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CAIRO: Qatari, Egyptian and US leaders called on Israel and Hamas to resume urgent talks on Aug. 15 either in Doha or Cairo to bridge all remaining gaps in the proposed Gaza ceasefire agreement and start implementing it without any delay, the three countries said in a joint statement on Thursday.
“It is the time to conclude a ceasefire agreement and release hostages and prisoners,” the statement added.
SRINAGAR: In Indian-administered Kashmir, many people boycotted elections for decades in protest against Indian rule. But in the run-up to the local election beginning Wednesday, many are willing to buck that trend and use their vote to deny Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party the power to form a local government in the disputed region.
The vote is the first in a decade, and the first since Modi’s Hindu nationalist government in 2019 scrapped the Muslim-majority region’s special status and downgraded the former state to a federally governed territory. The move — which largely resonated in India and among Modi supporters — was mostly opposed in the region as an assault on its identity and autonomy.
“Boycotts will not work in this election,” said Abdul Rashid, a resident in southern Kashmir’s Shangus village. “There is a desperate need to end the onslaught of changes coming from there (India).”
The election will allow residents to have their own truncated government and a local parliament called an assembly, instead of remaining under New Delhi’s direct rule. The region’s last assembly election was held in 2014, after which Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party for the first time ruled the region in a coalition with the local Peoples Democratic Party.
But the government collapsed in 2018 after BJP withdrew from the coalition. Polls in the past have been marked with violence, boycotts and vote-rigging, even though India called them a victory over separatism.
This time, New Delhi says the polls are ushering in democracy after more than three decades of strife.
However, many locals see the vote as an opportunity not only to elect their own representatives but also to register their protest against the 2019 changes.
Polling will be held in three phases. The second and third phases are scheduled for Sept. 25 and Oct. 1. Votes will be counted on Oct. 8, with results expected that day.
Kashmir is divided between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan. Since 1947, the neighbors have fought two wars over its control, after British rule of the subcontinent ended with the creation of the two countries. Both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety.
In 2019, the Indian-controlled part of the region was divided into two territories, Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir, ruled directly by New Delhi. The region has been on edge since it lost its flag, criminal code, constitution and inherited protections on land and jobs.
Multiple pro-India Kashmiri parties, many of whose leaders were among thousands jailed in 2019, are contesting the election, promising to reverse those changes. Some lower-rung separatist leaders, who in the past dismissed polls as illegitimate exercises under military occupation, are also running for office as independent candidates.
India’s main opposition Congress party, which favors restoration of the region’s statehood, has formed an alliance with the National Conference, the region’s largest party. Modi’s BJP has a strong political base in Hindu-dominated areas of Jammu that largely favor the 2019 changes but is weak in the Kashmir Valley, the heartland of anti-India rebellion.
“Our main concern is governance through local representatives. It will be good for us if the BJP forms the government here as it’s already in power at the center,” said Chuni Lal, a shopkeeper in Jammu city.
The vote will see a limited transition of power from New Delhi to the local assembly, with a chief minister at the top heading a council of ministers. But Kashmir will continue to be a “Union Territory” — a region directly controlled by the federal government — with India’s Parliament remaining its main legislator.
The elected government will have partial control over areas like education, culture and taxation but not over the police. Kashmir’s statehood must be restored for the new government to have powers similar to other states in India. However, it will not have the special powers it enjoyed before the 2019 changes.
Last year, India’s Supreme Court endorsed the government’s 2019 changes but ordered New Delhi to conduct local polls by the end of September and restore Kashmir’s statehood. Modi’s government has promised to restore statehood after the polls but has not specified a timeline.
Elections in Indian-held Kashmir have remained a sensitive issue. Many believe they have been rigged multiple times in favor of local politicians who subsequently became India’s regional enforcers, used to incrementally dilute laws that offered Kashmir a special status and legitimize New Delhi’s militaristic policies.
