Category Archives: South and Central Asia

Bandits kill at least 11 Pakistani police officers in ambush in Punjab province

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Attack on patrol in the Rahim Yar Khan district that was targeting robbers also left seven wounded

Gunmen armed with rocket-propelled grenades have ambushed a police convoy in eastern Punjab province, killing at least 11 officers and wounding seven others, authorities said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on Thursday in the Rahim Yar Khan district. The officers were ambushed while on patrol in a deserted area in search of robbers who operate in the region.

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Thousands flee after Myanmar rebels use drones to bomb Rohingya villagers

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Arakan Army targeting Muslim minority as Myanmar’s military are driven out of Rakhine, UN official says

Thousands of Rohingya are being forced to flee from their homes in Myanmar and escape on dangerous boat journeys after being targeted by armed rebels, activists and officials say.

Having seized control of much of Myanmar’s Rakhine state from the military, the rebel Arakan Army has turned on the Rohingya minority in areas it controls, shelling villages, forcing them to leave their homes and reportedly rounding up groups of men.

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Man charged in Pakistan for alleged role in spreading false claims before UK riots

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Web developer in Lahore charged with cyberterrorism, after riots thought to have been fuelled by false reports online

Police in Pakistan have charged a man with cyberterrorism for his alleged role in spreading misinformation thought to have led to widespread rioting in the UK, a senior investigator has said.

The suspect was identified as Farhan Asif, 32, a freelance web developer, said Imran Kishwar, the deputy inspector general of investigations in Lahore.

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Pakistan businesses reeling from slow internet blame testing for firewall

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Government denies new cybersecurity measures responsible for up to 40% drop in internet speeds across the country

For the free online tech skill classes advertised, there were hundreds of Facebook “likes” and in the end 1,500 people signed up. But on the first day last week, only a handful of those registered managed to log in to the live session. The internet was working at a snail’s speed.

“We received hundreds of complaints,” says the course tutor, Wardah Noor, founder of the IT training firm XWave, based in Layyah, in the Pakistani province of Punjab.

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Murdered Indian doctor’s father speaks out: ‘All I can do now is get her justice’

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The rape-murder of a trainee doctor in a Kolkata hospital has caused outrage across India. Here, her father recalls her urge to help others and their struggle to support her studies

The father of the trainee doctor murdered during a rest break at a Kolkata hospital has spoken of his daughter’s love of medicine and the way her family had worked to support her vocation.

“We are a poor family and we raised her with a lot of hardship. She worked extremely hard to become a doctor. All she did was study, study, study,” he told the Guardian by telephone.

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Hospitals in India hit as doctors begin nationwide strike over trainee’s rape and murder

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Non-essential medical services paralysed as more than a million doctors expected to join 24-hour protest amid rising anger at violence against women

Hospitals and clinics across India have begun turning away patients except for emergency cases as medical professionals started a 24-hour shutdown in protest against the rape and murder of a doctor in the eastern city of Kolkata.

More than 1 million doctors were expected to join Saturday’s strike, paralysing medical services across the world’s most populous nation. Hospitals said faculty staff from medical colleges had been pressed into service for emergency cases.

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Indian medics step up strike in protest at doctor’s rape and murder

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All hospital services except for emergency care to be shut down on Saturday amid outrage over Kolkata attack

All hospital services in India except for emergency care will shut down on Saturday as doctors escalate their protest over the rape and murder of a colleague by calling for a nationwide strike.

A strike that doctors started on Monday was more limited, affecting only government hospitals and elective surgeries. The one on Saturday, called by the Indian Medical Association, will cause massive disruption for 24 hours. All outpatient services and treatment in government and private hospitals will be cancelled.

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Protesters attack supporters of ousted Bangladesh PM in Dhaka

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Hundreds of students and activists prevent Sheikh Hasina followers from visiting her father’s former house

Hundreds of student protesters and political activists armed with bamboo sticks, iron rods and pipes have assaulted supporters of the ousted Bangladeshi prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and prevented them from reaching the former house of her father, the assassinated independence leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in Dhaka.

The house in the Dhanmondi area of the capital was turned into a museum to showcase narratives and other objects about a military coup on 15 August 1975, when Rahman was killed along with most of his family members. The house, now called Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, was torched by the protesters hours after Hasina’s downfall on 5 August following an uprising during which more than 300 people were killed.

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Indian women march to ‘reclaim the night’ after doctor’s rape and murder

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Protests reflect anger at 31-year-old’s killing, as well as a failure to address the daily struggles faced by many women

At the stroke of midnight, thousands of women holding flaming torches and blowing conch shells began to march through dark streets across the state of West Bengal.

The processions in the early hours of the morning on Thursday 15 August, India’s Independence Day, were part of several days of protest against the brutal rape and murder of a junior doctor inside a hospital in the state capital, Kolkata, last week.

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Bangladesh court orders inquiry into Sheikh Hasina’s alleged role in grocer’s death

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Former PM and others accused over actions of police who fired on protesters, killing shop owner crossing street

A court in Bangladesh has ordered an investigation into the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s alleged role in the death of a grocery shop owner in the capital, Dhaka, during last month’s student-led protests.

