King’s College London accused of ‘Trump-like’ tactics to deport pro-Palestine student activist


October 24, 2025 

Middle East Monitor

Students from leading universities across the United Kingdom hold a march to mark the second anniversary of Israel’s attacks on Gaza, in London, United Kingdom on October 7, 2025. [Aysu Biçer – Anadolu Agency]

King’s College London (KCL), a prestigious UK university, is facing legal action over its decision to indefinitely suspend a student and revoke his visa sponsorship, triggering potential deportation to Egypt. The move has been widely condemned as a targeted response to the student’s pro-Palestine activism and part of a wider trend of institutional repression against dissent over Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Usama Ghanem, a second-year international relations student and Egyptian national, was issued with an indefinite suspension after participating in a series of pro-Palestine protests on campus. The suspension automatically triggered the withdrawal of his visa sponsorship, a process likened to “Trumpian” deportation tactics by campaigners.

Ghanem, who fled Egypt due to political persecution, has a documented history of torture and trauma, having been detained and abused by Egyptian authorities in 2020 alongside members of his family. His experiences led to a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which the university had been made aware of during his application and studies.

The case has drawn condemnation from CAGE International, which is supporting Ghanem’s legal action against KCL for alleged human rights violations, including unlawful discrimination, personal injury and harassment.

“King’s College London has built its repression on the existing frameworks of racist and Islamophobic counter-extremism policies, demonstrating what we’ve always known: such powers exist primarily to crush dissent,” said Naila Ahmed, Head of Campaigns at CAGE International.

“It is shameful that one of the country’s leading institutions of learning has resorted to indefinitely suspending a student and triggering his potential deportation to a country with a deplorable human rights record. The legal challenge he has launched is crucial to ending such egregious abuses of power.”

Speaking to CAGE International, Ghanem, said: “I first started protesting on campus after the start of the genocide in Gaza. I discovered more about King’s complicity within the genocide; about the investments, the heavy connections they have, not only with Israeli universities, but with Israeli military and forces, helping them research and develop their weapons and all of their studies and their research capabilities to kill more Palestinians.”

Ghanem went on to add: “I felt an insane amount of complicity within institutions that I paid tens of thousands of Pounds for per year as an international student. It all formed within me a very deep conviction that it is a betrayal, not only to the Palestinian people, but to my Muslim identity and my humanity to just see this happening and turn a blind eye.”

“I got singled out for an action that the student body had taken collectively against KCL… Kings chose to single me out, label me as a leader and tried to punish me and punish any dissent against its investments in Israel and to make an example of its students when they target their university for complicity, then this happens to them.”

The university’s action is said to have followed pressure from an external pro-Israel organisation calling for disciplinary action against students who took part in a campus protest opposing Israeli apartheid and the genocide in Gaza.

Ghanem played a key role in the KCL Gaza Solidarity Encampment, launched in May 2024 in protest against Israel’s genocide on the besieged enclave and the university’s financial ties to companies complicit in the occupation and war crimes.

Since 7 October 2023, over 68,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, a third of them children, according to Gaza health authorities. In September, a UN commission of inquiry found Israel has committed acts of genocide in the territory.

Students at the encampment demanded that KCL sever all ties with Israeli institutions complicit in apartheid, divest from arms companies involved in Palestinian deaths, and commit to rebuilding Gaza’s devastated education sector.

“Genocide is far from over”: Gaza Tribunal hears evidence of systematic destruction of health care in Gaza

October 24, 2025 

Middle East Monitor

Activist Sami Al Arian (R), author Kenize Mourad (2nd R), Professor Christine Chinkin (3rd R), academic Biljana Vankovska (3rd L), activist Chandra Muzaffar (2nd L), and Dr. Ghada Karmi (L) attend final session of the Gaza Tribunal, a global and independent initiative established to investigate Israel’s ongoing war crimes in Gaza, held at Istanbul University, Turkiye on October 24, 2025. [Muhammed Enes Yıldırım – Anadolu Agency]

The Gaza Tribunal’s final session continued Friday at Istanbul University, with powerful expert testimony asserting that Israel deliberately dismantled Gaza’s health care and public health systems as part of a larger policy of “mass harm to civilians,” Anadolu reports.

Doctors and humanitarian specialists detailed what they described as systematic attacks on medical workers, hospitals, water systems, and the basic means of civilian survival.

During Friday morning’s panel titled “Targeting of Civilians and Civilian Infrastructure—Medical Systems,” four medical professionals, including International President of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Dr. Javid Abdelmoneim, Turkish physician Dr. Taner Kamaci, Norwegian emergency doctor and professor Dr. Mads Gilbert, and UK-based systemic psychotherapist and trainer Gwyn Daniel, presented evidence from the past two years of the Gaza war, calling for international accountability.

‘Deliberate mass harm to civilians’

Dr. Javid Abdelmoneim, a British emergency physician and humanitarian with MSF, testified that Gaza’s hospitals and health workers were not merely collateral victims of conflict but the direct targets of a systematic strategy:

“Members of the jury, our health system has not collapsed by chance. It’s destroyed when hospitals are deliberately struck. Supplies are choked off. Health care workers are killed or detained. And the water and sanitation system is ruined.”

He noted staggering casualties among medical personnel, saying: “Over 1,700 health care workers have been killed since October 2023. At MSF, 15 of our colleagues have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.”

Abdelmoneim directly cited incidents communicated to Israeli authorities in advance, including the November 2023 strike on Al-Awda Hospital.

“We had repeatedly informed Israeli authorities that Al-Auda was a working hospital with patients and medical staff and therefore protected under international humanitarian law.”

He said two MSF doctors, Mohamed Abou-Jaida and Ahmed As-Saffar, were killed in the attack.

He added, several days earlier, “Our colleague Abad Shabab, a nurse, was killed when a clearly marked MSF convoy came under attack in Gaza City. Despite our authorization to evacuate, he was shot in the head.”

Abdelmoneim also described the detention and disappearance of medical personnel, referencing the Oct. 26 arrest of Dr. Abou-Jaida, who he said remains in prison without charge.

– Collapse of water, sanitation, disease control

Stressing that public health failures were engineered, he provided examples to back up his claim. He said: “Less than a third of the fuel needs for desalination pumps and water trucks were allowed by Israel… Polio was declared in Gaza while I was there. It had been eradicated years previously.”

The consequences were visible in every clinic, he noted: “Patients with trauma injuries, chronic diseases, cancer, communicable illnesses, malnourished children, and pregnant women were dying from preventable causes.”

Abdelmoneim also urged the panel to treat these medical stories as legal evidence.

“It remains an urgent need for credible and proactive mechanisms to deliver justice for the thousands that have been killed and injured by Israeli actions over the past two years.”

He concluded with a stark indictment, saying: “It is the deliberate dismantling of the means to survive… The genocide is far from over.”

– System ‘preventing life itself’

Dr. Taner Kamaci, speaking as a Turkish health official who worked inside Gaza, described health care conditions as a complete breakdown of protection for civilians.

“For two years, every day, people who have been deprived of electricity, water, and bread… have been deprived of their physical, social, and mental health. Therefore, Israel has deprived all people of water for the past two years, which is essential for their health.”

He shared firsthand accounts of surgery without anesthesia, children transported to hospitals by donkey carts, and patients dying in hallways due to a total shortage of surgical capacity.

His remarks underscored that the survival struggle does not end once the bomb falls, saying: “It’s not just a bomb… Surviving in Gaza during the war is almost a miracle.”

