Detectives arrested a man yesterday on charge of sending e-mail to the information and communication technology ministry, threatening to blow up important installations of the country and to attack police unless the four top Jamaat leaders are released before the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr.
Detective Branch (DB) police arrested Maruf Raihan, a civil engineer and a manpower broker, at Natun Babupara in Saidpur upazila of Nilphamari district around 1:00am.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner AKM Shahidul Hoque disclosed this at a press conference at DB Headquarters …

DHAKA—As criticism over the lack of progress in Sri Lanka’s war inquiry is mounting and a defiant military regime in Burma resists increasing pressure for a UN war crimes inquiry, Bangladesh has high hopes for a war crimes tribunal that has been 40 years in the making.
Bringing to justice key perpetrators of atrocities committed during Bangladesh’s 1971 liberation war for independence is the only way the nation will ever be able to heal, rights activists say.

Muslim devotees offer Friday prayer at Baitul Mukarram, …

The Jessore Road earned its name for being a crucial communication link between the eastern and western parts of Bengal. But it reappeared with a new significance in September 1971 when millions used it as a highway to life, defying natural calamities, to evade Pakistani atrocities.
Nearly 10 million people fled the country for a makeshift refuge in neighbouring India as Pakistani troops launched a cleansing campaign. Most of the people in the western region chose Jessore Road as a safe passage particularly in …

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday once again said her government is preparing a list of errant activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League to bring them to book.
On July 16, Sheikh Hasina issued Chhatra League activists the same warning at a Awami League Central Working Committee meeting.
The premier was yesterday speaking at a discussion organised by BCL at the capital’s Bangabandhu International Conference Centre marking the August 15.
“We are collecting information and preparing a list of Chhatra Shibir and Chhatra Dal activists who infiltrated into BCL …

A court in two separate cases yesterday sentenced nine militants of outlawed Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) to life term and 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment under Arms Act and Explosive Substances Act.
The convicts are Abdur Rashid alias Ashik, 22, son of Lutfar Rahman of Choksagar village of Bogra district, Ohidul Islam alias Sayem alias Al-Mamun, 22, son of Afzal Hossain of Dharma Sagor village of Thakurgaon, Mahfuzur Rahman alias Ibrahim, 26, son of Jafar Ali of Chhit Kutub village of Rangpur, Md Moniruzzaman alias …

Leaflets, training manual seized
Police arrested nine suspected members of banned militant outfit Allar Dal in Shariatpur Zila Stadium area on Monday evening.
The arrestees are Shafiqul Islam and Ziaul Karim of Pabna, Imdadul Talukder of Barisal, Sihabuddin of Madaripur, Abid Ahmed, Zahidul Islam, Md Sagar Sardar, Sakibuzzaman and Saidul Islam of Shariatpur Sadar upazila.
The law enforcers seized Leaflets, a training manual for militants and a diary containing guidelines to implement the organisation’s motto from the arrestees.
Acting on a tip-off, law enforcers cordoned the southern …

Dhaka city unit Jamaat Chief Rafiqul Islam Khan was shown arrested and remanded for two days yesterday in another vehicle torching case.

Rafiqul was charged with setting fire to a bus in the capital on the day before BNP’s June 27 hartal.

In the pantheon of Islamic states, Bangladesh seems an unlikely place for a secular revolution. It is a dry country with no bars, casinos or horse races. Bangladesh is not liberal in its social mores, compared to Muslim-majority countries like Turkey or Indonesia. And secular principles are far from being consistently upheld: Madrassas receive state funding, while citizens are often hounded for perceived slights to Islam.

The parliament has largely lost its power and pre-eminence due to some changes brought to the constitution by the 4th, 5th, 12th and 13th amendments.

Although the original constitution of 1972 ensured the parliament’s supremacy over the executive and judicial branches of the state, the amendments brought by both military rulers and elected governments, not only eroded parliament’s power, it made the House subservient to the chief executive in some cases.

The House was originally structured to serve as the core of the parliamentary system of government. And accordingly, it was allowed sweeping authority to effectively hold the executive branch accountable.

Some reasonable restrictions were however imposed on members of the parliament, to prevent floor crossing, for the stability of the government.

জামাতের ভারপ্রাপ্ত সেক্রেটারি জেনারেল এ টি এম আজহারুল ইসলাম বলেছেন, বর্তমান সরকার ৫ বছরও ড়্গমতায় থাকতে পারবে বলে মনে হয় না। তাদের কর্মকাণ্ড থেকে মনে হচ্ছে সরকার নিজেদের মাথায় নিজেরাই আঘাত করছে। দলের নেতাকর্মীদের গ্রেপ্তারের প্রতিবাদ ও আটক নেতাকর্মীদের মুক্তির দাবিতে গতকাল শনিবার মগবাজারের আল ফালাহ মিলনায়তনে আয়োজিত এক প্রতিবাদ সমাবেশে তিনি এসব কথা বলেন।

একাত্তরে জামাতের নেতাকর্মীরা কোনো অপরাধ করেনি দাবি করে এ টি এম আজহারুল ইসলাম বলেন, জামাত নেতারা যদি হত্যা, লুট, ধর্ষণ ও অগ্নিসংযোগ করতেন তাহলে তারা সংসদ সদস্য, মন্ত্রী হতে পারতেন না। এসব কল্পিত অভিযোগ। এসব অভিযোগ এনে সরকার ড়্গমতায় থাকতে চায়। সরকারের সে চেষ্টা সফল হবে না।

The presence of a minister and a top government law official in a programme of a television channel owned by a suspected war criminal has created controversies regarding trial of war crimes.

Industries minister and Samyabadi Dal general secretary Dilip Barua on Friday inaugurated the second anniversary of Diganta TV, of which Jamaat-e-Islami executive committee member Mir Kashem Ali is the chairman of management committee. Additional attorney general MK Rahman, Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) president AK Azad and prominent freedom fighter Kader Siddique were also present there.

It is the mass extermination of a whole group of people, an attempt to destroy an entire group and wipe them out of existence.

But at the heart of this simple idea is a complicated tangle of legal definitions.

This has led to conflicting views on when a mass killing, or forced movement, of people can be called genocide.

There are people who say that there was only one genocide during the last century.

Others say there were at least three, possibly more.

What is genocide and when can that term be applied?