Latest news with #TouhidHossain
Malaysiakini
a day ago
- Politics
- Malaysiakini
M'sia to assist Bangladesh in IS-linked militancy probe
The Bangladeshi government has sought Malaysia's cooperation in its own investigation into allegations of militancy among Bangladeshi nationals. The Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia said this was one of the matters discussed during a bilateral meeting between Bangladesh's foreign adviser Touhid Hossain and Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan yesterday.
Malaysia Sun
a day ago
- Politics
- Malaysia Sun
Bangladesh to cooperate with Malaysia on investigation of its nationals on terror activity
Dhaka [Bangladesh], July 11 (ANI): Bangladesh has agreed to work with Malaysia to investigate allegations of terror activity against Bangladeshi nationals arrested in Malaysia. The agreement was made during a bilateral meeting between Bangladesh Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain and Malaysian Foreign Minister Dato Haji Mohamad Bin Haji Hasan on the sidelines of the 32nd ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Ministerial Meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Friday. The Foreign Adviser expressed his concerns with the arrests of Bangladeshi nationals over allegations of terrorism. He reiterated the firm stand of the Government against terrorism and sought Malaysia's cooperation in its own investigation into the allegations through exchange of information and findings. The Malaysian Foreign Minister assured to facilitate access and cooperation with the Bangladesh authorities, the statement said. Earlier, the Foreign Advisor met with the UK Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, where the two leaders held discussions on diverse bilateral, regional, and multilateral issues. Both sides discussed, among others, the ongoing reforms in Bangladesh, the Rohingya crisis, and post-LDC graduation support, among other topics, it said. The Foreign Adviser also called on Winston Peters, the Foreign Minister of New Zealand, Hon Vijitha Herath, the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, and Park Yoonjoo, the Vice Minister and Head of Delegation of the Republic of Korea, where a wide range of bilateral and multilateral issues were discussed. Bangladesh became a member of ARF in 2006, a forum established in the early nineties to promote confidence and trust among its 27 members, which include countries in the broader Asia-Pacific region. At present, Bangladesh is co-chairing two of the ARF priority areas, 'Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime' and 'Disaster Relief.' The next session of the ARF Ministerial Meeting is scheduled to take place in Manila in 2026. In the afternoon, the Foreign Adviser delivered the national statement at the Ministerial Meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum, where he called for greater attention to the Rohingya crisis and consideration of its national and regional security implications. The Foreign Adviser also urged the ASEAN members to positively consider Bangladesh's bid to become a Sectoral Dialogue Partner, the statement said. The Foreign Adviser was accompanied Md Shameem Ahsan, the High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Malaysia, Md Forhadul Islam, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other senior officials of the Bangladesh Government. (ANI)
The Hindu
30-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Pakistan, China working to establish new regional bloc with potential to replace SAARC: Report
Pakistan and China are working on a proposal to establish a new regional organisation that could potentially replace the now-defunct South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), according to a media report on Monday. Quoting diplomatic sources familiar with the development, the Express Tribune newspaper reported that talks between Islamabad and Beijing are now at an advanced stage as both sides are convinced that a new organisation is essential for regional integration and connectivity. Citing sources, the paper said that this new organisation could potentially replace the regional bloc SAARC, which comprises India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. A recent trilateral meeting between Pakistan, China and Bangladesh in Kunming, China, was part of those diplomatic manoeuvres, they said, adding that its goal was to invite other South Asian countries, which were part of SAARC, to join the new grouping. Bangladesh dismisses alliance talks However, Bangladesh's interim government had dismissed the idea of any emerging alliance between Dhaka, Beijing and Islamabad, saying the meeting was not 'political'. 'We are not forming any alliance,' foreign affairs adviser M. Touhid Hossain had said. According to sources, India would be invited to the new proposed forum, while countries like Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Afghanistan are expected to be part of the grouping. The main purpose of the new organisation is to seek greater regional engagement through enhanced trade and connectivity, the newspaper said. SAARC suspended It added that if the proposal is materialised, it would replace the SAARC, which has been suspended for a long time due to the India-Pakistan conflict. Its biennial summits have not taken place since the last one in Kathmandu in 2014. The 2016 SAARC Summit was to be held in Islamabad. But after the terrorist attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18 that year, India expressed its inability to participate in the summit due to 'prevailing circumstances'. The summit was called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also declined to participate in the Islamabad meet.
