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India denounces arms suppliers to terrorists; Pakistan blames demand from ‘unresolved conflicts’
United Nations: India has hit out against countries that as a “deliberate policy” arm terrorists and called for stricter international action against suppliers to curb the illicit trade in small weapons.
Speaking Wednesday at a Security Council debate on illicit small arms trade, Permanent Representative Asoke K. Mukerji said, “The easy availability of such weapons in large numbers and the easy access often provided by some states as deliberate policy has been one of the main reasons for the growth of terrorism.”
Asserting that “India has been a victim of cross border terrorism for decades,” Mukherji said, “The focus for international cooperation should continue to be on the supply side of the equation.”
Pakistan’s Permanent Representative Maleeha Lodhi took an opposing position. Turning the focus away from the problem of suppliers, she insisted that it was a “demand” issue arising from “unresolved conflicts.”
The international mechanisms against small weapons trade “primarily focus on regulating the ‘supply’ side of these arms,” Lodhi said. “There is urgent need to evolve mechanisms and mobilize the political will to address the ‘demand’ side. That means dealing with unresolved disputes, the root causes of conflicts, breeding grounds of terrorism and the factors behind the rise in organized crime.”
With India being one of the biggest contributors of troops to UN operations, Mukerji made a special mention of dangers faced by them. “Of late, we note with concern the use of such weapons against UN peacekeepers by armed groups and terrorists,” he said.
While the use of bombs by terrorists and the risks of weapons of mass destruction falling into their hands make the headlines, small arms and light weapons wreak a heavier toll. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the widespread availability of these weapons was an important factor in the more than the 250 conflicts in the last decade that lead to more than 50,000 people killed each year.
Mukerji referred to the various legal measures like the 2001 UN Programme of Action on small and light weapons, the Arms Trade Treaty, the General Assembly resolutions and the Security Council sanctions on terrorist groups and urged enforcing them against those illegally trafficking in arms.
Among the speakers was the leader of a Côte d’Ivoire group battling the spread of small weapons, Karamoko Diakité, who had personal experience of its dangers. After political leaders there had given out illegally obtained small arms and weapons after an election dispute, “We were terrorized for days, hunted like animals, without food, without water, without receiving help, constantly living in fear of being killed,” he said.
Tracing the flow of weapons, he said that after the fall of Muammar Qadhafi of Libya arms from there came in feeding terrorist movements in Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon.
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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