Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Bangladesh
Newsline: Bangladeshi diplomat face drug-related charges in Indonesia
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh said it would take strict action against diplomat Kazi Anarkali over the alleged possession of narcotics at her home in Indonesia. According to Muhammad Faruk Khan, chairman of Bangladesh’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, “she is currently placed as an officer on special duty.” A committee is also at work. If she is found guilty, she could face the maximum administrative penalty.” He also stated that a letter was sent to the Indonesian government to learn more about what happened there. (https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/272650715/bengali-female-diplomat-arrested-for-keeping-narcotics-at-her-home-in-indonesia) Anarkali, the former deputy chief of the Jakarta Mission, was detained and brought back from Jakarta for allegedly having a large amount of marijuana in her home. In the first week of July, the Indonesian government’s narcotics control authority raided Anarkali’s apartment in Jakarta. She was detained but later released due to diplomatic immunity, specifically at the request of the Indonesian government.
Newsline: Bangladesh inaugurates new embassy in Turkey
Bangladesh inaugurated its new embassy complex in the Turkish capital Ankara. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, virtually joining the opening ceremony from Dhaka, said her country and Turkey shared deeply rooted values and history and the opening of the new embassy would further add to their close relations. The premier applauded Turkey’s initiative to extend a helping hand to countries struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic with medical supplies. Recalling her 2012 visit to Turkey and her meeting with Erdogan, Bangladeshi primer — who is also a daughter of Rahman — said her country “attaches great importance to its relations with Turkey.” (https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/bangladesh-inaugurates-new-embassy-in-turkey/1973169) The formal diplomatic relations between the two nations began in 1974, nearly 50 years ago.
Newsline: Illegal migrants tried to ‘occupy’ Bangladesh Embassy in Hanoi
A group of 27 illegal Bangladeshi migrants tried to forcibly occupy the Hanoi embassy of Bangladesh in Vietnam on Tuesday. Disclosing this, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) in a Press Release on Monday said that these Bangladeshi nationals were lured by human traffickers to Vietnam. After it came to the notice of the Bangladesh embassy in Hanoi, it arranged for a repatriation flight for them on July 2. While eleven illegal immigrants took the flight back to Dhaka from Hanoi, 27 of them refused to return asking the government to pay the fare. These people went live on social-media making derogatory comments against Bangladesh. They are now threatening in the social media that if their demands are not met they will similarly occupy all Bangladesh embassies abroad. (http://www.newsonair.com/News?title=Illegal-migrants-tried-to-%E2%80%98occupy%E2%80%99-Bangladesh-Embassy-in-Hanoi&id=393158) The statement said that the Bangladesh government does not have a provision to pay for the airfare of returning illegal workers. According to the release, a certain quarter is trying to tarnish Bangladesh’s recent success in controlling human trafficking by threatening to attack Bangladesh missions abroad involving illegal Bangladeshi migrants. In the recently released US State Department report on Trafficking in Persons (TIP), Bangladesh has been upgraded to tier-2 for its efforts to check illegal migration from the country.
Newsline: Embassy Official Denied China Offered Money to Rohingya in Bangladesh
China has not offered Rohingya refugees money to repatriate to Myanmar, a Chinese Embassy attaché in Dhaka told BenarNews, after the news outlet reported that a delegation of officials from Beijing had promised refugee families up to U.S. $6,000 each if they returned to Rakhine state. The embassy official was asked to comment on a video posted online by a Rohingya NGO that showed Chinese delegates meeting with refugees in southeastern Bangladesh, and offering families money to return to their homeland. Bangladeshi officials and Rohingya leaders confirmed the meeting and the offer to BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service, on Tuesday. (https://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/china-rohingya-03072019144056.html) “I didn’t see the video so I cannot say whether there’s Chinese official[s],” political attaché Vera Hu said in an email response to BenarNews. However, she clarified, “China never offers money to Rohingya people for them to go back.”
Newsline: Chinese Envoy Said to Offer Rohingya Money to Return to Myanmar
A Chinese government delegation met Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh, promising each refugee family up to U.S. $6,000 if they returned to Rakhine state in Myanmar, a Bangladeshi official and refugee leaders said on Mar.5. Sun Gouxiang, China’s special envoy for Asian Affairs, met with 15 men and 14 women at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar on March 3, according to Syed Ullah, secretary-general of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARSPH), an NGO. “They asked us whether we would go back if they gave us five thousand to six thousand dollars,” Ullah told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. “We rejected their proposal and asserted that we will in no way return if we are not given citizenship with Rohingya identity and our other demands are not met,” he said. (https://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/china-rohingya-03052019163757.html)A Bangladeshi official who attended the meeting confirmed to BenarNews, on condition of anonymity, that the Chinese delegation had offered up to U.S. $6,000 to help the refugees rebuild their homes in Rakhine state. The Chinese embassy in Dhaka did not respond to a BenarNews email seeking comment. The United Nations estimates that some 730,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh at the height of a brutal crackdown launched by the Myanmar military in response to attacks by Rohingya insurgents on security posts in August 2017.
