DSC councillor Manju held

The Rapid Action Battalion on Thursday arrested another city corporation councillor, Moynul Haque Manju, in the capital over his alleged involvement in extortion and criminal activities.

Mosaddak’s wealth worth Tk 343cr confiscated

The Anti-Corruption Commission on Thursday confiscated wealth worth Tk 343 crore of Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Mohammad Mosaddak Ali.

Onion price hits Tk150

The price of onion shot up to Tk 150 a kilogram in the capital’s kitchen markets on Thursday as the daily necessity’s price had continued to climb every day.

Balloon gas cylinder blast kills 6 children, injures 17

At least six slum children were killed and 17 others, mostly kids, were injured in a gas cylinder explosion near the Manipur School at Rupnagar Residential Area in the capital Wednesday

The government on Wednesday refuted the Myanmar authorities’ claim that Bangladesh was mischaracterising the Rohingya crisis, sticking to the line of argument of the UN and the international community since the start of the influx of the refugees. The Myanmar government did not demonstrate any political-will to implement the provisions of bilateral instruments and to address the underlying political, economic, security, and social causes rooted in the Rohingya crisis, the foreign ministry said in a statement contesting claims made by Kyaw Tin, Myanmar union minister for international cooperation. While Tin accused Bangladesh of mischaracterising the Rohingya crisis as ‘religious persecution’, ‘driving an ethnic group out of the country’, ‘ethnic cleansing’ or ‘genocide’, etcetera, the foreign ministry said such observations were made by international community based on documented evidence, which bear the unmistakable signs of forcible deportation of a community from its ancestral homeland in Rakhine. The statement also said that such treatment meted out to an ethnic minority falls under the category of ‘atrocity crimes on civilian population’. The Bangladesh government ‘rejects such baseless accusation, falsification, and misrepresentation of facts,’ the foreign ministry said. The Myanmar minister resorted to misrepresentation of the whole issue as well as laying unjustified blames on Bangladesh in his effort to refute remarks by Bangladesh foreign minister AK Abdul Momen at the 18th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement on 23 October 2019 in Baku, Azerbaijan. On the matter of verification for starting the repatriation of Rohingya people, the foreign ministry said that unwarranted delay in verification of past residency of Rohingya with arbitrary rejection of a substantial number of displaced people together deepened the crisis. Myanmar’s claim that many Rohingyas were ‘not included in the registered list of household’ and the excessive focus on technicalities ‘are clear manifestations of their utter reluctance to resolve the crisis through dialogue and negotiation,’ observed the ministry. The ministry further observed that Myanmar portrayed Rohingyas as ‘illegal-migrants’ from Bangladesh during the colonial era and now came up with an innovation that there was a massive influx of Bangladeshis to Myanmar during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971. After the recent influx of August 2017, Myanmar signed bilateral instruments with Bangladesh identifying them as ‘Myanmar residents’, the ministry said, adding that as far as the nationality of Rohingyas is concerned, there cannot be any scope for confusion. ‘Attempts to create controversy over their identity at this stage clearly indicate that Myanmar still pursues the policy of exclusion and marginalisation of its ethnic minorities,’ the statement said. The Bangladesh ministry stressed that Myanmar must act decisively to address the real causes that are preventing the displaced Rohingyas from going back voluntarily, ensure participation of the international community in the creating of an environment conducive for return as well as in the monitoring of repatriation and reintegration process. More than 7,00,000 Rohingyas, mostly women, children and aged people, entered Bangladesh after fleeing unbridled murder, arson and rape during ‘security operations’ by Myanmar military in Rakhine, what the United Nations denounced as ethnic cleansing and genocide, beginning from August 25, 2017. The last incident of Rohingya influx took the number of undocumented Myanmar nationals and registered refugees in Bangladesh to about 11,16,000, according to estimates by UN agencies and Bangladesh foreign ministry.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday announced the continuation of incentives to the leather sector for at least five more years, aimed at achieving the desired export target of the

ROHINGYA CRISIS Bangladesh refutes Myanmar claim

The government on Wednesday refuted the Myanmar authorities’ claim that Bangladesh was mischaracterising the Rohingya crisis, sticking to the line of argument of the UN and the

WAR CRIMES AD verdict in Azhar’s appeal today

The Appellate Division delivers today its verdict in the appeal of war crime death-row convict Jamaat leader ATM Azharul Islam.

PASSPORT DELIVERY CRISIS Three lakh pending for printing, applicants rush to Dhaka

Applicants and their family members in Dhaka and different parts of the country are crowding the Agargaon headquarters of the Department of Immigrations and Passport in the capital every day

Independence of judiciary adds to case backlog: PM

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday said that the complications and congestion of cases increased in the name of independence of the judiciary.

Government clings to power using state machinery: Fakhrul

Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Tuesday alleged the government clings to power forcibly by using state machinery and destroying democracy.