Tag: South Asia

Dhaka (TIP)- Bangladesh’s President Mohammed Shahabuddin has said he wants to leave office midway through his tenure after the country’s February parliamentary election. In an exclusive interview with Reuters on Thursday, the Bangladesh President said he felt “humiliated” and sidelined by the interim administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.
Mohammed Shahabuddin, 75, holds the role of commander-in-chief of the armed forces, though the presidency remains largely ceremonial in the South Asian nation of 173 million. Executive authority rests with the prime minister and cabinet. His office, however, took on prominence last year when a student-led revolt forced long-serving premier Sheikh Hasina to flee to New Delhi in August 2024, leaving him as the only constitutionally mandated authority after parliament’s dissolution.
The president was elected unopposed in 2023 for a five-year term as the nominee of Hasina’s Awami League, which has since been barred from contesting the 12 February election.
In the interview conducted via WhatsApp from his official residence in Dhaka, Shahabuddin said he no longer wished to continue in office. “I am keen to leave. I am interested to go out,” he said, adding that he would remain only until the election. “Until elections are held, I should continue. I am upholding my position because of the constitutionally held presidency.”
He said he had been marginalised by the Yunus-led interim government. According to him, Yunus had not met him for nearly seven months, his press department had been removed, and portraits of the president were taken down from embassies and consulates worldwide in September.
“There was the portrait of the president, picture of the president in all consulates, embassies and high commissions, and this has been eliminated suddenly in one night,” he said. “A wrong message goes to the people that perhaps the president is going to be eliminated. I felt very much humiliated.”
Shahabuddin said he had written to Yunus over the removal of his portraits but received no response. “My voice has been stifled,” he said. Yunus’ press advisers have not responded to the request for comment, according to Reuters. Shahabuddin said he remains in regular touch with Army Chief General Waker-uz-Zaman, whose forces stayed neutral during last year’s deadly unrest that ended Hasina’s rule. He said the army chief had assured him he had no intention of seizing power, despite Bangladesh’s long history of military interventions. Zaman has publicly stated he wants democratic governance restored.
The president noted that although some student groups had initially demanded his resignation during the uprising, no political party has asked him to step aside in recent months.
Asked whether Hasina attempted to contact him after she fled the country, Shahabuddin refused to answer. He insisted he had acted independently since assuming office and was no longer tied to any political party.
Opinion surveys indicate the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by former prime minister Khaleda Zia and the conservative Jamaat-e-Islami are likely to lead the race for forming the next government. The two parties previously governed in coalition from 2001 to 2006.

Dhaka (TIP)- A medical board looking after critically ill former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia on Thursday decided to send her to London for advanced treatment, her personal physician AZM Zahid Hossain said.
Zia, the 80-year-old Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson, will be flown in an air ambulance late after midnight or early Friday to London, where her elder son and acting BNP chief Tarique Rahman lives.
After she developed a chest infection that affected both her heart and lungs, Zia was admitted to a private hospital here on November 23 and four days later, shifted to the coronary care unit (CCU) after several of her health complications worsened.“The medical board has unanimously decided that she will be taken to London via the Qatar Royal Air Ambulance, either after midnight tonight or early tomorrow morning,” Hossain told reporters during a briefing outside the hospital.
Hossain, who is also a member of BNP’s policy making standing committee, however, did not explicitly comment on Zia’s current health condition.During the last such briefing on Tuesday, he said Zia was responding to the treatment. Hossain’s briefing confirmed earlier media reports that Zia’s family was preparing to transfer her to London while adding that the decision for her urgent transfer was made by the extended medical board incorporating the recently arrived specialist teams from China and the United Kingdom.
The BNP also issued a list saying 14 people, one of them being Syeda Shameela Rahman, wife of Zia’s deceased younger son Arafat Rahman and six being doctors, who will accompany Zia to London.
The others include a party leader and Zia’s adviser Enamul Haque Chowdhury, two agents of the elite Special Security Force (SSF) provided by Muhammad Yunus’ interim government and her personal aides.
Qatar had already offered to provide the air ambulance for Zia for taking her to London even as two military and air force helicopters on Thursday staged landing tests at the rooftop of the hospital, where she is admitted. Presumably, she will be flown from the hospital to the airport in one such helicopter.
Meanwhile, a four-member Chinese medical team, comprising doctors Chi Jiang Fang, Yan Xin, Zhong Yuhui, and Meng Huang Wu, arrived at the hospital late on Wednesday night and met with the medical board to review treatment options for the BNP chairperson, the state-run BSS news agency reported.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir met the specialists upon their arrival and discussed Zia’s treatment with them, according to news portal bdnews24.com.
The Chinese doctors joined a four-member UK specialist group led by Dr Richard Buell that had arrived earlier in the day to help chart an advanced treatment plan.
The team’s arrival marked the second batch of Chinese doctors, who had arrived earlier this week. A five-member advance team from China had arrived in Dhaka on December 1 to provide preliminary assistance.
Interim government chief Muhammad Yunus on Wednesday visited the hospital to enquire about Zia’s health, a day after the army, navy and air force chiefs visited her.

