bangladesh
Looking back at Zahir Raihan, the legend
Thursday marks the 86th birth anniversary of the legendary filmmaker and freedom fighter Zahir Raihan, best remembered for capturing the 1971 Liberation War on celluloid.
Born as Mohammad Zahirullah on August 19, 1935, in Majupur village of the then Feni mahakuma in Noakhali district, Raihan initially studied at Calcutta Alia Madrasah in India, where his father was a professor.
After the Partition of India in 1947, his family moved back to his ancestral village in Feni. Three years later, he successfully completed matriculation from Amirabad High School. And that year only, he started working as a journalist for Juger Alo.
Read:Remembering Zahir Raihan
Although he joined medical college after completing his intermediate examination from Dhaka College in 1953, Raihan eventually dropped out. However, he later obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Bangla from Dhaka University in 1958.
After Juger Alo, he had worked with many other newspapers, namely Khapchhara, Jantrik, and Cinema. He also served as the editor of Probaho in 1956. His first collection of short stories ‘Suryagrahan’ was published in 1955. He was also one of the publishers of English Weekly Express.
Raihan went back to Calcutta (now Kolkata) and joined Pramatesh Burua Memorial Photography School in 1952 to learn photography. His career in the film industry began with the film ‘Jago Huye Savera’ in 1957, where he worked as an assistant director.
As the assistant director, he had also worked with director Salahuddin in the film ‘Je Nodi Morupothay’ and Ehtesham in ‘Ei Desh Tomar Amar’. His first directorial venture ‘Kokhono Asheni’ was released in 1961.
After that, Raihan successfully launched two of his revolutionary attempts as a director in 1964 by making the movie ‘Sangam’, Pakistan’s first-ever coloured film, and ‘Bahana’, Pakistan’s first cinemascope Urdu film.
He was gradually becoming more and more successful during that time as a director with back-to-back hits such as ‘Sonar Kajol’ (1962, jointly directed with Kolim Sharafi), ‘Kancher Deyal’ (1963), ‘Behula’ (1966), ‘Anowara’ (1966) and ‘Agun Niye Khela’ (1967).
Read:Remembering natyacharya Selim Al Deen
Through his movies, he had launched several prominent artistes, most notably Nayak Raj Razzak and Babita, and worked frequently with prominent actor-directors Amzad Hossain and Khan Ataur Rahman.
As the nation's political situation was getting chaotic more than ever during the time, Raihan was continuously feeling the zeal to break every shackle imposed by then Pakistani rulers. He actively participated in the 1952 Language Movement and 1969’s Mass Uprising.
At that time, Raihan felt the urgency of making a film based on both of these remarkable movements, and thus made his legendary film ‘Jeebon Theke Neya’ in 1970, considered an example of ‘National Cinema’, using discrete local traditions to build a representation of the Bangladeshi national identity. The classic is considered a milestone in Bangladeshi cinema.
During the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh, Raihan began creating English documentary films on the subject, including ‘Let There Be Light’, which he could not finish because of the break out of the war. After the historic 25th March of 1971, he went to Calcutta and made his acclaimed documentary ‘Stop Genocide’, highlighting the massacre orchestrated by the Pakistani Army.
There he also showed his film ‘Jeebon Theke Neya’, which was highly acclaimed by legendary filmmakers, including Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen and Tapan Sinha. Despite his financial hardships at the time, he donated all the proceeds from the Calcutta event to the Freedom Fighters Trust.
In his short-spanned career as a writer, Raihan was successful in narrating some of the most prolific and true-to-life stories ever published in Bangladeshi literature, through his books -- Shesh Bikeler Meye, Arek Phalgun, Trishna, Borof Gola Nodi and most notably, Hajar Bochhor Dhore.
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Raihan had been married twice, to Sumita Devi in 1961 and Shuchonda in 1968, both popular film actresses. With Sumita, he had two sons named Bipul Raihan and Anol Raihan. With Shuchonda, he also had two sons named Opu Raihan and Topu Raihan.
