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Leading News
PM fears bid to
raise prices of essentials before Ramadan
She asks TCB to import pulse, edible oil, sugar and
chick-pea
UNB, Dhaka
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said vested
quarters may try to increase prices of essentials ahead of
the holy month of Ramadan and asked the authorities
concerned to remain alert.
She also asked the Trading Corporation Bangladesh to
import pulse, edible oil, sugar and chick-pea on urgent
basis before the Ramadan starts.
The Prime Minister issued the directives when she was
addressing a meeting with the secretaries at the Cabinet
Division this (Sunday) afternoon.
Briefing journalists after the meeting that continued for
over three hours from 12 noon, Cabinet Secretary M Abdul
Aziz said the Prime Minister also emphasized further
strengthening the TCB in a bid to keep the prices of
essentials within the reach of the mass people.
Urging the secretaries to achieve cent percent
implementation of Annual Development Programme (ADP) in
the new fiscal year, the Prime Minister ordered for
introducing Performance Based Evaluation System (PBS) for
deciding promotion and posting of the government
officials, Aziz said.
Replying to a question, the Cabinet secretary said the
government is thinking about extending the retirement age
of its employees, "but no decision has been taken yet in
this regard."
The Cabinet secretary also said the unimplemented part of
the new pay scale for the government officials will be
implemented from this July.
He said the Prime Minister has expressed satisfaction over
the rate of ADP implementation, but the Prime Minister
asked the secretaries not to be complacent.
Aziz said the government has succeeded in achieving 91
percent implementation of ADP in the outgoing fiscal year
(2009-10).
The Prime Minister directed the Secretaries to implement
the development projects within the planned timeframe to
fulfill the targets of Vision 2021, he said.
"Shun all types of procrastination in implementing the
projects," Hasina was quoted as saying by the cabinet
secretary.
The Prime Minister ordered the secretaries to complete
paper works of the development projects within the months
of July, August and September of the fiscal year.
On investment, the Prime Minister directed the Ministry
and Departments concerned to relax the official rules and
regulations for the foreign investors. "Formulate a
hassle-free investment policy," she said.
SC
vacates stay on Amar Desh publication
UNB, Dhaka
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Sunday
vacated its interim stay clearing the way for resuming
publication of recently shut down daily Amar Desh.
A 6-member appellate bench, headed by Chief Justice M
Fazlul Karim, passed the order dismissing the application
for leave-to-appeal filed by the government against the
High Court order.
On June 15, the Supreme Court stayed the High Court order
that had stopped for three months the operation of the
government's action proscribing the daily Amar Desh over a
dispute concerning its publication rights.
On June 1, the deputy commissioner cancelled the
declaration of the daily's publication on the ground that
the newspaper has no authorized publisher.
On June 10, the High Court, upon a writ petition
challenging the validity of the cancellation of the
declaration of Amar Desh, a BNP-leaning daily, had issued
a rule asking the government to explain why its action
should not be declared illegal.
The HC had also stayed the government order scrapping the
pending application filed by Amar Desh acting editor
Mahmudur Rahman, now in custody, seeking authority as
publisher.
Emerging from the court, Barrister Abdur Razzaq told the
newsmen that now there is no legal bar to resume
publication of Amar Desh following the day's apex court
order. On the other hand, Additional Attorney General MK
Rahman said although the Supreme Court vacated its stay on
the publication of the daily, but a newspaper cannot be
published without an authorized publisher as per law of
the land.
Traffic
jam causes loss of $1b annually
BSS, Dhaka
Estimating at least one billion US dollars annual loss for
the chronic traffic congestions in Dhaka city, a US- based
researcher suggested better use of existing facilities for
ensuring ultimate benefit of the next generation of
traffic management.
Rashed Islam, who is currently working in Austin, USA,
presented the study, based on his years of experience in
mitigating traffic congestion, at a roundtable discussion
held on Sunday in the city.
Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS)
organized the roundtable discussion where experts and high
officials from the communication ministry and law
enforcing agencies shared their views on the issue.
Giving a brief on the financial set back of the traffic
congestion, Islam counted the cost for only working hour
loss, but did not take into account fuel loss, the huge
loss of accident and the trashing impact on the economic
development.
He, however, estimates the total loss with the unaccounted
heads would be as high as US $1.5 billion per year. He
said this figure indicates the colossal losses for the
traffic congestions and at the same time it shows how much
benefit the nation can get by managing the problem.
Islam found some major reasons behind the city's
deteriorating traffic system of which he emphasized on
removing building materials and other stuff from the roads
and illegal vendors from footpath.
"This will allow more room for easy traffic movement," he
said and suggesting stricter punishment for road grabbers
and traffic rules violators.
Ctg Ctiy mayor
Manjur Alam sworn in
UNB, Dhaka
Newly elected Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) Mayor
Mohammad Manjur Alam Manju was sworn in on Sunday.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina administered the oath to the
new CCC mayor at a simple ceremony at the International
Conference Center of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
Cabinet Ministers, advisers to the Prime Minister, CCC
councilors and high officials of the government were,
among others, present at the ceremony.
Manjur Alam Manju, as the candidate of BNP-backed
Chattagram Unnayan Andolan, won the CCC mayoral race on
June 17 defeating ruling Awami League-supported Nagorik
Committee candidate ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury.
Mohiuddin Chowdhury was the first elected mayor of the
port city and served as the city father for 17 years.
The elected CCC ward councilors: M Shah Jahan (South
Pahartali), Farid Ahmad Chowdhury (Jalalabad), Shafiqul
Islam (Panchlaish), Mahbubul Alam (Chandgaon), Mohammad
Azam (Mohora), Mohammad Hasan Liton (East Sholashahar), SM
Iqbal Hossain (West Sholashahar), Shamsuzzaman Helali (Sholakbahar),
Abdus Sattar Selim (North Pahartali), Nesar Uddin Ahmad
(North Kattali), Morshed Alam Chowdhury (South Kattali),
Babul Huq (Sharaipara), Mahfuzul Alam (Pahartali), Abul
Fazal Kabir Ahmad (Lalkhan Bazar), Gias Uddin (Bagmoniram),
Syed Golam Haider Mintu (Chawkbazar), AKM Jafrul Islam
(West Bakalia), Mohammad Tayab (East Bakalia), Mohammad
Yasin Chowdhury (South Bakalia), Hasan Mohmud Hasni (Dewan
Bazar), Bijoy Kumar Choudhury (Jamalkhan), Abdul Malek (Enayet
Bazar), Niaz Mohammad Khan (North Pathantuli), Sirajul
Islam (Agrabad), Abdus Sabur Liton (Rampur), Mohammad
Hossain (Halishahar), Mohammad Sekandar (South Agrabad),
Nazrul Islam Bahadur (Pathantuli), Shahidul Islam (West
Madarbari), Jahangir Alam Chowdhury (East Madarbari),
Didarur Rahman (Alkaran), Johurlal Hazari (Anderkilla),
Jahurul Alam Dobash (Firingi Bazar), Mohammad Ismail (Patharghata),
Nurul Huq (Bakshirhat), Jahangir Alam Chowdhury (Gushaildanga),
Hasan Murad Chowdhury (North-middle Halishahar), Golam
Mahmud (South-middle Halishahar), Sarfaraz Kader (South
Halishahar), Abdul Barek (North Patenga) and Nurul Absar
(South Patenga).
The 14 female councilors elected from reserved seats:
Ferdowsi Bagum Munni, Jubaida Nargis Khan, Jahanara Begum,
Arju Shahabuddin, Monowara Begum Moni, Shaheda Kashem
Sathi, Anjuman Ara Begum, Rekha Alam Chowdhury, Rehana
Begum Ranu, Ferdows Ara Begum, Jannatul Ferdous Popy,
Afroza Kalam, Lutfunnesa Dobash and Shahanur Begum.
210 MW No.6
unit of Ghorasal power station shut down following fire
UNB, Narsingdi
Fire broke out in No. 6 unit of Ghorasal thermal power
station on Sunday afternoon leading to the shut down of
its operation.
The cause of the fire in the 250MW unit could not be known
immediately but chief engineer of the station Tomal Babu
said it originated from a generator of the No. 6 unit at
3pm and quickly spread.
The fire caused extensive damage, officials said.
Firefighters from Narsingdi and Polash rushed to the scene
and brought the blaze under control after 1 and half hours
of hectic efforts at 4:30pm.
Meanwhile, PDB officials claimed that the Unit-6 was shut
down following a technical glitch in the vacuum system of
the machine.
"But the incident did not have any impact on the other
plants or national grid," said a senior PDB official.
A 7-member inquiry committee headed by Member (generation)
of PDB Delwar Hossain was formed to investigate into the
cause of the fire incident.
New monetary
policy to try to keep prices of essentials stable: Atiur
BSS, Madaripur
Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr Atiur Rahman said in
Madaripur on Sunday that the central bank would try to
keep the prices of essentials stable, as much as possible,
through the new monetary policy to be announced today
(Monday).
He was talking to journalists at a view- exchange meeting
at the Madaripur Circuit House on his way back to Dhaka,
ending his visit to the coastal districts. Resource
Development Bangladesh organised the meeting. Governor Dr
Atiur Rahman will announce the half-yearly monetary policy
for the next six months with major focus on the strategies
to contain inflation, the major challenge for the coming
days, according to official sources.
The monetary policy usually addresses the exchange rate
with the lone effective tool of market intervention for
managing the money market. Dr Atiur Rahman said the
Bangladesh Bank is giving assistance for power generation.
It is also giving bank loans for installation of solar
energy system.
Earlier, the BB governor exchanged views with journalists
at Barguna Circuit House Saturday night.
Our Barguna correspondent says, the governor, while
replying to questions, said the government would soon
announce an agriculture policy. It will have specific
proposals for the people in backward areas and fishermen
and fish farmers.
The BB governor said now the farmers can open bank
accounts with only Taka 10. This is a historic step taken
by the government.
Back Page
Call for implementing DAP getting
louder
UNB, Dhaka
Urban planners and researchers at a discussion on Sunday
urged the government for implementing the proposed
'Detailed Area Plan' (DAP) to ensure a planned and
environment-friendly Dhaka City.
They said if the government failed to grasp the urgency of
the need and held up approval of the DAP, Dhaka will turn
into a city of perils. The dwellers of the city may suffer
catastrophe in the near future.
The discussants observed that if the government fails to
implement DAP properly, the capital will soon unable to
stand up the mounting pressure of unplanned urbanization.
Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (BAPA), Bangladesh Institute
of Planners (BIP), Bangladesh Architectures Institute,
Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) and
Centre for Urban Studies (CUS) jointly organized the
discussion titled 'DAP: Anti-people or People's welfare
Initiative?' at CIRDAP auditorium in the city.
Former adviser to the caretaker government ASM Shajahan,
Justice Golam Rabbani, BIP president and planner Prof
Sarwar Jahan, columnist Syed Abul Maksud and engineer
Sheikh Mohammad Shahidullah, among others, took part in
the discussion chaired by BAPA president Prof Muzaffer
Ahmed. Architect Iqbal Habib presented the keynote paper.
Prof Muzaffar Ahmed said people should be united to raise
the demand for early implementation of DAP. If they fail,
all such exercise for building a planned city would go in
vain.Referring to the limitation of the RAJUK in
establishing a planned city he said RAJUK could not play a
significant role in awaking people to implement DAP and a
comprehensive initiative by the government to protect the
city.
"The consultations of RAJUK were not proper. It has not
adequate manpower, it has also no power," he said. Prof
Muzaffar Ahmed also stressed the need for decentralizing
the state power and empower the local government
institutions to save the city from the pressure of over
density.
"If we want to save Dhaka, we have to increase facilities
at the district and upazila level to keep people from
migrating to the city," said Prof Muzaffar, adding that
coordination is very important in this regard.
He suggested for formulating a 'Detailed Area Plan' for
every district town. He also urged the government not for
acquisition of agriculture land in implementing the DAP.
ASM Shajahan said there is no way without implementation
of DAP, although a vested quarter has been dishing out
falsehood against it. He urged for unity of all sections
of the people to resist the vested quarter that opposed
DAP.
Justice Golam Rabbani said if the village-based towns are
established by involving the local government, the rural
people will not come to the city in search of employment.
Municipal elections by
November and union council within December: Syed Ashraf
UNB, Sangsad Bhaban
LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Syed Ashraful Islam on
Sunday informed in parliament that election to
municipalities tenure of which has already expired will be
held within November 30. Replying to Shahiduzz-man Sarker
of Awami Legaue the Minister said Election Commission has
been requested to hold the election by November 30. He
said election to union councils will be held in December
this year as tenure of almost all union councils expired
in 2008.
Replying to a supplementary Ashraful told the House that
the past caretaker government had promulgated certain
ordinances to prevent politicians from contesting local
body elections as part of its de-politicization attempt.
The life of those ordinances automatically expired as the
government has not revived them, he said.
Ashraf was critical of the mind-set of the bureaucrats who
have cancelled the chairmanship or membership of local
body institutions on the grounds of trivial flaws. He said
the government is now contemplating enacting of a law so
that no chairman or member loses his position until
allegation against him is proved by the court.
The minister said since Pakistan time such laws were
enacted to humiliate politicians. "A kind of feeling works
in the minds of the public representatives that government
officials are perhaps better then them.
This sense of feeling should go."
Govt won’t allow
business in education sector: Nahid
Higher education seekers won’t face seat crisis, he
says
UNB, Dhaka
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid on Sunday said the
government would not allow anyone to do business in
education sector.
"We're working to enhance the quality of education… we
won't allow anyone to do business in education sector," he
said.
The education minister made the remark while talking to
journalists after the inaugural ceremony of the 6th
two-day meeting of the committee heads of UGC/equivalent
bodies of the SAARC member countries at Hotel Sheraton in
the.
National Prof Kabir Chowdhury was the guest of honor at
the function, chaired by UGC chairman Prof Nazrul Islam.
Director of the SAARC secretariat, Kathmandu, RD Rajapakse
and University Grants Commission (UGC) member Dr Atful Hye
Chowdhury also spoke at the function.
Talking to the journalists, the Education Minister sought
support from all concerned in doing away with
commercialization of education. He said no university
without government approval would be allowed to continue
operation in the country. "We'll monitor this strictly so
that no such unapproved university can publish and
broadcast advertisements in the media."
Replying to a question, Nahid said there would be no seat
crisis in pursuing higher education for those who
succeeded in the HSC exams although he admitted shortage
of quality colleges and universities in the country.
"We've recently launched a five-year project - Higher
Education Quality Enhancement Project - for the
enhancement of quality education both in public and
private universities," he said.
