Rumana Monzur, an assistant professor of the International Relations Department in Dhaka University who was brutally tortured by her husband Hasan Syeed, denied his allegation of infidelity at a press conference on Tuesday.
‘Please, do not believe in his allegation. I am urging you to look for the truth. Ask those with whom I stayed during my days abroad,’ said Rumana, bursting into tears at the crowded press briefing organised by her family in LabAid Specialised Hospital in Dhanmondi.
The mother of five-year-old Anushe also demanded justice for her husband’s inhuman torture which has blinded her for life.
Rights activist, academics, columnists and lawyers were also present at the press conference, the first called by Rumana since her husband on June 5 beat her up mercilessly and tried to gouge out her eyes.
The gruesome incident was highlighted by the press on June 12 as the victim’s father had wanted to avoid any publicity for the sake of the family’s reputation.
Rumana, who is doing post-graduate work at the University of British Columbia in Canada, was taken to India for treatment on June 14, and Syeed was finally caught by the police on June 15 after the High Court ordered them to bring him to book.
Rumana’s father, Major (Retd) Monzur Hossain, filed a case with Dhanmondi thana on June 6 against Syeed who remained in hiding for 10 days and was later arrested from a relative’s residence in Uttar Mugda.
Syeed, after being arrested, alleged that his wife had an affair with an Iranian during her stay in Canada.
When the media raised the allegation at Tuesday’s briefing, the rights activists present shouted, ‘Shame, shame’.
Terming the allegation of ‘infidelity’ as a typical weapon of patriarchy, the attendees called upon the media not to emphasise it.
Cultural personality Sara Zaker alleged that it is unfortunate and ‘shameful’ that most men still possess the brutal mentality of beating up their wife if they suspect them of having an affair with another man.
Khushi Kabir said that the media’s publicising of the allegation of infidelity was ‘insensitive’ and it should emphasise Syeed’s brutality rather than soil the victim’s character.
Columnist Rehnuma Ahmed said that the media should be more ‘sensitised’ in addressing the issue. ‘It is Rumana who is the victim. She should not be the one who has to defend herself,’ she pointed out.
Rumana returned home last month for research work and planned to return to Canada after three months.
After being brutally mauled by her husband on June 5, Rumana underwent treatment at LabAid Specialised Hospital in Dhaka and went to Chennai in India on June 14 for better treatment of her eyes.
She returned from India on June 20 after eye specialists there found no cure for her eyes.
Rumana was examined by eye specialists both at Sankara Nethralaya in Chennai and Aravind Eye Hospital in Pondicherry.
‘Her eyes will not recover unless a miracle happens’, said Rumana’s father Monzur Hossain.
Since the news was flashed in the media, a number of human chains and demonstrations were staged at home and abroad, demanding exemplary punishment of Hasan Syeed.
Source : New Age
People’s buying power keeps rice price up: JS panel
Despite a bumper harvest rice price is not falling because of increased buying power of the people, a parliamentary standing committee observed on Tuesday.
The committee on food and disaster management ministry also blamed global market for the rising prices in Bangladesh.
At its 26th meeting the committee expressed satisfaction over the stocks and at the stable market price of food grains in the country.
It, however, asked the government to take steps to build farmers' capacity so that they could protect themselves from middlemen in getting the benefits of official food grain procurement.
The committee laid stress on the growers getting the price support from the government's food grain procurement.
It advised the ministry to increase supply of food grains in the market.
The committee called for the allocation of food grains for relief at the beginning of the fiscal year, and at the end of it, to ensure transparency and stopping misuse of the government's relief programmes.
It also asked the government to make the people aware of disaster management by holding drills and exhibitions.
Source : New Age
Nepal risks political chaos over constitution task
Having won an extension to do in three months what it failed to manage in three years, Nepal's parliament has only deferred a crisis that threatens the Himalayan nation's fragile peace process.
Elected in 2008 after a decade of civil war between the government and Maoist insurgents, the 601-member parliament, or Constituent Assembly, was given a two-year mandate to write a new constitution.
But even after a one-year extension granted in 2010, the country's bickering political parties were unable to reach a consensus on the new charter — meant to pave the way for fresh elections and usher in a new social and political order after centuries of inequality.
Facing a constitutional crisis, political leaders agreed late last month to a further three-month extension and downgraded the task to just hammering out a first draft for the public to see.
