Timeline Bangladesh
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Bangladesh Arsenic Crises: http://bicn.com/acic/index.html
CIA Factbook: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/bg.html
History: http://www.virtualbangladesh.com/rafiqul_islam.html
USLC: http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/countries/bangla/bangladeshm.html
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh. The country is
about 2 times the size of Ireland. The population is predominantly
Muslim.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.D4)(Econ, 2/10/07, p.41)
2700BC-700BC
The Harappan civilization flourished in the Indus and Ganges
valleys.
(Reuters, 3/15/06)
450BC In 2006 archaeologists in
Bangladesh said they had uncovered part of a fortified citadel at
Wari, northeast of Dhaka, dating back to this time that could have
been a stopping off point along an ancient trade route.
(Reuters, 3/15/06)
800-900 In northern Bangladesh the Buddhist
monastic complex at Paharpur was built by the Pala dynasty.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.B)
1400-1500 The city of Bagerhat was founded in
southern Bangladesh by Ulugh Khan-i-Jahan as a Muslim colony.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.B)
1947 Sep 27, Sheik Hasina,
later Bangladesh prime minister, was born.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A20)
1947 Bangladesh as part of
Pakistan gained independence from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1947 At the time of India’s
partition and the creation of Pakistan, many Muslim Biharis moved to
what was then East Bengal. In 1971, when war broke out between West
Pakistan and East Pakistan (or Bangladesh), the Biharis, who mostly
considered themselves Pakistani, sided with West Pakistan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biharis)
1952 Feb 21, Bangladesh Martyrs
Day (martyrs of Bengali Language Movement).
(MC, 2/21/02)
1958 A periodic flowering took
place in the bamboo forests of Bangladesh leading to a plague of
rats. The flowering recurred in 2008 causing a similar rodent
plague.
(SFC, 2/16/08, p.B6)
1960 Oct 10, A cyclone and
tidal wave hit the Gulf of Bengal and killed about 6,000 in East
Pakistan.
(www.emergency-management.net/cyclone.htm)
1963 May 20-1963 May 23, In
East Pakistan a cyclone killed about 22,000 along coast of the Bay
of Bengal.
(www.emergency-management.net/cyclone.htm)
1964 Apr 11, The Bangladesh
Observer (East Pakistan) reported that as many as 500 people
may have died as a tornado destroyed villages in the Narail and
Magura regions of Jessore.
(www.tornadoproject.com/alltorns/bangladesh.htm)
1965 May 11-1965 May 12, In
East Pakistan a cyclone killed some 12,000.
(www.emergency-management.net/cyclone.htm)
1965 Jun 1-1965 Jun 2, The 2nd
of 2 cyclones in less than a month killed 35,000 along the Ganges
River in East Pakistan.
(www.emergency-management.net/cyclone.htm)
1969 Apr 14, A tornado struck
Dacca in East Pakistan killing 660.
(www.bangladeshtornadoes.org/climo/btorcli0.htm)
1970 Nov 12, A 240 KPH cyclone
hit East Pakistan (Bangladesh) [see Nov 13].
(SSFC, 9/5/04,
p.9)(www.emergency-management.net/cyclone.htm)
1970 Nov 13, The Bhola Cyclone
killed an estimated 300,000 in East Pakistan (Bangladesh). The
highest loss of life and destruction occurred on the low lying
islands of the Ganges Delta south of Dhaka. In particular the island
and district of Bhola, where casualties may have exceeded 100,000
alone, with the towns of Charfasson and Tazumuddin being devastated.
The city of Chittagong was also badly affected. The official death
toll was put at 150,000, with 100,000 people missing. However many
estimates put the true figure as high as 500,000.
(SFEC, 9/5/04,
p.6)(http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/C_0397.htm)
1970 Fazle Hasan Abed (b.1936),
a Bangladeshi educated in Britain, turned offices in Chittagong into
a refuge for victims of the recent Bhola Cyclone. Bt 1972 it was
known as the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee (BRAC).
In 2010 Ian Smillie authored “Freedom From Want: The Remarkable
Success Story of BRAC, the Global Grassroots Organization That's
Winning the Fight Against Poverty.”
(Econ, 2/20/10,
p.60)(www.brac.net/index.php?nid=11)
1971 Mar 21, Sheik Mujibur
Rahman (Mujeeb-ur Rehman) declared East Pakistan (later Bangladesh)
independent of Pakistan. Pakistani Pres. Yahya Khan ordered the army
in; several million East Bengali refugees fled to India. Rahman was
the father of later PM Hasina Wajid.
(WUD, 1994, p. 1688)(SFC, 12/31/00, p.B3)
1971 Mar 25, Sheik Mujibur
Rahman was arrested in Dhaka. Pakistani forces started Operation
Searchlight, a systematic plan to eliminate any resistance.
Thousands of people were killed in student dormitories and police
barracks in Dhaka.
(WUD, 1994, p.
1688)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1971)
1971 Mar 26, East Pakistan
proclaimed its independence, taking the name Bangladesh. [See Mar
21] This is considered the official Independence day of Bangladesh.
(AP,
3/26/97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_Liberation_War)
1971 Aug 1, The Concert For
Bangladesh, two benefit concerts organized by George Harrison and
Ravi Shankar, played to a total of 40,000 people at Madison Square
Garden.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Concert_for_Bangladesh)
1971 Nov 22, Guerrilla fighting
escalated on the border of East Pakistan. India massed 12 divisions
near the border.
(WUD, 1994, p. 1688)
1971 Dec 3, The 3rd
Indo-Pakistani war began when India under Indira Gandhi intervened
in the Pakistani civil war. Pakistan attacked Indian airfields and
India mobilized its army after nearly 10 million refugees poured
into India. The India-Pakistani civil war ended with independence
for East Pakistan, which became known as Bangladesh.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A15)(SFC, 6/12/99, p.A12)(SSFC,
12/30/01, p.A22)
1971 Dec 6, Bangladesh became
independent from Pakistan following a 9-month war in a struggle led
by Sheik Mujibar Rahman. Sheik Rahman was nominated as president on
Dec 20 and released from prison on Dec 22; he returned to Bangladesh
Jan 10.
(SFC, 5/21/96, p.A-10)
1971 Dec 6, India recognized
the Democratic Republic of Bangladesh and Pakistan broke off
diplomatic relations. Bangladesh later accused Pakistan of war
atrocities that led to the death of some 3 million people during the
9-month war.
(WUD, 1994, p. 1688)(SFC, 12/31/00, p.B3)
1971 Dec 16, Pakistani forces
in East Pakistan surrendered to the allied forces of India and
Bangladesh, jointly known as the Mitro Bahini. Bangladesh gained
independence. Bangladesh later accused Pakistan of war atrocities
that led to the death of some 3 million people during the 9-month
war.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1971)(SFC,
12/31/00, p.B3)
1971 Dec 17, A cease fire began
between India and Pakistan in East Pakistan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1971)
1971 Dec 20, Sheik Mujibar
Rahman was nominated as president of Bangladesh. He was released
from prison in Pakistan on Dec 22 and returned to Bangladesh Jan 10.
(SFC, 5/21/96, p.A-10)
1971 Following Pakistan’s
defeated by India and Bangladesh in the Bangladesh war. Pakistan
decided to develop a nuclear weapons program.
(SFC, 5/28/98, p.A9)
1971 Gholam Azom (aka Ghulam
Azam b.1922)) led the Jamaat-e-Islami party. The party’s student
wing organized a militia, called Al Badr, to support the West
Pakistan army during the war for independence. As the former Ameer
of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, Azom opposed the independence of
Bangladesh during and after the 1971 war and led the formation of
Shanti Committee, Razakar and Al-Badr to thwart the Mukti Bahini
that fought for independence.
(Econ, 3/26/11,
p.49)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghulam_Azam)
1972 Jan 10, Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman (b.1920) returned to Dhaka from prison in West Pakistan. He
soon promulgated an interim constitution and was sworn in first as
president of Bangladesh, then as prime minister.
(www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ryydhzeZic)
1972 Mar 19, India and
Bangladesh signed a friendship treaty.
(http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/I_0040.htm)
1973 Mar 7, Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman (1920-1975), a leader of the Bangladeshi independence
movement and first prime minister of Bangladesh, won a landslide
victory in the country's first general elections. Rahman and the
Awami League won elections.
(SFC, 6/12/96,
p.E3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladeshi_general_election%2C_1973)
1973 Bangladesh passed its
Int’l. Crimes Tribunal Act.
(Econ, 12/18/10,
p.68)(http://supremecourt.gov.bd/act_files/act_435.html)
1973 The Shanti Bahini (Peace
Force) guerrillas, mostly members of the Chakma tribe, took up arms
after Bangladesh rejected their demands for autonomy over 5,500
sq.-mile region bordering India and Burma. They also demanded the
removal of more than 300,000 settlers from their tribal homeland.
(SFC, 9/12/96, p.A14)
1974 Feb 22, Pakistan
officially recognized Bangladesh.
(http://pakistanspace.tripod.com/74.htm)(http://tinyurl.com/58uluz)
1974 Aug, Monsoon floods
ravaged Bangladesh and some 2,500 were killed.
(http://library.thinkquest.org/C003603/english/flooding/casestudies.shtml#49)
1975 Aug 15, Bangladesh
army officers killed Sheik Mujibar Rahman, the country's founding
leader and father of Hasina Wajed. A total of 20 people, including
domestic staff, were killed when the group of officers stormed his
house. General Ziaur Rahman, father of Khaleda Zia, became the
military ruler. Rahman had introduced a one-party socialist system
and assumed almost dictatorial powers. In 1997 the government
charged two people with his assassination. In 1998 15 men were found
guilty and sentenced to death. Three were acquitted in 2001. Of the
remaining 12, five appealed the verdict to the Supreme Court, six
are in hiding and one is believed to have died in Zimbabwe. In 2010
the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence for five killers.
(SFC, 6/12/96, p.A9)(SFC, 6/14/96, p. A14)(SFC,
4/7/97, p.A10)(AFP, 1/27/10)
1975 Smallpox was eradicated in
India and Bangladesh.
(SFC, 10/19/01, p.A17)
1976 Muhammad Yunus began his
microloan program and founded the Grameen Bank. Small loans were
initially made to groups of five women who supported one another.
(Wired, 2/98, p.67)
1980 May 30, In Bangladesh
General Ziaur Rahman was assassinated by dissident army officers.
(SFC, 6/12/96,
p.A9)(www.muktadhara.net/page81.html)
1980 In Bangladesh the
installation of cheap surface wells was begun to keep people from
drinking infected pond and river water [see 1990].
(SFC, 7/30/97, p.A8)
1981 May 30, In Bangladesh
Major Gen’l. Abdul Manzoor was shot and killed after he led a failed
uprising that killed Pres. Ziaur Rahman 1980. Hussein Mohammed
Ershad and 4 army officers were later accused of the killing.
(SFC,11/27/97,
p.B5)(http://tinyurl.com/2u8zqz)(AP, 5/30/01)
1982 Mar 24, In Bangladesh
Hussein Mohammed Ershad overthrew Justice Abdus Sattar and seized
power in a bloodless coup.
(SFC,11/27/97,
p.B5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begum_Khaleda_Zia)
1983 The capital building of
Bangladesh was completed. It was designed by Louis Kahn (1901-1974),
Estonia-born architect
(PBS, Internet)
1983 Muhammad Yunus opened the
Grameen Bank, dedicated to provided small loans to rural villagers.
The bank was very successful and was copied as a model for similar
programs in the US and elsewhere.
(SFEC, 8/17/97, Par p.4)
1985 May 25, A cyclone ravaged
the Meghna River delta of Bangladesh. Some 10,000 people and 500,000
head of cattle died; hundreds of thousands were left homeless.
(www.emergency-management.net/cyclone.htm)
1985 The South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was founded in Dhaka,
Bangladesh, with the aim of promoting economic cooperation and
alleviating poverty in South Asia. Members included Bangladesh,
Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
(AP, 11/13/05)
1986 Apr 20, The Atlas Star, a
double-decker ferry, sank in stormy weather in Bangladesh. 500
passengers were feared drowned.
(http://tinyurl.com/q28gb)
1986 May 25, Some 600 people
died when the ferry Shamia went down in the River Meghna in southern
Barisal district, Bangladesh.
(http://tinyurl.com/yjfo9s)(AP, 2/3/06)
1988 Sep 4, Officials in
Bangladesh reported that floods had inundated three-quarters of
their impoverished nation, claiming at least 882 lives. Monsoon
floods left over 3,000 dead this year.
(AP, 9/4/98)(SFC, 8/13/02, p.A15)
1988 Dec 1, At least 1300 were
killed after a cyclone hit Bangladesh. Half a million were left
homeless.
(http://tinyurl.com/gtev9)
1988 Bangladesh’s military
ruler declared Islam the state religion by amending the charter, but
it barely affected the secular legal system mainly based on British
common law. In 1996 the Supreme Court ruled the provision in the
constitution is undemocratic. In 2011 the Cabinet decided to keep
the provision of state religion considering the national reality.
(AP, 6/21/11)
1989 Apr 27, A hurricane in
Bangladesh killed 500.
(MC, 4/27/02)
1990 Dec 6, In Bangladesh an
opposition campaign led by Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina forced
Pres. Hossain Mohammad Ershad to resign.
(Econ, 11/4/06,
p.16)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hossain_Mohammad_Ershad)
1990 Bangladesh authorities
were warned that arsenic was seeping from the subsoil into the water
supply through the cheap surface wells. The adjoining Indian
Province of West Bengal first noticed the problem. The wells were
dug by UNICEF in an effort to provide clean water.
(SFC, 7/30/97, p.A8)(WSJ, 6/24/05, p.W9)
1991 Feb 27, Bangladesh General
H.M. Ershad, leader of the Jatiya Party, was toppled in elections.
He was then jailed for the next 6 years for corruption and abuse of
power. The Nationalist Party of Khaleda Zia, widow of General Ziaur
Rahman won the elections and moved the country away from a socialist
economic system begun by Sheik Mujibur.
(SFC, 6/12/96, p.E3)(SFC,11/27/97,
p.B5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begum_Khaleda_Zia)
1991 Apr 30-1991 Apr 31, A
cyclone in Bangladesh killed an estimated 131,000 people. 9 million
were left homeless. Thousands of survivors died from hunger and
water borne disease.
(AP, 4/30/97)(SFC, 5/19/97,
p.A13)(www.emergency-management.net/cyclone.htm)
1991 May 11, President Bush
dispatched an amphibious task force with thousands of Marines and
dozens of helicopters to help cyclone-ravaged Bangladesh with
disaster relief efforts.
(AP, 5/11/01)
1991 Bangladesh General H.M.
Ershad, leader of the Jatiya Party, was toppled in elections. He was
then jailed for the next 6 years for corruption and abuse of power.
The Nationalist Party of Khaleda Zia, widow of General Ziaur Rahman
won the elections and moved the country away from a socialist
economic system begun by Sheik Mujibur.
(SFC, 6/12/96, p.E3)(SFC,11/27/97, p.B5)
1992 Bangladesh began refusing
refugee status to Rohingyas, a dark-skinned Muslim minority from
Myanmar.