Kuwait Times
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Kuwait Times
India intensifies expulsion of ‘foreigners' to Bangladesh
Activists say deportations mainly target Muslims, causing panic in Assam GUWAHATI: India has started to push people it considers illegal immigrants into neighboring Bangladesh, but human rights activists say authorities are arbitrarily throwing people out of the country. Since May, the northeastern Indian state of Assam has 'pushed back' 303 people into Bangladesh out of 30,000 declared as foreigners by various tribunals over the years, a top official said this week. Such people in Assam are typically long-term residents with families and land in the state, which is home to tens of thousands of families tracing their roots to Muslim-majority Bangladesh. Activists say many of them and their families are often wrongly classified as foreigners in mainly Hindu India and are too poor to challenge tribunal judgments in higher courts. Some activists, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal, said only Muslims had been targeted in the expulsion drive. An Assam government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Assam, which has a 260 km border with Bangladesh, started sending back people last month who had been declared as foreigners by its Foreigners Tribunals. Such a move is politically popular in Assam, where Bengali language speakers with possible roots in Bangladesh compete for jobs and resources with local Assamese speakers. 'There is pressure from the Supreme Court to act on the expulsion of foreigners,' Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told the state assembly on Monday. 'We have pushed back 303 people. These pushbacks will be intensified. We have to be more active and proactive to save the state.' He was referring to the Supreme Court asking Assam in February why it had not moved on deporting declared foreigners. Bangladesh's foreign affairs adviser, Touhid Hossain, did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment. Last week, he told reporters that people were being sent to his country from India and that the government was in touch with New Delhi over it. Aman Wadud, an Assam-based lawyer who routinely fights citizenship cases and is now a member of the main opposition Congress party, said the government was 'arbitrarily throwing people out of the country'. 'There is a lot of panic on the ground - more than ever before,' he said. Some brought back Sarma said no genuine Indian citizens will be expelled. But he added that up to four of the people deported were brought back to India because appeals challenging their non-Indian status were being heard in court. One of them was Khairul Islam, a 51-year-old former government school teacher who was declared a foreigner by a tribunal in 2016. He spent two years in an Assam detention centre and was released on bail in August 2020. He said police picked him up on May 23 from his home and took him to a detention centre, from where he and 31 others were rounded up by Indian border guards and loaded into a van, blindfolded and hands tied. 'Then, 14 of us were put onto another truck. We were taken to a spot along the border and pushed into Bangladesh,' he said. 'It was terrifying. I've never experienced anything like it. It was late at night. There was a straight road, and we all started walking along it.' Islam said residents of a Bangladeshi village then called the Border Guard Bangladesh, who then pushed the group of 14 into the 'no man's land between the two countries'. 'All day we stood there in the open field under the harsh sun,' he said. Later, the group was taken to a Bangladesh guards camp while Islam's wife told police in Assam that as his case was still pending in court, he should be brought back. 'After a few days, I was suddenly handed back to Indian police,' he said. 'That's how I made my way back home. I have no idea what happened to the others who were with me, or where they are.' It is not only Assam that is acting against people deemed to be living illegally in the country. Police in the western city of Ahmedabad said they have identified more than 250 people 'confirmed to be Bangladeshi immigrants living illegally here'. 'The process to deport them is in progress,' said senior police officer Ajit Rajian. — Reuters
The Star
10-06-2025
- Politics
- The Star
India intensifies expulsion of suspected foreigners to Bangladesh
FILE PHOTO. Police officers stand next to men they believe to be undocumented Bangladeshi nationals after detained during raids in Ahmedabad, India, April 26, 2025. - Photo: Reuters file GUWAHATI, (India): India has started to push people it considers illegal immigrants into neighbouring Bangladesh, but human rights activists say authorities are arbitrarily throwing people out of the country. Since May, the northeastern Indian state of Assam has "pushed back" 303 people into Bangladesh out of 30,000 declared as foreigners by various tribunals over the years, a top official said this week. Such people in Assam are typically long-term residents with families and land in the state, which is home to tens of thousands of families tracing their roots to Muslim-majority Bangladesh. Activists say many of them and their families are often wrongly classified as foreigners in mainly Hindu India and are too poor to challenge tribunal judgements in higher courts. Some activists, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal, said only Muslims had been targeted in the expulsion drive. An Assam government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Assam, which has a 260 km (160 mile) border with Bangladesh, started sending back people last month who had been declared as foreigners by its Foreigners Tribunals. Such a move is politically popular in Assam, where Bengali language speakers with possible roots in Bangladesh compete for jobs and resources with local Assamese speakers. "There is pressure from the Supreme Court to act on the expulsion of foreigners," Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told the state assembly on Monday. "We have pushed back 303 people. These pushbacks will be intensified. We have to be more active and proactive to save the state." He was referring to the Supreme Court asking Assam in February why it had not moved on deporting declared foreigners. Bangladesh's foreign affairs adviser, Touhid Hossain, did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment. Last week, he told reporters that people were being sent to his country from India and that the government was in touch with New Delhi over it. Aman Wadud, an Assam-based lawyer who routinely fights citizenship cases and is now a member of the main opposition Congress party, said the government was "arbitrarily throwing people out of the country". "There is a lot of panic on the ground - more than ever before," he said. Some brought back Sarma said no genuine Indian citizens will be expelled. But he added that up to four of the people deported were brought back to India because appeals challenging their non-Indian status were being heard in court. One of them was Khairul Islam, a 51-year-old former government school teacher who was declared a foreigner by a tribunal in 2016. He spent two years in an Assam detention centre and was released on bail in August 2020. He said police picked him up on May 23 from his home and took him to a detention centre, from where he and 31 others were rounded up by Indian border guards and loaded into a van, blindfolded and hands tied. "Then, 14 of us were put onto another truck. We were taken to a spot along the border and pushed into Bangladesh," he said. "It was terrifying. I've never experienced anything like it. It was late at night. There was a straight road, and we all started walking along it." Islam said residents of a Bangladeshi village then called the Border Guard Bangladesh, who then pushed the group of 14 into the "no man's land between the two countries". "All day we stood there in the open field under the harsh sun," he said. Later, the group was taken to a Bangladesh guards camp while Islam's wife told police in Assam that as his case was still pending in court, he should be brought back. "After a few days, I was suddenly handed back to Indian police," he said. "That's how I made my way back home. I have no idea what happened to the others who were with me, or where they are." It is not only Assam that is acting against people deemed to be living illegally in the country. Police in the western city of Ahmedabad said they have identified more than 250 people "confirmed to be Bangladeshi immigrants living illegally here". "The process to deport them is in progress," said senior police officer Ajit Rajian. - Reuters
