Join the Facebook group:United in Grief for the fallen in BDR mutiny, United in seeking just...
February 27, 2009
BDR Mutiny: Today's Updates
Twitter messages to start your day with:TheTravlnAzn: A Minister present at Ambala during talks mentioned that they were aware of the problems in BDR, but didn't see it as a threat.TheTravlnAzn: Also, there are still a number of missing people that were inside the BDR compound that firefighters spent all night looking for.nine_L: Find out who is going to be beneficiary, who had the evil plans. BDR was used by external power they are victims. What a HENIOUS crime!doubtinggaurav: Is it just a BDR mutiny: There’s a second possibility: A faction within...
Bangladesh: Mutiny Is Over, But Question Remains
Check out my piece at Global Voices Online. Some excerpts:Yesterday it was a tensed day in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. The 33-hour long mutiny and siege by aggrieved lower rank officers of paramilitary forces BDR ended as they surrendered their arms in the evening at the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) headquarters. According to news paper reports seventeen BDR members (mostly army officers in command of the forces) and four civilians have been killed. Hostages were freed but 65-100 army officers and lower rank jawans are still missing and most...
February 26, 2009
BDR Mutiny.. Is it over?
The Daily Star reports* BDR surrendered weapon after Prime Minister gave ultimatum in her speech* Police took control of BDR headquarters at 6:40 Bangladesh local time without being challenged.* 12 bodies found; 29 officers rescued* No one could trace the Director General of BDR Shakil Ahmed, his wife and around 50 or more officers who were taken hostage by the mutineers Wednesday morning.* BDR jawans deserted 24 border outposts in Chuadanga, Meherpur and Jhenidah districtsBDNEWS24 reports that talks, not tanks, put mutiny to rest which is a success...
Tracking BDR Rebellion updates via twitter
Follow BDR Mutiny updates on Twitterhttp://tweetgrid.com/grid?l=2&q1=dhaka&q2=bdr&q3=banglad...
BDR Mutiny in Bangladesh.. Continued
Thursday is a fresh day but the mutiny situation is still volatile in BDR headquarters at Peelkhana in Dhaka. The first batch of surrender of arms went on till 4AM in the morning. But the second batch did not start.There are reports of gunfire and unrests in BDR camps across the country. These have reached bdr mutineers and fearing widespread backlash they have stopped surrendering arms. Meanwhile the deadline to surrender arms ends sometime soon.Here...
February 25, 2009
BDR Revolt Updates
First of all check my roundup in Global Voices Online. Update 1:Unheard Voice reports:2AM: Fazle Nur Taposh, Sahara Khatun and the chief of Police went inside BDR compound to start the process of surrendering. Bangladesh TV cameraman has been called inside the BDR compound. 3AM: The jawans have started surrendering arms to Home Minister Advocate Sahara Khatun. The Daily Prothom Alo confirms BDR DG Shakil is dead, more than 15 killed. The officers’ families are getting out through Police ambulance.4AM: Fresh gunshots heard. Its not over yet. 4:10AM...
Trouble in Dhaka: BDR (Border Guards) Mutiny
Updates 2:According to RTV DG of BDR shoot one BDR Jawan in the morning and he was spot dead. Reason is that he was asking for accountability of the Dal Bhat project. Now some backgrounds of this project. In March 2007 BDR started its project Dal Bhat to sell rice, vegetables and other commodities through BDR mobile outlets to bring down their prices. About six months later 200 more outlets were opened to expand their area of sales. 100 was operated directly by the BDR personnel, 50 by the members of the Ansar and 50 outlets by the volunteers...
Berlin from the sky
(Bühne Wuhlheide - Photo courtesy MorgenPost) The winter this year has been intense and there were more cold days in a month than average. Check how Berlin has transformed as seen from the s...
Berlin is going Wi-fi
After years of debate the German parliament paved the way for a free wifi network in Berlin city. The network will be within the S-Bahn-Ring (or the green zone) and will offer free for all surfing. The antennas will be posted on the traffic light posts. Guess I will have to look for the warchalking marks in the street soon.Sony Center, one of the few places in Berlin where there is free wifiStill today free wifi options in Berlin are limited. There...
February 24, 2009
SMS in Bangla
I can read Bangla scripts in my cell phone via the opera mini browser but cannot write in Bangla. BanglaSMS has the solution for me as it offers an opensource program which can be downloaded and installed in my phone. From its website:The software is self-contained. Just install it into your mobile phone and tell your friends to install it and there you go! All the GSM networks like Grameen Phone, Banglalink, Teletalk or Aktel users can use BanglaSMS...
