BJP rejoices as ED officials search Shiv Sena leader Raut's residence, investigate him

Dhaka: Bangladesh's interim government said on Monday that it has sent a diplomatic note to India to send back deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina to Dhaka.

Hasina, 77, has been living in exile in India since Aug 5 when she fled the country amid the student-led protests that toppled her 16-year regime. Dhaka-based International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has issued arrest warrants for Hasina and several former Cabinet ministers, advisers, and military and civil officials for "crimes against humanity and genocide".

“We have sent a note verbale (diplomatic message) to the Indian government saying that Bangladesh wants her back here for the judicial process,” Foreign Affairs Adviser or de facto foreign minister Touhid Hossain told reporters at his office.

Earlier in the morning, Home Advisor Jahangir Alam said his office has sent a letter to the foreign ministry to facilitate the ousted premier's extradition from India.

“We have sent a letter to the foreign ministry regarding her extradition. The process is currently underway,” he told reporters in response to a query.

Alam said an extradition treaty between Dhaka and New Delhi already exists and Hasina could be brought back to Bangladesh under the treaty.

Angry BJP lawmakers stormed Assembly Speaker U T Khader’s chambers at the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, escalating tensions after the ruling Congress turned the tables on the saffron party over the Panchamasali Lingayat community’s reservation issue.

The friction began when Congress MLA Vijayanand Kashappanavar, a Panchamasali Lingayat, was allowed to criticise the Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government’s controversial decision to scrap the 4 per cent Muslim quota, reallocating it equally to Lingayats and Vokkaligas. Kashappanavar slammed the BJP’s move, accusing it of being a mere election gimmick.

“The previous BJP government created two new reservation categories, 2C for Vokkaligas and 2D for Lingayats, just before the 2023 Assembly elections,” Kashappanavar said. “When challenged in the Supreme Court, the BJP government admitted it would not implement the decision. They announced it for votes but backtracked in court, misleading Panchamasali seer Basava Jaya Mrityunjaya Swami.”

Adding fuel to the fire, Kashappanavar alleged that RSS members had incited violence during a protest for enhanced Panchamasali Lingayat reservation. This claim enraged BJP lawmakers, who demanded the comment be expunged. However, Speaker Khader permitted Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda to read aloud the BJP government’s affidavit to the Supreme Court.

“If the Panchamasali Lingayat community has faced injustice, it is because of the BJP,” Gowda declared, sparking further protests from the opposition. BJP leaders accused Khader of being “one-sided” and disregarding a point of order raised by BJP MLA V Sunil Kumar.

When Khader adjourned the session for lunch, the confrontation boiled over. Opposition Leader R Ashoka, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra, MLAs Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, Sunil Kumar, and others barged into Khader’s chambers. Chaos ensued as shouting and hollering echoed through the halls, prompting marshalls to intervene.

“The Speaker was warned that if he continued behaving this way, we would boycott the session,” Narayan stated afterward.

The Israeli prime minister says the regime's troops will remain stationed at a so-called “buffer zone” inside the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, seized following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, until another arrangement is found that will "ensure the usurping regime’s security."

Benjamin Netanyahu made the comments on Tuesday from the summit of Mount Hermon, known as Jabal al-Shaykh in Arabic, the highest peak in the area — inside Syria, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border with the strategic Golan Heights.

He was joined by the Israeli minister for military affairs, Israel Katz, Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, head of the so-called internal security service Shin Bet, Ronen Bat, and Northern Command chief Major General Uri Gordin.

Netanyahu reiterated that Israel would remain in the area “until another arrangement can be found that guarantees Israel’s security.”

The prime minister said he had been on the same mountaintop 53 years ago as a soldier, but the summit’s importance to the Tel Aviv regime’s security has only increased given recent events.

It appeared to be the first time a sitting Israeli leader had set foot that far into Syrian territory.

For his part, Katz said Israeli forces would remain on the Syrian summit of Mount Hermon for “as long as necessary.”

He said, “We will stay here for as long as necessary,” asserting that deployment of Israeli troops to the strategically significant summit “strengthens security.”

“Mount Hermon's summit is Israel's eyes for identifying near and distant threats. From here, we can see Hezbollah positions in Lebanon to the right, and Damascus to the left,” Katz said.

Israeli military forces captured the UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights hours after armed groups took control of the Syrian capital of Damascus on December 8.

Israel has been widely and vehemently condemned over termination of the 1974 ceasefire agreement with Syria, and exploiting the chaos in the Arab nation in the wake of Assad’s downfall to make a land grab.

The buffer zone in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights was created by the United Nations after the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.  A UN force of about 1,100 troops had patrolled the area since then.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said on Tuesday that the presence of Israeli soldiers, however long it lasts, violates the deal that established the buffer zone.

That agreement “needs to be respected, and occupation is occupation, whether it lasts a week, a month or a year, it remains occupation,” Dujarric pointed out.