BANGLADESH

Apparel factory workers have blockaded the Dhaka-Sylhet highway and demonstrated for over two and a half hours pressing for various demands including payment of due wages.

Quoting eyewitnesses Rupganj Police Station's Officer-in-Charge Atikur Rahman Khan said that workers of Harvest Rich Garments factory at Rupganj took to the streets at Bhulta Aukhab area around 9am on Suday.

At one point, they vandalised the windowpanes of the factory building and seven to eight vehicles on the street, he said.

They withdrew from the street around 11:45am after the factory authorities assured to pay their dues within Monday.

The nearly two and a half hour stop in traffic has led to a large backlog on the highway, the police official added.

Anwar Hossain, a worker of the factory, said that their wages for two months were pending. Every month they receive payment not before 22nd-23rd, he added.

The workers became agitated when they came to the factory on Sunday and found that their wages were not yet ready. At one point, around 6,500 workers started demonstrating in the factory premises.

They vandalised the windows of the factory building and the adjacent branch of Rupali Bank. They later took to the streets and vandalised a number of vehicles, police said.

Sporadic chases and counter-chases took place between the workers and police when they tried to force the demonstrating workers out of the highway.

Director of Industrial Police's Adamjee unit (Battallion 4) Mahbub Alam told : "The owners have assured to pay the due wages within Monday after talks with the workers. The workers withdrew demonstration around midday."

Myanmar is ready to take back its nationals living in Bangladesh after verification.

Newly-appointed Myanmar Ambassador U Myo Myint Than said this during his first meeting with Foreign Minister Dipu Moni at her office on Wednesday, according to a media statement of the Foreign Ministry.

"The Ambassador expressed his government's intention to take back the refugees and undocumented Myanmar nationals after verification," the statement said.

Dipu Moni at the meeting requested Myanmar to take back their nationals residing in Bangladesh immediately.

"Appreciating Myanmar government for its commitment for democracy and the recent political reconciliation, Dipu Moni hoped that the people who entered Bangladesh from Myanmar would be taken back by Myanmar," the statement said.

The minister appreciated the steps taken by the Myanmar government in containing violence in Rakhine state.

"The Myanmar Ambassador thanked Bangladesh government for the cooperation extended to Myanmar in dealing with the Rakhine state problem," it said.

Bangladesh and Myanmar at numerous meetings, including the recently-concluded Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) and during the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Myanmar in December 2011, had agreed for repatriation of Myanmar refugees and undocumented nationals to their country.

The foreign minister hoped that the forthcoming visit of the President of Myanmar to Bangladesh would take place after the holy month of Ramadan.

Myanmar President Thein Sein was expected to visit Dhaka on July 15 but it was deferred due to recent violence in Rakhine.

The Myanmar Ambassador also called on Foreign Secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes earlier in the day.

The number of educational institutions where no student passed the Higher Secondary Certificate examinations has remained the same as the last year. However more institutions have secured hundred percent pass rate this year.

This year hundred percent examinees have passed from 1,036 colleges out of a total of 7,465 institutions. The number was 892 last year.

The pass rate is zero in 24 colleges this year which was exactly the same last year.

Of the institutions having hundred percent pass rates, Dhaka Board has the highest 56 institutions while Rajshahi has 12, Comilla 6, Jessore 4, Chittagong 5, Barisal, 5, Sylhet 12 and Dinajpur 12.

In Madrasah board, 767 institutions have hundred percent pass rates while the number of institutions is 157 in vocational board.

From the opposite account of educational institutions having zero pass rates, Dhaka still stands first with no students of its six institutions failing to come out successful.

Dhaka has been followed by Dinajpur, Rajshahi, Barisal and Jessore.

In Sylhet, Chittagong and Comilla, there is no institution where all students have been unsuccessful.

Traders have promised not to raise prices of sugar and edible oils during the holy month of Ramadan as there is sufficient stock of the essentials.

Vice-President of Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners Association and City Group Chairman Fazlur Rahman also announced on Wednesday that on the contrary, the prices of edible oils would lower by minimum Tk 1 per litre since the prices had dropped in the global market.

"The final decision will be taken after talks with other members of the association," he added.

The announcement came from a meeting held at the conference room of the Commerce Ministry, with Commerce Secretary Golam Hossain in the chair.

All the 12 cadet colleges in the country have achieved 100 percent pass rate in the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and its equivalent examinations this year, while 539 students out of a total 558 students of those colleges have scored maximum grade point average of GPA-5.

Faujdarhat Cadet College has been the best performing institution of them with 38 out of its 41 examinees securing GPA-5.

Education Minister Nurul Islam submitted a copy of the HSC examination results to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her official residence Ganabhaban on Wednesday morning. Chairmen of different education boards were present on the occasion.

Jhenaidah Cadet College has secured the second position with 46 students out of its 47 getting GPA-5.

Forty-four students out of 45 have achieved the maximum GPA from Mirzapur Cadet College, while the number of GPA-5 scorers is 49 out of 50 from Pabna Cadet College, 40 out of 50 from Comilla Cadet College and 47 out of 48 from Feni Cadet College.

All of the 49 students of Joypurhat Cadet College, 50 of Mymensingh Girls' Cadet College, 44 of Rajshahi Cadet College, 46 of Sylhet Cadet College, 46 of Rangpur Cadet College and 45 of Barisal Cadet College have got GPA-5.

On average, 78.67 percent of examinees have passed the HSC and its equivalent examinations held under 10 education boards of the country this year.

The HSC or equivalent examinations began on April 1 and concluded on May 24 this year.

A total of 917,673 examinees -- 490,918 male and 426,755 female -- from 7,465 educational institutions appeared at the examinations, of whom 721,979 students have come out successful.

Of them, 61,162 candidates have scored maximum grade point average of GPA-5. The number is 21,393 more than that of the last year.

Sylhet Board has secured the top position among all the eight general education boards with a pass rate of 85.37 and Barisal Board has been the lowest with 66.98 percent success rate.

From Dhaka Board 81.89 percent candidates passed this year's HSC examinations.

The pass rate is 78.44 in Rajshahi, 67.87 in Jessore, 75.41 in Dinajpur, 72.29 in Chittagong and 74.56 in Comilla.

Under the Madrasa Education Board, 84,246 students took part in the examination and 91.77 came out successful.

Under the Technical Education Board 86,705 students sat for the examination. Of them, 73,103 came out successful. The pass percentage is 84.32.

Writer Humayun Ahmed is lying unconscious in a New York hospital after a deadly virus made his treatment difficult, a top official has said.

"He's been lying unconscious in the Intensive Care Unit," Bangladesh's Permanent Representative at the United Nations Dr Abdul Momen, who visited the writer Tuesday night (Wednesday morning Dhaka time), told bdnews24.com.

"There is accumulated water in his lungs, but the doctors said his brain is still functioning," he said.

Doctors at the Bellevue Hospital told Momen that they had failed to detect the virus rendering their efforts fruitless.

"An unknown virus, which could not be detected immediately, has spread through his body," Momen said quoting doctors.

The writer is currently under watch in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital and his lungs have swollen.

"The virus has infected him at the time he was expected to be recovering from illness," the ambassador said.

Humayun's friend and renowned actor Asaduzzaman Nur, MP, who is currently at the US, also visited the popular contemporary Bengali fiction writer at the hospital.

"His condition has slightly improved. But he is still in ICU. We are worried," Nur told bdnews24.com at 10:30pm on Wednesday.

The 63-year-old writer went to New York on Sept 14 last year with his wife and children for undergoing colon cancer treatment. The writer had been living at a rented flat in Queens with his family.

He underwent 12 chemotherapy cycles at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre.

After that, Humayun underwent a surgery on Jun 12. He was admitted to a Jamaican hospital after one day as he suffered from abdominal pain.

From there, he was transferred to the Bellevue Hospital for a second surgery.

His younger brother Muhammed Zafar Iqbal, also a renowned fiction writer, is currently at New York to stay by his side along with Humayun's wife Meher Afroz Shawon.

Born in Mymensingh in 1948, he did his graduation from the Dhaka University and later joined the university as a lecturer of Chemistry but later became a fulltime writer and filmmaker.

Winner of prestigious Bangla Academy Award in 1981, Ekushey Padak in 1994 and three National Film Awards (Best Story in 1993, Best Film 1994 and Best Dialogue in 1994), Humayun continued writing while he was undergoing treatment in New York.

On Jan 13, the government made the 63-year old writer Senior Special Adviser to the Bangladesh Mission at the United Nations in New York.

The Rajshahi University has asked Bangladesh Chhatra League activists to stop fund-raising for the Padma bridge project, a day after a student was killed in a clash over the campaign.

It was none other than the university's Vice-Chancellor (VC) Prof Abdus Sobhan who had opened the campaign on July 12 with the slogan, 'It is us who will build the Padma bridge'.

The VC was the first to contribute Tk 500 to the fund.

According to versions of some BCL leaders, the gunfight that broke out between two factions of the ruling Awami League's student front in the early hours of Monday had stemmed from an argument over collection of money for the planned bridge.

The university administration decided to ask the BCL to call off the campaign on Tuesday. BCL leaders said they would give the money already collected in the campaign to the VC.

"I did not have any idea that such an incident would have arisen from such a small matter. After learning from the Finance Minister that money cannot be collected in the name of Padma bridge, we asked Chhatra League to stop collecting money in the name of building the bridge," said the university's Pro-Vice-Chancellor Prof Mohammad Nurullah.

Earlier on Tuesday the morning on, Muhith said, "The government has not made any official announcement yet to collect money for the Padma bridge. Nobody was given the responsibility to collect fund. Those who extorted money are toll collectors. They should be punished."

The Pro-VC was also present at the inaugural ceremony of the fundraising campaign.

"I had gone there at the inaugural ceremony along with the Vice-Chancellor to inspire fund-raising after (we came to learn that) different progressive student organisations including the Chhatra League will collect money from the university teachers, students, officers and employees," said Prof Nurullah.

"We will give VC the money along with the boxes used for the collection," said BCL university unit President Ahmed Ali.

He, however, refused to accept that the bloody gunfight that claimed the life of one of their activists was triggered by the fundraising campaign.

One of the eight BCL activists expelled following the killing, Touhid Al Tuhin, had said that they collected Tk 18,000 so far.

Repairs of a major undersea communications cable will snap Bangladesh's internet connectivity with the rest of the world for nearly three hours after Tuesday midnight, officials say.

Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Ltd (BSCCL) Managing Director Monowar Hossain confirmed  that there would be 'no connectivity' due to the repairs on the submarine cable severed a month ago 60 kilometres away from Singapore.

The mending will start at around 1am and he expects will be completed before 4am.

He said the internet remained uninterrupted despite the cable cut as they 'quickly' managed bandwidth from Italy.

"But now the power has to be shut down for reconnection," he said explaining the reason of no connectivity during repairs.

Bangladesh connects with the rest of the world with a lone submarine cable SEA-ME-WE-4 that stretches from Singapore to Mumbai in India via Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India's Chennai and Sri Lanka.

Goto this link you can get your HSC RESULT.

The government on Monday said power cuts will last only half an hour in Ramadan to ease public woes.

Currently, the people have to remain without power one hour on average once the power supply goes off.

Prime Minister's Power and Energy Advisor Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said after a meeting the government will try to ensure uninterrupted power supply during Sehri and Iftar and during Tarabi prayers.

The average daily power production will rise by 600 megawatts (MWs), he told the meeting, just a week to Ramadan.

"If necessary, we will produce around 6,500 megawatts of electricity against the demand of 6,000 during Ramadan," Chowdhury said.

He, however, said around 6,300 MWs of electricity would be sufficient to meet the demands if the consumers use it wisely.

According to government statistics, the daily demand has been limited to around 6,500 MWs through 'Demand Side Management' though the real demand is almost 7,500 MWs.

Power Development Board (PDB) says the daily power production was 6,055 MWs against the demand of 6,100 MWs on Sunday.

PDB on Mar 22 set a new record of electricity generation by feeding 6,066 MWs to the national grid.

The prime ministerial advisor said the Power Division faced a few problems in distributing electricity in some regions although the production was more than it was last year.

He said the authorities had been directed to ensure uninterrupted power supply especially during azan times in Ramadan.

Chowdhury urged the consumers to use power wisely and said, "I have requested the authorities of the industries to shut their operations during Sehri and Iftar and during Tarabi prayers."

"I have also requested the shop owners to use electricity more economically," he added.

He said the incumbent government inked several agreements to build 56 power plants under both private and public management and added that 29 of those plants had started operations.

According to PDB, the daily power production increased by 3,500 MWs due to installation of new plants during the tenure of the incumbent government.

bill payment through SMS

The consumers of three of the 64 Palli Bidyut Samity (rural electrification associations) will be able to pay their bills through SMS from Sunday.

These are Dhaka Palli Bidyut Samity-2, Gazipur Palli Bidyut Samity and Cox's Bazar Palli Bidyut Samity.

Teachers at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) have threatened to resign en masse unless the Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor leave by Sunday.

The teachers, demonstrating for quite some time now, took the decision at a general meeting of their association on Monday afternoon. The meeting that lasted for two and a half hours starting at 4pm was held at the Civil Engineering Building with more than 250 educators in attendance.

Former Director of Students Welfare Prof Aminul Hoque said the meeting also decided to stage demonstration for two hours starting 11am every day.

He said they would be collecting signatures from teachers until Sunday in a campaign to force the duo to resign. He said they will resign en masse if their demand was not met by then.

According to him, over 250 teachers agreed to resign at the meeting by signing a declaration at the meeting.

Students began contacting their teachers after a rumour swirled at the campus in the afternoon that the agitating teachers were withdrawing their strike. They requested them not to withdraw the programme.

Later, the teachers' association leader Prof Humayun Kabir announced on the loudspeaker that they would not backtrack on their demand.

A Chinese company, incorporated in Australia, is keen to build the Padma bridge with a financing option that look better than that of the traditional multilateral lenders led by the World Bank.

"The company will provide 70 percent of the $2.9 billion required for the project without any interest," a senior official of the Economic Relations Division told the bdnews24.com after reviewing a proposal presented last week.

Asked, Communications Minister Obaidul Quader neither denied nor confirmed the development. "I shall not speak about this Padma bridge project and not go beyond what the Prime Minister has said."

Quader told bdnews24.com: "I can talk about the Second Padma Bridge."

World Bank's $1.2 billion loan bears 0.75 percent service charge while Asian Development Bank would have charged less than one percent for its promised $ 615 million.

"The great thing about the Chinese proposal is it is interest-free, quality would be ensured and the government will not need to spend foreign currency for the project," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no official decision to make the offer public.

"The 30 percent of the project cost would be financed by the government in local currency as lots of materials would be procured domestically."

"The company will form a consortium of three companies for main construction, river training and rail link and it would complete the entire work in less than three years," the official said.

In the original project proposal based on which the WB-led donor consortium agreed to fund the project, the bridge construction is supposed to take five years to complete.

The cancellation of the World Bank loan has made the Padma Bridge project uncertain, and the government is desperately looking for other financing options.

The bridge, an election pledge of the Awami League government, will connect Dhaka with 16 south western districts, home to about 60 million people, is estimated to contribute 0.6 per cent to the economy.

Last week, top ERD officials heard senior representatives from the Australia-based company with such details of the proposal as the plan to widen the road to six lanes instead of the originally proposed four lanes.

"It could be a blessing in disguise," the official said.

"In the presentation, we asked the company representatives about ensuring the quality and they said that they wouldn't have any problem if Bangladesh appointed an independent monitoring agency to keep an eye on their work," the official said.

"But the government will have to make separate arrangement for paying the independent body as the cost will not be included in the $2.9 billion that the Chinese are talking about," the official explained.

After the bridge opened to traffic, the government would pay the loan amount in the following 20 years with the earning from the bridge, the official added.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked the members of Juba League, the ruling party's youth front, to be vigilant against 'any efforts to create unrest in the country'.

Awami League president Hasina was addressing them after inaugurating the organisation's sixth national congress at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center on Saturday.

In her 20-minute speech she advised Juba League members to build up future leadership and that they remain cautious about the people 'conspiring against the country and democracy'.

"Juba League must guard our land relentlessly... let no one play games with Bangladesh anymore," she added.

"You know who those people are… who are trying to create unrest in the country," she said.

Hasina bitterly criticised the opposition for their stand on the trial of War criminals.

"They don't want the trial to continue. They are involved in many conspiracies to destroy democracy in our country. The youth must be alert about this," she said.

Central leaders of Awami League and other front organisations as well as ambassadors and diplomats of different countries were present at the event.

Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam in his speech reminisced about the first congress of Juba League in 1974 and said he was present there as a representative of Chhatra League.

Juba League Chairman Omar Faruk emphasised on finding new leadership instead of promoting old leaders. "Instead of blaming each other, a politics of self-criticism can take us a long way," he said.

"A political organisation without political movement becomes a leisure club. We need to strengthen the organisation," he added. "No outside power can harm us, because we know who they are. It may come from within, the enemies hiding inside," he said.

Awami League Advisory Council member Amir Hossain Amu, Presidium member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Joint General Secretary Jahangir Kabir Nanak also spoke on the occasion.

The deadlock at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) has taken a new turn as a group of teachers, students and employees of the institution have emerged to support the beleaguered Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice Chancellor.

'BUET Teachers-Students-Officers-Employees Unity Forum' held a rally in front of the BUET Cafeteria on Saturday afternoon and told reporters that the teachers association's demands were irrational.

They also added a political flavour to the movement, claiming most of the teachers protesting against the VC were Jamaat-e-Islami aligned.

Professor Munaj Ahmed Noor, convenor of the newly-formed forum, said after the rally that the most of the 16-point demands put forth by the protesters had been met.

"Moreover, 10 of their demands are contrary to the interests of the officers and employees," he added.

Speakers at the rally urged the demonstrators to withdraw the movement and let a judicial commission investigate allegations against the VC.

BUET Deputy Registrar and Bangabandhu Parishad President Kamal Ahmed said, "Seeing the involvement of pro-Jamaat teachers among the demonstrators, I suspect that this is a deep conspiracy against the state, government and BUET."

Earlier in the morning, the demonstrating teachers and students vowed to continue their protests seeking removal of the VC and his deputy.

On the fourth day of the continuous protests, the agitating teachers and students brought out a silent procession from in front of the academic building and paraded across the campus and the Central Shaheed Minar.

The BUET Teachers Association General Secretary Professor Ashraful Islam administered an oath of the teachers and students. More than 200 teachers and students reportedly took part in the oath and vowed to continue with their demonstration until the VC and Pro-VC step down.

They have been staging sit-in protests in front of the academic building since last Wednesday demanding VC Prof SM Nazrul Islam and Pro VC Prof M Habibur Rahman's resignation.

The students have initiated a mass signature campaign in support of their demand. They said the collected signatures along with their demands would be handed over to the President Zillur Rahman, who is also the Chancellor of the university, on Sunday.

Jahangirnagar University teachers, under the banner of Shammilito Shikkhak Parishad, have besieged the administrative building of the university to press for their demand to hold dean, syndicate and senate polls before the election of the panel for the Vice-Chancellor post.

The demonstrating teachers took position at the two gates of the building around 7:30am on Sunday, blocking entry to and exit from the building.

Registrar Abu Bakr Siddique and other administrative officials could not enter the building when they arrived there 15 minutes later.

The teachers' platform has been demonstrating since July 14, after the VC panel election, scheduled for July 20, was announced.

The platform's Joint Convenor Professor Hanif Ali told : "It will not be possible to hold the VC election in the university under current situation. But it is possible to hold polls to the vacant posts (of dean, syndicate and senate) in 20/21 days if sincere efforts are taken."

The immediate past Vice Chancellor Sharif Enamul Kabir was removed from office on May 17 after months of demonstrations by teachers and students triggered by death of a student Zobair Ahmed, who allegedly died on Jan 8 after being tortured by group of Chhatra League activists reportedly backed by the VC.

Enamul Kabir was replaced by Dhaka University Professor Anwar Hossain, who the teachers said had repeatedly promised to hold student union, dean, syndicate and senate polls gradually since taking over. Demonstrating teachers alleged that the sudden call for VC panel election without holding the pending elections was not acceptable.

Supporters of Bangladesh Chhatra League of two halls at Rajhshahi University started a violent clash at Sunday midnight.

Students at the university said activists of Madar Bakhsh Hall and Suhrawardi Hall, activists of the ruling Awami League's student wing, fired gunshots at around midnight. Several hand-bombs were also exploded.

Motihar Police Station Officer-in-Charge Anisur Rahman told reporters the police had brought the the situation under control. Additional police had been deployed in front of every dorm.