(Econ, 12/1/07, p.56)
1992 Harkat-ul Jihadi-e-Islami
(HUJEI) was formed with funds from al-Qaeda with the goal of
creating an Islamic state in Bangladesh.
(SFC, 2/15/02, p.A20)
1993 Islamic fundamentalists
imposed a sentence of death on writer Taslima Nasreen for her 1992
novel "Shame." [see Nasrin 1998]
(WSJ, 8/31/99, p.A20)
1994 Aug 20, More than 250
killed when a ferry sank in a storm on the River Meghna in
Bangladesh.
(AP, 2/3/06)
1994 Taslima Nasreen (32),
Bangladeshi writer, authored her novel "Lajja" or "Shame," which
depicts violence against minority Hindus by Muslim fundamentalists
in Bangladesh. Muslims soon called for her execution for that and
other works. Nasreen went into hiding in India after receiving
threats from Islamic groups.
(AP, 11/28/07)
1995 Dec, A general strike
affected more than 60 cities and towns. It was aimed at forcing the
resignation of Prime Minister Zia, who was accused of corruption and
incompetence. In Chittagong 50 people were hurt when rival student
groups clashed.
(WSJ, 12/11/95, p.A-1)
1996 Jan 1, Some 100,000
Bangladeshi women rallied to protest Islamic clerics’ attacks on
female education and employment.
(AP, 1/1/01)
1996 Feb 15, Violence in
Bangladesh kept the election turnout to about 15%. Opposition
leaders filed no candidates and claimed that the results showed that
Prime Minister Zia had lost authority to rule.
(WSJ, 2/16/96, p.A-1)
1996 Feb, The term of
government of Khaleda Zia expired.
(SFC, 6/12/96, p.A9)
1996 Mar 17, A gasoline bomb
killed one person and injured 15 aboard a bus that was defying a
nationwide general strike.
(WSJ, 3/18/96, A-1)
1996 Mar 24, Troops broke up
protests in Dhaka and injured about 50 people. In Chittagong a bomb
killed at least 2 people amid a general strike.
(WSJ, 3/25/96, p.A-1)
1996 Mar 27, Bangladesh passed
a constitutional amendment setting up a process for calling new
elections. Prime Minister Zia may resign soon.
(WSJ, 3/27/96, p.A-1)
1996 Mar, Prime Minister Zia
resigned but enacted a constitutional amendment that all future
elections be held under caretaker governments. Power was passed to
former chief justice Mohammed Habibur Rahman. Ultimate power rested
with Pres. Abdur Rahman Biswas.
(SFC, 6/12/96, p.A9)
1996 May 13, A severe storm in
north Bangladesh killed at least 447 and injured more than 50,000 in
the district of Tangail. Winds had surged to 125 mph.
(SFC, 5/15/96, A-8)
1996 May 21, Pres. Abdur Rahman
Biswas accused the army chief. Lt. General Abu Saleh Mohammad Nasim
of ordering troops to march against the government. There has been 2
presidents assassinated, 3 military coups, and 18 coup attempts
since independence in 1971.
(SFC, 5/21/96, p.A-10)
1996 May 23, In Bangladesh as
many as 77 people were feared drowned in a sunken ferry after a
collision on the Jamuna River. More than 50 ferries have sunk since
1981 killing more than 1,000 people.
(SFC, 5/25/96, p.A11)
1996 Jun 12, The Election
Commission of Bangladesh announced that the liberal Awami League of
Hasina Wajed won 126 seats, the centrist National Party 103
seats, and the Jatiya Party 28.
(SFC, 6/13/96, p.C1)
1996 Jul, Grameen CyberNet went
live and offered Net connections to dialup customers in Dhaka.
(Wired, 2/98, p.67)
1996 Sep 11, Shanti Bahini
guerrillas killed 30 Bengali-speaking settlers in the southeastern
Chittagong Hill Tracts.
(SFC, 9/12/96, p.A14)
1997 Jan 9, The top court
ordered former President Ershad freed after 6 years of confinement
for corruption and weapons charges.
(WSJ, 1/9/97, p.A1)
1997 Mar, Grameen-Phone
launched cell-phone services in Bangladesh. Iqbal Quadir formed a
consortium with Grameen Bank and Telenor of Norway, secured loans
and won a license from the government to launch the service.
Telephone access, administered by local telephone ladies, soon
provided phone service to over 50,000 rural villages.
(Econ, 3/11/06, Survey p.37)
1997 May 18-1997 May 19, In
Bangladesh a cyclone pounded the country and 50,000 people were
evacuated from the flat coastal region. As many as 350 people were
reported killed.
(SFC, 5/19/97, p.A13)(SFC, 5/20/97, p.A12)(SFC,
5/21/97, p.A8)(SFC, 5/22/97, p.A3)
1997 Jun 13, A ferry on the
Dhanu River northeast of Dhaka capsized in a whirlpool and at least
50 people were drowned.
(SFEC, 6/15/97, p.D3)
1997 Jul 14, Monsoon flooding
killed at least 64 people in the last week.
(WSJ, 7/14/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 1, At least 150
fishermen were missing in the Bay of Bengal after a storm sank their
boats.
(SFC, 8/1/97, p.A16)
1997 Oct 18, It was reported
that a tornado during the week killed 22 people and injured more
than 400 at the site of an annual congregation of Biswa Ijtema, the
2nd largest Muslim gathering after the Haj pilgrimage in Saudi
Arabia.
(SFC,10/18/97, p.A13)
1997 Nov 29, It was reported
that an earthquake rocked Bangladesh and eastern India and that 21
people were killed in Chittagong.
(SFC, 11/29/97, p.A14)
1998 Jan 6, It was reported
that frigid weather killed at least 165 people over the last 2
weeks.
(SFC, 1/6/98, p.A10)
1998 Feb, In Bangladesh the war
between the 13 tribes in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the central
government ended after 22 years of fighting. Warriors began turning
in their weapons and lump sum payments were to be made to rebels.
The tribes were Buddhist Southeast Asian peoples with their own
languages. Their struggle was with Bengali-speaking intruders of
Indo-Aryan and Muslim background.
(SFC, 2/20/98, p.A12)
1998 May 20, A cyclone pounded
the southeastern coast and killed at least 14 people. Nearly 100
fisherman were missing.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.D4)
1998 Jul 5, A memorandum of
understanding was signed with the US that would allow Peace Corps
volunteers to work here.
(SFC, 7/6/98, p.A9)
1998 Jul 17, In Bangladesh a
week of flooding left 54 people dead.
(SFC, 7/18/98, p.A14)
1998 Jul 22, The death toll
from flooding reached 103 left some 10 million people stranded.
(SFC, 7/22/98, p.A12)
1998 Aug 12, In Bangladesh over
100 fisherman in trawlers and boats capsized in the Bay of Bengal
during a storm and were feared dead.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A12)
1998 Aug 13, More rain left 11
more people dead and the death toll grew to 326.
(SFC, 8/14/98, p.D3)
1998 Sep 7, It was reported
that 20 million Bangladeshis had their homes swamped by monsoon
flood that had lasted 2 months. Over 700 people were reported
killed.
(SFC, 9/7/98, p.A9)
1998 Sep 18, In Bangladesh
Muslim militants called for the death of Taslima Nasrin, a writer
who suggested that the Koran be rewritten. Her novel “Lajja” (Shame)
criticized Muslims for attacking minority Hindus after the 1992
mosque destruction in India. [see Nasreen 1993]
(SFC, 9/19/98, p.C16)
1998 Nov 1, In Bangladesh the
first Peace Corps volunteers arrived. 17 US college will study
Bangla, the local language, for 3 months and then teach English to
school teachers.
(SFC, 11/2/98, p.A14)
1998 Nov 8, A judge convicted
and sentenced to death 15 former military commanders for the 1975
assassination of prime minister Sheik Mujibur Rahman. Only 5 of the
convicted were in immediate custody
(SFC, 11/9/98, p.A16)
1998 Nov 9, In Bangladesh a
general strike began and police clashed with strikers. An alliance
of 7 opposition parties protested alleged attempts by police to kill
their leader, Khaleda Zia.
(SFC, 11/11/98, p.D4)
1998 Nov 10, It was reported
that an estimated 18 million Bangladesh people were slowly poisoning
themselves by drinking from groundwater contaminated with trace
amounts of arsenic. 85 million people were at risk.
(SFC, 11/10/98, p.A14)(SFC, 5/29/00, p.A10)
1998 In Bangladesh monsoon
floods left over a 1000 people dead.
(SFC, 8/13/02, p.A15)
1999 Feb 11, Bangladesh
opposition parties called general strikes and 5 people were killed.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.T14)
1999 Feb 22-1999 Feb 25,
Strikes occurred during Bangladesh municipal elections and violence
was widespread.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.T14)
1999 Apr 19, India and
Bangladesh border guards had a shootout that left 6 people dead and
60 wounded.
(WSJ, 4/20/99, A1)
1999 May 8, In Bangladesh 200
people were feared dead when a river ferry boat sank. About 100
people were rescued or swam to shore.
(WSJ, 5/10/99, p.A1)
1999 Sep 12, In Bangladesh
police clashed with protestors seeking the resignation of Prime
Minister Hasina. Opposition parties called for a 3-day general
strike.
(WSJ, 9/13/99, p.A1)
1999 Sep 13, In Bangladesh one
person was killed and 50 injured on the 1st day of a general strike
called by opposition parties.
(WSJ, 9/14/99, p.A1)
2000 Mar 20, Pres. Clinton
stopped in Bangladesh, but only stood for a reception at the US
Embassy due to security reasons.
(SFC, 3/21/00, p.A14)
2000 Sep 1, In Bangladesh, 13
boats with 130 fishermen were reported sunk during rainstorms.
(SFC, 9/2/00, p.C16)
2000 Sep 24, Flooding in
Bangladesh forced some 60,000 to flee their homes and at least 9
people sere killed.
(WSJ, 9/25/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 1, About 45 people
were reported killed in Bangladesh during 3 weeks of flooding.
(SFC, 10/2/00, p.A14)
2000 Oct 8, In southwestern
Bangladesh fresh rains submerged 25 villages.
(SFC, 10/9/00, p.A11)
2000 Nov, At least 60 people
were killed in Bangladesh by a cyclone that hit the Bay of Bengal.
(SFC, 11/4/00, p.D8)
2000 Nov 25, In Bangladesh 52
people were killed in a fire at the Chowdhury Knitwear Garments
factory at Shibpur.
(SSFC, 11/26/00, p.D9)(SSFC, 4/15/01, p.D1)
2000 Dec 29, A ferry collided
with another ferry ship and sank on the Meghna River in southeastern
Bangladesh. At least 178 people were killed.
(SFC, 12/30/00, p.A10)(SFC, 1/3/01, p.A12)
2001 Jan 20, A bomb exploded at
a leftist political rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and at least 6
people were killed.
(SSFC, 1/21/01, p.D4)
2001 Jan, In Bangladesh
journalist Tipu Sultan was attacked by a crowd of bodyguards of an
MP, whom he had reported as linked to crime and corruption. Sultan
was left for dead and spent months recovering outside the country.
(Reuters, 11/24/05)
2001 Apr 10, In Dhaka a general
strike for the resignation of prime minister Sheikh Hasina left 3
people dead after supporters and opponents clashed with guns and
homemade bombs.
(SFC, 4/11/01, p.C5)
2001 Apr 18, Border fighting
between Bangladesh and India left 16 Indian and 2 Bangladeshi
soldiers dead.
(WSJ, 4/19/01, p.A1)
2001 Jun 3, Ten people were
killed in a church bombing in Baniarchar. Police later detained 7
suspects.
(SFC, 6/5/01, p.A14)
2001 Jun 16, In Narayanganj, a
bomb exploded at a political rally of PM Hasina’s governing Awami
League Party. At least 22 people were killed.
(SSFC, 6/17/01, p.A20)(WSJ, 6/18/01, p.A1)
2001 Jul 15, PM Sheikh Hasina
left office. Pres. Shahabuddin Ahmad appointed Latifur Rahman to
head a caretaker administration. At least 4 people were killed in
street clashes.
(SFC, 7/16/01, p.A9)
2001 Aug 8, A stampede of
textile workers was caused by a false fire alarm and 23 people were
crushed to death.
(WSJ, 8/9/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 28, Three people were
killed in Barisal, Sandeep and Pabna. Another 4 were killed in
Chittagong City as elections approached.
(SSFC, 9/30/01, p.A17)
2001 Sep 29, In Bangladesh over
500,000 soldiers and police were deployed to control escalating
violence prior to elections.
(SSFC, 9/30/01, p.A17)
2001 Oct 1, Elections in
Bangladesh for 299 seats in parliament were held pitting Sheikh
Hasina’s allies against those of longtime foe Khaleda Zia. Zia’s
coalition appeared to be headed for a landslide win. Over 150 people
were killed in the weeks prior to the elections. A coalition led by
the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) came to power.
(SFC, 10/3/01, p.C12)(WSJ, 10/2/01, p.A1)(Econ,
9/30/06, p.54)
2001 Bangladeshi economist
Muhammad Yunus restructured Grameen Bank to emphasize savings and
relying less on joint liability for groups.
(Econ, 10/21/06, p.78)
2001-2005 Transparency International ranked
Bangladesh at the bottom of its global corruption index.
(Reuters, 11/24/05)
2002 Feb 16, It was reported
that 80% of the Bangladesh’s 235 rivers were drying up due to
silting, dumping and construction of unplanned embankments.
(SFC, 2/16/02, p.A26)
2002 May 3, In Bangladesh a
ferry on the Meghna River capsized with some 400 passengers
traveling from Dhaka to southern Patuakhali. Early reports had only
100 survivors. The ferry was raised and the death toll increased to
370.
(SFC, 5/4/02, p.A9)(SFC, 5/7/02, p.A10)(SSFC,
5/19/02, p.C15)
2002 May, In Bangladesh
journalist Nazmul Imam, who used to write about the links between
drugs, crime and politicians in the western Kushtia region, was
jumped by half a dozen thugs who cut him with knives and crushed his
fingers with clubs.
(Reuters, 11/24/05)
2002 Jul 7, Nearly two dozen
people were killed and thousands left homeless as torrential monsoon
rains lashed large parts of Asia over the weekend, worsening floods
and triggering fresh storms and landslides. Monsoon flooding killed
at least 11 in Bangladesh.
(Reuters, 7/7/02)(Reuters, 7/8/02)
2002 Jul 25, Torrential monsoon
rains and overflowing rivers worsened flooding in eastern India,
Nepal and Bangladesh and officials said 218 people have died and
more than six million people have been left homeless during the last
5 days.
(Reuters, 7/25/02)
2002 Jul 28, Torrential
overnight rains set off more floods in eastern India as the death
toll from floods in India, Nepal and Bangladesh passed 300.
(Reuters, 7/28/02)
2002 Aug 13, Deaths from
flooding in Bangladesh (157), India (265) and Nepal (422) and
reached at least 874.
(SFC, 8/13/02, p.A15)
2002 Aug 20, In Bangladesh the
swollen Jamuna River broke through its mud embankments, flooding a
dozen villages and cutting off thousands of residents.
