Popular filmmaker and director Mostafa Sarwar Farooki was hospitalized after he fell sick on On Monday midnight. His wife actress Nusrat Imrose Tisha later put up a post about Farooki’s physical condition on her verified Facebook page around 1:00am. “Mostafa has been feeling a little ill since last evening. After transporting him to the hospital, the doctors advised him to have an angiogram. It was then informed that he had suffered a mild stroke," Tisha said on Facebook at 1am on Tuesday (Jan 23). “He is now being observed in the neuro ICU. Please keep Mostafa Sarwar Farooki in your prayers," Tisha wrote. According to sources, the director is at a private hospital in the capital's Panthapath area. He is currently under observation but is out of danger. Fans and admirers, including many popular celebrities, have commented on and shared the post while asking for prayers for the acclaimed director.

As far as I remember, the first time I heard the word ‘refugee’ was in the mid-1950s when a maternal great uncle – my mother’s uncle – was visiting us in London from Addis Ababa. He had, by then, spent more than 40 years in different parts of Africa as a Church of England chaplain and had been connected with Ethiopia since 1928. He was talking with my mother, a geographer, about the problems of the Palestinian refugees and how, in his opinion, the Palestinians were being mistreated and that many western nations, principally the U.S.A. and the U.K., were not following the paths of truth and justice. It should be noted that my great uncle had been based in Addis Ababa in 1936 when the Italians invaded and took over, and he had to leave the country and he spent the next 5 years in Jerusalem where he ministered to the needs of the Ethiopian and other refugees who had gone there. And while he was living outside Ethiopia he studied Islam so that he could have a better balanced view of the ‘Holy Land’. At the time of the discussion about refugees with my great uncle, my mother had started supporting Oxfam which was very small at that time and after being concerned with the plight of refugees in war torn Europe after World War II, Oxfam was supporting the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian refugees after the declaration of the state of Israel in 1948. As I sometimes helped my mother with the fundraising activities I was allowed to listen in to the discussions about the problems of Palestine. My great uncle was emotionally very concerned that, despite decisions by the United Nations, a lot of politicians had forgotten that Palestine used to be known as the Holy Land and the area, especially Jerusalem, was a very sacred place for followers of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and that everyone should, ideally, be living in harmony. The discussions with my great uncle, referred to above, took place in 1954 or 1955 and ever since then Israel has been allowed, more or less, to do whatever it has liked with, apparently, the blind support of many nations particularly the USA and the UK. The bombing carried out by Israel every few years is referred to as “Israel is mowing the lawn” and a Jewish man, Dr Gabor Maté, a resident in Canada and a Holocaust survivor himself, says that what Israel has been doing since 1948 is "It's the longest ethnic cleansing operation in the 20th and 21st century. I could land in Tel Aviv tomorrow and demand citizenship but my Palestinian friend in Vancouver, who was born in Jerusalem, can't even visit!” While he does not, in any way, support the rocket attacks by Hamas, he points out that “Gaza is the largest outdoor prison”, and that the violence perpetrated by Israel is thousands of times greater. Dr Gabor Maté has also said in an interview a few years ago, “If you look at the western press, when Hong Kong demonstrators throw stones at the police in Hong Kong, that's considered to be heroism in the American press, when in Myanmar, the demonstrators throw sling shots at the army, at the oppressive army, they are considered to be heroes in the western press, when Palestinian kids throw stones at the Israeli soldiers they are called terrorists." It appears that in many countries there have been many very recent public demonstrations of support for the Palestinians. It is hoped that good sense with understanding and compassion can finally infiltrate the United Nations and that the attention of the permanent members of the Security Council can be drawn towards a permanent solution for the Holy Land. I wonder how many times words such as these have been written? As Dr Gabor Matéhas said, "There's no way you could have ever created a Jewish state without oppressing and expelling the local population. Jewish Israeli historians have shown without a doubt that the expulsion of Palestinians was persistent, pervasive, cruel, murderous and with deliberate intent - that's what's called the 'Nakba' in Arabic; the 'disaster' or the 'catastrophe'. There's a law that you cannot deny the Holocaust, but in Israel you're not allowed to mention the Nakba, even though it's at the very basis of the foundation of Israel.” He has said that it is not a matter of being pro Palestine. It is a matter of being pro truth. That is what has been lacking; leaders of many countries not facing up to the truth. It must start now and with great urgency. According to a recent BBC News item, ‘Prince Turki, a careful, thoughtful Saudi Arabian ex-diplomat in UK and USA, has in a speech in USA a couple of days ago, balanced his condemnation of Hamas with that of Israel, which he accused of "indiscriminate bombing of innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza" and the "indiscriminate arrest of Palestinian children, women and men in the West Bank". He took issue with the US media's use of the phrase "unprovoked attack" in reference to the 7 October raid, saying: "What more provocation is required..than what Israel has done to the Palestinian people for three-quarters of a century?" He added that "all militarily occupied people have a right to resist occupation". Prince Turki also condemned Western politicians for "shedding tears when Israelis are killed by Palestinians", but refusing to "even express sorrow when Israelis kill Palestinians".

Black fungus is under strict observation by the health directorate as well as the transmission situation of coronavirus in the country. There is no scope to be panicked about ‘black fungus’. But the patients with uncontrolled diabetes have to be alert. In fact black fungus could be a real threat to the uncontrolled diabetic patients. If people remain conscious then black fungus infection will not be out of control. The information was delivered by spokesman of the health directorate and director of cell of disease control Professor Nazmul Islam at a bulletin on Wednesday. The health directorate is preparing the preventive treatment method, treatment expense and management process to contain black fungus. Professor Nazmul Islam said, there is no scope to be concerned or panicked about black fungus infection. The disease has been remaining with the environment since ancient time. He said, currently two patients are undergoing treatment with complaints of black fungus infection at a private hospital in Dhaka. We cannot certainly say anything until the definite results come after completing all types of experiments and examinations. There would be no concern if we inform people after getting the facts and findings. In this present situation we have to cooperate each other. About expenditure of the treatment he said, black fungus is a rare disease and our findings say that it does not affect larger number of people. But there is no doubt that the treatment of this disease is costly. AH       

Ekushey Padak winner renowned actor ATM Shamsuzzaman’s operation was successfully completed on Saturday. As he felt sick on Friday midnight he was admitted at capital’s Azgar Ali Hospital. The legendary actor is being kept under 72 hour observation in the hospital after the operation. He was given saline on Saturday morning. Then suddenly there was seen excretion problem. So he was taken to the operation theater immediately and successful operation was performed. Then the actor is being kept on 72 hour observation. ATM Shamsuzzaman is the story writer, dialogue writer, screenwriter, film director and actor. He was born at Daulatpur in Noakhali on September 10, 1941. He studied in Pogoj School, Collegiate School and Loknath School in Rahshahi. ATM Shamsuzzaman got the opportunity to work as Assistant Director in the film ‘Bishkonna’ by Udayan Chowdhury in 1961. He wrote the first screenplay of a film named ‘Jolchhobi’ in 1965. In the same year he began his career as the actor. His first acted film was ‘Nayi Jindegi’ but it was incomplete. He acted in the film ‘Nayanmoni’ in 1974 directed by Amjad Hossain. After that he played his role as actor in many films. He is also praised for his performance in television dramas. AH