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Vast crowds of Hindu pilgrims in India bathed in sacred waters as the Kumbh Mela festival opened on Monday, with organisers expecting 400 million people — the world’s largest gathering of humanity — to assemble over six weeks.The millennia-old Kumbh Mela, a show of religious piety and ritual bathing — and a logistical challenge of staggering proportions — is held at the site where the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers meet.”I feel great joy,” said Surmila Devi, 45, after bathing just before dawn. “For me, it’s like bathing in nectar.”Businesswoman Reena Rai’s voice quivered with excitement as she spoke about the “religious reasons” that brought her to join the sprawling tents, packed along the river banks in the north Indian city of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh state.”As a Hindu, this is an unmissable occasion,” said the 38-year-old, who travelled around 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from Madhya Pradesh state to take part in the festival, which runs until February 26.Saffron-robed monks and naked, ash-smeared ascetics, many of whom had walked for weeks to reach the site, roamed the crowds offering blessings.The massive congregation is also an occasion for India’s Hindu nationalist government to burnish its credentials.Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it a “divine occasion” that brings together “countless people in a sacred confluence of faith, devotion and culture”.Yogi Adityanath, a Hindu monk and Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister, welcomed devotees to “experience unity in diversity” at the “world’s largest spiritual and cultural gathering”.- ‘Scale of preparations’ -Organisers say the scale of the Kumbh Mela is that of a temporary country — with numbers expected to total around the combined populations of the United States and Canada.”Some 350 to 400 million devotees are going to visit the mela, so you can imagine the scale of preparations,” festival spokesman Vivek Chaturvedi said.Some six million devotees had already taken a dip in the river on Monday morning, according to Sunil Kumar Kanaujia, from the state government’s information centre.Hindu monks carried huge flags identifying their respective sects, while tractors turned into chariots for life-size idols of Hindu gods rolled behind them accompanied by elephants.Pilgrims exulted in the beat of drums and honking horns. The festival is rooted in Hindu mythology, a battle between deities and demons for control of a pitcher containing the nectar of immortality.Organising authorities are calling it the great or “Maha” Kumbh Mela.- ‘One with god’ -The riverside in Prayagraj has turned into a vast sea of tents — some luxury, others simple tarpaulins.Jaishree Ben Shahtilal took three days to reach the holy site, journeying with her neighbours from Gujarat state in a convoy of 11 buses over three days.”I have great faith in god,” she said. “I have waited for so long to bathe in the holy river.”Around 150,000 toilets have been built and a network of community kitchens can each feed up to 50,000 people at the same time.Another 68,000 LED light poles have been erected for a gathering so large that its bright lights can be seen from space.The last celebration at the site, the “ardh” or half Kumbh Mela in 2019, attracted 240 million pilgrims, according to the government.That compares to an estimated 1.8 million Muslims who take part in the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.Indian police said they were “conducting relentless day-and-night patrols to ensure top-notch security” for the event.Authorities and the police have also set up a network of “lost and found” centres and an accompanying phone app to help pilgrims lost in the immense crowd “to reunite with their families”.India is the world’s most populous nation, with 1.4 billion people, and so is used to large crowds.Temperatures hovered around 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight but pilgrims said their faith meant their baths were not chilly.”Once you are in the water, you don’t even feel cold,” said 56-year-old devotee Chandrakant Nagve Patel. “I felt like I was one with god.”Hindus believe bathing there during the Kumbh helps cleanse sins.”I believe it will give me salvation,” said Avish Kumar, a tech worker who travelled from the southern Indian city of Bengaluru.”It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”, added teacher Savita Venkat, also from Bengaluru.Government employee Bhawani Baneree, who had come from the western state of Maharashtra, said the “vibrant atmosphere” had made his long journey worthwhile.”Everything is so beautiful”, he said.

