Author: Sumon Admin

  The situation of governance and economy of the country is now “abnormal”, said Gono Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain, urging for a constructive national dialogue to overcome the condition. “To institutionalise democracy, we need better education and the environment of the educational institutions ….. it is very much absent there,” he said. Dr Kamal, also an eminent jurist, was addressing a programme on releasing a study on The State of Governance Bangladesh 2013: Democracy Party Politics organised by the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development of BRAC University today. He said no elections were held in the student unions of the universities. Regular elections in the universities and good environment for education provide formation for the future leaders to be democratic, ...

Abdullah Mamun: Mobile operators said they will be able to let users switch from one operator to another without changing their numbers within two to three years. Bangladesh Telecommu-nication Regulatory Commi-ssion is now taking opinions of stakeholders, including subscribers and operators, to introduce the service -- mobile number portability (MNP). More than 70 countries have MNP, which increases competition among operators in terms of service quality, said Md Sarwar Alam, BTRC secretary and spokesperson. The process of taking the opinions on whether the service would be viable for Bangladesh, when it should be introduced and how it will benefit users started a month ago and will run till tomorrow, he said. TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of Association of Mobile Telecom Oper...

Shamim Ashraf: With the Pakistan army facing defeats at East Pakistan war fronts one after another in December 1971, there were attempts to use religion to cover up the mindless genocide, boost their morale and raise funds for them. Terming the Pakistan troops mujahid or those who struggle for the sake of Islam, people were asked through newspaper adverts to stand by them and donate for the military occupation. Different banks and some businesses were at the forefront of the campaign and its main aim was to exploit the religious sentiments of Muslims and encourage the Pakistan military to “exterminate the enemy” -- those fighting the occupation forces for the independence of Bangladesh. The Dawn, Pakistan's oldest English daily, has reproduced 11 such advertisements that it ran on Decem...

    BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia today denied that any government officials met with her earlier in the month and said a panic situation is prevailing in Bangladesh Secretariat. Referring to media reports that some public servants meet Khaleda at her Gulshan office on December 5, she said, “They (government officials) did not meet me. The government is blaming them to terminate them from service.” Mentioning that 4,080 officers have already been made officer on special duty (OSD) and many others have been terminated from their services, the former prime minister said: “An anarchic situation is prevailing in the Secretariat.” Khaleda was addressing the day-long convention of former and incumbent leaders and activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, student wing of BNP, at th...

A Supreme Court lawyer today sent a legal notice to BNP senior vice-chairman Tarique Rahman asking him to apologise unconditionally to the nation for calling Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman a “Razakar, murderer and Pakbandhu" (friend of Pakistan). Advocate Momtazuddin Ahmed Mehedi sent the notice saying that Tarique reportedly told at a BNP meeting in London on Monday that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had accepted Yahiya Khan as the president and compromised with him immediate before declaration of Bangladesh’s independence. He said in the legal notice that Tarique has claimed his father Ziaur Rahman as declarer of Independence and the first president. Tarique Rahman has damaged the history of Independence and the ideology and spirit of the Liberation War achieved through the blood of 30 l...

  A police official died of “heart attack” during a clash between two rival groups of CNG-driven auto-rickshaw drivers in Balaganj upazila of Sylhet this afternoon. Mustafizur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Osmani Nagar Police Station, died of heart attack when he tried to mediate between the two groups, our Sylhet correspondent reports quoting Sylhet (south) assistant superintendent of police Gopal Chakravarty. “Doctors of MAG Osmani Medical College and Hospital declared OC Mustafiz dead around 3:45pm after he was rushed there in an ailing condition,” the ASP said. Additional superintendent of police in Sylhet, Neamul Hasan, quoted the on-duty physicians and endorsed that it was heart attack that caused the death of the police OC. Rival groups of auto-rickshaw drivers clashed at...

 Stating that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman banned the Awami League himself, BNP Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman now says that the act makes the 1971 leader a “bigger Razakar.” “Awami League claims that their party is the party of Liberation War. But, Sheikh Mujib banned Awami League himself. So, that makes Mujib a bigger Razakar,” he said. “Sheikh Mujib never fought for the liberation of Bangladesh, he fought for the autonomy of East Pakistan. That is why he did not fight the war when he had the scope.” The elder son of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia was speaking at a discussion arranged by BNP’s UK unit in East London’s The Atrium yesterday in regard to the nation’s 44th Victory Day. Tarique repeatedly labeled Sheikh Mujib a ‘Pakbandhu’ in the past. On December 10, a Dhaka court issued ar...

  Customs officials claimed of rescuing 150 tortoises from being smuggled abroad at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka this morning. The tortoises were rescued alive in a crackdown, conducted upon a tip-off, near the Gate 1 around 10:30am, said Jewela Khatun, assistant commissioner of the airport’s customs. No one could be detained in this connection, she added. Talking to The Daily Star, the customs officer said that the tortoises, worth around Tk 20 lakh in the current market, would be handed over to forest department soon

The Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (Haab) leaders urged the government to reduce the Moallem (guide) fee to Tk 30,000 instead of Tk 1.20 lakh as fixed earlier for each pilgrim for the next year hajj. Haab president Mohammad Ibrahim Bahar placed the demand at a press conference at a hotel in Dhaka.  The association came up with the demand seven days after the government fixed two hajj packages for the pilgrims and fixed Tk 1.20 lakh as charge for each Moallem under private management. They also urged the government to give a second chance to those private agencies for which pilgrims could not perform hajj last year. Over 400 pilgrims could not travel to Saudi Arabia at the fault of the agencies last year, the Haab president said. “We also demand for allowing all Middle East-...

  At least 129 bodies have been recovered from Lake Tanganyika in the Democratic Republic of Congo, after a ferry capsized on Friday. Local transport minister Laurent Sumba Kahozi said the search for survivors was continuing. Rescue workers found passengers in the water on Sunday, clinging on to petrol cans and other objects. Correspondents say such accidents are fairly common in the region as ferries are often overloaded. Life jackets are also often missing and many people cannot swim. Officials in Katanga province said strong winds and overloading caused the boat, the MV Mutambala, to capsize. A number of women and children were among the victims in the disaster, which happened in the early hours of Friday morning. Initial reports said 26 people had died. The number of su...