Islamabad (TIP)- President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday, Dec 4, approved the appointment of the army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, as Pakistan’s first Chief of Defence Forces for a period of five years.
President Zardari approved the summary submitted by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formally asking him to appoint Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Munir as the first CDF of Pakistan.
Last month, the parliament passed the 27th Constitutional Amendment providing to create the post of CDF with the objective to create unity of command and expedite the decision making in any critical situation.
The CDF replaced the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), the post for which was abolished.
The President extended his best wishes to Munir, a release from President’s office said here.
Zardari also approved a two-year extension in the service of Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmad Babar Sidhu, Chief of Air Staff, to take effect from the completion of his present tenure on March 19, 2026.
According to a statement by the PM Office, the prime minister had earlier approved the summary for the appointment of Field Marshal Munir as the army chief and the CDF, and then referred it to the President House.
Field Marshal Munir was appointed as COAS in November 2022 initially for three years but his tenure was extended for five years in 2024.
The decision to issue a formal notification has put to rest rumours regarding delay in the appointment of the CDF, which was due since November 27, when the last CJCSC General Sahir Shamshad Mirza retired.
Earlier, Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar, addressing a press conference, had said that there was no legal or political obstacle regarding the notification of the appointment of the Chief of Defence Forces and this notification would be issued soon.

Lahore (TIP)- Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan is in “completely good health inside Adiala Jail”, the jail authorities said on Thursday, rejecting rumours on social media about his medical condition.
“The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership has been informed regarding Imran Khan’s health. All necessary care is being provided to the PTI chief,” the Adiala Jail administration said in a statement issued here on Thursday.
Khan, 73, has been in jail since August 2023 in multiple cases.
Several social media accounts on X have shared unverified claims of Imran Khan’s death, with some foreign media also reporting on the alleged rumours about his health. The trend ‘Where is Imran Khan?’ was also trending on X on Thursday morning.
There is no truth to the rumours being circulated on social media about his medical condition, the statement said.
The development comes as Imran Khan’s three sisters have been repeatedly denied a meeting with him for the last six weeks, leading them to question the whereabouts of the ex-prime minister. they also staged sit-ins outside the Adiala jail.
The Adiala Jail administration further clarified that reports about shifting Imran Khan from Adiala Jail are entirely baseless.
“Imran Khan is in Adiala Jail and is healthy. The social media rumours about his transfer are unfounded,” the jail administration said. The PTI has demanded that the government lift the undeclared ban on Imran Khan’s meetings and immediately arrange a meeting between the former premier and his family.
In a statement issued early on Thursday on X, the PTI demanded that the current government and the interior ministry clearly dismiss and clarify the rumour and immediately arrange a meeting between Imran Khan and his family.
“A formal and transparent statement should be issued on behalf of the state regarding the health, security and current status of Imran,” the party demanded. It further called on the state to investigate those responsible for spreading rumours of a sensitive nature and demanded that the facts be presented before the nation.
“The nation will not tolerate any uncertainty regarding the status of Imran Khan. The government is directly responsible for protecting Imran’s security, human rights and constitutional rights,” the PTI said.
The party vowed to take every legal and political step to counter these rumours and bring the truth to light.
PTI leader Meher Bano Qureshi, who is also the daughter of former foreign minister and PTI vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, said on X that rumours regarding Imran Khan’s health were concerning.
“The government is responsible for Khan sahib’s safety and is duty-bound to issue a statement updating the nation. As far as putting an end to these rumours goes, the best, most credible way possible is to allow Khan sahib’s sisters, lawyers and party members to meet with him,” Qureshi said.
Interestingly, Adiala Jail comes under the administrative control of the Punjab government of Maryam Nawaz.
Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, daughter of three-time premier Nawaz Sharif, has already stated that she has no control over Khan’s meetings.

