04-02-2022

Friday, Dhaka: February 4, 2022; Magh 21, 1428 BS; Rajab 2, 1443 Hijri
Chief justice of Bangladesh Hasan Foez Siddique met President Abdul Hamid at
Bangabhaban yesterday.
Photo : Star Mail
Anti-corruption drive will
continue:Quader
DHAKA : Awami League General
Secretary Obaidul Quader yesterday
reiterated that the anti-corruption drive
would continue, issuing a fresh warning
that anyone involved in graft would not
be spared.
He came up with the warning while
talking to reporters after inaugurating
the building modernisation of
Bangladesh Road Transport
Corporation (BRTC) here.
Quader, also the road transport and
bridges minister, said Bangladesh was
the world champion in corruption during
the BNP government's regime.
Today, he said, the Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina government is working
sincerely to implement zero tolerance
DB to investigate case against
BNP leader Fakhrul, 14 others
NARAYANGANJ : A Narayanganj
court on Thursday directed Detective
Branch (DB) of police to investigate a
case against 15 people including BNP's
secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam
Alamgir , joint secretary general Syed
Moazzem Hossain Alal and 13 others
over making derogatory comments on
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,
reports UNB.
Narayanganj Senior Judicial
Magistrate Kawsar Ahmed accepted the
case and directed the district DB police to
investigate it.
On December 22, Md Akram Hossain
Badal, president of Joybangla
Muktijoddha Projonmo League central
committee, as a plaintiff appealed to
DHAKA : The European Investment Bank
(EIB), the bank of the European Union and
the largest multilateral lender in the world,
will provide €250 million to Bangladesh to
support the procurement of safe and effective
vaccines and country-wide immunisation
against Covid-19, reports UNB.
Vaccination efforts will also include
Rohingya refugees from Myanmar currently
hosted in Bangladesh.
The financing will help Bangladesh
mitigate the health effects of the coronavirus
pandemic and enable the country
to strengthen its healthcare system and
protect its people from Covid-19 with
effective vaccines, said the European
Embassy in Dhaka on Thursday.
These are all key preconditions for continued
sustainable economic and social
growth. This is the first operation allocated
under the €425 million South Asia Public
Healthcare Covid-19 programme approved
by the EIB in 2021. This programme aims
policy against graft aiming to make the
country free from corruption.
Quader urged the BRTC officials to
work with honestly, being imbued with
patriotism, and stressed the need for
bringing the lost glory of BRTC back at
any cost.
Instructing them to do everything
possible to make the BRTC a publicfriendly
organisation, he said no success
would come there if graft could not be
checked.
The road transport minister directed
the authorities concerned to take steps
to modernise the BRTC and improve its
services.
The BRTC vehicles must be modernised
and those should be made more
Chief Judicial Magistrate Shamsad
Begum's court for filing a case.
Moazzem Hossain Alal was made the
main accused in the case.
The other accused in the case are
BNP's Ishraq Hossain, Major Delwar
Hossain, Nurul Haque Nuru, Major
(Retd) Shahidul Islam Khan, Md Nure
Ilias Ripon, M Rahman Masum, Atiqur
Rahman Shobuj, Jahangir Alam, Rezaul
Karim, Ilias Molla, Zakir Hossain, Sheikh
Md Titumir Akash and journalist Ilias
Hossain.
Plaintiff's lawyer Nurul Huda said as a
freedom fighter the plaintiff could not
bear such comments on the Prime
Minister and filed the case against these
15 people.
EIB provides €250mn to support
Covid-19 immunisation in BD
to provide long-term support for Covid-19
vaccination, pandemic preparedness and
health system resilience in Bangladesh, the
Maldives and potentially other countries in
South Asia. EIB Vice-President Christian
Kettel Thomsen, who is responsible for operations
in South Asia, said the EIB is very
proud to expand Team Europe support for
Bangladesh, ensuring its people are protected
from coronavirus with effective vaccines.
