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ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN � A Pakistani government crackdown on social media to deter anti-military content has prompted accusations of curbing freedom of expression and victimizing political activists.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government last Sunday ordered the cybercrime department of the Federal Investigation Agency to proceed against activists "dishonoring" the national armed forces through social media.

Authorities have since detained and interrogated an unspecified number of activists and seized their computers and cellphones. Most of the detainees belong to the opposition Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) party, headed by Imran Khan.

'Hostility' toward free speech

"We hope the authorities realize how the prevailing situation demonstrates their hostility towards freedom of expression," the HRCP said.

Khan has also accused the government of abusing the cybercrime law to "politically victimize" PTI's social media activists. The opposition politician has been organizing street protests to pressure Sharif to resign, accusing him of corruption.

"Do not force PTI to come out on to the streets. We will never let you muzzle public dissent against you," Khan warned the Sharif government while addressing a party rally in the southwestern city of Quetta on Friday.

He alleged that the ruling party through fake accounts had unleashed an anti-army campaign in order to provoke the crackdown on social media activists of PTI. Khan's party has been good at using social media to mobilize public support and highlight alleged corruption cases against government leaders.

The Sharif government has defended the punitive proceedings against social media activists, saying the constitution does not allow citizens to criticize the national armed forces.

'Serious offense'

"Ridiculing the Pakistan army or its officers on social media in the name of freedom of speech is unacceptable" and "a serious offense" under the law, the federal interior minister warned while ordering authorities to arrest and take "severe" action against those involved in such "condemnable" activities.

In its statement, HRCP dismissed those assertions and reminded authorities that the constitution also says any restriction with regard to freedom of speech "must be reasonable and shall not take effect if provided by law."

The powerful military has ruled Pakistan at three different times, for a total of more than three decades, through direct coups against civilian governments. Critics say it continues to influence political affairs, particularly foreign policy.

The military, particularly its spy agency, also has long faced foreign criticism for allegedly harboring militants involved in cross-border attacks in Afghanistan and India.

Analysts say that despite the controversies surrounding the military, the institution has benefited from constitutional provisions that curtail criticism of it.

An independent watchdog group, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), has harshly criticized the crackdown. In a statement Friday, it demanded an end to "arbitrary curbs" on freedom of expression and a "climate of intimidation" of political activists, bloggers, journalists and other civil society activists.

Source: Voice of America

ISLAMABAD � A roadside bomb has killed at least 11 civilians, mostly women and children, in Afghanistan's eastern Logar province.

The victims were returning from a wedding party Friday afternoon when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device in the Mohammad Agha district, according to the provincial governor's office.

There were five women and five children among the dead. There were no immediate claims of responsibility.

The deadly bombing came just days after the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) warned that the number of child deaths resulting from conflict-related incidents in the country have risen by 21 percent in the first four months of 2017.

The mission recorded 987 child casualties, including 283 deaths, between January 1 and April 30, the highest number of children killed for the same period since UNAMA began documenting Afghan civilian casualties.

Hours earlier on Friday, a roadside bomb hit an American military convoy north of the capital, Kabul, but no injuries have been reported, said the U.S. military.

Without sharing more details, a U.S. military spokesman told VOA the disabled vehicle is being recovered and the convoy will continue and complete its mission.

Local TOLOnews TV, however, quoted witnesses as saying the blast in Charikar, the capital of Parwan province, caused several casualties, without giving further details.

U.S. military convoys usually undertake missions together with Afghan security forces.

The Taliban instantly took credit for the violence, claiming it left several U.S. soldiers dead, though the insurgent group often issues inflated tolls for such attacks.

Separately, an Afghan policeman has gunned down five colleagues in the eastern Nangarhar province.

The overnight incident of a so-called insider attack happened at an outpost in the Ghanikhil district. The shooter fled the scene after collecting firearms of the victims.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility, though assailants often join Taliban ranks after committing the violence.

Nangarhar is where Islamic State militants stormed the provincial headquarters of the state-run Ration Television of Afghanistan, or RTA, earlier this week.

The suicide-bomb-and-gun attack left at least six people dead, including four RTA employees and two security forces, while many more were wounded.

Loyalists of the Syria-based terrorist group operate out of several remote districts in the province, which borders Pakistan.

Source: Voice of America

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WASHINGTON �For the first time in almost 20 years of existence, the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom has designated Russia as a Country of Particular Concern because of an increase in repressive policies it says range from administrative harassment to arbitrary imprisonment.

The first thing is to make it clear to the Russian government in words, directly, ideally from the president of the United States, that we have grave concerns about the direction of religious freedom, Daniel Mark, USCIRF's vice chairman, told VOA, and not just the rules but the trajectory, which has been really concerning of late and played a big role in our decision.

Last month, Russia's Supreme Court ruled the Jehovah's Witnesses religious group was an extremist organization and must hand over all of its properties to the state.

