|
Leading
News
CA expresses deep concern over
price situation
Govt to take new strategies to cope
with it
UNB, Dhaka
The government would soon
undertake new strategies along with the ongoing ones as
part of its efforts to bring down prices of essentials,
Commerce Adviser Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman said on Tuesday.
Some specific decisions to this effect were taken at a
meeting at the Chief Adviser’s Office, with Dr Fakhruddin
Ahmed in the chair.
"The meeting has taken specific decisions, but I’ll not
tell you now," the Commerce Adviser told reporters coming
back to his Commerce Ministry office.
"We’ll finalise and disclose the strategies after having
follow up meetings with the government agencies concerned
and other stakeholders," said.
Dr Zillur informed that the Chief Adviser expressed deep
concern about the price situation and discussed the
possible measures before leaving the country for Senegal
to attend the OIC Summit.
Finance and Planning Adviser Dr Mirza Azizul Islam, NBR
chairman Muhammed Abdul Mazid and representatives from
Bangladesh Bank and edible oil refiners were present at
the meeting.
The Commerce Adviser said the Commerce ministry has
already served letters to seven government agencies
seeking necessary information about the factors affecting
the market.
He said the meeting considered strengthening the market
monitoring system to see whether there is any gap in the
ongoing system, whether there is any necessity to bring in
new intervention mechanism or whether the government could
forecast the market situation.
Dr Zillur said the meeting also discussed that the traders
should play responsible role in utilizing the
policy-related issues rationally to ensure that the
traders do not make high profits to destabilise the
market.
Replying to a question, he said the country has long been
pursuing market economy, but now the government is
convinced that the state has something to do.
"The state should have some effective capacity," the
Commerece Adviser said, adding: "there is no need of
unwanted intervention into the market… but the state has a
role to develop an effective and competitive market
system."
Asked whether the government would again go for
reactivating the state-trading agency TCB and further
strengthening the market intervention by BDR, he said the
government was considering all possible options along with
strengthening the existing ones.
"The government will do whatever is necessary to quickly
improve the market system."
Myanmar rejects BD request for gas
AFP, Dhaka
Myanmar has rejected a
request to sell gas to Bangladesh to help the country meet
its growing energy crisis, saying India and China are its
top priorities, a senior Dhaka official said Tuesday.
Bangladesh's foreign secretary made the request during a
visit Myanmar last month, deputy energy minister M. Tamim
said.
"They said they would sell their gas to India and China
but cannot export gas to Bangladesh at the moment. Myanmar
would consider selling gas to Bangladesh only after new
discoveries are made," he said.
The decision is a blow to Bangladesh which faces a daily
shortage of at least 100 million cubic feet (three million
cubic metres) of gas. It needs the fuel to help feed its
economy which expanded by a strong 6.6 percent in the last
financial year to June 2007.
The energy shortage would become acute after 2009 if new
gas finds are not made, Tamim said.
"Now our industries are expanding quickly and we have huge
investments in gas-based power plants. We're facing a
growing energy crisis," Tamim said.
Bangladesh has daily demand for 1,800 million cubic feet
of gas but the country's 23 gas fields can provide only
1,700 million cubic feet as lack of investment in new
exploration since late 1990s has outstripped supply.
"Since 1999, there was hardly any investment in new gas
discoveries as the companies did not see any market for
gas here," Tamim said.
The southeastern city of Chittagong is home to the
country's largest gas-guzzling industries such as
fertiliser and steel and is running short of gas.
"I've told the Chittagong-based companies not to hope too
much. Some big companies which want to expand are now
suffering and the situation may continue for a while,"
Tamim said.
In an effort to step up future supply, the country's
military-backed government has already invited bids from
foreign oil companies to explore for gas and oil in the
hydrocarbon-rich Bay of Bengal.
In addition, companies such as Chevron, Total, Cairn
Energy and Bangladesh's state-owned Bapex have started
exploring for oil in their onshore and offshore blocks,
Tamim added.
Bangladesh has proven recoverable gas reserves of 14
trillion cubic feet according to the latest survey, the
deputy minister said.
The reserves are expected to last until 2022 if no new
discovery is made, he said.
Hasina
hospitalised
Specialists advise for sending her to USA
Staff Correspondent
The detained ailing Awami League President, Sheikh Hasina,
has been admitted to Square Hospital where a seven-member
specialists’ team examined her health condition on
Tuesday. The medical team led by the Vice-Chancellor of
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (former PG),
Prof Dr Mohammad Abu Taher, prescribed for about seven
pathological tests but already giving unanimous opinion
that the proper treatment for the Ex-Prime Minster is not
possible in the country at all. However, the final
decision on whether or not she will be sent abroad for the
better treatment will depend on the opinion of a medical
board likely to be formed by the government to examine
her, according to sources.
A highly competent source preferring anonymity indicated
that Sheikh Hasina - who has been hospitalised with
multiple complications on her body including ears and eyes
– is set to be sent the United States for proper treatment
not later than the end of this week. Another source
informed, air-ticket has been booked for Hasina so that
she can fly for the United States day after tomorrow.
Emerging from the cabin, the VC of BSMMU, Prof Dr Mohammad
Abu Taher, told the waiting newsmen, "All doctors checked
up the different health complications and offered their
respective views and reached a consensus that there is no
alternative to sending Hasina to USA for better
treatment." He said, "It’s quite impossible to provide
treatment of such a complicated ear problem in the country
as Hasina cannot hear without Hearing Aid that was set by
the Hospital in Florida where she earlier had undergone
treatment."
Replying to a query, Prof Taher said, "Hasina’s blood
pressure is under control, though the allergic reactions
affecting her eyes and tongue have increased severely."
Ear, nose and throat specialist Dr Pran Gopal Dotya said,
"After examining the health condition of the AL President,
we advised the authorities concerned, through a written
statement, that she can’t hear by her left ear at all due
to the complications following the grisly grenade attack
on August 21, 2004."
Remove
Barriers from Information Act
Speakers at Discussion
Staff Correspondent
If the ‘Information Act 2008’ which is going to be
enacted, is not drafted properly, instead of free flow of
information, the information will be restricted, senior
journalists, teachers and government and non government
officials observed at a round table in the city. After
scrutinising the draft, they said some correction is
needed before enacting the Information Act otherwise
important information for the mass people, will be barred.
"Amid the barriers of Official Secrets Act, Evidence Act,
Rules of Business and Government Servant Conduct Rules,
the newsmen are collecting information from various
sources, later the information is being published and
broadcast through print and electronics media. But if this
draft comes into force as a law, people would not be able
to reach the information. As we are living in the advanced
information age, we have the right to know which will be
good for us," they added. Criticising the provisions of
exemption, they said, "Section 8 of the proposed
Information Act 2008 has a provision of restricting the
people or journalists from collecting significant
information in the name of security, sovereignty, honour
and foreign policy of the Country.
The new Act will also prevent reporters from collecting
information relating to economic and financial activities
of corporate bodies, income tax and VAT of a person, a
scientific invention and any information publication of
which will violate the Court’s order or affect
Parliament’s function." They suggested the government
either to eliminate the restrictions or define those as
absence of any definition will be misinterpreted with a
view to not giving information. As there is widespread
corruption in the financial and banking sectors in the
country, information about these sectors should not be
restricted, they said.
However, they said people will be really benefited from
this Act if implemented properly but government and
non-government officials should be bound by law to convey
ordinary information within 7 days and emergency
information within 24 hours so that press can publish them
timely. They underscored the need for independence of the
Information Commission and awareness among people to seek
information from the settlement office, hospitals and
other places where they are being harassed by a section of
corrupt official.
