By Hassan Ali

There are some fundamental disputes between India and Bangladesh. Such disputes are cross-border killing of Bangladesh nationals, land, maritime boundary demarcations, the sharing of waters from 54 common rivers, informal trade, transnational crime, and internal interference affairs in India that have adversely affected their relationship.

Bangladesh and India share 4,096-kilometre-long international border, the fifth-longest land border globally, including 262 km in Assam, 856 km (532 mi) in Tripura, 318 km (198 mi) in Mizoram, 443 in Meghalaya, and 2,217 km in West Bengal. Since the inception of Bangladesh, they witness many killings on the border. According to the different reports, more than 5000 Bangladeshi nationals were killed by Indian forces. Between January and December, at least 101 Bangladesh nationals were shot dead and tortured to death by the Indian Force (BSF) in the border areas. Last year 2020 witnessed the highest number of killings on the border.

Bangladesh's government criticizes and condemns the killings and reminds the Indian government, again and again, to bring down the killings to zero. However, India's hegemonic behavior continuously violates sovereignty of its neighbor and in addition; India is openly doing violation of Human rights. The Bangladesh-India border is now the bloodiest one in the world due to the hegemonic foreign policy of the Indian forces. The Bangladesh-India border has now become one of South Asia's deadliest killing grounds. 

Bangladesh’s Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal in a statement condemned the illegal and inhuman conduct by forces on the border in parliament. If we visualize the last decade, in 2011, the killing of the Bangladeshi girl Felani-hardly 15 year old- by the Indian Forces and a picture of her body hanging upside down from the border wire fence on the border, carried by the international media, triggered an outcry across the globe. Bangladesh commenced a conference in Dhaka with BSF, stealthy the same statement passed by the BSF delegation that they try to bring the killings on zero. However, the question arises that who will answer the killings of more than 5000 Bangladesh nationals? However, the tragic incidents continue to paint painful stories. In the recent incident, the BSF shot a Bangladeshi woman to death along the border of West Bengal in India, just a day ahead of the BGB-BSF conference.

As the world knows, Bangladesh has achieved decades of impressive economic growth, with expectations of breaking eight percent annual GDP growth of 2019. Bangladesh is the emerging economy in the region that fears Indian hegemony. India is engaging Bangladesh on border and water disputes, and on the other side, India makes a trilateral highway between Myanmar, Thailand, and India across near the border of Bangladesh. India, later or sooner wants to engage other powers to use the route and create hurdles for Bangladesh and destabilize the Bangladeshi economy through border killings and divergent water flow. Although Chevron is one of the largest foreign investor companies, producing  55 percent of Bangladesh's domestic natural gas. USA companies are the largest foreign investors in Bangladesh. Gradually many countries are maintaining their diplomatic ties with Bangladesh, but on the other side, India is creating hurdles for Bangladeshi via different means. China is also a great partner of Bangladesh. India is provoking the world to engage Bangladesh and deploy its forces in the Indo-pacific region. Continuously violations of border and involvement in inhuman activities by Indian forces against civilians allow the international community to engage with Bangladesh in the region and achieve their goals.

India's forces do not stop there. They also intervene and violate Bangladesh's sovereignty. Many forces personnel indulge in smuggling, and they also cross the border of Bangladesh. They send fishers to smuggle and disrupt forces' attention and achieve their goals. In recent days Bangladeshi border guards opened fire at a Border Security Force (BSF) team along the Indo-Bangla river line frontier in West Bengal. According to the BGB issued at late night in Dhaka, the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) said that the patrol team tried to detain three Indian fishers who had entered into Bangladesh waters in an engine-run boat, two of them managed to flee. Four-armed BSF men, including one in uniform soon intruded 650 yards inside the Bangladesh territory with a speedboat to take away the detained fisherman. Such violations are part of India's forces agenda to Bangladesh's destabilization.

However, the reason that compels Bangladeshi people to visit India is not one-dimensional as it looks from the newspaper articles. One of the main reasons for visiting India is both the sides Bengalis are living. There is relationship for centuries because historically and legally, Bengal is the part of Bangladesh and many of the same tribes are living on both sides.

ANKARA, 12 February, 2021 (TON): On Thursday, the Deputy of the Republican People’s Party, Enis Berberoglu officially regained his position as an MP after an Istanbul court withholds criminal complaints against him.

He was accused of unveiling confidential state documents related to Syria.

The Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court dropped charges against Berberoglu on Monday following a ruling by the country’s Constitutional Court which unanimously decided on 21 January that Berberoglu’s rights to stand for elections and engage in political activities had been violated by lower courts because legal proceedings against him should have been suspended due to his re-election as a member of parliament during the country’s June 2018 elections.

He was sentenced by a lower court to five years and 10 months in jail in 2017 for his role in leaking confidential documents about National Intelligence Organization trucks allegedly carrying weapons bound for Syria.