But analysts believe the chances of producing a working document are slim, and warn that Nepal is teetering on the brink of political chaos that could permanently derail the peace process begun when the war ended in 2006.
Krishna Khanal, a political science professor at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan University, believes parliament's failure to meet the new August 31 deadline could result in its collapse and a return to authoritarian rule.
'A power vacuum and a struggle for power will ensue,' he said.
Khanal envisaged a scenario where president Ram Baran Yadav, whose current role is largely ceremonial, could make a play for power.
'But I don't think his party (Nepali Congress) would back him, and in that case, the Maoists are likely to take over,' he said.
At the heart of the rift between the largest party in parliament, the Maoists, and the opposition Nepali Congress is the integration of around 19,000 Maoist combatants into the national security forces — a key part of the peace process.
In a policy paper published this month, a Kathmandu-based think-tank, Martin Chautari, said resolving the integration issue and a host of other constitutional roadblocks remained 'politically challenging.'
In the absence of any agreement on such fundamental aspects of the peace process, 'it is difficult to gauge the exact gains of the extension other than averting an immediate political crisis', the paper said.
The first extension of the Constituent Assembly in 2010 was followed by a crippling, eight-month leadership vacuum, during which lawmakers held 16 failed attempts to elect a new prime minister.
Over the entire one-year extension period, the full Constituent Assembly met just eight times for a total period of 95 minutes.
The paralysis has fuelled public anger in what is one of the world's poorest nations — all a far cry from the euphoria and optimism that followed the end of the civil war and the abolition of the unpopular monarchy.
Stunted economic growth has forced many to seek work overseas, and thousands of Nepalese have taken to the streets in recent days to protest against the lack of progress in delivering the constitution.
'There's a lot of frustration. People expect to see significant improvement. Not only the common people but the young leaders are also frustrated,' said Anagha Neelakantan, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group.
Opinion over the strategy of the powerful Maoists is divided, with some like Neelakantan still hopeful that the former rebels remain committed to the constitutional process.
'There are differences among the parties but the Maoists are not pushing against democracy,' she said. 'The parties are not so far apart but the Maoist party is in a complex form of transformation.'
Others like Tilak Pathak, a political writer for Nagarik newspaper, argue that the Maoist participation in parliament is largely cosmetic and aimed at consolidating an urban power base.
'The Maoists may seem accommodating but they haven't given up the communist model. They might propose a parliamentary election with their combatants intact,' Pathak said.
'The differences between these parties have become sharper. The Nepalese people may never get a secular and inclusive constitution because the politicians think they will gain by prolonging the transition,' he warned.
Source : New Age
Rape victim succumbs to burn injuries
http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/frontpage/23419.htmlA young housewife, who was raped and set on fire by goons in a remote Noakhali village on June 12, died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Tuesday, eight days after fighting a grim battle for life.
The victim, Nurjahan Begum, 22, mother of two children, was admitted to the burn and plastic surgery unit at DMCH in a critical condition on June 15 and died at about 1:20am on Tuesday, the hospital sources said.
Her family said that the alleged rapists Omar and Faruk, and the former's mother Rokeya Begum, went to her house at village Dhakkhin Masumpur on the night of June 12 and set her alight after she had approached a village arbitration with her complaint.
'Omar and his mother surrendered to a Noakhali court on Sunday and the court granted a three-day remand each for them,' the case investigation officer, subinspector Mehdi Hasan, told New Age on Tuesday.
Family members said that Omar and Faruk, neighbours of the victim, had sneaked into her room after she went to toilet early June 11 and raped her in front of her terrified children.
Her husband was away at Chittagong when the incident took place. After the victim went to a village-arbitration with the complaint, Omar, Faruk and Rokeya Begum went to her house at about 8:00pm on June 12, doused her with petrol and set her alight.
Jamshed Hossain, the victim's husband and driver of a CNG-run three-wheeler in Chittagong, said no human rights organisations or legal aid providers had come forward with assistance as yet.
Her family appealed to the government to bring the perpetrators of the crime to book.
Rights watchdog Odhikar reported 1,242 cases of rape in January 2009-May 2011.
Source : New Age
Dhaka ranks 25th in ‘failed states’ index
Bangladesh ranked 25th in this year's Failed States Index prepared jointly by the Washington-based bimonthly magazine Foreign Policy and the Fund for Peace, an independent research and educational organisation.
