Authorities have tightened security in and around the Biswa Ijtema ground in Tongi to prevent any untoward incidents following violent clashes between two groups that left two people dead and many injured. A large contingent of the Army, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and other forces, along with regular police, have been patrolling the area, reports UNB’s district correspondent from the scene. According to a statement from the BGB headquarters, four platoons have been deployed in the area. Despite the heavy security, a tense atmosphere persists there. Locals reported that followers of Maulana Saad remain inside the ground, while those of Maulana Zubair are positioned outside. Meanwhile, a meeting between the two groups was held at the Ministry of Home Affairs later today (Wednesday). The meeting asked the two groups to vacate the ground and they were learned to have agreed to leave the area. Read: Ijtema: Saad’s supporters attempt to march to Chief Adviser’s residence As per the government’s decision, the first phase of the Biswa Ijtema, organised by Zubair’s followers, will take place from January 31 to February 2 next year, while the second phase, led by Saad’s followers, is scheduled from 7 to 9 February. Although the government permitted the Saad group to host the first phase, the opposing faction has been reluctant to accept the decision. Tensions between the two groups have been brewing ever since. In preparation for their 'Jor Ijtema,' set to be held from December20 to 24, Saad’s followers began entering the ground. But, sensing their presence, Zubair’s followers reportedly attacked them around 3 am. In response, Saad’s supporters, attempting to gain entry to the ground, launched a counter-attack, leading to a fierce clash that resulted in two deaths and numerous injuries. Locals alleged that as Saad’s supporters entered the ground, police stationed at the Ijtema site moved away, positioning themselves on the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway to the east. Read more: First phase of Biswa Ijtema to begin Jan 31 Tongi West Police Station Officer-in-Charge Iskandar Habibur Rahman confirmed the fatalities, adding that several injured individuals were sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. He said that the situation is now under control, with law enforcement remaining on high alert.

Tensions between Bangladesh and India have escalated following Monday's attack by a Hindu religious group on the Bangladesh mission in Agartala, Tripura, prompting the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry to summon the Indian High Commissioner for a formal protest. Amid the evolving situation, Bangladesh authorities on Tuesday suspended all visa and consular services at the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala. Talking to reporters after his meeting with Bangladesh’s acting Foreign Secretary Riaz Hamidullah, High Commissioner Pranay Verma said the “multifaceted and wide-ranging” relations between the two countries cannot be reduced to one issue. Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam, at a separate briefing at the Foreign Service Academy, said India is a big neighbour and Bangladesh wants good relations with the neighbor. “But we think this good relationship should be based on just and equity.” High Commissioner Verma said they want to build a “constant, stable and constructive” relationship with Bangladesh. Speaking to reporters briefly at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he said they are interested in working with Bangladesh to fulfill their shared aspirations in the field of peace, security and development. There are many interdependencies and they want to build on that for mutual benefits, he said. India’s Action Indian authorities have arrested seven people and taken action against four policemen in connection with a demonstration and attack on the premises of the Assistant High Commission of Bangladesh at Agartala in India. Three sub-inspectors were suspended, and a deputy superintendent of police was "closed", reports Indian media on Tuesday quoting West Tripura SP Kiran Kumar K. "A suo-motu case was registered at the New Capital Complex (NCC) police station over the incident. Seven persons have been arrested so far for their alleged involvement in the incident," he said. Bangladesh’s Protests Bangladesh authorities on Monday said it “deeply resents” the “violent demonstration and attack” by a large group of protesters of the Hindu Sangharsh Samity of Agartala on the premises of the Assistant High Commission of Bangladesh. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement, underlined that this “heinous attack” on a diplomatic mission of Bangladesh and desecration of the national flag of Bangladesh comes in a pattern, further to a similar violent demonstration in Kolkata on November 28, 2024. Read: Visa, consular services at Bangladesh mission in Agartala suspended “This particular act in Agartala stands in violation of the inviolability of diplomatic missions, as the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961, asks for,” the ministry said. BGB on Alert Amid the growing tensions over the incident, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has stepped up vigil along the border to thwart any evil activities and unwanted situations. The brief statement from the BGB headquarters was issued on Tuesday, a day after radical Hindu protesters attacked Bangladesh’s Assistant High Commission in Agartala, Tripura. BNP’s Concerns BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Tuesday urged the interim government to seek assistance from the UN peacekeeping force to ensure the security for the staff of Bangladesh's diplomatic missions in India as they failed to provide security for them. “The officials and employees of the Bangladesh missions are suffering from a sense of insecurity. In this situation, the Bangladesh government should seek assistance from the UN peacekeeping force and take measures for the security of our people there," he said. He made the call at a press conference in the BNP central office in Nayapaltan. Rizvi said being instigated by the BJP government, the extremist terrorists carried out the brutal attack on the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Kunjaban, Agartala amid the silent presence of the members of the law enforcement agencies. Jatiya Nagarik Committee,a platform for stakeholders in the July-August Uprising, held a protest rally Tuesday against the attack on Bangladesh’s diplomatic mission in Agartala. Read more:  Protest held outside Indian Mission in Khulna over Agartala attack Besides, Islami Andolon Bangladesh held a protest outside the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in Dhaka condemning the attack and to denounce “anti-Bangladesh provocations” by India. Chinmoy’s Arrest and India’s Reaction Tensions between India and Bangladesh escalated following the arrest of former ISKCON leader Chinmoy Krishna Das on sedition charges. Lawyer Saiful Islam, 32, was killed amid violent clashes among police, lawyers, and supporters of Chinmoy after a Chattogram court denied him bail. The unrest erupted when thousands of Chinmoy's followers gathered at the court premises, blocking the prison van carrying him and demanding his immediate release. After Chinmoy’s arrest India expressed concern over what it claimed as attacks on minorities who were peacefully protesting the arrest of Das. "We urge Bangladesh authorities to ensure the safety and security of Hindus and all minorities, including their right of freedom of peaceful assembly and expression," the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement. The interim government also responded to a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs of India on a matter which Bangladesh sees as "internal affairs." "It is with utter dismay and deep sense of hurt that the government of Bangladesh notes that the arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das has been misconstrued by certain quarters since Chinmoy Krishna Das has been arrested on specific charges," said Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister in a statement on the same day. Chinmoy’s Bail Hearing The bail hearing in a sedition case against Chinmoy Krishna Das has been rescheduled to January 2. Chattogram Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Saiful Islam fixed the next date on Tuesday following the prosecution's request for time due to the absence of his lawyer. Read more: Dhaka sharply reacts over “heinous attack” on its Agartala mission On November 26, Chattogram Sixth Metropolitan Magistrate Judge Kazi Shariful Islam rejected the bail plea and sent him to jail.

A gunman stormed the Azerbaijan Embassy in Iran's capital Friday, killing its security chief and wounding two guards in an attack that spiked long-simmering tensions between the two neighboring countries. Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said it would evacuate the diplomatic post, accusing Iran of not taking reported threats against it seriously in the past that include inciting comments in hard-line media over Azerbaijan's diplomatic ties to Israel. Tehran’s police chief, Gen. Hossein Rahimi, initially blamed the attack on “personal and family problems,” something quickly repeated across Iranian state media. But within hours Rahimi would lose his position as police chief after footage emerged that appeared to show a security force member doing nothing to stop the attack. “Previously, there have been attempts to threaten our diplomatic mission in Iran, and it was constantly raised before Iran to take measures to prevent such cases, and to ensure the safety of our diplomatic missions,” the Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry said. “Unfortunately, the last bloody terror attack demonstrates the serious consequences of not showing proper sensitivity to our urgent appeals in this direction.” “We are of the opinion that the recent anti-Azerbaijani campaign against our country in Iran led to such attack against our diplomatic mission," the ministry added. Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev called the assault a “terrorist attack.” He identified the dead security chief as 1st Lt. Orkhan Rizvan Oglu Askarov. “We demand that this terrorist act be swiftly investigated and the terrorists punished,” Aliyev said in a statement. "Terror against diplomatic missions is unacceptable!” The attack happened Friday morning, the second day of the Iranian weekend. Surveillance video released in Azerbaijan purportedly showed the gunman arriving by car at the embassy, running into the back of another car parked out front. He exited his car, holding what appeared to be a Kalashnikov-style rifle. From there, details immediately conflict with the Iranian account of the attack. Iranian state TV had quoted Rahimi as saying the gunman had entered the embassy with his two children during the attack. However, surveillance footage from inside the embassy, which matched details of the aftermath and bore a timestamp matching the Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry’s statement, showed the gunman burst through the embassy’s doors alone. Read more: Iran execution: Man publicly hanged from crane amid protests Those inside tried to push through metal detectors to take cover. The man opens fire with the rifle, its muzzle flashing, as he chases after the men into the small side office. Another man bursts from a side door and fights the gunman for the rifle as the footage ends. Another surveillance video from outside the embassy, which also corresponded to the same details, showed the gunman slam his car into another in front of the embassy. The gunman then got out and leveled his rifle at a figure inside of the Iranian police stand, likely a security force member, who stood still and did nothing as the man stormed the embassy. Video of the aftermath showed an empty diplomatic police post just near the embassy, with one man apparently wounded in an SUV parked outside. Inside the embassy past a metal detector, paramedics stood over what appeared to be a lifeless body in a small office as blood pooled on the floor beneath. Associated Press journalists later saw the embassy’s front door pocked with bullet holes after the attack. Iranian prosecutor Mohammad Shahriari reportedly said the gunman's wife had disappeared in April after a visit to the embassy. The Iranian judiciary's Mizan news agency quoted Shahriari as saying the gunman believed his wife was still in the diplomatic post at the time of the attack — even though it was some eight months later. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani also said his country strongly condemned the attack, which was under investigation with “high priority and sensitivity.” Azerbaijan also summoned Iran's ambassador there to lodge a protest over the attack as authorities replaced Rahimi, Tehran's police chief, without offering an explanation. Azerbaijan borders Iran's northwest and belonged to the Persian Empire until the early 19th century. Ethnic Azeris also number over 12 million people in Iran and represent the Islamic Republic's largest minority group — making maintaining good relations even more important for Tehran. There have been tensions between the two countries as Azerbaijan and Armenia have fought over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Iran also wants to maintain its 44-kilometer (27-mile) border with landlocked Armenia — something that could be threatened if Azerbaijan seizes new territory through warfare. Iran in October launched a military exercise near the Azerbaijan border, flexing its martial might amid the nationwide protests rocking the Islamic Republic. Azerbaijan also maintains close ties to Israel, which Tehran views as its top regional enemy. The Islamic Republic and Israel are locked in an ongoing shadow war as Iran's nuclear program rapidly enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels. Israel also offered its condolences to Azerbaijan over the attack. Turkey, which has close ties to Azerbaijan, condemned the attack, called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice and for measures to be put in place to prevent similar attacks in the future. Turkey has backed Azerbaijan against Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh. “Turkey, which has been subjected to similar attacks in the past, deeply shares the pain of the Azerbaijani people,” a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said. “Brotherly Azerbaijan is not alone. Our support to Azerbaijan will continue without interruption, as it always has.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his Chinese counterpart on Saturday in a new effort to try to rein in or at least manage rampant hostility that has come to define recent relations between Washington and Beijing. Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi were holding talks in the Indonesian resort of Bali, a day after they both attended a gathering of top diplomats from the Group of 20 rich and large developing countries that failed to reach consensus over Russia's war in Ukraine and how to deal with its impacts. Wang and Blinken were discussing a range of contentious issues from tariffs and trade and human rights to Taiwan and disputes in the South China Sea. Just two days earlier, the two countries' top military officers had faced off over Taiwan during a virtual meeting. “In a relationship as complex and consequential as the one between the United States and China, there is a lot to talk about and I’m very much looking forward to a productive, constructive conversation,” Blinken said as the pair headed into the closed-door meeting. Read: USA announces new actions to support intl students' careers Wang said “it is necessary for the two countries to maintain normal exchanges” and “to work together to ensure that this relationship will continue to move forward along the right track.” He echoed frequent Chinese lines about remaining committed to the principles of “mutual respect,” “peaceful coexistence” and “win-win cooperation.” That, he said, "serves the interests of the two countries and two peoples. It is also the shared aspiration of the international community.” U.S. officials said ahead of time they don’t expect any breakthroughs from Blinken's talks with Wang. But they said they are hopeful the