AXJ.Bangladesh

12/04/2024

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05/08/2023

The Court Sentenced Imran Khan - Three Years in Prison and Imposed a Fine of Rs100,000 on him for Concealing Details of Toshakhana gifts.
[Dawn,P,5/08/23]
Ashraf Nayan ( a free journalist from Bangladesh)

PTI Chairman & Ex-PM Imran Khan, shortly after an Islamabad,Pakistan trial court declared him guilty of “corrupt practices” in the Toshakhana case, was arrested by Punjab police on Saturday afternoon from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore. The court sentenced Imran — who was absent from court — to three years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs100,000 on him for concealing details of Toshakhana gifts. His lawyers were also not present. Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Humayun Dilawar ruled that charges against the former prime minister in the case were proven.“Imran Khan deliberately submitted fake details [of Toshakhana gifts] to the ECP and is found guilty of corrupt practices,” he stated and sent the PTI chief to jail for three years under Section 174 of the Election Act.The law states that a person guilty of the offence of corrupt practice shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with a fine which may extend to Rs100,000 or both.ADSJ Dilawar also directed that a copy of the order should be sent to the Islamabad police chief for the ex*****on of the court orders.During the hearing — which commenced at 8:30am — the judge repeatedly expressed displeasure over the absence of Imran’s lawyers. He, however, gave multiple chances to the defence counsel to appear in court.Finally, at 12:30pm, ASDJ Dilawar announced the verdict. Roughly 29 minutes later, reports of Imran’s arrest surfaced.The PTI chairman’s arrest today comes approximately three months after his first arrest on May 9 when he was detained in Islamabad from the high court’s premises in the Al-Qadir Trust case.
Unlike previous instances, where Zaman Park was usually guarded by PTI supporters, Imran was detained today without any major resistance.

30/01/2023

Blast at Mosque in Pakistan’s Peshawar Kills at Least 32 People & 150 Injured.
[Aljazeera/NDTV/CNN]
Ashraf N ayan ( a free journalist from Bangladesh)

More than 30 people have been killed and about 150 others wounded in an explosion targeting police at a mosque in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, according to officials. Muhammed Asim, Lady Reading Hospital spokesperson in Peshawar, told Al Jazeera at least 32 people were killed on Monday and more than 70 injured people were brought in for treatment. A Peshawar police official told Al Jazeera about 150 people were injured in total. The mosque is inside a highly fortified compound that includes the headquarters of the provincial police force and a counterterrorism department. Authorities said part of the building collapsed and that many people were feared to be trapped under the rubble. Peshawar’s police chief, Muhammad Ijaz Khan, said in a televised statement that the capacity of the main hall of the mosque was nearly 300 and it was “nearly full” at the time of the explosion. “We cannot at the moment confirm there was a su***de attacker but we need to conduct more investigations,” he said. “However, there is a possibility of there being a su***de bomber.”
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing.

27/01/2023

India-Pakistan Legal Battle Over Water-Sharing Begins in The Hague
[AA/Bloomberg/DS/B]
Ashraf N ayan ( a free journalist from Bangladesh)

A legal battle between India and Pakistan over water-sharing began in The Hague on Friday, with New Delhi seeking "modification" to the 1960-signed Indus Waters Treaty and Islamabad accusing his South Asian rival of violating the pack in the design of new dams that will dry up its irrigation land.
India has issued a notice to Pakistan for "modification" of the Indus Waters Treaty of September 1960, a senior Indian official in New Delhi said on Friday. The treaty was signed in 1960 that governs the use of waters of the Indus system of rivers. Kanchan Gupta, a senior adviser at India's Information and Broadcasting Ministry, said the notice was conveyed on Wednesday through the respective offices of the Commissioner for Indus Waters.
"This is as per Article XII (3) of IWT," he wrote in a series of tweets. Gupta said that while India has been a "steadfast supporter and a responsible partner in implementing IWT in letter and spirit, Pakistan’s actions have adversely impinged on the provisions of IWT and their implementation, and forced India to issue an appropriate notice for modification of IWT." According to Gupta, the modification for which India has given notice to Pakistan will also "update Indus Water Treaty to incorporate the lessons learned over the last 62 years."
In response to Pakistan's "continuing insistence," he added, the World Bank has recently initiated actions on "both the Neutral Expert and Court of Arbitration processes." "Such parallel consideration of the same issues is not covered under any provision of Indus Water Treaty," he said. "Faced with such violation of Indus Water Treaty provisions, India has been compelled to issue notice of modification," he said, adding that the objective is to provide Pakistan an opportunity to enter into intergovernmental negotiations within 90 days to rectify the material breach of the IWT.
He claimed that despite India’s repeated efforts to find a mutually agreeable way forward, "Pakistan refused to discuss the issue during the five meetings of the Permanent Indus Commission from 2017 to 2022."

