Minor girl killed after rape in B‘baria

Miscreants kidnapped a minor girl and killed her after violating at Dharmondal village in Nasirnagar upazila early Wednesday.
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The deceased was identified as Razia Begum, 12, of the village.
Local UP chairman Baharuddin said Razia, daughter of a local poor man, went missing after she was called out of her house on Tuesday night.
Villagers found her dead body at a field near her house on Wednesday noon.
The Nasirnagar police recovered the body.
The police also suspect she might have been killed by miscreants after rape early Wednesday.
Family sources said unknown people called her out and killed after rape and dumped her body at the field before day break.
Source : New Age

Trial of Bogra arms haul cases resumes

Trial in connection with the huge arms cache in the northern town of Bogra resumed on Wednesday, after six years of virtual suspension of the sensational case, for which six persons were formally charged with the crime.
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A big chunk of illegal arms were seized from a truck near a brick kiln under Kahalu upazila of the district on the night of June 27, 2003.
Police recovered 99,969 rounds of Chinese rifle
bullet and 174 kilogrammes of explosives from the truck.
After years of investigation, police gave chargesheet against six persons in four separate
cases, but the trial could
not be processed as one of the accused filed a writ
petition with High
Court and got a stay order from it.
However, the court in a recent step cleared the stay order for three cases after
an accused, Altu Miah,
who is now in jail, filed petition against the order.
As a result, acting public prosecutor Advocate Helalur Rahman said, the hearing of the three cases out of the total four started on Wednesday.
A witness, Mozam Maondal, gave a partial deposition before the Special Tribunal,
while Judge Kazi Shahina Nigar recorded the
statement.
Source : New Age

JS body formed to probe ship collision at Ctg port

The parliamentary standing committee on shipping ministry on Wednesday decided to investigate the collision that took place between a Panama flag carrier ship and a Bangla-deshi dredging ship at the outer anchorage of Chittagong port.


The committee at a meeting found inconsistency in the probe report submitted by an inquiry committee formed by the ministry on the collision be-tween Panama ship MV Utopia and Bangladeshi dredging vessel Khanak on October 21, 2009, the committee sources said.
They said that the meeting formed a three-member sub-committee headed by Obaidur Moktadir Chowdhury and asked the committee to submit its report within one month.
The other members of the committee are Golam Kibria Tipu and Nasrul Hamid.
'We found inconsistencies in probe report submitted by the inquiry committee formed by the shipping ministry and decided for further investigation into the accident,' committee member Golam Kibria Tipu told New Age.
The Bangladeshi dredging ship Khanak was seriously damaged when the Panama flag carrier vessel MV Utopia hit Khanak at the outer anchorage on October 21, 2009.
Following the accident, the Shipping ministry formed a three-member inquiry committee with joint secretary of the ministry Mohammad Alauddin as convener.
Khorshed Alam of the Chittagong Port Authority was made member secretary of the committee while chief engineer of Mercantile and Marine Depa-rtment Khairul Islam was made a member of the committee.
Wednesday's meeting of the parliamentary committee also discussed on the boards of directors of the maritime ports of Chittagong and Mongla. The shipping minister informed that moves had already taken to re-structure the boards of directors of the two ports.
'The top officials of four ministries would be included in the board and the total number of the directors will be nine,' the committee chairman Noor-E-Alam Chowdhury Liton said after the meeting.
He said that the secretaries of the Shipping, Commerce, Home and Labour ministries would be included in the boards of directors.
He also said that the boards of advisors of the ports would also be made active to bring pace in the port activities.
Source : New Age

Housewife tortured to death for dowry

A 15-year-old pregnant housewife, who was undergoing treatment after her husband allegedly tortured her at his in-laws' house for dowry, died at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Tuesday night.


