🕺🏽🗳️ TM Krishna on the rise of Vijay, Pakistan at home vs. abroad and more

There was little question of what we’d be spotlighting this week, as news broke that activist Mahrang Baloch was sentenced to life in prison over a speech she made during a rally in which a paramilitary soldier was killed. Baloch’s longtime advocacy  prompted by her own father’s death reminds me of Sandya Ekneligoda in Sri Lanka, Sarita Devi Sharma in Nepal, and Hazera Khatun in Bangladesh, all vocal activists against enforced disappearances whose stories are often obscured, as their lives are a reminder of conflict, political instability and state or media repression in their home countries. While much of the world continues to watch the negotiations in the war in West Asia, we’re pausing to look at what Baloch’s sentencing means. This week, we have T M Krishna on the rise of Vijay in Tamil Nadu politics, unpacking Pakistan’s new role as a mediator in the war in West Asia, and more. Scroll below to catch up with this week’s news. 

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Raisa Wickrematunge Senior Editor, Himal Southasian

This week in Himal

Indian musician, activist and political commentator T M Krishna writes about the rise of Vijay, noting that Tamil Nadu’s chief minister remains an enigma defined by “punch dialogues” rather than ideological clarity. 

For Screen Southasia, we’ll be streaming Riyalists (2021) by Kesang Tseten, a documentary about Nepali labour migration in the Gulf, from 1-8 July. If you want to receive the screening link, just log in to our site for free and check the 'Screen Southasia' option in newsletters to receive it straight to your inbox!

The Southasia Review of Books podcast is back! Click below to watch the first episode featuring Associate Editor Shwetha Srikanthan in conversation with acclaimed comic-journalist Joe Sacco – and stay tuned for more!

Joe Sacco on the book Penguin India wouldn’t distribute: Southasia Review of Books #39

The acclaimed comic-journalist discusses ‘The Once and Future Riot’, violence as a political tool, and the controversy surrounding Penguin India’s decision not to distribute his book

Himal SouthasianShwetha Srikanthan

Pakistan’s US-Iran mediation is a veil over domestic crises

Field Marshal Asim Munir is riding high on Pakistan’s mediation of US–Iran talks, but the country remains beset by economic crisis, a rapacious elite, IMF-imposed austerity and violent insurgencies

Himal SouthasianAasim Sajjad Akhtar

This week in Southasia

Mahrang Baloch’s life sentence and Pakistan’s diplomatic overtures

On 22 June, Pakistan’s Anti Terrorism Court handed down life sentences to human rights activist and leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, Mahrang Baloch and fellow activist Sibghatullah Shah Jee over their role in the killing of a paramilitary soldier during a July 2024 protest. Baloch was accused of “very provocative speech” during the protest in the port town of Gwadar, after which a group attacked one of the soldier’s vehicles. Both activists rejected the verdict, saying they had been denied due process in the trial. 

Baloch has become a symbol of non-violent resistance as a woman activist who has spent years campaigning against enforced disappearances in Balochistan, alongside Shah Jee. Balochistan saw a surge of violence in May, largely at the hands of separatist groups. The cycle of violence continues even as Pakistan’s president has been positioning the country as a mediator in the US-Iran talks, with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian landing in Pakistan for a state visit. While India found itself wrongfooted in the war in West Asia, the country is hosting key summits, such as the BRICS national security meeting, and building ties with Nordic countries and the United Arab Emirates in a bid to offset cooling US relations. But for both countries it remains to be seen whether these diplomatic overtures will see Southasia take centre stage as negotiators.

Elsewhere in Southasia:

• Six journalists from Bangladesh daily newspaper Agrajatra Pratidin charged under 2026 Cyber Security Act after reporting on corruption of state minister for Local Government, Bogura press club treasurer claims defamatory reporting, extortion
• European Union hosts Taliban officials in Brussels to discuss asylum-seekers, marking first engagement with Taliban government since 2021 coup, sparking backlash from human rights groups  
• At least 26 supporters of banned Bangladesh political party Awami League arrested at street protest on 77th anniversary of party’s founding as ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina remains in exile
• Members of newly founded Cockroach Janta Party stage sit-in demanding resignation of education  minister in New Delhi as court rejects appeal by Telegram app over temporary ban after state medical exam irregularities
• Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman visits China, plans to purchase 24 fighter jets in bid to deepen defence ties with Beijing 
• Woman denied police assistance, received inadequate medical care after gang rape in Bihar, re-opening conversation about impunity around sexual violence in India
• At least seven killed in roadside bomb blasts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwah, Pakistan
• Human rights group report flags over 5000 people remain in scam centers controlled by Myanmar militia despite recent crackdown
• Kathmandu government orders families displaced by recent demolition drive to leave temporary holding centers by 26 June without offering permanent resettlement plan beyond rent payments for three months
• Sri Lanka sees surge in dengue fever cases, more than 44,000 cases and 28 deaths since January this year, straining public hospital’s resources
• Released Adhadhu journalist Mohamed Shahzan shares eyewitness account and notes after 15 days in detainment, flags sanitation lapses and inadequate healthcare facilities in two prisons in the Maldives, while prison guards attempted to confiscate his notes 
• Former Nepali finance minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel arrested on corruption charges as Nepal vows crackdown on previous administration’s abuses of power

Revisit the below archival stories from Himal adding more context to this week’s news updates from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan

Pakistan targets Baloch women leaders amid widening crackdown

Women are leading protests against disappearances and demanding equal participation in the Baloch struggle, but Mahrang Baloch and others face repression by the Pakistan government amid an intensified crackdown in Balochistan

Himal SouthasianJamaima Afridi

The future of Bangladesh’s fragile press freedom

Under Mohammad Yunus’s interim government, a Media Reform Commission has set out to address long-standing problems facing journalists in Bangladesh – but old threats and patterns of control remain

Himal SouthasianCyrus Naji

In India-China contest in Afghanistan, the Taliban wins

While trying to secure their competing interests, India and China will both help bring investment into Afghanistan and legitimacy to the Taliban government

Himal SouthasianMuneeb Yousuf

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