31/12/2022

Palestinians Welcome U.N. vote on Israel's Occupation as 'a Victory'
[ Reu.]
Ashraf N ayan ( a free journalist from Bangladesh)

The Palestinians on Saturday welcomed a vote by the United Nations General Assembly requesting that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) provide an opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories. The Hague-based ICJ, also known as the World Court, is the top U.N. court dealing with disputes between states. Its rulings are binding, though the ICJ has no power to enforce them. The vote on Friday nonetheless presents a challenge for Israel's incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who took office on Thursday at the head of a hard-right government that includes parties who advocate for occupied West Bank lands to be annexed. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem - areas the Palestinians want for a state - in a 1967 war. Peace talks broke down in 2014. "The time has come for Israel to be a state subject to law, and to be held accountable for its ongoing crimes against our people," Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said.

30/12/2022

Aung San Suu Kyi's Myanmar Trials End with 7 more Years in Jail
[ Reu.]
Ashraf N ayan ( a free journalist from Bangladesh)

Deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was convicted of five counts of corruption on Friday and jailed for 7 more years, an informed source said, wrapping up a marathon of trials condemned internationally as a sham.
In a closed-door court session in army-ruled Myanmar, Suu Kyi, 77, who was arrested during a coup in February 2021, was found guilty of offences relating to her lease and use of a helicopter while she was the country's de facto leader, said the source, who has knowledge of her trials. The jail term adds to 26 years of prison time already handed down to Suu Kyi, for offences ranging from incitement, breaches of COVID-19 restrictions and illegally owning radio equipment, to violating a state secrets law, multiple counts of corruption and trying to influence election officials. She has dismissed those as "absurd". The source, who asked not to be identified due to the junta's sensitivity about the trials, said Suu Kyi "is in good health".

30/12/2022

Pele Immortal, Forever with Us: FIFA
[AFP]
Ashraf N ayan ( a free journalist from Bangladesh)

FIFA said Pele was simply “immortal” after the Brazil legend, named by world football’s governing body as the greatest player of the 20th century, died on Thursday aged 82. “For everyone who loves the beautiful game, this is the day we never wanted to come. The day we lost Pele,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement.
“Today, we all mourn the loss of the physical presence of our dear Pele, but he achieved immortality a long time ago and therefore he will be with us for eternity.” Pele is the only footballer to have won three FIFA World Cups. He was just 17 when he won with Brazil in Sweden in 1958. Pele won the World Cup again in Chile in 1962, despite being forced out of much of the tournament due to injury. He lifted the Jules Rimet Trophy for the third and final time in Mexico in 1970. “Pele: immortal -- forever with us,” FIFA said on its website.
Infantino said Pele was unique, as he sent his condolences to his family, Brazil and all football fans.
“His skill and imagination were incomparable. Pele did things that no other player would even dream of,” Infantino said. “Most importantly, ‘The King’ rose the throne with a smile on his face. Football could be brutal in those days, and Pele was often on the receiving end of some rough treatment. “But, while he knew how to stand up for himself, he was always an exemplary sportsman, with genuine respect for his opponents.”
nfantino added, “Pele had a magnetic presence and, when you were with him, the rest of the world stopped. His life is about more than football. He changed perceptions for the better in Brazil, in South America and across the world.” FIFA noted that he was the youngest-ever world champion – not to mention the youngest scorer, youngest hat-trick scorer, youngest finalist and youngest player to score in a final in World Cup history.

29/12/2022

One of the World's Most Congested Cities just Opened its First Metro Line
[CNN]
Ashraf N ayan ( a free journalist from Bangladesh)

Bangladesh on Wednesday launched its first metro rail service in the capital Dhaka, with officials and commuters hopeful it will help ease traffic in one of the world's most densely populated and congested cities.
The largely Japanese-funded project, known as Line 6, was inaugurated at a ceremony by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina -- who described the new railway as a "milestone," the Dhaka Tribune reported. "Another feather added to the crown of the development of Bangladesh," she said. She added that there would also be train carriages reserved solely for women and said the Dkaha metro would help reduce traffic jams in the city "significantly".
The line, which stretches over 20 kilometers (about 12 miles), will serve 16 stations and connect the northern zone of Dhaka to government offices and hospitals for now, according to a statement released by the state-run Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL). It will eventually expand to cut through the city to the financial district of Motijheel in the south, it added.. Dhaka is Bangladesh's largest city, its car clogged roads and traffic jams a daily source of frustration for its more than 20 million residents. More than 3,000 people in Bangladesh die in road accidents every year, according to data compiled by the World Health Organization. A horrific accident in 2018 saw two students killed by a speeding bus -- which drew crowds of angry young protesters to the streets. Experts note that Dhaka's infrastructure has failed to match the scale of its population. The problem is exacerbated by the country's overreliance on cars and -- until now -- lack of organized public transport, they say.

