Sunday, August 5, 2012

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia:rejects small cabinet offer Movement to continue until CG restored, she says,Bangladesh


BANGLADESH NEWS

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia on Sunday formally turned down the prime minister’s small cabinet proposal saying the offer was given to ensure Sheikh Hasina’s return to power.

“We don’t accept the proposal…the prime minister made the offer so that she can remain in power and ensure the return of her party to power. We reject the proposal,” she said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a recent interview with the BBC Bangla Service proposed an interim government with the opposition to oversee the next general elections.

The opposition leader was addressing an Iftar party hosted by Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) at the National Press Club.

In her brief address prior to Iftar, Khaleda once again demanded that the next election be held under a non-party caretaker government.

“No election will be allowed to be held under any party government. We want the next election under a non-party administration. The government will have to amend the constitution to reinstate the caretaker government.”

Threatening that the opposition’s movement will continue until the CG is restored, the former premier said they will establish a democratic government and the rule of law in the country unseating the present government through a strong movement.

Lack of social justice causes militancy, extremism:Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,Bangladesh


BANGLADESH NEWS

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said absence of social justice causes illiteracy, poverty, and frustration among the people resulting in militancy and extremism.

She attributed the mass-upsurges in different parts of the world including Libya, Tunisia and other Arab countries to lack of participatory democracy and social security.

“Absence of participatory democracy and social stability is hindering sustainable peace in the society,” the prime minister said at a conference.

The two-day international conference on ‘People's Empowerment and Development’, as a new peace model moved by Sheikh Hasina in the United Nations, began at the Ruposhi Bangla hotel in the capital at 10:00am.

Organised by the foreign ministry and presided over by its minister Dipu Moni, more than 50 delegates from different UN member states attended the ceremony.

Sheikh Hasina urged the UN, international financial institutions and development partners to extend their support for widespread implementation of the model.

7 held with Tk 50 lakh fake notes in city 6 dope party men also nabbed,Bangladesh


BANGLADESH NEWS

Detective Branch (DB) of police nabbed seven persons with fake currencies worth Tk 50 lakh from Postogola area of the capital during an overnight raid in the city till early Sunday.

The arrestees are Babu, Niaz, Sheikh Imdadul, Jitu, Zahirul Islam, Shah Nawaj and Shirin Akter, said Masudur Rahman, in-charge of Media and Community Service of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

The DB also arrested 6 people, who were alleged members of a gang that doped and then robbed people of their belongings, from the capital's Syedabad area during the same drive.

The arrestees include Mazibur Rahman, Abdul Latif, Mohammad Abbas, Sabuj and Rafiqul.

Md Monirul Islam, deputy commissioner of DB, led the drive and made the arrest.

BNP acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir:plea challenging arson case legality rejected


BANGLADESH NEWS

A Dhaka court on Sunday rejected petitions by BNP acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and three other challenging the legality of an arson case.

The case was filed against 46 opposition leaders for torching a bus near the Prime Minister's Office during hartal hours on April 29.

Metropolitan Magistrate Harun-or-Rashid on July 31 framed charges against 46 opposition leaders accused in the case.

Lawyers of BNP leaders Fakhrul, MK Anwar and Khandakar Mossaraf Hossain and Liberal Democratic Party President Oli Ahmed submitted two separate criminal revision petitions challenging the legality of the charge framing in the case around 9:30am.

In the petition, the defence lawyers claimed that the court indictment order against their clients was not correct and appropriate as they did not get enough time to take preparation.

After holding hearing on the case, Judge Md Zohurul Haqe of Metropolitan Sessions Judges Court rejected the petitions as the court did not find any strong ground behind accepting the petitions.

The court also termed the charge framing order as proper and legal.

Bangladesh is going to introduce measles-rubella (MR) vaccine


BANGLADESH NEWS

Bangladesh is going to introduce measles-rubella (MR) vaccine this month in its routine immunisation programme to prevent rubella infections that doctors say can cause 'severe' birth defects.

The shot will be administered in children aged 9 months and girls aged 15 years, Dr Syed Abu Jafar Md. Musa, Director, Primary Healthcare,

In the last week of this month, he said, they would launch the vaccine in Dhaka division and within a month across Bangladesh.

He said extensive vaccine campaigns and effective surveillance had brought down the number of measles cases in Bangladesh, but rubella cases soared.

"We cannot put our finger on the reason, but its effect is devastating."

The Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) recorded 999 lab-confirmed rubella cases in the last six months while the number of measles was 766.

