The striking story of India's economic resilience and success has inspired confidence and awe across the world, including among countries in Southeast Asia. Once famous for being the economic tigers of Asia, today the members of ASEAN are appreciating India's march toward becoming a US$5 trillion economy and a leading power on the global platform. It comes as little surprise then that ASEAN and its member states are seeking to forge closer ties with India across a spectrum of concerns, including economic cooperation and strategic association. The ongoing geopolitical turmoil because of the Russia-Ukraine war and the rivalry between the United States and China closer home has further reinforced the need for a greater alignment between the interests of India and ASEAN. Among other things, their common desire for free and fair trade practices, greater physical and digital connectivity between its citizens, and an increasing emphasis on sustainability to combat climate change signal the expanding remit of cooperation between the South Asian powerhouse and its Southeast Asian counterparts. The coming years will only witness further deepening and strengthening of their ties, especially as both India and ASEAN push forth for the realization of a more peaceful and equitable, multi-polar world order by overcoming critical but surmountable challenges as strategic partners. The ties between India and ASEAN stretch back over three decades when the former engaged with the Southeast Asian regional organization as a “sectoral dialogue partner” in 1992. Thereafter, the gradual progression in their ties, particularly in the backdrop of India’s fast-paced economic growth and its increasing geopolitical weight, helped the bilateral partners broach newer and different areas of engagement, including in the maritime domain where India and ASEAN have sought to establish a collective security architecture to promote a rule-based maritime order. Today, India is counted among ASEAN’s key strategic partners, signaling the growing convergence in their strategic and economic interests, which are further bolstered by their cultural and civilizational linkages. In fact, reiterating the historical moorings of their contemporary ties, a joint statement by India and ASEAN on the outlook for a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indian Ocean region noted that the strength of their continuing cooperation was primed by their age-old ties. Maintaining a Janus-like relationship, it is, then, not hard to see that India and ASEAN will continue to leverage their friendly association of the past for their collective benefit in the future, particularly as they seek economic growth and strategic security for their people. With multi-faceted cooperation in its mind, India took strides in transitioning from its economy-centric policy of “Look East” to a more proactive stance under the banner of “Act East” in 2014. Under the leadership of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India began to chart a more strategically robust journey vis-a-vis the countries to its East, including ASEAN and its respective member states, supplementing its ongoing cooperation with the Southeast Asian nations in economic and cultural domains. It is important to note that India’s evolved foreign policy stance towards its extended neighborhood in the Southeast and beyond stemmed from its own geo-economic and geopolitical story of growth, which helped India to claim a spot for itself as a responsible rising power in the prevailing global order. Furthermore, the shifts in India’s approach coincided with ASEAN’s growing need for stronger ties with like-minded democratic economies to rise up to the current and future challenges. In the last decade, faced with similar challenges, India and ASEAN have found newer terrains of cooperation to explore, going beyond their traditional areas of engagement. Needless to say, their strong track record of bilateral cordiality and supportive diplomatic outreach, along with friendly people-to-people ties, helped them prime one another as credible economic and strategic partners. Attesting to that, a recent survey by the Yusof Ishak House indicated an elevated status for India as a country that the Southeast Asian nations were likely to align with in hedging against the uncertainties posed by the intensifying US-China rivalry. It is instructive to note that India was counted as a dependable strategic partner just after the European Union and Japan, indicating both India’s growing might in the geopolitical order as well as its credentials as a reliable bilateral partner. In the index of perception of trust, India climbed up from the last spot in 2022 to the third spot in 2023, with 9 out of 10 ASEAN member-states increasing their approval ratings for India as one of the most preferred and trusted strategic partners that they would “seek out” in the event of US-China rivalry spins out of hands. India’s catapulting rise in status among the ASEAN nations is not surprising at all. Against the backdrop of growing geopolitical rivalries, including those between the US and Russia over the war in Ukraine, India’s unchanging stance of neutrality has helped project both confidence and responsibility onto the global platform. India’s unequivocal commitment toward peace was recently reflected when on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in 2022, the Indian PM advocated for “democracy, diplomacy and dialogue” to settle the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Similarly, India’s confident demonstration of strategic autonomy, particularly on the matter of energy imports for Russia amid American disapproval, has sent out a strong message about India’s position in the geopolitical equations as a country that cannot be pushed over. Factors like these have been attributed to the substantial jump in India’s ratings - from 5.1 percent in 2022 to 11.3 percent in 2023 - among its ASEAN partners. Against the backdrop of a volatile geopolitical order and a looming economic recession are likely to prompt even closer cooperation between India and ASEAN. Besides tiding over these concerns, India and ASEAN must continue to build on their economic, strategic and cultural partnerships to make fuller use of the potential that their ties hold. From building smart cities to combating climate change to promoting the ethos of democracy and equanimity, much can be done by India and ASEAN to transform their age-old ties into a shining example of contemporary inter-regional camaraderie.