27/12/2022

Bangladesh Tries to Prevent Rohingya Refugees from Taking Dangerous Voyages’
[FE/B]
Ashraf N ayan ( a free journalist from Bangladesh)

Bangladesh is trying to stop Rohingya refugees risking their lives in boats to Southeast Asia, a government official said, amid fears that this year could be one of the most deadly in years for the persecuted Muslims from Myanmar seeking new lives. A boat washed ashore in Indonesia's Aceh province on Monday carrying 174 Rohingya, most of them dehydrated, exhausted and in urgent need of medical care after weeks at sea, disaster agency officials said. The UN refugee agency UNHCR said on Monday 2022 could be one of the deadliest years at sea in almost a decade for the Rohingya as a growing number flee desperate conditions in refugee camps in Bangladesh, despite attempts to stop them. "We're doing everything possible to stop them from taking the dangerous voyages," Bangladesh’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammad Mizanur Rahman told Reuters late on Monday. "We're going door to door and holding talks with community leaders in the camps to explain the dangers. Our law enforcement agencies, the navy and the coastguard are on alert. They are arresting those who are involved in human trafficking." Nearly 1.3 million Rohingya from Myanmar are living in Bangladesh, most in refugee camps including many who fled from their homes in Buddhist-majority Myanmar in 2017 to escape a military crackdown. But with prospects in the camps bleak and little hope of going home, many are driven to seek new lives further afield. Some 2,400 Rohingya have made or tried to make the sea journey to countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia this year, the UNHCR estimates, which rights groups said was a five-fold increase from the previous year. Several boats packed with people have landed in Indonesia since November and Sri Lanka's navy rescued one. Thai fishermen found six Rohingya drifting at sea this week clinging to a water tank.
It is not clear what is driving the exodus but some activists believe the lifting of COVID restrictions around Southeast Asia, a favoured destination for the Rohingya, could be a factor.

26/12/2022

TTP Strikes Again In Pakistan’s Balochistan, 6 Security Men Killed In Multiple Attacks
[Dawn/Out Look]
Ashraf N ayan ( a free journalist from Bangladesh)

The notorious terrorist group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed the lives of six security personnel and injured a few others in the last two days by carrying out several attacks in the restive Balochistan province, Pakistan Army's media wing said on Sunday. According to a statement released by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), a terrorist and a soldier were killed during an exchange of fire between militants and the security forces in an intelligence-based operation conducted in the Sambaza area of Zhob district.
It said the operation, launched on the basis of “credible information”, was continuing for the last 96 hours.
The objective was to “deny terrorists the use of few suspected routes to move across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to sneak into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa along the interprovincial boundary and target citizens and security forces”, the statement said. The ISPR, Pakistan Army's media wing, also said that the terrorists were supported by their facilitators from across the border. In a separate incident in the Dannuk Gogdan area of Turbot, armed militants attacked a vehicle of the Frontier Corps on Saturday in which four soldiers were killed in the ensuing exchange of fire. In the border town of Chaman, a Levies soldier was killed when unknown militants on a motorcycle opened fire on a check post late last night. The TTP has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Turbat and Chaman.

26/12/2022

Former Maldives President Yameen to Appeal 11-year Jail Term
[Reuters]
Ashraf N ayan ( a free journalist from Bangladesh)

The Maldives criminal court on Sunday sentenced former president Abdulla Yameen to 11 years in prison and fined him $5 million after finding him guilty of corruption and money laundering charges related to receiving kickbacks from a private company. Yameen has denied any wrongdoing. He lost power in 2018 but has been declared presidential candidate for the Progressive Party of the Maldives for an election due in 2023. Already in 2019 he was sentenced to five years in jail and fined $5 million in 2019 for embezzling $1 million in state funds, which the prosecution said was acquired through the lease of resort development rights. After his sentencing, Yameen was shifted to house arrest in 2020 and was freed months later. Since his release, Yameen, the half-brother of former dictator Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, has returned to active politics with a campaign against Indian influence in Maldives, raising concerns in New Delhi. Situated close to strategic shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean, Maldives is a focal point for competition between India and China over influence in the region.

26/12/2022

Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' Becomes Nepal PM for Third Time
[DW,PA,AFP/B]
Ashraf N ayan ( a free journalist from Bangladesh)

Nepal’s president appointed former guerrilla leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal prime minister for the third time on Sunday, after his Maoist party cobbled together a coalition following elections last month. Dahal, better known by his nom de guerre Prachanda or “the fierce one”, hid out for years in the jungle during Nepal’s 1996-2006 civil war that killed nearly 17,000 people and led to the end of the monarchy. Sagar Acharya, a spokesman for president Bidya Devi Bhandari, told AFP that Dahal, 68, has been appointed as the new prime minister and would be sworn in on Monday at 4:00pm (1015 GMT). Following the 2006 peace accords, Dahal transformed his Maoist revolutionary movement into a political party and served briefly as prime minister in 2008-9, and again in 2016-17. (ed)