Bangladesh seethes as toll from jet crash at school hits 31
The pupils had just been let out of class when the Chinese-made F-7 BJI aircraft slammed into the private Milestone School and College in Dhaka on Monday.
At least 31 people have died, up from the military's earlier toll of 27.
More than 170 people were injured in the crash, with 69 of them still undergoing treatment at various hospitals.
"Ten patients are in very critical condition," Sayedur Rahman, from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, told reporters.
At a protest on the school campus, students accused the government of lying about the death toll and demanded a list of those injured.
"There were hundreds of students in that academic building. We saw body parts strewn all over the ground. Where are they?" a 17-year-old student, who requested anonymity, told AFP.
"When students and teachers asked this question to the military personnel, they roughed us up," he said.
Some of the students carried placards that read: "We want justice" and "Where are the bodies of our brothers and sisters?"
Students also stormed the national secretariat in Dhaka, prompting police to use batons and stun grenades, local media reported.
Press secretary Ahammed Foyez told AFP that the government had agreed to meet the student's demands.
"We believe the demands raised by the students are legitimate and should be fulfilled," Foyez said.
CHILDREN'S TRAUMA
Teacher Shahadat Hossain, whose son narrowly escaped the crash, was devastated to see the school bereft of its usual buzz.
"Along with the children, the school has lost its life," he said.
"There are two swings in front of the affected building. During lunch breaks and after school, children play there. Even yesterday, around the time the plane crashed, students were on those swings," the 45-year-old told AFP.
Around 7,000 pupils are enrolled at the school, including Abul Bashar's sixth-grade son whose best friend was killed.
"He came out just two or three minutes before the accident occurred," said Bashar.
"He couldn't sleep through the night and forced me to bring him to school this morning," the father added, while his son stood in silence.
School authorities have retrieved bags, shoes and identity cards of children from the site.
Air Force personnel said remnants of the fighter jet were removed on Monday night, but they were still scouring the site for evidence.
"I don't know how long it will take to return to normalcy, to relieve the children from this trauma," teacher Hossain said.
"PROFOUND PAIN"
On Monday night, school authorities held prayers at the campus.
Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus expressed "deep grief and sorrow" over the incident and declared a day of national mourning.
"The loss suffered by the Air Force, the students, parents, teachers and staff of Milestone School and College, as well as others affected by this accident, is irreparable," he said.
"This is a moment of profound pain for the nation."
The military said the pilot, 27-year-old flight lieutenant Towkir Islam, was on a routine training mission when the jet "reportedly encountered a mechanical failure".
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CNA
4 hours ago
- CNA
India, Bangladesh face critical questions over sharing of Ganges River, as treaty talks loom
BANGKOK: The Ganges is a shape-shifting river of many names and sacred beginnings. Born as a trickle in the Gangotri Glacier high in the Himalayas, it is known as the Bhagirathi. As its holy threads descend and idle through the heart of India, it grows wider and absorbs the nation's soils and stories. It also takes on the name Ganga, the Sanskrit term widely used in the country for the river. Then, as it approaches the Bay of Bengal, its waters flow into Bangladesh and take on a new identity - the Padma - enriching the fields and forests around the world's largest river delta. As mighty as the 2,525 km river may be, and as important a role it plays in the lives of hundreds of millions of people, it remains shaped by politics and national interests. Today, the Ganges faces severe alterations from the changing climate and increased demands of a growing regional population; threats to an ancient system snaking through a complicated contemporary landscape. India and Bangladesh share the critical resource, decreed under a treaty forged close to three decades ago. It allocates water flows to each country, particularly during the critical dry season, using a dam built close to the international border. But by the end of next year, that binding agreement is due to expire and is expected to be torn up and renegotiated amid the backdrop of pressing climate and geopolitical challenges. Before the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty officially expires in December 2026, both sides were to form a joint technical committee this year, ahead of diplomatic-level negotiations. Experts say the agreement is no longer fit for purpose and that a reworked treaty is urgently needed. But delivering one that encompasses competing security, strategic and environmental interests of both nations and their communities could be extremely difficult. Last month, Bangladesh became the first South Asian nation to join the United Nations Water Convention, a global legal and intergovernmental framework that helps states with shared water resources manage them peacefully and sustainably. It is an indication that Dhaka is placing more emphasis on 'fair and equal water sharing', said Sonja Koeppel, the convention's secretary. Ashok Swai, a professor at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University in Sweden, noted that the Ganges is 'no longer just a transboundary watercourse'. 