the United States orchestrated his removal by conspiring with the opposition, and the next government will have to work hard to patch up relations with Washington — a key arms supplier countering Russia’s trade with India.

Khan angered the West by continuing with a visit to Moscow on the day Russia invaded Ukraine, and was also one of the few world leaders to attend the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics when others boycotted in protest at China’s human rights record.

Still, army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa allayed some fears last weekend by saying good relations with the United States remain high on Pakistan’s agenda — and the military holds huge sway regardless of which civilian administration is in power.

“The incoming government… needs to put in hard effort to undo the damage,” said Tauseef Ahmed Khan, a political analyst and journalism teacher.

Plotting from the wings: Key players behind

Pakistan PM’s ouster

ByAFP
April 9, 2022

Imran Khan was thrown out of office as Pakistan prime minister Sunday after losing a no-confidence vote in the national assembly.

The drama caps weeks of machinations by the opposition aimed at unraveling the tenuous coalition Khan built around his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to become premier in 2018.

Following are brief profiles of the key players in the saga:

– Shehbaz Sharif –

The brother of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif — who has been disqualified from ever again running for office and is currently in exile in Britain — Shehbaz is the main candidate to replace Khan.

The 70-year-old is a political heavyweight in his own right, however, having served as chief minister of Punjab, the family’s power base, and now as president of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N).

A tough administrator with a reputation for passionate outbursts, he is known for quoting revolutionary poetry in speeches and is considered a workaholic.

He remains popular despite lurid tabloid headlines about multiple marriages and a property portfolio that includes luxury apartments in London and Dubai.

– Asif Ali Zardari –

Hailing from a wealthy Sindh family, Zardari was better known for his playboy lifestyle until an arranged marriage saw him wed Benazir Bhutto shortly before she became prime minister for the first time.

He took to politics with gusto, earning himself the nickname “Mr Ten Percent” for the cut he allegedly took from government contracts, and was twice jailed on charges related to corruption, drug smuggling and murder — although never faced trial.

The 67-year-old became co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) after the assassination of Bhutto in 2007, and became president of the country a year later in a power-sharing deal with the PML-N.

– Bilawal Bhutto Zardari –

The son of Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari is political royalty and became chairman of the PPP aged just 19 following his mother’s assassination.

The Oxford-educated 33-year-old is considered a progressive, in his mother’s image, and has frequently spoken out on the rights of women and minorities.

With more than half of Pakistan’s population aged 22 or below, Bhutto’s social media savvy is a hit with the young, although he is frequently mocked for a poor command of Urdu, the national language.

– Maulana Fazlur Rehman –

After starting political life as a firebrand Islamist hardliner, the Muslim cleric has softened his public image over the years with a flexibility that has seen him forge alliances with secular parties on the left and right of the spectrum.

With the ability to mobilise tens of thousands of madrassa students, his Jamiatul Ulema-e-Islam (F) party never musters enough support for power on its own but is usually a key player in any government.

His enmity with Khan runs deep, calling him “a Jew” in reference to his former marriage to Briton Jemima Goldsmith.

Khan, in return, calls him “Mullah Diesel” for his alleged participation in graft involving fuel licenses.

Opinion: Political chaos doesn't augur well for Pakistan's democracy

Prime Minister Imran Khan may take his fight to the streets after a setback in Pakistan's top court, heightening political tensions and instability in the nuclear-armed Islamic nation, DW's Adnan Ishaq writes.


Pakistan could witness the failure of another government to finish its full five-year term

Pakistan's Supreme Court dealt a severe blow to Prime Minister Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Thursday by ruling that his maneuver to dissolve parliament — to avoid a vote of no-confidence in his leadership — and call early elections was illegal.

It's not clear what Khan's next steps would be, but the opposition was ecstatic after the verdict.

As per the court order, lawmakers are to convene at the National Assembly in Islamabad on Saturday for a no-confidence motion.

It's highly likely that the prime minister will lose the vote. Opposition parties say they have enough support in the 342-seat house to oust Khan.

If Khan is removed from power, Pakistan would witness the failure of yet another government to complete its full five-year term.

It is democracy that has suffered the most in the ongoing political chaos in the country.

Khan's rift with the military

After coming to power in 2018, Khan launched an array of projects to alleviate the suffering of Pakistan's impoverished and marginalized communities. His multibillion-rupee initiative to issue health insurance cards immensely helped the poor, along with projects that provided shelter to the homeless, scholarships to impoverished students and quarterly financial aid to extremely poor sections of society, among other things.


DW's Adnan Ishaq

Khan's initiative to plant a billion trees in the country also earned laurels from international organizations. The government also managed the COVID pandemic relatively well.

Nevertheless, skyrocketing inflation, rising unemployment and alleged gross incompetence stoked public discontent with the government.

During his initial days in office, it was evident that Khan had the backing of the military, Pakistan's most powerful institution. When some opposition parties began criticizing the army, Khan was quick to defend the generals and maintained a healthy relationship with the men in uniform.

But relations between the prime minister and the military seem to have soured since then. There was a weekslong standoff between Khan and the army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, over the appointment of a new head of the Inter-Services Intelligence(ISI) spy agency last year.

And Khan's positioning of himself as an "anti-West" leader and his increasingly strident criticism of the US and the EU did not go down well with the army, which views the West as key to Pakistan's economic and security interests.

The US and the EU are among Pakistan's largest economic partners, with huge influence over global financial institutions, whose assistance Islamabad desperately needs to get out of the economic mess it finds itself in.

Furthermore, Pakistan has always tried to maintain a balance in its strategic relations, with the West on one side and China and Russia on the other. Khan disrupted this balance by veering heavily toward Beijing and Moscow, triggering concerns among the Pakistani military establishment over how his actions would affect Islamabad's ties to Washington.

Khan has little to show in terms of performance

Khan claimed that his defiance of "US dictation" and following an "independent" foreign policy infuriated Washington and its EU allies and that's why the US wants him gone.

With his rhetoric, Khan has been successful in promoting an anti-American and anti-West narrative while declaring his political opponents as stooges of foreign powers. This seems to have increased his popularity among conservative and right-wing voters, including those in Punjab, the country's most populous province, which decides the fate of politicians during elections.

The anti-US narrative is a tried-and-tested formula in Pakistan. Most political parties and religious factions keep the tactic up their sleeve in case things get out of hand. In 2017, when the Supreme Court ordered the removal of then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from office because of corruption accusations, Sharif said it was part of "an international conspiracy."

Khan is now using the same tactic as he needs to prepare for the elections and has very little to show in terms of performance.

Expect more protests and political unrest

There has been a sigh of relief after the top court's verdict to restore Parliament, with many believing that it would restore a modicum of political stability. But things don't appear optimistic for Pakistan.

Khan and his PTI party will most likely take to the streets and resort to protests and agitation, heightening political tensions and instability in the nuclear-armed Islamic nation.

The prime minister once said democracy functioned on moral authority. We keep hearing this statement from opposition political parties as well. But when it comes to their interests, all the nation's political actors trample on moral and democratic values.

Whatever has happened in the past few days will not benefit Pakistan's democracy and democratic values.

Some politicians may get temporary benefits from this fiasco, but the forces that have not allowed any Pakistani prime minister to complete a full term in office will once again be the ultimate long-term beneficiaries.

Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru