Himu's Window

Poetry festival in Rajshahi http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/04/30/d704301402136.htm         Staff Correspondent, Rajshahi A regional poetry recitation festival was celebrated with much enthusiasm featuring a rally, recitation, discussion and workshops in Rajshahi on April 27 and 28. The two-day celebration, jointly organised by Bangladesh Abritti Samannoy Parishad, Rajshahi Abritti Parishad and cultural organisation Swanan, was held at Ghoramara Padma Mancha with the slogan "Jai, Alok Arunodoy, Jai". Individuals and different recitation forums from Naogaon, Bogra, Rangpur, Satkhira, Rajshahi and adjacent districts, participated in the programmes. Renowned litterateurs Professor Hasan Azizul Haq and Ruhul Amin Pramanik inaugurated the festival. "It is cultural identity that divides people into nations around the globe. People get a new lease of life observing festivals, celebrating their own cultures and heritage," Professor Hasan said in his ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/world/middleeast/27iraq.html?th&emc=th   U.S. Officer Accused of 'Aiding Enemy' in Iraq   By DAMIEN CAVE Published: April 27, 2007   BAGHDAD, April 26 — The American military has charged a top commander at its main detention center here with nine violations of military law, including "aiding the enemy," a rare and serious accusation that could carry a death sentence.   According to a military statement released Thursday, the officer, Lt. Col. William H. Steele, provided aid to the enemy between Oct. 1, 2005, and Oct. 31, 2006, "by providing an unmonitored cellular phone to detainees" at Camp Cropper, an expansive prison near Baghdad International Airport that held Saddam Hussein before he was hanged.   Colonel Steele, who oversaw one of several compounds at Camp Cropper as commander of the 451st Military Police Detachment, was also charged with several counts of illegally storing and marking c...

Police last night pressed charges of aiding abetting militants of Jama’atul Mujahidin, Bangladesh against former post and telecommunication minister Barrister Aminul Haque, ex-deputy minister for land Ruhul Kuddus Talukhdar Dulu, former lawmaker Nadim Mostafa in two cases. Other 54 persons were also accused of torture and extortion in the charge sheets that were submitted at the third court of first class magistrate in Rajshahi. The court will record the charges later. SI Mukhtar Hossain accused 27 persons including Aminul, Rajshahi district BNP general secretary Shis Mohammad in the case lodged by torture victim Fazlur Rahman with Bagmara police station (PS) on March 30. In this case, police dropped name of Bangla Bhai, as he was hanged. Sub inspector (SI) Shakil Hossain accused 30 persons including Aminul, Dulu, and Nadim in another case filed by torture victim Ayub Ali Pramanik with same PS on April 1. “As the charges are pressed, arrest of the former BNP stalwarts became matter of ...

http://www.indiaenews.com/india/20070423/48574.htm Agra to host Bangladesh, Pakistan, India peoples' meet From correspondents in Uttar Pradesh, India, 04:00 PM IST An organisation working towards 'unification of the subcontinent' and bringing the peoples of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan closer will meet in Agra in August to take forward the movement. The Bangladesh-Pakistan-Bharat Peoples' Forum, a leftist outfit, had held its last conference in November in Lucknow. It believes that the partition of the subcontinent was a 'grave blunder' and that there can be no peace in the subcontinent unless there is unification. Forum national president Ram Kishore said Sunday evening that the 'momentum for unification has to be maintained, rather stepped up to ensure peace and progress in the region which has seen many conflagrations in the past 60 years that have only helped the imperialist powers to entrench their tentacles'. The Agra meet will be attended by mem...

http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/04/24/d70424011610.htm The key-accused in Rajshahi University professor S Taher Ahmed murder case and RU Islami Chhatra Shibir president Mahbubul Alam Salehi was sent to jail custody yesterday. The court of Rajshahi district and sessions judge Abu Bakar Siddik ordered his jail when he appeared before the court filing a miss case seeking ad interim bail. Salehi’s capture was delayed for 14 months following influence of Jamaat-e Islami leaders on administration, although five others accused in the case were caught within one week of murder. Pressurised by continued police haunts, Salehi managed ad interim bail from High Court on July 3 in 2006. On January 1 this year, the HC bail was extended for the third time. But the HC bail, granted for no criminal charges against him till then, went useless on March 18 last when police submitted charge sheet accusing Salehi and five others – Prof Mia Muhammad Mohiuddin, Zahangir, Salam, Nazmul and Azimuddin in the c...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0704200367apr21,1,5525669.story?page=2&cset=true&ctrack=1&coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed Military fights Bangladesh's infamous graft By Laurie Goering Tribune foreign correspondent April 21, 2007 DHAKA, Bangladesh -- For five of the past six years, Bangladesh's people have ranked their nation the most corrupt on Earth on an international graft watchdog list. It isn't hard to see why. Economists estimate that thieving politicians, including the families and cronies of the country's two feuding political dynasties, have pocketed more than $5 billion a year by taking a cut of nearly everything sold in the country. About $40 billion in foreign aid has been misappropriated over 35 years in this poor and densely populated delta nation, analysts say. In Bangladesh, judges throw cases for cash, bureaucrats sell jobs, businessmen run strong-arm cartels and, until recently, outgoing Prime M...