'It's a flashpoint in the growing securitisation of water in South Asia, where hydropolitics increasingly intersects with national identity, regional power struggles and domestic political calculations.' Since 1996, when the Ganges Treaty was signed, the world has changed. It came at an unprecedented time - India had a centrist coalition government in power, and Sheikh Hasina had just come to power in Bangladesh with a clear interest in improving bilateral ties, Swai said. These days, 'the context has evolved considerably', said Uttam Sinha, senior fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi. 'Climate change, rising domestic water stress, growing demands from Indian states and shifting geopolitical dynamics - especially Bangladesh's closer ties with China - mean the treaty no longer fully reflects today's realities,' he said. Critically also, the current agreement largely fails to contend with the changing climate, experts argued. Under the existing treaty, water allocation is calculated based on dry season flow at the Farakka Barrage, inside India and about 10km from the Bangladesh border. The goal is to share water fairly, especially when the flow is low, by regularly measuring and adjusting how much each side gets every 10 days. There are set formulas that shift depending on the recorded volumes. 'What has changed most in recent years is how unpredictable the flow has become. In the past, it varied only a little each year, but now the difficulties are much bigger,' said Malik Fida A Khan, executive director of the Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS) in Dhaka. It now varies by 30 per cent compared to 13 per cent in the 1960s, he said, a factor that the treaty cannot properly account for. The allocation formula is based on historical average flows from decades past, dating as far back as 1949. 'This creates a dangerous mismatch between legal commitments and hydrological realities,' Swai said. A multitude of factors, especially reduced glacial flows, monsoon variability and extreme floods, are increasingly playing havoc with the river's natural functions. And more water is also being extracted upriver in India for agricultural and industrial use. 'In today's context, with increasing interannual variability and erratic flows, such fixed allocation systems can lead to disputes during low-flow years and under-serve both parties in times of crisis,' said Aparna Roy, the lead on climate change and energy at the Centre for New Economic Diplomacy in New Delhi. Himalayan glaciers, which feed the river, are retreating rapidly, with one-third of their volume expected to be lost by 2100 even if global warming is contained to 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development. 'This will destabilise the seasonal water flow - initially increasing runoff but eventually leading to severe dry-season water stress,' Roy said. More extreme rainfall events in the basin, more frequent flooding and drought periods are having severe impacts on regional agriculture, drinking water supplies and groundwater recharge. Nearly 60 per cent of Bangladesh's population is exposed to high flood risk, the second highest rate of all the countries in the world, behind the Netherlands. Rising sea levels and over-extraction have also increased salinity intrusion, leaving millions in coastal Bangladesh facing the prospect of drinking water with salinity levels above World Health Organization standards. 'These compound risks are no longer distant scenarios, they are manifesting now, with disproportionate impacts on the poor, women and subsistence farmers,' Roy said. 'The concerns are extremely serious, not only for water security, but also for food systems, migration and regional stability.' WATER AS A SOURCE OF TENSION In May, India and Pakistan were engaged in the exchange of missile and mortar strikes on each other's territory. A terrorist attack in the north Indian town of Pahalgam put the Indus River, shared by India and Pakistan, at the centre of the simmering tensions. A principal point of strategic leverage between the neighbours was water. The two countries have a water-sharing treaty for the Indus, signed back in 1960. It effectively governs water access for about 300 million people. But following the attack, India suspended the treaty, a move that Pakistan then labelled as an act of war. The stoush not only raised fears of water scarcity in Pakistan, which heavily relies on the Indus for 80 per cent of its water supply, but also showed how water is poised to become a critical pillar of India's national security strategy, said Sinha. By comparison, the Ganges contributes approximately 31 per cent of the water that flows into Bangladesh, with the Brahmaputra, which also runs through India, providing 54 per cent. 