e_Paper, Sunday, October 16, 2016

News 5
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2016
DT
Police want to close
Kalpana Chakma case
• Muktasree Chakma Sathi
Kalpana Chakma abduction case
would come into halt as the investigators
have failed to gather any
further information about the case.
The police urged to court to end
the investigation when they submitted
the investigation report to
the Rangamati Court recently, said
court sources.
Police submitted the report to
the Rangamati Court on September
27, 2016. However, the information
came into light yesterday.
The investigation reports said
that in the last 20 years total 39 investigation
officers of police investigated
the sensational abduction
case but all of them failed to gather
any further information about
Kalpana abduction. They also
failed to find out the indigenous
women rights activist.
While contacted, Sayed Tariqul
Hasan, superintendent of Rangamati
Police, said, “We have followed
every instructions given by
the court. Still we did not get any
further information. That’s why we
seek court order to halt the case.”
Claiming that police have given
full of its efforts to find out Kalpana,
he also said, “In the investigation
report we have said that if we
receive any information in future
about the case, we will start investigation
again.”
Though police want to halt the
case, right activists claimed that
police cannot halt the investigation.
Renowned rights activist
Khushi Kabir said: “Police cannot
halt any investigation whether or
not they trace any missing person.”
Khushi Kabir, also a member
of International Chittagong Hill
Tracts Commission, also said: “My
biggest question is that whether
the state institution can give notion
to the perpetrators if they able
to hide their victims, the police will
eventually close the case,”
Kalpana Chakma, an indigenous
and women rights activist was abducted
from her village home at
New Lalyaghona village in Baghaichari
upazila of Rangamati, just
hours before polling to the seventh
national elections on 12 June, 1996.
Kalpana had been campaigning
for Bijay Ketan Chakma, then senior
presidium member of Pahari
Gana Parishad, supported by all hill
peoples’ organisations which were
then active.
Kalindi Kumar Chakma, brother
of Kalpana, also an eye witness of
the abduction, alleged that of law
enforcement agency member Lieutenant
Ferdous along with the help
Nurul Haque and Salah Ahmed,
members of Village Defence Police
(VDP), abducted Kalpana.
Later, Kalindi filed a case and
Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services
Trust (BLAST) has been providing
legal help in this case after its filing.
•
Israel cuts ties with Unesco over holy site
• BBC
Israel has frozen co-operation with
the UN’s cultural agency, accusing
it of denying Judaism’s connections
to the religion’s holiest sites.
Its education minister said a
Unesco draft decision concerning
Jerusalem “denies history and encourages
terror”.
It comes after the body approved
a text which repeatedly
used only the Islamic name for a
hilltop complex which is also the
holiest site in Judaism.
The site is known to Jews as the
Temple Mount and Haram al-Sharif
to Muslims.
The draft decision, submitted
by several Arab countries, criticises
Israel’s activities at holy places in
Jerusalem and the occupied West
Bank.
While acknowledging the “importance
of the Old City of Jerusalem
and its walls for the three monotheistic
religions”, the document
refers to the sacred hilltop only by
the name “al-Aqsa Mosque/al-Haram
al-Sharif” (Noble Sanctuary).
It is the location of two Biblical
Jewish temples and is flanked
by the Western Wall, venerated
by Jews as part of the original
supporting wall of the temple
compound.
Haram al-Sharif is also the place
where Muslims believe the Prophet
Muhammad ascended to Heaven,
and is the third holiest site in Islam.
The draft refers to the precinct
in front of the wall as “al-Buraq
Plaza ‘Western Wall Plaza’” - placing
single quote marks only around
“Western Wall”, giving the name
as it is known to Jews less weight
than the one by which it is known
to Muslims.
The stated aim of the text was
“the safeguarding of the cultural
heritage of Palestine and the distinctive
character of East Jerusalem”.
It repeatedly denounced Israeli
actions, including the use of force,
imposition of restrictions on Muslim
worshippers and archaeological
work. Israel regards such criticism
as politically motivated.
The draft text was passed at
committee stage by 24 votes in
favour, six against, and 26 abstentions.
Two countries were absent.
It will now be submitted to Unesco’s
executive body, which will
vote on whether to adopt it.
‘Delusional decision’
Israeli Education Minister Naftali
Bennett said Unesco was ignoring
“thousands of years of Jewish ties
to Jerusalem” and aiding “Islamist
terror”.
Unesco chief Irina Bokova criticised
the draft resolution, saying
“different peoples worship the
same places, sometimes under different
names. The recognition, use
of and respect for these names is
paramount.”
However, Bennett said Bokova’s
statement was insufficient. “Words
are important, but they are not a
replacement to the actions of the
organisation she heads,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said in a Facebook post
that Unesco had become a “theatre
of the absurd” in taking “another
delusional decision”. •
‘BD eager to join Indo-
Myanmar-Thai highway’
• Tribune Desk
Bangladesh ‘wants to join’ India-Myanmar-Thailand
(IMT) trilateral
highway to boost regional
connectivity for greater economic
gains, according to a BBC report.
The IMT trilateral highway is a
highway under construction that
will connect Moreh, India with
Mae Sot, Thailand via Myanmar
and likely to be completed by 2020.
The ambitious three-nation
highway that will connect India
with Thailand through Myanmar is
a central plank of Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s Act East policy,
which seeks to boost trade and
connectivity with Southeast Asia.
The road is expected to boost
trade and commerce in the Asean-India
Free Trade Area, as well as with
the rest of Southeast Asia. There is
a plan for extending the highway to
Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
At this moment, discussions are
going on to include Bangladesh in
the planned tri-nation highway
through Bimstec.
The BBC Bangla report claimed
that ahead of the Bimstec Outreach
meeting, Bangladesh has conveyed
that its one of the key aims
at the outreach meeting will be to
get connected with Thailand and
South East Asia. •
Conjoined twins abandoned
• Aminul Islam Babu
A pair of conjoined twins were
abandoned by their parents at
Dhaka Medical College Hospital
(DMCH) yesterday.
They are joined at the heads with,
four hands and two feet leaving.
“The twins were born at an unidentied
clinic in the capital and
were brought to DMCH yesterday
around 2:00am. Their parents
abandoned them when they were
taken to the Pediatric Surgery unit,”
DMCH Deputy Director Khaja Abdul
Gafur told the Dhaka Tribune.
DD Gafur also said that the twins
are now undergoing treatment under
the supervision of ward master
Zillur Rahman as they have legal
guardian at present.
Their current condition according
to DD Gafur is good moving, crying
and urinating like regular infants
while they wait to into surgery soon.
“We are trying our best to save
the twins and have kept them in
the surgery ward,” he said. •
TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOR TODAY
DRY WEATHER
LIKELY
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16
Dhaka 33 22 Chittagong 34 26 Rajshahi 33 21 Rangpur 33 21 Khulna 34 21 Barisal 32 22 Sylhet 35 21
DHAKA
TODAY
TOMORROW
SUN SETS 5:31PM
SUN RISES 5:57AM
YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW
35.2ºC
20.7ºC
Sylhet
Rajshahi
Source: Accuweather/UNB
PRAYER
TIMES
Cox’s Bazar 33 26
Fajr: 5:20am | Zohr: 1:15pm
Asr: 4:30pm | Magrib: 5:50pm
Esha: 7:45pm
Source: Islamic Foundation