e_Paper, Tuesday, July 18, 2017

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6 TUESDAY, JULY 18, 2017 DT News Mamata offended at Hindu extremists insulting Hasina • Ranjan Basu, Delhi WORLD Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of the Indian state of West Bengal, appears to have taken offense with the burning of an effigy of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by a right-wing group in Kolkata. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a Hindu extremist group, held this demo outside the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata in protest of what they say is the persecution of Hindus in the country. Mamata, whose interpositions have kept the crucial Teesta River water sharing treaty between Dhaka and Delhi from happening for six years, inflicting a major dent in bilateral ties, appeared upset with this insult against Sheikh Hasina. She wrote a letter to the BJPled central government asking it to reign in the Parishad’s unruly activists, saying this disrespectful gesture towards Hasina would not bode well for India-Bangladesh ties. Hindu Parishad members shouted slogans against the Bangladesh government at their protest on July 1, which Mamata’s government permitted to be held in front of the deputy high commission. They also submitted a memorandum to the commission that said the Bangladesh government had failed to protect the minority Hindu community. Two weeks after that protest, a letter was sent from the West Bengal chief minister’s office to Union NIA arrives in Dhaka to gather information on Hatkata Mahfuz • Arifur Rahman Rabbi CURRENT AFFAIRS India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrived in Dhaka yesterday, to speak to Sohel Mahfuz alias Hatkata Mahfuz, who is currently wanted in the country for the 2014 Burdwan blast case. The three-member team reached Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport yesterday morning. They met with Bangladesh police officials and exchanged information about the militancy issue that affects both the countries. Meanwhile, a team of the Special Task Force of Kolkata police (STF) has already arrived in Dhaka on Saturday for the same reasons. Assistant Inspector General (AIG) (Intelligence and Special Affairs) Md Moniruzzaman confirmed their arrival and told the Dhaka Tribune that a meeting was held with the NIA at the police headquarters regarding the militancy issue and Hatkata Mahfuz. “We discussed common militant operators who are in India. We are Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee greeted by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on their visit to the country in 2015 DHAKA TRIBUNE ‘We have told them that some places in India are vulnerable and need increased surveillance’ sharing information about the arrested militants of both country. “We wanted to know about the militants who went to India, the source of arms or explosives and involvement in smuggling, their custodian and asylum assistants, who they have been interacting with, so on and so forth. “We have told them that some places in India are vulnerable and need increased surveillance. From the information we received, we have discovered that some of our wanted militants have already been arrested by the Indian police and we have been invited to go and interrogate them,” said AIG Moniruzzaman. When asked about the NIA’s interest in Hatkata Mahfuz, Moniruzzaman said: “Hatkata Mahfuz was in India for a long time. He is a militant involved in the Burdwan blast case. NIA shared the information they had on him and vise versa.” According to the sources, the Special Task Force (STF) members want to know about how the JMB and New JMB were organized in different provinces of India including the West Bengal. Top militants Hatkata Mahfuz has been involved with militant activities in the Murshidabad area of West Bengal from 2009 to 2014, almost five years. During his interrogation, Hatkata Mahfuz said he had a training camp at Shimulia Madrasa in Murshidabad. In the madrasa, he trained more than a hundred members of the JMB. Indian police officials are eager to know more about these people. A list of militants has been exchanged with India’s Special Task Force. They are particularly interested in the militants who have travelled to India from Bangladesh. They have also inquired if the New JMB had built a militant den in India. • Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj. In that letter, Mamata demanded that the centre control the Hindu Parishad’s behaviour. “The manner in which the Viswa Hindu Parishad protested in Kolkata that day does not bode well for India-Bangladesh diplomatic relations. If the Indian government truly wants Dhaka on its side, it should control the unruly behaviour of the Sangh Parivar and its members,” Mamata wrote in the letter. Hindu Parishad and several other right wing Hindu nationalist organisations