Monday, 30 August 2010
Flooding Worsens In Central Dists
The flood situation in Manikganj,Rajbari,Faridpur,Shariatpur and Munshiganj is likely to deteriorate further as the river flowing through the districts continued swelling,Bangladesh water Development Board flood information centre said on Monday.
The Jamuna marked futher rise and was flowing 12 cm above its flood level at Sirajganj and 3 cm above the flood makes at Bahadurabad at 6:00 am Monday,the centre added.
1320 MW power deal signed with India
Bangladesh high commissioner to India Tariq A Karim, Indian power secretary P Uma Sankar and PDB chairman ASM Alamgir Kabir were present at the MoU signing ceremony.
AK Sharma GM (I/C), Consultancy Wing and Abul Quasem, chief engineer (generation) signed the MoU on behalf of their respective governments of India and Bangladesh.
According to the MoU, a copy of which is available to UNB, the governments of India and Bangladesh will facilitate joint co-operation between PDB and NTPC for power generation, transmission, energy efficiency and development of various
types of renewable energy.
The two governments will facilitate investments in each other’s country in the fields of power generation and transmission, including joint venture investments subject to their existing policies and legislation.
Earlier, the Indo-Bangladesh Joint Steering Committee on Power Sector held a meeting in New Delhi on January 12 when it was agreed that NTPC and BPDB will co-operate with each other and enter into a MoU to move the co-operation in the area of power generation in Bangladesh.
Old Town Chemical shops without fire licence
After the tragic June 3 fire incident that originated from a chemical storage at Nimtali that claimed some 124 lives, the fire service directorate prepared a list of 994 chemical traders in Dhaka metropolitan area.
The directorate at a meeting on Monday submitted the list to the task force formed to take measures for shifting chemical warehouses from the city’s crowded residential areas.
At the meeting, the representatives of the chemical traders, who clearly have little or no fire safety measures, pressed for further extension of the deadline that ends on September 30.
‘I have no say in this regard. The ministry of industries will decide it,’ Md Iqbal Khan Chowdhury, head of the task force, replied to the traders.
The Dhaka City Corporation and the Explosives Department also submitted separate lists of chemical traders, licensed under their jurisdictions, at the meeting, he said.
Sunday, 29 August 2010
Judges always supported military rules:SQ chy
He made the observation at a discussion marking the day of Tarique Rahman’s release from prison.
BNP senior vice-chairman Tarique Rahman was released from jail on September 3, 2008 after his arrest in March 2007 during the army-backed caretaker government.
The discussion was organised by Jatiyatabadi Krishak Dal at the Bhasani Auditorium in the city’s Nayapaltan Sunday afternoon.
Chaired by BNP senior joint secretary general and acting president of Krishak Dal Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, the discussion was also addressed, among others, by Krishak Dal general secretary Shamsuzzaman Dudu, Jatiyatabadi Mahila Dal general secretary Shirin Sultana, JCD general secretary Amirul Islam Alim and Krishak Dal leader Takdir Hossain Jasim.
Taking part in the discussion, BNP standing committee member Salauddin Quader Chowdhury said if the judiciary became highly ambitious politically then the constitution loses its balance. ‘Consti-tutional continuity and political stability none remains safe.’
Minimum Fitra Tk.45
Explaining, the foundation said the fitra was fixed on August 26 at Tk 100 taking into consideration the price of 1.65kg staple food.
The minimum fitra is equal to 1.65kg rice the market price of which is Tk 45. Therefore, one can give the minimum of Tk 45 as fitra, said a press release of Islamic Foundation.
Fitra is wajib (mandatory) and should be paid to the needy for each member of the family before the Eid congregation.
Ershad Meet Hasina
Jatiya Party chairman and former president HM Ershad met the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, on Sunday, ostensibly to discuss strengthening the alliance headed by the ruling Awami League.
The visit, which took place at 11:00am, came three days after the High Court declared the Seventh Amendment that legitimised Ershad’s 9-year autocratic rule illegal.
Jatiya Party presidium member Qazi Firoz Rashid told bdnews24.com, ‘Sir (Ershad) has visited the prime minister. They discussed issues relating to strengthening the alliance, so far I know.’
The visit, which took place at 11:00am, came three days after the High Court declared the Seventh Amendment that legitimised Ershad’s 9-year autocratic rule illegal.
