DACCA: Flood situation in the province further worsened today [Aug 31] affecting more areas in the hard hit Sirajganj sub-division of Pabna district and elsewhere where rivers were still swelling.

According to latest information, Sirajganj was badly in the grip of flood. Lakhs of people have been affected. The marooned people were being evacuated.

At least nine principal rivers of the province, including the Buriganga at Dacca and the Sitalakhya at the main inland river port of Narayanganj, were reported to be above the danger level and were still rising.

Thirty-three hours of heavy and almost incessant rainfall has submerged the low-lying areas of Dacca City. Today’s rains nearly paralysed city life and made movement of vehicular traffic difficult.

In some streets there was ankle-deep water and in low-lying areas knee-deep. Motor cars, buses and rickshaws had to get through waterlogged streets in certain areas and a lot of transport was seen stranded.

[Meanwhile, as reported by agencies from Amman,] security men yesterday [Aug 30] dispersed about 2,000 marchers demonstrating peacefully in protest at the execution in Cairo on Monday of three Muslim Brotherhood leaders.

Their demonstration was one of several protests in some Muslim countries against the execution of the men who were convicted of plotting to kill the United Arab Republic’s President Nasser and overthrow the regime.

The Amman demonstrators, expressing “regret and grief” at the executions, began their march after prayers for the dead men at the Grand Husseini Mosque in the city centre led by the Mufti of Jordan, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Qalwili.

After the prayers, speeches were made in front of the mosque attacking the UAR authorities.

The demonstrators chanted slogans hostile to the UAR and carried placards as they marched to the UAR Embassy, obstructing traffic for about half an hour.

Published in Dawn September 1st, 2016