News

Kakrail Mosque: School for Bombers
Finally, the tiring weeks of searching for possible bombers and anything related to the bombing incidents are paying off. However, last week it was revealed that the capital's Kakrail Mosque, widely regarded as the fulcrum of Tablig Jamaat, had been used to train the militants how to switch on the bombs that rocked the country on August 17, according to an arrested militant.
JMB cadre Faisal Ahmed, who was arrested in Tangail a couple of weeks ago, confessed that he and three other Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) operatives were assigned to detonate a bomb at Rajarbagh Police Lines. They stayed at the mosque for four days leading up to the serial blasts and took the necessary training to operate a time bomb. It seems that Faisal and the other members were taken to the Kakrail Mosque by JMB leader Uzzal.
The story unfolds as Faisal informed that the chief of the militant group Abdur Rahman and his younger brother Ataur Rahman alias Sunny had briefed a group of JMB members on jihad in Kalihati of Tangail after Eid-ul Azha in last January.
A mere child of class VIII of Balla Madrasa in Tangail, he also told Magistrate Nani Gopal Biswas that Shoeb of his village had persuaded him to join JMB in 2004.
"Now I can feel what I have done is wrong," Faisal told reporters, coming out of the court. He said he still would not dare to disobey his leaders, as the consequence would be dreadful. It seems that he would never make it to heaven if he does not take part in jihad.

Khulna 'Mastermind'
Freed on Farcical ground
On September 23 the police released Abdul Hakim Gazi, a senior teacher of Saint Joseph High School, who was arrested as the 'mastermind' behind the August 17 serial bomb blasts in Khulna, on condition that he would help them arrest six local bombers. He was arrested at his house in Batighata the night before.
According to newspaper reports six Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) cadres manufactured around 60 bombs at their rented house of Hakim, carried out blasts in Khulna and went into hiding. And on top of that, the police seized some paper cartons, cotton yarn, electric wire, some power explosives, jagged fragments of marble and JMB booklets from his house. If the reports and the seized articles are to be taken seriously, Hakim's release seems like a farce played out by the police. However, the officer in-charge of the Batighata has a rebuttal, he says, "Though Hakim is released on a condition, he has been asked not to leave his house without permission." He also added that Hakim will be in constant surveillance and would be taken into custody at any time for necessary legal action.
The law enforcement authorities are also showing a clear sign of dillydallying with other suspected 'masterminds'. Detectives picked up Dr Liakat Ali, medical officer of Mongla Port Hospital, twice in the last three weeks suspecting his connection with the blasts, sources in the Detective Branch of the police said.

Busted Mortuary
Fridge
Over a month has passed since the only mortuary refrigerator at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) morgue has been out of order. Not only is it difficult to conduct autopsies and practical classes of the medical students, the cadavers are kept open in the mortuary corridors at present, giving the surrounding a thick stench. The fan inside the refrigerator needs to be replaced at a cost of Tk 1200, but due to a lot of paper work, the refrigerator remains dead for an indefinite time. Unidentified dead bodies are usually kept in the refrigerator for 48-72 hours for the relatives to claim. But the out-of-order refrigerator has now forced the authorities to wait for just 24 hours before giving away the dead bodies to the Anjuman Mofidul Islam, a charity, for burial. An assistant professor of the DMC Forensic Medicine Department, wishing to stay anonymous, also claimed that faced severe problems while conducting practical classes. "Besides, conducting autopsy has also become a very hard task now. If the bodies are not well-preserved, forensic experts have to toil harder and need more time to carry out the autopsy," he added. The World Health Organisaton (WHO) donated the eight-drawer refrigerator worth Tk 28 lakh to the DMCH in 1992.

Copyright (R) thedailystar.net 2005