Boishakh 27, 1421 Rajab 10, 1435 Regd. No. DA 6238 Vol 2, No 40
SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION
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Police finally bust Nur Hossain’s drug den 3,500 bottles phensidyl, 37 cans beer, 9 bottles liquor, 7 weapons recovered Islam Shaon and n Ashif Ahmed Zayeef It is not that the Narayanganj civil administration, police and RAB were unaware of the drug den and other illegal businesses of Nur Hossain, the prime accused in seven murders, and could not bust those. The shocking reality is that the local administration was fully aware of Nur’s longstanding underworld crime activities but it had never dared touch him because of his political clout, money and muscle, many local residents say. Nur Hossain is a ruling Awami League leader in Narayanganj who enjoyed blessings of powerful Osman family’s Awami League lawmaker Shamim Osman. He was Shiddhirganj Union Parisad Chairman for a long time and now a councillor of Narayanganj City Corporation. How can it be possible that the local administration and law enforcers did not have any knowledge of Nur Hossain’s underworld criminal activities? – wondered many locals.
“Because of his political influence and administrative backing he had remained untouched and immune from arrest. Officials in the civil administration and law enforcing agencies used to get kickbacks from him,” said a social activist in the port city preferring not to be named. But yesterday Narayanganj administration had a different look. It plucked up the “courage” to bust few of the dens of Nur Hossain and recovered some drug and sharp weapons. When the port city’s police launched this crackdown all powerful Nur Hossain was not in Narayanganj. He has been on the run a couple of days after the abduction of his rival Nazrul and six others. Their body were found in Shitalakkhya River on April 30. Nazrul was also a councillor and a panel mayor of the same city corporation. His family filed a case accusing six people for the seven murders where Nur Hossain was mentioned as the key suspect. After the abduction Nur Hossain PAGE 2 COLUMN 5
One of the two buses that collided on the Dhaka-Khulna Highway in Rajbari, killing 10 people, yesterday
DHAKA TRIBUNE
Family: Chandan Sarkar quested peace his whole life Islam Shaon and n Ashif Ahmed Zayeef “My father was a handsome man. We were proud of his sophisticated look but we could not see his face for the last time as it was disfigured brutally. We were not allowed to see his face. We have only seen his legs which were not covered by cloth.” Dr Susmita Sarkar, second child of slain Advocate Chandan Sarkar, was telling about the last memory she had about her father. “Mother did not want us to look at his face as we might not be able to erase that from our memory for the rest of life,” said Susmita as she started to sob. “He was a man who tried to find peace in his whole life. We do not know why he has to leave us this way.” Senior lawyer Chandan Sarkar and his driver Ibrahim were among the seven Narayanganj abductees who were
killed later. Chandan did not have any political involvement or rival or criminal record, something believed to be the cause behind the murder of five others. Chandan and his chauffeur are believed to have been killed because they witnessed the abductions. It took time for his family member to believe that Chandan was abducted. They were certain that if any group had abducted him, they would free him because of his clean image. “I was in Dhaka. After hearing the news of abduction, I called him. Nobody picked up till 10pm,” said Bijoy Kumar Paul, son-in-law of Chandan. Bijoy later requested one of their family acquaintances working at an intelligence agency to trace the phone. He was told that the cell phone was in Tejgaon, somewhere near Anik Tower. Around 11:30pm, he rushed to Tejgaon police station and asked for help. Police dialled Chandan’s number but
found it switched off. “Police said they could not trace the phone as it was switched off. The officer was suspecting that the car had driven past Tejgaon and then went elsewhere,” Bijoy said.
‘During the 1971 Liberation War, my father lost his father’s house. It saddened him and he expressed it in his literary work’ Chandan’s family members, with the help of influential people, contacted RAB Director-General, State Minister for Home and also the ex-commanding officer of RAB. “Everyone kept assuring us that the kidnappers will not do any harm to my father because he was a man with
‘Illegal immigrant issue may end up hurting India’s cause’ n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman Political leaders and analysts say no matter who comes next to power in India, the leadership in New Delhi will maintain good relationship with Dhaka for its own interests. “If India feels that it will have an unpleasant relationship with Bangladesh, it will affect New Delhi more than Dhaka,” prime minister’s Economic Adviser Mashiur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune recently. Asked what New Delhi’s policy would be if Narendra Modi became the Indian premier or any non-Congress coalition selected another person, he said: “I am not a soothsayer. We knew the BJP leadership when it formed the
government last time, but we have less interaction with the current leadership. “From previous experiences, I think India will not resist Bangladesh from doing all the work here – no new crisis will be created and it will be a neutral relationship; but, it will be difficult to find new areas of opportunity or cooperation.” About Modi’s recent remarks on getting rid of so-called illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in India, Mashiur said: “It will be a very risky policy for India.” Pushing or sending back Bangalee Muslims in the name of getting rid of illegal immigrants would cause more harm to New Delhi than Dhaka, he said. “Bangladesh has the ability to contain any crisis but India does not. Mus-
lims in India will not come to Bangladesh and they will resist any such move. That will lead to a riot in the country [India],” he expressed fear. If there is any repercussion of the Indian policy here, Hindus might leave Bangladesh for India and thus create a fresh problem for them, Mashiur said. “In addition, neither of the Bangladesh and Indian governments certifies that there are illegal migrants from Bangladesh. So, how will you identify which group has come from Bangladesh and which has not? “The BJP and Modi want to achieve economic prosperity and any such move will not help that cause. Their [India’s] international image as a secular country PAGE 2 COLUMN 1
a clean image. They said my father would come back somehow,” he said. “Among all we had contacted, Lt Col Tareque Sayeed Mohammad’s behaviour hurt us. As we asked him if they have picked up father, he lost his temper and asked us to leave RAB 11 office,” said Bijoy. On Tuesday, they got the indication that Chandan and his driver had been killed. Asked why they took ten days to file a case and why they did not name any accused, Bijoy said: “In the case filed by Nazrul’s wife, she did not mention names of my father-in-law and his driver name as assassinated. So we filed a separate case so that we can get justice.” Chandan was born in april 23, 1952 at Ibrahimpur village in Nabinagar upazila of Brahmanbaria. In 1972, he got admitted in the mathematics department at Dhaka University. After completing both graduation and post-graduation
studies, he tried to get a job. But as he had a greater sense of freedom, he failed to be stable in any job. Chandan then began studying law at Dhaka University. Following completion of LLB, he started practicing in Narayanganj court. He was not only a lawyer but also a man who was thirsty for knowledge for his whole life. “Father used study every day. I can hardly remember any day when I did not see him studying till the late hours of night. Often, he would study for the whole night,” said Susmita. “Science, history, literature, novel, drama, religion – he was actually interested in every branch of knowledge. He would also inspire us to seek knowledge.” Chandan Sarkar published two poetry books named “Kar Hate Rajdondo Manobik Hobe” and “Shit Borshar Keu Now”. A story book, a poetry book and two novels were also on their way to be published.
