New President must be neutral, acceptable:BNP leader Moudud Ahmed

BANGLADESH NEWS

“The role of a President in the forthcoming polls is very important. We want to see such a personality for the position who is neutral and acceptable to all,” he said.
He hoped the ruling Awami League-led government would show wisdom in the Presidential polls, “otherwise there would be no other option but for the 

opposition to force the government in accepting their demand for a caretaker government.”
BNP Standing Committee member Moudud Ahmed was speaking at a meeting of Dhaka Jatiyatabadi Mahila Dal – demanding release of their detained colleagues – at the party’s Naya Paltan headquarters in the capital.
“Even after such repression, oppression on the opposition, we showed highest respect for the President. We hope the government will notice our goodwill and come forward to avoid any conflict in the country.”
He hopes that the government will create a situation so that the forthcoming election takes place under a ‘non-partisan government’. “Let the opposition not come down to the streets for their one-point demand.”
Nineteenth President Zillur Rahman died on Wednesday, undergoing treatment in Singapore at the age of 84. According to the constitution Presidential poll is due to take place by Jun 19.
Since the Awami League enjoys three-fourth majority in Parliament, it is highly unlikely that a President outside the party’s choice will be elected.
Moudud Ahmed urged the government to take initiatives to tackle the current political crisis.
He dubbed the Mar 11 police raid inside the BNP headquarters as ‘unprecedented’.
He also alleged that the judicial system in Bangladesh was not functioning properly.

Baitul Mukarram National Mosque:dignitaries attend Zillur’s Qulkhwani

BANGLADESH NEWS

The Qulkhwani organised by the Islamic Foundation ended around 5:45pm with special prayers.
The late President’s family members, a number of state dignitaries, ruling Awami League leaders and foreign diplomats attended the Qulkhwani.
Zillur Rahman breathed his last at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore on Mar 20 afternoon after fighting for life for 11 days, bringing curtains on a colourful career lasting over six decades.
The dead body of the 84-year-old statesman and politician arrived in Dhaka on Thursday noon and was kept at the presidential palace, Bangabhaban, for people to pay their last respects.
He was buried in the grave of his beloved wife Ivy Rahman at the capital’s Banani Graveyard on Friday.
The government had also declared three days of national mourning starting Thursday upon his death. A public holiday was also observed on Thursday.

BNP to join Parliament urged place plans for President:Suranjit Sengupta

BANGLADESH NEWS

His statement came after BNP’s Standing Committee Member and former Law Minister Moudud Ahmed said on Saturday that there should be a ‘neutral’ and ‘acceptable’ President.
“You can place your proposals in the House,” Suranjit said at a discussion at the National Press Club.

“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will again nominate a just candidate. Keep faith in her,” he said, referring to the nomination of Zillur Rahman in 2008 and Justice Shahbuddin Ahmed in 1996.
Suranjit said any Bangladeshi citizen over 35 years of age is eligible for the post of President, but it needs nomination and support of specific members in Parliament.
He said he preferred a candidate for the figurehead post from among politicians.
On Saturday morning, Moudud Ahmed stressed the importance of the new President.
“Role of new President in the upcoming national election is very important,” he said.

Zillur Rahman died on Wednesday in Singapore at the age of 84. According to constitution a new Presidential election must take place within Jun 19.
Since Awami League has the three-fourth majority in Parliament, it is highly unlikely that a President outside of its choice will be elected.

first Buddhist Bihar of Munshiganj Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

Venerable Atish Dipankar had trekked to Tibet in China to preach Buddhism and immensely contributed to the studies of medicine and irrigation there, reads an inscription on a white marble stone found at Bajrojogini village.
The inscription reminds of the glorious and prosperous past of Bikrampur in Munshiganj district. Atish Dipankar, the most famous scholar from Bangladesh, was born a thousand years ago at Bajrojogini in Bikrampur.
However, except some scripts mentioning the names of Bajrojogini and Bikrampur, no other evidence like archaeological sites or reliable relics was found earlier until yesterday when a group of archaeologists revealed their discovery, a Buddhist Vihar, after three years of excavation.
“This is an incident of huge importance to all of us. Many historians have mentioned about a Vihar at Bajrojogini in Bikrampur, but we are lucky to find it just within three years,” Prof Sufi Mustafizur Rahman .