"Together with the €1.3 billion in EIB
support already extended to the COVAX
vaccine-procurement initiative, operations
like these are a key step in accelerating
global immunisation and a quick
and effective victory over the virus.
At the same time, this operation underlines
our strong, long-term commitment to
working with other members of Team
Europe and the government of the People's
Republic of Bangladesh to ensure a safe,
green and sustainable future for
Bangladesh and its people."
eye-catching, he said.
He said in addition to enhancing the
beauty of BRTC offices, it should ensure
the quality of its passenger services.
Quader said internal audit activities
will be strengthened in the BRTC head
office and its depots to ensure transparency
and accountability in the public
agency.
Instructing the officials concerned to
ensure proper utilisation of the money
allocated for repair and maintenance of
the BRTC vehicles, he said monitoring
must be intensified so that none can
withdraw the entire bill without completion
of cent percent physical work.
BRTC chairman Md Tazul Islam and
other BRTC officials were present.
Now African
lioness dies at
Gazipur Safari Park
DHAKA : An African lioness died at
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari
Park in Gazipur on Thursday. The
death was reported when mystery
shrouded the deaths of 10 zebras in
the park within a span of one month,
reports UNB.
The lioness aged around 11 years
had been suffering from illness since
August last year and it breathed its
last at 1 am on Thursday, said a press
release issued by the Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate
Change.
It was given treatment by the park's
veterinary officer after regular consultation
with Dr ABM Shahidullah, former
curator of National Zoo in Mirpur
and Professor Dr Md Rafiqul Alam,
director of Surgery and Obstetrics
department of Veterinary Teaching
Hospital under Bangladesh Agricultural
University, Mymensingh.
The condition of the lioness kept
worsening and it deteriorated further
on Wednesday afternoon as its
whole body started shivering, said Dr
Mohammad Mostafizur Rahman,
Veterinary surgeon who treated her.
Ten zebras died at Bangabandhu
Sheikh Mujib Safari Parkin in a
space of one month till Saturday.
Nine of the earlier population of 22
zebras at the park died between
January 2 and 24, according to the
park authorities.
The Ministry of Environment,
Forest and Climate Change formed a
five-member inquiry committee to
find out the cause of the zebra deaths
and fix accountability. It has been
given 10 days to submit the probe
report.
Project director Md Zahidul Kabir,
assistant forest conservator and incharge
of the park, Tabibur Rahman,
and vet Dr Hatem Sazzad Md
Julkarnine were removed from their
positions and transferred by the
Ministry of Environment, Forests and
Climate Change n the wake of the
deaths of the animals in the park.
Chief justice meets
President Hamid
and brief him
about SC activities:
Bangabhaban
DHAKA : The newly appointed chief justice
of Bangladesh Justice Hasan Fayez Siddiqui
on Thursday paid a courtesy call on
President Abdul Hamid at Bangabhaban,
reports UNB.
During the meeting, the chief justice
briefed the president on various activities of
the Supreme Court, especially the operation
of virtual courts during Covid-19 pandemic.
Justice Hasan also apprised the president
of the steps taken to reduce the load of pending
litigation. Congratulating him, the
President said that the judiciary has been
the last resort for the people to get justice.
The judiciary must continue its efforts to
ensure that people get justice without any
harassment, he said.
President Hamid hoped that under the
leadership of the new chief justice, the judiciary
would be able to meet the expectations
of the people through speedy execution of
justice. Secretary to the President's Office
Sampad Barua, Military Secretary Major
General SM Salah Uddin Islam, Press
Secretary to the President Md. Joynal
Abedin and Secretary (attached) Wahidul
Islam Khan were present on the occasion.
Remove Riaz's fatherin-law's
'suicide' video
from social media: HC
DHAKA : The High Court on Thursday
asked the Home Ministry and the country's
telecom regulator to remove the
video of actor Riaz Ahmed's father-inlaw
Abu Mohsin Khan committing suicide
from all social media platforms
within six hours.