Dr Musa said rubella was a mild disease in children, but 'if they infect a pregnant woman in the first three months it can have severe effects on the unborn child.'

Initially, it shows mild symptoms – pink rashes and fever. The rashes first appear in the face and then spread all over the body within five to seven days. Summer is the peak season for the virus to circulate actively, doctors said.

The Primary Healthcare Director said they would introduce the MR vaccine in place of the only-measles vaccine to children aged 9 months. "Girls aged 15 will get the jab when they turn up to our centres for the first dose of tetanus toxide (TT) (vaccine)."

He said children would also get measles vaccine at 15 months of age.

Professor Mohammad Shahidullah, a neonatologist at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, described the effects of rubella on an unborn child as 'deadly'.

"Its consequences are very serious if it infects a pregnant woman," he said, "once immunised, the vaccine gives life-long protection."

Although there is no study in Bangladesh, Shahidullah said a lot of children born with severe deafness, blindness and heart defects or mental retardation have link with rubella infections of their mother during the first three months of pregnancy.

A hospital-based study in 2002 on 198 hearing-impaired children in Bangladesh found that 74 percent were linked to rubella infection to their mothers during early pregnancy.

Paediatric cardiology department of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University received around 3,000 children with heart defects at birth between 2004 and 2010.

The virus can also cause sudden abortion in 50 percent cases.

The World Health Organisation guidelines on the elimination of rubella say that its vaccination can be introduced in the national immunisation schedule only in countries where the measles vaccination coverage is high.

The measles coverage is above 85 percent in Bangladesh, according to EPI that started its activities in 1979 to reduce child deaths from the vaccine-preventable diseases.

It conducts round-the-year immunisation programmes through its more than 200,000 vaccine outreach centres, 24 in each union, across the country.

To introduce the new vaccine, EPI Programme Manager Dr Tajul Islam A Bari said they would not need extra funds.

"We will be able to buy MR vaccines almost at the same price of measles vaccines."

Eid-ul-Fitr festival Bangladesh Railway authorities will begin selling advance train tickets Kamlapur


BANGLADESH NEWS

DHAKA: Bangladesh Railway authorities will begin selling advance train tickets on Sunday to facilitate the journey of thousands of homebound people ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr festival, arranging over a dozen special trains to cope with a huge rush.

Advance tickets for different routes will be sold out from 9:00am to 5:00pm till August 9 at Dhaka and Chittagong railway stations under the supervision of senior officials, said BR Additional Director General (operation) M Shahjahan.

The tickets for traveling on August 14 will be available on August 5 while the tickets for August 15 on August 6, tickets for August 16 on August 7, tickets for August 17 on August 8 and the tickers for August 18 on August 9.

If the new moon of Eid-ul-Fitr is not sighted on August 18, tickets for August 19 will be sold out after the evening.

Sources said a single buyer would be given the highest four tickets. No sold tickets would be taken back from August 5 to 9.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Railway (BR) western zone will sell return tickets from Rajshahi, Khulna, Rangpur and Dinajpur stations from August 13 to 17.

The ticker for traveling on August 22 will be available on August 13 while tickets of August 23 on August 14, tickets of August 24 on August 15, tickets of August 24 on August 16 and the tickets of August 26 on August 17.

All highways fit for vehicles: Communications and Railway Minister Obaidul Quader


BANGLADESH NEWS

SAVAR, DHAKA: Communications and Railway Minister Obaidul Quader categorically said highways across the country are ready for vehicular movements.

He came up with the assertion while visiting Nabinagar-Kalikoir highway in Ashulia Saturday.

The ruling Awami League lawmaker said, “The sufferings of home-bound people during Eid will be lessened after the four-lane upgrading work of Nabinagar-Kalikoir highway is completed.”

At that time the minister directed the police to pick few unfit vehicles moving through the area.

Unnayan Onneshan says Monetary policy to decelerate economy,Banglades


BANGLADESH NEWS


The Unnayan Onneshan, an independent multidisciplinary think-tank, in its July issue of Bangladesh Economic Update states that the recently adopted monetary policy by the Bangladesh Bank might pitch the economy to further decelerate due to monetary restraints, coupled with reduction in policy space and shortsighted fiscal management. 

The Unnayan Onneshan, however, said that the central bank had missed a unique opportunity by adopting an across the board approach, as opposed to an innovative selective, case-by-case approach. “The central bank could have opted for a selective approach of maintaining import demand (e.g. raw materials, intermediate goods, capital machineries) and expanding flow of credit to productive capacity expanding and value adding sectors and products (e.g. garments, pharmaceuticals) while taking a belt-tightening approach to others such as restricting import of petroleum products for quick rental power plants, which, in turn, would have curbed inflation and sustain growth momentum,” added the research organisation. 