To be labeled such a way as though we are extremist is clearly a misapplication of the laws on extremism. Clearly Jehovah's Witnesses ... should not really be the target because we are not a threat in Russia or any other country in the world. We are active in over 240 lands, Robert Warren of the world headquarters for Jehovah's Witnesses told VOA.

No Bibles allowed

Warren says 175,000 people in Russia identify with the faith, and since the ruling, the organization's website has been blocked and no Jehovah's Witnesses Bibles have been allowed in the country.

We really felt the Supreme Court of the Russian Confederation had a wonderful opportunity with this ruling to really show how advanced they really are in terms of protecting the rights of its own citizens who want to pursue Bible education, Warren added, pointing out this is definitely a step back.

Sixteen countries have been designated as Countries of Particular Concern by USCIRF. The bipartisan U.S. government commission documents religious freedom around the world, and it makes recommendations to the president, secretary of state and Congress.

This year's report, the 18th since the commission's creation in 1998, documents religious freedom violations in more than 35 countries, including the Central African Republic, which also is a Country of Particular Concern because of ethnic cleansing of Muslims and sectarian violence in this multiyear conflict.

Killings condemned

This week, hundreds of civilians sought refuge inside a mosque in the CAR town of Banguassou, amid ongoing attacks by Christian militias that have killed civilians and U.N. peacekeepers.

Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, head of the peacekeeping mission in CAR (MINUSCA), strongly condemned the killings, which he said targeted a minority with the intention without a doubt to inflame the violence, not just in Banguassou but also in the whole of the territory.

In Myanmar, government and societal discrimination make the Rohingya Muslims vulnerable; some have even fled the country. Christians are restricted from public worship and subjected to coerced conversion to Buddhism, warranting a Country of Particular Concern designation. The government and military deny all allegations.

In Pakistan, the commission recommended the blasphemy laws be repealed because they are in one way or another a violation of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in practice they are used to violate freedom of believers and non-believers.

A request for Trump

Clifford May, commissioner and founder of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that at birth, Pakistan had a 30 percent minority population. It's now down to 3 percent, and that 3 percent is sorely oppressed every single day, and it's disappointing. He said the last time he spoke on the issues in Pakistan, while his lectures resonated with some, a shoe was thrown at his head as well.

When it comes to religious freedom, the Reverend Thomas Reese, commission chairman, said, We want the Trump administration to make it an issue, a priority in its foreign policy our foreign policy should not simply be about U.S. self-interest � you know, national security and trade. It should also be about the ideals, the values for which this country is known, noting we also believe that promoting religious freedom around the world is a national security interest because it brings for peaceful societies where there's more tolerance and stability and peace.

Source: Voice of America

ISLAMABAD � The father of a university student who was killed by a mob over blasphemy accusations told Pakistan's top court Wednesday that his two daughters have received death threats and should be transferred from schools in their hometown.

Mobile phone video of Mashal Khan's brutal slaying April 13 at Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan went viral, shocking the public and sparking condemnation, including from prominent clerics. It has cast a sharp focus on Pakistan's blasphemy laws. An investigation showed Khan had not made online posts that had been attributed to him.

The journalism student's father, Muhamamd Iqbal Khan, addressed reporters after attending a Supreme Court hearing on the case in the capital, Islamabad.

Mashal's sisters cannot continue their education due to threats to their lives, he said. They must be transferred to Islamabad from their hometown of Sawabi.

Iqbal Khan also said the trial of suspects in his son's killing should be transferred to Islamabad from Mardan because of security issues and local administration attempts to influence the case's outcome. The top prosecutor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Advocate General Waqar Khan, told the court that 53 of the 57 suspects have been arrested.

The Mardan university should be reopened, with more security, so students can resume their education, Iqbal Khan said.

Critics claim the government's push to make blasphemy laws even tighter is aimed at quashing dissent and intimidating opponents. Other violent attacks have been attributed to blasphemy allegations.

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday urged Pakistan to end excessive state monitoring of internet activity, prosecute those committing violence based on internet blasphemy allegations, and commit to upholding free expression for all.

The government-run Pakistan Telecommunication Authority sent a text message to millions of citizens a week ago, warning against sharing blasphemous content on social media and asking them to report such content.

In addition, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan last week ordered the Federal Investigating Agency to take immediate action against all those dishonoring the Pakistan Army through social media.

Source: Voice of America

WASHINGTON � The world's number one opium-producing country, Afghanistan, is braced for an exploding poppy harvest this year, as farmers are cultivating the illicit crop in areas where it has never grown before.

Unfortunately, the narcotics production is on the rise this year, Javed Qaem, Afghan deputy counternarcotics minister, told international donors in Kabul Tuesday. We are concerned that narcotics would increase this year, including in areas and provinces where previously we had zero opium production.

Qaem's comments come amid growing international concern that the Taliban, who are fighting Afghan government troops in rural areas of the country, are fueling the poppy trade by engaging in trafficking and skimming hundreds of millions dollars in profit to fuel their militancy.