Jatiya Party presidium member Qazi Firoz Rashid told bdnews24.com, ‘Sir (Ershad) has visited the prime minister. They discussed issues relating to strengthening the alliance, so far I know.’
Indian Govt offers cash to Naxals who surrender
Having achieved limited success in defeating the Maoists militarily, the Indian government is now dangling attractive monetary rewards to those Naxalites who are willing to surrender with arms.
The centre has asked Maoist-affected states to draw surrender policies similar to the one announced by it about a year ago that includes a package of nearly two lakh rupees if the Naxalite comes with arms.
The central government’s policy gives each surrendered Naxalite an immediate grant of rs 1.5 lakh, a rs 3,000 monthly stipend during vocational training for up to three years and even monetary incentives for surrender of weapons.
The rs 1.5 lakh would be kept in a bank in the name of the surrendered ultra as a fixed deposit, which may be withdrawn by him or her after completion of three years, subject to good behaviour to be certified by the authorities designated for this purpose by the states concerned.
The home ministry has conveyed to Naxal-affected states that apart from continuing armed operations, they must address questions of poverty and economic deprivation, which apparently motivate many youths to join the extremist ranks.
‘A good and effective surrender and rehabilitation policy would definitely encourage many Maoist cadres to shun violence and surrender before the authorities. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary for each state to formulate one,’ an official said.
The centre has asked Maoist-affected states to draw surrender policies similar to the one announced by it about a year ago that includes a package of nearly two lakh rupees if the Naxalite comes with arms.
The central government’s policy gives each surrendered Naxalite an immediate grant of rs 1.5 lakh, a rs 3,000 monthly stipend during vocational training for up to three years and even monetary incentives for surrender of weapons.
The rs 1.5 lakh would be kept in a bank in the name of the surrendered ultra as a fixed deposit, which may be withdrawn by him or her after completion of three years, subject to good behaviour to be certified by the authorities designated for this purpose by the states concerned.
The home ministry has conveyed to Naxal-affected states that apart from continuing armed operations, they must address questions of poverty and economic deprivation, which apparently motivate many youths to join the extremist ranks.
‘A good and effective surrender and rehabilitation policy would definitely encourage many Maoist cadres to shun violence and surrender before the authorities. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary for each state to formulate one,’ an official said.
Friday, 20 August 2010
Obama Family easy to please
Serving meals for the US president, Barack Obama, and his family is not as tough a job as outsiders like to think, according to White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford.
‘The president and his family are very open to all different types of food. It’s very easy to please them,’ Comerford, who emigrated to the United States from the Philippines in the 1980s, said on a visit to Hong Kong.
‘It’s such a blessing to have that.’
Obama’s family love trying seafood such as Maryland blue crabs, and a wide variety of international cuisines, including Chinese dim sum and Vietnamese dishes, she said.
Comerford was appointed to head the White House’s kitchen ‘cabinet’ by former first lady Laura Bush in 2005, making her the first female and the first person of ethnic minority origin to hold the position.
Together with other chefs serving heads of states around the world including the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, Comerford was invited to Hong Kong by a hotel group this week to sample local cuisine.
The group will also visit Macau and Beijing.
In addition to leading a team of seven full-time chefs for the White House, the executive chef took on an additional task under the Obama administration: tending to the White House Garden.
The organic plot, on a secluded part of the White House’s south lawn, was an initiative launched by First Lady Michelle Obama last year to promote healthy eating habits across the country.
School children and volunteers were hired to take care of the plot, which grows a large variety of vegetables and herbs, the chef said, adding that the produce is used throughout the White House.
‘We harvested more than 100 pounds of vegetables last year from the tiny plot. We hope to turn it into a four-season garden.’
Comerford admitted it was always a challenge to cook for large state dinners with guests having very different dietary needs.
‘You have to be cognisant of all of their different dietary preferences. But you also have to be very even-tempered.
‘At the end of the day, you try to make most of them happy.’
‘The president and his family are very open to all different types of food. It’s very easy to please them,’ Comerford, who emigrated to the United States from the Philippines in the 1980s, said on a visit to Hong Kong.
‘It’s such a blessing to have that.’
Obama’s family love trying seafood such as Maryland blue crabs, and a wide variety of international cuisines, including Chinese dim sum and Vietnamese dishes, she said.
