Author: Asian Bangla

Asianbangla Desk : As fear and anger run deep over Assam’s citizenship issue, many of those left off the final draft of National Registration of Citizens (NRC) complain of being harassed at different places of neighbouring state of Meghalaya. “Centring the NRC, Bangalees are being tortured. Khasi people are intercepting them on different roads in Meghalaya,” local daily Jugasankha reported yesterday. It said activists under the banner of Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) were forcing people to get down from vehicles to check their nationalities. According to The Northeast Today, KSU has set up checkpoints in three districts and detected more than…

Asianbangla Desk : Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Imran Khan to congratulate him on his party’s victory in the Pakistan general election, with both men discussing regional peace. It was their first call since Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) emerged victorious from last week’s vote that has been marred by claims of pre-election rigging and irregularities on the day. Relations between the nuclear-armed rivals have frayed in the last couple of years, with direct talks stalled amid diplomatic rows and military firing across the Line of Control frontier that divides the disputed region of Kashmir. Khan, widely seen as Pakistan’s…

Asianbangla Desk : A relatively new anti-blasphemy party whose leader has reportedly vowed to nuke the Netherlands should he ever come to power did surprisingly well in Pakistan’s elections last week, which were tainted by the rise of extremist groups. Islamic fundamentalist parties fielded more than 1,500 candidates in Pakistan’s provincial and national elections that were won by cricket hero turned politician Imran Khan. Here AFP looks at how the main extremist parties fared during Wednesday’s polls. The performance of Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), led by radical preacher Khadim Hussain Rizvi, will worry mainstream politicians and human rights activists the most. The…

Asianbangla, Dhaka : The new Chhatra League central committee was announced yesterday, almost two and a half months after its central council meeting. Rezwanul Haque Chowdhury Shovon and Golam Rabbani have been named as president and general secretary of the pro-Awami League student body. AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader, on behalf of party President Sheikh Hasina, announced the names of the leaders of the new committee last night, according to a press release of the prime minister’s press wing. He also announced BCL committees of Dhaka University, Dhaka metropolitan south and north units. Both Shovon and Rabbani, hailing from Kurigram and…

Asianbangla Desk : A suicide bomb and gun attack by militants on an Afghan government building in Jalalabad yesterday killed at least 15 people, some burned “beyond recognition”, officials said, the latest in a series of assaults on the eastern city. On the other side of the country a roadside bomb apparently intended for security forces hit a passenger bus and killed 11 people, marking yet another bloody day for civilians who have borne the brunt of violence in Afghanistan. The attack in Jalalabad targeted the compound of the refugees and repatriations department. It ended after more than five hours of…

Asianbangla, Dhaka : Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit has detected cases of money laundering involving Tk 4,000 crore and is carrying out a thorough probe into it, Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor Abu Hena Mohd Razee Hassan said yesterday. Information on the irregularities has already been sent to the government agencies concerned for taking necessary steps, he said. “The issue of money laundering is being taken care of properly,” said the BB official at a programme for announcing the monetary policy for July-December at the BB headquarters. The deposits of Bangladeshis in various Swiss banks dropped recently as the central bank has been…

Asianbangla, Dhaka : Students have taken to the streets for the fourth day in a row, chanting slogans and demanding justice for the deaths of two of their fellows on Airport Road last Sunday. Hundreds of students blocked different roads in Dhaka including Sceience Lab intersection, Mirpur 10 and Kazi Nazrul Islam avenue. Science Lab: Students of Dhaka City College, Ideal College, Dhaka College and others blockaded Science Lab intersection around 11:30am. Mirpur 10: Around 500 students of various schools and colleges from the Mirpur area also brought out a procession at Mirpur 10 and rallied around the main roads carrying…

Asianbangla Desk : Heated debates over stripping around 40 lakh people in Assam of citizenship continued for the second day yesterday with the opposition parties accusing the government of politicising the issue and making people refugees in their own country. The ruling BJP came down heavily on the oppositions, asking whether they wanted rights of the people of Assam and India or to save “illegal infiltrators”, reported the Hindustan Times. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee warned that the issue may trigger a bloodbath or civil war. “They [BJP] are trying to divide the people. The situation cannot be tolerated.…

Asianbangla Desk : The Sundarbans mangrove forest, the habitat of Bengal tigers, is threatened by heedless industrialisation, which must be halted by Bangladesh. UN expert John H Knox said this yesterday in his last public statement as the special rapporteur on human rights and the environment. The statement was shared on the website of United Nations Human Rights. “The accelerating industrialisation of the Sundarbans threatens not only this unique ecosystem – which hosts Bengal tigers, Ganges river dolphins and other endangered species – but also poses serious risks to the human rights of the 6.5 million people whose lives, health, housing,…

Asianbangla, Dhaka : The election result that put the BNP mayoral hopeful ahead of the Awami League contestant in the Sylhet city polls came as a “surprise” to the party high-ups as they had feared the ruling party would take away all the three mayoral posts through irregularities. Some AL leaders, however, said the Sylhet result is frustrating and it gives a signal that BNP-Jamaat men infiltrated into the party and they might betray it in the national polls. BNP leaders say Rajshahi and Barisal had long been their strongholds but they lost those to the AL. The vote margins proved…