Himu's Window

Vaishnavs of ISKCON render "Naam Sangkirtan" at the festival. Photo: STAR “Some render 'kirtan', some are immersed in 'puja', what links them all is their devotion to Lord Gaurango,” said Ramesh Chandra Das at Kheturi Dham. A Krishna devotee, Ramesh recounted his pilgrimage from Narayanganj to Kheturi Dham at Premtali -- some 20 kilometers off to the west of Rajshahi city. He was humming a 'kirtan' of Nazrul, “Hey Gobinda rakho choroney.” Like him, thousands of Vaishnavs and Hindus from different areas gathered at the three-day Kheturi Vaishnav Festival recently. Many of the Vaishnavs arrived from far-flung districts like Chittagong. Joining them were foreign delegates from India, Italy, Australia and Canada who are members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) joined in. This festival has been observed for 436 years. The festival marks the death anniversary of the renowned Vaishnav saint Sri Narottam Das Thakur (on the f...

RMP gets list from police headquarters for vigilance and action to hold peaceful election   Police have prepared a list of 36 terror-suspects including some ward councilors and politicians in Rajshahi city as they might pose threats to holding of the upcoming Jatiya Sangsad elections peacefully. The police headquarters prepared the list following field level intelligence reports and sent it to Rajshahi Metropolitan Police (RMP) for keeping vigilance on them, highly placed sources in RMP said. According to the sources, the list includes names of six newly elected ward councilors of Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC), three former ward councilors and five persons belonging to Awami League (AL) and BNP. The listed persons might hamper the JS elections by abetting use of illegal arms, musclemen and money, the sources said quoting the intelligence reports and analysis of their previous criminal records. The police headquarters have directed RMP authorities to take legal ac...

Published On: 2008-10-24 Front Page Around 42 large trees on the eastern side of Mohiuddin Jahangir Sarani are being chopped down after Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) authority sold those for a meagre price of Tk 1.98 lakh to make way for construction of a sewerage drain. According to RCC sources, the trees are 10 to 20 years old and include Mahogani, Koroi, Paikor, Babla and Epil Epil trees, which generally fetch a good price in the market for their timber value.   Environmental activists say the felling of the trees would hamper the ecology of the northwestern city generally known as Green City and that such a move should not be allowed. Locals allege that the price quoted by RCC is peanuts compared to their real market value. A private organisation, Modina Printing and Packaging, purchased the trees and begun felling the trees yesterday morning and seven trees were chopped down by the afternoon, witnesses said. Some branches of the felled trees were piled up f...

Published On: 2008-10-23   Lofty promises made violating election code   The day-long opening ceremony of Saleha Emarat Medical Centre at Sakoa village in Bagmara upazila yesterday virtually turned into a political campaign to woo public support for Awami League's nomination for industrialist Enamul Haque.   In sheer violation of the electoral code of conducts for probable candidates in the upcoming general elections, ambitious promises were made from the meeting while almost all the speakers remained focused on seeking nomination for Enamul.   "I have a plan to turn this medical centre into a medical college hospital, I will establish more medical centres spending Tk 60 crore… I want to serve the people of my locality.   "Please help me to create the opportunity for serving you," Enamul told the gathering, categorically seeking support for his candidacy. The election code of conduct prohibits such promises of development projects or giving...

Anwar Ali, Rajshahi This old temple has now become a breeding ground for weeds and has been reportedly encroached by Taherpur College authorities(left); The peak of the Shiv Temple in Taherpur (right) Photo: STAR The tourism prospect of Taherpur was focused on while observing the greatest Bengali Hindu festival Durga Puja at the remote town under Bagmara upazila where the festivities were introduced 528 years ago.Durga Puja in this region was initiated by Raja Kangsa Narayan Roy Bahadur in 1480 (Bengali year 887). Folklore researchers believe that the Durga Puja celebration started widely in this sub-continent since its observance by Raja Kangsa Narayan.“Durga Puja used to be celebrated within the family parameters before the Taherpur dynasty started observing it as a universal celebration,” said folklore researcher Dr. Saifuddin Chowdhury of Rajshahi University.In the old days, Durga Puja was celebrated with fitting grandeur in the area. People of all religions used to enjoy local ope...

