Shahbagh siege ends on overbridge promise

Dhaka, Sep 2 Students of Dhaka University laid a two-hour long siege to one of Dhaka's key intersection, Shahbagh, on Sunday pressing for a five-point charter of demands including construction of an underpass or an over-bridge at the intersection.

The protest halted traffic in the busy hours of the day and led to severe backlogs in the area.

The protest which started around 11:45am was sparked by the death of international relations student, Touhiduzzaman on Aug 28 after being run over by a bus at the intersection.

The students withdrew their siege around 1:45pm after Dhaka City Corporation South's Chief Executive Officer Sultan Islam Chowdhury told them that they would be building an over-bridge at the crossing as an underpass was not possible.

"We will start taking measurements from tomorrow," he promised.

The students had initially gathered in front of the Arts Faculty building around 10:30am before taking out a procession up to Shahbagh intersection before stopping all traffic through the vital crossroads.

The university's Proctor Professor Amzad Ali urged the students to lift the siege, but was turned down.

They said that they would not relent until a senior government official assures them that their demands will be met.

Their demands included building underpasses at Shahbagh and New Market intersections, foot over-bridges at all the other crossings including Doyel Chattar and Palashi roundabout, ensuring strictest punishment for the driver of the assailant bus, providing Tk 10 million compensation for the family of the deceased from the transport company, implementing a strict ban on vehicles without stickers entering the campus and taking the initiative to submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister urging her to ensure security of the students.

Rab claims arrest of 'real killers' of Nitai

Sunday, September 2, 2012 Ten days into the killing of Dr Narayan Chandra Dutta Nitai, Rab on Sunday claimed that they arrested six 'real killers'.
Earlier, Detective Branch (DB) of police arrested six people in connection with the killing and claimed that robbery motive was behind the murder.
Lt Col Ziaul Hasan, director of Intelligence Wing of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), refuted DB claim on Sunday after the arrest and said internal conflict of the National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital (NIDCH) is the main cause of the murder.
Nitai, an assistant professor of the NIDCH was stabbed to death by unknown criminals at his hospital quarters at Mohakhali in the capital on August 23.
The 47-year-old physician was also an executive councillor of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) and a central committee member of Swadhinata Chikitshak Parishad.
Lt Col Ziaul Hasan of Rab said on Sunday that during the preliminary interrogation, the arrestees confessed to them that they killed Nitai over the internal conflict of the hospital.
"The arrestees are the real killers of Dr Narayan Chandra Dutta," Rab official claimed.
Among the six arrestees, Saidur Rahman and Tariqul Islam are identified. The identities of the rest are yet to be confirmed.

Freedom fighter never heard of Sayedee atrocities

Dhaka, Sep 2  The first defence witness for Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee said he had never heard about any of Sayedee's war crimes.

Shamsul Alam Talukder, a 68-year-old freedom fighter, said he had been to Sayedee's native Parerhat in Pirojpur, where he halted for a night in 1971 after the area had been liberated.

The three-judge International Crimes Tribunal – 1, set up to try crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War, indicted Sayedee for 20 war crimes charged on Oct 3, 2011.

The first war crimes tribunal heard the freedom fighter's deposition with the newly appointed Justice Jahangir Hossain joining the session along with Justice Anwarul Haque and head judge Mohammad Nizamul Huq.

Talukdar said that during his visit to Parerhat, locals had recounted how the collaborators of Pakistani Army, the Razakars and Peace Committee members had tortured them.

"But I did not hear anything about Sayedee. And since I was a commander, it would have certainly reached my ears if Sayedee had committed such crimes."

A second-in-command under Major Ziauddin at the Sundarban sub-sector, the freedom fighter said he had come to testify upon the request of Sayedee's third son Masud Bin Sayedee.

Talukdar had been the Joint Secretary General of the Muktijoddha Command
Council between 2002 and 2007.

Seriously involved with politics throughout his student life, the freedom fighter was elected as the General Secretary of Bagerhat's PC college student council.

