Himu's Window

Friday, January 29, 2010 A court here yesterday handed down death sentence to two JMB leaders for killing Rajshahi University teacher Muhammad Yunus five years ago. Of the two, Shahidullah alias Mahbub is married to a niece of Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, now-executed JMB military commander. The other one, Shafiullah alias Tarek, is commander of Rajshahi district Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, the banned Islamist outfit. Besides sentencing them to death, Rajshahi Speedy Trial Tribunal fined them each Tk 5,000. It however acquitted six other JMB men of the murder. They are Abu Isa alias Enamul Haque, Golamur Rahman alias Golam Mostafa, Abul Kashem alias Tufan, Abdul Matin alias Bomaru Matin, Abdur Rahman alias Arif and Zakir alias Jayed. Except Zakir, who has been on the run, all accused were produced before the court. Yunus, an economics professor at RU, was knifed to death while on a morning walk near the campus on December 24, 2004. The courtroom was ch...

Thursday, January 28, 2010 A Rajshahi court hands down the verdict in the sensational Professor Muhammad Yunus murder case today. On completion of arguments in the case on December 31, Rajshahi Speedy Trial Tribunal fixed the verdict date on January 15. As the tribunal judge was on leave, the court deferred the judgment to January 28 (today), said Public Prosecutor Entajul Haque Babu. Prof Yunus of economics department of Rajshahi University was murdered while on morning walk near his Binodpur residence on December 24, 2004. Inspector Mohammad Helaluddin of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) pressed charges against eight militants of the banned Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh on September 10, 2007. The accused are Shafiullah Tarek (follower of Asadullah Al Galib), Shahidullah Mahbub (husband of the executed JMB leader Siddikul Islam Bangla Bhai's niece), JMB's regional commanders Abu Isa Enamul and Golamur Rahman Mostafa, militants Abul Kashem Tuf...

Thursday, January 28, 2010 A fishing cat that fled from Rajshahi Central Zoo a week ago due to negligence of the authority was beaten to death at Haragram Sheikhpara area in the city yesterday. Fazlul Haque Bhulu of the area, his son Hikmat along with their dog chased the cat after he saw it near his house after Fazr prayers. Minutes later, the dog grabbed the cat's neck while Bhulu, Hikmat and other villagers beat it to death, said witnesses. The villagers declined to return the cat's carcass to the zoo authority. The cat managed its way out through a hole in the wired cage at the zoo last Wednesday, said Abul Kalam Azad, caretaker of the zoo. "We did not notice the hole beforehand," he said. On taking any legal action, Forhad Uddin, veterinary surgeon of the zoo, told The Daily Star they could not say anything until they got the cat's body. "In fact, the forest department is responsible for this." Afzal Hossain, officer-in-charge of...

Sunday, January 24, 2010   The baby gharial that was captured from Padma river in Rajshahi 46 days ago died yesterday at Rajshahi Central Zoo. The authority recovered the body of the gharial at around 4:30pm after the zoo workers saw it was floating in the water upside down while they went to feed it, said the zoo's caretaker Abul Kalam Azad. Though the authorities considered the death of the baby gharial, one of the most critically endangered crocodilians on the globe and a near-extinct species in Bangladesh, was due to cold, experts blamed the zoo authority for their negligence. Forhad Uddin, veterinary surgeon of the zoo, said the gharial was kept in a tiny cage of tortoise where there was little scope of sunbath for it. "Gharial needs a temperature in between 24 degrees and 30 degrees Celsius for living, but the water temperature went down much below the requirement as the region was experiencing a cold wave". "The fishermen who captured it in...

Wednesday, January 20, 2010   Seven personalities of Rajshahi were accorded a reception at a function held at a local community centre on Monday night. Abdus Samad and Begum Monwara Rahman were given posthumous honours. Samad dedicated his life to social welfare while Monwara was a Language Movement veteran. Musician Amaresh Roy Chowdhury, educationist Dwijendranath Banerjee and dance guru Bazlar Rahman Badal were honoured for their noteworthy contributions. Apart from the senior personalities, youngsters Moumita Tasrin Nadiraj and Miti Annesha were also accorded reception at the function. Nadiraj, a student of class nine, was adjudged second runner-up at Chhannel i Shera Kantho 2009 while Miti represented children of Rajshahi division at the Climate Conference in Copenhagen. The honoured individuals were given crests at the reception while the audience gave them a standing ovation. Rajshahi chapter of Bangladesh Cable Television Viewers Forum (BCTVF) arranged ...

