164 people killed in one week in Kazakhstan Protests against fuel hikes: Reports
Moscow, Jan 9: Kazakhstan's health ministry said Sunday that 164 people have been killed in protests that have rocked the country over the past week.
The figures reported on the state news channel Khabar-24 are a significant rise from previous tallies. It is not clear if the deaths refer only to civilians or if law-enforcement deaths are included. Kazakh authorities said earlier Sunday that 16 police or national guard had been killed. Authorities previously gave the civilian death toll as 26.
Most of the deaths 103 were in Almaty, the country's largest city, where demonstrators seized government buildings and set some afire, according to the ministry. the country's ombudswoman for children's rights said that three of those killed were minors, including a 4-year-old girl.
The ministry earlier reported more than 2,200 people sought treatment for injuries from the protests, and the Interior Ministry said about 1,300 security officers were injured.
The office of Kazakhstan's president said that about 5,800 people were detained by police during the protests that developed into violence last week and prompted a Russia-led military alliance to send troops to the country.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's office said Sunday that order has stabilized in the country and that authorities have regained control of administrative buildings that were occupied by protesters, some of which were set on fire.
The Russian TV station Mir-24 said sporadic gunfire was heard in Almaty on Sunday but it was unclear whether they were warning shots by law enforcement. Tokayev on Friday said he had authorized police and the military to shoot to kill to restore order.
Almaty's airport, which had been taken by protesters last week, remained closed but was expected to resume operating on Monday.
Protests over a sharp rise in prices of LPG fuel began in the country's west on Jan. 2 and spread throughout the country, apparently reflecting discontent extending beyond the fuel prices.
The same party has ruled Kazakhstan since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Any figures aspiring to oppose the government have either been repressed, sidelined, or co-opted and financial hardship is widespread despite Kazakhstan's enormous reserves of oil, natural gas, uranium and minerals.
Tokayev contends the demonstrations were ignited by terrorists with foreign backing, although the protests have shown no obvious leaders or organization. The statement from his office on Sunday said the detentions included a sizable number of foreign nationals, but gave no details.
It was unclear how many of those detained remained in custody on Sunday.
The former head of Kazakhstan's counterintelligence and anti-terror agency has been arrested on charges of attempted government overthrow. The arrest of Karim Masimov, which was announced Saturday, came just days after he was removed as head of the National Security Committee by Tokayev.
No details were given about what Masimov was alleged to have done that would constitute an attempted government overthrow. The National Security Committee, a successor to the Soviet-era KGB, is responsible for counterintelligence, the border guards service and anti-terror activities.
Authorities say security forces killed 26 demonstrators in this week's unrest and that 16 law-enforcement officers died.
At Tokayev's request, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russia-led military alliance of six former Soviet states, authorized sending about 2,500 mostly Russian troops to Kazakhstan as peacekeepers.
Some of the force is guarding government facilities in the capital, Nur-Sultan, which made it possible to release part of the forces of Kazakhstani law enforcement agencies and redeploy them to Almaty to participate in the counter-terrorist operation, according to a statement from Tokayev's office.
In a sign that the demonstrations were more deeply rooted than just the fuel price rise, many demonstrators shouted Old man out, a reference to Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was president from Kazakhstan's independence until he resigned in 2019 and anointed Tokayev as his successor.
Nazarbayev retained substantial power as head of the National Security Council. But Tokayev replaced him as council head amid this week's unrest. possibly aiming at a concession to mollify protesters. However, Nazarbayev's adviser Aido Ukibay said Sunday that it was done at Nazarbayev's initiative, according to the Kazakh news agency KazTag.
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IndiGo CEO makes sudden departure after December turbulence, international expansion
New Delhi (PTI): On a warm afternoon on January 28, a confident Petrus Johannes Theodorus Elbers, better known as Pieter Elbers, explained the journey of IndiGo with his innate enthusiasm.
This was also his first in-person media interaction after flight disruptions in December last year.
Three days of disruptions cannot define the 20 years of IndiGo, a slightly agitated Elbers told media persons in response to repeated queries related to the flight cancellations, including about the duration of the cancellations, in December.
Little over 40 days after that interaction, Elbers, a Dutch national who enjoyed and shared pictures of his participation in local Indian festivals and wearing local attire, abruptly resigned from the airline as the Chief Executive Officer on Tuesday.
Before joining IndiGo on September 6, 2022, Elbers was the President & Chief Executive Officer of KLM for eight years. He was with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines for 30 years in various roles.
Under his stewardship, IndiGo significantly expanded its international operations, started operations with leased wide-body Boeing 787-9 aircraft, placed orders for 60 wide-body A350-900 planes and remained profitable.
Also, IndiGo, which currently has a domestic market share of 63.6 per cent, hosted the annual general meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in the national capital in June last year. The meeting happened in India for the first time after 42 years.
While Elbers' stint as CEO was progressing well, the unprecedented operational disruptions at IndiGo, always proud of its On Time Performance (OTP), in December last year clouded the horizon.
More than 2,500 flight cancellations in just three days from December 3-5 left passengers in the lurch, rattled aviation authorities and pushed Elbers to repeatedly apologise for disruptions, which were mainly caused by a lack of planning in implementing the revised flight duty norms for pilots.
"We have let down our customers for three days," and the airline will use it to come back better, Elbers said on January 28 at the media interaction on the sidelines of the aviation summit Wings India 2026 in Hyderabad.
In his short resignation letter on Tuesday, Elbers cited personal reasons for his departure and mentioned that if the company so desires, obviously, I will be available for any handover or transition otherwise.
However, he has been relieved with immediate effect, and IndiGo Co-Founder and Managing Director Rahul Bhatia will manage the company's affairs on an interim basis.
Back in May 2025, when asked about the way forward for IndiGo, Elbers told PTI Videos, "picture abhi baaki hai".
With ambitious growth plans on the anvil, the airline will soon have a second CEO in less than four years to pilot the journey.
