International

Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid yesterday visited Balat, a border town in Meghalaya where he set up a camp for Bangladeshi youths taking part in the Liberation War in 1971. Hamid is on a five-day visit to India. He will visit New Delhi to attend the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Summit tomorrow. “My visit to Balat was an emotional experience. The Liberation War of Bangladesh was a tough and difficult time,” Hamid told journalists recalling how the Bangladesh Liberation Force (Mukti Bahini) camped in Meghalaya in places near the Indo-Bangla border, around Shillong and Tura. President Hamid interacted with the villagers at Balat market and recollected his past as a sub-sector commander of the Mujib Bahini, Peter Dkhar, the district magistrate of East Khasi Hills, said. Hamid established a youth reception camp at Balat for Bangladeshi youths and acted as president of the camp at that time. Balat a border town near the India-Bangladesh border, 74km by road from Meghalaya’s capital Shillong. The Bangladeshi president was flown in an Indian Air Force helicopter from Assam. Upon his arrival in Shillong, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma received him and he was  accorded a red carpet welcome. In Shillong, Hamid visited the Brookside and Jit Bhumi in Rilbong where Rabindranath Tagore stayed. He said that India-Bangladesh relations were deep-rooted and India had always helped  Bangladesh in difficult times. “India provided food and shelter to the Mukti Bahinis helped in the War of Liberation,” Hamid said. Chief Minister Sangma, who called on Hamid, sought improved business trade relations between Meghalaya and Bangladesh in the interest of the people residing across the border.

The Rohingya refugees who live in shacks clinging to these steep, denuded hills in southern Bangladesh pray that the sandbags fortifying the slopes will survive the upcoming monsoon. "They make it safer, but they won't hold if the rain is really heavy," said Mohammed Hares, 18. Cracks have already formed in the packed mud on which his shack is built. Nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since last August to escape a military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar. Most now live in flimsy, bamboo-and-plastic structures perched on what were once forested hills. Bangladesh is lashed by typhoons, and the Rohingya camps are clustered in a part of the country that records the highest rainfall. Computer modelling by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) shows that more than 100,000 refugees will be threatened by landslides and floods in the coming monsoon. The rains typically begin in April and peak in July, according to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department. In Kutupalong-Balukhali, the biggest of the makeshift camps, up to a third of the land could be flooded, leaving more than 85,000 refugees homeless, according to the UNHCR. Another 23,000 refugees live on slopes at risk of landslide. The UNHCR, International Organization for Migration (IOM) and World Food Programme are using bulldozers to level 123 acres in northern Kutupalong-Balukhali camp in an effort to make the area safer, said UNHCR spokeswoman Caroline Gluck. IOM is putting debris-removal equipment and work crews throughout the camps, it said, and trying to improve roads and stabilise slopes. It is also setting up emergency diarrhoea treatment centres and providing search and rescue and first aid training. Bangladesh Disaster Management Secretary Shah Kamal said the government was working with the UN to relocate 133,000 people living in high-risk areas. It is also launching a Rohingya-language radio station that will act as a natural disaster warning system, he said. Bangladesh government officials have also previously told Reuters they are pushing ahead with a controversial plan to turn an uninhabited island in the Bay of Bengal into a temporary home for the Rohingya and move 100,000 refugees there ahead of the monsoon. Flooding increases the risk of disease outbreaks. It could also threaten access to medical facilities, making them difficult to reach and restock, the modelling shows. Latrines, washrooms and tube wells may also be flooded. The risk of landslides has been exacerbated by refugee families needing firewood to cook. Trees were cut down to make way for the refugees, who also dug up the roots for firewood, making the slopes even weaker and prone to collapse. "This was a forest when I first arrived," said Arafa Begum, 40, who lives with her three children in a shack on a barren, vertiginous slope in Chakmakul camp. She said she wanted to move before the monsoon but must await the instructions of the majhi, or block leader. The majhi's name is Jahid Hussain. "I don't know what I'll do when the rain comes," he told Reuters. "It depends on Allah."

Singapore will name an orchid in its famous botanical garden after Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during her upcoming visit to the country. Hasina will start a four-day official visit to Singapore from March 11 at the invitation of her counterpart Lee Hsien Loong, Bangladesh’s foreign ministry said yesterday. “Singapore would name an orchid in its botanical garden, a world heritage site, after the Bangladesh prime minister in her honour,” said Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali. Ali said that six deals will be signed during her visit, adding that the “visit would strengthen the bilateral relations and expand the scope of co-operation”, bdnews24.com reported. Ali said the visit was “politically important” as Singapore is the chair of the Southeast Asian countries grouping Asean.  Hasina will also request Singapore to support Bangladesh on the Rohingya refugee issue, Ali said.

