AFP Asia

India’s navy boasts aircraft carriers, submarines, warships and frontline vessels of steel as it spreads its maritime power worldwide.But none of its vessels is as unusual as its newest addition that sets sail on its maiden Indian Ocean crossing on Monday — a wooden stitched ship inspired by a fifth-century design, built not to dominate the seas but to remember how India once traversed them.Steered by giant oars rather than a rudder, with two fixed square sails to catch seasonal monsoon winds, it heads westward on its first voyage across the seas, a 1,400-kilometre (870-mile) voyage to Oman’s capital Muscat.Named Kaundinya, after a legendary Indian mariner, its 20-metre (65-foot) long hull is sewn together with coconut coir rope rather than nailed.”This voyage reconnects the past with the present,” Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan said, sending the ship off from Porbandar, in India’s western state of Gujarat, on an estimated two-week crossing.”We are not only retracing ancient pathways of trade, navigation, and cultural exchange, but also reaffirming India’s position as a natural maritime bridge across the Indian Ocean.”The journey evokes a time when Indian sailors were regular traders with the Roman Empire, the Middle East, Africa, and lands to the east — today’s Thailand, Indonesia, China and as far as Japan.”This voyage is not just symbolic,” Swaminathan said. “It is of deep strategic and cultural significance to our nation, as we aim to resurrect and revive ancient Indian maritime concepts and capabilities in all their forms.”- ‘A bridge’ -The ship’s 18-strong crew has already sailed north along India’s palm-fringed coast, from Karnataka to Gujarat.”Our peoples have long looked to the Indian Ocean not as a boundary, but as a bridge carrying commerce and ideas, culture and friendship, across its waters,” said Oman’s ambassador to India, Issa Saleh Alshibani.”The monsoon winds that once guided traditional ships between our ports also carried a shared understanding that prosperity grows when we remain connected, open and cooperative.”The journey is daunting. The ship’s builders have refused modern shortcuts, instead relying on traditional shipbuilding methods.”Life on board is basic — no cabins, just the deck,” said crew member Sanjeev Sanyal, the 55-year-old historian who conceived the project, who is also Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic adviser.”We sleep on hammocks hanging from the mast,” he told AFP before the voyage.Sanyal, an Oxford-educated scholar and former international banker, drew up the blueprints with traditional shipwrights, basing designs on descriptions from ancient texts, paintings and coins.”Vasco da Gama is 500 years back,” he said, referring to the Portuguese sailor who reached India in 1498. “This is 6,000-, 7,000-year-old history.”- ‘So much gold’ -India is part of the Quad security alliance with the United States, Australia and Japan, seen as a counterweight to Beijing’s presence in the Indian Ocean.For India, the voyage is also a soft-power showcase to challenge perceptions that it was China’s “Silk Road” caravans that dominated ancient East-West trade.That land trade, as described by 13th-century Venetian merchant Marco Polo, peaked centuries after India’s sea route.”India was running such large surpluses with the Romans that you have Pliny the Elder… complaining that they were losing so much gold to India,” Sanyal said.The ship’s only modern power source is a small battery for a radio transponder and navigation lights, because wooden vessels do not show up well on radar.”When you hit a big wave, you can see the hull cave in a little bit”, he said, explaining that the stitched design allowed it to flex.”But it is one thing to know this in theory,” he said. “It is quite another thing to build one of these and have skin in the game by sailing it oneself.”

