Dhaka, May 21 (UNB) – BNP senior leader Moudud Ahmed on Tuesday said they will soon move the Supreme Court challenging the government’s decision of setting up a makeshift court in Keraniganj Central Jail to hold the trial of various cases filed against its Chairperson Khaleda Zia.

“We visited Keraniganj Jail yesterday (Monday) and found no atmosphere and necessary facilities there to run the court and ensure justice,” he said.

Speaking at a human-chain programme, he further said, “We think, setting up such a court is contrary to the constitution. The constitutional right of a citizen to have justice will be violated through it. We’ll very soon challenge at the Supreme Court the legality of setting up a court in Keraniganj Jail.”

Bangladesh Sammilita Peshajibi Parishad arranged the programme in front of the Jatiya Press Club demanding the release of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia.

On May 13, the government announced that the trial proceedings of 17 cases filed against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia will be held at a special court set up in Keraniganj Central Jail in Dhaka.

Khaleda was sent to Old Dhaka Central Jail after she had been convicted in Zia Orphanage Trust Graft case on February 8, 2018. She has been receiving treatment at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) for various health complications since April 1 last.

Moudud, a BNP standing committee member, said the government has started hatching a new plot to shift ailing Khaleda Zia to Keraniganj Jail from BSMMU.

He said their chairperson has become very sick as she was kept in a solitary and abandoned jail for a long time. “We blame the government for her illness and deteriorating health condition. The country’s people also think the government is responsible for it.”

The BNP leader said they are taking all the necessary legal steps to free Khaleda from jail. “But we can’t succeed due to the government’s evil design. Even after that we’ll continue the legal process.”

Moudud urged BNP leaders and activists to get ready for taking to the streets as he thinks it will not be possible to have Khaleda freed from jail without a movement. “We’ll carry out our fight both at the court and on the streets.”

Nagorik Oikya Convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna, Gonoshasthya Kendra founder Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury, BNP vice chairmen Khandaker Mahbub Hossain and AZM Zahid Hossain, among others, addressed the programme.

Dhaka, May 20 (UNB) – The Library Committee of 11th Parliament on Monday recommended that the Jatiya Sangsad library be improved further to attract members of parliament.

The parliamentary body came up with the recommendation at its maiden meeting held with its Chairman Deputy Speaker Md Fazle Rabbi Miah in the chair.

The committee suggested improvement of the quality of the bulletin published from the parliament library.

It also recommended providing two copies of the bulletin to different important institutions like university libraries, the National Library and the Jatiya Press Club library each.

Committee members Abdul Mannan, Waresat Hussain Belal, Md Sanowar Hossain, Tanveer Imam and Md Shafiqur Rahman attended the meeting.

Dhaka, May 20 (UNB) – BNP assistant international affairs secretary barrister Rumeen Farhana is going to be elected MP from a seat reserved for women in parliament.

BNP got one reserved seat for women in proportionate to its five elected parliament members.

Rumeen, also daughter of late Language Movement hero Oli Ahad, submitted her nomination form to the Election Commission on Monday.

Talking to UNB, Rumeen said she submitted her nomination form to returning officer Abul Kashem around 1:15pm as her party picked her as a lone candidate for the election to the seat.

Once she takes oath as an MP, Rumeen said, she will place in parliament the demand for the release of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia.

Expressing her gratitude to the party for nominating her for the seat, Rumeen said she will perform her duty as an opposition MP with sincerity and honesty.

As per the election schedule announced by the EC on May 8, today (Monday) is the last day for BNP to field its candidate in the reserved seat for women.

The election is scheduled to be held on June 16 while the date for scrutinising nomination papers is May 21 and the withdrawal of candidature is May 28.

As BNP nominated only one candidate, Rumeen will be declared elected just after the expiry of the deadline for the withdrawal of candidature, said EC officials.

The 50 seats reserved exclusively for women in parliament are distributed among political parties in proportionate to their number of seats in parliament.

