WHAT is now an established fact is that Bangladesh is a major supplier of labour in international markets. However, the country provides workers in the lower value segment of overseas labour market.

SO far BNP's political programme has cost 113 lives. Sixty of them were victims of arson attacks on buses and public transport. More than 1,200 vehicles have been destroyed by fire or damaged by miscreants. One hundred thirty people are writhing in agony in the burn units.

WITHIN less than a week of Avijit Roy's murder, we reiterate our call for a focused investigation such that Avjit's killers and purported masterminds of the extremist outfit Ansar Bangla 7, which claimed responsibility for the attack, can be brought to justice without delay. If we cannot ensure justice against the dark forces, our values of freedom, tolerance and secularism will suffer a major blow.

THE regularity with which the law enforcing agencies have been discovering dens of the extremist groups along with large quantity of weapons, incendiary and explosive materials is worrying. But one must give plaudits to the police for their successes in this regard.

WE may feel encouraged by the upward trend in social indicators that give credence that women are much better off than they ever were in terms of maternal mortality, health, nutrition and even as far as job opportunities are concerned. But there is a glaring absence of women in decision making roles across all professions. This is where the challenge of gender equity really lies.

WE condemn the brutal murder of writer and blogger Avijit Roy and attack on his wife, Rafida Islam Banna, in no uncertain terms. The savage act, hauntingly similar to the hacking of critical thinker and writer Humayun Azad, took place right in front of the Ekushey Book Fair, in clear view of law enforcers and other people.

WITH nearly two months of ongoing hartal and oborodh, the academic calendar for millions of children continues to be adversely affected.

THE latest annual report by the London-based human rights watchdog, Amnesty International (AI), echoes the concerns raised by our own human rights organisations regarding enforced disappearances, impunity of law enforcement agencies, circumscribing the freedom of journalists and human rights defenders and violence against women.

Amid denial of responsibilities for launch accidents by the authorities, a report reveals that between 1976 and 2005, 70 per cent launch accidents happened due to design flaws. Nine NGOs working for safe waterway published that report yesterday.

It is disquieting to see that plain land adivasis are increasingly falling victim to land grabbing. A press conference organised by two minority rights groups on Tuesday revealed that in the last two months, two murders, a rape, a rape attempt and looting of 60 Santal houses took place in the northern part of the country.

AT a hugely attended public lecture by Amartya Sen, courtesy of Prothom Alo and CPD on Monday, the Nobel Laureate, made some path-shinning comments of practical relevance to contemporary affairs in the subcontinent. In precise terms, he advocated development with a strong human content and democracy with liberty and free discourse.

WE find the explanation of the police regarding the death of the three alleged arsonists in Mirpur on Monday hard to believe.

THE law enforcing agencies deserve credit for the detection of a militant training camp in a remote forest area of Banshkhali in Chittagong on Saturday. The raid resulted from information provided by some of the nabbed extremists from a madrasa in Hathazari the previous day.

WE are distressed at the untimely deaths of at least 70 people in a launch capsize in the Padma river in Manikganj on Sunday after it was hit by a cargo vessel. With 36 people still missing, it is feared that the death toll would only go up as the rescue efforts continue.

THE statistics are staggering. And we cannot feel proud at what we are witnessing in the form of political movement that has seen lethal violence of an unprecedented scale.

WEST Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's three-day trip to Dhaka has been eventful, reassuring and heart-warming. It proved extensive in terms of grounds covered -- diplomatic, business, cross-border terrorism, dimensions to the relations. Also, the shared experience turned out to be intensive through a renewal of cultural and emotional contacts.

We condemn, as we have done before, the continued violence caused by the 20-party alliance programmes of oborodh and hartals. The

As we commemorate our right to express ourselves in our mother tongue this Ekushey, we observe with concern the state of indigenous

LAYING down lives to establish an innate and sacrosanct right to a people's mother tongue is a rarity in history. We are successors to this exemplary badge of honour. Such a passionate saga of sacrifice was to soon transcend into worldwide embrace through the Unesco's declaration of Amar Ekushey as the International Mother Language Day.

It is really promising that the poultry industry of Bangladesh will grow by an average of 16 per cent a year for the next five years. Poultry entrepreneurs have expressed this optimism in the opening day of 9th International Poultry Show and Seminar organised by World's Poultry Association -Bangladesh Branch (WPSA-BB).