Myanmar’s dominant pro-military party claimed an overwhelming victory in the first phase of the elections, a senior party official told AFP, after democracy watchdogs warned the junta-run poll would entrench military rule.The armed forces snatched power in a 2021 coup, but on Sunday opened voting in a phased month-long election they pledge will return power to the people.”We won 82 lower house seats in townships which have finished counting, out of the total of 102,” a senior member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) told AFP.The figure implies that the party — which many analysts describe as a civilian proxy of the military — took more than 80 percent of the lower house seats that were put to the vote on Sunday.It won all eight townships in the capital Naypyidaw, the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to disclose the results.At the last poll in 2020, the USDP was trounced by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), which was dissolved after the coup and did not appear on Sunday’s ballots.The Nobel laureate has been in detention since the putsch, which triggered a civil war.Campaigners, Western diplomats and the United Nations’ rights chief have condemned the vote — citing a stark crackdown on dissent and a candidate list stacked with military allies.”It makes sense that the USDP would dominate,” said Morgan Michaels, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank.”The election is not credible,” he told AFP. “They rig it ahead of time by banning different parties, making sure that certain people don’t turn up to vote, or they do turn up to vote under threat of coercion to vote a certain way.”Official results have yet to be posted by Myanmar’s Union Election Commission and two more phases are scheduled for January 11 and 25.”My view on the election is clear: I don’t trust it at all,” Yangon resident Min Khant said Monday.”We have been living under a dictatorship,” said the 28-year-old. “Even if they do hold elections, I don’t think anything good will come of them because they always lie.”After voting on Sunday, military chief Min Aung Hlaing — who has ruled by diktat for the past five years — said the armed forces could be trusted to hand back power to a civilian-led government.”We guarantee it to be a free and fair election,” he told reporters in Naypyidaw. “It’s organised by the military, we can’t let our name be tarnished.”The coup triggered a civil war as pro-democracy activists formed guerrilla units, fighting alongside ethnic minority armies which have long resisted central rule.Sunday’s election was scheduled to take place in 102 of the country’s 330 townships — the most of the three phases of voting.But amid the war, the military has acknowledged that elections cannot happen in almost one in five lower house constituencies.

Myanmar’s dominant pro-military party claimed an overwhelming victory in the first phase of the country’s junta-run elections, a senior party official told AFP, after democracy watchdogs warned the poll would entrench military rule.The armed forces snatched power in a 2021 coup, but on Sunday opened voting in a phased month-long election they pledge will return power to the people.”We won 82 lower house seats in townships which have finished counting, out of the total of 102,” a senior official of the Union Solidarity and Development Party told AFP.The party won all eight townships in the capital Naypyidaw, they added, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to officially disclose the results.At the last poll in 2020 the USDP was trounced by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), which was dissolved after the coup and did not appear on Sunday’s ballots.The Nobel laureate has been in detention since the putsch, which triggered a civil war.Campaigners, Western diplomats and the United Nations’ rights chief have condemned the vote — citing a stark crackdown on dissent and a candidate list stacked with military allies.Official results have yet to be posted by Myanmar’s Union Election Commission and two more phases are scheduled for January 11 and 25.”My view on the election is clear: I don’t trust it at all,” Yangon resident Min Khant said on Monday.”We have been living under a dictatorship,” said the 28-year-old. “Even if they do hold elections, I don’t think anything good will come of them because they always lie.”Many analysts describe the USDP as a civilian proxy of the military, saying former officers serve in senior leadership roles.After voting on Sunday military chief Min Aung Hlaing — who has ruled by diktat for the past five years — said the armed forces could be trusted to hand back power to a civilian-led government.”We guarantee it to be a free and fair election,” he told reporters in Naypyidaw. “It’s organised by the military, we can’t let our name be tarnished.”The military’s coup triggered a civil war as pro-democracy activists formed guerrilla units, fighting alongside ethnic minority armies which have long resisted central rule.Sunday’s election was scheduled to take place in 102 of the country’s 330 townships — the most of the three phases of voting.But amid the war, the military has acknowledged that elections cannot happen in almost one in five lower house constituencies.

Myanmar’s dominant pro-military party is “winning a majority” in the first phase of junta-run elections, a party source told AFP Monday, after democracy watchdogs warned the poll would entrench military rule.The armed forces snatched power in a 2021 coup, but on Sunday opened voting in a phased month-long election they pledge will return power to the people.The massively popular but dissolved party of democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi did not appear on ballots, and she remains jailed since the military putsch which triggered a civil war.Campaigners, Western diplomats and the United Nations’ rights chief have condemned the vote — citing a stark crackdown on dissent and a candidate list stacked with military allies.”The USDP is winning a majority of seats around the country according to different reports,” said a party official in the capital Naypyidaw, requesting anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to media.Official results have yet to be posted by Myanmar’s Union Election Commission and there are two more phases scheduled for January 11 and 25.The military overturned the results of the last poll in 2020 after Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, trounced the Union Solidarity and Development Party.The military and USDP then alleged massive voter fraud, claims which international monitors say were unfounded.But on Sunday military chief Min Aung Hlaing — who has ruled by diktat for the past five years — said the armed forces could be trusted to hand back power to a civilian-led government.”We guarantee it to be a free and fair election,” he told reporters after casting his vote in Naypyidaw. “It’s organised by the military, we can’t let our name be tarnished.”The military’s coup triggered a civil war as pro-democracy activists formed guerrilla units, fighting alongside ethnic minority armies which have long resisted central rule.Sunday’s election was scheduled to take place in 102 of the country’s 330 townships — the largest of the three rounds of voting.But amid the war, the military has acknowledged that elections cannot happen in almost one in five lower house constituencies.