Dhaka (TIP)- Ousted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been sentenced to 21 years in prison in separate corruption cases related to allocations of land in a government project, dealing another legal blow to the country’s former leader, living in exile. In a decision issued on Thursday, Nov 27, a court found Hasina guilty of illegally securing plots of land in a suburb of the capital, Dhaka, for herself and her family despite their ineligibility.
Last week, Hasina was sentenced to death by hanging after she was found guilty of crimes against humanity for ordering a deadly crackdown against a student-led uprising last year that eventually ousted her.
Hasina fled Bangladesh by helicopter on August 5, 2024, after weeks of student-led protests against her “autocratic rule”.
The 78-year-old former leader is currently residing in India and has defied court orders that she return to Bangladesh. New Delhi is said to be studying Dhaka’s extradition request. Shaina Begum, the mother of 20-year-old student Sajjat Hosen Sojal, who was shot and his body burned by the police hours before the student-led uprising forced Hasina to resign and flee the country, told Al Jazeera after the verdict, “I cannot be calm until she [Hasina] is brought back and hanged in this country.” Hundreds of families who lost loved ones in the protests wonder if the deposed prime minister will actually face justice.
The three corruption cases were brought against her by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over alleged land grabs of lucrative plots in the Purbachal New Town project.
Hasina’s conduct “demonstrates a persistent corruption mindset rooted in entitlement, unchecked power, and a greedy eye for public property”, ruled Judge Abdullah Al Mamun. “Treating public land as a private asset, she directed her greedy eye toward state resources and manipulated official procedures to benefit herself and her close relatives.”
Each sentence was seven years in prison, and Mamun ruled that Hasina would need to serve them consecutively.

Bara (TIP)- After two days of violent protest, Simara city in the Bara district of Nepal is returning to normalcy, with security seen as the major concern for locals ahead of the upcoming election.
Tension started to flare up in Simara Chowk of Bara district after CPN-UML cadres charged at the Gen-Z protestors who were staging a peaceful protest on Wednesday. Tension continued for the second day, with Gen-Z protestors alleging that police had let those inciting violence go free.
“On Wednesday and Thursday, the situation was quite tense here. The Gen-Z were on the street in large numbers and protesting. (District) Leaders of the CPN-UML had attacked the Gen-Z (District Coordinator) Samrat (Upadhyay), which flared up the tension, but since yesterday, the condition is returning to normalcy,” Gopal Rijal, an auto rickshaw driver in Simara, told ANI.
The situation continued to simmer after the police arrested three individuals, who included two elected ward chairs from the CPN-UML — Dhan Bahadur Shrestha and Kaimuddin Ansari. Shrestha is the chair of Ward 2, while Ansari is of Ward 6. Another accused, Arvind Sah, named as the main perpetrator and planner of the attack on the Gen-Z group, was arrested in Hetauda on Thursday night.
“The situation around here had started to fall back to normal since yesterday morning. There hasn’t been any violence or clashes since yesterday. The Gen-Z groups had gone for talks with the authorities in Pathlaiya. The situation has continued to remain normal; there isn’t an environment of fear till now,” said Lokendra Prasad Baral, another resident of Simara, to ANI as he continued his business on Saturday morning.
The disgruntled Gen-Z protestors, on the late evening of Friday, reached a verbal agreement with the local authorities to address their demands. The two parties reached an agreement two days after the claimed attack on the Gen-Z youths by the CPN-UML (Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist) cadres on Wednesday in Simara Chowk.
As per the verbal agreement, the agitated group has given a three-day ultimatum to authorities to fulfil the demand; otherwise, they will again return to the streets.
With about three months left for the parliamentary elections, the violence and clashes in Simara have increased concerns for locals in the Bara district.
“Security has been a challenge now. There are numerous groups increasing the security challenges. This has increased the fear that it would hamper the conduct of the election, as the challenges have continued to pile up. There are many factions and sub-factions with their own interests, and there is a lack of unity and uniformity amongst the people themselves,” Rijal said.
The two-day protest in one of the districts in the southern plains of the Himalayan nation left at least six peopleinjured in the clashes. The police also had to use tear gas and fire into the air to disperse the protestors on Thursday.

