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Mobile networks and the internet were restored across Afghanistan on Wednesday, 48 hours after the Taliban authorities shut down telecommunications.Confusion gripped the South Asian country on Monday night when mobile phone service and the internet went down without warning, freezing businesses and cutting Afghans off from the rest of the world. The massive blackout came weeks after the government began cutting high-speed internet connections to some provinces to prevent “immorality”, on the orders of shadowy supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.AFP journalists reported on Wednesday that mobile phone signals and wifi had returned to provinces across the country, including Kandahar in the south, Khost in the east, central Ghazni, and Herat in the west.The Taliban government has yet to comment on the telecommunications shutdown. On Wednesday night, hundreds of Afghans poured onto the streets in the capital Kabul, spreading the word that the internet was back. “It’s like Eid al-Adha; it’s like preparing to go for prayer,” said 26-year-old Sohrab Ahmadi, a delivery driver.”We are very happy from the bottom of our hearts.”After days of tension, Afghans celebrated by buying sweets and balloons, as drivers honked their horns, phones pressed to their ears.”The city is alive again,” Mohammad Tawab Farooqi, a restaurant manager in the city told AFP.- Businesses, airports, banks closed -It is the first time since the Taliban government won their insurgency in 2021 and imposed a strict version of Islamic law that communications have been cut in the country.Netblocks, a watchdog organisation that monitors cybersecurity and internet governance, said the blackout “appears consistent with the intentional disconnection of service”.It said connectivity had slowed to one percent of ordinary levels.A government official warned AFP minutes before the shutdown on Monday evening that the fibre optic network would be cut, affecting mobile phone services, “until further notice”.There were widespread closures of businesses, airports, and markets, while banks and post offices were unable to operate.Afghans were unable to contact each other in or out of the country, and many families stopped their children from going to school during the uncertainty. Those living in Herat and Kandahar travelled to border towns to catch signals from neighbouring Iran and Pakistan.The United Nations said on Tuesday the shutdown “left Afghanistan almost completely cut off from the outside world”, and called on authorities to restore access.Internet connections have been extremely slow or intermittent over the past weeks.On September 16, when the first internet services were first cut in northern provinces, Balkh provincial spokesman Attaullah Zaid said the ban had been ordered by the Taliban’s leader.”This measure was taken to prevent vice, and alternative options will be put in place across the country to meet connectivity needs,” he wrote on social media.”Recent studies in Afghanistan found that internet applications have badly affected the ongoing, economic, cultural and religious foundations of society,” he said.

Mobile networks returned to several provinces across Afghanistan on Wednesday, including the capital Kabul, 48 hours after the Taliban authorities shut down telecommunications.Confusion gripped the South Asian country on Monday night when mobile phone service and the internet went down.The massive blackout came weeks after the government began cutting high-speed internet connections to some provinces to prevent “immorality”, on the orders of shadowy supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.AFP journalists reported on Wednesday that mobile phone signals and wifi had returned to provinces across the country, including Kandahar in the south, Khost in the east, central Ghazni, and Herat in the west.The Taliban government has yet to comment on the telecommunications shutdown. It is the first time since the Taliban government won their insurgency in 2021 and imposed a strict version of Islamic law that communications have been cut in the country.Netblocks, a watchdog organisation that monitors cybersecurity and internet governance, said the blackout “appears consistent with the intentional disconnection of service”.It said connectivity had slowed to one percent of ordinary levels.A government official warned AFP minutes before the shutdown on Monday evening that the fibre optic network would be cut, affecting mobile phone services, “until further notice”.There were widespread closures of businesses, airports, and markets, while banks and post offices were unable to operate.Afghans were unable to contact each other in or out of the country, and many families stopped their children from going to