Comerford was appointed to head the White House’s kitchen ‘cabinet’ by former first lady Laura Bush in 2005, making her the first female and the first person of ethnic minority origin to hold the position.
Together with other chefs serving heads of states around the world including the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, Comerford was invited to Hong Kong by a hotel group this week to sample local cuisine.
The group will also visit Macau and Beijing.
In addition to leading a team of seven full-time chefs for the White House, the executive chef took on an additional task under the Obama administration: tending to the White House Garden.
The organic plot, on a secluded part of the White House’s south lawn, was an initiative launched by First Lady Michelle Obama last year to promote healthy eating habits across the country.
School children and volunteers were hired to take care of the plot, which grows a large variety of vegetables and herbs, the chef said, adding that the produce is used throughout the White House.
‘We harvested more than 100 pounds of vegetables last year from the tiny plot. We hope to turn it into a four-season garden.’
Comerford admitted it was always a challenge to cook for large state dinners with guests having very different dietary needs.
‘You have to be cognisant of all of their different dietary preferences. But you also have to be very even-tempered.
‘At the end of the day, you try to make most of them happy.’
Women cannot wear burqa in court:
A Muslim witness in an Australian fraud trial must remove her all-covering burqa while giving evidence, a judge ruled Thursday.
Western Australia District Court Judge Shauna Deane said it would be inappropriate for the woman to testify with her face covered but didn’t specify what the woman could wear. The judge said the woman’s decision to wear the burqa came down to ‘reasons of modesty’ and a ‘personal preference’ in her interpretation of Islam, rather than a religious requirement.
Defence attorneys argued the jury needs to be able to see the witness’s facial expressions to assess what she says, while prosecutors said the woman’s discomfort without the garment could affect her testimony.
Deane stressed that her decision applied only to this case and wasn’t setting a precedent for other courts, but the issue has sparked national interest and drawn comparisons to France and Belgium, where there are efforts to ban the wearing of Islamic face veils. In Australia, some Muslims wear head scarves, but burqas are almost never worn.
The woman is an Islamic studies teacher who has only been identified by her first name, Tasneem. She is 36, has lived in Australia for seven years and has worn a burqa since she was 17.
She is a prosecution witness in a case against the director of a company that ran a Muslim women’s college in Perth. The director, Anwar Sayed, is accused of inflating the number of students at the school in 2006 and 2007 to claim hundreds of thousands of dollars in state and federal grants.
Western Australia District Court Judge Shauna Deane said it would be inappropriate for the woman to testify with her face covered but didn’t specify what the woman could wear. The judge said the woman’s decision to wear the burqa came down to ‘reasons of modesty’ and a ‘personal preference’ in her interpretation of Islam, rather than a religious requirement.
Defence attorneys argued the jury needs to be able to see the witness’s facial expressions to assess what she says, while prosecutors said the woman’s discomfort without the garment could affect her testimony.
Deane stressed that her decision applied only to this case and wasn’t setting a precedent for other courts, but the issue has sparked national interest and drawn comparisons to France and Belgium, where there are efforts to ban the wearing of Islamic face veils. In Australia, some Muslims wear head scarves, but burqas are almost never worn.
The woman is an Islamic studies teacher who has only been identified by her first name, Tasneem. She is 36, has lived in Australia for seven years and has worn a burqa since she was 17.
She is a prosecution witness in a case against the director of a company that ran a Muslim women’s college in Perth. The director, Anwar Sayed, is accused of inflating the number of students at the school in 2006 and 2007 to claim hundreds of thousands of dollars in state and federal grants.
Brown seeks lucrative speaking dayes
Britain’s former prime minister Gordon Brown is offering himself for speaking engagements at a cost of 100,000 dollars (78,000 euros) an hour, a magazine reported Thursday.
Brown, whose book on the global financial crisis is due out in November, has asked a London agency to look for possible engagements for him in the Middle East and Asia, the Spectator said, quoting an unnamed ‘impeccable’ source.
The former premier, whose centre-left Labour party lost Britain’s general election in May, is also said to be asking for five-star hotel accommodation, a first class plane ticket and three business class ones as part of any deal.
His wife Sarah is reportedly available to present prizes at events where he speaks for a further 20,000 dollars.
Brown said before leaving the top job in British politics that he wanted to do ‘something good’ afterwards, indicating this could include working in the charity sector or education rather than business.
