Bangladeshis on Sunday began voting in the general elections expected to be won by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the absence of the main Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) which is boycotting it.
Talking to reporters after placing a wreath at the grave of former president and BNP founder Zia-ur Rahman in the city, Fakhrul said India is seemingly not keeping its commitment towards democracy by providing shelter to her.
A Bangladeshi court on Tuesday denied bail to prominent Hindu leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, arrested on alleged 'sedition' charges, and sent him to prison, amid protests by community members in the capital Dhaka and the port city of Chattogram.
'My father died in the liberation struggle. Bangladesh is our Motherland. This is home,' says Monindra Kumar Nath, a Hindu who has lived his 74 years in Dhaka.
Muhammad Yunus, the head of Bangladesh's interim government, has said that former prime minister Sheikh Hasina making political remarks from India is an 'unfriendly gesture', asserting that she must remain silent to prevent the discomfort to both countries until Dhaka requests her extradition.
'At this moment you cannot give her asylum because if you do, then you are directing public anger against India.'
A senior Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader has blamed an 'ecosystem of former diplomats, bureaucrats, politicians, and think tanks' for creating a 'bogeyman' to mislead the Indian establishment into believing that Indo-Bangla relations would deteriorate without the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League.
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping concluded a two-day visit to Bangladesh that included talks on improving defense ties and building a deepwater port, according to reports.
Veteran politician and parliamentarian Abdul Hamid was on Wednesday sworn in as Bangladesh's 20th president. Hamid was administered the oath of office by acting Speaker Shawkat Ali during a ceremony at the Bangabhaban presidential palace, two days after he was elected unopposed to the post.
The veteran diplomat said Hasina has stayed in India before after the assassination of her father and Bangladesh independence hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who later became the country's prime minister. Rahman was assassinated in August 1975.
A murder case has been filed against Bangladesh's ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and six others over the death of a grocery shop owner during last month's violent clashes that led to the fall of her government, media reports said on Tuesday.
"Everything has been finalised. Now only the formalities, including getting a visa, remain to be completed, which might be completed in a day," a source said.
Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, a key leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and considered close to former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia is accused of war crimes during the nine-month struggle against Pakistan which left three million dead.
A senior leader of Bangladesh's main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party has gone missing since Tuesday night, prompting the authorities to order a massive manhunt.
Thousands of security personnel were deployed to ward off any violence during the shutdown which coincided with nationwide rallies of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party against 'anarchy'.
Bangladesh's 'battling begums' are on a hectic last minute campaign trail, which will end at midnight on Saturday, as the country's goes for its first general elections in seven years on December 29. The elections are being held under unprecedented security measures with nearly 48,000 troops and more than 600,000 policemen deployed to guard the polling booths.
The nearly year-long trial of eight suspects at the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh, who have been accused of war crimes during the 1971 war, may not have made headlines in India, but it is attracting huge international attention and further polarising the country's politics.
The ministry of external affairs and the embassy of India in Berlin have been persistently advocating for the return of Ariha Shah to India.
'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.
Sheikh Hasina, who was elected for a record fourth consecutive term and fifth overall term this year, was always admired by her supporters as "Iron Lady", before the dramatic development that abruptly ended her 15-year-rule in Bangladesh.
'A less tense US-China relationship would make Beijing less likely to provoke India -- including on the border -- in retaliation for its close defence ties with the US.'
The application accuses Hasina and others of orchestrating a violent crackdown on student protestors, resulting in widespread casualties and human rights violations.
The private BDnews24 quoted Zia as saying that she was not frightened to go to jail.
'We should be mindful that the religious minority community in one country is the majority in another (and) so treatment of the minority community in our respective countries will be an important variable in our relationship'
'The dominance of her party also meant that the institutions became lopsided -- whether it was the bureaucracy or the courts or the military.' 'She centralised power to the extent that you would see her representatives or her party office bearers having overly represented in these institutions.' 'That perhaps would have been the biggest blunder that she committed.'
Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League-led grand alliance was clearly leading in early unofficial results of the landmark general elections, as the Awami League chief recorded landslide wins in two of the three constituencies from where she was contesting.
A senior leader of the hardline Jamaat-e-Islami group has been arrested in Bangladesh for allegedly instigating violence in March during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the country, police said on Sunday.
New Delhi -- which has had a disastrous neighbourhood policy that has alienated almost all the States with which it has a land or sea border -- seemed to be unwilling over the past years to even consider that its unquestioning support of Sheikh Hasina was painting it into a corner, points out Mihir S Sharma.
The chaos and fear created by the deadly protests remained. Gangs of criminals have been looting and robbing homes in the absence of law enforcers over the last two days.
Moreover, the process to release those arrested between July 1 to August has started, and many have already been released, it added.
'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'
With former prime minister Khaleda Zia in detention over graft charges, her Bangladesh Nationalist Party has made a dramatic change in the top leadership by appointing former finance minister Saifur Rahman as the party's acting chairman.
'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.'
'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.'
At least four people, including two children, were killed and many injured in Dhaka on Friday when suspected arsonists set on fire a passenger train coming from Benapole, a port city bordering India, officials said, a day ahead of Bangladesh's general elections that have been boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
A court in Dhaka on Wednesday ordered the arrest of former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia, scrapping her existing bail in connection with two graft cases after she did not appear for the hearing citing "security reasons".
She had a narrow escape when several bombs exploded in a busy commercial area here minutes after her convoy passed through it.
The Supreme Court of Bangladesh has relieved a woman judge of court duties after she made a controversial observation in her judgment that the police should not register a rape case 72 hours after the offence was committed.
'If Pakistan's army wants to escalate violence in Kashmir, they have an unlimited supply of jihadis they can train and send. That's not an issue for them.'
India on Thursday described as 'matter of serious concern' reports that said some members of the Indian community in Canadian province of British Columbia received 'extortion calls'.
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