Bangladesh
4 killed in Narshingdi road crash
Four people were killed and two injured in a collision between a pickup van and a CNG-run auto-rickshaw in Raipura upazila of Narsingdi early Friday.
The deceased were identified as college student Qayyum Mia, 18, Ain Uddin, 35, Monir Hossain, 25, and Abdur Rauf, 62, of the upazila.
Read: 3 die in Dhaka road crashes
The accident occurred in front of an LPG filling station on Madanganj-Narshingdi-Raipura road in Amirganj around 8am.
The auto-rickshaw from Raipura collided head-on with the van coming from the opposite direction, leaving four occupants of the auto-rickshaw dead on the spot and two others injured, said Azizur Rahman, officer-in-charge (OC) of Raipura Police Station.
Read: Two killed in Meherpur road crash
The injured were rushed to Narsingdi Sadar Hospital.
Although the pickup van was seized, the driver managed to escape, the OC added.
Momen defends Dhaka's yes vote on Ukraine resolution as humane
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Friday defended its voting in favour of the latest resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine saying Bangladesh remains very vocal on humanitarian issues.
“We voted on humanitarian grounds. We’re known as a humane country in the world. We remain very vocal on humanitarian issues. So, we agreed and voted in favour of the resolution,” he told reporters after attending a function in the city.
Momen referred to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s generosity in hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas and said she is now known as “mother of humanity.”
Read:Diplomats visit Tungipara to pay tribute to Bangabandhu
Asked why Bangladesh abstained in the previous resolution (March 2), the FM said that one was one-sided in which Russia was accused squarely.
“But war does not take place by one side. You can’t clap in one hand. We felt it was very much partisan and war will not stop with such a resolution. To stop war both parties need to come forward with equal sincerity,” Momen said.
At a media briefing on Thursday morning, Ambassador of Russia to Bangladesh Alexander Mantytskiy said Russia highly appreciates Bangladesh’s “responsible and balanced” attitude towards the earlier resolution.
“We express gratitude to the Bangladeshi side for its neutral position taken despite the enormous external pressure during the said voting,” he said.
Bangladesh reports 102 new Covid cases, no death
Bangladesh logged 102 fresh Covid cases in 24 hours till Friday morning, taking the total caseload to 19,51,174.
As per the latest government data, the country’s total fatalities remained unchanged at 29,118 as no death was reported during the period.
Read:Bangladesh makes good progress despite Covid pandemic: PM
The daily positivity rate increased to 1.03 percent from Wednesday’s o.76 per cent after testing 9,832 samples during the period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Besides, the mortality rate remained unchanged too at 1.49 per cent.
The recovery rate rose to 96.15 per cent with the recovery of 1,268 more patients during the 24-hour period.
The country reported first zero Covid-related death in a single day on November 20 last year along with 178 infections since the pandemic broke out in Bangladesh in March 2020.
Read:Covid in Bangladesh: No death reported in 24 hrs
On January 28, Bangladesh logged its previous highest daily positivity rate at 33.37 per cent reporting 15,440 cases and 20 deaths.
Besides, the country registered the highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year, while the highest number of daily fatalities was 264 on August 10 last year.
Sampriti Bangladesh demands global recognition of 1971 genocide
The families of freedom fighters and martyrs have demanded the global recognition of the Pakistan Army's brutal massacres of unarmed Bengalis in 1971 as 'genocide'.
At the same time, they demanded that Pakistan punishes those responsible for the atrocity.
They made the demands at a discussion on '1971’s Genocide and Pakistan's Barbarism'organized by Sampriti Bangladesh at the Jatiya Press Club on Friday.
Read:AL appeals for global recognition of 1971 genocide
Minister for Industries Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun said Pakistan has to apologize for the killings that took place during the Liberation War in 1971. “Today it is proved that there has been massacre, genocide, 3 million of our people have been martyred, innumerable mothers and sisters have been tortured.”
“We will try to establish March 25 as the Genocide Day,” the minister added.
Although, March 25 has been observed nationally as Genocide Day since 2017, the day has not yet been recognized globally, said Convener of Sampriti Bangladesh Pijush Bandyopadhyay.
