Archive for August 21st, 2008
Thursday, August 21st, 2008The masterminds behind assassination attempt on Awami League (AL) chief Sheikh Hasina on August 21, 2004 remain undetected even after charges have been pressed in two cases filed in this connection.The government investigators believe although 22 people are charge-sheeted, the key planners of the grisly grenade attack are still untraced."The gravity of the attack indicates it was not possible to be carried out without backing of any influential group or some most powerful people. But we don't see any such findings," says an investigator who was assigned soon after the attack and discharged the duty for quite a long time.Referring ...
(read more) Thursday, August 21st, 2008An ironic twist of fate after the 1/11 changeover has turned the powerful world of politicians upside down, no matter how horrible or painful the life has become for the people.Be in power or opposition, the politicians always remained powerful except for last few months when political bigwigs were either arrested on corruption charge or promptly went into hiding.A makeshift tea stall now represents the Gulshan residence of Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, former commerce minister of the four-party alliance government.One can buy snacks and groceries from the stall set up by a guard of Khasru, who is on the run ...
(read more) Thursday, August 21st, 2008The High Court (HC) yesterday granted bail to nine high-profile prisoners, including seven politicians, on different terms and stayed the graft case against Awami League leader Abdul Jalil.The politicians who got bail are former law minister Moudud Ahmed, former health minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, former state ministers Prof Rafiqul Islam, Amanullah Aman, Fazlur Rahman Patal, BNP Whip Shahidul Haq Jamal and former lawmaker Mohammad Shahjahan.Industrialists Salman F Rahman and Syed Hossain Chowdhury also got bail.A two-member HC bench comprising Justice Sharif Uddin Chaklader and Justice Md Imdadul Haq Azad passed the orders granting them bails.Meanwhile, the Supreme Court yesterday upheld ...
(read more) Thursday, August 21st, 2008Kuwait will repatriate over 500 Bangladeshi workers including 300 female cleaners after a Kuwaiti labour court ruled in favour of the workers deprived of promised wages and other benefits.The Bangladeshi workers, placed at various government establishments by a local cleaning company, filed a complaint with the Labour Court under the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour saying that the company was irregular with payments and also failed to renew their residencies.The court ordered the company to pay the workers two months' salary, other benefits and ticket fares for returning home, reported Kuwaiti newspaper Arab Times yesterday quoting an ...
(read more) Thursday, August 21st, 2008A special court yesterday framed charges against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and five others in a graft case in connection with purchase of MiG-29 warplanes.Judge Golam Mortuza Majumder of Special Judge's Court, Dhaka Division, also fixed September 3 for beginning the hearing of witnesses' depositions.With yesterday's charge framing the Awami League chief is now charged in three cases. On January 13, Hasina was indicted in a Tk 2.99 crore extortion case filed by businessman Azam J Chowdhury, and on May 18, charges were framed against her in a graft case in connection with setting up a barge-mounted power ...
(read more) Thursday, August 21st, 2008Rajshahi University (RU) was closed for an indefinite period yesterday following violent clashes that erupted the night before between students and local businesspeople.The RU authorities asked resident students to vacate all of the 16 dormitories by 12:00 noon yesterday.At least 60 people including teachers, students and police personnel were injured and six off-campus stores vandalised during the clashes. Out of the seriously injured, mostly students, 20 were admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital while the rest were given first aid at RU Medical Centre.Bangladesh Rifles and Rapid Action Battalion were deployed on the campus at around 2:00am to contain the ...
(read more) Thursday, August 21st, 2008Truth and Accountability Commission (Tac) Chairman Justice Habibur Rahman Khan yesterday admitted that the response so far was not up to the expectation and said an extension of time for confession by the corrupt people would be considered.“We have not so far received cases as we expected…September 1 is the deadline for voluntary disclosure of ill-gotten wealth. If there is not enough response, we will consider (extending the time),” the Tac chairman told the commission's weekly briefing.He said since the formation of the commission, some 21 corrupt individuals have applied to take the advantage of the clemency in return for ...
(read more) Thursday, August 21st, 2008Rashida Akhter Ruma was struggling to hold back her tears, all the while cursing the fickleness of fate. Why she was not killed on this day four years ago when grenades rained down all around her, leaving her to bear the throes of injuries for life?She has a point. Her death would have drawn public attention, enabling her two daughters to get some help.The nightmare of the August 21 afternoon of 2004 haunts the former women affairs secretary for ward No. 69 of the Awami League day in, day out."The first grenade exploded as the netri (Sheikh Hasina) ended her ...
(read more) Thursday, August 21st, 2008Four years into the grisly grenade attacks on an Awami League rally on this day, neither the supplier of the grenades has been arrested nor the channel through which those were smuggled in could be tracked down.The investigation officer (IO) of the two cases filed in connection with the grenade attacks submitted charge sheet on June 11 this year against 22 people including grenade supplier Maulana Tajuddin, younger brother of former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu, also a charge-sheeted accused in the cases.Investigators suspect that Tajuddin is holed up either in Pakistan or South Africa.Assistant Superintendent of the Criminal ...
(read more) 
