15 held over Ashulia unrest,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

Police in separate drives arrested 15 people on Monday for their alleged involvement with the labour unrest that forced garment owners to shut down all 350 factories in Ashulia.

Badrul Alam Sheikh, officer-in-charge of Ashulia Police Station, confirmed the arrest of 11 people Monday morning but refrained from disclosing their identification.

They have been arrested in connection with four cases filed with the police station between Thursday and Saturday, the OC said.

Of the cases, Masranga Television filed a case against several hundreds of people on Thursday on charge of torching its vehicle during a clash with the law enforcers.

On the same day, another case was filed on behalf of IDS, a garment factory in Ashulia, bringing allegation of vandalism.

Billal Hossain, sub-inspector of Ashulia Police Station, on Friday filed the third case against 10 local BNP leaders, including Yarpur union parishad chairman Dewan Moyeen Uddin Biplob, for provoking workers to resort to violence.

The last case was filed by another SI Hafizur Rahman Saturday night against 11 local BNP leaders and several hundred unidentified people on charges of vandalising vehicles and obstructing police from performing their duties.

Earlier on Saturday, RMG factory owners decided to shut 350 factories in Ashulia for an indefinite period as garment workers continued to stage violent demonstrations from June 11 for a hike in their wages.

Fuming over the shutdown of the garment factories, agitating workers fought pitched battles with law enforcers on Sunday, leaving at least 50 people including several police personnel injured.

While talking to Monday morning, Fayezul Kabir, deputy director of Industrial Police, said workers are gathering in front of different factories since morning but no unrest took place.

RMG workers threaten tougher movement,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

Bangladesh Textile-Garments Workers Federation on Monday demanded reopening of all the 350 garment factories in Ashulia, which were declared closed by the owners following labour unrest, by June 20.

Otherwise, the federation will hold a grand rally in the capital on June 22 and announce a tougher programme like strike.

The federation leaders said while addressing a press conference at the office of Workers' Party of Bangladesh at Topkhana Road in the city in the afternoon.

The federation leaders also demanded immediate release of the garment workers arrested in connection with the labour unrest and arrange treatment for the injured ones.

Police in an overnight drive till early Monday arrested 11 people for their alleged involvement with the Ashulia unrest.

Earlier on Saturday, RMG factory owners decided to shut all the 350 factories in Ashulia for an indefinite period as garment workers continued to stage violent demonstrations from June 11 for a hike in their wages.

Fuming over the shutdown of the garment factories, agitating workers fought pitched battles with law enforcers on Sunday, leaving at least 50 people including several police personnel injured.

Another Rohingyas 133 refugees detained,Teknaf Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

Bangladesh border and coast guards detained another 133 Myanmar nationals for entering Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar in last 13 hours till Monday noon seeking refuge from sectarian violence in Rakhine state.

Officials in the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) said the 133 and 18 other refugees who entered the Bangladeshi territory earlier would be sent back to Myanmar.

They said the refugees will not be immediately deported to Myanmar due to rough weather condition over the Naf River, reports our Chittagong correspondent.

Around Monday noon, BGB seized five boats carrying 103 Myanmar nationals in Jetighat area of Teknaf, said Major Saiful Wadud, operation officer of BGB camp of Shah Pori Dwip.

Prior to that at 9:00am, another five were held at Sabrang while seven at Jaliapara at 8:30am, said Lt Col Zahid Hasan, commanding officer of BGB-42 battalion.

BGB also pushed back three Myanmar nationals who entered Teknaf territory 3:30am Monday, added the commanding officer.

Earlier around 10:30pm on Sunday, the border guards detained 18 Myanmarese at Jaliapara of Shah Pori Dwip.

The intruders, hailing from Maungdaw, are now in BGB’s custody, the officer said, adding that BGB provided them with sufficient food and water as they were in crisis.

The BGB pushed back hundreds of Myanmarese nationals and foiled their several attempts to enter Bangladesh territory for refuge since the deadly sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims broke out in Myanmar's western Rakhine state on June 8.

The border guards remain on high alert as Bangladesh on June 13 made clear its stance that there would be no trans-boundary spillover following the sectarian violence in the neighbouring country.

Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Ghulam Azam petitions rejected

BANGLADESH NEWS

A tribunal dealing with war crimes cases on Monday rejected a petition for reviewing charges framed against former Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Ghulam Azam.

The International Crimes Tribunal-1 also turned down a petition of Ghulam Azam for shifting the case to the ICT-2.

The 89-year-old is facing charges on 62 specific crimes against humanity and peace, genocide and war crimes in 1971.

Ghulam Azam was not produced before the tribunal during the hearing on the petitions.

Pabna University of Science and Technology Turmoil for VC's resignation,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

Activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) yesterday started agitation demanding immediate resignation of the vice chancellor of Pabna University of Science and Technology for what they said widespread corruption and nepotism at the institution.