On January 30, 1972, Raihan went missing while attempting to locate his brother, Shahidullah Kaiser, a well-known writer who was abducted and killed by the Pakistani Army and its local collaborators. Raihan is believed to have been killed by armed Bihari collaborators and the Pakistani Army hiding who had opened fire on them while they were travelling towards Mirpur in Dhaka.
For his excellence in filmmaking as a valiant patriot, Raihan was posthumously awarded Bangla Academy Literary Award (1972), Ekushey Padak (1977), Independence Day Award (1992) and Bangladesh National Film Awards (2005).
Global Covid cases top 209 million
The global Covid-19 caseload has now surged past 209 million as the highly contagious Delta variant continues to devastate several countries even with mass inoculations underway.
The total caseload and fatalities stand at 209,222,017 and 4,392,130 respectively, as of Thursday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
So far, 4,787,668, 861 vaccine doses have been administered across the globe.
Read:'India likely to have Covid shot for children by September'
More than 4.4 million Covid cases and 66,000 deaths were reported worldwide in the past week, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced Wednesday.
The number of new infections in seven days surpassed last week's number by 2%, while the mortality rate was roughly flat, the UN agency added.
A total of 4,444,632 people were infected with Covid-19 across the world and 66,506 patients died from August 9 to 15.
As of August 18, some 208,833,116 coronavirus cases had been recorded in nearly 200 countries. Since the start of the pandemic, the Covid-19 death toll has reached 4,386,814.
So far, the US, India and Brazil have seen the highest number of confirmed cases and fatalities.
The US, which is the world's worst-hit country in terms of both cases and deaths, has so far logged 37,148,877 Covid cases. Besides, 624,209 people have lost their lives in the US to date, as per the JHU data.
Read:Over 4.4 million Covid cases reported worldwide in one week
Brazil currently has the world's second-highest pandemic death toll after the United States, and the third-largest caseload after the United States and India.
The country has recorded 20,457,897 cases with 571,662 fatalities so far, according to the health ministry.
The third worst-hit country, India's Covid-19 tally rose to 32,285,857 on Wednesday, as 35,178 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, according to the federal health ministry.
Besides, as many as 440 deaths due to the pandemic since Monday morning took the total death toll to 432,519.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh reported 172 more coronavirus-related deaths and 7,248 fresh infections in 24 hours till Wednesday morning as concerns remain over the virulent Delta variant of the virus.
The country has been seeing fatalities below 200 for the last six days, a slight improvement from the July 25-August 13 period when daily deaths were recorded over 200.
Read: Bangladesh reports 172 more Covid deaths, 7,248 fresh cases
The fresh numbers took the country’s total fatalities to 24,719 and the cases to 1,440,644, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS)
The new cases were detected after testing 41,014 samples, which lowered the case positivity rate to 17.67 % from Tuesday’s 19.18%, still much higher than the WHO recommendation of bringing it below 5%.
Meanwhile, the case fatality rate has increased to 1.72% after staying unchanged at 1.71% for some days.
Dhaka-Narayanganj rail services to resume after 2 months
The railway services on Dhaka-Narayanganj route, suspended almost 2 months ago, will resume from Thursday, railway officials said.
Railway workers have been busy repairing the Dhaka-Narayanganj railway line in Isdair Bazar area since last Tuesday.
Demu (Diesel-Electric Multiple Unit) trains were seen running without passengers on this route several times on Wednesday.
Narayanganj station master Kamrul Islam Khan said the train service on the Dhaka-Narayanganj route will resume from Thursday.
“Instead of 16 pairs of trains, 10 pairs including 4 pairs in the morning and 4 pairs in the afternoon would carry passengers.”
Preparations have been made accordingly. To see whether the path was navigable the trial was being given by Demu train, he added.
Passengers could reach Dhaka from Narayanganj and from Narayanganj to Dhaka in 45 minutes with a fare of only Tk 15. Whereas it takes almost one hours and Tk 36 when travelling by bus.
This made the railway service popular on this route.
The service on this route has been closed since June 22 due to the increasing Covid-19 infection rate.
Munia's death: Court accepts IO's final report clearing Bashundhara Group MD
A Dhaka court on Wednesday relieved Bashundhara Group Managing Director (MD) Sayem Sobhan Anvir from the charge of incitement to suicide of college student Mosarat Jahan Munia.Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Rajesh Chowdhury released him after receiving a final report from the police.