He became the East Pakistan Students' Union Organising Secretary of Khulna in 1964 and General Secretary the following year. In 1967, the witness became a central committee member of the student union and Vice President a year later.

In 1969, Talukdar joined Maulana Bhashani's NAP and also aspired to run for the provincial elections in 1970.

'Drop the lawsuit, we`ll consider'

Dhaka, Sep 2  The government will await court order but at the same time release medical admission forms so that no time is wasted, the Health Minister said Sunday after meeting a group of protesters.

The minister also said he would consider going back to traditional system of medical admission if the lawsuit challenging the government decision was withdrawn.

Student representatives said the talks were not fruitful. "We are not clear about outcome," Mohammad Foyez, a student representative, told bdnews24.com.

He added that the students will decide on whether to urge for withdrawal of the petition through discussions and brief journalists in the afternoon.

Sunday's meeting with the aspiring medical students was intended to quell the protests against a new enrollment system that has taken the government to court.

The meeting began at 10:15 am at his office in the Secretariat.

Five representatives from the protesting group and another three aspirants who support the government's decision joined the parley. State Minister for Health Mozibur Rahman Fakir, Health Secretary Humayun Kabir, Bangladesh Medical Association Secretary General Dr Sharfuddin Ahmed and civil society representative Syed Abul Maksud also attended the meeting.

On Aug 12, the health minister announced that only GPAs in the SSC and HSC examinations would be the sole yardstick to ensure, what he said quality admissions in medical and dental colleges.

Students across the country who are interested to sit for the MBBS and BDS admission tests denounced the decision and launched protests from the next day. But a second group of aspirants also took to the streets to support the ministry's decision.

As the stalemate continues, the health minister on Saturday responded to a demand of the protesting students positively and asked them to meet him on Sunday to discuss the issue.

The dispute over the admission tests has even gone to the High Court.

Yunus Ali Akhand, a lawyer and also a guardian of a medical admission seeker, has challenged the decision in the High Court which asked the government to explain the move.

He also filed a supplementary petition on Aug 23 in a bid to secure an order to start admission process with earlier system – 1 hour, 100 mark MCQ test.

A High Court bench on Aug 27 when the students resumed their protest after two-week of hiatus for Eid-ul-Fitr gave a split verdict meaning the issue would be heard in a separate bench. But it is yet to hear.

Altogether there are 8,493 seats in all medical and dental schools in Bangladesh.

The number is 2,811 in the 22 government medical colleges and 4,245 in the 53 private ones.

The nine public dental colleges and medical colleges' dental units have 567 seats while 14 private dental institutes have 870 seats.

Some felt such a rushed decision should be revised.

Dr M Mushtuq Husain, General Secretary of Bangladesh Chikitshak Sangsad, a forum of doctors, earlier said there should have been extensive consultations with all before introducing a new system and such decision should come at least a year before.

"Students of two sessions – current and previous – can sit the admission test. So if you change the system, you have to decide it at least a year before."

BSF guns down youth at border

Thakurgaon, Sep 1  The Indian Border Security Force (BSF) shot dead a 30-year-old man at Nagorvita border adjoining Baliadangi upazila in the early hours of Saturday.

Mohammad Ajirul, son of Potla Mohammad of Dakkhin Doari village in the upazila, was killed around 3:30am near pillar 376/4 of the border.

"A patrol of BSF's 14th battalion opened fire when Ajirul tried to make his way across the border near the pillar. He was hit in the head and died on the spot," Commander of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) 30th Battalion Lt Col Touhidul Islam told bdnews24.com.

He added that the BGB immediately protested the killing and that a half-an-hour company commander-level flag meeting was held between BSF's Tingaon camp and Nagorvita Camp from 9am.

"We are trying to get back the body by evening," Islam added

Dr Nitai's 'killer' arrested

Dhaka, Sep 1 The detective police on Saturday arrested one Mintu, who they claim is the assailant who stabbed to death Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) leader Dr Narayan Chandra Datta Nitai.