conversation can help keep lines of communications open and create “guardrails” to guide the world’s two largest economies as they navigate increasingly complex and potentially explosive matters. The United States and China have staked out increasingly confrontational positions, including on Ukraine, that some fear could lead to miscalculation and conflict. The U.S. has watched warily as China has refused to criticize the Russian invasion, while condemning Western sanctions against Russia and accusing the U.S. and NATO of provoking the conflict. The Biden administration had hoped that China, with its long history of opposing what it sees as interference in its own internal affairs, would take a similar position with Ukraine. But, it has not, choosing instead what U.S. officials see as a hybrid position that is damaging the international rules-based order. At the G-20 meeting, Wang made an oblique reference to China's policy on global stability, saying “to place one’s own security above the security of others and intensify military blocs will only split the international community and make oneself less secure,” according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. On Thursday, China's joint chiefs of staff chairman Gen. Li Zuocheng upbraided his U.S. counterpart Gen. Mark Milley over Washington's support for Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province. Li demanded that the U.S. cease military “collusion” with Taiwan, saying China has “no room for compromise” on issues affecting its “core interests,” which include self-governing Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory to be annexed by force if necessary. “China demands the U.S. ... cease reversing history, cease U.S.-Taiwan military collusion and avoid impacting China-U.S. ties and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” Li said. Also read: Russia and China slam NATO after alliance raises alarm At the same time, Li was also quoted in a Defense Ministry news release as saying China hoped to “further strengthen dialogue, handle risks, and promote cooperation, rather than deliberately creating confrontation, provoking incidents and becoming mutually exclusive.” China routinely flies warplanes near Taiwan to advertise its threat to attack, and the island’s Defense Ministry said Chinese air force aircraft crossed the middle line of the Taiwan Strait dividing the two sides on Friday morning. The meeting between Li and Milley followed fiery comments by Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe at a regional security conference last month that was also attended by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Wei accused the United States of trying to “hijack” the support of countries in the Asia-Pacific region to turn them against Beijing, saying Washington is seeking to advance its own interests “under the guise of multilateralism.” At the same meeting in Singapore, Austin said China was causing instability with its claim to Taiwan and its increased military activity in the area. In May, Blinken incurred Chinese wrath by calling the country the “most serious long-term challenge to the international order” for the United States, with its claims to Taiwan and efforts to dominate the strategic South China Sea. The U.S. and its allies have responded with what they term “freedom of navigation” patrols in the South China Sea, prompting angry responses from Beijing.

A group of French senators arrived in Taiwan for a five-day visit Wednesday following a large Chinese show of force with fighter jets amid the highest tensions in decades between China and Taiwan. The group, led by Senator Alain Richard, will meet with President Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwanese economic and health officials and the Mainland Affairs Council. Richard, a former French defense minister, previously visited Taiwan in 2015 and 2018, according to Taiwan’s semi-official Central News Agency, and heads the Taiwan Friendship group in the French senate. Read: US sending Taiwan 2.5 million vaccine doses, tripling pledge China’s ambassador to France Lu Shaye sent a warning letter in February calling on Richard to cancel the Taiwan visit, according to local media reports. The visit will likely provoke a rebuke from China, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory and therefore opposes any international engagement with the island such as visits by foreign government officials. It also has aggressively poached Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic allies. In its most recent display of sustained military harassment, China flew fighter jets 149 times toward Taiwan over four days from Friday to Monday. The White House called the flights risky and destabilizing, while China responded that the U.S. selling weapons to Taiwan and its ships navigating the Taiwan Strait were provocative. Read: Senators say US donating vaccines to Taiwan amid China row Taiwan’s defense minister Chiu Kuo-cheng told legislators Wednesday that the situation “is the most severe in the 40 years since I’ve enlisted.” Chiu was answering questions as the legislature decides whether to approve a special budget for air and naval defense purchases. China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949. Today they have extensive trade and investment ties but no official relations, and China has increasingly mobilized military, diplomatic and economic pressure to undermine Tsai’s independence-leaning administration.