by tyler | May 9, 2023 | asia, CNN
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested on Tuesday by paramilitary troops who smashed their way into a courthouse in Islamabad to detain him on multiple corruption charges.
The dramatic and sudden arrest former cricket star turned leader is the latest chapter in months of ongoing political turmoil in the nuclear armed nation after Khan was ousted last year.
According to court documents seen CNN, Khan was arrested in Islamabad on charges brought by the National Accountability Bureau, the country’s anti-corruption agency.
He was submitting his biometric data for a court appearance when paramilitary forces broke down a window to get to him before apprehending him, as seen in a video provided to CNN by his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
In the video, paramilitary forces attacked Islamabad High Court premises before arresting Khan who watched impassively at the unfolding chaos while wearing dark sunglasses.
A separate video sent to CNN by PTI showed paramilitary troops piling out of cars and holding batons before the arrest.
Khan said he was “detained on incorrect charges” in a pre-recorded statement released on YouTube by PTI after his arrest.
“By the time you will receive these words of mine, I will have been detained on incorrect charges, Pakistan constitution, which gives us rights, which gives us democracy, has been buried. Perhaps I won’t get the opportunity to speak to you again.”
Khan claims in the video statement, “I have always followed the law. I am being apprehended so that I can’t follow my political path for this country’s fundamental rights and for me to obey this corrupt govt of crooks which has been hoisted on us.”
Khan appealed to his supporters to “come out for your fundamental rights; no nation is handed its freedom on a plate; the time has come for all of you to come and struggle for your rights.”
PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry described Khan’s arrest as an “abduction” and said he had been “whisked away by unknown people to an unknown location.”
Khan, 72, was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote last year and has since led a popular campaign against the current government led by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, accusing it of colluding with the military to remove him from office.
He has faced a growing raft of legal cases filed against him and multiple arrest warrants have been made, triggering confrontations with his supporters.
Khan faces multiple allegations of corruption while he was in office, which he has rejected as “biased.” He says the charges against him are political.
In March, the streets outside his residence in Lahore became something of a pitched battle between police and his supporters after officers attempted to arrest Khan for not showing up to court on corruption charges.
Supporters hurled stones and projectiles at police while people inside Khan’s residence lit fires after officers fired tear gas into the compound.
Police later cut the electricity supply to Khan’s home and turned street lights off in the neighborhood. The operation was eventually called off.
The cricket legend-turned-politician has accused Pakistani authorities of attempting to arrest him to remove him from the playing field ahead of a general election scheduled for October.
“[The government], they’re petrified that if I come into power, I will hold them accountable,” Khan told CNN during the unrest outside his residence in March .
“They also know that even if I go to jail, we will swing the elections no matter what they do.”
In the midst of the ongoing political jostling Pakistan is facing an acute economic crisis.
The government has been trying to reach agreement with the International Monetary Fund to restart a $6.5 billion loan program that has stalled since November, in an effort to keep the economy afloat.
The fund has presented a set of conditions in exchange for the release of a $1.1 billion loan installment. It includes liberalizing the rupee’s exchange rate and raising taxes.
One third of Pakistan’s farmland was affected after catastrophic floods last summer. According to the International Rescue Committee, 33 million people in Pakistan were affected by the severe flooding that has caused $40 billion in economic damage.
Inflation has soared in recent months, with ordinary good becoming increasingly unaffordable.
Pakistan’s consumer price index rose to a record 35% in March from a year earlier, according to official figures.
The March inflation number eclipsed February’s 31.5%, the statistics bureau said, as food, beverage and transport prices surged up to 50% compared to last year. Staples like the price of flour, a staple of Pakistani diets, has doubled over the past year, according to the bureau.
According to a survey conducted by Gallup & Gilani Pakistan, just under three quarters of 2,000 respondents think the country’s economic situation has gotten worse over the last six months.
by tyler | May 4, 2023 | asia, CNN
An attack by unknown gunmen at a school in Pakistan’s northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkwa has left eight school staff dead and two others injured.
The attack took place after exams at a local high school.
According to district police officer Muhammad Imran, the dead include five schoolteachers and three members of the school support staff. The dead and injured are all men.
According to Imran, the incident took place at noon on Thursday and an investigation is underway. Imran told CNN that the police suspect a sectarian angle to the attack since all those attacked were members of the Shia branch of Islam.
The region where the attack took place is known for conflict between Sunni and Shia sects of Islam.
