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Leading News
Cabinet body okays five power
plants without ECNEC approval
UNB, Dhaka
Without required fund allocation and prior approval by the
Executive Committee of the National Economic Council, the
Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase Wednesday approved 5
peaking power plants to be set up at a total cost of Tk
3341.52 crore under a priority scheme for resolving
electricity crisis.
All these power plants are furnace oil-fired because of
gas shortages, according to decision of the Cabinet
Purchase Committee meeting held at the Cabinet Division
with Finance Minister AMA Muhith presiding. The new
power-plant projects are Faridpur 50MW, Dohazari 100MW,
Hathazari 100MW, Daudkandi 50MW and Baghabari 50MW
project.
However, while approving the project, the Cabinet body
asked the Power Ministry to move with the projects only
after getting ECNEC approval.
In recent history of the country, this is for the first
time that the purchase committee gave approval to such a
big procurement proposal without prior go-ahead from the
executive body of the National Economic Council.
ECNEC, headed by the Prime Minister herself, is the
highest and only body to approve any project to be
implemented in the public sector with government or donor
funding.
Many senior bureaucrats thought that it set a bad example
in the country's administration.
Because, they said, in the present system, any public or
donor-funded project only can come to seek the Cabinet
purchase body's approval after getting fund allocation
from the Planning Ministry.
Before ECNEC approval, the Finance Ministry and the
Planning Ministry independently scrutinize and evaluate
any project to justify and ensure its quality
implementation. When the ECNEC approves a project, only
then the relevant ministry moves with project and the
cabinet purchase body gives its nod of approval. But, in
this case, no such rules were followed, the critics
pointed out.
A senior official, on condition of anonymity, said, "Now,
neither the Finance Ministry nor the Planning Ministry
would have the scope for doing scrutiny and evaluation as
the Cabinet body has already given its approval to the
projects."
When his attention was drawn to this matter, State
Minister for Power Brigadier Gen (retd) Enamul Haque told
UNB that the cabinet purchase body approved the projects
to "reduce the procedural time" in view of the exigencies.
"Now, we will seek approval of the ECNEC," he said, adding
that government's first priority is to increase power
supply. But senior bureaucrats disagreed with the State
Minister's view, saying that the Power Ministry got about
one-year time to take the ECNEC approval. But they never
gave heads to the matter. The state-owned Power
Development Board (PDB) invited tenders and selected
contractors as part of the government move to increase
power generation.
Normally, demand for electricity goes excessively up
during the peak hours and the relevant agencies resort to
a huge load shedding to make up for the shortages.
The country has been experiencing huge power shortages,
and the shortfall may cross 3000-MW mark in the coming
summer.
Considering the peak-hour demand, the state-owned Power
Development Board (PDB) took initiative to set up 10
peaking power plants at different locations across the
country.
Ahamad
Hossain killing
BNP calls half-day strike in DCC ward no. 70
TBT Report
BNP has called a half-day strike in the old Dhaka City
Corporation Ward Number 70 today (Thursday) protesting the
killing of Ahamad Hossain who was councilor of that
Ward-70 and Juba Dal president of Dhaka south unit of the
organisation.
This will be the first such programme of BNP as opposition
after the Awami League-led grand alliance assumed power.
It may be pointed out that two criminals equipped with
firearms shot Ahamad Hossain when he was returning home
after Esha prayers on Tuesday night at Alubazar Mosque. He
was rushed to Square Hospital in the city where he died.
BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia visited the hospital to see
the slain councilor.
The namaz-e-janaza for the Juba Dal leader was held in
front of the party's central office on Wednesday after
Zohr prayers. BNP standing committee members Dr Khandaker
Mosharraf Hossain, Mirza Abbas, Nazrul Islam Khan, ASM
Hannan Shah, DCC mayor Sadek Hossain Khoka, joint
secretary general Aman Ullah Aman, student affairs advisor
Sahiduddin Chowdhuray Anee, Jubadal secretary general
Moazzem Hossain Alal attended the congregations.
After the namaj-e-janaza, Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain
said the victim Ahamad Hossain was killed in planned way
so that the leaders and activists of the party could not
be engaged in political activities ahead of the upcoming
DCC election as well as arrange any programme against the
government in the capital. He demanded judicial
investigation to find out the real culprits behind the
killing and step to bring them book.
Dr Mosharraf Hossain said the overall law and order
situation throughout the country has deteriorated is
engaged in telling lie, he alleged. After the namaz-e-
janazas, the leaders and activists of the party led by
Mirza Abbas brought out an agitation procession which
marched city's different streets including Kakrail, Bijoy
Nagar and ended in front the National Press Club. To
protest the killing incident, three day-long programmes
including protest rally and wearing black badges have
already been taken by the party which will start from
today (Thursday).
Steps
taken to retain jute’s position, explore new markets, PM
tells JS
BSS, Sangsad Bhaban
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said the
government is implementing various plans for preserving
the position of Bangladesh jute goods in the global
market, retaining existing markets and exploring new
markets.
Replying to a query from woman lawmaker Apu Ukil, she said
the market for Bangladesh jute goods is expanded to over
100 countries and the demand for Bangladesh jute items has
increased globally with rise in awareness of using natural
tissue made products due to environment consciousness.
She said the country has earned US dollar 15.62 crore by
exporting jute goods during the first five months of the
current fiscal year, while it earned US dollar 26.93 crore
during last financial year.
The Prime Minister said about three crores of people are
directly and indirectly dependent on jute sector as 35
lakh farmers are engaged in growing jute, two lakh working
in jute factories, one lakh traders engaged in jute trade,
and a large number of workforce in transportation and
other services.
The sector, 100 percent dependent on agricultural raw
materials, contribute over Taka 2,000 crore annually in
the country's export earnings, she said adding that the
sector contributes four percent to national production,
and shares 10 percent of the national employment. Jute
growers have been benefited a lot by selling jute at Taka
1,000 per mound this year, she said.
"In order to raise employment, the government has taken
initiatives for reopening of Doulatpur Jute Mills at
Khulna and Kowmi Jute Mills at Sirajganj - two public jute
mills under Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC)," she
said adding that these units would create employment for
4,220 workers and produce 21,000 tonnes of jute goods
annually to earn an additional Taka 168 crore annually by
exporting those.
12 lakh sit for
SSC exams today
BSS, Dhaka
A total of 12,06,019 students under 10 education boards
are going to sit for the Secondary School Certificate and
its equivalent examinations today (Thursday).
Some 6,27,672 male and 5,78,347 female students will sit
for the examinations at 2,044 centres across the country.
At a press briefing at the secretariat here on Wednesday,
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said the government
has taken all necessary preparations for holding the
examinations in a copying- free peaceful atmosphere.
He warned of stern actions against the teachers who are
found involved in any unfair means in the SSC examination
halls.
"Copying is a menace and we have taken measures to root
out this menace totally. Stern actions will be taken
against officials, employees or teachers-whoever may be-if
they will be found helping anyone to commit unfair means,"
Nahid warned.
He also said the examination centres would also be
cancelled if any allegation of copying is received.
Nahid urged all including local government representatives
not to enter the exam centres without any reason.
"Come to the examination halls with full preparations and
don't even think of adopting unfair means," he urged the
examinees.
Earlier, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) imposed
restrictions on the movement of people, except examinees,
within 200 yards of examination centres in the city during
the examinations.
"Entry of public other than examinees within 200 yards of
the examination centres has been restricted to hold the
exams in a fair and peaceful manner," DMP Commissioner AKM
Shahidul Haque said in a statement.
Shibir
messes, Jamaat offices at three places attacked
UNB, Dhaka
Six Shibir messes and two Jamaat office were damaged in
revengeful attacks by BCL men in Pabna, Gaibandha and
Habiganj on Tuesday night and Wednesday following the
violent Shibir-BCL clashes on Rajshahi University campus
that killed a BCL activist.
Besides, at least 30 supporters of Islami Chhatra Shibir
(ICS) and Bangladesh Chhatra League were injured in the
chase and counter chase in the two districts.
The BCL supporters brought out processions in Pabna and
Gaibandha towns in protest against latest Shibir attacks
on the BCL men. In Pabna, a group of BCL supporters
swooped on Safia and Nahar messes of Shibir men at about
9pm and beat up 14 inmates.
Later, the attackers set fire to the two messes, burning
down valuables. The firefighters rushed to the spot and
put out the fire after an hour. In Gaibandha, the BCL
activists ransacked Polashbari upazila Jamaat office while
staging demonstration in the upazila headquarters. A clash
ensued that left 6 people from both sides injured.
Jamaat-Shibir office at Anantapur residential area in the
Habiganj town was set on fire Wednesday night by angry BCL
activists. Locals and Fire Brigade put down the fire.
42 held in connection with RU violence
Sahara calls high-level meeting today
UNB, Rajshahi
Police in a manhunt arrested 42 Shibir activists in two
cases filed against over 500 suspects for the killing of a
Bangladesh Chhatra League worker and use of explosives in
Monday night's clashes at Rajshahi University.
Rajshahi University unit BCL general secretary Majedull
Islam Apu filed a murder case with Motihar police station
on Tuesday night against 35 leaders and cadres of Islami
Chhatra Shibir for the killing of Faruque Hossain during
the nightmarish rampage on the campus and mayhem in
different student halls.
Motihar thana SI Ershad Ali filed another case against 29
Shibir men by name and another 500 anonymous ones under
the Explosives Act as the attackers exploded around 100
cocktails on the campus during the rioting. Police
launched a massive hunt for the accused after the filing
of the cases and rounded up 42 of the Shibir men.
Besides, the pro-government BCL activists attacked Shibir
offices and damaged valuables in Bagha and Charghat
upazila headquarters on Wednesday morning in reprisals for
the RU violence.
Another UNB Report from Dhaka says, Sahara Khatun has
called an emergency meeting of top officers of the law
enforcing agencies at the Home Ministry today (Thursday).
Officials told UNB that the evolving situation, especially
after the deadly incidents at the Dhaka and Rajshahi
universities, prompted the Home Minister to call the
meeting.
The Minister is likely to give some directives to the top
police officers and intelligence agencies to take
necessary steps to stop recurrence of such incidents. In
the recent chain of events two university students were
killed in Dhaka and Rajshahi while a city ward
commissioner and a rice trader shot dead in Dhaka.
Abu Bakar Siddique of Dhaka University died on February 3
from fatal injuries he suffered during the February 2
night factional fighting between rival groups of
pro-government Chhatra League at Sir AF Rahman Hall.
Faruque Hossain, an honours final-year student of
Mathematics department and resident of Shah Makhdum Hall
was killed and his body dumped in a manhole during
overnight clashes between the BCL and Islami Chhatra
Shibir supporters at Rajshahi University on February 8
night. Rice trader Apel Uddin, 40, was gunned down by
unknown assailants in old part of Dhaka city on Tuesday
afternoon while Commissioner of Ward no. 70 of Dhaka City
Corporation Haji Ahammad Hossain was gunned down at Alu
Bazar in the old city on Tuesday night.
Back Page
Flood
Control-Eastern Bypass Project to be implemented: PM
BSS, Sangsad Bhaban
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told the House on Wednesday
that the government has a plan to implement 'The Dhaka
Coordinated Flood Control-cum- Eastern Bypass Road
Multipurpose Project' which was suspended in 2003.
"The project, which was taken by the previous Awami League
government, will be implemented with coordination of Ban-gladesh
water Deve-lopment Board, the Roads and Highways
Department, Dhaka WASA, Dhaka City Corporation, Rajdhani
Unnayan Katri-pakhha, Local Gove-rnment engineering
Department, the Dep-artment of Forest and the Department
of Envir-onment," she said while replying to a written
question raised by ruling party lawmaker AKM Rahamatullah.
The Leader of the House also said that the Water
Development Board is working as the lead agency for
implementation of the project.
"The Roads and High-ways Department has already made the
17- km cross-dam from Tongi to Shah Ali Mazar pucca, which
remains now suitable for traffic movement," she said.
The Prime Minister also said that there is a plan to
execute the project in near future according to the
Preliminary Development Project Proforma Proposal.
Sheikh Hasina also said that the previous AL government
had taken a decision to implement 'The Dhaka Coordinated
Flood Control-cum- Eastern Bypass Road Multipurpose
Project' to save the city from flood, remove traffic jam
and expand the city.
"The estimated cost of the project was Taka 2,476 crore.
Of the amount, the government will provide Taka 1,093
crore and the rest Taka 1,383 crore will come from the
foreign assistance," she said.
The Prime Minister also said that the Project Concept
Paper (PCP) of the Project has been approved by the ECNEC
on Dec-ember 3 in 1999.
Pak corps commanders evaluate
security situation
Dawn Online, Rawalpindi
Pakistan military on Wednesday comprehensively evaluated
the country's security scenario along with the emerging
threats and evolved an effective response in case of any
eventuality from the eastern border.
The evaluation was carried out in the 126th Corps
Commanders' Conference which was held at the General
Headquarters with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General
Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani in the chair.
The Corps Commanders' Conference was synchronised with the
conclusion of the Azm-i-Nau II war game.
The commanders were given a comprehensive briefing on the
concluded war games, in which, through a systematic and
professional discourse, response to existing as well as
emerging threat scenarios was exhaustively evaluated. The
corps commanders expressed their satisfaction at the
evolution of a comprehensive and integrated response.
The COAS also shared with the corps commanders his
interaction with Nato commanders during his visit to
Brussels and said Pakistan's view point on the war against
terror was effectively presented.
Lawmakers demand
immediate ban on Jamaat-Shibir politics
BSS, Sangsad Bhaban
Lawmakers taking part in the discussion on thanksgiving
motion on the President's speech on the 14th day on
Wednesday strongly condemned the brutal killing of a Ban-gladesh
Chhatra Lea-gue (BCL) activist by the Shibir cadres at
Rajshahi Unive-rsity Tuesday night and dem-anded immediate
ban on politics of Jamaat-Shibir.
