26-01-2019

UNITING PEOPLE EVERYDAY
SATURDAY, DHAkA, JANUARY 26, 2019, MAGH 13, 1425 BS, JAMADiUl AwAl 19, 1440 HiJRi
A man seen pouring date juice into a mud mug at Bakultala of Dhaka University yesterday
marking 'Rosh Festival'.
Photo : Star Mail
Rift in BNP now visible; many now
want Zubaida to be in limelight
DHAKA : Though BNP senior leaders
remained united for a long time in
absence of its chairperson Khaleda
Zia, a crack now has apparently developed
among them over its leadership
and party overhauling, worrying its
already demoralised grassroots,
reports UNB.
Party insiders said some BNP standing
committee members want a
change in the party leadership, including
the post of party secretary general,
through holding a council to stage a
comeback in politics after the drubbing
in the 11th parliamentary election.
But most party policymakers are
unwilling to hold the council keeping
Khaleda Zia in jail. They think their
party should now focus on finding
ways to have their chairperson
released from jail alongside reorganising
the party grassroots.
BNP senior leaders are also divided
over the issue of maintaining their
unity with Dr Kamal Hossain-led
Jatiya Oikyafront and keeping Jamaat
in the 20-Party Alliance.
Under the circumstances, the party
grassroots leaders think, a new charismatic
and well-reputed face like Dr
Zubaida Rahman should now take the
helm of the party for removing the
misunderstanding among the senior
leaders and revitalising the dispirited
party leaders and activists in obscene
of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and
acting chairman Tarique Rahman.
As per the BNP's constitution, the
party will have to hold its national
council after every three years. But the
party repeatedly violated such provision
in holding the councils in the past.
BNP's last council was held on
March 19, 2016 where Khaleda Zia
was reelected party chairperson while
Tarique Rahman and Mirza Fakhrul
Islam Alamgir were made senior vice
chairman and secretary general
respectively.
A BNP standing committee member,
wishing anonymity, said BNP
standing committee members Dr
Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and
Moudud Ahmed along with some vice
chairmen took a position against party
secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam
Alamgir, and they want a change in
the post of party secretary general, and
some other ones through a council.
He, however, said other standing
committee members are still backing
Fakhrul.
The BNP leader said the BNP group,
led by Mosharraf and Moudud, also
wants BNP to focus on its own organisation
now and prepare the party for
waging a strong mass movement
against the government instead of
spending time on strengthening
Oikyafront.
"But Mirza Fakhrul and other senior
leaders think their party should work
for strengthening the party and forging
a greater unity by making
Oikyafront stronger further," the BNP
leader said.
Besides, he said, as Mosharraf and
Moudud are unwilling to be there in
Oikyafront's steering committee, their
party is going to replace them with
BNP standing committee members
Gayeshwar Chandra Roy and Dr
Abdul Moyeen Khan.
UN official commends
Bangladesh's role in
peacekeeping
DHAKA : The top UN official
for Bangladesh has lauded
the country's contribution
in the peacekeeping missions,
reports UNB.
Mia Seppo highlighted
Bangladesh's role in global
peace efforts while addressing
the fourth annual session of
the regional consultative
group on Humanitarian Civil-
Military Coordination in
Dhaka recently.
"I would like to commend
its authorities and, specifically,
Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina, for Bangladesh's significant
contribution to UN
peacekeeping operations,"
the UN Resident Coordinator
for Bangladesh said, according
to a Facebook post by the
UN office in Dhaka on Friday.
Seppo noted that in 2018
her office facilitated a training
session at the Bangladesh
Institute of Peace Support
Operation Training on
humanitarian-civil-military
coordination for national and
regional commanding officers
and contingent commanders
of future 'blue helmet' deployments,
"We stand ready to continue
this partnership, with an
awareness that challenges are
even greater in crisis contexts
- notably, on ensuring that
humanitarian principles of
neutrality, independence and
impartiality are respected,"
Seppo added.
Safety measures taken centering constructing
of Rooppur Power Plant: Yeafesh
DHAKA : Science and Technology minister
Yeafesh Osman, yesterday asked the people
of not worrying over the building of nuclear
power plant at Rooppur as sufficient safety
measures have been planned in this regard.
"There is nothing to worry
about…Nowadays nuclear plants use modern
technologies. We don't think there will be any
problem and have focused on ensuring the
safety of the plant and the people as well," he
said.
He was speaking at a meeting on monitoring
the progress of the power plant at the project
site at Iswardi, Pabna, said a press
release.
"We are following the safety guidelines of
International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA)," he said adding, "Moreover Russian
Federation, IAEA and our local regulatory
technicians are evaluating the safety measures,"
Two units - 1,200 MWe VVER each - are to
be built at Rooppur under the Russian design
giving priority to the highest safety measures
at Rooppur, some 160km from Dhaka. The
VVER-1,200 reactor design has already been
implemented at Novovoronezh Nuclear
Power Plant II in Russia.
Unit-1 is scheduled to be commissioned in
2023, while the commissioning of the second
unit is slated for 2024 to produce 2,400
megawatts of electricity from the two units.
Secretary of the ministry M Anwar
Hossain, Director of the project Dr. Showkat
Akbar and senior officials of ROSATOM were
present, among others.
BNP afraid of participating in UZ polls
after nat'l election debacle: Hasan
DHAKA : Information Minister Dr Hasan
Mahmud yesterday said BNP is now afraid of
going to the upcoming Upazila (UZ) polls after
facing debacle in the last parliamentary elections.
"BNP is afraid of going to participate in
the forthcoming Upazila elections after facing
the political disaster in the last parliamentary
elections held on December 30 in 2018," he
said after the campaign committee meeting at
the party president's political office in city's
Dhanmondi area.
Talking about the participation in the UZ
elections, he said that it is their (BNP) personal
decision whether they will go to the polls or
not.
"BNP did not take part in the 2014's elections
but the government was formed in that election
without them and ran the country for five years
successfully," he said.
"It will be a suicidal attempt of them for not
participating in the polls as like the previous
times," he added.
He said if BNP do not go to the Upazila elections,
the elections will not stop.
The Caves of Maresha And
Bet-Guvrin
INTERESTING NEWS
The Shfela lowlands in south-central
Israel, at the foot of the Judaean
Mountains, is characterized by a thick
layer of soft chalk that was extensively
quarried in the past by the local population
leaving the underground hollow like
a piece of cheese. There are more than a
thousand caves here underneath the former
towns of Maresha and Bet Guvrin situated
on the crossroads of the trade
routes that led to Mesopotamia and
Egypt. These quarried caves served as cisterns,
oil presses, baths, dovecotes, stables,
places of religious worship, hideaways
and, on the outskirts of the towns,
burial areas. The caves are now one of the
main attraction of this area.
The city of Maresha is mentioned in the
Bible during the time of the First Temple.
During the Roman and Byzantine Eras
the city became known Eleutherolis, a city
of freeman with a large Jewish population.
In modern times, the site was occupied
by a Palestinian Arab village called
Bayt Jibrin until it was depopulated during
the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Today
Maresha is part of the Beit Guvrin
National Park, where many of the ancient
city's olive presses, columbaria and water
cisterns can still be seen.
This cave once served as a dove cote
with tiny niches carved into the cistern
walls to raise doves. Later during the
Second World War, Polish soldiers in
exile visited the cave and carved the figure
1943, the year of their visit, into a stone
pillar, along with an inscription:
“Warsaw, Poland” and an eagle, the symbol
of the Polish army.
2 sisters suffer
burns in
Habiganj attack
HABIGANJ : Two sisters
sustained burn injuries as
flammable chemical was
hurled on them while they
were sleeping at their
Baghasura village house in
Madhabpur upazila early
Friday, reports UNB.
The injured are college student
Habiba Akhter, 20, and
her school-going sister
Ayesha Akhter, daughters of
Ekhlas Miah of the village.
Locals said miscreants
threw the combustible substance
after cutting the window
grille of their room in
the early hours while the two
sisters were sleeping together.
Hearing their screams,
house inmates rushed to
their room and rescued
them.
The victims were first
taken to Sadar Adhunik
Hospital from where they
were sent to Sylhet MAG
Osmani Medical College
Hospital.
"It's not sure whether the
substance is acid. However,
it's a flammable object," said
Dr Saifur Rahman Sohagh,
medical officer of the Sadar
Hospital. He said Habiba got
80 percent of her face
burned while Ayesha her
hands in the attack.
Chandan Kumar
Chakrabarty, officer-incharge
of Madhabpur Police
Station, said they visited the
spot and were trying to arrest
the criminals.
The people gathered to see the fish of rare species at Singra of Natore yesterday.
MEHERPUR : State Minister for
Public Administration Farhad Hossain
yesterday urged the teachers to teach
their students properly so that they
develop as true humans, reports BSS.
"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has
nationalized 26000 schools for the wellbeing
of the school teachers," he said as a
chief guest at a function organized by district
Prathomik Shikhkhok Kalyan
Samity at Shilpakala Academy in the
town.
Farhad Hossain said Mujibnagar is
named after the founding president of
Bangladesh Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman.
Referring to the provisional government
that was formed in Mujibnagar in
1971, the state minister said, Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina is very caring to
Mujibnagar.
"I shall do my best for the wellbeing of
the people of Meherpur," the state minister
added. Prathomik Shikhkhok Kalyan
Samity President Kamor Uddin chaired
the function.
Earlier, the minister placed wreath at
the Mujibnagar Smriti Saudha.
He also took part in a programme at
Mujibnagar Govt High School. Local
Upazila Nirbahi Officer Nahida Akhter
presided over the meeting while Deputy
Commissioner of Meherpur Md Ataul
Gani, Police Super Md Mostafizur
Photo : Star Mail
Farhad urges teachers to
teach students properly
Rahman, Merpur Municipality Mayor
Mahfujur Rahman Riton, Mohila Awami
League leader Shamim Ara Hira and
Shahiduzzaman Khakon, MP, were present
among others on the occasion,
among others.
Gulshan café attack accused
held in Chapainawabganj
CHAPAINAWABGANJ : Members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested
a suspected member of banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen
Bangladesh (JMB) who is a charge-sheeted accused in the Holey Artisan
Bakery attack case from Nachole upazila of the district on Friday, reports UNB.
The arrestee is Md Shariful Islam alias Khalid alias Rahat alias Nahid alias
Abu Sulaiman, 27. He is also a condemned convict in the murder case of
Rajshahi University teacher Prof Rezaul Karim, said a Rab message.
Shariful was being sent to Dhaka, added the message.
The terrorist attack that shattered the country and drew global attention,
claimed the lives of 22 people-nine Italians, seven Japanese, one Indian, one
Bangladeshi-born American and two Bangladeshis along with two police officers-on
July 1, 2016.
Twenty-one people were identified to be behind the attack. Among them, 13
were killed in gunfights at different times.
On July 23, 2018, police pressed charges against eight alleged militants in the
attack on the upscale eatery in the capital.
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