New
ordinance to make use of nat'l ID cards mandatory
Bdnews24, Dhaka
New legislation for the national identity card
project has been prepared, which will make use of the ID
cards mandatory in a range of situations, an official
said on Tuesday.
Members of the public will be required to produce their
national ID cards for 22 different purposes including
applications for passports and driving licences as well
as admission to educational institutions. Further areas
where the ID cards will be required are registering for
examinations, opening bank accounts and taking water,
electricity and gas connections.
Taking a loan from any organisation, buying land, buying
and selling vehicles and filing legal cases will also
come under the purview of the proposed ordinance.
The proposed law will also see those found guilty of
providing false information, concealing information or
collecting more than one ID card liable to imprisonment
and a fine, said the official.
The responsibility of preparing the new national ID
cards now lies with the Election Commission, although it
will pass to the home ministry in future.
At present only those eligible to become voters are
receiving national ID cards, although all citizens are
ultimately to be brought under the scheme in phases.
The EC prepared the draft national ID ordinance with the
planning commission before sending it to the home
ministry for scrutiny last year.
Sheikh Abdur Rashid, additional secretary at the home
ministry, told bdnews24.com Tuesday: "The National
Identity Registration Authority Ordinance is being
formulated with the aim of giving ID cards to all
citizens in the country."
"The draft of the ordinance is now waiting approval of
the council of advisers," said Rashid. According to the
proposed ordinance, any person violating the law will be
liable to a maximum of six months simple imprisonment or
a fine of up to Tk 50,000 or both, said Rashid. The
additional secretary said the draft ordinance had
provided the government with the power to suspend some
provisions of the proposed law.
Election commissioner Muhammad Sohul Hossain told
bdnews24.com: "The EC has already given specific
suggestions for the draft of the national ID card
ordinance." The draft was presented at a meeting of the
EC in July 2007. Chief election commissioner ATM Shamsul
Huda presided over the meeting.
The work of preparing voter lists with photographs and
the national ID card project started in June last year.
The UNDP and other donor agencies are providing Tk 345
crore towards the project’s costs.
Md Asaduzzaman, public relations officer at the EC
secretariat, told bdnews24.com that more than 4.45 crore
voters out of estimated eight crore voters had been
registered throughout the country by March 7.
National ID cards for 8,262,705 of the voters have been
prepared, while ID cards have been distributed among
5,491,798 individuals, said Asaduzzaman.
Local
Govt Ordinance to be finalised end of March
Staff Correspondent
The Government is likely to finalise by the end of
this month the proposed local government commission
ordinance-2008, local government (City Corporation)
ordinance-2008 and local government (municipality)
ordinance-2008. "We are trying to finalise the ordinances
by the end of this month", LGRD Adviser told newsmen after
an inter-ministerial meeting on finalising the drafts of
local government ordinances at the Secretariat on Tuesday.
He said the local government ordinances are being
finalised so that the Election Commission as per its road
map can hold elections to the four city corporations and
seven municipalities.
The meeting finalised the draft ordinances which will
ultimately be approved by the advisory council, the LGRD
Adviser said, adding the ordinances will be vetted by the
Law Ministry. As the Chief Adviser has gone abroad, the
ordinances are being sent to the Law Ministry for
examination whether there are any inconsistencies in the
ordinances, Iqbal stated. According to the proposed
ordinances, the Election Commission will get power to make
electoral laws for the candidates of the local government
election.
On high lights of the ordinances, he said the powers of
the Local Government will be enhanced if the local
government commission is constituted. The commission will
be formed with three members who have experience on the
local government, the LGRD adviser added. A candidate for
contesting the local government polls will be able to
contest from anywhere in the country, the adviser said
adding although the Government was thinking of limiting
the place from where a candidate will contest but it
backed off its plan.
Earlier, the interim Government constituted a seven-member
committee headed by former secretary A M. M. Shawkat Ali
to recommend ways of strengthening the local government
institutions. On November 13, 2007, the committee
submitted its report to the caretaker government
suggesting as to how the local government can be
strengthened. The report also recommended dissolving the
Gram Sarker system formally and introducing a three-tier
local government system comprising zila, upazila and union
parishads.
No
change in inheritance law: Law Adviser
BSS, Dhaka
Law and Religious Affairs Adviser AF Hassan Arif on
Tuesday said the present government has not enacted or
amended any legislation dealing with the Muslim
inheritance law.
"The government also does not have the will to do so," he
said while exchanging views with ulema (Islamic scholars)
on the newly formulated Women Development Policy-2008 in
the auditorium of Islamic Foundation in the city.
"The Women Development Policy-2008 is not a legislation at
all and its does not deal with inheritance laws. It is
just a document for discussions on how to protect women
from repression and deception and on how to improve their
conditions socially," the adviser said.
Taking part in the discussion, eminent Islamic scholars
said confusions were created in the minds of public on the
basis of misleading information on the Women Development
Policy.
Had the government informed the people clearly about the
policy earlier, there would have been no controversy, they
said and opined that the clarification of the adviser
would now dispel all confusions.
Baitul Mukarram National Mosque Pesh Imam Maulana Mohammad
Nuruddin, Former Islamic University vice-chancellor Prof
Dr M Mustafizur Rahman, Maulana Kamaluddin Zafari, Maulana
Abul Kalam Azad, Mufti Sayeed Ahmed, among others, took
part in the discussion.
Communications Adviser Maj Gen (retd) Ghulam Quader,
Education and Commerce Adviser Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman
and Religious Affairs Secretary Ataur Rahman were present
on the occasion.
The law adviser said it is a matter of sorrow that there
has been uproar over a matter that has not taken place in
reality. He blamed lack of information for this situation
and said the government is going to enact right to
information law to avoid such incidents.
Back Page
Price Hike of
Construction Materials
F. M. Masum
Despite measures taken by
the government, the prices of construction materials
including MS rod are increasing at an alarming rate,
posing a serious threat to the country's housing industry.
Just in a span of one week, the price of MS rod (60
grades) has increased further by Tk 7,000 per ton and it
is now selling at Tk 67,000 per ton. Besides, the price of
cement has also posted a record high as per bag cement is
selling at Tk 370, up by Tk 40 compared to that of last
week. The price of brick also has gone up by Tk 500- Tk
1,000 per thousand, just in a span of two weeks.
Due to price spiral of construction materials, contactors
had to suspend construction works and everyday many
workers and day labourers are becoming jobless.
Talking to this correspondent, many contactors said the
price hike of construction materials has already posed a
serious threat to the country's huge potential real estate
sector as they had to stop many under construction works.
Blaming a section of rod and cement businessmen for the
price spiral, they also said the government should take
stern action against those businessmen responsible for the
price hike of building materials and it also should take
necessary steps to control the price hike to save this
industry.
Due to the skyrocketing price of MS rod and cement, the
construction cost of flats has increased abnormally and it
would be very difficult for the real estate industry to
sustain if this trend continues in the incoming days. At
present, about 25 lakh people are directly and one crore
indirectly involved with the sector.
Meanwhile, some businessmen of Bangladesh re-rolling
association urged the government to cut the duty imposed
on importing raw materials of MS products immediately to
contain price and it should also ensure all-time power
supply to the re-rolling industries.
Many people who had already booked flats are very much
concerned as developers sent letters to them informing
that the price of construction materials has gone up, so
they (buyers) would have to pay extra money for their
flats and plots.
