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Leading News
Holy
Eid-e-Miladunnabi today
BSS, Dhaka
Holy Eid-e-Miladunnabi will be observed in the country
today ( Saturday) marking the birth day of Great Prophet
Hazrat Muha-mmad (PBUH) 1,440 years ago on this day of the
month of Rabiul Awal with divine blessings for the
mankind.
The Muslims across the country will join special prayers
and stage colourful street marches to mark the day which
is also the day of 'ofat' (departure) of the Prophet (PBUH).
Various religious, socio-political and cultural
organizations have chalked out programmes in the capital
and elsewhere in the country marking the day.
The day is a public holiday.
Bangladesh Television, Bangladesh Betar and private
television channels and radio stations will air special
programmes, while newspapers will publish supplements
highlighting the significance of the day.
President Zillur Rahman, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and
leader of the opposition Begum Khaleda Zia have given
separate messages on the occasion. They greeted the
countrymen and the Muslims across the world on the
occasion.
Meanwhile, Islamic Foundation began a fortnight-long
programme at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque today on the
occasion of the Miladunnabi.
The programme includes hamd and naat, seminar and qirat
mahfil.
Quran Khwani and Milad Mahfil will be held at the mazar of
Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Muji-bur Rahman at
Tungipara in Gopalganj tomorrow.
Dewanbag Sharif will hold Asheke-Rasul (SM) conference at
Motijheel Babe Rahmat at 7 am tomorrow.
Anjuman-e Rahmania Mainia Maizbhandaria will hold a rally
and 'jasnejulush' at the historic Paltan Maidan.
Besides, Azimpur Dayera Sharif, Zaker Party and Jatiya
Press Club will organize different programmes on the
occasion.
Many other organisations also have worked out programmes
to observe this great day in a befitting manner and with
due respect.
BSF
atrocities continue on border
Another Bangladeshi farmer gunned down
TBT Report
The atrocities of Indian Border Security Force (BSF) are
continuing unabated on the Bangladesh border despite
repeated protests. IN the latest incident of their killing
spree, yet another Bangladeshi national was killed on
Friday - the second one in two days.
A BSS report says: A Bangladeshi farmer was gunned down by
BSF on Moheshpur border in Jenaidah district Friday
morning.
The victim was identified as Shafiqul Islam alias Shafi,
30, son of Abdus Sattar of Baghdanga village under
Moheshpur upazila.
BDR and police sources said BSF members of Ramnagar
outpost opened fire on Shafi when he was working on the
farmland near pillar No. 60 along Baghdanga border. He
died on the spot.
Later BSF personnel took his body to Ramnagar camp in
India. BDR authorities have contacted their Indian
counterparts and are trying to bring back the body of
Bangladeshi farmer, the sources said.
It may be pointed out, one more Bangladeshi citizen was
killed along Chapai-nawabganj border on Thursday in
violation of India's repeated pledges to stop such
killings.
With the latest killing on Friday in Jenaidha BSF killed
98 Bangladeshis in the last 13 months. The number of
Bangladeshis killed by BSF during the nine years period
from January 1, 2000 to February 25, 2010 stands at 822.
BSF also injured 858 and abducted 897 Bangladeshis in the
same period. The killings of unarmed Bangladeshis by the
BSF on the border are continuing in clear violation of the
spirit of good neighborliness as well as international law
and despite repeated pledges by the Indian authorities to
stop it.
In every meeting between BSF and BDR and also between the
higher level officials of the two countries, the Indian
side assures that killing of Bangladeshis by its forces on
the border would come to an end immediately. But this
pledge is seldom implemented.
No curfew as situation largely normal in Khagrachhari
Police identify 8 prime suspects for violence
BSS, Dhaka
Normalcy is gradually returning to southeastern
Khagrachhari hill town with opening of shops and movement
of people while police said they identified eight "prime
culprits" as 66 were sent to jail for their suspected
roles in Tuesday's ethnic violence.
"The situation is largely normal," deputy commissioner of
Khagrachhari Mohammad Abdullah told newsmen after leaders
of tribesmen and Bengali speaking settlers joined a "peace
meeting" chaired by Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Internal
Refugee Affairs Task Force chief Jyotindra Lal Tripura.
Tripura told the meeting, also joined by local
administrative and security officials, that the violence
was instigated in a planned manner to destabilise the
rugged region with an apparent objective to put the
government into a difficult situation.
The senior leaders of the tribesmen and Bangali community
on Friday also staged several other peace rallies in the
district in their bid to restore normalcy as the security
forces last night enforced a curfew for the third
consecutive night while army troops and RAB men continued
to patrol the streets. The authorities, however, decided
not to enforce the curfew from tonight.
Deputy inspector general of police (DIG) of Chittagong
range Asadu-zzaman Mia told the meeting that eight
detained people were initially identified as "prime
culprits" while 66 of earlier detained 76 suspects were
sent to jail for their suspected roles during the violence
which left one dead, scores injured and over 50 houses and
establishments torched.
He also alleged that masterminds of the Bangali-Chakma
clash regulated the violence from Dhaka and Chittagong
city while the intelligence agencies were working to
gather the detailed information.
Mia, however, declined to name the masterminds or the
eight arrested "prime culprits" in the interest of further
investigations.
The district administration started providing succor to
violence victims while the deputy commissioner said the
government already allocated Taka 500,000 in cash, 200
tonnes of rice, Taka 12 lakh for rebuilding damaged houses
and 500 bundles of corrugated iron sheets. "Besides the
victim 100 families will be offered 20 kilograms of rice
from March to May under the government's VGF Prog-ramme,"
Abdullah said.
BNP demands SSF for Khaleda's security
UNB, Dhaka
Opposition BNP on Friday demanded immediate deployment of
adequate number of Special Security Force (SSF) for
ensuring proper security to the party chairperson and
leader of the opposition, Khaleda Zia.
The BNP constituted 19 teams comprising central leaders to
further accelerate and consolidate the party's
organizational activities. The teams will organize
meetings of party workers and public meetings in all
district headquarters within next April 7. During this
period,
BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia will address public meetings
in all divisional cities. The demand for deployment of SSF
to provide security for Khaleda and the organizational
decisions came from a meeting of the BNP's standing
committee, the highest policy making body of the party,
held at the party chairperson's Gulshan office on Thursday
night with Khaleda Zia in the chair.
BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan briefed
reporters at the party's Nayapaltan central office Friday
about the decisions of the meeting. He said the standing
committee meeting expressed deep shock at the tragic death
of 21 garment workers in a fire at a garment factory in
Gazipur on Thursday night. The meeting prayed for peace of
the departed souls and also demanded compensation to the
families of the victims and proper treatment of the
injured. The meeting directed the leaders and workers of
BNP and its front and associate organizations to work for
the success of the party's organizational programmes. It
condemned and expressed indignation over the "failure of
the government and the authorities concerned to provide
due respect and security to the leader of the opposition
at the central Shaheed Minar at midnight on February 21.
The standing committee meeting expressed concern over the
two bomb attacks in last few days aiming to kill BNP
chairperson and leader of the oppositition Khaleda Zia and
demanded deployment of adequate number of SSF for her
security. It condemned the "unpardonable failure" of the
government and responsible officials concerned in saving
the lives of army officers as well as lives and dignity of
innocent women and children from inhuman and barbaric
torture during the barbaric Pilkhana carnage on February
25 last year.
The meeting demanded immediate trial of and punishment to
the real culprits and their patrons found involved in the
barbaric killing incident at the BDR headquarters.
It also condemned the government for illegally detaining
BNP leader Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu in the BDR case. The
meeting expressed concern over the unwarranted unrest
prevailing in the Chittagong Hill Tracts following the
withdrawal of army from the region despite strong
objection by the opposition including BNP. It demanded of
the government to take quick effective steps for ensuring
security of life and property of all citizens in the
region. BNP senior joint secretary general Mirza Fakhrul
Islam Alamgir was also present at the press briefing.
City dwellers get
filthy, stinking WASA water
UNB, Dhaka
Residents in many areas of the city are getting water
fouled with filth and stench from the Dhaka WASA supply
lines for the last few weeks, making their lives
miserable.
The situation has deteriorated for the last two weeks in
several areas of the city, including Moghbazar, Naya
Paltan, Sheorapara and Mirpur. The residents in these
areas complained that the WASA water they get is blackish
and stinky, not suitable for human consumption, and poses
serious health hazard. Sadman Morshed Ronny, a
schoolteacher of Mogh-bazar area, said: "The water
supplied by the Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA)
is not at all usable. We've to buy bottled water for
drinking, which has increased our cost of living."
Farzana Haque, a housewife of the area, said: "The WASA
water is so filthy, having bad smell, that we cannot bathe
and do other household works with such water." "The
situation has worsened as the water cannot be used even
for cooking. We've to buy water from outside for cooking
and other household purposes," said Rabeya Begum, another
resident of Moghbazar. Sadia Taba-ssum, a resident of Naya
Paltan area, said water at her house is often soiled and
stinky.
"We're getting dirty water with bad odour through the WASA
pipeline for several months. For the first few months, we
got contaminated water infested with young earthworms,"
said Rokeya Begum of the area. Now the situation improved
slightly, as earthworms are not found in tap waters, but
the stench remains, she said adding that they have to
fetch water everyday from nearby Arambagh pump for
drinking and cooking purpose.
The city dwellers alleged that the WASA authorities did
not take any action to resolve the problem though they
were informed of the matter. A WASA official, wishing
anonymity, said the problem was caused by the leakages in
pipelines.
Naheed for educating young generation with
new tech
BSS, Dhaka
Education Minister Nurul Islam Naheed on Friday said young
generation should be educated with newer technologies for
building a prosperous Bangladesh.
"We already have taken different initiatives to reach new
technology to the young generation," he said this while
inaugurating Bangladesh Online Community Conference-2010
in the auditorium of Public Library.
Editor of the daily Samakal Golam Sarwar and Computer
Expert Mostafa Zabbar, among others, addressed the
function. Naheed said the world has advanced a lot in the
field of technology. "But we still lag behind the
technological advancement. We do not want to remain
backward in this field," he added.
The minister said all educational institutions must be
computerized for building a skilled manpower in future to
cope with the global competition. The government has
provided computers to many educational institutions at
high school level, he added. "We are taking initiatives to
bring all educational institutions under computer
literacy," he said.
"Our rate of illiteracy and poverty hinder technological
progress," the minister said adding the country would have
to move forward braving many hurdles.
Naheed said the government has already introduced 17
'mobile IT labs' to aware school students about the
information technology.
Back Page
Japan keen to make local public
buildings earthquake resistant
BSS, Dhaka
Japan government will actively consider providing
financial support to Bangladesh for retrofitting its all
public buildings with seismic resistance as the country is
under immense thereat of devastating tremor. "We will soon
transfer our retrofitting technology to local engineers by
retrofit some public buildings here on pilot basis,"
Project Formulation Officer of Disaster Mitigation and
Climate Change wing of Japan International Coopera-tion
Agency (JICA) Hideki Katayama told BSS here. After the
pilot project, Katayama said, JICA can conceder to
formulate a project to provide financial support for
re-strengthening all important public buildings, if the
Bangladesh government would show their interest in this
regard. Retrofitting is such a kind of technique, which is
applied to a building as an extra protection with
additional support of by shear wall or steel. Katayama
said all imp-ortant buildings in Japan, one of the most
tremor porn country in the world, are retrofitted, a
modification technique of existing structures to make them
more resistant to seismic activity, ground motion, or soil
failure due to earthquakes, he said.
Bangladesh must have taken prompt steps to re-strengthen
its all important public buildings including hospitals,
fire stations and schools with seismic resistance so that
these kinds of important establishment would not be
affected after any high- scale earthquake.
JICA Disaster Management and Climate Change Progr-amme
officer M Anisuzzaman Chowdhury said a memorandum of
understanding (MOU) has already been signed between JICA
and Public Works Department to transfer the technology.
A JICA expert team will be deployed here soon to retrofit
one buildings of secretariat and Dhaka Medical College
Hospital building on pilot basis, he said.
"During the pilot programme, the Japanese experts will
provide theoretical and practical training to the local
engineers about the technique," he said.
In this regard, Bangladesh Earthquake Society President
Prof Jamilur Reza Choudhury told BSS that the government
needs to ensure strict implementation of building codes as
well as identify and retrofit the vulnerable buildings.
"The government should retrofit all public buildings as
soon as possible and can offer soft loan to the people as
they could retrofit their old buildings," he said.
Prof Jamilur Reza also said an earthquake preparedness
master plan must be prepared for the cities and towns of
Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Mymensingh and Rangpur
districts as about 100 million people of these areas are
living in huge threat of devastating tremor.
Economic, social
uplift not possible so long malnutrition persists: Expert
UNB, Dhaka
Access to adequate, safe and nutritious food is essential
to achieve economic and social development in the country,
said an expert.
"Safe and balanced food is essential to ensure productive
human resources - a precondition of economic growth and
development of a nation," said Dr. AFM Saiful Islam, the
executive director of Bangladesh Applied Nutrition and
Human Resource Develo-pment Board (BAN-HRDB).
But the efforts towards creating awareness among different
stakeholders throughout the country about applied
nutrition, food hygiene, sanitation, food safety and
nutrition security are being hampered for lack of trained
manpower of BAN-HRDB. Talking to UNB, Dr Saiful Islam said
that presently, they have 45 people working across the
country. There is need for further appointment - of some
250-300 skilled people - to accelerate the activities of
the Board.
He said there is a firm commitment from the government to
patronize the BAN-HRDB to carry out training and
motivational activities throughout the country on a wider
scale.
The executive director of BAN-HRDB informed that the Board
would have three more regional centers-in Rangpur,
Mym-ensingh and Jessore-apart from its existing centers in
Sylhet, Barisal, Sirajganj and Noakhali.
The Board is presently conducting training activities on
food-based applied nutrition, food hygiene and sanitation,
food safety and nutrition security in collaboration with
the district and upazila level officials of Department of
Agriculture Extension (DAE), and Fisheries and Livestock
Department. In the wake of massive food adulteration that
causes cancer, lungs and kidney failures, Dr Saiful Islam
said they have a plan to set up quality control cell for
advocacy to the traders and businessmen on the adverse
affects of food adulteration.
He said that malnourished, underweight and stunted
children in constituted 47.8 percent, 42.4 percent and
12.7 percent respectively in 2005 in Bangladesh, the worst
compared to other South Asian countries. "Almost 50
percent of country's total population is underweight and
stunted."
RU campus
violence
Shibir leader arrested for killing, confesses his
involvement
UNB, Dhaka
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested a leader of Islami
Chhatra Shibir from Narayanganj on Thursday night on
charge of killing Rajshahi University Chhatra League
activist Farruk Hossain during campus violence early this
month.
The arrested Raijul Islam, President of RU Habibur Rahman
Hall unit Shibir, admitted that Farruk was killed in a
planned way.