Monday, January 18, 2010 Police arrested two militant suspects from Bagmara upazila yesterday for their involvement in organising teens and youths under a secret militant outfit. They were identified as Majnu and Shahin Alalm. Both teens are nephews of convicted Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh leader and Bangla Bhai's associate Abul Hossain member of Rayapur. They were arrested from their houses at Rayapur village under the upazila, said sources in the police. Though the Officer-in-Charge of Bagmara Police Station Rafikul Islam said they were being interrogated. However, he declined to give any more details. Sources in the police said the two militants were recruiting youths for a secret outfit in exchange for Tk 1,000 each during the enrolment and a monthly salary of Tk 6,000. The youths were supposed to be provided with firearms and training in a few week, said the police sources adding a police team of the district detective branch had been monitoring the ...

Monday, January 18, 20 Speakers at a discussion here yesterday apprehended that the task of implementing Right to Information (RTI) law might face a major impediment if proper record management system is not developed. They said the country's record keeping system is outdated and suggested formulating a fresh law to incorporate preservation of information into the RTI law to ensure proper record keeping in government offices and other institutions. Supported by USAID and PROGATI, Mass-line Media Centre (MMC) organised the discussion on 'RTI law and citizens' right to know' at Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce and Industries auditorium. SM Shameem Reza, information policy specialist from Dhaka University, read out a keynote paper at the event where Rajshahi Deputy Commissioner Shefaul Karim was present as the chief guest. Florlis Geraedts, historian and archivist of the Netherlands, Muhammad Lutful Haque, general secretary of Campaign for RTI, Prof Moshiur Ra...

Monday, January 18, 2010   Bone-chilling cold coupled with mists and winds paralysed the normal life in the district yesterday. Meteorologist Bazlar Rashid observed that the chill increased due to sharp fall in the maximum temperature and reduction in difference between highest and lowest temperatures. The gap between highest and lowest temperatures were 4.4 degree Celsius on Saturday while it went down to 3.4 degree yesterday, said Rashid. The severity of cold forced most people to stay indoors affecting businesses, education, office and normal activities. Paddy growers expressed anxiety as their boro seedbeds were being affected greatly while the potato growers were happy expecting a good harvest due to the chill. http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=122311

Friday, January 15, 2010 Prof Yunus murder case verdict now on Jan 28 The Speedy Trial Tribunal, Rajshahi, yesterday deferred the date for verdict in the sensational Rajshahi University teacher Muhammad Yunus murder case to January 28. The verdict was deferred as the tribunal judge is on leave, court officials said. The tribunal had earlier fixed January 14 for delivering the judgment on completion of arguments in the case on December 31. Yunus, a professor of economics department, was murdered while on morning walk near his Binodpur residence, a few yards away from the campus, on December 24 in 2004. Inspector Mohammad Helaluddin of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) submitted the charge sheet in the case against eight JMB militants on September 10, 2007. http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=121978   Thursday, January 14, 2010 Judgement in the sensational Rajshahi University (RU) teacher Muhammad Yunus murder case is schedule...

Wednesday, January 13, 20 As another cold wave grips most parts of the country, the lowest winter temperature in three years was recorded yesterday in Srimangal. The Met Office recorded a low of five degrees, which was just one degree higher than the previous record set in 2007, also in Srimangal. A severe cold wave is now sweeping over Srimangal and Chuadanga, while a milder cold wave has spread over Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi, Rangamati, Chandpur, Sandip and Barisal. It was 10.2 degrees Celsius in Dhaka yesterday, and even lower temperatures were recorded in Chuadanga (5.8), Iswardi (6.3), Rajshahi (7.5), Jessore (7.8), Sayedpur (8.2), Tangail and Dinajpur (8.6), Barisal (8.8), Bogra (9), Chuadanga (9.2), Feni (9.9) and Bhola (9.9) degrees. In Rajshahi also, thousands are suffering due to a lack of warm clothes. Last week the district administration requested 10,000 blankets from the government to distribute amongst the homeless. The Deputy Commissioner of Rajshahi Md...

Wednesday, January 13, 2010 The ongoing cold wave accompanied by dense fog has started impinging on agriculture, especially in the boro seedbeds in rice producing northern districts. Boro seedbeds in greater Rajshahi region are turning yellowish and withering away due to severe cold while use of more pesticides and fungicides seems too ineffective in this regard. Agriculture officials Natore, Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj and Naogaon districts are advising farmers to water seedbeds at night, cover them with polythene and use proper fertiliser. "Boro plants suffer when the mercury dips. Those who sowed seeds late are facing problem due to the chilling weather. However, the situation is not yet alarming, as the temperature did not go below 8.5 degrees Celsius in last five days," said Dipendra Mohon Saha, crop production specialist of Rajshahi officials of Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE). While visiting Mohonpur upazila, this correspondent found Golam Ra...