"Those who brutally killed Faruk Hossain, a BCL activist
and a meritorious student of RU Mathematics Department and
dumped his body into a manhole, have no right to do
politics on this soil," they said.
The lawmakers also said that this grisly incident brought
forth the nightmarish carnage of the barbaric Pakistani
occupation forces during the War of Liberation.
Terming this brutality as not a mere incident, they said
those who want to destabilize the country by halting its
progress are behind the killing of the BCL activist.
They also called for bringing the war criminals under
trial without further delay to pay for the debts of
martyrs, who made their supreme sacrifices for the
country's peace and prosperity, not any inhuman cruelty
that the Jamaat-Shibir cadres have been doing at ease in
Independent Bangladesh.
Congratulating the High Court order on annulling the Fifth
Amendment of the Constitution, they said the verdict is a
big slap on the faces of the supporters' of military
rulers and also an opportunity to carry forward the
country's hard-earned democracy. The annulment of Fifth
Amendment would encourage the people in the sub-continent
against the military rule, they said.
Treasure bench members Water Resources Minister Ramesh
Chandra Sen, Shamsur Rahman Sharif, SK Abu Baker, Apu Ukil,
Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, Ashraf Ali Kahn Khasru, Sadhana
Halder, Begum Zinatunnesa Talukdar, Abdul Mazid Khan,
Principal Khadiza Khatun Shefali, Begum Mahzabin Morshed,
Mostaque Ahmed Ruhi, Motiur Rahman, Abdur Rahman Bodi,
among others, took part in the discussion. The lawmakers
said the President had wisely focused on the present
government's success in its first one year in office,
giving the nation a direction towards sustaining democracy
and development.
Jamaat for judicial
probe into all killings on campuses
UNB, Dhaka
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Wednesday asked the government
to form a judicial probe body to investigate all murders
in educational institutions, including Monday night's
killing in Rajshahi University. "We want a judicial probe
body to look into all the student killings, not only the
recent RU one, to restore academic atmosphere," Jamaat
secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid told a press
conference in the city.
He also urged the government to take steps rising above
political interest for bringing an end to killing of
students and campus violence.
Denouncing the statement of LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful on
the RU incident, Mujahid said the RU student killing is a
painful and unexpected incident, but the ruling party is
trying to gain political interest from the incident. "It's
very sad. We don't' expect that from the ruling party".
Describing various attacks on Shibir and Jamaat men by the
ruling party cadres after the RU incident, the Jamaat
leader said the ruling party men making the attacks being
encouraged by Ashraful's statement.
He said Jamaat neither believes in the politics of
killings and terrorism nor patronizing it. "We have been
working systemically and democratically against the
politics of killing since its inception." Replying to a
question about 'cutting one's tendon,' Mujahid said Islam
does not allow it and Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) is not
involved in any away in such barbaric acts.
BCL demands ban
on Shibir politics
BSS, Dhaka
Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) on Wednesday demanded ban
on politics of Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS).
They also demanded exemplary punishment to Shibir leaders
and activists involved in the attacks at all educational
institutions across the country.
BCL activist Faruk Hossain was killed and 100 students and
policemen were injured in the overnight violence at
Rajshahi University (RU) on Tuesday. To protest the
attacks, leaders and activists of the BCL staged a
demonstration on the Dhaka University campus.
President of the BCL Mahmud Hasan Ripon presided over a
rally after the demonstration. General Secretary of the
BCL Mahfuzul Haider Chowdhury Roton, Vice-President Awlad
Hossain Titu and Joint Secretary Iqbal Mahmud Bablu, among
others, spoke.
Earlier, hundreds of leaders and activists of the BCL
brought out a protest procession that paraded different
streets on the campus. They demanded immediate arrest of
Shibir cadres responsible for the attacks. They also
demanded immediate trial of the war criminals.
Speakers demanded immediate arrest and exemplary
punishment to the Shibir cadres who created chaotic
situation on Tuesday on the Rajshahi University campus.
They said Jamaat and Shibir have been spreading extremism
across the country using religion as a weapon.
BCL activists
vandalize Pabna Press Club
UNB, Pabna
Unruly BCL activists vandalized Pabna Press Club and
assaulted a number of journalists for allowing Islami
Chhatra Shibir to hold a press conference in the club,
which was however immediately cancelled at the best of the
administration.
Shibir scheduled the press conference at 12 noon to
protest the blazing of two messes of Shibirites in the
town Tuesday night.
Before the press conference started, senior police
officials came in and advised not to allow Shibir in the
press club for security reason. Instantly the press
conference was cancelled and the Shibir leaders left.
But soon a group of BCL activists stormed into the club,
ransacked rooms and assaulted some of the newsmen.
Later, a protest meeting of the journalists also came
under attack. The press club at a meeting strongly
condemned the attack on the club. The meeting demanded
punishment of the attackers and compensation to the
damages caused to the press club within 48 hours with
threat of a strong movement.
Prayer for fresh 5-day remand of ex-NSI
chief
BSS, Chittagong
Criminal Investigation Depart-ment (CID) on Wednesday
prayed for another five-day remand for detained ex-
National Security Intellig-ence (NSI) chief Major General
(retd) Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury in correction with the
biggest ever ammo haul case.
Earlier, after confessional statement by prime accused
Hafizur Rahman with the revelation of some astounding
information, a metropolitan magistrate court on Monday
last granted three-day 3rd time remand for the former NSI
boss.
Editorial
Violence on campus
The
spectre of violence is active on the campuses with full fury
and there is no sign of an end to this, rather the situation
continues to deteriorate. This is evident from the latest
incident of violence at Rajshahi University resulting in the
death of a student and injury of about fifty others. According
to media reports, Faruque Hossain, a Bangladesh Chhatra League
(BCL) activist, was killed and dumped in a manhole during
clashes between the BCL and Chhatra Shibir supporters on
Monday night. Around 50 people, mostly BCL workers and some
policemen, were also injured in the widespread violence on the
campus and student dorms.
It may be recalled that another student of Rajshahi was killed
a few weeks ago in a clash between BCL and Chhatra Maitri.
Besides, Abu Bakar, a student of Dhaka University received
injury during a factional clash between two groups of BCL
activitists at F Rahman Hall on February 2 and later died in
hospital. In fact there is no consolation, as the brilliant
students have to depart from the world falling victim to
perverted student politics. Faruque Hossain is the ninth such
casualty of wrong student politics in the country over the
last 13 months.
Violence on the campus is nothing new in the country. BCL and
Chhatra Maitra clashed on January 7 at Rajshahi Polytechnic
Institute resulting in the death of Maitri leader Rezanur
Chowdhury Sunny. On that day fierce clashes took place between
the activists of Chhatra League and Chhatra Shibir at three
places -Khulna BL College, Meherpur Government college and
Dinajpur Government college leaving around 80 injured.
Besides, Rangpur Government College was closed sine die on
January 17 following clashes between BCL and BCL (JSD). On
January 18 Dinajpur Textile Institute was closed for an
indefinite period to avert clashes between two feuding groups
of BCL. On January 18 a clash between two factions of Chhatra
Dal on the Dhaka University campus was of serious type as
sharp weapons and firearms were carried openly by the rival
activists in presence of the authorities and police.
With the latest incident at RU, nine students were killed,
more than 1,000 injured and about 30 educational institutions
were closed at different times following campus violence
during last 13 months. All these happened because politics has
become ugly nowadays in some cases. Keeping in line with the
national politics the student politics too in the country has
lost the right direction as it has taken the shape of politics
of string. It is very unfortunate that the campuses of
educational institutions are so frequently turning into
battlefields and rival activists are using words of weapons
against each other instead of reasoning and ideals. The
situation is almost out of control.
Against this backdrop, the government should deal with the
campus violence with maximum seriousness and without any
discrimination or favour for any party. Peace and discipline
must be restored on the campus.
Ensuring quality
education
Quality
education is a longstanding necessity and demand of all, but
it remains a distant goal. The educationists and experts have
been laying emphasis on this since long. President Zillur
Rahman also stressed on quality education. On Tuesday he said,
some private universities are lagging behind in providing
quality education and asked for ensuring infrastructural
facilities for holistic development of the higher education.
"The universities must have quality teachers and the faculties
to ensure quality education," he said while addressing the 2nd
convocation of People's University of Bangladesh in the city.
"Quality teachers, better infrastructure facilities and also
quality students are very important elements for quality
education," said the president.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also stressed the need for
ensuring quality education. It is evident from both words and
deeds that the present government sincerely wants to improve
the quality of education in the country, spread education by
making it easily accessible and turn education into a tool of
national progress and prosperity.
In our country highest educational degrees are provided by the
universities. But education at university level is in a mess.
The public universities are unable to accommodate the growing
number of students. Moreover, studies in public universities
are hampered by sudden closures following movements, session
jam etc and engagement of teachers outside in part time jobs
or consulting work at different NGOs. Taking the chance of
this situation there has been a mushroom growth of private
universities. While the number of public universities in the
country stands at 32, a total of 52 private universities are
now operating in the country. A section of the private
universities are allegedly involved in malpractices like sales
of certificates. These universities are also alleged to be
imparting substandard education. Of hem many are engaged in
education business to earn quick money.
In fact, the state of country's universities -both public and
private- is far from satisfactory as most of them are failing
in imparting quality education properly. So the call of the
president to ensure quality education should be taken
seriously and implemented in the national interest. The
universities should be careful to see that the students of the
universities get education of international standard.
Analysis
Karkare rewarded for honesty
The conspirators were planning for a massive
bloodshed, using bomb attacks on religious places to trigger
an anti-Muslim holocaust.
Ali Sukhanver
After
the Mumbai Blasts, the whole life in India began to revolve
around this horrible incident. One can find the after shocks
of this quake even after so many months. Certainly it was the
worst episode in the Indian history of terrorism. The
democratic people of India were of the opinion that the matter
would be investigated thoroughly and the culprits would be
penalized. In the beginning there was noticed a great hustle
and bustle with reference to the investigations but then at
once it all stopped after coming to a dead end. The statement
of the Indian naval chief, questioning the expertise of the
Indian marines put a full stop to the story.
He had very boldly stated that the terrorists involved in the
Mumbai Blasts could not have entered the Indian soil if the
Indian marines were vigilant and alert. His statement was
inwardly pointing towards the well wishers of the terrorists
who were there to help out the terrorists in the garb of
mariners. After this statement the government of India turned
all its cannons towards Pakistan blaming that the terrorists
belonged to Pakistan. The Pakistan government bore this blame
with patience and provided all possible help and support to
the Indian government regarding the investigations.
Luckily it was found that the terrorists involved in this
heinous activity were purely non-state actors and they had
nothing to do with Pakistan. The honourable courts of Pakistan
also did their best to see the matter in depth and found the
alleged ones totally innocent. But all these sincere efforts
by Pakistan could not satisfy the Indian government and it
tried to copy the style and manner of the US government by
saying again and again, Do More, Do More, We are not
Satisfied.'
The Mumbai Blasts have been a favourite topic of discussions
and analysis throughout the world since after their
occurrence. Most of the analysts smell the Hindutva Philosophy
behind these blasts. Hindutva is a term coined by Vinayak
Damodar Savarkar in his 1923 pamphlet entiled, 'Hindutva: Who
is a Hindu?' This philosophy urges the Hindus to get united
for crushing the Non-Hindus and the Hindus mean those who are
Hindu by belief not by land. It is the Hindutva philosophy
which gave birth to the organizations such as the RSS,
Bharatiya Janata Party, Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad.
This ideology has existed since the early 20th century, but
came to prominence in Indian politics in the late 1980s, when
two events attracted a large number of mainstream Hindus to
the movement, according to a world renowned encyclopedia. The
first of these events was the Rajiv Gandhi government's use of
its large Parliamentary Majority to overturn a Supreme Court
verdict granting alimony to an old woman that had angered many
Muslims. The second was the dispute over the 16th century
Mughal Babri Mosque in Ayodhya built by Babur after his first
major victory in India. The Supreme Court of India refused to
take up the case in the early 1990s, leading to a huge outcry.
Tempers soon flared, and a huge number of nationalist Hindus
from all parts of India razed the mosque in late 1992, causing
nationwide communal riots. The razing of the mosque and
subsequent conflict arguably lifted the BJP and Hindutva to
international prominence. Today this Hindutva Philosophy is
nurturing so many Hindu extremist organizations which are
always busy in conspiring against the Muslims whether they are
in India or outside India. To achieve their heinous desires
these organizations don't spare even the innocent Hindus who
have nothing to do with extremism. The killing of the former
Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare during the Mumbai blasts
episode is also one of such activities of the Hindu
extremists. Recently a new book came to surface with the
title,' Who killed Karkare?' The writer S.M. Mushrif, a former
IG Police of Maharashtra has pointed out the presence of a
nationwide network of Hindutva terror which has its roots
spread up to Nepal and Israel is out to destroy India and to
remold it into same kind of Afghanistan under the Taliban. The
writer has reconstructed a fearsome picture out of former
Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare's chargesheet against
alleged Hindutva terrorists like Lt. Col. Purchit, Sadhvi
Pragyasingh Thakur and others. The chargesheet pointed towards
an astonishing nationwide conspiracy with International
support to destabilize the constitutional order of the secular
democratic Indian state and replace it by a Hindutva state run
according to a new Constitution. The conspirators were
planning for a massive bloodshed, using bomb attacks on
religious places to trigger an anti-Muslim holocaust.
According to the reports, Hemant Karkare, the former ATS
chief, was one of the few honest and diligent officers. He was
well aware of the forces which were eager to destabilize
India. He did a lot of research in this context and exposed a
number of retired and serving army and intelligence officers
involved in the conspiracy against the democratic secular
India. He suucceeded in tracing a plan which indicated the
possible assassination of 70 Indians who were creating hurdles
in the projection of Hindutva philosophy. Most of these 70
targets were the Indians of high profile and in case of their
assassination; so many Muslims could have been framed. If
Karkare had not exposed the heinous designs of these Hindutva
Plans, there would have been an endless blood-shed in India
taking lives of thousands of Muslims and surely hundreds of
Hindus because without killing of Hindus, the picture would
not seem real. Moreover it is a part of the Hindutva
philosophy to kill even the Hindus if it is in the greater
interest of Hinduism. The unlucky Hemant Karkare is also one
of the escape goats in this context.