ISLAMABAD (TIP)- In a significant shift, Pakistan appears to have finally recalibrated its Afghan policy, moving away from any notion of appeasing the Afghan Taliban and, instead, follow a “waiting game” to unravel things there.
The Express Tribune said, quoting senior officials familiar with the development, that Islamabad is now “comfortable waiting” for political and security conditions in Afghanistan to evolve on their own, a marked departure from the past when Pakistan often felt compelled to intervene or mediate.
The shift is rooted not just in changing regional dynamics but also in Pakistan’s mounting frustration over the Afghan Taliban’s lack of action against the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Despite repeated engagements and high-level delegations, officials say Kabul has shown little inclination to rein in the TTP responsible for some of Pakistan’s deadliest recent attacks. That lack of progress hardened attitudes in Islamabad, the newspaper said.
“We realised we were investing energy without any meaningful outcome,” a senior official said. “If the Afghan authorities are unwilling or unable to address our core concern, then there is no reason for us to carry the burden of expectations on their behalf.”
For years, Pakistan was viewed as the country with unique leverage over the Afghan Taliban. Western governments routinely pressed Islamabad to “deliver” Kabul on issues ranging from counterterrorism to women’s rights to inclusive governance.
Officials say that expectations placed Pakistan at the centre of global frustration in Afghanistan, despite Islamabad’s own security concerns and limited influence.
“Earlier, the world kept asking us to persuade the Taliban on different issues,” said one official, explaining the exhaustion in Islamabad over repeated international pressure. “Now they finally understand where we stand and what our limitations are.”
Despite repeated engagements and high-level delegations, officials say Kabul has shown little inclination to rein in the TTP responsible for some of Pakistan’s deadliest recent attacks.

That lack of progress hardened attitudes in Islamabad, the newspaper said. “We realised we were investing energy without any meaningful outcome,” a senior official said. “If the Afghan authorities are unwilling or unable to address our core concern, then there is no reason for us to carry the burden of expectations on their behalf.”
For years, Pakistan was viewed as the country with unique leverage over the Afghan Taliban. Western governments routinely pressed Islamabad to “deliver” Kabul on issues ranging from counterterrorism to women’s rights to inclusive governance.
Officials say that expectations placed Pakistan at the centre of global frustration in Afghanistan, despite Islamabad’s own security concerns and limited influence.
“Earlier, the world kept asking us to persuade the Taliban on different issues,” said one official, explaining the exhaustion in Islamabad over repeated international pressure. “Now they finally understand where we stand and what our limitations are.”

