Himu's Window

Thursday, April 30, 2009 A torture victim of Islamist militants filed a case against about 70 people including two former BNP ministers and a lawmaker yesterday with the Rajshahi court in Bagmara upazila in 2004. The accused include former post and telecommunication minister Aminul Haque, former deputy minister Ruhul Kuddus Talukhdar Dulu and former BNP lawmaker Nadim Mostafa. Abed Ali, an UP member of Mirjapur village, lodged the complaint against them for abetting militants who maimed him as he denied paying them extortion. They have already been accused in several cases for abetting Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) led by Bangla Bhai. Aminul has been on the run since he was sentenced 31-and-a-half years in jail. After the case was lodged, the third court of judicial magistrate in Rajshahi ordered police in Bagmara to investigate it and take legal actions, said Babul Hossain, lawyer of the complainant. Other accused include Rajshahi district BNP General Sec

Thursday, April 30, 2009 A syndicate of contractors in collaboration with some corrupt officials of Western Zone of Bangladesh Railway reportedly managed a tender proceeding at Rajshahi Rail Bhaban yesterday for construction of a foot over bridge at Bonarpara Railway Station in Lalmonirhat. On the last day of dropping schedules yesterday, only five schedules were dropped against some 300 schedules that were sold since the authorities floated the tender in the first week of April, said BR officials. Many of the contractors who bought schedules preferring anonymity alleged that they did not dare to submit their schedules as the syndicate threatened them. They added that the syndicate negotiated with most of the contractors and gave them Tk 1500 each against the price of schedule Tk 1000. Later, the negotiators filled their papers together at a city hotel and dropped as per plan. Two senior railway officials were also seen at the hotel during negotiations and filling up o

Sunday, April 26, 2009 The scorching heat coupled with erratic power supply has crippled the life in Rajshahi and its surrounding districts. Besides, acute water scarcity and mosquito menace have added to the suffering of the common people. The heatwave has also been hampering the harvest of Irri paddy as farmers as well as labourers are unable to stay in the paddy fields for longer time under the blazing sun. The farmers are complaining of huge load-shedding against the power authorities' claim for rationing power in urban areas for smooth power supply to irrigation sector. The northern districts are facing average 300 megawatt (MW) of load shedding against the daily demand for 750 MW now. PDB officials said with a local generation of around 266 MW, the PDB is to manage the demand with only 466 MW supply in the last few days. Acute water crisis in many areas compounded sufferings. Out of the demand for 226 lakh gallons of water, Rajshahi City Corporation s

Saturday, April 25, 2009 The historic Khapra Ward Day was observed at Rajshahi Central Jail and in the city yesterday with a vow to continue movement to ensure trial of the war criminals of 1971. On this day in 1950, prison guards following order of a jailer opened fire on communist prisoners who were fasting in protest against torture and sub-standard food in the jail. Seven communist leaders were killed in the firing. The slain communist leaders are Sukhendu Bhattacharya of Mymensingh, Baloram Singh of Dinajpur, Sudhin Dhar of Nawabganj, Delwar Hossain and Hanif Sheikh of Kushtia, Bijon Sen and Anwar Hossain of Khulna. Taking permission from the home ministry, some 31 people belonging to Communist Party of Bangladesh, National Awami Party (Nap) and Workers Party visited Khapra ward inside Rajshahi Central Jail yesterday. They placed wreaths at the Shaheed Minar built in front of the ward and held a memorial meeting there. NAP's district unit President Fazlul Haq

Friday, April 24, 2009 Despite good demand, the Western Railway Authorities dropped the lone air-conditioned (AC) chair coach from Padma Express train that runs between Dhaka and Rajshahi from yesterday. The train starts for Dhaka from Rajshahi in the afternoon and leaves the capital for Rajshahi at midnight. The railway authorities said the AC chair coach has been added to a Dhaka-bound train from Khulna as the AC coach of Chitra Express needs repair. "The Padma Express will get back its AC coach within two weeks when the AC coach of Chitra Express will be repaired," said the chief commercial manager of Western Railway. "We have decided to drop the coach temporarily following its 30 percent demand. Moreover, the Padma Express has an AC berth-coach alongside the AC chair coach," he added. However, the passengers have complained that the dropping of AC chair coach would have a bad impact on the service of Padma Express as its demand have risen this

Thursday, April 23, 2009 Engineer M Enamul Haque, lawmaker from Rajshahi-4 (Bagmara) constituency, in a rejoinder to The Daily Star report headlined, "PM issues cheques, MP's men take away," published on April 18, differed on some points of the report. The rejoinder disagrees with the report's assertion that the cheques issued by the prime minister for the victims of atrocities committed by Bangla Bhai-led gangs were taken away by his men, saying, "The cheques are account payee which leave no scope for anyone else other than the account-holders concerned to convert those." It also differs on locals' allegations of listing 'fake victims' as grant recipients, saying, "I on my own responsibility prepared the list of victims irrespective of party and acceptable to all." Our Reply After receiving the rejoinder, we have further investigated the story and have found our story to be based on fact. We, therefore, stand by our stor

Monday, April 20, 2009 Leaders of Quami Madrasa and Olama Oikya Parishad in Rajshahi yesterday vowed to remain vigilant so that none can use quami madrasas as cover for their terrorist activities. Terming militancy as a 'threat to Islam as well as to the country's peace', they said they are ready to assist the government in combating militancy. "Include alems (Islamic scholars) in the law and order committees in districts and hold them responsible if any quami madrasa is found involved with militancy," Maolana Hafez Abdus Samad said at a press conference of the organisation in the city. "Since Islamic teachings do not support terrorism, a man supporting terrorism cannot be an alem just by posing to be so," said Sheikh M Taiyebur Rahman Nizami, president of Rajshahi chapter of Quami Madrasa and Olama Oikya Parishad. "With a thousand-year-old history of good activities in this sub-continent, quami madrasas are helping people to achie