Dhaka not to blame for Ticfa deadlock:Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quayes,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quayes on Sunday said Bangladesh is ready for negotiation with the United States regarding signing of Trade and Investment Cooperation Framework Agreement (Ticfa).

He also categorically said that the signing of Ticfa agreement was not stalled due to Bangladesh. “I can tell you that if it is stalled then it was not because of Bangladesh,” Quayes added.

Asked about US ambassador’s remarks over Bangladesh’s refusal to sign the Ticfa deal, the foreign secretary declined to comment as he has not heard or have no written exact text what the US envoy said, but he said Bangladesh’s commitment to ILO Convention on labour standard is on the record.

He said both the sides exchanged the text of the draft of the Ticfa agreement and there is a minor issue which can be resolved through discussion.

“We still believe that we can have another round or second rounds of negotiation to remove the issue that yet to solved,” Quayes said adding “If the agreement is stalled in any stage then there is something to look into it.”

He said Bangladeshi readymade garment exporters’ pays 16 percent to 32 percent tariff while entering US market. “If the US government removes this tariff we can do more welfare for the garment workers, enhance wages as well as overall standard,” he observed.

Quayes reiterated that Bangladesh government is committed to labour rights and its commitment is very much on the record.

US Ambassador Dan Mozena mentioned four factors, including Ticfa, had gathered on the horizon, with power to have “a very negative impact” on exports of RMG to the market of the United States.

High Court questions Indemnity Act 2003 legitimising Operation Clean Heart,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

The High Court on Sunday issued a rule upon the government to explain why the Joint Drives Indemnity Act 2003 legitimising Operation Clean Heart should not be declared unconstitutional and illegal.

As per the court direction, the government will have to come up with a reply in six weeks.

Joint drives led by army had run Operation Clean Heart from October 16, 2002 to January 9, 2003 across the country to keep the law and order situation under control.

Around 50 people were reportedly killed in the operation.

The BNP-led 4-party alliance government issued a gazette notification on February 24, 2003 to legalise the Joint Drives Indemnity Act 2003 legitimising Operation Clean Heart.

According to the indemnity act, nobody can challenge the action of joint forces under Operation Clean Heart.

Advocate ZI Khan Panna, an executive member of Bangladesh Bar Council, on July 14 this year filed a writ petition challenging the legality of the indemnity act.

In the petition, he claimed that the law which legitimised the Operation Clean Heart is against the fundamental rights of people.

After hearing the petition, the HC bench of Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Hoque Akond (Sagor) also asked the government to explain why it should not be directed to make a fund of Tk 100 crore for compensation of the victims of Operation Clean Heart.

Secretaries to the ministries of law, home and defence, commander-in-chief of Armed Forces Division and inspector general of police have been made respondent to the rule.

Padma bridge: BNP leader Moudud Ahmed doubts Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina intention,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

Slating the premier for her continued World Bank bashing, BNP leader Moudud Ahmed on Sunday doubted her intention of building the Padma bridge.

“Confusion has been created in public mind whether the prime minister at all wants to build the Padma bridge as she is trying to foil the finance minister’s efforts to revive the loan deal by making remarks against the World Bank,” he said.

Moudud came up with the observation at a discussion titled ‘Government’s Intolerant Politics, Unbridled Corruption and Duties of Patriots’ organised by Jatiyatabadi Sangskritik Dal at the National Press Club in the capital.

He said, "It is difficult to understand what the prime minister actually wants. On the one hand, the finance minister is trying to woo the World Bank and the premier is calling Abul Hossain a patriot on the other.”

Talking to reporters on July 25 in London, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina described Syed Abul Hossain, who quit as ICT minister days back, as a man of guts and patriot for his firm stance to step aside.

While responding to a question, she also accused the WB of taking ‘percentage’ from its funded projects.

Reacting to the PM’s remarks, Moudud, a BNP standing committee member, said, it seems that the PM does not want to resolve the problem with the WB. Instead, she prefers the conflict to continue. “The people of the country want to know what she actually wants.”

He said the government apparently confessed to indulging in corruption in the Padma bridge project after taking action against Abul.

”There’s no doubt that the entire government is involved in the bridge project graft,” Moudud said adding that he has heard that the relatives of the Prime Ministers are returning to the country from Canada fearing that the authorities there may take action against them.

He also demanded an explanation from the Prime Minister’s office in this regard.

Rejecting the PM’s remarks on the next general election, the senior BNP leader said there is no democratic country in the world where general election is held without dissolving Parliament.

Hasina, now in London on a five-day official visit, on Friday said her government is making relentless efforts to keep the country’s electoral process completely neutral and free from government interference in continuation of the free and fair election held in 2008.

The premier made the remarks when Leader of the Opposition of UK Labour Party Edward Samuel Miliband met her in her hotel suite.