The affairs of the country in India are run by a particular
group of extremist Hindus. These extremists are all time
supporting and financing the culprit organizations which
support the Hindutva philosophy. They are always trying to
shelter the Hindutva terrorists. The horrible Samjhota Express
incident provides a very strong proof in this regard.
On the Basis of the reports provided by the Indian IB the
government of India started blaming the Pakistan ISI for
carrying out these blasts but at a later stage Hemant Karkare
disclosed the reality that Lt. Col. Prohat of the Indian army
was the person who provided the RDX used in the blasts. Col.
Prohat had accepted the allegation during the investigations.
The IB was not happy over Karkare's honest investigations so
he was removed from the scene. Very soon after his killing,
K.P. Raghuvanshi, a police officer with extramely low
credibility in the Muslims was brought to the scene to replace
Karkare.
This KP Raghuvanshi has a bad repute for letting off known
Hindutva terrorists and framing Muslim youth even in bomb
attack cases on mosques. But we cannot condemn the IB or the
Hindutva terrorists for awarding the death penalty to Hemant
Karkare because all is fair in live and war.
A new war in
Afghanistan?
The fight for Marjah will signify a turning point in the
long and frustrating war against the Taleban, or so hope
the top military brass and the politicians behind them.
Osama Al Sharif
The
US and its NATO allies are desperately looking for a big
military victory against the Taleban to prepare the path
for a possible political settlement later on. They have
chosen Marjah, a small town in Helmand province, as a
target and they made no secret of their intentions. The
fight for Marjah will signify a turning point in the long
and frustrating war against the Taleban, or so hope the
top military brass and the politicians behind them.
Since President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 more troops to
be shipped to Afghanistan late last year, the surge has
become the focal point of Washington's new strategy to
secure victory in that country. Now that strategy is going
to face its first real test. It's winter, the enemy is
fully prepared, ISAF and the Afghan army know their
objective, civilians have been warned to leave the theater
of operation and a fierce battle is about to take place in
a barren and hostile plain.
Winning in Marjah will pave the way to retaking Helmand, a
rebellious province that had withstood similar assaults in
the past. But this time the Americans, headed by Gen.
Stanley McChrystal, have a different game plan. Unlike in
previous campaigns in Helmand, the allies want to defeat
the Taleban, drive them away and bring in the Afghan
government so that it can protect the civilian population,
destroy narco-trafficking and offer a better alternative.
As McChrystal put it recently he wants this to be a fully
integrated civilian/military effort. Winning in Helmand,
this time, will be different. It will send a positive
message to the people of Afghanistan, as well as to the
Taleban leadership.
While preparing for this hybrid military campaign,
involving thousands of NATO and Afghan troops, the problem
of Afghanistan has been receiving unusual attention in
political meetings around the world, ranging from a
special conference in London, to a NATO defense ministers
summit in Istanbul, to another strategic conference in
Munich. Before that Afghan President Hamid Karzai called
on King Abdullah to ask for a resumption of Saudi
mediation efforts with the Taleban. Riyadh had hosted
talks in 2008 but to no avail.
KARZAI has been promoting a plan to negotiate with Taleban
leaders while offering their followers economic
incentives. The Americans are reluctant to talk with
senior Taleban at this stage, but prefer to drive a wedge
between the leaders and common people by pouring money
into deprived regions and strongholds. It is in Marjah and
the rest of Helmand that they hope to implement such
scheme.
But McChrystal's plan is not fool proof. Not everyone in
Washington embraces it. There are those who believe that
McChrystal's reading of the situation on the ground is too
optimistic. They point to the fact that Afghan-Pakistan
borders remain porous, allowing Taleban fighters to
withdraw, regroup, seek refuge and supplies. Others say
that the insurgents will not necessarily play by the
general's rules and that they could choose to simply
withdraw to their secluded mountain lairs and wait this
one out.
This is probably why NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh
Rasmussen is seeking "a stronger, (and a) more inclusive
security coalition" that includes countries like India,
China and Russia to join the fight. Worn-out NATO members
have no stomach for a long campaign that promises more
casualties and further commitment.
SPEAKING at the Munich Security Conference, Rasmussen said
that a key lesson of the alliance's woes in Afghanistan
was that NATO "needs an entirely new compact between all
the actors on the security stage."
He is right of course because failure in Afghanistan will
eventually affect the security interests of India, China
and Russia.
A Taleban victory will spell trouble for Pakistan and will
eventually threaten the stability of the entire Indian
subcontinent, Central Asia and the Gulf.
It is far-fetched that victory in Helmand will usher in
the beginning of the end of an eight-year war in
Afghanistan that has so far strained NATO resources,
frustrated international efforts and kept a corrupt and
unpopular government in power.
A political settlement will eventually be sought to try to
bring about peace to that country. But in spite of
Karzai's initiative, the Taleban leaders are not
relenting. Their conditions are impossible to meet;
calling for foreign troop withdrawal before talks can
begin.
Karzai may be over-reaching. He might not even be the
right man to make credible gestures. But the people of
Afghanistan are tired.
Their support for the Taleban is waning and may be driven
by fear more than solid commitment. A bungled military
campaign in Helmand could bring undesired effects, both
locally and internationally.
Winning the war in Afghanistan was supposed to take a
different path altogether. Getting rid of the Taleban was
to be followed by sincere and transparent efforts to
rebuild that country and guide it toward prosperity and
development. Eight years later the picture remains somber
and bleak for millions of Afghanis. Eight years later the
West is yet to win the hearts and minds of the people of
that country.
Osama Al Sharif is a veteran journalist and political
commentator
based in Jordan.
Viewpoints
The Indians are coming!
Delhi has
finally accepted that its earlier policy of threatening war
and risking worse was unwise.
Zafar Hilaly
It
is a pity that neither Delhi nor Islamabad has ever acquired
the faculty of imagining the suffering and joy of the other,
to say nothing of their respective concerns and limitations,
and the two governments are all too ready to lapse into
recriminations at the drop of a hat. They attribute evil and
devious motives to each other and reach for whatever is at
hand to threaten the other. This is all the more surprising
because civil society in both countries is strongly averse to
conflict. A fact repeatedly ascertained by polls and
people-to-people exchanges. If this message is now finally
resonating in Delhi, and is the reason why India wishes to
resume the dialogue, it would be a cause for rejoicing,
unfortunately it is not.
The reason is more prosaic. Delhi has finally accepted that
its earlier policy of threatening war and risking worse was
unwise. It merely encouraged the terrorists and disheartened
well-wishers; most of all, it proved self-defeating. For India
to find out what policy may work by finding out what did not
work was hardly savvy.
Why it took so long for the penny to drop is not clear.
Admittedly, India was hurt and enraged by what happened at
Mumbai. Any country would be; but lashing out at Pakistan,
which is itself reeling under terror as perhaps no other
country in the world, revealed insensitivity to Pakistan's
predicament and an ignorance of the inefficiency of
subcontinental bureaucracy that was breathtaking. Naturally,
it only made matters worse.
Hence, after the initial upsurge of sympathy for India,
Islamabad went into lockdown, convinced that India was bent on
revenge rather than justice and an opportunity to strengthen
cooperation was lost. No wonder in those dark days after the
Mumbai attack many felt that if there was any light that they
thought they had glimpsed at the end of the tunnel (as a
result of progress in the composite dialogue) it was the light
of an oncoming train. Of course, the dialogue will not restart
exactly where it was broken off by India. We cannot pick up
the thread as if Mumbai never happened, nor should we.
Terrorism is understandably for India the single most
important item on the agenda. But its being projected by Delhi
as the only item is imprudent. It may once again stall the
talks because Pakistan is as interested in making progress on
Kashmir and water-sharing as in cooperation to combat
terrorism. Bickering over the agenda must not be allowed to
derail the process. A middle ground needs to be found and,
what is more, discernible progress recorded, or else one side
or the other will lose interest in the dialogue. Frankly, it
is better not to have any talks than for them to fail amid a
welter of accusations.
If the dialogue resumes, Pakistan owes its Indian visitors a
detailed accounting of all the steps it has taken to apprehend
and punish the terrorists involved and, in particular, why
some accused by India are not yet behind bars. And also why it
has not been possible, on the evidence proffered by India and
whatever we have gathered, to obtain a conviction. No doubt,
in return, we would want to know what has been the outcome of
the Samjhauta Express enquiry. Going the extra mile to allay
mutual suspicions can only do good.
Sadly, in both countries there are those who harbour mindless
hate for the other side. Hate, which has penetrated their
innards; and unless they hate someone or some other nation or
creed they can't be happy. But, because in a democracy merely
harbouring hate is insufficient to deprive a man of his
liberty, they escape punishment. That is why presumably Bal
Thackeray is not in prison in India and, one suspects, Hafiz
Saeed in Pakistan. Nor do preconceived notions, suspicions and
historical ill-will have any place when it comes to
negotiations. A road that goes from the eye to the heart
without going through the intellect is obviously the wrong
one.
Hence, Pakistan and India must address their mutual concerns
devoid of anger or malice, lest the next hiatus in relations,
when it comes, does not last longer and end in disaster. This
is not an idle caution, nor a needless one. The degree of
animus some of the participants bring to the table is
inexcusable.
The timing of the Indian initiative has understandably aroused
speculation; it even surprised Indian diplomats. Prime
Minister Gilani ascribed it to "international pressure."
India, on the other hand, claims that it is "a calculated
initiative to unlock the dialogue process." Chances are that
it is both. Indeed, there may well be a third factor, a
"calculated" and perhaps conjoined Indo-US initiative, not so
much to "unlock the dialogue process" as to help America
enlist Pakistan's grudging support for the forthcoming
"surge." And, if none of the above, then at the very least it
serves as an encouraging curtain-raiser for the intensified
fighting that is expected to commence momentarily in
Afghanistan as the American "surge" gets underway, for which
Pakistan's cooperation is indispensable.
Viewed thus, the decision to resume talks with Pakistan was
not so much a belated admission by India of a policy that had
failed but rather an astute manoeuvre to augment American
pressure on Pakistan prior to the surge.
Actually, nearly all of India's moves, of late, have thrown
into bold relief its fixation to play a major role in
Afghanistan. According to one Indian analyst, India considers
the prospect of a regime in Kabul that is unfriendly to India
as intolerable; that Pakistan on no account be allowed to
regain a foothold in Afghanistan, and that, at the very least,
a fundamentalist regime of the type of the Taliban not take
root in Kabul, because, "a significant part of the terrorist
infrastructure that was groomed in Afghanistan was directed
against India."
While the writer is Indian, in opinion and outlook he speaks
like a contemporary American and that too of the neo-con
mould. It seems that India will make use of any argument to
indulge its temptation to interfere in the internal affairs of
Afghanistan and delve in the "Afghan nest of snakes" that has
proved the undoing of so many, including Pakistan, much like
others before it. All of which only reinforces Hegel's belief
that "what experience and history teach is this---that people
and governments never have learned anything from history, or
acted on principles deduced from it."
Not that India or Pakistan will likely be dissuaded by what
history recounts. Hence, for the foreseeable future, there
will always be an Afghan dimension to the relationship that
India forges with Pakistan, adding, thereby, one more
complicating and needless factor to an already vexed
relationship.
As talks resume, the war in Afghanistan drags on and Indian
and Pakistani policymakers grapple with designing the
architecture for peace in the region they could usefully
recall the caution that the Chinese sage Chi Wen Tzu proffered
to his monarch two thousand years ago: "Think three times
before taking any step, even though twice would have been
enough." Perhaps, if his caution had been heeded after Mumbai,
much of what happened would not have transpired, and today
both countries would have been implementing agreements that
now seem distant and difficult.
The writer is a former ambassador of Pakistan
Have We
Forgotten About the North Korean Bomb?
Ask the South
Africans who in the days of apartheid built a bomb only to
find it was unusable. Ditto for North Korea.
Jonathan Power
Does
anyone know where the U.S. is up to in its long, endless,
negotiations to persuade North Korea to give up the bomb?
Does anyone care? Does the US Senate's Foreign Relations
Committee? Does the United Nations? Do the European
countries? Does most of Asia? Try and find one creative
word that anyone has said since the election of President
Barack Obama and you will have to Google the subject until
your ?eyes are sore.
Yet there they all whipping up a storm over Iran which is
a long way from being able to build a bomb, and which if
it came into being could threaten no one. Israel might
persuade itself that it was under the hammer but in fact
Iran would have no means of miniaturising a bomb so it
could fit on a rocket. For that the technology is less
easy to master than actually building a bomb. Ask the
South Africans who in the days of apartheid built a bomb
only to find it was unusable. Ditto for North Korea.
After eight years of erratic US policies during the
presidency of George W. Bush- met by equally erratic and
bellicose North Korean ones-the negotiations ended up
almost where they started following the fruitful diplomacy
of the Clinton Administration that transformed North Korea
from total intransigence to a willing negotiating partner.
Indeed, by some counts, this was the Clinton
Administration's only substantial and productive foreign
policy success. Well, not quite back to where the Clinton
Administration had to leave off. North Korea now has
tripled the amount of nuclear weapons' material in store.
Worse, it exploded a nuclear bomb and probably has enough
material for half a dozen more. This must count as one of
President George W. Bush's worst foreign policy feats.
Commitments made in tense but productive negotiations were
not honoured (and the Republican majority in Congress in
Clinton's time also torpedoed commitments made by the
Administration). Bush called the regime evil and then
offered aid. It refused to negotiate over the financial
issues at stake with the money laundering of the Banco
Delta Asia- and then returned the money it had impounded.
