Haque Specialized Group's News

Pakistani officials on Monday ordered the detention of a firebrand cleric linked to the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks which killed 166 people, reports BBC. Hafiz Saeed - who led the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group and has a $10 million US bounty on his head - is under house arrest in Lahore. He has repeatedly denied involvement in the Mumbai attacks. But Delhi and Washington both believe he masterminded the shooting and bombing massacre. A spokesman for Saeed claimed the Pakistani government had been pressured by the US to act against him. Saeed heads Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), a Pakistani charity group which India and the US say is a front for the LeT. It is listed as a terror outfit by the United Nations, and was put on a Pakistani terror watch list in 2015. Four JuD members have also been placed in "preventative detention", according to an order by the interior ministry. Tensions over Mumbai massacre The Islamist leader's free movement in Pakistan has been a source of tension between Islamabad and Delhi for years, but it is unclear why the authorities decided to move against him now. He was put under house arrest in 2008 after the bloodshed in Mumbai, but released about six months later. Pakistan mentioned there was not enough evidence to put him on trial or hand him over to India. The Mumbai carnage played out on live television as commandos battled the heavily armed attackers, who arrived by sea on the evening of 26 November, 2008. The 10 gunmen killed commuters, tourists, and some of India's wealthy elite in a rampage that included attacks on two luxury hotels, a Jewish centre, and a train station. It took the authorities three days to regain full control of the city. Delhi believes there is evidence that "official agencies" in Pakistan were involved in plotting the attack - a charge Islamabad denies. 'US pressure' Despite the bounty against him, Saeed has led a high-profile public life in Pakistan, regularly delivering fierce anti-India speeches. In a 2014 interview with the BBC, Saeed said the US was only targeting his organisation to win India's help in Afghanistan. News of the cleric's detention surfaced hours after Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar hinted at an imminent crackdown. He told reporters in Islamabad that Pakistan is "under obligation to take some action" as JuD is blacklisted internationally and has been under observation for years. "The situation will be clear on this by tomorrow," he said on Monday. A senior Pakistani defence ministry official told the Reuters that Islamabad had not heard anything from President Trump's administration, but had been feeling US pressure over the terror suspect. "Trump is taking hard decisions against Muslim countries, there is open talk of actions against Pakistan also. So yes, this was a consideration," said the official.....

Published at: 2017-01-31 00:00:07

Three people were killed and another was injured as a microbus plunged into a roadside ditch on Dhaka-Barisal highway in Babuganj upazila early Tuesday, reports UNB. Anwar Hossain, officer-in-charge of Airport Police Station, said the microbus fell into the ditch after its driver lost control over the steering, leaving two passengers dead on the spot and two others critically injured. The injured were taken to Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital where one of them succumbed to his injuries. The deceased could not be identified yet.....

Published at: 2017-01-31 00:00:07

Two people were killed and 15 others injured as a bus went down a ditch at Nagdarpar in the city's Khilgaon area on Monday night. One of the deceased was identified as Shafiqul Islam, 32, reports UNB. The Demra-bound bus of 'Swadhin Paribahan' carrying 30-35 passengers from Muhammadpur skidded off the road and fell into the ditch as its driver lost control over the steering around 10.30pm, killing one of its passengers on the spot and injuring 15 others, said Aminul Islam, a sub-inspector of Khilgaon Police Station. The injured were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where one of them succumbed to his injuries.....

Published at: 2017-01-31 00:00:07

US President Donald Trump fired the federal government's top lawyer Sally Yates on Monday after she took the extraordinarily rare step of defying the White House and refused to defend new travel restrictions targeting seven Muslim-majority nations, reports Reuters. Yates said late on Monday that the Justice Department would not defend in court Trump's directive that put a 120-day hold on allowing refugees into the country, an indefinite ban on refugees from Syria and a 90-day bar on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Yates said she did not believe defending the order would be "consistent with this institution's solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is right." Hours later, she was fired. The White House said Yates "has betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States" and portrayed her actions as political. Trump has argued tougher vetting of immigrants is needed to protect America from terror attacks but critics complain that his order unfairly singles out Muslims and defiles America's historic reputation as a welcoming place for immigrants. Yates, an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama, was days away from being replaced by Trump's pick for the top spot at the Justice Department, Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, who is awaiting Senate confirmation. "Ms. Yates is an Obama Administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration," the White House said in a statement. The White House said that Dana Boente, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, would be acting US attorney general until Sessions is approved. Boente said in an interview with the Washington Post that he would enforce the immigration order. There have been only a handful of instances in US history of top Justice Department officials publicly breaking with the White House. The most famous example was in 1973, when then-Attorney General Elliot Richardson and his deputy resigned rather than obey President Richard Nixon’s order to fire a special prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal. The incident, which became known as the 'Saturday Night Massacre,' was a public relations disaster and is seen as a turning point in Nixon's administration.....

Published at: 2017-01-31 00:00:07

A fire broke out at a furniture shop in Ford Nagar area of Singair upazila on Tuesday morning. Shahadat Hossain, station manager of Manikganj Fire Station, said the fire originated in an outlet of 'Akhtar Furnishers' around 10.30am, reports UNB. On information, he said, eight fire-fighting units from Savar and Manikganj fire stations rushed in and were trying to put out the flame. It is not still clear what exactly caused the fire.....

Published at: 2017-01-31 00:00:06