An alleged serial killer has been sentenced to death by a Bangladesh court for torturing and murdering a woman may have claimed at least seven other victims,  authorities said. It was the second time Rosu Khan had been condemned to death after a separate court in 2015 ordered his hanging for murdering another woman.  Prosecutors in the latest case said Khan and two accomplices lured a 35-year-old woman to a deserted area where she was raped, tortured and murdered. “It was a gruesome killing,” said prosecutor Habibul Islam Talukder from Chandpur, the southern district where a special  tribunal heard the case. Khan, 46, could appeal against the verdict in a higher court. The 2015 verdict is currently under appeal.  Talukder said Khan also faces charges of murdering seven other women whose bodies have been found, and had told a magistrate during the investigative process that he was behind the death of at least 11 women. Most of his victims worked in garment factories and were lured to remote rural areas before being killed, the  prosecutor said. Police investigators previously said Khan would build trust with victims by pretending to be romantically  interested in them. “He told us he wanted to kill at least 101 women as revenge against a woman who refused his advances some 15 years ago,” Ranjit Kumar Palit, a Chandpur police inspector, said after Khan’s arrest in 2009. Police believe Khan may have started his murder spree  in 2007.

An alleged serial killer sentenced to death by a Bangladesh court Wednesday for torturing and murdering a woman may have claimed at least seven other victims, authorities said. It was the second time Rosu Khan had been condemned to death after a separate court in 2015 ordered his hanging for murdering another woman.  Prosecutors in the latest case said Khan and two accomplices lured a 35-year-old woman to a deserted area where she was raped, tortured and murdered. "It was a gruesome killing," said prosecutor Habibul Islam Talukder from Chandpur, the southern district where a special tribunal heard the case. Khan, 46, could appeal against Wednesday's verdict in a higher court. The 2015 verdict is currently under appeal.  Talukder said Khan also faces charges of murdering seven other women whose bodies have been found, and had told a magistrate during the investigative process that he was behind the death of at least 11 women. Most of his victims worked in garment factories and were lured to remote rural areas before being killed, the prosecutor said. Police investigators previously said Khan would build trust with victims by pretending to be romantically interested in them. "He told us he wanted to kill at least 101 women as revenge against a woman who refused his advances some 15 years ago," Ranjit Kumar Palit, a Chandpur police inspector, told AFP after Khan's arrest in 2009. Police believe Khan may have started his murder spree in 2007.

Noted Bangladeshi sculptress and 1971 freedom fighter Ferdousi Priyabhashini, pictured,  passed away in a city hospital yesterday. She was 71. She was survived by her three sons and two daughters. Her body will be taken to Central Shaheed Minar tomorrow for people to pay their last tribute.  The government presented her with the Independence Day Award in 2010. Her biography Nindito Nandan was published in Ekushey Book Fair in 2014. Ferdousi, who was persecuted during the Liberation War, got the ‘freedom fighter’ recognition in 2016. President Abdul Hamid expressed profound shock at the death of Ferdousi. President Hamid said, “The contribution of Ferdousi in the country’s Liberation War will be ever remembered.” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also expressed deep shock and sorrow at the death of noted sculptress and  freedom fighter In a condolence message, the prime minister recalled with deep respect the outstanding contributions of Ferdousi to the Liberation War.  “The nation has lost a valiant freedom fighter in her death,” she said, adding her death is also an irreparable loss to the field of sculpture.