He made the confession before journalists at a press
briefing organized by RAB-2 at its Agargaon office in the
city on Friday.
RAB intelligence wing chief Lt Col Ziaul Ahsan told
reporters that a team of RAB-intelligence wing conducted a
drive in Chowdhurybari area of Siddhirganj upazila in
Narayanganj district and arrested Raijul Islam, accused in
the murder case filed by BCL after the RU clash.
He said Raijul went into hiding after the RU campus
violence and took shelter in different parts of the
country at different times.
On the basis of information provided by Detective Branch
police, the RAB team conducted the drive on Thursday night
and finally tracked him down.
Raijul Islam said he was directly involved in the killing
of Farruk and RU violence on February 9.
He said they hacked Farruk to death and dumped the body in
a manhole as planned at a Shibir meeting before the clash
at Suhra-wardy Hall of Rajs-hahi University. Raijul also
said that he along with nearly 300 other Shibir activists
rampaged on the RU campus following their agreed plan.
Farruk Hossain, a final-year student of mathematics
department of RU and a BCL activist, was hacked to death
during overnight clashes between the two rival student
organizations on February 9.
Motihar police recovered the body of Farruk Hossain from
inside a manhole the following morning (Feb 10).
The same day, police and BCL Rajshahi University unit
general secretary filed two cases with Motihar Police
Station accusing around 600 Shibir activists in connection
with the campus violence and the murder of Farruk Hossain.
Raijul Islam is an accused in the Farruk Hossain murder
case.
Committee to probe
garment factory fire in Gazipur
UNB, Dhaka
A three-member committee was formed Friday to investigate
Thursday night's devastating fire at Garib and Garib
Sweater Factory at Bhogra here that killed 21 workers and
injured 20 others.
Additional District Magistrate Hassan Sarwar is heading
the committee to find out the cause of the nighttime fire.
The garment factory was declared closed for four days
following the fire incident.
Meanwhile, the bodies of 21 workers burnt to death or
perished in suffocation in the blaze were handed over to
their relatives Friday morning.
The factory authorities gave Tk 15,000 to the relatives of
the each of the deceased in presence of the BGMEA
officials for transportation of the bodies and their
burial.
Police and Fire Brigade sources said the fire erupted from
the Sewing Section on the first floor at about 8:45pm and
raged through other floors of the seven-storied building
that housed the major sweater factory. Most of the workers
died in suffocation in the blaze as they were locked into
factory rooms on completion of their night duty for their
security like previous days. At least 20 other workers
also suffered serious burn injuries while others managed
to come out of the factory. Fire Brigade sources suspected
that the fire might have originated from an electric short
circuit. The workers of the Sewing Section managed to come
out, but those on the 3rd and 6th floor were subjected to
the victims of the devastating fire.
"A ball of black smoke was billowing in the air creating
panic among the local people," a witness said.Five
firefighting units rushed to the spot and brought the
blaze under control at midnight.
The deceased were identified as Farida, of Pirojpur
district, Jahanara and Shahinur Islam and Prodip Kumar of
Jamalpur, Abul Kashem, Majeda and Majeda Khatun, Salma
Begum, Sahara Begum, Rahima Khatum of Mymensingh, Rina,
Rasheda of Comilla, Mostafizur and Jarina and her daughter
Shantana, of Rangpur, Asiya of Narsingdi, Sufia of
Faridpur, Badal Mia of Gaibandha, Alamgir of Thakurgaon,
Rasheda Begum of Narail and Momtaz of Sirajganj district.
The wounded were admitted to Gazipur Sadar Hospital, Tongi
Hospital and local clinics.
Road blockade
following death of college student in Jessore
Students-police clash, vehicles damaged
UNB, Jessore
Students of Jessore MM University College Friday
vandalized vehicles and put barricade on busy Mujib road
in the district town following the death of a fellow
student, disrupting traffic for seven hours.
The agitated students also clashed with police as the law
enforcers tried to quell the situation that left three
cops injured.
Witnesses said a truck ploughed through a rickshaw near
the Zila School at about 11am today, killing rickshaw
passenger Rikta, also a third year student of Geography
Dept of MM College, on the spot.
Another student Jharna and the rickshaw-puller sustained
severe injuries in the accident. Angered by the accident,
students came out of the college and barricaded the road
burning tyres, disrupting communication till 6pm. They
also damaged a number of vehicles.
The students clashed with police as the law enforcers
intercepted them, leaving three cops including the OC of
Detective Branch injured.
Editorial
Fire at RMG factory
At
least 21 garment workers, 15 of them women, died due to smoke
inhalation during an incident of fire at a sweater factory in
Gazipur Thursday night. The fire broke out around 9 pm on the
first floor of Garib & Garib sweater factory in Gazipur.
Panicked workers rushed to the upper floors to escape the
flames and a number of them died of smoke inhalation there.
Another 30 people were injured in the fire. They were admitted
to different hospitals.
According to Fire Service and Civil Defence officials huge
smoke was the main reason behind the casualties. The fire
broke out on the first floor of the seven-storey building that
houses the sweater factory but it did not spread to other
floors. A huge amount of smoke caused the deaths. A short
circuit could be the reason for the incident of fire. Fire
fighters rushed to the spot and doused the flame at 11:30pm.
Besides, six ambulances were used in rescue operations. Garib
& Garib sweater factory had around 3,500 workers and most of
them had left for home before the fire broke out.
Incidents of fire have been taking place frequently in and
around the capital. In the recent past devastating fire caused
heavy losses in Bashundhara city building and the National
Text Book Board book deport at Tejgaon. But the fire incident
in Gazipur is much more devastating in view of the loss to
human lives.
Garment industries in the country are most unprotected and
unsafe in many respects and the workers there are exposed to
serious insecurity. Over the years a large number of workers
died from fire incidents and stampedes. Most of the factories
are congested, without sufficient fire fighting arrangements
and without arrangements for quick exits in case of emergency.
Much has been said about these shortcomings in seminars and
newspapers, but all in vain.
What has happened on Thursday in the Garib & Garib Sweater
Factory in Gazipur is very unfortunate. Some of the workers
who were on duty there returned home as dead bodies plunging
their families into untold miseries. We are shocked at their
deaths and urge the factory authorities to pay adequate
compensation to the families of the fire victims. We also call
upon the owners of the Ready Made Garment (RMG) factories to
strengthen the security arrangements in the factories so that
the fire incidents, other accidents and deaths of workers can
be averted.
Power tariff hike
The
people will have to pay more now as power tariff although they
are suffering terribly due to electricity crisis and frequent
load shedding and the crisis is likely to worsen further in
the summer. According to an agency report, Bangladesh Energy
Regulatory Commission (BERC) is set to increase the power
tariff at the retail level from March 1 by 3 to 5 percent. The
government last increased the power tariff in 2007 by 5
percent at the retail level. The tariff would be increased at
the retail level for all electricity distributing agencies.
The BERC completed public hearing on the power tariff increase
proposal of all distributing agencies last year. The agencies
last year submitted applications to the BERC to increase power
price by around 10 to 24 per cent.
The power tariff is being increased on the ploy of rise in
production cost and resultant financial loss of the
distribution agencies. But the fact remains that two agencies
already make huge profits. Out of four agencies, DESCO made a
profit of over Tk 100 crore in 2009. The DPDC, formerly the
Dhaka Electric Supply Authority, and the WZPDC also made huge
profits last year as they purchased electricity at lower rates
from the PDB and sold at a higher rate to consumers. The power
tariff of the Rural Electrification Board was increased by
6.57 per cent in November 2009 with effect from 1 December,
2009.
People are forced to suffer terribly as Power supply situation
has shown no signs of improvement with outages remaining
vexing and the authorities having failed to increase
electricity generation. No initiatives of the authorities to
increase power generation and ease load shedding produced
tangible results.
At a time when the people continue to face the worst ever
power crisis and end to it remains a distant goal, the
decision to enhance the tariff of electricity is virtually a
cruel joke with the consumers. The main brunt of the power
tariff hike will have to be borne by the consumers. So, we
oppose the decision to raise further the power tariff at
retail consumer level and suggest that the loss should be made
up by checking rampant corruption and wastage and reducing
production costs and system loss.
Experts maintain strongly that power tariff hike would not be
able to mitigate the financial problem of the PDB or its
distributing agencies if it does not take stern measure to
reduce its system loss and rampant corruption. Moreover, the
people should not be forced to pay more for electricity as
they are not getting adequate and regular supply of it and
continue to suffer from torturous load shedding regularly.
Specially in view of this, we feel that tariff hike of power
would be a wrong step and should be avoided.
Analysis
The misery on our faces
We were Muslims in 1947; we are Muslims now.
There is a difference, however. Today we wear our religion on
our sleeves and shout it from the housetops.
Ayaz Amir
Times
may be hard but why add to the sum of national misery? Some of
our afflictions, like the economic downturn and the war raging
along the Afghan frontier, may be beyond anyone's control. But
some are entirely self-created.
We are not a police state in the political sense of the term.
This is not a country behind any kind of iron curtain and, the
notoriety of our intelligence services notwithstanding, we do
not have anything like the East German Stasi prying into every
aspect of national life. We have one of the freest media in
the Islamic world. Our kind of talk shows would not be
permitted in most Muslim countries.
While we should count our blessings we should not forget that
in the social sense this is a very repressed society.
The pity of it is that it wasn't always like this. Once upon a
time mosque and tavern stood side by side (in a metaphorical
sense of course) and even as they did, no one said Islam was
in danger. How distant that time seems.
We were Muslims in 1947; we are Muslims now. There is a
difference, however. Today we wear our religion on our sleeves
and shout it from the housetops.
Protesting too much about anything betrays a sense of
insecurity. An honest man, not given to self-righteousness,
feels no necessity to proclaim his honesty. An honest woman,
normally, does not protest her virtue -- unless there be the
memory of a past sitting uneasily on her conscience.
Just as Italy will always be Catholic, and just as there will
always be a Pope in the Vatican, we will be Muslims until the
end of time. This is our destiny, something that we were born
into. So what is there to be so worked up about? Hinduism
stood in danger at the hands of Islam. Islam in the
sub-continent was never threatened by Hinduism.
But if someone were to read our Constitution, with its
repetitive references to Islam, or if someone were to read our
court judgments wherein our learned judges are hard put not to
deliver extended lectures on Islam, or if someone were to hear
political speeches being delivered at public meeting where
references to the faith are virtually endless, he/she would
come away convinced that here was a people in perpetual fear
of something dreadful happening to their faith.
The problems we were called upon to solve at our birth were
political and economic in nature: temporal problems, secular
problems, not problems of the hereafter. We solved some,
failed to solve others. But every time we ran into
difficulties, we retreated into the bosom of extraneous
issues, seeking comfort under the banner of Islam. This has
been an extreme form of national escapism.
Soon after independence we should have been able to frame a
constitution. But our attempts at constitution-making were
sidetracked by a never-ending debate about the role of Islam
in our collective life. It was amidst the cacophony of this
debate that Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan moved the
Objectives Resolution in the Constituent Assembly.
What is this Resolution? Read it and it is hard to escape the
impression that it is a tribute to needless rhetoric. Many
years later, Gen Ziaul Haq, not famous as a respecter of
constitutions, made the Resolution a substantive part of the
1973 Constitution, his move another Islamisation gimmick at
which he was so good. Since Zia, many parliaments have come
and gone. None thought it fit to do away with his
constitutional innovations.
The people of East Pakistan were as good or bad Muslims as we
in the West. They had issues with us regarding language, the
sharing of political power, the distribution of national
resources. Not being able to address those issues we
discovered to our cost in 1970-71 that religion alone was not
enough of a force to keep the country together. Just as we are
discovering today that religion alone is irrelevant to the
grievances of Balochistan.
Today we present the picture not of a house divided -- which
would be too harsh an indictment -- but of a fractured
society. The share of other faiths in our population is
miniscule. We are an overwhelmingly Muslim country. But if we
are still a fractured society, this should give us pause to
think whether our problems are related to religion or other
things.
If our cities are unclean we need better municipal services.
Islamabad is dotted with mosques, large and small, which is a
very good thing because at least it shows that while we may
not be serious about other things, eternity figures high in
the list of our preoccupations. But how does it help to have a
capital which even after 50 years of its founding does not
have an adequate system of solid waste disposal?
Islamabad should have been a model city in more senses than
one. The city should have meandered around the many clear
water springs flowing down from the Margalla Hills. Today
there is not one which is not a monument to pollution. There
are schools in this capital city for the rich and poor. At
least here we could have experimented with a uniform education
system. One can go on and on about Islamabad but that's not
the point of this journey.
The problems of Pakistan will not be fixed overnight. My
generation can now write its epitaph. It has failed this
country by not providing the leadership and direction needed.
We could not set out on the golden road to Samarkand. We
lacked the imagination for it and no doubt the vigour of
action. But we are not unique on the planet. Every place has
its problems, in many cases worse than ours. We stand alone in
making our problems worse by shackling ourselves in fetters we
could have done without.
We don't look a happy people. Other things may abound in the
Islamic Republic but not the spirit of joy. There are people
who celebrate life. There are people who carry a cross all the
time and mourn about life. We fall in the second category.
Partly through choice, partly through the sheer force of
circumstances, we have elected to become a killjoy society.
This is not what we deserve. People laugh and cry. Tragedy
triggers sorrow. But that is not the whole truth. When the
shadows of tragedy depart people still have a yearning for
some fun. This is part of our inheritance as human beings, an
inalienable aspect of the human condition. But since the
Islamic Republic, and what we have made of it, frowns upon the
outward expression of joy, things to do with joy and happiness
have been driven indoors.
The veil in Pakistan is not just an item of female clothing.
It is also the cover behind which lurks social hypocrisy:
outward piety masking inward licence. But inward licence only
for the rich. Since the many dimensions of happiness are
forbidden fruit in the broad spaces of the Republic, small
wonder if the price of sin has become prohibitive.
Hypocrisy as a national characteristic, an all-pervading
phenomenon, is not a good thing. It makes a people sick and
stunted. It makes them less free. Isn't it time the veil was
rent asunder?
That parliament could cleanse the Constitution and return it
to the form in which it existed on the eve of Zia's coup is
hoping for too much. There is nothing in parliament to
indicate the audacity required for such a leap. But appealing
to the god of lesser things, why can't we do away with the
Hadood Ordinance, one of Zia's most poisonous gifts at the
altar of hypocrisy. Many of our social shackles derive their
strength from this iniquitous legislation. What allows the
police to smell breaths and ask for marriage papers is this
ordinance. Scrapping it would allow the people of Pakistan to
breathe more freely. The frontiers of the social police state
would contract.
Forget about universal solutions. Forget about appeals to
revolutionary arms. This won't happen. In the season of our
discontent if only two small miracles can happen -- getting
rid of the plastic shopping bag, more of a long-term threat
than the Taliban, and the Hadood Ordinance -- Pakistan will
look a cleaner and healthier place. Along with the social
police state, the frontiers of morbidity will also contract.
