8 BSF 'brutes' given 89-day jail

DHAKA NEWS

Dhaka, Mar 14 A Border Security Force (BSF) court has jailed eight of its personnel for 89 days for torturing a young Bangladeshi in West Bengal's Murshidabad district, Indian media reported on Wednesday.

The personnel were found prima facie guilty after a court of inquiry was instituted into the incident which took place in early February, a PTI report said.

They can resume duty only after serving the term in BSF's 'quarter guard' – the paramilitary force's version of jail, it said quoting officials of the border guards.

As additional punishment, one of the eight BSF personnel was demoted from the post of head constable to constable in order to facilitate his jailing, since as per the BSF rules, a head constable cannot be sent to jail, an official told PTI.

The jailed BSF personnel are Verendar Tiwari, VS Victor, Dhananjoy Kumar, Anand Singh, Amar Jyoti, Snajeev Kumar, Suresh Chand and Sunil Kumar.

The BSF, widely criticised for killing Bangladeshis along the border, suspended the eight of its personnel on Jan 18 and ordered 'court martial' proceedings against them recently after some Indian TV channels aired a video showing a Bangladeshi man being stripped, kicked and beaten by them.

The video showed three to four personnel, donning BSF-style dark green fatigues, stripping and then beating a lungi-clad man with his hands tied behind his back in the incident that reportedly took place on Dec 9.

Habibur Rahman, 22, son of Saidur Rahman of Satero Rashia under Durlavpur union council of Shibganj upazila in Chapainawabganj, was the man tortured. He told on Jan 19 that he was tortured by the BSF men while returning to Bangladesh with cattle through Khanpur border of Paba upazila in Rajshahi district on Dec 9 last year.

ICT Wonders why Nizami not Charged for Intellectual Killing

DHAKA NEWS

Dhaka, Mar 15 Although widely alleged and despite volumes of references to Jamaat chief Matiur Rahman Nizami has not been formally charged for his alleged role behind killing of intellectuals during the 1971 Liberation War.

After the prosecution finished presenting its formal charge on Thursday, proposing to indict Nizami on 15 counts at the war crimes tribunal, chairman Justice Nizamul Huq wondered why the prosecution had not brought that charge against the Jamaat-e-Islami chief.

Justice Huq agreed that the formal charge had "touched" upon the matter when prosecutor Syed Haider Ali said it was there and would be shown convincingly in the evidences. But the chairman still wondered the killing of intellectuals was not included in the formal charge.

The prosecution will begin its arguments on Mar 21 in support of the formal charges.

The International Crimes Tribunal, set up to deal with crimes against humanity during the Liberation War, also saw the prosecution submit formal charges against Abdul Alim, a former MP and minister in late president Ziaur Rahman's cabinet, on Thursday.

The tribunal said that it would give cognisance order on Mar 22 and extended Alim's bail till then. Alim was also ordered to be present at the court on that date.

Matiur Rahman Nizami, headed Jamaat's student wing, that used to be called Islami Chhatra Sangha, in 1971.

Later that year, Nizami was replaced by his current number two, Jamaat secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed, also behind bars on war crimes charges.

Nizami is also said to have headed the Al Badr which had a lead role in many of the atrocities during 1971.

The Islamist party's student cadres are said to have been instrumental in mobilising several fronts like the Razakars, Al Badr and Al Shams that actively engaged against the freedom fighters to thwart the liberation forces.

These fronts were notorious for ruthlessly trying to subdue resistance against Pakistani occupation forces and full fledged collaboration with the Pakistani Army.

It is through these militia fronts that Nizami is said to have masterminded the murder of pro-liberation intellectuals of Bangladesh days before the Pakistani occupation army surrendered on Dec 16, 1971.

The tribunal took charges into cognisance against Nizami on Jan 9

3 Held With Tk 11cr Foreign Currency

DHAKA NEWS

Three Bangladeshis were arrested at Shahjalal International Airport in the capital Wednesday night for carrying foreign currencies worth around Tk 11.11 crore.

The arrestees are Mosharraf Hossain, 30, Md Mamun Al Azad alias Sumon, 35, and Md Jewel Hossain, 27.

