United News of Bangladesh

Dhaka Metropolitan North BNP Convener and Youth and Sports State Minister Aminul Haque on Friday warned that any attempt to create unrest centring the murder of schoolgirl Ramisa Akter would be dealt with firmly. He said BNP also wants the highest punishment, including the death penalty, for the killers, but stressed that justice must be ensured through legal procedures. Students, parents demand justice for Ramisa, safe childhood  He made the remarks while presiding over a joint meeting held at the Dhaka Metropolitan North BNP office in Pallabi in the capital in the morning. Referring to the killing of second-grade student Ramisa Akter in Pallabi, Aminul said no group should be allowed to exploit the incident to create an unstable situation. “We want exemplary punishment and capital punishment for those involved in the Ramisa murder. The people of the country also want that. But a group is trying to create disorder in different places by inciting people over the incident. Their objective is not justice, but creating instability,” he said. He alleged that a vested quarter is trying to heat up the situation through propaganda, falsehoods and provocative slogans. At the same time, he urged party leaders and activists to remain cautious about Jamaat. “You have carried out movements and struggles against autocracy for the last 17 years. Now everyone must remain alert about Jamaat. They are secretly organising and trying to spread confusion and harm among people,” he said. Aminul said BNP believes in freedom of speech and democratic expression. “But if anyone tries to take advantage of that freedom to create disorder or engage in wrongdoing, strict action must be taken against them. There is no scope to spare anyone,” he said. Addressing party activists, he said, “Wherever there is any attempt to create unrest, strong resistance must be built there. Wrongdoers should not be patronised, no matter which party they belong to.” Calling on party members to remain united despite internal differences, Aminul said differences of opinion may exist within the party, but all leaders and activists are ultimately followers of BNP’s ideals. “If any colleague comes under attack, everyone must stand beside him in a united manner,” he said. Earlier in the morning, Aminul distributed wheelchairs among physically challenged and disabled people of Pallabi and Rupnagar police station areas.

Two leaders of the Barishal University unit of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), ruling party BNP's student front, have been expelled from their organisational posts over allegations of involvement in extortion from fish transport vehicles. The expelled leaders are vice-presidents of the university unit, Mia Babul and Md Mithu. The information was confirmed in a press release signed by JCD central office secretary Jahangir Alam on Thursday afternoon. According to the statement, the decision was taken by the central committee of Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal based on specific allegations of violating organisational discipline. The release said JCD President Rakibul Islam Rakib and General Secretary Nasir Uddin Nasir approved the decision and instructed leaders and activists at all levels to refrain from maintaining any organisational relations with the expelled leaders. Earlier on May 19, leaders and activists of the university unit allegedly stopped vehicles carrying fish fry on the Dhaka-Kuakata highway and extorted around Tk 1 lakh from the drivers. They were also accused of vandalising another vehicle and assaulting its driver after failing to collect extortion money. Besides the two expelled leaders, allegations were also brought against several others, including vice-president Akib, joint general secretary Md Ibrahim Hossain Swajan, Imran Mahmud, Shakhawat, assistant organisational secretary Haidar Munshi and Shahriar. The expulsion order came a day after the JCD central committee summoned the president and general secretary of the Barishal University unit to Dhaka over the incident.

Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) on Thursday has withdrawn the organisational suspension imposed on Sheikh Tanvir Bari Hamim, convener of Kabi Jasim Uddin Hall unit Chhatra Dal under Dhaka University unit, restoring him to his post after around two and a half months. The decision was announced in a notice signed by Md Jahangir Alam, office secretary of the Chhatra Dal central committee with the status of vice-president. According to the notice, the decision was taken in line with a resolution of the Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal central committee. “The organisational suspension imposed on Sheikh Tanvir Bari Hamim, convener of Kabi Jasim Uddin Hall unit Chhatra Dal under Dhaka University unit, has been withdrawn. As a result, there are no longer any restrictions on carrying out his organisational activities,” the notice said. The notice also said the decision was approved by Chhatra Dal Central President Rakibul Islam Rakib and General Secretary Nasir Uddin Nasir. Earlier, on February 27 this year, the Chhatra Dal central committee had served a show-cause notice on Hamim. Later, on March 4, he was temporarily relieved from his post after the organisation said it did not receive a satisfactory response from him.