(AP, 8/20/02)
2002 Sep 8, Authorities closed
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET)
indefinitely following weeks of student unrest.
(Reuters, 9/8/02)
2002 Nov 13, Some 200 people
were feared dead after 19 boats disappeared in a storm off
Bangladesh.
(WSJ, 11/14/02, p.A1)
2002 Dec 1, In Gaibandha,
Bangladesh, least 30 people, mostly women and children, were killed
in a stampede after a wall collapsed during a give-away of clothes
and money.
(Reuters, 12/1/02)
2002 Dec 7, In Bangladesh 19
people were killed and nearly 300 wounded in near-simultaneous bomb
blasts at four cinemas packed with families celebrating the end of
the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
(Reuters, 12/7/02)(SSFC, 12/8/02, p.A9)(AP,
12/7/03)
2002 In Bangladesh Operation
Clean Heart rooted thousands of Rohingyas, dark-skinned members of a
poor, Muslin minority from Myanmar, from local villages. Myanmar’s
ruling junta called them residents of Rakhine state, pressed them
into slave labor and severely restricted their rights to travel and
marry. This led to the Rohingya border camp named Tal, on the banks
of the Naf River in Bangladesh.
(Econ, 12/1/07, p.56)
2002 Bangladesh enacted acid
control laws as the country recorded 490 cases of acid attacks. An
attacker would face at a minimum seven years in jail or even the
death penalty. Such attacks dropped to 187 in 2007, the 5th
consecutive year of decline.
(AFP, 3/23/08)
2003 Jan 11, The death toll
from Bangladesh's coldest winter in six years reached 489. A
three-week cold spell in South Asia with near freezing temperatures
aggravated by chilly winds raised the total death toll to 779.
(AP, 1/11/03)
2003 Jan 15, The death toll
from a month-long cold spell rose to 1170 people in northern India,
Nepal and Bangladesh.
(AP, 1/15/03)
2003 Jan 17, A bomb ripped
through a village in northern Bangladesh during an annual carnival,
killing six people and wounding six others.
(AP, 1/18/03)
2003 Apr 4, In northeastern
Bangladesh a river boat carrying more than 170 people capsized,
killing 79 people, including 49 children.
(AP, 4/4/03)(AP, 4/7/03)
2003 Apr 12, In northern
Bangladesh up to 100 people were reported missing after a ferry
capsized in the Nagchinni River. Searchers recovered the bodies of
victims, bringing the death toll to 16.
(AP, 4/13/03)
2003 Apr 21, In Bangladesh two
ferry boats capsized during tropical storms on different rivers, and
hundreds of people were missing. MV Mitali, went down in the
Buriganga River, and the ML Majlishpur ferry, carrying about 90
members of a wedding party, capsized in the Meghna River.
(AP, 4/22/03)
2003 May 4, In eastern
Bangladesh a tropical storm flattened hundreds of flimsy huts in
several villages, killing 19 people.
(AP, 5/5/03)
2003 Jun 29, In Bangladesh
monsoon floods claimed 45 lives in the past four days, washing away
many houses and displacing thousands of villagers.
(AP, 6/29/03)
2003 Jul 8, In Bangladesh a
ferry, with an estimated 750 passengers, sank at the confluence of
the Padma, Meghna and Dakatia rivers about 40 miles south of the
capital, Dhaka. Some 220 survivors were counted.
(AP, 7/9/03)
2003 Jul 21, Monsoon rains were
reported to have killed at least 579 people in South Asia. India
reported a total of 263 deaths, Bangladesh 169, Pakistan 78, and
Nepal 69.
(AP, 7/21/03)
2003 Jul 28, Bangladesh became
the second nation to ban the current issue of Newsweek's
international edition over an article on new interpretations of
Islam's holy book.
(AP, 7/28/03)
2003 Sep 10, A Bangladesh court
convicted and sentenced five zookeepers to 14 years in prison for
killing three tigers in 1996 and planning to sell their skins.
(AP, 9/10/03)
2003 Sep, Bangladesh and India
launched a direct bus route from Dhaka to Agartala, the capital of
the Indian state of Tripura.
(Econ, 10/4/03, p.40)
2003 Nov, In Bangladesh a house
near Chittagong burned down and 11 Hindus were killed in what was
claimed to be an act of intimidation.
(Econ, 11/29/03, p.39)
2004 Jan 15, Manik Saha (49), a
Bangladeshi reporter for the New Age newspaper and the BBC, was
leaving a press club when unidentified attackers hurled a bomb at
him. He was the first journalist in the world to be murdered in
2004.
(AP, 1/16/04)
2004 Jan, The Bangladesh
government banned Ahmediya publications at the insistence of the
Islamic Oika Jote (IOJ).
(Econ, 6/18/05, p.37)
2004 Apr 14, Tornadoes swept
through northern Bangladesh, killing at least 69 people, injuring
hundreds and blowing away thousands of flimsy huts.
(AP, 4/15/04)(AP, 4/16/04)
2004 May 3, In Bangladesh at
least 5 women were crushed to death and dozens were injured when a
false fire alarm caused about 4,000 workers to rush for the exits of
a garment factory.
(AP, 5/3/04)
2004 May 7, In Bangladesh
gunmen opened fire at an opposition rally outside the capital,
killing 4 people including a member of parliament. Ahsanullah
Master, a senior member of Bangladesh's main opposition Awami
League, and a young man were killed when a group of armed men opened
fire on a rally being addressed by the politician. On Apr 16, 2005,
a court sentenced 22 to death for the killings.
(AP, 5/7/04)(Reuters, 4/16/05)
2004 May 8, In Bangladesh
Ahsanullah Master, a member of the main opposition Awami League, was
killed.
(AP, 5/9/04)
2004 May 9, The Bangladesh
government put thousands of security forces on the streets of Dhaka
and nearby Tongi as a strike to protest the killing of Ahsanullah
Master, a member of the main opposition Awami League, brought the
country to a standstill.
(AP, 5/9/04)
2004 May 21, In northeastern
Bangladesh a bomb exploded during noon prayers at a Muslim shrine,
killing two Bangladeshi men and wounding about 100 people.
(AP, 5/22/04)
2004 May 23, In eastern
Bangladesh 2 river ferries carrying about 250 passengers capsized
during a storm, and dozens of people were feared dead. The death
toll climbed to 74.
(AP, 5/24/04)(WSJ, 5/24/04, p.A1)(AP, 5/25/04)
2004 Jun 9, In Bangladesh a
six-story apartment building collapsed in Dhaka, killing at least 11
people and trapping about 25 inside.
(AP, 6/9/04)
2004 Jun 14, In Bangladesh the
death toll from a powerful weekend storm rose to at least 13. About
140 fishermen were missing.
(AP, 6/14/04)
2004 Jun 21, In northeastern
Bangladesh a bomb exploded at an opposition rally wounding nearly 40
people.
(AP, 6/21/04)
2004 Jul 12, Monsoon floods
continued to wreak havoc across South Asia, killing 37 more people
and forcing millions to flee their homes or seek emergency shelter.
Flooding has killed 36 people in Bangladesh this year. A total of 47
people have died in Nepal since June. In India a total of 158 people
have died in flooding since the beginning of June.
(AP, 7/12/04)
2004 Jul 17, Monsoon rains
submerged new areas of Bangladesh and India, killing at least 13
people, as the death toll from flooding in South Asia rose to more
than 400.
(AP, 7/17/04)
2004 Jul 20, Monsoon floods,
tornadoes and rains roared through already inundated villages in
South Asia, killing 42 more people. 15 died in Bangladesh and 27 in
India. Fresh rains in Asia took the rainy season death toll to
nearly 800.
(AP, 7/21/04)(Reuters, 7/21/04)
2004 Jul 27, A boat carrying
people to a flood shelter capsized in Bangladesh killing 10 people.
The total monsoon death toll for SE Asia passed 1,000 as the worst
flooding in years turned the capital, Dhaka, into an open sewer and
disease spread.
(AP, 7/27/04)
2004 Jul 31, Flood-weakened
riverbanks in South Asia collapsed around villages, pushing the
death toll from this season's monsoons above 1,500 and stranding
more than 30 million people.
(AP, 8/1/04)
2004 Aug 5, A bomb exploded in
the parking lot of a hotel in northeastern Bangladesh city where the
opposition-backed mayor was holding a meeting, wounding at least 50
people.
(AP, 8/7/04)
2004 Aug 5, The death toll from
monsoons in Bangladesh and India reached 1,823.
(SFC, 8/5/04, p.A10)
2004 Aug 8, The death toll from
monsoons in South Asia reached 1,972. At least 1,152 have died in
India, 691 in Bangladesh, 124 in Nepal and 5 in Pakistan.
(AP, 8/8/04)(SSFC, 8/8/04, p.A3)
2004 Aug 21, In Dhaka,
Bangladesh, a series of bombs exploded as Sheikh Hasina, a top
opposition leader, was speaking at a rally from atop a truck,
killing 23 people and injuring hundreds. On March 18, 2012 a court
charged Tareque Rahman (46), the eldest son of former premier
Khaleda Zia, over the grenade attack. Rahman was living in Britain
and would be tried in absentia.
(AP, 8/21/04)(Econ, 6/18/05, p.37)(AFP, 3/18/12)
2004 Aug 22, In Bangladesh an
angry mob set fire to a passenger train and protesters clashed with
police across the country, leaving dozens of people injured, as
violence spread a day after a grenade attack on an opposition rally
killed 19 people.
(AP, 8/22/04)
2004 Aug 30, A general strike
to protest a recent grenade attack that killed 20 people at an
opposition political rally brought Bangladesh to a near standstill.
(AP, 8/30/04)
2004 Sep 5, In Sylhet,
Bangladesh, 2 people were killed and 10 wounded in a bomb blast.
(Reuters, 9/5/04)
2004 Sep 15, India and
Bangladesh ended a two-day meeting in Dhaka without any
breakthroughs on the sharing of water from common rivers.
(AP, 9/15/04)
2004 Sep 22, Indian officials
said they have fenced nearly 40 percent of the porous border with
Bangladesh and would fence the entire frontier by March 2006 to
prevent movement of insurgents, illegal immigrants and smuggling.
(Reuters, 9/22/04)
2004 Oct 1, India's Border
Security Force (BSF) asked Bangladeshi authorities to hand over 126
Indian insurgents, including top leaders of guerrilla groups it says
are based in the neighboring country.
(Reuters, 10/1/04)
2004 Dec 11, In Bangladesh
millions of opposition activists formed a 900-km "human chain" to
demonstrate no confidence in the government. Up to 100 people were
injured in clashes.
(Reuters, 12/11/04)
2005 Jan 6, In Bangladesh a
fire at the Sun Knit garment factory in Siddhirganj killed 22
people. Most of the exits were found locked.
(SFC, 1/8/05, p.A3)
2005 Jan 27, In northeastern
Bangladesh a bomb exploded at an opposition rally, killing two
people and wounding at least 30.
(Reuters, 1/27/05)
2005 Jan 30, In much of
Bangladesh traffic ground to a halt and shops closed as a nationwide
strike, protesting a deadly grenade attack on the main opposition
party, entered a 2nd day.
(AFP, 1/30/05)
2005 Jan, India’s oil minister
Mani Shankar Aiyar persuaded Bangladesh in principle to become
partner in an pipeline to bring gas from Myanmar to India.
(Econ, 2/26/05, p.42)
2005 Jan, In Bangladesh A.M.S.
Kibria, former finance minister and Awami League leader, was killed
in a grenade attack.
(Econ, 6/18/05, p.37)
2005 Feb 6, In Bangladesh a
police officer was killed and five were injured in a clash with
demonstrators during a continuing nationwide general strike in
protest at a deadly grenade attack on an opposition party rally.
(AP, 2/6/05)
2005 Feb 19, In Bangladesh a
double-decker passenger ferry capsized and sank during a tropical
storm, leaving at least 151 people dead. The MV Maharaj was carrying
about 200 people when it capsized on the Buriganga River just
outside Dhaka.
(AP, 2/21/05)(AP, 2/22/05)
2005 Feb, Bangladesh banned 2
extremist groups including Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen.
(Econ, 8/27/05, p.36)
2005 Mar 20, In Bangladesh
about 15,000 people were left homeless after twin tornadoes
simultaneously tore through northern Gaibandha and Rangpur
districts, killing 55 people and wounding 1,000 others.
(SFC, 3/26/05, p.D10)
2005 Apr 9, The International
Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast the Bangladesh economy would grow at a
modest 5.2 percent in the 2004-2005 financial year despite floods
and high oil and commodity prices.
(AFP, 4/9/05)
2005 Apr 11, In Bangladesh a
nine-story building toppled when a boiler exploded, killing at least
30 people and trapping 200. The death toll soon rose to 57. Up to
another 100 bodies remain under the mountain of bricks and concrete
slabs.
(AP, 4/12/05)(Reuters, 4/15/05)
2005 Apr 13, Top border
officials of India and Bangladesh meet in Dhaka to discuss thorny
issues including New Delhi's plan to fence off the frontier and
Dhaka's claim that India harbors Bangladeshi militants.
(Reuters, 4/12/05)
2005 Apr 16, A Bangladesh court
sentenced 22 people to death and six others to life in jail for
killing an opposition lawmaker on May 7, 2004. 18 of the accused
were tried and sentenced in absentia.
(Reuters, 4/16/05)
2005 Apr 19, India and its
eastern neighbor Bangladesh traded blame over a weekend border clash
that killed an Indian military officer and two Bangladeshi
villagers.
(AP, 4/19/05)
2005 Apr 23, Two Bangladeshi
farmers were shot dead by Indian border forces in the latest in a
spate of frontier clashes.
(AP, 4/23/05)
2005 Apr 26, In Bangladesh at
least 17 people were killed and 33 injured when a bus hurtled down a
bridge.
(Reuters, 4/26/05)
2005 Apr 27, Abdus Samad Azad
(83), a former foreign minister and Bangladeshi independence hero,
died in Dhaka.
(AP, 4/29/05)
2005 May 15, In southern
Bangladesh at least 22 people have died and over 70 are missing
after a twin-deck ferry with more than 100 aboard sank on the Char
Kazal river during a storm.
(AP, 5/16/05)
2005 May 20, Officials said 3
ferry accidents in Bangladesh in the past week left at least 133
people dead as hope faded for 187 people still missing.
(AP, 5/20/05)
2005 Jun 4, Bangladesh police
arrested the 2nd wife of former president Hussain Mohammad Ershad
(1982-1990), after he accused her of stealing money and threatening
his life.
(AP, 6/4/05)
2005 Jun 13, In India officials
said at least 275 people have died from sunstroke and dehydration in
northern India and neighboring Nepal and Bangladesh so far this
summer, as high temperatures sweep the region ahead of the monsoon.
(AP, 6/13/05)
2005 Jun 15, It was reported
that Microsoft Corp. will provide computer training to more than
2,000 disadvantaged youths in rural Bangladesh over the next year.
