News
Notes
Cat
Fight- Episode Umpteenth
Female wrestling may have been kept on hold but political
cat fight continues full blast. While Sheikh Hasina vehemently
protests against threats to her life blaming the government
and some "evil force", Hasina is convinced that
the government has hired a professional assassin to do the
job.
The Leader
of the Opposition has said that during her stay in Istanbul,
Turkey, for the D-8 conference, she got calls from someone
who first claimed to be Kala Jahangir and then to be her brother
Sheikh Russell. The caller threatened to kill her and asked
her to leave the hotel.
But Khaleda
is far from being moved. She is so skeptical about Hasina's
claims that she questioned why such threats were made while
she was abroad and not at home. While making it quite obvious
that she thinks her rival is disillusioned, she has said that
her government is still going to probe into the matter and
investigate. She also added that the security measures her
government was providing Hasina were far more than she deserved.
Hasina
meanwhile sticks to her old tirade-- "Those who rewarded
Bangabandhu's Killers and gave them jobs in the foreign ministry
and celebrated a birthday on a national mourning day-- they
are the ones who are behind threats to my life." No olive
branches in this saga.
Builders
of the Taj Mahal revealed
The
Indian Archaeological Survey has unearthed the names of over
670 labourers and masons who helped build the Taj Mahal. The
names, written mostly in Arabic or Persian, were found etched
into the sandstone walls and peripheral structures on the
northern side of the monument. "Most of these masons
came from Iran, Central Asia and India. The names have been
meticulously divided into sections such as dome makers, garden
development department, furnishing workers and inlay artists,”
the superintending archaeologist, D Dayalan was quoted as
saying by The Telegraph. One of the world's most
famous monuments, the Taj Mahal was built in memory of Shah
Jahan's favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It took 20,000 craftsmen
and workers 22 years to build the Mughal emperor's mausoleum
for his beloved wife. Shah Jahan himself was also later buried
in the Taj Mahal.
Twenty
Three More Fixed-phone Licences Awarded
Eight out of 23 fixed-phone licences that Bangladesh Telecommunications
Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has issued have gone to four
companies owned by ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)
lawmakers. These firms are: Dhaka Telecom, GEP Telecom limited,
Absco Limited and QC telecom Limited. Dhaka Telecom, as newspaper
reports suggest, is "backed" by a minister and has
been given permission to operate in all the four zones.
The BTRC has divided the country into five zones. The central
zone, however, has remained off-limits to the current fixed-phone-licensing
regime because of a legal dispute with the WorldTel Limited.
The selected operators have been asked to submit a license
fee of Tk 20 million along with a bank gurantee.
Iraq
Insurgency
After the much-hyped
transfer of power, Iraq continues to receive its fair share
of mortar attacks, suicide bombings and even kidnappings.
Samara was the latest target of the anti-occupation forces
that are showing no sign of letting up. Samara is the hotbed
of the latest conflict, where the Iraqi National Guard Head
Quarter was hit by a mortar killing ten people including five
US troops. One day after Prime Minister Lyad Allawi was granted
wide powers to impose emergency measures to fight the insurgency
that has left thousands dead since last year's US-led invasion.
While
the fledgling interim government is struggling to gain control
over security, the US troops backed by the Iraqi guardsmen
are mounting their actions against the ingredients. In Samara
the US forces managed to kill three four insurgents by firing
hellfire missile from an apache helicopter. Samara, which
is a bastion of Sunni Muslim insurgency, has become the testing
ground for the new premier's power. Meanwhile, the Iraqi health
minister reveals that 388 Iraqis have been killed and 1,680
wounded in the month of June alone.
Under
the new security law, the prime minister has the right to
declare a state of emergency in a limited area and for a limited
time. It also grants him the power to ask judges to issue
arrest warrants and impose restrictions on the movement of
foreigners. Although the new government defended the move
as a vital response to the insurgency, human rights experts
say that the measures infringed on individual freedom.
Rab
Rescues 14 Girls, Nabs 11 Traffickers
A Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) team led by Golam Mostafa rescued
14 girls and arrested 11 traffickers from Baridhara. A team
of rab-4 first raided the Baridhara Defence Officers' Housing
Society and arrested Abu Baker and GM Haider. The recently
formed anti-crime force then raided other parts of the capital
and rescued eight girls and nabbed nine traffickers. The arrestees
have long been involved in trafficking of woman and child,
a Daily Star report says, quoting an unnamed Rab source. Rab
is still interrogating the 11 traffickers to hunt down the
mastermind behind the syndicate.
Ten
Murders per Day
After acquiring titles like the most corrupt country in the
world and the most dangerous place in Asia for journalists,
we have a new feather to add to our cap. With '10 murders
per day' Bangladesh can certainly claim to be one of the most
murderous countries in the world. (Countries like Iraq or
Palestine are not being considered for understandable reasons).
This 'great achievement' has been made in the last 32 months
since the BNP-led four party alliance came to power. Interestingly,
lest one should forget, BNP won the last election pledging
that they would correct the terrible law and order situation,
which is often cited as their preceding AL government's greatest
failure. Former Home and presently Commerce Minister Altaf
Hossain Chowdhury, who informed the JS of this remarkable
achievement upon a query made by an MP in the JS, however,
claimed that the law and order situation has improved since
the present government came to power about three years back.
One will have to give Altaf credit for his 'courage', especially
because MPs from his own party were vehemently criticising
the ever deteriorating law and order situation of the country.
Altaf, of course, never bother about what others have to say.
Copyright
(R) thedailystar.net 2004
|