DHAKA: Rival students in Bangladesh clashed on Monday leaving at least 100 people injured, as demonstrators opposing quotas for coveted government jobs battled counter-protesters loyal to the ruling party, police said.
Police and witnesses said hundreds of anti-quota protesters and students backing the ruling Awami League party battled for hours on Dhaka University campus, hurling rocks, fighting with sticks and beating each other with iron rods.
Some carried machetes while others threw petrol bombs, witnesses said.
The quota system reserves more than half of well-paid civil service posts totalling hundreds of thousands of government jobs for specific groups, including children of heroes from the country’s 1971 liberation war from Pakistan.
“They clashed with sticks and threw rocks at each other,” local police station chief Mostajirur Rahman told AFP.
Masud Mia, a police inspector, said “around 100 students including women” were injured, and had been taken to hospital. “More people are coming,” Mia added.
Students launched protests earlier this month demanding a merit-based system.
They have continued despite Bangladesh’s top court suspending the quota scheme.
Anti-quota protesters blamed the ruling party students for the violence.
“They attacked our peaceful procession with rods, sticks and rocks,” Nahid Islam, the national coordinator of the anti-quota protests, told AFP.
“They beat our female protesters. At least 150 students were injured including 30 women, and conditions of 20 students are serious.”
Critics say the system benefits children of pro-government groups who back Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Hasina, 76, won her fourth consecutive general election in January, in a vote without genuine opposition parties that saw a major crackdown against her political opponents, who boycotted the poll.
Injured student Shahinur Shumi, 26, said the protesters were taken by surprise.
“We were holding our procession peacefully,” she said from her hospital bed at Dhaka Medical Hospital.
“Suddenly, the Chhatra League (the ruling party student wing) attacked us with sticks, machetes, iron rods, and bricks.”
Police said hundreds of students from several private universities shouting anti-quota slogans joined the protests in Dhaka, halting traffic near the US embassy for more than four hours.
“Some 200 students squatted and stood on the road,” deputy police commissioner Hasanuzzaman Molla told AFP.
Thousands of students also marched in a dozen universities overnight Sunday into the early hours of Monday morning, protesting against what they said were Hasina’s disparaging comments.
Protesters said they were compared to collaborators of the Pakistani army during Bangladesh’s war of independence.
“This is unacceptable,” a female student from Dhaka University said, asking not to be named for fear of reprisal.
“We want a reform of the quota system so that meritorious students can get a fair chance.”
Violence also erupted during protests in Bangladesh’s second city Chittagong late on Sunday, anti-quota students said.
Khan Talat Mahmud Rafy, the organizer, said two fellow protesters were injured.
“Dozens of Chhatra League activists attacked one of our processions,” Rafy said.
Students are demanding that only those quotas supporting ethnic minorities and disabled people — six percent of jobs — should remain.
Bangladesh was one of the world’s poorest countries when it gained independence in 1971, but it has grown an average of more than six percent each year since 2009.
But much of that growth has been on the back of the mostly female factory workforce powering its garment export industry, and economists say there is an acute crisis of jobs for millions of university students.
100 injured as Bangladesh student groups clash over job quotas
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100 injured as Bangladesh student groups clash over job quotas
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- The quota system reserves more than half of well-paid civil service posts totalling hundreds of thousands of government jobs
- These jobs are reserved for specific groups, including children of heroes from the country’s 1971 liberation war from Pakistan
Putin visits Chechnya for first time since 2011
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- Ramzan Kadyrov: ‘Vladimir Vladimirovich despite the hard working day is full of energy and ready to visit several places in Chechnya’
- Putin appointed Kadyrov as leader in 2007 when he was aged just 30, after his father Akhmat Kadyrov was assassinated by a bomb at a stadium in 2004
Kadyrov, a key Kremlin ally, says he has deployed thousands of fighters to help the Kremlin with its Ukraine offensive.
Putin in May said that he planned to visit Chechnya on Kadyrov’s invitation, saying “I will do everything possible for this trip to take place.”
Footage posted by RIA Novosti news agency and Kadyrov showed Putin shaking hands with Kadyrov and other officials after alighting from his helicopter in the main city of Grozny.
Putin then put an arm round Kadyrov’s shoulder and hugged him before they got into a limousine together.
Kadyrov wrote on Telegram that there would be a “packed program” of events.
“Vladimir Vladimirovich despite the hard working day is full of energy and ready to visit several places in Chechnya,” he wrote.
Putin earlier Tuesday visited other North Caucausus regions including Kabardino-Balkaria and North Ossetia.
