Dhaka, April 30: Chinmoy Krishna Das, a prominent Hindu leader and spokesperson for the Bangladesh Sammilito Sanatani Jagaran Jot, has been granted bail by the High Court on Wednesday in an alleged sedition case.

The bench of Justice Atoar Rahman and Justice Ali Reza passed the order after a final hearing.

Earlier this year, the High Court issued a rule after hearing Das’s application for bail in the case, seeking an explanation as to why the applicant should not be granted bail.

Last week, the High Court set April 30 as the date for the rule hearing, following which the Court declared the rule absolute and delivered its verdict, Bangladesh’s leading Bengali daily Prothom Alo reported on Wednesday.

Arrested on November 25 from the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on charges of sedition, Das has remained in jail despite widespread demands for his release.

Chinmoy Krishna was taken into custody by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, an act which was criticised throughout the world and exposed the crimes being committed against the Hindu community of Bangladesh.

Krishna was not only associated with the Bangladesh Jatiya Hindu Mohajot (BJHM), a grand national alliance of 23 religious organisations in the country, but also with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). The news of his arrest led to several protests demanding his immediate release.

The incidents of vandalism, looting, arson, land grabbing, and threats to leave the country have been repeatedly inflicted on the Hindu community after the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus was sworn in on August 8 following the fall of Awami League regime led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Even though Yunus and his religious affairs advisor A.F.M. Khalid Hossain assured that the current establishment believes in communal harmony, the communal violence, which began immediately after Hasina left Dhaka, continued to cause widespread fear, anxiety, and uncertainty among the minorities in Bangladesh, especially Hindus.

Last month, a report of the Dhaka-based human rights organisation, Ain O Salish Kendra (AsK), highlighted that there are reports of a total of 147 incidents of vandalising houses, temples, and business establishments of the Hindu community across the country.

Some 408 households were vandalised in these incidents, including 36 cases of arson. Besides, there have been reports of 113 incidents of vandalising business establishments owned by the minority community, 32 incidents of attack on temples and mosques of the Ahmadiyya sect, and 92 incidents of vandalising idols in 92 temples.

There have been several incidents of attacks on the minorities all over the country, particularly the Hindu community, after the fall of the Awami League government with their areas, including houses, business establishments, and places of worship coming under attack and even set on fire in certain instances.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue of the safety and security of minorities in Bangladesh, including Hindus, during his meeting with Yunus on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok.

India has repeatedly raised concerns over the persecution of minorities in Bangladesh, hoping that the interim government in the country led by Yunus will take strong action against the perpetrators of violence.

Tehran, April 29: Iran’s Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the US deadly airstrikes on Yemen’s capital of Sanaa and Saada province, including a centre where African migrants were kept.

In a statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei denounced Sunday’s bombings, which killed at least 78 people, including 68 African migrants held at a detention centre in Saada, and wounded dozens of others.

Baghaei described the US military attacks against civilian targets, vital infrastructure and people’s houses in different parts of Yemen as “war crimes,” “which have killed hundreds of innocent people.”

He criticised the United Nations and international human rights organisations for their “silence and indifference towards this flagrant law-breaking and the frequent violations of Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Baghaei called on Islamic states to take effective actions to stop the killing of Yemen’s Muslim people and stop the continuation of Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza and the West Bank, Xinhua news agency reported.

Earlier on April 28, the Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen, said all the victims are illegal African migrants held in the detention centre in Saada, the capital city of the namesake Saada province, in northern Yemen.

According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Yemen remains a transit country for thousands of migrants traveling between the Horn of Africa and Saudi Arabia despite years of civil war in the country.

Tensions between the Houthi group and the US military have sharply risen since Washington resumed airstrikes on Houthi positions in Yemen on March 15. The strikes were intended to deter the Houthis from targeting Israel and US ships in the Red and Arabian Seas.

However, the reported airstrikes came hours after US Central Command announced that its forces had hit more than 800 targets since US President Donald Trump ordered an intensification of the air campaign against the Houthis on March 15.

The attack was one of the deadliest so far in six weeks of intensified US airstrikes against the Houthis, an Iran-aligned group that controls northern Yemen. The group has struck shipping in the Red Sea in what it says is solidarity with the Palestinians.

Ottawa, April 29: Following a humiliating defeat in the Canadian federal elections, New Democratic Party (NDP) chief Jagmeet Singh, known for his pro-Khalistan stance, announced his resignation on Tuesday.

Singh was contesting for a third consecutive term but lost his Burnaby Central seat in British Columbia to Liberal Party’s Wade Chang.

While Singh managed to secure just about 27 per cent of the vote share, Chang emerged victorious with more than 40 per cent of the votes.

The results marked a devastating blow for Singh and his party. The Liberals, led by Mark Carney, won the election with over 160 seats, whereas the NDP’s presence in Parliament was reduced to a mere seven seats out of the 343 they contested.

The party’s vote share plummeted to just 2 per cent. In stark contrast, the NDP had secured 24 seats in the previous federal election.

With this dramatic decline, the NDP is now poised to lose its national party status, which in Canada requires a minimum of 12 seats in the House of Commons.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals have retained power; however, the party fell short of securing a majority government.

Reacting to the outcome, Singh took to social media platform X and posted, “I know this night is disappointing for New Democrats.”

“But we are only defeated when we believe those that tell us we can never dream of a better Canada… I am disappointed that we could not win more seats. But I am not disappointed in our movement,” he added.

Singh, who became the leader of the NDP in 2017, holds the distinction of being the first ethnic minority politician to lead a major federal political party in Canada.

Canadian public broadcaster CBC and other media outlets projected that the Liberal Party, under Carney’s leadership, would form the next government.

However, whether the Liberals would secure a majority in the House of Commons remained unclear at the time of reporting.

Jagmeet Singh has consistently been a strong supporter of Khalistani principles, often associating himself with the goals of the Khalistan movement, which aims to establish an independent Sikh state separate from India, a view which has drawn significant criticism from New Delhi.

Tensions between India and Canada escalated significantly last year after Ottawa accused New Delhi of involvement in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia.

During this period, Singh prominently emerged as a strong backer of former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who levelled the allegations.

However, India rejected the “baseless” allegations as Canada failed to provide evidence.

However, Singh’s political positioning shifted in September last year when the NDP became the last among Canada’s three major opposition parties to sever ties with Trudeau’s administration.

He accused the former prime minister of surrendering to corporate interests and abandoning progressive promises.