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A Faridpur district BNP leader was shot dead by assailants at Sutrapur in the Dhaka city on Friday.
   The deceased was identified as Golam Mohiuddin, 45, organising secretary of the BNP Salta thana unit in Faridpur.
   The police said a gang of assailants waylaid Mohiuddin on Banagram Road at around 1:30pm while he was returning from one of his relative’s house in the area.
   The assailants fired two shots at the leader at point-blank range, injuring him critically. As he collapsed on the ground, they also stabbed him in the head to confirm his death.
   The assailants fled the scene without any resistance before leaving him in a pool of blood.
   Soon after the incident, local people took him to Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital, but the doctors referred him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where he died. The body was sent to the hospital morgue for autopsy.
   The duty officer of the Sutrapur police station said the motives behind the killing could not be known immediately. ‘We suspect that it may be occurred in a bid of mugging,’ he said.
   Victim’s son Kawser Ahmed, however, alleged that it was a planned murder centring to political rivalry. He said his father came to Dhaka on Thursday to collect some documents for a loan.
   Although a case was filed with the police station in this connection, no arrest was made till Saturday night.

The launch of a new political alliance, Jukta Front, was announced Saturday at a press conference in the National
   Press Club.
   The combine comprises three political parties — Krishak Sramik Janata League led by Abdul Kader Siddiq, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal led by Noor Alam Ziku, and Bangladesh Labour Party led by Sekander Ali Moni —and a political forum, the Unity for Political Reforms, led by ASM Abdur Rab.
   Alliance leaders announced national unity, participatory governance, decentralisation of power, welfare-oriented
   economy, and liberal humanistic values as their five basic
   principles.
   In line with the principles, they declared eight major aims. Those include establishing a government having a bicameral parliament and a provincial governance system, ensuring a qualitative upgrade of the caretaker government and an independent and strong Election Commission, holding upazila and zila parishad elections, and formation of a ‘government of national unity’ for a 10-year term to materialise the aims and
   aspirations of the War of Independence.
   The UPR coordinator, Abdur Rab, said the new combine would join neither the Awami League-led opposition alliance nor the ruling four-party one.
   The JSD general secretary, Abdul Malek Ratan, read out the written announcement, with alliance leaders Kader Siddiq, Mohammad Shafik, Sakender Ali, Fazlur Rahman, Abdul Baten Chowdhury, and Akter Hossain also present on the occasion.

Shab-e-Barat, the night of forgiveness and fortune, was observed across the country Friday night seeking divine blessings for peace and wellbeing of the mankind.
   Special prayers were offered in the mosques and mazars, and special munajat and milad mahfils were also held. Many devotees spent the whole night offering prayers.
   Marking the occasion, Muslims distributed sweets among the neighbours and destitute.
   The president, Iajuddin Ahmed, the prime minister, Khaleda Zia, and leader of the opposition in parliament, Sheikh Hasina, issued separate messages on the occasion.
   The Bangladesh Nationalist Party held a discussion meeting and a milad mahfil at its central office Friday afternoon.
   The BNP secretary general and LGRD minister, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, BNP vice-president Shahjahan Siraj, Juba Dal president Barkat Ullah Bulu and other party leaders attended the milad mahfil.
   The Awami League also held a doa and milad mahfil at its Bangabandhu Avenue office Friday afternoon.
   The Awami League acting general secretary Obaidul Kader, the joint general secretary, Abdul Mannan, the organising secretary, Mukul Bose, and other leaders attended the milad mahfil.
   Besides, different organisations held religious programmes including milad mahfil.
   TV channels and Bangladesh Betar aired different special programmes on the day.

