Archive for April 12th, 2008
Saturday, April 12th, 2008Hundreds of Islamist activists clashed with police for hours on the second day of violent protests in the city's Baitul Mukarram National Mosque area yesterday, leaving over 200 people injured.Police used batons and fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells to break up demonstrations against the recently announced national women development policy in defiance of the state of emergency.At least 52 policemen and five journalists were among the injured.Some 17 people were arrested in connection with the clashes. Deputy Commissioner (DC) Mazharul Islam of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Motijheel zone last night said they filed a case accusing over ...
(read more) Saturday, April 12th, 2008Chief Justice M Ruhul Amin yesterday said the demand for equal rights for women in every aspect of life is logical."Women are about a half of the total population. Hence, their demand for equal rights is logical. Then why various incidents are taking place now centring the issue?" he wondered.The chief justice was addressing the inaugural session of a two-day workshop titled 'Justice System Education Initiative on Gender Equality Issues', arranged by Khan Foundation in its Democracy Auditorium in the morning.Chaired by former minister Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan, the event was addressed, among others, by Justice Mohammad Fazlul Karim, and ...
(read more) Saturday, April 12th, 2008M Saifur Rahman, acting chairman appointed by the BNP standing committee, has taken a fresh initiative to reunite the party before talks with the Election Commission (EC) and the caretaker government.Leaders of pro-Khaleda faction, meantime, are planning to appeal the High Court (HC) verdict dismissing detained Chairperson Khaleda Zia's writ challenging the EC's invitation to pro-Saifur faction for the dialogue on electoral reforms.Insiders said Saifur, a former finance minister, has already called a few pro-Khaleda leaders including Khandaker Delwar Hossain, standing committee members RA Gani and Shamsul Islam, and the chairperson's adviser Brig Gen (retd) Hannan Shah with ...
(read more) Saturday, April 12th, 2008Middle-class people and those with limited income have been rendered helpless by the spiralling price of edibles as well as by the spike in expenses on other heads.House rent and cost of education, medical treatment and transport also saw a steady rise in the last few months.Frustration is growing among these groups, as neither their income has increased nor they are getting any support like that of the government safety net programmes for the poor.A recent study of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (Cab) reveals that lifestyle expenditure of people increased by 16.78 percent in 2007, whereas in the ...
(read more) Saturday, April 12th, 2008Sixty-two year old Abul Hossain of Itkhola village in sadar upazila would have earned his retirement by now had he held a job.Instead he struggles to gather two square meals a day for his family.For Abul is a marginal farmer in wait for his boro harvest, fighting to keep the hunger wolves from his door as the price of rice keeps rising higher and higher.With no fixed income or savings, Abul is dependent on his two teen sons working at a tea stall to get the money to buy rice each day.“What can I do? I have spent all I ...
(read more) Saturday, April 12th, 2008The government has decided to allocate Tk 425 crore in the next budget for holding elections to parliament and local government bodies while the Election Commission (EC) sought Tk 570 crore for the job.The EC sought Tk 250 crore for holding the stalled ninth parliamentary election, Tk 100.50 crore for elections to upazila parishads, Tk 200.50 crore for union parishads, Tk 12 crore for city corporations and Tk 2.10 crore for polls to municipalities.But the finance ministry agreed to allocate Tk 425 crore, sources in the EC Secretariat said.The ministry however assured the EC of providing more ...
(read more) Saturday, April 12th, 2008The proposed national security council (NSC) must be dominated by civilians and should work as a helping hand for strengthening democracy by advising the cabinet on various national security issues, said Bangladesh Heritage Foundation Chairman Wali-ur Rahman yesterday.The former ambassador made the comment at a discussion organised by the foundation on the occasion of publication of a book titled 'National Security and Development Council' edited by him. The book is a compilation of observations on NSC by academics, former bureaucrats and journalists.Speakers at the discussion suggested formation of an NSC comprised of appropriate representations from politicians, experts from the ...
(read more) Saturday, April 12th, 2008Hundreds of madrasa students went on the rampage and stormed Hathazari Police Station in Chittagong yesterday over rumours that an imam was killed earlier in the day in clashes between police and religious militants in Dhaka.Clashes that followed left more than 10 people, including five police, injured.Police said students of Darul Ulum Moin Ul Islam, a local religious institution, brought out a procession at about 6:30pm protesting police action on the activists of Anti-Quranic Law Resistance Committee in Dhaka.The procession became unruly while passing by the Hathazari Police Station as rumours spread that an imam was killed in clashes between ...
(read more) Saturday, April 12th, 2008In reaction to yesterday's violent clashes between irate Islamists and police over the country's new women's development policy, members of the civil society and human rights activists called upon all to maintain peace.They also wondered aloud why the khatib of National Mosque was not issued a show cause notice.Questions were also raised regarding how and why bamboo poles and brickbats were kept in Baitul Mukarram National Mosque, and if some quarters were trying to take advantage of the situation to divert public attention from more crucial national issues.Around 200 people, including 52 police personnel, were injured in clashes between the ...
(read more) Saturday, April 12th, 2008At least 20 students of Dhaka Medical College were injured in clashes between Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) and Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) yesterday.Students said tensions had already been mounting in last few days between the student wings of the BNP and the Awami League over recruiting freshers into their organisations.They said the JCD activists swooped on their rivals at about 10:30am yesterday following an altercation Thursday between the two groups during the celebration of the 65th day of K-65 batch, this year's intake in the medical college.Chase and counter-chase followed for nearly two hours in which 20 students ...
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