The university faced a stalemate as eight men of the 18-member Regent Board, including two Pabna lawmakers, were replaced on Thursday, sources said.

The Regent Board is highest administrative authority of the university.

Workers and employees of the university also demonstrated on the campus to press for their seven-point demand, worsening the situation yesterday.

Against the backdrop, the authorities announced closure of the university from June 18 to July 8 in the name of annual summer vacation although the vacation usually starts within mid-May, campus sources said.

Pabna district unit of BCL along with the students of the university blocked the administrative building, confining the vice chancellor inside.

They also put blockade on Dhaka-Pabna highway in front of the university academic building at Raghobpur village in the district headquarters.

“The vice chancellor appointed many of his relatives and favourites in university during the last three years. The construction work of the academic building is yet to complete due to his corruption,” said Ahmed Sharif Dablu, president of Pabna district unit of BCL.

Hundreds of workers and employees of the university formed a human chain in front of the administrative building demanding formation of workers and employees union, and formulation of proper policy to ensure job security and due promotion of the staff.

Lawmaker of Pabna-4 constituency Shamsur Rahman Sarif Dilu and lawmaker of Pabna-5 Golam Faruk Khandaker Prince are among the eight persons dropped from the reformed Regent Board.

They were replaced by lawmaker of Sirajganj-3 Ishaque Hossain Talukder and lawmaker of Natore-3 Junaid Ahmed Polok.

"The vice chancellor made the change in the Regent Board as we often protested his whimsical decisions and appointment of staff through nepotism," said lawmaker Golam Faruk Khandaker Prince.

When the local journalists tried to talk with the vice chancellor about the situation, the university administration did not permit them to enter the university building yesterday.

In a press release issued by Md Faruk Hossain Chowdhury, public relation officer the university, authorities claimed that the vice chancellor is not responsible for change in the Regent Board.

"The honourable president and the prime minister have approved the Regent Board according to the university act. Recruitments at the university were done according to rules after approval at the Regent Board meeting and there was no corruption regarding construction on the campus," it added.

Investors call for Finance Minister AMA Muhith head,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

Small investors staged frenzied demonstration in front of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) on Sunday and demanded resignation of Finance Minister as shares on the prime bourse continued to slide.

The retail investors under the umbrella of Capital Market investors Unity Council took to the street around 1pm.

"The Finance Minister had made unexpected remarks about the capital market in the past days. It had led the market to fall. The market started falling once again after he made such comments twice recently," said its International Relation Affairs Secretary Ataullah Nayeem.

Minister AMA Muhith dubbed the market 'naughty' in Parliament on Jun 11, drawing flak from the DSE top-brass.

"The entire market is naughty, many have lost everything in this market and still they are not leaving it. Everyone is naughty, not just some people," Muhith had told reporters.

"I am frustrated, and making these statements out of that frustration," he justified his speech on supplementary budget.

"Many people said when I speak it has negative impact on the share market. If I do not even think about the share market, it won't have any harmful impact on the economy," Muhith added.

Referring to the statement, Nayeem said, "The Finance Minister of a country cannot deliver such a speech. It is damaging for the market."

DSE lost 148 points last week. Index on the country's prime bourse continued to fall when trade opened on Sunday.

At the close, the index reached 4,506 points, 114 points lower. Shares worth around Tk 1.69 billion were exchanged, which is 18 percent lower than Thursday, the last working day.

On Sunday, prices of 22 increased while 228 fell down.  

Rangunia EPZ gets nod,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

The government has approved another export-focussed industrial zone, Rangunia Export Processing Zone, in Chittagong.

The approval for Bangladesh's ninth EPZ came from a meeting of the Board of Governors of Bangladesh Private Export Processing Zone Authority (BPEPZA) held at Prime Minister's Office. Its Chairperson Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting on Sunday, her press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters.

Rangunia EPZ is proposed to be located within 50 kilometres of Chittagong on about 400 acres of government fallow land and family-owned land.

Chittagong has two more EPZs – Chittagong EPZ and Korean EPZ.

Azad said the Prime Minister asked the BPEPZA authorities to give final allocation of 500 acres of land for the Korean EPZ for more investment.

Hasina also asked the Korean EPZ authorities to submit a detailed investment plan to the government.

The other EPZs are located in Dhaka, Mongla, Narayanganj (Adamjee), Uttara (Nilphamari), Comilla and Ishwardi.

Commerce Minister G M Qader, Land Minister Rezaul Karim Hira, Environment and Forests Minister Hasan Mahmud, State Minister for Power Enamul Haque and Executive Chairman of Board of Investment S A Samad and Secretaries attended the meeting.  

