United News of Bangladesh

Former Inspector General of Police (IGP) M Enamul Huq passed away at a hospital in the capital on Sunday. He was 88. He breathed his last in the early hours, according to a press release issued by Police Headquarters. Enamul is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. A namaz-e-janaza for him was held after Zohr prayers at the SI Shiru Miah Auditorium in the Rajarbagh Police Lines, followed by an official state funeral. He will be laid to rest at his family graveyard in Godagari upazila of Rajshahi district. Additional Inspector General (AIG) AKM Awlad Hossain laid a wreath at the coffin on behalf of IGP Md Ali Hossain Fakir. Tributes were also paid on behalf of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Bangladesh Police Service Association and the Retired Police Officers' Welfare Association. Enamul served as IGP from October 16, 1991 to July 8, 1992. During his distinguished career, he also served as the DMP commissioner, the principal of the Bangladesh Police Academy in Sarda, Rajshahi and a member of the Law Commission of Bangladesh. Enamul was the only elected member of Interpol from Bangladesh from 1988 to 1992. He also worked with various United Nations agencies. He was also an accomplished writer who authored approximately 14 books and regularly wrote columns for national and international publications. Meanwhile, IGP Ali Hossain and the Bangladesh Police Service Association expressed deep shock at the death of the former IGP.

A retired schoolteacher died on Sunday morning after falling into an empty elevator shaft of a building in Sultanganj Tali Office area of Hazaribagh in the capital. The deceased was identified as Subhash Chandra Paul, 73, a former teacher of Dhanmondi Government Boys' High School. Paul was rescued in critical condition and rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) emergency department, where attending doctors declared him dead around 8:30 am. Subhash’s son Krishna Gopal Paul said they live in their own flat on the 7th floor of the under-construction building and his father went out for his walk  as usual. "This morning the construction workers at the building informed us about the accident. They rescued him and took him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead," he said. Md. Faruk, DMCH Police Outpost In-Charge Inspector, said the body has been kept in the hospital morgue and Hazaribagh police are investigating the incident.

A pedestrian was killed after being run over by a bus in the city’s Jatrabari area on Sunday morning, with traffic police later detaining the driver while trying to flee. The deceased could not immediately be identified. The driver, Md Saiful, 26, was detained along with the bus by Jatrabari Traffic Zone police after the accident in the Kutubkhali area around 10:50am, said DMP Deputy Commissioner (Media and Public Relations) Md Aktar Hossain. Biker killed in road crash on Gulistan-Jatrabari Flyover According to police, the bus hit the pedestrian and sped away immediately after the accident. Traffic police on duty blocked the road and chased the bus, eventually intercepting it in the Shanir Akhra area and detaining the driver. The pedestrian, who was crushed under the bus, died at the spot. The body was sent to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy. The driver and the bus were later handed over to Jatrabari Police Station for legal action, police said.

A fire that broke out at a tin-shed jhut(scrap) cotton warehouse in Basabo area of Khilgaon in the capital has been brought under control. The fire broke out at 11:58 am, said sources at Fire Service and Civil Defence. On informaiton, two firefighting units of Khilgaon Fire Station rushed to the spot and brought the fire under control around 12:28pm. However, no casualties were reported.