Islamabad (TIP)- Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has said both suicide bombers involved in the two attacks in the country this week were Afghan nationals, as authorities announced having made several arrests. Naqvi made the remarks in parliament on Thursday, ov 13, during a session carried live on television.
On Wednesday, Nov 12, at least 12 people were killed and more than 30 were injured, several of them critically, when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of the Islamabad District Judicial Complex.
The Counter-Terrorism Department in Punjab province’s Rawalpindi said seven suspects were detained in connection with the Islamabad blast. The alleged perpetrators were apprehended from Rawalpindi’s Fauji Colony and Dhoke Kashmirian, the Dawn daily reported, while a raid was also conducted in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.
The other suicide attack took place on Monday at a college in South Waziristan, KP.
Cadet College, which is near the Afghan border, came under attack when an explosive-laden vehicle rammed its main gate. Two attackers were killed at the main gate, while three others managed to enter, according to police.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been severely strained in recent years, with Islamabad accusing fighters sheltering across the border of staging attacks inside Pakistan. Kabul denies giving haven to armed groups to attack Pakistan.
Dozens of soldiers were killed in border clashes between the two countries last month, as well as several civilians. On Tuesday, Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said Pakistan may launch strikes inside Afghanistan following the attacks this week, saying the country was “in a state of war”.
“Anyone who thinks that the Pakistan Army is fighting this war in the Afghan-Pakistan border region and the remote areas of Balochistan should take today’s suicide attack at the Islamabad district courts as a wake-up call,” he said.
Pakistan passes bill giving army chief immunity for life
In a separate development on Thursday, Nov 13, Pakistan’s parliament approved a sweeping constitutional amendment, granting lifetime immunity to the current army chief, boosting the military’s power, which was previously reserved only for the head of state, despite widespread criticism from opposition parties and critics.
The 27th amendment, passed by a two-thirds majority, also consolidates military power under a new chief of defence forces role and establishes a Federal Constitutional Court.
The changes grant army chief Asim Munir, recently promoted to field marshal after Pakistan’s clash with India in May, command over the army, air force and the navy.
Munir, like other top military brass, would enjoy lifelong protection. Any officer promoted to field marshal, marshal of the air force, or admiral of the fleet will now retain rank and privileges for life, remain in uniform, and enjoy immunity from criminal proceedings.

Dhaka (TIP)- Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal will deliver its verdict on Monday (November 17) in the case involving ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who faces five counts of charges related to crimes against humanity during last year’s deadly protests and violence in Dhaka. Prosecutors have sought the death penalty for the deposed PM, who is in India, over the crackdown on student-led protests that led to her ouster and escape to India.
Notably, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who was part of the ousted Awami League government, and then inspector general of police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun were also tried in the tribunal. Both Hasina and Kamal faced their trials in absentia as the court declared them “fugitives”.
In a February report, the United Nations said that about 1,400 people might have been killed in the violence that rocked Dhaka last year. Meanwhile, the country’s health adviser said that over 800 people were killed and about 14,000 were injured.
‘Deserved 1,400 death sentences’
ICT-BD chief prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam has demanded the death penalty for Hasina. He said that the ousted PM deserves 1,400 death sentences. “Since that is not humanly possible, we demand at least one,” he added.
In court last month, he claimed that Hasina’s goal was only to cling to power permanently “for herself and her family”. He called her a “hardened criminal” who shows “no remorse for the brutality she has committed”.
On October 23, the tribunal completed the hearing of the case, which spanned more than 28 working days and saw 54 witnesses testify before the court.
5 counts of charges against Hasina
In total, Sheikh Hasina and the two others have been accused of committing crimes under five counts. The first alleges murder, attempted murder, torture and other inhumane acts.
The second count accuses Hasina of ordering the “extermination” of protesters, while the third alleges that the former PM made inflammatory remarks and ordered the use of deadly weapons against protesting students.
The remaining charges concern the shooting and killing of six unarmed protesters, including students, in Dhaka and its suburbs.
Bangladesh on edge ahead of verdict
The country has been rocked by a series of crude bombings and arson attacks ahead of the verdict, as the former ruling party, the Awami League, called for a nationwide lockdown to protest Hasina’s trial.
Schools across Dhaka and other major cities have shifted to online classes, while public transport is facing major disruptions. Security has been tightened across the national capital, and authorities have deployed army troops around the International Crimes Tribunal complex.