Kamaci cited numbers from Gaza health authorities documenting 1,722 health workers killed and 362 imprisoned. In two years, “at least 4,000 children, nearly 15,000 people, lost at least one limb.”

He finished by framing the war as an outright assault on humanity: “What is the meaning of the name of this genocide?”

– Evidence-based testimony on 40-year pattern

Dr. Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian emergency physician who has worked in Gaza for decades, began by naming colleagues killed with their families. “Within all these numbers we have, Palestinians are of course not numbers but humans with families just like us,” he said.

Gilbert broadened the timeline of alleged violations and said: “This has been going on… for more than 40 years… the root cause of ill health is the Israeli occupation.”

He described a long-documented pattern of Israeli attacks on hospitals, ambulances, and health workers, which he said had continued despite UN investigations dating back to 1982.

“We have surpassed 100,000 killed in Gaza. And don’t forget that three out of four are women and children, and between 80 and 90% are civilians.”

He described his approach as “evidence-based solidarity,” citing UN statistics, scientific studies, and 42 years of clinical experience.

Gilbert cited 328 UN situation reports since October 7, 2023, noting that scientists found 41% underreporting in the first year of casualties. He added that 10,000-20,000 more people are likely buried under the rubble.

– ‘Intention to have more people dying’

Gilbert testified that at least 1,700 Palestinian health care workers have been killed, and 301 have been detained, many of whom have been tortured. According to a WHO dashboard, 2,853 health care workers and patients have been killed or injured in Gaza in the last two years alone—”one every six hours,” he said.

He described the attacks as “extremely systematic” with a clear strategic purpose. Removing hospitals from society’s safety net only leads to more deaths and to extinguishing the will to resist, he said.

Gilbert warned that 1,000-2,000 child amputees would need 10-20 surgeries to walk again, and described a campaign to “invalidate and harm as much as possible.”

He also highlighted dramatic collapses in public health indicators.

“It is the starvation program: dehydration, lack of water, and untreated diseases. Half the population is under 18. You have a system of genocide using scientific knowledge of what creates health to destroy health.”

Gilbert condemned the silence of Western medical institutions. “Staying silent, while pretending to be neutral, is a form of oppression. We will never forget, and we will never forgive.”

Yet he closed by affirming the perseverance of Palestinian health workers risking their lives daily. “To resist is to exist,” he remarked.

– ‘Trauma is continuous and ongoing’

Gwyn Daniel, a systemic family therapist based in the UK, said that two years of continuous Israeli bombardment have precipitated an unprecedented psychological collapse in Gaza, describing conditions as “an ongoing genocide.”

“How do we understand mental health in the context of a genocide, an ongoing genocide?” she said. “One of the criteria for genocide is causing serious bodily and mental harm to members of the group. The mental harm is one that we all know about.”

Daniel stressed that Gaza’s trauma cannot be treated as a past event. “As my Palestinian colleagues always point out, there is no place for trauma. Trauma is continuous and ongoing.”

She argued that ethical mental health responses must confront the political causes of suffering.

“The only ethical responses to collective trauma on this scale are those that address evidence of political violence and the need for self-determination and liberation,” she said. “That means supporting interventions that embrace activism and modes of resistance.”

– Children bear most extreme impact

Daniel described a population living “in a death zone,” where people feel “they are already dead, or longing to be alive,” and where the destruction of hospitals, schools, and community structures “aids at the heart and soul of the community… its collective consciousness and its systems of mutual support.”

Children, she said, are bearing the most extreme impact. “Nearly 40,000 children have lost their lives there,” she noted. Constant fear and hyperarousal “will have a permanent impact, because there are no contacts by children from those states.”

Despite the devastation, Daniel emphasized the courage of Palestinian professionals who continue working: “It means supporting those mental health practitioners already operating in Gaza… operating at great risk to themselves.”

Quoting the latest report from the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, she concluded: “Gaza, despite the pain, continues to pulse with life… it is the duty of all of us in the international community to remain alongside it.”

Israeli lawmaker urges world to act to prevent ‘genocide’ in West Bank

October 25, 2025 

Middle East Monitor

Lawmaker from the Arab-majority Hadas-Ta’al party and a Knesset member, Ofer Cassif speaks during an exclusive interview in his office in West Jerusalem 

 [Arif Kayacan/Anadolu via Getty Images]

An Israeli Knesset member urged the international community not to wait for another genocide, warning that Israel is moving toward mass atrocities in the occupied West Bank, Anadolu reports.

“I appeal to the international community. You waited too long before intervening to stop the genocide in Gaza. Don’t wait for a similar scenario in the West Bank because we are getting close to that,” Ofer Cassif told Anadolu.

“And don’t wait for a civil war inside Israel because we are getting close to that, too. Engage now. Do everything possible to stop these two dangers — they threaten both Palestinians and Israelis alike, and ultimately the entire region and the world. It’s not only a matter of justice; it’s in your own interest to stop this. You can do it. We can’t do it alone. We need you,” he added.

– Incident during Trump’s Knesset address

Regarding the incident when he and fellow lawmaker Ayman Odeh were expelled from the Knesset during US President Donald Trump’s speech last week, Cassif said, “It wasn’t really a speech. As you know, it was just a collection of words that weren’t necessarily connected. It was a theatrical performance, a show of three self-obsessed egomaniacs, especially (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and Trump, and to some extent Speaker of the Knesset Amir Ohana as well.”

He added, “It was a display of flattery, truly disgusting. I must say it had no real substance other than boasting about each other.”

Cassif noted that he and Odeh were expelled because they raised a sign that read: ‘Recognize Palestine.’

“Everyone should understand, though many in Israel refuse to, that the only solution to the conflict, the only way to stop the bloodshed, destruction and suffering for both Palestinians and Israelis, is to recognize Palestine and to establish a real, independent, sovereign Palestinian state alongside Israel. That was our message.”

“Let’s not forget that Trump himself was complicit in sacrificing Israeli hostages and in the massacre of Palestinians. He supported the Israeli government last March when it violated an agreement that was already on the table, one that could have saved thousands of lives among Palestinians, hostages and soldiers. We must remember that. Trump is part of the problem. He is not the savior,” he continued.

Cassif said their message also concerned the future. “A Palestinian state and an end to the occupation, that’s the only path forward. Ayman Odeh and I held a sign that said, ‘Recognize Palestine.’ That’s all. We didn’t shout, we didn’t speak, we didn’t say anything — just that sign. It was necessary, given the past and the future.”

Ceasefire in name, war in fact: The greatest deal or the oldest trick?

– ‘The government wants to complete a fascist coup’

Regarding the Knesset’s winter session that began Monday and is expected to be the last of the current parliament, Cassif said, “There is no doubt that the government wants to achieve two main things in the coming months, whether elections take place as planned in October or earlier, like June or even before that.”

“The government wants, first and foremost, to continue the coup, what they call ‘judicial reform.’ It’s neither reform nor judicial. It’s a coup, fascist in every sense of the word. It’s dictatorial, a coup aimed at completely eliminating the independence of the judiciary. That’s something I criticize strongly, but that’s not the point; they want to destroy it,” he added.

He said that another aspect “is the complete destruction of media independence, which I also criticize severely. Despite everything, it remains somewhat independent, but the government wants to destroy it.”

“Third, the government wants to eliminate whatever civil rights are left. This government is waging war on every remaining element of democracy in Israel — whether it’s the judiciary, the attorney general, the media, civil society, or individual citizens. That’s what they’re doing. They want to complete a fascist coup,” Cssif added.