Sub-Inspector Alamgir Hossain, General Registration Officer of Gulshan Police Station, confirmed the release order to UNB correspondent.
Read: Munia’s sister files no-confidence petition against final investigation report
Although the plaintiff submitted a no-confidence motion against the police report the day before, it failed to sway the court's decision.Earlier on July 19, the investigating officer of the case, Gulshan Police Station officer-in-charge Abul Hasan, submitted a final report to the court seeking Anvir's release.Bashundhara MD Sayem Sobhan Anvir was not found culpable in the suicide incitement case of Munia in the final report submitted by the investigating officer, and asked for his name to be dropped.
This has been established without even taking the accused for questioning.
Munia was the married Anvir's lover, who was covering the cost of accommodating her in her posh Gulshan apartment, where he regularly visited her.
Police recovered the hanging body of Munia from the flat in Gulshan on the night of April 26. Munia's elder sister Nusrat Jahan Tania filed a case against Bashundhara Group MD Sayem Sobhan Anvir that night alleging incitement to suicide.
Read:Munia’s Death: Sister files GD after receiving death threat
There are apprehensions that that is the point at which the entire case outcome was effectively hatched. Incitement to suicide is almost impossible to prove beyond a shadow of doubt, and also easily bailable.
Police have hardly explored any other possibility - most glaringly, whether she was murdered. The entire conclusion would seem to hinge on having found Munia's body hanging by a scarf from her room's ceiling fan. Photos of the scene were leaked, and showed the dead girl's legs almost slumped and touching her bed.
There was no suicide note or even any suggestion that she wanted to kill herself, in conversations with her sister or anybody else. Rather, she was looking forward to her sister's arrival.
There had been a falling out with Anvir over the previous few days, and she would be heading back to Cumilla. This was not the first time - it had happened last year as well, when she left an apartment rented by her and Anvir in Banani, going back to Cumilla. No suicide attempt, just in case there was any history there. None.
It was only in March that Anvir had showed up in Cumilla and brought her back. But now things had gone awry again. In fact that is why her sister and cousins were coming to Dhaka anyway that day, April 26, to take her back home.
Read:Munia’s death: HC refuses to hear Bashundhara MD’s anticipatory bail plea
That morning though, Munia began to call her sister Nusrat early in the morning in a distressed state. The first call Nusrat received was around 9-9.30am. Munia was insisting that she (the sister) come earlier than planned, and that she faced some grave danger. Not that she felt like killing herself.
The two sisters spoke a few more times. It was mostly Munia enquiring if they had set off yet for Dhaka from Cumilla, trying to hurry them. The last time they spoke was around 11.30am. Nusrat arrived at the house around 3.30pm.
In those 4 hours, Munia for some reason had decided to kill herself, and gone through with it as well.
BenarNews wins Murrow Award for Covid-reporting on Bangladesh
Radio Free Asia (RFA) online affiliate BenarNews was named a National Murrow Award winner Tuesday by the Radio Television Digital News Association for its incisive journalism on the impact of Covid-19 in Bangladesh.
This year, RFA joins NPR, ABC News, and CBS News Radio among others, as winners of the 2021 National Murrow Awards.
BenarNews' "Bangladeshi volunteers help bury abandoned Covid dead" won in the international juried competition's category for the small digital news organisation.
READ: Covid in Bangladesh: Seniors far more likely to face the worst
For millions with little or no access to uncensored local news, RFA-affiliate BenarNews is a crucial conduit for reliable, timely information, said RFA President Bay Fang. "This award is a testament to the vital role of responsible journalism, especially for those around the globe struggling through the nightmare scenario of a deadly pandemic."
"BenarNews Bengali has done outstanding work highlighting the heroism of regular people during a crisis. Their compassion and their courage amid the pandemic's uncertainty are front and centre in this report, for which our journalists deserve full credit," said BenarNews Managing Editor Kate Beddall.
BenarNews' video was filmed in June 2020, shortly after the Bangladesh government reopened the economy and mosques after a two-month nationwide lockdown.