He has kept a low profile since the election defeat, writing his book at home in Scotland, but last week appeared on television appealing to Britons to donate to Pakistan’s flood relief effort.
Brown, whose book on the global financial crisis is due out in November, has asked a London agency to look for possible engagements for him in the Middle East and Asia, the Spectator said, quoting an unnamed ‘impeccable’ source.
The former premier, whose centre-left Labour party lost Britain’s general election in May, is also said to be asking for five-star hotel accommodation, a first class plane ticket and three business class ones as part of any deal.
His wife Sarah is reportedly available to present prizes at events where he speaks for a further 20,000 dollars.
Brown said before leaving the top job in British politics that he wanted to do ‘something good’ afterwards, indicating this could include working in the charity sector or education rather than business.
He has kept a low profile since the election defeat, writing his book at home in Scotland, but last week appeared on television appealing to Britons to donate to Pakistan’s flood relief effort.
Australia's First women PM battles election disaster
Australia’s first woman prime minister Julia Gillard will fight for her political life in a nail-biting election Saturday which could doom her as one of the country’s shortest-serving leaders.
Gillard, 48, who came to power in a hail of controversy after knifing elected leader Kevin Rudd, has shrunk to a wafer-thin lead in the opinion polls over conservative Tony Abbott, the pugnacious opposition leader.
Defeat of the Welsh-born Gillard, whose parents emigrated in 1966, would make her Labor Party the first single-term government since Second World War, and return the Liberal/National Coalition to power after less than three years.
It would also cap a dramatic period of upheaval in Australian politics, starting with the once enormously popular Rudd’s slide down the approval ratings and highlighted by his spectacular ousting in June.
‘When I became prime minister I said to the Australian people I would very quickly call an election so people could have their say,’ Gillard said Wednesday. ‘Everybody gets their say on Saturday.’
The latest Newspoll gives the former industrial lawyer a 52-48 per cent advantage over Abbott, but with some 40 marginal seats in the 150-seat lower house, the race is viewed as too close to call.
Haydon Manning, head of politics at Adelaide’s Flinders University, said the election — a compulsory vote by about 14 million electors, spread across the vast and varied continent — could be the tightest in decades.
‘Voters are looking at two of the least exposed leaders since World War II,’ he said. ‘To a lot of average voters, Gillard and Abbott are not names they know well. They wouldn’t know very much about them at all.
‘At this stage there’s a lot of undecided voters and anything could change their minds.’
During the bitter campaign, Gillard has struggled to dispel memories of June 24, when as deputy prime minister she suddenly turned on her boss, Rudd, and deposed him in a party ballot backed by shadowy factional chiefs.
Gillard, 48, who came to power in a hail of controversy after knifing elected leader Kevin Rudd, has shrunk to a wafer-thin lead in the opinion polls over conservative Tony Abbott, the pugnacious opposition leader.
Defeat of the Welsh-born Gillard, whose parents emigrated in 1966, would make her Labor Party the first single-term government since Second World War, and return the Liberal/National Coalition to power after less than three years.
It would also cap a dramatic period of upheaval in Australian politics, starting with the once enormously popular Rudd’s slide down the approval ratings and highlighted by his spectacular ousting in June.
‘When I became prime minister I said to the Australian people I would very quickly call an election so people could have their say,’ Gillard said Wednesday. ‘Everybody gets their say on Saturday.’
The latest Newspoll gives the former industrial lawyer a 52-48 per cent advantage over Abbott, but with some 40 marginal seats in the 150-seat lower house, the race is viewed as too close to call.
Haydon Manning, head of politics at Adelaide’s Flinders University, said the election — a compulsory vote by about 14 million electors, spread across the vast and varied continent — could be the tightest in decades.
‘Voters are looking at two of the least exposed leaders since World War II,’ he said. ‘To a lot of average voters, Gillard and Abbott are not names they know well. They wouldn’t know very much about them at all.
‘At this stage there’s a lot of undecided voters and anything could change their minds.’
During the bitter campaign, Gillard has struggled to dispel memories of June 24, when as deputy prime minister she suddenly turned on her boss, Rudd, and deposed him in a party ballot backed by shadowy factional chiefs.
Pakistan accused of Kashmir Truce Violation
India’s army on Thursday accused Pakistan of violating a ceasefire along their militarised border, accusing it of trying to push Islamic militants into divided Kashmir under the cover of fire.