Bangladesh, which held 24th position in the annual ranking of the world's most vulnerable states in 2010, moved one point down the ranks this year suggesting improvement in its performance on a battery of indicators.
African country Somalia retained the top spot on the Failed States Index for the fourth year in a row with 113.4 score while, Pakistan is at number 12, Myanmar is at 18, Nepal at 27, Sri Lanka at 29 Bhutan at 50 and India at 76.
Other countries among the top 10 are Chad, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Central African Republic and Iraq.
The findings were made available on the Foreign Policy web site on Tuesday.
Bangladesh scored 94.4 in the FSI rankings that analysed 177 countries using 12 social, economic and political indicators of pressure on the state, along with over 100 sub-indicators including such issues as uneven development, state legitimacy, group grievance and human rights. Each indicator is rated on a scale of 1-10, based on the analysis of millions of publicly available documents, other quantitative data, and assessments by analysts.
A high score indicates high pressure on the state, and therefore a higher risk of instability.
About Bangladesh, the Foreign Policy web site said, 'It is perhaps a measure of progress that instability in Bangladesh so far in 2011 has been the product of a turbulent stock market. Not so long ago, the idea that international investors would come to Bangladesh…would have seemed preposterous. But in recent years, investors have poured their money into Bangladeshi stocks. Fears that banks and other big investors might pull out triggered mass protests across the country… several times this year.
Despite the frequent shocks, Bangladesh's macro-economy still looks strong and the government promised in May that it would see the best growth in decades, it said.
'Bangladesh will need years of similar growth to transcend its years of stagnation: Two out of five Bangladeshis live under the poverty line. Any improvements will also be fighting the environmental clock. If sea levels rise just by 1 metre, scientists warn, 17 percent of the country could be submerged,' the Foreign Policy said.
Since 2005, the index has been published annually by the Fund for Peace and the Foreign Policy magazine.
Ken Brill, president of The Fund for Peace, characterised the FSI rankings as providing a quick snapshot of how well states were coping with the variety of pressures with which they must contend.
He said that pressures on governments ripple across economic, political and social indicators; sometimes necessary steps taken to address one indicator adversely affect another.
The FSI 2011 will be formally launched on June 29 in Washington.
The Fund for Peace is an independent research and educational organisation based in Washington, and Foreign Policy is a bimonthly American magazine founded in 1970.
Source : New Age
BNP vows to ‘thwart’ move to amend constitution
The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Tuesday vowed to 'thwart' the government's move to 'unilaterally' amend the constitution scrapping the caretaker government system.
An emergency meeting of the party's highest policy making body, the national standing committee, on Tuesday night, opposed most of the changes the cabinet had approved on Monday for amendment to the constitution.
The people cannot accept the changes, including scrapping of the caretaker government system and deletion of the words 'Absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah shall be the basis of all actions', the meeting resolved.
It also termed 'undemocratic' the proposed provision barring any amendment to a number of parts, articles and provisions of the constitution.
The meeting also said that the government had closed the doors for resolution of the crisis through discussions by approving the proposed amendments to the constitution.
The approval proved that the government's proposal for discussions aimed to 'confuse' the people, the meeting said.
The meeting followed the cabinet's approval of the Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Bill that proposed sweeping changes to the constitution, including scrapping of the caretaker government system.
The BNP and its allies have been opposing the move and enforced two countrywide general strikes in protest.
With BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, also the leader of the opposition, in the chair, the meeting was attended by RA Gani, Moudud Ahmed, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, MK Anwar, Nazrul Islam Khan, Hannan Shah, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Rafiqul Islam Mia and Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
Source : New Age
BNP says no to EC invitation
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Tuesday turned down the Election Commission's invitation for dialogue, branding the EC 'controversial' and accusing it of indulging in 'biased and motivated' acts.
'The present commission has lost the people's confidence for its weak and partisan attitude. Discussion with such a commission on electoral matters will be of no benefit because it won't ensure the holding of fair elections,' said the letter signed by BNP's acting secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
The BNP said that all the initiatives that the EC has taken since its formation, including registration of political parties, were biased and motivated.
The country's main opposition party said the EC's activities during the regime of the past interim government were carried out at its instruction and were aimed to uproot the BNP and make another party win the polls.
'This controversial commission, at the fag end of its tenure, should not take initiatives to reform and update electoral rules. The job should be left for the next commission,' observed BNP in the letter which was taken to the EC by one of the party's assistant office secretaries.
