United News of Bangladesh

An assistant sub-inspector of police sustained injuries after unidentified miscreants hurled crude bombs near Pallabi Police Station in the capital on Wednesday night. The explosions occurred around 8:30pm in front of Sagufta Housing Gate adjacent to the police station, where two crude bombs went off in quick succession. A third device detonated moments later on the paved road in front of the station gate, police said. ASI (unarmed) Md Nur Islam, who was waiting at the gate at the time, was injured in the blasts, said Talebur Rahman, deputy commissioner of DMP (Media). He said the injured officer has been admitted to a local hospital for treatment. Quoting witnesses, police said the attackers threw the explosives from the nearby flyover to create panic among residents before fleeing the scene on a motorcycle. Talebur Rahman said the incidents appeared to be intended to spread fear and disrupt public order. He added that police have intensified operations to track down those responsible. Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) reiterated that efforts to maintain law and order in the city remain ongoing and urged residents to report any information about such criminal elements to the nearest police station or through the national emergency helpline 999.

The Appellate Division will deliver its judgment on Thursday on an appeal challenging its earlier verdict that abolished the caretaker government system for conducting national elections. A seven-member bench led by Chief Justice Dr Syed Refaat Ahmed is scheduled to announce the verdict. The appeal hearings were conducted by senior lawyer Zainul Abedin and Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kajal on behalf of the BNP Secretary General; Mohammad Shishir Monir on behalf of Jamaat; and senior lawyer Sharif Bhuiyan for five prominent citizens. Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman represented the state. Talking to reporters, lawyer Shishir Monir said holding the 13th parliament election under a caretaker government is not possible under constitutional provisions. “A caretaker government must be formed within 15 days of dissolving Parliament. Parliament was dissolved more than a year ago. We hope the 14th National Parliament election will be held under a caretaker government,” he said. Earlier, on August 27, the Appellate Division allowed the filing of an appeal against the verdict that abolished the caretaker government system. The hearing of the appeal to restore the caretaker government system began on October 21. The caretaker system was introduced into the Constitution through the 13th Amendment in 1996. Later, three lawyers, including Advocate M Salim Ullah, filed a writ petition challenging the amendment in 1998. The petition was dismissed in 2004, and the petitioners appealed in 2005. Acting on that appeal, a full bench of the Appellate Division delivered a verdict on May 10, 2011, declaring the 13th Amendment null and void. All criminal proceedings need to meet int'l fair trial standards, HRW says on Hasina verdict Following the verdict, the 15th Amendment Act, which abolished the caretaker government system along with several other changes, was passed in Parliament on June 30, 2011, with the gazette notification published on July 3 that year. After the change of government, five prominent individuals, including Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (SUJAN) Secretary Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar, filed an appeal on August 5 last year seeking a review of the verdict. The other petitioners were Tofail Ahmed, M Hafizuddin Khan, Zobairul Haq Bhuiyan and Zahra Rahman. Meanwhile, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir filed a review petition on October 16, followed by another from Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Prof Mia Golam Parwar on October 23.  

Home Affairs Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury on Wednesday (November 19) said there is no unrest in the country following the tribunal’s death sentence handed down to former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Talking to reporters at the Secretariat after an inter-ministerial security meeting held ahead of the Victory Day 2025 celebrations, the adviser reaffirmed that nothing unexpected had occurred in connection with the verdict. Read more: Hasina verdict: Security forces in tense standoff with group looking to storm Dhanmandi 32 Responding to questions about reports of unrest after the court’s decision and any potential threats ahead of Victory Day, Jahangir said no such incidents had taken place and there was no cause for concern regarding the upcoming national celebrations. He said the Victory Day events will proceed as scheduled and noted that there is no reason to anticipate any disturbance during the commemorations. Parade will not take place this year too, he said. Commenting on allegations that law enforcers picked up a journalist on Tuesday night, the adviser said he had only just been informed of the matter and would look into it. Read more: Home Adviser signals zero tolerance on unrest as election in February

Police recovered 10 firearms including foreign-made revolvers and pistols in nationwide raids conducted over the past 24 hours ending at 8am on Tuesday. In a statement issued on Tuesday afternoon, the Police Headquarters said law enforcement teams also seized around 30.5 kilograms of gunpowder, ammunition and several improvised explosive devices (crude bombs) during the drives. During the same period, a total of 1,649 persons were arrested on various charges, the statement added. Police said such drives will continue to curb illegal firearms, explosives and criminal activities nationwide.  

Detectives have arrested three suspected criminals with three foreign-made pistols, a large cache of ammunition and narcotics during a drive in Vangari Bari area on the west side of Shyampur railway line in Old Dhaka. The arrestees are Md Jahangir Alam Titu (36), Md Abdur Razzak Shanu (38) and Md Mamun (37). During the raid, members of the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan police (DMP) recovered three foreign pistols, three magazines, 60 rounds of ammunition, 800 pieces of yaba and 8.5 kg of cannabis, DB official Amir Khasru said at a media briefing at the DMP Media Centre in Minto Road on Monday.  During the briefing he said, the trio were ‘notorious criminals and drug dealers’ who used firearms to maintain control over local drug spots, which they referred to as wholesale hubs. They created a reign of terror in the area and used these weapons to run their narcotics trade and conduct criminal activities, he said. He added that investigators will examine whether the recovered firearms are among those looted from law enforcement during the August 5 uprising. The DB official further said that the suspects tortured associates who attempted to leave the illegal trade. “We have identified victims who faced physical and mental torture for refusing to cooperate,” he added.  

The Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) has arrested two members of an online-based Shisha (a kind of drug) supply ring and seized 18kg of Shisha during a special drive in the capital. According to DNC, acting on secret information about a network using Facebook and WhatsApp to distribute contraband Shisha across the country, a special team of the Dhaka Divisional Intelligence Unit conducted a covert operation on November 16. During the operation, DNC officials posed as buyers and contacted deliveryman Md Ashiqur Rahman Sami, 19. Smugglers flee as BGB swoops in, huge drugs haul seized in Lalmonirhat Sami arrived at the designated spot in Hatirjheel with a backpack containing Shisha jars, said Mostak Ahmed, Assistant Director (Public Relations), Department of Narcotics Control. 2kg of AL FAKHER Shisha was recovered from his bag, he said. During interrogation, Sami admitted to delivering Shisha in different parts of the capital and identified Md Abdul Alim Wasif, 28 as the key operator of the network, said Mostak Ahmed. Based on the information provided by Sami, the team raided “Innovate,” a store located at BTI Premium Plaza in Uttar Badda and detained Wasif. A search of the storeroom resulted in the recovery of 16kg of AL FAKHER shisha, three hookah sets, two pipes, ten packets of charcoal, an iPhone 13, and five WiFi CCTV cameras. Wasif confessed to running the online-based Shisha supply network and employing Sami as a deliveryman, the DNC said. The DNC said efforts are underway to identify other members of the ring based on information obtained from the arrestees.    

A Jubo Dal leader was shot dead by unidentified assailants in the capital’s Pallabi area on Monday evening. The victim was identified as Golam Kibria, member secretary of the Pallabi unit of Juba Dal. Mohammad Maksedur Rahman, deputy commissioner of Mirpur Division, said Kibria was sitting at Bikrampur Hardware and Sanitary shop in Section-12, Block-B, Road-05, Plot-171, under Pallabi Police Station when the attack occurred. Around 6:45 pm, three miscreants wearing helmets entered the shop and fired shots at him, leaving him critically injured, the police official added. Kibria was later taken to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. Locals managed to catch one of the attackers as they tried to flee the scene.  

Tension continued to grip the capital’s Dhanmondi-32 area on Monday as clashes between law enforcers and a group of youths persisted since noon. As of 5:30pm, sporadic chase-and-counter-chase incidents were still underway. The youths, who identified themselves as “July Fighters,” attempted to storm the Dhanmondi-32 residence of late president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led the country to independence, around 12:30pm using two bulldozers. The attempt came amid the verdict in a case against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina over alleged crimes against humanity during last year’s July Uprising. The group had started from the Dhaka College area at around 12pm, moving toward Dhanmondi-32 with the bulldozers and gathering on the eastern end of the road (towards Mirpur Road). When they tried to breach a police barricade around 1pm, police and army personnel jointly moved in to disperse them, forcing the group to retreat. Moments later, the activists regrouped at the Panthapath intersection and began throwing bricks at security forces, injuring two policemen. To bring the situation under control, police fired sound grenades to disperse the crowd. Meanwhile, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to death in a case filed over crimes against humanity committed during last year’s July-August mass uprising. The three-member tribunal, headed by Chairman Justice Md Golam Mortuza Majumder handed down the judgement. Besides, former Inspector General of Police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who testified as a state witness in the case, was sentenced to five years in prison.

Bangladesh Army in a drive recovered a homemade pistol several crude bombs from a train compartment at Airport Railway Station in the capital on Monday morning. During the drive, army members searched several compartments of  Dinajpur-bound Ekota Express train and recovered those from a sack of rice, said a press release of Uttara Army Camp on Monday. Four persons were detained for preliminary questioning and taken to Uttara Army Camp, officials said. Efforts to identify those involved in the attempted sabotage are underway.

The International Crimes Tribunal-1  (ICT-1) is reading out its verdict in a high-profile case against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and two others for crimes against humanity committed during last year’s July-August uprising. The three member tribunal led by Justice Md. Golam Mortuza Majumder started to read out the verdict at 12:30 pm. Law enforcement agencies have taken all necessary preparations to tackle any possible chaos centering the verdict. Two other accused in the case are former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan and former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun. Mamun testified as a state witness. Dhaka under security blanket as ICT set to deliver verdict in Hasina’s case today Security has been tightened across the country, particularly in and around the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Dhaka, ahead of verdict. Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has been deployed in Dhaka, Gopalganj, Faridpur and Madaripur districts to ensure overall security and maintain law and order. The prosecution has claimed all five charges against Hasina and other accused have been proven and sought the maximum punishment. Home Affairs Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury on Sunday said whatever verdict the tribunal delivers in case against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday (November 17) will be executed and people will accept it. Bangladesh Television (BTV) is broadcasting the verdict live. Read more: Relatives of July uprising martyrs gather at tribunal ahead of Hasina verdict