Some students who were injured in the clash have been sent to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. Students said one of them, Sohel Rana, had been shot.

Tension had been building among rival groups on the campus since the university unit of Chhatra League announced its new committee.

Sohel Rana, student of third-year Social Work, was shot in the left eye and has been sent to Dhaka in critical condition.

Clashes broke out after an argument between BCL Vice-President Akheruzzaman Takim and Organising Secretary Touhid Al Tuhin, eye-witnesses said. They said at least 15-20 shots had been fired and hand-bombs exploded.

BCL General Secretary Abu Hossain Bipu said the incident was regrettable but declined to make further comments.

No cases had been filed in the incident, OC Anisur Rahman told 

Nearly two-thirds of Bangladeshi married women with one or more children want no more children, but experts say their 'inappropriate' choice of birth control methods is raising the risk of 'unwanted' pregnancies.

According to the preliminary results of 2011 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS), 65 percent women do not want more children. The rate is 82 percent in couples having two children and 90 percent with three or more children.

But only 8 percent use long-term or permanent methods, effective ways of protecting pregnancies experts suggest for Bangladeshi women, most of who complete childbearing in their twenties, with two decades of reproductive life in hand.

"Long-acting and permanent methods (sterilisation, IUD –intrauterine device, and implants) can help them protect from unwanted pregnancies, but there is no specific programme to promote those," says a former director of National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT) Dr Ahmed Al Sabir.

He says more women are using birth control methods now than before, but the use of long-acting and permanent methods remained 'stagnant' with only 13 percent of all contraceptive use.

The use of female sterilisation has stalled at about 5 percent since 2004 after a fall from more than 9 percent in 1991.

Population scientist Dr Peter Kim Streatfield, an ICDDR,B Director, presenting BDHS figures in April said, long-acting and permanent methods need to be increased and "it is possible as it was in the 1980s."

Analysing figures it is found that the female sterilisation rate increases with the ages of women.

It is nearly 14 percent in women between 45 to 49 years of age when the reproductive life ends.

But it is only 4.3 percent among married women between 15 and 29 years of age, the main childbearing age in Bangladesh, who comprises more than 50 percent of all women interviewed in the survey.

The long acting method of placing intrauterine device (IUDs) in the uterus has been declined from about 2 percent in 1991 to 0.9 percent in 2007 to 0.7 percent in 2011.

"It (long-acting and permanent methods) never got priority from the family planning directorate," Sabir says, "It requires trained doctors."

It is alleged that lack of coordination between the two wings of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare –health and family planning – stood in the way of promoting clinical methods of long-acting and permanent birth control mechanism.

The family planning directorate depends 'heavily' on oral contraceptive pills as their field staff can distribute it easily.

Dr Abu Jamil Faisel, country representative of EngenderHealth that works with the family planning directorate, says those who are already mothers of two or three children are also getting oral contraceptive pills in Bangladesh.

"There should have a strategic plan to promote permanent methods to them," he said.

He, however, said with the shortages of service providers, the rate of IUDs has declined by 30 percent in the last quarter of the last fiscal while the rate of sterilisation has declined more than 50 percent compared with the first quarter.

Bangladesh celebrates World Population Day on Wednesday with officials say they are now waiting for the Bureau of Statistics report.

The preliminary reports last year showed population stood at 14.23 crore with annual growth rate of 1.34 percent.

The teachers, officials and students of the Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology (BUET) are demonstrating demanding the resignation of VC and pro-VC, even after the institution was shut down for Ramadan and Eid vacation earlier than scheduled.

BUET Teachers' Association President Professor Mujibur Rahman on Wednesday announced that they would continue sit-in protests.

The association also demanded that the authorities resume classes.

"The authorities got scared once the students joined the agitation and shut down the university," professor Rahman told 
"Vice-Chancellor S M Nazrul Islam has been working in free style, according to his wish. Shutting the university down without talking to anyone is just another example of that," he said.

Faced with continuous protests BUET authorities shut the university for Ramadan vacation one month ahead of schedule.

"Actually, there were no classes due to the teachers' strike. Moreover, the teachers are trying to drag the students into the protest. So, we've taken the decision," VC Nazrul Islam said when asked about the decision.

BUET Teachers Association had enforced a strike from Apr 7 to May 5 for the demand. They were to enforce a fully-fledged strike from Jul 14, but the authorities announced the vacation before the strike.

After the Prime Minister had promised to consider their demand, they postponed the strike for one month. But as their demand was not met within Jul 7, they have been refraining from work for two hours from 11am to 1pm.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday wondered for whose sake Bangladesh was 'cheated', referring to the World Bank cancelling the contract to provide loan for the Padma bridge project.

"How corruption takes place when (the World Bank) did not disburse any money? For whose sake they have cheated with the people of the country. I know they are very powerful," said Hasina at the national conference of Awami League's volunteer front Swechhashebok League on Wednesday.

The Washington-based global lending agency cancelled its contract to provide $1.2 billion loan to the $2.9 billion project saying it had credible evidence of corruption in the project.

Another major financier of the project, the Asian Development Bank also followed WB by going back on its promise of giving $610 million to the project.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has proposed to form a new non-military force by abolishing Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and halt trial of mutineers of then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) on Wednesday.

The New York-based human rights body called on government to establish 'an independent investigative and prosecutorial task force with sufficient expertise, authority, and resources to rigorously investigate and prosecute allegations of human rights abuses after the (BDR) mutiny'.

