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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

[ALOCHONA] Chittagong Hill Tracts/ East Timur/ Southern Sudan



Chittagong Hill Tracts/ East Timur/ Southern Sudan








https://wakeupbd.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/%e0%a6%aa%e0%a6%be%e0%a6%b0%e0%a7%8d%e0%a6%ac%e0%a6%a4%e0%a7%8d%e0%a6%af-%e0%a6%9a%e0%a6%9f%e0%a7%8d%e0%a6%b0%e0%a6%97%e0%a7%8d%e0%a6%b0%e0%a6%be%e0%a6%ae%e0%a6%95%e0%a7%87-%e0%a6%aa%e0%a7%81%e0%a6%b0/



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[ALOCHONA] Int’l Crimes Tribunal: growing independence or a return to being the rubber stamp?



Int'l Crimes Tribunal: growing independence or a return to being the rubber stamp?

by David Bergman   

THE International Crimes Tribunal, set up to try Bangladeshi citizens accused of war crimes during the 1971 war of independence, may not yet meet international standards; however, it did make two important decisions in the last fortnight that suggested that the tribunal members were not simply rubberstamps for prosecution applications.

And these two decisions could not have come sooner for those seeking some indication that the tribunal could both act independently and also be mindful of the rights of the accused.

However, on Wednesday, just when things were looking up, the tribunal showed itself to have lost its backbone by passing an order which reversed one of these decisions. Is the tribunal back to square one?

Over the last eight months, the three-member tribunal has approved every substantive application made by the prosecution and rejected practically all those applications that have been made by the defence.

These decisions were not necessarily 'wrong', of course, but after an eight-month run of decisions against it, the lawyers for the accused certainly had good reason to doubt whether the tribunal was ever going to act independently of the prosecution.

However, on the last day of March, in giving conditional bail to former BNP lawmaker Abdul Alim, the tribunal indicated that its decisions would not simply reflect the prosecution's priorities.

Till that point, all six accused—of whom five are Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and one is a BNP member of parliament—had been detained in prison by the tribunal to allow for an 'effective and proper' investigation. In each case, the prosecution had claimed that these men were powerful and influential persons able to interfere with the investigation being carried out and to intimidate witnesses, and therefore needed to be detained. And on each occasion the tribunal accepted that argument.

In a bail application last month on behalf of Delwar Hossain Saydee, the defence lawyer claimed that his client would be willing to abide by any condition the tribunal wished to impose—including forfeiting his passport and the restriction of his movements—if he was given bail. However, yet again the tribunal sided with the prosecution's claims that his release was a risk to its investigation.

The decision to give conditional bail to Abdul Alim broke this sequence of rulings.

On March 27, at the request of the prosecution, the tribunal issued a warrant for Alim's arrest. From his home district of Jaipurhat, he was brought to court the next day, and following a short hearing, the case was adjourned till March 31.

On that day, the prosecution argued that Alim should be detained since he had committed serious offences, claiming that he was involved in the killing of '10,000 unarmed men', and that 'many of the witnesses are frightened' as he 'is a very influential, dangerous and powerful person.'

In response, Alim's defence lawyer stated that the allegations against his client were not substantiated in any way, that the prosecution had provided no evidence that Alim had tried to interfere with the investigation, and that his client was willing to be subject to any conditions of bail imposed by the court.

These were similar arguments that the lawyer had argued, unsuccessfully, in seeking bail for Saydee.

Alim's lawyer, however, also focused on the 'humanitarian reasons' for why his client should get bail. The accused was 80 years old, could not move without a wheelchair, and had prostate and eye problems, the lawyer said.

And, in the end, it was due to his age and medical problems, that the tribunal ruled that he should be given bail.

It may appear that deciding not to send an 80-year-old ill and immobile man to jail who had till then showed no intention of trying to flee Bangladesh was a pretty straightforward decision. But in the current Bangladesh climate, it was a brave one for the tribunal to make and it should be congratulated on having made it.

The tribunal imposed some strict conditions on Alim's bail: his passport was taken away, he was required to live at a particular address, he cannot leave Dhaka without seeking permission from the tribunal, and he must not speak to any witness.

So whilst the prosecution team may have had glum looks on their faces after the decision was made—'the less said the better', one said at the post-hearing press conference—it is difficult to believe that the bail will have any real effect on the investigation. And the prosecutors should perhaps be happy that the credibility of the entire process has improved with this decision by the tribunal.