Even though Nitai's family has been claiming that it was a premeditated murder over recruitment in a hospital, law enforcers have been insisting that he was stabbed when he attempted to foil a burglary attempt at his place.

Assistant Commissioner of the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Masudur Rahman told bdnews24.com that Mintu was detained from Sylhet.

When asked for further details, the police official said they would be revealing them at a press meet around noon.

Dr Nitai, an Executive Committee member of BMA, was knifed to death in the early hours of Aug 23 at his home on Mahakhali's National Institute of Disease of the Chest and Hospital (NIDCH) campus.

Two days later, police arrested four suspected robbers for alleged ties with the burglary attempt. Of them, Faisal said that one of his associates, barred during the burglary at the house, knifed the doctor.

Four of the seven robbers, including Faisal, entered the house after cutting the window grill.

"He (Nitai) was asleep when we entered [the house]. Getting awake, he scuffled with us. We wanted to tie him up but he resisted. Then Mintu knifed him and we fled after looting some things," he added.

"We heard later in the morning that the victim had died," he said. he said.

RAB arrested, who they claimed as another member of the gang, Kamal. However, the DB refused to take his custody saying that he had no ties to the murder.

Mintu was arrested after the interrogation of the four robbers - Masud alias Peda, 28, Saidul, 38, Pichchi Kamal, 35 and Faisal, 32 - in DB custody.

A case filed by the father of the deceased, Tarit Kanti Datta, over the incident with the Banani police mentioned Tk 500,000 had gone missing.

Five have been arrested till now in the case.

Facebook cracks down on fake 'Likes'

San Francisco, Sep 1 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) – Facebook Inc is weeding out fake "Likes" on its social network that are being caused by spammers, malware and black marketeers as it strives to maintain credibility as an advertising platform.
Facebook said the number of Likes, or endorsements by users, on corporate pages is likely to drop by less than 1 percent, on average, after the crackdown.
"Newly improved automated efforts will remove those Likes gained by malware, compromised accounts, deceived users, or purchased bulk Likes," Facebook said in a post on its official blog on Friday.
"While we have always had dedicated protections against each of these threats on Facebook, these improved systems have been specifically configured to identify and take action against suspicious Likes," the post continued.
Thanks to a growing black market, companies can instantly raise their profile on Facebook by purchasing thousands of Likes at a time - a practice that is forbidden by the No. 1 social network, which has 955 million users.
Many of these Likes come from bogus Facebook user accounts rather than genuine users of the social network.
Meanwhile, various spam-like programs on Facebook deceive users into unwittingly liking something when they perform another action, such as clicking to watch a video.
Facebook said the cleanup will benefit both users and companies that maintain pages on the network, by giving a more accurate measurement of fan count and demographics.
Ensuring the integrity of Likes is serious business for Facebook, which depends on advertising revenue from large brands and other businesses. Many of the ad campaigns that companies conduct on Facebook are designed to garner Likes - a sign that their marketing message has resonated with consumers.
"It's their currency," said Jeremiah Owyang, a partner at research firm Altimeter Group. "Facebook is playing the Federal Reserve, to take the counterfeit currency off the market to ensure that there's quality in the marketplace."
The problem is not unique to Facebook, say analysts, who note that Twitter and Google Inc also grapple with fake accounts, spam and other techniques to game the service.
But for Facebook, the pressure to show that activity on its social network is genuine has grown as concerns have mounted on Wall Street about the company's long-term profit potential.
Shares of Facebook set a new low on Friday, falling as much as 5.3 percent to $18.08, after brokerages cut their price targets on the stock. Facebook has lost more than 50 percent of its market value since its initial public offering in May.
Facebook estimates that 1.5 percent of its users are "undesirable" accounts set up for purposes that violate its terms of service, according to its most recent 10-Q regulatory filing.
"I think what they're intending to do is get a handle on it before it gets really out of control," Brian Blau, an analyst with research firm Gartner, said.
"You can imagine no business wants to pay for advertising to fake accounts."