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
TikTok is restoring service in US, thanks Trump
- TikTok stopped working for US users late Saturday before law shutting it down on national security grounds took effect
- US officials had warned that under Chinese parent company ByteDance, there was a risk of Americans’ data being misused
WASHINGTON: TikTok said on Sunday it was restoring its service after President-elect Donald Trump said he would revive the app’s access in the US when he returns to power on Monday.
The statement came after US users reported being able to access the Chinese-owned service’s website while the far more widely used TikTok app itself began coming back online for some users with just a few basic services.
“In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service,” TikTok said in a statement that thanked Trump for “providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties (for) providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive.”
TikTok stopped working for US users late on Saturday before a law shutting it down on national security grounds took effect on Sunday. US officials had warned that under Chinese parent company ByteDance, there was a risk of Americans’ data being misused.
Trump said he would “extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.”
“I would like the United States to have a 50 percent ownership position in a joint venture,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Trump said the executive order would specify there would be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before his order.
Trump had earlier said he would most likely give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from the ban after he takes office, a promise TikTok cited in a notice posted to users on the app.
“A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the US Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned,” a message notified users of TikTok, which disappeared from Apple and Google app stores late on Saturday.
Even if temporary, the unprecedented shutdown of TikTok is set to have a wide-ranging impact on US-China relations, US politics, the social media marketplace and millions of Americans who depend on the app economically and culturally.
Trump saving TikTok represents a reversal in stance from his first term in office. In 2020, he aimed to ban the short-video app over concerns the company was sharing Americans’ personal info with the Chinese government. More recently, Trump has said he has “a warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” crediting the app with helping him win over young voters in the 2024 election.
In August 2020, Trump signed an executive order giving ByteDance 90 days to sell TikTok but then blessed a deal structured as a partnership rather than a divestment that would have included both Oracle and Walmart taking stakes in the new company.
Not everyone in Trump’s Republican Party agreed with efforts to get around the law and “Save TikTok.”
Republican senators Tom Cotton and Pete Ricketts said in a joint statement: “Now that the law has taken effect, there is no legal basis for any kind of ‘extension’ of its effective date. For TikTok to come back online in the future, ByteDance must agree to a sale that satisfies the law’s qualified-divestiture requirements by severing all ties between TikTok and Communist China.”
The US has never banned a major social media platform. The law passed overwhelmingly by Congress gives the incoming Trump administration sweeping authority to ban or seek the sale of other Chinese-owned apps.
Other apps owned by ByteDance, including video editing app CapCut and lifestyle social app Lemon8, were also offline and unavailable in US app stores as of late Saturday.
Apple and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
MOVE TO ALTERNATIVES
Under the law passed last year and upheld on Friday by a unanimous US Supreme Court, the platform had until Sunday to cut ties with its China-based parent or shut down its US operation to resolve concerns it poses a threat to national security.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington on Friday accused the US of using unfair state power to suppress TikTok. “China will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” a spokesperson said.
Uncertainty over the app’s future had sent users — mostly younger people — scrambling to alternatives including China-based RedNote. Rivals Meta and Snap have seen their share prices rise this month ahead of the ban, as investors bet on an influx of users and advertising dollars.
‘HAIR ON FIRE’ MOMENT
Web searches for “VPN” spiked in the minutes after US users lost access to TikTok, according to Google Trends.
Users on Instagram fretted about whether they would still receive merchandise they had bought on TikTok Shop, the video platform’s e-commerce arm.
Marketing firms reliant on TikTok have rushed to prepare contingency plans in what one executive described as a “hair on fire” moment after months of conventional wisdom saying that a solution would materialize to keep the app running.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew plans to attend the US presidential inauguration and attend a rally with Trump on Sunday, a source told Reuters.
Suitors including former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt have expressed interest in the fast-growing business that analysts estimate could be worth as much as $50 billion. Media reports say Beijing has also held talks about selling TikTok’s US operations to billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk, though the company has denied that.
US search engine startup Perplexity AI submitted a bid on Saturday to ByteDance for Perplexity to merge with TikTok US, a source familiar with the company’s plans told Reuters. Perplexity would merge with TikTok US and create a new entity by combining the merged company with other partners, the person added.
Privately held ByteDance is about 60 percent owned by institutional investors such as BlackRock and General Atlantic, while its founders and employees own 20 percent each. It has more than 7,000 employees in the US.
Suspected Bangladeshi arrested in stabbing of Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan
- Thursday’s attack on Khan, one of India’s most bankable stars, shocked the nation’s film industry and Mumbai residents
- The suspect, arrested on the outskirts of Mumbai, was using the name Vijay Das and was working with a housekeeping agency
MUMBAI: A man thought to be a citizen of Bangladesh was arrested in India’s financial capital Mumbai on Sunday and is considered the prime suspect in the stabbing of Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan, police said.
Thursday’s attack on Khan, one of India’s most bankable stars, shocked the nation’s film industry and Mumbai residents, with many calling for better policing and security. He was out of danger, doctors said, and has left the hospital.
“Primary evidence suggests that the accused is a Bangladeshi citizen and after entering India illegally he changed his name,” Dixit Gedam, a deputy commissioner of police, told a press conference.
The suspect, arrested on the outskirts of Mumbai, was using the name Vijay Das but is believed to be Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad and was working with a housekeeping agency after having come to the city five or six months ago, Gedam said.
The police will seek custody of the suspect for further investigation, he added.
Khan, 54, was stabbed six times by an intruder during a burglary attempt at his home. He had surgery after sustaining stab wounds to his spine, neck and hands, doctors said.