Earlier, speaking as the chief guest at the function, the
Education Minister said the new education policy which is
in the process of implementation would bring qualitative
change in the country's education sector. "By providing
quality education for all at all levels," he said, "we can
broaden the base of opportunities of education and ensure
sustainable economic development to achieve the millennium
development goal (MDG)."
Delwar urges
Hasina to protect democracy, failure will be her
responsibility
UNB, Dhaka
Criticizing various "undemocratic" steps of the
government, BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain
Sunday said it is the responsibility of the Prime Minister
to protect democracy in the country and she'll have to
bear the responsibility for any failure.
"No autocratic ruler in the past could survive in power.
Shun the path of autocracy," he said at a rally indicating
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Delwar was addressing the rally at Muktangon, which was
organized by BNP demanding immediate release of BNP
leaders and workers including Mirza Abbas, Shamser Mobin
Chowdhury and Shahiduddin Chowdhury Annie MP and also
immediate return of DCC ward councilor Chowdhury Alam who
remained missing since June 25.
Presided over by BNP vice chairman Selima Rahman, the
rally was also addressed by Barrister Moudud Ahmed,
Barrister Rafiqul Islam Mia, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy,
Abduallah Al Noman, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Amanullah
Aman, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal,
Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel, Saiful Alam Nirob, Nilufar
Chowdhury Moni MP, Helen Zerin Khan and Shammi Akhter MP.
Khandaker Delwar said people have become utterly
frustrated and fed up with the "misdeeds and misrule" of
the government marked by "failure to implement any of its
election commitments, and repression, killing, terrorism,
extortion, land-grabbing and so on by the ruling party
cadres."
He said the government during its more than 17-month rule,
has become so "unpopular and lost people's confidence that
no other government in the past had ever faced in such
short period of time."
The BNP secretary general said people are passing days in
hardship amid "unabated price-hike of essentials,
unemployment and closure of mills and factories."
Six suspected
robbers lynched in Gazipur
UNB, Gazipur
Six suspected robbers were lynched by mob and six others
were badly wounded at Enayetpur in Sadar upazila early
hours of Sunday.
Two of the dead were identified as Shukur Ali (36) and
Kamal Hossain (25), both hailed from Sreepur. Identity of
four others was not known.
Police and witnesses said a gang of about 20 dacoits
entered the homes of Jahangir Hossain and Ajmat Ali of
Gachbari village in Kaliakoir upazila at dead of night.
They exploded homemade bombs to scare away the neighbours,
plundered the houses and safely escaped with the booty in
cash and kind.
Gazipur sadar police were informed by cell phone about the
dacoity and the way the dacoits fled in a bus of Provati
Banasree Paribahan. Police of Mouchak outpost immediately
put up barricade on the road. But the dacoits in the bus
managed to overcome the barricade and reached Enayetpur at
the time of fazr prayer.
The Musallis near Enayetpur mosque saw a group of people
moving suspiciously. They held two of them and raised
alarming cries assembling the villagers who gheraoed the
dacoits and managed to hold ten of them. Others managed to
flee.
They were beaten black and blue resulting in death of two
dacoits on the spot. Police rushed to the place and
rescued the others. They were rushed to Gazipur sadar
hospital where fatally wounded four others died soon after
admission. Six others were transferred to the Dhaka
Medical College Hospital in a serious condition.
They are Abdullah (30) of Brahmanbaria, Aslam (30) of
Dhamrai, Nuruddin (30) of Noakhali, Lutfar Rahman (30) of
Gazipur, Rafiq (32) of Sreepur and Sujan (25) of Sherpur
Briefing the whole episode Police Super ASM Mahfuzul Haq
Nuruzzaman informed newsmen in the afternoon that a
shutter gun, Tk 20,000, gold ornaments and some foreign
currencies were recovered.
He highly appreciated the courage of the locals for
rounding up the dacoits. He said the brave villagers would
be rewarded.
Pre-hartal arson
PM donates Tk 2 lakh to victim’s mother
UNB, Dhaka
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday donated Tk 2 lakh
to Shirin Begum, mother of late Faruque Hossain, who
succumbed to his burn injuries on June 1 after falling a
victim on the night of the June 27 hartal.
The Prime Minister handed over the cheque to Shirin Begum
at a simple ceremony at the Ganobhaban. Faruque's brother
Mohammad Selim, and sisters Asma Akhter Mimi and Mithila
Akhter were present.
Hasina also gave an appointment letter to Shirin Begum as
a gardener (mali) at the Ganobhaban with effect from July
15, 2010.
Faruque had suffered serious burn injuries as hooligans
torched a car on the night before June 27 hartal. He died
at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Burn and Plastic
Surgery Unit of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH)
after spending five agonizing days.
After receiving the cheque, Shirin Begum hugged the Prime
Minister out of emotion and gratitude.
Editorial
Sugar during holy
Ramadan
As
has been the common practice and tradition, a minister of the
government has assured the people ahead of the holy Ramadan
that there would be no shortage of sugar during the holy month
and that government would fix the price of the item so that
consumers can procure it at cheaper rate. The minister also
stated in details the arrangements for ensuring smooth supply
of sugar.
Industries Minister Dilip Barua on Saturday hoped that there
will be no crisis of sugar in the holy month of Ramadan and
sugar price will remain stable during the entire month of
fasting. Import of two consignments of sugar, each having
25,000 tons, has already been finalized and is expected to
arrive in the country by mid-Ramadan. Barua said price of per
kg sugar would be fixed at between Tk 40 and Tk 45 at the mill
gate of state-owned sugar mills so that the price in retail
market can be kept within commoners purchasing capacity.
Earlier, on Thursday, Bangladesh Sugar Refiners Association (BSRA)
sent a letter to the Industries Minister for fixing the sugar
price at Tk 45 per kg at the mill gate as in the last year.
The Industries Minister said the government has planned a
buffer stock of 100,000 tons of sugar through domestic and
international procurement to meet additional demand. The BSFIC
would import 50,000 tons of sugar. Besides, the corporation
would procure another 10,000 tons of sugar locally. The
government has a stock of 40,000 tons of sugar. Bangladesh
largely depends on imported sugar to meet its annual demand of
1.4 million tons as the state-run sugar mills can produce only
125,000 tons.
But question has arisen as to whether the fixation of price of
sugar by the government will be able to ensure the sale of
sugar at the fixed price. At least the experience of the
people gathered last year amply tells that the market does not
abide by the rate fixed by the authorities. It may be pointed
out that there is usually higher demand for sugar during the
month of Ramadan every year and this causes spurt in the price
as the business syndicates go all out to earn lofty profit.
The same thing happened last year also. On the eve of the
Eid-ul-Fitre last year the price of sugar had shot up to Tk.
60 per kg as against Tk. 42 per kg four weeks ago. Taking the
advantage of the higher demand for sugar in the month of
Ramadan , dishonest businessmen extracted extra money from the
consumers by raising the price of sugar abruptly. Wholesalers
reportedly procured sugar at the rate of Tk. 39 per kg from
the refiners, but sold it to retailers at the rate of Tk. 55
per kg to earn lofty profit. And the retailers sold sugar to
consumers at the rate of at least Tk. 60 per kg. There was
visibly nobody to answer why the wholesalers after purchasing
sugar at Tk 39 sold it at Tk. 55 per kg holding the consumers
hostage to their greed.
While the rhetoric continued among the refiners, wholesalers
and retailers over the exuberantly high price of sugar and the
consumers were forced to bear the brunt of the soaring prices
of sugar last year, the government apparently was sitting
almost idle as helpless spectator. In the light of that sad
experience, it may be difficult for many to be hopeful that
the government decision to import only 50 tons of sugar this
year will be quite enough to stabilize the sugar market in the
face of the market manipulation by the sugar syndicates who
are allegedly waiting to exploit the occasion. In view of
this, the government should take all necessary measure,
alongside importing increased quantity of sugar, to keep the
market stable by thwarting the evil designs of the syndicates
and ensure smooth supply and distribution of sugar in the
market . Above all, market monitoring is a must for ensuring
that sugar is sold at the fixed price.
Protection from
earthquake
Food
and Disaster Management Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque on Saturday
urged the scouts to play active role in encouraging the
building owners for retrofitting the risky buildings to
protect those from earthquake."There are some 72,000 risky
buildings in the capital city and these will collapse if hit
by an earthquake measuring 7 in the Richter scale. These
buildings can be made risk-free through retrofitting," he said
at a workshop. Dr Razzaque said the owners will have to be
encouraged for retrofitting their risky buildings.
The minister has put forward a very good proposal and it
should be implemented in the national interest. It goes
without saying that although sscience and technology have
helped mankind discover, invent and conquer many places and
things, the nature still remains beyond human control. Despite
spectacular advancement of science, human beings are still
terribly helpless before the fury of nature. This has again
been evident from the deaths and destruction caused by the
severe earthquake that struck Haiti in January and Cheli in
late February.
Earthquake can cause huge loss of lives and massive
devastation to properties. What may happen if an earthquake
strikes the capital city has been stated in the Parliament
earlier by Dr M Abdur Razzaque. He said that if the earthquake
hits at night around 90,000 people will be killed or injured
whereas the number will be 70,000 if the quake hits in
daytime. The possible catastrophe which may be caused by an
earthquake in this city is dreadful and more so because Dhaka
is ill-equipped to combat a major natural calamity. From the
minister's statement people have come to know the possible
scenario of deaths and devastations, but nothing about how
such a calamity will be faced. As the picture of a possible
disaster is not totally unknown to us, we should make all
necessary preparations well in advance for disaster management
to save the lives and properties as much as possible.
Analysis
Can Pakistan and India resolve their disputes?
The top leadership in Pakistan and India either
lacks the will to charter a new course for their bilateral
relations or are not convinced that the change will serve
their personal and regime interests
Dr Hasan-Askari Rizvi
The top leadership
in Pakistan and India either lacks the will to charter a new
course for their bilateral relations or are not convinced that
the change will serve their personal and regime interests
Pakistan-India relations are extremely complex. They have
talked on their contentious issues from time to time. However,
there are few instances of the talks succeeding in resolving
concrete problems. The focus has been on conflict management
rather than conflict resolution.
Pakistan-India talks do not produce a breakthrough in their
troubled relations because both sides are not oriented towards
opting for a major departure from the traditional approaches
to their bilateral problems. The civil and military
bureaucracy and the intelligence community have developed such
a state of mind and worldview that does not leave much scope
for an out-of-the-box solution. The political leadership lacks
the will to give a lead to the foreign policy and security
establishment. Rather, they fall victim to their policy briefs
based on conservatism, caution and advice to doubt the
intentions of the other side.
This seems ironic because the ordinary citizens of both
countries, when not under the spell of the propaganda
orchestrated by the civil-military-intelligence establishment,
manifest a keen desire to visit each other and maintain
peaceful and cordial relations. The two governments do not
encourage free movement of people and groups and exchange of
literature, art, drama, culture and other creative activities
at the societal level because they think this will weaken
their capacity to dominate bilateral relations.
Due to strong and negative historical baggage and fixations of
the foreign policy and security establishment with a tough
disposition, ordinary diplomacy cannot be successful between
India and Pakistan. A turnaround in their relations can be
possible if policy makers and enforcers shift away from their
current mindset, one that has trapped them in the traditional
state-oriented, straight-jacketed approach towards each other.
The new relationship should reflect the principles of
restraint, flexible diplomacy, wilful compromise and political
choice.
There is a need to restrain the cultivated aura of
self-righteousness, negative image of the adversary and
overestimation of one's capacity to deal with the situation.
They need to avoid adopting a dismissive attitude towards the
adversary because this makes it difficult to resolve problems
through peaceful diplomacy. If the adversary is viewed as
weak, evil and nasty, there is hardly any chance of a
meaningful dialogue.
These biases make it extremely difficult to engage in
problem-solving diplomacy. The talks are held either just for
the sake of talking or to demonstrate to the international
community that both believe in dialogue and peaceful
resolution of disputes.
Flexibility in diplomacy depends on the capacity of the
leadership to opt for a wilful compromise and a clear-cut
choice for resolving problems and promoting peace. This
implies that the topmost leadership's disposition holds the
key to problem solving. If they make a conscious and
unambiguous choice for peace and demonstrate the capacity to
pursue it, the foreign office, bureaucracy and intelligence
agencies will change their traditional narratives and
strategies accordingly.
The top leadership in Pakistan and India either lacks the will
to charter a new course for their bilateral relations or are
not convinced that the change will serve their personal and
regime interests. They pursue the safe approach of relying on
advice from the bureaucratic-intelligence elite because, if
the leadership follows such advice, this elite mobilises
support for such policy by invoking their linkages with a
section of the media and societal groups.
If, on the other hand, the top political leadership decides to
opt for a completely new strategy, it has to face opposition
or discontentment first from the bureaucratic-intelligence
elite and then it has to mobilise domestic public opinion in
favour of the new approach, which is not always an easy job at
a time when the top political leadership faces numerous
internal problems.
India's prime minister is not expected to shift the single
issue (terrorism) focus of his government's policy towards
Pakistan after having faced strong domestic opposition to the
initiative shown by him in the Sharm el-Sheikh talks in July
2009. His political clout is derived completely from the
Congress Party's hierarchy, limiting his ability to act
autonomously.
India faces another dilemma. Its officials and political elite
feel perturbed by India's inability to derive tangible
political dividends in the regional context from its size,
population, economic and industrial development and military
power. India, viewing itself as a player in the bigger
political league of the global system, finds itself bogged
down with Pakistan, a player of the lesser league.
India's leadership would like to deal with Pakistan the way
the US dealt with the Taliban government in Afghanistan after
the terrorist attacks in the US in September 2001. From time
to time, India's security community explores the possibility
of using the military option against Pakistan. However, good
sense prevails and this option is dropped. After all, India is
not the US and Pakistan is not the Taliban's Afghanistan.
Global developments also help Pakistan save itself from
India's displeasure, if not wrath. The US sympathises with
India on the Mumbai tragedy but it will not support India
engaging in military adventurism against Pakistan.
Pakistan's top civilian leadership is even more constrained
from taking the initiative to break out of the traditional
mould of Pakistan-India diplomacy. Its major concern is not
Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) but the overall terrorist onslaught by
a variety of militant groups that threaten the Pakistani state
and society.
A strident Indian statement against Pakistan or a public
demand for punitive measures against the LeT may satisfy the
imperatives of India's domestic politics but it enables the
militant groups in Pakistan to mobilise public opinion in
their favour by playing up anti-India sentiments. Further, the
government of Pakistan does not want to be seen as taking
action against these groups under pressure from India,
especially when some of these groups like the LeT have
cultivated support at the societal level due to their welfare
activities.
