Author: Priya Saha

The supporters of the Citizenship Amendment Act argue that minorities are persecuted in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan Protesters oppose the amended Citizenship Act. PTI The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019 makes the provision to provide citizenship to all the religiously persecuted minorities of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh — Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians. The only notable omission here is Muslims. The government believes that since these three countries are Muslim-majority states, there is no question of Muslims being persecuted there. Also, if some Muslim groups like Ahmadiyas in Pakistan are being persecuted, that persecution is based on ‘sectarian lines’…

It was a normal morning in the industrial town of smog-ridden Sialkot in eastern Pakistan. Priyantha Diyawadana was getting ready to go to RAJCO, a sportswear manufacturing factory, where he was a manager. He had been working there since 2010 and was known to the local community as a decent, hardworking and pious man until December 3, 2021. As he left home and approached the factory he could not help but notice that a poster had been pasted on the factory wall. Since it was prohibited to paste posters, Priyantha took it down. What he did not know was that…

I recently read an article by Frank Brennan on the Bill on religious freedom. He quoted a High Court judgment of 1983 in which justices Anthony Mason and Gerard Brennan said this: The freedom to act in accordance with one’s religious beliefs is not as inviolate as the freedom to believe, for general laws to preserve and protect society are not defeated by plea of religious obligation to breach them. Religious conviction is not a solvent of legal obligation. Tortuous prose aside, what exactly is meant? Roughly speaking, it means you can act on your religious beliefs providing you don’t…

Columbia Public Schools Superintendent Brian Yearwood has served in his role for about five months.Yearwood participated Friday in a virtual meet-and-greet with the Columbia nonprofit Minority Men’s Network. Its education foundation provides scholarships to Black seniors at each of the district’s high schools.The network wants to ensure “ethnic minorities are entitled to and equitably participate in all aspects of the community.”Previously: Brian Yearwood takes over as new Columbia Public Schools superintendentCPS achievements and challengesYearwood shared remarks about the district’s achievements and challenges before taking questions from meeting participants.He considers all district students to be scholars, he said.”As learning evolves, we must be able…

This article was originally published here Sci Rep. 2021 Dec 3;11(1):23362. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-02740-y. ABSTRACT Comprehensive research on rural-urban disparities in the association of hyperuricaemia (HUA) with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in China, especially among minority groups, is limited. We explored the HUA-CVD relationship between rural and urban areas within ethnic Chinese groups. We included Dong, Miao, and Bouyei adults in Southwest China from the China Multi-Ethnic Cohort Study. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to assess the relationship between HUA and CVD in both residences. We performed stratified analyses by sex and age. The study population included 16,618 people (37.48% Dong,…

ANI | Updated: Dec 04, 2021 22:36 IST Agartala (Tripura) [India], December 4 (ANI): With the signing of a new agreement on December 2 Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited (TSCEL) on Saturday announced that its agreement with Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) has been renewed till March 2026. “The Government of India (GoI) and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh (GoB), by a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) made on January 11, 2010 had, inter-alia, agreed for power trading between Bangladesh and India at a mutually agreed price and procedure. NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN) was designated as ‘Nodal Agency’ by…

By Shafi Md Mostofa* Bangladesh is once again under the spotlight in the international media for violating minority rights. In October 2021, there were attacks on at least 80 of the 32,000 makeshift temples at the Durga Puja, the biggest annual Hindu festival. Over 3600 attacks on religious minorities took place between 2013 and 2021. These attacks included the vandalism and arson of 559 houses and at least 1678 temples, idols and places of worship. The immediate cause of the recent violence was the defamation of the holy Quran, which was placed on the knee of the Hindu god Hanuman. The masterminds behind these attacks have an agenda of…

Bangladesh has major geopolitical value on its own merits, separate from India or any other country By Anu Anwar & Micheal Kugelman; Foreign Policy Natural disasters, poverty, and overpopulation are the reductive lenses through which many international observers view Bangladesh. While the country’s recent economic success has captured global attention, it is still rarely on the radars of strategic thinkers.  Yet Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming recently delivered a useful reminder about Bangladesh’s strategic significance when he warned that China-Bangladesh relations will suffer if Dhaka joins the Quad, an informal grouping that aims to counterbalance Beijing. During its early years,…

A religiously charged mob beat to death a Sri Lankan factory manager and burned his body over allegations of desecrating an Islamic poster in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Videos circulating on social media show protesters kicking a stripped man and later chanting slogans around his burning body. Police identified the victim as Priyantha Kumara, general manager of Rajco Industry in Sialkot. He was accused of ripping a poster that contained Durood (salutations) on Prophet Muhammad from the factory wall. Usman Buzdar, the chief minister of Punjab, has expressed shock at the “horrific incident” and directed the province’s inspector general to investigate…

India’s criticism of a Pakistani model’s ignorant decision to do a photo-shoot at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur has drawn a strong reaction from Islamabad. The Foreign Office noted that the police was investigating the incident and that Indian media was giving the incident a “mischievous spin” by portraying it as some sort of grand conspiracy, rather than what it was — a brand shared, and then deleted, unsolicited pictures of a model wearing their clothes at the Sikh holy site. Notably, the initial complaints about the incident on social media were not about the photo-shoot itself but the fact…

Natural disasters like cyclone and flood and on-going Covid pandemic have taken a heavy toll on the living standard and livelihood of the Mundas, an ethnic minority community in Bangladesh’s south-western district of Khulna. Most of the Mundas belong to poor wage earner group. They live in 16 remote villages of three unions of Kayra upazila adjacent to the Sunderbans in Khulna. They were hit hard due to cyclone of Amphan in 2020, breach of embankments in August 2020 flood, cyclone Yaas in 2021 and saline water intrusion in their localities due to saline water shrimp cultivation in the area…

Author: Shafi Md Mostofa, University of DhakaBangladesh is once again under the spotlight in the international media for violating minority rights. In October 2021, there were attacks on at least 80 of the 32,000 makeshift temples at the Durga Puja, the biggest annual Hindu festival. Over 3600 attacks on religious minorities took place between 2013 and 2021.These attacks included the vandalism and arson of 559 houses and at least 1678 temples, idols and places of worship. The immediate cause of the recent violence was the defamation of the holy Quran, which was placed on the knee of the Hindu god…