Sufi Mustafiz, executive director of Oithya Onneswan and a faculty member of archaeology department at Jahangirnagar University, led the excavation.

The archaeologists found the maiden Buddhist Vihar of Bikrampur after excavating the site for three years just one kilometre off the ancestral home of Atish Dipankar.

Dhamma Pala, the second king of the Pala Dynasty (900-1100) established at least 30 Buddhist Vihars in Samatata area. Only seven to eight of those Vihars have so far been discovered, Mustafiz informed.

“I think this is one of those Vihars established during the Pala Dynasty,” he said.

Historians say Atish Dipankar himself was the chancellor of the Vikramshila, one of the Vihars founded by the Pala king, from where he had headed for Tibet. Around 8,000 students studied in this university under 108 teachers, who were eminent scholars under the preceptorship of Dipankar Srigyan.

“We have the name of another Vihar called Bikrampuri which was also founded by Dhamma Pala. But we don’t know its location. I think this is the Bikrampuri Vihar,” Prof Mustafiz said.

“The similarity between the names of the Bihar and this area also suggests so,” added Sufi Mustafiz.

He claims the latest Vihar is the oldest archaeological site in Bikrampur.

All the antiquities and archaeological sites found in Bikrampur include the mosque of Baba Adam Shah of pre-Mughal Sultani era, Idrakpur Fort and Mirkadim Pul (bridge) of the Mughal era and the Golden Temple of the British era, said Mustafiz.

Besides those, archaeologists and historians collected more than 100 idols and sculptures of different gods and other relics including beads and masks from Bikrampur. All these are preserved at the National Museum, Kolkata Museum and Barendra Museum.

Moreover, copper plates of different dynasties including Chankra, Barman, Sena, Deva have been found in and around Bikrampur. The name of Bikrampur appeared on those plates several times.

“But no systematic excavation has been taken in Bikrampur in recent years,” said Sufi Mustafiz who worked as the research director of the excavation project.

Historians say the name Bajrojogini was derived from Tibetan scripts written by Tibetan scholar Taranath and others where they mentioned it as the birthplace of Atish Dipankar Srigyan who is treated as the second Buddha in Tibet.

Though Dipankar earned the title the Light of Asia, his name and birthplace were in the dark until Sarat Chandra Das (1849-1917), a scholar as well as diplomat from Chittagong, had visited Tibet as an envoy of the British ruler.

Sarat Chandra resurrected the name of Atish Dipankar and his birthplace from Tibetan Tanjur inscription.

In the inscription it was said Dipankar was born in a royal family of Guada in Bikrampur of Bengal, which was on the east of Bajrasana. His father’s name was Kalyansri and his mother was Prabhavati.

Dipankar wrote 175 books on Buddhist theology, medicine and engineering in Tibetan language and was given the prestigious title “Atish” for his immense contribution to these fields of studies. He stayed in Tibet for more than a decade until his last breath at the age of 72. He was buried in Krethang near Lama.

The Agrashar Bikrampur Foundation had earlier invited the archaeologists, who selected nine sites in Bajrojogini and Rampal in Munshiganj sadar upazila. They conducted a number of primary excavations at Sukhbaspur-1, Raghunathpur-1 and 2, Guhapara-1, Jeorgebari and Manasabari and three sites at Bajrojogini, said Nuh-Ul-Alam Lenin, chairman of the foundation.

“Many people say the Padma river has destroyed all the signs of prosperous Bikrampur. But we can still find many things if we look for it,” Alam told journalists yesterday after revealing the discovery.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in Bogra

BANGLADESH NEWS

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday went on a two-day visit to Bogra and Joypurhat.

She will offer her condolences to family members of those killed in recent acts of violence between opposition activists and law enforcers, party sources said.

The BNP chief started for Bogra from her Gulshan residence around 4:00pm yesterday. She was accompanied by BNP leaders including Selima Rahman, Sadeque Hossain Khoka and Mirza Abbas.

A team of leaders of BNP and its associated bodies, led by its acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, is already in Bogra to make preparations in advance of the visit.

Khaleda, staying for the night at Bogra Circuit House, will start for Joypurhat along with the leaders around 11:00am today.