Five days later, the tribunal made perhaps an even more significant decision Significant, of course, only until it was reversed.

In Bangladesh it is routine for courts to rule in favour of applications by the police requesting that the court remand an accused person into their custody so that interrogations can take place. Perhaps, the courts may not allow the remand to last for as long as the police had hoped, but the courts will very rarely refuse the applications altogether.

So when on April 5 the ICT prosecutors sought the custody of both Matiur Rahman Nizami and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed so that they could be questioned over a period of three days, the prosecutors must have been confident that their application would be successful.

Instead, however, the tribunal ruled that whilst the investigation body could interrogate both of the accused, it should be done inside the jail. And only for one day, between 10:00am to 5:00pm.

This decision by the tribunal to deviate from the currently accepted court practice was an important and significant step protecting the rights of the accused.

In making it, however, the tribunal was in fact only following a High Court ruling made eight years ago.

In 2003 the High Court judges Justice Md Hamidul Haque and Justice Salma Masud Chowdhury directed that it should be a normal practice for police interrogations to take place 'in a room in the jail' rather than in police custody. Only in particular situations should a person be remanded in police custody for questioning, the judges ruled.

The judgement also recommended that the 'Jail authorities should construct a room specially made for the purpose [of interrogations] with glass wall and grill in one side within the view … of a close relation or lawyer of the accused.'

The judges said the reason to avoid police remand was due to the evidence of systematic police abuse that took place during police remand.

However, this High Court judgement has only rarely been applied by the magistrate courts.

No one was of course, suggesting that the interrogation team would torture Nizami or Mojaheed, but as the Tribunal must presumably have recognised, if the two were only to be questioned, there was no reason to move the two accused from jail.

There did remain, however, two problems with the tribunal's otherwise progressive order.

The first one related to the presence of the lawyers for the accused. The tribunal order stated that the lawyers for the accused were 'permitted to be present at the adjacent room where the interrogation will be held.' It then stated, 'The learned counsel will not be allowed to hear the interrogation.'

For the tribunal to allow the interrogation to take place in a prison with lawyers in an adjacent room did break new and important ground in Bangladesh and may well also be an improvement on standards in neighbouring countries.

However, if this tribunal wants to meet international norms the lawyers would need to be allowed to be present in the room at the time of interrogation.

It is true that allowing lawyers to be present during police questioning is not part of Bangladeshi, or indeed general South Asian, legal culture—a key reason of course why systematic torture by the police is so common— but it is part of the norms used by most developed criminal justice systems and is required in all the international crime tribunals around the world.

The second concern with the tribunal order related to the failure of the tribunal to respond to the legal arguments made by the defence lawyers. The prosecution application for interrogation was made under rule 16 of the ICT rules of procedure. This states that the tribunal can pass an order that an accused person be given into the custody of the investigation agency if the tribunal itself considers it to be 'indispensable'.

Prior to the ruling, the defence lawyer for Nizami had argued at some length, and in his written application, that the prosecution had failed to give any reason why the interrogation at this stage was really necessary.

The tribunal's ruling, however, failed to mention rule 16 or any of the defence lawyers' arguments. Perhaps the interrogation was indeed 'indispensible', but the Tribunal was surely duty bound, by the terms of rule 16, to explain why it considered this to be so.

It has become a common practice of the tribunal to issue rulings without setting out the reasons and without responding to the legal points made by the defence. As a result, one does not always know the legal basis for the tribunal's rulings or why it rejected particular defence arguments. This may, of course, be common practice in other Bangladesh courts, but perhaps the tribunal should surely be held to a higher standard.

However, the biggest concern, of course is that the decision itself was reversed on Wednesday. How did that come about?

Two days after the court had given its ruling, the Dhaka Central Jail superintendent wrote to the tribunal registrar saying that the jail did not have the space to conduct the interrogations. On the basis of the letter and of conversations an investigation officer had with the jail superintendent, the prosecution applied for the ruling to be modified so that questioning would take place outside jail in the custody of an investigation officer.

On hearing the application (and the defence's response), the tribunal ruled in favour of the prosecution.

However, interrogations in the past have taken place at the Dhaka Central Jail, so why was it not possible now? Moreover, a High Court order, referred to by the Tribunal chairman himself during the proceedings, has for the last eight years required interrogations to take place inside the jail.

Besides, the defence showed the tribunal a rough sketch map of the jail that indicated that rooms were available. There was a room for clients and lawyers to meet, for example.

