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6 SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 2017 DT News What was really wrong with the Banshkhali question paper? • Humayun Masud CURRENT AFFAIRS On Thursday, the state prosecutor in the Banshkhali question paper case said all of the accused are involved – even if they were not directly involved in preparing the question paper. State prosecutor Bikash Ranjan said the comparison between Bangabandhu and a Banshkhali UP chairman in the controversial question paper is very clear from the description of the two, even if their names are not mentioned. He said: “Even if no names are mentioned, it is clear that the ‘chairman from Gandamara’ in one of the questions in the paper is actually Gandamara UP chairman Liakat Ali. The other part of the same question mentions ‘a war-torn country and formation of Bangladesh’; it is clear that this is referring to the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu.” The comparison was drawn in a half-yearly examination held on July 17 last year. Students of Class IX from 97 high schools in six upazilas of south Chittagong took the examination in a course titled “Bangladesh and Global Studies.” Drawing the issue of the Banskhali power plant movement and the following atrocities, the question paper said the villagers had become able to turn around under the leadership of a local UP member named “L” like the people of Bangladesh turned around against the Pakistani forces during the Liberation War in 1971. The students were asked to compare “L” with a leader of Bangladesh. The question reads: “The setting up of a coal power plant has now rendered a disastrous state of the Gandamara village. The situation has become very devastating. Chairman Mr ‘L’ is very disheartened to see this. He came to the villagers’ rescue. Within a short time, the villagers successfully reformed their state. However, not everyone acknowledges that this was only possible because of Mr ‘L.’ (C) Which leader of Bangladesh can be compared with Mr ‘L’? In the light of the textbook, explain the steps taken by that leader to reform a war-torn country. (D) Prime accused in Barguna teacher gang rape case arrested • Tribune Desk CRIME The main accused in the gang rape of a Barguna schoolteacher has been arrested from Ramgati upazila of Laxmipur. The detainee is Sumon Biswas, 35, son of Hiron Biswas, resident of Betagi upazila of Barguna. “Acting on a tip-off, a team of Barguna police conducted a drive in Sumon’s father-inlaw’s house with the help of Laxmipur police and arrested him from there,” said Ramgati police station officer-in-charge Md Iqbal Hossain. The assistant teacher of a primary school was allegedly gang raped in a classroom of her school in Barguna’s Betagi and the victim filed a case with Betagi police station accusing six people. The accused are Sumon Biswas, Md Rasel, 28, son of Abdul Barek Mia, Sumon Kazi, 30, son of Abdul Kuddus, Md Rabiul, 18, son of Abdur Rahman, Md Jewel, 30, son of Md Abdur Rahamn of Kodomtola village in Hosnabad union of Betagi upazila. According to the case statement, when the teacher was talking to her husband in a classroom of the school after completion of classes the accused people tried to enter the school. At one stage, when the teacher locked the main gate of the school they broke it open and beat up her husband indiscriminately. They tied up her husband in a classroom and raped her in another room. • Evaluate the contribution of the leader in the light of the quote that such a leader is required for the development of any war-torn country.” The state prosecutor said: “The president of Banshkhali Teachers’ Association and Headmaster of Nasera Khatun RK Girls High School Taherul Islam and assistant teacher of Bangabandhu High School Dukul Barua were directly involved in the preparation of the question paper. When the teachers’ association of the south district asked Taherul to set the question paper, he gave the responsibility to Dukul. Even though the other accused are not directly involved, they have been charged for negligence.” He said: “The other accused were given different responsibilities at the teachers’ association. The question paper was prepared in their absence. Many of them were in charge of monitoring and evaluating it. It went to print only because they gave permission to do so. Moreover, they sent the paper to various schools in the upazila. Thus, they too are involved in the matter whether they have done it willingly or not.” He added: “The teachers did not perform their duties properly. They made a grave mistake. They were surely negligent. That is why they have been accused in the case. Negligence was also found in the police investigation. The highest punishment for this case is life sentence and the lowest is 14 years in jail with fine.” Meanwhile, defence lawyer Nurul Absar told the Bangla Tribune: “Even though the names of Bangabandhu and chairman Liakat are not mentioned directly in the question paper, it gives details which indicate that the question is about the two. That is why the person who prepared the question paper can be accused. However, the others cannot be accused directly even if they were negligent towards their responsibilities. As they are not directly involved, police could have excluded their names from the charge sheet. The court could have granted them bail, as they got bail from the High Court before.” Banskhali police station Officer-in-Charge Alamgir Hossain said: “We arrested Dakul Barua and Taherul Islam on July 19, 2016 after receiving the initial complaint. The deputy commissioner formed a three-member committee led by the head of the ADC (Education). The committee highlighted the involvement of 13 teachers in their report. Afterwards, we sent an application to the home ministry for approval. After we received an affirmation from the ministry, we applied to the court for prosecution. After receiving the court order, a case was filed against them. We submitted the charge sheet in the court on April 12 after we finished our investigation.” He added: “In our investigation, we found 13 people involved in the matter. Even though Dukul Barua prepared the question paper, the other accused were involved in evaluating and monitoring it. Thus, even if they were not involved in the matter deliberately, they were all negligent.” • This article was first published on Bangla Tribune