In North Ossetia, he visited the Beslan school where more than 330 people died in a 2004 siege by Chechen rebels and knelt at a memorial.
Putin also met mothers who lost their children and likened the attackers to Ukrainians now mounting an incursion in Russia’s Kursk region.
While Putin has rarely visited Chechnya in recent years, the region has shaped him as a politician.
He launched the second Chechen war in 1999 while still prime minister, which helped define his strongman reputation and made him popular with many Russians.
Putin-loyalist Kadyrov has ruled Chechnya with an iron fist, seeking to stamp out a lingering rebellion and any forms of dissent, and massively reconstructing Grozny.
Putin appointed Kadyrov as leader in 2007 when he was aged just 30, after his father Akhmat Kadyrov was assassinated by a bomb at a stadium in 2004.
On Tuesday, Putin began his visit by laying flowers at Akhmat Kadyrov’s grave, Interfax news agency reported.
Countries and companies supplying oil to Israel could be complicit in Gaza war crimes, report warns
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- Report argued continued oil exports could be contravention of ICJ opinion from January
LONDON: Countries and companies were warned on Tuesday that supplying fuel to Israel amid its war against Hamas in Gaza could make them complicit in crimes against the Palestinian people.
A report commissioned by Oil Change International was published on Tuesday, titled “Behind the Barrel: New Insights into the Countries and Companies Behind Israel’s Fuel Supply.”
It highlighted the continued and expanded oil supply to the Israeli war machine since October last year, and argued this could be a contravention of an International Court of Justice opinion from January, which opined Israel could plausibly be committing genocide and that Palestinians in Gaza had plausible rights under the Genocide Convention, and another from July suggesting the occupation of Palestinian territory was unlawful.
Research in the report found that 65 shipments of crude oil and refined petroleum products were delivered to Israel from Oct. 21 last year to July 12 this year, adding that 35 of these (54 percent) departed their port of origin after the Jan. 26 ICJ ruling.
Among other key findings of the report were how investor-owned and private oil companies could be complicit through their operations and ownership stakes in projects supplying oil to Israel.
It said these firms collectively supplied 66 percent of Israel’s oil, with six major international oil companies — Chevron (8 percent), BP (8 percent) ExxonMobil (6 percent), Shell (5 percent), Eni (4 percent), and TotalEnergies (5 percent) — responsible for more than half of that figure at 35 percent.
According to some legal scholars, these companies could be held liable for complicity in acts of genocide, given the ICJ ruling.
“The current genocide in Gaza, against Gazan people and Palestinian environment, targeting intensively all elements of life in Gaza, is fueled by some of the world’s most profitable fossil fuel companies,” said Abeer Butmeh, coordinator at Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network.
“(They) must be held accountable for potential violations of international law, as they are putting themselves in a hook of the war crimes and genocide by supplying oil to Israeli armed forces that deliberately make Gaza not habitable any more,” she added.
David Tong, the industry campaign manager at Oil Change International, said the actions of big oil firms showed a stronger regard for revenue than the humanity and dignity of Palestinians suffering in Gaza.
“By deciding to keep supplying fuel to Israel despite the ICJ’s rulings that Israel’s occupation of Gaza is unlawful and that Israel’s actions may have violated the Genocide Convention, big oil companies are showing once again that they value profits above human rights and a safe climate,” he said.
“Every day that Chevron, BP, Exxon, Shell, Eni, and TotalEnergies provide fuel to Israel these companies expose themselves to potential legal action for their complicity in genocidal acts against civilians in Gaza.”
The report also concluded that the US continued to be a key supplier of JP8 jet fuel to Israel, crucial for the continuation of its military operations in Gaza.
“The shipments are coming from the Valero refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas. This supply chain is particularly controversial in the context of the US election, where continued military aid for Israel is under scrutiny,” the report said.
“In early August, the US-registered Overseas Santorini, one of the key tankers involved in supplying US jet fuel, docked in Israel’s Ashkelon port, facing increased protest from communities and activists en route,” it added.
The report also named Kazakhstan, Brazil, European countries Italy, Albania and Greece and this year’s UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) hosts Azerbaijan as significant suppliers of crude oil to Israel.
Nicole Oliveira, an executive director of the Arayara Institute in Brazil, said the country had a “political global responsibility not only to reduce oil production to stop fueling the climate chaos, but also to avoid fueling conflicts.”
She continued: “Our actions carry significant weight, and Brazil’s role in the global energy landscape can either exacerbate turmoil or be leveraged to advocate for peace and environmental sustainability.”