While the main three-pronged challenges in formulation of monetary policy were to curb the inflation, to ease the imbalances of balance of payment and to keep the growth of the economy, the Unnayan Onneshan said that the current monetary policy stance should have focused on a balanced approach, which could accelerate investment in the productive sectors and control public spending and rent-seeking. 

Elaborating the mismanagement, the think-tank stated: ‘The injudicious policy decisions to resort to quick rental power plants increased the supply of money by way of government borrowing and also exerted pressure on foreign exchange reserve, resulting into depreciation of Taka, as import demand of petroleum products rose, both contributing to inflation, while the economy was already experiencing inflationary pressures due to increased international prices and cost of input for production.”

“Again, administrative decision by the central bank to restrain money supply to rein in inflationary pressure led to increase in rate of interest and reduction in import of raw materials, intermediate goods and capital machinery and eventually dampened investment, while the central bank could not hold back the inflation at a permissible level,” reasons Unnayan Onneshan, a leading think-tank of the country.  The economy contracted to a GDP growth rate of 6.3 per cent in 2011-2012 from 6.7 per cent of the preceding year. 

To Unnayan Onneshan, the current monetary policy statement (MPS) is, however, “not a surprising one.” It added that the MPS was in persuasion of the restrictive monetary targets agreed in the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) by the government with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The three-year IMF programme, according to the research organization, has also in effect reduced the fiscal space of the government as demonstrated in the current budget. 

Referring to the central bank’s disappointed track record of maintaining target stated in different MPS, the monthly economic update raised the issue of credibility and realism in setting of targets. It cited the targets and realized outcomes of indicators such as inflation, growth of credit. The rate of inflation in FY 2011-12 was 8.80 against the target of 7.5 percent. The rate of growth of broad money was 16.63 percent till May 2012 as compared to the target of 17.0 percent by the end of FY 2011-12.  Similar differences prevailed in cases of domestic credit to public and private sectors. Under the business as usual scenario, the research organisation cautioned that the targets set in the MPS for July-December of 2012 might not be achieved and even there might be large gaps as compared to the actual outcomes.

Dwelling on the government borrowing, the Unnayan Onneshan alerted that the continuation of current trend might result into an increased domestic debt by the government, dampening private investment. During July-April of FY 2011-12, the total domestic borrowing by the government was Tk. 18.42 billion, which increased by 39.10 percent than that of the same period of the previous fiscal year. The current MPS asserts that government borrowing from the banking sector will be around at Tk. 230 billion same as the budgetary target of FY 2012-13.

The incremental growth rate of broad money is following downward trend since June 2011 due to decrease in currency held outside the banks as a result of the tightened monetary policy. The broad money increased by 1.47 percent in May 2012 at Tk. 5010.89 billion than that of Tk. 4938.07 billion in April 2012. The central bank targeted the growth of broad money at a rate of 16.50 percent in the first half of FY 2012-13.

The Unnayan Onneshan observed that rate of growth of reserve money decreased mainly due to reduction in net domestic assets of the central bank during the first four months of 2012. During July-April of FY 2011-12, there was a shortfall of Tk. 18.81 billion in net domestic assets of Bangladesh Bank, which was 6.63 percent lower than that of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. This too had occurred due to pursuance of contractionary monetary policy during the period of January-June of 2012.

While referring to the justification by the central bank for resorting to the contractionary monetary policy to contain high inflation, the Unnayan Onneshan, however, noted that the non-food inflation had increased at an alarming rate during the last ten months of the previous fiscal year due to high borrowing by the government from the banking system, yet no concrete steps had been suggested in the MPS to put a check on import of petroleum products for the power plants. 

The research think tank stated that though the competitiveness depend on the real effective exchange rate (REER), irregular movement in the exchange rate would have a direct effect on GDP and employment outlook, especially through export. 

As regards foreign exchange reserve, the organization cautioned that the continuation of declining trend from July 2011 to May 2012 suggest that reserve might slide down by the end of this current fiscal year unless receipts of remittance and export earnings were given a positive vibe. 

The Unnayan Onneshan observed that the slower rate of private savings occurred due to slower growth in real disposable income and the stock market catastrophe, which particularly hurt the small investors. “Savings rate did not increase at a satisfactory level due to increase in the rate of inflation, though the rate of interest on deposit is still low compared to the lending interest rate. Under the business as usual scenario, the domestic and national savings as percent of GDP might reach at 19.28 and 29.65 percent in FY 2012-13. Out of which, the private and public savings might reduce to 17.89 and 1.35 percent respectively,” the research organization noted.

