A-Z OF 2010
2010 was an eventful year. The year started with a humanitarian disaster in Haiti, where the earthquake killed 250,000 people, while in the country, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's killers were finally hanged after a 35-year wait. The year was also marked by two significant elections, the Bhola by-polls and the Chittagong City Corporation elections, fire at Nimtali in Old Dhaka, as well as the arrest of alleged war criminals. Among the high points were Bangladesh cricket team's victory over New Zealand, the discovery of jute genome and Musa Ibrahim's Everest conquest. Xtra takes a look back at the year…
Anthrax
On August 19 this year, the first case of Anthrax outbreak was identified at Sirajganj. By October, it had affected 12 districts of the country, infecting over 600 people. Thousands of cattle died, were slaughtered or quarantined, as the government struggled to provide an adequate supply of vaccines. On September 5, the government had imposed a red alert in the wake of the outbreak, which they lifted on October 7. The read alert also came under criticism, especially from cattle traders, who alleged that it unnecessarily fuelled fears about the consumption of cattle, affecting the cattle trade industry badly. The outbreak died down belatedly in late October, amidst fear of a drop in cattle sales during the Eid-ul-Azha, however, the cattle industry seems to have revived its fortunes since.
Bangkok troubles
A prolonged series of political protests occurred in Bangkok, Thailand in 2010 from March to May against the Democrat Party-led government. The protests were organised by the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) (known as ‘Red-Shirts’). The UDD called for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve parliament and hold elections. Repeated negotiations failed to set an election date. The protests escalated into prolonged violent confrontations between the protesters and the military, and attempts to negotiate a ceasefire failed. More than 80 civilians and six soldiers were killed, and more than 2,100 injured by the time the military successfully cracked down on the protesters on May 19. However, unrest rapidly spread throughout Thailand.
Amendments to the constitution
On the February 2, a six-member full Appellate Division bench of the Supreme Court upheld the High Court verdict that had declared illegal the Fifth Amendment to the constitution brought through martial law proclamations after the August 15, 1975 changeover. On August 26 this year, the High Court declared void and unconstitutional the Seventh Amendment to the constitution that had legitimised the martial law regime of HM Ershad.
The two judgments effectively made illegal the takeover of power by former presidents Ziaur Rahman and HM Ershad. The government later decided to reprint the constitution in line with the two judgments, with provisions for Bangladeshi citizenship but Bengali nationalism, retaining ‘Bismillah’ at the beginning and reviving the original four fundamental principles of the state policy, which is likely to be published in a few days.
Bhola by-polls
The Bhola-3 by-polls, a parliamentary seat vacated by the Election Commission on February 7 this year following a High Court ruling, drew incredible attention from all walks of people in the country and generated a lot of heat in national politics, 16 months after the elections to the Ninth Parliament were held. The much-talked about by-election was important from many standpoints. For the ruling party, Awami League, it was an ‘acid test’ to prove that they still held on to the overwhelming mandate of the people they received during the election in December 29, 2008. For the opposition, it was a challenge to regain a seat they had lost in the last elections, after having won it over three consecutive elections. However, the election proved to be an anti-climax of sorts in the end, as the election was marred by allegations and reports of widespread rigging. Awami League’s candidate Nurunnabi Chowdhury Shawon, who polled 93,873 votes against the BNP candidate M Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, was declared winner in the end.
Chilean miners
On 5 August 2010, a cave-in occurred at the San José copper-gold mine in the Atacama Desert near Copiapó, Chile. The accident left 33 men trapped 700 metres (2,300 ft) below ground. The miners survived underground for a record 69 days. All 33 were rescued and brought to the surface on October 13, the first miner emerged from the Fénix 2 rescue capsule at 00:10 CLDT and the last at 21:55 CLDT. After the last trapped miner was winched to the surface, the rescue workers held up a sign stating ‘Mission accomplished Chile’ to the estimated more than one billion people watching the rescue on live television around the world.
Chittagong mayor elections
Like the Bhola by-polls, but at a much bigger scale, the Chittagong Mayor Elections turned out to another test of popularity between AL-led government and the opposition led by BNP. This time BNP had a much more uphill task in that they had to beat the incumbent ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, a two-time election winner who had been in power for seventeen years. The BNP leadership initially drew flak from party insiders for backing Manjur Alam, a little-known former deputy mayor and protégé of Mohiuddin who played a questionable role during the tenure of the interim government. All’s well that ends well, so goes the adage for BNP this time, as Manjur shocked the country be defeating Mohiuddin in the elections held on June 17, and that too at a hefty margin of 95,528 votes.
DAP gazetted
The government on June 22 gazetted the much-hyped Detailed Area Plan for the capital city six years after the project was initiated by Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha. With the passage of DAP, all future development and construction works, both in public and private sectors, would be in conformity with the DAP of the master plan or with amendment thereof. The DAP will contain a detailed land use plan for the capital with an expanded area of about 1,528 square kilometres and give specific outline of each plot in the area. The DAP project, the third phase of Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan, was initiated in 2004 with an estimated cost of about Tk 25 crore. It is scheduled to be completed by this month after extending the timeline four times. Dhaka city's master plan named as the DMDP was initiated in 1992, completed in 1995 and officially gazetted in 1997. But Rajuk took years to initiate preparation of the detailed area plan and finally started work in 2004. Rajuk had appointed four private consultants for the DAP project to prepare planning for the capital city. The land developers and real estate companies have consistently opposed the passage of DAP.
Everest conquest
Musa Ibrahim, a Bangladeshi mountaineer and a journalist by profession, became the first Bangladeshi to reach the summit of Mount Everest, at 29,035 feet (8,850 meters) above sea level, the tallest mountain on earth. According to Musa, he reached the summit around 6:00 am BST on May 23, 2010. Arranger of the expedition Iswari Paudel and Musa Ibrahim’s wife confirmed the news at first hand. Ibrahim on his return from Nepal was congratulated by the prime minister and the leader of the opposition and was accorded various receptions as celebrations continued for a number of days.
Facebook ban
The government of Bangladesh temporarily blocked access to Facebook on May 29. The highly popular social network site was shut down at around 7:00 pm (local time) after the arrest of a youth in connection with uploading satiric images of some politicians including the prime minister and the leader of the opposition. Even though the government did not offer any official statement, local media quoted the state-run Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC) saying that the posting of some anti-religious and pornographic links by users across the globe were among the reasons for restricting the access. On May 28, three Islamic political parties–Islami Oikya Jote, Islami Andolan and Khelafat Andolan– demanded immediate ban on Facebook for a campaign by some users inviting people to draw images of Prophet Hazrat Mohammad (SM). The ban was lifted a week later on June 6 after the BTRC claimed that Facebook had removed the objectionable contents.
General strikes
The opposition BNP enforced the first ever general strike since the AL-led government came to power in January 2009, on July 27 this year. The BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, at a rally in Paltan Maidan in Dhaka on May 19, announced to enforce the nationwide dawn-to-dusk general strike in protest at ‘the misdeeds and misrule of the government, including acute shortage of power, water and gas, oppression on opposition leaders and activists, violence centring on tender manipulation, land and property grab by ruling party men, harassment of girls in educational institutions, politicisation of administration and deals signed with other countries going against national interest.’ The strike was observed amid action by ruling party activists and the police on pickets and arrests of a huge number of BNP leaders and activists across the country. A standing committee member and some advisers to the party chief were also arrested. On November 14 and 30, the BNP enforced its second and third hartal of the year.
Haiti quake
On January 12 2010, Haiti was hit by an earthquake of magnitude 7 in the Richter scale which devastated Port-au-Prince, its capital city, with large numbers of structures damaged or destroyed. Between 250,000 and 300,000 people were killed and millions injured. Haiti, with a history of violence, instability and dictatorship, is the poorest country in the western hemisphere where most people live on less than $2 a day. The epicentre of the earthquake was only 15 km from the capital and the focus (depth) was just 8 km. The earthquake is thought to be the strongest earthquake in Haiti in more than two centuries. The quake left much of Port- au-Prince in ruins, destroying infrastructure and the seat of government and causing a humanitarian catastrophe in the country.
