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 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...

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...