23/06/2025

MONDAY | JUNE 23, 2025

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Two held for harbouring Kashmir attackers

Tokyo votes in local election TOKYO: Voting kicked off yesterday for the Tokyo metropolitan assembly, a poll seen as a key barometer of public sentiment towards the central government, which has been struggling with low approval ratings. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party – its popularity battered by surging inflation and high rice prices – hopes to retain its position as the largest party in the mega-city’s legislature. “We will do everything ... to get everyone elected,” Ishiba told reporters earlier this month when campaigning kicked off, claiming his party was best positioned to resolve local issues affecting Tokyo’s some 14 million residents. The Tokyo assembly election are being watched closely as they come just weeks before elections, which local media has reported could be July 20, for the country’s upper house. Ishiba is seeking to maintain his coalition’s majority, having already lost a majority in lower house elections last October. Local media have speculated that further poll blows could lead to a change of party leadership. For months, public support for Ishiba, who took office in October, has been at rock bottom, thanks in part to rising inflation and soaring rice costs on his watch. Polls this month showed a slight uptick in support, thanks in part to new policies to tackle the rice price issue. Polling stations will close at 8pm (9pm in Malaysia). A record 295 candidates were running in yesterday’s election – the highest since 1997, including 99 women candidates, the highest ever, which officials have hailed as a “delightful trend”. – AFP BANGKOK: Thailand’s prime minister, seeking to fend off calls for her resignation, said yesterday all coalition partners have pledged support for her government, which she said would seek to maintain political stability to address threats to national security. Paetongtarn Shinawatra has faced criticism for her perceived mishandling of a border row with Cambodia, including over a phone call with the country’s former leader, Hun Sen, the audio of which was leaked on Wednesday. After the initial leak, Hun Sen released the full audio, in which Paetongtarn appeared to kowtow before the veteran Cambodian politician and to denigrate a senior Thai military commander – crossing red lines for her critics and some former allies. A major coalition partner, the Bhumjaithai Party, quit the ruling alliance soon after the leak, overshadowing Paetongtarn’s premiership and a parliamentary majority cobbled together by her Pheu Thai party. “The country must move forward. Thailand must unite and push policies to solve problems for the people,” Paetongtarn, the daughter of influential former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, posted on X after a meeting with coalition partners, including the United Thai Nation party. Prior to the post, the UTN had looked set to demand her resignation in return for backing the ruling coalition. The government and the country’s influential military share a common position, to back democratic principles and follow the provisions of the constitution, said the 38-year-old leader, a political neophyte who was appointed prime minister last year. Activists, among them groups with a history of influential rallies against the Shinawatra administration, have scheduled a protest in Bangkok starting on June 28 to demand Paetongtarn’s resignation. – Reuters Thai PM claims coalition support

o Indus Water Treaty shelved, says Delhi

governs river water critical to parched Pakistan. “It will never be restored,” Shah said. “We will take the water that was flowing to Pakistan to Rajasthan (state) by constructing a canal. Pakistan will be starved of water that it has been getting unjustifiably.” The 1960 Indus Water Treaty gave India and Pakistan three Himalayan rivers each and the right to hydropower and irrigation resources. It established the India-Pakistan Indus Commission, which is supposed to resolve any problems that arise. Islamabad last month said the treaty was a “no-go area”, after New Delhi announced it would maintain its suspension following the ceasefire. “The treaty can’t be amended, nor can it be terminated by any party unless both agree,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said. Halting the water agreement was one of a series of tit-for-tat diplomatic measures taken by both countries in the immediate aftermath of the Kashmir attack. – AFP

Jothar, claiming the duo “have disclosed the identities of the three armed terrorists involved in the attack”, and have confirmed they were Pakistani nationals affiliated to the proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group. New Delhi has accused Pakistan of backing the attack without making public any evidence, and Islamabad has denied the charge. The April 22 killings triggered a series of tit for-tat diplomatic measures by the nuclear armed countries and led to intense exchanges of missile, drone and artillery fire. The four-day conflict left more than 70 people dead on both sides. Interior Minister Amit Shah told the Times of India that the government will “never” reinstate the Indus water treaty it suspended with Pakistan over the deadly violence in Kashmir. India halted the agreement following the April attack. Despite a ceasefire holding, Shah said his government would not restore the treaty which

SRINAGAR: New Delhi’s counter-terrorism agency said yesterday it has arrested two men in Kashmir for allegedly harbouring Pakistani gunmen behind a deadly attack on civilians that sparked a days-long conflict between the two countries. India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) said the two suspects were from the Pahalgam area, where gunmen killed 26 people two months ago. “The two men had provided food, shelter and logistical support to the terrorists, who had ... selectively killed the tourists on the basis of their religious identity,” a statement by NIA said. The majority of those killed were Hindu men. The agency identified the two men as Parvaiz Ahmad Jothar and Bashir Ahmad

GRACE IN MOTION ... Balinese dancers taking part in a parade

highlighting the 47th Bali Art Festival in Denpasar on Saturday. – AFPPIC

Nigeria recovers looted artefacts LAGOS: The Netherlands on Saturday officially handed back to Nigeria 119 precious ancient sculptures, stolen from the former kingdom of Benin more than 120 years ago during the colonial era.

The sculptures were pillaged from the kingdom’s royal palace and have since been held in museums and private collections across Europe and the United States. The four artefacts on display in Lagos will remain in the museum’s permanent collection, while the others will be returned to Ewuare II, the Oba of Benin, the traditional ruler of the kingdom of Benin in southern Nigeria. “These are embodiments of the spirit and identity of the people from which they were taken,” said Olugbile Holloway, director-general of Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments. “All we ask of the world is to treat us with fairness, dignity and respect,” he said at the ceremony, where he announced that Germany had agreed to return more than 1,000 additional Benin Bronze pieces. “The German government has signed a transfer agreement to hand over a 1,000 Benin Bronzes back” to Nigeria, he said. – AFP

It is the latest return of artefacts to Africa, as pressure mounts on Western governments and institutions to hand back the spoils of colonial oppression. Nigeria celebrated the return of the priceless “Benin Bronzes” – metal and ivory sculptures dating back to the 16th to 18th centuries – with a ceremony held at the National Museum in Lagos, showcasing four of them in the museum’s courtyard. The selection included a bronze carving of a king’s head, a carved elephant tusk and a small leopard. In the 19th century, British troops stole thousands of Benin Bronzes in the then independent kingdom of Benin, in the south of present-day Nigeria.

Bronze mask of King Oba of Benin. – AFPPIC