BANGLADESH

The government has withdrawn an officer-in-charge of the Terokhada Police Station in Khulna district for allegedly molesting a housewife.

The action was taken against OC Mamun-or-Rashid on finding the allegation against him true after a preliminary investigation. He has been attached to the Khulna Police Line, Superintendent of Police (SP) Tanvir Haider Chowdhury told bdnews24.com on Sunday.

Another sub-inspector of the police station, Shafiqul Islam, has been appointed in place of Mamun.

SP Chowdhury said that Mamun molested the housewife of Kushala village of Terokhada upazila on Wednesday when she went to the police station to lodge a general diary.

Additional SP Imamur Rashid investigated into the incident.

Arrest Warrant Against ASP

Judge Mohammad Sadiqul Islam of the First Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal of Dhaka has issued an arrest warrant against Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) of Barisal Abul Kalam Azad in a case filed against him by his wife Anwar-e Taslima for torturing her demanding dowry.

Counsel of the plaintiff Advocate Raihan Morshed told bdnews24.com that the court also issued arrest warrants against the ASP and three of his relatives in the case since they did not appear before it in compliance with its previous order.

The court framed charges against the accused on Sunday and fixed July 10 to record the deposition.

According to the case details, Taslima and Azad got married in Oct 2010 following a relationship through social networking site facebook.

Taslima in her case claimed that her family paid Tk 800,000 to Azad in two phases after their marriage. Later, he demanded an additional Tk 200,000 on Oct 8 last year.

But as her family refused to pay the amount, Azad tried to kill her by pouring a toilet cleaner in her mouth.

Violent clashes between police and protesters have left at least 10 law enforcers injured during a blockade programme in the city.

The United People's Democratic Front (UPDF)-backed Democratic Youth Forum (DYF) started the bloackade from 8am on Sunday to protest obstruction to their earlier programme to besiege the Parbatya Chattagram Land Dispute Resolution Commission office.

Police fired 20 rounds of rubber bullets and teargas shells to calm the situation after the clash erupted in Swanirbhar area in Khagrachari around 10am.

At least 10 police personnel were injued when the angry protesters swooped on them at one stage of the clash.

Four of the injured cops – Sub-inspector Obaidur Rahman, and constables Mohammad Jashim, Arafat and Mamum Mia – have been rushed to the Zila Sadar Hospital.

Soon after the Swanirbhar area had turned into a battle field, a team of Rapid Action Battalion-7 rushed to the spot to calm the situation.

"The situation is under control now," Khagrachharhi Assistant Superintendent of Police Kanon Debnath told .

Additional armed police has also been deployed at the site to avoid any further trouble.

Although DYF had announced to enforce a 33-hour blockade in the morning, the programme was later limited to 21 hours.

In a statement, forum's central president Natun Kumar Chakma said, "The government is conspiringly using the commission's Chariman Khademul Islam Chowdhury to throw tribal people out of their their own lands."

"The government is trying to foil the agitation by using RAB," he added.

A 'sorry' Speaker Abdul Hamid, on Sunday said 'un-parliamentary' remarks of the MPs criticising Bishwa Sahitya Kendra founder Prof Abdullah Abu Sayeed will be deleted from proceedings.

He also criticised the news reports based on which the MPs had harshly criticised the noted litterateur on June 3 for making 'objectionable' remarks about the lawmakers and ministers.

"Some national dailies have shown a very irresponsible attitude by publishing such reports without checking the facts," Hamid said in a ruling in the beginning of the session.

Prof Ali Ashraf MP, who was presiding the session on June 3 in absence of the Speaker and his deputy Shawkat Ali, had asked Prof Sayeed to tender an unconditional apology for his alleged remarks made at a discussion organised by the Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB) on June 2.

His call came after several MPs including ruling Awami League's Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Jatiya Party's Mujibul Haque Chunnu and independent MP Fazlul Azim criticised Sayeed citing Bengali daily Inqilab's report that he commented that 'MPs and ministers act like thieves and dacoits and breach oath'.