Rohingya refugees living in squalid camps in Bangladesh have elected a leadership council, hoping it can improve conditions and revive efforts to secure their return home to Myanmar.Spread over 8,000 acres in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, the camps are home to 1.7 million members of the stateless group, many of whom fled a 2017 military crackdown that is now subject to a genocide probe at the UN court.In July, the refugees held their first elections since their influx began eight years ago, resulting in the formation of the United Council of Rohang (UCR).”They are working to take us home,” said Khairul Islam, 37, who back home had a thriving timber business.The new council has brought him a glimmer of hope amid an uncertain future.”We can hardly breathe in these cramped camp rooms… all our family members live in a single room,” he said.”It’s unbearably hot inside. Back in Myanmar, we didn’t even need a ceiling fan. In summer, we used to sit under tall trees,” Islam said, his eyes welling up.More than 3,000 voters from across 33 refugee camps cast their ballots to elect an executive committee and five rotating presidents to focus on human rights, education and health.Addressing a gathering at one of the camps, UCR president Mohammad Sayed Ullah urged refugees not to forget the violence that forced the mostly Muslim group to flee Myanmar’s Rakhine state.”Never forget that we left our parents’ graves behind. Our women died on the way here. They were tortured and killed… and some drowned at sea,” said Sayed Ullah, dressed in a white full-sleeved shirt and lungi.”We must prepare ourselves to return home,” he said, prompting members of the audience to nod in agreement.- A seat at the table -“UCR wants to emerge as the voice of the Rohingyas on the negotiation table,” Sayed Ullah later told AFP.”It’s about us, yet we were nowhere as stakeholders.”The council is not the first attempt to organise Rohingya refugees.Several groups emerged after 2017, including the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, once led by prominent activist Mohib Ullah.But he was murdered in 2021.And even before that, many organisations were shut down after a major 2019 rally, when the Rohingya said they would go home only with full rights and safety guarantees.”Some newspapers misrepresented us, claiming we wanted to stay permanently in Bangladesh,” Sayed Ullah said.”Many organisers were detained. The hardest blow was the assassination of Mohib Ullah.”But trust is slowly building up again among the Rohingya crammed in the camps in Cox’s Bazar.”Of course we will return home,” said 18-year-old Mosharraf, who fled the town of Buthidaung with his family.”UCR will negotiate for better education. If we are better educated, we can build global consensus for our return,” he told AFP.- Security threats -Many refugees have started approaching the body with complaints against local Rohingya leaders, reflecting a slow but noticeable shift in attitudes.On a recent sunny morning, an AFP reporter saw more than a dozen Rohingya waiting outside the UCR office with complaints.Some said they were tortured while others reported losing small amounts of gold they had carried while fleeing their homes.Analysts say it remains unclear whether the new council can genuinely represent the Rohingya or if it ultimately serves the interests of Bangladeshi authorities.”The UCR ‘elections’ appear to have been closely controlled by the authorities,” said Thomas Kean, senior consultant at the International Crisis Group.Security threats also loom large, undermining efforts to forge political dialogue.Armed groups like the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army and Rohingya Solidarity Organisation continue to operate in the camps.A report by campaign group Fortify Rights said at least 65 Rohingyas were killed in 2024.”Violence and killings in the Rohingya camps need to stop, and those responsible must be held to account,” the report quoted activist John Quinley as saying.

Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing offered his country advice on civic participation as he voted in a general election on Sunday after five years of military rule and civil war.The diminutive general was top of the voter list at the Zeyathiri polling station, set up at his official compound in the sprawling but sparsely populated capital Naypyidaw.A steady stream of generals, officers and government officials arrived at the gold-draped hall to cast their ballots.Most wore civilian clothes, including Min Aung Hlaing, whose military rank is Senior General, while their wives were in formal dress. “People should vote,” the 69-year-old told assembled reporters. “If they don’t vote, I will have to say they don’t completely understand what democracy really is.”Analysts say he could transition to president after the poll, or remain as armed forces chief and be the power behind an ostensibly civilian throne. Either way would effectively prolong military rule.He declined to be drawn on Sunday, describing himself as a “public servant and head of the military”, not the leader of a political party.”I can’t just go and ask to be the president,” he said.The pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is universally expected to emerge from the election as the largest parliamentary grouping.Jailed Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, which thrashed the USDP at the last poll in 2020, has been dissolved and is not taking part.- ‘Free and fair’ -Min Aung Hlaing’s 2021 coup ended a decade-long democratic thaw and plunged the country into civil war.Rights monitors have accused the military of crushing dissent and waging war against rebels challenging their authority with no regard for civilian casualties.Min Aung Hlaing reiterated his allegations, which have been denied by international monitors, that Aung San Suu Kyi’s victory last time was due to widespread voter fraud.”It was not something we could let off,” he said. “That is why it got us all here. I want you all to wait and see today.”And he insisted Sunday’s polls were “free and fair”, adding that people “can vote for whoever they like”.The Asian Network for Free Elections has said that 90 percent of the seats in 2020 went to organisations that do not appear on Sunday’s ballots.However, junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said at the same polling station as Min Aung Hlaing: “This election is being held for the people of Myanmar.””It is about rebuilding the democratic system that the people of Myanmar want.”

Myanmar’s military portrays its general election as a path to democracy and peace, but the vote offers neither to a million Rohingya exiles, robbed of citizenship rights and evicted from their homeland by force.”How can you call this an election when the inhabitants are gone and a war is raging?” said 51-year-old Kabir Ahmed in Bangladesh’s Kutupalong, the world’s largest refugee camp complex.Heavily restricted polls are due to start Sunday in areas of Myanmar governed by the military, which snatched power in a 2021 coup that triggered civil war.But for the Rohingya minority, violence began well before that, with a military crackdown in 2017 sending legions of the mostly Muslim group fleeing Myanmar’s Rakhine state to neighbouring Muslim-majority Bangladesh.The month-long election will be the third national poll since they were stripped of their voting rights a decade ago, but comes amid a fresh exodus fuelled by the all-out war.Ahmed once served as chairman of a villageof more than 8,000 Rohingya in Myanmar’s Maungdaw township, just over the border from Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh.After their eviction, the area is now a “wasteland”, he told AFP.”Who will appear on the ballot?” he asked.”Who is going to vote?”- ‘Send us back’ -Today 1.17 million Rohingya live crammed in dilapidated camps spread over 8,000 acres in Cox’s Bazar.The majority came in the 2017 crackdown, which is now the subject of a UN genocide court case, with allegations of rampant rape, executions and arson.Civil war has brought fresh violence, with the Rohingya caught between the warring military and separatist group the Arakan Army, one of the many factions challenging the junta’s rule.Both forces have committed atrocities against the Rohingya, monitors say.Some 150,000 people fled the persecution to Bangladesh in the 18 months to July, according to UN analysis.The UN refugee agency said it was the largest surge in arrivals since 2017.Aged 18, Mohammad Rahim would have been eligible to vote this year — if he was back home, if his country acknowledged his citizenship, and if polling went ahead despite the war.”I just want the war to end and for steps to be taken to send us back to Myanmar,” said Rahim, the eldest of four siblings who have all grown up in the squalid camps.The Arakan Army controls all but three of Rakhine’s 17 townships, according to conflict monitors, meaning the military’s long-promised polls are likely to be extremely limited there.The military has blockaded the coastal western state, driving a stark hunger and humanitarian crisis.Rahim still craves a homecoming.”If I were a citizen, I would negotiate for my rights. I could vote,” he said.”I would have the right to education, vote for whoever I wanted, and work towards a better future.”- Fate ‘unchanged’ -Successive military and civilian governments in Myanmar have eroded the citizenship of the Rohingya, dubbing them “Bengali” as descendants of immigrants who arrived during British colonial rule.A 1982 law excluded them from full citizenship — unlike the other 135 ethnic groups recognised in Myanmar — and they were issued separate ID cards.They were then deprived of the right to vote in 2015, just as most other people in Myanmar won more freedoms and military rule was relaxed.”Will anyone who wins recognise us as citizens?” asked 52-year-old refugee Rehana Bibi.”We are not a concern for anyone in Myanmar,” the mother of six lamented in her tarpaulin-covered hut.”Whether military-backed candidates or others win, the fate of the Rohingyas will remain unchanged.”In July, for the first time since their influx began eight years ago, Rohingyas held an election for their representatives inside 33 camps in Cox’s Bazar.”We printed ballot papers and ran awareness programmes on democracy with the hope that someday we would return home and practise it there,” said 33-year-old community leader Sayed Ullah.Ahmed, the exiled village chairman, still dreams of an election back home.”I was a teacher, but my people wanted me to lead them,” he said. “I won three times straight.””I am sure I would win again if only I got the chance,” he said, his face lighting up.

