At least 22 killed Siege ends after attacks in Pakistan's Quetta

The first explosion happened on a bus near the campus of the Sardar Bahadur Khan Women's University, with a bomb hidden in the vehicle, reports said.
The second blast struck the casualty ward of the Bolan Medical Complex, and firing continued in the aftermath. At least eight unidentified gunmen were reported to have taken positions in the hospital, and killed at least four security personnel who were attempting to resecure the facility and three nurses, local officials said.
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the country's interior minister, said that the siege had ended by 8:30pm local time (15:30 GMT) on Saturday, with security forces freeing 35 people trapped inside the building and killing four of the attackers. One of the attackers was also arrested.
Khan confirmed that four security forces personnel and one senior government official had been killed during the violence.
Zubair Mahmood, the city police chief, described the bombing targetting the bus earlier in the day as having been carried out by an "improvied explosive device". The bomb exploded after the students had boarded and the bus was leaving the university.
Another police official, Fayyaz Sumbal, added that the bus caught fire after the explosion and many students were critically wounded.
"As casualties were being brought to the hospital terrorists had taken position inside the hospital building," Khan told reporters. "They opened fire on on administration and police officials who arrived at the hospital.One suicide bomber blew himself up in the hospital."
Siege at hospital
Authorities say that Abdul Mansoor Khan, the deputy commissioner of Quetta, was among those killed at the hospital, Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder reported. So far, at least 36 people have been injured in both attacks, he said.
Pakistani security forces surrounded the hospital and carried out an operation to clear it once the gunmen had taken over.
Quetta is the capital city of Balochistan province, and regularly witnesses violence on a large scale.

Pakistan founder's home hit in Three rocket attack

The attack happened in the early hours of Saturday in the resource-rich province of Balochistan, only days after a new government vowed to end an insurgency there.

Three rocket-propelled grenades slammed into the Quaid Azam Residency in the hill town of Ziarat, district commissioner Nadeem Tahir said.

A policeman died and the ensuing blaze tore through the two-storey wooden building, damaging several other houses nearby.

A police official said it appeared that the rockets were fired from nearby mountains.

Balochistan, a vast province bordering Iran and Afghanistan, has suffered a long-running armed independence movement, and what rights groups call a campaign of forced disappearances by security forces.

'Kill-and-dump'

Balochistan supplies much of the natural gas feeding Pakistan's lifeline textile industry in eastern Punjab province, and is home to a deepwater port at Gwadar.

Saturday's attack was the first since a new chief minister of the province, which contains largely unexplored copper and gold deposits, took office last week.

Chief minister Abdul Malik has urged security forces, who deny wrongdoing, to end rights abuses and support his hopes of kindling talks with the fighters, who are seeking an independent homeland.

On the day chief minister Malik took oath, five bullet-riddled bodies were found in the province.

The discoveries were seen by many as a message that security forces were intent on continuing what human rights

groups have dubbed a systematic campaign of "kill-and-dump".

Jinnah stayed in the Quaid Azam Residency as he tried to recover from a lung disease in 1948, a year after his

successful campaign to separate Pakistan from India.

He died in Karachi soon after. The residency is a national heritage site.

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Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) 10 students remanded

Police arrested them at a hotel in the Dhaka’s Wari on Thursday midnight, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) said in a media statement on Friday.
A judicial magistrate granted the one-day remand for the detainees after the police produced them before him.

The accused are Julhas Biswas, 24, Md Idris, 22, Sujajit Hossain, 22, Shahidul Islam, 21, Dewan Kamrul, 22, Jamilur Islam, 24, Samiul Shahid, 23, Naimul Arif, 22, Mujibul Hossain, 23, and Rabiul Islam, 23.
BUET's students' welfare advisor Delwar Hossain has confirmed the detainees are students of the university.
Earlier in the morning, police said they arrested 21 suspected militants from Star Hotel in Wari on Thursday night after being tipped off that a group of militants were holding a secret meeting there.
Wari police OC Tapan Chandra Saha said they had raided the hotel where a group of 72 men, most of whom BUET students, were meeting.
He said 51 of them were handed over to the university authorities and the rest were taken to Wari Police Station.
BUET Registrar AKM Masud said police contacted them at night over the matter. Newly appointed Computer Science and Engineering teacher 'Nayem', who was sent to the police station, brought back 51 students.
Wari police Sub Inspector Ilias Sharif said 11 of the 21 detained after primary quizzing had admitted they were BUET students. Three of them are former students and the rest are students of Salimullah Medical College, BRAC University, Stamford University and Notre Dame College.
Ten of these 21 detained were released in the afternoon after signing bonds as they were not involved with any acts of violence, OC Saha said.
The rest 11 were taken to the detective police office for interrogations.
However, detective police Sub-Inspector Jahangir Hossain told bdnews24.com that he had received 10 accused and got one day’s remand.
Police suspect these students are involved with militant organisations.
"We suspect they are Islamic extremists," Deputy Commissioner Ilias Sharif said.