Economists and policy analysts on Thursday called for a fundamental departure from the routine budget-making process, urging the government to craft a genuinely people-oriented budget backed by comprehensive tax reforms, digitised revenue collection anda faceless tax administration system. They made the call at a discussion titled "Bangladesh's Budget Amid Global Uncertainty: Priorities in Employment, Investment and Reform, and an Equitable, Prosperous Bangladesh" organised by the National Citizen Party's (NCP) Shadow Budget Committee at Kakrail, Dhaka. Opening the event, NCP Member Secretary Akhter Hossen criticised the budgets of the previous Awami League era as little more than paper documents serving a corporate clique that siphoned public money abroad. "Our expectation from the government is simple, this budgetmust not be a looters' budget. It must be for ordinary people." He noted that while education, health and marginalised communities are mentioned every year as budget priorities, the final document invariably mirrors the preceding year's allocations with cosmetic changes. NCP Shadow Budget Committee Chief Atik Mujahid said the committee consulted workers in Ashulia, small traders at Kawran Bazar and Chittagong's Khatun Bazar, SME owners, university students and government officials before formulating its recommendations. "People don't want charity from the government, they want fairness," he said. "They want a tax system they can trust, assurance that their investments are protected, and accountability in how public money is spent." Former Chairman, Sonali Bank PLC Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury warned of serious structural problems in financing the upcoming budget, pointing to the country's chronically low tax-to-GDP ratio. "If the government borrows from the domestic market, private sector borrowing costs will rise and investment will suffer. Printing money is not an option either, given persistently high inflation." He recommended consolidating over 100 social safety net programmes across 20 ministries under a single digital umbrella, which he said could reduce administrative costs and expand beneficiary coverage by 30 to 40 percent. He also called for closure or liquidation of insolvent banks and a fully faceless, digital tax collection system. Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Additional Research Director Towfiqul Islam Khan flagged a troubling fiscal reality: in FY2023-24, the government's current expenditure exceeded total revenue by Tk 40,000 crore, forcing a 25 percent cut in development spending in critical sectors like health and education. Private sector credit growth has since fallen to just 4 percent. He pointed out that despite legal requirements under the Public Finance and Budget Management Act 2009, including quarterly budget progress reports and submission of revised budgets by March, successive governments have routinely flouted these provisions. "Quarterly progress reports have disappeared from the website altogether. That is a transparency failure." To plug tax evasion, he proposed linking National ID cards with bank accounts, land registration and vehicle registration data within an integrated digital tax framework, and called for separating NBR's policy and collection functions to eliminate conflicts of interest. Development economist Dr Khan Zahirul Islam of the University of British Columbia, Canada, described the banking sector, the lifeline of any economy, as effectively "destroyed." He cited non-performing loans worth Tk 6.30 lakh crore against a proposed annual budget of Tk 9.30 lakh crore. "Had this money not been looted, imagine where our budget implementation would stand." he said, adding that the S Alam Group alone is alleged to have laundered Tk1.90 lakh crore, equivalent to the entire Annual Development Programme allocation. Zahirul also questioned the government's recent amendment to the Bank Resolution Act, which he said reopens the door for former owners implicated in banking irregularities to reclaim control of their institutions. NCP Chief Coordinator Nasiruddin Patwary, who chaired the session, stressed that without meaningful tax reform, public trust in the state would erode irreversibly. "The poor pay taxes while the wealthy loot the system," he said, warning that any further delay in NBR reform would deepen the disconnect between citizens and the state. The session was moderated by NCP Dhaka Metropolitan North Member Secretary (Acting) Sadia Farzana Dina.  

Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin on Thursday said the Election Commission (EC) wants to conduct ‘bloodshed-free’ local government elections in a fair manner and urged all stakeholders to work together to build national unity in this regard. “We want a bloodshed-free local government election and will conduct it in a nice manner,” he said while addressing an event organised by the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) in a hotel in the city. The CEC called upon all the stakeholders to make efforts for making the nation united in this regard. He said the EC would launch a full-scale awareness campaign with the cooperation from development partners and would hold discussion with stakeholders. “We want to mobilise all and make them united so that we can give a fair local government election avoiding such conflicts (violence),” said Nasir Uddin. About the vote counting process during the February-12 general election, he said the election results of every constituency, even every polling station-wise result are still in the EC’s website and anyone can examine if there is discrepancy in the polls results. “You can see whether there is any discrepancy in the polling station-wise results,” said Nasir Uddin. According to the EC, preparations are underway to hold elections to 4,581 Union Parishads, 61 Zila Parishads, 495 Upazila Parishads, 330 municipalities, and 13 city corporations. As part of the preparation, the EC is now updating the electoral code of conduct in line with laws about city corporations, municipalities, zila parishads, upazila parishads and union parishads. The EC would conduct the elections to the local government bodies on request from the Local Government Division. State Minister for LGRD Mir Shahe Alam has recently said the phased local government elections are likely to start after the monsoon season, beginning in September or October this year.

BNP Secretary General and Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Thursday said only laws or government initiatives are not enough to prevent incidents of rape, child abuse and killings, stressing the need for a strong national social movement. He made the remarks in a post shared on his personal Facebook profile in the morning. Fakhrul said families, schools, madrasahs, teachers, religious leaders, media, social organisations and every citizen must come forward to address the issue. “We must teach our children respect, humanity, responsibility and the dignity of women. Ensuring the safety of our children means securing the future of Bangladesh,” he said. The BNP leader said incidents of rape, child abuse and killings are not isolated events, but alarming reflections of long-standing moral degradation, social irresponsibility and the rapid decline of human values over the years. “We are committed to continuing all-out efforts against these inhuman crimes and, to building a safe Bangladesh where our children can grow up without fear,” he said. Fakhrul urged everyone to join together in what he described as a collective struggle for change.