After passing multiple checkpoints under the watchful eyes of snipers stationed overhead, hundreds of Christians gathered for a Christmas mass in northwest Pakistan 12 years after suicide bombers killed dozens of worshippers.The impact of metal shards remain etched on a wall next to a memorial bearing the names of those killed at All Saints Church in Peshawar, in the violence-wracked province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.”Even today, when I recall that day 12 years ago, my soul trembles,” Natasha Zulfiqar, a 30-year-old housewife who was wounded in the attack along with her parents, told AFP on Thursday.Her right wrist still bears the scar.An Islamist militant group claimed responsibility for the attack on September 22, 2013, when 113 people were killed, according to a church toll.”There was blood everywhere. The church lawn was covered with bodies,” Zulfiqar said.Christians make up less than two percent of Pakistan’s 240 million people and have long faced discrimination in the conservative Muslim country, often sidelined into low-paying jobs and sometimes the target of blasphemy charges.Along with other religious minorities, the community has often been targeted by Islamist militants over the years. Today, a wall clock inside All Saints giving the time of the blast as 11:43 am is preserved in its damaged state, its glass shattered.”The blast was so powerful that its marks are still visible on this wall — and those marks are not only on the wall, but they are also etched into our hearts as well,” said Emmanuel Ghori, a caretaker at the church. Addressing a Christmas ceremony in the capital Islamabad, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to protect religious minorities.”I want to make it clear that if any injustice is done to any member of a minority, the law will respond with full force,” he said.For Azzeka Victor Sadiq, whose father was killed and mother wounded in the blasts, “The intensity of the grief can never truly fade.””Whenever I come to the church, the entire incident replays itself before my eyes,” the 38-year-old teacher told AFP.

Aspiring prime minister and political heavyweight Tarique Rahman returned to Bangladesh on Thursday, ending 17 years in self-imposed exile with a promise to deliver safety and justice if his party wins next year’s elections.Huge crowds of joyous supporters waving flags, banners and posters welcomed Rahman, the son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia and acting chairman of her popular Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).”Today, I want to say that I have a plan for my country… a safe state that people have long hoped for,” Rahman, 60, said in a first speech after his homecoming.”It is time we build a country together. This country belongs to the people in the hills and the plains, to Muslims, Buddhists, Christians and Hindus.”A visibly emotional Rahman earlier took off his shoes, stood on the grass outside the airport and scooped up soil as a mark of reverence to his motherland.He waved to supporters before ducking into a convoy under tight security, according to video footage shared by his party.BNP backers gathered in the capital Dhaka since the early morning, plastering the streets with banners and festoons bearing images of Rahman, who is expected to take the reins from his ailing mother.Patriotic songs blared from loudspeakers while cut-outs depicted the seasoned politician riding a stallion.Party supporter Alamgir Hossain said Bangladesh was in a “dire situation” and that only Rahman “can fix it”.Rahman, known in Bangladesh as Tarique Zia, left Bangladesh for London in 2008, following an arrest on corruption charges and after what he described as political persecution.As acting party chairman, Rahman will lead the BNP through the February 12 general elections — the first polls since a student-led uprising last year toppled the autocratic government of Sheikh Hasina.- ‘Repay the debt’ -The BNP is widely seen as an election frontrunner, with Rahman expected to be put forward as prime minister if his party wins a majority.Rahman’s 80-year-old mother Zia is undergoing treatment in intensive care at a hospital in Dhaka after years of ill health and imprisonment.Rahman said his mother had “sacrificed everything” for the country and that he had come to meet her and express “my gratitude”.Rahman’s return comes amid unrest over the killing of popular student leader Sharif Osman Hadi, a staunch India-critic who took part in last year’s mass uprising.Hadi, 32, was shot by masked assailants earlier this month in Dhaka, and later died of his wounds at a Singapore hospital.His death set off violent protests with mobs torching several buildings, including two major newspapers deemed to favour India and a prominent cultural institution.Mobs also threw stones at the Indian High Commission in the port city of Chattogram, where visa services have since been suspended.Rahman urged his supporters to remain vigilant “in the face of conspiracies”.”If the nation is to repay the… debt owed to its martyrs, it must build the country the people have long yearned for,” he said.