Archive for October 26th, 2008
Sunday, October 26th, 2008Although the law-enforcement agencies have listed 29 Islamic organisations for suspected involvement in militancy, they have trained their focus only on outlawed Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Harkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji).Sources in the law-enforcement agencies say they are not in a position to take a tough line on the suspected outfits unless they get hard evidence of terror activities against them.“A crackdown on the suspected organisations requires a government policy in this regard as the issue is linked to sensitive religious matters," says a top law enforcer.He however argues they are closely tracking these outfits since the official drive ...
(read more) Sunday, October 26th, 2008Bangladeshi Brac employees Akhter Ali and Mohammad Shahjahan Ali, who were abducted in Afghanistan two days ago, are yet to be located.There was no government move as of last night to expedite their release and Brac officials in Dhaka failed to say anything specific about their fate.Unidentified gunmen abducted the two in Ghanzi province of Afghanistan Thursday afternoon.Their family members said they went to the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (Brac) head office in Dhaka and tried to communicate with officials but none was available.Shahjahan's only son, Sharif went to the Brac office but failed to get any information ...
(read more) Sunday, October 26th, 2008The Election Commission (EC) has sent to Bangladesh Bank (BB) a list of the winners and their nearest contenders in the last three parliamentary polls to revitalise the mechanism to prevent loan defaulters from contesting the December 18 parliamentary election.In line with an EC decision, its secretariat sent the list containing names and addresses of 900 lawmakers elected and their 900 nearest contenders in the 1991, 1996 and 2006 parliamentary elections.The EC Secretariat asked the central bank to make preparations in advance by updating the list of loan defaulters among prospective parliamentary contenders because review of previous facts shows that ...
(read more) Sunday, October 26th, 2008Farzana Parvin was eagerly waiting in the corner of a dairy farm. Carrying her 19-month-old daughter Tumpa on her lap, she came here from Kayettuli about two hours ago.By the time she arrived more than one hundred plastic bottles were already lying on the floor in front of the manager's table."It'll take still more than an hour to get the milk," commented Farzana. Asked how long she has been buying milk from the farm, she said, "Just a few days when I heard about the poison in the powdered milk."If she buys one litre of milk at Tk 60, she ...
(read more) Sunday, October 26th, 2008Two major political parties Awami League (AL) and BNP are waiting to see the caretaker government implement the consensual agreements they reached at the last round of politico-electoral talks among the three.Insiders of both parties said they want the agreements to be implemented before the announcement of the detailed election schedule on November 2.Leaders of both parties said they especially want to hear specific decisions coming from the military backed government regarding the state of emergency, and about participation of their chiefs Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina in the election.Top leaders of BNP-led four-party alliance are likely to meet ...
(read more) Sunday, October 26th, 2008Daylong drizzle coupled with cold winds disrupted life in the capital and elsewhere as a well-marked low over the Bay of Bengal grew into a depression yesterday.Met office in Dhaka predicted that the squally weather conditions may continue for a couple of days with the depression threatening to strengthen further.In a special bulletin, it said the low, formed over the west-central Bay and adjoining northwest Bay, has been moving north-westerly after becoming a depression.“Under the influence, heavy to very heavy rainfall may occur at places across Chittagong, Barisal, Khulna and Dhaka divisions during the next 24 hours,” read the ...
(read more) Sunday, October 26th, 2008Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Chairman Prof Muzaffer Ahmad said the strong feudal mentality of policymakers of the country's political parties would make the task of bringing democracy in party management difficult.“Political parties have changed their constitutions and we have read in newspapers that the Awami League and the BNP chiefs' powers have not been reduced much. If that is the case, I would say democracy in the parties has not come to the extent it should have," Prof Muzaffer said in an interview with The Daily Star."Since the feudal mentality in our politics is very strong, I do not think ...
(read more) Sunday, October 26th, 2008The deans committee of Dhaka University (DU) yesterday decided to review the admission rules for seven departments after discussing the matter with the authorities concerned.The progressive teachers of the university said the move was taken considering the political interest of the BNP-Jamaat-backed teachers and ignoring the departments' rights.DU Vice-chancellor (VC) Prof SMA Faiz in the wake of admission row over some rules called the emergency meeting following a written request from Arts Faculty Dean Prof Sadrul Amin, also convener of BNP-Jamaat-backed White Panel.Ten deans of the university -- eight from White Panel and two from progressive teachers' Blue Panel -- ...
(read more) Sunday, October 26th, 2008The leaders of Sector Commanders' Forum urged people to boycott war criminals in the upcoming elections and demanded they be punished.During a meeting held at the Bonomali Institute auditorium in Pabna yesterday they also advised people to uphold the spirit of the Liberation War."Do not vote for the war criminals," said Air Vice-marshal (retd) AK Khondokar, chief of Sector Commanders' Forum."We discussed the issue with political parties. We asked them not to nominate war criminals in the upcoming elections as candidates," he said.About trial of war criminals, he said the war criminals must be put on trial ...
(read more) Sunday, October 26th, 2008he BNP-led four-party alliance will hold protest rallies across the country today to press home its seven-point demand including lifting of the state of emergency.In the capital, the rally will be held at National Press Club auditorium at 3:00pm.BNP sat with the caretaker government twice---on October 14 and October 23. The party placed its seven-point demand during the second round of talks on October 23.After second round of talks, both sides at a press briefing claimed that they had reached consensus on six of the seven points.
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