On the way, she will meet family members of the victims, who were shot dead in police firing on March 3. She will meet them at Matidali intersection of Bogra around 11:30am.

At Panchbibi upazila of Joypurhat, she will hold a condolence meeting on the premises of Salaipur High School around 1:00pm.

They will start back for Bogra at 2:15pm and have lunch at the Circuit House in Bogra.

Around 3:30pm, Khaleda will visit a Hindu temple that recently came under attack by religious bigots in Gabtoli upazila.

Khaleda will speak to some other families of the March 3 victims on the Aria Bazar School premises in Shahjahanpur upazila, Bogra, at 5:00pm.

She will depart for Dhaka around 6:00pm.

The former prime minister was scheduled to visit Bogra on Friday but she postponed the tour until yesterday to mark the three-day mourning period over the death of President Zillur Rahman.

Khaleda requested that no gates be built on her way to welcome her. Likewise, she told party men in Bogra not to host a reception for her.

Tornado Comilla-Brahmanbaria:Hundreds still in the open Death toll in tornado climbs to 22; rescue operation wrapped up

BANGLADESH NEWS

Many from the tornado-ravaged villages of Brahmanbaria moved into schools yesterday as their homes had been flattened by the twister that left an eight-km-long trail of destruction on Friday.
Besides asking people to move into six school buildings, local authorities yesterday started setting up tents in the 20 affected villages of Brahmanbaria sadar, Bijoynagar and Akhaura upazilas.
The body of Yasmin Begum, 35, was recovered 250 yards off her home in Chinair early yesterday while nine-month-old Sabiha of Chinair died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday evening raising the death toll to 22.
Shell-shocked locals were yesterday seen sitting beside the debris the 15-minute tornado left behind on Friday evening around 5:30. Funeral processions were seen snaking through the devastation.
In the morning, some of the victims were trying to pitch up improvised tents made with plastic sheets in the worst-affected villages of Patirhata, Urshiura, Chandi, Chinair, Kodda, Radhika, Bashudev, Badshala in Brahmanbaria sadar; Azampur in Akhaura and Merashine in Bijoynagar upazila.
Road and rail communication were restored early yesterday after uprooted trees, wrecked vehicles and debris were removed from rail lines and the Comilla-Brahmanbaria highway.
Rescue operations conducted by the army, Border Guard Bangladesh, the Fire Brigade, Rapid Action Battalion and police were wrapped up around noon.

Yesterday, many locals of the surrounding areas came to their neighbours’ aid with food.

“While some brought puffed rice, perched rice or buns, others brought home-cooked meals,” said M Nazmul, 70, a freedom fighter who was seen distributing food among the affected people in Urshiura, Chinair and Patiasar villages.

About 20 hours after the disaster, the tornado-hit people got something to eat from the government. The local administration started distributing rice and cooked food in the afternoon.

It also distributed 15 kilograms of rice, two bundles of corrugated iron sheets and Tk 6,000 to each of the affected families.

However, Anwar Hossain, 52, whose niece Lila Begum and sisters-in-law Rokeya Begum and Amena Begum had been killed, said he received half a sack of rice from the local administration and that was it.

Deputy Commissioner Noor Mohammad Majumder of Brahmanbaria, “While we distributed our relief, Dutch Bangla Bank Ltd gave Tk 3,000 and two bundles of corrugated iron sheets to each of the affected families.”

Each family with a deceased was given Tk 20,000, he added.

Mentioning that the government relief was not enough, locals urged the authorities concerned to think about their future as well. “How can I survive since I have lost my only cow? They are giving us food for today. What about tomorrow or the day after?” said Milon Mia, 30, a farmer of Chinair.

“We want to stand on our own feet again. Please arrange employment for us,” appealed Sentu, 36, a farmer of Chandi village.

According to local lawmaker Rabiul Moktadir Chowdhury, at least 1,000 families were affected by the twister, which also uprooted around 3,500 trees, ruined crops and destroyed houses.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to visit the affected villages in a day or two.

Meanwhile, a man died after being electrocuted by an overhead cable in the district. Sources said he was trying to get a better view of the devastation from the roof of a building when he was electrocuted.