Himu's Window

These Photots are taken from Panchagarh town Thursday, July 23, 2009 Decades after landing on the moon by man, solar eclipse still remains a 'mystery' shrouded in superstitions and fear for multitudes of villagers in the northern areas. While thousands of curious people including science enthusiasts and nature lovers busied themselves availing the rare occasion of full eclipse at Panchagarh town and other places of the northern district, many others remained inside their houses, maintaining strict rituals for 'protection from evils'. Women have to remain indoors, refrain from doing any household jobs and eating or drinking during the entirety of the eclipse, said several villagers in Shalbahan, 30 kilometres from Panchagarh. "During the eclipse a pregnant woman is virtually shielded by their relatives to protect her and the unborn baby from possible harm by some unknown power. This has been practised by my grandmother and other members of the family," said Jha...

Tuesday, July 21, 2009 A Rajshahi court yesterday rejected bail prayer of former BNP minister Aminul Haque in connection with a case for abetting and patronising outlawed Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). M Mohsin Ali, father of JMB atrocity victim Monwar Hossain Babu of Chalk Sarkutia, filed the case after his son was killed during the operation by JMB's executed leader Siddikul Islam Bangla Bhai in Bagmara in 2004. Judge ABM Mahmudul Haque of the Court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Rajshahi, however, granted Aminul bail in the case for misappropriation of corrugated iron sheets from the government relief funds. Aminul, a key patron of Islamist militant outfit JMB in Rajshahi region in 2004-2005, was hauled before the court during hearing of his bail prayers. He surrendered on July 7 after staying two and a half years as a fugitive abroad and applying to the government for withdrawing all the 13 cases against him. In the case filed by Mohsin, so...

Sunday, July 19, 2009   The four top leaders of the new JMB splinter Islam O Muslim claim they along with the mainline outfit have "supporters and well-wishers" in the administration in three districts in Rajshahi Division. Senior police officials who interrogated the four till Friday say the militants have patrons in the administration from top to bottom levels. The militants used to get different types of support, especially in legal matters, in Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj and Naogaon where they already have a stronghold, the officials add. "We are looking into the matter since the militants revealed the information," said Nazrul Islam, superintendent of police of Chapainawabganj. The police are now looking for evidence which would substantiate the claims of the militants, the district police boss added. The law enforcers handed over Selim alias Saifullah, military commander of the JMB offshoot, to the court on Friday on completion of five-day a...

Saturday, July 18, 2009   Street urchins are now being used to abduct children in Rajshahi city, revealed the police yesterday. The fact came to light after locals rescued on Thursday night two children at Rajshahi Railway Station and caught a street urchin assigned by a gang of child traffickers to abduct kids. They handed over street urchin Rabbi, 12, who sells children to human traffickers in Dhaka for Tk 200 each, to the police. Rescued Shamsher, 8, and Quamrul Hasan, 10, told the police that Rabbi was taking them to the capital to sell them to a woman for Tk 200 each. The two kids are now kept under safe custody of Association for Community Development, a Rajshahi-based non-governmental organisation. Police said Rabbi admitted that he sold another boy Mohibul, 8, missing for two and a half months, to a woman in the capital for Tk 200. A police team took Rabbi to Dhaka yesterday to rescue Muhibul and arrest the gang members. http://www.thedailystar.net/new...

Friday, July 10, 2009 The top leaders of banned JMB's splinter Islam O Muslim Abdur Rahim alias Shahadat and Selim alias Saifullah designated each other as the chief of the offshoot organisation during remand, police said yesterday. Police said Shahadat, Selim and two others--Sajedur Rahman alias Hanif and Jalal Uddin--had already given important information but the police now need to put them face to face for interrogation. M Abdul Kuddus Chowdhury, additional superintendent of police in Rajshahi, said, "A face to face interrogation has now become crucial as Shahadat and Selim are pointing at each other as the chief of the new group." At the end of a five-day remand yesterday, Shahadat, Sajedur and Jalal were produced before the third court of judicial magistrate in Rajshahi in the afternoon. Police sought a seven-day fresh remand against them. The court of Asaf-ud-Doula granted only three day's fresh remand, said M Hedayetul Islam, acting court inspector of Rajshahi...