No let-up in Ashulia unrest Workers protest factory shutdown, block highway, clash with cops; 50 hurt,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

Several thousand garment workers again fought pitched battles with law enforcers in Ashulia yesterday, fuming over the shutdown of all garment factories in the industrial belt.

At least 50 people, including several police personnel, were injured in the clashes.

Agitating workers put barricades on the Dhaka-Tangail highway bringing traffic on the motorway to a halt for nearly three hours from 8:30am. They demanded that garment factory owners immediately reopen the factories in Ashulia, on the outskirts of the capital.

Leaders of different garment workers' organisations also protested the shutdown and called upon the owners to reopen the factories immediately.

RMG factory owners on Saturday decided to shut all 350 factories in Ashulia for an indefinite period as garment workers continued to stage violent demonstrations from June 11 demanding a hike in their wages.

The entire industrial belt had witnessed a spate of violence between June 11 and June 16, as thousands of workers clashed with police leaving around 500 people injured. At least 300 vehicles were damaged and 200 factories were vandalised in six days.

Witnesses said several thousand workers took to the street at about 8:30am yesterday after they found their factories shut.

The agitating workers put blockades on the Dhaka-Tangail highway protesting the shutdown of factories, said Mokhlesur Rahman, inspector of Ashulia Industrial Police.

A group of youths wearing masks vandalised several vehicles on the highway. Angry workers hurled brickbats at police and clashed with them as the law enforcers tried to remove blockades from the highway.

Police cleared the highway by 11:30am after fighting pitched battles with angry workers.

The clashes later spread to Nischintapur, Ghoshbag, Shimultola, Bypile, Jirabo and Narasinghapur.

Police fired around 20 rounds of rubber bullets and teargas canisters, and charged baton to disperse the agitating workers.

Police and Rab personnel stood guard at factories in the industrial belt to ward off vandalism.

Hafizur Rahman, sub-inspector of Ashulia Police Station, on Saturday night filed a case against 11 local BNP leaders and several hundred unidentified people on charges of vandalising vehicles and obstructing police from performing their duties.

On Friday, Ashulia police filed another case against 10 local BNP leaders, including Yarpur union parishad chairman Dewan Moyeen Uddin Biplob, for provoking workers to resort to violence.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Centre for Workers Solidarity and Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers' Federation in separate statements denied their involvement in the labour unrest in Ashulia and Narayanganj.

Kalpana Akter, executive director of Bangladesh Centre for Workers Solidarity, said, "A vested quarter is trying to pin the blame on us for the untoward incident that we had condemned."

She said there was no link between the killing of labour leader Aminul Islam and the unrest in the garment sector.

Kalpana demanded that all factories are reopened immediately.

Garments Sramik Trade Union Kendra and Bangladesh Garments Shramik Oikya Parishad called for reopening the factories as soon as possible.

In a statement, Rafez Alam Chowdhury, president of Bangladesh Garments Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGAPMEA), expressed his concern over the recent events in the garments sector.

War Crimes '71 Jamaat leader Kashem held,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

Less than two hours after International Crimes Tribunal-1 issued an arrest warrant against Jamaat leader Mir Kashem Ali, he was arrested at a newspaper office in Dhaka yesterday in connection with war crimes and taken to the tribunal.

The tribunal later sent him to jail with a custodial warrant and fixed today for hearing what the defence has to say about the arrest.

Detective Branch of Police personnel, aided by Rapid Action Battalion, arrested him at the office of Bangla daily Naya Diganta at Motijheel around 3:40pm, said Masudur Rahman, additional deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

After the arrest, Kashem, chairman of Diganta Media Corporation, was brought to the cell of the tribunal around 4:10pm. He was sent to jail from there around 6:50pm. He was not produced before the court.

Tajul Islam, a counsel for Kashem, said his defence would appeal for bail.

Earlier in the day, Prosecutor Rana Dasgupta appealed to the tribunal for an arrest order against Kashem and said he had been “threatening witnesses” and that he was a flight risk.

Rana told the three-member tribunal, led by Justice Md Nizamul Huq, that Jamaat leader Kashem was the chief of Chittagong Al-Badr unit during the Liberation War. Al-Badr was one of the forces created to help the Pakistani occupation army and oppose the pro-liberation forces during the war.

During the war, Al-Badr used Mohamaya Dalim Hotel, Kayum Hotel and Goods Hill as its torture cells.

Around noon on November 19, 1971, Kashem took three people to the Mohamaya Dalim Hotel and tortured them, said Rana. One of them was given electric shocks which destroyed his reproductive capability for ever.

Two days later, Al-Badr brought in another person, with his hands and legs tied, from Kadamtali of Chittagong.

“Kashem had asked the victims to call back the freedom fighters from the war or else he would torture him,” said Rana. The victim did not comply and he had to go through horrendous torture.

