& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Journalist Belal succumbs to bomb injuries

PBCP-Maoist claims responsibility for the Feb-5 attack, police nab one

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Daily Sangram Khulna Bureau Chief Shaikh Belaluddin yesterday succumbed to the injuries sustained in the February 5 bomb attack, for which the outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP-Maoist) claimed responsibility last night.
Doctors at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in the capital declared the 48-year-old president of Khulna Metropolitan Union of Journalists (KMUJ) dead at 11:00am yesterday.
With this, the death toll of journalists in Khulna district rose to six and in the outlaw-infested southwestern region to 14 in the last 10 years.
Khulna Metropolitan Police last night arrested a man, who confessed to being involved in planting the bomb on Belal's motorbike parked on the at Khulna Press Club (KPC) premises, said Deputy Police Commissioner M Akbar Ali. However, he did not disclose the name or any further details about the identity of the arrestee.
Belal has been on life support system at the CMH intensive care unit since he was helicoptered there from Khulna Medical College and Hospital on February 6, one day after the powerful bomb had exploded on KPC premises leaving
SEE PAGE 11 COL 4
FROM PAGE 1
four Khulna-based journalists critically wounded.
According to Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR) sources, Belal's condition worsened on Thursday night with the onset of some cardiac troubles. After fighting a long losing battle, a medical board had to surrender him to death an hour before the midday.
His body was sent to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital morgue at 2:10pm. His brother-inlaw GM Ilias Hossain received the body from there after an autopsy.
PBCP CLAIM
In a letter to two Khulna newspapers yesterday evening, the outlawed PBCP-Maoist claimed the responsibility for the attack that critically wounded, besides Belal, KPC President and daily Prothom Alo Khulna Bureau Chief Shaikh Abu Hasan, daily Jugantor Staff Photojournalist Shaikh Jahid Hossain and daily News Today Staff Reporter Tutul Ahmed.
The letter signed by PBCP Khulna regional leader Sayed Hasan alias Sumon on behalf of the party's central committee said the attack was a part of their ongoing operation to what they said was eliminate class enemies.
The letter said Belal was one of their 'class enemies', as he was a 'religious tout and extortionist'.
The bomb planted on Belal's motorbike exploded with a boom when he accompanied by Abu Hasan and Jahid was heading for the parking lot in the KPC lawn at around 9:15pm, witnesses said.
FUNERAL
The first namaj-e-janaza of Belal, who was also a rokon of the ruling coalition partner Jamaat-e-Islami, was held yesterday afternoon after Asr prayers at Baitul Mokarram National Mosque. Golam Azam, former ameer of Jamaat, led the prayer attended by a number of politicians, journalists and government officials, said BSS.
His body will be kept at the KPC for an hour from 10:00am today for people to pay their last respects to the slain journalist.
He will be buried in his ancestral graveyard at Royermahal village of Khalishpur upazila after another namaj-e-janaza in Khulna Circuit House Maidan after the Zohr prayers today.
Belal has left his parents, wife, four brothers, five sisters and a large number of relatives and admirers to mourn his premature death.
The KPC has undertaken a three-day mourning programme including wearing black badges and hoisting black flags at the KPC and local newspaper offices since yesterday.
The KMUJ will hold a Quraan khwani and a milad mehfil on February 14 and take out a mourning procession on February 15. The union will also organise a condolence meeting and a prayer meet at the press club on Sunday afternoon. CONDOLENCE
The prime minister, a number of her cabinet colleagues and journalists yesterday expressed shock and sympathy at Belal's death after a week-long struggle for life at the CMH.
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in a condolence message expressed her deep shock at the death and prayed for divine blessings for his eternal peace.
She also conveyed her heartfelt sympathy to the members of the bereaved family and said her government would do everything possible to identify the masterminds behind the heinous incident.
"Shaikh Belal was a fearless and dedicated journalist," Information Minister M Shamsul Islam said in a message. He expressed his sympathy to the members of the bereaved family and prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul.
