Shuchinta

At least 25 newsmen, including the Bangladesh Observer editor and BFUJ leader Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, were injured in a cowardly attack by BNP cadres on a journalists’ rally in Kushtia town Monday, reports BD News. 

Among the injured, condition of Al Mamun Sagar, Munshi Harunur Rashid and Mizanur Rahman Vija was stated to be critical. 

Some of the injured were admitted to Kushtia General Hospital while some others sent to Dhaka.  The injured also included journalists’ leaders Omar Faruk, Farazi Azmal Hossain and Kamal Chowdhury. 

“A few number of policemen posted around the meeting venue played a silent role during the half-an-hour dastardly attack on the journalists,” alleged a local reporter. 

Witnesses said that the attackers indiscriminately threw brickbats at the podium and audience, damaged motorbikes of journalists and chairs, and snatched away video cameras and cell phones. 

They wielding sticks also beat up the journalists coming from south-western districts and upazilas.  The hoodlums broke the limbs of elderly Munshi Harun and Al Mamun Sagar while Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury received wounds at his head. “He was seen bleeding from his head,” said a witness. 

The witnesses said over 50 cadres of Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal and Chhatra Dal, the youth and student front of ruling BNP, carried out the attack. District BNP health affairs secretary AAK Koreshi Talal led the attack. 

Syed Mehedi Ahmed Rumi, MP, coordinated the attack from his nearby residence, the victim journalists alleged.

Coming from the district BNP office, the attackers carrying bamboo sticks, hockey sticks and brickbats, swooped on the journalists’ rally at public library ground shortly after it started at 11 am. 

Following the cases, the journalists Munshi Tariqul Islam (Samakal, Channel One and BDNEWS), Al Mamun Sagar (ATN and Jugantor) and Hasan Zahid (Manavzamin) were compelled to leave Kushtia on May 10. Later, they took bail from High Court and were staying in Dhaka amidst continued threats by Shahidul Islam, MP, and his men.

To see the Daily Star reporting Click Here  

To see the Channel I [audio visual] reporting Click Here 

To see some clips from the ATN News on the Chaos in Garments Industries CLICK HERE

To see the video of the speech given by Sajeeb Wazed Joy at an IT seminar during his last visit to Bangladesh Click here

The worst nightmare of this government is coming true. The public has taken to the streets. This is not just about some poor peasants in Kansat anymore. This time the public did not spare the local BNP MP Saluddin Ahmed of Demra thana, the Dhaka-4 seat.

BNP MP Salahuddin asked the police to open fire, saying “the people will automatically leave the road if two or three die.” The BNP lawmaker was wounded in the head as the angry agitators hurled brickbats at him and beat him with sticks. The MP and his bodyguard pulled out their firearms and fired some five blank shots to scare away the mob, people said.

It is time for our elite lawmakers and politicians to realize that once the sleeping giant awakens, they will not have a place to hide. Today the beat up BNP MP’s, tomorrow they will aim the Prime Ministers office.

Wake up Bangladesh. It is time to expect power and water, so we can live. So our kids can study for their exams. The sick can receive treatment. We can bathe and clean our food. Basic stuff. We’re not asking for underground transportation. Today we got ourselves in this mess just because a special Bhaban wanted to make all the money off the power projects. I guess it’s time for payback.
 

Sajib Wajed (Joy) yesterday suggested launching e-governance in the country to ensure transparency and accountability in government machineries, increase efficiency of the law enforcement agencies and to combat terrorism. 

Joy, a US-educated computer engineer, presented the keynote paper in the seminar titled ‘Potentials and challenges of Information Technology for the future of Bangladesh’. “My goal is that all transactions with the government can be completed online without you having to wait in line and bribe everyone from the peon to the secretary to do something as mundane as filing your tax returns,” Joy said. The Awami League has a plan to incorporate e-governance issue into its election manifesto, he added.

Associate professors of BUET Dr Habibur Rahman and Dr Munaj Ahmed Nur took part in the discussion.

[Report Credit: The Daily Star]

Audio file of the speech can be downloaded from HERE.

Few weeks back finance minister of Bangladesh, Mr.Saifur Rahman admitted that the private sector phone companies are withdrawing their profit from Bangladesh in foreign exchange which is putting pressure on the country’s foreign exchange reserve.

As we knew, the hype of these foreign companies that they invested in Bangladesh as FDI and any logical supporter of open market policy will support that they should be allowed to take their profit in Dollar. However, today’s Daily Prothom-Alo columnist Zakaria Shapan revealed a very interesting story.

Please follow the link : http://www.prothom-alo.net/v1/2006-05-06/06cat3.html 

The concern is, no Bangladeshi citizen can send out money from Bangladesh to any foreign country beside for education purpose or for his/her treatment of health. So, any Bangladeshi citizen invest in Bangladesh in local currency and they are not being allowed to take their profit to deposit in foreign banks, Why under such circumstances our policy makers allowed foreign phone companies to take loans from local banks and allowed them to take the profit back to their respective countries in foreign exchange?

This is clearly a double standard and hypocrisy of the highest order. We protest against such double standard and regardless how big the FDI amount any company is going to invest, without the clause of binding them into our local capital market such deal is clearly a suicidal decision for a small country like Bangladesh.

Thus, let us unite together to put pressure on respective authories to make sure that foreign companies such as these who are investing with local loans must enlist themselves in our stock exchange to offer share to the public.