'India is clearly positioning water as both a diplomatic tool and a strategic asset,' said Sinha. He argued that the Indian government's approach to water diplomacy is less idealistic than in the past, more rooted in national interest and increasingly shaped by security, climate and regional influence. The country too is facing internal rising water challenges that could exacerbate socio-political tensions across states, he said. The state governments of West Bengal and Bihar have been vocal about their own water needs, sourced from the Ganges. It means that India will increasingly need to integrate water security into its strategic planning to protect both its territorial and developmental interests, according to Sinha. At the same time, the Bangladesh government is navigating a period of flux, after the collapse of the government under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last August. A political vacuum emerged and tensions with India rose, following sectarian attacks on Bangladesh's Hindu minority, arrests of religious leaders and failed attempts to extradite Hasina back to Bangladesh from India - where she claimed asylum - to face criminal charges. India and Bangladesh share 54 transboundary rivers, yet have sharing agreements for only one - the Ganges. It speaks to a lack of comprehensive, adaptive river governance across the region, which in a time of climate-induced water stress is likely to deepen mistrust and 'erode the already fragile foundations of transboundary cooperation', Swai said. 'Nationalistic politics in both India and Bangladesh have significantly undermined the ability to sustain long-term, equitable transboundary water agreements. 'Without urgent institutional innovation, climate change threatens to turn shared rivers into sources of sustained geopolitical friction,' he said. And right now, he said, the India-Bangladesh water-sharing relationship is better understood as an example of power asymmetry than a model of cooperation. Geopolitical calculations also weigh on both countries' actions around water. China's activities on the upstream of the Brahmaputra, a transboundary river that flows through southwestern China, northeastern India and Bangladesh, loom large in regional water diplomacy. China has recently started construction of the world's largest hydro-electric power dam close to the city of Nyingchi in the southeast of the autonomous region of Tibet. The US$167 billion project will retain waters of the Yarlung Tsangpo, which eventually flows into the Brahmaputra. India has conveyed its concern over the impacts of the dam, which could take a decade to construct. It has prompted further calls within India for the country to build its own dam in the state of Arunachal Pradesh to counter China's project, which could have further repercussions for Bangladesh, if water flow is further impacted by new river infrastructure. Swai said that India and Bangladesh should work together, ideally with Nepal and Bhutan, to develop science-based governance architecture for the Ganges-Brahmaputra basin, to create a 'united front' in response to China's damming activities. But there are signs that Dhaka has strategically aligned itself closer to Beijing in recent times. Muhammad Yunus, the chief adviser of the interim government of Bangladesh, visited China in March to meet President Xi Jinping and signed multiple agreements and memorandums of understanding across diverse sectors, including infrastructure. Bangladesh also secured investment, loan and grant commitments worth US$2.1 billion, including for an exclusive Chinese Industrial Economic Zone and an agreement for zero tariffs on Bangladeshi goods until 2028. India will need to navigate the realities of that 'growing' relationship, Sinha said, by managing not only geopolitics, but the concerns of its own riparian states internally too amid changing hydrological conditions. CONVENTION MOMENTUM? According to the United Nations Water Convention's Koeppel, there are many more examples around the world of shared rivers being tools for cooperation rather than conflict. She cited the example of a recent transboundary agreement on Africa's Okavango Basin, shared by Angola, Namibia and Botswana, which now takes into account climate change following several rounds of negotiations assisted by the convention. Bangladesh's accession to the water convention is a regional breakthrough, she said, that should help to promote shared goals on a critical issue. She said she believed Bangladesh can become a 'champion for transboundary cooperation' and encourage other regional states to work better together. 'With water being so vital for life, for food, for agriculture, for energy, for ecosystems… even in difficult situations such as post war, transboundary agreements continue to exist and to work,' she told CNA. Being a member to the convention will support Bangladesh in areas like the development of treaties, national water governance, capacity building for its officials, flood risk reduction, financing and tourism. Given Bangladesh's challenges around water and climate change, the timing is prescient - it has taken several years for the country to accede. South Asia is an acute hotspot at the confluence of water stress and climate change, characterised by rising temperatures, altered hydrology, increasing extreme weather, food insecurity risks and significant socio-economic vulnerabilities. But it is not helped by a lack of partnership on transboundary water issues, Koeppel said. 'The continent, generally, is the least advanced on transboundary cooperation globally,' she said. 