Ayaz Amir is a distinguished Pakistani commentator and
Member of National Assembly (parliament). For comments, write
to opinion@khaleejtimes.com
Changing Face
of Indian Politics
The BJP has also understood that the exclusionary politics
of the Shiv Sena is poison. This is why, in the Shah Rukh
Khan and My Name is Khan episode, it stayed away from the
Sena.
Meghnad Desai
Three
years ago, the map of Indian politics looked very
different from what it does now. The UPA was beginning to
get into trouble with its allies over the nuclear deal and
in the UP elections, Congress fared miserably. Rahul
Gandhi's foray into electioneering did not work and the
Congress polled a smaller percentage of votes and fewer
seats.
The BJP did not do very well either. It had dreams of
winning UP with the Samajwadi Party and then challenging
the UPA in the Lok Sabha. Rajnath Singh failed to charm
the UP voters. Mayawati emerged triumphant and showed that
her blend of Dalit/Brahmin politics may yet show the way
out of Mandal. At the same time she devalued the mandir
issue because no one seemed to care about it.
Three years on, we have a different situation. Mayawati
failed to cash in on her UP success in the 2009 elections.
Her dreams of being PM at the head of a Third Coalition
bit the dust. Her grandiloquent bonanza of statues also
met a check from the courts. Rahul Gandhi did not pay heed
to the chamchas who praised his 2007 UP election efforts
and got his head down and worked away, meeting the many
Kalawatis in rural UP. It paid off and the Congress got
20-odd seats.
The combination of Mayawati's triumph in 2007 and the
UPA's in 2009 put several markers down in Indian politics.
The BJP realised that electoral success depends on
following the trends set by the two elections which they
lost. Their narrow sectarian emphasis on Hindutva and the
temple issue, the Varun Gandhi issue, were
counter-productive and the nation drifted away from them.
The reality is that the Dalit vote cannot be ignored by
any party nor can it be taken for granted. It has to be
fought for not by an ideology which isolates them into
ghettoes but by delivery of better outcomes. This is
because Dalits are just the same as all other Indian
citizens-they are aspirational and eager to have obstacles
removed from their paths. Mayawati proved how important
the Dalit vote was and Rahul Gandhi succeeded in getting
the Dalit vote out of the clutches of the BSP.
This, more than anything, explains what Nitin Gadkari is
doing in Indore. He went to Mhow, the birthplace of
Babasaheb Ambedkar. In doing this, he repeated the gesture
he made of garlanding the Ambedkar statue on his return to
Nagpur after being crowned the head of the BJP. He, too,
has learnt the lesson. Dalits are Indians and they cast
their votes at election time. There is no way an exclusive
upper caste vote would get BJP into power even if they did
agree with the BJP about mandir/masjid issue and, of
course, they don't agree. The BJP has also understood that
the exclusionary politics of the Shiv Sena is poison. This
is why, in the Shah Rukh Khan and My Name is Khan episode,
it stayed away from the Sena. It is clear that Indians do
not take to these divisive ideas anymore. Indians know and
like Shah Rukh Khan, as they like Sachin Tendulkar.
But the greatest miracle was that even the Congress in
Maharashtra got Rahul's message-stop the Shiv Sena from
getting publicity and enjoy immunity from the law just
because it can make mayhem. The first right of every
Indian is to have protection from the agencies of law and
order. Every Indian has a right to go about his or her
life as he or she pleases, as long as they abide by the
law.
The Sena was defeated. There is no gain in labelling
voters as Marathi Manoos since they are Indians as much as
the Dalits are.
The best of the week was Gadkari's 'offer' that the BJP
will help build a mosque if the Muslims let them build the
mandir. Good idea. Why not build a multi-faith complex on
the single site and celebrate inclusive India? Let the
Ramjanmabhoomi be put to some good use. Maybe the Congress
should promise that in its UP election manifesto.
Eminent economist Lord Meghnad Desai is a professor
emeritus of the London School of Economics
Tensions over
Falklands
That’s not all. In pursuing a policy of pressure this
government has in effect ended co-operation on fishing
with the Falklands and the UK.
John Hughes
The
burning question: is the UK heading back to a military
conflict with Argentina? My answer is unequivocal. No.
This is a very different Argentina. A democracy for 27
years, it weathered the economic and social meltdown in
2001 and 2002 without a thought being given to a return to
a military government. The shadow of military
dictatorship, so long overhanging Argentine democracy, has
been removed.
In the 27 years since Raul Alfonsin was elected president,
all governments have argued that the Falklands - or the
Malvinas - are theirs by right, but that they will be
'returned' solely by peaceful means. The proof of that is
that there has been no significant upgrading of military
capability in democratic Argentina. So why the strong
reaction now to drilling for oil off the Falklands? After
all, there was drilling in the 1990s without causing quite
the brouhaha that has been stirred up in recent days.
The explanation is that different democratic governments
can assign different priorities and follow different
tactics in pursuit of the same policy. Since 2003, first
President Nestor Kirchner, and now President Cristina
Kirchner have followed a path of pressure very different
from the tactics of President Menem in the 1990s. They've
upped the diplomatic rhetoric in the UN; and that will
continue. Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana will raise the
issue in the next few days at the meeting of the Rio Group
of Latin American countries and in his meeting with the UN
secretary general.
Every opportunity has been taken to put the islands on the
bilateral Argentine-UK agenda. Nestor Kirchner's first
overseas visit was to London, where he unsuccessfully
tried to engage Tony Blair in a discussion of sovereignty.
During the Kirchner years there have been numerous
diplomatic protests, with successive British ambassadors
being called in to receive protests at the Argentine
foreign ministry in Buenos Aires. The ministry's line,
repeated by the deputy foreign minister a few days ago, is
that normal relations with the UK are difficult without
reopening negotiations over the sovereignty of the
islands.
That's not all. In pursuing a policy of pressure this
government has in effect ended co-operation on fishing
with the Falklands and the UK. And in 2007 it unilaterally
denounced an agreement with the UK over oil exploration in
an area separate from that where drilling will now
commence.
Set against this background the latest moves are
unwelcome, but some sort of protest was not entirely
unexpected. One would have to be a very great optimist to
believe that the attitude of the Kirchner government will
change. The president and her husband are not about to
change their mindset.
Viewpoints
Mohammad the liberator
The Prophet
liberated women from bondage and gave them rights, recognising
their individuality and rights. Women got equal rights in
marriage and marriage was declared a contract between two
equals.
Asghar Ali Engineer
Muslims
everywhere celebrate the birthday of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh)
with great devotion and reverence. But often it is seen that
the devotees do not always reflect on the message of the
person whom they so venerate. Eid-i-Milad has just become a
tradition rather than an occasion for deep reflection.
Muslims also refer to Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) as
Muhsin-e-Insaniyyat, the benefactor of all humanity, but do we
care to know in what respect he became the benefactor? In this
limited space I have I will try to shed some light on the
revolutionary aspects of Mohammad's (pbuh) teachings and how
Muslims should benefit from these. The Prophet of Islam was an
ummi, that is he did not know how to read and write and yet he
ushered in a great social and economic revolution that is as
useful today as it was all those centuries ago.
We can call him a liberator of all humanity if we follow his
teachings, not so much from the tangled web of Hadith but from
the Quran that he brought us. The Quran indeed was his real
miracle. Firstly, he emphasised the importance of knowledge.
This word occurs in the Quran more than 800 times along with
its various derivatives (the word jihad, so controversial
today, occurs only 41 times).
Knowledge was so important to him that he required Muslims to
seek knowledge even if they had to go to China, then a very
distant land from Arabia. Following this teaching, Arabs who
were quite averse to knowledge - especially in the written
form (there were only 17 people in Makkah during the Prophet's
lifetime who could read and write) - became great precursors
of various sciences and even the West immensely benefited from
their findings. The West discovered the treasures of Greek
knowledge through the Arabs.
Secondly, the Prophet liberated women from bondage and gave
them rights, recognising their individuality and rights. Women
got equal rights in marriage and marriage was declared a
contract between two equals. He made it obligatory for women
too to seek knowledge. "Seeking knowledge is obligatory for
Muslim men and Muslim women", he said. The cause of women's
bondage to men was mainly due to women's ignorance, and when
acquiring knowledge became their right and an obligation,
women too became empowered. It is knowledge that is the true
liberator.
Thirdly, Mohammad (pbuh) was greatly concerned with justice.
Justice is so fundamental to Islam that Allah derives one of
his names from justice (Adil). Justice for weaker sections of
society was of utmost importance to the Prophet. Allah,
according to the Quran, is on the side of the weak. And it is
the weak (mustazifin) who shall inherit the earth and who
shall be its leaders. The powerful and arrogant (mustakbirun)
shall be doomed, promises the message brought by Mohammad (pbuh).
Fourthly, the Prophet made the individual responsible for all
actions, not the collective tribe or community, as was the
case in pre-Islam Arabia. The Quran also declared that each
individual must carry his own burden and no one else should be
held responsible for the deeds of others. It was a very
revolutionary declaration at the time, when an entire tribe or
community acted as one and an individual accounted for
nothing. The Quran made reward or punishment individual-centred
as opposed to tribe-centred. This freed individuals, men and
women, from the burden of tribal customs and superstitions.
Collective action, said the message, may be important, but not
at the cost of the choices an individual must make.
Fifthly, Mohammad (pbuh) also gave the individual rights and
dignity along with responsibility. Human dignity was not
circumscribed by any religion, tribe or ethnicity but included
all children of Adam (karramna bani Adam). It was indeed a
revolutionary declaration of which preceded the UN Charter of
Human rights by more than 1,400 years. Also, the Prophet said
that all creation is the family of Allah.
Sixthly, he gave the concept of Bait al-maal, a treasury to
which all Muslims would contribute according to their income.
In modern terms, this can be described as a move towards a
welfare state in modern terms. Zakat was no longer a tax
imposed on the people to cater to the luxurious lifestyle of
rulers, as was the norm in pre-Islam days. It was meant
strictly for the welfare of the weaker segments, orphans,
widows, the poor, travellers and for the liberation of
prisoners and slaves. Such usage of public tax money was
unprecedented.
The Prophet even declared that land was only for its tillers,
thus bringing down the oppressive and exploitative feudal
system. Unfortunately, within a few decades of his death
Muslim rulers established a great empire based on the same
exploitative system. All this may sound unbelievable to many
non-Muslims. Why? This is because Muslims often pay verbal
tributes to the Prophet (pbuh) instead of acting on his
charter.
Now let's look around and ask ourselves: What is the condition
of women in Muslim countries? Are Muslim states welfare
states? Do their rulers live a simple life like the Prophet
did? Do they respect individual rights and human dignity? Do
they practise justice? Do they respect human life as the
sacred trust of Allah? The answers may not be in the
affirmative. Muslims have to reflect seriously on their
failures and recommit themselves to the Quranic value system,
brought to them by Mohammad (pbuh).
The writer is an Islamic scholar who heads the Centre for
Study of Secularism & Society, Mumbai.
McChrystal’s
Helmand gamble
There are too
many fundamental contradictions in the general’s plan to
win the war in Afghanistan.
Patrick Seale
General
Stanley McChrystal's campaign to boot the Taliban out of
southern Afghanistan is not going well. Marred by civilian
casualties and stubborn Taliban resistance, his assault on
the small town of Marjah has been slowed to a snail's
pace. Kandahar, the Taliban's 'capital', remains far out
of his reach.
Operation Mushtarak, which mobilised 15,000 allied and
Afghan troops, was initially expected to last a few weeks.
It was thought that the few hundred Taliban fighters
defending Marjah would melt away into the mountains.
Instead they are fighting back and have planted thousands
of mines to check the American advance. The latest
estimate is that the campaign might take 12 to 18 months
to reach its goal - if indeed it is ever reached.
The stakes are high. If McChrystal's campaign fails - or
simply gets bogged down in endless bloody skirmishes -
then the whole strategy, which he persuaded President
Barack Obama to adopt, will collapse.
McChrystal asked Obama for 40,000 men, in addition to the
more than 65,000 US troops already in the country. He got
30,000, as well as a few thousand more to add to the
roughly 40,000 troops from 43 countries, mostly from
America's reluctant Nato allies. In all, he asked for -
and will get - a total of close to 150,000 troops by the
summer.
His war plan is twofold: first, to seize the military
initiative from the Taliban, driving them out of key
localities in the south; then to win over the population
in these 'liberated' regions by providing protection,
jobs, and good government.
Once these goals are achieved, it is argued, rank-and-file
Taliban will renounce violence, abandon their leaders,
accept the Constitution, and agree to be 'integrated'
peacefully into President Hamid Karzai's Afghan state. In
the new situation thus created, Taliban leaders will have
no option but to enter into negotiations - in effect to
sue for peace.
The centrepiece of this ambitious reconciliation effort is
to be Karzai's 'peace jirga', a grand tribal council at
which the whole of the Afghan nation - Pashtuns, Tajiks,
Uzbeks, Hazaras, insurgents, warlords, tribal chieftains
and government ministers - will come together to forge a
new society.
This, alas, is a fairy tale. There was always a
fundamental political contradiction between making war on
the Taliban and seeking to negotiate with them. Instead of
launching the campaign in Helmand, had the US called an
immediate loya jirga to proclaim a ceasefire - and invited
the Taliban leadership to join in the initiative -
violence might have been stemmed and a new era ushered in.
But to bomb the Taliban into submission and then to seek
to negotiate with them was always something of a
pipedream.
A second flagrant contradiction was to promise the Afghan
population protection while exposing them to airstrikes
and tank fire, killing dozens and displacing thousands.
Unable to flee, many terrified families are holed up in
their villages without food or medicines, nursing their
wounded or struggling to care for their young and for
their old and infirm family members. It is hardly
surprising that McChrystal's campaign has so far made more
enemies than friends.
A third blunder - which has dogged America's war in
Afghanistan since its beginnings in 2001 - has been to
underestimate the profound suspicion of the Pashtun
tribes, who detest 'infidel' foreigners and are prepared
to die in defence of their religion and their tribal
traditions. This was a lesson that Britain learned to its
cost in the 19th century and the Soviet Union in the 20th.
Killing Muslims won't help
The idea - defended by Obama and by Britain's Prime
Minister Gordon Brown - that defeating the Taliban in
Afghanistan will protect western society from terrorism is
fundamentally flawed. The contrary is true. The more
Muslims are killed by western forces in Afghanistan and
Pakistan, not to mention Somalia and Yemen, the more
home-grown militants in the West - whether in New York or
in British cities - will want to hit back. It is no
accident that an Afghan, raised in the US, was charged
last week with wanting to blow up the New York subway
system.
The way to defeat terrorism is to stop killing Muslims and
to impose on Israel a just settlement of the Arab-Israeli
conflict, the single most important source of hostility to
the West.
Meanwhile, America's European allies are showing great
restiveness with the war. European public opinion is
overwhelmingly in favour of withdrawal. The Dutch
government, which collapsed last weekend, was the first
European government to fall because of the Afghan war. The
Labour Party quit the government of Prime Minister Jan
Peter Balkenende, which means that most of the 2,000 Dutch
soldiers will be home before the end of the year. Having
already lost 21 soldiers in Afghanistan, the Dutch think
it is time other nations - and particularly the Germans -
assume the burden.
Eight years after 9/11, the war in Afghanistan makes no
sense at all. Every Afghan killed, every child mutilated,
every village destroyed only stokes the fires of
extremism. There is no doubt that General McCrystal has
good intentions. But his gamble rests on mistaken
assumptions. On balance, it might be best if he failed.
Patrick Seale is a commentator and author of several
books on
Middle East affairs.
Getting away with murder, again!
Which country do you think is a real threat to world
peace? The first country that has no history of aggression
or the second state that has killed tens of thousands of
innocent people in wars of aggression against neighbors
and in cold-blooded executions?
Aijaz Zaka Syed
Check
this out. Here's a story of two countries from the Middle
East. One is an ancient civilization with a rich history
that goes back five thousand years. It's a functioning
democracy with free elections held at regular intervals.
It's a huge country of 70 million people. It has remained
within its borders and hasn't attacked any country in the
last 100 years. It is pursuing a nuclear power program,
which it insists is for peaceful purposes.
The second country also claims to be a democracy. In this
democracy though you get citizenship and voting rights not
on the basis of your origins even if you were born in this
land but on your ancestry. This country was founded on the
land stolen and forcibly taken from its original
inhabitants. It has fought at least three wars and is
locked in permanent conflict with its neighbors on all
sides. It has a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons and other
state-of-the-art killing machines. It pursues
assassination as a state policy and regularly sends death
squads around the world to take out people it doesn't
like.
Which country do you think is a real threat to world
peace? The first country that has no history of aggression
or the second state that has killed tens of thousands of
innocent people in wars of aggression against neighbors
and in cold-blooded executions?
And no prizes, dear readers, for guessing that the two
countries in question are Iran and Israel. If anyone had
any doubts about the evil and criminal nature of the State
of Israel, they should have been cleared after what
happened in Dubai. Sending death squads into a five-star
hotel in posh and peaceful Dubai using European passports
and IDs - the whole business reads like a John Le Carre or
Robert Ludlum potboiler. But, as they say, reality is more
interesting than fiction.
International media and diplomatic circles are buzzing
with stories and theories about how the Israelis planned
the whole thing and executed with professional precision.
Typically, the entire European press has been obsessing
over the forged passports and fake IDs, totally ignoring
the real issue at the heart of this unfolding crisis:
Another cold-blooded murder of a top Palestinian leader by
Israel.
The UAE authorities, especially Dubai Police, therefore
deserve a pat on the back for not only cracking the murder
but having built a solid case against the Israelis with
credible and irrefutable evidence. They virtually caught
the killers with blood on their hands, thanks to their
solid security structure in place. It was this watertight
case that forced the British, Irish, German and French
authorities to summon Israeli envoys to "explain."
But is that enough? Imagine if such a thing had happened
in any other city or country and the finger of suspicion
had pointed at an Arab or Muslim country, not Israel. All
hell would have broken loose and ambassadors of the
concerned country would have been thrown out within 12
hours. In fact, as the Guardian's Seumas Milne argued in a
brilliant piece this week, imagine what would have
happened if it was not Israel but Iran that had sent in
the killers and the assassination had taken place in a
Western country using the passports and IDs of Western
citizens?
By now the US and NATO jets would have bombed Iran back to
the Stone Age, just as they did in the neighboring Iraq,
with the UN and its movers and shakers passing a dozen
resolutions against the Islamic republic.
But, mind you, we are talking about the almighty Israel.
And when it comes to Israel, there are different laws and
rules of engagement. It can get away with anything - even
with murder. And it repeatedly has. This isn't the first
time Israel has sent killer squads to take out its
detractors and individuals who refuse to accept its
tyranny and stand and stare while it kills at will a
helpless and defenseless people.
Steven Spielberg's "Munich", a glorified version of
Mossad's murderous operations against Palestinian
officials in 1972, is only one chapter out of Israel's
long history of crimes against Palestinian people and its
Arab neighbors. How can we forget what happened in Lebanon
in the 1980s and as early as 2006? What about the carnage
in Sabra and Shatila, Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon
that killed at least 3,000 Palestinians? And what about
Gaza 2008-2009?
Israel has gotten away with all that. And in all
likelihood it will get away with the murder in Dubai as
well, no matter how forcefully the UAE authorities demand
the arrest of Mossad chief and action against the killers.
Hillary Clinton was in the Middle East when this whole
thing blew up in Israel's face last week. However, the top
US diplomat who would have been president remained focused
on Iran's ayatollahs. She repeatedly warned the Arabs
against the "clear and present danger" presented by Iran,
accusing Tehran of building nuclear weapons and
"sponsoring terrorism" in the Middle East, a new charge to
the long litany of charges against the Islamic republic.
But we have been here before - and not very long ago - in
Iraq. And of course there was no reference to the threat
Israel poses to its Arab neighbors. Nary a reference to
its continuing persecution of Palestinians and the blaze
it fuels across the Muslim world.
Madam Secretary couldn't have chosen a more appropriate
platform to launch the offensive against Iran. She chose
the US-Islam dialogue forum in Doha to strike at Tehran,
concluding it rather nicely in Riyadh. It's Iran, she
warned the Arabs ad nauseam, not Israel that poses a grave
threat to peace and security of the Middle East.
So what if Israel is still squatting on Palestinian and
Arab land! So what if Israel continues to send killer
squads into Arab cities! So what if Iran hasn't attacked
any Arab or Muslim neighbor in a long, long time. Iran
must be a threat to Arabs because the US, Israel and their
Western allies say so. If this is a breathtaking example
of hypocrisy and double standards, so be it! No matter
what ordinary Arabs and people across the Muslim world
think. What matters is what Israel wants and how far the
West will bend over backward to humor it.
If this isn't true, let Israel's friends prove it. I would
love to get corrected. The Sunday Times has disclosed that
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had personally visited
the Mossad headquarters in Tel Aviv to give his blessings
for the Dubai operation. Just as his predecessors had
blessed the killing of other Palestinian leaders including
Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and, very possibly,
Yasser Arafat, the tallest Palestinian leader.
The question is how long will Israel get away with murder?
And how long will its Western friends and allies protect
it because of their own so-called historical guilt or
whatever? Why do we have two sets of laws and standards
for Israel and its Arab and Muslim neighbors?
Secretary Clinton was confronted with these questions
during a Q&A session with Arab students in Doha. Not
surprisingly, Madam Clinton had no answers to offer.
Instead she introduced her audience to new US envoys to
the OIC and Muslim world, Rashad Hussein and Farah Pandit,
both Indian Americans.
Why is it so hard for Washington to see that it's not
cosmetic gestures like this but real justice that can
bridge the widening gulf with the Islamic world?
Aijaz Zaka Syed is a Dubai-based commentator. Write to
him at aijaz.syed@hotmail.com
International
Suicide bombers
strike in heart of Kabul; 17 dead
AP, Kabul
Insurgents struck in the heart of the Afghan capital
Friday with suicide attackers and a car bomb, targeting
hotels used by foreigners and killing at least 17 people
and wounding dozens, police said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks, which
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said were aimed at Indians
working in Kabul.
India's foreign minister said up to nine Indians were
killed, including government officials. An Italian
diplomat and a French national were also among the dead.
The four-hour assault began about 6:30 a.m. with a car
bombing that leveled a residential hotel used by Indian
doctors.
A series of explosions and gunbattles left blood and
debris in the rain-slickened streets and underscored the
militants' ability to strike in the heavily defended
capital even as NATO marshals its forces against them in
the volatile south. Dr. Subodh Sanjivpaul of India said he
was holed up in his bathroom for three hours inside one of
the small hotels where he lived with other Indians.
"Today's suicide attack took place in our residential
complex," Sanjivpaul said at a military hospital where his
wounded foot was bandaged.
"When I was coming out, I found two or three dead bodies.
When firing was going on, the first car bomb exploded and
the full roof came on my head."
The Kabul attacks came two weeks into a major offensive
against the southern Taliban stronghold of Marjah, where
thousands of U.S., Afghan and NATO soldiers are battling
to drive insurgents out. The British government said one
of its soldiers was killed Friday by an explosion while on
a foot patrol - the 14th international service member to
die in the operation.
In recent weeks, more than two dozen senior and midlevel
Taliban figures have been detained in Pakistan, suggesting
the attack in the capital could be a way for the militants
to show the insurgency remains potent.
In a statement, Karzai condemned Friday's assault as a
"terrorist attack against Indian citizens" who were
helping the Afghan people. He said it would not affect
relations between India and Afghanistan.
Indian officials also condemned the attack.
"We are shocked at the inhuman attack on innocent lives,"
Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash
said.
"Our ties are strong and deep (with Afghanistan) and will
remain so. We are very clear that the forces of terrorism
will not succeed and we will take every measure to defeat
the forces of terror," he said in New Delhi.
Three police were killed in the attacks, Interior Ministry
spokesman Zemeri Bashary said, adding that at least 38
people were wounded, six of them police.
UN says will create science panel to
review IPCC
Reuters, Nusa Dua, Indonesia
An independent board of scientists will be appointed to
review the world's top climate science panel, which has
been accused of sloppy work, a U.N. climate spokesman said
on Friday.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has
been under fire after it was revealed one of its 2007
reports wrongly included a prediction that Himalayan
glaciers could vanish by 2035. The figure should have been
2350.
That mistake and others have fuelled a resurgence of
climate scepticism in some quarters but the U.N. says the
fundamental claims of the IPCC-that dangerous climate
change is caused by mankind-remains unshaken.
The panel will be part of a broader review of the IPCC to
be announced next week, said Nick Nuttall, spokesman for
the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
"It will be [made up of] senior scientific figures. I
can't name who they are right now. It should do a review
of the IPCC, produce a report by, say, August and there is
a plenary of the IPCC in South Korea in October.
"The report will go there for adoption," he told reporters
on the sidelines of a UNEP conference in Nusa Dua, on the
Indonesian island of Bali, where environment ministers
have been meeting this week.
"There's no review panel at the moment. Yesterday, it was
clear from the member states roughly how they would like
this panel to be, i.e. fully independent and not appointed
by the IPCC but appointed by an independent group of
scientists themselves," he said.
The terms of references for the panel would be announced
next week, he said. "I think we are bringing some level of
closure to this issue."
Myanmar court rejects Suu
Kyi's appeal for release
AP, Yangon
The highest court in military-ruled Myanmar dismissed
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's latest bid for
freedom Friday, turning down an appeal to end 14 years of
house arrest, her lawyer said.
The Supreme Court's decision had been expected since legal
rulings in Myanmar rarely favor opposition activists, and
the junta appears determined to keep Suu Kyi, a Nobel
Peace Prize laureate, detained through elections planned
later this year.
Defense lawyer Nyan Win told reporters he would launch one
final "special appeal" before the court after determining
why the recent appeal had been rejected. "The court order
did not mention any reasons," he said.
"Although the decision comes as no surprise, it is deeply
disappointing," said British Ambassador Andrew Heyn, who
attended the court session along with diplomats from
Australia, France and the United States. "We continue to
believe that (Suu Kyi) should be released immediately
along with the other 2,000 and more other prisoners of
conscience."
French Ambassador Jean Pierre Lafosse said Suu Kyi was
"the victim of a sham trial."
Suu Kyi's lawyers appealed to the court last November
after a lower court a month earlier upheld a decision to
sentence her to 18 months of house arrest. She was
convicted last August of violating the terms of her
previous detention by briefly sheltering an American who
swam uninvited to her lakeside home.
N Korea detains four S
Koreans for illegal entry
AFP, Seoul
North Korea announced Friday it had detained four South
Koreans for illegally entering the country and a Seoul
activist said they had crossed from China in an attempt to
meet leader Kim Jong-Il.
It was the third time in two months that the hardline
communist North has reported an illegal entry.
South Korea could not confirm the case but said none of
its more than 1,000 citizens working in the North had gone
missing.
"A relevant institution of the DPRK (North Korea) recently
detained four South Koreans who illegally entered it. They
are now under investigation by the institution,"
Pyongyang's official news agency said without elaborating.
North Korea has in recent months been making peace
overtures to the South although military tensions persist.
On Thursday the North's military accused South Korea and
the United States of planning a surprise attack under the
pretext of a joint military exercise. It warned it could
respond with atomic weapons.
Activist Choi Sung-Yong, quoting his informants in China,
said the four crossed the border between China's Tumen
city and Namyang in the North several days ago.
"They told North Korean soldiers that they came there to
see Kim Jong-Il," said Choi, who campaigns to bring back
South Koreans abducted by the North in previous decades
and has contacts there.
Choi said he suspected the four may have been Christian
evangelists but added he was seeking further information.
US missionary Robert Park walked into the North across the
frozen Tumen river from China on December 25 to draw
attention to its rights abuses.
Thai court rules on
ex-leader Thaksin’s wealth
AP, Bangkok
Thailand's Supreme Court ruled Friday that ousted Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra unlawfully concealed his
assets while in office and abused his power for personal
gain, as it prepared to issue a decision on whether his
$2.29 billion fortune should be seized.
The nine-judge panel, reading a lengthy verdict, said it
had unanimously agreed Thaksin and his ex-wife still held
shares in Shin Corp., a telecommunications giant he
founded, while he was prime minister. Thaksin was ousted
in a 2006 military coup for alleged corruption and abuse
of power.
The court also agreed that he had shaped government
policies on mobile phone regulations that profited the
country's largest service provider, also controlled by his
family.
Legal experts have said that a ruling that Thaksin had
hidden his shares in Shin Corp. while in office would lead
to a court decision that government policies had benefited
the company and constituted a conflict of interest.
Tight security was in place around the courthouse, amid
government fears that Thaksin loyalists could react to the
verdict with violence. Whatever the decision, Thailand's
four-year-long political turmoil is expected to persist.
The Supreme Court is broadly applying mostly untested
anti-corruption statutes in determining whether Thaksin -
a telecommunications tycoon before entering politics -
became "unusually wealthy" by abusing his position at the
head of government in 2001-2006.
They could order the confiscation of the $2.29 billion of
his family's assets frozen in Thai banks. Thaksin and an
unknown portion of his family's wealth are safely
ensconced abroad.
Israel
plans more homes for East Jerusalem
Reuters, Jerusalem
Israel has plans to build another 600 homes in occupied
land that it considers part of East Jerusalem, the Haaretz
daily newspaper reported on Friday.
The plan, approved by a district planning commission,
could further hamper U.S.-brokered efforts to revive
stalled peace talks as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
has insisted on a total settlement freeze in all
territories, including Jerusalem.
Israeli officials reached by telephone had no immediate
comment.
Palestinian official Ghassan al-Khatib denounced the
decision as "another Israeli violation of international
law".
He said it threatened to derail efforts to resume
negotiations that have not convened since a war in Gaza in
December 2008. Khatib, a former cabinet minister who heads
the Palestinian press office, said Palestinians would
pursue what he called a "peaceful, legal, public struggle
against Israeli settlement expansion and occupation". A
similar building plan proposed late last year for other
parts of the Jerusalem area drew international
condemnation.
Israel has also been criticised for court-approved
evictions of Palestinians from homes in East Jerusalem and
for threatening to demolish houses that it says were built
illegally. The newspaper said more homes were intended to
be built near the Pisgat Zeev neighbourhood and the
Palestinian area of Shuafat. It said the original plan had
been scaled back to 600 homes from an original 1,100 when
it was learned some of the land was owned privately by
Palestinians.
More than 200,000 Israelis already live in East Jerusalem
and nearby areas of the West Bank that Israel captured in
a 1967 war and considers part of its "eternal and
indivisible capital".
Haiti wants refugees back
in ravaged neighborhoods
AP,
Port-Au-Prince
Relief officials have changed tack and are urging Haiti's
earthquake homeless to return to their destroyed
neighborhoods as the rainy season fast approaches.
Officials had initially planned to build big camps outside
Port-au-Prince. They still anticipate creating some
settlements, but they decided this week to instead
emphasize getting people to pack up their tents and tarps
and go home.
For that to be possible, authorities will need to demolish
hundreds if not thousands of buildings and remove
mountains of rubble. A 20-minute downpour Thursday evening
gave a taste of the approaching rainy season and the
problems it will bring. People dashed for shelter down
streets streaming with runoff while trash clogged gutters
and turned depressions into ponds.
Although the season doesn't officially start for a month,
forecasters warned that a potential weekend storm could
cause floods and mudslides in a city in a perilous state.
Many dwellings are severely damaged or clinging to the
sides of hillsides. At a camp housing 40,000 people in the
hills overlooking the capital, Matin Bussreth ran for
cover from his bedsheet-tent to a neighbor's plastic
tarpaulin during the drenching Thursday night.
"It's a deplorable moment," Bussreth said. "I heard they
might be giving out tents. I hope someone will be giving
me one." Some of the hundreds of Haitians who lined up at
a downtown site Thursday to register for the new campaign
to resettle many of the 1.2 million homeless back in their
old neighborhoods expressed skepticism about the plan.
Relief officials also acknowledged the immense challenges.
Libya’s Gaddafi urges jihad
against Switzerland
Reuters,
Benghazi, Libya
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi called on Thursday for a
"jihad" or armed struggle against Switzerland, saying it
was an infidel state that was destroying mosques.
"Any Muslim in any part of the world who works with
Switzerland is an apostate, is against (the Prophet)
Mohammad, God and the Koran," Gaddafi said during a
meeting in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi to mark the
Prophet's birthday.
"The masses of Muslims must go to all airports in the
Islamic world and prevent any Swiss plane landing, to all
harbours and prevent any Swiss ships docking, inspect all
shops and markets to stop any Swiss goods being sold,"
Gaddafi said. The Swiss Foreign Ministry said it had no
comment on Gaddafi's remarks. Libya's relations with
Switzerland broke down in 2008 when a son of Gaddafi was
arrested in a Geneva hotel and charged with abusing
domestic servants.
He was released shortly afterwards and the charges were
dropped, but Libya cut oil supplies to Switzerland,
withdrew billions of dollars from Swiss bank accounts and
arrested two Swiss businessmen working in the North
African country.
One has been released but the other was forced this week
to leave the Swiss embassy in Tripoli where he had been
sheltering and move to a prison to serve a four-month
sentence, apparently avoiding a major confrontation. Libya
says the Geneva arrest and the case of the two businessmen
are not linked.
Obama, Democrats ponder
next healthcare moves
Reuters,
Washington
After a seven-hour healthcare summit that did little to
change Republican hearts and minds, President Barack Obama
and congressional Democrats face a challenge on Friday in
deciding their next moves to reform the costly U.S.
system.
Obama ended Thursday's summit with an appeal for
Republicans and Democrats to consider whether they could
resolve some of their differences over healthcare reform
in the next six weeks, but Republicans called that time
frame unreasonable.
"It's not going to be possible with that kind of an
approach to come together within the time frame that he
indicated," said Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl, flanked
by fellow Republican leaders as he spoke to reporters
outside the White House.
That leaves the White House and congressional Democrats in
the difficult position of deciding whether to try to force
a reform of the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare system
through Congress with a little-used parliamentary
manoeuvre that would allow approval by a simple majority
vote.
Republicans have condemned any such move, but Obama
suggested at the end of the healthcare summit the
Democrats might have to consider it.
"We cannot have another yearlong debate about this," the
president said. "Is there enough serious effort that in a
month's time or a few weeks' time or six weeks' time we
could actually resolve something?"
Turkish PM: All linked to
coup plot will be tried
AP, Ankara, Turkey
Turkey's prime minister vowed Friday to put everyone who
conspired against the country's democracy on trial, as the
number of military officers charged and jailed for
alle-gedly plotting a 2003 coup against his Islamic-based
government rose to 31.
That figure, which included seven admirals and four
generals, represents the largest-ever crackdown on
Turkey's military, which has ousted four civilian
governments since 1960.
The military has wielded strong influence on politics for
decades but has seen its powers dramatically curtailed by
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government, which
took steps to put the military under civilian rule. "An
impaired democracy is not the fate of this country,"
Erdogan told lawmakers at a televised meeting Friday. "No
one is above the law, no one is untouchable, no one is
privileged." The probe has fueled tensions between the
government and the fiercely secular military and shaken
the markets, but Erdogan has dismissed calls for early
elections by opposition parties.
The 11 most recently charged officers included two
active-duty admirals and one retired general. The court's
decision to jail them came after prosecutors late Thursday
released the former chiefs of the navy and air force and
another top general without immediately charging them,
saying they were unlikely to flee.
Television reports say Turkish police have detained 18
more military officers over an alleged 2003 coup plot.
CNN-Turk and Haber-Turk televisions say 17 of the officers
were on active duty. They say police detained them in 13
separate cities in a nationwide sweep on Friday. The
detentions are the second wave in the largest-ever
crackdown on the country's military. Police earlier this
week detained 49 officers, and a Turkish court has so far
charged and jailed 31 of them so for plotting to overthrow
the country's Islamic-rooted government.
Turkish stocks and the lira currency edged higher on
Friday after prosecutors released three retired generals
suspected of plotting a coup, easing fears of a showdown
between the government and military that had hit markets.
But the threat of confrontation between Prime Minister
Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist-rooted AK Party and the secular
armed forces remained, as investigations continued into
the three men, who were among 50 officers detained at the
start of the week.
Mossad regularly faked
Australian passports: Ex-agent
AFP, Sydney
Israel's Mossad has regularly faked Australian passports
for its spies, an ex-agent said, as anger grew over the
use of foreign travel documents for an alleged
assassination.
Former case officer Victor Ostrovsky told ABC public radio
that the spy agency had used Australian passports for
previous operations before last month's hit on a top Hamas
commander. He said agents had little trouble passing
themselves off as Australians as few people in the Middle
East have much knowledge about the country.
"Consider the fact that Australians speak English and it's
an easy cover to take, very few people know very much
about Australia," he said. "You can tell whatever stories
you want. It doesn't take much of an accent to be an
Australian or New Zealander, or an Englishman for that
matter. "And I know people had been under Australian cover
not once (but) quite a few times. So why not use it
(again)?"
Australian officials summoned the Israeli ambassador and
warned the countries' friendly ties were at risk after
Dubai police named three Australian passport-holders in a
list of new suspects in murder of Mahmud al-Mabhuh.
Britain, Ireland, France and Germany expressed similar
outrage after people holding documents from their
countries were also linked to the January 20 killing in a
luxury Dubai hotel.
Israel has previously dismissed claims from Ostrovsky, who
is now an author and has detailed various accusations
against the country in his books. He said Mossad prefers
to use "false flag" passports as Israeli papers frequently
invoke suspicion in the Middle East.
Hezbollah chief meets
Ahmadinejad in Damascus
AFP, Damascus
The head of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, which shares
Tehran's vision of a world without Israel, travelled to
Damascus for talks with allies Syria and Iran, the SANA
news agency said Friday.
Hassan Nasrallah attended a dinner banquet in Damascus
Thursday hosted by President Bashar al-Assad in honour of
his visiting Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the
official agency said without giving further details.
But Hezbollah's Al-Manar television in Lebanon reported
that Nasrallah and Ahmadinejad met to discuss "the latest
developments in the region, and Zionist threats against
Lebanon and Syria." Iran and Hezbollah repeatedly call for
the annihilation of Israel.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchcher Mottaki also attended
Thursday's meeting, the television said, adding that
Nasrallah had headed an "important delegation" to the
Syrian capital.
Since the 2006 conflict between Hezbollah and Israel that
devastated Lebanon and resulted in more than 1,000
Lebanese deaths, Nasrallah has seldom left his Lebanese
stronghold and has made few public appearances.
With an Israeli death threat hanging over him, the
Hezbollah chief has even avoided religious or political
gatherings in Lebanon, and his televised speeches have
been taped or broadcast from secret locations. Iran and
Syria are the main backers of Hezbollah, the only militia
that has kept its military arsenal since the end of
Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.
Hezbollah has threatened to hit at Israel's key
infrastructures if the Jewish state launches a fresh
attack on Lebanon.
Business/Economy
India
tackles deficit with new budget
AFP, New Delhi
India's finance minister vowed to bring the government's
yawning budget deficit under control on Friday as he
presented a new budget that counts on higher tax revenues
to sustain social spending. Speaking in parliament, Pranab
Mukjerjee said he had laid down a road map for reducing
the country's fiscal deficit, which soared to a 16-year
high of 6.9 percent of economic output.
The shortfall would drop to 5.5 percent in the next fiscal
year to March 2011, and then 4.8 percent in the following
12 months, though there would be no let up in the
left-leaning government's focus on huge social programmes.
To increase government receipts, Mukherjee announced a
host of tax measures including a plan to introduce a
nationwide goods and services tax aimed at simplifying
India's revenue collection system by April 1, 2011.
He also announced plans to sell stakes in state-owned
companies and complete auctions of bandwidth for
high-speed 3G mobile phone networks. His figures banked on
higher tax revenue generated from the rapidly accelerating
economy. "We want to make this recovery broad-based,"
Mukherjee said as he announced increases for education,
health, rural and urban infrastructure and farmer
assistance. "Growth is only as important as what it
enables us to do," Mukherjee said, adding that the
government wanted to "harness the recent economic gains to
make economic growth more inclusive".
"Inclusive growth" is the watchword of the Congress party-
led government, which has promised to ensure that India's
rapid expansion benefits the country's hundreds of
millions of desperately poor.
He said the government wanted to revert to the nine
percent economic growth it enjoyed before the financial
crisis.
"I can say with some confidence that we have weathered
this crisis well," he said. A report from the finance
ministry said Thursday that the economy would rebound to
pre-financial crisis growth levels of nine percent in two
years and could become the world's fastest expanding in
four years.
Data released Friday, however, showed that India's
economic growth slowed sharply in the final quarter of
2009 to 6.0 percent year on year, hit by lower farm output
after the weakest monsoon in 37 years.
The figure for the October-December period, the third
quarter of India's fiscal year, compared with expansion of
7.9 percent in the previous quarter and 6.2 percent in the
same period last year.
JAL
posts $2b loss in nine months to Dec
AFP, Tokyo
Japan Airlines Friday posted a massive 2 billion dollar
loss for the nine months to December and apologised to
shareholders and the public after being forced to file for
bankruptcy last month.
The ailing flagship carrier said it made a net loss of
177.9 billion yen (2 billion dollars) in the period, the
worst figure since its merger with Japan Air System (JAS)
in 2002.
The carrier went bankrupt in January with 26 billion
dollars of debt in one of Japan's biggest ever corporate
failures, but continued flying and announced an overhaul
involving more than 15,000 job cuts.
In a brief statement Friday in a sparse two-page report,
JAL said sorry for its current situation but it did not
offer an outlook, saying its rehabilitation plan was yet
to be fully drafted.
"We deeply apologise for significant troubles that we
caused to many people, including shareholders and
creditors," it said.
The firm booked an operating loss of 120.8 billion yen on
sales revenue of 1.14 trillion yen, down about 27 percent
from the same period in 2008, JAL executive officer
Norikazu Saito told reporters.
Last month the government announced a 3.3-billion-dollar
injection of public funds and fresh emergency loans of 6.6
billion dollars for the carrier.
But JAL may be able to limit the cash injection as it "was
able to avoid the worst-case scenario", said Akitoshi
Nakamura of the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp,
which is leading JAL's rehabilitation process.
A draft of the restructuring plan will be submitted to
court for approval in the summer, he said.
The airline's shares were delisted from the Tokyo Stock
Exchange on February 19, with its price down to one yen,
ending its almost half century of listing on the bourse.
JAL this month rejected an offer to team up with the
SkyTeam alliance, which includes US carrier Delta
Airlines, and said it would expand its tie-up with
American Airlines and its Oneworld partners.
The airline's new chairman Kazuo Inamori said last
Saturday the embattled carrier would speed up efforts to
improve its bottom line through restructuring, including
new early retirement programmes.
"We're making a very huge loss every day and must stop the
bleeding by reducing expenses," he was quoted as saying by
local media.
JAL is stepping up efforts to retain customers as the
number of passengers on both international and domestic
flights fell more than 10 percent in the April-December
period year-on-year.
Business boom for electronic
products
Walton eyes ASEAN markets
TBT Economy Desk
Business of locally made products is booming in the
country as the products are gaining popularity day by day
due to its world standard quality and competitive price.
In recent years, sales of different brands of local
products have increased significantly. Some of the
products are Walton brand refrigerator, motorcycle and
television, jute goods, plastic products, Sharee, shoes,
handicrafts, etc.
Bangalees always have extra love for their country and
feel very loyal towards homeland. In the backdrop
globalisation and global competition, countrymen are
becoming more awareness about the homeland especially the
new generation is thinking newly about the country that
forces them to consume local products.
Sources said, in addition to, the fast-growing business
houses in Bangladesh are now manufacturing world standard
quality products that are able to win their heart. Once,
Bangladeshi entrepreneurs had a tendency to try how to
earn more profit when there was less competition in the
business. But, now at the time of third and fourth
generation entrepreneurs, the past tendency has changed,
and the present business is going on with the theme "Think
globally but use locally". Now the entrepreneurs not only
want to make profit but also want to stay in the market
for long time. Keeping it as a motto, the companies always
have something innovative and new for its consumers. The
local companies always try to reach their products to the
countrymen at competitive price and offer different
facilities like after-sales-service, warranty service,
home service, etc.
About the refrigerator a customer informs that recent
years our local market is being flooded by low quality
refrigerators mainly imported from China, India, Thailand
and Malaysia that become useless within one or two years.
"So I have bought a Walton refrigerator as I do not want
to waste money buying imported one", he says.
According to sources, the country needs five lakh
refrigerators annually. Once, all of the products were
imported to meet domestic demand, but now a local company
is able to supply all products. R.B. Group of Companies
Ltd, the leading electrical, electronics and automobile
manufacturing and marketing company in Bangladesh, has set
up Walton Hi-tech Industries on 20 acres of land at
Chandra in Gazipur, outskirts of the capital Dhaka.
The state-of-art-technology of the factory has world
standard facility to manufacture quality refrigerators and
motorcycles. The hi-tech factory has now about 2,000
workers and capacity to produce about 8 lakh refrigerators
of 17 models. Officials claim that production can be
enhanced if there is a market demand.
Walton now eyes ASEAN countries for doing good business.
The company has recently signed an agreement with a famous
Malaysian company- Aget Group-under which on the primary
stage every year the Malaysian company will import 1,00000
refrigerators and 50,000 motorcycles. Through its
marketing channels, Aget Group will sell the imported
Walton brand refrigerators and motorcycles to near
countries-Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar and other
countries.
As RB group has made huge success in refrigerator and
motorcycle business the company has now taken a project to
set up a factory to manufacture LCD television and air
conditioner (AC). The company hopes that new factory will
go to production in June this year, says a press release.
Turkey’s trade deficit grows in
January
AFP, Ankara
Turkey's January trade deficit widened by 161 percent on a
12-month comparison, official figures showed today, in the
third increase in a row, marking a domestic recovery in
the recession-hit economy.
The gap reached 3.6 billion dollars (2.6 billion euros)
from 1.3 billion dollars a year earlier, the Turkish
statistics institute said, but fell short of market
expectations of 5.2 billion dollars. Imports rose by 23.9
percent to 11.5 billion dollars in January from the figure
12 months earlier while exports fell by 0.3 percent to 7.8
billion dollars, the institute said in a statement. "We
reckon that merchandise trade deficit will continue to
widen due to domestic demand growth and higher commodity
prices on average in 2010," Inan Demir, chief economist at
Finansbank, said in a note to investors. "We expect the
pace of widening in trade deficit to be strong in the
first half of the year before slowing down in the second
half as base effects fade," he added. In 2009, the trade
shortfall shrank by 44.8 percent as the once-booming
economy grappled with a severe recession, causing GDP to
contract by 8.4 percent in the first nine months of 2009,
bringing down industrial production and pushing up
unemployment.
Seoul to lead study on East Asia
FTA
Asia News Network
The South Korean government said Thursday it would take
the initiative in discussions on integrating the East
Asian economies and push for a trilateral free trade
agreement between South Korea, China and Japan. "The three
nations will have the first meeting of business
executives, government officials and academics to set the
schedule for a trilateral free trade agreement (FTA) this
year. But this will not take a short time," Vice Finance
Minister Hur Kyung-wook told reporters in Gwacheon. Hur
attended a weekly economic policy meeting in Seoul earlier
in the day.
The meeting, chaired by South Korean President Lee
Myung-bak, discussed the economic issues of the
president's summit diplomacy in the past two years and
future plans. Lee marked the second anniversary of his
office on Thursday. "The government has commissioned a
report to a think tank to analyse the merits and demerits
of a trilateral FTA among the three Eastern nations," Hur
said. As South Korea has the unique experience of
progressing from a recipient to a donor of international
aid within a generation, the nation will share its
development know-how with developing countries, government
officials said. Seoul plans to expand its economic policy
advisory service by increasing the number of advisory-reciepient
countries from the current four countries - Viet Nam,
Indonesia, Uzbekistan and Cambodia - to seven countries in
2011, and 10 countries in 2012, they said.
"We will not only share our success but our failures.
Although we will provide aid initially, we will also learn
from them (recipient countries)," Hur said. President Lee
also stressed the need for "partnership diplomacy". "With
integrity in mind, we should seek a partnership diplomacy
which would create mutual benefits in the international
community. One-way diplomacy doesn't work anymore," Lee
was quoted by his spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye as saying.
Lee added that the diplomatic sector should diversify the
pool of diplomats with different experiences like
civilians and officials from different ministries.
To boost economic-related summit diplomacy, Knowledge
Economy Ministry will enhance incentives to Japanese
companies to help them enter the Parts and Materials
Complexes in six cities in Korea, the government said.
China’s economic macro-control
to be tested
China Daily
China's macroeconomic management would be put to the test
both by the domestic and international markets in 2010,
said Chairman of National Development and Reform
Commission (NDRC) Zhang Ping Friday.
The country's fiscal and monetary policies would be tested
given the uncertainties of 2010, Zhang said. "As to
monetary policies, if the bank continues to provide easy
loans, inflation may occur. But if the government tightens
monetary policies too soon, the economy may relapse into
recession." said Li Daokui, director of the Center for
China in the World Economy, Tsinghua University.
Last year, Chinese banks lent an unprecedented 9.6
trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion), nearly twice as much as
2008, and nearly half of 2009's gross domestic product
(GDP).
This year, for fear of asset bubbles and bad loans, the
banking regulators have begun to put the brakes on bank
lending. The People's Bank of China (PBOC), China's
central bank, raised the reserve ratio by 0.5 of a
percentage point earlier this month, hoping to reduce
lending.
According to the PBOC, new loans in January totaled 1.39
trillion yuan, down 230 billion yuan year-on-year, and
China Banking Regulatory Commission Chairman Liu Mingkang
said the Chinese government planned to restrict credit
supply to 7.5 trillion yuan (about $1.1 trillion) in 2010.
Too much public investment caused weak private investment
and overcapacity in some industries like steel, said Zhang
Xiaoqiang, vice chairman of the NDRC.
"There's uncertainties about economic growth restructuring
and fiscal stimulus plans," said Tang Min, vice
secretary-general of China Development Research
Foundation.
The central government allocated about 924.3 billion yuan
for public spending last year, 503.8 billion yuan more
than the 2008 budget, said Finance Minister Xie Xuren. To
face the challenges, fiscal policies would focus on
consumption stimulus and development of new economic
sectors like new energy industries, said Xie at the
Central Economic Work Conference held last month.
Xie said that in order to promote consumption in rural
areas, the government would raise the purchase price of
farm produce, and reduce taxes for home appliances sold in
rural areas.
According to Xie, China cut taxes by an upward of 500
billion yuan last year, and consumption was spurred. For
example, sales of automobiles reached 130 million units,
up 38.5 percent year-on-year, he said.
To develop new industries, the government would subsidize
high technology companies regarding interests on loans,
and reduce taxes for those companies, Xie said.
IEA warns of return to oil price
volatility
AFP, Tokyo
Countries must brace for a return to wild oil price swings
as the global economy recovers, the head of the
International Energy Agency (IEA) warned on Friday.
Crude oil prices surged to 147.50 dollars per barrel in
July 2008 before tumbling to 35 dollars five months later
in the eye of the financial storm. Price are now hovering
between 70 and 80 dollars per barrel. "Volatility has
receded compared to the roller-coaster of 2007 and 2008,"
Nobuo Tanaka told reporters on the sidelines of an energy
forum in Tokyo. "But the market could easily become again
more volatile once the world economy grows again and the
supply tightens."
Among factors that would induce volatility, Tanaka cited
the absence of fruitful negotiations over tackling climate
change as well as persistent uncertainty over the outlook
of many economies.
According to a scenario offered by the Paris-based IEA,
which represents the energy interests of 28 developed
economies, oil prices may climb to 100 dollars a barrel in
2020 and up to 200 dollars in 2030. The rise would be less
if measures are taken at a global level to improve energy
efficiency, according to the agency.
"The cheap energy age is over and we have to prepare for
that in the government and private sector," said Tanaka.
He urged governments to open access to energy reserves and
said "encouraging investment on the production side could
lessen volatility".
The IEA held a two-day forum that ended Friday to examine
potential policies and regulatory measures aimed at
increasing oil market transparency.
British economic growth data
revised upwards
AFP, London
Britain emerged from a record recession in unexpectedly
strong shape in the fourth quarter of 2009, revised data
showed on Friday, easing fears that the economy had only
just scraped out of recession.
Gross domestic product-the value of all the goods and
services produced in the economy-grew by 0.3 percent in
the fourth quarter, the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
said in a statement.
That was stronger than the previous anaemic estimate of
0.1-percent expansion and beat market expectations of
revised growth of 0.2 percent.
The news, alongside a poll showing that British Prime
Minister Gordon Brown's Labour party is gaining ground on
David Cameron's main opposition Conservatives, sparked
talk that Britain will face an election soon.
"The odds of the election coming forward certainly appear
to have risen," IHS Global Insight economist Howard Archer
told AFP.
"Given the still serious risk of an economic relapse and
the improving polls, Brown could well be tempted."
The Daily Telegraph/Ipsos MORI poll echoed other recent
surveys by suggesting that Brown's Labour is gaining
ground over the Conservatives with a general election due
in a few months.
"So much for all the fuss about the fourth-quarter GDP
print last month, which showed the UK barely crawling out
of recession," said economist Ian Kernohan at Royal London
Asset Management.
"With consumer confidence rising and the Tory poll lead
narrowing, Mr Brown must be tempted to hold a snap
election next month."
The fourth quarter reading, which was upgraded after
revisions to services and production data, marked the end
of a deep recession following six successive quarters of
contraction.
"This upwards revision is an encouraging sign that the
economy has been growing stronger, and for longer, than
the official data suggest," added economist Neville Hill
at Credit Suisse.
The data also showed that battered British economy has
shrunk by 6.2 percent since the recession began in the
second quarter of 2008, following revisions to previous
quarters.
‘Coffee hit by global warming’
AFP, Guatemala City
Coffee producers say they are getting hammered by global
warming, with higher temperatures forcing growers to move
to prized higher ground, putting the cash crop at risk.
"There is already evidence of important changes" said
Nestor Osorio, head of the International Coffee
Organization (ICO), which represents 77 countries that
export or import the beans.
"In the last 25 years the temperature has risen half a
degree in coffee producing countries, five times more than
in the 25 years before," he said.
Sipped by hundreds of millions of people worldwide, coffee
is one of the globe's most important commodities, and a
major mainstay of exports for countries from Brazil to
Indonesia.
But producers meeting in Guatemala this week are in a
state of panic over the impact of warming on their
livelihoods.
While boutique roasters often seek out highland-grown
cherries for their subtle tastes, the cooler terroir comes
at a premium.
And the new race to the top comes amid already increasing
demands for resources between farmers and energy firms.
"Land and water are being fought over by food and energy
producers," said Osorio, "we need to make an assessment to
guarantee the sustainability of and demand for coffee
production."
ICO figures show that production in Latin America dipped
last year, largely due to poor weather, and producers say
they are struggling to stay afloat.
In Colombia, one of the world's largest producers,
production slumped 30- 35 percent while Costa Rica and El
Salvador still struggled to recover from poor harvests in
2000-2005.
The National Coffee Association of Guatemala-a regional
leader-said production in nine Latin American countries
was expected to fall 28 percent in the first three months
of this season.
Taiwan to ‘drown’ without
China trade pact
AFP, Taipei
Taiwan Premier Wu Den-yih warned on Friday that the island
will "drown" if it fails to sign a planned major trade
pact with China, as competition from rivals in the region
will become too formidable. "They will form a regional
alliance while we are the only one that's excluded and
that will cause unthinkable pain," he told parliament.
He was referring to the ASEAN Plus Three mechanism that
would see China, Japan and South Korea cooperating with
the 10- member Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN). "How can we compete with South Korea once it no
longer has to pay a tariff to enter the Chinese market...
all our industries will fail. We face imminent danger of
drowning if we don't sign," he said.
Taiwan and China held their first round of talks on the
Economic Cooperation and Framework Agreement (ECFA) in
Beijing last month, and the Taipei has said it hopes to
sign the agreement in May. President Ma Ying-jeou has said
Taiwan aims to forge closer ties with Southeast Asia once
it has signed the ECFA. Apart from North Korea, Taiwan is
the only economy in the Asia Pacific region that has not
yet signed a free-trade agreement with another country in
the region. Ma's Beijing-friendly government says the
China trade deal would create 260,000 jobs in Taiwan and
boost gross domestic product growth by up to 1.7
percentage points. Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a
civil war but Beijing still sees the island as part of its
territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.
National
Environment, forest protection
Bangladesh and South Korea to sign MoU
BSS, Dhaka
Bangladesh and South Korea would sign MoU for cooperation
in various areas including environment protection and
forest conservation. The MOU is likely to sign during
visit of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to South Korea
in May this year, said State Minister for Environment and
Forest Dr Hasan Mahmud after a meeting with his Korean
counterpart Dr Byung Wook in Indonesian tourist city Bali
on Friday.
The two leaders are in Bali now to attend the Governing
Council meeting of the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP). Official sources here said the two
leaders discussed various issues including possible visit
of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Korea in May this year.
The South Korean minister said Korea intends to sign a MOU
on cooperation in the areas of environment during the
Prime Minister's visit.
He also said that his country is willing to provide
training on environmental protection and forest
conservation to the officials of Bangladesh. The minister
expressed his country's desire to bring some plant/tree
species from Bangladesh to Korea.
Dr Wook sought support of Bangladesh in the bid to
organize the Eighteenth Conference of Parties of UN
Framework on Climate Change (COP-18) in Korea. Dr Hasan
sought Korea's help for development and promotion of solar
energy in Bangladesh.
Earlier, Dr Hasan also held a meeting with UNEP Executive
Secretary Achim Steiner. Steiner praised Bangladesh's
initiatives to tackle climate change and for environmental
protection. He also appreciated the role of Bangladesh
played in Copenhagen climate conference.
Dr Hasan sought UNEP's support to establish an
International adaptation center in Bangladesh. As Dr Hasan
requested UNEP to appoint a 'Goodwill Ambassador of UNEP
from Bangladesh during the next world cup cricket, the
UNEP Executive Secretary said he would actively consider
of it.
Dr Hasan also participated in the panel discussion on bio-
diversity and ecosystem, where UK secretary of state for
environment Hilary Benn, Nobel prize winner Wangari
Maathai, Australian minister for environment Piter
Garrett, Japan's minister for environment Sakihito Ozawa,
Maxico's minister for environment Juan Rafael Elvira,
German Federal minister for environment and nature
conservation and nuclear safety Norbert Rottgen spoke.
21 workers burnt to death in Gazipur fire
UNB, Gazipur
At least 21 workers were burnt to death or perished in
suffocation in a devastating fire that engulfed Garib &
Garib Sweater Factory at Bhogra on Thursday night.
More than 50 others were injured in the fire, believed to
have originated at about 8-45pm from electric short
circuit.
Assistant Police Super Aakhteruzzaman confirmed the death
of 21 workers, mostly females.
The bodies of the victims were lying in were lying in
Gazipur Sadar and Tongi Hospitals. Witnesses said the fire
started from the Swing Section of on the first floor of
the 7-storied building that housed the major sweater
factory.
Workers of the Swing Section managed to come out. But
those in the 3rd and sixth floor have fallen victim of the
devastating smoke and blaze of the fire.
Five units of firefighters rushed to the spot and
frantically tried to douse the flame. They managed to put
down the flame at midnight. It could not be ascertained
how many workers and employees were in the factory when
the tragic fire incident took place. Majeda (30), Zarina
(45), Farida (25), Shahinoor (32), Rawshanara (40),
Shahara (32) and Mojida (35) are among those dead. Others
could not be identified immediately. The wounded were
rushed to the Gazipur district hospital, Tongi hospital
and local clinics.
Workshops on news feature writing in city March
1-6
UNB, Dhaka
Dr Kalinga Seneviratne, Head of Research, AMIC (Asian
Media Information and Communication Centre), and Lucio
Tabing, a World Bank Consultant on Community Radio, arrive
here Saturday to conduct a series of community radio
workshops and a 2-day workshop on "news feature writing".
These workshops will be held between March 1 and 6 at the
UNB auditorium and NIMCO training room, says a press
release of AMIC.
Dr Seneviratne, a Sri Lankan born journalist, radio
broadcaster and international communication specialist
learned his media skills in the Australian community radio
sector. He broadcast with Radio 2SER-FM - a
community/educational radio owned by the University of
Technology Sydney - from 1980 to 1995.
In 1987, he won a UN Media Peace Award for a series of
radio documentaries broadcast on 17 Australian community
radio stations exploring the relationship between rich and
poor countries.
Dr Seneviratne also worked for Inter Press Service news
agency as its Australian and South Pacific correspondent
for 7 years. He holds a Phd in International Communication
from Macquarie University in Australia and has taught
international communications, journalism and radio
production in Australia and Singapore.
Tabing, born in the Philippines, pursued graduate studies
in Mass Communication at the University of the Philippines
in Diliman in Manila. His broadcasting ability was honed
at the campus station DZLB, where he became a producer for
an agricultural program and rose from ranks to become the
Program Director. In 1982, be became the national chairman
of the Philippine Federation of Rural Broadcasters.
In 1991, Tabing was appointed by UNESCO to serve as
project manager of the Tambuli community radio project,
which aims to present an alternative broadcasting system
in remote communities.
Boro cultivation gets momentum
BSS, Joypurhat
The government has taken massive programme to cultivate
Upashi and hybrid varieties of boro paddy in the district
during the current season, DAE sources said.
The farmers of the district are now busy with preparing
their lands for raising seedlings and transplanting those
in the fields. Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE)
officials are also giving advise to the farmers to achieve
the target of boro production. DAE sources said, they have
fixed up a target to cultivate boro paddy on 69,689
hectares of land during the current season in five
upazilas of the district to produce 2,90,590 metric tonnes
of paddy.
Deputy director of DAE Mozzamel Huque told BSS Thursday
that special initiatives have been taken for cultivating
Upashi and hybrid varieties aimed at producing a record
quantity of boro paddy this season in the district. He
said out of the total land 42,268 hectares have been
brought under Upashi variety of which over 27,500 hectares
have already been cultivated while 27,421 hectares of land
have been brought under hybrid variety of which over 9,260
hectares have already been cultivated.
New students of CU facing acute accommodation
crisis
UNB, Chittagong
Nearly 3,000 newcomers of Chittagong University (CU)
alongside several thousand old students are facing acute
accommodation crisis, as they could not manage a seat in
the dormitories of the university or cottages around the
campus.
Campus sources said although the number of students in the
university is increasing every year, the authorities are
yet to come up with any effective measure to address the
accommodation crisis.
The academic activities of the 2009-10 session has begun
couple of months back, but many students could not yet
manage a seat in the dormitories of the university or
privately built cottages around. The new students of
Chittagong University, who came from outside the port
city, cannot join their classes regularly due to
accommodation problem.
"When I sought a seat in the varsity hall, the authorities
told me that no seats would be allocated against the new
students," said Farhad Ahmed, a 1st year student who comes
from Kishoreganj district.
He said he is now residing temporarily with one of his
senior colleagues as guest in a cottage near the campus.
"Where will I go if I do not get a permanent seat," he
said.
Another newcomer, Bilkis Akhter, who comes from Mymensigh
and is now residing at the house of a relative, said she
had applied for a seat in the hall, but was not given one.
Even she failed to share a room in the hall though she
sought help of senior residents.
"I'm really worried… where will I go if my relatives ask
me to leave their house," she said.
When contacted, the university authorities said they are
struggling to accommodate senior students in the
dormitories.
"In such circumstances, we can't do anything for the
freshers right now although we sympathise with their
plight," said a hall provost seeking anonymity.
Rebeka Jannat, a student of the Communication and
Journalism Department who resides in Pritilata Hall, said
women are the worst sufferers from the accommodation
problem, as they usually cannot reside outside the female
halls.
She said there are only three female halls in the
university that cannot accommodate the huge number of
female students coming from across the country to study in
the CU.
Several teachers and students blamed the university
authorities for the accommodation problem. They alleged
that the authorities are indifferent to the acute
accommodation crisis prevailing for years.
Bumper mango
production likely in C'nawabganj
UNB, Chapainawabganj
Mango growers are expecting bumper production this year as
the trees are in full bloom with buds in the district.
Agricultural Department sources said around 3 lakh mts
mangoes will be produced if favourable weather continues.
Although this year is an 'off-year' for mango production
mango trees flowered profusely, showing sign of good
production. Mango production was less last year due to
unfavourable weather although it was an 'on-year'.
Traditionally, production is satisfactory in every
alternate year. Deputy Director of Department of
Agricultural Extension Abdul Quddus said the mango trees
blossomed profusely due to favourable weather and proper
nursing of the growers. Some 1.05 lakh mts of mango were
produced in the district last year, sources said.
Mango, king of fruits, is a cash crop in northwestern
region, especially in Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj, where
the economy largely depends on its production.
A large number of people are engaged in different jobs,
from nursing to harvesting and packing during the mango
season every year. The region has a long tradition of
producing at least 250 varieties of mango including Fazli,
Gopalbhog, Khirshapat, Khirshabhog, Chosha, Langra, Lakhna,
Maldahi, Bombai, Mohananda, Mohanbhog and Ashwina,
Regional Agriculture Information officer Sharif Uddin
said. According to DAE estimate, there are 17 lakh mango
trees on 22,300 hectares of land in the district.
DAE officials are advising mango growers about taking some
precautionary measures to protect the buds from hoppers
during the fruiting period.
Seminar on Prophet Muhammad (SM) held
BSS, Chapainawabganj
Speakers at a seminar have said that there is no room for
militancy in Islam. The life of Prophet Muhammad (SM) is
the complete reflection of Islam and if people in Islam
follow him properly, universal brotherhood would be
established.
They were speaking at a seminar arranged by the
Chapainawabganj district office of Islamic Foundation
Bangladesh on the 'Role of Prophet Muhammad (SM) in the
Establishment of Universal Brotherhood' at its office on
Thursday afternoon.
Deputy Commissioner of Chapainawabganj KM Ali Azam was
present in the seminar as chief guest while it was
presided over by Deputy Director of Islamic Foundation Md.
Abul Kalam. The keynote paper was presented by Professor
Afazuddin and Vice Principal of Balugram Adarsha Degree
College NSM Mahbubur Rahman spoke on the subject.
Latif emphasizes on transparency in
all sectors
BSS, Mymensingh
Textile and Jute Minister Abdul Latif Siddique Friday laid
emphasis on transparency and accountability in all sectors
for the development of the country.
He urged the diploma engineers of PDB to change their
mindset and work with utmost sincerity for building
digital Bangladesh as declared by Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina.
He made this appeal while addressing as the chief guest at
the conference of the district unit of Diploma Engineers
Association of Power Development Board (PDB) held at
Language Martyred Abdul Jabber auditorium here.
Presided over by unit president of the association Ajoy
Sarker, the conference was addressed, among others, by
local lawmaker Principal Matiur Rahman as special guest.
Secretary of the central organization Fazlur Rahman Khan,
and Qumrul Hasan also spoke on the occasion. Secretary of
the local unit Moazzem Hossain delivered welcome address.
The minister said the vested quarters are always trying to
disrupt development of the country. They are hatching
conspiracies against the country as well as the
government. He said energy is the main driving force of
all development and the present government has taken
various steps to generate more power to mitigate power
crisis.
The Prime Minister has already directed the concerned
authorities to take immediate steps to explore gas in
order to generate more power.
Chapainawabganj Bar
Association election held
BSS, Chapainawabganj
Advocate Shamsul Hoque and Advocate Mosaddeque Hossain
Kajal have been elected president and secretary
respectively in the election of the Chapainawabganj
District Bar Association.
Other elected office bearer of the Bar are: vice
presidents- Advocate Shahjahan Hossain and Advocate Nazrul
Islam Sona, assistant secretaries: Advocate Akramul Islam
and Advocate Ekramul Hoque Pintu, treasurer- Advocate
Robiul Islam, library secretary- Advocate Rezzaqul Haider,
magazine secretary- Advocate Tariq Aziz and members-
Advocate Setara Begum, Advocate Sarwar Kabir Badal,
Advocate Farid Ahmed Jony, Advocate Shahidur Rahman,
Advocate Omar Ali and Advocate Yusuf Ali.Chapainawabganj
Bar Association election held.
840 bottles phensidyl seized in
Joypurhat
BSS, Joypurhat
Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in an
anti-smuggling drive seized 840 bottles of phensidyl in a
microbus at Talpasha area under Kalai upazila of the
district on Friday.
RAB sources said, based on secret information a RAB team
led conducted the raid at Talpasha village area in
Chanpara Nishainta road under Kalai upazila and after
intercepting a microbus recovered 840 bottles of phensidyl.
The RAB team detained microbus driver Nasir Uddin, son of
Abdur Rahim of Kuatpur village under Panchbibi upazila of
the district. A case was filed with Kalai thana in this
connection.
Man jailed for life for killing
stepmother in Magura
UNB, Magura
A court here Thursday convicted a young man and sentenced
him to life term imprisonment for killing his stepmother
here in 2004.
The convict was identified as Mofizar Rahman, son of Abdus
Salam of Kukna village in Sadar upazila.
The court also fined him Tk 50,000, in default, to suffer
one year more in prison.
According to the prosecution, Mofizar struck his
stepmother Elachi Begum, 50, on her head with a bamboo
stick following a family feud on September 19, 2004,
leaving her injured critically. Later, she died at a local
hospital.
After the incident, father Abdus Salam filed a case with
Sadar thana against Mafizar.
After preliminary investigation, police submitted charge
sheet against the accused.
After examining the records and witnesses, Additional
District and Sessions Judge Nazir Ahmed handed down the
verdict.
Sports
Shakib sees home ground advantage
against England
UNB, Dhaka
Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan said they hope to utilize
the home ground advantage against England in the three-match
ODI series that begins tomorrow at Sher-e-Bangla National
Stadium in Dhaka.
Addressing pre-match press conference at the match venue, he
said if they are able to play to their ability, it is possible
to beat England.
"We hope to win the first match against the visitors and then
want to go ahead step by step," Shakib said.
"Actually, we hope to utilize the local condition against
England as most of their players are fresh… they'll face a bit
of trouble to get accustomed to the condition." Asked about
Mohammad Ashraful, who was left out of the 13-member squad,
the Bangladesh skipper said Ashraful is a class player and he
would soon back in the team showing good performance.
About the wicket, he said the pitch would behave a little bit
slow in the series. It has been made different from the pitch
that was used in the recently concluded tri-nation series.
Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons said that his players are
improving series by series and their all three departments
gained substantial improvement in the last few series.
He hoped that this trend would continue in the ODI series
against England. The Australian-born Bangladesh coach said
Ashraful has been axed from the squad as he himself sought
rest to get back his form.
Bangladesh will play their 2nd ODI against England on March 2
at SBNS while the 3rd match will be held at Zahur Ahmed
Chowdhury Stadium (ZACS) in Chittagong.
After the ODI, the 1st Test between the two sides will be held
on March 12-16 at ZACS, Chittagong, and the 2nd Test on March
20-24 at SBNS, Dhaka.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh team made practice at the match venue
while several members of the England team visited a primary
school at Mirpur to publicize cricket.
 Mohammedan,
Rahmatganj win in beach football
TBT report
Dhaka Mohammedan Sporting Club and Rahmatganj Muslim Friends
Society won their respective matches in the First Beach
Football Championship in Cox's Bazar on Friday.
Dhaka Mohammedan Sporting Club scored a hard-earned 4-3
victory against the host Cox's Bazar team in the inaugural
match at the longest sea beach of the world.
Rahmatganj Muslim Friends Society scored a thrilling 3-2 win
over Dhaka Abahani in the other match of the inaugural day.
A large number of crowd, most of them are holiday makers,
enjoyed the new form of football, which has been organised for
the first time in Bangladesh in a bid to revive the past glory
of football. Bangladesh Football Federation and Bangladesh
Parjatan Corporation jointly organised the competition with
six teams taking part in the contest.
The teams are: Dhaka Mohammedan Sporting Club, Dhaka Abahani,
Brothers Union, Victoria Sporting Club, Rahmatganj Muslim
Friends Society and the host Cox's Bazar.
India seeks series
sweep at Motera
BSS/PTI, Ahmedabad
The series as well as the number two spot in International
Cricket Council (ICC) rankings in their grasp, India would
aim for a rare clean sweep while South Africa has nothing
but pride to play for in their third and final cricket
one-dayer here today.
The home team will be without more than half a dozen key
players in the dead rubber, some missing from action from
the start of the series and others-including champion
batsman Sachin Tendulkar-skipping the tie.
Tendulkar, in particular, will be missed after his
awe-inspiring and phenomenal knock of 200 not out at
Gwalior in central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh that
shattered the Proteas dreams of winning a one-day series
in India for the first time ever.
The batting great has obtained a break to recharge his
batteries for the upcoming Indian Premier League after
becoming the first player in the nearly four-decade-old
one-day game to make a double ton at the international
level with his unbeaten innings which came off just 147
balls.
Tendulkar's absence, the back problem to Virender Sehwag
and the wrist injury to Gautam Gambhir, have necessitated
the inclusion of the uncapped Murali Vijay of southern
Indian state of Tamil Nadu to open the batting with his
state-mate Dinesh Karthik.