"Until such an independent task force is established, existing prosecutors should investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute allegations of unlawful deaths, torture, and mistreatment of mutiny suspects, regardless of the rank or institutional affiliation of the person responsible," it said.

HRW made the proposals in a 57-page report titled "'The Fear Never Leaves Me': Torture, Custodial Deaths, and Unfair Trials After the 2009 Mutiny of the Bangladesh Rifles".

Asia Director of HRW Brad Adams demanded that authorities form a non-military unit or new force within the police by disbanding the anticrime elite force RAB.

He was speaking at a function at Brac Inn Centre in Dhaka to mark the publishing of the report.

Adams said the new force would consider human rights as its core value to fight against crime and terrorism.

He suggested the government should stop the BDR mutiny trial immediately and go back to the basic norms of fair trial to ensure justice over the mutiny and massacre in 2009.

HRW has alleged that the suspects in the 2009 BDR mutiny have been subjected to widespread abuse, torture, and deaths in custody. "The mass trials of nearly 6,000 suspects raise serious fair trial concerns."

Adams has called the process of trying the border guards in groups "unfair and flawed"

"Those responsible for the horrific violence that left 74 dead should be brought to justice, but not with torture and unfair trials," said Adams.

But he urged Bangladesh authorities to stop the current trial and close all the "unofficial places of detention" for interrogation of the guards "tomorrow".

"Mass trials like these simply cannot provide justice for victims, or real answers about who was responsible for the terrible crimes committed during the mutiny."

"The government must close all unofficial and secret places of detention. Everybody knows these places are there, the government has the mandate to do (close) this. It has an election pledge to stop torture (in custody)."

Adams categorically mentioned that these places of detention were run by RAB, DGFI and NSI, saying if these places were closed serious violation of human rights involving the border guards facing mutiny charges would stop substantially.

"The government's initial response to the mutiny was proportionate and saved lives by refusing army demands to use overwhelming force in a heavily populated area. But since then it has essentially given a green light to the security forces to exact revenge through physical abuse and mass trials," Adams added.

HRW said they interviewed over 60 people, including family members of the victims, prosecutors, defence lawyers, and journalists to prepare the report.

The report said it found at least 47 border guards have died in custody because of 'torture like beatings and giving electric shocks in custody'.

A fire at a house in Malaysia has left five Bangladeshis dead and two others injured.

The incident took place early Tuesday but details on the nature of the accident and the casualties were sketchy, Foreign Ministry's Director General (Consular) Laila Hossain told bdnews24.com on Tuesday.

Local people informed the Bangladesh Embassy in Kuala Lumpur of the accident, she said adding that the injured have been hospitalised.

Hossain said they were waiting for details.

Malaysian newspaper The Star, quoting national news agency Bernama, said five Bangladeshi men died in the fire that broke out around 3 am at Taman Puchong Perdana.

The dead were identified as Sarova Baboo, 'Ruman', Abdullah Al-Farhad and two brothers - Md Basir and Md Farouk.

The Bangladeshi nationals died when they were trapped in a double-storey terrace house they had rented, the report says.

The report quoted Selangor Fire and Rescue Department operations chief Mohamad Sani Harul as saying that the five were aged between 24 and 40.

He said seven Bangladeshi nationals were staying in the house but two of them survived while the other five were trapped in two rooms upstairs as they could not break the iron window grilles to get out, according to the newspaper report.

"A team from Bangladesh Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has gone to the scene. They will report after visiting the spot," the foreign ministry director general said.

The government has allocated 2,900 tonnes of rice and Tk 5 million in cash for the flood-affected people in five districts.

The Ministry of Food and Disaster Management on Wednesday allocated Tk 1 million and 500 tonnes of rice each for Sylhet, Gaibandha and Bogra districts, Tk 1 million and 800 tonnes of rice for Kurigram, and Tk 1 million and 600 tonnes of rice for Jamalpur district.

The government has so far allocated Tk 31.5 million and 10,300 tonnes of rice for the distressed people in the flood-hit areas.

According to the Disaster Management and Relief Division, around 810 special medical teams are now providing healthcare services to the people and monitor post-flood diseases in the affected areas.

The bdnews24.com Correspondent for Gaibandha district reported that though the waters in the Brahmaputra, Jamuna and Ghaghat rivers started going down, the flood-hit people were leading a miserable life with virtually no food, shelter and medical care.

Some 300,000 people have remained marooned by floodwaters in 26 unions in the district. The floodwaters have inundated most of the roads and many villages in the district.

G M Chowdhury Mithu, Ward Councillor of Gaibandha Municipality, said the floodwaters started receding in the district but the people were facing severe food crisis.

Gaibandha Relief and Rehabilitation Division Officer Shah Alam said the district administration so far distributed Tk 1.5 million in cash and 500 tonnes of rice among the flood-hit people.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said, the government will build Padma bridge for which the World Bank cancelled its pledged fund, with its own fund, if necessary.

She again outright rejected the World Bank's allegation of corruption in selection of the consultant for the coveted project and reaffirmed her government's position in Parliament that action will be taken against the guilty if charges of corruption against them are proved.

The Prime Minister responded to a supplementary question from independent lawmaker Fazlul Azim during her question-answer session on Wednesday.

