Bangladesh's fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami leader and media tycoon Mir Quasem Ali was hanged on Saturday, the sixth Islamist to be executed for war crimes committed during the country's 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina arrived in New Delhi on Monday on a four-day visit to hold talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi following which the two sides are likely to ink pacts in key areas, including defence, trade and river water sharing.
A top leader of the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party was sentenced to death on Wednesday by a special Bangladeshi tribunal for committing "crimes against humanity" during the country's 1971 liberation war.
He also participated in the 1947-48 war against Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir. He was a founder Instructor of the National Defence Academy during 1949-51.
President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday attended the Victory Day Parade as the 'Guest of Honour' in Dhaka as Bangladesh marked 50 years of victory in the Liberation War against Pakistan by showcasing its military might which included spectacular aerobatics and display of defence acquisitions.
As news of Hasina's departure spread, hundreds broke into Hasina's residence, vandalising and looting the interiors, providing dramatic expression to the anti-government protests that have killed more than 100 people in the last two days. At the centre of people anger is the Hasina government's controversial quota system reserving 30 per cent jobs for families of veterans who fought the 1971 liberation war. With volatile crowds taking to the streets -- some clambering on Hasina's father and Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's statue and smashing it with hammers in a lasting image underscoring the fickleness of history -- Army chief General Waqar-uz-Zaman announced that the 76-year-old prime minister has resigned.
In another blow to Bangladesh's fundamentalist Jammat-e-Islami, the cabinet has decided to strip the voting rights of people convicted of "crimes against humanity" during the 1971 liberation war.
"Jai Bangla" was a popular slogan during the Bangladesh liberation war, while the BJP is promising people to make the state "Sonar Bangla" if voted to power in the coming assembly election.
'The present generation, either due to historical amnesia or political propaganda, has been fed a narrative that paints India as an adversary rather than an ally.'
The clashes erupted on Monday as activists of ruling Awami League's student front confronted the protestors who insist the existing quota system was largely debarring the enrolment of meritorious students in government services. Demonstrators accused the ruling party's student wing, Bangladesh Chhatra League of attacking their "peaceful protests" with backing from police.
Nasreen accused Hasina of pleasing the 'Islamists', however, the same 'Islamists' have been in the student movement who forced the former Bangladesh PM to leave the country on Monday.
Sheikh Hasina was on Thursday sworn in as the prime minister of Bangladesh for the fifth term, days after her Awami League won an overwhelming majority in the general elections boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies.
President Kovind, who arrived in Dhaka earlier in the day on his maiden State visit at the invitation of his counterpart M Abdul Hamid to attend the golden jubilee celebrations of Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan in 1971, held delegation-level talks with him which was followed by a banquet.
Former Bangladeshi prime minister Khaleda Zia was booked for sedition over her alleged "slanderous comments" concerning martyrs of the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.
President Pratibha Patil released a Special Commemorative Stamp in honour of Late Field Marshal Sam Bahadur Manekshaw at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday.
Quamruzzaman, an assistant secretary general of Jamaat, is the fourth accused who was convicted for the 1971 war crimes siding with Pakistani troops while his party was opposed to Bangladesh's independence.
Mrs Gandhi's power ebbed and peaked with the times. Mr Modi's has almost been constant, barring the few months of hard dip after the 240 seats of 2024, points out Shekhar Gupta.
On December 10, Kissinger began to encourage the Chinese to take action against India: 'If the People's Republic were to consider the situation on the Indian subcontinent a threat to security, and if it took measures to protect its security, the US would oppose efforts of others to interfere with the People's Republic.' On the 50th anniversary of India's greatest military victory, Claude Arpi recalls how the US suggested that China intervene militarily on Pakistan's side.
Deposed Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has issued a strong warning against threats to ban her Awami League party, calling the demands "audacious" and accusing Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus of being a "fraud" and "corrupt" for his role in the current interim government. Hasina, who fled Bangladesh in August 2024 following a student-led uprising, claims Yunus assumed power through a "meticulous design" with funding from overseas and misled students and people. She asserts that her Awami League is the legitimate party, with a strong history of fighting for the people's rights, and accuses Yunus and his supporters of having no constitutional basis or people's mandate to rule the country.
Vetran of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War Lt Gen J F R Jacob on Friday said the then Pakistan army commander A A K Niazi only wanted to sign a ceasefire deal instead of an "unconditional surrender" as demanded by India. Jacob, who drafted the Instrument of Surrender for the December 16 surrendering ceremony, said the Pakistani commander did not want to sign a document suggesting the "unconditional surrender" to India-Bangladesh joint forces.
