Pakistan detains leading Baloch rights activist: police
Pakistan detained a leading female Baloch rights activist on Saturday for holding a sit-in in southwestern Balochistan at which three protesters were also killed, police said.Mahrang Baloch, one of Pakistan’s most prominent human rights advocates, has long campaigned for the Baloch ethnic group from the southwestern province of Balochistan, which alleges being subjected to extrajudicial harassment, arrests and killings by Islamabad.The Pakistan government says its forces are fighting separatist militants who target state forces and foreign nationals in the mineral-rich province that borders Afghanistan and Iran.”She, along with 17 other protesters, including 10 men and seven women, has been arrested,” a senior police official told AFP on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorised to speak to the media.”It is currently being assessed what charges should be filed against them,” he added.The protesters had been holding a sit-in on Friday outside the University of Balochistan, demanding the release of members of their support group, whom they allege had been detained by security agencies.The Baloch Yakjehti Committee, a support group led by Baloch, said she was arrested along with other protesters in a “brutal pre-dawn crackdown by state security forces”.The confrontation left at least three protestors dead a provincial government spokesman said, with both sides blaming each other.- ‘Cease to use force’ -It comes after the province saw a dramatic train siege this month that officials said resulted in around 60 deaths, half of whom were separatists behind the assault.The assault was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), one of several separatist groups that accuse outsiders of plundering the province’s natural resources.”The authorities must immediately cease to use force against peaceful protestors and release those arbitrarily detained,” demanded the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in a statement.”The use of disproportionate and unlawful kinetic means by the state must cease immediately to pave the way for a purposeful political solution,” it added.Baloch was barred from traveling to the United States last year to attend a TIME magazine awards gala after being named on the 2024 TIME100 Next list of “rising leaders”.She began her activist career at the age of 16 in 2009 when her father went missing in an alleged “enforced disappearance”. His body was found two years later.Protests and advocacy among the Baloch are generally led by women, who say their male counterparts have suffered the worst in a decades-long state crackdown.
Israel reports rocket fire from Lebanon, warns of severe response
Israel threatened a severe response to three rockets it said had been fired from Lebanon Saturday, prompting the Lebanese prime minister to warn the country risked being dragged into a “new war”.A fragile ceasefire that took effect on November 27 has been marred by repeated accusations of violations by both sides but the Israeli warning marked the biggest threat so far to the relative calm it had brought to border areas.Air raid sirens sounded in the border town Metula early on Saturday. The army said it was the first time sirens had sounded in response to rocket fire from Lebanon since the day before the truce.The Israeli military said all three rockets were intercepted and there was no immediate claim of responsibility.But Israeli defence chiefs said they held the Lebanese government responsible for all hostile fire from its territory regardless of who launched it.”We cannot allow fire from Lebanon on Galilee communities,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said, referring to towns and villages in the north, many of which were evacuated after Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began firing on Israel in support of Hamas in October 2023.”The Lebanese government is responsible for attacks from its territory. I have ordered the military to respond accordingly,” Katz said.”We promised security to Galilee communities, and that is exactly what will happen. Metula’s fate is the same as Beirut’s.”Armed forces chief Eyal Zamir warned the military would “respond severely”.”The state of Lebanon bears responsibility for upholding the agreement,” he said, referring to the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah which was signed by the government on the Lebanese side.- PM warns Lebanon risks new ‘woes’ -Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned the country risked being catapulted into a “new war” after months of relative calm.”Salam warned against renewed military operations on the southern border, because of the risks they carry of dragging the country into a new war, which will bring woes to Lebanon and the Lebanese people,” his office said.Lebanon’s official National News Agency said Israeli warplanes flew over eastern areas of southern Lebanon and that interceptor missiles exploded.NNA said Israeli ground troops were strafing the Hamames hills with automatic weapon fire.It also reported Israeli artillery fire on the Nabatieh district in the south and the town of Khiam, which was hit by “three shells (fired by) Merkava tanks”.Salam urged the defence minister to “take all the necessary security and military measures, insisting that only the state can decide on war and peace”.There was no immediate claim for the rocket fire reported by the Israeli army.Although Hezbollah launched the great majority of the rockets fired during the past two years, the Lebanese arm of Palestinian militant group Hamas claimed some attacks.Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hezbollah was supposed to pull its forces back north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.Israel has carried out repeated air strikes during the ceasefire that it said targeted Hezbollah military sites that violated the agreement.Saturday’s flare-up on the Lebanese border came as Israel’s renewed offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza entered its fifth day.Israel’s resumption of military operations in the Palestinian territory on Tuesday shattered the relative calm that had reigned since a January 19 ceasefire.Israel’s defence minister said Friday that he had ordered the army to “seize more territory in Gaza”, which he would annex if Hamas failed to heed Israel’s demands for the next steps in the Gaza ceasefire.”The more Hamas refuses to free the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed by Israel,” Katz said.When the first stage of the ceasefire expired early this month, Israel rejected negotiations for a promised second stage, calling instead for the return of all its remaining hostages under an extended first stage.That would have meant delaying talks on a lasting ceasefire, and was rejected by Hamas as an attempt to renegotiate the original deal.burs/kir/dv
Faure dévoile une ébauche de programme pour le PS, ses opposants tentent de s’organiser
En campagne pour un quatrième mandat à la tête du Parti socialiste, Olivier Faure doit esquisser samedi à Toulouse les premières lignes d’un programme pour 2027, alors que les manoeuvres internes s’accélèrent à trois mois du congrès de Nancy.Son “tour de France” s’achève dans la ville rose. Au-delà du symbole, le patron des socialistes pose un nouveau jalon sur le long chemin censé ramener son parti au premier plan.Après une série de réunions publiques débutée en décembre, de Douai à La-Seyne-sur-Mer, l’heure est à la “grande restitution” de cette opération “d’écoute des citoyens” baptisée “Notre France: parlons-en!”, explique le PS.L’occasion donc pour M. Faure d’indiquer ce qu’il retient de ces rencontres, non pas avec des militants acquis à sa cause, mais avec des panels de Français souvent désabusés – sélectionnés par une agence de conseil.Une tournée “à portée de baffes”, selon ses propres mots, qui lui a renvoyé en pleine face le rejet généralisé de la classe politique et certaines préoccupations quotidiennes à mille lieux de l’actualité médiatique, assure son entourage.”J’ai entendu des Français qui se sentent attaqués de l’extérieur mais aussi minés de l’intérieur”, a souligné samedi M. Faure auprès du Parisien. “Ils ont l’impression que le socle commun, le modèle social auquel ils sont attachés est en train de se dissoudre progressivement”, a-t-il ajouté.Quant à ces rencontres, elles “nourriront notre programme” pour 2027 “dont une ébauche sera présentée fin août”, a-t-il précisé.Entretemps, M. Faure doit pourtant remettre en jeu son mandat de premier secrétaire lors du congrès de Nancy, du 13 au 15 juin. Mettrait-il la charrue avant les boeufs ?”Non, on n’enjambe pas le congrès”, assure un membre de la direction, pour qui le parti “n’a pas le luxe de s’arrêter pendant trois mois pour se recroqueviller sur lui-même”. Toulouse doit donc être “une première étape dans l’engagement d’un travail politique, de préparation de notre programme pour 2027”.Et peut-être au passage un moment de vérité pour Olivier Faure, qui devrait donner une “dimension personnelle” inédite à son discours de clôture, prévient une de ses proches.- Les concurrents se bousculent -Nouveau registre et nouvelle carte dans le jeu du favori de l’instant, déjà fort de quelque 3.000 soutiens, signataires cette semaine d’une tribune dans Libération.Mais la partie est encore loin d’être gagnée, car les concurrents se bousculent. Avant l’étape des candidatures, cinq autres contributions sont annoncées, en particulier celle du chef du groupe PS à l’Assemblée Boris Vallaud.Plus en marge, l’aile gauche constituée autour des partisans de la censure du gouvernement Bayrou s’est lancée cette semaine, tandis que les députés Jérôme Guedj et Philippe Brun ont décidé de “fusionner” dans un “texte commun”.Le rapprochement est plus incertain entre les finalistes du dernier congrès de Marseille: d’un côté les fidèles de François Hollande regroupés autour de la maire de Vaulx-en-Velin Hélène Geoffroy, de l’autre un courant emmenée par l’édile de Rouen Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, avec notamment l’appui de Carole Delga.Ironie du calendrier, pendant que M. Faure s’exprimera dans sa capitale régionale, la présidente d’Occitanie retrouvera l’ex-chef de l’Etat près de Rennes, à Liffré, fief du Breton Loïg Chesnais-Girard.Evénement auquel participeront aussi l’ancien Premier ministre Bernard Cazeneuve (qui a quitté le PS) et l’eurodéputé Place publique Raphaël Glucksmann, qui a conduit les socialistes à la troisième place des européennes sans être membre du parti.Soit deux personnalités identifiées comme des recours potentiels pour la prochaine présidentielle, sur une ligne sociale-démocrate en rupture avec la stratégie d’alliance jusqu’à La France insoumise de Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Un choix dont M. Faure cherche désormais à se départir, et que ses opposants ont bien l’intention de lui faire payer.