A young man died allegedly from police torture over a suspected involvement with the extremist outfit Purba Banglar Communist Party at Manda in Naogaon on Friday.
   The local people said a farmer, Manwarul Alam Sagar, 27, of village Kaligram died in police custody.
   The people went out on demonstrations to protest at the killing on Friday and Saturday. They demanded that the police accused should be punished.
   Several hundred people, led by the local government representatives, barricaded the Rajshahi–Naogaon Highway by felling trees, which suspended traffic movement for the day.
   The Manda police officer-in-charge, Shahider Rahman, and two subinspectors, Shakil Ahmed and Tafazzal Hossain, were closed on Friday evening, the superintendent of police in Naogaon said.
   The local people stopped their agitation programme after the policemen had been closed. The Naogaon deputy commissioner, Golam Murtuja, and the police superintendent, Jamil Ahmed, visited the spot.
   The people said, Sagar, went to his father-in-law’s in the Porsha police area in the past week.
   The Manda police on Thursday morning went to Sagar’s Manda house to arrest him on charge of being involved with the extremist party. Informed about Sagar’s then living at Porsha, the Manda police picked him up from his in-law’s.
   Sagar later came to know that he had been arrested on charge of being involved in the killing of four policemen and a Juba Dal leader by the Maoists at Chowbaria of Manda that took place in August.
   The officer-in-charge told Sagar’s family that he would be released just after interrogation in connection with the Chowbaria incident, the family said.
   Sagar’s family alleged the Manda officer-in-charge had demanded Tk 20 lakh for not torturing him.
   The family made some advance payment saying the remaining amount would be given on Friday.
   Sagar died early Friday from police torture. The police said he died of a heart attack. But the family rejected the claim and said it was not true.
   They said Sagar was not accused in any case and was not wanted by the police.
   The police claimed Sagar died at midnight and the post-mortem examination was hurriedly done in the morning.
   The local people and the family claimed officer-in-charge Shahider killed Sagar.
   The people demanded another post-mortem examination. The body was handed over to the family and was buried.
   Sagar’s mother filed a complaint against four policemen, including the officer-in-charge and the two subinspectors. The complaint was shown as a general diary in the police register, the family said.

Speakers at a discussion meeting in the capital shared their experience of recent resistance movement in Phulbari against ‘plundering of national wealth’ and demanded immediate formation of a people’s inquiry committee to investigate the incident.
   Five people were killed when the BDR opened fire on the demonstrating mob in Phulbari area of Dinajpur on August 26.
   The speakers urged the government to form the people’s inquiry commission under the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Recourses, Power and Port to investigate the Phulbari firings and the ‘secret’ deals with Asia Energy on Phulbari coal mine.
   They alleged that the alliance government was trying to create confusions regarding the BDR firing in Phulbari and hide the deal with the Asia Energy Corporation.
   Chaired by WP president Rashed Khan Menon, the discussion meet, Phulbari coal project, mass upsurge, experiences and education, was organised by the Workers’ Party at Jatiya Press Club on Saturday.
   The people’s upsurge in Phulbari will remain a milestone in saving of national wealth, Menon said in his deliberation.
   Secretary of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Recourses, Power and Port, Anu Mohammad asserted that the Asia Energy must leave Bangladesh bearing the responsibility of the killings in Phulbari.
   The Communist Party of Bangladesh general secretary, Mujahidul Islam Selim, the WP general secretary, Bimal Biswas, politburo member Haider Akbar Khan Rano, economist Abu Ahmed, Shamsul Alam, Zafarullah Chowdhury, journalist Golam Mortuza, the leaders of Phulbari Rakkha Committee, Syed Mosharaf Hossain Labu, Hamidul Haque, Alauddin Ali, SM Nuruzzaman, Zakir Hossain and others took part in the discussion.
   The people of Phulbari taught us how to be vocal against the plundering of the national wealth, said Mujahidul Islam Selim.
   Bimal Biswas expressed doubt about the implementation of Phulbari agreement.
   Professor Abu Ahmed called upon the people to be organised against such unilateral and unequal deals signed by different governments.
   Haider Akbar Khan Rano said he had seen the reflections of the people’s upsurge of 1969 in this year’s Phulbari movement.
   The Phulbari Rakkha Committee leaders called upon the government to implement the Phulbari agreement between the government and the committee immediately, otherwise they would launch tougher movement again.