February 22, 2009
Watch live: The OSCARS, 81st Annual Academy Awards
Watch live video from Oscars: The 2009 Academy Awards! on Justin.tv'Slumdog Millionaire' dominates the oscars with 8 Awards including best pictures award. A.R. Rahman got two and Danny Boyle, the director got one. With 'Smile Pinky', another short documentary based in India its India's day with nine awards. Here is the complete li...
Torture And Custodian Death Prohibition Bill 2009
It is about time Bangladesh should do something about the extra judicial killings it has witnessed for many years. Ever since Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) started operating in 2004 to stop spiraling crime, they have made a practice of killing criminal suspects in detention. Torture methods used by the force include beatings, boring holes in suspects with electric drills, and the application of electric shock.Human Rights Watch reported about it several times and they have published a 79 page report on this.The Awami League MP Saber Hossain Chowdhury...
South Asian Rock Music Festival
The second South Asian Bands festival is taking place at Purana Qila in New Delhi, India. 14 rock bands of South Asia are participating in the event. Nepali blogger Salik Shah, who is in New Delhi to attend the WordCamp, was at the festival and shares his reactions about the Bangladeshi band Miles among others:The band that actual stole the show was the Bangladeshi band — Miles. Miles just celebrated their silver anniversary. We could see the reason...
February 21, 2009
Ekushey February
Today is the unforgettable Ekushey February (Bangla Language Movement) which later was recognized as the International Mother Language Day. Watch this splendid presentation of a 23 year old based in London to learn more about it.Ekushey February from Network Bangla on Vimeo.Last year was a remarkable year for Bangla computing as more than 30000 Bangla bloggers have emerged and more Bangla contents reached to many more people with its ever growing online presence across the globe. Some of these bloggers are even making marks in the literary arena.Video...
February 20, 2009
The cost of showing off
Bangladesh Police has a tradition of displaying their catch (like the one above from a file photo of the Daily Star) and showing off the recovered ammunitions and explosives to the press. Today police nabbed one militant and his three female companions of the outlawed Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) at a house in Tongi along with five hand grenades and some bomb-making materials. Later in the day some 100 journalists and police were gathered...
February 17, 2009
Berlin Freeze
'Freeze Berlin' by Flickr user really nothing and used under a creative commons licence.Last Saturday, February 14th, 2009 at 15:00 a flashmob of thousands of people gathered in Berlin Alexanderplatz and stood still for five long minutes.Readers Edition reported that no official reason was known why people just stopped. Nobody demonstrated or questioned each other. It happened spontaneously as planned by corresponding social networking groups in...
February 14, 2009
Books By Bangla Bloggers
(First Published in Global Voices Online)The history of Bangla blogging is relatively short. It was December 2005 when the first Bangla blogging platform was born. But soon more platforms came up and open source development in Bangla input systems eased Bangla computing across the globe and brought more people in blogging. The most encouraging aspect of Bangla blogging is the number of books the Bangla bloggers have published. Farid writes:বাংলা...
February 13, 2009
How To Celebrate Valentine's Day
This year Global Voices presents a terrific idea to celebrate Valentine's Day:Blogging brings joy, happiness and new friends to millions of people. Bloggers in our community have already pledged to teach their friends and loved ones, and will be writing about it in their own blogs on Valentines Day. You can sign it too… Think for a moment about the people in your life. Share this gift with you family, friends, readers and sweethearts - and tell us...
February 07, 2009
In search of the rodents
From BBC News:A farmer from north Bangladesh has been named the country's top rat killer after disposing of 39,650 rodents over the course of a year.Binoy Kumar Karmakar, 40, won a 14in (36cm) colour TV in the government-backed competition to find the most prolific rat killer.He used traps, poison and flooding to kill his quarry. He collected their tails as proof of his prowess.His kill-rate was equivalent to one every 13 minutes, officials s...
Busy Days
It is said that people usually are the happiest at home. The past week proved somewhat different for me. I was just going through the motions, trying to avoid numerous dawaats (treats) by relatives. You know the drill, cousin treats us for lunch at home and uncle treats us for dinner in a restaurant and you see the same faces all over again. I was struggling to find time to meet even few from my long list of friends or do something elsse.But I should...
February 01, 2009
More images from Dhaka
Chinese Kite Festival at Charukala InstituteThe kites were in all shapes and forms and very colorful Used books on display for sale on the walls of Charukala InstituteSome rare glimpses of green in the ever transforming DhakaChobi Mela V at National MuseumOverflow of people on to the street from a mosque during Juma prayer on Frid...
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