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Rice price goes beyond tolerable
level: Food Adviser
Staff Correspondent
The government is
considering importing more rice from abroad to ensure more
availability of the staple food in the country with a view
to containing price hike of the essential item.
Food and Disaster Management adviser AMM Shawkat Ali said
this at a seminar on "Food Security in Bangladesh,"
organised by the Economic Reporters’ Forum (ERF) at the
National Press Club in the city on Monday.
Laying stress on increasing the buffer stock of rice to at
least 10 lakh metric tons in order to successfully face
any food crisis in the country, he said now there are over
5 lakh metric tons of rice in stocks. So, the essential
commodity is not a scarce item in the country but its
price is beyond the reach of the common people.
Only 40 percent of the country’s total rice production are
supplied in the market; the rest of the total rice
production are preserved by the land owners to meet their
demand for food and seeds. But the landless and marginal
farmers are not able to preserve or procure the item due
to abnormal price hike of rice, the mentioned.
So, the present caretaker government issued around 4 lakhs
cards among the limited income group in the country
specially in the Sidr-devastated districts, the adviser
said. Speaking at the seminar, Awami League presidium
member Tofael Ahmed said the caretaker regime should
immediately hand over power to an elected government
through an credible election, to end the people’s miseries
derived from abnormal price spiral of essential
commodities. Everyone should extend all-out cooperation to
the present government so that the government can bridle
rise of prices of essentials and mitigate the people’s
sufferings, the AL leader said.
UNB adds: Food and Disaster Management Adviser AMM Shawkat
Ali recognised that the price of rice has gone beyond the
tolerable level despite the government’s hectic efforts to
control it.
However, the Adviser didn’t elaborate why the price of
rice is going up although it is available in the market.
Focusing on government activities for adequate rice
import, the Food Adviser said the caretaker government has
so far imported 29 lakh tons of rice in a bid to cool down
its overheated market. "The quantity of the imported rice
is expected to stand at 40 lakh tons by June next. So,
there is no lack of effort on the government part. But
some difficulties arise in import of rice as per its
demand due to some internal decisions of our neighboring
nation, India," Shawkat Ali said.
The Adviser told the seminar that the government has
decided to import five lakh tons of rice from five
state-own companies of India as soon as possible.
"One lakh ton of rice will be imported soon from Kolkata
Essential Corporation. The rest of the rice will also be
imported from four other state-owned companies of India,"
he said.
Rice importer Tipu Sultan said rice in India is sold at Tk
14,000 per ton, but when private importers from Bangladesh
want to buy it at the same rate, they demand Tk 26,000 per
ton. "Our government should take immediate diplomatic
steps so that India sells rice to Bangladesh’s private
importers at a reasonable rate," Tipu said.
Asked what the government can do to convince India to sell
rice at a reduced rate, the Adviser said India has
increased the export price of rice in order to discourage
its exports."To ensure its own food security, India has
technically increased the price of rice for the private
importers. We’ll have to deal with the matter logically.
But Bangladesh government, if necessary, can request India
in this regard," Shawkat Ali said.
Biman purchasing new aircraft
Staff Correspondent
The board of directors of
Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited has decided to purchase
eight Boeing aircraft to modernise the national flag
carrier, at a cost of US $ 1.265 billion. "We have taken
the decision first of its kind since the inception of
Biman in 1972 to purchase eight new aircraft directly from
the manufacturing company and in a transparent manner",
claimed Special Assistant to Chief Adviser Mahbub Jamil
while briefing newsmen at the Secretariat on Monday.
He also maintained that the decision had been taken
remaining free from the influence by any quarters and
following recommendations by the fleet planning sub
committee which meticulously examined the offers of the
Boeing and Air Bus Companies. Biman will sign a Memorandum
of Understanding (MoU) with Boeing representatives on
March 15, the Special Assistant informed adding Biman from
its own fund will pay 1.54 Million US dollars which is
refundable. Mentioning the present vulnerable condition of
Biman, he said the organisation could not add new
generation aircraft directly from the manufacturers and
failed to make a viable route plan due to political
influence.
After turning the Biman into a public limited company on
July 23 last year, Mahbub Jamil said besides procuring new
aircraft, two aircraft would also be taken on lease with a
view to minimising the disruption in flight schedules. One
aircraft taken on lease, a Boeing 747-200 from a Nigeria
based airlines, will arrive at Zia International Airport
in a day or two, he said adding the tender would be
floated soon to lease another aircraft.
On purchasing eight new aircraft, the Special Assistant
said the first consignment of four Boeing 777-300 ER will
be arriving here in 2013 while the second consignment
Boeing 787-8 in 2017. Of the 777 aircraft, the price of
first one will be 182.17 million US dollar, 2nd 182.52,
3rd 183.20 and 4th one will be 184.02. Of the 787
aircraft, the price of first one will be 132.83, the 2nd
one 133.08, 3rd one 133.53 and the last one 133.81. About
this price of the aircraft, Mahbub Jamil said the
negotiation committee will be able to reduce this amount
before the final deal.
On financial sources, he said the Export-Import Bank of
the United States will provide 85 percent of the money at
an interest rate of 6 percent for 12 years. During the
interim period before adding new aircraft, he said Biman
management will procure two aircraft on lease in 2009 and
two in 2010 from the Boeing Company to meet the aircraft
crisis. Jamil informed that the Boeing Company will assist
the PLC to procure two aircraft of 787-8 in 2011 and two
aircraft in 2012 on lease. In both cases, the company will
provide training to the pilots and engineers, he added.
Now the Biman management is procuring an aircraft of
747-200 for six months to meet the present crisis. Along
side procuring new aircraft, "We are going to re-brand the
national flag carrier to compete with other airlines of
the world", the Special Assistant said. Asked when the
Government will sign the Cape Town Convention,
International Aircraft Registry, he said, "We will put our
signature soon".
Hasina
refuses to have treatment in BD: Dr Abdullah
Ex-PM likely to get admitted to BSMMU hospital: DIG
Prisons
Sahidul Islam Rana
The detained ailing Awami League president Sheikh Hasina -
now in special jail in parliament complex with multiple
complications on her body including ears and eyes.– will
be treated at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical
University Hospital (former PG) if she wishes to have
treatment there.
Talking to The Bangladesh Today, DIG prisons Major Shamsul
Haider Siddique said, "We earlier proposed the former
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to express her opinion in
this regard."
About the decision of the Jail Authorities for providing
treatment, he said, "We ensured that physicians of her
choice examined her body and all doctors suggested her to
have treatment in the hospital without delay."
Referring to the recommendations of Doctor ABM Abdullah
who quoted Hasina as saying that AL President Sheikh
Hasina refused to take treatment in any hospital or clinic
as she has earlier lost confidence on local treatment, DIG
prisons said, "Let the Ex-premier first get admitted to
hospital as per doctors’ suggestions to complete her
necessary medical tests, then the medical board will take
decision whether it would be necessary to send her abroad
for better treatment."
"We are waiting for her reply. Meanwhile we are very
careful and well aware of her treatment in the makeshift
jail," he added.
Earlier, Medicine Specialist Associate Professor Doctor
ABM Abdullah examined the health condition of AL president
in the special jail in Parliament Complex at 11am on
Monday.
Emerging from the sub-jail, Dr Abdullah said to the
waiting newsmen, "Sheikh Hasina refused to undergo
treatment in Bangladesh."
Sheikh Hasina alleged that the seven doctors, supervising
her, failed to sit together for taking a unique decision
due to the government’s restriction.
He alleged that doctors earlier advised to complete some
pathological tests but those were not completed till date.