Hasina said following the World Bank's fund cancellation, she already had a meeting with the Bangladesh Bank Governor, the Economic Relations Division and Finance Secretary regarding funding of the project.

"I've discussed with them how the construction work of the project can be started on our own fund. We must build the Padma bridge. It's not very much difficult to use our own reserve for this purpose by taking one billion dollars a year," she asserted.

Hasina further added: "We'll build the Padma bridge by any means Inshallah. It's possible if our economy moves on the right track despite the global economic meltdown."

"The World Bank has cancelled its funding. It's their will anyway. Others (lending agencies) can follow suit. We've a population of 160 million and 8 million expatriates to build the bridge."

She said the governments of many countries including Malaysia and many international agencies were interested in building the bridge under Public Private Partnership and under the Build-Own-Transfer basis. "Whatever decision we make, public interests will be given priority."

In her first reaction following the fund cancellation by the Washington-based global lender, the Prime Minister alleged that the World Bank came forward to pour money in the communications sector, but raised corruption allegations without any evidence.

"They didn't release even a single penny, then how can they say that corruption was committed [in the project]? Instead you'll find that it itself corrupt."

"It's essential to scrutinise who are behind it and what are their motives," she added.

Hasina urged all to go through the Wall Street Journal and Forbes Magazine to know about the World Bank's corruptions.

She `pointed out that the World Bank had suspended funding in the power, energy and communications sectors due to corruptions of the BNP-led four-party government. She added that her government started the work to upgrade the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway into four-lanes with its own fund.

She said the Bank suspended funding for seven projects including Dhaka-Mymensingh Four Lane Project. But, she noted, the BNP-led government did not change any minister over the Bank's allegation of corruption.

The Prime Minister said her government during her first spell in power in 1996- 2001 had envisaged the Padma bridge project, but the subsequent BNP government suspended its construction.

"None could raise any question about the transparency at any stage of the land acquisition and rehabilitation programmes involving Tk 15 billion. Even the World Bank report says that no corruption was committed in the acquisition process."

Referring to the communication with the World Bank officials on the Padma bridge issue, Hasina said after the Awami League-led coalition took office in 2009, senior consultant of the World Bank Isabella Lawen arrived Bangladesh. "She gave me two papers containing allegation of corruption in two projects during the time of the previous BNP government."

"Even so, as the World Bank was insisting, we changed the Minister concerned, the Secretary and the Project Director without any proof of corruption against them," the Prime Minister said.

Hasina alleged that the World Bank had proposed the name of a company as the consultant to the project. "They had sent us letters thrice. Our special committee found that the company was fake. If it's a fact, how was corruption committed in the project?"

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has suspended its flight operations to Cox's Bazar due to renovation of runway at the airport there.

The last flight had left for Cox's Bazar on Jun 30, and it could not be known when the next flight would take off for the destination.

"The Board of Directors has decided to operate Boeing 737 on this route. But the runway at Cox's Bazar is not fit for operations of this aircraft. So, the flight operations were suspended until the completion of renovation work," said Biman Bangladesh Airlines Director of Sales and Marketing Mohammad Shanewaz.

He said flights operation to Cox's Bazar would remain suspended until the renovation was over. He said the operation may resume in two months.

According to Biman officials, the directorial board at the end of last year decided not to use F-28 and DC-10 aircraft on the route.

Biman had been using F-28 aircraft on the route and it was put off-use on Jun 30.

"Biman had a plan to purchase Dash model aircraft for this route instead of F-28. But financial constraints forced the authorities to back off," said a Biman official preferring anonymity.

Years of losses had forced Biman to take flights off seven domestic routes in 2007.

The Cox's Bazar airport runway is expected to be expanded to 9,000 feet in length alongside increasing its width in the first phase of renovation. The second phase would replace airport establishments like the terminal building.

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) will continue its funding support for the Padma bridge project even though the World Bank and ADB had withdrawn from the project alleging corruption in the process of project implementation.

"We would like to go slow like another lender of the project Japan International Cooperation Agency," said a senior IDB official posted at its Dhaka office.

The Jeddah-based IDB is committed to provide $140 million for the $2.9-billion Padma bridge project. IDB's announcement came a day after JICA announced to continue its funding for the project. Japan's JICA has promised to give $400 million for the project.

"IDB is not going to cancel its deal right now. The bank wants to give more time to the government of Bangladesh," said the IDB official.

"The bank is even eager to go for a new deal over implementation of the project if the existing deal does not finally work out," he added.

The main financier of the project, the World Bank, cancelled its $1.2-billion fund commitment on Friday. ADB, which had pledged to contribute $610 million to the project, also hinted following the same path.

The Hindu Marriage Registration Act-2012 was presented in Parliament on Tuesday keeping marriage registration optional.

The Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shafique Ahmed presented the bill which is the first of its kind for Bangladesh's Hindu minority.

It has been sent to the Standing committee on the Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry for scrutiny, which is expected to submit a report within a month.

The bill eyes documenting Hindu marriages and saving women of the religious minority from marriage-related frauds.

It has been said in the proposed law that due to lack of documentation in the Hindu marriages, the women become vulnerable to various swindling and it becomes hard to provide them legal assistance.

The bill also reasons that documents relating to marriage registration are vital during tours abroad and immigration.

