DHAKA: Bangladeshi police detectives on Friday forced the discharge from hospital of three student protest leaders blamed for deadly unrest, taking them to an unknown location, staff told AFP.
Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud and Abu Baker Majumder are all members of Students Against Discrimination, the group responsible for organizing this month’s street rallies against civil service hiring rules.
At least 195 people were killed in the ensuing police crackdown and clashes, according to an AFP count of victims reported by police and hospitals, in some of the worst unrest of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s tenure.
All three were patients at a hospital in the capital Dhaka, and at least two of them said their injuries were caused by torture in earlier police custody.
“They took them from us,” Gonoshasthaya hospital supervisor Anwara Begum Lucky told AFP. “The men were from the Detective Branch.”
She added that she had not wanted to discharge the student leaders but police had pressured the hospital chief to do so.
Islam’s elder sister Fatema Tasnim told AFP from the hospital that six plainclothes detectives had taken all three men.
The trio’s student group had suspended fresh protests at the start of this week, saying they had wanted the reform of government job quotas but not “at the expense of so much blood.”
The pause was due to expire earlier on Friday but the group had given no indication of its future course of action.
Islam, 26, the chief coordinator of Students Against Discrimination, told AFP from his hospital bed on Monday that he feared for his life.
He said that two days beforehand, a group of people identifying themselves as police detectives blindfolded and handcuffed him and took him to an unknown location.
Islam added that he had come to his senses the following morning on a roadside in Dhaka.
Mahmud earlier told AFP that he had also been detained by police and beaten at the height of last week’s unrest.
Three senior police officers in Dhaka all denied that the trio had been taken from the hospital and into custody on Friday.
Police told AFP on Thursday that they had arrested at least 4,000 people since the unrest began last week, including 2,500 in Dhaka.
On Friday police said they had arrested David Hasanat, the founder and chief executive of one of Bangladesh’s biggest garment factory enterprises.
His Viyellatex Group employs more than 15,000 people according to its website, and its annual turnover was estimated at $400 million by the Daily Star newspaper last year.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police inspector Abu Sayed Miah said Hasanat and several others were suspected of financing the “anarchy, arson and vandalism” of last week.
Bangladesh makes around $50 billion in annual export earnings from the textile trade, which services leading global brands including H&M, Gap and others.
Student protests began this month after the reintroduction in June of a scheme reserving more than half of government jobs for certain candidates.
With around 18 million young people in Bangladesh out of work, according to government figures, the move deeply upset graduates facing an acute jobs crisis.
Critics say the quota is used to stack public jobs with loyalists to Hasina’s Awami League.
The Supreme Court cut the number of reserved jobs on Sunday but fell short of protesters’ demands to scrap the quotas entirely.
Hasina has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.
Her government is also accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.
Hasina continued a tour of government buildings that had been ransacked by protesters, on Friday visiting state broadcaster Bangladesh Television, which was partly set ablaze last week.
“Find those who were involved in this,” she said, according to state news agency BSS.
“Cooperate with us to ensure their punishment. I am making this call to the nation.”
Bangladesh protest leaders taken from hospital by police
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Bangladesh protest leaders taken from hospital by police
- The Students Against Discrimination group organized this month’s street rallies against civil service hiring rules in Bangladesh
- At least 195 people were killed in ensuing police crackdown, clashes in some of the worst unrest of PM Sheikh Hasina’s tenure
Search underway for American reportedly abducted in southern Philippine town
- If confirmed to be a case of kidnapping for ransom, it would be the latest reminder of the long-running security problems that have hounded the southern Philippines
If confirmed to be a case of kidnapping for ransom, it would be the latest reminder of the long-running security problems that have hounded the southern Philippines, the homeland of a Muslim minority in the largely Roman Catholic nation.
Police in Sibuco town in the southern province of Zamboanga del Norte tried to pursue the suspected abductors and their victim, who they identified as Elliot Onil Eastman, 26, from Vermont, after the reported abduction on Thursday night.
“We confirm that there was a report of the alleged abduction of an American national,” the regional police said in a statement. “We want to assure the public, particularly the community of Sibuco, that we are doing everything in our power to secure the safe recovery of the victim.”
The police asked the public to immediately provide any information that could help an ongoing investigation of the reported abduction.
Two police reports seen by The Associated Press said that a resident of Sibuco, Abdulmali Hamsiran Jala, reported to police that four men in black clothing who were armed with M16 rifles and introduced themselves as police officers forcibly took Eastman, who tried to escape.
One of the gunmen shot Eastman in the leg before dragging him into a speedboat then fled by sea further south toward the provinces of Basilan or Sulu, the police reports said.
Policemen chased but failed to find the gunmen and Eastman and alerted other police and Philippine marine units in the region, according to the reports.
Philippine authorities did not immediately provide background details of Eastman, but a person with a similar name has posted pictures and videos of himself on Facebook saying he had married a Muslim woman in Sibuco.
The US Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to questions about the reported abduction.
The southern Philippines has bountiful resources but has long been hamstrung by stark poverty and an array of insurgents and outlaws.
A 2014 peace agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the largest of several Muslim separatist groups, has considerably eased widespread fighting in the south. Relentless military offensives have weakened smaller armed groups like the notoriously violent Abu Sayyaf group over the years, considerably reducing kidnappings, bombings and other attacks.
The Abu Sayyaf group, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the Philippines, is an offshoot of decades-long Muslim separatist unrest in the south and carried out mass kidnappings for ransom, beheadings and bombings more than two decades ago in the southern region.
They targeted American and other Western tourists and religious missionaries, most of whom were freed after ransoms were paid. A few were killed, including an American who was beheaded on the island province of Basilan and a US missionary who was killed while Philippine army forces were trying to rescue him and his wife in 2002 in a rainforest in Sirawai town near Sibuco.
The Philippines will hold mid-term elections next year for more than 18,000 local, national and congressional posts, mostly provincial mayors and governors. In the traditionally volatile south, crimes including kidnappings and extortion have traditionally spiked as rogue politicians try to raise funds to fuel their campaigns ahead of elections in the past but only a few and isolated incidents have been reported in recent years, according to authorities.
US charges Indian agent over alleged plot to kill Sikh separatist
- Vikash Yadav, 39, who remains at large, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and money laundering
- Yadav is the second Indian man to be charged in the United States in the alleged plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun
WASHINGTON: An Indian intelligence official has been indicted for his role in a foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader in the United States, the Justice Department said Thursday.
Vikash Yadav, 39, who remains at large, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and money laundering, the department said.
Yadav is the second Indian national to be charged in the United States in the alleged plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US and Canadian citizen who lives in New York.
Nikhil Gupta, 53, pleaded not guilty in June to involvement in the assassination plot after being extradited to the United States from the Czech Republic.
Pannun is affiliated with a New York-based group called Sikhs for Justice that advocates for the secession of Punjab, a northern Indian state with a large Sikh population.
Pannun, in a statement on X, denounced the alleged assassination plot as a “blatant case of India’s transnational terrorism” and a “threat to freedom of speech and democracy.”
The Justice Department accused Yadav of directing the plot and said he recruited Gupta in May 2023 to hire a hitman to carry out the murder.
Gupta allegedly contacted an individual he believed to be a criminal associate to hire a hitman. The individual was in fact a confidential source working with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
“Yadav, an employee of the Indian government, used his position of authority and access to confidential information to direct the attempted assassination of an outspoken critic of the Indian government here on US soil,” Anne Milgram, the DEA chief, said in a statement.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department “will be relentless in holding accountable any person — regardless of their position or proximity to power — who seeks to harm and silence American citizens.”
According to the Justice Department, Yadav was employed by the Indian government’s Cabinet Secretariat, which houses the country’s foreign intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
The United States said Wednesday it had been informed by India that an intelligence operative accused of directing an assassination plot on US soil was no longer in government service.
“They did inform us that the individual who was named in the Justice Department indictment is no longer an employee of the Indian government,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. “We are satisfied with the cooperation.”
The action by New Delhi represented a sharp contrast to its defiant approach to similar charges from Canada, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday accused India of violating his country’s sovereignty.
Canada has separately alleged that India arranged a plot on its soil that ended in the killing last year of a Sikh separatist, who was a naturalized Canadian citizen, outside a Vancouver temple.
Unlike the United States, Canada has highlighted its concerns publicly and at the highest level, with Trudeau criticizing India’s actions.
Canada and India on Monday expelled each other’s ambassadors as Ottawa said that the Indian campaign went further than previously reported.
India has rejected Canada’s charges and alleged a domestic political motive by Trudeau.
Canada has the largest Sikh community outside of India, concentrated in suburban areas that are critical in national elections.
Nigerians sacrifice cars as cost of living crisis worsens
- The price of petrol has risen more than fivefold since President Bola Tinubu took office in May 2023
- In the short term, Nigeria has seen one of its worst crises in decades with inflation at a three-decade high
LAGOS: Nigeria’s economic crisis and soaring petrol prices forced Bolaji Emmanuel to give up his driver and his Honda Pilot utility vehicle, as he struggles with spiking living costs.
Emmanuel is not alone. Many in Africa’s most populous country are abandoning their cars as the costs strain disposable income.
The price of petrol has risen more than fivefold since President Bola Tinubu took office in May 2023.
“I parked it at my son’s house. I use public transport now,” Emmanuel, a 72-year-old retired health worker, said. “It is not convenient, but it is what the economy demands.”
Since coming to power, Tinubu has ended a costly fuel subsidy and freed up the naira currency, in reforms that government officials and analysts say will revive the economy and attract investors.
But in the short term, Nigeria has seen one of its worst crises in decades with inflation at a three-decade high.
A liter of petrol sold for around 195 naira just before Tinubu took office. The price rose to at least 998 naira ($0.61) per liter in Lagos and 1,030 naira in the capital, Abuja, at the beginning of October. It can go for as much as 1,300 naira elsewhere.
Inflation reached an almost three-decade high of 34.19 percent in June. It has since slowed to 32.7 percent in September.
The slump in purchasing power is piling more hardship on locals, with more than 40 percent of the population living in poverty, according to the World Bank. That figure is expected to rise in 2024 and 2025, before it stabilizes in 2026.
The Nigerian middle class, which made up about 20 percent of the population in 2020, now readily sacrifices the comfort of private cars for survival.
Car dealers in Lagos and Abuja said that they had seen more and more people trading their fuel-guzzling cars and sports utility vehicles (SUVs) for more efficient vehicles to cut costs.
“People are actually selling their big cars these days,” Maji Abubakar, a car dealer in Abuja, said. “The problem is that even if you put them on the market, there isn’t much demand for them.”
“It has been more than a year since I sold a car with an eight-cylinder engine, and the major reason is the price of petrol,” he added.
With fewer cars on the road, even the notorious Lagos traffic, known as “go-slow,” has thinned out.
Elijah Bello, a tech entrepreneur in the southern state of Ogun, has looked for a buyer for his Lexus RX 350 SUV for months.
He has since bought a smaller, energy-saving Toyota Corolla to replace it.
The trend, which began last year, “will intensify” and “we will see fewer cars on the roads,” said Bunmi Bailey, head of research at SBM Intelligence risk consultancy.
Bailey can fill his small car for 55,000 naira. “I can use it for two weeks for my normal home-to-work movement,” he said, while his larger car consumes 110,000 naira worth of petrol in just eight days.
The market for new cars has dropped by 10 to 14 percent in the last year, said Kunle Jaiyesinmi, deputy director at the Lagos-based CFAO Group, which specializes in automobile distribution.
“An SUV that sold for 40 to 45 million naira ($24,000 to $27,000) about two years ago, for now, if you want to negotiate the price, you see that it is within the range of 95 or 100 million ($57,000 to $60,000),” Jaiyesinmi said.
But unyielding inflation and high exchange rates are steering more middle-class people away from used Japanese- and American-brand cars, toward increasingly popular Chinese-made ones.
Some are turning to bicycles, despite the lack of appropriate infrastructure in cities like Lagos, where car crashes are common.
“Sure, we notice (a rise in) cycling... for months since the fuel hike,” said Femi Thomas, head of FT Cycle Care, a Lagos-based organization that promotes cycle use.
Food delivery platform Glovo said it had recorded a growing interest in bicycle deliveries among its riders.
About 20 percent of orders are delivered by bike, Chidera Akwuba, the group’s public relations manager in Nigeria, said.
India foreign minister’s Pakistan visit a ‘good beginning’, Nawaz Sharif says
- Indian envoy was in Pakistan for a meeting of governments of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
- Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was among nearly a dozen leaders participating in the gathering in Islamabad
MUMBAI: The visit of India’s foreign minister to Pakistan earlier this week was a “good beginning” that could lead to a thaw in relations between the two rivals, former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was quoted as saying by Indian media on Friday.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was in Pakistan on Tuesday and Wednesday for a meeting of governments of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, with the capital city under tight lockdown.
“This is how talks move forward. Talks should not stop,” Sharif, the president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League — Nawaz (PML-N), and the brother of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, told a group of visiting Indian journalists, the Indian Express newspaper reported.
Jaishankar was among nearly a dozen leaders participating in the gathering in Islamabad, nearly a decade since an Indian foreign minister has visited amid frosty relations between the two nuclear powers.
Jaishankar and his counterpart Ishaq Dar had an “informal interaction,” an official in Pakistani foreign ministry said on Thursday, but New Delhi denied that any sort of meeting had taken place.
“We had made it very clear that this particular visit is for SCO head of government meeting. Other than that, there were some pleasantries exchanged on the sidelines of the meeting,” Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Thursday.
“We have lost the last 75 years and it is important we don’t lose the next 75 years,” Sharif was quoted as saying in the Times of India newspaper.
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un calls South Korea a foreign, hostile country
- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has increasingly lashed out at South Korea this year
- The reclusive state blasted road and rail links with South Korea this week
SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has described South Korea as a foreign and hostile nation, state media KCNA reported on Friday with photos showing Kim and high-ranking military personnel at a command post poring over a map labelled “Seoul.”
The report comes a day after KCNA said North Korea amended its constitution to designate South Korea a “hostile state” and dropped unification of the two countries as a goal.
Kim has increasingly lashed out at South Korea this year, accusing Seoul of colluding with Washington to seek the collapse of his regime.
The reclusive state blasted road and rail links with South Korea this week. Those actions underscored “not only the physical closure but also the end of the evil relationship with Seoul,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying.
Seoul has said that if North Korea were to inflict harm upon the safety of its people, “that day will be the end of the North Korean regime.”
Kim made the remarks while inspecting the headquarters of the 2nd Corps of North Korean army on Thursday, KCNA said. During the visit, he also said the changed nature of the South Korea-US alliance, and their different, more developed military maneuvers highlight the importance of a stronger North Korean nuclear deterrent.
“Kim is trying to mentally fortify the frontline soldiers with his comments” said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
“This ‘two hostile countries’ rhetoric is, in the end, Kim Jong Un’s survival strategy … Don’t interfere, live separately as a hostile country. It’s a path (North Korea) has never gone before, and no one can be sure about its success.”
On Sunday, South Korea will begin annual large-scale military exercises called Hoguk to improve operational performance, the country’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Friday.