A worker sprays insecticide known as fogging for mosquitoes at a park in Dhaka yesterday.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday visited writer Zafar Iqbal, who was stabbed by an attacker at a university last week and was  hospitalised. Iqbal, known for his secular activism and science fiction writing, was stabbed in the back of his head by an assailant while speaking at a two-day fair on the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology campus in Sylhet city on Saturday. The writer suffered six knife injuries to the head, back and left hand. He was taken to Sylhet’s MAG Osmani Medical College following the attack but was later shifted to the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka on Hasina’s instructions.  Hasina went to see Iqbal in the afternoon and “instructed everything possible be done for him”, said her press secretary Ihsanul Karim. “The prime minister was at the hospital for nearly an hour. She also spoke to the medical board formed for his care,” Karim was quoted as saying by bdnews24.com. Doctors said Iqbal was out of danger and “will take some time to recover”. The attacker, a madrasa student named Faizul Rahman, was apprehended by teachers and students and beaten. He was later taken into custody by the police. The 24-year-old madrasa student dubbed the famed writer as an “enemy of Islam”, due to which he attempted to kill him. Rahman’s parents were also detained by the police late on Sunday from Sylhet city’s Madina Market area.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday termed ‘fanatics’ the attackers of writer Zafar Iqbal and urged all to keep their children away from militancy, terrorism and drug abuse.  “Those who are committing these crimes are fanatics ... we earlier decided not to allow terrorism and militancy in the country, we’re conducting drives against drug abuse as well,” she said while presenting Bangabandhu Fellowship, National Science and Technology (NST) Fellowship and research donations to students and  researchers. She said the government wants the peaceful atmosphere to prevail in all educational  institutions of the country. “Yesterday, an unwanted incident took place at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology campus where Dr Zafar Iqbal came under [knife] attack. I asked the Air Force to bring him to Dhaka and admit him to the Combined Military Hospital for his better treatment. His condition  is stable now,” she said. A young man, aged around 24-25, swooped on Iqbal on Saturday while he was delivering his speech on the closing day of a two-day celebration programme, ‘Robofight,’ of the Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) department at Mukta Mancha. The prime minister said, “We want to make the country free from militancy, terrorism and drug abuse.”  She mentioned that those who commit such incidents like the one done to Iqbal are fanatics. “They think by killing a person they will go to heaven ... they’ll never be able to reach the heaven ... they’ll suffer in the hell.” The prime minister said the country’s children must be kept away from drugs, terrorism and militancy. “These three social menaces are just destroying children.” Turning to science and technology, the prime minister said these are ever changing and her government has attached utmost importance to education, research and scientific and  technological studies. She said the government has already given importance to studies on bio-technological science, medical science, environmental science, engineering and applied science, physical science and food production. Hasina said a country cannot progress without its development in the area of science and technology. To promote the scientific studies and researches, the Awamin League government after taking office in 1996, allocated funds to conduct scientific research and studies, which had remained completely suspended during the post-1975 period. The prime minister said Bangladesh is now stepping into the atomic era, fulfilling its long-cherished dream. In this area, the country needs huge people with particular skills, she said.

Major opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) yesterday announced a two-day countrywide fresh programme, including formation of human chain in the capital Dhaka, demanding its chairperson Khaleda Zia’s release from jail. As part of the programme, the BNP will form a human chain for an hour tomorrow and stage a sit-in for another hour on Thursday, BNP senior leader Ruhul Rizvi told reporters yesterday. “We’ll form human chains across the country from 11am to 12 noon on Tuesday while stage sit-in on Thursday at the same time demanding the unconditional release of our chairperson  Khaleda Zia,” he said. Rizvi said they will later announce the name of the venue to observe the two programmes in the capital. BNP’s last programme was countrywide leaflet distribution on March 1 demanding Zia’s release. After the jailing of Zia, the party observed different peaceful programmes, including leaflet distribution, countrywide demonstration, human-chain formation, sit-in, token hunger-strike, protest procession in five phases, demanding her release.  On February 8, BNP chairperson Zia was sent to jail after a special court sentenced her to five years’ rigorous imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case. Rizvi alleged that BNP’s leaders and activists are being tortured after taking them on remand. “Thousands of BNP leaders and activists have been kept in jail ahead of the next polls. They’re being oppressed in the name of remand.” He said that party senior joint secretary general Syed Alal has been kept in solitary confinement at Kashimpur High Security Central Jail where usually hardened criminals are kept. On the other hand, the BNP leader said, those involved in plundering public money from different banks have been kept with various facilities at the newly built Keraniganj Central Jail.  “The politicians are being subjected to such brutal attitude of the current government. We strongly condemn it,” he added. Rizvi demanded the government immediately release their party’s all arrested leaders and activists. Senior BNP leader Amir Chowdhury alleged that government was gradually ‘squeezing’ political space so that BNP could not join the next general election.  “They (government) are shrinking the political space. They’ll create a situation where BNP won’t be able to participate in the election and realise people’s voting and other rights,” he said. Speaking at a discussion, the BNP leader said that three state organs are helping the government gradually reduce the  political space. Referring to a recent global survey report where Bangladesh was put at 102 among 113 countries of the world in context to adherence to the rule of law, Chowdhury said it has a co-relation with the jailing of Zia on ‘false documents’ and sending Chief Justice S K Sinha on force retirement. He said BNP needs not to go to foreigners with complaints as the UN and other organisations are aware of the condition of the rule of law, human rights and freedom of speech in Bangladesh. The BNP leader said all the foreign delegations visiting the country are talking about a neutral, credible and participatory election. “They’re speaking about giving the opposition political space and allowing holding rallies and ensuring political rights.”  He urged the government to pay heed to the foreigners’ advice, and come to the path of democracy, shunning its despotic attitude, in the interest of the country and its people.

