Latest news with #JahangirnagarUniversity


Hans India
13-07-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
BNP, Yunus administration equally responsible: Dhaka students protest over trader's brutal murder
Dhaka: Students in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, held a torch procession and rally on the campus of Jahangirnagar University (JU) to demand justice for a trader who was brutally murdered recently. The students expressed their frustration, stating that last year's protest in July was ineffective, as criminal activities have continued to rise even after a change in power, according to local media reports on Sunday. The protest followed the gruesome murder of Lal Chand, also known as Sohag, a 39-year-old scrap trader from Old Dhaka. The protestors condemned recent incidents of violence across the country, including killings and attacks driven by political and religious tensions, reported the leading Bangladeshi daily, The Dhaka Tribune. The demonstration was organised under the banner of Jahangirnagar Against Repression. The torch rally began Saturday at 8:30 p.m. from the base of the university's Shaheed Minar and moved through several parts of the campus before culminating at BotTala, where a protest rally was held. Various student leaders and activists took part in the protest, voicing anger over what they described as a worsening human rights situation in the South Asian nation, despite the Muhhamad Yunus-led interim government assuming power. Yunus administration promised to bring reforms after the July protests led to the ouster of the democratically elected government under former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. However, since then, the law and order situation has further worsened in Bangladesh. Sajib Ahmed Jenich, organiser of the Socialist Student Front (Marxist), JU unit, said during the rally: "Even after the interim government has taken charge, we still have to protest against enforced disappearances, murders, rapes and extrajudicial killings. This is deeply shameful for the nation." He also directly linked the killing of Sohag to the failure of state institutions to act against politically protected criminals. "When a murder isn't acknowledged as a crime and attempts are made to downplay it, criminals feel emboldened to commit more. Sohag was murdered over extortion; that responsibility lies not only with BNP but also equally with the current interim government," he said. During the rally, one of the students protesting told The Dhaka Tribune, "After killing a man, they are jumping on his dead body to show their power. They think it's just another political incident. Can they confidently say that tomorrow they or their family members won't be killed by extortionists? If not, they must realise where we stand now, a year after the July uprising. The horror we lived through last July has only intensified. We did not see any meaningful results from that movement." Earlier this week, Sohag was brutally murdered in broad daylight near the gate of Sir Salimullah Medical College, Mitford Hospital. Witnesses reported that he was dragged from his shop, beaten with iron rods and chunks of concrete, and left lifeless on the street as passersby looked on in shock. The students at JU vowed to continue their protests, demanding justice for Sohag and all victims of politically motivated and communal violence across the country.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Yahoo
Leopard attack clip shot in India, not Bangladesh
"Human fight with leopard at Lakshmipur brick kiln," reads a Bengali-language Facebook post from June 28, 2025, referring to a coastal district in Bangladesh's Chittagong division (archived link). The accompanying clip shows a man arm-wrestling a big cat while a crowd hurls stones and bricks from a distance. The video circulated with similar claims elsewhere on Facebook after a leopard was spotted in Chittagong Hill Tracts, raising hopes among conservationists (archived link). Leopards are listed as vulnerable as a species globally, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, but critically endangered in the South Asian country of more than 170 million people, warning its population may no longer be viable. Previous reports of the elusive cats had been based on paw prints and fleeting sightings in the forest, according to a zoologist Monirul Khan from Jahangirnagar University. A reverse search of keyframes on Google found the video in a report from Indian news outlet NDTV on June 25, 2025 (archived link). "Man fights leopard bare-handed in Lakhimpur Kheri," the clip's text overlay says, referring to district in India's Uttar Pradesh megastate that has a similar-sounding name to Lakshmipur in Bangladesh. People in the video are heard shouting in Hindi. Several Indian media organisations reported the incident and featured similar visuals (archived here and here). An officer at Uttar Pradesh's forest department confirmed the incident occurred in Lakhimpur Kheri, in a brick kiln in Baburi village. "Villagers alerted the forest department, leading to the leopard's swift tranquilisation and transfer to forest department's treatment centre," forest ranger Rajesh Dixit told AFP on July 8. "Some forest officials also sustained injuries during this operation."