Istanbul (TIP)- Pakistan and Afghanistan have traded blame for brief cross-border fighting, as delegations from both countries met in Turkiye for talks aimed at securing a ceasefire following deadly clashes last month. Thursday’s (Nov 6) talks in Istanbul are intended to finalise a truce approved on October 19 in Qatar that ended a week of deadly clashes between the South Asian neighbours, which killed dozens of people, including soldiers and civilians, and wounded hundreds of others.
Security issues are at the heart of their dispute, with Islamabad accusing Kabul of harbouring groups such as the Pakistan Taliban (TTP), which is accused of launching attacks in Pakistan. The Taliban government in Afghanistan denies these allegations.
“While the third round of negotiations with the Pakistani side has begun in Istanbul, unfortunately, this afternoon Pakistani forces once again opened fire on Spin Boldak, causing concern among the local population,” Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Thursday, Nov 6.
The city of Spin Boldak is located in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar.
“The Islamic Emirate’s forces, out of respect for the negotiation team and to prevent civilian casualties, have so far shown no reaction,” Mujahid said on X.
Pakistan denied the accusation, pinning the blame on Afghanistan.
“We strongly reject claims circulated by the Afghan side regarding today’s incident at the Pak-Afghan border at Chaman,” Pakistan’s Ministry of Information & Broadcasting posted on X. “Firing was initiated from the Afghan side, to which our security forces responded immediately in a measured and responsible manner.”
Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for the Taliban authorities, told the AFP news agency that “we don’t know the reason” for the Pakistani fire.
Ali Mohammed Haqmal, head of Kandahar’s information department, said the firing was brief. Residents told AFP it lasted 10-15 minutes. Pakistan confirmed that calm had been restored.
Negotiations in Istanbul reached an impasse last week when it came to finalising ceasefire details, with each side accusing the other of not being willing to cooperate.
Both sides also warned of a resumption of hostilities in case of failure.
Despite the ceasefire, all important border crossings between Pakistan and Afghanistan remain closed to trade and civilian movement. The crossings were shut on October 12, though Pakistan has partially reopened two of those to allow Afghan refugees to return home.
Host Turkiye said at the conclusion of last week’s talks that the parties had agreed to establish a monitoring and verification mechanism to maintain peace and penalise violators.
Fifty civilians were killed and 447 others wounded on the Afghan side of the border during clashes that began on October 9, according to the United Nations. At least five people died in explosions in Kabul that the Taliban government blamed on Pakistan.
The Pakistani army reported 23 of its soldiers were killed and 29 others wounded, without mentioning civilian casualties.

New Delhi (TIP)- Ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said she had no plans of leaving India, warning that millions of voters would be boycotting the election in Bangladesh if her party, the Awami League, wasn’t allowed to participate. In interviews to a news agency and the UK’s Independent, Hasina refused to apologise for the killings that took place in July-August 2024 during the agitation that led to the toppling of her regime. Hasina told Reuters she “lives freely in Delhi but remains cautious given her family’s violent history”.
Hasina, advised by Bangladesh Army Chief Waker-Uz-Zaman, left for India on August 5 last year on a self-imposed exile as tens of thousands of protesters marched towards her residence in Dhaka. Since then, she has been in a safehouse in Delhi, according to reports. A Reuters journalist had seen Hasina taking a stroll at Delhi’s Lodhi Garden and nodding to passersby who recognised her.
In an e-mail interview to Reuters, Sheikh Hasina said that “she would not return to Bangladesh under any government formed after elections that exclude her party, and plans to remain in India”. “I would of course love to go home, so long as the government there was legitimate, the Constitution was being upheld, and law and order genuinely prevailed,” she told Reuters.
Hasina and several leaders of her government and party are facing charges of murder and a trial has just concluded at the International Crimes Tribunal-1 in Dhaka where the government prosecutor sought the death penalty for her.
Around 1,400 people were allegedly killed in Bangladesh in July and August last year as a students’ protest against quota in jobs turned into a movement against the Sheikh Hasina regime.
In an interview to The Independent, published on Wednesday, Sheikh Hasina refused to apologise for the deaths, but said she “mourns each and every child, sibling, cousin and friend we lost as a nation” and would “continue to offer my condolences”. She called the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) proceedings “sham trial” and part of the process of assassinations against her family, and a bid to get rid of her.
“The ICT is a sham court presided over by an unelected government consisting of my political opponents. Many of those opponents will stop at nothing to get rid of me,” Hasina told The Independent. “Because of my family’s history, nobody can be more aware than I am of the history of political assassinations in our country, and this move by the ICT is part of that ugly tradition.”