While putting their own lives at risk, volunteers transported hundreds of bodies to burial sites, sometimes travelling hundreds of miles to ancestral homes to honour the deceased.
BenarNews used Skype interviews and amateur footage to provide intimate coverage of people on the front lines of the pandemic. It provided a platform for them to tell their own stories, too, inviting them to submit their video while coaching them on respecting the privacy of people around them.
At the time, Bangladesh had nearly 100,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and over 1,200 confirmed deaths. Today those numbers exceed 1.4 million and 24,000.
READ: Over 2.5 lakh recover from Covid in Bangladesh
BenarNews provides audiences in Southeast and South Asia with credible news, in context and clearly explained, about security, politics, geopolitics and human rights.
With home pages in Bengali, Thai, Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Indonesia and English, BenarNews focuses on the big picture, cross-border issues, and topics that are censored or overlooked.
People don’t believe propaganda against Zia: Fakhrul
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday said people do not believe the ruling party’s ‘false’ campaign that Ziaur Rahman was involved in the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.“The current Awami League government is a puppet one and it has got isolated from people…no one believes false campaigns against Ziaur Rahman as he has been there in the hearts of the country’s people,” he said.
Speaking at a virtual discussion, the BNP leader said the government has been trying to mislead people and the new generation to perpetuate its power by resorting to lies.Fakhrul alleged that the ruling party leaders have been carrying out various ‘false’ campaigns to establish a ‘distorted’ history of the Liberation War. “So, we must uphold people’s right to know the truth and the culture of practicing true history in the interests of the entire nation and the future generations.”He said Law Minister Anisul Huq’s comment involving Ziaur Rahman in the assassination of Bangabandhu is false, baseless, and politically motivated.
READ: Bid to implicate Zia in Bangabandhu killing a political vengeance: Fakhrul
The BNP leader said the law minister has put the verdict of Bangabandhu murder case under a question through his that remark.He said the trial of the murder case was completed after a long investigation and examination of the documents and witnesses with utmost sincerity.He questioned as to why the law minister is trying to create a fresh controversy over the murder of Bangabandhu which is a ‘past and closed chapter’ with the completion of the trial.BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said Awami League is distorting the history to confuse people and the new generation by hiding the fact.
He said Awami League leaders themselves created the ground for the August 15, 1975 incident and they were involved in it. “They’re now trying to shift the blame for the incident onto others to protect their political existence. I would like to say they must be accountable to people for distorting the history.”BNP Vice-Chairman Major (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed said Awami League wants to belittle Zia out of jealousy due to his outstanding contributions to the Liberation War and the development of the country.
READ: Dhaka city BNP bodies to help- bring positive changes in politics: Fakhrul
“They have started saying that Ziaur Rahman was involved in Sheikh Mujib's assassination. They think it's been almost 50 years. So now is the time to make such lies true. They have taken this evil initiative to brand Zia as a killer conspirator through false propaganda.”
HC upholds death sentence to a couple for murdering a man in Jashore
The High Court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence awarded to a woman and her boyfriend for murdering a man in Jashore.
The convicts are Sabana Khatun and her estranged boyfriend Abdul Alim.
The HC bench of Justice Sahidul Karim and Justice Md. Akhtaruzzaman delivered the verdict on Wednesday.
Deputy Attorney General Bashir Ahmed, who represented the state during the hearing, confirmed the information to UNB.
READ: Polluting canal: HC issues contempt of court rule against 5 govt officials
According to locals, Abdur Razzak of Azmatpur village of Chaugachha upazila was strangled to death by his wife Sabana and her boyfriend Alim on the night of March 9, 2014,. Mintu, the victim's brother, filed a murder case with the Chougachha police station on March 11 accusing them.
Besides, Sabana confessed committing the murder and her extra marital affair under section 164 following her arrest.
READ: HC issues rule on depiction of smoking in movies, theatre
Jashore Additional District and Sessions Judge Sharif Hossain Haider sentenced Sabana and Alim to death for killing her husband on March 14, 2016.
The accused appealed against lower court’s verdict before the HC.
