Lakshmipur: Two siblings drowned in the Bhulua River in Kamalnagar, Lakshmipur.

The accident occurred on Saturday (February 16) evening in Ward No. 7 adjacent to Karunanagar area of Char Kadira Union of the upazila.

The deceased were Hasna Akhter (9), daughter of garment worker Hossain Ahmed, and his son Hamid (1.5 years old), a resident of the ward.

The deceased's grandmother, Nur Jahan Begum, alleged that local influential people had built a dam in the Bhulua River near their house to cultivate fish and hunt. While crossing the dam with their younger brother Hamid and sister Hasna, the two siblings fell into the river and drowned. Locals rescued them and took them to the Kamalnagar Upazila Health Complex, where doctors declared both of them dead.

Kamalnagar Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC, Investigation) Alamgir Hossain confirmed the matter and said that legal action will be taken after investigating the matter.

Kamalnagar Upazila Executive Officer (UNO) Imtiaz Hossain said that action will be taken after investigating the allegations of fish farming and fishing by building dams in the river.

Dhaka:

Jamaat Assistant Secretary General Barrister Abdur Razzak has resigned from the party, the party's official website reported. The information was announced in a statement signed by Abdur Razzak's personal assistant Kausar Hamid on Friday.

Abdur Razzak sent his resignation letter to party chief Maqbool Ahmed in a letter sent from the UK on Friday morning.

Barrister Razzak's eldest son, Barrister Ehsan A Siddique, said regarding his father's resignation from Jamaat, "The incident is true. However, his personal assistant Kausar Sahib knows everything about this matter. Please contact him."

Abdur Razzak's resignation was mainly due to the party's role during the Liberation War in 1971. Barrister Razzak said in his resignation letter that for the past two decades, he has been trying to convince Jamaat that there should be an open discussion about the party's role in 1971 and that it should apologize to the nation, citing Jamaat's role and the reasons for supporting Pakistan during that time.
In his resignation letter, he also mentioned that it is the demand of the hour to build a democratic party based on Islamic values under Bangladesh's secular constitution, but Jamaat has not been able to reform itself according to that demand so far.

In the letter, Barrister Razzak said, "Even today, 47 years after independence, the party leaders have not been able to apologize for their role in 1971. They have not even explained the party's position on the great war of independence."

He said, "More than at any time in the past, it is now more important to take a clear stand with the nation, admitting mistakes and apologizing on behalf of the leaders of that time regarding the harmful role of Jamaat during the 1971 Liberation War."

The proposal to apologize to the nation for its role during the Liberation War and to become active in politics by forming a party under a new name has recently come under renewed discussion in Jamaat-e-Islami. A section of the party's leadership is in favor of such a proposal. This section wants to keep the party active under its current name, acknowledging the mistakes of 1971, or to form a party under a new name.
The party's Central Executive Council recently held an emergency meeting to assess the political situation after the elections on December 30. In the face of demands from the party's young leadership, the meeting took a principled decision to apologize for the wrong political role of 1971 and to dissolve the party called Jamaat and engage the party in social service activities. Later, the matter did not get approval from the party's highest policy-making body, the Majlis-e-Shura. There, almost everyone agreed on the decision to no longer be in the 20-party alliance and not participate in any level of elections.

Abdur Razzak has been based in London for a long time. Before moving to London, he worked as the chief prosecutor for Jamaat leaders accused of war crimes at the International Crimes Tribunal from 2011 to 2015.

Dhaka:

On March 24, 127 more upazilas will be voted in the third phase.

Election Commission (EC) Joint Secretary (Public Relations) SM Asaduzzaman gave this information to reporters on Thursday (February 14) afternoon.

Asaduzzaman said, the last day of submission of monopr is on February 26, selection on February 28, withdrawal on March 7 and polling will be held on March 24.

Earlier, according to the schedule announced by the EC, the first phase of 87 upazilas on March 10 and the second phase of 129 upazilas on March 18 has been fixed.

In this way, the fourth phase will be held on March 31 and the remaining upazilas will be polled on July 18.

Dhaka: Due to the Bishwa Ijtema, the three-day SSC and equivalent examinations across the country have been postponed. The exams scheduled for February 16, 17 and 18 will be held on February 26 and 27 and March 2.

He said that the February 16 exam will be held on February 26 (Tuesday), the February 17 exam on February 27 (Wednesday), and the February 18 exam on March 2 (Saturday).

An official said that the exams have been postponed keeping in mind that students do not have any problems traveling to the center during the Bishwa Ijtema.

Although the Biswa Ijtema is held twice a year in January for three days, this year the government is going to postpone the gathering from February 15-18 after a dispute between the two sides of the Tablighi Jamaat.

The written or theoretical examination was scheduled to be held from February 2 to February 26. The theoretical examination will start from 2 pm and continue until 5 pm.

On Saturday, February 16, eight general boards had exams in the morning for Chemistry, Civics and Citizenship, and Business Entrepreneurship. On that day, the Madrasa Education Board had the Bengali first paper in the morning.

On Sunday, February 17, the exam schedule for Bengali language and literature, English language and literature, domestic science, agricultural education and music was scheduled for the morning and Arabic, Sanskrit, Pali, career-oriented education, computer education, physical education and sports, basic trade and arts and crafts were scheduled for the afternoon. Bengali second paper was held on the Madrasa Board today.

And on Monday morning, February 18, exams were scheduled for Biology and Economics. And the Madrasa Board had exams for Civics and Citizenship, Agricultural Education, Domestic Science, Humanities, Urdu, and Persian. In addition, the Technical Education Board had exams for several subjects on this day.

The final prayer of the Bishwa Ijtema was held on the last day. Devotees from all over the country as well as foreign guests participated in the final prayer. As a result, there was no space to walk on the streets in some places. There was concern among the examinees and their guardians about this.