two months. A suspension on private landline, mobile and internet service providers undermined a range of rights and residents said it left them unable to reach urgent medical assistance. Pakistani media workers faced occupational hazards like abduction, arbitrary arrest and detention, intimidation, killings and harassment by state and non-state actors. A grenade attack on ARY TV’s offices in the capital, Islamabad, was one of many strikes against media workers, and freedom of expression generally. Pamphlets left at the scene claimed that an armed group allied to IS was responsible. In Sri Lanka, Sandhya Eknaligoda – wife of disappeared dissident cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda – faced repeated threats and other intimidation after the police identified seven suspects, members of army intelligence, in connection with his enforced disappearance. This intimidation included protests outside the court hearing her husband’s habeas corpus case, and a poster campaign accusing her of supporting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Freedom of expression continued to be under attack in Bangladesh where the authorities grew increasingly intolerant of independent media and critical voices. Amid the severely deteriorating human rights situation, a string of journalists were arrested and arbitrarily detained; peaceful dissent was suppressed under draconian laws invoked to hound critics on social media. Student activist Dilip Roy was detained for criticizing the Prime Minister on Facebook, and faced a possible 14-year prison sentence under the vaguely worded Information and Communications Technology Act, used by the authorities to threaten and punish people who peacefully expressed views they disliked. In Maldives, where human rights had been under increased attack in recent years, the government intensified assaults on freedoms of expression and assembly by imposing arbitrary restrictions to prevent protest. Authorities also silenced political opponents, human rights defenders, and journalists, 36 using legislation criminalizing “defamatory” speech, remarks and other actions. PEOPLE ON THE MOVE Due to its ongoing conflict, Afghanistan was the world’s second-largest refugee-producing country. The crisis affected huge numbers of people with over two million in Pakistan and Iran alone and large numbers trying to reach the EU. An EU-Afghanistan deal required Afghanistan to re-admit any Afghan citizen who had not been granted asylum in the EU. However, continuing instability made it impossible for many refugees and asylumseekers to return home voluntarily in safety. Although Afghans risking their lives on dangerous journeys to Europe made headlines, the vast majority lacked the resources to leave. The number of people forced to flee their homes and becoming internally displaced reached an estimated 1.4 million in 2016, more than twice that of the three previous years. In the same threeyear period, international aid to Afghanistan halved as donors’ attention shifted following the withdrawal of international troops. The plight of those suffering in appalling conditions and struggling to survive in overcrowded camps with inadequate shelter, food, water and health care was at risk of being forgotten. For Afghan refugees in Pakistan, the situation was bleak as the Pakistani government planned one of the largest forcible returns of refugees in modern history putting about 1.4 million people, whose registration was expected to expire at the end of the year, at risk. The authorities imposed several unfeasible deadlines, which they then reluctantly extended, for the return of refugees to Afghanistan. The move triggered waves of harassment from police and officials and the refugees were left trapped in the uncertain limbo of their camps. In other instances, Pakistan breached the principle of non-refoulement and placed Afghan refugees at risk of serious abuses. For example, the decision to deport Sharbat Gula back to a country she had not seen in a generation and which her children had never Amnesty International Report 2016/17