But Sayeed, later on the same night, termed the contempt of Parliament allegation 'completely baseless' and 'false' and said he would not apologise for remarks which he never made.

On the following day, TIB had sent a copy of his speech and a video footage of his address at the programme to Speaker Hamid.

The Speaker on Sunday said, "I read his speech's copy and watched the CD. I came to the conclusion that his speech and the report published on the newspaper are totally different."

He said the report was the root of the unexpected event.

"Professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed is a respected personality of the country. The un-parliamentarian remarks made in the unscheduled discussion [in Parliament] will be expunged."

He also asked the news media to be more careful about news reports.

Police prevented on Sunday launches headed for Dhaka from Barisal apparently to prevent people from joining an opposition rally, saying there was a chance of a cyclone.

But neither the weather office, nor the Barisal Launch Terminal authorities had any information of the inclement weather.

Police in the evening asked passenger ferries at the Barisal terminal to anchor in the mid-river.

Kotwali Model Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Shaheduzzaman said, "Scheduled launch trips to the capital have been cancelled due to disastrous weather."

Launch communications on other routes will remain uninterrupted, he added.

The incident coincided with the one that took place ahead of opposition BNP's rally on Mar 12, when launch and bus communications with Dhaka from across the country were suspended allegedly by authorities.

The BNP and its allies are preparing for a rally at Naya Paltan on Monday and a senior opposition leader announced that they were expecting 1.5 million people in attendance.

Senior observer at Barisal Met Office Pranab Kumar Roy told bdnews24.com, "The weather is normal today. There is no cautionary signal in effect."

Assistant Boat Officer of Barisal Launch Terminal Bashir Ali said, "We don't have any instructions. Police have cancelled all the scheduled trips to the capital."

Terming the government 'fascist', opposition BNP has alleged that the government is once again conspiring to obstruct Monday's rally of the 18-Party Alliance.

Police had detained over 100 opposition leaders and activists across the country ahead of the rally to be addressed by Chairperson Khaleda Zia, party's Assistant Office Secretary Abdul Latif Jony said in a statement issued on Sunday evening.

"The fascist Awami League government is going ahead with its conspiracy to obstruct people from joining the June 11 rally like it did ahead of the Mar 12 rally," he said.

Police continued to obstruct opposition activists by setting up check-posts at entry points of Dhaka city and harassed them in the name of searching hotels in the capital, he said.

A list of detained leaders and activists of the party had also been attached with the statement.

"This is an incomplete list, as we are still receiving news of detentions across the country," it said.

According to the list, the detainees include over 25 opposition leaders of Dhaka, 28 of Khulna and 26 of Gazipur.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police on Sunday allowed the opposition BNP to hold its rally in the capital on Monday outlining 11 conditions to be adhered to during the programme.

BNP's Assistant Office Secretary Abdul Latif Jony received a letter signed by DMP Deputy Commissioner (Headquarters) Habibur Rahman around 8pm on Sunday.

The conditions include limiting the use of loudspeakers in the rally area from Fakirapool Crossing to Nightingale Crossing and its duration to three-and-a-half hours.

The letter also specified that the rally stage should not be used for any purpose other than making political speeches, and acts that could go against the law and public interest would not be allowed.

The DMP also mandated that the rally stage could not be set up on the main road, people could throng the rally venue only two hours prior to its start and the rally must end by 5:30pm.

The conditions also include that people cannot gather in any open place before or after the time permitted for holding the rally, and traffic cannot be hampered and people's movement cannot be obstructed outside the area fixed for the rally.

The main opposition led 18-party opposition alliance is set to hold the rally at 2pm on Monday in front of the party's Naya Paltan headquarters.

The law-enforcers had specified similar conditions for opposition's Mar 12 rally at the same venue.