Hanged
Five former army men - sacked lieutenant colonel Syed Faruque Rahman, retired lieutenant colonel Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, retired lieutenant colonel Muhiuddin Ahmed, retired lieutenant colonel AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and retired major Bazlul Huda - were hanged at Dhaka Central Jail soon after midnight past January 27 for killing the country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and all but two members of his family on August 15, 1975. They were hanged after the special Appellate Division dismissed their petitions for a review of its verdict, clearing the way for the execution of their death sentences. Sheikh Mujib’s personal assistant Muhitul Islam filed the murder case with the Dhanmondi police on October 2, 1996 - 21 years after the killing. Eleven people, including Sheikh Mujib, his wife Fazilatunessa Mujib, sons Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal and Sheikh Russell, daughters-in-law Sultana Kamal and Rosy Jamal, and brother Sheikh Naser were killed in his house at Dhanmondi early August 15, 1975. The Appellate Division on November 19, 2009 upheld the High Court verdict that confirmed the death sentences of 12 retired and dismissed army men for killing Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Ibrahim and Babu murders
On August 13 this year, Juba League leader Mohammad Ibrahim Ahmed was killed under mysterious circumstances. It was later discovered that Ibrahim, a local ward councilor election aspirant had been killed by a weapon licensed to AL lawmaker Nurunnabi Chowdhury Shawon while he was sitting inside the MP’s vehicle at the Sangsad Bhaban. For a number of days, controversy ensued as to whether Shawon would be held responsible for the murder. While the state minister for law Quamrul Islam conjectured that he should be held responsible, the DMP commissioner AKM Shahidul Haq relieved Shawon of any responsibility even before the completion of any investigation.
Meanwhile, Boraigram upazila chairman Sanaullah Nur Babu, also a local leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was killed and 30 others, were seriously injured in an attack allegedly by the activists of Awami League at Bonpara in the district on October 8. A few days later, a news media video footage showing Babu being clubbed to death shocked people nationwide, drawing widespread condemnation and demands for justice. Though initially promising to punish the killers, the prime minister later commented that Babu had died as a result of internal party feud, effectively destroying the case as none of the alleged killers were later arrested.
Jahan Moni
MV Jahan Moni, with 26 Bangladeshis - 25 crew members and the spouse of a mariner on board, was abducted by pirates on December 5 from a place in the Arabian Sea, 170 nautical miles from Lakkha Island of India and about 300 nautical miles from the Kochin port. The ship carrying 43,150 tonnes of nickel ore was scheduled to arrive in Greece from Indonesia through the Suez Canal. The ship, at present, remains anchored at the Somalian coast with 50 Somalian pirates on board alongside the crew, with government officials and shipping company claiming that negotiations are on-going. Earlier, media reports claimed that the pirates had demanded $9 million in ransom for the release of the passengers. The government so far has repeatedly claimed that they are doing everything to bring the passengers safely back to the country.
Jute genome
On June 16, the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced that Bangladeshi scientists had successfully sequenced genomes of jute, opening up newer potentials for its production, conservation and characterisation. The discovery would help improve production quality of jute and its fibre, developing high-yield and stress-resistant variety of jute as well as climate resilient varieties. Genome sequencing is a laboratory process that determines the DNA sequence of an organism’s genome. In biology and genetics, a genome is the particular number and combination of certain chromosomes necessary to form the single nucleus of a living cell. A group of scientists, led by Maqsudul Alam, a Bangladeshi professor of microbiology at the University of Hawaii, USA, in collaboration with the departments of bio-technology and bio-Chemistry at Dhaka University, were responsible for discovering the genome sequencing of jute.
