Himu's Window

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