Hi-tech fence:New Delhi India to get tips from Israel,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

India will send a team to Israel to learn from its experiences in erecting the security barrier along the West Bank and Gaza Strip to assess technologies that New Delhi could implement at its fence with Pakistan and Bangladesh, an Indian daily reported on Sunday.

Home Minister P Chidambaram, who had launched the fencing project in 1986, told a group of MPs this week that the government was exploring use of modern technology in border management and would send a team to Israel to assess technologies used there, Hindustan Times said.

Israel’s security fence of concrete and steel razor wires — complete with electronic sensors and close-circuit cameras — has been as useful to stop terrorist strikes as it has been controversial.

The fence helped reduce attacks on Israeli settlements but has been controversial due to Israel’s decision to build the barrier, at places, deep into the occupied West Bank.

India had voted against the fence on the West Bank at the UN general assembly in 2004.

At the meeting of the consultative committee, the minister said how India too used technology — sensors and satellite images — to track infiltrators.

But the home minister wants the team to evaluate technologies used elsewhere in the world. He had conceded just last month that the border with Bangladesh was still “open and porous”.

Technology, however, is only one component, a home ministry source said, citing recent orders to get smugglers caught on the border to identify locations from where they crossed the border and penalise the local BSF commander.

Harsher agitation after Eid:BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia

BANGLADESH NEWS

Urging partners of the 18-party alliance to take preparation for a harsher agitation, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia on Sunday said the opposition will go for a tougher movement after Eid-ul-Fitr.

“We will forge movement to protect the countrymen and that is why all the parties belonging to the 18-party alliance have to take preparation from now,” she said at an Iftar party organised by Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) at a city hotel.

LDP President Oli Ahmed MP delivered welcome speech. Senior leaders of BNP and 18-party alliance attended the programme.

Khaleda hoped that their movement will be successful and they will win against all sorts of misdeeds by making the anti-government movement successful.

She alleged that the press is not enjoying freedom during the present government tenure and even the journalists are being tortured by the ruling party men.

“At least 14 journalists have been killed in the last three years,” she added.

Meanwhile, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said a miserable situation has been created in the country and countrymen are now want to get rid of the situation.

“The government has destroyed all the institutions through corruption and by making them partisan. They threw the country into a dark situation. People want to get rid of the situation,” he said while addressing a discussion and Iftar party.

MBA Association of Bangladesh (MAB) organised the programme at Diploma Engineers Institution in the city.

The BNP leader said the Awami League-led government does not believe in democracy and that is why country and democracy is now not safe at all.

Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) fines 7 restaurants Tk 5.95 lakh

BANGLADESH NEWS

Two mobile courts of Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution yesterday fined seven restaurants Tk 5.95 lakh for using illegal food colourings, poisonous chemicals and used cooking oil to manufacture Iftar items.

The restaurants are Alauddin Sweetmeat Ltd in Chawk Circular Road (Tk 2 lakh); Royal Restaurant in Harinath Gosh Road, Lalbagh (Tk 1 lakh); Star Hotel and Kabab in Dhanmondi (Tk 1.75 lakh); Voot Restaurant in Dhanmondi (Tk 45,000); and Ambala Sweetmeat, Iftari Bazar and Dominous Pizza in Dhanmondi (Tk 25,000 each).

Magistrate Rahima Khatun conducted the drive in Alauddin Sweetmeat Ltd and Royal Restaurant while Magistrate Saiful Azam conducted the drive in the remaining restaurants, said a BSTI press release.

 The company proprietor, Iqbal Khan, said they had not used any harmful chemicals and the mobile court carried out the drive in Ambala Inn in Dhanmondi, not Ambala Sweetmeat.

Writ filed seeking Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet)lass resumption

BANGLADESH NEWS

A Supreme Court lawyer on Sunday filed a writ petition with the High Court seeking its directives on the authorities concerned to open the Buet classes within 24 hours.

Advocate Younus Ali Akond who filed the petition also sought the court’s directives to stop unrest, agitation and strike on the campus of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet).

In the petition, he said the Buet authorities have closed the institution for 44 days from July 11 in the name of summer vacation that obstructed the students’ study and examinations procedures and subsequently will create session jam.

He also prayed to the court to direct the Buet authorities to start the admission process for the fresh students as the results of the Higher Secondary Certificate have already been published.

Younus Ali told that the HC bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar will hear the petition tomorrow.

Bangladesh Government mulling over rice export,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

The government is planning to export rice to boost up the market price of the staple food and ensure fair price for the marginal farmers, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said on Sunday.

The government took the decision as Bangladesh now turned into a rice-surplus country and the prices of rice have been falling, Muhith briefed journalists emerging from an inter-ministerial meeting held at his secretariat office.

But the minister did not disclose when the export process will begin and the quantity of exportable rice.

The government also decided to allow the export of aromatic rice round the year which is now time-bound.

The prices of rice have gone down in local market due to the surplus production of paddy at the time of last Boro harvesting season, the minister said.