Biman to resume flights to Delhi and Kolkata from Aug 22
Biman Bangladesh Airlines has announced a new schedule to operate flights from Dhaka to India from August 22 (Sunday).
Flights will operate on the Dhaka-Delhi route two days a week - Sundays and Wednesdays.
On Dhaka-Kolkata route it will fly three days a week - Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, said a media release on Wednesday.
The state-of-the-art Dash 8-400 aircraft manufactured by Canada's De Haviland will be used on the Dhaka to Delhi and Kolkata routes.
READ: Biman temporarily closes online ticketing
These new aircraft have HEPA filter technology that will make the indoor air bacteria, viruses and other germs free in just four minutes.
Passengers must undergo RT/PCR (Covid test) within 72 hours of boarding the flight and must follow hygiene rules, the release said.
READ: Two Biman chartered flights take off with stuck students, expat workers
Tickets for these routes can be collected through any of Biman's sales offices, Biman Call Center - 01990 996 996 and authorized travel agencies.
Bangladesh-Netherlands photo, video contest launched
Bangladesh Embassy in The Hague, in partnership with top Dutch water institution (Deltares), has launched a unique photo and video contest, among Bangladesh and the Netherlands nationals titled ‘Bangladesh@50 The Water Story.’
The embassy took the initiative to mark 50 years of Bangladesh-Netherlands diplomatic ties (in 2022), to "celebrate friendship" between two peoples.
The embassy has invited interested Bangladeshis to take a click and submit in the web portal by 30 October 2021.
Both Bangladesh and the Netherlands are active delta where people have stories to tell when on our engagements with water.
READ: Ambassadors from the Netherlands and Thailand present credentials to President Hamid
As Bangladesh celebrates its 50 years of independence in 2021 and 50 years of Bangladesh- Netherlands ties in 2022, there can be no better common element than water to highlight collective aspirations, resilience and innovation of Bangladesh and Dutch people.
The themes of the photo and video contest are: i) Living in Land and Water (in Bangladesh or Netherlands, ii) Inspiring People and Water (in Bangladesh or Netherlands), iii) Thriving Economy and Water (in Bangladesh or Netherlands).
There will be one grand prize (250 Euros) and nine theme prizes (150, 100 and 50 Euro respectively)
Winning photos will be presented in first quarter of 2022 in a photo-book.
An exhibition will later highlight some of the key water-related developments and achievements evolving from the 50 years of Bangladesh independence and 50 years of Bangladesh – Netherlands diplomatic relations.
READ: Netherlands to ban flights from India over virus fears
The contest is open to all Bangldeshis: children, youth, amateurs, professionals.
Contest details are accessible at: http://www.photocontestbangladesh.com/
Helena gives confessional statement in narcotics case
Helena Jahangir, expelled ruling party activist and businessperson, on Wednesday gave confessional statement under section 164 in a case filed under the Narcotics Control Act.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Dhiman Chandra Mandal recorded her statement when CID Inspector Sajeda, the investigation officer in the case, produced her before the court, said court sources.
When she was giving confessional statement, lawyer Shafiqul Islam submitted a petition for her bail in a separate court.
However, the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Morshed Al Mamun Bhuiyan fixed Thursday for the bail hearing.
READ: Helena Jahangir gets bail, but cannot walk out of jail
Earlier in the day, another Dhaka court rejected a bail petition of Helana Jahangir in a fraud case filed with Dhaka's Pallabi Police Station.
Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Jashim passed the order after her lawyer moved a petition seeking bail in the case.
The same court on Tuesday granted her bail in another case filed with the same police station under the Telecommunications Control Act.
On the night of July 29, members of Rapid Action Battalion-1 (Rab) arresed Helena Jahangir from her Gulshan residence, four days after she was removed from her post of a ruling party sub-committee.
The elite force members "seized foreign liquor, illegal walkie-talkie sets, casino equipment and deer skins" during a four-hour raid on her home.
READ: Banks asked to provide account details of Pori Moni, Helena, 6 others
Later another raid was conducted at Joyjatra IPTV station in Mirpur and it was sealed after recovering illegal equipement.
Later the court placed Helena on a 17-day remand in four cases