Latest news with #Fazar
Time of India
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Rape of B'desh Hindu woman sparks anger, BNP 'supporter' held
Dhaka: The alleged rape of a 26-year-old minority Hindu woman in Bangladesh's Cumilla district by a "supporter" of former PM Khaleda Zia's BNP has sparked widespread outrage, with the High Court directing that the video of her assault, which went viral on social media, be removed immediately and she be given police protection. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Fazar Ali has been arrested on the charge of rape while four others are accused of making and circulating the video, said authorities, who have also been directed to ensure medical support to the woman. HC asked them to file a report within 15 days on the progress of investigations into the Thursday night incident. The video surfaced online on Saturday night. Condemning the incident and demanding exemplary punishment, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said there is a "dangerous conspiracy afoot to damage BNP's reputation". The party is yet to clarify whether Fazar was linked to it. Fakhrul claimed the woman was a Hindu expatriate's wife. Fazar, after the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League govt's fall last year, started introducing himself as a BNP member and attending its programmes, according to sources in political parties. He's seen in photos of BNP's Ramchandrapur South Union office's inauguration on Dec 14 last year. University students, including in Dhaka, held marches in solidarity with the victim, calling for justice. While Naripokkho, a women's rights body, called on citizens to break silence and resist violence against women, human rights organisations such as Ain o-Salish Kendra and Manusher Jonno Foundation called for "swift trial and exemplary punishment". The woman filed a case on Friday. She said she had come with her children to visit her parents, and on Thursday night, Fazar came to her house and asked her to open the door. When she refused, he broke the door, entered the house and raped her, according to authorities.
India Today
30-06-2025
- India Today
Bangladesh Hindu woman raped, beaten over Rs 35,000 family loan: Report
Harrowing details of the assault, as recounted by the survivor and her brother in connection with the Bangladesh rape case, have come to around 11 pm on Thursday, the Hindu woman was all alone at her father's home in Cumilla with her two children when she heard a knock from the main accused, Fazar she refused to answer the door, Fazar Ali broke it open, stripped her naked, beat and raped her, according to the survivor and her brother's All of this over Rs 35,000 he had lent to her loan repayment date had passed, prompting Fazar to visit the family. At that time, neither the survivor's brothers nor her parents were present, reported Bangladeshi daily Prothom Alo."Truly that woman is a victim of barbaric violence," a senior police official, who led the probe, told Prothom woman's desperate cries for help alerted nearby locals, who rushed to the spot. According to a neighbour, when a few locals found the woman and Fazar in a compromising position, they attacked the survivor and filmed after realising that she had been raped, the locals turned their wrath towards Fazar, who eventually managed to escape, Prothom Alo was arrested in Dhaka after fleeing from a hospital in Cumilla, where he had been admitted following the beating by locals, according to the to locals, Fazar used to run drug and gambling operations in the locality and claimed to be a member of the Khaleda Zia-led Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), despite holding no official position, Prothom Alo further others, who recorded the act and posted it on social media, were also arrested.- EndsMust Watch
Free Malaysia Today
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
NGO rues politicisation of education in Malaysia
National schools are now seen as 'Malay territory', while vernacular schools are perceived as domains of the Chinese and Indians, according to Fazar Arif. PETALING JAYA : A Sabah-based NGO has singled out the politicisation of education as the factor that has divided Malaysia along racial lines. Fazar Arif, founder of Pergerakan Orang Wanita — Empowerment and Revolution, claims that the racial politics practised today has had a significant impact on the curriculum, education policy and management of schools. She claimed that national schools, envisioned as the great unifier after Merdeka, have increasingly taken on religious and racial undertones, and alienated non-Malay and non-Muslim students in the process. She said such developments have led to certain stereotypes being attached to national and vernacular schools, with the former widely seen as 'Malay territory' and the latter perceived as the domain of their respective ethnic groups. This, she said, has promoted segregation. 'Even when students from other races enrol (in national schools), they remain a small minority,' Fazar told FMT. She said the 'self-reinforcing' cycle would reduce interaction among students of different racial backgrounds from an early age. 'They grow up in parallel worlds — with different religions, different languages, different histories, and different cultural celebrations. Segregation in the school system is very real,' she added. Fazar was commenting on the introduction of a new policy requiring students to wear the Jalur Gemilang badge on their uniform, a practice that the government says will foster unity. Need for action Fazar warned that the divide within society, starting from the younger generation, will continue to widen if such segregation is not dealt with. 'Integration becomes more difficult when there are barriers separating religions, languages, cultures and traditions,' she said. Fazar also bemoaned the fact that none of today's politicians know how to fix it. 'They don't seem to have a clue on how to use the school and education system to set aside race and religion and bring about integration among young Malaysians,' she said. She questioned why no political party, particularly those in the government, has been seen or heard leading serious discussions or conversations among the people or fellow legislators on reforming the education system to foster integration, a more meaningful growth and advancement as a nation. 'How long are Malaysians going to confine themselves to a school system that divides us?' Need to change the narrative Fazar also claimed that the current education system tends to push the propaganda of the so-called social contract among the three major races in Malaysia, which she added was another barrier to fostering good race-relations. She said rectifying the problem created by the politicisation of education would be a monumental task, as it requires political will. Firstly, she said, there is a need to acknowledge that racial division in the country's school system is real and that it has been compounded by decades of political interference. 'Otherwise, any solution will be superficial, and things will only continue to deteriorate,' she added. Secondly, she said, the government must reimagine national schools as truly inclusive institutions. She pointed out that there is a need to remove racial and religious supremacy narratives from the curriculum and make national schools genuinely secular and multiracial in terms of administration, personnel and curriculum. 'There is a need to ensure all students are fluent in Bahasa Malaysia and English but steps must also be taken to strengthen mother tongue languages, such as Mandarin, Tamil and indigenous languages and making them part of the mainstream curriculum.
