Minister's brother sued over Lokman death

Dhaka, Nov 3 — The brother of murdered Narsinghdi mayor Lokman Hossain has filed a case against the brother of the telecommunications minister and 13 others, 48 hours after the killing.

Sadar Police Station officer-in-charge Anwar Hossain told bdnews24.com that Lokman's younger brother Kamruzzaman had filed the case against 14 including telecom minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju's younger brother Salahuddin Ahmed Bachchu around 11pm on Thursday.

The accused in the case are Bachchu, the minister's assistant personal secretary Masudur Rahman Murad, district Awami League vice-president Abdul Matin Sarker, town Awami League president Mamtajuddin Bhuiyan, vice-president Miya Mohammad Manjur, Sadar BNP general secretary Nurul Islam, town Juba League general secretary Ashraf Hossain Sarker, Mobarak Hossain, Monwar Hossain, Hiron Miya, Tarek Ahmed, Kabir Sarker, Aziz Miya and 'Mamun'.

Municipal mayor Lokman Hossain was shot dead in the town on Tuesday night by unknown assailants.

Leaders of ruling Awami League's student front Bangladesh Chhatra League's local unit have alleged that the support of the minister and his brother was behind the murder.

Opposition BNP has also claimed that the murder was a result of factional clashes. BNP central leader Khairul Kabir Khokon was arrested hours after the death. BNP has reacted by saying it was an effort to cover up the truth.

Kamruzzaman told bdnews24.com: "Bachchu planned the murder of my brother at the circuit house."

He demanded immediate arrest of the accused.

Local BCL leaders said Lokman, who was also the town Awami League general secretary, got tangled in a conflict with telecom minister and Narsinghdi MP Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju after a BCL factional clash. Several BCL members were jailed in that incident.

They said Raju held Lokman responsible for a protest against him on Oct 22 where district BCL members brandished brooms.
FROM:bdnews24.com

3 killed in Munshiganj road crash

Munshiganj: Three members of a family were killed as a vehicle hit their motorbike at Nimtoli Chaltapara in Sirajdikhan upazila Friday morning.

The deceased could not be identified immediately but locals said they were the members of the same family.

Police said the Maowa bound motorbike was smashed being bit by a vehicle at 5 am, leaving a man, aged about 45, his wife, 30, and their 10 years old daughter dead on the spot.

Police recovered the bodies and sent those to hospital morgue for autopsy.
FROM:/www.theindependentbd.com

China mine disaster: Dozens trapped by 'rock burst'

Dozens of miners have been trapped in a coal mine in China after a "rock burst", officials say.

Four miners were killed and 57 are still missing after the accident, which happened late on Thursday in the city of Sanmenxia in Henan province.

State media reported that the rock burst - an explosion caused by the sudden release of built-up pressure - happened shortly after an earthquake.

Hundreds of Chinese miners die every year in pit accidents.

The industry is one of the most dangerous in the world, and is notorious for its lax safety standards.

Earlier this week a gas explosion at a mine in neighbouring Hunan province killed 29 people.

But officials insist the country's record is improving, and say they have taken action by closing many illegal mines.

A spokesman for the state-run Yima Coal Group, which runs the Sanmenxia mine, told the AFP news agency an "intense search" was going on for the missing miners.

Local safety officials said 75 miners had been working in the pit at the time of the explosion.

Some 14 had managed to escape, four had been confirmed killed and 57 others are missing.
FROM: http://www.theindependentbd.com

Minister Raju's brother, 13 others accused

Salauddin Ahmed Bachchu, the younger brother of Posts and Telecommunications Minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju, and 13 others were implicated last night in the murder of Narsingdi mayor Lokman Hossain, after a long drama over filing a case.

Kamruzzaman, immediate younger brother of the slain mayor, named Bachchu as the main accused in the case filed with Narsingdi Model Police Station.

But he did not include the name of Khairul Kabir Khokon, president of BNP Narsingdi district unit, who was arrested from his residence near Khilgaon Matir Masjid in the capital Wednesday around 2:50am, hours after Lokman was shot to death.

According to the first information report (FIR), Bachchu and nine other accused hatched the murder plot.

The nine are Abdul Matin, a former municipality chairman and former vice-president of Narsingdi district Awami League; Mobarok Hossain Moba, a leader of Narsingdi city AL; Montaz Uddin Bhuiyan, president of Narsingdi city AL; Nurul Islam, Narsingdi city BNP general secretary who is now in Malaysia; Monowar Hossain Khan alias Moeen, a businessman; Hiron Mia, a Jatiya Party leader; Tareq Ahmed, a BNP leader and former VP of Narsingdi Government College students' union; Masudur Rahman Murad, assistant personal secretary of Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju and also an AL leader; and Kabir Sircar, a top criminal listed by Rab and also an AL leader.