Battery-powered and electric rickshaws will not be allowed to operate on Dhaka’s main roads, while registered e-rickshaws carrying up to four passengers will be permitted to run on internal roads, State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development (LGRD) and Co-operatives Mir Shahe Alam said on Sunday. Six-passenger e-rickshaws will not be eligible for registration with either of the two Dhaka city corporations, he said while speaking to reporters after a meeting between Malaysian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Mohd Shuhada Othman and LGRD and Co-operatives Minister Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan at the Secretariat. Shahe Alam said the policy for regulating auto-rickshaws is at the final stage and will soon be sent to the Ministry of Law for vetting. “Once it comes back after vetting, we will issue it within a week or the following week, as quickly as possible,” he said, adding that once the policy is issued, battery-powered rickshaws and e-rickshaws will come under a regulatory framework. The proposed policy will make certification from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), and engineering universities and automobile departments of government polytechnic institutes at the district level mandatory for registration of e-rickshaws, the state minister said. He said a traffic department fitness certificate will also be required before any e-rickshaw can be registered. “We will not provide registration without certification from BUET, and engineering universities and the automobile departments of government polytechnic institutes at the district level, as well as fitness certification from the traffic department,” Shahe Alam said. Registration will be issued by city corporations and municipalities, he said. The policy will also have provisions on charging points for e-rickshaws, the state minister said. “The government plans to gradually introduce solar-powered charging facilities and eventually make solar charging mandatory.” Charging points will also require licences from the relevant city corporation or municipality, depending on their location, he added. Shahe Alam said e-rickshaws are being manufactured indiscriminately at different locations, including Dhaka, while the government has no specific data on the number of such factories. Under the proposed policy, manufacturers will also be brought under a regulatory framework, he said. Factories producing e-rickshaws according to designs certified by BUET or engineering universities will have to be registered and obtain licences from the relevant city corporation or municipality, the state minister said. Besides, the government is considering dividing Dhaka into eight zones — four in the north and four in the south — based on a proposal from the traffic department, he said. Each zone will have a separate colour code, and e-rickshaws registered in one zone cannot operate in another, Shahe Alam said. He said city corporations and the traffic department will jointly determine the routes on which e-rickshaws can operate. “Geofencing technology will also be introduced for the vehicles.” The state minister said e-rickshaws will not be allowed on major roads in the capital but will be permitted to operate on internal roads within designated zones. He said introducing separate rickshaw lanes on major roads and ensuring orderly passenger boarding and drop-offs will be difficult and time-consuming. “We will not allow e-rickshaws on the main roads. We will create eight zones so that they can operate on internal roads,” he said. About the categories of e-rickshaws, Shahe Alam said, “We will divide them into three categories. In Dhaka, e-rickshaws will have a passenger capacity of two or four. We will not bring any six-passenger vehicle or e-rickshaw under the registration system of the Dhaka city corporations.” However, e-rickshaws carrying two, four or six passengers will be eligible for registration for operation in rural areas and rural roads in district towns, he said. 

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has arrested prime suspect Md Poni alias Para Poni, along with an accomplice, in connection with the murder of a government primary school headteacher during an alleged bag-snatching attempt near the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban in the capital. It has also seized the motorcycle allegedly used in the crime. Headmistress dies falling from rickshaw during snatching near Jatiya Sangsad bhaban However, the elite force did not immediately disclose when or where the two suspects were arrested. The identity of the accomplice was also not disclosed. An RAB-2 official said Additional Deputy Inspector General of police Naimul Hasan, commanding officer of the battalion, will brief the media in the afternoon in this regard. Ranjina Parvin, headteacher of Bagbari Balika Government Primary School in Bogura, died on Saturday after falling from a rickshaw during an attempted bag snatching near the South Plaza of the Parliament Complex. Police said she came to Dhaka from Bogura for medical treatment. Around 6:30am, two individuals in a motorbike allegedly tried to snatch her bag while she was travelling by rickshaw, causing her to fall and suffer a severe head injury. She was later declared dead at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital.

A female garment worker was killed after being hit by a battery-powered rickshaw in the capital’s Shyampur area early Sunday. The deceased was identified as Dina Begum, 34, daughter of Abdul Quader of the Tagarpar area under Fatullah Police Station in Narayanganj. A passerby, Shahidul Islam, said a battery-run rickshaw dashed Dina on the main road around 12:40am, leaving her critically injured. She was taken to the emergency department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), where doctors declared her dead. Inspector Md Faruk, in-charge of the DMCH police camp, said the body was kept at the hospital morgue for autopsy.