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said, "The police force has to attain the peoples trust. On Sunday, January 29, she made this statement at the closing parade at the Bangladesh Police Academy in Sarda, Rajshahi. The Prime Minister said, 'With efficiency and dedication, the police should carry out their duties. First of all, the police force has to gain the faith of the people. She said, In 2041, Bangladesh will be Smart. There the police should also be assembled as smart police. For this reason, government will make sure all kinds of facilities.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Aug 10) presided over the regular general meeting of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Trust at her official residence Ganabhaban in the capital.   In the regular meeting of the management committee of the board of trustees, the minutes of the previous meeting were given approval, while different issues of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Museum were discussed, said a press release of the Prime Minister's Press Wing. Besides, the meeting also discussed the report of the sub-committee and other important issues, it added. The members including Sheikh Kabir Hossain, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Noor-e-Alam Chowdhury, Sheikh Helal Uddin, Farida Sheikh, Advocate Anisul Haque, Shahana Yasmin Shampa, Major General (retd) Abdul Hafiz Mollik and Rabiul Hasan Ovi were present. Chief Executive Officer of the trust Mashura Hossain, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Memorial Museum's curator Nazrul Islam Khan and trust's Controller of accounts Siddique Hossain Chowdhury also attended the meeting. Source: BSS AH

The ongoing bid of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan to enter the political mainstream in Pakistan may face obstruction as several experts think that the outlawed group will harm and shrink political spaces for the citizens of this country as would they agree to lay arms. To “gain political legitimacy”, the TTP recently praised the Federal Shariat Court’s order to the government to implement an Islamic, interest-free banking system within five years. Islamabad agreed to hold fresh talks with the group under the auspices of the interim Taliban government. “Through its political statements, it appears that the TTP is preparing its foot-soldiers to work within the constitutional framework of the country,” he said while terming the efforts an attempt to reposition the group in line with its agenda. For experts and victims of the violence perpetrated by the TTP during its reign of terror, it is very difficult to trust the militant outfit, as several questions about the future of the talks and their possible fallout remain unaddressed. The primary reason behind this trust deficit is the fact that the militant outfit backtracked on its promises made during multiple rounds of talks in return for peace in the tribal districts since TTP’s establishment in December 2007 and their fallout remained unaddressed, Dawn reported. After the Afghan Taliban captured Kabul in August 2021, the unforeseen exodus of US-led Nato forces gave the group a new lease of life, as the latter reorganized itself and Islamabad also agreed to hold fresh talks with the group under the patronage of the interim Taliban government. As per the local media sources, the foremost demand raised from the banned TTP was the reversal of the merger of the ex-Fata region with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in a bid to gain political legitimacy by cashing in on political issues, Dawn reported. The demand for the reversal of the merger may become a shared goal of the TTP, certain political forces, and those with an “anti-reforms outlook”, Dawn added. Moreover, TTP recently praised the Federal Shariat Court’s order to the government to implement an Islamic, interest-free banking system within five years. “Raising voice against an interest-based economy is commendable,” said a statement released to the media on July 8, as the TTP took up the narrative of Pakistan’s religious parties that have been campaigning against the interest-based economy for decades. The former Fata was merged with KP through 25th Amendment in 2018 and contained seven tribal agencies and six frontier regions. In a statement for Dawn, Peshawar-based political commentator, Dr Khadim Hussain said the Kabul jirga in June that also had representation from political elements helped “refined” the TTP demands as it sent a “message that an agenda in contrast to the Constitution may not be achievable”. “Recent NSC [National Security Committee] meetings also suggested openness on part of the establishment to streamline the TTP,” he said, adding that there is a willingness on part of certain elements in TTP leadership to open up to mainstreaming and could also take part in elections and even formally join the ranks of security forces as done in the case of Swat. Dr Hussain further pointed out at the violence perpetrated by the terror outfit across Pakistan the government could not make peace with the militant outfit while ignoring the victims of their violence and slammed the Shehbaz government for negotiations with TTP. Earlier, TTP had on June 2 announced an “indefinite ceasefire” in view of the “substantial progress” made in talks with the Pakistani government during a round of meetings in Kabul. The announcement had after a 50-member Pakistani tribal jirga — including a federal minister, representatives from the KP government, and tribal elders — joined the peace talks. Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, Pakistan has increasingly complained of attacks across the border from Afghanistan, an issue that has become a source of diplomatic tension. Regional experts say the rise of TTP enabled by the Afghan Taliban’s steadfast support will expand the threat of terrorist attacks in Pakistan, including against civilian targets. Since its founding in 2007, the TTP has emerged as the most influential and violent anti-Pakistan terrorist outfit in South Asia. Unlike its Afghan namesake, the TTP does not enjoy favorable relations with Islamabad. Source: ANI

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi often speaks of “trusted” supply chains. At the G-20 last year, he said that global supply chains depend upon “trust, transparency, and timeframes”; he’s made a similar pitch for Japan, the United States and Australia to “trust” India as a trade partner. And he’s right: The only chance that countries such as India have to entice value chains away from China is by focusing on resilience and reliability. Yet the actions of Modi’s government are severely undermining his argument. India has responded to rising global commodity prices by unexpectedly blocking exports of sugar and wheat; some expect rice to be next. These are products in which India plays a major role in global markets; the country is the world’s second-largest exporter of sugar and the second-largest producer of wheat. World prices for wheat rose 6% on news of India’s export ban. True, for India, food prices are of particular importance. It’s one of the few countries in the world in which food products comprise more than half the consumer price index. If you don’t control food prices, you risk inflation expectations spiraling out of control and years of macroeconomic instability.   These are products in which India plays a major role in global markets; the country is the world’s second-largest exporter of sugar and the second-largest producer of wheat. World prices for wheat rose 6% on news of India’s export ban. True, for India, food prices are of particular importance. It’s one of the few countries in the world in which food products comprise more than half the consumer price index. If you don’t control food prices, you risk inflation expectations spiraling out of control and years of macroeconomic instability.   Source: The Economic Times

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Sunday) asked police to achieve people's confidence through humanitarian works as she inaugurated the "Service Desk" at each police station and police housing scheme for homeless people. "Bangladesh police will be people's servant and will acquire their trust and confidence. People will have to be rendered services in such a way that they always have confidence in getting justice whenever they go to police," she said. The premier said this while virtually opening the two humanitarian initiatives of police from her official Ganabhaban residence in the capital marking the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The programme was held at Dhaka Metropolitan Police Lines, Rajarbagh, Dhaka, while all the police stations, police ranges and police lines were connected to it. Inaugurating the "Service Desk" at all 659 police stations across the country for women, children, elderly and disabled people and handing over 400 houses built by police for homeless, she thanked the law enforcement agency for the humanitarian initiatives. "Today is a special day as the "Service Desk" at each police station was opened across the country for women, children, elderly and differently-able people and houses built by the police were provided to homeless families," she said. The premier asked the police personnel to work with honesty, urging them to always stand beside the people and work for their welfare and reach the services at their doorsteps as her government is working to do it. "You have stood beside the people and always stay beside them and work for their welfare," she said. The Prime Minister also asked the police force to work for ensuring people's rights who are lagging behind and being deprived of getting services and to stand beside them as the government wants to make overall development of the society. She said her government is working for making the police force as a specialised one and giving every possible advantage so the services of police would reach the people's doorsteps. Referring to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's remark that police should be pro-people, the premier said the two humanitarian initiatives are police's pro-people work. Sheikh Hasina also exchanged views with some service receivers from the service desk, women police personnel who are providing the service and beneficiary people who got the police houses, connected remotely from different parts of the country including Chattogram, Peerganj of Rangpur and Khulna. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan and Senior Secretary of Public Security Division at Home Ministry Md. Akhter Hossain spoke on the occasion while Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr Benazir Ahmed gave the welcome address. An audio-visual documentary on two humanitarian initiatives of Bangladesh Police was screened at the function. For opening the "Service Desk", a separate room has been arranged at each of the police station. A specially trained woman sub-inspector will lead the desk with other skilled female officers. The desks are also entrusted with informing visitors about other government services and providing legal aid to victims who are financially insolvent. Police is set to build one house in 520 police stations each across the country for the homeless people. In the first phase, the police have distributed 400 houses. The houses which were built with standard modern construction materials are earthquake and hot resistance.   Mentioning that her government has always attached priority on training, Sheikh Hasina said they would also take arrangement to train the police personnel working at the service desk at home and abroad. The police members who will impart training from abroad will train others, she opined. The Prime Minister said the people who are taking services from the service desk, they can also get legal aid services free of cost as the government has formed a committee and allocated required fund for this by enacting necessary law. She spelled out her government's various measures for overall development of the police force, saying, "We want to build police as a well-trained force which will stand by the people and work for the welfare of people." The world's longest serving head of the government said they made police force digitally equipped alongside transforming Bangladesh into a digital country with introducing internet at every union and launching Bangabandhu Satellite-1 to orbit. Now, the scope of police have increased to serve people of hard-to-reach areas as the communication system is much well than before, she said. The Prime Minister said, "The Father of the Nation have given us independence, and now my work is to serve the people being imbued with the spirit of the Liberation War." She said her government is working to bring every homeless and landless under the housing scheme following the footsteps of the Father of the Nation. The Prime Minister said the housing schemes have been taken as part of her government initiatives to do development from the grassroots. "We're working to ensure reaching the benefits of development to the grassroots instead of city or capital centric development," she said. Sheikh Hasina said it's a great task to provide houses by Bangladesh Police to homeless people. The Prime Minister highly praised the police personnel for their humanitarian services that included reaching foods to the doorsteps receiving call from 333 during the Covid-19 pandemic and giving emergency services receiving phone from 999. She said, "Rendering such humanitarian services, the today's police have achieved trust and confidence of the people". The Prime Minister greeted in advance all the police personnel on upcoming Bangla Noboborsho and Eid-ul-Fitr. Source: BSS AH

As the world celebrates advances in vaccines against the novel coronavirus, a top WHO expert warned in an interview with AFP that public distrust risked rendering even the most effective treatments useless against the pandemic. “A vaccine that sits in a freezer or in a refrigerator or on a shelf and doesn’t get used is doing nothing to help shorten this pandemic,” said Kate O’Brien, director of the World Health Organization’s immunisation department. US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech announced Monday that their prospective vaccine had proven 90 percent effective in preventing Covid-19 infections in ongoing final phase trials involving more than 40,000 people. O’Brien hailed the interim results as “extremely important”, and voiced hope that preliminary data from a handful of other candidate vaccines in similarly advanced trials would come through soon. If the complete data show that “one or more of these vaccines has very, very substantial efficacy, that is really good news for putting another tool in the toolbox” for fighting the pandemic, she said. But with the pandemic continuing to surge after already claiming some 1.3 million lives, she voiced deep concern at growing signs of vaccine hesitancy, with misinformation and mistrust colouring people’s acceptance of scientific advances. “We are not going to be successful as a world in controlling the pandemic with the use of vaccines as one of the tools unless people are willing to get vaccinated,” O’Brien said. More needed to be done to boost public “confidence in the fact that the vaccines that WHO is involved in evaluating, we will not be compromising on safety or efficacy,” she said. – ‘Climbing Everest’ – O’Brien acknowledged that there were a number of outstanding questions about the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine candidate and its peers, including how long protection against the virus would last. And while the vaccine candidates are being tested for how effectively and safely they protect people from developing the disease, it remains unclear whether they actually avert asymptomatic infection and transmission of the virus. A big question, she said, is: “does it change your likelihood of transmitting to anybody else?” Despite the remaining questions, the WHO is betting on one or more vaccines winning approval soon, followed by a rapid scale-up of production and distribution. Anticipating the huge demand for any approved vaccine, the UN health agency has helped create the so-called Covax facility to ensure equitable distribution. But even with gargantuan efforts, it will take a while before there are enough doses for everyone, and the WHO has set out guidelines for how to prioritise the distribution. “The goal here is that every country should be able to immunise 20 percent of their population by the end of 2021,” O’Brien said. That, she said, would go a long way to providing protection to healthcare workers and the most vulnerable