A defence spokesman said Indian military posts in southern Kashmir came under small arms and mortar fire from across the border in a pre-dawn skirmish with Pakistani troops that lasted around two hours.
‘Pakistani troops opened unprovoked firing at Indian posts and targeted several positions in Poonch’ district, Lieutenant Colonel Biplab Nath said in Indian Kashmir’s winter capital Jammu.
‘Our soldiers retaliated to the firing,’ Nath said, adding there were no casualties on the Indian side in Poonch, a hilly Kashmir district some 240 kilometres northwest of Jammu.
The Press Trust of India quoted an Indian commander as saying dozens of mortar shells exploded around Indian posts.
‘It is ceasefire violation and it was aimed at infiltrating militants into this side of the Line of Control,’ brigadier S Dua said, referring to a de facto border which divides the Indian and Pakistani zones of Kashmir.
India has in the past accused the Pakistani army of providing covering fire for infiltrating militants. Islamabad denies the charge.
Meanwhile, 20 people were hurt Thursday in fresh clashes with the police after the death of a nine-year old boy injured during a weekend protest in Indian Kashmir, the police said.
The death brought to 59 the number of protesters and bystanders killed in two months of violent protests in the mainly Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley, most of them young men or teenagers shot dead by security forces.
They agreed to a ceasefire along the LoC in 2003 and began a peace process in 2004. Since then there have been sporadic clashes with both sides accusing each other of violating the truce.
A defence spokesman said Indian military posts in southern Kashmir came under small arms and mortar fire from across the border in a pre-dawn skirmish with Pakistani troops that lasted around two hours.
‘Pakistani troops opened unprovoked firing at Indian posts and targeted several positions in Poonch’ district, Lieutenant Colonel Biplab Nath said in Indian Kashmir’s winter capital Jammu.
‘Our soldiers retaliated to the firing,’ Nath said, adding there were no casualties on the Indian side in Poonch, a hilly Kashmir district some 240 kilometres northwest of Jammu.
The Press Trust of India quoted an Indian commander as saying dozens of mortar shells exploded around Indian posts.
‘It is ceasefire violation and it was aimed at infiltrating militants into this side of the Line of Control,’ brigadier S Dua said, referring to a de facto border which divides the Indian and Pakistani zones of Kashmir.
India has in the past accused the Pakistani army of providing covering fire for infiltrating militants. Islamabad denies the charge.
Meanwhile, 20 people were hurt Thursday in fresh clashes with the police after the death of a nine-year old boy injured during a weekend protest in Indian Kashmir, the police said.
The death brought to 59 the number of protesters and bystanders killed in two months of violent protests in the mainly Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley, most of them young men or teenagers shot dead by security forces.
They agreed to a ceasefire along the LoC in 2003 and began a peace process in 2004. Since then there have been sporadic clashes with both sides accusing each other of violating the truce.
Myanmar opposition widens reach befour poll
The Myanmar opposition party formed by ex-members of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy opened a new office in Mandalay Thursday to drum up support ahead of November elections.
Watched by plain-clothes police and military intelligence personnel, about 100 people attended the inaugural ceremony in the central city, where members of the National Democratic Force cut a ribbon and released balloons.
‘We cannot avoid the coming election, whether we assume it is fair or not,’ NDF chairman Than Nyein said in a speech.
‘People might have expected in the past they would vote again for the NLD as they had done before. But, unexpectedly, the NLD does not exist any more as it is not participating in the election.’
He said NDF members felt they would be failing in their duties if they did not stand in the country’s first polls in two decades when people are ready to cast their votes.
‘We will not go backwards nor run away.... We are not people who will retreat because of difficulties,’ he said.
The NDF’s decision to contest the election has put it at odds with other former members of the NLD — including Suu Kyi — who opted to boycott the poll because of ‘unjust’ election laws.
The vote has been widely condemned by activists and the West as a sham aimed at shoring up almost half a century of military rule.
Watched by plain-clothes police and military intelligence personnel, about 100 people attended the inaugural ceremony in the central city, where members of the National Democratic Force cut a ribbon and released balloons.
‘We cannot avoid the coming election, whether we assume it is fair or not,’ NDF chairman Than Nyein said in a speech.