school during the uncertainty. Those living in Herat and Kandahar travelled to border towns to catch signals from neighbouring Iran and Pakistan.The United Nations said on Tuesday the shutdown “left Afghanistan almost completely cut off from the outside world”, and called on authorities to restore access.Internet connections have been extremely slow or intermittent over the past weeks.On September 16, when the first internet services were first cut in northern provinces, Balkh provincial spokesman Attaullah Zaid said the ban had been ordered by the Taliban’s leader.”This measure was taken to prevent vice, and alternative options will be put in place across the country to meet connectivity needs,” he wrote on social media.”Recent studies in Afghanistan found that internet applications have badly affected the ongoing, economic, cultural and religious foundations of society,” he said.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared India’s “late entry” into the global semiconductor race, he pinned hopes on pioneers such as Vellayan Subbiah to create a chip innovation hub.The chairman of CG Power, who oversees a newly commissioned semiconductor facility in western India, is seen as one of the early domestic champions of this strategic sector in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.”There has been more alignment between the government, policymakers, and business than I’ve ever seen in my working history,” Subbiah, 56, told AFP.”There’s an understanding of where India needs to go, and the importance of having our own manufacturing.”As US President Donald Trump shakes global trade with tariffs and hard-nosed transactionalism, Modi has doubled down on self-reliance in critical technologies.New Delhi, which flagged its push in 2021, has this year approved 10 semiconductor projects worth about $18 billion in total, including two 3-nanometre design plants, among the most advanced.Commercial production is slated to begin by the end of the year, with the market forecast to jump from $38 billion in 2023 to nearly $100 billion by 2030.Subbiah, whose CG Power is one of India’s leading conglomerates, predicts “over $100 billion, if not more”, will flow into the industry across the value chain in the next five to seven years.He said “symbiotic” public-private partnerships were “very exciting”.-‘Ability to accelerate’-Chips are viewed as key to growth and a source of geopolitical clout.India says it wants to build a “complete ecosystem”, and break the global supply chain dominance by a few regions.The government has courted homegrown giants such as Tata, alongside foreign players like Micron, to push design, manufacturing and packaging in joint ventures.CG Semi, a joint venture with CG Power, plans to invest nearly $900 million in two assembly and test plants, as well as to push its design company.”We are looking to design chips, so that we can own the (intellectual property) too — which is very important for India,” said Subbiah, a civil engineer by training with an MBA from the University of Michigan.Still, critics say India is decades late starting, and remains far behind chip leaders in Taiwan, the Netherlands, Japan and China.”First we have to recognise there is a gap,” Subbiah said, noting Taiwan’s TSMC has a 35-year head start. But he insists India’s scale and talent pool — the world’s most populous nation with 1.4 billion people — gives it “a significant ability to accelerate” production.- ‘More complicated’-Modi this month said that “20 percent of the global talent in semiconductor design comes from India”.But wooing talent who sought opportunities abroad back to India remains a challenge, even after Trump’s restrictions on the H-1B skilled worker visa programme, heavily used by Indians.India, the world’s fifth-largest economy, still struggles with bureaucratic inertia and a lack of cutting-edge opportunities.Subbiah acknowledged that his own venture employs about 75 expatriates.”That’s not the way we want to grow. We want to grow with Indians,” he said, calling for policies to lure back overseas talent. “How do we bring these people back?”But the path is tougher than in 2021, when New Delhi first pushed for chip self-sufficiency.While India has secured semiconductor and AI investment pledges from partners such as Japan — which pledged $68 billion in August — Trump is expected to be less willing than past US leaders to back ventures that build Indian capacity.”The geopolitical situation overall has become more complicated,” Subbiah said.Yet he remains upbeat for the long run.”There are only going to be two really low-cost ecosystems in the world: one is China, and the other is going to be India,” he said.”You’re going to see the centre of gravity move towards these ecosystems, if you start thinking about a 25-30 year vision”. 