In the mid-1980s, the region’s dissident political groups emerged as a formidable force against Kashmir’s pro-India political elite but lost the 1987 election widely believed to have been rigged. A public backlash followed, with some young activists taking up arms and demanding a united Kashmir, either under Pakistani rule or independent of both.
India insists the insurgency is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, a charge Islamabad denies. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the fighting, which most Kashmiri Muslims consider a legitimate freedom struggle.
Noor Ahmed Baba, a political scientist, said the outcome of the polls “is not going to change the dynamics of the Kashmir dispute” since it will end with a largely powerless legislature, but will be crucial for optics.
“If local parties win, it is going to put some pressure on the central government and perhaps delegitimize from a democratic perspective what has been done to Kashmir. But a BJP win can allow the party to consolidate and validate 2019 changes in the local legislature,” Baba said.
India’s ruling BJP is not officially aligned with any local party, but many politicians believe it is tacitly supporting some parties and independent candidates who privately agree with its stances.
The National Conference party says Modi’s BJP is trying to manipulate the election through independent candidates. “Their (BJP’s) concerted effort is to divide the vote in Kashmir,” said Tanvir Sadiq, a candidate from the National Conference.
The BJP’s national secretary, meanwhile, says his party’s former ally, the Peoples Democratic Party, and the National Conference are being supported by former militants. Ram Madhav said at a recent rally that they want to return the region to its “trouble-filled days.”
For residents whose civil liberties have been curbed, the election is also a chance to choose representatives they hope will address their main issues.
Many say that while the election won’t solve the dispute over Kashmir, it will give them a rare window to express their frustration with Indian control.
“We need some relief and end of bureaucratic rule here,” said Rafiq Ahmed, a taxi driver in the region’s main city of Srinagar.
TOKYO: The number of people in Japan aged 100 or older has hit a record high of more than 95,000 — almost 90 percent of them women — government data showed Tuesday.
The figures further highlight the slow-burning demographic crisis gripping the world’s fourth-biggest economy as its population ages and shrinks.
As of September 1, Japan had 95,119 centenarians, up 2,980 year-on-year, with 83,958 of them women and 11,161 men, the health ministry said in a statement.
On Sunday separate government data showed that the number of over-65s has hit a record high of 36.25 million, accounting for 29.3 percent of Japan’s population.
The proportion puts Japan at the top of a list of 200 countries and regions with a population of over 100,000 people, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said.
Japan is currently home to the world’s oldest living person Tomiko Itooka, who was born on May 23, 1908 and is 116 years old, according to the US-based Gerontology Research Group.
The previous record-holder, Maria Branyas Morera, died last month in Spain at the age of 117.
Itooka lives in a nursing home in Ashiya, Hyogo prefecture in western Japan, the ministry said.
She often says “thank you” to the nursing home staff and expresses nostalgia about her hometown, the ministry said.
“I have no idea at all about what’s the secret of my long life,” Japan’s oldest man, Kiyotaka Mizuno, who is 110, told local media.
Mizuno, who lives in Iwata, Shizuoka prefecture in central Japan with his family, gets up at 6:30 am every morning and eats three meals a day — without being picky about his food.
His hobby is listening to live sports, including sumo wrestling, the ministry said.
Japan is facing a steadily worsening population crisis, as its expanding elderly population leads to soaring medical and welfare costs, with a shrinking labor force to pay for it.
The country’s overall population is 124 million, after declining by 595,000 in the previous, according to previous government data.
The government has attempted to slow the decline and aging of its population without meaningful success, while gradually extending the retirement age — with 65 becoming the rule for all employers from fiscal 2025.
KARACHI: The government of the southern Sindh province said on Tuesday it had removed senior police and health officials in response to accusations of rape by a polio vaccinator in the Jacobabad district.
The incident occurred in the Allah Baksh Jakhrani village of Jacobabad, with the polio vaccinator testifying before a local court last week that she was raped while on duty.
“The Sindh Government has taken strict action following the reported negligence in the security and arrangements for polio workers in Jacobabad,” the government said in a statement.
“As a result, the Deputy Commissioner (DC) Jacobabad, the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Jacobabad, and the District Health Officer (DHO) Jacobabad have been removed from their positions.”