Replying to query, Abdullah said, "Her blood pressure is
now normal but the conditions of her eyes and ears remain
unstable. Sheikh Hasina would lose her hearing forever in
her left ear if the jail authority fails to send her to
USA on an emergency basis."
Here it may mentioned, since Saturday last, some seven
personal specialist physicians – Prof Dr Pran Gopal Dottya,
Dr Syed Modasser Ali, Prof Dr Baren Chakrabarti, Prof Dr M
E Kabir Chowdhury, Associate Prof ABM Abdullah and Prof Dr
Shaila Khatun -examined the health conditions of Sheik
Hasina.
Battle
continues within BNP
Staff Correspondent
BNP joint Secretary General, Goyeshwar Chandro Roy, on
Monday blasted the remarks of M Saifur Rahman and said,
"Personal interests and ego would not hamper the
reunification process of the bifurcated BNP." "A handful
of misguided BNP leaders are bargaining for ensuring their
personal position in the party and I think it will not
thwart the process," Goyeshwar told newsmen at the Nam
residence of ex-MP Mohammad Shahjahan. Goyashwar also
cautioned, "If the misguided leaders do not rectify
themselves through admitting their mistakes, the way of
their return to the mainstream party might be shrunk as
the sympathy of the party rank and file will decrease
gradually."
Acting Chairperson of the reformist faction in BNP, M
Saifur Rahman, on Sunday brushed aside the unity move
taken by Hannan Shah saying, "The draft prepared by Hannan
Shah said the 29 October meeting standing committee has to
be annulled, but we cannot do so."
Goyeshwar also castigated the Chief Election Commissioner
for his statement saying, "Many CEC talked in the past in
the way the incumbent CEC is talking, but they could not
continue." Meanwhile, BNP Secretary General Khandoker
Delwar Hossain who left Dhaka for Singapore last week on
the plea of treatment flew to US for better treatment on
Monday.
BRTA's
drive to reduce traffic jam
Staff Correspondent
The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), with the
help of different law enforcing agencies, conducted a
massive drive against unfit vehicles to reduce traffic
congestions and road accidents in the city over the last
one month. Meanwhile, in a bid to reduce the number of
the unfit vehicles and road mishaps, the authority
conducted the drive from 26 February to 6 March 2008 and
seized around 66 vehicles and lodged 714 cases under
existing Motor Vehicle Ordinance-1983. Shunil Kanti
Bosh, Chairman of BRTA, disclosed this at a press
conference at his office in the capital on Monday.
The BRTA Chairman said the people did not get sufficient
services from BRTA due to lack of adequate number of
manpower and proper guidelines. There are numbers of
irregularities in the department. Large numbers of
vehicles, which have no road permission certificate, are
running on the city streets but steps are yet to be
initiated in this regard. "We have only 300 employees
across the country. With this inadequate number of
manpower, it is very difficult for us to free the BRTA
from all kinds of irregularities. But we are trying to
our best to identify the unfit vehicles and fake license
holders to take stern action against them," Shunil Kanti
Bosh said. "The existing Motor Vehicle Ordinance is not
enough and appropriate for taking any step against the
vehicles and drivers. So, we are going to formulate a
new law which is under process," he added. Due to some
complications of passenger buses, huge causalities are
taking place due to road accidents, resulting in tragic
death of at least 4,000 people every year, he mentioned.
ACC
examines proposed Truth Commission draft
In light with its laws, ongoing activities
UNB, Dhaka
The Anti-Corruption Commission has received the draft
proposal of the proposed Truth Commission and is
thoroughly examining the proposal in light with the ACC’s
laws and ongoing activities.
The anti-graft watchdog will place its recommendations and
comments, if any, in this regard at the appropriate place
of the government at an appropriate time.
A high-level government meeting on Sunday reportedly
approved in principle the formation of the
much-talked-about Truth Commission to enable corrupt
people to confess crimes and escape trials depositing
their ill-gotten assets with the exchequer.
"The proposal relating to formation of the Truth
Commission has come to the Commission. The ACC is
examining the nitty-gritty of the proposal in light with
the Commission’s laws and ongoing activities," ACC
director general Col Hanif Iqbal told a regular press
briefing on Monday afternoon.
"If the Commission has any recommendation or comment in
this regard it’ll place those at an appropriate place and
at an appropriate time," he added.
Responding to a questioner, Hanif said the Commission is
scrutinizing the proposal considering its every aspect.
To another questioner who asked what would happen to the
cases already filed by the Commission, he said the
Commission is thinking about it. "The Commission has just
received the proposal and it has neither reached any
decision nor a conclusion."
He told a questioner that the Commission received the
proposal on Sunday.
About the submission of charge sheet in Gatco case against
former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, her younger son Arafat
Rahman Koko and 11 others, Hanif said the Commission is
waiting for the Appellate Division verdict on the
extortion case against another former premier Sheikh
Hasina.
About two separate Niko cases filed against the two former
premiers, he said there have been enough progresses in the
investigations into these cases and "hopefully the next
steps would be taken in due time."
The director general said the Commission has approved the
submission of charge sheet in the case against former
Awami League MP Joynal Hazari and his sister Khodeza
Hazari for acquiring wealth worth over 1.10 crore beyond
their known sources of income.
Back Page
50MW power plant
for Comilla EPZ
Private company to
invest US$45m
UNB, Dhaka
M/s Agrani Complex (Pvt)
Ltd, a Bangladeshi company, will set up a 50 MW Power
Plant in Comilla EPZ to solve the power crisis of Comilla
EPZ and its surrounding areas.
This power plant will be established investing US$ 45
million which will provide uninterrupted power supply to
the operating enterprises of Comilla EPZ and its adjacent
areas during peak and off peak hours.
The company will install the 50 mw power plant on 43,233
sq. meter of allotted space within the zone. This plant
will start providing the service within 24 month, said a
press release.
Initially this power plant will meet the existing
requirement of Comilla EPZ and its future needs.
After fulfillment of the requirement of the investors,
they may sell their excess power to PDB/REB or other
organizations at their own arrangement.
Thirty five Bangladeshis and one foreign national will get
employment opportunity in this company.
An agreement to this effect was signed between the
Bangladesh Export processing Zone Authority and M/s Agrani
Stell Complex (Pvt) Ltd in BEPZA Complex in Dhaka on
Sunday. BEPZA Manager (Investment Promotion) AZM Azizur
Rahman and Managing Director of M/s Agrani Stell Complex (Pvt)
Ltd Md Zaynal Abedin signed the lease agreement on behalf
of their respective organisations.
BRTA to introduce digital driving licences
BDNEWS24.COM, Dhaka
The Bangladesh Road
Transport Authority will introduce digital licences for
drivers where all related information would be compressed,
an official said Monday.
BRTA chairman Sunil Kanti Bose said they had taken the
decision to reduce cheating as duplication of licence is
widespread.
"We want to start work on digital licensing by next two
years," Bose told reporters at the BRTA headquarters in
the city.
The chairman said they were working to reduce the
timeframe for issuing licences.
"Previously getting blue book needed even years. Now a car
owner will get it in a week. In some cases, may be it will
take at best one month," Bose said.
He said BRTA officials filed cases against 714 vehicles in
the capital between Feb 26 and March 6 after examining
documents.
As many as 66 vehicles have been seized during the time
for not having proper documents, he said. Bose said they
would be able to take ramshackle vehicles off the streets
once the proposed Motor Vehicles Ordinance, 2007 is
promulgated.
He said the BRTA needed autonomy to provide people with
better services.
Govt reassessing price control measures: Hossain Zillur
Bdnews24, Dhaka
The unstable
commodity prices that are plaguing ordinary people need
urgent action "based on the economic realities", commerce
adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman said on Monday.
"Policymakers at the highest level of government are busy
discerning why efforts to check commodity prices have
failed," the adviser said.
Speaking to reporters at the inauguration of the two-day
South Asian Sociological Conference held in the city, the
adviser said the government has been watching the
situation closely.
"The government closely monitored the recent instability
in the edible oil market. Keeping the markets stable
requires coordination of the interests of the producers,
consumers and traders."
All possible measures for redress were being considered,
the adviser added.
"The advisory council has been discussing the hurdles and
the shortfalls in the commodity market, and in the demand
and supply chains, exhaustibly."
Zillur said he was set to speak to the chief adviser about
the matter in a couple of days and then share the relevant
strategy with the media. "We'll have an open discussion
with the media as soon as we hold the meeting with the
chief adviser." He said policy was being discussed at the
highest level of government to discern why efforts to
check spiralling prices have so far been ineffective.
Zillur stressed: "The government has been sincere in all
its interventions so far to keep commodity prices stable."
Following a meeting with businessmen in February, the
market looked more or less stable for a brief period
between Feb 24-Mar 2, but again registered fluctuations in
prices of essentials.
"We have to review the whole situation, taking into
consideration the international market prices of
essentials, effective monitoring of market prices at home
and other relevant issues," the adviser said.
"The government's decisions have to be based on the
economic realities, keeping the needs of the poor
multitudes in focus at the same time."
The opening session of the South Asian Sociological
Conference was presided over by Independent University,
Bangladesh vice chancellor Prof Bazlul Mobin Chowdhury.
Conference convenor Prof Nazrul Islam, Indian Sociological
Society president Prof Uttamrao Bhoite, its former
president Partha Nath Mukherjee and Pakistan Sociological
Association president Fateh Mohammad Burfat were among
those who addressed the session.
Crime Watch
ASP transferred after allegation proved
A Correspondent, Barisal
Akhterul Islam, assistant superintendent of police in
charge of Gournadi circle of the district has been
transferred to Bogura and two increments of his salary
postponed after allegations of negligence and misuse of
power were proved in a departmental investigation.
The action was taken for his failure in taking action
against the attacks on minority community at Askor-Dusmi
village of Bagdha union under Agoiljhara upazila of
Barisal district on May 05 and 19, 2007 and for
patronizing the attackers by playing biased and partial
role.
Aminul Islam, deputy inspector general of police of
Barisal range, acknowledging the facts said Abdus Salam,
ASP of Barisal sadar circle was ordered to take the charge
of ASP Akter on Monday until the substitute
officer-in-Charge is replaced.
Man kills wife
UNB, Gopalganj
A housewife was killed allegedly by her husband at
Heronkandi village in Kashiani upazila on Saturday night.
Local people said Zahid beat his wife Plabani alias Pilu
indiscriminately after a quarrel with her, leaving her
critically injured.
Zahid later took her to the upazila health complex in an
unconscious state and at one stage sensing danger he went
into hiding.
Later, doctors declared Plabani dead. A case was filed.
Implementation of police ordinance 2007 stressed
A Correspondent, Netrakona
An opinion exchange meeting between the police
administration and the local elites and journalists was
held at Netrakona Model thana compound on Sunday afternoon
for proper implementation of police ordinance 2007 which
established in 1861.
Chaired by police super Md. Shakhawat Hossain, while sadar
upazila Assistant commissioner (Land) Rezaul Karim and
poura chairman Nazrul Islam Khan were present as special
guests in the meeting.
It was addressed by district corruption control committee
president Dr. Abdul Hamid Khan, folklore researcher Golam
Arshadur Rahman , Headmaster of Uchya Bidayloy Saidur
Rahman, Bangladesh Fertiliser Association district
committee president ATM Mustofa Chunnu, district women
council president Rehena Siddique, programme manager of
SUS, an NGO Khuhinur Begum , UP chairman Shamsuddin Khan,
president of Repoter's Club Humayun Kabir Salim, Chatradol
president Moniruzzaman Dudu and chairman of Abdur Rahman
Foundation and Journalist Delwar khan, among others.
The key note paper was read by Model thana Assistant
police super Ibrahim Khan. The whole programme was
coordinated by sadar model thana Officer-in-Charge Shah
Manjur Kader (PPM).
Ward commissioner gets 6 months imprisonment
UNB, Khulna
A court here on Sunday convicted a Khulna City Corporation
(KCC) ward commissioner and awarded him six months
imprisonment in a snatching case.
The court also fined the convict KCC ward commissioner
Sheikh Abul Kalam Azad Tk 1,000, in default, to suffer one
month more in jail.
According to the prosecution, the convict snatched Tk
2,000 from one Ruhul Amin at Rayermahal in the city on
December 14, 2004.
The victim filed a case with Sonadanga police the
following day.
After examining the records and five witnesses, Khulna
Metropolitan Magistrate Shamim Azad handed down the
verdict.
Condemned JMB prisoner dies at DMCH
UNB, Dhaka
A condemned JMB prisoner in August 17 serial bombing case,
who was undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College
Hospital (DMCH) died on Sunday.
The dead was identified as Nasir Ullah, 19, son of Abdul
Latif of Shibpur village in Jhenidah Sadar upazila.
Jail sources said a case was filed against Nasir and 20
others with Jhenidah Sadar police station following the
bomb attack in Jhenidah district on August 17, 2005.
Nasir's family members handed him over Jhenidah police on
February 28 in 2006. Later, a Jhenidah court sentenced him
to death by hanging in the same year.
According to the sources he was taken to Dhaka Central
Jail from Kashimpur jail in Gazipur on January 11 this
year for better treatment as he was suffering from heart
problem. He was admitted to DMCH on March 4 as his
condition further deteriorated where he died at noon.
Two commit suicide
BSS, Chuadanga
Two persons committed suicide in separate places in the
district on Saturday.
Police said the dead were identified as Haque Mohammad,
50, of Hospital Para of Jibannagar upazila and Abdur
Razzak, 32, of village Loknathpur under Damurhuda upazila.
Both of them committed suicide by taking poison at their
respective home.
Family trouble could have been the reasons of their
committing suicide.
Two unnatural death cases were registered with respective
police stations in these connections.
14 bombs recovered
A Correspondent, Chapainawabganj
A squad of RAB-5 recovered 14 bombs from Islampur union
under Sadar upzila on Sunday night.
Sources said acting on a secret information, a special
squad of RAB-5 conducted drives in the Terorashia village
of Islampur union under Sadar upazila and recovered the
bombs from one Amzad Ali's house.
RAB handed over the recovered bombs and a case was filed
with Sadar Thana in this connection on Monday.
One kidnapper arrested
A Correspondent, Chapainawabganj
One kidnaper named Abdul Kaium (35), son of Jobdul Haque
of Prantik Para under Chapainawabganj town was arrested on
Monday.
Acting on secret information, Sadar thana police conducted
drives Udayon Mor area and arrested the man.
Sources said, Abul Kalam (25), Abdur Rashid (23), Abdul
Kaium (35), Jobdur Haque (69), Sadrul Islam (45) and
Chhotu (45) kidnapped Faruk Hossain (22), son of late
Jobdul Haque of village Bohrom under Sadar upazila from
Shantibag of the town last 6 March evening.
In this connection victim's brother Farhad Ali filed a
case on Monday with Sadar Thana.
Fake oil factory unearthed, three held
BSS, Rangpur
Detective Branch of Rangpur police unearthed a fake
coconut oil factory, seized huge quantity of fake coconut
oils and other raw materials, and arrested three persons
on Sunday night.
On a tip off, a special DB police team arrested two
employees of a fake coconut oil factory named 'Raja
Colombo Coconut Oil Factory' from Rangpur rail station
area while they were waiting there for trafficking fake
coconut oil to Lalmonirhat by train.