And, the ten ordered the other four to kill Lokman.

The four accused are Ashraf Hossain Sarker, brother of AL leader Abdul Matin Sarker; Mia Mohammad Manzur, an AL leader; Amir Hossain alias Amu, a former Jatiya Party leader; and Mamun, son of late Manik Mia who was a Jatiya Party leader.

In the FIR, Kamruzzaman briefly elaborated how the 14 were involved in the killing of his brother.

While filing of the case around 11:45pm yesterday, it was seen that Lokman's younger brother Shamim was talking with somebody over the phone.

Shamim told The Daily Star that top AL leaders kept pressing him all day long to drop the name of Bachchu from the case and include Khokon's name instead.

This correspondent overheard Shamim telling somebody during one of his phone conversations, “Why you are pressuring me to implicate Khokon? He has nothing to do with it. But since you still insist, I'm implicating two of his close aides.”

During another phone conversation, Shamim Newaz was saying, “I cannot betray with the blood of my slain brother and drop the name of the minister's brother. The minister's brother threatened my brother on many occasions. He was involved in the killing, not Khokon.”

Anwar Hossain, the officer-in-charge, showed up at the police station half an hour after Lokman's brothers arrived there around 11:00pm.

The officer first recorded the allegation as an FIR, not as a case and advised the large number of people present there to go away.

He said he would turn the matter into a case later and give them the case number as he was not able to record it as a case without talking to his higher-ups.

The people present got angry and said they would not leave the place without a case number. The OC then requested for some time and went out of the room to talk with his higher-ups over the phone.

He returned about 20-25 minutes later and agreed to record the complaint as a case.

Earlier yesterday, talking to The Daily Star at Lokman's Basail residence, his younger brother Shamim Newaz and close aides said they were “very much” convinced that Raju and Bachchu were behind the killing.

SM Kaioum, former vice-president of Bangladesh Chhatra League central committee, who was close to Lokman, told this correspondent that they were under pressure from Awami League high-ups to include Khokon's name in the FIR.

“We are under pressure also not to mention in the FIR the names of the telecommunications minister and his brother,” Kaioum, also a former general secretary of Narsingdi Govt College students' union, added.

Several others in the family also echoed the same.

On Wednesday, Shamim Newaz told this correspondent that they would file a case with the police station that very day. Asked yesterday, filing of the case is being delayed due to the tangle over mentioning the names of accused, SM Kaioum and Shamim Newaz added.

A number of associates of Lokman also said Khokon used to admire the mayor very much and they will never buy that he was involved in the killing.

“We don't want that Lokman's assassination will be used for political purposes,” Asaduzzaman, the president of Narsingdi district AL, said.

“We want that the killers will be brought to justice and no innocent will be harassed to serve anybody's political interest,” Kazi Mohammad Ali, religious affairs secretary of Narsingdi district AL, told The Daily Star.

Hours after the killing of Lokman Hossain, a two-time gold medalist as best mayor, police in association with Detective Branch arrested Khokon from his residence near Khilgaon Matir Masjid in the capital around 2:50am of Wednesday.

A chief judicial magistrate court of Narsingdi sent Khokon to custody after rejecting his bail prayer, which was moved by more than a hundred lawyers.

Khokon was shown arrested under Section 54 and police submitted a report to the court, suspecting his involvement in the killing.

Hearing on a prayer to take him into a five-day remand was scheduled for yesterday, but the court deferred it to November 9.

Quoting witnesses, Lokman's family and friends said that on Tuesday around 8:00pm, a group of nine, aged between 25 and 35, took part in the killing.

“Of the nine, one entered the district Awami League office on Sadar Road and opened fire with a sophisticated gun and the eight others stood guards in four groups outside," said Kaioum.
FROM:www.thedailystar.net

'Khaleda wanted army to win her NCC polls'

Dhaka, Nov 3—Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has hit back at BNP's criticism over troops deployment in Narayanganj elections, saying Khaleda Zia expected that the army would snatch votes to help them win the ballot.

She said on Thursday, "What happened in Narayanganj that called for deployment of army [for the election]?"

Asserting that "nothing was wrong there [Narayanganj]", she added, "All of a sudden, the Election Commission sent a letter for army deployment. But the commission did not invite the army to their meeting on law and order situation in Narayanganj."

Hasina, also the ruling Awami League president, said, "She [Khaleda] hoped the army will snatch votes for their victory. Is it army's duty to steal votes?"

She was speaking at a discussion marking the Jail Killing Day at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital.

The prime minister referred to the BNP chairperson ordering their candidate Taimur Alam Khandaker to boycott the elections just seven hours before the first-ever balloting of the newly formed city corporation over the army not being deployed. "Why does she want to use the army for stealing votes?"

She said her government provided all executive assistance to the EC to stage the vote. "Adequate law enforcers had been provided."

Responding to those saying the constitution was violated for not deploying the army, she argued, "There has been no violation of the constitution."

BNP had maintained that the non-deployment of army was a 'violation of the constitution' that made the EC a 'useless organisation'.

Hasina stated that the army is under the command of the government head [prime minister], who is also the defence ministry chief, she said, "Only the government head can decide whether the army will go out of the barrack or not."

Though, the EC sent a letter to the Armed Forces Division on Oct 16 to deploy four companies of troops for the Oct 30 vote, there was no military support for the election officials.

Election commissioner M Sakhawat Hossain on Tuesday said that they would formally demand explanations from the government why it did not deploy army in the polls despite requisition.

About the non-deployment of army, the prime minister said, "The commission sent the letter at such a time when we were abroad and busy."

Rebel Awami League candidate Selina Hayat Ivy defeated Awami League-backed Shamim Osman by 101,343 votes in the NCC polls.

WAR CRIMES TRIAL

Criticising the BNP chief's demand to release the leaders of BNP and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami who are in jail over war crimes charges, Hasina said, "She has taken to the streets to protect the war criminals."

"The trials of these criminals will be held in this land. The people will be free from this curse. They want the trial of the war criminals."

The prime minister claimed that the people had answered to Khaleda on the issue in the NCC polls. "The nation did not like her stance against the Liberation War."

She also added that both Awami League candidates had secured the first and second places in the ballot.

TALK SHOWS

The prime minister also slated those who had been the criticising the government on talk shows in TV channels, saying non-deployment of army in the election was a 'violation of the constitution'.

She said, "In 2003 and 2004, the then chief election commissioner M A Sayeed had sought army for the general elections. But no army was deployed. We still have the letter."

Hasina asked whether the constitution was violated for not deploying army for those polls which took place under the then BNP-led coalition government.

FROM:bdnews24.com

Police beat up journalist

Dhaka, Nov 3 —Police have detained a journalist from in front of his house and beaten him up.

Nuruzzaman, a correspondent of the Bengali daily Manabzamin, was picked up from in front of his home in Adabar in the early hours of Thursday.

A patrol car from Adabar Police Station picked him up, Nuruzzaman told bdnews24.com.

The station's constable Shah Alam beat him up and threatened to tie him up with a mugging case.

A sub-inspector, Anwar, was also present in the car, Nuruzzaman said. Anwar, he said, instructed the others to take away his cell phone.

He said he then called one of his colleagues from another phone who then rushed to the scene with several others and recovered him.

Tejgaon zone deputy commissioner Imam Hosain told bdnews24.com constable Shah Alam had been closed after the police received complaints.

"Additional deputy commissioner Harun-ar-Rashid will investigate the issue and measures will be taken accordingly," he added.

FROM:bdnews24.com

Gaddafi could never be our friend: Ashraf

Dhaka, Nov 3 —Local government minister Syed Ashraful Islam says he is happy about the death of the former Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.

"I'm so happy that Gaddafi is no more. Those who sheltered the killers of Bangabandhu, my father (Syed Nazrul Islam), Nasim bhai's (Mohammad Nasim) father (M Mansur Ali) cannot be our friends," he said on Thursday at a discussion marking the Jail Killing Day in the city.

On this day in 1975, four leaders of the wartime national government—acting president Syed Nazrul Islam, prime minister Tajuddin Ahmed and cabinet ministers M Mansur Ali and AHM Qamruzzaman—were brutally killed inside Dhaka Central Jail.

The four, who were close acquaintances and political associates of independence architect Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, were immediately arrested after his assassination, along with most of his family members, on Aug 15, 1975.

The assassins, believed to be the mastermind of the 1975 coup, stormed the jail and shot dead the four leaders, only three months later.

Libyan dictator Gaddafi had offered shelter to the assassins in Libya, the country he took over 42 years ago through a military coup in 1969.

Gaddafi's 42 years of eccentric, often bloody, one-man rule over the oil-producing North African state ended on Oct 20 when the rebel forces gunned him down in his late 60s at his hometown Sirte.

The Iron man of Libya, wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of ordering the killing of civilians, was toppled by rebel forces and he fled from the capital Tripoli on Aug 23.

The ruling Awami League's general secretary Ashraful on Thursday has expressed bewilderment over no national dailies publishing any reports on the mass killing in Libya by Gaddafi and his sheltering the killers of Bangabandhu.

Ashraful, son of the Bangladesh's first acting president, said, "Ziaur Rahman ordered Shamsher Mabin Chowdhury to take the killers to Libya. Gaddafi gave them a palace to live in on the shores of the Mediterranean."

"The same Gaddafi also helped Pakistan during the Liberation War of 1971," he added.

FROM:bdnews24.com

SC status quo on BTRC notice to GP

Dhaka, Nov 3 — The Supreme Court has directed Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to maintain a status quo on the notice for payment of spectrum assignment fee and Value Added Tax (VAT) by the country's largest telecom operator Grameenphone.

BTRC was also directed to allow the petitioner (Grameenphopne) to continue its operations without any interruption or hindrance until further order.

Chamber judge of the Appellate Division justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order on Thursday after hearing on a leave-to-appeal petition filed by BTRC against a High Court order.

Justice Hossain said the matter of licence renewal of Grameenphone will be decided by the court.

The court fixed Nov 14 for hearing the appeal filed by BTRC against a High Court order that stayed its notice for payment to Grameenphone on Nov 1, before the regular bench of the Appellate Division.

Advocate Mahbubey Alam and barrister Khandaker Reza-E Rakib argued for BTRC during the hearing, while barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh and barrister Mohammad Mehadi Hasan Chowdhury stood for Grameenphone.

Reza-E Rakib told bdnews24.com that currently the licence would not be renewed following the court order. "It will be renewed after the court verdict. BTRC cannot halt the operations of Grameenphone until further order by the court."

The High Court on Oct 26 stayed the effectiveness of a BTRC notice asking Grameenphone to pay additional Tk 2.37 billion for the radio frequency in 1800 megahertz band.

On Nov 1, chamber judge of the Appellate Division justice M Imman Ali felt embarrassed to hear the petition.

Later, the chief justice sent the petition to justice Syed Mahmud Hossain for further action.
FROM:bdnews24.com

56 coaches to be added for Eid service

Dhaka, Nov 03 — The communications minister Syed Abul Hossain has said that an additional 56 coaches will be added for the special eid services.

Claiming that Bangladesh Railway's capacity was increasing day by day, the minister told journalists that another 36 broad-gauge and 20 metre-gauge coaches, which have been repaired, will be added in addition to the 14 special services during eid.

The minister also told journalists, after his visit to the Kamlapur Railway Station on Thursday, that "It would cost around Tk 20 millions to repair the nine damaged coaches of the Egaroshindur Express, set on fire on Wednesday."

He assured that "trains will resume its regular schedule within a day or two."
From:bdnews24.com

Lokman buried after huge send-off

Narsinghdi, Nov 2 — Narsinghdi mayor Lokman Hossain has been buried at the municipality graveyard.

He was buried after two namaj-e-janaza, one at Moslehuddin Bhuyian Stadium after Asr prayers and another at municipality Eidgah on Wednesday.

A number of central leaders of Awami League, including joint general secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif, joined the funeral prayers at the stadium along with people from several upazilas of Narsinghdi.

Lokman, the general secretary of Narsinghdi town Awami League, was shot dead in the town by masked miscreants on Tuesday night.

People of Narsingdi blocked the Dhaka-Sylhet highway and the railway linking Dhaka with Sylhet and Chittagong for hours. They also set fire on six bogeys of a Dhaka-Kishoreganj passenger train.

Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of ruling Awami League, is enforcing a 72-hour general strike in Narsinghdi to protest against the murder.

Shops and business organisations were shut on Wednesday morning. Activists of ruling Awami League and associate organisations took out processions demanding arrest and punishment of the assailants.

The organisers, however, said the first day's protest would not be that tight to facilitate the burial.

Additional police forces have been deployed in the area to control the situation. Deputy inspector general (DIG) of police's Dhaka range M H Nuruzzaman, Rapid Action Battalion-11 additional DIG Mostofa Kamal reached Narsinghdi overnight to keep a close watch on the situation.

Lokman Hossain was the president of Bangladesh Textile Mill Owners Association and Bangladesh Mayor Association. He was twice awarded the gold medal for best mayor.

He left behind two children, a daughter and a son.

District Awami League will observe a three-day mourning. On Friday religious observations will be held for Lokman and a protest rally will follow in the evening.

BNP Narsinghdi unit chief and central education secretary Khairul Kabir Khokon was arrested from Dhaka early on Wednesday, hours after Lokman's death.
FROM:bdnews24.com