Bangladesh – Page 6 – Adnan's Den

Voter List is in Web

For the first time Bangladesh Election Commission has published a web site containing the complete list of all voters of the country. Any one can access the site through internet. To access the information one has to provide the 17 digits PIN (printed in the back of the slip which was given after taking photograph), birth information (format has been given) and a verification code (printed on below). Take a look on the screen shot I’ve given below.

Main disappointment is there is no link of this site in the Bangladesh Election Commission’s website. As BEC is manipulating this process it is common sense that there should be a link to the Voter List site. Another drawback is that if any information is incorrect then there is no option to make it correct, except a text field which is used for Comments purpose. Probably they put the box to get message from the user for any inconvenience or mistakes. In my case, I saw some severe mistakes and I used the Comment Box to send them feedback about the mistakes. But it has been more than 10 days that I saw the informations were unmodified. I still don’t know how to resolve this.

The bright side is, the whole site is build in Bangla Language. So people will feel comfort to use the site. They also provide the Bangla font that will be required to view the page. Overall Bangladesh is advanced to the recent technical world another step. Hope the site developers will take necessary steps to make the site more matured by giving the users option to make correction in their information. Whatever this is, it is indeed a great job!

Ijtema cut short for biting-chilly weather

In an unprecedented incident, the three-day Biswa Ijtema, ostensibly the second largest yearly congregation of the Muslims, on the bank of Turag River at Tongi was cut short on its inaugural day yesterday due to an inclement weather that had caused deaths of at least three pilgrims. The akheri munajat or the concluding prayers of this year’s ijtema started at 7:55pm ending at 8:15pm yesterday instead of its schedule tomorrow. [The Daily Star; Saturday, January 26, 2008]

For the last two days life in Dhaka as well as else where in Bangladesh is disrupting with chilly wind and drizzles. This includes a foggy and cloudy weather through out the country. Due to this cold spell and inclement weather, the lowest temperature in Dhaka was 15.3 degrees. The difference of minimum and maximum temperature in Dhaka was only 2.4 degrees Celsius.

And yesterday was the beginning of the IJTEMA, second largest religious congregation of the Muslims after hajj, begins today on the bank of the river Turag. This year due to the political stability of Bangladesh, at least three million people from about 58 countries were expected to join. Ijtema plays a significant role in rapid dissemination of Islamic ideals and lessons of the Quran and Sunnah across the globe. Usually Ijtema holds for three days. The last day is known as AAKHERI MUNAZAT’s DAY. In the last day all the Muslims regardless scholars and ordinary people, pray to Allah (the Almighty) for establishing universal peace and strengthening unity, solidarity and fraternity in the Muslim world.

Devotees at the Biswa Ijtema ground use plastic sheets to take cover from the drizzle. The poor conditions led to the congregation’s abrupt end last night. Photo: Anisur Rahman

But the inclement weather wrapped up the whole congregation. The canopies and mats used in Ijtema grounds were damaged in the rain. The devotees collected polythene as an alternative since they were cost-effective. Many of the elderly devotees had to take shelter at various mosques and other places adjacent to the Ijtema ground. But yesterday, after evening the drizzles were turned into rain which made the authorities taking the decision of winding up Ijtema on its inaugural day, considering the sufferings of several lakh pilgrims in a bitter cold weather.

Regarding this, my opinion is that government should take necessary steps to build permanent buildings there on Ijtema ground with the help of the other Muslim countries. As it is obvious that Ijtema will be held in Bangladesh in the upcoming years like the former years, government should provide the devotees with facilities of brick-built cabins instead of canopies. It is a great issue as many Muslims scholars from around the worlds come Bangladesh only for joining Ijtema. So, I think other Muslim countries will come forward to help Bangladesh in this regard.

LabAid Cardiac Hospital – Reality Bites!

Today while I was surfing the WORDPRESS tags (which I often do), I found several post regarding LabAid under the tag Bangladesh. And all of them indicating the dark side of LabAid. That made me curious, why on earth people abhoring LabAid so much. I personally didn’t get any chance to be acquaintanced with LabAid, so I had no idea what services actually they served. For those who don’t have any idea about LabAid, it is a cardiac hospital in Bangladesh. On television they broadcast an aesthetic advertise which surely convince any patient enough to get admitted to LabAid. Watching that ad on TV anyone can be persuaded that LabAid is the #1 cardiac hospital in Bangladesh. But the articles posted in WORDPRESS, redefined LabAid from a completely new angle. They take more than a handsome amount of money as their SERVICE charge, but if it is their SERVICE then where the word HUMANITY will hide itself?

To read the full article please click here. To read posts on other blogs of WORDPRESS regarding LabAid click here.