Police in Mumbai detained a first key suspect in the attack on Friday, while police in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh detained a second person on Saturday.
Afghanistan blames US invasion, sanctions for environmental damage, delayed climate action
- Afghanistan ranked 7th on global index of countries most vulnerable, least prepared to adapt to climate change
- Use of bombs and mines during wars destroyed agricultural land, left toxic footprint on environment
KABUL: The US invasion of Afghanistan and subsequent sanctions exacerbated the impacts of climate change in the country, the National Environmental Protection Agency said on Sunday, as Kabul called on the international community for support in combating the ecological crisis.
Between the 2001 US-led invasion and its chaotic withdrawal in 2021, the US military had dropped tens of thousands of bombs on Afghanistan, many of which are munitions that can leave a toxic footprint on the environment.
“The presence of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan for 20 years has had a wide-ranging impact on Afghanistan,” Dr. Zainul Abedin Abed, technical and policy deputy director-general at NEPA, told Arab News.
“Among the environmental impacts, we can mention cases such as the destruction of agricultural land … These impacts have put pressure on the Afghan environment and accelerated climate change. The US and NATO have used weapons and chemical substances, which is irreparable.”
In April 2017, the US military dropped the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, known as “the mother of all bombs,” on Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province. It is the most powerful non-nuclear bomb ever used by Washington in a conflict.
“The adverse effects of the MOAB in Tora Bora district of Nangarhar province included an increase in premature births, skin diseases and neurological problems,” Abed said, adding that the bomb also destroyed homes and caused damage to the local economy.
Afghanistan has suffered through decades of war even before the US-led invasion, including a decade of Soviet invasion that also saw foreign forces deploying chemical weapons, such as napalm, to destroy crops.
The country lost around 80 percent of its forests in the conflicts, according to Taliban Deputy Foreign Minister Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai.
“The destructive bombs that the Soviet Union used on our forests have destroyed a major part of the country’s forests. Our country faced another crisis as the US and NATO forces experimented with their weapons in Afghanistan, which couldn’t be used anywhere else, without any mercy on the people of Afghanistan,” Stanikzai said at the national climate change conference in Kabul on Wednesday.
“Now, I call on the world countries, the United Nations, the European Union, America as well as neighboring and regional countries to support Afghanistan in these difficult times. It’s their moral responsibility, especially those countries that contributed to climate change.”
Dr. Abdul Latif Nazari, Afghanistan’s deputy minister of economy, said at the conference that it was “important to lift sanctions and remove restrictions so the international organizations can work with our entities,” such as NEPA.
Afghanistan is one of the most vulnerable and least prepared countries to adapt to climate change, ranking seventh on the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index, despite being a country with the 11th lowest contributor per capita to global carbon emissions.
“Afghanistan’s contribution to global climate change has been inconsequential,” Kabul-based environmental expert Noorudin Jalali told Arab News.
“However, the impact of international interventions on Afghanistan has been huge. Consecutive drought, deforestation, air pollution and huge damage to the country’s ecosystem are some of the major effects that climate change has had on the country’s environment.”
The use of bombs and mines “devastated the country’s environment and agriculture” and will take years and billions of dollars to recover, he added.
Afghanistan is already suffering from the impacts of climate change. After three consecutive years of drought, Afghanistan experienced severe flooding in 2024 that killed hundreds of people, devastated vast agricultural land in its northern provinces and left millions of people without their primary source of income and food.
Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, Afghanistan has been excluded from representation under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change — which leads efforts in global climate cooperation — while major sources of funding for climate adaptation have also been suspended.
“Without the support of the international community and international organizations, Afghanistan will not be able to fight the climate change challenge. The sooner this support is facilitated, the better for the country and its people,” Jalali said.
Nigeria tanker truck blast toll rises to 86: rescuers
LAGOS: The death toll from the explosion of a petrol tanker truck in Nigeria that killed people rushing to gather fuel has risen to 86, emergency services said Sunday.
"The final death toll from the tanker explosion is 86," said Ibrahim Audu Husseini, spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency in Niger state.
The truck carrying 60,000 litres of gasoline exploded after flipping over on a road in the centre of the country on Saturday, authorities said.
Pope Francis calls for Gaza ceasefire to be ‘immediately respected’
- Pope Francis: I also hope that humanitarian aid will even more quickly reach... the people of Gaza, who have so many urgent needs
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis called Sunday for a ceasefire in Gaza to be “immediately respected,” as he thanked mediators and urged a boost in humanitarian aid as well as the return of hostages.
“I express gratitude to all the mediators,” the Argentine pontiff said shortly after the start of a truce between Israel and Hamas began.
“Thanks to all the parties involved in this important outcome. I hope that, as agreed, it will be immediately respected by the parties and that all the hostages will finally be able to go home to hug their loved ones again,” he said.
“I pray so much for them, and their families. I also hope that humanitarian aid will even more quickly reach... the people of Gaza, who have so many urgent needs,” Francis said.
“Both Israelis and Palestinians need clear signs of hope. I hope that the political authorities of both, with the help of the international community, can reach the right two-state solution.
“May everyone say yes to dialogue, yes to reconciliation, yes to peace,” he added.
A total of 33 hostages taken by militants during Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel are scheduled to be returned from Gaza during an initial 42-day truce.
Under the deal, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are to be released from Israeli jails.
The truce is intended to pave the way for an end to more than 15 months of war sparked by Hamas’s attack, the deadliest in Israeli history.
It follows a deal struck by mediators Qatar, the United States and Egypt after months of negotiations, and takes effect on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president.