Gulf Today
25-06-2025
- Health
- Gulf Today
Dengue fever impacts climate-hit Bangla coast
Mosquito-borne dengue fever was rarely a major problem in Bangladesh's coastal districts, but some hospitals are so full of those with the potentially deadly virus that patients are treated on the floor. As climate change drives erratic weather patterns, experts point to a dire lack of clean drinking water in the wider delta —where the snaking Brahmaputra and Ganges rivers reach the sea — as a likely driving force for the surge. Rakibul Islam Rajan said his two-year-old daughter keeps searching for her mother, Azmeri Mona Lisa Zareen, who died of dengue in early June in the southern region of Barisal. 'Zareen developed high fever... her blood pressure collapsed -- and then she couldn't breathe,' said 31-year-old Rajan. 'Our daughter keeps searching for her from one room to another'. In the worst cases, intense viral fevers trigger bleeding, internally or from the mouth and nose. Barisal has recorded nearly half of the 7,500 dengue cases across Bangladesh this year, according to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR). Five people have died there this year with dengue fever, out of 31 deaths recorded across the entire country of some 170 million people. Numbers are still far below the deadly outbreak of 2023, when more than 1,700 people died across the South Asian nation, and more than 200,000 were infected. In the Barisal district of Barguna, the hospital is packed full. Barisal health chief Shyamol Krishna Mondal said it was the 'worst we've seen'. Barguna's 250-bed public hospital was coping with more than 200 dengue patients. 'We couldn't even offer beds,' Mondal said. 'They are getting treatment while lying on the floor.' Kabirul Bashar, an expert on disease at Jahangirnagar University, said a lack of clean water was 'one of the major reasons'. People store rainwater in containers, exactly the conditions mosquitoes love. 'The water distribution system is almost absent,' Bashar said. While a lack of clean water is a long-running problem, climate change is making it worse. Rising seas driven by climate change threaten swathes of low-lying Bangladesh, with increasing numbers of powerful storms bringing seawater further inland, turning wells and lakes salty, according to government scientists. Agence France-Presse

Kuwait Times
24-06-2025
- Health
- Kuwait Times
Deadly dengue fever impacts climate-hit Bangladesh coast
DHAKA: Mosquito-borne dengue fever was rarely a major problem in Bangladesh's coastal districts, but some hospitals are so full of those with the potentially deadly virus that patients are treated on the floor. As climate change drives erratic weather patterns, experts point to a dire lack of clean drinking water in the wider delta - where the snaking Brahmaputra and Ganges rivers reach the sea - as a likely driving force for the surge. Rakibul Islam Rajan said his two-year-old daughter keeps searching for her mother, Azmeri Mona Lisa Zareen, who died of dengue in early June in the southern region of Barisal. 'Zareen developed high fever... her blood pressure collapsed - and then she couldn't breathe,' said 31-year-old Rajan. 'Our daughter keeps searching for her from one room to another'. In the worst cases, intense viral fevers trigger bleeding, internally or from the mouth and nose. Barisal has recorded nearly half of the 7,500 dengue cases across Bangladesh this year, according to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR). Five people have died there this year with dengue fever, out of 31 deaths recorded across the entire country of some 170 million people. Numbers are still far below the deadly outbreak of 2023, when more than 1,700 people died across the South Asian nation, and more than 200,000 were infected. In the Barisal district of Barguna, the hospital is packed full. Barisal health chief Shyamol Krishna Mondal said it was the 'worst we've seen'. Barguna's 250-bed public hospital was coping with more than 200 dengue patients. 'We couldn't even offer beds,' Mondal said. 'They are getting treatment while lying on the floor.' Kabirul Bashar, an expert on disease at Jahangirnagar University, said a lack of clean water was 'one of the major reasons'. People store rainwater in containers, exactly the conditions mosquitoes love. 'The water distribution system is almost absent,' Bashar said. 'Vulnerability is soaring' While a lack of clean water is a long-running problem, climate change is making it worse. Rising seas driven by climate change threaten swathes of low-lying Bangladesh, with increasing numbers of powerful storms bringing seawater further inland, turning wells and lakes salty, according to government scientists. Changing weather patterns, making once predictable rains uncertain, adds to the challenge - with people storing rainwater when they can. But Mushtuq Husain, a public health expert and adviser at IEDCR, said that the plentiful water storage pots also provided perfect mosquito breeding sites. 