India Approves $7.9 bn For Irrigation; Death Sentences Overturned in Farkhunda Killing; Reported Al Qaeda Leader Killed in Pakistan Raid

Editor’s Note: The South Asia Channel will not be publishing a daily brief on Friday, July 3, but will resume publication on Monday, July 6.

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India

Bonus read: “What Happens When a State Is Run by Movie Stars?” by Rollo Romig (NYT)

Cabinet approves $7.9 billion for prime minister’s irrigation scheme

The Indian federal government on Thursday approved a $7.9 billion five-year irrigation scheme (PTI, HT, LiveMint). A lack of access to irrigation and low prices of key crops has severely hurt already struggling farmers across India in the past few years. This year’s prediction of a shorter monsoon this year is an additional concern for the farmers. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship irrigation scheme “The Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana” will attempt to ensure that all farm lands get water for cultivation. He said: “Plans will be prepared at district and state level that will promote conservation and efficient management (of water resources).” The irrigation scheme will also promote precision-irrigation technologies, enhance recharge of aquifers and introduce sustainable water conservation practices, a government release said. The funding of $7.9 billion in five years doubles the current federal budget on irrigation.

U.S. officials recover stolen Indian religious relic

A stolen bronze Indian religious relic worth an estimated $1 million was recovered Wednesday by federal customs agents as part of a continuing investigation into a former New York-based art dealer (Hindu, WSJ). The New York field office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told the media that an anonymous collector of Asian antiquities, believed to be a victim of fraud in this instance, “voluntarily surrendered a stolen 11-12th century Chola bronze”. The alleged dealer, Subhash Kapoor, is already awaiting trial in India for allegedly looting artifacts worth tens of millions of dollars. Kapoor operated a now-defunct gallery on the Upper East Side called Art of the Past. Prosecutors allege that between 1995 and 2012 he illegally imported and sold stolen antiquities worth millions of dollars from India, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere, often using forged documents to pass the items off as legitimate. The cultural property unit of the U.S. Customs determined that the item had been looted from the Sivan Temple in Sripuranthan Village in Ariyalur District, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

Aviation Ministry asks for flight delay explanation

Civil Aviation Ministry in India has sought official reports from the national flag carrier Air India on the recent incidents involving Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister Kiren Rijiju which allegedly led to delay of flights (BBC, PTI, NDTV, HT). An Air India flight to Newark from Mumbai was reportedly delayed an hour on June 29 after an aide of Fadnavis travelling with him had not carried his passport with valid U.S. visa. On the other hand Rijiju has been criticised extensively on social media after reports that a family of three, including a child, were offloaded to accommodate him on a flight, and the flight was delayed by an hour. According to local media reports the Air India flight bound from Leh for Delhi on June 24 was set for departure when an air force officer, his wife and child were asked to get off the plane for “last-minute passengers” who were identified as Kiren Rijiju, India’s junior minister for home affairs, his aide, and Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh.

Afghanistan

Death sentences overturned in Farkhunda killing

The death sentences of four individuals convicted in killing of a woman last March have been overturned (BBC, RFE/RL, TOLO News). The woman — named only as Farkhunda — was brutally beaten by a mob in Kabul after she was accused of burning a Quran. The Kabul Appeals Court held a secret hearing on Wednesday where they reversed the death penalty and instead sentenced the men to 20 years in jail. The four men were the only individuals in the case given death sentences; eight others were given jail. The court also reversed the conviction of one man, the custodian of a Shrine who argued with Farkhunda and incited the mob.

112 militants killed in the south

According to officials, 112 militants have been killed in the last week in Afghanistan’s southern provinces (Pajhwok). Public order police chief Gen. Ghulam Farooq Sangari said 66 militants were killed and 11 others arrested in Kandahar, Zabul, and Uruzgan provinces. An official with the National Directorate of Security said an additional 46 militants, including four prominent commanders, were killed in Maiwand district in Kandahar province.

Pakistan

Reported al Qaeda leader killed in raid

On Wednesday, Punjabi Home Minister Shuja Khanzada announced the death of Pakistan’s al Qaeda leader named only as Abdali in a June 29 police raid in Punjab (RFE/RL). Two other militants were injured in the raid and a cache of weapons was seized. According to Khanzada, the militants had trained in an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan for five months.

Military train falls into canal

A special train carrying military personnel has overturned in Gujranwala, Punjab into a canal on Thursday after the bridge it was traversing collapsed (ET, Dawn). At least 12 people have been killed so far but the death toll is expected to rise. The train was carrying 200 passengers on their way to a military exercise in the garrison town of Kharian; only 80 have been rescued. There is no word yet if the collapse was due to poor infrastructure, but Federal Railway Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique has initiated a probe into the incident and said that the possibility of sabotage could not be ruled out.

–Courtney Schuster and Shuja Malik

Edited by Peter Bergen

DESHAKALYAN CHOWDHURY/AFP/Getty Images