Was there a concern that there was no 'adjacent' room for the accused's lawyer? Well if that was the case, the lawyer would no doubt have been happy to be in a room that was not immediately adjacent to the interrogation room.

The tribunal just rolled over, without seeking any further information from the jail authorities about the rooms where questioning could take place. The members did not seem to understand the symbolic importance of its original decision, and how their speedy change of mind, without making any further inquiries themselves, only suggests a weak court easily swayed by government authorities and the prosecution.

The original draft of this article submitted before Wednesday's order had concluded on the following note, 'The big picture that should be taken from these two decisions is that the tribunal seems slowly to be finding its own feet, a very important development if it is going to mete out fair justice.'

One day on, and it is no longer possible to be quite so positive. The tribunal registrar said rather wisely a few days ago, 'It will take some time before anyone can properly judge whether this tribunal is independent and fair.' Let's hope that the tribunal can provide more signs of independence and fairness—and a stronger backbone—sooner rather than later.

_____________________________

David Bergman is editor, special reports at New Age. davidbangladesh@ gmail.com See his blog on the ICT at http:// bangladeshwarcrimes.blogspot.com/.

http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/op-ed/15296.html


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[ALOCHONA] Women policy of Tagore and Amini



Women policy of Tagore and Amini



http://www.amadershomoy1.com/content/2011/04/21/news0641.htm



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[ALOCHONA] Energy saving light bulbs 'contain cancer causing chemicals'



Energy saving light bulbs 'contain cancer causing chemicals'

Fears have been reignited about the safety of energy saving light bulbs after a group of scientists warned that they contain cancer causing chemicals.

Energy saving light bulbs
Scientists claim that several carcinogenic chemicals are released when energy saving light bulbs are switched on 

Their report advises that the bulbs should not be left on for extended periods, particularly near someone's head, as they emit poisonous materials when switched on.

Peter Braun, who carried out the tests at the Berlin's Alab Laboratory, said: "For such carcinogenic substances it is important they are kept as far away as possible from the human environment."

The bulbs are already widely used in the UK following EU direction to phase out traditional incandescent lighting by the end of this year.

But the German scientists claimed that several carcinogenic chemicals and toxins were released when the environmentally-friendly compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) were switched on, including phenol, naphthalene and styrene.

Andreas Kirchner, of the Federation of German Engineers, said: "Electrical smog develops around these lamps."I, therefore, use them only very economically. They should not be used in unventilated areas and definitely not in the proximity of the head."

British experts insisted that more research was needed and urged consumers not to panic.Dr Michelle Bloor, senior lecturer in Environmental Science at Portsmouth University, told the Daily Express: "Further independent studies would need to be undertaken to back up the presented German research."

The Department for the Environment insists the bulbs are safe, despite the fact that they contain small amounts of mercury which would leak out if the glass was broken.Advice on its website states: "Energy efficient light bulbs are not a danger to the public."Although they contain mercury, limited at 5mg per lamp, it cannot escape from a lamp that is intact."In any case, the very small amount contained in an energy efficient bulb is unlikely to cause harm even if the lamp should be broken."

The latest report follows claims by Abraham Haim, a professor of biology at Haifa University in Israel, that the bulbs could result in higher breast cancer rates if used late at night.He said that the bluer light that CFLs emitted closely mimicked daylight, disrupting the body's production of the hormone melatonin more than older-style filament bulbs, which cast a yellower light.

The Migraine Action Association has warned that they could trigger migraines and skin care specialists have claimed that their intense light could exacerbate a range of existing skin problems.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/8462626/Energy-saving-light-bulbs-contain-cancer-causing-chemicals.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8288982/Energy-saving-light-bulbs-could-trigger-breast-cancer.html


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[ALOCHONA] India checks the neighbors



India checks the neighbors

By Robert M Cutler

MONTREAL - Seven years ago, this publication printed an article drawing attention to an "emerging triangle" of relations among Kazakhstan, Russia, and China and predicted that their significance would only increase.

The same article pointed out, years before Russia twice cut gas supplies to Europe from Turkmenistan, the crucial nature of the triangular ties among this last-mentioned country, Russia, and Europe. (See Emerging triangles: Russia-Kazakhstan-China, Asia Times Online, January 15, 2004.) So the visit this past week of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to China and Kazakhstan should be seen in light of these triangular patterns.

India and China together account for one-tenth of world trade, one-tenth of world production, and over one-third of world population. What is even more important for the rest of the world, their economies averaged 10% growth in 2010 whereas the figure for every other country taken together was but 4%.