Bangladeshi police arrested three men on Sunday as they investigate a knife attack on Zafar Iqbal, a popular author and professor of computer science and engineering. Police said the arrests were in connection with background checks on suspected assailant Faizur Rahman. He was detained at the scene after the attack on Iqbal at a university in the city of Sylhet on Saturday. Police said that Rahman, 25, identified as a student at an Islamic school, had said he attacked the writer as he was an enemy of Islam. Rahman is receiving treatment in a hospital as he was attacked by students at the scene before the university authorities, with the help of police, took him into custody. Iqbal, a respected writer and academic popular with children for his science fiction, was flown to a military hospital in Dhaka for treatment on Saturday night. He is now out of danger and will recover in a few days, said Munshi Mujibur Rahman, a senior consultant at the hospital. Prime Minster Sheikh Hasina described those responsible for the attack as fanatics who will face the full force of the law. Police said that now they are trying to ascertain whether there is any link with any militant group to the attack. Militants in Bangladesh have increased attacks on a number of secularist, atheist writers, bloggers, publishers, foreigners, and religious minorities over the past five years.

One of Bangladesh’s top writers was stabbed in the back of the head during a seminar in the northern city of Sylhet yesterday, police said, the latest in a series of attacks on authors and bloggers. Police said Zafar Iqbal, a celebrated secular activist and bestselling science fiction writer, was rushed to hospital in Sylhet after the attack. “He was hit on the back of his head and he was bleeding,” a police constable posted at the hospital told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. Abdul Wahab, a spokesman for the Sylhet city police, confirmed the incident, saying police suspect he was attacked with a knife. “He was in a seminar when he was stabbed on the back of his head. His gunman caught an attacker,” he said, referring to Iqbal’s police guard. Bangladesh’s government has provided security for the country’s top secular writers and activists since suspected Islamist extremists named them in a several lists of targets. Police do not know how many people were involved in the attack nor whether they belonged to any Islamist extremist groups, he said. “He has been taken to the operating theatre,” he said, adding he would be flown to a military hospital in Dhaka for better treatment. Iqbal, who teaches at a state-run university in Sylhet, is a longstanding a champion of free speech and secularism in Bangladesh. He is also a top selling author and celebrity speaker who regularly appears at university campuses nationwide. The attack was swiftly condemned by protesters in Dhaka and Sylhet. In Dhaka’s Shahbagh Square, which became famous for massive 2013 protests against Islamist war criminals, hundreds of people carried torches to protest against the attack and demand swift justice. “It is an ominous sign. He is a guardian of progressive movement in Bangladesh. His attack is an attack against progressive Bangladesh,” said Imran Sarker, head of one of the top secular groups. “He was in the hit-list by militant and other groups in the past. The government can’t avoid its responsibility,” he said. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina strongly condemned the attack and ordered security forces to track down the culprits, her press secretary Ihsanul Karim said. Suspected Islamist extremists have carried out a series of attacks on secular and atheist writers and bloggers in the last four years, killing around a dozen of them including an American atheist blogger of Bangladeshi origin. Police have blamed homegrown Islamist extremist group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), also known as Ansar Al Islam, which is linked with Al Qaeda in the Indian  subcontinent for most of the attacks. Bangladesh has been waging a war against homegrown extremism in the wake of numerous attacks by radical groups in recent years. In July 2016, militants stormed a Dhaka cafe and massacred 22 hostages, including 18 foreigners, in an assault claimed by the Islamic State group. Security forces have shot dead more than 70 alleged militants in a severe crackdown since the cafe carnage. Late last year police arrested an alleged militant from ABT over the 2015 murder of the American blogger in Dhaka.

One of Bangladesh's top writers was attacked and injured in the northern city of Sylhet on Saturday, police said, the latest in a series of attacks on authors and bloggers. Police said Zafar Iqbal, a celebrated secular activist and bestselling science fiction writer, was rushed to a hospital in Sylhet after the attack. ‘He was hit on the back of his head and he was bleeding,’ a police constable posted at the hospital told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. Abdul Wahab, a spokesman for the Sylhet city police, confirmed the incident, saying police suspect he was attacked with a knife. ‘He was in a seminar when he was attacked. His gunman caught an attacker,’ he told AFP, referring to Iqbal's police guard. Bangladesh's government provides security for the country's top secular writers and activists. Police do not know how many people were involved in the attack nor whether they belonged to any extremist groups, he said. ‘He has been taken to the operating theatre,’ he said. Iqbal, who teaches at a state-run university in Sylhet, is a longstanding a champion of free speech and secularism in Bangladesh. He is also a top selling author and celebrity speaker who regularly appears at university campuses nationwide. Suspected extremists have carried out a series of attacks on secular and atheist writers and bloggers in the last four years, killing around a dozen of them including a top Bangladesh origin American atheist blogger. Police have blamed homegrown extremist group Ansarullah Bangla Team which is linked with Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent for most of the attacks.

Bangladesh main opposition BNP is planning to hold a public rally in Dhaka on March 11 demanding the release of its chairperson Khaleda Zia from jail. The Bangladesh National Party (BNP) has also sought permission from authorities concerned to organise the rally at the capital’s Suhrawardy Udyan, said BNP senior leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi at a press conference. “We have already started taking necessary preparations for the programme,” he said. He said they have already sent letters to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner and the Public Works Department seeking permission for the rally. Rizvi also said earlier the BNP was denied permission to hold a rally on February 22 at the same venue showing causes of International Mother Language Day programme and the Amar Ekushey Book Fair. On February 8, BNP chief Zia was sent to jail after a special court sentenced her to five years’ rigorous imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. Apart from the March 11 programme in Dhaka, BNP’s Khulna divisional unit will hold a rally in that city on March 10 demanding Zia’s release, said Rizvi. He alleged that police obstructed the party’s peaceful leaflet distribution programme on Thursday in different parts of the country, including Thakurgaon, Bogra, Manikganj, Moulvibazar and Bandarban. The BNP leader also claimed police arrested some of their leaders and left many others injured by attacking their workers.

Visiting Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Takehiko Nakao highly praised Bangladesh’s tremendous socioeconomic uplift under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, saying the country has an immense potentiality to emerge as an economic power in Asia. “Bangladesh has immense potentiality to emerge as an economic power in Asia like China and India...many countries are looking at Bangladesh for investment,” he said. The ADB president’s appreciation came when he paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her official Ganabhaban residence. After the meeting, the PM’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters. Mentioning that the ADB has been working with Bangladesh for its socioeconomic development since 1973, Takehiko Nakao said they are ready to assist for further economic uplift of the country. “We’re keen to work with Bangladesh in power, transport and other sectors,” he said. Welcoming the ADB president in Bangladesh, the prime minister said the aim of her government is to ensure development of the grassroots people. “We want people to lead a comfort life and that’s why we have taken various welfare-oriented initiatives for them,” she said. The prime minister said her government has given top priority to education, adding that no nation could achieve its desired goal without it. In this connection, Sheikh Hasina said her government is encouraging the students in pursuing science and technical education. While talking about traffic congestion, the prime minister said her government has taken various initiatives including construction of metro rail and flyovers for resolving the problem. The press secretary said the Rohingya issue also came up for discussion. He said the prime minister narrated how the influx of Rohingyas is affecting local people and environment in Cox’s Bazar. PM’s adviser Dr Gowher Rizvi, PMO secretary Sajjadul Hassan, ERD secretary Kazi Shafiqul Azam and ADB’s Alternate Executive Director Mahbub Ahmed were present on the occasion.

