Habib Siddiqui

  This is a fused essay—a review of contemporary volumes/essays on British India and Colonial Bengal as well as the oral narratives of that yore combined with a sequel to my recently published books  IDENTITY OF A MUSLIM FAMILY IN COLONIAL BENGAL: Between Memories and History,  (2021, Peter Lang, NYC) and   THE CENTRAL LEGISLATURE IN BRITISH INDIA 1921-47: Parliamentary Experiences under the Raj,  (2019, Peter Lang, NYC). In the aftermath of the abortive Indian “Mutiny” in 1857, a new Colonial imagination was signaled through a set of reforms by the Raj. However, a typically British drip by drip response to the rising political tide in India initially brought the Muslims few tangible benefits. For an example, thru the years from 1893 to 1903,  the Muslim members of the Indian Legislative Council were about 12% of their cohorts whereas 23% of  the country’s total population were then Muslims. Worse was the Muslim presence in Bengal’s law-making bod...

  SHIHAB SARKAR Published : Feb 27, 2023 06:23 AM   Even 2/3 years ago, the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh occupied a remarkable place in the world news media. After the Covid-19 pandemic and the outbreak of the Ukraine war, a fatigue appears to have gripped nations, especially those in the greater south and south-east Asian regions. Almost all of them have been hard hit by the post-corona economic impasse. Coming to the Rohingya crisis, many would like to describe the present situation as something like 'all quiet on the Rohingya front'. More than a couple of months after the Rohingya border guards' firing of shells visibly targeting the refugees, no major incidents occurred in Teknaf's Ukhiya area. The said area hosts 750,000 refugees who arrived in Bangladesh in 2017 fleeing the Myanmar Army's genocide in their native villages in the Rakhine state of the country. It's after a considerably long hiatus, that Bangladesh has raised the refugee issue. N...

  A magnitude 5.6 earthquake has hit eastern Turkey, killing at least one person and wounding dozens while causing some damaged buildings to collapse. Monday’s earthquake became the  latest major tremor  to rock southern Turkey as the region rebuilds from earlier massive quakes that  killed more than 50,000 people  across southern Turkey and northwest Syria. The latest quake was centred in the town of Yesilyurt in Malatya province, the country’s disaster management agency (AFAD) said, adding that one person was killed when a factory collapsed in Kahramanmaras, the epicentre of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that hit the region on February 6, and 69 others were injured. Yesilyurt’s Mayor Mehmet Cinar told HaberTurk television that a number of buildings in the town collapsed, including a four-storey building where a father and daughter were trapped. Cinar said the pair had entered the damaged building to collect belongings. AFAD said that 32 people were saved in Mal...

  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's far-right finance minister said on Sunday he would not agree to any freeze in settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, after Israeli officials committed during a summit in Jordan to hold off on such construction in the coming months. "I have no idea what they spoke about or not in Jordan," said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also has responsibilities over Jewish settlements in the West Bank. "But one thing I do know: there will not be a freeze on the building and development in settlements, not even for one day (it is under my authority)," he wrote on Twitter. (Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Jan Harvey)

  by  Ted Snider   Posted on February 26, 2023 The violence in Ukraine is unimaginable. But before the violence, there was violence. The military conflict in Ukraine has received an unprecedented amount of media coverage. The major US networks have given  more coverage  to Russia’s war in Ukraine than they did to America’s war in Iraq. But there were very important military dimensions prior to the war in Ukraine, many of them focussed around the coup of 2014, that have gone almost unreported. The lack of reporting is important because those events played a role in the lead up to the war. The Economic Package Long before the current strife in the Donbas, Ukraine has been a nation divided. Ethnic tensions have historically pulled the nation in opposite directions. The northwest and central Ukraine have always pulled west toward Europe; the southeast has always pulled east toward Russia. Prior to the Maidan protests and the coup of 2014, Ukrainian President Viktor ...

  Ramallah, occupied Palestine -   Israeli   settlers rampaged through towns in the   occupied   West Bank on Sunday evening in revenge attacks, burning and attacking  Palestinian   homes and property for hours. At least one Palestinian was killed and nearly 400 wounded in the attacks, Palestinian health officials said.  Sameh Hamdullah Aktech, 37, was shot dead in Za'tara town near Nablus. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said its staff treated someone for stabbing wounds and at least two others suffered head injuries.   Homes, shops, cars and agricultural land were set ablaze by settlers who roamed the streets of several Palestinians towns, mainly near Nablus. Attacks were reported in Ramallah and Salfit.  PRCS said at least 35 homes were completely burned down and 40 others were partially damaged. More than 100 cars were burnt or destroyed, it added.  The riots follo...