DT e-Paper, Thursday, December 15, 2016

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina exchanges greeting with relatives of martyred intellectuals at the Martyred Intellectuals’
Memorial at Mirpur in Dhaka yesterday
BSS
News 5
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016
HC orders probe into
Santal arson attack
• Ashif Islam Shaon
The High Court yesterday ordered
the chief judicial magistrate of Gaibandha
to probe into the torching
of Santal houses during an eviction
drive in Gobindaganj upazila by
some law enforcers.
The bench of Justice Obaidul
Hassan and Justice Krishna Debnath
came up with the order and asked
the magistrate to place the probe report
before it within 15 days.
The court also directed the
Rangpur range deputy inspector
general of police to ensure proper
investigation of the two cases filed
in connection with the November 6
attacks and treat them with equal
importance.
The probe would be conducted
by a high official of the PBI and supervised
by an official holding not
less than the rank of a police superintendent.
On Monday, a Supreme Court
lawyer brought the matter to the
High Court’s notice, referring to a
DT
news piece based on a video that
showed policemen torching the
Santal houses.
On November 6, the upazila administration
evicted around 600
Santal households from their ancestral
land in Sahebganj-Bagda
sugarcane farm area.
Three Santal men died and many
more were injured when they protested
the eviction. The drive was
carried out by the police and RAB
members, and they were assisted
by local people allegedly loyal to
the local ruling Awami League lawmaker
and mill workers.
Meanwhile, the National Human
Rights Commission placed their
findings with some recommendations
on the incident before the
court yesterday. A team of the NHRC
visited the spot on November 14.
The NHRC said that the police
need to be more humane in such
incidents and they need to gather
more skills to act in defence. However,
the report claims that the incident
was not pre-planned. •
Report: Islamist group in Myanmar
rings alarm bell
• Tribune Desk
International Crisis Group has revealed
that a well-funded armed Islamist
group carried out the attacks
on Myanmar security forces in October
and November that saw crackdown
by the military in retaliation.
Formed after the 2012 riot, the insurgent
group, which refers to itself
as Harakah al-Yaqin (Faith Movement,
HaY), is led by a committee
of Rohingyas living in Saudi Arabia
and is commanded on the ground by
Rohingya with international training
and experience in modern guerrilla
war tactics, the Brussels-based
group said in a report published yesterday.
“It benefits from the legitimacy
provided by local and international
fatwas [religious judicial opinions]
in support of its cause and enjoys
considerable sympathy and backing
from Muslims in northern Rakhine
State, including several hundred locally-trained
recruits.”
Over 20,000 Rohingya Muslims
have taken shelter in Bangladesh
following the latest attack in Rakhine
state since October 9 that killed
around 100 people. People who have
escaped the attacks are sharing horrific
stories of murder and torture.
After the military breakdown
began, the Myanmar president’s
office issued a statement claiming
that some 400 members of Aqa Mul
Mujahideen, a little-known Islamist
militant group linked to al-Qaeda
and RSO, had conducted the preplanned
attack.
According to the ICG report, HaY
is represented in northern Rakhine
by Ata Ullah, seen in several videos
released by the group. He was born in
Karachi to a Rohingya father and grew
up in Mecca. He is part of a group of
20 Rohingya who have international
experience in modern guerrilla warfare
and are leading operations on the
ground in northern Arakan.
Also with them is a senior Islamic
scholar, Ziabur Rahman, a Saudi-educated
Rohingya mufti with the authority
to issue fatwas.
HaY would not have been able
to establish itself and make detailed
preparations without the buy-in of
some local leaders and communities,
the report adds. “The fact that
more people are now embracing violence
reflects deep policy failures
over many years rather than any sort
of inevitability.”
The current violence is qualitatively
different from anything in
recent decades, seriously threatens
the prospects of stability and development
in the state and has serious
implications for Myanmar as a
whole, the ICG says.
The government should ensure
that violence does not escalate and
inter-communal tensions are kept
under control. It requires also taking
due account of the grievances and
fears of Rakhine Buddhists, the report
says.
The ICG has warned that the current
use of disproportionate military
force in response to the attacks,
which fails to adequately distinguish
militants from civilians, and denial
of humanitarian assistance to Rakhine
is unlikely to dislodge the group
and risks generating a spiral of violence
and potential mass displacement.
The rights group says that the Myanmar
government requires recognising
first that the Rohingyas have
lived in the area for generations and
will continue to do so. Ways must be
found to give them a place in the nation’s
life.
“A heavy-handed security response
that fails to respect fundamental
principles of proportionality
and distinction is not only in violation
of international norms; it is also
deeply counterproductive.
“It will likely create further despair
and animosity, increasing support
for HaY and further entrenching
violence. International experience
strongly suggests that an aggressive
military response, particularly if not
embedded in a broader policy framework,
will be ineffective against the
armed group and has the potential to
considerably aggravate matters,” the
report adds. •
SC to EC: Do not
allocate ‘scale’ as
electoral symbol
• Ashif Islam Shaon
The Supreme Court yesterday
asked the Election Commission not
to allocate the “scale” symbol to
any political party during an election
period.
The “scale” has been used in the
SC monogram as a symbol of justice
for a long time and therefore
allocation of it as an electoral symbol
may create confusion, said the
registrar of the Supreme Court.
On December 12, the decision
was adopted in a full court meeting
of the Appellate Division and the
High Court division in presence of
Chief Justice SK Sinha, said HC Division
Additional Registrar General
Sabbir Foyez. •
TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY
Dhaka 27 15 Chittagong 27 18 Rajshahi 26 13 Rangpur 26 13 Khulna 27 13 Barisal 27 14 Sylhet 28 13
Cox’s Bazar 27 18
DRY WEATHER
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15
DHAKA
TODAY
TOMORROW
SUN SETS 5:14PM
SUN RISES 6:34AM
YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW
29.8ºC
9.6ºC
Teknaf
Chuadanga
Source: Accuweather/UNB
PRAYER
TIMES
Fajr: 5:50am | Zohr: 1:15pm
Asr: 4:00pm | Magrib: 5:22pm
Esha: 7:30pm
Source: Islamic Foundation