Bangladesh on Thursday asked Myanmar to immediately "pull back" security forces and heavy weapons from the border after the troop build-up near a camp housing thousands of stranded Rohingya stirred tension on the troubled frontier. The foreign ministry "summoned" Myanmar's envoy and conveyed the country's "concerns" over the "military build-up" amid rising tensions following the influx of nearly 700,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. Bangladesh's acting foreign secretary "conveyed to the Myanmar ambassador in Dhaka that such military build-up will create confusion within Bangladesh and escalate tensions on the border," the ministry said. "He told the ambassador to convey to the Myanmar authorities for the immediate pullback of Myanmar security forces along with military assets from the area," it said. Dhaka said the troops were mobilised near a thin strip of land between the two countries where around 6,000 Rohingya have been living since fleeing Myanmar following a brutal military crackdown on the Muslim minority in late August. They were among the first to flee Myanmar and set up shelters in no man's land in the weeks before Bangladesh agreed to let the Rohingya into the country. In recent weeks they have come under pressure from Myanmar soldiers, who have stepped up patrols along the barbed-wire border fence just metres from the camp and broadcast messages using loudhailers ordering the Rohingya to leave. Hundreds of Rohingya have since fled the camp and taken shelter in refugee settlements in Bangladesh's southeastern border district of Cox's Bazar. The diplomatic protest came as Bangladesh border guards and Rohingya living on the no man's land said some 100 Myanmar soldiers arrived near the refugee camp Thursday in heavy military vehicles. "They brought at least 14 ladders and intimidated us by trying to climb over the fences and come to our camp to evict us," Rohingya leader Mohammad Arif told AFP at the Tombru border. Myanmar border police also increased their personnel tenfold near the frontier and installed heavy machine guns and mortars at bunkers they dug in recent weeks, a Bangladeshi border official told AFP. The Bangladesh border guards had requested a meeting with their Myanmar counterparts to deescalate tensions, he said, but were told the officers were "away or busy elsewhere". The build-up came despite Bangladesh and Myanmar having signed a deal to repatriate some 750,000 Rohingya to their homeland in Rakhine state. But the process was delayed at the last moment due to lack of preparations and protests by the refugees. Myanmar views the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and has long denied them citizenship and basic rights. Bangladesh's foreign secretary has "expressed the concern" that the troop build-up might "hamper repatriation process which both sides agreed to implement". Dil Mohammad, another Rohingya leader, said Myanmar was making "absurd claims" that Rohingya militants were hiding in the border camp.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday inaugurated two schemes for farmers - digital ‘Krishi Batayan’ and ‘Krishak Bondhu Phone Seba’ - to expand agricultural services across the country. She urged the children of farmers to utilise the knowledge they have gathered from their parents for the development of the country’s agriculture.  “I think this (agriculture) is a sacred profession and all need to get involved in agriculture,” she said. Hasina said that food security for the country could be ensured through agricultural activities. “There’s nothing nobler than this work. So, we’re using modern technologies in agricultural activities.” The prime minister said the government has been working to improve living standard and make life and livelihood of people easier by using modern  technology. For the purpose, Krishi Batayan (Agriculture Window) and Krishok Bandhu Phone Sheba apps Shathi have been launched to provide services to the farmers on problems and prospects of agriculture, she said.  The prime minister asked the authorities concerned to keep provisions there to record questions and answers of the researchers, extension workers, teachers and farmers, and preserve in the Krishi Batayan to use these afterwards.  Hasina said her government implemented various programmes like research on agriculture and creating opportunities for the farmers for which the country got good results and it has become self-reliant on food production.  The government now wants to continue such facilities to further improve agriculture sector of the country, she said, adding that over 5,275 digital centres have been set up across the country from where anyone can avail of information as  required.  The digital platform developed by the A2i of the Prime Minister’s Office in collaboration with the department of agriculture extension has been introduced aiming to expand countrywide e-agriculture services through mobile phones  being used by the farmers. Under the platform, Agriculture Window has been developed with geographical features having the aspects of various region, districts and upazilas on their areas and nature of lands; orientation of crops as well as successes, challenges and  prospects of agriculture.  To serve the purpose, sub-assistant agriculture officer, agriculture extension officer and sub-district agriculture officer will provide services through cellphones of the farmers enlistedwith the Krishi Batayan.  Any farmer can seek help to get advice from the sub-assistant agriculture officer, agriculture extension officer and sub-district agriculture officer by calling them through 3331 from their mobile phones.