Some businessmen also said that the price hike of
construction materials in the international markets is one
of the causes responsible for the continuous price hike of
it in the local market. It also may be mentioned that
earlier in the last month at press briefing, both ship
breakers and re-rolling association blamed each other for
the continuous price hike of MS rod and other construction
materials.
Biman to close domestic flights
Except Chittagong, Sylhet
UNB, Dhaka
Biman Bangladesh Airlines
Limited will not operate any domestic flight except on
Sylhet and Chittagong routes as the national flag carrier
is eyeing to establish itself as a world class airliner.
The fleet committee in its proposal said that it would not
be a wise decision for Biman to operate domestic flights
except on Chittagong and Sylhet routes.
"We include Chittagong and Sylhet as there are huge number
of expatriates from these two areas live in different
countries around the world," Captain Shah Alam, a member
of the fleet committee, told UNB on Tuesday.
He said the fleet committee proposed to operate connecting
services for Sylhet and Chittagong.
Replying to a question, Capt. Shah Alam said, there are
four private airliners operating their domestic flights
and the domestic market is already saturated.
"We don't want to enter in that saturated and small
market; we want to do our core business and that is
operating international flights."
In the proposal, the fleet committee mentioned that there
is no need to procure small aircraft in future to operate
domestic flights. "Rather, we are looking to make a new
impression in the international market," the fleet
committee member said.
Chief Adviser's Special Assistant Mahbub Jamil on Monday
at a press conference also said that they are not
interested in domestic market. "We will open the domestic
sector to the private airliners," he had said.
Biman currently owns three types of aircraft-four
McDonnell Douglas DC10-30s, four Fokker F28s and three
Airbus A310-300s. Out of a total of 11 planes of Biman
fleet, only four or five are operating now while the rest
are grounded.
Amid aircraft shortages, Biman cut seven international
routes and was forced to reduce flight frequencies on five
profitable international routes like Riyadh, Jeddah and
Kuwait. Biman's market share came down to almost half of
what it had in 1991. Capt. Shah Alam said the national
flag carrier would try to restore its flights on the
profitable international routes. Biman Bangladesh Airlines
on Sunday decided to purchase eight Boeing aircraft at a
cost of US$ 1.265 billion to resuscitate the country's
lone public sector airlines.
Police Roles in Controlling Domestic Violence
Staff Correspondent
Stern action
will be taken against police if they indulge in
corruption, commit crime or neglect responsibility while
they are on duty, Inspector General of Police Noor
Mohammad said at a seminar on "The Role of Police in
Preventing Domestic Violence" at a city hotel on Tuesday.
"If any policeman misbehaves with a person or refuses to
take complaint, please go to the circle officers. If the
circle officer does not respond to the call, just call us
over our cell phones. We always stand beside you
(people)," IGP said.
Arthur Erken, UNFPA representative of Bangladesh informed
that, around 155 women were murdered by their husbands in
last few years ago, 40 were killed by their in-laws, 42
died from torture by their own relatives and almost 60
percent women have suffered from sexual of physical
violence. Much of that violence were committed by partners
or family members. During 2001 to 2007, a total of 1884
women were the victims of dowry related violence and in
2006 alone, 323 women were brutally killed.
He also said the violence against women and girl is now
internationally recognised as an impediment to the social,
economic, civil, political and cultural advancement of
women. In addressing the issue, he said men will have to
be targeted as they are key in eliminating domestic
violence, since they are in most cases the perpetrators of
violence and the protectors of the victims of violence.
Therefore, it is very important to reach out to partners
coming from sectors that are typically male-dominated,
such as law enforcement agencies including local police.
Injury a leading killer of
children: Unicef
BSS, Dhaka
Children in Asia are at great risk of dying from injuries
such as drowning and road accidents.
Surveys from Bangladesh, China, the Philippines, Thailand
and Vietnam reveal that injury is the leading cause of
death and disability among children older than one year of
age in these countries, with drowning taking the heaviest
toll.
A child born in Asia is still at greatest risk of dying in
the first month of life. But the survey findings confirm
that the risk of dying from injury increases after infancy
as children grow more independent and interact with their
environment and as the threat of death from infectious and
non-communicable diseases falls. Nearly half of all child
deaths included in the studies happened after the age of
five. The most easily preventable causes were suffocation
and drowning which mostly occurred in under-5 children.
Bangladesh was one of the first countries where such a
survey was conducted in 2004, revealing that drowning
claims 1 of 4 lives among children aged between 1 and 17
years. It is currently estimated that 46 children drown
everyday in Bangladesh and 17,000 annually. The drowning
death toll peaks during the floods. In 2007, drowning was
responsible for 87 percent of the total child deaths
caused by the floods. "Given the high prevalence of injury
in children, UNICEF undertook a pilot initiative to
respond to this situation. After two years of
implementation, this project has proved that most deaths
could be averted by some simple safety interventions like
giving swimming lessons to children,” said Iyorlumun Uhaa,
Acting Country Representative of UNICEF Bangladesh.
Crime Watch
Businessman shot dead in city
UNB, Dhaka
Unidentified miscreants gunned down a businessman in the
city's Sayedabad area Tuesday morning.
The dead was identified as M Ashiq, 50, son of Lalu Mollah
and also one of the owners of residential Anwar Hotel in
Saydabad.
Witnesses said the assailants opened fire on Ashiq when he
was coming to his hotel at about 9:30am, leaving him
critically injured.
He was rushed to the Dhaka Medical College hospital where
the doctors declared him dead.
Police suspected that he might have been killed following
a previous enmity. A case was filed.
Outlaw killed in "Crossfire"
UNB, Pabna
A regional leader of an outlawed party was killed in an
encounter between his cohorts and RAB members at Nandanpur
village in Sadar upazila early Tuesday.
The deceased was identified as Abdus Samad alias Dhala
Samad, 45, of Kakilakhali village in the upazila. He was
the regional commander of Purba Banglar Communist Party (Lal
Pataka).
Samad was wanted in over a dozen of cases including of
four murders, robbery and abduction, RAB sources said.
Acting on information, a team of RAB-12 cordoned of a
jackfruit orchard in the village at about 1:50am when a
group of outlaws were holding a clandestine meeting.
Sensing the presence of the elite force, the extremists
threw a bomb on the RAB men, forcing them to retaliate
that triggered a gun battle.
"Samad was caught in the crossfire and died on the spot
but his associates managed to flee" said a spot account of
the shootout.
RAB troops later recovered the body and sent it to the
Sadar Hospital morgue for autopsy.
They also recovered eight live hand bombs, two shutter
guns and three bullets from the scene.
Young girl slaughtered
UNB, Jamalpur
Police recovered the slaughtered body of an unidentified
young girl from a paddy field at Dewlabari village in
Melandah upazila Monday morning.
Sources said local people found the girl slaughtered in a
paddy field and informed the police.
On information, police recovered the body and sent it to
the General Hospital morgue for autopsy.
Police said the girl might have been killed after rape.
A case was filed.
Two terrorists held
UNB, Jhenidah
Police arrested two outlaws alongwith arms from Harihara
in Shailakupa upazila Sunday night.
Meanwhile, one of the arrested sustained bullet injuries
in police firing as he tried to flee after snatching a
firearms from a policeman.
Police said a team of Shailkupa police raided the houses
of Moniruzzaman Raton and Akhteruzzaman, members of
Bangladesher Biplabi Communist Party, at Harihara village
at about 10pm and arrested them. Police also recovered a
LG gun during the drive.
They both were wanted in sensational BNP leader Idris
murder case, police said.n
NGO official arrested
UNB, Rajshahi
The manager of a NGO was arrested from his residence at
Shipur union in Bagmara upazila early Tuesday on charge of
misappropriating Tk 1.60 lakh.
