DHAKA: A court in southeastern Bangladesh on Tuesday rescheduled a bail hearing for a jailed prominent Hindu leader who led large rallies in the Muslim-majority country demanding better security for minority groups.
Krishna Das Prabhu, who was arrested in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, last week, faces charges of sedition after he led huge rallies in the southeastern city of Chattogram. Hindu groups say there have been thousands of attacks against Hindus since early August, when the secular government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was overthrown.
Prabhu’s arrest comes as tensions spiked following reports of the desecration of the Indian flag across Bangladesh, with some burning it and others laying it on the floor for people to step on.
Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned India’s envoy, Pranay Verma, a day after a group of Hindus in Agartala, the capital of the northeastern Indian state of Tripura, stormed a consulate office of Bangladesh in protest over Prabhu’s arrest.
Anti-India protests were held in Dhaka, where security at the Indian High Commission was increased, and elsewhere over the incident in Agartala.
Relations between India and Bangladesh deteriorated after Hasina fled to India in the wake of mass protests which left hundreds of protesters dead and thousands wounded. India has since stopped issuing visas for Bangladeshi nationals, except for medical treatment.
India, which sheltered 10 million refugees and helped Bangladesh gain independence through a nine-month bloody war against Pakistan in 1971, considers Hasina as a trusted friend. Hasina’s father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was the independence leader of Bangladesh, then the eastern part of present day Pakistan.
The detention of Prabhu sparked violent protests by his supporters. A Muslim lawyer was hacked to death near the court in Chattogram hours after the news of his jailing surfaced and his supporters clashed with security forces. The situation caused concern in Hindu-majority India and the Bangladesh interim government, led by Nobel peace laurate Muhammad Yunus.
No reason was given why Prabhu, also known as Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, did not attend Tuesday’s court hearing.
Public Prosecutor Mofizul Haque Bhuiyan told The Associated Press by phone that Chattogram Metropolitan Session Judge Saiful Islam ordered a bail hearing be held on Jan. 2 after the prosecution petitioned for more time to study the case. He also said no defense lawyer represented Prabhu in court.
Two Hindu leaders who are close to Prabhu said that they were afraid to attend the court as many of the lawyers who represented Prabhu had faced cases after last week’s violence.
“A group of lawyers stood last time for him (Prabhu). Cases have been filed against at least 70 of them and many others willing to take part in the hearing today have been threatened,” one Hindu leader in Chattogram told the AP on condition of anonymity.
“Why was he (Prabhu) not brought to the court today? He is in police custody. He could have spoken for himself before the court if he was taken to the court. It’s a ploy to delay his release from prison, this is not justice,” the leader said.
In Dhaka, a group of Islamists under the banner of Islamic Movement Bangladesh rallied in front of the country’s main Baitul Mukarram Mosque in protest at Monday’s incident in Agartala. Another group, under the banner of Bangladesh Citizens’ Society, separately marched through the streets.
Protests were also organized by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, in Barishal and Khulna cities. Hasina and Zia are arch rivals.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs said Monday that the attack on the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala was “deeply regrettable.”
“Diplomatic and consular properties should not be targeted under any circumstances,” a ministry statement said.
It added that India was stepping up security arrangements at the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi and other diplomatic offices in the country.
Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the attack in Agartala and demanded security to prevent any further acts of violence against its diplomatic missions in India.
“The accounts received conclusively attest that the protesters were allowed to aggress into the premises by breaking down the main gate of Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in a pre-planned manner,” the foreign ministry said.
The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, an umbrella organization of the country’s minority groups, has denounced the arrest of Prabhu and called for his release.
Prabhu is a spokesman for the Bangladesh Sammilito Sanatan Jagaran Jote group. He was also associated with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, widely known as the Hare Krishna movement.
Hindus and members of other minority groups say they have faced attacks since the ouster of Hasina. Yunus has said the threat to Hindus has been exaggerated.
Around 91 percent of Bangladesh’s population is Muslim, with Hindus making up almost all of the rest.
Bangladesh has faced political and social tensions since Hasina’s fall after a mass uprising ended her 15-year rule. Her critics had accused her of becoming autocratic.
The interim government has been struggling to establish order amid a background of mob justice, street protests, police administration issues and political uncertainty, with Yunus repeatedly urging for calm.
Bangladesh court defers Hindu leader’s bail hearing as tensions with India spike
https://arab.news/4z7ga
Bangladesh court defers Hindu leader’s bail hearing as tensions with India spike

- Krishna Das Prabhu, who was arrested in Bangladesh’s capital last week, faces charges of sedition after he led rallies in Chattogram
- Hindu groups say there have been thousands of attacks against them since August, when secular government of PM Hasina was overthrown
EU chief warns a failed Ukraine would ‘weaken the United States’

MUNICH: EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Friday warned that forcing Ukraine into a bad deal would harm US interests, as she urged President Donald Trump to work together for a “just peace.”
“A failed Ukraine would weaken Europe, but it would also weaken the United States,” von der Leyen said at the Munich Security Conference.
Europe quietly works on a plan to send troops to Ukraine for post-war security

