Police stopped a convoy of National Citizen Party (NCP) leaders travelling from Moulvibazar to Habiganj at the Cha-Kanya area of Sreemangal on Wednesday afternoon, amid political tensions and restrictions under Section 144. The convoy left Moulvibazar Circuit House shortly before 4pm and was halted around 4:30pm. A scuffle occurred between police and NCP leaders. Those in the convoy included NCP convener and lawmaker Nahid Islam, chief coordinator Nasiruddin Patwary, Sarjis Alam, Hasnat Abdullah and Mahmuda Mitu.

Witnesses said the convoy included about 10 microbuses, while more than 100 police officers were positioned on the main road. NCP leaders got out of their vehicles and spoke with senior police officials. Police told them not to enter Habiganj while Section 144 remained in force, while the NCP leaders called for the blockade to be lifted.

Tensions intensified after the NCP alleged that BNP, Chhatra Dal and Jubo Dal activists attacked its members in Habiganj on Tuesday. Police said several journalists' vehicles were vandalised and some party activists were injured. The administration imposed Section 144 in Habiganj municipality from Wednesday morning. NCP suspended two planned July marches in Moulvibazar and announced a protest march and rally in Habiganj.

Bangladesh’s Appellate Division has stayed a High Court order that barred the “shown arrest,” arrest, or harassment of individuals when no specific case existed against them. The order was issued on Wednesday morning by a bench led by Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury.

The Appellate Division also directed that the High Court rule connected to the matter be disposed of within four weeks. Attorney General Barrister Md Ruhul Quddus Kajol represented the state during the hearing. Senior lawyer Barrister Sara Hossain and Advocate Syed Mamun Mahbub appeared for the applicants.

Earlier, the High Court had ruled in the cases of several individuals that the respondents could not subject them to shown arrest, arrest, or any other form of harassment if there was no case against them. The appellate court’s stay takes effect alongside its instruction for the High Court rule to be resolved within the stated four-week period.

Discussion over moving Northern Electricity Supply Company, or NESCO, Limited’s headquarters from Rajshahi to Bogura has resurfaced after a recent Power Division letter. Issued on July 16 by the Company Affairs-1 branch, the letter asked the company’s managing director to assess and submit views on the possible financial, administrative and operational effects of a relocation. The disclosure has prompted concern among political, social, business and professional groups in Rajshahi.

A feasibility committee had previously been formed in March after a DO letter from the state minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives. The report says that effort largely stalled amid strong public reaction in Rajshahi. Managing Director Md Mashiuor Rahman said he had received the ministry’s letter and that the company would discuss the matter with its board before sending its views to the government.

Protesters at a human chain outside NESCO’s headquarters said a move could harm Rajshahi’s administrative standing, employment, commerce, housing, transport and local economy. Sources supporting a review cited delays in some administrative work for the Rangpur region, while NESCO operates across 16 districts in Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions. Opponents urged consideration of digital management and stronger regional offices as alternatives.

The National Citizen Party, or NCP, has temporarily suspended its planned visit and all related programmes in Kulaura, Moulvibazar, following an attack on the party’s central leaders and activists in Habiganj. The “July Awakening to Build the Country” programme had been scheduled for Wednesday, July 29.

NCP convener and opposition chief whip Nahid Islam MP, chief organiser Hasnat Abdullah MP, member secretary Akhtar Hossain MP, Asif Mahmud Bhuiya Sajib and chief coordinator Nasir Uddin Patwary were among central leaders expected to attend the programme.

Faruk Uddin Ahmed Sundar, convener of the NCP’s Kulaura upazila unit, told Amar Desh that central leaders urgently suspended all programmes in Kulaura and Rajnagar upazilas in response to the Habiganj incident. New dates for the postponed programmes will be formally announced later.

National Citizen Party leaders, including convener and parliamentary opposition chief whip Nahid Islam and southern region chief organiser Hasnat Abdullah, were travelling to Habiganj to join a protest over attacks on the party’s July march. The administration imposed Section 144 after the BNP and Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal announced programmes at the same location, but NCP leaders still planned to go ahead with their programme.

NCP media subcommittee member Yasir Arafat said the leaders were very close to the location for the purpose of holding the programme. Asked how they would proceed under the order, he said a further decision would be made after the convener and other central leaders arrived. Central leaders Nasiruddin Patwary and Sarjis Alam were already in Habiganj.

