Photo Source: BBC By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront P utin's oligarchy continues to hold Russia, as he has now won a fourth election term in March 2018. There have been accusations of election rigging and forced voting, but somehow, there is very less opposition on these matters. In fact, he has ordered 12000 police personnel to surround the cities to brace protests.  American President, Donald Trump congratulated Putin on his election win, just like Obama did in 2012. This felicitation angered former Presidential candidate John McCain, and he reprimanded Trump, as John McCain believed that it was a ‘sham election win’ for Putin, in the 2018 Russian election. According to an independent election-monitoring group, Golos, voting papers found in some ballot boxes were opened. Many election observers were barred from entering the polling stations. Some of the CCTV’s at the polling booths were covered with balloons and it had obstructed the voting count sessions. F...

Photo source: Arab News By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront It has been a while since Pakhtuns have been lamenting about discriminatory policies by Punjabi-dominated politicians in Pakistan. It seems a kind of grassroots movement has been emerging because Punjabi-dominated Pakistani politics is accusing the community of being terrorist sympathisers. But, in reality, the Pakhtuns are fed up with the war and want a better world for themselves. The area of Pakhtuns is known by other Pakistanis, as ‘Illaqa e Ghair’, or ‘no man’s land’, in English. Believing Pakistani ISI as a troublemaker in the region, Pashtuns think that the nationalist leaders are willing to keep the political chaos relentless in Afghanistan, just because they could keep the American dollars flowing into Pakistan.  ‘Free Karachi Campaign’ spokesperson Nadeem Nusrat believes that ISI is mobilising Taliban as counterinsurgents (renegades), to subdue the aspirations in the region. According to PTM itself, ther...

Photo Source: Scroll.in By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront Communal violence between Buddhist Sinhalese and Muslims escalated sharply in Sri Lanka in March 2018, forcing the government to impose a nationwide state of emergency on 6 March. International outlets such as Reuters and Al Jazeera reported that the immediate trigger was the killing of a 41‑year‑old Sinhalese man in Kandy district after an altercation with Muslim youths. His death sparked retaliatory attacks, with Sinhalese mobs ransacking Muslim businesses and setting fire to mosques. Human Rights Watch noted that police struggled to contain the unrest, and at least two people were killed while dozens were injured. The violence had already been brewing. In late February 2018, riots broke out in Ampara after false rumours spread that a Muslim‑owned restaurant had laced food with sterilisation pills. This baseless claim inflamed tensions and led to attacks on Muslim property. By early March, the unrest spread to Kan...

Photo Source: Google Images By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront Eastern Ghouta, once a fertile agricultural belt on the outskirts of Damascus, became a symbol of devastation during the Syrian civil war. In February 2018, the enclave was described as ‘Syria’s newest graveyard’ after one of the deadliest bombardments in years. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least ninety‑eight people were killed in a single day, marking the deadliest attack in Syria’s three‑year war history at that time. Over five days, the death toll rose to 229, including fifty‑eight children and forty‑three women, underscoring the indiscriminate nature of the assault, as reported by The Guardian and BBC News. The United Nations estimated that around 400,000 civilians were trapped in Eastern Ghouta, half of them children, with UNICEF and Save the Children warning of acute malnutrition and psychological trauma among the youngest. The enclave had been under siege since 2013, with...