“The United States has recently acknowledged the persecution of the Rohingya, but no country has acknowledged the horrific massacre of March 25 in 1971 in Bangladesh,” he said.
Meanwhile, speakers at the event said that there was an attempt to distort the history of the horrors of March 25 after August 15, which is still going on. And so, they are trying to spread the spirit of the liberation war from house to house, the events of the genocide of March 25 in 1971, to give the ‘history’ to the new generation.
Read: One-min blackout to mark Genocide Day tonight
Sampriti Bangladesh Member Secretary Dr Mamun Al Mahtab, Member of Parliament Aroma Dutta, Bir Pratik Lt. Col. Sajjad Ali Zahir (Retd.), Col. Taufiqur Rahman (Retd.) and martyred intellectual's son Noto Kishore Aditya also spoke at the discussion.
9th Sikder Group Independence Day Cup Golf Tournament inaugurated
The 3-day (23 Mar to 25 I'llar 22) ‘9th Sikder Group independence Day Cup Golf Tournament 2022, was inaugurated by Lieutenant General Ataul Hakim Sanrar Hasan, Chief of General Staff, Bangladesh Army as Chief Guest at Kurmitola Golf Club on Friday.
Approximately 650 golfers participated in this tournament from all clubs of the country including foreigners.
Read: Mujib Borsho Golf: Kurmitola and Army golf club emerge joints champions
The tee-off was witnessed among others by Chairman of R & R Aviation Rick Haque Sikder, Managing Director Ron Haque Sikder,Director & COO Syed Qamrul Islam Mohon, Advisor Farid Uddin Khan Rumi, and Major General Md Zahirul lslam, GOC & Area Commander, Logistics Area; Dhaka and Vice President, Kurmitola Golf Club.
Other members of the R&R Aviation Limited and high officials of Kurmitola Golf Club were also present in the inaugural ceremony.
Online train ticket sale to resume from 6 pm Friday for March 26
The sale of online tickets of Bangladesh Railway will resume from 6 pm Friday for March 26 after remaining suspended from March 21 to facilitate the handover of responsibilities to a new service provider.
Bangladesh Railways Ministry issued a notification on relaunch of online ticketing system of Bangladesh Railway through ‘Shohoz’ from March 26 on Thursday.
Read:Online train ticket sale to remain suspended from Mar 21-25
The notification said, on Friday, only tickets for inter-city trains of 77 listed stations starting from March 26 will be available on the computerized system of “Shohoz-Synesis-Vinsen JV’ or online. No tickets for trains starting on March 25 will be available online.
The five-day advance ticket for trains operating from March 26 to 29 will be available today through online, it said. From 8 am Saturday, online, offline ticket issuing of the railways will resume as before.
However, tickets will not be available on mobile apps for now, passengers will be able to buy online tickets by visiting eticket. railway. gov. bd.
Cent per cent of the tickets for trains operating from March 21 to 25 have been sold manually from the counters.
A five-year agreement was signed with ‘Shohoz-Synesis-Vinsen JV’ on February 15 to operate the ticketing system of Bangladesh Railway. Earlier, CNS was involved in the work.
In order to re-activate the computer ticketing system by ‘Shohoz’ at 77 stations, it required five days.
Read: Train tickets go black market despite online ticketing system
Under the agreement, ‘Shohoz-Synesis-Vinsen JV’ will initially operate the existing CCSRTS system that will be replaced by BRITS in the next 18 months.
About 90,000 train tickets are issued daily while about 27 lakh monthly through computers. About 50 per cent of these tickets are being issued online or mobile apps.
AL appeals for global recognition of 1971 genocide
The ruling Awami League has again urged the international community to recognize the brutal massacres by Pakistani army on unarmed civilians in 1971 as 'genocide'.
The 'appeal for justice' was made in a post, shared from AL verified account on Facebook, accompanied by a video provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Read: Sampriti Bangladesh demands global recognition of 1971 genocide
"Bengalis wanted to be heard, to be recognised as equal to the West Pakistani rulers. Instead, they were killed mercilessly in their sleep," the post said.
"On 25th March, Yahya Khan's sidekick Tikka Khan mobilized death squads to initiate 'Operation Searchlight'. They killed 7000 Bengalis in a single night. From that day till the end of the Liberation War 1971, Pakistani soldiers raped more than 200,000 women and killed more than 3 million people," reads the post.
