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Fresh protest in Bangladesh over Indian politician’s remarks against Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)

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2 years ago

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  • Around 10,000 Muslims demonstrated in Bangladeshi capital.
  • Bangladeshi protesters shout slogans “Muslims of the world unite”.
  • Senior police official says marchers were peaceful. 

DHAKA: Around 10,000 Muslims demonstrated in the Bangladeshi capital on Thursday in the second protest in a week over remarks about the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) by an Indian official that sparked anger across the Islamic world.

Authorities in India have meanwhile ordered heightened security in several regions for coming Friday prayers after two people were shot dead in protests there last week, local media reported.

Last Friday Muslims took to the streets in huge numbers across Asia following the comments by a spokeswoman for India’s ruling party on May 26.

The governments of nearly 20 countries summoned Indian envoys for an explanation of Nupur Sharma’s remarks about Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and his youngest wife.

Shouting slogans such as “Muslims of the world unite”, the Bangladeshi protesters on Thursday rallied in front of Dhaka’s biggest mosque and tried to march to the Indian embassy before being blocked by police.

“There were around 10,000 marchers. They were peaceful,” senior police official Enamul Haq told AFP.

The protest was organised by Islami Andolan Bangladesh, one of the largest political parties in Bangladesh, which is home to the world’s fourth-largest Muslim population.

Around 150,000 people demonstrated last Friday in major Bangladeshi cities including 20,000 in the capital Dhaka and thousands more in towns and at universities.

Speakers at the Dhaka rally on Thursday called for a boycott of Indian products and demanded Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally lodge a protest with India.

Hasina, who has been in power for 13 years, is a close ally of India and has stopped short of condemning Sharma’s remarks.

Derogatory comments about Islam and the prophet on social media often trigger violent protests in Bangladesh. They often also spark riots targeting minorities.

Last year at least six people were killed when widespread anti-Hindu riots swept the southeast of Bangladesh after an alleged desecration of a Koran, Islam’s holy book, in a Hindu temple.

Bulldozers

Since coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been accused of championing discriminatory policies towards India’s Muslim minority.

Sharma’s comments sent the BJP into damage control, with the party suspending her from its ranks and insisting it respected all religions.

As largely peaceful protests raged in several Indian cities last Friday, police opened fire in eastern Ranchi, killing two people after demonstrators threw stones and bottles.

Since then the homes of several people arrested or identified as protesters have been demolished with bulldozers in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which is governed for the BJP by hardliner Yogi Adityanath.

Amnesty International called for an immediate end to what the rights group called a “vicious” crackdown and “excessive use of force, arbitrary detention and punitive house demolitions”.

Authorities in several Indian regions including Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Muslim-majority Kashmir have told security personnel to tighten security around mosques on Friday, local media reported.

The Hindustan Times newspaper said a few districts in these states had banned congregations of more than four people.

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PM Shehbaz will meet with Saudi ministers and speak at the WEF special session today.

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On the third day of his visit to the Kingdom, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will speak at the World Economic Forum Special Meeting’s final plenary, which is titled “Rejuvenating Growth.”

Other speakers at the concluding plenary, in addition to the prime minister, are Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal Alibrahim, British Secretary of State David Cameron, WEF Geneva President Brørge Brende, and WEF Head of Middle East and North Africa Maroun Kairouz.

Meetings with Saudi ministers of trade, energy, the environment, and agriculture are also scheduled for the third day of the prime minister’s visit. He will probably also meet with his counterpart from Malaysia.

Mohammed bin Salman, the prime minister and crown prince of Saudi Arabia, will be present at the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Special Meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth, and Energy for Development, which gets underway here today.

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The nomination of Ishaq Dar as deputy prime minister raises concerns.

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3 hours ago

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A lot of doubts have been raised by Ishaq Dar, the foreign minister, being appointed deputy prime minister.

No reference to the Constitution, regulations, or any other law was mentioned in the Cabinet Division’s notification of the appointment.

What powers Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif used to designate Ishaq Dar as deputy prime minister has come under scrutiny in light of this.

There are questions about the legal foundation for the deputy prime minister’s nomination as it appears from the notification’s phrasing that rules for the position have not yet been established, according to insiders.

Likewise, the announcement is vague about the deputy prime minister’s proposed authority.

Deputy prime minister would be purely symbolic, according to government sources, and would not be authorized to carry out prime ministerial duties. In Pakistan, the deputy prime minister has previously been nominated.

The PPP administration appointed Chaudhry Parvez Elahi as deputy prime minister.

Observe that Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar was appointed deputy prime minister on Sunday with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s consent; the Cabinet Division formally announced the appointment.

Dar holds the position of Pakistan’s fourth deputy prime minister. Previous appointments to the position of deputy prime ministers included Parvez Elahi, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and Begum Nusrat Bhutto.

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The green colour of WhatsApp ‘angers’ some users.

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3 hours ago

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After changing its display colour from blue to green, WhatsApp, which was before well-known for its blue motif, caused its users to hold divergent views.

New upgrades to the Meta app always spark a lot of discussion, regardless of how big or small the changes are.

Still, Meta-owned WhatsApp hopes that these modifications would “make it more accessible as well as easier to use” and offer a “modern, new experience” with relation to the updated display color.

A statement from the firm claimed that they had altered WhatsApp’s “looks and feels, including spacing, colors, icons, and more.”

Both iOS and Android users can now view the new WhatsApp update; the green tint on the latter has changed from the previous version.

However, iPhone users will notice that every display element, including the chat-list window and status bar, has changed with the recent design update. WhatsApp used to have a blue color scheme on iPhones.

Furthermore, the formerly blue links shared within the app are now displayed in green.

In addition, WhatsApp has made other improvements to improve its user experience outside of the color shift.

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