Dhaka central, east zones, and six corporate branches of Islami Bank Bangladesh organised a webinar on Shariah compliance in Dhaka Sunday. Mohammed Monirul Moula, managing director and chief executive officer of Islami Bank, spoke at the "Compliance of Shari'ah in Banking Operations" as chief guest, according to a media statement. Read: IBBL opens Sarail branch in Brahmanbaria Sayeed Ahmed, vice-chairman of the Shariah Supervisory Committee of the bank, was the key speaker at the webinar. Mahmudur Rahman, head of Dhaka central zone and Md Shamsuddoha, executive vice-president of Shariah Secretariat of of Islami Bank, also spoke. Read: IBBL holds Entrepreneurship Development Workshop Islami Bank is a joint venture public limited company engaged in commercial banking business based on Islamic Shariah. It is listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange and Chittagong Stock Exchange.  

Professor Rehman Sobhan on Thursday said Dr Akbar Ali Khan, as a civil servant, was "exceptional" in a period where "integrity and objectivity were progressively eroding" in the culture of the bureaucracy. “The discussants duly emphasized on his academic prowess. But we also need to explore his life as a civil servant," said Rehman Sobhan, renowned economist and Chairman of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), while speaking at a webinar. Remembering eminent economist and former caretaker government advisor Dr Khan, Sobhan also said Dr Khan stood firm and he had to pay the price for it periodically. Professor Rounaq Jahan, Distinguished Fellow, CPD emphasized on the contribution Akbar Ali Khan made through his writing in the public sphere.  “From his writing, it becomes visible that he was an academic at heart. He believed in promoting reforms, and when he talked about reforms he was very objective about it. He wanted more discussion and debate on his work and writings, which say that he was a believer of public reasoning,” she said.

A webinar titled “Bangladesh-Nordic Relations: Prognosis for the Future” will air on UNB’s social media Thursday evening, at 7:30pm.    Ambassador of Sweden to Bangladesh Alexandra Berg von Linde, Ambassador of Norway to Bangladesh Espen Rikter-Svendsen and Ambassador of Denmark to Bangladesh Winnie Estrup Petersen will jointly deliver the keynote speech at the webinar. Read: BIPSS & Cosmos sign MoU on holding roundtable talks on urgent issues Cosmos Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Cosmos Group, is hosting the dialogue as part of its ongoing Ambassador's Lecture Series. Cosmos Foundation Chairman Enayetullah Khan will deliver the opening remarks while the session will be chaired by Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, a renowned scholar-diplomat and former Advisor on Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh Caretaker Government. Professors at Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka, Dr Imtiaz Ahmed and Dr Lailufar Yasmin will join as discussants.  

Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) Cumilla and Noakhali zones organised the webinar "Compliance of Shari'ah in Banking Operations" Saturday. Sayed Abu Asad, director of the bank, spoke at the webinar as chief guest. Mohammed Monirul Moula, managing director and chief executive officer, addressed the programme as a special guest. Sayeed Ahmed, vice-chair of the Shariah supervisory committee of the bank, was the key speaker at the webinar. Md Shamsuddoha, executive vice-president of the Shariah secretariat, also spoke. IBBL is a joint venture public limited company engaged in commercial banking business based on Islamic Shariah. It is listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange and Chittagong Stock Exchange.

Repatriation of the Rohingya refugees has become essential to finding a permanent resolution of the issue, speakers said at a webinar on Friday. The virtual seminar, titled ‘Rohingya Problem: Possibility of Repatriation”, was organized by the permanent mission of Bangladesh in Geneva in association with Legal Action Worldwide (LAW), marking the fifth anniversary of the largest exodus of Rohingyas to Bangladesh in 2017. In his introductory speech, Md Mustafizur Rahman, Permanent Representative and Ambassador of Bangladesh to Switzerland, said that a permanent resolution of the Rohingya problem will expedite regional stability and economic prosperity. “The United Nations and other countries can engage in meaningful discussions with Myanmar over the Rohingya issue. Bangladesh is working tirelessly with Myanmar and the international community to find a solution in this regard,” the Ambassador said. Read: Repatriation of Rohingyas to Myanmar ultimate solution: S Korea Speakers at the seminar emphasized on the creation of a convenient condition by Myanmar for the repatriation of the Rohingyas through restoring their rights as citizens and abolishing all the discriminatory laws.    They also said that the quick settlement of all the cases that are currently running in the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Myanmar will help in the voluntary repatriation of the Rohingyas. The virtual seminar was presided over by Antonia Malvei, Chief of LAW. Priya Pillai, Chief of Asia Justice Coalition Secretariat, Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, Shahidul Haque, Delhi University’s ICCR Bangabandhu Chair and Yasmin Ullah, a Rohingya activist, among others, spoke at the event.