He said in recent days, Israel has seen “a horrifying level of violence in the occupied West Bank, especially against Palestinians and activists harvesting olives.”

“Occupation forces expelled them from their lands to make way for terrorist settlers, not only to beat Palestinians and attack them but also, as activists reported, to steal their food, for example, and take over the land. This is part of the annexation plan. It’s not just a fascist mob acting against the government’s policies. It’s part of government policy itself, and that’s another reason for deep concern.

– Struggle is over who will be next Netanyahu

Asked about Israel’s political opposition, Cassif said, “There is only a nominal opposition, not a real one, because the vast majority of those who call themselves opposition members are aligned with the government and the coalition. They don’t offer a political alternative, only a personal one. Right now, the struggle in Israel between the so-called opposition and the coalition is over who will be the next Netanyahu.”

“We must never accept that, at the very least. We will continue our struggle as we always have. We were the pioneers of resistance inside the Knesset, and we will continue to fight against the genocide in Gaza and do exactly the same regarding the West Bank and the fascist coup. Unfortunately, I have no expectations from the opposition, but we will do our work,” he added.

– Israel has turned into a fascist regime

Reflecting on the changes in Israel in recent years, Cassif said, “As you know, everything is 100% negative, if not worse. It’s destroying Israeli society — at the expense of Israelis and, of course, Palestinians. It has turned Israel into a fascist regime.”

“So, in that sense, apart from the genocide, which is itself a crime, the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, and other atrocities, it’s clearly negative,” Cassif noted.

READ: In the struggle for superiority, peace was killed

– Occupation will end ‘in the coming years’

“If I may describe it as positive under such circumstances, I believe it has actually made it easier to establish a Palestinian state, end the occupation, and even democratize Israel to some extent. In the near term, everything is negative, but in the long term, I believe we will see positive outcomes. The occupation will end, in my opinion, within a few years. A truly independent Palestinian state will emerge — that means liberation for both the Palestinian and Israeli peoples. I believe this will happen in the coming years.”

“In that sense, there is hope. We must remain optimistic, but we must also struggle and fight. We need the international community on our side. There must be a combination of our internal struggle and international efforts. Once we achieve that, nothing can stop us,” Cassif continued.

– Elections, Netanyahu’s prospects

Regarding the upcoming elections and Netanyahu’s chances, Cassif said, “There are two main issues here. First, the assumption that elections will even be held. Obviously, if it were up to Netanyahu and his fascist fanatics within the coalition, they would do everything possible to cancel or at least postpone them.”

“But if elections are held on time or earlier, the main danger right now is that the coalition and its extremist supporters outside parliament are already planning to turn the elections into a sham — unfair and biased at best. They are trying to pass laws that would, for example, prevent us from running in the elections. That plan has already started,” he said.

“Moreover, the police no longer exist as an independent force. It has turned into a private militia in the hands of the government in general, and specifically in the hands of the fascist extremist and convicted terrorist Itamar Ben-Gvir. On top of that, there are private armed militias of fascists just waiting for an order – and once they get it, whether from (National Security Minister) Ben-Gvir, Netanyahu, or others in this gang, they will do everything they can to prevent Palestinian and leftist citizens from voting. So, I expect elections that will not be fair.”

He added, “If that happens, as I fear it will, it will make victory for the fascist right even easier. But even if we succeed in fighting these plans and preventing such bias, we must remember that 50% of the people under Israel’s control are still deprived of the right to vote, I mean the Palestinians in the occupied territories. But hypothetically speaking, if we ignore that, and if we manage to hold fair elections, then I believe the fascists have no real chance of winning.”

“But I fear we will see violence, either before the elections, on election day, or even afterward if they lose. Who knows? Maybe after the results are published, as we saw in the United States when Biden won. We saw what happened there. I fear we will see something very similar here, maybe even worse. I hope I’m wrong,” added Cassif.​​​​​​​

10 Palestinians injured in illegal Israeli settler attacks in West Bank

October 25, 2025 

Middle East Monitor

Israeli forces intervene against Palestinian farmers harvesting olives in the village of in the Sa’ir town of Hebron, West Bank on October 23, 2025. [Mamoun Wazwaz – Anadolu Agency]

Ten Palestinians were injured on Saturday after being attacked by illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, local media said, Anadolu reports.

Armed settlers assaulted olive pickers with sticks and dogs in the Wadi al-Hajj Issa area of Aqraba in southern Nablus, injuring three and forcing farmers to flee their lands, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

In the nearby town of Duma, Israeli soldiers prevented Palestinians from accessing their olive groves, according to the head of the village council, Suleiman Dawabsha. He said illegal settlers have repeatedly attacked local farmers, stealing olives, vandalizing trees, and grazing livestock on private lands.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that a group of armed settlers, backed by Israeli forces, attacked family members with sticks and stones, injuring seven Palestinians, including women, in the village of Deir Nidham, northwest of Ramallah in the central West Bank.

After the attack, Israeli forces closed the only entrance to the village, preventing residents from entering or leaving, and arrested a young man, witnesses said.

According to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, illegal Israeli settlers have carried out more than 7,000 attacks against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023. These include 158 assaults targeting olive pickers since the beginning of this month.

Commission head Muayyad Shaaban said in an Oct. 21 statement that this year’s olive harvest has been “the hardest in decades,” citing widespread Israeli restrictions designating farmlands as “closed military zones.”

The olive harvest is a vital source of income for thousands of Palestinian families. According to the Agriculture Ministry, this year’s yield is among the weakest in decades, with production estimated at only 15% of the average level.

The ministry said Palestine produced about 27,300 tons of olive oil in 2024, up from just 10,000 tons in 2023.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Italian MEP cancels Israel visit over West Bank annexation law


October 24, 2025 

Middle East Monitor

Lucia Annunziata, candidate of Partito Democratico party, during a political meeting for the 2024 European political elections and for the elections for the mayor of Aversa, on 25 May 2025 [Marco Cantile/LightRocket via Getty Images]


Italian MEP Lucia Annunziata said Friday she will not join next week’s European Parliament delegation to Israel, citing the country’s recent approval of a law to annex the West Bank, according to media reports on Friday, Anadolu reports.

“I have decided not to participate in a mission by the European Parliament delegation to Israel at the invitation of the Knesset scheduled for next week,” Annunziata said, cited by ANSA.

She explained why she declined the Knesset’s invitation by saying that the recent approval of the law for the annexation of the West Bank and the continuous and indiscriminate attacks on the UN “demonstrate that the Israeli Parliament is not ready to talk about peace.”

The lawmaker added that her decision “was taken in agreement with the Democratic Party at national level.”

In a first reading on Wednesday, the Israeli parliament passed two bills, one to annex the occupied West Bank and another to annex the Ma’ale Adumim settlement built on Palestinian land east of Jerusalem. Both bills require three additional readings before becoming law.

If enacted, the annexation would end any remaining possibility of implementing the two-state solution envisioned by UN resolutions.

In a joint statement, 15 countries, including Türkiye, along with the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, condemned Israel’s approval of draft laws imposing so-called “Israeli sovereignty” over the West Bank.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Opinion

The hypocrisy of India’s democracy and why the Middle East should rethink its ties

Middle East Monitor
October 25, 2025

People of the Muslim community stage a rally on the occasion of Prophet Muhammad’s birthday in Kolkata, India, on September 5, 2025. 