Since five BNP MPs-elect took oath at the last moment of the stipulated time, the EC is arranging the election to the seat the party got.

The EC earlier completed the polls to the remaining 49 reserved seats.

Among the reserved seats, 43 women MPs were elected from ruling Awami League, four from the main opposition Jatiya Party, one from Workers’ Party and one independent.

Dhaka, May 19 (UNB) – BNP on Sunday bemoaned that no university of Bangladesh, including Dhaka University (DU), could grab any position in the Asia University Rankings-2019 by Times Higher Education due to their outdated curricula and lack of quality teachers.

“This is unfortunate that no Bangladeshi university, including the Dhaka University, could make their way into the list of 417 top universities of Asia. Even, the Dhaka University, known as the Oxford of the East, is not there in the global ranking of 1,000 universities,” said BNP senior leader Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan.

He came up with the remarks at a press conference at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office.

The London-based Times Higher Education (THE) recently published the names of top 417 Asian universities.

Dr Moyeen said the Dhaka University has failed to have any place on the list due to its very poor performance in key indicators like teaching, knowledge transfer, research and international outlook.

He said the courses and curricula of many departments at the university have not been updated in line with the renowned global universities as the textbooks of unknown publishers of India and or underdeveloped countries are picked in many cases in its classrooms.

Mentioning that hiring quality teachers is necessary for ensuring the standard of education, the BNP leader said political influence has unfortunately taken a serious turn in appointing teachers to the Dhaka University.

He alleged that activists of the ruling party’s student body are made its teachers without assessing their merits just to maintain their influence on teachers’ politics.

Dr Moyeen said the teaching method of a university should be different from that of a college. “But one-sided lecture-based education method--the way children are taught from textbooks in schools-- is followed at the Dhaka University.”

He said modern education method what prominent universities follow could not be introduced at the Dhaka University due to poor leadership in the country’s education system.

The BNP leader also said inadequate research, caused by lack of funds, has also taken its toll on the university.

He, however, questioned whether it is possible to conduct quality research by the teachers appointed on political consideration.

Dr Moyeen also mentioned that the Dhaka University’s education and research-exchange programmes are also outdated ones.

He said the university should develop relations with well-known universities of the developed world for exchange of education by improving its own quality.

The BNP leader also lamented that hardly any foreign student now comes to Bangladesh for studying at the Dhaka University as its global image has got tarnished.

Dhaka, May 19 (UNB) – BNP on Sunday announced a two-day programme demanding that the government ensure fair prices of paddy and clear all the arrears of jute mill workers.

As part of the programmes, the party will submit memorandums to deputy commissioners across the country on May 21 while its leaders and activists will form human chains at all the union-level haat-bazaars on May 23 to press for their demands.

BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi announced the programmes at a press conference at the party’s Nayapaltan central office.

He criticised Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque for ruling out the possibility of raising the government's food grain procurement prices despite the serious resentment among the farmers over the falling paddy prices.

The BNP leader alleged that the government is depriving farmers of fair prices of their produces only to create a scope for ruling party men to make money.

He said the farmers are setting fire to their own paddy fields at different parts of the country, including Tangail, Joypurhat and Netrokona, as they have been counting a loss of Tk 300 per maund due to the price fall.

Rizvi said though the loan defaulters are getting huge debt waivers and thousands of crores of taka are being plundered in the name of mega projects, the government is depriving the farmers of the fair prices of their crops, let alone giving them subsidy.  

The BNP leader said the government fixed the procurement rate of per maund paddy at Tk 1,040, but the farmers are being forced to sell the harvest to middlemen at Tk 450 to Tk 500 per maund. “Local Awami league leaders, mill owners and officials concerned are pocketing the rest of the money, depriving farmers.”

He urged the government to procure paddy directly from farmers instead of mill owners.

About the ongoing movement of workers of the 22 state-run jute mills, he said the workers’ all the demands, including clearing their all arrears and implementing their new pay scale, are justified ones.

He urged the government to immediately accept the demands of the jute mill workers.