The arrested were identified as Rezaul Islam, 22 and
Gonesh Chandra Saha, 25. DB police also seized 290 litres
of fake coconut oil from their possessions.
Following their confession, DB police conducted another
raid at 'Raja Colombo Coconut Oil Factory' located at
Nisbetganj in the city and arrested Mahbubur Rahman, 45,
son of owner Abdur Rashid of the factory. Teenage girl
rescued.
Editorial
Economy in
Difficulties
Economists
have been cautioning about a severe downturn in our economy
for the last couple of months. Reasons cited are many chief
among which is the setback in our agricultural and rural
economy. Right now the farming population, which includes the
majority of the population of the Country, have practically no
income and their conditions will deteriorate further if
outputs fall below the projected targets in the coming
harvesting season. Problems of supply of fertilizers in
adequate quantities and affordable prices, lack of cash
credits at low interest rates and paucity of power and energy
for irrigation continue to bedevil agriculture. The Emergency
Government, has for the last few months, invested heavily in
agriculture and everyone is desperately hoping that the
investment will bear fruit in terms of increased rice
productivity.
The second area of concern is investment in industries which
seems not only to have fallen sharply but also industries
seems to have gone into recession. The chief reason cited for
this is the government anti-corruption measures which appears
to have driven off many prospective investors. Many big
businesses and industrial concerns have collapsed because
their owners are in jail facing charges of corruption, while
many others have fled the country leaving their businesses to
flounder. Industrial recession on the one hand has lead to
large-scale unemployment while on the other hand no new
employment opportunities are being created.
The third area of concern is the shrinking prospects of
manpower exports. Bangladeshis working abroad are beginning to
effect employment patterns and wages in many parts of the
world besides changing demographic patterns. As a result
immigration laws and their enforcements are being tightened in
these countries sometimes imposing out right bans on mass
immigrations from Bangladesh. Therefore, foreign exchange sent
by workers abroad will begin to shrink in the very near
future.
The last area of concern is most certainly inflation which
continues to pose a problem because of higher costs of
imported commodities particularly food as well as short supply
of all essential commodities. If the economy could be driven
to grow at a rate of 7%, inflation would be manageable but
that does not seem to be forthcoming in the near or even
middle term because of a lack of investment in the industrial
and service sectors as well as poor agricultural growth.
What seems clear is that for the foreseeable future Bangladesh
and its people are in for a real hard time as far as the
economy is concerned and that economic hard-time may well be
exacerbated by political and social uncertainties and
instabilities, always simmering just below the surface for the
last one decade.
Continued Price Hike
From the shops to the
groceries, wholesale to the retail markets prices of all
products and goods are on the rise. Other than the
international market condition the rest of the reasons for
deterioration are home-grown. The government cannot control
the global market but it can surely control domestic market.
A TBT report has been made clear that mostly the low income
group are badly affected by this relentless meteoric hike of
price. Individuals with a limited income are stretched to the
limit and people are turned hopeless, desperate and anxious;
if, for an example, the price of edible oil jumps up Tk
twelve, nothing but panic and anger grip the consumers.
The Government not doing enough to make a significant change
to the situation. Still the success of any government on any
issue depends on the peoples willing participation and
collective motivation. In the current continuous price hike of
everyday essentials proves that the system has a flaw. The
source and origin are already identified: greedy businessmen,
smugglers and a few warehouse owners who stockpile goods and
thus by creating artificial demand make huge profits. These
dishonest people cannot be allowed to unsettle life in this
country. They must be stopped. The other long term remedy is
exactly what the Chief Adviser said a few days back in Barisal
after finishing the second cabinet meeting, in order to solve
the price hike crisis the country must deploy all it's efforts
and endeavours for cultivating more grains and other
agro-based items. There is no alternative to it.
In the past years political governments endorsed subsidy to
various sectors, especially agriculture, education, health and
power sector without any efforts to improve the output.
Subsidies are needed; there in no argument about it but they
did it mainly to retain popularity. The present caretaker
government should handle the choice and process of subsidies
very wisely; backups are only a temporary solution and it
cannot sustain forever.
Members of various law enforcing agencies are engaged in
monitoring the market but all that is not being effective
because of a lack of long-term strategies. At the same time,
if this monitoring is withdrawn before any improvement to the
existing market situation there is a grave concern that the
prices of commodities might go up further.
Side by side, we the citizens also should minimize our
everyday consumptions and usages. As the whole nation is in a
crisis, we should restrain ourselves from wasting and misuse.
Teachers, think-tank and people from all walks of life must
band together to resolve the prevailing situation at the
soonest.
Analysis
Letter from Toronto 3
Me, like most Bangladeshis, want to see more
Bangladeshi products in Canadian market. Exporters should look
into other areas. One field could be plastic products.
Shahriar Shibley
It
is exciting to see so many Bangladeshi made garments in
Canadian stores. And as years pass by, the quality is
improving. All I can say is “Bravo” to all the garment and
textile industry entrepreneurs and workers. Keep up the good
work. Bring back the glorious days of ‘Muslin’. In all these
years I heard just one complaint from a Canadian friend about
a Bangladesh made shirt he bought. His button fell off after
some use. So I urge my garment worker friends to sew the
buttons tight, use more or better thread. The pockets of pants
should be made with stronger cloth. An average Canadian
carries few heavy keys. And once a button falls off or a
pocket is torn, a local laundry will probably charge half the
price of the garment to fix it.
Me, like most Bangladeshis, want to see more Bangladeshi
products in Canadian market. Exporters should look into other
areas. One field could be plastic products. Plastic utensils,
disposable items and toys are extensively used. China
dominates that market. But considering our cheaper labor and
with little innovation, we can compete with the Chinese.
Exporting furniture is one avenue we should carefully look
into. Solid wood furniture is of great value. Quality hand
crafted dining set can easily fetch over 10,000 dollars. Even
though wood of value here are Birch, Mahogany and Oak,
Bangladeshi wood can easily find its place. Carpentry is
definitely the most important part. The furniture should be
made in such a way that they can be assembled easily following
a simple guide supplied in the package, with some screws also
supplied in the package. Furniture design can go in all
directions. There is market for contemporary design along with
European antiques. Even Chinese and Indian antique designs
will find a wide market, especially in Toronto, which is
called the most multi-cultural city in the world. Furniture
made out of plywood and medium density fiberboard (MDF)
imported from Malaysia, Indonesia and China are widely
available in Canadian market. Not only furniture, other wood
products like kitchen cabinets, doors, plywood and MDF are
also available in Canadian market,
Ethnic food from Bangladesh is increasing its market share in
Canada as numbers of immigrants are increasing. Our major
competitors in that sector are India and Pakistan. However,
there is good reason to be optimistic because as volume
increases, the retail prices are likely to fall. A significant
portion of the price is transportation cost.
Amazingly, there are various brands of imported bottled water
available in Canadian market. Canada has a quarter of world’s
fresh water reserves and has political control over a major
portion of sub-arctic ice. Thoughts were given into tugging
chunks of that ice to California for consumption. Yet, Canada
imports bottled water from Portugal, France, Italy and others.
Similar to Canada, Bangladesh has plenty of fresh water. We
have all the rivers and plenty of rainfall. We have to be
creative in managing our water resources. Rain water is fairly
clean and can be used in our already existing water bottling
industry. This industry needs massive expansion so that nobody
in the country has to drink impure water or arsenic tainted
water. This industry needs to be decentralized so flood prone
and cyclone prone areas have reserves. Expansion of this
industry will account for shortfall of infrastructure
development of nationwide tap water distribution system. This
industry can do what mobile phone industry did to our
telecommunication industry. That is, cover the whole county.
