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UN rights chief, Amnesty Int’l issue statements UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay yesterday expressed deep concern over sentencing of 152 people to death over the 2009 BDR mutiny and said it fell far short of international human rights standards. “The crimes committed during the mutiny were utterly reprehensible and heinous, and my sympathies ... Read more

Says Prof Yunus Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus has strongly protested the changes to the GB law, blaming the government for “opening the door for its ultimate destruction.” Pointing out that the institution was founded as a bank owned and managed by poor women, he said its legal structure did not allow any sort of

All parties will contest polls:?PM Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said that the general election would be held in accordance with the Constitution. “The government is pledged to continue Bangladesh’s democracy and development and the next parliamentary election will be held in accordance with the Constitution,” the Prime Minister told parliament in reply to a ... Read more

BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday said in no uncertain terms that the onus of holding talks lay on the government, and it must come forward and take all the initiatives to hold dialogue with the opposition party to resolve the prevailing political stalemate over the non-party caretaker government (CG) issue. ... Read more

The main opposition BNP will observe ‘National Revolution and Solidarity Day’ on Thursday, marking the civil-military ‘uprising’ in 1975. On this day, in 1975, amid political turmoil soldiers and civilians jointly freed then chief of army staff Ziaur Rahman from captivity in Dhaka cantonment,

The main opposition BNP-led 18-party alliance may go for another spell of nationwide 48-hour hartal or blockade programme from Monday to stoke up its movement for holding the next general election under a non-partisan caretaker government (CG). To make the programme final, BNP chairperson and leader of the opposition Khaleda Zia will sit with her ... Read more

At least four lakh easy bikes across the country consume up to 400MW of power for charging them, according to a primary report prepared by Power Cell, the government’s planning wing for the power sector. ‘The owners of the easy bikes charge the batteries either from domestic power connections or illegal connections resulting in an unexpected ... Read more

Minimum Wage Protests force 200 RMG factories out of production Nearly 200 apparel factories in industrial parks around the city went out of production Wednesday as the workers held violent demonstrations demanding better minimum wage. The apparel workers in Bangladesh, home of the world’s lowest wages, have been demanding better payments for their work. The protesters

The Cyber Tribunal on Wednesday rejected the bail petition of human rights organisation Odhikar’s director ASM Nasiruddin Elan and ordered him to be sent to jail. Nasiruddin and his lawyers appeared before the tribunal in the morning and appealed for bail. In the afternoon, the judge, KM Shamsul Alam, rejected

A mild earthquake shook up parts of Dhaka, Sylhet and Bangladesh’s north-east on Wednesday, reports bdnews24.com. According to the US Geological Survey, it measured 5.4 on the Richter scale and it happened around 10:16am. An official at the meteorological office said the epicentre of the quake was 389 kilometres north-east of Dhaka at Barapathar in India’s northeast.

BDR Mutiny 152 to die for murders Pintu, Torab, 159 others get life in jail, 277 acquitted A sessions court in Dhaka on Tuesday sentenced to death 152 former riflemen and their officers for killing 74 people, including 57 army officers, and committing other criminal offences during a bloody rebellion in the border force’s Peelkhana ... Read more

While delivering the verdict the judge of the special tribunal observed that the ‘operation Dal Bhat (pulse and rice)’ programme was one of the main reasons for the carnage. According to him, involvement of a military force or para-military force like BDR in such a programme was not proper. The judge in his observation also ... Read more

BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has termed the life-term imprisonment verdict against the party’s central assistant organising secretary Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu in connection with BDR mutiny as mockery and politically motivated. As part of a deep-rooted conspiracy, the government has implicated Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu, joint convener

Pronouncement of the verdict on BDR carnage case is no doubt a step forward to make the nation free from a stigma that had been haunting for over four years. The BDR carnage that left 74 people, including 57 top and mid-ranking army officers, killed by rebel BDR personnel is perhaps one of the darkest ... Read more

Want immediate execution of sentences Family members of 57 slain army officials who were brutally killed in a Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) mutiny at the BDR Headquarters in Peelkhana expressed their satisfaction over the BDR verdict and demanded its immediate execution. As many as 74 people, including high-ranking to mid-ranking 57 army officials, were killed in ... Read more

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday renewed her call to the opposition leader to place her demand which ministries she wants in the all-party polls-time government to oversee the next general election. “I asked her to place her demand which ministries she wants in the all-party election-time government, but she didn’t pay heed to my ... Read more

Reaffirming the opposition’s stance on not joining the Prime Minister proposed all-party cabinet, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Tuesday said they will force the government to arrange the next polls under a non-party administration through a tougher street movement, reports UNB. “Our lone target is to compel the government

More than 100 people were injured in incidents of stray violence on the second day of the 60-hour countrywide hartal called by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Tuesday. The shutdown programme will end at 6 pm on Wednesday. In the capital, some picketers exploded 10-12 crude bombs in front of Wasa Bhaban in Kawran ... Read more

Over 9,000 jawans lost job following mutiny Over 9,000 jawans of the erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles lost their jobs for their involvement in the mutiny in Pilkhana headquarters and 46 other units across the country on February 25-26. The 33-hour rebellion that killed 74 people including 57 army officers at Pilkhana headquarters of the then BDR ... Read more

Deaths of at least 78 border guards, most of whom were detained after the BDR carnage in 2009, still remain a big mystery as most of them died of “heart attack” but had injury marks in their bodies. As many as 4,089 accused mutineers were detained in the capital following the carnage at the former ... Read more