Indeed, bilateral relations did not go begging for attention even though Manmohan was in Beijing officially for a multilateral BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit. A good diplomatic synthesis of these facts was captured in Singh's comment that India-China relations have themselves transcended bilateral dimensions to achieve global strategic significance.

Manmohan raised the problem of trade imbalance between the two countries and specifically suggested that China might increase its import of Indian goods and technologies in the pharmaceutical, information, and agricultural sectors. Out of $60 billion total trade turnover, the imbalance rose 25% to US$20 billion last year. Chinese President Hu Jintao recognized that there was "a problem" needing to be addressed but was noncommittal concerning concrete measures that might be taken.
Perhaps most notably, military cooperation between the two countries is set to resume this summer after a year's hiatus occasioned by Beijing's denial of a visa to an Indian army commander because he had served in Jammu and Kashmir. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lie told that press that "China is vigorously committed to developing military to military relations with India". Exploring the possibilities of joint military exercises is now being bruited. A consultation mechanism for resolving border disputes was also discussed, for the implementation of the bilateral 1993 and 1996 agreements.

Manmohan held nearly the same discourse following the conclusion of the BRICS summit in Beijing upon his arrival in Kazakhstan, the first visit of an Indian prime minister in almost nine years. Ties between India and Kazakhstan, he told the official newspaper Kazakhstanskaya pravda, "have evolved into a firm strategic partnership", invoking a joint declaration adopted during Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbaev's visit to India in January 2009. The juncture for such a visit is propitious, as Kazakhstan is about to assume chairmanship not only of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization but also of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

As was indicated in this space four months ago, Delhi and Astana signed some agreements for energy-industrial cooperation during the present visit. Perhaps most notable was a commercial accord making it possible for India's state-run ONGC (actually its foreign arm, OVL) to acquire a 25% stake in Kazakhstan's offshore Satpaev exploration bloc, which is not far from Kashagan and other significant oil deposits. This deal had been in the works for over three years, delayed by administrative complications arising from various industrial reorganizations and the resulting need for legal and economic clarifications. (See Astana builds energy depth, Asia Times Online, December 17, 2010.)

Bilateral commercial exchanges have lagged due to transportation difficulties, still under $300 million last year despite Kazakhstan's economic dynamism, which nearly matches India's. During his visit, Manmohan held out in particular the possibilities for bilateral cooperation in science and technology, in which India has significant human and capital resources.

He pointed to nano-technologies and space in particular as offering significant prospects for cooperation, in addition to nuclear and renewable energies. India has 20 nuclear reactors and is planning to increase its civil nuclear program; Kazakhstan has significant uranium deposits and already supplies India with nuclear fuel. Having OVL's investment in Satpaev in mind, he added that India was interested also in cooperation "in construction of oil refineries and other downstream and upstream projects" in the hydrocarbon sector.

As for the Kazakhstan-China leg of the triangle, Kazakhstan was not present at the BRICS summit, but Kazakhstan-China relations focusing on energy and other economic issues have been covered here previously, in particular the relatively recently opened gas pipeline that begins in Turkmenistan and runs into China across Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan (see Gas pipeline gigantism, Asia Times Online, July 17, 2008), which follows by several years the entry into service of the Kazakhstan-China oil pipeline agreed between the two countries at the end of the 1990s.

We should, however, briefly adjoin the Pakistan-India-China triangle to the India-China-Kazakhstan one. It is of interest that the Pakistani media have tended to see Indian-Chinese relations as having the question of Pakistan at their center, and to have emphasized the antagonistic rather than the cooperative aspects of those bilateral relations, for example public statements of threat-perception by Indian military staff.

Dr Robert M Cutler (http://www.robertcutler.org), educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and The University of Michigan, has researched and taught at universities in the United States, Canada, France, Switzerland, and Russia. Now senior research fellow in the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, Carleton University, Canada, he also consults privately in a variety of fields.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/MD21Df02.html


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[ALOCHONA] Politics denied any change



Politics denied any change



Ruling AL fails to live up to its poll pledge for change in political culture; BNP sticks to traditional negative opposition politics


The Awami League-led government has yet to move to formulate a code of conduct for political parties and take consensual steps against the culture of boycotting parliament.It also has yet to make it mandatory to hold discussions on important national issues in the House.

