Two children drowned in a canal in Alsiar area in Kurigram’s Rajarhat upazila early Tuesday. The deceased were identified as Mahadi, 13, son of Sajidul Islam, and Farabi, 12, son of Sohan Mia. As family members were not around, the two cousins drowned in the canal. Also Read: Tourist swept away by waves in Cox’s Bazar Locals found their bodies floating in the water. Abdullah Hil Zaman, officer-in-charge of Rajarhar police station, said their bodies were recovered but no complaint was lodged in this regard.  

Primary and secondary levels students in rural Bangladesh face manifold challenges in continuing their education and shortage of teachers is one of those that hampers regular their academic activities. Like many other places in the country, the academic activities at 366 government primary schools have been hampered seriously in absence of head teachers. There are 1,240 government primary schools in nine upazilas of the district and the posts of headmaster at 366 schools are lying vacant, according to District Education Office. Among these, assistant teachers have been working as acting head teacher at 234 schools but the rest schools have been operating without headmasters. Meanwhile, the assistant teachers who were performing the roles of head teacher are not getting the facilities the headmasters usually get and there is no one to look into it, forcing the teachers to continue their additional work with frustration. Nurjahan Begum, who recently got the responsibility of headmaster at Korimer Khamar Government Primary School in Sadar upazila, said “We have been performing our duties amid frustration.” During a recent visit to Muktaram Government Primary School in Sadar upazila, this correspondent found that the headmaster post of the school has been lying vacant for the past two years following the death of its headmaster. Read more: Teacher shortage hits govt primary schools in Cumilla hard Since then, no one has been appointed and no assistant teacher was made headmaster. A senior teacher of the school is performing the duty of the headmaster. Besides, five assistant teachers are available instead of nine which also hamper the academic activities, said an assistant teacher of the school, Nazneen Rebeka Sultana. Expressing dissatisfaction, Anwarul Islam, president of Muktaram Government Primary School managing committee, said “We have sent letters to the authorities concerned seeking fulfillment of the vacant posts but yet to get any response.” Read more: Gazette in six months to change names of 200 govt primary schools: State Minister Principal Salauddin Rubel, General Secretary of District Swadhinota Sikkhok Porishad (Swaship), said “The academic activities of different primary schools are facing setback due to manifold problems including shortage of teachers. The situation of primary schools in Char areas is fragile.” District Primary Education Officer Shahidul Islam, said the problem will be resolved as the higher authorities have been informed.  

At least 15 villagers including three women were injured in a fight centring a land dispute in Sadar upazila of the district Monday, police said. The injured were identified as Yakub, 30, Ershad, 28, Hossain Ali, 65, Ismail, 37, Nur Nabi, 70, Abdul Jalil, 43, Abdul Khalil, 42, Shafiqul, 35, Jasim, 23, Sahida Begum, 60, Khoteja, 60, Hafsa, 26, Khadem Ali, 70, Meher Ali, 42 and Abu Sufian, 28.   Three of them were admitted at Rangpur Medical College Hospital for better treatment while the rest were being treated at Kurigram General Hospital. Locals said there had long been a dispute over the ownership of a piece of land between two people—Khadem Ali and Nur Nabi in the Masterrerhat area. Read more: Six injured in clash between transport workers in the capital An altercation broke out when Nabi barred Khadem Ali from planting paddy saplings on the disputed land on Monday morning. At one stage of the altercation, supporters from the both sides engaged in a clash with lethal weapons and sticks leaving at least 15 people critically wounded. Khan Md Shahriar, officer-in-charge of Sadar police station, said the dispute between the groups over the land has been going on for one and a half decades.  Though the groups are called to the police station to settle from time to time, one or other of the groups always remains missing, he said, adding that no one has so far lodged a complaint in connection with Monday's clash. Legal actions will be taken against the accused once complaints are placed, the OC added. 

Police arrested three alleged members of a gang of thieves in Sadar upazila of Kurigram on Thursday night. The arrestees are Asif Iqbal ,40, of Hospital Para area, Saddam, 29, of the same area and Hridoy, 26, of Horikes Madhyapara area. A team of Sadar police conducted a special drive in the Judge Court area on Thursday night and arrested them, said Khan Muhammad Shahriar, officer-in-charge (OC) of Sadar police station. During the drive, a stolen motorcycle and some goods were seized from their possessions. The arrestees were sent to jail on Friday, added the OC.  

