PTI/IANS
Bangladeshi 1971 veterans to get 5-year India visa
Dhaka, April 26 (PTI): In a special gesture, India will grant five-year multiple entry tourist visas to Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War veterans, an Indian high commission spokesman said here today. “In recognition of the special connection between Bangladesh Muktijodhas (freedom fighters) and India, this provision has been extended to them as a special gesture,” he said. Presently, Bangladesh nationals above the age of 65 years are eligible for long-term multiple entry tourist visas of 5 years. The spokesman said intending freedom fighters could avail the opportunity walking-in without prior appointment and submitting their “tourist visa applications” at Indian Visa Application Centres in Dhaka and seven others elsewhere in the country. An Indian high commission statement said the freedom fighters “will henceforth be eligible for five year multiple entry Tourist visas” as announced during Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India earlier this month. Indian soldiers fought should-to-shoulder with Bengali freedom fighters in 1971 to liberate Bangladesh.
12,000 Bangladeshi illegal immigrants to leave Saudi Arabia
Dhaka, April 26 (IANS): Around 12,000 Bangladeshis are set to return from Saudi Arabia before June 30, after Riyadh set a deadline for illegal immigrants to leave the kingdom, a media report said. The Bangladeshi nationals have received clearance from the Saudi government to leave the kingdom before Jun 30, bdnews24 said. Those meeting the June 30 deadline will be spared under ‘General Pardon’ and can travel to Saudi Arabia legally again in the future. But those failing to honour the deadline will face jail terms and fine, the daily said. The Saudi government made the announcement on March 20. Until Tuesday, 7,309 Bangladeshis collected the Out Pass (clearance letter) in Riyadh and 4,855 others in Jeddah, according to the Bangladesh embassy. The Saudi authorities have formed a task force to filter out immigrants staying in the Gulf kingdom with an expired visa. Some new jails have also been set up. The Saudi government expects at least one million illegal immigrants to leave the country during the 90-day drive.
Over 1,000 arrested in Turkey over links with Gulenist group
Ankara, April 26 (IANS): Over 1,000 Fetullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO) suspects were arrested in simultaneous police raids across Turkey, the Interior Minister said on Wednesday. “At least 1,009 covert ‘imams’ in 72 provinces have been taken into custody so far,” Anadolu agency quoted Suleyman Soylu as saying here. “This is an important step for Turkey.” About 8,500 officials targeted FETO police infiltration in 81 provinces. The operations were carried out as part of a probe led by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. According to the government, FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup in July 2016, which left 249 people killed and about 2,200 injured. Ankara has said that FETO is behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary. Since the defeated coup, operations have been ongoing in the military, police and judiciary, as well as in state institutions across the country, to arrest suspects with alleged links to FETO.
Ten persons suspected of providing arms for the 2015 attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices and a supermarket in Paris have been arrested in France and Belgium. A police operation to detain the suspects began on Monday and continued on Wednesday morning, with 10 suspects in custody so far, a spokesperson for the Paris prosecutor’s office said. The operation was carried out within the framework of an investigation into the weapons used in the attack on January 7, 2015, when brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi shot and killed 12 people at the offices of satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo, Efe news reported. Two days later, Amedy Coulibaly, a friend of the Kouachi brothers, killed four people at a Kosher supermarket in Paris, before he was shot and killed by security forces. According to French media reports, those arrested were allegedly involved in the delivery of weapons to Coulibaly. Investigations into the weapons used in the attacks had already led to Claude Hermant, an ex-mercenary known for his extreme-right links, who was imprisoned and interrogated anew in light of the new findings, French news channel BFMTV reported. According to the case file, Hermant and his wife bought from a Slovakian company four Tokarev pistols and the two Kalashnikovs that Coulibaly had with him during the supermarket attack.
A Chinese court has convicted an American businesswoman for spying, sentencing her to three-and-half years in prison and ordered her deportation. Sandy Phan-Gillis, resident of Houston, Texas, has been in custody in China since March 2015 when she was detained during a business trip. One of her lawyers, Shang Baojun said she pleaded guilty on Tuesday to espionage charges in a closed court hearing in the southern Chinese city of Nanning, CNN reported. It wasn’t immediately clear how much longer Phan-Gillis will remain in Chinese detention before she is deported. Her husband, Jeff Gillis has been campaigning for her release, insisting that she is innocent. Jeff Gillis has said in the past that he has documents that show his wife was in the US during the period in the 1990s when she is alleged to have spied for the American government in China. Phan-Gillis may have chosen to plead guilty at her trial in order to try to secure an earlier release, according to the report.
Afghan officials say Islamic State militants have attacked the Taliban in the northern Jawzjan province, igniting heavy clashes in which dozens of fighters were killed. Mohammad Reza Ghafori, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said today that the fighting, which began the day before, has killed 76 Taliban fighters and 15 from the IS affiliate. He says the IS militants seized two districts from the Taliban. The Taliban and IS are both fighting to overthrow Afghanistan’s US-backed government and impose a harsh version of Islamic rule, but they are bitterly split over leadership and tactics. The IS affiliate is largely made up of disgruntled former Taliban fighters. Abdul Hafiz Khashyee, a police official, says the fighting took place in a remote area and there were no reports of civilian casualties.
