Author: Priya Saha

A man who was once unaware there were Christians in Bangladesh is a Catholic priest today. On Dec. 30, he was ordained a priest along with five others at St. Mary’s Cathedral in capital Dhaka. “When I was 8 years old, I did not know Bangladesh had any Christian people,” newly ordained Father Biswajit Bernard Bormon told UCA News. However, a local diocesan priest, Father Dominic Sentu Rozario, knew his family and the youngster began to learn about the Catholic faith. Father Bormon, 32, was baptized by Father Rozario in 2002 and in 2003 he joined Little Flower Minor Seminary…

Protests over the carnage of Shia Hazara mine workers in Pakistan’s Quetta has finally ended as the families declared the burial after two central ministers along with the chief minister of Balochistan again visited the site and assured the Hazara community that PM Imran Khan had accepted their demands.India-Pakistan Engage In 5th Gen Warfare As Propaganda War Erupts Over Kashmir, BalochistanThe mourning families were notified that PM Imran Khan, Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmed, and Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa were expected to visit Quetta on Saturday, according to reports.Earlier, the Shia Hazara community in Balochistan’s Quetta had been…

ANI | Updated: Jan 09, 2021 06:52 IST Hong Kong [China], January 9 (ANI): Advocates for Hong Kong’s underprivileged and ethnic minority communities on Friday slammed authorities over the recent mass arrests of 53 former lawmakers and activists, including two of their colleagues and respected rights figures, with one group accusing authorities of striking at the city’s core values.Several rights groups lambasted local authorities for what they called a misapplication of the national security law imposed by Beijing while pointing to their colleagues’ years of service to disadvantaged communities and questioning how they could have violated the law, reported South…

The Hindu Parishad of Bangladesh organized a demonstration at Dhaka’s Shahbagh intersection, protesting the recent attack on a Hindu temple in Karak district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The organization gathered with the intention of rallying from the National Press Club to the Pakistani High Commission in Gulshan, and then surrounding the embassy. However, being obstructed by police, their protest program was cut short and their demonstration ended peacefully at Shahbagh. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered that a Hindu temple, which was set on fire and damaged by supporters of a local cleric in the country’s Karak…

Amid growing conflict between religious liberty and other civil rights, a diverse coalition of pastors, policymakers and advocacy groups is calling for an overhaul of America’s most notable religious freedom law outside of the Constitution. The group has asked the incoming Biden administration to restore the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to its “original intent” by passing a controversial bill that would keep religious organizations from using it to seek faith-based exemptions from some health care, funding and nondiscrimination laws. The Do No Harm Act “would preserve the law’s power to protect religious freedom, but also clarify that it can’t be…

Dhaka [Bangladesh], January 8 (ANI): In the wake of Pakistani authorities attacking religious minorities in the country, activists staged a protest in the Bangladeshi capital on Friday.The protesters included Sumon Kumar Roy, president of Bangladesh Hindu Bar Association; Kapil Krishna Mandal, general secretary of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Bangladesh Branch and Subir Kanti Saha, convener of Hindu Parishad.These protests come in the backdrop of a temple that had been set on fire and was vandalised in the Karak district of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. On December 30, a mob of over a hundred people led by local Muslim clerics…

Bangladeshi religious minority groups have urged the government to introduce the reading of scriptures of all four major religions at the beginning of parliamentary sessions and state ceremonies. Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC), the country’s largest minority group, made the call during a virtual conference this week. Parliamentary sessions and state programs in Muslim-majority Bangladesh now begin with a recitation from the Quran. BHBCUC leaders say introducing readings from the holy books of the four major religions would be a significant symbolic gesture to behold pluralism in Bangladesh on the eve of the country’s golden jubilee of independence…

The vandalized sculpture of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the intersection of five roads in Kushtia city on December 5, 2020 Dhaka Tribune Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Baki Billah on Thursday set a new date for the submission of the report A Dhaka court has fixed February 3 for the submission of the probe report in the sedition cases lodged against Acting Secretary General of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish Maolana Muhammad Mamunul Haque, Islami Andolon Bangladesh chief Syed Fazlul Karim and Hefazat-e-Islam Ameer Junayed Babunagari, over their anti-sculpture remarks.A case was scheduled to be initiated on Thursday but the Police Bureau…

The Chinese embassy in Baghdad has responded to US accusations that China is committing human rights abuses against religious minorities in the Xinjiang region, accusing the US of “interference in China’s internal affairs,” Shafaq news agency reported. The US embassy in Baghdad issued a statement on 5 January accusing the Chinese Communist Party of violating the rights of religious minorities in Xinjiang, inhabited by the Muslim Uyghur minority. The Chinese embassy in Baghdad replied in a statement, blaming the US for: “Spreading rumours, attacking China and arbitrarily distorting its reputation.” The statement added: “The [US] statement is complete nonsense, and…

That the first visit of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul- Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi to West Bengal after announcing his party’s intention to contest the forthcoming Assembly poll in the state on Sunday was headlined by his meeting with Muslim cleric and ‘youth leader’ Abbas Siddiqui at Furfura Sharif in Hooghly is significant. Equally so was his comment after the meeting: “We will work with Abbas Siddiqui. We will work behind him and support whatever decision he takes.” Leaving the details of whether the AIMIM will form an alliance with Siddiqui (who is considering launching his own party)…

In a senseless targeting of innocent citizens, a group of terrorists attacked and killed 11 coal miners and injured four in Mach, Balochistan, on January 3. The poor miners were picked up, taken away with their hands tied and were slaughtered in the nearby mountains. All belonged to the minority Hazara tribe — who mostly belong to the Shia sect. The killing sent shockwaves of fear and anger across the country. The militant group, Islamic State, has accepted responsibility but details are awaited. This grave and tragic incident has not happened for the first time and sadly there are no…

DHAKA: Bangladeshi authorities on Sunday denied accusations that a Rohingya photographer in judicial custody was arrested for documenting the relocation of refugees from Cox’s Bazar to a controversial island camp in the Bay of Bengal. Rights activists, including Bianca Jagger and Bangladeshi filmmaker Shaifur Rahman, on Friday called for the release of Abul Kalam, who they said was taking photographs of buses with Rohingya refugees on their way to the Bhasan Char island. A second group of more that 1,804 Rohingya refugees — members of an ethnic and religious minority group who have fled violence and persecution in Myanmar — were…