'Overall, there's a lack of cooperation. This is a pity.' She expressed hope that other countries in the region will now also be motivated to join the convention, adding that the mechanism is far more useful and effective working on a regional scale. CAN BOTH SIDES WIN FROM THIS? A 'win-win' scenario is possible for both India and Bangladesh, if they can overcome tensions and develop an evolved treaty grounded in science, analysts said. Right now, long-standing grievances are held in Bangladesh, where 'many view the treaty as structurally biased in India's favour', Swai the Uppsala University professor said. There are perceptions, he argued, that water-sharing for the Ganges-Padma was an 'imposed arrangement rather than a negotiated partnership', given Bangladesh was still East Pakistan at the time the Farakka Barrage was commissioned in 1962, giving it no agency in the decision. Gaps in trust and transparency apparent in the current river arrangement only worsen the tensions, he said, which can have flow-on impacts on regional peace, stability and economic growth. A new 'living document' with clauses for real-time data sharing, designed for mutual benefit, would be a strategic boon to both build bilateral trust and reduce third-party influence in South Asia, Sinha said. But political leadership on both sides will need to rise above populist nationalism and focus on shared survival and prosperity, Swai added. Water security on one side of the border inevitably affects the other and arbitrary acts like building new dam infrastructure could erode trust. New agreements with provisions for early warning systems and adapted to real-time hydrological and climate conditions, instead of 'reactive, bilateral bargaining' could foster better cooperation, he said. 'Water must be reframed not as a zero-sum security issue, but as a shared resource requiring adaptive, science-based management and political maturity,' Swai said. 'The cost of inaction will be steep - for both people and governments on either side of the border. The stakes are too high for the status quo to hold.' Khan from the Dhaka-based CEGIS suggested codifying a minimum ecological flow at Hardinge Bridge, on the Bangladesh side of the border beyond the Farakka Barrage with penalty triggers and third-party auditing to protect river health and salinity control. 'In short, Farakka fixes the minimum; climate decides the frequency and severity of extremes — both must be tackled together,' he said. The Bangladesh government has already shifted from treating climate change as a footnote to making it a core design parameter in water planning, he said, through its Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 and National Adaptation Plan, which explicitly aims to 'climateproof transboundary river management'. New water projects in Bangladesh now routinely incorporate climate models. Designs for barrages, irrigation or flood control consider a range of future flow regimes, he added. Built-in dispute resolution mechanisms and robust data-sharing within the Indus Treaty, despite the prevailing geopolitical tensions around it in recent times, is an example of a policy precedent that Ganges Treaty negotiations could look at, said Roy, of the Centre for New Economic Diplomacy in New Delhi. She also cited the Mekong River Commission in Southeast Asia as an example of upstream and downstream states cooperating through joint monitoring and climate impact studies, despite not having a binding treaty. She highlighted the benefits of joint river basin institutions with climate expertise and water sharing models that include navigation, disaster management, groundwater recharge and ecosystem services. India has an opportunity to enhance its credibility as a climate leader in South Asia and globally, without jeopardising its own national goals, by being a responsible upstream actor in this case, she said. 'Climate is a shared existential threat and South Asia's best chance to turn water from a source of tension into a pillar of cooperation.
CNA
a day ago
- CNA
Russia starts first Moscow-Pyongyang passenger flights in decades
Russia will launch direct passenger flights from Moscow to North Korea's capital Pyongyang on Sunday (Jul 27), Russian authorities said, as the two former communist bloc allies move to improve ties following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The start of regular flights between the capitals for the first time since the mid-1990s, according to Russian aviation blogs, follows the resumption of Moscow-Pyongyang passenger rail service, a 10-day journey, in June. The first flight will leave Sheremetyevo airport at 7pm (1600 GMT), according to the airport's timetable. The eight-hour flight will be operated by a Boeing 777-200ER with a capacity of 440 passengers, Russia's RIA state news agency said on Sunday. It said tickets started at 44,700 roubles (US$563), and the first flight quickly sold out. Russia's civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia has granted Nordwind Airlines permission to operate flights between Moscow and Pyongyang twice a week. The transport ministry said in a statement that for now flights would operate once a month, "to help build stable demand". The only direct air route between Russia and North Korea has been flights by North Korean carrier Air Koryo to Vladivostok in Russia's Far East three times a week. Ukraine and its Western allies have accused North Korea of supplying Russia with artillery and ballistic missiles. Moscow and Pyongyang deny the allegations. Pyongyang has deployed more than 10,000 troops and arms to Russia to back Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said this month his country was ready to "unconditionally support" Moscow's efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.