Police said Shamim, manager of Freedom NGO, was arrested
after Manjuara Khatun of Sripur registered a written
complaint against him and his brother Sajjad Hossain with
the local thana.
Manjuara alleged that she deposited Tk 1.60 lakh to the
NGO but later Shamim, with the help of his brother, went
into hiding along with the money.
Shamim was sent to the jail in the morning.
Student killed in
terror attack
UNB, Gazipur
A student of local Law College, wounded critically in a
terrorist attack here on Sunday, died at a hospital in
Dhaka early Monday.
The victim, identified as Firoz Zaman Sohel, 27, had
recently passed LLB from Gazipur Law College.
Family sources said Sohel, elder son of Sohrabuddin, was
attacked and injured critically by the armed hoodlums, led
by Tithi at Chhayabithi area in the district town on
Sunday evening.
Sohel was first admitted to Sadar hospital and then
shifted to a private hospital in Dhaka on Sunday night
after deterioration of his health condition. He succumbed
there early Monday.
Victim's father said the same gang had also attacked and
his younger son Masum Parvez last year. Later, a case was
filed in this connection.
He suspected that Sohel might have been killed following
the dispute over filing of the case.
9 sued for misappropriating govt funds
UNB, Dhaka
Managing directors of Dhaka WASA and Rupantorita Prakritik
Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL) along with seven others were sued
by the Anti-Corruption Commission on Tuesday for
misappropriating government funds worth about Tk 11.3
crore.
ACC assistant director Abdul Mazed filed both the cases
with Khilkhet police station against the top bosses of the
public utilities and business barons on charge of
"misappropriating or helping others to misappropriate" the
money.
Those accused in one case are incumbent MD of RPGCL, the
state-owned conversion workshop, Abdul Wadud, former RPGCL
MD and incumbent WASA MD Major (retd) Raihanul Abedin, ex-RPGCL
MD ABM Fazle Elahi, former RPGCL acting MD and general
manager (finance and admin) Ekramul Haque Chowdhury,
former RPGCL general manager Rezaul Karim, and incumbent
director (finance) Golam Mostafa, Trident Agency MD
Mohammad Ali and proprietor of Rahman Service Station
Mahbubur Rahman.
They were accused of misappropriating or helping
misappropriate over Tk 1.53 crore in connivance with one
another. The second case was filed against six persons,
including top five accused in the first case. The sixth
accused is RPGCL manager (CNG) Nowshad Azam. They were
accused of misappropriating or assisting in
misappropriating over Tk 9.75 crore.
Both the cases were filed under section 5(2) of the
Corruption Prevention Act 1947 and sections 109 and 409 of
the Penal Code, as a countrywide purge against corruption
in high places is underway in the interim period under the
caretaker government. The action against the high
officials of water-and gas-supply sectors is part of the
drive against institutional corruption and malpractice
under the nationwide anti-corruption purge launched after
the January 11, 2007 changeover.
5 get life term
UNB, Moulvibazar
A court here Tuesday sentenced five people to life term
imprisonment for killing a man at Murshidabadkura village
in Barolekha upazila about five years back.
The court also fined the lifers -- Jamaluddin, Rahimuddin,
Mazmai, Saleh Ahmed and Atiq -- Tk 25,000 each, in
default, to suffer two years more in jail.
According to the prosecution, the convicts killed Abdur
Rouf with sharp weapons at Murshidabadkura when he was
returning home after attending Eid jamaat on November 26,
2003.
Later, the victim's family filed a murder case against 10
people with the local police.
After examining records and witnesses, District and
Sessions Judge M Shahidullah pronounced the verdict. He,
however, acquitted five other accused from the case as
allegation brought against them could not be proved.
Editorial
Truth Commission
and National Security Council
Much
has been talked and written about the formation of a Truth
Commission and a National Security Council with most aware
citizenry opining against the setting up of such 'bodies',
nonetheless the Emergency Government is determined to go ahead
in forming these two organizations.
One would have thought that the Truth Commission would have
died a natural death after the departure of Barrister Mainul
Hussain, its chief proponent but that is not obviously the
case as the 'project' is alive and kicking. The ostensible
purposes of instituting such a commission is to allow
corrupted persons, businessmen or politicians to confess to
their crimes, deposit their ill-gotten gains with the
government's treasury and continue on with their lives without
facing prosecution in courts of law. The Presidential Ordnance
which will bring this commission to life proposes that the
commission headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and with a
bureaucrat and a military person as members, will have the
power to summon any person and if that person refuses to
appear, to punish him with up to 3 years of imprisonment. It
therefore, becomes clear that this Commission will be a
superimposition on our existing legal structures and processes
bypassing these in cases of large-scale theft and defalcation
of public and private property. To a very large extent this
Commission will make irrelevant a significant portion of our
justice and judicial systems, making further inroads in
undermining, weakening and destroying our key state
institutions.
As for the National Security Council, it is being set up to
oversee administration and security and will consist of a
motley group of bureaucrats, senior military officers and
ministers, headed by the President. The purpose of the
Executive arm of a State, whatever is the form of government,
is to ensure national administration and national security and
it does not need another supra-organization to oversee those
functions because oversight functions fall within the purview
of the Parliament or law-making arm of the State in any
functioning polity. Moreover, bureaucrats and military
officers, however high their rank and status, are servants of
the State, the implementers of policy, not its policy
formulators, its representatives nor yet its overseers; that
function is typically left to the politicians even in such
authoritarian regimes as communism and fascism and most
certainly so in a democratic polity. In the formation of a
National Security Council one again sees an attempt by the
Emergency Government at bypassing existing State structures
and undermining and weakening those.
Proposals such as these can only come from mindsets which are
'totalitarian', which wish to unilaterally alter existing
social, political & economic institutions and replace them
with ones which are arbitrary, discriminatory and elitist
catering to the privileges of the few as opposed to the
benefit of the many. A democratic dispensation would never
allow for such laws and commissions which seek to bypass
existing systems, not at least without massive public support
for such a move. This raises the issue of sustainability of
such organizations under a representative, elected government
which might well decide to disband these as being redundant;
in any case one does not see elected government curtailing
their own powers and functions by pandering to such ideas.
People want deeds,
not words
The
Food Adviser should be thanked for the belated admission that
rice price has gone beyond tolerable level and that the price
is beyond the reach of the common people although there is no
scarcity of the item. He has also said that the government so
far imported 29 lakh tons of rice and the import will stand at
40 lakh tons by June next. He also stressed on increasing the
buffer stock of rice to at least ten lakh tons.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman has said
the unstable commodity prices need urgent action based on the
economic realities adding ' policy makers at the highest level
of the government are busy discerning why efforts to check
commodity prices have failed'. He also said the government
closely monitored the rcent instability in the edible oil
market. Keeping the markets stable requires coordination of
the interests of the producers, consumers and traders."
The Commerce Adviser also deserves appreciation for admitting
the government’s failure to contain price spiral of essentials
and for outlining the government plans to check price hike.
But people are getting impatient as they are plunged in
unprecedented economic hardship due to unchecked price
escalation of rice, edible oil and other essential
commodities. They are fed up with the tall talks about buffer
stocks and market monitoring. Reaching on the brink of losing
the capacity to sustain, the people are disillusioned with
so-called assurances. To check prices they now want deeds, not
words.
Analysis
Fighting Against terrorism
for Democracy
The goal of HUJI-B, like other terrorist groups
in Bangladesh, is to establish Islamic rule in Bangladesh,
primarily through targeted violence.