Vijay, who has played four Tests in his fledgling career,
thus gets a chance to show his worth in the 50-over format
of the game by default at the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium
in Motera in western Indian state of Gujarat.
The South African pace bowlers, especially Dale Steyn, who
troubled Vijay in the Test series held earlier, would
fancy their chance of making early inroads in the Indian
line-up after the mauling they received from Tendulkar in
the second match.
Karthik, who has opened in Tests, is going into the match
with his confidence boosted with productive stints in the
first two games, especially at Gwalior where he made 79
and got involved in a near-double century second wicket
stand with Tendulkar.
The Indian middle order, in the absence of Tendulkar,
Sehwag, Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh, is full of pep and
vigour but is vastly inexperienced compared to the regular
one and the Proteas could not get a better opportunity to
scythe through it.
Youngsters Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, and
Ravindra Jadeja have been entrusted with the
responsibility to shore up the middle with in-form skipper
Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan.
The Indian bowling too is depleted in the absence of not
only Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, but also Praveen
Kumar who is reportedly out because of a hamstring injury.
The team will also miss Sehwag as the extra slow bowling
option to support Jadeja and Pathan, brightening the
chances of either leg spinner Amit Mishra or uncapped off
spinner Ravichandran Ashwin getting a look-in. An enormous
burden has been placed on Ashish Nehra and the
inconsistent S Sreesanth to deliver the goods in the early
overs and at death.
They are expected to have the backup of either Sudeep
Tyagi, who has been traveling with the team without
getting many chances to play, or Karnataka's young talent
Abhimanyu Mithun.
While India have some deep holes to fill in their line up,
the visitors have to show their ability to bounce back
from the dead after the thrashing they received at Gwalior.
The Proteas batting has not fired in the two matches with
skipper Jacques Kallis at Jaipur and A B de Villiers in
Gwalior being the top scorers without getting much support
from the rest.
Much was expected from Herschelle Gibbs at the top because
of his familiarity with Indian pitches and conditions but
his bat failed to boom in the first two ties and the
visitors would be looking forward to a solid innings from
this veteran.
India, Pakistan gear for ‘final
before final’
BSS/AFP, New
Delhi
Skipper Zeeshan Ashraf hopes to celebrate his 32nd
birthday tomorrow by leading Pakistan to victory over
arch- rival India in the men's field hockey World Cup.
The old foes, once the masters of the game, will clash on
the opening day in a marquee match that organisers claim
had been sold out at the 19,000-seater Dhyan Chand
National Stadium.
"It is one of the most important matches of my life," said
Zeeshan. "Hope I can gift myself a win because no team can
afford to lose the first match of a tournament."
The eagerly awaited match gives both sides a chance to
shine on the world stage after struggling to keep pace
with European and Australian rivals over the past two
decades.
India, who won the last of their eight Olympic gold medals
in 1980, failed to qualify for the Beijing Games and
earned a World Cup berth only by virtue of being the
hosts.
Pakistan, whose four World Cup titles are unmatched, have
not won a major tournament since their last Cup win in
Sydney in 1994 and finished eighth-their lowest Olympic
placing-in Beijing.
Pakistan coach Shahid Ali Khan admitted the 12-nation
tournament could make or break the Asian giants. "We need
to revive hockey in both India and Pakistan and the World
Cup is our best chance to turn the corner," the former
goalkeeper said.
"The first game is crucial. India have the home advantage,
but the pressure of performing in front of their home
crowd could work in our favour."
Khan was in the squad in 1982 when Pakistan thrashed India
7-1 in the Asian Games final at the same Dhyan Chand
stadium in New Delhi and also won the World Cup in Mumbai
the same year.
India, who finished 11th out of 12 in the previous World
Cup in Germany in 2006, were excited at playing Pakistan
for the first time in a Cup match since 1986.
"People are saying the game is like a final before the
final," said striker Prabhjot Singh. "I tell them it's not
just this one, all league matches are like a final."
India and Pakistan are drawn with hot favourites
Australia, Beijing silver- medallists Spain, England and
South Africa in group B, with two teams advancing to the
semi-finals.
Group A comprises defending champions Germany, the
Netherlands, South Korea, New Zealand, Argentina and
Canada.
India, coached by Spaniard Jose Brasa, hope to counter
Pakistan's ace penalty-corner specialist Sohail Abbas with
three drag flickers of their own in Sandeep Singh, Diwakar
Ram and Dhananjay Mahadik.
Abbas, 34, the first player in the sport to score more
than 300 goals, goes into his fourth World Cup carrying
the hopes of an entire nation.
"I want to make it a memorable tournament for my team and
myself," he said. "If we can begin well against India, we
have the ability to go far in the tournament."
Coach Brasa was quietly confident of India's chances,
saying the team had prepared well despite the build-up
being marred by a pay dispute that was resolved after a
three-day strike by the players.
"I am not predicting anything, but we are ready to face
the best," said Brasa.
Villegas shoots sizzling 62 for
Phoenix lead
AFP, Phoenix
Camilo Villegas bounced back from his disappointment at
last week's WGC Match Play Championship, firing a
nine-under par 62 Thursday to seize the lead in the USPGA
Tour's Phoenix Open.
The 28-year-old Colombian, who missed a three-foot putt
that would have put him in the Match Play final last
weekend, tied the tournament's first-round record and had
a one-shot lead over American Matt Every, once Villegas'
teammate at the University of Florida.
England's Justin Rose, Mark Wilson, Japan's Ryuji Imada,
Rickie Fowler and Pat Perez were three strokes back on 65
in superb conditions at TPC Scottsdale, in the Phoenix
suburb.
Phil Mickelson and defending champion Kenny Perry were in
a bunch on 68, while WGC Match Play champion Ian Poulter
of England struggled to a 72. Villegas teed off on 10 and
capped his round by chipping in from 21 feet on the
par-four ninth for his ninth birdie.
The Colombian, who won twice on the PGA Tour in 2008,
credits a more relaxed approach to the game to his strong
start to this season.
"I was getting a little too concerned with my world
ranking position and money list and this and that,"
Villegas said, "and I just got a little tight on the golf
course.
So I needed to put all those things aside and remember
that I'm playing golf for a living, and there's a million
people out there that would love to be in my shoes, and
have fun with it." Part of that is being able to shrug off
a missed putt like the one that saw him fall to Paul Casey
in the Match Play semi-finals.
"You know what? It's OK," he said. "I've got no problem
with it. I wish I would have made it, yes. But you know
what? It ain't going to change me as a person." Villegas'
nine-under round equalled the first-round tournament
record shared by Steve Jones (1997) and Harrison Frazier
(2003).
Every, who earned his tour card by winning last year's
Nationwide Tour Championship, also had no bogeys. Every
started at the 10th tee and reeled off six straight
birdies from the 17th, the longest streak of its kind so
far in the young PGA season.
He is coming off a big disappointment at the Mayakoba
Classic in Mexico, where he signed an incorrect scorecard
and was disqualified after the third round. To make
matters worse, the card had been kept by his longtime golf
hero and fellow Florida alumnus, Mark Calcavecchia.
Every said he was so upset about his play that he signed
the card without looking at it.
Djokovic only big name survivor in Dubai
BSS/AFP, Dubai
Marin Cilic, the sixth-seeded Australian Open
semi-finalist, became the latest in a long line of leading
players to fall by the wayside at the surprise-laden Dubai
Open here on Thursday.
Cilic's 7-6 (10/8), 7-5 quarter-final loss to Jurgen
Melzer, the world number 31 from Austria, left only Novak
Djokovic of the world's top ten surviving in the two
million dollar tournament. Brilliant and clever though
Melzer's performance was, the outcome extended the
sequence of promotional blows for an event which usually
contains all the leading names and has often won ATP World
Tour popularity votes.
The defeat of Cilic, one of the two youngest players at
the very highest level, followed those of Andy Murray,
Nikolay Davydenko, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Gilles Simon,
and the withdrawal of the unwell Roger Federer on Sunday.
Despite that, after half an hour the 21-year-old Croatian
looked the likelier to reach the semi-finals, within one
good blow of reaching 5-1 with two points for a double
break. Had Cilic converted either, the match might easily
have taken a different course. He had established a
dangerous fluency with drives from both wings and into
many angles, and looked set to dominate.
But Melzer attacked his way out of that corner and then
set about breaking up Cilic's flow - serve-volleying more,
standing back further while receiving first serve, and
following his second serve returns into the net sometimes.
It was clever and it worked superbly. "I had to change
something," Melzer said. "He was better in the first 25
minutes, but I managed to break his rhythm."
Despite this, Melzer still had to save a set point at 7-6
in the tie- break, coming up with a heavy first serve
which set up a comfortable forehand drive-kill, and to
save a break point when he went 30-40 down on his serve at
5-5 in the second set. At that moment Melzer was saved by
a fraction of an inch and a disagreement over a line
decision.
Zimbabwe eyes vulnerable WIndies scalp
BSS/AFP, Port of Spain
Zimbabwe wicketkeeper and batsman Tatenda Taibu believes
the visitors can topple West Indies in their forthcoming
limited-overs series starting Sunday.
The former national captain expects Zimbabwe to punch
above their weight and deliver a stinging blow to the
confidence of a West Indies side still vulnerable
following a recent hiding by Australia.
"We want to win the games, and we really want to start
playing hard cricket again," said the pint-sized Taibu.
"Zimbabwe cricket has been respected as having- ups and
downs, but we really want to stamp our authority now and
start performing as expected."
Taibu has plenty of faith in the other players in the
side, particularly off-spin bowling captain Prosper Utseya
and batsman Stuart Matsikenyeri, whose combined experience
of more than 200 One Day Internationals will be vital.
"They've played a lot of games, and they've got a lot of
maturity at the moment," said Taibu.
"So we're looking to play a lot of good cricket. I've been
here before, so it's great to play cricket here again."
He added: 'There are a lot of times the guys have said
there is a lot of talent in Zimbabwe, but we really have
to put it to show now. It's not just about the talent, we
really have to join the two talent and maturity- and play
good cricket."
Taibu is excited about Sunday's Twenty20 International
against West Indies at Queen's Park Oval in the Trinidad
and Tobago capital.
"Twenty20 is exciting, but- it's not really about only
explosive cricket," he said.
"It's about mental cricket, reacting to situations.
It will be exciting. Twenty20 will be exciting for the
crowd. I'm sure they're going to come for some good
cricket." Zimbabwe open its tour with a 50 overs-a-side
practice match against a University of the West Indies (UWI)
Vice Chancellor's XI on Friday at Frank Worrell Oval on
the UWI's St. Augustine campus about six miles outside of
the capital.
After Sunday's Twenty20 International, they play five one
dayers against West Indies-the first two next Thursday,
March 4, and next Saturday, March 6, at the Guyana
National Stadium, and the last three on Wednesday, March
10, Friday, March 12, and Sunday, March 14 at the Arnos
Vale Multiplex in St. Vincent.
Sunday's Twenty20 International is the first between the
two sides since the format gained international status six
years ago, and West Indies have never lost a one day
series against these opponents.
SAfrica winter raises World
Cup swine flu risk
BSS/AFP, Sun City
The World Cup kicks off at the height of South Africa's
winter, bringing in hundreds of thousands of visitors
during peak flu season and raising concerns about a
resurgence of swine flu.
The H1N1 strain has killed nearly 16,000 people, proving
less lethal than regular flu despite the global alarm.
But health minister Aaron Motsoaledi said recently that a
possible new swine flu flare-up was one of his "biggest
nightmares" about the 2010 showcase to be played as
night-time temperatures in several host cities dip toward
freezing.
Football body FIFA has advised the tournament's 32 teams
to be vaccinated against the H1N1 strain, but has warned
against panic.
"We are very carefully monitoring with the WHO and the
health authorities in South Africa," Jiri Dvorak, FIFA's
chief medical officer told AFP on the sidelines of a
recent pre- tournament football medicine conference in the
Sun City resort.
"We are really not worried about a special situation. We
have to deal with the situation as it comes. Up to now, we
have absolutely no indication that we should be worried."
Despite accusations of inflating the swine flu threat, the
World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday said it was
too early to declare that the pandemic had peaked.
Last year, 12,000 people caught swine flu in South Africa,
with nearly 100 fatalities.
South Africa's medical facilities-which range from first-
class private clinics to overstretched state
hospitals-will be beefed up by military health services
during the June 11-July 11 tournament.
"Everything that we are doing is geared up to deal with
any eventuality," Victor Ramathesele, general medical
officer for South Africa's 2010 organising committee, told
AFP.
"Everything is in our plans and we are confident that we
deal with any public health and emergency medical
situations that might arise during the tournament."
Seasonal flu sufferers accounted for 90 percent of cases
at clinics set up for players and VIPs at the 2009
curtainraiser Confederations Cup, staged during the midst
of the swine flu hype last June.
"If you're going to have a major event like the 2010 FIFA
World Cup, it becomes critical that we prepare ourselves
adequately both for seasonal flu and H1N1," said
Ramathesele.
While several nations have scaled down controls due to
waning infections, caseloads have risen in western Africa
including Senegal and Mauritiana.
South Africa's private Netcare Travel Clinics has
cautioned against complacency ahead of the Cup.
Bayern faces Hamburg as
Bundesliga hots up
BSS/AFP, Berlin
Bayern Munich faces a tough test to keep up with Bayer
Leverkusen at the top of the German Bundesliga this
weekend as it takes on fourth-placed Hamburg at
home in what increasingly looks a two- horse race.
In another top of the table clash, third-placed Schalke
host Borussia Dortmund, in fifth, while Stuttgart, fresh
from a hard-fought Champions League 1-1 draw with the
stars of Barcelona midweek, battle with Eintracht
Frankfurt.
Bayern Munich caught up Bayer Leverkusen at the top of the
table a month ago, and since then, the two rivals have
been neck-and-neck.
Going into this weekend's games, Leverkusen have the
slimmest of advantages-one goal ahead on goal difference.
"Leverkusen are strong, but we're stronger," Bayern's
German striker Thomas Mueller said.
Last Saturday, Bayern looked to have slipped up after
managing just a draw away at local rivals Nuremberg, who
are last-but-one in the table, dashing hopes of what would
have been a record-equalling string of 10 league
victories.
Midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger said they would use the
pain of the dropped points to spur them on against
Hamburg.
"We're still angry about the draw in Nuremberg. It's a
game we should have won," he said.
But Bayern got a reprieve a day later when Leverkusen
suffered the same fate in a 2-2 thriller away against
Werder Bremen which saw the hosts snatch a draw with an
injury-time header from German international striker Per
Mertesacker.
This allowed dogged Leverkusen under veteran coach Jupp
Heynckes to equal his own Bundesliga record of 23 straight
games unbeaten-first achieved when he was in charge of
Bayern.
This weekend, it is the Bavarians with the tougher-looking
game, with Hamburg unbeaten in a month and boosted by
their new star signing, former Manchester United striker
Ruud van Nistelrooy.
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