Pakistan needs to decide about the role of groups like the LeT
in its future security vision. As the militancy card has come
to haunt Pakistan, should it not review its security approach
altogether? It can put a check on the public statements and
activities of the militants' leadership to defuse tension
between India and Pakistan.
If Pakistan and India continue to pursue this current
diplomacy and appear more interested in satisfying the needs
of domestic politics, there is little hope for improved
relations in the near future. However, they will continue to
talk because they have learnt the art of talking without
progress.
Dr Hasan-Askari Rizvi is a political and defence analyst.
List of
don’ts for Washington
The visit of the new Coalition Commander General David
Petraeus to Pakistan last week was to emphasise a new set
of expectations from its strategic partner.
Faryal Leghari
With
Washington having braced itself to turn the tide of a
losing war in Afghanistan, pressure on neighbouring
Pakistan has inevitably increased.
While the US is determined to not allow Afghanistan to
become another Vietnam, it's policy remains mired in
confusion and doubt. Grappling at every straw thrown its
way, the US seems caught up in trying out all available
options to prevent heading the way of the Red Army. This
is indeed unfortunate since it is not only for the sake of
Western interests but also in the interests of the entire
region, that terrorism is defeated and stability restored.
Moreover, recent developments have consolidated the
perception that there is visible mistrust and lack of
consensus between the three key players, all with
considerable stakes. This emanates from the Reconciliation
and Reintegration Strategy, President Hamid Karzai has
adopted as necessary to winning the war. Originally a US
brainchild, it came into existence when the realisation
sank in that military means are not going to do the trick.
Alas, it is now being viewed in an unfavourable light.
This is especially true when Kabul and Washington are at
loggerheads over which insurgents to do business with.
Pakistan's role in the process is both crucial and
complex. It bears the distinction of allegedly hosting the
Haqqani network in North Waziristan. To Washington's
frustration Pakistan is yet to decide on when to start
military operations in the tribal agency. These Afghan
insurgents led by Jalaluddin and son Sirajuddin Haqqani
are believed to be even closer to Al Qaeda than Mullah
Omar-led Taleban and are proving to be an onerous
challenge to US war efforts.
The visit of the new Coalition Commander General David
Petraeus to Pakistan last week was to emphasise a new set
of expectations from its strategic partner. General
Petareus is well known among Pakistan's military circles
owing to his frequent contact with them as former head of
US Central Command. However, in view of the rapidly
shifting dynamics and new responsibility at the helm of
the Afghan operation, Petraeus is likely to demand more
from Islamabad. At this point one could make a reasonably
safe assumption that it would be to target the Haqqanis.
They are now on top of the US agenda, so much so that
General Petraues is believed to have pushed Washington to
include the group in the US list of terrorist
organisations. This is likely to impact both Kabul and
Pakistan.
First, Pakistan would come under further pressure to open
a fresh offensive and hunt down past allies-that have long
standing ties with its security establishment. In
addition, Pakistan understands that its connections with
the Haqqani's would be crucial in the future political
roadmap of Afghanistan. This is something even Kabul has
realised. Not only that, the Afghan government's improving
relations with Islamabad reflects the birth of a new trust
and joint commitment. It is especially evident in
cooperation with negotiation efforts of the Reconciliation
and Reintegration strategy.
Second, President Karzai's efforts to broker a deal with
the Haqqani's and eventually Mullah Omar are likely to
fail if US succeeds in blocking these negotiations. While
both Islamabad and Kabul rejected reports of a meeting
between Sirajuddin Haqqani and Karzai in Kabul arranged
through Pakistan's military channels, it is very possible
that such a meeting took place. It is also rumoured that
Washington is unhappy with the increasingly independent
Afghan ruler who has finally woken up to the feasibility
of carving a bigger role for himself in Afghanistan's
political future. While his assertions may have been
tolerable for Washington, his making contact with
undesirable elements among the insurgents remains a major
contention.
The overriding apprehension in Washington is that
brokering a deal with Al Qaeda sympathisers would negate
all its efforts, thus the threat to US and Western
interests would remain a tangible reality. This threat
perception may be an exaggerated one but it is credible
save for one aspect; what the US fails to realise is that
these insurgent groups were forced into an alliance with
Al Qaeda. They do not share Al Qaeda's global Islamic
objective, their's is simply a nationalist struggle to
oust foreign forces and regain control. While Al Qaeda and
Afghan insurgents may have colluded in sharing operational
knowledge and staging terrorist attacks against foreign
forces and even civilians these can be explained as
desperate measures to fight superior combatants.
Even though Petraeus on his recent visit praised Pakistan
for its efforts to counter terrorism and take on home-
grown militants, US frustration with its lack of efforts
to target Afghan insurgents, allegedly present in the
country, is growing. Further, it is deeply suspicious of
Islamabad initiating negotiations with these insurgent
groups.
It is something Richard Holbrooke in his capacity as
Special Envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan remains
sceptical about. In his testimony before the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee recently, Holbrooke defined
Pakistan's role in the Reconciliation and Reintegration
process as "ambiguous and opaque." At the same time
Holbrooke was careful to leave room for manoeuvre saying
it was difficult to determine the veracity of reports
pertaining involvement of certain elements in Pakistan in
deals with elements within the Taleban insurgency.
This is precisely the concern Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton is likely to raise on her forthcoming trip to
Pakistan before she attends the Donor Conference in Kabul.
One can imagine her exchange with the political and
military leadership of both states. Secretary Clinton may
actually have a more fruitful trip if she listens to
reason and tries to understand how political dynamics in
this part of the world actually work. She must realise
that neither Islamabad nor Kabul would like to live with
Al Qaeda. After all they have suffered much more and lost
thousands of more lives than US, even if you add up all
the fatalities of Qaeda-led terror attacks visited upon
it. If the US is serious about brining political stability
and clearing out terrorist elements it must work in
congruence with the national interests of both Pakistan
and Afghanistan, not try and impose a system it deems
best. Mutual trust and a solid strategy that works in
tandem with safeguarding the political and security
interests of all three needs to be worked out. Unless that
happens, the waters are only going to get murkier.
Faryal Leghari is Assistant Editor of Khaleej Times and
can be reached at faryal@khaaleejtimes.com
Viewpoints
Not just shadows in the background
The Middle East would not be what it is without the sacrifice
of the unskilled Asian expatriates who come to work here.
Tariq A. Al Maeena
You
see them often when driving. Silently they toil on the sides
of roads, often in the heat of the day, picking up litter that
motorists so generously fling from their passing vehicles.
Or they perch precariously on high-rises still under
construction, taking risks we would not dare to contemplate.
There are moments when you encounter an army of them busily
preparing a road for resurfacing. Or you run into them in
restaurants as they cheerfully guide you to your table and
serve you your food without much fuss or bother.
They pump gasoline into our cars; they deliver water to our
homes or cart away our sewage in tankers; they tend to
livestock and orchards on our farms and fields; and they bag
our groceries. They guard our homes or clean the toilets in
our malls. These are the unskilled workers from the East.
A very different experience
Unlike their western or skilled Asian counterparts, who enjoy
comfortable amenities and accommodation with even more
comfortable salaries, these unskilled Asian expatriates are
not bestowed such luxuries. Instead, at the end of their long
working days, they are collectively bused - more often than
not in run-down buses and other forms of transport that do not
have air-conditioning or comfortable seating - to their
accommodation.
And when they do retire to their housing, it is usually a
collective, shared space that is sub-standard and unworthy.
And yet they do it without a complaint. They have mouths to
feed back home, and they are on a mission to accomplish just
that. Their personal comfort is not their priority.
We tend to look at them as background fixtures, so used are we
to their presence everywhere. But each of them is a human
being with warm blood running through his or her veins and a
resilience to the many forms of abuse they are subjected to,
and which they endure stoically.
Some are married with young and hungry children. Others have
the responsibility of providing for their ageing parents or
younger siblings. All have come to this part of the world to
try to put food on the table for their loved ones back home
and provide their families with comfort and hope - things that
they have denied themselves.
They are the Bangladeshis, Nepalese and Filipinos who are an
integral part of the machinery that helps run this region.
They are Indians, Afghans, Sri Lankans, Pakistanis, Burmese,
Vietnamese and Indonesians who have accepted this challenge to
perform in unfamiliar surroundings - and most deliver on their
promise. Yet we usually mistake them for background fixtures.
How often do we as hosts take the time to think about their
living and working environment? How many of us lend a
sympathetic ear to their problems? How many of us carry out
the charitable task of helping them out in their time of need?
Most are victims of unscrupulous manpower agents or employers,
and find themselves at the end of a worthless contract signed
in their home countries with promises of much higher salaries
than they actually get when they come to this part of the
world. The packages offered to them to lure them away from the
comfort of their loved ones are invariably altered to their
disadvantage once they arrive in their destinations, leaving
them with few alternatives.
They have already hocked most of their possessions just to pay
the avaricious agents for the privilege of booking a ticket to
the lands of riches. And there certainly is not much gold
waiting for them once they arrive. Instead there is hard work
and lots of it and under very difficult and oppressive
conditions - something nationals would dare not undertake.
Worthy of recognition
But it is to them that we must grant recognition, for theirs
is a sacrifice like no other, and under conditions
unacceptable to most of us. For without them, most of the
Arabian Peninsula would have remained a desert. And without
them, we would soon grind the machinery that moves us forward
to a halt. Hail to the unsung and unskilled Asian expatriates.
They are not fixtures or shadows in the background. They are
worthwhile human beings with wants and needs just like the
rest of us.
Tariq A. Al Maeena is a Saudi socio-political commentator.
He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Memories of
Pakistan
It is strange, therefore, when a person from either nation
visits the other and sees that it isn't as he imagined it
to be, because we are so conditioned by what we are told.
Aakar Patel
It
is said that right up to the time of the field marshal
Ayub Khan, Pakistanis could drive across the border into
India, and Indian movies were shown in all the halls of
Lahore and Karachi.
A piece I read somewhere mentioned how in the 1960s a
couple of men, one of them a writer, decided one afternoon
in Amritsar to drive over to Lahore for lunch.
It is difficult to comprehend such a time now, and it is
not easy to imagine when such a time will come again. The
way that the two nations see each other is poisonous, and
it will require time, and perhaps something other than
time, for this view to alter.
For those who have been reading newspapers for 25 years or
so, as I have, it is apparent that things have become
worse over the years rather than better or even stable.
It is strange, therefore, when a person from either nation
visits the other and sees that it isn't as he imagined it
to be, because we are so conditioned by what we are told.
I first came to Pakistan a few years ago, during a cricket
series. In that period - this was when Musharraf and
Vajpayee were in power - there was a whiff of friendship
in the air, and visas were more easy to come by.
I had a very enjoyable time then, and again later on a
second visit, and it is appropriate at this time to write
about these visits and those I met.
One of the best people I know, whether Pakistani or
anywhere else, is the man I lived with when I was in
Lahore, just behind the LUMS campus. He was retired
colonel, from Musharraf's batch in the military academy.
He was unlike a soldier, because he was curious and read a
lot. He was open-minded about the nature of the world, and
about religion.
I am not attracted to faith myself, and it is easier to
find common ground when such things are set aside first.
This applied to that man also, and his range of friends
included his former army buddies, who were quite unlike
him, and some intellectuals of the sort that only Lahore
seems to produce. One in particular, whose writings I had
been acquainted with, was every bit as wise and
knowledgeable as I had expected him to be.
Lahore produced many memories. One magical night was spent
at the shrine of Shah Jamal, where we heard the drummer
Pappu Sain play with another man, perhaps his brother, on
drums and a third man, playing trumpet. This man played
only one short hook, perhaps no longer than five seconds,
through the night. He did not play it continually, but
every few minutes, and you began to forget him, especially
given the smoky haze of the place, when again, like an old
memory, he would introduce his theme.
What struck me at the place was that the audience, other
than a very small, tiny really, group of middle class and
wealthy people, was drawn from the poor. There were a
couple of thousand people there and most of them might
have been autorickshaw drivers and labourers, going by
their dress and their faces.
We were taken to the shrine by a serving officer of the
Pakistan army, a young man, who was looking to leave
soldiering and get a corporate job. Another young man, I
think his cousin, was a rising star in the bureaucracy,
and we had an interesting discussion with him defending
the 'doctrine of necessity' unemotionally and with reason.
I visited the house of Sa'adat Hasan Manto, in Laxmi
Mansion just off the Mall. One of us, a girl from Lahore
who was then living in Bombay, knew the family and on a
whim, we knocked the door and were invited in.
Manto's daughter Nighat is married to a Gujarati, Bashir
Patel, and we returned a couple of other times to spend an
afternoon with them. Nighat says that all the years that
the Manto children were growing up, they did not know, or
at least did not hear others talk about, their father as a
mighty writer. It was only much later, in the 1980s, that
he became the figure he now is both in Pakistan and in
India.
Leaving Manto's house, we stopped at the stall of Goonga
Kababwala. Our little party, two men, a woman and a child,
were immediately spotted as Indians and while the small
office crowd waited for their lunch, we were served first.
A delicious meal topped off with an enormous glass of
thin, salted lassi.
Khalid Hasan began translating the works of A Hamid after
I left Lahore, but it would have been interesting to see
then how the places written about, Tollinton Market and
Nagina Bakery, have changed in the decades since.
I did of course go to Pak Tea House, which I think used to
be India Coffee House before the Partition. There are
still dozens of India Coffee Houses around the country,
run by the government, and Lahoris who go to one will be
struck by how similar they are in atmosphere to Pak Tea
House.
I do not like to pose for photographs, but one was shot
very consciously next to Zam Zama, the great gun from
Rudyard Kipling's Kim, the finest novel about India.
In Karachi I stayed with a friend's uncle and he was a
most gracious host. He lived above, and was related to,
Sultan Khan, foreign secretary during Ayub's time, and
Yahya's. I met Mr Khan, a handsome man who was one of the
few people present when Richard Nixon decided that
Pakistan would help him connect to China through
Kissinger. Sultan Khan wrote about this in his memoirs,
and though I have the book I haven't yet read it.
My host, Sultan Arshad, used to be head of PIA in Bombay,
and his leaving the city was mourned by the Times of
India, which carried a large piece on him. He was popular
with Bollywood actors and singers, and lived in a lovely
flat in South Bombay. Arshad Chacha, as I know him, is
related to my friend Farah, whose Sheedi family descends
from the nawabs of Sachin, near Surat. Every month, Arshad
Chacha gathers a group of people in Karachi and they sing
karaoke to Bollywood numbers from the 50s and 60s.