'We can't allow water stagnation anywhere - that should be the rule of thumb, but it's not happening,' he said. 'The vulnerability is soaring because of the high temperatures and erratic rainfall, which are conducive to mosquito breeding.' Bangladesh has recorded cases of dengue since the 1960s but documented its first outbreak of dengue haemorrhagic fever, a severe and sometimes fatal form of the disease, in 2000. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that dengue and other mosquito-borne viruses are spreading faster and further due to climate change. About half of the world's population is now at risk of dengue, with an estimated 100 to 400 million infections occurring each year, and many of those causing only mild illness, according to the WHO. Rajan, mourning his wife, worries that there will be more deaths to come, accusing local authorities of failing to stem mosquitoes. 'Dengue has taken her,' he said of his late wife. 'I don't know how many more are in the queue... but I don't see enough cleanup activities.' — AFP


The Star
24-06-2025
- Health
- The Star
Deadly dengue fever impacts climate-hit Bangladesh coast
Dengue patients, along with their family members, are pictured at a hospital in Barguna in southern Bangladesh on June 22, 2025. - Photo: AFP DHAKA: Mosquito-borne dengue fever was rarely a major problem in Bangladesh's coastal districts, but some hospitals are so full of patients with the potentially deadly virus that some are treated on the floor. As climate change drives erratic weather patterns, experts point to a dire lack of clean drinking water in the wider delta – where the snaking Brahmaputra and Ganges rivers reach the sea – as a likely driving force for the surge. Rakibul Islam Rajan said his two-year-old daughter keeps searching for her mother, Azmeri Mona Lisa Zareen, who died of dengue in early June in the southern region of Barisal. 'Zareen developed high fever... her blood pressure collapsed – and then she couldn't breathe,' said Rajan, 31. 'Our daughter keeps searching for her from one room to another'. In the worst cases, intense viral fevers trigger bleeding, internally or from the mouth and nose. Barisal has recorded nearly half of the 7,500 dengue cases across Bangladesh this year, according to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research. Five people have died there in 2025 with dengue fever, out of 31 deaths recorded across the entire country of some 170 million people. Numbers are still far below the deadly outbreak of 2023, when more than 1,700 people died across the South Asian nation, and more than 200,000 were infected. In the Barisal district of Barguna, the hospital is packed full. Barisal health chief Shyamol Krishna Mondal said it was the 'worst we've seen'. Barguna's 250-bed public hospital was coping with more than 200 dengue patients. 'We couldn't even offer beds,' Dr Mondal said. 'They are getting treatment while lying on the floor.' Prof Kabirul Bashar, an expert on disease at Jahangirnagar University, said a lack of clean water was 'one of the major reasons'. People store rainwater in containers, exactly the conditions mosquitoes love. 'The water distribution system is almost absent,' Prof Bashar said. 'Vulnerability is soaring' While a lack of clean water is a long-running problem, climate change is making it worse. Rising seas driven by climate change threaten swathes of low-lying Bangladesh, with increasing numbers of powerful storms bringing seawater further inland, turning wells and lakes salty, according to government scientists. Changing weather patterns, making once predictable rains uncertain, adds to the challenge – with people storing rainwater when they can. But Dr Mushtuq Husain, a public health expert and adviser at IEDCR, said that the plentiful water storage pots also provided the perfect mosquito breeding sites. 'We can't allow water stagnation anywhere – that should be the rule of thumb, but it's not happening,' he said. 'The vulnerability is soaring because of the high temperatures and erratic rainfall, which are conducive to mosquito breeding.' Bangladesh has recorded cases of dengue since the 1960s but documented its first outbreak of dengue haemorrhagic fever, a severe and sometimes fatal form of the disease, in 2000. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that dengue and other mosquito-borne viruses are spreading faster and further due to climate change. About half of the world's population is now at risk of dengue, with an estimated 100 to 400 million infections occurring each year, and many of those causing only mild illness, according to the WHO. Rajan, mourning his wife, worries that there will be more deaths to come, accusing the local authorities of failing to stem mosquitoes. 'Dengue has taken her,' he said of his late wife. 'I don't know how many more are in the queue... but I don't see enough clean-up activities.' - AFP