AL in its electoral manifesto in 2008 and in its party manifesto, amended in 2009, promised to do so, to bring changes to the country's pervasive culture of confrontation in politics, and to establish good governance.

But frequent boycott of parliament by BNP-led opposition parties despite BNP's strong position against such practices in its last electoral manifesto, treasury bench's refusal to hold discussions on important national issues in the House, and strong animosity between ruling and opposition camps -- demonstrate intensification of the culture of confrontation.

Thanks to the ruling party's indifference to its own promises to bring changes to the political culture, and the opposition parties' latest strategy to launch street agitation against the government on different issues -- the situation might deteriorate ahead of the next parliamentary election, observed political analysts.

Observing the current state of political culture, the Election Commission (EC), a constitutional body, on Monday expressed anxiety about the possible political atmosphere ahead of the next parliamentary election.

It said the country might face another political turmoil before the next parliamentary election if the culture of confrontation in politics does not change, and that will have a negative impact on the possibility of holding a free and fair election.

The EC also cited the debate over formation and the role of the caretaker government that will assist the next EC in holding the next parliamentary poll in early 2014.

Political analysts said the situation might worsen if there is no consensus on the appointment of the chief adviser to the next caretaker government, and formation of the new EC in early next year, after the retirement of the incumbent chief election commissioner and the other two election commissioners.

Since restoration of democracy, through a mass upsurge against autocratic ruler HM Ershad in 1990, the country witnessed waves of general strikes as part of anti-government agitation, and political unrest ahead of parliamentary polls.

The political turmoil claimed many lives, destroyed public and private properties, disrupted the communication network, and caused severe sufferings for the people.

"If by abandoning the strategy of confrontational politics on the streets, the legislators can make Jatiya Sangsad the centre of debates, discussions and decisions on vital national issues, parliamentary politics would gradually gain ground," observed noted political scientist Prof Abdul Hakim in a book titled "The changing forms of government in Bangladesh: The transition to parliamentary system in 1991, in perspective", published by Bangladesh Institute of Parliamentary Studies in 2000.

In the wake of political violence on the streets in 2006 and 2007, AL in its last electoral manifesto pledged to bring changes to the culture of confrontation in politics which hampers making the parliament effective, establishment of rule of law, and good governance.

"Tolerance and decency will be developed in the political culture and efforts will be taken to formulate a code of conduct acceptable to all," reads the AL electoral manifesto that contributed to the party's overwhelming victory in the December 29, 2008 parliamentary poll.

It also pledged reforms for ensuring democratic practices within political parties, and promised to take all measures necessary to make the parliament more effective.

Later, in July 2009, ruling AL amended its party manifesto declaring it would make it mandatory to hold discussions in the parliament on various important national issues, and would build a consensus against the culture of House boycott.

Obaidul Quader, an AL presidium member, said, "It is true that the government has more responsibilities, because there is a matter of taking the initiative. But we couldn't do so since we had to deal with some other crucial issues."
He said there must be a joint effort from both the ruling and opposition parties to bring a positive change to the political culture through compromise, accommodation, and adjustment.

AL General Secretary and LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam however recently said without holding trials of war criminals and the perpetrators of the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on an AL rally, and curbing of militancy -- it is not possible to bring a positive change to the political culture.

Quader hoped that the government will take an initiative within its current tenure to establish a positive political culture in the country.

When his attention was drawn to the EC's observation, Quader said the EC's remark was too early. "It should not have made such a remark hurriedly," Quader, chief of the parliamentary standing committee on information ministry, told The Daily Star on Tuesday.

A member of the AL advisory council, Suranjit Sengupta, however echoed the EC. "The culture of confrontation in politics must be transformed into a culture of consensus," he told The Daily Star.

Suranjit, also the co-chair of the parliamentary special committee on constitutional amendment, cited the committee's move to hold talks with top political leaders and constitutional experts, and said the practice of forming political consensus will gain ground one day through such moves.

Main opposition BNP's national standing committee member, MK Anwar, however thinks the possibility of bringing change to the political culture is very slim, as the premier herself has been hurting people's sentiment through her use of aggressive language.

"The ruling party must take the initiative first to change its own political culture before seeking assistance of opposition parties. But they do not believe in what they said in their electoral manifesto," Anwar told The Daily Star.

Referring to the EC's observation, he said it is true if the culture of confrontation in politics does not change, it will not be easy for all to perform their duties.

BNP leaders alleged that ruling AL is not interested in holding discussions on important national issues in the parliament.

