Dhaka-based ambassadors of Arab and Muslim countries on Wednesday night met BNP chief Khaleda Zia and discussed possible ways out of the current political crisis in Bangladesh.

“We want the people of Bangladesh to live in peace and would like to see democracy strengthen in this country,” the envoys were quoted by a BNP spokesman to have told the Opposition leader.
Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, a BNP vice chairman, told reporters after the meeting that the ambassadors would also meet the government leaders.
“The ambassadors said they believed …

Angry at soft programme, main opposition decides not to support its hartal today

Just a day’s hartal called by the Hefajat-e Islam appears to have upset the BNP, which wanted tougher action from the Islamist group to make April a turning point in the opposition alliance’s oust-govt movement.
The main opposition party had expected that Hefajat men from their Motijheel rally on Saturday would announce agitation programmes such as non-stop shutdowns or sit-ins for several days.
It also decided to support Hefajat actions and supplement those by enforcing more …

February 5, 2013
Staff Correspondent
BNP does not support Jamaat-e-Islami’s demand for dismantling of the war crimes tribunals, the main opposition party’s coordinator Tariqul Islam said yesterday.
“On this point, BNP does not bear any ideological resemblance to Jamaat,” Tariqul observed.
He was talking to reporters at the party’s Nayapaltan headquarters after announcing a month-long programme of the BNP-led 18-party alliance.
Tariqul, also a standing committee member, said his party supported the trial of those accused of war crimes, but that trial would have to be transparent and …

2013-02-05
Staff Correspondent,  bdnews24.com
The three-judge tribunal unanimously pronounced the verdict finding him guilty of murder and other serious crimes in a packed courtroom at the High Court premises in presence of Molla, who wore a gloomy look.
Molla was indicted for six war crimes charges on May 28 last year including mass murder, conspiracy and instigation in 1971.
This is the second verdict since the Sheikh Hasina government in 2010 initiated the process of trying those who committed crimes against humanity during the Liberation War under an amended 1973 law.
The Jamaat leader was sentenced …

2013-01-19
Senior Correspondent
The government has not compromised anywhere. And in future we will not make even a slight compromise. So there is no reason of fear,” she said speaking at a discussion where speakers apprehended that international pressure might jeopardize the trail process.
The minister’s comment came in the backdrop of a recent visit, on an on-arrival visa, by a Turkish delegation, which inspected the war crimes trail procedure, triggering hauls of protest, and media reports that the Turkish President had written to Bangladesh’s President …

Staff Correspondent,  bdnews24.com

Published: 2013-01-17 16:57:25.0 Updated: 2013-01-17 16:57:25.0

Law Minister Shafique Ahmed on Thursday said three of the ongoing cases at the two International Crimes Tribunals are awaiting verdict.
Several prosecutors at the ICTs, led by Chief Prosecutor Ghulam Arieff Tipoo, met the Minister at the Secretariat to inform him on the progress of the ongoing trials.
“The prosecutors have told me that three cases are awaiting verdicts, 11 more are under investigation and 12 other cases are pending at the tribunals,” Ahmed said.
The minister reiterated that no-one will be able to impede the trials.
Several top Jamaat-e-Islami …

Tanim Ahmed,  Assistant Editor

Published: 2013-01-14 13:11:55.0 Updated: 2013-01-14 13:11:55.0

The first war crimes tribunal on Monday rejected six applications of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee saying that they had no merit.

The tribunal also noted that some of the applications had been earlier disposed of.
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 charges on Oct 3, 2011.
The Jamaat executive council member’s defence had prayed that Sayedee’s investigator be recalled for further cross-examination and Sayedee’s 13th defence witness — his son Masood …

Dhaka, Jan 3 (bdnews24.com)– The International Crimes Tribunal-2 on Thursday asked Ahmed Ziauddin, an international law expert living in Belgium, to explain his role over the alleged Skype conversation with former ICT-1 chairman Justice Mohammad Nizamul Huq.
In a suo moto rule, the three-member tribunal headed by Justice Obaidul Hassan also ordered the Brussels-based academic to appear before the Bangladesh mission in Brussels by February 7 to explain under which authority he had interfered in “such a judicial matter”.
Nizamul Huq resigned on Dec 11 after Amar Desh, a BNP-leaning newspaper headed …

Dhaka, Dec 26 (bdnews24.com)—The BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia has alleged that the government was not properly conducting the war crimes trials, which, she said, could be ‘transparent and just ‘.
“The relatives of the prime minister and the people in the government who cooperated with Pakistan should also be tried. Only then will people feel the trials are transparent,” Khaleda Zia told a Gabtoli rally during her party’s ‘mass contact’ campaign.
She also refuted allegations that her party were trying to save the suspected …

Dhaka, Dec 26 (bdnews24.com) — Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir on Wednesday said talks of war crimes trial do not suit BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.
The minister was reacting to a statement of Khaleda at a street rally in the city’s Kawran Bazar, in which she called the minister a ‘Rajakar’.
Addressing the rally as part of her party’s mass contact campaign to strengthen its ongoing anti-government movement and generate public opinion, Khaleda said: “He had continued with his job with the Pakistan government …

Dhaka, Dec 18 (bdnews24.com)—The BNP is set to honour the freedom fighters of the War of Independence in 1971 at a reception in the capital on Wednesday.
The main opposition has invited the war commanders but left out its key ally Jamaat-e-Islami which had opposed the nation’s independence and allegedly tortured, raped and killed Bengalees.
BNP Standing Committee Member Tariqul Islam said Jamaat was not invited. “There is no question of inviting Jamaat-e-Islami to this programme of the freedom fighters.”
His remarks came in the evening …

December 5, 2012
Afsan Chowdhury
Jamaat-e-Islami’s hartal call has offended many, some of them are offended just because it’s Jamaat-e-Islami. This is understandable as this is the party that stood against Bangladesh at birth and played a role against its coming into being. Many now argue that it all happened a long ago and we should forget it but when a war crimes tribunal is on — no matter how it looks — the past is very much about today. The Jamaat-BNP alliance is a fact of life as well and it relates …