Porimol Palma

Mobilising thousands of troops in northern Rakhine has created fears of a fresh crackdown and subsequent Rohingya influx like the one that forced around 750,000 members of the ethnic group to flee to Bangladesh.

Already trailing behind in the race to get a potential Covid-19 vaccine, Bangladesh is all set to start the much-talked-about clinical trial of the Chinese shot by the end of this month.

The confessions of two former Myanmar soldiers about their involvement in massacres, rape, and other crimes against Rohingyas and their transfer to the International Criminal Court (ICC) could be a turning point for justice for the Rohingyas, analysts said.

Rohingya leaders, who went on a “go-and-visit” to Bhashan Char housing project, said they were happy with the facilities there and that those were far better than their current living conditions in Teknaf and Ukhiya camps.

Eighty-one migrant workers who returned to the country after being exploited in Vietnam for months were thrown into jail yesterday, whereas the perpetrators either remain scot-free or face little action.

The situation of 6,00,000 Rohingyas still living in Myanmar’s Rakhine State has worsened -- a reality that mocks the International Court of Justice order to prevent the acts of genocide, legal experts and Rohingya activists have said.

When Bangladesh continues to bear the brunt of sheltering more than a million Rohingyas, Myanmar is doing little for their repatriation amid the silence of global powers though the Southeast Asian country faces a genocide case.

Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla’s two-day visit to Dhaka is part of India’s larger policy to boost relations with its neighbours as China seeks to draw them closer to it, foreign relations analysts said.

Mahin Mia was serving guests in a Lebanese restaurant, which is a seven minutes’ walk from the warehouse that exploded on Tuesday evening, rocking entire Beirut.

It remains a mystery why Bangladesh government is still in a fix about allowing a clinical trial of the Chinese Covid-19 vaccine here when health experts are saying the trial can help the country access the life-saving vaccine quickly and build national capacity for advanced research.

After arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, they found that the Vietnamese company that sponsored their visas had no jobs for them. After a week, they were asked to work for a furniture factory though they were promised jobs at the seaport.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan called his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday. In not so common a conversation, they exchanged greetings and discussed the flood and coronavirus situations in both countries.

As trafficking of Bangladeshis to Vietnam came to the fore after 27 stranded nationals demonstrated in Hanoi last week, 15 others are crying out to be rescued from the Southeast Asian country.

At a time when Bangladeshi migrant workers all over the world are having tough times amid Covid-19 fallout, Malaysia gives good news.

Shahid Islam, the Laxmipur lawmaker now detained in Kuwait, was defended by the Bangladesh ambassador to the Gulf country in a February letter to the foreign ministry following media reports on his alleged criminal activities.

Escalation of conflicts between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army, a rebel group seeking greater autonomy for ethnic Rakhine people, is pushing the Rohingya repatriation further into uncertainty, analysts say.

The global funding for the Rohingyas may fall short as the non-government organisations’ (NGO) activities have drastically decreased amid coronavirus pandemic.

The authorities have been exploring labour markets in African countries as overseas jobs may decline in the traditional Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian countries due to coronavirus pandemic.

Sabbir Hossain of Munshiganj returned home from Malaysia in mid-March when the Southeast Asian country was planning a lockdown to stem the spread of coronavirus.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen says it is a matter of regret and shame that a Bangladeshi lawmaker has been detained in a foreign country.