Pakistans’s President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday strongly condemned the killings. There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack.
by tyler | Apr 20, 2023 | asia, CNN
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister will travel to India next month, the most senior-level visit in seven years in what is an opportunity for two nuclear-armed neighbors with a long history of fractious relations to break the ice.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) foreign ministers meeting on May 4-5 in the western Indian coastal state of Goa, Pakistan’s foreign ministry confirmed Thursday.
“Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistan’s commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities,” Pakistan’s foreign ministry said.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs said it had extended invitations to all the member states of the SCO and “we look forward to a successful meeting. It would not be really appropriate to focus on participation by any one particular country.”
This is the first time that the most senior Pakistani foreign office representative has visited India since 2016.
Diplomatic relations between India and Pakistan have been beset by decades of distrust and occasional bouts of open conflict.
But they have been especially contentious since 2016 when militants attacked an Indian army base in Kashmir. India blamed the attack on Pakistan, which Islamabad denied.
In February 2019, tensions between the two countries had escalated after Pakistan claimed to have shot down two Indian fighter jets a day after India said it launched airstrikes in Pakistani territory in the first such incursion by Indian air force planes since the India-Pakistan war of 1971.
The immediate trigger for the 2019 confrontation was a suicide car bomb attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir, which killed 40 Indian paramilitary soldiers. India blames the militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) for the attack, the deadliest on security forces since the beginning of the insurgency in the late 1980s.
In August 2019, Pakistan announced it would downgrade diplomatic relations and suspend bilateral trade with India after New Delhi stripped the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir of its special status.
The SCO is an eight-member regional security and economic grouping led by China, and its members include India, Pakistan and Russia.
China has close economic, diplomatic and military ties with Pakistan, making it one of the nation’s most important allies in the region.
The latest breakthrough came after China brokered a deal between two other longstanding foes, Iran and Saudi Arabia, last month.
Saudi Arabia and Iran announced on March 10 that they had agreed to reestablish diplomatic ties after seven years of hostility, in a deal that could have wide-ranging implications for the Middle East and was seen as a major soft power win for Beijing.
Riyadh and Tehran plan to reopen their embassies within two months and reimplement a security pact first signed 22 years ago, in the agreement mediated by China.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, Saudi Arabia moved closer to joining the SCO bloc, having been granted the status of a dialogue partner as it expands its global outreach. The kingdom could eventually be granted full membership.
by tyler | Apr 13, 2023 | asia, CNN
Here’s a look at the life of Emperor Naruhito of Japan, the 126th Emperor to ascend to Japan’s Chrysanthemum Throne.
Birth date: February 23, 1960
Birth place: Tokyo, Japan
Previous name: Hironomiya Naruhito
Father: Emperor Emeritus Akihito
Mother: Empress Emerita Michiko
Marriage: Masako Owada (June 9, 1993-present)
Children: Princess Aiko
Education: Gakushuin University, B.A., 1982; Attended Merton College at the University of Oxford, 1983-1985; Attended Gakushuin University for doctoral studies
His grandfather, Emperor Hirohito, was Japan’s longest-reigning monarch, and ruled during World War II. During Hirohito’s reign, Japanese forces occupied Manchuria, Korea and large parts of southeast Asia.
Prior to Akihito, the last emperor to abdicate was Emperor Kokaku in 1817 in the later part of the Edo Period, and the royal male line is unbroken, records show, for at least 14 centuries.
Is an advocate for clean water and water conservation.
February 23, 1991 – Is formally invested as the crown prince after his grandfather’s death in January 1989.
1992 – Receives a commission for a visiting research fellow position at the Gakushuin University Museum of History.
2007 – Appointed as honorary president of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation.
February 2012 – When Akihito undergoes heart bypass surgery, Naruhito temporarily fills in for the emperor during official functions.
February 23, 2015 – During a press conference marking his 55th birthday, Naruhito comments on Japan’s controversial role in World War II: “I myself did not experience the war…but I think that it is important today, when memories of the war are fading, to look back humbly on the past and correctly pass on the tragic experiences and history Japan pursued from the generation which experienced the war to those without direct knowledge.”
June 9, 2017 – Japan’s parliament passes a historic bill that will allow Akihito to become the first Japanese monarch to abdicate in two centuries.
December 1, 2017 – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announces that Emperor Akihito will stand down on April 30, 2019.
April 1, 2019 – The Japanese government announces that Naruhito’s reign will be known as the “Reiwa” era. The era, whose name includes the character for “harmony,” will formally begin once the new Emperor is crowned on May 1.