- Britain and France are at the forefront of the effort, though details remain scarce
- “I won’t get into the particular capabilities, but I do accept that if there is peace then there needs to be some sort of security guarantee for Ukraine,” Starmer said
BRUSSELS: Increasingly alarmed that US security priorities lie elsewhere, a group of European countries has been quietly working on a plan to send troops into Ukraine to help enforce any future peace settlement with Russia.
Britain and France are at the forefront of the effort, though details remain scarce. The countries involved in the discussions are reluctant to tip their hand and give Russian President Vladimir Putin an edge should he agree to negotiate an end to the war he launched three years ago.
What is clear is that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky needs a guarantee that his country’s security will be assured until peace takes hold. The best protection would be the NATO membership that Ukraine has long been promised, but the US has taken that option off the table.
“I won’t get into the particular capabilities, but I do accept that if there is peace then there needs to be some sort of security guarantee for Ukraine and the UK will play its part in that,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in cautious remarks on Thursday.
The Europeans began exploring what kind of force might be needed about a year ago, but the sense of urgency has grown amid concern that US President Donald Trump might go over their heads, and possibly even Ukraine’s, to clinch a deal with Putin.
Many questions remain unanswered but one stands out: what role, if any, might the United States play?
European powers consider the road ahead
In December, after Trump was elected but before he took office, a group of leaders and ministers huddled with Zelensky at NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s residence in Brussels. They came from Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. Top European Union officials attended too.
The talks built on an idea promoted by French President Emmanuel Macron in early 2024. At the time his refusal to rule out putting troops on the ground in Ukraine prompted an outcry, notably from the leaders of Germany and Poland.
Macron appeared isolated on the European stage, but his plan has gained traction since.
Still, much about what the force might look like and who will take part will depend on the terms of any peace settlement, and more.
Italy has constitutional limits on the use of its forces. The Netherlands would need a greenlight from its parliament, as would Germany, whose position could evolve after the Feb. 23 elections usher in a new government. Poland is cautious, given lingering animosities with Ukraine that date from World War II.
A robust security force rather than peacekeepers
The makeup and role of the force will be dictated by the kind of peace deal that’s reached. If Russia and Ukraine can agree terms as the negotiations progress, it’s plausible that fewer security precautions and a smaller force would be needed.
But experts and officials warn that, as things stand, the Europeans must deploy a robust and sizeable contingent, rather than a team of peacekeepers like United Nations “blue helmets.”
“It has to be a real force (so) that the Russians know that if they ever tested it that they would get crushed. And you can be sure that Russia will test it,” Ben Hodges, the former Commanding General of US Army Europe, said last month at a European Policy Center think tank event.
“They violate every single agreement. So if we send a force in there, they’ve got to have airpower, large land forces, drones, counter-drones, air and missile defense. All of that,” he said. “If they go in there with a bunch of blue helmets and rifles, they will get crushed.”
Retired French General Dominique Trinquand, a former head of France’s military mission at the United Nations, agreed that UN peacekeepers are better suited “for deployment in zones that are far more stable.”
“For starters, mounting this operation with soldiers taken from across the world would take about a year,” he said.
How big a force?
The nature of the peace deal will determine the size and location of the European contingent. Zelensky has insisted on at least 100,000 to 150,000 troops. Media reports have speculated about a 30,000-40,000 strong force. Diplomats and officials have not confirmed either figure.
Ukraine also wants air support, not just boots on the ground.
What is clear is that the Europeans would struggle to muster a large-scale force, and certainly could not do it quickly.
In an interview on Friday with the Financial Times, Macron said that the idea of deploying a huge force is “far-fetched.”
“We have to do things that are appropriate, realistic, well thought, measured and negotiated,” he said.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted this week on “robust international oversight of the line of contact,” a reference to the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) long front line. The Europeans are reluctant as that would require too many troops.
Nearly all agree that some kind of “American backstop” is essential. European armed forces have long relied on superior US logistics, air transport and other military capabilities.
The US lays down some rules
At NATO headquarters on Wednesday, Hegseth began describing the terms under which the US might agree to a force that would help provide Ukraine with the “robust security guarantees to ensure that the war will not begin again.”
“Any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops,” Hegseth told almost 50 of Ukraine’s Western backers. If they go to Ukraine, he said, “they should be deployed as part of a non-NATO mission.”
Putin has said that he launched the invasion in part due to NATO territory expanding too close to Russia’s borders and is unlikely to accept any operation run by the world’s biggest military organization.
Any European allies taking part would not benefit from NATO’s collective security guarantee if they were attacked, Hegseth said. He underlined that “there will not be US troops deployed to Ukraine.”
He did not reveal what role the US might play.
From Ukraine’s perspective, a Europe-only operation simply would not work. “Any security guarantees are impossible without the Americans,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Sybiha warned on Thursday.
Belarus committing ‘crimes against humanity’: UN investigators