League government is likely to face some difficulties as its tie with the BJP is not as good as with the Congress. Rather the BNP’s tie with the BJP was much better in the past. Abdul Moyeen Khan, a Standing Committee member of the BNP, told the Dhaka Tribune that the Congress in India and the Awami League in Bangladesh seemed to have set up “a partnership of mutual convenience for historical or whatever reasons.” He said: “Unfortunately this relationship should really have been set up between the people of Bangladesh and that of India. Consequently, whenever
At least ten people were killed and 30 others were injured in a road accident on the Dhaka-Khulna highway in front of the Nehaj Jute mill in the Boshontopur area under the Sadar upazila, Rajbari, early yesterday. Police sources said Safeen Hossain, 16, the son of Abul Baser of Ambula in the Agailjhara upazila of Barisal, Babu Fakir, 45, the son of Khaleque Fakir of Fotaputi in the Moksedpur upazila of Gopalganj, Roton Sarker, 52, the son of Subodh Sarker from the Agailjhara upazila of Barisal, Paresh Roy, 50, the son of Jagabandhu Roy of Fulsiri in the Agailjhara upazila of Barisal, Zannat Khatoon, the three month old daughter of Billal Hossain from the Mehendiganj upazila of Barisal, Nasima Khatoon, 28, Billal Hossain’s wife and Zannat’s mother, comprised the list of the deceased. The identity of another four people could not be known immediately, police added. Sub-Inspector Nazim Uddin Khan of Alhadipur highway police outpost told the Dhaka Tribune that a Dhaka bound bus, the Eagle Paribahan, coming from Khulna collided head on with a Khulna bound bus, the Global Paribhan in the Bashantapur area in front of the Nehaj Jute mill under the Sadar upazila of Rajbari. As a result of the collision, one bus fell into a road side ditch, leaving four people dead on the spot, including a mother and her child. Another died on the way to the Faridpur Medical College Hospital. The accident occurred at around 3:30am early yesterday, witnesses said. Officer-in-Charge of the Rajbari Sadar police station Abdul Khaleque said the movement of vehicles on the Dhaka –Khulna high way was at a standstill due to the incident, but resumed after three hours. He said the identified bodies were handed over to their relatives after the
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BNP alliance leaders: AL to lose India’s blessing if BJP assumes power n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla Leaders of the BNP-led 19-party alliance believe that if the BJP returns to power in India, the Awami League might not enjoy the state blessing of the Indian government any longer. They think the Awami League enjoyed tremendous support from India after the January 5 election boycotted by the then main opposition BNP only because the Congress was in power and the ruling party had better understanding with it. Some leaders say if the BJP comes to power, the BNP alliance may not derive any significant benefit, but the Awami
INSIDE News
4 There has been missappropriation of over Tk5 crore at the state-owned Petrobangla as it transferred money meant for the deficit oil head margin for Bapex sector to the price deficit fund sector instead, said the audit report from the Commercial Audit Directorate. The report also said Petrobangla had incurred a loss of over Tk16 lakh in the fiscal 2012-13 as it accepted the tender for lift maintenance placed by the second lowest bidder instead of the lowest bidder.
Nation
News
5 Illegal battery-run and non battery-run three-wheelers continue to operate on the city roads as police allegedly allow union leaders to issue permit tokens in exchange for bribes, which accumulates to around Tk20 lakh per month.
6 Almost half of a Tk2 crore 23 lakh boat passage has been built with poor quality sand and rocks in the absence of the authorities’ oversight of it over Shaila canal connecting Patharghat and Rakkhilabarhi village in Gopalganj’s Tungipara. Seeking anonymity, a labourer told the Dhaka Tribune, “Pakshi sand is of good quality and a bit pricey. Instead of using it, the contractor blended Madhumati and Sylhet sand together and then used it in the casting of the passage construction.”
Op-Ed
11 “All respectable and educated people belong to the Awami League” was a mantra I heard all too often growing up. And why not?
10 killed in Rajbari road accident n Our Correspondent, Rajbari
Sport
13 Sheikh Russel KC all but confirmed a second round ticket from Group A in the AFC President’s Cup with a convincing 5-0 win over Sri Lanka Air Force at the Sughatdasa Stadium, Colombo yesterday. 14 Strapping Sam Allardyce doesn’t look the sentimental type, but the West Ham boss says he’d like his team to deny Manchester City the Premier League title in the final match of the season on Sunday.