Islam, who attended Belal's namaj-e-janaza at Baitul Mokarram, condemned the culprits, and said, "The government will mobilise all its efforts to bring them to justice to stop repetition of such killing of innocent people like Belal."
Social Welfare Minister and Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid in a statement prayed for his eternal peace, conveyed sympathy to the bereaved family and sought divine blessings so that Belal's family members could get the strength to overcome the shock.
Jatiya Press Club President Reazuddin Ahmed and General Secretary Shawkat Mahmud in a joint statement condoled the death of a fellow journalist and demanded punishment of the persons responsible for the attack.
Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists President Gias Kamal Chowdhury and General Secretary Ruhul Amin Gazi, and Dhaka Union of Journalists President Elahi Newaz Khan and General Secretary Sardar Farid Ahmed in a joint statement expressed their shock at the death.
Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer and Industries Minister Motiur Rahman Nizami and other central Jamaat leaders in a statement said at Belal's death the country has lost a journalist with potentials and an Islamic movement activist.
"We have lost a young soldier of the Islamic movement," the statement said. It prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed sympathy to his family members.
Liaquat Ali, the editor of Khulnabased Dainik Purbanchal, and Ferdausi Ali, editor of Daily Tribune, expressed deep shock at the tragic death and prayed for salvation of his departed soul.
PROFILE
Belal was born on December 3 in 1957 in his ancestral home at Royermahal. He was the eldest son of Shaikh Modasser Ali and Mannnujan Nesa.
Belal passed SSC examination in 1972 from Khulna Zilla School and HSC from Daulatpur Day-Night College in 1974. He attained his Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1976 from Daulatpur Govt BL College.
He married in 1987. His wife Tanjila Begum is a lecturer at Khulna
Islamia Intermediate College.
Belal was president of Khulna City unit of Islami Chatra Shibir in 1983-84 and 1986-87. He was also once a president of Khulna City unit of 'Phulkuri Ashar' and the life-long president of Khulna Cutural Centre.
He started working as a journalist as Khulna correspondent of Dainik Sangram in 1988. He became its Khulna bureau chief in 2001.
Belal became a member of Jamaat central committee in 1997.
He was a permanent member of KPC and was elected president of KMUJ in 2002 and 2004.
An amiable man by nature, the slain journalist was a good orator and sportsman throughout his student life.
Khulna City Jamaat Ameer Mia Golam Sarwar was his brother-inlaw.
DEATH TOLL
Journalists working in the five violence-prone districts of Khulna Division have been falling victims one after another to attacks of outlawed political outfits. Fourteen journalists were killed and around 50 others injured in the southwestern region in the last 10 years.
Belal was the latest in a long line of slain newsmen. His predecessors are:
1. Humayun Kabir Balu, editor of Dainik Janmabhumi and president of Khulna Press Club, killed on June 27, 2004.
2. Manik Chandra Saha, Khulna correspondent of Sangbad, killed on January 15, 2004.
3. Sarder Shukur Hossain of Dainik Anirban, killed on July 9, 2002.
4. Harunur Rashid Khokon of Dainik Purbanchal, killed on March 2, 2002.
5. SM Nahar Ali, Dumuria correspondent of Dainik Anirban, killed on April 18, 2001.
6. Shamsur Rahman, special correspondent of Janakantha in Jessore, killed on July 16, 2000.
7. Mir Ilias Hossain Dilip, editor of Birdarpan of Jhenidah, killed in 2000.
8. Rafiqul Islam Rafiq, reporter of Dainik Loksamaj of Khulna, killed on March 13, 1999.
9. RM Saiful Alam Mukul, editor of daily Runner of Jessore, killed on August 30, 1998.
10. Bazlur Rahman, staff reporter of Dainik Dinbadal of Chuadanga, killed on June 12, 1998.
11. Khandaker Rezaul Karim Reza, reporter of Dainik Sadyakhabar of Jhenidah, killed on July 16, 1998.
12. SM Alauddin, editor of Dainik Patradut of Satkhira, killed on June 19, 1996.
13. Muhammad Abdul Gaffar, staff reporter of Dainik Sfulinga of Jessore, killed on February 4, 1996.