The tenure of the incumbent commission, formed during the regime of the military-controlled interim government, will expire in February 2012.
The EC has already held talks with several registered political parties to elicit their opinions on further amendment of the electoral laws, and issues like funding of polls expenditure by the state, introduction of e-voting, formulation of rules on demarcation of constituencies and the procedure of appointment of election commissioners.
Election Commissioner M Sakhawat Hossain told newsmen said they would respond to the BNP's letter afterwards.
On June 13 the BNP did not participate in the dialogue with the EC, which later invited the party again to the talks on any day between June 19 and June 21.
BNP's chairperson Khaleda Zia, at a news conference on June 16, rejected the invitation, alleging that the incumbent commission was not impartial.
'BNP's decision [not to join the dialogue] is sad. The Election Commission has nothing to do if anyone does not come,' Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda told reporters on Monday.
Source : New Age
44 killed in Russia plane crash
A passenger jet slammed into the ground and caught fire while trying to land on a foggy night in northwestern Russia, killing 44 people and leaving eight survivors badly hurt, officials said on Tuesday.
Authorities quickly blamed the pilot for the deadliest crash in Russia since Polish president Lech Kaczyski's plane went down in April 2010, saying he had apparently tried to land despite bad weather and poor visibility.
The Tupolev-134, with 43 passengers and nine crew, crashed on a roadside 700 meters short of the runway at the Besovets airport outside the northern city of Petrozavodsk at 11:40pm local time on Monday.
'The preliminary information is that 44 people were killed,' emergency situations ministry spokeswoman Irina Andriyanova said. 'Eight people were injured and seven of them are in a very serious condition.'
The plane veered off course while coming in to land and controllers ordered the pilot to circle again, but it hit a power line, briefly blacking out the runway lights, Itar-Tass news agency cited a local emergency official as saying.
The plane scraped the treetops and hit a motorway near the airport, breaking into pieces. Photos and video footage showed flames shooting from the wreckage, body parts lying on the road and the plane's wheels lying upside down by the roadside.
'I managed to take a woman or a girl out of there, she was light,' news web site www.lifenews.ru quoted a witness as saying. He said he and his father had removed several more people before the plane blew up.
'I didn't have time to do anything else, it all started to explode,' he said. 'Everything caught fire, there was no way to get close.'
The deputy prime minister, Sergei Ivanov, who oversees Russia's aviation industry, said pilot error was the most likely cause.
'From the initial external data the pilot's mistake is clear,' Ivanov said in Paris.
'In bad weather conditions he veered to the right of the runway and in foggy conditions searched for the runway visually until the last minute, did not find it, and what happened,' Ivanov said.
The plane hit a car on the road, dragging it under the fuselage, Itar-Tass reported. It was unclear how many people were in the car.
Www.lifenews.ru, which posted a full list of passengers, said a 10-year-old boy named Anton had survived the crash but had an open hip wound and had lost a lot of blood. His 14-year-old sister was also injured and in hospital.
The passengers included two Ukrainians, a Swede, a Dutch national and four people with both Russian and US citizenship, the emergency situations ministry said. Germany's foreign office said a man with German-Russian dual citizenship was killed.
The president, Dmitry Medvedev, offered his condolences to victims' relatives and ordered authorities to aid survivors, the Kremlin said. The prime minister, Vladimir Putin, also offered his condolences, the government website said.
A video made by a witness on her mobile phone and broadcast on state-run Rossiya-24 television showed flames soaring from the wreckage into the night sky near where the plane crashed, in the region of Kareliya 700 km northwest of Moscow.
Lifenews quoted a traffic controller at the airport, Sergei Shmatkov, as saying the pilot rejected his advice to circle again. The pilot reported passing a marker 6,600 meters from the runway, but the plane disappeared from Shmatkov's radar screen and never came into view, he said.
In April last year, Polish President Kaczynski's official Tupolev Tu-154 plane crashed near Smolensk airport in western Russia when it missed the runway in dense fog after the pilot rejected controllers' advise to land elsewhere.
All 96 people on board died including Kaczynski, his wife and a large number of senior officials. A Russian investigation blamed the crash on pilot error.
The Tu-134 plane that crashed on Monday was operated by the private company RusAir and was travelling from Moscow's Domodedovo airport. RusAir, which specializes in charter flights, declined immediate comment.