The deceased was identified as Jannatul Ferdous, daughter of Abul Kalam, a madrassa teacher and a resident of Haji K Ali Road under Kadamtoli police station in Dhaka.
Family members alleged that Ferdous's husband Mohammad Helal had tortured her at his house on June 16 and she was admitted to DMCH in critical condition.
'Helal had kidnapped Jannatul Ferdous two years back while she was going to attend her class at Mohammadia Dakhil Madrassa and married her. Helal,an unemployed man, often tortured her as she failed to pay the dowry demanded by him,' the victim's maternal uncle advocate Aminul Islam told reporters at DMCH.
He said that police had arrested Helal after the victim's father filed a case under Women and Children Repression Prevention Act with Kadamtoli police station in June.
Aminul Islam said, 'Helal brutally tortured Jannatul with iron rods at his house. I took her to DMCH on June 16. There were marks of torture on her body.'
Jannatul died at the hospital at about 9pm on Tuesday, hospital sources said.
The body was later taken to the hospital morgue for post-mortem examination.
Kadamtoli police officer-in-charge Shafiqul Islam said that they had already arrested the main accused Helal to bring him to justice
Source : New Age

CNG stations to shut longer in Ramadan

The government will keep the CNG refuelling stations across the country shut for two more hours a day to feed power plants more gas during the Ramadan.


The energy ministry made the decision on Wednesday to extend the closure to six hours, state-run Petrobangla chairman Hossain Monsur told the news agency.
Currently, the CNG stations are kept shut from 5:00pm to 9:00pm.
He, however, said that the owners of the refuelling stations would be consulted to reach an agreement.
Source : New Age

On the sidelines

Senior Bangladesh Nationalist Party leaders were unhappy at the poor participation of the party's Dhaka city unit people in the eight-hour mass hunger strike they held at the Institution of Engineers in the capital on Wednesday.

Talking on the sidelines, some of the leaders thanked God as people from outside Dhaka reached the venue in time.

They also expressed their dissatisfaction at the 'poor performance' of the city convening committee in mobilising people as most of the units reached the venue after the arrival of the party chairperson.

The leaders put the blame for the poor performance on the conflict between the city unit convener, Sadeque Hossain Khoka, also mayor of Dhaka, and the party's standing committee member Mirza Abbas.

'They did nothing,' a member of the party's executive committee said. 'If people from Bogra can arrive by the morning, what have they done?'

A leader from Bogra, Helaluzzman Talukder Lalu, who was standing next to him, proudly claimed that they had mobilised so many people that it required them to hire five buses.

The leaders said most of the participants arrived from districts around Dhaka.

Although it as a hunger strike programme, lower-tier activists gathered at shops of drinks in the scorching heat.

Some senior leaders, including three advisers to the party chairperson, took lunch inside the Institution of Engineers and they said that they were having some snacks as they would need to stay till the end of the programme.

A number of small parties expressed their solidarity with the programme, demanding expansion of the BNP-led alliance.

Two leaders of the Liberal Democratic Party — former minister Redwan Ahmed and Shahadat Hossain — arrived at the place and expressed their solidarity.

But the BNP leaders seemed to be upset as nobody from Bikalpadhara Bangladesh or Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Janata League attended.

They were contacted from the BNP's upper echelon and the acting secretary general had met the Bikalpadhara chief, AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury, on Tuesday night.

In addition to politicians, performers such as Baby Naznin, Monir Khan, Rizia Parvin and Hasan Chowdhury and poet Abdul Hye Shikder attended the programme. The singers sang people's songs.

The founder of Gonoshasthaya Kendra, Zafrullah Chowdhury, was also on the stage but he did not say anything.

The crowd caused severe traffic congestion on Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani Road. People had to wait for long to pass the road stretch between Shahbagh and Matsya Bhaban.

The apparently annoyed people waiting in vehicles responded to Khaleda Zia when she demanded punishment of Viqarunnisa Noon School teacher Parimal Jayadhar, accused in a case of raping a schoolgirl, and his associates and the resignation of the college principal.

Many of the passers-by also stopped and raised their hands when a special prayer was arranged for the salvation of the souls of the 44 schoolboys who were killed in a traffic accident at Mirsarai of Chittagong on Monday.