Khaleda’s eviction
The police and plainclothesmen on November 13 afternoon evicted the BNP chairperson and leader of the opposition, Khaleda Zia, from 6 Shaheed Mainul Road house where she had been living since 1972. According to party officials, police and lawmen in plainclothes had entered Khaleda’s bedroom by breaking open the door and whisked her onto her vehicle against her will and drove her to an ‘unknown place’ and later left her at her office. As the news spread hundreds of the BNP activists took to the streets in different parts of the capital and elsewhere in the country and torched and vandalised buses in protest against the eviction leaving at least 100 people injured. The house on 2.72 acres was originally the official residence of the deputy chief of army staff, a position held by Ziaur Rahman in 1972-75. The then army chief HM Ershad, who later became military dictator, allotted the house to Khaleda and her two sons after the assassination of Ziaur Rahman in a military coup on May 30, 1981. The Directorate of Military Lands and Cantonments served Khaleda a notice on April 20, 2009 asking her to vacate the house. Khaleda filed a writ petition with the High Court challenging legality of the notice. On October 13, the High Court rejected her petition and gave her 30 days to vacate the house. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on November 29 dismissed ‘for not being pressed’ a petition filed by Khaleda Zia seeking permission to appeal against the High Court ruling which had declared lawful the government notice asking her to vacate the cantonment house.
Landslides
On June 15, around six soldiers of the 17 Engineers Construction Battalion camp lost their lives while around nine others were injured following a landslide at Himchhari early in the morning. According to authorities, over 54 people died on the day in different areas of Teknaf, Rahmat’s Beel of Palongkhali union of Ukhia, Cox’s Bazaar Sadar, Bandarbaan and other parts following incessant rainfall that began two days earlier. Bodies of people, who went missing on the day, were later found summing the death toll up to over 53 at least. Over a 100 people were injured during the two days. The landslide in June once again reminded Bangladeshis of the increased risks that arbitrary hill-cutting, jhum cultivation and other ecologically harmful activities are causing.
Myanmar elections and Suu Kyi
Despite criticisms from various governments and experts worldwide, Myanmar was able to hold its elections on November 7 this year, almost after 20 years. However, the results were in favour of the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party. Similar outcomes were predicted by the governments of the developed nations, while criticising the electoral process and speculating on the scale of manipulation used to achieve this outcome. However, the elections led to the release of Aung San Suu Kyi on November 13 as the date of her detention expired on the day. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was detained for 15 of the past 21 years.
Media gag
Channel 1 went off air at around 6:40pm on April 27 after the government ordered its closure for what officials said violation of the telecommunications law. Earlier in the afternoon, post and telecommunications minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju told reporters, that Channel 1 will be shut down and its licence will be cancelled as it was operating with machinery imported by another company. He said that the owners of the channel had mortgaged its broadcasting equipment although ‘the telecommunications law prohibited transfer of frequency ownership and broadcasting equipment.’
Mahmudur Rahman, the acting editor of Amar Desh, was arrested on June 1 in a fraud case filed by the paper’s publisher Hashmat Ali Hashu. Although Rahman was arrested on these charges, by the end of the year the number of cases went over 30. Following the incident, Amar Desh remained closed for almost a week.
New Zealand series
One of the high points of this year was Bangladesh cricket team’s flawless victory over the New Zealand team in October. In the first match on October 5, Bangladesh lost all wickets at 228 runs. The Kiwis lost to the Tigers by nine runs. While the second ODI was called off due to rain, the third match on October 11 saw the Kiwis all out at 173 runs in 42.5 overs. Bangladesh easily scored 177 runs for three wickets out of a no-ball from Andy McKay by the 40th over. On October 14, Bangladesh took the decisive lead of 3-0 as they scored 241 runs. New Zealand was bowled out at 232 with still three balls to play.
Finally, Bangladesh managed the clean sweep of 4-0 on October 17 as they won by three runs against the Kiwis. The tigers were on fire afterwards as they also won against visiting Zimbabwe 3-1 in four out of five one day international matches in December.
Nimtali fire
Risks and fallacies of unplanned urbanisation lead to the devastating fire at Nimtali in the Old Town on June 3 claiming over 120 lives and injuring around 150. A preliminary investigation by the Fire Service and Civil Defence reported that the fire had originated from a cooking place in a five-storey building and it spread initially to the chemical warehouse housed on the building’s ground floor, leading to the fire that immediately spread to seven other buildings. The nation mourned the loss of the 54 families who lost their dear ones in the blaze by observing a national mourning day on June 5.