After we reach our self sufficiency in bottled water, we
should look into exporting to other countries, especially
Middle East. If you are thinking of exporting to Europe and
America, lightly flavoring drinking water with some fruit
flavor or carbonating (soda water) is also a good idea.
Toronto (specially the city council) boasts of having very
high quality tap water. In spite of that, most people seem to
rely on bottled water for drinking. Toronto is cold in winter,
but it can get very hot (nearly 100 degrees centigrade) in
summer. Deep water from Lake Ontario is used in cooling some
downtown buildings. Many of the newer buildings have rain
water collection system on the roof. That water is used in
flushing toilets and watering gardens of the buildings. In
Chicago, a facility in downtown freezes water using relatively
cheaper night time electricity. That ice is then used in day
time to cool air to feed into central air condition systems of
nearby buildings. The mining industry uses a lot of water.
There are companies which purifies that water for bottling
industry. At the same time valuable minerals are extracted
from that water. These are few examples of good water
management.
Export industrial growth is vital to our country. That is the
way to reducing poverty. Developing our own products and
manufacturing techniques is very important. Scientists,
engineers and craftsmen needs to co-operate each other more
closely. A scientist’s job is to discover laws of nature, an
engineer’s job is to invent devices using the laws of nature,
and a craftsman’s job is to make those devices. In the
industrial economies, these professions work so closely that
they very often loose their identities.
Our manufactures and exporters should take more advantage of
the internet. Every one should have their own interactive web
site. The web sites should have detail list of their products.
Terms and conditions of export should be mentioned in the
sites. Credit cards should be accepted for small orders. The
web sites should be promoted in foreign newspapers and
electronic media. Every one should post their products and/or
their company in sites like alibaba.com out of Hong Kong where
I see a lot of Indian and Pakistani products, but not a single
Bangladeshi product.
Job satisfaction among workers is necessary to maintain steady
output from factories. Entrepreneurs should consider workers
as their partners in progress. Here in North America,
companies recognize labor unions when union is there. Unions,
in turn work with the companies. Sometime profit sharing helps
providing job satisfaction to the workers. Share purchase
incentives provided by companies bring a feeling of ownership
to the employees. This process works like magic. Be it by
bringing job satisfaction to the workers or by stopping
influence of foreign elements, we should stop the
self-destruction practices of our factories.
(Shahriar Shibley;
E-mail: globalsymi@msn.com)
Women
in Bangladeshi Tourism
Promotion of gender equality, empowerment of women and
riddance of gender inequality in education is the third UN
Millennium Development Goal to which the UNWTO is committed.
Mohammad Shahidul Islam
Tourism
is lucrative mostly for the sector’s potential for producing
employments and inspiring earnings accelerating schemes to
promote local communities in UNWTO member states. The tourism
sector also makes obtainable various doorway points for
women’s jobs and opportunities for fashioning self-employment,
thus providing a means of reducing poverty of local
communities, especially women in developing states.
Tourism, especially international tourism, which involves high
capital investments, has tended to be controlled by powerful
vested interests and has been characterized by a lack of
concern for the local communities residing in the destination
areas. In many areas the local communities or sections of
local communities have taken the initiative to maximize gains
for themselves. In most cases this has been a spontaneous
development. However, there have been attempts to introduce
systematic processes or strategies to enhance participation by
all sections of the host communities, with several of these
having a gender focus.
There have also been attempts to build up partnerships between
the formal tourist industry and local communities and
partnerships between the government departments’ concerned and
local communities. It is just an opening. The experience
gained, however, can provide the building blocks for scaling
up and evolving effective strategies at various levels-local,
national, regional and international. In the context of
UNWTO’s Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, the Organization
intends to join forces with UNIFEM (United Nations Development
Fund for Women) to enhance further the role of women in
tourism.
Promotion of gender equality, empowerment of women and
riddance of gender inequality in education is the third UN
Millennium Development Goal to which the UNWTO is committed.
Over the past half century travel for leisure and for business
has grown into a mainstream global activity. Women hold jobs
of all positions from grassroots to top level-from artisan or
guide to director, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman-in
travel agencies, airlines and other related companies of all
dimensions throughout the world. In recent years they have
amplified their share of employment to hold as many jobs as
men, and this rise has been well built in poor countries-in
areas like handicrafts and community development which tie
closely into cultural preservation. Of the 1.3 billion people
living in poverty across the world, 70 per cent are women, who
carry out about 66 per cent of the world’s work in return for
less than five per cent of its income. Societies where women
are more there is a much better chance of attaining the
Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
Tourism can be a power in Bangladesh. The present government
may sincerely consider community based rural tourism
development for alleviating poverty with women in general
actively participating. The country has considerable potential
for attracting tourists who are in search of new, exciting
experiences in areas of unexploited natural beauty and rich
cultural resources. Worldwide, the concept of rural tourism
has developed to include adventure tourism activities and
cultural tourism. However, substantial challenges have to be
overcome before the rural tourism sector can achieve its
goals. These include a lack of capacity at local government
level, the difficulties involved in operationalising
community-based rural tourism and the dearth of
entrepreneurial expertise, management skills and capital with
which to expand the rural tourism infrastructure.
Sales are crucial for the success of any tourism business.
Before starting operations, we have to have a marketing
strategy and start selling our business, as the sales efforts
carried out today usually start giving results two years
later. In fact, woman empowerment across Bangladesh other than
in airlines and hotels may greatly emerge from the
implementation of community based rural tourism.
The concept of rural tourism as a product has been developing
in Bangladesh since the Industrial Policy of 1999 that
integrated tourism as an industry and termed it “Thrust
Sector” in view of its stable growth and sustainable
development. The government should put emphasis on
community-based rural tourism in order to accomplish the goals
of assuaging poverty. Community based tourism initiatives,
particularly those of local women’s groups and co-operatives
can be an accessible and proper doorway point for women to get
into the paid workforce. There are numerous examples where
women and women’s groups have founded income-generating
activities on their own. These activities facilitate creating
financial independence for local women and enable them to
acquire a wide range of skills and get better education, which
in turn raises self-worth and helps generate more impartial
relationships in families and communities.
(Mohammad Shahidul Islam is a faculty member of Tourism at
National Hotel and Tourism Training Institute, NTO.
Email: mohd-s-islam@myway.com)
Another
‘red scare’
Washington’s
constant warnings about Cuba, Syria, Iran, Venezuela and North
Korea make it look like a spinster terrified by a mouse.
Eric Margolis
CHINA
'threatens the stability of Asia.' Such was the dire warning
issued by the US Department of Defense last week, as it
criticised the 17.6 per cent increase in China's 2008 military
budget.
China's official military budget is $58.8 billion, but the
real figure is estimated at around $110 billion. Even so,
Washington's warning was pretty rich coming from the sole
superpower that spends ten times more on its military than
China - a nation with four times the US population.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates unblushingly accused China
of 'lack of transparency' in concealing major defence
programmes. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Some
25-30 per cent of the Pentagon's trillion-dollar budget is
believed to be hidden in secret 'black' projects, or concealed
in other government departments.
Washington's constant warnings about Cuba, Syria, Iran,
Venezuela and North Korea make it look like a spinster
terrified by a mouse. These nations' combined military sending
is a paltry $10 billion. The US and its closest allies account
for two thirds of the world's military spending. Trying to
keep up militarily with the West drove the old Soviet Union to
bankruptcy.
The US spends more on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq than Russia
and China do on defence.
Now, the Bush Administration is trying a re-run of Reagan
years by goading Russia into more military spending to justify
continued high US military spending, which doubled since late
2001. Without the 'threat' from China and Russia, how will the
Pentagon justify new generation of super expensive F-22 and
F-35 fighters it wants, new tankers, heavy bombers,
submarines, carriers and other surface warships?
