In Bangladesh, one of the world’s poorest countries, people are spending days on the streets.
According to foreign media reports, 14 people have been killed by police bullets so far, and citizens have attempted to lynch the police.
To thwart protests that erupted in Bangladesh in protest against high youth unemployment, the government closed all universities, cut off the internet and police intervened by using pepper gas against demonstrators.
Six people have been killed and hundreds injured in protests this week alone.
The death toll since the incident began is now recorded at 25.
More than 32 million of Bangladesh’s 170 million people are unemployed or out of education. Unemployed young people are protesting to demand the elimination of the 30 percent quota officially given to the families of a group known as “freedom fighters.”
Freedom Fighters is the name given to the Bangladeshis who fought for Pakistan’s independence in 1971…
The government, hoping to thwart protests, has shut down the internet in most of the country, saying it had temporarily shut it down “to prevent unfounded rumours and disturbances on social media”.
Police intervened by using pepper gas on students who were blocking the highway.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was elected for a fourth term in January, yesterday indefinitely closed all public and private universities and deployed riot police and paramilitary border guards to campuses.
Hasina also said a judicial commission would be set up to investigate the deaths of six protesters.
Human rights groups, the United Nations and the United States expressed concern about the situation and warned that “peaceful protests should not be incited to violence.”
Latest Situation in India
Four Indian soldiers were killed and at least six were wounded in an ambush by suspected militants on a military vehicle during a routine patrol in the Kathua area of Indian-controlled Kashmir on Monday, Indian police officials said.
Following the incident, police and military reinforcements were deployed to the area, a cordon was set up and a search operation was launched.
The attack, which has not been claimed by rebels, was the latest in a series of violent clashes.
Also, just yesterday, two Indian soldiers and six suspected militants were killed in two separate gunfights in Kulgam district, according to police reports.
Earlier in the day, militants opened fire on an army camp in Rajouri district, injuring one soldier.
What is happening in Kashmir?
Kashmir, located in the Himalayan mountains, has been a disputed territory between India and Pakistan since 1947. Both countries claim the entire region as their own.
India accuses Pakistan of supporting insurgents in Indian-administered Kashmir with arms and training, a charge Islamabad denies.
Since 1989, rebels have been waging an insurgency aimed at securing Kashmir’s independence and integration with Pakistan.
The conflict has so far claimed tens of thousands of lives, including civilians, soldiers and rebels.
In June, a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims was attacked in the Reasi region, killing nine pilgrims and injuring many others.
TTP Elements in Pakistan
Pakistan said on Tuesday that at least five civilians and two soldiers were killed in an early morning militant attack on a rural medical facility in a volatile northwestern region.
The army’s media wing said two female medical workers, two children and a facility security guard were among the victims of the terrorist attack in the Dera Ismail Khan area where the militants struck.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said Pakistani security forces nearby engaged in a heavy gun battle with the attackers, killing three attackers and two soldiers in the ensuing clashes.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but authorities suspect the outlawed Pakistani Taliban may have carried it out.
The ISPR announcement came just hours after it confirmed that at least eight soldiers were killed on Monday in a pre-dawn attack by militants on an army base in the nearby garrison town of Bannu. Security forces were said to have killed 10 attackers in clashes that lasted for several hours.
A military statement claimed the deadly attack was organised by “terrorists” from neighbouring Afghanistan.
“An attempt to enter the compound was effectively thwarted by security force personnel, forcing the terrorists to ram an explosives-laden vehicle into the compound’s boundary wall,” the ISPR said.
The suicide bomb, dropped from a vehicle, destroyed part of the wall, damaged adjacent infrastructure and killed eight soldiers, it said.
Shortly afterwards, militants allied with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack.
Multiple security sources in the region reported that dozens of soldiers were wounded in the attack, while local police and witnesses said the force of the blast damaged nearby homes and injured many civilians.
The military in a statement on Tuesday condemned the attack as a “heinous terrorist act.” He noted that Islamabad has “consistently expressed concern” and called on the Afghan Taliban government to “deny the persistent use of Afghan territory by terrorists.”
The statement warned that Pakistan would “take all appropriate measures against these threats emanating from Afghanistan.”
Earlier this year, Pakistani warplanes bombed suspected TTP targets on the Afghanistan border following a dramatic increase in attacks in Pakistan.
What is this TTP?
The TTP openly pledged allegiance to the Afghan Taliban and provided refuge on Pakistani soil for years until U.S. and international troops withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021 and the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, encouraging its ideological allies in Afghanistan to launch insurgent attacks against the U.S. It is known to provide personnel to support NATO forces.
A new UN report released earlier this month described the TTP as the “largest terrorist group” operating in Afghanistan and noted that the Taliban have stepped up their terrorist activities in Pakistan since coming to power.
“The TTP continues to operate on a large scale in Afghanistan, from where it wages terrorist activities against Pakistan, mainly using Afghans,” the UN sanctions monitoring team report said. The TTP is estimated to have “6,000-6,500” fighters on Afghan territory.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected the UN report in a statement over the weekend, saying no “foreign groups” were operating in the country and that “individuals or organisations” were not allowed to threaten other countries from Afghanistan.
Gozde S. Kadıoğlu
odatv.com