CNA
a day ago
- CNA
Commentary: Trump's tariff deal with the Philippines was all praise, little gain
QUEZON CITY, Philippines: On Jul 22, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr met US President Donald Trump in the White House. High on the agenda was the securing of a lower tariff rate for the Philippines. In the end, all that President Marcos Jr got from what appeared to be a robust and warm exchange with Trump was a 1 percentage point reduction in tariffs imposed on the country by the US. This suggests that Manila, which has sought to diversify its security relations beyond Washington, should do likewise for its economic ties. In a social media post, Trump announced that Marcos' White House visit was 'beautiful', and that he was a 'very tough negotiator'. But Trump also announced that the Philippines hardly budged in trade negotiations. As a result, it will pay a 19 per cent tariff, just 1 percentage point lower than the 20 per cent indicated in a letter sent to Marcos Jr on Jul 9. This was higher than the 17 per cent tariff stipulated in April. The turn of events does not speak well of the Trump 2.0 administration's overall appreciation of Philippines-US relations. Marcos was able to secure continued cooperation on defence and strategic matters, including the building of an ammunition facility in Subic, a former US naval base. Renewed US commitments to the ironclad alliance between the two countries were not reflected in the tariff reduction of just 1 percentage point. LACK OF RECIPROCITY IN TRUMP'S TARIFFS Trump also announced (in his inimitable capitalisation style, or lack thereof) that 'The Philippines is going OPEN MARKET with the United States, and ZERO Tariffs'. Marcos clarified that this applies to automobiles imported from the US, so that automobiles imported by the Philippines from the US will now have zero tariffs. It remains unclear whether this applies to other products as well. On the one hand, this might benefit Filipinos because some things they import from the US will be possibly cheaper. But this highlights the yawning lack of reciprocity in Trump's tariffs. If the Philippines is not imposing tariffs on US goods, the US should also reduce most tariffs on Philippine exports to the US. Then again, Trump has a totally warped notion of tariffs to begin with. Back in April, economists noted that the original tariff rates were not even related to the true extent of effective tariff rates set by various countries in the US. The Philippines, for example, imposed in 2024 an average Most Favoured Nation tariff on US imports of 6 per cent: 9.5 per cent for agricultural goods and 5.4 per cent for non-agricultural goods. Trump's tariff rate on the Philippines of 17 per cent (now 19 per cent) is not commensurate. Trump still fails to realise that tariffs are paid not by other countries but by American consumers. Consequently, Americans should brace for higher inflation. While April and May inflation remained muted, economists warn that inflation will skyrocket once Trump's tariffs are pushed through. Another round of US inflation spikes (similar to what happened in 2022) does not bode well for the Philippine economy and the rest of ASEAN. This will likely result in an increase in interest rates. This is exactly what ASEAN central banks did between 2022 and 2023. More worryingly, another round of interest rate hikes, sooner or later, will dampen already weak regional economic growth. WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE PHILIPPINES So, what now for the Philippines? The 19 per cent tariff rate is still lower than what other neighbouring ASEAN economies got. Vietnam got 20 per cent and Indonesia 19 per cent. Both rates are significantly lower than the April rates of 40 per cent and 32 per cent, respectively. The two countries, which are not formal military allies of Washington, fared better in their negotiations with the US compared to the Philippines, a formal US treaty ally. Nevertheless, the US remains the biggest destination of Philippine exports (about 17 per cent of total exports), and the semiconductor industry is likely to be hit significantly. It would have been better if Marcos Jr had been able to secure a tariff exemption on Philippine semiconductors. Still, other vulnerable sectors include garments, food, and agricultural products – as suggested by the experience during the trade war during the first Trump administration. Looking for a silver lining, the Philippine government hopes that some trade from higher-tariffed countries may be diverted to the Philippines because of the country's relatively lower tariff rate. But this is unlikely given the country's lack of competitiveness. This is due to ongoing deficits in the country's logistics and transportation infrastructure, overreliance on low value-added parts of global value chains, and worrying gaps in human capital. During the previous Trump administration's trade war, these constraints did not help the Philippines become an alternative trade partner and investment destination. On Monday (Jul 28), Marcos Jr will deliver his fourth State of the Nation Address, and he is likely to brag about the profuse praise he got from Trump as well as the new tariff rate. With the Philippines ending up with an even higher tariff than in April, that hardly points to Marcos being a 'very good, very tough' negotiator. The outcome of the US trip should serve as a powerful signal to the Marcos Jr administration. As it started to diversify its security relations beyond the US alliance by deepening cooperation with middle powers such as Japan and Australia, it must do the same to promote its economic interests. Under Trump 2.0, it might be wise for the Philippines not to put all its economic eggs in the US basket. JC Punongbayan is an assistant professor at the University of the Philippines School of Economics and Aries A Arugay is Visiting Senior Fellow and Coordinator of the Philippine Studies Programme at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. This commentary first appeared on ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute's blog, Fulcrum.