Twelve years after she was evacuated out of Pakistan as a badly wounded schoolgirl, Malala Yousafzai has returned to her home country at a critical time for girls’ education.”For her, it is a homecoming to a region that shaped who she is today, but also a reminder of the work still left unfinished,” Yousafzai’s friend and fellow rights activist Nighat Dad told AFP.Millions more families are living in poverty while more than a third of children are still out of school, as the cash-strapped state grapples with cycles of political chaos and resurging militancy.In neighbouring Afghanistan, the Taliban have returned to power and imposed an austere interpretation of Islamic law that includes banning girls from studying at secondary school and university.This weekend, 27-year-old Yousafzai was the guest of honour at a global summit on girls’ education in Islamic nations hosted by Islamabad, where she called on leaders to stand up for Muslim girls.”Her presence in Pakistan during such a time is a message to those in power: the fight for education cannot be silenced, whether it’s in the Swat Valley or across the border in Afghanistan,” Dad added.In 2012 at the age of 15, Yousafzai was shot in the head while on her way home from school by a Pakistan Taliban militant incensed by an education blog she wrote.At the time, an insurgency against the government had spread to her remote, picturesque Swat Valley and militants had ordered girls to stay home.Across the frontier, the war raged between NATO forces and the Afghan Taliban, a separate but closely linked group from the Pakistan Taliban which flourished in the border regions.- ‘Malala is a paradox’ -Always flanked by heavy security, Yousafzai has made only a handful of public visits to Pakistan since her evacuation to Britain, where she made a remarkable recovery and went on to become the youngest Nobel Prize winner at the age of 17.Since then she has frequently shared the world stage with international leaders.But Pakistan’s relationship with her is complicated: a symbol of resilience and pride to some, and a stooge of the West to others, in a country where Islam is perceived as under threat by creeping Western values.Sanam Maher, an author who has written about high-profile Pakistani women, told AFP that Yousafzai is a “contentious figure”.”There’s a perception of her being ‘handled’ or ‘managed’, which creates distrust”, she said.”There are many who criticise Malala for her absence in Pakistan,” she added. “They are indifferent to her commitment.”Still, Yousafzai retains star power in Pakistan, especially among young girls.”Malala is an icon and a powerful voice for girls’ education. She has faced violence, hatred, and criticism simply for advocating for girls’ education,” said Hadia Sajid, a 22-year-old media student who attended Yousafzai’s closing speech in Islamabad.”It’s disheartening that things remain largely unchanged since she left, but there has been marginal improvement, largely due to the impact of social media — it’s more difficult to hold back girls from their rights.”Yousafzai founded the Malala Fund with her father, once a teacher in the Swat Valley who pushed against societal norms to champion his daughter’s education.The charity has invested millions of dollars in tackling the plight of 120 million girls out of school across the world.”Pakistan is where I began my journey and where my heart will always be,” Yousafzai said in her speech on Sunday.But in her native country the projects she backs in rural areas are rarely publicised.”I still think Malala is a paradox in Pakistan,” said Dad.”While her global achievements are undeniable, officials and the public remain divided, caught between admiration and mistrust. Yet Malala’s impact transcends these perceptions,” Dad told AFP.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai urged Muslim leaders on Sunday not to legitimise the Afghan Taliban government and to “show true leadership” over their assault on women’s rights.”Do not legitimise them,” she said at a summit focused on girls’ education in Islamic nations being held in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad.”As Muslim leaders, now is the time to raise your voices, use your power. You can show true leadership. You can show true Islam,” said 27-year-old Yousafzai.The two-day conference has brought together ministers and education officials from dozens of Muslim-majority countries, backed by the Muslim World League (MWL). Since sweeping back to power in 2021, the Taliban government has imposed an austere version of Islamic law that the United Nations has labelled “gender apartheid”.Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls are banned from secondary school and university. Delegates from Afghanistan’s Taliban government did not attend the event despite being invited, Pakistan Education Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui told AFP on Saturday.”Simply put, the Taliban do not see women as human beings,” Yousafzai told the conference. “They cloak their crimes in cultural and religious justification.”Muhammad al-Issa, a Saudi cleric and MWL secretary general, on Saturday told the summit that “those who say that girls’ education is un-Islamic are wrong”.Yousafzai also highlighted the impact of wars in Yemen, Sudan and Gaza on schooling.”In Gaza, Israel has decimated the entire education system,” she said. “I will continue to call out Israel’s violations of international law and human rights.”