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Month in review: Bangladesh
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Bangabandhu killer in jail
A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed, condemned to death for his role in the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family on August 15, 1975, is finally brought back to the country on June 18, after over a decade on the run in the US. Immigration police arrest him on his arrival at Zia International Airport and take him straight to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court, from where the ex-army major who was tried in absentia and sentenced to death for his part in the August 15 killings is sent to Dhaka Central Jail.
Chittagong landslides
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At least 130 people are killed and hundreds more injured when torrential rains spark a series of devastating landslides in Chittagong, plunging the country's second city into chaos. The heaviest rainfall in quarter of a century saturates the hillsides in and around the city, giving residents no chance to escape when a tide of mud and water sweeps down on their homes in the early hours of June 11. Blame for the tragedy is placed on indiscriminate hill cutting during the last three decades that has led to the disappearance of over one hundred hills and partial destruction of hundreds of others around city.
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Good-bye and good luck
Patricia A. Butenis, the US ambassador, moves on after a scant but eventful 14 months in this country. In this short time, the ambassador was a strong voice for reform and compromise among the various domestic players, reiterating constantly that she believes that this is the duty of a good friend. She leaves to take up another difficult assignment on behalf of her government, this time in risk-prone, trouble-torn Iraq.
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Hasina saga continues
The army-backed caretaker government on June 15 bars AL president Sheikh Hasina from leaving the country to visit the US to visit her pregnant daughter. In April, the caretaker government imposed a ban on Hasina's return from an earlier visit to the US and the AL chief was stranded in London for about two weeks before local and international pressure forced the government to lift the restriction. The government's latest move comes on the heels of three extortion cases filed against her.
Dr. Kamal apologises
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Gono Forum president Dr. Kamal Hossain in a speech on June 2 apologises to the country for in the past standing by politicians whose words contradicted their deeds.
"We (political leaders concerned) publicly said that we would not break our pledges, but regrettably some of us, not all, broke those," Dr Kamal says in his interview with Channel i, adding: "I apologise, because from simple and naive belief, I was with them."
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Budget announced The much anticipated budget for fiscal 2007-08 is announced by finance and planning adviser Mirza Azizul Islam on June 7, despite grumbling in some quarters about the absence of a parliament to ratify it. The budget is a reflection of the stark economic realities on the ground, and is termed by experts to be ambitious but achievable.
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