Dhaka, August 18
Bangladeshi Muslims took to streets in Dhaka today after noon prayers to protest against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Rajnath Singh’s recent remarks that India should send its security forces into Pakistan and Bangladesh to destroy suspected terrorist hubs there.

The protest march started from Baitul Mukarram, the capital's national mosque.

Moulana Mohiuddin, a cleric, told an international news agency that the BJP President (Rajnath Singh) must apologise to Bangladesh for his comments, otherwise they would lay siege to the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.”

A spokesman for the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry said Dhaka had taken strong exception to Rajnath Singh’s “provocative” remarks and condemned it in no uncertain terms.

Urging the Government of India to do everything possible to prevent such “provocative comments,” the spokesman confirmed that India’s Deputy High Commissioner had been summoned to the Foreign Ministry on August 13 and told that the Government of Bangladesh did not approve of such comments.

Expressing concern over growing cross-border terrorism, Rajnath Singh had demanded that India should take the international community into confidence and “attack terrorist hide-outs and groups in Pakistan and Bangladesh to dismantle them.”

Leaders of the most political parties in Bangladesh had also strongly condemned the remarks.

The leaders demanded that the Indian Government should issue a clear statement in this regard immediately.

BNP Joint Secretary General Goyesher Chandra Roy termed the statement irresponsible and a reflection of disrespect for the sovereignty of another nation.

Awami League Joint Secretary Obaidul Kader said the comment of Mr Rajnath Singh did not reflect the stance of the BJP.

“May be it is his personal statement. We cannot comment on the statement in a hurry. Rather we are waiting for the statement of the Government of India in this regard,” he said. — ANI

Muzzaffarabad, August 18
The newly-elected Prime Minister of Pakistan-administered Kashmir and President of the ruling Muslim Conference, Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, has said that both India and Pakistan must work together to reactivate the stalled composite dialogue process to ensure peace and stability in South Asia.

In an exclusive interview to ANI, Khan also said that both New Delhi and Islamabad had to keep in mind that a failed composite dialogue would send out wrong signals to the international community, and eventually lead to a resurfacing of doubts and concerns about the future geopolitics of the South Asian region.

‘‘I don’t only insist, but express the view that both sides need to find a way of taking the suspended peace process forward and in a progressive manner," Khan told ANI, adding that every effort must be made to ensure that South Asia was not converted into a battleground again.

India, he said, should also not indulge in any aggressive posturing in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, as past experience suggested more negatives than gains.

‘‘If India undertakes any adventure, I can say with assurance that every inch of Azad Jammu Kashmir will work as Pakistan to protect their lives," Khan said.

In this regard, he recalled that it took the people of Pakistan 18 months in the 1940s to establish their claim over their part of Kashmir, Gilgit and Baltistan, and this should serve as a message to New Delhi to avoid misadventures at any cost.

‘‘We had to fight every inch of the way for Gilgit, Baltistan, and Kashmir. We beat the Indian army. We did not get this area through negotiation or by giving alms. India should abstain from making false excuses or indulging in hype-related talk," Khan said.

India and Pakistan, he said, needed to co-exist, and not at the cost of one another.

Aggression by either country was not the need of the hour, Sirdar Attique Khan said. — ANI

Washington, August 18
A Pentagon investigation into the deaths of two dozen Iraqi civilians in Haditha has found possible concealment or destruction of evidence by US Marines involved in the case, The New York Times reported today.

Two Defense Department officials briefed on the investigation said the unit’s logbook had been tampered with and an incriminating video taken by an aerial drone was not given to investigators until a top-ranking commander in Iraq intervened, the newspaper reported.

The findings, based on an investigation by Army Maj Gen Eldon Bargewell, draws no conclusions about who may have tampered with the log and does not directly accuse Marines of attempting a cover-up, The New York Times said.

It said the report, concluded last month but not made public, is the first time details about possible concealment or destruction of evidence have been disclosed.

The Pentagon had no immediate comment.

US Marines have been accused of killing 24 unarmed Iraqis in Haditha in November 2005, one of a series of incidents in which U.S. troops are suspected of killing Iraqi civilians.

According to the newspaper, the report faults officers in the Second Marine Division for not aggressively investigating the Haditha killings.

The defense officials were quoted as saying the report also found commanders had created a climate that minimised the importance of Iraqi lives, particularly in Haditha, where insurgent attacks were rampant, The New York Times said.

London, August 18
One-third of people infected with HIV are also infected with TB, which is leading cause of death of AIDS patients, health officials and activists have said at XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada.

The scientists further said that the growing tuberculosis epidemic could pose a potential threat to crush the world’s efforts to fight AIDS.

Research released at the conference showed that giving patients drugs that suppress the HIV infection along with an anti-TB drug, as already recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) can drastically reduce the risk of people infected with HIV contracting TB.

But governments and funding agencies aren’t doing enough to promote integrated treatment, experts at the meeting said. In some cases, governments have actually banned a drug effective against TB.

“In spite of knowing what to do, we’re still not doing enough,” Nature magazine quoted Paul Nunn, the World Health Organisation’s HIV/TB Coordinator, as saying.

Tuberculosis is a curable disease, but it is often not diagnosed until it is advanced and difficult to treat. This is part of the reason why 5,000 people die from TB every day, and many within weeks of being diagnosed with the disease.

Although the World Health Organisation already recommends that countries use integrated strategies for treating HIV and tuberculosis, many nations aren’t following this advice.

India and South Africa have banned isoniazid preventive therapy because of fears that over-use may lead to drug resistance, though there is little evidence that this is really a problem, the researchers asserted.

And other countries have been reluctant to start providing HIV and tuberculosis therapies together because their health-care systems traditionally have treated each disease separately. — ANI