A splendid all-round display saw India launch their ICC Women’s World Cup campaign on the front foot, brushing aside Sri Lanka by 59 runs in the curtain-raiser in Guwahati on Tuesday.Half-centuries from Deepti Sharma and Amanjot Kaur steadied the ship as India posted a competitive 269 for eight in a contest reduced by rain to 47 overs a side. Sri Lanka, chasing under lights, had a flying start at 82 for one in 15 overs, with skipper Chamari Athapaththu cutting and pulling anything loose in a rollicking 43 off 47 balls. But once the spinners were tossed the ball, the wheels came off spectacularly.The big breakthrough arrived when Deepti, on song with ball in hand, sent down a full delivery that skidded straight on to castle Athapaththu, leaving Sri Lanka’s middle order exposed once more and underlining their heavy reliance on the talismanic skipper.India had their own jitters. At 124 for six they were staring down the barrel as veteran Inoka Ranaweera turned the game on its head. The 39-year-old left-arm spinner bowled an impeccable line prising out three wickets in an over.Sri Lanka, however, let the initiative slip through butterfingers. Dropped catches proved costly as Deepti and Amanjot stitched together a game-changing stand of 103 off 99 balls for the seventh wicket, turning the tide India’s way.Ranaweera, who finished with four for 46, was denied a maiden five-for and the best ever World Cup figures by a Sri Lankan due to poor fielding. She was guilty herself of grassing a return catch off Amanjot.Amanjot top scored with 57 off 59 balls, striking five fours and a six with a strong bottom hand that sent the ball screaming down the ground. Deepti’s run a ball 53, her 16th ODI half-century, was included just three boundaries.The all-rounder capped a memorable outing by overtaking Neetu David to become India’s second highest wicket taker with 143 scalps, behind only the legendary Jhulan Goswami’s towering 255.“We lost back to back wickets and we needed to steady the innings,” said Deepti was was named Player of the Match. “(I’m) Happy to have done that. I’m used to batting under pressure and enjoyed the challenge today.” Sri Lanka, who missed the previous edition of the World Cup in 2022, never quite looked convincing and their brittle batting remains their Achilles’ heel.The 13th Women’s World Cup, co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka, features the world’s top eight sides with the top four after the league stage set to contest the semi-finals.More than 23,000 fans thronged the stands for the opener, testimony to the growing pull of the women’s game in the subcontinent. Hosts India, ranked third behind Australia and England, will fancy their chances with the stakes higher than ever. The prize pot of $13.88 million represents a staggering 297 percent jump from the $3.5 million on offer at the last edition in New Zealand.

The United Nations called on Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities Tuesday to immediately restore internet and telecommunications in the country, 24 hours after a nationwide blackout was imposed.The government began shutting down high-speed internet connections to some provinces earlier this month to prevent “immorality”, on the orders of shadowy supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.Mobile phone signal and internet service weakened on Monday night until connectivity was less than one percent of ordinary levels.Afghans are unable to contact each other, online businesses and the banking systems have frozen, and diaspora abroad cannot send crucial remittances to family.All flights were cancelled at Kabul airport on Tuesday, AFP journalists saw.”The cut in access has left Afghanistan almost completely cut off from the outside world, and risks inflicting significant harm on the Afghan people, including by threatening economic stability and exacerbating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises,” the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a statement.”The current blackout also constitutes a further restriction on access to information and freedom of expression in Afghanistan,” it added.The UN rights office called the blackout an “extremely serious human rights violation”.”Women and girls already excluded from public life are especially affected,” it said on social media Tuesday, calling for immediate reconnection.It is the first time since the Taliban government won their insurgency in 2021 and imposed a strict version of Islamic law that communications have been shut down in the country.”I came to work this morning but we cannot run any business because clients do not have access to online banking, transactions, cash withdrawal, or money authorisation,” a bank worker who asked not to be named told AFP in Kabul.”When there was internet, we never felt how important it was.”The post office was also unable to operate because it required bank services to carry out its work, staff told AFP. – Radio communications -Minutes before the shutdown on Monday evening, a government official warned AFP that the fibre optic