- “The government of Belarus has committed widespread human rights violations against the country’s civilian population,” a UN group of independent experts said
- The report said: “the crime against humanity of persecution on political grounds has been committed against Belarusians perceived as being critical of, or opposed to, the government“
GENEVA: Serious human rights violations remain rampant in Belarus, United Nations investigators said Friday, adding that some of the abuses by President Alexander Lukashenko’s government amounted to crimes against humanity.
“The government of Belarus has committed widespread human rights violations against the country’s civilian population, some amounting to crimes against humanity, as part of a brutal effort to quash all opposition” to Lukashenko’s rule, a UN group of independent experts said in a statement.
Publishing its first report since its establishment nearly a year ago, the group said it had documented “egregious violations,” including widespread torture, and warned that arbitrary arrests and detention on politically motivated grounds had “become a fixture of the tactics of Belarusian authorities.”
Among its conclusions, the report said “the crime against humanity of persecution on political grounds has been committed against Belarusians perceived as being critical of, or opposed to, the government.”
The expert group was created last April by the UN Human Rights Council, and tasked with investigating and establishing “the facts, circumstances and root causes of all alleged human rights violations and abuses committed in Belarus” since May 1, 2020.
The experts, who are independent and do not speak for the United Nations, were also asked to “collect, consolidate, preserve and analyze evidence of such violations and abuses and, where possible, to identify those responsible,” to help bring them to justice.
Belarus was gripped by months of unprecedented anti-government demonstrations after an August 2020 election resulted in a sixth term for Lukashenko — a staunch ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Lukashenko went on to win a seventh term last month in what critics termed a “sham election.”
The 2020 protests were followed by a brutal crackdown.
The UN experts said they conducted nearly 200 interviews in person and remotely with victims, witnesses and others in exile, and examined a large trove of video, photo and other documents for their report.
They said they had gathered “ample evidence” that men and women arrested on politically motivated grounds between 2020 and 2024 “were subjected to torture and ill-treatment at all stages of their detention.”
They reported beatings, electric shocks and rape threats against both detainees and their partners.
“Security forces displayed marked brutality toward LGBTIQ+ individuals, using physical violence and dehumanizing language,” the experts said.
People detained on politically motivated grounds in penal colonies across the country had meanwhile “described a discriminatory regime of detention designed not only to punish them, but also to crush any form of political resistance,” the report said.
It also highlighted how the Belarusian government last year adopted measures that “purged most potential sources of dissent and opposition,” including through enhanced digital surveillance used to monitor online activities, often leading to prosecutions.
Last year alone, at least 228 civil society organizations were “liquidated,” it said.
The experts called on the Belarusian government to immediately release all those unlawfully or arbitrarily detained, and to promptly launch independent and transparent investigations into all abuses, especially those thought to amount to crimes against humanity.
And the group called on the international community to help ensure accountability for the abuses, including through universal jurisdiction.
German president: accept that US won’t heed international rules

- “We have to accept that and we can deal with it,” Steinmeier said at the Munich Security Conference
FRANKFURT: Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the international community will have to deal with a disregard by the new US administration for established diplomatic rules.
“The new American administration has a very different world view to ours, one that has no regard for established rules, partnership and grown trust,” said the German head of state, whose office is largely ceremonial.
“We have to accept that and we can deal with it. But I am convinced that it is not in the interests of the international community for this world view to become the dominant paradigm,” he added, speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Friday.
Afghan national confesses to Munich car ramming that injured 36, prosecutor says

- At least 36 people including a child were hurt on Thursday
MUNICH: An Afghan national has admitted to purposefully driving into a crowd in the German city of Munich and authorities have determined an Islamist motive for the crime, a prosecutor said on Friday.
At least 36 people including a child were hurt on Thursday when the 24-year-old man plowed into demonstrators gathered in the city center, putting security back in focus before next week’s federal election.
“He has admitted that he deliberately drove into the participants of the demonstration,” prosecutor Gabriele Tilmann told a press conference.
“I’m very cautious about making hasty judgments, but based on everything we know at the moment, I would venture to speak of an Islamist motivation for the crime,” she added.
The suspected attack came hours before international leaders including US Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the southern German city for the Munich Security Conference.
Tilmann said there was no evidence to suggest the suspect, identified as Farhad Noori, was affiliated with any Islamist or terrorist organizations.
She added that there was no indication of any accomplices, but that investigators were evaluating his communications and items obtained during searches to ascertain whether anyone had prior knowledge of the crime or was involved.
German authorities say the Afghan national arrived in Germany as an unaccompanied minor in 2016, and that he was in Germany legally with a work permit and was therefore not due to be deported. He does not have any prior convictions.
Immigration and security issues have dominated campaigning ahead of the February 23 election, especially after other violent incidents in recent weeks, with polls showing the center-right conservatives leading followed by the far right.