Ripan Kumar Biswas
Whoever
kills an innocent soul, it is as if he killed the whole of
mankind, And whoever saves one, it is as if he saved the whole
of mankind [The Quran, 5:32]." So, why the new brand of
terrorism, based on a narrow interpretation of the great
religion of Islam?
What is happening in some countries from the shedding of the
innocent blood and the bombing of buildings and ships and the
destruction of public and private installations is a criminal
act against humanity. Those who carry out such acts have
deviant beliefs and misleading ideologies and are responsible
for the crime. Terrorist's act may be intended to achieve
political or religious goals. But obviously it's also a
criminal act and should be dealt as such.
While the US designated Harakat ul-Jihad-i-Islami-Bangladesh (HUJI-B)
as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated
Global Terrorist including 36 others under Executive Order
(E.O-13224) on March 6, 2008, Bangladesh government firmly
assured that the intelligence agencies and lawmen are keeping
watch on them so that the extremist organization cannot resume
its operation as government banned all of its operation since
October 17, 2005.
Passing that order, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
further mentioned that US applauds Bangladesh's efforts to
fight terrorism and are committed to further strengthening
this partnership as the US redoubles its efforts to counter
HUJI-B and other terrorist organizations around the globe.
For some terrorism may be a way of life and the choice
commodity of export but the resultant impact will bring down
the system of economic and social inter-dependence the world
has created in the last 50 years. Successes of the terrorists
only create templates that can then be replicated in other
situations thereby breaking down international law and order.
HUJI's objective is to establish Islamic rule by waging jihad.
It is the largest international terrorist organization, which
is created by Islamic militants group in Pakistan. There is
little information about its exact origins and date of
founding. However, it had a significant involvement in
fighting the Soviets alongside the Afghan mujahideen, which
indicates that, perhaps, it was founded sometime in the 1980s.
In 1985, the outfit split into two groups, with the splinter
group calling itself Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM). Both groups
continued to thrive even after the Soviet withdrawal from
Afghanistan in 1989. HUJI was designated a "Foreign Terrorist
Organization" by the U.S. State Department in "Other Terrorist
Groups" category on April 29, 2004.
In 1992, the Bangladesh unit of HuJI - HuJI-B - was
established with direct support from al Qaeda. The unit was
involved in recruiting Bangladeshi Rohingya (Myanmarese)
Muslims and students from madrassas, with several others of
which it has very close links. By 2005, the outfit had spread
its tentacles to almost 24 countries, including the
Philippines, Malaysia, Fiji, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan,
Chechnya, United Kingdom, the United States, Ireland, and
parts of Africa. In February, 1998, Harakatul leader signed
the fatwa sponsored by Osama bin Laden that declared American
civilians to be legitimate targets for attack.
In every annual reports titled "Patterns of Global Terrorism"
of the US State Department have repeatedly referred to the
activities of the HUJI from Bangladeshi territory. Since
September 11, 2001, there have been persistent reports from
secret as well as open (the United States' Time magazine and
the Far Eastern Economic Review, for example) sources that at
least 200, if not more, survivors of al-Qaeda and other
components of the Islamic militants groups, many of them
originating from Southeast Asia, have shifted to Bangladesh
and have been given sanctuaries there by the HUJI-B and other
jihadi terrorist organizations.
The goal of HUJI-B, like other terrorist groups in Bangladesh,
is to establish Islamic rule in Bangladesh, primarily through
targeted violence. To achieve that, it has estimated cadre
strength of more than several thousand members who are
dedicated to kill anyone and destroy government, public or
private properties. HUJI-B was accused of stabbing a senior
Bangladeshi journalist in November 2000 for making a
documentary on the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh.
Mufti Abdul Hannan, who claimed himself to be the amir (chief)
of HUJI-B and carried sabotage across the country resulting in
deterioration in law and order, was found involved in the
August 21, 2004 grenade attack on Awami League rally. He was
arrested on October 1, 2005 while another kingpin Mufti Abdur
Rouf was arrested on August 2, 2006 including other 64
militants of HUJI-B in where 41 of them had been sentenced to
life imprisonment. But still they are regrouping themselves
and having financial supports from different terrorist groups
and individuals throughout the world amidst government's
strong vigilance.
In recent years, there seems to be a big surge in terrorists'
activities in Bangladesh. Tension between secularism based on
Bengali language and culture and terrorism rooted in the
primacy of religion, has resulted in a steady drift towards
Islamic hegemony. An important element of the terrorist
mindset is the rejection of democracy. Terrorism is
incompatible with democracy, as democracy is based on the
belief that people with radically different beliefs and
cultures can live together in peace if they respect each
other's right to disagree.
(Ripan Kumar Biswas is a freelance writer based in New York.
Dateline: New York, March 10, 2008. E-mail: Ripan.Biswas@yahoo.com)
Anticipating
the Next Green President
Any expectation that new leadership in Washington will put the
country on a more sustainable energy path "may be a vain
hope."
Toni Johnson
With
little fanfare, the U.S. Energy Department last month pulled
funding for FutureGen, a near zero-emission coal plant project
(MarketWatch) that was once touted as a Bush administration
centerpiece for addressing climate change. The project's
uncertain future raises alarm among some climate experts who
stress the need to introduce clean-coal technology as soon as
possible. As a Washington Post editorial notes, with the huge
coal reserves of the United States, China, and India the
easiest source to meet energy needs, finding ways to prevent
the "buildup of greenhouse gases and sharing that technology
widely is imperative." Wired Magazine's Alexis Madrigal argues
that "to bang the clean coal technology drum" and then
abruptly cut support shows the administration is not serious
about climate change.
The Bush administration says it is leading the way on
developing sound climate- change policy. But environmental
advocates have long charged that the administration is
resistant to climate-change policy and has a cozy relationship
with the fossil-fuel industry. Some see the potential for
dramatic change in energy and environmental policy in the
current slate of presidential hopefuls. Sen. Hillary Clinton
(D-NY) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), the Democratic
front-runners, are members of the Senate's environment
committee and propose ambitious plans for climate change,
energy security, and green economy jobs. And Sen. John McCain,
(R-AZ) the presumptive Republican nominee, has been an often
lonely GOP voice calling for action on climate change. He
supports capping greenhouse gases, and opposes drilling in the
nation's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The looming change
in Washington leadership has the coal power industry (AP) and
the oil industry (Reuters) spending big in support of
candidates in both parties to try to shore up influence,
especially with the Democratic candidates.
But some analysts have doubts about the candidates' greenness.
McCain, in particular, has come under fire for his green bona
fides. David Roberts, a staff writer for the environmental
website Grist, argues that McCain hasn't matched the ambitious
targets of his Democratic rivals and thus, his "cap-and-trade
legislation is now anachronistic, lagging well behind what's
current, what's possible, and what's needed." And Joseph Romm
of Salon.com took note of McCain's denial in a January debate
that cap-and-trade is a mandate, when it "would arguably be
the most far-reaching government mandate ever legislated."
Bradford Plumer, assistant editor of the New Republic,
suggests that McCain has an uneven environmental record and
his climate-change approach "would essentially be a
conservative one." McCain in the past has been endorsed by the
League of Conservation Voters (LCV), an environmental advocacy
organization monitoring U.S. candidates, but the group
recently gave him a relatively low lifetime score on the
environment.
While both Democratic candidates have very high lifetime
scores from LCV, they also have their share of critics.
