Senior BNP leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain has been hospitalised as he fell ill at his residence on Friday night. The BNP leader was taken to the Evercare Hospital in Bashundhara Residential area last night, BNP chairperson's media wing member Sairul Kabir Khan told UNB. Also Read: Govt seeking foreign loans everywhere to run country as economy not in dignity: Mosharraf    He has been undergoing treatment at the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) of the hospital and is now under the observation of the physicians, he said. Also Read: Mosharraf hints at intensifying anti-govt movement with tougher programmes Dr. Maruf Khandakar, son of the BNP leader sought doa for the early recovery of his father from the country’s people. Also Read: Fakhrul vows to stay 'in the field till illegal govt toppled' through movement  

BNP on Wednesday demanded adequate compensation for the traders and employees affected by the massive fire that destroyed  the Bangabazar market on Tuesday. BNP standing committee member Mirza Abbas made the demand while talking to reporters after visiting the fire-ravaged Bangabazar. "The businessmen have lost lakhs of takas in the devastating fire. The government has announced to provide each of the affected traders with only Tk15,000. It is absolutely inadequate,” he said. The BNP leader said there are shop employees alongside the affected traders who also should be given the compensation. “We think this compensation for the victim should be adequate. Besides, the employees of the gutted shops should also be given the compensation accordingly,” he observed.   Abbas, a former mayor of undivided Dhaka, said he has got shocked seeing the trail of devastation of the fire. “All the shops were burnt to ashes. How can traders overcome this loss?” Expressing their party’s sympathy to the affected businessmen and shopkeepers, he said BNP will also provide the affected people with financial assistance as much as possible. “We’ll stand by them (affected traders and employees).” Read more: Govt to assist Bangabazar businesses to recover from fire damages: PM Hasina Abbas along with BNP south city unit convener Abdus Salam, member secretary Rafiqul Alam Mojnu and member Ishraque Hossain went to the fire-hit   Bangabazar market around 12:15amand talked to the victims. A massive fire broke out at the Bangabazar Shopping Complex in Dhaka on Tuesday morning and it spread to some other nearby markets, burning over 4,000 shops, mainly readymade garment and footwear stores, to ashes.

BNP standing committee has demanded the withdrawal of the new textbooks of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) that contain errors, distortion of history and misinformation. At their virtual meeting on Monday night, the BNP standing committee members also voiced their strong displeasure over the distorted and wrong information, linguistic mistakes, and contents that hurt religious sentiment in the new textbooks for school students supplied by the NCTB. “Our meeting felt that the illegal government did it to destroy the education system in a planned way with nefarious purposes,” said a BNP press release, signed by party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, on Tuesday. The BNP policymakers alleged that the students are being misled with wrong, distorted and untrue information and anti-traditional and anti-values activities. Read more: NCTB gives corrections for 9 mistakes in 3 textbooks of new curriculum “The meeting strongly condemned such efforts of the government,” the press release reads. The BNP policymakers urged the government to revoke the error-ridden textbooks immediately and develop textbooks based on the correct history and values of Bangladesh. The NCTB which is responsible for the development of curriculums, and production and distribution of textbooks at primary and secondary education levels has recently drawn huge criticisms from the different sections of society for widespread errors and misinformation in this year's textbooks.

Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said on Tuesday that the dispute over allocating space for BNP’s rally on December 10 will be resolved soon. “A problem surfaced over the venue for BNP’s December 10 rally and there is no solution yet,” he said while talking to reporters after a meeting with newly appointed Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Kumar Verma at the Secretariat. Replying to a question, the minister said “I am always optimistic, and I am optimistic over it. Whatever the situation is, a solution will come out.” Read more: BNP to avoid AL's trap over December-10 rally: Gayeshwar  “There is no reason for the people to panic. On behalf of my party, I want to say that we are in power, why would we want to create any unrest? Why will we do something that could create panic? We don’t need that,” he said.   “Now, if anybody attacks us, if there is any instigation, if they jump on us, will we sit idle? We hope the opposition will hold their rally peacefully,” he said. Referring to the visit of the Indian High Commissioner, Quader said “There are many projects under road communication , and we have discussed the progress of the projects. We also discussed the Teesta issue. In reply to the Teesta issue, he said he will try his best (to resolve it).” On September 27, BNP announced a series of public rallies in 10 divisional cities. The party will conclude the divisional programmes by holding its last rally in Dhaka on December 10. Police in Dhaka have asked BNP to hold the rally at Suhrawardy Udyan, but BNP is determined to dol its rally in front of its party headquarters at Naya Paltan in Dhaka. Read more: December-10 rally: BNP delegation sits with IGP The BNP has long been demanding that the next general election be held under a caretaker government, not under any political government--a demand sharply rejected by the ruling Awami League as the constitution does not contain any such provision.