Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief.

The highlights this week: An early and lethal warmth wave in India underscores the local weather threats going through the area, a Chinese nationwide is accused of blasphemy in Pakistan, and an Indian mobster-politician is shot and killed within the state of Uttar Pradesh.

And a programming be aware—this article will take a break subsequent week. Starting with the May 3 version, South Asia Brief will now land in your inbox on Wednesdays. As all the time, thanks for studying!

Thirteen individuals died from heatstroke after attending a mass public gathering in Navi Mumbai, India, final Sunday. More than 1 million individuals reportedly confirmed as much as the occasion, a state award ceremony. Local authorities mentioned excessive temperatures, together with an absence of obtainable ingesting water, contributed to the fatalities. Between 50 and 60 individuals had been hospitalized, CNN reported, and it’s doubtless many extra individuals had been affected.

The tragic incident is a sobering reminder of India and the broader area’s vulnerability to local weather change. After the nation’s hottest February on record, April has introduced a extreme warmth wave. This week, Indian officers issued warmth warnings for a number of states, with temperatures reaching 109 levels Fahrenheit in some components of the nation. The intense warmth is anticipated to persist within the coming months.

Last month, local weather scientist Kieran Hunt explained why India’s warmth waves will doubtless intensify: scorching, dry air arriving from the Middle East and an absence of cloud cowl, which generates extra warmth. Furthermore, the worldwide climate sample generally known as El Niño is about to return this yr, bringing hotter sea surfaces within the equatorial Pacific—which might imply additional reductions in cloud cowl and rain in India.

The public well being implications of hovering temperatures are stark, as final weekend’s occasion in Navi Mumbai exhibits. In India, most individuals lack entry to air-con and different cooling units, exacerbating the dangers particularly for older individuals. But warmth waves produce other detrimental, generally lethal knock-on results in South Asia, which is now on the entrance traces of the local weather disaster.

High temperatures enhance demand for electrical energy from companies and households that do have the posh of air-con, particularly in city areas. Spikes in power demand add pressure on aging electrical grids, which may trigger blackouts with additional public well being impacts. Heat waves early within the season can severely disrupt some agricultural manufacturing, reducing revenue margins and resulting in job losses. Extreme warmth also can damage roads and railways, delivering extra financial blows.

Destructive storms also can outcome. Last May, Jacobabad, Pakistan, recorded temperatures of 124 degrees Fahrenheit. Barely three months later, the town—and one-third of the nation—was submerged by catastrophic floods triggered by earlier-than-usual monsoon rains. The flooding ranks as one in every of Pakistan’s worst-ever pure disasters, and hundreds of thousands of individuals stay displaced.

While responses to local weather change differ round South Asia, India deserves ample credit score. New Delhi has adopted its ambitious pledge to attain zero carbon emissions by 2070 by accelerating a scale-up of its renewable power sector. Last yr, it put in a record amount of solar energy. In January, India released a brand new nationwide inexperienced hydrogen technique. And this month, the federal government introduced that it will invite bids to arrange 50 gigawatts of renewable electrical energy capability yearly over the subsequent 5 fiscal years.

Nonetheless, regardless of low carbon emissions per capita, India’s emissions progress price is rapidly increasing—largely due to its heavy reliance on coal, which nonetheless serves 55 percent of the nation’s power wants. Coal India, the state-owned coal large liable for 80 percent of India’s coal output, said that within the final fiscal yr, it exceeded its manufacturing goal for the primary time since 2006.

Indian Home Minister Amit Shah was the visitor of honor on the ill-fated public gathering final Sunday. He doubtless noticed the excessive turnout as an necessary present of political power, at one level praising the gang for braving the warmth. But the lack of 13 lives exhibits that local weather change is a transparent and current hazard in South Asia—not one thing to play politics over.

Blasphemy fees in Pakistan. On Tuesday, a Pakistani court docket jailed a Chinese nationwide for 2 weeks, pending trial on blasphemy fees. The man, recognized by police solely as Tian, works on a dam mission within the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; he reportedly accused two Pakistani laborers of taking too lengthy to wish throughout work hours. The Pakistani employees say he insulted the Prophet Mohammed; the person denies the allegation.