You don't need any such fancy hardware to fight rag-tag
jihadis armed with rifles and home-made bombs.
But there's a deeper issue with China. The US has yet to come
to terms with China's rise as a major modern military power.
The US Navy has dominated South Asia's littoral since 1944. By
2015-17, perhaps sooner, China will inevitably become the
dominant East Asian power. This means US geopolitical
influence will be pushed back from the Asian mainland into the
Pacific.
This process will be gradual. Today, China has only around 350
modern warplanes, a weak navy, and little ability to project
power more than 160kms from its coasts.
China is rapidly developing the capability to conquer Taiwan
and neutralise US Navy task forces coming to its rescue by
barrages of air and sea-launched anti-ship missiles, and
electronic warfare. China also threatens to attack America's
Achilles Heel: vulnerable space-based communications and
targeting satellites upon which US forces have become
dangerously dependant.
Taiwan aside, military tensions between the US and China are
totally avoidable - unless stoked by neocon Republicans
longing for war with China. What is even more bizarre, while
the Pentagon fulminates against the dangers of China, Iran,
etc, the US is helping build the military power of a huge
nation that one day could become a serious strategic rival to
the United States - India.
The Bush Administration is striving to conclude a deal to
supply Delhi nuclear fuel, technology, and billions of
high-tech weapons. Meanwhile, India is developing nuclear
armed intercontinental ballistic missiles and sea launched
strategic missiles that might one day pose a challenge to the
United States.
Why, no one in Washington is asking, does India need
7,000-mile range ICBM's, nuclear-powered missile submarines
and powerful anti-ship missiles? Its current medium-range
missiles cover all China. ICBM's are only needed by India to
reach Europe, North America or Australia. India is unlikely to
target Paris, London or Perth. But India will one day compete
heavily with the US for Mideast oil, other resources and
regional influence in the Gulf, Arabian Sea and even East
Africa.
China will inevitably join this strategic, three-way rivalry
as Beijing and Delhi's economies and ambitions grow.
Washington's helping India develop strategic nuclear weapons
programmes will needlessly antagonise China.
The astoundingly incompetent Bush administration is thus
seeding future conflict in Asia. But that's tomorrow. Today,
by creating a monstrous credit bubble, wildly printing money,
and recklessly spending, the Bush White House is spreading
dangerous inflationary forces throughout the world economy.
That's the real danger to everyone, not China.
Source:
www.khaleejtimes.com
Viewpoints
Global
Warming - Building Ecotopia
But now Washington is worried the change of
guard in Islamabad may curtail its efforts to act more
aggressively against suspected terrorists.
Jayshree Bajoria
The
U.S. military appears to be redoubling its efforts to
cooperate with Pakistani troops and crack down on terrorist
groups in the country's tribal areas. Reports of suspected
U.S. missile strikes (AFP) and newly revealed plans to send
American military trainers to work with Pakistani paramilitary
forces highlight the new push. The New York Times reports
that, in the week before Pakistan's February 18 parliamentary
elections, American officials struck a new deal with President
Pervez Musharraf and the new head of Pakistan's military,
General Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani, which grants American forces a
freer hand to carry out secret air strikes. The United States
believes such a strike killed a senior al-Qaeda commander, Abu
Laith al-Libi, in northwest Pakistan last month. Experts say
the killing may have helped convince Pakistani authorities to
move ahead with further covert operations, while still
refusing to allow any overt U.S. involvement or presence of
U.S. combat troops in Pakistan.
But now Washington is worried the change of guard in Islamabad
may curtail its efforts to act more aggressively against
suspected terrorists. Pakistan's recent election winners have
said they want to pursue peace talks with militants (IHT).
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose party forms a part
of the new parliamentary coalition, asked the United States to
clearly define its war on terror (Dawn). U.S. Defense
Secretary Robert Gates warned Islamabad that talks with the
militants have not worked in the past (BBC). Robert Grenier,
the former director of the CIA Counterterrorism Center, said
in a recent CFR meeting that when it came to things like the
operation of Predator drone aircraft, a democratically elected
government "will be more zealous in guarding Pakistani
sovereignty, or being seen to be guarding Pakistani
sovereignty." Grenier added, however, that the army will
"resist micromanagement from any government."
Pakistan has a long history as a buyer of U.S. military
weaponry in its efforts to keep pace with arch-rival India.
But since September 2001, the United States has given Pakistan
almost $10 billion in aid to help fight the "war on terror."
The bulk of that money forms what is called the Coalition
Support Funding, a Pentagon program to reimburse Pakistan for
its support of U.S.military operations. Sen. Joseph R. Biden,
Jr. (D-DE), speaking at CFR after a recent visit to the
region, called for greater accountability by Islamabad
regarding the aid money. Others fear the money reinforces the
Pakistani military's tendency to act independently of the
nation's constitution, as Boston University's Husain Haqqani
noted in this testimony to the House Armed Services Committee.
Both want to see a more serious opening to the new civilian
leaders of Pakistan and less reliance on the generals.
In fact, analysts have long questioned both the will and the
ability of the Pakistani army and intelligence networks to
hunt down the militants. Ashley Tellis, senior associate at
Carnegie, argued before Congress in January that Pakistan's
army is unlikely to see eye-to-eye with the United States on
these issues.
For one, Tellis says, the Afghan Taliban remains Pakistan's
best hope for influence across its northern border. "It will
be beyond the power of a new civilian government to compel the
military to pursue this war if the military believes that it
is not in Pakistan's national interest to do so," he says. Far
better, writes Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria, would be to deal
with the new civilian government, which will inherit the
problems of militancy. Says Zakaria: "What democracy could do
is make Pakistanis understand that this is their war."
(Jayshree Bajoria is Staff Writer for the Council on Foreign
Relations. Source: www.cfr.org)
Israel's Moral
Compass Is Flawed
The world had condemned Israel's callous treatment of Gaza,
where 1.5 million souls are imprisoned, starved, humiliated
and subject to being picked off at whim.
Linda Heard
Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says he doesn't want lessons in
morality. He's right. He and his Cabinet are a lost cause on
that front. Any attempts to appeal to their sense of right and
wrong would be akin to pouring mineral water onto stones
hoping for flowers.
The world had condemned Israel's callous treatment of Gaza,
where 1.5 million souls are imprisoned, starved, humiliated
and subject to being picked off at whim, yet the Israeli
government remains impervious to criticism.
Over the past days, over 100 Palestinians have been
slaughtered by Israel's war machine; at least half were
civilians and children. Israel says it is targeting workshops
where homemade rockets are put together. Who would have
thought so many women and toddlers would be working away in
such places.
They're not, of course. If Israel knew where those workshops
were, the rockets headed in Israel's direction would have been
stopped long ago. No, this was a brutal exercise in collective
punishment. They knew that innocents would die and they went
ahead anyway.
Here's the proof. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak
yesterday sought advice from governmental and military
authorities as to the legality of targeting civilian-populated
areas. Anyone blessed with even a rudimentary set of morals
would know in their heart that murdering babies is wrong and
wouldn't need to consult an army of lawyers.
No, Israel doesn't need lessons in morality. It's evident they
would be a complete waste of time. Its own deputy defense
minister threatened to inflict a holocaust on Gaza. He
eventually had to apologize; not to Palestinians, by the way,
but to Israelis upset by his use of the term exclusively
reserved for the genocide of Jews in World War II.
Last week, on this page, I wrote about mandatory Holocaust
education in British and French schools, organized school
trips to Auschwitz and the French president's scheme whereby
French 10-year-olds would forge a personal link with a
Holocaust victim of his own age.