network would be cut, impacting mobile phone services, “until further notice”.”There isn’t any other way or system to communicate… the banking sector, customs, everything across the country will be affected,” said the official, who asked not to be named.Telephone services are often routed over the internet, sharing the same fibre optic lines, especially in countries with limited telecoms infrastructure.The telecommunications ministry refused to let journalists enter the building in Kabul on Tuesday.A UN source said Tuesday that “operations are severely impacted, falling back to radio communications and limited satellite links”.AFP journalists witnessed Taliban security forces using radios to communicate with each other at public buildings such as the airport and post office.Over the past weeks, internet connections have been extremely slow or intermittent.On September 16, when the first internet services were cut in northern provinces, Balkh provincial spokesman Attaullah Zaid said the ban had been ordered by the Taliban’s leader.”This measure was taken to prevent vice, and alternative options will be put in place across the country to meet connectivity needs,” he wrote on social media.”Recent studies in Afghanistan found that internet applications have badly affected the ongoing, economic, cultural and religious foundations of society,” he claimed.The Taliban leader reportedly ignored warnings from some officials this month about the economic fallout of cutting the internet and ordered authorities to press ahead with a nationwide ban.Netblocks, a watchdog organisation that monitors cybersecurity and internet governance, said the blackout “appears consistent with the intentional disconnection of service”.On Tuesday, it said connectivity had flatlined below one percent, with no restoration of service observed.In 2024, Kabul had touted the 9,350-kilometre (5,800-mile) fibre optic network — largely built by former US-backed governments — as a “priority” to bring the country closer to the rest of the world and lift it out of poverty.

A Rohingya refugee who fled ethnic violence in Myanmar along with 750,000 others in 2017, spending seven years in Bangladesh, described Tuesday the endless cycle of violence and exile facing the mostly Muslim minority.Addressing a special UN conference on the Rohingya, Maung Sawyeddollah held up a photograph of dead women and children in civilian attire and said they had been killed by an armed group fighting against Myanmar’s army.”These people were killed in a drone attack by the Arakan Army on August 5, 2024,” said Sawyeddollah, part of the Rohingya Students Network.”These are not isolated cases, they are a part of a systematic campaign…Where is justice for Rohingya?”The mostly Muslim Rohingya have been persecuted in Myanmar for decades, with many escaping the 2017 military clampdown that is the subject of a UN genocide court case and now finding themselves unable to return as fighting rages in Rakhine state.The state, their homeland in western Myanmar, has been the site of some of the most intense fighting between the army and Arakan Army since the 2021 military coup that overthrew the democratic government.”The Junta blocks aid, recruits Rohingyas as human shields and continues systematic oppression,” said Wai Wai Nu, founder of the Women’s Peace Network, who spent several years imprisoned in Myanmar.The Rohingyas are now targeted by the Arakan Army, a predominantly Buddhist ethnic armed group that fights the junta and whose tactics “mirror” the junta’s “massacre, force recruitment, arson, torture…sexual violence,” she stated.A number of UN officials corroborated her testimony.”Their plight is somehow unique — not only do they continue to be discriminated (against), deprived of rights and abused, a situation they have endured for decades, but they are also caught in one of several ethnic conflicts affecting the country — except it is not their own,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. He added that 1.2 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are facing the impacts of drastic cuts in international aid.- ‘Dangerous and overcrowded’ -“We have also suffered deeply in the dangerous and overcrowded camps because of restrictions on livelihood opportunities”, said Lucky Karim, who spent six years in a Cox’s Bazar camp, adding she was grateful to Bangladesh for taking her in.”Our goal is to return to our homeland safely with rights, but how do we get there?”Earlier, UN Special Envoy on Myanmar Julie Bishop warned that bloody fighting between Myanmar’s army and the Arakan ethnic armed group was proving an “insurmountable barrier” to the return of displaced Rohingya. The human rights and humanitarian situation in Myanmar’s Rakhine State has sharply deteriorated since November 2023, deepening the life-threatening conditions faced by the Rohingya living there.The impoverished state — a riverine slice of coastal Myanmar bordering Bangladesh — has witnessed intense suffering in Myanmar’s civil war, triggered by a 2021 coup deposing the democratic government.