India's Border Security Force (BSF) Four men suspended

BSF sources told bdnews24.com that the four who were suspended belonged to the 40th Battalion of the BSF deployed at Andrail border outpost opposite Bangladesh's Putkhali border outpost manned by BGB.
They are Head Constable Y.N. Bhatt, Assistant Sub Inspector Narayan Singha, Constables Prasenjit Das and Mohammed Ayub Ali.
However, the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in a media statement on Friday said the BSF headquarters had informed them of suspending three accused troopers after primary investigation. The media release did not name the suspended BSF officials.
BSF sources said a high level court of inquiry has been ordered into the shootout in which two Bangladesh nationals were killed at a spot about 800 yards from the Andrail border outpost.
"A senior commandant will conduct the enquiry," they said

The BSF sources said that the BSF headquarters in Delhi has asked the BSF South Bengal area to take "very strict action" if the BSF troops who opened fire were found to have done it without "much provocation".
"Our director general has taken a very serious view of the matter," they said.
After a preliminary enquiry, the soldiers who were put under suspension had told the senior officials that they had opened fire when they were attacked by a group of 150 smugglers involved in taking away cattle from the Indian side.
"One of our soldier was about to be lynched by them, so we were forced to open fire," Head Constable Bhatt had told the enquiry.
He said the BSF troops first fired from pump-action guns that had now been issued to them to avoid casualties.
These guns fire pellets and not bullets and they are not designed to shoot to kill.
"But when we fired pellets, the smugglers said these are nakli (fake) guns and they attacked us, so we had to use rifles," Bhatt told the enquiry.
BGB identified those killed in the BSF firing as Habibur Rahman, 30, from Benapole’s Shibnathpur village and Faruk Hossain, 25, of Basatpur Colony.
According to the BGB, it had held a flag meeting with its Indian counterpart on the night of the shootout and condemned the killings. The BSF had assured them that such incidents would not be repeated, it said.
The BSF had come under fire from various national and international rights groups for its atrocities. The border force had been accused of tortures and killings along the Bangladeshi border. Faced with criticisms, New Delhi had promised to provide it with 'non-lethal' killings.
Deaths along the border continued to rise, despite India's repeated pledges to bring border killings down to zero.
Cattle smuggling is believed to be a TK 10 billion annual contraband trade between India and Bangladesh -- so the stakes are high and those involved are often armed and willing to take on borderguards.
Former BSF chief UK Bansal had advocated legalising cattle trade in a bid to bring down the number of deaths along its porous border with Bangladesh.
A West Bengal-based human rights group moved India's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for the second time in a month, asking it to rein in the BSF, which it says is making life difficult for people on the India-Bangladesh border.
In its latest petition to the NHRC, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) alleged that the BSF continues a campaign of torture and terror, often falsely implicating villagers on charges of smuggling.

US offers Bangladesh $2.5mn grants for safer RMG sector

The grants also seek to improve representation and protection of workers in the sector on fire safety issues.
The department’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs announced the competitive grant solicitation in a release issued on Thursday.
The department will fund one or more recipients who will work to strengthen the Bangladesh government's ability to improve its enforcement of fire and building safety standards.

