• Police identify suspects in Sharif Osman Hadi murder case.
• Bangladesh seeks cooperation from India over Hadi killing.
• Protests intensify in Bangladesh after student leader’s death.
  

DHAKA: Bangladesh police on Sunday said the alleged killers of popular student leader Sharif Osman Hadi had fled to India, in comments likely to further strain relations with its neighbour.

Hadi, a vocal Indian critic who took part in last year’s mass uprising, was shot by masked assailants in Dhaka earlier this month and later succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Singapore.

His death set off violent protests with angry mobs torching several buildings, including two major newspapers deemed to favour India, as well as a prominent cultural institution.

With protests being held across the country almost daily, pressure has been growing on Bangladesh’s interim government to arrest the killers of Hadi, who was set to contest the general elections in February next year.

“The killing was premeditated. Those behind it have been identified,” SN Nazrul Islam, a senior Dhaka Metropolitan Police officer, said at a news conference.

Suspects Faisal Karim Masud and Alamgir Sheikh left Bangladesh through the Haluaghat border with India shortly after attacking Hadi on December 12, Islam said.

They were received at the border by two Indian citizens, who escorted them into the northeastern state of Meghalaya before handing them over to two accomplices.

Bangladeshi investigators were in contact with their Indian counterparts who had arrested the two suspected accomplices, Islam said.

“We are communicating with Meghalaya police, who have confirmed the arrest of two Indian nationals,” he added.

Two senior Meghalaya police officers, however, did not comment when contacted by AFP.

The Indian foreign ministry had earlier said it rejects “false narratives” about New Delhi´s involvement in Hadi´s killing.

Ties between the neighbours have deteriorated since the ousted prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, fled the pro-democracy uprising and sought refuge in India.

India says it is still considering Dhaka’s requests to extradite Hasina, who was sentenced to death in absentia for orchestrating a deadly crackdown on the uprising.

The lynching of a Hindu garment worker by a mob on December 18 has also hit ties.

Amid the deteriorating security situation in the Muslim-majority country, Khuda Baksh Chowdhury, special assistant to interim leader Muhammad Yunus, overseeing the home department, stepped down on Wednesday.

• Hindu groups’ protest met with pro-Khalistan activists.
• Police addresses scuffle, intervenes and restores order.
• India persecuting Sikhs, Muslims, Christians: Sikh leader.

LONDON: Tensions flared outside the Bangladesh Embassy as a confrontation broke out between Pro-Khalistan Sikh activists from Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) and a group of British Indian Hindu groups aligned with India’s ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) during a demonstration related to the alleged killings of Hindus in Bangladesh.

The protest, which sought to stand in solidarity with minorities, was met with anti-India slogans from the Khalistani group, which also raised Khalistani flags.

Veteran Khalistani activist Paramjeet Singh Pamma, a coordinator of the Khalistan Referendum campaign, confronted the Hindu protest group gathered outside the embassy premises. 

A scuffle occurred between Pamma and the BJP’s Hindutva supporters, prompting swift intervention by Metropolitan Police officers stationed at the scene who separated the two groups and restored order.

Pro-Khalistan Sikh activists formed a protective presence around the embassy building. Demonstrators raised slogans accusing the Indian government of responsibility for deaths linked to Sikh activists, including chants of, “who Killed Hadi — Modi”, and “who killed [Hardeep Singh] Nijjar — Modi, Modi, India”.

Pamma is designated by India as a “most wanted terrorist,” a label applied by Indian security agencies to several Khalistan-linked figures. However, the legal status of Pamma in the UK differs from India’s position.

Expressing his views on Indian allegations, the Sikh leader said, “I reside openly in the United Kingdom; no UK court has convicted me of terrorism-related offences; no extradition request by India has resulted in my removal, and UK authorities have not legally upheld India’s allegations against me.

“We gathered here today to expose India’s dirty face. India is involved in persecuting Sikhs, Muslims and Christians at home; it cannot blame Bangladesh for human rights violations. We are focused on the next phase of the Khalistan Referendum, which will reveal the full scale of atrocities committed by India against the Sikhs,” remarked Pamma.

The clash comes as ties between New Delhi and Dhaka have been strained since the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who currently resides in India. The bilateral relations further took a dive following the killing of Bangladesh student leader Sharif Osman Hadi and the lynching of a Hindu worker in Bangladeshi capital.

• Muslim countries’ joint statement back Somalia’s sovereignty.
• Express grave concern over recognition of parts of states.
• Statement also dismisses attempts to forcibly expel Palestinians.
  

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and other countries, in a joint statement issued on Sunday, slammed Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, terming it a threat to international peace and security.

The joint statement, backed by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Iran, Egypt, Qatar and others, highlights the serious repercussions of such an unprecedented measure on peace and security in the Horn of Africa, the Red Sea, and its serious effects on international peace and security as a whole, which also reflects Israel’s full and blatant disregard to international law.

The joint statement comes against the backdrop of Tel Aviv’s becoming the first country to formally recognise the self-declared Republic of Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would seek immediate cooperation with Somaliland in agriculture, health, technology and the economy.

In a statement, he congratulated Somaliland’s president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, praised his leadership and invited him to visit Israel.

Netanyahu said the declaration was “in the spirit of the Abraham Accords, signed at the initiative of President Trump”.

Meanwhile, Abdullahi said in a statement that Somaliland would join the Abraham Accords, calling it a step toward regional and global peace.

However, the Muslim countries’ joint statement today terms Israel’s recognition “a grave violation of the principles of international law and the United Nations Charter, which explicitly stipulates the imperative of protecting the sovereignty of states and their territorial integrity, and reflects Israel’s expansionist”.

Backing Somalia’s sovereignty, the joint statement unequivocally rejects “any measures that undermine the unity of Somalia, its territorial integrity or its sovereignty over its entire territory”.

“The recognition of parts of states constitutes a serious precedent and threatens international peace and security, and violates the cardinal principles of international law and the UN Charter,” it read.

Furthermore, the statement dismisses “any potential link between such measure and any attempts to forcibly expel the Palestinian people out of their land,” which it said is unequivocally rejected in any form as a matter of principle.

 A day earlier, the Foreign Office (FO) had also denounced Israel’s announcement recognising the independence of the so-called Somaliland region of the Federal Republic of Somalia.