Source : New Age

Mobile courts may be used to check traffic indiscipline

The government is seriously thinking of using mobile courts to ensure strict enforcement of the Motor Vehicle Ordinance to bring about much-needed discipline in country's transport sector, with a particular eye to checking the use of mobile phones by people while driving.
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Home affairs minister Sahara Khatun on Wednesday, at the end
of a meeting of the Cabinet committee on law and order, said that they
would discuss with the communications ministry the possibility of removing roadside markets which often cause traffic acci-dents.
Sources said that the members of the Cabinet committee, referring to the death of 44 schoolchildren in Monday's road accident that was reportedly caused by the driver's use of mobile phone while driving, expressed grave concern over the indiscipline in the transport sector and disregard for the rules and regulations.
'Legally the drivers cannot use mobile phone while driving,' said Sahara, adding that the use of mobile phones by the drivers was a major cause of road accidents.
Sahara, claiming success in curbing sexual harassment and misuse of drugs through mobile courts, said that similar results may be achieved in checking road accidents.
The home affairs ministry, after an inter-ministry meeting, may issue a circular banning use of mobile phones while driving, said Sahara, adding that all possible measures would be taken for strict enforcement of the Motor Vehicle Ordinance.
The Ordinance imposes a fine of only Tk 500 or one month in jail or both for talking on the phone while driving.
Wednesday's meeting of the cabinet committees on law and order was attended by LGRD and cooperatives minister Syed Ashraful Islam, information and cultural affairs minister Abul Kalam Azad, law minister Shafique Ahmed, labour and manpower minister Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain and liberation war affairs state minister ABM Tajul Islam, along with others.
Senior officials including home affairs secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikdar, inspector general of police Hassan Mahmood Khandker and heads of intelligence agencies were present at the meeting.
Source : New Age

Identify defrauders of jobseekers: FM

The government has asked expatriate Bangladeshis to identify the persons involved in defrauding those who seek jobs abroad and inform the concerned authorities.
'Identify the persons who are cheating the jobseekers. Socially boycott them.


Inform the missions abroad of them so that the government can take action against them,' said foreign affairs minister Dipu Moni while speaking at a function, hosted by Bangladeshi embassy in Riyadh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for launching machine readable passports and visas.
Describing expatriate Bangladeshis as ambassadors of the country, she said, 'Foreigners will judge Bangladesh by your actions.'
Dipu Moni requested the Bangladeshis living abroad to remain united. 'Together we will prevail,' she said.
She also urged expatriate Bangladeshis to collect machine readable passports much ahead of 31 March, 2015, the last date set by the International Civil Aviation
Organisation to give MRPs to all passport holders of its member countries.
Bangladesh is a member of the ICAO.
The foreign minister also urged all Bangladeshis abroad to abide by the laws of the host countries.
She asked all expatriate Bangladeshis to ensure that they, their friends and relatives did not earn a bad name for Bangladesh.
Dipu Moni encouraged others to vote for the Sundarbans to make it the world's number one natural wonder and herself inaugurated the casting of votes.
State minister for home affairs Shamsul Hoque Tuku, Bangladesh's ambassador to Saudi Arabia M Shahidul Islam and director general of Immigration and Passport M Abdul Mabud also spoke on the occasin.
Mabud urged genuine Bangladeshi nationals to remain alert so that no person, who is not a real citizen of Bangladesh, can collect the passport of their country.
The government started issuing machine readable passports on 13 May, 2010.
The authorities will gradually replace 13 million manual passports with MRPs, according to officials of the Department of Immigration and Passport.
With the introduction of the latest the visa issuance system, all the immigration check-posts of the country will be able to verify the authenticity of Bangladeshi visas online to check any fraudulence, they said.
Dipu Moni also called on the vice-governor of Riyadh, Prince Sattam Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, on Wednesday afternoon and requested him to use his good offices to solve the problems facing Bangladeshi workers, including inadequate number of work permits (ekama) and extension of ekama.
She said that Bangladesh's government has started streamlining the labour sector by setting up skill training centres and an expatriate welfare bank, and reducing migration costs.
Dipu Moni pointed out that the host government could take legal action against expatriates involved in criminal activities.
'It is necessary to identify the persons, who are few in number, involved in criminal activities in the host country,' she said. 'We do not want that a few people ruin the image of the country.'
Sattam stressed the need for further discussion between the two governments to solve the problems.
He said the KSA is willing to take skilled workers from Bangladesh.
Dipu Moni also requested Sattam to use his good offices to increase Saudi investment in, and manpower import from, Bangladesh.
Sattam said he would convey Bangladesh's requests to the concerned Arabian authorities.
Source : New Age