Bush's first Secretary of State, Colin Powell, was made a
fool of. After he declared that the new administration
would try and complete the work of its predecessor Powell
was in effect publicly repudiated.
The insider work of Vice-President Richard Cheney and
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld pulled the rug from
beneath him. Even at one time when Bush tried to take a
more positive approach, officials working in committee at
the inter-agency level managed to deflect it -such was the
power of the senior bureaucracy, (a lesson in the
powerlessness of the presidency that future presidents
should take notice of).
Fortunately, the negotiations were salvaged by a very
determined second term Secretary of State, Condoleezza
Rica, who took personal charge of the negotiations and
empowered a skillful principal negotiator, Christopher
Hill, to burrow through the labyrinthine of confusion and
misunderstandings that were now heaped one on top of the
other. The force and frequency of US negotiating offers
were stepped up. Pyongyang's twists and turns and often
appalling misbehaviour were tolerated more. In September
2005, the US formally offered a non-aggression pledge and
an offer, in principle, to normalise relations. It also
resurrected discussion of the Clinton decision to help
finance and build a 'light water' reactor that would help
satisfy the North's domestic power needs, without
producing more bomb-making material. (The reactor sits
half finished.) In return, the North agreed to
denuclearise and to open itself to international
inspection. Perhaps inevitably, both sides interpreted the
agreement differently.
The North again became intransigent. In October 2006 it
exploded an underground nuclear device. Yet Rice managed
to persuade Bush to dilute the rhetoric. The
Administration continued with its more conventional
diplomacy. The hard-liners in the Administration,
including Cheney, were sidelined.
The Rice/Hill push continued forward. Fuel aid and food
were offered as carrots. The North agreed to disable its
nuclear weapons and other important facilities at its
Yongbyon nuclear complex. It also said it would allow back
both US and UN inspectors. But when Washington stalled on
removing the North from its terrorism list ?Pyongyang also
stalled. The stalling on both sides has continued since.
The Obama Administration has continued where Bush left
off. By now we are all asleep. Anyone got any ideas on
what ?to do next?
Jonathan Power is a veteran commentator on foreign
affairs. For comments, write to opinion@khaleejtimes.com
Climate for change
Every year of delay in our addressing the climate change
situation results in a loss of close to $ 500 billion.
Supriya Sule
The
drowning Sundarbans, receding Gangotri, excessive and
untimely rain in Maharashtra and unprecedented droughts in
Madhya Pradesh. Seen in isolation, these events may seem
like random coincidences. Put it all together and the
story that emerges is of an impending catastrophe. As
mankind raced towards industrial and consumption driven
development goals, the concept of sustainability got lost
somewhere along the way.
While we, the common people, might think that climate
change is something that only the people living in the
coastal regions and politicians have to worry about, the
truth is quite the opposite. Everything that we depend on
for our day today sustenance is directly affected by how
the climate evolves over time. Be it the wheat and rice
crops that get ruined due to untimely rains, thereby
pushing up the prices, or the healthcare situation in the
country, that gets worse due to the increasing cases of
vector borne diseases.
The Copenhagen Accord has failed to recognise this. Led by
the world's most powerful leaders, 192 nation leaders came
together at Copenhagen Summit but left without making
binding commitments. Ironically it is the poor and
marginalised people, who have not contributed to climate
change, that are and will be the most affected by climate
change. The Kyoto Protocol was symbolically an important
step, but it failed to deliver a major effort toward
greenhouse gas reductions. In the absence of a new
mindset, the Copenhagen Accord will mean more years of the
same waiting game. Countries will continue free-riding.
While global temperatures continue to rise, glaciers melt
and ultimately people's livelihoods and lives are lost.
The world needed a fair, ambitious and 'operationally
binding political deal' to be reached at Copenhagen. We
have lesser time left for drastic global action to reduce
Green House Gas emissions. The Himalayan glaciers may not
be melting as fast as we were told, but for common people
and for politicians who represent them, climate is
changing and the impacts are there for us to see.
That we need to do something urgently to slow this, is a
well known fact now. But 'what can be done' is a fact on
which consensus has so far been elusive.
The Climate Summit in Copenhagen was the 15th attempt by
the world leaders to come to a common ground to discuss
and possibly resolve the situation. However, if the same
blame game continues it will be near impossible to resolve
and truly tackle this complex problem.
The developed world needs to understand and acknowledge
the development needs and aspirations of the countries
like India, China and Brazil. Especially in the light of
the fact that with its current population India still
accounts for only 5 per cent of the global emissions,
whereas the U.S. is responsible for 20 per cent. The
disparity was much higher in the past.
The U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
presents us not only with a global platform to voice our
concerns but also a democratic platform where powerful and
less powerful countries can talk on equitable terms. Any
move forward from Copenhagen still needs to ensure that
developed countries, like U.S., make binding commitments
that are fair and ambitious at the same time. Furthermore,
developing countries are provided enough financial and
technological support to ensure a smooth and viable
transition to low carbon growth societies.
From India's domestic perspective, the current times
present a phenomenal opportunity to start building a low
carbon economy. By doing this, India will not only be able
to sustain its economic and industrial growth but also
ensure that its social developments targets like rural
electrification are met in a climate friendly way. The
battle, however, will have to be fought on two fronts -
'Improving efficiencies in the existing infrastructure'
and 'speeding up the implementation of new projects' like
'Sustainable Habitat Mission' and 'Solar Mission.'
It is only when India takes a leadership position in its
global as well as domestic approach that the 'developed'
will be shamed into correcting their own wrongdoings. It
is critical that we, as a nation, take a stand in post
Copenhagen and lead the global climate debate; strongly
putting our point across, without getting intimidated or
influenced by international pressure.
Needless to say that the benefits of these efforts would
be phenomenal, both for the world economy and our own as
well. Ultimately, every year of delay in our addressing
the climate change situation results in a loss of close to
$ 500 billion.
The writer is a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, and
Chairperson of the Parliamentarians' Group on Millennium
Development Goals, a CLRA - Centre for Legislative
Research and Advocacy - initiative.
International
Meeting to
finalise Pakistan’s strategy for talks with India
Dawn Online, Islamabad
Pakistan Foreign Office was holding an inter-ministerial
meeting on Wednesday to carve out country's strategy for
secretary-level talks with India in New Delhi. The meeting
intended at taking all stakeholders into confidence
regarding the recent developments. The meeting to finalise
the agenda for the Pak-India talks began under the
chairmanship of Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi,
official sources said. Representatives from the defence
and interior ministries were participating, sources said.
India had recently offered secretary-level talks to
Pakistan but conditionalised the offer with a dialogue on
terrorism alone as opposed to restarting the composite
dialogue process.
Foreign Office sources told DawnNews that Pakistan is keen
to utilise this opportunity to revive the composite
dialogue process for resolution of all outstanding issues
between the two countries. Earlier on, sources said
Pakistan's High Commissioner to India, Shahid Malik, would
be briefing the participants on his meeting with Indian
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao.
Pak SCBA President rebuffs
non-implementation of NRO
Dawn Online
Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association President Qazi
Mohammad Anwar expressed dismay over what he called
indifferent attitude of the federal government to
implementation of the apex court judgment on NRO. He said
the government was earlier waiting for the detailed
verdict, but after its release Prime Minister Yousuf Raza
Gilani stated in parliament that he had issued orders for
implementation of the judgment and that the judgment could
not be implemented against President Asif Zardari because
he enjoyed immunity under the Constitution.
"The prime minister's statement poses serious threat to
the system, especially to democracy, rule of law and
constitutionalism," Qazi Anwar said, adding that decisions
of the Supreme Court had an inbuilt mechanism of execution
and did not require approval or directives of the prime
minister.
"The prime minister's statement suggests that it is he who
has to decide what portion of the judgment is to be
implemented and which portion is to be kept pending. We do
not accept any supervisory role of the prime minister,"
the SCBA president added.
Another area of concern for the legal fraternity, Qazi
Anwar said, was about recommendations of the chief justice
for appointments of judges in the Supreme Court, including
an ad hoc appointment.
US Marines under fire ahead
of Afghan assault
AFP, Outskirts Of Marjah, Afghanistan
US Marines came under attack from insurgents armed with
sniper guns and rocket-propelled grenades as they geared
up Wednesday to overwhelm a Taliban bastion in
Afghanistan. Thousands of Marines along with foreign and
Afghan soldiers are massing around the town of Marjah in
Helmand, which officials say is one of the last areas of
the southern province under Taliban control.
The flow of residents fleeing the imminent offensive has
slowed, provincial officials said, after loaded-down cars,
trucks, tractors and buses clogged roads from Marjah to
provincial capital Lashkah Gar for days.
"We have announced and told people in Marjah not to leave
their houses as our operation is well planned and designed
to target the enemy," said Daud Ahmadi, spokesman for
Helmand Governor Mohammad Gulab Mangal. "Civilians will
not be harmed," he said. Another 75 families had left
Marjah, on top of 164 families who left earlier, the
spokesman said. Other officials have said more than 400
families have fled.
The operation, expected to begin in days, will be the
biggest push since US President Barack Obama announced a
new surge of troops to Afghanistan and one of the biggest
since the 2001 US-led invasion defeated the Taliban
regime.
It is seen as a key test of a comprehensive
counter-insurgency strategy that aims to follow up what
officials predict will be a decisive military victory by
establishing Afghan government control. But Taliban
fighters appear defiant in the face of the enormous fire
power being amassed in the region, where they have held
sway for years in tandem with drug traffickers. An AFP
photographer said 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines Regiment
arrived by helicopter at Berkha Nawa junction, on the
northeastern outskirts of Marjah, and immediately came
under sniper fire from insurgents.
The Marines encampment, reinforced with sandbags, also
came under rocket fire. US Cobra helicopters were called
in to attack Taliban positions, the photographer said.
The Marines searched houses and compounds for weapons and
improvised explosive devices (IEDs) -- the prime Taliban
killer of foreign troops-and evacuated residents from all
but one of the homes still occupied.
The remaining family, he said, were staying as they had
nowhere to go.
AP adds : About 300 families have already fled a southern
Afghan town ahead of a major U.S.-Afghan offensive planned
on a key Taliban stronghold, provincial officials said
Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a Taliban spokesman vowed that insurgent forces
in and near Marjah in southern Helmand province are ready
"to do jihad, to sacrifice their lives" in the upcoming
battle, which will serve as a significant test of the new
U.S. strategy for turning back the Taliban.
Indian security forces say
may have shot teenager
AFP, Srinagar
Indian security forces said Wednesday they may have been
responsible for the shooting death of a teenage boy in
revolt-hit Kashmir that has sparked days of
demonstrations.
A senior paramilitary officer said one of his troopers may
have been involved in the death of 17-year-old Zahid
Farooq, who witnesses say was gunned down after a group of
boys refused to leave a high-security area.
Doctors said Farooq, who was the second teenager to be
killed in a week, had suffered bullet wounds in his chest.
"An inquiry has revealed prima facie the possibility of
constable Lakhwinder Singh being involved in the
incident," Border Security Force director general P.S.
Sidhu told reporters.
He said the constable was being handed over to the police
in Srinagar, the summer capital of the Himalayan region
where Muslim insurgents have been fighting New Delhi's
rule for two decades.
The announcement came after Kashmir Chief Minister Omar
Abdullah vowed strong action over the boy's death and
asked investigators to complete a probe within a week.
"Incidents of unprovoked or innocent killings will not be
tolerated and whosoever is involved in such killings will
be brought to book and doled out exemplary punishment,"
Abdullah said last week.
The region was already in uproar over the killing of
14-year-old Wamiq Farooq by a police tear-gas shell on
January 31, and the latest death has fuelled anger against
Indian security forces.
The government has banned the assembly of more than four
people in Srinagar but it has been unable to contain the
protests in Kashmir, which is divided between India and
Pakistan.
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi undecided
on junta’s elections
AP, Yangon, Myanmar
Myanmar's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi says
that the military-run country's upcoming elections cannot
be credible unless the government allows freedom of
information, her party said Wednesday.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate - who is serving a new
18-month sentence of house arrest - also said she hasn't
decided whether her party will contest this year's planned
polls, said Nyan Win, her lawyer and spokesman for her
National League for Democracy party.
"Aung San Suu Kyi said if freedom of information and
freedom of expression are not allowed, the elections will
neither be free nor fair nor credible," said Nyan Win, who
met Suu Kyi at her house Tuesday.
Myanmar's military government has said it will hold a
general election this year, but has not yet set an exact
date or passed the necessary laws. Suu Kyi's party won the
last election in 1990, but the military refused to allow
it to take power.
The junta tightly controls information in the impoverished
Southeast Asian country. An election boycott by the NLD
would deal a blow to the government's promotion of the
polls as part of a "roadmap to democracy."
Suu Kyi's party has not yet committed itself to taking
part in the polls because it claims the new constitution
of 2008 is unfair. It has clauses that would ensure that
the military remains the controlling power in government,
and would bar Suu Kyi from holding office.
Nyan Win said Wednesday that Suu Kyi said she cannot
decide whether her party should take part in elections as
long as she is under house arrest.
"Aung San Suu Kyi said she is in no condition to decide
whether the NLD should participate in the elections or not
as she cannot follow up on her decision if she remains
detained," said Nyan Win.
Suu Kyi's position does not necessarily rule out her party
taking part in the polls, since other party officials
could make the decision to contest the election. Nyan Win
pointed out that that in 1990 elections, which also were
held while she was under house arrest, the National League
for Democracy decided to take part in elections during her
absence and she supported the party's decision.
After Haiti, Nepal braces
for big quake
AFP, Kathmandu
As Haiti counts the cost of last month's devastating
earthquake, experts are warning of the potential for an
even greater disaster in another of the world's poorest
countries, Nepal.
Geologists say it is only a matter of time before a major
earthquake hits Nepal's densely populated capital
Kathmandu, where 2.5 million people live in cramped,
poorly-built housing with little or no awareness of the
dangers. Nepal sits on the border between two huge plates
that have moved together over millions of years to form
the Himalayas.