On May 21, the Cabinet had endorsed the draft of the Hindu marriage registration law.

Neighbouring India passed the `Hindu Marriage Act` in 1955.

According to the bill, marriages of Hindu men below 21 years or women below 18 will not be eligible for registration.

The condition of popular contemporary Bengali fiction writer Humayun Ahmed, undergoing treatment in the United States, improved further on Tuesday.

A K Momen, Bangladesh's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, told bdnews24.com of the improvement.

The writer's oxygen mask, put on due to respiratory problems, was removed on the evening of Jul 2, Momen said.

He said Humayun could talk as his condition had improved.

Referring to doctors at the Bellevue Hospital, where Humayun is undergoing treatment, Momen said Humayun's last CT scan report did not indicate any trace of cancer in his body. He further saidthe wound from recent surgery was also healing.

Doctors had successfully pumped out around 400 millilitres of water around 6:45pm on Jul 2 (NY time). Otherwise, he could have been infected by pneumonia, Momen said.

Humayun went to New York on Sep 14 last year with his wife and children for undergoing colon cancer treatment. The writer had been living at a rented flat in Queens with his family.

He underwent 12 chemotherapy cycles at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre.

Humayun returned home on Jun 19 after undergoing colon surgery on Jun 12. He was admitted to a Jamaican hospital one day later as he suffered from abdominal pain. From there, he was transferred to the Bellevue Hospital for second surgery.

Born in Mymensingh in 1948, he did his graduation from Dhaka University and later joined the university as a lecturer of Chemistry but retired to become a fulltime writer and filmmaker.

Winner of prestigious Bangla Academy Award in 1981, Ekushey Padak in 1994 and three National Film Awards (Best Story in 1993, Best Film 1994 and Best Dialogue in 1994), Humayun continued writing while he was undergoing treatment in New York.

On Jan 13, the government made the 63-year old writer Senior Special Adviser to the Bangladesh Mission at the United Nations in New York.

Old Dhaka's alleged top criminal "Dakat' Shaheed and one of his associates Kalu were shot dead in what RAB called 'crossfire' early on Wednesday.

RAB spokesperson Commander M Sohail told bdnews24.com they had information that Shaheed,42, recently came back to the country after hiding abroad for a long time

"We had information that he returned to Dhaka on Sunday," he added. He was supposed to enter Luxmibazar with his associates on Tuesday night.

"Acting on tip-off, RAB set a trap for him."

"Shaheed and his assistant died on the spot after taking bullets when the Rapid Action Battalion personnel fired on them in retaliation near the city's Luxmibazar area around 12.30am."

Shaheed and Kalu had to stop their motor-cycle before a RAB barricade near the entrance to Luxmibazar.

"And at one point, out of nowhere they fired on us first. They were killed on the spot when we fired back on them," he added.

Two pistols were recovered at the scene.
Shaheed was an accused in 12 cases including the sensational goldsmith Prem Krishna murder case.

Meanwhile, locals took out processions to celebrate the news of his death.

The Hill Management Committee has directed the authorities to cut off illegal electricity, gas and water supply connections to the families living in the risky slopes of the hills in Chittagong within seven days to avert further loss of lives and property in the upcoming rainy season.

The recommendations came from a meeting of the committee held at Chittagong Circuit House on Monday.

The meeting was held days after at least 26 people were killed in separate incidents of hillslide and wall collapse triggered by ceaseless downpour in at least seven areas of the district.

Owners of the hills have also been directed to take necessary measures to relocate the families dwelling illegally in the risky hill slopes of the port city.

Besides, the meeting also directed the district administration to form a committee to provide legal aid to the victims if any of them files case against influential land grabbers in the hills.

Chaired by Alef Uddin, the Chittagong Additional Divisional Commissioner, the meeting was also attended by Abdul Kaiyum, Additional Secretary and National Project Director of Comprehensive Disaster Management Project (CDMP).

The special court set up to hold Peelkhana mutiny trial has asked former Army chief Moeen U Ahmed, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Military Secretary Maj Gen Joynul Abedin and two others to appear before it on July 4.

The Special Court judge, who is also the Dhaka Metropolitan Additional Session's judge, Mohammad Akhteruzzaman passed the order on Monday.

The two other asked to appear before the court are former Inspector General of Police Nur Mohammad and now-defunct Bangladesh Rifles officer Let Col (Retd) Jahan Ara Begum.

"The court has summoned them for making their deposition," said Public Prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kajal.

On Monday, Mehrin Ferdous, wife of Dhaka Sector Commander Mojibul Hoque, who was killed during the mutiny, Munmun Akter, wife of Lt Col Shamsul Azam, BDR Hospital doctor Snigdha Sarker, and its nurses Selina Sultana, Aklima Akter and Sabina Yeasmin deposed before the court.

As many as 74 people, including 57 Army officers, were killed in the mutiny on Feb 25 and 26, 2009. Later, the force was renamed Border Guard Bangladesh.

A murder case was filed after the mutiny, with 1,087 witnesses. The court set up on the playground adjacent to the Alia Madrassa started recording depositions on Aug 24 last year.

The Criminal Investigation Department submitted chargesheet accusing 824, including former BNP lawmaker Nasir Uddin Ahmed Pintu and Awami League leader Torab Ali. Another 834 were accused in another case filed in connection with the Explosives Act.