Its recipient(s) must build the capacity of worker organisations to effectively monitor violations of fire and building safety standards.
The applications are due on Aug 2.
It said, “Readymade garment production has been central to Bangladesh's economic development, with the sector accounting for the vast majority of Bangladesh's exports to the US.”
The industry, it said, was also the focus of longstanding concerns for its violations of worker rights and safety standards.
Bangladesh has been the subject of a review under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) trade programme since 2007.
These concerns were rejuvenated in the wake of the devastating fire at Tazreen Fashions factory in November 2012 which killed at least 112 garment workers.
Another massive disaster soon followed after multi-storey Rana Plaza collapsed in Savar on Apr 24 killing at least 1,230 workers and leaving numerous more with disability. Rana Plaza used to house five garment factories, so the vast majority of the victims were garment workers.
The Bangladesh government, industry, worker and civil society organisations along with other groups have increased efforts to address concerns of fire and building safety.

Awami League and BNP Both camps confident

Both the rival camps, Awami League and BNP, are confident that their favourites will win today’s vote battle in four city corporations.
Senior leaders of the camps at the last moment, however, expressed differences about deployment of army for making the polls free and neutral.
The BNP camp is for army deployment as it thinks the local administration may back the ruling party-blessed candidates.
“Besides, we apprehend local ruling party-backed goons will use fear as a tool to gain votes for their candidates which will deteriorate law and order,” BNP standing committee member Goyeshwar Chandra Roy told yesterday.
Another BNP leader Selima Rahman, who had been campaigning for her party favourite in Barisal, said law enforcement agencies, including the Rapid Action Battalion, had been arresting their activists in Barisal city creating panic in the opposition camp.
But ruling party lawmaker Amir Hossain Amu, who campaigned for Awami League-backed candidate in Barisal, rejected outright the BNP allegation.
He said, “The law and order is well under control there, as a large number of Rab personnel and border guards have been deployed.”
Since yesterday, no outsiders or even no motorbikes had been seen in the voting areas, he said, adding that this was why army deployment was not necessary.
On Thursday, lawmakers of the treasury and the opposition bench locked horn in the House over deployment of the army in city corporation areas during the polls.
Two BNP MPs sought the Speaker’s intervention to this end while a ruling party MP claimed that fearing definite defeat of their favourites, the opposition was raising allegations against the government.

Indian envoy Pankaj Saran reveals Tipaimukh contrast

“We have a situation where on the one hand Bangladesh has included the Tipaimukh project from which they would like to receive power but on the other hand they have also expressed concerns over it," Saran told a "Meet the Press" at the National Press Club.

“So we have to reconcile the two. There is a need to recognise the contradictory situation,” he said.

Talking of India-Bangladesh relations, Saran said it was more complex than it appeared to be. But he said the relations were at a "new high".

Bangladesh has been voicing concerns over the Tipaimukh dam on the upstream of the Barak River despite Delhi’s assurances that “nothing will be done that will be harmful to Bangladesh”.

The issue is being discussed in the Joint River Commission between the two countries.

Saran touched upon all aspects of the bilateral relations in six categories: political and security, development cooperation, trade, commerce and investment, water issues, regional and sub-regional cooperation and people to people contact.

Based on the historical experiences, he said both countries could “maximise gains without harming each other”.

“We both benefit by working together to maximise our gains,” he said.

Saran said India always respects a sovereign and independent Bangladesh and that “cooperation does not mean anyone is sacrificing sovereignty”.

He said 16 projects worth of $794 million had been identified and $200 million grants under India’s $1 billion line of credit (the biggest ever to any country) has already been made available to Bangladesh.

The Finance Minister in Parliament said Bangladesh would use the $200 million for the Padma Bridge project that Bangladesh plans to do with its own resources.

The envoy said they had invited Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina again to visit India, but date has not been fixed yet.

He once again reiterated India’s commitment to resolve the unresolved issues including Teesta water sharing deal and ratification of the land boundary agreement that the ruling Congress government was trying to implement in the face of resistance from the opposition.

The envoy said India's ruling party politicians were working to build consensus within their country as ratification of the land boundary agreement would need a bill to go through the parliament.

He, however, acknowledged that issues of border management were challenging and sought support of the Bangladesh government.

He said border killings came down ‘zero’ between January and a week ago.