(AP, 6/15/05)
2005 Jun 22, South Asia endured
one of its hottest summers on record and at least 375 people were
reported to have died from sunstroke and dehydration in a month-long
heat wave sweeping India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
(Reuters, 6/22/05)
2005 Jun 27, Bangladesh
opposition parties led by the Awami League staged a human-chain
protest in Dhaka against what they called an anti-people budget
taking effect on Friday.
(AP, 6/27/05)
2005 Jul 12, India’s Supreme
Court scrapped a controversial immigration law, making it easier for
authorities to crack down on illegal aliens, a move likely to curb
Bangladeshi migrants in the country's northeast.
(Reuters, 7/12/05)
2005 cJul 28, Unidentified
assailants hacked to death 2 field workers for Christian Life
Bangladesh at their home at Boalmari in the central Faridpur
district. A week later the US embassy suggested that it was a
religious hate crime.
(AP, 8/4/05)
2005 Jul 29, Thousands of
Bangladeshi Islamic activists staged a noisy protest in the capital
Dhaka after US congressman Tom Tancredo suggested the US might
consider bombing holy sites, including Mecca. Colorado Republican
Tom Tancredo made the comment on July 14 in answer to a radio host's
question about a possible response to any hypothetical nuclear
terrorist attack on the US.
(Reuters, 7/29/05)
2005 Aug 11, Thirty-five
Bangladeshi children who worked as camel jockeys in the United Arab
Emirates arrived home to an uncertain future as part of a United
Nations-sponsored program. The UAE now plans to use robots to race
camels rather than children.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 17, Nearly 500
homemade bombs planted by suspected Islamic militants exploded
nearly simultaneously across Bangladesh, killing 2 people, including
a young boy, and wounding at least 73. The attacks were later
attributed to Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB). 7 leaders of JMB were
later arrested and 6 were to be hanged in 2007. In 2008 a court in
northwestern Bangladesh sentenced seven Islamic militants to life in
prison after finding them guilty of carrying the bombings.
(AP, 8/17/05)(Econ, 8/27/05, p.35)(Econ, 2/10/07,
p.40)(AP, 1/31/08)
2005 Aug 19, In western
Bangladesh 2 suspected Maoist rebeks were killed while a bomb they
were making exploded.
(AP, 8/20/05)
2005 Aug 20, Bangladesh was hit
by a nationwide strike called by the opposition to protest at a wave
of bombings earlier in the week linked to an Islamic extremist
group.
(AFP, 8/20/05)
2005 Aug 20, Bangladeshi and
Indian border guards negotiated a ceasefire, halting a gunbattle
that flared over disputed construction work along the frontier.
(Reuters, 8/20/05)
2005 Aug 21, Bangladeshi and
Indian border officials resolved a dispute over embankment building
on a river cutting across their frontier that led to heavy firing by
border troops.
(AP, 8/21/05)
2005 Aug 22, In southeastern
Bangladesh unusually high tides partially submerged two offshore
islands, forcing nearly 20,000 residents to flee their flooded
homes.
(AP, 8/22/05)
2005 Aug 28, Bangladesh said it
may reduce its work week from 6 to 5 days and raise fuel prices to
control soaring energy costs that have strained its economy.
(AFP, 8/28/05)
2005 Sep 8, Bangladesh police
seized about 200 small bombs, some explosives, dozens of detonators
and leaflets on jihad, or holy war, during a raid on a house in
Dhaka.
(AP, 9/9/05)
2005 Sep 9, Indian border
guards killed 3 Bangladeshi villagers after they had strayed across
the border near the eastern Bangladesh town of Akhaura. India and
Bangladesh share a 4,095-kilometre (2,539-mile) border, which India
is busy fencing in a bid to cut the level of illegal immigration.
(AP, 9/9/05)
2005 Sep 21, India said at
least 64 people have died and hundreds of thousands displaced after
powerful storms left a trail of devastation across the Indian and
Bangladeshi coasts in the Bay of Bengal.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2005 Oct 3, In southeastern
Bangladesh several bombs went off in crowded court buildings in
Chittagong, Chandpur and Laxmipur towns. 2 people were killed and at
least 25 wounded.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 18, Transparency
International ranked Bangladesh and Chad as the most corrupt on an
annual list of corruption levels in 159 nations. At the other end of
the scale, Iceland was ranked least corrupt. Turkmenistan, Myanmar,
Haiti, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, the Ivory Coast and Angola joined
Chad and Bangladesh as the most corrupt countries.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Nov 7, At least 70 people
were missing after a ferry capsized in the Bay of Bengal while
sailing to Chittagong port in Bangladesh from a nearby island.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 12, In Dhaka,
Bangladesh, a 2-day summit aimed to alleviate poverty and boost
trade and cooperation among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives,
Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation (SAARC) leaders called for greater cooperation
within the region to deal with the aftermath of disasters like the
Kashmir earthquake and last year's devastating tsunami. SAARC agreed
to accept Afghanistan as its 8th member.
(AFP, 11/12/05)(Econ, 11/19/05, p.44)
2005 Nov 14, In Bangladesh 2
senior assistant judges of lower courts were killed and four others,
including the bomber himself, were injured in a bomb attack in the
southern district of Jhalakati. In 2006 a court sentenced Siddiq ul
Islam (aka Bangla Bhai) and Abdur Rahman to death by hanging for the
bombing.
(Econ, 6/3/06, p.40)
2005 Nov 22, At least 100,000
opposition demonstrators told Bangladesh's Islamist-allied
government to "quit now" as they rallied in the capital while police
kept watch to avert religious extremist violence.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 25, In Bangladesh
thousands of women rallied in Dhaka to demand that developed nations
open their doors to workers and products from poor nations.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 29, In Bangladesh
suicide bombers targeting courthouses in 2 cities killed at least
eight people and injured 66 in what appeared to be the latest attack
by militant Muslims intent on imposing harsh Islamic law.
(AP, 11/29/05)(SFC, 11/30/05, p.A14)
2005 Dec 1, In Bangladesh a
bomb thrown by an Islamic militant disguised as a tea vendor
exploded outside a government building in Gazipur, killing one
person and wounding at least 29. The militant was hurt and captured
after the blast.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 1, In Bangladesh 9
wedding guests died of suspected alcohol poisoning from drinking
toxic home-brewed liquor the previous evening in a northeastern
village.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 3, In Bangladesh
police said they had arrested over 200 suspected Islamic militants
in a three-day sweep after suicide bombers killed at least nine
people and wounded scores in a spate of attacks this week.
(AFP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 8, In Netrokona,
Bangladesh, a suicide bomber on a bicycle rode into a crowd and
detonated his explosives, killing 7 other people and wounding
dozens. Police detained 8 suspects the next day.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 9, Police in
Bangladesh hunting for Islamist suicide bombers seized explosives
and detained 30 militants.
(Reuters, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 11, Bangladesh
President Iazuddin Ahmed approved an ordinance that allows law
enforcers to tap telephones, a measure set to aid the fight against
Islamic militants.
(AFP, 12/12/05)
2005 Dec 13, In Bangladesh
security forces arrested the suspected military commander and the
alleged accountant of a banned Islamic group blamed for a wave of
deadly bombings.
(AP, 12/14/05)
2005 Dec 16, Bangladesh police
seized two large caches of bomb-making materials and arrested 4
suspected members of a banned Islamic group that has been blamed for
a wave of deadly bombings. A 5th suspect was arrested the next day.
(AP, 12/17/05)
2005 Dec 28, Jamaat Islami
Bangladesh, the main Islamic partner of Bangladesh's coalition
government, staged a huge rally (some 100,000) in the capital Dhaka
to rebut opposition claims that it supports Muslim militants.
(AFP, 12/28/05)
2005 Iqbal Quadir teamed with
inventor Dean Kamen to provide prototype generators, powered by
biogas, to villages in Bangladesh. Each generator was able to
provide a kilowatt of power, enough to light up to 20 households or
shops.
(Econ, 3/11/06, Survey p.37)
2006 Jan 21, In Bangladesh at
least 15 people were injured as police and opposition supporters
fought street battles in Dhaka ahead of a nationwide strike called
by opposition parties. The Awami League and its 13 left-leaning
allies called for a Sunday strike to press for removal of the chief
election commissioner and two newly appointed commissioners.
(AP, 1/21/06)
2006 Jan 22, An
opposition-sponsored strike closed shops and shut down public
transport across Bangladesh as authorities deployed thousands of
security forces to deter violence.
(AP, 1/22/06)
2006 Jan 23, In northwest
Bangladesh 6 people were killed and around 100 were wounded when
police opened fire on a crowd of 10,000 rioting farmers demanding
improved electricity supply.
(AFP, 1/23/06)
2006 Feb 3, In Bangladesh
nearly 1,150 people were arrested in Dhaka, a day before opposition
supporters were due to converge on the city in a campaign to oust
the government.
(AFP, 2/4/06)
2006 Feb 5, In Bangladesh at
least 40,000 opposition supporters converged on Dhaka to demand the
ouster of the government after a three-day protest march marked by
heavy security and the arrest of key activists.
(AP, 2/5/06)
2006 Feb 12, Bangladesh's main
opposition party the Awami League ended its 13-month boycott of
parliament and tabled proposals to reform the country's election
system.
(AFP, 2/12/06)
2006 Feb 23, A fire raged
through a Bangladesh textile mill, killing at least 54 people in the
three-story building inside an industrial park in Chittagong.
(AP, 2/25/06)
2006 Feb 25, In Bangladesh a
5-story building undergoing renovations collapsed in the Tejgaon
district of Dhaka, crushing tin-roof homes in a surrounding
shantytown. At least 18 people were killed and more were feared
trapped.
(AFP, 2/25/06)(SSFC, 2/26/06, p.A3)
2006 Feb 28, A Bangladesh court
sentenced 21 Islamic militants, aged 21-25, to death for their part
in a deadly wave of blasts that saw more than 400 bombs explode
almost simultaneously across the country on Aug 17, 2005. All were
members of the militant group Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB)
and were sentenced under the country's Explosive Substances Act."
(AFP, 2/28/06)
2006 Mar 2, In Bangladesh
Shaikh Abdur Rahman, the fugitive leader of an Islamic militant
group wanted for a deadly wave of bombings. surrendered to police
after a 33-hour siege. Rahman, who fought in the Afghan war after
graduating from Medina University in Saudi Arabia, formed the
Jamayetul Mujahideen in the late 1990s.
(AFP, 3/2/06)
2006 Mar 6, Bangladesh's second
top Islamist militant was captured after a gunbattle with security
forces. Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai, chief of the outlawed Jagrata
Muslim Janata Bangladesh group (JMB), was arrested along with his
wife at his hideout with two of his associates in the northern
district of Mymensingh.
(Reuters, 3/6/06)(Econ, 3/25/06, p.45)
2006 Mar 13, Bangladesh riot
police fired tear gas in Dhaka to disperse hundreds of
stone-throwing activists who tried to march in support of a general
strike.
(AP, 3/13/06)
2006 Mar 17, Bangladesh
confirmed the country's first case of polio in nearly six years,
prompting plans to resume mass vaccinations against the crippling
disease next month.
(AP, 3/17/06)
2006 Mar 20, Bangladesh PM
Begum Khaleda Zia began her first visit to India in five years.
India and Bangladesh will be trying to rebuild confidence and end
distrust that has crept into their relationship.
(AP, 3/20/06)
2006 Mar 26, In Bangladesh 19
people were injured in clashes between political parties as the
nation marked its 35th Independence Day anniversary under tight
security for fear of Islamic militant attacks.
(AP, 3/26/06)
2006 Apr 15, Bangladesh said it
will vaccinate about 18 million children aged 5 and under to combat
polio, which recently re-emerged after authorities believed it had
been eradicated five years ago.
(AP, 4/15/06)
2006 Apr 21, In western
Bangladesh dozens of people were feared to have drowned when a bus
packed with about 50 wedding guests plunged into a river.
(AP, 4/21/06)
2006 May 11, Bangladesh PM
Khaleda Zia reaffirmed her government's determination to crack down
on Islamic militants who have killed at least 28 people in the past
year.
(AFP, 5/11/06)
2006 May 14, A Bangladesh court
sentenced 10 Islamic militants to life imprisonment and three others
to 20 years in jail for their roles in deadly blasts across
Bangladesh last year.
(AFP, 5/14/06)
2006 May 16, The US State
Department apologized to Bangladesh's national carrier, Biman, after
a flight was barred from landing at New York's JFK Airport on May
13. The airline said that it would seek compensation for the
financial losses it suffered due to the FAA decision.
(AFP, 5/16/06)
2006 May 19, In southern Turkey
a truck carrying illegal immigrants from Afghanistan and Bangladesh
crashed into a parked transport truck, killing at least 40 people.
(AP, 5/19/06)
2006 May 22, In Bangladesh
textile workers demanding better pay and one day off per week went
on a rampage at Savar, an industrial town near Dhaka, setting fire
to two factories and several buses.
(AP, 5/22/06)
2006 May 23, In Bangladesh
angry garment workers set fire to seven textile factories in and
around the capital after news that an employee shot in the back
during recent protests over better pay and working conditions had
died.
(AP, 5/23/06)
2006 May 28, Bangladesh
increased development spending by 21% to a record 3.8 billion
dollars for the new fiscal year to create more jobs and cut poverty
ahead of general elections.
(AFP, 5/28/06)
2006 Jun 8, A boat carrying
more than 70 people capsized in rough waters off Bangladesh's coast.
Rescuers recovered at least 16 bodies.
(AP, 6/8/06)
2006 Jun 11, In Bangladesh
police fired tear gas at thousands of stone-throwing protesters
demanding the prime minister's resignation in Dhaka, leaving dozens
of people injured.
(AP, 6/11/06)
2006 Jun 23, Indian border
guards killed four Bangladesh villagers in two separate shootings.
(AFP, 6/24/06)
2006 Jul 2, In Bangladesh 2
people were killed and nearly 200 injured in clashes as opposition
parties enforced a countrywide transport shutdown.
(Reuters, 7/2/06)
2006 Jul 11, In northern
Bangladesh a train plowed through a bus at an unmanned railway
crossing, killing at least 33 people and injuring about 15 others.
(AP, 7/11/06)
2006 Jul 29, In Bangladesh more
than 20,000 activists marched in Dhaka, defying driving rains, in
the fifth day of protests to press for electoral reforms ahead of
January polls.
(AFP, 7/29/06)
2006 Aug 4, Bangladesh
announced a fresh round of polio vaccination drives amid growing
signs that the lethal disease has staged a comeback in the
impoverished South Asian country.
(AFP, 8/4/06)
2006 Aug 24, A Bangladesh court
acquitted former military ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad of graft
charges in an oil and defense deal, easing the way for his return to
the political mainstream ahead of elections next year.
(Reuters, 8/24/06)
2006 Aug 25, In Bangladesh
suspected Maoist attackers shot dead 4 policemen and a ruling party
official after hurling bombs and firing bullets in a crowded cattle
market. Police said they suspected the Purba Banglar Communist Party
(PBCP) was behind the attack.
(AFP, 8/26/06)
2006 Aug 25, A military truck
carrying UN peacekeepers crashed in Ivory Coast, killing six
Bangladeshi troops and injuring 11 others.