Hundreds of Rohingya living in no-man’s land have left their makeshift camp and crossed into Bangladesh after soldiers from Myanmar used loudhailers to threaten them, community leaders said yesterday. Around 6,000 Rohingya have been living on a thin strip of land between the two countries since fleeing Myanmar in the wake of a brutal military crackdown on the Muslim minority in late August. They were among the first to flee Myanmar when the violence erupted last year and set up shelters in no-man’s land in the weeks before Bangladesh agreed to let the Rohingya into the country. In recent weeks they have come under pressure from Myanmar soldiers, who have stepped up patrols along the barbed-wire border fence just yards from the camp and broadcast messages using loudhailers ordering the  Rohingya to leave. Community leader Dil Mohammad said the messages had spread panic through the camp. “We can’t now sleep peacefully. Most of the Rohingya in the camps now want to flee and take shelter in Bangladesh,” Mohammad said. “Around 150 families have already left the camp for Bangladesh as they were afraid they might be forcefully sent back to Rakhine,” he said, referring to the area of Myanmar where the Rohingya used to live. One Border Guard Bangladesh official said the Myanmar soldiers were playing the announcement at least 10 to 15 times a day. In it they urge the Rohingya to leave, saying the land they are on is under Myanmar’s jurisdiction and threatening them with prosecution if they remain. Last week Bangladesh and Myanmar officials visited the camp and urged the refugees to return to Rakhine. But community leaders have said they will not go back unless their demands for citizenship and security guarantees  are met. Myanmar views the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and has long denied them citizenship and basic rights. Nearly 700,000 have fled since the military backed by Buddhist mobs launched a brutal crackdown in the wake of attacks by Rohingya militants on police posts. Doctors without Borders has said 6,700 Rohingya were killed in the first month of the violence alone, in a campaign the United Nations has called  ethnic cleansing. Most of the refugees are now living in camps in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government has signed an agreement with Myanmar to repatriate them, but the refugees themselves say they do not want to return. Bangladesh was supposed to start the repatriation process last month but it has been delayed amid concerns over a lack of preparation. Myanmar forces have also erected a kilometres-long barbed-wire fence along the border in recent weeks and installed multiple outposts with armed guards and  loudspeakers, the refugees said. “Unfortunately we have no presence in the so-called no man’s land. We know that refugees continue to arrive in Bangladesh on a daily basis and we are assisting all new arrivals regardless of where they came from,” said Vivian Tan, spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency. “UNHCR maintains that those who have fled human rights violations, persecution and violence have the right to seek asylum and must be guaranteed  safety and protection.”

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday stressed the importance of building ‘educated and skilled manpower’ who will lead Bangladesh towards economic emancipation and help develop it socially and culturally. “We want educated and skilled manpower who will be able to give us economic emancipation, and help develop the country socially and culturally and take it forward to a dignified position,” she said. The prime minister was distributing prestigious Prime Minister Gold Medal for 2015 and 2016 under the auspices of University Grants Commission (UGC) to 265 talented students from public and private universities for their outstanding achievements in their  respective faculties. She said her government always wants to ensure education for all children of the country because education can help build a hunger- and poverty-free country. “And education has to be modern and time-befitting one. With that view in mind, we’re taking various programmes.” She said the world is changing fast as newer technologies are coming every day. “We have to move ahead with that spirit. So, it’s essential to ensure  modern education.” Calling today’s students as future leaders of the nation, the prime minister advised them to utilise their talents, thoughts and knowledge for the welfare and development of the country so that its independence could not go in vain. She said the necessity of higher education and efficiency is unbounded, and there is no alternative to quality higher education in this era of globalisation to stand before the world with heads high.  Hasina said steps have been taken to make education a multifaceted one by establishing specialised universities in the country like maritime university, fashion-design university, textile university and digital university to create opportunities of employments. Besides, steps have been taken to establish medical universities in Chittagong, Rajshahi and Sylhet, and such medical universities will also be established in other divisional headquarters in phases, she said. Describing various steps taken for the expansion of higher education, the prime minister said her government has established 12 new science and technology universities in the country since 2009, while approval has been given to establish 44 new universities in the private sector. She said the country’s literacy rate has reached 72.3% following implementation of massive programmes like free textbook distribution and providing stipends, sub-stipends and financial assistance to students after her government came to power in 2009.  The prime minister said the government has provided 37.5mn taka in 2016-17 fiscal year through the UGC for conducting PhD research, postdoctoral fellowship and other research works. Besides, 45mn taka was allocated for research works in 2017-2018 fiscal. Prime Minister’s Gold Medal and UGC awards are also given to meritorious students spending 13mn taka in the current  fiscal. About ‘Strategic Plan for Higher Education 2017-2030’ recently formulated by the UGC, the prime minister said the government will take necessary measures to implement the plan. A total of 124 students for 2015 and 141 students of 2016 received gold medals. Held with UGC Chairman Prof Abdul Mannan in the chair, the function was also addressed by Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, Secondary and Higher Education Division Secretary Md Sohrab Hossain and UGC Member Prof Dr Dil Afroza Begum. The Prime Minister Gold Medal was introduced in 2005 for talented university  students.

