The death toll in violence across Bangladesh triggered by the execution of a top Jamaat-e-Islami leader has risen to 21, prompting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to issue a stern warning saying, "We know how to control you."
Invoking her father's sacrifice in founding Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday lashed out at Bangladesh Nationalist Party chief Khaleda Zia and its fundamentalist ally Jamat-i-Islami over their campaign about 'sellout' of the country during her recent India visit.
A high-level government committee has accused activists of ruling Awami League alongside main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami for the attack on Buddhist temples and localities in south-eastern Bangladesh last month, reports said on Friday.
Bangladesh's main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Thursday called Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Dhaka visit largely "a failure" due to "weak diplomacy" of the Hasina government, while the mainstream media said the deferring of the Teesta water-sharing pact dealt a "severe blow" to bilateral ties.
'It is important India to stay focussed on its primary national objectives: Combating terrorism; not losing sight of other security and strategic concerns (on the Sino-Indian front for instance); ensuring a strong economy and registering growth which includes improving the lot of common people; and finally making certain that the social fabric remains intact and harmony among people is not jeopardised, at least any further,' asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Bangladesh's main opposition leader Khaleda Zia has condemned recent attacks on Hindus in different parts of the country allegedly by activists of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami and demanded punishment to perpetrators of the attacks.
Chakrabarty, who was hacked by three assailants in his head, neck and shoulders, raised an alarm, prompting local residents to grab one of the attackers while others fled.
Human rights organisations believe that enforced disappearances are replacing extra judicial killings in Bangladesh. In most cases the victims were 'arrested' by men claiming to be law enforcement officials, reports Syed Tashfin Chowdhury.
'In the interim, India will be confronted with anti-India feeling because Sheikh Hasina had India's support.' 'We will have to deal with it, but it will not be a permanent phenomenon.' 'There is substantial goodwill towards India which will stand us in good stead.'
Bangladeshis are unwilling to give up peace and growing incomes for the chaos witnessed during the BNP-led four-party alliance rule, says Anand Kumar.
Rahman, 50, was tried in absentia with the court declaring him a "fugitive". He now lives in London where he is believed to have sought asylum though the British authorities have declined to reveal his immigration status.
Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina has said she hoped to resolve the Tipaimukh Dam issue with India through talks in co-operation with her arch-rival Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which is opposed to the cross-border hydro-power project in Manipur.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has alleged that there were attempts on her life by mixing poison with her food when she was under detention in a sub-jail during the state of emergency.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia on Friday said she was ready to hand over power to a caretaker government to oversee the general elections due in January.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday met former Bangladesh President Hussain Ershad's wife and opposition Jatiya Party leader Roshan Ershad before leaving for Delhi at the end of her three-day visit to Dhaka.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina slammed her arch-rival Khaleda Zia of the Bangladeshi National Party on Tuesday for spearheading a "misleading campaign" against the $1 billion loan deal with India that has sparked a row between the government and the main opposition party.
"This farcical election is unacceptable to BNP," Zia told reporters just after midnight and claimed that she had evidence of rampant vote-rigging and that the high figures given by the Election Commission for voter turnout were false
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League is set to form the next government after securing over three-fourth majority in the controversial polls marred by deadly clashes, a low turnout and a boycott by opposition parties.
These were Zia's first comments on politics since the interim administration in emergency-ruled Bangladesh last week denied widely-speculated government plans to exile her and restrict her movement.
Bangladesh police detained a college student and claimed to have found some "important evidence" in connection with the brutal killing of two gay rights activists.
The joint forces also arrested the assistant personal secretary to former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar and one of Babar's cousins.
The Bangladesh police have pressed charges against 21 militants of the outlawed Harkat ul Jihad e Islami and a former Bangladesh Nationalist Party minister for the grenade attack on former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's rally in 2004 that left her injured and killed 24 others
Bangladesh's Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the death penalty for an influential opposition BNP leader Khaleda Zia for committing crimes against humanity.
The main Opposition BNP of former premier Khaleda Zia, 78, who is under house arrest, is boycotting the elections amidst violence.
Nizami now faces execution unless his case is reviewed by the court or he is granted clemency by the President.
Police opened fire and used tear gas to disperse student groups belonging to the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its coalition ally the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party.
Jaishankar briefed the leaders of all parties about the situation in the violence-hit nation and the steps taken by the Indian government.
Eight Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami terrorists, including its chief, were sentenced to death by a Bangladeshi court on Monday for a 2001 bomb attack targeting Bengali new year celebrations that claimed 10 lives.
'Neither are Baloch insurgents capable of breaking up Pakistan, nor has Pakistan learned any lessons from the 1971 debacle that led to the country's dismemberment.'
'I am a lover of Hinduism, a lover of Jainism, Buddhism and other religions that were born in India, but we need to protect the rights of all people there. Whether they're Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Christians, Jains'
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will undertake a three-day visit to Bangladesh from June 25 during which she is likely to meet the top leadership of that country.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday secured a record fourth straight term as her Awami League party won two-thirds of the seats in the general elections marred by sporadic violence and a boycott by the main opposition BNP and its allies.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has shifted its focus back to Hindutva after suffering significant losses in the recent Maharashtra assembly elections. The party has been vocal about attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh and has taken a stance to "protect" a Hanuman Temple in Mumbai. Observers say this move is an attempt to regain its core voter base and counter the BJP's narrative on Hindutva, ahead of the upcoming civic polls. Analysts believe the party's "secular" stand may not be effective in the BMC elections and that its return to Hindutva is a sign of frustration from electoral setbacks.
Much of Bangladesh was paralysed on Monday by the latest strike called by Jamaat-e-Islami, with two powerful explosions rocking Shahbag Square, the epicentre of a massive campaign demanding toughest punishment for leaders of the fundamentalist party for war crimes during the 1971 war.
'That was my mistake.' 'Gautam Adani was not involved in forming the Maharashtra government.' 'Adani was not there in the meeting.' 'The meeting was at his guest house and we were sitting in his guest house.'
Hasina, the president of the Awami League, won the 11th parliamentary elections with a landslide victory even as the Opposition rejected the "farcical" polls marred by violence that claimed 17 lives, making it one of the deadliest polls in the country's history.
Abdul Quader Mollah, a senior leader of the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party, was executed on Thursday for genocide during Bangladesh's 1971 liberation war, hours after the Supreme Court rejected his review petition.
73-year-old leader of the Bangladesh's largest Islamist party had refused to seek presidential clemency.
'Are we supposed to look the other way as Islamists go on a rampage against Hindus and the Hasina government pay lip service to secularism?' A revealing excerpt from Avishek Biswas and Deep Halder's book, Being Hindu In Bangladesh: The Untold Story.
The increase in home-grown radicalised Islamic groups and the rise of Islamic State and Al Qaeda in Bangladesh should be a matter of worry for India, which shares a 4,100 km border with its eastern neighbour, says Rajeev Sharma.
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