UN says Taliban committing ‘rights violations' against Afghan returnees
'People returning to the country who were at particular risk of reprisals and other human rights violations by the de facto (Taliban) authorities were women and girls, individuals affiliated with the former government and its security forces, media workers and civil society,' the UN said in a statement accompanying the release of the report.
'These violations have included torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary arrest and detention, and threats to personal security.'
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Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
Amid crackdown, Pakistan's largest real estate company on brink of complete shutdown — owner
KARACHI: Pakistani real estate magnate Malik Riaz Hussain said on Tuesday his property empire was on the verge of total shutdown, blaming a widening state crackdown over what is widely believed to be his links with jailed former prime minister Imran Khan. Hussain — one of Pakistan's wealthiest and most influential businessmen, best known as the chairman of Bahria Town Limited — has spoken publicly for months about being pressured due to 'political motives' and facing financial losses as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) opens cases against his property development projects across Pakistan. While he has not explicitly named who was pressuring him or why, media and analysts widely speculate the crackdown relates to the Al-Qadir Trust case, which involves accusations Khan and his wife, during his premiership from 2018-2022, were given land by Hussain as a bribe in exchange for illegal favors. In January, a court sentenced Khan to 14 years imprisonment in the Al-Qadir Trust case. In January, NAB said it had kickstarted the process of seeking the extradition from the UAE of Hussain in connection with the land bribe case. Hussain has been widely known for decades for his links with political parties, the media and the civil and military establishment, and has been considered 'untouchable' in the past. In a post on social media platform X on Tuesday, the property tycoon said authorities had frozen Bahria Town's bank accounts, seized vehicles and arrested dozens of employees, which had 'paralyzed' the company's operations and brought development work to a halt. 'The situation has reached a point where we are being forced to completely shut down all Bahria Town activities across Pakistan,' Hussain said. 'We apologize to the residents and stakeholders of Bahria Town.' In January, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said the government would pursue Hussain's return from the United Arab Emirates. The same month, NAB had put out a public notice cautioning people against investing in Hussain's new real estate venture to build luxury apartments in Dubai: 'If the general public at large invests in the stated project, their actions would be tantamount to money laundering, for which they may face criminal and legal proceedings.' Responding to NAB on X at the time, Hussain had said 'fake cases, blackmailing and greed of officers' had forced him to relocate from the country because he was not willing to be a 'political pawn.' More recently, local media has reported that Hussain may have left the UAE for an unknown location to avoid extradition proceedings. In his X post on Tuesday, Hussain appealed to state institutions to adopt a more conciliatory approach: 'I make a final appeal from the bottom of my heart for a chance to return to serious dialogue and a dignified resolution. For this purpose, we assure you of our full participation in any arbitration process and our commitment to implementing its decision 100 percent. I also assure you that if the arbitration decision requires payment of money from our side, we will ensure its payment.' Bahria Town, founded in the late 1990s, is one of Pakistan's largest private employers and a major developer of luxury housing schemes across the country. Over the years, the company has been the subject of multiple investigations over illegal land acquisitions and unauthorized development but has continued to operate. AL-QADIR TRUST CASE In 2019, Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) said Hussain had agreed to hand over 190 million pounds held in Britain to settle a UK investigation into whether the money was from the proceeds of crime. The NCA said it had agreed to a settlement in which Hussain would hand over a property, 1 Hyde Park Place, valued at 50 million pounds, and cash frozen in British bank accounts. The NCA had previously secured nine freezing orders covering 140 million pounds in the accounts on the grounds that the money may have been acquired illegally. The agency said the assets would be passed to the government of Pakistan and the settlement with Hussain was 'a civil matter, and does not represent a finding of guilt.' The case made against Hussain and ex-PM Khan was that instead of putting the tycoon's settlement money in Pakistan's treasury, Khan's government used the money to pay fines levied by a court against Hussain for illegal acquisition of government lands at below-market value for development in Karachi. Hussain, who hasn't appeared before an anti-graft agency to submit his reply to summons issued to him, has denied any wrongdoing. Khan and his wife have also pleaded innocence.
Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
Shifting narrative: Why more Israelis are using the G-word
To what extent is the accusation that Israel has been perpetrating a genocide in Gaza bedding in and becoming a more mainstream part of the narrative? Perhaps more intriguingly, to what extent is this question being debated in Israel itself? As ever, it was the Palestinians themselves who were among the first to sound the genocide 'alarm bell.' But they are not in charge of the narrative, and lack the permission to narrate their own suffering. As the lawyer for South Africa, Blinne Ni Ghralaigh, said at the International Court of Justice in the Hague in 2024, this is 'the first genocide in history where its victims are broadcasting their own destruction in real time in the desperate, so far vain hope that the world might do something.' Israeli officials do not face this test when portraying their own suffering. They do not have to wait for others to attest to it. With this major caveat, there are shifts internationally and within Israel. This was brought into sharp focus last week when the Israeli author David Grossman announced that he now saw Israel's assault as a genocide, saying: 'I ask myself, how did we get here?' This came after two leading Israeli human rights organizations, B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel, joined the ranks of those bodies who have made this determination, namely that Israel is committing acts in Gaza 'with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,' in this case the Palestinians. These were the first two Israeli bodies to make this call, albeit almost 22 months into the process of genocide. But that shows a degree of ruthless research and debate that took place before making the judgment. It is never easy for citizens from a state perpetrating genocide to admit to this crime. It is shameful. Those making the accusation will feel the coldest of shoulders, even downright loathing, from fellow countrymen. That is why hitherto the word genocide has largely been uttered only in private in Israel. Yet it may be the start of the undermining of the national Israeli consensus that permits genocide. Within Israel, for obvious historical reasons, genocide is a highly sensitive term. Israel came into being in the aftermath of the Holocaust, arguably the most devastating genocide in modern history, industrial in scale, and brutally deliberate in intent. Palestinians have been demonized and dehumanized. Chris Doyle B'Tselem's report was titled 'Our genocide is happening now.' It was unequivocal in tone: 'Israel is taking coordinated action to intentionally destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip.' Two of the report's points stand out. First, that the genocide is built on the system of apartheid and Jewish supremacy Israel has applied over the territories it controls. This is a long-term practice. Second, the process of genocide is being perpetrated currently in Gaza, but could soon spread to other areas under Israel's control. The two organizations join the major international human rights agencies Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International in making this accusation, as well as an increasing number of humanitarian aid agencies, such as Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam, that also have warned of the need to protect Palestinians from the risk of genocide. The number of Israeli genocide scholars who deem Israel's actions in Gaza to be genocidal is growing. Omer Bartov has been in the forefront, having declared genocide one month after Israel launched its attacks on Gaza. Raz Segal, an associate professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Stockton University, described it as a 'textbook case of genocide' in October 2023. Amos Goldberg, a Holocaust studies professor from Israel, has used the G-word. Then, in May 2025, Israeli scholar Shmuel Lederman wrote that 'the second half of 2024 is the point at which a consensus formed among genocide scholars, as well as the human rights organizations community, that this is a genocide. Those who perhaps still had doubts — I estimate they dissipated following Israel's actions since the breaking of the ceasefire.' These reports give extra credibility to those in the international arena demanding action to halt the genocide, and also to stop it spreading elsewhere, such as the West Bank. Initially those referring to genocide — even in the immediate aftermath of the ICJ ordering of provisional measures in January 2024 — were hammered. The push-back was fierce. The overwhelming drive within Israel has been in favor of the war and all measures seen as necessary, including starvation. Palestinians have been demonized and dehumanized, and violence against them has been a staple part of mainstream discourse. Internationally, many politicians, commentators, and reporters still refer to a war or conflict in Gaza. They still refer to two sides, as if there are two sides in a genocide. Such terms are long past their sell-by date. The erasure and extinction of Palestinian life in Gaza is on track. Action cannot wait until the ICJ delivers its verdict, which may take some time. By that point, the Palestinian people will have suffered irreparable harm from this genocide. • Chris Doyle is director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding in London. X: @Doylech
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
Govt urged to bring relatives of Afghans to UK after data breach
LONDON: A group of more than 50 charities and lawyers has urged the UK government to let Afghans granted asylum bring their families with them after their identities were revealed in a data breach. The leak in February 2022 saw the details of more than 100,000 Afghans who worked with the British accidentally shared online by a Ministry of Defence employee. They included people who had worked as interpreters for the British Army, and others who applied for asylum under the UK's Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy. The leak was hidden by the government through a legal mechanism called a superinjunction, making reporting it in the press illegal. The superinjunction was lifted by a court last month. ARAP and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme do not allow applicants to sponsor relatives to come to the UK. The group of charities, including Asylum Aid and modern slavery charity Kalayaan, wrote to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper asking her 'to prevent the worst possible consequences of the data leak becoming a dire reality' and help take the relatives of those whose identities were leaked out of Afghanistan. 'The UK government has a moral responsibility to the Afghan people who continue to suffer, including now as a result of the data leak and have no choice but to seek safety elsewhere. 'The 2022 data breach directly exposed Afghans still in the country to a risk of reprisals they were not even aware of, and the High Court, in lifting the superinjunction, recognised that its imposition may have increased the risks these people face.' The signatories added: 'Poor decision-making could yet again have exposed Afghans to serious harm, with many of these people having clear UK family ties.' They said: 'It is essential that those who were resettled under ARAP and ACRS are able to live in safety and are given a fair opportunity to reunite with their families.' Some routes are open to resettled Afghans to reunite in the UK with relatives, but the signatories said these involve 'extremely costly application fees and require copious, specific documentation.' Wendy Chamberlain MP, the Liberal Democrat chair of the all-parliamentary group for Afghan women, told The Independent: 'There is already anecdotal evidence of reprisals on family members by the Taliban — the Home Office has no time to waste if the government wants to prevent the worst possible consequences of the data leak becoming a dire reality. 'The Home Office desperately needs to take a pragmatic and compassionate approach to allowing Afghans resettled in the UK to be reunited safely with their families. 'It is clear that these schemes have been seriously mis-handled, culminating in the recent exposure of the 2022 data leak.' James Tullett, CEO of the charity Ramfel, said: 'The government has acknowledged that the people they have resettled need protection, and yet this offer of support comes with the heavy price of separation from family. 'Allowing Afghan families to reunite won't solve all the problems associated with the data leak, but it will make a monumental difference for the affected families.'
