BANGLADESH

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday vowed not to leave the path of her father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, though she had to face death several times in the past.

"I've continued working with the spirit of War of Independence to fulfil Bangabandhu's dreams despite several attempts to kill me," she said.

She said, "I'm working so that Bangladesh doesn't fall in the hands of any unconstitutional and undemocratic power."

Hasina made the promise after placing wreaths at a makeshift memorial at Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital on the occasion of the eighth anniversary of the grisly grenade attack on an Awami League rally.

On Aug 21 in 2004, at least 24 people, including President Zillur Rahman's wife and senior politician Ivy Rahman, were killed in the blasts in front of the Awami League central office and some 200 others were injured.

Investigations found Sheikh Hasina, then the opposition chief, was the prime target of the attack, but survived with permanent hearing impairment. Her bodyguards and several senior party members formed a human wall to save and escort her to the car. Rapid brushfire riddled the bulletproof car as it sped off.

The chargesheet in the case filed over the blasts said the Aug 21 attack was planned after several attempts to kill her had failed.

BNP Chairman Khaleda Zia's elder son and party's Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman, Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary-General and then Social Welfare Minister Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed, and former State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar were also charged in the case along with others.

Remembering those who perished in the attack, Hasina on Tuesday held the then BNP-Jamaat alliance government responsible for the incident.

She said, "We had planned to stage a demonstration at Mukgtangon to protest an attack on the British High-Commissioner. We didn't get the permission. But then again, the permission was given late in the night."

"We had cancelled the programme. But why the permission was given?"

Hasina, also the Awami League President, continued, "Thirteen grenades blasted one by one right after I finished my speech. Those who threw the grenades had left the scene, but police shot teargas shells and charged baton on those trying to rescue the dead and injured."

She also claimed that evidences found at the scene of crime were also destroyed.

"I promise you, trials of the conspirators will be held in this land," she said promising that justice for all killings including the grenade attack would be served.

Hasina placed wreaths on the memorial at Bangabandhu Avenue at 11am as the Prime Minister and then placed another wreath as the party's President along with other Awami League leaders.

She also talked to the family members of those injured in the attack and enquired about their wellbeing.

Awami League Advisory Council member Amir Hossain Amu, General Secretary and LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) President Hasanul Haque Inu, Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon, and Samyabadi Dal General Secretary and Industries Minister Dilip Barua, also spoke on the occasion.

Syed Ashraful Islam said, "Those who run newspapers with funding from ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam), land grabbers, and people who don't believe in the spirit of the Liberation War, have united to thwart democracy."

He also asked everyone to be united to stand against those who were conspiring to foil democracy in the country.

Six youths were killed on Tuesday when a bus rammed a human haulier at Gorhmati Botdhor area under Borhaigram upazila in Natore.

Police said the accident took place around 12pm on the Natore-Pabna highway when a Rangpur-bound BRTC bus rammed the smaller vehicle of the youths.

The human haulier was part of a procession brought out to celebrate the festival of Eid-ul-Fitr by a group of local youths.

Identity of the deceased is yet to be found.

Following the accident, agitated residents of the area blocked the road and vandalised a second BRTC bus and an ambulance, Bonparha Highway Police Station Inspector Din-e-Alam told reporters.

Police had arrested the bus driver responsible for the accident, along with the bus, from Bonparha area, he said.

Alam said four of the youths died on the spot while the other two died on their way to hospital.

Police were trying to control the situation, he added.

3 children killed in Keraniganj

In another incident, three children were killed and five others were injured as a bus and an auto-rickshaw collided head-on in Rajendrapur area in Dhaka's Keraniganj.

Police said the accident took place around 12pm Tuesday.

The deceased were identified as Milon, 10, Abdul Baten, 14, and Sajib, 10.

South Keraniganj Police Station OC Shakhawat Hossain told bdnews24.com the Maoa-bound Sirajdikhan Paribahan bus collided head-on with the auto-rickshaw killing the first two minors on the spot.

