Tag: bangladesh

  • Bangladesh bought phone hacking, intercepting devices from Israel

    Bangladesh bought phone hacking, intercepting devices from Israel

    Bangladesh government spent around $330,000 on phone-hacking equipment made by an Israeli company.

    The two countries have not recognised each other and have no diplomatic relations.

    In an exclusive investigative report by Al Jazeera, a product called UFED is manufactured by Cellebrite security firm in Israel, and Bangladesh has acquired devices from the firm.

    It can access and extract data from a wide range of mobile phones. Civil rights and campaigners are worried about its ability to hack encrypted phone data and breach the privacy of users.

    Bangladesh does not recognise the state of Israel, forbids trade with it and prevents its citizens from travelling there. The Muslim-majority country officially stands in solidarity with the Palestinians due to the denied civil rights and live under Israeli military occupation. It is unclear whether UFED was provided to Bangladesh directly by the Israeli company or any other channel was created for acquiring the devices.

    In February, Al Jazeera revealed how the Bangladesh military in 2018 signed a contract to acquire mobile phone interception equipment from Israeli firm Picsix Ltd. In February 2019, Bangladeshi officers received training by Israeli intelligence experts in the Hungarian capital, Budapest.

    The Ministry of Defence in Bangladesh said the equipment, a passive mobile phone monitoring system called P6 Intercept, was made in Hungary and was purchased on United Nations missions but the claim was rejected by the world body.

    According to the contract, the manufacturer of P6 Intercept as Picsix Ltd Hungary is made in Hungry, but no public record of any such company exists, and all Picsix equipment are manufactured in Isreal.

  • National Bank to close branches in Bangladesh, Afghanistan

    National Bank to close branches in Bangladesh, Afghanistan

    The National Bank of Pakistan has decided to shut down its branches in Bangladesh and Afghanistan due to financial losses.

    According to reports, the NBP officials said that the government will shut down three branches in Bangladesh situated in Sylhet, Chittagong, and Dhaka along with some branches in Afghanistan.

    According to details, the NBP branch in Sylhet has been facing financial losses for the past eight years and that it would be shut down by the end of this year. The State Bank of Pakistan has approved the decision to close the branch down in Sylhet, while the remaining two in Bangladesh will also be closed soon.

    On Monday, the Senate’s Standing Committee of Finance and Revenue directed the National Bank of Pakistan to submit details of non-performing loans.

    Citing non-performing loans as reason, the NBP officials had informed the committee that the bank has closed two branches in Bangladesh and Afghanistan due to continuous losses, while more will be shut down soon.

    The meeting was further informed that 23 branches of the bank were established in various countries.

  • KYA BOLA? (Jul 28): ‘Sindh k barsaati maindak’ to ‘Aglay aath dino ki ehmiyat’

    KYA BOLA? (Jul 28): ‘Sindh k barsaati maindak’ to ‘Aglay aath dino ki ehmiyat’

    Following are some snippets that stood out from Urdu newspapers on July 28, 2020, which The Current takes no responsibility for.

    ‘Sindh k barsaati maindak’

    It has been reported by Daily Jang that Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari has thanked the Sindh government for its hard work in draining out rainwater from different areas of Karachi.“Saari raat sarrko’n ki nigraani krnay pr Sindh government ka shukriya adaa krti hun. Sab saaf hogya lekin badqismati se hum barsaati maindako’n k masaail hal nahi kr saktay jo baarish hotay he nikal aatay hain.”

    Daughter of the late former prime minister (PM) Benazir Bhutto and former president Asif Ali Zardari was taking a dig at the critics of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) led Sindh government who had been raising their voices after Karachi was flooded following heavy moonsoon rains.

    ‘Churrailo’n ne Pakistan k dou tukrray kiye’

    Prominent senior journalist and analyst Suhail Warraich, in his column for Daily Jang, has written, “Yeh churrailei’n he theen jinho’n ne Mashraqi aur Maghrabi Pakistan mein ghalat fehmiya’n paida ki aur humein judaa kr dia. Agar churrailei’n larraayi naa krwatee’n to Ziaul Haq 90 din mein election krwa kr chalay jatay.”

    ‘Aglay aath dino ki ehmiyat’

    According to Daily Dunya, Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid has said, “Agly aath [8] din buhat eham hain. Agar halaat theek rahay to tamaam cheezei’n khol di jayein gi.”

    The minister’s statement comes as the Punjab government imposes a province-wide smart lockdown ahead of Eidul Azha. It will remain in place until August 5.

  • Palestinians mourn death of PAF hero who became only pilot to have downed four Israeli aircraft during Six-Day War

    Palestinians mourn death of PAF hero who became only pilot to have downed four Israeli aircraft during Six-Day War

    Palestinian activists are mourning the loss of legendary fighter pilot Saiful Azam, who was awarded Sitara-i-Jura’at for his heroics in the 1965 war against India, and breathed his last in Bangladesh capital Dhaka earlier this week.

    The 80-year-old retired group captain died at his residence, local newspaper Jugantor said. He had been suffering from various old-age complications for a long time.

    Bangladeshi army’s mouthpiece Inter Service Public Relation Directorate also confirmed the death to Anadolu Agency over the phone.

    “We came to know about his death but we have not published it on our official web page as he is a retired official,” ISPR Director Lt. Col. Abdullah Ibn Zaid said.

    Pakistan Air Force Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan expressed heartfelt grief on the demise of the great war veteran, according to a press release by PAF’s media wing. The air chief paid rich tribute to Azam, saying that the former fighter pilot will always be remembered for his professionalism and his part in the 1965 Indo-Pak and 1967 Arab-Israel wars.

    A unique figure in the history of Bangladesh, Azam fought in wars as a fighter pilot in three different countries — Jordan, Iraq and Pakistan. 