- Taliban engagement -Pakistan’s state PTV channel censored a portion of her speech which alluded to a mass deportation scheme by Islamabad launched in 2023 that has seen hundreds of thousands of Afghan nationals leave under threat of arrest. “I cannot imagine an Afghan girl or an Afghan woman being forced back into the system that denies her future,” she told the conference in remarks cut from the air.Yousafzai was shot in the face by the Pakistani Taliban when she was a 15-year-old schoolgirl in 2012, amid her campaigning for female education rights.Her activism earned her the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, and she has since become a global advocate for women and girls’ education rights.While there is outcry in much of the international community over the Taliban government curbs, nations are divided over how to engage with Kabul’s rulers on the issue.Some countries argue they should be frozen out of the diplomatic community until they backtrack, while others prefer engagement to coax them into a U-turn.No country has officially recognised the Taliban authorities, but several regional governments have engaged on the topics of trade and security. There is little evidence that broadsides from the international community over the Taliban government’s treatment of women are having any impact on their position.Yousafzai’s father Ziauddin Yousafzai, who pushed against cultural norms for his daughter to go to school in Pakistan and co-founded her Malala Fund charity, on Saturday told AFP he had not seen “any serious step or serious action from the Muslim world” on the cause of girls’ education in Afghanistan. Roza Otunbayeva — head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan — said leaders of Islamic countries should offer direct help to Afghan girls.”I really call on all these ministers… who came from all over the world, to offer scholarships, to have online education, to have all sorts of education for them,” she told a panel.

India’s powerful and hugely wealthy cricket board on Sunday elected its new chief, former player and advocate Devajit Saikia, the only person nominated to the top post.”Devajit Saikia is declared duly elected as the Secretary of BCCI”, the Board of Control for Cricket in India said in a statement.Saikia, 55, succeeds Jay Shah who left the position to become chairman of the International Cricket Council, the global governing body.Businessman and state cricket administrator Prabhtej Singh Bhatia has been appointed BCCI treasurer, the board added.Shah’s departure last month to become chairman of the ICC prompted the appointment of Saikia, who was already on the BCCI board as interim secretary.An unknown among fans after a modest playing career, Saikia has close ties with India’s ruling Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).Saikia began in administration by serving as general secretary of a cricket club in the northeastern state of Assam under the leadership of Himanta Biswa Sarma.Sarma is now Assam’s chief minister for the BJP, which has governed India nationally since 2014 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Saikia and Sarma both later served in the Assam state cricket association. When Sarma was tapped to lead the state, he appointed Saikia his advocate general — the government’s chief legal adviser.Saikia was a wicketkeeper-batsman with modest returns in first-class cricket where he played four matches for his home state Assam, scoring just 53 runs.

Indian farmer Govind Singh travelled for nearly two days by train to reach what he believes is the “land of the gods” — just one among legions of Hindu pilgrims joining the largest gathering of humanity.The millennia-old Kumbh Mela, a sacred show of religious piety and ritual bathing that opens Monday, is held at the site where the holy Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers meet.This edition of the mega fair, in the north Indian city of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh state, is believed to be the biggest ever.Organisers expect up to 400 million pilgrims from India and beyond over six weeks, running from January 13 to February 26.”It feels great to be in the land of the gods for the Kumbh Mela,” said the 53-year-old Singh, who came from a village in Madhya Pradesh state, a journey of more than 600 kilometres (375 miles). “I will stay as long as the gods want me to.”The riverside in Prayagraj has turned into a vast tent city.Many pilgrims are already taking dips in the chilly water, with temperatures on the banks at midday around 20 degrees Celsius (around 70 degrees Fahrenheit).A shivering Sunny Pratap Gaur’s eyes teared up and his teeth clenched in the cold as he stood by the river after a bath in the grey waters.But he said he was happy to have “beaten the crowds” with his early dip. “I took leave from the office to be here,” said Gaur, a mid-level government bureaucrat from the state capital Lucknow.