[Debarchan Chatterjee/NurPhoto via Getty Images]

by Ronny P Sasmita

The recent case reported in international media of Muslims in India being harassed over their religious identity once again reveals the uncomfortable truth that India’s democracy is steadily eroding its moral foundations. It is no longer credible to argue that these incidents are isolated or accidental. They reflect a systemic pattern of hostility toward Islam that has intensified dramatically during the tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party. For a nation that proclaims itself the world’s largest democracy, the intolerance emerging from its political and social institutions is nothing less than hypocritical. India speaks the language of pluralism abroad while enabling exclusion at home. This contradiction should serve as a wake up call for countries in the Middle East that have eagerly expanded economic and diplomatic relations with New Delhi.

Consider the disturbing trend of mob lynchings associated with cow vigilantism where Muslim men have been beaten to death under flimsy allegations of transporting cattle. These acts have occurred with alarming regularity over the past decade and have seldom resulted in serious legal consequences. Meanwhile discriminatory laws such as the Citizenship Amendment Act signal a troubling willingness by the state to codify religious preference in ways that disadvantage Muslims. Add to that the ghettoization of Muslim communities across several Indian cities where housing is denied through informal but widespread prejudice and a clear picture emerges of a democracy selectively applied.

This pattern is made more troubling by the fact that India’s political leadership is fully aware of these abuses yet publicly downplays them. Modi’s speeches are often framed around unity and development, but his political base remains energized by a majoritarian Hindu nationalism that views Muslims with suspicion or outright hostility. His party has mastered the art of dog whistle rhetoric signaling to supporters that aggressive behavior toward minority groups can be tolerated. In many instances state authorities have been slow to investigate violence against Muslims or have shown indifference to inflammatory speeches by local officials. The hypocrisy is glaring. India demands respect on the world stage but refuses to offer basic protections to its own citizens identified by their faith.

Democracies are tested not by how they treat their dominant group but by how they safeguard minorities. On that score India is failing. Global indices measuring civil liberties and religious freedom have documented a clear downward trend. Newspapers and activists inside India face intimidation when they report on anti Muslim discrimination. Journalists face legal harassment and risk imprisonment under vaguely worded laws. These actions are intended to obscure the truth and maintain a narrative of unity while the social fabric frays from within. When a democracy begins policing information to preserve its image, it crosses into the territory of hypocrisy.

The Middle East should take note. Several governments in the region have dramatically expanded trade ties with India particularly in energy security and infrastructure investment. Yet these relationships should not be unconditional. The Gulf Cooperation Council and other regional blocs have the leverage to demand accountability. Oil producing nations hold significant power over India’s energy lifeline. Rather than deepening ties automatically, these countries should condition cooperation on measurable improvements in religious freedom and protection of minorities. Why should nations built on Islamic heritage reward a government that permits hostility toward Muslims within its borders

Furthermore direct investment flowing from the Middle East into Indian infrastructure and real estate has been celebrated by Indian politicians as evidence of rising global status. But prestige should not come cheap. Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds should insist on policy reforms that reaffirm secularism and equal citizenship. The argument that economic engagement encourages moderation has proven misleading in this case. As trade and investment have increased, India’s intolerance has worsened. If financial incentives are not redirected toward accountability, the trajectory will remain negative.

There is also a geopolitical dimension. India seeks to position itself as a leader of the Global South and a partner to Muslim majority nations. At the same time it allows narratives domestically that portray Muslims as security threats or cultural outsiders. This dualism should not be ignored. When a nation rhetorically celebrates diversity abroad but cultivates division at home, its diplomatic credibility erodes. It is naïve for Middle Eastern leaders to assume that such contradictions will not affect their own interests in the future.

Strategically, Middle Eastern countries should begin exploring alternative supply arrangements that reduce India’s privileged access to energy markets. Temporary restrictions on crude exports or tighter contractual terms would send a powerful signal. India depends heavily on imported oil, and leverage on this front could force introspection. Conditions could include stronger criminal penalties for hate crimes, reinforced protections for Muslim places of worship, and the dissolution of discriminatory local ordinances that enable segregation.

READ: Islamophobia is the new global currency of power

In addition, academic and cultural exchange agreements could be suspended until India demonstrates tangible improvements in minority rights. India benefits immensely from soft power diplomacy, using its diaspora and cultural industries to project an image of peaceful coexistence. Yet this image often masks domestic hostility. If Middle Eastern cultural institutions insist on equitable treatment for Indian Muslims before renewing partnerships, pressure will build from within India’s own elite circles.

Some argue that isolating India risks pushing it closer to major powers such as China or undermining regional stability. This perspective overestimates India’s strategic options. India’s ambitions require access to Middle Eastern energy and capital. No alternative market can easily replace the Gulf’s share. Middle Eastern nations must recognize this and stop underestimating their influence.

Others fear that conditional engagement may fuel Hindu nationalist resentment. In truth, that resentment already exists. Pretending otherwise simply rewards bad behavior. It is time to normalize the idea that economic privilege must be accompanied by moral responsibility.

Ultimately, India’s democracy is at a crossroads. It cannot continue preaching pluralism abroad while practicing exclusion at home. Muslim citizens deserve equal rights not as a concession but as a constitutional guarantee. If India refuses to uphold these principles, then it is entirely reasonable for the international Muslim community and especially Middle Eastern governments to limit partnerships. Diplomatic silence is complicity. Financial generosity without conditions is encouragement. Oil supply without leverage is surrender.

Until India demonstrates real change enforced through law and defended by political leadership, Middle Eastern countries should rethink the depth of their ties. Only when discrimination is confronted directly within India’s borders will the world’s largest democracy regain the moral clarity it once claimed to possess.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

Taliban & Hindutva Patriarchy: What’s Similar, What’s Different

Ram Puniyani | 21 Oct 2025

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The degree of patriarchal control and abuse of human rights is not yet seen under Hindutva nationalism ruling India today. but the seeds of rigid patriarchy are very much thriving.

Amir Khan Muttaqi. Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

When the government of India gave a red-carpet welcome to the Taliban delegation led by their Minister of Education Amir Khan Muttaqi, Army veteran Lt. Gen Prakash Katoch asked: “Should India be seen deferring to the Taliban? Taliban’s human rights record, particularly its regressive misogynistic policies are well known. No doubt, developing relations with the Taliban is a geostrategic requirement.”

The women of Afghanistan who are deprived of human rights, particularly education and assembly, must be feeling betrayed, particularly after women journalists were denied entry into the first press conference held in the Afghan Embassy in Delhi. Of course, due to heavy criticism, women were allowed to attend the next press conference.

As the Taliban came to power, their edicts came as a shock to the world at large. This is the same group that had destroyed Gautam Buddha’s majestic statues, 53 and 35 meters tall, despite requests from various powers in the world. The world is watching the gross abuse of human rights. It is the same Taliban which had imposed jizya (a tax) on non-Muslims.

The Taliban is an outcome of the youth (then) who were indoctrinated in a few madrassas in Pakistan, including the famous Lal Masjid in Pakistan. While now it has not only assumed its own agency, the circumstances in which they came up need to be recalled.

The Taliban has been indoctrinated in a particular version of Islam put forward by Maulana Wahab. When the erstwhile Soviet Union army occupied Afghanistan (1979-89), the US was not in a position to send its own army as their forces were demoralised due to their defeat in Vietnam.

The Kissinger (former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger) Doctrine was implemented, which aimed to fight the enemy (the communists) by using Asian Muslim youth. The madrassas were promoted and funded by the US. Academic and author Mahmood Mamdani in his book, Good Muslim Bad Muslim, on the basis of CIA documents, tells us how the Mujahideen were “indoctrinated and supplied with $8,000 million and 7,000 tonnes of armament”, including the latest stringer missiles.

These trained elements joined the anti-Soviet forces and the Soviet army faced defeat. America got total dominance through war against Afghanistan, and Iraq in particular. The Islam they practice is said to be the most conservative. The concept of human rights does not find any place in this version and women and subordinate sections of society face worst violations of human rights and their subjugation, as per various reports.

This degree of patriarchal control and abuse of human rights is not yet seen in the Hindutva nationalism ruling India today. As such, the seeds of rigid patriarchy are very much there and concept of human rights is gradually being replaced by ‘rights for the elite upper caste and rich’ and ‘duties for the poor and marginalised’.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtra Sevika Samiti, dealing with women, is an exclusively male organisation. It is based on the Brahminical version of Hinduism, in contrast to the liberal and inclusive Hinduism of Mahatma Gandhi, the one who was killed by a person steeped in Hindu nationalist ideology.

When B R Ambedkar was burning the Manu Smriti, the second RSS chief, M.S. Golwalkar, was writing eulogies for books like Manu Smriti. After the Indian Constitution was implemented, the RSS’s mouthpiece came out with scathing criticism of this book saying it nothing Indian about it.  

“Consider how Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, regarded as the most consequential head of the RSS, believed women were misled by modernity. Citing a couplet that states that “a virtuous lady covers her body”, Golwalkar, according to Caravan, lamented that “‘modern’ women think that ‘modernism’ lies in exposing their body more and more to the public gaze. What a fall!”

Read Also: Hindutva’s War on Women: The Gendered Face of ‘Saffron Fascism’

When Laxmi Bai Kelkar (1936) wanted women to be incorporated in RSS, she was in turn asked to start the Rashtra Sevika Samiti, a subordinate organisation. In its very name the word, swayam, is missing, which stands for self.

Later Vijaya Raje Scindia (the then Vice President of BJP) went on to glorify Sati (wife immolation on the funeral pyre of husband). BJP leader Mridula Sinha also advised women to conform to the norms of family where husband is supreme. (Savvy, April 1994). The RSS progeny has been opposed to women wearing jeans, and celebrating Valentine’s Day.

As the feminist movement came up, it went on for reforms like abolition of dowry, female infanticide and other abominable practices against women. RSS never initiated any of these struggles, but did not oppose these reforms. But, it was against the Hindu Code Bill giving women some semblance of equality to some extent.

As India has some democratic space after Independence, though it is going for a free fall since the past few decades, the admirable struggle by women did get them a better place in the society. The march toward equality did take a few steps.

Today, the RSS has Rashtra Sevika Samiti, Durga Vahini and the BJP women’s wing, whose values derive from the core RSS ideology of graded hierarchy and gender inequality. Here Manu Smriti has an important place, as their basic philosophy is rooted in understanding where a ‘Muslim man’ is the culprit while not challenging patriarchal values.

It is true that the condition of women in Afghanistan and some other Muslim countries affected by communal/fundamentalist Islam is bad. The Taliban sits at the bottom of this list.

In India, as the grip of Hindu nationalism increases, the patriarchal ideology is not being challenged by the RSS stable, while the feminist movement is doing its best to challenge the prevalent patriarchy. So, currently the degree of Taliban patriarchy is at the bottom. Hindu nationalism has basic similarity with them at the ideological level, but the women’s movement has made some significant yet inadequate strides.

What is similar between these two is the seed of patriarchy, while the degree of its social manifestation is diverse. Politics hiding under the garb of religion uses the identity aspects of the religion to retain feudal values with the added spice of hate for people of other religions. Christian fundamentalism in various places reportedly also propagates the same. Nazism, a full-blown fascist regime, also defined the place of women in the kitchen, church and children.

While we condemn patriarchy and non-recognition of the concept of human rights, we should be aware that every sectarian nationalism structured around the identity of a religion or the superiority of one race, shares many of these despicable norms.

 The writer is a human rights activist, who taught at IIT Bombay. The views are personal.

PAKISTAN

Reshaping economic ties

Ishrat Husain 

Published October 25, 2025 

DAWN

The writer is a former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan.

TWO developments augur well for reshaping Pakistan’s economic relationship with the world. First, the dismantling of USAID closes a long and painful chapter of dependence and misplaced expectations between Pakistan and America. Even if Washington attempts to revive a similar programme, Pakistan should avoid bilateral aid and its political strings. Second, the finance minister’s declaration that Pakistan will not seek international aid for the 2025 floods is a turning point. Together, these two decisions can lay the foundation for a new model of economic engagement — bilateral, regional, and multilateral — based on dignity, self-reliance and mutual respect. Meanwhile, it’s assumed the recent Pak-Afghan agreement in Doha will minimise security risks to the economy.

This shift comes at a time when Pakistan’s global image has improved after the May 2025 conflict with India. Ties with China, Türkiye and Azerbaijan remain close, and new diplomatic openings have emerged. President Donald Trump’s warmth towards Pakistan, the prime minister’s inclusion in the ranks of Muslim leaders formulating the Gaza Plan, and development and defence initiatives with Saudi Arabia have enhanced our stature. How can Pakistan build its future economic relations on the foundation recently laid? Should this moment be seen yet again as a transient geopolitical opportunity to extract rents and sustain the economy through windfalls? Will we continue dispatching PMs and army chiefs abroad to solicit deposits from ‘friendly’ states, to bolster our reserves or avert default? Are we condemned to sacrifice economic sovereignty through repeated IMF programmes that offer temporary stability but leave the economy without job-creating growth?

The current convergence of favourable external circumstances provides a rare window to chart a new course. A benign geopolitical environment, coupled with renewed international respect, should compel us to rethink our economic strategy decisively, abandoning forever the path of dependence, rent-extraction and perpetual crisis manage­ment. The goal of Pakistan’s external economic engagement should be the creation of a coherent and durable framework that frees the country from dependence on IMF programmes and annual rollovers from Saudi Arabia, China and the UAE. The new framework must prioritise the generation of non-debt-creating foreign exchange and mobilisation of domestic resources by raising the gross domestic savings rate and attaining debt sustainability, with remaining financing needs met through international capital markets.

A sustainable external position begins with a competitive export sector. Immediate reforms should focus on easing constraints on exports and industrial growth through a transparent, predictable export facilitation scheme, rationalisation of excessive taxation, restoration of export financing and realistic energy pricing — steps that must be implemented consistently and in genuine consultation with exporters. Frequent reversal of policies and bureaucratic unpredictability have undermined business confidence.

The second pillar is attracting FDI from countries with abundant capital and a strategic interest in Pakistan — China, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, whose sovereign wealth funds seek higher global returns. Pakistan can position itself as a promising destination if it ensures i) security of investors, their personnel, and property; ii) non-interference by government agencies; and iii) freedom to repatriate profits, dividends and interest payments. During the early 2000s, FDI peaked at $5 billion to $6bn under an investment-friendly regime, underscoring what can be achieved through coherent policy and investor confidence. However, FDI must be export-oriented, medium-technology-intensive and employment-generating. Domestic investors should also be treated with parity and respect.

Third, demographic trends in advanced economies — especially Japan, South Korea, Germany, and Western Europe — offer significant opportunities. Aging populations and labour shortages are driving these countries to gradually open their markets to skilled foreign workers, despite populist opposition. Pakistan should negotiate country-specific manpower export agreements aligned with each nation’s demographic and skill needs. It must identify the required technical, linguistic and social skills, and create targeted training programmes at home. Vocational institutes should work closely with host-country employers to ensure certification and employability. Managed migration of skilled workers can relieve domestic unemployment pressures and create sustained foreign exchange inflows through remittances.

We have an unprecedented opportunity to redefine our external economic relationships.

Fourth, Pakistan should actively seek scholarships from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germ­any and China for advanced studies in STEM disciplines. In return, it should bring foreign faculty to universities here to assist in curriculum design, modern pedagogy, assessment reform industry linkages and commercialisation of research. Universities must be freed from excessive bureaucratic control and granted autonomy with accountability within a reformed governance structure to become globally competitive.

Fifth, partnerships with China, Türkiye and Azerbaijan offer a promising frontier — transferring dual-use technologies from the defence sector to civilian industries. Our defence institutions and research organisations have significant technical expertise to be applied in manufacturing, electronics, precision engineering and materials science. Private sector participation should be encouraged.

Sixth, Pakistan’s links with multilateral institutions must evolve. The World Bank’s 10-Year Partnership Strategy for Pakistan has shifted its focus towards project lending in education, health, nutrition, water, technology, and infrastructure — true engines of long-term growth. This approach should replace past reliance on budgetary and balance-of-payments support, which fostered complacency and discouraged domestic resource mobilisation. Other multilateral partners must be encouraged to align their programmes with this development-oriented model. International cooperation must serve as a catalyst for capacity building, not a crutch for short-term financing. If applied with discipline, these measures can provide instruments for reshaping our economic ties based on productivity, partnership and self-reliance. The following framework illustrates potential areas of cooperation:

The US: Investment and joint ventures in mid- and high-technology industries; venture capital and private equity for startups; scholarships and faculty exchange. China, Türkiye, Azerbaijan: application of defence technologies to civilian industries; accelerated implementation of CPEC II. Japan, Korea, Germany: country-specific manpower export agreements. Saudi Arabia and GCC: sovereign wealth fund investment in projects such as Petrochemical complex and infrastructure.

The closure of the aid-dependent chapter and a more favourable geopolitical climate present an unprecedented opportunity to redefine our external economic relations. The path forward lies in building competitiveness, attracting investment and leveraging innovation to transition from a crisis-prone, aid-dependent state to a self-confident, productive economy integrated with the global system on an equal footing.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2025

PAKISTAN

TLP ban

Editorial 

Published October 25, 2025 
DAWN

AFTER the federal cabinet approved the ban on the TLP a day earlier, the interior ministry published a notification on Friday saying that the state believed there were “reasonable grounds” to proscribe the hard-line outfit due to its connection with “terrorism”.

Going by the government’s signals, a formal ban had seemed imminent after TLP cadres clashed with the state in a deadly showdown last week. The immediate trigger was the administration’s refusal to let the outfit march on Islamabad in supposed solidarity with Gaza. This would be the second time the religiously inspired party has been banned. The last proscription in 2021 lasted only a few months, but this time the state appears intent on sustaining the ban. However, one should keep in mind that extremist parties and groups have been banned earlier too, but have re-emerged under new monikers.

PML-N leader and adviser to the PM Rana Sanaullah has said that the state had no issue with the TLP’s religious views and the ban was not designed to ‘eliminate’ the party. Rather, it was supposed to purge “anti-state and terrorist elements”. Going by this logic, if the aim is to target individuals who break the law, why does the state ban parties and groups?

Moreover, in the past, how many heads of militant groups, sectarian outfits and extremist parties have been tried for their crimes? The state’s history of banning groups — from the Musharraf era to date — does not inspire confidence, as outfits are proscribed on paper, but cases against their leaders and active cadres are not diligently pursued. There is also the genuine fear that the powers that be may apply the labels of ‘terrorism’ and ‘extremism’ to ban political parties that have fallen afoul of the state.

In reality, the policy of banning groups is tragicomic. Nacta’s current list of proscribed organisations contains over 80 entries, with some going as far back as 2001. Most of the groups that populate this list ascribe to jihadi, sectarian or extremist ideologies, with a smattering of separatist and ethno-nationalist outfits. But the modus operandi of ‘banned’ groups is to restart work under new names after the ban. For example, Jamaatud Dawa, an incarnation of Lashkar-i-Taiba, has at least 10 aliases, most of which are banned. Moreover, sectarian outfit Sipah-i-Sahaba, which now operates under the ASWJ moniker, has worked under three different names, some banned, others not.

The point is that unless the leaders and members of extremist groups are prosecuted for their crimes — promoting terrorism, inciting violence, hate speech, etc — the state’s attempts to impose bans will not work. The state has banned TLP today, but until those associated with it who have broken the law are prosecuted, it may re-emerge tomorrow in an even more extreme form.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2025

The ‘operation’

Aasim Sajjad Akhtar 

Published October 25, 2025 

DAWN

WE have been here before. Religious militants previously patronised by the state and valorised by the official intelligentsia are cut down to size in a ferocious high-profile operation. A vocal section of the educated classes, predominantly of liberal persuasion, applaud the state’s new-found resolve to ‘crush terrorism’.

The ‘popular’ backing for the crackdown gives the state carte blanche, but it soon becomes apparent that neither the ideological foundations nor the material bases of religious militancy have been weakened. Meanwhile, the proverbial counterterrorism card is increasingly deployed to clamp down on political opponents in particular, and progressive voices in general.

With the federal government having just notified a ban on the TLP for a second time, will things turn out any differently this time? To be sure, the existential challenge posed by religious militancy extends beyond the TLP, as the recent blowback vis-à-vis the Afghan Taliban — and their TTP protégés — lays bare.

The Pakhtun tribal districts have of course experienced the most military operations against ‘terrorists’. Time and again, lofty claims of success have been belied by the killing and maiming of innocents, and destruction of local people’s livelihoods. The end result has been alienation of the very people that should otherwise be the primary beneficiary of any initiative to establish genuine and lasting peace. Recent operations and drone strikes in Bajaur and Tirah are a rinse and repeat of what has been happening for 20 years.

What authorities call ‘collateral damage’ shows the short-sightedness of state policy. One can oppose the ideology of the TLP and its normalisation of mob lynching, whilst at the same time acknowledging that Barelvi militancy has deep social backing that will not be severed magically by the Muridke operation and subsequent criminalisation of the TLP leadership.


Will things be different after the TLP ban?

The government repeating ad nauseam that only three civilians were killed is out of sync with the widespread allegation — not limited only to TLP supporters — that many more died. Whichever version of the event one may believe, the point is that the lives lost in the operation will likely serve as a rallying call that further entrenches the insular Barelvi militant worldview, whether that takes the form of the TLP or something else in the future.

After all, militant ideologies are founded upon concrete material bases. Beyond the Noor Wali Mehsuds and Saad Rizvis of the world, many rank-and-file members of Islamist organisations are drawn towards militancy at least in part because they hail from socially depressed classes and castes. The violent assertion that they experience when they join the organisations is, seen thus, a reaction to the conditions of their existence.

Too often, the liberal commentariat sees the phenomenon of religiously inspired militancy like a light switch that was once turned on by the state, and can therefore be turned off in much the same way. The state has long weaponised religion and much would change if it stopped patronising militant groups for cynical reasons. But launching the odd operation against a ‘good’ Taliban or TLP that has gone ‘bad’ does not mean that the societal roots of militant ideologies have been emptied out. Bear in mind that retrogressive educational curricula and popular media discourses remain unreformed.

Liberal euphoria at the temporary ‘victories’ of the state should not distract from the fact that there is no substitute for the popularisation of a meaningful progressive political alternative that can channel the needs and desires of the mass of you­ng people — prim­arily men but also women — who gra­vitate towards the militant right.

Does this mean that there should be no punitive action against religiously motivated militants who thrive on killing? Not at all. There can and must be consequences for those who weaponise religion to further their violent agenda — without resort to extra-legal mechanisms. By the same token, the strategic masterminds who cultivated the militant right should not be allowed to get away scot-free while shifting the burden of their entire enterprise onto the brutalised young men — and sometimes women — who become the foot soldiers of hate.

Ultimately, a comprehensive ‘operation’ to displace retrogressive ideologies from society will be completed regardless of the state’s expediency. Whenever this comes to pass it will be performed by pro-people left-progressives that take back the language of class and anti-imperialism from the right. The establishment cultivated the religious right at least in part to suppress the ideology and politics of the left. The latter must rebuild its own bases amongst working people for the tide of history to turn once again.

The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2025

BURMA

Scam compounds

Rafia Zakaria 

Published October 25, 2025

DAWN

WELCOME to life in 2025 where the ravages of global conflict, vast disparities of wealth born of failing economies and mass displacement have produced mutant varieties of human exploitation. Recently, the Myanmar army raided an infamous compound known as KK Park, a hub for cybercrime. They detained over 2,000 people and seized dozens of Starlink internet terminals. Following the raid, nearly 700 people, also including Pakistanis, from the compound fled Myanmar into Thailand and were detained by the Thai authorities.

The ‘scam compound’ is a place unimaginable prior to the existence of our digitised lives. Labour camps have existed for thousands of years, of course, but this new version uses indentured humans to scam other humans, resorting to various strategies of digital theft. According to news reports published about KK Park, the sprawling compound is mainly run by Chinese criminal gangs and guarded by groups that are said to be aligned with the Myanmar military. The park is located on the border between Thailand and Myanmar — a restive region that reportedly is only barely in control of the Myanmar military. Some military sources have accused ethnic groups, which oppose army rule, of being involved in criminal activities in the compound.

The raid on the KK compound was one of the largest. The compound was using allegedly smuggled Starlink terminals smuggled into Southeast Asia for internet access. Many of these terminals were seized. Since then, Starlink has said that it has cut access to more than 2,500 terminals in the region that it believes are connected to these scam compounds.

The most harrowing aspect of these scam compounds are the stories of the people imprisoned in them. Given that Pakistan is a labour-exporting country and that Pakistanis have been freed from these compounds, it is crucial that we raise awareness about the tactics used by recruiters to trap mostly young people looking for jobs abroad.

Our digitised lives have spawned new forms of slavery.

In February, an investigation by the BBC revealed the trauma of such people. An Ethiopian man, Mike, described the decrepit conditions inside the camp where men were regularly beaten and there was little food and extremely unsanitary conditions. Even after being freed, people like him remain in poor health.

The story of how he ended up there could be the story of any young man from Pakistan. In Mike’s case, he was app­roached by someone who said that they could help him get a job abroad that needed English language and typing skills. Once the traffickers win the trust of the victim they extort money from them as payment for getting this job. They then smuggle the men through roads and borders into the compound, where they are forced to take part in scamming and cybercrime operations. The men are watched all the time and face regular physical violence.

According to one Bangladeshi man who was in the compound, he was given a target of $5,000 every week. He and his friends had to approach men in the Middle East and ask them to invest in fictitious investments and promise huge returns. If they did not meet their targets, they were given electric shocks or confined in a dark room without windows. If they met their target their captors would be happy and allowed them to eat and drink.

The compounds are guarded, making escape very difficult. Even when the poor captives are freed, there are many problems. For instance, many countries in Africa refuse to fly their citizens back unless someone else is paying. Since a large number of the captives are from Afr­ican countries this po­­ses a problem. Even after they ret­urn, former captives are oft­en in debt bec­ause they borrowed money to fulfil the recruiters’ demands.

All this is what the scammers go through but the situation of their victims is also appalling. In fact, the camps aim to turn the scammers into hardened criminals. It is likely that even when they are freed, the experience will impact their moral health and they may persist in scamming people, believing that their own difficult conditions justify their preying on others.

These traffickers seek to prey on the desperate and take advantage of those who are barely making it on their own. Often the victims of these scams are old, uneducated or naïve people, and others in difficult conditions. As our world becomes ever more digitised, cybercrime is going to be the realm in which so much fraud and coercion will take place. As far as these scammer slave camps are concerned, they represent a dark and Dickensian iteration of the internet’s underbelly, where desperate humans stacked in slavish and filthy conditions wait to pounce on others whose entrapment will deliver them from their daily torture.

The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy.

rafia.zakaria@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2025

PAKISTAN

SOCIETY: THE ‘KEPT’ BOYS OF MAURIPUR

Mutee-ur-Rehman 

Published October 19, 2025

 Dawn, EOS

Illustration by Radia Durrani


Saifullah is 10 years old. When his employer — a long-haul truck driver named Bilal — is “in the mood”, the boy says he has no choice but to comply.

Bilal has worked out of Mauripur Truck Stand for three decades, hauling freight across Pakistan’s national highway network. In that time, he has “kept” a succession of young boys as apprentices. Saifullah is the latest.

Sprawling across a hundred acres in western Karachi, the Mauripur stand pulses with diesel fumes and the blare of air horns during peak hours. Trucks bound for routes across Sindh and beyond the province idle between runs. But transport is not the only business conducted here.

A CULTURE OF ABUSE

Within the alleys and repair bays, an entrenched culture of exploitation persists. Child apprentices such as Saifullah become trapped in cycles of underage labour, physical violence and sexual abuse — a pattern child protection advocates say is endemic yet rarely prosecuted.

Wazir, 12, is another of Bilal’s boys. He works under the truck’s mechanic, learning to repair engines and change tires. Both boys clean the cab, fetch tools and perform odd jobs that justify their presence. The work earns them a seat in the truck for long-haul journeys — and keeps them within reach.


Beyond the diesel fumes of Pakistan’s largest truck stand, an entrenched system preys on vulnerable boys. Despite laws against child abuse and prostitution, a culture of complicity allows the exploitation to continue unchecked

The abuse extends beyond individual perpetrators. Multiple drivers at Mauripur engage in similar exploitation, the boys say, and sometimes share access to each other’s apprentices.

Saifullah says refusal brings retaliation — beatings with whatever tool that is at hand. He comes from a family situation he describes only as “troubled” and has nowhere else to go. The daily wage keeps him here. “The rest is just part of the work,” he tells Eos.

It is, by his own assessment, trading one unbearable situation for another.

DEPENDENCY AND GROOMING

An informal, small-scale inquiry conducted by the writer at Karachi’s Mauripur truck stand revealed a recurring theme through anecdotal accounts. A significant number of drivers informally suggested that relationships with young male apprentices served as their primary form of recreation.

Many of these drivers, like Bilal, framed this practice as a necessary compulsion, citing the isolation of long-haul routes and separation from their families. They consistently maintained the relationships were consensual.

However, these same informal discussions suggested a more complex dynamic, indicating that many apprentices, often coming from strained family backgrounds, may perceive these relationships as a source of needed affection and loyalty, complicating the drivers’ narrative of mere necessity.

