Himu's Window

Anwar Ali, Rajshahi Although a large number of last-minute Eid shoppers are cramming into markets, the festivity could not touch the poverty-striken people of the northern region of the country. The poverty due to crises of job and food have overshadowed Eid celebration of the underprivileged hundreds, many of whom are flocking to shopping centres at district and upazila headquarters for begging alms. During this period, the poor people usually suffer from monga, a near- famine situation, following lack of agricultural work and food shortage. The situation is likely to persist till the harvest in December, said the government officials, adding that the situation has however improved a bit following various government measurers. "The main buyers at Eid markets in northern region are the villagers. So the traders are also facing dull markets in their absence. Most farmers and day labourers are still in severe hardships," said Mustafijur Rahman, a businessman. &qu

A Rajshahi court yesterday rejected bail prayers of the 10 Hizb ut-Tahrir leaders and activists who were arrested September 18 on suspicion of their involvement in militancy and anti-state activities. The Court of Rajshahi Metropolitan Magistrate BM Tarikul Kabir denied the bail prayers after police claimed that investigation was still going on against the accused. The arrestees were not produced before the court and only their prayers were sent to the court. They are detained under section 54 of the CrPC. "We also said verification of their previous criminal records, if any, is yet to be completed in police stations concerned," said Court Inspector Mahbubul Kuddus Siddiki. Hizb ut-Tahrir Coordinator and Dhaka University teacher Syed Golam Mowla and Ahmed Jamal Iqbal, teacher of South East University and a senior member of the Islamist group, were arrested along with eight others on September 18 in Rajshahi. However, police did not lodge any case against them, a

  Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) yesterday threatened to bomb police stations and check-points in the city. In a fax to the Rajshahi Metropolitan Police (RMP) headquarters at around 6:00pm, the banned Islamist outfit said it would launch attacks in retaliation for arrest and harassment of its cadres. Confirming the threat from the militants, Mahfujur Rahman, assistant commissioner of RMP Detective Branch (DB), told reporters that they have beefed up security at police stations and other installations in the city. The fax said JMB has enough explosives to bomb the police stations. Addressed to Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), superintendent of police, DB and National Security Intelligence, the fax did not carry any signature. It said the outfit has targeted police stations since the law enforcers are "creating obstacles to its operation". Earlier on September 7, another fax purportedly sent by JMB threatened to bomb the residences and offices of caretak

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=55812   Julfikar Ali Manik and Shariful Islam Investigators are now probing Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh's suspected involvement or link with militancy at home and abroad following Thursday's arrest of 10 of its leaders and activists in Rajshahi. Sources in the law enforcement agencies yesterday said the arrests were not unexpected and that the agencies were looking for Tahrir men after a few of them distributed leaflets at Baro Masjid in Rajshahi around 10 days before the arrests. Rajshahi Metropolitan Police (RMP) Commissioner Mahbub Mohsin yesterday said the arrest of Tahrir leaders on Thursday was not surprising. "We had been looking for the organisation's leaders and activists for distributing leaflets at Baro Masjid," he told The Daily Star. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies suspected Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh as a militant organisation and kept it under watch for quite a long time although it is

  Government must deal with it firmly Everybody must have the right to practice his or her religion. But nobody can impose it on others. It is the tone of force or the tenor that concerns us and the sheer audacious manner in which some of those involved with it have been going about speaking of the objectives of the outfit. The teachers arrested in Rajshahi the other day were carted off to prison because they happened to be distributing leaflets propagating the overthrow of the government. As if that were not enough, some other leading members of the outfit in the capital have now threatened to wage a movement and not allow anyone in Bangladesh to live in peace if the arrested teachers are not released in forty-eight hours. The attitude smacks of intolerance and contradicts the outfit's claim that it does not believe in violence or force. Obviously, it is a situation that calls for tough handling, given the fact that threats are undermining the fundamental constitut

The couple had all the sun yesterday when they heard the cry of their newborn Apsora, the first ever success in frozen embryo implantation in Bangladesh.“She is doing great, she is in good health, she has no physical defect, nor does she need any special care,” Rashida Begum, the doctor behind the groundbreaking success in Bangladesh, told The Daily Star.Now in a ward of Anwar Khan Modern Hospital in Dhanmondi, the baby girl, weighing 3.2 kg at birth, will soon go home, doctors expect.“It can't be described how happy the couple is. They had been waiting for a baby for long five years. It is really thrilling to see such a success,” said Rashida, an assistant professor of the gynaecology and obstetrics department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.The landmark success came 24 years after the first frozen embryo baby was born in Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. The technology is similar to 'in vitro fertilisation', a process by which egg cells are fert

Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh yesterday threatened to oust the government by launching a movement if its 10 leaders and activists arrested in Rajshahi on Thursday are not released within 48 hours. The threat issued at a meeting of the organisation in the capital was apparently in violation of the state of emergency but no action was taken in this regard as of filing of this report at 10:00pm yesterday. Akramul Hossain, assistant commissioner of Special Branch of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police, said, "We may seek necessary govern