Opposition boycotts parliament
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the party leading the four-party alliance opposition, continued to boycott the parliament for various reasons. Till date, out of seven sessions of the ninth parliament, formed through the December 29, 2008 general elections, the opposition members were absent 129 days out of 165 working days.
Pabna incident
Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) tainted Awami League’s reputation once again as more than 70 BCL and Juba League activists attacked two examination centres of Pabna on September 17 during an ongoing recruitment test for class-III employees at the deputy commissioner’s office. Government officials, on duty at the two centres on that day, later revealed on September 23 at the Pabna Deputy Commissioner’s (DC) office that alleging question leak, the activists assaulted a number of government officers, including two additional deputy commissioners, a female magistrate, Pabna sadar upazila nirbahi officer and the examinees at the centre. They also damaged four vehicles. Following the incident, the DC office had filed two cases against hundreds of miscreants, from whom they could name only 32, for halting recruitment test of government employees. Five activists were arrested following the meeting. The ordeal led to countrywide protests driving 21 BCL and Juba League activists to surrender themselves to authorities on September 26. A Pabna court on the day after denying bail, sent all 21 leaders and activists to jail.
However, the government’s reaction to the incident was noteworthy. After a meeting with around 100 government officials on September 27 in Pabna, Prime minister’s adviser on administration and establishment HT Imam and state minister for home Shamsul Haq Tuku downplayed the whole incident while also blaming the media for ‘exaggerating the whole incident’. Interestingly, the Pabna sadar upazila nirbahi officer Abdul Alim was been transferred to Monpura of Bhola on September 27 following an order from the establishment ministry while Pabna Deputy Commissioner Monjur Kadir and superintendent of police Zamil Ahmed were withdrawn on September 28.
Two more officials of the same administration at Pabna were made officers on special duty on September 30.
Port troubles
Beginning from October 8, the Chittagong port was dead-locked for about six days following demonstrations by pro-ruling party dock workers demanding cancellation of the appointment of six private berth operators, employment of the workers retrenched during military-led interim government and ensuring other welfare schemes. The dock workers chased private berth operators and assaulted port officials inside the container jetties. The situation grew more violent on October 12 evening as hundreds of dock workers forced their way through the gate of jetty No 4 and stormed the sheds to hold demonstrations. A ban by Chittagong metropolitan police on October 13 on meetings, processions, rallies, carrying or use of arms or other weapons in and around the port areas could not quell the unrest. Even the shipping minister Shahjahan Khan could not mend the situation despite talks with union and other association body leaders. Finally, army troop deployment at the port along with the clamping of Section 144 by October 14 helped restore the port’s full operation. Over 100 ships were stuck up at the jetties and the outer anchorage due to the disruption caused by labour unrests.
Queues at CNG filling stations
THE six-hour suspension of operations, between 3:00pm and 9:00pm, at the compressed natural gas filling stations every day, which has been in effect since August 16 in line with a government order, apparently to ensure increased supply of gas to household consumers and power generation plants, has resulted in multiple complications all year round. According to various media reports - long queues at all CNG stations in the capital Dhaka before 3:00pm and concomitant quarrels, and even scuffles, have become a regular feature. On October 2, the CNG filling station owners association announced to shut all filling stations and conversion workshops across the country for an indefinite period from November 1 if the government did not change its decision to keep the stations closed for six hours a day. As the deadline neared, the government sought time from the association to review the decision, and belatedly, in the last week of December, the government decided to shorten the suspension to four hours, between 3:00pm and 9:00pm.
Spain wins WC
The semi-finalists of this year’s FIFA World Cup included Uruguay, Netherlands, Germany and Spain. Except for Germany, the other three did not have such a strong fan-following as the other teams like Argentina, Brazil, Italy, England and Portugal who bade farewell during the earlier matches of the World Cup. The final match between Netherlands and Spain on July 11 at Johannesburg in South Africa was just dragging along till Andres Iniesta scored a goal at the 116th minute, bringing the World Cup to Spain for the very first time.