During Tuesday’s July march in Habiganj town and while returning afterward, the convoy carrying NCP central leaders was attacked repeatedly, according to the report. Allegations were made against BNP and Chhatra Dal activists. Sarjis Alam and several other central leaders were later confined, before leaving Habiganj at night with assistance from law enforcement agencies. Tensions persisted in the district after the new Wednesday programme was announced.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met US President Donald Trump at the White House and described the meeting as “one of the best ever,” according to a report published on July 29, 2026. Netanyahu also rejected suggestions of strains in relations between the United States and Israel.

Speaking to Fox News after the meeting, Netanyahu said the two countries shared the same goal of preventing Iran’s nuclear programme. He said those waiting to find a crack in the alliance would instead see a relationship as strong as a granite wall.

Addressing Iran, Netanyahu said they did not want Tehran’s “extremist government” to possess nuclear weapons that could threaten Americans, world peace and Israel’s existence. Since Trump returned to office for a second term in January 2025, Netanyahu has visited the White House eight times, more than any other foreign leader, the report said.

A Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami delegation met the Election Commission led by Chief Election Commissioner A M M Nasir Uddin on Wednesday, July 29. The meeting began at about 11:30am in the meeting room of the Election Building.

The delegation was led by Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General and former member of parliament Mia Golam Porwar. Election commissioners and other Election Commission officials also attended the meeting.

The report did not provide details on the meeting’s agenda, discussions, decisions or statements from either side. It said the meeting between the commission and the Jamaat delegation was under way.

In an opinion article published by Amar Desh on July 29, 2026, Md. Rahel Islam argues that the July movement was not limited to changing a government or holding elections. He describes it as an expression of public expectations over the state system, politics and citizens’ rights, shaped by sacrifice, courage and participation. The article says its central aspiration was a just, accountable and unequality-free state.

Islam argues that an electoral change of government cannot by itself make a state genuinely democratic if impunity, corruption, partisan administration, human-rights violations, economic inequality and accountability crises remain. Under the existing system, the candidate receiving the most votes wins a seat even without more than half of all votes, he writes. Therefore, parliamentary majorities do not necessarily equal full political consent from the public.

The article calls for an independent judiciary, an administration free from political influence, law-enforcement bodies that protect citizens’ rights, and effective action against corruption. It also identifies employment, price control, banking governance, energy-sector transparency, workers’ and farmers’ rights, and social security as key concerns. Islam says elections should be viewed as the beginning of democracy, not its conclusion.

India’s chief justice Surya Kant reportedly called unemployed young people “cockroaches” in May, prompting widespread anger and the formation that month of the youth-led Cockroach Janata Party, or CJP. The group has gained online popularity among young Indians while protesting exam paper leaks, weak accountability in competitive examinations, and alleged irregularities and corruption in education. The article says the movement has created significant pressure on Narendra Modi’s government.

From June 6, CJP and several nationwide student organisations held a sit-in at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. Environmentalist and social activist Sonam Wangchuk began an indefinite hunger strike in support; police took him to hospital on the 21st day. Protesters demanding Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation marched toward Parliament, breached police barricades and entered the Parliament complex, where violence occurred.

According to the article, pressure from CJP forced the education minister to resign, while the prime minister promised to meet several additional youth demands. It links the protest to unemployment, rising living costs, exam disruptions and frustration among educated young people. The article also says more than 800 million Indians depend on state food assistance and describes sharp concentration of income and wealth among the top 1%.

According to the report, Bangladesh’s Anti-Discrimination Student Movement rejected a government decision to observe state mourning on July 30, 2024. The decision was made at a cabinet meeting on July 29, amid the quota reform movement and reported killings nationwide. The movement called the mourning declaration a “cruel mockery” and announced a July 30 programme asking people to wear red cloth over their faces and eyes, photograph themselves and circulate the images online.

The report said Facebook turned visibly red from midnight on July 29 as students, teachers, intellectuals and some celebrities changed profile images in solidarity. During a writ hearing that day, a High Court bench questioned the state side and said, “Do not make a mockery of the nation.” Transparency International Bangladesh was reported to have condemned the detention of coordinators in DB custody as “unethical” and “illegal.”

The report also described obstruction and attacks against student protesters in Dhaka and elsewhere, saying at least 50 students were detained in Dhaka. Teachers described the violence of the preceding month as the “July killings” and demanded an end to disappearances, arrests and harassment. It said a National People’s Investigation Commission was formed by prominent citizens to seek independent investigations into reported deaths.

The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) has warned it will resume protests across India unless all cases filed against NEET anti-question-leak demonstrators are withdrawn. The warning followed Tuesday hearings on petitions alleging excessive force against students at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and elsewhere. A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant ordered that peaceful protesters face no coercive action and that detained people with no prior criminal record be released.

