More than 200,000 Afghans have left Pakistan since April
Undocumented Afghan DPs: deportation deadline extended
More than 135,000 Afghans left Pakistan in April, while 67,000 departed in May and more than 3,000 were sent back in the first two days of June, according to the ministry.
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UN says Taliban committing ‘rights violations' against Afghan returnees
KABUL: The United Nations said Thursday that Taliban authorities were committing human rights violations, including torture and arbitrary detention, against Afghans forced to return by Iran and Pakistan. Large-scale deportation campaigns launched by Iran and Pakistan have forced millions of Afghans to return to Afghanistan, including more than 1.9 million this year, the overwhelming majority from Iran. '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 a report. 'These violations have included torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary arrest and detention, and threats to personal security.' The UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) recently estimated that up to three million people could return to Afghanistan, which is facing a severe humanitarian crisis, in 2025. The report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN Human Rights Office was based on interviews with 49 returned Afghans. It said violations have been committed against Afghans 'based on their specific profile', including women, media workers, and members of civil society, as well as people affiliated with the former foreign-backed government that fell in 2021. The Taliban government rejected the findings, accusing the UN of spreading propaganda and rumours. 'The people cited in this report may have been inaccurate, may be opposed to the system, or may want to spread propaganda or rumours and are therefore using the UNAMA for this purpose,' Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP on Thursday. Taliban authorities have previously said they declared an amnesty against those who worked for NATO forces and the former government during the two-decade conflict against the Taliban's insurgency. 'Nobody should be sent back to a country where they face risk of persecution on account of their identity or personal history,' UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement this month. 'In Afghanistan, this is even more pronounced for women and girls, who are subjected to a range of measures that amount to persecution on the basis of their gender alone,' he added. Over the past four years, women have been increasingly isolated from public life by the Taliban authorities, which have banned them from universities, public parks, gyms and beauty salons, in what the UN has denounced as 'gender apartheid'.
Express Tribune
3 hours ago
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Doctor pleads guilty in Perry overdose case
A doctor charged in connection with the drug overdose death of actor Matthew Perry pleaded guilty Wednesday to supplying the Friends star with ketamine. Salvador Plasencia, 43, one of five people charged over Perry's death, pleaded guilty in a federal court in Los Angeles to four counts of distribution of ketamine. Plasencia is to be sentenced on December 3 and faces up to 40 years in prison. He will also surrender his medical license. Plasencia's attorney, Karen Goldstein, said after the hearing that her client regretted his actions. "Dr Plasencia is profoundly remorseful for the treatment decisions he made while providing ketamine to Matthew Perry," Goldstein said in a statement. "He is fully accepting responsibility... acknowledging his failure to protect Mr Perry, a patient who was especially vulnerable due to addiction." Plasencia did not provide Perry with the fatal dose of ketamine but supplied the actor with the drug in the weeks before he was found dead in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home. Another doctor, Mark Chavez, pleaded guilty in October to conspiring to distribute ketamine to Perry. Plasencia allegedly bought ketamine off Chavez and sold it to the American-Canadian actor at hugely inflated prices. "I wonder how much this moron will pay," Plasencia wrote in one text message presented by prosecutors. Jasveen Sangha, the alleged "Ketamine Queen" who supplied drugs to high-end clients and celebrities, is charged with selling Perry the dose that killed him. She has pleaded not guilty. Perry's live-in personal assistant and another man pleaded guilty in August to charges of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. The actor's lengthy struggles with substance addiction were well-documented, but his death at age 54 sent shockwaves through the global legions of Friends fans. A criminal investigation was launched soon after an autopsy discovered he had high levels of ketamine – an anesthetic – in his system. In his plea deal with prosecutors, Plasencia said he went to Perry's home to administer ketamine by injection and distributed 20 vials of the drug over a roughly two-week period in autumn 2023. Perry had been taking ketamine as part of supervised therapy for depression. But prosecutors say that before his death he became addicted to the substance, which also has psychedelic properties and is a popular party drug. Friends, which followed the lives of six New Yorkers navigating adulthood, dating and careers, drew a massive following and made megastars of previously unknown actors. Perry's role as the sarcastic man-child Chandler brought him fabulous wealth, but hid a dark struggle with addiction to painkillers and alcohol. AFP
Business Recorder
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France will recognise State of Palestine: Macron
PARIS: France will recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September, President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday. 'True to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognise the State of Palestine. I will make a formal announcement at the United Nations General Assembly in September,' the French head of state wrote on X and Instagram. Including France, Palestinian statehood is now recognised by 142 countries, according to an AFP tally, though Israel and the United States strongly oppose recognition. Hamas says France plan to recognise Palestinian state 'important step' France would be the most significant European power to recognise a Palestinian state. 'The urgent priority today is to end the war in Gaza and rescue the civilian population,' Macron wrote. 'We must finally build the State of Palestine, ensure its viability and enable it, by accepting its demilitarisation and fully recognising Israel, to contribute to the security of all in the Middle East.'
