e_Paper, Wednesday, July 05, 2017

24
WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017
DT
AUSTRALIA A TRAIN DESPITE
TOUR BOYCOTT THREAT › 18
Back Page
MOUSHUMI SEEKS TO DISENGAGE HERSELF
FROM SHILPI SAMITI POSITION › 23
Families of Holey Artisan victims
to get €300,000 compensation
• Asif Showkat Kallol
CURRENT AFFAIRS
The government has approved
compensation packages worth
€300,000, or around Tk2.79 crore,
for the families of 20 local and foreign
victims who died in the terror
attack on Holey Artisan Bakery last
year.
This follows directives from
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who
urged the authorities concerned
to take all necessary steps to compensate
the families, officials at the
Ministry of Home Affairs told the
Dhaka Tribune.
The Finance Division issued a
circular signed by Senior Assistant
Secretary Md Rajibul Islam yesterday
for the disbursement of the
compensation packages from its
risk management fund for the 2017-
2018 fiscal year.
According to the circular, each of
the 20 families is expected to receive
€15,000, or around Tk13.95 lakh.
The Public Security Division of
the Ministry of Home Affairs has
been directed to distribute the
compensation packages by July 30.
Five terrorists stormed Holey
Artisan Bakery in Gulshan, Dhaka
on July 1, 2016, and killed 20 hostages,
17 of whom were foreign
nationals – nine Italian, seven Japanese
and one Indian.
They victims are: Faraaz Ayaaz
Hossain, Abinta Kabir, Ishrat Akhond,
Tarishi Jain, Adele Puglisi,
Claudia Maria D’Antona, Simona
Monti, Marco Tondat, Nadia Benedetti,
Vincenzo D’Allestro, Maria
Rivoli, Cristian Rossi, Claudio Cappelli,
Koyo Ogasawara, Makoto
Okamura, Yuko Sakai, Rui Shimodaira,
Hiroshi Tanaka, Nobuhiro
Kurosaki and Hideki Hashimoto.
Two policemen and two employees
of the bakery also died because
of the attack.
Sources said families of the
Italian victims asked for financial
assistance in November last year
via the Bangladeshi ambassador in
Italy, as they were more in need of
financial assistance than the families
of the other victims.
Initially, a decision had been
made to send assistance to the
Italian families, but it was vetoed
by Finance Minister AMA Muhith.
On May 14, Muhith and Hasina exchanged
a series of notes where he
argued that it would be discriminatory
to provide assistance to only
the Italian families, and it could
potentially embarrass Bangladesh.
He proposed that the families of
all victims, both local and foreign,
be compensated, the sources added.
In May this year, the government
decided to provide compensation
to the families of all 20
hostages who was killed by the
terrorists. Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina signed an order asking the
Finance Division to arrange for a
total of €135,000, or about Tk1.23
crore for compensation.
“We will provide assistance to
the families of the citizens of different
countries who were killed in
the terrorist attack in Gulshan,” the
prime minister said in the order.
The amount was later raised to
€300,000.
Finance Minister Muhith also
suggested that the money be paid
out through the government exchequer
as the Finance Division
had said it would not be possible to
pay it through the Unexpected Expenditure
Management Fund given
the lack of funds near the end of
the fiscal year. •
Nail inserted into teen boy’s genitals for chatting to girl
• Nayan Khondoker, Jhenaidah
CRIME
A teenage boy who had a nail
forcibly inserted into his penis in
Kaliganj upazila of Jhenaidah was
brutally attacked merely for talking
to a girl outside her house, his
grandfather has claimed.
Parvez Mollah, 13, was left unconscious
by the June 22 assault in
Das Baisa village and was still being
treated at the health complex
in Kaliganj on Tuesday after undergoing
brain surgery in Dhaka.
His grandfather, Liton Chowdhury,
claimed Parvez was taken to
a deserted area by a group of men
after he was caught chatting to the
Five terrorists stormed Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan, Dhaka on July 1, 2016, and killed 20 hostages, 17 of whom were
foreign nationals – nine Italian, seven Japanese and one Indian
SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN
girl, who is the daughter of 42-yearold
prime accused, Azizul Lasker.
“They inserted a nail into
Parvez’s penis and brutally beat
him the whole night,” he said.
“They did not release him, even
after he fell unconscious being
unable to bear the barbaric torture.”
Liton further claimed the incident
– which only came to light
when Parvez was returned to
Kaliganj on Monday - had been
“covered up”, because the alleged
assaulters are “influential in their
locality”.
The other named suspects
include Azizul’s two brothers -
Mazidul Lasker, 38, and Rabiul
Lasker, 35 - and five other residents
of Das Baisa village: Tasir
Uddin, Abdus Salam, Md Imamul,
Aziz Sheikh and Md Azizul.
Another boy named Nazmul,
who was accompanying Parvez
during his conservation with the
girl, was able to escape and informed
Parvez’s mother, Parvina
Begum.
“When Parvina rushed in and
asked them to release her son,
they said they had already released
Parvez after giving him a
‘light beating’,” Liton said.
Parvez was rescued from the
area the following day after Sagor
Biswas, a local Awami League
leader, placed a phone call to
Parvina, saying: “Your son has
been lying unconscious on the
road. Bring him back.”
With severe injuries all over
his body, Parvez was first rushed
to Kaliganj upazila health complex
and then to Jessore Medical
College Hospital. As his physical
condition deteriorated, Parvez
was transferred to Dhaka Medical
College Hospital, where his brain
was operated on.
Parvina filed a case with Kaliganj
police station on the same
day against eight named and two
unnamed people in connection
with the incident.
Zafor Ahmed, a member of
Kola Union Parishad, said: “I do
not know who beat him up and
why, but it seems that he was inhumanely
assaulted.”
Aminul Islam, officer-in-charge
of the police station, described
the incident as “heart-rending
and horrific” and said they had
already arrested three of the accused
and were trying to arrest
the other abusers.
Kaliganj Upazila Nirbahi Officer
Sadequr Rahman visited Parvez
yesterday and had him returned
to the health complex as his condition
remained unstable.
The son of Shimul Mollah of Piyapur
village in Shalikha upazila
of Magura works as an assistant
to a carpenter and has been living
in Damodarpur village in Kaliganj
with his maternal grandfather
since his parents separated four
years ago. •
Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower,
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