Geologists believe it is at risk from an earthquake with a
magnitude of around eight -- 10 times as powerful as the
Haiti shock that killed more than 212,000 people.
Nepal has not suffered a major quake for decades, and
expert David Petley believes the troubled country is
woefully unprepared.
"From a geological perspective the risk seems to be very
large indeed," said Petley, Wilson professor of hazard and
risk at Britain's Durham University.
"The area to the west of Kathmandu is undergoing the
processes that drive earthquakes, and there has not been a
quake on that section of the fault for hundreds of years.
"The larger the time gap (between quakes) the larger the
quake is going to be."
Many other major cities in the region are vulnerable to
large earthquakes.
But a 2001 study by GeoHazards International, a US
research group set up to reduce the human impact of
natural disasters, found Kathmandu would suffer the worst
losses.
N.Korea demands end to
sanctions at Beijing talks
AFP, Seoul
North Korea Wednesday repeated demands for sanctions to be
lifted before it returns to nuclear disarmament talks,
resisting appeals from its ally China to resume dialogue,
a news report said.
Pyongyang's nuclear negotiators were holding a second day
of talks in Beijing amid international efforts to
kickstart the stalled negotiations, South Korea's Yonhap
news agency reported from the Chinese capital.
North Korea restated its stance that it would not come
back to the six-party forum as long as sanctions are in
force, Yonhap quoted a diplomatic source as saying.
It urged China, as a permanent UN Security Council member,
to play an active role in lifting the UN sanctions, the
source said.
The negotiators also reportedly sought Beijing's backing
for their demand that the United States agree to start
talks about a permanent peace treaty before the nuclear
forum resumes.
China stressed North Korea should first return to the
dialogue table and ease its tough conditions, the source
was quoted as saying.
The United States says the North must come back to the
nuclear talks and reaffirm commitment to previous
agreements before other matters are discussed.
Pyongyang was reportedly playing hardball despite its own
worsening food shortages and international efforts to
revive the six-party forum.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon's top political adviser Lynn Pascoe
is making a four-day visit to the North expected to focus
on both nuclear matters and humanitarian aid, the first by
a high-level UN official since 2004.
Iran
says nuclear fuel deal ‘still on the table’
Reuters, Tehran
Iran believes a nuclear fuel exchange with the West is
still possible, state television said on Wednesday, a day
after the Islamic Republic's expansion of uranium
enrichment drew a U.S. warning of more sanctions soon.
"The deal is still on the table," Ali Akbar Salehi, head
of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, said on
English-language Press TV.
But he appeared to reiterate Iran's demand for a
simultaneous fuel swap on its soil-a likely non-starter
for Western powers who want Tehran to send most of its
low-enriched uranium abroad before it gets higher-grade
material in return.
Salehi said Iran's uranium could be sealed and under the
"custody" of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) in the country, until it receives the fuel it needs
for a medical research reactor.
U.S. President Barack Obama said on Tuesday the
international community was moving "fairly quickly" toward
imposing broader sanctions on Iran, after Tehran said it
had started making uranium enriched to 20 percent.
Obama said Iran's refusal to accept a U.N.-brokered atomic
fuel swap agreement suggested it was intent on trying to
build nuclear weapons, despite its insistence its atomic
activities were only for the peaceful generation of
electricity.
Iran decided to step up enrichment after a failure to
agree terms for the exchange, under which it would have
sent the bulk of its uranium abroad in return for
20-percent-pure fuel rods for a Tehran reactor producing
medical isotopes.
Such an exchange would prevent Iran from retaining enough
of the material for a nuclear weapon, if it were refined
to 90 percent. Iran has until now limited its enrichment
to 3.5 percent.
Medical Care
Salehi said Iran would halt production of 20 percent fuel
if it received it from abroad instead.
Lebanon warns of ‘dangerous’
situation with Israel
Reuters, London
Israeli aircraft are making daily incursions into Lebanese
air space, creating a very dangerous situation, Lebanon's
Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said in an interview
broadcast on Wednesday.
"We hear a lot of Israeli threats day in and day out, and
not only threats," Hariri told the BBC. "We see what's
happening on the ground and in our air space and what's
happening all the time during the past two months-every
day we have Israeli war planes entering Lebanese air
space," he said.
"This is something that has been escalating, and this is
something that is really dangerous," Hariri said in a
video posted on the BBC's web site.
The BBC quoted Hariri as saying he feared the prospect of
another war with Israel.
Syria accused Israel last week of pushing the Middle East
towards a new war.
Israel's foreign minister responded by saying Damascus
would be defeated and President Bashar al-Assad would lose
power in any future conflict. Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu later reassured Syria that Israel sought peace.
Israel fought a 34-day war in 2006 with Lebanese Hezbollah
militants. Israel said in January that U.N. peacekeepers
in Lebanon had uncovered hundreds of pounds of explosive
devices near the Israeli border, which the Jewish state
said had been planted by Hezbollah.
The BBC quoted Hariri as saying that Lebanon was united
and that the government would stand by Hezbollah.
Britain discloses secret
data on terror prisoner
AP, London
Britain's government on Wednesday disclosed once-secret
information on the treatment of a former Guantanamo Bay
detainee who says he was tortured in U.S. custody, losing
a long court battle to keep the material classified.
Judges rejected the government's claim that revealing the
information would damage U.S.-British intelligence
cooperation.
The information disclosed is a seven-paragraph summary of
U.S. intelligence information given to British spies about
former detainee Binyam Mohamed's treatment during
interrogations by the Americans in May 2002.
The paragraphs say Mohamed was subjected to "cruel,
inhuman and degrading treatment by the United States
authorities," including sleep deprivation, shackling and
threats resulting in mental stress and suffering.
They conclude that the paragraphs given to the MI5
intelligence service, "made clear to anyone reading them
that BM (Mohamed) was being subjected to the treatment
that we have described and the effect upon him of that
intentional treatment."
British authorities have repeatedly denied complicity in
torture.
"The wider point here is that we stand firmly against
torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. We
don't condone, collude in or solicit it," Prime Minister
Gordon Brown's spokesman Simon Lewis told reporters
following the decision.
Ethiopia-born Mohamed was arrested in Pakistan in 2002 and
says he was tortured there and in Morocco before being
flown to Guantanamo Bay. He was released without charge
last year.
The Wednesday decision upholds an earlier High Court
ruling ordering officials to make public the secret
seven-paragraph summary of U.S. intelligence files.
Hillary to visit Qatar, Saudi Arabia
Reuters, Washington
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Qatar and
Saudi Arabia next week for talks that a U.S. official said
on Tuesday would likely focus on Iran, Iraq and the
Arab-Israeli conflict.
On Sunday, Clinton will meet the Qatari ruler, Emir Sheikh
Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and will speak at the
U.S.-Islamic World Forum, a meeting hosted by the Qatari
government and the Brookings Institution's Saban Center
for Middle East Policy.
The gathering promotes dialogue between officials and
private citizens from the United States and the Muslim
world.
She will visit Saudi Arabia on Monday and Tuesday for
talks with Saudi King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Prince
Saud Al-Faisal, the State Department said in a statement.
Iran's nuclear program and the Obama administration's
unsuccessful efforts to foster peace talks between Israel
and the Palestinians are likely to be major topics in both
places, as is Iraq as it approaches parliamentary
elections next month.
The United States accuses Iran of using its civil nuclear
program as a cover to develop an atomic bomb, a
possibility that uneases Gulf Arab states. Iran says its
nuclear program is to generate electricity so it can
export more oil and gas.
"Not only does she value the opportunity to speak at the
forum and the bilaterals, where she will talk about Iran,
the peace process and Iraq, but she plans to do the same
kind of outreach in Qatar and Saudi Arabia ... that she
has done in other parts of the world," said a U.S.
official who spoke on condition that he not be identified.
Reuters photographer says
reborn after freed by US
Reuters, Baghdad
The U.S. military freed a Reuters photographer in Iraq on
Wednesday, almost a year and a half after snatching him
from his home in the middle of the night and holding him
without charge.
The U.S. military never has said exactly why its forces
detained Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed-who worked for Reuters as
a freelance TV cameraman and photographer-and locked him
away for so long, saying the evidence against him was
classified.
"How can I describe my feelings? This is like being born
again," Jassam told Reuters by telephone as he was greeted
emotionally by his family.
U.S. and Iraqi forces smashed in the doors to Jassam's
house in Mahmudiya town, south of Baghdad, in September
2008 and whisked him away.
He spent time in a desert prison on the Iraq-Kuwait
border, called Camp Bucca, and the smaller Camp Cropper
detention center near Baghdad airport.
Jassam was one of several Iraqi journalists working for
foreign news organizations who have been detained by the
U.S. military, often for months at a time, since the 2003
U.S. invasion. None has ever been charged, triggering
criticism from international journalism rights groups. "I
am very pleased his long incarceration without charge is
finally over," Reuters editor-in-chief David Schlesinger
said.
"I wish the process to release a man who had no specific
accusations against him had been swifter."
The U.S. military has asserted that Jassam was a "security
threat." The accusations had to do with "activities with
insurgents," it said last year, without giving any
specifics. The term "insurgents" generally refers to Sunni
Islamist groups. Jassam is a Shi'ite Muslim.
The United States military did not immediately respond to
emails seeking comment on his release. "I still cannot
believe that my son is next to me," Ibrahim's mother,
Fadhila Alwan, said.
"Thanks be to God. I cannot speak. I will keep him in my
arms for days but I will not be able to get enough of
him."
Moscow says US missile
shield aimed at Russia
Reuters, Moscow
Russia's top general said on Tuesday that differences over
U.S. missile defence plans were directed against his
country and were holding up an arms treaty with
Washington, Russian news agencies reported.
The White House denied missile defence was an obstacle and
said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had not raised the
program when he and U.S. President Barack Obama last
discussed the treaty.
But the renewed blast from Moscow raised questions about
the chances of an early agreement on a successor to the
Cold War-era START nuclear arms reduction pact that
expired in December.
Interfax news agency quoted Russian armed forces chief of
staff Nikolai Makarov as saying: "The development and
establishment of the (U.S.) missile shield is directed
against the Russian Federation."
Washington has insisted its planned limited missile
defence is meant to intercept a small number of warheads
that might be fired by a "rogue state," such as Iran or
North Korea.
"I think the notion that somehow this is in any way an
impediment to what's going on with START is-is simply-it's
simply not true," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said
at a news briefing. "It certainly wasn't what President
Medvedev told President Obama."
Obama pleased Russia by scrapping the previous
U.S.administration's plans to deploy elements of a missile
shield in Poland and the Czech Republic that Moscow
bitterly opposed.
New York Senate expels
senator over assault
Reuters, New York
The New York State Senate has voted to expel a senator for
the first time in almost a century, the New York Times
reported on Wednesday.
It said the Senate voted 53 to 8 late on Tuesday night to
immediately remove Senator Hiram Monserrate, a Democrat
from Queens, found guilty of misdemeanour assault in
October for dragging his girlfriend down the hallway of
his apartment building.
The Democrats held the Senate by just two votes and
Monserrate's removal leaves the fragile balance of power
in the Senate divided between 31 Democrats and 30
Republicans, the Times said.
Analysts had warned that Monserrate's expulsion could
cause a deadlock that would make it much harder for New
York to meet its March 31 budget deadline.
The paper said Monserrate's lawyers were drafting a
temporary restraining order seeking to have him
reinstated.
It quoted one of his lawyers, Norman Siegel, as saying the
order would be filed on Wednesday in federal court in
Manhattan.
"The New York State Senate does not have the
constitutional and legal authority to expel Senator
Monserrate," Mr. Siegel said.
Obamas take on problem of
obese children
Reuters,
Washington
Alarmed that nearly a third of U.S. children are obese or
overweight-and likely to stay that way all their
lives-President Barack Obama launched an initiative on
Tuesday to roll back the numbers and put his wife in
charge of promoting it.
"I have set a goal to solve the problem of childhood
obesity within a generation so that children born today
will reach adulthood at a healthy weight," Obama said in
signing the order at the White House.
He assigned his cabinet officers to meet within three
months and come up with "a comprehensive interagency plan"
and asked the first lady to head up a national public
awareness effort. Two industry groups, the American
Beverage Association and the Grocery Manufacturers of
America, both pledged to work with Michelle Obama to fight
childhood obesity.
The ABA, which represents nonalcoholic beverage makers,
said its members would voluntarily put clear,
consumer-friendly nutritional information on the front of
all their packages, vending machines and fountain machines
by 2012.
"The companies will coordinate with the Food and Drug
Administration to implement the calorie initiative, which
will go above and beyond what is required by the federal
agency's food labelling regulations," the ABA said in a
statement. The first lady said the administration had
proposed an additional $10 billion over 10 years to update
and strengthen the Child Nutrition Act.
Business/Economy
Basis
SoftExpo-2010 opens
Govt plans more steps to boost ICT sector
UNB, Dhaka
Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Wednesday said the
government is keen for development of information
communication and technology sector.
"Not only cheap computers, infrastructures are also needed
for the development of this sector. The policy support and
motivation are needed from the government and we are
sincere to extend," he said while speaking at the
inaugural ceremony of the BASIS SOFTEXPO 2010 at
Bangabandhu International Conference Center.
He said building up merit-based manpower, increasing
internal demand of software and commitments of youths to
their institutions are the main three components for
government's vision to build digital Bangladesh.
Commerce Minister Faruk Khan, State Minister for ICT
Yeafesh Osman, FBCCI president Annisul Huq, Grameenphone
CEO Oddavar Hesjedal, ambassador of Denmark Einar H
Jensen, Bangladesh Association of Software and Information
Services (BASIS) president Habibullah N Karim spoke at the
function.
The Finance Minister observed that the young people
involved in ICT sector lack commitment to their
institutions. "Loyalty and commitment is needed in such
kind of intellectual profession," he said.