On Monday, Provincial Health Minister Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho took notice of the alleged rape and instructed police to provide her round-the-clock security.
“Our female polio workers are the backbone of the polio program and protecting them has always been the utmost priority of the program,” Dr. Pechuho said. “I am taking every necessary action to ensure that she gets the justice she deserves.”
On Sept. 9, Pakistan launched a week-long, nationwide polio vaccine campaign as the disease has spread this year beyond its traditional hot spots to areas once largely untouched by the virus.
Last week, health officials reported the first polio case in the capital, Islamabad, in 16 years. Since January, Pakistan has reported 17 new cases of polio.
One of only two countries in the world where the virus remains endemic, Pakistan recorded no new infections for a little over a year starting in 2021, the longest virus-free stretch the country had ever experienced.
Anti-polio campaigns in Pakistan are regularly marred by violence as militants target vaccination teams and police assigned to protect them, claiming that the campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.
DUBAI: The renowned auction house Christie’s is expanding its presence in the Middle East by opening a franchise in Riyadh, led by managing director Nour Kelani. This will be Christie’s second outpost in the region, following the 2005 opening of Christie’s Dubai, which has had a significant impact on the promotion of Arab art and creativity, both contemporary and modern.
In an exclusive interview with Arab News, Anthea Peers, Christie’s president, EMEA, explains why now is the time to expand the auction house’s activities in the Kingdom, which is experiencing a historic cultural boom.
“Christie’s has a longstanding presence in the Middle East, with deep-rooted relationships with Saudi Arabian collectors based both in the Kingdom and around the world,” Peers says. “In recent years, we have witnessed a considerable period of growth within the arts and culture sector — I have the privilege of visiting the Kingdom regularly and each time I am blown away by the passion, the ambition and the creative talent that I encounter — and the time is undoubtedly right for this expansion,” Peers says.
An opening date has not yet been confirmed. “Having recently established our entity, we look forward to completing all necessary formalities and further extending our business in the Kingdom as soon as possible,” Peers says of the outpost that will be located in Riyadh Park.
In Saudi Arabia, Christie’s will focus on providing works of art by modern and contemporary Middle Eastern artists, as well as high-end jewelry and watches or other timepieces. They are also keen to engage with the Saudi youth and aspiring art collectors.
“Bearing in mind the high percentage of millennials in the Kingdom, it’s likely we will also continue to see an increase in engagement among this demographic for Arab artists, modern and contemporary art, as well as engagement with the secondary luxury sector,” says Peers.
In recent years, several acclaimed Saudi artists have made a splash at Christie’s with notable artworks sold at high prices. “The market has been reinforced by strong biennials, gallery representations, and alongside key institutional shows both locally and internationally,” says Peers.
Saudi conceptual artist Abdulnasser Gharem’s golden-domed wood-and-copper installation piece “Message/Messenger” was sold at Christie’s for $842,500 in 2011 — the highest price fetched so far by a Saudi artist at the auction house. Manal AlDowayan, who represented the Kingdom at the Venice Biennale earlier this year, has a long-standing relationship with Christie’s, which most recently sold her work “Dove” — previously exhibited at the Venice biennale — for just over $15,000, more than three times its low estimate, having, Peers says, “attracted strong bidding from our established Middle East clients.”
Mid-career artist Ahmed Mater, whose multidisciplinary works were highlighted in a solo exhibition at Christie’s London this summer, has also sold pieces at well above estimated prices; his “Magnetism” triptych fetched £189,000 (around SAR935,000) at Christie’s London. Other emerging Saudi artists, such as Dana Awartani and Alia Ahmad, have also been highlighted at Christie’s.
“We have had passionate Saudi Arabian clients for many years with a wide range of interests ranging from Old Master paintings and modern and contemporary Middle Eastern art to fine watches and jewelry, among other categories,” Peers says. “We have seen increased interest in a number of Arab artists over the last three years including Saudi artists Ahmed Mater, Manal AlDowayan and Dana Awartani. There are active Saudi clients who are evolving and refining their own collections to include a mix of established and emerging Saudi artists.”