Students mourn death of fellows

Students of the educational institutions across the country, participating in the national mourning programme on Wednesday, expressed their deep shock and sorrow at the death of 44 fellow-students in Mirsharai.
Black flags were hoisted at schools and colleges across the country.
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The students and teachers wore black badges, attended special prayer sessions and observed one minute's silence as a mark of respect, and many schools suspended their sports and cultural programmes.
Khaleda Zia, the leader of the opposition in Parliament, is expected to visit Mirsharai today to convey her condolences to the bereaved families.
The principal of Holy Cross School and College, Sister Shikha Gomez, said that they had recited prayers from different religious books at around 10:30am.
Students of Uttara Rajuk College, Uttara High School, Monipur High School, Motijheel Ideal School and College, Notre Dame College, Government Laboratory School and College, Dhaka Commerce College, BAF Shaheen College and Tejgaon College and of many other schools of the capital took parting in the mourning programme.
'In addition to the national flag, we also hoisted a black flag. Students and teachers took part in the prayers wearing black badges. We also observed one minute of silence,' added Sister Shika. Motijheel Ideal School and College observed one minute's of silence as a mark of respect at 6:45am. The minute of silence was followed by special prayers. Everyone wore black badges and a black flag was hoisted.
The education ministry on Tuesday directed teachers, students, officials and staff of the nation's schools to wear black badges and pray for the eternal peace of the departed souls, said an official hand-out.
The students, teachers and employees of all the educational institutions in Chittagong also mourned the death of the 44 students as part of the national mourning programme.
Mahbub Alam Chowdhury, principal of the Ispahani School and College, while addressing a commemoration rally said that the death of such a large number of children had broken their heart.
'The deceased were not students of our schools, but we feel as if we have lost our own children,' he said, and urged the students to be cautious on the roads.
Hashmat Jahan, headmistress of the DR Khastagir Girls' High School, while addressing a commemoration assembly said that the tragic accident had deprived the country of future workers.
'We extend our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families,' she added.
Various student organizations brought out mourning processions, black flags were hoisted at different places on the Chittagong University campus and the students, teachers, officials and employees wore black badges.
A commemoration rally was also organized at the Abu Torab High School, which lost 35 of its students in the accident, with upazila chairman Giasuddin in the chair.
Several thousand people, including teachers and students of different schools, attended the rally. Many of the participants broke down in tears during the speeches delivered in remembrance of the deceased students.
The headmaster of the school, Zafar Sadek, told New Age that teachers from almost all the schools of Mirsharai as well as nearby Sitakunda visited their school in groups to express their sympathy.
'We, the students and teachers, are still traumatised. Students still weep and continue to recollect memories of their friends who will never set foot in this school again,' he said, adding that they needed several days to regain normalcy and resume classes.
Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, adviser to the former premier and leader of the opposition, told New Age that Khaleda would reach Mirsharai by road at noon, and would visit as many of the homes of the deceased as possible during the tour.
The 44 victims, mostly students of Abu Torab High School, Abu Torab Primary School and Abu Torab Fazil Madrassah, were returning on a truck after watching a football match at Mirsarai stadium on Monday, when the accident, due to the negligence of the helper who was driving, took place.
Source : New Age

People to oust govt: Khaleda

The leader of the opposition in the parliament, Khaleda Zia, also the Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, on Wednesday said that her party would not allow the holding of any parliamentary polls if they were not held under a caretaker government.