Police detained the Chinese employee and flew him to the town of Abbottabad, citing security considerations. Pakistan’s blasphemy laws criminalize phrases or actions deemed to offend Islam. The legal guidelines have been the idea for false accusations, particularly in opposition to spiritual minorities, but it surely’s uncommon for foreigners to be accused of blasphemy. In 2021, a Sri Lankan factory manager was burned to loss of life by a mob of workers in japanese Pakistan after allegations that he desecrated posters depicting the prophet.

The incident in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa poses a problem for Pakistan’s relations with China, which is already involved concerning the safety of its residents within the nation. In latest years, terrorist assaults have focused Chinese employees and investments. So far, Beijing’s public response has been subdued, however in non-public it’s prone to press Islamabad to resolve the problem rapidly and return the person to China.

Indian mobster-politician killed in Uttar Pradesh. Last Saturday, former lawmaker and convicted felony Atiq Ahmed—alongside together with his brother Ashraf—was shot and killed within the metropolis of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populist state. Ahmed, who stood accused of involvement in a February homicide, was being escorted by police to a hospital for a medical checkup; his capturing was captured on stay tv.

Local media reported that the attackers posed as journalists to permit them to get near Ahmed and his brother; they surrendered to police quickly after. The extrajudicial killing raises a number of questions. The brothers had been Muslim, and one of many attackers chanted a slogan in style with Hindu nationalists, suggesting the opportunity of a sectarian motive. That the attackers carried out their assault at shut vary and in entrance of so many safety additionally suggests a monumental failure on the a part of the police.

Bangladesh-Bhutan transit settlement. Last month, Bangladesh finalized an settlement that may permit landlocked Bhutan to make use of three Bangladeshi ports, together with roads and railways, for imports and exports. Trade analysts in Bangladesh say the deal will probably be a boon for enterprise within the nation, as Bhutan will doubtless pay beneficiant charges to items transporters to make use of their autos.

It’s pure to see the deal by way of a geopolitical lens: It ought to cut back Bhutan’s reliance on India for transporting items, which might not directly profit China—a competitor of India’s all through the area. But at its core, the deal is about Bangladesh’s rising company. Its latest financial successes have positioned it to turn into a source of assistance somewhat than only a recipient.

The Karachi Zoo this week formed a nine-member knowledgeable committee to make suggestions for the care of a critically sick 17-year-old elephant named Noor Jehan. The animal, named after a famous Pakistani singer and actress, has been sick for months, and her situation worsened after a latest fall. She is not in a position to stand; a bunch of overseas veterinarians who not too long ago visited the zoo fear that her life is in danger.

The saga of Noor Jehan has generated nice sympathy amongst Pakistanis and sparked discussions concerning the neglect that many animals face at zoos within the nation. In 2020, a male elephant named Kaavan on the Islamabad Zoo was transferred—with assist from the singer Cher—to a brand new jungle enclosure in Cambodia after experiencing well being issues. He is now reportedly thriving.

But Noor Jehan is just too sick to be relocated. Some commentators have noticed that her story is a metaphor for the sufferings of many Pakistanis. “Noor Jehan is us,” tweeted Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, an artist in Karachi and a grandson of the previous Pakistani president of the identical title. “The same institutions responsible for her deterioration have been responsible for the decay of our once proud city, province and people.”

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Management marketing consultant Sujeev Shakya argues within the Kathmandu Post that Nepal’s power sector has improved lately, growing extra capability to generate electrical energy and usher in income, however that it nonetheless wants extra funding. “[S]ome unprecedented transformations have taken place … . But we have a long way to go,” he writes.

In the Times of India, designer Ritika Meena offers her ideas on how Indian science museums ought to evolve sooner or later. “Creating experience by adding a seamless flow of storytelling and fostering the participation of people needs to be the new ideology for science museums,” she explains.

In the Dhaka Tribune, economist Syed Akhtar Mahmood writes concerning the crucial position agricultural analysis performed in Bangladesh’s improvement. “[N]o objective narrative of Bangladesh’s agricultural success can ignore the intrepid agricultural extension workers who have played a vital role in spreading innovations to millions of farmers,” he writes.