April 19, 2019 – The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will pay a state visit to Japan in late May, becoming Naruhito’s first official foreign guests.
May 1, 2019 – Formally ascends to the Chrysanthemum Throne. Naruhito uses his first remarks following the ceremony to acknowledge the assumption of emperor as an “important responsibility,” and pays tribute to his father’s legacy.
October 22, 2019 – Naruhito officially proclaims his enthronement, in a ritual-bound, centuries-old ceremony attended by more than a hundred dignitaries from around the world.
by tyler | Apr 13, 2023 | asia, CNN
A former J-pop star trainee came forward with allegations Wednesday that he and multiple other young men were sexually abused by the late Johnny Kitagawa, once a powerful figure in Japan’s entertainment industry.
Japanese-Brazilian singer-songwriter Kauan Okamoto alleged during a press conference that over the course of four years, beginning in 2012 when he was 15, he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Kitagawa, who died age 87 in 2019.
Okamoto said the abuse happened when he would stay overnight at one of Kitagawa’s penthouse apartments in Tokyo, often with other young aspiring musicians who were also signed to Kitagawa’s talent agency, Johnny & Associates.
Okamoto made the allegations during a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan Wednesday, saying he was speaking out now in the hope that other alleged victims will come forward.
During his long career, Kitagawa headed Japan’s biggest talent agency and was known for manufacturing popular boy-bands and launching the music and acting careers of teen idols. He was a powerful and influential figure in the media and entertainment industries for decades.
Johnny & Associates sent a statement to CNN Thursday in response to the allegations.
“Since shifting to a new management team upon the death of our former President in 2019, we have made it our utmost priority to adapt to the changing environment by establishing transparency in our organizational structure and policies in a manner that evokes social trust,” the statement said.
“In January 2023, we announced measures that will ensure strict compliance with laws and regulations without exception by both management and employees as well as the steps we are taking to strengthen corporate governance by consulting with impartial third party experts,” it continued, without directly addressing the allegations.
There have been long-standing allegations against Kitagawa. In 1999, Japanese magazine Shukan Bunshun published accounts of other young men and boys who claimed they were sexually abused by Kitagawa. He sued the magazine for libel and was awarded damages, according to local media. A Tokyo High Court partially overturned the earlier decision in 2003, ruling the published sexual abuse claims were not libelous. An appeal brought by Kitagawa was later dismissed by the Supreme Court in 2005.
Kitagawa was never charged over the allegations. He had reportedly denied all accusations when he was alive.
Singer-songwriter Okamoto joined Kitagawa’s agency in February 2012 while he was in junior high school. He became a member of Johnny’s Juniors, a J-pop trainee talent pool set up by Kitagawa for young hopefuls trying to make it in the industry.
Okamoto said Kitagawa would often invite these young recruits to spend the night in his apartment, and pick “favorites” among the boys. He told reporters that when Kitagawa told him “you should go to bed early,” the other Juniors “knew that it was my turn.”
He claims the first time Kitagawa sexually assaulted him was in March 2012. That day work had finished late and he stayed at Kitagawa’s place with other Juniors.
Okamoto said he had heard from other boys that Kitagawa would be “in a very bad mood the next day if you didn’t go to sleep in his room or a room nearby.”
He describes hearing Kitagawa’s slippers approaching his room, pulling off the futon he was sleeping under and lying down next to him.
“He began massaging my feet,” Okamoto said, and alleged that Kitagawa touched his genitals and performed oral sex on him.
Okamoto said the following day Kitagawa gave him 10,000 yen (about US$75) without giving a reason.
By the time Okamoto left Johnny & Associates in 2016, he alleged that he had been assaulted between 15 and 20 times by Kitagawa.
He said he saw between 100 and 200 Juniors rotating in and out of the apartment during the four years he was with the agency, and alleged the majority of them were similarly assaulted by Kitagawa.
“There were things I saw. In some instances it happened right next to me because we were sleeping in the same room. I would say three other members for sure, but to be honest I think that almost everyone fell victim to him because as long as we stayed at his place it would be very rare that someone would be unscathed,” he said, adding that he believes “the majority of the 100 to 200 during my time experienced that.”
For a long time, Okamoto said he couldn’t talk about his experiences.
“There are others… who have decided to stay anonymous. I chose to show my face. But that might change as well. That is the hope that I have,” he said.
Okamoto also alleged that if a boy refused Kitagawa’s advances, their career would be over.
While Kitagawa “would never directly or explicitly mention that if you don’t do so and so, you won’t be a success,” Okamoto said, his favorites would be picked for their debuts as entertainers and receive more opportunities.
