DHAKA: Bangladesh’s chief justice and central bank governor have resigned, officials said on Saturday, as student protests that forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee have widened to target more officials appointed during her time in office.
Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan resigned, the law ministry’s adviser Asif Nazrul said in a Facebook video post, after students warned him of “dire consequences” if he did not. Reuters could not immediately contact Hassan.
Nazrul, an adviser in the new caretaker government, urged protesters to remain peaceful. “Don’t damage any public property,” he said in the post.
Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder has also resigned but his resignation has not been accepted given the importance of the position, finance ministry adviser Salehuddin Ahmed told reporters. Reuters could not contact Talukder.
Days earlier, four deputy governors were forced to resign after about 300 to 400 bank officials protested against what they said was corruption by top officials.
The vice chancellor of Dhaka University, A.S.M. Maksud Kamal, has also resigned, the university said. Reuters was unable to contact Kamal.
The university has been the epicenter of deadly protests that escalated in July against quotas in government jobs before morphing into an oust-Hasina campaign.
Hasina has been sheltering in New Delhi since Monday following the uprising that killed about 300 people, many of them students, ending her uninterrupted rule of 15 years in the South Asian nation of 170 million people.
Since her departure, the country has also seen the appointment of a new police chief as part of a shake-up of the security top brass that also included a new head of the technical intelligence monitoring agency and changes among senior army officials.
Bangladesh chief justice, head of central bank resign amid protests
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Bangladesh chief justice, head of central bank resign amid protests
- Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan resigned after students warned him of “dire consequences,” says law ministry adviser
- Bangladesh uprising last month claimed around 300 lives, many of them students, forcing Sheikh Hasina to flee country
Pakistan says illegal immigration to Europe down 47 percent amid major crackdown
- Over 1,700 human smugglers arrested nationwide this year, interior ministry says
- EU praises Pakistan’s efforts as Brussels, Islamabad agree to deepen cooperation
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has achieved a 47 percent drop in illegal immigration to Europe this year, with more than 1,700 human smugglers arrested as part of an expanded nationwide crackdown, the interior ministry said on Thursday.
The announcement followed Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s meeting in Brussels with European Union Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner, where both sides discussed efforts to curb human smuggling and strengthen migration cooperation.
Pakistan intensified action against illegal migration in 2023 after hundreds of migrants, including 262 Pakistanis, drowned when an overcrowded vessel sank off the Greek town of Pylos, one of the deadliest boat disasters in the Mediterranean. Authorities say they continue to target networks sending citizens abroad through dangerous routes, following heightened scrutiny at airports and a series of arrests involving forged documents.
“Commissioner Magnus Brunner paid strong tribute to the Government of Pakistan for achieving a 47 percent reduction in attempts to reach Europe through illegal ‘dunki’ routes during the past year and described Pakistan’s measures as exemplary,” the interior ministry said in a statement.
“Dunki routes” refer to irregular migration paths used by smugglers to move people across multiple borders toward Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Pakistani authorities say the routes are controlled by transnational criminal networks that also engage in document fraud and other illicit activities.
“Mohsin Naqvi stated that 1,770 human smugglers and their agents have been arrested in Pakistan this year, which clearly reflects the government’s zero-tolerance policy against illegal immigration,” the interior ministry said.
It added that Pakistan and the EU agreed to coordinate future strategies against illegal immigration, human smuggling and drug trafficking, including deeper information-sharing between law enforcement bodies. Brunner would soon visit Pakistan to acknowledge the country’s efforts and discuss next steps in reducing irregular migration flows, the statement said.
It also quoted Naqvi as saying that the nexus between smuggling networks, drug mafias and militant groups posed a major challenge to Pakistan and required “international cooperation to confront it.”
Earlier in December, Pakistan announced it would roll out an AI-based immigration screening system in Islamabad from January next year to detect forged travel documents and prevent illegal departures.
In September, Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency released a list of more than 100 of the country’s “most wanted” human smugglers as part of its ongoing nationwide operation, identifying major hubs of trafficking activity across Punjab and the capital.