- ‘Symbol of hope’ -Dhaka’s diplomatic ties with its historical ally New Delhi have worsened since the uprising, with ousted prime minister Hasina seeking refuge in India.India has said it was considering Bangladesh’s request to extradite Hasina, who was sentenced to death in absentia for orchestrating a deadly crackdown on the uprising.With anti-India sentiments rising in the majority Muslim nation, a Hindu garment worker was accused of blasphemy and lynched by a mob on December 18.Jahan Panna, a former BNP lawmaker, said she hoped Rahman’s return would end the “cycle of anarchy”.”Rahman is the symbol of hope for this country,” Panna, 55, told AFP.Rahman faced a slew of criminal cases, but since Hasina’s fall his most severe punishment has been overturned: a life sentence handed down in absentia for a 2004 grenade attack on a political rally. He denied the charges.In Britain, he kept a low profile but remained an outspoken figure on social media.In June, he met in London with Muhammad Yunus, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner leading the interim government until the February vote.Hasina’s Awami League party, a bitter rival of BNP, has been barred from contesting in the polls.

Aspiring prime minister and political heavyweight Tarique Rahman was welcomed back to Bangladesh on Thursday by huge crowds of joyous supporters after 17 years in self-imposed exile.Rahman, the son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia and heir apparent of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), shook hands with party leaders after touching down at the Dhaka airport.Accompanied by his wife and daughter, a visibly emotional Rahman took off his shoes, stood on the grass outside the airport and scooped up the soil as a mark of reverence.He waved to supporters before ducking into a convoy under tight security, video posted by his party showed. Since early Thursday, BNP backers started gathering in the capital, plastering the streets with banners and festoons bearing images of Rahman. Patriotic songs blared from loudspeakers while cut-outs depicted the 60-year-old politician riding a stallion.Alamgir Hossain, a BNP supporter, said the country was in a “dire situation” and that only Rahman “can fix it”.Rahman left Bangladesh for London in 2008 after what he has described as political persecution.As acting chairman of the BNP, Rahman will lead the party through the February 12 general election, the first polls since ex-premier Sheikh Hasina’s exit following a student-led uprising last year.The BNP is widely seen as an election frontrunner, with Rahman expected to be put forward as prime minister if his party wins a majority.Rahman’s ailing mother, 80-year-old former leader Zia, is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Dhaka.Despite years of ill health and imprisonment, Zia vowed in November to campaign in the upcoming elections.- ‘Symbol of hope’ -But she was hospitalised soon after making that pledge, and has been in intensive care ever since.Rahman’s return comes after recent unrest over the killing of popular student leader Sharif Osman Hadi, a staunch India-critic who took part in last year’s mass uprising.Hadi, 32, was shot by masked assailants this month in Dhaka, and later died of his wounds at a Singapore hospital. His death set off violent protests with mobs torching several buildings, including two major newspapers deemed to favour India, as well as a prominent cultural institution.Mobs also pelted stones at the Indian High Commission in the port city of Chattogram, where India has since suspended visa services.Dhaka’s diplomatic ties have worsened with its historical ally India, where Hasina has sought refuge since the uprising that ended her 15-year autocratic rule.India says it is still considering Dhaka’s requests to extradite Hasina, who was sentenced to death in absentia for orchestrating a deadly crackdown on the uprising.Anti-India sentiments were stirred afresh in the majority Muslim nation after a Hindu garment worker was accused of blasphemy and lynched by a mob on December 18.Jahan Panna, a former BNP lawmaker, said she hoped Rahman’s return would end the “cycle of anarchy” prevailing in the country.”Tarique Rahman is the symbol of hope for this country,” Panna, 55, told AFP. Rahman faced a slew of criminal cases but since Hasina’s fall from power, he has been acquitted of the most serious charge against him: a life sentence handed down in absentia for a 2004 grenade attack on a political rally. He denied the charges.In Britain, he kept a low profile but remained an outspoken figure on social media.In June, he met in London with Muhammad Yunus, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner leading the interim government until the February elections.Hasina’s Awami League party, a bitter rival of BNP, has been barred from contesting in the polls.