Monday, January 11, 2010 The four Bangladesh Chhatra League members arrested in connection with Moitree leader Sunny murder case were taken on a five-day remand yesterday. Police arrested Shamsul Huda, Shariful Islam, Zahidul Islam Manik, and Nahid Sarwar from Rajshahi Polytechnic Institute on January 7 soon after a group of BCL attacked some Moitree leaders. Following the assault, institute unit Moitree vice president Rezwanul Islam Sunny, 22, suffered severe head injuries and died at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital on the day around 4:30pm. Moitree leaders Kazi Abdul Mottaleb Jewel and Serafat Ali Khan Bulbul too were critically wounded. Police sent the arrestees to the court the following day with a seven-day remand prayer against them. The first court of Metropolitan Magistrate Amirul Islam heard the police and the accused, and granted five-day remand for interrogating the arrestees. The court also rejected bail prayers of the accused. Apart from the arrested B...

Sunday, January 10, 2010 Despite forewarning from the district police administration about Bangladesh Chhatra League's preparation for an attack, the ruling party leadership in Rajshahi failed to tame their student wing resulting in Chhatra Moitree leader Sunny's death on Thursday. Speaking on condition of anonymity two senior police officials told The Daily Star yesterday that law enforcers told Awami League leadership beforehand about muscle flexing of Chhatra League activists on the Rajshahi Polytechnic Institute campus. "As we could sense an imminent danger from some recent incidents we warned local ruling party leaders and requested them to control their student organisation at polytechnic institute," a senior police official here said preferring anonymity. A bomb went off on January 3 as activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League were making bombs at a Chhatra League-dominated dorm as part of their preparation for a clash, he said. "Sensing so...

Published On: 2010-01-09   THE death of a student leader belonging to the Chattra Moitree of Rajshai Polytechnic Institute (RPI) due to violence is most unfortunate and regrettable. The fact that the perpetrators belonged to the Chattra League must be a cause of severe embarrassment to the ruling Awami League. The matter assumes even more poignancy when it turns out that the deceased belonged to the student wing of one of the AL's coalition partners. It seemed for a while that the spate of campus violence, perpetrated by the BCL immediately after the assumption of office by the AL, had subsided. But we were wrong. We feel that the AL high command is yet to get full control of its student wing; evidently not enough has been done to make it entirely malleable to party fiats despite the PM's clear directives. And it seems, too, that there is no one to take effective charge of the CL. It is quite natural that there would be a period, at the initial stage when a party ...

Saturday, January 9, 2010   At least 31 people, including 28 students, were killed and over 2,500 injured in some 61 incidents of violence at different educational institutions in Rajshahi since the country's independence. Justice has hardly been meted out in any of the cases and in most cases the perpetrators got away with the crimes by exerting their political clout. Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), student wing of Awami League, was involved in two of the murders after the Awami League-led government came to power in 2009 greatly affecting the educational atmosphere in the city. The latest incident of murder took place on Thursday following a clash between Bangladesh Chhatra League and Chhatra Moitree, student wing of Workers' Party. After the killing of Sunny, vice-president of Chhatra Moitree of Rajshahi Polytechnic Institute, the institution was closed indefinitely. The government and the local leaders of the ruling alliance have miserably failed in re...

Friday, January 8, 2010 A leader of Chhatra Moitree of Rajshahi Polytechnic Institute unit was killed in an attack by Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) men over establishing supremacy on the campus forcing the authorities to close the institute for an indefinite period. The Rajshahi City unit BCL dissolved the Polytechnic Institute unit committee of BCL and expelled its eight men including institute unit BCL President Nizam Uddin and General Secretary Saddam Hossain Tushar in connection with the attack. Four people including two policemen were injured during the attack on the campus while another ten people also injured in a clash between the two groups following the death. Rezanul Islam Chowdhury Sunny, 22, the institute unit Moitree vice-president, succumbed to his fatal head injuries at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) around 4:30pm. Sunny, son of Monwarul Islam Chowdhury, Motihar thana Awami League's information affairs secretary and Shamima Monwar, acti...

Thursday, January 7, 2010 The weeklong theatre festival concluded Tuesday night with renowned theater personalities from Dhaka assembling in the northwestern city of Rajshahi at the staging of Selim Al Deen's play "Dhaboman". Bangladesh Gram Theatre and Sammilito Sangskritik Jote President Nasiruddin Yousuff; theater personality Shimul Yousuf and drama critic Nripendranath Saha of West Bengal delivered speeches at the brief concluding ceremony. The ceremony was followed with the entire audience lighting candles at Rajshahi Medical College Auditorium. The song "Agun-er Poroshmoni Chhoao Praney" played in the background. "This huge crowd indicates that Rajshahi craves for quality theatre," said Nasiruddin Yousuff, praising Rajshahi Theatre's initiative. "The root of a nation is its culture. Culture helps a nation remain united," he added. Last Monday Shimul Yousuf performed in another Dhaka Theatre production "Binodi...

Tuesday, January 5, 2010 Rajshahi Theatre is holding a weeklong drama festival at Rajshahi Medical College auditorium to celebrate its silver jubilee. The festival drew local theatre enthusiasts who crave quality shows. "Visitors queuing up for shows is quite rare in this city," said Ahsan Kabir Liton, a cultural activist and senior member of Ritwik Film Society. He added that theatre is mostly Dhaka-centric but the audience in Rajshahi are just as keen on performing arts as in the capital. An 18-member team of theatre artistes from West Bengal, India is participating in the festival as well as many actors from Dhaka. "The Indian team is the first to visit Rajshahi since 1980," said Nripendranath Saha, leader of the visiting group. As the festival began on December 30, performers of Rajshahi Theatre staged "Bhut-er Bhoy", a play written by Kazi Nazrul Islam. Rajshahi University-based Anushilon Natya Dal performed the play "Bhumi Kon...

Saturday, January 2, 2010 While most people celebrated the New Year with party and picnic on Thursday night in Rajshahi city, a group of youths came out to the streets to mitigate the suffering of homeless poor people who were lying out in the biting cold. The group of four youths, all are small businessmen, celebrated the New Year by distributing winter clothes among the poor people. Minutes before the zero hour, Md Shamsuzzaman Mithu of Dari Khorbona, Rajesh Kumar Seraogi of Pathanpara, Masum Sarker of Seroil Colony and Sheikh Mehedi Iqbal Sumon of Sagarpara gathered at Kumarpara with some 250 blankets and winter clothes. They went to Rajshahi Railway Station and saw a mother, who was hardly able to save her six-month-old child from the chill, holding it on her lap and sitting at a corner of the station veranda. She was sitting there, as the floor was also cold. The unidentified mother did not delay in expressing her gratitude to the youths for giving her two blank...

Friday, January 1, 2010 A ruling party lawmaker's men have allegedly occupied 25 bighas of debottor (endowed) land of Radha Govinda and Durga Temple at Sohorapara in Godagari upazila of Rajshahi district. Locals said the loyalists of lawmaker Omar Faruk Chowdhury, also general secretary of Rajshahi district Awami League, arbitrarily formed a committee in November making Omar Faruk's follower Sanjit Kumar Ghosh as its president to look after the temple and its properties. On December 1, the self-styled temple-governing committee forced Anil Kumar Ghosh, the sebayet (custodian) of the temple, to leave the village and employed some 50 people to reap paddy from the land. On completion of paddy harvest on December 5, the committee men announced their control over the land and the temple, witnesses and villagers said. Temple committee president Sanjit acknowledged that they took control over the land at the lawmaker's directive that came after locals raised alle...

Friday, January 1, 2010 Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) leader Emdadul Haque was sent to jail after he was hauled before a court yesterday on charges of beating up a Rajshahi University teacher and attempting to extort an admission seeker. The First Court of Metropolitan Magistrate Amirul Islam also rejected his bail prayer in connection with the case filed by the assaulted folklore department teacher Anupam Hera Mondol. Meanwhile, the RU unit BCL suspended membership of Haque, mass education affairs deputy secretary of the university unit. They also wrote to the central committee for his expulsion terming the attack on a teacher a heinous crime, said Ibrahim Hossain Moon, president of RU unit BCL. Both police and RU BCL leaders say Suman, another accused in the case, could not be properly identified as his father's name and hometown remained unknown. RU Proctor Prof Chowdhury Zakaria, meanwhile, served Haque with a show-cause notice asking him to clarify in seven...

Wednesday, December 30, 2 The five and a half hour cultural evening at Rajshahi Bholanath Bisheswar Hindu Academy was abuzz with nearly 2,000 of former and present students of the 111-year old school and almost all were immersed in nostalgia. Although performances by noted vocal artiste Rafiqul Alam and composer Anup Bhattacharya, who were students of the school in the '50s, were the main attraction, presentations of current students like Pial, Sangeeta Pal and Mousumi seemed no less important to the cheerful audience. The academy organised the cultural evening, to celebrate its 111 years of glory and heritage at the school premises. Beginning at 6pm, the programme ended at 11:30pm on December 26. The evening began with "Karna Kunti Sangbad" where young student Mousumi Moitra played the role of Kunti and Shukhen Mukhopadhyay performed as Karna. Former student Tarun Kumar Das, a disciple of Pundit Raghunath Das, and music director of Rajshahi Betar enthral...