The prosecutor during the proceedings yesterday did not mention any names of the victims, just their initials.

He said through collaborating with the Pakistani army, the Al-Badr killed many and turned many places of Chittagong, including Gahira, Jogotmondalpara, Foy's Lake, Halishahar, Dampara and Unosotturpara into killing fields.

He told the tribunal that Kashem, being a member of the Central Executive Council of the Jamaat-e-Islami, led a propaganda campaign in the UK and the Middle East to foil the ongoing trial of war criminals.

He said Kashem was a highly influential person and he was mounting pressure on witnesses and had threatened them with life if they gave statements to the investigation officer of the case against him.

He said most of his victims were still alive.

As Rana tried to elaborate more on Kashem's alleged crimes, the tribunal stopped him and said it did not need to hear more to issue an order.

The tribunal around 2:30pm passed the order to arrest and produce him before the court within 24 hours of arrest.

Mir Kashem, 63, son of late Taib Ali, lives in Mirpur. He lived in Harirampur of Manikganj in Chittagong in 1971. He was known as Mintu then. In his youth, he was an activist of the Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami.

Six top Jamaat leaders--Ghulam Azam, Matiur Rahman Nizami, Delwar Hossain Sayedee, Ali Ahsan Mojaheed, Kamaruzzaman and Quader Mollah--and two BNP leaders--Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and Abdul Alim--are now being tried before the tribunals.

Border unprotected Local admin asks for fencing, stronger watch to check intrusion from Myanmar,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

A well-protected border is a must to prevent intrusion from Myanmar and crimes like human trafficking and smuggling, officials at Teknaf in Cox's Bazar say.

Myanmar shares a 271-kilometre border with Cox's Bazar and Bandarban, 54km with Teknaf upazila alone.

While the border on Myanmar side is secured with fences and watchtowers, it is unfenced and poorly manned on Bangladesh side.

Border Guard Bangladesh officials say ensuring border protection is very difficult with inadequate resources. It is also not easy to guard a border that cuts through canals, hills, forests, river and sea.

The local administration earlier sent higher authorities a set of proposals that include setting up fences with pocket gates for legal movements and a road on the dam surrounding the Naf river to strengthen vigilance and increasing the number of border outposts (BOP) on Teknaf border.

As the Rohingya intrusion increased due to violence at bordering Rakhine state in Myanmar over the past week, the administration again sent the proposals to high-ups.

“Two-three days ago, I sent the Cabinet Division our recommendations, including increasing outposts and watchtowers on the border, constructing a road on the dam and putting up fences on the border,” Cox's Bazar Deputy Commissioner Jainul Bari told yesterday.

Jainul again placed the recommendations at an inter-ministerial meeting at the foreign ministry yesterday. The proposals would be forwarded to the cabinet for the consideration of policymakers, he added.

Apart from continuous Rohingya intrusion, there are many other long-standing problems in the bordering area. Smuggling of arms and drugs and human trafficking are the serous ones.

It is common knowledge at Teknaf that 10 or more factories of Yaba have been set up in bordering area inside Myanmar to smuggle the illegal drug into Bangladesh.

An official, involved with the border security management there, yesterday told this correspondent, “If we cannot stop the intrusion through the border, it's impossible to stop smuggling.”

The government might have many other priorities, but it must fulfil the requirements for a well-protected border as soon as possible, said the officer, wishing anonymity.

Fencing the border alone would not be enough as intruders from Myanmar could still come through the sea, the officer noted. So, the authorities just cannot afford to leave the 120-km sea beach from Cox's Bazar to Teknaf unprotected.

Lt Col Md Khalequzzaman, commanding officer of BGB 17 Battalion in Cox's Bazar, told yesterday, “Though very expensive, fencing would be good to keep the border well-protected. There are some alternative ideas such as roads parallel to borders and joint border patrolling by BGB and Nasaka [Myanmar border force].”

A high-level BGB source said the idea of fencing was discussed at a recent conference in Dhaka. The government has taken the matter seriously.

The border guards also want more BOPs at Teknaf as they have only nine outposts for the 54km border.

Although the force wanted approval for another four, the government started construction of two new BOPs for Teknaf border, a BGB source said. The work might be complete in December.

Also a watchtower was being built at Ghola Para of Teknaf's Shah Porir Dweep. BGB officials say they need more.

Meanwhile, coast guard sources said the force that started its journey in 1995 still faces a number of problems in guarding the borders.

While the coast guard needs modern vessels to patrol a rough sea like the Bay of Bengal and the Naf river, none of its stations -- Teknaf upazila headquarters, Shah Porir Dweep and Saint Martin's Island -- has adequate boats.

Besides, the force suffers a manpower shortage. If there were fences on the border, it would have made things a lot easier, added the sources.