(AP, 8/26/06)
2006 Aug 26, Thousands of
farmers took to the streets across northern Bangladesh over the
fatal shooting of at least five people protesting against an
open-pit coal mine.
(AFP, 8/27/06)
2006 Aug 31, A minister said
Bangladesh has bowed to demands from protestors and cancelled a 734
million pound (1.4-billion dollar) plan by British firm Asia Energy
to build an open-pit coal mine.
(AFP, 8/31/06)
2006 Sep 2, Bangladesh's trade
shipments ground to a virtual halt as shipping companies refused to
use the nation's main port in a protest over container fees.
Operations began to resume the next day after 2 shipping companies
withdrew the boycott after a court ruled a surcharge on containers
was illegal.
(AFP, 9/2/06)(AFP, 9/3/06)
2006 Sep 10, in Bangladesh
police used batons to break up a protest, where demonstrators took
to the streets across the country in another general strike ahead of
elections in January.
(AFP, 9/10/06)
2006 Sep 12, In Bangladesh
police in Dhaka baton-charged thousands of opposition supporters in
violent clashes outside the prime minister's office that left at
least 110 people injured. A 14-party opposition alliance led by the
Awami League is demanding electoral reforms ahead of January's
national elections.
(AP, 9/12/06)
2006 Sep 18, In Bangladesh at
least 100,000 opposition supporters rallied in Dhaka demanding
electoral reforms ahead of national elections and using strident
rhetoric against the ruling coalition.
(AFP, 9/18/06)
2006 Sep 21, The death toll in
Bangladesh and India rose to at least 95 and nearly 1,000 remained
missing after storms capsized boats, toppled houses and washed away
roads.
(AP, 9/21/06)
2006 Sep 28, In Bangladesh
thousands of people set fire to power supply offices and attacked
government vehicles Dhaka in protest over electricity shortages.
(Reuters, 9/28/06)
2006 Oct 5, The Bangladesh
Minimum Wage Board announced the 1st raise to the minimum wage for
garment workers since 1994. The wage was almost doubled to Tk1662
($25) a month.
(Econ, 8/18/07,
p.54)(www.cleanclothes.org/news/06-10-12.htm)
2006 Oct 13, Bangladeshi
economist Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank he founded won the
Nobel Peace Prize for their pioneering use of tiny, seemingly
insignificant loans, microcredit, to lift millions out of poverty.
(AP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 19, In southeastern
Bangladesh a herd of wild elephants rampaged through a village,
killing five members of one family, including two children.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 21, In Bangladesh
donations of clothing set off stampedes that left at least eight
people dead. All were women except for one child.
(AP, 10/21/06)
2006 Oct 23, In central
Bangladesh a ferry packed with dozens of people going home for an
Islamic festival capsized in a river after hitting a cargo boat,
killing at least 15 people.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 26, In Bangladesh the
Liberal Democratic Party was launched, headed by former president
Badruddoza Chowdhury and Oli Ahmed, a former minister with the
ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). 13 lawmakers including
two ministers defected from the government to launch the new party
to challenge almost two decades of rule by the country's two main
parties in January 2007 elections.
(AFP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 27, Bangladesh's
5-year coalition between the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and
its Islamist allies expired. PM Begun Khaleda Zia, preparing
to hand over power to an interim administration ahead of elections,
called for maintaining peace, as thousands of rival political
activists clashed in Dhaka.
(AP, 10/27/06)(Econ, 11/4/06, p.49)
2006 Oct 28, In Bangladesh at
least 9 people died and about 500 were wounded in political riots
after the man due to take over as interim leader withdrew just hours
before taking the oath.
(Reuters, 10/28/06)
2006 Oct 29, Bangladesh's Pres.
Iajuddin Ahmed was installed as head of the country's caretaker
government, but Sheikh Hasina, the leader of the opposition that led
a political standoff and days of deadly riots in the capital,
declined to attend the ceremony.
(AP, 10/29/06)
2006 Nov 11, Bangladesh
authorities banned demonstrations and barricades ahead of a deadline
set by a 14-party political alliance for the removal of the chief
election commissioner over allegations of bias.
(AP, 11/11/06)
2006 Nov 12, In Bangladesh a 14
party alliance led by the Awami League began a 4-day strike that
paralyzed the country. Thousands of protesters demanding electoral
reforms targeted major transport links, attacking trains and other
vehicles and leaving at least one person dead.
(AP, 11/12/06)(SFC, 11/16/06, p.A3)(Econ,
11/18/06, p.45)
2006 Nov 13, In Bangladesh
baton-wielding police clashed with thousands of demonstrators who
threw stones and smashed vehicles during protests demanding
electoral reform.
(AP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 18, Bangladesh's main
opposition announced it would form a grand alliance with other major
political parties to force the ouster of a controversial election
chief and pave the way for "fair" elections.
(AFP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 22, Bangladesh's chief
election commissioner M.A. Aziz bowed to pressure to step aside, an
official said, after months of protests by the opposition which
accused him of seeking to rig national elections in January.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 25, Health workers
began a drive across Bangladesh to immunize 24 million children
under five against polio to combat the crippling virus that has
staged a comeback in the South Asian nation.
(AFP, 11/25/06)
2006 Nov 28, In Bangladesh
unidentified attackers set three election offices on fire in
Munshiganj, Barisal and Khulna. Thousands of protesters gathered in
Dhaka to demand the resignation of electoral officials ahead of
January balloting.
(AP, 11/29/06)
2006 Dec 2, A US-based election
monitor said Bangladesh's list of voters contains 12.2 million false
names.
(Reuters, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 3, A major political
alliance in Bangladesh staged a nationwide transport blockade to
force electoral reforms. Separate clashes between rival political
activists and police left one man dead and at least 65 people
injured.
(AP, 12/3/06)
2006 Dec 11, Four advisers to
Bangladesh's interim government resigned as soldiers patrolled towns
and cities to try to end weeks of often-violent protests.
(AP, 12/11/06)
2006 Dec 21, In Bangladesh riot
police dispersed thousands of protesters who smashed vehicles during
a general strike to force electoral reforms before next month's
elections.
(AP, 12/21/06)
2006 Dec 27, Angry protesters
attacked government offices and damaged vehicles in northern
Bangladesh after authorities rejected applications by former army
ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad to contest next month's elections.
(AP, 12/27/06)
2006 Dec 29, In southern
Bangladesh at least 3 people were killed and 100 hurt after two
ferries packed with passengers rushing home for a Muslim festival
collided in dense fog on the Meghna River.
(AFP, 12/30/06)
2007 Jan 3, A key political
alliance announced it would boycott this month's general elections
in Bangladesh, deepening a political crisis that has crippled the
South Asian country for months.
(AP, 1/3/07)
2007 Jan 5, Bangladesh police
over the last 2 days detained about 1,500 activists ahead of a
two-day nationwide general strike aimed at forcing electoral reform
and the postponement of a general election this month.
(AP, 1/6/07)
2007 Jan 6, In Bangladesh at
least 41 people were burned to death after fire engulfed a bus
packed with migrant workers.
(AFP, 1/6/07)
2007 Jan 7, Activists and
police clashed in Bangladesh, injuring at least 50 people at the
start of a three-day transport blockade aimed at derailing upcoming
general elections.
(Reuters, 1/7/07)
2007 Jan 8, In Bangladesh riot
police used tear gas, rubber bullets and batons to disperse
thousands of stone-throwing protesters in Dhaka, who are demanding
postponement of this month's elections and electoral reforms.
(AP, 1/8/07)
2007 Jan 9, Dhaka, Bangladesh,
turned into a battlefield as protesters, demanding the scrapping of
national elections, hurled bombs and rocks at police who responded
by firing tear gas and rubber bullets. The parties demanded the
postponement of January 22 elections, alleging that they cannot be
fair without massive changes to the voter list.
(AP, 1/9/07)
2007 Jan 11, Iajuddin Ahmed,
the president of Bangladesh, declared a state of emergency following
weeks of violent protests and threats by a political alliance to
disrupt general elections. Gen. Masud Uddin Chowdhury led a coup and
forced the president to cancel elections and declare a state of
emergency. Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed was sworn in as head of Interim
government.
(http://tinyurl.com/6zr23k)AP, 1/11/07)(Econ,
6/7/08, p.54)(Econ, 11/8/08, p.58)
2007 Jan 12, Fakhruddin Ahmed,
a former Bangladesh central bank governor, was sworn in as head of
the country's new interim government.
(AFP, 1/12/07)
2007 Jan 13, Bangladeshi police
and soldiers arrested more than 2,500 people overnight and raided
the homes of several political leaders after a new caretaker
government was sworn in to quell unrest ahead of elections.
(AP, 1/13/07)
2007 Jan 29, An official said
at least 33,000 people have been arrested in Bangladesh by the army,
police and security forces since a state of emergency was imposed
earlier this month.
(AP, 1/29/07)
2007 Jan 31, The caretaker
government of Bangladesh approved a deal with an Indian company to
build a 240MW power station.
(Econ, 2/10/07, p.39)
2007 Feb 4, Bangladeshi
security forces used emergency powers to detain 13 senior
politicians and former government ministers. Some 3 million Muslim
devotees raised their hands in prayer for global peace, putting
aside their country's sometimes violent struggle with political
corruption and Islamic extremists, at one of the world's largest
religious gatherings. The annual World Congregation of Muslims, or
"Bishwa Ijtema," has been held each year since 1966 on the banks of
the River Turag in Tongi, just north of the capital, Dhaka.
(AP, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 11, Muhammad Yunus,
Bangladesh's "banker to the poor" and Nobel Peace Prize winner,
formally announced his willingness to form a new political party to
take part in forthcoming elections. In May Yunus reversed his
decision to enter politics.
(AFP, 2/11/07)(Econ, 5/12/07, p.46)
2007 Feb 18, A Bangladesh
anti-graft body named 50 people for having wealth that did not match
their income. 30 arrests soon included 11 former ministers,
lawmakers and businessmen with party links.
(AP, 2/20/07)
2007 Feb 25, In Bangladesh at
least six prominent political figures were arrested as they appeared
before an anti-corruption panel to explain how they amassed wealth
far in excess of their income.
(AP, 2/25/07)
2007 Feb 26, In Bangladesh a
fire swept through a building that housed two private TV stations
and a newspaper in Dhaka, killing at least three people and injuring
scores.
(AP, 2/26/07)
2007 Mar 6, A fire raged
through a congested slum in southeastern Bangladesh, killing at
least 21 people, including 10 children.
(AP, 3/6/07)
2007 Mar 8, The security forces
of Bangladesh's emergency interim government arrested six
politicians over corruption allegations. They included Tarique
Rahman, the son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, dubbed “Mr Ten
Per Cent” for his alleged cut in almost any deal done by his
mother’s government.
(AP, 3/8/07)(Econ, 3/10/07, p.39)
2007 Mar 18, Bangladeshi police
filed extortion charges against Tarique Rahman, a former prime
minister's son, who had been a powerful political leader in a
country that ranks among the world's most corrupt.
(AP, 3/18/07)
2007 Mar 18, In Bangladesh
Cholesh Ritchil, an activist of the Garos people, was tortured to
death while in army custody. Father Eugene Homrich (79), a native of
Muskegon, Mich., made the news public. Homrich began working with
the Garos in 1956 when they numbered about 25,000 in the Modhupur
forest. By 2007 illegal logging had reduced the forest to a tenth of
its size to 23,000 square miles.
(WSJ, 6/13/07,
p.A1)(www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2007/s1945435.htm)
2007 Mar 20, Authorities in
emergency-ruled Bangladesh said they have found "huge" amounts of
undisclosed money in the bank accounts of dozens of prominent
figures caught up in a major anti-graft drive.
(AP, 3/20/07)
2007 Mar 30, In Bangladesh 6
top Islamic militants convicted of killing two judges in a 2005 bomb
attack in southern Bangladesh were hanged. Bangladesh officials said
bird flu has spread to five more farms in central and northern
districts.
(AP, 3/30/07)(Reuters, 3/30/07)
2007 Mar 31, At least 22
Islamists were arrested in overnight raids as Bangladesh
strengthened security nationwide.
(AFP, 3/31/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Kuwait a medical
source said preliminary tests for bird flu were positive on four
Bangladeshi workers who had been culling infected chickens.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 11, Bangladesh police
said main opposition leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed, former prime
minister and head of the Awami League, has been charged over the
murder of four people during political violence which racked the
nation's capital last October.
(AP, 4/11/07)(Econ, 4/14/07, p.46)
2007 Apr 15, Authorities in
Bangladesh arrested a second son of former prime minister Khaleda
Zia, as the military-backed interim government stepped up its
anti-corruption drive. Arafat Rahman (36) was released the next day.
(AFP, 4/16/07)(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 18, Bangladesh's
military-backed emergency government exiled opposition leader Sheikh
Hasina Wajed as it stepped up a massive purge of the crisis-wracked
country's political hierarchy.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 22, Bangladesh issued
an arrest warrant for opposition leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed as a
plane arrived to take her arch rival, the country's last prime
minister Khaleda Zia, into exile in Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 26, Bangladesh's
emergency government backtracked on plans to exile two feuding
former prime ministers but appeared to threaten the women with
corruption charges if they stayed in the country.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 May 7, Former prime
minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed was greeted by tens of thousands of
supporters as she returned to Bangladesh after the military-backed
government abandoned plans to force her into exile.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 29, Bangladeshi
authorities revived two graft cases against former premier Sheikh
Hasina Wajed. Security forces arrested 4 former government
ministers, 2 mayors and a top businessman as the military-backed
emergency government stepped up an anti-corruption drive.
(AFP, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 Jun 11, In southeastern
Bangladesh at least 130 people were killed in Chittagong and other
districts and many others were injured in mudslides triggered by
heavy monsoon rains.
(AFP, 6/11/07)(AFP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jul 5, Ali Asgar Lobi, a
former Bangladeshi MP who dodged more than 2.4 million dollars in
unpaid tax, was sentenced to eight years in jail.
(AFP, 7/5/07)
2007 Jul 16, Bangladesh police
arrested former PM Sheikh Hasina on extortion charges, and she was
ordered jailed pending trial.
(AP, 7/16/07)
2007 Jul 24, Former Bangladesh
PM Sheikh Hasina was charged with extortion for allegedly demanding
hundreds of thousands of dollars from a company seeking to build a
power station.
(AP, 7/24/07)
2007 Jul 30, Bangladesh's High
Court suspended former PM Sheikh Hasina's extortion trial and
ordered her released on bail.
(AP, 7/30/07)
2007 Aug 1, Bangladesh
officials said monsoon floods had misplaced or marooned 5 million
people and left 40 dead.
(SFC, 8/2/07, p.A3)
2007 Aug 2, Officials said days
of heavy monsoon rains have devastated large swaths of northern
India and Bangladesh, killing at least 164 people, stranding
millions and washing away vital crops.
(AP, 8/2/07)
2007 Aug 3, The death toll in
south Asia rose to at least 186 people killed. 19 million have been
driven from their homes as heavy monsoon rains triggered floods,
destroyed crops and submerged roads across a wide swath of northern
India and Bangladesh. The UN child welfare agency said that in India
alone, the number of dead from the monsoons topped 1,100.
