Exhibition of photographs on 1971's liberation war begins

Dhaka, 21 December : A three-day exhibition of rare photographs taken during the liberation war by freedom fighter and journalist Haroon Habib began at the National Museum in the city today.
Around 100 photographs are put on display at the photography exhibition titled 'Ekatturer Jatri'. Alongside the exhibition, two seminars will also be held at the National Museum on 22 and 23 December. An album of a total of 88 photographs taken by Haroon Habib and an autobiographical novel by Haroon was also launched. Joya Taher, daughter of Col (retd) Taher, and Nadeem Qadir, son of Col Muhammad Abdul Qadir, a martyr of the liberation war, inaugurated the exhibition.

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Maoist-backed tribals torch CPI(M) leaders' houses
PTI, Kolkata, 21 December : Tribals backed by Maoists today allegedly torched the houses of three CPI(M) leaders at Dahijuri near Jhargram in West Midnapore district.
The police said they destroyed the houses of Amiya Sengupta, CPI(M) district committee member, Hablu Singh, local CPI(M) leader and panchayat samity member and Kajal Pal, a local CPI(M) leader. Sengupta was not at home and the whereabouts of the other two leaders have been unknown, they said. Nearly 2,000 tribals under the banner of People's Committee against Police Atrocities led a rally there, torched the houses and blocked the three jungle roads going to Dahijuri by felling trees, the police said.
The police and joint forces have not been able to enter the village because of the road blockades, the police said.

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'Gorkha' state talks to continue
Subir Bhaumik, BBC News, Kolkata, 21 December : A meeting called by India's government to discuss the creation of a separate state in the tea-producing Darjeeling hills has ended without a breakthrough.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), which is demanding a separate state and fair treatment for Nepali-speaking Gorkhas, has agreed to continue the talks. Its campaign was boosted when ministers said they would allow a new southern state of Telangana earlier this month. Gorkha volunteers ended a protest fast ahead of the talks. READ FULL STORY န Photo : PTI

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Gorkhaland : Bandh evokes mixed response in CoochBehar
Cooch Behar, 21 December : A 24-hour shutdown called by ‘Aamra Bangalee’, a socio-economic-political-cultural organisation in the plains, to protest against the fourth round of tripartite talks on a separate Gorkhaland state as demanded by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), received a mixed response in Cooch Behar district today.
No passenger bus of private operators plied, but a few buses of North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC) were found plying with fewer passengers. Train services, however, did not face any disruption.

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Steps taken to prevent ragging in West Bengal's colleges
Kolkata, 21 December : West Bengal government has initiated steps to prevent ragging in colleges, the state assembly was told today.
Measures had been taken for implementing the directives of the Supreme Court and steps laid down by the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development to prevent ragging in colleges and academic institutions of the state, Higher Education Minister Sudarshan Roy Chowdhury told the assembly in reply to a question.

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BDR mutiny charge-framing in Feni on 24 January
Dhaka, 21 December : A special court in Feni on Monday fixed 24 January next year for framing charges against 62 accused BDR personnel of 19 Rifle Battalion Headquarters under the Comilla Sector in a mutiny case.
All the 62 accused BDR men were produced before the special court no-3 to hold the trial of BDR mutiny at 19 Rifle Battalion Headquarters on 26 February, reports a correspondent from Feni. The BDR has set up six special courts to try the BDR personnel with links to the 25-26 February mutiny at its headquarters in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country under the Bangladesh Rifles Order, 1972. During the 30-minute court proceedings, Prosecutor Lt Col Gazi Mohammad Salauddin, also commanding officer of 19 Rifle Battalion, read out the charges against the accused BDR personnel.
Dagonbhuiyan police filed a case charging the BDR jawans who expressed solidarity with the bloody rebellion in the Pilkhana BDR Headquarters in Dhaka. The accused also allegedly fired blanks and blocked the Feni-Maijdee road on 26 February. The first trial of mutiny started in Rangamati on 24 November, followed by a trial in Satkhira on 7 December.

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Two people killed in police firing in West Midnapore district
Kolkata, 21 December : Two people were killed when security forces opened fire on suspected Maoists at Kalaboni village in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district Sunday night.
A senior police officer said the incident occurred after the joint forces of central paramilitary troopers and state armed police, deployed in the area to flush out the ultras, returned the fire on facing a hail of bullets from the Kalabani jungle, where the securitymen had earlier defused a landmine and rounded up 10 suspected Maoists.

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