Propagating radicalism, circulating anti-liberation narratives, and slaying rivals are the cornerstone of Islami Chhatra Shibir's politics, leading to bans on many campuses, alleged former student leaders who became victims of Shibir's gruesome attacks. Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, continued the crimes due to the absence of proper documentation of those incidents of severing, the tendons of many university students with sharp weapons, revealed the survivors participating in a webinar held recently. Regarding the reason behind their attacks, the victims said Shibir activists were infuriated by initiatives they had undertaken to expose the 'radical, hardline, and extremist' views of the group, that was rejected by general students. As most such attacks were carried out during the last BNP-Jamaat tenure (2001-2006), lack of cheap Internet and absence of CCTV footage conspired with that dreaded outfit, they added. Rajshahi University (RU) campus witnessed horrific attacks by Shibir cadres who cut tendons of Bangladesh Chhatra League students. Dr Shah Alam, who enrolled in Rajshahi Medical College in 2004,  said Shibir leaders and activists became so violent following the BNP-Jamaat takeover in 2001 that they didn't even allow Chhatra League students to stay in their dormitories or take exams. Recalling the killing of another RU student Farque whose body was recovered from a manhole after Shibir cadres cut his tendons, Dr Alam said, “This happened even after Awami League returned to power back in 2009.” Read: Webinar: Former BCL leaders recount Shibir's 'violent politics' Dipak Pal, another former BCL leader of the Mymensingh Agricultural University unit, said, "In 2001, when I was a second-year student, a gang kept stabbing me until they thought that I went beyond all the pain.” “However, later, I was taken to Rajshahi Medical and underwent intensive treatment. Though I recovered, my body bears such marks.” They swooped on him after he rushed to a polling center where they snatched ballot boxes and kept stuffing ballots sealing with BNP-Jamaat's electoral symbol during the 2001 election, he added. Tonmoy Ahmed, former general secretary of Awami League's Buet unit, referring to a report by a newspaper, said, “A fake story was cooked up to criminalize me and my junior Arif Raihan Dwip that we beat an imam at a mosque on the campus. The reason they targeted us was that both of us were active in the youths' movement against the war criminals.” Days into the news getting published, Dwip was hacked to death by another BUET student. The attacker, now on bail, confessed that provocative sermons by one Imam influenced him to carry out the killing, Tonmoy added. Shibir, known as Islami Chhatra Sangha before Bangladesh's independence, actively helped Pakistani occupation forces in 1971 to commit genocide and other war crimes, the speakers added.

Bangladesh's goal of becoming a tobacco-free country by 2040 will be hindered if e-cigarettes are banned, experts said Thursday. They were speaking at the webinar "Save Vaping, Save Bangladesh" organised by the Bangladesh-based Voices of Vapers. The experts addressed the recent proposal to ban vape and other alternative and heat-not-burn tobacco products in a new amendment to the country's tobacco control legislation.  Dr Delon Human, president of Health Diplomats and an expert on harm reduction, said there is no evidence for the statement that nicotine in vapes are more harmful than cigarettes, as claimed by the National Tobacco Control Cell.  "There needs to be a credible harm reduction strategy as practised by many developed countries," he added.  "The authorities must consider regulating a safer alternative such as vape and make it accessible to smokers wanting to quit." Read: BENDSTA for scrapping vape ban from draft Tobacco Control Amendment bill Schumann Zaman, president of Bangladesh Electronic Nicotine Delivery System Traders Association (BENDSTA), said not recognising vape traders and vape users as stakeholders will have major consequences as many of these vapers are using e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool. John Dunne, director general of the UK Vaping Industry Association, said vapes should be regulated separately because vapes and cigarettes are different products.  "In fact, vapes are far safer and a proven method of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). Regulating vapes will help smokers who are trying to quit have access to vapes," he added. "Countries such as the UK, France, New Zealand and Canada have successfully lowered smoking rates by using vaping as NRT. Banning vapes will lower the number of smokers trying to quit."

Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) Rangpur organised the webinar "Compliance of Shari'ah in Banking Operations" Saturday. Mohammed Nasir Uddin, director of the bank, spoke at the webinar as chief guest. Muhammad Qaisar Ali, additional managing director, addressed the programme as a special guest. Read: IBBL board of directors' meeting held Hasan Moinuddin, a member of the Shariah supervisory committee of the bank, was the key speaker at the webinar. Md Shamsuddoha, head of the Shariah secretariat, also spoke. IBBL is a joint venture public limited company engaged in commercial banking business based on Islamic Shariah. It is listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange and Chittagong Stock Exchange.

Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) Bogura recently organised the webinar "Compliance of Shari'ah in Banking Operations." Md Khurshid-Ul-Alam, director of IBBL, spoke at the webinar as chief guest Saturday. Md Omar Faruk Khan, additional managing director, addressed the programme as a special guest. Md Ruhul Amin Rabbani, a member of the Shariah supervisory committee of the bank, was the key speaker at the webinar. Read: Nagad launches Tk10 mobile phone airtime recharge offer Md Shamsuddoha, head of the Shariah secretariat, also spoke. Md Rezaul Islam, head of Bogura Zone, and Md Khalequzzaman, head of Gobindaganj, were also present. IBBL is a joint venture public limited company engaged in commercial banking business based on Islamic Shariah. It is listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange and Chittagong Stock Exchange.

The assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with his family members in 1975 plunged the country into a series of disasters, speakers said in a webinar. The political landscape witnessed a complete U-turn after August, 1975 with all out attempts were employed to destroy the spirit of the Liberation War - secularism and progressive ideologies, they said. “The brutality of the August 15 killings shocked the world and devastated the nation’s psyche. It is the beginning of the darkest period in Bangladesh history with a military government taking over and murder of four national leaders in jail, coups and counter coups and ultimately the rehabilitation of August 15 killers through a special ordinance,” said Prof Shams Rahman of Australia’s RMIT university. Also read: Bangabandhu Foundation pays homage to ‘Father of Nation’ at Tungipara BNP’s founder Gen Ziaur Rahman was a key figure behind those spell of disasters descended on the country in the aftermath of that grisly killing, academics told at a discussion titled “1975 Bangladesh and the World: A Grand Reform and A Carnage” organised by Center for Research and Information (CRI).