Thursday, July 9, 2009 Rab personnel yesterday recovered six firearms and 10 bullets from Chapainawabganj and arrested four JMB militants, including two ehsars (fulltime members), in three districts. Based on arrested Selim alias Saifullah's statement, a team of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab)-5 raided Selim's father-in-law's house around 3:00am yesterday. Director of Rab-5 Lt Col Israt Hossain said the team recovered six local one-shot guns and ammunition digging around Selim's father-in-law Quamruzzaman's house. None was arrested during the operation, he added. Selim, chief military commander of JMB offshoot Islam O Muslim, was taken to Rajshahi Rab headquarters and was interrogated overnight after his arrest on Tuesday. They recovered a foreign 9mm pistol, nine bullets and two empty magazines from his possession. Meanwhile, Rab arrested another active member of JMB Delwar Hossain, 22, at his house in Jagadishpur under Gaibandha district following con...

Wednesday, July 8, 2009 The government has taken initiatives to reopen two silk factories -- one in Rajshahi and the other in Thakurgaon under public-private partnership (PPP) by January next. The Tk27 crore loss-burdened Rajshahi Silk Factory was shut down in 2002, forcing 359 employees out of job. At that time, Thakurgaon Silk Factory was also closed. As per the prime minister's directive to the Ministry of Jute and Textile ministry to take immediate steps to reopen the factories, a high profile parliamentary body visited Rajshahi on Friday and Thakurgaon on Sunday to examine the feasibility of the move. The three-member team completed an inventory of the factory machineries and exchanged views with experts, businessmen, growers and officials of the Bangladesh Sericulture Board. "Local businessmen showed interest in running the factories under PPP," Kazi Abdul Wadud Dara, the committee chief and a lawmaker from Rajshahi-5 constituency, told The Daily St...

Wednesday, July 8, 2009 Barrister Aminul Haque, one of the powerful ministers of the four-party government, was finally sent to jail yesterday in connection with a graft case in which he was earlier jailed for 10 years in absentia. Aminul, a key patron of banned Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in Rajshahi region during 2004-2005, was also sentenced to 31 years and six months' rigorous imprisonment for aiding and abetting militants. Judge Tanjina Ismail of the Special Judge-6 passed the order sending Aminul to jail after he along with his lawyers appeared before the court to seek bail. The defence submitted three petitions -- one for surrender to send him in jail, another for giving him first-class division in jail and the other for allowing him to go to jail on an ambulance. The prosecution did not oppose the petition for allowing the fugitive convict Aminul to go to jail on ambulance. After hearing both sides, the judge ordered to send Aminul to jail directing the jail a...

Wednesday, July 8, 2009 A joint team of Rab and BDR yesterday arrested Selim alias Saifullah, second-in-command and military affairs commander of JMB's new offshoot Islam O Muslim, at Belpara in Chapainawabganj. Selim was arrested after an exchange of gunshots with the forces and he sustained a bullet wound in his leg, said Rab sources. They also recovered a pistol, nine bullets, three bullet shells and two empty magazines from the scene and his possession. Immediately after the arrest of Islam O Muslim chief Abdur Rahman alias Shahadat, Selim fled to India. An intelligence agency finding out that he was back in Bangladesh informed Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) that he was hiding at his father-in-law's in Belpara, Shibganj. Rab and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) team surrounded the house of Selim's in-laws around 1:00pm. Selim fired three shots at the team in a bid to avoid arrest and the team retaliated with five shots. In a press conference last night, Director of Rab-5 Lt Col ...

Saturday, July 4, 2009 Law enforcers yesterday transferred three organisers of "Islam and Muslim", an offshoot of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), to Rajshahi from Dhaka and produced them before a court seeking a seven-day remand for each. The Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court of Rajshahi sent the three to jail and set tomorrow for holding hearing on the remand prayers after they were implicated in a case filed under the Arms Act and the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009. The three are: chief of the outfit Abdur Rahim alias Shahadat of Gomastapur in Chapainawabganj, regional commander Sajedur Rahman alias Hanif of Jhikra of Bagmara upazila in Rajshahi and Jalaluddin of Naogaon. A Special Branch of Police team from Dhaka had arrested Jalaluddin in Rajshahi and seized a single-shot gun from his possession. The other two were arrested in Gazipur. They were taken to Dhaka for primary interrogation, police said. Police implicated them in the case for their involvement in reor...