I quoted President Sarkozy as saying, "Nothing is more moving
for a child than the story of a child his own age, who has the
same games, the same joys and the same hopes as he, but who,
at the dawn of the 1940s had the bad fortune to be defined as
a Jew". Wouldn't it be equally as moving for a child to learn
about a living child, who would love to have the same games
and experience the same hopes as he, but who, today, has the
bad fortune to be defined as a Gazan?
But Western compassion is selective. It is framed at state
levels by individuals who would prefer to eulogize those whose
lives were cruelly cut short over half-a-century ago than
people dying now whose only crime is being in the wrong place
at the wrong time.
And it is framed by a media that gladly floods their
broadcasts with gruesome historic pictures and films of Nazi
death camp inmates, yet shirks from showing viewers the ashen
faces of dead Palestinian children lying on cold mortuary
slabs - naturally, to avoid upsetting viewers.
Britain's Sky News, for instance, spent days giving almost
blanket coverage to Prince Harry's homecoming, virtually
ignoring the real story. Fox News is doing a good job in its
role as Republican propaganda machine dissecting every aspect
of the various presidential hopefuls down to their facial
expressions. Gaza, it seems, is barely worth the odd fleeting
snippet.
To be fair, many Arab-run networks are similarly squeamish. Or
have they been told not to stir public emotions? Throughout
the past days I've been satellite-hopping. To my dismay, only
three Arabic-language channels have focused their coverage on
the tragedy unfolding in Gaza outside of scheduled news
broadcasts.
Governments that exercise control or influence media to keep
such horrors from permeating the homes of ordinary people are
shrewd. They know full well that most ordinary folks operate
under a moral code and would be outraged to see the suffering
and carnage perpetrated by Israel in the Middle East.
Rather than risking inciting the public with the ugly truth,
the media feeds us with the crude antics of Britney or Paris,
Oscar ceremonies, ball games, music videos or the minutiae of
an investigation into a missing blond-haired five-year-old.
Ponder on the morality of the media-inspired public response
to Madeleine McCann as opposed to Gaza's maimed and orphaned
babies. According to the British newspaper Independent, there
were 465 stories about her in the British press, the family
received 1.1m pounds in public donations, while a host of
celebrities - including Simon Cowell, Sir Richard Branson and
J.K. Rowling - offered rewards totaling 2.6m pounds.
Remember the extensive media coverage, reserved for captured
Israeli soldiers, which encompassed every detail of their
personal lives? How many of you are familiar with the name
Gilad Shalit? How many of you know the name of even one dead
Gazan child?
Perhaps we all need to search our consciences when it comes to
fundamental questions of morality when a living Israeli
soldier is worth more airtime than dozens of Palestinian
children enduring the kind of suffering most of us can't even
imagine; day after day, year after year.
Unless we fight to retain the part of us that makes us human,
we might as well give in to the laws of the jungle: Dog eat
dog, might is right. As I write, members of the UN are arguing
over the wording of a resolution proposed by Libya. Arab
states want a strong condemnation of Israel's strikes on Gaza.
The usual suspects, the US and Britain, are demanding a
watered-down version heaping most of the blame on the
Palestinians.
In other words, a people incarcerated and struggling to find
food and medicines are the villains, while their rich and
powerful jailor is the innocent victim. If that's an example
of the morality adhered to by Israel and its friends, they can
keep it.
Yesterday, the Israelis shut down their Gaza operations just
in time for the visit of US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice to Jerusalem today. It wouldn't do to embarrass their
American guest now would it? Moral, the Israeli government
isn't. Polite to those who hold the purse strings and the
weapons they are. Let's give them some credit, eh!
Source: www.arabnews.com
The UN is escalating the Iran nuclear crisis
B.P. Jeevan Reddy
If
the Security Council were truly concerned about Iran's nuclear
programme, it would have lifted sanctions in the light of the
IAEA's latest report and thereby secured Iranian adherence to
the Additional Protocol.
On Monday evening, the United Nations Security Council voted
14-0 with one abstention to impose a fresh set of sanctions
against Iran for failing to suspend its civilian nuclear fuel
cycle programme. The resolution had the backing of not just
the United States, Britain and France but also Russia and
China. The latter two, who have made much of their official
commitment to a diplomatic solution to the Iranian issue,
justified their support for the latest resolution by adver
tising the absence of any reference to the "use of force" in
its language. But this reading of the text is wilfully naïve:
Resolution 1803 authorises the U.S. military to inspect all
air and sea cargo into and out of Iran on board Iranian
vessels if "there are reasonable grounds to believe that the
aircraft or vessel is transporting goods prohibited under this
resolution." It doesn't require much imagination to see how
this enabling provision can serve as the trigger for a
showdown between the U.S. - with its overwhelming naval
presence around the Persian Gulf - and Iran.
Leaving aside the possibility of military confrontation,
Resolution 1803 is a dishonest and provocative document that
undermines not just the credibility of the Security Council
but also the International Atomic Energy Agency. Just how
irrelevant the IAEA and its work have been rendered is proved
by the fact that the resolution's text was prepared before the
IAEA's latest report on Iran, a point mentioned by the South
African ambassador to the U.N., who made it clear his
government was deeply unhappy with the draft despite agreeing
to go along with it in the interest of "consensus."
Astonishingly, the UNSC resolution takes virtually no notice
of the fact that all outstanding issues which led to the Iran
file being sent to New York in the first place have now been
resolved. The demand, first made in 2006, that Iran suspend
enrichment and reprocessing activity, was a derivative demand
aimed at instilling confidence pending resolution of those
outstanding issues. Now that those original issues have been
resolved - and this is what the IAEA has pointed out in its
last two reports - there is no basis for the suspension demand
to be pressed, let alone made the basis for fresh sanctions.
When Iran was censured by the IAEA Board of Governors in
September 2005 and January 2006 and declared in breach of its
safeguards obligations, it was for failing to declare in a
timely and complete manner a number of nuclear-related
activities and procurements. Even though the IAEA has
certified that no nuclear material inside Iran has been
diverted for prohibited purposes, it said it was unable to
certify the absence of "undeclared nuclear activities" pending
investigation into those Iranian failures. Over the past six
months, however, each and every one of those documented
failures has been exhaustively probed. These include questions
over the extent of Iranian research into the P-1 and P-2
centrifuge designs, the purpose of its experiments with
Polonium-210, the source of uranium contamination at a number
of research sites, the possession of a document on the casting
of uranium into hemispherical shapes provided unsolicited by
the A.Q. Khan network in 1987, and the reasons behind its
attempt to procure certain equipment with nuclear
applications. Under each of these heads, the IAEA now says the
explanations Iran provided are either "consistent with" or
"not inconsistent with" information the Agency has.
"Therefore, the Agency considers those questions no longer
outstanding at this stage," IAEA DG Mohammed el-Baradei's
February 22, 2008 report categorically states.
As far as the uranium metal document is concerned - at one
point the Bush administration regarded this as the smoking gun
of an alleged Iranian nuclear weapons programme - the IAEA
says any further assessment of its significance must await "a
response from Pakistan on the circumstances of the delivery of
this document." Thus, the only peg the U.S. and its allies now
have to hang their charge of Iranian non-compliance on is the
alleged research Tehran is said to have conducted on a nuclear
warhead. And thereby hangs a tale.
It was in 2004 that U.S. officials first began speaking of
this issue based on information they said they had obtained
from an Iranian laptop. This laptop was provided to the U.S.
by the German intelligence agency, BND. On November 22, 2004,
the Wall Street Journal ran a story quoting a senior German
diplomat by name as acknowledging that the source of the
computer was "an Iranian dissident group." Gareth Porter of
Inter-Press Service reconfirmed this information in a report
last week, quoting a German diplomatic source as identifying
the group as the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
The NCRI is the political wing of the Mojaheddin-e-Khalq, a
group designated as terrorist by the U.S. State Department. On
the basis of the NCRI and MeK's links with Tel Aviv, Porter
speculates that the "incriminating" laptop might well have
Israeli fingerprints.