Source : New Age
Democratic space, fight against graft crucial for dev
Democratic space and fight against corruption are essential to harness the huge development potential of Bangladesh, European Union and Germany said Tuesday.
Bangladesh is a new democracy where the government and the opposition should keep space open for talks, European Union commissioner for development Andris Piebalg said at a joint press conference with German minister for economic cooperation and development Dirk Niebel in Dhaka.
Democratic space is crucial for maintaining economic growth and development, Andris Piebalg said.
German minister Dirk Niebel laid stress on fighting corruption to reach benefit of development to the poor.
He said civil society was a partner of politicians for development of the country.
'They [civil society] are better part of politicians,' he said.
Describing Bangladesh as a stable country in the region, they said the EU and Germany were working for building a longer term strategy to help Bangladesh to become a middle-income country.
The two visiting European dignitaries came up with their views after a meeting behind closed doors with a select group of representatives of non-government organisations and media.
Professor Mohammad Ibrahim, executive director of Centre for Mass Education in Science, told New Age that the EU and German ministers wanted to know the conditions in which the civil society organisations were working in Bangladesh.
They also wanted to know about human rights and governance situation here, he said.
'Most of the members of the civil society said the scope of their work should be wider. Their works should not be undermined,'said Ibrahim, a teacher of physics at Dhaka University.
The Daily Star editor, Mahfuz Anam, said the government could not accommodate dissenting voices.
He said the people had expected a lot from the government as it had come to power with a huge majority. However, frustration brewed as many promises were not fulfilled, he added.
Boishakhi Television's chief editor and chief executive officer Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul said the government had enacted Right to Information Act, but the people could not get its benefit as the government and non-government organisations could not provide necessary manpower.
Most of the civil society organisations could not function properly as they were over politicised, he said.
Most of the representatives of the civil society organisations said 'democratic scope' was shrinking in Bangladesh, where custodial killing, disappearance of people and repression on leaders and activists of opposition political parties had become common incidents, a representative of a rights organisation told New Age.
They said judiciary had become an 'extension of the executive branch' and Anti-Corruption Commission had been weakened.
Source : New Age
Ministers’ absence from JS budget discussion criticised
Awami League lawmaker Suranjit Sengupta on Tuesday strongly criticised the ministers, including the finance minister, for remaining absent in the parliament during discussions on the budget proposal for the 2011–2012 financial year.
The speaker, a ruling party whip and the only independent lawmaker supported Suranjit when he raised the issue. The chief whip and the finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, however, defended the ministers.
Suranjit took the floor on a point of order and calling the speaker's attention said that none of the ministers but the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, was present in the parliament during discussions after the interval of the maghrib prayers.
'It is disheartening for us that we are talking the budget but the finance minister and his other cabinet colleagues are absent,' Suranjit said.
He said that the finance minister was absent, the planning minister was absent and even not a single cabinet member was there.
When he was saying this, the home minister entered the parliament followed by the finance minister and some others.
The speaker, Abdul Hamid, agreed with Suranjit's observation and said that 80 per cent of the ministers were absent although all of them should have been present.
'I think that it is a must that at least a half of the ministers should be present in parliament,' he said adding that the ministers might have some other duties but most of them should be present.
He said that the presence of the ministers encourage the lawmakers when they speak about different ministries.
Hamid said that two finance ministry officials were in the parliament and he had arranged their seating in the gallery so that they could take note of necessary points but they could not be seen at the time.
After the speaker had spoken, whip ASM Firoz took the floor and supported what the speaker had said. But he said that the ministers were in the parliament and were listening to the discussions sitting in their rooms. 'I hope they will be in the house from now on.'
The independent lawmaker Fazlul Azim then took the floor and said that he disagreed with the practice of listening to discussions staying in the rooms and demanded that the ministers should be present in the session in person.
'I expect your [speaker's] ruling that the minister should be present in the session as the session begins after office hours,' he said.
The chief whip, Abdus Shahid, however, defended the ministers, saying that they took notes as they listened to the discussions sitting in their rooms and that the issue should not be discussed there.
The finance minister said that he had attended the session to listen to the discussion every day and stayed for a long time although sometimes he had been late.
'I was late sometimes but the reason for my delayed presence is the budget and the lawmakers,' Muhith said adding that the lawmakers visited them to discuss the budget which caused the delay.
