CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ■ ■ kozhikode l saturday l november 08, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l city EDITION sheikh Hasina keen on fighting inclusive polls Gautam Lahiri Independent journalist A fter 15 months of her stay in an undisclosed location in India, exiled former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina has finally spoken her mind in an exclusive e-mail interview. For the first time, she accepts “leadership responsibility” for the killing of citizens during the mass protest against her government from July 15 to August 5, 2024. Here’s the full text of the interview: The Bangladeshi authorities have banned the Awami League from contesting the general elections early next year. Are your party members considering running as independents? The decision to ban the Awami League is deeply undemocratic and a clear violation of Bangladesh’s constitution and of the fundamental rights of the electorate. It short-changes millions of people. Historically, when parties have not participated in previous elections, Bangladeshi voters have simply not voted, rather than transfer their vote press clusive to other parties. So our priority is to continue fighting for the rights of our voters. If the Awami League and its members refuse to contest elections in any form, what do you think the impact will be for Bangladesh? We are not refusing to contest elections. On the contrary we , ardently wish to participate. But we have been banned from doing so by an administration that is itself unelected and which clearly has no respect for democracy . We have to break this cycle of parties either boycotting elections or being banned, because it undermines the legitimacy of the gover nment. Bangladesh badly needs to hold a free, fair and inclusive election, so that the country can begin to heal and move towards reconciliation. You cannot achieve this by banning the Awami League. We are woven into the country’s modern history and independence, and tens of millions support us. A report by the Human Rights Watch estimates that Top court fiat to clear public spaces nationwide of stray dogs and cattle Send them to designated shelters after sterilisation, vaccination, says three-judge bench s u c h i t r a k a lya n m o h a n t y @ New Delhi IN a sweeping directive on Friday the Supreme Court ordered , the removal of stray dogs from educational institutions, hospitals, railway stations, bus stands and other public places, directing that they be relocated to shelters following sterilisation. The court made it clear that stray dogs cannot be released back into the areas from which they are picked up. A special three-judge bench comprising justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and N V Anjaria issued the order while hearing a long-pending case on stray dogs. “Every stray dog shall be forthwith removed from such premises and relocated to a shelter after sterilisation. They shall not be released in the same area,” the bench said. The bench held that the recurrence of dog bite incidents within institutional areas, including sports complexes, reflected not only administrative apathy but also a “systemic failure” to secure these premises from preventable hazards. The court expressed concern that India con- tinues to report one of the world’s highest statistics of rabies-related mortality . The bench then directed authorities to ensure the removal of all cattle and other stray animals from state highways, national highways and expressways, stating that “it is a matter of grave and continuing public concern... that accidents caused by cattle on public roads have become alarmingly frequent.” The bench categorised its order in three parts. The first dealt with compliance, and mandated all states and Union Territories to submit affidavits within eight weeks, detailing steps taken to address lapses identified in the amicus curiae’s report. Chief Secretaries will be held accountable for lapses, it said. The second part reaffirmed Rajasthan High Court directions on stray cattle, instructing all states to conduct joint drives to remove stray animals from highways. The third part requires all states and UTs to identify government institutions, hospitals, railway stations, and bus terminals within two weeks and secure them with fencing to prevent stray animal ingress. When parties don’t participate in polls, Bangladeshi voters have simply not voted, rather than transfer their vote to others around 1,400 people were killed and thousands were injured during the anti-government protests between July 15 and August 5 over a year ago. The report says the vast majority were shot by Bangladesh’s security forces. As the Prime Minister at the time, do you take responsibility for the state-inflicted violence that led to your ouster? I mourn each and every life lost in the tragic violence of last summer’s uprising. As the country’s leader, I ultimately take leadership responsibility but the implication that I ordered or directed the actions of the security forces on the ground is fundamentally incorrect. All actions were taken in good faith and with the sole intention of minimising the loss of life or the further breakdown in law and order. Kerala NBFCs now hold more gold than the UK RA J E SH A B RAHAM @Kochi If Kerala’s non-banking financiers were a country, they would rank 16th in the world for gold reserves — right after Portugal and ahead of the United Kingdom, Spain and Austria. Together, Keralabased non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) now hold a glittering 381 tonnes of gold, a stash that surpasses the official reserves of several European nations and testifies to the state’s enduring obsession with the yellow metal. The combined holdings of major gold-loan giants — Muthoot Finance (208 tonnes), Manappuram Finance (56.4 tonnes), Muthoot FinCorp (43.69 tonnes), Kerala State Financial Enterprises or KSFE (67.22 tonnes), and Indel Money (around 6 tonnes) — together outweigh the gold reserves of the UK (310 tonnes) and Spain (282 tonnes) . In pure numbers, that is gold worth well over Rs 4.6 lakh crore, based on current record-high prices. Kerala’s NBFCs have quietly built up this vast reserve over decades, one household pledge at a time. In a state where gold is a savings instrument, a symbol of status, and now a financial lifeline, the business of gold loans has become both culturally rooted and economically pow● More on P4 erful.  As for the UN’s fatality estimate, we dispute that figure. It is significantly higher than the Ministry of Health’s own calculations and is based on undocumented and closely controlled evidence supplied to the UN Human Rights Commissioner by the interim government. It also appears to contain many members of the security forces and Awami League officials killed in the riots, but that hasn’t been made clear. The government has had over 15 months to arrive at an accurate death count, yet has still not published a definitive list of the dead. Continued on: P11 EXPRESS READ PM: Key ‘Vande Mataram’ stanzas dropped in 1937 New Delhi: In an apparent attack at the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said important stanzas of the national song “Vande Mataram” were dropped in 1937 which sowed the seeds of partition. He asserted that such a “divisive mindset” is still a challenge for the country. Modi made the comments after inaugurating the commemoration of “Vande Mataram” to mark 150 years of the national song. K Jayakumar set to become TDB president T’Puram: Former chief secretary K Jayakumar, a veteran in handling the administration in Sabarimala, is set to take over as the new president of Travancore Devaswom Board. The official order is expected after the CM returns from abroad on Saturday. P4