Eminent individuals call for an immediate stop to the ongoing violence in the country to create a congenial atmosphere for dialogue in the interest of peace and prosperity

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police yesterday rewarded three Chhatra League leaders with Tk 50,000 for catching a Chhatra Dal leader who were fleeing after blasting crude bombs in Bakshibazar on January 7.

Ministers and senior leaders of the Awami League-led 14-party alliance yesterday launched a broadside against civil society members for making efforts to hold a national dialogue.

Many people these days talk about holding dialogue with Begum Zia, but what would they do if Begum Zia misbehaved with them as she did with me? The so-called intellectuals would not go to her for a second time if she behaved with them in such a manner.

Many grassroots Awami League leaders want an effective dialogue with the BNP for the political turmoil to end, as they think administrative measures alone cannot resolve the crisis.

It was the death in a plane crash of Rwandan President Habyarimana, in April 1994, that triggered the vicious killings between the Hutus and Tutsis. The world shuddered at the horror, and the ordinary people of Rwanda suffered immeasurably at the hands of the killers from both tribes, quick to take advantage of the situation.

Nagorik Samaj, a platform of civil society members, yesterday sent three separate letters to the president, prime minister and the BNP chairperson, requesting them to take good initiative for holding a national dialogue to resolve the ongoing political crisis. The letters were signed by former chief election commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda on behalf of Nagorik Samaj. The letters mentioned the outcome of a views-exchange meeting of people from different professions held at Engineers' Institute on February 7. The meeting had adopted a resolution on holding “national dialogue to resolve national crisis”. Proposals of the meeting were also sent separately along with the letters.

Civil society members only offer advice. They are like a cancer on the society. This parasite … the cancer named civil society must be uprooted from the society.”

The ongoing political unrest wiped out as much as 70 percent of retail sales across the country in the last one month, pushing many medium and small retailers to the brink of closing their businesses.

Businesspeople took to the streets all over the country yesterday, denouncing the ongoing violence that claimed at least 68 lives and inflicted serious damage on the economy in the last one month.

We thank those who cut off the phone and internet connections to Khaleda Zia's office.

A Dhaka court yesterday asked Gulshan police to investigate the charges against Khaleda Zia and three others in connection with the killing of 42 people during the non-stop blockade enforced by the BNP-led alliance.