https://www.scmp.com/rss/148592/feed Shaikh Azizur Rahman is a multi-platform India-based journalist. He writes on politics, human rights, social conflicts, refugees and other issues. His work has been published by The Guardian, The New York Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, Toronto Star and Voice of America, among others. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Bangladesh’s formal request for the extradition of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina has put New Delhi in a diplomatic bind, with officials and experts suggesting India is unlikely to comply due to legal uncertainties and fears of damaging its strategic interests. After a massive nationwide protest led by students ousted Hasina on August 5, ending her 15-year rule, she fled to India where she is reportedly staying in housing provided by the Indian government. India’s Ministry of External... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3293296/why-india-unlikely-extradite-ousted-bangladesh-leader-sheikh-hasina?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3293296/why-india-unlikely-extradite-ousted-bangladesh-leader-sheikh-hasina?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 03 Jan 2025 10:00:29 +0000 Victims of India’s “bulldozer justice” are turning to the Supreme Court in hopes of stopping the growing use of heavy machinery to raze homes and businesses owned by Muslims, as critics accuse states governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party of striking fear into the minority community. On August 17, authorities demolished the one-storey house of autorickshaw driver Rashid Khan in Udaipur, northern Rajasthan state, which he was renting to two families. He received only a few hours’ notice... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3277994/how-modis-bjp-turned-bulldozers-deadly-weapon-against-muslim-homes-india?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3277994/how-modis-bjp-turned-bulldozers-deadly-weapon-against-muslim-homes-india?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Sep 2024 04:00:14 +0000 About three weeks after then Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country last month, AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik, a former Supreme Court judge reportedly paid 15,000 Bangladeshi takas (US$125) to an underground network to help him cross the border illegally into India. He was spotted and apprehended by Bangladesh border guards and villagers and despite pleading for his captors to release him, was handed over to police, who arrested him on charges of attempted illegal... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3276981/hasinas-people-flee-bangladesh-fearing-reprisal-and-prosecution?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3276981/hasinas-people-flee-bangladesh-fearing-reprisal-and-prosecution?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Sep 2024 10:00:20 +0000 Since the sudden ouster of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina three weeks ago, news and social media in India have been filled with reports about Hindus in Bangladesh being targeted for attack by Muslims, with some even claiming an ongoing “Hindu genocide” is taking place in the country. However, fact-checkers said that most accounts of attacks on the minority community were either exaggerated or false. Experts warned that such misinformation could be aimed at fuelling Islamophobia within... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3275603/misinformation-about-hindus-being-targeted-bangladesh-fuels-islamophobia-fears?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3275603/misinformation-about-hindus-being-targeted-bangladesh-fuels-islamophobia-fears?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Aug 2024 06:16:51 +0000 When Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country on Monday, 41-year-old Nasrin Jahan Smrity was relieved and hopeful that she would find her husband alive. Smrity’s husband Ismail Hossain Baten, a businessman in Dhaka, was allegedly abducted by members of the paramilitary force Rapid Action Battalion [RAB] in 2019. Since then, Smrity has run from pillar to post searching for Baten. The RAB, police and other security agencies have for years denied holding Baten in their... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3273699/bangladesh-families-enforced-disappearance-victims-hopeful-after-hasinas-downfall?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3273699/bangladesh-families-enforced-disappearance-victims-hopeful-after-hasinas-downfall?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Aug 2024 07:30:12 +0000 Eleven days after a Supreme Court ruling ending most government job quotas, Bangladesh remains gripped by intense student protests against government brutality that have transformed into a “people’s uprising” against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s administration. Bangladesh has experienced unrest for almost a month following a mass student movement demanding the abolition of the job quota system. This escalated into violent clashes that have seen police, army, paramilitary forces and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3272919/bangladesh-student-protests-become-peoples-uprising-after-brutal-government-crackdown?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3272919/bangladesh-student-protests-become-peoples-uprising-after-brutal-government-crackdown?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Aug 2024 11:30:13 +0000 As a young man desperately drags an injured compatriot away from a group of armed police, an officer opens fire thrice at the wounded youth. His confused companion abandons his motionless body and flees. The events captured in a viral clip allegedly took place in the Shonir Akhra area of Dhaka, Bangladesh, during violent student demonstrations that had rocked the country for weeks. Protesters were decrying “discriminatory” quotas for government jobs. The alleged police killing in the clip was... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3272000/bangladesh-faces-demand-justice-over-unlawful-killings-during-student-protests?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3272000/bangladesh-faces-demand-justice-over-unlawful-killings-during-student-protests?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Jul 2024 08:30:19 +0000 Renowned Bangladeshi economist and Nobel Prize laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus is at the centre of a new embezzlement trial because of a political “vendetta” against him by the government, observers say, echoing an open letter by world leaders last year condemning the alleged persecution. Yunus is facing a new trial next month following a criminal case in which he is accused of embezzling more than US$2 million from a workers’ welfare fund of Grameen Telecom, one of the non-profit companies he... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3271388/persecution-bangladeshi-nobel-laureate-political-vendetta-hasina-government-analysts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3271388/persecution-bangladeshi-nobel-laureate-political-vendetta-hasina-government-analysts?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Jul 2024 07:40:20 +0000 A fierce gunfight between Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army (AA) rebels in Rakhine state has thrust Rohingya Muslims into a fresh spiral of organised violence as alleged beheadings and arson attacks rattle the persecuted community. Nay San Lwin, co-founder of the advocacy group Free Rohingya Coalition, said the onslaught against the minority Muslims was “far worse” than in 2017. “This time the Rohingya are not just caught in the crossfire between the Myanmar army and AA. Both fighting sides... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3265593/myanmars-rohingya-trapped-between-hammer-and-anvil-junta-rebels-sow-terror-rakhine?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3265593/myanmars-rohingya-trapped-between-hammer-and-anvil-junta-rebels-sow-terror-rakhine?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Jun 2024 10:00:17 +0000 A group of 10 to 12 men, some carrying guns, appeared in a Rohingya refugee camp in the coastal town of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. In a swift action, they rounded up three local youths with an alleged plan to send them to Myanmar for conscription by the junta’s army. But before the men – who reportedly were members of an armed Rohingya insurgent group called Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) – could disappear from the camp with their captives, they were surrounded by scores of refugees who... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3264034/myanmars-rohingya-youths-abducted-and-forced-fight-human-shields-junta-and-insurgents?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3264034/myanmars-rohingya-youths-abducted-and-forced-fight-human-shields-junta-and-insurgents?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 May 2024 10:00:14 +0000 A nearly two-year ban in India on single-use plastics (SUP) has failed to stem rampant proliferation and manufacturing of such items across the country, analysts say, putting the blame on the authorities’ “weak enforcement on the ground”. SUP products such as plastic bags, cutlery, straws, food packaging, and disposable water bottles were outlawed by the government from July 1, 2022. A senior official at the Federal Agency of Central Pollution Control Board in October 2022 admitted that the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3260639/india-banned-single-use-plastics-almost-2-years-ago-did-it-work?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3260639/india-banned-single-use-plastics-almost-2-years-ago-did-it-work?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 29 Apr 2024 04:00:17 +0000 Dissidents and political groups opposing the Sheikh Hasina-led government in Bangladesh have launched a boycott of Indian goods, accusing New Delhi of interfering in their domestic affairs, among other charges. Members of the groups, based in Bangladesh and outside the country, say that the “India Out” movement has been launched by Bangladeshis with deep-seated resentment of India largely to protest against its “covert and overt activities” to keep Hasina in power. The campaign is mainly being... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3253018/bangladeshis-launch-india-out-campaign-over-new-delhis-alleged-meddling-keep-hasina-power?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3253018/bangladeshis-launch-india-out-campaign-over-new-delhis-alleged-meddling-keep-hasina-power?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Feb 2024 11:01:21 +0000 Indian supporters of exiled Bangladeshi poet and novelist Taslima Nasrin have taken to social media demanding a long-term Indian residency for the author, after the Indian government refused to renew her residence permit. Nasrin had fled her country in 1994 after some Muslim groups there declared some of her writings were sacrilegious and issued death threats. She spent 10 years in Europe and the United States before moving in 2004 to India, where the people of West Bengal state speak Bengali,... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1565164/indian-supporters-blast-failure-renew-exiled-writers-resident-permit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1565164/indian-supporters-blast-failure-renew-exiled-writers-resident-permit?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Aug 2014 22:14:41 +0000 Indian politicians whose criminal convictions have prevented them from running in the nation's general election are fielding their wives as candidates in this year's race instead. Following a Supreme Court ruling last year that barred people convicted of crimes carrying prison terms of at least two years from continuing to serve in office or running again in federal and state elections, the political careers of more than a dozen leaders in Bihar state ended. But, in an attempt to regain their... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1469906/indias-bihar-state-convicted-politicians-turn-wives-hold-office?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1469906/indias-bihar-state-convicted-politicians-turn-wives-hold-office?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Apr 2014 14:06:11 +0000 A year ago, tensions were on a razor's edge in southeast Bangladesh, as Muslim mobs looted and vandalised 19 Buddhist temples and monasteries. But the pogrom, which also saw scores of Buddhist villages set on fire in the Cox's Bazar area, has inspired religious reconciliation, all too rare in South Asia. The government of the Muslim-majority nation renovated and reconstructed all the temples and monasteries, drawing praise from across the region. The project was completed last month. Nilutpal... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1321732/one-year-bangladesh-restores-buddhist-temples-destroyed-riots?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1321732/one-year-bangladesh-restores-buddhist-temples-destroyed-riots?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Sep 2013 16:00:00 +0000 They were an elite squad that provided protection in the Indian capital - until now. The large black-faced langur monkeys have been on guard for decades to keep out armies of smaller rhesus monkeys that plague Delhi, protecting events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games and visiting foreign dignitaries, and keeping order in the hallowed halls of parliament. But a move by the New Delhi government will see the langurs eased out from such duties after protests by environmentalists. Tens of thousands... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1192475/new-delhi-abandons-its-langur-monkey-protection-squad?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1192475/new-delhi-abandons-its-langur-monkey-protection-squad?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 A controversial road in the Indian Andaman Islands is set to reopen to tourists this week, heralding the resumption of notorious "human safaris" to view the Jarawa tribe. The move, which has been condemned by advocates for the tribe, comes after India's Supreme Court last week authorised the reopening of the 360-kilometre Andaman Trunk Road (ATR) that cuts through a reserve for the aboriginal Jarawa. Activists say the decision, overturning an interim closure imposed in January, threatens the... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1189436/activists-slam-return-human-safaris-andaman-islands?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1189436/activists-slam-return-human-safaris-andaman-islands?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Bangladesh has accused Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar of involvement in attacks on Buddhist temples and homes in the southeast and said the violence was triggered by a photo posted on Facebook that insulted Islam. Thousands of Muslims went on a rampage in Buddhist areas of Bangladesh near the border on Saturday, setting ablaze more than a dozen temples and monasteries and at least 50 homes. Property was looted, including statues of the Buddha. "The attacks on temples and houses in... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1051842/bangladesh-says-rohingya-were-involved-attacks-buddhist-temples?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1051842/bangladesh-says-rohingya-were-involved-attacks-buddhist-temples?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Buddhist monk Ashin Gambira, who was a top leader of the 2007 "saffron revolution" against Myanmar's junta regime, has blamed the military for the ongoing ethnic unrest in the country's Rakhine state. Gambira also criticised the monks in Mandalay who recently demonstrated demanding the deportation of all Rohingya, the Muslim people living in Rakhine The former monk - who is now known as Ko Nyi Nyi Lwin since he took off his robes earlier this year - said the military was "exacerbating the... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1031124/monk-blames-myanmars-military-rohingya-unrest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1031124/monk-blames-myanmars-military-rohingya-unrest?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Rohingya refugees fleeing deadly ethnic clashes in Burma have discovered a crucial escape route from Myanmar into India, after Bangladesh closed its borders to the persecuted Muslims. In the past two months, 1,000 Muslim Rohingya have streamed across the border into India through the northeastern state of Mizoram (see map), following brutal sectarian violence with Buddhists in western Myanmar. From Mizoram, refugees have travelled to Hyderabad, where they have been helped by wealthier fellow... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1026516/myanmars-persecuted-rohingya-find-new-escape-route-india?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1026516/myanmars-persecuted-rohingya-find-new-escape-route-india?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Aug 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Myanmar's security forces barred Muslim Rohingya from worshipping in mosques across Rakhine state since the start of Ramadan, said people with knowledge of the matter. The ban started in the third week of last month at the start of the Muslim fasting month. It is ongoing even with the end this week of Eid ul-Fitr, the festival that marks the close of Ramadan. Nearly all the 500 mosques in the western state had been affected, Rohingyas said. The state has been wracked by clashes between the... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1021270/myanmar-has-barred-rohingya-mosques-start-ramadan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1021270/myanmar-has-barred-rohingya-mosques-start-ramadan?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Aug 2012 16:00:00 +0000