Bloody fighting between Myanmar’s army and a separatist movement is proving an “insurmountable barrier” to the return of the country’s displaced Rohingya minority, a UN official warned Tuesday.The mostly Muslim Rohingya have been persecuted in Myanmar for decades, with many escaping the 2017 military clampdown labeled a “genocide” by some countries and now finding themselves unable to return as fighting rages in Rakhine state.Rakhine State, their homeland in western Myanmar, has been the site of some of the most intense fighting in the conflict tearing the country apart since the 2021 military coup that overthrew the democratic government.”As to the Rohingya, forcibly displaced again from Myanmar more than eight years ago, the escalating conflict in the country presents a seemingly insurmountable barrier to their return,” the UN’s Special Envoy on Myanmar Julie Bishop said in a speech.”They wish to return home, to Rakhine, to rebuild their lives, and become leaders of their communities with control over their destiny.”The human rights and humanitarian situation in Myanmar’s Rakhine State has sharply deteriorated since November 2023, deepening the life-threatening conditions faced by the Rohingya living there.The impoverished state — a riverine slice of coastal Myanmar bordering Bangladesh — has witnessed intense suffering in Myanmar’s civil war, triggered by a 2021 coup deposing the democratic government.Both the military and local ethnic fighters from the Arakan Army “have committed and continue to commit serious atrocity crimes against the Rohingya with impunity — in flagrant violation of international law,” the UN human rights office said previously.

The United Nations called on Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities Monday to immediately restore internet and telecommunications in the country, 24 hours after a nationwide blackout was imposed.The government began shutting down high-speed internet connections to some provinces earlier this month to prevent “vice”, on the orders of shadowy supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.Mobile phone signal and internet service weakened on Monday night until connectivity was less than one percent of ordinary levels.Afghans are unable to contact each other, online businesses and the banking systems have frozen, and diaspoara abroad cannot send crucial remittances to family.All flights were cancelled at Kabul airport on Tuesday, AFP journalists saw.”The cut in access has left Afghanistan almost completely cut off from the outside world, and risks inflicting significant harm on the Afghan people, including by threatening economic stability and exacerbating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises,” the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a statement.”The current blackout also constitutes a further restriction on access to information and freedom of expression in Afghanistan,” it added.It is the first time since the Taliban government won their insurgency in 2021 and imposed a strict version of Islamic law that communications have been shut down in the country.”We are blind without phones and internet,” said 42-year-old shopkeeper Najibullah in Kabul.”All our business relies on mobiles. The deliveries are with mobiles. It’s like a holiday, everyone is at home. The market is totally frozen.”The telecommunications ministry refused to let journalists enter the building in Kabul on Tuesday.Minutes before the shutdown on Monday evening, a government official warned AFP that the fibre optic network would be cut, and affect mobile phone services.”Eight to nine thousand telecommunications pillars” would be shut down, he said, adding that the blackout would last “until further notice”.”There isn’t any other way or system to communicate… the banking sector, customs, everything across the country will be affected,” said the official, who asked not to be named.- Radio communications -Diplomatic sources told AFP on Tuesday that mobile networks were mostly shut down.A UN source meanwhile said “operations are severely impacted, falling back to radio communications and limited satellite links”.Telephone services are often routed over the internet, sharing the same fibre optic lines, especially in countries with limited telecoms infrastructure. Over the past weeks, internet connections have been extremely slow or intermittent.On September 16, Balkh provincial spokesman Attaullah Zaid said the ban had come from the Taliban leader’s orders.”This measure was taken to prevent vice, and alternative options will be put in place across the country to meet connectivity needs,” he wrote on social media.At the time, AFP correspondents reported the same restrictions in the northern provinces of Badakhshan and Takhar, as well as in Kandahar, Helmand, Nangarhar and Uruzgan in the south.The Taliban leader reportedly ignored warnings from some officials this month about the economic fallout of cutting the internet and ordered authorities to press ahead with a nationwide ban.Netblocks, a watchdog organisation that monitors cybersecurity and internet governance, said the blackout “appears consistent with the intentional disconnection of service”.On Tuesday, it said connectivity had flatlined below one percent, with no restoration of service observed.In 2024, Kabul had touted the 9,350-kilometre (5,800-mile) fibre optic network — largely built by former US-backed governments — as a “priority” to bring the country closer to the rest of the world and lift it out of poverty.

