BANGLADESH

আইন প্রতিমন্ত্রী কামরুল ইসলামের ভাগ্নে আহমেদ শওকত মাসুদ (৪৩) নিজের বাসায় পুড়ে মারা গেছেন।

পুলিশ ও পরিবার বলছে, ‘ল্যাপটপ বিস্ফোরিত’ হয়ে ঘরে আগুন লাগলে দগ্ধ হন মাসুদ।

শাহবাগ থানার ওসি সিরাজুল ইসলাম ঢাকা মেডিকেল কলেজ হাসপাতালে উপস্থিত সাংবাদিকদের বলেন, “মিরপুরের কাজীপাড়ার ওই বাসায় মাসুদ একাই থাকতেন। ল্যাপটপ বিস্ফোরিত হলে তিনি দগ্ধ হন।”

বেলা সোয়া ১১টার দিকে মাসুদকে ঢাকা মেডিকেল কলেজ হাসপাতালে নিয়ে যাওয়া হলে চিকিৎসকরা জানান, তার মৃত্যু হয়েছে।

ঘটনার পরপরই হাসপাতালে ছুটে যান আইন প্রতিমন্ত্রী কামরুল। সাংবাদিকদের প্রশ্নের জবাবে তিনি বলেন, মাসুদ পুড়ে মারা গেছে।

মাসুদের পাশের ফ্ল্যাটের বাসিন্দা ও তার ফুপাতো ভাই জিয়াউর রহমান জিয়া বিডিনিউজ টোয়েন্টিফোর ডটকমকে জানান, সকালে মাসুদের ফ্ল্যাট থেকে ধোঁয়া বের হতে দেখে পাশের ভবনের নির্মাণ শ্রমিকরা হঠাৎ খবর দেয়।

“এরপর বাসার দড়জা ভেঙে ভেতরে ঢুকে দেখা যায়, মাসুদের দেহ অর্ধেক বিছানায় আর অর্ধেক মেঝেতে। সারা শরীর পুড়ে গেছে। তোষক, কাপড়-চোপড়েও আগুন জ্বলছে।”

মাসুদের ছিন্নভিন্ন ল্যাপটপ থেকেও ধোঁয়া বের হচ্ছিল জানিয়ে জিয়া বলেন, সেটি বিস্ফোরিত হয়েই ঘরে আগুন লাগে বলে তারা ধারণা।

জিয়া জানান, স্কুলপড়–য়া ছেলেকে নিয়ে মাসুদ একাই ওই বাসায় থাকতেন। স্ত্রীর সঙ্গে প্রায় এক বছর ধরে তার সম্পর্ক নেই।

আগে এবি ব্যাংকে চাকরি করলেও মাসুদ বেশ কিছুদিন আগে তা ছেড়ে দিয়ে পারিবারিক ব্যবসা দেখভাল করা শুরু করেন বলে তার ফুপাত ভাই জানান।

Sri Lanka, beaten in each of their last three World Cup one-day finals, need to counter the muscular power of Chris Gayle and his big-hitting West Indies' team mates if they are to win Sunday's world Twenty20 final.

Gayle struck six sixes during his 75 not out in West Indies' semi-final demolition of Australia on Friday while his partners hit a further eight in a total of 205 for four.

Explosive strength, as Sri Lanka have demonstrated throughout a consistently entertaining tournament, is only one element in the shortest form of the game.

But the ability of Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard to consistently clear the boundary even with mishits can, as it did against Australia, put West Indies out of sight.

Although Gayle, who intelligently tailors his approach to the pitch and to individual bowlers, is the most dangerous one-day batsman in the world, Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene will concentrate on the West Indies' team as a unit and not on individuals.

"He is just another player in a very good West Indies team," Jayawardene told reporters on Saturday.

"We never went after individual players. That's why we controlled things the way we can control."

Jayawardene, who will open the batting with Tillakaratne Dilshan, played in each of Sri Lanka's two World Cup 50 overs finals losses in 2007 and 2011 and the T20 final loss to Pakistan in 2009.

"We were not good enough to win those finals but we believe that we have the capacity to win this one," he said. "We played good cricket to get to this place and we are looking forward to an exciting final tomorrow."

This time Sri Lanka will have home advantage at the R Premadasa Stadium before their ebullient fans plus the knowledge that they have players to cope with all conditions and opponents.

In common with the best T20 sides, Sri Lanka play their leading batsmen at the top of the order with the left-handed Kumar Sangakkara coming in at number three. They and their team-mates will not have the problems other teams have found with the West Indies' spinners Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine.

Lasith Malinga remains one of the most dangerous bowlers in limited-overs cricket and the burly left-arm spinner Rangana Herath, preferred to the unorthodox teenage spinner Akila Dananjaya, took three cheap wickets in the semi-final against Pakistan.

West Indies will hope, probably in vain, for a pitch on which they can play their strokes in order to post the sort of total they managed against Australia.

The West Indians were the original kings of one-day international cricket but they have not won a global title since the 2004 Champions Trophy.

"It would be massive," captain Darren Sammy said on Saturday.

"It's been over a decade and the fans are craving for bigger success. That is the goal we left the Caribbean with.

"When we do well people in the Caribbean are very happy, work stops for a few hours back home. It would mean everything to us as players, as coaching staff. It would give us a big boost."