The opposition leaders' allegation is true to a large extent as the ruling party in the current parliament did not move to change the culture that had existed in previous parliaments. Rather it favoured the previous practice of refusing to discuss the opposition's demands in the parliament.

The treasury bench in the current parliament did not accept any notice of the opposition lawmakers for holding discussions on important national issues.

Similarly, BNP-led opposition parties also opted to practice the culture of previous parliaments, by boycotting the House as a part of their strategy to foil the government's move to make the House effective.

In the last 20 years, opposition MPs boycotted around a half of the total sittings of successive parliaments, according to records of the Parliament Secretariat.

Since 1991 to March 24 this year, successive parliaments including the current one had 1,362 sittings, 677 of which were boycotted by opposition lawmakers.

The ninth parliament, constituted through the last general election, was expected to bring change, as it was termed "a parliament for change".

But the current parliament so far failed to deliver on the promises. Instead of encouraging tolerance, politics seems to have deteriorated to quite an extent.Going with the culture of House boycott, BNP-led opposition lawmakers boycotted most of the sittings of the current parliament, as they joined only 51 out of a total 207 sittings till March this year.

BNP is now planning to wage anti-government street agitation which might strengthen gradually ahead of the next parliamentary election.Just like in the past, ruling AL activists and supporters might also come out on the streets to foil the opposition's agitation, which in turn might trigger clashes between the two arch rivals.

 http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=182467

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[ALOCHONA] US soldiers 'disarmed' at airport



US soldiers 'disarmed' at airport



Dhaka, Apr 20 (bdnews24.com) – The US soldiers visiting to train Bangladesh Army were barred from entering Shahjalal International Airport carrying arms. The customs department seized their arms, which was returned to them at least 20 hours later.

Shahjalal Airport customs commissioner Masud Sadik told bdnews24.com that the problem occurred as the Bangladesh army personnel responsible for receiving the visiting US soldiers were unaware of the local customs law.
He said that the arms and tools were returned around 1pm on Wednesday after the airport customs authority were provided with the home ministry-authorised documents.

The airport customs officials said the US soldiers reached Dhaka on a special aircraft on Tuesday evening. They were carrying arms and tools to train Bangladesh Army. The customs authorities permitted the US soldiers to enter the airport, but did not allow them to bring in the arms.

Sadik said as no permission paper could be shown to enter with arms, they couldn't but seize those. The customs commissioner said the Bangladesh army personnel, who were to receive the soldiers, could neither provide relevant documents nor did have sufficient information about Bangladesh Customs Act. After they were informed about the local law, they secured permission from the home ministry on Wednesday noon.

"Carrying arms is naturally a very sensitive issue. The customs authorities would have had a lot of explanations to give if it did not demand and acquire necessary documents.''

Bangladesh Army, Armed Police Battalion and the customs authorities guarded the seized arms until those were returned to the soldiers.

When contacted, the assistant director of Inter-Service Public Relations Directorate (ISPR) Nuru Islam told bdnews24.com that he was not aware of the incident till then.

http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=193573&cid=2

http://jugantor.us/enews/issue/2011/04/21/news0427.php



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[ALOCHONA] Chatra League / Juba League



BCL internal clash leaves 30 injured in Shariatpur


Thursday April 21 2011 01:41:59 AM BDT

Shariatpur: Two rival groups of BCL, student wing of ruling Awami League, clashed to establish supremacy in the district town on Wednesday leaving about 30 activists wounded.(UNB)

Chunnu Bepary, 29, Shaon Bepary, 19, and Mahbub Alam, 26, were admitted to Shariatpur General Hospital with deep cut injuries while others are undergoing treatment in private clinics to avoid police action.

Witnesses said more than a dozen sounds of gunfire were heard during the clash starting at about 11 am when both sides used lethal and sharp weapons.

Supporters of BCL district president Alamgir Hossain Howlader engaged in the clash with rivals led by BCL general secretary Siddiqur Rahman Pahar.

