Dhaka: Veteran politician and parliamentarian Abdul Hamid was on Wednesday sworn in as Bangladesh's 20th president. Hamid was administered the oath of office by acting speaker Shawkat Ali during a ceremony at the Bangabhaban presidential palace, two days after he was elected unopposed to the post.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was among the guests who witnessed the ceremony alongside her cabinet colleagues but the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party did not attend the event.
The BNP, led by former prime minister Khaleda Zia has been waging an anti-government street campaign. However, it has not expressed any reservation about Hamid's election. The titular presidency in the country appears to be widely functional just ahead of the general elections due early next year.
The ruling Awami League had nominated the veteran leader for the presidency on April 21. Prior to his election to the post, Hamid was the speaker of the ninth parliament. Sixty nine-year-old Hamid, a long time aide to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, had been the Acting President of the country since his predecessor Zillur Rahman died on March 20 in a Singapore hospital....
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08:18 PM, Apr 24, 2013
As many as 154 opposition activists, who were detained during a raid on their headquarters Monday night, were sent to jail Tuesday in connection with two assault cases against them. The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court in Dhaka passed the order sending the activists to jail after they were produced before it, Xinhua reported. ...
11:40 PM, Mar 12, 2013
Bangladesh's key Opposition leader Khaleda Zia cancelled a plan meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday even as fresh violence marred his first foreign trip since taking over presidency. "We had fixed a time for Khaleda Zia to call on the President. The President was in fact looking forward to this meeting. An experience shows that during such hartals, the meeting with the President will not be suitable," said Indian ...
10:09 AM, Mar 04, 2013
President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday conveyed to the top Bangladesh leadership India's commitment to an early conclusion of Teesta river water-sharing deal and implementing the land boundary agreement as he sought to give a substantive content to bilateral ties on his maiden overseas visit since assuming the top constitutional post in 2012. ...
01:06 AM, Mar 04, 2013
Bangladesh rolled out the red carpet for President Pranab Mukherjee who arrived at Bangladesh on Sunday for a three-day state visit but his tour came under a shadow as opposition leader Khaleda Zia cancelled her meeting with him amidst a general strike by Jamaat-e-Islami to protest conviction of its three top leaders for 1971 war crimes. ...
11:07 PM, Mar 03, 2013
Bangladesh deployed troops on Sunday to a town where eight people were killed in clashes between police and Islamist party supporters protesting against the conviction of party leaders on charges stemming from the country's 1971 independence war. ...
06:36 PM, Mar 03, 2013
Bangladesh's main Opposition leader Khaleda Zia on Sunday abruptly cancelled her proposed meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee, casting a shadow on his first foreign visit. ...
04:48 PM, Mar 03, 2013
New Delhi: Former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Begum Khaleda Zia arrived in New Delhi on Sunday on a week-long visit and called on Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj. Zia, who is Leader of Opposition in Bangladesh, met Swaraj at her residence in New Delhi. The two leaders are learnt to have discussed bilateral issues. She will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Monday. India...
12:23 PM, Oct 29, 2012
Dhaka: The son of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and 29 others were on Sunday indicted by a special court for a grenade attack in 2004 that killed 24 people. The special court framed the charges against 30 people, including Zia's son Tarique Rahman, who is currently in Britain, Xinhua reported. The court set March 28 for the next hearing in the case. Twenty-four people, including Awami League leader...
08:01 PM, Mar 18, 2012
Dhaka: Former premier and leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia on Thursday became the first ex-Bangladeshi Prime Minister to appear before a court, which granted her eight weeks of interim bail in connection with a graft case. Court officials said the former premier appeared this afternoon before a two-member bench headed by Judge Syed M Dastagir Husain, who granted her the bail in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case. The...
08:14 PM, Dec 08, 2011
Dhaka: A Bangladeshi court on Sunday issued arrest warrants for the fugitive eldest son of former premier Khaleda Zia and 17 others over a 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally that killed 24 people and injured some 300 people, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Forty six year old Tarique Rahman, who is now in London on a government parole for treatment since 2008, has been indicted for abetting...
08:36 PM, Jul 03, 2011
Dhaka: A Bangladesh court on Thursday sentenced Arafat Rahman Koko, the younger son of former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, to six years in prison for illegally acquiring $2.7 million in corrupt payments, court officials said. The verdict could fuel street protests by Khaleda's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its Islamist allies who say the charges against Koko were politically motivated and pushed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government. Khaleda...
03:48 PM, Jun 23, 2011
Pacts with India a sellout: ex-Bangladesh PM ...
06:36 PM, Jan 17, 2010
Hasina is scheduled to travel to India later this month. ...
10:23 PM, Jan 02, 2010
Three million unarmed people were killed during Bangladesh's war. ...
10:57 PM, Apr 05, 2009
Indian intelligence officials say salary grievance could not result in mutiny. ...
11:41 PM, Feb 26, 2009
At least 50 killed since Wednesday as troops fight among themselves. ...
11:13 AM, Feb 26, 2009
She claims voting was rigged at more than 200 polling stations all across the country. ...
07:55 PM, Dec 31, 2008
Hasina's alliance wins 258 seats in B'desh parliamentary polls. ...
10:46 AM, Dec 30, 2008
Sheikh Hasina is racing to a landslide victory in Bangladesh elections. ...
08:32 AM, Dec 30, 2008