(AP, 8/3/07)(AFP, 8/4/07)
2007 Aug 4, In Bangladesh
deaths from monsoon rains topped 200, with at least 16 more
fatalities reported overnight. 7.5 million people have been either
marooned or displaced from their homes.
(AP, 8/4/07)
2007 Aug 7, The toll from
severe floods across South Asia soared to nearly 1,900 and although
water levels in the region's swollen rivers started to recede,
millions of people in Bangladesh, India and Nepal still faced
hunger. About 40% of the country was under water.
(AFP, 8/7/07)(Econ, 8/11/07, p.34)
2007 Aug 9, The death toll from
the worst monsoon floods to hit South Asia in decades passed 2,000
even as torrents of muddy water receded from millions of acres of
farmland and rains shifted west.
(AFP, 8/9/07)
2007 Aug 21, Students in
emergency-ruled Bangladesh clashed with police for a second day
demanding that the army withdraw from Dhaka university campus.
(AP, 8/21/07)
2007 Aug 22, In Bangladesh
clashes between police and students demanding an end to emergency
rule spilled into the streets of the capital, prompting the
government to impose an indefinite curfew in six cities.
(AP, 8/22/07)(Econ, 8/25/07, p.42)
2007 Aug 23, Bangladesh's
army-backed interim government briefly relaxed a curfew, allowing
residents of the capital the chance to stock up on essentials and
those stranded at airports and elsewhere to return home.
(AP, 8/23/07)
2007 Aug 29, New research said
arsenic in drinking water is a global threat to health, affecting
more than 70 countries and 137 million people. The country worst
affected is Bangladesh, where hundreds of thousands of people are
likely to die from cancers of the lung, bladder and skin caused by
arsenic.
(AP, 8/30/07)
2007 Sep 2, Detained former
Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina Wajed was charged in a new graft case as
part of the emergency government's corruption crackdown.
(AFP, 9/2/07)
2007 Sep 3, Former Bangladesh
PM Khaleda Zia and one of her sons were arrested on charges of
corruption and misuse of power.
(AP, 9/3/07)
2007 Sep 8, Hundreds of
colleges reopened in Bangladesh, two weeks after the country's
military-backed government shut them down to quell nationwide
student unrest.
(AP, 9/8/07)
2007 Sep 9, Large swathes of
Bangladesh were underwater again after heavy rains, adding to the
misery of millions hit by flooding that has killed more than 830
people since late July.
(AP, 9/9/07)
2007 Sep 10, Bangladesh's
military-backed government lifted an eight-month emergency ban on
indoor politics as it promised democracy would be restored by the
end of 2008. A Dhaka-based human rights group said 126 people had
been killed by law enforcement agencies since the emergency rule
began with at least 22 tortured to death.
(AP, 9/10/07)(Econ, 9/8/07, p.43)
2007 Sep 15, Officials said
nearly 13.5 million people have been marooned or displaced by floods
in India and Bangladesh. The flooding in South Asia caused by the
June-to-September monsoon has been described as the worst in
decades, with more than 3,300 people killed. Landslides and floods
in Nepal killed at least another 185 people since the start of
monsoon.
(AP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 22, At least 25,000
textile workers defied a ban on protests in emergency-ruled
Bangladesh to demand back-pay and bonuses in one of the country's
biggest industrial zones.
(AP, 9/22/07)
2007 Sep 30, Ahmed Akbar
Sobhan, a property tycoon and one of Bangladesh's richest men, his
wife and three sons were sentenced in absentia to five years each in
jail as part of a government anti-corruption drive.
(AFP, 9/30/07)
2007 Oct 13, In southern
Bangladesh 5 rear carriages of an overcrowded express train jumped
their tracks, killing at least five passengers and injuring more
than 100 others.
(AP, 10/13/07)
2007 Nov 15, Ten of thousands
of coastal villagers took shelter inland as a cyclone rapidly
approached Bangladesh's southwestern shores, spawning cold drizzles,
strong winds and high waves. Tropical Cyclone Sidr killed at least
3,200 people and left millions homeless.
(AP, 11/15/07)(AP, 11/19/07)(AP, 11/15/08)
2007 Nov 17, The official death
toll from a savage cyclone that wreaked havoc on southwest
Bangladesh reached 1,723, the deadliest storm to hit the country in
a decade.
(AP, 11/17/07)
2007 Nov 18, The death toll
from a cyclone that devastated Bangladesh has surpassed 2,200, as
rescuers struggled through blocked paths to reach hundreds of
thousands of survivors awaiting aid in wrecked homes and flooded
fields. The head of the country's Red Crescent Society said up to
5,000 to 10,000 people are believed to have died in the cyclone.
(AP, 11/18/07)(AFP, 11/18/07)
2007 Nov 19, The death toll
from the Nov 15 cyclone in Bangladesh passed 3,100, and officials
said that number could reach 10,000 once rescuers get to outlying
islands.
(AP, 11/19/07)
2007 Nov 24, in southwestern
Bangladesh a section of a bridge collapsed under the weight of
thousands of hungry cyclone victims rushing toward a relief center.
At least 3 people died and dozens were injured.
(Reuters, 11/24/07)
2007 Nov 25, More than 50
people were missing after a boat, possibly being ferried by human
traffickers, sank off a southern Bangladesh island bordering Myanmar
waters.
(AP, 11/26/07)
2007 The population of
Bangladesh was about 150 million. The Ahmedija minority numbered
about 100,000.
(Econ, 2/10/07, p.41)(Econ, 8/11/07, p.34)
2008 Jan 12, In Bangladesh
thousands of textile factory workers took to the streets blocking a
major highway in the capital Dhaka, demanding a pay rise and
overtime payments.
(AP, 1/12/08)
2008 Jan 30, The Bangladesh
government said an unidentified person has donated $130 million to
help rebuild hundreds of schools and storm shelters destroyed by a
cyclone along Bangladesh's southwest coast.
(AP, 1/30/08)
2008 Jan, Grameen Bank, a
Bangladesh-based microfinance institution, opened its first American
branch. As of September, 2011, it had lent over 25 million to some
7,300 borrowers.
(Econ, 9/24/11, p.42)
2008 Feb 1, Bangladesh
livestock officials said more than 27,000 chickens and ducks have
been slaughtered after bird flu was confirmed at a poultry farm near
the border with India.
(AP, 2/1/08)
2008 Feb 5, A Bangladesh
official said Abdul Kader Mollah, an employee of Titas Gas
Distribution Company, the country’s biggest state-owned gas company,
allegedly used his position to pocket a colossal 145 million dollars
in bribes over 12 years. Mollah at the time earned a mere 100
dollars a month.
(AFP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 5, UN officials said
Ethiopia and Bangladesh have offered to jump-start the UN
peacekeeping mission in Darfur by loaning it helicopters to fly
troops and supplies around the vast region in western Sudan.
(AP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 16, It was reported
that the first flowering in 50 years had taken place in the bamboo
forests of Bangladesh leading to a plague of rats. The last
flowering in 1958 also caused a similar rodent plague.
(SFC, 2/16/08, p.B6)
2008 Feb 28, In Bangladesh a
ferry carrying more than 100 people collided with a cargo vessel and
capsized in a river near Dhaka, killing at least 39 people with 20
missing.
(AP, 2/28/08)(AP, 2/29/08)
2008 Mar 3, The Sri Lankan navy
said it rescued 71 Burmese Bangladeshi citizens aboard a vessel that
had drifted for 12 days in the Indian Ocean. 20 others had died from
lack of food and water.
(SFC, 3/4/08, p.A3)
2008 Mar 11, Bangladesh's
military-backed government backed down from a policy to ensure equal
property rights to women amid angry protests by Muslim clerics that
the move would override Islamic law.
(AFP, 3/12/08)
2008 Mar 22, In Bangladesh an
emergency official said a tropical storm has killed at least five
people. The storm also leveled around 3,000 huts.
(AP, 3/22/08)
2008 Apr 1, In Bangladesh an
official said Tareque Rahman, the son of detained former Bangladesh
premier Khaleda Zia, has been formally charged with corruption as
part of the military-backed government's anti-graft drive.
(AFP, 4/1/08)
2008 Apr 12, About 20,000
workers rioted over high food prices and low wages close to the
Bangladesh capital Dhaka, amid spreading global unrest over soaring
grocery costs.
(AP, 4/12/08)
2008 Apr 14, Train service
between Bangladesh and India resumed after a 43-year hiatus.
(AP, 4/14/08)
2008 Apr 15, A Bangladesh
official said at least 17 people were killed when a train plowed
through a packed bus at a railway crossing in Tangail district.
(AP, 4/16/08)
2008 Apr 19,
In central Bangladesh a speeding bus plunged off a road,
killing at least 18 people and injuring dozens.
(AP, 4/19/08)
2008 Apr 23, Officials said
Bangladesh has begun evacuating thousands of stranded workers who
were trafficked into war-ravaged Iraq by illegal manpower traders.
(AP, 4/23/08)
2008 May 12, In Bangladesh a
ferry on the Ghorautura River capsized with nearly 150 passengers
and at least 44 people were killed.
(WSJ, 5/14/08, p.A13)
2008 May 14, In eastern
Bangladesh 8 people died and one person was critically injured when
two trains collided at a station.
(AP, 5/14/08)
2008 May 22, Bangladesh
reported its first confirmed case of human bird flu, but said the
16-month-old victim had now recovered from the virus.
(AFP, 5/22/08)
2008 May 24, Disaster-prone
Bangladesh announced that it would plant 100 million trees to create
a "natural fence" against frequent floods and cyclones.
(AP, 5/24/08)
2008 Jun 1, In southwest
Bangladesh police clashed with thousands of garment workers during
fresh protests over low wages and soaring food prices.
(AP, 6/1/08)
2008 Jun 4, In Bangladesh more
than 1,700 people were detained in the past 24 hours. That takes the
number of detainees to more than 10,000 since May 30 in a drive to
improve law and order before national elections planned for late
this year.
(AP, 6/4/08)
2008 Jul 7, In central
Bangladesh 2 passenger buses collided head-on, killing at least 20
people and wounding dozens more.
(AP, 7/7/08)
2008 Jul 18, A border clash
triggered by a smuggling attempt left two Bangladeshi troops dead
and one Indian soldier seriously wounded.
(AP, 7/18/08)
2008 Aug 2, In Sri Lanka a
two-day summit of leaders of the 15th South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation (SAARC), opened amid extraordinary security.
Leaders of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, The Maldives,
Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka attended the summit. Government troops
captured rebel-held Vellankulam village in Mannar, the last rebel
stronghold in the area. Fresh fighting between Sri Lankan troops and
Tamil Tiger separatists killed 14 rebels and two soldiers across the
embattled northern region.
(AP, 8/2/08)(AP, 8/3/08)
2008 Aug 4, Bangladesh held
local elections that observers hailed as a success. A fire swept
through a five-story building in a crowded section of the capital,
Dhaka, killing at least 10 people and injuring five others.
(AFP, 8/5/08)(AP, 8/4/08)(Econ, 8/9/08, p.42)
2008 Aug 18, In southeastern
Bangladesh chunks of earth loosened by heavy rains buried several
hillside thatched huts, killing five people and injuring seven.
(AP, 8/18/08)
2008 Aug 20, Bangladesh
prosecutors formally lodged new charges against ex-premier Sheikh
Hasina Wajed over her alleged role in a 130-million-dollar defense
deal with Russia.
(AP, 8/20/08)
2008 Nov 3, In Bangladesh Pres.
Iajuddin Ahmed signed an order sending the army back to the
barracks, drawing to an end the state of emergency that began Jan
11, 2007.
(Econ, 11/8/08, p.58)
2008 Nov 29, In Bangladesh
police in Dhaka arrested eight members of a hard-line Islamic group
for damaging a 41-foot outdoor sculpture of a group of white storks.
The statue by sculptor Mrinal Haque has stood at a road intersection
since 1989.
(AP, 11/30/08)
2008 Dec 16, Bangladesh's
military-backed government said it will end nearly two years of
emergency rule and restore civil liberties before this month's
national elections.
(AP, 12/16/08)
2008 Dec 23, A court in
northeast Bangladesh sentenced three Islamic militants to death and
two others to life in prison for a 2004 grenade attack that wounded
a British diplomat and killed three other people.
(AP, 12/23/08)
2008 Dec 25, Police in northern
Bangladesh arrested three suspected militants tied to the Jumatul
Mujahedeen Bangladesh, a banned Islamic group, and seized a large
cache of bomb-making materials. The arrests were made in separate
raids over the last 24 hours.
(AP, 12/25/08)
2008 Dec 23, Bangladeshi
authorities said a new outbreak of bird flu had been detected at a
village in the north of the country as they struggled to contain the
disease.
(AP, 12/23/08)
2008 Dec 28, In northern
Bangladesh a truck loaded with iron rods veered off a road, killing
24 hitchhikers riding in the back and injuring 13 others.
(AP, 12/28/08)
2008 Dec 29, Bangladeshis voted
in their droves in elections that marked the end of two years of
emergency rule, with a pair of rival former prime ministers vying to
reclaim power in the impoverished nation. Former PM Sheikh Hasina
won a landslide victory.
(AFP, 12/29/08)(AP, 12/30/08)
2008 Dec 29, The Indian Coast
Guard rescued two people off India's east coast during a search for
more than 300 illegal immigrants missing for the past four days and
feared dead. Survivors told Indian authorities that more than 300
people from Bangladesh and Myanmar, members of the ethnic Rohingya
minority, had jumped from a rickety boat that had been drifting for
13 days in the Indian Ocean and tried to swim to shore near the
Andaman Islands. On Jan 16 a refugees' advocacy group accused the
Thai navy of tying up four illegal immigrants and throwing them into
the ocean before abandoning hundreds of others on a barge in open
water, where some 300 drowned. At least 100 were rescued in Indian
waters. Survivors at the time told Indian authorities they had been
detained by Thai authorities, who towed them into the open sea and
left them.
(AP, 12/30/08)(AP, 1/16/09)(SSFC, 1/18/09, p.A5)
2009 Jan 6, In Bangladesh
Sheikh Hasina Wajed was sworn in for her second spell as prime
minister, restoring democracy to the impoverished country after
almost two years of rule by an army-backed regime.
(AFP, 1/6/09)
2009 Jan 22, In Bangladesh the
Awami League won a landslide victory in the country’s 481 upazilas
(subdistricts). Three people were killed, 150 injured and voter
intimidation was rife.
(Econ, 1/31/09, p.50)
2009 Jan 30, At least two
million worshippers gathered north of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka
for the Bishwa Ijtema, or World Muslim Congregation, a three-day
event billed as the largest annual Islamic event after the hajj. It
was first held in the 1960s and was launched by Tablig Jamaat, a
non-political group that urges people to follow Islam in their daily
lives.
(AFP, 1/30/09)
2009 Feb 8, In eastern
Bangladesh a ferry boat sank after colliding with a larger ferry on
the Titas River, killing 10 women and children.
