Miscreants set train on fire in Dhaka, four dead
Dhaka, Dec 19: Amid reports of increasing violence ahead of the January 2024 general elections in Bangladesh, unidentified miscreants on Tuesday set fire to three coaches of a train in Dhaka, killing four people. The incident took place at around 5 a.m. amid a countrywide strike called by the country’s largest opposition party to press its demand for the government to resign ahead of the crucial polls slated to be held on January 7, 2024, reports Xinhua news agency. Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan told journalists that three firefighting units rushed to the scene and recovered the bodies from one of the three coaches. Several people were also injured while scrambling out of the train. The country’s main opposition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies have called for the dawn-to-dusk strike on Tuesday. (IANS)
6.2-magnitude quake in China kills 118 people
Beijing, Dec 19: At least 111 people were killed after a massive earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale struck China’s Gansu province, authorities said on Tuesday. According to the China Earthquake Networks Center, the quake occurred at 11.59 p.m. on Monday night and had a focal depth of 10 km, reports Xinhua news agency. The epicentre Liugou Township is about 8 km from the county seat of Jishishan Bao’an, Dongxiang, Salar Autonomous County in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu. The earthquake was also felt strongly in the cities of Xining and Haidong in Qinghai, where some houses collapsed and cracked. The fatalities were reported from Gansu and neighbouring Qinghai. President Xi Jinping has ordered full rescue efforts to Gansu. In a statement, President Xi Jinping said that “all efforts should be made to carry out search and rescue, treat the injured in a timely manner, and minimise casualties”. Gansu, one of China’s poorest regions, lies between the Tibetan and Loess plateaus and borders Mongolia. (IANS)
55 Indian Hindu pilgrims arrive
in Pakistan
Lahore, Dec 19: As many as 55 Hindu pilgrims arrived in Lahore on Tuesday from India via Wagah Border to visit the Shree Katas Raj temples, located in Chakwal district of Pakistan’s Punjab province, an official here said. Under the provision of a bilateral protocol on visits to religious shrines, Sikh and Hindu pilgrims from India visit Pakistan every year. Pakistani pilgrims also visit India every year under the protocol. “A group of 55 Hindu pilgrims led by Vijay Kumar Sharma arrived in Lahore via Wagah Border on Tuesday to take part in their religious festivities at the Katas Raj Temples,” Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) spokesperson Amir Hashmi told PTI. The ETPB is a statutory board that manages religious properties and shrines of Hindus and Sikhs who had migrated to India following the partition. Additional Secretary shrines Rana Saleem greeted and garlanded them at Wagah where Sharma and others expressed their happiness to get a chance to visit their holy places in Pakistan. Hashmi said the Hindu pilgrims would also visit other temples in Lahore during their seven-day stay. Local Hindus will also join them. (PTI)