Islamabad (TIP)- After the second round of talks in Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to extend the ceasefire on Thursday. According to a statement released by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the talks between the two nations were mediated by both Ankara and Qatar.
The statement noted that the talks were held between 25 and 30 October in Istanbul. Negotiators from Turkey, Qatar, Afghanistan and Pakistan sat down to discuss ways to strengthen the ceasefire, which had been agreed upon in Qatar. Earlier this month, Islamabad and Kabul engaged in a brief military conflict at the border, which resulted in several fatalities.
“Afghanistan, Pakistan, Türkiye and Qatar held meetings in Istanbul from 25 to 30 October 2025 aimed at solidifying the ceasefire that was agreed by Afghanistan and Pakistan in Doha on 18–19 October 2025, with the mediation of Türkiye and Qatar. All parties have agreed on the continuation of the ceasefire,” the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Next meeting on 6 November
It also noted that additional principles for the implementation of the ceasefire would be discussed and finalised during a high-level meeting to be held on 6 November in Istanbul.
“All parties have agreed to put in place a monitoring and verification mechanism that will ensure the maintenance of peace and impose a penalty on the violating party,” the ministry stated. “As mediators, Türkiye and Qatar express their appreciation for the active contributions of both parties and stand ready to continue cooperation with both sides for lasting peace and stability,” the statement further read.
Initially, a 48-hour ceasefire was announced on 15 October after intense border clashes between the two sides. It was later extended until the conclusion of the Doha talks, with the support of Türkiye and Qatar. The military escalation between the two nations intensified after Pakistan conducted two strikes in Kabul, while the Taliban’s Foreign Minister, Amir Muttaqi, was on a six-day visit to India.

Islamabad (TIP)- Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet on Thursday, Oct 23, approved the Punjab government’s decision, under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), to ban the extremist Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party, which recently staged violent protests that killed 16 people, including policemen.
The cabinet meeting, chaired by the prime minister, discussed the Punjab government’s proposal to outlaw the religious group under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997.
According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the cabinet unanimously approved the ban after the interior ministry presented a summary of the Punjab government’s request and briefed members on the “violent and terrorist activities of the TLP in the country.” The statement noted that the TLP has a history of violent protests since 2017, news agency PTI reported.
“The meeting was informed that this organisation (TLP), established in 2016, has repeatedly incited violence across the country, leading to unrest in several regions,” the PMO said.
The statement also pointed out that the organisation had been banned in 2021, a decision lifted six months later on the condition that the party would refrain from violence and unrest. Officials said the new ban was prompted by the group’s violation of those guarantees.
“In the past, security personnel and innocent bystanders have been killed in violent protests and rallies by the TLP. The federal cabinet, after a detailed briefing and the recommendation of the Punjab government, unanimously concluded that the TLP has been involved in terrorism and violent acts,” the statement said.
After the ban, the TLP will be entered into the list of proscribed organisations maintained by the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA). That list already includes militant groups such as the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), Lashkar-e-Taiba, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
According to procedure, the federal government must refer the matter to the Supreme Court within 15 days of its decision for endorsement. The group will be officially added to the list of proscribed organisations once confirmed by the top court.
The Punjab government had earlier decided on October 16, in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, to ban the TLP. The move came five days after the religious-political party launched a “Gaza solidarity” march, pledging to reach Islamabad and protest outside the US Embassy.