Berberoglu was found guilty of espionage and providing footage of the trucks to a dissident journalist.

Although he was re-elected to parliament in June 2018, he was not released from jail until September that year, when the Court of Cassation postponed his sentence due to his reelection.

However, it was consistently repeated by the rights activists that his reelection in 2018 meant his parliamentary immunity still applied a claim that has now been upheld by Turkey’s highest court.

BERLIN, 12 February, 2021 (TON): On Thursday, three Syrian men accused of planning an attack with several kilograms of explosive chemicals got arrested by German and Danish Police, prosecutors said.

The ages of the men were 33, 36, and 40 respectively who are charged with planning a serious act of violence endangering the state, according to prosecutors in the town of Naumburg in Germany's Saxony-Anhalt state.

"In January of this year, they are alleged to have been involved in the purchase of several kilograms of chemicals that can be used to manufacture explosive devices," they said.

Two arrested in Denmark, where the chemicals were seized as well, while the third arrested in the German state of Hesse.

Police also seized 10 kilograms of gunpowder and fuses at an address in the town of Dessau in Saxony-Anhalt, the prosecutors said.

It is suspected that the three men are brothers, according to a media report.

The violent attacks committed in Germany are expected to be linked to the people having ties with the extremist group; however, since 2013 the number of dangerous militants has increased in number according to the security forces.  

KIDAL, 12 February, 2021 (TON): On Thursday, signatories to the shaky peace deal met in Mali in the northern city of Kidal, a former rebel bastion.  

In 2012, the city fell to Tuareg separatists, who captured much of the north of the Sahel state before the extremist groups commandeered their rebellion.

Thousands killed since the fighters have expanded the conflict into central Mali as well as neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

In a bid to curb the fighting, Mali in 2015 signed an accord in Algiers with several rebel groups -- a deal viewed as one of the country's few options for escaping the violence.

The agreement, among other things, saw rebel militias start cooperating with the army, and provides for decentralizing governance in the vast nation of 19 million people.

But implementing the deal has been painfully slow, Malian troops only returned to Kidal last year.

On Thursday, Algiers-accord signatories gathered in Kidal, in their first such meeting in the symbolic city, and diplomats from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, and Mali's neighbor Algeria also attended.

It is likely to say that the Kidal conference has been a sign of hope in coping with the violence in the semi-arid region.

NEW DELHI, 12 February, 2021 (TON): On Friday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi allegedly said that the government has conceded land to China.

The statement came a day after the Defense Minister made a statement in Parliament about the disengagement process by India and China in eastern Ladakh.

“Indian territory was up to finger 4 why the troops have been withdrawn to finger 3?” said Gandhi while Congress Addressing a press conference.

Rahul Gandhi said the situation about the Depsang Plains, Gogra-Hot Springs is not clear. He said the status quo ante prior to April 2020 should be restored and the Prime Minister should answer the country.

“It is the responsibility of the Prime Minister to protect the territory of this country. How he does it, is his problem, not mine,” said Rahul.

However, on Thursday, DM Rajnath Singh said the forces will return to the command post and added, “Not an inch of land will be given and nothing has been lost since the face-off.”

“The sustained talks with China have led to the agreement on the disengagement on the north and south banks of Pangong Lake. After the agreement, India-China will remove forward deployments in a phased and coordinated manner.”

China will keep its troops to the east of the Finger 8 in the north of Pangong Lake. India will keep its troops at its permanent base near Finger 3,” said Rajnath Singh.

The new move hopes to calm the tension between the two on the border dispute as many see it as a favorable decision while many oppose it as well.

ISLAMABAD, 12 February, 2021 (TON): A successful training launch of a cruise missile with a range of 450km conducted by Pakistan says the military in a statement.

The statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the army’s media wing, said that the Babur cruise missile, launched on Thursday, is capable of engaging targets at land and sea with high precision, media reported.

“The missile was launched from a state-of-the-art Multi Tube Missile Launch Vehicle,” the ISPR statement said.

It was witnessed by senior military and civil officials who praised the standard of training and operational preparedness of the Army strategic forces, “which was reflected by the proficient handling of the weapon system in the field and fulfillment of all laid down training parameters”.

According to the statement, President Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Imran Khan, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and services chiefs congratulated the participating troops on conducting a successful training launch

Pakistan is emerging steadfast in its defense training as it has conducted consecutively tested two different missiles this month. One, Pakistan conducted a training launch of the surface-to-surface ballistic missile Ghaznavi, which is capable of delivering nuclear and conventional warheads to a range of 290 km earlier this month, and also in January, Pakistan conducted a flight test of Shaheen-III surface-to-surface ballistic missile which has a range of 2,750 km.

KABUL, 12 February, 2021 (TON): As the Afghan forces have installed airstrikes against the Taliban group amid impeded peace talks in Doha, more than 90 have been killed, the officials said.  