Afghanistan faced a second day without internet and mobile phone service on Tuesday, after Taliban authorities cut the fibre optic network.Taliban authorities began shutting down high speed internet connections to some provinces earlier in the month to prevent “vice”.On Monday night, mobile phone signal and internet service gradually weakened until connectivity was less than one percent of ordinary levels, according to internet watchdog NetBlocks.It is the first time since the Taliban government won their insurgency in 2021 and imposed a strict version of Islamic law that communications have been shut down in the country.”We are blind without phones and internet,” said 42-year-old shopkeeper Najibullah in Kabul.”All our business relies on mobiles. The deliveries are with mobiles. It’s like a holiday, everyone is at home. The market is totally frozen.”In the minutes before it happened, a government official warned AFP that fibre optic would be cut, affecting mobile phone services too.”Eight to nine thousand telecommunications pillars” would be shut down, he said, adding that the blackout would last “until further notice”.”There isn’t any other way or system to communicate… the banking sector, customs, everything across the country will be affected,” said the official who asked not to be named.Netblocks, a watchdog organisation that monitors cybersecurity and internet governance, said the blackout “appears consistent with the intentional disconnection of service”.AFP lost all contact with its bureau in the capital Kabul at around 5:45 pm (1315 GMT).”Because of the shutdown, I’m totally disconnected with my family in Kabul,” a 40-year-old Afghan living in Oman told AFP via text message, asking not to be named. “I don’t know whats happening, Im really worried.”Telephone services are often routed over the internet, sharing the same fibre lines, especially in countries with limited telecoms infrastructure. Over the past weeks, internet connections have been extremely slow or intermittent.On September 16, Balkh provincial spokesman Attaullah Zaid said fibre optic internet was completely banned in the northern province on the Taliban leader’s orders.”This measure was taken to prevent vice, and alternative options will be put in place across the country to meet connectivity needs,” he wrote on social media.At the time, AFP correspondents reported the same restrictions in the northern provinces of Badakhshan and Takhar, as well as in Kandahar, Helmand, Nangarhar and Uruzgan in the south.In 2024, Kabul had touted the 9,350-kilometre (5,800-mile) fibre optic network — largely built by former US-backed governments — as a “priority” to bring the country closer to the rest of the world and lift it out of poverty.

On a football field ringed by misty mountains, the air rang with fiery speeches as tribesmen protested a planned mega-dam — India’s latest move in its contest with China over Himalayan water.India says the proposed new structure could counteract rival China’s building of a likely record-breaking dam upstream in Tibet by stockpiling water and guarding against releases of weaponised torrents.But for those at one of the possible sites for what would be India’s largest dam, the project feels like a death sentence. “We will fight till the end of time,” said Tapir Jamoh, a resident of the thatch-hut village of Riew, raising a bow loaded with a poison-tipped arrow in a gesture of defiance against authorities. “We will not let a dam be built.”Jamoh’s homelands of the Adi people are in the far-flung northeastern corner of India, divided from Tibet and Myanmar by soaring snowy peaks.Proposed blueprints show India considering the site in Arunachal Pradesh for a massive storage reservoir, equal to four million Olympic-size swimming pools, behind a 280-metre (918-foot) high dam.The project comes as China presses ahead with the $167 billion Yaxia project upstream of Riew on the river known in India as the Siang, and in Tibet as the Yarlung Tsangpo.China’s plan includes five hydropower stations, that could produce three times more electricity than its vast Three Gorges dam — the world’s largest power station — though other details remain scant.Beijing — which lays claim to Arunachal Pradesh, fiercely rejected by India — says it will have no “negative impact” downstream.”China has never had, and will never have, any intention to use cross-border hydropower projects on rivers to harm the interests of downstream countries or coerce them,” Beijing’s foreign ministry told AFP.Chinese media reports suggest the project may be more complex than a single giant dam, and could involve diverting water through tunnels.The area around the village of Riew is one of the shortlisted sites for India’s response mega-dam, a project that people like Jamoh feel is the more immediate threat to them.”If the river is dammed, we also cease to exist,” the 69-year-old told AFP, saying that the arrow’s tip was dipped in poisonous herbs foraged from the mountains.”Because it is from the Siang that we draw our identity and culture,” he added.