South Asia

The official police watchdog has claimed, after two years of investigation, that is has been unable to find out why Greater Manchester Police (GMP) dropped an inquiry into ‘Asian’ rape gangs that identified almost 100 suspects.

(AFP) – Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled his official residence on Saturday shortly before protesters, angered by an unprecedented economic crisis, overran the compound and stormed his nearby office.

Leprosy is an ancient disease that many may associate with a bygone era. In some of the most populous areas of the world, however – such as Nigeria and India – the disease continues to proliferate, forcing victims to live on the margins of society in leprosy colonies.

MADRID (AP) – Spain’s defence ministry has completed the evacuation of another 160 Afghans who had initially been left behind following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

The Taliban said they want Islamic law both at home and abroad and warned Western forces they will face another 20-year quagmire in an impromptu meeting with The Telegraph.

(AFP) – Sri Lanka will cooperate with New Zealand’s investigation into a knife rampage by an Islamic State-inspired assailant from the South Asian nation, authorities said Saturday.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has said that America, Britain, and Australia, among others, “must be held accountable” for the “suffering” caused by their “military interventions in sovereign states”, particularly Afghanistan.

Australian citizens trying to reach evacuation transports are apparently being forcibly turned away by Taliban fighters encircling Kabul airport.

Fatalities were reported on Thursday after the Taliban opened fire at an Independence Day rally in a regional Afghanistan town where protesters were flying the flag used by the former Western-backed government.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) – Australian special envoy and former Prime Minister Tony Abbott said a free trade agreement between his nation and India would signal the “democratic world’s tilt away from China.”

(AFP) — At least seven Pakistan police officers and special rangers were taken hostage Sunday by supporters of a radical Islamist party, officials said, after days of violent anti-France protes

Swathes of Pakistan have been swept by anti-French riots and French citizens advised to leave the country after an Islamist politician was arrested for saying their ambassador should be expelled from the South Asian country.

At least 6,500 South Asian migrant workers died in Qatar from 2011-2020, the Guardian reported Tuesday, citing government data from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Qatar.

Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has seized some 59 properties worth an estimated £17 million after busting an organised crime ring importing massive quantities of heroin into Britain from Pakistan. 

A national organization working to boost Joe Biden’s support within the south Asian community is lashing out at former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley for claiming “America is not a racist country.”

A South Asian man who perpetrated a string of rapes in London which culminated in a violent murder has finally been sentenced for his crimes. 

People arriving from Pakistan brought half of all the imported coronavirus cases in the United Kingdom since March, a report has found.

Police say the problem of sexual abuse of children by clerics is pervasive and the scores of police reports they have received are just the tip of the iceberg.

A court in Colombo, Sri Lanka, this week ordered the continued detention of nine Iranians caught with 107 kg of heroin this year, the local news outlet Ada Derana reported.

(AFP) — The family of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother who faces execution for blasphemy in Pakistan, said they hoped the Supreme Court would free her.

The United States and its ally India have commenced bilateral efforts to pursue designations against terrorist groups and individuals as part of their shared commitment to combat jihadist organizations, announced the U.S. Department of State.

U.S. Defense Jim Mattis is not planning to visit Pakistan during his ongoing trip to South Asia where he hopes to enhance America’s growing military relationship with India, a decision that is expected to draw the ire of New Delhi’s regional rival Islamabad.

Women of South Asian origins or descent in Britain are suffering through cancer in silence for fear their communities will think their condition is God’s punishment for a “bad life”, according to the BBC.

Indian politicians believe the nation’s long history of religious integration has inoculated it from the Islamic State’s attempts to recruit more jihadi militants from the subcontinent.

Politicians in India fear China’s growing role in Pakistan, long accused of being a terror hotbed, has “a malign effect on all of South Asia” and “throughout the world.”

Moscow is trying to reestablish Russia as a superpower and extend its geopolitical sphere of influence by undermining the United States and capitalizing on the chaos in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Libya, and beyond, according to American military officials and analysts.