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Volume 2 Issue 7 | August 2007

Inside

 
 

Original Forum Editorial

Month in Review: Bangladesh
Month in Review: International
Exit strategies: Some lessons from history- - Rehman Sobhan
What should have been in the budget-- K. Siddique-e-Rabbani
Tough politics but loose economics-- Nizam Ahmad
The effects of corruption -- Saifuddin Ahmed
Time to declare war on hunger-- Zahin Hasan
Where Deshantori ends, Phiriye Ano Bangladesh begins -- Mridul Chowdhury
A cloud of silence in Bangla Town-- Naeem Mohaiemen
Photo Feature
Epaar Opaar-- Udayan Chattopadhyay
The third pillar -- S. Amer Ahmed
Let's get political--Asif Saleh
Through Big Brother's eyes-- Tazreena Sajjad
Alternate universes: fairy tale, sci-fi or reality?-- Rashida Ahmad
Column: It's no joke

 

Forum Home

 

Month in review: Bangladesh

BR

Family of nine commit suicide

Nine members of the same family, aged between nine and sixty, commit mass suicide under the wheels of a running train in Mymensingh on July 11. Neighbours say little was known about the reclusive family diaries recovered by police, however, reveal the family wanted a life "free from the bondage of any religion," and apparently ended their lives in the belief of returning as "the family of Adam." Hundreds of people flock to see the mass grave dug by the family in their garden in preparation for their own tragic death.



The country underwater

AFP
Three days of almost unrelenting monsoon rain triggers heavy flooding in 26 districts throughout the country, leaving almost 500,000 people marooned in towns and villages cut off from rail and road links and thousands of acres of cropland submerged. Several rivers burst their banks after more than 100 mm (four inches) of rainfall is recorded in 24 hours. At least 15 people are reported to have died in the floods up to June 23, most of the casualties being caught in mudslides or hit by falling debris from collapsing houses.


AFP

Hasina arrested and detained

Awami League president and former prime minister Sheikh Hasina is arrested and taken to court on July 16. After the court denies her bail, she is detained in a house in the Jatiya Sangsad premises under 'sub-jail' conditions She now faces charges of murder and extortion. Hasina's supporters react with outrage; many in the country and abroad criticise the interim government's move as a political arrest. The ongoing 'emergency' ban on political activity is defied by AL supporters, including students and university teachers, as they hold demonstrations around the country in protest of the arrest..



STAR GRAPHICS
Deal signed for Dhaka-Yangon road link

Bangladesh and Myanmar finally sign a deal on July 27 to construct a 25 km road connecting the two neighbouring countries. The agreement opens up a real possibility of a greater road network between Bangladesh and the South-East Asian countries including Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. Designed to start at Gundum in Cox's Bazar, 2 kms inside the border, and then run over 23 kms through Myanmar territory to Bawlibazar, the road may eventually stretch up to Kunming in China as part of a broader tripartite scheme.

JMB patron jailed
STAR

On July 26 former post and telecommunications minister Aminul Haque and 24 others are sentenced to over 30 years imprisonment, in the first verdict on a charge of patronising Islamist militants. The convicts, who also include Rajshahi district BNP secretary, Shish Muhammad, are convicted for aiding and abetting the militants of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in extorting and torturing people of Bagmara upazila in 2004.



COLLECTION

Supreme Court advocate murdered

Supreme Court advocate, Saima Khanam is stabbed to death by 'unknown assailants' in the drawing room of her own apartment on July 17. Police assume the murder to be premeditated. A week later a RAB team arrest Faizul Islam, an assistant accountant in the Public Works Department, who confesses publicly that he and his accomplices are guilty of the murder. Islam claims Saima Khanam was killed because she failed to procure various jobs she had promised him after taking a total of Tk 12 lakh in bribes.

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