(AP, 2/8/09)
2009 Feb 19, In southern
Bangladesh 13 people died and scores were missing after a ferry
carrying more than 100 passengers collided with a cargo boat and
capsized.
(AFP, 2/19/09)
2009 Feb 25, Mutinous
Bangladeshi border guards opened fire at their headquarters in the
capital and seized a nearby shopping mall, injuring several people
in an insurrection apparently sparked by pay disputes. They agreed
to surrender after the government said it would grant them amnesty.
(AP, 2/25/09)
2009 Feb 26, In Bangladesh
mutinous members of a paramilitary unit in Dhaka surrendered their
weapons as tanks surrounded their headquarters after a second day of
gunfire in a mutiny that killed about 50 people. Security forces
searching the headquarters of a mutinous border guard unit soon
discovered the bodies of dozens of officers in shallow graves on the
compound, raising the death toll to 76. The trial of some 3,500
paramilitary troops began in November. At least 48 had already died
while in custody. In April, 2010, 136 guards were given sentences
ranging from four months to seven years for their 2-day uprising.
(Reuters, 2/26/09)(AP, 2/27/09)(AP,
2/28/09)(Econ, 11/28/09, p.44)(AP, 4/18/10)
2009 Mar 1, Bangladeshi police
charged more than 1,000 border guards with murder and arson after a
bloody mutiny in the capital left as many as 148 people dead or
missing, most of them army officers.
(AP, 3/1/09)
2009 Mar 3, Bangladeshi police
arrested Syed Tauhidul Alam, the suspected ringleader of a deadly
border guard mutiny that killed 74 people, during a raid in a slum
in Dhaka. 4 other border guards were also arrested.
(AP, 3/3/09)(SFC, 3/4/09, p.A4)(Econ, 3/7/09,
p.48)
2009 Mar 13, In Bangladesh a
fire at Dhaka’s 22-story Bashundhara City mall killed at least 7
people as helicopters plucked survivors from the roof.
(SFC, 3/14/09, p.A2)
2009 Apr 2, A Bangladesh
official said the government will strictly enforce a new ban on
begging that aims to fully eliminate it within five years.
(AP, 4/2/09)
2009 Apr 6, Bangladesh police
detained Faisal Mustafa, the head of a British-based charity that
funded an Islamic school in southern Bangladesh, where authorities
on March 24 seized weapons and explosives.
(AP, 4/6/09)(SFC, 4/7/09, p.A2)
2009 Apr 9, In southern
Bangladesh 2 speeding passenger buses crashed into each other,
killing at least 11 people and injuring another 50.
(AP, 4/9/09)
2009 Apr 12, In Bangladesh
security officials arrested eight suspected militants of a banned
Islamic group after raiding a house in Dhaka.
(AP, 4/12/09)
2009 Apr 19, The annual Goldman
Environmental Prize was awarded to 7 activists from 6 nations.
Rizwana Hasan (40) of Bangladesh was awarded for exposing
environmental damage and exploitative practices used in the
country’s ship dismantling industry; Marc Ona Essangui (45) of
Gabon, the founder of Brainforest, was awarded for exposing secret
agreements for a Chinese mine project that threatened Gabon’s rain
forests; Yuyun Ismawati of Indonesia was awarded for designing
environmentally safe waste management systems for poor Indonesia n
communities; Olga Speranskaya (46) of Eco-Accord in Russia was
awarded for her efforts to control and store chemicals in Russia and
former Soviet republics; Wanze Eduards (52) and Hugo Jabini (44) of
Suriname, leaders of the maroon community, were awarded for their
efforts that led to a landmark ruling ending tribal exploitation by
the government. Maria Gunnoe (40) of West Virginia was awarded for
her fight against the practice of removing of the tops of mountains
and filing valleys below with tailings.
(SSFC, 4/19/09, p.A18)
2009 May 6, Bangladesh Home
Minister Sahara Khatun said the UAE has given the government nearly
$1.44 million to distribute among 879 Bangladeshi children who
worked as jockeys at camel races after it was banned in 1993. The
law was openly flouted until authorities reached an agreement in
2005 with UNICEF to help repatriate and rehabilitate child jockeys,
who were mostly taken from poorer Muslim nations such as Bangladesh,
Pakistan and Sudan.
(AP, 5/6/09)
2009 May 14, Bangladesh's high
court moved to plug a gaping hole in the country's laws by
introducing a first-ever ban on sexual harassment. Bangladeshi
police arrested 250 border guards accused of spreading violence
across the country during a mutiny that started at a military base
in Dhaka.
(AFP, 5/14/09)
2009 May 17, In Bangladesh a
state prosecutor said a corruption charge against PM Sheikh Hasina
has been dropped because the man who laid it now says he was
pressured to do so by the last government.
(AFP, 5/17/09)
2009 May 26, Cyclone Aila
lashed low-lying areas in eastern India and Bangladesh, destroying
thousands of homes, stranding tens of thousands of people in flooded
villages and killing at least 191 before it began to ease.
(AP, 5/26/09)(AP, 5/27/09)
2009 Jun 10, Authorities in
Bangladesh decided to withdraw all 12 corruption-related cases that
had been brought against PM Sheikh Hasina. Minister of state Kamrul
Islam said the charges were politically motivated. He also
recommended withdrawing 50 other cases against political leaders.
(www.voanews.com/bangla/2009-06-10-voa11.cfm)
2009 Jun 29, In Bangladesh
textile workers set fire to a factory in a third day of
demonstrations for payment of wages, as the global economic crisis
hits the South Asian country's main export industry.
(AP, 6/29/09)
2009 Jul 28, In Bangladesh the
heaviest rain in 53 years battered the capital, Dhaka, leaving at
least six people dead and stranding thousands in their swamped
homes.
(AP, 7/28/09)
2009 Jul 31, In southeastern
Bangladesh landslides caused by heavy monsoon rains killed 10
people.
(AP, 7/31/09)
2009 Aug 24, Bangladesh awarded
three offshore blocks to two global energy companies to explore for
gas in the Bay of Bengal. The US-based ConocoPhillips and Ireland's
Tullow Oil could start exploration work by early next year.
(AP, 8/25/09)
2009 Sep 30, Bangladesh awarded
a farmer who killed more than 83,000 rats and launched a monthlong
campaign nationwide to kill millions more, to protect crops and
reduce the need for food imports.
(AP, 9/30/09)
2009 Oct 4, Grameenphone,
Bangladesh’s largest mobile phone firm, opened the largest IPO in
Bangladesh history. It aimed to raise $70 million. It was owned by
Telenor, a Norwegian telephone company, and Grameen Telecom, a
non-profit founded by Muhammad Yunus, a pioneer of microfinance.
(Econ, 10/17/09, p.88)
2009 Oct 11, In eastern
Bangladesh Rasu Miah (40), who was being questioned about a theft,
surprised a court by confessing to killing 11 women in the past
three years after a woman refused to marry him. Miah told a
magistrate in his home town of Chandpur that 15 years ago he decided
to kill at least 101 women after a woman he loved refused to marry
him.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Nov 17, Australian doctors
successfully separated joined-at-the-head Bangladeshi twins after
more than 24 hours of surgery, saying the girls were "in great
shape" but faced a difficult recovery.
(AFP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 27, In southern
Bangladesh the MV Coco-4, a triple-deck ferry packed with hundreds
of travelers heading home for an Islamic festival, capsized on the
Tetulia River as passengers disembarked, leaving at least 77 dead
and dozens missing.
(AP, 11/28/09)(AFP, 11/30/09)
2009 Dec 4, In northern
Bangladesh an overcrowded passenger boat capsized after being hit by
a small ferry, leaving at least 46 people dead. 18 Bangladesh
fishermen were assaulted in the Bay of Bengal off the southern coast
of Bangladesh after pirates attacked by a band of 25-30 pirates. The
survivors said the pirates severely beat them and slashed some of
the fishermen with knives before throwing them all overboard. 16
fishermen remained missing.
(AP, 12/4/09)(AP, 12/8/09)
2009 Dec 4, Indian officials
said Arabinda Rajkhowa, the commander of a powerful rebel movement
in the remote northeast, was arrested along with a top deputy.
Security officials said the chairman of the United Liberation Front
of Asom, or ULFA, was actually arrested days earlier in Bangladesh,
where he had long been thought to be hiding.
(AP, 12/4/09)(Econ, 12/12/09, p.47)
2009 Dec 6, In southwestern
Bangladesh two passenger buses collided head-on, leaving 21 people
dead and 50 injured.
(AP, 12/6/09)
2010 Jan 1, In southwestern
Bangladesh a speeding bus lost control and hit a tree before
crashing into a canal, killing 18 people and injuring dozens.
(AP, 1/1/10)
2010 Jan 27, Bangladesh
executed 5 former soldiers for killing independence leader Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman in a 1975 military coup.
(SFC, 1/28/10, p.A2)
2010 Feb 23, In Bangladesh at
least 20 people were injured and dozens of houses torched in fresh
clashes between tribal groups and Bengali settlers in the
insurgency-hit southeastern hills.
(AFP, 2/23/10)
2010 Feb 25, In Bangladesh a
fire started at the seven-storey Garib and Garib Sweater factory in
the industrial town of Gazipur. Witnesses said the exit gates on the
top floor were locked at the time. The fire started on the 2nd floor
of the factory, trapping scores of workers. Police say 14 women and
7 men were killed and around 40 people injured.
(AP, 2/26/10)
2010 Mar 4, Bangladesh police
said Mahbub Sarwar (26), a Dhaka-based Facebook stocks tipster with
more than 10,000 followers, has been arrested on charges of
illegally manipulating Bangladesh's overheated stock exchange.
(AFP, 3/4/10)
2010 Mar 25, Bangladesh set up
a war crimes tribunal for long-delayed trials of people accused of
murder, torture, rape and arson during its 1971 independence war.
(AP, 3/25/10)
2010 Apr 7, Bangladesh deployed
the army to guard water pumps in the capital Dhaka after acute
shortages triggered widespread protests.
(AP, 4/7/10)
2010 Apr 28, Bangladesh Labor
and Manpower Minister Mosharraf Hossain said Bangladesh will raise
the minimum wage for millions of garment workers, as workers staged
another mass protest that blocked the country's main highway.
(AFP, 4/28/10)
2010 May 16, In eastern
Bangladesh a speeding bus plunged off a bridge after slamming into
another bus, killing 11 people and injuring 32 others.
(AP, 5/16/10)
2010 May 30, Bangladesh said it
has blocked the popular social networking website Facebook over a
page that urges people to draw images of Islam's prophet Muhammad.
(AP, 5/30/10)
2010 Jun 2, In Bangladesh a
four-story apartment building constructed on a former canal
collapsed in Dhaka, burying nearby shanties and killing at least 20
people.
(AP, 6/2/10)
2010 Jun 3, In Bangladesh an
illegal chemical warehouse fuelled a toxic blaze that ripped through
one of Dhaka's most densely populated areas, killing at least 117
people.
(AP, 6/4/10)
2010 Jun 15, In southeastern
Bangladesh powerful landslides triggered by heavy rains killed at
least 53 people, striking a coastal area as people slept and burying
many alive inside their homes.
(AP, 6/15/10)(AP, 6/16/10)
2010 Jun 17, Officials and
reports said floods and landslides triggered by incessant monsoon
rains in Bangladesh and Myanmar have killed more than 100 people.
(AP, 6/17/10)
2010 Jun 27, Bangladesh
security forces arrested over 200 activists as the main opposition
party led a nationwide dawn-to-dusk general strike to protest
alleged government misrule.
(AP, 6/27/10)(SFC, 6/28/10, p.A2)
2010 Jul 12, A Bangladesh
government minister said 40 people, suspected of killings, rape and
arson during its 1971 independence war, have been barred from
leaving the country ahead of a planned war crimes trial.
(AP, 7/12/10)
2010 Jul 26, A special tribunal
in Bangladesh issued arrest warrants against four senior leaders of
the country's largest Islamic party ahead of a planned trial over
alleged crimes against humanity during the nation's 1971
independence war.
(AP, 7/26/10)
2010 Jul 27, Bangladesh raised
the minimum wage for its millions of garment workers by 80 percent,
following months of violent protests over pay and conditions.
(AFP, 7/27/10)
2010 Aug 21, In Bangladesh at
least 15 people died over the last 24 hours after drinking toxic
home-brewed liquor in the northeast. They had consumed alcohol mixed
with toxic methanol in the Sylhet district late Aug 18.
(AP, 8/21/10)
2010 Aug 22, A Bangladesh
lawyer said high court judges have passed an order directing that
wearing religious attire should be the personal choice of the
students or the employees. No one can be forced to wear them.
(AFP, 8/22/10)
2010 Sep 5, Bangladesh issued a
red alert over an outbreak of anthrax which has infected nearly 300
people and killed about 150 cattle in the north of the country in
the past two weeks.
(Reuters, 9/5/10)
2010 Sep 9, Bangladesh's high
court banned the lease of coastal land to ship-breaking yards, in a
ruling welcomed by environmentalists who say the industry destroys
fragile eco-systems. Dismantling old ships is a major industry in
Bangladesh, providing more than two-thirds of domestic steel and
creating tens of thousands of jobs.
(AFP, 9/10/10)
2010 Sep 29, In Bangladesh a
speeding train plowed into two buses at a busy crossing in Dhaka,
killing at least seven people and injuring dozens.
(AP, 9/29/10)
2010 Oct 7, Bangladesh boat
operators said at least 200 fishermen were missing after 15 fishing
boats capsized in the Bay of Bengal during a storm. A storm surge
over the past two days has sent waves five feet high crashing into
several towns and villages along the coast.
(Reuters, 10/7/10)
2010 Oct 9, In Bangladesh three
days of incessant rains have left at least 17 people dead and 41
fishermen missing across the southern coast.
(AP, 10/9/10)
2010 Oct 10, In Bangladesh a
speeding bus veered off the road and into the water. Many of some 50
passengers swam to safety after the crash. 11 bodies were soon
recovered and the search continued for more.
(AP, 10/12/10)
2010 Oct 13, Bangladesh said it
would deploy the army at the country's main seaport to keep cargo
moving after days of strikes by dock workers hit crucial garment
shipments.
(AFP, 10/13/10)
2010 Oct 23, Bangladeshi police
used rubber bullets and teargas to disperse thousands of people
protesting against plans to acquire land for army housing.
(Reuters, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 28, Bangladesh police
said arrested 20 members of the country’s largest Islamic party and
seized homemade bombs from a house where they were holding a
meeting.
(AP, 10/28/10)
2010 Nov 13, In Bangladesh at
least three people were killed and five, including a lawmaker of the
ruling party, injured in a suicide bomb attack near Khustia. Police
in Dhaka swung batons to disperse hundreds of activists protesting a
government bid to evict opposition leader Khaleda Zia from the
military-owned house she has lived in for nearly 30 years.
(Reuters, 11/13/10)(AP, 11/13/10)
2010 Nov 14, Bangladesh police
fired tear gas and rubber bullets and swung batons to break up
demonstrations in Dhaka as the opposition party enforced a
nationwide general strike to protest the eviction of its leader from
a military-owned house.
