WHEN Amulya Chandra Barman, a 45-year-old rickshaw-puller, boarded a bus in Dhaka last month, it was to go home to his village in the north of Bangladesh. Instead, he ended up in the burns unit of a hospital in the capital. A bomb was thrown into the bus, landing on the bag on his lap. His face and hands were burnt. The bag—holding a month’s savings in cash—was reduced to ashes. He is at least alive. This week eight people were killed in a firebombing attack on a bus in eastern Bangladesh. In all, about 60 people have died in a month-long transport blockade called by the main opposition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
FOR the past month Bangladesh, a country of nearly 160m people, has (yet again) been paralysed. The opposition leader, Khaleda Zia, has been confined to a party office in the capital, Dhaka. Her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has been staging a nationwide blockade of roads, railways and waterways. The trigger for the unrest was a banned protest to mark the anniversary on January 5th of last year’s election, in which the incumbent Awami League, led by the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, was re-elected easily thanks to an opposition boycott. Nearly 50 people have been killed and more than 10,000 opposition activists arrested. BNP leaders are mostly in jail, in exile or in hiding, and face criminal charges that will probably bar them from running in the next election. This week events a...
Thai entrepreneurs are in dialogues with some Bangladeshi businessmen to invest in the country and exploit its immense business potential, senior Thai government officials said yesterday.
As part of the efforts, they held a discussion with the leaders of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) in Dhaka.
“Bangladesh has numerous promising sectors for investment thanks to its cost competitiveness, strategic location and the incentive packages offered by the government,” said Chokedee Kaewsang, deputy secretary general of Thailand Board of Investment, the Daily Star reports.
Nepal and Bangladesh signed a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) today after holding the fourth round of negotiations. Investors, students and employees stand to benefit from this agreement because they can deduct the tax amount that they paid in one country in another country.
Bangladeshi investors who have invested in hydropower, banks and other service sectors in Nepal can deduct the tax amount that they filed in Nepal while repatriating the dividend to Bangladesh. Likewise, citizens of both countries would not be liable to pay any o...
The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the government’s top attorney more time to submit a reply regarding the repatriation of 300,000 Pakistanis stranded in some 70 camps in Bangladesh.
Hearing a petition filed by the Stranded Pakistanis General Repatriation Committee of Bangladesh, a three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk, gave Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Salman Aslam Butt till February 18 to submit a reply.
In a previous hearing, the chief justice had questioned whether the top court had the jurisdiction for asking conc...
The release said, we deplore the unconscionable attacks including bus burnings, throwing incendiary devices, and train derailments that have killed and wounded innocent victims. We condemn in the strongest terms the use of violence for political objectives. There is simply no justification for such actions in a democratic Bangladesh.
All Bangladeshis must have the right and the ability to express their views peace...