New7Wonders of Nature: Bangladesh is in Top

When I am writing this post (January3, 2008; 11:37 am) the top two places of New 7 Wonders of Nature Nominees are held by Bangladesh. Cox’s Bazaar is in 1st place and Sundarban is in 2nd place. [source] Thanks to all of you, who made this possible.

All my readers are familiar with the page Vote Cox’s Bazaar and ShundorBon of my blog from October 2007. Before creating that page I prepared a poster for supporting Cox’s Bazaar and Sundarban for New7Wonders of Nature Nominees and placed that on my personal website. When I first involved myself with this campaign, I had never imagine that Bangladesh will be the top listed after several months. Of course it is our credit to show the world that what we can do. Thanks to all the Bangladeshi and people from other countries who made this possible.

Now onward, the task is more difficult. We’ve to make sure that Bangladesh will held her position in the top list. So people keep casting your vote for Cox’s Bazaar and Sundarban. It is our duty to keep Bangladesh in the top of the list of the nominees.

Annoying SMSs from Mobile Operators

Let’s start with a story of an alien. The alien was very much excited about his new findings on a trip to Earth. “The people on Earth no longer talk to each other using their mouths,” it reports; “They now communicate with their fingers by typing into a tiny toy.” Like the other countries, SMS (Short Message Service) became more popular than the voice call in Bangladesh when the mobile operators first lunched the SMS concept.

Sometimes SMS from a friend will make you laugh or SMS from family can give you a warm comfort. SMS can lighten your moments or can give you a sudden relief. SMS from a dear one is always welcome. But what about SMS from the mobile operators themselves? Several months ago, mobile operators used the SMS service for promoting their new services. Number of SMSs sent by the operators at that time were about 5-or-6 sms/month. This number has been tremendously increased within last few months. In our home, we are using mobile services from two operators: GrameenPhone and AKTEL. In my GrameenPhone contact number, I receive almost 4 sms/day whereas AKTEL sends about 2-3 sms/day on an average. So if I receive say 7 sms/day, about 50% of that is sent by the operators themselves!

These things (to receiving operator’s SMSs) were boring before, now it becomes disturbing. And the operators are not bother this disturbances. Every time my cell gives me a SMS alert and after opening the SMS, I find that it is another promotion or advertisement of one of their new services. Now it seems torture to me. You like it or not, you have to read their SMS, at least you’ve to open it! Can’t they stop this type of rubbish activity? If they want to advertise their services they can use the media. I am pretty sure about their solvency of doing that. Why are they tormenting us? By the way I am not sure, whether only I am suffering from this disturbance or everybody like me is also suffering?

16th December: The Victory Day

Celebrate the 37th anniversary of Bangladesh’s glorious Victory Day. On this occusion, please uphold the spirit of liberation, secularism and democracy as opposed to autocracy, theocracy and/or any closed system that hinder peoples progress.

Pakistan’s Lt. Gen A. A. K. Niazi signs the instrument of surrender on December 16, surrendering his forces to Lt. Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora representing the Mitro Bahini.

As a Bangladeshi I sincerely believe that dream of the three million martyrs and the two hundred thousand women victims shall not be perished and Bangladesh will find her place as a dignified, democratic and secular country in the history. We are waiting for a brighter future.

Victory Day greetings to all my readers and friends.

Dhaka Re-defined

I’ve never seen Dhaka from this view angle before. Thanks to Mr. Rajesh Barua for sharing these stunning photos of Dhaka city. After seeing these photographs, I have to admit that I did not take a close look to Dhaka before. The city is so much beautiful. The first one was taken from the Kaarwan Bazaar SAARC fountain and the second one is Khilgaon Flyover. The third one is most probably from the junction of Dhanmondi 1 and Science Laboratory. And the fourth one is from Dhanmondi Lake, one of my most favourite tranquil place of Dhaka.

Veneration to the Heroes of the Nation.

Martyred Intellectuals’ Memorial Monument, Mirpur, Dhaka.

14th December, the Martyred Intellectuals Day. The intellectuals of Bangladesh were brutally killed a couple of days before the final victory of the Liberation War in 1971. Pakistani military aided by their local collaborators (known as Razakaars) most notably the Al-Badr and Al-Shams, systematically executed over 200 of East Pakistan’s (formar name of Bangladesh) intellectuals and scholars. Professors, journalists, doctors, artists, engineers, and writers were rounded up in Dhaka, blindfolded, taken to torture cells in Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Nakhalpara, Rajarbagh and other locations in different sections of the city and executed en masse, most notably at Rayerbazar and Mirpur.

Our history can’t be fulfilled without them. They were the brightest sons of Bangladesh who died for the freedom of our motherland. We’ll never forget them. They’ll exist in our heart as long as Bangladesh exists. They are our hero.