are members of the umbrella organisation Sangh Parivar, along with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is considered the parent organisation of the ruling BJP party. Hindu Parishad meanwhile reacted derisively to Mamata’s letter. “First of all, we don’t take orders from the BJP government in Delhi. So it is unclear what it means when she asks the central government to control us,” Parishad spokesperson Vinod Bansal told the Bangla Tribune. “Second, the Parishad is willing to listen to anyone but Mamata Banerjee about what will improve Bangladesh-India ties,” he added. Parishad sources also said that although Sheikh Hasina was a great friend of India, “she must take responsibility for the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh and take measures to protect the Hindus.” The Viswa Hindu Parishad did not feel that bilateral ties would be affected if it reminds her of those responsibilities. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj appeared in front of the press in Delhi the same day, but she or the ministry officials did not comment about Mamata’s letter. • This story was first published on the Bangla Tribune India votes for next president from Dalit background • AFP, New Delhi WORLD Indian lawmakers voted Monday for a new president certain to come from the bottom of the Hindu caste system, in an election seen as strengthening Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s grip on power. Some 4,900 legislators nationwide voted in what Modi termed a “historic” election to choose the titular head of state. Ram Nath Kovind, the candidate of Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a former lawyer and state governor from the Dalit community, is certain to win. His main rival is Meira Kumar, the nominee of the Congress-led opposition and also a Dalit. But the BJP, which won a landslide in a general election in 2014, has for the first time assembled enough electoral college votes across the country to push through its presidential candidate. Congress has traditionally dominated the post. The result will be announced Thursday. Dalit attack Analysts said the election of Kovind, 71, would help Modi tighten his grip on power and accrue political capital by sending an important message to the Dalits, a long-disdained electoral group once known as “untouchables”. Dalits, who number around 200m in the nation of 1.3bn, are among India’s poorest communities and relegated to the margins of society. Despite legal protection, discrimination is rife and Dalits are routinely denied access to education and other advancement opportunities. On the day of the vote, media reported the case of a Dalit labourer allegedly beaten to death by upper-caste attackers, highlighting the plight of the “untouchable” caste. Votes from the BJP’s traditional Hindu base propelled Modi to his 2014 legislative victory, especially in the battleground states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Dalit support will be key for the BJP before the 2019 general election as the party has been largely shunned by Muslims. •
News TUESDAY, 7 JULY 18, 2017 DT Measles outbreak among Sitakunda children • Tribune Desk HEALTH Nine children, who recently died in Sitakunda, were suffering from measles, says the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR). “The children died in Tripura Para after they were affected by the measles virus...but the virus will not further spread,” Prof Abul Kalam Azad, director general of the Directorate General of Health Services told the media, reports BSS. He said a five-member rapid response team of IEDCR, led by its chief scientific officer, immediately visited Tripura Para and collected data from the field. It also visited two hospitals and collected samples of patients’ blood and throat swab and sent it to the IEDCR laboratory. Prof Azad said the samples were tested at the laboratories of IEDCR and Public Health Institute. Both identified the measles virus. “After examining symptoms of the patients and testing the samples, we can confirm that the children of Tripura Para were affected by the measles virus. As the children suffered from malnutrition, Six killed as Indian, Pakistan soldiers trade fire in Kashmir • Tribune Desk WORLD Four Pakistani soldiers, one Indian soldier and a child were killed Monday as Indian and Pakistani troops traded fire across a cease-fire line dividing the troubled Kashmir region between the two countries. Indian army spokesman Lt Col Manish Mehta said Pakistani troops fired mortar shells and automatic weapons into the Rajouri sector of Indian-controlled Kashmir on Monday morning. A mortar shell landed on a bunker, wounding a soldier who later died at a hospital, he said. In Islamabad, the director general of military operations, Maj Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza, accused Indian soldiers of attacking a Pakistani army vehicle, killing four