‘People might have expected in the past they would vote again for the NLD as they had done before. But, unexpectedly, the NLD does not exist any more as it is not participating in the election.’
He said NDF members felt they would be failing in their duties if they did not stand in the country’s first polls in two decades when people are ready to cast their votes.
‘We will not go backwards nor run away.... We are not people who will retreat because of difficulties,’ he said.
The NDF’s decision to contest the election has put it at odds with other former members of the NLD — including Suu Kyi — who opted to boycott the poll because of ‘unjust’ election laws.
The vote has been widely condemned by activists and the West as a sham aimed at shoring up almost half a century of military rule.
4.6 m Without Shelter in Pakistan
The United Nations on Thursday estimated 4.6 million people are still without shelter after Pakistan’s devastating floods, tripling its target number for assistance as it prepared to drum up more aid.
The United Nations has described Pakistan’s worst humanitarian crisis as one of the world’s biggest disasters, but while foreign aid is now reaching some of the 20 million flood victims, critics have slammed the response as too slow.
At least six million survivors are dependent on humanitarian assistance to survive, in desperate need of food, shelter and clean drinking water, with concerns growing over potential outbreaks of cholera, typhoid and hepatitis.
‘Roughly 4.6 million people are still without shelter,’ Maurizio Giuliano, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Islamabad, said.
The estimate includes hundreds of thousands of people who are still on the move, he said. Not all of them could be considered technically ‘homeless’ because they may find homes to return to when the flood waters recede.
‘In this context we have decided to increase the number of targeted beneficiaries for tents and plastic sheeting from the initial figure of two million to at least six million,’ he said.
At a camp for the displaced from across the country, survivors are battling with crippling heat, miserable sanitation and swarms of mosquitoes.
The United Nations has described Pakistan’s worst humanitarian crisis as one of the world’s biggest disasters, but while foreign aid is now reaching some of the 20 million flood victims, critics have slammed the response as too slow.
At least six million survivors are dependent on humanitarian assistance to survive, in desperate need of food, shelter and clean drinking water, with concerns growing over potential outbreaks of cholera, typhoid and hepatitis.
‘Roughly 4.6 million people are still without shelter,’ Maurizio Giuliano, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Islamabad, said.
The estimate includes hundreds of thousands of people who are still on the move, he said. Not all of them could be considered technically ‘homeless’ because they may find homes to return to when the flood waters recede.
‘In this context we have decided to increase the number of targeted beneficiaries for tents and plastic sheeting from the initial figure of two million to at least six million,’ he said.
At a camp for the displaced from across the country, survivors are battling with crippling heat, miserable sanitation and swarms of mosquitoes.
1000 Prisoners Set Free
A deranged Arun Kanti Ghosh, 45, was released from Dhaka Central Jail after serving for 19 years in a double murder case in old Dhaka.
Once a member of a terror group, Arun killed two of his group over a dispute and was sentenced to serve for 31 years.
Arun, who lost his mental balance after his first two years in prison, was one of the 75 people who were released from the Dhaka central jail as part of government’s decision to set free some 1,000 prisoners serving for long periods. Arun’s elder brother Gopal Ghosh, who came to receive him at the jail gate, said they will try to find cure for Arun and help him lead a normal life.
The government on Thursday released 1,000 prisoners from 68 jails across the country, the largest mass release in the history of Bangladesh.
‘The inmates who had already served 20 years imprisonment were freed from the 68 jails under title 569 of the prison code, which grants amnesty to prisoners who are elderly or have showed good conducts,’ said inspector general of prisons Brigadier Mohammad Ashraful Islam Khan.
Once a member of a terror group, Arun killed two of his group over a dispute and was sentenced to serve for 31 years.
Arun, who lost his mental balance after his first two years in prison, was one of the 75 people who were released from the Dhaka central jail as part of government’s decision to set free some 1,000 prisoners serving for long periods. Arun’s elder brother Gopal Ghosh, who came to receive him at the jail gate, said they will try to find cure for Arun and help him lead a normal life.
The government on Thursday released 1,000 prisoners from 68 jails across the country, the largest mass release in the history of Bangladesh.
‘The inmates who had already served 20 years imprisonment were freed from the 68 jails under title 569 of the prison code, which grants amnesty to prisoners who are elderly or have showed good conducts,’ said inspector general of prisons Brigadier Mohammad Ashraful Islam Khan.
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