Muhith also underscored the need for moving the country
ahead on vast use of internet. "In the world the ratio of
internet use is 30 out of 100, which is only one out of
100 in Bangladesh."
He said that there is a need for right policy and
motivation for the development of the country's software
industry. "We are very much alert in this regard."
Muhith paid tributes to late Finance Minister Shah AMS
Kibria for his role in making IT revolution by allowing
tax free import of IT accessories.
"The expansion of information technology took place in the
country in some phases where the late Kibria had an
important role," he added.
Finance Minister concluded by saying "for Bangladesh, the
sky is limit for computer industry or services."
Shah AMS Kibria was awarded posthumous the ICT Champion
2010 award. His wife Begum Asma Kibria received the award
from Muhith.
Commerce Minister Faruk Khan said the government would
take steps to develop this sector as the development of
Bangladesh is related to the progress in ICT.
He informed that the export target in the 2009-10 fiscal
from this sector has been set at US$ 38 million as against
actual export of US$ 33 million in last year. Yeafesh
Osman said the government would soon build the ICT Park.
"It is also necessary to announce any district as digital
district at a far place so that the theme of Digital
Bangladesh could be elaborated."
Some 150 IT companies have been engaged in export market
for software outsourcing in the world market by exporting
software and ITES to 30 destinations, including USA, UK,
Japan, Canada, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Malaysia, South
Korea and Germany.
The average annual growth of software and ITES industry in
Bangladesh is more than 40 per cent.
Some 55 organizations from home and abroad are taking part
in the five-day exposition that will remain open everyday
from 10 am to 5 pm.
BD
keen to boost trade with India
Barua tells Tripura traders
UNB, Dhaka
Industries Minister Dilip Barua Wednesday said Bangladesh
is very much keen to strengthen its trade with neighboring
India, now that trade and transit are talk of the town on
both sides.
He hoped that the existing barriers to enhancing trade
with the northeastern Indian State of Tripura would be
gone soon.
"The bilateral cooperation should be enhanced to
capitalize on the huge internal facilities of these two
countries," the minister told Tripura business leaders.
He was addressing a meeting with businessmen,
entrepreneurs and civil-society leaders of Tripura at the
Circuit House in Agartala, against the backdrop of recent
Indo-Bangladesh accords struck during Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina's India tour. Mentioning that there is a
very good scope for Bangladesh to increase its trade with
Tripura, one of the landlocked seven-sister states in
India's northeast, the visiting Bangladesh Industries
Minister underscored the need for immediate capitalization
of this facility. In the meeting, according to a release
received in Dhaka, the business-community leaders of
Tripura urged Bangladeshi entrepreneurs to invest in
labour-intensive industries over there using available
gas, rubber and other natural resources.
They said that the entrepreneurs of Bangladesh, especially
in the readymade garment, plastic, cement, CNG, furniture,
hotel and tourism sectors, could avail the opportunity.
They also sought immediate intervention of Bangladesh
government in modernizing customs office in Akhaura,
easing Dhaka-Agartala rail communications, launching
direct courier service from Dhaka to Tripura and
introducing border Hat.
Industries and Commerce Minister of Tripura Jitendra
Chaudhury, Tripura Chamber of Commerce and Industries
president ML Debnath, India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce
and Industry president Abdul Matlub Ahmed were among
others present on the occasion.
US business, tourist visas for
Bangladeshis tripled in 5 yrs
American CG says
UNB, Dhaka
US Consul General Sandra Ingram Wednesday said the number
of business and tourist visas (B1/B2) for Bangladeshi
nationals have more than tripled in the past five years,
as businesspeople favored easier trade tours.
"The Consular Section is committed to ensuring that all
visa applications are treated fairly and that
business-visa applicants are seen quickly," she said at a
luncheon meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham)
at the Sheraton Hotel.
AmCham president Aftab ul Islam chaired the monthly
luncheon meet on the topic of US visa for businesspeople.
Ms Ingram said more than 97 percent of all visa applicants
who are interviewed and approved receive their visa one or
two days after the interview.
She said for less than three percent of visa applicants
who need further administrative processing, the department
is constantly working to improve the process.
Referring to the time required for processing the visa, Ms
Ingram advised Bangladeshi businessmen to apply early for
visa to travel to the USA.
She said average wait time for a non-immigrant visa
appointment in Bangladesh is generally two days. "If the
wait time exceeds five days, business travelers may
request expedited appointments."
Ingram told her business audience that the Bureau of
Consular Affairs has enhanced the efficiency and
transparency in the visa process to facilitate
international travel.
Easing eurozone debt fears lift
Asian markets
AFP, Hong Kong
Easing worries about Europe's debt troubles relieved the
pressure on Asian shares on Wednesday, with most markets
higher following a rally on Wall Street.
Investors were boosted by hopes the European Union would
move to tackle the debt and deficit problems centring on
Greece, Spain and Portugal which threaten to hammer the
16-nation eurozone's credibility. However, a host of
markets were off their highs because of uncertainty over
any rescue package.
News that European Central Bank president Jean-Claude
Trichet was leaving a central bankers' meeting in Sydney
early, to attend an EU summit in Brussels Thursday,
bolstered speculation that a deal was in the works. "The
market knew that sooner or later, there would be a rescue
plan, because Europe couldn't just abandon Greece,"
Tachibana Securities operating officer Kenichi Hirano told
Dow Jones Newswires.
The euro still shed earlier gains, falling to 1.3758
dollars in Tokyo afternoon trade from 1.3791 in New York
late on Tuesday, and to 123.63 yen from 123.72. The dollar
bought 89.66 yen compared with 89.72 in New York.
"There are hopes that (the EU) will announce a Greek
bailout," said Hachijuni Bank dealer Masatsugu Miyata.
"But what about Portugal, Spain or Italy even if Greece is
rescued?" Tokyo shares rebounded 0.31 percent, or 31.09
points, to end at 9,963.99.
Troubled automaker Toyota gained 0.4 percent after a
recent plunge triggered by its mass global recalls,
including its popular Prius hybrid.
GP asked for clarification on
financial statement
BSS, Dhaka
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sought
clarification from GrameenPhone (GP) about its latest
financial disclosures.
GP, the largest listed company and the leading mobile
phone operator, declared its quarter four (Q4) financial
statement on Tuesday, announcing an increase in annual
profit.
The commission in a letter on Tuesday told the company
that such an statement was equivalent to the annual
financial report, which requires auditor's approval before
making it public.
But, the SEC observed that the GP's statement, prepared
cumulatively for the current financial year, has not been
audited as per the existing rules.
The commission thereby asked the company to explain its
position by tomorrow (Thursday).
The SEC has already discarded the netting facility for
buying GP shares, which came into effect on Wednesday. The
SEC move apparently caused over 1 percent decline in its
share price when the trade volume was also decreased.
When approached by BSS, GP Chief Executive Officer Oddver
Hesjedal refrained from making any comment on the SEC's
move, but said his company would clear its position in the
next annual report, coming soon.
Dhaka stock responded negatively to the withdrawal of
netting facility to GP and closed marginally down to
5600.73.
Turnover, however, increased to Taka 1,411 crore on
voluminous transactions of Beximco Group's and banking
sectors' issues.
Govt to import 120,000 metric
tons of diesel from Maldives
UNB, Dhaka
The government will import 120,000 metric ton diesel from
Maldives during the first half of this year (January-June)
to meet the domestic demand. Cabinet Committee on Public
Purchase Wednesday approved the proposal.
State-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) will
import the petroleum from Maldives National Oil Company (MNOC)
under a state-to-state deal. The premium for per barrel of
diesel is fixed at US$ 3.90. Bangladesh needs about 38-40
million tons of diesel to meet its annual demand. The
Cabinet body approved another proposal of the Food
Ministry to directly procure gunny bags from the
state-owned Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC).
Another proposal of the Power Ministry to import one lakh
electric meters for Rural Electrification Board (REB) at a
cost of Tk 8.71 crore was also approved at the meeting.
BD expats in KSA sent $285cr
remittances in fiscal 09
BSS, Sangsad Bhaban
Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister
Engineer Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain told the parliament
today that the expatriate Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia
sent US dollar 285.10 crore as remittances home during
2008-09 fiscal year. He said licenses of seven recruiting
agencies were cancelled last year on charge of frauds in
sending manpower abroad and Taka 5.10 crore was realized
as fine from those firms, which were given to the victims.
The minister said this while replying to separate queries
from treasury bench lawmakers Mohammad Shah Alam and
Lutfur Rahman.
Total 18 lakh labors are working in Saudi Arabia at
present, he said adding that 20,997 workers were sent back
home on expiry of jobs, sickness and other problems during
last five months.
Replying to another query from treasury bench lawmaker
Nasimul Alam Chowdhury, he said Greece, the south-eastern
state of Europe, has shown its keen interest in taking a
large number of manpower in various professions like
physicians, nurses and engineers. At present, over 10,000
Bangladesh expatriates are employed there, he added.
In reply to another query from treasury bench lawmaker
Junaid Ahmed Palak, he said 37 state-run technical
training centers are providing trainings for building
skilled workforce in the country.
Of these centers, six are for female, he said. Besides,
Bangladesh Institute of Marine Technology is providing
trainings to promote skill manpower, he added.
Replying to another query from independent lawmaker Md
Fazlul Azim, the minister said the government has already
discussed with Malaysian government on simplifying VISA
process for Bangladeshi workers interested for getting
jobs in Malaysia.
Experts warn of early rollback
of stimulus package in India
Xinhua, Mumbai
India should not roll back too early its stimulus measures
adopted to overcome the global economic crisis, experts
warned here Tuesday at an international business forum.
Speaking at the sidelines of India Investment Summit 2010
that was opened here Tuesday, Martial Godet, head of
investment management of BNP Paribas Investment Partners
in the new markets, said that now it's too early for India
to raise interest rates and India should monitor the
actions to be taken by other countries.
Godet said that India should only take withdrawal measures
after China and Southeast Asian countries take similar
actions. He also suggested that India government shouldn't
hike interest rates for borrowings too soon.
Still, Richard Gibbs, global head of economics with
Australian Macquarie Bank, said that Indian government
should now remove the price subsidies for fuels and the
subsidies in some service sectors. Gibbs added that Indian
government could phase down the subsidies for exporters in
the upcoming years. Rupa Rege Nitsure, chief economist
with Indian Bank of Baroda, said that the supporting
measures for exporters and small- and medium-sized
enterprises should not be removed for the time being since
they still need help.
National
Govt to keep economy active by
cutting losses on climate causes: PM
BSS, Sangsad Bhaban
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wed-nesday told the
parliament that the objective of the present government is
to keep wheels of the country's economy active through
reducing losses caused by climate change by effectively
lowering risks of disasters and overcoming it.
Replying to a question from treasury bench lawmaker Ilias
Ali Mollah, the Prime Minister said the disaster
preparedness council, inter-ministerial disaster
management committee, and district, upazila, union, city
corporation, municipality level committees are working for
raising peoples' capacity on pre-disaster preparations,
risks reduction, emergency response to overcome disasters.
For overcoming climate change impacts, various plans have
been undertaken for further strengthening and raising
embankments at coastal belts, constructing more shelter
centers and barrack houses, she added. Initiatives have
been taken to modernize Standing Order on Disaster (SOD)
and to include guidelines on post-earth quake measures in
the SOD, she said adding: "Formulation of 'National
Disaster Management Planning' and 'Disaster Management
Act' are now at the final stage."The losses due to
disaster could be reduced through alerting people by
weather forecasting and for this weather forecasting and
disaster warning system has been simplified, the Prime
Minister said.
As the people at coastal areas are vulnerable to climate
change, steps have been taken to train members of district
and upazila committees working in these areas with the new
cyclone signals and climate risk reduction measures, she
also said. Sheikh Hasina said 724 barrack houses and 52
flood and cyclone shelter centers have been constructed
costing Taka 47 crore during 2009-2010 financial year for
landless families, hit by Aila in 2007. Besides, Taka
101.85 crore have been allocated under the Food and
Disaster Management Ministry for assisting poor and
jobless people in 11 Aila affected districts, she said.
Programmes have been undertaken to construct 47 flood
shelter centers costing Taka 13.18 crore during this
fiscal year at the flood- prone and river erosion areas,
she also said. As part of the government's vision for
establishing Digital Bangladesh, the Prime Minister said
initiatives have been taken to disseminate disaster alert
message through mobile phones at the flood-prone Sirajganj
and cyclone-prone Cox's Bazar districts. She said the
government as part of government's preparations on
earthquake has already purchased machineries for
post-earthquake search and rescue operations, which have
been handed over to Armed Forces Division and Fire Service
and Civil Defense and initiatives have been taken to buy
more machineries worth Taka 69.9 crore.
Tuku for forging strong
resistance against Jamaat-Shibir
BSS, Rajshahi
State Minister for Home Affairs Advocate Shamsul Haque
Tuku on Wednesday called for forging strong resistance
against the anarchic activities being unleashed by the
Jamaat-Shibir axis.
"They have started killing the workers of progressive
student organizations as they become frustrated bec-ause
the convicted killers of the Bangabandhu murder case were
executed and the government initiated the trial process of
the war-criminals," he said.
Tuku urged all patriotic people, including the workers of
progressive political parties and their front
organizations, to become conscious and united against the
evil design of the defeated elements.
He was talking to journalists at Rajshahi Medical College
Hospital after visiting a number of injured workers of
Bangladesh Chhatra League at the hospital. They were
critically injured in the armed attacks by the Islami
Chhatra Shibir on Rajshahi University campus on Monday
night.
During the visit, the minister inquired about the health
and treatment of the injured students and asked the
concerned physicians to ensure proper treatment for them.
Tuku said time has come to resist and prevent the anti-
liberation elements and war-criminals and added the trial
of the war-criminals must be held on the soil of this
country.
As part of the blueprint of making the nation ineffective,
he said they killed a meritorious student and injured
scores others.
Tuku asked the law enforcing agencies to take tough action
against the killers and culprits so that they could be
brought to book as soon as possible.
