01-09-2022 The Asian Independent

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
ASIA
01-09-2022 to 15-08-2022
7
Family members of B'desh
freedom fighters demand justice
Dhaka : Family members of 120
Bangladeshi freedom fighters and war
heroes who were hanged to death by
forces of former President Ziaur
Rahman on October 2, 1977, have
demanded justice by rallying in front
of the Central Jail in Dhaka.
On the occasion of the International
Day of the Victims of Enforced
Disappearances 2022, a discussion
meeting was organised at the Central
Shaheed Minar on Tuesday under the
banner of "We want justice for the disappearance
and hanging of the brave
freedom fighters in 1977".
As many as 19 coups took place
when Ziaur Rahman, who founded the
BNP, led the country.
Around 1,500 were reportedly
purged mostly the freedom fighters,
the war heroes who later joined armed
forces.
At the event, Nurunnahar Begum,
70, wife of Delwar Hossain, demanded
to know the whereabouts of her
husband's grave.
Nurunnahar said within three years
of her marriage, her husband suddenly
disappeared. Later, she came to know
that her husband's body had remained
hidden after being murdered.
"If I knew where my husband was
buried, at least I could have offered
prayers at his grave," she told the
country leaders.
Family members are still frantically
keeping their pursuit to get hold of
their missing loved one's remains.
Liberation War Affairs Minister,
AKM Mozammel Haque said that
Ziaur Rahman killed 2,500-3,000
members of the military without a trial
in the name of suppressing the rebellion.
Freedom fighters were killed
selectively. said the bodies were
buried in Dhaka, Comilla,
Chattogram, Rangpur, Jashore, and
Bogura central jails.
Executions were carried out under
curfew in the dark of night.
The names and identities of the 209
people who were hanged in the trial of
the Special Military Tribunal formed
on the orders of military ruler have
been revealed.
World Leaders
pay rich tributes
to Gorbachev
Moscow : World leaders
were quick to pay rich tributes
to the late Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev as the man
who ended the Cold War and
the arms race, as a statesman
who stood at the pivotal turning
point in world history.
He died on Tuesday due to a
long illness at a hospital on
Moscow
Russian President Vladimir
Putin expressed his "deep sympathies"
over Gorbachev's
death, Kremlin spokesman
Dmitry Peskov told Russian
news agencies.
Peskov said Putin, a former
KGB agent who had an
ambiguous relationship with
Gorbachev, will send a
telegram of condolences to the
late leader's family and friends
on Wednesday morning.
UN chief Antonio Guterres
praised Gorbachev as "a oneof-a-kind
statesman who
changed the course of history"
and "did more than any other
individual to bring about the
peaceful end of the Cold War".
EU chief Ursula von der
Leyen hailed Gorbachev as a
"trusted and respected leader"
who "opened the way for a free
Europe".
His "crucial role" in bringing
down the Iron Curtain,
which symbolised the division
of the world into communist
and capitalist blocs, and ending
the Cold War left a legacy "we
will not forget", she wrote on
Twitter.
French President Emmanuel
Macron described Gorbachev
as a "man of peace" on Twitter
early Wednesday, saying he
"opened a path of liberty for
Russians. His commitment to
peace in Europe changed our
shared history". UK Prime
Minister Boris Johnson said he
"always admired the courage
and integrity" Gorbachev
showed to bring the Cold War
to a peaceful conclusion.
"In a time of Putin's aggression
in Ukraine, his tireless
commitment to opening up
Soviet society remains an
example to us all," he said in a
Twitter post, referring to
Moscow's ongoing offensive in
its former Soviet neighbour.
US President Joe Biden
praised the former Soviet
leader as a "man of remarkable
vision." Gorbachev had worked
to bring about democratic
reforms in the Soviet Union
after decades of brutal political
repression, Biden said in a
White House statement issued
late on Tuesday.
"These were the acts of a
rare leader, one with the imagination
to see that a different
future was possible and the
courage to risk his entire career
to achieve it. The result was a
safer world and greater freedom
for millions of people," he
said.
Foreign cigarettes worth
Rs 8 cr seized in
Vijaywada by Customs
New Delhi : The Customs
officials at Vijayawada have
seized 80,40,000 Paris brand
cigarettes packed in 804 cartons
worth Rs 8 crore which
were being transported in two
seperate lorries.
This is the highest-ever
seizure of smuggled foreign
cigarettes reported by the
Customs Commissionerate
(Preventive), Vijaywada, since
its formation in 2014.
An official on Tuesday said
that after receiving specific
information about the smuggling
of foreign brand cigarettes
into Vijayawada city in
lorries, Customs officials were
keeping surveillance.
On early Tuesday morning
they intercepted a lorry with
Tamil Nadu registration on
suspicion at Kesarpalli along
the
Vijayawada-
Visakhapatnam national highway
(NH-16).
Upon receiving the intelligence
on similar modus
operandi, another team proceeded
to Vijayawada-
Hyderabad road and intercepted
another lorry with Bihar
registration. On inspection, it
was found that both vehicles
were loaded each with 134
high-density polyethylene
sacks containing smuggled
goods stitched from the top.
Upon questioning, both the
drivers told the officials that
they left from Patna and were
on their way to Vijayawada as
per the instructions of a booking
agent.
The drivers, however, said
that they had no idea about
what was being loaded into the
vehicles. The officials said that
they seized 80,40,000 Paris
brand cigarettes packed in 804
cartons under the Customs
Act.
"Smuggling foreign cigarettes
is a lucrative business to
black marketeers to make a
huge profit as they avoid customs
duty. Smuggled cigarettes
don't have pictorial
warnings on them, as is
mandatory as per the provisions
of Tobacco Products Act.
The cigarettes don't have manufacturing
address on the
packets and no bills of procuring
or importing," the official
added.