Strong quake shakes country

A magnitude-6.8 earthquake shook most parts of the country along with the capital for over a minute today evening.

Television reports, however, said shattered window panes of different high-rises in the capital fell on the ground.

People gripped by panic rushed to the streets from their offices and residences and called loved ones after the tremor started at around 6:45pm.

There were no immediate reports of casualties and the duration of the quake was not known instantly.

The epicentre of the quake was 490km northwest of Agargaon Met office in Dhaka, an official said.

Reports of tremor came from Manikganj, Gazipur, Kishoreganj, Khulna, Chittagong and Rajshahi.

The quake also hit northern India on Sunday, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage to buildings, reports news agency Reuters.

The US Geological Survey said on its website the quake was centred 64 km north west of Gangtok, in Sikkim. It was 10 km deep.

Tareque Masud and Mishuk Munier killed in a tragic road accident

Noted filmmaker Tareque Masud, media personality Ashfaque Munier Mishuk and three others died yesterday in a fatal road crash on Dhaka-Aricha highway in Manikganj, sending shockwaves through the nation.

Tareque's wife Catherine Masud, painter Dhali Al Mamun, his wife Dilara Zaman Jolly and film production staff Saidul Islam were injured in the accident. They are now receiving treatment at the Square Hospital in the capital. The wounded are now out of danger, said Syed Modasser Ali, health adviser to the prime minister.

The microbus carrying the team to Manikganj town collided head-on with a bus on the Dhaka-Aricha highway at Ghior in the afternoon. The team was on its way to meet the Manikganj deputy commissioner for permission to shoot for Tareque's latest project “Kagojer Phool” after visiting a shooting spot in Shibalaya upazila. Police found the bus 40-50 yards off the spot.

Film production crew Wasim and Jamal, and microbus driver Mostafizur Rahman are among the dead. Bodies of Tareque Masud and Chief Executive Officer of ATN News Ashfaque Munier, popularly known as Mishuk Munier, would be taken to the Central Shaheed Minar at 10:30am today for people to pay last respects, said Nasiruddin Yusuf Bachchu, president of Sammilita Sangskritik Jote.

Body of Mishuk will be brought to ATN News office at Karwan Bazar at 10:00am today, reported the private television station. Their bodies were kept at the mortuary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.

Rois Uddin, officer-in-charge of Ghior Police Station, told The Daily Star that a Chuadanga-bound bus from Dhaka collided with the microbus travelling to Manikganj town in Joka area at about 12:15pm.

The bus left Dhaka with nearly 50 passengers after 10:30am. It was travelling at high speed when it hit the microbus coming from the opposite direction, said several passengers of the bus.

“The passengers told us that they could hardly see anything outside as it was raining heavily at that time,” said Noor-e-Alam, assistant superintendent of police of Shibalaya Circle.

The driver did not slow down the bus even before taking a left-turn in Joka area. It hit the microbus at high speed after travelling about 10 yards from the turn. Half of the microbus was smashed on impact.

“I saw five bodies tangled in the wreckage. The wounded were trying to crawl out of it,” said 70-year-old Bomkesh Sarker, who lives just 15 yards off the scene. Locals rushed there to rescue the victims and one of them informed police about the incident.

Catherine Masud, painter Dhali Al Mamun and his wife Dilara Zaman were whisked off to Manikganj Sadar Hospital at about 12:45pm. They were later taken to the Square Hospital in the capital.

The five bodies were first taken to Manikganj Sadar Hospital morgue at 2:00pm and then to Dhaka Medical College morgue around 6:00pm.

Bodies of Wasim, Jamal and Mostafizur have been handed over to their respective families, mentioned Nasiruddin Yusuf Bachchu.

The bus driver left the vehicle with passengers 40-50 yards off the spot after the accident. “The bus staff fled the scene leaving the vehicle,” said Noor-e-Alam. Police seized the bus and took it to Borongail police outpost.

The bus driver, Jamir Uddin, is from Daulatdiar village in Chuadanga, reports our Kushtia correspondent. Bus owner Mujibul Haque Khokon said Jamir has been driving bus for three decades and working for him for the last two years.

Khokon claimed that he lost contact with Jamir after the accident. “If I manage to contact Jamir, I'll ask him to surrender,” he said.

Meanwhile, President Zillur Rahman, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia, and leaders of socio-cultural organisations expressed deep shock at the deaths.

BNP Lawmakers beaten badly by police on first day of strike

The police attacked lawmakers and activist of the opposition BNP and its allies in Dhaka and elsewhere on the first day of their 48-hour general strike on Wednesday amid continued arrest of leaders and activists and imprisonment in trial by mobile courts for their suspected involvement in picketing. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party said that 400 activists, including the party’s former lawmakers Quamruddin Ehiya Khan Majlish and Nure Ara Safa, had been arrested at places across the country. Eighty of them were arrested in the capital.

The police attacked about 30 BNP lawmakers on Manik Miah Avenue as the strike began. The leaders were headed for the party’s central office at Naya Paltan about 7:00am under leadership of the opposition chief whip Zainul Abedin Faruque.

The lawmakers said that when they walking down the road, a team of policemen, led by Harun-or-Rashid, additional deputy commissioner of the Tejgaon zone, suddenly started abusing them, which led to an altercation.

The police then attacked the opposition chief whip as Harun shouted ‘action,’ the lawmakers added.

Policemen in riot gear beat Farroque with truncheons, tore off his polo shirt and kicked him down on the ground.

As he tried to escape, the police chased him to the lawmakers’ apartments, captured him in the garage of a building and severely beat him again, the lawmakers said.

The injured Farroque was taken to the flat of lawmaker Syeda Ashifa Ashrafi Papiya and then admitted to the intensive care unit in United Hospital at Gulshan.

‘They kicked me down on the ground. I got injured in the head and the leg. You can still see the stains of blood on the floor of the garage of this building,’ Farroque said when he was staying in Papiya’s house.

The ICU in-charge in United Hospital, Asif Mahmud, said that Farroque was taken to the ICU after an operation.

‘He has injuries overall the body, especially in the legs. The legs have swollen. He feels acute pain in the head and at knee-joints. He is also suffering from respiratory problems,’ Mahmud said.

Harun-or-Rashid, who was a member on the Chhatra League central committee headed by Bahadur Bepari told, ‘As I saw him about to attack a vehicle, I grabbed him by the collar and asked him “Why are you doing this, Sir?” and he pushed me down.’

‘Then there was a scuffle. And I also got injured. I am now admitted to Police Hospital at Rajarbagh,’ he said, brushing aside the allegation of launching an attack on Farroque.

The BNP lawmakers planned to lay siege to the office of the speaker and lodge a complaint with him but later dropped the plan as Farroque needed to be sent to hospital. They later lodged a complaint with the speaker in the evening when the session was on.

The police picked up former lawmaker Nure Ara Safa, also the president of Jatiyatabadi Mahila Dal, and seven others at noon from Mohakhali when she was leading a procession.