BNP Vice Chairman Shamsuzzaman Dudu on Thursday alleged that Jamaat-e-Islami is behind most of the wrongdoings now taking place in different sectors in Bangladesh. “If I mention the name, everyone will recognise them. They can never stay with the trust and confidence of people. They have no significant public support, let alone any possibility of forming a government. They use Islam and at the same time act against Islam. In politics, they have nothing except lies. That group is Jamaat-e-Islami,” he said. He made the remarks while addressing a discussion organised at the Jatiya Press Club marking the 18th founding anniversary of the Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Pharmacy Association (BNPA). Dudu said there is a group that “cannot think beyond falsehood.” Referring to the recent measles outbreak, Dudu said many children have already died from the disease. “We learned through newspapers that UNICEF had warned the then government five times in writing. But that government ignored the issue. This measles situation is one of the many failures of the Awami League era,” he said. “The failures of the Awami League and the interim government are now falling on BNP’s shoulders,” he added. Dudu said BNP has already taken many steps to address the issue. “Still, a disease that we had once eliminated has re-emerged because of failures. The government should address the matter very seriously and on an emergency basis. Pharmacists also have a very important and service-oriented role in this regard,” he said. Referring to the Liberation War, Dudu said the people of Bangladesh understood in 1971 what was necessary for independence. “Even farmers, workers and ordinary people understood that Pakistan would not survive and that liberation was inevitable. But one group desperately tried to save Pakistan. The force that committed the highest number of killings and atrocities against women and freedom fighters was Jamaat-e-Islami,” he alleged. He said Jamaat had historically failed to take the correct political position and sided with Pakistan during the Liberation War instead of supporting Bangladesh. “When they try to speak about the welfare of the country wearing a mask they actually try to hide their true character. We have to remain alert,” he said. Dudu also alleged that certain groups are creating divisions among people through social media and propaganda. He said some groups earlier dominated educational institutions and benefited from political appointments in universities. He urged party leaders and activists to remain cautious and strengthen the hands of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.

Dhaka South City BNP on Thursday conducted a leaflet distribution and public outreach campaign at Motijheel against what the party described as propaganda by vested interests about the July National Charter and referendum, and in support of the positive steps taken by the BNP government. The programme was organised in the morning around the Bangladesh Bank headquarters under the initiative of ward No. 8 unit of BNP under Dhaka South City Corporation. Dhaka South City BNP Convener and MP from Feni-1 constituency Rafiqul Alam Majnu, Senior Joint Convener Harunur Rashid Harun, Motijheel Thana BNP Convener Alamgir Hossain, Member Secretary Zahid Hossain and Joint Convener Ismail Hossain were present. During the campaign, the BNP leaders distributed leaflets among people on important roads, alleys, business establishments and general public. They also explained in detail the objectives of the July Charter, the necessity of the referendum, BNP’s role in restoring democracy and various activities undertaken by the party to establish people’s rights. The leaders alleged that a quarter has been deliberately trying to create confusion among people regarding the July Charter and referendum. They said BNP has always practised politics based on the hopes and aspirations of the people and has consistently played an uncompromising role in establishing democracy, voting rights and human rights in the country. During the outreach programme, BNP leaders also highlighted what they described as the achievements of BNP governments in infrastructure development, education, healthcare, communication, agriculture and the economy, saying those developments are still remembered by the people. They said BNP had worked sincerely in the past to improve people’s living standards, create employment opportunities, establish the rule of law and build a democratic and accountable state system, and will continue to stand beside the people in the future as well. They urged people not to be misled by propaganda and rumours, and to remain united in the interest of the country.

Local Government, Rural Development, and Co-operatives Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday said the people of Bangladesh do not want to see Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami in power, claiming that public sentiment remains firmly against the party. “Jamaat-e-Islami opposed the independence, killed freedom fighters, and dishonoured mothers and sisters. That is why people of this country do not want them in power and will never bring them to power,” he said. Fakhrul, also BNP Secretary General, made the remarks while addressing a reception after inspecting progress of work to reopen the abandoned Thakurgaon Airport. He said the BNP is not against reforms and has played an important role in the implementation of the “July Charter.”

Leader of the Opposition in Parliament and Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Dr Shafiqur Rahman will leave Dhaka for Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to perform the holy Hajj. The information was confirmed by Jamaat’s Senior Assistant Secretary of the Central Publicity Department Mujibul Alam. He said the Jamaat chief is scheduled to return to the country on June 1 after completing the Hajj pilgrimage.