I found Karachi to be more modern in its architecture than
Lahore, and with less sense of history. It was different
from Lahore in that many homes were guarded by men
carrying automatic rifles. We were taken to a temple in
the city that was functional, and which had devotees and
also not a few Muslims who had come out of curiosity. I do
not think that would have been possible in Lahore.
I was not in Karachi long enough to meet some of the
Gujarati businessmen I had hoped to meet, and perhaps that
will happen another time. Culture shows in us more
strongly than faith, and I think I would have been able
to, had I known him, connect to Quaid-e-Azam better than
most Pakistanis.
Writers often dismiss Islamabad, and one of them referred
to it as being "half the size of a New York graveyard and
twice as dead." But I like the city. It does not have the
urban anarchy of the cities of Pakistan and India, and its
surroundings are quite lovely. I prefer it to Rawalpindi,
which is just like any other town in our parts.
Before I went to Islamabad, we had been to Multan, a very
sleepy city where I stayed with another retired army
officer and his wife, a teacher who drove us around. I
liked the architecture of the tombs of Rukn-e-Alam and
Bahauddin Zakariya, and there was qawwali outside, just as
there is in a thousand shrines in India.
Driving from Multan to Islamabad, we stopped at Harappa.
It was deserted and there were no tourists. The man
punching tickets handed us foreigners' tickets (which cost
a little more), though we hadn't introduced ourselves. How
had he known, I asked. "Yahan Pakistani kam aatein hain,"
he grinned. Harappa is magnificent. Its bricks are like
nothing now made. Many of them were taken to build the
railway line by the British till they discovered how
valuable the site was. In those ruins of 3,500 years ago,
before Islam and before even Hinduism, we share a history
and a culture that defines us even today.
The writer is a director with Hill Road Media in
Bombay. Email: aakar @hillroadmedia.com
Roads
to Arabia: A walk through history
Such exhibitions are wonderful not only for the artifacts
museums so painstakingly restore and showcase but because
they provide us with a lens into the past and through it
into the present.
Iman Kurdi
I
have just visited les Routes d'Arabie, the newly opened
exhibition at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
It was a fascinating journey, a real walk through history.
At first it felt incongruous, even almost disorientating,
to find myself in Paris, out of the sun and the noise, and
into the silent sumptuous coolness of the Louvre, looking
not at the Western art I am used to seeing in that
setting, but at the history of my own people. I was quite
literally transported, both through history and to my own
memories.
It is a beautifully curated exhibition. I have seen some
of the artifacts presented here before but never pieced
together in such a coherent way. There are over 300
pieces, each meticulously presented and ordered, starting
off way back in prehistoric times and finishing almost in
present day, or at least in present memory, with the
creation of the Saudi Kingdom.
All along the trade routes of antiquity and later the
pilgrimage routes, oases became stopping points and
developed into thriving centers. Water from deep wells
enabled irrigation for agriculture, gardens and thousands
of date palms. In the midst of the arid landscape existed
small centers of intense cultural activity.
We sometimes make the mistake of thinking that
civilization in Arabia started with the revelation of
Islam. It is convenient to forget that the land chosen for
the message of Islam was one already rich in history and a
cultural melting pot. The Arabian Peninsula has been
crisscrossed by caravans since the beginning of time.
Indeed the exhibition takes as its title "Roads to Arabia"
and traces the history not only of the ancient cities
created by these routes and the lives of those who lived
within their walls, but also of the influences of those
who passed onto those who stayed. Ancient Arabia was a
land of constant migrations. This crossroads of
civilizations created both prosperity and a rich cultural
heritage.
On entering, I am greeted by a man from the Bronze Age.
His face is sad. He stands very straight with his arms
held across his body. He is carved in stone and the stone
is a funerary steele.
What remains when we are gone? I am struck by mankind's
need to leave evidence of our existence, to mark a death
so that an individual may be remembered for posterity. At
a time before the written word, before photos, videos and
all the technology we now use to document our lives, men
resorted to erecting stones in the desert and carving
their likeness on them. The sculptures are primitive and
yet there is enough detail for us to imagine their faces,
their dress, their stature and even to piece together
their beliefs and their way of life through the symbols
they use in their carvings.
Indeed death permeates the exhibition. Much of the
material comes from burial sites, whether it is
gravestones or objects found in burial chambers. You will
find, for instance, the jewels and adornments found in the
grave of a young girl unearthed in Thaj. The grave was
almost intact on its discovery. The girl was buried with
gold jewels around her neck and wrists, a golden glove on
one arm and a gold death mask over her face. The opulence
of these adornments is dazzling.
Or I find myself staring at the intricate detail of the
decorations of a vase that dates back to a thousand years
BC. The vase was found in a tomb in Tayma. It is intact
and yet is more than two thousand years old!
There are ceramic fragments as well as whole vases and
urns that have come from Mesopotamia, Persia, the Indus,
Hadramaut, Syria... There are silver ladels and sieves
that must have been used to drink out of urns at banquets.
There are incense burners testifying to the importance
both of burning incense as a ritual and of the enduring
influence of the incense routes that once traversed the
country.
I stood in awe at the giant statues of kings of Lihyan.
They are wide chested and muscular and have facial
features that struck me as eerily familiar. But where were
the women, I wondered?
Looking at gravestones from the Ma'la cemetery in Makkah I
was touched by the beauty of the calligraphy. Once again
men dominate. When it is the grave of a woman she is not
mentioned by name but by her male lineage, as is the
tradition. And so I thought of my own lineage. I know the
male line and yet the line that connects me to this land
is largely female. My great-great grandfather came to
Madinah from Diyarbakir - making my family one of the many
in Madinah with roots outside the peninsula. But he
married a local woman and his son also married a local
woman, through their bloodlines my ancestry is anchored in
beloved and blessed Madinah.
The exhibition sent me back into the past. I tried to
imagine the lives of the women whose blood runs in my
veins. I also remembered a beautiful voyage when once a
bus picked us up at dawn from Madinah and drove us to Al-Ula,
Tayma and Madain Saleh. My father had organized the trip
and invited along any member of the family who wished to
take part. Walking through Madain Saleh in the late
afternoon sun is one of the most enduring memories of my
youth. The place was both mysterious and mystical. There
were no tourists and this was before the archaeological
digs began. It was vast and abandoned, sad, sobering and
imposing all at once. Who were the people who had lived in
this land? Why had they all died, I wanted to know? Why
was it now abandoned when it was once such a thriving
center? The exhibition answered some of these questions
all of those years later.
As we left the museum my brother remarked that museums are
wonderful at bringing together artifacts but they cannot
provide a narrative. As I watched the other people leaving
the exhibition, I wondered what narrative they gave to
what they had seen. Such exhibitions are wonderful not
only for the artifacts museums so painstakingly restore
and showcase but because they provide us with a lens into
the past and through it into the present. How many knew
that modern day Saudi Arabia has such a rich cultural
heritage?
(ik511@hotmail.com)
International
Hillary arrives
in Pakistan for talks
AFP, Islamabad
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Pakistan
Sunday for strategic talks aimed at bolstering bilateral
ties and securing firmer support for the war in
Afghanistan.
Clinton is due to hold meetings on Monday with high-level
political and military figures to further a "strategic
dialogue", and announce details of a huge aid deal aimed
at chipping away at anti-American sentiment in Pakistan.
The Secretary of State flew into Islamabad ahead of
evening talks with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and
President Asif Ali Zardari.
The aid package to be announced on Monday will be focused
on water, energy and health projects, a senior US official
said, part of a five-year 7.5 billion-dollar aid package
approved by the US Congress last year. Clinton's visit
comes ahead of her trip to Afghanistan on Tuesday for a
major international donor conference, and as Washington
continues to push Islamabad for further steps to rid its
western border of Islamist militants.
The United States has long voiced concern that elements of
Pakistan's powerful military and intelligence service were
supporting Taliban insurgents, despite the government's
public anti-terror stance. Pakistan's Foreign Minister
Shah Mehmood Qureshi will meet Clinton on Monday to
reconvene the strategic dialogue started during his visit
to Washington in March. Since March, 13 working groups
covering topics ranging from development to defence have
been set up to find areas for possible cooperation, and
their progress will be reviewed by Clinton and Qureshi.
The US Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan
Richard Holbrooke said the dialogue was delivering
important changes to the US-Pakistan relationship. "The
evolution of the strategic dialogue and the fact that
we're delivering is producing a change in Pakistani
attitude, first in the government, and gradually, more
slowly in the public opinion," Holbrooke said.
"This change is of strategic importance because it's
enabling us to get to move forward on our additional
efforts on counterterrorism and in terms of working
together in the tribal areas."
In a statement from his ministry, Qureshi said the new
visit "would help give further impetus to the Pakistan-US
partnership" and welcomed US engagement in development
projects.
A senior US official speaking on condition of anonymity
said closer ties with Pakistan's powerful army chief
General Ashfaq Kayani were helping in the struggle against
the militant Haqqani network, one of the toughest foes
faced by foreign forces in Afghanistan.
"The amount of engagement we have with General Kayani...
is unprecedented. We feel that we're making some slow but
steady forward movement (on Haqqani)," the official said.
68 dead in
Philippines, 3 missing in Vietnam after storm
AFP, Hanoi
Three people were missing in Vietnam as tropical storm
Conson hit the country, officials said Sunday, after
leaving 68 dead in the Philippines when it roared in as a
typhoon.
A woman went missing in the north of Vietnam and two
fishermen disappeared in waters off the impoverished
central provinces, an official in Hanoi from the national
committee to fight storms and flooding told AFP.
Conson swept onto the shores of Vietnam late on Saturday
and was downgraded to a tropical depression, the official
said.
"It continues to cause rainfall in parts of northern and
central regions. We have not yet been able to calculate
the amount of damage," he said, but added the storm "has
destroyed basic infrastructure, especially water works".
Thousands of Vietnamese soldiers have been mobilised to
help people living in areas affected by Conson and about
30,000 people were evacuated before the storm blew in.
Conson slammed into the Philippines on Tuesday, directly
hitting the capital Manila as it cut westward into the
South China Sea with a ferocity that caught weather
forecasters by surprise.
Rescuers retrieved three more bodies from the sea Sunday,
raising the death toll to 68 in the Philippines, but more
bad weather was hampering search operations. "Three more
bodies were recovered from a sunken fishing vessel,"
Benito Ramos, chief of the Office of Civil Defence in
Manila, said on DZBB radio. "The death toll is now 68." He
said rescuers, including volunteers and troops, continued
to scour coastal areas in the country's southeastern
seaboard Sunday, where the majority of the 84 still
missing were reported.
"We are still hoping that they are still alive," Ramos
said. However, he said fresh rains brought on by a new
weather disturbance east of the main island of Luzon were
hampering search and rescue operations.
State weather forecasters said the rains were unlikely to
develop into a full-blown storm. The Philippines is in the
so-called typhoon belt of the Pacific. Up to 20 typhoons
sweep through the country each year, killing hundreds of
people.
Afghan conference eyes 2014
security handover: report
AFP, London
International powers fighting in Afghanistan will agree
next week to hand over control of security in the country
to Afghan forces by 2014, a British newspaper reported
Sunday.
A leaked communique circulated ahead of Tuesday's meeting
of donor nations in Kabul will set out a phased transition
beginning this year, according to the Independent on
Sunday.
"The international community expressed its support for the
president of Afghanistan's objective that the Afghan
National Security Forces (ANSF) should lead and conduct
military operations in all provinces by the end of 2014,"
the agreed statement says, according to the paper.
It also pledges that foreign powers will continue to
"provide the support necessary to increase security during
this time, and the continued support in training,
equipping and providing interim financing to the ANSF".
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and senior officials
from over 60 countries and international organisations are
scheduled to attend the Kabul conference to discuss the
rebuilding of the troubled nation.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said this month he
would be "very surprised" if Afghan forces had not taken
over security by 2014, and Prime Minister David Cameron
has said he wants Britain's troops home by 2015. US
President Barack Obama has also said he wants to begin
withdrawing some of his country's troops next July.
According to the newspaper, the communique -- sent to
senior diplomats on Saturday by UN special representative
for Afghanistan Staffan de Mistura -- also outlines an aim
to begin announcing the transition this year.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman refused to comment on the
leak but said: "The UK and Afghan governments' shared goal
remains a stable and secure Afghanistan which is able to
maintain its own security and prevent al-Qaeda from
returning.
"The Kabul conference is a further important step in a
process, building on the London conference (in January),
for the international community to support the Afghan
government in taking the lead in its own affairs."
US official defends
military relations with Cambodia
AFP, Phnom Penh
A senior US diplomat defended relations with allegedly
abusive Cambodian military units Sunday as he concluded a
two-day visit to the capital Phnom Penh.
William Burns, US Under-Secretary of State for political
affairs, said military aid from the United States to
Cambodia was intended to boost a civil-military
relationship that was essential to a "healthy political
system".
"Any military relationship that we conduct around the
world is consistent with US law. So we look very carefully
and vet very carefully the participants from Cambodia,
from other countries," Burns told a press conference.
He spoke as Cambodia conducted its first ever large-scale
international peacekeeping exercise, co-sponsored by the
US Army, on the grounds of a military unit accused of
being involved in illegal landgrabs.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights
Watch, said last week it was "outrageous" that Cambodia's
ACO Tank Unit was hosting 700 military personnel from 23
countries in the "Angkor Sentinel" exercise. The rights
group said the US State Department and human rights
organisations have documented soldiers of the unit using
armoured vehicles to seize land from Cambodian villagers
and farmers.
Burns made his trip while a Cambodian opposition
politician faced an arrest warrant after controversial
defamation proceedings.
Mu Sochua of the Sam Rainsy Party faces jail for refusing
to pay 4,000 dollars in fines and compensation on a
conviction last year for defaming premier Hun Sen when she
announced plans to sue him for allegedly insulting her.
Burns, who met with Hun Sen and other government and
opposition officials during his visit, said he spoke
"about the importance of freedom of expression".
Daughter of Uighur leader
Kadeer visits Taiwan
AFP, Taipei
A daughter of Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer arrived in
Taipei Sunday in a trip that risks stirring the anger of
the island's giant neighbour China.
The visit by Raela Tosh, the third daughter of Kadeer,
came after Taipei barred her mother from visiting the
island -- which China still regards as part of its
territory.
Tosh is scheduled to attend seminars in Taipei and the
southern city of Kaohsiung, during which Kadeer's biopic
"The 10 Conditions of Love" will be screened.
Although she is allowed in, Omer Kanat, a senior official
from the World Uighur Congress which Kadeer leads, called
off a planned journey of his own because of the political
sensitivity of the trip, organisers said. "The move will
further mar Taiwan's international image already damaged
when Kadeer was denied entry visa last year," Freddy Lim,
the head of the organisation Guts United Taiwan, told
reporters.
Last year Kadeer's biopic was screened across the island,
including at a high-profile film festival in Kaohsiung,
which reportedly prompted Beijing to order its tourists to
boycott the southern city. However, the administration of
President Ma Ying-jeou refused to grant Kadeer a visa
citing security concerns while suggesting that the World
Uighur Congress is linked to a terrorist group, an
allegation flatly dismissed by Kadeer. Beijing accuses
Kadeer, who now lives in the US, of orchestrating ethnic
violence in China's northwest region of Xinjiang last year
-- charges she denies.
Taipei and Beijing are still technically at war after
their split in 1949 at the end of a civil war, but the
ties have improved markedly since Ma came to power in
2008, pledging to boost trade links and allow more Chinese
tourists.
ASEAN’s credibility at
stake on Myanmar vote: Amnesty
AFP, Hanoi
ASEAN's credibility is at stake unless it defends freedom
of expression and other rights ahead of elections planned
in its military-ruled member Myanmar, Amnesty
International said Sunday. Myanmar has said it will hold
its first election in two decades this year, but has not
yet announced a date.
"Southeast Asian nations should press the Myanmar
government to protect the rights to freedom of expression,
peaceful assembly, and association throughout the
elections period and beyond," the London-based watchdog
said in a statement. Amnesty made the comment ahead of
annual talks by foreign ministers of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), beginning in Vietnam on
Monday.
Critics say the poll is a sham designed to legitimise the
junta's half-century grip on power. In a draft communique
obtained by AFP, ASEAN's foreign ministers reiterate the
bloc's call for free, fair and inclusive elections in
Myanmar. But such calls do not go far enough to highlight
rights at risk during the election period, Amnesty said.
It said the ministers must unequivocally call for the
immediate and unconditional release of all "prisoners of
conscience".
China mine owner detained
after 28 die in colliery fire
AFP, Beijing
Police detained a mine owner in China on Sunday after 28
workers died in a blaze at his colliery, while 10 other
miners were killed and 13 trapped in weekend mining
accidents, state press said.
The 28 miners were killed in the colliery in Shaanxi
province, in the country's northwest, after electrical
cables caught fire late Saturday night at the Xiaonangou
coal mine in Hancheng city, Xinhua news agency said.
Police detained Guo Yungang, the owner of the Xinxin
Mining Co, which ran the colliery where the accident took
place, the report said. Local authorities have launched an
investigation into the accident and ordered province-wide
safety inspections.
As of early Sunday, five bodies had been retrieved from
the mine, while rescuers were having difficulty bringing
up the other victims as the fire in the pit was still
smouldering, it said. China's vast coal mining industry is
notoriously accident-prone due to lax regulation,
corruption and inefficiency as mines rush to meet soaring
demand. China relies on coal-generated power for about 70
of its electricity needs. A total of 2,631 miners were
killed in China last year, according to official figures,
but independent labour groups say the actual figure could
be much higher as many accidents are covered up to avoid
costly mine shutdowns.
Iraq
suicide bomber kills 43 at army office
AFP, Baghdad
A suicide bomber killed 43 people at an army office west
of Baghdad on Sunday, as anti-Qaeda fighters gathered to
receive their salaries, in the deadliest attack to hit
Iraq in more than two months.
Defence and interior ministry officials confirmed the toll
after the bomber struck in Al-Balassim, part of Radwaniyah,
a predominantly Sunni Arab district and former insurgent
hotspot 25 kilometres (16 miles) from the Iraqi capital.
Another 40 people were wounded in the 8:30 am (0530 GMT)
attack, they said.
Most of the victims were Sahwa (Awakening) fighters,
members of a Sunni Arab militia, also known as the Sons of
Iraq, that with US backing took up arms against Al-Qaeda
in late 2006.
The force, recruited from among tribesmen and former
insurgents, is credited with turning the tide in the war
against Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Control of the Sahwa passed to Iraq in October 2008, and
their wages -- said to have been cut from 300 dollars
under US leadership to 100 dollars -- have been paid,
often late, by the Shiite-led government.
Baghdad has promised to incorporate 20 percent of the
Sahwa into the police and military and find civil service
jobs for many of the rest, but the process has been slow
and is fraught with risks.
In the past six months many Sahwa fighters and members of
their families have been killed in revenge attacks.
The former rebels and tribesmen fret that they are not
only in the firing line for Al-Qaeda but also viewed with
suspicion by the Shiite-led central government.
Sunday's attack was the deadliest to hit Iraq since May 10
when three car bombs at a factory in Hilla, south of
Baghdad, followed by a fourth targeting emergency workers,
killed 53 people.
US and Iraqi officials have warned of the dangers of an
upsurge of violence if negotiations on forming a new
governing coalition continue to drag on, giving insurgent
groups an opportunity to further destabilise the country.
More than four months after a March 7 general election
which gave no single bloc an overall parliamentary
majority, the two lists which won most seats are still
bickering over who should be the next prime minister.
Both former premier Iyad Allawi and incumbent Nuri al-Maliki
insist that they are best placed to tackle the war-torn
country's insecurity and shaky public services.
There are currently 74,000 US soldiers in Iraq but this
number will fall to 50,000 by August 31 as the combat
troops withdraw, leaving a 50,000-strong training and
advisory force behind which is due to pull out by December
2011.
Iran scientist says
US wanted ‘spy’ swap for detained hikers
AFP, Tehran
An Iranian scientist, who returned home last week charging
he had been held by US agents for more than a year, has
said that they had pressed him to agree to be exchanged in
a "spy" swap for three US hikers in custody in Tehran.
In a lengthy interview aired by state television late on
Saturday, Shahram Amiri claimed that the US agents had
acknowledged that the three Americans, detained on the
Iran-Iraq border in July last year, were indeed "spies".
Challenged by the interviewer about the agents'
description of the trio, who have consistently maintained
that they were on a hiking holiday, Amiri insisted: "That
is the term they used."
Washington has repeatedly called on Tehran to release
Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27,
insisting that they were holidaymakers who had innocently
strayed across an unmarked border.
US media have questioned whether the three were even in
Iranian territory at the time of their arrest.
Iranian officials have raised the possibility of trying
the trio for espionage, but no official charges have been
announced, and the affair has become an added irritant to
already tense US-Iranian relations.
Amiri returned to Tehran on Thursday just over a year
after he mysteriously disappeared from the Saudi city of
Medina while on a pilgrimage.
He had resurfaced at the Iranian interests section in the
Pakistani embassy in Washington maintaining that he had
been kidnapped by US agents and held against his will.
Amiri said in the interview that the "spy swap" offer
emerged after US agents holding him discovered he had been
in touch with Iranian agents while in the United States.
"They (US agents) wanted me to say that 'I was an Iranian
intelligence agent infiltrating the CIA'", Amiri said.
"If I said this, they said I could be part of a spy
exchange programme, whereby I could be handed over to Iran
in return for the three American spies arrested near the
Iraqi border."
In previous interviews Amiri has said he was kidnapped at
gunpoint by two Farsi speaking agents of the US Central
Intelligence Agency in Medina.
US officials have repeatedly denied that Amiri was
abducted, insisting he was in the United States of his own
free will while acknowledging that Washington "had been in
contact with him" during his stay.
In his latest interview, Amiri said the US agents had
"reached wrong conclusions" about his research work which
was in the area of health physics in Tehran's Malek Ashtar
University of Technology.
World celebrates as South
Africa’s Mandela turns 92
AFP, Johannesburg
Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president,
turns 92 years old on Sunday, as the world celebrates the
first international day in his honour.
Global leaders and ordinary people in South Africa and
abroad have committed to devoting 67 minutes of their time
to community service, to mark the number of years Mandela
spent in politics.
His birthday was in 2009 recognised by the United Nations
as "Nelson Mandela International Day" and will be
celebrated across the world.
The increasingly frail leader is spending the day with
family at his home, north of Johannesburg.
Neighbours in the plush suburb of Houghton are milling
outside the high perimeter walls of Madiba's home, hoping
to catch a glimpse of the iconic leader.
"I have been here since 8 am (0600GMT). Maybe I might be
lucky and see him," said Jessy Martina holding a "Happy
Birthday Madiba" sign.
Children with handmade birthday cards and flowers were
standing with their parents outside the gate, amid tight
security, waiting to hand over their birthday messages to
family members.
"We expect more people to arrive during the day.
Unfortunately no one would be allowed in, but we can't
chase them away," said a police officer stationed outside
the house.
"The family has asked for privacy," said the officer.
Local politicians united in wishing the anti-apartheid
icon well on his birthday, with international leaders
hailing his contribution to global politics and the fight
for human rights.
"President Mandela has given 67 years of his life, now
what we all could do is try to use 67 minutes of our
lives, and change the world for the better," said Martti
Ahtisaari, former president of Finland.
Ahtisaari is a member of The Elders, an independent group
of eminent global leaders formed by Mandela in 2008.
Mandela was jailed for 27 years by the country's white
minority government for resisting apartheid rule.
Israeli, Palestinian
leaders in Cairo as talks efforts mount
AFP, Cairo
The Israeli and Palestinian leaders met with Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak separately on Sunday, after
Mubarak conferred with the US Middle East envoy on a push
for direct talks between the two men.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian
president Mahmud Abbas, who are holding US-brokered
indirect talks, did not make any statements after the
meetings.
The official MENA news agency said Mubarak affirmed to
Netanyahu the "necessity of preparing the right conditions
to achieve the vision of a two state solution on the
ground."
Mubarak, who publicly supports Palestinian conditions for
resuming direct talks with Israel that were suspended 18
months ago, first hosted US envoy George Mitchell, who met
with Netanyahu in Jerusalem earlier in the day.
Netanyahu told reporters before flying to Cairo that he
would discuss the prospects for direct talks with Mubarak.
Abbas agreed to the indirect talks in May after
face-to-face negotiations broke off in December 2008
following a devastating Israeli military offensive against
Gaza.
The Palestinian leadership restated the conditions after a
meeting between the US envoy and Abbas in the West Bank
town of Ramallah on Saturday.
Senior Palestinian official Yasser Abed Rabbo called for
greater clarity from Washington about its position on new
negotiations, insisting the Palestinians wanted to address
the core issues of the Middle East conflict.
"Until now there is no clarity in the (US) position on a
number of issues, especially those related to moving into
final status talks," Abed Rabbo told reporters.
"The three-hour meeting between Abbas and Mitchell was
important but there are several issues, most important
among them the settlements and the situation in Jerusalem,
that need more clarity," Abed Rabbo said.
The Palestinians have demanded a complete freeze on
Israeli settlement expansion ahead of direct talks and
have accused Israel of undermining the process by
approving new settler homes in annexed Arab east
Jerusalem, which they want as the capital of their
promised state.
Hamas bans water pipes for
Gaza women
AFP, Gaza City
The Hamas-run government in Gaza on Sunday said it had
banned women from smoking water pipes in public, as fear
of the police drove many cafe owners to extinguish the
popular pastime.
"The police have decided to ban women from smoking water
pipes in open, public places because it is against our
customs, traditions and social norms," interior ministry
spokesman Ihab al-Ghussein told AFP.
The smoking of water pipes loaded with sweetened tobacco,
also known as nargileh or shisha, is popular in cafes
across the Arab world and was one of the few remaining
leisure activities left in the isolated coastal strip.
The owners of several large cafes along Gaza's beachfront
said that in recent days they were ordered to stop serving
the water pipes altogether, before police clarified that
the ban only applied to women and minors.
"We received orders from the police to stop serving shisha
without any further details," said Abu Ahmad, the owner of
one such cafe who asked not to be identified, adding that
he is not currently serving shisha to anyone.
Over the weekend even Gaza's main hotels, which largely
cater to diplomats, foreign aid workers and journalists,
had stopped serving water pipes.
A police officer speaking on condition of anonymity
insisted the ruling only applied to women and children but
said there may have been a "misunderstanding" by some
policemen.
Few women in Gaza's conservative society smoked water
pipes in public before the ban, though some would indulge
at hotel restaurants or in private.
Australia’s election
campaigning kicks off
AP, Sydney
Australia's prime minister and her conservative opponent
kicked off campaigning Sunday by touching on the key issue
of immigration, a day after Julia Gillard called elections
a mere three weeks after becoming premier.
Gillard, the nation's first female prime minister, on
Saturday scheduled elections for Aug. 21 amid strong
support for her new leadership. She became prime minister
in June after ousting her predecessor, Kevin Rudd, in a
sudden Labor Party coup. Opinion polls have shown Labor
holds a slight lead, but the race is expected to be a
close one against the conservative opposition coalition
led by Tony Abbott.
A Galaxy poll published in News Limited newspapers Sunday
showed Labor holds a 52-48 percent lead over the
opposition. The survey of 800 voters was taken Friday and
no margin of error was given. Both Gillard and Abbott have
divergent positions on key issues including climate
change, record-high public debt and strategies to stop a
surge of asylum seekers trying to reach Australia by boat.
Gillard has attempted to fix the asylum seeker issue by
asking tiny neighbor East Timor to host a U.N.-endorsed
regional refugee processing hub.
Jobless in Cuba? Communism
faces the unthinkable
AP, Havana
At a state project to refurbish a decaying building in Old
Havana, one worker paints a wall white while two others
watch. A fourth sleeps in a wheelbarrow positioned in a
sliver of shade nearby and two more smoke and chat on the
curb. President Raul Castro has startled the nation lately
by saying about one in five Cuban workers may be
redundant. At the work site on Obispo street, those
numbers run in reverse.
It's a common sight in communist Cuba. Here, nearly
everyone works for the state and official unemployment is
minuscule, but pay is so low that Cubans like to joke that
"the state pretends to pay us and we pretend to work."
Now, facing a severe budget deficit, the government has
hinted at restructuring or trimming its bloated work
force. Such talk is causing tension, however, in a country
where guaranteed employment was a building block of the
1959 revolution that swept Fidel Castro to power.
Details are sketchy on how and when such pruning would
take place. Still, acknowledgment that cuts are needed has
come from Raul Castro himself.
Business/Economy
Shipbreaking Act soon ensuring labour welfare: Dilip Barua
BSS, Dhaka
Industries Minister Dilip Barua said the government will
frame a law soon to develop the shipbreaking industry
protecting rights of the workers.
The minister said this when a four-member delegation of
Geneva-based International Metal Workers Association (IMWA)
called on him at his office here on Sunday.
The minister said the ship breaking industry is an
important sector but various problems including the lack
of protection of rights of the labour are not yet
addressed as there is no law in this regard.
"Enacting the ship breaking act remains under active
consideration of the government and an inter-ministerial
meeting has already been held to put forward their
recommendations," the minister told the delegation.
Dilip Barua said the present government is considering
industrialization as an important tool for poverty
alleviation but at the same time the government is fully
conscious of its negative impact on the environment.
Praising the initiative by the government, the visiting
IMWA delegation said both the shipbuilding and the
shipbreaking industries in Bangladesh are likely to become
an important driving force of the country's economic
development.
They also suggested ensuring the rights of the workers
including wage, health, working environment and security.
These need to be ensured by the government for further
development of the industry, they said.
Terming the present government as workers-friendly, the
minister said the government has already taken various
initiatives for the welfare of the working class people.
Increasing wage, increasing age-limit for the working
people, providing VGF cards and initiating rationing
system for the poor are among the initiatives already
taken by the government, he added.
Besides, the government is very much conscious about
education, health and security of the workers and
significant changes will be brought in the livelihood of
the working class people during the tenure of the present
government, he said.
The project official of the central office of the
International Metal Workers Federation Suzana Miller
headed the delegation. The other members of the delegation
were director of the South Asian region of IMWA Sudharshan
Rao Sarde, vice- president of Indian Still, Metal and
Engineering Workers Federation Vidyadhar Rane and
representative of Royal Denmark Labour Council Henrik
Clark Dam.
General secretary of Bangladesh Metal Workers Federation
Nazrul Islam Khan and general secretary of Bangladesh
Metal Workers League Majibur Rahman Bhuiyan also
participated in the meeting.
Falling
dollar invites extra caution for BB ahead of new monetary
policy
BSS, Dhaka
Falling dollar on the international market invited some
extra cautions for the Bangladesh Bank (BB) when it is set
for announcing new monetary policy statement today
(Monday).
BB Governor Dr Atiur Rahman will announce the half-yearly
monetary policy for the next six months with major focus
on the strategies to contain inflation, the major
challenge for the coming days.
The monetary policy usually addresses the exchange rate
with the lone effective tool of market intervention for
managing the money market.
The local money market was intervened by the BB a number
of times in the recent months to keep exchange rate of
Taka broadly stable with moderate undervaluation bias.
Data shows the BB purchased over two billion US dollars
from the inter bank market in the last fiscal 2009-10 to
manage the exchange rate in favour of exporters.
Importers during the period were arguing the BB's role as
they believed the imports would be cheaper without such
intervention of the central bank. The most recent
development in the international market, however, put BB
on the knife-edge in managing foreign exchange.
The Bloomberg on Saturday reported a nose dive of dollar
when the greenback fell the most against the euro in 14
months and dropped to the lowest level this year versus
the yen as the US recovery was losing momentum. Standard
Chartered Bank, Dhaka in its review for the last week
recorded the fall two-month low against the euro and a
basket of currencies.
The BB last week purchased US$25 million from the
inert-bank market to keep the foreign exchange market
stable at Taka 69.42 when it declined 2.24 percent on the
global market. Further slide in the US currency on the
global market would prompt BB to buy more dollars to keep
its exchange rate in favour of exporters, who had long
been urging for a special exchange rate to get some extra
edge on the international market.
The finance minister recently ruled out such separate
exchange rate, leaving BB's market intervention as the
only option to protect the interest of the export sector.
The importers, however, do not favour such intervention,
which the BB would address in its forthcoming monitory
policy.
The falling dollars on the other hand brought some good
news for the central bank as the Euro rebounded
substantially. The BB has invested a significant amount of
its foreign exchange reserve in Euro, which witnessed
continuous fall in the past few months, eroding BB's
investment in it.
"The fall of Euro eroded a chunk of our investment in the
common currency, but the rebound will stop the erosion," a
BB official said. He said the cheaper dollar would also
reduce the import cost, which would eventually lower the
prices of some commodities including sugar, edible oil,
wheat and spices on both the international and local
markets.
Vietnam rice
growers face low prices as exports down
AFP, Phu Nhuan, Vietnam
Over-production and lower exports have left rice farmers
in Vietnam's Mekong Delta holding on to their stocks in
the face of lower prices, analysts say.
Vietnam is the world's second-largest exporter of rice and
the Delta accounts for more than half of the country's
production.
But surpluses, the beginning of the wet season, and a
shortage of places for drying wet rice are adding up to
heavy potential losses, says Vo Tong Xuan, an
internationally-recognised rice expert.
He fears Vietnam will lose one million tonnes of the grain
this season.
The country hopes to sell about six million tonnes on the
international market in 2010, a figure similar to last
year's, but shipments fell in the first half. Between
January and June Vietnam exported more than three million
tonnes, down 8.76 percent on the same period a year
earlier, according to official statistics. Export value
for the period fell only 1.32 percent, which Xuan said
indicates that shippers received a good price. The
farmers, however, did not fully benefit from those
proceeds.
Xuan, based in the Delta province of An Giang, said
farmers may have over-produced this year on an expectation
of earnings after state-owned VinaFood assured them the
Philippines would buy in bulk.
But the Philippines had not yet confirmed all its
purchases, Xuan said, while other buyers like those in
Europe were betting on fresh falls in the price and
delaying their orders.
Le Van Banh, director of the Mekong Delta Rice Research
Institute, notes that competition from other exporters
including India and Pakistan leaves less room for
Vietnamese grain abroad, while at home "we have an
abundance of rice so the prices are relatively low."
Bags of rice piled on the porch of Dang Thi Bay's house in
Tien Giang province symbolise the problem.
Greece making
good progress on debt, risks remain: IMF
AFP, Washington
Greek authorities have made"considerable progress" towards
putting public finances in order, but the cost of health
and social security funds continue to present risks, the
IMF said in a new report. "State budget implementation is
on track with good expenditure control," the organization
said after a recent visit to the country, which was forced
to seek loans from the European Union and International
Monetary Fund amid spiraling debt."However, hospitals and
social security funds present clearrisks, as do financial
pressures in public enterprises," the international
lending institution said in the report published on its
website.
Belt-tightening measures intended to tame Greece's
deficitcontributed to slower economic activity, as had
been expected, but inflation was up more than forecast,
while private consumption was found to be "surprisingly
resilient." Overall, the report said the austerity
measures adopted in May, over howls of protests from many
in Greece, were being implemented as intended.
Wen says China
growth in line with expectations
AFP, Beijing
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Sunday that a slowdown in
second quarter growth to 10.3 percent was in line with
expectations, but warned of economic difficulties ahead.
Wen made the remarks during a weekend tour of north
China's Shaanxi province where he said the slow pace of
the global economic recovery posed dangers to his nation,
according to a report on his government's website.
"So far this year, our nation's economy is continuing to
develop in the direction set by our macro-economic
controls," Wen was quoted as saying.
"The progress made has not come easy. Faced with the
current situation, we must ... fully anticipate the
difficulties and problems ahead and strengthen our
awareness of the dangers." China announced last week that
its economic growth slowed in the second quarter, as
massive stimulus spending was scaled back and moves to
rein in soaring property prices started to bite.
Poverty haunts India's economic miracle
AFP, Zarua, India
When flames from an open cooking fire raced through Fida
Hussein's shack in northern India, it was a disaster for
him and his poverty-stricken family.
"We have nothing," said Hussein as he stood in the ruins
of his hut through which the sky could be seen between the
burnt roof timbers in a remote corner of Uttar Pradesh,
India's most populous state.
India's number of millionaires grew by 51 percent to
126,700 in 2009, according to US investment bank Merrill
Lynch and consultants Capgemini, boosted by a buoyant
economy which grew 8.6 percent in the last fiscal quarter.
But increasing wealth has not trickled down to the likes
of 40-year-old Hussein, a landless labourer whose seamed
face is prematurely aged, and his family of six children
who have no toys, books or other possessions.
"We have no clothes, no furniture," he said, gesturing to
what remained of his burned out shack which he had roughly
patched up with plastic bags. "We have only one
quilt-eight of us sleep under it in winter," he said, as
his children played in the dirt yard outside the hut. "But
there's no use in crying-no one hears us," he added.
Like the more than 400 million Indians who have no
electricity, Hussein's home has has no lighting and there
is no running water in the huts in his village, which lies
60 kilometres (40 miles) from the state capital Lucknow.
In 1947, in his midnight independence address, India's
first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, called for "the
ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality
of opportunity."
Hungary must
step up efforts against deficit: EU
AFP, Brussels
Hungary must make more efforts to slash its public deficit
under European Union limits by next year, the EU's
executive arm said Saturday after a mission on financial
aid to Budapest.
The European Commission said it decided to postpone
conclusions of its latest financial aid review mission to
Hungary to give the government more time to clarify its
budgetary plans.
"Hungary has returned to a positive economic growth path
and now has one of the lowest budget deficits in the EU. I
welcome the authorities' commitment to the 2010 deficit
target," said EU economic affairs commissioner said Olli
Rehn.
"However, the correction of the excessive deficit by next
year will require tough decisions, notably on spending.
Care will also be needed to ensure a stable environment
for both domestic and international investors," he said.
Airbus not to
cut prices to win US tanker bid
AFP, London
European aircraft manufacturer Airbus will not slash
prices as it battles US rival Boeing for a
40-billion-dollar US Air Force contract, the head of its
parent company EADS said Sunday. "I want to be extremely
clear, we want to gain money. We prefer to lose (the
contract) than not to gain money," EADS chief executive
Louis Gallois said ahead of the opening of the Farnborough
International Airshow on Monday.
The Financial Times Deutschland (FTD) reported last week
that Airbus had cut the proposed cost of the contract to
build 179 aerial refuelling tankers by at least 10 percent
from the level in a previous offer in 2008. "Boeing said
they have reduced the price. I don't know," Gallois told
reporters in London, adding: "We do our price with our
profitability target. I think we are competitive." Last
week, the two rival firms submitted their offers to
Washington, ahead of the decision due in November. It will
be the third time the contract has been awarded-Boeing won
the first one but it was annulled due to a conflict of
interest, while a later Airbus deal was also annulled
because of concerns over the way the bids were analysed.
Gallois said he expected a "fair" decision from the
Pentagon, saying: "They have demonstrated so far that they
wish a competition to get the best price and the best
product for the taxpayers."
He said the deal would be a "very important strategic move
for us" because the European Aeronautic Defence and Space
Company would boost its US business-although he admitted
the aerospace giant would also have to prepare to "live
without it if we don't win."
National
49,000 police personal including
12 SPs punished in 41 months
BSS, Dhaka
Some 49,000 police personnel including 12 Police Supers (SPs)
and 10 Additional SPs were punished during the last three
years and five months in a bid to uphold the image and
discipline of the force.
According to a top official at the police headquarters,
the Ministry of Home Affairs and main units of the police
department gave these punishments on the basis of
different types of allegations against them from January
2007 to May this year.
Of the punished, 12 are SPs, 10 Additional SPs and 31
Assistant Superintendents of Police (ASPs), 248 Inspectors
and 48,600 are from different ranks starting from
Sub-Inspectors (SI) to constables.
According to a statistics available with the police
headquarters, the government gave forced retirement to an
SP three months back for his alleged involvement in
massive corruption. Three other SPs were also given minor
punishment in 2007, four in 2008, one in 2009 and three
others during the period of this government. An Additional
SP was given major punishment in 2008 while three others
were given minor punishment in 2007, two in 2008 and four
in 2009, the statistics added.
Besides, two ASPs were given forced retirement for their
alleged involvement in gross misconduct and limitless
corruption in 2007, another was given major punishment few
months back for the same reason, eight ASPs were given
minor punishment in 2007, four in 2008 and 11 in 2009 and
in the last five months.
Of the 248 Inspectors, 13 were dismissed for massive
corruption, 32 were given major punishment and 203 were
awarded minor punishment during the time.
At the lower level, 218 police personnel were given forced
retirement for their alleged involvement in gross
misconduct and massive corruption during the time while
360 were suspended for the same.
Besides, 3,348 were given major punishment during last 41
months while 8677 police personnel were given minor
punishment at that time.
When contacted, Nabo Bikram Kishore Tripura, Additional
Inspector General of Police (Addi.IGP) told BSS that the
Home Ministry and the police department have taken the
punitive actions against a large number of officers and
forces to maintain chain of command in the force.
"We have taken such punitive measures within by department
to keep the moral and prestige of the force as high," he
added.
‘Religious leaders can play vital role in developing human
resources’
BSS, Rangpur
Speakers at the inaugural ceremony of a two-day training
workshop in Rangpur on Saturday said the religious leaders
could play vital roles in building planned families and
developing human resources to ensure country's
developments.
The religious leaders could contribute a lot to motivating
people towards the directions by providing proper
knowledge on reproductive health and gender issues and
preventing terrorism, drug addiction, dowry, child
marriage and social curses, they said.
They were addressing the training workshop organised for
members of the mosque managing committees by the Ministry
of Religious Affairs with the assistance of UNDP and
Islamic Foundation Bangladesh (IFB) in its conference room
in Rangpur.
The two-day workshop being participated by the mosque
managing committee members from all over the district and
arranged under the 'Involving Religious Leaders in
Developing Human Resources Project' will conclude on
Sunday.
Chaired by deputy director of IFB, Rangpur Alhaj M Saidur
Rahman Sayeed, the inaugural ceremony was attended and
addressed by additional district magistrate of Rangpur
Ruhul Amin as the chief guest.
Civil Surgeon Dr Rezaul Karim, principal of Satgara Model
Kamil Madrasa in the city ANM Hadiuzzaman, valiant freedom
fighter Alhaj Rafikul Islam Golap, principal of Mulatol
Kamil Madrasa ABM Abdus Sobhan, Senior District
Information Officer Manjur-E-Mowla and Moulana Shah Ahmad
Sayeed, addressed as the special guests.
The speakers said the religious leaders can bring
effective behavioural and environmental changes of the
common people by providing them with proper information on
reproductive health, gender and other related issues in
the light of respective religion.
The religious leaders can effectively reduce the
population growth that has already adversely affected the
overall socio- economic and social environment and help
turning the huge population into human resources for
accelerating development of the country.
A total of 18,260 religious leaders will be provided
training on reproductive health, gender issues, family
welfare, preventing terrorism, drug addiction, dowry,
child marriage and 640 advisory meetings will BE organised
in Rangpur, the was workshop told.
In addition, a total of 400 marriage registrars and 2,850
female Muslims will also be provided with necessary
training on these issues and more 640 core- leaders'
workshops will be arranged in the district during the
tenure of the project.
Japan to launch social business hub of Asia in Fukuoka
City
UNB, Dhaka
Japan is going to launch a Social Business Hub of Asia in
Fukuoka City in Kyushu Island.
Mayor of Fukuoka Hiroshi Yoshida on July 16 signed a joint
declaration with Nobel Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus, the
founder and managing director of Grameen Bank, says a
press release from Yunus Center.
Chairman of Kyushu Railways Susumi Ishihara and President
of Kyushu University Setuo Arikawa were present during the
signing ceremony in Fukuoka, Japan.
The Hub will promote social business, a concept developed
by Prof Yunus, as a means of tackling social problems in
Japan and all over Asia.
As a beginning, Mayor Yoshida announced that he will
undertake the first social business in the city on behalf
of the city government aiming at creating employment for
difficult-to-employ young people of the city. If this is
successful he will undertake social businesses in other
fields.
The declaration read: "We hereby jointly declare that in
order to solve many predominant social problems in Japan
and in the world, we will promote social businesses by
establishing a social business hub in Asia with the
cooperation of Professor Muhammad Yunus and Grameen
Creative Lab based on the seven principles on this day of
sixteenth of July 2010, in Fukuoka, Japan."
Fukuoka is the home of Kyushu University and has
cooperation with Grameen in Bangladesh to work on
technological innovation to solve problems of the poor in
Bangladesh since 2007.
It has also established a Grameen Creative Lab, which will
promote the concept and practice of social business in
Japan and beyond, based on the 7 principles of social
business defined by Prof. Yunus.
Fukuoka is also the home of the Asian Cultural Prize which
Prof Yunus received in 2001.
The concept and practice of social business has been
growing in Japan in recent years.
The signing of a landmark agreement between Grameen and
Japanese retail giant UNIQLO to create a social business
in textiles in Bangladesh on July 13 marked a significant
milestone in this regard.
Shipping Ministry agrees to unload goods in 4-working days
UNB, Dhaka
Shipping Ministry is likely to allow importers to unload
their goods within four working days at Chittagong port.
"We're agreed in principle that container free delivery
time should be four working days instead of the present 4
days that includes weekly holidays as well," Shipping
Minister Shajahan Khan told local steel makers who met him
Sunday in his office.
The minister said they will take a decision in this regard
after examining some other issues.
A delegation of Bangladesh Auto Re-rolling and Steel Mills
Association led by its President Sheikh Masadul Alam Masud
and Secretary General Abul Quasem Majumder, met the
minister and placed a 6-point demand and also the problems
that steelmakers have been facing.
The meeting decided to form a 7-member committee headed by
Joint Secretary of Shipping Ministry Abdul Quddus to
review the demands and address the problems that the steel
sector is facing in import of raw materials.
The Auto re-rolling and steel mills association leaders
said that the importers of raw materials of steel sector
have to incur huge loss due to delay in operation of
Chittagong port.
They said they could not unload their goods within 4-days
when the weekly holidays are included in the free
container delivery time.
They also alleged that some shipping lines illegally
impose delay charges at the port. They suggested for
installing a computerized electronic scale at the
Chittagong port immediately to facilitate the import of
raw materials through a justified customs duty.
JU teacher demoted for sexual harassment
BSS, Jahangirnagar University
Authorities of Jahangirnagar University (JU) demoted
Sanwar Hossain Sani, a former chairman of Drama and
Dramatics Department, from associate professor to
assistant professor and sent him on forced leave for two
years for harassing female students of the university.
The decision was taken at an emergency syndicate meeting
of the JU on Saturday night on the basis of an inquiry
report.
Allegations of sexual harassment were brought against Sani
by four female students of the department on May 3, 2008
when he was the chairman.
But, the JU syndicate on September 13, 2008 cleared him of
the charges and expelled 6 students of the university as
they assaulted Sani and complained against him.
The syndicate meeting also withdrew the suspension order
of the students of the Drama and Dramatics department on
condition of seeking apology to the teachers.
On another similar allegation raised by a female teacher
involving Abdullahel Kafi, chairman of International
Relations Department, the JU authorities decided to
resolve dispute through the High Court.
Girl burnt alive and five injured in a fire in city
UNB, Dhaka
A young girl was burnt alive and five people were injured
in a devastating fire that broke out at a restaurant in
city's Gulshan avenue on Saturday night.
The deceased was identified as Roksana, 20, daughter of
Abdus Salam of Konapara-Mominbag in city's Jatrabari area.
Fire brigade sources said the fire originated from
electric short circuit at about 9pm in 2nd floor and soon
engulfed the other floors at Déjà vu Café Chinese
Restaurant in Gulshan Avenue.
Some people managed to come out. But Roksana and five
people have fallen victim of the devastating smoke and
blaze of the fire in the restaurant. Four vans of
firefighters rushed to the spot and frantically tried to
douse the flame.
Robbers loot valuables injuring 3 in Laxmipur
UNB, Laxmipur
Dacoits loot valuables from a house at Char Jangalia
village in Kamalnagar upazila injuring three inmates early
hours of Saturday.
Police said a gang of robbers numbering 10/12 wearing
masks stormed into the house of retired army man Abdul
Gani late at night and took the house inmates hostage at
gun point.
At one stage the bandits stabbed Abdul Gani, 59, his wife
Jahanara Begum and housemaid Nurjahan with sharp weapons
when they tried to resist them.
Later, the robbers looted Tk 38,000 in cash, seven tolas
of gold ornaments and other valuables and decamped with
the booties safely. The injured were admitted to Laxmipur
Modern Hospital. A case was filed.
Another report from Benapole adds: Robbers looted
valuables from a house at Chhoto Achra in Benapole early
hours of Saturday.
Police said a gang of robbers equipped with lethal weapons
swooped on the house of M Ali after breaking the
collapsible gate at about 4am and took away Tk one lakh in
cash, 10 tolas of gold and other valuables. Police visited
the spot after the incident.
Bangladesh to open resident Mission in Lisbon : Dipu Moni
UNB, Dhaka
Foreign Minister Dr. Dipu Moni MP Sunday said that
Bangladesh was planning to open a resident mission in
Lisbon soon to cater the needs of the growing Bangladesh
community in Portugal.
She said this when the Special Envoy of the Foreign
Minister of Portugal Pedro Catarino called on the Foreign
Minister at the Foreign Ministry on Sunday morning.
She also called upon the Portuguese Special Envoy to
consider opening a resident mission of Portugal in Dhaka
to mitigate the sufferings of people traveling from
Bangladesh to Portugal as well as to explore full trade
and economic potential between the two countries. Foreign
Minister said that there was ample potential and wide
scope for developing meaningful collaborative relationship
between the two friendly countries. She added that
Bangladesh attached great importance to her relations with
Portugal and considered Portugal a very good friend.
Dr. Dipu mentioned that Bangladesh attached high priority
to Foreign Director Investment (FDI) and the government
had created a congenial atmosphere for foreign investors.
She hoped that the Portuguese entrepreneurs would avail
themselves of these opportunities as well as the package
of incentives offered to the foreign investors in
Bangladesh.
They underscored the necessity of interaction between the
business communities of the two countries through exchange
of business delegations. The Special Envoy also discussed
with the Bangladesh Foreign Minister issues related to
cooperation between the two countries in all multilateral
forums, including at the United Nations.
Bangladesh Medical, Dental Council Bill introduced in JS
UNB, Sangsad Bhaban
Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council Bill, 2010 was
introduced in Parliament on Sunday, seeking to repeal the
Medical and Dental Council Act of 1980.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr AFM Ruhal Haq
introduced the bill in the House. The bill has been sent
to the parliamentary standing committee on the Health
Ministry for further scrutiny and submitting its report
within two weeks.
The bill proposes establishing Bangladesh Medical and
Dental Council which will give certificate to medical and
dental graduates as well as those who studied medical and
dental education outside Bangladesh, prepare curriculum
for medical and dental graduate and post-graduate courses,
and formulate guidelines for admission in graduate and
post-graduate level.
Under a provision of the bill, the Council will fix
minimum academic qualification and experience for
appointment of teachers in medical and dental
institutions. It will also arrange examinations for giving
registration certificates for medical and dental
graduates, and taking action against holders of fake
medical certificates and non-registered doctors, etc.
Prize giving ceremony for GPA-5 students of Raipura
Upazila held
BSS, Narsingdi
The Post and Tele-Communication Minister, Raziuddin Ahmed
Razu, advised the students to be more active and dynamic
to play a vital role in building a happy, prosperous and
enlightened nation.
The Minister said this while he was addressing a prize
giving ceremony for GPA-5 students in the S.S.C
examination of Raipura Upazila in upazila auditorium on
Saturday. He also called upon the teachers' to teach their
students with utmost honesty and sincerity so that they
could make their career a great success.
He said honesty, sincerity, devotion and hard work are
Very much important for the career oriented students to
make themselves patriots and worthy citizens of the
country. The minister urged all to work together for the
development and welfare of the country for making digital
Bangladesh a grand success.
Presided over by the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of
Raipura, Rajanur Rahman, the function was addressed, among
others, by president of Raipura Upazila Awami League,
Afjal Hossain, Chairman of Raipura Upazila Parished,
Advocate Yunus Ali, Member of District Awami League,
Salahuddin Ahmed Battchu and Kalpana Raziuddin.
Earlier, the Minister also inaugurated the Raipura Upazila
Agriculture Technology and Tree fair at the Upazila
Parishad premises.
Sports
Paranavitana, Sangakkara flay India in
first Test
AFP, Galle
Tharanga Paranavitana and skipper Kumar Sangakkara hit
centuries as Sri Lanka dominated the rain-hit opening day of
the first Test against India on Sunday.
The left-handed duo put on 181 for the second wicket to lead
Sri Lanka to 256 for two in their first innings before heavy
rain stopped play 22 overs early at the Galle International
Stadium.
Sangakkara made 103, his 22nd Test century and fourth against
India, while Paranavitana notched up his maiden ton to remain
unbeaten on 110 at the close.
Some 15,000 home fans were on hand to watch the final Test
match for world bowling record holder Muttiah Muralitharan,
who needs eight more scalps to reach the 800-wicket mark.
Sri Lanka's sports minister Chandrasiri Ratnayake presented
Muralitharan with a silver plaque before the start of play,
which was delayed by 30 minutes due to a wet outfield caused
by heavy overnight rain.
Posters hailing Sri Lanka's favourite cricketing son as the
'greatest bowler ever' were plastered around the ground
alongside giant pictures of the off-spinner. India's depleted
bowling attack, missing the injured pace duo of Zaheer Khan
and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, proved ineffective on the
easy-paced wicket after Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to
bat.
Paranavitana and his opening partner Tillakaratne Dilshan made
use of good batting conditions to smash 55 runs in 10 overs.
India's new seamer Abhimanyu Mithun was the only bowler to
escape the onslaught, conceding just six runs from his first
four overs. Mithun, a 20-year-old right-arm seamer from
Karnataka, was rewarded for his steady bowling when Dilshan
edged a pull shot to Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni
behind the stumps.
"I think Mithun bowled really well in his first Test," said
Indian coach Gary Kirsten, before revealing that spin
spearhead Harbhajan Singh played despite not being fully fit.
"Harbhajan is a gutsy cricketer and said he will play even
though he was feeling weak due to fever over the last few
days. Without him, the bowling would have been even more
inexperienced.
"We have still to bat, so this match is not one-sided by any
means. It is a very good batting wicket and did not have the
life we expected from a first day pitch." Sangakkara overcame
India's defensive field placements-there were six fielders on
the leg-side on most occasions - to earn himself a
well-deserved century.
The Sri Lankan captain, who hit 12 boundaries, fell against
the run of play after tea when he pulled a short ball from
part-time spinner Virender Sehwag to Sachin Tendulkar at deep
mid-wicket.
Seamer Ishant Sharma conceded 79 runs in 14 overs, while
Harbhajan went for 0-41 from 17 overs and left-arm spinner
Pragyan Ojha gave away 66 runs in 17 overs. Mithun, the most
impressive of the Indian bowlers, finished the day at 1-41
from 13 overs. India, the top-ranked Test side, are looking
for their first series win in Sri Lanka in 17 years. Their
lone success so far came through a 1-0 victory under Mohammad
Azhar-uddin in 1993. The three-Test series is the third
between the two nations in a span of two years. Sri Lanka won
2-1 at home in August 2008 before India won the return leg in
their own backyard 2-0 last year.
Afridi
wants to lead Pakistan to World Cup glory
AFP, London
Former Pakistan Test captain Shahid Afridi vowed to return to
England on Sunday, saying the limited over series starting
next month will be the launch pad for his ambitions to win the
2011 World Cup.
The 30-year-old announced he would retire from Test cricket
after the second and final Test against Australia at Leeds
starting Wednesday, citing a lack of temperament for the
five-day game.
His announcement came minutes after he led Pakistan to a
150-run defeat against Australia in the first Test on Friday,
where Afridi slogged 31 in the first innings and hold out for
two in the second.
But a side strain meant the batsman was ruled out of the
second Test and he was released from the Pakistan squad which,
after the Australia series, will stay on to play four Tests
against England.
However, Afridi - who led Pakistan to the 2009 World Twenty20
title - is determined to return for the subsequent limited
over series against England. "I took a decision which I felt
was right and now all my concentration is on the limited overs
series against England which will be our first step towards
winning next year's World Cup," Afridi told AFP. "I have won
the World Twenty20, beaten England and India in Tests at home
and have achieved some other milestones as well, but before I
leave the game I want to win the World Cup," he added ahead of
next year's tournament in Asia, where Pakistan will try to add
to their lone World Cup title won in 1992.
Opener Salman Butt will lead Pakistan at Leeds and in the
Tests against England.
"Butt must take coach Waqar Younis and others with him because
this team will be tested against England," said Afridi who may
join English county side Hampshire if they qualify for the
domestic Twenty20 quarter-finals. "I had to abandon the
contract with Hampshire because I was here for the Test series
but now they want me to play the last three matches of the
Twenty20, provided they qualify," said Afridi, known as a
Twenty20 specialist. Afridi rubbished speculation his Test
retirement came after differences with Pakistan team-mates.
"This team was unified and there were no problems, nothing. I
took the decision in the best interest of the team and hope a
youngster with a Test temperament takes my position.
"I also feel that there are other players who are not fit for
the longer version of the game and my advice to them is to
concentrate on the shorter forms," said Afridi, without naming
names. Afridi hopes a month's break will revive him for the
two Twenty20 and five one-day internationals against World
Twenty20 champions England which follow the Test series.
Puyol
expects Fabregas to join Barca eventually
AFP, London
Barcelona captain Carles Puyol is convinced Arsenal
midfielder Cesc Fabregas will move to the Nou Camp - even
if the Spanish champions have to wait another 12 months to
seal the deal.