Hundreds of desperate Rohingya Muslims are still pouring over the Myanmar border into Bangladesh every week, bringing harrowing accounts of torture and murder, six months after a military crackdown sparked the massive refugee crisis. One of the recent arrivals, Nur Mohammad, said his village in Myanmar’s Rakhine state was surrounded by Buddhist vigilantes for days before they were allowed to leave. “The Moghs (Buddhists) torched our houses, kept us confined and starving,” Mohammad said. “Villages are razed to the ground. We walked for days through mountains to reach here.” Thirty-year-old Enayetullah was among the 200 Rohingya who crossed the Naf river into Bangladesh on Friday.  Most of his neighbours had left earlier, part of a 700,000-strong Rohingya exodus since August 25, leaving behind desolate and burned-out villages. “We stayed all these months hoping the situation will be fine. But in recent weeks, security forces have taken away our young men. If they abduct 10, only one returns,” Enayetullah said. Enayetullah also accused Myanmar security forces of torching his shop, prompting him and his three brothers to flee their home in Mognapara village  near the town of Buthidaung. The military crackdown in the north of Rakhine has been termed “ethnic cleansing” by the United Nations and the United States. While Bangladesh and Myanmar talk of repatriating the refugees, the influx continues. Some days 200 people cross the border, on others a few dozen make the perilous journey. More than 2,500 have entered the overflowing camps in Bangladesh so far in February. Hundreds of Rohingya villages have been torched in the crackdown, according to refugees and monitoring groups. Human Rights Watch said Friday that another 55 villages have been razed since November. The Rohingya have been systematically stripped of their legal rights in mainly Buddhist Myanmar in recent decades and face rampant discrimination. Myanmar denies seeking to eradicate the minority but refuses to give UN investigators access to an area where thousands of Rohingya are believed to have been killed. In November Bangladesh and Myanmar signed an agreement to repatriate some 750,000 Rohingya over two years. Last week Dhaka sent a list of 8,000 names to Myanmar for verification. But Rohingya leaders bluntly refuse to return. The UN says anyone who goes back must be a volunteer, while Myanmar shows no sign of accepting  the Rohingya as full citizens. “If they send us back, we’ll be tortured or killed. We would rather be killed here in Bangladesh. Here, at least I’ll get a Muslim burial,” said Mohammad Elias, whose group has staged protests against repatriation in recent weeks. According to the UN, since the repatriation deal was signed on November 23, nearly 70,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh through different routes in and near Cox’s Bazar district. “Those who came in recent days said they were tortured,” Mainuddin Khan, Teknaf town police chief, said. Some Rohingya who remained in Rakhine’s three main Muslim districts said the situation has improved in parts of the region, but life in the empty villages was unbearable.  Maun Maung Tin, a Rohingya from Maungdaw, said it was impossible to buy or sell goods and they were afraid to complain to authorities. “The new refugees say that they feel unsafe, threatened and harassed at home, in villages that are often abandoned,” said Kate Nolan, coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Bangladesh. Aid agencies say there is still a critical risk of life-threatening diseases in the overcrowded camps in Bangladesh, where most refugees live in flimsy  tarpaulin-and-bamboo huts. A new threat looms with the cyclone season that starts in April. The massive storms have killed hundreds of thousands along the coast in the past five decades.  “We are concerned about the nature of the shelters, how robust they are and if they are really prepared and equipped for the heavy rains,” said MSF’s Nolan. Bangladesh’s refugee commissioner Mohammad Abul Kalam admitted a challenge lies ahead, saying authorities have to “shift 200,000 refugees” from the camps before the monsoon. “It will be a big challenge for us to find sufficient places to be used as cyclone shelters for this huge number of people,” he told reporters Sunday. Despite the cyclone risk, the Rohingya say they are unwilling to go back.