Archive for October 30th, 2008
Thursday, October 30th, 2008A Dhaka court yesterday finally framed charges against detained former BNP lawmaker Abdus Salam Pintu, Harkatul Jihad (Huji) chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and 20 others in two cases filed for grenade attacks on an Awami League (AL) rally in August 2004.Judge Mohammad Masdar Hossain of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 also rejected the discharge petitions of Pintu, Hannan and 12 others in jail custody.The court fixed November 5 for trial of the cases--one for murder and another for bomb blast--and summoned the complainant to appear before it on that date.The grenade attacks on the AL rally on Bangabandhu Avenue on August ...
(read more) Thursday, October 30th, 2008The Election Commission (EC) is more than likely to be unable to announce the detailed schedule for the December 18 parliamentary election on its declared date of November 2, as it is still embroiled in defending its redemarcation of constituencies in court.Moreover, the commission already failed to finish registering political parties by its promised deadline of today.If the detailed schedule is not announced on the declared date, the EC will fail to maintain the 45-day gap between the day of the schedule announcement and the polling date.Although party registration may go on even after the announcement of the detailed schedule, ...
(read more) Thursday, October 30th, 2008A meeting between BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and former chief election commissioner (CEC) Justice MA Aziz on Tuesday made many of the party leaders and workers aggrieved, and they viewed that the party should not entertain a 'controversial' figure like him.Speculating that the former CEC is seeking BNP nomination for the upcoming parliamentary election, party workers felt his meeting with Khaleda Zia would hurt the party's image. “Aziz is one of the persons who pushed BNP to its present crisis,” said a member of the party's central executive committee.Aziz had to resign on January 21 last year under pressure ...
(read more) Thursday, October 30th, 2008A strong earthquake struck before dawn yesterday in impoverished southwestern Pakistan, killing at least 170 people, and turning thousands of homes of mud and timber homes into rubble.With some roads blocked by landslides, officials said army helicopters were ferrying hundreds of troops and medical teams to villages in the quake zone and had set up a field hospital in Quetta, the Baluchistan provincial capital, 50 miles from the epicenter.Officials said they were distributing thousands of tents, blankets and food packages and sending in earth-moving equipment to dig mass graves for those killed in the magnitude 6.4 quake. Many of those ...
(read more) Thursday, October 30th, 2008The Truth and Accountability Commission (Tac) yesterday extended the deadline to apply for clemency for the third time till November 15 as it thinks more hearing would help look deep into institutional corruption.Meanwhile, Jasas leader Mosharraf Hossain Thakur applied to Tac yesterday through a special court for making voluntary disclosure about ill-gotten wealth. He is the second politician to apply for clemency so far since the commission began functioning on August 3.Earlier on September 9, former BNP state minister Maj (retd) Kamrul Islam applied to face Tac through the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). However, ACC did not forward the matter to ...
(read more) Thursday, October 30th, 2008Law enforcers seized 5,835kg powdered milk of banned brands from shops in different parts of the country and fined them Tk 4.52 lakh in the last two days. Mobile courts in Barguna and Chapainawabganj also burnt a good amount of banned baby formula.Ten teams of Barisal Metropolitan Police raided shops at Chawk Bazar, Bazar Road, Hatkhola, Line Road and other parts of the city on Tuesday night and seized milk powder worth Tk 25 lakh, reported our correspondent in Barisal.Inspector General of Police (IGP) Nur Mohammad said the court would decide the fate of the seized products after the final ...
(read more) Thursday, October 30th, 2008The advisory committee on purchase yesterday sent back the project proposal for a dedicated four-lane highway between Dhaka and Chittagong.The fate of the much-talked-about project, which was mooted to ensure seamless transport of exports and imports, now hangs in the balance after the advisory committee decision.Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam, who headed the committee meeting, told reporters that the project could not be approved due a string of legal complications.The Executive Committee on National Economic Council (Ecnec) had approved the highway project in past January at an estimated cost of Tk 2,168 crore.Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed put the project on ...
(read more) Thursday, October 30th, 2008As new findings confirm link of some Islamist militants and a BNP deputy minister to the grenade attack on an Awami League rally in 2004, all past investigations and other actions of the then BNP-Jamaat alliance government now stand as a model of moral bankruptcy.Through multiple investigations, the alliance government tried to establish that the AL killed its own leaders and activists to tarnish the image of the government. They also tried to prove that "foreign enemies" instigated the carnage and some listed criminals absconding in India had staged the attack.Eleven days after the grisly grenade attack aimed to assassinate ...
(read more) Thursday, October 30th, 2008Political scientist Prof Dilara Choudhury said the country might experience a return of 'non-political forces' to politics if politicians fail to learn from the events of 1/11 and its fallout."It's true that democracy is not possible without political parties, but political leaders shouldn't think that it is impossible to do away with them. Somebody else will fill the vacuum, but that might not be in the interest of the people," she said in an interview with The Daily Star.Although the caretaker government finally moved to establish good relations with political parties, it had shown a negative attitude towards them ...
(read more) Thursday, October 30th, 2008BNP has demanded that the caretaker government allow party leaders convicted by lower courts to contest the upcoming parliamentary election if their appeals against conviction are not disposed of by higher courts."Barring them (party leaders) from taking part in the polls because of their conviction by lower and special courts will be a violation of the constitution," BNP Joint Secretary General Nazrul Islam Khan told reporters yesterday at the party headquarters at Naya Paltan in the city.Meanwhile, Awami League acting President Zillur Rahman also made a similar demand on Monday.Nazrul Islam reiterated that BNP is prepared for ...
(read more) 