The case filed by Bangladeshi citizen Amir Hamza against Hasina and six others was accepted by Dhaka’s chief metropolitan magistrates court after a hearing, Hamza’s lawyer, Anwarul Islam, said. The magistrate Rajesh Chowdhury ordered police to investigate the case, Islam added.

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Children among up to 200 Rohingya killed in Myanmar drone attack

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Witnesses say people killed in artillery and drone attack that targeted civilians fleeing violence

Many dozens of Rohingya people, including children, were killed in an artillery and drone attack that targeted civilians as they tried to flee Myanmar last week.

Civilians were trying to escape violence in Maungdaw town, Rakhine state, by crossing the Naf River into Bangladesh when they were targeted last Monday. Videos shared on social media, which appeared to have been taken in the aftermath of the attack, showed bodies and bags strewn across the ground.

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Doctors strike in India after rape and murder of trainee medic at hospital

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Call for better safety measures as ‘civic volunteer’ arrested after attack on female trainee doctor in Kolkata

Doctors at government hospitals in several Indian states have gone on strike in a protest after the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata on Friday.

The 31-year-old woman was attacked at the state-run RG Kar medical college, where she was a resident doctor, after she went to rest in a seminar room following dinner with colleagues. Her brutalised body was found with multiple injuries and an autopsy confirmed sexual assault and homicide.

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Bangladeshi journalists hopeful of press freedom as Hasina era ends

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Reporters cautiously optimistic as interim government takes over after years of intimidation and censorship

Bangladeshi journalists are hoping the resignation of the prime minister Sheikh Hasina will bring an era of censorship and fear to an end, as they prepare to hold a new interim government to account.

Arrests, abuse and forced disappearances at the hands of Bangladesh’s security forces have loomed over journalists for most of Hasina’s 15-year rule, preventing them from routine reporting for fear of writing anything that could be perceived as embarrassing for the government.

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Muhammad Yunus sworn in as interim leader of Bangladesh

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Nobel laureate hopes to restore calm and rebuild country after uprising that ended Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule

Muhammad Yunus has been sworn in as head of a new caretaker government in Bangladesh in a ceremony that began with a minute’s silence to remember those who were killed in the recent protests.

The swearing-in, led by President Mohammed Shahabuddin, was attended by more than 1,500 guests including politicians, students, protest coordinators and representatives from the military and civil society. Other members of the interim government also took their oaths. Among them Adilur Rahman Khan, a prominent human rights activist who was imprisoned by the ousted regime, and two student leaders.

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Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus urges peace ahead of return to Bangladesh

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Incoming head of interim government hails ‘second Victory Day’ but tells Bangladeshis: ‘Violence is our enemy’

The Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who is to lead an interim government in Bangladesh, urged people in the country to “refrain from all kinds of violence” after a mass uprising that has included communal attacks.

Concern is rising in Bangladesh and neighbouring India over continuing violent unrest after the ousting of the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina; in particular, attacks on Hindu homes, shops and temples.

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Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus to head Bangladesh’s interim government

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Decision came during meeting of military chiefs and organisers of the student protests that helped drive longtime prime minister Sheikh Hasina from power

The Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus will be the head of Bangladesh’s interim government after the longtime prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country amid a mass uprising that left hundreds of people dead and pushed the south Asian country to the brink of chaos.

The decision, announced early on Wednesday by Joynal Abedin, the press secretary of the country’s figurehead president, Mohammed Shahabuddin, came during a meeting that included military chiefs, organisers of the student protests that helped drive Hasina from power, prominent business leaders and civil society members.

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Bangladesh parliament dissolved a day after resignation of prime minister

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Move comes after longtime leader Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled country after weeks of deadly unrest

The president of Bangladesh has dissolved the country’s parliament after an ultimatum issued by the coordinators of student protests that forced the resignation on Monday of the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.

The office of the president, Mohammed Shahabuddin, also announced that the former prime minister and opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia had been officially released from prison and given a full presidential pardon.

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Bangladesh PM has resigned and left country, army chief confirms

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Sheikh Hasina’s reported departure comes as fresh wave of violent protests erupts across country

The prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, has resigned and left the country, the head of the army has confirmed, amid some of the worst violence since the birth of the south Asian country more than 50 years ago.

In a briefing to reporters, Army Chief Gen Waker-Uz-Zaman announced he was assuming control at “a critical time for our country” and would establish an interim government.

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Bangladesh students call for march to capital Dhaka a day after clashes kill nearly 100 people

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Country has been engulfed by protests that began in July after students demanded scrapping of quota system for government jobs

Protesting students in Bangladesh have called for a march to the capital Dhaka in defiance of a nationwide curfew on Monday to press prime minister Sheikh Hasina to resign, a day after deadly clashes in the South Asian country killed nearly 100 people.

The country has been engulfed by protests and violence that began last month after student groups demanded the scrapping of a controversial quota system in government jobs.

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Dozens of people killed in Bangladesh as protesters renew call for PM to quit

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Military announces curfew and mobile internet access cut off as fresh wave of demonstrations erupts across country

Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds injured as renewed anti-government protests swept across Bangladesh, with protesters calling for the prime minister to resign as mobile internet access was cut off in an attempt to quell the unrest.

The country’s leading Bengali-language daily newspaper, Prothom Alo, said at least 95 people, including at least 14 police officers, had died on Sunday in the violence. Channel 24 reported at least 85 deaths.

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