News SATURDAY, 7 AUGUST 26, 2017 DT Bangladesh sees fresh Rohingya influx • Tribune Desk CURRENT AFFAIRS Hundreds of Rohingya refugees are heading towards Bangladesh in a bid to flee from a fresh spate of violence that has killed 89 people, including 12 security forces, in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Sources at Teknaf border has confirmed that groups of Rohingya people entered Bangladesh through the Naf River yesterday morning, amid sounds of gunfire filling the air on the other side of the border all night long. Groups of Rohingyas were reportedly awaiting to cross over the border through different points, including Ghumdhum, Tombru, Anjumanpara, Rahmater Beel, Kharangkhali, Unchiprang, Jhimangkhali, Hoaikyang, Ulubonia, Moulvibara and Nayapara. Lalu Majhi, chairman of Balukhali camp’s managing committee in Ukhia, told the Dhaka Tribune that about 200 Rohingya families had made their way into the camp over the last two days while some 1,000 more may be able to reach the camp very soon. Meanwhile, members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) pushed back 146 Rohingyas as they tried to enter Bangladesh through the Naf River yesterday morning. The border guards intercepted and sent back the refugees through different points of the border river in the early hours, said Major Saiful Islam Jamaddar, deputy commander of Teknaf BGB battalion 2. The BGB official also noted that the Rohingyas claimed they had tried to enter Bangladesh following news that the Myanmar army exchanged fire with some insurgents in Rakhine State. The UN estimates that since October last year around 74,000 new Rohingya escaped to Bangladesh due to the murder and persecution at Northern Rakhine State in Myanmar. Furthermore, the Bangladesh authorities estimate that around half a million unregistered and 30,000 registered refugees are staying in Bangladesh. 89 killed as 20 police checkposts come under attack At least 89 people including a dozen security forces were killed as Rohingya militants besieged border posts in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar’s authorities said yesterday, triggering a fresh exodus of refugees towards Bangladesh, reported AFP. The state is bisected by religious hatred focused on the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority, who are reviled and perceived as illegal immigrants in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. The office of de-facto leader The UN estimates that since October last year around 74,000 new Rohingya escaped to Bangladesh due to the murder and persecution at Northern Rakhine State in Myanmar. Furthermore, the Bangladesh authorities estimate that around half a million unregistered and 30,000 registered refugees are staying in Bangladesh Aung San Suu Kyi said 12 security officials had been killed alongside 77 militants -- the highest declared single day toll since fighting broke out last year. Yesterday’s fighting exploded around Rathedaung township which has seen a heavy build-up of Myanmar troops in recent weeks, with reports filtering out of killings by shadowy groups, army-blockaded villages and abuses. Some 20 police posts came under attack in the early hours yesterday by an estimated 150 insurgents, some carrying guns and using homemade explosives, Myanmar’s military said. “The military and police members are fighting back together against extremist Bengali terrorists,” Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing said in a statement on Facebook, using the state’s description for Rohingya militants. One resident in Maungdaw, the main town in northern Rakhine, said gunfire could be heard throughout the night. “We are still hearing gunshots now, we dare not to go out from our house,” the resident said by phone, asking not to be named. Footage obtained by AFP showed smoke rising from Zedipyin village in Rathedaung township where fighting was ongoing yesterday. Rohingya militancy Despite years of persecution, the Rohingya largely eschewed violence. But a previously unknown militant group emerged as a force last October under the banner of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which claims to be leading an insurgency based in the remote May Yu mountain range bordering Bangladesh. A Twitter account (@ARSA_Official) which purports to represent the group confirmed its fighters were engaging Myanmar’s military in the area and accused the soldiers of carrying out atrocities in recent weeks. Myanmar says the group is headed by Rohingya jihadists who were trained abroad but it is unclear how large the network is. Suu Kyi’s office posted pictures of weapons that had been taken from militants, mainly home-made bombs and rudimentary knives and clubs. Yesterday’s violence pushed new waves of Rohingya to flee towards Bangladesh. But border guards there said they would not be allowed to cross. “More than a thousand of Rohingya women along with children and cattle have gathered near the land border between Myanmar and Bangladesh since this morning,” Manjurul Hasan Khan, commander of Ukhiya town’s border guards, told AFP. The flare-up came just hours after former UN chief Kofi Annan released a milestone report detailing conditions inside Rakhine and offering ways to heal the festering sectarian tensions there. Commissioned by Myanmar’s own government, it urged the scrapping of restrictions of movement and citizenship imposed on the roughly one million-strong Rohingya community in Rakhine. In a statement Annan said he was “gravely concerned” by the latest outbreak of fighting. “The alleged scale and gravity of these attacks mark a worrying escalation of violence,” he said. New crackdown fears The UN’s top official in Myanmar, Renata Lok-Dessallien, called on all sides to “refrain from violence, protect civilians (and) restore law and order”. The wedge of Rakhine closest to Bangladesh has been in lockdown since October 2016. Deadly attacks by the militants on border police sparked a military response that left scores dead and forced some 87,000 people to flee to Bangladesh. The UN believes the military crackdown may have amounted to ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya. DHAKA TRIBUNE But the army and Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government vehemently deny allegations of widespread abuses, including rapes and murders. They have so far refused to grant visas to UN investigators tasked with probing the allegations. Amnesty International said there were now fears over how Myanmar’s notoriously abusive security forces might respond. “This cannot lead to (a) repeat of last year’s vicious military reprisals responding to a similar attack, when security forces tortured, killed and raped Rohingya people and burned down whole villages,” said Amnesty’s regional campaigns director Josef Benedict. Myanmar security forces have conducted sporadic operations to flush out suspected militants this year, often resulting in casualties among Rohingya villagers. They have spoken of their fear at being trapped in between security forces and the militants, who are accused of conducting a shadowy assassination campaign against those perceived as collaborators with the state. Access to the area is severely restricted and verifying information is difficult. Activists and supporters on both sides of the sectarian divide have a history of posting false images and footage online. •
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Page 19 and 20: Sports 19 Desperate SA Global Leagu
Page 21 and 22: Bangladesh exit Saff U-15 Champions
Page 23 and 24: Eid feels on social media Showtime

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