Sajib was declared dead by the doctors after he was taken to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

The injured, Kawsar, 30, Sharmin, 25, Farhad, 12, Shahin, 10, and Aviron had been sent to the Mitford Hospital earlier.

But later they were admitted to the DMCH and the Dhaka National Orthopaedic Hospital and Rehabilitation Institute, better known as Pangu Hospital, OC Hossain said.

All the deceased were passengers of the auto-rickshaw.

The police official said they seized the bus but the driver somehow managed to flee.

1 dead in Hathajari

A woman, Yasmin Akter, 35, was killed on Tuesday after the auto-rickshaw carrying her hit a roadside pole in Hathajari's Katirhat area in Chittagong.

She, wife of one Abdur Rahman of Dholoi village of the upazila's Katirhat, was badly injured in the accident.

Doctors at the Chittagong Medical College Hospital declared her dead as she was taken there, a CMCH Police Camp constable, Ismail Hossain, told

The body of an eight-year-old schoolboy was recovered on Tuesday, 45 days after he was abducted from Kashiani upazila in Gopalganj district.

Locals alleged that after the abduction, the police action to find out the boy was not satisfactory.

Mahfuzur Rhaman Mahfuz, who was kidnapped in the night of the holy Shab-e-Barat on July 5, was the son of an expatriate Rezaul Molla of Barashur village of the upazila, and a student of the Kashiani Railway Ekota Kindergarten.

His body was found in a garden beside their home on Tuesday.

After his abduction, some callers identifying them as kidnappers had demanded Tk 7 million as ransom from his mother Swapna Begum.

After recovering the body, police on Tuesday arrested five people for interrogation. However, the locals expressed their dissatisfaction with police over release of Shamim Sheikh, a major suspect behind the abduction, soon after his arrest.

After Mahfuz's abduction, his classmates along with the locals observed various protest programmes in the upazila town.

Apprehending that the agitated locals could attack the police station after recovering the body, the main entrance of the Kashiani Police Station was closed, and some senior high police officials from the district headquarters rushed there to tackle the situation.

Mahfuz's uncle Jafar Mollah told reporters that they had a land dispute with Shamim Sheikh of neighbouring Mukundapur village. Shamim and one Billal Sheikh might have committed the abduction to take revenge, he said.

Sub-Inspector of the Kashiani Police Station Nizamuddin said that Mahfuz went missing after he left for the nearest mosque to offer special Shab-e-Barat prayer on July 5.

The victim's family told police that a group of people, including Hossain and Saddam, had abducted the child upon instigation from Shamim and Billal.

Jafar Mollah said Sub-Inspector Ful Mia arrested main suspect Shamim Sheikh on the next day of the abduction, but released him later, thus helping the other accused to go into hiding.

Refuting the allegation, Officer-in-Charge of the Kashiani Police Station Syed Mannan Ali said they had arrested five people, including Bellal, Hossain and Saddam, following the abduction. "They also gave confessional statement in the court."

He, however, admitted that they failed to find out the child despite conducting operations at various places upon the information given by them.

A general diary (GD) has been filed in connection with Monday's attack on maimed college student Limon Hossain and his mother at their village home in Jhalakathi district.

Limon's mother Henuara Begum filed the GD with the Rajapur Police Station on Tuesday afternoon, Officer-in-Charge Tafazzal Hossain told bdnews24.com.

"The allegations include beating and making threats. They were brought against Ebrahim who is known as a Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) source," he said.

Limon and his mother were injured in an attack near their house at Saturia village allegedly by 'Leader Ibrahim', son of Abdur Rashid of the same village and "a RAB source", in Rajapur Upazila of the district on Monday afternoon when they were on their way back to Kaukhali Upazila of Pirojpur district after meeting their relatives on the occasion of the Eid festival.

Limon currently stays at a rented house on the Bus Stand Road in Kaukhali to attend his college.