populations, as well as those essential to keeping societies running, like teachers. After that, how quickly everyone else could access a vaccine would largely depend on which country they live in, and whether their government had made deals to access vaccines that obtain approval. “We would expect many more doses in 2022,” O’Brien said. Meanwhile, the logistical challenges of getting approved vaccines out to billions who need it are daunting, from manufacturing to ensuring the transportation and storage at the extremely low temperatures some of the candidates require. “A vaccine that is highly efficacious and is safe… still is only valuable for a public health impact if it actually gets to the people that it needs to protect and is used widely in populations,” O’Brien said. Developing a safe and effective vaccine “is like establishing base camp at Everest,” she said. “But actually getting to the impact of vaccines is (like) having to climb Everest.” Source: AFP AH

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked leaders and activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) to live up to its political ideals and have good manners to make it a dignified organization alongside earning confidence and trust of the countrymen. “All the Chhatra League leaders should bear in mind its contribution in all the democratic movements including the language movement, six-point demand and Liberation War,” she said. The premier simultaneously asked the BCL leaders and activists to behave, talk and do politics in a way that would make the organization a dignified one. She was addressing as the chief guest a grand reunion of incumbent and former leaders of the BCL marking its 72nd founding anniversary at the historic Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital on Saturday afternoon. Noting that Chhatra League had always played a significant role in any critical juncture of the nation, she said the BCL should work to win confidence and trust of the nation. The premier declared Al Nahiyan Khan Joy and Lekhak Bhattacharya as president and general secretary of BCL. Earlier, they were made acting president and general secretary of the organization. Sheikh Hasina earlier witnessed a colorful cultural function organized by the BCL. AL Advisory Council Member Tofail Ahmed, Road Transport and Bridges Minister and AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader spoke as former presidents and Khaled Mohammad Ali as an ex-general secretary of the BCL. AL Presidium Member Advocate Jahangir Kabir Nanok introduced former BCL presidents and general secretaries to the gathering. A documentary on the role BCL in all the democratic and progressive movements including the Liberation War of 1971 was screened on the occasion. At the outset of the function, a minute’s silence was observed as a mark of respect to the memory of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and late BCL leaders. Source: BSS AH

A day after nominating his younger brother as his party successor, ailing Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad on Sunday donated his all assets to a trust. “Our chairman has donated his all movable and immovable assets to a trust,” Jatiya Party presidium member SM Faisal Chisti told UNB on Sunday evening. He said a five-member trustee board was also formed in the afternoon. The trustee board members include HM Ershad, his son Eric Ershad, personal secretary Maj (retd) Khaled Akhtar, cousin Mukul, and his personal staff Mohammad Jahangir. The former military ruler, however, did not include his wife Raushon Ersahd in the trustee board. In a dramatic move on Saturday, Ershad reinstated his younger brother GM Quader as party chairman in his absence. He took the decision just two days after Quader was also reinstated as the party’s co-chairman. The maverick former military strongman, known for frequently changing his decisions, had relieved GM Quader of Jatiya Party’s co-chairman post and its organizational duty on March 22. A day later, he removed Quader from the post of the deputy leader of opposition in parliament, nominating his wife Raushon for the post. Source: UNB AH

BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia has filed an appeal against the judicial court verdict in the Zia Charitable Trust graft case. Her lawyers file the appeal in the concerned department of the High Court on Sunday. After submitting the appeal in the High Court one of the lawyers of Khaleda Zia Barrister Kaiser Kamal said, in the 700 pages appeal including 638 pages original verdict there was also bail plea. In this case Khaleda Zia was jailed and fined illegally and unjustly. An appeal was made against this seeking cancellation of her punishment and for her immediate release. The appeal will be placed for hearing in any bench of the High Court. BNP Chairperson’s another lawyer Barrister Naushad Zamir said, the appeal was made against the lower court verdict. Begum Khaleda Zia’s acquittal was also sought. Charitable Trust is a private trust. It was not a government trust. Moreover the allegation of misusing power in this case is not true. Appeal was made seeking acquittal on 20 to 22 grounds. On October 29, in the Zia Charitable Trust graft case Judge Dr. Akhtaruzzaman of special judge court-5 set up temporarily at the old central jail in old Dhaka delivered the verdict of seven years rigorous imprisonment to Khaleda Zia as well as fined her 10 lakh taka. On November 14, Sanaullah Mia, lawyer of Khaleda Zia received the certified copy of the verdict from special judge court-5 in Dhaka. Mentionable, total 32 witnesses delivered statement in the Zia Charitable Trust graft case. Anti Corruption Commission filed the case on August 8, 2011 against four persons including Begum Khaleda Zia for embezzling 3 crore 15 lakh 43 thousand taka. AH