Author: Priya Saha

A veteran journalist, who reported on the 1971 conflict, writes a vivid account of the happenings in East Pakistan and Calcutta With a ringside view of events in the run-up to Bangladesh’s liberation war as a cub reporter of the Calcutta newspaper,The Statesman, Manash Ghosh’s book Bangladesh War: Report from Ground Zero is a page-turner. It turned out to be a serendipitous assignment when Ghosh was sent to cover the Second Asian Highway Car Rally (November 15, 1970), to the India-East Pakistan border at Petrapole-Benapole, where he ran into people willing to disclose what was happening in then East Pakistan.From…

As the Indian government is preparing to present its annual budget to the parliament early next week, experts have urged for increasing allocations for the welfare of minority communities to allow them to progress horizontally along with other groups in the country.According to the 2011 census, the religious minorities comprised 19.3% of the total 1.21 billion population of India. It included 14.2% Muslims, 2.3% Christians, 1.7% Sikhs, 0.7% Buddhists, and the rest 0.4 % minuscule minorities like Parsis, Jains, and others.A report recently released by the New Delhi-based Institute of Policy Studies and Advocacy stated that in previous years the…

January 28, 2022 9:05 PM By GRANT PECK – Associated Press Posted: January 28, 2022 9:05 PM Updated: January 28, 2022 11:44 PM Peter Dejong – staff, APFILE – In this Dec. 11, 2019, file photo, Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi waits to address judges of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. The army takeover in Myanmar a year ago that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi brought a shocking end to the effort to restore democratic rule in the Southeast Asian country after decades of military rule. But at least as surprising…

COVID-hit India will be bolstered by the return of key players, including skipper Yash Dhull, when the record four-time champions meet holders Bangladesh in the third quarterfinal of the U-19 Cricket World Cup here on Saturday. Most of the half a dozen India players, who were affected by the dreaded virus, have recovered and are set to feature in the crucial clash. However, Nishant Sindhu, who was stand-in captain of the team, has tested positive and will miss the match. He will be replaced by Aneeshwar Gautam in the squad. Six players — Dhull, his deputy Shaik Rasheed, Sidharth Yadav,…

Ilhan Omar, the scandalous member of the US Congress who had earlier married her own brother and also committed numerous types of crimes including immigration fraud keeps throwing a nonstop pity party for herself as the notorious bigot who constantly claims to be the victim – in other words, tries to tell the world that every radical Muslim in the United States, who are favoring Islamization of America are “victims” of the state machinery and media. According to eminent writer and research-scholar Daniel Greenfield, Ilhan Omar is actually powerful and privileged and has risen to a position of power in…

Bangladeshi government officials this week had their first meeting with Burmese junta representatives on the issue of repatriating Rohingya refugees who are sheltering in Bangladesh. The repatriation talks, the first in more than a year, have been moving at a snail’s pace since more than 700,000 of Myanmar’s stateless Rohingya ethnic minority fled to southeastern Bangladesh in August 2017 after a brutal military offensive against them in Rakhine, their home state. Bangladesh noted that it was dismayed at Myanmar’s tardiness in the vetting and verifying of Rohingya refugees, a statement issued Friday by Dhaka’s foreign ministry said about the meeting a…

A Chinese software company sanctioned by the United States in 2019 for its surveillance of the Uyghur minority turns out to be a major sponsor in the upcoming Beijing 2022 Olympics. The Washington Free Beacon reported that iFlytek has been awarded exclusive supplier of the Beijing Winter Olympics’ automated translation software out of its ties with the Chinese Communist Party’s surveillance schemes on the Uyghurs and other minority groups. iFlytek is one among the artificial intelligence firms sanctioned by the U.S. Commerce department because of their “human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary…

Local organization receives grant to support victims of family violenceCOLUMBUS — Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has announced over $2.5 million in grants for victim service agencies to support victims of family violence, domestic violence and dating violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. Concerned Citizens Against Violence Against Women Inc. (Turning Point) in Marion will receive a grant for $87,772.55.The funding comes from the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) supplemental funding federal grant program. In total, 42 grants were awarded to 40 local agencies in 35 counties.Funding will support the establishment, maintenance and expansion of programs that prevent incidents of…

In an apparent swipe at former vice president Hamid Ansari, senior BJP leader and Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Friday that the “Bharat bashing brigade” is engaged in a competition of “lynching” of the country’s culture, commitment and Constitution”. At a virtual panel discussion organised by the Indian American Muslim Council on Wednesday, Ansari had said there has been emergence of trends and practices that dispute the well-established principle of civic nationalism and interpose a new and imaginary practice of cultural nationalism.  And it wants to distinguish citizens on the basis of their faith, give vent…

BEIJING (REUTERS) – China has agreed to let the UN’s human rights chief visit Xinjiang in the first half of 2022 after the Beijing Winter Olympics, according to a report in the South China Morning Post, which cited unnamed sources. The United States and rights groups have criticised China’s human rights record in the treatment of Uighurs, a Muslim ethnic minority in Xinjiang. Beijing denies all allegations of abuse and has described its policies as necessary to combat religious extremism. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has been pursuing negotiations with China on a visit since September 2018. China’s Foreign…

A total of 12 human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have written to the UN calling for the removal of RAB from UN peacekeeping missions. In December, the United States imposed sanctions on the Bangladesh Police Special Forces Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and a total of six former and current officers for alleged involvement in “grave human rights abuses.”Twelve international non-governmental organizations have recently written a letter to the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations peacekeeping mission. Different types of propaganda and speculation are going to be noticed here. They said that the RAB of Bangladesh is…

ROME – One of Iraq’s leading Catholic prelates has said the quest for unity among Christians should not focus on the pursuit of uniformity but should rather embrace the diversity of the various rites and traditions in Catholicism. These varying rites and customs, he said, should not be sources of division, but opportunities to understand and respect the rich diversity of the global Christian community. Speaking at an event for the close of the international Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon Luis Raphael Sako said the annual observance is an opportunity for God to both enlighten…