Source : New Age
4 more killed in UP polls violence
Four more were killed in Mymensingh, Chandpur, Chuadanga and Jamalpur on Tuesday and Monday night in polls-related violence, raising the number of people killed during the ongoing second phase of the Union Parishad elections to 21.
The elections to 133 UPs were held on Tuesday amidst stray clashes, leaving at least 150 injured. Polls to 147 unions are scheduled to be held today.
The elections, which have been marred by clashes, intimidation and snatching of ballot boxes, began on May 31 and will continue till July 5.
According to the UNB, a man who was shot in a clash with the police on Sunday died at Gouripur Hospital in Daudkandi on Tuesday.
The deceased was identified as Abdus Sobhan, 34, nephew of defeated chairman candidate Abul Hossain of Nayergaon South Union of South Matlab upazila of Chandpur, and son of Abu Zafar of Juranpur village of Daudkandi upazila in Comilla.
Abu Yousuf, 25, of Ashwinpur village of North Nayergaon union of Matlab South died on the spot after being hit by a stray bullet.
Besides, two policemen, three Ansar members and five other people were severely injured. They are receiving treatment at various hospitals.
In Chuadanga a BNP-backed member candidate at Hauli union in Damurhuda upazila was killed in an attack, allegedly by his rivals, during polling on Tuesday.
The deceased was identified as Nazrul Islam Nazu, 38. He was also the member of No 2 ward and president of the BNP ward unit.
His wife Mini Khatun claimed that supporters of rival candidate Asgar Ali asked Nazu to leave the area when her husband went to visit a polling centre in the Youth Club at 11am.
When he ignored their order, they beat him to death, said Mini.
However, in spite of the incident, voting at the centre went on smoothly, apparently due to prompt action taken by local officials.
In Mymensingh, a defeated UP chairman candidate of Rampur UP in Phulpur upazila was fatally stabbed to death by supporters of his opponent, and died in Mymensingh Medical
College Hospital on Tuesday.
Reazuddin Dulal, joint secretary of the Juba League unit in Tarakandi, was defeated in the UP election held on June 2. Supporters of his opponent Nazirul Haq Talukdar, also defeated in the election, hacked him with sharp weapons when he was returning home from Kashiganj bazaar on June 15 evening.
Fatally wounded, he was rushed to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital where he died on Tuesday.
The New Age correspondent in Jamalpur reported that a man was killed in Islampur upazila on Monday night.
The victim was identified as Mofazzal Hossain alias Bucha Munshi, 60, of village Degreer Char Khalifa Para at Charputimary union in Islampur upazila.
According to the police, Bucha Munsi, cousin of defeated chairman candidate Shahid Kazi, came under the attack by supporters of Md Alim, another defeated candidate, while going home. They stabbed his chest and he died on the spot. Police recovered the body and sent it to Jamalpur General Hospital's morgue for autopsy.
Our correspondent in Pabna reported that at least 50 people were injured in separate clashes in Sujanagar upazila of Pabna on Monday night. Of them, 17 were admitted to the Sujanagar Upazila Health Complex.
There were clashes between the defeated candidates at Udoypur village under Nazirpur union, Fakirpur and Momrajpur village under Satbaria union of the upazila on Monday night.
In Fakirpur village the men of defeated member candidate Abdul Kuddus attacked the residence of rebel candidate Abdul Baten at about 10.00pm and wounded 10 people. Of them member candidate Abdul Baten, his wife Monwara Khatun, daughter Shukhi Khatun and neighbour Nasir Uddin were admitted to Sujnagara Upazila Health Complex in a critical condition.
At about 10pm on Monday the supporters of defeated member candidate Rafik Mondol attacked the voters in the village and injured 10 people. Of them Shipul Ahmed, 28, Kayum Mollah, 40, and Ashrafun Khatun, 25, were admitted to the upazila health complex.
The New Age correspondent in Narsingdi reported that at least 50 people were injured in a clash between two rival groups in Amirabad and Sonkanda villages in Raipura upazila on Tuesday.
Police said that about 500 people led by Morshed member attacked Majnu Miah and Apan and some 4 other supporters of UP chairman Abdul Haque Sarkar in Sonakanda village.
Source : New Age
Ex-SC judges can hold offices, appear in AD
The Appellate Division on Tuesday ordered retention of the constitutional provisions allowing former Supreme Court judges to hold judicial or quasi–judicial offices and former High Court judges to appear in the Appellate Division.
The seven-member Appellate Division bench, headed by Justice SK Sinha, ordered retention of the provisions, incorporated in the Fifth Amendment to the constitution which had earlier been declared void by the highest court, till December 31, 2012 to enable parliament to make necessary amendments to the constitution.
With Tuesday order, all the changes made to the constitution as regards the judiciary and the judges by the Fifth Amendment through martial law proclamations have been retained by the Supreme Court.
The government, however, on Monday approved a bill seeking amendment to the constitution and the bill proposed retention of Article 99(1) and (2).
The court passed the order after hearing a government petition for modification of its May 11 ruling which had ordered retention of some provisions, including the Supreme Court's authority over the subordinate judiciary and Bangladeshi citizenship, made by the Fifth Amendment to the constitution, until December 31, 2012.
Moving the government petition, attorney general Mahbubey Alam sought retention of Article 99(2) to allow retired High Court judges to appear in the Appellate Division.
The court, however, asked him to seek retention of Article 99(1) that stipulated provisions for holding judicial or quasi-judicial offices in the service of the republic by the former (be retired or removed) Supreme Court judges.
The provisions made by the Fifth Amendment through martial law proclamations 'are hereby provisionally condoned until December 31, 2012 in order to avoid disastrous consequences to the body politic for enabling the parliament to make necessary amendments to the constitution and also for enacting laws promulgated during the aforesaid period,' the court said.
Earlier on May 11, the Appellate Division ordered retention of Article 6 dealing with Bangladeshi citizenship, Article 44 guaranteeing the right to move the High Court for the enforcement of the fundamental rights and Article 102 that had restored authority to the High Court to pass necessary orders to enforce fundamental rights, Article 96 making provisions for the Supreme Judicial Council for removal of judges and holders of constitutional offices and repealed Part VI-A of the constitution, which was added by the Fourth Amendment making provisions for forming a 'National Party' as the lone political party in the country, will also be retained, the court ordered.
Source : New Age
High college admission fees ‘breach ministry directive’
Parents and guardians are struggling to pay admission fee for their children seeking enrolment in Class XI this year as private colleges across the country have started charging higher and, in many cases, even higher than the limit set by the education ministry.
According to an education ministry directive, private colleges cannot charge more than Tk 5,000 for the admission to Class XI although this is mostly ignored by the colleges with some admission fees being set at two or three times the limit.
A student has to pay Tk 13,000 for admission to Class IX in Viqarunnisa Noon School and College while Motijheel Ideal School and College is charging Tk 11,000 for admission.
It is not just these two well-known schools. Dhaka City College is charging Tk 15,592, admission to Tejgoan College costs Tk 9,000 and the fee at Mirpur University College is Tk 7,600.
Perhaps the highest fee is set by the Crown Business Studies College which is charging Tk 19,000 for admission to Class XI.
In addition to the admission fee, some colleges are also charging tuition fees.
The tuition fee is Tk 2700 a month at the College of Development Alternative, Tk 2000 a month at the Crown Business Studies College, Tk 1100 a month at the Milestone College, and Tk 1,100 a month at Stamford College.
Husne Ara Begum, the principal of Viqarunnisa Noon College, acknowledged that her college was charging between Tk 12,000 and Tk 13,000 for admission to Class XI but claimed that it was not in violation of the education ministry directive.
'We are charging Tk 5,000 as the development fee and the rest of the money is for other expenses,' she said. 'We are charging this amount following the decision of our governing body.'
Many guardians who were putting their children through these schools said that they were struggling to manage the expense.
'Every year, educational institutions are increasing the admission and tuition fees assuming there to be no monitoring authority to spot the irregularities in the colleges,' said Shafik Ahmed, a guardian whose daughter will get admission to Viqarunnisa College.
'During the admission time, the education ministry set up a committee for investigation but no action has been taken against any institutions,' he added.
Ahsanul Basher, another guardian, told New Age, 'How can the government allow the institutions to charge this way? There should be a monitoring system from the government.'
Nomanur Rashid, the director general of the directorate of secondary and higher education, said that the directorate had set up a committee to investigate whether colleges have too high charges.
'We will recommend taking action once we receive the report from the committee,' he said.
He said that the directorate had no power to take action against institutions but could only recommend to the education ministry that sanctions should be imposed.
Source : New Age
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