He added that the RU massacre has prompted the road
accident of a police-van, killing six police personnel in
Natore on Tuesday. Replying to a query, he said
disciplinary action would be taken against the on-duty
law-enforcers if they are found guilty in negligence of
duty.
"I shall discuss with all the law enforcing agencies,
political parties, civil society members and RU
authorities to identify the criminals and failures of the
law-enforcers, if any," he added.
Mayor of Rajshahi AHM Khairuzzaman Liton, IGP Nur
Muhammad, Commissioner of Rajshahi Division Hafizur Rahman
Bhuiyan, DIG of Police of Rajshahi range Mukhlesur Rahman
and Commissioner of RMP Naosher Ali, among others, were
present on the occasion. Later, he exchanged views with
the local police administration and other field-level
officials concerned at the office of DIG of police of
Rajshahi range. He asked them to discharge their duties
with utmost sincerity and honesty. Apart from this, he
held views-sharing meeting with the political parties and
RU administration in this regard.
3 picnickers burned to death, 9 sustain burn
injuries in Ctg microbus fire
UNB, Chittagong
Three picnickers were burnt alive and nine others
sustained burn injuries when a microbus carrying them
caught fire at Moulvir Dokan in Satkania upazila
Wednesday.
Police said several people from Tongi were going to Cox's
Bazar by a microbus for picnic.
As the CNG-run micr-obus reached Moulvir Dokan, its driver
lost control over the steering and the vehicle hit a
roadside tree on Chittagong-Cox's Bazar highway about 7am.
The vehicle caught fire as the gas cylinder kept inside
exploded, leaving three passengers dead on the spot and
injuring nine others.
On information, fire fighters from Patiya rushed in and
put out the blaze. The three bodies were charred beyond
recognition.
The microbus was also burned completely in the incident.
Eight of the injured - Tapu, 27, Delwar Hossain, 40,
Mizanur Rahman, 36, Sabuj, 39, Abdus Sattar, 30, Anwar
Hossain, 50, Abdus Salam, 30, and Ali Ashraf Sumon, 25,--
were rushed to Chittagong Medical College Hospital while
another to Satkania upazila health complex.
WB
to give US$175 million to support water, sanitation
project in Chittagong
UNB, Dhaka
The World Bank will provide around US$ 175 million in
credit on soft terms for implementation of the Chittagong
Water Supply Improvement and Sanitation Project (CWSISP)
to improve the affordability of water, sewerage and
stor-mwater drainage services in the port city.
A World Bank release Wednesday said that following
detailed discussions in late December 2009, the government
is at present completing its review of the proposed
project scope.
At the same time, it said, CWASA and the government, along
with the World Bank, have progressed significantly on the
necessary steps towards completing the project
preparation. The project is expected to be approved by
June 30 this year.
Current water production is inadequate to cover the entire
population and especially it does not reach those living
in the slums. Ground water is increasingly susceptible to
high iron content, bacterial content, chloride and
salinity. The release said unplanned hill cutting is
resulting in soil erosion during the monsoon season,
contributing to blockage of drains. Water-logging has
become a major constraint for the development of the city.
The Chittagong Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (CWASA)
is providing water and sanitation services in Chittagong.
The proposed CWSISP will support CWASA to improve its
services through construction of selected water
production, transmission, storage and distribution
facilities.
CWSISP also aims at expanding piped water supply services
to slum areas. Through this initiative, CWASA will have
the necessary support to address long-standing investment
gaps in water supply and sanitation infrastructure in
Chittagong, and modernize the institution's operational
facilities to strengthen its capacity.
The project may also support the government's future
sector investments and institutional development program.
It will be implemented in coordination with other
development partners.
Dirty two-taka notes
Spread third generation antibiotic-resistant bacteria:
Study
UNB, Dhaka
The overused and soiled two-taka notes have become a
silent public health threat, as those contain huge third
generation antibiotic-resistant bacteria, says a study.
According to the study, each old filthy two-taka note
contains 180 to 200 crore bacteria most of which are
antibiotic-resistant that might play a role in
transmission of potentially harmful organisms in human
body.
Dr Shahdat Hossain, associate professor of Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Jahangirnagar
University, revealed the findings following a three-month
laboratory research on two-taka notes.
After randomly collecting two-taka notes from
rickshaw-pullers, street vendors and grocery shops from
Dhaka city, he and his associates found that all the
two-taka notes were contaminated with bacteria, and most
importantly they failed to kill the bacteria by third
generation antibiotics such as cefixime, cephalexin and
cephalosporin. Laboratory tests were carried out at the
university laboratory using standard microbiologic
techniques. A more complex study involving molecular
biologic methods are underway.
However, this study highlighted the possibility that money
can be a vehicle for rapid spread of bacteria such as
Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae,
Ente-robacter, Pseu-domonas and other types that can pose
serious infection risks in hospitalized or
immune-compromised patients.
Two-taka notes are widely used and each is exchanged many
times. Dhaka is the world's most populated city. So, here
it would be barely seen that one hasn't used it, the study
says.
Dr Shahdat who got gold medals from Bangladesh Academy of
Science and Third World Academy of Science said, "What we
should do with the dirtiest paper currency particularly
with the TWO-TAKA notes? Isn't the time for literal money
laundering? The answer is, yes."
Sports
Ballack worried by Germany trainer
spat
AFP, Berlin
Germany captain Michael Ballack said Wednesday that friction
over prolonging trainer Joachim Loew's contract was unsettling
for the team as the clock ticks down to the World Cup in four
months.
"The situation is not ideal. I definitely think that this
issue is going to rumble on," the Chelsea midfielder was
quoted as saying in the Bild daily.
As a result, the 33-year-old said it was "particularly
important" for Germany to put in a "good game" in its friendly
with Argentina on March 3, "so that this discussion doesn't go
on for ever."
The German Football Federation (DFB) has put off talks on a
two-year extension to Loew's and general manager Oliver
Bierhoff's contracts until after the World Cup, which runs in
South Africa from June 11 to July 11.
Loew had been expected to agree to stay on until the 2012
European Championship and on Sunday declared himself "very
angry" with the DFB's decision to publicise details of their
negotiations.
But Loew and Bierhoff appeared in front of the press on
Tuesday alongside DFB head Theo Zwanziger, promising to bury
the hatchet and to devote all their efforts into preparing for
South Africa.
"The team needs this coach," Zwanziger said. "We want success
and I say it here and now, such success at the World Cup is
only possible with this coach."
Loew, 40, took over the reins in 2006 after two years as an
assistant to Jurgen Klinsmann, winning 31 out of his 45 games
in charge and taking Germany to the final of the 2008 European
Championships.
Other players though were confident that the spat would not
take the team's eye off the ball.
"Obviously it would be better if there could be an agreement
soon," defender Philipp Lahm said. "But basically the team has
been together long enough to handle the situation.
"It doesn't pose a danger for the World Cup and it won't cut
as an excuse.
Pakistan
urged to reward more regional players
AP/UNB, Islamabad
Former Pakistan captain and wicketkeeper Rashid Latif has
called for a quota system to boost the number of national team
players from smaller cities.
"Pakistan is a big country of over 160 million people, but we
mostly see players from Karachi and Lahore wearing the green
cap," Latif told the Associated Press on Wednesday. "I know
these (big) cities have thousands of talented players, but why
are we neglecting rest of the country?" he said. "The PCB can
give Lahore and Karachi 70 per cent of representation in the
national team, but please look out for 30 per cent from
smaller cities."
The top management of country's cricket board is under severe
scrutiny after Pakistan was whitewashed in both test and
one-day series on its tour of Australia.
"We have witnessed many captains and chairmen in the past ten
years but the performance (of the national team) has not
improved," Latif said. "Changing personalities will not solve
the problem, we have to utilize talent in smaller cities."
In the past 11 years, the Pakistan Cricket Board has had four
chairmen and in just 12 months, the national team has had four
captains across test, one-day and Twenty20 internationals.
Latif, who played 37 tests and 166 one-day internationals
before retiring in 2003, runs a cricket academy in his
hometown of Karachi which has produced test players like
Younis Khan, Asim Kamal, Khurram Manzoor and Khalid Latif.
Recently he opened another academy in Haripur - a small city
in North West Frontier Province. He also plans to open two
other academies this year - in Multan (Punjab province) and
Sukkur, a city of Sindh province.
Latif said the national team was being held back by a failure
to reward the strong performances of regional players in
domestic competition.
"If countries like South Africa and India can practice it,
then why can't we try it in Pakistan?"
Latif said such quotas could be extended to apply to off-field
positions too.
Haas advances as
Roddick readies for action
AFP, California
Fourth-seeded German Tommy Haas needed a tiebreaker to get
past wild card Devin Britton 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) Tuesday in the
first round of the ATP Tour's SAP Open.
"His serve was working really well for him - not only
really hard but with good placement and I could not get a
good read on it," Haas said.
"Also serving and volleying on second serve and mixing it
up, that really surprised me. I played good at the times I
needed. The first match is always tough anyway because you
never know how you're going to feel."
Sixth-seeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber also advanced,
downing American Rajeev Ram 6-7 (7/9), 6-1, 6-3, and
seventh-seeded American Sam Querrey beat Russian Teimuraz
Gabashvili 6-3, 6-2.
Germany's Bjorn Phau beat eighth-seeded Frenchman Jeremy
Chardy 6-3, 6-1.
American Michael Russell, who played in his first
professional tournament two years ago when he was 15, beat
lucky loser Im Kyu Tae of Korea 7-6 (8/6), 6-1. Im got his
place in the draw when American Mardy Fish withdrew with a
left knee injury.
Fish, who planned to continue playing doubles here with
Querrey, had surgery on the knee in September and was able
to compete in the Australian Open. "For whatever reason
the knee is not where it needs to be and not 100 percent,"
Fish said in a statement.
Top-seeded Andy Roddick, who meets qualifier Ryler DeHeart
in his opening match Wednesday, has also battled a sore
knee after he was injured in Shanghai last October.
He also had to contend with a sore shoulder in his
five-set loss to Marin Cilic in the quarter-finals of the
Australian Open.
"It was a little touch and go for a while about playing
here," the world number seven said. "But I got the
clearance I needed after the Australian Open. The first
match will be telling. If I get through that one I should
be OK. I'm going to have to work my way into this
tournament."
Mirza upset at Pattaya Open
AFP, Pattaya, Thailand
India's Sania Mirza was beaten in the first round of the
Pattaya Open on Wednesday, slumping 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to
Tatjana Malek of Germany. Mirza, who last year finished as
runner-up to Vera Zvonareva, made a confident start and
broke serve in the opening game. Malek's aggressive
baseline play allowed her to level at 2-2, but then Mirza
took control by dropping just three points in the last
four games.
But, instead of solidifying her advantage in the second
set, Mirza allowed several opportunities to slip away.
She failed to take a 2-0 lead after holding three break
points, and she also failed to convert a fourth break
point at 2-1.
Sixth-seeded Mirza finally broke to lead 4-2 when Malek
netted a backhand, but instead of riding that advantage to
victory she claimed just four of the next 16 points as
Malek recovered to level the match.
Three breaks to start the final set left Malek leading
2-1, and although she failed to serve out the match at
5-2, she broke Mirza once more at 5-3 to secure her
victory.
Fifth seed Sybille Bammer fared better, but had to battle
hard to overcome New Zealand's Marina Erakovic 7-6 (10-8),
7-5. The Austrian left-hander broke for 3-2 but was unable
to serve out the set at 5-4, and she needed four set
points before winning the tiebreak.
Roles were reversed in the second set when Erakovic failed
to serve out the set after breaking to lead 5-4, and after
Bammer had held serve to lead 6-5 she broke her opponent
to claim victory on her third match point.
Third seed Vera Dushevina of Russia had an easier task in
overcoming Kazak Galina Voskoboeva 6-4, 6-2, but seventh
seed Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan was forced to retire with
an left ankle injury when trailing Australia's Anastasia
Rodionova 6-1, 1-0.
Irish legends out to put French to
the sword again
AFP, Paris
John Hayes, Brian O'Driscoll and Ronan O'Gara are names
writ large in the pantheon of Irish rugby greats and here
on Saturday they will attempt to repeat the experience
where the seeds of their greatness was sown - by beating
the French at the Stade de France.
The venerable trio first made their mark on Irish rugby
when they were in the side in 2000 that ended several
humiliating trips to Paris, as thanks largely to a
hat-trick of tries by O'Driscoll, they beat France 27-25
for their first win there since 1972.
They remain the sole survivors from the 22 that day and
have not tasted victory in Paris since that memorable St
Patricks Day.
But having at last fulfilled their tag of being part of
the 'golden generation' by landing the Grand Slam last
year they will not want to surrender it just two games
into this renewal.
Whilst all three of them have accrued trophies and winners
medals along the way - O'Gara and Hayes two European Cups
with Munster and O'Driscoll one European title with
Leinster last year - they are also all of them nearing a
quite remarkable feat of winning 100 caps.
Hayes, the six foot four inches prop will win his 99th cap
on Saturday, O'Driscoll the crown prince of centres his
98th and O'Gara the most resilient and courageous of
fly-halves his 95th.
For all three, though, it has not been a tale of endless
smooth sailing and at different times their very presence
in the side has been called into question, even
O'Driscoll's or 'BOD' as he is reverentially if also
humorously referred to in Ireland.
Hayes has more than the other two had to prove his many
doubters wrong time and time again but the 36-year-old has
done it in style ever since he made his debut along with
O'Gara against Scotland in 2000.
A man of few words, or at least to the press, it is best
left to former Ireland captain Keith Wood - who played
with all three of them - to sum up why 'The Bull' as he is
fondly known has lasted for so long at the very top.
"Brian O'Driscoll's brilliance is something that they (the
supporters) can admire but that skill is a world away from
every would-be player or supporter on the terraces," wrote
Wood last year.