- ‘Another world’ -Beyond the bathing area, scores of boats lined up, offering pilgrims a trip to the Sangam, the spot believed to be the confluence of the three rivers.Hindus believe bathing there during the Kumbh helps cleanse sins and brings salvation.The festival is rooted in Hindu mythology, a battle between deities and demons for control of a pitcher containing the nectar of immortality.”Hundreds of boatmen from all over the state have come with their boats to serve the pilgrims,” said Ramheet Nishad, one of them.Sprawling fields of tents — divided into sectors, complete with restaurants, shops and makeshift toilets — flank the river.Wealthier pilgrims camp in luxurious tents; more humble ones huddle under tarpaulin sheets.Saffron-robed monks and the naked ash-smeared ascetics roam the crowds, offering blessings to devotees.They will lead the dawn charge into the river waters on the most auspicious bathing dates.The massive congregation is also an occasion for Uttar Pradesh’s local Hindu nationalist government to burnish its credentials. Billboard after billboard lists the government’s achievements — some with QR codes linked to a specially designed website advertising the state’s public schemes.Indian police said they were “conducting relentless day-and-night patrols to ensure top-notch security” for the event.But for some visitors, the fair transcends politics and religion –- a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”It is about the feel,” said 26-year-old Rohit Singh. “The people, the river, it is another world.”

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai on Saturday joined a global summit on the education of Muslim girls that was snubbed by Afghanistan’s Taliban government.The two-day conference hosted by Pakistan has brought together education officials from dozens of Muslim-majority countries, but without Afghanistan — the only country in the world where girls are banned from school.”The Muslim world including Pakistan faces significant challenges in ensuring equitable access to education for girls,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said at the opening of the summit in the capital Islamabad. “Denying education to girls is tantamount to denying their voice and their choice, while depriving them of their right to a bright future.”Pakistan Education Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui told AFP that Islamabad had extended an invitation to Kabul, “but no one from the Afghan government was at the conference”.Muhammad al-Issa, a Saudi cleric and secretary general of the Muslim World League — which has backed the summit — said religion was no grounds for blocking girls from school.”The entire Muslim world has agreed that girls’ education is important, and those who say that girls’ education is un-Islamic are wrong,” he said. Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), urged leaders of Islamic countries to support Afghan girls.”I really call on all these ministers … who came from all over the world, to offer scholarships, to have online education, to have all sorts of education for them. This is the task of the day,” she told a panel. Yousafzai, who was shot by Pakistan Taliban militants in 2012 when she was a schoolgirl, is due to address the conference on Sunday.”I’m truly honoured, overwhelmed and happy to be back in Pakistan,” she told AFP as she arrived at the conference with her parents. She earlier posted on social media that she would speak about “why leaders must hold the Taliban accountable for their crimes against Afghan women & girls”.Since returning to power in 2021, the Afghan Taliban government has imposed an austere version of Islamic law that the United Nations has called “gender apartheid”. Yousafzai’s father Ziauddin Yousafzai, a teacher who pushed against cultural norms for his daughter to go to school in Pakistan, told AFP he had not seen “any serious step or serious action from the Muslim world” on the cause of girls’ education in Afghanistan. – ‘At last’ -Pakistan is facing its own severe education crisis, with more than 26 million children out of school, according to government figures, one of the highest numbers in the world. Sharif said “inadequate infrastructure, safety concerns, as well as deeply entrenched societal norms” were barriers to girls’ education. Zahra Tariq, a 23-year-old studying clinical psychology who attended the opening of the summit, told AFP: “At last we have a good initiative on Muslim girls’ education.” But, Tariq added, “Those in rural areas are still facing problems. In some cases their families are the first barrier.”Yousafzai became a household name after she was attacked by Pakistan Taliban militants on a school bus in the remote Swat valley in 2012.Militancy was widespread in the region at the time as the war between the Afghan Taliban and NATO forces raged across the border in Afghanistan. The Pakistan and Afghan Taliban are separate groups but share close links and similar ideologies, including a strong disbelief in educating girls.Yousafzai was evacuated to the United Kingdom after her attack and went on to become a global advocate for girls’ education and, at the age of 17, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner.