by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Employment, News
Foreign Minister of Bangladesh A.K. Abdul Momen (Internet Photo)
Such remarks from a friendly country are ‘unacceptable’, says Foreign Minister of Bangladesh A.K. Abdul Momen
NEW DELHI — Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent remark that people of Bangladesh come to India because they don’t have enough to eat in their country has caused a fresh row between two friendly countries.
The Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, A.K. Abdul Momen, has responded by saying that the minister’s knowledge of Bangladesh was “limited”. According to Dhaka-based daily Prothom Alo, Momen also said that such remarks from a friendly country are “unacceptable”
Earlier, in December 2019, Shah’s remarks in Parliament during debate over Citizenship Amendment Bill had caused at least three Bangladeshi ministers to cancel scheduled trips to India.
“There are many wise people in this world, some who don’t want to see even after looking, they don’t want to understand even after knowing about it. But, if he (Amit Shah) has said that, I would say that his knowledge about Bangladesh is limited. Nobody dies of hunger in Bangladesh. There are no Monga (seasonal poverty and hunger in northern districts of Bangladesh),” Momen said when his attention was drawn towards Shah’s interview to Kolkata’s Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika.
“Monga” is a seasonal phenomenon of poverty and hunger that affects people in the northern districts of Bangladesh.
Shah, who is currently busy electioneering in West Bengal, told Patrika interviewer last week that his Bharatiya Janata Party will stop infiltration from Bangladesh if it comes to power in West Bengal. Taking action against Bangladeshi infiltrators is one of the major poll promises of his party in the ongoing West Bengal Assembly elections. Several BJP leaders, including Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have repeatedly addressed the matter in election rallies.
Bangladesh rejects any suggestion that its nationals infiltrate into India. Momen stressed that Bangladesh was ahead of India on many social indices. “While almost 90 per cent of the people in Bangladesh use fairly good latrines, over 50 per cent people in India do not have proper toilets,” he said.
Momen also reminded Shah that over one lakh people from India work in Bangladesh. “We do not need to go to India,” he said.
In December 2019 and January 2020, Bangladesh called off a total of four high-level interactions with India in the span of 30 days. Soon after Parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill, Bangladesh Home and Foreign Ministers cancelled their respective visits and, a week later, talks over the sharing of river data were also cancelled. This was followed a month later by Bangladesh Deputy Foreign Minister Shahriar Alam cancelling his visit to India.
The cancellations came amid tension between the two countries over the contentious citizenship law and NRC exercise (National Register of Citizens), as well as Amit Shah’s allegations of minorities being targeted by the Bangladeshi government. New Delhi later clarified that Shah’s remarks were meant for “abuse took place during previous government and military rule”.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Muslim World, Technology
Dhaka : Bangladesh has blocked nearly 2,000 pornography and gambling websites in an online crackdown ordered by the country’s High Court.
“On Monday, 55 more pornographic websites were blocked,” said an official of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.
A day earlier, he said, 176 gambling sites were blocked, reports Xinhua news agency.
According to the official, the commission banned 1,523 pornographic and gambling websites earlier.
Following the High Court directive issued in November, the government launched the crackdown on Internet pornography, casino type games and other gambling sites.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Rome : United Nations World Food Programme in Bangladesh said it welcomed a new contribution of $50,000 from Vietnam to support operations in Coxs Bazar – home to nearly one million Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar.
“We are very grateful to Vietnam for stepping up to assist people living in Cox’s Bazar refugee camps,” said Richard Ragan, WFP Representative and Country Director, in a statement.
“This remains a serious humanitarian emergency, and continued support from the international community is vital if we are to keep providing the humanitarian assistance that is so badly needed.”
Vietnam’s new aid was announced by the Special Envoy of Prime Minister, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Nguyen Quoc Dzung, during a visit to Bangladesh, according to WPF.
“Although this is a modest contribution, we are hopeful that our support will advance the response to this crisis situation,” he said.
Vietnam joins dozens of other states who have pledged their support to the Cox’s Bazar response since the August 2017 refugee influx, said WFP, which provides food assistance to more than 870,000 refugees per month at the sprawling refugee settlement.
The UN agency also provides nutritional and livelihood support to the host community at Cox’s Bazaar, with the aim of helping the most vulnerable, WFP said.
Sustained aid from nations is necessary to continue WFP operations in Bangladesh, the UN agency warned.
Over 750,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to Cox’s Bazar since August 2017 to escape persecution and violence by Myanmar’s military in Northern Rakhine State. Thousands of other Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh during previous periods of repression in Myanmar.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Dhaka : The UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Wednesday said that it needs more funds to continue assisting the hundreds of thousands Rohingya refugees, who have been living in Bangladesh camps after fleeing an offensive by the Myanmar military last year.
The WFP said it had spent around $20 million to assist the refugees in Bangladesh following the crackdown in Myanmar in August 2017.
“We are here to highlight the plight of families of Rohingyas so that governments around the world do not forget about their needs. The international community stepped up in a successful way… but pretty soon we will need more money,” said WFP Executive Director David Beasley in a press conference.
Beasley said the shortage of funds was owing to the fact that “in the last two years the number of civilian hungry people in the word rose from 80 million to 224 million, primarily driven by man-made conflict whether we talk about Syria, Iraq, Yemen, South Sudan, Nigeria or North East Nigeria”, Efe news reported.
The WFP usually imports emergency supplies from outside the country but in the case of Bangladesh, the agency has been trying to integrate into the local economy, said Beasley, adding that the WFP has been buying around $10 million worth of products monthly from Bangladesh.
Beasley also said that the situation had improved in the refugee camps since his visit last year.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Bangladesh announced that it will begin to repatriate the Rohingyas to Myanmar around the middle of November. The announcement came nearly a year after both the countries signed a repatriation agreement in November 2017.
The Rohingya exodus had began after the Myanmar military launched the August offensive in Rakhine state following attacks on multiple government posts by Rohingya rebels.
The offensive was globally condemned for its rights abuses including loot, torture, rapes and torching of entire Rohingya villages. The UN called it “ethnic cleansing”.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Nikki Haley
By Umar Farooq,
Washington: The U.S. on Monday announced giving over $185 million in additional aid to Rohingya relief efforts in Myanmar and Bangladesh.
The announcement was made by U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, at a meeting attended by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
In a statement, Haley said the bulk of the aid would go towards helping Rohingya refugee communities in Bangladesh to support emergency services such as food, water, sanitation, health care and psychosocial support.
“Still more needs to be done, so we need other countries to do their part as well,” she said in the statement.
“This additional funding brings U.S. humanitarian assistance in response to the Rakhine State crisis to nearly $389 million since the outbreak of violence in August 2017,” read the statement.
Rohingya Persecution
Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).
More than 34,000 Rohingya were also thrown into fires, while over 114,000 others were beaten, said the OIDA report, entitled Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience.
According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly children and women, have fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community.
The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world’s most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.
The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings — including of infants and young children — brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by Myanmar state forces. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.
—AA