Putting out a call for the people to rise up and overthrow the government, Khaleda said that her party would overthrow the AL-led government through a popular movement as it happened in Arab countries instead of violence.
The BNP will announce fresh action programmes as part of the party's anti-government movement soon after Eid-ul-Fitr, Khaleda said as she addressed a gathering of hunger strike at the Institution of Engineers in the capital.
Khaleda asked the law enforcement agencies to stop carrying out repression against opposition activists and said they would, otherwise, face dire consequences.
The BNP organised the hunger strike in protest at police assault on the opposition chief whip, Zainul Abdin Farroque, 'torture' on party activists in the July 6–7 general strike and in demand for annulment of the 15th amendment to the constitution.
Khaleda reached the venue at 12 noon although the programme was scheduled to begin at 10:00am and to continue till 6:00pm under her leadership.
Leaders of all components of the BNP-led alliance and some small like-minded political parties and professional bodies, civil society actors, educationists and cultural personalities expressed their solidarity with the hunger strike.
Oli Ahmed's Liberal Democratic Party, which split from the BNP towards the end of the BNP's 2001–2006 tenure, also expressed its support for the hunger strike.
Khaleda, who spoke for about an hour, mostly spoke of the ruling Awami League's 'failures' in running the country and its 'conspiracy' to cling to power.
'As the Awami League has come to know that the people will reject it outright in the next elections, it has started trying to hold the polls being in power,' she alleged.
Terming the amended constitution 'the manifesto of the Awami League,' Khaleda said, 'Soon after the change in power, the constitution will be thrown away.'
She called the Awami League an evil force and said that the force had gripped the country and was conspiring to cling to power by stage-managing elections with Ershad.
'That is why,' she said, 'they have changed the constitution. We will not allow it to be successful. We will, if necessary, sacrifice our blood to save the country and its people.'
Khaleda asked the new generation to rise up against the 'fascist' Awami League-led government. 'It is the high time you rose up against the government.'
Accusing the government of maintaining a subservient foreign policy towards India, she asked the government to disclose, before the signing of the deal, what Bangladesh would get in exchange for the transit to India through Bangladesh.
'We also want friendship with our neighbouring country but the friendship will need to be based on mutual benefits,' she said.
Khaleda also vowed to resist a government move 'to set up a special economic zone in Sylhet for India.'
She also announced to resist the government move to establish a new international airport and to set up a coal-fired power plant in Bagerhat.
Holding the Awami League responsible for the share market scam in the beginning of the year, Khaleda asked the ruling party to get ready to face the music. 'Who will you try? Get ready to face the trial.'
As for police assault on Zainul Abdin Farroque, Khaleda came down heavily on the law enforcement agencies and asked them to work impartially and to stop repression against opposition activists.
'Stop excesses and repression. You will, otherwise, get a fitting reply. You will not only lose your job but also be punished,' she said.
Khaleda also claimed that the Awami League had not taken part in the war for national independence. 'They did not join the independence war. It is the people who liberated the country in 1971,' she said.
BNP standing committee members RA Ghani, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Moudud Ahmed, MK Anwar, Mahbubur Rahman, Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, Rafiqul Islam Mia and ASM Hannan Shah, the chairperson's advisers Enam Ahmed Chowdhury, Shamsuzzaman Dudu, Osman Faruk, Sabihuddin Ahmed and Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, vice-chairmen and other senior leaders attended.
The acting amir of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Mokbul Ahmed, acting secretary general ATM Azharul Islam, assistant secretaries general Shafiqur Rahman and Abdur Razzak and Dhaka city unit chief Rafiqul Islam Khan were present.
Speaking on the occasion, ATM Azharul asked Khaleda to float a 'grand national unity' bringing all democratic and patriotic forces in a single platform under her leadership to rid the country of the grip of the Awami League's misrule.
The Bangladesh Jatiya Party chairman Andaleeve Rahman Partho, Jatiya Ganatantrik Party president Shafiul Alam Pradhan, National Democratic Party chairman Khandaker Golam Mortuza, National People's Party chairman Sheikh Showkat Hossain Nilu, Khelafat Majlish chairman Maulana Mohammad Isahaq, Bangladesh Labour Party chairman Mostafizur Rahman Iran, National Awami Party chairman Jabel Rahman Ghani and Bangladesh Islamic Party chairman Abdul Mobin attended the programme.
Former Dhaka University vice-chancellor Emajuddin Ahmed, daily Amar Desh acting editor Mahmudur Rahman, Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder Jafrullah Chowdhury, National Press Club president Kamaluddin Sabuj, Dhaka Journalists' Union president Abdus Shahid and Agriculturists Association of Bangladesh leader Hasan Zahid Tushar attended the hunger strike.
Renowned singer Baby Naznin and Dhaka University teacher Tazmeri SA Islam broke Khaleda's fasting by giving her water to drink about 6:15pm.
Source : New Age