(AP, 11/14/10)
2010 Nov 21, A global tiger
summit meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, approved a wide-ranging
program with the goal of doubling the world's tiger population in
the wild by 2022 backed by governments of the 13 countries that
still have tiger populations: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China,
India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam
and Russia. Experts wild tigers could become extinct in 12 years if
countries where they still roam fail to take quick action to protect
their habitats and step up the fight against poaching.
(AP, 11/21/10)
2010 Dec 5, Suspected Somali
pirates hijacked a Bangladeshi ship carrying nickel ore in the
Arabian Sea and appeared to headed to the lawless East African
nation. The 25 Bangladeshis on the cargo ship included the wife of
one crewman.
(AP, 12/6/10)
2010 Dec 8, In eastern
Bangladesh a speeding train slammed into another moving slowly
through a station, killing as many as 19 people and injuring scores
more.
(AP, 12/8/10)
2010 Dec 9, Human Rights Watch
said India's security forces routinely gun down cattle smugglers and
other civilians crossing the border with Bangladesh despite scant
evidence of any crime.
(AP, 12/9/10)
2010 Dec 12, Bangladesh's Dhaka
Stock Exchange plunged 3.32%, its biggest one-day fall since the
index was introduced in 2001. Garment workers demanding the
implementation of a new minimum wage clashed with police at an
industrial zone in the southeast, leaving up to three people dead
and 100 hurt.
(AFP, 12/12/10)(AP, 12/12/10)
2010 Dec 14, In Bangladesh a
devastating blaze raced through a garment factory near the capital,
killing at least 29 people and injuring more than 100.
(AP, 12/14/10)(AP, 12/15/10)
2010 Dec 16, In Bangladesh
Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, a key figure in the opposition
Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was arrested. A tribunal has said it
has found evidence of Chowdhury committing genocide, rape, arson and
looting during the bloody 9-month liberation struggle against
Pakistan in 1971. Allegations soon emerged that security forces
tortured Chowdhury during interrogations.
(AFP, 12/23/10)
2010 Dec 18, In northeastern
Bangladesh a boat packed with passengers capsized on the Surma
River. Rescuers the next day said at least 37 people died and 18
more were missing.
(AP, 12/19/10)
2010 Dec 23, Human Rights Watch
said The United States and Britain should immediately stop
supporting the Bangladeshi Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an
anti-crime force blamed for killing hundreds of suspects without
trial, if there is no visible effort to reform it.
(AP, 12/23/10)
2010 Dec 24, The Bangladesh
government announced it was planning a “high-level” investigation
into the operations of Grameen Bank, a microlender founded by
Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel peace prize.
(Econ, 1/8/11, p.75)
2010 The population of
Bangladesh stood at about 160 million. 70% were under 35.
(Econ, 6/12/10, p.45)
2011 Jan 7, India’s Border
Security Force (BSF) shot dead a 15-year-old girl, Felani, at an
illegal crossing into Bangladesh from West Bengal. She was on her
way to get married.
(Econ, 2/5/11, p.54)
2011 Jan 10, Bangladesh
suspended trading at its main stock exchange after a market plunge
ignited protests by thousands of investors and security officials
struck some with batons to disperse them.
(AP, 1/10/11)
2011 Jan 15, In eastern
Bangladesh 10 policemen were killed when their jeep collided head-on
with a truck.
(AP, 1/15/11)
2011 Jan 23, In Bangladesh tens
of thousands of Muslims seeking peace and the revival of Islam's
tenets joined a mass prayer to wrap up an annual three-day Islamic
congregation outside the capital on the bank of the River Turag.
(AP, 1/23/11)
2011 Feb 3, Bangladesh police
said they have arrested four Islamic clerics after Mosammet Hena
(14) was whipped to death for allegedly having an illicit
relationship with a married man, who escaped his 100 lashes. The
girl collapsed after she was lashed in public with a bamboo cane
about 70 times on Jan 31.
(AP, 2/3/11)
2011 Feb 7, Bangladesh
authorities raided the headquarters of the opposition party in the
capital as they tried to end the group's strike to protest spiraling
commodity prices and crime. In other parts of the country, police
fired tear gas and arrested protesters.
(AP, 2/7/11)
2011 Feb 13, In Bangladeshi
hundreds of small investors, angry at a new plunge in share prices,
set fire to tires and pelted police with bricks outside the stock
exchange and demanded the resignation of the finance minister.
(AP, 2/13/11)
2011 Feb 19, In Bangladesh 2
trains plowed into packed buses at unmanned railroad crossings in
separate accidents, killing at least 13 people and injuring 45
others.
(AP, 2/19/11)
2011 Mar 2, Bangladesh's
government ordered Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus from his post as
head of his microfinance bank, a humiliating blow for an activist
whose revolutionary idea of giving out small loans lifted many out
of poverty. The Grameen Bank said he remained in charge and that it
would fight the decision.
(AP, 3/2/11)
2011 Mar 2, Libyan strongman
Moamer Kadhafi warned "thousands" would die if the West intervened
to support the uprising against him. Government troops briefly
captured Marsa El Brega, an oil export terminal, before being driven
back by rebels. Shells splashed in the Mediterranean and a warplane
bombed a beach where rebel fighters were charging over the dunes. At
least five people were killed in the fighting. Thousands of
Bangladheshi migrant workers, desperate to leave Libya, pressed up
against the gates of the Tunisia frontier, angry at their government
for sending no help. Britain, Spain, France and others launched
emergency airlifts along Libya's borders, trying to prevent racially
charged attacks on the tens of thousands of foreign workers try to
flee.
(AFP, 3/2/11)(Reuters, 3/2/11)(AP, 3/2/11)
2011 Mar 6, Nearly 50
Bangladeshi migrant workers evacuated by sea from Libya to the Greek
island of Crete jumped ship during the night, apparently to avoid
being sent back to Bangladesh. Three died, 11 remained missing and
many others were hospitalized.
(AP, 3/6/11)
2011 Mar 8, A Bangladeshi court
upheld an order removing Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus as
head of the microlending bank he founded, a move his allies say was
prompted by a government vendetta over his political ambitions.
(Reuters, 3/8/11)
2011 Apr 3, Bangladeshi
security officials opened fire and used tear gas to disperse
stone-throwing members of a hardline Islamic group protesting a
government policy for women's equal right to inheritance, leaving
one protester dead and 25 others injured.
(AP, 4/3/11)
2011 Apr 4, In Bangladesh
police clashed with demonstrators and arrested dozens in as a
hard-line group enforced a paralyzing general strike protesting a
new policy giving women equal inheritance rights.
(AP, 4/4/11)
2011 Apr 12, In Bangladesh a
ban went into effect forbidding teachers from bringing their phones
into class. A ban on student cell phones in class rooms was already
in effect.
(AP, 4/12/11)
2011 Apr 21, In eastern
Bangladesh a crowded ferry carrying about 100 passengers capsized in
a river, leaving at least 28 people dead and more feared missing.
(AP, 4/21/11)
2011 May 1, The Bangladesh
government published the 284-page probe report, with finance
minister A.M.A Muhith vowing legal action against stock exchange
manipulators. The benchmark Dhaka Stock Exchange General (DGEN)
index hit a high of 8918.51 points on December 5 last year before
plunging to around 5,200 points in two months, gutting hundreds of
thousands of small investors.
(AFP, 5/1/11)
2011 Jun 4, Bangladesh
opposition supporters set fire to at least six buses in Dhaka, on
the eve of a nationwide anti-government strike. Opposition groups,
led by former PM Khaleda Zia, were calling for a dawn-to-dusk
general June 5 strike to protest government moves to amend the
constitution.
(AP, 6/4/11)
2011 Jun 5, In Bangladesh
thousands of security personnel fanned out across Dhaka during a
daylong anti-government strike.
(AP, 6/5/11)
2011 Jun 30, Bangladesh's
Parliament rewrote the constitution and rescinded a 15-year-old
requirement that general elections be overseen by nonpartisan
caretaker governments, a move the opposition says could allow
incumbents to rig the votes.
(AP, 6/30/11)(Econ, 8/13/11, p.42)
2011 Jul 1, In Bangladesh at
least 12 people were killed and more feared missing after three days
of heavy rain triggered landslides near a slum in the port city of
Chittagong.
(AFP, 7/1/11)
2011 Jul 3, A Bangladesh court
issued an arrest warrant for Tarique Rahman, a son of ex-premier
Khaleda Zia, over a 2004 grenade attack that killed 24 people at an
opposition rally. Rahman has been living in London since 2008.
(AP, 7/3/11)
2011 Jul 6, In Bangladesh
dozens of people, including a senior opposition figure, were injured
during violent protests as an anti-government strike shut down the
country for the second time in four days.
(AFP, 7/6/11)
2011 Jul 10, In Bangladesh riot
police fired tear gas in clashes with thousands of stone-throwing
Islamist activists protesting constitutional changes that proclaimed
the country a secular state. At least 70 people were injured. a
30-hour nationwide strike was called by a coalition of 12 Islamic
parties to protest the removal of a clause from the preamble of
country's constitution that expressed "absolute faith and trust in
Allah." The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party also backed
the protest.
(AP, 7/10/11)
2011 Jul 11, In southeastern
Bangladesh a vehicle packed with schoolchildren returning home from
a soccer tournament crashed into a canal, killing 44 students.
(AP, 7/11/11)(AP, 7/12/11)
2011 Jul 14, Bangladesh and
India launched a census of "enclaves" -- areas where one country's
territory is surrounded by the other -- in an effort to end complex
border disputes.
(AFP, 7/14/11)
2011 Jul 16, Bangladesh
reported a its population is up nearly 10% in a decade to 142.3
million, following its latest census.
(AFP, 7/16/11)
2011 Jul 20, In Bangladesh a
Dhaka court indicted 430 people for serious crimes related to the
February, 2009, mutiny among border guards.
(SFC, 7/21/11, p.A2)
2011 Jul 28, In northern
Bangladesh a crowded bus collided head on with a truck, killing at
least 17 people and injuring 30.
(AP, 7/28/11)
2011 Aug 8, Bangladesh police
said the main opposition leader, ex-prime minister Khaleda Zia, has
been accused of abuse of power and graft in a new case filed by the
country's main anti-corruption body. In a separate case, a court
Dhaka issued an arrest warrant against Tareque Rahman, Zia's elder
son and heir apparent, accusing him of laundering over 204 million
taka ($2.73 million) in Singapore between 2003 and 2007.
(AFP, 8/8/11)(Econ, 8/13/11, p.42)
2011 Aug 14, In Bangladesh a
group of influential villagers in Habiganj district voted that
Ferdousi Akhter (35) should leave the community after she was
accused of having an affair with a neighbor while her husband was
working abroad. Akhter took her four children aged 8-12 and jumped
with them in front of a train later in the day, killing herself and
two of the children.
(AP, 8/16/11)
2011 Sep 6, Indian PM Manmohan
Singh arrived in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on an official visit
aimed at boosting the sometimes fraught relations between India and
its smaller Muslim-majority neighbor. Bangladesh and India signed
two deals to tackle poaching of critically-endangered Bengal tigers
from the world's largest mangrove forest.
(AFP, 9/6/11)(AFP, 9/7/11)
2011 Sep 7, Indian PM Manmohan
Singh said he would "intensify efforts" towards a deal to share
water from the Teesta river after failing to sign the key agreement
during a visit to Dhaka. A deal to share water from the river fell
through after opposition from the chief minister of India's West
Bengal.
(AFP, 9/7/11)
2011 Oct 3, In Bangladesh
Delwar Hossain Sayedee, a senior leader from the largest Islamic
party, was charged with war crimes for allegedly leading groups that
took part in killing, looting, arson and rape during the country's
1971 independence war against Pakistan.
(AP, 10/3/11)
2011 Oct 10, Bangladesh's main
opposition launched a protest campaign in which 3,000 cars drive en
masse around the country to demand that the government resigns.
(AFP, 10/10/11)
2011 Oct 10, The World Bank
said that it had put on hold a $1.2 billion loan for a huge bridge
in Bangladesh amid allegations of corruption in the bidding process.
(AFP, 10/10/11)
2011 Oct 31, Bangladesh
wildlife officials said Bangladesh will declare three river areas in
its southwest as dolphin sanctuaries, in a bid to protect the
country's population of endangered freshwater cetaceans.
(AFP, 10/31/11)
2011 Nov 2, Fazle Hasan Abed,
the founder of an anti-poverty group in Bangladesh (BRAC) received
the $500,000 education prize awarded by Qatar's Sheik Hamad bin
Khalifa Al Thani.
(AP, 11/2/11)
2011 Nov 2, Bangladesh and
Russia signed a deal to build a nuclear power plant in the
energy-starved South Asian nation.
(AP, 11/2/11)
2011 Nov 19, In Bhutan a
Climate Summit for a Living Himalayas was held in Bhutan's capital
Thimphu. India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan agreed to cooperate on
energy, water, food and biodiversity issues.
(AP, 11/20/11)
2011 Nov 21, The International
Monetary Fund urged Bangladesh to tighten monetary policy further to
fight runaway inflation and warned that economic growth could
undershoot the government's expectations.
(AFP, 11/21/11)
2012 Jan 14, The United States
said that it would offer Bangladesh close to $1 billion in aid over
the next five years.
(Reuters, 1/14/12)
2012 Jan 19, The Bangladesh
military said it has foiled a plot by a group of hardline officers,
their retired colleagues and Bangladeshi conspirators living abroad
to overthrow PM Sheikh Hasina.
(AP, 1/19/12)
2012 Jan 29, Bangladesh police
fired guns and used batons on crowds of stone-throwing opposition
activists in several towns, killing at least three people and
injuring more than 100. The main Bangladesh Nationalist Party and
its key Islamist ally Jamaat-e-Islami have been demanding an
independent caretaker government oversee elections.
(AP, 1/29/12)
2012 Feb 11, In Bangladesh 2
prominent television journalists, Meherun Runi (33) and Sagar Sarwar
(35), were brutally stabbed to death at their home in the capital
Dhaka. The couple's son (6) called his grandmother and said that his
parents were lying on the floor.
(AFP, 2/11/12)
2012 Mar 6, Bangladesh's high
court ordered police to sue 17 professors for allegedly distorting
the country's liberation war history and maligning its founding
leader in a school textbook.
(AFP, 3/7/12)
2012 Mar 6, In Bangladesh Saudi
diplomat Khalaf bin Mohammed Salem al-Ali was shot and killed on a
residential street in Dhaka. Authorities said the gunman and a
motive were unknown.
(AP, 3/6/12)
2012 Mar 12, In Bangladesh over
100,000 opposition supporters gathered in Dhaka to demand the
government step down and hold elections.
(AP, 3/12/12)
2012 Mar 13, In Bangladesh a
ferry packed with about 200 people collided with a cargo boat and
capsized in the Meghna River, killing 142 people and over a dozen
more missing.
(AP, 3/13/12)(AP, 3/14/12)(AP, 3/16/12)
2012 The Bangladesh population
numbered about 156 million people.
(Econ, 2/11/12, SR p.13)
2050 It was estimated in 2007
that Bangladesh would have 250 million people by this time.
(Econ, 1/20/07, p.53)
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