Author: Priya Saha

Joint Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan police, Mahbubur Rahman on Wednesday said that the Hefazat militants have confessed to creating a Taliban state in Bangladesh, similar to Afghanistan.Rahman said: “The militants have said that several Jamaat-e-Islam and Hefazat leaders are linked to the militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Besides, the police have also collected various pieces of evidence in connection with the matter. Mamunul Huq and Harun Izhar, the Islamist radicals led the massacre and anarchy to oust the government headed by Sheikh Hasina, mostly funded by the militant outfit of Pakistan.Those are determined to create a Taliban state in Bangladesh that…

IN an unprecedented move last week, the European Parliament took Pakistan to task over human rights violations, growing religious intolerance and shrinking freedom of expression in the country. A resolution was adopted which called for an immediate review of Pakistan’s eligibility for GSP-Plus status. The withdrawal of the concession could deal a serious blow to our exports to the European Union. It may not be the first time that questions have been raised about our dismal human rights record by the international community, but the latest EU parliamentary resolution is much more damning and consequential. The criticism not only reflects…

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — Discrimination among homeowners is a topic local advocates say is not often addressed. One local non-profit is working hard to raise the percentage of minority homeowners and believes it starts with transparency and education.”It’s this history of discrimination that has left them with such few resources for them even to enter the housing market,” said Dr. Amber Crowell, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Fresno State.Housing Discrimination toward minorities in Fresno County is a topic Dr. Amber Crowell says dates back decades.”Neighborhoods, where black people and people of Mexican origin lived, were marked as the most hazardous…

Originally Published: 04 MAY 21 18:20 ETBy Jennifer Hansler and Alex Marquardt, CNN    (CNN) — Progress on women’s rights in Afghanistan could be at risk with the withdrawal of US and international troops, even if the Taliban doesn’t fully take power, according to a newly declassified US intelligence report.The National Intelligence Council assessed that the progress made over the last two decades “probably owes more to external pressure than domestic support, suggesting it would be at risk after coalition withdrawal, even without Taliban efforts to reverse it.””Although the Taliban’s fall officially ended some policies (restricting the rights of women), many continue…

And just like that, the spring semester is over for some students.Graduation ceremonies for Salina Area Technical College’s Class of 2021 will be at 5 p.m. Saturday in the Tony’s Pizza Events Center. Attendance is limited to nine guests invited by the student and holding tickets to the event. Masking will be required when inside the building.Guest speaker is Chief Warrant Officer Four Brent Campbell, Senior Ordnance Officer with the 235th Regiment of the Kansas Army National Guard.In all, 137 students are candidates for graduation; a record 60 are earning an Associate of Applied Science degree, while the rest are…

The apology marked the 500th anniversary of the Spanish conquest and 200 years of Mexican independence from Spain.Mexico’s government has offered an official apology to the Maya Indigenous people for the “terrible abuses” committed against them in the centuries since the Spanish conquest. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador presented the apology as part of a series of events this year marking the 500th anniversary of the conquest and the bicentennial of Mexico’s 1821 independence from Spain. “We offer the most sincere apologies to the Maya people for the terrible abuses committed by individuals and national and foreign authorities in the…

(May 4, 2021 / Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies) Though American foreign policy has always vacillated, its actual practice has managed at least the appearance of consistency. But in a period when American society as a whole is undergoing a psychodrama regarding race, class, history, climate and “whiteness,” it is not surprising that diplomats have been affected. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield are telling examples of intellectual trends among both American elites and the institution of American diplomacy. For both, there are extraordinary crises that must be addressed immediately by…

In a clear attempt to turn Malaysian Muslims against the country’s Christian minority, a controversial book labels Christians “the enemies of Islam” who harbor ill intentions and spread lies.The subversive tract warns of a grand Christian conspiracy that seeks to undermine the mainstream Muslim nature of Malaysian society and bears the imprimatur of no less a religious entity than the Selangor Islamic Religious Council, a prominent Muslim organization. First published in 2014, the hardback called Pendedahan Agenda Kristian (Exposing the Christian Agenda) is now available online in a digital format and is reportedly being shared widely by Malaysian Muslims. Subscribe to…

By S. Binodkumar Singh* On April 28, 2021, Mufti Habibullah Mahmud Kashemi, a Central Committee member of Hefazat-e-Islam (HeI, ‘Protectorate of Islam’) was arrested from the Vatara area of Dhaka city for his alleged involvement in violence during street protests in March 2021. On April 23, 2021, Nur Hossain Noorani, a central leader of HeI and president of the anti-Ahmadiyya group Khatme Nabuwat Andolon Bangladesh, was arrested from the Munshirhat area of Munshiganj District for his alleged involvement in attacks on Police personnel on March 28, 2021. On April 22, 2021, three HeI leaders were arrested from three different places…

Last week a jury found Derek Chauvin guilty of murdering George Floyd. With that verdict, the trial of one police officer came to an end and a renewed conversation about policing in America and use of excessive force has begun.It’s something I’ve explored from all perspectives, as a psychologist whose expertise lies in the development and management of aggressive behavior, especially in high-risk environments. Several years ago, my team was awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Justice to work with state and federal agencies and the police department of a large municipality to help come up with a plan…

Researchers and ethnic minority rights activists on Monday demanded that the government should protect fountains and streams in hills to minimise recurring water crisis in summer in three hill districts. The disappearing natural forest, lifting of stones for building infrastructure and expanding tourism are causing water sources to run dry and water channels to disappear in Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban, they said. ‘Laws protecting environment and water bodies in Bangladesh do not consider streams as water bodies,’ said ecology and biodiversity conservation researcher Pavel Partha. The water crisis has persisted among hill dwellers for quite some time now, affecting their…

A few weeks ago, a shaky video did the rounds on social networks. It showed a group of men armed with sledgehammers hacking away first at the domes and then at the Shahada, the Muslim profession of faith (“There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah”), carved in stone on the front of a building. The film could easily have been mistaken for footage of some incident in India, where radical Hindu mobs have recently attacked and destroyed a number of mosques. But the recording was not made in India, it was made in the…