After Hadi, another Bangladesh student leader shot in head
Dhaka (PTI): Unidentified gunmen on Monday shot in the head Motaleb Shikder, a second leader of Bangladesh’s violent student-led 2024 uprising.
The attack took place in southwestern Khulna city, days after the killing of prominent youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi.
"The Khulna Division head of NCP (National Citizen Party) and central coordinator of the party’s workers front, Motaleb Shikder, was shot a few minutes ago," NCP’s joint principal coordinator Mahmuda Mitu said in a Facebook post.
Mitu, a doctor, said Shikder was rushed to Khulna Medical College Hospital in a critical condition.
The Kaler Kantha newspaper, quoting hospital sources, said Shikder was shot on the left side of his head, and he was bleeding profusely when he was brought to the facility, where the doctors started emergency treatment.
The attack came days after Hadi, a prominent leader of the student-led protests last year that led to the ouster of the prime minister Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government, was shot in the head on December 12 by masked gunmen at an election campaign in central Dhaka’s Bijoynagar area.
The 32-year-old Inqilab Mancha spokesperson died while undergoing treatment in Singapore on Thursday. Hadi was a candidate for the scheduled February 12 general elections.
The interim government of Muhammad Yunus staged a nationwide mourning for Hadi’s death on Saturday and said no stone would be left unturned to track down his killers as violence erupted in Dhaka and other major cities afresh over the attack and subsequent death.
Faisal Karim Masud's parents, wife and a female friend of the prime suspect have been arrested by police, but said they were unsure about his current whereabouts.
After Monday’s clandestine attack on Shikder in Khulna city’s Majid Sarani area, police said they were yet at dark about the attack perpetrators or motive but launched an “immediate manhunt” for their arrest.
Local police station chief Animesh Mondal, however, informed reporters that Khulna Medical College Hospital (KMCH) authorities now shifted Shikder to its City Imaging Centre to pinpoint the state of his injury.
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Only conditional permission given for cricket matches at Chinnaswamy Stadium: Minister
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Sunday said permission to host cricket matches at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium has been granted only on a conditional basis, subject to strict compliance with prescribed safety norms.
Speaking to reporters here, Parameshwara said a high-level committee was constituted based on the recommendations of the Justice John Michael Cunha Committee to examine the situation at the stadium.
"The committee conducted a detailed inspection and submitted its report. Based on that report, permission has been granted to the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) to organise matches," he said.
Parameshwara said several specific conditions had been imposed on the KSCA.
"All modifications and corrective measures recommended by the committee must be completed within the stipulated timeframe. The KSCA has already begun the work and has given a written assurance that all required changes will be carried out," he said.
Reiterating that the approval was conditional, he added that the stadium would be inspected again before any match is held.
Parameshwara said a committee headed by Greater Bengaluru Authority Chief Commissioner M Maheshwar Rao was also formed to assess the overall condition of the Chinnaswamy Stadium, and its report had been taken into account.
He said the matter was discussed in detail in the Cabinet.
"Decisions have been taken on the steps to be implemented in the short term and the long term. Since IPL matches are scheduled to be held in March, all short-term conditions must be fulfilled before that. Permission has been granted subject to these conditions," he said.
The minister said the government had placed trust in the assurances given by the KSCA.
"We will conduct another inspection to verify whether all the conditions have been fully complied with," he added.
Cricket matches at the stadium were suspended after a stampede during Royal Challengers Bangalore’s IPL title celebrations last June claimed 13 lives.
