The High Court bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Md Khairul Alam came up with the orders and rules following two writ petitions.
Notably, Luna is the wife of missing BNP leader Ilias Ali. She is an aspirant candidate from Sylhet-2. Millat, a former lawmaker, is vying for Jamalpur-1.
Awami League candidate of the constituency Abul Kalam Azad challenged Millat’s candidacy, while Jatiya Party runner Yahia Chowdhury challenged Luna’s at the High Court.
Abul Kalam Azad’s lawyer Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star that Millat cannot run in the election unless the apex court rules otherwise.
Millat was convicted and sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment by a lower court in a corruption case. The High Court had acquitted him later, which was overruled in the apex court and kept for further hearing.
On the other hand, Yahia Khan said Luna, as a government service retiree for six months, cannot run in elections before three years of retirement as per law.
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In today’s episode of ‘The Election Talks 2018’, noted economist Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, a former adviser to a caretaker government, talks with The Daily Star about the election to be held tomorrow.
Dr Zillur Rahman said, "Although hope was created due to the participation of all the political parties, but we stumbled when the campaigning began."
The attacks carried out reportedly on behalf of the ruling party were more in number, he said.
Capturing the field became more important than securing people's vote during the electioneering, he added.
Watch the video to know more!
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Just days ahead of the 11th national elections, Election Commissioner Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury today said “situation is under control”.
He came up with the remark in response to a query by reporters at the Election Commission in Dhaka’s Agargaon this afternoon.
Shahadat’s comment comes a day after Election Commissioner Mahbub Talukdar expressed grave concern over the ongoing spate of violence ahead of the polls scheduled to be held on December 30.
Hoping for a free, fair and peaceful election, Shahadat said, “I admit that anxiety grew among people centering the election. I want to term it political heat”.
He said he did not think that the situation was deteriorating ahead of the polls.
WHAT DID ELECTION COMMISSIONER MAHBUB SAY YESTERDAY?
Election Commissioner Mahbub Talukder expressed grave concern over the recent incidents of violence.
Saying that violence and election cannot go hand in hand, he added,“If we cannot hold a peaceful election in a violence-free environment after 47 years of independence, the sacrifice of 30 lakh martyrs for independence and democracy will go in vain. We cannot allow this to happen.”
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Dhaka South City Corporation mayor Sayeed Khokon today said all the temporary election camps set up during the 11th national polls will be removed within the quickest possible time.
The Mayor said this while inaugurating removal work of makeshift election camps at Segunbagicha in the city on Saturday.
Sayeed Khokon said that earlier instruction was given to remove all election-related posters, banners, and other campaign materials within next 48 hours. Most of them were removed by this time while some are still visible in differed areas of the city, he said.
"If you see any poster, banner or festoon on flyover or in any other place then you will inform us to keep the city clean," Khokon said.
"We want to remove all the temporary election camps so that people can walk freely on pavements and we can keep our city clean," he added.
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The families of two teenagers killed in Mohammadpur during a clash of Awami League factions ahead of the general election have been robbed of justice.
The family members of one of the victims said police submitted the final report in the case without talking to them. The report mentioned no clash even though it was widely covered by the media at that time. It termed the incident an “accident”.
Councillor Tarequzzaman Rajib of ward-33 also threatened the father of one of the victims not to file a murder case, they said.
A case was filed after the November 10, 2018, incident and the father of one of the teens was made the plaintiff.
The father maintains he did not file the case and that the signature on the case document could not be his since he is illiterate. He said Councillor Rajib put a gun to his head and told him to do as he said after the incident.
The families opened up to this paper only after Rajib was arrested this week.
On the morning of November 10, 2018, a procession of vehicles, largely comprised of flatbeds, with supporters of AL leader Sadek Khan was going towards the AL Dhanmondi office to buy nomination paper for Sadek’s candidacy in the polls.
Mohammad Sujon, 19, and Arif Hossain, 14, were on one of the pickup trucks when the procession was attacked allegedly by the men of rival AL leader and then lawmaker Jahangir Kabir Nanak.
During the melee Sujon and Arif fell off the vehicle and the driver, trying to avoid the brick chunks being hurled at the pickup, reversed and ran the two over, according to case documents, news reports, witness accounts, and statements of the families.
Sujan and Arif died in hospital.
Arif’s father Faruk Hossain was taken to a community centre in Mohammadpur when he was on his way to the hospital. He was confined there for 12 hours by Rajib’s men, Faruk told The Daily Star.
Late at night, Rajib, reportedly Nanak’s ally, at the community centre told Faruk to go to the police station to talk about getting the body of his son.
Faruk then went to the police station, gave his details, and told the officials there what he knew about the incident. He had no idea that police were filing a case making him the plaintiff. The police officials there asked him to identify the body at the Suhrawardy hospital, Faruk said.
On his way to the hospital from the police station, two men stopped him near Shia Masjid and took him to Rajib’s home.
Rajib told him at gunpoint to do as he said regarding the matter, Faruk told The Daily Star.
“You wouldn’t get anything if you file a murder case. Instead, you will be harassed and face the same consequences as your son. You are from Lalmonhon of Bhola and so am I. Do what I say. You will get a good compensation,” Faruk quoted Rajib as saying.
Faruk eventually identified his son’s body the next day.
Faruk said, “After the incident, I thought it was police who were the plaintiff in the case.
“This is my NID, sir. See, I can’t sign,” Faruk showed his NID to this correspondent which had his thumb print.
Faruk said not a single police officer talked to him about the investigation since then.
Sujon’s uncle Md Riaz told The Daily Star last night that the police never talked to them either.
He said councillor Rajib had promised them compensation and jobs for family members but he never delivered.