A leader of the Rowmari upazila unit of Awami League (AL) has been relieved from party post over assaulting a headmaster in the upazila under Kurigram district. The accused is Rokonuzzaman Rokon, relief and social welfare secretary of the Rowmari upazila unit of Awami League. General Secretary of Rowmari upazila Awami League Abu Huraira made the announcement at a press briefing on Saturday night. Read more: AL leader sued over assaulting Kurigram school headmaster On instruction of the general secretary of the district AL, Rokonuzzaman was relieved from all party responsibilities, including the post in the newly announced committee of the upazila unit of Awami League, for “beating the teacher and breaching party discipline”, he said. A case was also filed against two named, including Rokonuzzaman, and 10-12 unidentified people on Saturday evening, said Rup Kumar Sarkar, officer-in-charge (OC) of Rowmari Police Station. The other accused is Rokonuzzaman’s associate Asadul Islam. On January 19, the victim, Nurunnabi Haque, headmaster of Phulkarchar Junior Secondary School, lodged a written complaint against them at Rowmari Police station. Nurunnabi said that he had a dispute with Rokonuzzaman and Asadul over the recruitment of school teachers. Read more: Headmaster, UNO thrashed by AL men who grabbed their fish enclosures Rokonuzzaman and his men picked him up from Rowmari Upazila Parishad premises and took him to the a bus counter where he was given death threats earlier in the afternoon. Later, the headmaster was taken to the office room of Abu Huraira, general secretary of Upazila Awami League and headmaster of Rowmari CG Zaman High School on a motorcycle, where he was beaten. He wasater admitted to the Rowmari Upazila Health Complex.

The body of a woman who went missing after an overloaded good-laden boat capsized in the  Dudhkumar River in Nageshwari upazila of Kurigram on 16 January has been recovered. Locals spotted the body floating in the river near the Adarsha Bazar area on Friday noon. The deceased, Nalo Begum, 49, was wife of Nur Mohammad of Telianikuti village of Bamondanga union. Abed Ali, Bamondanga union Ward no.8 member, said Nalo Begum was returning home from the eastern side of Murea Ghar that day. The overloaded boat capsized a few minutes after it started its journey.  Except for Nalo Begum, all of the passengers managed to swim ashore. Firefighters continued their search until Tuesday noon. Tambirul Islam, officer-in-charge of Nageshwari Police Station, said the body was handed over to her family.

A 10-year-old boy has been killed as a truck ploughed through a roadside house in Sadar upazila of Kurigram. The deceased was identified as Musa Mia, of the upazila. Read more: Youth dies after being hit by truck in Dhaka’s Rayerbazar The Kutigram-bound timber-laden truck ploughed into the roadside house in front of Jatrapur Union Parishad around 10 pm on Sunday  while the child and his mother were asleep, said Khan Mohammad Shahriar, officer-in-charge (OC) of Sadar police station. The injured mother and son were rushed to Kurigram General Hospital where doctors declared the child dead on arrival, he said. Read more: Teen girl dies after truck overturns in Ctg “Legal steps will be taken in this regard,” said the OC.