On Thursday, in the recent wave of airstrikes, the fighter jets struck a Taliban hideout in the Aqtepa area of Charbolak district in Balkh province, killing 11 insurgents including three local commanders, a top official said.

According to the official, the sorties were launched at 1.25 p.m. on Thursday.

On Wednesday, airstrikes in the same area left 31 insurgents dead, he added.

Airstrikes were also conducted in Aqtepa's neighboring Gortepa village earlier in the day, which killed 26 militants.

Twenty-seven armed insurgents including two group commanders namely Hanzala and Barakat killed in the airstrikes targeting Taliban militants in Nawa, Nahr-e-Saraj, and Garmsir districts of the Helmand province on Wednesday.

The fighting has increased as the peace talks in Doha are at a standstill condition.  

MANILA, 12 February, 2021 (TON): Considering the growing concern at China’s expansive maritime activities in the region, Philippines Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said on Thursday, the Philippines wants to keep its visiting forces deal with the US,

The 1998 deal of Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) grants legal status to US forces temporarily stationed in the Philippines, a former US colony, for exercises, humanitarian assistance, and disaster relief.

“We at the defense department and the armed forces, the general feeling is for the Visiting Forces Agreement to continue,” Lorenzana said.

In February 20202, President Rodrigo Duterte canceled the agreement after a Philippine senator and close ally was denied a US visa. He has since twice suspended the termination of the pact.

“The final decision to push through with the termination or withdraw the notice rests on the president,” Lorenzana said.

In order to discuss the military and security cooperation, Washington and Manila officials are due to meet this month for the first time under the new U.S. administration, the defense chief said.

He said the pact has been vital in allowing US and Philippine forces to “work together,” and enhance the capabilities of Philippine troops.

Moreover, the U.S. administration assured its support for the Philippines eyeing on China’s growing assertiveness after Beijing passed a law allowing its coast guard to open fire on foreign vessels in the South China Sea. However, China claims almost all of the South China Sea, a major trade route. The Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Taiwan have overlapping claims.

DHAKA, 12, February, 2021 (TON): The navy officer assault case advanced as the police have charged Erfan Selim, son of MP Haji Mohmmad Selim, and four others for assaulting the Bangladesh Navy officer.

The Detective Branch of police submitted the charge-sheet to court on Thursday after finding evidence against the five, said HM Azimul Haque, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s DB.

On 25 October, the naval officer, Lt Wasif Ahmed Khan, started the case at Dhanmondi Police Station against Erfan, Zahid, and several others, a day after the incident.

He named Haji Selim’s protocol officer AB Siddique Dipu, Mohammad Zahid, and Mizanur Rahman, for the charge of beating him up after a collision between their car and his motorcycle.   

The four are behind bars while another suspect, ‘Ripon’, named in the charge-sheet, is on the run, said Azimul.

The Rapid Action Battalion arrested Erfan after the incident. A mobile court sentenced him and Zahid to one year in jail for possession of illegal liquor and walkie-talkies.

The RAB initiated two cases against Erfan on drugs and illegal arms charges, but police in the investigation sought to drop the charges against him saying they did not find evidence of his involvement with the drugs and firearm seized in his house.

However, the government also suspended Erfan as a ward councilor under Dhaka South City Corporation.

SEOUL, 12 February, 2021 (TON): Kim Jong-un, N. Korean leader criticized the performance of his cabinet and fired a month ago appointed senior economic official saying that they had failed to come up with new ideas to salvage an economy in decay.

On Friday, the report has come during the toughest period of his rule. He hoped for diplomacy that could lift the U.S.-imposed sanctions over his nuclear program but it seemed impossible.

Some analysts say the current challenges may set up conditions for an economic perfect storm in the North that destabilizes markets and triggers public panic and unrest.

He publically admitted the failure of the economic plans considering the current challenges. In January, a five-year plan was issued by the Worker’s Party congress but Kim’s comments during the party’s central committee meeting displayed frustration for the execution of the plans lately.

During Thursday’s session, Kim lamented that the Cabinet was failing in its role as the key institution managing the economy, saying it was producing unworkable plans while displaying no “innovative viewpoint and clear tactics.”

He said the Cabinet’s targets for agricultural production this year were set unrealistically high, considering limited supplies in farming materials and other unfavorable conditions. He said the Cabinet’s targets for electricity production were set too low, showing a lack of urgency when shortages could stall work at coal mines and other industries.

“The Cabinet failed to play a leading role in mapping out plans of key economic fields and almost mechanically brought together the numbers drafted by the ministries, Kim said.

He also vowed all-out efforts to bolster his nuclear weapons program in comments that were seen as an attempt to pressure the new Biden administration.

It is seen that there are signs that the North is taking dramatic steps to strengthen government control over markets, including suppressing the use of US dollars and other foreign currencies.