Dhaka, April 23
A Bangladesh court today kept in abeyance the arrest warrant issued against Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina in connection with the killing of five activists of a rival group after a plea from the police which sought more time for investigation in the case.

The Dhaka metropolitan magistrate court put on hold the warrants against former Prime Minister Hasina, who is currently in London, as well as Mohammad Nasim, a former minister in her Cabinet, and Abdul Malik, a low-profile leader of the party.

Police sub-inspector Enamul Haq, who is the investigating officer of the case, filed a plea before metropolitan magistrate Mir Ali Reza saying the name of the three was not mentioned in the FIR filed by the Jamat-e-Islami and they need to further investigate the case as the names of several others could be included in the chargesheet.

Hasina and her party leaders were originally charged with the murder of five Jamat-e-Islami activists during a political clash on October 28 last year, the day when former premier Khaleda Zia’s BNP-led four-party alliance government relinquished power. — PTI

Kathmandu, April 23
Two vehicles, including one with Indian registration, were damaged by activists of an ethnic outfit during an indefinite strike called by the group which disrupted normal life in Nepal’s eastern Terai region today.

The shutdown by Chure-Bhawar Ekta Samaj, an ethnic group of inner Terai demanding greater political representation and regional autonomy, started just after a 72-hour general strike called by Madhesi Janadhikar Manch ended yesterday.

Most of the markets, educational institutions and factories remained closed in Rautahat, Bara, Siraha, Sunsari, Udaypur, Sarlahi, Mahottari and Dhanusha districts while transport services on the east-west highway was very thin.

Hundreds of people were stranded as dozens of buses bound for eastern Nepal districts from Kathmandu were halted, the police said. However, some vehicles plied with police escorts.

Chure-Bhawar activists damaged two vehicles, including a bus with Indian registration, for defying the strike in Bara and Siraha districts.

The government has called the agitating group for a dialogue to resolve the issue peacefully. The organisers of the strike, however, demanded the immediate release of their cadre who are in custody before they could sit for talks.

The government has already formed a talks team headed by minister for peace and rehabilitation Ramchandra Poudyal to hold dialogue with the Madhesi groups and other ethnic outfits.

The Chure-Bhawar ethnic groups have launched separate agitation following the stir by Madhesi outfits.

They have said that if the government awards a separate autonomous region to the Madhesis, then they also want a separate Chure-Bhawar autonomous region for themselves. — PTI

Peshawar, April 23
Security forces opened fire on pro-Taliban extremists who tried to storm the house of a rival Islamist leader in a Pakistani tribal region today,killing six persons, officials said.

More than 1,000 members of the hardline Lashkar-i-Islami (Army of Islam) organisation gathered in Bara, a town bordering Afghanistan, to demonstrate against the rival Ansar-ul-Islam (Companions of Islam) group, they said.

Some armed members of the mob then marched towards a nearby village to attack the house of Ansar-ul-Islam's leader, Pir Saifur Rehman, a security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"In a bid to disperse the crowd, local tribal police and paramilitary units opened fire and six people were killed and 10 injured," the official said requesting anonymity.

Most of the victims were men in their late teens or early 20s, he said.

Lashkar spokesman Misri Khan said he knew of five people who had died on the spot and dozens of others who were wounded."The number of dead could go up," he added.

The clash comes a day after the police fired tear gas to disperse Lashkar-i-Islami activists who were protesting against the blowing up of the organisation's headquarters last week.

Officials said Lashkar's commander had set up a Taliban-style court in the building. The group was also behind the stoning and shooting to death of a woman and two men accused of adultery in March.Last year, 25 people died in battles in Bara between supporters of the same two groups. — AFP 

New York, April 23
Pakistan's Inter Service Intelligence(ISI) is working with Bangladesh's intelligence agencies to facilitate cooperation between northeast militant groups like ULFA and other jihadi outfits in the South-Asian region, besides Tamil rebels in Lanka,US news intelligence service Startfor has said.

In its latest forecast titled "India: The Islamisation of the Northeast",it observes that there is a growing Islamisation in the region -- spurred by the ISI and instability in the neighbouring Bangladesh which is giving foreign powers (China and Pakistan) a gamut of exploitable secessionist movements to use to prevent India from emerging as a major global player.

Stratfor says that there exists a strong nexus between the ISI and Bangladesh's intelligence agencies.There are growing indications, says the report, that these two agencies are working clandestinely in Bangladesh to bring all northeast-based insurgent outfits and jihadist elements under one umbrella."The ISI has facilitated cooperation between ULFA and other northeastern militant outfits with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka, Islamist militant groups in Jammu and Kashmir, Islamist groups in Bangladesh and a growing number of Al Qaeda-linked jihadist groups operating in the region," it adds. — PTI