Sujon’s family did not know that the final report was submitted. They heard it first from The Daily Star correspondent.
After “investigating” the case for 11 months, police submitted the final report terming the incident an “accident”.
Police had arrested convener of Jubo League’s Adabar Thana unit Arifur Rahman Tuhin in connection with leading the attack but in the final report police said they found no evidence of Tuhin’s involvement.
Rajib, on behalf of then MP Nanak, had given Arif’s family Tk 30,000 and Sujon’s family Tk 25,000 as burial cost.
After the incident, AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader said the prime minister directed the authorities concerned to submit a probe report over the incident within two days.
Whoever is found involved would be given exemplary punishment, he had said, adding that the prime minister wanted to know “who destroyed the peaceful election environment”.
Sub-Inspector Mukul Ranjan of Mohammadpur police station, investigation officer (IO) of the case, said they submitted the final report of the case in the first week of this month as they could not find any evidence or witnesses.
Police also could not identify the pickup truck and its driver.
In the final report, police said the two factions of the ruling party came “face to face” near Mohammadi Homes Ltd on November 10 when the unidentified driver reversed in a hurry and could not see what was behind him. This led to the two getting run over.
The SI in his investigation found no evidence of the clash. He only said the two faction came “face to face”. The media, however, had extensive coverage of the incident.
They reported that the attackers, armed with hammers, sharp weapons and brick chunks, swooped on the procession of vehicles.
The IO said said Faruk did not know what had actually happened and had “filed the case” based on hearsay.
Taking to this newspaper, the SI claimed that he did not find anything in CCTV footage and no local wanted to be a witness.
Asked why the IO never contacted Faruk, the IO first claimed that he had contacted him but later said they could not reach him.
The IO claimed that Faruk had indeed filed the case.
At one stage of the conversation with this correspondent, the IO said he had written the final report with direction from a superior officer of Tejgaon Division Police.
Anisur Rahman, deputy commissioner (Tejgaon division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told The Daily Star that he had no knowledge about the development of the case as he joined the division only a few months ago.
“I will have to see the documents,” he added.
In November last year, Nanak said he had nothing to do with the attack on the procession.
Sadek had said that he did not want to blame anyone and demanded a proper investigation.
The Daily Star could not reach Nanak and Sadek for comments over the last few days.
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The United States has said unlawful or political killings, forced disappearances, life-threatening prison conditions, freedom of speech limitations, negative government pressure on and fear of reprisal by press and media, and impunity for security force abuses were the most significant human rights problems in Bangladesh last year.
US Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo formally released the 2018 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices and delivered on-camera remarks yesterday morning at the press briefing room of US Department of State in Washington DC.
There were reports of widespread impunity for security force abuses last year, while the Bangladesh government took few measures to investigate and prosecute cases of abuse and killing by security forces, said the report.
It also considered a number of rights issues, such as torture, arbitrary detentions, corruption, trafficking, overly restrictive NGO laws, workers' rights, use of the worst forms of child labour, and violence against LGBTI persons; unlawful interference into privacy, censorship, site blocking, peaceful assembly and freedom of association; criminal libel; restrictions on freedom of movement, political participation, trade unions.
On the role of the police and security Apparatus, the US report said though civilian authorities maintained effective control over military and other security forces and the government had mechanisms to investigate abuses and corruption by them, those were not regularly employed.
The report said the government neither released statistics on total killings by security personnel nor took comprehensive measures to investigate them.
In regards to the security forces' continued abuses with impunity, it identified lengthy trial procedures, retribution, and police having ties to ruling party men who occupy key positions in law and enforcement agencies.
“Reluctance to bring charges against police also perpetuated a climate of impunity,” it added.
On elections and political participation, the report termed the December parliamentary elections “lop-sided” and said it was considered to be marred by irregularities, including ballot-box stuffing and intimidation of opposition polling agents and voters.
It said the government mobilised law enforcement resources to level civil and criminal charges against opposition party leaders.
The report also highlighted numerous reports of arbitrary or unlawful killings committed by the government or its agents.
It said Human Rights Support Society (HRSS) reported security forces killed more than 400 individuals in crossfire incidents from January through September. Odhikar, another rights body, reported the number to be 415 from January through October.
The anti-narcotics drive in May resulted in an increase of reported extrajudicial killings relative to last year.
Human rights organisations and civil society contended the drive was a government effort to exert increased political control over the populace before the national election.
The report also highlighted claims that the government made limited efforts to prevent or investigate forced disappearances. HRSS stated there were 58 enforced disappearances from January through September. Odhikar said the number was 83 from January to November.
In terms of freedom of expression, it said the government sometimes failed to respect the right.
There were significant limitations on freedom of speech with self-censorship persisting due to harassment and fear of reprisal.
It said both print and online independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of views; however, media outlets that criticised the government experienced negative government pressure.
Civil society said political interference influenced the licensing process, since all television channel licenses granted by the government were for stations supporting the ruling party.
There were also incidents of journalists coming under attack by ruling party loyalists and intelligence men.
Independent journalists alleged intelligence services influenced media outlets in part by withholding financially important government advertising and pressed private companies to withhold their advertising as well.
In September parliament passed the Digital Security Act, claiming it was intended to reduce cybercrimes. Human rights groups, journalists, media outlets, and political opposition parties denounced the DSA as intended to suppress freedom and criminalise free speech.
সর্বশেষ গত শুক্রবার ইসরালি প্রধানমন্ত্রী বেনিয়ামিন নেতানিয়াহুর সঙ্গে টেলিফোনে কথা বলেন মোদি। অন্যদিকে ইরানের পররাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রীর সঙ্গে কথা বলেন ভারতের পররাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রী। এই দুই ফোনালাপে ইরানের পক্ষে...
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