Dhaka: Thousands of mourners gathered on Tuesday at the wreckage of the Bangladesh's worst building disaster to offer prayers for the 1,127 people who died when the eight-storeyed structure collapsed in April. The Islamic prayer service was held a day after the army ended the nearly three week, painstaking search for bodies among the rubble and turned control of the site over to the civilian government for cleanup.
A statement from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, mourning the deaths and thanking the rescuers, was read out ahead of the prayers. Government ministers and senior leaders joined the prayer, even as officials said at least 176 people are still missing after 20 days of search operations as army troops, fire fighters and ordinary volunteers rescued 2444 people alive.
The mourners raised their cupped hands praying for the peace for those killed when the Rana Plaza in suburban Savar came crashing down on April 24. Major General Chowdhury Hasan Suhrawardy, the military commander who had been supervising the site, thanked all those involved in the rescue work.
He said the army has prepared a list of 1,000 survivors which will be handed over to the government, recommending them for jobs on a priority basis. Officials said the missing could be among the 234 decomposed bodies yet to be identified. They were buried at a government graveyard after collecting DNA samples. The samples are expected to be matched with relatives later. 59 bodies are still in various morgues....
03:21 PM, May 14, 2013
Dhaka: A top UN official on Monday termed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's dialogue offer to the opposition as a good "starting point" to resolve the current political crisis in Bangladesh, but feared the failure of talks could invite an unwanted scenario. "It is good starting point," visiting UN assistant secretary general Oscar Fernandez-Taranco said, referring to the Prime Minister's dialogue offer to opposition parties to end the ongoing political impasse...
01:59 AM, May 14, 2013
Dhaka: At least 20 Bangladeshis were killed on Monday in clashes between police and hardline Islamists demanding religious reforms, as violence spread beyond the capital Dhaka to other parts of the country. The clashes began on Sunday after 200,000 Islamist supporters marched in Dhaka to press demands critics said would amount to the "Talibanisation" of a country that maintains secularism as state policy, but they were met by lines of...
06:53 AM, May 07, 2013
Dhaka: Bangladesh's police and paramilitary troops on Sunday night dispersed a huge demonstration by thousands of Islamist protesters after violent clashes in Dhaka left seven people dead and scores injured. "The Motijheel is now under our control...Hefazat-e-Islami has quit the area," a police spokesman told newsmen after a combined force of some 10,000 riot police, elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) troops carried out...
09:24 AM, May 06, 2013
Savar: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday visited suburban Savar to review the rescue works at the site where an eight-storey building collapsed last week killing nearly 400 people, even as rescuers lost hope to find more survivors after a fire broke out in the rubble. Hasina talked to the rescue officials about the progress of the salvage campaign and went to a nearby private facility and a military...
11:47 AM, Apr 29, 2013
Dhaka: The death toll in the collapse of an eight-storey commercial building in the Bangladeshi capital on Thursday rose to 164, as rescuers raced against time to save nearly 1,500 people still trapped under tonnes of debris. "According to the latest count 164 bodies were retrieved and over 1,400 people were rescued alive," Deputy Commissioner or Administrative Chief of Dhaka district Yusuf Harun said. Television footage showed relatives wailing in...
01:40 PM, Apr 25, 2013
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...
08:18 PM, Apr 24, 2013
Dhaka: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has vowed to maintain secularism as Bangladesh's state policy, amid countrywide celebrations on Sunday to mark the Bengali New Year, seen by right-wing Islamists as "anti-Islamic" practice. "Bangladesh will be a non-communal democratic country... Our country will be run in keeping with the spirit of the Madinah Charter of our beloved Prophet Mohammad" that charted out principles of religious harmony and co-existence, Hasina said in...
09:00 AM, Apr 15, 2013
Dhaka: Members of a hardline Muslim group in Bangladesh on Saturday held rally across Dhaka demanding enactment of anti-blasphemy laws to punish people who insult Islam. The massive rally in Dhaka took place amid heightened security. The protestors targeted bloggers who have held street protests demanding execution for convicted war criminals. In a separate incident, a ruling party supporter has been killed and 15 others injured in the clashes between...
05:17 PM, Apr 07, 2013
Three atheist bloggers in Bangladesh were on Tuesday arrested here on charges of defaming Islam, as the government set up the country's first cyber crime tribunal to prevent exploitation of religion on the Internet. The crackdown as well as the announcement came two days after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina pledged stern action against people found guilty of defaming Islam using the Internet. ...
09:00 AM, Apr 03, 2013
Dhaka: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday pledged stern action against people found guilty of defaming Islam using the internet as right-wing Islamic parties threatened to wage an intensified street campaign against "atheist bloggers". "You (Islamic parties) do not need to go for any movement. As a Muslim, I have the responsibility to take action," Hasina said at a party meeting of her ruling Awami League, this evening. She...
02:30 AM, Apr 01, 2013
Several bombs exploded in Bangladesh's capital and police clashed with protesters on Tuesday as opposition leaders enforced a daylong, nationwide general strike over police intimidation. ...
11:29 AM, Mar 12, 2013
President Pranab Mukherjee will be honoured by Bangaldesh Government on Monday in recognition of his contribution to the struggle that led to the birth of this nation 42 years ago. ...
08:50 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 has formally invited President Pranab Mukherjee to visit the country and the trip could take place in the early part of 2013, making it possibly the first foreign visit of his tenure. ...
03:24 AM, Jan 05, 2013
Guwahati: Listing the steps his government have taken to curb infiltration from Bangladesh, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday asserted he had raised the issue with the neighbouring country's leaders during his visit to Dhaka in 2011. He also sought to refute reports that he had said there were no Bangladeshis in Assam. "My statement has been misinterpreted. I have never denied the presence of illegal immigrants in the...
01:06 AM, Dec 04, 2012
Tehran: India will convert $200 million of a $1 billion line of credit to Bangladesh to a grant, it was announced in Tehran on Wednesday. The announcement came after bilateral talks between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Bangladeshi Premier Sheikh Hasina on the sidelines of the 16th Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Tehran, official sources said. "The talks were held in an extremely cordial and friendly atmosphere and lasted 40...
11:22 PM, Aug 29, 2012
Dhaka: Bangladeshi police on Sunday launched a process to charge a 21-year-old university student for sedition after he posted a comment on Facebook alleging Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's hand in the mysterious disappearance of an opposition politician. "Sohel Mollah (the suspect) is now in jail as we initiated a process for his indictment on sedition charges for threatening the prime minister," police chief of northern Mymensingh Gola Kibria said. He...
03:50 PM, Jun 04, 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
New Delhi: Bangladesh High Commissioner Tareq Karim accused the Bangaldesh Opposition of being involved in the coup attempt against the Sheikh Hasina government. Speaking exclusively to CNN-IBN, Karim also said that the attempt to remove the government was linked to the 1971 war crimes trial. He further praised the army for foiling the coup attempt saying, "Bangladesh army is turning professional. The entrenched political elements are being thrown out." "We ...
04:52 PM, Jan 20, 2012