"Hayes is industry and hard work, a triumph of substance
over talent. He is a carrot to future players of what
determination and application can achieve."
O'Driscoll is a public relations minder's dream, smooth as
silk in interviews, good looking and intelligent to boot
but even he was scrabbling for words at the sad end of the
previous coach Eddie O'Sullivan's reign.
However, a mixture of injuries - the most serious when he
was spear tackled in the first minute of the first British
and Irish Lions test against the All Blacks in 2005 which
he said made it look as if 'a shark had tried to tear my
right arm off' - and signs of a lowering of his high
playing standards had some even daring to whisper that he
was no longer indispensable.
Instead, ever the competitor, he has raised his standards
and insists he is far from done yet. "I still have more to
give. I have seen players leave before their time, and I
would hate to do that," said the 31-year-old. "So why
bother with an end date? I want to set records. I want to
do everything on the rugby field within my means."
O'Gara, or as in these days where everyone seemingly has
to be labelled with a nickname 'ROG', looked last November
to have become the number two choice behind the new kid on
the block Jonathan Sexton, especially when the 24-year-old
Leinster star kicked all the points in the victory over
world champions South Africa.
China women beat SKorea
in East Asia championship
AFP, Tokyo
Ma Xiaoxu and Yuan Fan scored two goals to give China a
2-1 win over 2005 winners South Korea in the four-nation
East Asian football championship on Wednesday.
Both China and South Korea now have one win and one defeat
each, after the Chinese lost to Japan and the Koreans beat
Taiwan in their first games.
After a scoreless first half, midfielder Pang Fengyue sent
a cross into the area, where forward Ma nodded home to
open the scoring in the 51st minute.
In the 63rd minute, skipper Bi Yan hit a right corner into
the area, allowing defender Yuan to head the ball, which
then changed course after touching a defender and went
between the legs of hapless goalkeeper Kim Jung-Mi.
South Korea managed to pull one back thanks to forward Ji
So-Yun's direct free kick from just outside the penalty
area in the 85th minute, completing the scoring.
"It was a good game," said China coach Shang Ruihua. "We
lost to Japan in our opening game and that changed my
players mentally. This win is very important, because some
of my players were not in good condition."
"Overall, we had some ups and downs, but we started very
well in the beginning and the goals were excellent.
Hopefully, my team will improve further through this
championship."
The Chinese women, who were third in the previous
championship in 2008, got off to a solid start with
midfielder You Jia hitting the first shot on goal.
But South Korea soon got into their rhythm, with forward
Ji So-Yun repeatedly threatening the Chinese goal mouth.
Her shot in the 36th minute was the best in the first
half, but the ball hit the bar.
China also missed a goal when midfielder Yu Yuan's shot
was saved by the Korean goalkeeper before the break.
Korea coach Lee Sang-Yup admitted that the missed goal
affected his players in the second half.
"As a coach of the losing team, I have nothing to say. I'm
not satisfied with today's game, but we played better than
in our first game," said Lee.
"We had a shot that hit the bar. That affected my players
in the second half mentally. If we had scored that goal,
my players would have played much better," he added.
Yousuf says one player disturbing team
AP/UNB, Islamabad
Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf says there is one player
on the national team who is disturbing team unity, but
stopped short of naming him. "There's no doubt that
there's only one player who is spoiling the atmosphere of
the dressing room," Yousuf told a talk show on GEO
television Tuesday night. Yousuf said he would reveal the
name Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt.
The player in question will be scrutinized as part of a
PCB inquiry - headed by chief operating officer Wasim Bari
- into how the team managed to lose every match in its
test and one-day tour of Australia.
The committee will start its working from Friday and will
meet with coach Intikhab Alam, manager Abdul Raqeeb and
Yousuf. "I remember in one meeting in Australia we all
three (coach, manager and captain) agreed that this player
is disturbing the team unity," Yousuf said. Yousuf
accepted the captaincy for the series against New Zealand
and Australia after Younis Khan stepped down due to poor
form when Pakistan lost a one-day series to New Zealand in
the United Arab Emirates last year. "I was made captain
for the world's toughest series against Australia," Yousuf
said.
"I don't have natural leadership qualities in me but I
have tried hard to do a good job. "It is unfair to compare
me with (Australia captain) Ricky Ponting as far as
captaincy is concerned because he is far more
experienced."
Yousuf said he was willing to continue lead the side, if
the PCB asked him to do so.
"There should be a long term captain to overcome
difficulties in the team," Yousuf said. "But if the PCB
thinks there's someone else to lead the side, I have no
problems in playing under him."
Pakistan is scheduled to play its 'home' test series
against Australia in England where it will also compete
against England in a four-test series this summer.
Midway through the one-day series against Australia, Butt
was reported to say that the board will look for a new
captain, though he later denied issuing the statement.
Dhaka Div earns 3-wicket win over Sylhet in
National Cricket League
UNB, Dhaka
Dhaka Division earned a three-wicket victory over Sylhet
Division on the third day of the four-day 5th round match
EBL 11th National Cricket League at the Shaheed Chandu
Stadium in Bogra Wednesday.
Chasing a target of 180 runs, Dhaka Division resumed their
2nd innings with overnight 127 for 5 and finally scored
181 in 67.5 overs for the loss of seven wickets. Night
watch batsman Nadimuddin (47) contributed 67 not out off
185 balls with nine fours to be adjudged man of the match.
Another night watch batsman Nadif Chowdhury, who was
batting with 18 runs, scored useful 44 runs off 82 balls
with seven fours and a six. Besides, Subhagato Chowdhury
(25), Mosharraf Hossain (18) and Marshal Ayub (10) were
the other major contributors for Dhaka.Saju Dutta,
Maisukur Rahman and Nasir Hossain took two wickets each
for 17, 27 and 41 runs respectively. Dhaka Division, which
were bundled out for 91 in their first innings in reply to
Sylhet Division's first innings total 172 runs, smartly
returned to the game after dismissing Sylhet Division for
98 in the 2nd innings.
In another match at Shaheed Kamruzzaman Stadium in
Rajshahi, Chittagong Division scored 318 for 5 in 90 overs
in the 2nd innings to a take 71-run overall lead at stumps
on the 3rd day, today (Wednesday).
One down Gazi Salauddin contributed 88 runs off 145 balls
with 14 fours while opener Mahbubul Karim scored 170-ball
85 runs with nine fours and a six. Faisal Hossain and
Elias Sunny were batting with 62 and 34 runs respectively.
National colour pacer Dollar Mahmud grabbed two wickets
for 43 runs while Ziaur Rahman, Syed Rasel and Murad Khan
took one wicket each.
Earlier, Chittagong Division fell victim of follow-on as
they were all out for 199 in the first innings replying to
Khulna Division's huge 446 runs for 9 (declared) that
featured two tons by Tushar Imran (109) and Habibul Bashar
(103).
At the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in Khulna, Rajshahi
Division (336 runs in 1st innings), today resumed their
2nd innings with overnight 36 for 3 and were all out for
183 in 58.5 overs.
In reply, Barisal Division (244 runs in 1st innings),
resumed their 2nd innings with a winning target of 276
runs and were in the driving seat scoring 162 runs for no
loss in 35.5 overs at stumps on the 3rd day, today. They
need another 114 runs with all 10 wickets in hand on the
last and final day to win the match. Shahriar Nafees and
Fazle Rabbi were batting with 80 and 78 runs respectively.
Twitter-fan Monfils won't slow his info flow
AFP, Rotterdam
Fourth-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils, up half the night
feeling ill and feeling the need to document his sorry
state on Twitter, scraped through Wednesday into the
second round of the Rotterdam Open with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2
win over Olivier Rochus.
But the ATP number 13, denied that he should be wary of
giving constant updates lest his information be used by
gamblers.
"I love to play tennis but I don't think about it much off
the court," said last week's semi-finalist in
Johannesburg. "I'm a 23-year-old person. What we do off
court with Twitter or Facebook - it's private life. I
don't even know all of the rules of tennis, I just play."
Monfils tweeted on Tuesday evening that he was feeling
poorly a day prior to his opening match at the Ahoy
stadium, then came back online at 1 a.m. saying he could
not sleep.
But despite a slow start, he managed to earn only his
second win over Rochus, who came to the encounter with a
3-1 lead.
Monfils overcame his sickly feeling with 19 aces and six
breaks of the Belgian in 1hour, 43 minutes to next play
Dutch youngster Thiemo de Bakker, who beat him in a Davis
Cup match last autumn.
I felt so-so on court," said Monfils, now 4-2 in his third
Rotterdam appearance.
"He played well in the first set, I was trying to get into
the match. I took more risks to try for the win. I stayed
calm and found a solution.
"I certainly didn't feel 100 percent, I tried to train
last night but felt a fever. It was a big change from
South Africa and 30 Celsius to minus-five here. I'm still
sick but I hope to wake up better each day."
Monfils was to be joined on court later by fellow seed
Nikolay Davydenko as the number two Russian opens against
Spain's Johannesburg champion Feliciano Lopez.
China beat SKorea in East Asia championship
AFP, Tokyo
China caused a major upset by defeating defending
champions South Korea for the first time in 32 years on
Wednesday, with a 3-0 score line at the four-nation East
Asian football championship.
China, with four points from a win and a draw, now lead
the round robin competition, ahead of South Korea on three
points, Japan on one and winless Hong Kong.
"I'm really happy, as the coach, that we won today. We
prepared for this game very well and we proved what we've
done was right," said China coach Gao Hongbo.
"There are two keys to the victory-first we controlled the
game really well mentally. That resulted in an early goal.
We were never flat footed when we faced a Korean
counter-attack.
"Secondly, my players did our tactics very well,
especially captain Du Wei and forward Qu Bo. They
understand my tactics very well. And we had luck as well
in scoring three goals," he added.
The Chinese men needed only five minutes to score the
first goal when Qu Bo sent a cross from the right,
allowing midfielder Yu Hai to knock a header into the net.
In the 27th minute, midfielder Yang Hao snatched a Korean
ball and produced the last pass for Gao Lin's goal.
China made it three up when midfielder Deng Zhuoxiang
exchanged a pass with Qu Bo into the area and beat three
defenders to fire a shot in the 60th minute.
The Chinese, who won the championship in 2005, displayed
solid defence and rarely allowed the Koreans to send a
cross.
The biggest threat came in the 68th minute when Korean
skipper Kim Jung-Woo hit the only shot from close range
almost into the Chinese goal as goalkeeper Yang Zhi came
out to save it.
But defender Rong Hao narrowly cleared it and the ball hit
the bar and bounced back onto the field.
Korea coach Huh Jung-Moo put the defeat down to the fact
he had used several players who had never played in
combination with the others before. He said he needed to
see them play before the World Cup in June.
"It will happen sooner or later," Huh said of his
country's first defeat by China in 32 years. "I was
disappointed, but the level of the Chinese team has
improved a lot, for sure. Overall, we were not in our good
form."
"We defended too much. We should have attacked more. But
we lost a goal too early and we were never able to gain
the momentum. We also lost chances of counter-attacks," he
lamented.
Female ref makes English football history
AFP, London
Amy Fearn has become the first woman to referee an English
football league match, three years after her involvement
in the game was denounced by one manager as "tokenism for
politically correct idiots."
Fearn's chance to make history came after 71 minutes of
Coventry City's 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Tuesday
evening, when the original referee, Tony Bates, limped off
with a calf injury.
Fearn, who had been running the line, took the whistle
while the fourth official stood in for her. Her brief
stint in charge passed off without controversy, although
she did have to put up with some good-natured cheers when
she awarded her first free-kick.
Fearn, then working under her maiden name Amy Rayner,
first made headlines in November 2006 when Mike Newell,
then the manager of Luton, took exception to her
performance on the line in his club's defeat by Queen's
Park Rangers.
"She shouldn't be here," Newell fumed after the match. "I
know that sounds sexist but I am sexist. This is not park
football, so what are women doing here?"
He went on to claim, "It is tokenism-for the
politically-correct idiots," before wearily asking: "When
do we reach a stage when all officials are women? Because
then we are in trouble!" Newell subsequently apologised
but was still fined 6,500 pounds by the Football
Association.
The former Blackburn and Everton striker left Luton in
March 2007. He subsequently spent a year in charge of
struggling League Two side Grimsby but was sacked by them
in October.
Lithuania appoint
Zutautas as new coach
AFP, Vilnius
Lithuania have appointed former international Raimondas
Zutautas as their youngest-ever coach, tasked with
steering them to Euro 2012, after deciding not to extend
Portuguese manager Jose Couceiro's contract.
"We were not satisfied with the former coach. Many people
were happy with the national team's wins, but we have had
better results in previous qualifiers," Liutauras
Varanavicius, head of the Lithuanian Football Association,
told AFP Wednesday.
At 37, former midfielder Zutautas is the youngest-ever
manager of Lithuania, who rejoined the international
football family after the Baltic state won freedom from
the crumbling Soviet Union in 1991.
He was capped 40 times for the national side between 1995
and 2003, scoring one goal, and wearing the captain's
armband for the final three years.
As a club player he scored one goal in Israeli side
Maccabi Haifa's 2002 Champions League 3-0 defeat of
Manchester United, and also saw international action with
Greece's Panathinaikos.
His on-pitch career came to an abrupt end in 2004 when he
suffered a serious knee ligament injury.
He is relatively untested as a manager, although he was
previously assistant coach at Russian side Alania
Vladikavkaz.
Under Couceiro, appointed in 2008, Lithuania beat Austria,
Romania and Serbia in their qualifying campaign for this
year's World Cup in South Africa, but failed to win a
berth after finishing fourth in their group.
A slot at the 2012 European championships would be a boon
for travelling Lithuanian fans as the tournament will be
hosted by neighbouring Poland, plus Ukraine. Zutautas will
face an uphill task, however.
In last Sunday's qualifying round draw in the Polish
capital Warsaw, Lithuania found themselves in Group I,
with reigning European champions Spain, the Czech
Republic, Scotland and minnows Liechtenstein.
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