Taliban insurgents, according to U.S. officials, net 60 percent of their war chest from narcotics.

Top producer of opium

Afghanistan is thought to produce an estimated 90 percent of the world's heroin. As poppy cultivation spikes, U.S. intelligence officials warn that the war-torn country is likely to see more armed violence this year.

The intelligence community assesses that the political and security situation in Afghanistan will almost certainly deteriorate through 2018, even with a modest increase in [the] military assistance by the United States and its partners, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said in a Senate hearing last week.

Since 2002, the U.S. has spent more than $8.5 billion on counternarcotics in Afghanistan � about $1.5 million a day, according to the Special Investigator General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).

In addition to war, opium fuels corruption and organized crime in Afghanistan, a country already ranked among the five most corrupt states in the world by Transparency International.

Only 13 of the country's 34 provinces were reported poppy-free in 2016, and this number has dropped to one digit this year, Afghan officials say.

Areas of cultivation increase

Afghan authorities said poppies, which traditionally have been grown in southern provinces, have found fertile lands in several northern and northeastern provinces, including Balkh and Jawzjan.

A large-scale increase also is expected in provinces with previously little opium crops, such as northwestern Badghis and Ghor.

Opium is cultivated in almost half of the province, including areas under the government influence, a resident in northeastern Baghlan province told VOA on condition of anonymity for safety concerns. Poppy crops are seen everywhere in the northeastern region. Badakhshan � which borders Tajikistan and China � is the epicenter of narcotics in the north.

Helmand province a top producer

Around 50 percent of the poppy crop in Afghanistan is produced in southern Helmand province, which borders Pakistan.

The Afghan government says the increase in drug production and trafficking is taking place mostly in conflict-hit areas.

Opium cultivation, production and trafficking take place in remote areas that are under the control of militants, terrorists and the Taliban, said Afghan General Baz Mohammad Ahmadi, the deputy interior minister for counternarcotics.

The Afghan government says it, along with aid agencies, has been trying to help Afghans find a sustainable alternative crop source. But those efforts appear to be failing.

Afghan counternarcotics police said they last year seized almost 650 tons of contraband drugs. The confiscated drugs included raw opium, heroin and hashish. Around 2,683 smugglers and traffickers, including 67 women, were arrested last year, Ahmadi said.

Experts say worsening security and immediate economic benefits for farmers are major reasons for the rise in poppy cultivation.

A satanic triangle of smugglers, terrorists and corrupt government officials is involved in drug production and trafficking, Haroon Rashid Sherzad, former Afghan acting minister of counternarcotics, told VOA. Security is an important reason, but several other factors fuel the drug production and trade in Afghanistan. Corruption at the local government levels encourages poppy cultivation.

Afghan response is lacking

Experts also believe that the increase is partly due to weak counternarcotics efforts by the government.

The government lacks political will to fight opium production, Abdul Aziz, a Kabul-based counternarcotics expert, told VOA. For the last 16 years, the government has done little to rid the country of narcotics and provide alternatives to farmers.

According to Sherzad, counternarcotics efforts require a comprehensive approach and coordination among government departments, which, he said, is currently lacking. He added that narco-entrepreneurs control large portions of government lands in several provinces where they cultivate poppies.

Source: Voice of America

PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA � Residents of North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, expressed pride Monday about their country's launch of a new longer-range missile reportedly capable of carrying a nuclear bomb. Some outside analysts believe the Hwasong-12 missile, if proven in further tests, could help North Korea achieve its goal of developing missiles with nuclear warheads capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.

While the outside world condemns North Korea's missile and nuclear tests, inside the country, state media say the weapons are needed to defend against a perceived threat from the United States and South Korea.

The pride in North Korea contrasts with concern in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, which condemned Sunday's launch and called it a serious violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions prohibiting North Korea from conducting long-range missile tests.

Here are some quotes from residents of the two capitals:

Pyongyang resident Choe Chol Jin:

"I heard that our scientists and technicians have done a successful test of a Hwasong-12 rocket which was developed in our own way, by ourselves, and that makes me feel proud. Now we can make all kinds of advanced weapons, so that we can defend our homeland and the dignity of our country."

Pyongyang resident Kim Yong Nam:

"Today I heard about the successful launch of the Hwasong-12, and I think that we call our nuclear capability a treasured sword, and it's our army-first policy that makes us strong and that guarantees that our people can be happy."

Seoul resident Kim Do-Hoon, company employee:

"It's good to keep the door for conversation open. But rather than trying too hard to have conversation, I think we need to show a stern attitude at some level."

Seoul resident Jin Hyo-Seon, painter:

"As South Korea's diplomatic situation matures, North Korea should also show a more mature attitude, not a childish one, and contribute to [establishing a better] diplomatic relationship."

Source: Voice of America