Forty real estate companies from Bangladesh are taking part in the three-day REHAB Housing Fair-2012 in New York, starting on Saturday (Sunday Bangladesh Time).

The fair is being held in the NTV Auditorium at the Bangladeshi-inhabited Astoria area. The State Minister for Housing and Public Works, Abdul Mannan Khan, will inaugurate the fair.

REHAB president and government MP Nasrul Hamid told a press conference at Jackson Heights on Thursday that the prices of flats have increased exponentially because of the rise in prices of building materials.

Therefore, the overall sales of flats and plots have declined by 43 percent, he said.

The REHAB Fair has been held for the past nine years in New York and 15,000 flats and 5,000 plots are sold yearly through REHAB's 12,000 member institutions, Hamid said adding that 15 per cent of the buyers are non-resident Bangladeshis.

However, the number of real estate customers in America is decreasing because of depression, he said.

He further said, "Considering the pace at which the real estate sector is developing, the government support for it is not as extensive. That is why the rules and regulations of this sector are still not established."

"Any company in Dhaka can get a real estate developer's license by paying Tk. 10,000. That is why there is no need for further qualifications. Land prices in Dhaka and its surrounding areas have sky-rocketed because the government does not have a specific policy to deal with them."

In reply to a question, Hamid expressed his dissatisfaction over the functioning of the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) and said, "Currently RAJUK has turned into a real estate business, so their main job is being disrupted.

"REHAB members are also not getting the expected services from RAJUK. Where there needs to be around 100 RAJUK officials, there are only six officials present."

He also called for a 'detail area master plan' as necessary for Dhaka's development.

SSB Multiservice Inc is the organising the fair.

The written tests of the compulsory subjects of the 33rd Bangladesh Civil Service Examination, scheduled to begin from Oct 7, have been postponed due to unavoidable reasons, says a Bangladesh Public Service Commission (PSC) official.

However, the written tests on the subjects for the professional cadres will be held between Oct 30 and Nov 14 as per the schedule. The examinations will be held in centres in Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chittagong, Khulna, Barisal and Sylhet simultaneously, the PSC official added.

Details information about seat allocation and exam schedules have already been published in newspapers and are also available in PSC's website.

PSC Public Relations Officer Mir Mosharraf Hossain told bdnews24.com the postponed written tests of the compulsory subjects for the 33rd BCS were slated to run from Oct 7 to 18.

He, however, did not detail the reasons behind the postponement of the written test.

Recently there were repoerts that the written test question paper for the 33rd BCS had been leaked and were available at Dhaka University Campus and each set of question was available at Tk 500,000.

However, PSC Exam Controller AEM Nesaruddin on Wendesday denied such reports and said that it was just rumor.

"There is no way of leaking question as there are several versions of it and they select the version to take the exam only 15 minutes before the exam start."

The PSC on June 28 published the preliminary test results of the 33rd BCS Examination, with a total of 28,917 candidates qualifying for the written tests.

Around 193,000 jobseekers attended the first round at 142 centres on June 1.

The Commission on Feb 29 advertised the 33rd BCS exams to fill 4,206 government posts.

The Appellate Division on Sunday rejected government's leave to appeal petition challenging a High Court verdict that declared 'ineffective' and 'without legal basis' Speaker Abdul Hamid's previous ruling that Justice A H M Shamsuddin Choudhury violated the Constitution by making 'derogatory comments' against Parliament.

However, the highest court made some observations, a government lawyer said.

"The permission to appeal hasn't been granted, but there are some observations," Akhtar Imam told bdnews24.com after the full bench led by Chief Justice Mohammad Muzammel Hossain issued the verdict.


He, however, said, "Detail can not be said before the full text of the verdict is available."

"But," he added, "My experience says the High Court observations on the issue will not see much change. Rather, most of them will be retained."

If there were much change in the High Court verdict, the permission to appeal would have been given, he argued.

The court heard the plea on Thursday. Attorney General Mahbubey Alam argued for the state while Barrister Rokonuddin Mahmud represented the petitioner.

The High Court bench of justices Hasan Foez Siddique and ABM Altaf Hossain had made the observation in its verdict on July 24 after a petition sought the court's intervention over the Speaker's June 18 ruling that Justice Choudhury violated Article 78 (1) of the Constitution.

The full order of the High Court was released on Aug 27, resurrecting the debate as to which one is superior - the legislature or the judiciary.

The court had in its order observed the Speaker's ruling was non-existent in the eye of law and 'has no legal effect'. That ruling was not consistent with the Article 96 (95) of the Constitution and was also inconsistent with the Parliamentary procedures and the Constitution, it had observed.

The government filed an appeal seeking stay on the High Court order and the Supreme Court Chamber judge Nazmun Ara Sultana on Sep 3 referred the petition to the full bench of the Appellate Division for hearing.

The row began after the Speaker on May 29 made a statement in Parliament that people might stand up against the judiciary if they were aggrieved by any verdict of the court. It involved an order of the High Court that had asked the Roads and Highways Department to return some land to the Supreme Court.

The High Court bench of Justice Choudhury on June 5 criticised the Speaker for making that comment and dubbed the statement 'seditious', drawing flak from MPs.

As the situation got worse with heated arguments exchanged over the authority of the court and the Parliament, the Speaker came up with his ruling. In the ruling, he expected that the Chief Justice would himself initiate measures on the issue of the judge's comment and that the Parliament would support the decision that he would take.