Bangladesh opens a new deputy high commission in Mumbai; Government appeals death penalty for convicted war criminal Ghulam Azam; Indian offers assistance in developing the education sector of Bangladesh; US Ambassador in Bangladesh: United States wants a
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    • Reports noted that Bangladesh has opened a new deputy high commission in Mumbai to enhance the country’s diplomatic representation to four destinations in India. Samina Naz has been appointed as the first deputy high commissioner of Bangladesh. From now on, Bangladesh will have diplomatic representation in New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and a Visa Office in Agartala. The deputy high commission will have consular jurisdiction over the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Goa, and union territories of Puducherry, and Daman and Diu.1

    According to reports, Bangladesh government has appealed to the Supreme Court on August seeking death penalty for convicted war criminal Ghulam Azam and a ban on Jamaat-e-Islami, of which he was the chief. The appeal was filed on August 12, 2103 despite several government high-ups, including the prime minister, had expressed satisfaction over the tribunal verdict that sentenced Ghulam Azam to 90 years in prison for masterminding crimes against humanity and genocide during the Liberation War. Ghulam Azam, on the other hand, filed an appeal on August 5, with the apex court seeking an overturn of his conviction and the 90-year jail sentence he received from the tribunal. In his appeal, Ghulam Azam said in the eye of the law, the tribunal judgment was not a verdict at all since there had been nothing related to offences or crimes against humanity and genocide in the charges brought against him. 2

    Reports noted that Indian High Commissioner Pankaj Saran has offered India’s assistance in developing the education sector of Bangladesh. Pankaj Saran also offered training for teachers of the country’s secondary and higher secondary education institutions teaching science, mathematics, English and IT. He invited Nahid to a ministerial level meeting in New Delhi on International Literacy Day on September 8. 3

    According to reports, US Ambassador in Dhaka Dan W Mozena said that the US wanted a dialogue between Bangladesh’s two major political parties to resolve the country’s crisis centring the next parliamentary polls. 4

    In other developments, reports noted that trial of an Indian Border Security Force (BSF) trooper began on August 13 in connection with the killing of a Bangladeshi teenage girl along the border in 2011. The paramilitary force had set up a special court in Cooch Behar town of West Bengal to try the accused guard, Amiya Ghosh. 5

    Reportedly, some remnants of Islamist militant groups have taken an initiative to reorganise the banned terror outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami (Huji) across Bangladesh in the name of conducting “the Quran learning course.” 6

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