Author: Priya Saha

Pressure has been mounting on President Biden to take Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to task on his war against democracy and human rights in Turkey. The New York Times has also reported that Mr. Biden is expected to declare on Saturday that the Ottoman Empire’s killing of millions of Armenian civilians during World War I was a genocide, an important step in affirming U.S. commitment to human rights.The human rights advocate Merve Tahiroğlu wrote in February about the threat Turkey poses to American interests due to its shameless disregard for international law. That same month, legislators in both the…

Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is the ‘visible patron’ of anti-liberation and extreme communal evil forces. “BNP was involved with the mayhem carried out by Hefazat-e-Islam in Dhaka, Chattogram and Brahmanbaria,” he said while addressing an Iftar items distribution ceremony for distressed and jobless people. From his official residence, Quader virtually joined the ceremony arranged by Dhaka City South unit of Awami League (AL). He said AL stays beside the people in their well and woe since its inception and thus it is the country’s only political party…

A notorious channel on video sharing platform YouTube has been spreading lies against Bangladesh Police with the nefarious agenda of spreading anti-Indian sentiment in the country. Investigative team of BLiTZ has found a YouTube channel named ‘Islamer Khuti’. On April 20, 2021 this channel has uploaded a content titled ‘ভারতীয় পুলিশ দিয়ে উলঙ্গ করে পিটিয়েছে মামুনুল হককে’ (Mamunul Haque stripped and beaten by Indian police). This content has already been viewed by over 153,000 people. Title of this propaganda video clearly proves – operators of this YouTube channel, who definitely are inclined towards Hefazat-e-Islam and other Islamist and militancy forces,…

Ace photographer Raghu Rai was only five years into the profession when the Bangladesh liberation struggle erupted in March 1971. He was dispatched post-haste by The Statesman newspaper to record the exodus of refugees, they would eventually number some 10 million, as they streamed into West Bengal and neighboring states to escape the atrocities being committed by the Pakistani Army. He could immediately empathize with the refugees being a child of Partition himself when he and his family were uprooted from their Jhang hometown in what is now Pakistan. Rai worked at a furious pace sending back images after images…

The Archbishop of York, the Most Revd Stephen, and the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2020 The Archbishop of York, the Most Revd Stephen, and the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2020 THE Archbishops of Canterbury and York have welcomed the report of the Anti-Racism Taskforce and have pledged to implement five of its recommendations immediately: working with the General Synod to co-opt ten ethnic-minority candidates with full voting rights; inviting ethnic-minority clergy as participant observers to House of Bishops meetings until there are six UKME bishops there by right; establishing a racial-justice commission to review and reform the Church’s working practices, and to…

Sammilita Samajik Andolon, a citizen’s platform, today demanded the government to stop giving admission to non-indigenous students in the reserved or quota seats allotted for ethnic minority students. A statement signed by 22 eminent citizens of the country also demanded proper investigation in this regard and termed the whole process as “irregular.” For all latest news, follow The Daily Star’s Google News channel. As per the statement, ethnic minority students are allowed to get admission in reserved seats provided by the government in 37 government medical colleges of Bangladesh which are run under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.…

An independent, bipartisan advisory body has reiterated its call for the U.S. State Department to add Russia to its register of the world’s “worst violators” of religious freedom, a blacklist that already includes Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and six other countries.The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), created by Congress to make recommendations about global religious freedom, proposes in its annual report released on April 21 that Russia, India, Syria, and Vietnam be put on the “countries of particular concern” list, a category reserved for those that carry out “systematic, ongoing, and egregious” violations of religious freedoms. The blacklisting…

You are not signed in as a Premium user; we rely on Premium users to support our news reporting. Sign in or Sign up today! MYMENSINGH, Bangladesh (ChurchMilitant.com) – An Islamist preacher, Wasik Billah Nomani, is urging the mass slaughter of journalists at the hands of Muslims. In a viral video on social media, Nomani was seen threatening journalists with persecution in the coming caliphate. Islamist preacher, Wasik Billah Nomani In the social media video, Nomani proclaimed, “If we can establish the Islamist State, then you will not get time to file news, we will catch and slaughter one by one each…

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has distanced itself from the SC’s one-man commission and expressed “complete disagreement” with the latter’s report that had recommended shifting the entire Islamic content from compulsory subjects like Urdu, English and General Knowledge to Islamiyat. In a press release issued through the ministry of religious affairs, chairman of the NCM Chela Ram Kewlani said that the National Commission for Minorities does not agree with the content of the report presented by the one-man commission to the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He said that following a recent briefing by an education ministry official…

No formal briefing was held from any side after the meeting Top leaders of Hefazat-e-Islam have met Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal at his residence in Dhaka.A delegation of five to six leaders of the Islamist group held a meeting with the minister for over an hour on Monday night, reports Bangla Tribune.Senior police officials were also present at the time.After coming out of the residence around 11:15pm, the leaders declined to make any comments over the meeting.Hefazat Nayeb-e-Ameer Ataullah Hafeji, Secretary General Nurul Islam Jihadi, Qwami Madrasa Education Board (Befaq) Secretary General Mahfuzul Haque, also the brother of Hefazat…

Bangladesh hopes that Southeast Asian nations will put pressure on Myanmar to repatriate displaced Rohingya and bring them home, according to the foreign minister.  AK Abdul Momen said Bangladesh has been bearing the burden of the Rohingya Muslims, who have been seeking shelter in the South Asian country after a mass exodus due to a brutal crackdown by the Myanmar army in 2017.The Rohingya are a persecuted Muslim minority from Rakhine state in western Myanmar. While there have been large migrations of Rohingya to Bangladesh since the 1970s, none was as quick and massive as the August 2017 exodus.”Around 1.1 million persecuted Rohingyas are now…

Expressing concern over the recent arrest of religious leaders and alem-ulema in “false” cases, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday demanded their immediate release. “I earlier said the government launched a crackdown taking advantage of the lockdown over the last few days. It’s arresting BNP leaders and activists, religious leaders and alem-ulema indiscriminately,” he said. For all latest news, follow The Daily Star’s Google News channel. Speaking at a virtual press conference, the BNP leader said it is regrettable that the respected alem-ulema and religious leaders are being arrested and many “false” cases are being filed against them.…