A quota reform leader won the top (vice president) post of Dhaka University Central Students' Union while ruling party student front BCL bagged the posts of general secretary and assistant general secretary. The results announced by DU Vice Chancellor Md Akhtaruzzaman around 3:20am today show quota reformist Nurul Haq Nur secured 11,062 votes.

BCL's GS candidate Golam Rabbani got 10,484 and AGS candidate Saddam Hossain around 15,000 votes. The panel backed by the pro-Awami League student organisation swept the hall unions in the election that ended in intimidation and irregularities with 59.5 percent voter turnout. 'Line-jamming', a voter suppression tactic innovated by AL in the last national election, and boycotts by all factions except BCL alleging "irregularities and vote rigging" marred the much-hyped polls.

A United Nations human rights investigator on Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, voiced deep concern at Bangladesh's plan to relocate 23,000 Rohingya refugees to a remote island in April, saying that it may not be habitable, creating a potential "new crisis". Bangladesh says moving refugees to Bhasan Char - whose name means "floating island" - will ease chronic overcrowding in its camps at Cox's Bazar, which hold some 730,000 Rohingya.

The UN says the Muslim minority fled mass killings and rapes committed during an army crackdown in western Rakhine state since August 2017. Some humanitarian groups have criticised the relocation plan, saying the island is vulnerable to frequent cyclones and cannot provide a livelihood for thousands of people. Lee visited the island in January.

The prime ministers of Bangladesh and India jointly inaugurated four projects in Bangladesh, including the supply of 1,100 buses and trucks to Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC). Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi jointly inaugurated the projects through video conferencing from their respective capitals.

Another project aims to build 36 community clinics in five districts -- Jamalpur, Sherpur, Habiganj, Sunamganj and Brahmanbaria of Bangladesh -- under the grant financing of Indian government. The remaining two projects are 11 Water Treatment Plants at Bhandaria Pouroshova in Pirojpur and Extension of National Knowledge Network (NKN).

Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, who is undergoing treatment at a Singaporean hospital, now can walk slowly. "He (Quader) now can walk slowly as his health condition improved further," Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Director Dr Abu Naser Rizvi, who is staying beside the ailing politician, said on March 11.

The hospital authorities also decided to shift Quader from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to the cabin, a press release of Road Transport and ridges ministry quoted Dr Rizvi as saying.

Doctors in Bangladesh found three blockages in his coronary arteries following an angiogram after Quader was admitted to hospital last week complaining of breathing problems.

Leave a Comment

Recent Posts