The Unnayan Onneshan said that increase in the rate of interest might adversely affect investment. In FY 2010-11, lending interest rate was 10.72, with a private investment ratio to GDP of 19.5 percent. However, the lending interest rate rose to 13.74 by March 2012 whereas the private investment as percent of GDP declined to 19.1 percent in FY 2011-12. The declining rate of private investment as percent of GDP occurred because of the higher rate of interest on deposits, and consequential rate on advances, the research organization added. 

‘Int’l community to press Myanmar to protect its citizens’:Zulfiqur Rahman


BANGLADESH NEWS

Bangladesh, restive Myanmar’s western neighbour, has called upon the international community to increase pressure on the Myanmar government to start initiatives for a peaceful return of its Muslim population that has fled religious violence in the country.

Zulfiqur Rahman, the Bangladeshi ambassador to Turkey, speaking to Turkish daily Today’s Zaman in an exclusive interview on August 3, has claimed that the violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar is an issue that should be dealt with internationally.

The envoy said, urging big international powers, ‘to take the opportunity to engage with the Myanmar government’ to encourage them to accept a peaceful return of Muslim refugees living in Arakan province to their homeland.

Official statistics say more than 1,000 Rohingya Muslims living in Myanmar have been killed and more than 90,000 have been left homeless due to the violent events that Rohingya Muslims have been facing since June.

Rohingya Muslims are not seen as genuine Myanmar citizens by nationalist Myanmar leaders, officials and fanatical Buddhists and in turn are exposed to discrimination.

A total of 1 million Muslims live in Arakan province in Myanmar, the location of the recently escalating violence in the country, near Bangladesh.

The first sign of violence appeared in June after claims that three Rohingya Muslims raped a Buddhist woman.

After the incident, fanatical Buddhists started killing Muslims living in Arakan province and also burned houses and workplaces belonging to the minority group.

The ambassador stated that the real solution to the problem of the Rohingya Muslims is neither extending charity nor providing a third country for settlement, but to engage in collective diplomatic talks with the Myanmar government to provide a ‘voluntary and dignified return for Rohingya Muslims to the place of their origin’ and to create conditions so that they can live there.

Rahman underlined the importance of investment in creating the necessary developmental conditions in the country.

Mentioning the Bangladeshi government’s own efforts to increase trade and investment in Arakan province, Rahman also called on Western powers and influential countries in the Muslim world, including Turkey, to invest in that part of the country. He also said that Myanmar’s 1982 citizenship law was ‘the root cause of all the problems’, as it deprived Muslim population in the country from basic citizenship rights and that it needed to be changed.

In remarks explaining what the Bangladeshi government asks of Ankara on the problem, Rahman claimed that Turkey should raise its voice in the Asian world, as ‘an emerging regional leader that also has a leading role in global platforms, due to its economic and political power’.

Rahman asked Ankara to organise Asian countries to collectively engage with the Myanmar government in diplomatic talks to stop the violence and to improve the living conditions of Rohingya Muslims.

He also claimed that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) could do a lot for Rohingya Muslims, drawing the attention of the UN and countries such as the US and other Western powers to the plight of Muslims in that part of the world.

The OIC held a consultative meeting with civil society and humanitarian organisations from the Muslim world on Friday in Kuala Lumpur to discuss the critical humanitarian conditions of the Rohingya Muslims.

After the meeting, a committee to follow up developments of the humanitarian conditions in Arakan province and to communicate with all the concerned parties was founded, comprising representatives from OIC member states and the UN.

Rahman claimed that the Bangladeshi government would stick to its position and will not accept any more Rohingya Muslims into its territory as refugees because the country is not able to cope with a further influx of refugees.

Bangladesh already hosts 30,000 Arakan Muslims from previous influxes dating back to the 1970s. Arakan province is separated from the rest of the country by a mountainous area and has been neglected in terms of education and development for years.

There has been significant immigration from Myanmar to Bangladesh from the 1970s onwards, even before the events of June.

The ambassador stated that other than the registered number of refugees in the country, another half a million stateless Rohingyas who have kinship relations with the Bangladeshi border population have sought refuge in forest areas near the border in Bangladesh.

‘We cannot take any more people from any country because we are one of the most densely populated countries in the world, having 160 million in a very small territory,’ Rahman indicated.

He also criticised large countries that are pressuring Bangladesh to accept more refugees.