This massive genocide displaced 30-40 million Bengalis and more than 10 million people took refuge in India.
The Hamoodur Rahman Commission's report is the most critical piece of evidence of the 1971 Bangladesh Genocide.
Read: One-min blackout to mark Genocide Day tonight
This report found the Pakistani military deployed in East Pakistan guilty of widespread atrocities, serious acts of human rights violations, other abuses of power, it said.
"Then PM of Pakistan ZA Bhutto ordered to burn every copy of this report. These heinous crimes are yet to be universally recognised as genocide. Not recognising the events of 1971 as genocide will not just be severe injustice done to the memories of the victims of genocide, it will be an injustice done to history itself," the Facebook post reads.
Power Division hands over Independence Award to PM
The Independence Award won by the Power Division has been handed over to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her visionary leadership in reaching electricity to every house of the country in the Mujib Year.
The Power Division on Thursday was given the Independence Award-2022, the highest state honour, in recognition of its remarkable success to bring 100 per cent of the country under electricity coverage by increasing the daily power generation capacity to 25,512 MW.
Read:PM distributes Independence Award to 9 people, 2 organisations
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid received the award from the PM at the award-giving ceremony at the Prime Minister’s Office.
Later on Thursday, the state minister handed over the prestigious award (medal and certificate) to the prime minister, who is also in charge of the power, energy and mineral resources ministry, said PM’s Assistant Press Secretary MM Emrul Kayas on Friday.
The power sector officials said it was possible to bring the entire country under electricity coverage thanks to Hasina’s visionary leadership, policy and strategy. “She is the architect of this glorious achievement,” they said.
The prime minister earlier announced that every house of the country will be illuminated in the Mujib Year.
Read:Eleven chosen for Independence Award 2022
Since taking over the responsibility of the power ministry the PM has directly led the work to accomplish the goal of lighting up every house. So, she deserves this honour, they said.
PM’s Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Affairs Adviser Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, PM’s Principal Secretary Dr Ahmad Kaikaus and Power Division Secretary Md Habibur Rahman were present on the occasion.
3 die in Dhaka road crashes
Three people were killed in separate road crashes in the city on Friday, police said.
The deceased were identified as Farooque Mia, 56, an employee of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), Badal, 45, a truck driver, and Md Rafique, 24, a helper of a pickup van.
Read: 4 killed in Narshingdi road crash
The first accident occurred in the Rupnagar area around 3am when a Tongi-bound truck from Munshiganj collided with a lorry and a pickup van crashed into both the vehicles at high speed while overtaking, said local police officer-in-charge Arifur Rahman.
All the four occupants of the pickup van and the driver of the truck sustained serious injuries in the accident, he added.
Later, they were rushed to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), where truck driver Badal and the pickup van helper succumbed to their injuries. The three vehicles were seized, the OC added.
Meanwhile, DSCC sanitation worker Farooque died after being hit by a speeding bus belonging to ‘Swadesh Paribahan’ while sweeping the road adjacent to the south gate of Baitul Mukarram in the morning.
Read: Two die in Dinajpur road crash
"He was rushed to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital in a critical condition, and he died around 9am," said Mohsin Habib, a sub-inspector at Paltan police station.
The driver of the bus managed to escape leaving the vehicle behind, he added.
28-year-old govt staff stabbed to death in Bagerhat
A 28-year old government employee was stabbed to death by assailants in Mollahat upazila of Bagerhat on Thursday night, police said.
The deceased was identified as Nayeem Khan, an assistant at the upazila social services office and a resident of Gangni village in the upazila.
According to locals, Nayeem was playing ludo with three men at a shop near his house around 9pm when a woman called him on his mobile phone.
Read:Farmer, pregnant wife stabbed ‘by Jubo League leader’ in Narail
"He stepped out to take the video call, but soon we heard his screams. When we rushed to his rescue, we found him lying in a pool of blood near the shop," said one of the ludo players.
Nayeem was rushed to a local clinic first and later taken to Khulna Medical College and Hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival, said Somen Dash, officer-in-charge of Mollahat police station.
“Efforts are on to indentify and nab the killer," he added.