A panel discussion and photo exhibition were held in Dhaka on Saturday on the occasion of the International Day of of Enforced Disappearance, organised by human rights organisation ‘Mayer Dak’. The event was held at 5pm at the Main Auditorium of Bangladesh National Museum, with the theme “Bring Back the Disappeared: Law, Justice, Accountability and Human Rights.”

The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council on Saturday demanded a judicial inquiry into the killings of a teacher Ganapati Chakraborty and his family in Rangpur, along with a statement from the government in Parliament on the incident. The organisation made the demand at a human chain and protest march held at the National Press Club premises in Dhaka, carrying a banner that read: “The Rangpur killings are mysterious: Which way will minorities find freedom from ongoing communal violence?” Rangpur  quadruple murder: Ganapati, wife and daughter killed on rooftop in daylight, says police Around 500 members of minority communities took part in the protest march, which paraded through several streets in the capital before returning to the Press Club. Nirmal Rosario, one of the organisation’s presidents, chaired a rally held before the march, conducted by Youth Unity Council President Shimul Saha. Speakers included Kajal Debnath, Bhikkhu Sunandapriya, Milon Kanti Dutta, DN Chatterjee, journalist Basudev Dhar, Manindra Kumar Nath, Jayanti Roy, Padmabati Devi, Advocate Apurba Bhattacharya, journalist Pulak Ghatak, Atul Mondal, Dipali Chakraborty, Tapas Das and Dipankar Chandra Shil, among others. The speakers alleged that a “vested group” carried out the killings of teacher Ganapati Chakraborty and his family in Rangpur to serve its own interests. They also alleged that police actions appeared aimed at concealing or diverting attention from the actual circumstances of the killings, saying the police version of the incident was not credible. They demanded that the government immediately issue a statement in Parliament and launch a judicial inquiry to identify those responsible and ensure exemplary punishment. The leaders said the Rangpur killings had created fear among minority communities across the country and could encourage them to leave Bangladesh. They also said the incident had tarnished the country’s image internationally. They alleged that communal violence has continued in the country and claimed that 41 incidents of communal violence were reported across Bangladesh in July, based on information published in newspapers. According to the organisation, the incidents included six killings, two rapes, 10 cases of vandalism and looting of temples and idols, two arrests on allegations of religious defamation, five attacks on indigenous people, 10 attacks, vandalism and looting of homes and business establishments, two incidents of forcible land grabbing and four other incidents.

Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Administrator Abdus Salam on Saturday said the government can’t sustain itself without strengthening local government bodies and the current administration’s primary goal is to empower these grassroots institutions. “If local government representatives at the village and Union Parishad levels are empowered, discipline will be restored in the villages and the unions,” he said while reiterating the current government’s commitment to strengthen local government bodies. DSCC administrator orders action over trade licence irregularities He made these remarks while speaking as the chief guest at a discussion titled “The role of UP chairmen and members in building a new Bangladesh by strengthening local government” arranged by the Bangladesh Union Parishad Chairman-Member Association at the National Press Club in the capital. Describing the Union Parishad as the country's administrative core, he said, “If Union Parishads are empowered, villages develop into self-reliant entities.” He drew a parallel between Tarique Rahman and late President Ziaur Rahman saying that the people have entrusted both of them with power during highly fragile economic periods for the nation Turning to the country’s macroeconomic challenges, the DSCC administrator highlighted the fragile state of the economy, pointing out that the administration has not yet been able to make significant strides in the power and energy sectors due to the existing conditions. “As I mentioned, the problems regarding electricity and gas are issues we have inherited,” Salam said alleging these problems existed during the previous regime. It will take time to resolve them. Therefore, the people must be urged to cooperate with the current government—to cooperate with Tarique Rahman's government. Urging people to remain patient, he called upon citizens to extend their full support to the current administration as it works to overcome these challenges. "We urge the people to cooperate with today's government, to cooperate with Tarique Rahman's government," he concluded. BNP Chairman’s Adviser Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal among others, spoke at the event.