Special Feature appeared @ theSTAR Anwar Ali I t was not the usual classroom filled with the chorus of children's voices repeating a lesson or the sound of children shouting and chatting. Instead, the children were preoccupied with basic tasks like standing up, walking or working with their hands independently. Some of the more lucky ones were reading books, drawing pictures, working with papers, playing with coloured tools, alphabets and equipment designed for understanding things. Others were being given physiotherapy. The atmosphere at the classroom is cheerful and friendly The teachers at this school named Prayash for children with disabilities are also not the usual brand of teachers. Parents and relatives are surprised to see how patient and caring they are, attending to each child, not losing their composure even when the children become hard to manage, for example when they spit on their teachers clothes or even soil their own clothes. Often parents canno...

  Staff Correspondent, Rajshahi Police in Rajshahi yesterday recorded a case against an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of Boalia Police Station on charges of raping a field worker of an insurance company. ASI Abdul Hamid and his cohort Faruk who were named in the first information report (FIR) have gone into hiding after filing of the case, said Sub Inspector Abdus Sattar. The victim was admitted to One-stop Crisis Centre (OCC) of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) on Wednesday night. According to the FIR, Faruk used to irritate the victim over phone and he took Hamid to the house of the victim in the afternoon on the day. The victim used to stay with her mother. The rapist threatened the victim saying that he is a policeman and raped her. Later, the victim narrated the incident before her mother who with the help of one Alam admitted her to OCC. "The case was filed after the policeman working with OCC found ground for it in primary investigation," said ...

Published On: 2008-10-09 National An unidentified caller yesterday gave a death threat to a probable candidate in the upcoming Jatiya Sangsad (JS) election from Rajshahi-5 (Charghat and Bagha) constituency. Former lawmaker and Charghat Awami League (AL) general secretary Raihanul Haque who got the threat said the caller threatened him to kill if he seeks party nomination to run in JS election. Later, he lodged a general diary (GD) in this connection with local police station. When contacted, Charghat Police Station officer-in-charge SM Bazlur Rashid confirmed the incident saying police have started an investigation. http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=57874

Anwar Ali, Rajshahi Thirty-year-old housewife Lal Banu died yesterday, five days later her admittance into Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH). Her mother Ez Banu was lamenting while her hapless husband was sitting silently by two minor children on the hospital premises for the release of her body. "Life of my wife must have been saved, if I could afford proper treatment. Doctors seldom attend patients at the government hospital," Lal Banu's husband Haider Hossain of Vetkibari village under Niamatpur upazila in Naogaon described his plight with certain anger in his eyes as this correspondent proceeded them. "There is only one doctor at Ward No 3 that was full with patients as we admitted her with both of her legs severely broken in a road accident and she was bleeding profusely", Haider, a solvent farmer, added. He said, "We managed them (doctors) whatever medicine or medical equipment they sought. She was given blood. But doctors and nur...

Anwar Ali, Rajshahi With the Jatiya Sangsad elections drawing nearer, potential candidates from major parties have geared up their electioneering in all the five constituencies in Rajshahi city. Some of the candidates have started campaigning at villages while some are holding press conferences to express their willingness to join the political fray and others are greeting people pasting posters on the city walls. Most of the possible candidates started campaigning during Ramadan and they intensified their daily activities of meeting people taking opportunity of the two major festivals -- Eid-ul-Fitr and Durga Puja. The electioneering shows that Awami League-led 14-party combine is in the lead position though it has been facing intra-party rivalry to some extent while BNP-led four-party alliance is yet to be prepared without any leader or office to guide them. Workers' Party politburo member Fazle Hossain Badsha has started meeting people expressing his desire to par...

A Dhaka court today asked BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, former ministers Motiur Rahman Nizami, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, M Shamsul Islam and MK Anwar to appear before it on October 12 in connection with the Barapukuria coalmine corruption case. Judge Mohammad Azizul Haque of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court after accepting the charge sheet in the case also issued arrest warrants against nine people including former ministers M Saifur Rahman, Barrister Aminul Haque, AKM Mosharraf Hossain and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid. go to http://www.thedailystar.net/latest/updates.php?pid=-98  for details  

  A freedom fighter was beaten to death by a rival group yesterday following an altercation over the distribution of fitra money on the Eid day at Maligachha village under Godagari upazila. The victim identified as Sajjad Hossain, 60, was a freedom fighter and village matbor (arbitrator). Local people said some of the attackers were the activists of Shibir, a student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami. They wanted the money to be donated to the madrasa and not to be distributed among the have-nots. Police arrested three people -- Wasim, Roky and Monirul -- after a case was lodged with Godagari Police Station, accusing over 50 people, including Mojibor, Mizan, Shakhawat and Shahid in this connection. According to police and villagers, a number of people, who were associated with the local Hafizia madrasa, swooped on Sajjad near his house around at noon and locked into a bitter dispute. At one stage, Sajjad fell on the ground after receiving wounds by the madrasa men and was beat...