Ex-BNP lawmaker and Rajshahi city mayor Mizanur Rahman Minu was sued in an extortion case with Rajpara police station yesterday. He was blamed for abetting extortionists and terrorists. Shamsul Islam Khan of Mohisbathan areas in the city lodged the case accusing the Mayor and 10 others including district BNP vice president Nazrul Huda and former city BNP secretary Shafikul Haq Milon. Other accused persons are – BNP adherents Sentu, Mainul, Babu, Ranju, Shamsul, Islam, Ashraf and Mamun. Khan, a governing body member of Evergreen Model College at Baharampur alleged in his complainant that the accused persons are allied with each other and they demanded Tk 4 lakh toll on March 29. The plaintiff alleged said, Minu called him and the college principal Abu Yusuf Selim at his office during setting up of the college in 2006. Minu requested them to include Nazrul Huda, Milon and local BNP adherent Sentu in the college governing body, the plaintiff was describing in the case. As denied,...

http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9052421 Bangladesh No going back Apr 19th 2007 DHAKA From The Economist The army exiles the country's leading politicians AFP Get article background ENDING an era in Bangladeshi politics dominated by the two mutually-loathing heads of feuding dynasties, the generals behind the interim administration this week exiled them both. On April 17th, Khaleda Zia (pictured left), leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party ( BNP ) and prime minister until October 2006, agreed to go into exile in Saudi Arabia—which also took in another exiled former prime minister, Pakistan's Nawaz Sharif. The next day Mrs Zia's nemesis, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, prime minister from 1996 to 2001 and leader of the Awami League, the other big party, was declared a "national-security risk" and barred from Bangladesh. Mrs Zia had, in effect, succumbed to blackmail over the fate of her two sons, both facing corruption charges. Her departure...

taken from-  http://www.slate.com/id/2164200/entry/2164205/   Also see http://www.nicholasschmidle.com/   By Nicholas Schmidle   The Army Comes to the Rescue Posted Monday, April 16, 2007   Bangladesh's 2007 election season has featured an unexpected—and unlikely—pair of stars: the army and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Mohammad Yunus. In February, Yunus, the microcredit guru and acclaimed "banker to the poor," announced that he was entering the political fray by promising to "build Bangladesh as we dreamt." And the army, which took control of the country 11 days before the parliamentary elections originally scheduled for Jan. 22, has embarked on a merciless anti-corruption campaign. It has arrested thousands of allegedly crooked politicians and sent the rest into hiding. To arrange an interview in Dhaka these days can be trying; dodging arrest, many politicians have changed phone numbers and no longer sleep at home. The only politico puttin...

http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/04/20/d704201401116.htm   Adibashi Loko Utsab in Rajshahi Highlighting cultural diversity and harmony Ahsan Habib, back from Rajshahi Indigenous cultural diversity in Bangladesh was celebrated with music, dance, photo exhibition and discussion at the Adibashi Loko Utsab held recently in Rajshahi. The aim was to encourage harmony by incorporating their language and ethnic identity. The three-day event, jointly organised by Jatiyo Adibashi Parishad and Ashtha, was held at Bhubon Mohon Park, Rajshahi with the slogan 'Amader bhasha o porichoye jago Bangladesh'. Renowned litterateur Hassan Azizul Haque inaugurated the festival while advocate Sultana Kamal attended as chief guest. Anil Marandi of Jatiyo Adibashi Parishad presided over the programme. Participants from different ethnic groups -- Santal, Oraon, Munda, Mahali, Mandi, Rajbangshi, Rajoar, Bhuimali -- from Dinajpur, Naogaon, Natore, Chapainawabganj, Rajshahi, Bogra and Gazi...

News-1: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6567039.stm BBC: Bangladesh ex-PM vows to go home [Please see online BBC interviewing Sheikh Hasina-- http://www.bbc. co.uk/bengali/ news/story/ 2007/04/070418_ mkhasina. shtml ] The former Bangladeshi Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, has said that she is determined to return home despite warnings that she will be prevented. She told the BBC that "nothing would stop" her from returning to Bangladesh to participate in elections and defend herself against murder charges. The Home Ministry said earlier that her "provocative and inflammatory speeches" might create civil unrest. Officials have been told to stop her entering the country. Exile deal "My duty is to the people of my country and I owe it to them to fight the election and defend myself against fabricated criminal charges," Sheikh Hasina told the BBC Bengali service. She said that she would be arriving in London on Thursday with a view to travelling to Dh...