Newsline: Hackers Exploit Bangladesh Embassy in Cairo Site
Attackers have been exploring new forms of phishing bait that will entice users to click and have reportedly had success exploiting Bangladesh’s Cairo embassy website, according to researchers at Trustwave. Research conducted at the end of October 2018 revealed that the Coinlmp web miner created a block for a government facility domain. Only two months later, the threat team detected a Microsoft Word document with an embedded malicious EPS script for the same domain. According to today’s blog post, the office document contains an EPS file and exploits a use-after-free vulnerability, CVE-2017-0261. (https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/hackers-exploit-bangladesh-embassy-1/) Detection rates for the malicious page were low,. However, when researchers tried to access most of the webpages on the site, they were prompted to save a file instead, indicating that malicious actors were controlling the embassy’s website.
Newsline: Kuwait investigating vandalism in Bangladesh Embassy
Kuwaiti authorities are investigating Thursday’s vandalism and physical assaults on staff inside Bangladesh Embassy in Kuwait by a group of agitated Bangladeshi workers, said an official on Friday. He said the probe is being carried out through analysing CCTV footage. The Bangladesh Embassy, however, requested the Kuwaiti authorities not to harass any innocent worker during the investigation process. On Thursday, a group of Bangladeshi workers ransacked the Embassy property, including computers and TV, despite assurance from the Ambassador to address their issues through discussions. On request, members of law enforcement agencies rushed to the spot and picked up around 150 workers for questioning, said the Embassy sources.
Newsline: Bangladeshi embassy workers in Saudi Arabia accused of abusing tortured maids
The Bangladeshi embassy in Saudi Arabia has suspended two workers accused of abusing women who had fled to the embassy-run shelter in Jeddah after being tortured by their Saudi employers. Local authorities took action after an abuse victim, who had been working as a maid in Saudi Arabia, tried to kill herself at Dhaka airport in Bangladesh last week. The tortured maid attempted to kill herself by swallowing insecticide inside a toilet in Dhaka airport, according to official Bangladeshi police documents seen by Middle East Eye. According to the documents, fellow abuse victims who accompanied the woman from the safe house in Saudi Arabia intervened, alongside airport cleaning staff, to stop the woman from killing herself. Airport police officers interviewed the woman and then filed a case against four employees of the Bangladeshi embassy in Saudi Arabia, accusing them of directly contributing to her desire to take her own life. Bangladeshi police detained the woman, who remains in detention because killing oneself is a crime in the country. Aid workers familiar with the incident said the woman attempted suicide after an embassy employee promised to marry her and expedite her repatriation to Bangladesh in exchange for sexual favours.
Newsline: Bangladesh spars with U.S. Embassy over students’ road safety protests
Bangladesh’s information minister accused the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday of “poking its nose” into the country’s domestic affairs, as he responded to a Facebook post that criticized authorities’ heavy-handed response to road safety protests by students. The minister’s rebuke marked the latest shot in Bangladesh’s increasingly fraught relations with Washington. It came as the government faced embarrassing but now ebbing student protests in Dhaka. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said the U.S. Embassy in its Facebook post was “poking its nose in Bangladesh’s internal politics in an indecent way,” adding: “We condemn this.” In huge demonstrations over the past week, tens of thousands of university students and schoolchildren protested what they see as Bangladeshi authorities’ lax enforcement of road rules after two students were killed by a speeding bus. They blocked roads and checked drivers’ licenses to highlight how poorly traffic rules are enforced. Among those caught breaking rules were government ministers. In one instance, protesters asked a minister to walk to his destination because his driver was not carrying a valid license. Another minister’s car was turned back for driving against the flow of traffic on a busy road.
Newsline: Vehicle Carrying US Ambassador to Bangladesh Attacked in Dhaka
A vehicle carrying the U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh Marcia Bernicat was the subject of a late-night attack in the capital Dhaka, on Saturday as she was leaving a farewell dinner for the chief of a nongovernmental organization. A statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka said the official vehicle transporting the Ambassador was “attacked by a group of armed adult men, some on motorcycles in the Mohammadpur area,” adding that the Ambassador and her security team “departed the area unharmed.” “We can confirm there was a protest near an event the Ambassador was attending this evening. The Ambassador left unharmed and has returned home safely,” the statement said. The U.S. Embassy in Dhaka expressed its appreciation to police for their “quick and professional response following the incident.” On Sunday, a State Department spokesman released a statement, saying, “There were no injuries to the ambassador, her drivers, or security staff. However, two security vehicles sustained some damage.”
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