The retreating Pakistani troops were heading towards Dacca and they had to be stopped at all costs. The Eastern Army Commander, in his orders to General Sagat Singh, had reiterated that he did not want the troops of 4 Corps to cross the Meghna river. But General Sagat had other plans to threaten Dacca and ensure that the pressure would make the Pakistani commanders capitulate. This is where the IAF helicopters came in.
A large group of protesters vandalized and set fire to the residence of Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Dhaka during a live online address by his daughter and deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina. The incident occurred as Hasina was delivering a speech organized by the Awami League's now disbanded student wing Chhatra League, calling upon the countrymen to resist the current regime.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday attacked Congress, accusing it of trying to help Communist Party of India-Marxist in the coming civic polls in West Bengal and virtually compared its United Progressive Alliance partner to collaborators of Pakistani army during Bangladesh liberation war.
Ahead of Modi's two-day visit, the capital city Dhaka is having a festive look with streets adorned with life-size cutouts of Modi.
The clashes broke out this morning when protesters attending a non-cooperation programme to demand the government's resignation faced opposition from the supporters of the Awami League, Chhatra League, and Jubo League activists.
India and Bangladesh signed seven Memorandum of understanding (MoUs) on Tuesday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina in Delhi. India-Bangladesh delegation-level talks led by PM Modi and Hasina were commenced at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi. "India-Bangladesh delegation level talks led by PM @narendramodi & PM Sheikh Hasina commence. "On the agenda are issues related to connectivity, energy, water resources, trade & investment, border management & security, development partnership and regional & multilateral matters," the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Arindam Bagchi tweeted.
Hitting out at Pakistan, Modi said it breeds, inspires and encourages terrorism and this "thought" is a roadblock to peace within the region and the world.
The Anti-Discrimination Student Movement (SAD), which led protests against Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has launched itself as a political party called the National Citizen Party (NCP). The new party, which aims to 'dismantle constitutional autocracy' and establish a 'second republic,' has pledged to create a 'solely Bangladesh-oriented' political system, with no room for 'pro-India and pro-Pakistan politics.' The NCP's inaugural rally was attended by representatives of various political parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jamaat-e-Islami, and envoys from the Vatican and Pakistan.
Separately, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the rapidly unfolding situation in Bangladesh. It is learnt that Jaishankar also apprised Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on the developments.
This is the first conversation between Modi and Yunus after he assumed the responsibility following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led government.
Former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi was on Monday honoured posthumously with Bangladesh's highest state award for her outstanding contribution to the country's 1971 'Liberation War'. Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, the daughter-in-law of the assassinated prime minister, received the 'Bangladesh Swadhinata Sanmanona' from President Zillur Rahman at a grand ceremony attended by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and nearly 1,000 top dignitaries.
Lieutenant General (retired) Jacob Farj Rafael Jacob Jacob, who played a key role in the 1971 war which liberated Bangladesh from Pakistan, was laid to rest in New Delhi on Thursday.
A day after Dhaka was liberated on December 16, 1971, then US President Richard Nixon was told by his strategic advisor Henry Kissinger that he had 'saved West Pakistan,' according to confidential papers since declassified by the US department of state.
Bangladesh on Friday demanded a formal apology from Pakistan for the genocide committed by its troops during the 1971 liberation war, but Islamabad said it is time to carry forward bilateral ties after "burying the past". During a meeting with her Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said, "Bangladesh expects an apology from Pakistan for the genocide carried out by their troops in 1971".
A prominent lawmaker of the opposition Bangladesh National Party was on Tuesday sentenced to death by a special Bangladeshi tribunal for genocide during the country's 1971 liberation war against Pakistan, becoming the first Member of Parliament and seventh person to be convicted of crimes against humanity.
A 91-year-old top leader of the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami was sentenced to 90 years in jail on Monday by a special Bangladeshi tribunal for masterminding atrocities during the 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.
Bangladesh's Supreme Court on Monday upheld the death sentence handed down to a fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami stalwart for committing mass murder and crimes against humanity during the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.
The President later wrote in the Visitors' Book that "the National Martyrs memorial symbolises Bangladesh's struggle for justice, emancipation and independence. It reminds us of the valiant sacrifices made by innumerable men, women and children who fought for their homeland -- Sonar Bangla. I pay my deep respect and homage to all those martyrs."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Dhaka on Friday on a two-day visit to Bangladesh during which he will attend the celebrations of the golden jubilee of the country's independence, the birth centenary of 'Bangabandhu' Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and hold talks with his counterpart Sheikh Hasina.
President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday visited the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Museum here and paid homage to the founding father of Bangladesh.