Sebastian Mallaby, who directs CFR's Center for Geoeconomic
Studies, argues Obama's approach to climate change lacks fresh
ideas (WashPost). Obama has also come under fire for
supporting coal-to-liquid fuel, which environmentalists say is
greenhouse-gas intensive. Civics advocate Paul Loeb contends
Clinton has not shown an ability "to coalesce participants
across the admittedly entrenched political divides." Both
candidates also have been criticized by free trade advocates
for pledging to add environmental standards to trade deals,
which these advocates view more as a trade barrier than
environmental protection.
CFR Adjunct Senior Fellow David Victor notes that when energy
prices skyrocket and threats such as climate change loom,
experts rally around visions of "a new comprehensive energy
strategy, backed by a grand new political coalition." But he
says often such coalitions don't last long enough to
accomplish anything significant. Victor suggests that any
expectation that new leadership in Washington will put the
country on a more sustainable energy path "may be a vain
hope."
(Toni Johnson is a Staff Writer for Council on Foreign
Relations. Source: www.cfr.org)
How
effective is disaster relief?
Robert Glasser
When
disaster strikes, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are
among the first on the scene. The United Nations estimates
that there are now more than 37,000 international NGOs, with
major donors relying on them more and more.
Inevitably, there are problems. Both the Rwandan genocide of
1994 and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami saw chaotic competition
among NGOs. Yet there have also been landmark successes. More
than 1,400 NGOs operating in 90 countries helped to get 123
countries to ratify the treaty banning landmines. But the
sheer scale of the disaster relief "industry" - plus the
longer-term development efforts of NGOs - is raising serious
concerns about how to measure their performance.
Flexibility allows NGOs to be innovative in ways that
organizations like the UN often cannot. But there are few
international rules on what an NGO actually is, and the lack
of control can lead to unpredictable consequences. In Chad
recently, the French NGO L'Arche de Zoé tried to smuggle
children out of the country without obtaining permission from
either parents or the government.
Among the questions being asked by NGOs, the UN, and national
donors is how to prevent the recurrence of past mistakes. The
wake-up call for most NGOs came after the Rwandan genocide,
when hundreds of small organisations tried to set up ad hoc
operations in refugee camps in the Democratic Republic of
Congo and Tanzania. Some camps turned into staging posts for
armed factions. In the ensuing chaos, more than 50,000
refugees died from cholera.
There was also mayhem following the Indian Ocean tsunami. At
one point, more than 400 NGOs were on the ground in Aceh,
Indonesia, competing for resources, personnel, and funding.
Many of the lessons learned in Rwanda were forgotten or
ignored as smaller NGOs with little or no experience in
dealing with disasters caused much of the confusion.
The situation in Indonesia led the UN to adopt a new "cluster"
system to improve coordination. And, after a review of the
Rwanda debacle, 400 NGOs and UN organisations working in 80
countries got together in the Sphere Project to develop a
common humanitarian mandate and handbook of standards
outlining the minimum performance required of any NGO working
in a disaster zone.
As the number of post-intervention reviews increases, a
rudimentary framework for evaluating the impact of NGOs has
appeared. Rather than simply looking at project inputs and
outputs, the emphasis has turned towards measuring the overall
impact of an operation.
The idea is to find out if the lives of the people on the
receiving end were changed for the better in any sustained
way. More and more donors are also insisting that NGOs provide
measurable proof that they make a difference.
That sounds fine in theory, but in practice there are
drawbacks. By demanding quantifiable results, donors may force
programme managers to choose easily achieved targets over less
measurable actions that accord with sound humanitarian
principles. Or reporting about aid programmes may be skewed to
keep donor funds flowing. The greatest danger is that
humanitarian relief will be tailored to meet donors' demands,
rather than actual needs.
Until recently, the record on evaluating responses to
humanitarian emergencies has been patchy at best. CARE, as
both a relief and development agency, can take a long-term
approach to disasters, matching emergency relief with a
rehabilitation and recovery phase. But this is not an option
for NGOs that focus only on emergency responses.
Once their allotted time is up - or their funds run out - they
tend to pack up and leave. Even for NGOs that stick around,
determining their relief efforts' impact in the middle of a
crisis is difficult, if not impossible. Emergencies are
chaotic: staff and resources are stretched, the local
population is very unlikely to be able to provide meaningful
feedback, and pre-crisis baseline data are largely
unavailable, so comparisons are complicated. Moreover, all too
often, events move too quickly to be measured accurately. And,
until recently, donors who were willing to pay for relief were
less likely to finance follow-up evaluations.
As a result, emergency relief evaluations often rely on little
more than guesswork and assumptions. A 2004 report by the
Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) cited a survey carried out in
Ethiopia after UN agencies said that humanitarian efforts had
averted widespread famine in 2000. The claim sounded credible
until the subsequent survey showed that the area's crude
mortality rate had actually risen to six times the normal base
rate. Most of the deaths were from communicable diseases,
which malnourished people may well have contracted after
crowding into feeding centres.
The HPG therefore recommended long-term monitoring of future
humanitarian responses, and said that success or failure
should be judged in a broad context rather than by a narrow
focus on a specific project. Many people who survive an
earthquake or a flood, for instance, may soon face another
crisis if the disaster also destroys their only means of
earning a living.
New and more sophisticated analytical tools are needed to
understand these long-term effects, along with sufficient
training to ensure that new methods are applied properly in
the field. A recent innovation has been the Coping Strategy
Index, devised by the World Food Programme and CARE, which
analyses how people cope with short-term food crises while
also taking into account their future vulnerability to hunger.
NGOs do the lion's share of the world's humanitarian work, and
some mistakes are inevitable. But as we deepen our experience
of humanitarian relief and development, we must learn the
lessons of the past and understand how much more there is to
know.
The writer is secretary general of CARE International.
©Project Syndicate/Europe's World, 2008.
www.project-syndicate.org www.europesworld.org
Sourc:www.jordantimes.com
Viewpoints
Setback for
Malaysian Ruling Combine
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, has been Prime Minister
since 2003, has resisted calls to resign. Abdullah is urging
calm, amid fears there may be violence in the wake of the
result.
Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal
The
biggest sea-change has taken place in Malaysian politics in
almost 40 years with opposition Islamists and reformists
winning control of five states in snap polls held on the 8th
of March and giving the government a humiliating wake-up call.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's multi-racial National
Front coalition, which had won an unprecedented 90% of all
seats in parliament last election, has now won just a simple
majority in parliament, and his future as leader is in doubt
after he watched a record majority collapse to the weakest
level ever. Barisan has effectively ruled since independence
from Britain in 1957. And, his predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad,
urged Badawi to quit accepting responsibility for poor
performance. Mahathir says he made a mistake in picking
Abdullah as his successor and that the current deputy premier,
Najib Razak, should have taken over.
Results from the elections commission showed the National
Front with 137 seats in the 222-seat parliament versus 82 for
the opposition, with 3 seats still being tallied. Another
major shock for the Barisan came in Penang where after 36
years of continuous rule, it lost to a loose alliance of
opposition parties DAP, PKR and Pas. The opposition will form
the next state government in Penang for second time in
history. Gerakan, then an opposition party, won Penang almost
40 years ago. In the parliamentary poll the National Front
lost its two-thirds majority - needed to make constitutional
changes - and control of four state assemblies. It did,
however, win a simple majority, taking 139 out of 219 seats,
with three more seats yet to declare. Opposition figure Anwar
Ibrahim hailed the result as a message that it was time for
change in Malaysia. Anwar's Justice Party has 31 seats out of
the opposition's 82 so far, making him the leader of the
opposition.
Abdullah's humbling performance nationally -- the coalition
ended up with 62 percent of federal seats, down from 90
percent previously -- was compounded by the fact that his own
home state, the industrial heartland of Penang, fell to the
opposition. Abdullah, who only four years ago led the
coalition to a record election victory on a wave of hope for
change, faced a bleak political future on Sunday, his aides
stunned but not willing to concede that he must step down.
"Frankly, this is not really the time because a lot of
component parties (of Barisan) have been decimated," one close
aide said. "We have lost a few people and I think it's time to
consolidate." Though Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's Barisan
Nasional party won all the six seats for which results were
announced, it may lose in provincial polls in Penang and
Kelantan. Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) President Vellu, who
had served eight terms in Parliament and was Works Minister of
Malaysia for long, was given the worst birthday gift on a day
he turned 72. Another high-profile candidate who lost today
was Family Welfare Minister Shahrizat, who was defeated by
political novice Nurul Izza Anwar, daughter of former deputy
premier and opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, has been Prime Minister since 2003, has
resisted calls to resign. Abdullah is urging calm, amid fears
there may be violence in the wake of the result. Apsfrrty
spokes-person, Khairy Jamaluddin, told reporters: "We suffered
a lot of losses tonight. But we are going to fight on. We are
not going to quit. It is not the end of the world and we are
going to get through this." Chinese and Indian ethnic minority
voters deserted the National Front, in power since 1957.
Malaysia's ruling Barisan National coalition was considered
certain to be re-elected in the poll, but risks a backlash by
Buddhist ethnic Chinese and Hindu ethnic Indians, who complain
of religious and racial inequality in the mainly Muslim
nation. The opposition, which wants to deny Barisan a
two-thirds majority in parliament, the level needed to change
the constitution, drew a protest vote over rising food and
fuel costs, street crimes and an influx of cheap foreign
labor.
The Election Commission confirmed opposition wins in Kelantan
as well as Selangor, Perak, Kedah and Penang. There are many
people who have as many suspicions about Anwar as about the
National Front's leaders. But, he adds, the claim that
Malaysia has free and fair elections is not a just one. The
streets of Kuala Lumpur were unusually quiet after the
declaration of poll results, with many older Malaysians
fearful of trouble. The last time the coalition suffered a
heavy setback, in 1969, race riots erupted. "I am shocked. It
feels Malaysia is a whole new country. It feels like it has
been reborn, a 27-year-old civil engineer, said shopping in
the capital. Some people are glad that Malaysia now had a
strong opposition to press the government. "It's good to give
some pressure for Barisan Nasional," they reason.
Analysts blame ethnic tensions, crime and inflation for a drop
in his government's popularity. Ethnic minorities make up more
than a third of the population. Many complain that government
policy has denied them fair access to jobs, education, and
housing. Growing tensions between minority communities and the
Malay majority have dominated the election campaign and the
government has appealed for calm. The last time the National
Front suffered a big setback, in 1969, it resulted in race
riots, dozens of deaths and a state of emergency.
Malaysia is largely a mix of ethnic Malays, which make up
about 55 percent of the population, and ethnic Chinese and
Indians, who account for about a third. The pro-government
media, Abdullah's cheer-leader during the campaign, changed
tack on 09 March, urging Barisan to ensure better job and
education opportunities in this multi-racial nation.
A protest vote from Chinese and Indians, upset over what they
saw as racial inequality in terms of business, job and
education opportunities, had been expected. The Indians were
merciless, voting out the leader of the coalition's Indian
component party and handing a seat to an Indian activist
currently in detention. In India politicians make a big hue
and cry when a foreigner contests an election or tries to be
promoted to a cabinet position or so, but abroad Indians also
know how to secure berths in cabinets and try hard even to
reach the top slot of government and state power. More than
20,000 ethnic Indians attended the rally organized by the
group on November 25 last year in Kuala Lumpur. Their grouse
was mainly against Vellu, who they claimed had not done enough
to uplift the minority community in over two decades since he
had held the post.
But Malays, who are all Muslims and traditionally support
Barisan in good times and bad, completed a perfect storm for
the government, handing the opposition Islamists a record vote
in what was perceived as a protest against rising prices.
"Tomorrow we will start building a brighter future," said
opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim, de facto leader of Party
Keadilan, which emerged as the biggest opposition party in
federal parliament with 31 seats. "This is a new dawn for
Malaysia." Anwar, a Malay and former deputy premier, is widely
seen as the only politician who could unify the ideologically
divided opposition into a coherent and credible political
force, though many political experts see this an almost
possible task. Anwar was banned from standing in the elections
because of a criminal record -- he spent six years in jail
until 2004 on what he called trumped-up charges -- but is
expected to take over his old seat from his wife, who has held
it since his 1998 jailing.
Political experts and economists wondered aloud whether the
Barisan government could now pursue its agenda, including
plans for $325 billion in development zones across the
country. Without a two-thirds parliamentary majority, Barisan
can no longer change the constitution or make some key
appointments. "This is probably not good news for the equity
market or the ringgit," according to a Singapore-based head of
Asia Research for Investment Banking.
When all other South East Asian (SEA) countries are developing
faster and so much ahead of Malaysia in this era of Asian
economic dynamism and globalization, many feel that Malaysia
is heading to the place of no-where. Malaysia, being the
world's palm oil exporter and a net oil exporter, should well
be on par or exceed the economic performances of Taiwan or
South Korea. However, the Malaysian ruling coalition now
actually faces the danger of getting its majority dented and
it has to be seen how the ruling front the Barisan National (BN)
recaptures its lost ground and prestige in the coming days.
(Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal is a Research scholar, School of
International Studies, Jawaharlal University, Delhi 110067)
Rising Food Prices?
Let Them Eat Biofuel
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
Who
would have believed that in this day and age people would be
rioting over food prices?
With rice, wheat, maize and feedstock up between 30 and 50
percent this year, ordinary people around the world are
struggling to afford a simple life-sustaining diet. Indeed,
since 2005, the prices of essential commodities have risen by
an average of 75 percent.
People in Egypt would be in dire straits if it wasn't for the
government's quick action to broaden food subsidies, no doubt
with memories of the bloody 1977 bread riots in mind that
threatened to bring down the government.
Pakistan has had to act, too, to alleviate public outrage at
flour being sold at a record high. It has given ration cards
to the underprivileged enabling them to benefit from
subsidies.
In Yemen over a dozen people were recently killed while
rioting over food prices that have doubled over past months.
And last month 34 rioters were imprisoned in Morocco, while
protests and strikes in Jordan forced the government to raise
public sector wages.
There's been recent rioting in Burkina Faso, Mauritania and
Senegal, countries dependent on imports of rice and wheat;
rioting by tortilla-consuming Mexicans and by Indonesians
complaining they could no longer afford to buy soybeans.
Drought, high oil prices, population increases and the use of
arable land to feed the biofuel industry have combined to
produce a global food crisis.
Who could have predicted that 21st century cutting-edge
technology designed to improve lives would, instead,
contribute to starvation. According to the United Nations
World Food Program (WFP), "the increasing scarcity of food is
the biggest crisis looming in the world"; yet more and more
agricultural land is being turned over to the production of
crops used to manufacture biofuels, such as ethanol.
The search for renewable and environmentally-friendly energy
resources by developed nations seeking independency from
dwindling petroleum reserves is understandable. But it comes
at a cost that may be too great to bear for the world's
poorest, who are suffering from a scarcity of affordable
staples.