Pro-Palestine groups have demanded an embargo on all energy and arms shipments to Israel until it ends its violence against Palestinian people. The Oil Change International report cited the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions BDS movement’s calls for a boycott of oil companies, and highlighted Colombia’s actions to stop energy exports to Israel.
“Countries, as well as oil and gas companies, must be held to account for their role in perpetuating violence and human rights abuses,” it said. “Colombia has set a strong precedent and issued an embargo on coal exports to Israel until the ICJ ruling is upheld. Colombian coal makes up over 50 percent of Israel’s coal imports,” it added.
Lorne Stockman, the director of research at Oil Change International, said that, despite the ICJ’s ruling condemning the unlawful occupation of Palestinian territory, countries and companies continuing to supply oil that fuels Israel’s military aggression in Gaza revealed a “blatant disregard for international law and human rights, as they prioritize profit over justice and peace.”
Ukraine MPs vote to ban Russia-linked Orthodox Church
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- Kyiv has been trying to curb spiritual links with Russia for years — a process accelerated by Moscow’s 2022 invasion, which Russian Orthodox Church endorsed
KYIV: Ukraine’s parliament voted Tuesday to ban the Russian-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a move Kyiv says strengthens its independence as the country cuts ties with institutions it considers aligned with Moscow.
Kyiv has been trying to curb spiritual links with Russia for years — a process accelerated by Moscow’s 2022 invasion, which the powerful Russian Orthodox Church endorsed.
A majority of Ukrainian lawmakers approved the bill outlawing religious organizations linked with Russia, which will mostly affect the Moscow-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).
Zelensky said the ban would boost his country’s “spiritual independence” and MPs hailed the bill as historic.
Russia condemned the move that its church called “illegal.”
The Russian church has been furious over a 2019 schism that resulted in the creation of an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, spiritually loyal to Moscow’s Istanbul-based rival Patriarch Bartholomew.
Zelensky, who still needs to sign the bill for it to come into force, said he will be talking to Bartholomew’s representatives in the coming days.
It may take years to implement the ban, causing some dismay among followers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The Moscow-backed church in Ukraine officially broke ties with its Russian counterpart in 2022, but some lawmakers have accused its clerics of collaborating with Russia.
Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vladimir Legoida condemned the vote as “an unlawful act that is the grossest violation of the basic principles of freedom of conscience and human rights.”
In Kyiv, believers were praying outside the Russian-affiliated part of the historic Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, a regular practice since that area was closed to the public last year.
“There’s no politics here. We just come and pray for our children and our loved ones... I’ve never seen any KGB agents,” said 56-year-old Svetlana, who declined to give her name due to the sensitivity of the question.
In a lilac dress and matching headscarf, Svetlana said she had been baptised and married in the church and worried about its potential full closure.
“If they close, people will still pray in the streets, maybe we’ll put up tents, there will be prayers anyway,” Svetlana said.
The schism between Ukrainian and Russian-linked Churches was triggered by Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the war between Kyiv and Moscow-backed separatists in the east.
The Istanbul-based head of the Eastern Orthodox Church granted a breakaway wing, called the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), autocephaly — religious independence — from the Moscow Patriarchate in 2019.
The split has impacted church going in Ukraine.
In the Ukrainian-affiliated part of the Lavra monastery, which remains open, 21-year-old Igor said:
“Everything is political. There can be no such thing as art, sports, or even religion outside politics.”
“I actually totally support this ban,” he said, accusing the Russian Orthodox Church of being a Kremlin agent that “has metastasized so much that we will be fighting it for decades.”
The bill was hailed by many Ukrainian politicians.
“There will be no Moscow Church in Ukraine,” Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff, said on Telegram.
Philippines agrees to host Afghan refugees in transit to US
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- US government to take care of Afghans undergoing visa processing in the Philippines
- In 2022, the US requested the Philippines to allow up to 1,000 Afghans to stay in its territory
MANILA: The Philippines has agreed to temporarily host a US visa-processing center for Afghan nationals who had worked for American forces in Afghanistan and were left behind during their chaotic withdrawal from the country in 2021.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken requested the Philippines in 2022 to allow up to 1,000 Afghan nationals to stay in its territory while their special immigrant visas were being processed.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos said at the time that there were some legal and “many security issues” to be addressed first.
Early on Tuesday, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs announced that Manila would allow a “limited number” of Afghan nationals to transit in the Philippines to complete their visa processing for Special Immigrant Visas and resettlement in the US.
DFA spokesperson Teresita Daza told reporters that they would be “confined to their billet facility for the duration of the processing of their SIV applications by the US embassy in Manila.”