  Naogaon police yesterday arrested an underground operative and chief commander of Purba Banglar Communist Party (PBCP/ML Red Flag), from Manda upazila. The arrestee was identified as Motiar Rahman alias Mantu, 53. Acting on a tip-off, a police team led by circle ASP Sohel Reza raided Turupbaria School field in the early hours and succeeded arresting him when he was holding a secret meeting with cohorts. Other operatives, however, managed to escape from the spot. Naogaon Police Super Mofazzel Hossain at a press conference at his office said Motiar is now undergoing interrogation. Motiar took over the post of PBCP chief after July 27 when the former chief Dr Mizanur Rahman alias Tutul was killed in a crossfire, he added. Motiar was evading arrest since he was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging in the UP Chairman Golam Rabbani murder case of Baghmara upazila in Rajshahi three years ago on July 25, 2005. Police had announced a bounty of Tk 1.0 lakh for in...

  Over 100 members of Ansar and Village Defence Party (VDP) staged a demonstration in Rajshahi yesterday protesting alleged irregularities in recruiting security men for Puja Mandaps in the city. They alleged that the authorities cancelled their appointments at Puja Mandaps only a day before the Puja without any reasonable grounds and recruited people in exchange for bribes of Tk 50 to Tk 100. The Ansar and VDP members came from Paba and Boalia upazila to join their duty but laid a siege to the district office when they learnt that their appointments were cancelled. They said some 265 Ansar and VDP members were appointed on September 25 for 319 Puja Mandaps in the city. The demonstrators, however, withdrew their agitation programme after senior officials assured them of assigning duty to them in future. When contacted, Ansar VDP District Adjutant Hira Miah said he will look into the matter. "Action will be taken if anyone was found involved in such irregularities,...

Anwar Ali, Rajshahi "I couldn't even try to realise how and when the Eid days had passed", said rickshaw puller Ariful Islam as he was sitting idle on his rickshaw near a tea stall at Kumarpara in the city with a shadow of gloom on his face yesterday afternoon. He usually rushes to the city from Malanchi in Natore by train at dawn for earning his livelihood by pulling a rickshaw on rent and he could hardly manage a square meal for his family on the day by Tk 175 he earned on the day before. "I couldn't go for work in the city as all transports were off the road on the Eid day. I went to my home with Tk 150 on the second day. But today, I counted so far only Tk 40, Tk 5 more than the rent of the rickshaw." The 28-year-old unmarried Arif, who has to look after his parents, broke down in tears when asked about his Eid. He said he could not manage new dresses for none of his family members, as he could not work for some 15 days before the holy...

The 10 Hizb ut-Tahrir leaders and activists arrested on September 18 were released from Rajshahi Central Jail Tuesday night. They were arrested in Rajshahi on suspicion of their involvement in militancy and inciting anti-state activities. The release came after police submitted before a court a discharge report. Based on the report, the Rajshahi District and Sessions Judge's Court earlier that day granted them bail. Hizb ut-Tahrir had threatened of waging a movement to oust the government. In the discharge report, police said nothing was found to sue the Tahrir men. Police only two weeks ago told the media that they would launch an investigation and would seek green signal from the government high-ups to bringing sedition charges against them. A number of Hizb ut-Tahrir activists, many of whom went to Rajshahi from the capital, greeted the freed people at the jail gate around 8:00pm. "They were freed as we received the court order to release them," said Ha...

  The ten Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) leaders, including four university teachers, who were arrested in Rajshahi two weeks back on suspicion of inciting anti-government activities and involvement in militancy were released from Rajshahi Central Jail on Tuesday night. Hundreds of HT activists, who drove to Rajshahi from the capital as news on their getting bail came through, greeted them as they came out of the Jail gate at 8pm. The release came as they posted bail from the Rajshahi District and Sessions Judge's Court earlier in the day. The Hizb ut-Tahrir high-ups were detained at Rajshahi City Press Club on September 18, before a scheduled press conference there. Invoking Section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), police showed them arrested on suspicion of using religious sentiments to foment anti-government activities and having involvement in militancy. A metropolitan magistrate court later in the day rejected their bail petitions as police said investigatio...