Himu's Window

War Criminals Sector commanders for probe commission with int'l jurists Sector Commanders' Forum, a platform of sector commanders of the Liberation War, yesterday demanded the government initiate trial of war criminals immediately forming an enquiry commission, with the participation of international jurists, and a tribunal under existing laws. "We want the government to form a tribunal under International Crimes Act 1973 and Article 47 (3) of the constitution to try war criminals," said Sector Commanders' Forum Member Secretary Dr MA Hasan. Hasan was briefing reporters at Rajshahi Parjatan Motel with four sector commanders led by deputy chief of Liberation War Forces and Sector Commanders' Forum Chairman Air Vice-Marshal (retd) AK Khandakar. Sector Commanders' Forum leaders went to Rajshahi on the second leg of their visit to six divisions of the country to mobilise public opinion for its March 15 national convention and against war criminals. They visite

Caption: With rising Islamic fundamentalism, weak government, and not enough dry land for its 150 million people, Bangladesh could use a break. Instead, it must face the catastrophic threat of climate change. Bangladesh - Waterworld is published in the Monthly Atlantic's January/February 2008 issue by Robert D. Kaplan (Robert D. Kaplan is correspondent for The Atlantic and has reported on assignment from Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and the United States. Kaplan, is the Class of 1960 Distinguished Visiting Professor in National Security at the U.S. Naval Academy. His latest book is Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts: The American Military in the Air, at Sea, and on the Ground.) The monsoon arrived while I was in a shallow-draft boat traveling over a village that was now underwater. In its place was a mile-wide channel, created by erosion over the years, separating the mainland of Bangladesh from a char—a temporary delta island that would someday dissolve just

Amnesty International visits Bangladesh 4 January 2008 An Amnesty International delegation, led by Secretary General Irene Khan, is making a special trip to Bangladesh to discuss human rights issues with members of its government, political parties and civil society. The mission comes on the eve of the anniversary of 2007's declaration of the state of emergency. It is the first visit of an Amnesty International Secretary General to the country. The spotlight will be on the rule of law, with special focus on the institutional changes necessary to promote and protect human rights in Bangladesh. Representatives of the delegation will visit Dhaka and Rajshahi and will meet with survivors of human rights violations and members of civil society. They will meet senior members of the caretaker government, including the Chief Adviser Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, the Adviser on Foreign Affairs, Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, and Adviser of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Barrister Mainul Hos

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=15426   Killing of Intellectuals in 1971 Existing evidence enough to try killers   Zayadul Ahsan and Shakhawat Liton   Bodies of unknown intellectuals dumped at Rayer Bazar mass killing field by local collaborators of Pakistan army days before Bangladesh won the Liberation War. Photo: File Photo   The killers of intellectuals during the Liberation War can be prosecuted on the basis of evidence preserved by the government. It only needs to take a move to resume the long halted process of trial of the intellectuals' murder cases. Sufficient number of documents and records on the cases have been preserved since 1972 at the home ministry, Criminal Investigation Department, Ramna police station, district and sessions judges' courts, chief metropolitan magistrates' courts and deputy commissioners' offices. Over the years, eminent jurists said all this evidence has now become ancient documents according

http://thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=15429   Govts overlooked filing case under Int'l Crimes Act Shariful Islam The Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which probed an intellectual-murder case that dates back 10 years, made suggestions to the home ministry in 2001 that the government could file the case under International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973. No subsequent government, however, took the initiative to that end. Prof Farida Banu, sister of martyred intellectual Giasuddin, filed the case with Ramna Police Station on September 24, 1997 against two al-Badr cadres--Chowdhury Mainuddin and Ashrafuzzaman--for killing her brother on December 14 in 1971. The CID submitted the final report of the case in 2001 on grounds that it was filed under "wrong" section of law. Giasuddin was a history department lecturer at Dhaka University. The complainant now sees no hope of getting justice as the subsequent political governments and the present caretaker admi