Yesterday (January 7, 2023) marked the 12th death anniversary of Felani Khatun, whose killing stood out among the at least 1236 Bangladeshis who lost their lives at the hands of the Indian Border Security Force between 2000-2020 (Odhikar).  On January 7, 2011, fifteen-year-old Felani Khatun was gunned down by the BSF when she, along with her father, was returning home from India through Anantapur border along Phulbari upazila of Kurigram. Felani and her father were not cattle smugglers, the usual victims of India’s trigger happy border guards (although opening fire unless they pose a threat is also illegal under Indian law). In fact, she used to work as a domestic help in New Delhi. The little girl was obviously unarmed and represented no threat. The image that went viral of her body stuck on the barb-wire border fence, shot in the act of climbing past it, disturbed the conscience of people on both sides of the fence. Read more: 11 years of Felani Killing: wait for justice gets longer A case filed against the BSF in an Indian court with the cooperation of Indian human rights activists remains pending in the Indian High Court. Twelve years on, a sense of despondency has gripped the parents of Felani in their search for justice.  Though the judicial proceedings in the case have been delayed due to Covid-19, they still expressed their hope to stop the border killings through the establishment of justice. Felani's death triggered a huge global outcry as the photo of her body hanging upside down went viral. The BSF men handed over the body a day after her killing. Following the outcry on both sides of the border, BSF started an internal investigation into the incident and submitted a chargesheet against its constable Amiya Ghosh, who fired the fatal shot. It was the first such instance for a killing in the Bangladesh portion of India’s massive border. Read more: Border killing: Photo exhibition held on Felani’s home premises However, a special court constituted by the BSF acquitted Amiya Ghosh of the charge in August 2013. Later, in the wake of widespread criticism of the acquittal, BSF decided to revive the murder trial. Yet another judicial court upheld the previous verdict and acquitted Amiya Ghosh again in July 2015. Following this, Felani's father Nurul Islam with the help of the Indian human rights organisation Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (Masum) filed a writ petition with the Supreme Court of India. The Supreme Court bench, headed by the country’s chief justice, show-caused several Indian bodies including the Home Ministry, in this regard. Read more: Justice eludes Felani’s family Talking to UNB, Felani’s father, Nurul Islam, said, “My daughter was killed by the BSF member in front of my eyes while crossing the border but I did not get justice in the last 12 years. The date of the trial proceedings was deferred several times. Now, I demand capital punishment for Amiya Ghosh and I hope the governments of the two countries reach an agreement to revive the judicial process and complete it." Jahanara Begum, mother of Felani, said, "I was in India when my daughter was killed. My soul will not rest until justice is done for my daughter's murder."  After twelve years, the family is in need of closure, and although the border killings have dropped significantly, the stated objective of both sides to bring them down to zero is still some way off. Looking at the number killed each year since the turn of the century, it is tempting to suggest that the Felani killing’s aftermath had some restraining effect on BSF jawans freely exercising a shoot-to-kill policy along the 4096-kilometre border with Bangladesh that is conspicuously absent from the standard operating procedure followed for its other international borders with various other countries.  Read More: Border killings not expected: Shahriar Alam Bangladeshi deaths in BSF firing peaked at 155 in 2006, and remained above one hundred in 2007. Triple figures were nearly breached once again in 2009 (98), and fell to a still very high 74 in 2010. Then right at the start of 2011, Felani was killed. There would be just 30 more such deaths that year.  Although the 50 mark would be crossed again for the first time in ten years in 2020, they have been pulled back again. Although their final figure isn’t in yet, watchdog Ain o Salish Kendra counted ‘at least 16 deaths’ in 2022.  SM Abraham Lincoln, public prosecutor of Kurigram district who has stood by the family through the entire period, said despite the showcause notices, no hearings have been held as yet on the writ petition by a bench of the Indian Supreme Court. "Even if it is delayed, the friendly relations and peaceful borders between the two countries will be established through justice," he hoped. Read More: BGB, BSF agree to cut border killings.

Shivering cold and dense fog has hit Kurigram district hard, disrupting the normal life of people. Tuhin Mia, an officer of Razarhat Agriculture Weather observatory center, said they have recorded temperature of 11.4 degrees Celsius in Kurigram on Wednesday morning and the temperature may fall in the next days. Read more: Hint of early winter in Panchagarh? Tetulia records lowest temp in Bangladesh Vehicles have to move with headlights even in the daytime, and cold is forcing people to stay home. The daily wage earners are the worst sufferer as they could not go out for work. Some people were seen warming themselves in the morning after setting fire on husks beside the road. Rahim Mia, a resident of Char Jatrapur area, said he had to work in his potato and paddy fields ignoring the bone-chilling cold since morning. Read more: Chuadanga records lowest temperature in Bangladesh for 3rd consecutive day Moazzem Hossain, another resident of Sadar upazila, said they are feeling the shivering cold for the last couple of days.  Abdul Hye Sarkar, Disaster and Rehabilitation officer, said already 38,000 blankets have been allocated for  nine upazilas of the district.

The 87th birth anniversary of celebrated writer and poet Syed Shamsul Haq was observed in the district town on Tuesday through various programmes. Kurigram district administration and different cultural and educational institutions brought out a procession and placed floral wreaths on Haque’s grave on Kurigram Government College campus. Later, Syed Shamsul Haq Smriti Parishad arranged a fair named ‘Syed Shamsul Haque Mela’ at the Bat tala of Government College premises. Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Saidul Arif, Superintendent of Police Al Asad Md Mahfuzul Islam, son of the poet Ditio Syed Haq, Principal of Kurigram Government College Mirza Md Nasir Uddin, Municipality Mayor Kaziul Islam, spoke at the opening ceremony among others. The speakers urged the government to build a memorial complex around Syed Haque's grave as soon as possible. The Ekushey Padak and Independence Award-winning writer, playwright and poet was born in Kurigram on December 27, 1935 to Syed Siddique Husain, a homoeopathic physician, and Halima Khatun. He passed away on September 27, 2016 at the United Hospital in the capital, at the age of 81 after suffering from critical lungs disease. He is survived by his wife Dr Anwara Syed Haq, son Ditio Syed Haq, daughter Bidita Sadi and a host of relatives, well-wishers, fans and admirers.