Dhaka, Sep 17 (IANS) Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) warned that imposing a ban on any political party through an executive order would set a “dangerous practice” and insisted that only courts have the authority to decide such matters, local media reported.BNP standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed made these remarks, speaking to reporters on Tuesday at his Gulshan residence in Dhaka.“We do not support banning any party or its activities by executive order. If there are allegations agai…

Dhaka, Sep 17 (IANS) Bangladesh’s Awami League party asserted that the ongoing visit of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights to the country takes place amid increasingly egregious assaults on the nation’s hard-won democracy and the fundamental human rights of its people under the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.The remarks were made during the ongoing visit of the EU’s five-member delegation to Bangladesh from September 16 to 18, which aims to analyse reforms and th…

New Delhi, Sep 17 (IANS) Pakistan did not learn its lessons after being humiliated during the surgical strikes and Balakot airstrikes. While the surgical strikes were carried out post the Uri terror attack, Balakot was in retaliation for the Pulwama attack.The Balakot air strike conveyed a strong message as it was carried out inside Pakistan. Despite being humiliated twice, Pakistan did not learn its lessons and decided to indulge in a misadventure called Pahalgam, where 26 innocents were killed…

Geneva, Sep 17 (IANS) British MP John McDonnell has called for an end to the human rights abuses in Balochistan by Pakistani forces and reaffirmed his commitment, together with his colleagues, to continue standing with the Baloch people.He also stressed the importance of upholding the principle of self-determination in the province as a basic tenet of international human rights.He made these remarks on Tuesday (local time) while speaking at the 7th Global Balochistan Conference in Geneva, organi…

London, Sep 17 (IANS) Over 2,000 members of the Bangladeshi diaspora in the United Kingdom recently held a demonstration in Trafalgar Square in central London to protest the repression, human rights abuses, and undemocratic activities exhibited by the “unelected” Muhammad Yunus-led interim government in Bangladesh, said the Awami League.The protesters marched from Trafalgar Square to Downing Street on September 15, where they handed over a letter addressed to the British Prime Minister Keir …

New York, Sept 17 (IANS) Two young radicalised alleged assassins appeared in US courts in a nation focused on rising political violence.Tyler Robinson, 22, appeared in a local Utah court remotely to face charges in the killing of Charlie Kirk, a close supporter of US President Donald Trump, last week.He is charged with the murder of the Conservative youth activist, and the prosecutor said that he would seek the death penalty, which in the state can be carried out by a firing squad.In New York, a…

United Nations, Sep 17 (IANS) UN Security Council reform is now at the centre of discussions at the General Assembly, and there is some progress in the reform process, according to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “Before, there was a committee that couldn’t even issue papers and the documents would not move from one year to another”, he said on Tuesday at a news conference, referring to the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN).“Now there is a committee working seriously. So I seem mov…

Washington, Sep 17 (IANS) As US President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Modi to extend greetings on his 75th birthday, a leading expert on India-US relations credited New Delhi for demonstrating “remarkable message discipline” in its handling of recent tensions with the United States.In an exclusive interview with IANS in Washington, DC, Milan Vaishnav, the Director and Senior Fellow of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, believed that India has “…

Washington, Sep 16 (IANS) In their first phone conversation in months, US President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday to extend greetings on his 75th birthday.Prime Minister Modi, in a post on X, called Trump his “friend” and thanked him for the wishes.“Thank you, my friend, President Trump, for your phone call and warm greetings on my 75th birthday. Like you, I am also fully committed to taking the India-US Comprehensive and Global Partnership to new heights. We …

Kathmandu: A violent uprising shook Nepal last week with the so-called Gen Z protestors representing the youth demanding systemic reforms. The upheaval in the Himalayan nation sparked by allegations of political corruption and a social media ban has left at least 72 people dead and more than 1,000 injured. The protesting mobs torched the country’s parliament, hotels, shops and chased politicians after setting fire to their properties. They demanded an end to corruption, more jobs and economic re…