Alamgir claims blessings of veteran Awami League leader Abdur Razzak MP while Mozammel Haq MP has thrown his weight to the rival Siddiq group.Police and RAB are patrolling the vulnerable points of the town as tension was persisting. UNB

http://www.thebangladeshtoday.com/leading%20news.htm

http://jugantor.us/enews/issue/2011/04/21/news0435.php

http://www.prothom-alo.com/detail/date/2011-04-21/news/148309


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[ALOCHONA] IMF, WB place Bangladesh in Extreme Poverty class of countries

Please read the news below and ponder. Pakistan was the 3rd largest Aid Receiving Country of the world with $ 23.4 billion in the last decade. Why is BD, a lot poorer than Pakistan is not getting this kind of Aid?
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Because, ...
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* ... BD does not try hard enough to get Aid for Poverty Reduction Program and does not send-in big Infrastructure Building proposals like Pakistan does.
* ... there are a lot of Pakistanis working in World Bank and IMF in executive positions, who are acting favorably for Pakistan.
* ... Pakistan has always been politically manipulating and blackmailing USA on thing or other. 
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Situation in World Bank and IMF is this.
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1. There are a lot of executives, who are Urdu Speaking from Pakistan and India and they are sympathetic with BD but since we hate Urdu Speaking because Beharis speak Urdu also, we never even try to talk with them in Washington.
2. We did not have any competent Urdu Speaking Ambassador or Finance Minister in last decade, who could even say, 'Hello' to these Urdu World Bank and IMF executives.
3. Bangladeshis, who have studied Economics in USA, do not try for IMF and World Bank Jobs, when Pakistani Executives in World Bank keep importing even their Non Economic degree holders and Civil Service Officers from Pakistan for Managerial Jobs and they have been getting them posted worldwide at salaries as high as $ 120,000 a year.
4. Proof of what I wrote in # 3 is, since I speak Urdu and mingle with those Pakistanis, I had been offered jobs $ 120,000 a year jobs by Pakistanis in IMF and World Bank myself a few years ago. I could not accept those jobs because I have my own business with a lot bigger prospects.
5. Only elite class of Bangladeshis has been studying English since English was banned in BD schools so, chances of people qualifying such jobs have been reduced drastically.
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Example of how Pakistanis in World Bank helped Pakistan is this.
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* World Bank had stopped granting Loans and Aid to Pakistan because of extreme kind of Punjabi Corruption like mis-appropriation of Funds, cost over-run, not completing the projects within the approved amounts and getting money for one project in Karachi, Sindh and spending that money on another project in Lahore, Punjab.
* Gen. Musharraf had permitted Sindh Government to apply for World Bank Aid and Loans directly because Central Govt. was banned or kicked out of World Bank. Sindh Govt. had picked its Coalition Partner party MQM to do this because it was party of Urdu Speaking that control Urban Sindh Votes and knew that World Bank executives are Urdu Speaking.
* The MQM leader spearheading the effort was a Dhakka-born former MQM Governor of Sindh, Dr. Farooq Sattar Memon, who also speaks Bengali fluently.
* MQM ended up getting one the biggest Loan $ 10 billion for building Water Desalination and Sewerage Treatment Plants in its stronghold, the largest city, Karachi that  Pakistan had ever gotten in her history.
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PROPOSAL:
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1. BD should try to get Bangladeshis hired in World Bank and IMF.
2. BD should plan some huge Infrastructure Development Projects to decrease Land Erosion, building of Dams for Reduction of Cyclone devastation, Sewerage Treatment Plants, Bridge & Road Construction Plans, Railway Plans, Port Development Plans etc.
3. BD should hire some smart highly educated or Foreign Educated Behari or an Urdu Speaking Bangladeshi to negotiate with World Bank and IMF in order to get more Aid and Loans.
.
S U Turkman, Washington.
.........
IMF, WB place Bangladesh in Extreme Poverty class of countries
By Anwar Iqbal | From the Newspaper
April 16, 2011 (4 days ago)

Hunger and gender parity in secondary schools are the areas where Pakistan
lagged behind in achieving its development goals.
 A joint report released by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank on
Friday placed both India and Pakistan among lower-middle income countries. The
IMF Global Monitoring Report 2011 also placed both India and Pakistan in a group
which lagged behind by 10 per cent or less in meeting the millennium development
goals.