A division bench of justices Farah
Mahbub and SM Moniruzzaman also
barred all TV channels from airing the
video, during a virtual hearing. The court
also sought a report on the matter from
the Bangladesh Telecommunication
Regulatory Commission by February 9.
The court's direction came in the wake
of senior Supreme Court advocate AKM
Faiz bringing the matter to its notice yesterday
morning.
On Wednesday, actor Riaz's father-inlaw
Abu Mohsin Khan live-streamed his
suicide on Facebook as he shot himself in
the head. The businessman talked about
his loneliness and several other miseries of
his life before pulling the trigger.
KHAleD RAiHAn, CHAttogRAM
(CHAnDAnAiSH) CoRReSPonDent
Pottery is the art of making pots and
various pieces of furniture with the
help of special clay, so that the objects
are burned at high temperature to
make them durable and strong. Those
who make various things from clay are
called potters in modern Bengali and
the workshop in which they make
them is called Kumbhasala or
Kumarasala. The use of clay is compulsory
in the pottery industry.
In the case of pottery, clay is first given
the desired form. It is then burned at
high temperature (600 - 1600 ° C). This
reaction causes permanent change by
increasing the hardness and firmness of
the object. Design can be done on the
object before or after burning.
This industry is one of the oldest industries
in Bangladesh. In the evolution of
time, in the age of industrialization, the
History marks crucial
50th anniversary of British
recognition of Bangladesh
DHAKA : The emergence of Dhaka as free
Bangladesh's free capital on December 16, 1971
rapidly started drawing spate of recognitions
from both sides of the then cold war-age polarized
globe with London appearing as one of the
early western recognisers' on February 4, 1972.
The crucial British recognition came near
simultaneously with identical recognitions
from countries of the then Soviet Union bloc as
an event that contemporary British diplomats
and policymakers of post Independence
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman government
still see as Dhaka's assiduous nonalignment
stance.
Bangladesh waged its Liberation War with
Indian supports in 1971, strategically backed by
Soviet Union, while the then US administration
largely sided with Pakistan as part of a secret
engagement with China against Moscow but
Dhaka subsequently preferred to adhere to the
principle to non-alignment policy.
"I think the UK did play a role (recognizing
Bangladesh globally) because of the very public
nature of Bangabandhu's engagements in
London," British High Commissioner here
Robert Chatterton Dickson told BSS diplomatic
correspondent Tanzim Anwar coinciding
with the anniversary of bilateral ties.
Dickson recalled that there was a very strong
political and public support in Britain for
Bangladesh during its Liberation War while
Bangabandhu's confident 'first act as a liberated
leader' in London on January 8 in 1972
might have triggered the UK to influence others
to recognize Bangladesh as a sovereign nation.
At the end of his captivity in Pakistani prison,
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman went
to London first as a neutral destination to way
back to the just independent Bangladesh.
Bangladesh's the then foreign minister Dr
Kamal Hossain said Dhaka strove assiduously
to observe the principle of non-alignment in its
ties with polarized major powers, despite Soviet
support in 1971 might expected to lead
Bangladesh's to tilt towards Moscow.
Hossain, in his Bangladesh: Quest for
Freedom and Justice, however, also noted that
Bangabandhu made his outside region tour to
there to strike a balance.
Bangabandhu reached London on January 8
in 1972, had a meeting with the then British
Prime Minister Edward Heath and his first
press conference as Bangladesh's founder and
returned to his liberated country on British
Royal Air Force Comet jet via New Delhi on
January 10.
The current British envoy in Dhaka Dickson
tradition of rural Bengal is gradually disappearing.
This traditional industry of
Bengal has been plagued by various reasons
including lack of sufficient demand
in the market, non-change of scope of
work with time, lack of innovation in
work, inconsistency of income with
expenditure, increase in price of soil used
as raw material, transportation of raw
materials and manufactured goods. Not
only this, with the help of various metals
including plastics, steel, melamine,
ceramics and silver, the pottery is losing
its appeal day by day due to its various
advantages. Now these pottery can be
seen in the fair held at special times.