Rangpur made division
After separating the districts of Rangpur, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Nilphamari, Dinajpur, Lalmonirhaat, Panchagarh and Thakurgaon from Rajshahi division, the government made the seventh administrative division of Bangladesh headquartered at Rangpur on January 25. The decision came at a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister and of the national implementation committee for administrative reorganisation at the Cabinet Division. The division currently comprises of a combined population of 14,847,000. Administrative activities of Rangpur division began as the country’s seventh division on July 6, with Mia Abdullah Mamun taking over as its additional divisional commissioner. Local government officials have recently also talked about converting Rangpur from a municipality to a city corporation by January 2011.
Trial of war criminals
The formation of war crimes tribunal, along with an investigation agency and appointment of 12 prosecutors on March 25 marked the initiation of the process for the trials of war crimes committed during the war for Bangladesh’s independence in 1971. To this effect, three gazette notifications were issued on the day. Till December 27, the government arrested Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami nayeb-e-amir Delwar Hossain Sayedee, Jamaat amir Matiur Rahman Nizami, secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, assistant secretaries general Mohammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla and BNP standing committee member Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury on various charges.
While the six are currently detained on war crimes charges, formal charges against them are yet to be filed. Law minister Barrister Shafique Ahmed assured that the law will take its own course and formal charges could be filed by February of next year. The considerable progress may speed up further with the arrival of Stephen Rapp, the US War Crimes Ambassador-at-large, in Dhaka in January, next year.
Unrests in the RMG sector
On July 30, thousands of Ready Made Garments (RMG) workers took the streets to protest the newly revised minimum wage structure declared by the government the previous day. Against a demand of minimum wage at Tk 5,000 per month by the workers, the government, after discussion with garments factory owners, other trade association bodies and the wage board officials, fixed the minimum wage at Tk 3,000 per month. The minimum wage was Tk 1,662 earlier. Also, the new wage structure was to come into force from November of the year, adding to the workers’ frustrations as the move deprived them of two festival bonuses in September and November.
As such, RMG workers lined up in the streets of Dhaka from 8:30 in the morning blocking traffic in areas like Gulshan, Banani, Kakoli, Mohakhali, Tejgaon and others protesting the move. Huge contingents of policemen, deployed to control the agitating workers, fired teargas shells and charged with truncheons. This further infuriated the workers leading to clashes between the police and the workers. While the police used water cannons to disperse the workers, in return the workers pelted the police with stones. The workers also vandalised some roadside establishments such as ATM booths, some cars of media houses and a car of the Bangladesh Television. The unrest continued until 2:45pm.The unrests continued in Savar, Ashulia in Dhaka, Fatullah, Sonargaon in Narayanganj and Kalurghat industrial area of Chittagong and other areas of the country throughout the first week of August although the police arrested hundreds of workers during these incidents.
RMG workers unrests persisted throughout the year after the incidents with the latest incidents occurring on December 11 and 12 at the Chittagong Export Processing Zones (CEPZ) which reportedly left over four people dead, 150 injured and numerous shops, business institutions and cars vandalized as police clashed with the RMG workers.
Villages in CHT set on fire
The Rangamati administration of Chittagong Hill Tracts called in troops and ordered Section 144 of the Baghaichhari upazila headquarters banning gathering of any kinds on February 20 after violent conflicts between ethnic minorities and Bengali settlers left at least five dead. While the ethnic minority leaders named five people, the Rangamati police superintendent was able to confirm the death of only a woman at the place.
Witnesses claimed that 41 houses were set on fire at Baghaichari although the ISPR assured through a release that ‘the situation in the hills was under control’.
New Age correspondent in Khagrachari said at least 500 people of both the sides were injured in the clashes at Gangarammukh, MSF Para, Hajachhara, Balughat, Simanachhara, Banabihar, Bhaibhaichhara, Surnangnala and Keretkaba alongside some military personnel.