    During the 1967 Six-Day War, he was the only pilot to have downed four Israeli aircraft.

    On June 5, 1967, four Israeli jets were descending on Jordan’s Mafraq airbase to smash the country’s tiny air force, shortly after the entire Egyptian air force had been destroyed.

    Jordanian air force commanders deployed Azam to thwart the attack, shooting down two aircraft. He was shifted to Iraq two days later to defend air bases, where he shot down two more Israeli planes.

    Mourning him on Facebook, Palestinian historian Osama al-Ashqar hailed Azam as a great airman.

    “Our brothers in Bangladesh and Pakistan were our partners in resistance and defending the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” he added. 

    Palestinian professor Naji Shoukri posted on his Twitter prayers mourning Azam. 

    “Saiful Azam loved Palestine and fought for the sake of Jerusalem,” said Shoukri, saluting him and wishing him God’s grace.

    Renowned Palestinian journalist Tamer al-Mishal lauded Azam called him “the Eagle of the Air”.

    In recognition of Azam’s contributions, he was conferred with military awards by Jordan and Iraq. The United States (US) also gave him the Living Eagles title in 2001 for his outstanding skills.

    After the cessation of Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971, the veteran pilot joined the Bangladesh Air Force to serve his homeland. In 1980, he retired and joined the civil service and later took up a political career.

  • Bangladeshi man walks 2,000 KM to stop his Pakistani sweetheart from getting married

    Bangladeshi man walks 2,000 KM to stop his Pakistani sweetheart from getting married

    A Bangladeshi national walked up to 2,000 kilometres amid coronavirus lockdown to see his social media friend in Karachi who was getting married to another man. He first crossed the India-Bangladesh border illegally and then found his way to Attari, Amritsar.

    Then he tried to cross the India-Pakistan border but was arrested by an Indian Border Security Force (BSF) officer.

    Identified as Nayan Mian, the 26-year-old is a resident of Shariatpur, a district in the Dhaka division of central Bangladesh. When he was arrested, he only had a mobile phone with a Bangladeshi SIM card and some Indian currency notes.

    Mian did not cross the border with bad intent, but he just wanted to meet his Pakistani friend who was getting married to another man.

    Read more – Second wife pours hot water on husband over third marriage

    During the investigation, it was revealed that the girl’s family shared ties with his family. However, they were separated after his parents shifted to Bangladesh in 1971. A few years ago, he reached her on social media and fell in love with her.

    “The girl is my cousin and we were connected through social media. We used to talk through video calls, but had been out of touch for 10 to 15 days. She had accepted my marriage proposal and that’s why I intended to visit her. I heard that many stranded Pakistanis were being repatriated these days, so I thought of taking a chance,” he said.

    Mian told the police that he first reached Kolkata, then passed through Agra, New Delhi, and then came to Punjab, mostly on foot.

  • Pakistan declared world’s most affordable country to live in

    Pakistan has been declared the world’s most affordable country to live in, while Bangladesh is the most expensive country in South Asia and Switzerland the most expensive in the world.

    CEOWORLD — one of the world’s leading business magazines for high-level executive professionals and business leaders — has declared Pakistan the world’s most affordable country to live in, followed by Afghanistan, India, Syria, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tunisia, Dhaka Tribune reported.

    Source: CEOWORLD

    Meanwhile, European countries were prominent on the list of most expensive ones. Of the top 20 nations, nine were in Europe, five in Asia, one in North America and Africa each, two in the Caribbean and two in Oceania. 

    Norway ranks second in the list of the world’s most expensive countries to live in, followed by Iceland, Japan, Denmark, Bahamas, Luxembourg, Israel, Singapore and South Korea.

    A little further down in the list, there is the United States (US) at the 20th position, the United Kingdom (UK) at 27th, Saudi Arabia at 57th and Russia at 82nd.

    The rankings are based on five major metrics — cost of living, rent, groceries, eating out and purchasing power. To identify the world’s most and least expensive countries to live in, the magazine collected and reviewed data from dozens of studies, numbers of consumer price index, cost of living index and numerous national and international media reports. 

    The data was then compiled into an index, using the notoriously expensive city of New York City (NYC) as a benchmark. New York was given an index score of 100. So a country with a score higher than 100 is more expensive than New York, while below signals less expensive.

  • Police issue traffic plan for Pak vs Ban test series in Rawalpindi

    Police issue traffic plan for Pak vs Ban test series in Rawalpindi

    The City Traffic Police Rawalpindi have chalked out a traffic plan to facilitate citizens during the Pakistan and Bangladesh cricket test match at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium scheduled to take place from February 5 to February 11.

    According to the plan, Stadium (Double) Road will be closed on both sides from morning to evening from Feb 5 to Feb 11. Traffic coming from Islamabad will be diverted to the Expressway from Faizabad Bridge’s slipway Dhoke, Kala Khan, Khanna and Koral.

    https://twitter.com/SSPITP/status/1225086357602734082?s=20

    Traffic from Rawalpindi to Islamabad through Murree Road will be diverted towards Islamabad from a u-turn that is in front of the Kidney Centre.

    Traffic from Islamabad via IJP Road and 9th Avenue will enter Rawalpindi via Katari, Carriage Factory, Chak Madad and Pirwadhai Mor.

    No traffic will be allowed from Ghousia Chowk to Murree Road. However, traffic from Sadiqabad Chowk to Islamabad will have to take Ghosia Chowk via Farooq-i-Azam Road.

    The road from Haroon Chowk and Dhoke Kala Khan Chowk to Ghousia Chowk will also remain closed.

    A traffic police spokesman provided a helpline numbers: 051 9272839 and 051 9272616 for any kind of information and guidance.

    Stickers have been issued to those who would be coming to the stadium for parking.