This sense of a special bond is often reinforced through small, symbolic gestures. For instance, it was noted that apprentices frequently wore the same perfume as their driver, treating it as something unique they shared.

For instance, Saifullah wears a stone ring on his index finger, given to him by Bilal. While it is a size too big, he has adjusted it to his liking and shows it off with great pride. Such gestures appear to help cultivate an intimacy that deepens the driver-apprentice relationship.

This bond, however, often marks the start of a pseudo parent-child relationship, rooted in a painful trauma bond. According to clinical psychologist Dr Tahira Yousaf, this is a powerful attachment where the child, already financially dependent, becomes emotionally dependent on their exploiter. This dynamic makes escape difficult.

THE HIERARCHY OF POWER

Saifullah’s story is a case in point. He came to Karachi from a village in Sindh to financially support his ill father back home. Bilal offered him work and shelter, but the arrangement quickly turned sinister. Within a week, Saifullah was raped and forced into prostitution. Although the first weeks were terrifying, Bilal controlled every aspect of his life — from his food to his contact with family. For Saifullah, there was no way out.

This established relationship creates a rigid hierarchy. The driver holds all the control, while the apprentice, lured by vulnerability, becomes trapped. As these boys mature and wish to escape their exploitation, they find it nearly impossible. Their perceived masculinity within the community is tied to their sexual role; being on the “receiving end” marks them as weak and strips them of authority.

Furthermore, drivers weaponise personal information, threatening to expose the boys to their families and communities if they ever refuse or try to flee. As one apprentice explains, this threat of societal rejection is a powerful tool to ensure compliance.

For some, a degree of acceptance emerges. Wazir complies for the extra money, using it to buy personal items such as sandals. He rationalises the situation as a transactional arrangement, a less painful mindset than acknowledging the abuse and exploitation. When asked if he misses home, he tells Eos, “After what happens here, how can you go home?”

Some boys even frame the statutory rape to be consensual and voluntary, citing both financial gain and personal pleasure. As Saifullah notes, “It’s not a one-way road.” However, this self-justification is one of the most insidious aspects of the phenomenon, as it leads them to see themselves as willing participants rather than victims, thereby preventing them from seeking help or recognising their own abuse.

THE INSTITUTIONAL BLIND EYE

This distorted perception is compounded by systemic failure. While laws like the 2017 Sindh Prohibition of Employment of Children Bill criminalise child prostitution with severe penalties, enforcement is virtually non-existent in areas like Mauripur.

The sexual nature of driver-apprentice relationships is normalised within the trucking community, leading police to turn a blind eye. The boys are often mistaken for family members, deflecting suspicion. It is wilful ignorance, as the culture is well-documented, yet authorities remain complacent, leaving the boys without protection.

A further layer of exploitation is chemical dependency. The trucking environment normalises substance use, with drivers using drugs such as hashish and methamphetamine, locally known as ‘ice’, to stay alert on long journeys. Apprentices are exposed to these substances, along with alcohol, further cementing their dependence.

This culminates in a severe public health crisis. Unprotected sex is the norm, with one estimate — from a study published in the Culture, Health and Sexuality journal in 2014 — suggesting only eight percent of truckers use condoms. A profound lack of awareness about HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STI) is pervasive. Bilal, for instance, believes his faith protects him from “Western evils.”

As Dr Yousaf states, without open conversation about these practices, the cycle of exploitation and escalating health risks will continue unchecked.

The writer is a freelance journalist currently pursuing a degree at the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi. He can be contacted at m.rehman.26317@khi.iba.edu.pk

Published in Dawn, EOS, October 19th, 2025

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for BOY BRIDES

PAKISTAN

Reform by bullet

Aiyan Tariq Bhutta 

Published October 23, 2025

DAWB


IN Pakistan, reform often arrives in the form of a new acronym. Every few years, a fresh department or authority is launched with a shiny name and a promise to fix what the last one could not. When the police fails, we create a new unit. When accountability falters, we build a new bureau. When governance collapses, we pass yet another law. It is the same old wine in a new bottle, only with a different label. The newly minted Crime Control Department (CCD) of Punjab is just the latest example of our refusal to fix what is broken and our obsession with simply renaming it.

When the CCD was formed earlier this year, it was sold as a bold initiative to dismantle the mafias and gangs operating in the province. For a public long disillusioned with impunity, it sounded refreshing. But a few months in, the CCD’s operations already look alarmingly familiar.

The recent killing of Teefi Butt is not an isolated event. It is part of a pattern. Encounters have become the defining feature of this department’s policing style, where suspects are killed while allegedly trying to flee or resisting arrest. In some cases, the state’s response has gone even further, with reports of accused persons in sexual violence cases being shot in the genitals which are later reported as accidents. These are not acts of justice. They are acts of vengeance carried out under the state’s seal.

According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, more than 670 people have been killed in over 500 alleged encounters in Punjab since January 2025, many under the CCD’s watch. In its statement of Oct 13, the HRCP warned that these killings are being used as a substitute for the criminal justice system and that the CCD is fast becoming a parallel police force with sweeping, unchecked powers.

When the state kills outside the law, it weakens its own legitimacy.

The Constitution promises every citizen the right to life and a fair trial, yet the CCD seemingly operates as if these guarantees are optional. Once the state begins to decide who deserves due process and who does not, law turns from a shield into a weapon.

As a lawyer, I understand the frustrations that drive this mindset. Our justice system is painfully slow and ineffective. Investigations are weak, prosecutions are half-hearted and trials drag on for years. But when the state abandons law in order to appear decisive, it does not restore order. It legalises chaos.

The CCD reflects a recurring national impulse to create new institutions instead of reforming the old. We have done it countless times. NAB was formed with lofty promises to end corruption and restore integrity, yet it became another tool for political engineering. The problem has never been the name on the building. It has always been the mindset within it.

The chief minister’s recent praise of the CCD as a step towards a ‘zero-crime’ Punjab might please her audience, but it rests on an illusion. No society on earth achieves zero crime. Mature nations aim for zero impunity. Crime does not vanish because the police kill faster. It fades only when citizens believe the law will protect them and punish those who violate it.

We’ve seen this story before. In the 1990s, Punjab’s police was given free rein to deal with dacoits and gangsters. For a time, encounter killings were celebrated as courage. Police competence was measured by the number of bodies they produced as some ‘encounter specialists’ became household names. But those powers soon turned political. Rivals were eliminated, innocent people were caught in the crossfire, and the line between justice and revenge blurred beyond re­­pair. Once a force learns that it can kill without consequence, it rarely stops at the guilty.

The real issue in Pakistan has never been a shortage of power. It is the ab­­s­ence of restraint. Our police laws re­­main outdated, training neglected, and institutions politicised beyond recognition. The Police Order of 2002 once promised merit-based appointments and independent oversight, yet successive governments have been unwilling to tolerate autonomy in a force they prefer to control for their narrow political interests.

The HRCP’s warnings cannot be brushed aside. Every time the state kills outside the law, it chips away at its own legitimacy. Each uninvestigated encounter sends a message that might is right, that law is a suggestion, and that some lives are too cheap to protect. This is not order. It is surrender. Pakistan does not need more departments and acronyms. It needs the courage to reform the ones it already has. True reform is not about new names and new buildings. It is about rebuilding trust, enforcing accountability and learning restraint. Fear can make people obey, but only justice makes them believe.

The writer is an advocate of the Supreme Court.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2025