Christie’s opening in the Kingdom comes at a time when the domestic arts scene is flourishing, with new cultural initiatives, institutions, and festivals supporting Saudi artists as well as welcoming international names.
“We will be honored to support the burgeoning arts scene in Saudi Arabia as part of the ongoing national diversification efforts,” says Peers.
“We look forward to partnering with institutions and arts and culture organizations, hosting dedicated exhibitions, as well as supporting regional cultural events within the Kingdom — for example, we collaborated with Diriyah Contemporary Arts Biennale earlier this year.
“We are also committed to bringing regular international sale highlights from important auctions around the world into the Kingdom for the public and clients to view,” she continues. “Christie’s will continue to raise awareness of art and artists from Saudi Arabia’s rich cultural heritage to our wider international audience.”
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Monday consultations would continue with all political parties on a controversial constitutional amendment package after his coalition government postponed tabling the legislation amid outcry from opposition parties and the Pakistani legal fraternity.
The proposed amendments, an official copy of which has not been released by the government but partially leaked to the press, aim to establish a federal constitutional court, raise the retirement age of Supreme Court judges and modify the process for the appointment of the chief justice of Pakistan, among other changes to the constitution.
Opposition parties, lawyers, former judges and independent experts have widely said the amendments are aimed at increasing the government’s power in making key judicial appointments and will change the separation of powers in the South Asian nation of 240 million.
On Monday, the coalition government admitted it could not secure the required 224 votes, a two-thirds majority, needed to pass the amendments.
“Ongoing consultations with all political parties regarding the constitutional amendment will continue,” Radio Pakistan quoted Sharif as saying after he met a delegation from coalition partner, the Pakistan Peoples Party, which called on him in Islamabad under the leadership of Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
“During the meeting, it was agreed that Bhutto Zardari and other senior party leadership will play their due role in this consultation process. It was further agreed to engage political parties and hold consultation with them to reach any conclusion in the days to come.”
Sharif said amending the constitution and passing legislation were within the purview of parliament, which had been entrusted to do so by the 240 million people of Pakistan.
“He said the purpose of the proposed constitutional amendment is to ensure speedy and effective delivery of justice to the masses,” Radio Pakistan concluded.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) opposition party of jailed former premier Imran Khan has said the amendments are meant above all to grant an extension to incumbent Supreme Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who is widely believed to be aligned with the ruling coalition led by Sharif and in opposition to its chief rival, the PTI. PTI founder Khan has threatened nationwide protests against the reforms. The government denies the amendments are “individual-specific.”
Speaking in the National Assembly on Monday, Law Minister Tarar said the draft of amendments had not yet been presented before the cabinet as required under the constitution, and asked opposition parties to give “positive recommendations” instead of undue criticism.
“A special parliamentary committee has been made, which included members of all political parties, so all are invited to bring suggestions in this regard to the committee,” Tarar said.
Prominent lawyers, including Abid Zuberi, Shafqat Mehmood Chauhan, Shahab Sarki, Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan and Munir Kakar, on Monday filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the proposed amendments.
“Through the instant petition the petitioners seek to challenge the vires of the proposed constitutional package,” they stated in the petition.
“The proposed bill puts forth proposed amendments to the constitution that would transfer the vested powers of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the high courts of Pakistan as granted by the constitution to the executive and entirely annihilate the principles of independence of judiciary and suppression of power.”
Munir A Malik, a former attorney general of Pakistan who was a key leader of the 2007 street movement to restore the Supreme Court chief justice removed by then military ruler General Pervez Musharraf, said the proposed amendments would abolish the trichotomy of power — executive, legislature and judiciary — under the constitution.
“We will have a judiciary subservient to the executive and this is a frontal assault on the judicial system and the independence of the judiciary,” he told Arab News.
“I think every lawyer who believes in the rule of law will stand up against any such step which undermines the independence of the judiciary.”
