Author: Priya Saha

ANI | Updated: Feb 26, 2021 04:42 IST Amsterdam [Netherlands], February 26 (ANI): The Netherlands Parliament on Thursday passed a motion saying the Chinese treatment of the Uyghur minority is a “genocide”. The Netherlands becomes the first European country to take such a move. The motion, which is nonbinding, could encourage other European parliaments to advance similar statements, Politico reported. Genocide is an internationally recognized crime where acts are committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.The move comes a week after outgoing Foreign Minister Stef Blok said the Dutch…

WASHINGTON – Iran has reportedly summoned eight Baha’i citizens to begin prison terms after convicting them of security crimes for peaceful activities, including alleged communication with Western media and organizing educational programs for Baha’i children. Speaking to VOA Persian on Monday, an Iran-based source who is familiar with the situation of the eight Baha’is residing in the southern port of Bandar Abbas said they received a court notice of the prison summons the day before. The source provided VOA an apparent copy of the document, which gives the six men and two women 10 days to turn themselves in to…

By Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury According to counterterrorism experts and global intelligence agencies, Al Qaeda and Islamic State (ISIS) have long established footprint in various parts of India, including Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) is going to file charges in a Delhi court by Friday against 12 residents of West Bengal’s Murshidabad, who are members of Al-Qaeda terrorist cell in India. But, NIA is going to falsely claim the Al Qaeda cell’s leadership being “seeking to source weapons and ammunition and explosives from Bangladesh to execute multiple terrorist attacks, including assassination of a prominent…

Ethnic minority leaders attend a dialogue organised by the Indigenous Peoples Development Services in association with UNDP at the YWCA Conference Hall in Dhaka on Wednesday. — New Age photo Ethnic minority rights activists, lawmakers and representatives of ethnic minority workers said at a dialogue on Wednesday that an indigenous policy was needed to end discrimination against ethnic minorities. They said that the policy was needed for streamlining segregated government efforts for improving the life of ethnic minorities. The segregated initiatives taken by the state over the years hardly made a difference in life of about 4 million ethnic minorities…

65-year-old Catholic sculptor Mondol says he has obtained immense blessings from God as a reward for this work. He testified: “I was a simple security guard and not very educated, but after I started making religious statues, I obtained what I asked of Almighty God. I have gained prosperity, honour, peace and security in my life.” Natore (AsiaNews) – The Catholic Dominic Mondol worked at the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Bangladesh, a humanitarian agency, as a security guard. After working there for 23 years, he decided to quit his job two years later. He wanted to learn something. Being devoted…

After the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in December 2019, India’s Muslim community, civil rights activists and concerned citizens, occupied public spaces in an unprecedented manner to register their protest and protect India’s constitutional promise of secularism. The protesters, however, faced vilification, police violence and a harsh media trial that branded them “anti-national” and “jihadi”. This perception was built by the governing Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as they led one of the most communally charged electoral campaigns in Delhi ahead of the regional elections. Complaints have been filed with the police that right after their electoral loss,…

The language of liberation is more than a contest over words and flags Farid Erkizia Bakht: On February 14, Barcelona and the rest of Catalonia went to vote. The pro-independence parties increased their share from 70 to 74 seats in the 135-seat regional parliament. Bangladesh remembered the seminal events of February 21, 1952. Meanwhile, Myanmar saw soldiers rolling in hours before the political parties could form a new administration. One-third of the country might be forgiven for seeing it as a stand-off between the civilian and military halves of the dominant Bamar majority in a country racked with permanent conflicts…

An elderly couple marked their 66th marriage anniversary with a ceremonial wedding function in a remote village of Biral upazila of Dinajpur. The couple — Bodyanath Debsharma (92) and his wife Ponchabala Debsharma (80) — of south Meragaon village of the upazila renewed their marriage on Sunday with much flamboyance. The only daughter of the couple, their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, their relatives, and villagers organised the ceremony, which kicked off on Saturday night. The boubhat (reception) took place last night. Two priests, Mohadeb Banarjee and Mohadeb Bhattychariya, jointly administered the couple’s marriage renewal at their residence on Sunday night according…

The head of an official Pakistani minority commission has directed provincial police chiefs to keep a separate record of data regarding forced marriage and conversion of minority girls. The Commission on Implementation of Minority Rights was set up by Pakistan’s top court in 2014 to ensure implementation of its landmark 2014 ruling on protection of non-Muslim Pakistanis. Shoaib Suddle, who heads the commission, chaired a meeting of the police inspector generals of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Islamabad and Gilgit-Baltistan on Feb. 22 to review cases of forced marriages and conversions, state-run news agency APP reported. He directed the police…

The Cyberabad police have asked the Regional Passport Officer to cancel 72 Indian passports obtained fraudulently by Bangladeshi nationals. The police have even asked for Look Out Circulars from the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer. These circulars can help prevent many of these illegal immigrants from leaving India, and in securing deportation for those already abroad.In a letter to the Regional Passport Officer, a copy of which is in possession of The Hindu, the Cyberabad police stated that Parimal Bain facilitated 72 Bangladeshi immigrants in securing Indian passports, of which 32 were obtained with a single house address in Bodhan. Till…

The Maltese government has failed to collect any data on the prevalence of racially motivated crimes, or cases related to incitement of racial hate, according to the Council of Europe Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in its 5th Evaluation Opinion.  The existing institutional framework in place that is supposed to fight discrimination is not in line with the Paris Principles, the report added, despite this being a framework pushed forward by European Commissioner Helena Dalli when she was the Minister responsible for its implementation. The Paris Principles are the international minimum standards for…

When the Indian subcontinent was pushed into violent communal turmoil and was being partitioned as its consequence, one person firmly stood out as the guardian of secularism, unity and peace. He was Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. He was, in fact, one of the architects of India’s secular constitution, the pioneer of free and compulsory elementary education in the Indian subcontinent, a preacher of Islam and a statesman of unparalleled wisdom. However, Maulana Azad never attended a formal school, college or university. He was born in Mecca in a conservative Muslim family. He was home-schooled and self-taught and he was a…