Puyol spent the last six weeks with Fabregas as the pair
helped Spain win the World Cup in South Africa and the
defender has no doubts that his compatriot would love to
return to Barca. Fabregas, who began his career in
Catalonia before moving to Arsenal as a teenager, had
talks with Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger prior to the World
Cup in a bid to persuade the Gunners to let him leave.
Wenger remains adamant Arsenal will not sell their prize
asset and there is no sign of the deal progressing at
present, but Puyol still expects Fabregas to get his wish
eventually.
"Cesc is a really nice guy and desperate to become a
Barcelona player," Puyol told the Daily Star on Sunday.
"But he is not the sort of player to be ruthless and start
using the media to get him the move that he wants. "There
are many players who would try all sorts of tricks to make
it impossible to ever play for Arsenal again but that is
not his style. "I think Arsenal need to respect his class
and show the same class by giving the guy who has given so
much to them the move that he and his family want. "He
isn't just being deprived of moving to the best club in
the world. More importantly, he is being deprived of
coming home."
Puyol believes it is Arsenal's failure to win silverware
for the last five years that has convinced Fabregas now is
the time to quit the Premier League club.
Liverpool World Cup stars to miss
Europa opener
AFP, Liverpool
Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson says he won't risk any of his
squad's World Cup stars in their early Europa League
qualifier.
Hodgson's team face a third qualifying round clash against
either Macedonian side Rabotnicki or Armenia's Mika later
this month in what will be the former Fulham manager's
first competitive match in charge of the Reds.
With the first leg scheduled for July 29, Hodgson knows he
is going to have to kick off without Steven Gerrard,
Javier Mascherano, Jose Reina, Dirk Kuyt, Ryan Babel,
Daniel Agger, Glen Johnson, Jamie Carragher and the
already injured Fernando Torres.
Hodgson's medical staff have warned him about forcing
those players back into action too early after their
gruelling season finally came to an end in South Africa
earlier this month.
"Possibly none of our World Cup players will play in the
early Europa Cup games if we listen to the advice of the
sports science people," Hodgson said.
"They are telling me we would be very foolhardy to use
players who have only been training for three or four days
on the back of the World Cup that early on because that
will affect us further on down the road.
"If we feel we are endangering our chances of doing well
in the Premier League by risking players in the early
stage of the Europa League, it will be a decision the club
will have to take. You have to follow the guidance."
Gerrard, Carragher, Johnson and Agger will start
individual fitness programmes at the club's Melwood
training ground soon, but Mascherano, Reina, Kuyt and
Babel will not return until after the Europa League first
leg has been played.
"Their (medical staff's) advice is to not use these
players," Hodgson said. "If we have enough players to put
a team out without them is another question.
"Things can happen before July 29; we will not be
speculating on that and there is no point in me making
predictions of what the team will be like for that game.
"The sports science people are advising me not to use the
players from the World Cup. Therefore new signings would
become important for the Europa League."
Roosters back
from the brink to press title claims
AFP, Sydney
The Sydney Roosters came from 12 points down to overhaul
the Bulldogs 36-32 on Sunday and keep alive their hopes of
finishing in the top four of the Australian Nati-onal
Rugby League.
After finishing with the wooden spoon in 2009 the
Roosters, under new coach Brian Smith, are currently
riding high in fourth position. Down 30-18 early in the
second half, the Roosters finished stronger than their
cross-town rivals and clinched the comeback when second
rower Mitch Aubusson crossed with five minutes to go.
A number of controversial decisions by the referees had
threatened to overshadow a spectacular game. Roosters fans
were left fuming by two forward pass decisions and a
no-try call to skipper Braith Anasta, ruled by video
referee Sean Hampstead.
A 29th-minute try to Bulldogs prop Michael Hodgson
appeared to come moments after a forward pass from dummy
half Michael Ennis. However, the Roosters shook off the
decisions and hit back on the field. Joey Leilua scored in
the 62nd minute to make it 30-24, before a Bryson Goodwin
penalty goal provided some temporary breathing space for
the Bulldogs at 32-24. Todd Carney then crossed in the
71st minute to cut the lead to two points before Aubusson
sealed the win.
St George Illawarra went four points clear at the top when
they squeezed past traditional rivals South Sydney 16-13
thanks to a late try from Mark Gasnier, who has returned
to rugby league after two seasons in French rugby.
With his team trailing 13-12 after a Chris Sandow field
goal, Gasnier sprinted more than 20 metres for his first
NRL try in almost two years to give the Dragons the win.
Dragons coach Wayne Bennett said the match was won in the
first half, when their defence conceded just one try to
the rampaging Rabbitohs.
Capello will axe
Terry says Cannavaro
AFP, London
Fabio Capello is likely to drop John Terry from the
England team next season, according to Italy defender
Fabio Cannavaro. Cannavaro got an insight into Capello's
ruthless style of management when he worked with the
Italian at Real Madrid and the Juventus star is convinced
Terry is in severe danger of losing his England place
after his controversial comments at the World Cup.
Earlier this year Capello had stripped Terry of the
captaincy following revelations about the Chelsea player's
affair with the ex-partner of former team-mate Wayne
Bridge.
And Capello was further angered when Terry used a press
conference during the World Cup to claim that he was ready
to confront the Italian over his tactics and team
selection. Terry was forced to back down after Capello
called his comments a "big mistake" but he gave a poor
performance as England slumped to a 4-1 second round
defeat against Germany. Cannavaro is convinced Capello
will make changes for the 2012 European Championship
qualifying campaign, with Terry the most likely to lose
his place. "My thoughts are that John Terry won't be on
the team sheet," Cannavaro told the Daily Star Sunday.
"You don't cross Fabio and he won't want anybody
disrupting his tournament again.
"It was absolutely the correct decision for the English FA
to keep Fabio on. He can make this England team his own
now - and I would actually make them the favourites for
Euro 2012. "When he joined Real Madrid he brought a lot of
players in the first season like myself and Ruud van
Nistelrooy and the result was instant success but
internationally it takes time to build your own team. "I
don't want to speak for Fabio but I'd be surprised if more
than five of the players who started against Germany start
the opening game of Euro 2012.
Ancelotti cools Torres talk, keen to keep Cole
AFP, London
Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti appeared to rule out a move
for Liverpool striker Fernando Torres on Saturday, after
seeing his side beat Crystal Palace 1-0 in their first
pre-season friendly.
Torres won the World Cup with Spain last weekend but
endured a disappointing, injury-blighted campaign with
Liverpool last season, prompting speculation he could be
set to leave the club.
Chelsea and Manchester City have both been linked with a
move for the former Atletico Madrid marksman, but
Ancelotti said the Premier League champions were already
well stocked in the striking department.
"I don't think we need other strikers," said Ancelotti.
"Nothing has changed because in the next few days (Didier)
Drogba, (Nicolas) Anelka and (Salomon) Kalou come back,
and we have (Daniel) Sturridge."
Ancelotti also dismissed speculation over a possible
departure for England international left-back Ashley Cole,
who has been linked with a move to join former Chelsea
coach Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid.
"I didn't speak with him, I don't need to speak with him
and he doesn't need to speak to me," said the Italian.
"He is a player of Chelsea, did a fantastic season for us
and will be an important player for us next season. One
hundred percent."
Bangladesh play Scotland in Glasgow today
UNB, Dhaka
Touring Bangladesh national cricket team will play their
lone ODI match against Scotland on Monday at Titwood in
Glasgow.
The Bengal Tigers will also play another one-day match
against Netherlands on the following day (Tuesday) at the
same venue.
Bangladesh played to a 1-1 draw against Ireland in the
two-match ODI series, both at the Civil Service Cricket
Club ground in Belfast on Thursday and Friday.
The Tigers conceded a seven-wicket defeat against Ireland
in the first ODI to go down in the series and later they
earned a face-saving six-wicket victory over the host
Irish team in the 2nd ODI to level the series 1-1.
Earlier, in the three-match ODI series, Bangladesh lost to
England 1-2 featuring their first-ever historic victory
against English Lions in any version of cricket. England
took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series beating
Bangladesh by six wickets in the first ODI in Nottingham
and the Bengal Tigers smartly leveled the series 1-1
beating England by five runs in 2nd ODI in Bristol.
England won the series 2-1 outplaying Ban-gladesh by a
huge 144 runs in the 3rd and series-deciding match at
Birmingham.
But the touring Bangladesh was whitewashed in the
two-match test series against England held in May and
June.
England beat Bangladesh by eight-wicket in the first test
in Lords in May despite of a brilliant century by opener
Tamim Iqbal (103) and whitewashed the Tigers by innings
and 80 runs in the 2nd test in Manchester in June.
Newcastle boss
Hughton sweating over Taylor injury
AFP, Newcastle
Newcastle manager Chris Hughton admits he is concerned
Steven Taylor could be sidelined for several weeks after
the defender suffered a shoulder injury.
Taylor, who has been troubled by shoulder problems several
times in the past, sustained his latest injury during
Newcastle's 3-0 pre-season friendly victory at Carlisle on
Saturday.
The former England Under-21 centre-back now faces a race
against time to be fit in time for the start of the new
Premier League season, which kicks off for Hughton's team
at Manchester United on August 16.
Hughton is unsure when Taylor will return and the
situation won't become clearer until he has undergone
medical tests.
Liverpool World Cup
stars to miss Europa opener
AFP, Liverpool
Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson says he won't risk any of his
squad's World Cup stars in their early Europa League
qualifier.
Hodgson's team face a third qualifying round clash against
either Macedonian side Rabotnicki or Armenia's Mika later
this month in what will be the former Fulham manager's
first competitive match in charge of the Reds.
With the first leg scheduled for July 29, Hodgson knows he
is going to have to kick off without Steven Gerrard,
Javier Mascherano, Jose Reina, Dirk Kuyt, Ryan Babel,
Daniel Agger, Glen Johnson, Jamie Carragher and the
already injured Fernando Torres.
Hodgson's medical staff have warned him about forcing
those players back into action too early after their
gruelling season finally came to an end in South Africa
earlier this month.
"Possibly none of our World Cup players will play in the
early Europa Cup games if we listen to the advice of the
sports science people," Hodgson said.
"They are telling me we would be very foolhardy to use
players who have only been training for three or four days
on the back of the World Cup that early on because that
will affect us further on down the road.
"If we feel we are endangering our chances of doing well
in the Premier League by risking players in the early
stage of the Europa League, it will be a decision the club
will have to take. You have to follow the guidance."
Gerrard, Carragher, Johnson and Agger will start
individual fitness programmes at the club's Melwood
training ground soon, but Mascherano, Reina, Kuyt and
Babel will not return until after the Europa League first
leg has been played.
Catching Jack
looks tougher for Tiger after Open flop
AFP, St. Andrews
Tiger Woods has gone 0-for-3 in what had been expected to
be a pivotal run of majors in pursuit of the record 18
major titles won by Jack Nicklaus, a quest likely to be
much tougher now.
After a flop at the British Open, Woods has not won in the
past nine majors, one shy of matching the two longest
major-win droughts of his career.
And without any victory at all since a sex scandal last
November sent his iconic reputation crashing, the 14-time
major champion faces serious questions about whether or
not he will ever pass his boyhood idol's epic standard.
The 34-year-old American still has time, but his
final-round par-72 Sunday to finish on three-under 285
completed a squandering of what appeared to be a golden
run that could have put him on the brink of matching the
"Golden Bear".
"Do I still think Tiger will break my record? Yeah, I
think he probably will," Nicklaus said last month. "He's a
very dedicated, hard-working golfer. But I always said you
have to do it. It's not just a gimme."
The start of 2010 had been heralded for years by Woods
followers as a magic time with Woods in majors at Augusta
National, Pebble Beach and St. Andrews - courses where he
had collected past major crowns in overpowering fashion.
Woods won his first major at the 1997 Masters by 12
strokes, captured the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach by a
major-record 15 strokes to begin his "Tiger Slam" run and
followed with an eight-shot romp at the Old Course.
But Woods is off to his worst season start after a
five-month layoff before Augusta and settling for a share
of fourth at the Masters and US Open. This week he was
never truly among title contenders at the birthplace of
golf. The struggles have made Nicklaus' words before last
month's US Open seem prophetic.
Manny Pacquiao to fight
Antonio Margarito/Miguel Cotto
BBC Online
Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum said talks with unbeaten
Mayweather to arrange a bout for 13 November were now
over, although the clash could still happen.
A fight with Mayweather for earlier in 2010 was called off
over Pacquiao's failure to agree to blood testing.
"The fight we wanted is Mayweather, but he didn't want to
commit," said Arum.
The pair are considered the two best pound-for-pound
boxers in the sport and a fight between them would likely
be the richest in history.
And after Filipino Pacquaio succumbed to Mayweather's
blood and urine testing requests in May it looked as if a
fight between the pair would happen in November.
"I am sure, without knowing, that there is a very good
reason why Mayweather hasn't committed at this time,"
added Arum.
Arum suggested that the issue over drug testing had been
resolved and speculated that the pending trial of
Mayweather's uncle and trainer Roger over a charge - which
he has denied - of attacking a female boxer could be why
the undefeated American would not agree to fight this
year.
"I really believe this issue with the uncle has an
affect," continued Arum.
"If I were in his shoes I wouldn't want to go into this
big fight without my trainer."
Pacquiao defeated Cotto (35 wins and two defeats) in
November 2009 and could agree a rematch with the Puerto
Rican fighter or take on Mexican Margarito (38-6), who has
only just returned to the ring after being banned for a
year for wearing illegal hand wraps.
Arum said he expected it to take only a week to negotiate
a contract with either opponent, both of whom fight in his
Top Rank stable.
"I have to discuss with Manny to see who he prefers. The
decision falls on Manny," stated Arum.
Obamas swim,
play and stroll on summer break
AFP, Bar Harbor
US President Barack Obama and his family packed a full day
of tennis, swimming and hiking into a weekend getaway in
the northeastern state of Maine on Saturday.
The Obamas began the day with rounds of tennis and some
splashing in the pool, followed by lunch by the waterfront
at an island hotel, according to reporters traveling with
the president.
Obama, his wife Michelle and their daughters Malia and
Sasha then toured a lighthouse on the southern tip of
Mount Desert Island, taking along their rambunctious dog
Bo.
The family mingled with visitors and admired the view from
the top of the lighthouse before heading on a nearly
hour-long hike along the Ship Harbor Hiking Trail.
"Good family time," said the First Lady's press secretary
Katie McCormick- Lelyveld, who went along on the hike.
It was "about an hour walk with stops at the water to skip
rocks and play with the dog. A few other families were
hiking, many with their dogs, and the family stopped to
say hi along the way," she said.
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