He and his mother were admitted to Rajapur Upazila Health Complex following the attack.

Ebrahim, who is also the 17th witness in the case filed against Limon by RAB, was also admitted to the same hospital.

Hours after Monday's attack, police recovered the body of one 'Forkan' (35), brother-in-law of Ebrahim.

Meanwhile, the deceased's wife Lili Begum filed another case with the local police station on Tuesday morning accusing Limon's brother and their relatives in the village of killing her husband in a counter attack.

OC Tafazzal Hossain said they registered the complaint as a case of unnatural death.

Sub-Inspector of Police Abdul Alim told bdnews24.com, "The autopsy of Forkan's body has been conducted. Measures will be taken after the report is available."

Henuara Begum said Forkan was not present on the spot when they came under attack and claimed that false allegations were being levelled against them.


Ebrahim told bdnews24.com at the hospital that he did not attack Limon and his mother on Monday afternoon, rather Limon's brother and their relatives attacked him.

"Limon's relatives swooped on Forkan when he came to my aide after hearing about the attack on me. He was critically injured [in the attack] and succumbed to his injures."

Meanwhile, Jhalakathi district's Additional Superintendent of Police Mohammad Mohidul Islam told bdnews24.com on Monday night that Forkan's body was recovered about one kilometre away from the place where the incident had taken place. "No injury marks were found in his body."

Dr Abul Khair Russell of Rajapur Upazila Health Complex, where both Henuara Begum and Ebrahim are undergoing treatment, said their injuries were not serious and that Limon was released on the Eid night after being given first aid.

India's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Tuesday alleged that illegal Bangladeshi immigrants played a major role in the Aug 11 violence where two people were killed in protests against alleged atrocities on Muslims in Assam and Myanmar.

Despite police permission only for a rally, he led more than 50,000 people on a march along Marine Drive to Azad Maidan, bringing all of South Mumbai to a halt, said The Times of India in a report on Wednesday.

Waving what appeared to be a Bangladeshi passport and warning that illegal migration from the eastern neighbour would destroy Mumbai, Thackeray on Tuesday addressed a massive pro-Hindu rally in answer to the Aug 11 gathering of Muslims to protest attacks in Assam.

Slamming the violence during the Muslim rally, which like the one on Tuesday paralysed South Mumbai, he said, "There is a boundary which no one should cross. There should be no physical assaults on policemen and officials."

"My party will always stand by the cops whenever such cases happen."

Thackeray said the influx of illegal Bangladeshi migrants posed a threat to Mumbai. "They have safe havens in UP and Bihar. From there, the illegal migrants come to Mumbai to foment trouble."

He also accused Bangladeshi migrants of playing a major role in the Aug 11 violence.

He denied playing the Hindu card and said his only "dharma" was the "Maharashtra dharma".

"Any person who tries to take law into his hands, beats up cops, media persons and molest women cops deserves the severest condemnation from me and my party," The Times of India quoted the MNS leader.

Thackeray blamed the Congress-led DF government and Home Minister R R Patil for creating an administrative hurdle for the MNS rally. "Similar queries were not asked when the Raza Academy held protest rally on Aug 11 at Azad Maidan. Raza Academy has a dubious track record."

He said, "Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi had delivered a provocative speech in Bhiwandi at the Raza Academy rally few years ago. At the end of the rally miscreants slaughtered two cops. Why was such an organisation given permission to hold a rally on Aug 11?"

South Mumbai creaked under its second political rally in 10 days, which derailed traffic and disrupted the city's first working day after an extended weekend. Over 50,000 MNS men gathered at Chowpatty and marched in a show of strength along the Marine Drive-Princess Street-Dhobitalao stretch to the rally venue at Azad Maidan.

Police, who had granted permission only for a meeting at the Azad Maidan, initiated action against the party.

Mumbai Police booked the MNS for organising the rally at Girgaum Chowpatty without permission.