Currently, the price of a kilo of coarse variety of rice is Tk 24 to 25 whereas the production cost of per kilo rice is Tk 26.50, Muhith said adding "So, the farmers are not getting the proper price of rice."

Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, Commerce Minister GM Quader, Food and Disaster Management Minister Abdur Razzaque and Health Minister Dr AFM Ruhal Haque were, among others, present at the meeting.

Abul Kalam Azad(Bachchu Razakar)probe report placed,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

Investigation agency of International Crimes Tribunals submitted the final report on the allegations against Abul Kalam Azad alias Bachchu Razakar to the prosecution on Sunday in connection with the crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Liberation War.

Investigation Officer Noor Hossain handed over the probe report to the prosecution team around 11:00am, Shahidur Rahman, a conducting prosecutor of the case,

Earlier on July 26, the investigation agency said it had found “strong evidence” Azad in connection with 10 incidents of genocide, killing, rape and other crimes during the 1971 war.

Expelled Jamaat-e-Islami member Azad went on the run around seven hours before International Crimes Tribunal-2 issued an arrest warrant against him on April 3.

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) on Sunday sent back 15 Rohingyas to Myanmar,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

Members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) on Sunday sent back 15 Rohingyas to Myanmar after detaining them in different areas of Teknaf upazila for trespassing on Bangladesh territory through the river Naff.

BGB men held two Rohingyas from Gholarchar of Shahporirdwip at around 6:00am, said Lt Col Zahid Hasan, commanding officer (CO) of BGB-42 battalion.

He suspected that they entered Bangladesh territory with the help of a group of Bangladeshi fishermen, reports our Chittagong correspondent.

The border guards held a Rohingya family consisting seven members, including a couple and their five children, from Jaliapara of Shahporirdwip at around 8:00am.

The seven came by a boat down the river Naff, said Lt Col Zahid.

All the nine Rohingyas were sent back to Myanmar in the morning, he added.

Meanwhile, BGB members detained six more Rohingyas from Nila of Teknaf at around 3:00pm and sent them back after an hour.

All the 15 Rohingyas came from different areas of Maungdaw of the neighbouring country, said Lt Col Zahid.

At the end of this drive, BGB has so far sent back a total of 1241Rohingyas to Myanmar since June 11 following the sectarian violence between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims erupted in different areas of the neighbouring country.

Send more remittances for Padma bridge London : Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged expatriate Bangladeshis to send more remittances to the country to help construct the much-awaited Padma bridge.

"There is no need for collecting tolls or subscriptions, instead you send more and more remittances to the country for construction of the bridge," she told an Iftar party hosted by Bangladesh community in her honour at Park Plaza Westminster Hotel in London on Saturday evening.

Hasina said she was impressed with the overwhelming response of the people at home and abroad to her government's stance for construction of the long- cherished bridge with the country's own fund.

"The government has earmarked financial provisions to launch the construction of the country's largest-ever infrastructure during this fiscal year," she said.

LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, British MP Michael Burns and president of Awami League UK chapter Sultan Mahmud Sharif and the leaders of AL associate bodies spoke, among others, at the function.

The premier recalled the contribution of expatriate Bangladeshis living in London to the great War of Liberation and all democratic movements of the country.

They (the expatriates) appointed lawyer through collecting subscription for Bangabandhu in the Agartala conspiracy case in 1969, while the first movement for trial of the killers of Bangabandhu had begun from London, she said.

Extending her gratitude to the Bangladeshi nationals in

London for their movement against her arrest during the period of last caretaker government, Hasina said their movement helped Bangladesh restore democracy from the hands of dictators.

The prime minister sought support and cooperation of the expatriate Bangladeshis to keep the democracy and development sustainable in Bangladesh and said Bangladesh can prosper under sustainable democracy.

Highlighting her government's stride to build a happy and prosperous Bangladesh, she said, as per electoral commitment, her party has accomplished many tasks in fulfilling the pledges.

"We promised for building a Digital Bangladesh.....we were committed for providing internet facilities up to upazila level."

"But, we have extended it up to union-level giving connection to 4592 unions," she added.

About the nagging power situation, the premier said demand for power is on rise with the increase of population and expansion of consumption of electricity and changing socioeconomic living pattern of the people.

"Our government has added more than 3500 MW power to the national grid over the last three and a half years reaching the total electricity production to near 6,300 MW," she said.

Pointing out the persisting global economic recession, Sheikh Hasina said, "Amid all adversities we could increase our production, raise our food production, reach health service to people, improve our literacy rate, curb terrorism to bring peace in people's life."

She said her government is pursuing development programmes for every sector under five-year plan and long- term perspective plan to make Bangladesh a middle-income country by 2021.

The prime minister also expressed her government's firm commitment to complete the trial of the war criminals.

Hasina arrived here on July 25 to attend the inaugural ceremony of London Olympics where she also attended the royal reception hosted by Queen Elizabeth II.

Ending her five-day official tour, the prime minister will leave London for home Sunday afternoon by a special flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines.