Author: Priya Saha

A report by The All Party Parliamentary Group on Religion in the Media is calling for greater understanding of religious beliefs amongst journalists and reporters. The report ‘Learning to Listen’ is aiming to counter the misrepresentation of religious people and beliefs that it says has become widespread across the British media. The Group said that journalists must be able to question freely and criticise religious beliefs but ‘we all deserve a media which recognises the importance of religious belief, and has the confidence to report on, interrogate, question and discuss it’. In their foreword, co-chairs Yasmin Qureshi MP and Baroness…

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Police in Bangladesh on Sunday arrested an influential leader of an Islamist group that led violent protests against last month’s visit by India’s prime minister to the Muslim-majority nation, officials said. Mamunul Haque of the group Hefazat-e-Islam faces charges of instigating violence, but police did not provide details on specific cases or whether the charges stem from Narendra Modi’s visit. Harunur Rashid, a senior Dhaka Metropolitan Police official, said in a short briefing that Haque was arrested from a madrassa, or Islamic school, in the capital of Dhaka’s Mohammadpur area. Haque, 47, is a leading figure in…

BY- JAYA CHOUDHARY The Yezidis are the Kurdish religious minorities from countries like Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Turkey. With the news focusing on the culture in Iraq, not many people are aware that the Yezidi and Hindu cultures are strikingly close. The two civilizations have had a long relationship dating back to ancient times. The Yazidis used to be nomadic and had therefore migrated to India. This resulted in a massive cultural influx, with some of them staying in India for over four thousand years. They incorporated Hindu culture into their rituals during this time period. The Yazidis light oil…

Well-known journalist, Shahriar Kabir, who was instrumental in rescuing and rehabilitating Purnima, is equally disgusted. Without mincing his words, Kabir said: “Don’t rapes take place in India? It is wrong to drag Bangladesh’s internal issue into India’s election politics. Purnima and her family haven’t given up the fight. She is still the face of protests in Bangladesh. Sheikh Hasina is fond of her.”Fifteen rapists were given 12-15 years prison term in Purnima’s case even as the Awami League government and rights groups supported her wholeheartedly so that she could pursue a degree in electrical engineering from the Daffodil International University.…

When a young woman went to the priest for religious teachings, he and his accomplice her to an isolated spot next to the temple, where they pinned her down and tried to rape her Police on Wednesday arrested a Hindu priest for trying to rape a young woman at Bagha in Golapganj upazila of Sylhet.The arrested was identified as Pran Govinda Das alias Forrest Chauhan, 46, son of Kalu Chauhan of Silimpur village under Delduar upazila of Tangail.The woman filed a case against the priest and his accomplice Dipankar Dev Tapan with Golapganj model police station after the duo attempted…

Fr Rozario hopes his work will help young Catholics to understand five centuries of religious growth Apr 16, 2021 Fr Albert Thomas Rozario’s book is launched by Oblate Archbishop Bejoy N. D’Cruze of Dhaka on April 12 at Holy Rosary Church, Dhaka. (Photo: Robin Bhabuk) By Stephan UttomA senior Catholic priest has authored and published a book that documents the history of Christianity in Bangladesh spanning over five centuries with an aim to inspire young Catholics to better understand the advent and growth of Catholicism amid various challenges. Fr Albert Thomas Rozario’s Bangla-language book Bangladeshey Christodhormo and Christomondolir Etikotha (Christian…

A senior Catholic priest has authored and published a book that documents the history of Christianity in Bangladesh spanning over five centuries with an aim to inspire young Catholics to better understand the advent and growth of Catholicism amid various challenges.Father Albert Thomas Rozario’s Bangla-language book Bangladeshey Christodhormo and Christomondolir Etikotha (Christian Religion and Christianity in Bangladesh) was launched by Oblate Archbishop Bejoy N. D’Cruze of Dhaka on April 12.Father Rozario, 61, is a diocesan priest and pastor of St. Joseph’s Church in the Savar area covered by Dhaka Archdiocese. The priest, who is a Supreme Court lawyer, also teaches…

The Pulse | Security | South Asia Domestic political expediency, history, and ideology have made for a toxic mix in Bangladesh as it celebrates 50 years of independence. Razia Rahman, wife of Faisal Arefin Deepan, breaks down after hearing the court verdict on the killing of her husband in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, February 10, 2021 . A special tribunal in Bangladesh’s capital on Wednesday sentenced to death eight Islamic militants tied to a banned group for the 2015 killing of Deepan, a publisher of books on secularism and atheism. Credit: AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain OpuAdvertisementBangladesh, which has witnessed a surge in Islamist activism over the…

Several Hindu homes were looted and three idols were desecrated at the local temple in Fultala village of Munshiganj union in Shyamnagar upazila Tuesday night Dhaka Tribune The attackers wanted to abduct the victim’s daughter following a dispute between the two parties regarding the harassment of the girl, say locals Assailants attacked multiple homes and one temple belonging to a Hindu community in Satkhira on Tuesday night. At that time, several Hindu homes were looted and three idols were desecrated at the local temple in Fultala village of Munshiganj union in Shyamnagar upazila.Following the incident, lawmen from Shyamnagar police station visited…

The Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrested Sharifullah, assistant publicity secretary of the organisation, at Mir Hajirbagh in the capital’s Jatrabari on Tuesday.Ajhar Mukul, an additional deputy commissioner of DMP’s DB, said Sharifullah had been absconding for a long time in a case over violence in Jatrabari on May 5, 2013. The Hifazat leaders and activists carried out vandalism and arson attacks on vehicles in Jatrabari on that day while fleeing Motijheel after a mayhem, said Mukul.The police started a case under the Special Powers Act over the incident at Jatrabari Police Station the next day, naming Sharifullah and others.He…

TEHRAN – A London-based history professor says that today many people across the world face every day discrimination fuelled by the rise of right-wing movements.“Many – as other minorities – struggle with everyday racism, now further fueled by the rise of right-wing movements,” David Motadel notes. “The situation of minorities in Europe is overall better than anywhere else in the world,” Motadel, associate professor of international history at the London School of Economics and Political Science, tells the Tehran Times.  Motadel who has held visiting positions at Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Sciences Po, and the Sorbonne also believes that “Europe has…

Dr Yolanda Ohene: ‘In science, I’d like to see a breaking down of intellectual elitism’Dr Yolanda Ohene, 29, is a biophysicist at the University of Manchester. After an undergraduate degree in physics at Imperial College London she went on to research at masters level and co-founded Minorities in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), before starting her PhD at UCL.I call myself a biophysicist because I develop MRI techniques focused on neurodegenerative disease. I have a physics background, but it’s segued to the intersection between biology, physics and neuroscience. I was enticed by the biological questions, and when I found…