Source:www.hindu.com
International
Pakistan's
Musharraf won't quit: ally
AFP, Islamabad
President Pervez
Musharraf does not intend to quit, an ally said Monday
after Pakistan's main opposition parties agreed to form a
coalition and restore judges who could threaten his grip
on power.
Musharraf huddled with legal aides a day after Asif Ali
Zardari, widower of slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, and
former prime minister Nawaz Sharif signed a coalition pact
following last month's general elections.
Zardari is the de facto leader of Bhutto's Pakistan
People's Party (PPP), which won the most seats in the
February 18 ballot and, along with Sharif's Pakistan
Muslim League-N (PML-N), trounced Musharraf's political
backers.
In a major blow to Musharraf, a key US ally in the "war on
terror", they also agreed to bring back, within the first
30 days of the new parliament, the judges ousted by the
president during emergency rule last November.
The dismissed judges, including chief justice Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry, Musharraf's arch-foe, could take up
legal challenges to Musharraf's re-election as president
in October if they are restored.
Asked whether the president would step down if parliament
gives the judges back their jobs, close Musharraf ally and
former deputy information minister Tariq Azeem told AFP:
"It does not look like it."
"Now the question is that how can it (restoring the
deposed judges) be done, through a parliamentary
resolution, simple majority or a two-thirds majority. It
is a legal issue basically," Azeem said.
Government officials said Musharraf was "meeting legal
aides" at his office in the garrison city of Rawalpindi
but did not give details on what was being discussed.
Private television channels said it was a "strategy
meeting" including legal and constitutional advisers.
In the eastern city of Lahore, about 5,000 lawyers
chanting anti-Musharraf slogans called on the president to
step down, a day after police teargassed protesters
outside Chaudhry's house in Islamabad.
Musharraf seized power in a military coup in 1999, but his
hold on power weakened last year when he stepped down as
army chief under intense domestic and international
pressure. Pressure on him to resign has grown since the
elections, and the fate of the sacked judges was one of
the main sticking points in forming a coalition between
Zardari and Sharif.
The two parties thrashed out their differences at the
talks on Sunday and also called on Musharraf to inaugurate
parliament as soon as possible.
Caretaker prime minister Mohammedmian Soomro on Monday
sent Musharraf a formal recommendation to convene the
national assembly, or lower house, a senior official in
the premier's secretariat said.
No date has been announced yet, but officials said
Musharraf must call parliament within a week of receiving
the recommendation.
Stop threats then we’ll talk, Iran tells West
AFP, Tehran
Iran on
Sunday told the West it would only hold talks over its
disputed nuclear programme if world powers stopped
threatening further punitive measures against Tehran.
"The time of using the policy of the carrot and the stick
has ended," Javad Vaeedi, a top national security
official, said on the sidelines of a security conference
in Tehran.
"If they (the West) want to have serious negotiations, in
fair conditions and taking into account the interests of
the two parties, they must first stop threatening."
His comments came a week after the UN Security Council
tightened sanctions against Tehran over its refusal to
heed the world body's calls to freeze uranium enrichment,
a potential weapons-making process.
Following the sanctions resolution, President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad rejected any new talks with the European
Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana-who has
represented world powers in past discussions on the
nuclear crisis.
Ahmadinejad said Tehran would in future negotiate only
with the UN atomic agency and would not sit down with
anyone from outside the body, such as Solana, who has held
two years of nuclear talks with Iran.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, speaking at a
conference in Tehran, meanwhile refused to directly answer
a question about whether Iran would continue talking to
Solana.
"We are still supporters of negotiations that have a
precise objective, a defined programme and are assured of
providing us with results," he said.
"We are ready to discuss any proposition in this
framework, including the important questions of the world,
different problems, notably that of occupation and the
desire of certain countries to dominate others".
The Security Council has repeatedly called on Iran to
freeze uranium enrichment, which the West fears could be
used to make nuclear weapons, but which Iran insists is
only needed to make atomic fuel for power stations.
Suu Kyi holds second meeting with UN envoy
AFP, Yangon
Detained Myanmar democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi was taken to a military facility
Monday for a second meeting in three days with visiting UN
envoy Ibrahim Gambari, an official said.
The Nobel peace prize winner, who has spent 12 of the last
18 years under house arrest, left her lakeside compound in
Yangon at about midday (0530 GMT) and travelled the short
distance in a convoy, witnesses told AFP.
A Myanmar official said she was meeting Gambari a second
time, following a first encounter Saturday on his latest
visit to the military-ruled country.
Details of their talks have not yet been revealed.
Gambari, who met earlier with foreign diplomats, is in
Yangon to push the junta to include Aung San Suu Kyi and
her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in plans for
multi-party elections.
However, there has been little sign the regime plans to
make concessions, having denied Gambari access to junta
leader Than Shwe and rejected his offer to provide foreign
observers for upcoming polls.
Sarkozy camp suffers setbacks in French local polls
AFP, Paris
President Nicolas Sarkozy's
camp suffered setbacks in several major cities in round
one of French local elections Sunday, dealing a new blow
to the right-winger as he battles a collapse in
popularity.
Exit polls showed the opposition Socialists well-placed to
score big gains over Sarkozy's Union for a Popular
Movement (UMP), in next Sunday's decisive second round of
a vote cast as a referendum on his presidency.
The Socialists retained a firm grip on the capital Paris
and cemented their hold on France's third city
Lyon-clinching victory in round one-as well as on the
northern city of Lille.
Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe, a rising star of the left
and one of France's most popular politicians, received a
resounding thumbs-up for his pro-environment urban
policies, with about 41.6 percent of first round votes,
against 27.9 for his right-wing rival Francoise de
Panafieu.
Delanoe's Green party allies won 6.7 percent of the vote.
Nationwide, left-wing parties took some 47.5 percent of
the vote, well ahead of the UMP and its allies on 40
percent, according to a CSA survey. Turnout was high,
estimated at close to 70 percent.
Socialist leader Francois Hollande said voters had sent "a
warning to the president of the republic and the
government on the policies conducted over the past nine
months."
Fellow Socialist Segolene Royal, who had urged voters to
"punish" Sarkozy's government, called on them to keep up
the pressure in round two.
In Sarkozy's camp, Prime Minister Francois Fillon accused
the left-wing opposition of "mixing up local and national
issues" during the campaign-but UMP chief Patrick
Devedjian admitted on television the results were "not
good."
Right-wing former prime minister Alain Juppe held on to
the southwestern wine capital Bordeaux, winning reelection
in the first round.
But the Socialists appeared well-placed to seize the
eastern city of Strasbourg-one of three key trophies up
for grabs along with the second city Marseille on the
Mediterranean and southwestern Toulouse where the outgoing
mayors and their socialist challengers were headed for a
face-off Sunday.
The left dethroned the UMP in the northwestern city of
Rouen and in nearby Caen the Socialists had a lead of 10
percentage points over the conservatives ahead of Sunday's
second round.
In southern Rodez the Socialists took city hall for the
first time in 55 years.
The communists and their socialist allies retook the town
hall of the northern port city of Dieppe which they had
lost in 2001.
The symbolic loss of one or more major city further hurts
Sarkozy's reputation and could undermine his ability to
plough ahead with wide-ranging reforms.
Triumphantly elected in May on a pledge to overhaul
France's economy and tackle the rising cost of living,
Sarkozy's approval rating has plummeted from 67 percent in
July to around one third of the el |