“It was a special situation in that someone who would be standing next to Johnny-san would be picked to, for example, act in a TV program or be allowed to form a boyband.”
He said it was “general awareness among everyone” that “you have to be at his place to succeed, so you have to even take the initiative to be at his place.”
Okamoto said he was frustrated that long-standing allegations against Kitagawa had not been taken seriously.
Okamoto said because of Kitagawa, “my life did turn around” but “I also believe what Johnny-san did to me…and to the other Juniors was a bad thing.”
by tyler | Apr 10, 2023 | asia, CNN
For the first time, the Chinese navy appears to have simulated strikes by aircraft carrier-based warplanes on Taiwan, as drills around the island wrapped up on their third day.
Beijing launched the drills on Saturday, a day after Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen returned from a 10-day visit to Central America and the United States where she met US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense reported on Monday that during the past 24 hours four J-15 fighter jets had crossed into the southeastern portion of the island’s air defense identification zone – a self-declared buffer that extends beyond the island’s airspace.
The J-15 is the version of J-11 twin-jet fighter that was developed for use on Beijing’s growing fleet of aircraft carriers.
A CNN review of Taiwan Defense Ministry records shows it to be the first time the J-15s have crossed into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone.
Meanwhile, the Japan Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed in a press release that Japanese forces had observed 80 fixed-wing aircraft take-offs and landings during the Chinese exercises from the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong, which was in the Pacific Ocean east of Taiwan and about 230 kilometers (143 miles) south of the Japanese island of Miyako in Okinawa prefecture.
Japan scrambled Air Self-Defense Force fighter jets in response, the Joint Chiefs said.
The J-15 flights were among 35 People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft that had either crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or entered the islands air defense identification zon in the 24 hours ending at 6 a.m. Taiwan time on Monday, according to the island’s Defense Ministry.
It also said 11 PLA Navy vessels were in the waters around Taiwan, without specifying their distances from the island.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on Monday that the Eastern Theater Command of the PLA was continuing military drills around Taiwan as part of its Operation Joint Sword that began two days earlier.
Monday’s drills focused on practicing “maritime blockades” and “targeted ambush assaults on enemy mooring vessels” in the Taiwan Strait, as well as northwest, southwest and waters east of Taiwan, CCTV reported.
Over the weekend, multiple PLA services had carried out “simulated joint precision strikes on key targets on Taiwan Island” and in the surrounding waters, CCTV reported.
It said in a statement later it had completed the military exercises and “comprehensively tested joint combat capabilities of its integrated military forces under actual combat situation.”
“Forces in the command is ready for combat at all times, and will resolutely destroy any type of ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist or foreign interference attempts,” the statement added.
China’s ruling Communist Party claims the self-governing democracy of Taiwan as its territory despite never having ruled it, and has spent decades trying to isolate it diplomatically. It has not ruled out using force to take control of the island.
Analyst Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, said the PLA was “practicing and probably refining the aerial coordination and joint operations required to initiate a blockade of Taiwan’s ports and air lanes.”
A Chinese blockade of Taiwan could choke off supplies coming into the island, including any military aid or other shipments from the United States or its partners.
The US, through the Taiwan Relations Act, is legally obligated to provide Taiwan with defensive weaponry, but it remains deliberately vague on whether it would defend Taiwan in the event of an attempted Chinese attack.
Beijing had repeatedly warned against Tsai’s meeting with McCarthy and threatened to take “strong and resolute measures” if it went ahead.
After the drills commenced, Beijing described them as “a serious warning against the Taiwan separatist forces’ collusion with external forces, and a necessary move to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Taiwan Defense Ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang said the PLA’s exercises had “destabilized” the region.
“President Tsai’s visit became their excuse to conduct exercises and their actions have severely jeopardized the security of the surrounding region,” he said, adding that the island’s air defense units were on “high alert.”
Beijing conducted similar large-scale military exercises around Taiwan last August, after then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island.
Those exercises included Chinese missile launches over the island, something that has not been seen so far in the current drills.
But Schuster said this weekend’s exercises “are simply extensions and expansions from the August exercise.”
“The tactical complexity is greater than last year’s, but operationally this exercise seems simpler,” he said.
And the Communist Party’s message remains constant, Schuster said.
“As is always the case with PLA exercises in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea areas, Beijing is telling the US, regional countries, Taiwan and its own people, that the PLA has the capability to conduct blockade and joint air and missile strikes on targets in and around Taiwan,” he said.