Hunger and gender parity in secondary schools are the areas where Pakistan
lagged behind in achieving its development goals.
But countries like Bangladesh (extreme poverty, hunger and maternal
mortality, Indonesia (hunger, child and maternal mortality, access to safe
drinking water, and Mali (lacking in gender parity in primary education and
access to safe drinking water are also in this category.
The IMF's classification of economies by region and income for fiscal 2011 also
placed Sri Lanka and Bhutan in the lower-middle income category while both
Afghanistan and Bangladesh were placed in the lower income categories.
The report also noted that aggregate aid flows to developing countries often
reflected geopolitical priorities and/or responses to major global events.
It is therefore not a surprise that Iraq and Afghanistan were the largest aid
recipients over the last decade, the report noted.
Pakistan received $23.4 billion of foreign aid in the last decade.
Iraq topped the list with $68.1 billion followed by Afghanistan with $35.5
billion.
The IMF also noted that Pakistan had consistently demonstrated significant
improvement in school enrolment by reducing user fees. However, few of these
programmes have been around long enough to determine whether the impact is a
short-term effect of a novel project or is more lasting, the report said.
In Pakistan, providing parents with report cards containing information about
the relative performance of children and schools in villages (including private
schools) improved student performance in public schools and lower-quality
private schools and reduced fees at higher quality private schools. Pakistan is
also placed in a category of nations that took a number of trade-liberalising
measures in 2010. More than a third of the new measures in these countries,
however, were tariff reductions. The report pointed out that two-thirds of
developing countries were on track or close to meeting key targets for tackling
extreme poverty and hunger. This year's Global Monitoring Report: Improving the
Odds of Achieving the MDGs delves into country performance and reveals a
diverse, and often hopeful, picture. For example, among developing countries
that are falling short on the Millennium Development Goals, half are close to
becoming on-track. With improved policies and faster growth, these countries can
still achieve the targets in 2015 or soon after.
According to the report, the fight against poverty is progressing well. Based on
current economic projections, the world remains on track to reduce by half the
number of people living in extreme poverty.

[ALOCHONA] Government Haj Sponsorship



May we know, for how many BD Govt. Officials Saudi Arabia has paid?

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Musab Rehman <musabrehman007@gmail.com>


Saudi govt. pays amount of Haj performers

ISLAMABAD: The Saudi government has paid the amount for 449 people who performed Haj on the government level during last two years.

According to the FIA sources, the Saudi government has paid Rs 30 million to the ministry of religious affairs.

Earlier the Supreme Court suggested the FIA to recover amount from those who performed Haj (on Govt. Expense).  SAMAA

http://www.samaa.tv/newsdetail.aspx?ID=31008


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[ALOCHONA] Reports of state terrorism favoring anti-Islamic women development policy in Bangladesh [1 Attachment]

[Attachment(s) from Wohid included below]

Please read the attachment.

Attachment(s) from Wohid

1 of 1 File(s)


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[ALOCHONA] Re: [KHABOR] Indian Occupied Kashmir - uncover the State Terrorism !!!

let us pray to Allah for the end of this torture,end of indian rule.


From: Dr. Bashir Mahmud Ellias <bashirmahmudellias@yahoo.com>
To: khabor@yahoogroups.com; B_positive@yahoogroups.com; alochona@yahoogroups.com; dahuk@yahoogroups.com; Software-Jobs-IT-Jobs@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sun, April 10, 2011 8:01:29 AM
Subject: [KHABOR] Indian Occupied Kashmir - uncover the State Terrorism !!!

 
                      Jo Chup Rahegi Zubaan-e-Khanjar
       Lahoo Pukaare Ga Aasteen Ka ...... 

 

 
INCREDIBLE INDIA --- WORLD'S LARGEST DEMOCRACY

 
Please ......... Spread this mail to as many  as you can

 
To uncover the State Terrorism By  Indian police 
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The 8 year old innocent was killed by Indians during current protests. I haven't heard any NGO protesting working for childhood protection. Have you?

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Baramulla Kashmir | PEOPLE CARRY THE BODY OF NINE-YEAR-OLD TARIQ AHMAD

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Can you imagine these kids can be involved in terrorism?


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Would someone care about the rights children have? Where are the human rightest?

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Even Indians consider Dopatta as a weapon of terrorism…………
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So many cowards behind a single journalist…
Freedom of speech vocalists are silent here



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Can this old man be dangerous for hundreds of thousands of Indian troops deployed in valley?


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Indian paramilitary soldiers beat a Kashmiri civilian during a protest in Srinagar ,  India , Wednesday, June 30, 2010. Authorities brought new areas under curfew in the Indian portion of Kashmir on Wednesday to control the worst street violence in a year, triggered by the killing of 11 people allegedly by government forces over the past two weeks. (AP Photo)

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A young innocent Kashmiri student, aged 22, shot dead at point blank range by the draconian CRPF. They had promised a revenge killing after a trooper was shot dead by militants in the same location: The Slaughterers awarded one hundred rupees and promotions for killing the innocent Kashmiri.


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