However, the value of pottery has
increased in large public-private buildings,
nowadays various designed earthen
plates are being used to enhance the
aesthetics. Pottery work started in this
country thousands of years ago. This art
is an impeccable form of thousands of
years of history, culture and heritage of
described as an "important moment"
Bangabandhu's very visible meeting and confident
assertion as the leader of the new
Bangladesh with Heath at 10 Downing Street.
"It's a partnership (between Bangladesh and
the UK) that goes right back to the start of
Bangladesh. So, we've got a very strong foundation
to build on," said the high commissioner.
Dickson said at that time it was very clear
that Bangladesh secured its Liberation at the
end of the Independence war and Indian troops
are about to leave quite quickly.
"It was clear that there was a sovereign independent
Bangladesh in existence and that was
therefore the right moment for the world to recognize
Bangladesh in order to be able to work
with Bangladesh on some of the challenges of
independence," he said.
Since then, he said, Britain remained as a
strong Bangladesh supporter and built a very
strong political and development ties and ". . .
we have a very strong diplomatic relationship".
Over the last 50 years, the high commissioner
said, the British-Bangladesh ties became a
broader trade and prosperity relationship and
called 2022 a special year for both the nations
and his mission in Dhaka would like to reflect
that through arranging numbers of events
depending on the pandemic situation.
As part of the celebration the British High
Commission here has already launched a new
campaign titled 'Your Brit Bangla Bondhon
Moment' to celebrate people to people links
between Bangladesh and the UK.
He said the UK has been engaged with the
Bangladesh government in trade dialogue as
many British companies are keen to invest and
trade more in Bangladesh specially in three
particular areas - service, medical and education
sectors and "we're very keen to do more
business".
"(But) We don't agree on everything but we
agree on a lot and where we do disagree, we can
have very candid and useful private discussions.
So, I'm looking forward to continuing
promote it over the next years," Dickson said.
The envoy said the UK has planned to put
lots of focus on the pacific over the next decade
and Bangladesh has already been a 'very strong
partner' of Britain in this region. "(SO) one can
see scope for us to do a lot more together," he
added.
Dickson said the UK and Bangladesh cooperation
on defence and security area has been
increasing and there is lot of interest in
Bangladesh sourcing more defence equipment
from the UK.
The pottery of Chandnaish: A
heritage on decline
Bangladesh.
At one time, with the onset of winter,
the potters of this area used to spend their
days making earthenware sheets in the
bustle of North Joara Kulal Para of
Chandnaish Upazila. In the words of the
poet, "At one time Kumar Para was
smelling of raw soil, the drunkards were
always in a mind-blowing rhythm, the
potters were always busy with hard work,
they were always busy taking orders.
Earthenware utensils, pots, pans,
bowls, earthen banks, etc. were used for
daily work in people's homes. But now
that day is no longer in sight of earthenware.
In the evolution of time, these pottery
have been lost due to the touch of
modernity of technology and science. The
history of the pottery industry in North
Joara Kulal Para of Chandnaish Upazila
goes back two hundred years.
At one time earthenware was highly
valued in the area. Earthenware was
sold in different parts of the country to
meet the local demand. The family of
potters was going well.
It has been seen on the spot that only
a few families are making pottery. Abul
Kalam of North Jowara Syed Amir
Kulal Para said, "There is no profit in
this profession like before. Most of the
helpless potters in the market are now
unemployed due to plastic furniture.
Many have resorted to other occupations
due to scarcity.
Peer Ahmed, a potter from Kulal
Para, lamented that he was clinging to
his ancestral profession without any
other work. He worked part-time as a
bus helper to provide for his family. In
this, his family is somehow hanging on.
Potter Halima Khatun said she has been
doing this for 65 long years.