B’desh anti-militant crackdown: 8,500 held
Dhaka: Over 8,500 people, including 119 suspected militants, have been arrested in Bangladesh, police said on Monday as they intensified their nationwide crackdown on Islamists to halt a spate of deadly attacks on minorities and secular writers in the Muslim-majority nation. Authorities in Bangladesh are under mounting international pressure to halt the violence, which in the past three years have claimed nearly 50 people — Hindus, Chiristians and secular bloggers — many of them by machete-wielding attackers.
whistle-blower of Indian origin sacked in UK
london: An Indian-origin employee claims he has been sacked for speaking out against his employer’s attempts to dodge paying staff the new “National living Wage” in the UK. Kumaran Bose, an employee with Kettleby Foods for 12 years, has been backed by his Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union this week over his whistle-blowing.
cross-border firing: Pak summons Afghan envoy
Islamabad: Pakistan on Monday summoned a top Afghan diplomat
after security forces of the two countries exchanged gunfire over the contentious fencing issue at north-western Torkham border crossing. Afghan Charge d’Affaires was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to convey Pakistan’s strong protest over “unprovoked firing” by the Afghan forces at Pakistani forces on Torkham border crossing, foreign office spokesperson said.
US drone attack ‘kills two Qaeda fighters’
Aden: A US drone attack in southern Yemen killed two suspected Al-Qaeda members, the second deadly strike in as many days, security sources said on Monday. The drone on Sunday targeted a car driving in Habban, killing “two Al-Qaeda fighters and wounding their driver,” one of the sources said. The strike comes after an American drone attack on Saturday killed two other presumed Al-Qaeda members in their vehicle in Marib province, east of the capital Sanaa.
Pak clerics issue fatwa against honour killing
lahore: At least 40 clerics of Barelvi school of thought in Pakistan have issued a fatwa (religious decree) against honour killing, declaring it ‘un-Islamic and unpardonable sin’. The clerics under the banner of Sunni Itehad Council (SIC) told a news conference that honour killing is kufr (infidelity). “Burning women alive for marrying of their own choice is against Islamic injunctions,” the fatwa said.