The clash on February 20 was a sequel to the previous day’s conflict after Kalyan Chakma was assaulted at the Baghaichhari marketplace by a group of Bengali settlers. At least 32 houses and shops, mostly owned by ethnic minorities, were burnt down on that night.
Both the groups regrouped on the morning of February 20. While the groups chased each other, villages of Hajachhara, Guchchha Gram, Balughat, Simanachhara, Bhaibhaichhara, Surnangnala and Keretkaba were burnt down along with a church, a pagoda and an office of a UNDP-funded project were also set on fire.
WikiLeaks
On December 7, the London Metropolitan Police arrested Julian Assange, the founder and editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, the whistle blowing site that recently revealed more than 250,000 United States diplomatic correspondences. Assange was arrested on behalf of the Swedish authorities after being sought by the Interpol on rape allegations brought against him recently.
Assange’s arrest is the latest development in the long list of international powers’ activities against WikiLeaks, which published 251,287 leaked United States embassy correspondences, dubbed as ‘Secret US Embassy Cables’ on November 28.
This was the first time in history that such a large set of confidential documents were released into the public domain. The publication of the cables triggered the constant attacks on the site’s web contents, issuance of numerous death threats, filing cases on grounds ranging from hampering state secrecy to personal allegations, freezing different accounts of monetary transactions and other activities.
Although the site had published various videos, clips and logs pertaining to the war in Afghanistan and Iraq in April, July and October, the US government was especially irked after the November ‘cables release’.
Assange is currently fighting extradition to Sweden. Besides denying allegations of sexual misconduct with two Swedish women, he fears the wrath of the US as he expressed in a recent interview with the Guardian published on December 23.
In the interview, Assange is quoted as saying, ‘It’s all a matter of politics. We can presume there will be an attempt to influence UK political opinion, and to influence the perception of our standing as a moral actor’.
eXpelled
The national standing committee of Bangladesh Nationalist Party on November 21 expelled its vice-chairman Nazmul Huda for 'breach of organisational discipline'. The expulsion followed his remarks censuring the attorneys of Khaleda Zia for wrong decision which he said had paved the way for BNP chief's eviction from the cantonment house. He was also critical of the party's enforcement of a general strike ahead of the Eid. Huda blamed Khaleda's counsels for not seeking a stay on the High Court order on the Dhaka cantonment house. Huda also fired a broadside against his rival in the party, Moudud Ahmed, who was made vice-president by HM Ershad, accusing him of trying to remove Khaleda as the chief of the BNP. He also criticised Khaleda for breaking down after being evicted from 6 Mainul Road house, which to him, had tarnished her 'uncompromising' image. Huda was appointed vice-chairman by the BNP chairperson on March 26 after he had threatened to quit the party if he was not elevated.
Yunus
On December 1, international donors found out that Nobel laureate winner Dr Mohammad Yunus channelled out around US $ 100 million worth of foreign aid that was to be given out to the poor as micro-loans by Grameen Bank, Yunus’s organisation that also won the Nobel prize alongside him in 2006. The amount was transferred in 1996 to Grameen Kalyan (GK), one of Yunus’s other companies, that has nothing to do with micro-credit loans, as initially reported by Bdnews24.com following the airing of Tom Heinemann’s investigative documentary on November 30 in Norway on micro-credit and Grameen Bank.
The controversy persisted for almost a week till the Norwegian authorities claimed that there is nothing wrong with the fund transfers and all the money was accounted for. However, the government decided to investigate the allegations last week and a new controversy was created as some dailies reported that Yunus had resigned from Grameen Bank.
Zia renamed
On February 15, the government renamed the country’s principal airport - Zia International Airport - after the famous sufi saint, Hazrat Shah Jalal.
The cabinet at its weekly meeting on the day approved the proposal for renaming the central airport as Shah Jalal International Airport while deciding in principle to restore names of the government establishments which had been changed during the tenure of the BNP-led government.
The meeting also approved the Shaheed Ziaur Rahman University, Barisal (Amendment) Act 2010, renaming the institution as Barisal University.
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