soldiers. Three civilians, two on the Indian side and one on the Pakistani-controlled part of the Himalayan region, were also reported injured. Recent violence in the region has affected at least 5,000 civilians on the Indian side who have homes in the area. The two armies often blame each other for initiating firing across the cease-fire line. • JU, not police, is the plaintiff of May 27 vandalism case • Shoyaib Rahman EDUCATION An IEDCR scientist examines a child affected by the mysterious disease in Sitakunda on July 15, 2017 the virus was spread from one’s body to another quickly,” he said. The director general said the Contrary to Jahangirnagar University (JU) vice chancellor’s claims that the police was the plaintiff in the case filed against 50 student protesters for vandalism, police are saying the university administration is the complainant and only they can withdraw it. JU Registrar Abu Bakar Siddique filed the case on behalf of the college administration, according to Ashulia police and the case’s lawyers. However, when students asked the university administration to withdraw the case, the administration repeatedly insisted that the police had filed the case and therefore the administration could not withdraw it. In response to the students’ hunger strike, on Sunday Vice Chancellor Farzana Islam told the Bangla Tribune: “The case is in the hand of the government now. The university administration no longer has jurisdiction on it.” On the other hand, Officer-in- Charge of Ashulia police station Abdul Awal said: “Usually the complainant is the plaintiff for the case. Since the JU registrar, Abu Bakar Siddique, filed the case, he is also the plaintiff, not the police. If they want to withdraw the case, they will have to take the necessary legal steps.” On May 26, two students named Nazmul Hasan Rana and Mehedi Hasan Arafat died in a road accident on the Dhaka-Aricha highway. On May 27, students demanded compensation for their families and to improve safety, while obstructing the roads. Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the students in the evening. In response, students vandalised the VC’s house. Some professors claimed that they were harassed during this time. A case was filed against some 50 students. At midnight, 42 students were arrested by the police, who were later released on bail. Students also brought out a silent procession on July 11 and staged a human chain on July 9 demanding the withdrawal of the case. On May 28, while speaking at a press conference at her house, VC Farzana Islam said that it was no longer possible to withdraw the case. The next day, the Shikkhak-Shikkharthi Oikya Moncho, a platform of JU students and teachers, delivered a five day ultimatum to the VC to withdraw the case. In response, the VC said: “In order to withdraw the case, we will have to consult the syndicate and legal consultants.” But on June 17, at the annual senate session, VC Farzana Islam delivered a written statement saying that the syndicate meeting filed a complaint and the police filed a BANGLA TRIBUNE children of about 85 ethnic communities of Tripura Para were not brought under the coverage of immunisation since they kept themselves away from modern facilities due to their customs and beliefs. • Students of Jahangirnagar University are seen protesting the deaths of two other students in a road accident on Dhaka-Aricha highway in Savar on May 28, 2017 DHAKA TRIBUNE case based on the information. Since then, the university administration has claimed that the police or the state is the plaintiff for the case. According to administrative sources, at a recent meeting between the administration and the heads of departments, the VC and registrar insisted that the police was the plaintiff for the case and not the university administration. The case has claimed damages of Tk1 lakh. The court has asked for an investigation report on August 7 from Ashulia police Inspector Jahidul Islam, the investigating officer on the case. Lawyer for the defendants M Nur Uddin said: “The university’s Registrar Abu Bakar Siddique is the plaintiff for the case. To withdraw the case, both parties will have to appeal through the investigating officer to the police station or to the court and submit a statement of settlement.” When contacted on Monday morning, Abu Bakar Siddique denied being the plaintiff for the case, and said that the state was the plaintiff. He refused to comment any further. Assistant Professor for the Philosophy Department and spokesperson for the Shikkhak-Shikkharthi Oikya Moncho Professor Raihan Rayne told the Bangla Tribune: “No matter who the plaintiff is, if the university administration gives their permission, the case can be withdrawn. But they are not willing to do so, they have held on to their anger. They have no concern for the environment at the university.” •
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