City Elections BNP said Fitting reply, if plotted to fail

The BNP yesterday threatened to give a fitting reply if the government, using unfair means, defeated the opposition alliance backed mayoral candidates in Saturday’s polls to four city corporations.
“The surge of people favouring our [mayoral] candidates has begun. They are waiting to give their verdict against government-backed [mayoral] candidates. Realising this, the regime has planned to defeat our candidates by trickery,” BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said.
Fakhrul and other top leaders of BNP were addressing a rally at the city’s Suhrawardy Udyan with Dhaka city BNP unit convener Sadeque Hossain Khoka in the chair.
“The city corporation polls will be an acid test for the government as well as the Election Commission,” said BNP standing committee member Rafiqul Islam Mia.
He and other top BNP leaders vowed that they would launch a tougher movement to topple the government after Saturday, if the government applied any unfair “tactics” to defeat pro-opposition mayor aspirants in the elections to Barisal, Rajshahi, Khulna and Sylhet city corporations.
They alleged the government had forced some officials to go into retirement and it was rearranging the civil service to ensure their victory in the next general elections.
They called upon the government to ensure a level playing field for all parties. They also came down heavily on the Anti-terrorism (amendment) Bill, 2013, and demanded that the government cancel the bill immediately.
Former Dhaka city corporation mayor Khoka said, “… they [people] will not allow any national polls with Sheikh Hasina as chief of the election-time government.”
It was the first rally in the city of any political party since the May 5 mayhem centring the Hefajat-e Islam rally.
BNP had sought permission to hold the rally in front of its Nayapaltan office to protest the warrant of arrest issued against BNP senior vice-chairman Tarique Rahman and demanding restoration of the election-time non-party caretaker government system.
However, Dhaka Metropolitan Police at the eleventh hour gave them permission to hold the rally at Suhrawardy Udyan.

Barisal BNP man hurt as cops open fire

A campaign worker of 18-party backed mayor aspirant Ahsan Habib Kamal had shotgun pellet injuries in Barisal city during a scuffle between police and workers of Kamal last night.
BNP youth wing Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal activist Md Harun-ur-Rashid, 40, was taken to Barisal Medical College Hospital. Doctors there took out seven pellets from his body and said he was out of danger.
Bilkis Jahan Shirin, secretary of district BNP, said some female campaign workers of Kamal were doing their jobs in Boiddyapara area around 8:00pm when police detained five of them for violating the electoral conduct.code of

 Hearing the news, mayor aspirant Kamal rushed to the spot and requested police to free his activists. But police ignoring the request opened fire on Kamal, Shirin claimed.

Babu, a witness , claimed that Harun got shot when he tried to protect Kamal from getting shot. Witnesses claimed that Harun was a bodyguard of Kamal.

However, Shakhawat Hossain, officer-in-charge of Barisal Police Station, claimed that police fired one shot to disperse a mob that was trying to take away the people they arrested on the orders of a mobile court.

He said police detained the five in connection with distributing flyers that used religious sentiment to slur mayor aspirant Shawkat Hossain Hiron.

In a press conference later in the night, Barisal police said it was going to file a case against the five women and Harun in connection with preventing law enforcers from doing their duty.

Following the incident, 18-party opposition alliance activists brought out a protest procession in Brisal.

Mojibor Rahman Sarwar MP, coordinator of the 18-party backed Jatiyatabadi Nagorik Parishad’s election campaign, said the incident proves that police and administration were biased towards the ruling party backed Hiron.

Bangladesh Agrani Bank has Cancelled Test for Recruitment of Senior Officers

He said a board meeting of the bank on Wednesday night also decided to hold a fresh examination.
“The dates for the rescheduled exams will be announced later,” he said, adding that the examinees would be allowed to take the test with their existing admits cards.
Several job-seekers taking the test, held on May 31, alleged the question papers had been leaked.
Some 42,000 applicants had sat for the tests in 15 centres in Dhaka on that day.

Several of them alleged the question paper was available at many dormitories and photocopy machine shops of Dhaka University on the morning of the test.
Some dailies also ran reports that the some answers were also supplied to some applicants through SMS.
Bangladesh Bank was also informed by some students who complained formally.
In response to that, the central bank sent a letter to Agrani bank, saying it had been received hundreds of complaints over the past few days.
The letter also said such a leak was unacceptable.