She added that “the US government, together with the International Organization for Migration as facility manager, will ensure that the applicants, especially the children, will have adequate social, educational, religious and emotional support during their stay in the billet facility.”
Daza said the refugees would be subject to “full security vetting by Philippine authorities and should secure appropriate entry visa prior to arrival (and that) the Bureau of Immigration retains full authority to exclude any applicant from entry into the Philippines.”
More than 160,000 Afghans sought resettlement when the Taliban took over Afghanistan as international forces withdrew from the country in 2021 — two decades after the US invaded it.
Thousands of others are in third countries awaiting visa processing. Many of them had worked for the US government.
In a statement, the US State Department thanked the Philippines “for supporting Afghan allies of the United States” and that it “appreciates its long and positive history of bilateral cooperation with the Philippines.”
Dr. Rikard Jalkebro, international relations expert and associate professor at Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi, told Arab News that the US is “trying to keep the promise” it had given to the Afghans who had helped its forces.
“These are the type of Afghans that have collaborated or helped the Americans somehow during the war. They would be interpreters, they could be politicians, or they could be from influential families. They can be soldiers that fought either side by side or something similar to that,” he said.
“The American immigration system is so incredibly strained at the moment, and they operate very slowly when it comes to processing green cards, etc. They need some kind of safe place for the people, for the Afghans ... the Philippines is a close ally and they would be relatively safe there.”
India’s top film development body cancels Israeli cinema festival after protests
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- Petition to stop the event in Mumbai said screening Israeli films is ‘totally immoral, unethical, unconscionable’
- Petitioners include Bollywood star Naseeruddin Shah and Tushar Arun Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi
NEW DELHI: India’s top film-industry development institution canceled on Tuesday an Israeli movie festival after protests by actors and academics in Mumbai.
The event, organized by the National Film Development Corporation was scheduled to be held at the National Museum of Indian Cinema in Mumbai on Wednesday and Thursday.
A petition calling for the NFDC screenings to be canceled at the NMIC said the festival was “shamefully being held at a time, when the entire world is witness to Israeli war crimes, the ongoing Holocaust and the genocide in Gaza, and across all of Palestine.”
Over 1,000 people signed the letter, including Bollywood star Naseeruddin Shah, documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, and author Tushar Arun Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.
Other signees included Achin Vanaik, a retired professor of international relations and former head of political science at Delhi University, and Prof. Ram Puniyani, author and former professor of biomedical engineering affiliated with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.
They called on the NFDC to stop the event in the wake of the atrocities committed by the Israeli regime, which since the beginning of its onslaught on Gaza has “murdered more than 8% of the Gazan population ... which clearly constitutes a Holocaust, no less,” the petition read.
“The management of the NFDC & the NMIC should be aware of the fact that the Government of India has consistently voted for a ceasefire, as well has recognised the Palestinian state, as have the overwhelming majority of the nations.
“Thus, at this moment in our collective human history, for the NFDC and the NMIC to be screening Israeli films is totally immoral, unethical, unconscionable, and a travesty of justice to say the least.”
An official from the NMIC confirmed to Arab News on condition of anonymity that the festival “has been pulled down,” but declined to provide more details.
“It’s a relief,” Feroze Mithiborwala, a Mumbai-based activist and member of the India-Palestine Solidarity Front who organized the petition, told Arab News.
“I can’t understand that when the entire world is condemning Israel for its war crimes, when it’s also clear how the government department and NFDC in Mumbai actually go with Israel is beyond us.”
The petition letter was written on Monday and went viral within hours of being sent out.
“Three-four of us got together and created a campaign and it became viral in India, it became viral in Palestine (and) it was picked up by the Palestinian ambassador in Delhi.
“It was picked up by Hindus for Human Rights in the US, and has gone to various parts of the world,” Mithiborwala said.
“Last count, it was at least 1,000 people signed. The people who are leaders of social movements, writers, artists, intellectuals.”
The film director Patwardhan said: “We were horrified that India should be hosting an Israel festival at a time when Israel is perpetrating genocide in Gaza as well as committing atrocities in the West Bank.
“We circulated a protest letter yesterday that was immediately endorsed and signed by over 100 eminent Indian citizens. We then contacted the individual offices of the NFDC both yesterday and today by phone,” he told Arab News.
“We were told over the phone today that the festival has been canceled. This is welcome news and shows that the NFDC is sensitive to public opinion.
“We call upon Indian citizens everywhere to protest any attempt by Israel or pro-Israeli elements to carry out business as usual while a genocide is in progress.”