A team of Rapid Action Battalion-1 arrested the trio from the immigration around 11:00pm, said Maj Saifullah Md Walid, deputy director of legal and media wing of Rapid Action Battalion.

The team seized US dollar, British pound, Saudi Riyal and Dubai Dirham worth Tk 11.11 crore their possession.

Among the arrestees, Mosharraf and Sumon are members of international money smuggling syndicate while Jewel is the driver of Sumon, Rab sources said.

Sumon was smuggling the currencies out of the country with the help of Mosharraf, who was going to New York by an Emirates Airlines flight following a stopover in Dubai, the sources said.

Govt mulls Writing WB to settle Padma Bridge Financing

DHAKA NEWS

Finance Minister AMA Muhith said on Thursday the government is considering writing to the World Bank chief to settle the issue of the Padma bridge project financing.

“The government is now discussing about the strategy and content of the letter,” the finance minister told reporters at his Secretariat office in the morning.

The minister's comment on the latest development of the Padma bridge project came when Xiaoyu Zhao, the vice president (operations 1) of Asian Development Bank, met Muhith at his office Thursday.

Earlier, highly placed sources said the government hoped that the WB president would settle the Padma bridge financing issue before he ends his tenure with the institution in June.

Another official said earlier the government has also been negotiating with several officials of the USA, the major shareholder of the WB, so that the lending agency settles the issue quickly.

Besides that, the government has also been continuing talks through the WB executive director who represents Bangladesh and some other South Asian countries.

An official at the WB Dhaka office said earlier if the Canadian government report does not support the corruption allegation, the issue might be settled soon.

In another development, the Canadian government is likely to submit to the WB the findings of an investigation into the alleged corruption in appointing consulting firm for the mega bridge project by this month, a finance ministry official said.

The WB in August last year postponed its $1.2 billion fund for the $2.9 billion Padma bridge project on graft allegations.

In January, the institution increased the loan effectuation deadline by six months for the second time.

On Wednesday, the finance minister after a meeting with Li Jun, new Chinese ambassador to Dhaka, stressed that the government wants to finalise the agreement by October this year and start the project work by November no matter whether the financier is the WB or any country.

The Padma bridge is one of the main election pledges of the present government.

Spectrum Fee Must reflect Govt's Tech Vision

DHAKA NEWS

Telenor Boss Speaks on 3G Technology

Jon Fredrik Baksaas, president and chief executive officer of Telenor Group, has underlined a balance between spectrum fees and the government's ambition to provide telecommunication services to people.

“We are ready to move on to the next generation technology. There is still a need to find a balance between the spectrum fee and incentives for people,” Baksaas said.

He spoke to  at the recent GSMA World Mobile Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Spain. He shared his views in brief on third generation (3G) mobile technology that facilitates high-speed data transfer through mobile phones.

“Generally speaking, any government needs to try to strike a balance between spectrum fee and the telecommunication ambition to get good penetration and coverage," said the boss of Telenor Group, the key shareholder in Grameenphone.

“Grameenphone covers 99 percent of the population in Bangladesh. It is running the industry tremendously and makes a significant contribution to the income file of the government.”

On the people's ability to afford 3G service in Bangladesh, Baksaas said everything is in evolution. Years ago, it was said that the mobile phone is unaffordable for a great number of people. But people do not say that anymore, he added.

A large number of people in Bangladesh can afford a mobile; there are still more to come, he said.

“Within those who are connected, there are still people who want to go to the next layer of mobile technology -- which is 3G.”

He said, “There are already a huge number of people who use the EDGE protocol. It is a very good data communicator. We also use it when we are in Bangladesh. It works well. But when we talk about the speed factor, we should come to 3G.”

EDGE (enhanced data GSM environment) is a mobile technology that provides internet services. Most internet users in Bangladesh use the EDGE technology.

Recently, the Supreme Court of India cancelled 22 mobile licences of Uninor, a joint venture between Telenor and Indian company Unitech, putting its business in uncertainty.

When asked to comment on the issue, Baksaas said, “There is great uncertainty on what will happen in India. Our need is to get clarity on access spectrum. If there is no access spectrum then there will be no progress.”