-‘Water bomb’-Despite a thaw between New Delhi and Beijing, the two most populous nations have multiple areas of disputed border manned by tens of thousands of troops, and India has made no secret of its concerns.The river is a tributary of the mighty Brahmaputra, and Indian officials fear China could use its dam as a control tap — to create deadly droughts or release a “water bomb” downstream.China rejects that, saying that the “hype surrounding the Yaxia Hydropower Project as a ‘water bomb’ is groundless and malicious”.But Arunachal Pradesh state Chief Minister Pema Khandu said protective action against China’s dam is a “national security necessity”, and sees India’s dam as a safety valve to control the water.”China’s aggressive water resource development policy leaves little room for downstream riparian nations to ignore it,” said Maharaj K. Pandit, a Himalayan ecology specialist at the National University of Singapore.India’s dam could produce 11,200-11,600 megawatts of hydropower, making it the country’s most powerful by a huge margin, and helping scale back emissions from its coal-dependent electricity grid.But generating power is not the priority, acknowledged a senior engineer from National Hydropower Corporation (NHPC) — the federal agency contracted to develop the dam.”It is meant for water security and flood mitigation — if China seeks to weaponise their dam and use it like a water bomb,” the engineer said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to reporters.”During the lean season, the reservoir will be filled to capacity, so that it can add in if water is diverted upstream,” the officer said. “That is the calculation.”In the rains, water will only reach up two-thirds of the dam wall — so there is capacity to absorb water if released suddenly by China.India’s former ambassador to Beijing, Ashok K. Kantha, called China’s dam project “reckless” and said that India’s dam, as well as generating power, would be a “defensive measure” against potential attempts “to regulate the flow of water”.- ‘Identity and culture’ -India’s dam would create a giant storage reservoir of 9.2 billion cubic metres, but the exact area flooded depends on the final location of the dam.The Adi people, like Jamoh, consider the river sacred and depend on its life-giving waters for their lush lands dotted with orange and jackfruit trees.They fear the dam will drown their world.”We are children of the Siang,” said Jamoh, who was the former headman of Riew — before being forced to quit by local government authorities for protesting against the dam.In May, furious Adi villagers blocked NHPC from surveying a proposed site. Today, government paramilitary forces watch over the charred remains of the drilling machines that protesters torched. But the protests have not stopped.When AFP visited, thousands gathered to hold a traditional court-style meeting of Adi clans to condemn the proposed dam. “We are asking for a project plan to have an idea of the magnitude of the dam,” said Bhanu Tatak of the Siang Indigenous Farmer’s Forum (SIFF), a local protest group.”Instead they have militarised us, treating us like extremists,” she said.The dam, the local residents are convinced, would drown dozens of villages.”If they build a huge dam, the Adi community will vanish from the map of the world,” said Likeng Libang, from Yingkiong, a town that even officials say is likely to be entirely underwater.”The Adi will be totally displaced,” he added. “We will be nowhere.”NHPC did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment. – ‘Dam-for-dam’-India’s “dam-for-dam” approach may be counterproductive, said Anamika Barua, a transborder water governance expert at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati.”Diplomatic engagement, transparent water-sharing agreements, and investment in cooperative river basin management would yield more durable and equitable outcomes than reactive infrastructure building,” she said.Building mega-dams in earthquake-prone Arunachal Pradesh is also risky, said Barua.But India’s construction drive of massive dams suggests it will not back down on this project. Two other major dams overcame local resistance.”If the dam must be built, I hope I die before that day comes,” said bow-and-arrow-wielding Jamoh.