The court also said the Delhi government and other state governments could continue investigating FIRs already filed, while barring harsh action against peaceful student protesters. CJP spokesperson Saurabh Das said the government had promised on July 25 to withdraw all FIRs and prevent direct or indirect harassment of those who joined peaceful protests. He said CJP had withdrawn its nationwide movement on the basis of that assurance.

Das said CJP feared the central government and BJP-ruled states could use the court order to retain cases and harass protesters. He called for withdrawal of all FIRs and guarantees against future punitive action. CJP began continuous protests at Jantar Mantar on June 20, held a “March to Parliament” on July 20, and later withdrew its movement after assurances and Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation.

Bangladesh’s Appellate Division said elected and sworn-in Chattogram-2 lawmaker Sarwar Alamgir faces no bar to attending sessions of the Jatiya Sangsad. A four-member bench led by the chief justice issued the order on Wednesday morning, July 29.

Nurul Amin had applied to the Appellate Division against a High Court verdict that declared the Election Commission’s decision regarding Sarwar Alamgir valid. He sought a stay on the High Court ruling and an injunction preventing Alamgir from joining parliamentary sessions until the appeal was resolved. The Appellate Division heard the application on July 27 and 28 before setting the date for its order.

Before the election, Nurul Amin appealed to the Election Commission alleging loan default after the returning officer declared Alamgir’s candidacy valid. The commission cancelled his nomination on January 18, but the High Court later allowed him to contest. Alamgir was unofficially declared winner on February 12, though publication of the result was stayed by court order. On June 16, the Appellate Division directed the High Court to dispose of the rule quickly.

The Habiganj district administration imposed Section 144 across the municipal area on July 29, citing fears of deteriorating law and order over rival programmes by the National Citizen Party, or NCP, and BNP-linked groups. The order, signed by District Magistrate and Deputy Commissioner Dr G M Sarfaraz, took immediate effect and will remain in force until further notice.

The directive bans gatherings of five or more people, public meetings, rallies, processions, sit-ins, picketing, microphone use, slogans, loud campaigning and other activities that could disrupt public order. NCP had announced a protest meeting and march, while Habiganj Sadar Upazila BNP, Habiganj municipal BNP and district Chhatra Dal announced a peace meeting and sit-in at the same time and place.

The order followed clashes on July 28 near Thana Mor, where NCP alleged BNP-linked activists attacked its march. At least 10 NCP members, including Sarjis Alam and Nasiruddin Patwary, were reported injured and several vehicles vandalised. Chhatra Dal denied involvement. Police fired rubber bullets to control the situation and took the two NCP leaders into the Circuit House.

A Facebook post by Nadimur Rahman Shishir, former president of Cumilla South district Chhatra Dal, has gone viral after he urged leaders to do something for their workers instead of enriching themselves. Shishir published the post from his verified Facebook account at 11 pm on Tuesday. Leaders from various Chhatra Dal units in Cumilla South district commented in agreement.

In the post, Shishir said leaders remember workers when they need them but questioned whether they ever check how those workers are managing. He said there was still time to act for workers rather than making personal pockets heavier. Chhatra Dal leader Atikur Rahman Bhuiyan commented that workers were dying without food while leaders lived luxurious lives.

Another commenter, Sohag Hossain, said workers were like unpaid labourers and that he heard discussion of workers only from Shishir. Shishir served as president of Cumilla South district Chhatra Dal during the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement. Central Chhatra Dal left them out when it formed a new committee last year. Several former district leaders said they had not received proper recognition despite 17 years of movement and struggle.

The National Citizen Party (NCP) has called nationwide protest rallies for Wednesday, July 29, over an alleged attack on its march in Habiganj. In a statement issued by the party’s office cell on Tuesday night, NCP said the protest programme was in response to an attack on the motorcade of chief organiser Sarjis Alam and chief coordinator Nasiruddin Patwary during a peaceful march.

The party instructed all of its metropolitan, district, upazila and police-station branches to organise local protests and rallies. It also asked relevant organisational units to make necessary preparations for orderly implementation of the programme and ensure that party leaders and activists attend on time.

Sarjis Alam said two marches scheduled in Moulvibazar on Wednesday under the northern region’s July march roadmap would be temporarily suspended in protest. He said a protest procession and rally would instead be held in Habiganj town at 3 pm. NCP convener and opposition chief whip Nahid Islam, member secretary Akhtar Hossain, Sarjis Alam, Hasnat Abdullah, joint convener Dr Atiq Mujahid MP, Sarwar Tushar and other central leaders were listed as expected attendees.