At the forefront of the biofuel drive is the United States,
which, last year, used 25 percent of its maize and corn crops
to produce ethanol, and, thus, had to reduce exports to
established buyers. Western Europe is going in a similar
direction, which will result in a scarcity of edible produce
and much higher prices. The Economist's Intelligence Unit's
Senior Commodities Editor Kona Haque confirms that countries
are earmarking increasing acreages to make biofuels, a trend
that will not only increase inflationary pressure on grain
prices but also on meat and poultry as livestock feed gets
more expensive. High oil prices are also a contributory factor
as they have led to a phenomenal rise in the cost of essential
fertilizers.
Britain's Conservative Party leader David Cameron isn't
convinced that ethanol is the way forward. "You could feed a
person for a whole year from the grain that produces just one
tank of fuel for a sports utility vehicle," he recently told a
gathering of British farmers. "They are not a panacea," he
said. "Unless they are sustainable, they may well harm the
environment more than protect it".
The ethics of pursuing biofuel in a world that is threatened
by massive flooding caused by climate change - if we are to
believe the doom and gloom merchants - are questionable, and
presents a dilemma to government strategists. The chasm
between the haves and have-nots is broadening so can it be
right for developed nations to deny those less fortunate a
right to life itself just so their fat-cat citizens can fill
their gas-guzzling tanks?
Setting aside the moral issue, there is also a political
argument. Hungry people, who feel they have little to lose,
will topple governments and turn to more extremist leaderships
that would be incompatible with the West as allies. We've
heard about water wars. We may be looking instead at food
wars.
Finally, how's this for a glaring obscenity? According to
Susie Mesure writing in the Independent, "Britons throw away
half of the food produced each year... enough to meet half of
Africa's food import needs". Consumers, supermarkets and
restaurants are all major culprits in the chucking out of a
"£20bn food mountain while at the same time the WFP warns it
is dangerously running out of resources.
The only way to solve these problems is for the world to come
together under the auspices of the United Nations to come up
with real solutions.
The UN has already begun talks with Eastern European countries
in an endeavor to persuade them to free up agricultural land
to grow essential crops. Investment in desalination plants
that would enable some countries to become less dependent on
rain is something else that should be considered.
It seems to me that biofuels are not the way forward given
that death rates are lowering while the world's population is
due to explode up to 9.3 billion by 2050. If enough people are
forced to choose between consuming ethanol and bread, of
course, that prediction is likely to be proved wrong.
Source:www.arabnews.com
Comment
In order of importance
The
agenda of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) summit
in Senegal, on March 14, is loaded, as usual, with many items
concerning relations among Islamic countries and suggestions
of how to promote and strengthen their unity and cooperation
and serve Muslim interests worldwide.
Topping the list is the issue of the very identity of this
organisation established in 1969 in the aftermath of the
burning of Al Aqsa Mosque by Jewish fanatics.
OIC passed through many stages in search of a true identity.
Its raison d'être has expanded over the years and it now deals
with more issues and areas of concern affecting Muslims
everywhere.
A preparatory meeting of senior officials and ministers of
foreign affairs of Islamic countries will precede the summit
in a bid to articulate a clearer sense of purpose and
direction for the organisation. This will necessitate a
general review of its charter so that it may be enabled to
deal with the mushrooming challenges facing Muslim countries.
Unless the OIC summit can come up with and agree on an updated
charter, the organisation may have an unclear future course.
The very relevancy of OIC is at stake at this time and age
when various country alignments spring up all over the globe.
The OIC has failed to deal effectively with the implications
and consequences of the burning of Al Aqsa Mosque nearly 40
years ago, so how can it be expected to deal with modern
issues that appear more and more insurmountable?
The Muslim world remains in disarray on several fronts, with
extremists hijacking the true and faithful teachings of Islam
to promote their own political agenda through violence and
terrorism. Muslims shudder when zealots kill innocent people
in the name of Islam.
The acts of a few Muslims are the most dangerous enemies of
Islam. This is what OIC should address first and foremost,
before moving on to forge well-structured cooperation among
Muslims everywhere, based on contemporary thought and in
conformity with international human rights norms.
Sourc:www.jordantimes.com
International
Twin bombs kill 21
in Pakistan’s Lahore
AFP, Lahore
Two suspected suicide
car bombings killed at least 21 people in the Pakistani
city of Lahore Tuesday, posing a fresh challenge to the
US-allied country's incoming government.
The deadliest blast ripped through a federal police
headquarters in the heart of the eastern city, demolishing
part of the building, while the other hit an advertising
office several kilometres (miles) away, police said.
Shortly after the attacks the Australian cricket team said
it was cancelling an upcoming tour to Pakistan, due to
security fears caused by a wave of violence across the
country that has killed more than 600 people this year.
Rescue workers in orange jackets were frantically clawing
through the debris at the site of the blast Federal
Investigation Agency, which deals mainly with immigration
and people smuggling, an AFP reporter said.
"There was blood everywhere. I also saw mutilated and
limbs and body parts scattered around the reception area
of the building," said lawyer Wali Mohammed Khan, who was
on the second floor of the building when the blast
happened.
"It was so intense that I was literally blown off my
chair. I saw thick smoke everywhere and people running in
panic," he told AFP.
FIA chief Tariq Pervaz said paramedics were "trying to
rescue survivors from under the rubble." FIA sources said
that at least 10 employees were among the dead.
"It could be a vehicle-borne suicide attack, we cannot
confirm it as yet," city police chief Malik Mohammad Iqbal
said, adding that at least 17 people were killed in the
bombing and dozens more injured.
Pools of blood and small pieces of human flesh lay
scattered on the ground outside the eight-storey building,
along with clothes and pairs of shoes that were abandoned
by people as they ran away, an AFP reporter said.
The second near-simultaneous blast was caused by a
confirmed suicide car bomb and hit an advertising agency
in an upscale neighbourhood of the city, killing another
four people, police said.
"An explosives-laden vehicle was rammed into the office,"
interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema said.
President Pervez Musharraf, a key US ally in the "war on
terror", condemned the "savage act" and said that the
"acts of terrorism cannot deter government's resolve to
fight the scourge with full force," state media said.
The explosions came a week after two suicide bombers blew
themselves up at a prestigious naval college in Lahore,
killing at least five people and wounding 19, officials
said.
The city, close to the Indian border, had previously seen
little of the violence that has rocked other Pakistani
towns, although it also suffered a major suicide bombing
in January that killed 20 people, mostly police.
Pakistan has been rocked by six major blasts since the
February 18 polls, which were won by the parties of slain
ex-premier Benazir Bhutto and former prime minister Nawaz
Sharif.
Israeli PM denies truce talks with Hamas
AFP, Jerusalem
Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday denied that Israel was
engaged in truce talks with Hamas, but said it would have
no reason to strike Gaza if there were no rocket fire from
the territory.
His statements came as Israel and Hamas appeared to be
abiding by a tacit agreement to hold fire in and around
the Gaza Strip amid Egyptian efforts to secure a broader
truce deal after a bloody explosion of violence there.
"There is no deal, there are no negotiations, either
direct or indirect," Olmert said at a press conference
with visiting Czech counterpart Mirek Topolanek.
"There is an unequivocal demand that hasn't changed, and
if this demand is fulfilled, there will be no need for a
ceasefire," he said.
"If the terror stops, if the Qassams stop landing on
residents of Sderot and if Grads stop landing on Ashkelon...
Israel will have no reason to fight the terror
organisations there.... We will have no reason to
retaliate."
Olmert was referring to cities in southern Israel that
have borne the brunt of rocket fire from Gaza militants.
"Israel has not asked Egypt to mediate with Hamas on a
ceasefire. Egypt is not playing any role in negotiations
with Hamas," he said.
"The army has full freedom t |