Author: Sumon Admin

The government is not considering a permanent ban to the plying of riverine vessels through Shela river in the Sundarbans, Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan said today.   His comments came hours after suggestion by an inter-ministerial meeting for ban on use of the route through world’s largest mangrove forest in wake of oil spill through a huge area of the forest following an oil tanker capsize. The prevailing temporary bar on the use of Shela river route is causing problems in the flow of commodities at Chittagong port, he said in a press briefing at his office. The Shela river route was an alternative channel used by the water transports, in place of the Mongla-Ghasikhali route – to connect with the Chittagong port. “The Mongla-Ghasiakhali channel is closed since 2004 for lac...

  To bolster bilateral energy ties, Bangladesh has suggested setting up of a thermal power plant through a joint venture in India, reports The Economic Times. In this regard, Bangladesh has proposed that a coal block could be allocated to the joint venture entity while power generated from the plant could be supplied to Bangladesh. The proposed plant would be on the lines of 1,320 MW thermal project in Rampal- being jointly developed by NTPC and Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB)-in the neighbouring nation. "We have proposed that if we are given a coal block (by the Indian government) in India, then we could develop a power plant through a joint venture, in the same way as we are doing in Rampal," Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, energy adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, t...

Commentary by Mahfuz Anam Human Rights or Human 'Farce' Day Are we moving towards a polity of 'sanctioned thuggery'? That is what our Human Rights Day is -- a farce. A country that has shameful number of extrajudicial killings, extremely high number of disappearances and, most disturbingly, a government which is at best nonchalant or at worst tacitly acquiescing  of it can only observe the International Humans Rights day as a human 'farce' day.  There was a time when we were known for our poverty. Thankfully those days are partly over. However now we are more and more becoming known as a country increasingly indifferent to violations of human rights and one that sanctions organised thuggery by ruling party musclemen and more disturbingly by law enforcers themselves. According to the hig...

  Two probe bodies formed to investigate the oil tanker capsize incident on the Shela river near the Sundarbans, a Unesco natural heritage site, visited the spot this morning. The committees will inspect the reason of the accident, measured impact of the oil spilling and whether there are any negative effects of spraying the ‘oil spill dispersant’. A total 400 litres oil out of 3.58 lakh found at the oil tanker, said M Giasuddin, managing director of the owning firm, Harun & Company.  Earlier, the shipping ministry formed a three-member committee to investigate the accident. While the Ministry of Environment and Forest has formed another seven-member committee led by its additional secretary Md Nurul Karim. Mallik Anwar Hossain of Khulna University and Prof Dr Dilip Kumar ...

      A prison guard of the Dhaka Central Jail died this morning, electrocuted after he tried to dry his clothes in the sunlight on electrical wires. The deceased was identified as Ratan Khan. He tried to dry his clothes on a string in the sunlight and came in contact with a live wire around 9:45am, said Farman Ali, senior jail superintendent of Dhaka jail. On-duty doctors at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital declared him dead after he was rushed there.

      A Bangladeshi, who had been working as a muezzin at a mosque near Riyadh, was shot dead on Sunday by a Saudi man for failing to make prayer call (Azan) on time. Mohammed Rafiq Tajul Islam, 32, was a resident of Banchharampur upazila in Brahmanbaria, Mizanur Rahman, second secretary (labour wing) at Bangladesh embassy in Riyadh, told The Daily Star this afternoon. The incident took place at 3:30pm during Asr prayers in a mosque in Ortawwiyah in the Majmaah district, 30km from the Riyadh city centre, he added. Tajul Islam was shot dead by his employer’s nephew who got infuriated by the delay in making the prayer call, said Mizanur. The police arrested the murder accused the same day. According to the lawmen, the perpetrator is a psychiatric patient at a nearby...

      In a probe report submitted to the High Court today, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) said it found involvement of 21 of its men in the Narayanganj seven-murder, among whom ex-commanding officer Tareque Sayeed and Maj Arif Hossain were involved throughout. Rab filed its probe report to the attorney general November 23. Attorney General Mahbubey Alam forwarded it to a HC bench today, more than three weeks after the submission. The probe report said it found Col Tareque Sayeed Mohammad, former commanding officer of Rab-11, and Maj Arif Hossain involved since abduction to killing of seven persons, including local panel mayor Nazrul Islam and lawyer Chandan Sarkar, in Narayanganj. Lt Commander MM Rana was partly involved, the report said. The other Rab men found invol...

A huge quantity of oil has spilled from a tanker after it sank at a river in the Sundarbans with 3.58 lakh litres of furnace oil early today. The tanker, Southern Star-7, carrying eight crew sank in Shela river after it was hit by a cargo trawler around 5:00pm, reports our Bagerhat correspondent. Mokhlesur Rahman, master of the sunken oil tanker, went missing while the others managed to swim to safety. The oil tanker, which was taking the oil to Gopalganj from Khulna Padma oil depot, anchored in the river at Joymoni Ghola of the east range of Sundarbans at night, Md Giasuddin, managing director and owner of the oil tanker, told The Daily Star. A cargo trawler hit the oil tanker from behind when it was starting its voyage around 5:00am. A team of the coastguards was conducting a sear...

    Around 53,000 South-East Asians mostly Bangladeshis fled towards Thailand and Malaysia through the Bay of Bengal this year, the UNHCR report said. About 540 people have reportedly died during the journey at sea for beatings, starvation or dehydration. Their bodies were thrown overboard. The report published on Friday has found that more people are risking their lives on smugglers' boats in South-East Asia despite the prospect of violence en route. This includes some 53,000 people left the countries through the Bay of Bengal bound for Thailand and Malaysia, and hundreds of others moving further south in the Indian Ocean, the release read. In total some 120,000 people are believed to have embarked on these voyages in the Bay of Bengal since the start of 2012. With paym...

    Stating that the police have completely gone under political control, former caretaker government adviser Akbar Ali Khan today said the situation will worsen if a commission is not formed and the concerned law is not amended in this regard. He was speaking at a programme marking seven years of the judiciary’s separation held at Jatiya Press Club. Earlier last month, National Human Rights Commission Chairman Prof Mizanur Rahman said the chain of command of police administration has broken down, resulting in slide in human rights and law and order situations. "If necessary steps are not taken, if police commission is not formed, if necessary laws for police are not amended, the situation may deteriorate," Akbar Ali Khan said. Separation of judiciary is not enough to est...